#and learn the birds' histories

[lies]

Sometimes when I'm birdwatching

[i-was-today-years-old-when]

i learned that Leonardo Davinci was famed for buying caged birds at markets and setting them free (x)

[duckapus]

So...getting the SMG Source Code kind of makes the Union of Scorned Avatars fall apart.

Lord Ramagog initiates a sudden-yet-inevitable betrayal and tries to take the Source Code's power for himself, because he never cared about Barry's "Memes ruined our lives" thing and was just using the group to try and gain Ultimate Power so he can conquer the multiverse, because he's actually legitimately evil and has made no effort to hide that fact.

Doppelganger Arle has realized that even if all the Meme Bullshit goes away her situation won't change because it's canon, so instead she wants to use the Code to make herself the only Arle and merge all the SMG universes and Adminspace so that all of "her" friends can live together and she can see them whenever she wants. She's completely nuts by this point, so there's currently no way to get her to understand that the Code isn't powerful enough to do that, and even if it was, doing so would have massive, horrific consequences.

As you'll recall, Frenzy doesn't know what he wants anymore, which is why everybody ended up in his universe in the first place.

Red stays loyal the longest, but then he gets knocked senseless...or rather, gets knocked back to his senses, because it turns out that 1) he's actually able to talk, and 2) he's been stuck in Crazy Stupid Mode this whole time and has no idea where he is, what's going on, or who any of these people are.

Tulip's family has their own shit going on, and the other non-Avatar newcomers turn out to be similarly unreliable.

Barry does not take any of this well.

[thoughtportal]

The poet Ray Young Bear writes in both English and Meskwaki, his first language. He says that the task of passing on Indigenous languages feels especially urgent now as linguistic scholars predict the loss of languages.

The Meskwaki language is rich with bird names, like Tti Tti Ka Kwa Ha, the name for the robin, which emulates the bird’s song, he says. After decades of creating poems, novels, and songs, Ray Young Bear has dedicated himself to preserving and teaching his language and culture.

Full Transcript

Bird Names in Meskwaki

Written by Conor Gearin

This is BirdNote.

The poet Ray Young Bear writes in both English and Meskwaki, his first language. He says that the task of passing on Indigenous languages feels especially urgent now.

Ray Young Bear: It's been predicted by scholars that we're on the edge of linguistic atrophy, that we will lose languages. It's whittling down fast.

He says the Meskwaki language is rich with bird names.

Ray Young Bear: You know, it's very important to teach young people the words that we have for these birds. And some of the Meskwaki words tend to emulate the sounds made by the animals. And so for the robin it's Tti Tti Ka Kwa Ha. It almost sounds pattern wise like songs that the robin sings.

Ray Young Bear: It almost starts off with Tti, Tti, Tti, like that.

[American Robin song]

Ray Young Bear: And so I thought, well, you know, that's probably how they started making the word for the robin.

[American Robin song]

After decades of creating poems, novels, and songs, Ray Young Bear has dedicated himself to preserving and teaching his language and culture.

Ray Young Bear: To bring up the Meskwaki language, to make songs, and to leave that with the hope that young Meskwaki will be able to learn the Meskwaki language as I did, to make songs and to continue. And if I did that, if I help one single Meskwaki kid — hey, that's what it's all about. I guess that's — I will leave Earth with that thought.

   [American Robin song]

Learn more about Ray Young Bear’s writing and music on our website, BirdNote dot ORG. I’m Ariana Remmel.

[hanzajesthanza]

one of the most least-important, yet favorite things about the witcher for me is that i initially felt the usage of latin to add emphasize in the characters' dialogue was, if you'll forgive me, pretentious, in a word, and strange outside of the mouths of characters who were intellectuals and scholars.

until i began to read interviews with sapkowski, and a little bit of his other writing, during which i realized, no, he just talks like that, peppering in aphorisms, sayings, and phrases in latin and other languages. and then the habit became less pretentious to me and, instead, endearing, as it made me realize that the characters, in fact speaking in the altered voice of their author, haven't been altered, but rather are the result of a natural flow of thought and storywriting...

