#upcoming research

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

I was looking into my local zoo and they say they're zaa accredited, that's not the same thing as aza, right? I was curious if zaa was reputable and whether an accreditation from them really means anything

I think a better question, unfortunately, is "does any accreditation mean anything?" Followed closely by "how can a member of the public tell what it means?"

AKA you've poked to one of my giant projects of indeterminate length that I might, hopefully, maybe, get enough of a conclusion on to start submitting for peer review and publication this year.

Now if you've been following the blog for a while, you're probably thinking wait! Accreditations require standards! So to know what an accreditation means, we could just go read what standards they hold facilities to, right?

...and the answer is yes, but, that won't give you the whole picture for a lot of reasons. Many standards are performance standards: they say what has to be achieved, but don't specify how it's done. That means whether the standard is met is up to a significant amount of interpretation. Maybe the standards are in flux/being updated, and you can't guarantee that what you can find publicly is what's currently being used. Most accrediting bodies allow facilities to petition for variances, and there's no information available about what facilities have ones, for what, and why. On top of that, there's always questions about enforcement, oversight, consistency, anonymous reporting options, and of course, the risk of nepotism and/or politics impacting how accrediting decisions are made.

Here's the thing that never gets talked about, but is really important to know: accreditation is branding. Accreditation groups are trade organizations - they are responsible for advocating for the success of the businesses that are members. Being part of specific "accreditations" is like being in a fancy club. Members get certain perks, non-members don't get those perks, there's in-groups and out-groups, except it's all playing out with regards to federal and state level regulation, legislation, government funding, etc. That's why it's so political - it isn't only about guaranteeing a facility's quality. It's about guaranteeing that they're good enough to be part of the club, and will function and act the way the people who run the club want.

So honestly, at this point? All I can confidently say at this point in time is that accreditation by any entity in the zoological or sanctuary world means that X facility aligns with the ethos/zeitgeist of the accrediting body such that they're willing to stake their brand to it. You can read up on accrediting body to get a sense of what that means - if you do, make sure you look at things like the website and comments they make to the media, because there's a lot of information about organization culture and ethos in that than in just the published standards.

Give me like, six months (I hope) and I'd be able to answer your question with a lot more specifics, but I'm still in the nitty-gritty of spreadsheets and I don't want to speak before my analysis is finished.

[arrgh-whatever]

[wigglebox]

Destiel Pride - Day 17; Slow dance

[urhoneycombwitch]

in case it wasn’t clear. this blog and this bitch do NOT support the industrial military complex.

[purplink8]

Okay what is with those posts making Light out to be a Republican?? And transphobic/homophobic for that matter while Misa is an ally? 😭

Babes, it's Misa who was homophobic in canon. And while we're not shown Light's opinions on homosexuality afaik, Light is not really much judgemental about how people present themselves (see how he picks out a spot suitable for L to sit the way he sits).

I know it's 'funny' to make fun of problematic characters but you don't need to add whole new unfounded flaws to their character to do so holy shit

[todaysbird]

this is a little bit of a reach but I'm looking for any remote work anybody can throw at me, full-time to single freelance opportunities! paid, because I need to eat, but I can go pretty low! my moving plans are a little up in the air atm, but I know I'm moving out of state at the end of July, and finding new work has been a struggle. I can connect you with my linkedin/resume etc if you're willing to DM me so i know you're a real person, but for anyone casually interested, a lot of my experience is hands-on with animals in addition to years of social media and writing (contract and freelance), with the fields I'm most experienced in being animal welfare, environmental science and climate justice. if that applies to anyone, I'd love to talk! :) I'm assuming it won't, but if anyone can point me in the right direction, that's great too - I already haunt a lot of the big U.S. job boards like Ornithology Exchange, Texas A&M etc.

related - if you run a small/newer animal rescue and need help with social media (id be thrilled if it's Tumblr) I'd love to volunteer to help you out (not expecting pay for this!) if that applies to you, please reach out as well!

