#what is natural?

[happyheidi]

“𝖨𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖲𝖺𝗇 𝖩𝗎𝖺𝗇 𝖬𝗈𝗎𝗇𝗍𝖺𝗂𝗇𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝖢𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗋𝖺𝖽𝗈, 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝟦𝟦-𝗒𝖾𝖺𝗋 𝗈𝗅𝖽 𝖳𝖾𝗅𝗅𝗎𝗋𝗂𝖽𝖾 𝖬𝗎𝗌𝗁𝗋𝗈𝗈𝗆 𝖥𝖾𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖺𝗅 𝗂𝗌 𝖺 𝖻𝖾𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾𝖽 𝖼𝖾𝗅𝖾𝖻𝗋𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝖽𝗋𝖺𝗐𝗌 𝗆𝗒𝖼𝗈𝗉𝗁𝗂𝗅𝖾𝗌, 𝗇𝖺𝗍𝗎𝗋 𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗁𝗎𝗌𝗂𝖺𝗌𝗍𝗌, 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖼𝗎𝗅𝗂𝗇𝖺𝗋𝗒 𝖾𝗑𝗉𝗅𝗈𝗋𝖾𝗋𝗌 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝖺𝗋𝗈𝗎𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗅𝖽 𝗂𝗇 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝗈𝗋 𝗈𝖿 𝖿𝗎𝗇𝗀𝗂.

𝖠𝗍𝗍𝖾𝗇𝖽𝖾𝖾𝗌 𝖽𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝖽𝖾𝖾𝗉 𝗂𝗇𝗍𝗈 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗅𝖽 𝗈𝖿 𝗆𝗒𝖼𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗀𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁 𝗁𝖺𝗇𝖽𝗌-𝗈𝗇 𝖿𝗈𝗋𝖺𝗀𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖾𝗑𝖼𝗎𝗋𝗌𝗂𝗈𝗇𝗌, 𝖿𝗈𝗈𝖽 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗄𝗌𝗁𝗈𝗉𝗌; 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗌𝖼𝗂𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗂𝖿𝗂𝖼 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗆𝖾𝖽𝗂𝖼𝗂𝗇𝖺𝗅 𝗅𝖾��𝗍𝗎𝗋𝖾𝗌 𝗈𝗇 𝖼𝗎𝗅𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇, 𝗂𝗇𝗍𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗎𝗂𝗇𝗀, 𝗋𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗌𝗉𝖾𝖼𝗂𝖾𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗉𝗌𝗒𝖼𝗁𝖾𝖽𝖾𝗅𝗂𝖼𝗌.

𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖿𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝖽𝖺𝗒 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗇𝗍 𝖼𝗎𝗅𝗆𝗂𝗇𝖺𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝗂𝗇 𝖺 𝗉𝖺𝗋𝖺𝖽𝖾 𝖽𝗈𝗐𝗇 𝖬𝖺𝗂𝗇 𝖲𝗍𝗋𝖾𝖾𝗍 𝗐𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝖺𝗍𝗍𝖾𝗇𝖽𝖾𝖾𝗌 𝖽𝗈𝗇 𝖾𝗅𝖺𝖻𝗈𝗋𝖺𝗍𝖾 𝖼𝗈𝗌𝗍𝗎𝗆𝖾𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖾𝗇𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗉𝖺𝗌𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖺𝗅𝗅 𝗌𝗉𝖾𝖼𝗂𝖾𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝖿𝗎𝗇𝗀𝗂."

sources: meteoriitta & anniecollinge 🍄‍🟫

[spinejackel]

What are dead man walking tornadoes? :O

it’s a multi-vortex tornado. i dont remember the tribe it originates from (i think it was cherokee), but there’s a native american legend…? saying? that goes “if you see a man in a tornado, you are about to die.”

the most infamous shot of a dead man walking tornado hit jarrell, texas in 1997

it did so much damage to the town it caused the scale that tornados are measured by, the fijita scale, undergo revisions, and it made anchoring buildings in the tornado alley region pretty much mandatory. (it took the entire town off the map. only those who had taken shelter outside of the town or in underground bunkers survived.)

