#there had to have been a contributing factor 

[madonnamadeofasphalt]

It's really noticeable how in this post's notes a lot of people's go-to response is to find a way to distance themselves from the perpetrators.

"Himmler was just a serial killer with a budget". No, he wasn't. He was an idealistic young man who glorified the generation that fought in the Great War and felt deep shame for having been born too late to fight as well. He wanted to erase that shame by serving his Fatherland by some other means, maybe some means that others found too disgusting. He wasn't a naturally violent person. He hated to be personally present in the camps, he'd throw up and faint at the sight of his prisoners. But he kept coming and inspecting them, because he thought it was his sacred duty. He died believing that.

"It's always Christians who do this". No, it isn't. The Nazis based a lot of their methods on the Armenian genocide, committed mostly by Muslims against Christians. Today we're all witnessing a genocide committed mostly by Jews against Muslims. Many Nazis were Christians, but many were not, especially among their leaders. Himmler, for one, most definitely wasn't a Christian, he hated Christianity as a Jewish invention and dreamt of replacing it with a Germanic neo-pagan faith of his own construction. Hitler wasn't a Christian (though he found Himmler's neo-pagan leanings to be rather silly), neither was Rosenberg, Streicher, Hess, many others. There is no religion or lack thereof that makes you immune to genocidal rhetoric, I'm sorry to say.

"It's something wrong with the Germans/ it's all because of fascism/it's white people/it's Europeans/it's this/it's that" There may be contributing factors that gave this or that particular genocide its particular shape, but there are examples of genocide, or even more specifically genocide by extermination, that go against any generalization of this kind.

There have been genocides that had nothing to do with colonialism. There have been genocides committed by faithful and idealistic leftists. There have been genocides committed without direct participation from any state apparatus. All that a genocide requires is seeing another human being as a racial, national, cultural, religious (et al.) category before you see them as a person, and wanting that category to be annihilated.

Someone was asking in a thread what kind of people could work for ICE right now.

I think it's a good time to remember that the image above are the people who put children into gas chambers.

When I was little, I asked what kind of person could work at a concentration camp.

The answer to both questions I think is "normal people who have accepted the dehumanization of another group of people."

[pokemonshelterstories]

Is it common for people to have strange misconceptions about Pokemon thanks to medias downplaying or overplaying their behaviors/abilities? (ex: Gengar in movies being portrayed as creepy and evil vs how they are in IRL)

i'd say at least half of the work i do as a pokemon educator is addressing misconceptions caused by popular media. every dark, poison, or ghost type pokemon out there deserves an apology from the horror movie industry.

sensationalization is a huge issue when it comes to pokemon care! a lot of people simply don't research the pokemon they're getting. it's the sort of thing that you can kind of skate by on with a meowth or a lillipup, but you're really going to be in trouble with something like a litleo (shout out to every "simba" that's come through a shelter or rescue). the rise of user-generated content platforms like mewtube and chattok have been a huge contribution to this problem. it's not even about downplaying a pokemon's abilities sometimes- even if you tell people that owning a zangoose or a deino or an espathra is extremely difficult, the cute/cool factor is real, and people will go to a lot of lengths to get views.

on the other side of the spectrum, there are definitely pokemon that have been targetted for their portrayal in media. for example, kanto's zubat population took years to recover from the 1996 cult classic night in mt. moon. zubat roosting sites were actively being destroyed out of fear. even pokemon celebrities aren't immune to this. not too long ago one of the pokemon care bloggers i know ended up deleting a lot of her content after somebody found her address and broke into her incredible outdoor enclosure for her cranidos, resulting in it being euthanized after it panicked and charged at a passerby. the person who did it confessed that they had watched a "documentary" about cranidos purposefully knocking down trees onto prey/opponents, including humans (this turned out to be AI-generated)

as a pokemon educator, i have a lot of repeat conversations about species that show up in popular media. i will probably never stop having to tell people that sharpedo are unlikely to appear in the shallow water near shores. but it's an important job, and it's something that anyone can help with by advocating for pokemon and sharing what their incredible abilities can really do!

[batcavescolony]

I think we need to give Burdock Everdeen more credit, he basically mentored half the victors of district 12. His guidance is the reason 3/4 of them are alive. Did he know that was what he was doing? No, but he's basically the reason Katniss and Haymitch can swim, identify some plants, and know the woods. We talk about haunting the narrative, what about helping the narrative?

