Le Soleil chante, les oiseaux brillent

My useless superpower according to my relatives is researching and fact-checking random stuff as soon as the fancy hits. So if I come across as nitpicking and pedantic on a subject it's (mostly) accidentally. If you use chatgpt first at the start of a project know that I assume you are incapable of original thought. I wish people on the internet didn't rely on others’ perception of some things to decide whether they like/should do them or not

[classicalcanvas]

A Corner of the Garden at Montgeron (1877) by Claude Monet

[jellyfishforest135]

Typical science teacher behavior

[voidsetup1]

and out of the darkness - you you you you you

[cisthoughtcrime]

trans women are women and the emperor isn't naked

[cisthoughtcrime]

the emperor IDs has having the most lavish clothes and the majority of his subjects believe and respect that, why are you such a reality-denying bigot by suggesting he's walking down the street naked?

[cisthoughtcrime]

"clothed" and "naked" have no inherent meaning, TERF (tyrant-exclusionary radical farmer). if your "no shoes, no shirt, no service" sign excludes those who identify as being clothed, you're gatekeeping.

[enki2]

[madwomxxn]

The tide is turning 🖤

[tyger-land]

Mœbius 1976

[smallreptile]

Leaded stained glass spiderweb door

[penny-anna]

okay, for those interested, here is a full timeline of how we got to Count Binface:

1977: Star Wars is released, featuring, of course, Darth Vader

(Pictured: Darth Vader)

1984: Director Todd Durham releases his Star Wars parody movie, Hyperspace, featuring Darth Vader inspired villain Lord Buckethead.

(Pictured: Hyperspace poster featuring two Jawa-esque aliens flying through space in a shopping trolley.)

1987: Hyperspace is released on video in the UK, under the new title Gremloids.

(Pictured: Gremloids cover in the style of the original Star Wars poster, featuring Lord Buckethead.)

To promote the film, Mike Lee, the owner of the distributing company, ran for parliament as Lord Buckethead. He ran in Margaret Thatcher's constituency, Finchley, in order to get on TV. Lord Buckethead was representing the Gremloids party.

(Pictured: Lord Buckethead on TV with Margaret Thatcher.)

1992: Gremloids is re-released. Lord Buckethead rides again, this time against prime minister John Major in Huntingdon. (Here's a fun fact about Huntingdon: I was born there! :D) 87/92 Buckethead seems to have leaned pretty hard into the space supervillain thing, with campaign promises including 'demolish Birmingham to build a spaceport'.

(Pictured: Lord Buckethead on TV with John Major. Other notable candidates include Screaming Lord Sutch of the Monster Raving Loony Party.)

2017: comedian Jon Harvey, having recently watched Gremloids and learned of Lord Buckethead's candidacy for parliament, decides it's a great bit. He runs against Theresa May in Maidenhead. 2017 Buckethead seems to have a wackier and also more political approach, with campaign promises ranging from nonsense like 'nationalise Adele' to gesturing at actually sensible policies with stuff like 'lower the voting age to 16 and restrict voting after age 80'.

He also made an appearance on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. As with his previous incarnation, he was a member of the Gremloids party.

(Pictured: Lord Buckethead dabbing on stage with Theresa May.)

2018: Director Todd Durham asserts his legal ownership of Lord Buckethead. Jon Harvey opted not to go to court over Buckethead and handed over the reins. Todd Durham extended an invitation to anyone who wanted to be the 'authorised' Lord Buckethead.

(Pictured: the new Lord Buckethead.)

2019: Lord Buckethead, now played by journalist David Hughes, stood against Boris Johnson in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. He ran for the Monster Raving Loony Party, the UK's pre-existing gag candidate party. He ran with a similarly silly manifesto as the 2017 incarnation, but with a bit less of a political edge. His promises included 'All doorways to be increased by 1 foot (30 cm) in height' and 'Nigel Farage to be sold for parts'.

(Pictured: Lord Buckethead and Count Binface square up.)

