the roots of last year's roses

your local freak of nature. professional time waster and collector of good-luck talismans. knower of things.

[hyrude]

is the world really such a terrible place? yesterday i asked if oat milk was extra and the barista said yes so i said ok just regular milk then and when she gave me my chai latte she whispered “i used oat milk ;)” doesnt that make u want to live another day?

[hyrude]

here is my life philosophy: next week there might be someone ahead of you in line at the store who’s short a quarter and you have a quarter and you can give it to them. if you weren’t there, they’d have to put something back. the week after that you could be getting lunch and the waiter might ask if you want some pancakes someone else ordered and never picked up. you could find someone’s lost cat. you could watch someone’s bag while they go to the restroom. there are so many ways you are going to touch other people’s lives and they are going to touch yours and there’s no way to know when it’s going to happen. so you have to keep living!!! i wouldn’t want to die knowing that tomorrow the barista will give me free oat milk just to be nice. 

[elaninrecovery]

When I was 11 years old - we went to Sea World for my birthday. This was to avoid the realization I had no friends, and no one to come to a birthday party and probably because someone gave my mother free tickets at work. It was kinda a shitty day despite being at a theme park full of cute animals. There was a new roller coaster there that had just opened so we decided to go on. I was nervous. I’d never been on a roller coaster.

A group of 6 college kids were ahead of us in line and started chatting with me. Full on just having a fun conversation with someone literally going through the beginning of a very awkward middle school period. I was so shocked they wanted to talk to me. I think my mom mentioned it was my birthday. They were very nice about it. When we got on the ride they told us to go ahead of them so we could sit at the front of the car since it held 8 people.

Now the ride (called Journey to Atlantis - I believe it is sadly no longer there) started with a slow ride of beautiful visuals of dolphins and oceans and computerized images of this imaginary Atlantis before going up the hill to the beginning of the coaster, where it paused for about 30 seconds, and then the ride started. The college kids must have known there would be a pause. Maybe they’d ridden it before I’m not sure.

But as we sat there on that peak, 6 people I’ve never known, and will never know again, sang a very very lonely 11 year old happy birthday. Loudly. And with gusto. They were happy and laughing and joyful. And it made me feel less alone in the world.

I am 29 years old this year, and I still remember them. I still remember that kindness. It is so important. It doesn’t go into a vacuum. It exists beside me in my daily life. And I love the idea that I have been that person to someone else too.

It’s stunningly lovely to be human when we’re kind to each other.

[lymmea]

OH THIS CAN’T BE LEFT IN THE NOTES

[budugu]

What degree would you have studied just for the fun and happiness you got by studying it?

[gonzocoded]

nobody will ever get me the way john singer sargent does

like. are you kidding me

[overcaststargazing]

Okay so his portaits of people are my favorite! Pre-photography, portraits were mostly memetic, or life-like; you got a portrait because you wanted people to know what you look like (or maybe a little bit prettier).

But! Not Sargent’s portraits!! In his portraits, you often can’t even see the subject’s whole face, like in the 4th and 5th paintings above and in this one here (The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit (ID in alt text)):

Edward Darley Boit spent a lot of money to have his daughters painted, but I still have no idea what that girl leaning on the vase looks like! Despite that, I’ve learned things about her. Between her and her sisters, she’s probably the introvert: she’s hiding her face and wearing darker colors than her younger siblings. Almost certainly none of these girls enjoyed sitting for this painting, but she’s the only one who looks like she doesn’t even want to be there.

That’s what Sargent’s portraits do! They show you something about the personality of the subject(s), even though they don’t always show you what they look like. And on top of all that, the paintings are simply beautiful to look at!

[weaver-z]

I’ve decided that all bats fall somewhere on this horrid little graph I’ve devised. Here are some prime examples of the various Creature Varieties found in nature.

[huariqueje]

Field #2   -   Alice Brasser, 2020

Dutch, b. 1965-

Oil on perspex on wood,17 x 20 cm.

[monkeymage]

Music make you grow some mold

[untitled-1991]

paul graham “end of an age”

[theartsyproject]

Hugo Simberg, The Garden of Death, 1896.

[citizen-zero]

Every time I see this I always wonder what the painter’s intended message was. It looks so pleasant, that middle skeleton looks so happy with its work.

Maybe it’s supposed to be a memento mori, but a comforting and encouraging one.

