Steam Powered Monster

The last lonely wildebeest trailing after the rest of the Great Dreamwidth Migration.

[micro-usb-deactivated20230625]

[heigraylake]

Oh shit, the plans leaked!

[copperbadge]

Visit Original Link

So, once upon a time I said, “If you can’t tell Captain America what you’re doing, you probably shouldn’t be doing it” and it inspired a poem by Catt Kingsgrave (aka theactualcluegirl​) which eventually led to this pre-release rough-draft single, The Ballad Of Captain America’s Disapproving Face (also available for listening here on SoundCloud). 

I guarantee you will never laugh this hard at any other song that opens with a riff on the Star Spangled Banner. Also there is, if I’m not mistaken, a kazoo cover of Star Spangled Man involved. 

Anyhow, Murder Ballads is working on an album, and if you like the song, consider throwing a few bucks their way to help get their album made.

(The accompanying image up there is by the astonishing Frogbillgo, but is not associated officially with the album.)

[stoatsandwich-blog-deactivated2]

This has come across my dash a number of times and I’ve never listened because I’m usually doing my Tumbling in circumstances when it would be inconvenient (either because everyone else is asleep or because I’m doing it in 15-second increments while also cooking and ensuring the kid doesn’t jump out the window), but I finally made the time and I do not regret it. Listen to this. Listen to it again. Giggle. I did.

[captainamerisarah]

Ladies and Gentleman And All,

My actual face trying to keep my shit together at work while listening:

[rembrandtswife]

This is *always* worth a reblog. Especially with omg-face pics attached. Yes, that *is* a kazoo cover of “Star-Spangled Man with a Plan” during the bridge.

[daredevilmeme]

Makes absolute and perfect sense to me!

[scarletmemewitch]

i feel guilty just listening to this and i haven’t even done anything wrong today!

[d-lewis-avengerwrangler]

Maybe it’s my general apathy towards campy music, or maybe it’s the immunity to Disapproving Looks that I’ve developed over the years, but I’m not really feeling convicted or whatever. Maybe it needs more cowbell?

[dum-meme]

It’s good advice, though!

[biggreenmememachine]

I’m going to have this playing in my lab later when he comes in…

[imagine-assembling-the-avengers]

 ….and then I died.

[cluegrrl]

Aaaand some reblogs are just pure self-indulgence. Ain’t sorry, neither.

[dungeonmastersconsortium]

Fucking outstanding

[prokopetz]

The way some folks react to being cautioned against anthropomorphising animal behaviour, I think there’s often a misunderstanding about precisely what sort of anthropomorphism we’re talking about.

Yes, it’s true that at one time, pure behaviourism – i.e., the notion that non-human animals are basically meat robots executing simple stimulus-response programs and have no subjective experience of reality – was the norm in animal behaviour studies, and any suggestion that non-human animals have an internal life would have been dismissed as anthropomorphism.

However, in this context, “at one time” basically means “the 1970s”; if you’re operating on the assumption that pure behaviourism is still the dominant paradigm in the study of animal behaviour, your understanding of the field is literally half a century out of date, and that’s typically not what’s meant when folks talk about anthropomorphism.

Rather, when folks say you shouldn’t anthropomorphise non-human animals, they’re not talking about assuming that animals are experiencing any motivation at all for the things that they do: they’re talking about assuming that animals are experiencing exactly the same motivation that a human would under comparable circumstances. The fact that a human and a non-human animal do the same thing in response to the same circumstance doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re doing it for the same reason, and failing to check your assumption they are can lead to some pretty serious problems.

[roach-works]

assuming a dog or a horse is being spiteful for refusing to perform on command, or a snake wants to cuddle when it’s trying to seek warmth, or a lizard is bored when it’s basking, is dangerous anthropomorphism. it’s not a bad thing to understand that animals are complex and deserve respect and consideration and empathy. it’s a good thing to try and figure out what animals want and try to give it to them! but it’s a bad thing to ever assume that they want what a human would want.

humans are primates and fairly unique primates, at that. we want stuff that even our closest cousin, the chimp, doesn’t always want. we can and should treat a hedgehog well, but we should take the time to learn what well is for an actual hedgehog and not for a tiny man with spikes on.

and so on.

