Shoutout to the hackberry tree in our back yard that we think is dead every single spring because it puts out leaves like 3 weeks later than every other hackberry in the area but then later in the summer it's always literally fine

Good evening to the next door neighbor's American sycamore that they bought a lil over 25 years ago as just a stick, which is now like 70 feet tall and extends its branches vastly wide and made sycamore seedlings in every pot and flower bed I have.

She is one of the formative trees of my childhood. I remember, before the neighbors built the fence, sitting underneath her branches in a light rain and staying completely dry because of the protection of her huge leaves

Miss you, grove of black walnut trees that grew behind the hundred year old farm house where I lived as a kid. Last year I tore off a leaf from a tree that grows at the place where the road changes to gravel cut off by a cattle gate, and the smell brought the memory rushing back.

I remember you, white pine. You were easy to climb and so tall I could easily get higher than the second story windows. You tolerated all the contraptions my friends and I rigged in your branches.

I love you, oak trees at the corners of the yard in the house I grew up in; you were like a fortress grove around my home. My mom used to say that all your leaves made her appreciate the concept of infinity -- for no matter how many leaves you shed, they were not infinite.

I miss you, linden tree outside my sister's bedroom. Your leaves were impossibly huge, so it looked like she lived in a treehouse. And as your saplings sprang up every summer, my swing set became like a jingle or enchanted forest. And my mom always pruned the suckers off, anyway, and they made great magic staffs and bows and swords, and, later, wands.

I miss you, mulberry tree down by the creek on summer afternoons. Just large enough for two skinny, squirmy kids to scale, we ate berries warmed by the sun by the fist full. Years later, we brought some home and rinsed them in the sink. They were full of little wriggly worms and we were disgusted and delighted as only children can be.

Knowing that trans women of color started the movement in the united states and were literally immediately erased and excluded from what they started is the most deeply jading knowledge.

It is the original sin of the so-called queer community and it damns it from the cradle.

no white gay boy will ever reblog this, watch:

no white gay will reblog this

no white lgb person will reblog this

Without Stonewall, without the efforts of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, the LGBTQ Community wouldn’t be where it is today. Don’t forget the roots, don’t forget the catalyst.

and then TERFs wanna be like, “hmm well the LGBT community existed before Stonewall!”

but like…Becky, of course LGBTQ+ people existed before Stonewall. We’ve all existed since the beginning of time. But the movement got a shock to its senses, a jump-start, a rocket-into-space when that glass shattered via Marsha P. Johnson, and when Sylvia Rivera was up on-stage protesting guess who was on the sidelines heckling her?

The same fuckers who won’t ever reblog or acknowledge this

My apologies to the original poster as I photo captured this post to add to the thread-I reposted this last year for pride and expect to repost it every year I have left-it’s our history people.

Marsha P. Johnson allegedly died of suicide in 1992, and her death was never investigated. Even I, a mere prole, could catch the “she was murdered” vibes from the circumstances surrounding the discovery of her body.

Without a trans black woman, LGBT+ rights would not exist. Never forget. Never “pay it no mind”.

R E M E M B E R

And whatever you do, don’t watch that awful movie Stonewall.  Go watch a documentary on Marsha P. Johnson instead.

there’s a wonderful documentary on netflix called the death and life of marsha p. johnson! very powerful watch.

Though they're often referred to as "camouflaged loopers," these caterpillars are the larvae of the wavy-lined emerald moth (Synchlora aerata).

Camouflaged loopers deploy a unique form of self-defense -- they snip off tiny pieces of the flowers upon which they feed, then use bits of silk to attach the vegetation to their backs. This provides them with a kind of camouflage, enabling them to blend in with the plants that they eat.

Some of them create little tufts that run along their backs, while others fashion a thicker camouflage that covers their backs completely. In some cases, the camouflaged loopers will even build much larger bundles that surround their entire bodies.

Their range includes most of North America (from southern Canada down through Texas) and they can feed upon an enormous variety of plants -- so the disguises that these caterpillars build can come in countless colors, shapes, and sizes, incorporating many different flowers and other bits of vegetation.

