#Dna Day

[jpyoerixfanxv]

Happy DNA Day. (Late)

[twistingtreeancestry]

Happy National DNA Day!

As a hobby genealogist, DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is an invaluable and fun tool.

I was lucky to have a head start on my family tree, but taking a genetic test through 23andMe (psst, their kits are on sale!!) has allowed me to take my research further.

After submitting my DNA, I connected with relatives that I otherwise may have never known existed. I've filled in branches of my tree that were sturdily brick-walled due to a distant cousin and I putting our heads together to figure out our MRCA, or most recent common ancestor.

It's also given me insight into my ancestry composition! Though Ancestry's database is larger, 23andMe and Ancestry have comparable accuracy rates for their ethnicity estimates. My results have shifted since I took my test in late 2020, but it largely stayed the same.

Image Description: An image of a colorful strand of DNA. It is illuminated with a glow and has soft bubbles flowing from it. My DNA results are typed through the center of the image. Image from BeFunky stock images. Edited by Keekee Smith with BeFunky.

—————————

Everything outside of my Northwestern European percentage came as a shock to me. The exception is the trace ancestry of Indigenous American DNA, as my family claimed this ancestral ethnicity for generations. The shock with the Indigenous DNA was mainly that it was true to any extent (check out this article from Harvard University's Native American Program to learn more about the "Cherokee Princess Myth"). That's a story for a different post, though!

Initially, I wasn't sure where the Spanish & Portuguese DNA could be from, but I've since learned about an 8th great-grandfather born in Jamaica who allegedly had a Spanish father or mother. I haven't yet verified his information, so it's still unclear if that's my Spanish/Portuguese link but time will tell!

The Asian and Broadly Arab, Egyptian & Levantine DNA blew my mind. There were no family rumors or other inklings that would have ever led me to believe those would show up in my DNA. A quick Google search says that 23andMe goes back about 8 generations, so these bits of DNA likely come from within that range. Wherever it is, though, I've yet to find it!

While some of my branches are fleshed out as far back as a 12th great-grandparent, I still have many lineages brick-walled 3-4 generations back. Truth is, there's just no telling until that ancestor decides to reveal themself.

Until then, I'll keep up the familial work and enjoy the fun little things DNA has to offer. I'm taking a short hiatus from genealogy research to catch up on other responsibilities, but I'll be back to reporting my family's shenanigans in no time.

In the meantime, tell me about your ancestors and their lives! What are some interesting discoveries you've found?

[raconteur-wanpi]

Egghead from Stella's POV is very funny.

[marinette-buginette]

Kiyi is not a Princess - A Look At the Fire Nation's Line of Succession

It's not even that much about Kiyi. But the creators seemingly got so lost in the sauce that their ideas about how absolutist monarchies work are as good as taken out of Disney movies now. So, let's set the record straight.

The Fire Nation line of succession

When it comes to royal lines, there were multiple elements that went into setting the line of succession: descent, sex, legitimacy, religion etc. For the Fire Nation, the ones we have 100% confirmed are descent and legitimacy (this last one seen with the Camellia-Peony War, where Chaejin was excluded from the succession because he was born out of wedlock). I would have gone on a whim to say sex counts as well, however, it is a bit foggy. In the Reckoning of Roku, it is mentioned that Firelord Taiso believed Zeisan (Sozin's younger sister) would have been a more competent ruler but could never become Fire Lord due to being a nonbender (I didn't actually read the book, so if someone who did wants to pitch in with the exact wording, please feel free to). This implies that being a Firebender is a requirement, but being a woman isn't. However, it also implies that Taiso would have been fine with ignoring the descent part (Sozin was older) if he deemed fit. Skipping the firstborn in favour of the second one isn't unheard of when it comes to succession so sure. And he is the absolute monarch, if he wants to pass papers to change the line of succession, he can. It is unclear to me if there is any power in place to veto or block a Fire Lord's ruling on any matter so for all we know, if he wanted, he could have. Plus, the fact that Ozai got crowned over Iroh because it was 'Azulon's dying wish'. For the religion part, it seems like the Fire Sages have to perform the coronation and acknowledge the monarch.

