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Vireos love Magnolia seeds

Red-Eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus)

September 10, 2024

Southeastern Pennsylvania

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Confluence art! Some of our many PC's created through our thorough (and fun) playtests! A robot gardener, a roguelike Bhande Dhaben, a strange Fathing and a Divling who gained their godlike powers through the loss of their beloved. Just some of the varied ways you can be in our system! Find out more on our twitter!!

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I think the hardest part about addressing child abuse is getting people to acknowledge, not just intellectually but actually responding accordingly, is that the biggest threat to children, the biggest risk of abuse, is family and parents.

it is of course most often parents who are crowing about needing to protect children (often against far smaller threats than family), and pointing out that they are, statistically, the biggest threat to their kids is not gonna be received well.

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im only a man when im a grown ass man and im only a woman when god forbid women do anything

any time other than that? im a fucking Echidna

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R.I.P. The 2976 American people that lost their lives on 9/11 and R.I.P. the 48,644 Afghan and 1,690,903 Iraqi and 35000 Pakistani people that paid the ultimate price for a crime they did not commit

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gf and i just spent around $220 on hrt and meds ): if anybody wants to help soften the blow that would be greatly appreciated

$app: trophybutch

feel free to request a custom photo in exchange for any money sent <3

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So, a comparatively high amount of states are voting on the fate of ranked choice voting this year. Missouri is voting on whether or not to kill it, Alaska is voting on whether or not to keep it, and most importantly, Nevada, Oregon and Idaho are voting on whether or not to adopt ranked choice voting, with maybe Colorado to follow.

And if you live in these states, even if you don't want to vote at the top of the ticket, I urge you to get out there and vote in favor of ranked choice voting on all of them.

Like, the two-party monopoly is a big part of the reason why politics in this country is so shit, and a big part of that is our "first past the post" system making it basically mathematically impossible for candidates outside of them to win anything beyond a local or state level.

So, if you want to try and break the cycle of voting for the lesser evil, of bipartisan cruelty towards the Global South and the country's own citizens alike, we need to change this and we need to vote on it where we can.

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baotuquan趵突泉, jinan济南, shandong province in china by 凡不烦

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A little while ago you made a remark about ferns along the lines of "God really left you unfinished huh?". Can you please elaborate on that?

yes and i have to admit that was specifically a vague post at one single particular fern, Vittaria appalachiana: 

‘wow, that really doesnt look like a fern’ you might say. ‘that looks like a moss. that looks like the beard stubble of seedless plants’. but no. this is a patch of this species of fern. it is the only one of it’s extremely specific life style type known to man.  

i would like to take you all on a journey. imagine, for a moment, an alternate universe where a human dude loses his dick in a cave (stay with me here) and instead of dying, the dick forms its own goddamn civilization (i PROMISE this will make sense shortly). like it just learns to reproduce asexually into more identical dicks. technically this is a population of humans, just one that throws us for a loop because generally, thats definitely not how humans go on in life, but like technically it’s a population of humans. this is a very, very rough analogy for what this plant is.

allow me to explain how the hell this happened. those who have studied plants might remember the infamous botanical concept of the ‘alternation of generations’, which is known for like, fucking everyone up in every introductory bio class ever because although it’s nearly ubiquitous in plants, us animals dont have to worry about it, and it’s so alien it’s hard to learn. basically, the alternation of generations describes how plants reproduce in a cycle of two major stages: the sporophyte stage, which is a structure that produces spores, and the gametophyte stage, a structure that produces gametes.

for example, we know the sporophyte stage of flowering plants as the actual flowering plant, and the gametophyte stage as very specifically pollen and the ovules (inside the flower ovaries). pollen in and of itself isn’t the equivalent of sperm in human bodies; it’s the equivalent of a penis, which then lands on a stamen and grows into a microscopic structure that THEN produces the actual sperm for fertilization. the anthers of a plant do not produce sperm; they produce things that grow into penises that then produce sperm, which then fertilize the egg cells (produced by the ovules inside the flower ovaries) that grow into a new sporophyte in the form of a seed and it’s subsequent mature plant. yes this is wild and again, its notoriously one of the hardest things to learn and teach in biology, but stay with me here. 

in ferns and nonflowering plants, this cycle is a bit more evident; ferns produce spores, which then land and germinate into the fern gametophytes, which look like this and can be seen with the naked eye: 

these then grow male and female reproductive parts that produce the plant equivalent of sperm and eggs. like human sperm, fern sperm are flagellated. unlike human sperm, fern sperm are able to sense pheromones from other gametophytes nearby and literally swim through water out in the open to have sexy times in the mud, which i thought i would mention because it terrifies me. this sperm then fertilizes the egg in another gametophyte, and the new fern literally bursts chest buster style out of the gametophyte into a new baby fern. the entire life cycle looks like this: 

which brings us back to Vittaria appalachiana, the only currently known fern that does not have a sporophyte stage. 

things about this: 

1. there is no fern on this fern. this fern has evolved past the mortal fern form. it has ascended. it has deleted like, 95% of the chart above in favor of only the mature gametophyte on the upper right

2. this fern reproduces exclusively by budding. like. asexually. like, i mentioned earlier in this post that the gametophytes produce sperm and ovules and have sex, but nah. not for these lads. they gave that up long ago. now each individual just makes tiny organs that fall off and grow into identical fern gametophytes, and like technically this should be like…..really bad? like theres a reason for sexual intercourse, and that’s because it lets genes get recombined into more resilient offspring so you dont end up with inbreeding and all that awful stuff, as well as allowing for evolution and diversity within a population and all that. but somehow, this species has circumvented this with the absolutely galaxy brain take that you cant have problems with inbreeding if you dont breed. like, sure, it theoretically slows evolution down to a goddamn crawl and makes it incredibly vulnerable to disease, but like. sure. its made it this long, somehow

