Rise Up, Oh Heart, For There is Another Battle to Win
Jun 06
[video]
Objectively speaking, the single greatest image that has been produced by the Animorphs series is Elfangor as a reckless Andalite cadet speeding over the Taxxon homeworld in a bright yellow Mustang convertible while he tries to figure out how to make the radio stop blasting Satisfaction and drinks Dr. Pepper.
As a person with a liberal arts degree who basically has never worked in the field for which she studied, I submit to you that Patty Tolan could potentially hold at the very least a Bachelor’s in American History.
Statistically, Black women are the most educated, degree-holding group in America, and STEM degrees are not the only ones that matter.
She could also potentially be an autodidact, but there’s no reason she has to be.
STEM degrees are not the only ones that matter. Those of us with advanced degrees who are underemployed know this. Hell, several STEM degree holders are also underemployed.
Picture Patricia Tolan’s Master thesis on the history of capital punishment in New York being how she identified that ghost in the subway and tell me that isn’t fucking awesome.
She might also have an MA as an architecture historian, which is how she knows so much about specific buildings and their histories
ok but
architecture historian patty tolan predicting the kind of specters that might show up based on the age of the building
architecture historian patty predicting where most ghost activity will be based on which areas are undergoing extreme gentrification, all that ‘renovating’ stirs up a lot of angry ghost energy
patty knowing the escape routes because she’s familiar with the style of architecture and can get everyone out if the ghost gets too hostile
patty being really concerned over the amount of damage their equipment can do to historic structures (and holtz tinkering with it to make them do less damage in the physical world and more to ghosts because she cares about her gf)
patty geeking out when one of the more destructive technologies reveals the original facade of a cool building behind a soulless modern cover
patty being able to calm ghosts down by showing homeowners and renters and landlords what updates to the structure probably got the ghost mad and advising them to get rid of it because its not in the right style anyways
patty going to the archives and doing initial research of a ghost because the archives are cool and its nice to have her hands on original source material again, amazing to be actually using her degree, even if its for something weird and a little scary
I keep imagining the deleted scene where Patty offhandedly mentions she has an MA in history, and Erin asks why she isn’t teaching. Patty gives her the eyebrow. “Nobody’s hiring tenure-track historians. Only adjuncts. Have you SEEN what adjuncts make?”
::in the background, Holtzmann nods knowingly::
Patty finishes, “At least at the MTA, I get dental insurance and overtime.”
Because in all honesty, the situation for liberal arts grad students right now makes this 100 percent plausible.
Reblogging for that awesome addition.
Haha, I read this before I saw the movie, and I think I forgot it was fanon and not actual movie canon. 100% buy.
Y’all, you cannot even adjunct now with an MA–you need a PhD (for sure in NYC). And we still make shit. So basically I’m saying Patty has a PhD.
Patty has a doctorate in architecture history.
Erin, of course, has a doctorate in physics.
Holtzmann has at least two doctorates, a strict warning from the CIA about not traveling in the middle east, and a letter from a certain Director of a certain National Laboratory, both of which carry comparable amounts of weight in the right circles.
Abby… does not. If paranormal studies was a field, she’d be its Grace Hopper. As it is, she’s more of an Ada Lovelace.
And so, when Erin gets in to work, and is in a good mood, the following exchange has been known to happen:
“Doctor.” “Doctor.”
“Doctor doctor,” “Doctor.”
“Abby.”
“…fuck you.”
(Holtzmann once made a comment to the tune of “please do”, and discovered that Abby had quite the throwing arm.)
a new law is about to be passed in Saudi Arabia that will allow the government to execute people for coming out or being openly gay online.
ignoring the fact that this is literally something out of some kind of dystopian novel, in the interests of safety i’ve emptied out my face tag and may temporarily deactivate or password protect this blog.
please reblog this and get the word out, and if you pray, please pray for me and my fellow Saudi LGBTQ+/MOGAI family.
