#I find wasps hard to identify

[morgan-the-lonely-brick]

Found a little friend today 🥰

It's still pretty cold, so this gal was very stiff and sleepy. She was in the middle of a dangerous sidewalk, so I relocated her to safety. I gave her some warmth and sent her on her way❤️

[ssseriema]

hi seri, i have this bug that i have been fruitlessly trying to identify for WEEKS and decided maybe i should reach out. I’ll attach the photo of it, i put it into my identifier app and it says it’s a ‘mexican grass carrying wasp’ but i truly believe that is wrong. i KNOW its a wasp or flying ant, its a pollinator of some sort, and it hangs out in oregon. thank you for your services to all bug lovers 🙏 -Izzy

i tried to find a match but theres so many black and dark thread waised wasps its hard lol. ive heard blue mud dauber, great black wasp doesnt seem the right size, maybe pryonix atratus? im really not sure im sorryyy

[mrtreesnek]

When people think about wasps, they tend to think violent and aggressive. That's not entirely their fault, the general media and their friend's accounts usually paint the same picture.

I've come to see them quite differently though.

Like with most insects, they're more scared of humans than we ever could be of them. Humans are such big creatures that could crush them and their hive in an instant. The worst a wasp could do to a human is sting them, or cause an allergic reaction if they're unlucky.

It's important to understand that the wasp is only defending, it can't understand the difference between getting close because of fascination, or because of hunger.

Wasps think differently than humans, they have a more prominent expression of fight or flight, life or death. Because they still have predators, they have to.

This is commonly misinterpreted. It's hard to not think of wasps as constantly hostile when across all planes of communication they're being demonized.

I believe a key to making sense of their actions is understanding their viewpoint.

In the wild, a solitary wasp sits on her carefully constructed nest. She doesn't understand why she's brightly colored, yellows allowing sharp contrast to black, she just knows it works.

The warning colors keep some predators away from her fragile hive where her young will soon grow.

When a perceived predator ignores the warning, when they get too close, she springs into action with her world renowned stinger. She can't afford to lose her hive. Of course she could always make a new one, but that would take precious time and resources, and her larvae need that time.

When she's successfully driven the attacker away, she returns to her hive. She has protected it.

She doesn't understand when the hive begins shaking, why it resents and shames her. They were trying to hurt the hive, why does it now defend their actions?

She won, why does it shake and sob?

Her hive expresses its sadness in how she defends, how it wishes they weren't alone anymore. How could she not have noticed? The defense of her hive was only hurting it more.

The isolation, she realized, forcing people away when they get too close; she was falsely identifying dangers.

Of course, she still needed help identifying who to attack and who not to, she learned to recognize threats from attempts at friendship..

As they focus less on defense, and more on the hives daily life, she realizes there's more than just life and death, predator and prey.

When she steps down and lets her hive express itself—himself—she learns more about him, about friendship and how proud she feels defending others from genuine threats. Together, they both grow and find happiness.

She understands how much easier it is for him to focus on his learning, how much he enjoys it now.

^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°

its too direct, and incorrect to say i am the wasp.

i am like her hive, the wasp is my subconscious,my illness ,my disorder, she wont be going away, so i have to work with her. She wont abandon her hive, but she can defend him properly.

^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°

I'm not diagnosed, and im not going to fight about having this disorder,

but I can say my favorite phrase. "If the coping mechanisms help, then it doesnt matter if you're diagnosed or not" i dont remember where it came from 😭.

^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°

i also have this metaphor i found from Nerium-Lemontree

the leashed dog, angry and misunderstanding.. i think they both make a lot of sense,

^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°

sharing my midnight chant about this too.

through stigmatism and shame, hardship and relapse, i will persevere

i will succeed.

through breakups and fading friends, splitting and coping,

ill be okay, because of my will to stay alive, my will to keep going, to spite everyone around me, because i love to explore, because i love to understand.

(thats why i love star trek so much)

i can walk away, i can hide, but i wont back down,

it is hard to remember when im in the depths of it. but things that stick in my mind i will always remember

things my best friend says to me,

"i do care about you, I don’t hate you, I like talking it out and being able to understand you”

^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°^°

[illarian-rambling]

8 and 9 from the pride ask game - OCs of your choice?

8. Have they had struggles with their identity, be it due to internal or external reasons?

There's not much homo- or transphobia on Illaros (they got bigger fish to fry), so there isn't much in the way of large-scale societal pressures. Honestly, the person who struggles the most is Djek because no one believes him when he says he's straight. Yes, make-up is more acceptable for men to wear on Illaros, but this man dresses in crop tops and short shorts, talks in a higher register, and is very free with his emotions. In short, people stereotype him as gay. Not even in a malicious way usually - they just make the assumption. They have a hard time accepting that a straight, cis man can go around with flawless eyeliner and stiletto boots. But this doesn't bother Djek too much. Especially once he gets out of the Tunnel Wasps and their macho, tough guy atmosphere. He knows he looks stellar and usually takes the confusion as a compliment in that regard.

9. Are there cultural or lore specific aspects to their identity? If applicable, does their species affect it?

I suppose I'll talk about Izjik and Avymere here!

Halawemavar have very different ideas of sexuality and relationships. For one, they have no words for different sexualities. You like or don't like whoever you like or don't like. If you date only women, that's seen as a personal preference no more worthy of remarking upon than perfering to date people in your profession or extroverts. Polyamory is also quite normalized. Because of this, Izjik is very open to most any type of relationship. She wouldn't describe herself as a sapphic-leaning pansexual - she just likes women more frequently than men. Later on, after her epilog, she gets into an open marriage with a woman named Yezi. The marriage part was the strangest thing for Izjik, since that's another thing halawemavar don't do.

As for Avymere, their identity as nonbianary is also very normalized in elven society. The Skysheerian dialect actually recognizes six sets of pronouns. In their native tongue, Avymere would be considered fe'penche - or nonbianary, but female leaning, because they tend to dress in feminine clothes. However, Janazi doesn't have words for that, so they stick with they/them when speaking the human language. Avymere has identified as nonbianary since they were very young. It's more common in elven societies for kids to experiment with gender at a young age - it's seen as healthy, in fact - however, Avymere was more decisive in than most in finding their identity, as they are with most things.

Thanks for the asks and happy pride!

[celinamarniss]

Ao3 is down so I'm posting the first chapter of A Smuggler's Guide to Joining the Rebellion (the sequel to Things You Find on Tatooine) here as a birthday present for @virusq Happy Birthday!

It was the sharp tone in Mara’s voice that Han registered long before he recognised the words as they carried down the starboard corridor. “Chewbacca,” Mara hissed, “you’re not listening to me—” 

It was the sort of tone that brought Han to an abrupt stop before his brain had realized what his body was doing. Chewie’s reply was too low to make out, but his answer was terse and unhappy. 

Oh no no no no. Han was not getting in the middle of some lover’s spat. Swiveling on his heel, He slunk back down the corridor as quietly as he could manage. 

“I know you’re there, Han,” Mara’s voice rang down the corridor. 

Han frowned, foot half-raised. He was sure he’d been quiet. Why had he tried so hard to be quiet? This was his ship, wasn’t it? He didn’t need to creep around on his ship.

“Yeah?” he called back. “What of it? A man should be able to walk around his own ship whenever he pleases!” To prove his point, he let his feet fall heavily on the grated floor, even though he was still retreating backwards down the corridor. 

“If the both of you are done bickering, we’re coming up on Riggett Station. If anyone on the crew wants to help dock the ship today.” A sullen silence answered him and followed him into the cockpit. 

Moments later, Chewie lumbered down the corridor. “Teenagers,” he muttered under his breath as he joined Han. Mara trailed behind him like a little black cloud. 

She got like that sometimes. Han didn’t understand it, Chewie couldn’t predict it. Without warning, she would fall into a sulk and shut herself off in her room with only her small arsenal of weaponry to keep her company. Eventually she’d come out again, usually to eat, and when she did she acted like nothing had happened. Han didn’t know if this was normal, since he wasn’t entirely sure how teenaged girls were meant to behave. The girls he’d known when he’d been a teenager had, like himself, been fighting too hard to stay alive on the streets of Corellia to mope in a cupboard. 

