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tlbodine · 5 years

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The Wendigo is Not What You Think

There’s been a recent flurry of discussion surrounding the Wendigo -- what it is, how it appears in fiction, and whether non-Native creators should even be using it in their stories. This post is dedicated to @halfbloodlycan, who brought the discourse to my attention.

Once you begin teasing apart the modern depictions of this controversial monster, an interesting pattern emerges -- namely, that what pop culture generally thinks of as the “wendigo” is a figure and aesthetic that has almost nothing in common with its Native American roots...but a whole lot in common with European Folklore.

What Is A Wendigo?

The Algonquian Peoples, a cluster of tribes indigenous to the region of the Great Lakes and Eastern Seaboard of Canada and the northern U.S., are the origin of Wendigo mythology. For them, the Wendigo (also "windigo" or "Witigo" and similar variations) is a malevolent spirit. It is connected to winter by way of cold, desolation, and selfishness. It is a spirit of destruction and environmental decay. It is pure evil, and the kind of thing that people in the culture don't like to talk about openly for fear of inviting its attention.

Individual people can turn into the Wendigo (or be possessed by one, depending on the flavor of the story), sometimes through dreams or curses but most commonly through engaging in cannibalism. Considering the long, harsh winters in the region, it makes sense that the cultural mythology would address the cannibalism taboo.

For some, the possession of the Wendigo spirit is a very real thing, not just a story told around the campfire. So-called "wendigo psychosis" has been described as a "culture-bound" mental illness where an individual is overcome with a desire to eat people and the certainty that he or she has been possessed by a Wendigo or is turning into a Wendigo. Obviously, it was white people encountering the phenomenon who thought to call it "psychosis," and there's some debate surrounding the whole concept from a psychological, historical, and anthropological standpoint which I won't get into here -- but the important point here is that the Algonquian people take this very seriously. (1) (2)

(If you're interested in this angle, you might want to read about the history of Zhauwuno-geezhigo-gaubow (or Jack Fiddler), a shaman who was known as something of a Wendigo hunter. I'd also recommend the novel Bone White by Ronald Malfi as a pretty good example of how these themes can be explored without being too culturally appropriative or disrespectful.)

Wendigo Depictions in Pop Culture

Show of hands: How many of you reading this right now first heard of the Wendigo in the Alvin Schwartz Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark book?

That certainly was my first encounter with the tale. It was one of my favorite stories in the book as a little kid. It tells about a rich man who goes hunting deep in the wilderness, where people rarely go. He finds a guide who desperately needs the money and agrees to go, but the guide is nervous throughout the night as the wind howls outside until he at last bursts outside and takes off running. His tracks can be found in the snow, farther and farther apart as though running at great speed before abruptly ending. The idea being that he was being dragged along by a wind-borne spirit that eventually picked him up and swept him away.

Schwartz references the story as a summer camp tale well-known in the Northeastern U.S., collected from a professor who heard it in the 1930s. He also credits Algernon Blackwood with writing a literary treatment of the tale -- and indeed, Blackwood's 1910 novella "The Wendigo" has been highly influential in the modern concept of the story.(3) His Wendigo would even go on to find a place in Cthulhu Mythos thanks to August Derleth.

Never mind, of course, that no part of Blackwood's story has anything in common with the traditional Wendigo myth. It seems pretty obvious to me that he likely heard reference of a Northern monster called a "windigo," made a mental association with "wind," and came up with the monster for his story.

And so would begin a long history of white people re-imagining the sacred (and deeply frightening) folklore of Native people into...well, something else.

Through the intervening decades, adaptations show up in multiple places. Stephen King's Pet Sematary uses it as a possible explanation for the dark magic of the cemetery's resurrectionist powers. A yeti-like version appears as a monster in Marvel Comics to serve as a villain against the Hulk. Versions show up in popular TV shows like Supernatural and Hannibal. There's even, inexplicably, a Christmas episode of Duck Tales featuring a watered-down Wendigo.

Where Did The Antlered Zombie-Deer-Man Come From?

In its native mythology, the Wendigo is sometimes described as a giant with a heart of ice. It is sometimes skeletal and emaciated, and sometimes deformed. It may be missing its lips and toes (like frostbite). (4)

So why, when most contemporary (white) people think of Wendigo, is the first image that comes to mind something like this?

Well...perhaps we can thank a filmmaker named Larry Fessenden, who appears to be the first person to popularize an antlered Wendigo monster. (5) His 2001 film (titled, creatively enough, Wendigo) very briefly features a sort of skeletal deer-monster. He’d re-visit the design concept in his 2006 film, The Last Winter. Reportedly, Fessenden was inspired by a story he’d heard in his childhood involving deer-monsters in the frozen north, which he connected in his mind to the Algernon Blackwood story.

A very similar design would show up in the tabletop game Pathfinder, where the “zombie deer-man” aesthetic was fully developed and would go on to spawn all sorts of fan-art and imitation. (6) The Pathfinder variant does draw on actual Wendigo mythology -- tying it back to themes of privation, greed, and cannibalism -- but the design itself is completely removed from Native folklore.

Interestingly, there are creatures in Native folklore that take the shape of deer-people -- the ijiraq or tariaksuq, shape-shifting spirits that sometimes take on the shape of caribou and sometimes appear in Inuit art in the form of man-caribou hybrids (7). Frustratingly, the ijiraq are also part of Pathfinder, which can make it a bit hard to find authentic representations vs pop culture reimaginings. But it’s very possible that someone hearing vague stories of northern Native American tribes encountering evil deer-spirits could get attached to the Wendigo, despite the tribes in question being culturally distinct and living on opposite sides of the continent.

That “wendigo” is such an easy word to say in English probably has a whole lot to do with why it gets appropriated so much, and why so many unrelated things get smashed in with it.

I Love the Aesthetic But Don’t Want to Be Disrespectful, What Do I Do?

Plundering folklore for creature design is a tried-and-true part of how art develops, and mythology has been re-interpreted and adapted countless times into new stories -- that’s how the whole mythology thing works.

But when it comes to Native American mythology, it’s a good idea to apply a light touch. As I’ve talked about before, Native representation in modern media is severely lacking. Modern Native people are the survivors of centuries of literal and cultural genocide, and a good chunk of their heritage, language, and stories have been lost to history because white people forcibly indoctrinated Native children into assimilating. So when those stories get taken, poorly adapted, and sent back out into the public consciousness as make-believe movie monsters, it really is an act of erasure and violence, no matter the intentions of the person doing it. (8)

So, like...maybe don’t do that?

I won’t say that non-Native people can’t be interested in Wendigo stories or tell stories inspired by the myth. But if you’re going to do it, either do it respectfully and with a great deal of research to get it accurate...or use the inspiration to tell a different type of story that doesn’t directly appropriate or over-write the mythology (see above: my recommendation for Bone White).

But if your real interest is in the “wendigocore” aesthetic -- an ancient and powerful forest protector, malevolent but fiercely protective of nature, imagery of deer and death and decay -- I have some good news: None of those things are really tied uniquely to Native American mythology, nor do they have anything in common with the real Wendigo.

Where they do have a longstanding mythic framework? Europe.

Europeans have had a long-standing fascination with deer, goats, and horned/antlered forest figures. Mythology of white stags and wild hunts, deer as fairy cattle, Pan, Baphomet, Cernunnos, Herne the Hunter, Black Phillip and depictions of Satan -- the imagery shows up again and again throughout Greek, Roman, and British myth. (9)

Of course, some of these images and figures are themselves the product of cultural appropriation, ancient religions and deities stolen, plundered, demonized and erased by Christian influences. But their collective existence has been a part of “white” culture for centuries, and is probably a big part of the reason why the idea of a mysterious antlered forest-god has stuck so swiftly and firmly in our minds, going so far as to latch on to a very different myth. (Something similar has happened to modern Jersey Devil design interpretations. Deer skulls with their tangle of magnificent antlers are just too striking of a visual to resist).

Seriously. There are so, so many deer-related myths throughout the world’s history -- if aesthetic is what you’re after, why limit yourself to an (inaccurate) Wendigo interpretation? (10)

So here’s my action plan for you, fellow white person:

Stop referring to anything with antlers as a Wendigo, especially when it’s very clearly meant to be its own thing (the Beast in Over the Garden Wall, Ainsworth in Magus Bride)

Stop “reimagining” the mythology of people whose culture has already been targeted by a systematic erasure and genocide

Come up with a new, easy-to-say, awesome name for “rotting deer man, spirit of the forest” and develop a mythology for it that doesn’t center on cannibalism

We can handle that, right?

