I'll Bring the Gun @bringthegun - Tumblr Blog

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binturong-of-the-day

The binturong of glaring

bunjywunjy

sacabambaspis dress

dormitionanddominion

slab-o-meat

crabs are so gentle, they can be so kind. their claws? precise little things, so careful in the sand, so careful with food. they do what they must to live and wave their claws to express their joy to the world for giving so much to them, for giving such kindness to these creatures known as crabs. please be gentle to crabs

slab-o-meat

i was on. a new sleep medication last night

kikmessenger

sits on my own blog like it’s the edge of a lake wistfully

kikmessenger

skips a stone over a few posts

markscherz

Say hello to Calumma krystalae! A new species of chameleon we just described from Madagascar!

This new species belongs to a group of chameleons with big flaps behind the head called occipital lobes, which they can flare out to the sides when threatened.

In the study (request PDF here) in which my colleagues and I describe this species, we reveal just how complicated the taxonomy of this 'group' is (turns out the flaps have evolved or been lost repeatedly!), especially for a couple of species called Calumma brevicorne and C. crypticum. We found out that there is a bad mismatch here between the species (i.e. biological units) and the names we use for them—but correcting it is going to be suuuper complicated. This is a problem for conservation reasons, but also for the pet trade, where both of those 'species' are established. But solving this puzzle is too complex for right now, so we contented ourselves with the description of a clearly distinct new species that isn't closely related to this complex from northern Madagascar.

Calumma krystalae, named in honour of renowned chameleon biologist Krystal Tolley, is closely related to a widespread species from Eastern Madagascar, Calumma malthe.

The first specimens of the new species was collected at least 21 years ago (2005) on the mountain of Marojejy in the northeast of the island. But in the intervening time, more material has been collected from several more sites across northern Madagascar. Among that material are some specimens I was able to collect in 2015 on an expedition to Ampotsidy in the Bealanana District, and a specimen we collected on an expedition back to Marojejy in 2016.

This is by far the largest chameleon I have had the pleasure to help to describe. It stands out from others primarily in colour, head shape, and some details of the scales. I find the eyes particularly beautiful.

I am super relieved to finally be able to understand the diversity of these chameleons a little better, but at the same time it feels like we have unearthed a can of worms in the taxonomy of the rest of the group. Still, it is an exciting prospect to see this resolved over the coming years!

amnhnyc

Another day, another doggy you can’t pet. Meet the dhole (Cuon alpinus). Found widely across parts of Asia from India to China to Indonesia, this social canid typically lives in groups of up to 12 individuals. Sometimes it even socializes with other groups of dholes to form “super packs” of more than 30 members! Teamwork enables these hunters to take down prey ten times their size. And unlike many other species of canid, dholes allow their pups to feed first on kills. Their diet includes pigs, deer, and buffalo.

Photo: mihail1981, iStock

facts-i-just-made-up

What is Tumblr?

Tumblr is the opiate of the very, very few.

wifehaver103947

Awhoahh idid not know this

wifehaver103947

sprucestairs

perks of writing:

its fun

i can do literally whatever I want

cons of writing

i just forgot the word "passenger" and had to search for "cargo synonym referring to a person"

spicymochi

your month, your mini bird wearing a hat!

biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist

straight up it should be illegal for a physical storefront not to accept physical currency, or for restaurants not to provide physical menus

biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist

I'm assuming the above is a normie opinion (as it should be) so i do wanna go a tiny step further and explicitly state any laundromat that requires digital payment should be burned to the fucking ground

biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist

if a business cooerces its customers to download an app, i should legally be allowed to set both the business and its board of directors on fire

cuprohastes

The assumption that every single business, or service, is owed your personal data, and should be able to track you and mercilessly spam you and monetise the ability to sell off your contact details and so on it’s absolutely deranged.

I have flashlights that are borderline unusable because, while the hardware is fine, the company that made them (hello OLight!) demands that you install and login to the storefront before you can access the configuration software.

But they don’t actively maintain the software or provide any of the new utilities that they promise. They are mostly using it as a way to turn off functional hardware to try and force you to upgrade.

We are living in a society where you can pay for something and the manufacturer can turn it off because they’ve decided that you’ve owned it too long .

I’ve just had to warn my family not to buy electronic door locks because the chances are, if they are Internet connected they will be disabled once the company that owns them has decided that they’re not making enough money charging you a monthly fee to open your own front door.

This is part of an ongoing trend to turn money into something that is no longer usable by everybody .

The eventual aim is to be able to pay people company scrip: If you lose your job, or badmouth the company, or disagree with the dictator, they severely curtail what you are allowed to buy, and from who.

And at that point, you have to pick sides – do you want to be able to have drinking water from Coca-Cola, or Pepsi, and whose package allows you to buy Doritos, and use your smart oven to cook food? Because it won’t turn on unless you use the app to scan the appropriate barcode from the company who now owns your ability to eat drink, heat your home, and wear clothes from brands that they approve.

And if you think that Bezos wouldn’t do that or run his own ghetto where employees have to use Amazon brands and be paid in Amazon money… You haven’t been paying attention to what he’s been building lately.