#Chemical change examples

[bull-shit-suji]

for fear of sounding cringe and whatever the opposite of nonchalant is. everyone rb with what you think kuro characters smell like

[keydekyie]

some art makes me happy to look at and some art makes me want to shriek and cry and tear my skin off (positive) the breadth of human experience is astounding

[muqingslover]

Hii!! Love your writing!!

I wanted to ask if you have any hc about the lads men as fathers? For example, my hc was that Xavier is a boy dad that makes sure his kid will not end up listening to those "alpha podcasts" because he sets the example of a gentle yet "i slayed over 70,000 wanderers", kind yet assertive man. HOWEVER, since the level 175 affinity interaction came out, I'm 100% hes a girl dad raising his daughter to be a strong and independent woman (like the MC he loves dearly). What do you think?

[ my first ask! yahooo! thank you, pookie! I'll give you my thoughts in general (a big mix of everything) but if anyone wants one of the boys in more detail then feel free to ask because I have more to share! ]

Alright maybe this is a hot take but I don't think he wants children, like at all.

Xavier does NOT like sharing. He's literally jealous of himself for goodness sake and he really, reaaaally, does not want to share you, especially not with clingy children that would take almost if not all of your attention and also his sleep.

In-game he's also shown to not be super fond of children in general which I find hilarious.

He's lived a long life, sacrificed everything and everyone for you, and spent the rest of his years searching for you. He believes he has the right to be a bit selfish and keep you to himself. Let's be honest, he's earned it.

He does want children, but he is the type to plan for it. And I mean *plan*.

Out of everyone, he understands the best what it means for both your body and mental health the changes pregnancy would bring (including the chance of postpartum depression and other complications) so there would be a looooong discussion before anything happened.

When putting together the nursery it's like he's preparing for the apocalypse and not a baby "We might need this" (you won't be needing it), "This was made with [chemical], it could be toxic for you or the baby." "Zayne, it's just a plastic spoon."

Absolutely not as cool as he leads you to believe. You have this man stressed™ but he is so, soooo patient.

He'd be very serious about follow-up appointments and he'll make time for the both of you no matter what.

GIRL DAD ! GIRL DAD ! GIRL DAD !

100% victim of waking up covered in silly drawings and bows in his hair but he says before him than his poor white walls.

You have your hands full monitoring these two that love to sneak around and stuff their cheeks full like hamsters with sweets.

Now this man wants a whole LITTER if you'll let him.

Hear me out: TRIPLETS. Oooor, twins with a younger sibling right after. Maybe one more if you are really brave.

This was not planned at all, but when you tell him he's so happy he'd be in actual tears while hugging you.

Luke and Kieran are over the moon about it too. They'd be so cute with the children because they get to be big bros now and they take their role very seriously.

Sylus would pull out his phone or coat and it would be covered in cute stickers. He takes no action in getting rid of it though because he loves it.

Those children are S P O I L E D. You have to take the role of saying no otherwise he'd take over the world just because his baby asked to be queen of the world on a random Thursday.

I think he's on the same boat as Xavier but for different reasons.

I have some...perhaps...controversial takes on this little guy in general so I'll leave it open for your interpretation hehe

love him though<3

I know I know everyone says he'd be the best girl dad but PLEASE pleaaaase give this man a little boy.

If you think women's baby fever are bad just wait until you see Caleb's

He would draw on your belly bump where he thinks the baby is and talk to him even while you're asleep

This guy is taking lessons about pregnancy, how to support you during birth and he is 100% in one of those moms group chat.

"Caleb we do not need another onesie—" "But look! Look how cute it is! Oh, and the little hat? C'mon angel, please?" (Ban him from shopping by himself because he comes back with WAY too many things you do not need)

He loves and I mean LOVES matching clothes. From silly costumes, to pajamas and outside outfits.

So. Many. Pictures. He takes pictures all the time to keep them as memories because if something were to happen where you or he lost their memories again then they'd forever be preserved :(

[ I have so much more to say about this but maybe I'll just make a separate post for each of them ]

[scoriarose]

Those snakes aren’t cuddling. They’re not a social species.

While working with Dr. Thomas Guensburg (currently a researcher at the Field Museum of Natural History) on imagery of crinoid evolutionary chains for peer review, he revealed that he was worried how it would be received. His work was solid, clearly explained, and very clear- at the time I was confused how other researchers could reject it. It was then I learned how sometimes the truth doesn't always matter, especially when people's careers were staked on false information they based their own research on; many would fight tooth and nail to suppress evidence that things might not be true as they were invested in the former incorrect belief. It is my understanding this sort of suppression happened quite often, unfortunately.

