#And there are some extinct birds you can vote for | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

anarchy-and-piglins · 1 year ago

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Random bird facts! (Mostly about birds from my country cause that's all I really know but they're really weird birds here so you get some neat facts!) . My country's airforce mascot is the Kiwi bird. A very well known, FLIGHTLESS bird. Which I will never not find funny. . When we were trying (and failing) to do a flag design referendum, one of the actual flags proposed was a clip art and ms paint rendition of a Kiwi bird with laser beams being shot out of its eyes. Sadly, that option did not make it to the final voting stage. But it got close. . Kiwi birds lay a single egg that is roughly about 2/3rds of its total body mass. The thing is MASSIVE for it's size! How it doesn't kill the bird is still a mystery. . Kiwi bird feathers are very similar to fur, they have WHISKERS, they take up the same evolutionary niche of most rodents, and their nostrils are at the tip of their beak rather than the base like most other birds. The point of the nostrils being there is to help them sniff out little grubs and fruits in the leaf litter on the forest floor, but it also has proven useful during floods as they will simply flip their beak up like a snorkle and bob their way to dry ground. They're not great at swimming but they are great at floating. . Kiwi birds are nocturnal and watching them play on trail cams and nightvision cams is incredibly entertaining, they are so goofy, highly recommend. . Most of my country's birds are flightless as the islands they live on were mostly predator free until the introduction of humans. Due to the isolation, they all ended up evolving to take up a lot of evolutionary niches that would normally be filled by other animals. We have birds that are very similar to rodents and we used to have bird that took up the grazing/hunting niche that looked like massive ostriches called Moas, they most likely hunted smaller birds and grazed on ferns and grasses, and the only thing that dared to hunt them before humans was a giant fuck off eagle that was known as the largest eagle in earth's history called the Haast eagle. Sadly they both went extinct but we still have viable dna stored in labs so....could possibly bring them back? Maybe? Not sure if that's a good idea as they probably wouldn't do well with humans.

. We have the world's only alpine parrot! The Kea! They're our equivalent to crows as they are just as intelligent, but like if a crow had a knife and knew how to use it cause Keas have massive beaks and no fear of humans and have been recorded tearing open CARS to get inside because they saw something they wanted. Tourists are often told to NOT feed the Keas and keep all shiny objects and food hidden in the trunk of the car so the Keas won't see it through the windshield because they CAN and WILL destroy your car/purse/vehicle/bags/etc... to get what they want. They are not actively malicious btw, they're just like toddlers with inhuman strength and no sense of boundaries. They're very curious and playful, again they're very similar to crows and ravens, and they love playing in the snow! . We also have Kaka's, the Keas slightly more shy and better behaved cousin. Only slightly though. I got bit by one who saw I hid a bag of chips in my backpack and it landed on me to try and undo the sipper on it so I wrapped my arms around the bag to hold it shut and it literally looked at me and slowly pinched my arm with it's beak while staring at me like "open the bag, OPEN THE BAG! I want treats!!! How dare!" Didn't break skin but still, little guy was basically threatening to eat me if I didn't give my chips.

. Kakapo are our super endangered flightless parrots that look like fuzzy green melons I swear. There's been attempts to try and get them repopulated but unfortunately, unlike the Kea and Kaka, Kakapo are very....stupid when it comes to reproducing and I will not say more.

. We have giant fucking pigeons called Kereru and they are notoriously bad at flying to the point there are warning signs on roads near where they live that warn drivers of them potentially falling out of the sky.

. The majority of our birds are named after Pokemon naming conventions! As in Pokemon are named after the sound they make, and our birds are too! If you listen to their songs or the sounds they make (such as with the Kereru, it's mostly quiet but it has a whistle feather that makes a sound when it flies which is the sound it's named for) they sound very similar to their names! I think it's cool!

. We have burrowing penguins.

OH THESE ARE WONDERFUL!

I actually knew quite a bit about the Kiwi bird because I did a presentation on them in middle school for some reason (we all had to pick an animal and I was a weird kid I guess) but I love the bird facts :D thank you!

#asks

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bumblequinn · 1 year ago

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an question: Birds! Thoughts on em? perhaps, a top tier bird of your own heart... birds...?

i love birds so gosh darn much!! i didn't realize this about myself for the longest time, but in retrospect it feels obvious; i was using (or emulating) bird sounds in my music as far back as 2014 and not long after that time it's abundantly clear i was absolutely smitten with the critters—going so far as to imitate this cockatoo to amuse myself every time i moved into a new place (when it's really echoey, before it gets furnished)—but it wasn't until some time around 2020 that i actually, consciously identified myself as a Bird Type of Gal.

why do i love birds? i couldn't tell you for sure. i suppose I Just Think They're Neat could suffice as an explanation, but some hypotheses:

they're abundantly strange and silly, which i relate to deeply

they're virtually the only non-domesticated animal with whom we share public common spaces (i.e. cities + villages, streets, etc) every day

they're very musical animals and i live for music & sound

they are wildly diverse in form and behavior

they are often very beautiful

they can be incredibly smart (corvids 💞💞💞)

they are the survivors of one of the great mass extinction events in history, thus serving as both a living connection to a world long since past, and as a comforting reminder of life's enduring tenacity

they do funny little sex dance

ultimately though these feel like post hoc rationalizations for something that obviously started out rather unconsciously, and i think "existence precedes essence" applies here. i love birds because i love birds! any reason i try to find for that necessarily comes second to the experience itself i think.

some all time favs of mine, in no particular order:

the white browed tit warbler

(photos: HiuYing Tse) perfect bird shape, perfect bird colors.

the lyrebird

(photo: Donovan Wilson) unmatched mimicry abilities!

the common loon

(photo: Andre J. Denis) most haunting call, most killing-you-est eyes. their name is also an apt descriptor for myself.

the shoebill

(photo: Hans Hillewaert) voted by classmates as most likely to be a dinosaur

the classic raven

(photo: Deidre Lantz) i could honestly name the entire family of corvids as a fav, but i gotta give it up for the nevermore crew. (coo?) (just kidding.) (they don't say that.)

