Dragons

FR: KitsuneRuna, 177317

[cubewatermelon]

Baby Displacer Beast

[cubewatermelon]

Sleepless Domain page 737!

[incorrecthatchetfield]

Incorrect Nerdy Prudes Must Die 1/?

[birdmanbirdplan]

Thank you for my daily faerghus memes dryltt3, they never disappoint

Here’s one I redrew of their post from twitter

[frogdrops]

if you like a piece of media that is good eventually youll more or less run out of things to say about how good it is but if you like a piece of media that is objectively pretty mediocre but also somehow deeply compelling thats how the demons get you

[onibi-onibi]

(おじゃま攻撃かと思いきや | キュルZ＠5巻7/27 さんのマンガ | ツイコミ(仮)から)

[wordstream]

Translation:

You aren’t going to get in my way today?

Ah, it’s a new type of attack.

[stephenist]

Source

CDC Wastewater Viral Activity Monitoring

BreatheTeq

[catsindoors]

"Fat Cats and Greedy Dogs": Discussion of Animal Obesity on Social Media Varies by Species

If you scroll social media these days, you’ll likely run across a funny cat video. A seemingly endless pageant of feline videos has crowned internet celebrities, inspired international ad campaigns, and even earned their own award ceremonies.

As you peruse your socials, you’ll also see many dogs hiking trails, leaping for frisbees, and traveling to exotic locales with their humans. These doggie influencers amass huge online followings, and their posts garner thousands of comments.

If you look more closely, you’ll also see that how we portray and discuss dog and cat obesity varies widely.

Common Cat Obesity Portrayals on Social Media

Many viral videos poke fun at a cat’s waistline, eating habits, refusal to exercise, and overall life of excess. Despite the “Garfield” cartoon series being retired thirty years ago, the notion of “a lasagna-loving, lazy, fat, and cynical cat” continues to capture the public’s attention. “Fat cats” are “funny cats” in most posts and comments.

“Fat cats,” “chonky,” and “chunky monkey” often accompany descriptions of cats with obesity and are promoted with “likes,” “hearts,” and “thumbs-ups” by many viewers. It seems like “fat cats are happy cats” is the prevailing wisdom on the internet in 2024.

Common Dog Obesity Portrayals on Social Media

But what about “man’s best friend?” How are dogs portrayed on social media?

Dogs on social media are often seen accompanying their pet parents on outdoor adventures, traveling in cars, planes, and trains, romping in parks, and enjoying an active lifestyle.

Canine companions are often positioned as an extension of their owner's values, interests, and beliefs, unlike felines portrayed as relaxing, napping, or lounging.

Dogs and humans are commonly engaged in healthy activities, reinforcing the narrative, “Look how well I care for my dog.”

When a dog with obesity is seen being fed extra treats or attempts to convey humor with begging or overfeeding, many commentators blame the dog owner for poor care, accusing them of causing harm or lacking the discipline to feed and exercise their dog properly.

Differences in Pet Obesity Comments on TikTok

Cats and dogs are depicted in different ways on social media. But is obesity perceived and commented on differently based on species?

Terms highlighting a cat’s obesity are prevalent in social media, particularly on TikTok.

In January 2024, there were over 4.1 billion views of TikTok videos with the hashtags #fatcat (2.8 billion views), #chonkycat (900 million), and #fatcatsoftiktok (400 million).

The terms and comments concerning dogs with obesity differ, at least in volume.

During that period, there were only 0.2 billion total views of dog videos tagged #fatdog (169 million), #chonkydog (11 million), and #fatdogsoftiktok (14 million).

See a pattern?

Cats with obesity are potentially being normalized and celebrated on the internet. On the other hand, dog owners risk being vilified or chastised for “bad pet parenting” when posting pictures or videos of dogs with obesity or feeding excessive amounts of treats or food.

Research on Canine YouTube Videos

Researchers at the University of Liverpool have researched this phenomenon in dogs in a 2023 paper co-authored by former APOP Board member Dr Alex German titled “He’d Be Happier if He Wasn’t Chonky” – Qualitatively Exploring Canine Obesity Perceptions Using YouTube™ and Discussion Fora.”

