welcome to the jam

I love that people just screenshot tiktoks. Fuck videos

[Image ID: Tumblr tag reading: #from a textpost you came and to a textpost you shall return /End ID]

not to sound like your dad but if your not having a great time rn you might legitimately be playing too many video games or being on that damn phone too often, or at least without any necessary activity buffers

may i suggest coloring with physical materials? or some chores you’ve been putting off? hell go outside with a bucket and make mud soup like you’re five again. take a break. you can bring your whatever for music and stuff but like don’t play with it

lots of huffy teenagers in the notes

i mean this, after spending so long getting my entertainment online, theres something incredibly tranquil about shutting it all out for a while to do something in meatspace for myself

It’s so fascinating to me that we’ve only been breeding Komodo dragons in captivity for thirty years. In that time, our understanding of them has actually really revolutionized the way we understand the social lives and behaviors of lizards in general, and it’s mostly thanks to this lady right here, who was born 30 years ago on September 13, 1992.

Kraken was the first Komodo to be bred in captivity. She hatched out at GMU, but was raised at the National Zoo. Her parents were wild-caught dragons- there’s still WC dragons in the AZA today- and this one specific individual probably did more to revolutionize lizard care in professional settings than any other individual lizard throughout zoo history.

Until Kraken, social enrichment wasn’t a thing people thought about. It wasn’t something anybody felt was necessary for lizards, because they were just… lizards. Sure, some keepers would play with their favorites, but it wasn’t until the National Zoo started documenting what she was doing that anybody realized how much Komodo dragons like to play with us too.

Kraken’s not in that video, but she’s the one who inspired all of the social studies that have been done on captive Komodo dragons. When she was at the National Zoo, her keepers  started getting curious when, for no apparent reason, she kept gingerly stealing things from peoples’ pockets and tugging on their shoelaces. So they started giving her stuff- Frisbees, blankets, soda cans, anything she showed an interest in.

She played with them, just like a mammal might. The way play behavior is described in psychology is a given activity that’s voluntary, repeated, and conducted under “relatively benign” circumstances. Keeper staff found that her conduct during the study met all of these criteria. “Kraken,” they wrote, had clearly demonstrated “play-like behavior with objects and even with humans (tug-of-war).” Moreover, she “could discriminate between prey and nonprey” while showing “varying responses” with different items (rubber rings, shoes, etc.). (There’s an excellent book on Komodo dragons that has an entire chapter devoted to her.)

Kraken died several years ago, but her legacy continues today. There’s several of her descendants still in the AZA, and the intelligence and social needs she demonstrated led to the improvement of life for these guys- and other lizards. The Komodo dragon program has been an eye opener, not just for reptile conservation, but for understanding reptile intelligence and how this incredible clade of animals functions.

Happy birthday to the lizard who changed it all.

Here’s another baby picture of Kraken! This is her with Dr. Geoffery Birchard, the George Mason professor who supervised her hatching:

She was five weeks old in this picture, which ran in the GMU student paper.

KOMODO DRAGONS

I literally hate every job in the world. I don’t want them. I don’t want ANY of them!

a deeply underrated part of the gay taylor swift conspiracy theories is that if they're right and she really has spent over a decade sending subliminal messages based on minute details for people to decode then she's uuuuuh. I mean she's insane. she's jigsaw. she's the riddler. her dad bought her career because if she didn't have music to distract her she would have started building deathtraps.

"conspiracy theory" and she dyed her hair the bi pride colors for a music video about gay pride, made a second music video about gay pride and said during production that gay pride is part of who she is

it's not some delusional picking apart songs and past friendships to find things that aren't there, it's literally just seeing people when they come out

okay buddy I'm glad you're having fun out there

"America is starting to have a bit of a fascist problem-"

this country is built on killing my people(black people) and has continued to Lynch And kill my people.

justice for Trey Reed, a black man who was found lynched to a tree. police, being complicit in it because they used to be slave patrol, has said no foul play has been detected.

I heard enough about that stupid nazi who got shot, my people are dying, there are people being separated from their families and being kidnapped. there's so much evil happening to minorities, stop focusing on the white guy.

State terrorism charges have been dropped against Luigi Mangione. He is still on trial for the lesser charge of 2nd-degree murder.

source

Cleaning gets easier when you remember it's a thing you're doing to make your life less miserable, and not a thing you're doing as punishment

your only job on this earth is to be so intrinsically yourself that the right people gravitate toward you and the wrong people move out of your way

Realizing I can't just shut down and push everyone away the second I feel misunderstood if I want to actually grow as a person and learn to tolerate discomfort enough to try new things and make my dreams come true with my own two hands

Dude you have to listen to this DnD podcast the party has an edgy mean lesbian AND a melodramatic twink AND a muscle mommy AND a joke character. And get this: it's not good.

Y'all notice they don't make ocean spray commercials anymore. Ain't seen those two white men in the cranberry pit in a long time. The bog spiders musta got them.

they should make a followup commercial where the bog spiders are selling the juice

A lot of booktook smut is easy to make fun of but generally I think women jerking off is a good and righteous thing. Yet another example of things that are embarrassing also being cool. Lotta complex thoughts to think out there. Be safe. I love you.

I am a huge fan of retiring to my quarters

In this economy you'll be lucky to retire to your nickels

I love characters who act selfishly to protect the people they love. Absolutely will 1000% hit that trope like a line of coke. I have no moral qualms about this.