I keep seeing the ‘cats shouldn’t be let outside bc they ruin the environment’ post everywhere and I feel incredibly guilty now abt one of my cats being an indoor/outdoor. She’s got minor brain damage and can’t catch anything except grass and flowers, and has some separation anxiety and never moves farther than the neighbours fence. She’s never outside past sunset either. She’s never caught any living thing outside the house in the 8 years we’ve had her, but is it still bad if I let her outside?

fuzipenguin:

It’s ultimately your decision. I’m not going to link to all the different peer-reviewed journal articles out there about cats being harmful to other species – there was plenty of good links in that last reblog I did. In your kitty’s case, the danger to other species is probably low since she is handicapped. 

my biggest worry would be for her safety – if she has anxiety as well as brain damage, I would imagine she could be easily spooked. A roaming cat could come into the yard or a loose dog could come up to the fence and freak her out. If she ran off, would be she be able to make it back? Would she be able to defend herself? Would she run out into the middle of the road and get hit? 

Maybe she should be harness-trained and let out on a leash, or you should build a catio for her. In this specific case, the only issue seems to be safety for her. If you have a really good fence (to keep out dogs and keep her in) and no large birds of prey in the area, she should hopefully be OK. No guarantees, though, hence my suggestion of something a bit more controlled.

karnalesbian:

mean-bean-machines:

karnalesbian:

arrowquillpokemon:

miasmicsiren:

arrowquillpokemon:

game: has any kind of elemental based fighting system

me: apply pokemon logic

To be fair Pokemon element logic is rooted in normal logic.

yeah, everyone knows a wrestlers biggest weakness is the local pigeons

go outside and try to suplex a bird

tell me how bug resists fighting

go outside and try to suplex a bug

some of them are the size of you, I do not suggest punching a beetle that is as tall as you are.

nanonaturalist:

patchesthecryptid:

@nanonaturalist what is this guy i love him?

Aaahhhhhhh Belostomatidae!!! Also known as a Giant Water Bug, this is a family of very large (in size) aquatic hemipterans (true bugs). They are also predatory and are sometimes called “toe-biters.” They eat other aquatic insects, but also amphibians, fish, and some birds. And, yes, that’s right, they fly.

Some more info on these friends!

Bugguide [link]

University of Florida Entomology [link]

I have not been so blessed to meet a living one, but I did encounter them in a somewhat unexpected place:

They are good eatings, if you’re into that sort of thing! And look at how EXPENSIVE!

November 20, 2018

These guys aren’t technically dangerous, but have (supposedly, I have not personally tested this) the most painful bite of any North American insect, thanks to the digestive acid they can inject. It won’t cause you any harm, but it’s gonna hurt like heck if one gets you. They usually live in slow-moving, murky water with a lot of plants, which isn’t great to wade in anyway because there’s leeches, and they aren’t aggressive. They’ll just bite you if you step on one or put your toe right in front of a big one. Hence the name!

Also, they fly, and they’re attracted to lights. They can wind up pretty far away from water as adults. 

If you have a very tight-fitting lid and the patience to wiggle their food in front of them on tweezers every couple of days, they make good pets! Just… in their own tanks. I had some for a little while, and can confirm that not even heavily-armored diving beetles are safe. And I just had a couple of babies!

Also, they are guaranteed to impress just about anyone you show them to. Who doesn’t run away first. 

general techniques to avoid gross shipping of your characters

reyohnaka:

strangeauthor:

reyohnaka:

fission-mailure:

sangled:

