bork

None of these are marginalia. With the exception of the central one all are illustrations from the Ortus Sanitatis.

Left to right, top to bottom: beaver, chameleon, leopard or maricomorion (manticore), opimachus, [pending], ziphius, formicis maioris (gold-digging ant), aureum vellus (Pinna nobilis shell), and orafius (giraffe) and onocentaur.

Maybe this is a “guy who has only seen XYZ” moment, but i’d bet you the central non-Ortus-Sanitatis illustration is a scorpion. The twisty tail is a pretty standard medieval misinterpretation, and the bits of the page that are visible suggest to me that this is a calendar, which would of course include Scorpio. Compare:

It may well be that I'm the only person on this website who cares, but I was there when the deep magic (this particular meme) was written and it hurts my heart a little to see it out of context and dismissed as simply 'incorrect'!

So, for those who have a few minutes and want to know about something great that silly humans on the internet are capable of, let me share a little Internet History with you.

You see, there is a silly little group on Facebook called 'Wild Green Memes for Ecological Fiends'. It's fun, it's often frivolous, it has in-jokes that go back years, and it's all about folks who want to have a little laugh about the natural world. There are natural science professionals aplenty in the group, some of the memes are incredibly niche or require specific knowledge to 'get' - but in those cases, it prompts questions, explanations, education, and the overall attitude of the group is so wholesome, fun, entertaining, and constantly in awe and adoration of the natural world. It's a really nice place on the internet.

The group reached such a size that one day, some years ago, folks came to wondering if such a large group could actually do some good and make a difference in the world. And thus the Wild Green Charity Battle was born! This is now an annual event that is met with intense enthusiasm, creativity, competitiveness and generosity year after year- basically, members of the group divide themselves into 'teams' that are themed around something wild, and donate money on behalf of their team to 'battle' it out for supremacy. The winners get nothing more than clout, all donated money actually goes to the same cause/s, and everyone gets fun stickers. The teams are ridiculously fun and people get really really into memeing for their team (eg the 'Girlboss Raptor Chapter' will share memes about anything from velociraptors to vultures, the 'At Least 74 Practising Shark Researches' love to remind everyone how smooth sharks are, the 'Ice Pack' is dedicated to memeing about polar biomes and their wildlife, the 'Wild Green Unqualified Team' is ready to admit they don't understand the niche jokes but are willing to learn... and so on) and it all gets very chaotic and entertaining.

Last year (2024), a new group sprang out of nowhere. Enter 'Animalia Marginalia', a team who bought their way in (periodically a 'buy a new team' option comes up in the donation options) with the theme of... well, something like 'look at the funny interpretations of animals from history'. It was so unexpected and fresh and everyone ATE UP the absurdity and the donations that poured in on behalf of this team had it rocket up the rankings, breaking clean through the neck-and-neck fight between Unqualified and Trash Mob for first place. Rumour has it that the SCA caught wind of the charity battle and was responsible for the team's creation and massive pouring in of donations (which I think is just fantastic), but however it happened this team absolutely SMASHED it. The memes went hard, everyone was having a GREAT time brutalising posts with 'ye olde' speak and it was all in very very good fun for a very very good cause.

This particular meme in question? It is not stating that these images are in fact marginalia. It is a meme being presented by the team Animalia Marginalia, during the 2024 Wild Green Charity Battle. The meme is an appeasement to the Wild Green Unqualified Team (a common theme in the battle as folks try to steal loyalty from other teams) - in this case, what is actually being said is 'look, our team of silly animals drawings is full of people who have no idea what they're doing too! How about you join us and donate on OUR behalf!!'.

This meme came from a great place. These charity battles have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in the name of conservation (this year alone raked in $126,000 USD) and supported projects such as sustaining the brazil nut corridor in the Amazon, supporting native pollinators in Florida, protecting the Suwannee River System in Georgia and saving the mountain chicken frog! Drop in on the Wild Green Future website if you want to read more and feel inspired, we've supported incredible work over the years.

I'm sure there's some sort of lesson you could find here about the importance of primary sources or understanding things in context? But I just felt the need to share the story of this meme. I want it to be understood and appreciated for what it is. I want people to know about the outpouring of generosity it came from and the real world conservation efforts it helped support. That silly image means something to me, and to many others, and to creatures and forests who will never know it, and I am here to see it given the credit it deserves.

Reblog to let prev know their presence is wanted

HEY, FELLOW HATERS OF INSANELY-BRIGHT CAR HEADLIGHTS, SOMEONE HAS STARTED A PETITION TO REGULATE THEM.

It's an official petition through the Australian Government's e-petition page, which means if it gets enough signatures, it will be tabled in government.

You do have to be an Australian citizen to sign it, BUT!!! PLEASE REBLOG THIS EVEN IF YOURE NOT, because these kind of things have a roll-on effect, and if Australia legislates LED headlights, then other countries may follow.

FYI, the petition asks only for your name and email, and once you've clicked the sign button, they'll send you an email to confirm your signature --- you need to click the confirmation link in the email to have your signature counted.

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Polar Lights 3: Midnight is a digital charity anthology featuring original art and writing from 56 creators in a collection of 52 illustrations, 5 poems, 5 short stories, and more.

All proceeds will benefit the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, a global coalition of environmental NGOs working for the protection of species and marine ecosystems in Antarctica and the surrounding Southern Ocean.

Grab a digital copy of the zine for as little as $2! 🩵

Shares greatly appreciated.

thinkig about when the 2000s olympics was in sydney and these two comedians introduced an unofficial mascot called fatso the fat arsed wombat which looked like this

and everybody in australia just started acting like he was the official olympic mascot to the point where ppl were winning gold medals and bringing a plushie of him up to the podium

and the olympic committee got so mad about it they had to implement all these bans to try and preserve the integrity of the games or whatever but literally nobody else gave a shit so he just kept . showing up everywhere

What is your OC's relationship with the moon?

Quiraing, Trotternish Peninsula of Skye

Ian Cylkowski

@askshivanulegacy >.>

I fix it!!!

Could you reblog this if you enjoy seeing your writer friends ramble about their wips on your dash?