The first time I read A Civil Campaign, this exact conversation was the MOMENT I realized what an absolutely wild book this was going to be. Yes I’m rereading it again for the 50th time.

In case anyone tried to whitewash your Battle of Britain lately. I present receipts of the countless Jamaican, Haitian, Indian, and Māori fighter and bomber crews in the RAF. Fully integrated.

William Barnard Rhodes-Moorhouse was the first airman and the first Māori to be awarded the Victoria Cross. He earned this flying with the RFC’s 2 Squadron.

Action taken on 26 April 1915, death 27 April 1915, VC awarded 22 May 1915.

Who the hell’s trying to whitewash the Battle of Britain they’re wrong going all the way back to the WWI RFC pre-RAF.

adrift 🐚✨

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Eisteddfod Chairs: Pick Your Winner!

It's almost June! Nearly time to reveal the 2023 Chair! So come, gather round Tumblrs, let me tell you of the furniture-based customs of my people

So Wales has been celebrating Eisteddfodau (festivals of poetry, music, and disco dancing), in some form or another, since at least the 1100s, when Lord Rhys of Dinefwr had one all formal-like and made it into a big fun party and that. The word basically means 'sitting place', and probably refers to the way people in summer would gather round the twmpath in the village to listen to bards that passed through and drink mead and shout 'hurrah!' a lot. Amazingly, this is not where the Chair Thing comes from.

Part of Welsh history is the Bardic Age, and it was custom for bards to travel the country and visit the courts of assorted gentry types (also normal people's houses and taverns and twmpaths but let's stay on topic) and play for them. If the lord paid well, great; if not, the bard would write a Super Mean Song about them and sing it everywhere, so they were pretty well treated.

But if they were particularly good, rather than making them play for the WHOLE meal, the lord would offer them a chair at the table to join in the feast as a guest, rather than a worker, and THAT is where the Chair Thing comes from.

Anyway that's preamble to say that every year in the biggest Eisteddfod of all - the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol - the highest honour awarded goes to the Prifardd - the bard who writes the winning cywydd (super complex Welsh poetry WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO EXPLAIN ALL OF THIS). And the prize for writing the winning cywydd is that you are awarded, you guessed it, the Chair.

Now these Chairs (capital C, please, we like a bit of Fantasy Novel Capitalisation and for this cultural reason I will never understand people who complain about it) are unique. They are thrones. They are carved each year by one chosen carpenter, who crafts a one-of-a-kind Chair with symbolism and that, never to be replicated. They usually have the year carved on, but otherwise, they vary wildly in aesthetic and symbolism. In a No Award year (because Eisteddfod judges don't subscribe to the Western idea that there HAS to be a first, second and third place; if no one is good enough there is no award, and I have seen choir competitions for seven year olds where there was no first or third place but there were two choirs in joint second), the Chair is sent back to the carpenter who carved it, and they get to keep it. In a year where the bard died before the ceremony, it is draped in black, and given to next of kin.

(That has only happened once. RIP Hedd Wyn, 1887-1917. Also the only reproduced Chair; the original, known as the Gadair Ddu (the Black Chair) is on display in his family home, but a 3D printed replica has been made for display by Amgueddfa Cymru)

BUT THEREFORE a big part of Eisteddfod fun is seeing what the Chair will look like this year. Traditional ones, see, we tend to think look like variants of this:

(Apologies for the substandard attempts at alt-text; I have no clue how to describe these properly)

This one is from 1896. The phrase "Y gwir yn erbyn y byd" means "The truth against the world", and was included in a lot of old ones. Modern ones tend to incorporate the druidic symbol for awen ("poetic inspriation") instead. Some of these incidentally turn up in lil' chapels and that about the country.

But actually even the old ones were mad different, look; clockwise from top left, these are y Gadair Ddu (1917), 1876, 1926 (when the carpenter was Chinese and enjoyed the cultural fusion), and 1908.

Still the same theme, though, but in the modern day the carpenters are all off the shits! They're all over the place! Fuck the rules! And I have Opinions.

Category: I See What You Did There

SYMBOLISM!!! 2011 is a pit wheel from Wrexham's mining past! 2013 is the head of a harp, from Denbighshire's cultural harp-making past! 2017 is fish, from Anglesey's maritime present! Fantastic. Love it.

Best in category: 2017. Why does Anglesey's have so many eyes on the fish? We don't know. Wylfa B protestors reportedly furious.

Category: The Modern Throne

TALL!!! That silhouette! That height!! They have the range, darling! Christ knows 2016 doesn't have anything else going for it! Shout out to the Conwy river on 2019, the different woods from the forests of Maldwyn for 2015, and the red kite symbolism for Ceredigion in 2022 (the spiritual home of the bird, where the species was first saved).

