I AM SO TIRED

Personal blog for Apertureratt's mun (she/he both good). It's a sideblog so be patient with me. I'm a geneticist and am happy to answer cat questions! I'm 20+

[littlehungrywarrior]

Would you ever Consider covering someone's cat oc family tree? Aka me and my friends? Because it's actually insane

I won't make a dedicated video the way I do w/Warriors characters, but

if you want the art, I take commissions, and

if you just want some help figuring stuff out, DM me and I'll reply at my leisure :3

[cerastes]

Let’s bring Flash development back so 14 year olds can create extremely violent and greasy minigames about eviscerating Labubu and upload them to Newgrounds.

[herpsandbirds]

(HOMO)SEXUALLY ACTIVE FISH ARE SEXIER TO FEMALES

Homosexuality occurs in most animal species, from insects to mammals, and it is more common amongst males. But how could homosexual behaviou

[dailymanners]

When following up with someone who you believe has not responded to you, it is wise to double-check before issuing your follow-up. It may be that they did respond, and you didn't see it.

Similarly, if you have set a time for someone to call you, and you believe they have not done so, it is wise to check your call logs before sending them an upset text or email. It may be that they did call, and you missed it.

We receive so many notifications these days, it is easy for something to be lost in the shuffle. Taking a moment to check before leaving an angry voicemail or sending an angry message can help you save face and reduce irritation and confusion for everyone involved.

[littlethingwithfeathers]

Also don't go for angry right out of the gate. Be polite and kind first. They may well be at fault and forgotten or failed to put it in the calendar or written the reply and just not hit send. How often have you done the same? Save the vitriol for a situation where it helps.

After doing as OP suggested and double checking that you are indeed correct in missing a communication/response you should have from the person, go with something like the following.

Hey Nice-Person!

I wanted to follow up about X since I hadn't heard from you and you'd said to expect an answer by the 57th of Decembruary. I just realized that was yesterday. I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed it, or my spam folder didn't eat it.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Me-person.

Notice... no blame. No accusations. Just a statement of facts (the date and missing communication), the benefit of the doubt (it might be you! Spam filters will do you dirty sometimes), and an expression that you're still waiting to hear from them. Most of the time in my experience people will fess up if they made a mistake.

[hungrynikita]

Learning to share ownership of problems (like the above “maybe my spam folder ate it”) goes so far in smoothing out relationships. It made me feel defensive at first when I knew I wasn’t the one who made a mistake, but suddenly the other person is co-solving a problem with you rather than feeling accused. It often gets the problem solved more quickly and pleasantly, and it’s not actually necessary for everyone to acknowledge when I’m right!

What is appropriate varies depending on the relationship, but an expression of concern is also worthwhile. I often have to call parents who have forgotten about meetings, and “we had a meeting at x time, so I was calling to check if everything’s okay” lands much better than some reference to them having forgotten. It’s not even dishonest. I do sincerely want them to be okay, and reminding myself of that fact makes me less annoyed about having my time wasted.

[forestgreenandgray]

Hey do you know what rumination is?

Rumination is probably the most common type of OCD compulsion, but I rarely see anyone talking about it. I've talked to multiple people diagnosed with OCD who didn't even recognize it as a compulsion.

Basically, if you have OCD you have terrible intrusive thoughts. They can be about anything, but common themes are fear of being a bad person, fear of hurting someone, fear of contamination. etc.

Rumination is when you get stuck in a spiral. Rumination is when you spend hours catastrophizing, overthinking, analyzing, telling yourself it's going to be okay.

I'll say it again:

Rumination is a compulsion.

Rumination is a compulsion, and that means you have to stop doing it.

I did ERP (exposure response prevention) for my OCD with a therapist! For 9 months! And it did help, but the idea didn't really click until I found this website a couple years later.

And Oh My God. It made things make so much more sense, and I was able to pull myself out of an episode even though I wasn't in therapy or on meds at the time.

Genuinely if you have OCD, or even if you suspect you have OCD, I'm begging you to read some of these articles.

Like this was genuinely life changing for me.

Here are some of the ones that were most helpful to me:

Defining Rumination

How to Stop Ruminating

ERP Exercises for Compulsive Rumination

What to Do When You're Triggered

[tikkunolamorgtfo]

Just want to add that if you're on the spectrum, you may also experience Autistic Rumination, which is distinct from the obsessive variety, despite the two having some overlapping characteristics!