In this study, scientists searched YouTube videos and associated comments for terms such as: “Dog overweight,” “Dog obese,” “Dog weight,” “Dog fat,” “Dog chubby,” “Dog diet,” “Dog hungry,” “Dog begging,” and so on.

At least four themes emerged around weight management in dogs:

Balancing conflicting responsibilities – dog owners appeared to balance their responsibility in providing their dogs with happiness, health, and love, and how these choices were prioritized impacted feeding habits and weight management. Owners who valued a healthy lifestyle were more likely to share how they made and engaged in healthy options for their dogs. Positive humor techniques were often utilized in posts and comments.

Need vs. Greed – dog owners felt compelled to alleviate perceived hunger in their dogs, often in response to begging behaviors, which made sticking to reduced food diets difficult. Begging behaviors are more likely to be met with sympathetic and agreeable reactions on social media posts.

Minimizing – individuals varied in the extent to which they perceived excess body fat to cause health issues, and language used to describe their dog’s body changed when excess body fat was seen as an issue. In other words, if obesity was not perceived as a health threat, the dog owners and viewers tended to use fewer terms of blame and shame and persisted in making jokes or minimizing health risks using negative humor.

Control – individuals’ perceived control over their dog’s body condition and food intake varied hugely, with some owners believing they had little to no control. Dog owners who feel they have little control over their dog’s body condition are more likely to use terms of helplessness and blame the dog for its unhealthy body condition.

While we don’t have similar research in cats, based on these preliminary findings, the discussions surrounding feline obesity would likely differ, and I believe similar themes would emerge. Similar themes will appear, but it’s essential to connect feline obesity with poor quality of life and disease.

On Social Media, Fat Cats Are Funny; Dogs, Not So Much

The reality is that the public appears to perceive feline obesity as a less problematic, more humorous topic than the health threat it actually poses. #ChonkyCat is acceptable on social media, while #ChonkyDog is not.

When examining social media comments, dog owners seem more likely to associate excess body fat with poor health or quality of life. Unfortunately, the emphasis on owner blame must shift to address the underlying biological mechanisms of excess weight gain.

Dog and cat owners may perceive excess adiposity and obesity differently regarding causation, adverse health impacts, negative influence on longevity, increased healthcare costs, and a diminished quality of life. While some dog owners recognize obesity as a serious issue requiring intervention, cat owners often perceive excess fat in their feline as a “normal” health status and do not take steps to intervene.

Changing Clinical Language For Better Outcomes

How we portray and discuss pet body condition matters, and the research is clear about the long-term detrimental effects of excess adipose tissue. Shifting our language to a health-centered approach is essential, especially in a clinical setting. The emphasis should be on maintaining a healthy body condition or appropriate body fat levels instead of solely chasing a number on a scale.

Routine veterinary assessment tools such as body condition score (BCS) and muscle condition score (MCS) to estimate body fat percentage and lean muscle mass are more effective than relying on weight and breed averages for predicting health risks and outcomes.

Using language such as “healthy or unhealthy body condition” instead of “overweight” makes a distinction between the health impacts of excess body fat (excess adiposity, BCS 8-9) and body weight (mass) to measure and predict health outcomes. By labeling excess body fat as “overweight” or “too heavy,” veterinarians can miss the opportunity to discuss the immediate and long-term impact of chronic systemic inflammation from excess body fat for dogs AND cats.

In a clinical setting, obesity should be discussed in terms of a physiological disease state and not minimized by terms such as “fat,” “chunky,” or “chubby.” Pet owners often focus on breed size averages and weight comparisons, potentially putting owners in a defensive position due to a lack of understanding of healthy body composition and body fat. Healthy body composition is much more than breed size charts.

Changing Our Clinical Language For Better Outcomes

1. “Healthy Body Condition” or “Body Composition” instead of “Weight” - Body condition scoring (BCS) and body fat percentage estimation are superior to relying exclusively on body weight when it comes to risk assessments predicting health outcomes. Focus on achieving a healthy BCS, body composition, or body fat instead of solely chasing a number on a scale.

2. Unhealthy Body Condition versus “Heavy” - We must communicate the negative health impacts of excess body fat associated with an overweight classification (BCS 6-7). We must distinguish clinical obesity (BCS 8-9) as a disease. Obesity poses an imminent and potentially severe health threat with a need for urgent intervention.

