Sheer Tomfoolery

Cosplayer, lover of memes, Astarion simp, back in this chaos site again

[kaliune]

Meowth ☾

[bookwyrminspiration]

god I would be UNSTOPPABLE if I was capable of consistently initiating tasks. just you wait. you'll be waiting a while but just you wait

[softwaring]

[kuvaton]

[hense]

That is the best thing I’ve seen today

[creative-anchorage]

Tags by @spiritboardvalentine:

#a few months ago i witnessed a huge ass raven violently yank a fast food bag out of an over stuffed trash can, then started munching fries

#then noticed the sweet and sour sauce that was half opened. Dipped the fry and ate it. looked like it had a religious experience.

#according to Google birds can taste sweet and sour so that raven just unlocked a whole new world of taste i think about this at least weekly

#also the raven was trying to scare off every other bird in the area the whole time, their fucking fries

#we were on a roadtrip for somewhat urgent reasons but my dad and I just sat in the van watching this happen for multiple minutes dumbfounded

#that’s been my bird story of the day

[catchymemes]

[emilybeemartin]

I had a dream that Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli were solving a murder mystery in a giant mansion. Legolas kept eating popcorn.

[emilybeemartin]

Part II

[newtonpermetersquare]

[havocspiral]

I slammed my fist against my table because I am so tired and angry but this pun is fucking gold

[g4yr4t]

I’m embarrassed to say that people have sent me this multiple times (bc pigeons) and I didn’t even register that there WAS a pun until I read that last comment -___-

[apricops]

“people only *think* the economy is bad because of rising grocery costs!” okay but that’s called food insecurity, and I cannot overstate how big of a deal that is. food prices are, historically speaking, the number one thing that people have rioted about.

[badpsychicadvice]

The world's longest-running lab experiment

The Pitch Drop Experiment

The experiment demonstrates the fluidity and high viscosity of pitch, a derivative of tar that is the world's thickest known fluid and was once used for waterproofing boats.

Thomas Parnell, UQ's first Professor of Physics, created the experiment in 1927 to illustrate that everyday materials can exhibit quite surprising properties.

At room temperature pitch feels solid - even brittle - and can easily be shattered with a hammer. But, in fact, at room temperature the substance - which is 100 billion times more viscous than water - is actually fluid.

In 1927 Professor Parnell heated a sample of pitch and poured it into a glass funnel with a sealed stem. He allowed the pitch to cool and settle for three years, and then in 1930 he cut the funnel's stem.

Since then, the pitch has slowly dripped out of the funnel - so slowly that it took eight years for the first drop to fall, and more than 40 years for another five to follow.

Now, 87 years after the funnel was cut, only nine drops have fallen - the last drop fell in April 2014 and we expect the next one to fall sometime in the 2020s.

The experiment was set up as a demonstration and is not kept under special environmental conditions - it's kept in a display cabinet - so the rate of flow of the pitch varies with seasonal changes in temperature.

The late Professor John Mainstone became the experiment's second custodian in 1961. He looked after the experiment for 52 years but, like his predecessor Professor Parnell, he passed away before seeing a drop fall.

In the 86 years that the pitch has been dripping, various glitches have prevented anyone from seeing a drop fall.

- University of Queensland, Australia

[mechanica1-hands]

x

AKFJEKJD my god

[thedreadpiratejames]

a watched pot never boils, and a watched pitch says “fuck you”

[stealingpotatoes]

fix-it au problems: anakin must have to lean down for EVERY family photo

(commission info // kofi support!)