  1. have most characters be non-minors, around the same age range. this is mostly to minimize underage nonsense.
  2. while family relationships are important, save them as background elements, explored every now and then. focus mainly on the bonds of non-related characters and how their different backgrounds play off each other.
  3. limit the overly edgy tone, where pain and suffering are near-romanticized. try to emphasize wholesomeness, health, and the various ways characters can have good relationships despite their differences. a lot of nintendo franchises are good examples.
  4. avoid creating significant characters who are utterly irredeemable with harmful ethics. (for me personally, i limit elements such as abuse and discrimination for background conflicts while presenting more interesting, morally gray arguments, where either side is right/flawed) if you’re going to have a villain, either make them team rocket goofy or classic disney fun.
  5. just. try not to have characters + relationships rely on racial tropes. if you overly rely on a tough dark-skinned / dainty light-skinned formula, you’re going to see some racist shipping. mix it up. round ‘em out.
  6. same goes for gendered tropes. if a dude is downright violent and irresponsible and a level-headed girl has to put up with his flaws without him facing consequence, that’s a downright unbalanced relationship. and do keep in mind that if two boys utterly despise each other, people will absolutely take that a certain way. again, with #3, try to play off disdain as comedic or with exception rather than constant seething hatred.

obviously these aren’t hard and fast rules, and what/how you create will vary. but it’s how i generally approach my work

I am legitimately amazed that tumblr’s weird obsession with Never Have Anything Unwholesome writing advice has now reached the point of:

– Don’t have children in your work,

– Don’t have families in your work.

– Don’t have any themes or ideas darker than Nintendo, because that’s romanticising suffering.

– Don’t have villains unless they’re in the relatively simplistic, child-friendly mould of Disney or Pokemon, and don’t try to deal with any difficult themes.

– Don’t have characters dislike each other.

The idea that you should build your work – because these are all fundamental aspects of a story – around preventative measures against ‘gross shipping,’ and that coincidentally all those measures boil down to “Have as little nuance, conflict, or difficult and unpleasant things as possible,” is kind of creepy.

i feel like the #1 reason to not rely on racist and sexist tropes in your writing should be that racism and sexism are intrinsically bad things to promote, not primarily… that you might accidentally inspire someone else to write bad fan fiction

“heres some advice to not be a nasty person. its literally easy”

“so youre saying you want me to die?? is that it?? do you want me to fucking die???”

no one in this thread is accusing op of wanting us to die, or even really like… demonstrably implying that. also there are obviously solid points in this list (albeit ones that are contextualized a little confusingly) saying things like “don’t emphasize family relationships and try not to write about children” has little to do with… not being a nasty person, and more to do with circuitous ways of theoretically preventing other people from being nasty that 1. don’t work 2. impose limitations that are actually potentially harmful to the art op is ostensibly trying to protect and 3. ignore the real roots of the issue at hand, e.g. the liberty weirdo fetishist shippers feel in ignoring their own ethical responsibilities in producing content. conflating criticism of this list with sheer thin-skinned-ness is pretty misleading IMO

Also, people can and should write about unhealthy relationships. At the very least, it’s interesting. There’s no issue with writing about unhealthy or even abusive relationships. And people should write fictional characters who are horrible, irredeemable people, and do horrible, irredeemable things. Those can be interesting things to explore, they can be cathartic to write, and they can serve as examples of what not to do. You just don’t glorify them. 

If you write about an abusive relationship, which is clearly abusive and is treated as such in the work, and people write this as though it’s romantic and sweet, that is not your fault. 

If you write a story about a family relationship and someone decides to write incest based off of that, it is not your fault. 

Heck- you can write an abusive, incestuous relationship, as long as it’s not treated as something positive in your work. There is no reason not to write about bad things happening. Write about the worst things you can imagine. You are not responsible for what people do with your work.

Gross people are gonna do and write gross things. You as an author are not responsible for making sure it’s impossible for people to do that with your work. You’re just responsible for not outright being gross yourself. 

tyleroakley:

ehretha:

EVERY Target shopper NEEDS to know this:

****If the price ends in 8, it will be marked down again****

If it ends in a 4, it’s the lowest it will be.

Target’s mark down schedule:

MONDAY: Kids’ Clothing, Stationery (office supplies, gift wrap), Electronics.

TUESDAY: Women’s Clothing and Domestics.

WEDNESDAY: Men’s Clothing, Toys, Health and Beauty.

THURSDAY: Lingerie, Shoes, Housewares.

FRIDAY: cosmetics

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT.