Put Title Here

a new, inexperienced, unlicensed tumblr user.

[tastefullyoffensive]

After stewing in his emotions, emo veg comes to the conclusion that the root of the world’s problems is that people don’t seem to carrot all. [obvincognito/tabizine]

[thatbrinybitch]

This is single handedly the best fucking pun joke I’ve ever seen on this damn website.

[faeries-everywhere]

the carrot on the side contemplating this piece of performance art tho

[psych2go]

Do you have any articles or information on anxiety and depression and frustration/irritability? I have both depression and anxiety but have been feeling very irritable lately. Thanks!

We do have articles on anxiety and depression etc. Irritability is a sign of depression. It is not uncommon to have both anxiety and depression at the same time. Here are links to the articles related to this: 

⇒Depression

 7 Ways Hidden Depression Changes Your Brain

7 Signs You May Have High Functioning Depression

7 Tips for Living With Depression

4 Things You can do if You Think You have Depression

11 Things People With Depression Would Like Others to Understand – Can you relate?

Depression: Does It Boil Down To Chemical Imbalance?

Overcoming Depression

Depression: What It’s Like For Me, and How I Deal With It

Depression: Low-Effort Survival Guide for Dummies

Depression: What it is and How We Deal with It

⇒ Anxiety

14 Unexpected Symptoms of Anxiety – Have You Experienced Any?

Anxiety & Relationships QUIZ: How Many of These Quotes Can You Relate To?

Things People Don’t Realize You Do Because of Your Anxiety

5 Signs You’re Suffering With Anxiety

The Symptoms of an Anxiety Attack

The 5 Major Anxiety Disorders

5 Psychology Exercises to Understand Your Anxiety Better

A Start to Understanding Anxiety Disorders

6 Ways for Introverts with Anxiety to Manage Stressful Situations

Mindfulness 101 for Anxiety

If you want more information, feel free to check out our website psych2go.net ☺ 

[baddie-bootay]

This definetly helps. You should also try and talk to a professional.

[exploregif-blog]

[gifsboom]

Perfect magnets

[hoiplatapolloi]

Fun story: One of the first things I was taught as an astronomy student is that, if you want to be a dick to someone giving a presentation, ask them “and how do the magnetic fields play into this?” and they will invariably say “fuck you I don’t know” because no one understands magnetic fields they are black magic.

[edwardspoonhands]

Originally posted by fencehopping

[kasaron]

Magnets are pure bullshit.

Pure utter bullshit. Electromagnetic forces somehow outstrip gravitic forces in strength by an obscene factor, for no reason I can comprehend and it bothers me.

I love magnets

[supernova2395]

One, that gif showing the Curie temperature is really cool. 

Two, you don’t understand, magnetic fields are the bane of my existance and I have a masters dissertation about them. I studied how magnetic fields develop in low mass stars and every single meeting with my supervisor ended in some conversation about how stupid magnetism is.

“Oh yeah and this is effected by the magnetic field strength…”

“But why?”

“God knows, I don’t have a clue.”

Was literally said to me by a professor who has spent 20 years of his life looking at magnetism in stars.

ALSO:

“Don’t ask why, we don’t know. Maybe magnetism? Who knows anything about magnetism.” - My Stellar Physics professor when asked about certain processes in stellar formation, something he has been studying for 10 years.

Like we know so little about that it’s actually funny.

[garocamarillo]

COOKING SHRIMPS IN 3 SECONDS. 

[palehorseblackdog]

Please watch this.

[mordredbi]

Fates AU where Lost In Thoughts All Alone is replaced with Wake Me Up Inside.

this is 100000% arete’s influence

[artyowlsstuff]

Okay people, history-fail story-time...

So back in the 1780′s when our country was still figuring crap out and ol’ George Washington was just elected president, G.W. decided to send a letter to Congress along the lines of ‘Looking forward to working with you all, this will be exciting!” Congress, not wanting to slight the president and also trying to express their own enthusiasm, sent back a letter along the lines of “Glad you’re excited, we are also looking forward to working with you!”

Then George sends another letter back saying something like “Cool cool bros, glad you’re just as excited as I am,” and Congress, again not wanting to be awkward or just ignore the PRESIDENT, sent back ANOTHER letter saying some dumb crap that was probably along the lines of “Glad you’re excited that we’re excited that you’re excited.”

Democracy at its finest.

