#random samples at the museum

[pipunculidae]

AWW YEAH (pipunculidae)

[knebulanight]

Stretched out my character design muscles by turning a bunch of my favorite* Pokémon into cute girls inspired by the original creatures.

(*Galarian Weezing and Clodsire aren't as high on the list as the rest, I just had some fun character design ideas for them, but everyone else is definitely my top 10)

Character names and short bios below the cut:

Glaceon (x2) | Firn & Mint | Duo magicians specializing in ice magic illusions and fantastic icicle displays, they're part of a band of performers.

Farigiraf | Zarifa | The curator of her own museum. She has a fondness for the old, dusty, magical, and especially cryptic.

Falinks | Hexa Semestre | Genius inventor, master of technology, immature brat, and super full of herself. Very much chaotic neutral, she's prone to nice and naughty acts alike, but it heavily depends on her mood and whoever is paying her with the tastier snacks.

Whirlipede/Scolipede | Latrielle | A high-ranking member of a secret evil organization. She specializes in taming and breeding dangerous beasts and insects with her unique charm and strange magicks.

Ribombee | Talis | A teeny tiny pollen collector and seller. Using her fairy intuition, she's able to tap into the mystical power of flower pollen, and turn them into a powerful healing substances and painting materials.

Sylveon | Pennon | An energetic acrobat who's part of the Glaceon Twins' performing troup. She also part-times as a candy shop clerk. Which candy shop, you ask? All of them.

Galarian Weezing | Madam Miasma | An eccentric perfume maker and wandering saleswoman. She shrouds herself with her own special perfumes. Her mood, methods, and prices dramatically shift with each kind of aroma.

Breloom | Boleta | An apothecary who lives by herself in the forest, studying mushrooms. She's learned the effects of many fungi breeds and their spores, and weaves them into her staff and self-defense fighting tactics.

Slither Wing | Dawn / "Daybreaker" | Professional wrestler in the evening, monster fighter in the morning. "Daybreaker" wakes up squarely at sunrise to fend off the daily influx of giant monsters that threaten her peaceful city.

Clodsire | Daisy | A simple lackadaisical young girl who's often seen prowling the marketplace, conversing with random passersby and indulging in free samples.

Wailord | Lady Duchess McGalleon | The only child, heir, and right hand to a canned plankton tycoon. While patiently waiting for her huge inheritance, she helps her father by overseeing the company's workers, always looming tall over them.

Typhlosion | Ignis Megaboom | She's always throwing herself into fights with no purpose, but her behavior is likely due to insecurities or something. The only time you'll see her exhibit patience is when she's charging up her explosive attacks.

bonus doodles & sketches, including some scrapped designs:

[drawingjester00]

A small sample of the DC x DP fic I'm working on. It's a Damian/Danny (Dead Serious) fic

Danny wonders why these things always happen to him. This was just supposed to be an end-of-year trip to Gotham. One week he didn't have to fight ghouls or deal with Vlad's fruitloopiness. The universe hated him. At least that's the only conclusion that makes sense.

It started at one of Gotham's museums. Everything was great. They were looking at old stuff and he was joking around with Tucker and Sam. Then his ghost sense went off because of course.

It wasn't a surprise to see a few ghosts come in and start wreaking havoc. How did they know where to find him? He quickly got his answer when he saw Vlad. Vlad grabbed a random kid and fled. Sam and Tucker reassured him they got the other ghost to go after Vlad.

Damian was ready to body slam this vampire-looking man. Who the hell was he and where did he come from? The man turned them both intangible, going through several walls before ending up in a mostly empty room. The man tied up his wrist and ankles but left him otherwise unrestrained. Damian was able to press the call button on his watch.

"Hey vampire, you're a long ways away from Transylvania." Damian snarked.

"I'm not a vampire you insolent brat."

Damian rolled his eyes, "Then maybe you shouldn't dress like one."

Vlad went to retort but was tackled by Danny flying through the wall. Damian would have been surprised if weird shit didn't happen to him on the daily but still he had to put on a performance.

Damian looked at the fighting pair deadpan, "oh wow gee looks like I'm in quite a jam."

By the time Vlad was sucked into the phantom thermos Damian had already freed himself. Danny looked at the kid bewildered.

"You know staring is rude."

Danny scoffed, "I wasn't staring. Who the hell are you? What did Vlad want with you?"

"I have no clue. You came in before his villainous monologue," Damian paused before snickering, "is his name really Vlad? Like Vlad the Impaler, the original Dracula."

Danny can't believe he hadn't made that connection himself. He couldn't help but laugh. Damian raised a brow.

When Danny calmed he looked at the kid, "So kid are you hurt?"

"I would think that's the first thing you would have checked for. I could have bled to death while you went hysterical."

"Since when did twelve-year-olds get so snarky."

"I'm not twelve! I'm sixteen!"

"But you're so small."

"You are only a few inches taller than me. I'm also still tall enough to kick your ass. Who are you anyway? Batman doesn't like metas in his city."

"A what now?"

"A meta," a big man stepped out from the darkness, "You okay Damian?"

"Yeah, hood. Is it just you?"

"For now, yes," Red Hood looked at Danny, "who are you kid and why are you in Gotham."

"I'm Phantom and I'm supposed to be on a school trip but one of my arch nemesis found me but I stopped him so I should get going."

"I should go back to Hood. I'm fine and I'm sure the ghost boy would be willing to bring me back."

"Uh yeah sure let's go." Danny flew off.

Red Hood lowered himself and whispered, "keep an eye on him. If you have a tracker, use it."

"I'm not an idiot. I was already planning on it."

Danny flew back into the room, "you coming?"

"Are you gonna walk 'cause I certainly can't fly or phase through walls."

"Oh yeah. Let me just, " Danny scooped Damian up in a bridal style, "there we go. You ready now?"

Red Hood snickered as Damian turned red, squawking at the poor kid holding him.

"Put me down! Don't manhandle me!"

"Sorry but this is the quickest way."

Danny rushed off. Damian scowled like an angry cat. Danny chuckled, causing the other to start another rant full of foul language. Finally, Danny landed. Sam and Tucker were there waiting.

Sam gave him a confused expression, "Why are you carrying the youngest Wayne."

"Who?"

"Me dumbass! Put me down!" Damian squirmed.

