"I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized."
Okay, so drawing shameless thirst trap art isn't typically my bag, but it's a bag I'm willing to hold because /r/GoodOmensAfterDark is a wild group of people that inspire me to draw all sorts of things, not just smut. Better yet, I can hold that bag while I work on my absolutely tepid line art skills.
I've always eschewed learning proper line art in favor of painting stupid, elaborate, over-worked, over-detailed portraits because that's just the kind of ADHD I have. Simplify form? Me? Pah.
But...
But it's a skill I need to work on to become a better artist. And the only way to improve artistic skill is to, you know, produce art. Even if I don't feel like it. Even if practicing line art is like sitting quietly at the dinner table and eating my vegetables while my brother is playing the Sega Genesis in the living room already because he likes brussels sprouts.
Something so beautiful and healing about going out in the sun and picking vegetables, carefully scrubbing the dirt off in the sink, and the rhythmic movement of chopping them up…
Daikon radish
My Daikon radish
Points to a fetish.
It’s a bit raffish
Lying there.
It’s a vegetable
That I’ll tell you
To dispel you
Of notions there.
Its shape suggests
That it’s erectile blessed
And why I guessed
That you stared.
But rest assured
Your point’s absurd.
There’s no aphrodisiac curd
Made the Daikon way.
.
.
#poem #poetry #rhyming #humor #radish #Daikon #aphrodisiacfoods #aphrodisiac…
Another Midjourney test I was doing over the weekend was could it create some David Shrigley-esque paintings?
I started with asking about general things, but when I asked it to include typography and include emotions - like saddy avocado, angry vegetables and classic cocktails did it get to a weird Shrigley world. The veggies with attitude feel a lot like the Mr. Men books by Roger Hargreaves.
The nonsense letters for the cocktail paintings are very fun - I imagine it for the last set of 4 posters like:
"Any good gardener knows what a good de-weeding can do for a vegetable garden. As it turns out, it’s much the same for coral reefs.
Following a volunteer “sea-weeding” program launched in Australia, scientists are witnessing compounding coral recovery both in quantity and diversity, and suggest that this simple method has the power to transform degraded reefs overrun by macroalgae.
In a balanced ecosystem, macroalgae is kept in check by the size and health of corals, but as extreme weather events or coral bleaching causes some sections of reef to die, macroalgae has no other neighbor keeping a check on its spread.
Over a period of three years, the joint Earthwatch Institute program led by James Cook University Senior Research Officer Hillary Smith and Professor David Bourne, also at JCU and the Australian Institute of Marine Science, has organized volunteer citizen scientists to help remove macroalgae at two experimental reef sites.
The results of the first three years of work and study have now been published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, and they show a 600% increase in coral recovery rates.
“It’s just like weeding your garden,” Smith said. “Every time we return, the seaweed is growing back less and less, so this method could provide lasting benefit without requiring endless effort.” ...
The importance of the study, Smith details, is that a lot of reef recovery efforts globally are powered by expensive, high-tech, and experimental solutions. The study hoped to show that manual de-weeding was just as effective, and thereby encourage organizations or nations that lack the tech or funding of a country like Australia to pursue sea-weeding as a way of protecting their corals.
“We have yet to see a plateau in coral growth within these plots at Magnetic Island, which is characterized as one of the degraded reefs on the Great Barrier Reef,” Smith said. “We also found an increase in coral diversity, so this method is benefitting a wide range of different coral types.”
Smith said her team are now scoping other locations where the sea-weeding technique could be useful, including the Whitsunday Islands, which are home to a different species of predominant seaweed.
They also want to employ them in French Polynesia, Indonesia, and even Singapore, where experts have identified out-of-control macroalgae spread along coral reefs."
Manatees: Not the mermaids we wanted, but the ones we needed.
Today is Manatee Appreciation Day! Once mistaken for mythical creatures, manatees are marine mammals part of a small group known as "Sirenia,” a name which comes from the Sirens of ancient Greek mythology. Spending most of their time traveling, resting, or eating seagrass, manatees help maintain healthy marine ecosystems by keeping aquatic vegetation in check. This is why they’re sometimes dubbed the “lawn mowers of the sea.”
Unfortunately, all three extant manatee species are vulnerable to extinction—and these graceful sea critters require additional protection from major threats like habitat destruction and collisions with boats and ships.
A mild drive stays close to the back wall,
but an overhit shot rebounds further.
The racket of the wise athlete makes good use of an open court,
but the fools’ racket hits back to their opponent.
The eyes of the Head Coach are everywhere,
Watching both the bad and the good.
A calm coach is a tree of life,
but angry coaches cause despair.
A fool disrespects their coaches’ discipline,
but…