This Is A Free Coupon/excuse For You To Infodump On The Current Topic You’re Obsessed With. Take Some

This is a free coupon/excuse for you to infodump on the current topic you’re obsessed with. Take some time away from internet discourse and share with us something you find interesting.

Today I read about Precambrian animals!

The above one is Thectardis, which is an animal so weird we have almost no inclination of how to categorize it. We know it was alive and it was cone shaped. That’s it.

The thing about fossil life from 500+ million years ago is that there often aren’t really any living analogs for it? Many of the animals from that time were sessile, many filter feeders, without much in common with what comes to mind when we think “Animal”—something that moves around and has a brain and thinks. The strata that preserve these animals are very rarely accessible, and these glimpses we have are hard to interpret.

Many of these creatures are known from a single fossil. Many are too weird to interpret or classify even tentatively.

Here’s another organism from that time, Eoandromeda:

Look at this thing. I can’t explain why, but Eoandromeda makes me feel some kind of deep dread. Like...we don’t know what this thing was. We don’t even know if it was an animal. I look at that shape and I want someone to tell me what that thing is. But we don’t know. We don’t have the words for What That Thing Is.

Imagine something so alien, so divergent from the paths life took to the present day, that we can’t look at it and say “That’s a worm” or “That’s a sponge” or “that’s a jellyfish” or...anything. The words for it literally don’t exist, because nothing like it now exists, and we know nothing about it. We’re not looking at different versions of the same categories of creature we have now. We’re looking at something that is too obscure to have a category. We can guess what it might have looked like. But it is so utterly unlike anything that exists now that we know nothing—except that undeniably, it existed.

Namacalathus. Be honest, doesn’t this make you scream inside? Or is it just me? This was a real animal that existed. It doesn’t know or give a fuck what a “snail” or “bird” is.

Learning about dinosaurs is DIFFERENT. We know what bones are. We have them! When we say that sauropod dinosaurs ate plants, we can imagine those plants. We can describe dinosaurs as having a “neck” and “claws” and “legs.” And I think that’s comforting because whatever I feel when I look at Namacalathus is not that.

This one invented muscles! Muscles are okay! I have muscles! That should make me feel better, right!

...Not really! Put it back!

For millions of years these things existed, living their unknowable lives. There was an entire world of these organisms. This was EARTH, our world.

People mostly haven’t heard of these. I think people care less about these strange early creatures because they seem less charismatic, not having brains or doing anything, but I think there is a lot of charisma to the Unknowable Cone Animal, the Dread Spiral, and all the other unsettling animals of the Precambrian.

Dream SMP Characters’ Worldview & Philosophies

I’ve been thinking about the differences between the way certain characters view the world and themselves, so I’ve created a meta for those who are interested.

(Note: These are extremely oversimplified and condensed for the sake of reading consumption and brevity.)

This post includes only Major Characters (Involved in 3+ Arcs). Some will have more or less points depending on how vocal or unique their perspectives are. Points are mentioned regardless of if the character has changed or shifted their worldview in later story arcs.

Characters who share the same philosophies with others will have their names in (parentheses) beside each point. Worldviews that are entirely unique or not shared will be bolded.

Wilbur:

Loyalty should always lie with your nation. (Tubbo, Quackity)

Fight with your words, not your weapons. (Tubbo, Fundy)

Power is only gained through bloodshed. (Quackity, Technoblade)

Authority is meant to be challenged. (Tommy, Tubbo, Quackity, Technoblade, Fundy)

Revenge is a cycle that only ends when one side falls. (Ranboo, Fundy)

Personal identity and public identity should be interchangeable.

It is always better to suffer alone, than be hurt through vulnerability. (Ranboo, Technoblade)

Forgiveness is essential to peace. (Tubbo, Sam)

Identity is entirely defined by your title.

Sometimes breaking something beyond repair is better than fixing it.

Violence is always a last resort. (Tommy, Tubbo, Ranboo)

If you fail yourself, you have failed everyone.

The ends justify the means. (Quackity, Dream, Technoblade, Sam)

Trust no one. (Quackity, Dream, Technoblade, Fundy)

Speak precisely or do not speak at all. (Technoblade)

Control is imperative for survival. (Quackity)

Most Shared Worldviews: Technoblade +6 / Quackity +6 Least Shared Worldviews: TommyInnit +2

TommyInnit:

Loyalty should always lie with your friends/allies. (Ranboo, Sam)

Human attachment is a strength. (Ranboo)

Change is meant to be resisted.

Win fairly, or don’t win at all.

Authority is meant to be challenged. (Wilbur, Tubbo, Quackity, Technoblade, Fundy)

Never give up, even in the face of death. (Quackity, Dream, Technoblade)

Suffer yourself, so no one else has to. (Sam)

Never abandon someone you love, even if they hurt you.

Always intervene before a conflict grows worse. (Fundy)

Violence is always a last resort. (Wilbur, Tubbo, Ranboo)

The purpose of living is to have fun. (Dream, Fundy)

Nothing that is broken is beyond repair. (Tubbo, Quackity)

Life is meaningless without someone to share it with.

All suffering is the result of your own mistakes. (Tubbo, Quackity)

Always try to see the good in others. (Quackity)

Stealing is essential to survival.

Most Shared Worldviews: Quackity +5 Least Shared Worldviews: Wilbur +2 / Techno +2 / Dream +2 / Sam +2

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allied-menace

2 years ago

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allied-menace

1 year ago

The Camouflaged Looper: these caterpillars fashion their own camouflage by collecting flower petals/vegetation and using silk to "glue" the pieces onto their bodies

Though they're often referred to as "camouflaged loopers," these caterpillars are the larvae of the wavy-lined emerald moth (Synchlora aerata).

Camouflaged loopers deploy a unique form of self-defense -- they snip off tiny pieces of the flowers upon which they feed, then use bits of silk to attach the vegetation to their backs. This provides them with a kind of camouflage, enabling them to blend in with the plants that they eat.

Some of them create little tufts that run along their backs, while others fashion a thicker camouflage that covers their backs completely. In some cases, the camouflaged loopers will even build much larger bundles that surround their entire bodies.

Their range includes most of North America (from southern Canada down through Texas) and they can feed upon an enormous variety of plants -- so the disguises that these caterpillars build can come in countless colors, shapes, and sizes, incorporating many different flowers and other bits of vegetation.