[stupidusernamepolicy]

People are so high and mighty when they take "the emergence of type 2 diabetes is influenced by lifestyle choices" and turn it into "people give themselves type 2 diabetes"

There are some throughlines you notice in talks about type 2 diabetes when you ACTUALLY listen to people who have it. And once you notice them this alteration in phrasing goes from merely misleading to straight up crass, cruel and untrue.

For many people the term "lifestyle choices" means exactly that, choices. But if someone doesnt have the financial and scheduling means to cook from scratch, and eat junk food sometimes or even frequently, thats usually not enough to cause type 2 in most people.

However, if on top of that they live a high stress life that constantly spikes their cortisol, if they have to spend hours in a car commuting because work is too far to walk/bike to or they have health issues restricting their mobility or simply cannot spare the time to do so, cannot spare time to exercise in other ways, if they live in a polluted area (which are often also lower income which coincidentally tends to come bundled with all the other listed factors), the emergence climbs higher.

What about education? Multiple people I've spoken to who have metabolic and digestive issues, people who grew up in similar circumstances to me even, told me they didnt know what vegetables actually do for you, or even didnt know what fiber was until their 20s. I had my mom emphasize the importance of it since i was very little- if some people dont get that info at home, then chances are they wont get it anywhere until the damage has already been done.

Then the individuality part, which this "they did it to themselves" argument REALLY loves to ignore. No two humans are the same. Some people can subsist on an unbalanced, carb and fat rich diet and go without a vegetable for weeks and never develop insulin resistance. But for someone with PCOS, or someone who is just built differently on a molecular level, the threshold for metabolic breakdown is much lower.

Diabetes type 2 is an illness. An illness that can occur for any number of reasons, with one of (just one of!) the possible contributing factors being one's diet. To flatten it to just "ate unhealthy" is to both moralize (like a dickhead) and fundementally misunderstand the issue.

The current western lifestyle, where ultraprocessed food, high stress, pollution and a lack of emphasis on education about these three is what lead to the current prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Personal choice or not, people with type 2 are victims of this first and foremost. Do not mistake your being lucky for Being Better Than Them.

Because that attitude of "I'm better than them" quickly lends itself to dehumanizing a population of ill people. People who have enough shit to deal with already.

damn people rly hate type 2 diabetics don't they

[frostgnawdraws]

been thinking about gabbro a lot today and have concluded they are just like me fr. am I projecting? probably. but who's gonna stop me

[a-roguish-gambit]

I have to imagine that Remy gets in trouble with the law a lot the turn of the century AU because he’s a big fan of picking Rogue flowers from rich peoples gardens

Rogue: please gambit tell me you did not rob one of the most influential and wealthy old money families of new york.

Gambit: why does it matta? Is just flowers. Even dere gardener ain’t gonna even notice. Sides’, Gambits robbed dem and da Vanderbilts plenty o times in da past fo jobs wit da thieves guild, Gambit practically know dere home layout betta den dem. an Gambit was neva caught or even seen.

Rogue: GAMBIT THAT IS NOT AS ASSURING AS YA THINK IT IS OH MY GOD. YA CANT DO THAT.

Gambit: it aint like dey dont deserve it. you know what dat french philosopher man Rousseau says Rogue, "Quand les pauvres n'auront plus rien à manger, ils mangeront les riches!” I think dat apply well here.

Rogue: ….Ah am regretting lending you that book on the french revolution

[causeimanartist]

I got carded at the mall because Paul Blart thought I was under 18

[tathrin]

My dumbass forgot how to walk down stairs today and now I'm sitting here with my dumbleg propped up on a pile of pillows, somebody take pity on my stupid painful self and distract me with some comments on my silly little elf-and-dwarf fanfics maybe?

[lunar-fey]

i am about at my fucking limit 👍

[birdo-is-here]

there’s nothing quite like that first drink of water as you realise you have not had any water all day

[cosmic-kiwi]

I went to the video linked and found a sad update from Krause from 2017-ish or so:

"I haven't made an update video since this video. I haven't known what to say. most of my subscribers know what happened. but I will make a video soon. I had so much anger and hurt I didn't want to make a bad video upset and say things I might regret and I've suffered with alot of depression over the last year because of what happened. so I have just waited. but two weeks after I brought Benji to the sanctuary he suffered a massive stroke and passed awY. he was homesick and refused to adjust. he just wanted to be with me. i will make an update video soon. but if you want to check out Benji's videos. he was such a kind soul. for one of the top predators in North America he was so lovable and so happy and just made me laugh every day of my life with the funny things he did. he was an amazing little guy. i miss him alot. thank you andrea. I'm just so glad thT I have all these videos to look back on. for several months I couldn't watch any of them because it was just too hard seeing him happy and playing with my other animals. but now I watch him everyday. just to look back and remember what joy he brought me. I'll never forget that experience with him."

