Sabrina Imbler

@sabs.bsky.social

15463 Followers 471 Following

charismatic megafauna at Defector books How Far the Light Reaches & Dyke (geology) newsletter Creatures NYC 🤙 https://buttondown.com/simbler/ signal: simbler.88

a duckduckgo search for "do cicadas have penis"
the photo of princess mia thermopolis looking like a beautiful moose
an uncanny valley ass monkey looking at a camera trap
a horseshoe crab covered with a mosaic kf blue/periwinkle scales as well as some barnacles and ribbons of green sea lettuce
This is also one of the pernicious ways that white supremacy works, right? The idea that just to survive is not exceptional, when in reality, because of the ways that structural racism impacts our lives—that it literally defines the neighborhoods that we live in, the opportunities our families can have—that's just not the case. Every family that is marginalized is a success, is a celebration. That was another part to me that rang out. Just because you didn't have someone that was the first of something, someone that ran for office, someone that founded a business—and there are a lot of those people in this book—you didn't have relationships with the powerful, you didn't suffer at the hands of the police, that doesn't make your story or your family any less important.
a picture of the sour apple green reflecting pool with the caption: RFK Jr. just pounding a pint glass full of this stuff. "It's got parameciums," he says. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Everything among them talketh, nothing succeedeth any longer and accomplisheth itself. Everything cackleth, but who will still sit quietly on the nest and hatch eggs?
Ode To The Maggot By Yusef Komunyakaa Brother of the blowfly And godhead, you work magic Over battlefields, In slabs of bad pork And flophouses. Yes, you Go to the root of all things. You are sound & mathematical. Jesus, Christ, you're merciless With the truth. Ontological & lustrous, You cast spells on beggars & kings Behind the stone door of Caesar's tomb Or split trench in a field of ragweed. No decree or creed can outlaw you As you take every living thing apart. Little Master of earth, no one gets to heaven Without going through you first.
three photos of a flesh fly looking increasingly panicked and turning towards you
The 2026 World Cup, then, represents the apotheosis of sportwashing. The United States—whose major sports leagues, the standards of professionalism and prestige against which all others are measured, have thus far turned their noses up at Gulf money—is hosting its own Hitler Olympics. This World Cup takes place against a backdrop of mass deportations and arrests. Tens of thousands of people have been disappeared and crammed into horrifying squalor, where they await disease, physical and sexual abuse, death, and other effects of unpersoning. The rapist in charge of the U.S. is actively conducting a war of aggression against another World Cup participant and simultaneously threatening both of the tournament's other hosts. Anyone who visits the country is subject to surveillance and arbitrary detention, if they can even get in, which not even World Cup athletes can do without a hassle.
a lowercase g with that second loop on the bottom >>>>>
the login page to neopets dot com lol
a text with an insane variety of fonts and kerning and typefaces and it's horrible to read but also it's about horse masturbation: pontaneous erection accompanied by ‘masturbation’ occurs in equids. Spontaneous erection involves extension of the penis from the prepuce with engorgement to its full length and rigidity, in a non- sexual context. Masturbation involves rhythmic bouncing, pressing or sliding of the erect penis against the abdomen achieved by rhythmic contraction of the ischiocavemosus muscles and/or pelvic thrusting. The significance and regulation.of these behaviours are not well understood. Spontaneous erection and masturbation in equids have been viewed traditionally as aberrant behaviours resulting from regimentation or restricted activity of captive or domestic existence or, alternatively, a ‘venting’ of sexual frustration, either from inherent hypersexuality or from thwarted access to heterosexual activity. Often it is assumed that masturbation limits the potential fertility of a stallion by depleting sperm reserves and sexual energy. This report summarizes a series of studies of spontaneous erection and masturbation in equids in a number of different management and breeding environments.
