Living the Squiggle

"I prefer gender neutral sovereign ruler"// they/them // Is your cow in stealth mode? // My inbox is always open if anyone ever needs to talk // writing blog: wordsfromlimbo.tumblr.com //  studyblr: unconventalstudying.tumblr.com

[katelyn-danger]

Unironically, vegans need to be advocating for more and better sheep, llama, and alpaca farms. Wool is one of the best fabrics we have in terms of versatility, longevity and most importantly, insulation. Even wet, it retains 80% of it’s insulation potential.

AND IT DOESN’T SHED MICROPLASTICS

[katelyn-danger]

Like, there’s literally nothing you can do to a sheep that’s as morally reprehensible as dumping plastic down the gullet of literally every other living thing. You wanna talk about animal welfare? Talk about reducing the amount of microplastics produced by rayon, polyester, and spandex.

Bruh plant-based sources of clothing exist and are better for the environment and don’t involve slicing an animal’s throat open please shut the fuck up you cunt

[katelyn-danger]

THE WOOL GROWS BACK

[scoutsmoocrew]

I know when I shear my animals I always make sure to slice their throat 😌

[is-the-fox-video-cute]

In the UK many farmers are resorting to throwing away or burning the wool from their sheep because the fleeces have so little value now that it’s not worth trying to sell them. Other farmers are switching to using sheep breeds that moult naturally as it costs more to sheer an individual sheep than it’s fleece is worth. 

Meanwhile fast fashion brands keep pumping out clothing made of plastics that will permanently pollute the environment and shed microplastics everywhere. 

[is-the-owl-video-cute-deactivat]

The impact PETA has had on completely misinforming the public on where wool comes from is astounding.

This is all shearing a sheep involves. That’s it. It may be a bit confusing or uncomfortable, but it’s no more inhumane than giving a dog a bath. Most wool-bearing animals do not shed their wool naturally anymore and must be sheared to avoid suffering an incredibly slow death.

Nothing about wool production is cruel to the animals. No part of wool goes against veganism. Benefits the animal and benefits the people.

[brunhiddensmusings]

ive gotten a depressing amount of use out of th is image

[redpandarascal]

If you want a quick summary: wool is made by sheep haircuts, and you have to give sheep haircuts anyway. Everyone in this post is using the term “sheering”, which might sound scary to you, because it’s a technical term you’re unfamiliar with that references a blade. It’s a haircut. It’s a less exploitative haircut than when a principal lets the students shave their head if the students raise enough charity money. Haircut haircut haircut.

[bokuwachikuwa]

[juicetrump2]

BOOST!

[juicetrump2]

Aid Access supports women who cannot otherwise access an abortion or miscarriage treatment and protects their human rights.

[theangrycomet]

Oh wouldn’t this be tragic if word of this spread out everywhere possible?

[mygendertodayis]

Oh no…my hand slipped…

[eroticcannibal]

Remember if you live somewhere where this is an option you need, you need to be keeping a healthy stock of pregnancy tests and using them regularly to catch the pregnancy early enough. It is incredibly common for people to only find out well past 10 weeks. Of course that can be expensive so look for the paper strip type that doctors use, not the bulky plastic types typically advertised for home use if you can. And dont fall for marketing gimmicks with pregnancy tests, they all work about the same, you don’t need a digital screen and if in doubt do another test tomorrow.

(Also do your test first thing when you wake up for best results)

[countesspetofi]

I would HATE for anyone in Texas to ACCIDENTALLY read this…

[possiblythreefourthspeahen]

The dollar store carries pregnancy tests and they’re just as accurate as the ones from the pharmacy, fyi

[system-splintered-deactivated20]

Sharing for Oklahoma as gov Stitt signed a bill stopping abortions.

[strange-aeons]

send me your best/worst uquizzes

[saiyaman-deactivated20231010]

dr. seuss was racist :/

AND THE FOUNDING FATHERS WERENT?

[saiyaman-deactivated20231010]

i know it's funnier without context but here's the context if anyone needs it

[vernadskova-deactivated20230803]

Looking at them side-by-side, Peytoia just looks like a poorly drawn Anomalocaris. I love her...

[bedupolker]

same energy

[mossymorels]

Illustrations for a trans masc chest Zine I'm making!

[alphynix]

Retro vs Modern #09: Hallucigenia sparsa

If just one single species had to represent how our reconstructions of prehistoric animals can drastically change, it would have to be Hallucigenia sparsa.

1970s

First discovered in the 1910s in the Canadian Burgess Shale fossil deposits, specimens of Hallucigenia were initially categorized as being a species of the early polychaete worm Canadia. It wasn’t until the 1970s that they were recognized as being something else entirely, and the first reconstruction of this tiny animal was bizarre.