[nationaldayof]

Today is officially National Delaware Day; National Barbershop Music Appreciation Day; and National Beans ‘n’ Franks Day!

[icannotgetoverbirds]

Wait hang on do YOU have a parrot/cockatoo/birdy friend and why have I not seen pictures or videos of it

I do not, in fact, have a pet bird. This is because I can barely take care of myself and I do not own or rent this house (I live with my parents, unfortunately). Once those factors change it may become viable for me to get a bird friend.

No, currently I have absolutely no pets (unless you count my parents' chihuahua mix, which I will not be posting for privacy reasons). Right now, I'm focusing on getting my health in check, getting a job, and getting independent.

I've cared for a pet cockatiel before (they really do smell like pancake mix! it was a pet from my vet class) but the main reason I know so much about all of this is because when I was still in school I would obsessively research pet parrot care. Ever since I learned about parrots' intelligence, they've been a special interest, and for a while they were a hyperfixation, too.

I'm hoping to get an African Grey at some point, both as a companion and to study. I don't know how official the research will be but I do have a few ideas. Really, what I want to do is study non-human intelligence in all creatures.

Regardless, I've seen an exotic bird rescue. Those birds often end up their because their previous owners had no idea what they were getting themselves into, and weren't able and/or willing to put in the necessary work. If I can help prevent more birds from ending up in rescues by educating people about the challenges that they present, then I think that's something worth putting effort into.

[sirulyn]

bunch of arts from various years

[wren-kitchens]

it’s 20 minutes past midnight i’m still doing the fucking key words glossary for geography

[quotesfrommyreading]

As any gay man in American politics had to be, Waldron was protective of his secret. But he had not gone to extraordinary lengths to mask or suppress his personality traits (a certain fastidiousness, a slight effeminacy, an interest in the arts) stereotypically assigned to his sexual orientation. “You’d have to be a blind person and deaf not to realize Bob was gay,” one friend, Bill Wiley, told me. According to Johnson’s older daughter, Lynda Bird, Waldron did not acknowledge his homosexuality while working for her father, nor did her father ever discuss the subject in her presence. Waldron “never said, ‘I am a homosexual,’” she told me. “In those days, you would just never ask anybody about that.”

  —  The LBJ Aide Who Learned Where Gay People Stood

[eolande]

back in the day i would think about like. before tenanye and daimon got together/ how they fell in love was thru "Sparring".... after the first time tenanye killed daimon (ashe at the time) it kind of gave her a rush and was one of the things that made her want to start staying.... and so she would go back to kill him over and over and have fun fighting him (solo, no pawns, altho the first few times eolande and a pawn named carrencia were there actually, but she abandoned eolande quickly and carrencia later, i have always wanted to make a carrencia expy lol) but this is literally how they bonded and got to know each other.... just tenanye getting stronger and stronger and feeling the rush of the each time they would fight.... i think daimon would come to see it that way too bc it'd be obvious pretty quickly to him that she didn't care abt the cycle and felt at home on the isle.... i think they'd both be able to intuit that there had Almost Always been MORE to their bond than just the sparring (mainly fostered thru their shared connection/affinity for bbi as a Location and hatred for the cycle).... it's also fun to think of sexual tension developing thru their sparring LOL

[vamptastic]

possibly the only time my communist leanings have helped rather than gotten me into trouble academically was my SAT where one of the essays was an essay written by an early 20th century former socialist explaining why she'd become an anarchist. no doubt that shit was incomprehensible to everybody else at my florida public school.

[duckapus]

Okay so I've mostly figured out the aftermath of the Legacy Arc;

Worm Is Fucking Dead. Duck assumed his true form and fucking killed him. Normally he wouldn't be allowed to do that, but Worm's time had long since come and gone.

Overseer and Blotch skipped out on cleanup because after the dust settled Abyssal recognized Blotch as That Asshole Who Possessed Them That One Time.

