Better Than a Master of One

main | Ripley | 21+ | hey i'm a goth cowboy from the midwest and i love learning about everything. not entirely sure what'll be on this blog, other than nature stuff and farm stuff. i had 2 old mares - Glory and Smokey. | my other blogs are majorcharacterundeath and magpiecoded

[dykeofalltrades]

im also

@majorcharacterundeath

@magpiecoded

ko-fi

emergency backup bluesky is @/majorchrctrundeath

[twofingerswhiskey]

"oh food now has so much added to it, past food was so pure and untainted" victorians used to cut bread with chalk and aluminum powder. romans put lead in the wine, which was made from dirty feet mushing unwashed grapes covered in horse shit and road dust. i think our species will survive a few additives in food. our food systems have never been cleaner and safer. it has room for improvement, but we're not putting fucking plaster of paris in the milk

[rosslynpaladin]

Heat-coping Tips For No Electricity or Rationed Electricity

If you have any good ones for people, add them!

Do you have unglazed baked tile floors, bricks, or those windows with a bunch of stacked tiles or baked unglazed pipe stacked in them to fill them up and let a breeze through? Are they in the SHADE? GET THEM WET. Yes it will dry up pretty quickly in the heat but you can sit near or against them. As terracotta or unglazed clay dries off very slowly it will cool the air around it.

If you can, get the top of your head wet. Air across wet hair has a cooling effect.

Unglazed clay pots, flowerpots, and even canvas bags can be soaked with water, set in the shade with good airflow, and used to try to keep some things cooler, like bottles of water or packages of food.

You can take turns using a fan, a big palm frond, or whatever you have to fan each other or an elder or baby to keep them cooler. Doing it in shifts means no one gets too tired or too hot. You will all be very cranky because of the heat, but it is harder on the sick, the elderly, or children and infants. Watch them closely!! They can overheat so much faster.

GET LOW! If your house has a cellar and it is safe to be in (like, ventilated and escapable in an emergency), get down into it or put at least the high risk or elderly and babies in it. The earth will keep it cooler down there than anywhere else.

CROSSBREEZE. If you open a window or door at one corner of the house, then do the same at an opposite corner, this will draw air through the house. Dampened lightweight cloth in the window or doorway or damp mosquito netting will cool that air as it flows.

If you normally sleep upstairs, now you do not. Get everybody down on mattresses or just on the ground, on the ground floor. Upper stories or rooftops are often no place to be in a time like this. Even laying there with your eyes shut will give you rest if not sleep. It will help.

Dampened cloth hung up in the windows, doorways, breezeways, will help cool you off. Spray a fine mist over mosquito netting around beds.

If you have linen, or even cotton or hemp cloths but linen works amazingly for this, dampen it and put it over people's heads (like a nun's wimple or a sari, face clear) or shoulders, or over part of a baby's bed (never leave a baby unattended in this kind of weather or when you put drapey stuff by their bed like this) Again, it's evaporation that will cool you off a little.

Stay in the shade as much as you can. It is silly because it is obvious but stay in the shade.

The hottest part of the day will be the afternoon. Do not do anything physical or outdoors if you can avoid it during that time. If you must, --and jobs I know have no pity but this is a time when they will get you killed so you might have to risk losing your job, but keep your life, I am not kidding, you can drop dead out there- If you must go out, do so in the earliest morning hours or just before dawn. This is the best time and it will be the coolest then.

Again- Remember, Jobs will let you drop dead, and then it will not matter if you kept your job by dying for it. This is one of those times where you might end up deciding not to risk your life, and be yelled at or lose your current job. I know that might put you in danger of losing your house or starving. This is all terrible. but the heat will kill people. Your family probably cannot afford to lose you. You will know what the right decision is for your situation, but you must also know that being asked to do certain things in the heat is to risk very real death. This may be a good reason to consider choosing to refuse to work certain hours, or to refuse to do certain tasks. It will be up to you, but I want you to know what you are risking. You could easily die.

[dollsahoy]

I have seen people say that all of the methods that involve adding moisture to the outside of your body are methods that only work in arid climates, because, in humid climates, the water is not going to evaporate the same, if at all, and may end up making the immediate area even more humid.

Unfortunately, my efforts to find anything with information on how to passively cool yourself in high humidity is being frustrated by so much ai junk.

This NPR segment post only has "stay hydrated, wear loose clothes, close the blinds, don't be too active, and find a cooling center" as advice for dealing with heat and humidity

It's the humidity that gets you. Here's why — and tips for dealing with muggy days

High humidity can make it tough for your body to cool down. As most of the country braces for extreme temperatures, a doctor shares advice o

This AARP post specifically says that swamp coolers (evaporative cooling) won't work in high humidity, but, again, beyond "stay hydrated and find someplace with air conditioning," it doesn't have any passive cooling suggestions for high humidity

How Humidity Affects Older Adults’ Health

Humidity, not just heat, poses its own risks to older adults

I know there are more ways to deal with humid heat that are passive, but I don't know how many of them require physically building things to stay cool, which is not helpful for emergency cooling.

