pondwatergulper

[pondwatergulper]

Hello, Mr. Gaiman!

Just out of personal curiosity, is it true that Alan Moore made you feel ill once with the description of something that happened on the comic 'From Hell'?

It's kind of an urban legend among my friends.

It is very true.

[pondwatergulper]

uh so i never do this but maui is quite literally on fire and there isn't nearly enough care or consideration for. you know. Native Hawaiians who live here being displaced and the land (and cultural relevance) that's being eaten up by the fire. so if ya'll wanna help, here's some links:

maui food bank: https://mauifoodbank.org/

maui humane society: https://www.mauihumanesociety.org/

center for native hawaiian advancement: https://www.memberplanet.com/campaign/cnhamembers/kakoomaui

hawai'i red cross: https://www.redcross.org/local/hawaii/ways-to-donate.html

please reblog and spread the word if you can't donate.

[pondwatergulper]

Contemporary Golgotha - Stane Jagodic (1999)

[pondwatergulper]

(Source: https://twitter.com/kaludiasays/status/1653261997163569152)

There will hopefully be a lot of info circulating on here about how to support the strike, and I don't want this to go unnoticed.

Stop using ChatGPT, or any "AI" that can be trained to replace artists.

[pondwatergulper]

How You Can Help

It's the question I'm getting most often. This was just up on Twitter:

Go to

Hit Donate, and when it asks where you want to donate to, Film and Television.

[pondwatergulper]

Disney vs. DeSantis is so funny because it's like. Neither side even wanted to get into this. Here's how it's supposed to go: Politician does something stupid. Corporation disavows politician after public pressure. Politician disavows the disavowing. Nothing changes for either party.

But then the Florida governor got stars in his eyes. He saw an opportunity to bolster his standing before the presidential primary. He wanted to be the one who took on The Mouse and won. So in retaliation he decides he's going to tear down the decades-old agreement Disney uses to govern Disney World's district.

And just like that, Disney's batshit insane legal department turns towards Florida like the Eye of Sauron spotting the ring at Mount Doom. They smell lost profit. They smell blood.

Disney will use any and every strategy they've accumulated over the last century of lobbying congress and DeSantis can't back down lest he admit Mickey Mouse beat his ass. He's lost control of Disney World's district even more than he already did. Now he's getting sued.

This all started because Disney was pressured into backtracking their political contributions to Florida and disavowing the Don't Say Gay law. Now they're fighting for something they actually care about: their profit margin. Disney is not an ally to queer people and they're an enemy to progressives, but damn am I rooting for them to keep humiliating the greater evil for the time being. This is high comedy.

[pondwatergulper]

When you're finally free from your narcissistic boss.

[pondwatergulper]

hey girl, your boyfriend uh- yeah, we showed him the weird door in his house that appeared out of nowhere and- yeah, he went through. yeah there's a hallway that's like five and a half minutes long. mhm, he's already down the spiral staircase and everything.¹

no, yeah, he's pretty much abandoned you because of his obsession with the supernatural labyrinth beneath his house. sure, you can fuck his brother if it'll make you feel better (it won't)².

the good news is that he's not really being chased by a minotaur. gotta look on the bright side, right? yup, just a manifestation of his trauma. textbook, honestly.

anyway it's just that the narrative is crumpling a little bit. just like the house is unstable, so is the story's fourth wall. he's trapped in the house and you're trapped in the story. sorry, girl.

˙ɯᴉɥ ɹǝʇɟɐ ƃuᴉɯoɔ sᴉ snǝsǝɥʇ puɐ ˙ʍou ɥʇuᴉɹʎqɐl ǝɥʇ oʇ sƃuolǝq ǝɥ³

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¹ I seriously can't even fucking believe it's yet another one of these fucking memes. Like the author just thought it was so fucking clever. Yeah, we all have access to text editors and shit. Anyone could have made this.

² Doe, Jane. "Cuckoldry and Infidelity: The Pointlessness of Shallow Cheating." Extramarital Affairs Quarterly, 123, 45, March 7, 2000, 99-103.

³ This is an especially fascinating entry. The original author did take the time in the hand-written manuscript to carefully write each letter upside down rather than simply rotating the page. They even went to the trouble of writing the second sentence, despite eventually choosing to cross it out like nearly every other reference to the classic Greek myth.

[pondwatergulper]

gonna start attaching this to emails

[pondwatergulper]

It doesn’t look that exciting, but this linen is from the New Kingdom (ca. 1492–1473 B.C.)

Thinking about it for too long makes me feel absolutely insane.

[pondwatergulper]

[pondwatergulper]

["Since the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in 1989 and the implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in 1990, US museums involved in repatriation efforts have been grappling with the dilemma of sacred Indigenous objects and remains contaminated by toxic pesticides and preservatives."

.....For tribal members, this history can pose hazards. Those interested in incorporating previously held items such as repatriated regalia back into ceremonial practice worry that contaminated objects might endanger their health. For others seeking the reburial of ancestral remains, there are concerns that preservatives and pesticides could potentially poison the surrounding environment."]

