January 22, 2026
"When tourists go on vacation, the area around them becomes a liminal space. Their geographic location is no longer real..."
"... but a fantasy that they are living in. If tourists have the fantasy disrupted, they can get really mean. And that is why this raccoon biologist has to conduct her research wearing a bikini."
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28 comments:
I'm a math professor. I don't *have* to give my lectures while wearing a bikini, but....
Yeah, right. She wore the bikini to show off her ass.
Don't argue with the SCIENCE!
Best comment at Metafilter:
"Liminal space fantasies are why tourists try to pet the fluffy cows in Yellowstone, as if a petting zoo."
Gee, people are more likely to talk to her when she's showing some skin. I wonder why?
G. Poulin,
Was there a different set of pictures than the ones I saw? Because it wasn't ass that was showing in those
I think she is overthinking. People at the beach in bathing suits a distrustful of people who are there not in bathing suits. It means you are there for reasons beside recreation. The people want to be safe. A non staff local on the beach represents a risk that the vacationers did not want to deal with.
I didn’t want to listen her for the whole clip. She’s annoying AWFL Karen. People spent a lot of money to go to Cozumel to get away from people like her. Having her follow them there and berate them. If you want to live in a liminal fantasy space that says the proper attire to study raccoons in the wild is dressed like you’re going out for a night in the big city, fine. But nobody is buying your bullshit.
BTW, I’ll be in Cozumel next Friday.
People feel most comfortable with people who look like themselves. It's all about the vibe.
If we've heard this concept once we've heard this a million times. Black people (POC) want to see actors/movies/tv series/ commercials, ads, art museum exhibitions, politicians, etc., who look like them.
People who spend a lot of money to go somewhere to relax and have a nice vacation want that vibe.
People who go to the opera want other people to dress up and enjoy the singing.
People who go to church want a sacred atmosphere of worship, not a chaotic protest. etc.
Why would someone with such mad mind-reading skillz be wasting her time on raccoons?
I think I might be able to help her, speed up her research, and maybe alleviate some of her consternation over her bikini. The fact that tourists change the touristed place is not a new idea and is well-known by the locals and by travelers who also eschew tourists. I rather imagine that racoons pretty well understand this as well. (HT/Heisenberg...)
She's doing it to chat up the hot guys, who are ogling her boobs, and their girls are hostile because they don't like having their liminal space invaded. Over at the scene's edge is a fat guy in a Hawaiian shirt saying "RACCOON BIOLOGIST ! See ?? Nobody cares.". He sub-liminal.
I spent a few non-tourist years in Europe, as a low-paid guest of Uncle Sam. Later I got to work at a travel agency back home, where I helped people arrange trips to a Europe that only existed in their imaginations. As long as their money held out and they didn't have to winter over, they could hold on to that dream Europe for the rest of their lives. How I envied them their innocence.
Maybe she should try conducting her surveys topless.
The last time I saw a woman in regular clothes with a clip board on a tropical beach...she was selling time shares...
Pretty sure she could wear a one piece. I'd be interested in whether she is approaching women, men or couples for her interviews. As a Floridian, I see tourists journaling all the time - though usually on their tablets or phones.
Tanks for the Mammaries.
Her research apparently involves surveying human beings, but I’ve been interested in raccoons as sea mammals ever since I saw one swimming through an Oregon tide pool with a sea urchin in its mouth.
She should dress as a raccoon and see what happens. She could still wear a bikini.
Well, she sure knows how to fill out a form.
I wonder if she is any good at taking polls?
I don’t think there’s a word of truth to that. People would get mad if someone were researching raccoons while they’re on vacation, so she has to pretend she’s on vacation too to keep them from getting mad?
Horseshit.
I see nothing wrong with her evaluation of her own experiences. If she wants to dress it up in "liminal spaces" jargon, well, that's how she signals that she's a member of the intelligentsia.
I like how she explains tourists to us as though it were a foreign concept. As though we’d never met one, let alone been one.
I suppose that flying her to Cozumel to harass tourists is cheaper than paying Somalis to take care of non-existent children. It appears that just about everything taxes pay for is completely unnecessary. Which makes sense. If it had value, they wouldn't need to point a gun at your head to get you to pay for it.
I must be getting old as my focus on the crap tatt distracted me from the bikini…
She is spreading her magic and changing the world.
"Liminal" is one of those words that mark the growing disillusionment with academia. Somebody ought to be keeping a list.
uh. Boobs. It's the boobs. boobs make everyone happy.
I know no one figured it out until I said it out loud.
Boobs. '-9
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