#Darwin Chamber

[8dpromo]

Darwin Chamber X DJ Spun - Darwin Chamber X DJ Spun (Rong Music)

8DPromo · Darwin Chamber X DJ Spun - Darwin Chamber X DJ Spun (Rong Music)

In a bold meeting of minds, Darwin Chamber and DJ Spun join forces for a four-track EP that pushes the boundaries of techno music. This self-titled release on Rong Music showcases the duo's combined decades of experience, resulting in a sonic journey that's nostalgic yet forward-thinking. The EP kicks off with "Find The Missing Letter," a deep techno cut that weaves dub-inspired elements with hypnotic synth chimes. It's a crafty builder that sets the tone for what's to come. "Digits" follows, living up to its name with a relentless beat that evokes images of robotic revelry. This dark, driving track shows the producers' ability to create tension and release on the dancefloor. "Do It All Night" emerges as the EP's sultry centerpiece; its pulsating rhythm and seductive groove are designed to keep bodies popping until dawn. The release closes with "Ants," a mid-tempo curiosity that crawls under your skin with its analog warmth and acidic undertones. Darwin Chamber, aka Mark Greenfield, brings his extensive background in sound engineering and early contributions to breakbeat and trip-hop to the table. DJ Spun, the alias of Jason Drummond, infuses the project with his deep understanding of New York's club culture. Together, they've created a release that'll resonate across the DJ-sphere and club-land.

DJ H4L 9000 (VOlumens Festival) – “Finally a promo from one of the record labels that has fascinated me most over the last 20 years. Super as always!” ROBOT84 / Scott Ferguson (Paper Recordings) – “Very cool tracks. I’m feeling them all.” Sean Johnston (Hardway Bros) – “Oh, this is very good. ‘Ants’ is my favorite.” Sumsuch (Colour and Pitch) – “Raw and fabulous!” Jon Fugler (XLNT Radio Show) – “Loving ‘Ants’. Relentless and infectious – top notch! ‘Find the Missing Letter’ is, quite frankly, bonkers.” Bruce Tantum (DJ Mag) – “Amazing record. A beautiful set of tunes from an iconic label.”

Available Now on Vinyl and Digital. Get it on Bandcamp.

[derelictheretic]

almost started rambling about my no cult au in a rb instead I will ramble about it in my own tags like a sane person

[carlaloveslfc]

[dc-megatournament]

A Master List of fighters in the “Batman vs Everyone” tournament so far

If a character isn't listed here, they haven't been submitted.

List of the Fights Already Posted (in Alphabetical Order)

Amazing Man/Will Everett

Ambush Bug/Irwin Schwab

Azrael/Jean Paul Valley

Aztek/Uno

Batman Beyond/Terry McGinnis

Ben Tennyson

Big Barda/Barda Free

Big Hero 6 (Hiro Hamada, Baymax, GoGo Tomago, Honey Lemon, Fred, Wasabi No Ginger)

Black Cat/Felicia Hardy

Black Orchid/Susan Linden

Black Panther/T’Challa

Blade/ Eric Brooks

Blue Beetle/Jaime Reyes

Blue Beetle/Ted Kord

Booster Gold/Michael Jon Carter

Bucky Barnes

Bugs Bunny

Captain Cold/Leonard Snart

Cassie Hack

Catwoman/Selina Kyle

Citizen Steel/Nathan Heywood

Cosmo and Wanda

Cyblade/Dominique Thiebaut

Cyborg/Victor Stone

Deadman/Boston Brand

Doctor Doom/Victor Von Doom

Doctor Fate/Kent Nelson

Doctor Fate/Khalid Nassour

Dracula (Castlevania)

Echo/Maya Lopez

Eda Clawthorne

Elektra Natchios

Elsa

Etrigan/Jason Blood

Finn & Jake

Firestorm/Jason Rusch

Firestorm/Ronnie Raymond

Godzilla

Green Arrow/Oliver Queen

Green Goblin/Norman Osborn

Green Lantern/John Stewart

Green Lantern/Simon Baz

Hatsune Miku

Hawkman/Katar Hol/Carter Hall

Hawkwoman/Shayera Hol/Shiera Hall

Hellboy

Hulk/Bruce Banner

Human Torch/Johnny Storm

Huntress/Helena Bertinelli

Invincible/Mark Grayson

Jade/Jennifer-Lynn Hayden

Jenny Wakeman/XJ-9

Jerry (Tom & Jerry)

Jesse Quick/Jessie Chambers

Jim Gordon

John Wick

Kim Possible

Ladybug/Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Cat Noir/Adrien Agreste

Luke Skywalker

Madame Xanadu

Magik/Illyana Rasputin

Man-Bat/Dr. Robert Kirkland Langstrom

Manhunter/Kate Spencer

Mario & Luigi

Martian Manhunter/J’onn J’onnz

Maxima

Megatron

Metamorpho/Rex Mason

Moon Knight/Marc Spector

Mr. Rogers

Ms Marvel/Kamala Khan

Mystery Inc (Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby)

Nightwing/Dick Grayson

Nimona

Oracle/Barbara Gordon

Orion

Percy Jackson

Phantom Stranger

Pink Panther

Plastic Man/Patrick "Eel" O'Brian

Queen Hippolyta

Red Hood/Jason Todd

Regina George

Rick Grimes

Robin/Damian Wayne

Rocket Red/Dmitri Pushkin

Rocket Red/Gavril Ivanovich

Sailor Moon/Usagi Tsukino

Saitama

Sara Pezzini

Sharon Carter

She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters

Sogeking/Usopp

Sonic the Hedgehog

Spider-Man/Miles Morales

Spider Woman/Jessica Drew

Spoiler/Stephanie Brown

Squirrel Girl/ Doreen Green

Starfire/Koriand’r

Star Sapphire/Carol Ferris

Steven Universe

Stitch/Experiment 626

Storm/Ororo Munroe

Strawberry Shortcake

Supergirl/Kara Danvers/Kara Zor-El

The Atom/Ray Palmer

The Crow/Eric Draven

The Cullens (Carlisle, Esme, Edward, Jasper, Rosalie, Alice, Emmett)

The Darkness/Jackie Estacado

The Flash/Wally West

The Question/Renee Montoya

Troia/Donna Troy

Vixen/Mari McCabe

Walter White

Wasp/Janet Van Dyne

Wolverine/X-23/Laura Kinney

Wonder Woman/Nubia

Word Girl/Becky Botsford

Fights That Have Yet to Be Posted (also in Alphabetical Order)

Alfred Pennyworth

Alphonse Elric 

Amy Rose

Angus MacGyver

Animal Man/Buddy Baker

Ant-Man/Hank Pym

Aquaman/Arthur Curry

Arsenal/Roy Harper

Artemis

Atom Smasher/Albert Rothstein

Avatar Aang

Baldi

Barbie

Batgirl/Cassandra Cain

Batman/Jace Fox

Batwing/David Zavimbe

Batwing/Luke Fox

Batwoman/Kate Kane

Beast/Hank McCoy

Beetlejuice

Bingo Heeler 

Black Canary/Dinah Laurel Lance

Black Lightning/Jefferson Pierce

Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff

Bluebird/Harper Row

Blue Devil/Dan Cassidy

Bluey Heeler

Buffy Summers

Captain America/Sam Wilson

Captain America/Steve Rogers

Captain Atom/Nathaniel Adam

Captain Jack Sparrow

Captain Kirk

Captain Marvel/Billy Batson

Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers

Crazy Jane

Cybersix

Danny Phantom

Daredevil/Matt Murdock

Darwin

David Haller

Deku/Izuku Midoriya

Detective Chimp/Bobo T. Chimpanzee

Doctor Fate/Linda Strauss

Doctor Light/Kimiyo Hoshi

Dolly Parton

Donald Duck

Dr. Mid Nite/Charles McNider

Edward Elric

Element Woman/Emily Sung

Ellie (TLoU)

