behold... my stuff

The theme of this blog is whatever I fucking feel like posting at any given moment

[writingdose]

this used to be a common knowledge

via AO3Tikli 2022

[thestuffedalligator]

I’m going to level with you. I have listened to The Devil Went Down to Georgia for most of my life. We were a country music household, this was a staple of my childhood along with Johnny Cash, Garth Brooks, and that one Chipmunks country album.

I have no idea what “Fire on the mountain run boys run/The Devil's in the house of the rising sun/Chicken in the bread pan picking out dough/Granny does your dog bite no child no” means and at this point I’m too scared to ask.

[dementian]

For once I can be of assistance.

Each of the lyrics comes from an old-time hickory song for fiddles, and is a lyric from that corresponding song.

"Fire on the Mountain" --> "Fire on the Mountain, run boys run"

Fire On The Mountain - Fiddle Player POV

"The House of the Rising Sun" --> "The Devil's in the house of the rising sun"

House of the Rising Sun

"Ida Red" --> "Chicken in the bread pan peckin' out dough"

Ida Red - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys

"Granny Will Your Dog Bite" --> "Granny does your dog bite? 'No child, no'."

FTC #149 Granny Will Your Dog Bite

And for your furthered education, The Mountain Whipporwill.

Mountain Whippoorwill (aka How Hillbilly Jim Won the Great Fiddler's Prize)

[impossiblepackage]

this is the key part of the song, that a lot of people miss. people have this misconception that the contest between Johnny and The Devil is about who is the better fiddle player. but it isn't. its about who is the better fiddler.

in a time before things like radios and record players, every time you heard music was because there was somebody in the room with you playing an instrument. and many, many, many social events involved dancing, which requires music. so, if you're planning any kind of gathering in the american south or appalachia, you need to find a fiddler. and the fiddler's job is to play music that everybody knows and likes and can dance to.

the mistake The Devil makes in his bet with Johnny is that he misinterprets the contest as being about technical ability, so he has this big flashy song. he plays fast and impressively with a band of demons playing unfamiliar instruments in unfamiliar rhythms. he's definitely more skilled at playing than Johnny, and thinks he has it in the bag.

but Johnny wins because the contest is about being the best fiddler. the song uses these lines mentioned above as a shorthand for saying that Johnny is playing these songs. Johnny launches into a set of the most popular songs, played well, and that's what gives him his big win. A good fiddler knows all the hits, and can read the room to know what to play next. The Devil loses because he completely fails to read the room, and doesn't know the right songs.

[roaaoife]

The devil isn't actually better. He plays an arpeggio very quickly. The speed is mildly impressive, but anyone who has ever played any instrument can play an arpeggio. Heck, you can probably sit down at a piano and knock out an arpeggio with only a brief introduction. The devil's song is flashy and distracting, but doesn't really require technical skill.

The four songs referenced aren't just familiar, they require much more technical skill to play than a speedy arpeggio. Johnny is better in every measure.

[janmisali]

oh I know how to make a poll's results look like the letter E watch this

what is the rightmost digit of the number of responses this poll has right now? (it should be visible before you vote.)

0, 1, or 2

3

4 or 5

6

7, 8, or 9

Remaining time: 2 days 13 hours

[fleshengine]

It took over 3 million years for hominids to go from stone tools to metal.

It took less than 10 thousand to go from metal tools to space, with multiple enormous intellectual and technological setbacks in that time.

[fleshengine]

A printing press I use at work was built closer to the death of Napoleon than the moon landing.

Our perceptions of time are fundamentally flawed.

[inthefallofasparrow]

Those Trisolarans don't stand a chance.

[90s-kid-sad-adult]

lie to me

[jaybeefoxy]

A stalwart of British acting, with an incredibly varied talent, from the hilarious Hercules Shipwright in Cabin Pressure, to long suffering Giles in Buffy, even Frank N Furter in Rocky Horror on stage, Anthony Head, you shall be missed.

[headspace-hotel]

Y'all ever open a book on a new subject, read a little bit, and have to put it back so you can process the way in which your mind was just expanded?