[heigraylake]

I have live examples of this from just the other day:  The barn where I volunteer sometimes has some teen girls that also help out (more often than I do). One of the horses, who is known for being a bit of a feather-wit, started freaking out suddenly. Teen girl, assuming incorrectly that he was just being stubborn, told the little girl riding him to just give him a kick to get him moving again. It was only *after* he threw the paying customer that they realized he had a horsefly biting him. Teen girl was anthropomorphizing. She was attributing malicious intent to a horse who was reacting out of fear of pain. (customer kid was fine, btw)

The next day, I was on the trail with another group of customers. I saw a horsefly and warned them that their horses may act out if a fly lands on them. The horse isn’t being bad, and will calm down as soon as the bug is gone! Not two minutes later, one of the customers suddenly called out “Um... I think something’s wrong? my horse is being weird. his tail is going crazy!” Sure enough, there was a two inch horsefly biting his horse. (The thing was massive! I was riding drag and could see the black bug, *on a black horse* from four horses away.)  The trail leader was able to kill the fly, and the horse calmed right down. Having been educated about horse behavior, that rider was able to correctly deal with the same situation that got someone else thrown.

[glumshoe]

did anyone else get a weird thrill as a kid from correctly imitating Normal Kid Things

like I would drink a Coca Cola (hating every sensory moment) and feel excited about participating in a Normal activity. I listened to 20 second samples of Avril Lavigne songs at Barnes and Noble and think, “oh yes, this is what normal American children do, look at me, I’m doing it too”

[glumshoe]

8 year old me: [eats a slice of pizza]

8 year old me: “Wow. I’m doing it. I’m really doing it. I bet I seem just like a Normal Kid. I bet this looks natural, like I do it every day without even thinking about it. If those people see me eating this pizza they will think, ‘Wow, what a regular child! Just like the ones on TV!’”

[glumshoe]

Frankly I still do this, to some extent--back in 2019 I went out with a friend after work and sat there like “Wow, I am in a city, drinking wine at a bistro with a friend from work, having an engaging conversation about our dating lives. This is what Normal Adults do. Look at me, a Normal Adult! Like from TV!”

[sensiblereblogifposts]

Reblog if you are a Normal Adult, Like from TV

[heigraylake]

I hate wearing patterned shirts, or anything visually loud. Any time I wear something like that, I feel super self-conscious, like it is such a surprising thing to be wearing a Shirt With Flowers On It. Everyone should notice! I am Dressed Noticeably!

I can never tell if I am pleased or disappointed when people treat me the same as they always do.

[rowark]

(X)

@holdwine @evergrove is this accurate?? 🤣🤣

[gostaks]

I want to know how many little Barrayaran girls play cordelia by putting doll’s heads in shopping bags and carrying them around

[heigraylake]

When I was little, my mom read the Vorkosigan Saga (slightly edited) to my older sister as bed time stories. When they got to the dream sequence with Lt.(?) Merka’s head, my sister and I developed a game called “Merka Bowling”

removing the loose head of a favorite baby doll and using all our Ken dolls as pins,  we would bowl. The irregular shape of the “Merka doll”s head kept the game exciting.

My mom thought it was hilarious, but my grandma was un-amused. Something about appropriate ways to play with dolls? We figured that as long as the doll’s head went back on at the end of the game, it was all fine.

What I’m saying is that very great many Barrayaran little girls would probably play that game.

[imeverywoman420]

ppl will always say im a boomer for this but imagine how relaxing it must have been pre cell phones and social media... like u literally just get in ur car and go places. no need to constantly be connected n checking in Like i cant imagine how sexy that would have felt

[sashaforthewin]

Idk, playing phone tag with who you're meeting up with via third person you both know is home was annoying as shit, though. Had to bring quarters and find a payphone (luckily there were a lot, not like today) and call their mom and say 'hey, if they call you we said we would meet by the oak tree in the park but the whole park is closed, tell them to meet me outside of the Circle K a block away' and then you had to hope they called their mom to check if you had called.

This is why plans previous to cell phones were always so exact. Exact time and location to meet up or you might not find each other.

[heigraylake]

I remember being a teenager and my mom and I had a system to use the payphone without coins. I would call home doing the Collect Call thing, and when would say a quick phrase instead of my name, so the phone would ring on her end, and she when she answered, she would hear “{Ding} ‘HiMomPlansChangedI’mGoingTo A’sHouseInstead’ is calling Collect. Press # to accept charges and complete the call.” If she declined the call, it was fine and I could go. If she actually accepted the charge, it was because the answer was no, and she wanted to tell me why.

I also remember getting lost a lot on the way to vacation, if there was construction closing a road without clear detour signs and you didn’t know the area enough to recalculate your own route.

There are definite drawbacks to phone addiction, but the ability to GPS is really nice.