Meanwhile, Jon Harvey in his new persona Count Binface, also ran against Boris Johnson. Buckethead and Binface face off! Binface ran as an independent with a manifesto once again blending silly and semi-serious promises such as 'nationalising model railways' and 'giving £1 trillion a week to the NHS'. This was also I believe the debut of his promise to 'move the hand dryer in the men's toilet at Uxbridge's Crown and Treaty pub to a more sensible position'.

(Pictured: Count Binface presenting the offending hand dryer, inconveniently close to both the sink and the urinals.)

He has a point.

2021: Count Binface runs for the position of Mayor of London for the first time, with promises such as 'London to join the European Union'. He notably finished ahead of far right party UKIP.

2023: Count Binface runs in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election following Boris Johnson's resignation. He once again gets more votes than UKIP.

May 2024: Count Binface once again runs to be Mayor of London, debuting his now iconic 'build at least one affordable house' promise. Notably, he finished ahead of far right party Britain First.

(Pictured: Count Binface with Rishi Sunak. Also pictured: Monster Raving Loony Party candidate Sir Archibald Stanton with a ventriloquist's dummy.)

July 2024: Count Binface stands in the general election, running in Richmond and Northallerton against prime minister Rishi Sunak. He debuts his promise to cap the price of 99p flakes at 99p. This is his most successful election to date with 308 votes.

(Pictured: Count Binface with Andy Burnham. Also pictured: independent candidate Robert Pownell, dressed as a fox for his own reasons.)

June 2026: Count Binface stands in the Makerfield by-election against Andy Burnham, (recently) former Mayor of Manchester running for parliament with the intention of standing in the Labour Party leadership contest.

(Pictured: Count Binface on BBC's Newsnight.)

July 2026 (this week): Count Binface announces his intention to run against Nigel Farage in the upcoming Clacton by-election. He is briefly the only other candidate in the race and by the time other candidates announce themselves the narrative of 'Nigel Farage vs Count Binface' has already bedded in. And then it was now, and then I don't know what happened.

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

For clarity's sake, Robert Pownall is dressed as a fox because he's an anti-fox hunting campaigner, and also he will be standing in the Farage Vs Binface election. So that's fun

[partialbirthabortion]

The fact that a wealthy, white mother-of-two in California with access to excellent prenatal and birth care, acting as a surrogate for another family in the safest, cleanest, least coercive of all possible surrogacy arrangements, died this week while giving birth really underscores the surrogacy thoughts I've been having recently. Should you be ethically willing or legally able to compel another woman to risk death at worst and major lifetime health consequences at best just so you can have a child that is biologically related to you?

[heringstuff]

Here’s an article about it.

She died of an amniotic fluid embolism, which is rare but very deadly.

This post gives another example of a surrogate dying and includes this disturbing information:

An article online incorrectly states “the risks of being a surrogate mother are the same as for every pregnancy.” This is not true. Recent studies have shown that surrogate pregnancies are different and are high-risk. Studies show that women pregnant with donor eggs (as in gestational surrogacy) have a more than three-fold risk of developing pregnancy induced hypertension and pre-eclampsia.  

[dasfeministmermaid]

W/ the greater risk of hypertension/pre-eclampsia, why? Or rather, is it known why?

[goblinous]

Because in a normal pregnancy the baby is >50% related to the mother. In surrogacy, an unrelated egg is used, which means entirely foreign biological material in the woman's body.

[theradicalbutch]

Pregnancy is basically a 9 month-long battle between the woman and the embryo; a "healthy" full-term pregnancy can only happen if, essentially, the women's body doesn't realize that the embryo is there, because if it does it will attack it with the woman's immune system as a "foreign body." This is the main reason the placenta exists, to shield the embryo from the woman's immune system (along with nutrient absorption obviously).

The closer the embryo is to the woman, the less likely an immune response will be triggered; this applies to gestational surrogacy, but also relates to things like the sex of the embryo and the embryo's blood type. So, the more genetically different an embryo is from its mother, the higher the overall risk of triggering an immune response, which then increases the likelihood of a smorgasbord of complications given the strain that an immune response causes both the mother and the embryo.

