I just remembered that apes smile when hostile. This isn’t a happy scene. This monkey has full meter and a full screen projectile in it’s move list. This is an invitation to death.

Humans have this distress response too! If you watch the smaller of their young you will spot the occasional baring of teeth in upsetting situations. You can see this with adult humans as well, but it’s harder to catch because they have a fairly deep somatic vocabulary assigned to smiles; it is probably easiest to recognise after minor injury like stubbing a toe or receiving an injection.

It’s a lot of fun comparing how related species have related behaviours, and also neat to contrast how they have specialised them!

this is interesting but 

why did you word it like that

Thanks for the question! My area of expertise is more generally avian than it is  mammalian (or primate), so I don’t really know the technical nomenclature for the specific stage of human offspring development I mean to communicate. 

With the vocabulary I have the closest I can get semantically is ‘mid-nestling to fledgling fresh-fallen from the nest’ but the concepts don’t quite map to how human offspring develop. Another way to phrase it is able to move around under their own power but still heavily dependent on parental intervention for survival.

Hope this helps clear things up! Have a nice day :)

You studied birds so long you forgot that the word toddler exists and I think that’s just delightful.

@thejunglenook

So funny thing with primates (especially apes) is that they “smile” in a number of ways. And it’s way more nuanced than you think. (This is what happens when an intelligent social species relies heavily on non-vocal social cues).

1. The play face smile. Here we see the relaxed open mouth with a droopy lower lip exposing the bottom teeth. Often accompanied by low guttural chimp laughter. This face is both an invitation to play and a way for individuals to check in and make sure everyone is still having a good time while playing. You younger siblings out there know how “playing” with your elder brother/sister is all well and good until “it’s Not Funny Anymore Cause That Really Hurt, Twin!!!” (No? Just me? Damn.)

2. Silent bared teeth display which can be an appeasement gesture / sign of submission as they try to avoid possible conflict. Tense mouth and at least partially exposed upper & lower teeth. This is kinda on a spectrum and go from something little like “hey that termite mound snack looks good, can I get in on that too?” all the way up to…

3. The Fear Grimace. It is what is sounds like. “I am afraid and I don’t want to fight. I’m submitting. Please don’t hurt me.” Mouth may be somewhat open, lips are tense and retracted, and teeth very visible (possibly with some partial gum exposure). See the female below on the right who is fear grimacing at her screaming friend.

4. The scream. “I’m upset and I DO NOT LIKE THIS!!!!” Fight or flight is going down and screaming animal is in the thick of it. Lips are completely retracted, full teeth & gum exposure, and mouth is open in a loud scream vocalization. See the female on the Left in the above photo as she screams at something (/someone) off camera.

5. Neutral face. Talk about going from the highest high to the lowest low. This is a chill happy primate at a low arousal state. Casual relaxed face and eyes. Not challenging anyone, but not seeking out a particular grooming/play buddy either. Just watching the world go by for a bit.

This is just a general example of the gorgeously nuanced field of facial communication in primates. If I had to pick (without audio / video / context clues) I would say the bonobo in the OP is doing a silent bared teeth display begging for something towards shore (thus the extended hand) possibly edging more towards a fear grimace. They aren’t exhibiting any overt aggression, but that by no means makes them safe to be around.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Love,

Your friendly neighborhood Ethologist / Primatologist

Sources:

(Pardon the awkward formatting. Doing this on mobile and it’s driving me up the wall. I’ll fix later)

Art forgery is the best crime tbh. It requires absolutely incredible artistic talent, technical skill, and attention to detail to make convincing fakes. Does anyone get hurt from it? No! The only people who suffer for it are the extremely wealthy who want the prestige of having original paintings in their own homes. It’s full of international intrigue and mystery. Perfect.

Also… art forgers like van Meegeren sometimes become a kind of folk hero. A swindler, sure, but a gentleman’s swindler.