Elongated Man/Ralph Dibny

Elric of Melninbone

Elsa Bloodstone

Emma Frost

Enchantress/June Moone

Eva-02

Ezio Auditore

Fire/Beatriz da Costa

Flamebird/Bette Kane

Gabby Kinney

Geo-Force/Brion Markov

Ghost Rider/Johnny Blaze

Giovanni Zatara

Godiva/Dorcas Leigh

Goku

Green Arrow/Connor Hawke

Green Lantern/Guy Gardner

Green Lantern/Hal Jordan

Green Lantern/Jessica Cruz

Green Lantern/Kyle Rayner

Grumpy Bear

Gundam Aerial

Gwen Tennyson

Gypsy/Cynthia Reynolds

Hawkeye/Clint Barton

Hawkgirl/Kendra Saunders

Heather (TDI)

Hello Kitty

Hua Cheng

Ice/Tora Olafsdotter

Iceman/Bobby Drake

Ichigo Kurosaki 

Invisible Woman/Sue Storm

Iron Man/Tony Stark

Jar Jar Binks

Jean Grey

Jessica Jones

Joel Miller (TLoU) 

John Constantine

Jubilee/Jubilation Lee

Katana/Tatsu Yamashiro

Katara 

Katsuki Bakugou

Kirby

Kisuke Urahara

Lan Wangji

Light Yagami

Link

Lobo

Luke Cage

Luo Binghe

Madame Mirage/Angela Temple

Mariah Carey 

Max Tennyson

May Chang

Mickey Mouse

Midnighter

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Jason Lee Scott, Zack Taylor, Kimberly Ann Hart, Billy Cranston, Trini Kwan, Tommy Oliver)

Mister Miracle/Scott Free

Mizu

Mon-El/Lar Gand

Monkey D Luffy

Mr Fantastic/Reed Richards

Naruto Uzamaki 

Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner

Nightshade/Eve Eden

Obsidian/Todd Rice

Odysseus

Onyx Adams

Optimus Prime 

Ozymandias

Phineas & Ferb

Pikachu

Plastique/Bette Sans Souci

Powergirl/Kara Zor L/Karen Starr

Powerhouse/Naomi McDuffie

Power Puff Girls

Prodigy/David Alleyne

Puss in Boots

Raven

Red Tornado/Ulthoon

Robin/Tim Drake

Rogue/Anna Marie LeBeau

Ryu (Street Fighter)

Sally Jackson

Sanderson Sisters (Winifred, Mary, Sarah)

Santa Claus 

Scar (FMA)

Shade, the Changing Man/Rac Shade

Shen Qingqiu

She-Ra/Adora

Snoopy & Woodstock

Solid Snake

Spawn/Al Simmons

Spectrum/Monica Rambeau

Spider-Man/Peter Parker

Stan Pines

Star Butterfly

Stargirl/Courtney Whitmore

Starman/Mikaal Tomas

Steel/John Henry Irons

Superman/Clark Kent/Kal El

Swamp Thing/Alec Holland

Terezi Pyrope

The Atom/Ryan Choi

The Bride/Beatrix Kiddo

The Doctor

The Flash/Barry Allen

The Flash/Jay Garrick

The Pope 

The Punisher/Frank Castle

The Question/Vic Sage

The Ray/Ray Terrill

The Shredder

The Signal/Duke Thomas

The Thing/Ben Grimm

The Warner Siblings

Thor

Tigress/Artemis Crock

TMNT (Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo)

Toph Beifong

Ultraman

Uncle Iroh

Vampirella

Velvet Crowe

Vibe/Cisco Ramon

Wei Wuxian

Winry Rockbell 

Wolverine/James “Logan” Howlett

Wonder Woman/Diana Prince

Xie Lian

Yami Yugi

Zatanna Zatara

Zheng Shang-Chi

[cushfuddled]

I don't know if I want to make a video about this because it's SO subjective obv but also like. I've NEVER felt compelled to write a "homophobic au" where I take a tolerant fantasy world and make it bigoted. As a kid I used to complain ALL THE GODDAMN TIME about how fantasy writers could imagine a world with talking dragons and magic powers but always drew the line at equal rights for gay people. And here I am PUTTING THE HOMOPHOBIA BACK into a fantasy world WITHOUT homophobia. And I was like.

do I feel so compelled to do this???

I knew I didn't NEED an excuse to insert homophobia into Arcane. Write whatever you want etc etc. But I was so curious, since my preference up 'til now has always been for casually queer fantasy worlds. And uh yeah honestly I think this pivot stems from like, a disconnect between my understanding of systemic bigotry as a queer disabled autistic woman and the way Arcane appears to pick and choose its world's politics from a salad bar.

In the real world, social issues are all tangled up in each other. Racism and classism and queerphobia and xenophobia and ableism and misogyny and misandry and ageism...all these 'isms bud off each other in a kind of swirling feedback loop, necessitating an intersectional approach to activism.

At the end of Arcane, no one broke the cycle of violence. The council chamber table is shaped like a gear, symbolizing its members' status as a "gear train" for all change within Piltover and Zaun. Jinx's bomb destroys that gear with the rest of the council room, only for an off-screen contractor to glue the pieces together between scenes. Piltover adds more "progressive" representatives to its gear train, but the underlying oligarchical mechanism remains. If the cycle of violence ever breaks, it will be because these new "teeth" convince the council to trade their power for democracy. If the elite don't give a real voice to the marginalized (I'm not sure one or two non-elected representatives makes the cut), the marginalized will take to more radical measures to be heard, and the conflict will start anew.

Arcane's hostile oligarchical world sculpted Viktor into the perfect time bomb. Its proud disgust for immigrants; addicts; the poor; the disabled, taught Viktor great shame and hate for who he was and where he came from. These lessons are at least cousins to Social Darwinism, fascism, and the politics of eugenics. Viktor aimed to "evolve" himself and his people into a "perfect" final form. He equated "progress" with the eradication of disability and sickness...then emotion.

Here Viktor branches off from the emotionalism central to fascist ideology, declaring passion ("Our emotions...rage, compassion, hate...") the "cause of [humanity's] greatest evil." Viktor describes emotions as Freudian "baser instincts," dirty and corrosive in their "self-corrupting" force.

To deserve love and admiration, Viktor believes he must become perfect. And for all he waxes poetic re: science and reason and the people of Zaun, Viktor still bases his definition of "perfection" on the ideals of his oppressors. It says a lot to me, that Viktor's idea of "progress" looks like the total eradication of sickness and disability; the rise of an obedient, docile, dogmatic collective; the dominance of Viktor's dome amidst the modest shelters of his followers; Viktor's sleek, agile, white and gold robots. Viktor's goals share a springboard with those of the Piltover elite. Both systems place undue value on power and purity. Both depend on a complaisant, malleable public, and both punish individualism. Piltover pretends to champion movers and shakers and out-of-the-box thinkers, immortalizing key figures like "Stanwick Padidly" and Jayce, but Jayce was only allowed back into the world of the wealthy once he proved

a. he had something to give

b. he was deemed suitably manipulable.

The moment Jayce tried to clamp down on Piltover's rampant corruption (aka wield his newfound powers in service of the less fortunate), Mel was there to reinforce the status quo. It was made very clear that Jayce's options were either to fall in line or lose his job—along with the chance to make any kind of positive change. Behind the curtain Jayce and Viktor were only puppets in service of the wealthy and powerful. Hextech didn't better the lives of marginalized people. It upgraded weapons for the police and generated new trade opportunities for employers (the economy would've undergone a hell of a shakeup with the sudden flush of consumer goods and access to overseas labor. From the state of Zaun and Piltover post-time skip, I assume the new trade routes shuffled money around but didn't make necessities like medicine or shelter any more attainable for your average citizen).

"You used me, and Viktor, for Hextech. You called us 'investments.'" "Two brilliant young inventors who shared a penchant for impossible surprises. Carrying magic from myth to machine. Rallying the hope and hearts of a nation. You were a wise investment."