the secretarybird

(photo: Jason Shallcross) gorgeous lashes, legs for days, treads on snakes, absolutely graceless in motion. if i had a birdsona this would be it. :)

so that's BIRDS! in sum: they're good. thank u 4 attending my ted 🐦

#asks #anonymouspuzzler #dinosaurs #bird words

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foliejpg · 5 months ago

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really long ass religious ramblings that ended up way longer than i expected

i started watching pbs eons recently and as i watch and learn all this stuff about extinct early mammals and plants and shit, i'm realizing that all of this stuff, all this stuff that's taken place over five billion years is all fact that i was outright told was a lie. i literally was told the devil put dinosaurs on earth to fool mankind AND I BELIEVED IT BC I WAS A CHILD!!! like well into high school!!!! i said that once in my ancient history class and i still remember the look my teacher gave me like "oh you're being so for real right now"

i know from reading r/exjw that other ex jws have similar issues kind of like. processing and accepting the fact that the earth is So fucking old, because that's the exact opposite of what was drilled into our heads. like i had no idea until two days ago or so that BC and BCE are supremely outdated and just not used anymore. i had no clue. i thought negative numbers were a thing that people used outside of religious context. i saw the abbreviation "mya" and could not comprehend that it meant "million years ago" like 4600 mya. that's 4.6 billion years and that is just not a number i can process

i had no idea what evolution was. really i could not figure out how plants and animals would evolve to suit their surroundings like that because it just didn't make sense that they just Knew randomly. there was an example of these white moths that were getting eaten by birds like crazy, but there were also some that had mutations that made them black. then it happened that pollution made the trees black too for whatever reason, so the black moths could hide and then breed with that mutation and evolved like that. NOOOO IDEA i had No Fucking Clue that its all just. happenstance. the moth happened to hatch a different color than the rest and that random genetic mutation saved that species of moth while the other one died off.

i recently learned what light was and where it came from because i asked my boyfriend (who will say he isn't smart and then rattle off the answer to every single one of my cult brain questions) where rainbows were. that was my question because i just genuinely had no idea and honestly?? still a little confused. i don't understand carbon. like i know what it is but where is it. where are molecules and how are they everywhere. what the fuck do you mean there's lava like... three fucking miles below me??? how did fish get to land in the first place They Have No Lungs

the last video i watched was "where did water come from." never never never once in my entire life wondered that and now i can't stop thinking about it. carbon dating confuses me too and i haven't even found a pbs video about it yet. i didn't know if it was one word or two but it is apparently two words but that doesn't really help

i'm learning all of this new (to me) stuff at the same time that i'm paying super close attention to domestic and international politics for the first time and getting consumed with a 24 hour news cycle which is absolutely breaking my brain. this is the first election i've been able to really be apart of and understand since properly waking up from being a jw, so i'm actually learning about politics and the people inside it instead of having to just choke down "lesser evil voting. " so lots of stuff happening.

sorry if you read all this nonsense 🤷‍♀️

#ex jw #exjw #tw religious trauma #tw my ass not knowing how literally anything works #treating tumblr like a journal liveblog style

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proton-wobbler · 2 years ago

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Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis)

"I am submitting this while shaking, I have no idea if I'm gonna be the one who screws up whether they can be included or not and that terrifies me. Begging that they live in enough obscurity that no one else thought to submit then even with the more recent surge in interest with that maybe-footage 🙏🏼 ANYWAYS! This thing is like Schrodenger's Cat but a woodpecker, have you SEEN its description on wikipedia?? Possibly extinct, maybe still alive, people jeep thinking they have evidence + footage of it still being around but we can't ID it for sure, the government wants to try delighting it from the Endangered Species list as an extinct species but enthusiasts and conservationists are trying to stop that since their listing protects a lot of forests they would need to live in if they're still around etc etc etc. This woodpecker is like a cryptid, but like we know they existed recently and it's completely possible they're still out there just chilling. also when I look at photos of them they look like a Looney Tunes character. if they're still around, they're THE largest species of woodpecker in the US and one of the largest in the world, with a wingspan of ~30 inches and a length of ~21 in. Their range has been severely reduced by hunting and deforestation (has was done to many of our old-growth forests in the swamps/bottomlands for the logging industry 😭😭), but there are those who believe a population could still be out there, deep within the bottomland forests that still remain in the southeastern wetlands. there are entire memes with the X-files guy and that I Want To Belive poster. I'll share when either voting starts if they make it into the polls, or to your inbox directly if by some horrible twist they get more than one entry and fall out entirely 🥲 #IWantToBelieve"

I really can't think to add anything else, as this submitter really got their info down. My only addition is my personal statement that as much as I do want to believe there's a population hanging on, I don't think I can. The birds weren't very shy when they were still hanging on, and many of the birders who got the final photos and videos of them remember that they were easy birds to follow, if you were familiar with the area.

That aside, delisting a species that is helping to protect endangered habitat is always tricky, so even if they are truly extinct, we should still do what we can to keep that habitat protected. If keeping an extinct bird on the books is what we need to do so, I'm all for it.

Sources:

Image Source: eBird (Arthur A. Allen);

The source of the birders saying it was easy to follow comes from the National Geographic "Birds of Eastern America" identification guide's section on Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

#in memoriam (joke)#North American birds #american birds #extinct birds #Campephilus principalis #Ivory-billed woodpecker #also to the OP of that statement: you were the first submission don't worry #picidae

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neovenatorgirlteeth · 2 months ago

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I voted 'No' though it's really 'no to an extent'. There is a lot of factors to consider here, primarily around what exact species of dinosaur is being brought back:

Age plays a huge factor. It has been around 230Ma since the first dinosaur evolved and there has been hundreds, if not thousands, of dinosaur species at any given point during the vast majority of time since. Any species that has not existed in the past ten thousand years or so would 100% need to exist solely in captivity, and the older a species is the harder it would be to care for, especially considering Mesozoic vs Cenozoic animals. Not only would the climate and vegetation be more strange and unsuitable for a more ancient species, but the modern animals needed to model their care around become less similar as well. The care for a captive Phorusrhacos could be modeled around that of a seriema, for example, but we would have a much harder time trying to provide the proper enrichment for a Velociraptor, and harder still with an animal we know less about like Serendipaceratops. What do we feed it when we don't even know what the animal looks like? We only know it from a single arm bone! What do we do when it gets ill, or stressed?