Mara tucked herself in the seat behind Chewie and turned to the navigator’s console without speaking. Chewie grumbled something Han didn’t catch as he settled into the co-pilot’s couch. 

“What was that?” Han asked absently as he reached for the lever that would take them out of hyperspace. 

But he never did find out what Chewie was going to say, because at that moment, realspace solidified around them with an abrupt jolt that rocked the entire ship. Was the alluvial dampener malfunctioning again? Han had a moment to wonder before the proximity alarm began to shriek. 

“Shit.” 

An Imperial patrol ship hovered like a viper wasp in the starboard viewport, gleaming silver against the star-pricked void. 

“Shit, shit, shit, shit.” Han silenced the alarm. “That shouldn’t be there!” 

They knew the patrol schedule for this sector—at least, they’d known last month’s schedule—and no one was due in this particular space lane for a few days. 

“They’re hailing us,” Mara said tightly. 

The Falcon’s comm dropped the first seconds of the call, almost as if in spite. “—erial patrol, freighter, please identify yourself.”  

Han jabbed at comm with enough force to drive it into the control panel. “This is the freighter Millenium Falcon, sending our transponder ID now.” 

“Stand by, Millenium Falcon.” 

“They’re going to board and search the ship,” Chewie rumbled. 

They were fucked if the Imps did a full search of the ship. The fifty barrels of high-grade Kessel spice sitting in their hold wasn’t sort of haul you couldn’t hide under a floor panel. They didn’t have time to move the barrels to a more secure hiding place and if a boarding party had a strong enough scanner, it wouldn’t matter where they hid it. 

“Prepare for approach,” the comm droned. 

“Uh, that’s not necessary, officer,” Han said, knowing, even as the words left his mouth, exactly how unconvincing he sounded. “As you can see from our ID, we’re just an independent freighter headed to pick up some work on the station.” 

“Millenium Falcon, hold and prepare for boarding and inspection.” 

There was a finality to the click that ended the transmission that couldn’t be denied. The nose of the cruiser slowly rotated until it pointed in their direction like a blunted arrow. 

“Dump ‘em,” Han barked. “We’re still out of range of their scanners. We’re far enough into the system—we dump the cargo and it’ll just look like orbiting debris.” 

“Will that work?” Mara asked. 

“It’s worked before,” Han said grimly. He and Chewie had never tried it before—not exactly—but it was a common enough tactic that lots of smugglers employed. “But we have to do it now. Dump everything. Mara—” 

But she was already gone. Han cursed under his breath and scrambled after her. When he caught up to her in the cargo bay, she had already donned her gloves and was releasing the locking clamps on the rack of barrels. 

“Just shove ‘em into the elevator and we’ll dump them out of the loading—careful! What are you doing!—Don't scrape them along the floor! They’ll be able to tell there was cargo in here.” 

“On this floor?” Mara waved a hand wildly. “Oh, they’ll definitely be able to tell what scratches on this floor are from illegal cargo.” 

Han heaved a barrel into the freight elevator. “I’ll be able to tell, and if I can tell—” 

A large furry hand reached around from behind him and hoisted two barrels out of the way. “Quit arguing,” Chewie rumbled. 

“We’re not—” Han and Mara snapped at the same time. 

“Just a difference of opinion,” Han said as he helped Mara tip a barrel on its side and roll into the lift. “Mara’s opinion is wrong and mine is right.” 

Han kicked the final barrel onto the freight elevator where it banged against the other with an ear-piercing clang. He spared a millisecond to worry about the goods before remembering that they were about to space the whole lot. 

“Alright, back off.” They retreated to the entryway of the hold as Han activated the elevator release. 

The elevator disappeared into the floor as it lowered the barrels out of sight. They listened to the clunk and hiss of the airlock sealing the cargo off from the rest of the ship, and then—nothing. It was all gone, thousands of credits dumped into space. 

Back in the cockpit, they watched the shadow of the patrol ship slide across the Falcon’s viewport. 

“Everyone gets boarded,” Han said into the silence. “It’s fine. It’s going to be fine, everything’s going to be fine. They’ll smell that something’s off, but if they can’t find it, they can’t pin it on us.” 

The Falcon shuddered as it was caught in the grip of the tractor beam and they all flinched at the vibration, followed by the deep mechanical grinding of the airlock slotting into place. 

Han could feel Mara and Chewie’s eyes on him. “I’ll go show ‘em around,” he said. 

He had a bad feeling about this. 

“I’ll do it,” Mara said, darting out of the cabin again. 

“Mara—” 

“She can do it,” Chewie said. 

“She’d better,” Han muttered, pushing out of his seat. “All our asses are on the line if she doesn’t.” 

By the time he reached the airlock, five stormtroopers were assembling in the cramped corridor headed by an Imperial officer that looked exactly like every other Imperial officer that Han had ever met. There was something about that uniform that seemed to drain any sort of personality out of a person. 

Mara stood between him and the Imperials, her hands loose at her sides, as unarmed as Mara ever was. “Officer! Welcome to the Millennium Falcon!” 

Han had never heard her use that tone of voice before. It was innocuous and sweet, too-bright. Chirpy. 

It clearly wasn’t the sort of reception the officer had been expecting, either, and it was just enough to throw him off. He closed his mouth around an unspoken command and stared down at her for a moment before he was able to reassess the situation he had walked into. Mara met his gaze with the straightforward earnestness of a concerned citizen with nothing to hide. Han almost believed her himself. Good girl, he thought. 

“We’re here to search this freighter for any contraband or unregistered cargo,” the Imperial officer said stiffly. 

“Of course, officer,” Mara replied, bright and eager. “We’re on our way to Glavis to pick up a job, so we’re running light right now. Do you have all the equipment you need to scan the cargo hold?” 

“A visual inspection is all that’s required at this juncture. Is that your captain?” The officer said, craning his head around in Han’s direction. The expression on the Imperial’s face froze as Chewie lumbered into the view. 

“Yeah, I’m him,” Han said. He gestured at Chewie. “Our first mate. And muscle.” 

“Is it under control?” the officer muttered, more to Mara than Han. 

“Chewbacca’s very reliable!” she said, before Han had a chance to mouth off. “You don’t have to worry about anything! Would you like to view the hold now?” 

The officer made a show of looking Han and Chewie up and down once more before he nodded. “Keep an eye on them,”  he said to one of the troopers. 

“Sure, we’ll just wait in the lounge until you’re done,” Han said, backing down the curve of the corridor. The trooper hefted his blaster and marched in the same direction. 

“Our cargo hold is right this way!” Mara chirped. “If you’ll follow me, sir…” 

A single stormtrooper remained to guard the exit as the other three marched after Mara and the officer toward the cargo bay. The stormtrooper assigned to watch Han and Chewie stood at attention in the entryway to the lounge, and while it was impossible to tell where he was looking, not with those helmets, Han could feel his eyes on them. 

Kriffing Imps. 

Chewie put his hands on the table, relaxed and visible, as though he were just resting them on the edge of the holoboard. After a moment, Han did the same, though he itched to drop his hand and rest it on the handle of his blaster. 

Every moment that passed, those barrels were spiraling further and further away from the space lanes, 

They’d never be able to retrieve them. 

After about two minutes, he couldn’t take it anymore. The stormtrooper hefted his blaster as he got to his feet, and Han jerked his hands up in a display of compliance. 

Insolent compliance. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said. 

“Keep within bounds,” the Trooper barked. 

Han let his hands drop a few inches as he paced over to one end of the lounge, turning on his heel at the edge of the room and looping back again. And again. 

If Mara wasn’t able to convince them that the Falcon was a perfectly harmless cargo hauler, then the Imperials would arrest them and likely throw them into some sort of hellish Imperial prison. Han didn’t want to think about the sort of sentence that Chewie or Mara would face. 

