National Geographic  january  1976

Ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata) close-up. As you can see, this Coleoptera has a skull painted on its head, just like a common heavy metal band member:

Many thanks to @sarcasm-andotherstuff for her pareidolic superpowers.

Rainbow Scarab (Phanaeus vindex), male, family Scarabaeidae, Pennsylvania, USA

a species of "true dung beetle".

photograph by Michael Reed

Low level/continuous pain tips for writing

Want to avoid the action movie effect and make your character’s injuries have realistic lasting impacts? Have a sick character you’re using as hurt/comfort fodder? Everyone has tips for how to write Dramatic Intense Agony, but the smaller human details of lasting or low-level discomfort are rarely written in. Here are a few pain mannerisms I like to use as reference:

General

Continuously gritted teeth (may cause headaches or additional jaw pain over time)

Irritability, increased sensitivity to lights, sounds, etc

Repetitive movements (fidgeting, unable to sit still, slight rocking or other habitual movement to self-soothe)

Soft groaning or whimpering, when pain increases or when others aren’t around

Heavier breathing, panting, may be deeper or shallower than normal

Moving less quickly, resistant to unnecessary movement

Itching in the case of healing wounds

Subconsciously hunching around the pain (eg. slumped shoulders or bad posture for gut pain)

Using a hand to steady themself when walking past walls, counters, etc (also applies to illness)

Narration-wise: may not notice the pain was there until it’s gone because they got so used to it, or may not realize how bad it was until it gets better

May stop mentioning it outright to other people unless they specifically ask or the pain increases

Limb pain

Subtly leaning on surfaces whenever possible to take weight off foot/leg pain

Rubbing sore spots while thinking or resting

Wincing and switching to using other limb frequently (new/forgettable pain) or developed habit of using non dominant limb for tasks (constant/long term pain)

Propping leg up when sitting to reduce inflammation

Holding arm closer to body/moving it less

Moving differently to avoid bending joints (eg. bending at the waist instead of the knees to pick something up)

Nausea/fever/non-pain discomfort

Many of the same things as above (groaning, leaning, differences in movement)

May avoid sudden movements or turning head for nausea

Urge to press up against cold surfaces for fever

Glazed eyes, fixed stare, may take longer to process words or get their attention

Shivering, shaking, loss of fine motor control

If you have any more details that you personally use to bring characters to life in these situations, I’d love to hear them! I’m always looking for ways to make my guys suffer more write people with more realism :)

Image ID: a close-up picture of a spider. It’s looking up at the person taking the photo with its head tilted. It’s mostly mottled brown with two iridescent green patches on the front of its head. It has 4 round eyes, with the center pair being larger than the outer two. You can kind of see a silhouette of a person in the reflection of its eyes. It has little tufts of hair all of its body, with two larger tufts on either side of its head. Frankly, it’s adorable. /End ID

Bold Jumping Spider (Phidippus audax)

March 27, 2023

Southeastern Pennsylvania

“This is your daily, friendly reminder to use commas instead of periods during the dialogue of your story,” she said with a smile.

Mathieu Rivrin • Fotógrafo de Bretaña.

happy pride month

brought to u by my most tolerant rat & some vegan food dye

“I could never be an entomologist. bugs creep me out” sucks to suck because I’m a real-life pokemon trainer. like look at these and tell me they’re not pokemon

like are you serious. have fun doing whatever you’re doing ill be at the arthropod zoo… also known as the motherfucking pokemon center

Can you believe that there are people who live so close to the ocean that they can just think “hey, I should go to the ocean” and then they just do???