two more examples of dead man walking tornadoes looking like a person are a tornado from 2011 that hit cullman, alabama

and a tornado from 1975 that hit xenia, ohio

edit: it has been brought to my attention that the native american “legend” part of this post was a rumor spread by a documentary.

i have been asked to remove it, but i believe in letting my errors stand because i’m not perfect. i make mistakes

[facts-i-just-made-up]

[captainjonnitkessler]

The second you start talking about some mysterious "they" that are controlling society in some fashion, you are engaging in dangerous conspiratorial thinking even if you're being woke about it. "They" did not institute the 40 hour work week specifically so you would be too tired to revolt. "They" did not invent the sleek minimalist aesthetic in order to crush the spirit of art in the common people. "They" are not pushing mediocre media into the mainstream in order to poison people's critical thinking skills.

Your best case scenario after that is you talk to someone who actually knows what the fuck they're talking about and you get embarrassed because you can't answer basic questions about your own ideology because you never learned anything past "the ruling class/capitalists/politicians are making things bad and if we got rid of them the bad things would all go away!"

Your worst case scenario is obviously the woo-to-fascist pipeline and you end up believing Jews are poisoning American food supplies with GMOs in order to turn us all into beta cucks, so like . . . maybe just stop blaming "them" before you fall down that route.

Obligatory round of disclaimers: Yes, sometimes people do bad things. Be specific about exactly who is doing what instead of ascribing it to some vague group of shadowy elites. Yes, sometimes things in society are bad. Learn to identify the root causes of complex social issues instead of assuming that they're actually extremely simple to fix and we're just not doing it because of some vague group of shadowy elites. Yes, minimalism isn't for everyone. Learn that some people don't share your tastes and get the fuck over it for the love of god.

[dirt-goth]

As much as I want to be a wholly joyous about the fact that Henry Kissinger is finally fucking dead, as he deserves... There's a lot of me that can't help being upset with. With the fact that he lived to 100 years old. He got better medical care, better housing, and a better, more stable life for those 100 years than billions on this planet ever going to see and he did it specifically through exploitation, state sanctioned murder, and lies. He lived to 100 years comfortably on a legacy of violence that rarely threatened his personal comfort. I want to be joyous that he's finally dead, because the world IS better with him dead, but the reality is he won a long time ago.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

zany to me how these um actually nihilists like to pretend that "um actually love/friendship/cooperation/kindness isn't real bc we evolved that way to benefit ourselves as a species..." um YES? that's also where tool use comes from? that's where cooking comes from? am i supposed to think social bonds & tool use & cooking aren't "real" because they evolved over time instead of appearing fully formed from the ether?

sorry u can't enjoy things. im a superior being twirling a fork in my bowl of delicious noodles whilst staring in adoration at the world

[kyri45]

My own personal take on why Macaque fur isn’t usually white despite being, well, a macaque. And since MK also owns his shadow powers weeeeelll… Also MK is much more towards the blonde than the white since he still took from Wukong fur color.

Congrats on @brightonsart017 for being the one who guessed it the closest.

Shadowpeach Bio Parent AU (PREV / FIRST / NEXT)

Also I will die on the gentle Mamacaque rock, he’s just proud his baby takes so much from him

[queermasculine]

smoking is bad. unless yuo do it for gay sex reasons. then its good

[constantlyfalling]

Wait, which way do we go now?

[splendidfemalelegs]

Very cool lean

[happyheidi]

𝖻𝗒 𝖺𝖾𝗋𝗍 𝗏𝖺𝗇 𝖽𝖾𝗋 𝗇𝖾𝖾𝗋

[ikemoths]

A slightly miscoloured giant leopard moth showing the blueish tint more than usual!

[coddda]

I wish we could have met in some other way.

Lawlight Week Day 2: Soulmates

If you saw me repost and re-edit this several times uh No you didn't </3

Still frames/Individual gifs:

If you know what every frame is from you get a free cookie. by the way

[supertaliart]

Skywalker Siblings Part 3

First Previous

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

strange that "skinny" means thin. it should mean...skinny. characterized by skin. possessing or characterized by an above average amount of skin. more skin rather than less skin. but somehow it means less skin? preposterous

[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?