#me when australia

[le-scenariste]

IM SEEING THE MATILDAS LIVE ON WEDNESDAY HOLY FUCK HOLY FUCK !!!!!!!!!

[philsmeatylegss]

If I were Dan and Phil I would never hard launch because it’s so embarrassing that we were right. Like what do you mean you were so in love a bunch of thirteen year old’s clocked it? I would never give that satisfaction.

[bogkeep]

i reread captive prince trilogy for the third or fourth time recently

[rockatanskette]

Semi-related to my post on how human conservation practices, but I have a cold today, and it's got me thinking about biological altruism—the biological imperative to put other creatures ahead of yourself, to benefit the group.

When talking about possible interactions with other species, we talk a lot about humans being crazy and thrill-seeking and impossible to kill. Never use a warning shot as an incentive to keep humans out of a fight; it'll just make them angry. And that's true. But a valid criticism I've seen in the "Earth is a death world" community is that according to our understanding of evolution, every planet must be some form of death world. Competition fosters evolution—the wolf with sharper claws survives when its litter mates die. You can't reach space travel without some casualties along the way.

But the dog survives because it makes friends with the strange ape carrying a sharp stick. And the strange ape survives because it befriends the wolf. Underneath the death world is an inextricable and undeniable layer of the bond world; the love world; the world, together.

I imagine some worlds are not death worlds. They're peaceful and tranquil. I suspect there are worlds far more deadly than Earth, where the skies rain diamonds, harder than any substance we know with the species to match. And I imagine that they are united in their confusion at the duality of humankind.

Today is a great example: I have a cold, and I want someone to take care of me, but the people who would are immunocompromised, also sick, or live 8 hours away, respectfully. I also want no one within the walls of my apartment or I will eat them. I feel gross, I feel tired, and I don't want a single human being anywhere near me, even if they did bring soup.

In my constant scrolling through my phone today, I decided to look up why the hell I feel so bad—why everyone feels so bad when they're ill. And the answer surprised me. I always thought it was because your immune system is active, so it's using a lot of your energy. That is part of it. Another part is that your brain and body are communicating across the blood-brain barrier to fight the infection, which is rare and energetically expensive.

But that doesn't explain everything, and according to more current research, it could also be what's called the Eyam Hypothesis: that we feel so gross, so we instinctively isolate from other people. We're too tired to deal with others, and so we don't infect them. Misanthropy for the good of the species. Of course, it can also backfire: one of the criticisms of the Eyam Hypothesis is that humans also instinctively care for each other. If my brother has a headache, I drive to the store for Advil.

Personally, I think it's a little bit of both: biological altruism. Either way, the majority live on. The first thought I had this morning when I woke up wasn't "I feel gross" it was "there's no way I'm going to work today." And while that might not be everyone's first thought, you don't even have to be a particularly altruistic person to not want to leave your home or your bed when you're sick. It's inborn.

And so when the human named Ismail comes down with a case of the interstellar common cold, his alien friend Dyos grows very concerned. Ismail is usually intensely social, almost off-puttingly so. Some crew members joke about how his quarters are for sleeping and prayer only; if he's home alone? You should be worried. But when Dyos demands an answer to the severity of Ismail's malady, the other humans just nod knowingly.

"Nah, he's okay, the medics already cleared him. It's not a severe infection."

"But there are so many...fluids. And his body has changed color."

There is a moment of confusion there until they remember that Dyos's species can see in the infrared color spectrum.

"Nah, that's just a low-grade fever. It should break in the next couple days."

"But he doesn’t want to play chess today," Dyos insists.

"Ohhhh," says human Claudia, finally understanding. "No, that's normal. Humans don't like being around other people when they're sick, it's supposed to be one of the major evolutionary advantages. Protect your community from your illness and the genes live on."

"So we're just going to leave him alone?" Dyos is troubled by this. He can go for weeks without speaking to another life form, but he has seen Ismail grow despondent when unable to participate in social gathering.

"Oh, no," human Claudia says, laughing. "We're going to employ one of the other most longstanding human evolutionary advantages."

There are many to choose from and Dyos settles on, "middle age?"

