any owl can be a spotted owl if you’re good enough at spotting owls

A monstrous turtle emerges from the muck.

Its gigantic.

Look closely - a typically-sized Midwestern turtle sits next to its foot.

It must be close to its size-limit, with a possible 30-inch diameter shell and weighing well in excess of 100 pounds. It’s possible that this beast is 40+ years old.

Food history has been so sanitized by the demonization of carbs. “Our ancestors only had fruits and veggies they didn’t have all these refined carbs” our ancestors drank beer 25/8 because the water was bad. Our ancestors drizzled honey on shit ever since we knew it existed. We’ve been making bread for our entire recorded history. It’s true that bleached sugars specifically are a new thing but high glycemic carbs are not new at all, we’ve been consuming them for thousands of years

Quick correction bc I see this myth everywhere.

People drank beer & fruit wine 25/8 because it was high in calories and also tasty and pretty cheap/easy to make in bulk.

IT WAS NOT USED TO REPLACE OR SANITIZE WATER! THEIR WATER WAS NOT BAD!

The alcohol content in beer/wine back then was too low to actually sanitize anything effectively, and beer/wine only lasts for 6 months (usually less) even while still sealed in a cask, due to oxidization. Oxidation turns fermented liquids into vinegar. Wine and beer wasn’t meant for long-term storage.

This is great, because vinegar is the great preserver! VINEGAR is what people used to store their foods long-term, along with SALT and DRYING and SMOKING.

“Pickling” can be done with pure vinegar if you don’t have any expensive salt around, and vinegar can be made by fermenting any fruit or grain with wild yeast! If you’re lucky, you can also get wine/beer treats out of it on the way.

Circling back around: beer/wine was NEVER a replacement for water. Humans have been drinking from ground springs, wells, rainwater, and clear running water since our ape ancestors got the instinct to avoid stagnant pools.

If you didn’t have immediate access to a source of clean water, you didn’t fucking build a town there!

That’s a big reason why, WORLDWIDE, settlements are ALL historically clustered around sources of water like springs, wells, and rivers. (Or utilized rainwater catchment & storage) And why “the town well is poisoned/dried up!” Is a huge and terrible thing that comes up in a ton of old stories. Losing your source of freshwater means everyone has to move somewhere else, or die.

Even in huge cities, you’d be surprised at how sophisticated freshwater delivery systems were in the middle-ages. London had the “great conduit.” - a man-made, underground channel that moved water directly from a freshwater spring to fill a water tank in the Cheapside marketplace, accessible to the public. This conduit was built in 1245.

Mesopotamians in the BRONZE AGE built clay pipes for sewage removal, and other pipes for rain water collection, and wells. In 4,000 BC.

Building Aqueducts to move spring water into towns was first attributed to the Minoans, who lived in 2,000 BC.

Sanskrit texts from 2,000 BC also detail how to purify water you’re not sure about: expose it to Sunlight, filter it through Charcoal, dip a piece of copper in it at least 7 times, and filter it again. (UV treatment kills bacteria, Charcoal catches many poisons and heavy metal, copper is also antibacterial) <- even if they didn’t know what germs were, prehistoric humans were great at recognizing patterns, and noticing when people DIDNT die.

Persians in 700 BC used ‘qanat’, or tunnels dug into hillsides to let gravity move (CLEAN!) groundwater to nearby towns + for agriculture irrigation. Qanats were still the main water supply for the entire Iranian capitol city until about 1933.

The Roman Empire (312 BC) also built aqueducts to move spring and groundwater across miles and miles.

The Incas (1450) built wondrous examples of hydraulic engineering. Their “stairway of fountains” supplied the entire city of Machu Picchu with fresh spring water from a pair of rain-fed springs atop the mountain. The fountain canals could carry about 80 gallons a minute.

Getting clean drinking water was just not an issue for normal people in MOST long-term settlements. They may not understand germ theory, but they knew clean water was important and would kick up a BIG fuss if those water sources were sabotaged.

In conclusion: people absolutely drank beer and wine with breakfast. They also drank water. It was not a replacement.

You boil the water as part of making beer. Ergo the beer was safer than the unboiled water they were drinking

You boil the water as part of making beer. Ergo the beer was safer than the unboiled water they were drinking 

same reason peopple drink tea.

Nope, not how that works.

If you leave an open glass of clean water out, and an open glass of pasta water that was previously boiled… guess which glass will grow the largest thriving ecosystem of bacteria overnight! (Hint: not the water.)

The amount of sanitation and careful storage needed to keep water at a safe drinkable state is a MUCH lower hurdle compared to medieval beer. The weak beers we’re talking about (Europe from 1066 to 1485) would turn into vinegar from air exposure, and readily grows lush bacteria cultures. Storage in a cask was fine for some weeks, but again: not a drink you store long-term. It’s not very shelf stable! Nowhere near water. Not even in the same ballpark as water.

Boiling as part of beer making was historically a step used to change the flavor - not to sanitize.

