insufferable bisexual

Sometimes I also write. Feminist. Mexican-American. She/Hers. Early 30s.

[donuts-multifandom-hellhole]

Something that I get chills about is the fact that the oldest story told made by the oldest civilization opens with "In those days, in those distant days, in those ancient nights."

This confirms that there is a civilization older than the Sumerians that we have yet to find

Some people get existential dread from this

Me? I think it's fucking awesome it shows just how much of this world we have yet to discover and that is just fascinating

[sleepymccoy]

@makaeru peer review cos this made me check when the Sumerians happened and I forget how recent history is for every other continent. 7000 - 8000 years ago just isn't that long when you're in Australia, and the amount of detailed history we have access to here is wonderful and should be recognised more internationally

Source (non Aboriginal)

And a quote I picked out from a longer interview with an Aboriginal local elder about the area where he touched on the history

Source (the rest of the interview is really interesting and all transcribed, have a look if you're curious)

[chaotic-archaeologist]

This is part of my Ancient Civilizations class that I teach, which does a whole week about Australia and the Torres Strait Islands because I was sick of never seeing them represented in USAmerican history contexts. With the help of @micewithknives and @acearchaeologist I've learned so many incredible things about Australia's past and it's been incredibly rewarding to share them with students.

[aggressivelybicaptainamerica]

My favorite fact about Aboriginal oral history is the fact that we pretty recently discovered that the Aboriginal myth of the 7 Sisters, an origin story for the Pleiades star cluster, accurately reflects a point TEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO when two stars in the constellation got close enough together to no longer be distinguishable by the naked eye.

The story? 6 sisters running from something that took their 7th sister.

[jinkohhh]

as a gilgar gunditj woman, i was not expecting to see my culture on my dash.

thank you for spreading our words and treating our culture with respect.

[megpie71]

Boosting signal.

[justgot1]

Echoes from the ancient human past, wonderful.

[meret118]

Their oral history also contains stories about hunting prehistoric megafauna too. Native Australians are the oldest existing culture on earth, which is even more amazing considering how hard the british tried to wipe it out.

Budji Bim volcano.

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

I actually looked up the story of The Seven Sisters / Pleiades on Wikipedia, the other day, 'cause I woke up from a dream that mentioned how ancient that story was. And I wanted to check how much of that was invented in-dream, and how much I was remembering something I learned while I was awake.

According to that article, some astronomers think that story is not ten thousand years old; they believe it to be a Hundred Thousand years old.

[the-elf-witch-from-space]

in the Haudenosaunee stories, we have the same 7 sisters, they danced without eating until they started to rise into the sky. One looked back to their parents and she became a falling star.

Independently we have almost the same story, even though we lived on the complete opposite of Earth

[neverenoughmarauders]

I've not been able to stop crying for two hours, but it is tears of joy. I've waited so many years to see this news. 23 years I've waited. I cannot begin to describe what this means to the Huntington's community.

One day I'll write about what it's like to grow up knowing you might have a terminal, incurable illness, and not be allowed to test yourself because "it's such a serious decision" they don't want it hanging over you until you're an adult (as if it doesn't hang over you as you witness a parent die, and know you've got 50% chance of inheriting the same illness--as do your siblings). One day, I will talk about how, in the fear of traumatising children with the knowledge they might be incurably, terminally ill, they also took away their right to decide over their bodies to a degree that is traumatising. One day.

But today I am going to cry. Because it's over. Because no child will ever have to go through the same uncertainty, because at least they will know there is a treatment option available. A treatment option that one of my siblings might come to rely on. With all the shit things happening around us, my childhood hope and dream have been realised. That's got to count for something.

Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time

One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that can slow its progression and transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC.

[ospreyonthemoon]

BING BONG!! THEY'VE ACTUALLY GOT A FUCKING TREATMENT FOR HUNTINGTONS!!!

[cowboyhatesithere]

Daily gratitude

I don’t have kids

I don’t spend money on nicotine

I don’t gamble my money away on sports

I’m not reliant on a chat bot for all my life functions

My books/CDs/DVDs collection is plentiful

[totalsellout]

ANOK YAI wearing Swarovski Met Gala 2024 – Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion

[missvanta-xoxo]

This look had caused controversy on TikTok. It had everyone in a cholk hold. The girls were fighting for their lives trying to say this wasn't a look and whole time I'm just sitting here like "Damn how did she put the look on? Did she have to jump and wiggle or did they sew her into the dress?"

My favorite look of all time

[1five1two]

'Young woman embracing a thorn bush'. Kay Nielsen. c. 1910.

[cute-animals-only]

[marlynnofmany]

I hope this photographer won a prize

[glowingghosty]

let’s get pranked by papa

[lelif]

on survival

-// @aridante // @orivu // @buzzkillgirls // ? // ? // richard siken// @cemeterything // moomin, tove jansson// @disenchanted-killjoy // isn't that enough, shawn mendes// @ prettytheyswag on twitter// @ coletyumuch on twitter// ? // ? // bird by bird, anne lamott// undertale// @strawberrycircuits

[luckykittycolor]

[bonnettbee]

[victusinveritas]

Some good things happening of late.