Something the article doesn't talk about is how this is a major issue that plagues museums in general and is a health and safety hazard to museum workers. Paraphrasing my professor who said something like; "It's actually a good sign if you have to manage and fight off pests eating away at your natural history collections, because that means they aren't saturated with arsenic. Taxidermy is scary if it's in good condition."

Ensuring the safety of museum workers, the communities repatriated items belong to, and the environment are big issues. If you are getting an occupational/environmental health and safety degree and looking for a thesis topic, have I got some ideas for you....

[pondwatergulper]

Have you featheard the news? We’re thrilled to share that we have a new juvenile African penguin on exhibit!

Gerry hatched on November 30 as part of AZA’s Species Survival Program for these endangered birds, and was raised by our most experienced foster parents, Walvis and Boulders. Savvy Penguin Cam viewers may have spotted Gerry on exhibit in December, but, as with all our penguin chicks, they’ve spent the last few weeks behind the scenes in “penguin school” learning how to swim. Now that they’ve lost their fluffy chick plumage and begun to socialize with adult birds behind the scenes, they’re ready to be back with the rest of the colony on exhibit!

Gerry is the genetic offspring of Amigo—who hatched at the Aquarium in 2016—and Elizabeth. Much like their father, Gerry’s personality is independent and feisty! And fun fact: This is the first time we’ve had three generations of a penguin family on exhibit!

We don’t yet know Gerry’s sex, so we’re using the gender-inclusive pronoun “they” until we determine sex via a blood test. The penguin is – for now – wearing a female name band (black with white letters), but only for identification purposes. 

The chick was named after Gerry Low-Sabado, whose ancestors were among the first Chinese settlers on the Monterey Peninsula. Gerry was passionate about sharing the history and contributions of Chinese-Americans to the region with visitors to the Aquarium and the community at large. Before her death in 2021, she contributed to our Turning the Tide summer program, where she described how her ancestors developed the squid fishery in Monterey Bay while enduring anti-Chinese sentiments.

In honor of Gerry’s dedicated work as an educator, community preservationist, and friend of the Aquarium, we made the decision to name our newest chick after her. 

Come bray hello to Gerry the next time you visit or watch them waddle their way into your heart on our Penguin Cam!

[pondwatergulper]

[pondwatergulper]

Deep sea pin cushion?

Or Japanese porcupine crab?

You decide...

[pondwatergulper]

When Gen Z become Millennials

I've noticed that recently I've been surrounded by millennial memes and questions of what people will make fun of Gen Z for. Here I my top Predictions:

FNAF. You can't tell me that you can't hear Gen Alpha kids absolutely tearing us apart because of the weird fixation most 12-14 year olds have with FNAF.

"I'm gonna be put on a watch list for this" I think this started as a millennial thing, but the more time goes on, the more I see this scene:

[Gen Alpha kid with a middle part types something cringe edgy at all like "how to bury a body"]

Gen Alpha Kid: hehe Well this is gonna put me on several watchlists hehehe!"

3. The Fact That We Like Failed them. Like We always say we're making things better for the future people, but at this rate everything is going to be literal Hell by the time they are our general age.

4. 4 chan. Need I say anything more? 4 chan's toxicity comes from all technological generations, but some truly repugnant burning trash has been put on there by us.

5. us thinking our memes are cool and quirky. Memes only get more advanced somehow, so by the time they are making memes at our rate, it's gonna be so much better and they are going to laugh at us for thinking we took it all the way.

6. Chronically Online. I honestly think Gen Alpha will be more online, but also more self aware than us, making it very easy for them to make fun of some horrible take Gen Z has had. I think it will also be easy to make fun of how invincible to the future generations we thought we were.

That's it. I can see the short video app videos now and I can't help but feel proud.

[pondwatergulper]

Nothing I’ll ever say will be as great to hear as this.

🎉Welcome, little tufted puffin! 🎉

We’re unbeaklievably excited to announce that our tufted puffin colony has grown by one very adorable addition! This floofy puffling (yes, that’s really what they’re called!) hatched at the Aquarium on August 3 weighing just 48 grams. Now almost a month old, she currently weighs 357 grams thanks to the care of her parents and our aviculture and veterinary teams.

The family of three is currently on exhibit, but may not be readily in view to our guests. Just like their wild burrows, their nest boxes at the Aquarium are deceptively long—wild ones can be as much as 7 feet deep! As she continues to grow, she’ll eventually head behind the scenes for a short while to practice her swimming and eating skills until she fully fledges and can join the rest of the colony on exhibit.

The birds in our colony are part of a Species Survival Plan (SSP), a program managed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums that oversees the health and breeding of over 180 tufted puffins at 14 different facilities.

Please join us in sea-lebrating the puffling and sending well-fishes to the colony and to the dedicated team caring for all of our birds!