caution! bite risk!

[katyscartoons]

Next time transphobes call trans healthcare "experimental" you can show them this

[alexseanchai]

penicillin was first discovered in 1928; vaginoplasty is less experimental

ibuprofen was first discovered in 1961; phalloplasty and HRT are less experimental

Adderall was first applied as an ADHD treatment in 1994; puberty blockers are less experimental

[justarandoperson123]

[snifsnoof]

this in: middle-aged mans first known encounter with flirtatious remark (confused)

[wolfythewitch]

furthest we've ever been

[chromaticrainarts]

Eridian scientists proceed to stuff Grace's face with meburgers until Rocky stops screaming

[ginnie-darling]

[calamansi-calamari]

Thinking about how names are used in TMBD. The only person who uses the name "Murderbot" is Murderbot itself (and also the reader bc we get special reader privileges 🙂‍↕️). It explicitly says that it is a private name. I think that's really interesting, that it's unsure about who it is as a person and its figuring a lot of stuff out, but it's certain about the name. "Murderbot" as a name however carries so many connotations, especially since it is a derogatory term for SecUnits. The name isn't a traditional human name (like Iris), made up (like ART), or unique (like a feed code).

I'm intrigued by the construction of the name: murder + bot. Murderbot deeply regrets killing its clients accidentally and goes to so many lengths to learn the truth (and never outline why exactly, just that it needs to). "Bot" stands in opposition to "human", which is interesting bc Murderbot is a cyborg with a mix of organic and non organic parts, and has been seen as more bot than human for most of its existence. A lot of TMBD looks at how Murderbot exists as something beyond just being a bot who murders. Idk I think it's interesting. I feel like humans who use "murderbot" would use it as a noun ("a murderbot") so I think that's interesting too.

Otherwise, Preservation humans do not have a specific name for Murderbot, and just call it SecUnit. Which is interesting but it's like if you named a roomba "Roomba". It's very descriptive. I guess they would not want to tack on a name that Murderbot did not choose, but that means that they are left with a very neutral name that isn't very unique either.

On the other hand, ART calls Murderbot by its feed code. I think the way they communicate is very cool bc it's in a way that humans do not understand (as non bots/constructs). I choose to think that ART-Murderbot dialogue as it is written in the books is 'translated' from code to english. ART calls Murderbot by its feed code, which acts more or less as an equivalent for a name for bots (unique, you get it when you're created, used to address specific bots/constructs). ART doesn't use "Murderbot" either. However ART itself has very human names: ART from Murderbot and Peri from its family. Both are short, affectionate* nicknames. It's a very human way of addressing a person. I think it's so interesting that ART doesn't reciprocate its nickname by giving Murderbot one as well. But again I just think the way bots and constructs communicate in TMBD is so so so fascinating.

Anyways. All this to say. Murderbot bilingualism (from its cyborgness) off the charts.

[great-and-small]

When I was in vet school I went to this one lecture that I will never forget. Various clubs would have different guest lecturers come in to talk about relevant topics and since I was in the Wildlife Disease Association club I naturally attended all the wildlife and conservation discussions. Well on this particular occasion, the speakers started off telling us they had been working on a project involving the conservation of lemurs in Madagascar. Lemurs exist only in Madagascar, and they are in real trouble; they’re considered the most endangered group of mammals on Earth. This team of veterinarians was initially assembled to address threats to lemur health and work on conservation solutions to try and save as many lemur species from extinction as possible. As they explored the most present dangers to lemurs they found that although habitat loss was the primary problem for these vulnerable animals, predation by humans was a significant cause of losses as well. The vets realized it was crucial for the hunting of lemurs by native people to stop, but of course this is not so simple a problem.

The local Malagasy people are dealing with extreme poverty and food insecurity, with nearly half of children under five years old suffering from chronic malnutrition. The local people have always subsisted on hunting wildlife for food, and as Madagascar’s wildlife population declines, the people who rely on so-called bushmeat to survive are struggling more and more. People are literally starving.

Our conservation team thought about this a lot. They had initially intended to focus efforts on education but came to understand that this is not an issue arising from a lack of knowledge. For these people it is a question of survival. It doesn’t matter how many times a foreigner tells you not to eat an animal you’ve hunted your entire life, if your child is starving you are going to do everything in your power to keep your family alive.

