#you finally get it

[gayofthefae]

Stranger Things, man. And maybe it's because they don't wanna scare straight people into thinking too hard about it or themselves, but nobody represents that the start of the queer story isn't being closeted. It's being straight. It's believing wholeheartedly and from the bottom of your soul that you are straight. It doesn't start self-awarely in the closet working up to telling people. That's every queer story, but it doesn't. It starts with a straight person, very often secure in their straightness. And I guess maybe it is just that the straight people don't want to half to acknowledge their proximity or fears of being "one of us" or maybe it's just because we're overlooked; maybe it's because no one ever asked, but queer stories more often than not start with a straight person who knows for a fact that they're straight. In a story, that translates to a straight character you know for a fact is straight - because you're seeing it in their perspective. That's the whole point of storytelling. You can seldom see a truly unbiased perspective. I actually don't know if it's possible at all.

So thank you, Stranger Things. Queerness begins with straightness. And almost nobody talks about it (almost: I recommend Love, Victor). Queerness exists on people going through things completely unrelated to queerness and queerness exists on people who haven't started questioning yet, who don't "seem" queer, who don't automatically "know", who date people of genders they ultimately aren't attracted to. Queerness isn't simple. It's depicted too often as simple.

Do I love myself? Yes. Would I give up my queerness? No. Did I cry when Will said "when you're different, sometimes you feel like a mistake" for hitting a little too close to home? Yes. Did I cry when watching Mike try to force himself to be straight for hitting a little too close to home? Yes.

Queerness isn't simple. And it doesn't start with queerness. You don't know it's gonna end at queerness. That's why stories about queerness always felt like they taught about me in an accurate and respectful manner more than represented me. Because there was a long time that I did not think my story was a queer about queerness.

Stranger Things tells stories about queerness that aren't just about queerness. Stranger Things tells stories about queerness that include the "before", that include the "during" the coming to terms with it, not just the after. Not just the closetedness. Most stories I see start post-self-acceptance as if that part is automatic and the most important part is your existence in relation to the straight people in your life who don't know.

Stranger Things tells stories of straight kids who get traumatized, just like me. Straight kids with stories that are just like mine. Straight kids I can relate to. Straight kids who...maybe aren't straight, actually. Stranger Things tells stories of queer kids who are whole people enough that I think the real reason I actually feel represented by them is because I felt represented by them before they were queer. For the first time, I feel represented by queer people because I identified with them before I knew they were queer, just like I identified with myself before I knew I was queer.

They were telling the complete truth when they said their story is for the marginalized, not just about us. It might scare the straight people. "It could be you too". And that's exactly the point. They should be scared. Be scared. Maybe then they'll finally get it. We were scared too. We wanted to close our eyes again and go back to being straight, which almost felt like it should be a possible option. Telling stories for groups instead of just about them is saying, "We aren't educating you about them. You are them. They're you too." The only full way to represent queer people is to represent us as people. And the only way to truly get that across is for us to "blend in" at first.

So this is a formal thank you, Stranger Things. Thank you for representing queer people as people.

[reasonsforhope]

If you're feeling anxious or depressed about the climate and want to do something to help right now, from your bed, for free...

Start helping with citizen science projects

What's a citizen science project? Basically, it's crowdsourced science. In this case, crowdsourced climate science, that you can help with!

You don't need qualifications or any training besides the slideshow at the start of a project. There are a lot of things that humans can do way better than machines can, even with only minimal training, that are vital to science - especially digitizing records and building searchable databases

Like labeling trees in aerial photos so that scientists have better datasets to use for restoration.

Or counting cells in fossilized plants to track the impacts of climate change.

Or digitizing old atmospheric data to help scientists track the warming effects of El Niño.

Or counting penguins to help scientists better protect them.

Those are all on one of the most prominent citizen science platforms, called Zooniverse, but there are a ton of others, too.

Oh, and btw, you don't have to worry about messing up, because several people see each image. Studies show that if you pool the opinions of however many regular people (different by field), it matches the accuracy rate of a trained scientist in the field.

--

I spent a lot of time doing this when I was really badly injured and housebound, and it was so good for me to be able to HELP and DO SOMETHING, even when I was in too much pain to leave my bed. So if you are chronically ill/disabled/for whatever reason can't participate or volunteer for things in person, I highly highly recommend.

Next time you wish you could do something - anything - to help

Remember that actually, you can. And help with some science.

[hinamie]

mentor

[cryptocism]

"just as I did, in 1983."

you'd never know my favourite parts of the show are the fucked up insane bits when my first instinct is to draw the cheesiest thing imaginable

[markscherz]

Meet the seven new frog species we just named after iconic Star Trek captains!

Artwork by A. Petzold, CC BY-ND 4.0

At the right time of year along rushing streams in the humid rainforests that stretch the length of Madagascar's eastern and northern mountain ridges, otherworldly trills of piercing whistles can be heard.

Are they birds? Insects? Communicator beeps? Tricorder noises?

No, they're little treefrogs!

Boophis janewayae. Photo by M. Vences, CC BY-SA 4.0

Until recently, we thought all of the populations of these little brown frogs across the island were one widespread species, Boophis marojezensis, described in 1994. But genetics in the early 2000s and 2010s showed that there were several species here, not just one.