It was depicted as a long-bodied creature with a single row of tentacles along its back, and several pairs of long sharp spines that were interpreted as being stilt-like “legs” used to walk. The tentacles were thought to catch food from the water and pass it forwards to the bulbous “head” – and at one point it was even proposed that all the tentacles had their own additional “mouths” at their tips!

It’s easy to look back on this version now and laugh at how ridiculous and obviously wrong it was, but it’s important to remember the historical context here. This was coming from a point when the incredible animal diversity of the Cambrian Explosion was only just starting to be understood, revealing a range of poorly-understood bizarre and alien-looking forms like Opabinia – “weird wonders” that were considered to be representatives of previously unknown ancient branches of life.

At the time, Hallucigenia’s utter weirdness and impractical body plan seemed to almost make sense as a unique evolutionary “failed experiment” that had left no living relatives.

1990s

Discoveries of legged-and-armored lobopodian “worms” in the Chinese Chengjiang fossil deposits during the 1980s prompted a re-interpretation of Hallucigenia in the early 1990s. Speculatively reconstructing it as a lobopodian with the spines on its back and with the tentacles as a set of paired clawed legs started to make it seem a lot less alien and a lot more like a real velvet-worm-like animal – and just a year later the “missing” other half of the leg pairs was confirmed to be present in some of the fossil specimens.

But it was still unclear which end was actually the head, and whether the large blob-like structure was a real part of Hallucigenia’s anatomy or just an artifact of the fossilization process.

2020s

New research in the mid-2010s finally settled the head problem and clarified a lot of Hallugicenia’s anatomy, discovering that the slender elongated end had a pair of simple eyes and a mouth with a throat ringed with tiny teeth.

We now know Hallucigenia sparsa lived all around the world during the mid-Cambrian, about 518-508 million years ago, with body fossils known from Canada and China and isolated spines found in numerous other similarly-aged locations. Instead of an evolutionary dead-end “weird wonder” it was actually an early member of the vast arthropod lineage, just one of a highly diverse collection of successful Cambrian lobopodians, and its closest living relatives are probably velvet worms and tardigrades.

It grew up to about 5cm long (2") and had seven pairs of long sharp defensive spines along its back, covered with a microscopic surface texture of tiny triangular “scales”. It had seven pairs of clawed walking legs, with most of its feet tipped with two claws each but the final two pairs having just one, and its body ended right at the final pair of limbs – the “blob” structure in some fossils was actually just an artifact the whole time, formed by Halligenia’s innards being forcefully squeezed out during its burial in the seafloor sediment.

Its neck region bore three pairs of long delicate tendril-like limbs, which may have been covered in feathery hair-like structures for filter-feeding similar to some other lobopodians. A small pair of velvet-worm-like antennae may also have been present on its head, and could have been a sexually dimorphic feature.

———

Nix Illustration | Tumblr | Twitter | Patreon

[sosuperawesome]

Riley Samels on Instagram / Etsy

[triskeleaficionado]

UC or ER?

[vetmedirl]

This is actually so helpful because as an American living in late stage capitalism where most people have zero health coverage except for the emergency room, the tire purpose of the ER has lost all meaning on most people.

[black-culture]

[thedavesofourlives]

Statistically this is very true! Women tend to not apply to jobs unless they meet 100% of the job requirements, while men typically feel more comfortable applying if they only hit around 60% of the requirements.

[macattackp]

Things You Shouldn’t Say to Chronically ill/Disabled People

Don’t Ask “Are You STILL Not Well?” Our conditions are ‘chronic’ This means they are possibly never going to heal. After a few years you should catch on to this

Don’t Tell Us About Your Miracle Cure Yes we know about magnesium, crystals, epsom salts, and yoga. We are eating a balanced diet, we might even meditate regularly. The fact that we are still ill doesn’t mean we haven’t tried it. The fact that we haven’t chased after every suggestion doesn’t mean that is the one thing keeping us unhealthy… we get a LOT of these. A LOT

Don’t Get Angry When We Say We’ve Tried Everything You Think Of  We are not dismissing you and your value. We are not being smarmy or trying to throw a pity party for ourselves. We have been researching this condition for years now. Don’t feel so shocked that we’ve already considered every idea you’ve come up with in 5 minutes!

Don’t Tell Us About How Weak Our Generation is and How Back In Your Day You Just Fought Forward and Pretended it Wasn’t There 1) You are NOT chronically ill. Your problems and my ‘problems’ are my ‘normal’ 2) Is being stupid and self destructive really something worth bragging about or emulating?

