Calling, calling in the depths of longing... @zweizilla98 - Tumblr Blog

Pinning the Serenity Prayer to help keep me, the moots and whoever comes strolling by sane in these interesting times:

God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

#may these words be your guiding light amidst whatever shadow you may be facing today

captainjonnitkessler

"But isn't it okay if people are spreading conspiracy theories about data centers as long as it gets them fired up about billionaires or the environment? Can't you just let people enjoy harmless entertainment like astrology? Does it really matter if people are using homeopathy or chiropractors as long as they're happy? Isn't it rude to call out people whose religious beliefs are obviously disproved by science because it's their faith? What's the problem with people believing in ghosts and aliens even if they have no evidence?"

How many woo-woo-to-fascism pipelines do we have to create before we accept that any system in which we agree to prioritize what makes people feel good and comfortable over objective, observable reality is inherently prone to radicalization. How many times are we going to act shocked that people who refuse to accept scientific evidence in regards to crystal energy and repressed memories then move on to refusing to accept scientific evidence in regards to vaccines and chemotherapy. How many times are we going to hold people's hands and tell them of COURSE it's okay to believe things just because they Feel Right and not because you have even a shred of evidence and then act shocked when they start believing the people who tell them that all their problems are caused by minorities?

Everyone start developing basic epistemological consistency right fucking now, I am no longer asking

lorec-x

> any system in which we agree to prioritize what makes people feel good and comfortable over objective, observable reality is inherently prone to radicalization [and radicalization is icky so we can't let people base their politics on their feelings]

I have a few issues with Ben Shapiro's epistemic hygiene, actually.

captainjonnitkessler

Yes, people becoming radicalized based on their feelings about things that are *literally not true* is extremely bad, and yes, Ben Shapiro is the poster child for "radicalized because he believes a bunch of shit that is demonstrably untrue".

The conservative rallying cry of "facts over feelings" is in fact a correct worldview, it's just that conservatives have incorrectly identified themselves as being on the "factual" side of the equation when they are driven almost entirely by their feelings (about things that are. and I cannot stress this enough. demonstrably untrue.)

captainjonnitkessler

The entire point of this post is that we should not accept "it's okay to become radicalized based on vibes and feelings" because once you set that precedent, *you do not get to choose in which direction people get radicalized*.

You cannot say "it's okay for people to be radicalized by a bunch of shit they read online with no backing" and then act shocked when a bunch of people fall for alt-right fascist talking points because they read it online with no backing.

dawnhamburger

Ely is Pride's sleepiest soldier!

I hope everyone had a happy Pride!

(Daily 1258)

wuyi1551

#rwby #weiss schnee #yang xiao long #freezerburn

waspdaily

Today's wasp of the day is the mossy rose gall wasp (Diplolepis rosae)

Credits: photo 1, photo 2

Also known as the rose bedeguar gall wasp, moss gall wasp, or robin's pincushion. Some of these names actually have their roots in folklore. These odd pompoms that can suddenly appear on wild roses were assumed to be the work of woodland faefolk. Knowing that they're actually made by tiny wasps that manipulate the plant into forming a structure that houses and feeds its young honestly still sounds like fairy business though.

While typically the galls wasps make don't harm their host plant, there is a tendency for mossy rose galls to occur in higher number on weak or young plants and so the sight of these fuzzies can be considered a warning sign.

waspdaily

Get gwasped (gall wasped)

headspace-hotel

Wasps are woodland fae folk, got it.

waspdaily

Today's wasp of the day is the mossy rose gall wasp (Diplolepis rosae)

Credits: photo 1, photo 2

Also known as the rose bedeguar gall wasp, moss gall wasp, or robin's pincushion. Some of these names actually have their roots in folklore. These odd pompoms that can suddenly appear on wild roses were assumed to be the work of woodland faefolk. Knowing that they're actually made by tiny wasps that manipulate the plant into forming a structure that houses and feeds its young honestly still sounds like fairy business though.

