#simple ecology

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[dooodle-bug]

I really fw the theory that the pikmin and the onions r the ones responsible for all the crash landings and leafification and all that messed up shit cuz it gives them dimension. Even tho they're not malicious they just do shit bc it's in their nature to survive in whatever way possible. Yea they are cute and sweet and kind but they also are animals that have no morals that are just trying to live

[comparatorclock]

New Star Trek headcanon: since tribbles infest grain supplies in a manner akin to common earth mice or rats, they should thus be ecologically similar - that is to say, cats should perceive tribbles as prey.

Now consider this: when Klingons learn that cats can and do hunt tribbles, they decide to make use of that intel. This leads to a trade deal between the federation and the Klingons, where the latter asks for large numbers of housecats. The federation is confused, but decides to go along with it - what's the worst that could happen, after all? If nothing else, it is an opportunity for trade!

So, the cats are thus recruited into the Klingon war on tribbles. After a hard-fought victory, everyone in the empire celebrates, with the cats being guests of honor more often than not. The Klingons are happy; the cats are happy and fat with tribble meat; the federation looks on in confusion at what just happened.

Thus, the road to the Khitomer Accords has become possible, through the power of housecats - and careful diplomacy, of course. But mostly the cats. Because tribble hunting.

[rainbluealoekitten]

being a child is so bizarre because my parents got called in once in second grade to discuss how i would switch the order of numbers while doing subtraction, and that made me give up all hopes of my dream career, and even now i feel that a related dream career is almost too difficult all because of the math.

[bitform]

"How do you make friends with plants?"

Some writing about making friends with plants

[tiercel]

Pains me to say it as an evil fucked up deer connoisseur but i think we need to put evil fucked up deer on the shelf until people learn to behave

[beeapocalypse]

question about a metaphor in writing that im unsure about the effectivity of. have a short story idea about a band of knights forcefully occupying an isolated village and interrupting their feeding ritual for a dragon that lives up in the mountains where it all leads up to a closing bloodbath scene where it tears through the village killing the knights. kind of want to go with the idea of the dragon as a stand in for the balance of an ecosystem or some other Natural Force interrupted by the knights' influence where the villagers live not through any special connection with it where it recognizes + spares them but instead thru knowledge of how to weather its whims. does that make sense ? like the interruption of native peoples stewardship leading to ecological devastation sort of deal

[lasteveharvesting]

“When it is understood that one loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them, the essence of natural farming will be realized”

-One Straw Revolution, Masanobu Fukuoka

[vitos-ordination-song]

I watched this video and it was p good but it was so apparent the creator’s only real problem in life is feeling he isn’t ~special enough~ 😭 He decided to retreat into nature bc he felt his writing wasn’t as good as the greats. Boy. Maybe a hut in the woods isn’t the answer for you because your life is fine. Lol

[reasonsforhope]

"Any good gardener knows what a good de-weeding can do for a vegetable garden. As it turns out, it’s much the same for coral reefs.

Following a volunteer “sea-weeding” program launched in Australia, scientists are witnessing compounding coral recovery both in quantity and diversity, and suggest that this simple method has the power to transform degraded reefs overrun by macroalgae.

In a balanced ecosystem, macroalgae is kept in check by the size and health of corals, but as extreme weather events or coral bleaching causes some sections of reef to die, macroalgae has no other neighbor keeping a check on its spread.

Over a period of three years, the joint Earthwatch Institute program led by James Cook University Senior Research Officer Hillary Smith and Professor David Bourne, also at JCU and the Australian Institute of Marine Science, has organized volunteer citizen scientists to help remove macroalgae at two experimental reef sites.

The results of the first three years of work and study have now been published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, and they show a 600% increase in coral recovery rates.

“It’s just like weeding your garden,” Smith said. “Every time we return, the seaweed is growing back less and less, so this method could provide lasting benefit without requiring endless effort.” ...

The importance of the study, Smith details, is that a lot of reef recovery efforts globally are powered by expensive, high-tech, and experimental solutions. The study hoped to show that manual de-weeding was just as effective, and thereby encourage organizations or nations that lack the tech or funding of a country like Australia to pursue sea-weeding as a way of protecting their corals.

“We have yet to see a plateau in coral growth within these plots at Magnetic Island, which is characterized as one of the degraded reefs on the Great Barrier Reef,” Smith said. “We also found an increase in coral diversity, so this method is benefitting a wide range of different coral types.”

Smith said her team are now scoping other locations where the sea-weeding technique could be useful, including the Whitsunday Islands, which are home to a different species of predominant seaweed.