Don’t Tell us About Your Aunt’s Cousin’s Nephew’s Friend Who Has Our Condition and Still Does The Things We Don’t These conditions have a VERY broad range to them. Some people will have them and live totally normal lives. Some people will struggle with them. Some people will consider even what I do amazing freedom and strength. The fact that the people you know who have this condition are doing things is probably because they are the only ones who are able to be in the places you go. Trust me, I’ve read the statistics. Majority of us are not able to do what we are not able to do.

Don’t Ask Us When We Are Going to Get Past This or be Done Making a Big Deal About This Believe me, it is a full time job as a chronically ill/chronically injured person to not blame ourselves. We don’t need you reminding us what a burden we’re being or telling us we could totally get past this if we just tried. We are trying. And we do get that you’re tired of worrying about our issues. We are too. But unlike you, you can walk away and not notice it anymore. We have to live with this every waking minute. We can’t run away from this because this is us. This is our reality

Ways You SHOULD Talk To Chronically ill/Chronically Injured People

Just Talk to Us Seriously. Just have a light conversation with us. It is stinking lonely going through this and we are always thankful for a distraction. Talk to us about what interests you. Talk to us about if you think whales burp through their blowholes. Talk to us about anything!

If We Can’t Stand Then Sit To Talk to Us This isn’t a demand, but if you want to put us more at ease, it really does help. It is something I myself didn’t realize until I lost my ability to stand for long periods of time. People like to stand while talking. More to the point, they like to stand FAR away from anything you can sit on. Even if you are sitting, people like to stand to talk to you, and trust me. It is both daunting and kind of awkward talking to people’s crotches as they tower over you. If we are sitting down, it doesn’t mean you need to walk away because we are done talking to you. It means we needed to sit down. Sit down with us. It’s relaxing. We’ll talk for hours not distracted so much by our increasing pain and trying to awkwardly stand as long as we are sitting.

Talk About Things Other Than How Hard Our Lives Must Be It’s not like we are completely against it. I notice other people walking with cool looking canes and want to ask them where they got them (cane envy as I like to call it). This is a huge part of our lives and we can’t avoid talking about it entirely because it does take up our schedules, choices, and more. But we are more than our suffering as well. We like to talk about movies, games, books, some even like to talk about sports! I mean there’s a whole Paralympics  thing! (Though not me… Don’t talk to me about sports. I’ll have literally no idea what on earth you’re talking about)

Roll With It If you ask if we want to go to a museum with you, and we reply “Oh I’d love to, unfortunately I can’t stand that long.” or “Unfortunately I get my nerve blocks at that time so I’ll be out of it for the day.” Don’t solemnly go “Oh….” and then sit their awkwardly thinking how you just ruined the mood. The fact that we casually mentioned something like that usually means we are feeling comfortable with you. To us this isn’t a trigger point, it is literally just our weekly schedule. It’s almost the same as saying “Oh I can’t, I play golf Saturday mornings!” Just suggest another date. Or another activity. Ask us if we have anything you might like to try. Just keep the conversation going!

Basically… Just Treat Us Like Friends We have to deal with stuff you may not understand. We may have to make accommodations you don’t think of. But we are still people. We don’t expect you to know everything we go through, or have the cure we haven’t thought of… We just want someone to connect with and have a pleasant conversation with! Just be you!

[owivizzle-deactivated20190829]

God I really wish carrying stuffed animals around with you was socially acceptable

[mitch-that-bitch]

I don’t mean to take over a post, but I actually did a project on this for my sociology of deviance class in college!

I carried a large stuffed rabbit whenever I went in public for about a week to observe the reaction of others. The point of the project was to do something harmless yet unusual to see if the action would be considered deviant, in which case someone had to try to correct or shame the behavior.

Long story short, nobody tried to correct my behavior. I was asked about it casually, had a few lingering stares thrown my way and when I was with my boyfriend, shop employees would direct questions to him instead of me. However, nobody refused to assist me when I was alone in a store, nobody said anything about the rabbit besides “oh, thats a cute bunny!” and I attended college classes without even a teacher questioning it.

In conclusion, it is socially acceptable to carry a stuffed animal, its just not a societal norm. ^^

[nerdgasrnz]

#for followers with a big anxiety or self hate problem #bring a friend with you (via @kingdom-for-muses)

[so1987-deactivated20230102]

DOING IT

[thebibliosphere]

My friend gave me a stuffed monkey plushy when I was struggling with uni, and I took him everywhere for like four years, usually velcrod to my backpack. No one said a damn thing, except my renaissance professor who saw it one day in the hallway and cracked the fuck up because I had a literal monkey on my back and he just looked at me like, “oh god, me too”. I used to leave him on desks during classes and exams (the monkey, not my prof). It was my reminder that someone cared if I was coping. But more than that it was soothing to have something to fidget with that wasn’t a pen. I used to ping those fucking things across the room I was so agitated. Harder to hurt people with a projectile stuffed monkey.

