Bothering the beast
I think most stories could benefit from having two characters whose relationship is just "those two guys" (gender neutral). Most of the time if you look for one of them you'll find both of them. They can hate each other or be the best of friends or something in-between but they just can't find that same spark with anyone else. Their relationship is best described as "do not separate them". They are fully fleshed out characters individually but if either of them are left alone without the other for any reason it feels so wrong.
Btw if I say things like “by god” or “good lord” in posts please be aware I don’t mean it in a catholic way I mean it in a 1950s scientist reacting in horror after they create an evil creature in the lab set in the distant future year of 2005
not even JRR Tolkien, who famously developed the concept of the Secondary World and firmly believed that no trace of the Real World should be evoked in the fictional world, was able to remove potatoes from his literature. this is a man who developed whole languages and mythologies for his literary world, who justified its existence in English as a translation* simply because he was so miffed he couldn't get away with making the story fully alien to the real world. and not even he, in extremis, was so cruel as to deny his characters the heavenly potato. could not even conceive a universe devoid of the potato. such is its impact. everyone please take a moment to say thank you to South Americans for developing and cultivating one of earth's finest vegetables. the potato IS all that. literally world-changing food. bless.
this is the funniest thing I’ve seen in any review ever
I love this in every way possible. What is it from? Where can I read more?
The pitfalls of experimental archaeology and puppies.
link to source:
“Unraveling the Linothorax Mystery, or how Linen Armor Came to Dominate our Lives.”
holy shit read the article. it’s short but wild
We found that even more of a threat than rain was one’s own sweat on a hot day. So, yes, it does need waterproofing, both inside and out. We did a number of experiments along those lines, and found that rubbing a block of beeswax over all sides of the armor provided nice waterproofing. It also makes the armor smell nice! When you wear it for a couple hours, your own body heat softens the glue a bit and makes it conform to your body shape, so it is much more comfortable to wear than rigid types of armor. Our reconstructions weighed about 10 pounds–about one third the weight of bronze armor that would provide the same degree of protection.
Honey i gotta go to war… not to smell my bee armor or hang with the boys or anything no.. uhh we need to uh do war things?
#i've definitely read this before and i've probably reblogged it before but like.#no one in this thread is mentioning that they actually shot someone with an actual arrow in this armor.#they were like 'we've got to test this in practice' and instead of getting a mannequin or something they had an actual person wear it.
They what?
from the article:
While all of this mayhem (both scientifically controlled and free-form) convinced us that our linothorax was ancient-battlefield-ready, we still felt compelled to try a real-life scenario, so Scott donned the armor and Greg shot him. And while we had confidence in our armor, our relief was still considerable when the arrowhead stuck and lodged in the armor’s outer layers, a safe distance away from flesh.
a good life-size mannequin is expensive but i guarantee it would've cost way less than they were spending on all that linen.
me planning out my story: this will be so straightforward and easy!
me writing: why is there a subplot about flour?
I love this thing.
HE 👏 WENT 👏 LOOKING 👏 FOR 👏 TROUBLE 👏
The euros fail to consider the form: it’s not Johnny’s hubris that is the subject of the song. It’s the devil’s, who thinks his power is worth more than simple love for a craft
neither americans nor the modern era have any sort of monopoly on one-upping the devil. one of the oldest european folk tales is The Smith and the Devil, in which a smith makes a deal with the devil for his soul and when the devil comes to collect, the smith tricks him into leaving him alone forever. tricking that bastard is an old and storied tradition.
"average person who makes a deal with the devil is dragged to hell after 10 years" factoid actually just statistical error. average person who makes a deal with the devil uses their new hellish gifts to outwit the old bastard so they can keep both gifts and soul for the rest of their long and prosperous lives. faust, who bargained for knowledge of all things and then wasted his 10 years chasing a girl who wasn't all that into him, is an idiot adn should not have become the cornerstone of modern understanding of the trope.
I wish I was a muppet so I could flail uncontrollably with no consequences. And for the scrunch
apparently this is a thing in Japan too, and it gets translated as “Mundane Halloween.” There are so photos online and they’re all so good?????
“Person going to work on a windy day"
“Woman who’s having her bang cut but the hairdresser is nowhere to be found"
"Zookeeper in charge of the pandas"
Here are two more:
"Not pregnant lady when someone yield seat to her on subway"
And my favorite
"Person on thermal infrared camera"
Might share more tomorrow.
Influencers taking selfies at a gym
Starbucks barista working her ass off on Halloween but gotta keep up that smile
Person who sits on wet paint
Person who's still loading
Boyfriend carrying girlfriend's shopping bags
I love these so much
i'm tired of how boring the little free libraries are in my neighborhood. i'm going make a little newspaper to put in them. i will inject some whimsy and delight into this godforsaken suburb all by myself
i have to do everything around here
“a community without romance risks being brutish and crass, superficial and brittle, cruel and even muderous. . . i don’t mean just romantic romance. i don’t just mean erotic romance. . . i mean the romance that allows us to soften our voices when we see each other.”
maya angelou, 1998
The holy grail of searching through academic literature is coming across a string of publications that are like:
Here’s An Idea. Smith et al. 2016
Terrible Idea; a comment on Smith et al. 2016. Johnson 2016.
You’re Wrong Too; a response to Johnson 2016. Nelson 2016.
Guys Just Stop Fighting, None Of Us Know What’s Going On; a Review of the Current Literature. McBrien 2017.
Not even an exaggeration.
“If We Knew What We Were Doing, It Would Not be Called Research, Would It?”
tags via @jesterbutch
They’re having Twitter beef now.