Danny set him down. Damian adjusted his expensive uniform muttering. Sam grabbed Danny by the ear and pulled him aside.

She whispered," What are you doing carrying the Wayne kid."

"Vlad had him. Plus I still don't know who Wayne is."

"Wayne as in Bruce Wayne, " Sam pinched the bridge of her nose as Danny stared at her blankly, "Wayne as in Wayne Tech Industries."

"Oh… ohhhh. So maybe Vlad had him for some rich guy reason."

"We should keep an eye on him. He is just some pampered rich kid."

Danny nodded and went back over. He was surprised to see the kid was still there. He shuffled uncomfortably, unsure what to do from here. What he didn't see coming was the quick peck to his cheek followed by a growled thank you. Moments later the kid was gone.

Tucker grinned, "look at you, Danny. You just get all the rich babes don't you?"

"It was just a hero kiss," Sam waved her hand in front of Danny's face, "you still there."

"Yeah yeah just wasn't expecting that."

"Go change and catch up with the class."

"Good idea."

That night Danny patrolled the city. Gotham was a whole different beast at night. It was still busy, the lights were bright and the people were completely unfazed. He decided to take a break in the park. Not even five minutes he was being dragged by a vine. Now he was upside down face to face with a pretty green skin lady.

"Whatcha got there?" The blonde lady next to her asked.

"I think this is the mystery meta that Red Hood was talking about."

"He's a cutie ain't he? What do you think we should do with him?"

"Interrogate. Why are you flying around our city?"

Danny gulped, "just making sure none of the ghosts from the attack earlier weren't causing more chaos."

"Responsible young man aren't ya."

"Look I don't want no trouble I have enough of that —"

"Ivy put him down," A boy came down from the tree tops dressed in a costume, "he hasn't done anything wrong yet."

Ivy hesitated but she dropped him. Danny landed with an oof.

"You spooky kid come here."

Danny hesitated but went over. The kid narrowed his eyes and clicked his tongue.

"Of course it's you. I heard about you," Damian walked over to Ivy, "I will deal with this," he gestures to Danny before putting his hands on his hips, "Isn't tonight date night?"

Harley smiles, "it sure is. Let's go Ives I think we can still make our dinner reservations."

Ivy grabbed Harley's hand, " be careful kiddo." She and Harley left the two vigilantes.

Damian went back over to Danny who just looked confused. So much happened in the past few minutes and he wasn't able to process it.

"You kid, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Uh patrolling."

"Gotham already has its team of heroes. We don't need you stirring the pot."

"I'm trying to help. I don't think Gotham's heroes know how to deal with ghosts."

"You don't know anything about Gotham."

"You know you're right. How do I know you're not a villain?"

"Because you would be in big trouble already. You're lucky those two are reformed."

"I guess you're part of Batman's crew although you're pretty short. I'm surprised the big bad Batman lets you out past curfew." Danny smirked.

Damian growled, "you better watch it, ghost boy."

"Oo did I strike a nerve."

Damian scowled and swung. Danny faked a yawn and went intangible. Damian ended up stumbling. He was quickly getting irritated. Damian tries to land a few more hits.

Danny laughed and pinched Damian's cheek, "so cute."

"I'm not cute. I'm gonna figure out what exactly you are and then I'm gonna kick your ass."

Before he could get another word in his ghost sense went off. It was the box ghost being annoying as fuck. Danny rolled his eyes before swiftly kicking his ass. Damian watched amused. Once the box ghost was away Danny was again at Damian's side.

"I didn't recognize that villain but you did adequately I guess."

"That's 'cause he is one of mine. He's a ghost."

"So you're both ghosts. Did you," Damian paused, "did you die?"

"Yeah, kinda I guess. I never thought about it that way."

"That is never easy."

"You say that like you have experienced dying."

Damian stayed quiet. Danny looked at him and was shocked. This boy had experienced death; his silence was answer enough. A million questions ran through his head but he shook his thoughts away and just hugged Damian.

"I don't know how that is possible but I'm not gonna question it."

Damian tense. It was weird the ghost boy felt so cold but it was comforting. Danny pulled away leaving a confused and blushing Damian. Damian was still standing there when Nightwing arrived.

[laundrybiscuits]

(wait for the season to come back to me tag)

“We still on for dinner this Thursday, or are you gonna reschedule again? Because I swear to god, Steve, I will break into your apartment and set up camp if I have to. It’s been years. Centuries.”

“It’s been a month, Henderson.”

“I barely remember who you are anymore. What’s your name again? How do I know you? We’re actually very happy with our current cable provider, thanks.”

God, that kid is such an asshole. Steve loves the shit out of him.

“Listen, I’ll see you on Thursday and explain everything, okay? Actually, uh—I’m kinda calling to give you a heads-up. Got some big news, so you should, like…brace yourself.”

Dustin’s quiet for a long, worrying moment.

“Steve. You have got to know that that’s the least helpful thing you could possibly say. You’re not even gonna give me a hint, man?”

“Wish I could. It’s not a bad thing, okay? Just big. Like…Upside Down big.”

“Okay, for my own peace of mind, I’m going to pretend you’re completely overreacting about the fact that you, like, got a dog or something.”

“I’m not—”

“Peace of mind, Steve! See you Thursday at my place! Don’t cancel or I’ll kill you!”

Steve’s left laughing into the dial tone. Honestly, he’d mostly called so Dustin couldn’t complain afterwards about not getting an advance warning. There’s just no way to hint at the whole Eddie thing without Eddie being present and accounted for; it would be the worst kind of cruel.

Steve can’t imagine what he’d have done to anyone who tried to tell him Eddie was alive without any kind of proof. It wouldn’t have been good.

“So we’re telling Henderson on Thursday?” Eddie jostles Steve’s shoulder. Steve thinks he’s been doing that a lot more lately.

“Seems like,” says Steve.

———

They take the train to Dustin’s place in Wilmette as soon as it gets dark out. Eddie’s bundled up in a nondescript hoodie and one of Steve’s denim jackets, looking like every other Chicagoan braced against the cool evening air.

They haven’t been going out all that much. Robin keeps asking if Eddie wants to do any tourist stuff, maybe the museums or something, but he always shrugs off the offers. Steve would’ve maybe expected him to want to get out and explore, now that he’s not cooped up anymore, but Eddie mostly seems to want to sleep, read, and watch TV.

