Phaeophyscia squarrosa

Scaly shadow lichen

Using this lichen for my regular reminder that lichens are NOT plants. Lichens are an association between an obligate fungal host (mycobiont) and one or more photosynthesizing partners (a green algae and/or a cyanobacteria). It is a fungus using unicellular organisms that photosynthesize so it can cosplay as a plant.

images: source | source

I love the sunshine

if you harass people who selfship with or are just generally into villains bc you automatically think they approve of all of the actions of said villains in their respective series i'm sorry but you're a special kind of stupid 😭

ao3 got ddos’d by a political hate group and ppl are trying to make it about ship discourse

I do think the dumbest, most egregious overstatement of harm in fandom spaces is acting like someone is doing an active act of modern colonization because they ship two characters from a 2000s animated Nickelodeon show

My kinda place!

You need to go out sometimes

You are your home.

Take care of yourself.

Tortella inclinata

Shortleaf chalk moss, inclined twisted moss

Hey all, I have decided to transition to moss instead of lichens. I know this is a huge change and many of you will likely lose interest now that the focus of this blog has shifted so significantly, but I promise I will do my best to make moss as interesting as lichens. So please give a warm welcome to T. inclinata! This widespread, pioneer species grows on loose, calcareous substrates in sun-exposed habitats in cool-temperate regions. It has pale yellow-green stems and hooded, twisted leaves. It forms dense tufts up to 1 cm tall. This species is dioicous (has male and female parts on separate plant), and it forms curved ellipsoidal to cylindrical spore capsules in spring. So yeah, that's a moss for ya! Bryophytes are great and I totally like them more than lichens now.

(in case it isn't clear, this is an April Fool's joke and we will return to our regularly scheduled lichen posts tomorrow)

images: source | source | source

info: source | source | source | source

man can we all just go outside and play with rocks

tip: I am so fucking mad

People who blame kids not going outside anymore on technology will never cease to make me laugh.

First of all, the outdoors today compared to what it was even just as little as 10 years ago? Dangerous, disgusting, undesirable, quite frankly terrifying.

Second, if your next argument is going to be “but they won’t even go in the back yard!” I grew up with access to technology. I still played in the backyard all summer and got excited to go sledding on snow days in the winter. Maybe you should rethink your parenting, and how you treat technology with your kids. If you’re shoving an iPad in your kids face every time they cry… Guess what? That child is going to associate that iPad with comfort. They are not going to want to be separated from it. It’s the exact same as a child with a special stuffy they won’t let go of. That item has been attached to the idea of comfort and safety. You did that by not giving them screen time limits, and not parenting properly.

Technology can only be the cause of children not going outside if you let it be. It is 100% caused by your parenting choices.

Now, as I expected, there are conspiracy theories about Tim’s black eye being posted on Twitter. I often wonder if these people are pretending to be really stupid, or if it’s not an act. Either way, I still can’t determine which option is worse.