[spookyloop]

This is one of the most famous paintings in Finland. There are multiple interpretations of it but they all share the same base idea:

“According to Simberg, the flowers represent people’s souls, the skeletons are aids to Death, and the Garden of Death is a purgatory of sorts for souls waiting for entrance into heaven. This artwork invites the viewer to consider the afterlife, to take comfort in his or her own passing, and to not fear what happens after the body fails to function.”

“It depicts Simberg’s thoughts on afterlife, which is not run by angels but skeletons who take care of the heavenly garden with a gentle hand, while waiting for more “gardeners” to arrive. It is derived from the medieval belief that the dead sleep in a blooming garden.”

“In Simberg’s garden the humble Death-like figures struggle against harsh conditions; the landscape around the garden has burnt yellow, it is dry and barren. The cherished flowers grow in exotic shapes, slowly, requiring constant care. The black-clad figures love their nurslings. The garden is a place where Death is allowed to realize its feelings of affection. The Garden of Death can be seen depicting the impossibility of this love; maybe the flowers are tender and fragile because they can not handle the love of Death. Love has two faces: one of them is the face of devastation.”

[spookyloop]

Out of all the comments I’ve posted on this site this is my favourite. The notes are just full of people showing pure love to the Finnish Skeleton Gardeners.

[bijoux-et-mineraux]

Polished Malachite Stalactite - Copper Crescent, Congo

[xekstrin]

*looks around*

Is

Is anyone gonna say it

[brambledboneyards]

malachite is a poisonous mineral. please do not fuck the malachite stalactite

[zdravomilla-deactivated20220114]

@lizaleigh do you know any rock people that can confirm/deny because I am very curious and really don’t feel like getting into a conversation with my geophysicist brother that MAY somehow get back to the fact I saw a malachite that looked like a weird dildo.

[lizaleigh]

…sadly, I am not on good enough terms with any of our partner geologists to just attach this to an email with the subject line: “EXPLAIN.” Although I think @mollisaurus is a mineral person. Thoughts?

[mollisaurus]

oh geeze, i’m kinda rusty on minerals but malachite is just copper carbonate and is really common in both antique and modern jewelry so i think like if you were really gun-ho about it you could go ahead and put it wherever you want?

[vulcanology-geology]

It’s really only a problem if you’re polishing or cutting it. The particles would be bad to breathe. It’s rather porous too, so I would worry about bacteria growing. Well, being literal anyway… Better to leave the poor thing alone. ._.

[thepioden]

I mean it kinda depends on where you stick it because malachite does not like acidic environments very much and the malachite will degrade and also might dye your bits blue-green as the copper dissolves out.

So use a condom when fucking rocks is the takeaway here.

[rosenagldky-deactivated20201223]

Oh my god guys it’s poisonous

It is super poisonous

There is a reason we do not use it in make up any more

Not even with a condom, do not fuck the rock

[nassadii]

Try this one instead. 

[naughtylittledragon]

malachite literally explodes in water does it not?

[rosenagldky-deactivated20201223]

I… no… I think you’re thinking of pure sodium?

Malachite is however water soluble, which really just means it will poison you quicker

[reclusiveandelusive]

This is both hilarious and cool as fuck because you’re getting all this information on minerals and rocks. You’re also watching people argue over wether or not you can fuck this rock

[bijoux-et-mineraux]

I go on hiatus for a week and come back to find tumblr molesting my post, but hey, at least we all learned something so yay tumblr, you just keep on  being you.

[aimee-b-loved]

I’m still not sure if I can fuck this rock.

[adulthoodisokay]

I’m looking into it.

[adulthoodisokay]

UPDATE:

[buzzfeed]

Today in “I’m so sorry, coworkers, it’s for Tumblr,” I brought this post to the attention the science reporters at BuzzFeed. Dan Vergano did a some research and weighed in on the question “Can you use malachite as a dildo or is it toxic?”

The answer is “It’s probably fine, just wash it first and maybe use a bunch of lube.”