[headspace-hotel]

The textile book: okay here is some of the ways that textiles are important to human life

me: Okay!

The textile book: Clothes separate the vulnerable human body from the conditions of the outside world, and in doing so absorb the sweat and debris of human existence, accumulating wear and tear according to the lives we live. In this way, various lifestyles and professions are represented by clothing, and the clothing of a loved one retains the imprint of their physical body and their life being lived, as though the clothes absorb part of the wearer's soul

Me: ...oh

The textile book: The process of weaving a garment and the process of a child being formed in its mother's womb are often referred to using the same language. Likewise, when a baby is born, a blanket or other textile material is the first material object it encounters and protects it. Textiles can create the idea of two things being inextricable, as with being "woven together," or can create the sense of separateness, as with a curtain or veil that separates two rooms or spaces, even separating the living from the dead, or separating two realities, such as a performance ending when the curtain falls

Me: ...oh God

The textile book: Odysseus's wife Penelope undid her weaving in secret every night to delay the advances of her suitors. In this way she was able to turn back the passage of time to allow her husband to come home. Likewise the Lakota tell a story of an old woman embroidering time by embroidering a robe with porcupine quills. If she finishes the embroidery, the world will come to an end, but her faithful dog pulls out the quills whenever her back is turned, turning back the clock and allowing existence to continue.

me: ...is...is...is that why we refer to the fabric of space and time?

The textile book: The technological revolution of textile making is sadly underappreciated. The textile arts are possibly the most fundamental human technology, as once people created string and rope, they could create nets for catching fish and small animals, and bags and baskets for carrying food. In the earliest prehistoric times, the first string or cord perhaps came from sinew, found in the body of an animal. Because of this perhaps the body of a living being could be understood as made of a textile material. Indeed textiles have the function of preserving life, as with a surgeon stitching back together the human body or bandages being placed on a wound. Textile technologies are being used to create life-changing implants to restore function to injured parts of the body, as though a muscle or tendon can be woven and made in this way. Cloth can be used to create a parachute that will save a human's life as they plummet out of the sky. Ultimately, the textile technologies are used to enter new parts of the universe. [Photo of an astronaut and details explaining the astronaut's suit]

Me: STOP!! MY MIND IS NOT STRONG ENOUGH FOR THIS

[headspace-hotel]

The book is "Textiles: The Whole Story" by Beverly Gordon

[unlettered-heathen]

:D this is it! The post that got me to borrow this book from my library! This book is constantly rewiring my brain and parts of it constantly slap me in the face when I am going thru daily life and notice textiles.

Like, fiberglass ANYTHING can be considered a textile! Paper? Textile! Chain link fence? Textile!

And more than ever now when I see something like fabric on a couch or mosquito netting I wonder just how much work it would have taken if it was non-factory made. How many people have still had their hands in making it now. 

I never understood why so many cultures placed such importance on textile gifts as ritual, like many native americans gifting blankets. I get it now.

Tons of other stuff too and it's all the time!

And I'm only halfway through!

Anyways OP thank you for bringing this into my life it's literally reshaping the way I think in a way I'm constantly in awe of <3

(the book if anyone was curious)

[foodforthineownminds]

Here! I found it in an online archive!

It functions as a digital library, so you have to sign in and wait your turn. I'm not sure why you have to do that with a digital book, but it's free so i don't care.

Textiles : the whole story : uses, meanings, significance : Gordon, Beverly : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

304 p. : 27 cm

[lady-averie]

So while doing some pirate research for the play I’m writing I stumbled upon one of the most amazing things I’ve ever read. In the 5th century A.D. there was a Scandinavian princess called Alwilda who’s father tried to set her up to marry Alf, the Prince of Denmark. Alwilda wasn’t cool with this so she and some female companions dressed as men, stole a ship, and sailed away. Eventually they met a company of pirates who were in need of a new captain and they were so captivated by her that they elected her as their new leader. Her crew became so infamous that Prince Alf was sent out to stop them. When their ships met he took Alwilda prisoner and she was so impressed by Alf’s skill that she agreed to marry him after all and eventually became the Queen of Denmark.

