No, said Aziraphale, it's ineffable.

A Molting Cicada, via CSIRO and Wildlife Photographer Brad Leue. @bradleuephotography @csirogram

CSIRO states: “Cicadas spend most of their lives as nymphs underground (some Australian species for as much as 6 -7 years!). Once they’re fully grown they’ve got a lot of work to do and not much time to do it. They dig their way to the surface, shed one last time and mate, all within a few weeks.

Cicadas are also the loudest insects in the world with some singing as loud as 120 decibels. They sing in groups to repel birds and attract a mate. Fun fact: only the males sing.”

Thank you to CSIRO and Brad Leue for the insight!

logicheartsoul

Jadzia Dax & Lenara Kahn Kiss in Rejoined

old-type-40

This is a very significant moment in Trek history. And I think many in the Trek fandom who are below a certain age may not realize how significant this was.

At the time DS9 was airing, I worked for a manager who is gay. And his manager at the time is gay. I had a number of gay coworkers and a lesbian coworker. And this is in the SF Bay Area which is the most liberal area of the most liberal state in the US. Some of my coworkers were very open about their sexual orientation while others were extremely discrete about it because there was still rampant homophobia. I don’t think people realize just how much attitudes have changed in the last 10 years. During the 2008 general election, a gay marriage initiative was defeated in California. And this wasn’t because of a conservative turnout. This was because a significant percentage of liberals voted against it (which still boggles my mind).

I know many in the Trek fandom wish TNG, DS9, and Voyager had done a better job with representation. But keep in mind that the distribution mechanism for TV back then meant a reliance upon local stations broadcasting your program. If some of my coworkers felt they couldn’t be open about themselves in the SF Bay Area, think about what it must have been like in other parts of the country. In the 80s and 90s, it didn’t take a significant percentage of people to get a program taken off the air.

So given public attitudes at the time it aired, Rejoined was very significant.

pumpkinickel asked:

Hi, Neil! First off, wanted to say thank you for all the writing you’ve done! You’ve managed to somehow be a part of one of my favorite movies from childhood (Coraline) and now one of my favorite shows (Good Omens).

I wanted to ask about Beelzebub’s hat, like what did you guys make it out of? I’ve been planning to make one for myself to wear out but have no idea where to start.

The first hat was improvised. We had big fly eyes that were meant to go over Anna Maxwell Martin’s eyes. The day before we were going to be shooting (her first scene was on the airbase) I went into the hair and makeup tent and was told that was not going to be possible. So we had the “eyes” and I suggested we just glue them to a hat and add wings and antennae. And the next day that was what Beelzebub wore. So it was literally a bowler hat with two things that looked like fly eyes glued to it and some bits of wings made of gauze and a couple of black pipe-cleaners.

See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

A Molting Cicada, via CSIRO and Wildlife Photographer Brad Leue. @bradleuephotography@csirogram

A Molting Cicada, via CSIRO and Wildlife Photographer Brad Leue. @bradleuephotography @csirogram