Nature, dog, other things, an untagged mess

hello, i mostly post photos related to nature of central europe, though i reblog everything and anything -  an untagged chaos, please enjoy

[headspace-hotel]

everybody talking about the lack of spaces where kids and teenagers can just "hang out" is really coming together with all my thoughts on ecology, lawns, and the way land is used

Many outdoor spaces are not functional for human life. Concrete and no trees makes the world hostile for humans the same way it does other creatures.

Suburbs where every house has a lawn that is basically decoration cause the houses to be spaced far apart, which makes walking very difficult...

The harder to exist in the outside becomes, the more people become focused on the virtual world, which causes the outside to become treated as less important, and people have less ability to imagine an outdoor space that is nice to exist in

The trouble ultimately is that the earth's surface already exists and is free. Simply being in a certain position in three-dimensional space is something that you inherently can do as long as you can walk there, unless someone stops you.

But our system is that a person has to pay someone money for every aspect of existence, in both space and time, even though space and time are both inherent qualities of the fabric of the universe.

So, spaces that someone can exist in for free are kept hostile to human life

[headspace-hotel]

the thing about getting the world changed for the better is you gotta learn how to make your ideas sound appealing and positive to people who might not agree otherwise.

But on the internet people describe their ideas in the most shocking and extreme way possible as a way of sifting out people who are "really" on their side

That is bad for forming a movement or sparking any kind of action

it's gotten so outrageous that people will have an idea like "we should have a strong public transportation system that is accessible to everyone" but they will express it like "FUCK CARS! WE SHOULD BAN CARS! IF YOU LIKE TO DRIVE YOU'RE A FASCIST! NO ONE NEEDS A CAR!"

This causes everyone to get into arguments about whether it is true that no one needs a car, and whether banning cars would make places inaccessible for people with certain disabilities.

The whole time we don't need to "ban cars" to have public transportation and it makes no sense why we are talking about it

We're never going to get accessible public transportation like this.

[not-your-average-url]

I miss when ads were a single click and then they’re gone. Now every ad has a minimum of three phases where you watch a video, exit the still frame of fake gameplay, and then exit the app download. That doesn’t even touch on the ones that forcibly take you to another app after opening a tab in safari without you ever touching the screen.

I hate advertising. I hate that you can’t do anything without companies jumping down your throat with mostly bullshit ads. I hate that billboards exist. I hate that every company unanimously decided to make their ads longer and longer. I hate that ad blockers try to charge you money and there are in app purchases to remove ads. I hate that my attention has become commodified. I hate that there’s nothing I can do about it.

[artschoolglasses]

Embroidered Linen "Merveilleuse" Gown, French, 1796-1800

From Kerry Taylor Auctions

[kaylmao]

idk i would personally rather give up access to certain products seasonally or locally than have people enslaved to give me the ability to have any product any place any time. i think i can go without tomatoes in january.

[kaylmao]

i truly do think that most people if confronted with it and pressed on it would agree. but it's comfortable to gain privileges from someone else's suffering, especially if you don't have to see that suffering directly.

[keepthedelta]

kind of obsessed with raye spending 6 and a half minutes listing the names of every single person who worked on her album or contributed to it in some way. what a statement that is about the effort and the people required to create a record in an era of shortcuts and stolen voices and ideas fed into machines that churn out slop to line the pockets of a tiny number of people who wouldn't know a creative thought if it smacked them round the face

[mbrainspaz]

fundamentally do not understand WHY people post ai slop. If it's not real, nobody made it up, and it communicates nothing, what's the point? If it blows up and gets millions of 'interactions' —that's the only angle that even remotely makes sense to me. It sucks ass, but I understand the profit motive. What gets me is the aunties and nobodies posting ai slop that will never go viral. What is the point?! It's like looking into a black hole. It's less than nothing, because nothing would be peaceful. It's noise that means absolutely nothing except 'look.' Look at what? Not at you. Not at anything real. So why?!

[plantanarchy]

I do find it fascinating how many people just go about their day constantly walking past plants (and animals and insects as well) with no curiousity about what they are. simply could not be me.

[liberalsarecool]

Cosign.

[beemovieerotica]

someone on reddit shared texts of her and her husband's exclusive english dialect and it's beautiful

[beemovieerotica]

a linguist is analyzing it

[youngerfrankenstein]

To put it very bluntly.

