And he almost deserved it.

Smart, creative, overenthusiastic, persnickety, and fond of Oxford commas? Well, no, that's not exactly what I'm looking for in a car.Here there be sci-fi, art, lit, and whatever amuses me.Fair warning, I am easily amused.

[twoblogger]

It kind of fucks with me that somebody killed ötzi the iceman because ötzi himself is like whatever but the silent presence of human hands that drew back the string of the bow that shot the arrow that killed him is crazy. the idea that there were various people involved in that situation and while one of them has had his last hours painstakingly reconstructed and studied to no end, the others now only exist insofar that an arrowhead had to get into his shoulder somehow. imagine killing someone and then suddenly your entire existence is only a vague shadow implied by the fact that you killed them. much to consider

[twoblogger]

Testing the mummified bone marrow of ötzi to figure out his ancestry whole time there’s definitely another person, maybe more than one, standing in the room with us but I can never see or speak to them because I only know them through the assurance that they were there too in the form of one single arrowhead. I hate prehistory so much it’s unreal

[angel-derangement]

I hate it too tbh

[punk-speedchunk]

good news: any time a venus flytrap plant produces flowers, it looks really stupid ♡

[ceescedasticity]

I have no idea how Venus Flytraps are pollinated but I am now imagining this is designed to try to keep pollinators well away from the jaws of death.

[darkladynyara]

That is in fact exactly why they're like this! (Several species of carnivorous plants do the same thing)

[myfootyrthroat]

Oooh! Bog time! Tumblr loves a bog:

(Image from Minnesota Wildflowers)

Pitcher plants do the same thing and have really cool looking flowers!

[optimysticals]

The plant version of it's not stupid if it works.

[mylordshesacactus]

#look at my idiot children trying to avoid the consequences of their actions

[ruinedchildhood]

[autistichare]

Ok, so I am now watching the full 18 minute video on YouTube and it's amazing.

Especially the line "I realised I have absolutely no idea how to teach an octopus piano."

[legomaniaisbored]

I need everyone to see the update on Mattias' yt community tab

[oddlyalli]

[ID: Post from Mattias Krantz, 1 month ago at the time of screenshotting: "I've seen a lot of people asking for more videos of Tako on my channel. What I didn't mention in the video is how short an octopus's lifespan actually is. Tako's species typically lives around 1-2 years in captivity (which is already longer than in the wild). I've had him for about 11 months, and he was almost fully grown when I got him. So he's now entering what's called the senescence stage -- the final phase of an octopus's life cycle. During this time, they slowly lose energy and curiosity, spending most of their time resting. Tako mostly stays in his cave now. He doesn't really play with his toys anymore, but amazingly, he still comes out for the piano -- but even then, only for a few minutes. So I don't want to force another video out of him just because our last one went so well! I'll let him chill -- and he looks pretty proud! probably because he knows he's the best pianist the sea has ever known!" End ID]

[hellenhighwater]

It turns out you can just make? Butter mints?

Thrilling, tbh

[hellenhighwater]

Resippy

[hellenhighwater]

Big ol batch of holiday buttermints!

[ivebeensetonfire]

[twinklestarss]

The legendary horse stacking convo

Elden Ring One-Shot

[clawmarks]

Shin bijutsukai - Kōrin Furuya - 1902 - via Internet Archive

[sometiktoksarevalid]

[geek-ramblings]

[beardedmrbean]

[ladylingua]

the new york times has such a great series of elevated butter noodles, if you ever want a super fast easy dinner that still feels grown up and you can emulsify pasta water + butter together basically the sky is your limit

ya got

gochujang butter noodles

peanut butter noodles

chili crisp fettuccine alfredo

miso butter noodles

any one of these + a bag of salad or whatever vegetable side you find easiest/cheapest, and you've got yourself a full meal that tastes far above the effort you put in.