I liked this guy’s story, Mark Landis, who conned several dozen museums into displaying his forgeries, but when the FBI came after him they couldn’t do anything because he had always given them away as donations. They said if they could have found that he’d ever taken anything in exchange they would have prosecuted him, but all he wanted was get to out of the house and meet people.

“The first painting Landis “donated” was a copy of a work by Maynard Dixon, an artist well-known for his paintings of cowboys and Indians. It started as impulse, Landis says, but then “everybody was just so nice and treated me with respect and deference and friendship, things I was very unused to — I mean, actually not used to at all. And I got addicted to it.”” And it looks like all his forgeries are done with cheap materials, like markers and Hobby Lobby frames.

Ok, but Wolfgang Beltracchi is probably one of the best Fraud Artists in the world.

His career brought him millions upon millions of dollars and lasted almost 40 years. He finally admitted to painting fraudulent art after the white paint he used came under scrutiny. 

In The interview with Beltracchi, he said that none of his forgeries are copies, they’re all original works that the famous artists could have painted.

His wife was also in on the scam, she would dress up in old clothing and take pictures holding the paintings with old cameras to fake proof of the paintings’ ages.

At the end of the interview with Wolfgang Beltracchi he was asked if he felt he had done anything wrong, his answer was “ Yeah, I used the wrong kind of paint”

Just … the levels of con there, the fake photos and … wow. That’s incredible. 

Heroes

Also fun fact we learned in class today: Michelangelo carved a sculpture of a Roman god, broke off the arm, and then buried it. The sculpture was dug up and was considered to be an authentic Roman artefact, until Michelangelo came along with the missing arm and called shenanigans on himself, just to prove he was as skilled a sculptor as the ancient Romans.

honestly mike? chill.

YEHS U GO ARTISTS

when you think about this its basically reverse-plagiarism

Hubble Telescope image vs. James Webb Telescope

Izzy gets muppetified against his will.

Rediscovered a sketch from my sketchbook and spent WAY too much time in clip studio to make this.

I’m still not normal about this show.

As a biochem student and certified nerd, I feel the responsibility to bestow this knowledge upon as many people as I possibly can:

You do NOT need to "earn" meals through exercise.

You know why?

Because exercise only accounts for about 20% of your calories. The majority of the calories your body burns, it uses to keep itself alive. It uses them to power your brain and metabolism. In fact, your brain ALONE is responsible for spending about 20% of your calories.

Your BRAIN, just to keep itself going, uses up just as many (or even more!!!) calories than all the exercise you do.

Your RESTING metabolic rate is responsible for burning between 60 and 75% of your calories.

You don't just deserve food because you're working out. YOU DESERVE FOOD BECAUSE YOUR BODY NEEDS IT TO STAY ALIVE.

people are the most interesting thing in the world im obsessed w everyones weird habits and funny stories. the average person is so fucked up that its funny. like no one on earth is normal n u should make it ur job to see why

As someone who lives alone currently and talks more than ever before, I can vouch for my weirdness

ppl who get critical of like… white middle class extinction rebellion protestors and like… jane fonda, because “they can afford to get arrested” like… that is the point? the point is to use your privilege to put yourself in the way of things. if you are white and middle class in the u.s. and the u.k. you can occupy waterloo bridge, or city hall, or the capitol steps, and you can refuse to move when a cop tells you to, and the worst thing that will happen to you is a fine you can afford to pay. (you might also sustain some injuries, to be fair we must acknowledge that that is not negligible.) the point is you cause disruption by putting your privileged body in the way, where you create disruption that forces attention to be drawn to what you are saying, and you do this because you can afford to. if you are jane fonda you also wear a jaunty hat and smile smugly because you are the safest person on earth, and also it makes the cops look real dumb. it’s the point!

Look nice, but probably wear kevlar underneath if you can. I trust no one these days...

Some facts:

1) Black Americans created jazz. 2) Jewish Americans created comic books. 3) These things are said to be the only original American art forms.

4) black Americans invented rock and roll.

5) Black AND Jewish Americans created musical theatre. 