The further we go back in time, the poorer the fossil record represents a time period due to preservation biases, meaning that perhaps we end up cloning a species we are entirely unfamiliar with and have not the slightest clue how to care for. For herbivores specifically, plants have changed so much over the course of dinosaurian evolution that you would not be able to feed them. A Jurassic herbivore such as Stegosaurus would not be able to eat grass but it would need ferns and shrubby conifers of which most would have no surviving ancestors of any similarity, so it would either starve, die of malnutrition, or be dependent on supplements which we would have to figure out properly before either of the first two happen.

Size is also important. Big animals need more resources, water, food, space, and some dinosaurs were the largest terrestrial animals ever by a long shot. The largest animal species in captivity is probably the whale shark, individuals of which can weigh up to 15-20 tonnes, though I doubt that any captive whale shark is a heavyweight record-holder. Some sauropods like Diplodocus or Apatosaurus are estimated to weigh in around this mark, though many are thought to weigh more, with adult Argentinosaurus estimated to average at anywhere between 65-80 tonnes. Add on the fact we know some of these to be herd animals and the previous point about herbivorous diet issues, feeding and housing and containing a giant herbivore seems a enormous task. For a carnivore, the largest dinosaurian carnivores could be elephantine in size, so feeding a 6 tonne Tyrannosaurus might be more also be too resource intensive.

Space is also important when thinking about how far an animal roams; some wide-ranging or migratory animals stay put when zoo keepers tend to their every need, but others don't. Birds of prey are commonly kept in captivity despite the large distances traveled by their some species in the wild, but you'll never see a captive albatross or tern (at least not a happy one). Is the same is true of extinct birds like Argentavis and Pelagornis which might have filled similar ecological niches? Perhaps!

Breeding is a whole other kettle of fish. Is cloning a new animal every time more feasible than trying to breed existing animals? How costly is the cloning technology? Can we get the necessary genetic diversity to not have effective inbreeding? Are the animal's breeding habits prohibitive to breeding in captivity? Is the animal negatively impacted by not being able to breed? Dios mio...

Some features are not genetic, however. They are learned. These behavioural traits can often be instrumental to an animal's survival, covering everything from hunting to ridding themselves of feather parasites through dust-bathing or preening. These traits cannot be recreated via cloning, and although there is much debate as to the extent and import of these learned behaviours as opposed to instinctual ones, it is undeniable something will be lost in the de-extinction process that cannot be recreated.

One thing doesn't really concern me as much as Hollywood would lead you to think it should, and that is visitor safety. While some animals are obviously dangerous, particularly larger ones, containing them becomes a priority to the facility. I don't see how they would be any more of a threat to guests than modern large animals in zoos, especially Tyrannosaurus which was physically unable to run. That is, unless, a particularly large dinosaur happens to be a cage-breaker, like elephants or parrots are today, though I doubt a Triceratops has the same escape artistry as a spider monkey.

Some people have commented on atmospheric composition, but I think there's too much uncertainty around data to pass comment. Most studies seems to suggest that % atmospheric oxygen was lower than modern during the Triassic and Jurassic and rose into the Cretaeous, with a possible Cretaceous high and fall around the KPg boundary, but the TJ low point could be as low as 16% or as much as 19% compared to our modern 21%.

To conclude, I think it is generally a bad idea to clone extinct dinosaurs, as they are surrounded by too much uncertainty to ensure their health and well-being in the modern day. The exception I would make is for de-extinction efforts of recently extinct species like the passenger pigeon or bush moa, which are an attempt to revitalise the ecology of the regions from which they are gone and into which they might be able to slot back into.

NB: In this post, I do not make a distinction between 'traditional' non-avian dinosaurs and avian dinosaurs, or birds. This is because I see this distinction as meaningless at best and obstructive to our understanding of these animals at worst. Thank you or fuck you respectively.

Like Jurassic Park, but anon offers a solution of the dinosaurs living in a natural preserve with no tourists.

–

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

#anthem reblogs #palaeostuff #sorry this took so long dude as you can see it really got out of hand length wise #FUCK I FORGOT TO MENTION DISEASES!!!#Ah it's ok you get it they'd get 'war of the worlds'd #as in they'd die to common diseases. not get invaded by martians

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eggcount · 6 months ago

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Chicks are Two Weeks Old!

June 24, 2024

Just like children, where does the time go? Two weeks old already. So grown up - sigh. Soon they will be flying the coop. sigh.

And so much has happened. Let's start with names. Celia and I have been discussing names for some time now, It wasn't as fun as when Celia was 3 and we made a huge list of all kinds of possible names including "Picture Frame" and "Lamp". Now that Celia's seven (well, really 8 as of last Friday), she's a little more conservative on the names and suggested a bouquet of flowers - Lily, Tulip, Violet, Lilac and Rosy as well as Isabelle. But, being the no-leave out Bubbie/mom, I ended up opening it to the entire family. Which gave us:

From Joey - Chairman Mao, Hugo Chavez, Ho Chi Minh and Attila.

From Abby: A bevy of old fashion names - Edna, Maude, Ingrid, Penelope, Iris, Esther and Violet (Celia had Violet on her list too.)

From David and Greta: Famous women (I suppose to counter Joey's famous men) Susie B, Clara, Florence, and Frances Hammerstom

And from Maurie: Caroline in honor of the pirate radio station Radio Caroline.

