bioluminescent-fungus

[bioluminescent-fungus]

How common is your surname in the culture it originates from?

Very common

Somewhat common

Not very common

Very rare

I don't know

[bioluminescent-fungus]

a little comparison of our storm king candidates talking to orotine at the ball

first: tarvek

so we only get a brief glimpse of their interaction, but right away Tarvek not only recognizes her, but knows exactly which muse she is. Aside from lineage, Tarvek's relationship with the muses is probably his strongest claim to the lightning crown. he seems to really genuinely love and revere them [in the next panel seffie overhears him squealing<3] which makes him suggesting orotine talk to gil later a pretty significant gesture

but even more interesting is how Orotine addresses him. As a prince, his correct styling would be "your highness", but instead she calls him "your majesty", a form of address almost exclusively reserved for *monarchs*. so that's pretty big for his claim!

next: martellus

no respect! Martellus immediately starts trying to pull rank and assert his authority, then he asks "which one are you?" which is a rather brusque way to phrase the question! also, if your whole deal is trying to ascend to the lightning crown, it would probably behoove ypu to know things about the muses given how central they are to the storm king legend. he seems to view their support as a given rather than something he has to earn.

Of course Orotine politely smacks him back down to earth, beginning by addressing him as "your highness" not "your majesty", then revealing that the race for the crown is not just between him and tarvek; there are more options [and of those options tweedle is losing]. no matter his political alliances or threats of force, he will require more than that to truly earn the title.

last but most squertainly not least: gil

Orotine styles Gil as "herr baron", nothing notable ab this one as that is his correct and publicly acknowledged title [tho i will footnote that traditionally a lord/lady would be addressed by thier highest title since historically it was common for nobles to hold multiple titles, and technically for gil this would be "your highness" as revealed by Boris but in practice his actual power comes from the empire's holdings and the the title that comes w that is baron, even though its technically a lower rank.] that was a long footnote who said that

Gil treats her with the same polite friendliness he does with the other party guests, respecting her as a person. There's even light discussion of scheming, the core of any friendly political conversation.

And here's where we can really contrast him with martellus: Gil is not actively vying for the storm king title, so its natural that he doesnt necessarily all of the muses, but when he asks, he says "and may i know which muse you are?" a way to phrase the question which is not completely rude, take notes tweedle!

Gil defers to her area of expertise and ask for advice, but in bringing up the storm king acknowledges her right to refuse, giving her a polite way out.

And what a response Orotine gives! not just stating her purpose but that she would be *happy* to advise him. Tacitly but strongly acknowledging his claim to the lightning crown and therefore her potential allegiance!

[bioluminescent-fungus]

Here I am again complaining about people who view ethnic, religious, and other minorities joining the police force as a betrayal and single them out for harassment.

We can clearly see that female officers, black officers, Latino officers, and Asian officers in the NYPD have significantly fewer complaints filed against them then their white male counterparts.

The NYPD is a flawed institution, but we have clear evidence that increasing diversity helps helps fix those flaws!

Even if your long term goal is to not have a police force at all, you should be able to prioritize immediate actual improvement in the system over theoretical revolutionary change.

[bioluminescent-fungus]

I was recently reminded of this and it's just as funny now as it was then.

[bioluminescent-fungus]

What is the science behind benches making your ass cold through 5 warm layers

[bioluminescent-fungus]

Hey you all know about that fungus that possesses ants to make them climb on the tip of grass blades in hopes of getting eaten by a cow, so that the fungus can continue its life cycle in the cow's guts? Because I think that's the kind of thing that's wrong with cave divers.

We don't know what's down there. We don't know what's gotten into their heads that makes them so determined to physically, personally go down there to find out. But I wouldn't entirely dismiss the possibility that whatever has gotten into them is very invested in getting eaten by whatever is down there.

[bioluminescent-fungus]

[bioluminescent-fungus]

thinking about that kakapo egg that got crushed but the conservation team patched it up and it survived

[bioluminescent-fungus]

You can either be "a powerful voting bloc who needs to be courted and taken seriously" or just "tiny little tinies who don't have enough influence to do anything so your support or lack of doesn't make a difference". You can't do both.

[bioluminescent-fungus]

Goddamn there's thousands of people on Tumblr with fucking cutesie icons and the obligatory list of "I'm a good person" profile signals saying shit like "oh well it makes sense this journalist is evil, his name is Goldberg" like I truly don't know what to say anymore

[bioluminescent-fungus]

I've blocked so many people it's a wonder I still have a dash at all

[bioluminescent-fungus]

Too many people think that being anti fascist just means being anti establishment which is actually terrible because fascism is an anti establishment ideology.

[bioluminescent-fungus]

tired of posts that are like "why should i go to therapy when the reason i'm upset is because of SOCIETY" and it's like

yeah. have you ever heard of a locus of control. you don't have control over Society but you do have control over your reaction to it

[bioluminescent-fungus]

help I’m dying

[bioluminescent-fungus]