By positioning excess body fat and an unhealthy BCS as “too heavy” or “they could lose a few pounds,” we may miss the opportunity to discuss chronic systemic inflammation and other harmful effects of an unhealthy body condition and excess body fat.

3. Health versus Disease - An animal with clinical obesity (BCS 8-9) should be discussed in terms of an active disease state, causing physiological harm, instead of potentially minimized or normalized using terms such as “fat,” “chunky,” or “chubby.”

[cubewatermelon]

Sleepless Domain page 735!

[makomaragi]

i remember when bw came out, castelia city confused me a lot, but i quickly figured out where things were soon enough. i assumed the same to be true about lumiose city. but no. it has been two weeks and i still dont know where anything fucking is. i took a cab and the thing i wanted was across the street. i wonder further trying to find an escape or something familiar. i swear the back alleys are changing.  i am lost in lumiose city. people challenge me to battles in the alley to mock me. not even the gogoat knows where it is going. i, the champion of the kalos league, the strongest trainer in kalos, cannot navigate this city. i will probably die in a back alley here and no one will be able to find me because no one else knows where anything is either. tell my mother i loved her even if she didnt come to my parade.

[makomaragi]

it’s been 10 years since I posted this. can’t wait for pokemon legends ZA where the entire game is this apparently

[cubewatermelon]

Sleepless domain page 734!

[prying-pandora666-deactivated20]

Reblog if you also think Toph shouldn’t have been a cop.

I want to see how “unpopular” this opinion really is outside cop-worshipping Reddit.

[vitariesocks]

On COVID, propaganda, and the normalization of mass death and disability by themme_fatale

[duckdotcom]

I need a job where I just untangle strings and cords for people for hours every day

[hockpock]

ADHD time blindness be like "oh, today is the 30th? that's fine, December is still next month, that's forever away!

...what do you mean tommorrow?"

[hockpock]

happy 1 year anniversary to this post,

DECEMBER IS TOMMORROW.

AGAIN.

[fatliberation]

they have a point though. you wouldn't need everyone to accommodate you if you just lost weight, but you're too lazy to stick to a healthy diet and exercise. it's that simple. I'd like to see you back up your claims, but you have no proof. you have got to stop lying to yourselves and face the facts

Must I go through this again? Fine. FINE. You guys are working my nerves today. You want to talk about facing the facts? Let's face the fucking facts.

In 2022, the US market cap of the weight loss industry was $75 billion [1, 3]. In 2021, the global market cap of the weight loss industry was estimated at $224.27 billion [2]. 

In 2020, the market shrunk by about 25%, but rebounded and then some since then [1, 3] By 2030, the global weight loss industry is expected to be valued at $405.4 billion [2]. If diets really worked, this industry would fall overnight. 

1. LaRosa, J. March 10, 2022. "U.S. Weight Loss Market Shrinks by 25% in 2020 with Pandemic, but Rebounds in 2021." Market Research Blog. 2. Staff. February 09, 2023. "[Latest] Global Weight Loss and Weight Management Market Size/Share Worth." Facts and Factors Research. 3. LaRosa, J. March 27, 2023. "U.S. Weight Loss Market Partially Recovers from the Pandemic." Market Research Blog.

Over 50 years of research conclusively demonstrates that virtually everyone who intentionally loses weight by manipulating their eating and exercise habits will regain the weight they lost within 3-5 years. And 75% will actually regain more weight than they lost [4].

4. Mann, T., Tomiyama, A.J., Westling, E., Lew, A.M., Samuels, B., Chatman, J. (2007). "Medicare’s Search For Effective Obesity Treatments: Diets Are Not The Answer." The American Psychologist, 62, 220-233. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr. 2007.

The annual odds of a fat person attaining a so-called “normal” weight and maintaining that for 5 years is approximately 1 in 1000 [5].

5. Fildes, A., Charlton, J., Rudisill, C., Littlejohns, P., Prevost, A.T., & Gulliford, M.C. (2015). “Probability of an Obese Person Attaining Normal Body Weight: Cohort Study Using Electronic Health Records.” American Journal of Public Health, July 16, 2015: e1–e6.

Doctors became so desperate that they resorted to amputating parts of the digestive tract (bariatric surgery) in the hopes that it might finally result in long-term weight-loss. Except that doesn’t work either. [6] And it turns out it causes death [7],  addiction [8], malnutrition [9], and suicide [7].