While some of his peers did this deliberately, even with common folks it's much easier to get them to believe something false than to question their belief and change it to something true even with evidence. So far as Hognose Snakes go, from my understanding the last in depth research on these animals in the wild was done in the 1980's - which is incredibly dated. Even in recent years we've found so much of what we "knew" about reptiles was entirely wrong. Back then we "knew" reptiles couldn't see red light so it was commonly used for heating. Back then we "knew" rattlesnakes and leopard geckos were solitary animals. We now know this information is incorrect.

Reptiles can see red light, and a constant red light negatively affects their sleep cycles, health, and behavior. Leopard geckos actually live in colonies - yet some people will still argue they are solitary animals in the wild. As for rattlesnakes, Project Rattlecam livestreams and documents the lives of rattlesnakes. Do they look like solitary animals to you?

So back to Hognose Snakes. When I first got my girls I'd read up everything on them, how they were solitary, and deaf, and not that bright, and unable to feel emotion (let alone love) due to missing the part of the brain that is capable of processing that. All of those things my girls have shown me to be untrue. Snakes are not deaf, in fact my girls regularly respond to my voice. They're not stupid (at least not any more than the average human child tbh) and can be target trained as well as taught to point at things they want. As far as feeling emotion, their brains are structured like birds, not humans, so they have a different brain structure and chemical but do indeed feel happiness, emotion, and affection- I have videos on my blog of Scoria using a gesture to request being pet she learned from mimicking me petting her.

As far as being solitary- the evidence I've seen that can be repeated points to that information being untrue. Think about it, why would a solitary species dedicate one of their few words to say, "I'm friendly! Let's be nice to each other." The "twitch" is also seen in the (very much not solitary) rattlesnake to communicate with other individuals they are friendly. Contrary to popular belief this is NOT strictly to signal mating but used far more often to display friendliness- Project Rattlecam has quite a few examples between babies and adults.

Hognoses also are known to brumate together over winter in the same dens. That doesn't sound like solitary animal behavior, especially considering they tend to brumate with individuals they know. Honestly? This sounds more like loose colony behavior. A researcher very well could have seen that a hognose went to a den by themselves and thought, "Hmm, these aren't like garter snakes who cram themselves into a den like a clown car. They are solitary."

My girls don't either. Usually each will sleep in her own den- unless she's worried about the other. I've seen a few times, including when Sakura was in shed, Scoria didn't leave her sister's side. But normally they'll go to one of their favorite dens (they seem to have decided amongst themselves what belongs to who) and while they'll sometimes borrow each other's dens, like a sister staying in her sister's room, they tend to stay in their own beds for the most part. During the day, they'll seek each other out, Sakura will greet Scoria with a twitch, and they'll either play with today's enrichment activity or snuggle up together and wait for me. They didn't start out together, and the decision to house them together was NOT one I took lightly. I actually have two identical enclosures I bought for each of them, but the other never got set up because they get very upset when I separate them. After quarantining Sakura, I left one of the rocks she'd had in her enclosure on a table Scoria was playing on. Her response was dramatic, she KNEW the scent was another snake, and from that second on she was determined to find this other hognose. I was afraid of introducing them, Scoria actually found Sakura's enclosure and tried to free her by digging through the side (there's a video of this in one of my older posts.) I VERY cautiously introduced them, and after some tongue flicks and twitches, Sakura immediately started treating Scoria like her mother.

Sakura was an absolute wreck when I got her, terrified of humans- I think her breeder mishandled her as she had trauma responses and would blind panic and flail when I tried to hold her. But if Scoria was with her and I picked them both up at the same time? She'd have no hesitation. Take Scoria away and Sakura was immediately back to hiding, panicking, and flailing. If they can see each other and Sakura gets scared, such as if there's a loud sound, she immediately races over to her sister and hides her head under her chin. I've seen them both be protective of each other too, even earlier this week I startled Sakura and she hissed- Scoria came racing from where she was to check Sakura where she was then go back to whatever she was doing. And when I take one out and not the other- if one can't find their sister while we are out I will come back to her very concerned hoggie, who will check her sister over completely when I put her back to ensure she is okay before she'll relax. They BOTH do this. And so many other things. So yes, I am aware of what people say about hognoses. And I am aware of the behavior I've witnessed and repeatedly seen proven to be true with my own girls. I've had other hognose keepers echo similar things when they let their snakes play together during free time as well. The entire world might not be open to hearing what is commonly believed might not be true- let's face it, an absurd amount of reptile keepers are still using red lights and refuse to change. But regardless, I know my girls, have studied their behavior, and am doing what they've shown me is best for their health and well being. <3

[bunnis-monsters]

question about the bee hybrids: does the demeanor of a queen affect the personalities of the offspring? like a cruel queen would produce hardened, mean offspring, whereas a kind queen would produce softer, more compassionate bees?

