Another thing that I hate is the idea that my identity isn’t “age appropriate” for children. Like, my mom described my girlfriend as “a friend of mine” to my 10 year old sister (who unbeknownst to my mom, knows that I am gay have a gf). That shit hurts! It’s really fucking hurtful that people I love think of my being gay as something that children “wouldn’t understand” and should therefore be shielded from. Surprise: children are generally uninterested in the particulars of adult dating/relationships. So if you tell them two people are together they will just take your word for it and not immediately launch into questions about gay sex. Incredible!
Seriously, dismantle the harmful misconception that same gender relationships are somehow more “adult” than different gender ones
Lay your arm on a flat surface and push
your thumb and pinky together. If you
don’t see a raised band across your
wrist, you are a product of evolution.
If you do, you’ve got a useless extra
muscle in your arm that is slowly being
erased from our genetic code. Source
I just did some research on this and apparently this muscle actually helps you hold a spear (something we as a majority haven’t needed to do much of in recent times, thus it is a mutation that is neither harmful nor helpful to lack this muscle) But I’ll see you all in the post-apocalyptic world with my genetic advantage to hold and throw spears~
Looks like you’re going to have to do all the spear throwing for me.
tag yourself im a spearholder
*walks up to couple*
so which of you is evolved and which is the spearholder
spearholder, both me and my SO.
XD
Is anybody… is… is anybody gonna… No? Okay. I’ll do it then.
Okay, see, this is like 94% bullshit. I mean, it’s about 6% science, yes, but it’s also 94% bullshit.
First things first, “you are a product of evolution”. What. Every organic thing on the face of the planet is a product of evolution. Evolution kicked off somewhere around 3.8 billion years ago with the first appearance of life and it hasn’t really stopped since. Everything that came before you was “a product of evolution”. That phrase doesn’t mean anything special.
But Bear, you say, it means people without the thing are just more highly evolved than those who have it!
Bullshit, I say. There is no such thing as “more highly evolved.” Evolution is not some kind of mad rat-race to see which lineage makes it to the top of Darwin Mountain first. Evolution is about creating an organism that can survive and reproduce as effectively as possible to fill a particular niche or role in its given ecosystem.
How good are you at burrowing in the dirt and eating leaf litter? You probably suck at it. But roly-polies (aka, sowbugs, pillbugs, or terrestrial isopods) are great at this! Is a roly-poly less evolved than you because it doesn’t drive a car and use the internet… or are you less evolved than a roly-poly because you can’t break down leaf litter into small, usable particles? The answer is neither–you’re both beautifully evolved organisms filling different niches in the ecosystem and doing it very well.
Now, so far as this “muscle” (it’s actually a tendon) being “slowly erased from our genetic code”… no.
Let me start out by saying something that really should have been said in the first place, because it’s a cool bit of knowledge to have and it’s fun to say: The tendon shown in the picture is called the palmaris longus. Palmaris longus! Say it out loud!
The palmaris longus is what is known as a vestigial tendon. When something is vestigial, that means that it’s no longer needed by the organism, but isn’t doing enough harm by being there that it impacts the organism’s ability to fill its niche and reproduce. A vestigial organ or body part neither helps nor hinders the organism; it’s just kinda there, a relic of eons past.
(For example, the tail of a bear. A tail is utterly useless to a bear–it is too short to provide any kind of stability while in motion, isn’t prehensile, and doesn’t play a role in body language–but they still have ‘em.)
Now, it’s true that vestigial traits have a tendency to disappear over time, but not because they’re being erased from the genetic code.
Evolution–hell, natural selection–depends on there being inherent variation among the population. If one individual has a variation that gives it an advantage, and said variation is genetically determined, there’s a slight chance their offspring will inherit that useful variation. Slight. Conversely, if one individual’s variation is a disadvantage, it may hinder its chances of reproducing, and thus prevent it from passing that unhelpful trait to the next generation.
But a vestigial trait, which confers no advantage or disadvantage, is sort of stuck in limbo and is only passed along by pure chance.
I’ve heard people say, for example, that wisdom teeth are “evolving out” of the human species, and it makes me want to throw mine–which were surgically removed when I was 18–at their faces. That’s not how evolution works. In order for a trait to “evolve out” of a species, it has to be selected against. It has to be obvious so that other members of the species can notice it and find it unsexy enough that they won’t mate with the individual displaying it.
Do you only date people who never developed wisdom teeth, in the hopes that any offspring you have with them will also never develop wisdom teeth? I’m thinking not. There’s no active selection against the wisdom tooth trait. If anything, there’s selection for the more refined, narrow jaw structure that separates our skulls from those of like every other ape on the planet (which coincidentally is why most people don’t have space in their jaws for a third set of molars to properly develop and erupt, and need their–frequently deformed–wisdom teeth extracted), and that may in turn be linked to whether or not wisdom teeth form.
Wisdom teeth, like the palmaris longus, are a vestigial trait that is being passed along purely by chance.
Oh but Bear! you say. The spear-holder argument! Our ancient cavemen ancestors who had this palmaris longus tendon could better grip and throw their spears. Wouldn’t being a better hunter make them a more desirable mate for cavewomen?
No. No it wouldn’t. And let me tell you why.
The palmaris longus is a vestigial tendon, has been for eons, and hasn’t conferred an evolutionary advantage on those who have it since we lived in trees.
Yeah. A well-developed (aka, not vestigial) palmaris longus tendon is really only found in arboreal animals, like monkeys. Found there, it does give an advantage by augmenting grip strength, and thus making those tree-dwelling monkeys a little less likely to fall out of the tree. But among humans, who are terrestrial apes? The palmaris longus is not needed and is nothing but a relic. It’s been a relic since, like, Australopithecus.
