#national level

[great-and-small]

One of my absolute favorite art/science collaborations in the world is a project by National Geographic and photographer Joel Sartore called the Photo Ark. The ark is a 25 year project with the goal of photographing every animal species in human care, with the hopes of saving as many endangered species as possible. The Ark turned 18 years old today and they’ve just photographed their 16,000th animal- the Santa Cruz long-toed salamander!

I really recommend any animal lovers or photography enthusiasts learn about this project and follow photographer Joel Sartore on this journey. He does an incredible job of highlighting lesser known species and his skill as an artist is staggering. The behind the scenes process of how he gets these shots of such a wide variety of species is always a technical marvel.

Also worth noting that if you’re an artist ever in need of reference photos for an obscure animal species, this is a great resource where you can look up high quality images by species name! Anyone looking to decorate their home with a focus on biology art can purchase beautiful animal prints while supporting conservation.

Here are some of my favorite shots over the years to celebrate the Ark’s birthday!

[jacketpotatoo]

The thematic implications of Caitlyn transitioning from solely a sharpshooter, to learning the ropes of hand-to-hand combat, and how it follows her growing distrust in Ambessa. If the weapon is a reflection of mentality, it prefigures Cait's mental expansion - away from narrow-minded thinking and acting from a distance. Instead of tackling from afar, she melds her skills in accuracy and deduction *with* close-up action. This is her power play. "Vision" is cait's strength (as opposed to "Might" and "Guile" and "Sacrifice") and Ambessa qualifies this with the phrase "tunnels in your eyes". Ironically, she trains Caitlyn and literally gives her the tools to pull away from her rifle-mindset. In teaching her how Noxus views strength, she offers her the keys to dismantle it

[munchiep]

This is how the encounter went, in my mind :)

(based on this post)

[cienie-isengardu]

Zuko and Azula in "The Beach"

Lately I think a lot about "The Beach" episode [x], especially about this small detail of great teamwork Zuko and Azula have during the game.

Zuko is looking ahead, directly facing their rivals (who had the control of the ball at this moment) but his body is clearly lowered to the ground, left hand most likely touching the ground, legs bent and widely spaced - a clear contrast to Mai standing near and how he stood before on two separate occasions

which is why I think Zuko willingly create an opportunity for Azula, so she could jump higher - something she definitely used to their team’s advantage. If Azula simply jumped on her brother’s back when he wasn’t expecting it or wasn’t ready, he would probably just fall face down from the impact but as the scene shows, he had no such problem nor was angry about it in the following scenes.

During the game sequences there was no dialogue shown between our protagonists, so it is hard to determine if Azula in advance called Zuko to give her a “lift” or Zuko offered on his own, or did they were that much in sync they just acted without thinking. Regardless I like this few seconds long interaction, because for me it implies how they trusted each other despite all the rivalry and bitterness from previous episodes. Like Zuko trusted Azula won’t use that moment to hurt/humiliate him by overuse of force, the same as Azula trusted in Zuko’s strength and that he won’t mess up by losing his balance. It is a small thing but no less sweet to see them working well together when fighting for the same goal - what reminds me a bit their teamwork from the previous season finale.

Interestingly, it was also the second time Zuko assisted Azula in scoring against their rivals while not scoring himself any point on screen. The first time happened almost right at the beggining of the game (second from total five sequences)

while each girl have the solo sequence of winning a point:

Azula's first attack,

later Ty Lee landing on the net

and Mai kicking the ball (and presumably scoring)

while Zuko’s two actions are shared only with his younger sister while there is no sense of competition between the siblings, something contrasting a lot with some previous and later episodes.

Azula is bossy and competitive through most of the episode and her brother lets her be that without a complaint. Azula and Zuko get along pretty well and A) do not argue (with the exception of the campfire scene and then they argue not even for the whole scene itself) and B) don't get on each nerves the way they do in the palace, with Ozai's presence looming in the back of their mind. I absolutely adore this episode, as it humanizes all our Fire Nation characters by showing them as teenagers outside the war zone but also giving us a bit of insight into what Azula and Zuko could be if Ozai didn't pit them against each other. And they could be a great team!