a photo of a reconstruction of otzi the iceman wearing assless chaps
Some authors have based their understanding of the Micromalthus life cycle on an opinion paper, assum- ing the adults are fertile15. The entire experimental literature, however, states that adults are sterile. Pollock and Normark, for example, reported that adults mate based on an incorrect observation of Barber12. Indeed, Barber observed two adults mounting, but after careful examination of the specimens by an expert in aedeagi (male intromittent organ) of beetles, both individuals were confirmed to be female. Barber was therefore the first who observed female-female mounting in beetles
The telephone-pole beetle used to have reproducing adults, but has evolved to become obligately paedogenetic, having asexually reproducing (parthenogenetic) female larvae and sterile adults that occasionally develop from the juveniles. The rare adult is sometimes referred to as a 'ghost adult' due to its vestigial existence.
a photo of a metallic green bug with black spots and a yellowish underside sitting on a leaf
a screenshot of an old New Scientist article from 1981 explaining how the marine caddisfly Philanisus plebeius lays its eggs in starfish
the cover of Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life which has an excruciated looking man
a screen at Callen-Lorde celebrating Alexander Chee for AAPIH month
In brief, Lydgate was what is called a successful man. But he died prematurely of diphtheria, and Rosamond afterwards married an elderly and wealthy physician, who took kindly to her four children. She made a very pretty show with her daughters, driving out in her carriage, and often spoke of her happiness as "a reward"—she did not say for what, but probably she meant that it was a reward for her patience with Tertius, whose temper never became faultless, and to the last occasionally let slip a bitter speech which was more memorable than the signs he made of his repentance. He once called her his basil plant; and when she asked for an explanation, said that basil was a plant which had flourished wonderfully on a murdered man's brains. Rosamond had a placid but strong answer to such speeches etc
T h e wave o f life flings itself o u t indefatigably. I t is o n l y the recumbent w h o k n o w what, after all, nature is at no pains to conceal—that she i n the end w i l l conquer; the heat w i l l leave the w o r l d ; stiff w i t h frost we shall cease to drag our feet about the fields; ice w i l l lie t h i c k u p o n factory and engine; the sun w i l l go out. Even so, when the whole earth is sheeted a n d slippery some u n d u l a t i o n , some i r r e g u l a r i t y o f surface w i l l m a r k the boundary o f an ancient garden, and there, t h r u s t i n g its head u p undaunted i n the starlight, the rose w i l l flower, the crocus w i l l b u r n . B u t w i t h the h o o k o f life still i n us still we must w r i g g l e . W e cannot stiffen peaceably i n t o glassy mounds.
But the animals of the Burgess Shale are somehow even more satisfying in their adamantine factuality. We will argue forever about the meaning of life, but Opabinia either did or did not have five eyes-and we can know for certain one way or the other. The animals of the Burgess Shale are also the world's most important fossils, in part because they have revised our view of life, but also because they are objects of such exquisite beauty. Their loveliness lies as much in the breadth of ideas that they embody, and in the magnitude of our struggle to interpret their anatomy, as in their elegance of form and preservation. The animals of the Burgess Shale are holy objects-in the unconven- tional sense that this word conveys in some cultures. We do not place them on pedestals and worship from afar. We climb mountains and dynamite hillsides to find them. We quarry them, split them, carve them, draw them, and dissect them, struggling to wrest their secrets. We vilify and curse them for their damnable intransigence. They are grubby little crea- tures of a sea floor 530 million years old, but we greet them with awe because they are the Old Ones, and they are trying to tell us something
I concentrate upon details of the Burgess Shale because I don't believe that important concepts should be discussed tendentiously in the abstract (much as I have disobeyed the rule in this opening chapter!). People, as curious primates, dote on concrete objects that can be seen and fondled. God dwells among the details, not in the realm of pure generality. We must tackle and grasp the larger, encompassing themes of our universe, but we make our best approach through small curiosities that rivet our attention-all those pretty pebbles on the shoreline of knowledge. For the ocean of truth washes over the pebbles with every wave, and they rattle and clink with the most wondrous din.
