finding-flight

[finding-flight]

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

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[finding-flight]

Quote of the day

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Here's the thing about plot twists:

It's not a twist if it comes out of left field. That's just an entirely new plot dumped on you.

A good plot twist makes you think "oh shit, I would have never guessed that in a million years, but NOW EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE!"

A properly foreshadowed twist won't give itself away, but will give you enough clues that the twist is satisfying and surprising, but not shocking.

A properly foreshadowed plot point which is not a twist will have you on the edge of your seat as you wait for the hammer you know is about to fall.

A non-foreshadowed plot point that arrives out of nowhere has you stunned for thirty seconds and then leaves you feeling unsatisfied and going, "but wait, where was x when y happened? If this guy was secretly x all along, why did he do y?" etc. Because it doesn't actually work with the rest of the story.

For some reason, the cinemasins types prefer the latter.

that some people respond to any well-foreshadowed reveal with “ugh that plot twist was so predictable” proves bad faith criticism has rotted their brains to the point they think it’s bad writing if they can correctly identify information the writers were intentionally giving them

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one of my greatest pet peeves in fiction, and it is truly stupid I know, is that no one seems to understand how genuinely hard it is to kill someone via stabbing. stab wounds have a mortality rate of like 5%. especially abdominal stabbing. tv shows and movies show dudes getting stabbed one time in the lower abdomen with a tiny knife and then they fall over. like what did he die of precisely. that man died of Small Knife

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extremely funny to me that harley quinns real name is apparently harleen quinzel, a name that sounds less real that harley quinn. they should do that with more comic characters. batman real name batthew manning. daredevil real name darius devilson. doctor strange real name. well okay that one doesnt count.

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They warn you about never grocery shopping when you're hungry, but they never think to warn you about grocery shopping when you're nauseated, which has the opposite effect and might have dire consequences for near-future you.

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I wish to purchase goods and services without entering a blood covenant that entitles the provider to email and text me forever and also store a bunch of my personal data that they’re going to apologize for exposing in a breach in the next five to ten years

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tlt stuff

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as humiliating as it is to repost myself from a light-mode-user's reddit screenshot, i cannot allow this year's zenquish to go uncelebrated.

celebrate my favorite holiday with me, my friends.

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Have an IT problem at work. IT guy is remoting into my computer. After trying all the things I'd already said didn't work, he went into "settings" and searched for "search bar." I am not filled with confidence.

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the thing about luke is he wanted to be good ☝️ he wanted to be gentle and kind ☝️those weren’t innate qualities he had no matter what. when luke acted on his first instinct he was quick-tempered and stubborn. he was whiny and immature and impulsive and had a lot of anger in him. he grew up in the galaxy’s darkest hour under two blazing suns & witnessed untold violence. nothing about his life was easy or coddling or guaranteed to make him kind. but he wanted to be good and kind and gentle ☝️so when it came down to it and he needed to make impossible choices he chose love & goodness & forgiveness. ok. it wasn’t easy he wanted to die and he nearly fell to the dark side so so many times but he chose good ☝️like i can’t read another post/meta/fic that takes positivity & gentleness as his basic traits nothing else to it. we saw him struggle to chose those for three movies!!

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"Florida native Neill Holland became a charter captain at age 18. In 2015, after traveling internationally for a decade, he returned to St. Petersburg, Florida, to resume his fishing charter operation with his partner Danielle Dawley. 

Time and again on their charters, Dawley and Holland came across derelict traps, also known as ghost traps. 

Ghost traps are fishing traps that have been swept away in storms and currents or simply abandoned over time. 

Once lost, these rusted traps often pose risks to coral reefs below and passing boats above — all while trapping and killing marine life that die long before they are pulled to the surface. 

Those decaying fish, in turn, attract more sea animals into the trap, starting the cycle anew.

After ghost traps continued cropping up in their day-to-day, Dawley and Holland founded Ocean Aid 360: a conservation organization that works with fishing industry professionals, community volunteers, and government agencies to find, retrieve, and recycle marine debris — including ghost traps.

Their most popular program? Ghost trap rodeos: fishing tournaments that reward entrants for salvaging abandoned fishing gear.

“We started in October of 2018 through a grant from NOAA, which enabled us to hold seven tournament-style marine debris events around Tampa Bay,” Holland told the Port Charlotte Sun in mid-July. 

“In that first year, our target was 15,000 pounds of marine debris. We ended up collecting 27,000 pounds, and had fabulous numbers of community members coming out to participate,” he said. 

“Since then, we’ve worked all over Florida and the Bahamas, with more than 60 event days and about 60,000 pounds of marine debris collected — including more than 8,200 derelict traps.”

The latest ghost trap rodeo — hosted on July 19 — pulled in 4,000 pounds of trash, including 128 ‘ghost traps,’ from the Tampa Bay. 

Two minutes into the event, Holland was already reeling in a ghost trap. 

“This is a textbook example of a derelict crab trap,” Holland told the Tampa Bay Times. “It’s been left out, and as you can see it’s pretty darn crusty and rusted.”

Holland estimates that 10% of all traps placed in the water become ghost traps.

“It’s a recurring problem here, and we really have to stay on top of it,” said Peter Clark, the president and founder of Tampa Bay Watch —  one of many local organizations that helped host the ghost trap rodeo competition.

“We’re helping to protect fish and wildlife, we’re taking marine debris out of the bay, and it’s a great project to get the community involved to help restore and protect Tampa Bay.”

-via GoodGoodGood, July 28, 2025

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socal Media app perfec t size for put personal ID in to age veryify! inside very Safe and Web Security info kept safely put ID in Social Media Website. Put ID In Social Media Website. no problems ever in soccial media website because good third party App and Privacy for personal information sensitive of private state issued ID. Asocialmedia Website yes a place for a legal ID put ID in social media website can trust social media website for keepeing good secret of identity. friend social media

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If you have ever been tempted by a Paleozoic Pal, like a a stuffed trilobite or a full size eurypterid body pillow, now's the time to buy one, before they and a really lovely little museum are gone for good 😭😭😭

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Sorta in a high-stress time (nothing bad is happening, right now is just A Lot) and I HATE that being stressed out makes my executive function worse.

Like, I've genuinely gotten so much better with it, but the second there's a lot to deal with, I'm sitting here staring at a screen while my mind goes, "This feels bad. You know it feels bad. There is stress in your body and it won't go away until you get up and move and/or accomplish something. Also, if you don't go to the grocery store, you will have no food tomorrow."

And my executive function is just like, "Error. Task cannot be initiated until [REDACTED]."