Age of Renewal

Reinventing my life day by day

[aralintheobsessive]

if you want butterflies, you need to live with caterpillars.

i am not being metaphorical, i work in a garden center, stop buying plants 'to bring in the bees and butterflies' and then immediately poisoning every caterpillar that dares to consume a single leaf

you will not get butterflies if you kill all the things that turn into butterflies! what are you doing!

[phoenixwench]

This! I have 3 different varieties of local milkweed and a vigorous passionflower vine, and when I see them getting chewed up by caterpillars I cheer, because they are the reason I planted the plants in the first place! The plants will survive and recover, and the new generation will lay more eggs to keep my garden fluttering! No pesticides on my property!

[democracyunderground]

The USPS just changed how postmarks work - and it will affect MAIL-IN VOTING while hitting Americans with late fees on everything from tax payments to rent checks.

Starting in 2026, your postmark date won’t reflect when you actually mailed something anymore. Instead of stamping mail with the date you dropped it in a mailbox or handed it to a postal worker, USPS will now mark it with whenever their sorting machine gets around to processing it - potentially days later.

JUST IN TIME FOR NEXT YEARS MIDTERM ELECTIONS

[annullo]

This can add days to the postmark date. Dejoy spent about 8 years sabotaging the USPS to make it look bad in an effort to push for further privatization of the service.

[smoothoperatorleclerc]

rb to have an extra gay 2026

[burntcopper]

things english speakers know, but don’t know we know.

[windycityteacher-deactivated202]

WOAH WHAT?

[ice-light-red-deactivated201611]

That is profound. I noticed this by accident when asked about adjectives by a Japanese student. She translated something from Japanese like “Brown big cat” and I corrected her. When she asked me why, I bluescreened.

[moved--306389]

What the fuck, English isn’t even my first language and yet I picked up on that. How the fuck. What the fuck.

[exomoon]

Reasoning: It Just Sounds Right

[arkthepieking]

Oooh, don’t like that. Nope, I do not even like that a little bit.  That’s parting the veil and looking at some forbidden fucking knowledge there.

[canthinkofaurl-deactivated20221]

How did I even learn this language wtf

[titaniumelemental]

I had to read “brown big cat” like three times before my brain stopped interpreting it as “big brown cat”

[arjan-de-lumens]

I’m kinda reading “brown big cat” as “brown (big cat)”, that is, a “big cat” - like a tiger or lion or other felid of similar size - that happens to be brown. “Big brown cat”, on the other hand, sounds more like a brown cat that’s just a bit bigger than a regular housecat - like a bobcat or a maine coon cat or something like that.

[the-real-seebs]

yeah, a brown big cat is almost certainly a puma. a big brown cat is probably a maine coon.

[whetstonefires]

yeah, if you put the adjectives out of order you wind up implying a compound noun, which is presumably why we have this rule; we stripped out so much inflection over the centuries word order now dictates a huge amount of our grammar

[delphinidin4]

Just looked up why we do this and one of the first lines in this article is, “Adjectives are where the elves of language both cheat and illumine reality.” so I know it’s a good article.

Things this article has taught me:

This same order of adjectives more or less applies to languages around the world.  “It’s possible that these elements of universal grammar clarify our thought in some way,” says Barbara Partee, a professor emeritus of linguistics and philosophy at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Yet when the human race tacitly decided that shape words go before color words go before origin words, it left no record of its rationale.

One theory is that the more specific term always falls closer to the noun. But that doesn’t explain everything in adjective order.

Another theory is that as you get closer to the noun, you encounter adjectives that denote more innate properties. In general, nouns pick out the type of thing we’re talking about, and adjectives describe it,” Partee told me. She observes that the modifiers most likely to sit right next to nouns are the ones most inclined to serve as nouns in different contexts: Rubber duck. Stone wall.

Rules are made to be broken. Switching up the order of adjectives allows you to redistribute emphasis. (If you wish to buy the black small purse, not the gray one, for instance, you can communicate your priorities by placing color before size).  Scrambling the order of adjectives also helps authors achieve a sense of spontaneity, of improvising as they go. Wolfe discovers such a rhythm, a feeling-his-way quality, when he discusses his childhood recollection of “brown tired autumn earth” and a “flat moist plug of apple tobacco.”

Brain scans have discovered that your brain has to work harder to read adjectives in the “wrong” order.

TL;DR: No one knows why we do this adjective thing but it’s pretty hardwired in.

[cuzosu-blog]

@deadcatwithaflamethrower Linguistics tidbit.

[thecsjones]

Since it’s never credited, this is from Mark Forsyth’s The Elements of Eloquence, and just one reason why I think it’s required reading for anyone interested in prosecraft. Every page is this useful.

[phoenixwench]

Fascinating, funny and a little scary. Reposting so I have it

[hellenhighwater]

Gonna get myself a fun little surprise I guess

[hellenhighwater]

This is better than I'd ever hoped for, I bet a rat could kill you with that thing by firing a laser back in time and electrocuting your grandfather

Just look at this thing

[hellenhighwater]

The rat gun is hereeeeee!