Ale in 13th century England did not have any boiling step. Ale (no hops) is traditionally made without boiling, even today, throughout Northern Europe. Sahti, Berliner Weisse, and many farmhouse ales are made without boiling. You just start with clean water. Like from a spring. Or your well. Ale was served fresh (in 1446 Worcestershire, there were laws forbidding the sale of ale older than 4 days.)

In the Middle Ages in Europe, home brewers would boil some water with the Mash, but boiling the rest of the water was not seen as necessary. The heat was to pull sugars from the grain and change the flavor. You used drinkable water to make beer anyway.

Hops weren’t cultivated in England until the end of the 15th century, but many cultures used various bitter herbs (like burdock root, dandelion, marigold, etc.) to add similar flavors. Hops and some other bitter plants conveniently had mild antibacterial properties, so after that beer became easier to store in casks. (Tho: casks are not airtight. Beer and wine still evaporated out thru casks. This loss is called the “angel’s share”)

In the Old Kingdom of Egypt, beer was made by putting loaves of bread into water, capping the jar and letting it ferment in a warm place. Not boiled.

Additionally, boiling is NOT DONE with wine, because the yeast on the fruit was an important part of fermentation. Boiling it would stop the fermentation process. You start w drinkable water, put it in the mashed up fruit, and let the fungus yeast go wild.

—-

With tea, you boil the water right before drinking it.

With medieval european ale, beer and wine… even if you did boil the water first (which they usually didn’t) you’re then introducing fungus back into it, and creating a tasty nutrient slurry that bacteria (and yeast!) LOVE. Because that’s how you make fermented beverages.

—

If your well went bad (because, for instance, you’re in 1865 London dumping raw sewage in the nearby river and germs can travel thru groundwater for short distances), yes - people would drink any stored + bottled liquids they could to survive. Stored water, stored ale, juice from fruits, milk from cows and goats, anything liquid to survive.

However, that was not the NORM.

Instances where that happened were emergency states, not regular everyday life. They’re the exception, not the rule.

Tradesmen in medieval times who were found to pollute nearby rivers (like tanners) were issued steep fines.

Freshwater cisterns were very common in European towns.

In London, there were even water-carriers who would transport and deliver water to households.

Cities where population density such that MIGHT create an issue of polluting nearby water bodies with sewage was an infinitesimally small representation of the overall population of people spread across country towns drinking perfectly good spring water.

DYSCALCULIA TOOL ALERT!

This is an acrylic magnifying glass with a green strip in it that helps you read long strings of numbers! It's been known for a while that putting a colored filter over pages can help people with dyscalculia read numbers without them flipping places, but this is the first time I've seen something so simple and accessible. I put it on some test numbers and my eyes didn't feel like they kept wanting to jump around all over the number. I can keep this on my desk and use it on paper, or hold it up to my monitor to read long numbers at work! It may help people in other ways as well, this is just what I bought it for and I already love it!

I found it at a Daiso location, but there are probably others online.

Spread the word!

EDIT: It's also like $2, so pretty much anyone who needs it can afford it!

wait what? oh dog this is like one of those colour blindness tests where you find out you can’t see reds. my brain can’t parse the kit lot without reading it out loud and remembering how the numbers sound but the green numbers are different.

wait hold up.. how the fuck does this work??? I need it in my life like.. stat. But... HOW does it work? What the fuck is up with our brains that a green filter makes a difference? I'm so confused! Brains are so wierd!

TUESDAY AGAIN NO PROBLEM

HAPPY ONE MILLION NOTES TO TUESDAY AGAIN NO PROBLEM DOG

#pov you’re from the nation those damn britishers colonized

Made an observation from looking at you all talking about your teenage experiences.

(if you're in this picture multiple times then congrats you get extra swords)

you can seriously tell a motherfucker we should have more buses, more disability accessible buses, more bikes and disability accessible bike-like vehicles, more bike lanes, more pedestrian-friendly streets, and more trains and they'll say "no." like dude your car is not freedom. freedom is options. you don't have to do an oil change on a bicycle. you don't have to worry about oil changes on well funded and well managed bus networks. cars fucking suck. but you tell a motherfucker that and they'll say "but fReEdOm" freedom from what? oxygen? plastic-free environments?

‘just saw cats’

THIS IS SUCH A GOOD PHOTO LMAO

renaissance painting

i didn’t realize this was about the movie cats, i thought they saw someone’s pet cat or smth and just broke down

Oh to return to 2019, when the worst thing we had ever experienced was CATS (2019)

Still is

*chanting like a mantra* I am an adult who studies physics i am an adult who studies physics i am an adult who studies physics i am an adult who studies physics

As chair of the wizard- [PARRIES A SPELL] As chair of the wizard counc- [PARRIES A DIFFERENT SPELL] As chair of the wizard council, I- [PARRIES A DIFFERENT SPELL] As chair of the wizard council I think staffs should be illegal during these meetings.

oh i thought this was the staff meeting

Damn. Fine. I’m on Firefox now. Are you happy?

