Primarily a fandom blog; I'm wallowing in GOTG right now but who knows where I'll go. Probability of random biology rants: extremely high. Went by Sci for years and still do elsewhere; this is my shiny new fandom pseud because my main one is slowly getting attached to my legal name. My home base is on Dreamwidth. You can find me on the AO3 as grison, too. Non-fannish stuff is at @grison-in-labs. She/her, please.
real sorry for all the new folks following me this week, as I am driven underwater by the weight of lab chaos and have very little energy for much else except sudden hyperfocused text dumps at the moment
hi my bio is about three years out of date, I go long stretches of time posting nothing and occasionally lunge out of the shadows to produce a long and deeply nerdy commentary on some other poor bastard’s years-old OP. I’m not updating the bio. it’s been a long week and I am tired.
that this has finally happened to me is some kind of regretful cosmic irony, especially because it was really quite well described and explained costuming detail work, and I’m mad I don’t have the specialist knowledge to do such a thing half so well as redhorsedawn did.
those of you who are here from the giraffe thing last week, you’re more likely to luck out and get more of that moving forward; I am in fact a working biolo--aw motherfucker probably I’m supposed to call myself a neuroscientist now? ew, fuck that. I’m a behavioral ecologist in a trenchcoat lurking in a neuroscience lab which is pretending real hard that it belongs in the Psychology department of my current institution for funsies. I got a lot of big opinions about biology and animal behavior, and my training and inclination tends to be more on the “how do we understand animals within their own context, and how can we decode their communication and experiences” side of things and not so much the “how can we use animal cognition as a model to understand humans?” side. most of my actual day to day work right now is either coding or ferrying tiny little mice back and forth from their home cages to the place where they get to play video games in exchange for slurps of milkshake. they seem to like that sort of thing. me, I like the coding better, but we’ve been pretty short staffed lately.
I am interested in a bunch of other shit that isn’t so much about animal behavior or brains too in terms of nonfiction and am equally likely to lunge out of the bushes to rave about: sexuality, gender shit, disability, human history and how it relates to these things, human social and community dynamics, asexual community history (motherfucker I was there when we argued about the shade of purple to put in the ace flag; you bring ace exclusionism into my space and I will make fun of you as publicly as I know how) and occasionally how to spot TERFs/why radfem shit is enticing. I do not tolerate TERF shit, and I do not bother with DNIs: my version is that when TERFs reblog my crap I make them wish they had a DNI for me. the thing about posting all my non-fannish stuff to @grison-in-labs is a lie; I always forget what goes to what blog and confuse the streams, so unfortunately the only way to interact with me is to put up with an occasional firehose of content. sorry. I also can’t tag for shit.
those of you who are here from the “no actually Jaskier is a fairly burly dude who merely puts deliberate effort into being perceived as small and non-threatening and fuckable” side of things are--well look my fannish posts tend to be few and far between unless I’m actively trying to riff with someone or interacting. if you want that shit you gotta talk to me and my entire workplace is currently a rolling tire fire, so.... yeaaaaaaah, I’ve been distractable. uh, my partner @coffee-mage-sans-caffeine is writing a big ol’ Witcher fandom novel, and I beta for my buddy @abeautifulblog sometimes. I fear writing fiction myself and generally don’t bother, but I will meta until the cows come home; lob me a fun idea and I’ll chew on it with delight. I can overthink anything.
generally if you talk to me and are friendly I will talk to you and be friendly back; I do not count followers and will not notice if you read this whole thing and fuck off into the night, but I wanted to let y’all know what you were getting into. again though: I cannot consistently remember tags, I am sorry, but I am rolling in with metaphorical Starbucks--worst fucking nerfed ADHD ever I swear to fuck--and doin’ my best here. I do believe very strongly in de-escalation; if there’s a conflict and you didn’t mean to make one happen, and you try to communicate with me in good faith, I’ll try and listen pretty much every time.
motherfucker, the pizza is burning. should probably eat.
