#maybe I'm a nerd

[adharagranley-writer]

Topic of the day: lesbian lizards.

There's a species of lizards that are entirely female (they really said no boys today honey) living in North America and Mexico. So how do they make baby lizards without males?

They reproduce by parthenogenesis (and are one of the few if not the only species of animal to reproduce only by this method). Parthenogenesis is a reproduction form where the female sexual cells develop without the masculine ones (eggs undergo a chromosome doubling after meiosis, developing into lizards without being fertilized), and it can happen in insects, birds, fishes and reptiles.

The desert grassland whiptail lizard (Aspidoscelis uniparens) does this, but! The ovulation is enhanced by female-female courtship and mating (pseudo-copulation) rituals that resemble the behavior other lizards that reproduce sexually.

So they are the absolute only-female lesbian queens.

[mrbrightxside]

Made more stupid smelltingville club I have more in store dw, make sure to see the surprise at the end [Not Clickbait] ✅️

[tenmartha]

tenmartha + their best outfit

[affectionatecorpse]

I'm once again getting overly philosophical over horror movies, so here's a study of the death angels from A Quiet Place as observed by a very enthusiastic animal loving veterinarian.

Every time people talk about death angels, it is, understandably, about how violent they are. These creatures are brutal and merciless, and will tear apart anything that makes too much noise. Hence the title of the movie.

Death angels are frankly terrifying, and show no empathy towards the creatures of the planet they invaded. No living thing is safe from them.

... so here's why they COULD be--

Look. Death angels are simply not suited for our planet. It's a noisy, chaotic place full of noisy, chaotic animals. From humans, to raccoons, to birds, to cats, nearly everything in our world is a potential trigger for a noise sensitive animal such as these.

But that's exactly what they are. Animals. And no one seems to remember that fact. People talk about them as though they themselves are sentient, anthropomorphic monsters, but the way these creatures act mimic many real life animals. Animals that don't belong here, but are trying to survive here. On a noisy planet covered in water, which they despise and cannot swim in.

Death angels are completely blind by nature, as seen in many other creatures such as cavefish, moles, and my personal favourite, the olm. Due to a lack of sight, they very clearly use echolocation in the film, to scan their surroundings and... well, not get dead. But echolocation is far from their only tool, as their ears are the strongest asset they have.

Their ears are INCREDIBLY sensitive. Just the slight ticking of an egg timer when heard from their perspective in the first film, is like a pounding drum in their ear. This is fine in a naturally quiet planet, but if a very subtle tick is that loud, then imagine the rest of the noise. Screaming. Explosions. Crashing. Little toy planes. Holy CRAP, that's gotta hurt.

Sounds that loud would definitely cause extreme hearing problems from pressure over time, and easily result in lifelong illnesses and disabilities such as deafness, infection, and so forth, if not stopped. It's going to be painful. It's literally bursting their ear drums inside their heads, and you can't explain to an animal why it hurts. You cannot rationalise with wildlife about treatment and self care. An injured and scared animal is always going to turn hostile, no matter how docile they may be normally. You can't explain to a lion with a knife in it's belly that you can stop the pain if it just doesn't attack you. You can't explain to a death angel that it needs to go somewhere more isolated instead of just destroying the source of the noise to shut it up.

Going to backtrack here a sec. Remember how I mentioned echolocation being another asset this creature has? Which means the slightest movement, the tiniest breath, can immediately allow you to be seen by it. With ears that good, too? It can see you from ages away. It knows you're there. Which means they DON'T attack for sport.

'Evil' is a concept rarely seen in nature. Yes, a lot of humans can be evil. And yes, many creatures can be too. Animals hunt for sport as well. Cats, for example! Although even then, I wouldn't describe it as evil. Calling the death angels evil implies they're attacking out of malicious intent, which just isn't true. In moments of panic, they'll destroy. But they are fully aware of humans around them.

Humans need to breathe, and can't stay perfectly still very easily. The death angels would be able to see our main cast at several points, even when they're being quiet. They don't attack whenever they locate a sign of life. For example, the scene in the basement. Being that close, whether the water was running or not, that alien absolutely would've heard Evelyn and the baby's sharp breaths. It didn't care. It was clicking at them almost curiously before it heard the bang of the silo, to which it ditched them to stop the sound.

This scene is a great example of why they don't kill for sport. Injured and young animals are especially easy prey for a creature built so strong and nimble. Evelyn is shown to be terrified of the mere presence of this thing, but it never actually does anything in the scene. It moves about. Ignores her movements in the flooding water. Investigates the baby. Clicks curiously at her while she backs away. It moves slowly and on all fours, when we know while aggressive, they will stand up on their hind legs (unless sprinting) and move very fast.