No-leave out did not extend to voting. That would have been a nightmare. Although I guess Maurie could have done one of those single-elimination brackets that they are so good at. hmmmmm - maybe next time. Anyway, after much consultation with Celia and an enthusiastic shout out from Alice for the name Rosy, the chicks are Izzy (for Isabelle), Frances, Frida, Lily, and Rosy. Truth be told, it broke my heart to reject such spectacular names as Ho Chi Minh, but there are only five chickens to name. I guess we could have strung names together, like Lily Ho Chi Minh, or Chairman Izzy Maude Penelope but frankly, I have a hard enough time remembering just one name. So, nope.

Names settled, I've been waiting for Greta to visit for portrait shots because they're the chicken whisperer and loves to pick up a chick. And on Saturday, Greta finally came! How did it go? As you might remember, my attempt to hold one ended with me getting a really hard bite from Daisy. Greta got bit too, but they persevered and they and Daisy seemed to make a pact. As long as Greta got her permission and the chicks didn't protest, Greta was allowed to pick them up. This is not to say that Daisy was blase about the whole thing. Greta was closely supervised and stern words were had if the chick was not happy. Greta had to make cooing noises the whole time to reassure Daisy and they only got to hold three of them. Maybe four.

So here they are:

This is Izzy - or Isabelle. Celia and I named her. She might be a Starlight Green Egger. We got two of them.

This is Lily. Celia named her. She has white wings and the cutest tail feathers and maybe is an Americana.

This is Frida or she might be Frances Hamerstrom. There are two yellow chicks that are brahmas and I can't tell them apart yet. But I know they are brahmas because they have feathers on their feet. I named one, and Greta named the other for Frances Hamerstrom, an ornithologist who dedicated the majority of her life to studying the Greater Prairie-chicken. Frances saved the species from extinction in Wisconsin and she was one of the first to give wild birds leg ID bands. We hope little Frances will grow up to be just like her namesake. We are hoping that Frida will have a unibrow like her namesake so we can tell them apart.

btw, right now they are not particularly huge as one might expect a brahma chick to be, but maybe they are younger than the other chicks. The Tractor Store does not issue birth certificates with hatch dates.

And here's a close up of the feet. How cool is that! Feathered feet just like their momma!

This is a Greater Prairie-chicken. I wish we had one of these! No wonder Frances spent her whole career studying them.

The fifth chick is Rosie - Alice named her. I can't tell if we got one of her with Greta. I'm pretty sure that Daisy was done with chick picking up by then.

She's the little reddish brown one in this picture:

Enough for today. Sorry no cute stories of how they all escaped not once, but twice today. I have to save that for another day - it's late.

But I will tell you this - it's fun having chicks again. It makes up for the 101 degree weather we had yesterday and the mosquitos which are sort of controlled by the mosquito buckets of death, but not really all the way.

xoxoxo

Sarah

(Bubbie, Aunt, Friend, Sister, and more!)

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jim-fetter-illustrations · 2 years ago

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Knowing what's coming will save us.....

How can we consume less and save more while giving everyone the chance of a better life?

Saving money and consuming less could be the key to improving humanities well-being and life satisfaction, new studies are finding.

The key to all of it is education, the knowledge of your everything. Because the more you know about everything, the better you want the world to be for yourself and your children, and their children.

Governments and Religions are mostly against YOU having more knowledge because they rely on you not knowing the truth of your world, and only know what they want you to know so they can guide humanity towards their beliefs they think are paramount.

Think about it,....... Humanity is at the premises of its extinction and we know nothing of this fact according to our leaders and religious beliefs.

Here are some hard truths to ponder on, that can't be refuted.

We have eliminated almost two thirds of all animal populations on earth in the last 50 years.

We throw 8 Million tons of plastic into our oceans every year, that's the equivalent of one full size garbage truck dumped into the ocean every minuet, because of that 90% of everything we eat and drink has microscopic plastic particulates in it.

We are creating a civilization of rubbish.

We have lost HALF of the earths natural forests and icecaps in the last 60 years.

75% of the earths surface has been severely altered from being natural in the last 50 years.

Half of the earth today is used for farming which uses 70% of the worlds fresh water. And a third of that farmland isn't used to feed humans, its used to feed livestock!

We spray 5 million tonnes of weed killer and pesticides on the earth every year to kill insects and weeds. Which has killed off 75% of all bees on earth, and 30% of the birds on earth.

We use solar power, wind turbines and electric cars to fight climate change, but that hasn't replaced the over 100 million barrels of oil we consume every day, or the 1.5 Billion cubic feet of coal that is burned every year,... and those numbers go up every year, so all our efforts of solar and electric are but miniscule supplements to battling climate change.

Most people are clueless of these things from their government or their religious leaders, and all during the time our greed and pursuit of profit have made us totally lose sight of the importance of life on earth.

We have known the truth for decades, and were taught to NOT BELIEVE IT,.... just like when we didn't believe a virus could cripple the whole world, and the pandemic proved that theory wrong.

Well now you know the truth, what are you going to do?

Your only choice now is to vote to force government and religion to address this problem, and not with prayer, but with verifiable actions.

That's what YOU can do, or do what industry tells you is best, to support the buying of their climate change products to make them rich, and your future grim.

#education #knowing #climate change #global warming #religious falsehoods #humanity

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battle-of-the-birds · 2 years ago

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Tufted titmouse propaganda, I've observed them collecting fur for their nests! Specifically, when I was a kid we had a great pyrenees, which is a VERY fluffy dog breed, and when we brushed him we could watch the titmouses collecting the shed fur.

Also, can we get some love for the rosette spoonbill and sandpiper? I don't have anything specific to offer, just that they're neat and pretty and I love seabirds 😭

Extra propaganda: I have some tufted titmouse who are nesting at the end of my street. If you go out and stand under the tree, they’ll make a ton of warning noises at you. They’re so cute!

For the roseate spoonbill… yeah I voted for them. They’re wonderful birds, who AGAIN almost went EXTINCT! Actually, they aren’t born with their spoonbills, and it actually takes 30 days for their little bills to fully develop once hatched.