As a Latina, can I add:

The big flannel, big jewellery, big nails, big dress pants, dark lipstick with heavy makeup look that now so many influencers love is literally chola fashion.

Everything you think is “cool street fashion” started with Black and Latina women!

Anita Hill deserved to be listened to and Joe FUCKING Biden did not allow others to testify.

This whole mess.... Our entire goddamn government is fucked.

Our country is fucked up because of the same motherfuckers being in power too fucking long

Following an attack on a queer business is EXACTLY when you should have Pride.

It's not just a celebration. It's defiance.

I'm fucking crying. This whole month has been a goddamn nightmare.

Keep fighting. I'm not going to give up. I'm not going back in the closet to make bigots comfortable.

My friends deserve to stay married.

My niece deserves to live free and love who she wants.

My trans students deserve to live their lives in their truth.

This world does not get to be defined by those who hate.

I was so happy this year seeing so many of my students being open about who they are.

I will not let this world destroy their joy.

Fuck hate.

Friendly reminder that this blog is pro-choice and if you don’t think everyone should have full control of their own body, then kindly unfollow me right now and go to hell

Stede & Ed, Old Money & New Money

This is potentially an unpopular opinion (?), but I will say there is a slight nuance to the class discussion in Our Flag Means Death specifically around Ed and Stede and where they meet in the middle as far as class and wealth. It is not rich vs. poor, or at least not just that. Rather, it’s the trope of New Money vs. Old Money.

(I know Tumblr cuts these long posts automatically these days but this got rather too long for me to take the chance.)

Keep reading

Okay, but one thing that makes this dynamic more complicated/interesting is this: it’s all a matter of where you’re standing. Because, by the standards of the society he grew up in, I’m not at all sure that Stede isn’t also new money.

I wish to be clear, this is purely based on the show - I neither know nor care much about the historical Stede Bonnet, except when it is interesting/funny to include details from his life.

Specifically, this theory is based on this dialogue here:

Like…objectively, this is a really weird thing for a member of the landed gentry to say.

Being born into wealth and privilege is sort of the point. Having to earn money is so…grubby, after all. It implies that you weren’t born into this world, and thus, by the standards of those who have had money for centuries, don’t really deserve it. Like- the whole concept of a hereditary gentry sort of breaks down if we acknowledge that it’s just a matter of lucking into something you don’t really deserve.

Plus, Mr Bonnet seems to really, truly resent that his son was born into wealth and privilege, despite that being…sort of an inevitable result of his living in wealth and privilege himself. Sure, this could be him externalising self-loathing about being a ‘weak-hearted, soft-handed, lily-livered little rich boy’ himself…but it also makes a lot of sense as the resentment of a self-made man at those born into wealth. A quality which is…understandable and justifiable, given how awful old money is to new money, but becomes unjustifiable when it’s being taken out on a child who had no say in how or where he was born and who was only born into wealth in the first place because you made your fortune. Like- if you didn’t want your children to be born/grow up rich…maybe consider starting a family before making a fortune, or don’t have them at all?

It’s also…weird and interesting to me that this is the insult Chauncey chooses to repeat in episode 9:

Like…Chauncey and his brother Nigel were Stede’s schoolmates in their youth. He’s an Admiral in the Navy in an era where you had to pay for a midshipman’s commission (granted, you needed actual competence to make it from there, because the Navy was considered far more vital than the Army, but that just means you needed that and money/patronage to get ahead, not that you could reliably succeed on competence alone).  He is clearly a member of the gentry himself, and yet he’s lashing out at Stede in a way that specifically includes criticism/condemnation hinging on wealth?

Yeah, okay, in a Doylist sense, this is just to link back to Stede’s trauma and make it inevitable that he’s going to break and go back to his old life…but from a Watsonian perspective? That does kind of sound like the resentment of a long-established member of the landed gentry at someone whose fortune was made relatively recently and is wealthier than those who, according to the standard gentry/aristocratic view of the matter, ‘deserve’ their wealth thanks to generations of ancestors lucking into being born into money.