Or—the Imperials might just shoot them. 

Or this was just routine harassment, and if they didn’t see any evidence of smuggling, they’d accept a bribe—not that they had much of anything to bribe with—and be on their way. 

Han made another circuit of the lounge. He could hear Mara’s chatter drifting down the hall before he saw her. The sound of a door sliding open, and then another, told Han they were doing a search of the Falcon, but only a perfunctory one. He craned his head out of the lounge, obeying the letter of the law by not lifting a foot to step into the corridor. He could hear the impatient shift of the stormtrooper behind him, but the Imp didn’t call him on it. 

Han tensed as Mara paused in front of the door to her personal arsenal. She stood in front of the former supply closet, radiating innocence and chattering on, and not one of the stormtroopers moved to open the door. It was almost as if they couldn’t see it. 

Han squinted at the troopers as they continued on down the hallway until they reached the airlock. He could hear the click and of their comms, and then the trooper on guard duty in the lounge shouldered past him to rejoin his squad. 

The inspection was over. 

If they’d had an Imperial flag onboard, Mara would have waved them off. “Thank you, officer! We appreciate your service!” she called as the airlock rolled back into place. 

They waited in the cockpit for a long, tense half an hour before the comm pinged. 

“Millennium Falcon, you may go on your way,” a bored voice droned over the comm. Above them, the patrol ship slowly glided back into the space lane and hovered there, clearly waiting to track the Falcon’s route as it headed toward Glavis. There was no way they could go back and collect the spice they’d dumped without giving themselves away. Han could barely feel his fingers as he steered the Falcon away from a fortune in spice. 

“Jabba knows exactly how many barrels we were delivering to Glavis,” Chewbacca said. 

“Yeah.” A cold stone settled in Han’s stomach. 

They were fucked. 

[eastern-hercules-beetle]

Hey, thank you so much for identifying my buprestid earlier! I have another beetle question.

Are you able to identify these guys? I live in northern Idaho in the U.S., on the border of Idaho and Washington. The first beetle is some kind of carrion/burying beetle, specifically a kind that secretes that nasty-smelling chemical defense (it sprayed my glove when I picked it up), but I wasn't able to identify it beyond that. The second beetle I haven't tried looking up because I honestly don't know where to start, and beetle identification scares me 😅

Thank you! Bugs are wonderful 💜

the first one is nicrophorus marginatus, the margined burying beetle! visually separated from similar-looking species by their zigzag orange stripes, entirely black head, and antennae that are orange at the very end. they make small carrion into food-filled nests for their babies, like a bug pantry.

the second one is most likely necydalis diversicollis, a species with seemingly no agreed-upon common name. they have very short elytra, black wings, mostly black antennae, and either black or rusty heads. i can't be 1000% sure of this simply because it's so hard to find information about them online, but i'm still pretty confident since good sources have pictures of this species that look exactly like the one you found. very interesting species, had me fooled thinking they were a wasp (which i suspect is a defense mechanism to deter would-be predators)

the thing about beetles is that they get much more specific than, say, toads. you could theoretically ID a species with a lot of close lookalikes using only a good picture of it because of how particular it is. my general rule of thumb is, if i can't find an exact clone of the bug i'm trying to ID in pictures of a species i've looked up, it's probably not the right one. my default strategy is to do broad searches first, then refine it and sift through results until i find a match. i would go into more detail but i fear that it would make me sound insane.

thanks for the lovely buggie pictures! IDing them is very fun for me :)

[jonnysinsectcatalogue]

Ichneumon Wasp - Exetastes suaveolens

I've been fortunate this year with finding new, relatively large Ichneumonid Wasps to showcase here. They are a numerous family with an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 species flying around worldwide, many waiting to be discovered. Furthermore, a majority of them are small, making them hard to photograph and then subsequently identify, so finding large ones solves both problems. Of course, you do have to approach them carefully as Ichneumonids tend to be skittish...hence only two pictures of this individual. Secondly, just because a specimen is large, doesn't mean it's guaranteed to be easy to identify. This specie, however, is fairly distinct given its all-black body, long, dark, (relatively) thick antennae, and all of its legs featuring a bright yellow tibia and tarsus. The ends of the legs frankly do a great job hiding on the goldenrod as it moves along the flowers. Having said that, do ensure that the yellow sections on the legs are unbroken as other Ichneumonids appear similar to this one (such as various Therion species).

It's no coincidence to find E. suaveons among goldenrod flowers. The little flowers not only provide food for the adults in the form of pollen and nectar, but they also play host to this Wasp's, well, host. According to Bugguide, this Wasp solely parasitizes the Caterpillars of the Goldenrod Hooded Owlet Moth (Cucullia asteroides), which as the name suggests, they feed on the goldenrod flowers. How fortunate for the Bug hanging beneath the stalking Wasp! I did not find any striped Caterpillar that meet the description, but if there's goldenrod, they're likely out there somewhere. Unless the other Wasps mobbing the goldenrods didn't scare them off or eat them. You see, not pictured here but the goldenrods being photographed were in full bloom, and thusly covered in a variety of beautiful insects, including many types of Wasp, many of them more ferocious than this Ichneumonid. That is to say that they are more likely to hunt with their mandibles and stinger and forage, rather than just forage. Should this Wasp be pushed from its flowers, it will need to find to find somewhere to feed, and in this specimen's case, search for a mate. It's a male specimen as evidenced by the lack of a short, upward turned ovipositor. For a comparison, a female's ovipositor would look similar to that of Therion species. Regardless of the speedbumps, these Wasps will find a way; I expect smooth sailing from an insect whose name contains "suave" (haha).

Pictures were taken on August 20, 2023 with a Google Pixel 4.

[kiwi245]

Hi! I would first like to start off with telling you that I really am sorry about everything you are going through. It will pass and you’ll find someone who truly loves you, but I know that’s hard to think about right now.

I realized recently that I’m about 2 weeks late on my promised GardenWings lore, so here you go ♥️. It might me a little long sorry lol

-each dragonet has a 50/50 chance of being a plant related to or of the parents plants or being an entirely new one.

-eggs show little to no sign of the plant type, and even then it’s not 100% reliable. You’ll start to see changes in the dragonet that will reveal its plant type, and at 1 year old you’ll know their plant but not before then. Until then they are varying shades of green, usually the same green as their eggs.

-there are sub-tribes within the tribe for each plant species, and sub-sub-tribes, or “clans” for the variations of the plant in the sub-tribe. (Ex: Sub-tribe: Rose, Clans: White, Pink, Red, ect)

-the rarer plant sub-tribes have higher ranking in the tribe, as well as clans having slightly varying ranking within the sub-tribe for rarer plant variations

-Queens and Kings are not determined solely by bloodline: only the rarest of the plants can be royalty. There would be large gaps in the time between rulers if it was only heirs, as rare plants are more rarely hatched. Therefore, a dragon from any background or bloodline can rule as long as they are a very rare plant type. This provides just enough dragons to keep order.

-the moment the rarest plant dragonets are identified they are whisked away from their parents to begin training. Having a rare royalty egg is both a blessing and a curse, as it will raise the parents and relatives in the hierarchy, but they also won’t see much of their dragonet until they rule, and often royalty have little to no known connection to their relatives.

-in the rare instance that two dragonets are training to be royalty at the same time, they would have to battle it out for the throne once they come of age.

-I decided to put GardenWings on their own continent cuz god knows there isn’t enough room for them on any of the two current ones. It is called Florchavia, and each sub-tribe lives in a different area most suitable to their plant species and sub-tribes have about as much interaction with each other as normal tribes would, although there have been few full-blown wars in history and they all live in relative harmony with each other

-each sub-tribe has their own pseudo-Queen or King that makes the smaller decisions for their own sub-tribe, although all big ones have to be ran by the main Queen of the GardenWings. Sub-tribes can have any gender ruling, while the main royalty is just females ruling as Queen. This is somewhat similar to the way Queen Wasp rules her tribe, with each Hive having one of her sisters as a ruler

-different plants are seen to be more or less desirable and strongly impact what kind of schools you go to, how you live, and what kind of jobs you have, but nothing is set in stone as limits. Undesirable plant sub-tribes are all lumped together in the “Weeds” clan, which includes plants such as Dandelions. Weeds are looked down upon and will often end up as servants, but a hard-working Weed could work their way up slowly. Ex: Lavenders are more likely to own a shop than a Weed, although it is not entirely impossible.