I … also voted for the Western Sandpiper hehe. I don’t have a lot of fun facts about them, they’re pretty similar to a lot of sandpipers and often forage with them in big groups!

(Roseate spoonbill photo by Andrew McCullough)

(Western Sandpiper photo by Alan D Wilson)

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ordinaryschmuck · 3 years ago

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If Eda Found Hunter Instead (Part One Hundred and Thirteen)

Luz walks into the secret room with Hunter not too far behind, who sets Willow down once they’re inside and safe.

Hunter: What the heck is this place?

Viney: A better question is what the heck happened to them?

Viney goes to inspect Willow.

Hunter: ...Actually, a better question is who the heck are you?

Luz: Oh, right. Uh, Hunter, this is Viney, Jerbo, and Barcus. Guys, this is Hunter. He’s a jerk.

Barcus barks.

Jerbo: Barcus says that your soul is that of a wounded baby bird, fallen from its nest and desperate for tender love and care.

Hunter: ...Barcus, let it be known that I already hate you.

Barcus barks again.

Jerbo: He says he doesn’t care.

Viney: Now, back to what happened to your friends.

Luz: Some crazy monster is on the loose! Hunter called it a basilisk.

Viney: A BASILISK!? But those things are extinct!

Hunter: Someone tell her that!

He opens the door to show it, to which Viney just as quickly shuts it.

Viney: My cousin from St. Epiderm said she saw one, but I didn’t think she was telling the truth! It sounded too insane!

Luz: It must have attacked the other schools. We have to do something!

Hunter: Says who? This school stinks! I vote stay in here. We wait until it blows over and call people who are much more capable than all of us combined.

Willow: Coward.

Hunter: It’s not cowardly, it’s strategic!

Viney: We’re with the coward.

Hunter: STRATEGIST!

Jerbo: Yeah, if Bump catches us mixing magic--

Viney: He’ll kick us out of school.

Luz: Hexolios are out there gettin’ hurt, and despite what certain cowards--

Hunter: STRATEGIST!

Luz: --might say, we’re the only ones who can help them. We’re all troublemakers, right? Then let’s get out there and cause some trouble!

Viney, Jerbo, and Barcus share a look before all eyes went to Hunter.

Hunter: ...No matter what I say, you all will think I’m a coward if I don’t fight, won’t you?

Viney: Yup.

Hunter groans.

Hunter: Fine, let’s go kill the basilisk...

#the owl house #toh hunter #the golden guard #toh viney #luz noceda #toh jerbo #toh barcus #willow park #adopting hunter au

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bibliophilea · 4 years ago

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The End - Ch. 1

Happy Holiday Truce, @mystyrust! Sorry to make you wait - I wanted to do something big, but I forgot to take into account two things: I am a slow writer, and this story became too big to handle as a oneshot. I do have big ideas for where I want this story to go, but we'll see how the story builds itself as I write! Happy Holidays!

If elements of this story seem familiar, that’s because they are! This is based on @lexosaurus‘s tags on @dannys-phucking-dead‘s post! I hope you enjoy!

ffn | ao3

>1< 2 3 4 ...

"Listen. I've met a lot of great asteroids. Really fantastic asteroids. And they've all told me themselves — they said that I was a great president. All of them said that — all one hundred thousand asteroids. I was there."

The camera switches to Tiffany Snow, sitting at the anchor desk.

"This is what President Drumpf had to say yesterday regarding NASA's claims that an unforeseen asteroid is approximately 21 days from hitting the Earth, creating an extinction-level event on par with what took out the dinosaurs," Snow states with a cheerful smile. "Polls suggest that approximately 48.2% of the population believe NASA's claims to be a hoax; 29.5% believe it's the end of the world; and 22.3% is undecided. Lance, can you tell us a bit about Amity Park's response to NASA's claims?"

The camera switches to a street view outside of Amity Park's capitol building. People crowd the streets, many of them yelling and holding signs. Some signs read "THE END IS NIGH". Others say "ASTEROID SHMASTEROID". A few say "DEFUND NASA". One sign says "[citation needed]".

"Certainly, Tiffany," Lance Thunder replies, nearly shouting over the crowd. "As you can see here, tensions are high in Amity Park. Citizens gather to make their voices heard amidst NASA's claims of doom and gloom. Hey, Bob, what do you think of NASA's statement?"

Thunder turns to a middle aged man beside him wearing a bright red cap. The man bends to put his face by the microphone Thunder is brandishing.

"It's fake news, is what it is! I mean, come on! How does a freaking asteroid come out of nowhere? It's a China conspiracy, I tell you!"

Bob nods, and Thunder takes back the microphone. "Well, you heard it here, folks. Amity Park's citizens think NASA's claims are a ho—"

"THE END IS NIGH!"

A woman wearing a sign with the same message butts in, snatching the microphone from Thunder.

"The Disasteroid cometh for us all! Soon it will be Judgement Day and all of you Non Believers will be found Wanting!"

Thunder squawks. "Hey! That is APN property! Give that back!"

The camera turns to focus on Thunder and the woman as they fight over the microphone, their squabbling barely audible over the feedback. Then the feed cuts back to Tiffany Snow.

"Wow Lance, looks like no one can break Amity Park's spirit," Snow says with a grin. "In other news, Congress has voted to defund NASA—"

The TV clicks off.

Danny carefully puts down the remote before he allows himself to shake. His fists clench, and he hides them under folded arms, lest they be seen bursting into ectoplasmic flame. His face feels taut, teeth clenched, eyes abnormally dry. Toxic green edges his vision, and he clamps his eyes shut, lest they be seen glowing green with his anger.

And oh, he is angry.