Anyway. Why is Viktor so threatened by his ability to feel "affection?" Every other goal aligns with a kind of supercharged version of Piltover's oppressive value system, but this one...not so much.

I guess you could say "civil society" frowns on explosive emotions like rage and hate because they threaten the docility of a healthy status quo. Compassion poses a similar threat. It makes sense for Viktor to fixate so hard on emotions when they're the only weapon powerful enough to snap him out of his Hexcore power trip. But I'm more drawn to the reading where Viktor recognizes queerness within himself (cough his love for Jayce cough) as another barrier on the road to perfection (as measured by the standards of an oligarchical regime).

It seems to me that Viktor's goals are all symptoms of a society steeped in ableism, classism, xenophobia, and queerphobia—but only three of those conditions manifest in Arcane's worldbuilding.

I dunno, man. What resonates with my queer experience will totally contradict someone else's. But I guess I can't envision an oligarchical system like Piltover's—a system founded on classism, ableism, and a weaponized fear of the dirty "other"—would somehow evade racism and queerphobia. Like..."We're fine with black people and gay people. But god help you if you're poor or sick or disabled or from Zaun!" Bigotry is irrational and contradictory, so there are surely examples of this pick-and-choose phenomenon outside of Arcane. And good lord, I don't think anyone should feel "obligated" to fill their fantasy worlds with homophobia! But Arcane definitely sparked enough cognitive dissonance in me to make me crank out some "what if this world was also homophobic" fanfic.

(There's also League of Legends' legacy as an alt-right cesspool. Before I even knew what an MMO was, I'd been warned about a game called LoL, the supposed "worst of the worst" when it came to voice chat culture. Not sure how I feel about that context yet.)

[transmutationisms]

do you have any reading recs (books, ~scholarly articles, whatever) in the same vein as this post? (doesn't need to be a super long list, i'm content to branch off with the works cited of whatever you come up with...) as always, love your blog!! :-)

yes :3 split roughly by subtopic, bolded some favs

Evolution in England prior to (Charles) Darwin

Cooter, Roger. The Cultural Meaning of Popular Science: Phrenology and the Organisation of Consent in Nineteenth Century Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1985).

Desmond, Adrian. The Politics of Evolution: Morphology, Medicine, and Reform in Radical London. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1989).

Elliott, Paul. “Erasmus Darwin, Herbert Spencer, and the Origin of the Evolutionary Worldview in British Provincial Scientific Culture, 1770–1850.” Isis 94 (1): 1–29 (2003).

Finchman, Martin. “Biology and Politics: Defining the Boundaries.” In: Lightman, Bernard (Ed.). Victorian Science in Context. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1997), 94–118.

Fyfe, Aileen. Steam-Powered Knowledge: William Chambers and the Business of Publishing, 1820–1860. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (2012).

Harrison, James. “Erasmus Darwin’s View of Evolution.” Journal of the History of Ideas 32 (2): 247–64 (1971).

McNeil, Maureen. Under the Banner of Science: Erasmus Darwin and his Age. Manchester: Manchester University Press (1987).

Ospovat, Dov. “The Influence of Karl Ernst von Baer’s Embryology 1828–1859: A Reappraisal in Light of Richard Owen’s and William Benjamin Carpenter’s ‘Palaeontological Application of Von Baer’s Law.’” Journal of the History of Biology 9 (1): 1–28 (1976).

Rehbock, Philip F. The Philosophical Naturalists: Themes in Early Nineteenth-Century British Biology. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press (1983).

Richards, Robert J. Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behaviour. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1987).

Rupke, Nicolaas. Richard Owen: Biology without Darwin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (2009 [ 1994]).

Secord, James. Victorian Sensation: The Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (2001).

van Wyhe, John. Phrenology and the Origins of Victorian Scientific Naturalism. London: Ashgate (2004).

Winter, Alison. “The Construction of Orthodoxies and Heterodoxies in the Early Life Sciences.” In: Lightman, Bernard (Ed.). Victorian Science in Context. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1997), 24–50.

Yeo, Richard. “Science and Intellectual Authority in Mid-Nineteenth Century Britain: Robert Chambers and Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation.” Victorian Studies 28 (1): 5–31 (1984).

Edinburgh Lamarckians and Scottish transmutationism

Desmond, Adrian. “Robert E. Grant: The Social Predicament of a Pre-Darwinian Transmutationist.” Journal of the History of Biology 17 (2): 189–223 (1984).

Jenkins, Bill. Evolution Before Darwin. Theories of the Transmutation of Species in Edinburgh, 1804–1834. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2019).

Secord, James. “The Edinburgh Lamarckians: Robert Jameson and Robert E. Grant.” Journal of the History of Biology 24 (1): 1–18 (1991).

Corsi, Pietro. ‘Edinburgh Lamarckians? The Authorship of Three Anonymous Papers (1826–1829)’, Journal of the History of Biology 54 (2021), pp. 345–374.

Darwin and Darwinism

Desmond, Adrian and James Moore. Darwin: The Life of a Tormented Evolutionist. New York: W. W. Norton & Company (1994).

van Wyhe, John. “Mind the Gap. Did Darwin Avoid Publishing his Theory for many years?” Notes & Records of the Royal Society 61 (2007), 177–205.

Sloan, Philip R. “Darwin, Vital Matter, and the Transformation of Species.” Journal of the History of Biology 19 (3): 369–445 (1986).

Phillip R. Sloan, “The Making of a Philosophical Naturalist.” In: Hodge, Jonathan and Gregory Radick (Eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Darwin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2009), 17–39.

Sponsel, Alistair. Darwin’s Evolving Identity: Adventure, Ambition, and the Sin of Speculation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (2018).

Young, Robert M. “Malthus and the Evolutionists: The Common Context of Biological and Social Theory.” Past & Present 43 (1969): 109–45.

Young, Robert M. “Darwin’s Metaphor: Does Nature Select?” The Monist 55 (3): 442–503 (1971).

Bowler, Peter J. The Non-Darwinian Revolution: Reinterpreting a Historical Myth. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press (1988).

Bowler, Peter J. The Eclipse of Darwinism: Anti-Darwinian Evolution Theories in the Decades Around 1900. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press (1983).

Hale, Piers J. “Rejecting the Myth of the Non-Darwinian Revolution.” Victorian Review 41 (2): 13–18 (Fall 2015).

Lightman, Bernard. “Darwin and the popularisation of evolution.” Notes and Records of the Royal Society 64: 5–24 (2010).

Richards, Robert J. The Meaning of Evolution: The Morphological Construction and Ideological Reconstruction of Darwin’s Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1992).

Ruse, Michael. The Darwinian Revolution: Science Red in Tooth and Claw. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1979).

Lamarck and Lamarckism

Barthélemy-Madaule, Madeleine. 1982. Lamarck, the Mythical Precursor: A Study of the Relations between Science and Ideology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Burkhardt, Richard. 1970. Lamarck, Evolution, and the Politics of Science. Journal of the History of Biology 3 (2): 275–298.

Burkhardt, Richard. 1977. The Spirit of System: Lamarck and Evolutionary Biology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Corsi, Pietro. 1988. The Age of Lamarck: Evolutionary Theories in France, 1790–1830. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Corsi, Pietro. 2005. Before Darwin: Transformist Concepts in European Natural History. Journal of the History of Biology 38 (1): 67-83.

Corsi, Pietro. 2011. The Revolutions of Evolution: Geoffroy and Lamarck, 1825–1840. Bulletin du Musée D’Anthropologie Préhistorique de Monaco 51: 113–134.