[karington]

this is just personal observation, but all the people I know who had surrogates (which is only 3 so who really knows), their babies are so so sick all the time. Like months premature, weeks in NICU, multiple hospital stays in infancy, now constantly sick as toddlers, can’t keep weight on, lowest percentiles of height / weight, etc etc. Literally every one of them.

and maybe it’s just a coincidence but maybe you aren’t supposed to implant your eggs in another woman and assume her body will grow a healthy baby for you? not to even talk about what it does to an infant to be forcibly removed from their mother at birth….

[bittermarching]

This should be obvious to anyone who knows anything about pregnancy/women's healthcare. But because even doctors seem to think that pregnancy is when a woman just incubates a man's offspring for a few months, providing nothing but a chamber in which the baby can grow, they treat it as if it makes no difference where the embryo came from.

Surrogacy is this horrible intersection between modern medicine + capitalism and an almost medieval understanding of pregnancy. Worst of both worlds.

[feministdragon]

it's not only surrogacy. i meet a lot of kids who are the products of IVF, and the allergies, the immune issues, the eye issues, they are many. I wonder about embryos who have been frozen and thawed. surely that affects the human being? who went through that?

[queer-scots-geordie-dyke]

"Accusations of rape ruin men's lives and careers."

You only have to look at how many footballers who have rape accusations against them that happily represent their countries in huge tournaments like the World Cup without anyone really giving a shit to see what bollocks that is.

Women are rarely taken seriously, rarely believed, rarely stood up for, especially when their abusers are rich and famous.

[queer-scots-geordie-dyke]

2026 FIFA World Cup players who’ve been accused of rape and/or physical abuse:

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Achraf Hakimi (Morocco), Thomas Partey (Ghana), Gonzalo Montiel (Argentina), Thiago Almada (Argentina), Junya Ito (Japan), Kaishu Sano (Japan), Ryan Mendes (Cabo Verde).

At least one of these men, Thomas Partey, is currently actively awaiting criminal trial on seven charges of rape and sexual assault but was still able to play at one of the largest sporting events in the world.

[bloodmoonlich]

Adding some sources for reference (CW for rape, sexual assault, physical assault, date rape, non-consensual drug use, victim blaming, misogyny, and more):

General discussion on rape and assault allegations related to the current world cup (via The New York Times)

Accusations against Cristiano Ronaldo (via USA Today)

Accusations against Achraf Hakimi (via The New York Times)

Accusations against Thomas Partey (via The Guardian)

Accusations against Gonzalo Montiel (via The New York Times)

Accusations against Thiago Almada (via ESPN)

Accusations against Junya Ito (via Reuters)

Accusations against Kaishu Sano (via Japan News)

Accusations against Ryan Mendes (via The New York Times)

[rabidwolf2point0]

[rabidwolf2point0]

[rabidwolf2point0]

She is so fucking funny

[rabidwolf2point0]

She addressed it

[lowkey-radical]

like...

[in-di-visiblewoman]

It’s entitled and occasionally creepy

[kronkk]

Does anyone have the one with the lesbian couple and an adopted daughter and a TIM in their friend group took their daughters name?

[theradicalbuzzardofdiscourse]

That would be me!

Reblog by @theradicalbuzzardofdiscourse

💬 13  🔁 262  ❤️ 334 · Middle-Aged TIM Steals The Name & Identity Of Lesbian Couple’s Newborn Baby After Perpetually Sexually Harassing Them 

Luckily my friends and their kiddo are living happily on the other side of the country far faaaaar away from that dude. Haven’t heard anything about him since the LGBT group disbanded, so I’m sure he’s preying on other lesbians elsewhere.

[gendiebrainrotreceipts]

"intersex people are still either female or male" oh ok so you're actually stupid as shit. radfems will literally use second grade science logic because they lack the brain capacity to understand human biology. you're actually the dumbest fucking cunt I have had the disprivilege of seeing. go cross a highway without looking both ways.