[jeffyfitoftheyear]

🌟Jeff Satur outfit of the year 2023🌟

And the winner is Siam Halloween!!

video by beamspy_

Your most voted for Jeff outfit of the year, and most submitted. We had many, many photos of this fit turn up in our inbox. Thank you all for your efforts and dedication to a hot little corset!

picture credits: saturn4am, studio_on_saturn, jeff satur,

[valentineredfield]

[Nicole Tompkins reading Elena/Daniela Dimitrescu lines as Jill] "Hey, kiss me?"

[realian]

[supercantaloupe]

ive never gone to see an opera live in europe let alone one outside of a major theater that regularly records and broadcasts their productions so grain of salt etc but i think there's some kind of distinct cultural difference between how european companies do "reimagined" productions of operas vs how american companies do it

[bleue-flora]

This man is the villain, everyone…

yeah…… makes sense.

(When they wonder why you’re a Dream apologist… - Oh, my apologies, that’s right, I’m supposed to root for the scammer, who’s the hero of the story…)

[larissa-the-scribe]

OC Ask Game

Send me an ask with an emoji and a character name, and I'll give you a fun fact or a snippet of writing that relates to both.

[cjauswrites]

dialogue-heavy clausten fic i wrote while scientists performed genetic experiments on me (PART TWO)

warning this one came out a lot longer and angstier than the first part

Read part one here!-

The couple would settle themselves amidst their banter, which left behind a far more comfortable silence than before. It was hard to believe that those two were adults in their mid 20s-- with Claus pushing 27-- with all of the playful back-and-forth bickering they'd do.

In that regard, they might as well have been schoolchildren.

And yet, there was Ninten, now handling a roll of gauze that he'd use to attentively patch up his lover's poor, damaged wing. Holding the draconic appendage as if it were the most priceless artifact in the world, one more precious than every speck of gold in King What's-his-pork's vault.

And there was Claus, allowing a commoner to so freely hold the most fragile and sensitive part of him. The commander's trust was one that belonged to no other.

"So," Ninten cleared his throat, yearning to break the silence between them with a question that had been nagging him ever since Claus showed up; "how'd it happen?"

"Huh?"

"Were you just flying here to see me, and a rebel shot at you? You had to be closeby, right? Otherwise you would've went to that guy... the- the donut guy. Your chimera doctor." The uncertain statement was punctuated with a lopsided shrug. "Because, like, if it's someone in the neighborhood, maybe it'll make the path here safer for you if I snitch on 'em."

Claus's lips didn't move to speak. The redhead's bony fingers would fidget with the pocket corners of his wrinkled cargo pants, black-painted nail scratching at the tightly-woven seams underneath the rough fabric.

"Wait. You... you didn't walk this far from home with a broken wing and a possible assassin on your tail just to visit me, right Claus?"

The commander ignored him once again, deliberately turning his head away.

"Claus."

"Fine," Claus threw his hands up in defeat, "I wasn't- I wasn't at home, but home would've... technically been a faster walk."

Of course he did. Ninten would dip his head with a deep sigh, cradling the bridge of his nose between his index finger and thumb. "You know I love you, Claus, but you have to start getting medical treatment for things like this. I can't fix entire bulletwounds with my PSI."

"It seemed to work, kinda."

His boyfriend's casual, nonchalant attitude towards literally being shot was enough to make Ninten furrow his eyebrows. He let agitation seep into his voice, as much as he internally wished he wouldn't. "Your wing isn't a vital organ."

"Listen, I'm sorry," the soldier's voice was laced with a slight twinge of anxiety, "I don't like doctors, okay? I just.. If it happens again I'll find a home-remedy."

God. Ninten twitched at the mere thought of his boyfriend treating his next potentially-lethal bulletwound at home. His boyfriend, the man with no healing PSI. The one who-- though Ninten loved him-- could hardly even stitch up the holes in his own clothes. That boyfriend.