Robin’s been on a campaign to educate Eddie about the ten years of pop culture he missed. “It’s essential for rehabilitation,” she says. Steve is pretty sure it’s just an excuse to make them rewatch all of Robin’s favorite movies, because some of the stuff she brings home was definitely already out in 1986.

Eddie draws the line at letting Robin show him music, though: “Nope, nuh-uh, no freaking way. I wouldn’t have listened to that shimmery synth shit if I’d been alive and free every single day of the last decade, and I’m not gonna listen to it now.”

Steve does have a few metal cassettes, but he feels weird about bringing them out. It feels like he’s crossing a line, somehow—admitting to something. So instead, they’d all traipsed over to the Tower Records a few blocks over, and let Eddie roam around sampling things.

To Steve’s surprise, Eddie hadn’t actually picked up that many metal albums. He'd grabbed the new Accept and some Alice in Chains, sure, but he also picked up Nirvana and Soundgarden. He had gotten into a conversation with a very helpful clerk that ended with the clerk scribbling a number on a business card and handing it over with a grin and a promise to make Eddie try some local act called Wilco next time.

Obviously Steve’s happy that Eddie’s making friends and charming people. He’s legitimately fucking thrilled that other people are finally seeing how great Eddie is, because Eddie deserves that. Eddie deserves the world, and if he wants to date some random clerk, he should get to.

It’s just that if Eddie Munson comes back from the dead to start dating some random clerk, Steve is going to have to go live at the bottom of Lake Michigan. That’s all.

[moldypaintbrush1942]

Some Spengler headcanons I came up with at 3:00 AM last night.

Some NSFW ones at the end, just fair warning:

Also these are my head cannons considering only the first two films as canon:

And trust me they’ll be more where this came from:

Headcanons

Doesn’t drink alcohol

Never has quite gotten used to using the fire pole

Likes to look at toys in stores and will fiddle with them curiously if given to him

If he ever became a parent he would absolutely go overboard buying the kid toys (as much for himself as for the kid)

Doesn’t like touching strangers, avoids handshakes

Only child. Come on, just look at him.

Really enjoys music and keeps up to date with current artists and songs, just not outgoing about it.

Is guilty of trying samples of his mold, spores and fungus, as a treat

Definitely autistic just undiagnosed in his time

Low contact with parents

Did not have a lot of friends as a child. Many parents actively kept their kids away from him

He hates baths. This is random I know. It’s just the vibe.

Couple headcanons

Enjoys brushing his girlfriend's hair.

The first time he brings his girlfriend to his apartment he probably spends like two-three hours showing her and explaining his collection of mold, spores and fungus.

Kind of obvious but museum dates are an absolute must with him.

Generally a good listener.

Would take a while to warm up to physical touch but after he does he loves it.

Not very touchy in public. He wouldn’t want to hold his girlfriend's hand walking down the street. But he is touchy in private.

Would make a lot of sly dirty jokes towards his girlfriend. Usually science jargon. The kind that make your eyes roll into the back of your skull.

Has a bad jealousy streak / becomes jealous easily. Stems from insecurity.

Does not personally want kids but would be willing to have them if his girlfriend / wife wanted to or would be step up if an accident happened

NSFW headcanons

He’s not very hairy

Boob man all the way

Has a very average libido but goes through periods where he wants it more often, usually simultaneous with periods of him being busier or more active at work

Usually the initiator

Would like doctor roleplay

Would like his girlfriend on top

Definitely a “fuck out his work stress” guy. Whenever he’s frustrated or stressed by work, being intimate helps him relax and clear his mind

He’s easy to get excited

Would love kissing his girlfriend's neck / shoulders / clavicle

He doesn’t sweat a lot during sex

[nicki0kaye]

random Kallus hc inspired by someone else's post #1

Kallus' method to resist interrogation is to recite mentally and verbally some form of rhyming verse, the more complicated the better so he has to focus on his diction

I've never realized how well this pairs with @sidhebeingbrand's hc that Zeb loves Old Lasana poetry until right the fuck now, bc I consider Kallus just. Bereft of most understandings of art, both bc of his home-schooled background but also bc the Empire expects he have no vices to distract him from his work, and clearly art is a vice he has not earned.

It's also one of those things where he defies expectations bc he cannot name a single piece of high art, not an opera or a piece of classical music or a well respected novel. All the media he consumed before the Empire was either extremely niche to his region of Lower Coruscant or squarely pop-culture.

BUT him having this method of resisting interrogation even from a force user means he has to know some form of poetry beyond the shitty death metal he was obsessed with as an edgy gangster teen (we will have to leave the Void Screamers genre for another day, its quite involved)

So Kallus definitely knows some complicated tongue twisting poetry and prattle songs, most of them inherently nonsensical like the Jabberwocky or satirical like the Museum song in Barnum (fun musical about a terrible fucking person) , of which I actually rewote the first lines in an RP;

quite a lotta Ryloth terracota, living lava from the flanks of Shu-Torun. Statuary. Sample Bantha dairy. See the Temples tumble and the clone war start.

[bonesandthebees]

500 words on the Lovejoy concert: go

500 oh god oh fuck

Glasgow was a really fun concert!! Though it’d probably rank as one of my lower ones just bc I didn’t do the whole queue all day experience so it felt a lot shorter to me (and also it was such a huge venue)

I originally debated doing the all day queue bc I was selling my ticket to a Twitter mutual of mine I’ve met up with at concerts before, and they were planning on queueing all day. But when my alarm woke me up around 6 am I texted them asking what the queue was like and they said their friends held a spot for them at 4 am and they were 24th in the queue. Like, what.