-even if your plant species in considered to be higher up, some punishments for treason include being demoted to Weed status

-the properties that a plant gives is reflective in their personality. (Ex: Eucalyptus has a stable, calming demeanor.) Outliers of this are frowned upon.

-GardenWings only eat meat, but use plants and flowers for medical purposes, as well as growing them for decoration, similar to RainWings. Seeds are used as currency, rather than precious metals or jewels.

-Weeds are rarely referred to as their actual plant name, and to call someone a Weed is considered a highly offensive slur.

oh my goodness that’s a lot of words sorry. You have my full permission to use any and all of these concepts in art and stories, you can credit me is you would like but I won’t be mad if you forget. But yea I hope you enjoyed!

I love all of this! You put so much thought into it, you’re so creative <3 so like, dragons and sun tribes are split by plant species? Like there can be the sun tribe of Aroids, with Clans of Philodendron, Monstera, and Alocasia? Which is further divided by individual species, and there are different cultivars of plant within each species? :0

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

Can I please have an Attack on Titan,Genshin Impact and Bungo Stray Dogs matchup? I’m a straight female, 20, introverted, an ISFJ and an Aquarius. I have brown wavy hair and blue eyes. Im a loyal, empathetic, quiet, shy and friendly person. I love to joke around and laugh. I’m sarcastic and make friendly comebacks to my friends’ banter. I’m insecure abt myself and struggle to acknowledge my achievements, often downplaying them and comparing myself to others. Im a good listener and have been told that I’m good with advice and comforting other people. I’d like people to listen to me too but I find it hard to voice my concerns or problems to my friends. I can be overtalked in group settings too due to my quiet nature around larger groups. I’m chattier around less people/people I’m comfortable with. I’m very accepting and laidback and always eager to learn. I can get quite anxious before social situations due to my shyness, but once I’m in conversation I’m fine. I’m doing a course that’ll lead a career in rehabilitative healthcare. Likes: Reading, Drawing, Chatting, Going on walks & Singing. Dislikes: Spicy food, the dark, bugs, especially wasps. Thanks xx

Hi Anon! Thank you for your request! Sorry it took a while. I hope you like your matchups!

In Attack on Titan, I match you with...

Jean is nothing if not loyal, especially to those he cares about. It's also something he looks for in a partner so he's very grateful that you're so loyal as well.

Since you struggles to acknowledge your achievements, expect to have your own personal cheer squad whenever you need it. Jean will call Connie and Sasha in and they'll do their best to make sure you see all the best parts of you.

I see Jean as someone who really likes chatting, especially with someone he likes. He's a good balance of a talker and a listener so the conversation flows easily.

Will get rid of any and all bugs for you. It makes him feel like a protector, even if he knows you don't need one. But if the bug's too big he'll close the door first. No need for you to see him dodging away from the bug when it makes a sudden move.

Please sing for him. He loves the domesticity of it and will hum along if he knows the song. It's a nice memory for both of you.

In Genshin Impact, I match you with...

I see Chongyun as someone who struggles with insecurity as well. If you're willing to show him support when he needs it, he would more than happily do the same for you in return.

He admires your ability to give good advice. He struggles with understanding a problem enough to find a suitable solution so he thinks yours is a good quality to have.

Loves going on walks with you. Wherever you want to go, he's happy with as long as it's reasonably safe and you can be together.

Since you can sometimes be talked over, Chongyun will do his best to make sure he listens carefully to anything you have to say. He values your opinion and wants you to know that.

Definitely with you on disliking spicy food. On the plus side, at least he knows the best places around town to get a flavourful but non-spicy meal together.

In Bungo Stray Dogs, I match you with...

Atsushi loves that you're so laidback! It's a really nice change from everyone he has to work with on a daily basis and it let's him unwind a bit as well.

He's really appreciative that you're a good listener. He's usually the listener in most conversations so talking to you gives him a chance to get a lot of things off his chest.

Atsushi definitely understands struggling to voice your problems so he'll do his best to identify any problems before you have to say something about them. He's pretty observant but might need some help at times.

He really loves reading with you. Whatever you're reading, he'll either read over your shoulder or pick up a copy of his own so you can talk about it together. He'd also love it if you read aloud to him but won't force anything.

He also really likes watching you draw (assuming of course that you're okay with that). Atsushi enjoys seeing the process from start to finish and observing the piece come together. He finds it relaxing.

[afniel]

(Sorry for stealing your post and going completely Special Interest ham on it but this topic awakens things in me.)

We have a small yard, no children, a pretty solid mid-level tech worker salary, and somehow actually own a home finally...so we're having the entire front's landscaping redone to be water-conscious, with tons of native pollinator-supporting plants, many of which are also edible, and the rest of the space is going to be a little water-friendly hardscaping and a lot of disability-friendly fruit, herb, and vegetable raised garden beds. Plus a native bee house! And a compost bin!

That's a way bigger project than anything listed here, but man, everything counts, do the smaller things. I'm so serious. At our old rental down the street I used to tell the gardeners to leave the yard alone because it was full of miner's lettuce, which is native here (and edible too, as long as you aren't prone to kidney stones since it's got a higher amount of oxalate. Tasty stuff. It's like a slightly more crunchy young spinach). Native bugs and small animals loved it. I kept the lemon tree there watered, partly because heck yeah free lemons for food and cleaning, but also because it fed so many native bees.

Getting real into native species is a fantastic way to get involved. Honestly, even if it doesn't sound interesting to you now, just give it a try for the sake of having a game of Where's Waldo to play when you're outdoors. Pick a few things to look for to start off and take pictures of anything that catches your eye to identify them later. Spotting something you don't see often is a delight (ask me how Ape Shitt I went when I went out to play some disc with friends back in Indiana in the early spring and found toadshade trillium and Dutchman's breeches growing in the forest course. Or the recent hike I took in the hills and I saw a newt trundling along!!! I'm STILL excited about the newt!!!!!). It's like all the fun of Pokémon Go, but instead you upload things to iNaturalist and also they're real things that exist and you find yourself lying in the mud holding your breath trying to take pictures of them, and only afterwards do you realize what you did to your clothes because you got so excited.

And it's like...little things like this really do matter! Catalogue your native species! Look for new ones! Look up invasive and naturalized species and make decisions about what you'll allow to grow in your spaces! Learn how these little guys live and survive! Once you have an emotional connection to them, it's so much easier to want to take steps to preserve them. Even the 'gross' ones aren't gross once you feel like they're Your gross little guys. Making an infographic about native wasps is hard. Making an infographic about Your native wasps, that live in your yard, that you've personally seen and watched feed and raise young, is like telling everyone about your favorite blorbo but even better because they're real and you can point them out in person and make a space for them to thrive.

Anyway I've taken my own advice here as you can tell and I am SO GODDAMN HYPE to eventually have valley carpenter bees living right in my yard, because have you SEEN the males? They're bright gold and FLUFFY! They're like TEDDY BEARS that fly around. They aren't aggressive or territorial to people, we're the wrong size for them to care like that, they just want to see what we're doing because they're curious and highly visual things. I love them with my entire heart and you can too! I have to this day a phobia of bees! I have overcome more of it than I ever thought possible because I decided to research the giant monster beast bees outside my door instead of just reacting in terror, because they were here first. Once I really internalized that invasive European yellow jackets are the aggressive guys (but even they can learn faces and acclimate to humans that don't harass them!) and native bees and wasps are 99% super chill, I finally don't suffocate just going outside, and I couldn't have done it without getting real into native species conservation and education.