- 🐸

Hmm, that’s a tough one.

I’d say it’s a mix of what type of queen they’re born to and the environment they grow up in.

For example, if they’re born to a cruel queen but leave the hive to find a kinder queen, it’s not in their DNA to just be evil.

But if they’re around an evil and mean queen for too long it’ll influence their pheromones, changing them at a chemical level. They’ll be more heartless and strict, acting in only their queen’s interest.

It isn’t uncommon for bee hybrids to change completely once a new queen takes the throne. If before they were ruled by a nasty queen, only a few weeks of having a better ruler will help them calm down and start to soften up.

Adult bee hybrids are more susceptible to these changes than the babies since the adults mate with the queen.

They’ll be rough with their queen at first, but slowly soften up and be gentle when they’re fucking into your soft, warm cunt.

[meinkatzchen]

How does Mist behave when she's in heat? And how do Strade and Ren feel about this?

Heat for the beastkin's body is a very stressful event, due to the rapid change in hormonal levels and the body's preparation for successful fertilization or to prepare the body for pregnancy.

A week before heat, I always imagined Mist as very restless, anxious, she became fearful, vulnerable, she often had nightmares, she slept poorly, ate little, often instinctively tried to hide, her body became very sensitive to any physical discomfort. Her anxiety is also due to the awareness of what awaits her very soon and what will await her is completely unpleasant and painful.

By the end of the week, she gradually became calmer at this point her hormonal restructuring is almost coming to an end, allowing the body to get used to this hormonal cocktail a little.

During heat, her libido increases greatly, chemical changes in her blood due hormones cause her body to produce a stronger smell, she begins to experience a strong attraction. Her hair and fur are shiny and so fluffy, her voice becomes softer and more pleasant than usual, she becomes more clingy, her breathing is ragged, and her head is spinning, and in it there is a haze and a desire to reproduce, as her new hormonal background dictates to her. But she is quite…quiet, at least during the BTD period. During the TPoF period, she will most likely just say "Go to bed", so that it will not be discussed, and then she will pounce and mount х) In TPoF, she will definitely become more aggressive in terms of her passion, she will begin to scratch, bite, become very noisy, clearly will not be shy about her "beast" part in bed, which will significantly reduce her anxiety.

As a feline beastkin, she may have difficulties in getting pregnant, even during the heat period. In order to stimulate her uterus, she must experience pain during mating. Otherwise, conception is rarely successful.

It would not be surprising that Strade and Ren would take advantage of this opportunity, in Ren's case, perhaps even with altruistic motives: to help get the release that Mist so badly needs. In Strade's case: I think he would be amused by her desperation, he would simply use her, or, on the contrary, limit her sexual contact not only with Ren, but with any objects, as a punishment, for example, immobilizing her and ignoring her.

[bigfatbimbo]

Silly request but imagine helping Bill "groom" his triangle self. Gently wipe him with a cloth. Carefully dip it in the little space between the bricks, can't leave that zone unclean! Alternatively, a classic soapy bubble bath. Silly straws included, what the hell, he's probably drinking the bath water and listing the chemical ingredients back at you while you gently rub him clean. Fun times

The Bug Collector

1.1k words,, Bill Cipher x reader

a/n — Procrastination killed my soul during this, I think it turned out okay, though! Sorry for typos, your girl is tired.

warnings — SFW, post!weirdmaggedon, as ‘fluffy’ as you can get with Bill cipher, he is his own warning, kinda toxic relationships, fluff and bill being pathetic

summary — Reader assists a recently fallen Bill Cipher in self care, despite his general all-mighty asshole-ness.

The exoskeleton of a bug was practical, a water-tight barrier most commonly known for muscle attachments, and its use to shelter and protect the insects gushy insides from its harsh environment. 

The exoskeleton of a triangle was for mostly for aesthetics, as the underneath was far more horrifying than anything in the harsh environment around it. Or so the triangle claims.

You dipped a soapy sponge into the bucket in front of you, as bill propped his feet up on the bathtub. 

“You conquer worlds and destroy planets, but yeah, why not draw the line at cleaning yourself.”

“Please, what better way to make use out of my new human pet— partner, than this?” He corrected loudly and purposefully. Then looking to the side, he mumbled, “And besides, kid, you have no idea how hard it is to clean between the bricks. Euck— So many blind spots.”

The first part was a throwaway reminder that he had far more power than you in this dynamic, something you’d picked up on Bill casually doing in his time with you. 