[hellenhighwater]

This is getting notes again so I will admit that "rat gun" was an autocorrect error and it was supposed to be "ray gun."

But it'll always be a rat gun to me.

[hellenhighwater]

The most expensive thing in these pictures was the cat, and he was $60.

[hellenhighwater]

I'll be honest--I forgot that the pump organ desk/bar was visible in the background, and it was NOT under $60.

It was actually $75.

The chairs, however, were paid for in human life. I inherited them; they were originally my great grandmother's. But they're not particularly rare-- you can find these exact chairs without a lot of effort, in reasonable shape, for not that much money. They made a lot of them.

[theworsethingsgettheharderifight]

your gazelle has a pearl choker

[hellenhighwater]

That's Hadrian. He's a bush buck and he loves fashion.

[hellenhighwater]

Hi you asked this question and I immediately went to the pottery studio to make a calcifer to put in my woodstove.

Will update if he survives the kiln.

[theshitpostcalligrapher]

i am still on tenterhooks vis a vis calcifer 🥺🥺🥺

[hellenhighwater]

I just brought him home from the pottery studio and wired him for light. He lives!!!!!

[thebisexualwreckoning]

OP just wondering do you like have the closet to Narnia tucked in there somewhere?

[hellenhighwater]

Dude, c'mon, these things take time.

Give me a couple hours.

[hellenhighwater]

Okay!! We have doordrobe! It's not quite done but after nearly turning myself into an hellpancake while carrying this in from the garage to the house, I feel like I should call it a night.

Right now it's not going into a secret room (but the Angel of Death (And WiFi) behind it does have a secret compartment for my router? Does that count) but Malice and Vice are still exploring it like it's a whole new world.

The House of Horrors continues to be...well, exactly what it is.

[hellenhighwater]

Oh, no, all radioactive materials go in The Box.

[copp3rtop]

please explain. Do you actually have a lead lined box for radioactive objects, or are you just talking about the router behind the painting?

[hellenhighwater]

The Box.

[hellenhighwater]

Not people's teeth, no.

[chaoticgremlinmakingart]

Holy shit. This just keeps getting better and better. Absolutely marvelous house. What other treasures do you have in that house?

[hellenhighwater]

I recently got some very silly dishes and a telescope!

[hellenhighwater]

All of these accusations of witchcraft! As if the vibe in this house could be any more clearly Artificer.

[ardentmystacina]

#every time op posts a picture of her house I get heart eyes

[valtsv]

found family dynamics i adore:

the entire gang shares 1 (one) braincell which they takes turns passing around

unwilling teammates gradually grow on each other

Area Man Forcibly Adopted by Several Children

bonded over shared trauma

none of us have actual families or homes to go back to anymore, but at least we have each other

“every single one of these guys has tried to kill me at least once, but we’re cool now and i’d trust them with my life”

redemption arc comes with bonus new family and friends (bonus feature is non-negotiable and eventual acceptance inevitable)

i WAS going to leave the group and go my own way as soon as this job was over - and i would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for my meddling heart!

villains with Feelings™

Officer I Swear I’ve Never Met Any Of These People In My Life (But If Anything Were To Happen To Them I Would Kill Everyone Here And Then Myself)

[sunderwight]

Stop volunteering to be the village sacrifice we all know you're not a virgin. The dragon probably wouldn't even be into you.

[sunderwight]

Untie yourself from that altar right now.

[sunderwight]

Look. I didn't want to say anything because it's kind of a touchy subject, but the dragon doesn't actually take these "brides" back to its lair full of riches and add them to a harem. Okay? It's a big fucking lizard with a brain the size of an orange, it just roasts and eats them.

[sunderwight]

That's why we always pick the most useless airhead to sacrifice come harvest season.

[sunderwight]

Now come on, get those chains off. Where did you even get these? Oh you made them? See that's the kind of craftsmanship the village needs you for. We'll have a big orgy after the ritual and if you want a bunch of us will dress up as dragons and take turns having a go at you. It'll be nice, you'll see.

[sunderwight]

Yes, yes, I know, not the same. Well not all dreams are attainable, in the end.

[beauty-funny-trippy]

Imagine if politicians actually cared about the health and well-being of the people, instead of feeding corporate greed.

All our lives would be better.

[liberalsarecool]

The disgusting hypocrisy of it all? Congress gets socialized health care for life.

They love THEIR socialism. Their paychecks. Their food per diems. Their pension.

[shutyourmoustache]

If you have the means to donate gifts to toy drives or shelters, please keep the above tips in mind so you can help meet people’s wants and needs! 💓

[graceashcroft-archive-deactivat]

there's a direct parallel between yahoo buying [tumblr] and disney buying the doctor who streaming rights. both thought they had acquired the Ultimate Jackpot Money Machine and instead they just inherited a very strange little thing that ultimately, as it turns out, does better just operating outside of the bounds of the modern sensibilities entirely.