Best in category: 2019, Conwy. I like the bridge and the river lines and the water effect on the front of the seat it's just so pretty.

Category: That's Just A Chair

(I am actually friends with the Prifardd who won 2018 at the bottom there :D )

WHAT ARE RULES WE JUST WANT FUNCTIONAL CHAIRS. Man even so 2014 was fucking ugly. You could have 2018 in your house. Around your table, like. Even 2012 has a sort of IKEA vibe that's boring but palatable. 2014 is only coming in the house under sufferance.

Best in Category: 2018, easy, and not just because it's the one I'm most likely to get to sit in one day. It's pretty.

Category: NO GODS NO CHAIRS NO MASTERS

WHAT

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED IN 2010

BRO I DO NOT THINK YOU TRIED

Best in Category: OBVIOUSLY 2021 I COULD PHYSICALLY MAKE 2010 MYSELF

“Hold this, I’ll bring him back “

Good fucking boy!

#just #the indignation #wtf you cant just walk away from them #hang on a sec ill go grab that idiot #okay here we go fuckin can you believe this shit ( @rockpapertheodore)

I like how the collie has no issues escaping its leash like it’s clear the only think keeping it in check is it iron will and strong moral compass.

biggles fails to return is SO good. bertie a gay misogynist, ginger grumpy over being teased for his massive crush on jeanette, biggles meeting yet another cool competent princess. oh and we mustn't forget the donkey named lucille

Fails to Return is one of the best. The cats! Drama over the wrong kind of onion! Biggles’s collection of brilliant princesses! Also Biggles piloting in just his pants :-D

oh this show is really just going straight for the kill with an almost verbatim ‘let me stain my hands with blood, that yours may remain clean’—

And so he will let Xiao Jingyan think the worst of him — let Xiao Jingyan call him ‘the kind of person I most dislike’ — all while taking as much as possible of the blood and pain and darkness onto himself, to spare Xiao Jingyan from it??? Because Mei Changsu is on borrowed time anyway (and Lin Shu is already lost) so… let it be him. Let him be the one to wield the knife! Because what does it matter if his hands are stained! He’s reforged himself into a tool and a weapon for this exact purpose apparently!!!

although they have a reputation as scavengers, hyenas are known to take down prey many times bigger than they are

I like how this implies the hyena took down the airplane.

She did.

Do you have multiple chopping boards?

pls rt for reach

good news guys. i found a falcon nest cam where two wood pigeons come by several times a day trying to build a new nest on top of the falcon nest. the falcon nest with falcon eggs currently inside of it and two parent falcons guarding it

…The shocked expression. :))))))

@todaysbird does this kind of thing happen often? I’ve seen a little on how bad pigeons can be at making nests but this seems wild!

I don’t think it happens particularly often because, well, these falcon parents haven’t…done what falcons usually do with doves, but it’s also not that surprising. wood pigeons lack some common sense but A+ for effort

@swonkohwenoeht

look at this woodpigeon just coming to chill for a bit with the peregrine falcon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AUhgl8FDUA

@black-bentley’s tags:

#also this is definitely Biggles repeatedly turning up at EvS’s door and getting chased away

Pigeon: hi, how are you? Falcon: GO AWAY Pigeon: you don't mind if I come in? everything okay? this is a nice nest Falcon: HISS SNAP Pigeon: oh look you've got some little seeds in here, mind if I tidy them up for you? Falcon: is there anything I can do to persuade you that I am a PREDATOR and you are PREY Pigeon: there's no need to be rude, I was just being polite, don't you want to be my friend? Falcon: I do NOT want pigeon friends Pigeon: it's really nice here, you know. also you have pretty feathers. do you think I can make my nest here too? it would be nice and cosy Falcon: LEAVE Pigeon: well if you insist Pigeon: see you another time!

good news guys. i found a falcon nest cam where two wood pigeons come by several times a day trying to build a new nest on top of the falcon nest. the falcon nest with falcon eggs currently inside of it and two parent falcons guarding it

…The shocked expression. :))))))

@todaysbird does this kind of thing happen often? I’ve seen a little on how bad pigeons can be at making nests but this seems wild!

I don’t think it happens particularly often because, well, these falcon parents haven’t…done what falcons usually do with doves, but it’s also not that surprising. wood pigeons lack some common sense but A+ for effort

@swonkohwenoeht

look at this woodpigeon just coming to chill for a bit with the peregrine falcon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AUhgl8FDUA

I just had to report-and-block a bot follower named “standardizedbot” and I was genuinely sad about that one. But maybe now someone cool can take that excellent name instead.

I too am genuinely sad about 86ing the names of such recent bots as:

Shame, really, that the names don’t go to anybody.