I don't disagree it's possible to vote out fascists, but I think the real question is whether this accomplishes anything beyond giving them a couple terms' vacation before they can slip back in and pick up right where they left off. Especially in the USA where it seems no amount of Repub fuckups can ever actually put their chances of winning below 50%
I mean it accomplishes getting them out of office, which is extremely fucking important, and then, yes, you have to keep campaigning and voting against them for the rest of your life. There is no one election that is going to #own the other party into not existing anymore.
We vote in every election forever. That is how this works.
If you get tired of that, the fascists are happy to provide an alternative.
By the way it's like. Really fucked how society's thoughts on epilepsy is just "get over it." Seizures can cause permanent brain damage. Seizures can kill people. Seizures hurt like hell. Allow me to reiterate that seizures can kill people. And you're just gonna casually put flashing lights, a common trigger for seizures in your advertisement, in your animation meme, in your edit, on your billboards, without even thinking about putting a simple disclaimer? That's unbelievable. Your little anime edit could deadass cost a life and you're not gonna put a warning because it's "inconvenient" or "people like that shouldn't be on the internet" (ableist) (the problem exists outside the internet also). Or you'll give insufficient ones like putting it in the captions or only giving like one second before the flashing lights appear, meaning that the trigger's already in motion before anyone who needs the warning can read it and save themselves from literal physical danger.
We need to start commenting under other people's posts about how to properly warn for flashing lights and eyestrain. We need to be emailing and calling companies about their possibly triggering advertisements that could induce seizures. We need to stop tolerating ableism and start speaking up for the more vulnerable.
Also, stop putting epilepsy warnings. That's like saying "warning: schizophrenia" on a post including unreality or "warning: dyslexia" on a post with a typing quirk. First off, the disability mentioned isn't the only group of people that this could trigger. Second, it doesn't truly get the message across and instead makes it worse for those with the disability-- scrolling through the epilepsy tag on Tumblr should get you to view the content of other epileptic people, but no, you just get a bunch of flashing lights and eyestrain, even though you could instead tag for, oh I dunno, flashing lights and eyestrain.
Anyways this Disability Pride, and for every month that comes after, think about epileptic people and others who are triggered by flashing lights/eyestrain. Happy pride to those who experience seizures too frequently due to the unaccommodating and ableist societies we live in!
everyone needs to hear about the situation in india right now. the youth of this nation are going through hell and back to protect the foundations that our country was built on in the first place, while the adults who are supposed to actually be in charge try to silence our voices.
NEET, which is an exam taken by millions of students per year and is the ONLY gateway for medical admissions across the country, had its papers leaked. so many took their lives because this exam meant everything for their future. and NTA, the agency who conducts this exam, was not held accountable.
there was national backlash. cockroach janta party (initially a satirical political party formed by abhijeet dipke in retaliation to the remarks of the chief justice of india calling the youth "cockroaches" and "parasites of society") started protests at jantar mantar, demanding the resignation of the union education minister, dharmendra pradhan. the movement also asked for ten million inr (~100,000 usd) in compensation for the families of students who died by suicide and wanted NTA be held accountable.
sonam wangchuk, a climate activist and education reformer, also went on a hunger strike at jantar mantar to protest against this corruption in india's higher education system. his fast began on june 28, demanding the resignation of the union education minister. his fast lasted for 20 days until delhi police FORCIBLY removed him and admitted him to safdarjung hospital on july 18.
because of this, cockroach janta party announced "chalo sansad," a march to the parliament beginning on june 20th, 9:00 am ist. but the police seems to be responding with water cannons, mobile jammers, and baton charge. all of this, because of a peaceful protest led by people no older than 30.
and yet there has been absolutely no indian media coverage about a movement that spans the entirety of this nation. so, please, if you see this, keep talking about us. we will not let those old bastards stoop any lower than they've already had. we will not let them ruin our country any further. we will not be silenced
Please look it up. Students have been beaten bloody. They’re using electrified batons. They’re using batons with nails hammered in. They’re dragging people off and locking them up for no reason. People are being beaten, assaulted, and even molested by the police.
