...

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

How do Chinese cooks cut vegetables

[comrade-rat]

At first I was like, oh neat some fun tricks to make chopping faster and less messy, and then he made an extendable potato and I died

[secretmellowblog]

The Hobbit Comic Chapter 1: Tooks and Bagginses! (i hope this is somewhat legible lol)

In the book Bilbo says that Gandalf “was responsible for so many quiet lads and lasses going off into the Blue for mad adventures.” The book goes on to imply that Gandalf was Adventure Buddies with Bilbo’s grandfaher. But since Gandalf took “lasses” on adventures too, I added that Gandalf was ALSO Adventure Buddies with Belladonna. because why not!

Also: the idea behind the comic is that it’s being written/drawn by Bilbo as a bedtime story for a younger Frodo (who he’s either babysitting or has already adopted, take your pick!) This means that all the drawing mistakes are actually Bilbo making drawing mistakes. I am struggling to draw in order to be faithful to the fact that Bilbo is struggling to draw. Don’t worry, Bilbo will get better at drawing if he continues to make these comics

[eu-know-how-itis]

OP THIS IS THE CUTEST THING

[inahiddenplace]

I love kids they’re all like.. “when i grow up i’m gonna be an astronaut and a chef and a doctor and an olympic swimmer” like that self confidence! That drive! That optimism! Where does it go

[alexundefined]

It gets destroyed by adults not believing in you and telling you to pick a realistic career. And by society creating all these obstacles to the point that you’re too tired to try.

[thechargrey]

But they’re not really unrealistic, SOMEBODY is going to be an olympic swimmer and it might as well be you.

[thechargrey]

Actually I want to talk about this a little more than I did, because olympic swimming is incredible and works perfectly to talk about attaining goals.

I used to be a varsity swimmer, and I was damn good, but I was forced into it by my parents and completely lost my love for it and therein my drive. But in high school I was swimming against such talented swimmers like Olympic Swimmer Missy Franklin. I’ve met her, and the main difference between her and me was that I was strong but had no passion, but she was strong BECAUSE she had passion. 

And I could have been good, really good, maybe even Olympic good. I even have the predisposition for it, been swimming since I was 2 years old, have a mom who was almost an olympic swimmer. Missy didn’t have either of those things, she just wanted it, loved it, had been doing it for a long time, and decided she was going to kick ass at it.

Right, that’s great and all, but I completely missed my opportunity to be an olympic swimmer, yeah? and can never achieve those dreams I had as a kid? No, not even though. There was this whole thought that female athletes peak when they’re 17 years old and lose their skills quickly after that, and male athletes peak around 19. But then Olympic Swimmer Dara Torres shows up. She was an olympic swimmer when she was 17, 21 and 25. Pretty normal age for retirement. She had a few kids. She kicked butt at being a mom. 

And then at 33 years old she decides she’s bored or something gets back in shape and kicks so much ass at the trials that she lands herself on the Olympic Team ONCE AGAIN. And then 8 years later, she decides, heck I’m 41 now, no one has ever made the olympic swim team as old as I am, I want to get in shape yet again and teach these children how sports work.

And she still has the record for oldest US Olympic Swimmer, not even any men have beat out that record.

So basically what I’m saying is you could be an olympic swimmer, you really could be. And there are obviously a lot of things stopping you and trying to get in your way: your brain, society, too much chocolate cake for example. But if you really dedicate yourself to it and love it with all of your heart you could, you really could.

And lets say olympic swimming isn’t your jam? That’s cool too. There isn’t a single skill in this world that you can’t learn if you absolutely love it and want to. Any skill you want is going to take time. There are countless famous people who started learning a skill after 20, 30, 40, or even 50. Not a single person has even been president under age 35 (most likely because you’re not allowed to be, but there’s a reason for that). Whatever you want to do you’re probably going to be bad at first, and I’m talking really shitty.

Van Gogh got started in his 20′s and was thought to have no artistic talent at first and was forced to sit in the back of classrooms where the worst artists in the class sat. So yeah you’ll probably be bad, like really bad and everyone including you will think you’re bad. If you stick with it though, if you’re willing to work for years and years, if you keep loving it after all the pain it’s given you, 

then you might just paint Starry Night.

[ooksaidthelibrarian]

#looks like there’s still time for me to learn how to draw … YES. As someone who started drawing at 35 and who always was like: ‘eh, I can’t draw a stick figure to save my life, but I would love to be able to’ this is near and dear to my heart. If you want to draw, start drawing. Keep drawing. Be shit at drawing at first. Keep it up, doodle things on scraps but also draw stuff you don’t think you can draw. Challenge yourself, you will be surprised what you can do. It will be frustrating at times, but it will also be awesome. It is SO much a matter of practice and dedication, not talent.