"Sort of," human Claudia opens up a small shipping container and holds up a brown paper bag tied with a colorful ribbon. It glows brightly in Dyos's vision, almost as brightly as human Claudia's smile. "His nanni's hot soup, express delivery."

[angelic37]

TENTOO DAY GIFT EXCHANGE ► milestones for @demdifferentstories-29 (Happy birthday Lily!)

[endofbeginings]

3/24

[pokimoko]

Hello!! I came across a couple of your animals with pride flags series (idk what you're actually calling it lol) and I wanted to request an intersex blue-ringed octopus (I'm not intersex myself tho lol, just thought it might look neat)

Oooh, this was a fun one! Thank you for the request! 🐙

[didnt-hear-cold-as-you-live]

It is really amazing and really beautiful they put this up but uhhhhhh wait til they hear about the land they played all those US dates on

[the-girl-down-the-street]

‘average fangirl’ oh sorry i didn’t realise i wasn’t allowed to feel bad for a driver after they just had a really bad crash and their team principle has gone straight to the media saying how all of their (ILLEGAL!!!) upgrades have been ruined because of him instead of saying the driver is okay and not even a day after it happened there’s talks of replacing him

[ask-nyc-boroughs]

During these Olympics, I learned that Australia has one-sided beef with the United States especially over swimming. I find this beef weird cause lol Aussies are just American different font & idk most Americans love Aussies 😭.

Anyways, I imagine Kyle/ Australia (I’m using my friend Mel’s interpretation) & Alfred did bring that competitive spirit to the Olympics these games. Also just to note, these two are 1000% friends, and whenever they’re together they get into stupid levels of trouble together.

My Alfred grew up in Massachusetts (he once represented Plymouth colony) so he def knows how to swim. He’s a New England boy at heart even if he now lives in DC.

[le-scenariste]

Me when I first thought Tumblr just got suddenly interested in the Australian band This Is Serious Mum but they were in fact just shortening the word autism

[f1-stuff]

Racing ID -> Racecraft Jolyon Palmer discusses Carlos' and Charles' racecraft

On Carlos: "He calls some brilliant strategy shots from the car... He's good at making those big, committed moves on the inside, he's good in attack, he's very good in defense, he's a smart driver as well, and he has very few incidents. He might just be the strongest racer in the field for me." On Charles: "He's one of the bigger brakers in the field... He's got great skills at slowing the car down, and he's got good commitment on the overtake... He's quite tactical with the DRS lines... Charles gives up the inside line quite often. If you give him space to come back on the outside, he'll definitely take it."

[personinthepalace]

I absolutely ADORE the fact that Rhys Nicholson is dressed as Tintin for Taskmaster Australia. Their shirt even has Snowy on it!

[bogkeep]

I SAW A PLATYPUS TODAY!!!!!! very exciting. it's such a magnificent creature. i saw it slap a crayfish off its spot and then the platypus itself struggled to crawl onto a log and just flopped back into the water. unfortunately i have no footage of that. it was also impossible to take still pictures, these are my best attempts:

[astrowaffles]

Something about having good friends makes you wanna break up with your bf

[oddly-casual]

Fiona and Cake spoilers seriously

(Something I noticed abt Betty and Simons relationship)

I love Betty and Simon’s relationship, I think their back story is so cute and romantic and all that lovely stuff don’t get me wrong.

But there’s this under tone of Betty constantly giving things up for Simon and we don’t really talk about it a lot???

Like, Betty let Simon have his moment with the artifact and the pubic, she also doesn’t go to her trip in favor of going on an expedition with Simon. Then when she goes to leave again she stays for Simon.

Even Fiona is like “you went with her on the bus?” And Simon just looks all confused like “what? No, why would I do that?” Like- hello???

Then after that she gave up her entire life and mind to get Simon back to the point where she literally says “I don’t know who I am without him anymore.” And that just sucks! Since the beginning Betty has been the one giving up the most, her mind, her own possible career, and it’s a story of love of course and it’s very sweet but it’s also a story of sacrifice.

Their love wasn’t a perfect solution, it was already sort of imbalanced when it started and I lowkey love how we see those cracks even before they’re together.

Again, I love their relationship and I think it’s sweet. I just think we should talk about Betty’s side more, especially when she tells a story of what most women do in relationships, sacrifice.