The Land of Mist and Confusion @gildedamnesiac - Tumblr Blog

Posts

unnamed-form

not a wolf, not a dog, but a secret third thing

to-be-called

s-t-a-r-c-o

im reading discworld and im on the third book and i only just realized they arent arranged like this

sator-the-wanderer

I raise it to

nattousan

i'm in agony, SOMEbody please help me remember what the childhood book series was that centered around critters that looked like this:

IM IN HELL WHAT WAS IT

hrrkikshoard

Little Critter?

nattousan

THATS THE BITCH

nattousan

alright smart-aleks, what about THIS one huh?? the dude had a really cool shading technique where he just swirled (colored pencil?) around??

cosmignon

Parts :)

nattousan

YOU GUYS ARE TOO GOOD AT THIS WHAT THE HELL

nattousan

ok my partner wanted in on this, I have no idea what this is

thecrabscycle

I GOT YOU

nattousan

i'm never leaving this fucking site i stg i love you all.

final one

for all the marbles,

this one doesn't have an illustration bc i think it was just a kids novel but i haven't been able to find ANYTHING about it on my occasional internet queries:

kids is staying with his (grandmother?) in the woods and she warns him not to look a fox in the eyes bc they're tricksy and will swap places with you. obviously that's the first thing the little boy does and gets body snatched by a fox who uhhhh proceeds to pig out with his new little boy human hands and the boy has to trick the fox into looking him in the eyes again to switch back...

thats all i got, it's an older book i wanna say from the 60's?? 70's?? kinda the same jist of "Little Rascal"

dyketennant

perhaps this?

nattousan

A DECADE OF SEARCHING THANK YOU @dyketennant IM ORDERING THIS IMMEDIATELY

nattousan

ok i lied i'm back bc this is fun and i get to share some of my most deeply cherished childhood books with you all

i cannot express how much these are from memory, that's how internalized these artists and writers have become, they're a part of me now

cryptid-of-ohio

The first one looks like The Spider and the Fly, though the poses are a bit different.

The second one is likely Stellaluna.

I’m not sure about the third one, I will keep searching.

cryptid-of-ohio

I think I found the third one, though I’m the least confident about this one. Is it Creature Tech?

Unfortunately it doesn’t have a praying mantis on the cover :(

nattousan

m1male2

Palacio de Cristal, Parque de El Retiro, Madrid, España

calliyx

thestuffedalligator

Human Is is a 1955 Philip K. Dick sci-fi short story where a guy goes to another planet for work and when he comes back to Earth his personality has flipped from an asshole to a sweet, kind, considerate man. Everyone's immediately convinced that an alien has taken over his body, this goes all the way to court, and in court his wife testifies that she's noticed no changes at all and so the charges are dropped.

And then there's a bit right at the end of the story as the wife and the husband are walking out of court:

Jill turned abruptly. "What is your name? Your real name."

The man's gray eyes flickered. He smiled a little, kind, gentle smile. "I'm afraid you would not be able to pronounce it. The sounds cannot be formed..."

Jill was silent as they walked along, deep in thought. The city lights were coming on all around them. Bright yellow spots in the gloom. "What are you thinking?" the man asked.

"I was thinking perhaps I will still call you Lester," Jill said. "If you don't mind."

"I don't mind," the man said. He put his arm around her, drawing her close to him. He gazed down tenderly as they walked through the thickening darkness, between the yellow candles of light that marked the way. "Anything you wish. Whatever will make you happy."

And I. God. There's something there. A soupcon of monsterfuckery. To tell your partner in a moment of intimacy that yes, you're something so inhuman that the lips you're stealing can't speak your actual name. You're a parasite that not only had the ability to burrow under this man's skin and take over his life, but you were so desperate to escape a dead, dry, blasted planet that you did.

And for your partner to then turn around and go "I know, I've always known, and I love you" is just. God I know it's not a great Dick story but something about it is making me lose my mind

inthefallofasparrow

It was adapted into a TV episode with Bryan Cranston.

cameoappearance

werewolf-transgenderism

only 62 more frogs until we hit 8,000 species described. the moment we've all been waiting for

werewolf-transgenderism

there are an average of about 150 new amphibian species described per year so I remain hopeful that 2026 will be the year of 8,000 frogs

werewolf-transgenderism

I do love that somebody tagged tumblr's own frog scientist on this post. chop chop dr scherz, we've got 62 more frogs to discover and you're the only frog scientist any of us knows

werewolf-transgenderism

GUYS amphibian species of the world is still at 7,994 species of frog BUT amphibiaweb is at 8,008 species of frog, and do you know who is a co-author on the 8,000th species of frog there???? TUMBLR'S OWN FROG SCIENTIST DR SCHERZ

markscherz

thats-no-moon-lesbian

Is the discrepancy due to taxonomic arguments between lumpers and splitters/the validity of cryptic species/subspecies or do the websites just have different policies for updating the numbers?

markscherz

Both, actually! Amphibian Species of the World (ASW) is pretty much exclusively updated by one man, Darrel Frost, and consequently has a rather consistent, if sometimes somewhat particular, taxonomic perspective (this means he looks at the quality of taxonomic works and assesses them before adding them to the database). In contrast, AmphibiaWeb is maintained by a much larger team, and they seem to be less exacting on the whole about which new species are added to their database (and also somewhat less consistent when it comes to updating across the database after there have been major taxonomic changes).