And while this in itself is funny, that is not even the best part.

George Washington, while being powerful, was not extremely eloquent, and at this point was also aging, busy, and overall very stressed about his new position (which he did not want in the first place).  So he asked his old friend James Madison, who had a much better way with words, to write the first note to Congress.  Good old James Madison, wanting to oblige his friend, did just that and composed the note to Congress.  Now, J-Mads was himself a member of Congress, so when the note arrived, he was in session to hear “Washington’s” letter read.

Congress got nervous and worried about who could possibly compose a formal and acceptable letter back to Washington.  Who better than his old friend, James Madison?  So Jimmy, being obliging, wrote the response.  When Washington received the reply, he once again asked his friend to write the response.  

And who did Congress choose to write their final letter? That’s right….none other than Jimmy-James-Madison himself.

So James Madison, future 4th president of the United States, wrote himself 4 letters under the guise of George Washington and the first Congress of the U.S.  And he was too embarrassed to admit it.

[peasantbarbie]

catfish of the millenium

[simonalkenmayer]

When I was in highschool, my culinary teacher gave me the greatest gift of all- the actual recipe from red lobster, he worked there for a little bit. I haven’t made a batch in forever but I’m excited.

[thantos1991]

The cheese bread biscuits from red lobster?!? Teach us dear anon submitter!!!

[peanut-for-your-thought]

TEACH US ThE SECRET

[mekau]

@thantos1991​  @peanut-for-your-thought​ @simonalkenmayer

This is the easier recipe, taste damn near the same but less work, but it also makes like 48 biscuits:

8 cups Original Bisquick™ mix 

2 2/3 cups milk cups shredded Cheddar cheese (8 oz) 

1 cup butter or margarine, melted 

1 teaspoon garlic powder 

1 teaspoon parsley 

1 teaspoon old bay seasoning OR onion powder 

 Preheat to 450 

mix bisquick mix, cheese and milk until a soft dough forms.  don’t over stir, it mixes pretty quick grease a pan or put parchment paper down Put dough balls about 2 inches apart, and put in oven. MAKE SURE the oven is completely pre heated, if you put it in before hand the biscuits will come out nasty. Bake 8-10 minutes.  Melt the butter in the microwave completely. Add parsley, seasonings and stir. 

 Once biscuits are done, should be brown on the bottom, pull them out and let them sit for a moment before covering or dipping them in the butter. Dipping upside down means more coverage. 

NOW, here is the recipe I actually use:

This recipe makes 10-12 biscuits.

3 cups all purpose Flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon salt ¾ teaspoon cream of tartar ¾ cup butter or ½ cup butter ¼ shortening 1 and ¼ cup milk 

Preheat oven to 450.  Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cream of tartar.  Using a blender/pastry blender, cut the butter into the mixture until it looks crumbly.  make a well/hole in the middle of the mixture and pour ALL the milk in at once.

Now, you’ll want to add the cheese, which for this recipe you’ll want to use ¾ to 1 cup sharp cheddar.  Use a fork to stir/fold the mixture just until the mixture is all moist. Do not over mix. Use a spoon or scoop, and scoop 12 onto a parchment paper or a greased pan surface. You’ll want to put them 1 ½ - 2 inches apart.

Bake for 10-14 minutes, until the bottoms are brown.

½ cup butter or margarine, melted ½ teaspoon garlic powder  ½ teaspoon parsley  1/3 teaspoon old bay seasoning OR onion powder

Melt the butter, mix and either dip the biscuits in or cover them with a brush/spoon. If there is any left over it goes super good on french bread too. 

[simonalkenmayer]

You are a queen among bees.

[dutchfruitjar]

When insults had class

These glorious insults are from an era before the English language got boiled down to 4-letter words. A member of Parliament to Disraeli: “Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease”. “That depends, Sir,“ said Disraeli, “whether I embrace your policies or your mistress.” “He had delusions of adequacy.” - Walter Kerr “He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.”- Winston Churchill “I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.” -Clarence Darrow “He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.” - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway). “Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I’ll waste no time reading it.” - Moses Hadas “I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.” - Mark Twain “He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends..” - Oscar Wilde “I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend…. if you have one.” (George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill) “Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second  …. if there is one.“  (Winston Churchill, in response.) “I feel so miserable without you; it’s almost like having you here.” - Stephen Bishop “He is a self-made man and worships his creator.” - John Bright “I’ve just learned about his illness. Let’s hope it’s nothing trivial.” - Irvin S. Cobb “He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others.” - Samuel Johnson “He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up.” - Paul Keating “In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily.” - Charles, Count Talleyrand “He loves nature in spite of what it did to him.” - Forrest Tucker “Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?” -Mark Twain “His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.” - Mae West “Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.” - Oscar Wilde “He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts… for support rather than illumination.” Andrew Lang (1844-1912) “He has Van Gogh’s ear for music.” - Billy Wilder “I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it.” Groucho Marx

[simonalkenmayer]

All excellent insults.