[deadcatwithaflamethrower]

I stopped caring whether this was factually accurate about halfway through because it’s completely AWESOME.

[oldshrewsburyian]

Medievalist here for triumphant fact-checking: this story is, if not true, at least true according to the history of the Danes (Gesta Danorum) written in the 12th century by Saxo Grammaticus. You can read his account of Alwilda’s story in the original Latin here, or in English translation here. Highlights include:

She exchanged woman’s for man’s attire, and, no longer the most modest of maidens, began the life of a warlike rover. Enrolling in her service many maidens who were of the same mind, she happened to come to a spot where a band of rovers were lamenting the death of their captain, who had been lost in war; they made her their rover captain.

I love the implication that there were lots of Danish maidens just WAITING for the opportunity of a life of piracy…

[lady-averie]

Reblogging my old post for this A+ addition to it

[kosmogrl]

get in loser we’re gonna try again despite it all

[lilaccatholic]

[macgyvermedical]

PSA:

Acetaminophen/paracetamol has a hard stop upper dose limit, above which it becomes extremely toxic.

That limit is 4g (8 “extra strength” (500mg) tablets) in 24 hours (about 2 tablets every 6 hours).

A single dose of 22 extra strength tablets can kill you.

Taking 12 or more tablets per day for more than a week can also kill you (this is about 3 tablets every 6 hours).

Symptoms of overdose take up to 24 hours to manifest, and are fairly difficult to distinguish from other problems. They include abdominal pain (especially right upper quadrant), nausea, malaise, and confusion.

The antidote (n-acetylcystine) must be given within 8hours of ingestion in order to be useful.

After 10 hours the only thing that will work is a liver transplant.

You might think “why would I ever accidentally take so much?”

Well, acetaminophen is in almost everything in the cold/flu/pain aisle. Migraine combos like Excedrin, cold and flu combos like NyQuil, basically anything that says “non-aspirin pain relief”, and anything that’s branded as a fever reducer. It’s all probably acetaminophen/paracetamol.

So the goal of this post is to get you to read the labels on your medications. Because taking taking Tylenol and NyQuil together for a week (like you might if you had the flu) could kill you.

[fleetingruin]

Please don't forget this shit, after it happened to a family member, he died 8 years later because of the continuing health complications even though he survived the initial overdose

[cakeisnotpie]

I didn't know this for years, and I took so many pills, sometimes 4 at one go, every four hours, like 16 a day, because of endometriosis and migraines. It took a migraine specialist to explain rebound headaches and overdoses when I was in my 40s. Then I went cold turkey on all OTC drugs to get off the cycle. Please, please, if a couple tylenol aren't working for you, talk to your doctor or find one who will listen to you if you can.

[cheaphalloweencostume]

“be gay do crime! but sex is yucky and crime is wrong!” ass website

[cheaphalloweencostume]

literally 😭😭😭

[demilypyro]

vampires are so full of shit. "oh the human race is beneath us, you're just livestock to us" I don't think you know what livestock is. do you feed us? care for us? protect us from predators? no. you just slink around dark alleys and ambush people. that's not what a higher being does. that's a bottom feeder. a parasite. karate punches your head off

[septembersung]

[janusfnc14]

She Would Say That. She would DO that.

[apolladay]

If you’re driving in reverse down a one way street, are you breaking any laws?

Nope, you’re good

Yes, actually, because—

Um, actually, there’s some nuance to this 🤓☝️

Hey. Uh. What brought you to ask this question?*

*an episode of Malcolm in the Middle. I’m genuinely curious what the answer is to this lmao

If you’re driving in reverse down a one way street, are you breaking any laws?