And it’s kind of notable, from this angle, that Stede’s love of fine things and luxuries also fits with a stereotype of new money as a lot flashier than old money…and that is, indeed, something that Nigel Badminton mocks him for when he first sees Stede’s cabin on the Revenge. And…yes, okay, he is right about how staggeringly impractical the whole set-up is, and it could just stem from him having years of experience at sea while Stede is very new and mostly going off an adventure-novel idea of life at sea…but it’s still suggestive. (Yes, I know that this notion of ‘excessive ornamentation is a New Money thing’ dates more from the 1800s, but this is a show made in the modern day and using a lot of signalling/language/coding that is familiar to a modern audience, but which would be entirely alien to the 1710s, so…I think it’s still a valid argument.) Stede has more of an idea of what to do with wealth than Ed does, sure…but he still fits poorly in gentry society. And, sure, a lot of that is childhood trauma, neurodivergence and queerness…but it is notable that even the ways in which Stede uses his inherited wealth do not meet with the approval of the social world to which he was brought up, in ways which themselves have some subtle class connotations.

My last argument is…probably the weakest, but I do sort of want to include it. The Bonnets clearly already have some land, based on the flashbacks to Stede’s childhood…but it is notable that this is how it’s phrased:

I don’t think the difference between ‘money’ and ‘acreage’ is accidental here. 

‘Acreage’ has connotations. Historically in British society, wealth derived from land was higher-status than wealth derived from literally anything else. We can see this a century later in the works of Jane Austen - Lizzy Bennet is able to say ‘He is a gentleman, I am a gentleman’s daughter, so far we are equal’ because both her father and Mr Darcy derive their fortunes from landowning, despite the vast difference in the size of their fortunes. The Gardiners, on the other hand, are a cut below Darcy socially and his politeness and friendliness to them is notable, because their money is derived from commerce and ‘trade’, even though they are better-off financially than the Bennets.

The Bonnets seem to already have an estate, all right, but that isn’t the same as having made a fortune from landowning. And this economic argument about the families seems to be framing this as a fairly traditional ‘new-money family with great wealth but without the land that would make that money respectable marries land-rich gentry without the money to make that acreage as profitable as it could be’.

I don’t really have a point here, but it is still interesting that this might not even be a straightforward ‘old money and new money’ situation so much as it is a ‘first-generation self-made man and second-generation new money’ one.

I actually think you’re onto something with this! (Also totally agree, we are only talking about the fictional Stede Bonnet, the real one is irrelevant to this discussion.)

First off, I agree that the vitriol from Stede’s dad is really weird unless he is New Money looking down on his son who was born into the wealth and privilege he earned. I still think it makes him a bloody monster for treating his son that way, but it at least explains the dynamic of, uh, dude you’re rich too wtf? if he has a dim view of Old Money and is watching his son grow into the characteristics of people he despised. If he’s naturally acquisitive, which it sounds like he is, then it makes sense too that he’d continue to expand the wealth he acquired by forcing his son to marry for “acreage” and I completely agree, Mary is landed gentry, Stede married into at least a portion of that.

One really interesting point that you made is that maybe Stede is not super Old Money and is indeed looked down upon by those who are, including the Badmintons, who might not be as wealthy even if they are very obviously privileged. That was well spotted!

Which brings me to my favorite point of yours and where I think I can bring it full circle: Stede isn’t super old, aristocratic money, but to Ed’s eyes he is. There is actually a hierarchy at play that play Ed isn’t totally aware of, at least at first that rich people have hierarchies too and Stede isn’t necessarily at the top of it, even if he seems like he is to Ed. The French aristocrats introduce this possibility and he might get a further inkling of it when Chauncey shows up, or he might not know it all.