[sprigglebearstudios]

Oh man this got so much better than the last time I saw this post

[0hcicero]

This is my favourite. Science side of tumblr: asking the REAL questions

[badscienceshenanigans-deactivat]

*biologist crashes through the underbrush* Ok so here’s the thing though Malachite is not poisonous to YOU. BUT fucking this stalactite will probably wreck your vaginal flora and leave you with a gruesome infection within a couple days. Want details? SO GLAD YOU ASKED, ‘CAUSE HERE THEY ARE. • Malachite is not copper oxide. It’s Cu2CO3(OH)2. Like most carbonates it’s water soluble– that’s how it became a stalactite in the first place! And technically any given chunk of “malachite” isn’t just malachite– it’s a mix of various copper carbonates & oxides. This will become important later.  • When malachite dissolves it makes a bunch of copper (Cu++) ions. Cu++ is GREAT at killing bacteria and fungi– so good at it that sprays with Cu++ get used a lot as a spray in agriculture to stop plant disease. It takes such a large dose to harm larger organisms that copper sprays are used a lot in organic agriculture (like Bordeaux mixture).  So bottom line, yes malachite is technically nontoxic to humans. But it kills bacteria when it dissolves and releases Cu++. • Malachite dissolves somewhat slowly in water– but vaginal secretions aren’t just any water. A healthy human vagina has a pH of 3.8-4.5 and a salinity of about 0.9%. It’s also warmer than your average underground cave at 37°C (or 98.5°F in American meat units). As luck would have it, acidity, salinity, and warmth all make malachite dissolve faster.  • In other words, the human vagina dissolves malachite.  • I have no deeper explanation for why human females can dissolve rocks with our genitals. It simply is.  • Gonna to take a quick moment to point out that sex toys that dissolve when you use them are maybe not the best investment.  • Anyway the key question now is “how fast does the human vagina dissolve malachite?” Are we talking geological timescale, a Nazis-in-Indiana-Jones situation, or something in between? If the reaction kinetics of dissolution are very slow, then there’s nothing to worry about. An encounter with a stalactite would have to last years for enough Cu++ to leach out to cause problems. If it’s quick then we’re in trouble.  • Unfortunately it looks like nobody really knows. One of the best sources on how malachite dissolves & precipitates in water– an EPA document on how to avoid too much Cu++ in municipal drinking water systems– helpfully says “The kinetic constraints on the formation of these solids in water systems are largely unexplored” (p. 42) because end equilibrium points is all you need to run a city water system safely. In other words, the experiments that would tell us how fast malachite dissolves in various types of water just don’t exist because nobody’s ever needed to know before. So we’d better assume it’s going to happen reasonably quickly, #for safety. • So in best scientific fashion, we’re just going to bullshit our way ahead using what facts we DO have on hand: endpoint equlibria.  • Is there any info out there telling us what equilibrium concentration of Cu++ we get in salty acidic water at body temperature? Almost! One J.F. Scaife published some great data on this back in 1957. TAKE IT AWAY, SCAIFE. 

That orange box is how many moles of dissolved Cu++ Scaife got from sticking malachite in some water that had 0.171 moles NaCl/L (body salinity is about 0.154 moles NaCl/L so this is slightly less salty than people) at 30°C. He’s got no acidity in there, and again the salinity and temperature are slightly lower than people. But this is probably the closest we’re going to get to data on how malachite behaves in vaginas anytime soon, folks. From this we can take away that if you leave malachite alone in a vagina you’ll get AT LEAST 9.12 x 10^-4 moles/L, or 5.8 ppm, of Cu++ at equilibrium.  • Recall from above that most “malachite” isn’t actually pure malachite, it’s a mix of various copper carbonates & oxides. The EPA document elaborates: “[T]raditional ‘eyeball’ identification of malachite by its blue-green color is extremely unreliable, because almost all cupric hydroxysulfates, hydroxycarbonates, hydroxychlorides, and even fresh cupric hydroxide can be some shade of blue-green. … Thus, the uncertainty in the computed copper concentration in equilibrium with malachite is at least about a factor of 2 … until further experimental data focusing on this problem is generated.” In other words, “do your math and then double how much Cu++ you think is going to be in the water, just in case.” So that gives us 11.6ppm Cu++, at equilibrium, with malachite in a (til now!) healthy vagina.  • Next step: do we have any idea what happens to bacteria in acid conditions with copper? OH MY GOD WE TOTALLY DO. Gyawali et al 2011 checked this out in the context of “so what if we rinsed tomatoes with a solution of lactic acid and copper, because that would be a safe & organic way to get rid of E. coli?” So now this post has officially ruined stalactites, vaginas, and tomatoes.