Okay I'll stop rambling now but I absolutely have got to share a male valley carpenter before I go.

(Public domain photo via Wikipedia)

He is so handsome, you guys. How could I possibly stay afraid of him.

like, yknow, I get it, climate doomerism feels cleansing and just and right and important, but making yourself suffer with stress and fear over the future...does nothing. It's punishment, not work.

And capitalism puts us in this place of abject paralysis when the only options presented to us for things we, personally, can do are Buy Different Product and Buy Product Differently.

Isn't it a torture to try to fix the Earth by buying a different combination of products from the very industries that are killing it, and being told you're killing the planet because of Buying Product—by the entities that sold you the Product in the first place?

Do something outside capitalism. Join or start a community garden. Organize with gardeners in your neighborhood and start an initiative to grow native species. Yoink some seed heads from the side of the road. Write about the importance of insects. Make infographics about moths. Grow your own food and give it to others. Pull invasive species from an empty lot. Print out posters with lists of important native host plants for pollinating insects and leave them mysteriously all over your neighborhood. Grow milkweed, collect the seeds, and go door to door giving people milkweed seeds randomly. Plants are anarchists, the possibilities really are endless.

[kitkatt0430]

🤔🐌💥🛏️

🤔 Are there any new characters you want to write about?

I've been really getting into Tomb Raider again lately, so I might write something about Lara or one of her friends. Sam especially seems interesting to me - the truth about Himiko and Yamatai were certainly just as traumatic for her to learn about as they were for Lara (albeit in different ways) and it's got to be hard for her to square the childhood stories that were probably like fairy tales to the truth that nearly led to her being body-snatched.

I'm also really enjoying some of the silly 'Villainess' themed mangas and anime right now - 7th Time Loop and My Next Life as a Villainess are both turning out to be really funny in particular. It might be fun to write something about Catarina (from the latter series) - I really like the idea that she's demi-romantic and that's part of the reason she's super oblivious to the fact that everyone has fallen in love with her. It's not just her obsession with sweets (her true OTP, tasty sweets all hers to eat) or her fixation on avoiding 'doom flags'.

🐌 What is one of your smallest writing goals?

Pay better attention to how I'm feeling so I don't burn myself out. This was a pretty stressful year for me between the year starting with a hole in my hallway ceiling, the wasps that were basically a yearlong thing, and the home reno (with the walk in closet addition that took three tries for the wall to go up in the right place -_- ) and I didn't really realize how much a toll that was taking on my creative side until Flufftober arrived and I just... completely lacked the energy or drive to really participate. Since I still have a (much smaller) home reno project in mind for 2024, I want to do a better job of identifying when I need to slow down and do a bit more self care. Right now I'm focusing on some non-writing projects to kind of help myself reboot. I'm not avoiding writing, but I'm not pushing myself to get back into it right now.

... hmmm, not sure if this is actually a small goal or not now that I've written it down. But it's something I kinda struggle with towards the end of every year and hit me both harder and earlier this year so it is really important to me to find a better balance. (Also need to actually use my SAD lamps more, I think that factors in too...)

💥Is there a chapter, scene, or WIP you're most excited to write? Share a snippet or tell us about it!

So I'd love to share something specific about my Eobard vs Eobard series but I don't wanna give spoilers either. Suffice it to say that Eo (Hero edition) is very oblivious about a few things that everyone - Meloni, Gideon, Robern, and even Barry - figure out before him. (You know he's being particularly oblivious about something if Barry figures it out first, am I right?)

But that's also a few stories away; the next fic in the series is going to be Barry and Eo vs ... I'm not sure yet. Eobard will intend to stay out of the fight at first but when Barry's hurt it makes Eo change his mind something sharpish. It'll have Eobard and Barry's first kiss, but also Eowells getting the first clue that Herobard may be a time traveler too.

🛏 Is there a new trope you'd like to write this year?

Something LitRPG-ish. I shared the idea not too long ago of Iris getting Isekai-ed into her favorite visual novel/dating sim and it'd be a lot of fun to write that one. And also I think she deserves her own little harem of cute guys and gals :D

[beetlepedia]

[LOUD VACUUM NOISES]

this is a major (these majors are known as doorkeepers, the plug shaped head is for covering up entrances to an anthill during an invasion) from a species that's known for just fully Exploding onto invading bugs, minors will approach a threat and just explode (just explode!!!) and the other bug will be temporarily slowed down due to body fluid everywhere, while majors bar any entrypoints to the hive.

here's a video of them! unfortunately nobody explodes but loook look at them go!

(notes from the video) the raising of the abdomen* is an alert/defense display designed to go "watch out im gonna die all over you", they've always got their abdomen at half mast just waiting for trouble, even in comfortable situations while eating fruit the guard stays up (ready to die at any moment. it also kind of reminds me of those tiny kittens whose tails are always up) a couple seconds in as well you get to observe trophallaxis, which is when ants exchange food from mouth to mouth as a form of communication and community (every ant gets fed! this also transfers pheromones such as recognizing an ants colony signature, things like imminent danger or where to find food, its really cool and i think we should start doing this. under communism.) this and antennae wiggling/physical displays are the closest equivalent to speech tht we have! ants cant hear but they can register vibrations anyway they suck each other off to be pals (cool). trophallaxis can also occur mouth-to-butt. in antworld they have no word for rimming 7:45 is the timestamp if you're curious)

*they say gaster in the video which is just a specific term for the abdomen of ants bees and wasps (they're family! thats why velvet ants (wingless wasps) are frequently mistaken for fuzzy ants. if you want to check for yourself a great way to discern ants from wasps is to look for a pedicel, which is a segment between the thorax and the abdomen. the pedicel is also integral to identifying individual ant species, in a lot of cases ants will have similar traits from far away but looking at the pedicel (minimal? one bump? two? spiky? etc) can be an easy way to make sure. the problem is getting them to stay still. if you're really curious get the guy in a fridge for a bit)

another fun thing at the VERY beginning of the 20th century this species was described but it took another 20 years to actually confirm the existence of the species, it was just some tall tale until it was recorded consistently. rare bugs i would kill for you ok

they're also called the "yellow goo ant" after the innards

the actual function of the explosion is that the ants will bite down and flex their butt so hard that it breaks everywhere

i'm having a hard time finding actual footage of the explosion

HOWEVER

there's a species of termite that also does this!!! except the goo is blue (special sacs are built into their exoskeleton that have fluid full of copper), and the oldest members of the colony do it once they're not able to benefit the colony

[azrail-has-a-vendetta]

okay I have figured out how to do this! Winning! (I am inept at working technology)

I have a long answer and a short answer, (since this is not a hyperfixation you are stuck with a dumbed down version because I don’t want to look up all that information when I could procrastinate my time on something else. TMI.)

Short Version: Centaurs are mammals and therefore cannot be classified as an insect.

Long Version: the identifiers of a insect include: “insects have three body parts: a head, a thorax, an abdomen, they have six legs, they have a pair of antennae, and they have zero or two pairs of wings” https://naturalhistory.si.edu/education/teaching-resources/life-science/what-insect#:~:text=Awesome%2C%20now%20you%20know%20that,which%20one%20is%20an%20insect. This also includes an exoskeleton- which means that they have a hard exterior, which is why if you’ve ever seen dead wasps or like, their bodies don’t decompose at the same rate that say a fleshy body like ours or other mammals (it takes longer and is easier to preserve) which also explains why bones last for so much longer- mammals (and other species) like humans, have endoskeletons which means out bones are inside us and we have a soft outside- out bones are much easier to preserve than our tissue- this is why we discover bones and such verse finding whole animals and humans and such in archaeological sites. (There are cases like swamps and mummifications where they are preserved but it’s rare). But I digress. This is extremely important historically because say- there is an infestation of crop eating insects- since their bodies take so long to decompose and they are easy to preserve, their bodies can be used to spread news to your farmer friends and future farmers- especially if you found a way to deal with the infestation! But I am getting sidetracked.

