guau... 💛💛💛💛

Random sideblog for reblogs/screaming about things Main blog @marzules writing blog @marsolines

[little-guy-enthusiast]

i'll write a nicer thing later but

call me xavier. he/she/xe pronouns. switch it up a bit

fun facts about me

i am latino

i am disabled

i am Catholic

i am 18

that's all u need to know. you can probably figure out more from what i reblog but i would like to overshare about my life on the internet less

#my art tag has my art

#screaming posts that i wrote

#palestine posts about palestine, likely fundraisers. you should check those out and share them and maybe donate to them if you can. that would be cool

if i reblog a post with Very Strong Opinions i likely do not personally feel that angry about it. usually i will not reblog them unless they make a very good point that needs to be said. i do not go through my notes observing if people have reblogged my morally important posts. i get anxiety about that too lol

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

The Buff-Tip Moth: this moth's unique resting position all0ws it to mimic a broken birch twig, and the buff-colored patches on its head and forewings even resemble freshly-snapped wood

Phalera bucephala, otherwise known as the buff-tip moth, is a remarkable mimic that can easily disguise itself as a twig. This moth has a unique resting position that makes its body seem narrower and more cylindrical, and its wings are covered in silver patterns that resemble tree bark, while the buff-colored patches on its head and forewings mimic the appearance of freshly-snapped wood.

Above: three actual twigs and one buff-tip moth

This type of camouflage is also known as a "protective resemblance" -- a form of mimesis in which an animal can avoid being preyed upon by mimicking an unremarkable or inedible aspect of its environment. Many other moths are able to disguise themselves in similar ways, often mimicking dead leaves, twigs, moss, and/or tree bark.

Above: more photos of Phalera bucephala

The buff-tip moth is particularly adept at disguising itself, however, and the fact that it so strongly resembles such a specific object (not just a dead leaf or a piece of foliage, but a broken twig from a silver birch tree, in particular) makes this disguise seem even more impressive and unique.

Above: the photo at the top shows a buff-tip moth in its resting position, while the photo at the bottom shows the same species with its wings unfurled

It also tends to look like there's a weird little smiley face in the setae surrounding the moth's head, which is arguably even more striking, but for some reason none of my sources seem to mention that weirdness.

Above: the weird little smiley face on the back of the moth's head

This species is distributed throughout the British Isles, mainland Europe, and parts of Asia, with its range extending into Eastern Siberia.

Sources & More Info:

Wildlife Insights: Buff-Tip Moth Identification Guide

Butterfly Conservation: Buff-Tip

Wildlife Insights: Phalera bucephala

The Wildlife Trusts: The Buff-Tip Moth

Moth Identification: Phalera busephala

Encyclopedia of Life: Global Map of Known Occurrences for Phalera busephala

Insecta: Phalera bucephala

Lepidoptera and their Ecology: Phalera busephaloides and Phalera busephala

Journal of Ecology and Evolution: Strong Foraging Preferences for Ribes alpinum in the Polyphagous Caterpillars of the Buff-Tip Moth

Dickinson County Conservation Board: Protective Resemblance and Other Forms of Mimesis and Mimicry

[lamine-19]

scientific fact

[mckitterick]

Deadly egg recall

The FDA has upgraded an egg recall issued last month to “Class I,” its highest risk level, as it warns the public that consuming the products could cause “serious adverse health consequences or death.”

The recall of 1,589,577 dozen white-shell eggs and brown cage-free shell eggs was initially issued by Midwest Poultry Services in late July, which warned they might be contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis.

According to the company, the eggs were produced and distributed from farms in Texas between June 6 and July 3 and have sell-by or best-by dates between July 20 and August 17. The recalled egg cartons have either the code P-1950 or 0840962 and Julian Dates between 157-184.

source: X

[prof-grace-aspen]

Recalled eggs were shipped to foodservice and retail customers in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.  Recalled eggs were available to consumers at Kroger stores in Texas and Louisiana; Brookshire Grocery stores in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, and other smaller retail and foodservice outlets in these states plus Mississippi and New Mexico.

Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and New Mexico are the currently affected states.

