andthelaw

[andthelaw]

I need to go watch Hermitcraft.

"i also noticed, on my daily flyby to see if mumbo's home- it's always nice to see a little bit of progress by mumbo, because then you know he's ok, he's doing alright- look- look who it is! it's like.. another grumbot variant!"

girl he is killing himself and putting his brain in that thing.

[andthelaw]

[andthelaw]

Fucking, thank god for grad students. Grad students are truly the GOAT of science. A lot of scientific research is limited by what kinds of research can produce results that might be profitable for businesses, including the journals that publish that research in the first place. But grad students? They're not trying to make money for anyone, they're trying to prove themselves as scientists before entering the professional world. The only thing a master's or doctorate thesis is supposed to do is prove to your university that you have mastered your craft and are capable of producing research that meets the standards of the scientific community. The only job that a graduate student has when producing that thesis is to do good research that has never been done before. They're just about the only scientists whose sole prerogative is to look where no one else has looked to answer questions that no one else has, possibly because no one else has even asked them yet, and to compile their results, whatever they are, for the pure sake of knowledge itself.

I'm not a scientist, I'm just someone who does scientific research in my free time because I'm deranged enough to think it's genuinely fun, and because a lot of the art I do is scientifically informed. But because I'm doing this research for art rather than a more "practical" application, a lot of the times the reasons why I want to know something are completely different from the reasons why these topics are actually studied. I don't want to know how to create synthetic equivalents of Feline Facial Pheromone F3, whose function we already know, in order to reduce stress and prevent undesirable behavior in pet cats in new homes and vet clinics, I want an analysis of the components that make up Feline Facial Pheromones F1 and F5, whose functions we don't know, in order to start building hypotheses about what those functions might be, so that I can figure out how catgirls would perceive these pheromones and theorize how they might talk about them in their native languages. But nobody's gonna pay me to do that, are they?

And let me tell you, sometimes the only people who seem interested in the kinds of bizarre and esoteric questions that an artist like me will have are grad students publishing theses. I still haven't found anyone trying to figure out what FFP F1 or F5 are used for, but I have found:

A full, comprehensive description of the complete phonology and grammar of the Lushootseed language and its dialects, spoken by several Coast Salish tribes of the Puget Sound region, published by Ted Kye in 2023 for his doctoral thesis at the University of Washington. Lushootseed is the source of many words from the region, including hugely important place names like Snoqualmie, Muckleshoot, Puyallup, Snohomish, Sammamish, Duwamish, Mukilteo, Shilshole, and of course, Seattle, but the language itself is extinct, with its last native speaker, Vi Hilbert, dying in 2008. There are, however, efforts to revive the language, and that would be significantly more difficult without Ted Kye's work. I think we can all see why this kind of thing is valuable.

And, this second one is a bit more esoteric but hear me out:

The discovery that a popular ornamental aquarium fish might actually have been sequentially hermaphroditic this whole time, which was practically a footnote in a 2016 thesis by Lia Gomes and Silva Henriques from the University of Porto, in Portugal. The fish in question is the red-tailed shark, Epalzeorhynchos bicolor, which is not an actual shark, but a member of the carp family that just happens to look like a shark, and two very important things to note about it are that it is critically endangered in the wild, and in fact was thought to be totally extinct in the wild until one was found in 2014, and that they are also practically impossible to breed in captivity. The primary threat to the species is considered to be habitat destruction. The quite substantial supply of this species in the pet trade today all come from fish farms in Southeast Asia, which use hormones to induce reproduction in the species, through processes that are kept as trade secrets and are essentially unknown to the scientific community. So, we have literally no idea how this fish breeds, which means that hobbyists can't breed it themselves, and scientists don't know what conditions they even need in order to breed in the wild. This one paper, written by students in Portugal who attempted to induce gonadal maturation in the species using hormone injections, is perhaps one of the only clues we have on the path to saving this species, and it hints at a conclusion that could have HUGE implications for the husbandry, captive breeding, and survival in the wild of the red-tailed shark: all of the individuals that were dissected without having undergone hormone injections were immature females, and immature males only started appearing in groups that had been injected, suggesting that all individuals of the species might start out as females, and then at some point in their development, certain individuals, for unknown reasons, may develop into males instead, making them sequential hermaphrodites. This isn't unknown in fish (clownfish do something similar, except they all start out as males and become female when they achieve dominance in their social group), but it was completely unexpected in this species, and could go a long way in starting to explain the difficulties with breeding them and potentially be a step on the path to learning how to breed them in captivity, as well as saving them in the wild.

