#which I don’t hate actually

[madeofsunbeams]

the mid budget horror movie has really replaced the mid budget romcom hasn’t it

[britcision]

Indie ttrpg designers

We seem to be back in the “dnd sucks why don’t you just play Other Games (yours)” and I have a single question for you in return

Do I get to roll a d20?

Because I like the d20

That shape pleases me

I do not wish to roll a random amount of d6s or d8s or any of them other fuckers

I wish to roll the d20 because icosahedrons please me

I will also accept d12 but the other shapes all have less mouthfeel so if that’s what your game’s based on, it is not for me

I’d also prefer more than four stats but I’m not gonna lie it is the shape of the math rocks so like

Rec your d20 based indie ttrpgs friends cuz every single one I’ve opened is them little cube fuckers or the double pyramid and I Require Round

[bestanimal]

Round 2 - Arthropoda - Arachnida

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Arachnida is a highly diverse class, ranging from the Demodex mites living on you (yes, you) right now, to the Triassic-surviving horseshoe crabs (yes, a 2019 genetics-based analysis places them within Arachnida, though this is still debated), to your friendly pest-controlling house spider. They live worldwide, mainly on land, but some also in freshwater and marine environments. There are over 110,000 named species, with more being discovered every year. They comprise the Ricinulei (“Hooded Tickspiders”), Xiphosura (“Horseshoe Crabs”), Opiliones (“Harvestmen”), Solifugae (“Camel Spiders”), Acariformes (“Acariform Mites”), Parasitiformes (“Parasitiform Mites and Ticks”), Palpigradi (“Microwhip Scorpions”), Pseudoscorpiones (“Book Scorpions”), Scorpiones (“Scorpions”), Amblypygi (“Tailless Whip Scorpions”), Schizomida (“Short-tailed Whip Scorpions”), Uropygi (“Vinegaroons”), and Araneae (“Spiders”).

Adult arachnids have 8 legs attached to a head/thorax segment called the cephalothorax. Their abdomen contains their heart and respiratory organs. Arachnids also have two other pairs of appendages that vary in function between orders. The chelicerae are mainly used in feeding and defense. In spiders, they are used to deliver venom. The second pair, called pedipalps, are used for feeding, locomotion, defense, and/or reproduction. Scorpions, Pseudoscorpions, Ricinuleids, and Horseshoe Crabs have pedipalps that end in a pair of pinchers used for defense and manipulating food. Pseudoscorpions also have a venom gland in their pinchers which they use to immobilize prey. Vinegaroons, Schizomids, Amblypygids, and most Harvestmen have raptorial pedipalps that are used for capturing prey. Solifugids use their palps as another set of legs, and spiders use theirs like hands, while the males also use theirs for mating. Mites and ticks use their palps to sense their surroundings. Mites are more diverse than other arachnids, some only having 6 or even 4 legs. Adult females of Podapolipidae only have a single pair of legs. Some arachnids have a tail-like structure called a telson. Horseshoe Crabs use their telson to flip themselves over if they are turned on their backs. Scorpions use their telson as a stinger to deliver venom, while Palpigrades, Schizomids, and Vinegaroons use theirs as sensory structures. Schizomids and Vinegaroons can also produce acetic acid at the base of their telsons, which they use as a chemical defense sprayed at attackers. Instead of a telson, spiders have spinnerets on their abdomen which they use to create silk. Some have no eyes; some have up to six. Some only have very simple eyes which detect light and shadow, while others have very advanced eyesight.

Arachnids are so diverse that it would be impossible for me to provide a general summary of their behavior here. Some lay eggs, some bear live young. Some have intensive courtship rituals. In most, mothers provide parental care, but in some this falls on the fathers. They can be predators, scavengers, carnivores, omnivores, herbivores, parasites, and everything in between.