This implies it was in... well, not a submissive position, but a nonthreatening one. It wasn't baring it's teeth (as best it could), it had it's claws tucked up and unused, and was in no way in a primed-to-attack mentality. Until the silo made a loud bang. And even then, it could've quickly sliced up the two in the basement before running off, but it DIDN'T. It just left, without a moment of hesitation.

Let's also acknowledge the anatomy.

This is a carnivore. With sharp teeth for ripping apart prey, sharp claws for defence, and thick armour for protection from it's natural climate, as well as strong, long legs for running, this is absolutely a meat eater. The fact it's so well equipped makes me wonder if their natural prey is just as dangerous as them, which is why they have such tough skin. Or if they themselves have something above them in the food chain.

They seem to be pack animals, as usually others aren't far behind when one is about. Such as the trio by the Abbott house, the few at the docks, the ones by Emet's hideout, and even that group sliding down the building in the Day One clip I keep seeing as a gif. With their knack for running included, I wonder if they function like lions? Blending into their environment back home, clicking to hear prey, then the whole pack going on the chase when their target is vulnerable, in a way.

I got distracted. My point was, in a year, all the bodies from past victims vanished. All those people in the town who were swiped left and right just vanished from the town. They couldn't have decomposed in such short time, which means something moved them when it was safe. Something like a carnivore needing food after it felt comfortable in the silent aftermath. The argument that they do it for sport is one I see all the time, and it's just not true.

Everything needs to eat. Carnivores need to eat. Animals need to protect themselves from suspected danger. They never eat on screen because whenever they're on screen, they're surrounded by noise and are DISTRESSED. Have you ever had a sick pet? Most of the time, it won't eat when it's ill because it's too stressed, uncomfortable or in too much pain. When having their ear drums assaulted, a death angel isn't going to sit down with a cup of tea and a grilled cheese. Also, I won't add it because there's blood, but in the scene with the old man screaming in the woods, after it attacks, you can actually see it go back on all fours and sniff about the aftermath, like a hungry predator catching prey to eat. This was probably the first and currently only on screen proof of my claim.

By all means, not all animals are meant to be tamed. Jordan Peele's Nope said that best. Yet I can't help but wonder about the individual. Every animal is completely unique. Some will tolerate more than others. Due to their realistic nature and the similarities to actual animals, in specific circumstances, could they be befriended?

Anyway keep an eye out for A Quiet Place 4 where someone has a pet one that wears doggy ear protectors and accepts meat in exchange for pets-- /j

[kaiserouo]

Well someone has to give it its driver updates, Gabriel

[blorger]

As a seasoned Draco Malfoy stan, I appreciate and enjoy reading too much into every single one of his book appearances but if I was forced, gun to my head, to pick just one as my favorite I'd probably go with the astronomy tower scene in HBP.

Draco and Dumbledore's conversation is truly a standout gem like few others in the books and any Malfoy scholar worth their salt ought to be well-versed in it; it's a veritable keystone moment for Draco's character development as it offers a glimpse into his inner workings like nothing else does, not to mention the much needed nuance and depth it adds to his characterisation. I felt like it was my civic duty to contribute to the Malfoy studies curriculum with a deeper look into Draco's Big Moment so I went ahead and produced this,

Draco's big day out: a retrospective

To set the scene: Draco has just spent the better part of a school year trying to kill Dumbledore under orders/threats from Voldemort himself and we join him atop the astronomy tower just as his plan comes to fruition. Dumbledore and Harry -our hidden observer- land there after a hectic day of Horcrux hunting (having been lured there via morsmordre), at which point Draco proceeds to disarm Dumbledore

Dumbledore has just consumed large quantities of poison and is actively dying on account of a curse he received earlier in the year ( also he's not planning on defending himself for Big Byzantine Plan reasons) but, according to Harry, Dumbledore gets disarmed fair and square

so let us give a round of applause to our boy Draco because, as Dumbledore begins talking to him, things stop going according to plan .

As the book's denouement takes place through Dumbledore and Draco's conversation we begin to notice that a few things are off with the tableau; the roles of captive and captor seem reversed and Draco, who ought to be more confident than ever, is having trouble going through with his plan.

We learn a few things through Draco's various appearances in the books but something that has perhaps not been obvious thus far is that he is just not a violent person. In all of Harry and Draco's skirmishes throughout the books, Draco has never once initiated a physical confrontation and his inexperience and uncertainty are made manifest now that things have come to a head: as the Deatheaters that Draco let into Hogwarts via the vanishing cabinet confront members of the Order, Draco shows more and more signs of unease with the violence taking place:

and

and

Draco is so distressed by the violence he's witnessing that he feels the need to tell Dumbledore he isn't involved in it. Here he takes pain to both distance himself from what he believes to be a murder and to inform Dumbledore of what happened

and here he feels the need to inform Dumbledore that he didn't intend for the notoriously bloodthirsty Fernir Greyback to come to Hogwarts

As Dumbledore and Draco talk, we see that Dumbledore understands fully not only what is happening but also Draco's feeling about it.

