Hey fine folk of Skunkweaselonia!

I think we all noticed that the place has been a little bit dead lately.
Now it's probably because I haven't been as active as I should have been, due to lotsa things happening in my personal life, but I'm pretty sure summertime plays a part!
I must admit that I'm not really sure what to do at this point, other than try and regularly contribute to the forum myself.
If you fine people have any ideas of how to breathe some life into the forum, let me know!
I'll see what I can do, because I do really love this place, even when it's dead.
It's just nice to know that somewhere, there's a place on the internet without all the bullshit, just crazy folk like myself.

Love you fuckers, enjoy da summer, don't let the sun burn you to death!

This is technically old news but still pretty exciting: back in '98 scientists discovered this unicellular organism from the Late Cretaceous period, Braarudosphaera bigelowii, that had a completely different unicellular bacteria in it called Atelocyanobacterium thalassa. Cut to 2024 and we finally have a definitive answer for what those two are doing: A. thalassa actually functions as an organelle for B. bigelowii that converts nitrogen in the atmosphere into ammonium that can be converted into energy, and B. bigelowii in turn provides A. thalassa with an oxygenated environment in which to live.
All life on earth needs nitrogen to live, but they also mostly need oxygen, and oxygen is able to block the necessary receptors to allow for nitrogen intake. If we are able to introduce A. thalassa into plant cells, for example, this GMO would be able to survive without the need for pollutants like nitrogen-rich fertilizers.

Either way I quite enjoy it

Just found out about this! Apparently in the 80s and 90s there were mobile theatres showing American films where they didn't have the necessairy printing facilities to print the posters and asked local artist to draw their own! Often way more violent than the film.

I especially like this one of ghost, where a spirit bursts out of her stomach.

More info: https://alexrollinsberg.substack.com/p/u...us-madness and https://deadlypreygallery.com/

Blast now has an alpha build available for download for anybody who has joined the patreon. 

https://www.patreon.com/cw/billpremo/posts

I guess I wasn't paying attention but I would of thought it's way too early even for an alpha download, but i guess it's not...

I haven't joined so I guess I can't test it out yet.

Hello, I wandered my way here from the Newgrounds advert and decided to join.

I don't know how often I'll be here but I'd love to make some sort of impression on this lil community.

I do art and also game development when I get the motivation. You can see most of my work on my Newgrounds. You can also visit my website once I get the server back up and finish coding it.

I also play video games a lot. One of my All-time fav's being ULTRAKILL, but I also enjoy lots of retro games like Quake, classic Doom, and Half-Life. 

See yall later

Today I happened upon this website and really feel like I should share it. I have no idea who runs it, but I like what's on it. Check it out here: https://ihavenotv.com/

It's a collection of documentaries, informational videos on heaps of topics, and other stuff in a similar vein. You can even find Samsara and a few other movies on here.

In this world where social media is rampant with clutter, chaos and manipulation, I find it incredibly refreshing to find something like this which is just trying to deliver good content. It even has some videos which talk about this exact problem.

What are traditions in your country with a long history that are still practiced (or maybe dying out?). I'm curious to know your history!

Currently I am looking into forgotten Dutch traditions, but I also like the ones that are still alive and kicking. So here's one of those: Getting treated to Beschuit met muisjes (rusks/crisp bread with mice) when you visit people who just had a baby ('kraamschudden' > 'shaking the crib').



The 'mice' are little coated anise and sugar drops. This history behind this is that anise was seen as medicinal. So, even further back in history (17th century), after giving birth mothers would drink anise alcohol to recover. Using anise seeds is probably even older. And, already having anise, guests were treated to it as well. Eventually the mice treat was born (historians can't pinpoint exactly when) in some parts of the country.

At first the mice were white. They seem to have a bit of a tail and mice were a sign of fertility, hence the name. In 1860 a Dutch firm (De Ruiter) made pink ones and that became the treat for both the birth of girls and boys. The blue ones were invented in 1994 for boys (boo!). De Ruiter offered the bechuit met muisjes to the royal fammliy when our previous queen was born (1938) and voila! It became a national tradition, and De Ruiter the only manufacturer (savvy business people).

Fun fact: There is also anise sugar powder you can put on bread and beschuit, which is called stamped mice.

What are your thoughts on xenotransplantation?
Xenotransplantation is the transplantation of animal tissue into a human.
For instance, if there's no human hearts available you could get a genetically modified pig heart!

If you look at it from a purely pragmatic perspective, it could save countless lives if it works.
However, I personally don't like the idea of walking around with a pig heart.
It's better than death, though.

Another problem is that genetically modified pigs would need to be bred en masse to satisfy our organ demands.
It would be another thing that makes us dependent on the bio-industry, and you don't need to be a vegan to see problems with that.
We might end up with a future where we eat lab-grown meat, and still breed animals for their organs.

Another issue is that it's probably not halal, kosher, Levicticus approved, or vegetarian/vegan.
That means it's a procedure that is not available for certain religious or ideological groups.

It also reminds me heavily of that time scientists grew a human ear on a rat.
(Technically it's cartilage shaped like a human ear, not a real human ear)
I haven't heard about that one in recent years, it was quite controversial at the time.

Anyways, what do you guys think?
Here's a recent article I found on the subject.

What are some places YOU want to visit?

I've already seen my fair share of the world myself.
There are some places I want to visit again though!
Berlin is great, I love the rough vibe.
Paris is also somewhere I want to go again!
There's something magical about Paris that I can't explain.
I still want to visit the sewer museum there!
I also want to give London another go, especially since I like the night ferry that goes there!

If I wouldn't have to spend hours in an airplane I'd love to check out Singapore and Taiwan.
Easter Island and Bali would be great too if it they wouldn't be swamped with tourists.
I got some good friends in Australia I'd love to meet.
That said, I HATE spending hours all cramped up in an airplane, so I won't be taking any long trips for a while.

I had some good times in the USA before but I don't want to travel there again for a long time.

So how about you?
Do you got any places you still want to visit?