Nope, you’re good

Yes, actually, because—

Um, actually, there’s some nuance to this 🤓☝️

Hey. Uh. What brought you to ask this question?*

Voting ended onJun 9

*an episode of Malcolm in the Middle. I’m genuinely curious what the answer is to this lmao

[yesterdaysprint]

The Cheney Sentinel, Kansas, May 29, 1913

[impfrost]

this is not exactly correct.  the earth is about 150 million kilometers from the sun which, when divided by 6792 years, gives a speed of 0.7 meters per second.  according to Wikipedia, the exact transmission speed of nerves depends on the type of nerve cells and varies from person to person, with a maximum speed of 120 meters per second.

the nociceptors of the paleospinothalamic tract (responsible for prolonged pain) transmit at between 0.5-2.0 m/s, so The Cheney Sentinel’s choice of 0.7 m/s is perfectly fine, if on the low end.  however, the nociceptors of the neospinothalamic tract (responsible for sudden sharp pain) transmit at 3-30 m/s.  let’s take a speed on the low end, maybe 7 m/s.

if your arm was long enough to touch the sun and burn your fingers, you would first feel a sharp pain starting after 679.2 years, and a continuous throbbing pain starting after 6792 years.

this is assuming you’re floating in space above the Earth as you reached towards the sun.  if you were standing on Earth and lifted your arm towards the sun then, due to the rotation of the Earth, it would take you much less time to feel pain.

[roaaoife]

This was post and reply were originally made in 2018 according to Tumblr, so we have NEW INFORMATION!

A 2019 study from Sweden found that pain can travel at the same speed as touch, which is between 75-120 m/s.

This changes the time it it would take for you to feel the pain to a mere 39.6 to 63.4 years, depending. (This is not taking into account the 2022 CalTech study that tracked nerve impulses traveling at 134 m/s, as I could not determine that these were ether touch or pain sensations.)

[stolligaseptember]

Varje år får en andhona ungar i en av Umeå universitets innergårdar och vallas genom Samhällsvetarhuset ut till dammen 🦆

[kiegotakami]

Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous. The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest.

[best-of-inspirobot]

[tearlessrain]

this is in perfect iambic meter and sounds like the first line of a weird poem

[tearlessrain]

Rule #2

Don’t ever hug a lobster when you see one on the street,

For decorum is essential when a lobster you must greet.

You may comment on the weather, compliment his choice of hat,

But crustaceans like their space if one should stop them for a chat.

Don’t ever hug a lobster when you’re strolling down the coast,

Simply nod and give a greeting, or a handshake at the most,

For a lobster’s first priority is formal social graces,

And one seemes over-familiar if a lobster one embraces.

Don’t ever hug a lobster when you meet one in the sea,

For a lobster’s spines and chitin make it difficult, you see,

And he might become self-conscious if you bring that fact to light,

So don’t ever hug a lobster, simply put, it’s impolite.

[autistichalsin]

Periodic rent-lowering-gunshots:

Fiction is not reality.

You can enjoy things in fiction that would be awful in the real world. Like playing a murderhobo in a game! In the real world, being or supporting a murderer-thief would be pretty damn awful, while in the game it's just good fun. Same with anything else you choose to do with the pixels on the screen, like kinks that don't affect anyone real, so they're okay in fiction, but would be pretty damn bad in real life.

No one else is responsible for your online experience. They are required not to harass you, but they are not and never will be obligated to not post about ships, kinks, or tropes you dislike just to avoid you seeing them. It's up to you to blacklist words or phrases, block tags, or even block users as needed to avoid seeing content that upsets you.

No one can force you to read anything against your consent. Any content you don't like seeing can be instantly avoided by closing out of the offending post/fic.

You are not owed an online experience free of discomfort.

Nothing that happens in your imagination can ever make you a bad person. Words you write or read about fictional characters will never make you a bad person.

The claim that media consumption influences real-life behavior is intellectually dishonest and serves only to excuse the behavior of real offenders.

Fiction is a safe way to explore horrifying or confusing concepts. Therapists agree that fiction, even (or especially) about taboo topics is a good coping mechanism, especially, but not exclusively, for trauma survivors. Fiction is to adults what play therapy is to children. This doesn't stop being true if the work in question is of a sexual nature.

Sex isn't an inherently worse or better motivation than anything else. A work written to create feelings of arousal isn't dirty, shameful, or in any way less pure than works written to entertain, provoke moral questions, or for other reasons. And worth noting is that multiple purposes can exist in the same story, especially fanfiction.

You aren't entitled to an explanation for why someone reads, writes, or otherwise enjoys certain works, kinks, tropes, ships, etc.