Being roommates with a butt-hurt demon, given the ending of weirdmaggedon, allowed you the privilege of being more cautious than previous humans were with Bill. For example, you’ve taken to keeping track of his repeated habits and patterns. 

On of which, just so happened to be reminding you how small you were compared to him. 

You jabbed the sponge in-between on of the bricks, “Ow!” He narrowed his eye at you, “Watch it, pal. I’m starting to think you’ve never cleaned a triangle before.”

“I’d hate to give that impression.” You softened your hold on him, “Delicate work, I always say.”

And it was delicate work. After his defeat, he’d been roughed up a surprising bit, powers even weakened. 

Weakened.

“Not too delicate,” he shot you glance. Guess he’d heard that thought process. 

Although, most days he’d seemed to be in a thought process of his own. Weird.

You cleared your throat, “How often does this even need to be done?”

He blinked, “Well, let’s see. Once every—“ he waved his hand around “—few hundred years. Very high maintenance, do not recommend it.”

High maintenance, yeah. At this point, Bill had taken to talking about some other topic, you hadn’t been really listening, something about intergalactic food joints.

Every once and a while he’d bring up something that happened with one of his ‘henchmaniacs’ before getting slightly irritated at the lack of presence in his life now, and changing the subject. 

Bill was interesting to study, you couldn’t lie. His eyelashes curled away from each other, like the mangled legs of a recently dead spider. His hands were very present when he talked, like most people of business. His body flicked side to side slightly at certain moments. 

You became more gentle naturally, taking care of every crevice, and for some reason Bill becomes gradually quieter.

“Something wrong?” You asked, not stopping.

Bill blinked, “Eh, been a minute since i’ve had a human servant. Maybe, I was thinking of other things you can help with!”

You sigh, “Yeah, because i’m your servant. As if.” In your mind, your thinking do the fact he was your roommate, in your house, eating your food. 

“Hey, don’t get all butt-hurt. You’re all ants to me, buddy, nothing to be ashamed of!” His eye flicked back and forth between you and the room.

Then you stop scrubbing, “Bill, I might as well be your landlord.” You know he can read your thoughts, so you make a point to justify yourself. Already weakened from his failed apocalypse, anything other than vague respect for you would land him homeless. Most likely, his response to this would be killing you, but there’s only so much he can do afterwards. 

He’d have a place to stay, but with no electricity or heating, and in his damaged physical form he actively does need those things. And trying to get a new human would be a hassle, and unlike you, no guarantee they’d let him stay there without calling the authorities.

“Yeesh,” Bill remarks, “Buzzkill… You are still a bug compared to me, though—“

You drop the sponge in the bucket, “I think you’re done.”

He looks taken aback when you pull away, “What? Come on, over the bug comment? Jeez, buddy—“

“No I mean you’re actually done,” you gesture to his body, now shining and slick with soap suds. “I got everything, there’s nothing else to do.”

You go to turn around before you feel a small hand grabbing for the back of your shirt. 

“Wait, wait!” He breathes, eye flicking from side to side, “… You have to dry me off first.”

He looked slightly panicked, like if you stopped taking care of him now, you’d leave and never come back. Your thought process earlier couldn’t have helped. 

The way he scurried and gasped for you was reminiscent of panicked earwig and a rock is lifted up. The comparison should have grossed you out, but it kinda just made you feel a little bad.

If he was paying attention to your thoughts, he didn’t show it. This would have usually given you the impression he’d wanted you to be thinking the way you were, but he seemed a little wrapped up in his own head. 

“Come on, kid. Don’t tell me you’re gonna kick me out because I asked you to dry me off. One last thing and then you don’t even have to talk to me the rest of the night! Sounds like a good deal, right?” 

His slightly desperate looking sales pitch was met with a sigh, you picked up a dry towel and began to pat the soap suds off of him. His body slowly breathed in, making it look like he was sighing, but no noise came out.

You wondered then if he was actually touch-starved, but cut your thoughts there because this time he had nothing better to do then pay attention to what you were thinking. 

“Ouch, i’m not that desperate, pal.” But he was.

His exoskeleton was dry, but you didn’t stop patting him down. His eyelid shut slowly, and the spider-legs on them curled into each other once more. 

The exoskeleton of a bug was practical, but one of a triangle seemed to simply be for aesthetics. 

However, on some rare occasions, it possesses the same desire for love as human bodies. Only, when very desperate, of course. 

[hope-for-the-planet]

I didn't realize carbon capture was a real thing that actually worked (outside of trees, of course!)

Hi Anon!

It is a real thing and it does work! The big caveat is that it definitely isn’t a standalone solution to climate change, but it’s a real technology that has helpful applications in mitigating the climate crisis.