Jordanova, Ludmilla. 1984. Lamarck. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Spary, Emma C. 2000. Utopia’s Garden: French Natural History from Old Regime to Revolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

[mallloryrowinski]

An (incomplete) list of women who have inspired me

Nina Bouraoui (1967)

Yasmina (Nina) Bouraoui is a French author of Algerian descent. Her father is Algerian, and her mother is French. Although born in France, she spent her childhood and early adolescence in Algeria before living in Zürich and Abu Dhabi. Now based in Paris, she is one of the few openly lesbian authors of Algerian heritage. Bouraoui describes her work as "auto-fiction," blending personal narrative and fiction to explore themes such as belonging, lesbianism, identity, writing, and the complexities of (dis)comfort. Her unique perspective and brilliant writing make her an essential voice in contemporary literature.

I highly recommend her 2018 memoir, All Men Want to Know—a transformative and deeply moving work that changed my life.

Kavita Krishnan (1973)

Kavita Krishnan was born to Tamil parents in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu (the southernmost state of India). She grew up in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh. She wrote the book Brilliant Freedom, a radical text that tackles the personal and political repercussions of erasing women from public spaces. She argues that many real and violent threats to female autonomy are, in fact, hidden in plain sight. Kavita began her activism at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, through street plays and protests. Her political engagement deepened at JNU, where she joined the All India Students Association, earned her master's degree, and served as Joint Secretary of the Students' Union. Krishnan dedicated herself to activism, particularly in women's rights. She was part of mass protests demanding justice for Chandrashekhar and was jailed for eight days during demonstrations in Delhi. Kavita emerged as a key voice during the 2012 anti-rape protests following the brutal gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in Delhi. Her viral speech outside the Delhi Chief Minister’s residence was a bold manifesto advocating for women’s "freedom without fear."

Clare Chambers (1976)

Clare Chambers is a Professor of Political Philosophy and a Fellow of Jesus College, University of Cambridge. (quoted from her website) She is particularly known for her feminist critique of the liberal focus on choice; her ideas of “shametenance” and the unmodified body; her account of social construction; her problematisation of the concept of ‘normal’; her engagement with beauty norms and the body; her critique and analysis of Rawlsian political liberalism; her work on multiculturalism, religion, and intervention; her critique of state-recognised marriage; and her proposals for the alternative regulation of relationships. She produced many wonderful works, like Intact: a Defence of the Unmodified Body (please read this), Against Marriage: An Egalitarian Defence of the Marriage-Free State, and Teach Yourself Political Philosophy: A Complete Introduction.

To get started, I highly recommend this 16-page-long paper titled The Marriage-Free State.

Caroline Emma Criado Perez (1984)

Caroline was born in Brazil to an Argentinian father and a British mother. She lived in several countries throughout her childhood, including Spain, Portugal and Taiwan, as well as the UK. She is the brilliant author behind Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men. She os an active feminist who led and participated in many campaigns, including founding the Women's Room website. When the Bank of England left no women featured on the reverse of banknotes by replacing Elizabeth Fry with Winston Churchill on the £5 note, she started another campaign, which gained the support of 35000 petitioners. Because of this, the Bank of England replaced Darwin with Jane Austen on the £10 note. As a result, she was relentlessly harassed on social media, including death and rape threats. Criado Perez said the campaign of abuse, provoked by this small issue, "shows it's not about what women are doing, not about feminism. It's that some men don't like women, and don't like women in the public domain. Men get attacked because they've said or done something someone doesn't like, whereas women get attacked because they're visible." (she has done so so many other important things, please check her out if you're unfamiliar with her work).

Rita Banerji (1967)

Rita (quoting from her website - which you should check out) is the founder and director of the international, award-winning, grassroots campaign, The 50 Million Missing Campaign that has been working since 2006 to stop the female genocide in India. Today, it is the largest,  grassroots movement to end the genocide of women, and is supported in more than 211 countries. The 50 Million Missing Campaign was selected as a finalist for the 2013 Katerva Award in the Gender Equality Category. The Katerva Award highlights the most ground-breaking projects from around the world and has been referred to as “the Nobel Prize of Sustainability.” The campaign won the Katerva Awards’ People’s Choice Honorable Mention. The 50 Million Missing has also been nominated for The Shorty Awards which honors the best content producers on social media. Rita is also the author of the book Sex and Power: Defining History, Shaping Societies, based on 5 years of research, looks at the dynamics of sex, sexuality and gender in India over 5000 years, and explores the reasons why the society that produced the kamasutras and erotic temple sculptures at one time, is so sexually conservative in the twenty-first century. The book has been described by The Telegraph (India) as “An extraordinary take on a subject still a taboo [and].. a new interpretation of Indian history.”

.

.

There are hundreds if not thousands of other names that I'll mention later as I update this, but for now I can't wait to get this post out because everyone should know about these women!

[scotianostra]

Robert Edmond Grant was born on November 11th 1793 in Argyll Square in Edinburgh, which was swept away to create Chambers Street.

Originating from Elgin, the Grant family moved to Edinburgh, where Robert’s father, Alexander was an accountant and a writer to the signet , his wife Jane gave birth to 14 children in all, although not all lived to adulthood, twelve brothers and two sisters, Robert being the seventh son, and the longest surviving of them all.

Between 1803 and 1808 he was a pupil at the High School, Edinburgh, after leaving which he entered the University of that city as a medical student, attending the lectures of eminent names like Monro, Hope, Gregory, Duncan, and others. He took his doctor's degree in 1814, for five years after which he devoted his time to travelling on the Continent, visiting Paris, Rome, Florence, as well as Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, and Austria, as was the norm with those who could afford it back then.

In 1822 he settled back in Edinburgh, and from then till 1828 contributed several zoological papers to different Scotch scientific societies and journals on subjects way over my head and probably far to boring to list in this wee post, I will add a link where brainboxes can peruse the full details.

Despite his family background, Grant suffered financial hardship in his adult life and as a result spent the majority of his time lecturing or preparing for lectures meaning that the time he could spend on research and publications was severely limited. Despite Grant’s hard working ethos, generosity and dedication to his students, the most famous of whom was the young Charles Darwin, Grants teachings are said to have given Darwin the theoretical framework sparking his interests and was a big influence on his student.

Grant studied marine life around the Firth of Forth, collecting specimens around the shores near a house he took at Prestonpans as well as from fishing boats, and becoming an expert on the biology of sponges and sea-slugs. Charles Darwin would help him collect the specimens down in East Lothian.

Grant then became Professor of Comparative Anatomy at University College London, a post he held from 1827 until his death in 1874. Purportedly Robert E Grant did not miss a single lecture within his 47 year service at the university. Grant's pay was £39 per annum.

He was involved in radical and democratic causes, campaigning for a new Zoological Society museum run professionally rather than by aristocratic amateurs; and tried to turn the British Museum into a research institution run along French lines. He was opposed by Tories who attacked him for supporting "the reptile press" and its "blasphemous derision of the truths of Christianity"

Darwin visited Grant in 1831 to get advice on storing specimens immediately before setting out on the Voyage of the Beagle. When Darwin returned from his voyage, Grant was one of those to offer to examine his specimens, but was turned down: they do not seem to have had further contact.

Grant died at home at 2 Euston Grove, Euston Square, London on August 23rd 1874, he is buried in Highgate Cemetery.

There’s a wee bit more detail on Grant here

[kraeki]

✨ The Zodiac Signs of Liverpool ✨

♈ Aries

Harvey Elliott, Thiago, Nat Phillips

♉ Taurus

Cody Gakpo, Ryan Gravenberch, Kostas Tsimikas

♊ Gemini

Joe Gomez, Ibrahima Konate, Mo Salah

♋ Cancer

Conor Bradley, Luke Chambers, Darwin Nunez, Virgil van Dijk

♌ Leo

Joel Matip

♍ Virgo

Fabio Carvalho, James McConnell

♎ Libra

Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson Becker, Stefan Bajcetic, Kaide Gordon

♏ Scorpio

Ben Doak, Dominik Szoboszlai

♐ Sagittarius

Diogo Jota, Caoimhín Kelleher, Marcelo Pitaluga

♑ Capricorn

Adrian, Luis Diaz, Alexis Mac Allister

♒ Aquarius

Wataru Endo, Curtis Jones, Jarell Quansah, Calum Scanlon, Rhys Williams

♓ Pisces

Andy Robertson

[souurcitrus]

In my universe, Earth-18104, the X-Men had three schools in different times, the Xavier Mansion changed names every time a new "era" started, according to the story and the events of that time.

