Most behaviors that you see keepers demonstrate at the zoo or aquarium are natural behaviors that the animals do in the wild. When the animals do them, the keepers give them a treat and pair it with a gesture or a word, so that they associate them, and eventually the word or gesture is enough to elicit the behavior because the animal knows that there’s a reward. But here’s the thing: most of those behaviors are encouraged because they help veterinarians and keepers do health checks.
Yeah, its cute when they nose boop the stick, but also keepers need to check their vision and depth perception and mobility. Sea lions are so cute when they wave! But vets and keepers need to check under those flippers to make sure that they’re healthy and that they don’t have any restrictions on their motion or cuts on their skin. Why do they ask animals to jump? Again, to make sure that they’re healthy, and also because its fun and animals LOVE to move around and jump and have fun, its mentally stimulating.
This is the most important thing I will ever reblog and anyone who is still ignorant enough to think zoos are awful can fuck off my blog. Zoos are necessary. If you think otherwise please unfollow me because I don’t want you here.
This is super important for people to see. I have worked at a zoo and I can not tell you how many times I’ve had to defend the zoo for the good they do. People need to learn that zoos are actually helping save endangered species.
Remember: Sea World is not a zoo and doesn’t really care about animals unless they can make a profit. Fuck Sea World.
Alternatively, Busch Gardens does care for their animals.
Nobody gives a shit about your SAT scores.
Nobody. The only thing SAT scores are good for is helping you clear that
minimum-score bar to get into a brand-name college.
High school sucks. I don’t know why all the
movies and TV shows pretend that it’s the best time of your life. The good news
is that you’ll never see 95% of your classmates ever again.
Life doesn’t get easier, it only gets harder.
More challenges will come your way, bigger challenges, sometimes in packs
because they’re jerks. Luckily your skills and experience will grow too, hopefully
in proportion to meet those challenges. It will never be easy, but you can do
it.
Love isn’t big, showy gestures like flowers and
chocolates and romantic dinners. It’s not wild sex or jet setting or getting
drunk together. Love is in the boring, daily grind of life—getting your ass off
the couch because you promised you’d take care of that chore, paying attention even
though you just want to sleep because what your partner is saying is important
to you, sitting quietly on the couch together when you’re exhausted because you
want to press your leg against his. It’s being there for each other, day in and
day out, no matter what. It’s a marathon, not a race.
You have to love yourself before you can love
someone else. Loving yourself and forgiving yourself for your shortcomings will
be one of the hardest things you will ever do.
“You can be anything you want to be” is
bullshit. Your 20s is about negotiating between who you think you are and who
you want to be; between what you are able to do and what you want to do.
Sometimes you have to adjust your dreams. This is one of the hardest parts of
growing up. It doesn’t mean you won’t be happy. It just means that what you
think happiness means when you’re 20 might be different from what you think
happiness means when you’re 30.
Time is your most valuable resource. You don’t
realize how much you have of it until it’s gone. Every day you waste at a job
you hate is time you don’t get back. Every day you spend in an unhappy
relationship is time you don’t get back. Don’t waste your time. Get moving.
Your hard skills will get your hired, or at
least an initial interview. Your soft skills will get you promoted.
Going from “I don’t give a fuck about money, I
just want to do what I love” to realizing that money=freedom does not mean you’re
selling out. It just means you’ve realized how the game is played.
Travel while you’re young. Just do it.
Especially before you have kids.
Raising kids is fucking hard and exhausting. You
will never be this tired in your entire life. That time you pulled 3
all-nighters in a row to study for your finals? Pffffft.
Ever gotten stung by a bee? Bitten by a spider that had some pain juice in its bitey parts? Brushed against some stinging nettle? Had a mosquito suck your lifejuice from your body and leave a present behind?
This is your time. Yes, indeed. In this post, I shall empower you to pick a leaf off the ground…. and chew it up. And spit it back out. Onto yourself.
[Disclaimer: if you get bitten by something real bad, do not pick a leaf off the ground. Pick up a phone. Call an ambulance. Go to the doctor.]
Have you ever seen
THIS WEED?
It grows in many places. It is your friend. It wants to help you. Sometimes it is big, sometimes it is small. It is called
Broadleaf Plantain
Broadleaf Plantain is edible, click the link if you don’t believe me, do your own research, it is 100% non toxic. Although it tastes real bad. Don’t eat it, unless you want to, I guess.
Grows all over. Which is good. Now getting to the spitting-on-yourself part.
Broadleaf Plantain
has healing properties! According to Wikipedia which is not a reliable source according to all my teachers, the active chemical constituents are aucubin (an anti-microbial agent), allantoin (which stimulates cellular growth and tissue regeneration), and mucilage (which reduces pain and discomfort).
I just plagiarized. Sorry Mr. Stearns.