So yeah I decided that wasn’t how I wanted to spend my last full day in Glasgow lol. Instead I took a tour of a whisky distillery (I do not like whisky but it’s Scotland so I figured why not) and got tipsy off the whisky samples they gave us. Then I went to a science museum across the way from the distillery (technically it’s meant for kids but it’s meant for adults to enjoy too) so I was just slightly drunk playing around with interactive science exhibits and befriended one of the staff members lmao

ANYWAY then around 4 I got to the venue and got in line (doors opened at 7). Got some takeaway from a nearby restaurant and ate it in line, it was very spicy but it kept me warm bc it was raining so I wasn’t complaining. Then I just kinda hung out there and chatted a bit with the girl behind me! We ended up being next to each other at the actual gig and became buddies which was nice and I was actually closer to the stage than I expected to be. Also I got tired of the ‘someone holds pictures up to the crowd on their phone and lets them cheer and boo respectively’ bit that happened at a few lovejoy gigs this past year, but it was pretty funny when someone held up the Scottish flag for everyone to cheer, and then the English flag for everyone to boo (and ofc I joined in)

It was SO HOT. At first I was glad bc as I said it was raining outside so I was shivering by the time we got in, but it didn’t take long for it to get sweaty. Loupe as an opening act was SO good. I’d never heard of them before but their music was so good!! (also the lead singer and the bassist were both so pretty I was having such a gay moment). Then Goodkid performed and tbh I know a ton of Lovejoy fans love their music but I’d never heard their stuff before, but I get it now they have such a fun sound and great energy!! Definitely gonna save some songs from them when I get around to it

Then lovejoy was fantastic as always. Although we were only about 3 songs in when someone fainted and everything had to stop. I couldn’t see what was going on from where I was but I hope the person’s okay! This was my 5th lovejoy gig but it was the first time someone’s fainted at one I’ve been to.

Then we resumed and in between songs the boys would start playing this instrumental track I didn’t recognize, but I filmed each time it happened bc it didn’t just sound like random jamming. I sent the clips to firesnap after the gig and she and I both agree it sounds like snippets from a possible new song so… :)))

Also Lovejoy covered The Killers at my gig which was so good. At first I was confused bc it was a mashup with cause for concern so I got hyped thinking it was cfc and then Wilbur started singing different lyrics but it slapped so I’m so glad I got to see that in person.

Anyway overall really good gig!! Also I wasn’t getting shoved nearly as much as I have at American gigs so shoutout to the Scottish for that

Is this 500 words? Is this more? I don’t feel like plugging it into a word counter so this is what you get lol

[megumi-fm]

12th to 19th Dec || 137-144 of 150dop

hi. i've been gone a long time. I wasn't doing really well for the past week, so i just put up my progress on Notion to update it here later.

📋 Tasks

📂 Notion Setup ↳ for daily journalling (yes it's ponyo themes xD) ✅ ↳ tv/movies tracker 📝English Proficiency Test ↳ apply for exam ✅ ↳ sample practice (listening and reading sections) ✅ ↳ check writing samples ✅  ↳ write exam!! ✅ 🩺 Radiomics Projects ↳ read BCR base paper ✅ ↳ check out automatic segmentation options ✅ ↳ check out radiomics extensions and pyradiomics ✅ ↳ lots and lots of voice calls and meetings xD

🎨Personal

⛲ Going Out ↳ visited an Art Museum with my best friend ↳ went for brunch to an art cafe with a friend (and tried key lime pie for the first time! it was very good) ↳ got boba with a friend and visited an indie bookstore with a friend and bought a book 📺 Shows this week ↳ Cherry Magic JP ✅ ↳ My Demon 🔽 ↳ Last Twilight 🔽 ↳ Perfect Marriage Revenge ✅ 📟 Cool Links and Videos ↳ The best explanation on the Monty Hall Problem ↳ Sleeping Beauty Problem(i am so confused) ↳ Dan Ariely and data manipulation in psychology studies ↳ Anwn Ddu, the Wikipedia King that doesn’t exist ↳ Korea’s King, a 2 Part Documentary ↳ An Inverse Turing Test: How Random Chance is not really random 👟 Lots of walking

29-36/final42 // so close! just another week!!! let's go!!

[blackbackedjackal]

I hope this isn’t a weird question, but how did you get into the practice of studying coyotes subspecies etc? Do you have to collect to be able to do so, or can online resources help? And where do you submit your findings. I’d love to get into something similar but I’m broke and unsure where to start

Not weird at all! It's just like, sort of a domino effect more than anything and a lot of really lucky interactions. It was like I had some major pieces of a big puzzle some but was missing other major parts that I eventually found by thinking outside the box.

I am not a researcher in the professional sense. I already had an interest in canids before I focused on coyotes, but it was an artistic interest. Color morphs and anatomy were interesting to me because at the time I wanted to improve on my art. So as I was going down different rabbit holes and collecting physical references (pelts, skulls, soft mounts, etc.) I noticed the one canid that had very little scientific research on them at the time were coyotes.

I couldn't find the answers I wanted online because the work hadn't been done. It was only in the mid 2010s this research finally started to surface in very random pockets online. But nothing as detailed or cohesive as the research done on ranched foxes, domestic dogs, and wolves. They were pretty much ignored by scientists because the stereotypes about them I believe kept people being scientifically interested in them at the time. The only information outside of Wikipedia were basically random studies published online, or old books I had to buy because the info had never been archived online.

So I figured, if I collected a bunch of them, I would have a library of information yet to be deciphered. I knew that genetic material would be needed at the bare minimum, and what better places than the roots of their teeth or the hair follicles to get the info from. I collected to archive any strange ones I came across and over time just got more detailed about my collection and data collection process the more I learned about how museums archived their collections. That's why I became a taxidermist, as it allowed me to collect things like tissue samples and work on the entire animal to get more information that I couldn't get from just buying skulls and the odd colored pelt.

I also attracted the right people interested in similar work through my blog. The three main researchers I work with I met through tumblr. We just all had the "we love coyotes bug" but in different ways. We started off chatting very casually and professionally (or about Steven Universe lmao) but they're some of my closest and dearest friends now. They were the missing pieces of my puzzle because the independent studies they had done about coyotes or other canids covered the gaps in my knowledge. We were able to teach each other and help each other.

Everything I've learned has come from independent study or group collaboration. I've spent thousands of hours just looking through all sorts of archives, online stores, libraries, forums, anywhere I thought may have some nuggets of information. I archived everything I could as any information was better than no information. I had to piece together various timelines, and corroborate that information with my friends who were more genetics or anatomical focused. We'd ask each other questions and were almost guarantee one of the 4 of us had an answer, had saved a book or article that may have the answer, or knew another researcher we could contact that had the answer.

So after years of this, the information became second nature. I went from not knowing anything about the subspecies, to being able to ID them form photos online or pelts and skulls in our collection. I went from having very little information, to an entire archive of scientific and historical data I collected on coyotes. We built our library and our community together. And even after all that STILL have not completed the puzzle, but we've gotten far closer by working together.