Mira, Red and Frenzy are now firmly on the side of good, though it'll be a while before Red and Frenzy properly join the group since they need time to help their universes recover from their absences.

Barry, Ramagog and Andrew are all getting locked up in Computer Hell for their crimes, while the rest of the Union's non-Admin members all get sent back to their respective universes.

Doppelganger Arle and Garyboy both managed to escape, and will likely be back to cause trouble another day.

Most of the members of the Program Revolution have been captured and will be facing consequences, and will be taught exactly why this was all a horrible idea to begin with.

Larryboy and Blotch will both be fine. As long as you survive Garyboy's venom it wears off eventually and isn't too hard to recover from.

Carbuncle will also be fine after a nap.

The Admins know that Circuit was a vessel for a Game Character, but not who was driving or what they managed to steal. Vector is also made aware of this while he's in custody, but is firmly in denial about Circuit just using him and his ideals for his own ends.

The SM64 Avatars and Kirby will have one hell of a story to tell the others at the next meetup, and vise-versa.

A few of Worm's viruses managed to escape into the Veggietales MMO, but for now it's not too big a deal.

Given...All That, everyone's now aware of how the Multiverse Inside Luke's Computer was created, and the story of Adminspace's founding. Abyssal's origins are still a secret to everyone except Duck and technically Vee though.

[arizcross]

Danny(al) Wayne AU

Danyal and Damian are not twins. Danny is older than Damian by four years. Talia never told Danyal he has a younger brother and she never told Damian he has an older brother.

Danyal ran away from the LoA when he was eight years old. Without no one help (well, he trained a colony of rats) he faked his own death (he is a damn genius and he made a fool out of Ra and Talia and so far he calls it his greatest achivement).

His original plan was to reach the U.S.A. via maritime shipment and then go to Gotham to look for his biological father, Bruce Wayne: The Batman. He first arrived to California and by manipulating the foster care system he moved to Texas and then to Illinois where he was found by the Fenton family… there Danyal realized that Jack and Madeline Fenton were a danger for themselves and for the world. Their investigation on ectoplasm (by doing his own research Danny discovered that ectoplasm is actually the source of Lazarus Water) and their development on weaponry powered by ectoplasm made him take the decision to stay with the Fenton couple as their adopted son, Daniel.

For years Danyal sabotaged the Fenton’s experiments… it was because he tried to sabotage the portal that he activated the machine and died electrocuted.

With the accident Danny understood that the Pit Demons Ra fears so much are actually what the Fenton couple refer to as “Ghosts”. Danyal also learns that these “ghosts” are nothing of what the Fentons or Ra think of them.

At first, when Danyal was recently adopted by the Fenton couple, Jazz tried her best to make him feel welcomed and to make him open up to her (it was clear that the glaring daggers boy had gone through something awful). What did the trick was a movie night where they watched Lilo & Stitch. Danny cried so hard Jazz bough him ice-cream every day for a whole month. After that Danny started to emotionally develop a lot; He recognized Jazz as his sister and only family.  

Danny’s favorite movies are Lilo & Stitch (he has a Stitch onesie), Treasure Planet, Atlantis (only the first one, the second doesn’t exist), The Iron Giant and Chicken Run.

Danny has always known that his biological father is Bruce Wayne (The Batman) and has always followed his career (for a very long time Jazz, Sam, Tucker, Jack, Madeline and Vlad thought he was only fan-boying hard over both the rich philanthropist and the mysterious bat-themed hero). Danny has followed his father’s life so accurately that he even knew every time a new Robin came to be (he has files on every single one of his siblings), he deducted the times when Batman was severely injured, he even knows Gotham and the Wayne’s family history! (He is Bruce’s child alright) When Damian came Danny almost had a rage fit, Talia had hidden a younger brother from him. Jazz faced him about this sense of betrayal about the new Wayne boy, that’s when Danny told her everything (about the LoA, about Bruce, everything) and Jazz hugged him as he cried his eyes out both in grief and regret for his younger brother and how he left him in Ra and Talia’s hands.

