In January 2020, I attended Dr. Amy Cook's PLAY WAY seminar at Pasadena Humane Society. The seminar was about "social play" as a tool for rehabilitating reactive/stressed/fearful dogs.
"Social Play" has been defined as something different from playing with toys (tug, fetch, etc.) It is literally "goofing around" with your dog in a way that they like, that makes them happy. Body language responsiveness, movement and timing is everything.
Not only did we get to see some inspiring and entertaining video footage of Amy Cook playing with her dogs, some attendees had also brought their own dogs to play with, while Amy offered coaching.
We saw the Play Way live!
It was an amazing and delightful experience and I couldn't wait to get home to play with my 15 year old Boogie (now passed on) who hadn't been interested in Tug or Fetch in over a year due to his vision loss. The Play Way class was like learning a new language, a new vocabulary to play with my dog.
This infographic cannot possibly do justice to all the material covered in the Play Way seminar, which also focused on play as "therapy". For now, I hope this is enough to pique everyone's interest in the subject and how to be mindful and respectful of our dog's body language and of our own body language in conversations with our dog.
Also read: Whole Dog Journal article on The Play Way
Image description and text under readmore.
Description begins.
[image: Five pairs of dogs showing playful behaviors. From left to right: A dog playbows to another, a dog hipbumps another, a dog chases another dog that is running away, a larger dog rolls on its back, playfully wiggling to a smaller dog, and lastly, two dogs play bitey face.]
The Play Way with Amy Cook PhD. playwaydogs.com
illustrated by Lili Chin doggiedrawings.net
Social Play is an excellent way for a dog to be in a happy state of mind and to be physically relaxed or loosened up. Playing also lets us know if a dog is truly relaxed or concerned about anything, so we can more effectively help them feel better.
Good play is an INVITATION. We invite our dog when they are looking at us, not when they are busy. We don't pressure them, as grabbiness, pushiness, and nagging are a turn-off. Pause and greet again before making a new suggestion. If your dog doesn't take up your suggestion but is still attentive, try something new.
FLIRT! Use SUSPENSE.
Not all play involves touching, but good play will have an element of suspense! Take pauses. Do not rush.
Yes: Start with slower, softer energy.
Yes: Give your dog plenty of room to move around freely.
Yes: Invite, wait, listen to your dog's response (body language)
Yes: Take "no" as an answer. PAUSE. Try something different.
No: Don't make your dog feel trapped or overwhelmed.
No: Don't make your dog wrong.
You want your dog to feel SAFE to open up and play with you.
IF you touch your dog, use the 3-SECOND RULE. Pull back after 3 seconds, staying engaged. Does your dog come back to you?
[Image sequence: Greet: A human claps their hands then says hi and reaches their palms out towards a small dog, which wags its tail. Friendly Pause: The human pauses, kneeling on the ground gently reaching out towards the dog, which stands still, confused. The human leans back, bringing their arms back in. The dog orients to them, thinking: “maybe”. Greet Again, New Invitation: The human turns away from the dog, folding down towards the ground and turning their face to look at the dog from over their shoulder. They say, hello! The dog approaches the human. Then, the human taps their fingers along the ground, and the dog playfully investigates, thinking “interesting”. Finally, the human leans back up, still kneeling, playfully wiggling their fingers in the air in front of them, and the dog happily play bows.]
With SOCIAL PLAY, the use of toys or food is not essential because you are not teaching your dog how to play. You are playing with your dog and learning what they like!
[Image: A vertical gradient scale goes from a reddish 8 at the top to a yellow 1 down at the bottom. A dash-line box encloses the numbers 5, 4, and 3, and the happy faces of a human and dog.]
Be in your dog's ENERGY RANGE!
What is your dog's energy level?
If your dog is overexcited (eg, 8) slow down to a 6-7.
If your dog is unsure or shy (eg, 2) try 1-3.
Play is a CONVERSATION. Here are some ideas to develop a "play vocabulary" with your dog:
YOU are the PREDATOR!
* Stay on the floor
[Image: Four vertically aligned orange squares showing play moves: 1. “Claw” Hands- Hands outstretched, fingers curled into “claws”. 2. Flat Hands- Hand outstretched, fingers pressed flat together, wrist bent back. 3. “Bitey” hands- A variation on “claw” hands where the fingers wriggle to “bite”. 4. “HAR” mouth- a human with their mouth open in a bitey-face gesture.]
