It's a great life if you don't weaken.

Being the commonplace book of Elizabeth Bear.

[sbeep]

"We all have knives. It's 1183 and we're barbarians."

[matociquala]

I'd buy a print of this.

[millerflintstone]

Today's serotonin is brought to you by videos of cats trying to catch Olympic gymnasts on TV screens

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

An interesting demonstration of how the human brain works.

But also something of a lesson regarding perception, and the unreliability of subjective perspective versus objective reality.

You can be extremely certain about how you perceive the world, your "lived experience," that which you "feel it in my heart." But that doesn't mean it's actually true. And it doesn't mean we have to endorse it, or ignore or outright deny objective reality.

That's a "you" thing, not a "we" thing.

[important-animal-images]

[schlarklezyaoi]

the fact that we only have “herculean task” and “sisyphean task” feels so limiting. so here’s a few more tasks for your repertoire

icarian task: when you have a task you know you’re going to fail at anyways, so why not have some fun with it before it all comes crashing down

cassandrean task: when you have to deal with people you KNOW won’t listen to you, despite having accurate information, and having to watch them fumble about when you told them the solution from the start (most often witnessed in customer service)

feel free to chime in i ran out of ideas much faster than i anticipated

[schlarklezyaoi]

[matociquala]

Promethean task: When you know the consequences are gonna suck but the payoff is worth it.

Procrustean task: When you are going to make this fucking fit no matter what you have to fuck up to get there.

Penelopean task: same shit different day.

[beyondthisdarkhouse]

I was on the Spirit Halloween website and I will say, a better informed public have really made them pull up their socks in terms of extremely cheap and flimsy historical costume.

But I am not here to show you one of them. I shop at Value Village. It takes more than cheap and flimsy and honestly better-than-it-could-have-been to make me sit up and take notice.

And oh all my #aesthetic gothic lesbians, did this one turn my head

It’s a

ALT

It’s a

ALT

SEXY PLAGUE DOCTOR

I want to shake the hand of whoever designed this. 😂

[mimeparadox]

Uh, so does the packaging actually specify this is meant to be a plague doctor mask? If not for the lamp, my guess would have that it’s just a sexy Venetian mask, but not a plague doctor one. Not that this ultimately matters or makes this any less wrong/right.

[beyondthisdarkhouse]

Brief warning: This is gonna briefly go to a gore/horror place in latter paragraphs

Not ONLY is this officially labelled as a plague doctor outfit ($59.99, cloak, bodice, pants, gloves, and mask all included), Spirit Halloween ALSO sells

Three varieties of black adult plague doctor half-masks with minute differences in design

Adult steampunk plague doctor masks (brass and silver)

Adult black and red plague doctor mask

Adult woman’s plague doctor mask, about halfway between this and a proper version of one

Absolutely fucking TERRIFYING adult plague doctor mask that looks like poorly-tanned raw leather held together with metal staples

Light-up LED plague doctor mask

Child plague doctor mask and outfit (black and silver/brown and red)

No doubt about it, if you want to be a fully prim and proper OSHA-compliant plague doctor for less than $100, Spirit Halloween has you COVERED. If you want to look like a fucking serial killer who sprays their enemies with deadly neurotoxins before harvesting their skin, ditto! They ABSOLUTELY know how to make a good (given budget restraints) plague doctor outfit.

This one is directly marketed at people who want Plague Doctor, but Slutty

[obligatedart]

Damiano meets Calo and Galdo Sanza, the chaotic twins from Scott Lynch’s novel The Lies of Locke Lamora, my favorite book of all time

[middleearthorcseeksspaceorc]

Public Libraries, I love you.

For a moment I'd like to ramble on about Public Libraries.

The combination of Tumblr, book recommendations and my bank account got me in some (very) minor trouble. I bought a lot of books that just didn't fit, and a couple that were not worth the paper they were printed on.

That's where the library, Seattle Public Library Central Branch specifically, came in.

The Library gets funding regardless of my patronage. It will have better funding when I do patronize it.

And miraculously THE LIBRARY WILL SAVE ME EVEN MORE MONEY when I am a patron.