My favourite pornbot follower name is metaphorical-lampshade. Why didn’t I think of that when I wanted a username?

Re-reading Shards of Honor for the seventeenth time and honestly Aral proposing to the first woman he's ever been attracted to five days after meeting her would be really fucking pathetic if Cordelia was not super embarrassingly into it. She's sitting here heart fluttering blood rushing stomach turning in flip-flops like "You don't deal in small change, do you?" NO HE DOESN'T. AND NEITHER DO YOU.

No, no, no, he's actually taking it veeeery slowly for the Barrayaran standards of his generation.

Ideally he would have asked her to marry him immediately upon meeting her, or even before meeting her, but he displays incredible cultural intelligence and cosmopolitan worldliness for a Barrayaran male by:

a) asking about the courtship customs of her planet

b) listening to her reply

c) following it to the best of his understanding

Betans apparently take some time to get to know each other, so he has taken as much time as he could to get to know her while keeping it nice and proper and trying not to give her reason to doubt his Honorable Intentions (tm).

She's thinking "holy fuck, that was fast" while he's thinking, "Finally, this excruciating, slow-burn getting-to-know-each-other phase of the courtship is drawing to an end and I can finally reveal my intentions!" all while mentally congratulating himself on his impeccable understanding of Betan culture.

EXACTLY EXACTLY. Like. This is the first of forty-odd years of cultural misunderstandings and I think it sets that up so well. Because Aral is trying so hard to see the Betan point of view and do what he thinks she wants but he's still so damn Barrayaran and it shows. Meanwhile Cordelia-- who is at first horrified by the concept of arranged marriages-- when finally confronted with Barrayaran earnestness in the wild is incredibly charmed, if thrown, and decides it's not a bad method at all just needs a little Betan touch. And goes on to be a go-between for several poor struggling Barrayarn couples who are just as awkward and inept as she and Aral.

And this is how Aral tackles Beta, and this is how Cordelia tackles Barrayar.

It's also worth noting that Aral is still doing way better than his children, because:

a) he demonstrates a capacity to follow and respect the series of sequential steps the woman has laid out for him, unlike Miles.

b) he never offers to pay for access to the woman, thus also demonstrating a firm grasp of the fact that buying human beings=bad look, unlike Mark.

Also, Barrayaran earnestness in the wild is such an apt descriptor!! I love it!

That is so funny and so true. Aral and Cordelia somehow having the best start to their relationship and being in the best place mentally to get into a relationship out of their immediate family, despite.. All Of That. Their sons learned nothing.

I do think some of it is that Aral and Cordelia have a really strong basis of like, soldier to soldier respect. Which. Is very much missing from Miles and Ekaterin, and Mark and Kareen. Like for Aral, Cordelia is a soldier first and a woman second, while for Miles and Mark their lady-loves are very much lady-loves. Idk that is something I think on a lot. Like Aral and Cordelia have a very queer relationship, in the sense of queer and also in the sense of non traditional for either of their cultures. While Miles and Mark are to some extent at least trying for the appearance of a proper Barrayarn courtship. In Mark's case, mostly so he doesn't get murdered by his future father in law, but still.

Sorry to totally derail this sdgffdhghj

I think Aral and Cordelia are in the perfect situation of Two Wrongs Making a Right. And their courtship is also a kind of a cultural commentary.

Cordelia's bad past experiences have to do with being taken advantage of by people who don't want commitment but are stringing her along, and her own cultural norms are kind of incompatible with her and make this kind of exploitation easy, because Cordelia is shy and likes dedicating herself to things 100%, while the Betan ideal feels more like a lot of butterflying around. So Aral's Barrayaran approach feels instantly safe and soothing to her.

OTOH Aral is queer and naturally curious/adventurous, so the stiff-necked hyper-patriarchal Barrayaran approach is slowly suffocating him and a wife who encourages him to do things that make him uncomfortable and pushes him to discuss and normalize his sexuality without even noticing how much she's pushing him is just perfect and, again, feels immediately safe. Which for me is kind of a reflection of how each culture is a compromise between the various kinds of misery we're trying to protect ourselves from, and how good it is we can be exposed to other, perhaps more naturally compatible ones.