A lot of carbon capture occurs at the emissions source, to capture the carbon dioxide and either pump and store it deep underground or run it through algae scrubbers or a chemical process to capture the carbon dioxide as biofuel, reusable plastic, or other materials.

The caveat here is that a lot of folks are rightfully worried that focusing too much on carbon capture will give the powers that be an excuse to drag their feet in cutting emissions and decarbonizing. Why worry about changing the status quo if a magical technology will come along to bail us out by pulling all those emissions right back out of the air?

Carbon capture also has a lot of significant limitations, such as the amount of energy required to fix a relatively small amount of carbon dioxide. This isn’t my area of expertise, but my understanding is that this technology will probably be most applicable to capture emissions for industries that will be particularly difficult to decarbonize—for example the creation of certain materials that are either exceptionally energy-intensive or inherently release carbon dioxide in their creation (like cement).

So very cool technology, but it’s not going to make a big enough impact on climate change without us also significantly reducing emissions. And it’s not going to replace planting and protecting trees, since nature’s carbon capture is still usually much more energy and resource efficient (as well as all the habitat and climate control benefits)!

[cosmicpuzzle]

Which Education🎓📚 is right for you?

Mercury rules your interest and consequently which type of course you would select.

Now you have to see how Mercury is placed. For example if Mercury is conjunct Moon it would have same effect as Mercury in Cancer or Moon opposite Mercury.

Mercury -Sun: It is called Budh Aditya yoga. These people can shine in political science, geology, sociology, medicine and they can be good leaders too. They may prepare for competitive exams.

Mercury-Moon: Some changes or confusion in choice of course. Can study more than one subject but both vastly different from each other. Chemical, hotel management, nutrition, chef, psychology, tarot and intuitive studies.

Mercury-Mars: Some obstacles in education, breaks and interruptions (dropping classes), engineering (especially related to machines, drawings, plans, civil, electronics), medicine (especially related to surgery), fire and safety engineering,

Mercury-Venus: Sales, marketing, HR, interior designing, makeup courses, all type of fine arts, vocational courses, acting courses.

Mercury-Saturn: Engineering (like construction , petroleum, mining core subjects), structural engineering, drafting, administrative studies.

Mercury-Jupiter: Finance, CPA, CMA, accounting, teaching, law field, journalism, VJ, pilots, aeronautical.

Mercury- Rahu: Chemical, nuclear subjects, cinematography, software courses, digital marketing, share markets, computer hardware, import export, AI, Machine Learning courses.

Mercury-Ketu: Computer coding, electrical engineering, bio technology, astrology, virology, research oriented fields.

For Readings DM

[laufire]

okay is it still too soon for me to say that I thought these two panels took me out of the story lmao.

Duke calling Jason a cunt could've been funny as hell, but honestly? I think the two of them giving each other shit face-to-face is too fundamentally different from Duke insulting him while he's not present. Those things show two distinct types of relationships to me and this made the moment feel out of nowhere, to be blunt.

"If I pulled a fraction of what Red Hood pulled..." In his last appearances (going back to over a year, my god... it's rough here), Jason has 1.) gotten brainwashed/chemically crippled by his father, 2.) accepted a plan that required him getting killed by his father's robot proxy, 3.) gotten chased by the cops and by Batman himself when he dared go after the Joker. He was also pointedly not present in that cheerful "this is our new family home!!" reunion (where Duke was); it wasn't mentioned whether he refused to attend or wasn't invited, but no one raised any questions about his absence so I think assuming the latter is safe.

If Duke acted the way Jason does (even if that hasn't included murder in years now, tragically xD), he might be shunned from society (YMMV on the Bats)... and so has Jason LOL. If Duked acted like Jason, yes, his race would likely get him treated even worse (for example, in TMWSL, chances are the cops wouldn't have just said they're happy with waiting for the good news that Jason's got stabbed in prison, instead of dealing with the paperwork themselves if he comes to harm on their watch). But well. It's a moot point because Duke doesn't act like Jason. Duke and Jason are on different sides of the line. Jason is explicitly on one that is considered unnaceptable by the other Bats and polite society in general, even one that has grown to accept other forms of vigilante violence.

Duke's vigilantism is more comparable to those "accepted" vigilants. If you were going to point out how white privilege lets some Bats get away with things that Duke would get judged far more harshly for... Bruce and his steady relationship with law enforcement while he performs unlawful surveillance, b&e, arrests, etc. vis a vis how many times Duke got in trouble with them when he began as Robin is a much better example.