[betterbemeta]

These are all very good, but I disagree with that it’s changing times that makes burns like these rare. They were often used alongside four-letter words, even ones we’d never hear today. 

And then there’s the possibility that one’s pissing off the wrong people in life to hear creativity. Or if they are so tiresome that they just aren’t worth the breath.

[firebreathingeli]

[shoggoth-the-bitch]

If someone told me that this was a list of things Griffin has said in a single episode of literally anything, I would believe them 100%.

[scarlettaagni]

Napstablook is the perfect unproblematic fave

they do literally nothing wrong

you can fight them, but they can’t be killed

they can’t be killed by ANYTHING, because they’re a ghost

so you don’t have to worry about your fave being killed off

you can’t bother or even interact with them on Genocide, so you can’t hurt them

you can fight them and keep a pacifist run cause they give you 0 or -1 EXP

they cried you a HAT

they lowered their HP just to be POLITE

when the fucking APOCALYPSE happens they are the only survivor other than you

LITERALLY

THEY JUST IGNORED THE FUCKING APOCALYPSE

THE ANGEL OF DEATH TAPPED ON THE WINDOW

AND THEY CLOSED THE BLINDS

AND WENT BACK TO MIXING MUSIC

they let you into their house and offer you a bunch of things even if you fought them

MTT would 100% approve of people loving Blooky

and MTT is right all the time

cons: (what there are CONS to this cinnamon roll???)

they’re sad a lot so that means your fave will be sad a lot

PROS TO THE CONS:

that only makes your fave even BETTER when they ARE happy!!

they seem pretty happy as a spooky DJ in the Pacifist ending

ENDING ARGUMENT:

look at this face.

how can you not love this tiny spoop

CONCLUSION:

10/10 pls love the spook child

[beardysgarden-blog]

Ten Mistakes New Herb Gardeners Make (and How to Avoid Them!)

Mistake 1: Growing from seed. When you first start out trying to grow fresh herbs, I recommend you begin by trying to grow from seedlings rather than planting your own seeds. These great little starter plants are widely available in grocery stores in the late spring. For the same price as a packet of fresh herbs from the produce section, you can buy your own little starter plant. Lots can go wrong in the seed to seedling transition (including not thinning out plants properly), so its probably best to begin by skipping that complicated task or you are in danger of washing out before you really begin.

Mistake 2: Starting with the wrong varieties. I recommend you start by trying to grow fresh basil. It is the perfect trainer herb. First, basil grows quickly, allowing you to observe the effects of your care more easily. Second, basil leaves wilt visibly when not watered enough, but recovers well if you water the wilted plant. This makes basil a great ‘canary in the mineshaft’ to help you figure out how much water is enough.

Mistake 3: Watering herbs like houseplants. Instead, water herbs a moderate amount every day. While some houseplants flourish with one solid watering per week, most delicate herbs require moderate and regular watering. This is particularly true during hot summer months. If you have good drainage at the bottom of your pot (at least a drainage hole, possibly rocks beneath the soil), it will be difficult to water herbs too much.

Mistake 4: Not cutting early and often. As a novice gardener, it may seem like your puny little plant just isn’t ready for a trip to the barber, but then you will find yourself sitting there wishing for leaves without much success. Again, basil is a great herb to practice pruning. As with all herbs, you want to cut the herb just above a set of growing leaves. With basil, when you cut the plant that way, the originally trimmed stem will no longer grow. However, two new stems will grow around the original cutting, creating a “V” shape (see the photo above, can you spot the Vs?). If you don’t trim basil aggressively, it will continue to grow straight up, and become too tall and top-heavy. Making your first trim approximately 3-4” above the soil produces a nice sturdy plant. Of course you want to be sure you are always leaving a few good sturdy leaves on the plant (see below). As it continues to grow, continue to prune it approximately every 3-4" for a nice solid plant. I like to let it grow for some time and then cut back to within 2-3 inches of the original cut. After only a few early trial cuts, this usually makes for a nice clipping with plenty of basil to use for a pizza.

