It's So Annoying Seeing Posts About Jewish Culture—cutesy Posts About Fighting With G-d That Appeal

Israeli entry for Eurovision in 2009, sung in Hebrew, English and Arabic. The singer on the left is Noa, a Yemenite Jew. The singer on the right is Mira Awad, half Palestinian and half Bulgarian. Both are Israeli citizens.

I feel the lyrics are as relevant today as they were in 2009, if not more so,

Edit: Meant to include a translation

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/there-must-be-another-way-%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9A-there-must-be-another-way.html-0

A Laboratory for Star Formation

Location: In the Carina spiral arm of our Milky Way Galaxy

Distance from Earth: About 20,000 light-years

Object type: Nebula and open star cluster

Discovered by: Sir John Herschel in 1834

Imaged here by the Hubble Space Telescope, NGC 3603 is a collection of thousands of large, hot stars, including some of the most massive stars known to us. Scientists categorize it as an “open cluster” because of its spread-out shape and low density of stars. Surrounding the bright star cluster are plumes of interstellar gas and dust, which comprise the nebula part of this cosmic object. New stars are formed from the gaseous material within these clouds! NGC 3603 holds stars at a variety of life stages, making it a laboratory for scientists to study star evolution and formation. Astronomers estimate that star formation in and around the cluster has been occurring for 10 to 20 million years.

Read more information about NGC 3603 here.

Right now, the Hubble Space Telescope is delving into its #StarrySights campaign! Find more star cluster content and breathtaking new images by following along on Hubble’s Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

Gritty on Twitter

“Can’t talk rn, I’m doing hot girl S%*t https://t.co/GxP9faabDg”

Why Gritty Why

Hamster’s Paradise has gotten really weird and unsettling since I last followed it so no longer following it

25 million years PE: The End of the Rodentocene

Dusk of One and Dawn of Another: The End of the Rodentocene Era

It is a chilly afternoon in northern Nodera. The main yellow sun, Alpha, is beginning to set, casting the temperate landscape with a bright yellow gleam, while above it hovers the red-orange pinprick of Beta, promising a few hours more of Beta-twilight before true night sets in. Above in the sky soar a number of ratbats, emerging at dusk to seize the swarms of airborne insects active in this hour of tangerine skies.

It has been 25 million years since life first came to HP-02017, and the wildlife certainly shows its adaptation. Once all just tiny, humble hamsters, they have expanded into such an unimaginable array of forms their seeding precursors would never have foreseen--wherever they were, so long a time later.

In the grasses of the Noderan landscape the sounds of a scuffle can be heard: two rival male masked luchaboars are jousting for territory, squealing loudly as they lock tusks and try to throw their opponent into the ground. Their species, and their territorial jousting, has gone virtually unchanged since the Late Rodentocene, 5 million years ago, but by this time great changes have occurred around them. Once they were the greatest of all Nodera's creatures, but now that age has passed.

The luchaboars butt heads with loud squeals, trying to scare the rival off their turf. But suddenly, both cease their combat and perk their ears in attention, as a faint rumbling sound, slowly approaching, interrupts their petty dispute.

Something is coming.

Something big.

A herd of mison come plodding their way, the ground rumbling with their footsteps while clouds of vapor condense in the cold air with each mighty breath. Like the bumbaas, the mison are descendants of the cavybaras as well-- but their size is on a whole different level.

Weighing almost two thousand pounds when fully grown and measuring six feet high at the shoulder, these lumbering giants have increased in mass from their cavybara ancestors almost twentyfold, and are now thousands of times much more massive than the miniscule hamster that was released onto this planet all too long ago. The vacancy of niches allowed the miniscule hamster to spread out into bigger forms: some of which are now very big indeed.

The herd emerges onto the plains, migrating to new grazing land, and soon dozens, and then hundreds, come tromping their way through the grassland: and faced with such a massive herd, the two brawling luchaboars wisely drop their conflict and promptly flee, while the mison continue on, indifferent to the smaller creatures scurrying beneath them.

As the chilly climate of the Rodentocene's end caused sea levels to drop, the mison, which originated from Westerna, crossed the exposed land bridges down to Ecatoria and across to Nodera, and now they have become established there too, roaming the plains in large herds as they migrate in search of food.

But the mison are not alone. Soon the herd is flanked by several large bounding figures: a group of bipedal, hopping boingos. Large plains grazers descended from the jerryboas, specifically the greater skipperroo, these 190-pound, six-foot-tall leapers dominate the grasslands throughout nearly every continent save for Borealia and Peninsulaustra. Their efficient bounding gaits and grazing dentition have allowed the boingos to conquer the plains, crowding out most of the hamtelopes and keeping their grazing species as small hare-like grazers in the plains...or at least, most of them.

Towering above them all is an immense figure that, with its slender neck, long legs bearing hoofed toes, and a lack of a tail, is unmistakably a giant hamtelope: the girat. While most plains-dwelling hamtelopes avoided competition with the jerryboas and their descendants the boingos by remaining small and feeding on soft, low-ground vegetation, other hamtelopes instead avoided competitive pressure by taking the opposite route, becoming high browsers that feed on tall vegetation beyond the boingos' reach: culminating in the girats, which when full-grown can stand up to 16 feet high-- the tallest hamsters to walk the planet.

Suddenly, the once massive cavybaras and bumbaas are tremendously dwarfed by the great new creatures that have emerged to fill the niches of large megafauna prevalent on Earth, but absent here. The arrival of these massive, mighty behemoths heralds the end of the Rodentocene, and the dawning of a new era: the Therocene-- the age of beasts.

▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪

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.

▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪

Ok, let’s do this once more.

