not being normal

en.pronouns.page/@squidhands ✦ 27 ✦ happy to be here ✦ the locked tomb: @penitent-nunlet ✦ critical role: @ismelllikeacrayon ✦ nostalgiacore: @thebeforetimes ✦ lost (abc): @saucedinthelost ✦ sleepy collection: @thesleepingplace

[draconym]

i would rather see the information for an event handwritten in sharpie on a paper towel than see another AI generated flyer

[highways-are-liminal-spaces]

Humpback whales singing off the leeward coast of O’ahu

(sound on 🔉)

[highways-are-liminal-spaces]

<— to answer these tags on main, since it’s a fun question, our guide lowered a hydrophone and so my phone is leaning on the railing right next to the hydrophone

[rogers-carter]

LITTLE WOMEN 1994 | dir. Gillian Armstrong

[boomer-mythology-destroyer]

[acetrainerlogan]

This is borderline pornography for me the way I want all these in my mouth and body

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

Another reason to be afraid of starfish: they have a special tissue called catch collagen, which can solidify at will. They use it to grab hold of clams and yank them apart persistently with no effort frozen in place while the clam has to squeeze together with all its force. Eventually the clam is exhausted and releases, and the starfish oozes its gut inside to eat it :) Also, starfish are persistence hunters and they can see you.

so i was NOT prepared or interested in learning starfish are persistence hunters

[beowulf22121]

As long as they stay small enough to yeet back to sea, it’s fine.

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

got some news for you bitch

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

wait im into this

[dykeofalltrades]

since getting my cat those arthritis shots, she always gets the zoomies after pooping. its been years since ive heard her claws scraping around corners. would appreciate it more if she burried her poop before running off

[molabuddy]

ok spider megacity is actually driving me a bit crazy. 2 dominant species live in thr spider city and one wpuld usually predate the otherbut bc its so dark in there they cant tell... so they livein peace and eat midges. thousands of spiders living in peace on one bigbigbig web eating midges in the dark together forever. one bigbig web spans across boarder of two countries spiders live on there peaceful in the colddark. eating midges

[molabuddy]

World's biggest spiderweb discovered inside 'Sulfur Cave' with 111,000 arachnids living in pitch black

A giant colonial spiderweb in a sulfuric cave on the border between Greece and Albania may be the largest ever found — and it was built by s

spider megacity..........

[fortunatehazelnut]

🥹

[nightmarechamillian]

Peace and love on planet spiders

[bestiolin]

iralaik

[cltrona]

Quick one while I'm between a birthday party and a second viewing of phm LMAO

[horsedetector]

Horse and horse art detected!

[aspergilloma]

Mt. St. Helens. May 18, 1980.

[perfect-jerry-blossom]

i genuinely can't fucking deal with the larger internet anymore holy shit what the fuck are you people TALKING about. i am at my limit with this stupid bullshit. who the fuck cares if a man is hired to draw medical diagrams for young girls jesus christ we're pearl clutching about medical illustrations now? next you're gonna tell me male pediatricians shouldn't advise parents on their kids' vulva issues? male surgeons shouldn't be in the room when performing a procedure where a woman's breasts or vulva might be exposed? male researchers shouldn't conduct gynecological medical research? sure. better for men to live in ignorance and NEVER ally themselves with us to expand access to sexual education and reproductive healthcare i fucking guess. Twenty thousand likes. i hate it here KILL ME

[perfect-jerry-blossom]

THIS is the post that got me my first ever anon hate. i'd like to thank the academy tbh

also not related but can ppl on this post being like "yeah STOP being mean to men!!" pls stop cuz that's not the point of what i was saying 💀 i'm not mad bc someone was mean to a man i'm mad bc feminism is being hijacked by bioessentialist conservative Christian moralist bullshit where the goal seems to be the complete and total segregation of women from men instead of like, the material improvement of women's lives. i don't care if some intsta commenter is mean to men i care that feminism is culturally turning into Nu Conservatism

[noxtheox]

I looked up and saw a fat juvenile pelican with kind eyes looking down at me

[theunfairfolk]

i do actually get tired sometimes of having the same basic decency discussions around native culture. stop using the term spirit animal. don't use the skin word for shapeshifters. i saw a plushie kickstarter with the W word for a small skull deer plushie and it had already met it's goal. people just blithely repeating terms with no connection to their culture. actively profiting off of it.

[subversivecynic]

Ok, so I'm down but a sentence here gave me confused and I'm hoping you have spoons to help me clarify my brain.

"don't use the skin word for shapeshifters"

I know that the We---- word is a closed cultural word, and I'm careful to not say it because I don't want to be an asshole

Is 'skin wa-----' offensive as well?