Oh shit, y’all weren’t kidding. This is a lot better, damn.

i'm AWARE this is a stupid hill to die on, but like. trope vs theme vs cliché vs motif vs archetype MATTERS. it matters to Me and i will die on this hill no matter how much others decide it's pointless. words mean things

trope: 1) the use of figurative language for artistic effect; includes allegories, analogies, hyperbole, & metaphors, among others. 2) commonly reoccurring literary devices, motifs, or clichés. Includes things like the medieval fantasy setting, the Dark Lord, enemies-to-lovers, and the Chosen One.

theme: the reoccurring idea or subject in a work of art. Death, life, rebirth, change, love, what it means to be human, the definition of family, the effects of war, etc.

cliché: an element of an artistic work that has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even becoming annoying or irritating. (Most clichés are tropes but not all tropes are clichés.)

motif: a distinctive repeating feature or idea, such as the green light in The Great Gatsby. May overlap with tropes and is often used to further explore the theme.

archetype: a constantly-recurring symbol or motif; it refers to the recurrence of characters or ideas sharing similar traits throughout various, seemingly unrelated cases in classic storytelling. E.g. rags to riches, the wise old mentor. Again may overlap with tropes, clichés, and motifs, but they're not the exact same thing.

I wonder where a topos fits in here...

If I've learned anything from having a five digit follower count since I was like 18 it is that there are certain types of people who desperately, painfully desire interaction from anyone at all, at any cost, even if it's antagonistic, and it is your job to not give them that satisfaction. They will say ludicrous shit to you, praying that you will respond and that the ensuing notes your posts get will make them finally feel Seen in some way even if it's via a bunch of people yelling at them.

Do not get me wrong, not everyone is like this, especially on a site like this where people can be quite authentically unpleasant, but there is a certain je ne sais quoi about the ones who are salivating for your attention specifically. Do not give them that satisfaction. Let them refresh your page for hours before giving up. You cannot give them that satisfaction do you hear me [grabs you by the face] YOU CAN'T GIVE IT TO THEM

this goes double for anyone slipping right wing reactionary politics under your door, they're begging you to put their honeypot in front of all of your followers for 1) exposure 2) a facile demonstration to their friends of how they are all sooo persecuted

that's why whenever I post something that attracts a wave of terfs or nazis to my inbox you will see me post about how awesome it is that everyone agrees with me and I've had nothing but supportive messages. it drives them completely and utterly insane. I've had people come off anon just to try and confirm I got their hatemail which is indescribably funny to me. re: our recent correspondence; may I confirm that you received my invitation to drink ebola shit and die? yours furiously, j. smith

this is all correct, imo, but for a fun and easy way to absolutely murder these people emotionally: let them keep sending you near identical or identical hate mail over and over when they keep thinking you arent getting it and once they finally give up, silently post a screencap of their pathetic desperation to own you

I looooove looking for foreshadowing. Oh, you mentioned how if such-and-such thing goes wrong it will mean death? That same threat is probably gonna happen later! What’s that, a one-line reference to so-and-so who had something weird happen to them a long time ago? I’ll be looking for when learning about their experience makes a big plot twist later on! There’s a description of an experimental piece of equipment the characters were working on before the plot took off? Golly gee, I wonder when they’ll get to use it! I love finding the clues the author leaves about how the plot will finish.

I also love when I miss that a detail was foreshadowing! It’s so much fun being out-plotted by the author!

Precisely!

so prominent BLM activist deray mckesson just retweeted this which i think is super cool for various reasons :)))

I did not know this. Is it OK for a non Muslim woman to shake hands with a Hijabi? Or do we do the hand on chest thing too?@popcanpoli

hey so i don’t wear a hijab and i’m not muslim so i definitely don’t have the authority to answer this question (or any other questions i’ve been getting abt this) (i’m just a lil canadian politics blog i didn’t expect this to blow up lol) 

BUT here are some tweets by the original tweeter (who wears a hijab) that clarify some things

one: 

two:

three: 

This is also good if you’re meeting an Orthodox Jewish person who’s not the same gender as you!  Not all Orthodox Jews hold by this restriction, and many consider it a permissible exception to shake hands in a formal greeting context; I’d guess this is parallel to Ms. Soueidan’s last-quoted tweet above.  And as that says, the sensible thing is to wait for initiation.

learned something new. awesome

King Charles and his … consort (abridged version)

on 13th September 2005 supernatural was first broadcast. this has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

saw an ant on the bus today, what a horrible fate. moved an unfathomable distance from everything you've ever known because of forces you could never possibly understand. no matter how long you follow the pheromone trail you laid you'll never find your way home.

Did the spider that made a web in my cars mirror survive being barreled down the highway at light speed? Can insects feel fear in a way we understand? If I think too hard about this I start wondering if this is what the other side of a lovecraftian story looks like. An ant lost on the bus.

Don't you dare do this to me

>:3c

also i wonder what it’s like to not be afraid that you annoy every single person you ever interact with