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I don't play gacha games, but I'm in online spaces which are adjacent to gacha fandoms, so every so often I'll pop open my notifications and see a thread where the comments are like "ooh, step on me, daddy", and the post to which those comments pertain is a drawing of a waifish anime boy being manhandled by a second waifish anime boy.

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Bornean Crested Fireback (Lophura ignita), male, family Phasianidae, order Galliformes, Sabah, Borneo

photograph by Henrick Tan

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Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) aka “Stink Turkey”, family Opisthocomidae, order Opisthocomiformes, Peru

The only living member of the bird order Opisthocomiformes.

This leaf-eating bird uses foregut fermentation, in its enlarged crop, to help break down its food. (The ferementation is where the smell comes from, which gives it the name “Pavo Apestoso”)

They live in vegetation at the edges of lakes, streams, and rivers.

The young have 2 small claws on the fronts of the wingsthat help them climb through vegetation.

photograph by JJ Pamplona

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Joe's Hot Ones experience

Transcript under the cut:

Joe: um, NopeQueen says, "everyone dying in the Hot Ones and then Joe and Pearl just snacking was amazing." Yeah, I--that's one thing--yeah, Cleo, I was talking to, uh, the late night crew about that last night. They were like, 'Joe, what happened with the chicken?' And I was just like, okay, well here's the thing: Nashville is famous for having really spicy chicken. Like, that's just what we eat here. Everybody else, for some reason, eats chicken from Kentucky. But...we don't. So--I was expecting, though, cause people were really talked up this Hot Ones thing like crazy. Cleo: Yeah. Joe: I was like, I'm gonna-I'm gonna get over--walk over there, and get absolutely like, thrashed by this. Cleo: Gonna get wrecked-- Joe: And it's gonna-- Cleo: --Cause you started at like, level nine, didn't you? Joe: I started at level seven. But yeah, I was like, uh--cause I was gonna get tagged in by somebody else when they tagged out. And they lasted longer than they expected to. So I'm like, okay, I'm coming in at level seven, Impulse says level seven in a lot of ways is the worst one. And so I'm just gonna--gonna walk over there and get wrecked. And it's gonna be hilarious. And--I just started eating it, and I'm like, this is just chicken, like, I mean, it had s--the sauce on it, but like I'm like, this is just how we eat chicken, where I'm from. (Cleo giggles) Well, maybe the next level will be hotter? And I'm like...this is still just hot chicken. Joe: Same thing, like, level ten--and, um, apparently too I've been eating chicken wrong, according to the audience. Cause, um, everybody's just like, y'know, cause I mentioned like, yeah, I could-- Cleo: You just chowed down from that. Joe: Yeah. And I said though, I could tell that it's spicy, that's why I had to drink two cans of Coke, and they're like, Joe, you're not supposed to drink Coke with chicken that's spicy. And I'm like, I know, but it was a kid's charity event so I couldn't have beer. And they're like, no, you're not supposed to have carbonation with spicy chicken. And I'm like, what? I-I didn't know this! I've been eating spicy chicken with carbonation for years! Apparently I'm doing it wrong, I must be bad at chicken. Uh-- Cleo: Joe Hills, bad at chicken. Joe: Yeah, yeah. So, I was-I was actually just kinda, like--I was really expecting to--I was like, this is one of those things where I'm overconfident, and I'm gonna get wrecked. Cleo: Yeah. By rights you should be-- Joe: And it's gonna be hilarious-- Cleo: You should've been. Joe: It's gonna--it's gonna be hilarious, but it's for charity, y'know, let's go. And I was just like-- Cleo: You were just like, nah, I'm hungry. Joe: That was the other thing, I was--I legitimately hadn't eaten, I was starving, uh, and so I was just like, 'oh this is--' Cleo: This is just nice chicken. Joe: It was--yeah, it was great. Uhm--

#being a hungry southerner will just do that to you

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I am once again thinking about digging holes

It's so fucked up that digging a bunch of holes works so well at reversing desertification

I hate that so much discourse into fighting climate change is talking about bioenginerring a special kind of seaweed that removes microplastics or whatever other venture-capital-viable startup idea when we have known for forever about shit like digging crescent shaped holes to catch rainwater and turning barren land hospitable

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Excess activity at Square restaurants during the 2024 solar eclipse

by u/arakharazian

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American Kestrel (Falco sparverius), male, family Falconidae, found over a great deal of North America and South America

https://instagram.com/david_hemmings_photo_tours

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In finnish, the word for "opinion" is mielipide, from the word mieli - mind, and pide, which is a somewhat archaic form of pidike - a holder, support, clip, clamp. The word pide/pidike itself comes from the verb "pitää", to hold, or keep. So while nobody thinks of it in such poetic terms in everyday life, the finnish word for "opinion" essentially translates to being some sort of a mental carabiner or foothold in your mental scape that you can hold onto, grab for support, or attach things to keep them fastened.

And in finnish vernacular, especially online, it's often shortened to just MP, MieliPide - and you can ask peoples' opinions about things by just stating "Opinion: subject" to start a conversation. It's very succinct. For example, you can make a three-word statement:

MP: homoilu saunassa?

To ask the same question which in english is a far more long and takes more words: "What is your opinion on doing gay activities in the sauna?"

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I just can't suspend my disbelief about anteaters. It doesn't make any sense that a mammal that huge can keep its body sustained eating just ants and termites. "Oh but they raid hundreds of nests per day and eat thousands and thousands of them!" Dude, I feel like even you must know you're reaching here. Come on.

It's a shame, because the idea is genuinely really cool, a big fluffy guy whose main deal is slurping up insects with its crazy tongue, what's not to love. But they went too far and felt the need to make that gimmick its ENTIRE food supply, and then it just... doesn't work! Nobody would be complaining if it ALSO ate some berries or something every once in a while! Your worldbuilding is allowed to have some nuance!

And I guess they tried to address this when they made the aardvark by introducing the aardvark cucumber, which is a special melon-looking fruit that only aardvarks care about and which supplements their mostly insect-based diet. Which... okay to be honest I think that's a really ham-fisted and dumb solution, but at least it's something.

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Man I love how bdubs built his shop and then numerous hermits were like "I want some of that" and now there is this growing strip of gorgeous shops. Completely unplanned and they all looking amazing

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My sort of maybe embarrassing “late to the game” thing I’m learning now is how to tell if oil has gone bad.

I feel like most other foods have obvious visual tells like mold or they end up smelling foul and obviously bad. But I was googling about oil and the internet says “if it smells like crayons, it’s bad” which would not have been my first guess. And I tested it out on my somewhat old sesame oil and was like “by god, I would describe this as smelling like crayons”

Anyway protip if your old oil smells kinda like crayons it’s probably no good 🖍️