This deep dive is supported by Ko-Fi donations. If you’d like to see more content, please drop a tip in my tip jar. Ko-fi.com/A57355UN

NOTES:

1 - https://io9.gizmodo.com/wendigo-psychosis-the-probably-fake-disease-that-turns-5946814

2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendigo#Wendigo_psychosis

3 - https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10897/10897-h/10897-h.htm

4 - https://www.legendsofamerica.com/mn-wendigo/

5- https://www.reddit.com/r/Cryptozoology/comments/8wu2nq/wendigo_brief_history_of_the_modern_antlers_and/

6 - https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Wendigo

7 - https://www.mythicalcreaturescatalogue.com/single-post/2017/12/06/Ijiraq

8 - https://www.backstoryradio.org/blog/the-mythology-and-misrepresentation-of-the-windigo/

9 - https://www.terriwindling.com/blog/2014/12/the-folklore-of-goats.html

10 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer_in_mythology

#horror #folklore #mythology #deep dive #wendigo #cultural appropriation #monster design #creature design #long post #if you need a place to channel your deerman aesthetic #may I suggest huntokar from welcome to nightvale #100% fictional #100% awesome

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wowerehouse · 5 years

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Ihz Has Opinions About Hunter Pets: GO

blood elves: dragonhawks are stereotypically frilly and impractical but domesticated. she’s still judging them though.

draenei hunter starter pet doesn’t exist because I want to give them some fucking dignity. [Blizzard voice] these guys fled multiple genocides in a quantum-fucked warpspeed magical spaceship that got sabotaged and crash-landed them on an unfamiliar planet where everyone thinks they’re the demons they barely escaped from. how do we make this up to them a bit? we should give some of them loyal companions to walk at their side and help them fight off the cruelties of this new world. I know. give them a fucking moth. just in case they started to think their lives might stop sucking ever.

dark iron: have the good sense to use actual dogs. Ihz could kiss them.

dwarves: GET FUCKED THAT’S A FUCKING BEAR WHAT IS THIS BULLSHIT, THAT IS THE ACTUAL DEFINITION OF THE PROBLEM

gnomes use robots, doesn’t count

goblin hunters are just....clearly going through some stuff, I don’t know if throwing crabs at your enemies counts as exotic pet ownership, I am absolutely certain the crabs are not actually intelligent enough to be following orders

tauren, Highmountain and Kul Tirans use variations on hunting hawks; so while there’s some ethical issues around owning and training falcons, it can be done ethically, there’s a long and successful history of doing so, and the primary risk is that the animal might leave and not have the skills to hunt on its own, as opposed to either wasting away in poor conditions it can’t leave because it doesn’t know how, or else being pushed past its limits slowly every day until it finally snaps and kills someone.

humans, Mag’har, worgen: clearly dogs; in the orcs’ case, worgs have been domesticated by orcs for so many thousands of years that they occupy the same niche--they are now at the point where they’re truly domesticated and co-habitation is their natural state. perfect. ideal.

trolls, kaldorei, nightborne: raptors and saber/manacats occupy the same niche as worgs for orcs; they’ve been kept for thousands upon thousands of years and, despite having wild cousins who look nearly identical, can definitely be called a truly domesticated species; they have evolved to live with people, not in wild populations.

zandalari: [Ihz taking deep breaths in the background] you know what? those guys are very weird and maybe this thing is domesticatAAAAAAAH I WAS WRONG FUCK THIS TOO

Lightforged: let’s give the nice talbuks to normal draenei as well. weird and inappropriate choice for a “hunting” animal, but channeling a buck’s territorial and aggressive instincts into a personal protection beast, especially if it’s an intelligent and social species that naturally bonds with its handler, is brilliant.

pandaren: ...no. listen, their prominence as mounts and general-purpose animals says they’re domesticated, but they shouldn’t be, and Ihz does not trust it.

orcs: no. this is so much worse than the bears.

ren’dorei hunters start showing up with void stalkers at heel eventually and Ihz just takes a deep breath, drinks something extremely alcoholic, and tells herself that clearly there’s been some kind of time-warped convergent evolution here, they don’t behave like wild creatures, and we’re just gonna go with “space domestication” so we don’t lose our FUCKING MINDS.

Forsaken hunters with spiders get a pass because there’s already nothing natural about them and Ihz is not going to rub that in, but also because if the Forsaken have managed to find a species that does not have that traumatizing instinctive fear response...she’s not going to take that away from them.

orcs and dwarves can get DEEPLY fucked tho.

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yolo-foreveryong-blog · 6 years

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Black Bear Hunting With A Crossbow

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Bear Archery introduces Karnage Crossbows, a new {brand|brand name|model|manufacturer} of {fast|quick|quickly|rapidly|rapid}, {accurate|correct|precise|exact}, {lethal|deadly} weapons you can {depend|rely|count} on. The Karnage {brand|brand name|model|manufacturer} is launching with two {models|designs|versions|types|styles}, the Apocalypse and Apocalypse LS.

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Wicked Ridge {products|goods|items|merchandise|solutions} {far|much|significantly|considerably} exceed {performance|overall performance|efficiency|functionality|effectiveness} {expectations|anticipations} and earns {high|higher|large|substantial|significant} praise in the {field|area|discipline|subject|industry}. This profile {allows|enables|permits|makes it possible for|lets} you to get {over|more than|above|in excess of|about}, up, {through|via|by means of|by way of|by}, and {around|about|close to|all around|all over} {barriers|obstacles|limitations|boundaries} {much|a lot|significantly|considerably|substantially} {easier|simpler|less difficult|less complicated|much easier}.

{4|four} Diablo arrows appear with this arrow which {works|functions|operates|performs|will work} like a appeal. TenPoint Venom also has {one|1|a single|one particular|just one} of the {best|very best|greatest|ideal|finest} scopes that {improves|enhances|increases} the {accuracy|precision} of {spotting|recognizing} a {target|goal|focus on|concentrate on}.

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sterek-bingo · 6 years

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Happy New Year everyone!! To celebrate the great occasion of a new year, we've come to present you with this year's theme description post!! Under the cut you'll find the official descriptions for 2018's Bingo themes, in case you were stuck or just needed a little more clarity!

Tattoos- From triskeles to burning flesh to pack symbols, tattoos have always played a very big role in Teen Wolf, and there’s no reason not to continue that trend! There are so many ways to use tattoos, so many styles and themes, from the classics to the more unique, let your creativity really shine with the most personal form of art there is!

Werewolves Are Known- What used to be one of the most popular AU tropes can easily be applied to canon now, but you can feel free to use whatever universe setting you’d like for your peice! Canon, AU, A/B/O, crossover, the only rule is that werewolves are known to exist by ATLEAST a portion of the general public- it doesn’t have to be the entire world, it can be as small as one town, just so long as a portion of the general public know werewolves exist, the choices are your’s!

Zombies- From The Walking Dead to iZombie, from Afterlife With Archie to Warm Bodies, it’s safe to say that zombies have taken over modern pop culture, now it’s time to let the dead invade the world of Teen Wolf as well! You can easily make a zombie crossover with HUNDREDS of different media sources, or you can create your own universe and mythology- you could even set it in the Teen Wolf universe! Be it due to science or magic or something in between, the dead are rising, now will Stiles and Derek defeat them? Or… are Stiles and Derek PART of them…?

Witch & Familiar- The theme of a witch and a werewolf working together as two halves of an unstoppable pair has been popular with the Sterek fandom since the beginning, and though it’s usually Emissary!Stiles lending his assistance to Alpha!Derek, it might be fun to switch things around with Derek as a familiar lending his assistance to witch!Stiles- or the reverse! Perhaps you’d like to mix things up and make it witch!Derek and familiar!Stiles, whatever inspires you, feel free to let it run wild!

Bodyguard- Bodyguards have always had a certain appeal to them, be they for a celebrity, a politician, a member of royalty, or- most recently- even for a hitman, there’s just something inherently romantic about a person putting your life before their own, and now it’s time to apply that to Sterek! Be it one protecting the other, both as bodyguards working together, rival bodyguards, it doesn’t matter really, just as long as there’s some life saving (or .. life protecting?) going on, it’s all good here!

Hospital (Hurt/Wounded)- As it turns out, people really love wump! We had so many similar themes that we sort of boiled them down into this- if it involves Derek or Stiles (or both) being injured, ill, in a hospital, or even just emotionally wounded, if there’s some sort of pain involved you’ve got the right theme! Bonus points if you can incorporate multiple styles of using this theme!

Fantasy/Fairytale- From Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella to Alice In Wonderland and The Wizard Of Oz, fantasy and fairytales have always been part of culture, and with the rise of live action remakes like Beauty And The Beast, retellings of old classics like Kubo And The Two Strings, and the creation of modern fairytales like Moana, they seem to be more popular than ever! Let yourself be inspired by the fantastic world around you and carve out a new- or old!- fairytale or fantasy world for Stiles and Derek to be part of!

Spies/Assassin- With Dylan O'Brien starring in American Assassin and Tyler Hoechlin as a leading role in Stratton, the Sterek fandom has certainly had assassins and spies on the brain lately, and Sterek Bingo is getting in on the trend! From legends that Derek is a killer by the name of La Lobo, to the fact that Mitch sounds suspiciously like a nickname for Miecyslaw, there’s certainly alot of in-universe references to work with, and plenty of Hobrien related projects to play with too, or- and ofcourse this is always encouraged- go with your own thing! Let these two cuties start putting the “Fun” back in funeral!

