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SOIL THAT BINDS US COMIC UPDATE!!

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WORD OF MOUTH is the only advertisement I have, so if you want to reblog I would appreciate it!!!

and also happy new year!!!!

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I love in science fiction when something’s an array. The sensor array. The navigational array. Weapons array. Goddamn, yes. Get that shit in an array.

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Seeing a steady rise of people using the library as we carry through summer break, so here's a quick thread from a staff member on little things you can do (for free!) to make life easier on staff. Let's go!

If you want to put a book back, DON'T put it back on the shelf! Put it on the return cart or bin, or give it to a staff member. Not only does this make it MUCH easier to catch misfiles and gather abandoned books in one trip, our budget is literally based on returns. Putting it on a cart gives us more money!

(To expand on the above: not only do we get paid more based on more returns, our book-buying budget for next year is based on what titles seem popular. Even if you don't check out a stack of books, putting it on the cart lets us know there's an interest so we can order more in that genre and support that author.)

Conversely, if you see a cart already full of books being pushed around by staff, PLEASE don't yank books off it or loiter around it. Carts are unwieldy and returns can build up quick, so let a shelver have space to move around and do their job.

(Again expanding on the above, especially please don't yank books off a staff person's cart if you see them pulling books off the shelf instead of putting them back. Books are pulled for a reason--hold requests for another patron, damaged, need to be relabeled, etc--so taking one can really throw off our list.)

If you rent a DVD and notice it's scratched or doesn't play, please tell us! We don't have the time or resources to watch every returned DVD, so we rely on patron feedback. Even a note tucked inside the case helps it get flagged for damage inspection when we're processing returns.

Pay attention to news related to your local branch! The VAST majority of book-banning demands we get are bulk lists from only one or two people--which means contesting them (or requesting a challenged book) also only takes one person.

Remind your friends that most libraries don't do late fees anymore! We want to be a safe haven for low income and disabled/nd people, so don't let being late or disorganized or poor or anything else discourage you. Bring your books back whenever you can, or just mention to a librarian if you lose it, and you're always welcome to come back.

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101 #will always reblog any cambrian biota would’ve been a better movie than the one about dotty dogs tbh.

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my take on the whole assassination thing

i’m not a fan of killing people

Brian Thompson killed more people than any assassin ever will

ergo, I’m not too sad about it

it’s also too early to see the knock on effects; maybe insurance companies will be more afraid to deny care, but maybe there will be more crackdowns on protests and stuff

i think the memes are pretty funny

i think luigi mangione was arrested under very suspicious circumstances

he’s either someone the police randomly chose to frame or he chose to be caught (my money is on the first)

the evidence is shaky as well

whoever does turn out to be the assassin will probably have incoherent politics though

firstly, most people’s are, and secondly, you don’t kill someone by being completely hinged

the part I’m most worried about is all the people saying “the culture war doesn’t matter, only the class war” because that’s pretty class reductionist

and I’m worried some fascist will try to take advantage of the situation and people will throw minorities under the bus in the name of “class solidarity” with conservatives

even though marginalized people are most affected by the problems with the healthcare system

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another wrapped question because why not : what's the 98th song on your playlist and do you actually still like it

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video transcript:

narrator: welcome back to another video on why we can’t have nice things

(slaps a plushie hamster on the table)

see this? it’s adorable, right? good quality plushie. just kidding!

(flips tag over revealing that it says “Warm me in a microwave”)

they want you to microwave him

end video transcription

do companies not think through the consequences of their products? I have a feeling this is going to instill some bad habits

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Happy wrapped day to those who celebrate!

What was the highest song in your top 100 with a location name in the title? (real or fictional, generic or specific)

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Do you know of any movies/shows/books/games set in or directly inspired by your hometown? NOT the nearest major city (unless you truly live in that city ofc) but the actual place you were raised

yes, and I live in a major city

yes, and I DON'T live in a major city

not that I know of

I have no/multiple hometowns or some other nuanced answer

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Queer Adult SFF Books Bracket: Round 1

Book summaries and submitted endorsements below:

The Locked Tomb series (Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, Nona the Ninth, and others) by Tamsyn Muir

Endorsement from submitter #1: "An extremely fun, humorous romp! A heart-breaking, soul crushing catharsis inducing tragedy! A thoughtful piece on imperial structures and trauma. On queerness, Muir flawlessly and without announcement, cracks gender open like an egg and spills its disproven guts across the page. The Locked Tomb does it all also bones, bitch."

Endorsement from submitter #2: "Lesbian necromancers in space. So many fascinating, sort of fucked up sapphic relationships going on."

The Emperor needs necromancers.

The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.

Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won't set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier.

Without Gideon's sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die. Of course, some things are better left dead.

Fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, humor, series, adult

The Javelin Program by Derin Edala (Time to Orbit: Unknown series)

When Dr Aspen Greaves signed up for the Javelin Program, humanity's first foray into colonising deep space, they expected to wake up to life in a thriving colony on a distant planet. Instead, they find themself five years away from their destination on a broken spaceship full of complex mysteries, dead astronauts, and a very unhelpful AI.

