Let's Be More Ratty This Year.

Some basic concept pages that I added as an introduction in my Grimoire.

things that people treat like moral traits when they're not:

hygiene

punctuality

appearance

language

being good at these don't make you a good person, and being bad at these don't make you a bad person.

you can be dirty, messy, late, fat, and you can write with spelling mistakes every two words, and none of this makes you a bad person.

we need to stop treating this as moral failings.

Insulin is a perfect counter to the "without a profit motive no one will invent anything" bullshit.

The inventors of insulin wanted it to be free and avaliable to everyone who needs it. The inventors invented it without a profit motive.

Then, capitalists inserted themselves as middle men in order to extract profit from it. It's now ridiculously expensive and people need it to live.

People are dying. The tool to save them exists. Capitalists hijack the lifesaving tool and hold it for ransom. Because of that, people die.

Capitalism is pure evil. Capitalists are murderers.

Cinnamon Sugar Twists with Brown Sugar Maple Butter Filling

"we want to take care of each other, and if that's 'radical,' then something is wrong."

saw someone else write this in a comment section and i couldn't say it better myself. human rights issues are so often reduced to political partisanship---and the weaponization of this kind of rhetoric restrains the social progress of humanity, whether consciously or not. it allows us to dismiss real hatred and discrimination that goes far beyond partisan politics in the name of political civility. and for those who don't participate in the idea of political civility, it further distorts the innocuous movement for the equal rights of all people into a targeted, malicious and personal attack on someone's values, pitting two sides against each other over humanitarian issues that should be entirely non-partisan.

supporting ideology that calls for the extermination or oppression of a group of people should not be considered a "political opinion." these are issues that threaten people's right to dignity and life. the mindset of "it's just politics" and "it's just an opinion that everyone is entitled to" is a dangerous and slippery slope, one that has facilitated those in our past to turn a blind eye in the face of horrific mass genocide. it's damaging to mask bigotry and oppression under the misnomer of politics.

it should also not be the norm that, if one chooses to ignore or uphold the clear violation of another person's human rights under the guise of political civility, it is seen as "peaceful," or ironically, in our christocentric country, as "loving thy neighbor." these are issues that challenge our fundamental right to be human day-to-day, and this is a conversation that everybody is a part of regardless of whether they think it aligns with their political beliefs and regardless of whether they want to be involved or not. so no, i do not believe that it is correct to say that, for instance, in the recent 2024 election, it is "contributing to a society of division" when a person questions their relationships with people who support the trump campaign's hateful and oppressive beliefs, or that it is "radicalized" to stand firmly in protest of them. because truthfully it isn't based on political differences, but on the reality that the 2024 election was an election that trivialized human rights.

i acknowledge that social politics are largely what define partisan politics today and that it is nearly impossible to separate the two, as social politics are often presented by our politicians as issues that affect all the other areas of politics as well. however, i believe that this is an idea that has been long built and established by the two-party system to develop the political agendas of each party, muddying our ability to distinguish the difference between when we should use pragmatism, empathy, or our identity to guide our beliefs. this is not so much a rant focusing on political extremism or the far-right, but to highlight the pernicious nature of conflating humanitarianism with politics. it's not a left-wing problem or a right-wing problem, it's a universal societal state. i hope for a day we are able to, as a society, understand that advocating for the basic rights of others is a choice that transcends political sides---a choice that is deeply rooted in who you are as a person, who we are as a people, and the future you're choosing for our world.

Easy Apple Crisp

When I die, I don't want to be embalmed. I don't want to be cremated, I WANT TO ROT.

I want my body to be buried as it is and an apple or walnut tree planted over me. I want to go back to being a part of mother earth and I want my body to feed that tree so that i can continue to care for my loved ones well after my death.

I want my grand babies' grand babies to pick the fruit of that tree, knowing their mammaw is buried underneath, feeding, and caring for them the way I would my own babies. I want them to climb into the branches like they were climbing into my arms so that I can hold them and let them know they are loved even after I am dead.

When branches die and fall from my tree, I want them burned to provide my family with warmth in the winter. I want the children to roast marshmallows and cook over the fire that is fed by the wood from the tree I am buried under. I want to never not be a part of the family bon fires. My children will drink beers and tell stories around the fire as we do now, always knowing Mama's spirit is there.

I grew my babies in my body fed them with my body as infants, and when I die, I want my body to continue to provide for and nurture my family for countless generations to come.

Also I don't want the government knowing where I'm buried

Micro evolution like this is so interesting to see

Gerstner Postdoctoral Fellow Daniel Hooper (@danielmhooper) studies the genetics of color evolution in Australian finches at the Museum. He recently published a study on the genetics of color variation in Long-tailed Finches and shares his findings on why some of these finches have red beaks, while others have yellow or orange beaks. This research, recently published in Current Biology, was all catch and release.

Fieldwork photos courtesy of Daniel Hooper, Geoffrey Giller, and Simon Griffith.