[Image: A series of play interactions between a human and a dog. 1. The human play bows at the dog, kneeling with their arms splayed out onto the floor, saying “I’m gonna getcha!” 2. The human holds claw hands out towards the dog- Suspense! 3. The human gently pushes the dog back on the chest, saying “Silly puppy!” The dog pushes back towards the hand. 4. The human uses bitey hand to gently grab at the dog’s muzzle, and says “Bite you!” 5. The human uses a finger to poke the dog’s butt. 6. “Head butt!” The human gets on all fours and butts into the dog’s side with their head. 7. The human uses bitey hand to grab at the dog’s butt. “Bite your butt!”]
YOU are the PREY!
[Image: Four vertically aligned orange squares showing play moves: 1. Hiding face- A human hides their face behind their hands. 2. Pulling away- A human on all fours leans away from the action. 3. Piano hands- a human dances their fingers across the floor. 4. Rolling, flopping over- a human rolls onto their back, legs in the air and arms folded into their chest.]
[Image: A series of play interactions between a human and a dog. 1. A human crawls away from a dog on all fours, then peeks over their shoulder at the dog, asking “Gonna get me?”. Then, the dog jumps up onto the kneeling human. The human rolls onto their back and celebrates with the dog, “You got me!” 2. The human kneels, folded forward onto the floor doing piano hands. They say “Hello”. The dog approaches, and the human hides their face from the dog. Then, the dog fake bites the human’s cheek, tail wagging. 3. A dog watches curiously as a human shakes out a blanket. The human then hides under the blanket and the dog climbs up onto them, thinking “You silly! I get you!”]
How is your dog responding?
[Image: a human kneels on the floor and watches as the dog walks away from them. It thinks “need to look.”]
If your dog disconnects from you and looks towards something more interesting or concerning (that is not too close), let them process the other thing. Don't pressure them to come back to you.
When you let your dog look and dismiss the other thing on their own, the more of their attention that you really have when you get it!
NOPE. You are being WEIRD.
[Image: four examples of a dog showing stress. 1. Look Away: A dog turns and looks away. 2. Shake off- A dog shakes off like they’re wet. 3. Stress yawn- A dog yawns. 4. Busy Sniffing- a dog sniffs the ground.]
At first you may get a lot of "Not Now"s. If your dog shows confused signals or becomes busy doing other stuff, hold back. (Especially with the “shy" dogs) Your dog may not understand what you are doing.
When they approach you again, check your energy level, greet again, and try something different.
[Image: A human wiggles their fingers at a dog, which play bows with an open mouth and says “Bite you!”. Another drawing of the dog play bowing facing forwards and panting, tail wagging.]
When you do something that your dog likes, they will keep coming back to you. Their bodies are loose and curved. They may roll around, jump on you, or fake-bite you. They may even laugh!
Now that you know what your dog likes, you can do it over and over again!
ok so this is another long shot but a few years ago there was a twitter post (in japanese i think?) that had measurememts for how to make this book stand thing out of cardboard that you could use to double up books and use up more space on shelves
back then i made a bunch of these but by now i lost the pic and dont know how to find the original post anymore
if it comes down to it i can just take one apart and get the measurements from there but i would be very grateful if anyone happens to have the original post or something similar??
don't mind how long it's been since i made this post, anyway i realized that i don't even need to take one apart to get the measurements when i can literally just unfold it and refold it /FACEPALM
so anyway here is the diagram for anyone else who is interested!!
this requires pretty big carboard pieces, if you have a really big box or something you can make it from one piece, but if you don't, you can also just make each of the pieces individually and then tape them together
and then in the end you put it together like this!!
and then when you make a bunch you can put them all next to each other and stack your books like crazy
EVERYONE START GETTING MORE USE OUT OF YOUR SPACE NOW!!!!
pet peeve is when you look up fashion references from a specific era and you keep getting modern day '[era]-inspired' fashion like NO i want authenticity damn it. i can see your 2020 photo quality and your 2020 hair and your 2020 makeup. youre not fooling me.
hello i'm a historical fashion researcher and i have a lot of experience looking up things! this is a very widely experienced irritation and you're definitely not alone in this, but i am here to share everything i know!