3. these ferns live in caves. in the grand scheme of things this isn’t a big deal, because like, plenty of fern species love caves for several primary niche ecological reasons that i wont go into here, but one of the reasons V. appalachiana is the only known fern to only live like this is because the gametophyte stage in ferns isn’t made to last, it’s made to have sex and die. there’s little to no protection from the sun on a gametophyte. it’s prone to drying out. it’s less resilient to temperature extremes than a fully grown plant would be. there are so many reasons why, in theory, to us mere mortals, evolving to live eternally in the (arguably) most vulnerable stage of one’s life cycle in a cave where temperatures regularly get low, in a region where winter is a thing, would like, a terrible idea. 

but….Vittaria appalachiana is an absolute chad. 

somehow these little madmen have done it. they live in peak form in appalachian cave entrances just to flex. we aren’t even sure how they really happened, either, like the details about how they evolved into such chads remain murky. so like i say that god left them unfinished, and personally i still refer to them like that in my head when i think of them, but i suppose the real question is if god really left these lads unfinished or are these lads are the only finished thing on this earth. like this could very well be the best shit evolution has ever come up with. like maybe humans really missed a solid chance with this strategy

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simple commission for @whatcantshedo of Dahnalynn the tiefling bard! 🧡🧡 com info here!

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For some reason she was given a motorcycle. Everyone else in the party has to ride a bus

Full painting pending

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baby animals move like theyre playing a new video game & havent figured out the controls yet

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You cannot become a parent just because you want a baby that guy you made is gonna start having independent thoughts faster than you think he will

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The Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River superimposed on a map of Europe

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idk when we decided that explaining yourself shouldn't be part of an apology but like. if someone was a dick to me and apologizes but I still don't understand why they did it I'm not gonna feel any better

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Second prompt for Swordtember.

Floral "While many plants are territorial creatures, occasionally a flower blooms with far greater aspirations than simply waiting for their pushy neighbours to come into suffocation range. This one has managed to take hold of a blade; as it seems content to cling onto it and lend its strength to another, it likely rid itself of rivals some time ago."

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verified ways to donate to gaza directly

Donate to a Palestinian family directly:

gazafunds.com - Donate directly to a Palestinian family in urgent need of evacuation, medical treatment, daily necessities or more. Site run by Palestinians, all GFMs verified (full list here). Spotlights 1 stagnant GFM at a time. (*If you can't decide who/where to donate, just go to gazafunds.com & donate to the 1 GFM they show you!)

masterlist of 200+ verified Palestinian families' GFMs: Operation Olive Branch

Help provide tents:

The Sameer Project: Currently providing tents & transport for families in Rafah who urgently need to evacuate to Deir Al Balah. Has a team on the ground in Gaza who have supplied tents to 1% of the displaced population in Rafah. Run by Palestinians. (paypal) (gfm)

@helpgazachildren: Currently helping Palestinians in a refugee camp in Rafah flee the Rafah invasion to Khan Younis. Funds go directly to Hussam, a Palestinian in Rafah who hosts a refugee camp. Funds will cover the cost of tents & transport fuel. Managed by a Palestinian @.fairuzfan. (gfm)

Food:

Care for Gaza: Palestinian charity on the ground in Gaza distributing food, cash, medicine & other essentials to displaced families. Proof of their work found on their Twitter. (paypal) (gfm)

We Feed Gaza: Team of Palestinian volunteers in the heart of Gaza distributing food & water to 344+ families. More details & proof in their gfm. Vetted & promoted by LetsTalkPalestine on IG. (gfm)

Direct Aid for Gaza: A Palestinian activist on the ground in Gaza distributing food, cash & other essential supplies to displaced families. Proof of their work found on their twitter. (paypal) (gfm)

Water (*urgent and crucial!)

Gaza Municipality: The official Municipality of Gaza is doing vital, life-saving work to rebuild the water pipes in Gaza City to restore access to clean water & waste management services for the people of Gaza.

eSIMs (highly needed):

guide to buy & send esims to gaza

Crips for eSims for Gaza: donate any amount to this team of volunteers who pool funds to buy & maintain gaza esims regularly (see their financial accountability document).

Medical Aid:

Gaza Wound Care (urgent): Palestinian doctors in central Gaza treating injured/sick children & mothers in neglected displacement camps far from hospitals. Facing a severe shortage of medicines, equipment, and medical supplies. Currently raising funds to support their efforts to battle infectious diseases in refugee camps. (gfm) (paypal) (gogetfunding)

international charities: Palestine Red Crescent Society, Palestine Children's Relief Fund, Medical Aid for Palestinians

How to help if you can't donate:

Share & amplify Palestinian fundraisers in your irl & online circles

Organize or help to run an online/irl event to raise funds for Palestine

Boycott

Get involved with a protest/strike/direct action in your area

Contact your reps

Educate yourself & others both irl & online

Daily clicks on Arab.org

(you can even adopt 1 fundraiser campaign to regularly boost it & make materials promoting it online, or print posters/flyers about Palestinian fundraisers to encourage others to donate. (poster/graphic about gazafunds.com: here, flyers about esims: here, flyers about gazafamilyfunds: here)

(longer masterpost of all ways you can help)

updated 3/6/2024 with Gaza Wound Care & We Feed Gaza. I wanted to focus on Palestinian-run grassroots initiatives that will actually reach Gazans on the ground, so all of these except eSIMs, PCRF, MAP are by Palestinians. i have verified them but please feel free to do your own vets for your peace of mind.

Remember small donations really do add up. Any amount counts, even $1!