a screenshot of an old New Scientist story titled "Bugs turn transsexual to avoid stabbing by penis"
a screenshot of a photo of a lar gibbon eating carrots, taken by Sander van der Wel from Netherlands, and uploaded to wikipedia. the lar gibbon is holding two carrots out in its hands and its fingers look like it's flipping someone off
carbuncle | ˈkärˌbəNGk(ə)l | noun 1 a severe abscess or multiple boil in the skin, typically infected with staphylococcus bacteria. 2 British English something, especially a building, that is unsightly or visually intrusive: from our bedroom window we've got a wonderful view of a carbuncle of a theater | detractors called it an ugly carbuncle that spoiled the harbor foreshore. 3 a bright red gem, in particular a garnet cut en cabochon.
timon from the lion king holding up his leaf of succulent yummy lookin bugs
Theo LeGro DESIRE CORNERS ME IN THE QUIET On the beach, I take self portraits with my eyes closed, standing in water that rises from ankle to neck in less than a second. In the darkroom’s red glow, I mix fixer and developer, hang my film to dry and make print after print. At home, I light every burner on the stove, stir the sauce and boil water for pasta. Everything begins and ends with salt: the chemicals that coax out the shadows that build my unseeing face in the photos I won’t show anyone, the meal I make for my friends so I don’t have to tell them I need them, the ocean I’m so scared of because it reminds me of love. At the bar, the band plays a song about a bucket with a hole in it and I think of my heart. I think of crickets rising at twilight singing for touch, how science tells us the source of this music is the caress of one leg against another. I wish I could be as brave as an insect, let this longing make my body its instrument. In bed, a lover tells me, your heart is beating so fast. I roll over. I say, Don’t listen.
snowdrops blooming in the dirt
an illustration of a tetrapod skull that makes the creature look like a doofy smiling fellow
I hate to pull rank here, but as a trans woman, I disagree with basically all of this. I realize the plaintiffs in the suit are also trans, but frankly I doubt they drafted it. I'm not saying I think sex and gender are totally interchangable concepts, but for the purposes of legal construction I think it actually makes more sense to acquiesce to the government's preference toward sex, and simply argue that sex is not immutable, and is actually quite easily altered. After all, Dawg I'm wearing a hat with buncha cheerleaders hittin' Pigeon Pose, you really think I'm ready to discuss transgender metaphysics? You can take the hat off.
a gray harbor seal who is looking soooo cutesy and round
a photo of a fat yellow beetle grub writhing on concrete
a pudgy brown and white bird in a tree
a screenshot of the Defector homepage, which features Dan McQuade's obituary, as well as stories he wrote: "The Myth Of Cops Overdosing From Touching Fentanyl Persists For A Reason" and "Which U.S. Presidents Could Parallel Park? An Investigation" and "The Garden State Parkway’s Jon Bon Jovi Rest Stop Is Playing Fast And Loose With Famous Quotes" and "One Last Trip To Philadelphia’s Department Store Of Dreams"
a picture of the herbal celestial seasonings tea bengal spice which has a tiger on it
a photo of Envelope Crop Top which is a crop top with envelopes on it sold by the USPS store
a screenshot of the defector homepage reading "The Saga of A. Frog" with blogs titled "I Shall Never Mess Up Again," "I've Never Messed Up So Bad," "I Messed Up Again," and "I Messed Up."
a google search for "old timey number words" that suggests the words I was looking for (four-and-twenty, score, etc.)
a screenshot of a wikipedia collage of five seals, titled "Pinniped montage"
two Spiral orb webs in Karijini, Western Australia, they are each iridescent in the sun and look exactly like CD roms
a scientific illustration of a computer-generated narwhal with a red light beaming from its tusk above a sparkly ocean. the words "Local power-law enhancement" and "Global exponential decay" and "narwhal-shaped wavefunctions" are behind the narwhal.