[depsidase]

[the-real-nikki19]

a writing competition i was going to participate in again this year has announced that they now allow AI generated content to be submitted

their reasoning being that "we couldn't ban it even if we wanted to, every writer already uses it anyway"

"Every writer"?

come on

[rose-of-pollux]

Reblog if you're a writer who doesn't use AI.

[unlimitedhearts]

Mamdani won in NYC in a fucking landslide. By over 200,000 more votes than Cuomo

Democrats held onto the Governors seat in NJ

Virginia just elected its first female Governor, flipping the seat from Republican to Democrat. And it doesnt stop there. The Lt. Governor AND Attorney General also flipped from Republican to Democrat.

Pennsylvania voted to retain all 3 Supreme Court judges in its state preserving the Democrats 5-2 Majority

Maine elected to NOT pass a law that would force people to "prove citizenship" before voting. Which is good because only citizens can vote anyway and passing a law like that would only serve to allow discrimination of POC.

Colorado voted to tax the wealthy higher to fund free school meals AND use the excess from that to fund SNAP

AND Prop 40 is looking like its going to pass with flying colours.

It wasnt all wins. Texas passed a draconian Parents rights law that allows them even more control over their children's lives - likely in an anti-trans bid and they passed their own version of the whole "prove citizenship" thing.

BUT LOOK!! LOOK AT ALL THESE WINS!!!

THE RESISTANCE IS THERE AND ITS LOUD!!! THIS COULD BE JUST A TASTE OF WHAT WE CAN DO COME MID-TERMS. If we all collectively keep up the energy and VOTE LIKE HELL we can make a Blue Wave happen and SERIOUSLY kneecap this attempt at an Authoritarian Regime!

I know that we get a lot of bad news and we get it every day. But the good is there! The regime is failing left right and centre and this can be the first glimpse at what we can do!

Dont let them win in your head! Dont let them silence you into complacency!! We have the momentum! Let's ride it!

[phoenixwench]

Now we need to use this momentum to take our nation back!

[phoenixwench]

En Dash vs. Em Dash vs. Hyphen - How to Properly Use Them

Confused about where to place a hyphen or dash or the difference between them? Take a look at our quick guide that provides all you need to

Useful info whether you write fic or business letters. Also might discourage so of the AI-haters trolling legit writers.

[xiaq]

I went to the park to fly this afternoon, but winds were too high so I ended up sitting on the hood of my car sadly watching the wind sock and weather report for about an hour before I went home. But several folks passed by walking their dogs on the trail that runs along the airfield and a half-dozen people stopped to chat.

One of them immediately started going off on the passing of Prop MM yesterday (which means that here in CO, households with $300k or more in annual earnings will be taxed more so that all meals at public schools will be free, school meal staff will get raises, and districts can afford locally-sourced, healthier, food options).

Now, aside from the fact that I was suddenly inhospitably dragged into a political conversation with a stranger, I found it odd that he was so upset about (checks notes) kids getting food. Out of all the things on the ballot.

So I asked, “Do you make more than $300k a year?” And he admitted that he didn’t. But he might someday! And if he did, he’d be furious, and he knows that people who make that much must be furious because—

“I do,” I told him. “Between me and my husband, our household is just over that threshold. We did the math. It’s around $600 more per year that we’ll be taxed. And we supported the proposition because we want to contribute to making sure kids have healthy food and are able to focus on their education.”

He didn’t have much to say after that. But I’m still so disheartened, hours later. This man was completely bent out of shape over a fantasy world in which he might be taxed more money to make sure kids weren’t going hungry. Like. It literally impacted him in no way. And get this. He was wearing a shirt with a fucking cross on it.

[great-and-small]

I am constantly thinking about this

[great-and-small]

This mild Wikipedia sentence is like the understatement of all time

Here are some crazy grasshopper mouse facts for those who are not familiar with the most badass mouse species on the planet

- They are primarily carnivorous, and their diet is made up of not only bugs but also snakes, lizards and other mice.

- They hunt like true predators, slowly stalking and creeping up on their prey before ambushing them. They will sometimes let out a screech as they attack.

- Like wolves, they howl to establish territory and have a specially developed throat to produce louder vocalizations. They will stand up on their hind legs and throw their head back to howl- a sound that can be heard from 100 meters away!

- Grasshopper mouse behavior is linked to lunar cycles and they are more active during a full moon.

- These mice have been hunting bark scorpions and evolving alongside them for so long that they’ve evolved a mutation where scorpion venom that is lethal to other animals is converted into a painkiller in the grasshopper mouse’s body.

[thecollectibles]

Twilight Stories by Yana Dhyana

[phoenixwench]

Not quite sure what these are really about, but I find them oddly soothing and pleasing.