Danny is sixteen when the cat gets out of the bag. Sam, Tucker and Valerie managed to escaped with their families from Amity Park before the whole city was besieged while the G. I. W. captured Danny with Jack and Madeline’s help, Jazz didn’t know what to do, so she took Danny’s files on Gotham and the Bat-clan (as Danny called it) and managed to run away to Gotham, it is time for certain furry to pay for child support.

Danny only told Jazz and Dani about the LoA and Batman, Vlad discovered only the part about the LoA (and he will regret it later) but he doesn’t know about Batman. Sam and Tucker only know that Danny was raised by some weird cult until he was eight, Val only thinks that Danny is weird.

Jazz also gets adopted by the bats and the birds.

Danyal got a PhD in bio-chemistry at six and a masters in mechanics at seven. While recovering at Wayne manor from his time at the G. I. W. headquarters he studied astrophysics via a long-distance program.

Damian challenged Danny to a duel the instant the older one was physically recovered.

Danny: Damian, relax. It’s been literal years since I-shit! *He exclaims as he barely manages to dodge Damian’s sword.

Danny discovered that his four years younger baby brother is a feral chihuahua.

Danny: As if Dani been a feral stray cat wasn’t enough *Danny huffs as he takes a nice, piping hot bath in his bedroom’s bathtub*: I FORGOT TO TELL THEM ABOUT DANI!

Dani takes upon herself to teach Damian how to be a teen, in exchange Damian teaches Dani a bit of his assassin training.

Danny only refers to Bruce as his father when the older man is not around because he is embarrassed to call him father to his face.

Damian: Tt, you’re even more of a disgrace than Timothy! He is our father, Danyal! Blood of our blood!

Dick: Yeah, baby boo. I assure you B won’t mind it one bit.

Danny *very much aware of how much he stalked and fanboyed over his father over the years*: I can’t.

Dani is the first one of the Dannies to call Bruce dad.

Dani is not always around since she has to be in the GZ for her core to not de-stabilize but she visits during vacations and the holydays.

Danny opens up to B about Dan and tells him all of his contingency plans in case he (Danny) goes rouge (Not even Jazz knows about them).

Bruce *looking at Danny right in the eye as they both hold each other gaze*: You are not going to become that, Danny.

Danny *looking at B with the gaze of a tired, scared teen*: Please, father, promise me.

That was the first time Danny called Bruce father to his face.

[lunar-system]

Edward Teach: The Star.

Adapted from the traditional Ride-Waite-Smith tarot, this version of the Star shows Ed kneeling down serenely by the spring of life, bare to the world, ready to heal after tumultuous events.

Stede as the Sun to follow, Izzy as the Moon can be found here.

Longer exploration of the card's symbolism under the cut.

***

The Star: Hope, openness, especially after a crisis. Renewal, healing, restoration.

Rachel Pollack writes: "This is the calm after a great change, whether it comes after a drastic planetary shift or a personal upheaval. There are still difficult times ahead, but the Star tells us to trust."

In the card Ed is depicted with a short, growing beard. Multiple personal upheavals and great changes have already happened, and he is settling into a new reality. Who is he when he is stripped from titles, uniforms and roles? In the space of the Star, he has enough trust to try and find out.

Pollack continues: "In Star, we find our inner strength and belief. The Star teaches us to accept whatever it is, to drop all our shields, to believe. The water poured out signifies healing, emotional and physical."

Ed as the Star is learning to shine his own light after witnessing Stede shine as the Sun. Trust and belief don't come easy, but as the Star he can be vulnerable enough to try again. The water flows from an infinite source, letting the emotions come and go.

Even though the Star opens up towards a bright future, Ed carries his history with him. His tattoos, pictures from other tarot cards, tell about his past:

Chest: Three of Swords, the infamous card of heartbreak. "Trust no one."

Left side thigh: the face of the Devil from the Devil card. One of the largest tattoos he has, projecting his self-image. "I'm the devil."