And this is what the fully-developed moth looks like:

Sources & More Info:

@onenicebugperday

how people on tumblr react to everything

The first gif is literally always my reaction to things.

Oh. No. Apparently Star Trek was WAY more of a formative influence than I realized.

This is how the dominance of older white voters ends ... per https://digbysblog.net/2023/07/19/a-cool-balm-in-this-hot-summer/

when god closes a door you reach your little paws under it and go mrrwwaaaooow mmreeaaow

Via @pilferingapples

not-so-friendly reminder that hunting is an important part of conservation in many cases and that painting all hunting as morally, ethically, and/or environmentally "bad" does a major disservice to indigenous people, poor communities, and our environment

Conservation biologists actually work with hunters (and fishers) a lot in monitoring species health! Hunters will often know before anyone else when numbers are declining, have a vested interest in keeping the population around, and are often involved in research collaborations where they bring their kills in to be measured/have tissue taken for research.

There can be tension when restrictions conflict with the need to make rent, and trophy hunters are not included in this (going after only the largest members of a population and not even using the body for food is pretty bad for conservation). But hunters and conservationists can be, and should be, natural allies.

#culling of invasive species is also extremely necessary and people need to understand that#not every animal is able to be rehabilitated and rehomed a lot just need to be culled#emphasis on INVASIVE species though NOT native

The Minnesota DNR has had a program for the last several years where they work with hunters to track Chronic Wasting Disease (a rather nasty neurological disease caused by prions) in local white-tailed deer populations, just as a single example!

Really really REALLY wanna emphasize one of the points no one's boosting here, that a firm anti-hunting stance is INHERENTLY ANTI-NATIVE. Please don't forget that these policies are extremely racist towards our already extremely marginalized communities.

somehow instead of saying "as a treat", I've started using the phrase "for morale", as if my body is a ship and its crew, and I (the captain) have to keep us in high spirits, lest we suffer a mutiny in the coming days.

and so I will eat this small block of fancy cheese, for morale. I will take a break and drink some tea, for morale. I will pick up that weird bug, for morale.

I'm not sure if it helps, but it does entertain me

same energy

there’s more

SIGH

here’s another one

IT GETS WORSE WITH EVERY ADDITION

how does this get even worse

I think about once in a while...

We have another one...

This is the internet now tho 😭💀

@lifeistooshorttowasteyourtime @marril96 @latent-thoughts @suometar

😂😂😂

Omg so many additions since I last saw this post! 😂😂😂

It's funny but incredibly telling how entitled/ignorant/insensitive some of these people are... idk if it's an education gap or purposeful ignorance.

The really bewildering thing to me is that I remember when you needed to get up and pull a dictionary off the shelf, or visit a library to look up the facts you needed. Now people have all kinds of information literally at their fingertips and they can’t be bothered to use it.

Oh dear gods, it's gotten worse

When you know politics but no facts

don’t take people too seriously on the internet

This hits different when combined with that "Americans don't learn other countries exist till they're in 5th Grade" post from the other day.

Demily recently got another one lads

Also, I love that, in the sign language one, it seems like the last image might've been a gif of "fuck you," screenshot at the perfect time to let you know they were about to sign "fuck you"

As a romanian person I gotta add this one too

This is my favourite post on this website

You love to see it. (Not the destruction of trees, obvs, but shitheads meeting their oncoming comeuppance at the hands of trees.)

Okay, as someone with their doctorate in plant health (specifically trees and landscape plants), I'm frothing at the mouth livid.

Pollarding is a type of pruning done where you remove the upper branches of a tree with the intent of forcing it to grow more branches. Historically, it was used to produce fodder for livestock and wood for fencing, crafting, etc. but now is more of an aesthetic choice - it creates dense shade and reduces the risk of heavy branches becoming safety concerns later.

However, that pruning is something that occurs in January - March, when the tree is dormant. Not in the peak of summer, when there's a heat wave expected. By doing it during dormancy, the tree has already stored all of the nutrients and sugars the leaves held in the roots and trunk, ready for use in spring.