[arialerendeair]

This applies for writing, too.  

Don’t ever think for a second that it doesn’t!  Want to start writing?  Then write!  You will get better the more you write, the more often, and you will improve, all of the time, as long as you dedicate yourself.  

[lauraannegilman]

The worst lie we tell ourselves is “it’s too late.”

[boodlesandtonicplz-deactivated2]

[sheryl-lee]

There was an idea…called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together, to fight the battles we never could.

MCU - PHASE ONE (2008-2012)

[camellia93]

Female characters in Tolkien’s writings

One criticism towards Tolkien’s works is his scarcity of female characters. Some believe that he was being chauvinistic. Personally I disagree with this opinion for some reasons I will explain shortly.

First of all, Tolkien’s works (especially the “Lord of the Rings” and the “Silmarillion”) are supposed to be written as pseudo-medieval/ancient accounts of a fictional historical past of Europe. Also, the stories revolve a lot around perpetual war. It is only natural that male characters would be prominent since, traditionally, it was men that mostly participated in wars. Considering the period that Tolkien lived, we have to remember that feminist notions weren’t circulating much in society so he adherred to more traditional values. Yes, some Tolkien’s female characters are courageous but only within the limits of femininity (e.g. Eowyn kneeling in front of Aragorn and then resolving to become Faramir’s lady). I think that Tolkien kept some feminine traits but didn’t make them look inferior like many old writers used to do. It can be argued, that in Medieval Literature for instance, females used to be literary tools for a knight to prove his worth or trophies to be won. I didn’t get that from Tolkien. Tolkien’s female characters have agency and influence. He doesn’t use the “evil-temptress” or “femme fatale” archetype for them. I think this is because Tolkien’s characters served as morally didactic; he showed how people should be so maybe having evil characters (apart from the villains) would be against his purpose.

Secondly, the most important clue that shows that Tolkien wasn’t a chauvinist is that his few female characters were powerful and capable women and not ‘damsels in distress’. This is a short description of them that proves this:

EOWYN “No living man am I! You look upon a woman.” The strongest female character that comes to most people’s mind is Eowyn. She was a shieldmaiden who went to fight alongside men. She famously killed the Witch-king of Angmar. Tolkien was inspired to write this sequence after he found a flaw in the prophecy in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”: “Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.” which he found that this meant that a woman could actually kill him.

GALADRIEL “…but Galadriel, the only woman of the Noldor to stand that day tall and valiant among the contending princes, was eager to be gone.” Galadriel is a very ancient Elf and Tolkien describes her as strong and tall as an Elven man, that’s why her mother gave her the name “Nerwen” which means Man-maiden. When she was young, she was rebellious of nature, strong-willed and wished to rule a realm of her own. And she succeeded it.

LUTHIEN TINUVIEL The most beautiful maiden that ever lived and inspired by Tolkien’s wife, Edith. In the Silmarillion, we see she is a powerful Elf who isn’t afraid to take initiatives. To save the man she loves, she runs away from her King father, defeats Sauron in a spell-battle, releases his captives, enchants Morgoth (Sauron’s mighty boss) and helps Beren retrieve a Silmaril.

HALETH “…and Haleth only brought her people through it with hardship and loss, constraining them to go forward by the strength of her will.” A lesser-known character, Haleth was also a female warrior. After her father and brother were killed, she valiantly held the forces while being cornered by Orcs. Eventually, she was saved by the Elven lord, Caranthir, but she was too proud to remain close to him and led her people far away. The people loved her and she held them together with her strong leadership skills and created her own realm in the Forest of Brethil. In a different version, Tolkien describes her as “a renowned amazon with a picked bodyguard of women”. (Tolkien, J. R. R. (1996), Christopher Tolkien, ed., The Peoples of Middle-earth, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Of Dwarves and Men, p. 309)

AREDHEL “I am your sister and not your servant, and beyond your bounds I will go as seems good to me. And if you begrudge me an escort, then I will go alone.” Aredhel was tall and strong, and loved much to ride and hunt in the forests. She is considered one of the most fearless and self-confident Elven maids and loved freedom. Her relationship with Eol, though, leaves a lot to discussion.

