i picked up a pen, i wrote nothing of significance

sobbing into my plate after overhearing a conversation between a mom and her tiny daughter in this shopping centre food court

this one buffet type restaurant is away from the main food court, on the upper floor of the shopping centre - nearly no one goes there, so even in the wild rush of pre-christmas shopping, it's fairly quiet.

it's a mother with a daughter, kindergarten age. they sit at the table next to me, each with their own plate, having a quiet conversation. the daughter eats very quickly, stuffing her mouth, you know how kids sometimes do. the mother tells her, very softly:

"remember what we talked about? you and your tummy are a team and you have to be a team player! let's make sure you chew your food well so it has an easier job later, and has enough time to tell you once you're full"

the child nods, very serious and focused, because she has a very Important Mission now after all. she begins eating slower, chewing well, and additionally taking some time to Ponder the food on the fork before chomping a bit of the many different dishes she picked small portions of.

"what is your favourite thing from your plate?" the mom asks, and the child points to something on the plate. "why? what's the flavour?" the mom continues, and the daughter replies, taking the time to describe the flavour and the texture, even though she "doesn't know what it is at all but it's yummy" and the mother smiles and explains to her what that food is. I think it was mozzarella, in the form of those small balls that work well for salads and appetizers.

once the daughter's plate is empty, she looks at it a bit puzzled.

"are you still hungry?" asks the mom and as the child nods, she says "let's give it a moment so your tummy can catch up as well." - a moment passes - "still hungry?"

the child nods enthusiastically. "alright, let's walk over to the buffet and we'll pick something more"

"can you bring?" the child asks and the mom just says, smiling:

"no, because you should choose what looks like it will make you not hungry anymore. also, walking a bit will help your tummy understand how much more food you two need to feel full so you're no longer hungry but you're also not too full so that you feel uncomfortable or nauseous" and they went to get more food.

it might not sound impressive or interesting, but she was so kind and patient, and the child was clearly happy and curious and receptive to the information she was learning about her own body and how food works. none of "you have to eat the whole plate" under the threat of some punishment, none of "that's enough, you've had enough, you're not hungry anymore" none of "you'll eat what I picked out for you and that's it, no discussion." I don't know. I hope they had a nice rest of the day

wait you understand that kinks are ok because they're fantasies that make you happy right? you all get that you don't need to have trauma for your kinks to be okay? right? like none of you think i witnessed a tragic accident on the pool toy assembly line right?

like "some people work through their personal issues with kink" was a good first step for some of the class that were struggling but i think now we're ready for "things that don't hurt anyone and make people happy are okay even if you personally think it's icky"

BECAUSE ROUGE THE BAT DRAWN AS WIDE AS SHE IS TALL WITH TITS TO MATCH KILLED MY GRANDMA, OKAY?

@mishi_embroidery

Biomimetics.

Left: Pilea peperomioides — via morganetenoux (instagram). Right — Collection of satellite dishes (unknown source)

Pharaonic Egyptian Clothing by Dr. Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood

TL;DR: without going into specific fashions during specific eras, ancient Egyptian dress modes were largely comprised of tunics, skirts (male and female) and dresses. The latter could be sleeved dresses that looked similar to tunics but were longer, draped dresses, or wrap dresses with or without separate shoulder straps. These shoulder straps specifically would cover the breasts.

You can see this concept in the paint lines on this dual statue of Mertites. On wall paintings, the strap would be shown behind the breast, giving the illusion of a boobs out look. This is to indicate that the figure in question possessed both a breast as well as a shoulder strap.

actually no no no it really is sick and twisted that scott’s found family (other ex cons & his ex wife who he was successfully co parenting w) were written out considering scott’s LIFE LONG goal was to steal from capitalists (in his mind criminals) who exploited people for a profit. he went to prison, where he met his best friend luis (who was sentenced to a high security prison for a minor offense, probably bc of racism in the prison system), and when he got out he was forced back to crime because no one hires ex cons. scott had a masters degree, and not even baskin robbins let him keep his job when they found out he did time. he & his friends were forced to start their own business because it was their only option to stay clean. luis lived with scott for two years when he was on house arrest, and helped raise cassie along with maggie & jim. ant man is a story about a man given a second chance, and the people who supported him when he was at his lowest. and now that he’s finally at the “top”, the people who were there for him can conveniently be replaced with a privileged white billionaire family…….?

honestly, humphrey is so underrated. hes forgotten by the other ghosts, and is "just happy to be included". in his life he gave everything up just so his wife, who didnt even like him that much, could escape. he took the blame for it then died. with sophie he tried to get her to like him but he couldnt. he listened to fanny complain about the lesbian wedding then offered a new perspective on it. he is so lovable and kind and is just forgotten about. he (his head) is left lying about by the other ghosts a lot of the time as well. he is so precious he has my heart.

