hey hello hi

eyes hit serious diminishing returns wrt resource costs vs vision quality as they get bigger, so the question became: what the FUCK do giant (and colossal) squid need to see so badly that they couldn't see with swordfish-sized eyes that's justifying that massive energy cost? that nothing else in the deep ocean needs to see so fucking badly??

turns out the one strength eyes that big really have over much smaller eyes is: seeing large glowing objects in water deeper than 500 meters from an appreciable distance.

sperm whales are the primary predator of giant squid. sperm whales don't glow. BUT! water that deep is full of bioluminescent creatures-- these creatures light up when bumped into. something a sperm whale's size is continuously bumping into those critters, it's just surrounded by a glowing field all the time when it's swimming at those depths, visible from a distance-- if you have the right eyes-- as a massive glowing shape. so basically the only reason to have eyes the size of soccer balls is if you live in the deep ocean and your life depends on having a heads up when a hungry sperm whale lurking around

Growing visibly emotional as he recounted the trauma surfaced by the Justice Department’s release of files on the serial predator, a tearful President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday he had been sex-trafficked by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump, who described himself as a “victim of really unbelievable stuff, some of the worst” at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol, broke down several times as he claimed that Epstein had repeatedly lied to him and pressured him into sexual activity with others from their first meeting in 1987 until the convicted sex offender’s death in prison in 2019.

This weekend we started a new series on #Paleostream!

Pocket Prehistory is a project in which I draw small extinct critters as museum specimens, life sized, on post card formats.

I only do adults so don't expect a T. rex fetus or something ;)

Made this guy from my favorite Gerard Donelan comic

Klaus Nomi with his dancers Janus Budde and Joey Arias in 1982.