While typically the galls wasps make don't harm their host plant, there is a tendency for mossy rose galls to occur in higher number on weak or young plants and so the sight of these fuzzies can be considered a warning sign.

waspdaily

Get gwasped (gall wasped)

headspace-hotel

Wasps are woodland fae folk, got it.

shithowdy

i've decided i'm going to learn more about yellow-headed blackbirds than anyone else. this is a strange and almost juvenile-sounding goal but no one seems particularly interested in studying them. if you try to search for information on them or certain behaviors you get the generic field mark and blurb guides, a few paywalled academic articles, and... posts by me, funnily enough. i just made a separate blog for my bird photography, but expect another at some point specifically focused on my documenting the colony of these birds that i now visit weekly.

i'm not a spiritual person, nor do i believe in the prophetic power of dreams, but i do think they serve as important windows into our fears and motivations and i think it says something that the only time i have actively photographed a bird in my dreams it was indeed a yellow-headed blackbird.

shithowdy

look at my blackbirds boy

shithowdy

the more i read about these birds the more insane i feel. i think the isolation of this tiny marsh might actually be doing some galapagos shit to the blackbirds there because everything from their vocalizations to their nesting habits completely eschews known data.

did you know that they are capable of imitation? don't worry! apparently no one else does either, but i have personally overheard them doing terrible approximations of not only red-winged blackbird songs, but also rooster crowing, ring-necked pheasant squawking, and what i now believe to be an eastern meadowlark song (which i have captured on video, something about which no one gave a fuck!!)

they are supposed to be drawn to marshes with deep water, over which multiple females will weave nests in single male controlled territories of typically 1k to 6ksqft. the waters of this marsh are wading depth, and the males control micro-territories of what cannot be more than 500sqft each-- territories that they share neutrally with marsh wrens.

this marsh is the last surviving 50 acre oasis of wetland in what used to be hundreds of miles of it, now turned into farmland. yellow headed blackbirds have been migrating across this continent for over 100,000 years according to fossil records. how does one compromise with their instincts telling them to travel a specific, ancestral route that looks and feels nothing like what their genetic memory tells them? they adapt, or they disappear, and a bird like this could never accept silence. i don't think.

headspace-hotel

I don't know how or why, but sometimes a species reaches out to you to be its caretaker and you just gotta answer the call.

shinyblackbird

Everything about this is delightful, I'm so happy for and impressed by OP, adopting an entire colony of birds and sharing them with us all. Which makes my personal revelation here feel silly in comparison, but you just solved a mystery for me.

Recently I found a big cheap "canvas" print at the thrift store, the sort of thing that's mass produced to look good in online listing but is noticeably cheap in person. But I loved the colors and the anatomy was surprisingly good, so it came home with me. At a glance it seemed to be an oriole with questionable fidelity, bafflingly posed on some cattails. I didn't think much of it, birds in art are full of bad anatomy and species all smushed together. At least it isn't a macaw with a crest. But as soon as I saw the photos here, I realized it's actually extremely species accurate, I just didn't know this was a species to consider

Thanks OP I love my yelling bird even more now

importantcatpics

comicgeekscomicgeek

Let’s have technical difficulties with mama

complex-analytic-dysfunction

changeling-automaton

Unironically I think this meme is really good for explaining why maths formalisms and notation are so valuable, even when they seem cumbersome/convoluted. It's an incredibly precise way to describe the interaction of a lot of related-but-meaningfully-distinct concepts, and this is a great showcase of that, thank you Lynn Chordbug you're the best.

lesbianshepard

waaaay back when I was a cashier in retail we would talk about dumb shit while unloading the truck, and we got to the "what would you do in a zombie apocalypse" me and another worker were like yeah we would just die. End it all, we can't fight or run or shit. I refuse to put that much effort into survival.

And my manager was like no!!!! If that happened, I would drive to find you guys in my truck and we could eat stuff from my wife's garden and I would make sure everyone I know survived!! I would carry you all on my shoulders away from the zombies!!

Anyway, random shout out to that guy. You were too kind for retail management, Devin.

lesbianshepard

also afterwards everyone who was talking about their cool bunker fantasies were like "Damn, Devin's right, we should also be considering helping people around us." which is the only recorded instance of a retail shift making people better human beings.