You will always make a better impact helping people who need it than trying to hurt people you think deserve it.

[gothhabiba]

see this is exactly what I'm talking about. this labour is so incredibly invisibilised that there are real human beings, walking about amongst us, leading normal lives, etc., who earnestly believe that machines can make an item of clothing from start to finish.

[rowanrightalong]

Hey just in case someone on here doesn’t quite understand how labor intensive making a garment is, here is a list of things that (to the best of my knowledge) cannot be done by machine alone, from a costumer/tailor in training

Cutting - in my opinion, the most labor intensive part of the process. The amount of time/effort needed varies depending on the pattern and if seam allowance is included or marked separately, but no matter what this process can not be done by machine. Each and every panel and piece of fabric that goes into a garment must be cut by hand by a person.

Pinning/clipping - pinning (or clipping) is the stage at which you align the pieces you are going to be stitching together and hold them together with — you guessed it! — either pins or clips. This can not be done by machine.

Stitching - the actual sewing. This can be done by a sewing machine, but that machine still needs to be operated by a human being.

Ironing/pressing - two words that mean the same thing. The iron itself is a machine, but once again, it needs to be operated by a human being.

Finishing - depending on the technique you use, there are certain finishing techniques that can only be done by hand. But, let’s assume we’re talking about fast fashion, which is usually just finished with a simple overlock/serger. Once again: these machines need to be operated by people.

These are just the basic steps to making a garment, and don’t include textile arts that I am not as knowledgeable about, such as weaving, knitting, and crochet. Also, it is important to note that there are a lot of things that can only be done by hand, such as certain stitches and decorative techniques.

Also, the machinery being operated in textile factories is not equivalent to a domestic sewing machine. We’re talking about one of these guys:

See that gray cylinder under the table, behind the knee pedal? That’s the motor. These machines can sew through your fingers bones and all and not even stop. The people in these factories and sweatshops are operating heavy machinery, and are subject to all the risk that comes with that in addition to all of the work I mentioned above.

Please respect textile workers and continue the fight to eliminate the use of sweatshops and exploited labor in the fashion industry!

[donuts-multifandom-hellhole]

Something that I get chills about is the fact that the oldest story told made by the oldest civilization opens with "In those days, in those distant days, in those ancient nights."

This confirms that there is a civilization older than the Sumerians that we have yet to find

Some people get existential dread from this

Me? I think it's fucking awesome it shows just how much of this world we have yet to discover and that is just fascinating

[sleepymccoy]

@makaeru peer review cos this made me check when the Sumerians happened and I forget how recent history is for every other continent. 7000 - 8000 years ago just isn't that long when you're in Australia, and the amount of detailed history we have access to here is wonderful and should be recognised more internationally

Source (non Aboriginal)

And a quote I picked out from a longer interview with an Aboriginal local elder about the area where he touched on the history

Source (the rest of the interview is really interesting and all transcribed, have a look if you're curious)

[chaotic-archaeologist]

This is part of my Ancient Civilizations class that I teach, which does a whole week about Australia and the Torres Strait Islands because I was sick of never seeing them represented in USAmerican history contexts. With the help of @micewithknives and @acearchaeologist I've learned so many incredible things about Australia's past and it's been incredibly rewarding to share them with students.

[aggressivelybicaptainamerica]

My favorite fact about Aboriginal oral history is the fact that we pretty recently discovered that the Aboriginal myth of the 7 Sisters, an origin story for the Pleiades star cluster, accurately reflects a point TEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO when two stars in the constellation got close enough together to no longer be distinguishable by the naked eye.

The story? 6 sisters running from something that took their 7th sister.

[jinkohhh]

as a gilgar gunditj woman, i was not expecting to see my culture on my dash.

thank you for spreading our words and treating our culture with respect.

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

Mirror-Ball Spiders: these spiders are covered in shimmering, mirror-like panels that shift and expand as the muscles of the abdomen contract

Spiders of the genus Thwaitesia are often described as mirror-ball spiders, because their bodies are lined with reflective panels that make them look like tiny disco-balls. These arachnids are also known as dewdrop spiders or sequined spiders.

Above: two different species of mirror-ball spider

The shimmering panels on the abdomen are produced by a digestive secretion known as guanine, which seeps out through the lining of the spider's gut and forms a mosaic of crystalline cells just beneath the surface of the abdomen.

