#unfortunately they are everywhere

[tipytap]

Y’all need a little more whimsy and wonder in your lives.

i was talking to a co-worker about how i make dandelion and violet jelly and her immediate response was “…you know dandelions are weeds, right?”

like yeah,, many people see them as weeds(topic for another post) but that doesnt mean im not gonna eat them :)

i was talking with a friend and heard a robin close by and got excited and his only response was “…cool? i mean.. theyre just birds.”

ok maybe, but like, that means spring is coming! and they fucking SING!!! bro that sounds like some cartoon bs but no we just casually have animals that sing and fly and theyre EVERYWHERE!!!

appreciate and protect the world around you. i have been so much happier finding small bits of whimsy and joy than i was looking at every day as another chore. when is the last time you looked at some random thing and wondered about it? when did you last ask a silly question? when did you last take a moment to just enjoy a moment and make an observation?

we should do that more often.

[ra3kiv]

[planariaareneat]

How The Nocturnal Bottleneck and Nipples Make Us Human

Almost every post here considers what humans do have, really. It’s a little tiring; realistically every world has its harsh environments and vicious species and a sophont to match. We probably wouldn’t be unique for our adaptability or our persistence or even adrenaline

But our evolution is fucked up as hell, to put it lightly.

Mammals went through what’s been dubbed the nocturnal bottleneck essentially since the start of the mesozoic right up until the Cretaceous ended the archosaur’s exclusive hold over the daylight. We lost a lot of things from every mammal spending most of its time in either a cramped, suffocating burrow or scrounging around in the faint hours of nighttime. Our blood cells lost their nuclei to hold more oxygen while we spent time deep underground, we lost protections against ultraviolet rays in our skin and eyes, we can’t even repair our own DNA using the light of the sun. Most aliens probably wouldn’t have such traits unless their evolution followed a very similar path to ours. They’d be able to see ultraviolet and wouldn’t have to worry about sunburn and all the wonderful privileges essentially all fish, birds, amphibians, and reptiles enjoy as we speak. 

There’s also what we gained from spending so much time in the dark.

Brown fat is only found in mammals, it’s a special type of fat which bear cells with several oil droplets and are utterly jammed with mitochondria. This lets it make heat, a lot of it, fast. We don’t even need to shiver to induce this heat generation from brown adipose tissue - factor in our downright hyperactive mitochondria, and we can warm up quickly. Sure, it doesn’t have too much use in adult humans, but it keeps our infants warm and still provides a little boost the whole run we have in this universe.

Unless aliens also went through a time where their small ancestors had to face cold nights, they’d have to produce heat the old fashioned way when chilled. Aliens might have to shiver the whole time they’re in a cold room while the human watches in confusion, quite literally unshaken, and wonders if the room is a lot colder than the thermostat set to 60 says. The aliens stare at their companion in confusion, it’s just a normal temperature to shiver at after all, how is the human sitting so still?

Our small ancestors spending all their time out foraging at night is also why we have such a good sense of touch, smell, and hearing. They were more important senses than vision (we’re lucky to have even redeveloped basic color vision, frankly) at the time and place and simply ended up continuing to serve us well. Birds and reptiles rarely have acute senses of smell and the latter especially are lucky to have acute hearing, and birds rarely have impeccable hearing themselves either. Our skin is free of scales and honed to sensitivity, and our external ears and complicated ear bones provide an immense range of hearing (from 20 all the way to 17,000 hertz!).

Aliens might not be able to pin down the chirp of a cricket or the light click of a lock being picked. The human might be the only one on board a ship that can pick out the finer sounds of the engine’s constant thrum and know the critical difference between when everything is fine and when something is wrong. The human could probably pick out the sounds of an approaching enemy’s careless footsteps - they’re only as light enough for *them* to stop hearing them, after all - and be the one to see the horrified expression (well, more on that later) on their face when we get the drop on them in spite of their perceived stealth. 

But perhaps the most versatile, convoluted, amazing, and utterly unique trait we have is right on your face this instant. Lips.

Lips in most animals are a simple seal to hold in the mouth’s moisture and protect the teeth, even if they’re supple they’re NEVER muscular except in mammals, and we have only one thing to thank for it; milk and nipples. Lips evolved exclusively to allow babies to suckle, it required a vacuum to be created in the mouth, and with no other animal having anything like a nipple it never happened in other animals. Many animals make milk, to be frank, but no other animal has nipples.

Your cheeks and lips are a marvel among tetrapods, no other animal can suck like mammals can. Aliens wouldn’t have straws or even be able to sip from the edge of a glass, they’d have to have a proboscis or simply tilt the whole thing back. Aliens likely won’t have woodwind instruments or balloons you can blow into. We take so much about our lips for granted. Hell, our muscular faces are vital for expressions, we’re probably absolute facial contortionists among a cast of creatures with mandibles and beaks and expressionless scaly maws. Aliens might find us ridiculously easy to read, if anything, compared to their own kind (all the better to deceive them) - or perhaps they’d find us hard to decipher anyways, with our lack of color-changing skin or erectable crests of bright feathers. Baring teeth might not be seen as a sign of aggression in most of the universe, smiling would be all too distinctly human. 