Ok, last year was… chaotic as no one needs to recall it. So the project was kinda outrunned to allow many things to be resolved. This year I want to restart it and make a real advancement. So here we go:

For everyone who may feel interested:

I am going to recruit voluntarees from all the available sides, sites and whoever may want to get in the way for an awareness campaign The objective of the campaign is to create a series of fan-based works with the object of serve as an educational approach of irl consensual incest (Consanguinamory, per se)

The works will be around known “problematic ships” of shipcest type so we can use the shipped characters as a way to explain the true whereabouts of how consanguinamory works. The facts and the myths and their inner realities

The works will be compiled in a fanzine and the fanzine will be shared thru web media

Whoever may be interested, can contact me so I can begin to finish the main list of participants. I’ll be clarifying doubts and comments around the campaign.

It would be even weirder if it was also natural (it isn't, it was made in 1991)

Neitokainen is a body of water in Finland, which is shaped like Finland

Number of people I have seen that are Jewish saying that criticising individual Jews, thinking Jews "aren't perfect" or saying that criticism of Israel is inherently antisemitic: 0

The number of non-Jews I have seen absolutely insist that saying "Jews aren't perfect" or disagreeing with a jew or that having criticism of Israel isn't antisemitic and implying or outright saying this is a common thing: I have lost count.

Weird, you would think that looking at Jumblr and being on Jewbook I would see more of this.

You know, even if there are like....nutters out there who insist on this, the absolute rampant amount of people saying "it is NOT antisemetic to be critical of x y z" is absolutely overwhelming and you should find it weird.

Why don't some of you find it weird? If someone said "no matter what anyone says, you don't HAVE to date someone who is bisexual and it is not inherently biphobic to not date someone who is bi" I know I am hearing a biphobic dogwhistle.

Because no one says that. No one says you HAVE to date a bi woman, or a trans woman, or a...anything. That is not a discourse that exists. What they are doing is strawmanning the discourse that does exist like "if you meet someone and they are great and they tick all your boxes and you won't date them BECAUSE they are bi/trans/whatever then you may have some issues related to those people" and then you will see them responding like "they told me I HAVE to have SEX with someone I don't WANT to" which is certainly....an interpretation of the text, I guess.

So it is...odd, interesting? How many people don't see or chose to ignore how fucking weird it is that this disclaimer is just...everywhere? Literally people I have known for years have added it to posts. Like, they will have a perfectly legitimate post being critical of Israeli action or something and then either preface it with that disclaimer or end it. Sometimes they bookend it.

It is so bizarre.

Because if someone said "Israel is bad and therefore should be bombed off the map and cease to exist, can't wait until they don't exist anymore" that is where you might get someone pointing out that it is the largest concentration of Jews in the world, many of which are from other Middle Eastern nations and have literally nowhere to go. So you might just be being antisemetic to have this particular energy towards Israel and ONLY Israel and not a single other country you talk about being actually destroyed like it is a good thing. (Even if the person was just being hyperbolic, although I have seen a few....less than covert nazis saying similar). Because it wasn't a criticism of anything, just a wish for the dead of many people to solve the problem of...people dying.

Now of course there exists the possibility that people who have been heavily exposed to this kind of rhetoric will be overly sensitive and take any criticism of Israel as bad faith. Of course that exists.

But I should still not personally see so overwhelming an amount of "it is not antisemetic to-" posts that are completely non-sequiter.

And I don't think it is just me. This seems to be an issue that is being noticed by others, that this ratio of people saying it is antisemetic to critique Israel at ALL and the people saying it is not....are wildly uneven.

Y'all need to stop letting Jews be the only ones to call this out, or at least be honest that you don't care.

It is not an appropriate way to engage in this topic. Stop allowing dogwhistles and strawmen to cut off any potential avenue of criticism and continue this "unreasonable jews" narrative.

Tl;dr: when someone says "it is not antisemetic to-" chances are they are about to engage in antisemitism. Just say what you want to say without the "not to be homophobic" type language. If what you are saying is informed and thoughtful then just fucking say it in a way that reflects that, even if people don't agree with it.

They are also erasing Jewish history of Israel from before the foundation of the state, and en masse rewriting articles on Zionism and Jews in the Middle East, getting rid of any context that justifies Israel and sometimes adding conspiracy theories. Israeli right-wing sources are considered unreliable due to being propaganda (which they are, but they also sometimes tell the truth) yet Qatari outlets are considered completely okay to use despite many many instances of outright fabrication. They should either ban both or ban neither if they want consistency. I have to constantly go to archived revisions for almost any page relating to Israel's history. Even on the summary page of Israel itself, they erased the link to the "Land of Israel" but kept the "Holy Land" and "historic region of Palestine".

This kind of stuff was happening on other topics than Jews long before October 7th, and is due to an inherent issue in English Wikipedia's editing culture. I remember how the decision making process worked years ago in a debate about deadnaming; trans people were outright ignored not just by transphobes but by "allies" because anyone with a personal stake in an issue is viewed as untrustworthy. Rules are made by consensus, which isn't a terrible idea on its own - but key part of how consensus is built is to marginalise the very people affected. I know from a friend this is also how Wikipedia operates on Romani issues.

I love the *idea* of Wikipedia so much, but the editing culture there is really toxic.

Another Jew on here commented that people were going onto Wikipedia and removing references to certain people's Jewishness, and I just saw for myself that this is true. As a Jew and a fan of old movies and history, I was looking up a list of Jewish actors on Wikipedia. I saw Tina Louise (you know, from Gilligan's Island) pop up. So I popped over to her actual page on Wikipedia. And there were zero references to her being Jewish. So I hopped on over to the Wayback Machine (bless you, Internet Archive) and put in the URL for her Wikipedia page. And wouldn't ya know it: before 10/7, there were at least 3 to 5 references to her Jewishness at any given time on her Wikipedia page. Wtf is happening.