[enki2]

[unholyblissafterdark]

[nikibogwater]

So I just had one of those 'fall down a massive YouTube rabbit hole because it's too hot to do anything else' weekends and ended up learning about the Bricks and Minifigs vs. Reckless Ben legal dispute, which is now the ONLY currently-ongoing legal drama I ever want to hear about. For the uninitiated, Bricks and Minifigs is a chain of Lego consignment stores where people can buy and sell old lego sets (as the name implies). One particular Bricks and Minifigs store in Salem Oregon got a consignment deal with an elderly man and his son for a collection of Star Wars Lego sets that was worth roughly $200,000 total. The reason the family was selling the collection was to pay for the old man's healthcare. A few months later, corporate seized the store and used an extremely tenuous legal loophole to weasel their way out of paying the family per the consignment deal. When the family confronted the store about this and demanded to have their legos returned to them, they got banned from the premises and threatened with hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of court battles.

Enter Reckless Ben, an investigative journalist/youtuber who is basically the real-life equivalent of Napoleon Dynamite fused with Sun Tzu. He's taken it on himself to get this family their legos back. His methods so far include, but are not limited to:

Going to the store and politely asking the manager to return the family's legos to them

Hosting a fake youtube challenge for the employees at the store and inducting the winner into a cult he created for the sole purpose of getting the new store owner's phone number, so that he can politely ask him to return the legos, since asking the manager didn't work

Creating an official, legally recognized company called We Steal From Old People, and selling their merch from a booth set up outside the Bricks and Minifigs store

Applying for a gambler's license and using The Church of Scientology Sucks (the legally recognized religion that he created during his Scientology investigation a few years back) to hold a lottery for one of the missing lego sets, thereby making Bricks and Minifigs guilty of stealing from a lottery, which is a criminal offense that the police are legally required to investigate

Having 9 of his friends each purchase $10,000 worth of the stolen legos from the family so that all ten of them could individually file small claims cases against Bricks and Minifigs. They won all of those cases btw. Bricks and Minifigs shut down the store in Salem before they could be forced to pay

Now it's worth noting that when he started this investigation, literally all Ben wanted was to get this family their legos back. But somehow this ended up snowballing into uncovering serious corruption within the American Fork Police Department, who as it turns out have been in the Bricks and Minifigs CEO's back pocket this entire time. Ben's had his car searched, his house raided, and been arrested and jailed without being told what he was even being charged with (which is a massive civil rights violation, and is supposed to be very illegal in the US). He's had to resort to hiding out in Mexico to get the Lego Mafia off his back while he lawyers up and prepares to go back to court against Bricks and Minifigs, because yeah, they still haven't returned/paid for the legos they stole from the sick elderly man, in spite of the fact that the entire world now knows what they did and hates them for it. In fact, they are now trying to sue the old man and Ben for 1.5 million dollars, for the heinous crime of....proving that they stole $200,000 worth of legos. Ben says he's still willing to settle with them outside of court however, provided they return the stolen legos and send him a video of the scummy CEOs verbally apologizing for their actions and doing the chicken dance as a show of good faith. Meanwhile, the American Fork PD is most likely going to be hit with a lawsuit of their own thanks to Ben's public documentation of their corrupt behavior, which includes initially redacted bodycam footage that shows the cops literally conspiring with the Bricks and Minifigs CEO to come up with reasons to have Ben thrown in jail.

My favorite part of this story, by the way, is the fact that the demonstrably villainous lego CEO actually has a Twirly Evil Villain Mustache.

[bbcwhereareyou]

YES AND

The villain in this story, his name is Josh Johnson and comedian Josh Johnson did a whole bit on it that was quite a journey. If you didn't catch it on your YT rabbit hole, it's worth a watch.

[laserbobcat]

Josh Johnson is a GEM. I will add, you left out a CRUCIAL element of it all: Mormonism. All of this happens in Utah, everyone involved, from the corporation to judges to police, is Mormon and protecting each other. I recommend ex Mormon youtuber Alyssa Grenfell who digs up and explains wonderfully the immense impact of mormon culture on basically everything in Utah especially.

LEGO Scandal Has Mormon Mafia Energy

This week I’m reacting to Reckless Ben’s viral LEGO investigation and the surprising Mormon and Utah connections behind the story. What star

The whole bricks and minifigs rabbit hole is hilarious because it's a persistent dude who keeps asking for some legos, and keeps digging out mountains of corruption that far surpasses in scale the initial problem.