[woolying]

im death

[hendolish]

SORRY?!

[bylerpining]

[impmansloot]

bro free kingdom come: deliverance from gamer bros who think that the story in the second game is empty because henry didn't achieve some hero-type greatness. like we here on this website argue who's the most media illiterate when you have these fellas viewing a story about war, loss, revenge, guilt, and ultimately love as something that should instead be a power fantasy which congratulates your character for defeating the big bad and if it doesn't then it must mean that the story sucks actually cause you didn't really achieve anything i guess

[slutforpringles]

Will Buxton's Top F1 Drivers of 2016: #1 Daniel Ricciardo | via

[mylittleredgirl]

i also love a folk hero, but preemptively convicting this dude in the spirit of celebration still puts you on the side of the prosecution. you’re publicly agreeing with the nypd. you can see that, right? like for the love of god please cool it with the redpilled podcaster sounding conspiracy theories, but a simple “well i don’t know, it seems to me he could be just some guy” even if you’re winking while you type it is the exact ending to this we’re hoping for. reasonable doubt in the court of public opinion. jury nullification starts with you.

[thegrlwthesytat2]

Happy National Relaxation day brought to you by the master of chill 😎

[aroaessidhe]

aro & ace books: Black authors (YA)

The Sound of Stars - YA scifi, demi girl MC

A Song of Salvation - YA scifi, 3 demi-coded MCs (f, m/m)

So Let Them Burn - YA fantasy, 1/2 MCs is a demi girl

So Many Beginnings - YA historical, 1/4 MCs is an aroacespec-coded girl

Dread Nation/Deathless Divide - YA historical fantasy, SC/MC in book 2 is an aroace girl

Raybearer - YA fantasy, ace boy SC

Blood Like Magic - YA sff, demiromantic girl SC

Meet Cute Diary - YA romance, ace nonbinary SC

Darling - YA thriller - ace boy SC

Ride or Die - YA contemporary, demisexual boy SC

#aspec books / aspec database / tumblr masterpost

info included here is brief! please see my database for full details of the books

[transingthoseformers]

Can you imagine if the deeper you went underground in Cybertron, the louder / more clearly you could hear Primus??

[humming-fly]

This 4th of July I’m stealing the patriotism euphoria that’s usually associated with assholes idolizing the worst attributes of this country because fuck ‘em I live here too and remembering the things this country actually got Right is an important exercise when trying to rally anyone to want to defend it in November SO putting my money where my mouth is I’ll start easy and say I really like National Parks!! It’s rad how many of them there are and how they’re actual set up to preserve some of the most beautiful wild areas in our country while still letting people visit to enjoy and experience nature!! (Less important but I love how they put national parks on the quarters I think that’s real fun)

Feel free to add on if something speaks to ya!

[thefabelmans2022]

so like. oliver wants power and privilege, right? we all understand that, okay? good. oliver was born into relative privilege as the son of a middle class family who gets into the most prestigious university in the world. he will probably get a good job and make money and become upper middle class. he'll retain his relative privilege and probably get to exercise power over working class and poor people. but that's not enough. he's not the most privileged, the most powerful. he's surrounded by people who are of a higher social class than he is and they're beautiful and magnetic and they'll never have to work a single day in their lives and neither will their children or their children's children all because their great great great great great great great times seventeen grandfather owned the land where serfs farmed and then his great great something grandkids invested the inheritance in the colonies and the slave trade and now they do nothing but they're always the most powerful person in the room. that's the kind of person oliver is surrounded by at oxford and ESPECIALLY at saltburn, and no matter how much money he eventually makes the only land his family owns is a two storey house in the north of england. he wants that kind of power and privilege and it is completely unattainable except through birth. is that clear now or

[euthymiya]

Natlan could have been so much better if there was an actual emotional component that gave the audience some shock value and some actual concern for the main cast. Not even the main cast seems to care about the main cast how can you expect the players to gaf