#accidental selection

[continent-of-wild-endeavor]

I feel like I may be accidentally selecting for hulls on my field peas that are harder to see.

A lot of cultivars of Vigna unguiculata* have hulls that turn purple when they're mature, but before they start to dry out. Purple hull and pink eyed peas are two common varieties like that, and it makes them real easy to spot for harvesting. Other kinds stay green, or maybe just go a little paler/yellower when they're ready, and those you have to hunt for among the leaves.

I don't know what varieties I started out with, but there's at least two normal-sized kinds in the mix, and hull color varies among them both. I never get every pod picked at the optimal time, but the ones I miss dry well on the vine, so I just pick them when I do find them, and put those dried bean in a jar to plant next year. Which means, as far as my unnatural selection, that the ones that don't turn a convenient color when they're ready have an advantage. They're more likely to get 'selected' for propagation (i.e. forgotten & then found later), as long as they produce well enough to be statistically significant in the seed jar.

Beans are pretty stable over the planting generations, as they mostly pollinate themselves, but they do produce crop-outs from time to time (like my exciting new fat variety - I'll do a post about them soon), so the color may drift over time. I've been growing these from my own saved seeds for ~10 years, and at least some of them are still purple (maybe half? maybe less), but then I don't really know what I started with, so idk if they've changed. I could start taking more notes, I guess.

*This species includes all the field peas, cowpeas, black eyed, purple hull, lady peas, Sea Island red peas, and a hundred other cultivars of similar beans. I call all those field peas, as a general term. Yardlong beans are also in this species, and some other Asian varieties I'm not as familiar with. Crowder peas, too.

Now, some people (and google) seem to think that crowder peas and field peas are the same thing, and they're wrong. Similar, yes. Closely related, yes. Cooked about the same, also yes. A crowder pea might even be considered a type of field pea, but not every field pea is a crowder. They crowd together in the pod, see, and it changes the shape of the pea, leaving an indent where the next one pushed up against it.

Proper crowder peas:

vs. ordinary purple hulls:

[sincerely-sofie]

Alright. Going to play more Slay the Princess now. Y’all’s reactions to my worst theory yet scare me. Have some fanart to enjoy while I dive back into the insanity.

[hyacinthsdiamonds]

You know, in movies where they get a character to essentially glow up to seduce someone, but then they're really, really bad at flirting? That's Charles, seemingly being assigned by the GPDA to swear, and him essentially becoming a wide-eyed country girl in the big city for the first time during this mission* lmao. He tried so hard to make it look casual, but he practically tripped over himself to bring Max and his penalty up at every opportunity in preparation of dropping the swear bomb and possibly joining him in community service 😭✋️.

[pompomchihuahua]

So, I've seen a Twitter thread making the rounds about Yuichirou being in the right for not trusting Amane which you can read here. Overall, I think it nicely covered why Yuichirou was so "mean" to her: a strange woman shows up at their home trying to recruit two vulnerable 11-year-old boys who just lost their parents. She starts talking about demons and them being descended from swordsmen and being able to save people and in Muichirou's hopeful little heart it strikes a chord.

But Yuichirou says that he's certain she's just going to use them, that she's plotting something, which, from a story telling perspective, is an interesting seed to plant in the viewers mind.

What I mainly want to focus on in this thread is Kagaya Ubuyashiki, as he is the one who ultimately sends Amane to recruit the Tokitou twins (though, yes, she is complicit in the recruitment of child soldiers. The average age of soldiers in 1912 Japan was 17-20 not 11).

Putting aside that he ends up recruiting Muichirou anyway after he's made almost impossibly more vulnerable (just lost his last remaining family, critically injured, just lost his memories and also, once again, an 11 year old CHILD being coerced by an adult into fighting mythical monsters) Kagaya has a way of appearing to the Hashira at their most vulnerable moments to recruit them (aside from Rengoku who was basically born and raised into the role which is a whole other can of worms).

Another thing I'd like to point out is the cruelty and impracticality of final selection, something that is exemplified perfectly with Sabito. How many slayers with the potential to do something great's lives were wasted in final selection? Considering the sheer amount that goes in and how few come out and the lack of any kind of age limit, I'm going to guess quite a few. Why exactly is the system set up like this?

They essentially set up a demon buffet featuring children as the main course. Did they know about the demon growing out of control on the final selection grounds? Most likely, and if not that's highly irresponsible to not at least monitor your supposed testing grounds.

Why not have them fight against other, higher-level slayers? If they fail the test, they'd be sent back into training or dismissed entirely instead of just... killed. And Ubuyashiki seems fine with this! And I'm truly curious- he mentions memorizing the names of every slayer that dies in the line of duty, but does that include the dozens of people that don't even get to become official slayers because they die in the very baffling final selection meat grinder?

I'm getting off track.

What I mean is that Ubuyashiki is shown to have questionable moral decision-making when it comes to the pursuit of defeating Muzan: it seems his goal is to kill Muzan at all costs.

