charliethemanticore

[charliethemanticore]

I’ve been thinking about these graphics that depict the cambrian explosion as a LITERAL big bang explosion all day. They’re so fucking funny to me

canbedone / Adobe Stock

Literally kaboom

[charliethemanticore]

PARIS WAS NOT NAMED AFTER PARIS HILTON YOU DIPSHIT

source?

[charliethemanticore]

children are so fucking funny man. i just overheard a kid go “i just learned a new way to pinch, wanna see it? it hurts a lot more!” followed by a loud, notably pained scream

[charliethemanticore]

>the goblin leaps to attack!

>the goblin misses!

>the goblin has scraped his little knee!

>oh, his little knee!

>oh, his little knee!

[charliethemanticore]

I straight up do not understand the labubu thing. I thought the stanley cup thing was confusing enough but this really is fucking with my head. Poll, because I'm lost.

a 'no buy' youtuber i follow made a video about why she thinks it makes sense that she bought six labubus and a podcaster i like was talking about how he doesn't understand how they crept into his brain or why he started buying them.

[charliethemanticore]

[charliethemanticore]

[charliethemanticore]

Imagine if a zombie apocalypse happened and nobody cared. It didn't really effect wealthier areas because guards would shoot them down. There's some paranoia that zombies would overrun humans but society never really breaks down.

You'd hear about infested areas out in the rust belt, where entire towns were overtaken by the undead. And mabye you'd see a zombie or two when you're in a really bad neighborhood and you have to cross the street. Most undead are harmless outside of large groups, but it's always good to stay safe.

And if you go to an area that's completely overun things really will look like the apocalypse. And there's something exciting about that. Society is interested in those ghost towns, not as a tragedy, but as a spectacle. You've seen reality TV where people will head into the worst of the outbreak with nothing more then a knife and a camera, all while the locals look on wishing someone could take them back.

Most people don't think about zombies. They're just another thing in the world that sucks right now. Occasionally there's a reminder of them, but eventually you forget why anyone is even afraid at all. It seems so normal.

One of your coworkers was attacked the other day by a zombie. Nobody really knew her well. The main thing people were talking about at the office when it comes to her is how lucky she is the be in the hospital having her wounds treated and disinfected, instead of stuck at work. Someone as young as her is expected to be able to fight one off, mabye she did it on purpose. Nobody was still making jokes when they realized she died, people aren't supposed to die that way if they're rich enough to work in an office.

The apocalypse isn't enough to end society. Society is meant to be more resilient then reality, that's the point.

[charliethemanticore]

One thing you can do to resist fascism is teach any little kids in your life about critical thinking and the scientific method, and offer them fun science-related learning experiences. The fascist mentality is inherently anti-intellectual, so if you can, try and help young kids develop the skills and passions they'll need to avoid falling into that as they grow older.

[charliethemanticore]

ⓘ This user needs a long break from everything.

[charliethemanticore]

[charliethemanticore]

nonsense compilation (father themed)

[charliethemanticore]

We also figured out—the hard way—that the ancients probably cut each layer of linen to the proper shape before gluing them together. For our first linothorax, we glued together 15 layers of linen to form a one centimeter-thick slab, and then tried to cut out the required shape. Large shears were defeated; bolt cutters failed. The only way we were ultimately able to cut the laminated linen slab was with an electric saw equipped with a blade for cutting metal. At least this confirmed our suspicion that linen armor would have been extremely tough. We also found out that linen stiffened with rabbit glue strikes dogs as in irresistibly tasty rabbit-flavored chew toy, and that our Labrador retriever should not be left alone with our research project.

[charliethemanticore]

"Honestly, these days I'm mostly an e-reader, and if I want a book I buy it. I only get nice hardcovers of books I really like. Plus, it seems like to find anything I'd have to dig and search, which I don't care enough to do anymore. I'm mostly going to this bookstore for the vibes. My budget is safe because I doubt I'll even buy anything." - me, full of hubris, about to enter John King Used & Rare Books

[charliethemanticore]

Iris van Herpen Fall 2025 Couture

“The opening ‘Living Look’ is a first-of-its-kind vision - Inhabited by 125 million bioluminescent algae that emit light in response to movement. Created in collaboration with biodesigner Chris Bellamy @/bio.crafted, it is a living system cultivated in seawater and encapsulated in a specialized nutrient gel. A translucent protective coating allows light and air to pass through.

Rather than constructed, the dress is nurtured. Its circadian rhythm and environment are carefully tuned to its marine origin, transforming fashion into an act of care.”

[charliethemanticore]

One of those insidious little things I notice sometimes is how much the window of 'appropriate for children' content has shrunk within the past 20 years. The range of things it is socially acceptable to show a 10-year-old has never been more limited, and it's happened incredibly quickly.

Take, for instance, Star Trek: TNG. I grew up watching TNG. I was a little young for it as it was airing, but it got syndicated almost immediately and they would show an episode most weekday evenings on the Space Channel, and I'd watch it with my lifelong Trekkie mom. This was a very common thing. I was by no means unusual for watching Star Trek as a child.

Star Trek: TNG has lots of sex in it! It's never explicit (unless you have a particularly niche interpretation of some of the borg stuff) but on many an occasion you'll have a few characters doing a bit of making out followed by a closing door or fade to black, and then they wake up in bed together. If you know what sex is, you know that is what is being implied here. Even my 8-year-old self, whose understanding of the subject mostly came from books of ancient mythology that used words like 'ravish' and 'the pleasures of the couch' a whole bunch, could tell that what was happening was sex.

And I am not bringing this up as a 'see, I watched all this inappropriate stuff and I turned out just fine!'. I'm bringing it up to argue that TNG's level of sexual content is not inappropriate for children (I'm not using the legalese 'minors', because I think that lumping children and teenagers together in this conversation would make it nonsense. Star Trek is obviously appropriate for teenagers. Don't use 'minors' when you mean either children or teens, it just muddies the waters).

The point is that Star Trek: TNG was very obviously designed to be watched by children and teenagers. There's a whole character in the main cast whose role in the show is to be an audience insert for children and teenagers. The moral tone of TNG, its occasional dips into 'don't do drugs, kids' type messaging, and its general avoidance of graphic violence all scream 'we are designing this with an audience of children - but not just children - in mind'. It's a family show. It's supposed to be watched by the whole family.

Which means that, until at least the end of the 90s, this amount of sexual content was generally considered appropriate for kids to see. It's not pornographic - it's not even graphic. Maybe the very most conservative parents wouldn't let their kids watch TNG, but that might have had more to do with all the socialism and atheism.

So, why did that change? Why do we now have such a strong bullwark between 'things kids are allowed to know about' and 'things for GROWN UPS ONLY 18+ Minors DNI', and why have we relegated even the most discreet references to sex to the second category only?

And the next time you find yourself experiencing that knee-jerk 'think of the children' reaction, consider: would what you're looking at have been ok on Star Trek: TNG in the 90s?