[plum-soup]

Cop city is so insane man. Like there's just a bunch of idiots trying to build a fake city for cops to practice killing civilians in on top of an ancient forest and they are so obsessed with accomplishing this that they are literally doing the most insane evil shit to anybody that meaningfully protests it. Like tbh if you're an active cop city protestor you should probably be cooling in an Unidentified Location for the time being lol. Atlanta is a big city! Lots of nooks and crannies. Don't stay at home where the cops can SWAT you. Like you may consider yourself a righteous activist but the city of Atlanta essentially considers you to be a terrorist. If any cop city ppl follow me (probably not lol) yall should be SUPER careful about any Location data... buy a burber phone and leave your phone at home or with a friend, and have them call and text numbers from your contacts so it looks natural. Disguise yourself as much as possible. I think this fight is approaching a Guerilla Warfare stage so prepare accordingly

[jackabelle73]

Shoutout to all the people who work tirelessly to keep their fandoms going, even after canon has ended. Kudos to the mods who organize rewatches, fic challenges, and other fandom events. High fives to the people who keep posting new art, fic, meta, and headcanons. A collective pat on the back for the people who like, reblog, and comment on the new fanworks and remember the older works as well.

If you’re on Tumblr reading this, chances are good that you fall into one of these categories. So shoutout to YOU, and to all of us.

[skunkes]

[commoncoldz]

[hatsune-yeetku]

The holy trinity

[butternut-soda]

Important addition!! https://www.reddit.com/r/inthenews/comments/14bpckz/a_white_supremacist_took_mdma_for_a_study_and_it/

[good-fwiend-in-wome]

jesse we need to cook empathy jesse

[marinella-ela]

[thischick25]

[lostandfoundinthebackofmymind]

went from “KITTY” to “That is a grown ass man.” real quick.

[mamoru]

you know how all those applesauce packets were recalled for lead?

well. it turns out the cinnamon used in them may have been laced with lead on purpose.

Lead contamination in applesauce pouches may have been intentional, FDA says

An FDA spokesperson said that one of the agency’s theories for the WanaBana cinnamon applesauce contamination was “economically motivated ad

fun times in the united states food industry right now am I right folks

[ferrosparrow]

In case you’re a buffoon (like me) and thought someone was out here meticulously hand-poisoning applesauce:

An FDA spokesperson said that one of the agency’s theories for the WanaBana cinnamon applesauce contamination was “economically motivated adulteration.” (…)

Economically motivated adulteration, or “food fraud,” can occur when a cheaper ingredient is added to a product to enhance it or bulk it up, but is not disclosed, according to the FDA. One example, the agency said, is when lead-based dyes are added to spices to give the product a certain color.

We love cutting corners to maximize profit at the expense of our consumers

[mamoru]

hand-poisoning applesauce would be too tedious. these applesauces were poisoned in bulk for maximum efficiency

[pazithigallifreya]

Turmeric is also frequently affected by this. A lead compound with a bright yellow color can be used.

I'm not gonna dox myself by saying precisely what I do for a living, but I am involved in public environmental health, and in the past have conducted home investigations in child lead poisoning cases. For years, foreign spices have been a problem, particularly for immigrant families who visit relatives overseas and bring spices back from south asia in particular.

During and immediately after covid, however, we started finding domestically sold spices coming back from lab testing with high lead results. Sam's club, wal-mart, etc. We used to tell families to buy domestically instead of bringing things back from India, Pakistan, etc, but even that isn't safe anymore.

You might - might - be safer with higher end organic products but I really just don't trust anything anymore. This isn't a new issue, but it's definitely becoming more widespread.

[mamoru]

is there a reliable way to test spices for lead at home?

[propelledbydisaster]

if the spice you're using is water-soluble, you can mix it with water and then use a water testing kit. they sell water-testing kits at the hardware store; ones that you send off to a lab are more reliable (but also more expensive).

you can also buy lead-testing swabs on the Internet. some of these are not reliable, so I'd recommend testing the lead-testing swabs. use a swab on something that you know is lead (a fishing sinker, a car battery, etc) and another swab on something that you know is lead-free (most things in your home, hopefully) and make sure you get the expected results.

note that lead-testing kits are not food-safe, so you should not just put pipettes / test swabs / etc into your spice jar. spoon out a small amount (onto a plate or whatever), test that small amount, and then throw that small amount away. (and then wash the plate.)