So to make it more digestible, the line of succession (while Azulon was still alive) is: Iroh → Lu Ten (firstborn of the heir) → Ozai → Zuko → Azula. With Lu Ten dead, Iroh MIA (at the time) then we have Ozai → Zuko → Azula. When Iroh came back, he gets added at the end of this line of succession. I am a bit unclear on Iroh in current times because it looks to me like he rescinded his role in the line of succession altogether with deciding to live in Ba Sing Se and letting politically inexperienced Zuko rule instead of taking over for a few years to create some stability.

Right now, we have Fire Lord Zuko and his heir presumptive (aka an heir that can be displaced if the monarch has children) Azula. Unless he wrote a decree to take her out of the line of succession — which would require a lot more brain cells than the writers are willing to give Zuko, not that he had a lot of them when it came to politics to begin with —then she's next in line. It doesn't matter how much anyone wants it or not, if Zuko drops dead tomorrow, Azula gets the throne.

Now, onto the other matter.

How does one become a Princess?

Option 1: You marry into the royal family. For example, Ursa was styled as a Princess, as she married Prince Ozai.

Option 2: You're born in a royal line. For example, Azula is a Princess because her father is a Prince, her grandfather, at the time of her birth, was the ruling monarch of the Fire Nation etc.

Bonus Option it's complicated: Royals had a habit of having children out of wedlock sometimes. Said children, if acknowledged, could be granted titles (Count of X, Dutchess of Y etc.) . Getting acknowledged and a title does not automatically put you in the line of succession, though. For example, Firelord Chaeryu was forced to acknowledge Chaejin and avoid dishonoring his noble mother and her house, but he excluded Chaejin from the royal family.

So Kiyi is not a Princess. Simple as that. Neither of her parents are of the royal line.

Could she become a Princess?

Well, this gets interesting.

Let's start with the fact that Kiyi got a pretty bad deal in a class-based monarchical society.

First thing, while her mother is a noble, her father is a commoner. Even if Ursa's family became destitute after Roku's death because of political reasons, it does not change the fact that she is still nobility unless Sozin revoked Rina's title, which I am not 100% sure he did. We don't know anything about Jinzuk besides the fact that he was the magistrate of Hira'a. While magistrates do not have to be part of the nobility, they can be. He could have been a second/third/fourth son of a small noble family with limited power/resources, given the position he was given was in a place like Hira'a, which is what I am inclining towards. He could have also been just some guy, but someone appointed him, and as a rule of thumb, you don't just go into the street and pick a random person to appoint to an administrative and leadership role, even if it's a small town. Given that Azulon was set on Ozai marrying Ursa because she was Roku's granddaughter, whether or not Jinzuk was a noble, it doesn't matter all that much in the grand scheme of things. However, in Kiyi's case, it does if Zuko wants to give her a title. It's more stigma than anything because people can be given nobility titles for specific services to the crown etc. But this is not her only issue. Which leads me to...

Second thing, Kiyi is a bastard. Which, in my opinion, would hold even more stigma than her father not being a noble. Ursa never divorced Ozai. As far as we know, polygamist marriages aren't a thing in the Fire Nation, so her marriage to Ikem/Noren is invalid. Could she be granted a divorce retroactively by the Fire Sages? Actually, yeah. Because Zuko named Shyu as High Sage, which was like the one sound political move he ever did tbh. We don't see what the Fire Nation's stance on divorce is, but given that Shyu is a Zuko loyalist, he'd probably grant Ursa retroactive divorce from Ozai. I am not a legal expert, however, as far as I know, retroactive decisions tend to be reserved for correcting a mistake or omission in the written record. She was still married to Ozai when she went and married Ikem. Though technically, she married him under a fake identity (and so did he), which might make the marriage void regardless in the eyes of the law. Idk how Spirit involvement affects legal matters in the world of Avatar, but as things stand right now, unless we pretzel-twist ourselves to make excuses, Kiyi is born outside of legitimate wedlock.

Now, Zuko might not care. In fact, he probably doesn't. He could still give Kiyi a title, including that of Princess. It was not uncommon for illegitimate relatives of rulers to be offered roles/titles once acknowledged. The real question is if he would put her in the line of succession. Kiyi has no business being there because she does not have royal blood.