NASA is a world leader in space aviation and exploration, and Congress is defunding them. And for what? Because they told the truth? Because there's a humongous asteroid about to hit the Earth? They should be funneling emergency money towards NASA, not taking money away! The world needs NASA, now more than ever! Danny has seen the images NASA shared — the images the media doesn't dare share, lest the wrath of one President Drumpf befall them. He doesn't know how everyone missed it — it's huge and it's glowing green and no stars glow green like that — but now that everyone knows about it, there should be some sort of plan to stop it, right? Wrong! The president says it's fake news, and Congress follows suit, and the biggest space programs in the world can't agree on what to do about it when half the world doesn't even think it's real and oh god we're gonna die like actually 100% die and it's not ghosts it's not Pariah Dark it's a big fucking SPACE ROCK that's going to do us in for good and there'll be no more habitable Earth and no more Ghost Zone and we're all going to DIE—

A hand touches Danny's knee, and he gasps, eyes flying open, cringing away from the contact.

Through the green haze in his vision he sees bright orange and immediately shuts his eyes again. They can't see, can't see him freak out, can't see his powers freak out with him—

The hand touches his knee again, and he freezes at the touch, body tense, teeth clenched, eyes shut tight. Another hand touches his arm and he takes in a breath, shuddering as the hand slowly moves to his shoulder, and then to his back, rubbing large, soothing circles. Danny tries to time his breathing to the circles, like Jazz had taught him to, and slowly the blood rushing in his ears (when had that happened?) quiets to a dull roar.

"There we go Danny, see, just breathe. You're okay. You're at home, and Mom and Dad are out, and you don't have to hide."

Danny uncurls slightly at the sound of his sister's voice. He opens his eyes a crack — just enough to see past the green haze — and really looks this time. The orange isn't the same shade as his dad's jumpsuit — it's a lighter, more natural color, and it surrounds a face with concerned, green eyes. Jazz. Jazz is here, and she has her hand on his knee, and she's rubbing circles into his back, and he's kind of sort of getting the hang of breathing with the rhythm of those circles. He leans into her, and she bundles him into a hug, still rubbing circles into his back.

The front door opens, and Danny and Jazz both freeze. Jazz said Mom and Dad are out, but what if they're back? They can't see him like this, they'll find out!

Danny has half a mind to just turn invisible when their voices hit his ears.

"Man, dude, did you see what Congress did to NASA? That's so unfair!"

"It's totally unfair! They're just telling the truth! This whole administration is the absolute worst!"

Tucker. Sam. Danny relaxes slightly at their voices, but he doesn't turn around — doesn't want them to see him like this, either.

But it's too late.

"Woah, dude, you okay?"

"Danny!"

He hears them rush over to him — feels their worry and the warmth of their bodies as they get close — and tenses up again. He should be better than this, stronger than this! He shouldn't be freaking out about some dumb news report.

Not just a dumb news report, his brain helpfully supplies. We're all going to die. And there's nothing you can do about it.

All of a sudden, Jazz's embrace feels too tight. To constraining. Trapping him where he is.

He slips intangible and flees from Jazz, flees from his friends — flees upwards, up through the ceiling and through the roof and through the Ops Center, flees until there's no more house to flee from. He lands hard on the roof of the Ops Center, scraping his knees but it doesn't matter, hands scorching the metal but who cares, it's just the end of the world—

He pulls his knees to his chest and buries his head in them, his face screwing as he tries to get a hold of himself, tries to rein himself in, it's just the end of the world, just the end of Mom and Dad and Jazz and Sam and Tucker and school and movies and parks and people and everything and everyone he'd ever tried to protect—

"Bite this."

Danny feels something cool touch his lips, and he bites down — then coughs and spits as bitter rind and sour citrus burst in his mouth.

He looks up to see Tucker triumphantly brandishing a whole lemon with a chunk bitten out of it. Sam and Jazz stand to either side of him, varying levels of worry and amusement fighting for dominance in their faces. Danny spits again, and stares at the bits of rind and lemon pulp that vacate his mouth.

"What the hell?"

"Told you it'd work!" Tucker crows.

"A lemon?" Danny splutters.

"It's an... unorthodox grounding technique," Jazz responds, "and it normally isn't administered like that—"

"Point is, it works," Sam interjects. "How're you feeling?"

Danny stares at the three of them for a moment. Then he sighs and chuckles darkly. "The worlds going to end because too many people don't believe NASA about an asteroid hurtling towards Earth, and Tucker made me bite into a lemon. How am I supposed to feel?"

He sighs again, long, hard, and shuddering, and he lets himself fall backwards onto the warm metal of the Ops Center roof. Jazz lies down across from him, and Sam and Tucker lie to either side of him, all their heads nearly touching. The sky above them is bright blue, clear of clouds. Birds flit across Danny's vision, twittering as they chase each other before flying off to who knows where. Does it even matter? They'll all be dead in a few weeks.

"I don't want to die again."

The words slip from his mouth, and he feels his breath hitch, watches as his vision goes blurry. His hands begin to clench into fists — but then Sam and Tucker take his hands, massaging the tension from his fingers and palms, and Jazz runs her hand through his hair like she used to do when they were kids and he'd had a nightmare, and something in him breaks.

A sob wrenches itself from his throat, and he curls in on himself. His sister and friends move to hold him close, and he can't help but lean into their touch. They hold him as his eyes glow green, as his hands fist into the metal of the roof, as his sobs take on a ghostly tinge, nearly wailing his grief and his anger and his fear into the sky. He shudders as he cries, and feels as they shudder with him — feels as Sam and Tucker push their faces into his shirt, and as Jazz buries her face in his hair — feels as his shirt and his head where their faces lie become damp.

Crying. They're crying.

And it's his fault.

A wave of guilt washes over him, and he wants to pull away again, wants to force himself to stop crying, to be strong for them. But their grips on him tighten, and they speak to him, words warped by their own tears. "Just let it out," Tucker mutters into his back. "It's okay to cry," Sam whispers into his shoulder. "You don't have to hide," Jazz repeats into his hair.

But beneath their words, beneath their tight hold on him and the way they push their faces against him is a hidden plea: "Stay," they say.

Please stay.

So Danny stays.

Danny stays, and they cry together, and the sun shines down upon them from the clear blue sky.