Arachnids are one of the oldest living Classes of land animals. Xiphosurans first appeared in the Late Ordovician, with modern horseshoe crabs appearing in the Carboniferous and becoming more common in the Triassic. The spider-like Order Uraraneida first appeared in the Permian, with true spiders appearing in the Carboniferous. There’s a lot of talk about how horseshoe crabs predate the dinosaurs, and that’s true, but so do other arachnids… and most other arthropods as well!

Propaganda under the cut:

While only Spiders, Scorpions, and Pseudoscorpions have venom, they all have different methods of injecting it, meaning they likely independently evolved venom. Which is wild to me.

Spiders tend to get a bad rap (mostly due to western media banking on arachnophobia and spreading misinformation) but they are incredibly beneficial to humans, eating many of the species we consider pests. Some crops, such as cranberries, tomatoes, and potatoes, rely on spiders for pest control. It has been found that wherever farmers release spiders, their crop yields increase, while also cutting down on the use of chemical pesticides by 80%.

There are around 50,000 species of spider and all but one family (Uloboridae) is venomous. However, this venom is mainly used to capture prey, and only 10 genera have venom considered medically significant to humans. Bites are rarer than the media would have you think, and deaths are even more rare, as they are usually a result of secondary infections, allergic reaction, or pre-existing conditions. You are more likely to die from a mosquito bite.

Even if they weren’t super important and helpful to humans, spiders are still just small animals living their lives and are all too often unfairly demonized. I’ll get off my soapbox now but listen… I’m Love Them. They are just little guys.

Anyway, Ricinuleids have a hood, called a cucullus, which can be raised or lowered over their head. This hood is also where females will carry their eggs until they hatch. Baby hoodie.

Horseshoe Crab blood is blue due to a copper-based respiratory pigment called hemocyanin. It is often harvested for its unique reactions to bacterial contamination and is thus used in FDA testing. Horseshoe Crab blood has saved millions of human lives, however, overharvesting for their blood as well as for fishing bait has put their populations into decline, which has in turn affected populations of shorebirds which depend on their eggs as migratory fuel. Many areas have enacted regulations on harvesting and established captive breeding programs.

Harvestmen are sometimes referred to as spiders, but they are actually closer related to scorpions!

Harvestmen are unique among arachnids for their high diversity of feeding behavior. Many species are omnivorous, eating small insects, fungi, and plants. Some species are scavengers. Some species feed on fecal matter! Unlike most other arachnids, they do not have sucking mouthparts, and instead chew their food with tiny pinching jaws.

Many arachnids, especially most scorpions, are biofluorescent, glowing under UV light. There are many hypotheses for why this is, but it may allow them to detect the presence of UV light themselves, letting them know when there is a full moon vs a new moon.

Scorpions can also detect light through sensors in their tail!

Scorpion claws and tails are reinforced with iron and nickel

Mites are incredibly diverse and live everywhere. Many live in the soil and aid in decomposing, some live in water, some live on plants, some live in plants and create galls, some eat fungi, some eat lichen, some eat carrion, some are predators, some are parasites. Almost every species on land (mammals, reptiles, ants, plants, etc) has at least one mite species associated with it.

Vinegaroon courtship rituals involve a dance that can last up to 12 hours of the female testing the male’s endurance. Female vinegaroons invest a lot into their children, often starving themselves in the process, so they must be absolutely certain the male has good fitness.

[whirlpool-blogs]

[thebestusernamepossible]

I think a really underrated character duo in gravity falls is Dipper and Stan. Like one, I think they are way more similar than people give them credit for. Like Dipper is definitely the one who feels like the ‘inferior’ twin (internally on his part), something reflected in Stan. Also Dipper is generally pretty cunning and willing to throw punches in a Stan-way, you can see Stan rubbing off on him as the show progresses. Dipper in the Stan costume, and that one scene where Stan and Dipper both cross their fingers at the same time for the same promise, both live in my head rent free. In my heart of hearts I think Dipper picks up a bit of Stans con-man tricks in the future (and Mabel goes on some bonding missions w/ Ford, but this post isn’t abt them). Also I just want to say I bet Dipper reminded Stan of a young Ford and that informed some of their early dynamic. Anyway bye just needed this brainworm out