The story of the Xavier Institute is based in the comics and influenced by other events of this universe, that are based in other medias like the movies and comics, and don't follow the time-line of the comics in a precise way, because I wanted to give this universe a more real feeling of time passing slowly and the characters aging different from each generation.

So... yeah, some characters are older or younger than they are in the comics.

Here are some of the students that were enrolled in each school. And here the list of other groups of young superheroes.

• Xavier Institute for Gifted Young People (1972 - 1999)

The first school, of course, when Xavier still had to keep his and his students' identities a secret. People believed it was just a private school, even thought it had only a very few students, at first.

The first students were the original X-Men of 1972, trained by Xavier, Magneto, Mystique, Mastermind, Moira MacTaggert and Destiny (based on the movie X-Men First Class):

• Armando Muñoz / Darwin (16)

• Suzanne Chan / Sway (17)

• Vienna Adamsen / Petra (16)

• Sean Cassidy / Banshee (20)

They later all went to Muir Island to train with Moira, after Xavier suffered the injury that let him paralyzed.

In 1989, Xavier trained the second X-Men, the Original Five or X-Men '92:

• Jean Grey / Marvel Girl (17)

• Scott Summers / Cyclops (16)

• Bobby Drake / Iceman (15)

• Warren Worthington III / Angel (17)

• Henry McCoy / Beast (18)

Later in 1995, Lorna Dane / Polaris (20) and Alex Summers / Havok (17) joined the team.

At the same time, Moira had her own team if X-Men in Muir Island, trained by Petra, Sway and Darwin:

• Christopher Bradley / Bolt (14)

• Gabriel Summers / Vulcan (13)

• James Madrox / Multiple (16)

• David Haller (17/18)

In 1996 Kitty Pryde / Sprite (13), Alison Blaire / Dazzler (16), Gailyn and Joseph Grey / Shatter-Box (10) joined the school. And in 1997, it was Rogue (17) and Ruth Aldine / Blindfold (17).

*Shatterbox are minor characters in the comics. Blindfold is older than her counterpart in the comics, and acts as a mentor and counselor to the next students.

In 1997/1999, the Xavier Institute was turned into a real school, and thought he did not wanted to put more children in danger, Xavier created a new team of X-Men, the New Mutants:

• Illyana Rasputin / Magik (13)

• Xuân Cao Manh / Karma (15)

• Danielle Moonstar / Mirage (16)

• Sam Guthrie / Cannonball (16)

• Roberto da Costa / Sunspot (15)

• Rahne Sinclair / Wolfsbane (15)

• Amara Aquilla / Magma (15)

• James Proudstar / Warpath (14)

• Douglas Ramsey / Cypher (12)

• Warlock

* Illyana Rasputin was 6 years old before joined, however, after her time in the Limbo, she came back to her world as a 13 years old teenager. James Proudstar was brought to the school by his older brother after leaving the Hellions. And Jonh Proudstar never fucking died.

In 1999, Banshee and Emma Frost took care of a new class of mutants, the Generation X:

• Paige Guthrie / Husk (17)

• Angelo Spinosa / Skin (16)

• Jubilee (17)

• Monet St. Croix / Penance (17)

• Claudette and Nicole St. Croix / M (9)

• Jonothon "Jono" Starsmore / Chamber (18)

• Everett Thomas / Synch (17)

These kids were gathered and chosen as X-Men after being rescued from the Phalanx, however Clarice Ferguson / Blink (14) was lost after destroying the enemy and was only found years later. Not by the X-Men.

In 2000/2001, Apocalypse was awaken from his slumber and the X-Men fought against him and his Horsemen. In 2004, the Infinity Gaulent arc happened, and half of the universe was gone (Like in Avengers: Endgame), and only restaured in 2010.

The people turned to dust in this break of time didn't aged.

• Xavier Institute for Higher Education / Xavier Academy (1997 - 2004) and (2010 - 2017)

After these events, the Xavier Institute changed names again. Xavier, Jean Grey, Emma Frost, Hank McCoy, Logan and Scott Summers were the ones in charge.

The mansion was had more of a structure to resemble a real school, and even had a student body, more classes, etc.

In school year of 2011/2012 (September to june) the events of E is for Extinction and Riot at Xavier's took place. The students at the time were:

• Angel Salvadore / Tempest (15)

• Barnell Borhuk / Beak (15)

• Glob Herman

• Sophie, Phoebe, Irma, Celeste and Esme Cuckoo / The Stepford Cuckoos (14)

• Jebediah "Jeb" Guthrie (12)

• Melody Guthrie / Aero (15)

• Vincent Stewart / Redneck (15)

• Christian and Christine Cord / Radian and Tattoo (15)

• Quentin Quire / Kid Omega (14)

• Hong Liange (11)

• Lucy Priest / Butterfly (16)

• Carlo Brewster / Gelatin (14)

• Abraham Verne / Caput (15)

• Dana Holmes / Polymer (15)

• Alisa Tager / Cipher (11)

• Ellie Phimister / Negasonic Teenage Warhead (12)

• Kutsuna Yukio (12)

• Gabrielle and Michael Diwa / Galura and Arauto (13)

• Dean Boswell / Dummy (15)

• Martha Johansson (9)

• Ernst (10)

• Hisako Ichiki / Armor (13)

• Edward Tancredi / Wing (12)

• Quincy Marrow (14)

• Stan Finch / Silicon (14)

• Leong Cao Mạnh (11)

• Nga Cao Mạnh (11)

*Kutsuna Yukio is the version of Yukio from Deapool 2; The Stepford Cuckoos are only three years old chronologically, but aged faster, so they are 14 years old physically and mentally. Quentin Quire had just turned fourteen and lost his body, being stuck in his astral form, he couldn't age and stayed in this form for the next six years

*For the love of God, Beak and Angel didn't fucking had children. What the fuck these writers had in mind???? They're teenagers. Jeb and Melody Guthrie should be older, but they were among the victims of Infinity Gaulent.

During 2013/2014, the events of Academy X, New X-Men, and Young X-Men in 2015 took place. During this time, we had the events of M-Day, Civil War and the Stryke's attack took place.

• Jay Guthrie / Icarus; Dallas Gibson / Specter; Callie Betto / Dryad; Sofia Mantega / Wind Dancer; Phoebe, Irma and Celeste Cuckoo / The Stepford Cuckoos (16)

• Kevin Ford / Wither; Hisako Ichiki / Armor; Julian Keller / Hellion; Sooraya Qadir / Dust; David Alleyne / Prodigy; Noah Crichton / Hydro (15)

• Cecily Kincaid / Mercury; Santo Vacarro / Rockslide; Kutsuna Yukio; Brian Cruz / Tag; Sidney Green / Onyxx; Laura Kinney; Edward Tancredi / Wing; Nick Shelley / Flubber; Laurie Collins / Wallflower; Noriko Ashida / Surge; Josh Foley / Elixir; Eric Gitter / Ink; Maxwell Jordan / Quill (14)

• Alisa Tager / Cipher; Megan Gwynn / Pixie; Hong Liange; Paras Gavaskar / Indra; Sarah Vale / Network; Jessica Vale / Preview; Nezhno ABidemi / Gentle; Lazaro Kotikash / Kidogo; Alani Ryan / Loa (13)

• Andrea Margulies / Rubber Maid; Ben Hamill / Match; Mark Sheppard / DJ; Victor Borkowski / Anole; Jeffrey Garrett (12)

• Ernst; Roxy Washington / Bling!; Martha Johansson; Nick Gleason / Wolf Cub; Hope Abott / Trance; Carl Aalston / Rain Boy (11)

Like in the comics, some of these characters lost their powers and died, with a few exception surviving and leaving the role as X-Men. The few that survived and kept their powers after M-Day stayed and then later moved to Utopia/Genosha.

