The whale biologist is one of the best one off characters:

Well, you’ve come to the right guy. I’m the whale biologist, though personally I hate whales. Especially Mushu

Then why’d you become a whale biologist?

I don’t know you well enough to get into that.

…and the fifth reason whales kill is for the sheer fun of it!

Anything else?

Yeah, your suit’s lumpy and you smell awful. Hey, I call ‘em like I see ‘em, I’m a whale biologist.

The suit was ugly! Whale biologist.

Introducing Mushu! The educated whale who thinks he’s better than you!

Stop him! He’s got aquarium property!

Better do what he says; he’s a whale biologist.

I was born after 2000 (though not too long after) and this is actually one of my core memories. I think about the sounds of the static and the sound of the CRT turning off all the time.

Also, we had a really old tv in our basement till at least 2008 that had no remote, just knobs and I remember messsing with the “hue” dial all the time trying to figure out how it worked.

The only reason that tv worked so late is that we had a black box connected to the antenna which I later learned was converting the digital signal to analog for the TV.

Also, you’ve just reminded me that I remember the switch from analog to digital. Specifically, I remember watching Elmo talking with some adult on TV about the change. Now I really want to find that video. I think the guy was wearing a suit had short dark hair and glasses. I also think the background was pinkish purple. I want to know how accurate my memories from so long ago are. (I’ll add the link to the video in an edit if I can find it)

Edit: I cannot find the video :(

As a resident pharmacy technician do you think there will ever be a day in which humans and robots can peacefully coexist?

And on a more serious note, is there significant evidence that doing this once or twice causes lasting negative effects? Or does it have to be repeated use or extremely high dosage to do significant neurological damage?

This has stirred deep, long forgotten memories in me

So happy for the Romans still trying to get to space even this long after the collapse of their empire. I believe in you guys

I am not Asian at all, and I don’t really feel my heart pounding when I drink. Also I thought people with that condition tend to get drunk faster (like some of my Asian friends do)

However I suppose it is worth looking into.

CW: I’m about to just complain about drugs for a while

Want to know what fuckin sucks? Being just the wrong type of neurodivergent so none of the happy chemicals work the right way.

Drinking tastes bad and does nothing. Unless I drink a lot in which case I just get a headache. No happiness, no confidence, just a “why am I paying for something that tastes bad and gives me a headache when I could be buying dessert or something else that actually tastes good?” Sure mixed drinks can mask the taste of alcohol well but do know what gets rid of that taste completely? Not adding it in the first place.

When I say that to people they usually tell me to grow up or call me a kid, but honestly hell yeah. I’d take a pop over a beer any day. Tell the bartender to give me a fucking capri sun.

Anyway, the point is alcohol does not work like a happy chemical. “Oh you’re just not drinking enough” yeah sure Jake, remember when you and I split a bottle? Oh yeah you don’t remember because you nearly blacked out. You were smiling till the end and all I got was a fucking migraine that lasted into the morning. It’s basically like my hangover starts when I start drinking and doesn’t stop till hours after I stop. So it’s just pain for no reason.

Next, Weed does absolutely nothing for me. Doesn’t even make me tired. Possibly does make me hungry but not enough to make me certain it does. Also makes my eyes feel dry. Oh and just like alcohol, weed also tastes bad and smells bad too. But hey my friends like it when I talk about space while they’re high and I enjoy their awe. Just kinda wish it worked for me too.

And guess what. I’m ADHD, so stimulants just make my brain tired and sometimes give me physical anxiety feelings. I am grateful that my meds help me focus and be able to make lists and stuff, but also why the fuck isn’t that just a standard feature of my brain in the first place?

Sure I haven’t tried all the drugs, but we’re at least 10:0 of drugs I’ve tried to ones that make me happy. (Unless you count candy/chocolate as a drug), and the ones I’ve yet to try are much less accessible. Is it worth it to keep trying if most likely it’ll just be an expensive headache? Most drugs just give me a headache. The physical effects sometimes work but not the cognitive ones, not the good ones at least.

Anyway, not to be the “you should be grateful you don’t have it worse” kind of guy, but the next time you choose to not take your suffering raw, be grateful you have that option.

Remember kids, thank your drugs the next time you use them lol

The state (as defined by Engles, Marx, Lenin, etc.) is the problem. Like this is exactly what it does by definition.

If the government forms an alliance with the market it becomes a slave to the market.

There are more homes than homeless, more food than starving kids. Life saving medicines can be extremely cheap to produce but are sold for fortunes. Everywhere you look, the bourgeoisie are literally holding people’s lives for ransom… and the government does nothing.

In fact the government does less than nothing. It is the government that facilitates the hoarding of these resources. It is the government that enforces patent laws that allow life saving medicines to be kept from those in need. It is the government that enables and legalizes this racketeering by the rich.

When you live in a society where politicians talk equally (or more) about how they’ll help the market as they talk about how they’ll help their citizens—which is what their job is supposed to be—are you really surprised?

Are you really surprised that a government which chooses to let its people go unhoused just to keep the real estate market up is a government in which wealth holds the power? Are you surprised that a government that shuts down worker strikes and forces compromise on the side of the exploited rather than solely on the side of exploitative corporations is a government that can be manipulated by the owner of multiple massive companies?

There is nothing surprising here. The system is working exactly as it is intended to. The problem is not a few members of the bourgeoisie colluding to manipulate the state because that’s how the state always works. The problem is the state.

If you would like to learn more about “the state” I suggest you read State and Revolution. That’s what made me switch from “oh we just need to tax the rich” to “the rich should not exist.” It also is just kind of impressive how Lenin describes many things that are very relevant today despite the fact he wrote this short book over a century ago.

Well actually it’s the other way around. The reason imaginary numbers were invented was to solve a problem we’d been crying over for centuries.

Then, as in most cases, solving one problem opens the door to millions of other problems like why in the fuck does the universe use these imaginary numbers we made up to solve cube roots?

Why is i a core part of the unit circle with like e^i*pi^ ? “Oh that’s because i is just perpendicular to the real number line” ?! Say that sentence again, how the fuck did we go from throwing sharp sticks to utterly deranged sentences like that? More importantly why do utterly deranged sentences like that accurately describe our universe and what is the next ludicrous math concept we’re going to discover is integral to the function of the universe?

“The Yellow Wallpaper”

It was quite scarring for most of the kids in my 7th grade class.

Also I’ve only just now realized that wallpaper back then could have contained arsenic so going insane from being in contact with it constantly enough to stain your skin is a very real possibility.

We also don’t talk enough about the fact he was a pedophile.

Sexual Abuse Allegations

Schrödinger being "infatuated" with a twelve-year-old girl, Barbara MacEntee, while in Ireland. He desisted from attentions after a "serious word" from someone, and later "listed her among the unrequited loves of his life."

Remember kids: don’t idolize people. Even Nobel Prize winning physicists can be fucked up

“Well you asked the right guy. I’m a whale biologist. Though personally I hate whales. Especially Mushu.”

“Then why’d you become a whale biologist?”

“I don’t know you well enough to get into that.”