Could Zuko do whatever he wants, give her the title of Princess and shove her in the line of succession while taking Azula out of it for good measure? Sure, he can. He'd probably love that, in fact. But that leaves two things open.

One, nobility would not take kindly to a bastard child of a commoner with no royal blood being in the line of succession. If we also add the angle of taking Azula out of it, it would just increase their ire. There is already a long list of why the nobility is probably angry at Zuko (and should attempt to assassinate him a lot more than they do), but I think this one in particular has other implications. There might be nobles who are neutral about Zuko. Shamelessly discarding societal norms on a whim might make their perspective swing towards negative. It could make him lose goodwill he might have or potential allies.

Two, it will make the commoners wonder. If this random girl, raised as a peasant, with a commoner father, born out of wedlock, can be put in the line of succession just like that — while discarding a princess of the blood if we are at it — then… is the royal line not that special? The whole premise of a monarchy is that the monarch and their descendants have the divine right to rule. Being part of that bloodline gives you the right to rule. So if that can be discarded, if that bloodline is not all that important… should Zuko be Firelord? And most importantly, does the Fire Nation really need a monarch at all?

Kiyi is not a princess, and for the well-being of Zuko's reign — which is already barely holding together — he better not make her one.

[dclovesdanny]

Musical ship aus

Dead on Main x Heathers

Jason managed to convince the Outlaws to join him in auditioning for the musical coming up at the Crime Alley Theatre he set up as Red Hood. (He made sure everyone tried out in civilian forms, because he didn’t want anyone getting a certain part due to their hero identity) (Bizarro decided to just help out in the costume department.)

Danny was mostly auditioning to keep busy. He was in Gotham to recuperate after an accident with the GIW, but not being able to be busy was making him antsy (not including the mechanic work he did for some of the goonion) So, he auditioned.

Danny got the role of Veronica

Jason got the role of JD

Roy got the role of Kurt

Artemis got the role of Heather Chandler.

(And if the few goons who knew Danny as the mechanic and knew Jason as the Wayne who funded their boss back in the beginning? Well, they did need to rework Fight For Me and Dead Girl Walking pretty often.)

[carebooks]

to all those new comers to the Percy Jackson world and being off on shipping Percabeth because Poseidon and Athena are uncle and niece, it’s stated in the books (specifically The Lost Hero) that gods don’t have DNA the way humans do.

and if that still doesn’t convince you or you may think it’s not a real or valuable explanation, let’s recall other ways that births happen in both greek myths and the Riordanverse:

- Zeus birthed Athena from his brain

- Athena’s demigod children are born the same way. out of her mind. so Annabeth is already way off from the usual goddess birth route

- Zeus also birthed Dionysus from his thigh

- Hephaestus was born from Hera and Zeus, but in a lot of versions its actually Hera who just had him by herself. she got pregnant and it happened. they’re gods. (then chucked him down a mountain) again, they’re gods.

- Hebe, goddess of youth, was born from Hera and a piece lettuce she ate

- in the Trials of Apollo, we learn that Kayla Knowles, daughter of Apollo, has a human father, Darren. meaning she has two fathers: Darren and Apollo. no mother involved in her creation whatsoever.

- Zeus has impregnated quite a large number of people during his time and in various different forms. one of the weirdest ones by far was when he came to a queen in the form of a swan, embraced her as that swan and nine months later she gave birth to two eggs. they hatched and inside was Helen of Sparta (as in Helen of Troy), Clytemnestra, Castur and Pollox.

- Poseidon and Medusa had a child and that child was born from Perseus cutting off Medusa’s head. that child was Pegasus. (yes, that Pegasus) (also some other dude was born too)

- Aphrodite was born out of sea foam made from the severed genitals of Ouranos that fell to the oceans

have i convinced you already? are we done here?

[turtleblogatlast]

Leo!!💙💗🤍💗💙

[kodasea]

We live in a society (is the joke dead yet?)