Roadtrip- Who doesn’t love a good roadtrip? Junk food, awesome tunes, stupid car games, the inevitable moment when someone stares at the trees too long and gets car sick.. roadtrips!! Time to let Derek and Stiles enjoy- er… “enjoy”?- all of the wonders of spending an obscene amount of time alone in a car together- or not alone, there’s always the possibility of a family trip or a pack trip too- where are they going? On vacation? Away from Beacon Hills? On a mission to stop a random villain? Or does the destination even matter at all if you have barbecue potato chips, coca cola, and The Eagles on a four-disc set?

Thunderstorm- To some, thunderstorms are soothing, to others, they’re terrifying, but one thing is universal about them- they make for GREAT fan tropes! Let your headcanons loose with this one, does Stiles find the pelting of the rain and soft rolling thunder to be soothing? Does Derek have to cover his sensitive werewolf ears each time he hears a storm approaching? Maybe after The Wild Hunt their perspectives have shifted, or maybe there’s no emotional or psychological attachment at all and they just get caught in the rain after their car breaks down, whatever it is, let the ideas pour down like rain!

The Bite- The Bite is a gift…. right? Well, it’s finally time to make that decision for yourself! Be it a gift, a curse, or something in-between, the point of this theme is all about the bite…. now, it doesn’t //have// to be a werewolf bite, it could be from a vampire, an incubus, or… er.. a human… not every bite has to be transformative, sometimes it’s just kinky, other times it’s about marking a mate or keeping a pack together or- .. really about anything you want it to be about! As long as there’s biting, it’s fine by us!

Monster Of The Week- Ahh the famous Monster Of The Week, popularized by shows like The X-Files and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, to those unfamiliar, the Monster Of The Week idea is about episodic storytelling rather than linear storytelling, one week Buffy fights a sea monster, the next she fights a goblin, and the creatures have no connection to eachother, in terms of fandom, it’s sort of the same idea, choose a monster- any monster!- and create a peice about Stiles and Derek… fighting it, helping it, creating it, heck maybe one of them even IS it, this would be a great chance to flex the Paranormal Investigator AU muscle, but it doesn’t matter what the monster is or how they relate to the story, as long as it’s got a random monster involved, it fits!

Vacation- I think it’s safe to say that Stiles and Derek deserve a vacation right about now, don’t you? They can go anywhere in the world! Hawaii, New York, Tokyo, Paris, even some random small town in Nebraska, all that matters is that they’re away from Beacon Hills and intend to have a break in life… now, if it happens to get interrupted or not, that’s entirely up to you, they can do anything and be anywhere as long as the intention is to have a break from the hell-town they were born in!

Magic Gone Wrong- Magic is an incredible and dangerous thing, for all of the advantages magic has, it certainly brings some disadvantages along with it as well, magic is not an exact science, and at times that’s great! At others… not so much, and for every instance of magic going RIGHT, there are surely atleast three others where it’s gone WRONG, your job is to create a peice about one of those very instances, the circumstances are completely up to you, as long as it involves magic that didn’t *QUITE* go the way it was intended to

Heartbeat- Hearbeats can oftentimes be the soothing reminder that someone is alive… or the cold shock that they aren’t, or, for werewolves, a very convenient tracking device, be it a tool for tracking, spying, or gaining some form of comfort, werewolf hearing has certainly made heartbeats an important tool in the Teen Wolf toolbag, and now it’s time for you to expand on that! Take any genre and any purpose you want to expand on this theme, the only point is that someone’s heartbeat is involved!

Mermaid- Ah mermaids, one of mythology’s most famous figures, they can be sweet and beautifull… or vicious and hideous, depending on your source, but every culture seems to have some variation on them, and the Sterek fandom has created an entire subculture involving mer!Sterek! Now it’s time to add to that! Be it with mermaids (or mermen!) who are, perhaps, involved in match-making Stiles and Derek (or fighting them) or be it Stiles or Derek (or both!) as a merman, one thing is for sure, something fishy is about to go on in the Sterek fandom (but bad puns aside are merfolk really fish? Discuss)

Yeti!Stiles- Ever since Stiles’ “Abominable Snowman” comment from season two, yeti!Stiles has… actually been shockingly small in fandom and I can’t imagine why! For such an easy trope-grab it seems to mostly swoop under the radar, now it’s time for you to change that! Create a peice involving Stiles as an abominable snowman (or “yeti”, as is probably more politically correct) it can be canon or AU or maybe a mix of the two, just as long as Stiles becomes Bigfoot’s colder-climate loving cousin, it’s all good here!

Dogs- Who doesn’t love dogs? From Yorkies to German Shepherds and everything in between, dogs are often thought of to be man’s best freind for a reason, but for Sterek? Mostly they’re just the source of unending werewolf puns! Be it that Stiles and Derek get a dog, or that Derek is, in his wolf form, MISTAKEN for a dog, the only important thing is that dogs- big or small- are in some way involved with Stiles, Derek, and the puppy love they have for eachother! (See, what did I say about the puns?)

Protective!Sterek- From episode 1 to episode 100, one thing has always been true of Sterek, it’s a relationship based not on arguing or banter or love/hate, it’s based on protecting eachother, keeping eachother safe, the first time they’re alone together Stiles tries to save Derek’s life, and ever since it’s been almost a game of who can protect the other next, who can save the other first, now it’s time to once again let that foundation shine in fandom! Create any peice featuring Stiles protecting Derek, Derek protecting Stiles, or even a combination of the two! These two are always trying to best eachother in the protection game after all, so why not feature both?

Dad!Sterek- I don’t know about you, but one of my all-time favorite things is Derek and Stiles as parents! Be they single parents, just meeting for the first time, have been married for twenty-five years and already seven kids, or fall somewhere in between, I just love these two as dads, and I hope you do too! The only requirement for this one is that one or both of the pair have atleast one child, let your imagination go all soft and fluffy for this adorable theme!

Fears/Phobias- A theme that, coincidentally, played a large part in the very last episode of Teen Wolf, playing with a charector’s fears or phobias can be great for both charector and plot building, and can without a doubt create some of the best peices fandom has to offer, be it with canonical phobias presented in the series, things you’ve headcanoned for them yourself, or an AU where everything is up for grabs, the goal here is to create fear for Stiles, Derek, or both- and hopefully, somehow, comfort those fears, though that part isn’t entirely necessary to fit to the theme

Amusement Park- And now for a break from the fear, it’s time to go someplace that’s (usually) considerably less terrifying- an amusement park! Disneyland, Six Flags, Universal Studios, as long as it’s an amusement park and Stiles and Derek are there, it works! It doesn’t even have to be a real-world place, there’s obviously nothing wrong with creating your own and running with it, one of the best things about amusement parks, after all, is the imagination the creators put into it

Celebrity/Famous- I’m sure at one point or another most of us have imagined what it might be like to be famous, now it’s time to put those imaginations to use and imagine what it would be like if Stiles, Derek, or both of them were famous instead! Actors, musicians, social media stars, even royalty, if the papparazzi is interested in them and they have a fanbase, they count!

Leaving Beacon Hills- Let’s be honest here, nothing good ever happens in Beacon Hills, and as the last two episodes of Teen Wolf proved, getting away from that place seems to do good for people’s health, now it’s time to treat Derek and Stiles to something other than horrors and traumas and get them out of there! It can be for good, or just on vacation, just on a work trip even, the point of this theme is to get them away from the town that wants to instill nothing but horror in these boys, and I think fandom can come up with plenty of ways to do that!

Christmas Baby!Derek- Here’s a fun fact, my first ever Sterek fic was written because I love Christmas Baby Derek THAT much, there’s just something about this soft little peach being born on Christmas that makes everything in the world a little cuter- and Stiles probably feels the same way, now it’s your turn to show some appreciation for one of the cutest Derek factoids around! No matter if Derek loves it, hates it, or feels indifferent towards it, we certainly know how WE feel about it, and we’d love to see how you feel about creating a Christmas Baby!Derek peice!

Flower Crowns- Is there anything fluffier and prettier than a flower crown? Probably not, so let’s celebrate them! There’s just something peacefull about seeing a charector with flowers in their hair, and now it’s your turn to add to the (surprisingly large) flower crown portion of the fandom! Be it fluff or humor or something softly somber, these boys deserve ALL of the flower crowns and it’s our intention to give them to them!

Bookstore- Ahh bookstores, the foundation of a large number of meet-cutes, meet-uglies, and things that have nothing to do with meeting at all, it’s pretty obvious that Stiles and Derek both love to read, so let’s put that love to use and introduce a bookstore into the mix! Chain store? Used store? Weird eccentric “This has been out of print for fifty years but we still have a copy” store? It doesn’t matter as long as it sells books and involves Sterek!