[puppyeared]

its so hard to watch time pass when things like careers and assignments exist. what do you mean im supposed to take that seriously

[dykedvonte]

I was rewatching mouthwashing, and I ended up thinking of the different reactions that Curly and Jimmy had in doing their tasks. How during the scene of Anya evaluating Jimmy and showing dread towards the idea of doing his evaluation, Curly was the one that offered to take it off her hands. He had no issue with adding more to his plate, because he knew - or well, thought, he knew that Jimmy wasn't going to "bullshit" with him since he's known him for a long time. When Anya hands Curly a note from Swansea, Curly goes to check out what the issue is and he takes care of it without a complaint, the only "complaint" he has is how this incident could have damaged the pods. Which is reasonable, those pods are their only way to be saved if anything tragic happens on the ship. However, in comparison to Jimmy being asked to do things, he's passive-aggressive about it. When Anya asks Jimmy if he could help her out with Curly's painkillers, he tells her that people should be worth their titles, specifically using her title as a nurse when she asked him for help and then when she says forget it, since he made her feel insecure, he still goes "Oh no, I'LL take care of it" as if he was doing a chore, a favor for her. Then, there's that part where he blows up at her for things that she didn't even ask him to do - more so the others asked him about it, like the code scanner, him deciding he needed to find the axe for the foam, and then, there's the medicine part (which when she does ask, and she reconsiders - going to do it herself, he takes that away from her). Jimmy complains about the tasks he has to do and he treats it like a big issue, a "woes me" that he has to do this and that - wanting the praise of the capital without actually doing any work. While Curly doesn't complain about it, in fact, he even mentions that he's aware of how well he is doing at his job as a Captain during that cockpit scene with him and Jimmy. If Jimmy only had to do a small amount of tasks to get irritated and annoyed at being captain, while Curly didn't which I feel like encapsulates their personalities. Curly understands what he's doing is a job, it's a responsibility, why would he complain at any point for doing what he's suppose too? Why would he be upset at people asking him to do tasks? While Jimmy on the other hand, isn't used to it at all and it's different to what he's had before and he's realizing that he doesn't actually like doing the work he has too. I just wanted to ramble about it even if it seemed kind of obvious xd

It’s obvious but it is a thing people miss or understate when trying to find parallels in Curly’s and Jimmy’s relationship/personalities.

Like the way people portray it as neither taking responsibility when it is almost split down the middle of Curly taking responsibilities and faults that shouldn’t be his and making himself unequipped to handle the ones that are while Jimmy refuses to handle the responsibilities he has because he wasn’t expecting the work that comes with them.

Not a lot to say but people forget that another thing the game comments on is prioritization of issues and responsibilities and how the guys fail at it in one way or another in the situation.

[madbard]

“Ford is irredeemably self-centered” this, “Ford’s a bad person” that, etc…

Alright. Tell me then.

What was he supposed to do?!?!

Be a better brother? Ford loved Stan! When they were children, Ford took care of his brother as best he could. But Ford was also a kid in a bad situation, and there were limits to what he could do. Not to mention that Stan relied so heavily on Ford that it honestly wasn’t healthy for either of them. Stan couldn’t stand by himself and he wasn’t trying. They were both struggling; maybe pin that on the parents instead of the kids.

Not be angry at Stan for messing with his experiment? Of course Ford was angry! This was his dream college; in that moment he thought his entire future was crumbling. I assure you, if my sibling had ruined my chances of getting into my dream school I would have been more than a little upset, and I’m sure the same goes for most of the people reading this. Of course, Ford did hold onto that anger for considerably longer than was justified, but in this case I would argue that Ford less “held a grudge for 10 years out of spite” and more “never got the chance to make things right with his brother and held onto that anger because it was better than the nauseating guilt over that final argument, the uncertainty at times that his brother was even alive.” (Which is not to say that Ford isn’t spiteful. Our man has plenty of spite. But him being spiteful is not the only thing going on here.) Which brings us to our next point.