Dumbledore is certain that Draco won't kill him (and he will later be proven right); another important thing to notice is that Draco is labelled an "innocent".

In one of Snape's memories that Harry witnesses in DH, we find out that Dumbledore, aware of the mission Draco had been entrusted with and fully intending to die by the end of the year, wanted Snape to be the one that killed him precisely because he saw Draco as an innocent

Perhaps because of this (or maybe just to stall long enough until Snape can come in and kill him), Dumbledore's attitude towards Draco is paternal and teacherly through their conversation; he encourages Draco to tell him all about his various schemes and praises his inventiveness throughout

and

and

Draco, for his part, seems to crave this recognition and, as the conversation progresses, begins showing his reluctance to kill more and more openly and shows sign of self sabotage

As Draco and Dumbledore dissect the situation they find themselves in, Draco also feels the need to warn Dumbledore of Snape's duplicity

Another thing of note is just how young Draco sounds throughout the scene. In front of Dumbledore, who acts almost paternal, Draco sounds like a boy, petulant and insecure:

and

Finally we come to the crux of the matter: both Draco and Dumbledore know that Draco is not a killer

so Dumbledore attempts to save Draco from the impossible situation he finds himself in

and

it's here that we find out that, for all his bluster about wanting the glory that would come from killing Dumbledore (and aside from his very founded worry for his own life), Draco has been motivated to participate in his mission out of worry for his own family

it's because of them that he still tries to make himself kill Dumbledore and it's Dumbledore's offer of saving them that ultimately makes him lower his wand

and

[starlingfawn]

slowly falls, slowly dies, slowly it crumbles right under my eyes

@jumalanpelko

[hwang-inhos-fish]

Hwang In-ho rides a motorcycle pass it on

[inkyrainstorms]

The Totally Canon Ultimate Friend Group

[markscherz]

a person who named a genus, on tumblr

Actually, three genera, but Anilany and Nanohyla are not as catchy as Mini. A full list of the taxa I have described is available on my website. :)

[starssoblue]

i need more episodes about adrien just trying new things and gradually figuring out what he wants to spend his time doing, what classes and hobbies he genuinely enjoys, and then eventually, what he'd like to pursue professionally. i never really thought about running before sublimation and while i still don't think that's actually his passion, i love that he connected the act of running to the freedom and joy he gets when he's being chat noir, running around paris saving people. one of my favorite things about adrien that a lot of people in fandom especially in fics miss is that just because he's decent or even great at several things doesn't mean he has a personal connection to that thing. in early ml he was acting in his friends' student films, playing sports to different results, fencing with his friends, participating in band, even modeling for fun. in climatiqueen, he discovered he was decent at drawing, a mess with labwork, quick with languages (no surprise there), and v new to baking—all things he could improve upon but nothing that made him feel passion. but he specified the reason he had fun trying those things wasn't the things themselves but because he was doing them with marinette, same as before when he took skills he was forced to acquire by his father and re-utilized them to hang out with his friends despite not feeling a personal connection to any of those hobbies or talents. i don't know if the show plans on him discovering this soon (they're sooooo young, i hate that he is even stressing about this just because his friends are not normal and because the french school system has most people declare their course of study in lycée) but i'm just excited to see him branch out and try new things and get the life experience he was denied when he was younger. 

and running away from the agreste manor (where he was confined and forced to be a perfect mold) as his first step toward self discovery? brilliant imagery.

[psychomusic]

oc time again! + her town & culture (heavily inspired by pre-roman italic populations)

she is suri sauthon. her story is linked to my swtor imperial agent, tar'x, but most of her life except for the one year away where she meets him, is spent in a town in the mountains of mirial.

despite mirial being cold and desert, and many cities developing underground, her town flourishes thanks to a force nexus, venerated in the form of an ancient, sacred, alive crystal. the ecosystem of that mountain depended on what "the horned crystal" was capable of giving them, but mirialans couldn't live off of that alone, so they developed trade and some rudimental technology, even if oftentimes it was bought thanks to the highly profitable trade of a plant used to make medicines that slowed down aging and had overall healing properties.