[the-evil-skull]

The reason Donna has never seen the doctor regenerate without David Tennant is actually because the presence of Donna Noble spawns David Tennants in Time Lords the same way temperature feminizes lizards. If the master died in front of Donna he would regenerate into David Tennant

[elegantpersoncreation]

Ball lightning while visiting a parking lot… Ball lightning is a rare phenomenon described as luminescent, spherical objects that vary from pea-sized to several meters in diameter....

[heathyr]

imagine being in the wilderness in 1542 and seeing this shit. i’d believe in will-o-the-wisps too

[alexaloraetheris]

It literally had legs. Forget being in 1542, I wouldn't be sure this isn't a Will-o-wisp.

[waterhobbit]

This is very cool looking, but it isn't ball lightning. I found the full video on TikTok, which the video in OP has cropped the end off of to hide the fact that there's clearly a physical prop present. The original video makes zero effort to hide the prop, because it's being presented as a UFO landing.

BALL LIGHTNING UFO CAUGHT ON CAMERA IN CALIFORNIA: (posted) 4/28/2025 MAN CATCHES WHAT LOOKS TO BE A RARE PHENOMENON CALLED BALL LIGHTNING. IT SUDDENLY APPEARED IN THE RAINY THUNDERSTORM PARKING LOT NEAR CALIFORNIA! IF YOU WATCH TILL THE END SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS. THOUGHTS? (for entertainment and educational purposes only) #creatorsearchinsights #balllightning #ufo #ufosighting #california #ball #lightning #aliens #alien #trending #trendingvideo #viral

To make up for being a buzzkill, here is recent video of what might actually be ball lightning! It's further away, but it's been reported on by multiple major news networks.

And it's still very cool!

[gae-bolg-alternative-dot-exe]

[gallusrostromegalus]

@elodieunderglass

[knitmeapony]

On this day 14 years ago the old spice guy said my internet-name during a publicity stunt. Ah, the world was simpler then.

[thetursithan]

Ah these children who always create problems for poor mothers....

[purlturtle]

Let's hold up traffic with mama!

[vanilla-bean-buttercream]

On my hands and knees begging adults to allow children to engage in risk play.

And by risk play I don't mean handing them a gun and playing Russian Roulette.

I mean like climbing trees, getting so sick spinning on the swing they throw up, balancing on the curb, sitting in the mud, walking on slippery surfaces, building half ass ramps to ride their bike over, standing on rocks, or anything that involves a smidgen of confidence and out of the box thinking that could result in injury.

Obviously like watch your kids and such, but when we talk about the fun of being an 80s or 90s kid, it's not just talking about CDs and Walkmans or not having iPads. It's about how kids today were robbed of critical learning and experience skills we were allowed to have.

Playgrounds disappearing, helicopter parents, and sue culture really destroyed a child's development in the United States, and I think it's about time we as adults recognize that, because the kids sure have.

[just7frogsinapeoplesuit]

You know what happens to kids who don't get to take reasonable risks? They never learn how to gauge safety or control their bodies in risky situations.

A kid who never climbs a tree becomes an adult who falls off a ladder because they don't intuitively know to keep 3 points of contact when climbing.

A kid who never skins their knees launching off a swingset becomes an adult who shatters an arm because they never learned how to break a fall.

Kids who are allowed to take risks become safer adults.

[just7frogsinapeoplesuit]

This crossed my dash again, so here's a more thorough list of things risk play is necessary for:

- Developing pain tolerance & an understanding of which types/intensities of pain are "okay" and which need immediate medical attention

- Calibrating the inner ear (sense of balance) and learning how the body reacts to experiencing different things, essential to learning to control the body in unexpected situations

- Developing reflexes and subconscious safety instincts (e.g. protectively throwing up your hands when an object flies toward your face)

- Normalizing getting hurt so the first reaction to an injury is just to treat it (and not to have a fearful emotional meltdown)

- Learning how to treat and heal from injuries (beginnings of self-care)

- Developing appropriate levels of fear around various activities, desensitizing fear around doing harmless things and establishing a fear response for actions that caused an injury. This is key to properly gauging risk in new situations.

