Despite Everything …. I’m Grateful I Got A Chance To Be Alive… To Experience Love And Good Food

Samuel Delany.

every now and again i think "surely it can't be that weird for a child to sort things, it has to be something every child does"

and then i remember that my mother finally had an allistic child after two autistic kids in a row and was baffled and annoyed to find out she couldn't just keep him occupied by sticking a box of unsorted buttons in front of him and let him sort them

like my mother thought, exactly like i do sometimes, that surely every child must just sit there and sort whatever is in front of them but no, actually, most of my non autistic peers didn't do this and thought i was a fucking weirdo for doing it

anyway i still struggle to believe that most people don't find deep enjoyment in sitting there and arbitrarily sorting shit. what do they even do if they need to do data entry? do they just suffer? weirdos.

So, if you put your URL in here, you can listen to all the music you’ve ever blogged.

very emphatic button emoji

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Two kilometers down in the deep sea, out of reach of sunlight, lives a siphonophore called Erenna (no second name). It is a pale, gelatinous, delicate animal, a continuous swimmer, and a patient hunter. This thing catches fish using a cluster of lures on its tentacles that flicker back and forth, glowing bioluminescent red. It was the first evidence of luring behavior among the siphonophores.

This is all rather weird though: Erenna itself has no eyes, no light sensing organs at all. And we really thought those fish couldn’t even detect red light. What do they see in each other, these entangled creatures, each doing its best to live, moving silently forward? What signals are they passing in the cold dark?

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ʻIʻiwi

Drepanis coccinea Hakalau Forest NWR Mauna Kea, Hawaiʻi

As to whether the Gavle Goat's consumption should be seen as a good omen or a bad omen, I'd say good. Traditionally the Yule goat is made of straw from the final harvest and as a talisman against hard times, and there are unproven theories that its shape is inspired by Thor's goats, who are constantly killed, eaten, and reborn to provide endless meat for Thor and whatever guests he entertains. Therefore, its use by birds as a food store and safe harbor is an affirmation of its original purpose and truly in the Christmas spirit of generosity in lean times. What's more, the birds eating it seems to be have been the one outcome to unite both goat burners and goat keepers, as they have decided not to scare the birds away from their safe harbor and not to harm the goat, a decision that has been universally lauded.

As omens go, this one's all positive: safety, plenty, and unity between previous ideological opponents through a creative third solution built on shared values (birds being fed and sheltered is a good thing). May more birds find their way to the Gavle Goat next year.