This Noxious Concoction

governmentsanctionedbrollies:

lookingformisha:

surejohn221b:

magical-history-genius:

idiotsonfb:

the future isn’t looking too bright Bill =/.

Sorry for the rant, but EVOLUTION NEVER FUCKING SAYS WE COME FROM MONKEYS. IT STATES WE AND PRIMATES HAVE A COMMON ANCESTOR, BUT WE DO NOT COME FROM PRIMATES AND PRIMATES DO NOT COEM FROM US. WE SHARE SIMILARITIES, AND EVOLUTION SAYS WE DERIVED FROM THE SAME ANCESTORS.

I’m sorry, I just get so fucking annoyed when people rant about the whole “evolution says we come from monkeys so why do we still have monkeys omg that means evolution is fake!” spiel. Rant over. Goodnight.

^^THIS

Can I just butt in to agree with your argument, but remind everyone that humans ARE primates?

WOAH DUDE. CHECK OUT THAT SWEET CLADOGRAM.

Our taxonomic breakdown is as follows:

Animalia, Chordata, Mammalia, Primates, Hominidae, Homo, Homo sapiens.

SWEET. But what the heck does that mean?

Remember taxonomy from middle school science? You may have had a mnemonic to remember the breakdown: King-Philip-Can-Order-Fresh-Green-Salad was mine (Kingdom-Phylum-Class-Order-Family-Genus-Species). Each group, or “domain” represents certain diagnostic characteristics that are used to classify an organism. The characteristics are broad to start, and become more and more specific.

This is where people get confused. Let’s work slowly through the domains to see how we are (and aren’t) classified.

Kingdom: Animalia.

Humans are animals. They are multicellular, eukaryotic, hetrotrophic organisms.

Phylum: Chordata.

Humans are deuterosotome animals that possess a notochord. They fall into the subphyla Vertebrata, because they have a backbone.

Class: Mammalia.

Humans are mammals! They are warm blooded, live-born (with a few exceptions- monotremes) organisms that possess sweat and mammary glands, and middle ears.

Order: Primates.

DING DING DING DING! HUMANS ARE PRIMATES. PRIMATES. PRIMATES! Here it is, kids. This is what we’ve been waiting for. The most recognizable diagnostic characteristics of the primate order are their arboreal prehensile locomotion, and in some cases, terrestrial bipedal leaping. That means both old world and new world monkeys, the great apes, gibbons, lemurs, tarsiers, lorises, and HUMANS are classified as primates!

But we’re not done yet.

Family: Hominidae.

This branch of the clade includes all of the hominids, the great apes. The species included in the Hominidae branch share 97% of their DNA with the modern human genome. We’ve branched away from monkeys at this point, but still include gorillas, chimps, bonobos, and orangutans, as well as extinct human ancestors.

Genus: Homo.

This is where we really start to look and act like ourselves. The genus homo is characterized by specialized cognitive development, including the ability to learn, memorize and teach. We’ve left behind the other great apes. This genus includes Homo habilis, Homo regaster, Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis- our extinct ancestors who were far more representative of modern humans than a chimp, gorilla, etc. I hate the umbrella term “cave men”, but for the sake of visual imagery, I’m going to use it here.

Species: Homo sapiens.

We’re here! Homo sapiens (sub species: sapiens), that’s you and me! We’re characterized by our specialization of applied learning, ability to acclimatize to, and control ones environment. We possess infrastructure and advanced technology.

So you see- humans are ALL THESE THINGS. And we are definitely, 100%, without question, PRIMATES.

Hundreds of millions of years of genetic recombination and natural selection lead to the differences between the organisms that make up our planet. We share common ancestors as we move backwards through time, but relation does not necessarily mean that we CAME from a previous species. It means that somewhere along the lines, if you move back far enough, two species have a relative that went on to evolve and change into separate, new species.

It’s a lot to take in, a lot to process, and a lot to research. But in the words of Charles Darwin, “there is grandeur in this view of life.”

kaciart:

reachling:

catbountry:

ephemeralcat:

suitep:

duck-and-penguin:

lawful:

shakinbacon:

apoplecticskeptic:

Listen to the new President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins — a noted intellectual, having written two volumes of poetry — unleash his wrath on talk show host Tea Party mouthpiece Michael Graham.

Yay, Ireland!

I wish more politicians included “Wanker!” in their debates.

Fucking awesome.

Oh, snap.

EPIC BURN

This was beautiful.

I’m glad someone finally did this! Every time I have to suffer through conservative news/radio (which is unfortunately often considering my dad’s political ideologies) it pisses me off how no matter what pundit is speaking, they always cut off anyone they’re ‘debating’ with to keep them from making any actual points. Not only is it a tactic for them to control the discourse but it’s so freaking rude! So I’m happy to see one of them get a taste of his own medicine.

Is…

Is there more of this?

oh man he hit the nail on the head, I hate that shitty tactic so many politicians are using today, it’s fucking rude, makes them look like cheap attention whores and a fucking waste of everybody’s time.
 well done man, well done

 

Lol Higgins, you tell him.

(via finndicate)

fieto:

fannishminded:

its-an-ear-hat-john:

#When I look at that second gif it kind of breaks my heart a little #it’s like Mycroft is thinking back when they were just kids #when life was simpler #and all the trouble back then was if Sherlock fell and scraped his knee #sometimes people overlook Mycroft and brush him aside #but that second gif you can just see all the emotions in  his eyes and the slight down-turned frown on his face #Mycroft does genuinely worry about his dear brother

Mark Gatiss is a goddamn amazing actor. Because this scene means so much more than just a funny or sweet line.

Because THIS is the big brother. This is the man that would risk a nation for the sake of his brother. This is the boy who held his baby brother and looked down into those brilliant, innocent eyes, and swore he’d protect him.

This is the teen that held those tiny and boney shoulders after Sherlock deduced their father’s activities. The teen that explained what had happened. The teen that looked into those clueless yet incredibly keen eyes as they filled with tears for one of the last times. The teen that swore again that he’d protect him- even from himself.

‘scuse me just sobbing a bit

(via theafternoonbreak)