Spelled The Way It Sounds @shayvaalski - Tumblr Blog

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sashayed

did not register this last line as "lo!" for a solid few seconds. maybe you didn't either

sashayed

he's so funny btw

ultrasequel

I keep hearing “grace wears science pun shirts to break the ice with his students” “aww grace wears those shirts to make science more interesting to kids”. Bullshit dude, in all of the classroom scenes he’s wearing business casual. His dumbass science shirts are for the love of the game and nothing else

werewolf-transgenderism

only 62 more frogs until we hit 8,000 species described. the moment we've all been waiting for

werewolf-transgenderism

there are an average of about 150 new amphibian species described per year so I remain hopeful that 2026 will be the year of 8,000 frogs

werewolf-transgenderism

I do love that somebody tagged tumblr's own frog scientist on this post. chop chop dr scherz, we've got 62 more frogs to discover and you're the only frog scientist any of us knows

werewolf-transgenderism

GUYS amphibian species of the world is still at 7,994 species of frog BUT amphibiaweb is at 8,008 species of frog, and do you know who is a co-author on the 8,000th species of frog there???? TUMBLR'S OWN FROG SCIENTIST DR SCHERZ

markscherz

strong-resilient-indigenous

yall we did it

we made it to boob frogs

markscherz

blumineck

Be yourself as best you can whenever you can.

avi-mation

Earth’s Scapegoat and her Sacrificial Lamb

mapsontheweb

The black areas represent the remaining natural dark skies in the United States

largedad

impossiblepackage

I’ve been in the middle of the ocean at night and now live in texas and it is so hard to explain to people that no, they have not ever seen the night sky. It is so hard to explain to people that what they think is a proper night sky is fucking pathetic. A disgrace.

People talk about how you can’t see stars in the city and yeah, that’s true, but their concept of “seeing stars” is being able to make out orion’s belt.

So, so few people have see the sky in all its glory and it’s not sad. It’s a fucking crime. Seeing a perfectly dark night, no clouds, not a hint of light pollution? That’s a fucking religious experience.

The sky the vast vast majority of us grew up with is not the sky that inspired us to look up. It is not the sky that inspired constellations. You can’t even see most constellations.

Your ancestors looked at the night sky and said “surely, that is where the gods must live.” And you might be lucky if you can see hardly more than a handful of stars.

The sky is full, fucking FULL, of stars, and you’ve never seen them.

bisquid

I remember the first time I saw a properly dark sky and was like ‘oh that’s why it’s called the milky way’ and promptly started to cry

When we were on a field trip to the middle of the red sea, I remember us all crowding at the end of the boat that didn’t have lights and just lying on our backs and staring

When you see a properly dark starscape

You understand why people wrote poems and made up legends and built rockets and said heaven’s in the sky

The universe is infinite. So are the stars

bisquid

I’m trying to find a picture on google images to show you what I mean and I can’t find any

You think of the night sky like fairy lights on black velvet, but it’s not it’s not it’s like, like, dust in sunlight, like - I can’t find the words.

The stars are everywhere, like sugar, like glitter, like dust. You can’t find the constellations at first, not because you can’t recognise them, but because there’s so many stars you can’t pick out the familiar line of Orion’s belt. The North star has gone from bright familiarity to almost vanishing among a thousand, a hundred thousand, a million other lights. The milky way is a line of light arcing across the sky like a moon-trail on water only infinitely, infinitely bigger.

And for the first time in your life you’ll understand why people call it a dome, because it is, it’s three dimensional in exactly the way a city skyscape isn’t.

You’ll understand why Luthien Tinúviel danced under starlight, not moonlight, why people in a time before we knew the earth was round still looked up and wondered and built telescopes and dreamed about the stars.

The stars are endless and ancient and infinite and you will stand with your head craned back and your rucksack forgotten at your feet and you’ll feel like you’re falling upwards into that great bright sky like it’s calling you home and you’ll wonder how you ever thought the stars were beautiful before tonight when all you’d ever seen were the naked empty skyscapes of your home. And you’ll cry and you’ll spend the rest of your time there gazing up and wondering and imagining what it would be like to stand among those bright silver flecks

And then you’ll come home, and look up, and fall in a different kind of love with that handful of blazing stars to stubborn to be outdone by the whole of human invention, leading you home despite the light pollution and the clouds and the endless bustle of this shrinking planet.

5c0l0p3ndr4

this is not a shot from a space telescope overlayed behind a woods, or anything. that’s not the sky as kepler or hubble or james webb see it. that’s the sky from a dark sky park in michigan. that’s the view you are missing out on from right here on earth. that’s the view that has been stolen from you.

mckitterick

I fell in love with the sky as a child growing up in western Minnesota, miles from a small town, near a massive lake and just downhill from an 18-hole golf course - the pure darkness broken only by a single bright light I could escape by hauling my telescope up that hill or into a nearby field

I’d often set an alarm to wake me in the middle of the night, so it was as dark as possible and my eyes as dark-adapted as they coud get, and starlight alone was enough to guide me

that’s what’s been taken from us all

cosmo-the-ethyrian

OH OKAY so actually im fully ugly crying snotty-sobbing about this. what

i-like-reblog-maps

this post was inflicted upon me so now i’m inflicting it on all of you

(full map of ~75k is too much for me to load, but i got to 40k! very laggy, but worth it.)

vacuously-true

We can have this back btw. This is solvable, and it’s not THAT hard. It’s not pollution like greenhouse gases in the atmosphere where we have to stop making it worse AND clean up the mess we already made. With light pollution, all we have to do is stop doing it. Use shielded outdoor lights. Don’t run lights when they don’t need to be run. Install motion sensors and dimmers. And it’s not expensive- it literally SAVES money. Push for these policies at the local level. Get the stars back.

