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“How can we distinguish what is biologically determined from what people merely try to justify through biological myths? A good rule of thumb is ‘Biology enables, culture forbids.’ Biology is willing to tolerate a very wide spectrum of possibilities. It’s culture that obliges people to realise some possibilities while forbidding others. Biology enables women to have children – some cultures oblige women to realise this possibility. Biology enables men to enjoy sex with one another – some cultures forbid them to realise this possibility. Culture tends to argue that it forbids only that which is unnatural. But from a biological perspective, nothing is unnatural. Whatever is possible is by definition also natural. A truly unnatural behaviour, one that goes against the laws of nature, simply cannot exist, so it would need no prohibition. No culture has ever bothered to forbid men to photosynthesise, women to run faster than the speed of light, or negatively charged electrons to be attracted to each other. In truth, our concepts ‘natural’ and unnatural’ are taken not from biology, but from Christian theology. The theological meaning of ‘natural’ is ‘in accordance with the intentions of the God who created nature’. Christian theologians argued that God created the human body, intending each limb and organ to serve a particular purpose. If we use our limbs and organs for the purpose envisioned by God, then it is a natural activity. To use them differently than God intends is unnatural. But evolution has no purpose. Organs have not evolved with a purpose, and the way they are used is in constant flux. There is not a single organ in the human body that only does the job its prototype did when it first appeared hundreds of millions of years ago. Organs evolve to perform a particular function, but once they exist, they can be adapted for other usages as well. Mouths, for example, appeared because the earliest multicellular organisms needed a way to take nutrients into their bodies. We still use our mouths for that purpose, but we also use them to kiss, speak and, if we are Rambo, to pull the pins out of hand grenades. Are any of these uses unnatural simply because our worm-like ancestors 600 million years ago didn’t do those things with their mouths?”

— Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Harari, Yuval Noah)

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"We're living through the ongoing fascist collapse of the United States but I still gotta clean the kitchen and go to work tomorrow" sure is the mood right now, huh.

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did you guys see the poem from a couple of days ago in poetry dot org’s daily poem it was so good and a treat to read 

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I think one of the more fascinating options for a transmigration reveal in SV fics is Luo Binghe getting isekai'd himself at some point after the plot concludes.

The situation isn't as dire as it could be. He's technically "dead" but between his body's regenerative abilities and Shen Qingqiu's refusal to accept that Luo Binghe Has Died, odds are good that Binghe will be snapping back to a usable body just as soon as the system lets him. If anything he'd probably be dealing with a situation where instead of being threatened with a return to a cold corpse as incentive, the prospect of going back gets dangled like a carrot in front of him.

And at first Binghe is just like, ah yes, yet another weird and frustrating set of circumstances has separated me from my beloved, I hate this but I've been dealing with such bullshit since the IAC, I'll figure it out. Just focus on getting back to Shizun.

But then he starts to observe more about his situation. Particularly the System. How it constrains his behavior, how people react to the person who died of a fever and whose life he's subsequently taken command of, how he has to navigate the System's insistence on key events transpiring, how it threatens and punishes him over failures, and so on.

Luo Binghe's sharp. More than sharp enough to start putting the clues together.

I dunno how things go from there, but I suspect it ends with Luo Binghe returning home to his husband with a lot of stories, some cool loot, possibly one or two new extradimensional disciples, and a trophy made from the ruined remains of the System.

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"I have a challenge for you! Rules: In a text post, list ten books that have stayed with you in some way. Don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard — they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you. Tag ten friends, including me, so I’ll see your list. Make sure you let your friends know you’ve tagged them."

I've been tagged to do this, which quite frankly I think is the first time I've ever been tagged to do one of these? Anyway, idk if I have ten people to tag back, so this will be interesting at least. I was tagged by @quinfish, so I hope you enjoy this list, lol.

The Golden Enclave by Naomi Novik

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Lost World by Michael Crichton

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Nor Crystal Tears by Alan Dean Foster

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Network Effect by Martha Wells

Okay, so now for tagging! @jones-friend @helpibrokemybrain @unitedstatesofsteamerica

That's all I got, lol. I'm not breaking my 20-year lurking streak to tag people I don't know, but if you see this post and want to participate, you're welcome to take it for yourself and tag me in it like I did actually tag you! Have fun!