After this, the Xavier Institute was destroyed and the Graymalkin Lane was left empty until 2018. In 2017, with the return of Hope Summers, a new group of X-Men was formed in Utopia, the Lights, though they did not resided at the Institute.

• Hope Summers (15)

• Gabriel Cohuelo / Velocidad (16)

• Laurie Tromette / Transonic (17)

• Teon Savko / Primal (15)

• Idie Okonkwo / Oya (13)

• Kenji Uedo (19)

Hope Summers was born just a few years before the Lights, but since she was raised in the future she is 14 years old when she comes back. Later, Megan Gwynn / Pixie (16) joined the team, taking Oya's place.

After the Schim caused, the X-Men split in two. Quentin Quire had returned in a new body, but he was still 14 years old, the same age he was when he "died"

• Jean Gray School for Higher Learning (2018- )

In 2018, Wolverine went back to Westchester and rebuilt the mansion, trying to give the place the feeling of real school. The students also could only start training when they were in 9° grade and could train to be X-Men and join teams (like in Academy X) after they were in 10° grade.

He made a deal with the Shi'ar to have technology to protect the school, as long he accepted the son of Gladiator, asked to be Quentin's guardian and they had a clone of Krakoa as they grounds.

A few old students joined the school in the first year, and a few only in the second and third year. The school opened in August of 2018.

(This list of students include some of my OCs, since I'm writing a fanfic that happens in the Jean Grey School)

• Hisako Ichiki / Armor; Julian Keller / Hellion; Gabrielle and Michael Diwa / Galura and Arauto (19)

• Cecily Kincaid / Mercury; Santo Vacarro / Rockslide: Kutsuna Yukio; Ellie Phimister / NTW; Noriko Ashida / Surge; Eric Gitter / Ink (18)

• Alisa Tager / Cipher; Hong Liange; Paras Gavaskar / Indra; Nezhno ABidemi / Gentle (17)

• Cam Long / Tiger; Aura Charles / Aurora; Crosta (16)

• Ben Hamill / Match; Victor Borkowski / Anole; Iara dos Santos / Shark Girl; Roxy Washington / Bling!; Martha Johansson / Cerebela; Zane Yamaguchi / Juggernaut 2; Hope Abott / Trance; Carl Aalston / Rain Boy (15)

• Idie Okonkwo / Oya; Prince Kubark / Gladiator; Trevor Hawkins / Eye-Kid; Charge OC; Julian Creed / Menace OC (14)

• Evan Adel / Genesis; Jiang Mei, Sprite (13/14); Hunter Creed / Rescue OC (12/13); Broo

*Broo is only five months old, Evan is a clone so he aged faster than the Cuckoos, chronologically he was "born" a few months before being enrolled. The school was never moved to Manhattan like in the comics.

Later, Huang Lin / Nature Kid; Michela Ladak; Joseph and Josephine Bricklemoore / Tri-Joe and Squid Girl joined the school.

Even after the death of Wolverine in 2021 and the creation of Krakoland in 2023, the school stayed open, and the X-Men hope it stays this way for many years.

[charlesandmartine]

Friday 8th November 2024

The night passed very peacefully, and our truckie place was really quite enjoyable in a truckie sort of way. We met some interesting people who are doing a very similar sort of route to us, and we swapped advice, which I'm sure has been forgotten already. With little choice, I suppose if you find yourself in this neck of the woods, then I could recommend it.

There are, however, two main places to stay in Daly Waters, and combined, they comprise Daly Waters. Sadly, through an administrative problem, we thought we had booked at the other place, which was altogether quirky whilst ours was altogether truckie. We thought we were staying at the Daly Waters Pub, Outback Servo. This place is run by a bloke who has what I might diagnose as compulsory junk collector syndrome. Which is good because I can persuade Martine that however bad she thinks I am in the collecting department, this chap is a severe case. He passed eclectic years ago. He has bits of De Havilland aircraft, bits of helicopter, rusty vintage cars, vans, and buses. In the bar area over years, he has persuaded women to leave their bras in quantity; and they are hanging up as proof! Well, I shall post photos as evidence and to form one's own opinion. We had a coffee there before we embarked on the next stage of our journey, which was to Tennant Creek 407kms away.

Now, to compare our journey at this point in any way to the Camino de Santiago could possibly be judged as sacrilegious. However, hear me out. Our journey, not a pilgrimage, along the Stuart Highway, is in this case very much following literally in the footsteps of one man, John McDouall Stuart. His courageous endeavour, putting his and others' safety to one side, with a single focus set out six times in all to find a route from Chambers Creek in the south to Darwin in the north in order to lay the first telegraph lines connecting Australia to London. Surely that accounts to a Camino? Today, we have discovered monuments to the successes and failures of these expeditions.

The first monument was in Daly Waters itself and was the Stuart Tree, which has carved into it a big letter S. The top half of the tree sadly is missing, however legend certainly agrees that Stuart himself found the time in a very busy and exacting schedule to emboss his initial thus, most likely with his Swiss Army Officer's knife. Perhaps there are doubts, but he was supposed to have stayed locally on his sixth expedition. We also viewed a monument just north of Tennant Creek at Attack Creek, where he was attacked by aboriginies and there were injuries apparently in the skirmish which caused the party to return for a bandage or two and more supplies. On a more positive note, the third monument was in honour of Sir Charles Todd, who, at 15.15 on August 22nd, 1872, officially witnessed the joining of the two sections from the north and south. Unfortunately, we are denied more detail, but we can perhaps imagine the course of events when Sir Charles tried to send a message, nothing happens and some wag says, have you tried turning it off and back on again? We can only imagine the sequence, but at 15.15 in Australia, it would have been 4.45am in London. I doubt anyone of any importance would have been interested in a chat with someone in the antipodeans. Who? says Queen Victoria. Sir Charles Todd, says Gladstone. Who, says QV again? Do I know him?

Of course, when Stuart had completed his route, which I trust he had recorded and marked meticulously, he then called for Cable and Wireless to do the grunting and actually lay the cable. The route could not be criticised, it ran as straight as a ruler. The greatest inventions of all times must include the wheel, sliced bread, Teflon frying pans and sticks. Stuart must have used 3 sticks to get a straight line north. Whilst the aboriginies were throwing sticks at him, he was employing them like a Roman to make a straight line. That's evolution for you I suppose. The aboriginies caused a lot of interruptions to the progress of the line. Even when it was complete, they made it their business to damage it. They broke the glass insulators on the poles and used the fragments of glass on the tips of their spears. The solution appears to be that they were given uniforms and jobs in the repeater stations, which also fixed the naked issues the missionaries were concerned about.

We are now ensconced in the Outback Caravan Site in Tennant Creek and are extremely comfortable sitting here once again watching the sun go down and consuming SB with some nibbles.

ps. Travelling along the Stuart we passed through huge areas that were in a controlled burn session. Quite unnerving having flames next to the highway.

[8dpromo]

Darwin Chamber - Love's The Meditation EP (Rong Music)

Love's The Meditation EP (featuring DJ Spun Mixes) by Darwin Chamber

After an extended disco nap, your friends at Rong Music have awoken from their slumber just in time to celebrate the 20th year of doing that Rong thing. How to celebrate? The only way they know how: put out a bunch of new music, unearth some weirdo classics, and DANCE. This first new release of the anniversary party spotlights some bangers for the club, rave, ride, warehouse, the playa, or home disco. It features Darwin Chamber, the alter ego of Mark Greenfield. This legend of the early Rave scene has been making tracks for more than 30 years. Pioneering the West Coast Rave breakbeat and trip-hop sound, he got his start just like many, learning his craft on a cheap keyboard at a friend’s house and then taking his music to the streets. He’s done 100’s of shows from underground raves to The House of Blues, released music on Moonshine and Sony, and was one of the first dance acts to embrace the digital revolution. The title track, "Love’s the Meditation," is a classy piece of melodic acid funk (?@$!wtf whatever that means), with an epic extended mix by Rong's fearless leader, DJ Spun. And there's a DJ Spun instrumental rub of Darwin Chamber's "Sugar, Sex, Magic" which one can easily imagine being embraced by the cool crop of newer techno DJs. The EP closes out with two potent Darwin Chamber originals, "Do You Feel the Love" and "303 and Me." Both have a classic acid HOUSE vibe that is the type of thing to elicit squeals of joy from the Rong camp. Enjoy!