*~*~*

Danny doesn't know how long it's been. Only that he's no longer crying, and that his friends and sister are no longer crying. They've melted into a cuddle pile of four, with Danny at the center, and the sun beats down on them from a different angle than before. Danny has wound up with his head in Jazz's lap, and she's playing with his hair. Sam and Tucker are on top of him, still holding his hands. Their weight is comforting.

Danny is exhausted. He just wants to fall asleep and deal with everything later. Crying in front of your friends and sister will do that, his brain helpfully supplies. So will the end of the world.

He sighs heavily and moves to sit up. Sam and Tucker get off him, still holding his hands, and Jazz helps him up, moving from playing with his hair to rubbing circles on his back. He smiles faintly at all of them.

"Thanks, guys," he whispers hoarsely. He really does have the best friends and best sister in the world.

Too bad they're all going to die in three weeks.

He frowns and sighs again, too tired to cry.

"It's heavy stuff, huh," Jazz says gently. Danny looks back at her, an eyebrow raised. She continues. "The thought of everything ending like that — it's really hard to think about. Hell, I'm having trouble processing it." She smiles gently at him. "It's okay to be scared and angry, and it's okay to be scared and angry in front of us. You don't have to hide."

"Okay, okay, I get it," Danny mutters. "No more running away."

"Good," Sam remarks. "Now, what are we going to do about everything?"

"What do you mean?" Danny asks.

"You know. The asteroid?" Sam raises an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah. That." Danny frowns down at the roof of the Ops Center. The metal is warped and singed where his hands had dug into it. "What are we supposed to do about that?" He looks back up at Sam. Her eyes bear into his, and her grip on his hand tightens.

"Look, I know this is hard for you. It's hard for me, too. But we can't just sit here and do nothing."

Danny frowns at her. He opens his mouth to respond, but Tucker gets there first.

"Look, I know we need to have this conversation, I really do. But can we have it inside? The metal's starting to get really hot." Tucker stands up, rubbing his free hand on his jeans from touching the roof.

Danny sighs and stands up, stretching the kinks from his back. Sam and Jazz stand up with him.

"On it," Danny says. "Everyone hold tight."

He feels Sam's and Tucker's grips tighten on his hands, and he feels Jazz grab his shoulder. With a poke at his core, he tugs them all intangible, slipping through the roof to the refreshingly cool interior of the Ops Center. He lets go of intangibility and lets gravity embrace them slowly, gently depositing them all on the floor of the Ops Center. Then he lets go of his friends' hands and steps forwards, turning so he's facing the three of them.

"So, what are we supposed to do, huh? Half the world thinks the asteroid's a hoax, and the other half either doesn't have the money to do anything, or is stuck in petty arguments about what to do and who's to blame and all that shit." Danny crosses his arms and frowns.

"Dude, you're the Ghost King," Tucker's quick to reply. "Doesn't that mean you can, like, do anything?"

Danny facepalms. "Oh my god, Tucker, I'm not the Ghost King. I told the Observants I don't want any part of it. And besides, even if I were, who's going to listen to me? Klemper? The Box Ghost? I'm sure they can convince the world to get its shit together!"

"Hey!" Sam interjects. "You can't just focus on what we can't do. We need to focus on what we can do, as a team."

"Oh, and what can we do, Sam? We're way out of our depth here! The four of us can't stop the asteroid from hitting Earth!"

"You're right, Danny," Jazz says. Sam and Tucker gape at her.

"But dude—"

"You can't just—"

"Hey, let me speak!" Jazz waits until Sam and Tucker close their mouths — Tucker with a perplexed look on his face, Sam with an expectant frown.

"We are out of our depth," Jazz states. "We don't have the resources or political pull here on Earth or in the Ghost Zone to make a significant difference." She pauses. "But we know someone who does."

It takes a moment, but Sam gets it first.

"Oh, ew, we are not asking him for help!"

"Wait." Tucker says. "Asking who for—" horror dawns on his face. "Oh, no. No no no. We can't! Why would you even think of that?"

"Think of what?" Danny asks, a little annoyed that he doesn't get it.

"Asking Vlad," Sam, Tucker, and Jazz reply.

"Oh, ew!" Danny says automatically.

Jazz rolls her eyes. "It's not like I want to talk to him either! I just think given the circumstances, we don't have much choice."

"There's always a choice, Jazz," Sam retorts. "He'll probably try and force Danny to stay with him in exchange for his help."

"Yeah, Jazz," Tucker adds. "He's a slimeball. Who knows how he'll try to play this to his advantage."

"But—"

"I think Jazz is right," Danny says.

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz stare at Danny, flabbergasted. Danny blushes.

"Well, it's like Jazz said — I don't want to, but I don't think we have a choice. We need his help. And besides," he says with a smirk, "the man is way too narcissistic. He doesn't want to die because half the world doesn't believe what's right in front of their faces."

"And we can use that to our advantage," Jazz adds. "He knows he'll need help with whatever scheme he's plotting, and there isn't enough time for him to be picky."

"So, what? We go to him for help, and threaten to walk if he tries to pull anything?" Sam raises an eyebrow.

"Exactly." Jazz and Danny grin at each other.

Tucker sighs and pulls out his PDA. "Alright, fine. One meeting with one seriously messed up frootloop coming right up."

Danny stares. "Dude, what are you doing?"

Tucker looks up. "Um, scheduling a meeting with our evil mayor?"

Sam shakes her head. "He's probably booked. We'll have better luck if we just show up."

Jazz nods. "He's probably expecting us anyways."

Tucker sighs and puts away his PDA. "Alright, fine. But can we take a moment to clean up? I don't know about you guys, but my face is crusty."

Danny looks at his friends and sister. Their hair is a mess, and their eyes are still rimmed red. Sam's mascara has dried after running down her face, and Tucker's glasses and Jazz's headband are askew. Danny figures he doesn't look much better.

He nods. "Alright. But after that, we have a meeting with one seriously messed up frootloop!"