Additionally, the reason it's so essential to mess around and get hurt as a kid is not just because it's a critical developmental stage, but also because kids' bodies are growing and naturally resistant to major injuries. A 3rd grader can get launched off a bike onto the pavement and only sustain a few scrapes and bruises that will heal in a few days, while someone who's 30 would likely pull or sprain something (or worse) and take weeks to heal.

If you are someone who grew up not being allowed to take risks it is likely you have a low pain tolerance, fear surrounding physical activities, slow reflexes, and poor judgment. The good thing is that it's never too late to learn! Our brains are very malleable, so if you missed out on this stuff as a kid now is the time to go climb a tree, go on a hike with unstable footing, or join a casual sports team. Just start small and work your way up, since your body won't be as resilient as it was when you were 9 :)

[vanilla-bean-buttercream]

Your additions have tickled my brain in the right way. Thank you for your contribution to the discussion!

[roach-works]

reading weird and unpleasant books and watching scary movies and challenging foreign cinema is how you do the same thing to your brain.

[kiragecko]

Neurodivergent kids and adults: This is especially important for us! When there's weird stuff going on in your brain, it's extra important to make your connection to your body as strong as possible!

-

My Very Little Sister is hyposensitive, meaning her brain doesn't really think physical sensations are important, and so usually only uses the lowest warning setting. Learning to tell when a bruise was going septic WHILE HAVING ADULT BACKUP saved her life. Learning that even though the open, oozing spider-bite didn't really bother her, it was still important to treat, was essential. Learning to explore the outdoors, and then back down before her asthma took her out, was a long and very important process.

I'm hypersensitive, meaning my brain isn't sure which sensations are important, to it uses the high warning setting for most of them, just in case. Learning to recognize that even though a paper cut and a twisted ankle feel similar to me, one is more important to treat than the other, took a LOT of practice! Learning when tiredness was strengthening me, and when I was overexerting myself and would need days to recover, was NOT easy!

Neither of us would have gotten that practice in a safe environment if we hadn't been allowed to do some mildly risky play.

My youngest is pretty anxious. Letting him do things on his own, after enough discussion that he feels ready to try, is the best anxiety reducer we've found. We don't force him to try new things, but we explain WHY they might be beneficial, and he's willing to try a shocking number. He's also REALLY PROUD of himself for how brave he is.

Letting our two neurodivergent kids (verbally) fight has allowed them to learn to problem solve. When it gets out of hand, we help them work through their feelings, but it's amazing how much better they are with each other since we started trusting them to work things out.

They couldn't have learned these skills if we didn't allow them to walk places on their own, and engage in ... nonproductive discussions.

It's also important to learn to recognize places where you will probably always have deficits when compared to neurotypical peers, so you can work around them!

We can't let the boys wrestle, because our eldest doesn't have enough body awareness to keep things safe, and our youngest is a bit too aggressive for his fragile older brother's safety. We tried to see if they could learn with a bit of guidance, but it wasn't to be. But both parents play fight with our youngest, and he ADORES it!

(Eldest also can't explore on his own, because he has no spacial awareness or stranger-danger.)

Learning that my freeze response to danger does NOT get better with exposure has allowed me to plan work arounds. If I can, I call someone for medical emergencies, so they can walk me through solutions. I have a body check in process. If things aren't an emergency, I allow myself to freeze and process, and if they ARE, I've learned to push past my limits for short periods. All of this took experimentation and experience!

-

LET YOUR FRAGILE WEIRD-BRAINED KIDS PLAY! Let them get hurt doing things that 'no reasonable kid' would do! Figure out where they aren't learning common sense and support them there, but let them mess up! Let them learn things 'too slowly'! Let them learn, even if they're 'behind' their peers! And if you're a weird-brained adult, learn it now!

We need to know this stuff.