Now my colleagues and I have shown that they are in fact eight separate species, each with unique calls!

These whistling sounds reminded us so much of Star Trek sound effects that we decided to name the seven new species after Star Trek captains: Boophis kirki, B. picardi, B. janewayae, B. siskoi, B. pikei, B. archeri, and B. burnhamae.

Photos of all new species described by Vences et al. 2024. CC BY-SA 4.0

I subtly and not-so-subtly built some Star Trek references into the paper, but probably the best one is this one:

'Finding these frogs sometimes requires considerable trekking; pursuing strange new calls, to seek out new frogs in new forests; boldly going where no herpetologist has gone before.'

— Vences et al. 2024

There’s a real sense of scientific discovery and exploration here, which we think is in the spirit of Star Trek.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that there are at least two Trekkies amongst the authors (including yours truly). As fans of Star Trek, we are also just pleased to dedicate these new species to the characters who have inspired and entertained us over the decades.

On a personal note, this marks a milestone for me, as it means I have now described over 100 frog species! I am very pleased that the 100th is Captain Janeway's Bright-eyed Frog, Boophis janewayae (if you count them in order of appearance in the paper)—she is probably my favourite captain, and I really love Star Trek: Voyager.

You can read more about the discovery of these new species on my website! You can also read the Open Access paper published in Vertebrate Zoology here.

[mychemicalbrromance]

Guys ive been reading peak

[blueskittlesart]

Dear Big Brother

kind of a sequel to this comic

[deathflare]

i love her

[tariah23]

The manga industry, especially JUMP, needs to hurry up and do away with weekly scheduling for mangaka. There needs to better regulations put into place for their health and safety because this is pitiful. Two weeks - monthly updates should’ve already been the standard for the manga industry at this point. These money grabbers will only continue to put the lives of these artists at stake for the sake of capitalism unless some serious changes are implemented.

[noodles-and-tea]

Little Stan getting manipulated by Bill has excellent angst potential but consider.

Stanley just, keeps tricking Bill. Because Bill would definitely massively underestimate Stanley and how far he’ll go to protect Ford (like in the actual show). We also know Stanley has the street smarts between the twins and could absolutely tell Bill is full of it.

And because Bill would absolutely loose his mind if he kept getting foiled by a snot nosed eight year old that isn’t even supposed to be here

I like to think that he doesn’t even try that hard he just does not even care about bill

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

main take aways from Halloween (1978) rewatch:

michael myers is canonically 21??? this bitch should be at the club

*sees tiddies* ***MURDEROUS RAMPAGE NOISES***

that's it that's the movie

outside of the fact that everyone who has sex is murdered by the narrative, this is a surprisingly chill portrayal of female sexuality? these teen girls are horny and actively enjoying Getting It On with their boytoys. no pushy boyfriends sneaking in through their bedroom windows--these ladies are taking the initiative to sneak out and GET SOME. one of them gets laid and then immediately orders her boyfriend to get her a beer. (yes she gets Slashered soon afterward, but so does the boyfriend so honestly, gender equality.) yes the Final Girl is the only one not having sex, but she's not bullied for that, nor are her friends slut shamed except possibly by being murdered by the narrative

actually the only character who is shown being morally condemned on-screen is michael myers. specifically FOR his violent overreaction to other people's sex lives. (people he is spying on). metaphorically, the villain is American Puritanism sticking its judgy nose into other people's business.

aka Michael Myers Is A Republican

but actually the real villain is the doctor. guy's a judgemental, shaming, pathologizing asshole. and he's been in charge of michael's care since he was SIX YEARS OLD? kid never had a chance. i'd go on a killing spree too

also the parents. where are the parents? it's halloween night and all the teenage girls are home babysitting their younger siblings? come to think of it, michael's first victim was his own older sister, whom he killed while she was babysitting him. teen girls are really shouldering a labour burden here. maybe parentification is the true villain

side note: mike commits his first murder wearing a clown costume...which is never referenced again? his 'iconic' costume is a generic mask and wig and jumpsuit, when we coulda had a Killer Clown Michael Myers??? travesty

i like how the Final Girl and her friend casually smoke weed in her car. yeah she's an honor student and her friend is the sheriff's daughter. yeah they smoke weed. so what it's 1978

(to reiterate, mike is 21 and should be at the club. im not saying he shouldn't be rampaging, im saying it's sad that he broke out, tasted freedom for the first time in his life, and immediately snuck back into his childhood home to go rampaging. let's have a remake where he goes to a nightclub and has a few beers. maybe some slutty dancing. then rampage)

oh no he's hot

[chloesimaginationthings]

These clown animatronics in FNAF wild as hell..

[katsinspats]

I think my copy of the game is broken they've been doing this for 30 minutes

Crop of the Biolizard edit I did bc it makes me laugh:

[puckpatties]

i love you forever and ever girldad chilchuck

[bacchuschucklefuck]

no more fan-ta-sizing about it! everything's already changed~

[elyfonart]

NO they're not 'having fun' UGH you just dont get it!!!