Mistake 5: Taking the leaves from the wrong place. When you are just starting out it seems to make so much sense to pick off a few big leaves around the bottom of the plant, and let those tender little guys at the top keep growing. Wrong. Leave those large tough old guys at the bottom alone. They are the solar panels that power your herb’s growth. Once your plant is big enough to sustain a decent harvest, keep on taking from the top, as you have been when you were pruning. That way you get all those tender new herbs that are so tasty, and your plant gets to keep its well developed solar power system in place. Plus, if you pluck from the base and leave the top intact, you get a tall skinny plant that will flop over from its own weight (and yes, I know this from experience). When you pluck from the top, instead of clipping off just below a pair of leaves, you want to clip off just above a pair of leaves. It is a bit counter-intuitive as a novice, but trust me it works. The place where the leaf joins the stem is where new growth will occur when your plant sends off new stems in a V.

Mistake 6: Letting your plants get too randy. If you are pruning regularly, this may never become an issue, but unless you are growing something for its edible flowers, be sure to cut back herbs before they start growing flowers. My friend once brought me to her backyard garden and pointed, frustrated, at her wimpy, small basil plants. “I just keep tending them, but they don’t even produce enough leaves to put on a salad!” she lamented. I pointed to the glorious stalk of flowers at the top of each plant, “That’s your problem” I explained. Because herbs are kind of like college boys: if you give them half a chance, they will focus all their energy on procreation and neglect growth. If you want leaves, keep cutting off the little flower buds whenever you find them (see photo above), and it will encourage your plant to focus on growing more leaves.

Mistake 7: Using tired soil with no nutrients. Tired soil that has been sitting in your garden or lawn for ages often looks grey and a little depressing. Would you want to grow in that stuff? Give your plants a dose of the good stuff and they’ll thank you for it. I grow my herbs in a combination of potting soil, used coffee grounds (with a near-neutral PH, available for free at Starbucks), and organic compost. If I have some on hand, I also throw in crushed egg shells. Those without access to compost (and no deep commitment to organic growing) may find Miracle grow useful. My momma swears by it for tomatoes. A diluted solution of Miracle grow occasionally can help many herbs flourish.

Mistake 8: Getting in a rut. There is an element to passion about herb gardening. In order to be good at it, you need to feel rewarded. So don’t stick too long with one or two herbs just because they work. Branch out to a few other basic herbs that you will use regularly in your kitchen. There are few things more rewarding as an urban foodie than being able to pop out to the fire escape to clip fresh herbs to use in my cooking. Once you have become comfortable with basil, I recommend moving on to try growing oregano, mint, rosemary and thyme. All are regularly useful herbs in the kitchen, and all are relatively easy to grow. You will notice that rosemary cleaves after cutting in a somewhat similar way to basil, but grows much more slowly, so the effect is difficult to notice. Some plants also respond to clipping by throwing out more full leaves at their base. I have long wanted to grow cilantro but have not had much luck with it.

Mistake 9: You mean there’s more than one kind of mint?When choosing herbs, read the label carefully. For example, there are two main varieties of oregano: Mediterranean and Mexican. Mediterranean oregano is the more common variety, and what you likely own if you have conventional dried oregano in your cupboard. I have Mexican oregano growing on my back fire escape. I love Mexican oregano in spicy dishes, for making beans from scratch, and often use it in tomato dishes where I don’t want the flavor to seem too much like marinara. Similarly, there are many different kinds of mint. You don’t want to be thinking of the pungent spearmint plant and accidentally take home the much more subtle (and not mojito savvy) applemint by mistake.

Mistake 10: Feed me Seymour! If you are planting in soil instead of pots, take care that your cute little herb seedling doesn’t become a giant plant that takes over your garden. A word of warning for oregano and mint: both can be voracious growers. If you are planting outside in a garden, rather than in pots, you may want to consider potting these herbs and then burying the pots in the ground. This will add a measure of control to the root systems of these herbs, which can otherwise take over a garden and strangle nearby neighbors. When in doubt, check out wikipedia, they usually are careful to point out which herbs are in danger of overwhelming your garden.

