Avatar

Convicted Gender Terrorist

@fionathegoose

Fae/She/They • Greyro-Ace • Anarcho-Syndicalist • Sylveon/Goose Girl • Trans Femme • 20 • Autistic + ADHD • Bad SRB2 Speedrunner • HRT since Jan. 26 2023

requested by anonymous:

RATING: RELIABLE

The above is from this article from The Guardian.  The images are from MYA Network. The caption on their website reads:

Source: ‘When a sperm and egg get together, the body creates tissue in order to support the developing pregnancy.  Here are photos of that tissue from 5-9 week pregnancies.  This is called the gestational sac, and it’s like the “house” for the pregnancy. Inside this sac there are cells that have the potential to become a fetus but there is no visible embryo at this stage. We rinsed off the blood and menstrual lining (decidua) for these photographs.’

The published images sparked a lot of debate, leading to the story being picked up by other news outlets. For example:

Source: ‘Last week, the Guardian published images of pregnancy tissue after abortions in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. The small size and appearance of the tissue were shocking to many. We have all absorbed, knowingly and unknowingly, the pervasive anti-abortion narrative that a pregnancy resembles a tiny baby starting in the earliest weeks. Though an early embryo can be seen under the magnification of ultrasound, it can take months for it to be perceptible to the naked eye.’

Source: ‘People have responded in disbelief, citing the (magnified) images they’ve seen on ultrasounds. […] ”Think of the illustrations on pregnancy and medical websites. The Mayo Clinic, one of the preeminent medical organizations in the country, shows week-by-week illustrations of embryonic and fetal development without any context of scale, like the rulers in the MYA photos.’

As stated in the article, whilst people talk about a ‘heartbeat’ at 6 weeks, there is no heart developed at this stage - only a group of cells that will become part of the heart.

Source: ‘But what exactly do we mean when we talk about a “fetal heartbeat” at six weeks of pregnancy? Although some people might picture a heart-shaped organ beating inside a fetus, this is not the case. Rather, at six weeks of pregnancy, an ultrasound can detect “a little flutter in the area that will become the future heart of the baby,” said Dr. Saima Aftab, medical director of the Fetal Care Center at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami. This flutter happens because the group of cells that will become the future “pacemaker” of the heart gain the capacity to fire electrical signals, she said.’

It should also be noted that the images show an embryo, not a fetus, until the 9th week.

Source: ‘In human pregnancies, a baby-to-be isn’t considered a fetus until the 9th week after conception, or week 11 after your last menstrual period (LMP).’

The co-founders of the MYA Network responded in a New York Times article.

Source: ‘Many people, even those who support abortion rights, did not believe the photos were accurate. Some insisted we had deliberately removed the embryos before taking the photos. The images weren’t consistent with those often seen in embryological textbooks, magnified on ultrasounds or used in anti-abortion propaganda; these enlarged images are not what you see with the naked eye after an abortion. A Stanford gynecologic pathologist has validated our photos, but many people could not believe the pictures were presented unaltered.

I’ve never seen pictures like this.

Avatar
Avatar

ok apologies in advance for the long post but for the benefit of any non-Trekkies or Trekkies who haven't watched multiple Star Treks, please allow me to elucidate the hilarious tale of The Klingons and Their Foreheads.

It's 1966. Star Trek is just a newbie sci-fi show and not a multimedia juggernaut cultural icon yet. Captain Kirk and Mister Spock need some bad guys to fight, but it's the 60s and they have a makeup budget of $3 which they already spent on Spock's ears. So here come the Klingons! but like most of the “aliens” on the show they look basically human — just a buncha grouchy dudes with fu manchus and scary eyebrows.

fast-forward to the late Seventies. Star Trek is now a bona fide phenomenon. they're making it into a movie. and the Klingons are very popular — even today they're the most memeable, recognizable part of the franchise. So of course they're gonna be in the first-ever Star Trek movie. And hey, it's a big studio film, we got some cash to throw around, so we'll give the Klingons a makeover. Turn em into big burly fellas with sharp teeth, shaggy hair and huge boney foreheads.

imagine being a fan and going from the left pic to the right, with no warning or explanation. fans were actually pretty chill about it (possibly because they didn't have the internet yet) and kinda shrugged and said “Star Trek has more money now, so it's great that they can make the Klingons look more alien.” Someone asked Gene Roddenberry (the guy who invented Star Trek) about it and he said fans could pretend the Klingons had always had ridges on the show, if they wanted, or not. And Klingons would look pretty much the same for the next 20 years:

so everything's cool. one of the shows (Deep Space Nine) even brings back a couple of the same Klingon characters from the classic 1960s Star Trek, and they have ridges and no one comments on it. But then they do a time travel episode where they go back into an episode of the 60s show, using actual footage from the episode (it's the tribble one btw) and this one has a lot of Klingons in it. But the DS9 crew have their Klingon buddy Worf with them (he's the guy on the left in that last pic). And this is the late 90s so they can't just CGI new foreheads on all the old-school Klingons. The difference is glaringly obvious and someone asks Worf about it, and he Fight Clubs them all and says “We do not discuss it with outsiders.” LOL.