By pruning these trees now, they've severely damaged them, if not outright sentenced them to death. Leaves provide a tremendous amount of shade to the trunk, actively cool the area through respiration (pulling water through the tree and into the air around it), and provide sugars and nutrients necessary for growth through photosynthesis. These trees now have to work overtime to compensate and re-grow and entire canopy of leaves with reduced resources.

These trees are in what are sometimes affectionately known as "hell strips" - there's a concrete sidewalk on one side, asphalt on the other, and they get hot. Not just upwardly hot, but they heat the soil underneath them as well. The root zone of these trees don't get a lot of water to begin with (concrete and asphalt don't let water in well) and it doesn't seem like there's a lot of soil around the tree to begin with.

Trees in hell strips already have the heat and restricted root zones working against them - you can't have healthy trees if you don't have room for roots. Now these have to compensate and draw resources to push out new growth.

In addition, all of those pruning cuts are open wounds - places where infections and insects can enter into the tree. Usually mature trees can manage minor infections or infestations with no issue. But these trees are now extra susceptible because their immune response is weakened - all the extra energy available is going to new growth, not fighting off infections.

So there's a bunch of factors here that have put these trees at a disadvantage: the removal of most photosynthetic plant material, an increase in surrounding temperature, a restricted root zone, the potential for increased infection, and a heat wave expected in the next week. These trees are going to struggle the rest of their lives because of the decision to prune these trees like this now - all over a desire to break a strike so the studios don't have to pay their actors and writers and editors fairly.

I hope they get the book thrown at them with tree law. And then some.

unfortunately I’m watching supernatural and someone on screen said ‘there are No Wolves in pennsylvania’ and I was like. what a bold incorrect statement. where did they possibly get that idea from. so I googled it…google is insisting there are no wild wolves in pa?? except I’ve Seen wolves here?? there used to be a wolf that would hang out in my backyard and roam around the neighborhood?? like Everyone knew about this wolf we assumed he lived on the golf course and would come to our yards if he got spooked by golfers (very quiet block). like we all thought he just lost his pack or whatever so people just gave him a wide space and let him chill, he didn’t try to break into any houses or attack any pets but this was definitely. a wild wolf. where. where did he come from what do you MEAN there aren’t wolves in pennsylvania I’m literally spiraling right now

still feeling so gut-punched over this

To be fair, PA also said “we did not reintroduce mountain lions, they are not there, you’re seeing really big house cats, please keep coming to the parks and camp sites and ignore that video, that was totally not a mountain lion, someone took last week”

okay I’m sorry but this came up on pinterest and I Screamed

you are the state of Pennsylvania (allegedly)

i just showed this to a friend from pennsylvania and 1. theyre losing their mind bc theyve seen mountain lions which prompted them to look it up which leads me to 2. this fucking bonkers article

[caption: “We’ve been here 45 years and I’ve probably been told by people at least 100 t imes that they’ve seen a cougar or mountain lion,” said owner Vince Hall. “I kind of doubt they saw a cougar, but I’m not God.”]

PA: I can’t believe we’ve lost all our native apex predators Citizens of PA: there’s a mountain lion right there PA: sometimes we can still hear the sound of them scaring away tourists

…PA has fucking EMUS and you want me to believe we have no wolves or mountain lions?

what the fuck do you mean we have emus

http://emusontheridge.com/ https://www.abc27.com/news/us-world/strange/update-runaway-perry-county-emu-found-after-seven-months-on-the-run/

Guys, I’ve cracked it

This thing goes all the way to the top

what the fuck is happening in pennsylvania

As a regretful born and raised Pennsylvanian, we have wolves, coywolves, mountain lions, lynx, and coyotes. Not a single person in authority will admit to there being anything but coyotes and lynx. If you see a cougar, they will tell you you saw a lynx. If you see a wolf, they will tell you you saw a coyote. Ignore the massive differences in sizes. No one knows what a coywolf is but we have them. I have seen a cougar with my own two goddamned eyes. There is an entire nature park whose main attractions are the cougars and wolves (and bison but we’re not talking about them) - it’s called Penn’s Cave, it’s been there forever. Everyone I know has seen a cougar or wolf at least once in the woods.