In the process, Weiss gets to continue two of her lifelong passion projects: trying to get people fired, and mainstreaming previously verboten ideological strands, like how the Nazi salute means something else or how genocidal starvation is actually fine. Even in the most generous reading—where her entire career and indeed life might reflect anything more than the cold calculus of a pure cynic who wants the approval and patronage of the world's richest and vainest reactionaries—Weiss's entire worldview is in the negative. She positions herself as a freewheeling intellectual and iconoclast, taking on the stilted orthodoxies of liberal power, but the irony is that her effectiveness is totally circumscribed by the limits of that orthodoxy. She does not have an original thought in her head, merely a list of supposed excesses and hypocrisies riddling the elite liberal world.
a screenshot of an interview "Minnie Bruce Pratt, interviewed by Kelly Anderson" with the highlighted text: "they asked us to describe that moment, and we said, in that kind of duet that we do, that it was like having been stranded in a strange land for your whole life, not having seen anybody from home, and suddenly, someone that you’ve never seen before comes and you see them, and you know each other. You know each other from this really deep, old place of longing. And that’s what happened. That’s what happened for us."
a photo of a moth clinging to a window screen against a green background of lawns. the moth has a fat white body and brownish wings
eproduction and life cycle A silverfish Silverfish head close-up Before silverfish reproduce, they carry out a ritual involving three phases, which may last over half an hour. In the first phase, the male and female stand face to face, their vibrating antennae touching, then repeatedly back off and return to this position. In the second phase, the male runs away and the female chases him. In the third phase, the male and female stand side by side and head to tail, with the male vibrating his tail against the female.[14] Finally, the male lays a spermatophore, a sperm capsule covered in gossamer, which the female takes into her body via her ovipositor to fertilize her eggs.
a screenshot of a photo of a polyphemus moth with the caption: Topside after falling off window. The photographer is named Dicklyon, and the license is CC by-sa 4.0
Though the man’s killing had been filmed, a fact checker is obliged to seek comment from any party alleged to have committed a crime. I called the soldier’s lawyer. He picked up from a café, where I could hear trance music blasting in the background. The lawyer told me that while, yes, his client did shoot the man picking olives, and yes, the man did die, the Israeli military court found his client not guilty of murder because the man picking olives was a terrorist who was throwing stones. Even though the video did not show the Palestinian man throwing stones, the court said that he was, so he was. QED, his client did not murder anyone, and it would be slanderous for us to say so.
It's important to be specific about what Kirk argued for when he was holding a microphone. He hated Muslims. He hated trans people. He referred to the Civil Rights Act as a "huge mistake." He supported Israel and its role in the Gaza genocide. When asked in a debate if he would support an abortion for his 10-year-old daughter if she had become pregnant due to rape, he said he would make her carry the baby to term. He saw minorities as inferior, immigration as poisonous to the United States, and gun violence as a necessary price of preserving a perverted vision of freedom.
the oft-memed Freedom of Speech painting by Norman Rockwell
a dugong rubbing into the sea floor, unsettling a soft cloud of silt. looks very serene!
an illustration of an ancient blue, yellow, and white fish with a narrow face and an expression of total surprise (to show off its extra teeth)
an immaculate grid x Defector "SomeGuys | Remember" from the 21st century grid featuring: Fish Smithson, Isaiah Buggs, Bear Pascoe, Ricky Seals-Jones, Ethan Wolf, Bront Bird, Tomon Fox, Lional Dalton, and Colt McCoy
a screenshot of an Atlantic story under Health: RFK Jr. Is Repeating Michelle Obama’s Mistakes MAHA is “Let’s Move!” 2.0. By Tom Bartlett
whiter parishes surrounding New Orleans went about putting police at the bridges into their towns to keep out the undesirables who were in desperate need of aid and resources. Media of all kinds kept referring to New Orleanians as "refugees," as if somehow their displacement from their impoverished, ghettoized neighborhoods made them no longer citizens of America. Maybe that was the first clue that this country belonged to property instead of the people.
To be mystified by a work of art, I think, is to encounter the world with dizzyingly renewed depth-perception, to have the realness and profound interior vastness of each other human being revealed like the view from an unfathomably high clifftop—to feel that vastness suddenly, the way a person in a boat all at once realizes that the ocean beneath them goes down, straight down, for miles, and then that the entire planet Earth is next to them in space, and maybe grips the gunwale a little more tightly, but also and more importantly experiences awe and wonder.