[my-organs-were-stolen]

Okay, tell me if I’m overthinking this and/or not the first person who has said this BUT after reading enough Harry Potter fanfiction I kept seeing a name pop up. Herpo the Foul.

Who is from like Fantastic Beasts I think? Idk I blacklisted any actual Rowling books and products ages ago bc of her personality and statements.

Now like who cares about this random dark lords name right? Except Herpo, if you kinda translate the letters/shapes of the letters to Cyrillic is well… the N word. The H in Cyrillic is like an English N. The r shape/г is a g. The p is equivalent to r… you get my point.

I’m not a pro at Cyrillic or Russian or anything despite knowing the alphabet but I saw mentioned once that that word in regards to black folks isn’t a slur and is just like how they refer to black people, though please correct me if I’m wrong.

Is Herpo’s name a coincidence? Probably????? But like of all the million combinations of letters, Rowling landed on that? For a dark lord and the guy who did the first horcrux or smt? And given her history with naming characters (shacklebolt?????? Wtf???????) I really have some suspicions.

Any thoughts and speculations on this are appreciated 😭

[joannerowling]

You people really will try to see evil in JKR absolutely everywhere. It takes SECONDS to google that "Herpo" is an ancient Greek word and that it is NOT spelled like that. It means to crawl, to creep - fitting for a wizard known for his association to snakes.

Also, Shacklebolt's job is PUTTING PEOPLE IN JAIL. You guys need to give it a rest already. JKR is not racist.

[kittyit]

I keep thinking about this and laughing it's like too much for me

[cordycepsfem]

Book too big!!! Children too dumb, book too big!!! Obviously the author has lost it!!!

This is the dumbest one.

[distastefulsideboob]

Ironically anti intellectualism is hugely associated with fascism

[chadradfem]

Not me aged 7 deliriously happy to be reading a massive book with my tiny hands

[kiefbowl]

they're truly not that big and in what way were the books not edited lol. yeah jkr snuck in in the dead of night to the printing press and printed all her books herself to get around editors. like what is this lmao

[iydallus]

One of the first things a tradpubbed author will tell you is that if you have a Vision for a book, the editors will get in the way of that unless you hit the lottery and got the one guy seeing your vision. Idk the context of this but it sounds like they wanted her books to be smaller to either be cheaper to produce or to end up selling more books in the end. Good on her for refusing that when she had the clout to do so with three very successful books.

[hugewomanwatches]

[marinebiologyshitposts]

[vernadskova-deactivated20230803]

[i-fear-neither-death-nor-pain]

Do they not have skulls!? Why is it mushy there!?!? @bunjywunjy

[bunjywunjy]

well of course beluga has a skull!! that's just not where it is.

see, you wouldn't necessarily pick up on this, but beluga skulls (and most cetacean skulls in general) are pretty much

flat...

so what's going on up there? well, most of the beluga's head is taken up by soft tissue and a large organ called the melon, which is basically a big ol waterballoon of semiliquid fat!

(boob. it's a head boob.)

this organ is found in every toothed whale and dolphin species on the planet and it's INCREDIBLY important, because the melon is what lets them echolocate!

the actual sound-producing organ is inside their nasal passage of all places, which sits up behind there, but the melon is what's actually used to fine-tune the soundwaves into the laser-accurate pinpoints that dolphins and toothed whales are so famous for.

tldr: without their head boob, belugas and their relatives would be literally flying blind!

[puppetbilly]

does slapping the melon like that hurt it ? like does it affect how it works or anything

[proteus-no]

@weirdgirlwambsgans @vampire-juicebox you guys are in luck bc it does not! Belugas will squish their melons voluntarily against things like rocks and glass. Think of it like when you squish your butt (but at the same time not, bc they have no nerve endings beyond the skin) they even voluntarily let humans play with it!

This is a strong creature, if that hurt or bothered it, you would know