Later, Muzan says this: "That schemer! Like a viper, his rage and hatred toward me... was coiling inside his pitch-black heart!"

As the viewer we're, of course, meant to take this with a grain of salt. We know Ubuyashiki didn't have a "pitch-black heart," but I think there's a grain of truth to be found in Ubuyashiki harboring rage and hatred toward Muzan.

We know the reason the Ubuyashiki clan started to hunt Muzan in the first place was to save themselves from the curse (and along the way I think they genuinely believed it was for the greater good as well).

But I think it sets Ubuyashiki up as the perfect morally ambiguous foil to Muzan. Yes, he is supposed to represent humanity, but what is more human than the endless moral struggle between the greater good and what's right for the individual? Ubuyashiki points out that in the thousands of years of Muzan's existence, the corps has never been wiped out but this is because the corps inherently preys on those who are at their most vulnerable. It is built on the back of tragedy.

Everything down to even just their life span is meant to be equal but opposite from Muzan's immortality to the Ubuyashiki's ephemeral life spans. Even their clothing choice, with Muzan picking darker colors and Ubuyashiki clad in white. Muzan is beautiful and unmarred while Kagaya is consumed by the curse of their bloodline yet their appearance is described as "twin-like" in the Kimetsu extras. Yet they are also equal, once again returning to their supposedly identical features, they both have a tendency to appear to those that serve them at their most vulnerable.

This is not a "Kagaya is evil" post at the end of the day. This is a "Kagaya is not a morally pure character and that's a good thing" post. And, I think, had the author had more time, they would have explored this fully. We all know the ending was a tad bit rushed due to the author having a family emergency and I will never blame them for that, but just looking at the story they built even on that time crunch I can only imagine they narrative they could have built given unlimited time.

I feel like they could have explored Kagaya's character more which they set up as being Muzan's equal but opposite: equally scheming but thankfully on humanity's side. He had empathy for the children, yes, but he still, at the end of the day, used people at their most vulnerable to do what he couldn't on his own.

And I didn't even get to START on the implications of his magical "voice" and foresight powers, but this post is already so long that I'm gonna end it here.

TLDR: Ubuyashiki is so much more complex than your stock "Greater good" character. He's Muzan's equal but opposite force, conniving but empathetic, morally ambiguous. Had the author had more time, I feel this would have been explored in more depth.

[fjordfolk]

Way too much focus on designer breeds that should not be, not enough on the dogs history failed to breed-ify. like the Soviet Space Dog

[loupy-mongoose]

PLEASE show us your Bellsprout Takes omg

Okay you may see the funky dude now.

This will almost certainly be the last art I post before my gall bladder surgery.

[sleepnoises]

just read a book that is not good enough to be named here that mentioned the author's husband taking her on a hike that he didn't warn her was four hours & her having to add snacks to their bag last-second & then the husband started getting annoyed when she was slow. truly many hiking problems are communication problems. or being an asshole problems

[bzlgrmpf]

Working through my art block after accidentally deleting my whole folder of cr fanart

[bread--hood]

Rufus Shinra being kinky

...again

what a surprise

[arterartthings]

A small love comic

I just felt like doing a stupid ship as those two are so similar (I actually created Barbara long before I knew about FAITH, so coincidence. Perhaps Barbara and Amy were meant to be…

It might be their possibility first ever intimate moment, face to face, discovering something about themselves they never knew about…

and john had to ruin everything :P

MORTIS

[cuddles-with-dragons]

I have a Wild West AU.

For all of Star Wars.

It started with a piano version of Cantina Band. It sounds like something you'd hear in a saloon.

That branches out into this.

Han Solo, a smuggler who's infamous for being uncatchable. His partner is a mountain man who's known by the name "Chewbacca".

And this.

Din Djarin, known to most as "Mando", is a lone Mandalorian bounty hunter. Not much is known about the secretive tribe that calls themselves Mandalorians, and most never remove their bandana.

Finally, I drew some members of the Batch. And their horses.

Omega is just a kid, but for some reason the new tycoon is obsessed with capturing her. Bounty hunters are on the lookout. She's brave though, and fights extremely well -for a woman.

"Crosshair" never gives out his real name, and he's always tried to hide his past as a freedom fighter. This cold, snarky, bounty hunter does have a soft side, though he doesn't show it often.

Thunder belongs to a freedom fighter that goes by "Hunter". He's a rather mischievous horse, and will often try and steal snacks.

Mercury was named after her coat, by small-town librarian "Tech". She's patient and is good with children.

Dynamite loves her owner, a ex-miner who calls himself "Wrecker", and she's incredibly tolerant of loud noises and doesn't spook easily.

Blitz is fast and dangerous, just like his owner Crosshair. He isn't scared by much and will often swat people with his tail.

Rattlesnake belongs to a former soldier who goes by "Echo". This horse is incredibly grumpy and doesn't tolerate much.

Desert Rose originally belonged to Echo, but got stolen by Omega and eventually became her horse. She's quiet and calm, and absolutely loves attention.