#the first time i saw the Milky Way like this I was in Iluka Bay in Tasmania #we were walking back from dinner and I glanced up and STOPPED DEAD #everyone else piled into me but as soon as I told them why I'd stopped they all looked up too #and everyone went quiet #it haunts me #I've tried to write about it many times and failed

makingqueerhistory

A newly transcribed short story written by Alan Turing challenges the long-standing image of him as isolated and ashamed of his sexuality

A newly transcribed short story written by Alan Turing challenges the long-standing image of the genius as isolated and ashamed of his sexuality, revealing instead a man who was “playful, funny, cheeky” and “really liked sex”.

waltwhitmann

wonderful news!! you can read dillon’s article on the story as well as the transcription here (open access!):

Abstract. This article presents the first extended engagement with Alan Turing’s unpublished and untitled short story, commonly referred to

https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgag047

and the king’s college archive has actually digitized the original manuscript pages here!!

Non-scientific writings. Comprises:- AMS short story by AMT, untitled and n.d. [sometimes referred to as Pryce's Buoy]; 1st page of AL from

gendercensus

The 2026 Gender Census is now open!

[ survey.gendercensus.com ]

The 13th annual international gender census, collecting information about the language we use to refer to ourselves and each other, is now open until 13th August 2026.

It’s short and easy, for most participants it takes 5 minutes or less.

After the survey is closed I’ll process the results and publish a spreadsheet of the data and a report summarising the main findings. Then anyone can use them for academic or business purposes, self-advocacy, tracking the popularity of language over time, and just feeling like we’re part of a huge and diverse community.

If you think you might have friends and followers who’d be interested, please do reblog this blog post, and share the survey URL by email or at AFK social groups or on other social networks. Every share is extremely helpful!

Survey URL: https://survey.gendercensus.com

The survey is open to anyone anywhere who speaks English and feels that the gender binary doesn’t fully describe their experience of themselves and their gender(s) or lack thereof.

Thank you so much!

[ Link to survey ]

PS: You can see some regularly-updated statistics about incoming data here, with lots of demography and graphs to peruse!

PPS: Image credits, bark and grass.

gendercensus

Day 19, 31st July 2026 - 13 days remaining

We're well on the way to 27,000 responses! Only 300 or so until we hit that milestone. :)

I have nerdily added some notes to some graphs so that I can see what affects the numbers:

If your gender is a rare and valuable Limited Edition, please click here to do the survey.

thecaffeinebookwarrior-deactiva

Resources For Writing Deaf, Mute, or Blind Characters

Despite the fact that I am not deaf, mute, or blind myself, one of the most common questions I receive is how to portray characters with these disabilities in fiction.

As such, I’ve compiled the resources I’ve accumulated (from real life deaf, mute, or blind people) into a handy masterlist.

Deaf Characters:

Deaf characters masterpost

Deaf dialogue thread

Dialogue with signing characters (also applies to mute characters.)

A deaf author’s advice on deaf characters

Dialogue between deaf characters

Mute Characters

Life as a Mute

My Silent Summer: Life as a Mute

What It’s Like Being Mute

21 People Reveal What It’s Really Like To Be Mute

I am a 20 year old Mute, ask me anything at all!

Blind Characters:

The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Blind Characters.

@referenceforwriters masterpost of resources for writing/playing blind characters.

The youtube channel of the wonderful Tommy Edison, a man blind from birth with great insight into the depiction of blind people and their lives.

An Absolute Write thread on the depiction of blind characters, with lots of different viewpoints and some great tips.

And finally, this short, handy masterpost of resources for writing blind characters.

Characters Who Are Blind in One Eye

4 Ways Life Looks Shockingly Different With One Eye

Learning to Live With One Eye

Adapting to the Loss of an Eye

Adapting to Eye Loss and Monocular Vision

Monocular Depth Perception

Deaf-Blind Characters

What Is It Like To Be Deafblind?

Going Deaf and Blind in a City of Noise and Lights

Deaf and Blind by 30

Sarita is Blind, Deaf, and Employed (video)

Born Deaf and Blind, This Eritrean American Graduated Harvard Law School (video)

A Day of a Deaf Blind Person

Lesser Known Things About Being Deafblind

How the Deaf-Blind Communicate

Early Interactions With Children Who Are Deaf-Blind

Raising a DeafBlind Baby

If you have any more resources to add, let me know! I’ll be adding to this post as I find more resources.

I hope this helps, and happy writing! <3

thecaffeinebookwarrior-deactiva

Updated with more resources, specifically for characters who are blind in one eye.

#characters with disablities #disabled characters

tsukihasnolife

We raise our cups to them 🌹

hidinhaydn

Tonight on Game Changer:

The world's most insane game of telephone featuring six comedians, three artists, and a PA with the temperament of a shaking chihuahua being held at gunpoint

hellisratherpleasant

found this on the Savary Island Encyclopedia

jessaerys

loouis, louies... watch this programme de télévision with me, loeuies. it has revealed to me a most thrilling premise.... you see, the handsome psychoanalysist communes with the troubled young man who is ill at ease with his sublime gift, that which allows him to hear the dark songs in the hearts and minds of men.... and it appears it is the very doctor of his mind, louise, whose heart might sing the darkest song of them all. is that not electrifying, louuie? don't you find it devastatingly fateful? luoiuise?