Jon Fugler (Fluke) – “Loving this. Reach for the lasers!” DJ H4L 9000 (Volumens Festival) – “Incredible EP! Killer & fresh tracks.” Alien Tom (native Alien) – “Darwin Chamber. Um, yeah!” Rory Hoy (Howlin’ Records) – “Do You Feel The Love is a banger!” Jon Freer (Freer Sounds) – “It’s always paty time with Rong!” Simon Kirk (Stag Beetle Radio Show) – “Fantastic breaks throughout. DJ Spun’s mix of Love is the Meditation takes the honours for me.”

Available Now From: Bandcamp, Apple Music, Spotify, And Juno.

[transgenderer]

The nest sites of the mud-nesting ant Polyrhachis sokolova were studied in Darwin Harbour mangroves. They were found from the Ceriops tagal zone to the Rhizophora stylosa zone at elevations ranging from 7.22 to 5.99 meters above the lowest astronomical tide (LAT), which means that the nests were inundated in 13‐61% of all high tides and for durations of up to 3.5 hours. The nest structure was studied by excavating nests and making a cast of the galleries using polyurethane foam. The nests were quite extensive, normally with two elevated nest entrances and galleries down to depths of 45 cm. The loose soil particles at the nest entrances collapsed when the tide reached them and formed a stopper which prevented water from intruding into the nest. In this way, the galleries remained dry during high tide. The ants showed a clear swimming or "walking on the surface" behaviour when they returned to the nest just before the entrance collapsed and during ebb. The tolerance of the ants to submergence was tested in the laboratory, with 50% mortality after 11 hours submergence in seawater at 23 °C, and only 3.5 hours in water at 33 °C. Therefore, the nesting behaviour with trapped air in the galleries is necessary for survival in these environments.

All nests of P. sokolova were found in the mud, often with two nest entrances elevated above the mud surface between the trees and close to the roots. Most of the entrances were surrounded by a crater of particulate soil, which the ants excavated from the nest. The extent of the nests can be more than 100 × 50 cm. The galleries were most abundant in the upper 20 cm of the mud, but reached depths of up to 45 cm. Figure 1 shows a section of the cast 40 cm from a tree. It is evident that the majority of small chambers are situated around the highly developed root systems. Galleries connecting the main compartments of the nest were found immediately under the soil surface. Alates, workers, and brood were found throughout the entire nest. The walls of the nest chambers all consisted of very smooth clay. The galleries were not covered in silk, as in the case with some of the other members of the Polyrhachis subgenera (Hölldobler and Wilson, 1983).

The cast and the excavation of P. sokolova nests showed that the galleries cover- ed a considerable area with small tunnels connecting the main parts of the nest. This structure has the advantage that intrusion of water in one part of the nest does not necessary mean that the whole nest will be flooded. During excavation at high tide, it was found that all chambers contained air, even when situated below the water surface. During flooding, air could be squeezed out of the submerged nest by treading on it. The dense root system in the nests provides a structural support to the galleries, which may be of importance when nests are covered with up to two meters of water.

The drowning experiments also showed that the survival rate during submergence is strongly dependent on temperature. The ratio between the time in which 50% of the ants were killed at 33 °C and that at 23 °C was equivalent to a factor of 3.1, indicating that the time the ants can withstand submergence increased with a factor 3.1 for each 10 °C decrease in temperature. This temperature-dependent survival rate also indicates that survival depends on the metabolic rate of the ants and that the cause of death is asphyxiation. Thus, the factor 3.1 reflects the influence of temperature on metabolism and is within the range of the expected respiratory Q 10 for ants of this size (Nielsen, 1986a)

!!! they dont asphyxiate underwater for several hours?!

[tournament-of-x]

The Hole

Announcement!

Round 4 will begin in two days on Wednesday, October 25th, at 8AM EST! Round 4 will consist of 32 matches posted over the course of one day, and each match will be open to voting for one week.

The lineup for Round 4 is as follows:

Match 1: Boom-Boom vs. Dazzler

Match 2: Husk vs. John Greycrow

Match 3: Wolfsbane vs. Tempus

Match 4: Molly Hayes vs. Forge

Match 5: Mercury vs. Lourdes Chantel

Match 6: Beast vs. Anole

Match 7: Surge vs. Artie Maddicks

Match 8: Somnus vs. Thunderbird

Match 9: Cannonball vs. Lila Cheney

Match 10: Armor vs. Kwannon

Match 11: Banshee vs. Blink

Match 12: Synch vs. Warpath

Match 13: Khora of the Burning Heart vs. Morgan Red

Match 14: Chamber vs. Selene

Match 15: Leech vs. Toad

Match 16: Pyro vs. Frenzy

Match 17: Escapade vs. Cypher

Match 18: Klara Prast vs. Glob Herman

Match 19: Wind Dancer vs. Sunfire

Match 20: Callisto vs. Birdy

Match 21: Spyke vs. Akihiro

Match 22: Siryn vs. Marrow

Match 23: Hope Summers vs. Trinary

Match 24: Wolverine vs. Namor

Match 25: Legion vs. Gabby Kinney

Match 26: Bling! vs. Darwin

Match 27: Rachel Summers vs. Angel Salvadore

Match 28: Shatterstar vs. Stepford Cuckoos

Match 29: Warlock vs. Black Tom Cassidy

Match 30: Angel vs. Madelyne Pryor

Match 31: Hindsight vs. Catseye

Match 32: Elixir vs. Dust

Remember, this tournament is a contest of popularity, not a contest of abilities. As always, asks and propaganda are both welcomed and encouraged.

Contestants Index

[cxnsolatio]

a long time ago, i asked for some child anons where law's paternity was involved. writing this piece made me happy at the time, so i am posting it today as a drabble after revising and polishing it a bit further. the input sees a little girl donning a pink dress and pink hair asking for her daddy's attention at the massive beetle she holds in her hands. she comes with an odd request: to pull the thing apart so they can see its insides, an elementary allusion to law's devil fruit powers. by the description, it is implied this girl is the child of law and @bucketfullofocs, so i hope they enjoy this.

At the unmistakable and familiar tug of a child's plea for attention, Law got down on one knee, left arm hanging over the lifted leg while the other clung to his sword. His eyes searched the little girl's to level with them and, as he did, Law found two pools of the same gold in his irises staring back at him, not one shade darker nor lighter. That she had inherited from him, but not just: Law's daughter was every bit as curious about the natural world as he had been as a boy, constantly uttering 'oohs' and 'ahhs' like she lived in a permanent state of awe. Things he had long forgotten held beauty in this world he discovered anew through her small hands and golden eyes so full of wonder. Soon, she would be reading Darwin and Lavoisier, Saint Augustine and Descartes… But not too soon, he hoped, the father's expression soft at the endearing dimension of the child's hands.

The beetle was not all that massive, but it did appear so by contrast. Green-backed and rimmed in yellow towards its back, the poor thing writhed, not intent on giving up his freedom from the girl's small but sure grip. Law's head cocked to one side then the other as he analysed the animal, for there were a couple of species that fit the description. ❝ A Cotinis,❞ he mused, ❝ but what's your binomen? ❞ As it tossed and turned in the toddler's hand, the beetle appeared a bit dull at first, not glossy, but then it showed its jewel-like gloss when the light hit right, and turning it over on its belly metallic green shone, thus allowing Law to reach a conclusion. ❝ Cotinis mutabilis, that's your name.❞ He stated it as a kind of satisfying gotcha.

