lads i dont wanna get political here…..dont wanna seem like some kind of radical commie or anything……but a lot of botanists had to cancel their presentations at this convention on short notice bc their visas got denied out of nowhere. some of them were able to give their talks over video call into the convention but three (3) lectures i went to today alone ended up being cancelled because the researchers giving them got their visas denied. some of the colloquiums were hit really hard by this, like, had a sizable fraction of their presenters cut out of the program. a few of these botanists actually jumped on the convention’s message board to be like ‘hey guys i seriously was all ready to get over there to give my talk and my visa just like got denied out of the blue so ill see y’all next time????? im really confused’. the mood about this at the conference, whoever you talk to, is very thinly contained anger and frustration about current policy.

these are members of the scientific community. some of them have been coming to these conferences to present their research regularly for years. i know im kind of preaching to the choir on this one but denying visas to scientists coming to present vital research to other scientists at a conference lasting literally less than a week is really just like……..very hard for me to write off. we can’t ignore the effects these toxic policies have on science and the ability of scientists to communicate, collaborate, receive publication and further funding, etc. 

Apollo Is

1. Apollo is in the hands of calloused and painted hands of artists, overcome with inspiration, sketching and playing and singing as he listens, watches, and nurtured them to their potential.

2. Apollo is in gardens and fields, pure unbridled nature that’s glowing, glowing under the nurturing warmth that the sun provides, warmth that tingles your skin and freckles your arms as you wander through the brush.

3. Apollo is in bright meds in bright bottles, repeated phrases to get you through the day. He is in the therapist’s office and the couch with tear stains, he is in the hospital beds and disinfectant, the coping mechanisms at one in the morning after a nightmare.

4. Apollo is in two boys holding hands on the swingset, two boys kissing underneath the slides. He watches over the kids googling their hearts late at night, he’s there when they’re crying because they finally found themselves on the bright screen under the covers. He’s in scared kids confessing their souls to their parents, and teenagers out on dates as the sun sets, not-quite-boys but not-quite-men nervously glancing at each other’s lips.

5. Apollo is rays of sunlight, he’s a universe of healing hope and radiance, he is here for all of us.

Hello! I have met Luna in person and he is a beautiful boy who deserves all the love ever. 

Please consider donating to the Peace River Wildlife Center, where Luna lives. They are a non-profit animal rehabilitation center with nearly two hundred permanent residents – birds and other animals who are unable to be re-released into the wild – and they admit about two thousand animal patients a year! 

I’d highly recommend visiting if you find yourself in southwest Florida! There are so many good birds. So many.

This world is so big and weird and beautiful.

Do you ever affectionately pat the flank or nose of a giant beast? Knowing the vibrations may, just may, reach their senses?

Do you ever lay your head against their chest and listen to the deepening storms of their breaths? The earthquakes of their heartbeat?

Do you ever curl up upon their head, a friendly spot of grit on this massive creature, and prepare to count the stars? Naming each, telling stories of each, until you both fall asleep?

Every time I see a ‘modern au’ ft a character that has some sort of limb replacement like a metal arm or w/e and the ‘cool au version’ of it is a sleeve tattoo I literally want to reach through the screen and slap some sense into whoever posted it

They got a prosthetic in canon they gonna get a prosthetic in the au!!!! Because, I know this is a little far-fetched, but people who need prosthetics actually exist!!! In real life?! What a coincidence?!

Also you want cool prosthetics??? They totally exist

Want your character to have a cool prosthetic in the modern day?

steampunk? check

#aesthetic? Floral?

avant garde?

cyberpunk?

there are no excuses for erasing canonical disabilities

You discover that your garbage disposal is really the mouth of an eldritch monster. However, you realize this as you reach inside of it to recover your wedding ring.

“No no no no no!” I fumble for my ring as it teeters on the edge of the drain.  “Oh come on!” I exclaim as it tips sideways and disappears. I had taken it off and placed it safely to the side of he sink while I worked, I don’t even know how it got knocked into the sink.  Grumbling to myself I roll up my sleeves, make a face, and shove my hand into the garbage disposal.  

“Give that back,” I mutter to myself as I feel around, blindly searching for my ring.

“WHAT WILL YOU GIVE ME FOR IT, MORTAL?”  

I look around, no one else is in the room.  I lean as far to the side as I can, still keeping my hand in the drain, craning my neck for a glance at the TV in the next room.  It’s not on.  I glance at my phone, still playing the podcast I had started when I started to work.  

“I SAID, WHAT WILL YOU GIVE ME FOR IT, MORTAL?”  Yup, the voice was definitely coming from the drain.  

“How can you speak so clearly with my hand in your mouth?” I ask the garbage disposal?

“I WILL GIVE YOU BACK YOUR….. WAIT? WHAT DID YOU SAY?”