So to answer your questions, I got into the practice by practicing. To this day I'm still learning and archiving and updating my notes as I learn and improve. Nothing is set in stone but we have many hypotheses we've been muddling with and lining up things to aid in us to get actual funding and more definitive research done. We have plenty of questions, and some soft answers or plausible and likely theories, but we haven't shared any data because we either need to get the funding to run the tests we need, need to find other researchers who can help us add to our collective data, and in general just need the time to collaborate together in person (some of us are planning to move in together in the next few years though, so that's when things will really kick into high gear lol). Yes, online resources can help if the species you're interested in already have plenty of researchers who have published their findings, coyotes just aren't one of those species. Collecting physical specimens helps only if that's part of your research (like pathologies) AND if it's ethical to even collect those species to begin with. Coyotes are so numerous that we'd be able to have hundreds or thousands of specimens between the 4 of us and not effect their numbers (hopefully we won't need that many but like defiantly several hundred). Other species well, better get ready to jump into field research or working at conservation centers. Collecting information is (usually) free can often proves to be more valuable than many specimens you could collect. Like I can only decipher what's going on with my coyotes because of the books and articles and information I've read an gathered, especially when it's good information done by previous researchers.

We haven't shared much online aside from some specimen info/photos and things we can definitively say because a lot of our hypotheses either haven't been tested or proven/disproven. We don't want to spread any misinformation as that could ruin our reputation within the STEM community before we even begin, so until we have some tested and peer-reviewed info ready to publish (which is years down the line) and a couple of us get some more college/professional degrees under out belts, we've kept our research to ourselves for the integrity of the project. But we will be publishing any and all information when ready as a free online resource for other researchers. We want more people working in the field of coyote research and we're trying to help streamline the process so it's easier for people with no experience to get involved so they don't have to spend 5 years just researching HOW to research coyotes like we all have.

It's essentially self-led independent study. You have to just want to do it to do it. There's really no wrong way to do some general looking-up-things research. The hard part is learning how to do it ethically, scientifically, AND accepting you will make mistakes over and over that you have to be willing to self-correct. And trust me, it's far easier to do all of this if you find other people that you can work well with. You ain't gotta be besties (I just got very lucky in that regard), but you do need to be willing to corroborate your findings to check your work and ensure what you're doing is accurate.

tl;dr

[bookloure]

Books finished in May| May has been a good month, but I'm also ripe for another social media break! When I took a month break last March, I decided I will do it periodically—quarterly, in fact. So I'll be gone again for a bit in June, from the third week (because I still have a book to review) up to the second week of July. Sana afford ko mag sabbatical chz.

Now let's talk about books—the highlight is I discovered that I loooove body horror because of a random eARC I got. The cheka part is that I gave my first 1star of the year. Anyway, here are the 10 books I finished this month, ranked:

4.5⭐

📱 Kindred by Octavia E. Butler - It has been forever since I stayed up late because I can't put a book down. This totally did it. Of course I felt shit the next day, but damn it's so worth it!

4⭐

📖 It's A Mens World by Bebang Siy - It's a collection of the author's personal stories chronicling her girlhood in Manila. Funny, relatable and quite charming, but also dark in places.

📱 Welcome To Your Body: Lessons in Evisceration, edited by Ryan Marie Ketterer - Before this book I already had an inkling that I like body horror—Grease by Junji Ito and Earthlings by Sayaka Murata are two of my favorites, but this book gave me different flavors of body horror and I enjoyed sampling every story. Of course, I like some stories more than the others, but as a collection I honestly will give this 5 stars. It reminded me of Deesha Philyaw's "The Secret Lives of Church Ladies" in the sense that it feels very much like a cohesive collection. Top tier!

📖 Tao Sa Prowa: Mga Tala, Mga Taon by Allan Popa - Another stunning collection. It's a series of seemingly random vignettes on different aspects and phases of life, that is, until I came to the titular piece—then it morphed into a rounded collection. And the theme is revealed. I would say it's similar to Saglit: Mga Ala-ala't Muni by Rofel Brion, but (10x) better.

📱 Frieren: Beyond the Journey's End Volumes 7&8 by Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe - I adore this series so much!!! It's starts in the end and shows the reader how we carry the people we meet to the future even though our time together is over. I tear up a lot reading this manga lol.

📖 Asintada: Mga Tula by Lilia Quindoza Santiago - Simple. Pero pag tinamaan ka bubukol for sure.

3⭐

📱 Giraffe and a Half by Shel Silverstein - Minsan trip ko lang bumasa ng children's book. Solid naman ito hehe.

📱 Sheets by Brenna Thummler - Loved the art style, the story, not so much.

1.5⭐

📱 🎧 Bel Canto by Ann Patchett - So disappointed with this because it's a highly anticipated read. I guess I'll just put my Goodreads review here: The writing is gorgeous because it's Ann Patchett, but I did not connect with this for some reason, so I was already planning to give it 3 stars... but then I found out what Peruvian historical event this book takes inspiration from and it just left a bad taste in my mouth the erasure and co-opting of POC stories and histories. I wouldn't have learned about the Lima Hostage Crisis if not for other Goodreads reviews. You'd hope that the telling of these stories would help shed light, but the author swept the Peruvians under the rug instead. In their own story. Very British Museum behavior.

And that's a wrap! 🌯 I already cried to LOTR: The Return of the King, so June is already going so well lol.

[moononmyfloor]

Hi Producer (正好遇见你) Infodump

Disclaimer: I have no idea about the accuracy of the information shared in the drama, I'm merely transcribing for future reference purposes. Proceed with caution!

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Ep 26-27: Stage Costumes and Props

Stage outfits worn when performing Chinese traditional operas, since the Song and Yuan dynasties, a fixed pattern has been established gradually. Characters with different titles, social statuses, and personalities dress up differently so the audience can tell the disparities. Thus, there's a saying in the industry that a torn costume is better than the wrong costume. Following the rapid development of Chinese traditional operas during the Ming dynasty, the quality of headgear, costumes, and boots were improved considerably. Their design focused more on elegance and luxury.

Production of Suzhou stage costumes and props took off during the middle of the Ming dynasty. They're closely related to the development of Kunqu opera.