Mammals are defined as “have hair or fur; are warm-blooded; most are born alive; the young are fed milk produced by the mother's mammary glands; and they have a more complex brain than other animals.” https://dnr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/dnr/education/documents/wmmammalmammal.pdf If we are assuming the centaurs in question are that of Greek mythology we know that they are part human part horse, both are known mammals, while they do have 6 limbs, they do not have the three sections, antennae, or an exoskeleton, among other things. They also have all the functions of mammals, in being warm blooded, having fur and hair, born alive, and lactate. They also contain an endoskeleton and will rot according to the laws of tissue degradation. you did not need all this information- sorry about that. (No I’m not) so that is why centaurs are not insects. You are welcome. Now answer my question: what about crabs- I am too afraid of them to look them up someone be brave please. For science.

officially the most unhinged thing I have every had to look up in all my years on this planet.

are centaurs insects?

discuss

[blorbologist]

29 for Cassandra?

29. Recall their eldritch face.

Wasps can recognize individual human faces! They’re actually very visually oriented, especially social species - part of how they identify their sisters vs enemy wasps is thanks to facial markings. Imagine being a wasp and staring down this massive ugly thing that sometimes forgets nice sweet things but other times murders your entire family. 

It’s hard not to hate herself, when Cassandra first realizes she can’t remember father’s face. 

Percy’s holding his newest baby - Cass knows he and Vex had tossed around Percival the fourth for this one, but something in her sister-in-law’s face makes her doubt it will stick - and gently spinning around the room to show off his son. First to Keyleth and Pike (double-checking he’s fine, perfectly fine, head-to-toe perfect), then to Vesper, the twins next, and then Cassandra meets her newest nephew. 

“Hello, little man,” she coos, marveling at just how little he is, when -

“I think he has father’s -” Percy loses his words in a choked little laugh. Scrambles for new ones helplessly: “Just - the expression. it’s so him, Cass.”

The baby is, indeed, making an expression. A sleepy furrow of his soft brows. Might be described as a scowl if it was not so baffled and rounded by fat. So devoid of malice - just content in its confusion. It’s very distinct.

She just has nothing concrete to compare it to. A vague grey-white mustache, round face, a nose far too big for a newborn’s.

Her heart gives a terrible ba-thump. Scrambles around her chest looking for father’s features - anything, anything, surely it’s not been that long. 

It has, it has - she can't remember father's face.

Grasps for mother - Johanna’s - face in some quiet terror. 

She sees Delilah’s face instead.

“You’re crying,” Percy observes. His enthusiasm is dimming and that won’t do, no, not with this new baby in his arms.

“Happy tears, I assure you,” Cassandra lies. “He’s beautiful, Percy. I - he’s just got so much of them in him. I miss them.”

"I do, too." Her brother is adept at juggling swaddled babies, by now, allowing him the luxury of leaning to press a swift kiss to Cass' forehead. He looks down at his son with shining eyes - too shiny, Cassandra thinks, to see her wobbling, to see her struggling to find familiar features in Percy's face, now, too.

Percy’s whisking Percy the fourth, or whatever he may become, to uncles Grog and Scanlan and Tary just before her façade cracks. Thank Pelor for that.

(Cassandra does not dare think of her dead family, for a time after that. Too scared she's lost their faces to time and trauma - she looks at her new relatives, instead, and settles for studying the few surviving paintings when she can stomach it.)

(Send me a prompt and I’ll write a ficlet, a HC or an AU idea + share the science fact that inspired the prompt!)

[astrognossienne]

scandalous beauty: athalia ponsell lindsley - an analysis

“Not that St. Augustine citizens went around killing people they didn’t like. But Athalia was not on a level playing field. Nobody liked her, so there was not a big hue and cry when she was killed.” - Sally Boyles, a neighbour of Lindsley’s

For someone so brash, loud, and ballsy, her life, especially her early life, was quite a mystery. Just like her controversial death. On January 23, 1974, former model, dancer, political activist and television personality Athalia Ponsell Lindsley was murdered with a machete by an unknown assailant on the front steps of her home in St. Augustine, Florida. Her murder is notorious more than four decades after it occurred. The only eyewitness said a man attacked Lindsley with a machete in broad daylight on the front steps of her white mansion. Gossip swirled that neighbour Frances Bemis knew who killed Lindsley and would notify authorities. Bemis was later murdered on her nightly walk. Police arrested only one suspect for Lindsley's murder, which remains unsolved to this day. For someone who was a Leo, I don't think Athalia was a very happy person. I think she tried to bring others down, with her based on her ill-concealed dissatisfaction with the way things were. Unfortunately for her, her demise happened in a town that didn’t care for her.

Athalia Ponsell Lindsley, according to astrotheme, was a Leo sun and Libra moon (the moon is speculative). She was born Mary Anne “Athalia” Fetter in Toledo, Ohio in 1917. Her parents were both wealthy New Yorkers; her father was a utilities magnate and her mother a socialite. Shortly after her birth, she and her family moved to Isle of Pines (now known as Isla de la Juventud), Cuba where she was raised until the age of 12. By the time the parents moved to Jacksonville, Florida and enrolled her in parochial school, she was winning beauty contests and pursuing an acting career. After high school, she moved to New York City, where it didn’t take her long to be employed as a fashion model for the celebrated fashion designer John Robert Powers, which helped her land work in some Broadway musicals and as a hostess on a TV game show. By 1949, she was the hottest model in NYC. She was just as hot off the runway as well; the list of Ponsell’s sexual conquests was long, including the likes of actor Tyrone Power and Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. She was reported to have been married three times, one of  them to a man named Ponsell, but there is no information on him or her other two spouses. She had a scrapbook of all the celebrities and people she was acquainted. But success had quickly gone to the young model’s head, and by 1954, she’d burned all her bridges at her modeling agency, and her reputation as “the bitch of New York” was well-earned and kept her from earning any more work in the entertainment industry.

Out of work, over the hill, and her looks fading, Ponsell quit her 20-years of modeling and entertainment work and retired to a white stucco mansion in St. Augustine in 1972. By that time, the 55-year-old washed-up model became embittered. From the moment she arrived in St.Augustine, she did her best to position herself at the top of the city’s high society. But the sides of that pyramid were very steep, and to the city’s old-school cultural hardliners, she was an outsider, and an obnoxious one, at that. St. Augustine is known for being a rather cliquish town, and unless you have Spanish, Menorcan, or WASP roots, any newcomer is looked at as an outsider. She was known as a pain in the ass, criticizing everything she thought was wrong with the town and its citizens. Naturally the upper crust didn’t take too well to her. She may have annoyed them, but she did catch the eye of another important person, Mayor James Lindsley, a St. Augustine native who went by the nickname “Jinx”. Jinx was known around the city for his ability to work hard and drink even harder. He was of the generation where if he was wronged, or if there was a problem, he settled his differences with his fists. Despite his passionate love affairs with ass kicking and Jack Daniels, Athalia was drawn to Jinx’s good standing with St. Augustine’s old guard, Jinx was attracted to her still-good looks and fiery personality. The two courted hard and fast, and just a few months after they met, they married.

Their marriage was rocky from the start, providing the town with juicy gossip. In fact, just 3 months into the marriage, the two separated. They wound up living in separate homes, fighting back and forth about possessions and property. She may have treated her husband and the town like dirt, but she was very moved by animals and took in a lot of strays and accumulated a coterie of animals. This didn’t endear herself to the neighbours, and they complained of dogs barking and other noises coming from her makeshift “animal shelter”. One neighbour in particular that took exception to Athalia and her animals was a hot-headed county manager called Alan Stanford. Stanford lived next door to her on Marine Street, and the two clashed from day one. Stanford filed several noise complaints against Athalia and her pets, resulting in her arrest. In revenge, she made Stanford’s life as county manager a living hell. She became a fixture at City Hall, attending every county meeting she could and accuse Stanford of all sorts of improprieties, from the mismanagement of county funds to stealing equipment from the road department. Some of these accusations weren’t entirely unfounded, but it got to the point where her presence was dreaded. She was after his job and wanted him fired. Stanford, in turn, threatened her life. December of 1973, she found out that Stanford lacked the civil engineering degree required for all county managers, and went to the state to report him.