Unfortunately, in the latter case, I wasn't able to find any other published work by either of the listed authors, and no one else seems to have repeated the experiment. This is a real shame, because the results of the experiments, while very intriguing, weren't conclusive; they had a fairly low sample size, and would need to be confirmed by further research. But there's no indication of that research being done, and I might be the only one other than the university's board of reviewers who's even read the thing.

All this is to say, fish testicles are interesting and I'm begging someone to do more research on them, please.

[andthelaw]

"basic criteria dni!"

i am sick and tired. i am done putting up with y'all "basic dni" people. can you even explain what it means with your own words? are you even able to formulate what kind of people you don't want to interact by yourself? are you only capable of parroting this vague phrase expecting everyone else to know what you mean?

"basic dni" and those of y'all who say it usually don't even elaborate. as if everyone is expected to know which, out of dozens, if not hundreds of carrds, strawpages, google docs and other bullshit you're referencing. you could be referencing this carrd that just lists various kinds of actually dangerous bigots (who won't adhere to it anyway!), or you could be referring to that one google doc that has proshippers (i am looking at you, proship people that sling "basic dni") and whole ass countries on it, among hundreds of other things.

if i see it, with anything linked or not, i don't approach at all. and it's because to me, without even getting to know the person, they're already bland and irritating, no other reason.

[andthelaw]

Nobody can do it quite like Loish 🙏

I did it. After a lifetime of using light mode on all my devices, I switched to dark mode. My eyes just can’t take it anymore, and after a few days of using it, I decided dark mode was actually kind of cozy and nice. So it was time to update my light mode art with a new version!

[andthelaw]

This is Hermitcraft to me.

proship culture is joining a fandom where everyone else is, if not proship, otherwise uninvolved in drama, and being SO FUCKING RELIEVED because YES i can just like and dislike whatever i want and nobodys a dick about it!!! youd think minecraft fandoms are immature but so far ive only met adults directly and the minors ive seen have been direct in their ‘hey, not for me, but you enjoy’ and being chill. LIKE HOLY SHIT!!!! I KNOW SOME OF ITS COS IM LATE TO THE PARTY SO ITS CALMED DOWN A LOT BUT GOD DAMN!!! I HAVE NEVER BEEN LATE TO A FANDOM WITHOUT DEALING WITH ASHES OF FLAME WARS!!! FUCK YEAH I CAN JUST HAVE FUN!!!

OMG YAY!! SO HAPPY FOR YOU ANON!

[andthelaw]

Yo this looks awesome! I'm not in the fandom but like look at that!!

Time to post

Entry for Summer Siesta event

[andthelaw]

i don’t know how to explain to you people that no matter what a country’s government is like i do not and will not support the US indiscriminately bombing that country’s civilians and i don’t know why that’s a controversial take tbh

[andthelaw]

Jesus Christ the situation.

Is 2025 real? what are we doing?

Personally? I clocked out somewhere during the pandemic. We're on the wrong timeline, clearly.

[andthelaw]

Can’t We All Agree to Disagree?

~ or ~

Let’s Not Twitter our Tumblr

For past and present Lovejoy and Wilbur Soot fans, it’s been a wild week. Let’s review:

Will did an album Q&A on r/lvjy.

Will made a statement, stating clearly that the (abuser) labels are not true and he does not accept them.