Stop Stan from being kicked out? How?! That household does not appear to have been a safe place for either of the brothers. Should Ford have gotten himself kicked out too? Should he have known exactly what to say to talk his father down - the man who just violently threw his twin out of the house? Ford didn’t kick Stan out. He just wasn’t able to stop it from happening, and that’s not something any teen should be blamed for.

Behave himself when reuniting with Stan at the culmination of the worst period of his life thus far? There’s stress. And then there’s being dangerously sleep-deprived and at the mercy of a horrifying demon that betrayed you, leaving you alone in a shack in the woods with no one to call for help except your estranged brother, who’s complaining about a mullet, of all things. Yeah, I’m not going to say Ford’s behavior was anything other than atrocious here. But really. How well would you handle that?

Thanked his brother? Stan could have destroyed the universe; it makes sense that Ford’s upset! He’s also had literally decades to stew in the terror and fury he experienced in those last moments before falling through the portal (something which almost certainly would not have happened if it weren’t for Stan). Again, Ford’s not acting like the world’s best brother here, but it’s understandable.

Ford’s not perfect. He can be arrogant, spiteful, and bitter. He makes serious mistakes (often due to his own hubris) that put himself, his loved ones, and sometimes the entire universe in grave peril. Ford is, in fact, deeply flawed. That’s part of what makes him a fun character! It’s also what makes him a well-written and believable character. Yes, Ford acts like a jerk. He does so quite often.

Ford also spends nearly the entire narrative bouncing from one deeply toxic situation to another, desperately trying to survive and make life better for himself and his family and watching as his brother makes mistake after mistake - sometimes making choices with severe, negative consequences on Ford’s own life.

Ford is doing the best he can. He’d not a bad person. He tries to be good. He tries to do the right thing.

He just fails sometimes.

Don’t we all?

[greensaplinggrace]

I think one of the biggest differences between bangel and spuffy is that angel isn’t a partner to buffy. he’s not even someone she knows that well. he’s not someone she’s ever familiar with, and he’s not someone she can ever fully rely on.

yeah their romance was big and grand and all the things a tragic fairytale romance is. but at the end of the day their relationship is so incredibly surface level. all there is is the idea of love, and not even the real thing.

[tariah23]

This is such a harmful sentiment to push considering that you don’t necessarily have to be “attractive,” (beauty is subjective, yada yada) in order for men to want to harm you in the slightest… like man, what…

[itspileofgoodthings]

my seniors have been so quiet all year and it’s been fine cause we’ve had a lot of writing/research to do but I need them to talk to me now so i was hit by a bolt of inspiration two days ago and I made them all tell me their comfort level with sharing aloud, rating themselves on a scale of 1-10. I then averaged the class score and they’re a 4.5. I then told them yesterday we needed to raise the score the tiniest bit. And the 1’s and 2’s didn’t need to be 10’s just maybe 3’s and 4’s. And they tried! They talked more 😭

[martybaker]

Thank you @amielot for tagging me in last line tag game like forever ago 🙈 I’ve been in real life hell with no time to spare for any creative endeavors, but today I took up the proverbial pen once again to prod at my unfinished modern au ice-skating fic (you can find part one here)

and I wanted to share this bit with y’all, because I think it’s pretty funny. Enjoy.

——

Hob laughs out loud. “Wow. Okay, I deserved that one. But how about this one: Say, Professor Endeles, what would a perfect date look like for you?”

Dream pretends to ponder this deeply.

“A nice spring day,” he starts, “not too cold or too hot, we have a picnic on a hill… with a beautiful view of the city of Verona below us.”