6. Magro, Daniéla Oliviera, et al. “Long-Term Weight Regain after Gastric Bypass: A 5-Year Prospective Study - Obesity Surgery.” SpringerLink, 8 Apr. 2008. 7. Omalu, Bennet I, et al. “Death Rates and Causes of Death After Bariatric Surgery for Pennsylvania Residents, 1995 to 2004.” Jama Network, 1 Oct. 2007.  8. King, Wendy C., et al. “Prevalence of Alcohol Use Disorders Before and After Bariatric Surgery.” Jama Network, 20 June 2012.  9. Gletsu-Miller, Nana, and Breanne N. Wright. “Mineral Malnutrition Following Bariatric Surgery.” Advances In Nutrition: An International Review Journal, Sept. 2013.

Evidence suggests that repeatedly losing and gaining weight is linked to cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and altered immune function [10].

10. Tomiyama, A Janet, et al. “Long‐term Effects of Dieting: Is Weight Loss Related to Health?” Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6 July 2017.

Prescribed weight loss is the leading predictor of eating disorders [11].

11. Patton, GC, et al. “Onset of Adolescent Eating Disorders: Population Based Cohort Study over 3 Years.” BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), 20 Mar. 1999.

The idea that “obesity” is unhealthy and can cause or exacerbate illnesses is a biased misrepresentation of the scientific literature that is informed more by bigotry than credible science [12]. 

12. Medvedyuk, Stella, et al. “Ideology, Obesity and the Social Determinants of Health: A Critical Analysis of the Obesity and Health Relationship” Taylor & Francis Online, 7 June 2017.

“Obesity” has no proven causative role in the onset of any chronic condition [13, 14] and its appearance may be a protective response to the onset of numerous chronic conditions generated from currently unknown causes [15, 16, 17, 18].

13. Kahn, BB, and JS Flier. “Obesity and Insulin Resistance.” The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Aug. 2000. 14. Cofield, Stacey S, et al. “Use of Causal Language in Observational Studies of Obesity and Nutrition.” Obesity Facts, 3 Dec. 2010.  15. Lavie, Carl J, et al. “Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease: Risk Factor, Paradox, and Impact of Weight Loss.” Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 26 May 2009.  16. Uretsky, Seth, et al. “Obesity Paradox in Patients with Hypertension and Coronary Artery Disease.” The American Journal of Medicine, Oct. 2007.  17. Mullen, John T, et al. “The Obesity Paradox: Body Mass Index and Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Nonbariatric General Surgery.” Annals of Surgery, July 2005. 18. Tseng, Chin-Hsiao. “Obesity Paradox: Differential Effects on Cancer and Noncancer Mortality in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.” Atherosclerosis, Jan. 2013.

Fatness was associated with only 1/3 the associated deaths that previous research estimated and being “overweight” conferred no increased risk at all, and may even be a protective factor against all-causes mortality relative to lower weight categories [19].

19. Flegal, Katherine M. “The Obesity Wars and the Education of a Researcher: A Personal Account.” Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 15 June 2021.

Studies have observed that about 30% of so-called “normal weight” people are “unhealthy” whereas about 50% of so-called “overweight” people are “healthy”. Thus, using the BMI as an indicator of health results in the misclassification of some 75 million people in the United States alone [20]. 

20. Rey-López, JP, et al. “The Prevalence of Metabolically Healthy Obesity: A Systematic Review and Critical Evaluation of the Definitions Used.” Obesity Reviews : An Official Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 15 Oct. 2014.

While epidemiologists use BMI to calculate national obesity rates (nearly 35% for adults and 18% for kids), the distinctions can be arbitrary. In 1998, the National Institutes of Health lowered the overweight threshold from 27.8 to 25—branding roughly 29 million Americans as fat overnight—to match international guidelines. But critics noted that those guidelines were drafted in part by the International Obesity Task Force, whose two principal funders were companies making weight loss drugs [21].

21. Butler, Kiera. “Why BMI Is a Big Fat Scam.” Mother Jones, 25 Aug. 2014. 

Body size is largely determined by genetics [22].