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thehopefuljournalist · 5 years ago

Text

The List of Good Things

Hello everyone. I hope you’re all having a good day ❤️ I know many of you are feeling pretty helpless and hopeless right now, but you should know that not everything happening is bad. This is a list of good news stories that I have been gathering for months. I wouldn’t be able to write every single one of them its own post, but I will choose a few of them and write about them separately.

- Bees Are Thriving As Pollution Plummets and Environmental Conditions Improve: as the world goes on lockdown, the bees are thriving. More so, people have started taking notice and are becoming more aware of nature and what’s going on in it.

- Milan announces ambitious scheme to reduce car use after lockdown: Milan will introduce one of Europe’s most ambitious plans, changing street space from cars to cycling and walking, following corona-virus crisis.

- Humpback Whales Have Made a Remarkable Recovery, Giving Us Hope for the Planet: Many humpback whale populations, previously devastated by commercial whaling, are making a comeback, and it has nothing to do with the corona-virus.

- A global coalition of 42 faith institutions are divesting from fossil fuels, calling for a just recovery that puts people and planet at its heart. - Oxford University will be divesting from fossil fuels and align to net-zero strategies.

- Portugal is preparing several billion-dollar clean energy initiatives and projects for post-coronavirus future: Portugal is aiming to leap, rather than tip-toe, out of their lockdown initiatives by launching a series of clean energy projects that could generate 5.5 billion euro in European energy investment.

- Ecosia is planting trees for NHS hospitals: they teamed up with two tree-planting charities in the UK and launched #GrowYourLove, to plant trees around NHS hospitals up and down the country. (Haven’t heard about Ecosia? You should try it out!)

- Community-funded energy projects put power in the hands of the people and are helping transform the UK energy market. These are five of the Thrive Renewables projects going on right now.

- Revolutionary food waste app ‘Gander' is a huge success: award-winning Gander app, created to reduce food waste, has transformed the spending habits of Northern Ireland shoppers with a significant soar in downloads and increased sales of yellow stickered foods since its launch last August.

- White-tailed eagles, Britain’s largest bird of prey has returned to the English skies for the first time in 240 years.

- America’s renewable sources including solar, wind and hydropower generated more electricity than coal-based plants every single day for 40 days, a new report says.

- Trinity College‘s front lawns are set to be wild-flower meadow: after the public overwhelmingly supports bee-friendly proposal in an online vote.

- Court blocked oil drilling in Peruvian Amazon: A judge in Peru has blocked a proposed oil drilling project in the Peruvian Amazon that threatened to damage the ecosystem and the health of isolated Indigenous peoples.

- Solar and onshore wind power are now the cheapest new sources of electricity in at least two-thirds of the world’s population, further threatening the two fossil-fuel stalwarts -- coal and natural gas.

- Luxembourg is the first country to make all public transport free.

- 10 billion trees are to be planted in Pakistan with the help of 60,000 workers unemployed because of the Coronavirus.

- Solar power in India has just had a major boost. The country’s government has announced funding that will enable 2 million farmers to invest in irrigation pumps powered by solar photovoltaic arrays.

- Retired politician got 152 million mangrove trees planted in just 10 years: Ever since the scientific community began to encourage the planting of trees to ��re-wild’ previously lost forest ecosystems to respond to climate change, some very determined members of the human race have rolled up their sleeves and produced remarkable results.

- Protecting trees, particularly old-growth trees in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, is a win for local communities and for the climate: federal judge rejected a sweeping logging plan that would have spanned a project area of 1.8 million acres in the Tongass National Forest in Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska. Those trees are “key to combatting climate change” and have been protected.

- Consideration of the climate crisis will be front and center in all of New Zealand's major policy decisions. The new rule means that any new proposal before the government that aims either to reduce emissions or has a collateral damage effect of raising emissions will need to go through a climate-impact assessment before it can be considered, according to The Guardian.

- UK’s CO2 emissions have fallen 29% over the past decade.

- More and more academic institutions are setting Ecosia as the default search engine across campus computers: Ecosia on Campus first started as an idea between three students in September 2018. Since then, student internet searches have financed the planting of over 135,000 trees. There are now seven universities worldwide that have made Ecosia the primary search engine on campus – a number set to rise as more motivated students join the movement.

- Coal from Guaíba, Latin America’s largest open-pit mine, will stay in the ground: 166 million tons of coal and 4.5 gigatons of CO₂ will stay in the ground. This is thanks to a partnership between climate justice groups, a local Indigenous association, 350.org Brazil, Arayara Institute and the Coal Observatory.

- Seoul is putting solar panels on all public buildings and 1 million homes: By 2022, every public building and 1 million homes in the city are set to be powered by solar.

- Food waste falls by 7% per person in three years in UK: The UK is making significant steps in reducing its food waste, with total food waste levels falling by 480,000 tonnes between 2015 and 2018 – a 7% reduction per person and equivalent of filling London’s Royal Albert Hall ten times.

- Scotland is on track to move its energy sector to 100 percent renewables by t he end of this year.

- All new rooftops must be covered in plants or solar panels in France: Frances’s new “green roof” law is cooling city streets, cutting heating and air conditioning costs, reducing water and air pollution, providing local, organic food and ecosystems for birds, bees and hundreds of other species.

- Madacascar is planting 60 million trees in ambitious drive inspired by its president.

- Scientists find extremely rare blue bee that was feared to be extinct.

- 5 critically endangered Red Wolf pups were born at North Carolina Zoo.

- Deserted Thai beaches lure rare turtles to build most nests in 20 years.

- These 23 Organizations are eliminating food waste during COVID-19 crisis.

This is what I have for now :) If any of you hear about good news and/or have something you’d like to share with me or with my followers and others, feel free to submit, or send a dm or an ask, I’ll always get back to you as soon as I can. Similarly, if you want to talk, share, or ask anything, if there’s something I can do to help, please let me know. I’ll do what I can. I hope this list helped some of you at least feel happier, or made you smile.

Please stay safe and take care of yourselves. More stories and posts to come.

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