RIP Benji ♥

Bobcat after a boy saved him from a fire

[miniar]

All jokes aside, it's possible that JD Vance killed the pope.

When an elderly person comes down with a serious illness, for the sake of their recovery, indeed their survival, they are supposed to avoid anything that may strain their weakened systems.

They are meant to avoid stress.

Which is probably at least part of the reason why Pope Francis sent his second to speak to JD Vance instead of doing it himself.

And Then... JD VANCE INSISTED TO SPEAK TO THE POPE HIMSELF.

Knowing that the pope was still recovering from PNEUMONIA at his advanced age.

Still, like an entitled american, he demanded to speak to the pope himself. Despite having been met by his political equal in status, it wasn't good enough for JD Vance.

It just might have been the final straw for an elderly man who was fighting off a serious infection to have to take the time out of his already busy schedule.

The complete lack of empathy that JD Vance brought to the Vatican, that he had already been scolded for by the leadership of the religion he claims to follow, can very easily be considered a contributing factor at the very least.

It's not a stretch to theorize the pope might have survived had JD Vance not come calling.

The jokes are funny and all... but...

[walking-loather]

"is anyone actually vers?" Idk maybe you can't be but I'm built different

[sysig]

2024 Art Purge (Part 1)

Original Edition again! Another year of too many doodles between original and fanart that didn’t make the full cut over the course of the year - off we go!

I made some concept art for smol early in the year of a mushroom girl she had a dream about a while ago that she wanted to try making as a low-poly model sometime. Pretty sure we've narrowed it down to the original DS-era style of 3D models

And so some angular low-poly style doodles were also called for! She's so tiny haha

Around the same time I was thinking about ZEX's “Kissing Strangers” meme, I started considering what Charm's reaction to that one might be - I'm always trying to think of animation memes for her, I'd love to animate her sometime ♥ In the end, it was all a bit too weird! In a way it’s fitting, as the meme is all about Looking and not finding the one you want to kiss til the very end lol, but who would that even be! Who would Charm Want to kiss, I don't know...

[Purple Text] only got a very little bit of screentime this year, but they're just as weird and possessive as ever - once, forever and always, at least according to how they see things

Smol and I tried out a few different creative games over the course of the year - my favourite probably being the Crossover Wheel where we each put in our list of fandoms, including ones we share, and then imagine what a crossover would be like haha. House Hunted is one of hers, and she tossed the idea my way of looking at Zillow Listings (specifically this group) and imagining them as Realtors! I got the Sunflower House - you'll know it when you see it haha

Bit of a random one, but I thought the sheep from this little scene was hecka cute and needed to study her. Good shapes! Very adorable! I like her covered eyes quite a lot, and her spindly little legs, funny to me hehe

I also wanted to study her "Leg of Lamb" posing - can you tell this is memory vs. references lol. S'why references are so important! The original's delicate posing is very lovely! The soft positioning of her knees and ankles and the way she's fully reaching across herself with those fluffy "sleeves" are probably my favourite parts, it's a good pose!

Haven't done any Halfway Autumn concept art in a while-while, so why not come back with Diana's bathroom lol. Still a bit of work to be done, moving the door is probably the biggest point - having the leftmost wall lined with counter space is clearly the correct play here. I really like the shapes that naturally occur from isometric, like the way the shower curtain rod connects to "nothing" but it still reads as stopping at the wall! :D

All of this floorplanning just for some flavourtext about Diana's preferred style of hand soap haha. Foaming soap dispensers are the best! Makes everything much much clearer, definitely not just because I prefer it, it's totally objective! Haha

More bathroom flavourtext, either at the schoolhouse or the train station, or both! Since so much of the game is centered around Diana's needs, little things like what soap she uses actually impact the game! I wish something so simple wouldn't affect my day, but sensory needs are called needs for a reason :P

Started a Charm comic that unfortunately only got as far as the first panel haha - she's taking a class! Off to improve her skills at something in a group environment! Good for her :)