IDRIL CELEBRINDAL “…But Idril Celebrindal was wise and far-seeing, and her heart misgave her, and foreboding crept upon her spirit as a cloud.” Idril was a wise-hearted and foresighted Elven princess of the First Age. It was thanks to her initiative that a remnant of Elves managed to escape the sack of Gondolin by secretly having a tunnel opened under the mountains. She led her people and if it wasn’t for her idea, no one would have escaped (and this would have had terrible consequences as her descendants were some of the most influential characters).

MELIAN THE MAIA Melian was the mother of Luthien and a Maia, a semi-divine species. She fell in love with the Elven-King Thingol and thanks to her magic, she protected his realm with the Girdle of Melian. It was thanks to her that the Sindarin kingdom was safe and prospered for centuries while other realms were in constant battles against Orcs. She was the one who taught the Sindarin Elves wisdom, old lore and arts that they otherwise wouldn’t have learned and would have probably been be akin to the Dark Elves of the East.

MORWEN ELEDHWEN Morwen was one of the most beautiful mortal women that ever lived and the mother of the tragic hero Turin Turambar. She is known as very proud, stern and strong-willed. The barbaric men who conquered her land dared not to touch her because they were afraid of her. When she went to King Thingol’s realm and found her son was gone, she went by herself to find him during perilous times. This proved a bad decision though…

YAVANNA The Vala (deity) of Nature. She created the famous Two Trees of Valinor, which played an important role in the Elder Days. It is through their holy light that the Undying Lands were so fruitful and the Elves that lived there became stronger than anywhere else. Their light was later trapped in the Silmarils, the holy gems that were central in the wars of the First Age. The light of her Two Trees was also used in the creation of the Sun and the Moon.

Honourable mention: the Numenorean Queen, Tar-Ancalime, who can be considered a proto-feminist.

NERDANEL Nerdanel was the wife of Feanor. She’s described as free of mind, understanding, strong and skillful. The fact that she was the only one who could control someone like Feanor shows her inner strength. Also, having her take up stereotypically unfeminine occupations (such as crafting/sculpting) and having a wife influencing such a powerful husband is definitely a non-traditional view that isn’t found in old literature where it was expected that wives should be submissive. Even when Feanor told her that as a good wife she ought to follow him to Beleriand, she didn’t succumb and remained strong and wise. Moreover, her wandering alone in Aman (where she met Feanor) shows independence. All these demonstrate a strong female figure.

ANDRETH Andreth was a mortal wisewoman from the House of Beor. She was so highly esteemed that Finrod Felagund himself would seek to converse with her. Throughout old literature, wisdom wasn’t a popular trait that writers would give to female characters. In the past centuries, the seeking of knowledge wasn’t expected to be the field of women. So, having a mighty ruler like Finrod seeking a woman’s company and appreciating her for this reason is something that most male heroes of old stories would rarely do, since they valued male opinion more. Here, Tolkien provides a different view in gender interaction.

                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, I believe these strong and influential female characters prove that Tolkien was far from being a chauvinist. And if his stories weren’t revolving around war, I’m sure he would have added even more female characters. However, the fact that they were so few is what makes them even more special and well-developed.

[whitepeopletwitter]

[gingersofficial]

[candiikismet]

Life path unlocked. He’s a scientist now.

[prolifeproliberty]

If your dad is telling you in great detail about something he’s passionate about, you’re going to be hooked even if you don’t understand a word.

[by-grace-of-god]

He tells us more…

So now I have to deliver a quiet lecture on the Standard Model every night. He loves lists of things, like all the streets home from daycare, or the train stations between here and Central, so he loves hearing the list of leptons and quarks and bosons.

Anyway, I made this poster for him, based on the CPEP ones we used to have at uni . 

Alas I ran out of room for antimatter, colour charge and confinement, but hey, maybe there can be a second poster later.

It’s funny though — on the surface of it, it seems like it must be far too advanced for a 3yo. But when you think about it, quarks and leptons are no more or less real to him than, say, dinosaurs or planets, and he loves those too. And he recognises the letters on the particles.

I am absolutely overwhelmed by the kind and sweet things people are saying about this, thanks everyone ❤️

Addendum: he has really grasped onto the “everything is made of atoms” part of this, so tonight he listed just about every object he could think of and asked if it was made of atoms.

“And my bed?” Yes, and your bed. “And that wall?” Yep. “And the armchair?” Yes, the armchair too. … … “And… the book case?” Y—

“And my home?” Yep, the whole apartment block. “And your home? Oh wait, your home is my home.” Haha, it is. … … “But is it made of atoms?” Yep. “And… [best friend]’s home?” Yes, it is. And [other friend]’s home, and [third friend]’s home.

“Is [yet another friend]’s home?”