Aspen wasn't trained for any of this. But if they can't keep themselves alive, get the ship in working order, and find out what went wrong by unravelling a chain of mysteries leading all the way back to distant Earth, then neither Aspen nor the five thousand sleeping passengers in their care will ever see a planet again.

Science fiction, mystery, series, adult

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ID 1: an illustration of a snake wrapped around an apple tree, labeled “sin” End ID

ID 2: the same illustration, but the snake is slightly shifted vertically, labeled “cos” End ID

ID 3: the sensible chuckle reaction gif; a gif of a man chuckling while reading a magazine called “Sensible Chuckle” end ID

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Seven : Deadly sins :: One-seventh : Deadly cscs

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One last talent show to save the rec center

Ok everybody here's the deal.

My science education nonprofit, Skype a Scientist (you might know her, creator of the squid facts hotline and matcher of classrooms + scientists) has secured absolutely no grants to support general operations for 2025. But! We're selling advent calendars to fund our program! They absolutely rule. They can save our nonprofit asses. If we sell 5000, which I realize, is so many, we can fund our program for 2025. Then I can offer a bunch of programming for free. Running a nonprofit is a weird job.

Every day, counting down to frankly whatever you want (it's usually Christmas, but man, maybe you want to count down to Halloween, that's fine by me) scratch off the sparkly sparkly iridescence and reveal a fact about frogs! We have 24 top-notch frog facts here.

You should get one for every kid in your life, then get one for all the adults who still let themselves access joy in critters.

Get 'em here: https://squidfacts.bigcartel.com/

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One last talent show to save the rec center

Ok everybody here's the deal.

My science education nonprofit, Skype a Scientist (you might know her, creator of the squid facts hotline and matcher of classrooms + scientists) has secured absolutely no grants to support general operations for 2025. But! We're selling advent calendars to fund our program! They absolutely rule. They can save our nonprofit asses. If we sell 5000, which I realize, is so many, we can fund our program for 2025. Then I can offer a bunch of programming for free. Running a nonprofit is a weird job.

Every day, counting down to frankly whatever you want (it's usually Christmas, but man, maybe you want to count down to Halloween, that's fine by me) scratch off the sparkly sparkly iridescence and reveal a fact about frogs! We have 24 top-notch frog facts here.

You should get one for every kid in your life, then get one for all the adults who still let themselves access joy in critters.

Get 'em here: https://squidfacts.bigcartel.com/

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how to participate in political theatre

its always been really obvious who considers genocide just another day in US foreign policy and who considers it a red line but it's really disappointing to see how easy it has been for democrats to exploit the idea of "palestinian rights or your rights? shut up about genocide or vote for trump?"

this is a false dichotomy. you are under no obligation to perpetuate it. vote for whoever you want but don't say say the biden administration supports a ceasefire because this is disinformation

white house propaganda #1: kamala has called for a ceasefire

since january the white house has rebranded a "humanitarian pause" as a ceasefire

joe biden has called for "a ceasefire" since february

in may joe biden said rafah was a red line and the US would not support the invasion of rafah (rafah has since been invaded and destroyed, after which netanyahu was invited to congress)

in early may the white house proposed a three-step plan to an actual ceasefire, which israel rejected and then killed the hamas leader they were negotiating with

the white house has not been forthcoming about israel being the one rejecting the ceasefire, nor israel's escalation within the region

the white house has not been forthcoming about the contradiction between "calling for a ceasefire" and continued weapons shipments to the people preventing a ceasefire

as such, the repeated calls for "ceasefire," just like the articles about biden's strongly worded calls to netanyahu, are political threatre to pacify the masses that have allowed a genocide to continue for ten months unabated. insofar, kamala's call for ceasefire is exactly the same as biden's call for ceasefire.

white house propaganda #2: the biden admin has actually stopped sending offensive weapons to israel

literally untrue: the US paused ONE shipment of 2,000 pound bombs and some 500 pound bombs in may after denouncing a potential rafah invasion, then resumed the 500 pound bombs in july after the invasion occurred with multiple massacres

a 3.5 billion military aid package was sent on august 9th, 2024, to be spent on pretty much whatever israel wants

previously imposed symbolic "sanctions" on only one unit of the IDF accused of crimes against humanity was overturned

imposed "sanctions" on 7 (seven!) extremist settlers were clarified to make sure they still had access to their assets

the biden admin opposed ICC warrants on israel as early as 2021, leading to consistent delays in the ICC doing its job, and rejected the announcement for warrants in 2024, which have still not been actually sought due to the US continuing to exert pressure against the ICC

the white house also criticized the advisory finding from the international court of justice that israel is an apartheid state

the white house has vetoed multiple security council resolutions calling for a ceasefire in gaza

the white house vetoed resolutions calling for the admission of palestine as a member state

the white house also called the case for genocide at the ICJ "unfounded" although the ICJ did find sufficient evidence for genocide and had imposed provisionary measures (which israel did not fulfill)