Doylist-wise, this is just a writer picking the morally "worst" Bat as a point of comparison without pondering if the comparison holds up. Watsonian-wise... I can make it make sense for me. I can think of it as Duke now being on the same train of scapegoating Jason as the others are; of how it'd happen, and why. If I was a prime-earth-canon fic writer I would run away with that and dig deep into it. What I can't agree with is the idea that these panels hold some "objective" truth about the dynamics at play, or the idea that they are in line with previous characterisation without accounting for some change in the middle *shrugs*.

[arminreindl]

Croc colours and patterns

Somewhat inspired by a recent post by Joschua Knüppe, I feel like it's a good thing to remind people just how diverse colours and patterns in modern crocodilians are. When I see people make art, it often seems to stick to grey or yellowish-brown tones, which is of course not incorrect. But theres a lot of, imo, underappreciated variety still. It's also worth noting beforehand that patterns are most striking in younger individuals and naturally become more muddy the older and larger an animal becomes. But as you will see, even some decently large and old animals may maintain a striking appearance.

Take this alligator for example. Gators tend to be on the darker side, dark greys to black, sometimes countershaded and sometimes pretty consistent. Some individuals, like this one photographed by Gar Luc, still retain clearly visible stripe patterns from when they are younger.

Or take one of my favourite species, the Cuban Crocodile, which can appear almost bright yellow with a dense pattern of leopard spots. Of course like with the gator you can find individuals that are much more drab, with washed out colours, but individuals with clearly defined patterns still exist.

Then there's gharials of course. They can range quite a bit in colouration. They can be brown, especially younger ones and females and I've seen males range in colour from a drab grey to almost a light blue or even something that could be described as metalic black.

Black Caimans are also pretty interesting in my opinion and pretty easy to tell apart from other species once you pay attention to their colour. They are primarily a deep dark black of course, but what sets them apart from spectacled and other caimans is that very fine pattern of thin white stripes across the flanks that creates this beautiful contrast. They can also have patches of brown like the one on the right.

Orinocos also vary a great deal. Tho I know less about them than I wish I did, I know that individuals can range from drab brownish greys to yellow to somewhat earthy browns that almost range into reds.

The next ones a bit of an outlier. There are specific cave dwelling dwarf crocodile populations in western Africa with striking orange colouration. Tho this one is not exactly natural pigmentation to my knowledge and instead the result of the chemicals present in the water they inhabit, brought there by bat guano. Still very pretty animals.

And then there's Paleosuchus, the dwarf caiman which contains two species. Again highly varied. The first image, which I believe is a Schneider's dwarf caiman, shows a very earthy brown. The others, which unless I'm mistaken are Cuvier's dwarf caimans, show colours ranging from dark with a rusty head, black to this still beautifully patterned individual. Of course these variations are also subject to change with age.

While salties aren't exactly known to be the most vibrant, I'd be remissed if I didn't mention this specific one. It's kept in a zoo in Germany and has this almost bizarre colour combination of creamy white underbelly and chocolate brown top which I've never seen in another saltwater crocodile. Photos by my friends Markus Bühler from the Bestiarium blog and René Dederich

Spectacled, Broad-snouted and Yacare caimans I'll give a quick shout out. I think most people are familiar enough with how they look like and while their colours aren't anything special, I still think one should appreciate their patterns of spots and stripes and facial markings.

The last one I wanna highlight is the false gharial, Tomistoma, another one of my favourites. Part of the reason why being its at times beautiful reddish-brown colours.

[dallmustdie]

I know everyone and their fucking mother has said something about this, but I think you are an ABSOLUTE AND COMPLETE FUCKING idiot if you are shocked that My Chemical Romance (a band that has been political since the beginning) is making political commentary at their shows.

As per Life on the Murder Scene, the sole reason why My Chemical Romance even exists in the first place is because Gerard witnessed 9/11 and wanted to make a change in the world.

Frank and Gerard would make out on stage frequently to PISS OFF HOMOPHOBES and take a stance against the rampant homophobia of the time.

Something that was brought to my attention today is that, during their last tour, Gerard went on a ramble about how wars are copies of each other and brought a printer on stage (which he affectionately named Stuart) and beat the shit out of it.

And let's not forget their lyrics!

Danger Days is a great example with overarching themes of rebellion, survival, and non-conformity. Also, BLi (the fictitious mega corporation the Killjoys–MCR's alter egos for this album–are trying to take down) can easily be switched out for a controlling government and I feel the plot would remain the same.

All of Gun. to me (as a military child who listened to her father's stories on how the military fucked him up in numerous ways) is entirely and inherently anti-war/military.

-> "And if I'm old enough to die for your mistakes, then let's go / Can I bleed enough to fill up what the engine takes?" (+ other numerous lines)

There is also a direct reference to Don't Ask, Don't Tell (U.S. military policy effective from 1994-2011) in Boy Division.