Some really useful info here if you’re new to herb gardening.

[brehaaorgana]

I….NEED TO TRIM MY BASIL WOW 

[downtroddendeity]

@keeperjones

[justbadpuns]

Here’s justbadpuns top 10 posts of 2016! 

[cutlassopinions]

I know Grumpmeister Fenris is a popular characterization but consider these canon Fenris facts:

-Fenris is a nerd who laughs at Hawke’s dumb jokes

-Fenris is very eloquent when speaking, rarely uses contractions, and swears like, once

-Fenris is an introvert

-The very first time Hawke flirts with him, he’s awkward and shy

-”If I seem bitter, it is not without cause”

-Varric once asked Fenris what he did in his old mansion all day, and Fenris claimed (completely deadpan) that he dances through the place.

-Actually he makes a lot of jokes in banter. They’re just very deadpan.

-This one is a favorite:

Fenris: I thought all dwarves had beards. Where’s yours? Varric: I misplaced it, along with my sense of dwarven pride and my gold-plated noble caste pin. Fenris: I thought maybe it fell onto your chest.

Oh and this one:

Varric: You know, if you need advice on how to lay low I can give you some.

Fenris: Being short would make for an excellent start, I suspect.

-Fenris plays cards regularly with Varric and Donnic

-Fenris: I disavow any knowledge of gambling occurring in my house.

-seriously just read his banters with Aveline. 

-He has a lot of snark:

Carver: You’re very different from other elves. Fenris: Oh? You know them all?

-He ends up being rather fond of Bethany, if she survives.

-Also this, in regards to the Qun:

Fenris: I didn’t escape one form of slavery only to become slave to myself. Isabela: Er, what does that mean? Fenris: I’m… not sure. But it sounded profound, didn’t it?

Idk where I was going with this

yay Fenris!

[dragon-in-a-fez]

a friend of mine is a science educator. not a classroom teacher - he does the kind of programs you see in museums, fun experiments with lasers and dry ice and shit.

yesterday, a young girl asked him why he was allowed to pour liquid nitrogen all over his own arm but he didn’t want her doing it. I braced myself for some dumb “well I’m an adult so I’m allowed” non-answer, but instead he surprised me by giving some of the best science (and life) advice I think you can give a young person:

“well, it’s one of those rules designed to keep you safe. and following the rules really can help you stay safe, but they’re not perfect. sometimes, usually because they’re too simple, the rules let you do things that aren’t safe, or don’t let you do things that are safe if you know how to do them. one of the reasons I’m good at what I do as a scientist is I try to understand how things work so I can figure out my own rules for keeping myself safe. and sometimes my rules are little more complicated than what I might hear from other people, but they work better for me. like, I let myself play with liquid nitrogen, but only in really specific ways that I’ve spent time practicing. you should follow the rules you’re given at first, but if you take the time to understand how things work, maybe you can make your own, better rules.”

I loved this response. it’s a great encapsulation of two really important things I think people need to learn and re-learn all the time: on the one hand, listen to genuine authority figures; when someone knows more than you about a subject, don’t treat their expertise as “just another opinion” and act like your ignorance is just as good as their knowledge. but on the other hand, don’t obey anything or anyone blindly. recognize that rules and systems and established ideas are never perfect. question things, educate yourself, question things more.

and then, of course, a parent had to butt in and spoil this wonderful lesson by saying:

“but not the rules mom comes up with!”

everyone in the room laughed. except me. I gave her a death glare I’m pretty sure she didn’t notice.

because no. no. your rules are not above reproach if you’re a parent. the thing about the dictates of genuine authority figures - people who deserve to have power, and to have their positions respected - is that they are open to question. genuine authority figures are accountable. governments can be petitioned and protested and recalled. doctors must respect patients’ right to a second opinion. journalists have jobs terminated and credentials revoked if they fail to meet standards of integrity and diligence. scientists, to bring us back full circle, spend their entire careers trying to disprove their own hypotheses! you know who insists on being treated as infallible? megalomaniacal dictators, that’s who. oh, and parents.