^This would happen. These are the counts of 4 E. coli strains exposed to various levels of lactic acid & Cu++ for 8 hours. This table only shows the end counts but it represents the death of 99.7% of bacteria*. • Losing 99.7% of your vaginal flora is seriously bad news. You’re looking at really good odds of a yeast infection, bacterial vaginosis, and/or other infection issues. And that’s if you’re lucky enough to not be in the 4% of the population or so that’s sensitive to skin contact with copper.  • The good news? Biochemically speaking, you’re probably ok to put it in your butt. It’s not as acidic or salty in there, plus there’s a huuuuuge stockpile of gut microbes right upstream that can quickly repopulate the colon after spelunking is complete. However this stalactite is not flared at the base so it is the wrong shape for putting in your butt. Do not put this stalactite in your butt.  • This all looks like fun and games, but I think it’s really interesting that the internet’s mistake in concluding that this stalactite is fuckable is very similar to the mistake made by the Flint water management system. Hear me out.  • Central to the Flint lead poisoning crisis is that authorities only looked at & tested Flint’s water in its central treatment plant before it went out through the pipes. Not after it went through the pipes. They did not consider what would happen biochemically as it went through the pipes and metals started dissolving.  • Similarly, in concluding that the stalactite is fuckable, the internet only considered the stalactite itself. Not the biochemical processes that would happen to it as it, welp, went through the pipes.  • Media frequently reports that the Flint River’s water is “corrosive,” leading many to believe the river is full of industrial waste. This ain’t the case. You’d need industry to fill a river with industrial waste, and industry left decades ago. That’s why Flint’s so poor. So what IS in the water? Road salt. Plain old stupid road salt. The old Detroit-based source didn’t have salt because it came from Lake Huron which has a large, mostly rural watershed. Meanwhile the Flint River runs through a lot of towns, making it slightly salty as everything melts down in spring. And as we recall from the stalactite experience, a little salt is all it takes to get metals to dissolve.  • Information on this engineering problem was not coming through clearly from the engineering or chemistry sides. It took a biologist, pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha, to document the real-time results and provide the data to kick-start a high-level investigation.  • Morals of the story: when dealing with a biological system pls consider asking a biologist, your vagina and/or city could depend on this • Pls use a condom when fucking any water-soluble material • Still don’t put the stalactite in your butt -3/10 do not recommend

[astolat]

OK, I haven’t reblogged this before now but the final post takes it to a whole new level and I can no longer resist. 

[what-even-is-thiss]

Why are teachers at all levels surprised when you take them at their word?

I just remembered a time when I was in middle school when I ran the mile while I had a cold and nearly collapsed and the coach asked me why I didn’t tell her and I was like “You said you wouldn’t take excuses without a note and I forgot to ask my dad for a note today” and she was surprised for some reason?

Also whenever I was doing bad in high school and college and the teacher or professor pulled me aside and asked me about some missed test or something I’d bring up that I was sick or had a panic attack or just forgot. And they’d ask me why I didn’t ask for an extension or to reschedule and then I’d say “Uh, you said in the syllabus that you didn’t do that.” and every time they seemed surprised that I was following the rules and taking their threats seriously.

Like why does everyone set rules and then become super surprised when students take them seriously? Was I never supposed to follow the rules? Why then did people spend so much time telling me I should follow the rules if they’re just a rough guideline?

I’ve always been a rule follower by nature and for some reason everyone has always been shocked by that. I’ll follow rules to my own detriment. I’m not a trail blazer. I’m not someone that naturally questions authority. I had to be taught how to do that and I’m still not good at it. Why should it be expected of me to bend rules just so I can get by? Why does anyone assume that everyone knows when to bend the rules and when not to? I know I’m not an idiot. So why do people look at me like I am when I don’t read their mind and know when they’ll make an exception?

[snowflakesincalifornia]

For some mysterious reason /s, Tumblr removed these reblogs, so I took screenshots of them from the notes to pass them on.

[mordcore]

thank you for adding the screenshots! i feel like ableism might also play a role, the last example made me think about how kids with adhd would probably also automatically be "bad" kids

[moonmitski]

[ID: two sets of reblogs. the first is by @kiragecko and reads:

As far as I can tell (as an inveterate teacher's pet), the rules seem to be in place so that they can be applied to the "bad" kids.

"Good" kids are expected to ask for, and be granted, exceptions. "Normal" kids ask for exceptions, are given a lecture on being responsible, and then are expected to feel grateful and relieved that they're allowed the reprieve. "Bad" kids are expected to not bother asking, and can then be given "consequences for their behaviour." And if they do ask, their reasons might not be considered good enough.

