CAM photosynthesis is a clever adaptation some plants have where they turn light into sugar during the day, and only breathe in CO2 at night. This lets the plant close up its leaves so they don’t lose water during the heat of the day.

CAM plants use sunlight to turn malic acid into sugar, and every night they breathe in plenty of carbon dioxide, storing it as a fresh supply of malic acid. If you have keen senses, you may be able to taste the difference between a CAM plant harvested during the day and one harvested at night because of this variation in sugar and acid content.

Having evolved several times independantly, you see CAM in lots of different kinds of plants: air plants and bromeliads, which have poorly developed root systems; cacti and other succulents, which grow in hot dry environments; you even see it in some aquatic plants. For these, CAM serves not to conserve water, but carbon dioxide - which is of course hard to come by when you don’t have any air.

The “crassulacean” part of the name “crassulacean acid metabolism” is there because this phenomenon was first discovered in crassulas. Jade plants are an example of this genus.


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  • sodium_nitride [she/her, any]@hexbear.net
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    5 months ago

    Things I still want to do for my transition that I can’t

    1. Ear piercings
    2. Laser or electrolysis
    3. SRS
    4. Tattoos (probably black and white carp swimming in circles on my back)

    You will notice it’s all physical stuff, BECAUSE MY PARENTS WOULD KILL ME IF THEY SAW TS.

          • sodium_nitride [she/her, any]@hexbear.net
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            5 months ago

            These cis people in question I came out to before. And they’ve got a history of body shaming and intrusiveness. I’m probably being paranoid, but am I? I didn’t become paranoid out if nowhere, I’ve been fighting against these people my whole life.

            • peanutbuttercupola [she/her]@hexbear.netOP
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              5 months ago

              Yes you’re being paranoid. Odds are nobody notices, and if they do? Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss. If you wait until you’re not scared you’re never going to do it!

              • Honestly even if they’re slow to notice individual details, wouldn’t they eventually notice if there’s enough changes that others around start gendering Na3N differently? Not that I can say that from experience; they/them can fly under the radar without anyone noticing.

                I do similar worry about how not having a beard/beard shadow will affect how people gender me at work. Not necessarily the people who’ve known me for years directly, but the people who are just meeting me. At the very least, I’d feel like I’d actually need to put more effort into hiding the boobs. Still plan to do it anyways, but I worry about it.

                • peanutbuttercupola [she/her]@hexbear.netOP
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                  5 months ago

                  Not that I can say that from experience; they/them can fly under the radar without anyone noticing.

                  See? I’m right and you know it. If somebody doesn’t want to see a change, they won’t!

                  worry about how not having a beard/beard shadow will affect how people gender me at work.

                  If you keep a masculine hairstyle and voice, people will gender you as male - especially if your boobs aren’t noticeable. Lots of men don’t have much facial hair. Not to mention that facial hair removal is a slow, mostly gradual process that usually takes 2+ years.

                  Be honest with me: is there a part of you that is scared of making changes and looking for an excuse not to do it?

                • sodium_nitride [she/her, any]@hexbear.net
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                  5 months ago

                  This is exactly what I’m worried about since my parents have kept a keen eye on my body changes, commented on some of them, pestered me to cut my hair (calling it girly), and I came out to them. The only defense I have against them is that I pretended to not be trans (and they think I haven’t started any procedures, although they do have a suspicion).

    • TerminalEncounter [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      5 months ago

      Your parents probably wouldnt notice the laser hair removal though. And how often are you showing your parents your bare back for black and white carp? And they, surely, would NEVER see your genitals for SRS???

      And also… okay they might notice ear piercings but so what. Like just studs arent really gendered anymore (like black nail polish, thanks gen z I guess), and theres plenty of traditional cultures where men and women both pierced their ears (mileage may vary for your family cause it depends on culture lol).

      • sodium_nitride [she/her, any]@hexbear.net
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        5 months ago

        Your parents probably wouldnt notice the laser hair removal though

        They’d see the lack of a beard shadow

        And how often are you showing your parents your bare back for black and white carp

        This one is less likely fair, but it’s another thing to hide

        And they, surely, would NEVER see your genitals for SRS???

        They’d see the gaping hole … in my bank account balance

  • sodium_nitride [she/her, any]@hexbear.net
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    5 months ago

    I need fantasy books that go all out on magic technology.

    Like why are mfs fighting with swords and staffs? Where’s my drone swarms? Magic artillery/ICMBs? Assassinations by telephoning poison into your enemy’s wine? Automated magic artifact production factories?

    Why is a world with magic got miners using pickaxes? Where’s my magic smart tablets inscribed with speed casting runes? What about huge alchemical processing facilities that pump gigatonnes of philosopher’s stone fluid into the wizard economy?