[winter-doggo]

Another lil TGAA (dgs) 3D models stuff post

221B Baker Street seems to have lots of gaps in it that are not visible in-game due to the camera angle

Some people on my hands post were interested in Sholmes ( @postsaboutryuunosuke @cz3chovas-pocket ) so here he is. Also included some others. Not everyone has equivalent resting hand positions but with two angles each it should hopefully be easier to compare.

We know who Kazuma *didn't* get his hands from lmao

Lawyer swords side-by-side (Karuma, van Zieks' rapier, Apprentice's rapier)

[atlaculture]

Hi I'm a biologist, I study evolution & domestication. I love your dairy posting but I have to say... if hippo-cows have evolved from herbivores to carnivores - which is A LOT OF CHANGE, it's NOT an easy switch to make - they are definitely a completely distinct species from the ones farmed in other parts of the world. that being said I think a more likely solution is that they're 1) the same species, 2) also herbivores, 3) being fed meat bc it's cheaper during this awful time of war shortage, and 4) about to cause a LOT of really bad Mad Cow Disease problems in a very doomed fire nation village.

I agree with all your points. I was probably misusing the word; when I said "adaption", I didn't mean in the evolutionary sense. It's more like when you cut down a tree to try and get rid of squirrels, only for the squirrels to suddenly start burrowing into the dirt and living underground. This actually happened at my old workplace. I figured the Hippo-Cows were making do with whatever was being fed to them, so probably rotten meat. Anyways, given the Fire Nation's track record of respecting the natural world, it wouldn't be surprising if they had a Mad (Hippo-)Cow problem.

[atlaculture]

@irohthesecond

they could be omnivorous like pigs or opportunistic hippos/horses, and are just only fed plant matter in most places because meat is so expensive

I was thinking opportunistic omnivores, as well. Their teeth seem closest to an omnivore:

[movementnudge]

Movement nudge, for hands and wrists!

X

[atlaculture]

This has been bugging me for ages and I feel like you’re the only other blog who would appreciate my conundrum here. Do you think people in the avatar-verse drink cow’s milk?

On the one hand the lost lore archive seemingly confirms that cow-pigs produce “delicious” milk, but how canon can we really consider that? On the other hand, if you didn’t already know, most humans are lactose intolerant. The gene for lactase persistence (the ability to digest milk past babyhood) originated in the Middle East or Europe and spread from there. Even today East Asia has some of the highest rates of lactose intolerance in the world, and lactase tolerance was virtually nonexistent in North America pre-colonisation. Not drinking cow’s milk is the norm for humanity, not the exception, so I just think it would be cool to have at least one fantasy world where the main characters are lactose intolerant and soy milk is the norm.

Granted, given that cheese can be made to be palatable to lactose intolerant people and that there does seem to have been some lactase persistence traditionally in northern Indian and Himalayan regions (at least at a cursory research glance), you would probably expect it to vary by region and culture. Maybe cow-pig milk is consumed in only certain regions and otherwise usually made into cheese. I personally headcanon that air nomads eat sky bison cheese, which might taste similar to chhurpi.

From what I've read, dairy cows aren't native to East Asia, hence the lack of cow milk in most of the traditional cuisine of that region. I would say that cow-pig milk in Avatar might just be a local delicacy unique to the EK town from "Zuko Alone".

However, a predisposition towards lactose intolerance is not necessarily a permanent roadblock to enjoying milk products. Speaking from personal experience, I can generally build up my tolerance for dairy if I make a point of drinking milk every day. However, if I take a break of more than a week, then I have to start the whole process over again.

As for the consumption of other animal milks...

Based off cultural inspiration, the Air Nomads likely had close to 100% lactase persistence. Dairy is a huge part of Tibetan and other Himalayan cuisine. Plus, if Appa is any indication, sky bisons were roughly the size of sperm whales. Assuming there was a sky bison for every nomad, there was probably enough extra milk produced for it to become a staple of the Air Nomad diet.