Hello Again- After spending time apart, it’s nice to say “Hello” again… be it a canonical separation, or something that happened in an AU, post-canon or canon-divergent, the goal of this theme is Stiles and Derek reuniting again after spending time apart, the reunion can be happy or sad, by chance or planned, it doesn’t matter in the end, all that matters is the two of them reconnecting after having spent time apart, and finally saying “Hello” again

Accidental Baby Acquisition- One of the oldest (and one of my favorite) fandom tropes there is, Accidental Baby Acquisition is much how it sounds, it’s about accidentally coming into possession of a baby! The means can be through magic, through stumbling upon a child in the woods, the classic “baby on a doorstep”, or any other situation you can possibly think of, all that matters is that Derek and Stiles accidentally find themselves caring for a baby!

Wild Card- This is the obligatory bingo square in the very middle where you can do absolutely anything you want! That’s right. There’s no restriction, no guideline, no THEME! It’s your freebie to do anything you may have been wanting to do, but haven’t really had the time or inspiration to do until now- here’s your chance. Now go forth and create Sterek!

#sterek #sterek bingo #sterek bingo 2018 #sterekbingo #stiles x derek

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afraidof-thedark · 5 years

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Item #: SCP-1000

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: All media reports related to SCP-1000 are to be examined for potential verifiability. All organizations and individuals investigating SCP-1000's existence are to be kept under surveillance by Mobile Task Force Zeta-1000 and discredited or administered amnestics. All physical signs of SCP-1000's existence must be retrieved and kept in Foundation custody, and replaced with decoy items if necessary. Alleged sightings of SCP-1000 must always be investigated by MTF Zeta-1000, however trivial the claim.

Absolutely no contact with wild or captive instances of SCP-1000 is allowed without prior approval by Director Jones. Any interaction between SCP-1000 and humans, including Foundation personnel, must be reported to Director Jones immediately.

Description: SCP-1000 is a nocturnal, omnivorous ape, classified in the Hominini branch along with genera Pan and Homo. Adults range in size from 1.5 to 3 m (5 to 10 ft) in height, and weigh between 90 and 270 kg (200 - 600 lbs). They have grey, brown, black, red, and occasionally white fur. They possess large eyes with good vision, a pronounced brow ridge, and a sagittal crest on the forehead similar to that of the gorilla, but present in both sexes. Their intelligence is on par with that of Pan troglodytes (the common chimpanzee).

SCP-1000 evolved alongside Homo sapiens, existing contemporaneously with proto-humans and humans in large numbers until 10,000-15,000 years ago, when an extinction event eliminated all but 1-5% of their population. This event was triggered by SCP-1000 contracting an anomalous "pseudo-disease" classified as SCP-1000-f1. This disease is passed on at the genetic level and affects every present-day instance of SCP-1000. The majority of SCP-1000 instances are born immune to the effect; those who are not born immune quickly die.

The effect of SCP-1000-f1 is as follows: Any hominid (including humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, and non-immune instances of SCP-1000) that directly or indirectly observes any instance of SCP-1000 has a minimum 2% chance of being instantly killed through anomalous means via permanent cessation of brain function. This percentage is cumulative, and the longer a human views SCP-1000, the higher the chance of instantaneous death increases, at a rate of +1% chance per 20 minutes of viewing. This effect varies between individual members of SCP-1000's species, with some individuals carrying a 'death chance' of 90%. The effect is also produced by dead individuals, though small fur samples do not exhibit the effect.

Known means of preventing this effect are small-scale only and include [REDACTED] (see attached documentation; Level 3 clearance required).

Because of SCP-1000's close relation to humanity, it is considered likely that SCP-1000-f1 could eventually transfer to human carriers. Any instance of SCP-1000 finding its way to a major population center could constitute an ��█-class end of the world scenario with a minimum death toll of [REDACTED] and possible extinction of humanity. Fortunately, SCP-1000 appears to instinctively avoid human contact.

It is not currently feasible to exterminate SCP-1000 entirely.

The highest known population concentrations of SCP-1000 are at present located in the Pacific Northwest region of North America and the Himalayan Mountain range in Asia. As of ██/██/████, these populations remain extant. SCP-1000's presence and [DATA EXPUNGED] have also been documented within the past 5 years on every continent. All known significant populations of SCP-1000 located near human population centers have been eliminated.

SCP-1000 came to the attention of the Foundation via contact by Doctor Franz M███████ in 14██ with the Children of the Sun, who identified themselves as outcast members of the Serpent's Hand. This group has since been completely destroyed by the Foundation, due to their reluctance to surrender information about SCP-1000, SCP-███, and SCP-███ (since reclassified as SCP-1000-███ and SCP-1000-███). Remaining members have either joined the Foundation, or have gone into hiding, presumably as members of the Serpent's Hand. Weapons, tools, and other unique pseudo-technological resources in possession of the organization have been classified as SCP-1000-001 through SCP-1000-████. These resources have been made use of by the Foundation in multiple instances; for a full list, see Document 1000-3534-Y (Level 3 clearance required). Access to surviving ex-members of the Children of the Sun is restricted to personnel with clearance level 4/1000 unless given direct authorization for contact by Director Jones.

Further information is available to personnel with clearance level 3/1000 or above. Personnel with clearance level 3/1000 or above are required to read Document Alpha-1596-1000.

Addendum 1000-466-X: Update to Special Containment Procedures: As of ██/██/████, SCP-1000's Special Containment Procedures no longer include Procedure 516-Lumina. [DATA EXPUNGED] indicates that SCP-1000 may be developing a resistance to the sonic element [DATA EXPUNGED] will not develop further, so that Procedure 516-Lumina can still be used in emergency situations. Investigation into alternate means of reliably keeping SCP-1000 away from human population centers is underway. Whether SCP-1000 resistance to Procedure 516-Lumina was calculated (and as such may be a sign of SCP-1000 [REDACTED]) or coincidental (by chance of natural species variation) is not known at this time.

== LEVEL 3 CLEARANCE REQUIRED ==

Document Alpha-1596-1000: Missive from Director Jones

You've probably heard the rumors before now. Everyone without the clearance level to know better wants to get their dig in. "Did you hear Sasquatch is an SCP? Are we gonna capture and contain Batboy next?"

Yes. SCP-1000 is Bigfoot.

I'm sure you've snickered. Don't worry. Contrary to rumors, we don't actually assign you to "Keter duty" for finding something humorous.

You think Bigfoot is funny because we want you to think Bigfoot is funny. We've bankrolled Hollywood comedies and farcical documentaries, paid off men in gorilla suits, perpetrated hoaxes with bear prints and goat fur, bribed and brainwashed cartoonists to get especially silly depictions on children's television. Even the term "Bigfoot" comes from us, planted in the media in 1958, a term people would find even harder to take seriously than "Sasquatch".

Why? We'll get to that.

The information in the article that you've already read isn't entirely true. There are two direct lies, and plenty of lies of omission.

There is no such thing as the "anomalous pseudo-disease" referred to as SCP-1000-f1. SCP-1000 does not possess a magical death aura. In fact, SCP-1000 does not directly exhibit any anomalous effect whatsoever.

We also lied about SCP-1000's intelligence level. SCP-1000 aren't chimp-level smart. They're smarter - to be precise, they are exactly as smart as us.

That brings us to the lies of omission. That's what this letter is for. The lies came from me, so I figure the truth should come from me as well.

This is the story we got from the Children of the Sun who defected to us. It's a story we didn't believe - refused to believe, at first.

As you've already read, the apes we call SCP-1000 evolved alongside us. We walked in the daytime, they walked in the nighttime, our nocturnal siblings in the shadows.

But while we were still wandering hunter-gatherers, they… changed. Like we would, a few thousand years later. Tools. Weapons. Agriculture. Domesticated animals. Stable settlements. As humanity blinked in the Pleistocene sun, SCP-1000's population exploded across the night. They blanketed the planet in the tens of billions.

They made things that we still can't comprehend, even though we've thoroughly studied the surviving pieces. Organic technology. They made trees and birds of prey grow into fast-moving ships, herds of animals that became trains, bushes that became flying vehicles. From insects and pigeons they made things equivalent to cell phones, televisions, computers. Atomic bombs. The Children describe vast shining cities, stretching across glaciers and penetrating the deepest caverns, grown skyships of ivory and spider-silk, creatures tending them with hundreds of blinking eyes.

We were rare, like gorillas now, a few hundred thousand left at best. We avoided their settlements just like wild animals today avoid ours. SCP-1000 understood we were intelligent like them, but avoided us just as we avoided them, saw us as fairies, as gnomes, ascribed us supernatural powers, said we ate bad children while they slept in daylight. They fenced off our dwindling wild populations in conservatories, outlawed poaching but in the underground consumed our bones as aphrodisiacs.

Then their civilization fell. And we did it. By 'we' I don't mean the Foundation. By 'we', I mean humanity.

