This costume is my Dungeons and Dragons character, Rue, who is a Kenku (bird person.) The Kenku are a monster race that became playable in 5th edition.
The photos in this post were taken by D. Davalos (flickr, twitter, instagram) at PAX West 2016. Saheeli Rai cosplayer (who is touching my head) is @ladymakeupsiren.
Check out this bird costuming masterpost by my bud, @rah-bop! I personally know that Rah put countless hours into researching, writing, and making these tutorials (especially since she hand illustrated some of them!). She made these for FREE, wow! If you like them, or use them, or they are helpful to you, be sure to say “thanks” (or drop her a little tip so she can pay her bills and keep making THE MOST AMAZING ART HOLY WOW). Even just hearing “thanks!” means a lot to an artist, trust me!!
I saw Angelo one day a few weeks ago when I was going
through Union Square here in NYC, where I live. He was sitting on the sidewalk
at a dog adoption event with a volunteer. He was wrapped tight in a blanket and
was resting on his friend’s lap. I got my own dog from the same adoption event
three years ago. For some reason, I stopped and sat down next to Angelo and
started asking about him. There was just something about him.
The volunteer with him said that Angelo has been in foster
care ever since he was found tied to a tree in Brooklyn. When
found, Angelo was neglected and afraid. That was five years ago. Angelo has never had a good home. He lives in shelters and foster homes, and spends his weekends at dog adoption events. Other dogs come and go, and Angelo remains.
Angelo was very eager for scratches and was giving a lot of kisses.
He has been well cared for
by Mighty Mutts and a series of dedicated volunteers, but he has never had
owners to love him. The volunteer I spoke to had been working with Angelo for a
year. Every Saturday, he comes and sits with Angelo and people walk past him.
He said, “I’ve been doing this for fifteen years and Angelo is one of the
greatest dogs I’ve ever worked with.”
I got that right away. There was a reason I stopped.
So I sat there for a little while. At one point, one of the
puppies got his tail stepped on and yelped. Angelo immediately stood up to
check on the puppy, and then checked every other dog on the adoption line.
There is something about Angelo.
This year has been terrible, but I’m not letting 2016 go
without making something good of it. So I am determined to get Angelo adopted
to a good home. I tweeted about him, and some great people were interested in
Angelo, but they were either too far or already had dogs. So here are the
details on Angelo:
Angelo lives in New York, so he’d have to be adopted in the
area so that Mighty Mutts can do a home visit before adoption. He should ideally be the only dog in the house, though he is good with other dogs. (I had my dog with me, and the two got along great and gave each other kisses. There were a lot of kisses involved in this whole affair.) He would be best suited with someone who has had experience with dogs, because he is a big, lovable guy. He is about eight now, so he is mellow. He has a lot of energy, but loves a cuddle and will likely sleep snuggled up with you if he can.
His volunteer said that for the right application (really make the case, maybe send a video?) he would be willing to drive somewhere within about a five hour radius of New York to do the home visit himself.
Angelo has spent his life without a real home. If you are in
or around NYC and have been considering a dog, consider Angelo. If you can’t adopt him, please spread the word to anyone you know in the
area.
I will sponsor the $275 adoption fee for Angelo, and you’ll be my hero.
To make an application for Angelo, contact Mighty Mutts. (And if you apply, let me know so I can follow up!) If you spread the word, please use the hashtag #ahomeforangelo
2016 has sucked. Let’s do this thing and get this awesome guy a home.
Remember Gilora, the Cardassian scientist who first assumes Miles is less skilled than she is, then thinks he’s been flirting with her? Well, in this story, she continues to be faced with confusing cues. It’s not entirely her fault, however. Human men are just so hard to understand!
Excerpt:
The scientist’s expression grew so perplexed that Julian was about to inquire into it when they were interrupted by a very familiar voice. “Well, this is certainly an unexpected sight.”
Julian glanced up in time to see Garak moving in their direction, a strange little smile on his face. “Why? I have lunch with you all the time.”
Garak’s smile widened a little. “Well, that’s completely different.” It was only then that he turned to Gilora, giving her a nod so formal it almost looked like a bow. “And if I may inquire, who is your lovely companion, Doctor?”
“This is Gilora Rejal,” Julian said. “Gilora, this is…Garak, my friend I was telling you about.”
“Doctor Bashir has spoken highly of you,” Gilora said by way of a greeting. “I am glad that I had a chance to make your acquaintance.”
“I’m sure he does,” Garak smiled and Julian rolled his eyes. “And, I assure you Ms. Rejal, the pleasure is all mine.”
Metadata:
Title:Cultural Miscues Author:Regann Year Posted: 2009 Approx. Word Count: 3,500 Chapters: 1 GB - Slash or Platonic: Slash My Rating (1-5): 4 Keywords: Flirting, Cross-Cultural Misunderstanding
Why are kayaks Incredibly Rude to swans? I'm asking because we have a lot of wild turkeys on my college campus and they HATE cars. They will block you from opening car doors, circle you in your car like a shark, jump on top of cars and snap at tires.
2/2 so I was wondering if large birds just hate human
transportation or something haha. Thanks for your post, very
interesting.
(In reference to a comment I made about kayaks being incredibly rude in Swan Culture)
I’ve been looking at my inbox like “I am not some kind of ECCENTRIC BIRD WHISPERER,” but I actually know the answer to this one, and it’s hilarious.