Designs, also known as outlines- In response to the different characters, various costume designs will be made. Dragons and phoenixes, flowers, Ruyi pattern, flowing pattern, and so on are commonly seen in such costumes.

Stitching, a process to create holes on the paper sample according to the design, to ease the foundation process.

Foundation process, a process where the foundation is applied on the fabric that they're going to embroider on through the holes.

Embroidering, a sewing process that uses threads of different colors. For stage costumes, the dazzling gold and silver threads are commonly used.

Flattening, a process where you apply glue evenly onto the fabric with a glue knife to flatten the embroidered patches evenly.

Cutting, a process where you cut the entire fabric and embroidered patches into desired sizes.

Completing, a process where you employ all kinds of sewing and gluing techniques to complete the costume.

Currently, all the stage costumes and props include headgear, boots, weapons, accessories, and headwear. These six main types cover over 1,000 kinds.

It's a shame that most of the crafts have gone extinct but as much as possible textual research of stage costumes is done, such as visiting museums in many cities to observe the preserved stage costumes in hopes of replicating something up to the standards of which of the Qing dynasty. That's a difficult task as the exquisite and luxurious stage costumes back then were produced by imperial craftsmen.

This episode truly felt like the epitome ofYu Zheng going Nudge, nudge, aren't I the most awesome costume drama producer? especially with the characters saying stuff like this lol🤭

Right now, there are stage prop and costume factories that take custom orders from film production crews. Celebrities may visit for personal requirements and many others out of admiration. To preserve texture and quality, outfits are made by hand for most parts. They have warehouses for costume design manuscripts. Best attempts are made to replicate the stage costumes of the past within reason such copper jewelry plated with silver as it costs too much if made with silver entirely. And handicrafts like velvet flowers take up a long time and has high labor costs. So most costume drama crews prefer a cheaper option like beaded flowers.

When an actor appears on the stage with these outfits on, the audience will know the title and the personality at first glance. It's completely different from some modern TV series. They don't dress in accordance with dynasties or characters. A random and wrong costume may look fashionable, but it won't fit the character and the plot itself. And overdoing the designs brings underwhelming results as when you are performing wearing them, overtly vibrant and exquisite designs will steal the spotlight from you. It's not the glorious look that decides its value. Anyway, we don't understand them.

I liked the following part a lot tho, it felt quite reasonable and moving. Especially as someone with 2x as my NORMAL watching speed, I know I still care for the meta details and the reason I watch fast is not because I don't care for the effort and research that went into a production.

Next year, online video platforms will launch a 4X speed function for all TV dramas. One might think that no one will be interested in Chinese operas is they've never spent time in a traditional Chinese theater before. There are rarely fans of Chinese opera nowadays.

It takes tens of procedures to making a stage costume. We need to focus on every single detail and can't rush things. But people are always in a rush. Making props and costumes by hand isn't efficient, and there's little demand. Many people wonder if the younger generation is willing to pick up this craft? What if such an excellent craft does go extinct? People always say that productions like this are slow and can't adapt to the era of machine production.

Many adapted historical tales are quite interesting not just because it touches on people's sentimentality. If their sentimentality can be used advantageously, that means people are still reminiscing about the past. However, this method will come to an end one day as a show is just a show. It has no way to save all those crafts that are going to vanish soon. Even if all these crafts will disappear after a century, we still hope that people will know that we once spent half a day just to make a fold or spent one and a half years just so we could produce one piece of stage costume.

What do we call this? We call this a craft. We call this a legacy.

China is a country with a big population. As long as there's one person who likes traditional crafts and is willing to learn, the legacy won't disappear.

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Rose-purple satin female Kao costume

Embroidered with phoenix and peony patterns in flat gold that was made during the Guangxu period of the Qing dynasty. Every detail has been carefully recorded so the future generation could refer to it. The Chinese opera industry is developing. There are many newly adapted versions of historical operas. When designing costumes, aesthetic standards of the younger audience and the requirements of various kinds of stages both are taken into consideration.

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Cixi watching the opera

-Showcasing the contrast of costumes and performances of Southern and Northern operas

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Beijing silk figurines

To make these, one must know sculpting, painting, and design of outfits. Similar to stage costumes and props, it's a fusion of many traditional crafts. But not many are aware of this. Most in the field do this as a hobby because in China, people aren't aware that these are not the work of craftsmen, but artists.

It got the name because the whole figurine is made with premium silk cloth and silk gauze. Beijing silk figurines were invented back in the Tang dynasty in Northern Fujian, when people used paper to make animal dolls. The craft continued to develop until the Song dynasty. People started using silk to make human figurines.

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More Misc. Crafts

Featured in the timestamped vid below such as:

Sandpainting, Suzhou Embroidery, Hokkien Lacquer Thread Sculptures

Many consider that sand animation originated in Hungary. Although Ferenc Cako did turn sand animation into a modern performance, traditional sand animation originated in China. During the Song Dynasty, there were stories of people writing on sand and so on.

Suzhou embroidery is one of the Four Great Embroideries of China along with Hunan's Xiang embroidery, Guangdong's Yue embroidery, and Sichuan's Shu embroidery. The Suzhou embroidery is detailed and subtle. In May 2006, it was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage.

Lacquer thread sculpture originated in Quanzhou of Fujian. It has existed for over 1400 years. The craftsmen must use the fine thread of lacquer and specialized techniques to create these resplendent patterns. Every piece is one of a kind.

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Making Liuli Glass

The ancient process of making colored glaze was very complex. The colored glaze was born in the fire and drowned in water. It takes dozens of processes to complete such as: detailing the wax pattern, casting the plaster mold, coloring, firing in the kiln.

Normally, steps involved in the making of colored glazed are designing, making of silica gel mold, making and detailing of wax patterns, the making of plaster molds, and being fired in a kiln, removing the plaster mold, sanding, and polishing.