I’m beyond sick and tired of this “my house my rules, this family is not a democracy, I want my child to think critically and stand up for themselves except to me ha ha” bullshit. my friend gave this kid the kind of advice that doesn’t just help people become good scientists - if enough people adopt the mentality he put forth to that girl, that’s the kind of advice that helps societies value knowledge and resist totalitarianism. and her mother shut it down because, what, she didn’t want to deal with the inconvenience of having someone question her edicts about whose job it is to wash the dishes on Mondays?

we already know you’re more likely to be a Trump supporter if you’re an authoritarian parent - and that this is a stronger predictor of your views on the current president than age, religiosity, gender, or race. I’ll say this another way in case you didn’t catch the full meaning: people who believe in the absolute, unquestionable authority of parents are more than two and a half times as likely to support Trump as people who don’t, and that’s just among Republicans. we can’t afford to treat the oppressive treatment of children or the injustice of ageist power structures in our society as a sideshow issue any longer. the mentality that parents should be treated by their children as beyond reproach and above dispute is a social cancer that has metastasized into the man currently trying to destroy the foundations of democracy in this country.

in short: parents, get the hell over yourselves before you get us all killed. and kids, learn as much as you can, and then make your own rules.

[systlin]

My mother is fond of quoting something that happened once at work (she’s the director of tourism for the neighboring county).

She was on the phone with my brother, who wanted to do something (I forget what, I think he wanted to go camping with some friends and she was worried it was going to be too cold that weekend or whatever)

And finally she got off the phone and sighed and said, joking, “When I taught them to question authority I must have laid it on thick, because now they’re questioning mine.”

And it got really quiet in the office. And then her secretary pipes up with “You taught your kids to question authority???”

Like she couldn’t believe that you would.

“You didn’t teach yours to?” Says mom, equally incredulous.

“No of course not!”

And mom says that right there in that moment she realized what was wrong with a huge part of the world.

Teach your kids to question, people.

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

For a short while as a child I had sanctuary from an abusive home in a lovely home with good parents. One of the things that completely shocked my taraumatized little soul was how deeply the adults respected children’s thoughts, feelings, needs and wants.

Whenever a kid thought something was unfair, the adult would ask why it felt unfair and talk to them about it. Sometimes the reason for the rule or decision was immovable, like, “this isn’t safe” or “this isn’t possible with the time we have and the responsibilities that fill it”, or “homework has to be done even if it’s boring, because it helps you practice skills you will need later on.”

In those cases, the rule wouldn’t change but the child would understand why it was a rule, and feel listened to and respected. And best of all, sometimes even if the rule didn’t change, an adult might help the child brainstorm ways to make it easier to follow the rule, or find alternatives to the thing they couldn’t have.

Sometimes, the rule or decision was for more flexible reasons, like “We can’t do this because you need supervision, and I have work to do which means I can’t supervise”, in which case a child’s suggestions, like, “What if I call a grandparent and see if they’re interested in supervising?” were encouraged and listened to. 

This taught the kids, me included, so much more than we ever could have learnt by being shut down by, “I’m an adult and I said so.” The system was designed to teach us to make good decisions and to give us as much information as possible about how to do that before we went out into the world. Teaching us the reasons for certain rules helped us respect them and to understand how to make good rules for ourselves going forward.

In my original household, the central rule was “Do whatever will keep you from getting hurt by the person with the most power.” From this we learned to make choices based solely on fear of consequences, no innate ethical system, so we learned to misbehave without getting caught.

We learned that if you can force someone to do something they don’t want to, you’re allowed to, because that’s how rules are decided, the most powerful person always gets their way.

We learned that asking questions of someone with power over you is dangerous and you have to figure everything out on your own. We learned to keep secrets about how badly we were hurt. There was no oppenness, no conversation, no negotiation or questions or teaching, just fear and hatred and a lot of pain.

Which household do you think taught me the best lessons, the ones I can use to build a healthy and responsible life for myself?

[just-shower-thoughts]

Building a treehouse is the biggest insult to a tree. “I killed your friend, here hold him.”

[unclebeanbag]

“Friend”

Its more of I killed a potential enemy. Hold his dismembered corpse in victory.

[ulysseus]

Plants don’t wage war

[unclebeanbag]

Ever heard of blackberries?

Yes, plants do wage war

[kasaron]

Mint and strawberries, too. They need to be quarantined or they will kill basically everything else. 

[systlin]

I planted mint in the ground 2 years ago.

It’s currently fighting a bitter battle to the death against the raspberries attempting to invade from the east while trying to annex the patio.