[new-revenant]

Dani finally gets stable via the help of a reformed Vlad and discovers her obsession is discovery. Once she's old enough, and all the legal papers are settled, Dani goes to college in Star city, she's studying medicine and bio engineering along with paleontology, while bored one day she decided to use the campus lab and a smidge of dino DNA from the local museum, she bumped into a dino skeleton while fighting a rouge ghost, and essentially created a clone baby dinosaur, specifically a triceratops. Over the course of a few weeks Dani makes a few more of different species and catches Green Arrow's attention

Green Arrow!!!! Yes!!! And discovery is a neat idea for an Obsession, even if this prompt does go in a bit of a weird direction. I don’t mean that in a bad way, I just did not expect that at all lamo. Dani accidentally becomes a Dino themed “villain” because you cannot expect her to keep an eye on all of them 24/7. Although it becomes very obvious that she is trying so hard to wrangle all of them whenever they cause the slightest amount of mayhem. Green Arrow is just glad that Dani isn’t trying to sick the dinos on the city on purpose. But she will get banned from messing with any prehistoric DNA.

[alipeeps]

Fangs of Fortune and Hope

So much of Fangs of Fortune revolves around hope, not just for the characters, but for the audience... and the way hope is used as a narrative device.

(Read more cos holy shit this got away from me...)

Hopes and dreams are a primary motivation, and humanising aspect, of the characters.

Zhao Yuanzhou's story is all about hope. Has been without hope for so very long... trapped by his own nature in a life without end, without hope of relief, mired in misery.. and fearing what he will become/do. Zhuo Yichen represents the first spark of hope he has had in so long - that the cycle can be broken, that his torment can end... and that the world can be protected from the danger he represents.

But as the show progresses, he finds himself daring to hope for more than just death... as he builds connections with the team - with Zhuo Yichen and Wen Xiao in particular - he begins to hope for something else... for the possibility of a future, one that is no longer bleak and lonely. As the Baize goddess - who never gave up hope for him - promised, he found the person(s) who would make him want to live.

When his senses are sealed and he is fighting not to be overwhelmed his demonic energy, he holds onto the hope - the dream - of a future for him and Wen Xiao to keep the demonic energy at bay.

And he never - never - gave up hope for Li Lun, that he could be redeemed, be saved. Even as he used up all his thousands of years of cultivation to re-forge the Cloud Light Sword in order to forcibly remove Li Lun from Bai Jiu's body, he still hoped for Li Lun to live on, made Zhuo Yichen promise to save his life, offered a way for his spirit to endure with the hope of cultivating back to a human form.

Bai Jiu's entire story arc is motivated by hope. He leaves home whilst still a child with the desperate, burning hope of learning medicine to become a healer and be able to save his mum. And it is that desperate hope that leaves him vulnerable to Wen Zongyu's manipulation, that pushes him to go against his nature and betray his friends - people he genuinely cares for.

And Ying Lei is all about hopes and dreams. He goes against centuries of tradition and expectations to pursue his hopes and dreams in the mortal realm.. and the dream he is pursuing is informed wholly by the hopes and dreams of humans. He sees how humans find connection and comfort in food, how food can be an act of love and caring, and longing... and he wants to be a part of that, to be able to provide that connection and affection to people. He uses his magic in "frivolous" ways to make a perishable food last much longer, in the hope that his friend will still be able to eat a comforting food even if he is not there to cook it freshly. He does this even before they have rescued Bai Yu.. spending his time and his magical energy in the hope that they will rescue him.

Even in the midst of tragedy, these characters cling onto hope - even as both Bingyi and Zhuo Yichen are forced to kill the ones they love most to save the world, each of them finds a way to save a shred of their soul, so that they are not gone forever, so that there is hope of return.

And hope is a major theme for the audience too. Despite the clear and repeated foreshadowing, as we come to know and love these characters, we cannot help but build hope that there is another way, that the fate they are seemingly doomed to can be avoided. The show plays with this idea, by turns affirming that their ending is inevitable and suggesting that maybe it is not. Ying Long's spirit reminds Zhuo Yichen and Zhao Yuanzhou that they are fated to repeat the same choice that he and Bingyi had to make, before expressing the hope that they and their friends will be able to travel the world and have adventures together.

If there were no hope at all, if the fated ending were presented as relentlessly inescapable, there would be no tension, no investment in the outcome. So the show keeps offering us that hope, teasing us with the idea that... maybe. Even though in our hearts we know how it must end... we can't help but hope. And isn't that the very core of the story? So much death and tragedy, loss and pain... and yet there is always still hope.