so, ways to get around this:
turn off AI results. they're literally nonsense to us
don't use pinterest because the sources/provenance is often hard to trace
a standard internet search can be okay, but museum collections are the top tier (list of collections below this list)
instead of broad terms like victorian, regency, tudor, renaissance etc. try using the decade you're looking for. if you're not sure of what decade it is but have a vague image in your head, look on the fashion history timeline and just jump around until you find it. but even changing to e.g. 19th century will give better results than victorian
including terms like womenswear/menswear, daywear, formal wear, evening wear, court dress should increase the value of your search too
including "fashion plates" in your search can give you a nice impression of the intended silhouettes of the era. some of these might be a little stylised but will show you what was considered in vogue
for pre-fashion plate eras or things like makeup and styling, you'll have to look at portraiture or manuscripts. these are harder to actually find what you're looking for, but searching museum collections and limiting results to specific date ranges will be your friend
when looking at art, do bear in mind sometimes artists would paint fabric extra flow-y to show off their skills. it might not have been exactly like that in terms of fabric weight or drape. so, a pinch of salt required!
if you find something on image search where the provenance is dubious, reverse image search and you might find a source! i've been able to trace random pinterest images to real sources, but this does take a lot of time and effort and is often not worth the headache
some online resources and museum collections:
fashion history timeline is an invaluable resource if you're trying to get a feel for everything and should be your first port of call. it'll also link to good examples
the met has a vast number of extant examples of clothing, as well as fashion plates
costume institute fashion plates is a subcollection of the met for fashion plates (1800s-1922)
v&a also has many extant garments, fashion plates, and incredible articles on clothing and aesthetics. read the details of the objects because they'll often reveal a lot about the piece
lacma is good for C19th-20th pieces
nypl digital collection for photographs
national portrait gallery or similar for portraiture, or literally any museum in your country that has historical art
national museums scotland can be useful situationally but might be oddly specific
stout style history is a great collection for finding image references for fat people wearing historical clothes. survival bias of a lot of museum pieces tends towards smaller clothing that couldn't be repurposed, but this aims to counter that. it's not sortable, but is still a really nice resource
wikimedia commons is surprisingly handy! and the images, if you should need to link/repost them, are public domain
auction websites sound like a funny one to recommend. some won't have mannequins and some will. just look up historical garment auctions and you'll find some!
anyway, i hope this has been a good place to start for anyone interested! there are probably some i've missed because there are so many museums across the world and i don't know about all of them or can't remember them. but these are the ones i've used the most! (my specialisation/jobs i've had to research for have only really been in western fashion, so my resources reflect that)
Y'all for real please do these. Even if you're certain your posture doesn't suck. One day you will wake up with impinged shoulder pain like I did and let me tell you it fucking HURTS. Do these exercises even just once a week and it will make such a difference. Especially my fellow creatives out there, stop shrimping over your work and go do these right now. RIGHT NOW.
The venn diagram between teenagers (and adults) who scream that writing about rape or incest is "promoting" rape and incest, and the Moms for Whatever Cause groups who rally to pull books containing content like rape and incest from schools because "it could promote bad ideas to children", isn't even a venn diagram. It's a circle.
If you think you're hot shit because you think people are degenerates for shipping Thorki or something, and you think that fiction shouldn't be allowed to exist and or warrants shitty insults and name-calling, congratulations: you're a useful idiot and a mouthpiece for right-wing censorship groups.
You can convince yourself otherwise, but you will never not be one as long as you share their mindsets and behaviors.
As long as kids like me exist that find out that they are being abused, thanks to those books, and have the tools handed to them how to get out of those situations, thanks to those books, those books most definitely belong in school because they are saving the lives of children.
The real conversation should be about the way it is written and whether or not the way it is written is age appropriate. And how you set up a system that a 4 year old doesn't take a book home for 12 year olds. (The age rage in my countries basic school.)
Nothing about your minority percentage of situation changes that. Boards of education are woefully useless at screening anything to begin with; gay pornographic sex ed bullshit sitting on school library shelves is proof of that.
So no. I will not sit here and naively make excuses for every school in the country to fuck up and hurt children worse with this kind of media because you think your ideal world exists where people in schools actually give a fuck about kids the way they should.