"And pray tell, what is a 'home-remedy' for a bulletwound to you, Claus? Gonna slap a few band-aids on it? Gonna crawl to your living quarters and drown it out, as usual?!" Ninten loudly drew in a deep, shaky breath to steady himself, giving a futile, short-lived effort to rein in his emotions. He brought his hands up to the sides of his head and rubbed away at his temples. "Y-You always do this thing-- where you put yourself in mortal danger and expect me to act like it's just another wacky tuesday. Oopsie-daisy, my genocidal boss almost caught me stealing oreos! Fucking oreos! But look sweetie, they're your favorite!-" Ninten interrupted his own tangent with an exasperated groan.

"You're lucky it's just your wing. I don't even know what I'd do if they hit your back, God forbid! Please, I'm begging you, just fucking go next time, I don't want to lose you!"

From the corner of his eye, Ninten watched his boyfriend's head sink into his quivering hands, with palms clasped over his eyes. The sight was enough to make his heart fall into the pit of his stomach like a rock in water. "Claus, I... I-I'm sorry. Fuck. It's okay."

"I just didn't want to go there again," Claus's voice muffled into his palms to somewhat veil the quaking in his words, or the way his voice would trail off like a dying flame. Unsure of what to do, Ninten would carefully extend his free hand to his boyfriend's tensed shoulder. The man flinched at the initial contact, but allowed his gentle touch to linger.

"He would've put me to sleep, Nint. For the stitches. I don't trust him not to... not to..."

Ninten swallowed despite the suffocating dryness of mouth, unsteady hand slowly looping another wad of gauze around Claus's injury. His body was plagued with an unending chill that froze him to his very core. "Not to...?" He replied in a gentle voice.

Oh, how the man wanted to tell everything. How he longed to spill the burdens of his life, along with countless tears, into Ninten's comforting shoulders, breathing his familiar scent in the sharp inhales between shaky sobs. But Claus dreaded that he'd said too much already. As secretive as he was-- as he needed to be-- he always had to halt himself from letting the words pour from him like floodwater from a broken dam.

The mere thought of Ninten being stripped of his treasured individuality, of his memories, his humanity, and ending up stranded in a near-meaningless life like his... he'd rather be despised by the man, if that was what it took, than allow that to happen.

"Not to.. Not to slip up. I'm deathly afraid of surgery." He'd expertly mask his emotions in his words, telling himself that it was all for Ninten's own good, telling himself whatever it took to kwep himself from looking back. His pale hands fell to the blankets he was sitting on and he allowed his fingers to curl tightly around the soft fabric, as if they subconsciously longed to grasp at his boyfriend's shirt.

Ninten simply gave a low hum at first.

"Claus... I'm so sorry. F-For yelling at you. I'm truly sorry." Ninten began in a gentle tone. Claus held his breath. "But still, I promise you'll be alright. He's a doctor for a good reason. From what I hear, a prestigious one at that. People praise the ground he walks on like he's the next Albert Einstein."

"Ah... wait, who?"

Ninten squeaked. A brief wave of panic flashed over his features as he was forced to recall where he was. "Aha, some guy, don't worry about it!" His hand waved dismissively. "My- my point is, he's brilliant. You're in good hands."

Good hands. It took every atom in Claus's body not to loudly refute that statement.

"You and your obscure references," Claus's sentence, against his will, trailed into a long yawn, and he'd lock his fingers together and stretch his arms above his head until he felt a satisfying pop in his shoulders. "Geek."

"Yeah, yeah." Ninten shot the other an amused smile. "Tired, sunshine?"

"Oh? Y-Yeah. I am. It's been one hell of a day." As he brought his arms down, the soldier lazily rubbed his weary eyes. As his panic had faded and awareness slowly took its place, the fact would set in that Ninten had completed wrapped his wound. "Hey, my wing feels a ton better. How's it look?"

