antique freak

their (live!) young gestate for. wait for it. eight to eighteen (??) YEARS. can have up to 10 at a time. good grief.

longest lifespan of any vertebrate, up to five hundred years

toxic flesh

has giant eyes but is usually blind because of a weird little crustacean that's evolved to live on and eat their eyes. this doesn't seem to bother them much.

lives in deep cold water and has the lowest swim speed and tail-beat frequency for its size across all fish species. just generally lives life in extreme slow motion

largest genome of any shark

eats everything including moose and polar bears

You gather the courage to ask your friends for help. Friends hear you out and tell you "if you ever need any help, please tell me" and you're glad that they heard you out. You promise them you will ask for help if you need it. When the time comes, you don't ask for help, because everyone is struggling with so many things and you don't want to add onto it. You convince yourself that you will ask tomorrow, or in a week. You never do. There's always something more acute.

One of your friends tells you that they are tired of hearing out their other friends. And you understand, because they are a psychologist and they hear out people for a living. They have a lot on their plate.

You try to tell your parents. Not outright, you tell them about your day-to-day struggles. They tell you to get over it, everyone has to deal with that. Then they get an email from work. You don't tell your parents about your struggles anymore.

You try to handle it alone. You research suicidality. You search for the difference between active and passive suicidal ideation. First thing that comes up is an AI overview. The first real page has an anti-bot captcha puzzle. You click on crosswalks. You click on bridges. You wait until it processes. You find out you walk the line between active and passive ideation. You research more. You end up with a pdf documenting the process of hospitalisation of a suicidal patient. They can be let out after a week or two.

You are already visiting a psychiatrist every four months. You ask about a depression diagnosis. Psychiatrist says that you already take antidepressants and antipsychotics, there's no reason for a depression diagnosis.

You are smoking your 10th cigarette of the day, on the balcony, on the 9th floor. You reflect on the semester that has just ended. You passed your exams with good grades. You finished two internships. You are smoking your 11th cigarette of the day. You ponder. You look down, but make no move, but you think about it briefly. You think it's stupid. You wouldn't ever do it. Your friends would be sad. You family would have to pay crazy money, since you live in a foreign country. Your neighbours would look at your flatmates weird.

She's fat and gets the guy and no one bats an eye.

She's fat and the hottest chick in the sorority and that's normal.

She's fat and an actress and she gets good roles.

She's fat and she's funny and she has character depth and growth.

She's fat and the main character and no one mentions her weight once.

I am begging the UK trans community and its allies to attend the Mass Lobby at Parliament on June 25th, 11am-4pm, organised by Trans Solidarity Alliance.

The new EHRC Code of Practice pushes trans people out of toilets, hospital wards, and community spaces. It normalises gender policing based on appearance and stereotypes. It becomes statutory guidance in the UK by the end of June.

Trans people are now legally their assigned gender at birth and must join gendered spaces accordingly, but if they are perceived as their lived gender, they can also be ejected from those spaces. The guidance says: either break the law, or don’t pass too well.

A mass lobby is where you invite your MP to discuss your concerns with you in-person. Ask your MP to:

Demand full parliamentary scrutiny, debate, and use their free vote on the EHRC Code of Practice.

Support any motions rejecting the EHRC guidance. As of June 4th, Labour MP Nadia Whittome has submitted a prayer motion - Early Day Motion 240.

Write to Bridget Phillipson, the Minister for Women and Equalities about our concerns

Your MP does not have to be an ally, they do not have to respond to your email for you to show up and greencard them (details below the cut.) What matters is that as many people as possible show up.

I cannot stress this enough: Showing up in person matters. It is much more effective than petitions, emails, and letters.

It is a horrible, stressful time, and I am so sorry if you're trans and live in the UK. But I was at last year's mass lobby and the line for greencarding alone stretched around the back gates. It was a record breaking mass lobby and made us impossible to ignore. Let's do even better this time. Details under the cut:

A seafoam-green chiffon and silver lamé flapper dress

c. 1926