How?? Because when Book XYZ comes out and y'all go wild over it, I can BORROW it and the library benefits. I then read it and the following things can occurr: 1. YAY I LOVE THIS BOOK and proceed to Bookshop.org and buy it new. (I'm investing in hardbacks now, because they last longer around me.) 2. Not too bad, add to list of "Check the book section when you go thrifting." 3. Erm, no thank you not a good fit. 4. Egads I can't even make it past chapter 2 so this goes on my List Of Do Not Recommend.

In the last three months, Seattle Public Library has saved me at least 200.00usd.

What have I recently bought? The Starless Sea -Erin Morngenstern Night Circus -Erin Morgenstern Braking Day -Adam Oyebanji Legends & Lattes -Travis Baldree Hunger Pangs -Joy Demorra Cinderella is Dead -Kalynn Bayron Ancestral Night -Elizabeth Bear Machine -Elizabeth Bear The Remarkable Retirement Of Edna Fisher -E.M. Anderson

So YES LIBRARIES! YOU WIN! THE LIBRARY WINS! THE AUTHOR WINS!

EVERYONE WINS WHEN YOU GO TO THE LIBRARY!!!

[thecollectibles]

Dune Character Illustration Series by Chezka Sunit

[the-thrill-be-damned-deactivate]

today in “things i’m disproportionately emotional about”:

it’s facial reconstructions of prehistoric humans!!

like, look at this part-homo sapiens, part-neandertal man from well over 30,000 years ago:

doesn’t he just look like a dude you’d wanna hang out with? like he probably washes dishes in the kitchen with you, and has excellent weed

what a charming fellow. what stories he probably has to tell. i’d definitely go shoot the shit with him on Contemplation Rock after i’d finished my day’s work carving a bone flute for the autumn hunting ceremony, or whatever

people have been people ever since people first became people, i tell you what

they all had lives and histories and families and friends and dumb gossip and games they played and total bullshit in which they believed wholeheartedly

they all argued about the nature of the world, and of themselves

they all sang songs

they all drew pictures

they all buried their dead in graves, and they buried their dead in graves well before they did a lot of that other stuff. they buried their dead with flowers, with panther claws, with the bones of animals they’d killed, with the bones of family members who had died at the same time or earlier. they buried their dead with their arms folded across their chests

they fell in love

they took care of their old and their sick and their disabled, even when it cost them

they made new things, and worried about what the new things meant for people everywhere, as a whole

[creekfiend]

Oh I like him he looks like he would appreciate my jokes

[systlin]

This dude would have great stories at a get-together and would bring some really great homemade dip. 

[hungry-hungry-hobbit]

I feel like he really digs Lo-Fi Music

[kaijutegu]

This guy was sculpted by Alfons and Adrie Kennis, and their Neanderthal reconstructions are all delightful. 

I love the kid in the last picture a lot- they look like a kid, just a little kid who’s done some mischief and is trying not to laugh about it.

I also adore their Lucy- they’ve struck a wonderful balance between the falling angel and the rising ape.

And their Turkana boy- there’s something precious and wistful in those eyes. 

But my favorite has got to be their reconstruction of H. floresiensis.

Just look at her. That’s a face of someone who’s lived and seen a lot, but also a face that’s known love and joy and laughter. That’s a face with a soul. 

[tearlessrain]

having anxiety is like being given permanent unwanted custody of a halter arabian. like okay buddy is it panic time again. cool you probably need more exercise and an apple and then maybe you'll calm down.

[tearlessrain]

taking my stupid walks for my stupid mental health with my stupid hypervigilant brain horse

[tearlessrain]

thoroughly enjoying the notes on this post because it's equal parts people with anxiety going "yeah that's what it's like" and people with arabians going "yeah that's what they're like"

[feywildfox]

[jaubaius]

[homeofhousechickens]

This must be one of those “cottonmouths that chase people down” from all the stories. Im betting most of them were just ones coiled and doing threat displays while floating away.

[vet-and-wild]

✨there she goes✨

[matociquala]

I am my own inner tube.

[matociquala]

Sunlit lemons in a cobalt bowl making me so happy I had to share. (at South Hadley, Massachusetts) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp0AKvIuCce/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[matociquala]

Shagmaster (at Amherst, Massachusetts) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpvV1SGO5mb/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[matociquala]

My buddy https://www.instagram.com/p/CpvVsAQODbo/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[matociquala]

Snowy ride. (at Amherst, Massachusetts) https://www.instagram.com/p/CparvnLu_2n/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=