note: everything that's generated by this nexus has these healing properties BUT they have to be processed, except for those who bathed in the waters of the cavity under the crystal - the "real" nexus, but not the worshipped one. the waters were sacred but they were not thought to be miraculous, unlike the crystal, who instead was thought of as the keystone of the ecosystem: without it, everything would fall apart (and that is partially true: the cavity was the "real" nexus but thanks to the crystal, also strong in the force, the properties were spread all over the mountains). those who bathed in the cavity's waters - so, all of the town, who had a sort of baptism there - could eat the plant, make whatever food with it, and not only that plant, but everything generated by the nexus, that, again, had similar properties. this allowed people to live up to normal life-spans without advanced medicines or, much, really. to those who didn't live there, though, after the processing, had incredible effects, slowing down aging - for those who took it regularly - and making people able to live up to half a century more than the average]

originally, there were four tribes of nomads that lived thanks to horned farm animals that decided to settle down into one bigger town and other smaller settlements, to live off of transhumance. this division of the tribes stayed into the political and social organization: every person belonged to one tribe specifically, and had slightly different rituals and culture. for examples, each tribe had their own priests and healers, with different techniques and traditions. the town, tho, was guided by a group of people in the high priesthood, a position you could reach only by having earned the trust of all tribes. those high priests had many roles: they guided the people into sacred processions common to all the tribes, they managed the trading with outsiders, they did the maintenance of the temple of the summit (the one that functioned as casket to the crystal) and created a special liquid to offer the crystal that helps it grow.

this particular temple was important because 1. it was very visible, from every angle of the town, and it became an important identity symbol; 2. it stored the venerated horned crystal; 3. it had the altar where sacrifices were made for the crystals. that altar had a hole connected to the cavity, that allowed the liquids to reach the underground; 4. it had various symbols: statues representing each tribe + the high priesthood, and typical mirialan tattoos carved into the wood of the trees that served as columns for the temple, symbolizing 8 values that who dared to enter HAD to have; 5. it was on the way to an important lake (called "mother lake" because the lake the town was built around to depended on the waters of that other lake) where they traveled to in important processions; 6. it was said that a the wizard who unified the tribes made it with its magic, making the plant grow to hold the temple's roof. this wizard was, actually, a force user, obv.

BACK TO HER THOUGH: she's daughter of one of the high priests, who was in charge of managing the trades with outsiders, and lives in a house on the mountains with her mother and him. her parents are from different tribes (that's one of the things that earned him trust from the 4 tribes): when a child is born from two different tribes, they don't pick one to allign to, but they're usually linked automatically to the one with more relatives in it (in her case, the father's tribe: she had many uncles and aunts on his side while her mom only had one sister).

later, though, she got quite tied to her mother's tribe due to a mysterious illness that only her mother's tribe healer was able to cure. she spent 4 years (from 10 to 14 years old) living with the healer and learned her secrets. to better study, she wrote them down. when she returned home, she studied to become a priestess with her father. at 22 (the average age: you can't become priest before your 20s), she was supposed to take a test and become a priestess, but the healer of her mother's tribe died and the tribe asked her to take her place. she couldn't technically do that, but both tribes estimated both her and her parents and she was allowed to become both. she then decided to try to become a high priestess, and became one at 25 (a quite young age). being part of the council, she tried to convince the various tribe healers to unite their knowledges and write them down, and eventually made it. healers still remained tribe based but they now had an "upper, inter-tribe level" similar to high priesthood.

years later, the sacred horned crystal is stolen from the temple by some Hutt mercenaries looking for a profit. given the trust she has earned from all the tribes and the fact that her father is the high priest that deals with outsiders (and she's been hearing stories and advice about it since she was little), she is the one tasked with getting it back. without the growing crystal, the keystone to their ecosystem, the village would have lasted only a few years. in hrr quest, she meets imperial intelligence agent tar'x laran and, as they "solve the mystery" and fight to have it back, they get closer. they'll get married and have a daughter, Vegoia (who's the only one who actually will get to the plot of my story. this was all background)

[a-host-of-dancing-daffodils]

And because I recently read the Chocolate Box...Please enjoy one of the only things I feel like the show did right with this particular story...

Poirot looking super dapper in his Belgian police uniform:

The cut of this uniform is very flattering on him, I must say...especially with the way it accentuates his chest, his waist, and his ''''''''seat''''''''

And I love the design on the collar/sleeves. Very fancy/official

also. please look at his very silly official hat

Gotta say. Hugh Fraser may have been the eye candy of this show, but. David Suchet sure knows how to be pretty, too

[schrodingers-gay420]

"How can you ship something so toxic??? You are a terrible person!!!" yep my love for toxic ribbun began the day I decided to take over the world and become an evil dictator thank you for understanding

[kalied0skull]

ponyboy's favorite mario princess to play on literally any game is rosalina change my mind

[captainhysunstuff]

22 more images (with some saucy shenanigans and immature "seduction" tactics towards the end) below the cut:

Ryuk makes his grand return and is brought up to speed with Light and L's immoral union. The date seems pretty successful~.

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