    I know there’s probably some books like that (I’ve even read one but won’t recomend the series cause it got wierd in that horny middle aged Japanese writer way if you know what I mean).

  • XiaCobolt [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    5 months ago

    I think my dad hasn’t really processed my being trans because I’m a lesbian, like he’d be mad if I dated men but because I’m interested in women I’m normal in his head.

    Excited to see how he responds if and when I date another trans woman.

    • MusicOwl [comrade/them, sie/hir]@hexbear.netM
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      5 months ago

      I think frequently about whether my dad would be as accepting if i wasn’t a lesbian and a butch at that. though he saw in a dress for the first time recently, and while a taken a bit aback, he seemed to take it in stride.

    • Has he said anything to suggest he’s the type who somehow thinks gender and romantic/sexual orientation are intimately connected? Somehow one of my lesbian moms is confused about the difference between the two.

      • XiaCobolt [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        5 months ago

        Yes. He’s of a generation that sees being a trans woman as a type of upgraded gay man. I think he just thinks me being trans and dating women as like crossdressing or drag (and that he’s now very accepting of that)

        We were talking about my dating again soon and he said something about how he imagined it would be hard to find a straight woman in my situation.

        And was surprised when I explained I was going to date lesbians and other queer women. He’s also historically very homophobic to men who are gay.

  • RION [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    5 months ago

    Feeling both proud and lucky that I’ve been able to make emotionally supportive friends I can go to when I’m struggling. Never really had that before.

  • Florn [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    5 months ago

    I can’t come out to my bi fujo cousin who doesn’t know I’m queer because she has no discretion and I won’t come out to my straight fujo cousin who suspects I’m queer because she keeps saying increasingly funnier things to hint she’s cool with it and I want to see how far she’ll go

  • BountifulEggnog [it/its, she/her]@hexbear.net
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    5 months ago

    Been feeling better the last couple of days, lunch with my lesbian friend was super nice, never had plantains before and holy shit they were good. Kinda expensive but good. Then we went and picked up a mattress lol.

    I’ve still got a few more things I want to pack up, we aren’t doing it all at once or anything but I’d like to get as much moved as possible.

    Also need to shave everything sooooo bad it looks terrible, worst it’s been since I started :/ disappointing tbh, just a really rough few weeks…

    • Kinda expensive but good

      And they’re super easy to make since you just roast them or fry them and they’re good both savory and sweet

      The last thing i did at work that got a plantain nerd all got and bothered was just a lil bit of salt, a little lil bit of allspice, nutmeg and cloves, a bunch of cumin, brown sugar, a little bit of cinnamon and some pureed ginger, tossed all that together with some frozen apple slices and roasted hot until they brown and the insides start to kinda bubble out (maybe roasting less would be good though because theres so much caramelization at that point that bits can kinda stick to your teeth). I’ve also done them with a coconut milk syrup glaze and that’s been pretty good and that’d go good with that too

      I WANTED to do the thing with the apples but also make like a pie crust with pulverized ginger crackers but everybody I suggested it to was like “that’d be weird” and then the sous chef told me “no don’t do that”

      Also if you like plantains you might like tostones too which are under ripe plantains that get fried and then flattened and then fried again and served with sauces and stuff

      • BountifulEggnog [it/its, she/her]@hexbear.net
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        5 months ago

        Didn’t have too long because I’m at work, it was a whole sandwich with steak and lettuce and some other stuff on it with plantains as the bun. They also had the best fries I’ve had in years. Oh it was so good.

        I’ll have to try making them at some point, tostones sound really good too. Next time I go I’ll see if they have them

    • Alisu [she/her, they/them]@hexbear.net
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      5 months ago

      I’m having a little trouble with this. Like, I can feel the volume, I can see them poking through my shirt, but when I take it off I can’t see much different, it’s a little weird. I’m close to 5 months only though, so they should grow still.

      • Trying to deal with self-perception and stated perception of others is weird.

        Sometimes I’m surprised people don’t notice them when I feel like it should be obvious. Other times I feel like they’re pretty discrete when looking in a mirror. People who know I’m trans indicate they’re obvious now and I was told such first around the 6-months mark IIRC although they were quite small then. OTOH, no one has said anything at work still (except the chaser delivery person 9 months ago, back when I thought I could reasonably boymode without a hoodie), which sometimes makes me feel like they’re not noticeable despite all the evidence against such.

    • RION [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      5 months ago

      Funny I feel like the exact opposite with mine—they’re decently big but still kinda coney. Today is actually two months on prog and I do feel like it has helped some, but I hope they’ll continue to fill out properly