ALSO, for those who need it [x]. its a post on erasing all traces of yourself from the interwebs.
this is not something to read and keep to yourself. please spread this around. may Allah keep everyone safe.
as far as I know, there is no large carnivore who would abandon actively eating a killed meal to chase live prey. chasing and hunting live prey is a risk, as a healthy live creature has the capability to injure a carnivore, or tire it out through the chase. If there is, say, a giant pile of dead bodies to eat, which abandoning would allow other carnivores or scavengers to steal and eat instead, it makes no sense at all.
please stop doing that thing
The sole exception I can think of is if the large carnivore thought the live prey was another carnivore or scavenger, and was chasing them as a threat display to ensure they didn’t steal the dead bodies. Even in that case, though, it would only be a short, mock charge followed by returning to the pile if the opponent fled. With possibly whatever the animal’s equivalent of “and stay out” would be.
Another thing: most carnivores don’t like to fight. They have to mug something to death for every single meal, they have to stay in top shape while conserving their energy. Meanwhile, herbivores have plenty of extra energy because they eat stuff that comes out of the ground and doesn’t fight back, and they often live in big social groups, so they’re better at handling stress and more used to having to actually come to blows with other animals to get their way.
So like, a zebra will try kick your ass just to see what’s up. A tiger won’t do shit unless it’s damn sure it can take you. I’d rather come face to face with a cougar than a stag— have you seen videos of what happens to hunters when a stag catches a dude on the ground? the stag tears the dude apart. Not even to eat him. Just because the stag didn’t like what was going on and decided it was time to curb stomp a motherfucker.
So if you’re deciding what kind of Big Scary Animals to have be a threat, like, forget wolves and lions and eagles and velociraptors. Go drop in a moose.
This is why loud noise can scare bears away. It’s a threat display that normally convinces them that the charge isn’t worth the effort.
-Exception:
If a carnivore is Not That Hungry it might drop something dead to chase something that is doing Extreme Prey Behavior– but it’s not going to be serious about it. I’m thinking of things like a domestic cat that chases birds and mice for kicks. Honestly, I think that the t rex in Jurassic Park was a good example of predator behavior– she abandons something difficult (like the kids in the jeep) for the bright shiny thing she has been conditioned to understand means food (tightpants math guy with the flare + gruff dino man with flare). For the rest of the film, she chases things that run, and then quits and chows down once she has something. This has been one of my biggest beefs with the later JP films, especially Jurassic World– rather than the scares coming from being treated and stalked like prey by animals, the scares are based on monsters killing and eating randomly. (And what’s with the treatment of all the herbivores as good and gentle? Herbivores will fuck you up because they got scared or because you pissed them off and those are the two primary emotions of large herbivores– they won’t eat you, but they’ll still trample you).
+Addition:
The predators that aren’t snipers (like cougars or herons) tend to test individuals in a herd– they want to gauge your health and willingness to fuck somebody up before they commit to you as a target. If you stare them down with your cold dead eyes and gear up to wreck their shit they’ll piss off unless they’re completely desperate. (Like I said, the main emotions of prey animals are Time To Fuck Shit Up and Time To Run). So, I’m desperately tired of all these people running and screaming away from wolves and velociraptors and bears oh my.
Consider:
How much scarier fiction could be if predators acted like actual predators that can be intelligent and patient and are pressing around the edges of your party to find weakness and fear.
Ever gone back and read the original Jurassic Park book? Please don’t, fuckin’ awful I couldn’t even finish it for various reason but the predator behavior like this was a BIG problem. I got so angry at it…haha.
In many situations you’d be more likely to get chased and damaged by a herbivore feeling threatened than a predator already feeding (though push your luck there and see what happens…)
My favourite example of the “herbivores are harmless” fallacy is the
Cape Buffalo. If they’re unhappy about the presence of something that upsets them, they’ll make it go away…
…and if the
something-that-upsets-them
can’t run away fast enough (people, for one) then its going-away can be messy and permanent.
Someone (I think it was writer Robert Ruark) once described Cape Buffalo as “looking at you as if you owe them money.”
This lot all know you owe them money…
…but the big guy on the left knows how much, and that your repayment is late.
You know that thing where, like, a tomboy puts on a dress for a special event or something and everyone acts super “wowed” and goes on and on about how they never knew how beautiful she was? Don’t fucking do that thing.
Yeah for me it’s one thing for people to be like WOAH YOU ARE IN A DRESS and I’m like fricks yeah homie, but another when people say “I never knew how beautiful you are” like BITCH I AM ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL SWALLOW A LIVE WASP
