#non-experts

[postersbykeith]

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Bingqiu ponies (Happy Birthday @Piosplayhouse!)

[markscherz]

I clicked on that wikipedia link you posted for H. fleischmanni and was surprised to see that the section talking about the frog’s natural predators was titled “enemies” instead of “predators.” The word “enemies,” at least to me, seems strange in this context because it seems to anthropomorphize the frogs, which as far as I’m aware is something zoologists try to avoid doing with animals. Is there a scientific reason for “enemies” to be used here, as opposed to “predators”?

Regrettably, a huge number of problems of this kind have been built into Wikipedia by the Wikipedia Education Foundation-supported courses. Students carry out an 'assignment' that involves a dramatic expansion to a given wikipedia page based on any literature they can find. That revised page is then subjected to 'peer review' by their classmates. But because they are unfamiliar with (1) the literature, (2) the contents of other wikipedia pages, and (3) how wikipedia actually works, the resulting pages are often full of misinformation, redundancies, and weird formulations.

You have accurately identified one such idiosyncrasy. 'Enemies' was a very common formulation for 'predators' in the 1800s and early 1900s, but we have largely left it behind, for precisely the reason you say, and hence it sounds jarring to our ears. In this case it is a minor problem (you should have seen how the Paroedura masobe page looked before I cleaned it up), but irksome nonetheless.

[nouverx]

Encounters with transphobes have been so rare for me lately that I always forget there's people out there who are STILL at the "being non binary isn't real/is a mental disorder" stage lmao. Have they not move on from that??

I've been out and living as an openly trans non binary person for 8 YEARS.

8. YEARS.

8 years is a lot. I've had time to watch conferences on the topic and read so many articles that I can't possibly link it all. I've seen a psychiatrist and 3 different therapists. Literally NONE OF THEM ever saw my transness and non binarity as a mental disorder or as "not real". I've mostly been working on dysphoria with them this whole time, which was way more of an issue than transness ever was. I've been through a whole self discovery journey that I can't possibly describe in a single post, had so many deep conversations about it with so many different people, experts and non experts included, during those 8. Long. Years.

People who are dismissing non binarity are just ridiculous to me now. "Being non binary isn't real" buddy those last 8 years have been VERY FUCKING REAL. You are deeply uninformed, far behind the whole topic and I'm so over people like you. Stfu.

[avo-kat]

youtube channel that has a "team of writers" but still goes like "umm soy bad cuz so much defosteration in the amazon :)" as if they made at most 1 google search and looked at the preview of the first result.

its embarrassing.

another youtube channel with 1m+ subscribers talking about wool and acrylic and cotton fiber and going like "cotton needs a lot of water", while not saying a word about how much water all these sheep in australia need.

its embarrassing.

going vegan is like realizing 99% of people have bought into this misinformation and even if you say anything theyll just think you are biased, emotional, unreasonable and, gasp, classist/racist/ableist.

hbomberguy do a video on the animal exploitation industries, please.

[tvpsychics]

hello lesbians

[sodrippy]

i know its generally a cheap and reductive gag but zoro is absolutely the guy who misunderstands someone flirting w him as them looking for a fight. moreover in a modern setting, hes the guy who says "you guys know sex isnt real right?" w such sincerity that it prompts his friends to seek confirmation that hes doing a bit, to which he responds "sex is as real as antarctica lol" which clarifies nothing but eventually leads them to discover he's a grown ass man who's been confusing antarctica for atlantis his entire life. thanks for your attention to this post 👍

[service4cops]

He's an expert negotiator and will negotiate just about anything . . . except, where he gets to dump his load and what he expects you to do with it.

Yep, in my mouth and I'd have to swallow it, ALL of it. Those were his terms and they were non-negotiable.

(I could live with that)

[myersesque]

what's the opposite of gatekeeping? gate-opening? ramming the metaphorical fandom gates with a big ol' truck until they're nothing but scrap metal?

bc every time i see someone say they wanna know more about hobie i have to fight back the urge to infodump in their inbox (shout-out to the person i just did that to! so sorry!). i've seen ppl who read the spiderman 2099 comics doing the same for miguel, too (PLEASE give me a reading list i am so intrigued), and a few for spidernoir (again. list. please) n other spiderpeople. seeing ppl enthusiastically sharing these characters rather than trying to keep them to themselves is so refreshing and oddly comforting, in some way

(that being said, i'm ABSOLUTELY gatekeeping hobie from people he'd delight in knocking the lights out of. it's morally justified gatekeeping, at that point. you don't get to enjoy a character themed around an entire subculture if you're disrespectful of or in direct conflict with the core belief system of said subculture - thems the breaks.)

[cloud-based-and-rainpilled]

My Mom got legitimately angry at me for trying to learn Welsh because it “will never be useful/l, can’t learn without immersion and/or being a child, won’t help me get a job/learn for my career” so if you’re ever wondering why non-colonialist languages die not being able to commodify them is exactly why

[ravs6709]

“Even if the 0th turn's Yoo Joonghyuk was an idiot, he should not be making such mistakes. The only normal-sounding Modifier was mine.”

ok mr demon king of salvation. desperate much

Normal. Okay my dude very normal indeed

[what-do-bunyips-look-like]

Just got an ID on inaturalist for a bee thats literally never been observed on there before?? Like theres only one observer and its me??? Feels like a mistake but its by a bee expert with 1416463 identifications????