[alugard]

gonna add this consumer reports investigation from a couple of years back that made the rounds. they looked into a bunch of american spice brands and found that this is a huge problem across brands, regardless of whether or not it's organic (exact quote: "CR’s tests could not determine whether one brand was consistently better or worse than any other. And organic products did not have consistently lower levels than conventionally grown ones").

[mamoru]

summary of the results, which tested for things like lead, arsenic, and cadmium beyond safe limits:

there was no safe oregano or thyme among their tests

for basil and ginger, only one brand was found to be safe in each

for paprika and cumin, half of the products were unsafe

a few of the spices they tested were considered "high concern" as in, their highest level of danger on this scale

consumer reports recommends growing your own herbs when possible because herbs and spices can be so dangerous to buy

fun!

[lavenderprose]

Today I found out that yarners think crocheting socks is subversive and controversial and I just…on one hand, why the fuck not, I guess yarners are allowed to have their controversies, but on the other, how much time do you have in your FUCKIN DAY??

[lazulisong]

My main concern is how they would feel but Maggie u know yarn fandom gotta think about something while knitting five miles of stockingnette for a sweater

[arinrowan]

Look, you can’t just leave it at that, why is it subversive and controversial? *gets popcorn*

[snipertrifle]

I mean, I’m taking this on good faith, and I’m not saying this is my own personal belief.  I believe in all crafts. 

But…the structure of the stitches and the resulting fabric is pretty different between crochet and knitting.  You get different effects between them, which lends themselves to different crafts.  And none of the effects of (most) crochet stitches lend themselves naturally to socks.  You’re (usually) going to end up with something either stiff and bulky, or full of holes that will Not Feel Good to walk on. Whereas knitted socks will just…BE elastic and comfortable.

Sure you CAN do it.  And there are people and patterns that do it well!!

But MOST crochet socks are a bit like calling this a bicycle

I mean… Okay?  But people are going to Talk.

But this is BABY controversy, this is nothing.  You haven’t even touched on the good shit like RHSS or that time the Olympic Committee dissed us.

[arinrowan]

Iiiinteresting. So one of those “just because you CAN doesn’t mean you SHOULD” things.

Also I know very little about the yarn fandom except for that bit where a woman had to fake her death and had a nervous breakdown over selling homespun/dyed yarn so like, I already have big expectations.

[snipertrifle]

Was that the one that “died” of leukemia or the one that “died” of lupus, or the one that overdosed?

[arinrowan]

From what I know of the narrative as it was described to me, I want to say the one that overdosed, but I am intrigued and vaguely concerned that there are multiple distinct individuals the above situation could apply to.

[kimmywithay]

hey umm, what the fuck

[destroyroxy]

the fake deaths thing: indie yarn dyer gets popular, gets overwhelmed by orders, can’t refund money because of shitty bookkeeping, decides faking online death is the only way out.

i’m sure some of them are unintentional rather than premeditated scammers but they’re all still thieving assholes who shouldn’t be running businesses and need to give all the money back.

the olympics commitee: ravelry, well-known knitting (fiber arts in general) site, held a contest they called the ‘ravelympics’ to drum up olympic support then get a cease-and-desist letter for copyright infringement, and the letter said that calling it that ‘denigrates the true nature of the Olympic Games’ and was ‘disrespectful to our country’s finest athletes’

except, you know, ravelry had like 2 million users who all, by nature of ravelry being a website, have basic tech literacy. the social media backlash was so bad that the olympics board had to make 2 official apologies because the first wasn’t good enough.