Or not, the sads are here :'0

Did a bit of Tsumtsum studying while drawing the Helix boys as such haha - I have one of those little Vocaloid not-Tsumtsums (they're only Tsumtsums if they're Disney, right?), and one full-sized Iron Man one that I studied the approximate shapes of the pattern from, they don't Look complex and they're probably not Actually that hard to make but there's still a good bit to them! 3D shapes, I swear

The 4th Wall group! Their poses and expressions changed a bit from start to finish, Cory once again looking at Bar - I don't think he's actually "seen" Bar's new design before this point! :0 They're all generally aware of each other but "actually interacting" is a whole other thing haha

The two stragglers, made Tala way too tiny here haha. And forgot her bow here, no wonder I forgot it for the full version too! Pfbtl, next time :P

A traditional version of the Just Desserts map! :D Made after putting the digital version together, just kind of loosely studied, general shapes good for mapmaking :) I quite enjoy the little mountain texture here over the one from the digital version! S'hard to make nice-looking shapes without my tablet but I really didn't want to use it Just for that haha, so nice shapes here! Gives me DQIX map vibes, just a little bit... All those little islands to sail to haha

Snake, snake, snaaake, it's a snaaaake ♪ Made for smol's Christmas exchange ostensibly, but really more of a spacefiller and to get into the swing of drawing snakes, the cute lads

Ball python in the style of a ball of yarn! I wouldn't mind wrapping up a plush snake, but the way real ball pythons curl up into a ball is too cute haha

Here was the Actual snake I ended up making for smol - as a bookmark! I printed a few different versions, coloured one like this with extra-dark spots for the scales, and glued on a ribbon-tongue, cut down the middle for a forked look! :D She liked it, and I like it! Double victory :)

A little sticker concept while my laptop was out for attempted repairs - can't save 'em all I suppose. I do like that the head mirror is a disc, the stethoscope is a mouse, cute little details even for an unfortunate set of circumstances

[reasonsforhope]

"Eavesdropping on whale songs over the last six years is providing new information vital to answering questions about these giants of the ocean.

The number of whale songs detected is associated with shifting food sources, according to the California scientists—and the number of days humpbacks have been singing has nearly doubled.

When monitoring baleen whale songs in the Pacific Ocean, researchers found year-to-year variations correlated with changes in the availability of the species they forage on.

In vast oceans, monitoring populations of large marine animals can be a “major challenge” for ecologists, explained Dr. John Ryan, a biological oceanographer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California (MBARI).

Their team deployed underwater microphones called hydrophones to study and track baleen whales, which communicate over long distances through sound.

“Surprisingly, the acoustic behavior of baleen whales provides insights about which species can better adapt to changing ocean conditions,” said Dr. Ryan, a lead author of the study.

They also monitored songs from blue, fin, and humpback whales off the West Coast of the U.S. to see what the song data could reveal about the health of their ecosystem.

The findings, published in the journal PLOS One, showed “large” year-to-year variations in whale song detection.

“The amount of humpback whale song continually increased, with their songs being detected on 34% of days at the beginning of the study and rising to 76% of days after six years,” said Dr. Ryan.

“These increases consistently tracked improved foraging conditions for humpback whales across all study years—large increases in krill abundance, followed by large increases in anchovy abundance.

“In contrast, blue and fin whale song rose primarily during the years of increasing krill abundance.

“This distinction of humpback whales is consistent with their ability to switch between dominant prey. An analysis of skin biopsy samples confirmed that changes had occurred in the whales’ diets.”

He explained that other factors, including the local abundance of whales, may have contributed to patterns in song detections observed in some years, but changes in foraging conditions were the most consistent factor.

“Overall, the study indicates that seasonal and annual changes in the amount of baleen whale song detected may mirror shifts in the local food web.”

WHALES ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL: • Gray Whale, Extinct for Centuries in Atlantic, Is Spotted in Cape Cod • Sighting of Many Blue Whales Around Seychelles is First in Decades – ‘Phenomenal’ • Majestic Sei Whales Reappear in Argentine Waters After Nearly a Century

“The results suggest that an understanding of the relationship between whale song detection and food availability may help researchers to interpret future hydrophone data, both for scientific research and whale management efforts”, which could better protect endangered species."

-via Good News Network, March 1, 2025

[baphofemme]

documenting yet another unexplainable but strangely vivid dream!