The government is doing everything it can except for actually having an honest dialogue with the protestors.
It’s important to note that despite all the police brutality, despite how the government has had extra forces airlifted to Delhi to help quash the protest, this has deterred no one.
Not only is the protest in Delhi going strong, the government closed down every metro station in Central Delhi in an effort to stop them and it still hasn’t.
There’s protests in most major cities in India in solidarity. Palakkad, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kochi, and probably more besides. There has been a protest in the UK as well in solidarity.
People who aren’t at the protest are donating so much food that the organisers have had to ask them to stop doing so because there’s more than enough. In lieu of that people are donating money for medicine, lawyers, cleanup, and umbrellas.
Most crucially, hopes aren’t broken. Spirits aren’t broken. People with bruises and broken bones are still showing up. People are showing up cosplaying as freedom fighters and super heroes and a dinosaur. People are doxxing goons who show up trying to incite violence. People are making reels. People in Mumbai literally opened a moving police detainment van to allow arrested students to escape.
*all links lead to Instagram posts or reels showing the same. Almost every major Indian news network has been bought and either ignores the protests or depicts them unfairly. All honest news comes from people on the ground and smaller independent news outlets.
Character has a PhD: they’re really smart and knowledgable about their field!
Character has 2 PhDs: either they did a dual degree program and are braggy about it, had a life-changing experience after their first degree and pivoted their whole career, or they find the structure of being a PhD student, despite all its stress, more comfortable and familiar than the stress of finding a Real Job and have a very indulgent advisor.
Character has 3 PhDs: who keeps accepting them to PhD programs. Either this person needs psychological help or their department needs to be investigated for its academic standards. Probably both
Character has 4+ PhDs: if they aren’t an undercover vampire or something then no they don’t lol
Alternatively: this character is some kind of rock star celebrity in their field and has a bunch of honorary degrees from several different institutions, and also this story takes place before most universities adopted a separate postnominal for honorary doctorates specifically to avoid this sort of confusion.
I mean, a PHD. is just a piece of paper that attests that experts in a field have confirmed you as a fellow expert. Is it so inconceivable that the person applying for a phd. already has practical knowledge of the field in question and thus doesn't have to commit as much time toward its aquisition?
Yes, because that’s not really what a PhD is. A PhD isn’t a certification that you’re an expert, per se; a PhD means you have been through a graduate program and learned how to do original research in an academic setting. It means you have gained a lot of expertise in a certain topic, but much more importantly, it shows that you understand the academic process of how to design, conduct, and publish research in that topic. It confirms you as a fellow academic who knows what you’re doing. The important point is that these skills are highly transferrable—you generally do not need to learn to do research again, unless the field is very different from your degree (e.g., literature and biology have very different research expectations). Once you have a PhD, you just go out there and… do research now. If you already have practical knowledge of the field in question you don’t go through the whole learning-and-certification process again, you just go do research.
This is also why the 'honorary degree' reading does not make me inclined to respect the character at all. I don't give a shit whether the character is the second coming of Jesus Christ or equivalent in their field, bruiting honorary PhDs around as equivalent to the kind you have to earn when you've already earned a regular PhD is the action of a grifter or a highly inflated ego. Because that's the kind of thing you do when you want to use the title for clout specifically and exclusively with people who have no idea what a PhD is.