The story is muddy. Supposedly a trickster forest god showed humanity favor, showed us the master's tools and how to use them. Why we did it, we don't know. Perhaps they hunted us, perhaps we were simply afraid. Perhaps it was just that they fenced us in, unintentionally or not. We simply don't know what the truth is. Somehow we acquired SCP-1000's own technology, and with it, we instigated an SK-class dominance shift in which humanity became the dominant species of Earth.

We wiped out 70% of SCP-1000's population in a single day. The Day of Flowers, the Children called it. Supposedly every flower bloomed that day, while our enemies died in their sleep. Then we hunted the rest down. But we went further than just killing them. With a few of the more twisted of SCP-1000's devices, we drove the survivors mad, even those hiding beyond our reach. We trapped them in their own minds, blocking higher functions and leaving their bodies to fend for themselves like any ordinary ape. We slaughtered their living machines and burned their vast shining cities with SCP-1000's bioweapons that reduced everything to slurry and dust that washed or blew away in spring rain and wind.

We left no traces. Not even our own memory. We turned one of the weapons on ourselves, wiped out any knowledge of SCP-1000 and the greatest civilization the planet had ever seen. Only a few humans protected themselves from the effect, kept the forbidden knowledge, just in case. The rest of us went back to being hunter-gatherers, none the wiser.

Which brings us to today.

You're going to read all about this in the level 3 documentation, but I'll give you the short version here: SCP-1000 are somehow regaining their forgotten intelligence and knowledge. Maybe they never truly lost it. We don't know.

This is why the ever-increasing number of "Bigfoot sightings" is so worrying. Why the attempts at contact, however indecipherable, are even more worrying.

Yes. SCP-1000 are just like us. That's what makes them so dangerous. We wiped them from history and memory. We dissolved their civilization and we slaughtered most of their species. Just ask yourselves: If they got the chance, what more would they do to us?

Addendum 1000-056-D: Instances of SCP-1000 have tried to make contact with Foundation personnel on multiple occasions. Most of these attempts at contact have [DATA EXPUNGED] untranslated, though recent attempts show that some instances of SCP-1000 are capable of communicating in English.

Display Ancillary Anomaly Reports

Log 1000-ad065-x1: The following is a rough translation of recent SCP-1000 attempt at communication with Foundation personnel on ██/██/███ (see attached documentation).

#scp #scp foundation #secure contain protect #fiction #fictional #cryptid #cryptids #bigfoot #scp-1000

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internetbloga · 4 years

Text

Dog Behavior Series 13 - Why Is My Dog A Finicky Eater?

Every one of us grew up With all the similar concept of how canines do the job: they use Bodily force to combat to get the alpha, to submit competing canine while in the pack. This notion is so engraved inside our psyche that in English, getting the very best Canine indicates you are one of the most 'dominant' about. Even Individuals who have no real interest in something Canine-linked will have definitely read about the importance of currently being dominant, the pack-leader, the alpha. best dog grooming scissors Even now, when it has been so completely disproven, a great deal of so that the majority trainers will stare down their noses at anybody who dares to utter the time period "dominance" or - even worse! - "alpha function", this idea that dogs are trying to take around the entire world one particular operator at a time remains a Regrettably prevalent believed amid Pet fans. Every thing from pulling to the leash and jumping up, to taking in some thing you dropped on the ground and chasing the cat, has been blamed on a Canine's look for supremacy or an proprietor's insufficient leadership capabilities. It truly is a surprise that we phone pet dogs person's best friend whatsoever, what using this type of supposed Close friend's regular attempt to overthrow us. You feed him, bathe him, care for him and occasionally even clothe him, you're taking him into the vet when he is Ill and provides him a comfy place to snooze when he is fatigued, and How can he repay you? By staging a coup d'état! The nerve! But how did this misguided notion of rank arrive at be? We all know that wolves dominate one another, they have got a strict hierarchy where subordinates are denied prime means and individuals are continually battling for dominance, right? Properly, no, which is not just how it works. It seems that our preceding notions of lupine social conduct have been according to captive wolves. People today from diverse packs were forced to reside in near proximity of each other, a very unnatural situation for them, resulting in hugely unnatural conduct. The bloodbaths around means were the result of worry, whereas while in the wild, there aren't any rival packs because space will not be an issue. From the wild, a wolf pack is designed up of a monogamous pair and two or three generations of offspring, who leave the pack on achieving sexual maturity (at around two several years of age). Free of charge-ranging canine, Primarily Those people in a more city setting, choose a solitary daily life. They're opportunistic scavengers consuming bits of foods right here and there, they need not hunt in teams mainly because they You should not hunt massive prey. In wolves, all members of your pack are associated with A technique or A different in rearing the younger and acquiring meals, whereas canines aren't monogamous and only the mom is responsible for raising her pups. In specific areas (normally rural) where by dogs are actually discovered to roam in unfastened teams ('membership' is barely temporary) a Expecting female will individual herself from the rest of the group to present delivery and care for her younger. So, you could see the plain flaw in making use of wolf conduct when learning canines. Puppies and wolves are distant family members (despite staying of the same species) and therefore not ethologically interchangeable. It's not that these teams deficiency any semblance of construction, It is really that hierarchy is simply crucial in several cases, very similar to it is for us individuals. Due to the fact it has been "common know-how" for many years that wolves are continually battling for dominance, It is easy to understand how numerous Canine owners could error a straightforward deficiency of manners for an attempt to climb up in rank, but the reality is that your Pet isn't any additional dominant when he dashes out the doorway than the one that just zipped by you so that you can secure that final little spot during the elevator you have been going to wander into. He is no more an alpha when he lunges with the meals you dropped compared to Woman who snatched up that sweater you just set down for just a moment. These men and women usually are not hoping to claim their dominance, they're just simple impolite: they have set their requires ahead of the desires of Other people. Puppies, like men and women, who aren't taught to behave effectively can not be envisioned to know how to achieve this. Does this mean your dog shouldn't be taught any boundaries or principles? Not surprisingly not. But adhering for the dominance idea isn't the way reach this. It is very flawed, and used to justify the use of compulsion in dog coaching. A dog will never satisfy a ask for for three main good reasons: she's frightened, Doubtful or what to do or just a lot more determined to accomplish something else... Not mainly because she's dominant! The same as people, canine do greater using a benevolent job-model and leader, in lieu of a tyrant. Before I go on, I must accept the slew of indignant trainers who will be itching to indicate that, all with each other now: "dogs usually are not furry people!" Really true, but so far as the brain is concerned (Specially the component relegated to hedonistic behaviours along with the fulfillment of requirements), we are incredibly very similar, despite the noticeable variation in overall look. Animals are hedonistic by mother nature; considering very first of oneself is really a primordial survival tactic that has trapped with us and can likely under no circumstances depart. I need to Observe that this does not imply that altruism isn't going to exist in certain species (amongst which can be the dog), but that deviates from the item of this informative article. The Puppy that sits in advance of remaining Enable out or waits for a thing to get available to her isn't demonstrating some kind of subordination, she's simply a 'polite' Doggy. Obviously she has no actual strategy of social etiquette, but she's been taught that specified behaviours (sitting, remaining, ceasing to whine or bark... ) are the one method of getting what she wants (treats, affection, independence... ). It truly is a common misconception that dogs attempt to 'take Charge of the wander' by pulling to the leash, as just the chief walks in entrance. Dogs, even those that are the most effective of good friends, tend not to wander aspect by aspect. Canines are not pack animals, but even in wolves, status is not really determined by the place somebody walks, Each and every animal minds their unique enterprise. It is really no different every time they're out on a wander along with you: a dog that pulls is just attempting to head her have business enterprise as finest she will though tethered to the sluggish biped! To ask a Canine to invest the period of a walk ambling frustratingly gradually close to you is inquiring a whole lot; this is not to convey that it's difficult, but it takes many restraint to not chase the car, chook or jogger which includes caught her eye, or look into that pee, Skittle or carcass a foot from her nose! A significant trouble occurs once we take into account that, as people, We have now this expectation that our canines have the ability fully grasp our spoken language. Most canines go their total lives not knowing just what the phrase 'no' indicates, While they hear it frequently during the day. First off, dogs get on tones a lot more than personal words and phrases, And that's why I am able to connect with my dog 'Jungle Breath' and he'll run correct to me. Secondly, telling a Pet dog not to do some thing is normally unproductive simply because in all likelihood he is executing a lot of things at once, and you've got just advised him 'Never'. Don't what, specifically? It is a great deal more effective to tell him what he must be executing, it leaves no home for interpretation. This popular supply of miscommunication is exactly what brings about so many Pet dog entrepreneurs to believe that their Canine is both dominant or just simple Silly. Aside from "no", "peaceful" is definitely the primary phrase individuals appear to assume their canines to grasp. The funny issue is usually that yelling will truly get most puppies to bark much more! On the off possibility that a pointy "silent!" essentially startles the Pet dog into silence, the operator's response typically isn't really to communicate which the cessation of noise was what they ended up asking for (with using a reward), but to return to what they ended up executing, which tells the Puppy absolutely nothing. Basically, sometimes, they will even be unwittingly worthwhile the Canine for barking: he barks and they give him awareness, he is tranquil they usually dismiss him. A discussion on canine dominance just would not be entire without having a shout-out towards the alpha role: the preposterous practice of pinning your dog to the ground if you want to establish your self as his top-quality. Submissive dogs present their bellies constantly, as do wolves. Whenever they get it done in character, why are not able to we exploit and mimic it? Very first off, it's not a submissive gesture, It can be an appeasement gesture. A Canine exposing his abdomen is expressing full inoffensiveness, he's found himself inside a perceived tense condition, which is attempting to enable it to be quite apparent that he means no harm. Second, hardly ever at any time will you see a dog flip A different Pet on his again (apart from in situations of inappropriate Perform). This gesture is offered, not forced. Forcing a dog to the bottom will do very little on your relationship, at best it can scare her, at worst it can depart you with component of your encounter missing. The alpha part was perpetuated through the Monks of New Skete and immensely popularized by Cesar Millan, all of whom have because claimed to regret the two employing and popularizing reported follow. Another time You might even see a Doggy go "belly up" is through Enjoy. Even all through Participate in, it is the dog on the ground that initiates the conduct, his body language is going to be engaged but freed from pressure (no shaking or tail amongst his legs) and he is cost-free for getting up when he pleases. Being aware of The explanations canines do what they do may well appear to be a triviality, but it surely can radically have an impact on the end result of your training. A Canine that destroys the house for the reason that he has separation anxiousness will probable not advantage exclusively from getting a thing much more exciting to carry out, whilst a Doggy who destroys away from boredom frequently will. In the exact same way, punishing a Canine for remaining a dog will do very little but produce frustration and scarce outcomes. Trainers who demonize canine by making erroneous claims about hierarchy and dominance do this to justify under humane schooling approaches, but - Fortunately! - which is not the way numerous Puppy proprietors opt to see their canine mates. The most common criticism I listen to with reference to the usage of non-conflictual coaching procedures is that it'll bring about the Pet dog to become dependent on treats, refusing to try and do nearly anything you talk to without the need of the knowledge of a reward. Trainers that use compulsion declare that a Pet must wish to obey since the operator said so, not mainly because he has treats. It's very human to want an individual (Canine, human or otherwise) comply away from regard and adore, as opposed to the anticipation of the pay out-out, so I am unable to say I wholly blame them for this frame of mind, but what I have never understood was how these advocates of coercive strategies could perhaps oversee the double regular within their phrases: how is undertaking a little something only for treats any distinct from performing some thing only to stop punishment? Personally, I would exclude these kinds of an egotistic notion from my education altogether, as it's going to only cause disappointment and resentment if you strike a schooling roadblock. Remember: dogs need to have to master manners, not senseless submission. A dog that is definitely taught the Idea of punishment will very likely only comply when the specter of said punishment is present. I am not implying that this method is completely ineffective (Whilst, for all of Puppy-sort, I wish it have been) but it's much more effective from the long-run to show a Canine that if he complies, the smartest thing on the globe will come about to him, and a skilled trainer will know exactly what that is definitely to the dog in dilemma.