[theunfairfolk]

yes! though "offensive" is a bit reductive; it's not a swear or a slur, it's just a concept that the navajo would prefer non-navajo not to talk about, both because of their belief about how using it's name invokes/summons the being in some way and because of the ongoing appropriation and erasure of native culture.

[theunfairfolk]

i came across a dog insta account w the description "is it a dog? is it a [redacted]?". finger on the block button i see the account is new and small and decided to reach out to the owner about language use. i sent a message in my friendliest tone informing them of the word's taboo and expecting to get blocked in return.

friends. they messaged back a thank you and they changed the word to "cryptid". instant follow.

so shoutout to this dog and their humans.

finally: some commenters have been pointing out that this reaction might be interpreted as mysticizing indigenous beliefs. "dont say the wrong word or the spirit will Get You" is the plot of many D horror movies. my intended sentiment is this: whether or not you think these beings exist, using that language as a non-native is disrespectful and appropriative and should not be done.

[doing-90mph-in-central-london]

he's going through a hair dye phase (sleeping in a berry patch)

[doing-90mph-in-central-london]

feels like some of u aren't properly appreciating the fact that he sleeps in a berry patch. and he rolls over and squishes the berries into his fur. because he's so sleepy and content.

[doing-90mph-in-central-london]

maybe people think he's an ugly dog but just to be clear he is actually a beautiful pig

[xanaxfarts]

Fruit-Shaped Bus Stops, built. 1990 location: Konagai, Nagasaki, Japan

[thememedaddy]

[coshiemonie]

HEAR HEAR!!!

[creampuffqueen]

i say this with all my heart, from one person who cares about animal welfare to hopefully many others:

please take the term “factory farm” out of your vocabulary when discussing animal welfare

talking about the welfare of livestock and livestock production is incredibly important! all animals deserve to have the best welfare possible, regardless of if they’re going to end up on a plate or not

but the term “factory farm” does not actually discuss animal welfare in the way so many people seem to assume it does

for starters, “factory farm” is not an actual industry term. it doesn’t actually mean anything, because what constitutes a factory farm is completely subjective. you will never see the phrase “factory farm” in any kind of published research or official article because, again, it doesn’t mean anything

sure, the phrase definitely has connotations. and the connotation is the issue here. people use the term “factory farm” as a shorthand for… well, typically, “farming practice i don’t understand but think looks bad”

the term isn’t something neutral. it is specifically designed to create a negative image when you hear it. someone says “factory farm” and most people imagine large amounts of animals kept in bad condition

the key here: large amounts of animals

the size of a farm does not dictate the welfare of the animals on it. there are plenty of large farms with hundreds, thousands of animals that take stellar care of their livestock. there are small farms with only a couple animals that live horrible lives

the size of a farm is not the issue when it comes to animal welfare, but rather the practices used on the farm. sometimes they do go hand in hand, yes. there are some practices that are only necessary because of the amount of animals present

but say that

there are other terms that are actually industry terms that work better for these scenarios. try “conventional farming” “industrialized farming” “commercialized farming”. these actually have meanings that you can then jump off of into talking about animal welfare practices on these farms

“factory farming” is just a term used to paint farming in an entirely negative light, when what actually makes a farm have good or bad welfare depends on so many other things

[ispeaksforthetrees]

As someone with a degree in sustainable ag and who works in Organic agriculture now, the best term to use when talking about what people picture when they think about "factory farming" is Animal Feeding Operation (AFO) or Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO)

From the USA EPA website:

(https://www.epa.gov/npdes/animal-feeding-operations-afos )

CAFO and AFO are easy to understand even if you aren't interested or involved in ag, but they are also legally defined and there are regulations and policies written about them. While terms like conventional farming and industrialized farming are useful and widely used and you won't be misunderstood (and I agree with op that they're better than 'factory farming') using specific language when talking about something that is regulated is important. "Conventional farming is bad" is a much harder point to argue when compared to "Confined Animal Feeding Operations are bad" even though I would agree that both are true. One is a broad statement about a wide variety of practices and operations and the other is discussing a specific type of operation with well documented animal welfare concerns and environmental impact (there's a reason they're defined on the EPA website - these things absolutely fuck up a watershed).

Using AFO/CAFO is also useful when discussing animal welfare as a whole. There are organic AFOs and while their animal welfare standards are higher than conventional AFO operations, they do exist. I grew up in a county with thousands of turkey and chicken CAFOs and some of them work with organic brands and were Certified Organic. Definitionally these operations are not Conventional, they're Organic. In professional circles those therms are opposite. This is where Industrial Agriculture is a more effective term than conventional, but I think my point stands.

By using AFO/CAFO to discuss any operation that raises animals as future meat products instead of as animals the critique is targeted and issue being discussed is clearer.