Update from the other night:

“Is my… is… [extremely long pause] is my atoms poster made up of atoms?” —Yes! Yes it is.

I have never heard such a contemplative silence. I think the next poster will have to be on the philosophy of referential language.

Update from this morning: after listing everything in sight (mummy? daddy? fridge? milk? cereal? table? etc.) he asks “is [baby sister] made up of atoms?”

yep!

*runs over to her on the floor* *puts face up real close to hers* “HI! YOU’RE MADE UP OF LOTS OF ATOMS! DID YOU KNOW?”

[arcticfoxbear]

@radioactivepeasant @themagdalenwriting @iusedtohaveanaccount

“HI! YOU’RE MADE UP OF LOTS OF ATOMS! DID YOU KNOW?”

[lustik]

Yuta Segawa Ceramics.

[happifying-things]

[animatedamerican]

what an excellent kaiju

[ruffboi-mags]

Very polite, attempts to leave trees and fences intact. 10/10, would be invaded by again.

[transparentgentlemenmarker]

[did-you-know]

Scientists invented fabric that makes electricity from motion and sunlight. To create the fabric, researchers at Georgia Tech wove together solar cell fibers with materials that generate power from movement. It could be used in “tents, curtains, or wearable garments,” meaning we’d virtually never be without power. Source

[fridjitzu]

[scarletgoldenthorn]

Y'all are fucking idiots. Clean energy will NEVER be enough to replace the energy we have now. We’d have to tear down DOZENS of forests just to fit enough windmills and solar panels to get even a QUARTER (probably less, tbh) of the energy we can produce now.

[deniedmysign]

Yeah, sure, when they’ve already calculated that a few square miles of panels in the empty ass Arizona desert could power the whole nation. But ok, fracking and the diminishing petroleum supply is worlds better.

[inushiek]

Nevermind that windmills are often most efficient off the coast. There they take up no land, impact no trees, don’t pollute the water, and are conveniently located where winds are often strongest anyway.

And solar panels can literally be built into roofs of buildings and in empty areas like deserts. The sun strikes the Earth with the same amount of energy in an hour that our civilization uses in a year.

But yeah, it would be impossible for us to ever have enough energy from clean sources.

Durr hurr technology is bad and I would rather light shit on fire than have clean energy

[mllemusketeer]

I can also testify to the Arizona desert being empty ass. And the California desert. And the Nevada desert. 

[greaseonmymouth]

also…no forests were cleared to make space for Denmark’s windmills and yet they regularly produce so much power that it covers almost all of the country’s power needs. Oh, and then there’s the times when the windmills generate 140% of Denmark’s power needs. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/10/denmark-wind-windfarm-power-exceed-electricity-demand

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

Friendly reminder that oil pipelines are a scam.

[blackwoolncrown]

The fact that anyone can believe a limited amount of dinosaur oil is more plentiful and efficient than moving air or fucking sunlight is proof that entire populations can be completely brainwashed.

[mckitterick]

And don’t forget wave and geothermal power.

The best place to install solar? Parking lots! Here’s the Community Mercantile in LFK:

Not only can it supply almost all the power needed for stores that build these, it also reduces ambient heating from the roasting pavement and keeps cars covered from the elements.

Everyone wins!

[solarpunkcast]

The ways we can produce sustainable, renewable energy grow by the year. There is zero reason to keep maintaining oil and natural gas industries!

[thepunkprophet]

The only reason we still use fossil fuels is that rich people are selfish.

[iraprince]

weird little brain tweak/reframing that helped me out. i Often find that advice that seemingly helps Everyone Else doesn’t make any sense to me, in ways that are hard to describe, and it can be really frustrating. but when i find a way to explain it to myself that finally seems to break through and make it click, it feels really good

[writing-prompt-s]

When you fired your shotgun at the shadowy figure in the hall, you thought you were killing a burglar. Instead, your husband is lying dead on the floor. And you can still hear someone rummaging around your house.

[eu-know-how-itis]

The police arrive to see a dead cat, dead dog, dead bird, dead squirrel, and your dead husband lying in various places around the house. “I’m sorry!” you say as they drag you into the car and apprehend your shotgun, “I’m just so easily triggered!”

[writing-prompt-s]

NASA engineers monitor the Curiosity rover’s actions. All seems normal until the little robot suddenly changes its course. The scientists attempt to correct it over and over until they suddenly receive a transmission from the rover

“Will save Oppy”

[eu-know-how-itis]

T^T

[writing-prompt-s]

You’re traveling through this new planet, exploring and discovering and stumble upon a weird little mechanical creature. You dust it off a bit, and notice a name on the side. Curiosity it says. What happened to the beings who sent it here?