#https://doggroomingon.com/best-dog-grooming-scissors/

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theconservativebrief · 6 years

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Dan Nosowitz was scrolling through Instagram when he saw it: an ad for a cooking device whose sole function was to heat up raclette cheese.

“I had to click through because I had no idea what it actually was,” he explains. “Finding out that an algorithm believed I would be interested in a discount ‘traditional Swiss-style electric cheese melter’ is sort of comfortably bumbling. It’s like watching a Roomba bonk into a wall.”

Whether the humor inherent in the ad comes from the fact that the gadget is so oddly specific, or because raclette is an incredibly high-maintenance cheese and therefore hardly a common grocery item for most people, is difficult to say. What we do know, however, is that the complicated set of algorithms that serve targeted ads on social media are the most brutal, most incisive owns of our time.

In Nosowitz’s case, he figures he likely saw the raclette warmer because he’s a food writer who Amazon surely knows has previously browsed cooking tools on its site. That’s because Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, and the rest of the internet track your every keystroke and will then use your history to show you things they think will make them money. So it’s no wonder that it feels so deeply personal when we get targeted ads for, say, “dressy sweatpants,” colonoscopies, underwear whose selling point is that they are easy to take off, preparing for your own funeral, or, somehow the biggest attack of all: tickets to Jagged Little Pill: The Musical.

The simplest explanation for why targeted ads are so creepily intimate: Your phone, your computer, and the internet in general contain a gargantuan amount of information about you. Google, for instance, knows essentially every website you have ever gone to in your life, and thanks to geolocation can tell where you live, where you work, and where you’ve traveled and when. Credit card companies know what you buy, and the brands that sell those items can use that data to predict the things you’ll buy in the future — in Target’s case, it can tell that you’re pregnant before even your family knows.

There are ways to prevent at least some of this, but the more the internet entrenches itself in our lives, the more difficult and time-consuming it is to opt out. The consequences are, of course, potentially democracy-shattering. For our purposes here, however, the thing in danger of being shattered is our self-esteem.

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, who has written a book on how the internet uses your data, has himself experienced the strangeness of being targeted by a Facebook ad for hair loss cream despite never having posted anything about balding.

“It was a little like being in a Seinfeld episode,” he explains. “I had never worried about my hair and always thought hair products were a total waste of money. And now I had to wonder, ‘Am I crazy? Should I actually be taking a product for hair loss?’” (He, however, ended up deducing that it was probably because two-thirds of men start losing their hair by the time they’re 35, and that the ad simply targeted all men around that age.)

I just got a Facebook ad for hair loss product. Are they using my pictures to figure out I am balding? I am pretty sure there is no other way, using my internet behavior, for them to know that.

— Seth Stephens-Davidowitz (@SethS_D) March 29, 2018

Facebook, undoubtedly the platform with the worst and most prolific targeted ads, said in a memo this April that while it allows companies to target their ads to users that fit a certain profile, it keeps users’ actual identities private from them.

But companies are able to target specific people by other means, namely through sending Facebook a list of emails, which Facebook can then use to find associated accounts. If you’ve ever bought anything from, say, Urban Outfitters, the brand could use the email you used to either make the purchase online or the one you gave at the checkout counter to specifically target you. And if you happened to be browsing Glossier.com, while still logged into Facebook, you might return to the social media app to find ads for Boy Brow.

Plus, the blog post doesn’t mention the fact that marketers can take advantage of your data that isn’t simply demographic — it theoretically could, for instance, reach users who seem to match a specific personality type or emotional state, thereby taking advantage of already vulnerable people. So ads for funeral preparations or musicals about mid-’90s female angst could be more than just a coincidence and instead referendums on your actual current mood.

The most horrific item I have ever seen in a targeted Facebook ad was a sweatshirt emblazoned with a bunch of Celtic knots that implied the superiority of having “Jennings blood.” Ignoring the possible white supremacist connotations, the ad was ironic mostly because you can buy the exact same sweatshirt replaced with literally any last name that sounds vaguely Irish and about a zillion other versions, too. “God made the strongest and named them Rubin,” reads one. “Never underestimate the power of a person with name’s Brooke,” shouts another, despite the fact that this sentence does not make sense.

It’s obvious why this specific ad showed up on my feed: Facebook knows that my last name is Jennings, and marketers can easily target users with such information. What’s more complicated is how the hell all those last names ended up on a sweatshirt.

To be clear, they didn’t. The reason so many T-shirts and sweatshirts with oddly specific phrases is because online clothing companies have tasked algorithms with the heavy lift of actually filling in the specifics and photoshopping those results onto digital images of clothing. The sweatshirts themselves don’t physically exist until you hit “purchase.”

Michael Fowler had been in the T-shirt business for 20 years before creating a simple computer code that would change his life in 2011. It took a common phrase, such as “Kiss Me, I’m a [blank],” compiled hundreds of thousands of words from digital dictionaries, created a list of phrase variations using those words, and then generated images of T-shirts with each phrase. According to The Hustle, Fowler’s company went from just 1,000 T-shirts that were designed by actual humans to more than 22 million code-generated ones. Through targeted Facebook ads, he was eventually able to sell 800 a day.

Unfortunately, his success was not the reason Fowler would make international headlines. Two years later his algorithm was responsible for shirts that read “Keep calm and rape a lot,” among other disturbing and misogynistic variations on the famous World War II slogan. Fowler said he had no knowledge of the items, and in fact, they’d been available for more than a year before anyone noticed. But even though he quickly deleted the offending shirts, his company still ended up folding.