Okay so on the not-wikipedia front, this has helped me with
a spider bite
a bee sting
a burn
blisters
stinging nettle
mosquito bites
The bee sting was today, on the bottom of my foot, and I used it and bam was walking (with only a tad bit of discomfort) within 10 minutes. 5-10 but I don’t want false advertisement
Mosquito bites? I was hanging with some family in the mountains and the mosquitoes were EVERYWHERE and everyone was getting bitten. And I was like, I know a plant
But! I wasn’t sure if it grew around there. So I looked, made no promises, found a bunch of scrawny lil buggers growing in the gravel. “you don’t need your leaves,” I said, and stole them.
Okay so. So. spitting on yourself. Let’s get there. Do you know what a poultice is? No? Okay here’s what:
it’s mushed up plants that serves a purpose. The purpose of plantain, as I said earlier, is to stop those damn bug bites from being so itchy and/or painful.
There are two ways to make a poultice: get get leaf, put on rock, add a bit of water, and mash into tiny tiny mush, or the more convenient version:
CHEW IT UP! STICK THAT MOFO IN YOUR MOUTH AND CHEW! YOU NEED NO WATER, YOU HAVE SALIVA! YOU NEED NO ROCKS, YOU HAVE MOLARS!
Then once it’s nice and ground up get that plant out of your mouth and slap it on the bug bite. It should be pretty moist (the juices are what help so much) but not so much that it’s going to drip off you. It should kinda stick. Use another leaf, or tape or something to keep it there if need be.
Does it look kinda like this? Great! Ya done did it!
With those mosquito bites I mentioned, it reduced swelling the size of a quarter in about 20 minutes! The guests loved it! You get real popular because you saved them from pain! I used the “styrofoam plate, knife, add water, try your best” method for them because saliva was a big no no and everyone wanted it real hygienic. Don’t fool yourself. Saliva itself has slight antimicrobial properties so it’s for the best, anyway.
Haven’t seen that plant? Well have you seen
Narrowleaf Plantain?
Narrowleaf Plantain has the same properties and it looks like this:
Young man, there’s no need to feel down
I said young man, chew a leaf off the ground
The next time you get bitten by one of mother nature’s beautiful creatures, I hope you feel empowered to pick a leaf off the ground and spit it back onto yourself.
This has been a public service announcement
Seriously guys, my family has used this for generations. It’s a lifesaver if you’re a small time bee keeper.
I always got told to rub the leaf on the area but it never did shit – I WAS LIED TO
“I visited the
pumpkin patch yesterday and decided to bring home a pumpkin that in
shape appeared to be a penguin. Friends and family were mystified until I
started painting him.“
According to Chinese legend, the white Jade Rabbit (玉兔) is a companion to the beautiful moon goddess Chang’e (嫦娥), and pounds the Elixir of Life for her with its mortar and pestle under a cinnamon tree. Chang’e and the Jade Rabbit live in the Moon Palace, and can be seen every year in full view on the day of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. Jade Rabbit – Coser小梦 (read about him here); Chang’e – 真的菜菜.
I was thinking a lot about this moment. Somehow it feels like the agni kai was a watershed moment not only for Zuko, but also for Iroh.
I think this something that Iroh is intensely ashamed about – and is the source of all the patience he has with Zuko and his determination to make things right for him.
Because Zuko’s scar is not just a testament of Ozai’s cruelty as a father, but is a scar on the soul of the entire Fire Nation.
Their supreme ruler publicly mutilates on his own son, a 13-year old child, who merely spoke the truth about a nation that in a quest for power has lost perspective on the worth of human life – and everyone cheers.
The scarring and humiliation of the young prince (who should be really the symbol of the future to his people) is a grotesque public spectacle.
And Iroh, who was once next in line to leading these people, former great war hero, one of the most powerful benders, and still one of the nation’s leaders – all he can do is to look away.
The boy who spoke the truth, who stood up for kindness, who tries to do the right thing, who refuses to fight his own father, who begs for forgiveness – he faces completely alone his horrible punishment, and nobody speaks up for him.
And I think this is Iroh’s moment of truth – that disagreeing privately is not enough, he cannot look away anymore. He realizes that healing this boy could be the chance to heal the Fire Nation, that he is maybe destined to be their leader, but not from the throne of the Fire Lord. He has to get Zuko through this trauma and show him kindness, love and acceptance in a way he has never experienced it. He has to teach him that speaking up and saying sorry should not and will not lead to harsh punishment, that kindness is not weakness and cruelty is not strength; that honor is not violence, but doing the right thing.
AvenueX pointed out on YouTube (minute 29:00) that eps 14/15 feature a before/after marriage hairstyle change for Zhao YunLan:
“…now they live next door to each other & they are a family. Right after that in episode 15, Zhao YunLan changed his hairstyle. The actor joked that it is a signal for ‘I have found my good friend.’”
“Whereas everybody who is watching the drama is like ‘no, that means you have found your husband.’ Because traditionally in Chinese culture, when a woman marries, she changes her hairstyle.”
Lady Karasu 