They also want to employ them in French Polynesia, Indonesia, and even Singapore, where experts have identified out-of-control macroalgae spread along coral reefs."

-via Good News Network, September 19, 2023

[swampjawn]

Dungeon Meshi episode 21, being heavily dialogue-driven, was pretty straightforward animation-wise and let Ryoko Kui's stunning art speak for itself for the most part, but that doesn't mean that there aren't still some GENERALLY-INSIGNIFICANT-DETAILS-TO-SCRUTINIZE-AT-ARGUABLY-UNNECESSARY-LENGTH.

There was a strong emphasis on hands in this episode, particularly the second half, starting with this cut of Laios resting his on the Minotaur's snout.

The animators have taken this simple little panel (on the right) from the manga (btw, people who know more about this than I do, is there a name for this type of panel, which in film would be called an "insert shot"?)

and turned it into this highly detailed tracking shot that heightens the emotional impact of this moment for Laios. It feels very similar to the shot of Kabru bringing a piece of fish to his mouth that introduced him to the series!

The theme comes up again when Laios does a little bit of blair-witching in the corner after being rejected by house-kitty-pilled Izutsumi,

and once again a few seconds later with this added close-up of Marcille's hand when she tries to read the magical aura of the area.

This one clearly makes heavy use of reference footage, to the point that it almost looks rotoscoped until you notice little details like this line that warps unrealistically at the heel of her palm.

But with smooth, realistic motion like this, little details like that are much less important than the overall feeling of authentic shape and movement. This can be seen in a lot of Masaaki Yuasa's work, which often favors consistent motion and more frames over super polished individual drawings. Here's a thematically appropriate cut from Ping Pong for example:

(This one might actually be rotoscoped, I'm not sure)

If you pause on any individual frame, the lines look wobbly and inconsistent, but it comes together as a whole to create something that feels authentic - real.

The heavy detail in the hand anatomy and the way the skin wrinkles around the knuckles in these cuts feels like a hard departure from Studio TRIGGER's signature heavy stylization, but these realistic cuts have popped up here and there since the start of this show, and I think they fit Dungeon Meshi really well! It can be jarring go straight from wacky bombastic cartoonsmanship to realism, but while it is a show about the hungriest hungriest himbo and his family of weirdos, it's also simultaneously a show about anatomy, ecology, and the horrors of the human mindbrain.

This was expanded from an excerpt from this video where I break down the whole episode, so if you want to continue wallowing in the sludge with me, consider checking out the video!

Thanks for reading.

[childofthewolvess]

A masterpost digital grimoire a list of all the educational content on deities, witchcraft, and familiars I've posted!

As a key: if the post is about Loki, it is marked in green, if the post is about Aphrodite, it is marked in pink, if it is about Ares, it is marked in red, if it is about Apollo, it is marked in orange. If it is a post about familiars, it is purple. If it is general witchcraft, deities, spellwork, or religion, or advice, it is marked in blue. If it is marked with a ❗, it is a longer and more educational-based post.

This will be updates each time I post!

DEITY POSTS

Devotional day to Aphrodite

Aphrodite's beauty

Shattered and put back together - a devotional story from Aphrodite❗

Aphrodite's altar

Aphrodite's beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Aphrodite and my service dog

Some simple subtle every-day worship I do as an Aphrodite devotee

Aphrodite and my familiars working together

Loki as a god of storytellers

Loki UPG quote about storytelling

Loki and his glowsticks (UPG)

Loki's altar shot glass and a chaotic job change

Personal associations with Loki (ask)

Interpreting Loki as a nature deity❗

Loki and Sigyn: Lessons on Chaos, Laughter, and Loyalty from the Norse Gods (quotes)

Loki's a little bit like moldavite

Loki's altar

Ares moodboard and aesthetic

To find peace in a war deity ❗

Ares is a woman respector send post

Ares as a protector of women and god of strength

Ares and how his energy feels

Ares altar

Ares is a proud dad, I guess?

I am a daughter of Ares

A prayer to Apollo❗

Apollo werewolf cult curiosity

Deity appreciation post

My god squad's energies and how I see them as a poet

Blending/combining different branches of polytheism

Devotee and Deity Trend

My participation in devotee and deity

Deity interactions in my practice

How my relationships with my deities feels ❗

Worship the gods you are drawn to!