Robot-written word salad T-shirts, however, have managed to become one of the internet’s purest inside jokes. On the subreddit r/TargetedShirts, members share the most egregious versions they come across, be they weirdly antagonistic (“Walk away, this forklift operator has anger issues and a serious dislike of stupid people”), uncomfortably sexual (“I don’t need therapy, I just need to get f#ed in public by fourteen werewolves”), birthday month-related (“Never underestimate an old man who is also an air force veteran and was born in November”), or utterly nonsensical (“Good girls go to heaven, January girl go hunting with Dean”).

The sub even has its own parody versions, like “These titties are protected by a skinny white guy in his mid-thirties who wears DC shoes, yells at me in public and is addicted to percs who was born in February,” or “Only heros with an IQ of 121, work as a pizza delivery driver, have 3 spoons of sugar in their coffee and love reptiles & mice, were born in March by C-section 2 weeks before their due date.”

Its founder, David Moreno, launched the subreddit just ten months ago, but it already has more than 40,000 subscribers. He explained to Vox that the first time he saw a targeted ad, back in 2011 or 2012, “it did fuck with my brain for a while because it had my last name and month of birth and at the time I didn’t realize what was going on.”

These days, however, the practice makes sense to him. “Funnily enough, I work in marketing, so while it might seem like a desperate strategy, it is actually a very good way to target a very specific group of people without spending too much cash,” he said.

The best versions, of course, are the ones seen in the wild. The sub is often populated by surreptitiously photographed people in the offending shirts, like this one, with comments that lightly roast the wearer. They’re the best because they are the saddest — the catalog of folks who were not only owned by the algorithm, but scammed by it.

That’s the other part of what it’s like to see a hyper-targeted ad for something incredibly on-brand: sometimes they read us more clearly than any actual humans. This is an inherently depressing thought, considering that this is sort of the job of the people we love and the society we live in. But the more intimate our phones and our data become in our lives, it might increasingly be the case.

The prevailing cynical attitude towards targeted ads — tweets that say things like, “i just got an ad for preparing for your own funeral, what are you trying to say to me youtube” — can sort of be compared to the FBI agent meme of the past year and a half or so. The idea is that every internet user has their own personal agent monitoring their behavior through their devices, but instead of this being incredibly creepy, the joke is that the agent acts as a friend or frustrated mentor to the subject.

me: (sitting back down on my bed with a bowl of chips ready to binge a new series) hey so what does “fbi” stand for anyway

fbi agent inside my computer: uh Faraway.. Buddy.. Insideyourcomputer

me: cool. so what do u wanna watch next

fbi agent: i heard grace and frankie is fun

— jonny sun (@jonnysun) February 1, 2018

A Mashable article earlier this year explored the surprising poignance of the meme: “The agent wants the best for their subject,” writes its author Chloe Bryan. “The narrator, conscious of how boring their life must be to observe, tries to entertain the FBI agent. They have pleasant conversations. They develop a forbidden friendship. They become quiet, lightly subversive allies.”

In both cases, we’re taking our deepest technological anxieties — that the internet stores and sells our data and that the government is spying on us — and turning them into lighthearted jokes. Which is fair! It’s a lot more fun to pretend Big Data is actually just there to dunk on our most embarrassing shopping habits instead of manipulating U.S. elections or contributing to the rising wealth of the world’s richest people.

Which means there will probably come a day when an ad on Instagram for an enormous cheese-warming gadget targeted specifically to a person using a complex set of his internet data will no longer be funny. But we may as well laugh while it still is.

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Original Source -> The joy and horror of targeted Facebook ads

via The Conservative Brief

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emmagreen1220-blog · 6 years

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New Post has been published on Mythology.net

New Post has been published on https://mythology.net/?p=2608

Behemoth

As one of the ancient primordial creatures, Behemoth has long been a mystery sought after by many philosophers and religious experts. Behemoth is known to be a mighty creature – king of the land animals – with might that can’t be comprehended. The Behemoth is so mighty in fact, that it’s roar is known to keep all the animals of the earth peaceful for a time because of their great fright.

What is Behemoth

Despite humanity’s unquenchable curiosity surrounding the beast and its triad, little is known about their existence outside the book of Job. There have been speculations about what Behemoth was and where he could have come from.

Behemoth is said to be a primal land creature that was created by God when he crafted the world. Behemoth is a powerful land animal that cannot be defeated by anyone but God. Similarly, God created Leviathan – ruler of the sea, and Ziz – king of the sky. Shortly after Leviathan’s creation however, the creature was corrupted by Chaos.

Most of what is known of the Behemoth comes to us from the book of Job, chapter 40. Job 40:16- reads as follows:

“Look at Behemoth which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox. What strength it has in its loins, What power in the muscles of its belly! Its tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of its thighs are close-knit. Its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like rods of iron. It ranks first among the works of God, yet its Maker can approach it with his sword. The hills bring it their produce, and all the wild animals play nearby. Under the lotus plants it lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh. The lotuses conceal it in their shadow; the poplars by the stream surround it. A raging river does not alarm it; it is secure, though the Jordan should surge against its mouth. Can anyone capture it by the eyes, or trap it and pierce its nose?”

Additionally, the Haggadah (a Jewish text that describes the order of the Passover Seder) tells us that the Behemoth is strongest during the summer solstice (usually around June 21st). During the summer solstice, the Behemoth lets out a mighty roar that makes all other animals of earth tremble with fear. The fear inspired by Behemoth’s roar makes animals less fierce. Without Behemoth’s roar, there would be nothing to stop animals from becoming terrifyingly violent and killing each other and humans without reason. In this way, Behemoth is also a protector of sorts that helps to keep weaker animals safe.

Characteristics

Physical Description

What we know of Behemoth tells us that he is a mighty creature whose strength cannot be comprehended by man. The Behemoth is said to be a masterpiece – a giant creature who cannot be conquered by anyone but God himself. Job 40 tells us that Behemoth is an incredibly powerful creature. The Behemoth is known to have a massive belly with powerful muscles that can be seen underneath the surface. Its bones are said to be dense as bronze and its limbs are strong as iron. Additionally, the Behemoth is said to be able to drink up a river with ease (KJV translation) and is able to stand against the might of the surging Jordan river without fear (NIV version).

Any beast capable of accomplishing these feats would have been very mighty indeed and feared by any who happened to come across it. However, despite the Behemoth’s terrifying appearance, the creature appears to be relatively peaceful. He enjoys laying underneath the shade of trees and reeds near rivers and is known to be a herbivore.

Many of the contextual clues surrounding the Behemoth have led scholars to believe that the mighty beast could have possibly been a hippopotamus or other similar creature. However, there are several problems with this theory that have discredited it.

One of the most important pieces of information that implies that the Behemoth is not an animal known to man is Job 40:17:

“Its tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of its thighs are close-knit.”

Many take this interpretation literally and suggest that the tail of the beast is either quite long (as cedar trees are known to grow to extreme heights) or bushy with hair similar to that of cedar limbs and leaves.

Others, however, argue that a literal interpretation is incorrect. It is well known that the Hebrews were very shy in their descriptions of the reproductive anatomy of both humans and animals. Instead, they used clever euphemisms that allowed them to avoid directly saying words they considered to be inappropriate. Because of this, many believe that the word ‘tail’ actually references the male anatomy of the Behemoth.

This explanation is further credited by the description of how the ‘tail’ moves. Though the NIV version of Job 40 uses the word ‘sways’, the original Hebrew word translates roughly to ‘move.’ This specific variation of ‘moves’ in the Hebrew language is also sometimes used to signify ‘to erect’, ‘to stand upright’, and ‘to stiffen.’

Many believe that Behemoth is a super-creature that has a strong resemblance to cattle. This is in part because of the name ‘Behemoth’ itself. In Hebrew, the word for cattle is ‘behemah’, which undeniably similar to ‘Behemoth.’ This leads many to believe that Behemoth must be some sort of ox-like creature with incredible strength and might.

Because of these implications, many believe that the Behemoth is a creature that is now extinct or has somehow gone undiscovered. Regardless of what Behemoth is, many doubt that it could be a creature that is known to us today.

Personality

Despite being incredibly large and incomprehensively powerful, the Behemoth does not seem to be a creature that wishes to wreck havoc on human-kind. Though this is counterintuitive when compared to the Leviathan (also an unconquerable primal creature) who devours humans and boils its enemies live by simply opening its mouth, this can possibly be explained by a creation myth.

It is said that God created Leviathan with a female partner and then created Behemoth. Shortly after creating Leviathan however, Chaos corrupted the creature. This forced God to kill Leviathan’s partner so he could not reproduce – together they would have been too powerful and devoured all other creatures of Earth.

Because Behemoth was not corrupted by Chaos, it is possible that this beast does not have evil intent. In fact, according to legend Behemoth and Leviathan are fated to battle against one another. This implies that Behemoth – who may be a protector of sorts – will battle against Leviathan to keep evil out of the world.