So the vets changed course. Rather than focus efforts on simply teaching people about lemurs, they decided to try and use veterinary medicine to reduce the underlying issue of food insecurity. They supposed that if a reliable protein source could be introduced for the people who needed it, the dependence on meat from wildlife would greatly decrease. So they got to work establishing new flocks of chickens in the most at-risk communities, and also initiated an aggressive vaccination program for Newcastle disease (an infectious illness of poultry that is of particular concern in this area). They worked with over 600 households to ensure appropriate husbandry and vaccination for every flock, and soon found these communities were being transformed by the introduction of a steady protein source. Families with a healthy flock of chickens were far less likely to hunt wild animals like lemurs, and fewer kids went hungry. Thats what we call a win-win situation.

This chicken vaccine program became just one small part of an amazing conservation outreach initiative in Madagascar that puts local people at the center of everything they do. Helping these vulnerable communities of people helps similarly vulnerable wildlife, always. If we go into a country guns-blazing with that fire for conservation in our hearts and a plan to save native animals, we simply cannot ignore the humans who live around them. Doing so is counterintuitive to creating an effective plan because whether we recognize it or not, humans and animals are inextricably linked in many ways. A true conservation success story is one that doesn’t leave needy humans in its wake, and that is why I think this particular story has stuck with me for so long.

(Source 1)

(Source 2- cool video exploring this initiative from some folks involved)

(Source 3)

[handforthstudy]

Unfortunately, I don’t have citations, but I have heard about the same phenomenon through Nat Geo Live presentations in the Amazon and Serengeti. Most individuals who are poachers or use slash-and-burn farming are doing this out of survival, not ignorance or greed. They have families to feed and children who will starve if they don’t find food or money. As OP said, fixing the human suffering fixes the conservation issue and is a win-win, while preaching conservation to starving people does nothing.

But on top of that, you know who the most ardent conservationists are once security has been achieved? The people who had once been forced to poach or slash-and-burn to survive. You know who’s great at tracking down gorilla poachers? Ex-poachers. Who’s good at understanding and advocating for people forced to do these things to survive? Ex-poachers. Who can convince others to take a chance on finding a better way to survive? Same answer.

It is win-win-win. As ecologists, conservationists, and environmentalists we must get out of our ivory towers of knowledge, stop carrying them into the field, and remember humans are part of the ecosystem too. And that sustainable change will never happen if human needs aren’t addressed.

[buttons-beads-lace]

I also love this story about the arapaima in Brazil. They increased the population of this endangered giant fish literally a hundred times over- from 3,000 to 300,000- by ending the total ban on arapaima fishing and instead creating legal fishing organizations. The fishing organization members get trained on how do population counts and determine how many fish they can take while still leaving enough for the population to grow.

The former illegal fishers are now sought-after experts, because they know how to spot the arapaima and tell juveniles apart from adults. They get to keep practicing the fishing skills that were passed down to them. The actual process of fishing is easier because they can work together and don't have to sneak around. The profits are higher because they can sell the fish openly to restaurants and to the public. The fishing organization members make sure that other people in their communities don't fish illegally. And the numbers of arapaima keep going up and up, so there's plenty to go around even as more people join the fishing organizations.

If you click all the way through to the report from the conservation org that started the fishing organizations project, there are quotes from fishing organization members:

"We built a second house and I'm putting my oldest two kids through college on the money we get from fishing."

"Nowadays you have young people walking around with pockets full of cash saying "I got 6,000 from fishing this year!" It used to be you wouldn't even get 50 reais of pocket money."

"At the first harvest after we started the fishing organization, I saw full-grown arapaima for the first time, really big ones like they're supposed to be. Before, I had only heard about how big they could get. That's when I knew that our work was paying off and we could keep moving forward."

[karizard-ao3]

I havent kept up with sxf in a long time. Why is he trying to poison Yor?

I'll answer below the cut since it will include manga spoilers.

So, he is not actually trying to poison her. His goal is to tranquilize her.

Due to some recent events, he and Yor are at her brother, Yuri's, work party. He works for the secret police, but it is a secret so the officers at the party are pretending they work for a different department together since some of the guests (such as Loid and Yor) are civilians. Thus, it would be very bad if anyone were to acknowledge that most of the partygoers are members of the SSS.