But what struck me in particular - and what inspired me to write this post - is the way hope is used as a narrative device.

One way in which this is done is in subverting expectations. I've remarked several times on how the show often used flashbacks to add more information/context to a previous scene that then alters the present narrative. And this was often done when a situation seemed hopeless. Where it seemed there was no way they could escape/survive this - and then a flashback to a previous scene would reveal that the team had foreseen this outcome and planned for it and all hope was not lost after all. For a moment the audience is plunged into despair - the team is doomed! - and then we rejoice because hope is given back to us.

But more powerful than that is how the audience's hope is used to underscore the most harrowing scenes.

Out of the many deaths in this show, the two deaths that were (for me) the most traumatic were those of Ying Lei and Bai Jiu - both by virtue of their being unexpected, and also because the characters were the youngest (I know Ying Lei was a demi-god and physically older than everyone but Zhao Yuanzhou, but in god/demon terms he was still a youngster and his personality was very young, and he and Bai Jiu were very much the goofy kids of the team) and most innocent of the group.

But also because in both of these deaths the show deliberately - it seemed to me - offered us a moment of hope that they would survive... only to then snatch it away.

During the fight with Li Lun, Ying Lei was so badly injured and I was so worried that he was going to die... but then he broke through to Li Lun and the team saved Bai Jiu and Ying Lei was hugging him and reluctant to let go of him and I thought it was over, they'd saved Bai Jiu, everything was going to be okay.

A moment of hope and relief. And then Ying Lei died.

And then when Zhao Yuanzhou and Zhuo Yichen realised Bai Jiu must have been the one to destroy the ashes and save Zhuo Yichen, Zhao Yuanzhou urges Zhuo Yichen to use the feather and go to Bai Jiu and I had a moment of wild hope that yes, Zhuo Yichen can get to him and get him to a doctor, it's not too late, he can be saved...

The episode ends on a moment of (for me) fierce and desperate hope that Bai Jiu will live.

Only for that hope to be immediately ripped away at the start of the next episode. Zhuo Yichen - who had rushed there hoping against hope - finds Bai Jiu already dead and his grief, and ours, is all the more raw and debilitating for that brief moment of hope.

Our hope is weaponised against us to maximise the impact of the narrative. And god is it effective. I don't think I've ever had such an emotional response to a show.

And then the extra episode, after all the pain and loss and grief of episode 34, once again gives us back hope. Zhuo Yichen saved that scrap of Zhao Yuanzhou's soul and sets out on a desperate, hopeful quest to find it. And at the very end, he does. And the show ends on that final, joyous moment of hope restored - their story can continue.

[chirpsythismorning]

Yeah a teaser dropping on ST day would be cool. But can we agree that a DNA board reveal would be infinitely better?

[mobius-m-mobius]

#wake up y'all the husbands are husbanding again 🥰🙏

John Simm and Philip Glenister on DNA Journey S05E01

[demifiendrsa]

28 YEARS LATER – Official Trailer

Posters

Synopsis

It’s been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, and now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected. One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well.

[judasisgayriot]

Signed in Blood

[temeyes]

seido baseball team's formidable captain, everyone! (clean ver below!)

drew this as a warm up, but the editing crap took me almost 2hrs ahsahsha!!!!

he likes to take tito-coded selfies imo,,,,,

[radio-4-is-static]

The last song that was written, the last lyrics that were written was (for) the song “Hooked.” It starts off with the line, “I’ve got the fear / I’ve got the human fear.” And I realize that so many of the songs had an underlying theme of fear to them. But not necessarily succumbing to fear, but more like overcoming fear. “The Doctor” is about the fear of leaving an institution, and “Bar Lonely” is the fear of leaving a relationship. ��Night or Day” is the fear of committing to a relationship. But fear is fascinating because fear is universal. We all experience fear. We all experience the same fears. But how we respond to it is individual. And that’s how we find who we are, our personalities. And overcoming fear feels good. That’s why we watch horror films or ride rollercoasters — because you overcome fear and then feel very alive for having done so.

– Alex Kapranos on the story behind Franz Ferdinand's latest album The Human Fear for AP