On January 23, 1974 she attended her last city hall meeting, armed with petitions of several citizens calling for Stanford to resign. She exposed the fact that Stanford forged documents and padded his experience and qualifications as county manager. Later that day, to celebrate, she met her estranged husband Jinx for lunch. The day went surprisingly well, going shopping in Jacksonville and running errands. At approximately 5:30 pm, they both went home to their respective houses. As Athalia walked her pet blue jay around in her front yard, an intruder emerged from her back yard, armed with a machete. Moments later, the police department received a call about a murder. The police arrived to the provided address and found Athalia sprawled across the front steps of her porch, nearly decapitated and hacked to death with a machete in broad daylight.

The scene was chaotic, with neighbours trampling all over the grass trying to get a look, contaminating evidence. In their great police work, the cops never thought to rope off the crime scene. When her husband Jinx was notified of his wife’s murder, he took his time getting to her house, making a pit stop to his attorney’s office along the way. A few hours later, the cops find a machete in his pickup truck. But an open-and-shut case this was not. In February of 1974, the rumour was that Jinx killed her in a drunken rage. Even though Jinx had a violent temper and smacked his wife around, in the eyes of local investigators, he was “unarrestable”; they had no real evidence against the mayor and he even passed a lie-detector test. A tip from one of Athalia’s neighbours came in: it seems the neighbour’s 19 year-old son claimed to have witnessed her old nemesis Alan Stanford kill her. There was a trail of blood that led from Athalia’s front porch directly into Allen Stanford’s back yard. More than a few weren’t concerned with Athalia being killed because she was such a bitch that they feel that she deserved what she got.

In March of 1974, there was a blood-stained machete, a watch, and blood-soaked trousers found in a bag in a swamp; the blood on the clothes matched Athalia’s, and the clothes belonged to Stanford. On February 22, 1974, Alan Stanford was arrested and charged with murder. On January 1975, the murder trial commenced. The prosecution had a strong case and a guilty verdict seemed almost certain. Just before closing arguments, Stanford’s defense team called the 19-year old witness to the stand. Despite previously identifying Stanford as the killer, the young man was now unsure of the identity, having never actually seen the assailant’s face. On the day following the killing, a young nurse rode her bicycle as she always did. The police stopped her and questioned her about the murder. The nurse picked out a third suspect, deputy sheriff Dewey Lee, as the killer, further muddling the waters. The jury found Alan Stanford not guilty, despite the mountain of evidence against him. Local authorities were so upset by the verdict that they refused to re-open the case. Even though Stanford was acquitted of the murder, Athalia wound up getting the last laugh in the end, they local county board voted 4 to 1 to fire Stanford due to his lying about his credentials. He wound up leaving town shortly afterward. Today, St. Augustine is different; most who lived on Marine Street during the 1960s and 1970s have either moved away or passed away. Athalia’s house, now a historical landmark, still stands today, a grim reminder of how local resentment can go too far.

the murder of frances bemis

Frances Bemis was a socialite and neighbour of Athalia Ponsell Lindsley who happened to be a close friend of hers. Shortly after Lindsley’s murder, Frances started gathering information in order to write a book about the murder, claiming that she had information on what really happened. On November 3, 1974, she went for an evening walk and disappeared. Her body was found near her house, her skull crushed by a cement block. Her murder has never been solved.

This was the next analysis that I planned to do after the Robert Mitchum one, so I decided to just get this one out of the way.

Stats

birthdate: July 25, 1917*

*note*: due to the absence of a birth time, this analysis will be even more speculative.

major planets:

Sun: Leo

Moon: Libra

Rising: unknown

Mercury: Leo

Venus: Leo

Mars: Gemini

Midheaven: unknown

Jupiter: Gemini

Saturn: Leo

Uranus: Aquarius

Neptune: Leo

Pluto: Cancer

Overall personality snapshot: She had a prestigious, compelling presence, even when she was just clowning around, and a natural ability to command both respect and affection from her friends and colleagues. In the nicest possible way she assumed the position of the leader because she had a strong independent streak and believed in her lofty, worthy ideals, but she also gravitated towards collaboration and an impartial examination of the facts. She could be bossy and yet her bossiness was so diplomatic that it was convincing, even impressive. Although she wanted esteem and tended to identify with honourable goals and people, she could work alongside others she respected and she really wanted the best for everyone. She had style, and she instinctively knew that ‘manners maketh man’ and that, if for some reason they didn’t, they went a long way in making life worth living. When she came into her own, she developed a strongly aesthetic approach to life and are naturally creative. She needed a very positive, active medium through which to express herself, such as drama, teaching or running her own business.

Anything to do with beauty and harmony interested her, such as decorating, design and painting. Her interest in social equality took her into politics or the law. She had a strong sense of herself and stubbornly followed her own personal code of ethics, yet she also enjoyed being part of a group that had a common purpose or bond. She cherished ideals of liberty and equality, but if there were some distasteful tasks to perform she moved very smoothly into the role of delegating – well, she thought, someone has to give the orders around here or we would have no harmony at all. Although she seemed to enjoy an easy, breezy approach to life, there was quite a serious side to her personality, and she could be surprisingly controversial and provocative. She was willing to stand up and be counted, and perhaps make it look easy. She had a natural appreciation and enjoyment of the good things of life; she assumed that they should be hers by birthright. And through cunning charm, calculated boldness, and intelligent maneuver she managed to have plenty.

She was ambitious, sound at giving orders, carried responsibility well and was a good teacher, especially able to bring out the best in children. She believed in herself and generally knew the right thing to say at the right time, although she could show a stubborn and dogmatic side. She had a high opinion of her mental powers, and it was certainly true to say that he had plenty of mental energy. She was a mentally restless person, both versatile and broad-minded. She experienced personal growth through analysis and using her intellect, although the collection and communication of facts may have been an end within itself. She was a reliable and loyal person. Her will and sense of honour were strong and she was a great organizer. On the downside, her self-assuredness could become dogmatism and imperiousness. Conservatism may have affected her creativity, artistic values and love affairs. This expressed itself as self-imposed restrictions or as selfishness. She often felt inadequate, which created an insidious form of oppression over all her forms of expression. She could also take herself so seriously, that people think that she was older than her years.

She belonged to a generation that could be unpredictable in that it liked to instigate change simply for the sake of shaking things up and providing stimulation. Humanitarian ideals became extremely important, as well as the belief in absolute freedom for every individual. She came up with radical new ideas which she stubbornly followed. As a member of this generation, she may have felt deep spiritual convictions, although she may not have seen herself as religious in the traditional sense of the word. She was part of a very artistically talented and creative generation that wanted to escape from the demands of the world around them into a world of excitement and glamour. Members of this generation loved the theater and the cinema, in fact, any sort of creative self-expression. They also believed in the rights of any individual to express themselves. This generation was both idealistic and romantic, selfish and individualistic. Lindsley embodied all of these Leo Neptunian ideals. Also, as a member of the Leo Neptune generation, she experienced and fully embraced changes in sexual mores and attitudes, changing the way people approach the whole issue of romantic relationships. Changes were also experienced in the relationships between parents and children, with the ties becoming looser. She was part of a generation known for its devastating social upheavals concerning home and family. The whole general pattern of family life experiences enormous changes and upheavals; as a Cancer Plutonian, this aspect is highlighted with Lindsley’s father dying relatively young and her having to care for her mother until she died.