The Northern Water Tribe probably has some lactase persistence, since they have Mongolian and Sakha cultural influence in addition to Inuit. Both Mongolian and Sakha culture are known for their consumption of mare's milk, both as a drink and as an ingredient in dishes. Plus, the NWT canonically has Buffalo-Yaks, which is a combination of two animals whose milk is commonly consumed in parts of Asia. Lactase persistence might not be as strong in the Southern Water Tribe, who don't seem to have domesticated any milk-producing animals.

The Earth Kingdom probably only has lactase persistence in certain regions, such as the village in "Zuko Alone". This aligns with its primary cultural inspiration, China. While most of China does not have a cheese-making tradition, there are pockets of regional cheeses: cow and goat acid cheeses in Yunnan, fermented cow milk cheeses in Xinjiang, and yak cheeses in the Tibetan and Mongolian autonomous regions. However, on the whole, I think most EK citizens stick to non-dairy milks made from soy, seeds, or nuts.

Finally, there's the Fire Nation. I don't think they drink much milk. In addition to China, the Fire Nation's other major cultural influences are Southeast Asia (Thailand, especially) and Japan. Historically, none of these cultures consumed much animal milk. I think the Fire Nation's choice of milks would be soy, sesame, coconut, or peanut.

[lizardlicks]

Aren't arctic camels a domesticated animal in the swt? camel milk is a pretty common staple among people who keep them (and I know several north American farmers that have brought camels. onto their farms specifically for milk!) Sami people also milk reindeer, but immmmm not sure how well snow leopard caribou would take to being milked

[atlaculture]

You're right! In Korra, we do see arctic camels, so the SWT likely consumes dairy regularly, at least in the post-war period. This would imply that Katara and Sokka have some lactase persistence. I can just imagine Sokka bringing this up whenever a game or situation requires the Gaang to split into teams:

Sokka: Alright, Team 1 will be me, Katara, and Aang. That leaves Suki, Toph, and Zuko for Team 2. Suki: Are you basing this off seniority in the group or something? Sokka: More like who can handle a few rounds of drinks without turning into a tomato. Team 2: *glares* Sokka: Kidding! It's based on who can have a milkshake without turning into a walking stink bomb---*gets dirtball to the face*

[atlageography]

Okay, this really got my cartography brain going, so...

Lactase Persistence in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender!

The map is inspired by the above thread, but also some additional real-world biological anthropology, heavily referenced from this paper.

Of course I kept the high lactase persistence (LP) around the air temples, but I also showed the diffusion of that trait in the areas around the temples. This could be because of Air Nomads mixing into the non-nomadic local populations (genetically and culturally) and due to the trading/gifting of sky bison dairy products to those populations. I think the latter would reinforce the former, in this case.

Important to remember is that this map is representative of the percent of a population's LP if there is a population living in a given location. For example, for over a hundred years, there were no people living in the air temples, but if there were, they would have high rates of LP. Similarly, the Si Wong Desert is sparsely populated, but those who do populate it likely have LP (operating under the assumption that the sandbenders and other nomadic people get milk from the camelephants).

As in our reality, there are also high rates of LP in less fertile lands like deserts or higher latitudes (by the poles) and altitudes, as these regions tend to have more issues growing crops that can meet diet requirements. By having dairy producing animals eat the less nutritious crops, their bodies can basically add in the missing nutrients. This is why I have marked more mountainous regions + the Si Wong Desert as having more LP.

Version without the location labels:

Reference map (Wells 2021):

🌊 If I missed something or anyone has questions, always feel free to tag me! Big thanks to anon, atlaculture, and lizardlicks for the inspiration today!

[atlaculture]

This is so awesome! My only recommendation is that you add a character on the right and left sides of the map like the original Avatar world map:

However, instead of longevity, it should be the character for milk:

奶

It's also the character for breastfeeding/tits so win-win!

[atlageography]

@atlaculture Your wish is my command~ Almost—I added the character for milk in the negative space because I thought it looked cute there.

Additionally, here's a new map:

Dispersal and Domestication of Ruminant and Dairy Cattle!

We are really going down a rabbit hole with this one.

So once again I'm referencing the Stock and Wells paper, because it has really nice maps and it's pretty accessible in terms of academic language.

This map is pretty straightforward—circles represent points (areas) of origin, and the arrows denote the dispersal of the species. But for lore purposes, this requires some notes.