Studies show that there is no difference in grip strength between those who have the palmaris longus and those who do not. Which should surprise no one because, again, the tendon is vestigial.
Now, to make up for me crushing your hopes of being a better spear-holder, let me share with you some great facts about the palmaris longus tendon!
It’s found in roughly a quarter of the population.
It has a ridiculous amount of variety in how it presents. In some people, it’s just a tendon running from A to B along the forearm with no associated muscle. In others, the muscle (which is also poorly-developed and vestigial) is found in the middle of the tendon. In others, the muscle is at one end of the tendon. Also, in some people, it’s only present in one arm and not the other–so if you see it in one wrist, check if it’s on the other side as well. I have it on both arms.
Because it’s vestigial and is not “needed”, it is the number one choice for use in reconstructive work. Surgeons will use it to repair or replace tendons just about anywhere in the body, because they can remove it without any ill effect!
This has been your daily dose of science. Bear, out.
omg this explains it so much more and better than me
My high school Environmental Science teacher summed up evolution in 4 words: dead things don’t breed. If a trait gets a critter killed before it breeds, it doesn’t get passed on. Fewer of the next generation will be descended from parents who have the thing, meaning the thing will become rarer until its gone altogether. It’s…really a simple concept, at its core.
I keep reblogging this with a note to talk about the evolution thing in detail and how this is wrong but I haven’t had time and also now I don’t have to, so BOOM.
Fun story, my dad’s friend from college once wanted to bring his best friend from Palestine but he couldn’t get the papers so they went to court to say they were married or some shit and brought my dad to as a witness and the judge was like “prove it? I don’t believe this is an actual marriage and you two are in love” and like they shrugged and started to make out so hard that security had to come to split them up because they went to far, so yeah, real homies make out in a court room to get your homie into Canada to avoid being deported back to his refugee camp.
if you are an eligible voter in the US this coming election and bernie sanders does not have the democratic nomination
you. have. to. vote. for. hillary.
i am not fucking messing around
i am not gonna sit here while you write in names or go on some fucking strike. hillary is not on the same level as donald trump. all of you who act like that’s a hard choice are ridiculous. you vote for hillary clinton if she gets the primary. if you don’t, you give trump the presidency. clear and simple. normally i would not advocate against writing in names, but at this point writing in names would take away from hillary’s vote if she is the nominee–EVEN IF YOU WRITE IN BERNIE SANDERS, YOU GIVE TRUMP A HIGHER CHANCE AT THE PRESIDENCY, AND YOU DON’T WANT THAT.
not even a year ago y’all were laughing about donald trump. don’t fuck this up. in no world is hillary clinton as bad as donald trump.
I haven’t said much about politics around here, but HOLY SHIT THIS.
Y’all. Do not be cute. If you’re not old enough to really remember it, go read about the election of 2000. The one that started us on the path of eight years of George W. Bush.
It happened a lot due in part to a centrist-leaning Al Gore getting the nomination and rather than picking the lesser of two evils, a lot of us tried to break with the two-party system by voting for Ralph Nader. As much as I hate that we’re limited to two parties, I will never do that again.
I feel completely comfortable saying that Donald Trump makes W look like a fucking fairy godmother in comparison.
If Satan his fucking self was running against Trump, I’d vote for Satan.
Anonymous asked: picture this: an underestimated finn rescuing rey and poe. people in the resistance would focus more on how nice and helpful and head over heels for rey and poe he is, not on how deadly he actually this. so when the last jedi and the commander of black squadron are kidnapped, no one thinks about finn until he's vanished. and he returns a few days later going "yeah i saved them. btw, here's all the data on their networks. i killed all the soldiers, so i hope this is enough."
Leia is so proud. Everyone else in the Resistance is half-terrified and half in shock (aside from Rey and Poe who are both just like “yup this is pretty SOP for being in enemy hands when Finn does not want us in enemy hands, not new territory here”), but Leia is just SO PROUD.
Somewhere Phasma is surveying the carnage and is S U F F E R I N G. She could’ve had that soldier. Did she really just have to keep that idiot Slip alive and encourage Nines and Zeroes to fraternize a bit and she could’ve kept that soldier? REALLY, WAS THAT ALL IT WOULD’VE TAKEN TO GET RESULTS LIKE THESE ON THEIR SIDE?? BECAUSE SHE WOULD’VE DONE THAT, FOR RESULTS LIKE THESE.
Hux shows up all baffled and pissed off like “wtf happened HERE” and Phasma is just like “I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT”.
Methods of Inheritance
Here are the rules that every child
learns in kindergarten.
One.
Only an uncared-for child or a great fool is caught outside after dark
on the equinoxes. (Fact: Harry is an
A-average student with a knack for real-world applications and logical
thinking. Appropriate conclusions may be
drawn.)
Two.
If you hear the Horns, you will run.
(Fact: Harry has excellent hearing, and the Horns carry on the wind like
ashes from a wildfire.)
Three. If you run, they have to chase you. (Fact: Harry does not remember when she moved,
but her legs burn and each footstep seems to thunder like a drumbeat.)
“This is your daily, friendly reminder to use commas instead of periods during the dialogue of your story,” she said with a smile.
“Unless you are following the dialogue with an action and not a dialogue tag.” He took a deep breath and sat back down after making the clarifying statement.
“However,” she added, shifting in her seat, “it’s appropriate to use a comma if there’s action in the middle of a sentence.”
“True.” She glanced at the others. “You can also end with a period if you include an action between two separate statements.”
