#arsanatomica

[doe-prince]

https://www.instagram.com/p/DWElJdIlwYe/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Some new deer research you might be interested in. When they rub their antlers on trees, the marks glow under UV. And so do secretions from facial glands of the males.

Cervine glow stick parties confirmed.

[goldenshrikecomic]

I was a little bit confused about the recent page. Eve can't bring Oudia back because her halv is dead. But deer can live just fine dead halvs? Like helevise, gitta and prue? What makes Oudia the exception?

Well! The biggest and most dramatic exception is that Oudia is actually dead. It requires the action of bringing her back, while deer who just lose their halves can just continue their merry way without Eve's input.

[hirudo-verbana]

throwback to when this artist that puts pride in knowing things about biology outwardly posted about how beakless pigeons were adorable and encouraged their breeding instead of being unethical and disturbing as fuck

like... if they're bad, don't make an ironic post about how adorable you think they are with cutesy art?? because even if you know they're bad, you are still spreading the opposite message by appearing genuine?? it's still up also

[physical-manifestation-of-spite]

Has anyone ever commented on the fact that it takes Reigen an entire month to grow the most minimal of 5 o'clock shadows?

HA HA. BABY FACE. BABY FACE. WITTLE BABY CAN’T EVEN GROW FACIAL HAIR. BABY REIGEN TAKES AS MUCH TIME AS A MIDDLE SCHOOL BOY TO GROW FACIAL HAIR. HA HA

[gofancyninjaworld]

Okay... top five lesser known/talked about themes in OPM (besides overcoming limitations/growth) with real life dovetailing?

1. Mental bandwidth

The story may be a funny one, but one thing it’s meticulous on is that everything costs money, takes time, and/or takes a certain amount of mental energy. The episode that puts mental energy center stage is the second OAV where Saitama and Genos criss-cross town like a pair of madmen to put together a hotpot on a very limited budget ( the costs of the various groceries we see Saitama buy aren’t crazy -- they’re the sort of prices you can expect to pay if you shop very cheaply in Tokyo -- they’re serious about Saitama’s poverty h/t @vibhavm).  It’s hilarious, but consistently eating well on a tight budget is *tough* and if Saitama and Genos didn’t have excess strength, time, and no family to take care of, it’d be impossible for them.

Less blatantly, mental energy is a factor in the daily choices of nearly every character. 

2. Sexism

It’s rarely blatant, but in a way, that’s the best.  It’s very rare that someone goes ‘you suck because you’re a girl’.  But little put downs, being ignored despite saying sensible things, the choices of insults (’hysterical’, ‘crazy’), all those microaggressions, they really get under the skin.  ONE peppers them in here and there. The low-level disrespect the recruiters kept showing Suiko from the start was splendid.  

yes, it’s worth looking at which of the two recruiters is being sexist.  Being a woman doesn’t stop you from being one.

3. Lookism

I’ll let Saitama carry this one.

While Saitama’s dress and demeanour don’t create confidence, the extent to which he’s overlooked and people look to find reasons to discount what he does blows past the point of parody and straight into satire.

More seriously, King being annointed the strongest man in the world on account of his looks is the other side of lookism -- unwarranted opportunities and benefit of the doubt because you look the part.

4. Environmental Damage

Humans always leave a big footprint on their world.  We see so many natural monsters, the sort of creatures that normally leave humanity alone, come into populated areas on account of the environmental damage being done by humans.  In fact, the very first monster we see leads with that.  Given how large, long-lived, and intelligent even natural monsters are,  it reminds me a lot of the conflicts we see between large wild animals and people.  Like the monsters, the animals usually come out the losers.

It’s been even more interesting to get more backstory and find out that the reason all humanity is on the one continent is because people got driven off the rest of the planet by monsters arising as a result of the damage humans had done.  There’s been peace... but people have once again gotten prosperous and damaging.

5. The Identity Politics of Power

This is too long to talk about briefly, but it is truly disturbing how many groups of strong people who honestly have little to fear from society group together to get more. 

[arsanatomica]

One of the things that I'm fascinated with is how people view wildlife and natural processes. When I posted the question, a lot of the answers belied the belief that man can do no good. The remaining answers belied the belief that animals were helpless creatures like accident-prone toddlers. (A lot of people asked if the whale had just accidentally stranded herself....and died....) These animals have been through millions of years of evolution and they're good at what they do. They are absolutely badass at surviving in their environment. I think this story really appealed to me, because not only was this not related to the actions of evil humans, but also the whale died not because she was a dumbass toddler that just rolled over on the beach and stranded herself. She was battle-scarred from fighting off orcas and and did not go down without an epic fight. 

Other places to find me

INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK / ETSY

[strangebiology]

Understanding Animal Remains/Oddities on eBay

If you sell oddities on eBay and you’re getting them taken down, despite following all public-facing TOS, this might be why.

This isn’t an official statement from eBay - I actually asked them for an interview at Nat Geo and they just gave a very brief, written press statement (not an uncommon practice.) But @arsanatomica​ just got the following info. Notes from me in brackets: 

So... I got a call from ebay. I spent about half an hour chatting with the policy enforcement department, and there was a number of things I learned.

1. Wet specimens are not allowed.

2. Specimens in jars are not allowed.

3. Ebay has a published rule set for the users, and a much larger listing of internal rules that are unpublished. The unpublished rules are enforced, but there is no way for users to know what they are. [I imagine that the reason is similar to the reason that Google Ads doesn’t make their list public--they don’t want people listing bad stuff that only technically meets the requirements. Google Ads policies are explained in this Reply All Podcast. - SB]

4. Removals are up to the judgement of the individual policy enforcement officer. The particular officer that called me had pet rats, and felt my diaphonized rats were disrespectful. He removed them. [People on FB have mentioned that cat and dog parts will be removed as well. - SB]

5. The reason behind the wet specimen ban is predominately image related. Even if the items are ethically sourced, and died natural deaths, ebay feels that the items are disturbing and triggering. There is a strong push to make the platform safe and inclusive for all users, and to get rid of controversial items that might make people uncomfortable or feel unsafe.

6. The human skull and parts ban last year was triggered by the increased sale of unprofessionally cleaned skulls that ebay suspected was being taken from vandalized graves. [In the press statement, eBay just told me that they banned them "as part of our regular, ongoing review of eBay policies.” Their policy page says that the reason for these rules is that “The sale of humans and human remains is prohibited by law,” which I have told them is not true, and they almost certainly know that it’s not true. You can read more about the internet human skull market in my Nat Geo article here. - SB]

[gofancyninjaworld]

I don't know if this has ever been asked before, but where does Kuseno get his money? Geno comes from a poor family. Kuseno said it was just him and Genos wandering around for several years. So he didn't have a crew or a staff or anything. Was there any speculation on how he got all the income stream to build his secret lab and all these parts for genos?

No mention has been made of where Kuseno’s money comes from.  Given how important money is in this story, I’m sure we’ll find out.

Probable:  He’s the originator of and has profited from some aspect of the cyborg-making process.  It’s rather gotten away from him and metastasized in directions not anticipated.  Which is a bother.

Improbable, but I’d love it if it were true:  Kuseno’s fortune comes from something entirely innocuous but in high demand across society.  The glass fronting mobile phones. The platform on which mobile game apps are hosted.   Paperclips!

Not that probable, but uncool: Controlling shares in a technology or objects that benefit greatly from the current chaos of the world.  

Mundane:  He’s inherited a hell of a lot of money and is spending it down.