Because what Ed might not grasp is that Stede is an outsider even to Old Money and that makes him unique and more willing to leave it all behind to be a pirate, also it might be part of why Stede is so class-blind compared to his peers and why he’s so open and sharing with Ed of all those things in a way that clearly surprises Ed (and might also anyone who has interacted with the privileged in this somewhat-fictionalized world). Stede isn’t Old, Old Money interacting with Ed’s New Money he is, in a more complicated way, “Son of New Money, Transitioning into Old Money But Never Quite Fit In, Grew Up With Old Money’s Privileges and Social Mores but also its Restrictions, Hated the Burgeoning Old Money Society and Restrictions So Much He Decided to Leave it All Behind and is Therefore Comfortable With New Money or even No Money, If Only They Accept Him in Return (Also Very Willing to Share the Joys of Privilege Without the Restrictions or Bigotry)”.

Uh, if that makes any sense!

Stede & Ed, Old Money & New Money

This is potentially an unpopular opinion (?), but I will say there is a slight nuance to the class discussion in Our Flag Means Death specifically around Ed and Stede and where they meet in the middle as far as class and wealth. It is not rich vs. poor, or at least not just that. Rather, it's the trope of New Money vs. Old Money.

(I know Tumblr cuts these long posts automatically these days but this got rather too long for me to take the chance.)

I mean.... yeah.

Damn. This show is good.

gonna just dip my toe into some fairly toxic discourse

to say that when people hold up asexuals like me as a reason to ban any expression of kink from pride parades and the like, i am reminded of an experience i had in kindergarten, where a fellow five-year-old completely misunderstood how my dairy allergies worked and thought he could make me pass out by waving a piece of cheese at me.

like, okay, i don't experience sexual attraction to anybody; that doesn't mean i'm gonna melt like the wicked witch of the west if i see someone else wearing bondage gear. i'm a grown adult and frankly, straight allo culture throws more explicit portrayals of sexuality at me every day. trust me, i can handle it. don't project your puritan ideals onto me.

for the record, speaking only for this asexual, the actual things that make me uncomfortable at pride are cops, crowds, and (as someone very susceptible to burning and heat exhaustion) the sun. one of those things should be banned while the other two are basically inevitable. kink doesn't even begin to factor into it.

Off-Brand World Landmarks

Great Pyramids, but they’re the Bass Pro Shop in Tennessee

Eiffel Tower, but it’s the cowboy version in Paris Texas

London’s Tower Bridge, but it’s the replica in Suzhou China (it has twice as many towers lol)

The Statue of Liberty, but she’s in Spain and one-uping by holding TWO torches, damn

The Taj Mahal but it’s in Bangladesh and it’s pink and like, I’m sorry, but like, really cute

The Great Sphinx, but it’s in China and also Iron Man is there

(tags by @peachfolk​)

This reminds me of a sign I saw when going to ther world's biggest ball of twine. It was just a very simple hand written sign that said, "I have a ball of twine too"

I kinda wanted to see what they had going on lol

*cough gay cough*

*cue vine voice* Oh my god, they were roommates…

Cary grant and Randolph Scott lived together for 11 years in their mansion entitled the bachelor pad there are press pictures of the two of them living in a completely wonderfully domestic setting

When Cary grant has to marry as to stop the rumours of their gayness he became very depressed, him and his wife divorced 13 months later

Putting more pictures here because yes

Also they reason said wife divorced Cary is bc Randolph “refused to leave” their home and Cary wouldn’t kick him out.

I’d seen some of these pub stills before but not all of them, imagine middle America looking at this and thinking they were just bachelors sharing a house holy fuck

I am obligated to reblog this everytime it shows up on my dash

Confirmed bachelors, best fiends, and roommates. Yup, bros being bros.

two bros chilling in a pool zero feet apart cause they’re so gay

I read this and BAWLED LIKE A BABY

I literally spent the weekend being gay and open about it and feeling so good with my friends and partners and just....

Fuck, I hate that anyone EVER had to hide themselves

I had to do it and it's terrible knowing there's others who are still forced to pretend

No one should have to pretend 😥