I also think Miles and Aral both want a women they see as equally competent to themselves, it's just that for Aral it's soldier solidarity and for Miles it's Vor solidarity with Ekaterin. But for Miles and Ekaterin it's a bit different, because unlike this instant sense of safety you get with Cordelia and Aral where they're the answer to their struggle versus their own culture, Miles and Ekaterin both have to struggle with their personal flaws to be able to let themselves be loved as they are, so the comfort can only come after the challenge has been met (and they're exactly the kind of people who wouldn't want anything different). And I think Mark just really wants someone nurturing and understanding because he sees himself as helpless, while Kareen (and all of the Koudelka sisters, really) is instinctively that because the Koudelka household model of love is, "When the man is brilliant but somehow damaged/culturally inferior, and the woman is an awesome perky strong person who takes care of him!" because that's how Drou and Kou are.

tl;dr I love the nuance in the Vorkosigan couples

"Which for me is kind of a reflection of how each culture is a compromise between the various kinds of misery we're trying to protect ourselves from, and how good it is we can be exposed to other, perhaps more naturally compatible ones." THIS. This is excellent, it's going to be rattling around my brain for the rest of the month oh my word. Because that really is it, they really are a kind of cultural commentary, and that carries down to their kids and their kids relationships. It's not just about how two people fit together it's about what the nature of that fitting together says about the ways they were broken.

Heck yeah

Works for gators too

Will never forget seeing a gator climb a fence in Florida when I was 10

Gators can WHAT

@jadewolf-writes

I’m feeling that Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen doesn’t really work as a novel. I don’t mind that it lacks a high-stakes plot, I’ve happily read doorstopper-sized books with lower stakes and less plot than this, I mind that the plotlessness doesn’t really work, there isn’t really enough worldbuilding or characterisation there to carry the novel in the absence of meaningful events. Which is annoying because LMB is really, really good at plot, and at letting characterisation and worldbuilding be revealed through, and by, the fast-paced plot. A slow, meandering pace would suit a novel that chews over some difficult questions, but here, all the questions are have an obvious answer the moment they are posed, of course they’ll get together, of course they’ll stay together, of course he’ll come clean about his past, of course he’ll choose kids over career, all those dilemmas feel fake and weightless because of course he’ll make the right choice which is babies.

I don’t think the Aral/Cordelia/Jole triangle was out-of-character, I found it interesting and reasonably well-written, if a bit too neat. But if a writer dedicates whole novels to the two m/f relationships, and the m/m relationship is completely off-screen, and revealed only post-humously, then they are trying to have their bisexual cake and eat it. I dislike that, even if the novel tries to talk a bit about how Jole suffered from secrecy, and how, to some extent, Cordelia suffered from publicity, how this affected their experience of love and grief. But there’s a difference between a secret kept in-universe and a secret kept from the reader, so if LMB wanted to talk about Aral/Jole while Aral was still alive, she could have.

And yet, on some level this flat bland book is the perfect ending to the Vorkosigan saga: the heroes were too successful, and consequently the setting ran out of plot and became deadly boring. There’s work and logistics and difficulties, there’s grief and trauma and hard personal decisions, but no real danger. Barrayar has modernised in terms of culture, organisation and technology. Well-meaning and competent people occupy most leadership roles, they are raising their heirs and training their professional replacements. Nobody has either the means or the motivation to seriously try for a coup or civil war. Diplomatic relations with all neighbours are stable if not cordial. Peace has broken out. The Cetagandans could attack, but they’re not gonna. The twist is that the dog doesn’t bark in the night, the Cetagandan dude in the B-plot was really just trying to do a mildly pretentious art show, nothing is fucking happening and that is worthy of celebration, but also, yawn.

this tiktok screenshot ruined my life i need to see the serbian pigeon movie so so badly but it doesn't exist it's so foul to make this bad of a point with something so cool and then take it away from me.

Tiktok marvel fans really will be out here like "movie fan SHOCKED because i'd rather watch superhero movie #54 in blue and not a sensual 1987 french horror film about a man discovering his wife may not exist set in what is gradually revealed to be a space station" as if you're supposed to agree that superhero movie #54 is the clear winner in this comparison

Love the idea of a story about a complex issue that's told from the perspective of something that cannot comprehend or care about the issue. The way the story would be sliced up and moments that a human would consider pointless would be focused on because the pigeon happened to be there would be hype as fuck

Ok FINE I made the movie poster of it

Mališa, otherwise known as Little One, is a pet pigeon owned by a conservative butler of the Austro-Hungarian aristocracy. She is loved, and she is pampered— until her owner is murdered in cold blood, and she is left to fend for herself in Sarajevo.

In the wilds of the city, she feeds from the poor, working nationalist radicals, and the vieux riches alike.

To Mališa, there are no ethical concerns. No politics. No burgeoning nationalism.

There are only hands that feed her, and hands that do not.

This is compelling. Consider me fucking compelled.

I need to see something.

Please reblog this and put in the tags if the surname "Donner" means anything to you (without looking it up first), and if it does, give one or two words that describe what you know. Please also include where you grew up, including the state if you grew up in the US.

You have no idea how unintentionally hilarious this is

[ID: Tags reading "# donner kebab..? # north england" End ID]

I love you, Mr. Murderbritches.

I would die for Mr. Murderbritches

You will

He’ll do it personally

I love this site.