Right side thigh: Lobster from the Moon card, a beast that lurks under the surface, in the unconscious. "I'm the Kraken."

Right side: wolf from the Moon card. In my depiction of the Moon, Izzy stands for the wolf. Here the loyal wolf is cast to the side, left howling after the broken heart.

Belly: Ram from the throne of the Emperor, a symbol of masculine power. The placement on the lower belly suggest a trans reading of the character.

Chest, around the heart: birds from Ace of Cups, suggesting new beginnings even for a broken heart.

With his past carved to his skin, Ed is kneeling at the edge of land. One of his feet is planted firmly on the ground while the other graces the water. In Tarot, earth is often connected to the material, such as the body, and the conscious mind. Water is the element of emotions and the subconscious. At the edge of the water, Ed is in balance, grounded both in his body and in his emotions, the conscious and the subconscious. The water he pours rejuvenates them both.

TL;DR: After great personal upheavals, Ed as the Star is ready to heal and trust. He carries his past with him, but is ready to shine his own light and have faith in himself and for the future. He is vulnerable and at peace, and he is connected both to the ground and the water, nourishing them both with the water he pours.

***

Sources

Image source: Pamela Colman Smith, 1909, republished as Tarot of A. E. Waite, 2016, AGM-Urania, Germany

Text source: Rachel Pollack, A Journey of 78 Steps, 2011, as cited in the booklet for instruction and guidance of Tarot of A. E. Waite, 2016, AGM-Urania, Germany

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

What's most amazing about people who hate that birds are dinosaurs is that, without the discovery of birds being dinosaurs in the 1960s, none of y'all would have ever actually cared about dinosaurs

the history:

dino craze in 1800s. people thought, birds are very similar to these guys. Dollo fucked it up, made a bad theory, and people stopped thinking that

Early 1900s, dinosaurs deemed sluggish, stupid, pointless evolutionary failures. most people not really into dinosaurs anymore. this continues until

1960s: Deinonychus discovered. suddenly, dinosaurs interesting again: vibrant, lively, warm blooded animals. Also... birds might be dinosaurs?

from the 60s through the 70s, a slow buildup of dinosaur culture - both in crappy stop motion movies, but also in children's books and other media

80s cladistics revolution shows birds are living dinosaurs, though not without flaws. documentary after documentary is made, causing the major dinosaur boom of the late 80s and early 90s

the peak of this boom are the A&E and PBS documentaries, which both outright state birds are dinosaurs

cartoons like land before time and other dinosaur content keep coming out too, especially at the end of the 80s and the earliest 90s

the book jurassic park, referencing the birds are dinosaurs thing, is written in the late 80s. in the early 90s, is adapted into one of the greatest blockbusters of all time. now dinosaur interest is MAINSTREAM.

jurassic park isn't the start of the dinosaur boom, it is the apex

90s becomes the decade of dinosaurs, with tons of new discoveries, television shows, documentaries, and other programming

1996 first feathered "nonavian" dinosaur discovered. birds are dinosaurs is the closest thing we have to proven phylogenetic fact

1999 walking with dinosaurs premieres, revolutionizing the dinosaur-documentary genre.

early 2000s becomes the age of Period-Type Dino-Docu-Dramas

velociraptor is determined to have feathers

suddenly, dinosaur mania starts to die in the later 2000s

even though discoveries keep happening and we learn so much in the 2010s, the 2010s becomes a very regressive time - a sort of reactionary response to the birdification of dinosaurs and the dinosaurification of birds. the height of this is jurassic world

we may be in the middle of a dino-docu-drama revitilization thanks to prehistoric planet. stay tuned on that one

like, everyone was fine with the birdification of dinosaurs up and until they looked "feminine" on the outside, because of feathers.

It's just all such transparent misogyny and homophobia and people who react against feathered dinosaurs or birds being dinosaurs are just... so transparently parroting conservative talking points

Anyways, yeah. without birds are dinosaurs, you wouldn't have jurassic park. Sooooo