Timestamped Documentary segments:

Props and Costumes Craft

Of Traditional Opera Theatre

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More Hi Producer posts

[irritablepoe]

RANDOM JOHNNY LORE DUMP

GO

hmmmmmmmmm ohhh!!!! yesss i have a funny lore thing, so i had biologie leistungskurs, and bc we were a really small course (10) we got through the learning material quite fast. this meant we were able to make a field trip. but we didn't go to the museum or sth like that no no. the teacher ordered a small bus where us 11 people fit into. then we drove to some small hut in the forest and yes this sounds really fucking scary and tbf if they'd wanted to, we'd be dead and no one would have found us, we were so far from any civilization istg, but well, nothing scary happened. quite the opposite.

so. this hut was a research station for the lakes that are somehow special, it'd take a while to get into that and i don't quite remember, but basically there were three professors that researched there and held regular classes in a small lecture room. there were quite a few dead stuffed animals (idk how you call these in english) and like. everything was really fucking old, it literally looked like a classroom from old movies yk.

but yeah, we stayed there 3 days, 2 nights. one of these nights we spent in this very classroom instead of sleeping, someone explaining sex and stuff to someone very christian (this was very fucking funny, i shared a room with her and she later told me that she "knew everything already and that she just didn't want to be seen as someone who would know" like okay wtv idc, she is kind of a bitch but yk she never did me wrong or sth), me with a book and judging, my friend with his switch. we also had a drawing competition and everyone was hella biased bc they thought i was good at drawing "bc i'm a nerd" or sth and therefore thought mine was the best?? this was also funny. there was also a really thick fog outside also during the day and when we drove out onto the lake in two small boats we told each other ghost stories or tried to scare each other while we were analysing the water and the ground samples. idk how they saw me beforehand but after that i feel like they respected me at least a tiny bit more

[supersabbatical2024]

4/17/24: I am really loving my new French tutor, T'Choupi! I meant to post his(?) pic yesterday, but instead chose to post a mistakenly taken selfie, which was dumb. Anyway, we are still quite jet lagged but my travel partner is awesome at handling this stuff. He suggested we don't go to ANY museums today and instead we ambled around Aix and ate pastry and napped...SO fun!!! We walked around the corner from our place and checked out the "Casino," a local supermarchè and despite its name, there were no slot machines there. We bought 17 different kinds of cheese to sample, French deodorant for each of our kids (long story don't ask), some fresh fruits, and snacky items. Those who know me (and why would you feel obligated to be reading this if you didn't), know that one of my top travel activities is visiting the local grocery. Best way to sample the local fare, or at least the most popular junk food and candy, like the Danette milkshake. On the back of the bottle is their commentary on American “monuments” (icons?) versus those of “l’Hexagone,” which I guess refers to France and the hexagonal shape of this country…has anyone heard that reference before? I had not. In any event, Danette believes that l’Hexagone lacked anything like the “monument Americain Milkshake!” And now they have created it: << le lait secouè >> !! I liked it, but it ain’t no Village Ice Cream’s MCR!!!* (*Midnight Caramel River, Claude’s fave back in Maplewood).

We tried to walk back to the Nespresso store, but wound up going in circles and never found it, even with the google map. Claude began questioning his bat echolocation skills, but I knew it was just around a corner that we were not noticing. I was actually right, and we got back to it later, when we would sip our 4th cup of coffee with a petit square au chocolat mixed in. Buzzzzzzzzzz!

We grabbed a little late brekky from a recommended patisserie—a jambon n mushroom toasty thing, mini quiche, and 2 pain au chocolats. We ate on our back terrace in the shade, and napped on a chaise with our feet sticking out in the sun…☀️ (those minstrel--I mean Mistral--breezes can be chilly!!)

After our rest by our sweet little piscine (thanks T’Choupi!) we got up and out again to forage for more tasty stuff for dinner at home. We had to be back at our pad in the evening for my ONE and only zoom meeting I agreed to attend during our time away. Claude also agreed to attend one meeting—no big deal.

In any event, our second foraging trip led us down the street to a random boulangerie, just to check out the bread situation for tomorrow morning (when Claude will wake up early and prance down the street to retrieve our croissants and sweet treats before I awaken). But why not sample the pastry now as well, and what a delicious whaddyacallit it was. Elephant ear? Starts with a 'P'? Anyone? I can't stop now to figure it out, or I'll never get to bed.* But we shared it as we wandered around some more, and shortly thereafter, we bumped into a charcuterie (which is not hard to do around here). We grabbed some jambon and saussison sec, and across the street, we bought a baguette and a unique looking olive bread that was sort of trying to shape itself like a soft pretzel. All of it was just great, and wonderful to sit and munch at the kitchen counter, drinking rosè while listening to a webinar about the future plans of the NCJW/Essex, the org I have been volunteering with for (has it really been?) 7+ years. Good night!!

*Palmier!!

[gothwizardmagic]

lots of homeschooling lore in your tags these days LMAO would you mind sharing a bit about how that works? genuinely curious

lmao sure tho it isnt the most exciting story

my mum always wanted to homeschool bc she wasnt a fan of how restrictive school curriculums are (shes v much an advocate for montessori style child-directed learning) but i wanted to go to school Like The Kids On TV so she let me. i spent about 3 years at primary school where i was the classroom punching bag THE ENTIRE TIME. highlights include being pushed down a flight of stairs IN FRONT OF A TEACHER WHO DID NOTHING, another teacher punishing me for being better at maths than my classmates bc i kept tearing through her worksheets too fast (i cant do maths for shit anymore she scared it out of me) and a "friend" of mine's brother getting his hands on the axe they had for firewood and chasing me around while i was over on a "playdate" (these quotes are bc this girl was in fact horrendous to me)

i was actively suicidal by the time i was 8 and my mum just stopped even trying to take me to school at that point (around the time i started throwing up with fear every morning) and after a lot of VERY angry meetings the best the school would do was an anti bullying assembly, which meant everyone knew i had tattled. my mum was fucking furious about all of this & went ahead with the homeschooling application she had halted when i decided i wanted to go to school. the guidelines at the time (im not sure what they are these days) were just that a child had to be educated "as regularly and as well" as they would be in school, with check-ins from the MoE every few years.

i dont remember how long it took the application to go through but yea after that i was homeschooled. my mum bought up a shitload of textbooks and workbooks and drew up lesson plans but her focus was still on student-directed learning so as my interests developed in various areas that was where the focus went. we did have designated sit-down time every day, but for the most part she would give me resources and assignments/goals and let me go hog wild at whatever my current fascinations were with some guidance and oversight along the way. it did mean losing access to anything that required specific facilities - i dont know shit about chemistry bc we didnt have like. a lab lmao. but yea by the time i was 11 i was on to university textbooks for some subjects (this is not a big flex these were early 00s computer science textbooks the first lesson in cs101 was literally "this is called an on button. this is called a mouse.") and by the time i was 16 we were doing uni-level work in pretty much every subject i was interested in, at the expense of subjects i didnt give a shit about. (i do not know fuck shit about like. geography or maths to this day)

the assessments were pretty chill, govt people would basically just take a few random samples of my work to look over and do a lil interview with me to make sure i was learning shit. for socialisation my parents made sure i did plenty of after school activities (dance, swimming, scouting, drama, conservation club, etc) and my dad took us on trips to like. the museum or nature reserves or whatever every weekend for Enrichment.