This is all the art I have so far, hope you like it!

Horse ref base by WHIT3FANG on DeviantArt

Font is Saddlebag from DaFont.com

[sand-seeks-sun]

Carbuddy! It's so so tiny on Lalafell...

[starry-907]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE SILLY UNDERTALE STICK

[thaumollusca]

watching

[ego-sum-id-quod-cantum-ludere]

Y'all have no idea how good this news channel is. They fucking got an American psyop member to be like "yeah we make disinformation campaigns and propaganda and I'm not quite proud of that". These campaigns range from Covid-19 vaccines to the genocide. It is incredible how open the psyop member is, and terrifying om how the "products", as they call them, are being made. The video is probably not going to play within the embedded link because of course not, so I'll provide a transcription here (buckle up).

From 20:42 into the video:

If we were an actually good news team, we'd somehow get in contact with a member of a US psyop regimen and ask them a whole number of questions about [the social media campaign against Covid-19 vaccines from China in 2021]. Luckily we *are* a good news team, but for obvious reasons this person didn't want their identity shared. For now, we'll just call them... John Psyop.

When asked about the global psychological operations as a whole, he would reply, "The goal of psyops changes based on the situation. For instance, every hurricane season there are teams on standby to provide support through information dissemination... We exist to serve the goals of whatever the highest-ranking officer wants... I would say the goal of psyops is to sow discord and create chaos for the benefit of the US government... the government wants power and wealth and will use psyops to attain it."

When asked whether John has any moral reservations about his work or if they're required to follow any ethical guidelines, he would also respond, "I have reservations all the time. I can't think of a good reason to make propaganda and I know the US government is certainly not one to trust in that aspect. We do have rules when making products, photos taken by AV teams cannot be altered in any way, but they can be staged... The ethical guidelines for product creation are defined, but can have slight variations for each product as some products are made to enrage with or disturb the audience, and it is not always done in ways I [would] consider ethical. There were psyop personnel deployed in Qatar when the attack on Gaza began. I can't say what products have been made [or] for what side, but you know where the US stands in the conflict. From people I have spoken to, there have been some horrific drafts and requests made for products stemming from the genocide."

Moving on, we wanted to ask if John had specifically heard about this recently-uncovered campaign against Chinese Covid assistance. They would respond, "I was not in psyops when this happened, but I have spoken about it with other soldiers in the organization. From my understanding, the government saw that China's vaccine gave China power, and the US didn't like that, so they used psyops and social media to try and harm the distribution of China's vaccines. It is incredibly common for social media to be used as the medium to spread propaganda, but I don't know for what purposes, as I do not have a need-to-know for clearance."

As a follow-up, we also wanted to ask why on earth Joe Biden, as a sitting president, would've been kept out of the loop to such an operation. To this, they would say, "To start, I want to say that the army is a bureaucratic nightmare; a common practice to save time and take action is to circumvent the regulations, complete the task, and shut up about it. 'They don't need to know' is a common phrase in the military because if the job gets done and there are no consequences, they don't need to know. This is what I speculate happened with the change of administration in the white house. It was likely that there were more pressing matters to brief the incoming [commander-in-chief] on, and they let this one slide in the interest of saving time. Or, possibly because they thought that it wouldn't be allowed to continue, a sentiment that was confirmed when the operation was discontinued."

When simply asked for [their] general opinion on the operation, John would comment, "I was shocked, but also unsurprised when I heard about the connection between psyops and the operation. I don't have a great opinion of the US government. I think it was evil and reprehensible to take advantage of how easily misinformation spreads on social media. To make matters worse, the operation targeted Muslims. Just leave it to the US to be islamophobic at every chance. It's bad enough that they saw China giving out vaccines, a perfectly good and reasonable thing to do, and immediately went on the offensive, but to specifically target Muslims from being vaccinated [by claiming the vaccine contained pork gelatin]? Also, a side note: the one tweet in Arabic congratulating the US for being 'generous', and in the same breath saying that Russia and China are only doing it for influence and profit, is so obviously propaganda it's funny."

At this point, it also occurred to us that if we're going to interview a member of a US psyop regimen, we might as welp ask them everything we can. 😈 With this in mind, when we asked John on whether he saw the US military's use of weaponized e-girls as an effective recruitment strategy (and no, we're not taking the piss, it's a very real thing), John would respond, "Funnily enough, the strategy was effective for a few guys I know, and we all make fun of them for it. It works enough to be used as one strategy, but it won't be solving the current recruiting crisis. As always, the best strategy is to give out bigger and bigger bags of money until someone sells their soul to the government. It's not like the military is short on money."

The last question is a joke, so I'm leaving that one out. But yeah. Yikes.

[calamitaswrath]

Well, after starting to plan for it roughly eleven months ago, and starting to actively write for it this March. . . I'm actually done with the first draft of my novel writing project??

'Course, now the "fun" part of editing and finding people who'll read it for feedback starts. But still, satisfying.