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Oh I'm sorry C: you've only got 6GB free? Only six fucking gig? We used to boot the OS off fucking floppy drives but I'm so so sorry that six entire gigabytes of free space isn't enough for you you poor starving thing. You've been experiencing worse and worse memory issues for months and now you're freezing and crashing every few minutes because why, you just can't make 6 gig work? Grow the fuck up.

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Happy Pride!

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Love when my iron vitamins run out and it's like "it's been [span of time] since I was hospitalized for anemia, surely my body is back to normal and will do it's job", and I don't buy any more, and two days in I'm getting migraines and feel dizzy and weak as fuck.

And then I gotta fork over $20 for gummy vitamins that taste like metal because I'm a 34 year old child.

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If you are scrambling to find reasons to justify a man who came to murder Jews at a Jewish cultural night, you have been infected with actual, literal nazi ideology. I don't say this lightly.

Almost every Jewish person I know-including me-has attended a young professional night like the one the victims attended. This event was also focused on peace- one of the main discussions was about aid to Gaza.

The nazis didn't just blindly hate Jews- they came up with reasons to justify their systematic murder. They made speeches about how it would bring about more justice and equality in their society. People with nazi brain rot do this to varying extents with many different minorities- they perform mental gymnastics to argue they are actually doing something not only ok, but morally righteous.

Jews in general have not felt safe discussing the trauma of October 7th in many social justice circles. It was one of the worst tragedies for Jews in recent times, yet if we dare say anything, we are either met with awkwardness at best or wrongly accused of sucking Netanyahu's dick at worst. We have also heard deafening silence from activists who usually discuss all forms of injustices around the world. This is antisemitism, plain and simple.

The view of any mention of one peoples' injustice somehow negating another's has resulted in activists treating the war like a cage match between Jews and Arabs instead of the tragedy it is. The white and/or western guilt beneath the surface of this attitude helps no one.

The shooter didn't target his victims because they worked at the Israeli embassy. And even if he had, it would still have been equally wrong and antisemitic. People wanting to go into diplomatic work do not always share the viewpoints of their governments. The demonization of anything and anyone Israeli as somehow being equally as bad as their current government will continue to lead to violence unless people work to stamp it out. This will involve you having uncomfortable conversations with people- are you willing to?

Israel contains half the world's entire tiny Jewish population. Being against the Israeli government's atrocities against Palestinian civilians is perfectly fine- many Jews agree with you. However, you can't hate Israelis in general and believe they deserve death without being antisemitic.

To everyone who has ever declared they'd "punch a nazi" I ask- are you going to start speaking up when nazis claim to be leftists? Are you going to create a welcoming space for Jews to discuss their trauma? Are you going to stop pitting Arabs and Jews against each other and instead view Palestinians and Jews as two cousins whose futures are intertwined? Because right now I highly doubt many non-Jews are even going to talk about this attack.

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This gotta be the funniest Enterprise-Klingon exchange ever:

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how to explain to mutuals that while yes you can have my discord, and i wanna hang out! my response time is anywhere between 3-7 business days

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So my sister wants to start sewing more, because

a. She’s 5′ 11″ and can never find pants long enough for her legs or shirts long enough for her arms.

b. She hates synthetic fibers as much as I do and it’s difficult to find natural fiber clothes that aren’t made of cotton

c. She’s a biologist and would physically fistfight microplastics if given half a chance

So her gift from mom and dad for her birthday was a sewing machine. Not a super expensive one but a good solid serviceable one.

And recently she asked “So where do I GET wool or linen and thread that isn’t polyester” and mom was like ‘go ask your sister’

And I, of course, crashed into the group text like “GET A PEN I HAVE WEBSITES FOR U” and honestly I’m thrilled about this

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“National teacher shortage” is a fun way of saying that the USA has made a passion driven job so ungodly inhospitable that even people who “just care about teaching, not the money” don’t even care about teaching anymore.