i had a dream this morning that the newest thing was that when you changed the channel on the TV you'd get a text that said "we noticed you changed the channel! would you mind giving us a rating?" with a link and then if you turned off the TV you'd get another that said "did you mean to turn off the TV? we miss you!" and i really don't think we're far off from that

I might be a little biased but I’m honestly starting to believe that there’s no purer form of love than the defensive spite you see from biologists that have devoted their life to the study of a maligned or misunderstood species. For example:

The hyena biologist that arranged for Disney animators to come sketch captive  hyenas for The Lion King film (Laurence Frank) was so incensed when the animals were depicted as villains in the movie that he later included boycotting the film on a list of ways the average person could help hyena conservation.

Though it’s commonly known that Charles Darwin’s distaste for parasitic wasps played a role in his development of evolution theory (since he felt no loving God would create animals with such a disturbing life cycle), the biologists who study these wasps find it an unfair characterization. When they were tasked with coming up with a common name for the family of parasitic wasps (Ichneumonidae) that old Charles so disliked, they proposed the name “Darwin Wasps” to spite the famous naturalist who had insulted their beloved family of insects.

Parasitologist Tommy Leung was so frustrated with the way people write about parasites to evoke horror and gore that he started writing a Parasite of the Day blog, that specifically avoids inflammatory or unsettling language to describe them. He also illustrates different species in colorful anime art on Twitter in a series called Parasite Monster Girls—which he calls his “love letter to parasites.”

I guess I’m just saying that if you’re a biologist studying an unpopular species and you have a little bit of a chip on your shoulder about it you can always count on me to be in your corner if you want to get a little petty with the public!

Didn't even get out of my alley on the way to work before ICE tried another major assault in my neighborhood this morning. Spent two hours plus chasing ICE around the neighborhood. Got my first taste of tear gas and handed out a bunch of my KN95 masks to other folks for next time. It's nasty shit but it can be survived.

Also saw officers shooting at people's feet to make them move not once but twice. Given that the bullets didn't bounce and left small holes in the asphalt, I think that might have been live rounds (please correct me if someone knows better). Didn't catch it on video, I'm not great at recording yet but I expect to get a lot of practice in the next few weeks.

My poor furious neighborhood. I ran into someone who had been on her way to lay flowers on Renee Good's grave when she heard the whistle and showed up. That's where we are today. Can't even grieve without having to stand up and fight again.

If I'm being honest, I didn't expect any good news to come of several votes today, but there are a few things to cling to as things continue to escalate on all fronts. A War Powers Resolution votes passed the Senate thanks to 5 Republican Senators defecting and voting in favor of it, and Democrats holding strong and voting unanimously. Thanks to unanimous Democratic votes and 15 Republicans crossing party lines, a vote to extend ACA subsidies for another three years have passed the House. Despite major opposition from House leadership and the White House rewriting history on the 5 year anniversary of the January 6 coup, a majority vote forced the raising of a plaque that celebrated the law enforcement involvement in protecting congresspeople from the coup. Additionally, Trump's vehement response to the 5 Senators who voted against him in the War Powers Resolution vote has led to several other Republicans saying they will vote in favor of further measures to constrain Trump's power over the military

I admittedly don't have the energy to write specific scripts for this, but it may be worth contacting your legislators to either thank them or condemn them depending on their stances in these situations. I will provide tools to identify who voted in which way on different matters mentioned here, if anyone wishes to make such calls

It's important to celebrate victories where we can while keeping focused on the work we have to do. Especially when things happen all at once like the last week or so. Hang in there, y'all

Republicans who voted in favor of the War Powers Resolution:

• Rand Paul of Kentucky
• Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
• Susan Collins of Maine
• Josh Halwey of Missouri
• Todd Young of Indiana

ACA Vote:

The vote to erect the January 6th plaque was unanimous in the Senate

Posted January 8th, 2026

At the risk of sounding stupid, I just found out how long the stone age lasted. In my head it's about as long as other historical time periods, a couple thousand years before ancient egypt, and conceptually looks like a bad car insurance commercial. Nope! Dead wrong! The stone age lasted for 3.4 MILLION YEARS.

me, whispering: portraying nonavian dinosaurs as living/thriving in tropical rainforest environments like those of today is just straight up racism
other people: what
me, still whispering: modern tropical rainforests are one of the most recently evolved ecosystems, only truly appearing in the early Paleogene, after all nonavian dinosaurs went extinct. They did not live in them, and if they were brought back into the modern day, they would not thrive in them. the only reason we associate tropical rainforests with primitiveness is because POC live there, and the associated narratives around jungles and savagery. that's it. that's the whole thing.

i am going to get a bad grade in sleeping, something which is normal not to want but terribly easy to achieve.

A big reason why I think I became a marxist is bc I read A LOT of Calvin & Hobbes and Bill Watterson really went out of his way to lay the groundwork for teaching people critical analysis.

Like take this panel for example:

EVERYTHING one knows about American/Western culture, especially in the late 80's/early 90's, would lead to the logical next line being some form of "Kids These Days Are Succumbing To The Evils Of Satan" or some likewise cheap Reaction™

But then Bill pulls the rug out

He criticizes the "satanic" bands not for some lack of christian morals but because theyre a byproduct of hyperconsumptionist culture. Bill takes no issue with the subject matter bc his issue is knowing its only being done to sell rebellion as a consumer product rather than to say anything truly provocative or inspired.

(full article)

I sent this to my husband, and learned he doesn't know what knotting is.

Acceptable reasons for humans in reality to burst into song: It’s a concert or a rehearsal or something.

Acceptable reasons for people in Lord of the Rings to burst into song: We are in a kings hall, we are in a pub, we are about to eat some really nice food, we have just eaten some really nice food, there is a pretty tree, there is a pretty rock, there are lots of pretty trees, It’s raining, it’s stopped raining, there is a pretty tree, we are going into battle tomorrow, orcs are ugly, my ancestor was cool, my ancestor was shit, my ancestor was cooler than yours dispite starting this shit, I miss home, I don’t miss home, oh look some grass, the past is a thing that existed and it was shit, the past is a thing that existed and it was awesome, I am in love, there is a river, there is a pretty tree, my ancestor was a tree, we’re on horses now, I’m bored, I’m hungry, someone has died, elves exist, men exist, hobbits exist, dwarfs exist, 10,000 years ago there was a pretty lady, my ancestor was a pretty lady, someone else has died, my sword is cool, my sword is cooler, my ancestor had a sword once he named it Jeff, oh look a tree, I love trees, I am vibing with this monolith, this tree is now officially my bestie, there is a pretty city somewhere, there is an ugly city somewhere, I’ve killed something, I want to kill something, I don’t want to kill something, oh look a wife, I have a wife, I have a son, I am drunk, I am scared, I am bored, once there was this lady she was so pretty everyone she looked at died of awe, you’re pretty, I am pretty, I wish I was home, I wish I was a tree, oh look stars, my ancestor was a star.

Something I really love about Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle is the point he makes about overcorrecting from the original trope. Sanitizing queer art to the point that nothing bad happens to queer characters ever is not only unrealistic, not only shitty to tell queer people what part of their stories they are or are not allowed to tell, it's also just putting us in another box. The beauty of queer art is when we just get to create what we want to and tell our stories authentically. There's a place for fluffy feel-good queer romance and horrifically fucked up queer horror. As long as queer people and those who love us get to tell our stories in a way that is meaningful, that resonates with the people who interact with it, that is all that should matter.