[lilacs-world]

If anyone ever tells me again that I'm not concentrating hard enough or I'm not focusing hard enough on doing my tasks or work or whatever, here watch this. No brain is the same and our ADHD brain looks different when focusing/concentrating!!!

©chalenejohnson on tiktok

[nikkitana]

Transcript

Chalene: We have very different brains.

Bret: Yes, we do. Very different.

Chalene: And we're gonna show you.

This is a SPECT, S-P-E-C-T of my husband's brain. This is his brain during focus of a--at a task that takes concentration. This is showing blood flow to the different areas of his brain when he has to focus and concentrate.

And this...is mine.

When I have to focus and concentrate on something I find boring, my brain literally goes to sleep.

Okay, when I was having that test, I knew I was being tested. So I was concentrating as hard as I possibly could. I was trying to focus, and that's what happens in the brain of someone with ADHD.

So when we say our brains work differently, we literally...

(quieter) What was I talking about?

[thescarletlibrarian]

Neurological condition is neurological, yo.

[weloveshortvideos]

[rehfan]

If you are having a bad day, please unmute.

(Huskie puppy doesn’t quite get the howling thing. Sounds like a baby babbling.)

[filbipott]

“Banana!”

[iamallrightfine]

* day is fixed* 

[chileananderson-deactivated2017]

ok. i super needed this.

[stellagibsonisalifeforce]

THIS. The whole world should watch this.

[historieofbeafts]

I know I make fun of Pliny the Elder a lot, but I genuinely can’t stop thinking about this approach to taxonomy:

[There is a fish called the tursio, which bears a strong resemblance to the dolphin; it differs from it, however, in a certain air of sadness, and is wanting in its peculiar vivacity.]

Like, imagine someone describing an animal to you, but the only information they’ll provide is that it’s sort of like another animal, but much much sadder.

[hornypineapple]

okay so apparently the word “Tursio” is what people in Pliny’s time called the porpoise. for reference, here is a dolphin:

and here is a porpoise:

anyways long story short Pliny was entirely correct stop bullying him

[sixthrock]

“you ruined a perfectly good dolphin is what you did. look at it, it’s got depression” - Pliny, apparently

[left-reminders]

[optimistic-pessimisms]

No. You dont pay people to exist for the same reason you dont feed the bears.

[teaboot]

Yeah man if I give the 50 year old lady at my bus stop some spare change for fare and a meal she’ll lose interest in foraging for desiccated salmon carcasses and lose her natural fear of people. Next thing you know she’s in the suburbs, running around on all fours trying to eat a corgi

[heigraylake]

We also never ever have places like animal rescues and wildlife rehabilitation centers, where a hurt, disabled, or sick bear would be taken in, provided with food and shelter, and then released upon healing. Don’t even think about the situations where, if a bear is unable to be released in the wild, but otherwise has a decent quality of life, it is usually provided with shelter and food for the rest of its natural life, with no expectation that it will pay rent.

Because in some cases, we treat wild animals better than we treat homeless people.

[lijanaa]

Beautiful metal tree art….

[star-kovs]

Superheroes being 197% done while wii music plays

[anais-ninja-bitch]

queer is such a great word

[cipheramnesia]

I don’t know what young or new LGBTQIA++ person needs to see this, but queer is a wonderful word. It’s not a bad word, it’s not a slur, and you don’t need to be afraid to use it or scared of it.

It’s a word for when we don’t quite know what we are. Or when what we know about ourselves is complicated, and we need a quick explanation. Or when we don’t need to share more. Or sometimes it’s just the best fit.

It’s the word where everyone is welcome, it’s the word for building a community. It’s a word for thinking, a word for doing, a word. Queer is the community y’all.

[ekjohnston]

it's my word. it's easier than explaining. it's faster than a complete breakdown of my feelings. it's goddamn privacy because while i understand that being an elder queer who writes books for children means i should be sort of comfortable sharing, that doesn't mean you get all of me.

[msnikkimoneypenny]

Three Japanese Women dancing to Bruno Mars. I wish my grandma could move like this.

[heigraylake]

they are having so much fun!

[watch-grok-brainrot]

Things Above Wen Zhuliu’s Paygrade

Ep 13 – turtle cave. Wen Chao did not know WWX was quoting from his family doctrines.

Ep 16 – post sacking of Lotus Pier – drugged wine but IDGAF, i’ll drink it anyway

Ep 19 – probably the best known. WZL can do math and there is one fewer golden core in WWX. Oh, well. 

3 times WZL said NOPE, not my problem. A.K.A. why Wen Zhuliu would do great in corporate as middle management.