So what I’m getting at is don’t trust the government.

“the state of Pennsylvania is gaslighting its citizens about the native wildlife”

My spouse was born in PA (Bethlehem, Mt Sinai) and he is enjoying this entire thread, which we might show his cousins who live in Philly and have seen the These Aren’t Cougars.

Ruby Bridges is 68. This is not ancient history. Not even close.

I know Ruby. She's a really nice person. The idea that they would try and write what she did as a girl out of history is shocking to me on so many levels, the simplest of which is just, but don't they know how lovely she is?

Ruby was in Tucson, AZ last Thanksgiving. I wasn't able to attend due to illness, but I appreciated the opportunity.

Source

Video of Tama

Follow Ultrafacts for more facts

The picture in the background of the second one

Tama is boss

THE TRAINS HAVE CARTOON TAMAS ON THEM

Sad update everyone, Tama recently passed away… An estimated 3,000 people, including railway officials, attended Tama the cat’s funeral on Sunday, days after she died of heart failure aged 16. [x]

For those who haven’t read articles about it, the local shrine elevated her to a god. She’s now the Eternal Stationmaster and patron god of the station.

Beautiful.

Now I’m crying thanks

and a new cat was hired right?

yep! her name is Nitama (essentially ”second tama” or “tama II”) and she served under Tama as an apprentice before being appointed her deputy

she works very hard

Everytime this crosses my dash, I reblog. It is the law.

Law

I’m crying at 11pm over train cats

Nitama, already now a mature cat (born 2010), has a protege named Yontama (fourth Tama, b. 2016).  There is no information available for either the physical befellment or tragic self-disgrace which has removed Santama from contention.

^Nitama majestic, and below with Yontama

Yontama.

a legacy

okay but actually what happened to santama (or sun-tama-tama, which is her name because it’s a pun on santama) was that she was basically sent to train for the position in okayama and they liked her so much they refused to send her back

Every time I see this post there’s new info and it gets better

You are only allowed to scroll pass this after you pay tribute to the great Tama Station masters.

The shrine of Tama Daimyōjin (Great gracious deity Tama), next to the Kishi station where she worked.

Nitama presenting her yearly offerings to Tama Daimyōjin on the anniversary of Tama’s Death, June 23 (The offerings are presented by the company president, as Nitama is a cat and thus can’t hold the offerings herself) (Not pictured, but also present, Yontama)

you cannot pass without reblogging guys. i’m sorry, i don’t make the rules.

You can’t not reblog a goddess. It’s just what’s so. :)

So, fun fact- the manga Noragami has an arc where the main character, Yato (a minor kami/God that is down on his luck but trying to make it big time) goes to a council/conference for all the Gods in Japan.

And they are announcing the winner of the “up and coming god” award, and of course, Yato thinks it’s him.

But no-

ITS TAMA!

Always reblogging this.

Tama is the best new god. She is good and helpful and beloved. Always reblog this magnificent goddess.

source

— Vincent Van Gogh

- Vincent van Gogh

Thinking about how every major city (except fort worth) in Texas is blue, votes democrat in every election, is majority liberal/left-leaning. It's driving me insane okay. The majority of Texans live in or around the major cities. Land does not vote.

75% of Texans live in BLUE!!!

This makes me want to put a toaster in the bath tub okay bye!!!

You guys don't get it, like if you're not from Texas you don't get it. Most people here seem to just wanna keep their guns and like not have to pay high taxes, but thats were their ""conservative "" views end. Texas is a minoriry-majority state. Dallas and Austin have some of the biggest LGBT populations in the US. To even call Texas a red state is CRAZY TO ME. ITS GERRYMANDERING!