once i was 15/16 we started looking into uni entry, but the rules had changed since i started homeschooling. when i started there was a single uni entry exam you had to sit at sixth form and that was that. they replaced it when i was. 12-ish i think with the current system, which involves a complicated nightmare of three years of both internal (classwork) and external (exam) credits and the requirements are nebulous and seem to change year to year and basically it sucks shit and every single assignment from fifth form onwards counts towards your uni entry so its massively high stress. this also means you CANT get uni entry as a homeschooler, because theres no way to get those internal credits. we tried a few different routes to get UE but the best option we were given was one high school offered to let me sit fifth, sixth, and seventh form all at the same time in one year to get my credits. this was Unideal because the whole point was to Not go to high school, it was work i had already done and didnt wanna do again, and it was three years worht of work crammed into one. so i never got uni entry and have basically been bumming around since.

UE problems aside, homeschooling worked really well for my family. my mum is disabled so she was home all the time anyway. both of my parents are highly educated so they had the backgrounds to provide a cohesive and varied curriculum, and my sister and i are both neurodivergent so the one on one attention and flexibility in format was ENORMOUSLY helpful for us. my sister has never been to any kind of mainstream schooling and it would have been absolute hell if she had tried. (shes very severely dyslexic and schools in the early 00s were. not set up to help with that)

so yea thats the homeschooling lore - i missed out on a lot of stuff for sure (met one of my exes entirely beecuase i wanted to go to formal SO FUCKING BAD and my only option was to go to someone else's so a mutual friend set us up so i could go with her lmao) but it took me out of an extremely bad situation and gave me an education that was much better suited to my own learning needs. i know homeschooling has a Certain Reputation, especially in the us, but my experience was wholly unrelated to that side of the homeschooling community, and it was unbelievably beneficial to me. looking back i dont regret the time i spent in mainstream school (i met my best friend there and i literally dont know where i would be without them weve been through the fucking fire and back) but homeschooling was the healthiest thing possible for me and my family and im so so so grateful my parents were able to do that for me

[apexulansis]

Some random Yeskiv factoids ft. this cute pixel of her eyes I never finished.

Her favorite school of science is mycology. Would be accurate to say she likes fungus more than people. She has an entire room at least of the HQ dedicated to her various alien fungi cultures.

Has created a fucked up cordyceps zombie virus at some point, because she's also quite intimate with virology, as well. Yes, it probably transcends species. She is capable of creating the kind of horrible virus that could wipe out an entire galaxy if there was some catastrophic outbreak of it. Thankfully for everybody Yeskiv is not a reckless idiot however and has likely destroyed any actual physical samples of it - she just remembers how to create it (keep in mind: her memory is pretty much like actually rewinding and reliving moments in how advanced it is, so yeah, just destroying things and only keeping them via her own memory is a reliable method of storage for her).

Routinely bio-engineers life. Creates horrible monster hybrids for various purposes. They usually don't have sapience. Her technical first child is the result of one of these experiments. They're successful as a person relatively speaking, but no, she doesn't think they Actually Count in the way Ardaka and Zovariy do.

A favorite past-time for her would be combining both art and science, with this often displayed in her genetic creations. A shot of the microbiomes that exist featuring organisms all of her own creations. The taxidermied corpse of a hybrid beast, a combination of two completely different alien species. A display of how alien blood reacts to various chemicals. The way different types of bodies respond to varying levels of radiation. You know. That sort of stuff.

While her mind is a morbid one, the diversity of life inspires her often - it would be easy to consider her the type of person to consider other species, other DNA, as lesser, but it is quite the contrary. Yeskiv is quick to adapt, to take what she considers objectively better and make it useful for herself. This is shown frequently in her machinations. If something is better than what she has, she will admit it (and then try to study it and integrate it into her world later). But she’ll also call it out if it isn’t. Brusquely. People understandably take her ‘disdain for the lesser’ as bigotry, but it’s definitely a different type of it, if it is. It is not based in irrational beliefs, but is rather aggressively rational and objective.

Yeskiv's chambers - which in itself is a section of the HQ station, many rooms not just including her bedroom - have at least two dedicated rooms in which she preserves whole specimens. In tubes with preservative fluids, frozen in stasis, deceased but having been kept from decomposition, what-have-you. It is a museum of lifeless bodies, many of which have faces twisted into grotesque expressions of rage, horror, sorrow - these halls are frequently left empty, as surprise surprise, nobody really wants to go there. Yeskiv does, though - she goes where when she wants to be alone and think. Ironically. (Some of them, if their stasis wears off, they may still be alive. :) Fun.)

On a related note: She has another chamber dedicated to storing every child of hers that did not make it. No matter what evidence she does or does not have - be it an entire body, or a single cell, she will have documented them here. There are thousands.

[an-asuryampasya]

placeholder text so tumble will let me add a read-more-thingy

yet another day when I am cursing my resistance to picking up coding skills, but this time it's because of the World Soil Museum.

i mean first off, that EXISTS! how sodding cool is THAT???? a soil museum!!! AND they have a virtual tour! i am so excited to discover this!!

and the website has so much info about each kind of soil (like this page on a random sample I clicked on from the virtual tour) and there's images of each sample they have. And I just it would be really neat to do the whole 'play with jpegs like dolls' thing and place samples side by side to compare. Even just the images. Actually, especially the images of the samples.

like i KNOW getting to see silt and clay beside each other would fix some part of my brain.

would it particularly useful? idk, unsure how much the average person cares about this and those that do care likely have better and more efficient sources of info. but I would have a lot of fun with it, so there's that.

for a tool like this i imagine i'd need to get each sample's image+info separately and then set up a way to pull them up side by side. which mhmm boo @ the coding involved because that stuff remains witchcraft to me 😔