Perhaps with how infectious we are sometimes, that’s what we’d contribute to the universe; others might have to make do with opening their mouths just enough to show their teeth or splaying their innumerable mouthparts with just the right curve, but perhaps we’d teach the galaxy to smile, one ally at a time. 

Wouldn’t that be amazing?

[mourn-and-watch]

you know what. i actually love that trying to talk to solas was the last thing varric did and it ended in complete failure. especially if you put it in the context of his feelings about anders. varric was so bitter every time he mentioned him because he could not stop him. he didn't even realize that anders was up to something and when it was too late he started to think of him as of someone who destroyed that fragile peace in kirkwall that actually never existed.

it adds layers to the way he felt about solas. he believed that time he could stop a friend who simply lost his way. because varric tethras can talk anyone out of anything, can't he? anders was just too dodgy and self-centred and cut everyone off just like solas did but this time varric is completely prepared. surely. absolutely.

he could have never talked anders out of it even if he had known what was coming. he could have never talked solas out of it either. anders was a desperate person standing against (as varric himself put it) forces he couldn't possibly defeat. solas was a god standing against a couple of mortals and his own conscience buried under his guilt and regrets. being a good friend would not stop meredith's oppression. being a good friend would not stop someone who fears so much that all of the atrocities he committed were for nothing and would mean nothing at the end. varric died because he didn't realize it. he died and left his second in command with an immense guilt because they believed he knew solas enough to pull that off and there's something tragic about it

[mblue-art]

sans au sexyman polls doooodle

congrats to the kings<3 🫶🫶🫶

[lexavillanelle]

caitlyn being the commander, vi spitting in her face while being captured, ambessa wanting to kill vi because she distracts cait... WELCOME BACK CLEXA

[electricpurrs]

source by KartFox on Furaffinity, Feb 19, 2015

(ps: unfortunately you cannot see the link unless you're logged to furaffinity! i had to make an account to find the source haha)

(ps2: sorry for not letting that more clear, but this is a photoshopped image, not a real suit! the op just really liked taurs so they edited over their own fursuit to see what it'd look like as a taur. wish we could have real ones...)

[valewritessss]

IF I KNEW HOW TO MAKE EDITS IT WOULD BE OVER FOR EVERYONE

[rin-rin-kururin]

isat artdump but it's just last year's sif n loop

eepy timeloopers

watch them progressively become sloop (<- delulu about them)

and final stage: now kiss--

and again-

okay that's all have a good new year everyone ^^

[levinbolts]

[ratatatastic]

"Matthew before we start, I wanna talk to you about your mouthguard. What's the purpose of it? What purpose does it serve 'cuz it's never in your mouth?" "I mean, I guess it doesn't really serve that much of a purpose all the time? I try to keep it in as best I can but its got a mind of its own, and it's everywhere so... I don't know. I think in the important times I have it in? But it's not all the time." "Does that bother anyone? Teammates? Opposition? Probably your mum? Does she say anything?" "Yeah, my mom did not like it at the start but she's completely given up on it. Call it about 8 years ago, 9 years ago, when I came into the NHL she gave up on it so. I don't know! Teammates don't really care. Opposition? I've had it grabbed a few times but it's all good." "It's workin' for ya."

florida panthers @ edmonton oilers | 12.16.24 (x)

[omegalerc]

https://pin.it/7rAEQh9Fq

please tell me you've seen this 🙏🙏

i haven’t anon thank you so much. i think if max verstappen were to see this image he’d immediately put his face up to his phone screen and start scratching at it like it’s a scratch and sniff

[itsdefinitely]

i need to throw him

[silvermoon424]

(The original comments were in Japanese, left on a video about a Western woman visiting Nara Park and being respectful towards the deer there)

I'm so glad to read comments like this in light of how a lot of Western influencers have made headlines by being extremely rude, obnoxious, and disruptive in Japan, disrespecting the country and its people. I really want to go to Japan within the next few years and it's nice to know that if I'm just respectful (like I always am) I'm welcome.

[oifaaa]

Bruce AND Tim are both quirkless, disheveled rich losers

Actually I think Tim does have a quirk and it's called Price Tag the ability to look at anything and tell you how much that object would be worth in that exact moment in any currency he's also able to do this with people but he has to pick between seeing how much that persons body parts would be worth or overall how much that persons laber for an hour in a specific sector would be worth

[starflungwaddledee]

vote for starstruck in the grand finals of the kirby oc tournament!!! 🙏🙏🙏

there's only a day few hours left, and she successfully turned it around from the first poll update, so there's still a chance she could actually do it!!! 🥺💖

i still can't quite believe we made it this far in the first place, and Valfrey is an impeccable opponent!! win or lose the whole tournament has been such an honour, and it's heart-warming to know that so many people out there are supporting this totally normal waddle dee!!

thank you again so so much!!