"After a few PK lifeups and some basic first aid, not too bad! I'd say it'll be back to normal by tomorrow, but you should still take a bus to work." He reached up from where he'd been working and gave Claus a firm-yet-gentle pat on his upper back. "Speaking of work, it's late. We oughta get to bed."

"Late," Claus mumbled the word back to himself in thought. "God, I-- I hogged up your night, didn't I?"

"You didn't, hun. I've got nothing else going on tonight, with the power being out." Ninten would hold out an index finger and, using his telekinesis, toss Claus a thin, comfortable t-shirt he had folded atop his cluttered desk. It was a slightly-worn black tee with a penguin character on its frontside, a very Ninten choice in clothing, Claus noted.

"Your alien research?" In the middle of taking off his shirt, Claus remarked with a nodding gesture towards some erratic, barely-legible sticky notes Ninten had plastered all over his bedside wall.

"Bah, that junk can wait," Ninten replied, running a hand up through his tangled black hair, which he feared had started to look kind of gross. He felt drenched in sweat, but at the very least he could blame the lack of air circulation.

The redhead pulled Ninten's much-loved penguin shirt over his slim frame, loosely covering his battle-scarred upper body. Ninten's clothes were a little bigger than his, but Claus didn't mind the oversized fit they had on his figure. He'd discover a loose thread towards the end of the left sleeve and begin to fidget by rolling it around between his thumb and index finger.

"Well, I still feel bad. If the power's on in the morning I'll fix us some breakfast before we both head out." Ninten watched attentively as Claus reached two hands up behind his head, then freed his long, pumpkin-colored hair from the confines of the shirt's collar, shaking it out and letting the sea of loose ginger curls fall against his back. It wasn't often that Ninten got to see Claus with his hair down. Was it always that much curlier towards the bottom? Fuck. Ninten was weak.

"Awh!! You don't have to, really! You spoil me, Clausy." Ninten let out a giggle, the kind of high-pitched laugh he only let loose when he couldn't contain his glee. "But-- ah-- speaking of which, I do hope all the stuff in the fridge didn't spoil.."

"Have you opened it?" Claus turned to face his fellow law-breaker and rested his chin on his knuckles, yellowed eyes fixing on Ninten as he blinked to gain his focus in the dimly-lit room

"Absolutely not, but still. It's been off for a while."

"I'll figure it out, love." He cupped his human hand over Ninten's soft cheek, delicately brushing the pad of his thumb against the spot beneath his eye.

"Hah, thank you. You're the best." Ninten gave Claus a peck on his soft lips before the stubborn one could throw the compliment back. The rosy blush on his freckled face combined with the way his eyes seemed to enlarge themselves was priceless to Ninten.

Sharing Ninten's pathetic little bed had become routine for them despite the fact that it clearly lacked the space for two. Not that they minded one bit. After all, it only gave them a beyond cheesy excuse to cuddle up close and act sickeningly sweet to each other, their favorite passtime.

The bedframe gave a barely-audible creak of protest as Ninten would shift his weight to the left, leaning over and to put the dying candleflame out of its misery with one puff of air from his lips; the two were plunged into darkness as the ember wisped away into a thin ribbon of smoke.

"Mmgh, dark-" Claus complained. He aimlessly swiped a hand around in the inky blackness around him until it found Ninten's face, his scraggly little chin stubble making contact with the soldier's palm. Ninten hated how it refused to grow correctly, but Claus adored the way it looked, always holding his chin to carress the little hairs and always remarking how it tickled him between kisses.

"Right here, darling," Ninten locked his fingers, their texture a little rough from work, with the clumsy hand that had been sprawled over the frontside of his face.

Ninten scooted into the little free space next to Claus and snuggled up as close to the taller man as he possibly could, taking the opportunity to rest his head on his partner's chest once he found it. He could hear the soft hums and whirrs of machinery from within; a soothing source of white noise in an otherwise dead silence. As Ninten's warm presence filled the empty space beside him, the commander's arm snaked its way around his shoulder.