Large birds don’t have a particular hateboner for human transportation, but wild turkeys have two unique properties that make them behave ridiculously when they collide with human populations. For those who aren’t familiar with them, wild turkeys are large, boisterous birds that tend to interact with humans most frequently around the autumn which is convenient for Thanksgiving and mating season in early spring. Most of the time, they live peaceable lives in the woods, but around November they run around in flocks bothering innocent citizens and picking fights with vending machines, and then they usually go away again.
The toms, or dominant males, can stand up to 4 feet tall and weigh up to 24 pounds. They’re the ones that do the fancy displays:
The First Unique Turkey Property: Now, wild turkeys are a little bit like betta fish, in that they perceive any shiny/reflective surface that shows them a reflection as actually containing Another Turkey, and they react accordingly. When they react to the Other Turkey - usually by posturing aggressively and flaring their fins feathers majestically - the Other Turkey ESCALATES THE SITUATION by posturing as well. At some point the real turkey loses its temper and attacks, pecking and scratching and trying to take the fucker apart, only to find that the Other Turkey has protected itself with some kind of force field.
So to a wild turkey that has encountered enough autumnal car-related psychic battles, the completely logical conclusion to take away from them is that cars contain demonic spiritsthat must be subdued. Other examples of things that wild turkeys are compelled to vanquish include… well, other reflective things.
To address this, cover reflective things (you can rub soap on your car to make it less reflective) and frighten off the turkey if it’s keeping you from leaving your car.
The Second Unique Turkey Property: This is a little bit embarrassing for all concerned, but you have to think about it like a turkey would. You see, humans are oddly compelling creatures to a hormonal turkey. We have bare faces with interestingly positioned lumps of flesh, we gobble our speech in a way that almost sounds like Turkey, we strut about on two feet showing off our long sexy legs, we strut about in family groups, we often have access to really good food, our clothing is big and bright and colorful. Turkey faces change color with their mood; human faces are all kinds of fascinating colors, plus additional fantastic decorations. To wild turkeys, humans are a type of turkey, and further: many humans are either Intimidating Sexual Threats, or Exciting Sexual Beings.
Now, I am very sorry about this, but not only can wild turkeys be kind of reverse furries, they also have unexpected ideas about gender and sexuality. So to some female turkeys, “male” humans are excitingly sexy and they will follow one around for embarrassingly long periods of time, cooing attractively - meanwhile, the tom turkey and the subordinate males will be OUTRAGED by the COMPETITION presented by the interloper, and will attempt to subdue “him.” And “female” humans are likewise at risk of being passionately seduced by the dominant toms, or quietly propositioned by subordinate males - or the females may attempt to recruit you into their existing social system - as a junior member, of course. They have a strict pecking order.
Unfortunately for humans, your preferred gender may not necessarily actually
translate to the gender that turkeys decide you are. And some turkeys
may decide you’re “male” while others will decide that you’re “female,” so that will be confusing, and some dominant female turkeys have “male” sexual traits - like beards and tail fans - anyway. They recognize and remember humans, so if you had a particularly exciting encounter with a specific turkey, it will probably remember you.
Also unfortunately for humans, the fine distinctions between Turkey Seduction, Turkey Competition, and Turkey Networking are usually a little bit lost, and all of this behavior seems to be the same thing - it mostly consists of a large dinosaur-like bird trotting at you, possibly screaming and pecking and flapping, and can be worrying. If you are in the car and the turkey can see you, and it wishes to
continue a previous encounter, it may well insist upon this in a
frightening way.
Turkeys don’t give a shit about human “gender” and “authority,” as the many available videos on the internet of turkeys attacking police officers, reporters and mailmen will assure you. They just make logical decisions that are perfectly natural and reasonable to turkeys, and humans react by running away.
So what do you do about this? Well, DO NOT RUN AWAY, this means you that you are a Submissive Turkey and their behavior will escalate. Turkeys can learn the meaning of “no,” and you don’t have to be bullied by them.
And the Massachusetts Fish and Game website has a huge resource explaining all the subtleties of wild turkey behavior and how to combat the nuisances. Essentially, you must not attempt to make friends with them or attract them; once they arrive, you must “be bold” and establish Dominance, and encourage everyone to do the same.
If the turkeys are aggressive around children and the elderly, all sources agree that if they become a danger, you can contact the relevant authorities and have the turkeys removed or destroyed.
Anyway, that’s why turkeys attack cars. The take-home message is: the cars are too shiny and you are possibly a sexy turkey.
As someone who’s owned turkeys for many years, I can say with 100% certainty that turkey hens are complete tarts when it comes to men. My girls love men. Anytime they see a guy, they immediately start calling and trying to follow after him. I have had more than one person mistake this for aggression. There is no polite way to tell a man that a turkey wants to run away and have little turkey babies with him. What’s crazy to me is that they know. They can tell with complete accuracy who’s a man and who’s a woman.
A woman visits the coop? No big deal.
A guy? Holy shit.
My Toms don’t care about human ladies, but my hens can’t get enough human guys in their lives. Take it from me, turkeys are something else.
“Ultimately, with my responsibilities [elsewhere], I could not do what CBS needed to have done in the time they needed it done for Star Trek,” Fuller explains to Newsweek. “It felt like it was best for me to focus on landing the plane with American Gods and making sure that was delivered in as elegant and sophisticated a fashion as I could possibly do.”
CBS opted to move ahead without Fuller after previously accommodating his and co-creator Alex Kurtzman’s request to push the show’s planned January 2017 premiere to May….
“I’m not involved in production, or postproduction, so I can only give them the material I’ve given them and hope that it is helpful for them. I’m curious to see what they do with it,” he says.
He commented on a potential second season: “They have my number and if they need me I will absolutely be there for them.”
deepintheshadyglen