Love/sex life: There is never any question as to the ground rules of her erotic universe: what best served her ego, best served her libido. She had a marvelous capacity for enjoying sex but her pride and self-possession always came first. Some people might have found the egotism of this position offensive but many others hardly noticed. After all, a lover as lively, generous and exciting as she had good reason to be proud. There was always a distinctively theatrical quality about her love making. She wanted sex to be a big event, full of drama and intellectual significance. This grandiose approach to sex can certainly be entertaining but it often made her romantic moments seem less than spontaneous. More importantly, real life sex rarely met her cinematic standards. This is one reason why she often found the idea of love much more appealing than its physical manifestations.The sex in her head was never common or clumsy, and she could always count on great reviews.

minor asteroids and points:

North Node: Capricorn

Lilith: Virgo

Her North Node in Capricorn dictated that she needed to develop the more caring and compassionate side to her personality and try to place less emphasis on the materialistic aspects of her life. Her Lilith in Virgo ensured that she exhibited a Madonna-whore complex; she made her way through the world with her sensational wits and she had no time for constricting judgments. She confronted the grittier facts of life, especially sex. She was good at sex but not as a form of sappy emotional expression.

elemental dominance:

fire

air

She was dynamic and passionate, with strong leadership ability. She generated enormous warmth and vibrancy. She was exciting to be around, because she was genuinely enthusiastic and usually friendly. However, she could either be harnessed into helpful energy or flame up and cause destruction. Ultimately, she chose the latter. Confident and opinionated, she was fond of declarative statements such as “I will do this” or “It’s this way.” When out of control—usually because she was bored, or hadn’t been acknowledged—she was be bossy, demanding, and even tyrannical. But at her best, her confidence and vision inspired others to conquer new territory in the world, in society, and in themselves. She was communicative, quick and mentally agile, and she liked to stir things up. She was likely a havoc-seeker on some level. She was oriented more toward thinking than feeling. She carried information and the seeds of ideas. Out of balance, she lived in her head and could be insensitive to the feelings of others. But at her best, she helped others form connections in all spheres of their daily lives.

modality dominance:

fixed

She wasn’t particularly interested in spearheading new ventures or dealing with the day-to-day challenges of organization and management. She excelled at performing tasks and producing outcomes. She was flexible and liked to finish things. Was also likely undependable, lacking in initiative, and disorganized. Had an itchy restlessness and an unwillingness to buckle down to the task at hand. Probably had a chronic inability to commit—to a job, a relationship, or even to a set of values.

planet dominants:

Sun

Mars

Pluto

She had vitality and creativity, as well as a strong ego and was authoritarian and powerful. She likely had strong leadership qualities, she definitely knew who she was, and she had tremendous will. She met challenges and believed in expanding her life. She was aggressive, individualistic and had a high sexual drive. She believed in action and took action. Her survival instinct was strong. She wanted to take herself to the limit—and then surpass that limit, which she often did. She ultimately refused to compromise her integrity by following another’s agenda. She likely didn’t compare herself to other people and didn’t want to dominate or be dominated. She simply wanted to be free to follow her own path, whatever it was. She brought about complete and profound transformations in her life, good or bad (and it was often bad). She felt the need to let go of what was familiar to her and accept new and different ways of being and doing things. There were areas in her life where she had to accept regeneration, which involved the destruction of the old and the creation of the new.

sign dominants:

Leo

Gemini

Cancer

She loved being the center of attention and often surrounded herself with admirers. She had an innate dramatic sense, and life was definitely his stage. Her flamboyance and personal magnetism extended to every facet of her life. She wanted to succeed and make an impact in every situation. At her best, she was optimistic, honorable, loyal, and ambitious. She ventured out to see what else was there and seized upon new ideas that will expand their communities. Her innate curiosity kept her on the move. She used her rational, intellectual mind to explore and understand her personal world. She needed to answer the single burning question in her mind: why? This applied to most facets of her life, from the personal to the impersonal. This need to know sent her off to foreign countries, where her need to explore other cultures and traditions ranked high. She was changeable and often moody. This meant that she was often at odds with herself—the mind demanding one thing, the heart demanding the opposite. To someone else, this internal conflict often manifested as two very different people. At first meeting, she seemed enigmatic, elusive. She needed roots, a place or even a state of mind that he could call her own. She needed a safe harbor, a refuge in which to retreat for solitude. She was generally gentle and kind, unless he was hurt. Then she could become vindictive and sharp-spoken. She was affectionate, passionate, and even possessive at times. She was intuitive and was perhaps even psychic. Experience flowed through her emotionally. She was often moody and always changeable; her interests and social circles shifted constantly. She was emotion distilled into its purest form.

Read more about her under the cut.

Athalia Ponsell Lindsley was a former model, Broadway performer, actress, dancer and television personality who died in a savage late-afternoon attack at her home on Jan. 23, 1974. Wife of the once mayor of St. Augustine, James "Jinx" Lindsley, who died a few years after her death. Mrs. Athalia Lindsley was very active politically.

She also took in many animals, such as dogs, cats and even two goats. At the time of her murder, she was outside trying to rehabilitate one of her rescue birds, a blue jay named Clementine which had an injured wing. She had rescued the little bird from neighborhood cats.

Athalia Ponsell Lindsley was a very devoted daughter who took care of her mother full time until her mother passed away.

She was 58 years old when her life was brutally cut short.

A neighbor and local politician was the only person ever arrested and tried for her murder, after a very dramatic trial, a jury found the defendant not guilty, and he was acquitted

(x)

[ladylilithprime]

That's a bit complicated due to the above-mentioned "sides I know about" because I only have records I can trace for, like, maybe 75% of my ancestry. But looking at my face, my bone structure... it's muddy because of the mix, but it's still there, and the area I (and most of my living family) comes from in the US would have had plenty of "cross-cultural unions". (Using this term to encompass all situations, not just legal marriages resulting in kids.)

So I can study the cultures of the countries for the ancestors I can identify based on records and name etymology, but because of the way the European settlers and traders went about "acquiring" Native brides in many cases, there aren't a lot of records to look for. Based on the area I can guess at the three most likely possible nations and extrapolate from there, but then it gets into a questions of because I'm "white" any research into the cultures of those nations gets treated as academic curiosity and occasionally suspicion. (See extensive rant on internet purity culture and overenthusiastic SJWs over-categorizing what they think is cultural appropriation and who is "allowed" to participate in what cultural practices regardless of whether they're part of the culture in question or not.) There's also a lot of backlash from the segment of people who've made their minority-inclusion status into a weapon and thing anyone who can "pass as white" doesn't have a right to bring up things like Irish slavery, the rampant antisemitism and anti-Catholicism, cultural erasure and denialism of kids taken from their families more than six generations back because being able to "pass as a WASP" grants us "WASP privilege" and people with privilege aren't allowed to feel unhappy about our circumstances unless it's shame for "being privileged". Which is why I don't talk about it on the internet.

TL;DR - the "white-passing American mutts" like me with excessively muddy backgrounds can't always follow hard records to find where we come from and get yelled at by white people AND pocs when we try.

Y'know, when I think back on my public school education, I was really - inadvertantly or not - conditioned to think of myself as Anglo-American.

I remember a family heritage presentation assignment in early elementary (I brought in a claddagh ring) and then in 11th Grade they lightly touched on anti-Italian sentiment in the Sacco and Vanzetti case.

That was it. I was never told about the Know-Nothings, the anti-Catholicism of the 20's Ku Klux Klan, the Irish Brigade, Irish union labor, Molly Maguires, the Fenian Brotherhood, the Saint Patrick's Brigade, Al Smith, JFK, any of it. All I knew growing up was a bit from my family - something about a famine and also there were Irish slaves too.

Up until college, my historical education was all in terms of whiteness. White people came to America on the Mayflower and colonized. White people owned slaves. White people discriminated against other groups. White people were privileged. Never was any kind of ethnic distinction made but for the aforementioned Sacco and Vanzetti case, in that one example.

The Irish-Americans have one of the richest ethnic histories of any group in America, yet we were subtly taught to identify with the WASPs that we had to wrestle power from. This all goes for Germans, Italians, Jews, etc as well.

Considering how often it's taken for granted that "white history" is taught in the USA, I think it's worth noting that I was taught more about Afro-American and even Hispanic-American history than I was about the people I'm actually descent from.

Instead I was taught to identify with people who discriminated and oppressed them based solely on shared skin tone.