So that's that, right? Nothing further needs to be said.

It's the early 2000s and Star Trek is GOING WHERE MY HEART WILL TAKE ME doing a prequel now, all taking place ~100 years before the original 60s show. Klingons are in the very first episode, and they look pretty much the same as they have since the 80s. All is well. then in the 4th (and last) season, along comes a multi-episode story arc about *deep breath* the Klingons stealing corpses of dead human supersoldiers to make super-Klingons but then they accidentally create a new COVID variant that somehow gives them all human DNA and melts away their forehead ridges for the next hundred years.

The next time the Klingons showed up was a deleted scene in the 2009 Star Trek movie which dodged the question by putting all the Klingons in face-concealing helmets. In the 2013 sequel a Klingon takes his helmet off and yup, he has ridges. (Though these movies do take place in an alternate universe…)

It's 2017. The new show Star Trek: Discovery has just debuted. The Klingons are the main antagonists of the first season. Hooray! You turn it on and you see this:

ok. this look is a bit busy, but you could probably get away with it if this is the far future or these are some kind of offshoot Klingons who— What's that? This is set only ten years before the original show you say? well I'm sure the fans will react normally.

Arrested Development narrator: they did not react normally.

You had fans flipping their shit because the Klingons didn't have human heads like in the 60s, and other fans flipping their shit because they didn't look like the ones from the past 30 years. and weirdly the thing they were most pissed about was the Klingons being BALD. so in season 2 the showrunners said “ohh, actually the Klingons were all shaving their heads this whole time” and slapped wigs on top of the huge makeup headpieces they'd built,

(unrelated but they also made the actors deliver all their lines in the Klingon language, with big fake monster teeth and no ADR so every conversation sounded like this: “Axxgh mrfgh shkkfch krrrf btchgfhfgl. Scrrx? Bachggggch mffrfrflgh!” they were aiming for Game of Thrones and got Swedish Chef)

they also tried to say this was a group of Klingons we'd never seen before, but that kinda went out the window when they showed the Klingon government and they all looked like this. and none of the shows have dared to have a live action Klingon since!

so next time you think your fandom is the silliest, remind yourself that the simple question “what does a Klingon look like?” requires like 2 paragraphs of explanation and will probably make a neckbeard mad.

Avatar

important update:

  • ok I was wrong, the Klingons didn't make the no-ridge virus out of corpses they used fetuses or something
  • should be mentioned that Star Trek: Prodigy and Star Trek: Lower Decks, both from the last few years, take place in the "TNG era" and have depicted Klingons (albeit in animated form) pretty much the same. Worf also reappeared on Star Trek: Picard this year and looked basically the same. no surprises there
  • Season 2 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds starts in June and the trailer shows Spock hanging out with Klingons — with ridges!!! So I guess the retcon of the retcon is what they're going with, though I'm hyped to see the actual episode and find out if there's more to it. Marjorie, update the conspiracy board! we're gonna need at least 3 new colours of thread

maybe next time I shall regale you all with the Eugenics Wars canon timeline in all its confusing glory

Avatar
Avatar

ok apologies in advance for the long post but for the benefit of any non-Trekkies or Trekkies who haven't watched multiple Star Treks, please allow me to elucidate the hilarious tale of The Klingons and Their Foreheads.

It's 1966. Star Trek is just a newbie sci-fi show and not a multimedia juggernaut cultural icon yet. Captain Kirk and Mister Spock need some bad guys to fight, but it's the 60s and they have a makeup budget of $3 which they already spent on Spock's ears. So here come the Klingons! but like most of the “aliens” on the show they look basically human — just a buncha grouchy dudes with fu manchus and scary eyebrows.

fast-forward to the late Seventies. Star Trek is now a bona fide phenomenon. they're making it into a movie. and the Klingons are very popular — even today they're the most memeable, recognizable part of the franchise. So of course they're gonna be in the first-ever Star Trek movie. And hey, it's a big studio film, we got some cash to throw around, so we'll give the Klingons a makeover. Turn em into big burly fellas with sharp teeth, shaggy hair and huge boney foreheads.

imagine being a fan and going from the left pic to the right, with no warning or explanation. fans were actually pretty chill about it (possibly because they didn't have the internet yet) and kinda shrugged and said “Star Trek has more money now, so it's great that they can make the Klingons look more alien.” Someone asked Gene Roddenberry (the guy who invented Star Trek) about it and he said fans could pretend the Klingons had always had ridges on the show, if they wanted, or not. And Klingons would look pretty much the same for the next 20 years:

so everything's cool. one of the shows (Deep Space Nine) even brings back a couple of the same Klingon characters from the classic 1960s Star Trek, and they have ridges and no one comments on it. But then they do a time travel episode where they go back into an episode of the 60s show, using actual footage from the episode (it's the tribble one btw) and this one has a lot of Klingons in it. But the DS9 crew have their Klingon buddy Worf with them (he's the guy on the left in that last pic). And this is the late 90s so they can't just CGI new foreheads on all the old-school Klingons. The difference is glaringly obvious and someone asks Worf about it, and he Fight Clubs them all and says “We do not discuss it with outsiders.” LOL.