the white house has reaffirmed full backing for israel "against iran" even after its escalatory assassinations of both lebanese and palestinian political leaders, and deployed more troops, aircraft carriers, and missile cruisers to the middle east in august

therefore, while the biden admin acknowledges that israel stands in the way of a ceasefire, they are not pressuring israel to stop and instead providing both diplomatic immunity and military support to its escalatory actions in the region

white house propaganda #3: the US can't control israel, it acts on its own, and kamala can't do anything about it

once again, reagan ended the israeli invasion of lebanon with a single phone call to menachem begin, where he intentionally said "it looks like a holocaust"

since obama, every single US president has been fostering and empowering increasingly extremist elements within israel, moreso than republicans who came before them, including bush(!!)

while trump moved the capital to jerusalem, defunded UNRWA, and approved annexation of the west bank, biden... did not move the capital back, also defunded the UNRWA, and has overseen the largest theft of west bank territory since the peace process began, as well as delisting kahanist terrorists from the terror list after they joined netanyahu's cabinet.

how much does israel actually rely on US weaponry? that's impossible to tell, but national security correspondent greg myre told NPR:

The IDF is a primarily American-equipped military. Most soldiers probably still have the M-16s. And there are certain kinds of artillery and guided rocket systems that Israel produces, but, again, most of it is American. Tanks are actually made in Israel but with an American engine, and aircraft are American. These are American-made systems. [...] So Israel has its own advanced military technology. It's been a leader in drone warfare. The Iron Dome system, we noted, was developed jointly between the U.S. and Israel. A lot of cyber systems have military applications. But when it comes to the hardware - planes, artillery, guns - it does rely heavily on the U.S.

the US might not have as much influence on israel as it used to (and certainly israel would like to think so) but in the most basic compliance with international law the US can halt weapons shipments and recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC and ICJ, ending the diplomatic immunity it affords israel in the international arena to continue its genocide of gaza.

the UK is hardly much better, but it has withdrawn its intention to block the ICC warrants for israeli leaders and it has resumed funding the UNRWA, two low bar concessions that the US has refused.

these are regular political maneuvers. your civil rights should not be held hostage so the US can protect israel. it makes no sense for democrats to frame it that way while also claiming to want a ceasefire.

if kamala wants a ceasefire, why isn't she agreeing with the pro-palestine movement? their demands are all things that are in-line with wanting a ceasefire. an arms embargo is the natural step to a ceasefire, because you cannot say you want a ceasefire and then send 3.5 billion in military aid to the people who assassinated the negotiators for a ceasefire.

if kamala wants a ceasefire, and you want to vote for kamala, then you should encourage her to take the steps towards a ceasefire. otherwise you are running cover for genocide, just as biden's admin has been doing. your civil rights are not based on continued support for palestinian genocide, and they shouldn't be. to pretend otherwise is a betrayal of all the civil rights activists in the US, who knew that US foreign policy, from the war in vietnam to the iraq war, were unjust imperial wars, and they opposed them unconditionally, regardless of who was perpetrating this war.

politicians lie, but you don't have to.

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Why tetrapodomorphs are way cooler than you think

Tetrapodomorphs. Today, most often remembered as "that stepping stone towards tetrapods conquering land". But, if you were one of those early tetrapods in the Carboniferous, you probably wouldn't be seeing it that way.

Let me explain.

We humans have a tendency to interpret the past through the lens of the present - and, most often, of our present. This causes a teleological bias, that is, seeing past creatures as part of a "march of progress". Tetrapodomorphs destined to become tetrapods, then amniotes, etc. It's even in their name!

The truth is, evolution is far branchier and messier. And, in the swamps and rivers of the Mississippian, 330 million years ago, our ancestors cowered in fear of other tetrapodomorphs - the rhizodonts.

The group's namesake, Rhizodus, was the was the largest freshwater fish to ever exist. Seven meters long and weighing more than a ton, this ambush predator hid in a niche similar to that of crocodilians today.

Rhizodus and its kin preyed not only on fish and freshwater sharks, but also on early tetrapods resting on the shore. Their lobed fins, less flexible than those of early tetrapods, had instead became broad and paddle-like, helping them push themselves through swampy waters, and throw themselves on their shorebound prey.

Thanks to their powerful fins and long, flexible body, rhizodonts could even slither on land for tens of meters in chase of their prey, with body trails stretching over 60 meters having been discovered. Even on dry land, limbed tetrapods did not stand unchallenged.

Two fangs at the edge of their mouths, up to 20 centimeters long, allowed them to firmly take hold of their prey. While we can't know for sure what happened next, it is likely that they dragged the unsuspecting creature into the water, thrashing and death-rolling it around to eat it piecemeal.

The heyday of rhizodonts would last for the entire Carboniferous. With climate quickly changing by the end of the period, rhizodonts would go away with it. In the waters, they wouldn't be matched by actual tetrapods until the Triassic, with the rise of various clades of aquatic reptiles like phytosaurs.