Could go either way at this point TBH. Unless, of course, I take a shovel and the blowtorch out there and battle both back to within their original boundaries.

And anyone wondering if a blowtorch is overkill for weeding back mint has never actually planted mint.

[moirakatson]

This post did not go where I expected it to.

[deathbeforednf]

Our garden plot at my childhood home slowly got overrun by wild blackberries after we stopped managing it while my sister and I were in nursing school. And by overrun I mean it was like a 4 foot tall thicket of wild blackberries. It hadn’t been touched by humans in at least 4 years. I started the ultimately futile task of trying to clear this plot with a machete and discovered to my amazement a patch of mint several feet across underneath the canopy of blackberry, still fighting the good fight all those years later.

Ultimately it took two jars of homemade napalm and some creative fire placement to clear that patch but I damn sure saved that patch of mint. It earned the right to be there.

[norseminuteman]

Yall mother fuckers don’t even talk unless you’ve had to wage war on kudzu (it’s an ivy strain directly from Hell) that shit doesn’t just wage war with other plants, it wages war with all living things on planet earth. It’s some gnarly ass Blood for the Blood God, Chlorophyll for the Chlorophyll Throne demon weed. 

[breadgunner-deactivated20181003]

Can second the comments of Kudzu.

I forget where I read it but there’s this one tree that creates an extremely flammable substance that’s in both the bark and leaves. Dead trees become torches and crushed up leaves become dust-incendiary, all while the plant’s seeds are Giant Redwood levels of resilient to open flame. IE it has a goddamn scorched earth policy. It’s even more badass than plants that use toxins to starve other plants.

[booksandwildthings]

I’d like to third the comments on Kudzu. These are the battlefields:

See those weird pillars? Those were trees. See that strange lump in the middle? That was a house. Everything green you see in this photo is kudzu.

[ehyde]

Near my parents’ house in Oregon there’s an old WWII army training camp that’s long been abandoned, and it’s full of concrete remnants of buildings that are completely overrun with blackberries. It’s a really great spot to go berry picking, and it has an eerie, post-apocalyptic feel.

[momomorp]

That’s not even considering allelopathic interactions between plants-look up the black walnut tree (its toxin, juglone, is the most famous example)- basically, it wages chemical warfare on nearby plants through the root system (though the nutshells also contain juglone too). Juglone discourages germination rates and even inhibits root growth of already existing plants! Allelopathy in general is a new field-theres Discourse™ because each particular toxins only works on specific plants, which vary; therefore it’s really fucking hard to regulate & compile enough data to test out the effects of such chemicals compared to other factors (pests, soil depletion, etc), but theres a little community still because Targeted Pesticides™ would be really rad yo

[momomorp]

So yeah you go plants go poison that waterhole

[momomorp]

Um i was skimming the post and saw PLANT WARS so,,, I may have dumped a little too much,,, Suffice to say that plants are super versatile and should be feared Bow before them

[squeeful]

Phragmites australisa invades and conquers new territory by squirting acid on other plants so strong it dissolves roots in under half an hour.

(I watched a mint vs ivy showdown.  The ivy won.)

[downtroddendeity]

The scorched earth trees are eucalyptus. (Show of hands if you’re surprised it’s an Australian genus? Yeah, didn’t think so.) They produce a lot of oily compounds and drop a ton of leaves and stray branches, and because of all the weird chemicals it takes a long time to break down, so you can quickly end up with a pretty deep layer of extremely flammable stuff. Hell, the Blue Mountains in Australia are so named because the eucalyptus trees produce so many volatile chemicals that it looks like blue smog floating over the trees.

[gentlesharks]

agruragharg hagh  mmMM mm tummy rub 

MM MM A HAGA HAH AHGAGAG

[ms-newvegas]

This is the money rat. Reblog and he will scamper into your room, bringing you riches in the night.

[tinyseacreature]

i never reblog these but look at this rat, okay

[itspepperie]

I’m really mad because I reblogged this the other day and found $20 in my car when I got to the NOVA reptile expo yesterday so I’m gonna leech this rat for all he’s worth.

[djbhfkjejieuihesowppw-deactivat]

this rat is adprable i trust it even if i dont get cash seeing this young man was a pleasant experience

[thehoneybeewitch]

This rat found me money

No lie, I reblogged it the other day, and found a $10 bill in my dresser after just cleaning out the drawers not too long ago. No idea where it came from, but praise the money rat!