[kripke-is-my-king]

I got what I thought was a normal screen cleaning kit for my computer while I was in college. Much to my delight, instead of a little washcloth or whatever, the kit came with a tiny stuffed pig. 

So I carried this pig in my backpack all through college, periodically taking it out, spraying my screen, and using the pig to wipe it off. 

Now, I kept the pig in the side pocket of my bag where he was completely visible.

Then one day in screenwriting class I pulled him out to wipe my screen. 

One of the guys sitting next to me looked appalled. “You’re wiping it off with your little stuffed animal??” 

I explained what the pig was. 

Turns out, the guy had noticed it and just thought it was adorable I carried a stuffed animal with me every day. He’d never mentioned it before. 

Honestly, people do not care, and will not say anything. No matter the reason for your little stuffed animal friend. 

[marcys-underground]

And if you’re still really nervous about it keep a stuffed animal keychain on your bag. I have a cute little frog that stays on my backpack so when work gets stressful I can squeeze it.

[peanutbutterbananasmoothie-deac]

For my anxious followers.

[shadowy-dumbo-octopus]

Confirmed. I take my Venom tsum tsum to uni when I need a little mental boost. The little goo always brings me good luck and overall makes my day just a tiny bit better. I haven’t received a single comment about them so far.

Bring your stuffed buddies to class/work/whatever, guys. People don’t care.

[lemonsharks]

I have a couple of Ikea sharks* and have had cause to periodically carry them around in public - one of which I bought with the last $15 I had at the time, after making a series of big life changes. “This is frivolous and I don’t have to care about that because I’m getting paid shortly—I’m going to do it!”

The reactions I get range from amusement through delight and “WHERE DID YOU GET THAT” but so far, never disapproval.

The moral of the story is Carry Your Emotional Support Plushie With Pride, You Deserve It.

*pictured: not my shark

[taraljc]

true story: I once had an appallingly awful day at the hell job and it coincided with my giant squishy Baymax being delivered from China, and no lie I hugged on that Baymax to keep from crying until it was time to leave

[lauraannegilman]

I travel with DC (”Don’t Care”) the Emotional Support Honey Badger.  I go through TSA with him attached to my backpack, I hug him when I sleep in transit, I prop him next to me in cafes in cities, towns, and rural areas.  The only time anyone’s ever so much as raised an eyebrow at me was the TSA agent who recognized what he was, and asked it he could get his picture taken with him.

People don’t judge.  Kids think you’re awesome. You get a companion who never judges you.  It’s all win.

[soft-bois-blog-deactivated20210]

I know probably everyone has seen this post already, but its too good not to reblog.

Don’t be afraid to carry your comfort items around with you! :D I take some of my stuffed friends to work sometimes, and no one ever bats an eye at them!

[stargazing-at-the-moon-deactiva]

*looks at my pink teddy bear I named Ruby* you’re coming to college with me and that’s not a choice

[thefurriestofchows]

This post made me cry bcuz sometimes i feel bad for having stuffed animals/plushies

[starkcontrasts]

i needed this a lot

[gothiccharmschool]

Merricat is my travel bunny. If I have to get on a plane, she is in one of my carry-on bags and is taken out as soon as I get to my seat (along with the kindle and headphones). The TSA screening people often compliment Merricat in how well-behaved she is when she goes through the x-ray.

[oneluckydewclaw]

I have a beanbag filled dog that I got when I was super small, so when I found a VERY similar one to mine for Váli I absolutely had to get it, so now we have matching plushies and they go with us when we travel

[strawberryhorrorshow]

My conservative family members seeing me taking up embroidery:

One week later when I post the finished project:

[ebearcrochet]

I had to reblog this as soon as I stopped laughing

[catgirlmoriarty]

sky high but it’s about being gay

[ronwilsonbusdriver]

[alwaysbewoke]

man i love black ppl

[la-laborista-republiko]

Trans women are unstoppable because we have access to all the secret esoteric Boy Scout knowledge but are no longer bound by the moral constraints of the Boy Scout Oath.

[la-laborista-republiko]

They told me how to build all those fires and tie all those knots and they never even suspected I was a spy for the enemy

[undeadnecromancer]

assigned sleepercell at birth