Things Change

30's / sleepy / kink positive / queer / catch-all blog ✨ I'll be your encouraging aunt ☕

[lxuvre]

[armengoldira]

[blacklicoriceaddict]

[clockedtomb]

I don't know when I'll have time to sit down and talk about eugenics in TLT as a whole but here's A Thing Of That:

Vat wombs!

In Eugenics Culture we call this Ectogenesis. It was proposed by the British eugenicist J.B.S. Haldane in 1923 in Dedalus; or Science and The Future. He predicted that by 2073, the vast majority of human births would occur outside human bodies in artificial wombs, using eggs collected from ovaries preserved outside the body.

This was later taken up by eugenicist Aldous Huxley in Brave New World as his "hatcheries," and scientists were like yeah we could probably do that and their work influenced the development of IVF and artificial wombs, which turned out to be REALLY HARD TO MAKE ACTUALLY.

Because English eugenics did not have a Red Scare in the way that the US did in the early 20th century, some of their eugenics movement still had Free Love Socialists in it, and one of the arguments for ectogensis (and the use of donor gametes!) was that it allowed people to separate sexual pleasure from reproduction, allowing people to form sexual relationships with anyone they liked while still orienting reproduction to the good of the race.

There were Free Love Socialist (and Anarchist) eugenicists in the US but they got, like, arrested and deported and executed and made into jam and fired into space and whatnot. So in the US there was lessss of this and it was mostly (a) wealthy white women who wanted to become single mothers and were like ACTUALLY I am doing it for the good of the race which is very chill of me and (b) more conservative eugenicists who thought Huxley was neat but didn't have any particular Free Love feelings.

Artificial womb technology is still developing and it's Ethically Threatening for a host of reasons that are mostly "how many ways can this be used to fuck over people who would otherwise have a natural pregnancy or who would otherwise have NOT participated in reproduction?"

The presence of vat wombs in House culture indicates that John has solved these problems, like many of his ethical problems, with hand waving about the risks to others! Had to happen, very sad, big picture and all that!!

[katakaluptastrophy]

And of course, every House but the Sixth is feudal fiefdom with hereditary leadership.

It seems unlikely that a society so obsessed with lines of "resurrection purity", chromosomes and phenotypes - where both quotidian and unspeakable horrors have been committed to direct and maintain bloodlines - is relying on donated gametes.

John's queer-friendly utopia presumably has developed some kind of necromantic gametogenesis.

(Just don't think too much about the posthumously-conceived child soldiers. Or what Sixth "genetic outreach" entails. Or what any of this technology means in a society where feudal nobility can profit from their enlisted indentured servants.)

[herowyn]

5 0    Y E A R S    A G O

[closetocanada]

Happy Moon Landing Day! ❤️👩‍🚀🌛

[adorned-femme]

coming soon 2 an Eagle near u (if you live in Seattle)

[hotvampireadjacent]

[wizardnaturalist]

a book should be $5 a little drink should be $2 and museum access should be free and all hours

[ivfhnyfubpx]

this scene is so fucking funny the english dub of this show is so good

[laughconfetti]

loud warning

[notajerusalemcricketd-deactivat]

[nunnatheinsanegerbil]

[teaboot]

Rolling on the floor sobbing and crying and losing my mind at “GET INSIDE THE VAAAAAAAAAAN”

[its-your-mind]

finally. an appropriate name for my ‘time to leave’ alarm.

[alwaysscreechingbasement]

[chronophobica]

what they DONT tell you about clarinets is that you have to fucking build the damn thing every single time. "what instrument do you play" fucking legos man idk

[alphabetizing-posts]

about build clarinets damn do DONT every fucking fucking have idk instrument is legos man play" single tell that the they thing time. to what "what you you you

[howverychaotic]

I really need to start reading the blog name because I thought I was having some sort of moment right there.

[marithlizard]

(via bsky)

In case anyone hasn't heard, the cyclospora outbreak affecting tons of people in the US right now is coming from Taylor Farms produce. Best to stay away from bagged lettuce and prepared salads completely right now, but especially the ones mentioned in the screenshot:

Taylor Farms Earthbound Farms Little Salad Bar (Aldi) Marketside (Walmart) Kroger House Brand Target private label greens Costco salads and greens etc Trader Joe's chopped salad kits and fresh produce Fast food: McDonalds, Taco Bell, (Yum! Brands), Chipotle, Subway, Pizza Hut, KFC, Olive Garden, Top Golf, Red Lobster, Burger King, etc.

This is not the first time I've heard about a Taylor Farms foodborne illness outbreak. I stopped eating their salads after reading a description of the conditions in their facilities. Doesn't sound like they've improved anything.

We need a fully funded and staffed FDA, and regulations with teeth - and that's exactly what we don't have under Trump. To make things worse, the CDC is no longer tracking these outbreaks. We're on our own.

[qqchurch]

[snoopyoftheday]

snoopy of the day

[hemlock-druid]

I went on a hike and found the cutest mushrooms growing from an old tree.

[craftexchange]

Welcome back to Show and Tell Saturday! I'm on the hunt for bedroom wall decor - having fun looking at modern quilt patterns! What's new in your world this week?

[hemlock-druid]

I'm learning how to lino cut and print!

[craftexchange]

What a gorgeous linoprint! It feels like a good stamp for someone's library somehow.

[snoopyoftheday]

reminder to be kind to one another

[alnitaks]

starry.eyed.stitcher