“I asked how you can speak so clearly with my hand in your mouth.”  I reach further down the drain, I had just felt something round and metal  “This isn’t telepathy,” I continue,  “I’m hearing you with my ears, not my brain.  But you enunciation is perfect..”

“WHY AREN’T YOU SCREAMING” the voice interrupts me. “USUALLY THE MORTALS SCREAM WHEN I ADDRESS THEM THE FIRST TIME.”

“Buddy,” I say pulling my hand out of the drain to wipe on my apron, “Think about what I’ve put down this drain today.  I have to guess you’ve been eating it.”

There’s a faint grinding, unsurprising like a garbage disposal chewing through kitchen scraps.

“YARROW, MUGWORT, MOSTLY THE STALKS, SOME LEMON RINDS, AND A WHOLE LOT OF SALT…..DAMNIT, ARE YOU A WITCH?”

I chuckle, “You caught on faster than the thing in the basement.  Took it years to figure out why I said hi to it every time I went down to do laundry.  You’re welcome to stay, but I need to finish this spell and I would like my ring back.”

“WHAT WILL YOU GI…” The drain thing starts to ask again, before I cut if off.

“Dude I’ve been feeding you, and I just offered you a place in my home.  Give me back my ring.”  I hold my hand out palm flat, waiting.

“FINE.”  And with that my ring shoots out of the drain to land neatly on my palm.

“Thank you.” I say as I head back to my work table, slipping the ring back on my finger.

“DO YOU HAVE ANY MORE OF THOSE LEMON RIDS?” my new house mate asks.  “THEY WERE TASTY.”

“I’ll have a few more in a little bit, be patient.”

Perfect. I want the rest of this story.

“But if you forget to reblog Madame Zeroni, you and your family will be cursed for always and eternity.”

Do not apologize to me for your bad English. There is nothing to be sorry about for learning to speak English. It’s hard. You are trying your best and I’m proud of you.

by Nate Bittinger

May Thor and Odin unleash their wrath on every Neo-Nazi fuckwit who misuses their names and their symbols. Such individuals are cowardly, dishonourable, and no ‘brothers’ of mine. They seek Valhalla but will awaken in the jaws of Níðhöggr after death. May they know fear for the rest of their lives and for eternity thereafter.

transphobes aren’t allowed to shop anymore because making a purchase is a trans action ://

Truth.

Aries: A hundred eyes lie hidden beneath your skull, always searching, gazing, upward and downward but never ahead. Their knowledge comes to you in dreams and fills you with strange power. Try a new restaurant this week.

Taurus: A goat’s jawbone will surface from your carpet, and the floor around it will blacken slowly. Let it cool for eight hours, then wear it on a string—against your skin, close to the heart. It is a gift and you must accept it.

Gemini: Your soul is split between your body, and the body of a lean wild dog. You know where to find it, but do not go there. You will not recognize yourself, and one part of you may destroy the other.

Cancer: The quiet tapping at your window means someone is coming, or has already arrived. Leave a lawn chair on the ground outside tonight—they will be weary and smeared with a pungent tar, and have much to tell you.

Leo: A hot soup with squash and rosemary will soothe the aching in your chest, and your teeth will finally stop growing. Breathe. Sleep deeply if you can. This stage is over, but another will begin soon.

Virgo: Black shrouds float at the corner of your eye, and flicker away when you turn to look at them. These are old friends, and with careful blurring of your vision, you will come to see their faces—bone-white and smiling through the dark cloth.

Libra: At the stroke of midnight a lamb will stand, bleating, beside your bed. Reach out and tangle your fingers in its wild wool, let it pull you from your sheets, slip into its trembling chest and sleep there as it paces the halls in the dark. When you wake up, you’ll be well-rested and ready to face the day.

Scorpio: Seventeen blackbirds and one robin will appear at dusk. Chase the robin away—invite the blackbirds inside. Make peppermint tea and sing to them in a foreign tongue. They’ll vanish at dawn and take your fears with them.

Sagittarius: Wait at your open door at 11pm and stare into the night. The distant sound of wind chimes and tires turning on wet gravel will transform you. Leap into the dark. Run for hours on your long limbs, and chase whatever moves—but don’t forget the way back home.

Capricorn: You will awake at 3am atop an unfamiliar roof. The moon is hot-white in the sky, but the yard below is shrouded in darkness. Something waits for you there. Do not climb down before the sun rises.

Aquarius: Your eyes are like searchlights in a murky sea, and passersby will notice this rare quality in the gloom. New friends will come easily to you—enchanted, terrified, helpless in your blinding gaze.

Pisces: When you cup water in your hands, its surface vibrates with an unearthly song. Some days its beauty will make you weep—on others it will wail with an ancient grief that only you can understand. Be careful when washing your face.

When your hair is wavy/curly sometimes there is a fine line between “messy romantic waves” and “evil witch who lives in the woods.”

I am the evil witch