Just a Nerd Doing Nerd Things

July 9, 1985, Cancer, Year of the Ox | She/Her | Hetero Asexual | Shy, Introverted, Socially Awkward | Library Aide | Reader, Gamer, Aspiring Author Feel free to ask me anything, but please don't be a hater.

[phantomjeanne85]

TIL that legit poisonous snakes exist. That is, trying to eat them is a very bad idea. They're much less common than venomous snakes, although some also have venom, and in most cases the poison comes from eating toxic prey like poisonous frogs, which is a process called kleptotoxisism. Apparently.

Damn nature, you scary!

[phantomjeanne85]

I broke the ocean.

[phantomjeanne85]

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." --Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride

One of my biggest pet peeves in incorrect word usage. Case in point:

This is a raccoon. <---------------------------------> This is a raccoon dog.

Raccoons are:

members of the family Procyonidae

native to North America

an invasive species in Asia

called araiguma in Japanese

Raccoon dogs are:

members of the family Canidae

native to Asia

an invasive species in Europe

called tanuki in Japanese

These are two completely different animals. Maybe I'm overreacting but I can't stand the trend of tanuki being translated as raccoon. I recently saw this exact thing in a published Japanese-English dictionary and it even had a picture of a literal raccoon. Is this a common occurrence because the translators believe Westerners wouldn't know what a raccoon dog is? Maybe it's true for some, but IMHO it's no different than learning about lemurs or wallabies, you know, animals that aren't native to the Americas.

Fun fact: Tom Nook is a tanuki (and in fact, his name in Japanesee is Tanukichi). I give him a pass, though, since he lives in a world full of animals that don't really look like their species anyway, so he can easily be a raccoon, LOL.

TL;DR: Tanuki does not mean raccoon.

[phantomjeanne85]

This needs to be said because I am SO angry about the current state of things.

I'm American. My current administration is little more than a schoolyard bully who finds satisfaction in tormenting people who can't fight back. This is the twenty-first fucking century and humans are still behaving like barbarians while actual pacifists like me are seen as wrong for wanting everyone to get along.

You know, being undocumented in the US is at worst a misdemeanor. Throwing "illegal" immigrants in prison is like throwing someone in Alcatraz for jaywalking. Think about that.

Oh, and by the way, there's no such thing as an illegal human. None of us chose to exist, and it's not a crime to seek asylum.

[phantomjeanne85]

*playing Minecraft, building a village*

So there's a cave around here...

*digs through one dirt block and one stone block, steps forward like an idiot, falls into big cavern, dies on impact*

Oh, there it is.

[phantomjeanne85]

It's funny how book banning advocates are the same people who accuse schools of indoctrinating children.

[phantomjeanne85]

I love it when I'm playing a game and I tell myself something like "don't fall into the lava like an idiot" and then I proceed to do exactly that.

[phantomjeanne85]

So I had this conversation with my non-gamer friend some time back. I hope y'all appreciate it, LOL.

[phantomjeanne85]

Shoutout to @lizadale for being the reason I joined Tumblr and for inadvertently helping me figure out I'm asexual because I had no idea that was even a thing before then. And also for putting up with Past Me's nonsense because I was trying too hard to fit in. So yeah.

[phantomjeanne85]

Anti-vax parents hate their children. Change my mind.

[phantomjeanne85]

In honor of Pride Month I'd like to announce that I've been obsessing over The Owl House and everyone needs to watch it because it's awesome and LGBT+.

[phantomjeanne85]

I really debated posting this, but I finally just said screw it. This is NOT political, so please don't come at me.

A text I sent to my mom and sister:

[phantomjeanne85]

TFW you want to catch up on a comic series but also don't want to because one of the next volumes features a character you hate and at the same time you know that skipping it would make you miss important plot points.

[phantomjeanne85]

"You don't need a reason to help people."

--Zidane Tribal, Final Fantasy IX

[phantomjeanne85]

In our cul-de-sac there's a black cat who comes around our house sometimes and Zelda gets really excited when she sees him through the window. Last night he showed up again and I was able to snap my latest masterpiece.

I call it "Romeow & Julicat".

[phantomjeanne85]

As a person of Irish descent and a lover of snakes, I say we ignore St. Patrick and instead celebrate Abbess Gertrude of Nivelles, patron saint of cats, who also has her feast day today.

Happy St. Catty's Day!

snakes never even lived in ireland so I don't know who patrick was bullying anyway

At least I have an excuse to wear my lovely green Triforce shirt. :D

[phantomjeanne85]

Science teachers: Mammals have hair and bear live young!

Monotremes: Are we a joke to you?

[themanedwolf]

...my teachers never said this? It was always: mammals have hair and lactate

[phantomjeanne85]

Maybe it was just my teachers, LOL. That's what I was taught in grade school, anyway. I think I started learning about monotremes in middle school, and even then I had only heard of echidnas because I was a big Sonic the Hedgehog fan. I was also really obsessive about animals so I learned a lot of that stuff on my own.