My God Squad + Familiar Moodboards

SPIRIT WORK, RELIGION, GENERAL WITCHCRAFT

What is spiritual psychosis, and how do you recognize the signs in pagan spaces?❗

The danger of Divine Masculinity and Femininity in pagan spaces

What is a spirit worker?❗

A unique perspective on godspousing and the afterlife ❗

The Divine Aurora Borealis

Mundane enchantment ideas

Becoming open and loud about being a pagan & witch is scary. But what makes that any different than a Christian being open and loud about their faith? ❗

Custom tincture and balm making/herbalism

Colored flame candles

Healing from spiritual psychosis—a survivor's journey from delusion and depression, to happiness and purpose as a practicing pagan. ❗

Reminders for the disabled and chronically ill pagans/witches

Wolf encounter in Yellowstone as a wolf spirit worker

Learning about spiritual psychosis saves lives (thread) ❗

Litha wreathes with the coven!

Ecology, nature, and accessibility in neo-paganism

Honk if you worship the old gods

Intersectionality and spiritual psychosis ❗

Spiritual psychosis is not a harmless delusion ❗

Familiar Spirits in Eclectic Paganism and Witchcraft ❗

Life as a wolf spirit worker

Familiar appreciation post

How I work with my familiars❗

Familiar spirit readings (OPEN)

Reasons I think every witch/pagan should have a familiar spirit

A lil wisdom from the wolf spirits :)

Resources and readings for research on familiars & familiar spirits

How are familiar spirits found?

Familiar spirit anon Q&A ❗

Can we tell I never shut my mouth?

[hood-ayo]

So yep! I think it's time to say hi for a new one ultrakill au.

It was born out of a simple urge to create designs in the spirit of... you know.. punk and rock haha and they have grown into something more than just designs. I have a story and I'm going to show it in the future, but now I want to talk about the main essence of au.

In fact, I just threw the main cast of characters into the future. A revolution and a war between Hell and Heaven is taking place, and as a result we have an almost complete restructuring of society and the hierarchy in it. Everyone is moving… To the Earth? Into the human world?? In any case, mankind is dead and the ecology has recovered a little during the absence of humans. Well, so the new world is being rebuilt and reaches the time in which the main events of the au will unfold. The entourage is an alternative 60-80's, all this retro style with a touch of futurism, dirty but cozy streets in its own way, and so on.

I've been working on this for about six months, maybe more, probably since March, so I have a lot to say about. Of course, all this was done mainly for fun and may seem silly in places, but I really like it and I want to share this story with others. The format will mostly be sketches and descriptions for them, sometimes animation and comics. yippee I hope I wrote it right lol"""

[emese-of-void]

I have so many feelings about the psychic autism creature from Scavengers Reign.

It's such an interesting idea to have a creature with telepathy but not human level intelligence. Having Kamen in his mind doesn't mean that he now knows everything Kamen knows, but it does change him in really destructive ways. Kamen's complicated feelings about the Demeter filtered through Hollow seem to translate to indiscriminate anger towards all technology - the emotions are there, but not the comprehension.

Another thing I really liked is that mind control is presented as quite bening in its natural context, and also that it's purpose is so simple and so easily achievable by other means. It's so typical of evolution to not only solve the same problem in many different ways, but also to solve it in wildly extravagant ways. Trying to reach food high up? How about claws, flight, mind control, shock waves to shake the branches. Why not. Just irrepressible abundance.

I've been trying to figure out the potential evolutionary function of Hollow's kind absorbing their symbiotic critters. I think this could be super useful if the ecological niches of Hollow and the tripod creatures only partially overlap. And there are times when the tripods are in distress or desperately lack some nutrients or something. Hollow took Kamen in when he was clearly in distress, and after Hollow was completely focused on actions driven by Kamen's feelings, not even feeding. So the critter is kept alive and safe, and through the mental link Hollow knows what it is they're in distress about and can get them to the right place. That is such a neat adaptation! And potentially really flexible, allowing Hollow to create symbiotic relationships with different species. Maybe originally it started as a gestational adaptation. If the environment was unpredictably hostile it could be useful to be able to give birth to young but then, uh, unbirth them I guess, to keep them more safe temporarily.

The problem is, Kamen's needs aren't evolutionarily driven, and Hollow has no way of fully comprehending them or achieving them.

Oh man, the scene where Hollow lies down next to Fiona's body. Kamen doesn't know and Hollow doesn't comprehend, and it's killing them both. It's like Kamen completely abandoned his responsibility to be present in the world and act upon it, but his will is still acting on the world in a blunt and uncomprehending way through Hollow. Which as far as the addiction metaphore goes, yup, that's pretty spot on.

I'm so happy that Hollow got a happy ending. For a moment when he was melting away to reveal Kamen I thought that they were going to treat him as just a container for a human, a violent problem to be solved with violence. I should have trusted the show to be kinder.

Hollow is just a little creature, he shouldn't have been forced to try to understand concepts like self loathing or divorce, and now he never has to ever again.