As always I'm not saying I'm right and that's that, and would genuinely like to learn if I'm wrong about passive cooling in high humidity

[dykeofalltrades]

the only thing i can think of is hold something cold against ur carotid, but this requires having access to a working fridge or freezer at some point. anything else would be go sit in a cooler body of water in the shade or find a safe cave. not easy things in an emergency

[ahedderick]

Sea Silk?

Ok, I did not know there were bivalves that created spinnable fiber.

I certainly did not have "Free-diving grandmother harvesting, spinning, and weaving fiber from clams" on my Bingo card today. But I am delighted!

The last surviving sea silk seamstress

Byssus, or sea silk, is one of the most coveted materials in the world – but after more than 1,000 years in the same matrilineal family tree

[disgruntled-lifeform]

Another article about Sea Silk:

Scientists re-create a legendary golden fabric from clam waste

Sea silk, once spun from endangered clams, may make a comeback — thanks to discarded fibers from a farmed species. The find could sustainabl

[wanderingjunkdrawer]

Byssus

Neither quadruped nor bast fiber - byssus is something special.

Context - The Sea Silk Project

Explore the history, ethics, and techniques of byssus (sea silk) textiles—past and present—through sustainability, research, and tradition.

Byssys from Pinna nobilis & its fellow Mediterranean sourced neighbor Murex sea snails' tyrian purple defined and branded those in Power for centuries.

[suspiciousmammal]

Thought I might post these here as well

[a-silly-poll-side-blog-yay]

do you have a hobby that's expensive as fuck

yes

no

all of them

absolutely 0!!!!

results

Remaining time: 3 days 18 hours

[goldensunset]

[youngadultread]

“Teachers are often unaware of the gender distribution of talk in their classrooms. They usually consider that they give equal amounts of attention to girls and boys, and it is only when they make a tape recording that they realize that boys are dominating the interactions. Dale Spender, an Australian feminist who has been a strong advocate of female rights in this area, noted that teachers who tried to restore the balance by deliberately ‘favouring’ the girls were astounded to find that despite their efforts they continued to devote more time to the boys in their classrooms. Another study reported that a male science teacher who managed to create an atmosphere in which girls and boys contributed more equally to discussion felt that he was devoting 90 per cent of his attention to the girls. And so did his male pupils. They complained vociferously that the girls were getting too much talking time. In other public contexts, too, such as seminars and debates, when women and men are deliberately given an equal amount of the highly valued talking time, there is often a perception that they are getting more than their fair share. Dale Spender explains this as follows: “The talkativeness of women has been gauged in comparison not with men but with silence. Women have not been judged on the grounds of whether they talk more than men, but of whether they talk more than silent women.” In other words, if women talk at all, this may be perceived as ‘too much’ by men who expect them to provide a silent, decorative background in many social contexts.”

—

PBS: Language as Prejudice - Myth #6: Women Talk Too Much (via misandry-mermaid)

Every EVERY women’s studies class I’ve been in has had this problem and failed to address it. 

(via iamayoungfeminist)

[wordfather]

idk if this is an usamerican thing or not but it always blows my mind as a small european country resident that yall have many names and types of apples???? what do you mean its not just red yellow or green??? why is it so complicated??? who is granny smith????

[wordfather]

'whats your favorite apple' 'red' 'no i mean like what type' '??????' actual conversatiom i've had with a mutual from usa

[wordfather]

THIRTY TWO??????

[phillyphillyphilly]

Listen that doesn’t even account for all the weird shit local farmers are getting up to.

May I present the best apple:

[wordfather]

the world is so big and beautiful

[waxenneat]

This was a man, dressed as a plant, making pigeon noises at people walking by. I said hello, asked if it was okay to take his picture, and then asked why he was dressed as a plant. He said, “I’m just working through some stuff. Thank you for asking. No ones asked yet.”

[anekie]

I’ve been dealing with stuff the wrong way. 

[thesingingbullfrog]

Clouded Sulphur

[ijustpressthebutton]

[seabeck]

Anise swallowtail caterpillar, the “antennae” emit a nasty smell

[seabeck]

Stinky

[girlsnighteverynight]

[michaelnordeman]

Värmland, Sweden (12 June 2022).

[lvndscpe]

[a-random-fandom-friend]

It's pride month so I'll allow myself to express one opinion on the internet :

There are no "exact color" of pride flags.

I see more and more sites and posts talking about the exact hex codes for the lesbian flag, or the right purple for the ace one, and how it should be more or less saturated and I just want to say: pride flags were meant to be sewn in your kitchen. To be spraypainted and to be recognised.

There are no "exact colors" of pride flags because you should do them with what you have ! Nobody should care if you use a crimson red instead of a cherry red or whatever ! Be free ! wave your colors ! The colors you have !