Unfortunately, earlier in the manga Loid impersonated one of the officers who happens to be at the party and confronted Yor to check if she worked for the SSS like her brother. So, there is a risk that she would recognize the guy and, because she can be a little ditzy, mention that they met before and how. That would expose that he had been impersonated and possibly lead them to investigate the people close to Yor and discover Twilight's identity. So, Twilight is very, very motivated to get Yor and leave the party.

However, for various reasons, it is not as simple as making an excuse and going. So, in a panic, he decides that his only option is to hit her with a tranquilizer dart hidden inside his watch. Once she passes out, he can claim she's had too much to drink and say he'd better get her home. Unfortunately, she has an amazing sixth sense for attacks and a superhuman tolerance for poison, drugs, and the like, which he is not aware of, so his attempts fail.

[flipspring]

The Murderbot Diaries Starmap! ✨🧭

Routes Traveled by Murderbot:

Port FreeCommerce - Unnamed Station in Mihira & New Tideland System: [unknown time]

Mihira & New Tideland - RaviHyral: 21 cycles

RaviHyral - [Unnamed]: 7 cycles

[Unnamed] - HaveRatton: 26 cycles

HaveRatton - Milu: 20 cycles

HaveRatton - "hub station": 7 cycles

"hub station" - TranRollinHyfa: 4 cycles

Preservation - NE Survey Planet: 4 Preservation cycles

Preservation - Adamantine Colony: 20 cycles

Other Locations:

All Systems Red Survey Planet

Divarti Cluster: Tapan's collective is from this noncorporate polity.

Kalidon: Corporate Rim political entity where company funding Ganaka was based.

GoodNightLander Independent's home polity: Noncorporate, ownership of SecUnits banned.

Parthalos Absalo: Noncorporate.

WayBrogatan: Indie station.

Network Effect Survey Planet.

Station from the short story Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy.

UplandGateway One: Nearest station to the Mihira & New Tideland system. Corporate charters say stations are supposed to be independent/sovereign territory.

Planetary Torus.

I tried making noncorporate polities warm-colored and corporate ones cool-colored. But not sure I got that all right, and sometimes it's ambiguous.

Thank you to mensah for sharing their transit time notes with me!

[zer0caffeine]

Original post by @morallygrayautisticscientist here, this post was so funny I decided to draw it lol.

Panel by panel below:

[beauisokfornow]

John warriorcats

[goldensonata]

ok maybe ill start posting art again

original text:

WARNING! DANGER!! this cat is to be avoided and not touched. it is cranky and has a bad attitude. IT SCRATCHES!!

murderbot version text:

this secunit is to be avoided and not conversed with. it is cranky and has a bad attitude IT FLIPS YOU OFF!!

[specialagentartemis]

Grace and Rocky, giving a tour of the Hail Mary to fascinated Eridian scientists and diplomats.

Pointing at things and explaining what they are and how the ship works, lots of awed and appreciative noises are made.

Until one of the visiting Eridians points out a specific item. “And that?”

It’s a strange, circular thing, a xenonite disk mounted upright on some sort of pivot so it can spin freely, but around the edges it has… spokes? Pegs? Sticking out of it, that hit against a stiff flap that would slow down the spinning.

It is also separated into sections decorated with crude etchings of a human and an Eridian.

“Ah,” Grace says.

“That,” Rocky says.

“That’s. Um.” Grace seems somewhat embarrassed. “That’s the sacrifice wheel.”

The Eridian visitors clearly do not know what to make of that. “We think we misunderstood Savior Grace’s word,” they say, apparently hoping this is a vocabulary mix-up. “Explain (question, polite)?”

“Didn’t misunderstand,” says Rocky, sounding very sheepish. “That is sacrifice wheel.”

“So. While we were on our way to Erid, we might have gotten… anxious about each other’s well-being,” Grace says, which everyone is already very aware is a wild understatement. “And, well, you heard what happened at Tau Ceti, and after. There were a lot of unexpected dangers for the whole trip that required a lot of, at least, attempted self-sacrifice to solve. We ended up almost dying for each other several times. And we had an argument about what we’d do if another crisis like that came up. And we couldn't agree.”

“Grace argued that Grace already was unlikely to survive long-term on Erid, so he should be the one to do any potential deadly but necessary maneuvers to make sure I was able to bring taumoeba back,” Rocky says.

“Which made sense.”