Flying Bison: I have marked their area of origin as being in the Southern Air Archipelago. We really don't know where they're specifically from, but seeing that there are populations of bison living in the Fire Nation (with/around the Bhanti tribe), I'm guessing they're from either the Western or Southern Air Archipelagos. And purely because the Bhanti tribe lives in the southern part of the Fire Nation, I've placed the bison as from the South. Their dispersal paths are also the most unique of the list, as, since they can fly, I imagine them flying directly to their preferred habitats, and the Air Nomads following/settling based on that.

(Really, the bison are too enlightened to be considered 'domesticated' by humans, but I included them because of their teamwork with the airbenders + their dairy potential.)

Arctic Camels: These creatures have more appearances in the Southern Water Tribe than the Northern, so I've placed their area of origin in the South. Perhaps they reached the North on trading ships or pirate ships traveling between the tribes?

Moo-sow (Cow-pig) and other pig hybrids, excluding the Picken/Pigster: The moo-sow are the only pig hybrids confirmed to be raised for their milk. Others, like the wooly-pig (cross between a sheep and a pig), are raised for specific functions like wool for clothes. But seeing as sheep in our world have been utilized for dairy, I don't think it's a big jump to think wooly-pigs would be in similar circumstances. All other pig hybrids are fully mammal (so this inference could still apply) except the picken (pig + chicken) and pigster (pig + rooster). (I don't know why they're two separate things. Weird!) Since these are birds crossed with mammals, they might not be able to produce milk. In Beasts of the Four Nations, Aang supposes that they lay eggs, and makes no mention of milk.

If the Picken and Pigster are more like chickens than pigs, they are likely to be native to A:tLA's equivalent of Southeast Asia—the Fire Nation. (Wikipedia page for the red junglefowl, from which chickens were domesticated.)

On the subject of the Fire Nation, I remembered—after completing this map, of course—that the Fire Nation has a native milk producer: the hippo cow.

Admittedly, this throws a wrench in the whole 'lactose intolerant Fire Nation' theory, but we could suppose that they are raised primarily for meat, and milk is an extra. According to the wiki, hippo cows are also domesticated in the Earth Kingdom after the Hundred Year War.

Final notes:

Non-hybrid yaks also exist and can be found around the Northern Water Tribe. Their dispersal pattern likely follows that of the buffalo yak quite closely, so they were not included in order to prevent crowding and clutter on the map.

Goat dogs and goat gorillas exist in the Earth Kingdom. While goats in the real world produce milk, these goat hybrids seem to express their non-goat 'genes' more prominently than the goat ones. Therefore, I have decided not to consider them.

New version of lactase persistence map, without labels:

Version of cattle map with labels:

And the lovely reference map (Stock and Wells 2023):

🌊 Questions, comments, concerns, critiques? I'll take them all :P

[april]

women are like diamonds: synthetically-produced women are not meaningfully different from naturally-formed women, and anyone trying to tell you otherwise is probably trying to justify keeping their women mines open

[hydrattan]

I was feeling agitated and artblocked yesterday so I decided to give my brain a rest by watching TV and then the next thing I knew these were in front of me

[dorothylarouge]

In order to do good worldbuilding you need to be able to think politically and that requires understanding politics

[dorothylarouge]

How do the gnomes of the mushroom village govern themselves and how do they determine the legitimacy of the Giggleking who rules them? These are questions you must be able to answer.

[thatsbelievable]

[sreegs]

You should take some time to read @3liza's post documenting the Phantom Report Bug (which she deserves praise for doing, thank you eliza) and see how fucking broken Tumblr's report tool is. I also want to reiterate something she is once again correct about: no one files bug reports. I have first hand experience working at Tumblr and I remember having to tell web devs on Staff "i saw a post about someone talking about a bug" and they were unaware because no one followed through to file a bug. I have fixed bugs that I saw people posting about that were in my domain (I'm a mobile dev) but were not in the system. No this is not an endorsement of "complain about it enough and eventually someone will see it", this is an endorsement of "file a bug report directly to computer companies and people will most likely read it and probably fix it". I mean it this is not a Tumblr-only thing. I've seen this at every company I've worked for. Just fucking file a bug report please I beg you, software gets complicated and the devs are just unaware that there's a bug until you bring it to your attention. And they want to fix the bug! I promise!

[zandraillustration]

yearning for more cat friendships

[comment-tube]

[movementnudge]

Movement nudge!

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