Another supporting factor for Behemoth’s gentle nature is the fact that he is a known herbivore. Unlike many monsters and creatures known to have malevolent intent, Behemoth does not crave the flesh of any being or animal. He also does not roam in search of trouble, but instead lays peacefully under the shade of trees and reeds.

Perhaps most importantly, Behemoth is known to let out a mighty roar during the summer solstice when his powers are at their peak. This roar is known to frighten all the animals into lessening their ferocity so that all the weak animals can live in peace.

Origin Theories

The tale of Behemoth, Leviathan, and Ziz has fascinated humanity since we were first made aware of their existence. The creature is known for its great power and might that is unconquerable to all but God himself. Though there is still no strong evidence to support any theory that is posed as a solution, the following have become the most popular and intriguing.

Hippopotamus

As hippopotamus were considered to be great and mighty creatures in the ancient world, it has often been wondered if Behemoth could have been a description of the river horse. The argument for Behemoth being a massive hippopotamus is usually supported by saying that Behemoth is known to have a large belly, similar to that of a hippo.

Hippopotamus’ are also known to enjoy basking in the shade of river plants and being able to withstand strong currents. There are, however, several problems with this theory.

The first issue lies in the description of Behemoth’s stomach. While certainly large like that of a hippopotamus, the Behemoth has visible muscles that line its stomach. A hippo’s stomach has no visible muscle.

Additionally, though hippopotamus’ are known to be impressive creatures, they were also hunted by men during the time that this passage is thought to have been written. The last lines of the poem, contradict any possibility of the hippopotamus being the infamous Behemoth. They read as follows:

“Can anyone capture it by the eyes, or trap it and pierce its nose?”

These were the methods used by ancient Egyptians to bring down a hippopotamus. They would often aim to blind the hippo by aiming for its eye, or stab it in the nose to force the creature to breath through its mouth. When this was accomplished, they could then use a spear to deliver a fatal blow to the more vulnerable insides of the creature.

Hippos were also commonly sacrificed and eaten during festivals in ancient Egypt. Behemoth is an unconquerable creature and is not able to be preyed upon by any creature on Earth.

It is however, thought that the first notions that Behemoth could be a hippopotamus are linked to the pharaoh’s pride in being able to kill one of the mighty creatures. In ancient Egypt, this was thought to further evidence their status as an incarnated god.

Dinosaur

If Behemoth is not a hippopotamus, what then could he be? Many frustrated scholars turn back to the dawn of the dinosaurs to answer this question. There are several different species of dinosaurs that are brought into consideration. It is argued that since we do not know the date that dinosaurs went extinct, there could have been a few existing species during Job’s time.

Apatosaurus is often one of the candidates for a possible Behemoth that is thrown into the ring. The creature’s teeth are consistent with that of an herbivore, which helps to align the creature with Behemoth. The Apatosaurus is thought to have grown to lengths up to 75 ft and could have weighed as much as 22.0 long tons! However, it is believed that several Apatosaurus’ could have grown even larger than this.

Other types of sauropods were also mentioned for their large size and herbivore diet. Because of their bone structure, it is also thought that rigid muscles would have been visible on the stomachs of these creatures. Admittedly, the creatures would have inspired fear and awe into anyone who happened upon them.

The major flaw with this theory however, is found in the otherwise very detailed descriptions of Job 40. The animal is described with incredible detail, but there is no mention of the enormous neck that is characteristic of sauropods. Many also argue that the tail of the sauropods – though massive – didn’t resemble a cedar tree.

The majority of people who reject the two above theories usually gravitate towards the belief that the Behemoth is a type of super-ox that was superior to all other creatures. This is largely due to the word ‘Behemoth’ itself.

The word ‘Behemoth’ is thought to be a derivative of ‘behemah’ which is a Hebrew word for cattle. This close association would lead the majority of believers to think that Behemoth is a large variation of mammal that is somehow related to the cattle family.

This belief is also more commonly accepted because of the many extinct species that are still being discovered today. It is often claimed that this is why we have yet to discover the Behemoth – it became extinct long ago and is yet to be discovered by modern man.

Mud Fossil

The study of mud fossils are usually limited to trying to understand the history of the Earth by examining rocks and soil. It is quite common for scientists to find the fossils of fish and other sea creatures buried in rock and mud.

There are those however, who believe mud fossils have the potential to tell a much greater story. In fact, some would claim that the majority of land masses on Earth are actually made from the decaying remains of giants! Though this theory is often dismissed, its premise does coincide with the creation story passed down from the Norse in which Odin, Vili, and Ve create the Earth from the body of the giant Ymir.

Those who believe in this extreme mud fossil theory have claimed to have found the remains of Leviathan and Behemoth in the Sahara Desert (though the description of the second figure aligns with that of Ziz more closely than Behemoth).

Related Characters

There are many related characters in ancient mythology that could have inspired Behemoth or serve as an alternative representation of Behemoth.

One possible relation is Audhumla who comes to us from Norse mythology. Audhumla is a giant cow who provided sustenance for the first of the frost giants and created the first gods (Buri and Bestla). The story of Behemoth tells us that this creature is known for the power in its loins. In the ancient world, this was often used to convey the fertility of certain creatures. This may be a reference to the power of life that is endowed in the creature, which could connect Audhumla to Behemoth.

We also hear tales of the Sacred Bull that was commonly worshiped in the ancient world. One of the most familiar stories was that of Moses and his followers. When Moses went atop Mount Sinai, he left his followers at the base of the mountain and told them to wait. Because of the long time he spent on the mountain, his followers strayed away from God and started worshiping The Sacred Bull. Moses was angered by this, telling them that this ‘god’ they were pledging allegiance to was nothing compared to the great might of God and destroyed all their relics. Many believe The Sacred Bull could indeed be Behemoth. If The Sacred Bull is Behemoth, this could perhaps be seen as motivation for killing the otherwise peaceful creature alongside Leviathan in the end days.

The Epic of Gilgamesh also depicts a bull that could have been a reference to Behemoth. In this story, the Bull of Heaven is sent down to punish humans and destroy their crops because Inanna (sister of the goddess of the Underworld) had been upset by Gilgamesh. She begged Anu (god of the sky) to release the Bull of Heaven from his place in the sky so he could avenge her honor. Because of Inanna’s ties to the story, it is thought that the Bull of Heaven could actually be Gugalanna, the first husband of Ereshkigal (goddess of the Underworld and sister to Inanna). Anu agrees and lends the power of Gugalanna to Inanna. She unleashed The Bull of Heaven upon the kingdom of Gilgamesh, where he consumed the vegetation and drank up the rivers. Some versions of the story tell us that The Bull of Heaven was able to drink up a mile of river at a time and still thirst for more water – similar to what we hear in stories relating to Behemoth. Eventually, The Bull of Heaven is slain by Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu, though it is said that the great bull was preserved in the sky as the constellation Taurus.

Egyptian mythology brings us the deity Apis – the bull god. As one of the oldest deities in Egypt, he is one of the most important gods the Egyptians had and was often given ritual sacrifice out of reverence and respect. Apis is a servant of Ptah – the god of creation. This leads many to believe that Apis may be none other than Behemoth as the tales have startling similarity. However, instead of considering Apis to be a lesser creature than Ptah, they considered him to be a manifestation of Ptah which is why he is given so much respect.

Iranian mythology also tells the tale of Gavaevodata – a uniquely created cow that was both male and female. Gavaevodata is considered to be one of the six primordial material creations and is credited with being the creator of all benevolent animal life. This can perhaps be likened to Behemoth in that Behemoth’s mighty roar is considered to be a merciful act that protects the weaker animals of the world.

Hindu mythology brings us the legend of Nandi who may also be a reference to Behemoth. Nandi is the gate guardian of Kailasa and is also the steed of the god Shiva. It is said that when Nandi was born, his body was protected by armor made from diamonds. As diamonds are known for their incredible strength, it is possible that Nandi’s iron-like body and bronzen bones could have been a description of Behemoth.

Explanation of the Myth

There are many debates as to who or what Behemoth is – as well as if the creature exists at all. The most popular theories suggest that the creature was either an analogy created to demonstrate the might of God or a creature that has been extinct for centuries.

Many are convinced that the former is the most likely explanation. Because Behemoth is so prominent throughout the cultures that early Christians interacted with, it is thought that introducing Behemoth as one of God’s creations was meant to show the inferiority of the deity to the other cultures and religions. In fact, portraying Behemoth as a land monster ensured that the dignity associated with being a deity was stripped away from Behemoth entirely.

Others believe that Behemoth is a sort of mammal that has been extinct for hundreds or even thousands of years. The creature they expect to unearth is often compared to the early dinosaurs.

There are also those who believe Behemoth was a giant that was used to create the land that now comprises a large portion of Earth. This is a fairly uncommon belief, though followers of this idea claim to have found fossilized evidence that confirms their theory.

Regardless of how the legend of Behemoth came into existence, he can be recognized as an important creation figure in cultures around the world.

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