He smiles at the image, continuing, “I shiver in the light breeze, underdressed, and Pedro Pascal lends me his jacket-” Hob bursts out laughing at that- “he lends me his jacket, hand feeds me strawberries and italian cheese, we drink Chardonnay...”

Hob laughs so hard it makes him bend in half. “Pedro Pascal??? Pedro Pascal hand feeds you strawberries?!”

Dream gives him a cheeky grin. “Yes.”

“Okay, incredible. I’m skying in the Alps with Keanu Reeves if you even care,” Hob parries.

Dream smiles at him beatifically. “I don’t. Pedro’s taking me to Teatro alla Scala to see Carmen in the evening.”

By this point Hob is straight up wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. “Oh my god. Okay. You absolute madman, you win this round. I concede defeat.”

——

And I’m tagging @zigzag-wanderer @seiya-starsniper and @omgcinnamoncakes if you feel like sharing :)

[godblooded]

so like… controversial opinion but… if you agree there should be more female muses or lesbians… uhh… write them?

[mjsparkour]

I’m really growing to appreciate that once we got Dune two and actually saw Florence Pugh take on the role of Irulan the paulirulan tag grew in size over the last couple of months. I’m glad I’m not the only one seeing the (potential) fail marriage of the century vision here. Denis can’t let me down the material is really all there.

This is not to say that I don’t like paulchani but the way Villanueve has changed certain aspects of Chani’s character (for the better in my opinion) has shifted how I feel about that dynamic. I’m not really sold on the passionate all consuming young love fest of it all, especially with how it’s played up in the books. Don’t get me wrong there are some beautiful lines but I can’t help but think about the missed opportunity with irulan (as a character and her relationship dynamics).

I also had my brain warped by Florence and Timothee’s chemistry in little women so I’m part of the apparent minority (?) that believes they’ll likely have better chemistry than paulchani. (Note: I have also seen racist stans on twitter praise their chemistry over zendaya and timothee on account of Zendaya being biracial which is disgusting and stupid, and definitely not a reason I prefer Timothee and Florence’s chemistry).

I could write a whole separate meta on what I like about Denis portrayal of Chani but it honestly boils down to her having more agency and actual principles. We as an audience know she comes back to Paul obviously, we just don’t know when and what changes her mind. Which is very intriguing because I’d like to know what Paul gets up to in that time of separation and how irulan is involved. I also think, if Denis were to go this route, Chani could play a key role in forming a resistance against Paul’s rule (something she could end up abandoning when she goes back to him, also interesting to study motivations there. I feel like that can get really dark with Paul involved). Then the two would be on opposing sides in the similar way I imagine paulirulan would be on opposing sides vying for power in different ways as they rule together (like Paul promised in Dune part two, another key difference from the book alluding to a more interesting complex dynamic).

All of this is to say I want a real love triangle that’s not really a love triangle bc everyone is doomed by the narrative and it’s all really dark and gross, thus making it romantic.

[manitapaleta]

Sorry I'm late, I had this clear vision once of Lark in this very specific blue and pink cat apron the reads "Coffee Right Meow" and he's baking and for whatever reason he's holding a knife. Do with that what you will

Sorry IM late answering this ask lol also I forgot abt the knife part lol sorryyyy

Slightly younger lark and sparrow with a baby norm !!! Now I wanna draw all the kids as babies

[ongreenergrasses]

like people can do whatever they want forever, right, but imo the entire reason that tbosas is interesting is because Coriolanus is such an unreliable narrator. he is not innocent. he is not blameless. he is not desperate and without options. but he is trying to convince himself, and the reader, that he is. he is a self aggrandizing person who believes in his inherent superiority and that, plainly put, he is smarter and better than everyone around him. he’s actually wholly unpleasant and although I think that makes him interesting, it’s a real stretch to be stanning him. imo.