[eu-know-how-itis]

hng

[star-kovs]

Superheroes being 197% done while wii music plays

[overthinkinglotr]

One subtle design thing I love in LOTR  is how the elves are associated with autumn colors to reflect that it’s the “autumn” of the elves. To represent that their culture is fading and it’s the end of their time on Middle Earth.

Rivendell is all autumn/sunset colors:

And you see autumn colors all over Lothlorien as well:

The Grey Havens are all golden autumn colors too:

The Lothlorien battle armor is red and gold (tho it’s harder to see in the moonlight)

And even The Hobbit films stayed faithful to this design decision with Thranduil’s kingdom:

Also: according to the costume designer Ngila Dickson, this is the reason PJ and co wanted Arwen’s coronation dress to be green. Because Green is a Spring Color™ and it is Symbolic™

[actuallyblind]

Small tip to help some of your blind friends: do not put 10,000 emojis in the middle of a text or a post if you continue to put text after the emojis because I will tell you that I will Straight give up if I have to listen to “face with tears of joy, face with tears of joy, face with tears of joy,” 23 times just to hear the rest of your text or post.

[cowthropologist]

Oh my god, that’s what screen readers say when they read out emojis?? I didn’t realize.. I will change how I write my posts now… My bad…

[13faeinapenguinsuit]

This is good to know. Pretend there are twenty three light bulb emojis indicating sudden understanding following this text.

[drackir]

So the clap hands emoji post would be extra annoying since you can’t just speed read it, damn!

[actuallyblind]

YES. That is one of my least favorite emojis because it’s LONG. It also says skin tone on some, and while that’s AWESOME, if you put 30 prayer hands, I have to hear “hands clasped in celebration with medium dark skin tone” 30 times in full. And even if I use a braille display, it still writes it out in full because there’s no real way to represent them any other way yet, so until someone invents a Braille display with like 10 lines that isn’t astronomically expensive, there’s no easy way to skip over them.

Now, at least with some screen readers, punctuation is a little different and if there are multiple of the same thing it’ll say like “17 exclamation points” instead of saying them all individually, and I wish that update would be made to screen readers to speak emojis in multiples that way… That would be a good solution.

[let-the-spectrum-in]

Is it okay to use emojis sparingly? I don’t ever use a million like that, the most I’d put in a row is probably two different emojis, lol. But I do feel the need to use either emojis or ASCII faces in order to get emotion across in my writing. Which is better for you, a traditional ASCII face like :-) or a newfangled emoji like ☺️? Can your screen reader “translate” things like :-) into “smiling face” or do you just hear “colon dash right parentheses”?

[actuallyblind]

Oh yeah, of course! If you only use one or two in a row that’s totally fine! Don’t feel like you have to just stop using them. They are fun and lots of people like them.

As for emoji versus traditional typed out faces, it doesn’t really matter. It can’t translate most of those faces except for a general smiley face, but I know what the symbols put together mean, though this may be difficult for somebody who is not very well versed in print reading. Most blind kids get taught to recognize both though.

[cowthropologist]

There’s so much good info on this post! I didn’t know any of this. Thanks for making it!!

[inner-muse]

[haruhi65]

But how do screen readers translate GIFS? Does the OP know that the above post is a gif of a shooting star with the words “the more you know” riding it?

[actuallyblind]

Nope. All I know is that that is an image. Screen readers cannot interpret with the pixels on an image mean. The only reason it can tell me an emoji is because the developers of those emojis programmed them in some way that included alt text, though I cannot tell you how because I am not a programmer or a coder.

Thankfully, somebody noticed the irony in that addition and reblogged it with a description.

[plutomeetsgenius]

the reason that emojis have text associated with them is because emojis were designed not to act as pictures but as a language keyboard and since every one is a pictograph there needs to be a closely associated definition.

that’s also why apple, samsung, or any other company can’t copyright “face with tears of joy” just the art that their operating systems use to express thos pictographs. The art of a set of emojis used by a phone company is essentially a font used for a language.

[actuallyblind]

#NowYouKnow

Also, y’all, in iOS 11, I think somebody somehow saw our nice little thread here and fucking fixed the problem of many emojis because I can remember three (3) distinct times in the past few days that I have come across something like “5 face with tears of joy” and at first been like “what the fuck?? What did that say?“ and then used the rotor to navigate by individual word and character to realize what it was and I was like “OMG!!! My desires have been realized!”

So like I think someone at Apple saw this and answered our prayers guys

[imonlyadumpling]

That’s actually super interesting to know