Second note: looking back at your comment are you even American? Why are you talking to me? /12 year olds shouldn't be seeing these books either/, hello. This is 15+ material IF written correctly.
Oh, so because you wanna feel special and use the victim card, your bitchy because I called it out as being bitchy?
One in five people get sexually assaulted. None of us are special in that regard, using that trauma to justify censorship and book banning, makes you just as bad as the far right fucks.
Kindly delete your account, clearly your not emotionally stable enough for the internet.
If you wanna use your trauma as a shut up card, don't be surprised, that other people disagree. Stop being such a bitch.
"I'm a victim, I'm a victim, I'm a victim!!"
So?! Everybody has trauma, act like a fucking adult and get over yourself. Stop acting like a far right bitch if you don't wanna get accused of it.
I got raped, my personality doesn't stop at victim
Love how you abuse the fandom blog for your bullshit so hard that you're trying to create something bigger than one reply for your personal victimhood. You're not even debating. You're slinging shit like a toddler.
If you have such a problem, have a DROP of courtesy and bring it to my blog off this post. 🙄
Oh look, the Perpetual Victim is using her big girl words! Oh such a big girl, using courtesy like an intelligent creature.
Bitch, you started this on a fandom blog yourself, talk shit get hit. You made it be about your victimhood first, you literally used I'm a victim in your pathetic statement. If you can't debate, don't talk at all. Like, genuinely, you're parents should've told you to shut up more, because clearly they failed to teach you critical thinking.
Take it to your blog? You mean the blog, where you post about deporting immigrants and promoting fascism? Where you talk shit about minorities and only ever go but victimhood?
I'm not a victim and I'm not harassing anyone. I do not support Fascism, in fact I'm an anarchist. But you're certainly playing the bully and trying to harass me. I'm surprised this particular behavior is allowed by moderators, but then maybe they just haven't seen it yet.
By the way kiddo, whites are more a minority than anyone else I talk about - but sure. Pretend you're doing anything useful by spewing the same bullshit that's helped destabilize this entire country.
Let me make myself very clear: I don't give a shit about anything you say. I would LIKE you to show decency and stop fucking with me through someone else's blog. If you reply again, I will block you.
This was literally you, are you fucking stupid? Also, I'm not a child.
Also spouting that pro fascist lingo doesn't make you an anarchist it makes you MAGA
Also oohh nooo a racist is threatening to block me! I'm so scared! Help Tumblr police help me!
Are you fucking for real?
"don't reply again or I'll block you?"
How about you walk into an open door, since your too fucking stupid to even remember your own words.
If you don't want people to talk to you, disable reblogs when you reblog. If you're gonna spout your disgusting, racist narrative that involves book banning and talks of hurting people, you're no anarchist your just a sad little white girl who has no value in this world at all.
Clearly you should've been swallowed or brushed out your mother's teeth
btw the person you were arguing with has like out and out racism and antisemitism all over their blog. they are absolutely already the alt-right mouthpiece you accused them of being.
Reblogging this again with links & instructions for everything you need for this:
Calibre
Calibre ACSM plugin
Calibre NoDRM plugin
Download all of the above, run calibre, go to "preferences" and scroll down to plugins
Select "load plugin from file" (you will need to extract the NoDRM zip but not the ACSM) and load the zips
For DeACSM you'll need to log in using Adobe (you can use a free account for this). To log in, find DeACSM under "File types" in the plugins window and double click on it and log in with your Adobe credentials
Restart calibre
Drag your ebooks from libby into calibre. Should convert them into Epubs without DRM automatically! Try opening the file to make sure it's all worked :)
Okay but correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't checking out books digitally still contribute to a Library's turn over, and therefore help justify their budget to the county/state/whathaveyou?
Are we really stealing from the only reliable free source of information left now???
Nothing is being stolen — in fact, you're monopolizing resources far less than you would be if you read it normally. Copying the file does not remove it from the library any more than taking a photo of a physical book does.
Also, if the country and state want to defund libraries, they don't care about the usage statistics, they'd do it regardless.