RHSS: Red Heart Super Saver is cheap Walmart-level yarn. some people hate it because it used to be just really fucking awful and they haven’t bothered updating their opinions. some people hate it because they hate non-natural yarns. some people hate it because they’re yarn snobs(which, btw, comes in two flavors: the disdainful assholes and the people who just don’t see the point if you have the money and don’t indulge yourself). a lot of people defend it because it’s cheap and widely locally available and honestly not that bad after a wash and some fabric softener.

crocheted socks: exactly what kaitoukitty said. people who crochet socks tend to either be new crocheters who are not aware crochet is not the best medium for socks or experienced crocheters who are pushing the boundaries of the medium.

babies on fire: i can’t believe we’re talking about yarncraft controversies and no one mentioned babies on fire. that’s my favorite controversy.

so when deciding what material to make baby blankets out of, in addition to considerations like softness, ease of washing, and allergy concerns quite a lot of people like to consider what would happen to the baby if the blanket was set on fire. yes, really.

wool has the problem of hand-wash only blankets for a new mother (superwash wool exists but that’s a whole ‘nother paragraph), allergy concerns, and also real fucking expensive if you want quality not-itchy-on-baby-skin wool. but pro-wool-blanket people insist that because wool actually resists being set on fire pretty well and also can self-extinguish, it’s the only sensible choice.

acrylic on the other hand is cheap and you can throw it in the washing machine, and while bad quality acrylics might be stiff and plastic-y they’re not itchy, but if it gets set on fire it will melt onto the baby’s skin. pro-acrylic people insist that if your blanket is on fire, you probably have bigger problems than what the blanket is made of.

[kimmywithay]

wow I didn’t expect such a detailed response. thank you!

[gallusrostromegalus]

Fiber Arts Just Be Fucking Like That.

[actualaster]

what hte FUCK

[themintycupcake]

A couple more from Ravelry:

It became the first website to ban pro-Trump content. This occurred after a user reported a pro-Trump pattern maker for I believe hate speech? For some reason Ravelry didn’t have an anonymous reporting feature at the time, so the pattern maker found out and sent followers to harass the user. This caused Ravelry to 1) make the report feature anonymous 2) say “fuck it, you guys are all assholes, Trump supporters are banned now.”

Disney went after a pattern maker on the site and issued a DCMA takedown for a crochet Grogu amigurumi pattern (known as Baby Yoda at the time). This prompted a huge backlash from the users who posted their own modified Baby Yoda patterns en-masse for no other reason than to spite Disney and their lawyers. The entire front page of Ravelry was nothing but Baby Yoda at one point.

If I ask my mother she could probably give me more. These are just what I remember off the top of my head. I don’t knit or crochet (I do cross-stitch and don’t really interact with the wider community) but my mother runs a small yarn dyeing business and has been part of the community on the Internet for a LONG time before that so I get all the juicy details on the drama.

[mornyavie]

It’s worth noting that the founders of Ravelry, Cassidy and Jessica Forbes (both women) are married to each other; and Cassidy is trans.

[princesacocacola]

I had no idea this was the drama I needed on my dash today

[basinke]

It’s nearly Cozy Things Knitted By My Mother season!!!!

[ruffboi-mags]

(via @scoutdoesstuff)

1) Yeah I’m not necessarily the biggest fan of the change but the timing and number of TERFs make it either the TERFs co-opted an existing complaint made by people who liked ravelry but had physical issues with the new site, or it was entirely FABRICATED by TERFs to try to make the founders problematic bc one of them is trans.

2) oooo now I want to try making a slipper in Tunisian crochet because you’re right, it makes a much flatter, knit-like fabric that might be actually quite pleasant!

3) I assume it’s a collective word for both knitters and crotcheters, since both work with yarn but their crafts are quite different. It’s the easiest most intuitive word to refer to both groups at once.

[teddylacroix]

I don’t understand… I grew up in crocheted socks… I mean, they were more like house slippers because we didn’t really wear them inside shoes, but still. What’s wrong with 덧 버선?

[tikkunolamorgtfo]

I love that this looped back after all that to absolve the crocheted socks.

[beardedmrbean]