But fundamentally the two databases serve different purposes: ASW is a 'real' taxonomic database, providing detailed reports on taxonomically relevant details like specimen numbers, original publication data, discourse around subsequent taxonomic changes, etc. In contrast, AmphibiaWeb is a knowledge resource: it is aimed at basically being a non-Wikipedia source for accounts of species, giving lots of biologically relevant details like their biology, ecology, anatomy, etc., but keeping taxonomically-relevant details to a minimum. These are very different functions, and it is for this reason that I generally follow ASW and not AmphibiaWeb when it comes to things like species counts.

It pains me to share that I missed out on managing to also nab the 8000th frog species on ASW by TWO species! The actual 8000th species was apparently Oreolalax wumengmontis.

So, onward to number 9000!

blumineck

Shooting through some axes like that guy in that film.

blumineck

(Yes I know this isn’t how it should look, but today I’m here to talk about the version a lot of people have just watched)

Because the alternative is that I try to get my thoughts out and end up with a 38 minute YouTube breakdown of all the things I liked and disliked about the archery in the film

markscherz

do u like frogs

yeah like a pretty normal amount I think

catsofyore

Gorgeous cabinet card from my collection, likely 1890s.

catasters

idontgettechnology

The time of his life.

sadmac356

The cat very much thinks this is a fun game with the human!

anaryllis

reminders i need to like, tattoo on my brain:

1. if you feel judged and hurt by others, try sleeping

2. if you feel judgmental and resentful of others, try eating (the classics)

3. if you feel uncomfortable, try showering

4. if you feel directionless and afraid, go sit outside for a bit and maybe then you'll calm down. maybe even a walk if youre feelin crazy

5. take it easy, but by god, take it

anaryllis

oh and how could i forget. final boss. take your fucking medication

charlesoberonn

America has a weird relationship with cults where they’re terrified of small cults (or organizations they think are cults) but completely normalized massive cults that hurt many more people (eg: LDS Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Amish, Scientology, most Megachurches)

charlesoberonn

To anybody asking if the Amish are a cult, the answer is yes, very much so.

They’re a high control group that isolate you from society. The cult decides how you dress, how you behave, who you marry and how. They control what you know, blocking all information from the outside world. They control how you feel and what you’re allowed to think with threats of both social and supernatural harm. They’re a cult.

charlesoberonn

The best method to determine if a group is a cult, in my opinion, is Steven Hassan’s (cult expert and former cult member himself) BITE model.

BITE stands for Behavior Control, Information Control, Thought Control, and Emotional Control.

The more points a group “scores” on the model, the more of a cult it is.

I think this model is the best one for several reasons:

It’s more nuanced than “cult” or “not cult” and doesn’t make false equivalences between groups

It’s versatile, applying to groups big and small, and cults of all kinds, religious, political, financial, etc.

It focuses on what’s important, which is what the cult does to its members, and those members’ experiences, and not on irrelevant details like how uncommon their doctrines are or whether they have a charismatic leader

charlesoberonn

This is a great example of Thought Control used by cults whenever they’re confronted with criticism.

saxifraga-x-urbium

#you might notice that there are a lot of similarities between cult techniques and those of abusive partners#and that is an important thing to be aware of

yah that goes in the post

charlesoberonn

The creator of the BITE Model considers abusive relationships to be two-person cults.

forgotn1

It’s important to note that almost every sect of evangelical christianity in the US today fails the BITE Model.

alp-crispy

This was the post that lead to breaking my JW mindset. Been a while since I seen it.

charlesoberonn

I’m glad I could help in your deconstruction, if only a little bit. I wish you all the luck in your journey moving forward.

tuulikki

And to highlight a key aspect of the “two-person cult” dynamic:

Not all high-control groups are religious. Secular cults exist.

I’d strongly recommend reading this brief bio of Janja Lalich. She’s a deprogramming therapist, but she’s also a cult survivor from a political cult.

proudfreakmetarusonikku

high control groups can also form in friend groups and online! any social group can theoretically be a high control enviroment that’s abusive. any group can be a cult if someone uses that group to control and abuse others.