Look, when libraries subscribe to OverDrive, they're paying for the right to lend out books to us. They don’t actually own the books, they’re subrenting them. The deals between publishers and OverDrive are already finalized. The publishers already got paid. So stop defending this book landlord.
also like you figure borrowing a book and then quickly returning it would allow more people to return it in a shot period of time which would pad the numbers and make the library seem like its being used more
Why "Precolonial" Indigenous North American History Matters: A Mini Syllabus
Okay I had this half-finished lying around so I prettied it up into something vaguely usable and added links wherever possible (most of them being totally legal...)
This is not a full treatment of Indigenous history before European contact. It was originally created to be a 15 week class, so it was not intended to cover everything but to give a taste of various regions and histories. Unfortunately, certain essays I would highly recommend are in the Oxford handbooks I listed at the end, and I have been unable to locate free-to-access versions.
Each section includes a question to consider that is intended to suggest ways that these precolonial histories have reverberations into the present. In a course I'd be able to draw them out more clearly, but keep them in mind as you read, if you like. Finally, please keep in mind that few of these sources will read like a "straightforward history" of "precolonial [xyz region/tribe/nation]." Be open-minded and critical-thinking!
Part 1: Foundations
Questions to consider:
Why didn't we learn this stuff?
Why should we learn this stuff?
Why do so many Indigenous people distrust historians / anthropologists / archaeologists?
Readings:
Michael Witgen (Red Cliff Ojibwe), "American Indians in World History" in The Oxford Handbook of American Indian History
Vine Deloria, Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux), Custer Died For Your Sins, chapter 4: "Anthropologists and Other Friends"
Floyd Westerman (Sisseton Dakota), "Here Come the Anthros" (music video!!)
Juliana Barr, "There's no such thing as prehistory"
Peregrine and Lekson, "The North American Oikumene"
(Parts 2-6 under the cut)
Part 2: Mesoamerica
Question to consider: How could so few Spaniards conquer the vast population of Tenochtitlan and other Aztec cities?
Readings:
Camilla Townsend, Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs
Popol Vuh (translated by Allen J. Christenson)
Part 3: Aridoamerica/Oasisamerica
Question to consider: How did the Southwest region of the United States become so associated with the touristy image of the "peaceful Pueblo Indian"?
Readings:
Joe Sando (Jemez Pueblo), Pueblo Nations: Eight Centuries of Pueblo Indian History
Kelley and Francis (Navajo), A Diné History of Navajoland, introduction
Severin Fowles, "The Pueblo Village in an Age of Reformation"
Part 4: The Midcontinent
Question to consider: How did the Five "Civilized" Tribes become so powerful, both historically and today?
Readings:
Alt and Pauketat, "Medieval Life in America's Heartland"
Christopher B. Teuton (Cherokee Nation), Cherokee Stories of the Turtle Island Liar's Club
Part 5: The Great Lakes
Question to consider: What role did Indigenous peoples play in the French ultimately losing their North American colonies? (Why am I writing this in English and not French?)
Readings:
Georges Sioui (Wendat), Huron-Wendat: Heritage of the Circle (I can't find an online copy but it's extremely worth buying)
Kayanerehkowa: The Great Law of Peace (Kahnawake Mohawk)
Part 6: General Resources
I would also recommend these two handbooks, if you can get a hold of them for a non-outrageous price:
The Oxford Handbook of American Indian History (2016)
The Oxford Handbook of North American Archaeology (2011)
i'm not black, but this resource (https :// www. dove. com /us/en/stories/campaigns/code-my-crown.html) is excellent for making black hairstyles in 3d art. it's made by black 3d artists and has not only tutorials, but also general information about hair types and hairstyles. sharing it here for any fellow 3d artists looking for resources
Code My Crown is a guide to the creation and celebration of Black hair textures and protective styles in video games.
ALL RIGHT!!! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 This is amazing! And you know how passionate I am about video game Black hair and how much better it could be! Thank you so much for finding this, I'm sure it'll be a great tool for practice.
oopsie i tripped and spilled my link to archive dot org's downloadable copy of Microsoft office suite for 2007, which features no AI tools and is a powerful word processor that still holds up just fine on windows 10!
Me: sports are only appealing to fascists and are effectively "nationalism training" to get people to hate others based on arbitrary geographic designations
Everyone: You're a crazy person. You deserve to be beat up for not falling in line, which disproves any and all associations between sports and fascism for some reason
