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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: July 25th, 2023

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  • Take heart friend, big changes are coming for you! Up until this point in your life your friendship groups, your family and the other people in your life have been largely determined by chance - but starting now you have the reigns. From now on, where you choose to study or work or hang out will be a reflection of your personality and the odds of meeting like minded people goes up hugely. It sounds like you already know a lot about who you are, the reason you’re coming up feeling incomplete is probably because you’re a bit different to most people around you. That’s actually a huge strength and something to be proud of. Embrace your uniqueness and enjoy finding out more about yourself.

    The chaos and uncertainty of being a late teenager is not easy so don’t feel like you’re a failure, a lot of those people who seem to have it all together really don’t. One final note - be conscious that it’s very common for the first onset of predisposed mental health conditions to rear their head in late adolescence. If it’s all becomming too much, make sure you see a doctor and talk about it.




  • I always wanted to have a full team of glitch Pokemon:

    Ash is wading along the beach on cinnabar island when suddenly he falls over onto the hard ground. Bright light comes from all around as he looks up in shock to see a strange emtpy wireframe space.

    As he gets up, a piercing noise shatters the silence, it seems to come from inside his own head. A shadowy, pulsating form fades and crackles into view. An ‘arm’ extends and throws a ball, completely black like a void. Exploding from within is a pokemon…? No It can’t be! Ash stares wild eyed at the strange rectangular form, a chunk missing in its top right corner. It shrieks as it ripples with strange patches of incomprehensible randomness.

    Ash’s vision flashes for a moment back to the beach, he’s staring up at his friends as he lies on the sand. They’re saying something but he can’t hear it. He can’t speak, his eyes are portholes and he’s trapped inside. Then he’s gone, back to the broken liminal space.

    The pokemon is approaching. Or is it? It doesn’t seem to exist properly, a 2D form in a 3D space that only seems to grow in his vision. Ash looks down to see pikachu by his side, hair standing on end. They exchange a glance and he knows what to do.

    The fight is a blur, each new opponent more incomprehensible and impossible than the last. As the final entity is destroyed. Ash falls to his knees, his mind shattered by the infinite cosmic chaos. The strange ‘gym leader’ begins to fade and the world starts to crumble to blackness. A bright light is shining. A voice emanates from all around. “Wake up ash you’ll be late for school.”

    Ash opens his eyes and looks around, he is in bed. The world seems so much more detailed, so much more real. A handheld gaming device rests on his chest, white light flashes from its LCD screen as a pixelated title cutscene plays. A single word appears. PoKéMoN™


  • Most of my favourites have already been mentioned but here’s a few that I haven’t seen:

    • Chris Spargo - Documentarian ‘Answering life’s little questions’ (in his own words)

    • HowTown - Well researched, slick documentaries on science and sociology

    • Useful charts - Family trees and history combined with some nuanced religious history

    • Map Men - Somehow both an incredible geography channel and very funny skit show

    • ToldInStone - Regular and endlessly fascinating ancient history content

    • Captain Disillusionment - A one man special effects genius makes funny deep dives and debunks on special effects topics

    • Nile Red - Chemistry wiz kid makes alcohol from toilet paper - The closest thing to a modern alchemist I can imagine

    • Joel haver - Inventor the rotoscoped paint cartoon, funny, creatively driven and refuses to sell out

    • Patrick Boyle - Educated, nuanced and cuttingly dry humoured takes on popular economics issues

    • Steve Mould - High quality science demos and explanations with an engaging and humble host













  • This article is not a good source.

    1. Possums are not native to China or new Zealand. Australia is correct but they can also be native to New Guinea and parts of Indonesia.
    2. Certain species of possums like the ringtail can have partially hairless tails.
    3. When comparing to Australia’s most common possum (Brushtail, max 4.5kg), the Virginia opossum is bulkier but has roughly the same body length. The largest possum (Bear Cuscus is nearly twice as big)
    4. Sources vary but it’s clear there are significantly more opossum species than possum species.Possums species are much more distinct though.



  • I’ve always found puritanical groups quite interesting. They seem to evolve out of any subculture be it religious or not. Take the ‘straight edge’ culture, a group of hardcore punk kids who rebelled against the excesses of the punk underground and swear an oath against drinking, drugs and casual sex.

    On the religious front you have groups like the shakers. An offshoot of the quakers whose utopian vision prohibited all sex. As a consequence the movement all but died out as they couldn’t reproduce to create new members!