I’m hardly the first person to compare them but Terry Pratchett and J K Rowling really are polar opposites in terms of the way their writing treats weird characters. In Rowling’s writing, any weirdness is there to be laughed at (for example: Professor Trelawney, the fake seer who doesn’t know she’s an actual seer). In Pratchett’s writing, though, the characters’ weirdness is taken 100% seriously and the humor arises organically from the situation itself and is never at the characters’ expense (for example: in Making Money, the man who was born a clown and was never told so until he was 13 years old). In Rowling’s writing, the main characters poke constant fun at Professor Trelawney, making joke predictions and fudging homework and talking about how divination isn’t a legitimate field of study. Even after she gets fired and more or less drops the act, the joke changes to “look at this sad drunk lady” and the main characters express little sympathy. The narrative is saying she’s there to make one real prediction and otherwise she’s only there for comic relief. This sort of thing happens over and over in Rowling’s writing, where any quirkiness is there to be laughed at and the misfortunes of characters we’re not supposed to like are supposed to be funny, and it sends a message of conformity under threat of ridicule. In Pratchett’s writing, the clown man’s story is treated as a great tragedy: imagine growing up not knowing why you are the way you are, and then finding out the truth as a teenager! And knowing that your own mother kept the truth from you! This man was so deeply traumatized by this he denied himself any humor or fun for decades, and when he has a crisis and runs off to become a clown again, he is given support and medical treatment and is welcomed back to his job at the bank and accepted for who he is. The fact that this whole situation is hilarious is secondary. And again, this sort of thing happens over and over again in Pratchett’s writing, where characters’ quirkiness is embraced and often seen as irreplaceable by the end of the book, and it sends a message that our quirks are valuable and weirdness should be acceptable. It just strikes me as a much… kinder approach to people, you know?

Rose Tyler is a great character, not just because she is written with compassion, depth and as a love letter to working class women but because she was already knighted and banned from the country by the queen of England before she was even born.

terrortober day 16: blood

Zooming in on the door is one of the most nightmarish pieces of art I’ve ever seen. Brilliant.

So I love this. Basically everything about it, actually. It is an absolutely fantastic sequence.

First off: Nico implicitly considering the monstrous members of Kronos's army to be his kills in a way that contributes to him being a murderer (since otherwise the Acheron would have no reason to drag that memory to the surface). That fits really well with this book, because there is considerably more of a focus on how gods and demons and even quite a few monsters are still sapient beings. It fits even better given the whole quest at the centre of the book revolves around an immortal being dying and resurrecting down in Tartarus. Under the circumstances it makes a lot of sense both that Nico would be thinking about what it actually means to kill a living, intelligent creature even knowing they'll come back and that Nico has some mixed feelings about it; monsters in an attacking army or no, those are still sapient creatures with thoughts and feelings who are capable of feeling things like fear and pain! Killing them was necessary, and I definitely don't get the impression that Nico feels bad about it, but I like him acknowledging that he did still kill them and they did still feel it. It also feels right that it's Nico who has the thought of the monsters he's killed brought to the surface here in this scene about the guilt and regret our heroes feel for the blood on their hands, much like how in HoH it felt right that it was Percy who was punched in the face with the anger and resentment of the monsters he'd killed over the years.

This tattoo is very funny when you know that kerning is the fancy term for the space between letters. Very important in text design to get it right.

I see the only person on the planet who knows what it is and is immune to the rage response at seeing it done poorly is not above using that advantage in combat.

Ngl this is kinda hilarious

Makes sense. I mean, a passenger of a cruise line isn't called a sailor, right? Astronaut literally means "star sailor."

OP how could you not include the first paragraph of the article

Huge oversight on my part you're absolutely right