sosuperawesome
I was sort of creating a alternative theory about his relationship with Buffy and that becomes most clear in the episode Guise Will Be Guise episode. Where The T'ish Magev is trying to help him (Angel) get over Darla, and he says “Here’s what you need to do, go out, find a small blonde thing, better, break her heart and than leave her and that will help you get over Darla.” And so what I was kind of saying is oh, that whole undying eternal love that he had with Buffy. Buffy was actually the rebound chick, and that she was entirely the reaction to the real love of his life which was Darla. Because she created him for God sake. ~ Tim Minear
why-animals-do-the-thing
Hey, all. I’m sorry I haven’t continued with the big cat research write-ups as promised.
As you might have seen on the news recently, an intern was killed by a lion over the weekend at a facility in North Carolina. It’s not yet known how the lion escaped his secure lock-out while his enclosure was being cleaned, but he did, and after multiple tranquilizers failed he had to be shot in order for them to retrieve the intern’s body. It made all the incident data I’ve spent the last few months studying far too real - I’ve not only visited that facility, but also interviewed them for my research - and I’m not in much of a mood to keep writing about big cats right now.
I’m not going to blog about the incident until the entire investigation by the USDA is complete, and I haven’t linked a news article here on purpose. I can’t deal with the amount of theories and nasty implications being bandied about from all sectors right now, before the family and the facility have even had time to deal with the immediate trauma much less even mourn. I don’t know anything more than what is being reported about the incident. Nothing about what happened or why is public yet. What I can tell you is that I know how seriously that facility takes their safety protocols and how much personal responsibility the leadership feels for keeping their people safe.
I expected the animal rights world to attack them when I heard what had happened: they’re a small, unaccredited USDA-licensed facility, and they’re in one of the four states left without laws regulating big cat ownership. Regardless of the fact that the facility is not a “pet” ownership situation and the fact that most of their big cats are rescues, placed with them by the USDA in 2004 after a seizure, they’re not AZA and PETA / HSUS already had the state targeted for legislative action in 2019. Now the people at the facility, already dealing with the aftermath of a horrible incident, will be brutally excoriated in public to advance a legislative agenda - and the poor intern’s family won’t be able to mourn in peace, because their child’s death will be a talking point. What’s worse, AR groups are bringing back their federal version of the bill (which my big cat research proves is based on claims that are flat out false) and so they’ll likely take this incident and all the horrible details loudly to D.C.
What I didn’t expect is for other zoos to throw them under the bus, too. I’ve seen at least two statements so far, both from Zoo Miami’s communications director, intimating that the incident happened because the facility felt it was cost-prohibitive to build appropriate enclosures for the lion… while simultaneously using a TV interview about the incident to promote AZA’s brand in contrast. This is the same guy who told the media “it’s an accident and accidents happen” when a zookeeper was injured by a tiger at his facility in 2016. I’m appalled and outraged to the point that I can’t stop shaking. Everyone in the zoo field knows that something like this could happen to us, or our friends and coworkers and loved ones, no matter what accreditation your facility holds. It did happen to an AZA-institution, two years ago, in Palm Beach. You don’t shit on people after they’ve gone through something like that. You support them. The smaller facilities showed up to publicly support the Palm Beach staff after their tragedy, because no matter what inter-industry politics are going on at the time, that’s what you do. It doesn’t look like that’s what is going to happen this time, because the inter-industry politics are now too pervasive to be set aside. I’m not proud to be part of the industry, today.
I’ll go back to regular blogging and answering asks for now, and we’ll return to the big cat data at some point in the future. Thanks for bearing with me.
FYI, when talking about the incident in NC, I was informed by a friend of the intern who was killed that they went by Alex and preferred they/them pronouns.
cosmictuesdays
iamoffyourbird-deactivated20181
terrypratchettappreciation
butterflyslinky
Today, I finished reading my first ever Discworld book. I started with “Feet of Clay,” because it was available at the local library. I had seen the BBC productions of “Circle of Magic” and “The Hogfather,” so I had the basic mechanics down, and I had heard a few things from Tumblr and my dad, so I had a bit of an idea what I was getting into.
And even though I’d never read any other Discworld book, knew very little about any of the characters, I got into it immediately. I want to read the other books, sure, but I didn’t need to.
And I think the reason for that is that Pratchett’s world is so fully realized. I didn’t need to read all of the books about Sam Vimes, because from the moment he hit the page, I understood who he was and how he operated. I didn’t need backstories on Nobbs or Colon or Ventinari because they all just…were. They didn’t need a reason to be who they are, they just exist.
And by far the best character in the book was Ankh-Morkpork itself. It’s probably the best-realized of those cities that are also characters in themselves. It was so easy to feel how it worked, what it was like to be there, who the major players were (without a lot of them really being named) and how people lived.
I came away wishing that I could write a city that alive. I made a dozen character sketches on the way home from work because the whole world makes me see the real world different.
I can’t wait to read more.
Welcome aboard.
medlabscience
biomedgirl
Looking at tissue sections to see their normal histology in my new pathology module. Next week we’re looking at cancerous tissues to see the difference. 🔬🦠
defconprime
silkward
oh i - didnt actually think they were husbands, this is great!
They’re just in a serious relationship - not married!
colonel-kira-nerys
cosmictuesdays
faceupandsing
Me, in tears, halfway through writing a 300 word essay: I can’t do this anymore
Person on A03 who’s writing for fun:
Inconvenient Truth: these are the same person
Yeah, well, I can’t stretch out that review of 16th century economics by adding a gratuitous hand job.
cosmictuesdays
ifeelbetterer
The next time somebody gives you shit about your late autism diagnosis, remember that Anthony Hopkins was diagnosed as autistic when he was 70 years old.
People can go almost their whole lives and never know they’re autistic, but recognize they feel different from their peers.
And BTW Anthony Hopkins stims by rubbing his hands together, and being autistic is exactly why he’s such a good actor. He studies people’s mannerisms with an analytical mind, adopts those mannerisms for characters and turns out awesome performances. He’s a chameleon.
And he’s one of us, autistic community.
terrypratchettappreciation
siverwrites
He heard the sound of sobbing from further along the barricade. It wasn’t young Sam, he knew, and Nobby Nobbs had probably cried all the tears a body was capable of some time ago.
— Nightwacth, Terry Pratchett
Those little lines that make you go “Oh…”
t00thpasteface