-> "I'm not asking, you're not telling."

I ALSO WANT TO ADD TEENAGERS TO THIS LITTLE LIST I'VE MADE. Aside from being a commentary on how society views teenagers, it also highlights the violence teens thrust upon others. In an interview in 2007, Gerard was asked if the recent Virginia Tech school shooting would impact the release of Teenagers. In response, he said that the song would actually be more important to release because of said event.

In short, My Chemical Romance is and will always be a political band. No ifs, ands, or buts about it <3

EDIT: I also can't believe I forgot to mention this, but they have stood up for their female fans. Notably, while on the Taste of Chaos tour one year (I forgot, sorry 😞), a local band opening for them was walking around the venue with a camera asking for woman to flash their tits for a backstage pass. This footage was to be shown to MCR and when Gerard heard this, in his own words, lost his fucking cool and give us this famous quote:

"If you ever see shitty ass rock dudes in shitty ass rock bands asking you to show them your tits for a backstage pass, I want you to spit right in their fucking face and yell, 'fuck you'."

Thank you for listening and I hope this made sense! :p

[fuckingrecipes]

Food Myth: Roast your spices before using to 'Release the Flavor'

Truth: Dry Roasting your spices will CHANGE their flavor.

A raw sesame seed tastes different than a roasted sesame seed, just like a raw onion tastes different than a roasted or caramelized one.

There's chemical reactions happening in there. Aromatics aren't just released to be used, they're also broken down into OTHER flavor compounds.

Indian cooking exemplifies this: recipes will have WHOLE RAW spices, GROUND RAW spices, and ROASTED WHOLE spices. The same seed may be used in the recipe in 3 different states, and this is important because each different state will give your mouth a different interaction.

For example: Coriander (cilantro seed)

Raw coriander is floral and lemony. The roasted version is grassy and earthy - it's a totally different flavor!

A ground-up version will infuse the whole dish with an even flavor.

Leaving the seeds whole will impart the dish with some flavor and you get little bursts of intense flavor when your teeth crush a seed. Whether that's a burst of earthy or floral/lemony depends on if you roasted it or not.

Don't roast pre-powdered spices, because they burn easily and break down too fast.

BUT! You can Roast a seed first, and THEN grind it!

[ask-the-pioneer]

"I sure do! Watch this..."

"I can make explosive spears and throwables, just like my mom did. I can also propel myself in the air by whipping my tail very fast, which sets off the same flammable compound in my tail surface for an explosive boost. Very handy for movement, but also very loud… not great if you're trying to be stealthy. And yeah, my sibling could do that too, but he was always more interested in doing other things. An energetic but very scatterbrained kid that he was."

[She takes aim and throws the spear somewhere far away. It ignites and explodes with a loud dull bang that shakes the ground slightly]

"I can't do that too often, though. Maybe a handful of times in quick succession before my muscles tense up and burn as if scorched by flames. One time it got so bad that I lost consciousness and couldn't move for a couple of minutes after waking up. That was scary, and hurt like hell... since then I've been more careful. That said, I wonder if there are more slugcats with similar abilities to mine out there? I have not met that many scugs in my life to begin with, if I'm honest..."

"Of course I remember my family, how could I not! My sibling's name is… hmmm, right, let me explain this first. Slugcats have very good sense of smell. Usually, we know one another by our unique scents. They are incredibly complex, but can be written down as series of letters, if you map those symbols to the corresponding scent proteins and other chemical compounds. For example, my scent name would be:"

"Addmitely, this notation method is very over-engineered – a slugcat just knows you are you if they smell you. From what I learned, scugs don't really use a coherent writing system.. of any kind. I think the colonies may use pictograms? I uh, I've never been a part of a colony, so I'm missing a lot of info here. Still, what I wrote on the wall – I have used an Ancient script, which I roughly mapped to key compounds that make a scent. As you can see, it's incredibly long, it can also change over time, parts of it can be masked with non-organic aromas to hide your identity, so on and so forth. To simplify even further, these long strings of letters can be shortened to just the last three or two characters, and this is what scugs may choose to use to refer to one another. Here, my scent name is MGV."

"Then, there are names that resemble the form that the Ancients would use. It's considered more refined, and more common in big colonies where people adopt their preferable roles. Those names are viewed as a kind of «gift», because you receive it from your community. It's a symbol of how they see you, what you mean to them. Of course, my closest family was never a part of a colony… but my mom would still give me and my sibling those special names. I was named «Blue», which is the color of the sky above when it's not raining, and the color of clear water. My brother's name is «Bryn» after a very fragrant medicinal plant that relaxes your muscles when consumed. I always found it funny, as my brother was often the one getting in trouble and giving our mom heartaches."