In my experience, one of the reasons the idea of "brain gender" is such a persistent gremlin even in ostensibly progressive spaces is that a lot of folks haven't really abandoned the bioessentialist framework of gender, they've just modified it to include trans people, and trans-inclusive bioessentialism falls apart if brain gender isn't real.
as a single, neutral action outside of systems that take to produce it, i really don't think there is any more moral value to not eating meat than there is from eating meat. ultimately, it's morals based so it will vary person to person, but the idea of not eating meat because we are somehow superior to other animals that also eat meat rubs me the wrong way in the same way as people who claim total dominion over animals because an old book says so.
like, it just boils down to the idea that "humans are superior to animals" for both cases. i just don't think any good comes from thinking of humans as somehow totally separate from animals. be that being "we are superior to animals so we should have total control over them" or "we are superior to animals so we should never, ever interact with them."
I think there is also a fear/loathing of death inherent in the idea that eating meat is inherently immoral for many people. which is a shame: death is part of life, is part of nature, is part of the cycle of any ecology you care to name. and this idea that humans as moral actors must stand in total opposition to death is another piece of the puzzle that sees humans as essentially dissociated from nature.
Once again yelling on my soap box about how you don’t GET to love my posts on the beauty and complexity of butch identity and queering masculinity if you don’t support trans men and transmasculine people.
Butch identity doesn’t just go hand in hand with trans manhood and transmasculinity: they are chosen family, they’re friends and comrades, lovers and beloved.
If you deny the lived experiences of trans men and transmasculine people you don’t get to pretend like you see the beauty in the complexity of butchness.
Fuck you, fuck off, you don’t get to claim you love me while you hate my closest kin.
wish online communities discussing autism in women weren't like, doing their best to contribute to the false perception there's a distinct Autism For Boys and Autism For Girls, when the whole time it's just social enforcement of gender roles influencing behavior
there's this weird thing people fall into online a lot, where people assume that if the [perceived-to-be-inferior] version of [activity] is discouraged then people will, naturally, do [perceived-to-be-superior] version of [activity] instead. When really it's just as (or more) likely that if [perceived-to-be-inferior] version of [activity] is discouraged people just won't do it at all.
audiobook listeners are not necessarily people who would otherwise do a lot of traditional reading if audiobooks did not exist, many are people who simply would experience zero books. Booktok romance readers would not necessarily be reading the classics if booktok did not exist, many of them would simply not read. Fanfiction writers would not necessarily be novelists if fanfic wasn't an option, many would just be people who didn't write. You know?
the weird looks i get from people when i say i feed my dogs purina is so funny like im sorry im not jumping on the salmonella train or the "give your dogs REAL food that makes their pancreas kill itself" train
"b-but purina is owned by nestle" don't make me tap the sign
nestle owns fucking everything and the simple reality is that most of the brands of anything, not just pet food, that are anywhere close to affordable are owned by the same 5 evil megacorporations
and in the case of petfood, the smaller brands not owned by evil megacorps are often not researched as well.
if your main position is "i don't know how you people can support harm reduction. as for me, i'm for harm abolition. no i don't have a plan. no actually i mostly just bitch at people advocating for harm reduction as a way of making myself look pure" your opinions on political strategy are irrelevant and you yourself are beneath contempt you need to examine your beliefs, your need to feel righteous, your actual impact on the world, and how you can go about making an impact that aligns with your beliefs.
If you really believe harm is bad, and eliminating harm is a worthy goal, you have to start with small steps: eliminate a small harm, not all harms all at once. Reduce a great harm a little, perhaps by helping one individual impacted by that harm, and then another individual, and another... You cannot tackle all harm at once; you must take smaller bites. Set this reality against your need to feel right & correct & pure & perfect. Reducing some harm instead of all harm is not failure! You are not a failure! You may fail now and again, but failing once or twice or ten thousand times doesn't change the fact that you can still try again and succeed! You are not a failure even when you fail to reach your impossible goal of perfection.
You may not be able to complete the work of eliminating harm. But you can do your part to work toward that goal, reducing harm where you can. Your work layered with all the work of everyone who came before you, everyone who works beside you, and everyone who picks up the work when you set it down--all this work layered into making things besmal--that's a goal both possible and worth fighting for.
Weasels in Space @grison-in-space - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
