Wait, You Are A Scientist And You Believe In God? How Is That Possible?

Wait, you are a scientist and you believe in God? How is that possible?

… trivially?Although to be honest this answer’s got shades of Radio Yerevan; I’m not a scientist but rather a science journalist drawing on the vast archives of an obscure research institution which may or may not have been founded as a tax dodge/adventurer’s club back in 1894, and I don’t follow the Abrahamic God but rather a vast pantheon of ancient deities which far precede (and are largely indifferent to) humanity. 

More than I can keep track of, that’s for damn sure. I’ve actually been meaning to write about the major ones with whom I try to keep in good standing but unfortunately the art fund has been embezzled (by me, i was denied fee waivers for getting my identification documents updated) so unless one of the artists I had to withdraw commissions from will accept an IOU it’ll be a bit before I can properly talk about them. I’ll see if I can throw something together for next week but no promises, aye?

Okay you know what? Screw you, buddy. i’m gonna write about bird gods because I am Nikole Elena Ancona and I am the Lead Ornithographist for The Academy of Bird Sciences. Ain’t a single godsdamned person who can tell me how to run this venerable institution except Edith, and I’m pretty sure she skipped town months ago because some police came by with a warrant. So really that makes me the 83rd de facto Administrator of this pillar of cross-species knowledge and I will run it how I see fit. Step off.

Is it a Snag with faded warning ribbon? I’m not in forestry but from what I understand sometimes dead/dying trees are purposefully left standing so as to provide habitat while they decay.

Every time I pass this tree I think, “This is it. This is the day.”

Any forestry people out there, why do you tie the ribbons around the trees but never cut them down? 

To expand a bit for those of you who haven’t concerned themselves with the goings-on of congress, Republicans have attempted to repeal all or part of the ACA over sixty times. Almost every they were blocked by a coalition of Democrats, but even then one attempt managed to slip through and end up on the President’s desk. If this happens with Trump as president, the ACA is gone. My access to healthcare disappears completely, my right to be treated with dignity and respect is stripped away, and I lose access to medication that is quite literally life-saving, all because I happen to be transgender and poor. The point I am trying to make is: Republicans want me dead. This is established fact. They will try their damnedest to make sure I am degraded and spat upon, make my life a living hell where I am not even allowed to use the restroom, and generally stoke fears about ulterior motives so as to convince a gullible rube into violence against me. All of this action done in the hopes that I cease to exist, be that through murder or suicide. We have seen this in North Carolina with the “bathroom bill” which strips cities of LGBTQ protections. Six other state legislatures controlled by Republicans tried to follow in NC’s footsteps, but were stopped because of community backlash. I need you to amplify that backlash. I need you to strike back at the Republican genocide of minorities and mogai. I need you to fight for those of us who can’t. I need you to vote Hillary and Democratic all the way down the ballot. If you haven’t already voted early, please I beg of you go vote tomorrow. I need your help, and I am scared shitless that you will refuse.

American followers of voting age - on behalf of my friend whose life was saved by Obamacare, and my friends whose continued access to healthcare depends on it, and my friends who depend on benefits, and for my younger self who got by on food stamps, and my not-so-younger self who got by on unemployment insurance, and essentially everyone who would be fucked if we gave in and let ourselves follow the UK’s lead in how we treat people who need help, I’m gonna ask you to vote tomorrow if you haven’t already, and I’m gonna ask you to vote the straight democratic ticket top to bottom, barring any particularly odious assholes if any should happen to be blighting your district.

This is an act with real consequences.  Policy decisions affect lives, and sometimes end them.  Please vote for the viable party that will acknowledge that global warming exists.  Please vote for the viable party that will acknowledge that trans people have a right to exist.  Please vote for the viable party that you want picking the supreme court justice who’s going to sit and make these macro-level decisions for the next few decades.  Do it even if it’s a hardship, even if you have to wait in line, even if it doesn’t match up with how you think things ought to be.  Here and now, there are lives to be saved and work to be done.

That’s today.  I will be back to talking about hella cartoons tomorrow, and we can start planning the revolution again on Wednesday, or whenever is good for you.

we’ve arrived at the final cutscene that you get when you’ve completed none of the sidequests and click through all the dialogue trees without reading any 

The Discarded

generally regarded as a cult

semi-apocalyptic worldview

worship may involve self-harm

usually led by Pigeons

Legends say that thousands upon thousands of generations ago, this god was known as The Desired and kept in luxury by humans, safe from the voracious fastwings and sheltered from storms. As cities grew so did human capacity for disdain; eventually they stopped seeing the god as special, treating it as just another piece of rubbish in their vast civilizations. While it remains furious at the callous abandonment, this feral god can yet see glimpses of goodness in humans and so keeps still the retribution held waiting in wing and beak. Followers are mainly split between those who wish to get back in the good graces of humanity and those who try to hasten the apocalypse; both sides have subsectarians who endanger themselves or otherwise engage in self-harmful practices to ‘test’ the limits of human compassion. Convocations are held every three years, and as long as any follower can report a kind act by a human then all adherents regardless of sect are forbidden from enacting the apocalypse. This is probably the major religion I have most contact with in my personal life; above is a photograph I took while attempting to coax a member of the flock towards me so I could try and remove the strings that were binding their feet. Unfortunately another human sprinted between me and the bird, spooking it away and no doubt bringing the end of the world one step closer :/

i still have to write secret bonus knowledge, add a small gift, fold them, seal them, and mail them. all of this should have been done when i got the requests originally but i am an incredible procrastinator; i am so lucky my patreon supporters are patient and kind souls <3 (at The Academy of Bird Sciences)