Panopoly Imperfectum

Octopus and squid evolution is officially weirder than we could have ever imagined

Just when we thought octopuses couldn’t be any weirder, it turns out that they and their cephalopod brethren evolve differently from nearly every other organism on the planet.

In a surprising twist, scientists have discovered that octopuses, along with some squid and cuttlefish species, routinely edit their RNA (ribonucleic acid) sequences to adapt to their environment.

This is weird because that’s really not how adaptations usually happen in multicellular animals. When an organism changes in some fundamental way, it typically starts with a genetic mutation - a change to the DNA.

The findings have been published in Cell.

This Black Pearl pepper plant is so stunning! I picked it up at a local farmer’s market the other day while loading up on pumpkins. It’s a cultivar of Capsicum annuum and the berries are supposedly edible but extremely hot and have a citrus-y flavor. 

I carried a large stuffed rabbit whenever I went in public for about a week to observe the reaction of others. The point of the project was to do something harmless yet unusual to see if the action would be considered deviant, in which case someone had to try to correct or shame the behavior.

Long story short, nobody tried to correct my behavior. I was asked about it casually, had a few lingering stares thrown my way and when I was with my boyfriend, shop employees would direct questions to him instead of me. However, nobody refused to assist me when I was alone in a store, nobody said anything about the rabbit besides “oh, thats a cute bunny!” and I attended college classes without even a teacher questioning it.

So I carried this pig in my backpack all through college, periodically taking it out, spraying my screen, and using the pig to wipe it off. 

Now, I kept the pig in the side pocket of my bag where he was completely visible.

Then one day in screenwriting class I pulled him out to wipe my screen. 

One of the guys sitting next to me looked appalled. “You’re wiping it off with your little stuffed animal??” 

I explained what the pig was. 

Turns out, the guy had noticed it and just thought it was adorable I carried a stuffed animal with me every day. He’d never mentioned it before. 

there is no version of thinking that someone’s thoughts alone define who they are and what they’re worth as a person or thinking that people should be judged and punished for their thoughts as they would be for spoken words and actions that does not target neurodivergent people. 

there is no way you can believe that thought crimes are real without that meaning you condemn neurodivergent people who suffer from intrusive thoughts or whose neurodivergence affects their thinking or emotional processes in a way that causes them to have thoughts that are not particularly kind or positive or charitable about other people or the world they’re in. 

to believe in thought crimes is to believe that neurodivergent people are inherently bad, inherently evil, inherently dangerous, and inherently deserving of being locked up or punished in some other way. 

feel free to leave ideas for badges you’d like to earn

Troop Crest becomes coven symbol or symbol to represent your independent practice. 

Member Star/Discs represent each year you have been in the scouts. Do it as moons are moon phases since you have started your craft, change the moon phase based on where you are in your journey (maiden, mother, crone) or maybe a moon phase that resonates with you for that year?

Journey Awards get replaces with path/ journey patches that represent achievements in your craft. Maybe connection with a God or Goddess, a new form of the craft being added to your practice, learn about your ancestry, etc. 

^ On the back we have patches. These are usually for local events, cookie sales, participation based badges essentially to outwardly show to other girls things and places you have been. 

So for these we could have coven specific events, yearly events like Yule with years to signify each year you have celebrated, historic locations or significant spaces specific to your area or places you visit. Like local to me is Bunny Man Bridge and lots of haunted locations and things from urban myth. Really the stuff on the back is anything that doesn’t have a formal meaning with anything on the front so it can be fun stuff and things you have done in general. 

Also I’m a fan of the girl guide/vintage uniform aesthetic <3

I also like the idea of deity “pins” in place of the “My Promise, My Faith” pins if you have anyone you worship or if your a Christian or really any religion and wants to want it clear put a symbol there. If not don’t worry about or put something else that reps why you do what you do. :)

A Japanese artist who goes by monde has made a series of wooden bookend dioramas that replicate the back alleys of his hometown of Tokyo. 

Sources: x x