People really need to remeber that most red states are only red bcs of voter suppression. Time and time again looking into the actual political leanings of populations has proven that if every single American adult voted the republicans would never win another election anywhere and that's without getting rid of gerrymandering and the electoral college. This is why they're obsessed with making sure it's as hard as possible to vote, it's the only way they can stay in power and they know it. They've known it since the goddamn Civil War, fuck since the dawn of this country. It's always been about making sure the "right" people are in power by only letting the citizens who will vote for them have the ability to do do so.

And, incidentally, this is why Arizona has gone blue. Despite being a historically red state we have laws to protect people's right to vote and make it as easy as possible, and it's telling as fuck that the second the tide began to turn in 2020 the republicans here immediately started trying to implement voter ID laws and ban mail in votes. They KNOW they will lose if they let everyone vote and so they rig the game as much as possible.

This is part of why you shouldn't write off places like Texas and Florida and other red states bcs they keep voting red. The majority of their populations are NOT republicans and the only reason republican candidates keep winning is because they have suppressed voters at every step of the process, going so far as to throw out hundreds of thousands of votes in some areas in Texas on a bs technicality that would have likely meant Beto O'Rourke's victory over Greg Abbot.

It's fucking rigged. That's why they keep winning. So stop writing off these states as lost causes just because of their elections, damn near EVERY American state has a population whos majority leans left, they just continue to have their rights stripped away by corrupt leaders who know the only way to win is to cheat.

"...now let us heal thy wounds..." 🐃⚔️🌿

companion piece/part 2 to this illustration

“…doth another challenger approacheth?“🗡🌿✨ 

[print available here]

Jurassic World did the Avatar thing where it made a gajillion dollars and left no cultural footprint whatsoever. Name your favorite Jurassic World character. What was your favorite line. It evaporated despite everyone seeing it.

WRONG fav character was the extra that ran away from the pterodactyls with two margheritas in hand

Gotta do everything myself around here

So, I went into this guy’s Wikipedia page, because he looked familiar. And there’s this big “Controversies” section, so I was preparing myself to read that even the margaritas/pterodactyls guy has sexually assaulted someone. But it turns out that he hasn’t. However, he:

- Has been sued for copyright infringement for a ‘blasphemous’ musical rendition of a monologue from the 1950s

- He was on a plane with U2′s Bono and his family, and the plane was shot by the Jamaican police, who believed they were smuggling marijuana. He wrote a song about the incident.

- He’s actually a singer, and his better known song in called MARGARITAVILLE. He also owns the Margaritaville Cafe restaurant chain. And has licensed Margaritaville Tequila, Margaritaville Footwear, and a Margaritaville Foods. He owns the Margaritaville Casino, has released a “Margaritaville Online” game, and he wrote and starred in a musical called “Escape to Margaritaville”

- He also wrote a song called “Math Suks”, which was condemned by the US National Council of Teachers of Mathematics for its alleged negative effect on children’s education. 

- He was thrown out of a basketball game he was watching for using blasphemous language in front of kids.

- And he was detained by French customs for allegedly carrying over 100 pills of ecstasy. Although he was released after paying a fine, and, according to him, the pills were a B-vitamin supplement.

So, yeah, that was refreshing controversies section-wise, but now I don’t know what to do with all that information.

Maybe its my age, but i’m a little concerned that the fact he is a singer and wrote Margaritaville wasn’t prior knowledge and is considered a controversy

Beach, booze, Buffett.

Jimmy Buffett plays the margarita guy in Jurassic World because his most famous song is “Margaritaville” and this is therefore hilarious, I thought

absolutely obsessed with jimmy buffett being called “this guy”

Love the suggestion that the song and brand Margarativille are mentioned in passing on the Wikipedia page for uncredited Jurassic World extra Jimmy Buffett

Everyone older than 35 watching the youngsters learn about Jimmy Buffet: this is hilarious

My high school German teacher (circa 2003) was on his last semester of teaching and in retrospect was so incredibly burnt out it wasn't funny...but as high schoolers we found it hilarious. He was going through it and played the song Margariaville an unhealthy amount for a high school classroom full of 15 year olds trying to learn German. When questioned, he argued that the song imparted an important lesson about learning to take responsibility for your actions. Then he went back to cutting out paper snowflakes over the trash can at his desk.