So that's that, right? Nothing further needs to be said.

It's the early 2000s and Star Trek is GOING WHERE MY HEART WILL TAKE ME doing a prequel now, all taking place ~100 years before the original 60s show. Klingons are in the very first episode, and they look pretty much the same as they have since the 80s. All is well. then in the 4th (and last) season, along comes a multi-episode story arc about *deep breath* the Klingons stealing corpses of dead human supersoldiers to make super-Klingons but then they accidentally create a new COVID variant that somehow gives them all human DNA and melts away their forehead ridges for the next hundred years.

The next time the Klingons showed up was a deleted scene in the 2009 Star Trek movie which dodged the question by putting all the Klingons in face-concealing helmets. In the 2013 sequel a Klingon takes his helmet off and yup, he has ridges. (Though these movies do take place in an alternate universe…)

It's 2017. The new show Star Trek: Discovery has just debuted. The Klingons are the main antagonists of the first season. Hooray! You turn it on and you see this:

ok. this look is a bit busy, but you could probably get away with it if this is the far future or these are some kind of offshoot Klingons who— What's that? This is set only ten years before the original show you say? well I'm sure the fans will react normally.

Arrested Development narrator: they did not react normally.

You had fans flipping their shit because the Klingons didn't have human heads like in the 60s, and other fans flipping their shit because they didn't look like the ones from the past 30 years. and weirdly the thing they were most pissed about was the Klingons being BALD. so in season 2 the showrunners said “ohh, actually the Klingons were all shaving their heads this whole time” and slapped wigs on top of the huge makeup headpieces they'd built,

(unrelated but they also made the actors deliver all their lines in the Klingon language, with big fake monster teeth and no ADR so every conversation sounded like this: “Axxgh mrfgh shkkfch krrrf btchgfhfgl. Scrrx? Bachggggch mffrfrflgh!” they were aiming for Game of Thrones and got Swedish Chef)

they also tried to say this was a group of Klingons we'd never seen before, but that kinda went out the window when they showed the Klingon government and they all looked like this. and none of the shows have dared to have a live action Klingon since!

so next time you think your fandom is the silliest, remind yourself that the simple question “what does a Klingon look like?” requires like 2 paragraphs of explanation and will probably make a neckbeard mad.

Avatar

important update:

  • ok I was wrong, the Klingons didn't make the no-ridge virus out of corpses they used fetuses or something
  • should be mentioned that Star Trek: Prodigy and Star Trek: Lower Decks, both from the last few years, take place in the "TNG era" and have depicted Klingons (albeit in animated form) pretty much the same. Worf also reappeared on Star Trek: Picard this year and looked basically the same. no surprises there
  • Season 2 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds starts in June and the trailer shows Spock hanging out with Klingons — with ridges!!! So I guess the retcon of the retcon is what they're going with, though I'm hyped to see the actual episode and find out if there's more to it. Marjorie, update the conspiracy board! we're gonna need at least 3 new colours of thread

maybe next time I shall regale you all with the Eugenics Wars canon timeline in all its confusing glory

LPT: Don't throw your junk mail away. Use it to to help the USPS instead!

Next time you get a credit card offer in the mail, or a junk piece of mail that includes a prepaid envelope or postcard, don't throw it away! Send the envelope back with a blank sheet of paper inside, or don't fill the postcard out, but still send it back. The company that sent it to you had to pay the USPS for postage on each one they get back. This is a way to support the USPS by doing very little, and sticking it to the annoying companies that want all of your money.

In the 90s we would send companies “hate mail” by stuffing prepaid envelopes with things like ‘blanks’ (flat heavy metal pieces), a roofing shingle) and layers of other competitors’ mail or junk news. This is because the company would have to pay more upon recieving the junk mail. It eats into them. It actually somewhat reduced our junk mail returnables, I think.  Send that mail y’all. 

Avatar

Except please don't do this to nonprofits!!

If you do this when you get a donation request or something from a nonprofit, you'll be forcing small organizations with very little overhead to deal with the incoming mail and paying for the postage.

Credit card companies? YES. Personal loan offers? ABSOLUTELY. The chain store you've never shopped at who bought your info from a competitor? BY ALL MEANS.

But don't do this to your local "Friends of the Library" fundraiser or homeless outreach program or anything like that. You'll be draining their limited resources that would be better used elsewhere.

Feel free to do it to groups like Salvation Army, PETA, or Susan Komen cuz fuck them.

autism speaks top, bleed those eugenicist fucks dry

Avatar

Boss's wife upon hearing I'm a medieval scholar: Isn't it crazy all the things medieval people thought would stop the plague?

Me: *Fighting all my devils & angels not to bring up that she drank horse antiparasitic last year.*

You’re a better person than I

my boyfriend: i like grilled cheese sandwiches a lot and eat them somewhat often

MULTIPLE strangers on tunglr.cum who refuse to be normal: he is mentally ill and/or disabled