It sounds like OP was a pleasant student, one that teachers would get a good feeling for making exceptions for. It was probably disappointing to the teachers that they were denied that chance. The surprise may have been that OP thought the rule applied to them, or that the clever trap for other students had caught someone unexpected.

I've never had much respect for this type of teacher. All my best teachers started by emphasizing that anyone who needed extra support could ask for it, and then kept bringing it up throughout the year. They usually brought up example "good reasons" for extra support - like needing to work, or having mental health struggles, or needing to help a family member - to convince vulnerable students (frequently considered "bad") that the option of support was available even to them.

the second is from @buggyeyes and reads,

I can't speak for OP, but this made me remember becoming aware on some level of my white privilege as a very young kid and I feel it ties into this phenomenon for some of us.

When I was in grade school, I was very socially awkward and anxious. I was terrified of breaking the rules, so when the teacher said no one was allowed to leave class to go to the bathroom during lessons, I silently panicked. Eventually during the school year, this problem caught up with me and I desperately had to pee during a lesson, so I raised my hand and incredibly quietly and nervously asked if I could please be excused. The teacher asked to speak to me in the hall. She said "of course you can go to the bathroom, why are you so nervous?" And I explained how she said no one was allowed to leave class during a lesson. She said "oh that's just so kids don't try to leave all the time and be disruptive by saying they have to go when they just wanna leave class, that's not about you, you're an honest student, don't worry." And my tiny child brain was still worried because how did she know? How did she know I was telling the truth and didn't want to disrupt class? Was it something different about me as opposed to my classmates?

I was in a school and classroom where white kids were not the majority. The teacher was (intentionally or not) being racist and seeing my tiny anxious white self as more trustworthy and good than my nonwhite peers. She subconsciously EXPECTED me to grok that since I am white, the rules she unspokenly put there for students of color did not apply to me, because we live in a society that does that shit on a larger scale all the time.

So yeah, I feel racism plays a role in the whole "wait what do you mean you followed the impossible rules I laid out for "everyone" like clearly I didn't mean you" shit a lot of the time. Pay attention to this shit if you're white and ask why the rules are different for you. Make it known you expect everyone else to be given the same treatment you are given.

/END ID]

[alfareria]

love lingers in the kitchen

perehelion, franny choi // joan didion’s kitchen, vogue // teija lehto // tennessee williams // daidai’s kitchen, @pakchoys // kitchen, banana yoshimoto // bread, phoebe wahl (@phoebewahl) // chocolate chip pancakes, caitlyn siehl (@alonesomes) // podlaskie klimaty

[windycarnage]

Super weird to me that ‘love languages’ are treated like hogwarts houses and not like, like, different facets that appear in varying degrees of everybody

[windycarnage]

Please stop treating a single modifier as your entire identity. You don’t have to treat yourself like the world is Power Rangers so you have to be the Red One, or the Pink One, or whatever. Trust me, you’re doing yourself a disservice. You’ll always be more complex than that.

[disruptor]

Interesting to note :0 saw it on twitter and thought I’d share!

[many-bees]

[biglawbear]

This is FASCINATING and describes something I couldn’t put my finger on!!

[wemblingfool]

A major difference things like this don’t take into account is animation.

When the original pokemon were designed, they were just static six-bit colorless sprites. They had no clue what was to come in the next 20 years.

Over the next twenty years, pokemon has become insanely popular. Disney level popular. Each game has increased the animation until each one now has a fully animated CG model, rendered in far more detail than the first gen Gameboy sprites could ever dream of. It’s had thousands of cartoon episodes and around two dozen movies.

The newer designs are-

Much easier to animate, and more importantly,

Significantly easier for children to draw.

And that’s ultimately what this franchise boils down to: it has to be accessible to children.

[knifenick]

I think that’s a really interesting point because as a child I always thought it’s really really hard to draw Pokemon! So I honestly never did.

[tapedeck-archive]

[maybuds]

meaning and miracle of the ordinary day

hugo grenville 1, 6, 8 / pierre bonnard 3, 5, 7 / gueorgui pinkhassov 2, 4, 9 / ursula k. le guin’s daily routine

[fangwhoria]

i am once again thinking about the fact that they used so much fake blood on hannibal that mold started growing on the bottom of the sets. like that means something right

[fangwhoria]

something something this place is rotting from the weight of the blood spilled here etc etc

[vedurnan-archive]