This May Actually Be The Funniest Thing To Come Out Of Eurovision This Year

I don't want to hear anything about solidarity with queer Palestinians from people who cheer on their principle oppressors. Queer Palestinians in the West Bank lost friends at the Nova concert massacres, but some people don't care. An Israeli Arab won Miss Trans Israel but none of them cared. Even in opposing Israeli policy towards queer Palestinians, none of them called for reforming the asylum process or to end policies of threatening to out Palestinians in order to turn them into informants. They prefer queer Palestinians to die than for their lives to improve through *Israeli* actions.

dana international 💕 israeli queer royalty 🇮🇱👸🏻

the first trans contestant and winner of eurovision !!!! 🇮🇱

Golden Eagle Eyrie. Archibald Thorburn (1860-1935)

via

the rise in antisemitism rn is like looking up and seeing wolves mixed in with sheep in wolves clothing. if you don't want to kill me why are you dressing like you do?

The reduction gears and steam turbines under construction at the General Electric Plant, circa March 1942.

There are four sets of double reduction cross-compound geared turbines, with each turbine set driving a single shaft. “They offered almost 10-1 reduction to allow the turbines to run at much higher and more efficient rpm. These are some of the most critical components of the powerplant and one of the things which allowed long ranges in US battleships.“

Due to the date and the fact USS Iowa (BB-61) and USS Missouri (BB-63) were the only Iowa Class Battleships to receive General Electric gears and turbines, these are most likely for USS Missouri.

A man is shown deburring the edges of teeth with a file.

Note that they are double helix which eliminates axial thrust while providing the quieter running and increased strength of helically cut gears.

Photographed by Dmitri Kessel of LIFE Magazine. Identify by Peter Deforest.

LIFE Magazine Archive: 121941, 121944, 121942, 121943, 121940, 121945, 121946, 121949

I really don’t like when jokes revolving around misinformation on an obscure or niche topic don’t include a label to say it’s a joke. It’s gaslighting people or misinforming those who never read on the topic before.

Catcalling :3

The Middle Rodentocene: 10 million years post-establishment

Silence of the Hams: Predatory Hamsters of the Middle Rodentocene

The increase of species diversity in the Middle Rodentocene has also put pressure on food sources, with different species competing over resources and access to available niches. With so many different hamster species abundant all over the various biomes, some of the species have turned their attentions to other, more viable food sources: other hamsters.

Even the ancestral hamster species they all spawned from wasn't exempt from occasionally snacking on one another, or more infamously among pet owners, of hamster mothers devouring their own babies when disturbed. As such, predatory behavior likely first emerged as a means of getting rid of competition: but with them both disposing of rivals and getting nutritious meals as a beneficial bonus, it wasn't long until some became obligate hunters of their fellow rodents. Multiple, unrelated lineages would separately and convergently become predators, relying on a diverse array of tactics for capturing their prey.

One of the most basal lineages of predatory hamsters are the hammibals (family Pantherocricetidae) a clade of small predators that possess dentition and anatomy that physiologically resemble those of a typical rodent. However, rodent teeth are fairly well-suited for gnawing on both plants and meat, and so the hammibals specialized into a different niche while keeping their anatomy conservative. Their grisly behavior meant that they no longer had to compete with other hamsters over food -- they became their food.

The largest of the hammibals is the Leopard Hammibal (Pardocricetus lecteri), growing up to the size of a large rat. While still mostly insectivorous, a significant portion, almost half, of its diet consists of smaller hamster species which it ambushes in their burrows or pursues when they emerge to forage. Grasping forelimbs with sharp claws seize the prey in an instant, and once secured in its grasp, the hammibal begins to feast on the struggling victim, chomping away on the unlucky prey headfirst until at last the desperate squeaks fade into silence.

But while a basal rodent body plan is suitable for predation of smaller rodents, tackling bigger prey proves for more of a challenge. As such, the fearrets (family Mustelocricetidae) have specialized their body plan far more than the hammibals did, developing stabbing points on their incisors and moving their first molars forward to form shearing teeth that can easily slice mouthfuls of meat from bigger carcasses. This peculiar dentition, closely reminescent of the prehistoric Earth marsupial Thylacoleo, allows the fearrets to take on much larger prey, typically hamtelopes and jerryboas but also young cavybaras on occasion.

The largest species, the Grey Fearret (Mustelocricetus atrox), is roughly the size of a pine marten, and as of this era is currently the biggest carnivore of HP-02017. An ambush predator that specializes on hamtelopes, it hunts during the daytime, where its favored prey, the long-legged ratzelles, are most active. Fearrets hunt by using their incisors to puncture bloody wounds into a victim's neck, before quickly retreating: to avoid injury to themselves, they repeatedly lunge, attack, retreat and attack again, wearing the prey down until it eventually succumbs to exhaustion and blood loss.

Grey fearrets mate for life, and mated pairs are known to hunt cooperatively, with one partner chasing prey in the direction of its concealed mate preparing for an ambush. Each pair produces yearly a litter of 2-4 pups at a time, which are dependent on their parents for several months until they are old enough to hunt on their own.

But not all predators in this time period are active hunters that pursue and grapple with their prey. Others, such as the scabbers (family Vermicaudamuridae) rely on other tactics: namely, stealth and deception, luring their prey to them instead of expending much energy in a chase.

The mottled scabber (Vermiformicauda pettigrewi) is one such bait-hunter, preying on small rodents that live on the forest floor, primarily insectivorous ones. Its coat is mottled with light and dark spots to blend in almost seamlessly with the leaf-litter of the ground, and rolling among the fragrant dried leaves to disguise its scent. However, while it is well hidden, one part of its body is very conspicuous: the very end of its long tail, which is flexible, hairless and segmented-- bearing very close resemblance to an earthworm, a favorite meal of many forest-floor hamsters.

Hiding quietly among the dead leaves, the mottled scabber exposes the tip of its tail and twitches it in imitation of a worm. Attracted by the movement, small insectivores eagerly pounce on the wiggling lure...and right within striking range of the camouflaged hunter, which lunges in a blink of an eye and quickly dispatches its quarry with a bite to the back of the neck, crushing its spine and ceasing its struggles in an instant.

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