[astroportals]

I ❤️ MY PUBLIC LIBRARY

[tarragonthedragon]

its honestly bananas to me that so many on this website seem to assume that someone's tumblr output is an accurate reflection of their real life priorities and activism and all of their beliefs in order of how hard they believe them. like. idk about you guys but i'm reblogging things that i want to reblog not keeping a minute by minute record of my deepest held beliefs. for one thing my deepest held beliefs are mostly not about star wars

[jethroq]

[max1461]

He is a war criminal who killed half a million people.

[deadmomjokes]

It recently came up in conversation with my toddler that some birds can talk, and this has caused her great concern.

See, we were talking about how movies are pretend and how in real life, animals don’t talk. I mentioned that there are some birds who talk a little bit, but not like the animals in movies, and she just looked at me like “???”

So I informed her that some kinds of parrots can copy sounds that people make, and can learn how to say words. I thought this would give her a giggle, as fun new facts often do, but she was just deeply perplexed and a little worried about this.

“Birds can talk?” “Do they ask questions?” “What do they say?” Why do they talk?” “Do chickens talk?” “What about Blue Jays?” “Why do some birds talk?” “How do they talk?” “Birds TALK???”

We showed her a video of a parrot doing the “Hello, pretty bird, give a kiss” thing, and she was dead silent the whole time, hugging her comfort pillow with her knees to her chest. We asked if she wanted us to turn it off, and she shook her head. But we also asked if she wanted to see another one, and she shook her head even harder.

I don’t know why it has distressed her so greatly to learn that some birds can mimic human speech; but then again, I don’t know why it doesn’t distress the rest of us more to know that some birds can mimic human speech.

I keep thinking about that post that’s like “The first person to hear a parrot talk was probably Not Okay.” Because that’s exactly what happened. She had never been introduced to the concept, and her entire worldview got SHOOK.

[philosophicalparadox]

Part of why Ravens are considered Spooky Bad Things We Associate With The Faeries is because they can and do mimic human speech - but much, much better than a parrot. With a parrot, you can tell something is off about the sound. You can tell it doesn’t belong to a human. Ravens don’t sound like that, no, cause they’re overacheivers. (And passerines). They sound EXACTLY like the voice of whoever they are mimicking.

But more importantly they love the sound of human laughter. No one knows why. But it is totally, 100% possible, and it happens to this day, to walk along the paths in the Black Forest and suddenly hear a strange kind of giggling sound, or maybe even a very clear, definitely human sounding “hello?” “Hiiiii!” Or “let’s go!”.

However, it takes a lot of practice for them to copy sounds as perfectly as they do, so you’re equally likely to hear something that definitely sounds human-like, but the words make no sense and the sound is unlike any language you know.

Ravens at the Tower of London do this all the time. Theyre pretty sociable with humans though, so they do it quite openly. I have seen videos of people, mostly Americans, look absolutely spooked out of their skins when a big ol’ raven (mind ye, these are birds that are 2 feet tall with a 5 foot wingspan) comes waltzing up on the deck and starts talking to them.

And ravens, especially the ones there that have been bred and raised by humans for centuries, don’t just imitate - they have one of the same language processing genes we do, and they understand the way a toddler might that things, places, and individuals have names, and can string together basic sentences much like an african grey.

I know because I used to work with one, Darlene, who knew, quite well, what she wanted and how to ask for it. If you were preparing her breakfast, she would hop on up and investigate. She used to be an illegal pet, and had been taught “manners”. That is to say, if she went for something and you told her, sternly, “mind your manners missy!” She would stop, look at you, perhaps for up to a minute, and then point with her beak to what she wanted. If that did not work, she would ask, in plain English, “grape?” Or “Darl have grape?” And lord help you if you gave her anything less than what she asked for. She would throw it at you, and try to bite you, sometimes while saying “No!” In the same tone as I imagine she was reprimanded in her home.

So yeah. Parrots arent the only ones.

[summer-fruits-and-cream]

WHAT

[roseofithaca]

Was anyone gonna tell me that ravens can talk or was I meant to read about it on a tumblr post?!

[ironedorchid]

Talking Ravens has been a trope in fantasy for so long that people forgot that it is based in fact.

[a-book-of-creatures]

There are anecdotes about talking magpies and ravens in the court of Emperor Augustus. Talking corvids go back a long way.

[pusheen]

[viralfrog]

[librarian-raichu]

Restrained Summer Fun

[cute-catts]

[drtanner]

Love that you can see the cogs turning in the cat's head when its person is showing it how to pot the black. The cat is Looking and Understanding! And then it does it! Perfect little helper. 💜💜💜

[electricpentacle]

Cats love to be Included in their human's activities. Kitty here has successfully participated in the Knock Balls Down Holes Game and feels very pleased about it.

[redstonedust]

having anti punitive justice morals sucks because you want to say "man that guy sucks he should get hit with hammers until he dies" but you also want to make it clear you don't think anyone should be put in charge of the 'hit people with hammers until they die" machine.

[pluggedinandreadytofall]