“Did not make sense! Grace already sacrificed so much for me and for Erid, wouldn’t be fair to make you do it again—“ Rocky cuts himself off with a huff. They have obviously had this conversation before. “So sacrifice wheel was compromise.”

“Yeah,” Grace says. He spins it to demonstrate; it whirls around in a blur and a rattle of the flap hitting the pegs, then eventually slows down, and stops—pointing at the segment depicting a very bad but very clear image of an Eridian. “Rocky made the wheel, I spin the wheel, and whoever it lands on, that’s who gets to sacrifice themself to save the other and the other person does not get to argue. This way, we wouldn’t waste time debating who does the self-sacrifice and who survives, it’s just a plain fifty-fifty chance. Or, eighteen-eighteen chance in base six. But the point is it could be either of us and we would have to accept the outcome.”

Rocky started fidgeting while Grace was explaining. When Grace finishes, proud of the equitable solution they came up with to allow them to die for each other fairly, Rocky says, “Now that we are back and we don’t need sacrifice wheel anymore… I have confession to make. About the wheel.”

“What about the wheel?”

Rocky doesn’t answer. Grace frowns, first confused, then suspicious, and spins the wheel again.

It lands on Rocky again.

He spins the wheel again, and again, and again, and it lands on Rocky every single time.

“Rocky!”

“I weighted the wheel,” Rocky admits.

“Rocky the whole point was that it was equal, that was why we even made it—“

“Never was necessary so doesn’t matter anymore!”

“But you WOULD have!”

“And you never noticed because you were hungry and cranky and distracted and so would have done bad job on heroic self-sacrifice anyway!”

“I would not! I would have done fine!”

(The Eridian scientists and diplomats are still here watching this btw. Slowly dawning on them that 1) these two are extremely not normal about each other 2) if Erid ever does another space mission they NEED to send a therapist aboard because this is what happens when they don’t)

[dendrochilums]

imagine with me the beautiful moment when mb was first introduced/around Nanna Naja and people were just calling her Nanna so it assumed that was her name and it also casually called her that and Mensah privately had a bit of an "oh my god awwwww this is the sweetest thing I've ever heard it is a part of my family" moment but then it figured out what the name Nanna means and is too embarrassed to do it again

[daftpatience]

burgerbot i would do anythign for yoyu

[lunarblazes]

after a lifetime of hearing about aragorn but not reading the books or watching the movies, genuinely nothing could have prepared me for his actual introduction. the hobbits picked this man out of a dumpster. he is a textbook softspoken angst prince and he is covered in dirt and he probably smells so bad. he’s the coolest man alive and is so casual about it. his number one skill is Knowing Where They Are and his number two skill is Having A Horrible Destiny That Torments Him. tolkien got it in one i’m afraid aragorn son of arathorn you are the guy of all time

[miss-nerd-alert]

And then the movies went and understood the assignment by casting Viggo Mortensen.

Described by legendary fight choreographer and Olympic fencer Bob Anderson as “the best swordsman I’ve ever trained”, and insisted on using a real steel sword to get the movement right. Actually bonded with the horses he rode and worked with over the course of filming. Was noted by cast members as being the natural leader of the actors when they were together. Went hiking and fishing in full costume for the sake of authenticity, even repairing damage to the costumes himself to better convey the life of a self-reliant ranger. Actually learned Sindarin, and speaks it more frequently in the films than any other character including the elves. Is an actual polyglot, speaking four languages fluently and having a passing knowledge of six more. Personally composed and performed music for the soundtrack.

They needed someone to play the guy of all time, and they actually GOT the guy of all time.

[ryttu3k]

Didn't just bond with the horses, he bought the horse that played Brego after the movie. (He also bought the horse that Arwen's stunt double rode for her.)

During the fight with the orcs at the end of Fellowship, one of the orcs is meant to throw a knife at Aragorn. There was a mix-up with the props and the orc actor threw an actual knife instead of the blunt prop. Mortensen casually managed to block it with his sword anyway.

As well as hand-repairing his costume, he also was the one who suggested Aragorn have a small bow for hunting, since he lived in the wilderness and would need one. No one else had thought of it.

It was also his suggestion to take Boromir's arm guards and make everyone cry.

He and Peter Jackson once had a whole conversation where Jackson called him 'Aragorn'. Neither of them noticed for about half an hour.