22. Wardle, J. Carnell, C. Haworth, R. Plomin. “Evidence for a strong genetic influence on childhood adiposity despite the force of the obesogenic environment” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Vol. 87, No. 2, Pages 398-404, February 2008.

Healthy lifestyle habits are associated with a significant decrease in mortality regardless of baseline body mass index [23].  

23. Matheson, Eric M, et al. “Healthy Lifestyle Habits and Mortality in Overweight and Obese Individuals.” Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 25 Feb. 2012.

Weight stigma itself is deadly. Research shows that weight-based discrimination increases risk of death by 60% [24].

24. Sutin, Angela R., et al. “Weight Discrimination and Risk of Mortality .” Association for Psychological Science, 25 Sept. 2015.

Fat stigma in the medical establishment [25] and society at large arguably [26] kills more fat people than fat does [27, 28, 29].

25. Puhl, Rebecca, and Kelly D. Bronwell. “Bias, Discrimination, and Obesity.” Obesity Research, 6 Sept. 2012. 26. Engber, Daniel. “Glutton Intolerance: What If a War on Obesity Only Makes the Problem Worse?” Slate, 5 Oct. 2009.  27. Teachman, B. A., Gapinski, K. D., Brownell, K. D., Rawlins, M., & Jeyaram, S. (2003). Demonstrations of implicit anti-fat bias: The impact of providing causal information and evoking empathy. Health Psychology, 22(1), 68–78. 28. Chastain, Ragen. “So My Doctor Tried to Kill Me.” Dances With Fat, 15 Dec. 2009. 29. Sutin, Angelina R, Yannick Stephan, and Antonio Terraciano. “Weight Discrimination and Risk of Mortality.” Psychological Science, 26 Nov. 2015.

There's my "proof." Where is yours?

[vaspider]

I have told this story over and over again, but it bears repeating:

In 2011 or so, I started having intense pain in my legs and feet. I was sent to an orthopedic surgeon. He said, "This pain is because you are fat. Go on this diet and lose weight."

I went on the diet. I ate 1300 calories a day. I exercised until I literally couldn't stand up.

1300 calories a day is what a healthy toddler should eat. I was 34 years old. I was starving, in excruciating pain. I was angry and hungry and hurting. I really don't envy anyone who had to deal with me.

Oh yeah: and I didn't lose any real weight, no matter how hard I worked and how scrupulously I followed the diet.

By 2013, when - shockingly - I had ruined my muscle tone and was still in incredible pain, I got to a point where I couldn't walk to the bathroom at work without help. I missed my kid's chorus concerts bc I couldn't sit in uncomfortable chairs after suffering all day. And I still hadn't lost any real weight.

"Isn't there anything else this could be?" I asked.

He refused to run other tests. "You just need to lose the weight."

Two years this had gone on, and I was still in pain. Still missing out on my life. Still missing out on Cat's life, on moments I couldn't ever get back.

My partner finally got fed up and dragged me to another doctor. Dragged me back to our family doctor and told her what was going on.

She took one look at me - literally, she touched my feet once - and said, "This guy is an idiot."

Two days later, an MRI found a 2.5 cm mass adhered to the sheath of my spinal cord, compressing my spinal cord against the inside of my spine. Three days after that, I was told it was most likely malignant.

It wasn't. I was lucky. It was a benign mass, removed May 9th, 2013.

Since then, I've been diagnosed with diabetes and celiac disease, both of which my doctors think come from the bodily trauma that this all put me through - that genetic predisposition got kicked into overdrive by either the trauma of starving myself for two years or surgery. We can't be sure if it's the starvation or the surgery that did it.

We can, however, be very, very sure that the disordered eating that I have struggled with for the last 12 years comes directly from a doctor who looked at me and said, "You should starve yourself," and only saw fat, not a person.

I'm very, very lucky that it wasn't actually cancer. I know more than one person who wasn't that lucky. Some of them (z''l) have died.

Medical fatphobia fucking kills.

[cassandrasimplex]

I knew having Redditors cross-train on Tumblr would produce weird fucking magic.

[cassandrasimplex]

It gets better. This Redditor went the full Goncharov.

[digitaldiscipline]

Glorbcharov: Dishonor Among AI Thieves

[starry-genome]

Y’all missed the best part:

[headspace-hotel]

Category 5 Glup Shitto event