[She pauses for a moment, thinking intensively]

"Hmm, I never thought of asking my mother about her name. I wonder if she had one? To me and it was always just «mom»…"

"My other parent? I never knew him. Must have left just before or right after my mom had me, because there is literally nothing I remember of him… or them… whoever they were."

[She takes some pearls out from her bag, and inspects them one by one just to keep her hands busy]

"Mom would never talk about him, as if he never existed. And I never questioned her, I was too young to understand and simply accepted everything at face value. It was just the way things were. Would I want to meet my other parent? Maybe, but I doubt it'd make a difference. What would I even say to them? «Thanks for abandoning mom and leaving her to fend for herself»? "

"I don't know. Maybe I'm too harsh. Maybe he was a hero who sacrificed themself to save my mother. That could explain why he was never seen or heard of again. But… I have no way of knowing for sure. It's the life I won't be getting back anyway."

// In the second drawing, I've used logographs from @ikayblythe's Standard Hegemonic Dialect

[melodyartist]

if ody's to stubborn to be the little spoon, would he let 'laus top him? Odysseus gives aggresive powerbottom vibes and Menelaus is softdom lmao

Time for a rant on the meneody 🎉🎊

It's funny, because yes if I had to explain them it would be like that but at the same time @akaittou 's has done damage/pos to my perception of them. It changed my brain chemicals because it fueled the thing...like a lot.

So in short, yes Laus is the "top" and Ody the "bottom" but every now and then they switch and but most importantly they don't keep the same role. Example: you give a compliment to Laus you have two outcomes, he either melts like a cupcake on an hot day of August or he gets excited like a moose during mating season and get's Incredibly frisky, while Ody may seem stoic, he loves being in control but if you embarrass him in the right way it's over, and that's it (⁠´⁠ε⁠｀⁠ ⁠)

Side note: I had to change the whole context for these drawings for Tumblr, the original are on patreon with some extras

[kirby-the-gorb]

a couple people coincidentally reblogged my rare disease day post from [last year] so. here's how that's been going. (some of this is repeat info if you click the link)

I have mast cell activation syndrome (or MCAS), an immune disorder in which my signaling cells are way too jumpy and can trigger all kinds of symptoms (up to and including anaphylaxis) in response to seemingly harmless stimuli. this is distinct from allergies as whether or not I react to a trigger can change from day to day based on how many other triggers are present, and the chemical mediators released cover a broader spectrum than just the IgE release in a classical allergic reaction. plus oftentimes symptoms are a mix of episodic and chronic, rather than being acute episodes like allergies.

triggers can be commonly understood things like certain food ingredients or scent chemicals, but can also include things like hormone fluctuations, physical or mental exertion, and the sun. I have reacted to ginger, laundry detergent, and a natural gas furnace, for example. I also do a lot worse in summer because it is both sunny and warm, and I always have to be very careful how much energy I use up or I might trigger anaphylaxis.

it's common for people with MCAS to have some level of symptoms all their life, that go unnoticed or dismissed until some precipitating event causes a substantial downturn in their condition. for me it was mono, but other infections (especially covid) and significant stressful events have also been anecdotally reported to precipitate downturns if I recall correctly, or simply being uncontrolled enough for long enough can also snowball.

diagnostic criteria for MCAS were first proposed in 2010, so the true rarity is still very up in the air. (personally I believe a lot of common wastebin diagnoses (ibd, fibro, cfs/me, etc) should be scrutinized very carefully as potential "specialty silos" of MCAS, especially given how often they tend to travel together.)

firstline treatments for MCAS include cheap medications available over the counter like loratadine, aspirin, and famotidine. my condition has become severe enough that I'm currently on third-line treatment (omalizumab injections), which does finally seem to be getting me somewhere. (this is, of course, in addition to still taking all of the first- and second-line treatments. I take 24 units of 13 medications in a given day, it's a lot to keep track of. to the point where I'm not actually sure I've counted it correctly :v then there's my monthly injections and my emergency medications on top of that.)

(those injections btw? can cost thousands of dollars even with insurance. thankfully I'm able to use the company's assistance program, so I don't pay anything out of pocket. for that one.)

being sick is never fun, but if you have a disease perceived as rare it introduces a ton of new complications. (which get even more complicated when the disease is legit super rare!) it took me a long time to figure out what was wrong with me, and I had to do it almost entirely by myself, because doctors simply don't have the knowledge. they're not taught to look for it and there's no simple reliable test. but by yammering about it, it might make someone else's slog a tiny bit shorter <3