A Wilbur Soot YouTube video dropped.

Lovejoy dropped “With Rob as my Witness.” (It’s a banger.)

The music video came out.

With optimism and excitement comes, of course, its counterbalance. Outrage, criticism, what-about-ism, pessimism. There’s this reflex to to smother joy, to remind people how wrong they are, how right you are, how there is only one way to interpret things.

This past week, I’ve found myself commenting on posts I find offensive. I’ve been mixing it up with people with whom I will forever fervently disagree. Even on Tumblr. Their venom sparks my outrage. They think I’m disgusting for ‘supporting an abuser;’ I think they’re disgusting for refusing to consider the voice of the accused. I just can’t resist taking the bait, and in the end feel shitty and sad.

Everyone wanted Wilbur to get in the dirt and say every little thing he’s been holding inside on this topic. We all want to hear it (even though we know it’s not smart, even if we claim we’re above it).

Supporters want to hear him explain himself, defend himself, offer details that will exonerate.

Those who’ve denounced him want to hear him say, “I did it, I admit I’m an abuser, and I apologize.”

But he won’t.

He knows more than we do.

Here’s what he knows:

Exonerate: He knows that there is no such thing as exoneration when the charge is subjective interpretation of a messy interpersonal relationship. He knows that he and his ex-girlfriend understood these events differently, and there is no proving or disproving those understandings.

Admit: He will not admit to abuse, because he does not believe that he abused her. He stated the label is not true.

Apologize: Of course that means he can’t apologize for abusing her, because (again) he does not accept that this was abuse. (If your lawyer tells you to apologize for a crime you didn’t commit, fire your lawyer.)

He apologized for other conduct that he did acknowledge. Shelby did not accept the apology. Neither did many of you. Another apology—some mythical, better, different apology— does not make sense. It’s not forthcoming.

So let it go.

Stop.

We’re all fighting and no minds will change.

Even if you’re criticizing Wilbur’s silence and refusal to get into the mud on this— you’ve got to be impressed by his self control. Do you honestly think he doesn’t want to scream and yell, pour it all out there, tell every little thing he’s been holding inside for months?

He realizes it won’t help.

Wilbur’s biting his tongue. Controlling himself. Letting horrible statements sit unanswered.

So let’s try.

Agree that we viscerally disagree.

Agree that we cannot reconcile these differences. There is a chasm between our viewpoints.

Let’s keep Tumblr nice. Let’s stay out of posts that enrage us.

If you think Wilbur Soot is a horrible person, trust me, he’s not trying to win you back. That’s not what the video was about. He doesn’t care that his audience is smaller and different. If you’re in need of a victory lap then celebrate that he’s lost lots of fans.

Move forward and choose for yourself. And let’s try not to dwell on it. Live and let live.

[andthelaw]

* Won't you play again, Kris?

[andthelaw]

I feel like the older i get the less i relate to those people who go to fandom wikis and point out the age of this fictional cartoon character to scold people who draw horny fanart of them. Like idk sonic has been around for 30 years i think you’re allowed to age them up and want them to grow up with you

[andthelaw]

see the THING IS I don't feel like I ever worked hard enough to have "earned" the burnout, which is. probably how we got here.

[andthelaw]

Arlecchino, the Knave

⏲️ Time taken to make this artwork: 14 hours over 2 days 🎨 Using Aseprite and a Huion tablet ~

🩷 Means the world to me that you support me with your Reblogs, Comments, & Likes!

🔥 Alt version is up on my P4tr3on for members!

[andthelaw]

No matter what you write, you shouldn’t be jailed over fiction. I don’t know why that’s such a confusing and controversial stance to take. You should not go to prison for imaginary crimes

[andthelaw]

figurines by TheSafflowerField

[andthelaw]

"i hope you recover" from what. not all of us have trauma pal. some of us are just freaks (affectionate), and don't have anything to recover from. some of us are just in it for the love of the game