[sunnysssol]

Alfred fell for Suzie because he felt like she was the one being whom he could let down his walls for. He was born alone, and he was going to die alone– that was the mindset he's had since he was young. But when he's with her, he doesn't think about hellfire or being damned for all of eternity for desire, or the sins he can never wash from his hands. He loves them because Suzie is familiar. Strong, safe. He doesn't have to worry about geopolitics if he's with her, basically lol. As much as he loves the spotlight, he also, above all, loves his fucking space. Again, he was born alone, and spent so much time being alone that any other way feels odd, somehow. Like he's just playing the fool. But with her, he doesn't have to pull back his emotions, his thoughts. He doesn't have to worry about her judging him even if he knows he deserves it. Instead, when he fucks up, or when he feels especially alone, they take his hand and squeeze it firmly– "We're going to be okay. We'll get back up somehow."

Suzie fell for Alfred because he made things feel possible. Being raised as the youngest daughter of some nobleman or other, Suzie knew early on that their duty to their family prior to being chosen for this job was to marry some wealthy nobleman, maintain his household, give him children, then die. A lot has happened since that little girl left her father's home, but even then, Suzie told themselves that whatever their duty or station in life is, they were going to fight like hell to make it a fulfilling one. She's always been endlessly curious– after a question has been answered, she has at least five more. Suzie wanted to see and experience everything, to have the knowledge, the capacity– the power to make things happen. She's always dreamed of the sky and the stars– and Alfred, with his all-encompassing, boundless optimism and fiery drive to accomplish whatever task he thought was worth the effort, Suzie can't help but feel similarly.

They both make each other discover things about themselves they never would've known otherwise. Alfred had no idea he too, hated the utter lack of complete independence when one's in the spotlight until Suzie told him how they felt about it. Independence to do whatever they wanted, whenever they want. He had no idea he was being so damn scummy until Suzie smacked him with cold, hard facts in the late 80s. He genuinely thought he was doing good things, deluding himself into thinking he was being good. But most of all, he had no idea about the depth of his compassion until she began involving him in her non-official excursions, helping out in communities and such. He loves his people, but just "loving" doesn't really mean anything if he's some kind of untouchable patron saint. Love doesn't mean a damn thing if the one half is unsure about truly returning it and the other is unsure of what, who it's loving. But Suzie was sure. She was always so goddamn sure of everything– and Alfred admires that. Sure, they take a while to make decisions, but they truly take the time to hear all possible reasons, study all possible scenarios, circumventing most problems Alfred would be blindsighted by.

It's definitely not perfect– their relationship has been on the rocks now and again. But the effort, the devotion is there. And, they make one hell of a good team.

[ephemeral-antiquities]

In regards to the general headcanon that Vincent Sinclair communicates through sign language….

Here’s my idea, everyone…

Obviously, we know that Vincent is not deaf, he is hearing. The only chance I could think is if his hearing was somehow affected in the surgery separating him from Bo, which isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility but still.

Though, that does not make it entirely irrational for him to communicate through ASL. However, there lies one problem in this headcanon, allow me to explain.

Sign language is more than simply hand gestures, and a lot of signs involve facial expressions. As my teachers always used to say about expressions, “if it doesn’t feel weird, you’re doing it wrong”. ASL relies on facial expression to indicate tone (among many other things) and expression is just as much a part of the sign as hand movement. A vast majority of the time, Vincent’s face is covered so his expression is not easily visible, and there’s the elephant in the room. Basically, to sign without visible expressions is.. not easy to put it simply, if not downright impossible.

I do believe that Vincent would communicate through sign though, at least partially. Without a doubt I believe a vast majority of his communication with others would be non-verbal. The method through which he would communicate I think would vary vastly depending on context and target audience. Signing to Bo and Lester is very plausible, in my opinion, or those he is comfortable enough to remove his mask around, but to others you may very well get a notepad or some other form of non-verbal communication.

But I also believe he would speak. It would be rare, though, as I imagine it would be physically painful for him, not to mention downright tiring (I get it). One or two sentences is the most (on a good day) you would get out of him, verbally. I have little information on this but I would imagine it’s not out of the realm of possibility that in the aforementioned surgery his vocal chords could have been somehow damaged, nevermind the scarring it left behind which could interfere severely with his ability to communicate verbally. Babies are small, after all.

I’m going off on a tangent now, though, so allow me to summarize and wrap things up.

Yes, I believe Vincent Sinclair 100% communicates, primarily, through non-verbal forms. Yes, I believe that part of that includes the usage of sign language in certain cases. But yes, I believe he will speak when absolutely necessary (in urgent situations, or when Bo isn’t listening or doesn’t care to pay attention to his signing) and it always catches Bo and Lester off guard. The two would be in the middle of a conversation, and out of nowhere they hear this scratchy, trembling voice (from severe lack of use + damage) from just out of their line of sight. I think they would never get used to Vincent’s voice, because it’s such a rarity and when it is heard it stops you in your tracks and makes your hair stand on end, just for a moment.

On a final note, while I do believe he speaks on occasion and communicates through different non-verbal means, I believe Trudy would have taught him sign first when she realized that speaking was more or less out of the equation. English is his spoken language, but in terms of communication, I believe sign would be the language of his heart.

🤟

[foxboyclit]

i love writing drow with the head(?)canon that they cant taste sweet

[alto-tenure]

imagine if in Eternal Diva the reason they couldn't get Ambrosia to rise was because the Azran tuned A to like,,, 400 Hz instead of 440 or something