#google submitted

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

How can a world have no major religions but a vast number of small ones. Like no religion accounts for more than 1% of the entire population except maybe atheist for maybe 5% of the population? But what does that say about the distribution of culture/countries?

Tex: Major religions are often major because they are state-backed - i.e., they have lots of money at their disposal, so they become economically and thus culturally relevant. Religion answers, approximately, two major questions: 1) Are we alone in X or Y manner? and 2) I’m scared of X thing that I have difficulty understanding, what is Y solution?

For a place like Earth, the planet that we know the most about, there are no planet-wide confirmations about the physical existence of any deity in particular (as in, shows up in a grocery and says hello to you in an entirely unambiguous manner that all onlookers can agree upon). This means that religions on Earth are predicated on the idea that belief - and, thus, willpower - makes the deity real. Or at least “proves” it. Your mileage may vary.

Because of this, the real-world religions that you can observe and study will have many, many commonalities to the two general questions I stated above. The first question usually contains subjects such as sentience, and the emotional frills of that. The second question usually contains subjects such as death and the process of dying.

In order to have many distinct religions, you would need a lot of unanswered questions for various societies to answer, a severe lack of contact and communication between groups of societies, and most importantly a lack of (or lack of need of) money. The more travel there is, the more people of different backgrounds will talk to each other, and the more ideas will be confronted, shared, and discussed. Trade would correspondingly be low, because of the lack of travel.

Utuabzu: There’s a couple things to consider here. Firstly, how are we defining religion? This isn’t a trick question, it’s a genuine issue. The Abrahamic concept of religion doesn’t really carry over well to other spiritual traditions. Most other belief systems are more local and action-focused (orthoprax, concerned with what one does, rather than what one believes), and often lack any mandatory set of beliefs, or standardised mythology. Religions like Chinese Folk Religion, Shintō, Hinduism*, etc. can have wildly varying pantheons and myths depending on where you are and who you ask. So depending on your definition every tiny village could have its own religion, because it has its own version of the cultural mythos and its own pantheon including some distinctive local gods and dropping some more common cultural ones.

Universal (applicable to everyone regardless of origin or location), proselytising (actively attempting to convert people) religions are rare. There’s only actually a few of them. Most notably, Christianity and Islam. They are both also orthodox religions (concerned with believing the correct things), which means they have a standard mythology and theology (or several competing standards that have historically attempted to resolve their differences via murder). A third, very notable difference they have with most belief systems is that they are exclusive, you can’t (or at least you’re not supposed to) combine them with other belief systems. Most non-Abrahamic belief systems are more or less fine with syncretism (combining belief systems), most clearly seen with the way Buddhism** is practiced concurrently with folk religions across Asia.

So, in answer to the actual question, your best bet here is to just not have an equivalent to Christianity or Islam. I suggest reading up on non-Abrahamic and pre-Christian/Muslim religions and religious practices, as that should give you an idea of what such a world might look like. I’d expect it to be colourful and diverse, with cities filled with temples and shrines to an ever-expanding array of deities and hosting various festivals much of the year. Many people would likely layer a philosophy like Daoism or Stoicism over their day-to-day religious practice, and it would be common and expected for people to show respect to or make  offerings to local deities when traveling. Religion would be a thing you do, not what you believe.

*Hinduism is less a religion and more a family of closely related religions and spiritual traditions that all originate on the Indian subcontinent. Which is why the Indian government considers Jains and Buddhists to be Hindu.

**Buddhism can be described as a religion or as a philosophy, depending on who you ask, what the context is, and whether Mercury is in Gatorade. Western definitions don’t really apply cleanly to non-Western contexts.

[meerphanim]

The Ferryman's Scorpion

{ Click/Tap for better quality. }

My entry for @catmask 's and @frogcroaks ' contest, Monster Mayhem!

I chose the theme Wisteria Will-O-Wisp for flower symbolism and will-o'-the-wisp folklore. Also because of the color purple ← My favourite color 💜

Thank you for hosting this contest where I can try out monster designing and good luck to the other participants. Peace and love on planet Earth!

[random-fun-polls]

do you like plov? (uzbek dish, but also popular throughout former ussr countries)

yes, i love it

it's okay

i don't like it

i hate it

i've never tried it

[smashorpass50plus]

Pete and Bas? (Both together and individually?)

[yourfaveisqueerandreligious]

eli ever from the villains series is christian (canon) and biromantic (canon)

submitted by @secretly-a-catamount source

[haveyouheardthispodcast]

Propaganda below the cut:

Actual play DnD podcast by the brothers McElroy (and father)

[foundfamilyhq]

[dirtgh0ul]

may’s This is Not A Video zine theme is METAMORPHOSIS

as always, all types of art and writing are welcome! message me with any questions

submissions will be due APRIL 27th

submit here

[kurtsascot]

OKAY CHARACTER BASED QUESTIONS

@spaceorphan18 @snarkyhag anyone else who was there and can remember/wants to chime in please do

1) since hes on my mind rn…. did anyone EVER like ryder ???

2) who was hated more adam or brody???

3) was will EVER liked, or like… seen as cool??

4) what guest appearance was the most hated

[lillazyboithings]

No fandom art today (still busy with academics) but have this eye I drew while I was bored while the teacher is teaching bioinformatics (if I see the stupid website again my stupid brain is going to explode<3)

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

How can I physically create a species that can see/detect all light wavelengths? I'm very willing to handwave why evolution would do such a thing. The important reason would be these species are seen as supers or godlike sorts. The only thing is that the species needs be is look fairly humanoid and around our height and the main eyes look fairly like human ones do.

Tex: If you’re handwaving evolution, then use technology. This wouldn’t be inherently part of a species, since it wouldn’t be something that could be reproduced in children's naturally, but if others are ignorant as to the exact technologies being used by that species, that could easily come across as something superpowered or godlike.

Feral: I wonder what you mean by “all light wavelengths.” The electromagnetic spectrum is quite vast with wavelengths ranging from “smaller than an atomic nucleus” to thousands of kilometers in length. In physics, microwaves, radio waves, and gamma rays are all considered light, but seeing that range would make for some very weird eyes and a very crowded visual world. You use the phrase “see/detect,” and I would definitely say that “detect” would be a better idea and broaden the scope of how someone might detect, physically sense, the full spectrum. For example, humans can in fact detect infrared light through touch sensation as radiant heat. This is why incandescent light sources (fire, tungsten-filament bulbs, etc) create “heat.”

[ao3screenshotss]

[mtpenguinmonster]

Search engine comparision

Google: Three ads before the first actual result, which is not a helpful one. The following results also aren't helpful.

Bing: There are four ads, each so large that you have to scroll down to see the actual results (none of which are helpful).

DuckDuckGo: Two ads before the actual results. As usual, the actual results are the opposite of what I searched for.

Ecosia: No ads, but no helpful results. However, about 0.02 trees were planted as a result of my search.

Conclusion: It is impossible to find answers to difficult questions simply by using a search engine. However, out of the search engines surveyed, Ecosia had the fewest ads and most trees planted.

[random-fun-polls]

Have you ever had soda cracker pie?

Yes

No, but I’ve heard of it/know what it is

No, wth is soda cracker pie?

soda cracker pie is a crust made of crushed soda crackers, butter, sugar and sometimes nuts, and is typically topped with fruit, whipped cream, or custard.

[e77y]

Should I write/finish six poems by the end of the month (so ten days) to submit and try to get published in an online journal. I will make $10 if I do LOL

[theliterarywolf]

Not to sound like a salty bitch but, my God, why do some of the most annoying people end up with the most successful IPs?