BRICK 'EM YOUNG FOR CRYING OUT LOUD

[captainjonnitkessler]

It's so fucking baffling to me that hospitals went back to not masking. Like good news, we have lots of empirical evidence that masking prevents infections! Now to go back to walking around this absolute petri dish of a building filled with extremely vulnerable people unmasked

[sistertaxon]

ladies the dobbys grave thing is fake news that the beeb fell for 😭 its made up by a podcast guy.. rowling is evil and people gotta let those books go but don't get mad and psych yourself out over straight up nothing

[urgetocreate]

Sergei Chudanov (Russian b.1987), The Sweetness of Doing Nothing, 2022, Oil on canvas

[sexybritishllama]

just finished this month's book club book, went skimming goodreads reviews afterwards as you do, got my breath taken away by this absolutely brutal ending to one of the multi-paragraph 1 star reviews

[cosmonautroger]

[thefiresontheheight]

Please Stop Blaming Us For Your Strange Behavior is a mnemonic to remember the planets in the universe where they're named Plercury, Stenus, Blearth, Urs, Fupiter, Yaturn, Streptune and Buranus.

[rehab0-2]

Every minute that passes carries with it more pain for this innocent child who silently struggles with the disease. His family stands helpless in the face of the exorbitant costs of treatment, and after God they have nothing but your compassionate hearts. With your simple contribution, you can be the reason for his recovery and hope again in his life. Time is running out, and our call today is the only lifeline. Don't be stingy with him by extending a helping hand

We can't stand idly by while this innocent child is in pain. The burden is very heavy on his family, and your solidarity is their last hope. Whether by direct donation, bank transfer, or even publishing the campaign to reach every compassionate heart; your contribution means a new opportunity for life. Participate now and be part of his survival

Chuffed - Vetted #410

[rehabmedad]

We cannot stand idly by while this innocent child is in pain. The burden is very heavy on his family, and your solidarity is their last hope. Whether through a direct donation, a bank transfer, or even by sharing this campaign to reach every compassionate heart your contribution means a new chance at life. Take action now and be a part of his survival.

Appeal for donation to the sick child

[rehabmedad]

Time is not in our favor, and every minute that passes doubles the danger to his small body. Illness doesn't wait, and every second delay can make the difference painful. Don't let time run out; your quick response now is the real difference between the extinction of hope and the survival of this child.

Please help us and donate

[naamahdarling]

I haven't talked about this yet because I just haven't had the strength.

My dad abruptly entered the hospital a couple of weeks ago, went into hospice, and died last night. I was fortunately able to be with him when he went, which I am VERY grateful for. He was very well cared-for while he was there, and died completely peacefully. My boyfriend and I hung out with him for a few hours until the body donation people came, and walked him out.

I am now dealing with figuring out what this does to me financially, because nothing helps grief like dealing with the SSA, and MASSIVE family drama over the inheritance, and trying to get bills put in my name when I have no money for deposits. Nobody knows what's going to happen with probate but it's looking like it's going to get really, really ugly.

We had JUST learned about special needs trusts and had begun the paperwork of creating one for me, to protect my inheritance, and dad went into the hospital just days before we were to sign and never regained the capability to do so. I am absolutely gutted. I was going to use that to help get us out of this hellhole state in a controlled fashion. We have to pay the lawyer for what he was able to do, which is get the house in my name.

So yes, good, the house is in my name now, but if my dad's bank accounts have been drained, I have no idea if I will inherit enough to be able to pay the mortgage, which is half my SSI income.

So we are going to need to ask for help, possibly a lot of help. Hundreds of dollars at least. I think around $400 for utility deposits, if nothing else.

My boyfriend's PayPal is [email protected], if you want to help and can afford to. I'll be putting up a sale link for his shop later, and if I can manage it, a post breaking down our expenses that we currently know about.

Right now I'm just...exhausted and sad.

Please find ways to be kind to one another in this life. It's all that really matters.

[ot3]

shoutout to ancestral puebloan cliff dwellings

[ot3]

when i first saw them as a child i thought they were some of the coolest things in the world and i was correct

[amber-writhing]

Some thoughts.

Kofi Tip jar

Edit: PLS READ!!

Hi guys!! Thank you so much for blogging. This post, into the one or two people who have donated to my coffee, I still need some more money in order to move away from my stalker so if you wouldn’t mind encouraging your friends to donate even one dollar, I could really use your help!!! donations work best but thanks for sharing it around anyways!! X

[pocket-deer-belly]

i do actually think it's crazy that employers get a say over shit like tattoos and piercings and we just let that happen

[pocket-deer-belly]

if you look cool as fuck you become unemployable

[pocket-deer-belly]

i do also mean like, face tattoos, yall know that right

[partyinthecloudkingdom]

besides the obvious that people should have the right to do what they want with their bodies as a form of self expression, the stigma against face tattoos specifically has a long, violent, racist, imperialist history that stretches across the globe

[pocket-deer-belly]

hey. we're having a talk about employment discrimination