Hanging on the wall in his chambers, next to a similar board showcasing a rainbow of butterflies, Law had a frame of shiny beetles, all specimens curatorially pinned to the canvas so that their fragile wings and appendages stayed whole. Law had made it a habit of sitting his daughter in his lap, at the desk, and teaching her not just about anatomy, but of the other sorts of curios he owned, such as the concise collections of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. The scientific names were still too complex for the little girl, but the common names she could grasp. She had been showered with knowledge far too advanced since she had drooled out her first 'mama', 'baba' and 'moomoo' — that one had proven difficult at first, until Law noticed a patterned link between the use of the word and a fixation with the mother's breast — and now that his daughter could walk with him and hold a basic conversation, Law was not taking chances on her education. He kept her mind constantly stimulated, sure that it must be brilliant like his own, such was the comeliness of genetics mixed with a heightened sense of vanity as far as intellectual skill was concerned.

❝ Also known as 'figeater'.❞ He explained to his daughter with glee.

But the child was not just interested in admiring the beetle's glimmering outside, and while another may come to abhor her suggestion, Trafalgar Law, now, he relished in the infant's scientific mind, his own eternal desire to know piqued. ❝ Hold it firmly, then. We don't want it skittering away, do we? ❞ And conspiratorially he added, in a whisper that was perhaps a matrimonial plea of his own, ❝ Don't tell mummy. ❞ She approved of the learning, but not quite so much of the means of teaching.

What Mother did not know could not hurt Mother. The green gem resisted the imprisonment of silky clutches with admirable stamina. Law opened a drawer in his desk and laid out some canvas over the working surface; a fresh, sharp nail in his hand, ready to fulfil its purpose in material existence. Once his sword stood erect against the desk, and his daughter was enthroned in his lap, Law pinned the beetle down so that it would not escape its fate. Grim, but not without mercy — he need not kill the animal, nor put it under anaesthesia to satisfy his daughter's interest. His forcedly acquired powers coupled with diligently honed talents allowed him to section through the beetle without killing it; without even causing it harm. Although, it should be a funny feeling to have your insides en plain air while wide awake and sentient. Thank God the beetle had no thoughts to gather, or else it would have gone utterly, irrevocably mad from this experience.

Law called his daughter by her name. ❝ Now pay attention. ❞ To use a scalpel would have been more apt on a subject so tiny, but it was not any old scalpel she wanted, the insatiable little thing that she was. She wanted the mad scientist emerged from mists of chemical reactions and brimstone; she wanted the magnetic showman with his theatrics and the fireworks. To stick to the edge of her seat as she wondered whether Daddy could cut through something so small with a blade this large without damaging it, or herself, for that matter; and then to gasp in amazement as his fingers buzzed blue and flesh and blade worked as one to split the beetle vertically in half, as one would do to share an apple with a lover! A tiny world unveiled just for her delight, cells forming tissues, tissues forming organs, all working like cogwheels before their eyes. The heart pumped, the lungs bellowed albeit with no music and in the beetle's gut, something could be seen moving, making its way down the digestive tract. 'Poopie' they said in unison, the girl laughing at the mere mention of excrement and Law laughing at his own use of such a puerile word. It was fair to say becoming a father had emaciated his stoic persona a bit.

Other than that, his child was speechless, her eyes darting to the beetle's every little nook and cranny like the world's tiniest dollhouse. Law rubbed his index and thumb together to create a spark and moved his hand over her head, so her pink strands stuck up in the static. That, too, made her chortle with happiness.

❝ I think that's enough coleopterology for today. ❞ Against protests most vehement, Law flourished his hands and the beetle's shell fit together, finishing up the jigsaw with a final click. A moment later, the animal was still confused as to its surroundings, but otherwise unscathed. When Law unpinned it, it did not hesitate before making a run for it, or a flight, to be more scientifically accurate. Law called for his daughter to let it go, and kissed her plump cheek.

❝ Why don't we go look for Mummy? ❞ He offered the girl his hand. ❝ I wonder what she's making for supper. Beetle stew, I wager. ❞

[transmutationisms]

In what way are phrenological principles still foundational to research psychology & neurology, and science in general? Asking out of ignorance and wanting to know more.

so, phrenology throughout the 19th century was a broad program of research principles, self-help advice, and social-hygienic prognostication. we tend to think of it now as being reducible to a craniometric chart and a crank trying to divine personality traits from a person's skull shape—this did happen, but phrenology encompassed much more than that. it was a driving force in the increasing acceptance of ideas like brain localisation (that the brain did not act as one, but had distinct parts that could behave differently and independently to one another), the related position that human psychology and personalities could be classified / taxonomised / measured (like, 'attention' as being a faculty distinct from 'judgment' or 'reason' or so forth), and the belief that organic derangements of the brain accounted for a person's individual social / economic / intellectual success, as well as social phenomena like crime, delinquency, or addiction.

by about the 1890s, the word "phrenology" had become more or less dismissed in mainstream french and british scientific circles, and it was portrayed as a pseudoscientific perversion of respectable craniometry / anthropometry. this happened for many reasons, including that british and french medicine were professionalising over the course of the 19th century and that phrenological practitioners were often unlicensed and operating more in a marginal self-help space (akin to many of today's astrologers) than in institutionally sanctioned scientific circles. additionally, after world war ii, phrenology's association with eugenics made it even more unpalatable; it was now seen to be politically dangerous even to those who had previously endorsed eugenics. the same happened to many other theories and disciplines of social-hygienic or degeneration-theory ideas.

however, the rejection of phrenology that began in the late 19th century and intensified in the late 20th has been largely superficial, and 'modern' science has never really grappled with the phrenological roots of so much neuro-deterministic and anthropomentric thinking, from psychiatry to a great deal of moralistic public health to the incredibly deeply entrenched, yet blatantly prejudicial in every way, idea that a person's appearance is indicative of their character or morality. fundamentally phrenology was a major driver in the acceptance (in many different fields) of scientific 'naturalism', a general rejection of prior christian teleological thinking and search for universally deterministic scientific laws instead. rendering mental action into the category of 'natural thing governed by natural laws' was foundational, for example, to darwin's conception of evolution and his effort to distinguish his own theory from the teleological evolutionary theory of robert chambers.

none of this is to say that scientific naturalism ought to be inherently rejected, or replaced with christian metaphysics; however, failing to grapple with the fuller legacy of phrenology, and eugenics more generally, because we don't want to upset what philosophical boundaries we think we've erected between religion and 'modern' science allows such eugenic thinking to retain its centrality in current scientific practice.

it is also always worth emphasising that phrenology, like a lot of scientific theories of self-improvement, has frequently been employed as a vehicle of liberal ideology, particularly in britain. although phrenological practitioners have at various times tried to ally themselves with a superficially radical sort of 'common man's' rejection of the élite scientific institutions, phrenology has at the same time followed a general trajectory whereby it emphasises more and more an idea of personal responsibility for one's own neuro-biological traits and associated character flaws. this is often seen as more palatable than outright hereditarian thinking because, rather than tacitly endorsing the expurgation of the biologically 'unfit', the liberal phrenologist affirms that people simply need to overcome, tame, or temper their own neurobiological defects in order to live productive, socially desirable lives. cf. 'negative' versus 'positive' eugenics.

if you're interested in this i would recommend roger cooter's 'the cultural meaning of popular science: phrenology and the organisation of consent in 19th-century britain' (1984) and philip rehbock's 'the philosophical naturalists: themes in early 19th-century british biology' (1983). cooter was an avowed marxist and his account of phrenology, science, and their relationships to industrial capitalism—while not flawless—is markedly different from any other prior literature on the topic. rehbock's book is less politically daring and less focussed on phrenology specifically, but clarifies some aspects of scientific naturalism and what is meant by distinguishing a 'modern' scientific episteme from earlier practices and principles.