i am not a psychiatrist but i do find it really weird how autism checklists are so often focused on "outward" signs of autism rather than what is going on internally. i don't know how to explain it but "do you make eye contact with other people" feels like a much less relevant question than "how does it feel when you have to make eye contact with other people?"

good lord there's a lot of vasectomy joke gifts that don't know the difference between a vasectomy and an orchiectomy.

orchi is removing of one or both testicles. a vasectomy cuts or seals the vas deferens so there's no sperm in your semen. You still have testicles, you still have testosterone, there's just no sperm in your ejaculate to make babbies with.

they're very different operations!

Few tasks end up requiring a positive number of Barbarians

Sci-fi: Credits?

Fantasy: Gold pieces. Quests?

Sci-fi: Missions. Bounty hunters?

Fantasy: Sellswords. Magic?

Sci-fi: *sigh* Science.

Sci-fi: . . . Crystals?

Fantasy: Crystals!

Sci-fi: Crystals!

Both: ♪ Crystals! Crystals! Crystals! ♫

when the weird relative shows up to the farm

Least Bittern (Ixobrychus exilis). They do this fairly often, straddle reeds as a spot and catch fish and insects without having to fly.

i promise the map of salamander diversity is not what you expect

The other night husband and I were watching a documentary about the yeti where they were doing DNA analysis of samples of supposed yeti fur, and every one of them came back as bears.

Anyway, the next night we watched a thing about some pig man who is supposed to live in Vermont. People said it had claws and a pig nose but walked upright like a man. Now, I happen to know that sideshows used to shave bears and present them as pig men. So every piece of evidence they gave of this monster sounds to me like a bear with mange.

So now the running joke in our house is that everything is bears. Aliens? Bears. Loch Ness monster? Bear. Every cryptozoological mystery is just a very crafty bear.

Bears. They’re everywhere. Be wary. Anyone or anything could be a bear.

Chinese netizen: You people really need to stop making random wishes at Yonghe Temple!

Beijing's Yonghe Temple was originally the palace of Prince Yong—the residence of Prince Yong who later became the historically famous Emperor Yongzheng—during the Qing Dynasty and was later converted into a Buddhist monastery. Serving as both an active religious site and a well-known cultural landmark, it has also become a popular spot for making wishes. In recent years, its reputation for "granting wishes in unexpectedly literal ways" has turned it into an internet sensation.

Chinese netizens say every wish you make is heard by the divine — but they may come true in the weirdest ways possible. So now, Chinese netizens are trying to outsmart the gods by adding detailed conditions and closing grammatical loopholes to keep them from twisting the wish. Seems like it's not working very well, though.

A post by Cnetizen say:"I went to Yonghe Temple, and Grandpa Four (a folksy nickname for Emperor Yongzheng/Prince Yong, who was the fourth son of Kangxi) really delivered that same day."

"Grandpa Four: You had your chance and you blew it!
I went to Yonghe Temple to pray for love. I silently repeated my wish to every single deity there. On the way back that night, my entire sleeper carriage was packed with good-looking hot guys. The only two charging ports in the carriage were right in front of my compartment, so they kept gathering near my window. Even the guy on the middle bunk across from me was a tall, handsome one. Was Grandpa Four finally coming through? But I was too shy to ask for anyone’s contact. Grandpa Four gave me an opening and I totally fumbled it — they all got off before me.
#YongheTempleWishes #JustKeepTheFaith" (cr周奕杨)

That said, you can also skip the wishing and just go to enjoy the scenery or buy some shouchuan手串(traditional chinese bracelets) — both the views and the shouchuan at Yonghe Temple are quite beautiful.

beanie baby dragon is crossing your dash