Otter Love

I dare you not to cry:

Two elderly otters who were best friends and lived side-by-side for 15 years have both died of a heart attack within an hour of each other.
It’s thought the second heartbroken animal passed away from the stress of watching his mate die.
Daz and Chip – both male – lived and died at Naturelands Zoo in Nelson, New Zealand.
Zookeeper John Miller said the Asian otters, who were 19 and 16 years-old, had been best friends for 15 years.
It’s thought that having each other for company kept them alive beyond the normal otter life-span of 14 years.

It Has To Stop: Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar

Fuck this: I am so tired of reading these stories, so tired.

A transgender woman was found dead in her ransacked Queens apartment on Tuesday, her naked body sprawled across the bed, police said.

Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar, 29, born Edelbuerto, had not been heard from since Friday.

Feeling grateful that, at least, that the NY Daily News got her pronouns right, is not enough:. The NYT has a piece on their blog about the murder as well. Gina of Skip the Makeup reports that in fact, as usual, that the NYT and WABC both got it wrong first, & later corrected themselves.

You know, people always used to envy us for living in NYC because it’s the uber-liberal city, but it only takes one violent transphobic asshole to ruin your day. Or take your life.

(h/t to Matty)