Sunflowers in the Rain

It's... pretty much what it says on the tin. Some car manufacturers are phasing out AM Radio from their cars so they can replace them with their own streaming services - this bill seeks to make them a mandatory feature.

As somebody whose day job is in radio, I totally agree that the amount of ads and the quality of the ads is ridiculous. Personally, I don't find radio to be an amazing source of political news broadcasting.

But do you know what it is really good at? Providing emergency broadcasts during extreme weather events.

When power and internet is down, radio can be one of the only sources of information, and it's helped provide lifesaving information during these times.

(Plus, at least in my area of the country, emergency weather alerts override and interrupt programming when broadcast - even during pesky ads!)

So if you want to toss your signature in support, you can head on over here.

humans are the moms

compared to other species on earth, humans have a really outsized "protect baby" instinct. you give a human a thing and tell them it's actually a baby thing and many humans will suddenly develop a complete and total aversion to harming it, even if it's like, a writhing mass of slimy tentacles in no way reminiscent of human infants

cats domesticated us by figuring out that they could leave their kittens with us when they went out hunting and come back and probably still have the same number as before they left. there is a decent chance that wolves did the same thing

word gets around the less parenting-inclined species and they're just like, are you doing a long haul space voyage? going to have to lay some eggs in the course of the trip? take a few humans with you. yeah they'll just start training the young and keeping from them climbing into the machinery themselves you don't even have to find specialists. I know a guy who budded unexpectedly on a freight hauler halfway through a four year trip, and not only did the humans not eat his spawn, they set up this thing called "babysitting" where they'd take turns monitoring its survival and helping to teach it basic skills

"Easy. You know how most civilized species lay eggs, and even the ones that don't will have young ones able to move around and fend for themselves within the day?"

"Yeah, obviously."

"Human newborns can't even lift their own heads. They require the full-time attention of as many adults as possible to make sure they survive to a self-sufficient age, much less adulthood."

"Whaaaaat. How long does that take?"

"Many years. And their planet has long years."

"What!"

"Yes. So their parenting instincts are overclocked for a reason. And sometimes that spills over onto other species. ...And by 'sometimes,' I mean all the dang time."

"Uh huh."

"So keep them away from the dangerous fauna, especially the little ones, and be prepared for them to get emotionally attached to the occasional inanimate object. Oh! And if you need to get their attention in a loud room, play a recording of one of their young making a distress sound. They hate that, and will want it to stop immediately."

Sandra's seen a leprechaun, Eddie touched a troll, Laurie danced with witches once, Charlie found some goblins' gold. Donald heard a mermaid sing, Susy spied an elf, But all the magic I have known I've had to make myself.

4 year old me: why must we do this

Fantastic old woman in the leopard print coat: "Why yes, my tooth IS real silver! Nobody ever asks me that. Do you like cats?"

For most of human history the sky looked between 1-3, 4 at most. And then all of a sudden with electrification it was gone (I'm lucky if I get 6 in my small city). The first time I saw the Milky Way fully as a kid was a spiritual experience, I was almost scared on how BRIGHT it was, it felt like someone was looking back at me. You don't get that at all with modern light pollution.

At the airport I find out my bag is overweight.

The check-in lady doesn’t know English. I don’t know Mongolian.

I open my suitcase. I pull out my camping blanket. I pull out my body pillow (shaped like a 5-foot-long mahi mahi). I am still over the weight limit.

Through a translation app she suggests moving any textbooks into my carry-on.

I don’t have any books but I shuffle things around. I am still over the weight limit.

I reach into my bag. Pull out my tool kit with all my archaeology things. Pull out a hammer. Place it on the check in counter.

The lady looses it.

She can’t stop laughing at my Mary Poppins-like clown car of a suitcase.

Everything goes back into the bag except the hammer and the blanket. I am finally under the weight limit.

I fold the blanket and keep it in my arms. I slide the hammer over to her and smile. She starts laughing again, but takes my bag and waves me through.

eliot has literally killed people and things he’s going to be on his own forever but then gets these two pseudo little siblings who he’s responsible for, and he’s totally cool with parker practically sitting in his lap and jumping out of windows on top of him and hardison babbling in geek in his ear and he has a special handshake with hardison. and hardison was always the most adjusted of the three but finally has people around him that respect what he does and care about his nerdy references and trusts him to do his job

Being fat means you can't ever be in line at a food pantry without somebody commenting "How could you be hungry?"

Being fat means being locked out of anorexia recovery by society and by the mental health field itself, to the point that you're not even allowed to be diagnosed with anorexia if you're fat. No, you have "atypical anorexia." Normal anorexics are thin.

Hm? The disorder is literally the exact same minus the fatness? Eating disorders are behavioral disorders, not weight disorders? Yeah, I wish facts mattered too.