Above: Thwaitesia argentiopunctata and Thwaitesia margaritifera

The crystals shrink and expand as the muscles in the spider's abdomen contract; they often shrink when the spider is agitated, and they expand as it begins to relax.

Above: the panels expanding and contracting

The adaptive purpose of the shimmering effect is unclear, but researchers believe that it mimics the glistening appearance of raindrops or beads of dew, which could allow the spiders to blend in with their environment.

Above: another view of the guanine crystals shifting just below a thin layer of cuticle

The reflective panels may also help to confuse predators, as this article explains:

The spider’s decorative patterning may seem like a dead give-away to predators, but for those looking to feast on this arachnid, the hunt might result in confusion and failure.

“Like a disco ball with lots of different mirrors, the reflective splotches on the spider’s abdomen probably scatter light and make it difficult for predators to see it,” says Robert Whyte, an honorary researcher in arachnology at the Queensland Museum.

Above: Thwaitesia affinis

There are at least 22 known species of mirror-ball spider, and their physical features can vary significantly. In some cases, the silver panels on the abdomen are accompanied by colorful, iridescent spots and scales, and the abdomen itself may have a red, orange, green, yellow, or beige appearance.

Above: spiders of the genus Thwaitesia

These spiders are widely distributed throughout the southern hemisphere. They can be found in the tropical and neotropical rainforests of South America, Southeast Asia, Africa, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, China, Singapore, and Madagascar.

Above: Thwaitesia nigronodosa

Mirror-ball spiders are not aggressive toward humans, and there are virtually no recorded cases of humans being bitten by the spiders of this genus. They're also tiny, with most individuals measuring just 2-4mm long (roughly 1/10th of an inch), which means that their fangs are often too small to penetrate human skin.

Above: Thwaitesia margaritifera

Sources & More Info:

iNaturalist: Mirror-Ball Spiders

Australian Geographic: This Sequined Spider Glistens in the Light

My Modern Met: The "Mirror Spider" and its Changing Mosaic of Reflective Panels

A Field Guide to the Spiders of Australia: Tiny Forest Jewels: Spectacular Thwaitesia Spiders

Science Friday: How is a Spider Like a Disco Ball?

Land for Wildlife: Spider Sampling Points to a Potential Indicator Genus (PDF)

Royal Society Publishing: The Spider Cuticle

BBC Science Focus: Mobile Disco

[depsidase]

[inkskinned]

it is okay sometimes, to just look at a thing and love it without leaving your mark on it. 

i told you i was saddened - too many people feed wild animals, mistakenly believing “once won’t hurt”. too many people think that wild animals are just bigger/smaller versions of domestic animals - they see a fox running around a house on youtube and think that’s a catdog and i could keep it. i told you that the worst part of working with wildlife was having to take care of the aftershock of this. in my state, any nondomestic animal that bites a human must be put down to check for rabies, even if we are positive the animal is safe. the government just slashed the budget again, no more EPA. around this time every year, we spend hours on the phone trying to rehome creatures that can’t survive in the wild anymore - someone thought a feral animal could be “taught” to be a pet. 

a woman cries to me. the fox in the basket is growling. “i thought it was like a dog,” she says. “I didn’t know it would be this much trouble.”

i told you -  why can’t people understand that care can look different on different bodies. that sometimes love for one thing is not love for another. that it can be selfish to want to hold something that was not meant to be held. the lovely thing is that we have plenty to hold, and each other, and a whole world; but there are things with hearts that should stay in the woods. it’s not yours to touch, is all.

you told me: let people have their fun. it’s one raccoon. it’s one bird full of bread. it’s not that big of a deal. 

much later, long after you had been washed out of my hair and my life and my hurting - i realized you would leave little bruises on me, but hated whenever my lipstick smudged across your cheek. you used to say - i just don’t like the feeling. you would bite my lip until it bled and look down at me and say - marking my territory. 

my sister watches me fold my laundry. she says it’s nice to see me slowly coming back to happy. i thought i had been tamed by you; she saw i had actually just been broken in half. she smiles when she hears me laugh. you are regrowing your wild heart. and honestly… thank god for that.

[yoannlossel]

"Les Jardins de Nuit" (censored version) - Mixed media: colored pencils, pastels, ink, and gold leaf on paper. I created this artwork in 2020 for my book Forgotten Gods.