After Ninten closed his eyes for slumber, he felt Claus shift to rest his chin atop his fluffy mess of hair. He only wished that he could've showered before this. It wasn't too bad, since they both stunk of sweat, but it always embarrassed him whenever Claus would witness him not at peak performance.

"Night, Clausy."

"G'night, Nint. Love you."

"Love you too."

"... Hey, Nint?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you really upset about the oreos? Or was that just an in-the-moment thing?"

"I love oreos, you know I do. But I love you so much more. I just wanna see you safe, is all."

His gaze lifted from Claus's face to the mess of Post-Its on his wall, and he'd give himself a mental reminder to purchase more.

"Noted... I'm sorry. I'll try to be more cafeful from here on out, okay? And I'll... I'll start going to the doctor, too."

"That makes me really happy. Thank you."

The exchange was ended with a kiss planted on the top of Ninten's gross, smelly head. His face grew hot. How dare he.

There the two lovers settled into bed, in a loose-yet loving embrace, with each one's frame nestled comfortably into the other's; they'd learned all of the best ways to sleep on this mattress without needing to shove each other off or battle for space in their sleep. Claus was already drifting off to a much-needed peaceful slumber, one that Ninten wouldn't dare take from him despite the horde of questions clawing at his mind. He pondered that little lie he'd played along with. Regarding the government's top scientist.

'Scared he'll slip up', yeah, right... Andonuts, huh? I'll do some digging on the name. I swore I've heard it floating around before. Way back in the 80s, even. Does one of his ancestors work for the government?- Unless...

Ninten's thoughts drew on.

His gaze drifted up from Claus's face to the scattered stacks of Post-Its tacked to his bedroom wall, giving himself a mental reminder to purchase more.

rereading an hour later: i noticed a fUCKING MISTAKE WHERE tHE LAST LINE FROM THE FANFIC WAS RANDOMLY MOVED TO AN EARLIER SPOT. WHAT THE FUCK. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN. IM LIVID. anyways i fixed it

[touchbased]

closed starter for @sunliights !

"why did you agree to come if you're just going to complain the whole time? this place isn't actually haunted."

[jesncin]

"The usual critics I've seen who've come down so much harder on shows like cw Supergirl are suddenly so forgiving of MAWS."

Not the other anon but is it because the main character is a guy or at least passes for a white man? That seems to be a trend I've noticed. People around me keep insisting it's not a thing but it happens every time there's a show/film made for girls or women. It feels like pandering and talking down to the audience in a "here, now get off our freaking backs about a film for you so we can get back to the real stuff" and then surprise surprise if there's harsh words about it suddenly "oh we won't be making another one since no one liked it" "but we di-" "NO ONE LIKED IT".

There's definitely a double standard happening for shows with female leads compared to shows with male leads. I distinctly remember the gross sexist response to the premiere of Supergirl and people comparing it unfavorably to a rom com (what's wrong with a superhero rom com?? That sounds great?) and then suddenly when it's MAWS people are celebrating the MAWS crew flexing how they get to draw Clark getting a magical girl transformation and getting to draw "shojo mangaka" Clois moments.

Supergirl wasn't perfect by any means, and critics were rightfully critical of things like Black Jimmy Olsen being sidelined- but then those same critics are totally fine with Black Jimmy Olsen getting sidelined even more so in MAWS? Like geez at least be honest about lowering your standards! It's a mix of that and Superman fans at large being burnt out over Snyderverse so they'll settle with MAWS.

[chiropteracupola]

in other news. what if I got a physical copy of crucible of gold in order to a) kind of celebrate a year of me reading temeraire b) joke on my seven bookstores quest for his majesty's dragon last year c) have it to cross-reference/tear apart with my hands if necessary