Rose Per Somnium

obssessive reader and on-and-off (fanfiction) writer. I don't really have a hang of tumblr yet and mainly use it to "save" inspiring posts of other people. RosePerSomnium on ao3

[skodasforge]

Still very funny to me that Tommy showed up fully intending to be like “look I’m not trying to take your man” and Buck just blurts out “sorry that I wanna fuck you so bad it makes me look stupid.” And Tommy was just like. “Um. Me? I mean I’m down but are you sure this was about ME?” But still kissed Buck anyway.

[impidimp]

Okay but it's objectively hilarious that in the scene where Buck kisses a man and realizes he's bisexual, Eddie's name is mentioned eight times

[bellefoxs]

eddie 🤝 tommy — showing up unannounced at buck's apartment and completely rocking his worldview

→ for anon ♡

bonus:

[ginnxtonic]

we've talked about jealous eddie, and pining eddie, and afraid-he's-actually-a-homophobe eddie, but i think there's another element we need to explore and that's supportive eddie. because here's eddie diaz having just found out that the reason his best friend has been so weird lately is that he's going through this major revelation and it's all new and he's so excited and a little nervous, and buck needs his best friend to have his back as he explores these new feelings.

and eddie genuinely likes tommy, he was the one who wanted them to get on well! so even if it makes his chest tighten to see them brushing shoulders and holding hands and kissing he absolutely does not have time to unpack that feeling especially if it could in any way derail this thing buck is going through.

and eddie knows buck like no one else, he knows how buck's struggled with feeling rejected and like he's never anyone's first choice. but here's tommy, and he's cool and nice and adventurous and loyal and buck gets all giggly at the prospect of being with him, and that's exactly the kind of relationship that buck deserves to have, one that makes him feel seen and chosen, and this isn't like with his past girlfriends where eddie could be snide and tease and try to help him see how wrong of a fit they are for him, that kind of behavior could really hurt buck here, so eddie is determined that he is not going to ruin this for buck, no matter what, because this isn't about eddie and the weird flutter he gets when he thinks of another man with buck and what it must be like to get to hold him and kiss him.

[butchdykekondraki-moved]

favourite selfship dynamic ever has GOT to be "this is an objectively evil character But What If I Was Their Favourite" . literally SO fucking real . and i AM their favourite . they told me so and they would never lie to me. sorry that they lied TO YOU but they wouldnt do that to me. im just built different

[butchdykekondraki-moved]

YES this character sucks and YES theyre manipulative and a murderer and overall just not a good person. but im making them a home cooked meal. so. maybe thats a you problem

[butchdykekondraki-moved]

i couldnt fix them BUT i can kiss them . maybe thatll calm them down

[silcoitus]

Oh? They manipulate you? And do all kinds of heinous things to you? Sounds like a skill issue. They got me breakfast in bed.

[akindplace]

Can you relate? Which one are you? I think I am all of them.

Laiberry.art on instagram

[kaijutegu]

this one. i’m this one.

[fandommindpalace]

HEARTSTOPPER | Nick Nelson blossoming

[rapunzelforlorn]

Reblog if you too are incredibly proud of Nick Nelson!

[heavenlycreatures]

on soulmates

f. scott fitzgerald / friedrich nietzsche / florence and the machine / andrea dworkin / kiersten white / euripides / audre lorde / phillip pullmann / bob hicok

[dahliadear]

So myself and two best friends got matching tattoos that say Κύριε ἐλέησον. It’s pronounced Kyrie Eleison and in ancient Greek means “Lord have mercy.” It’s one of the oldest Christian liturgical prayers and features in the Bible, and when Christianity became Latinised, it as one of the only surviving Greek prayers.

Just for fun I plugged it into Google Translate to see what modern Greek thinks of it and

10/10 A+ tat so glad its marked on my skin forever, would tattoo again

[celtic-pyro-deactivated20230725]

Thanks OP you ruined the liturgy for me.

[bunjywunjy]

never gonna hear The Hunchback of Notre Dame soundtrack the same way again

[kamen-rider-zed]

Frollo: Ima kill this baby

Choir in the background: Dude fuckin chill

[pottamux]

Frollo: I’m gonna set her on fire

Choir: Dude… chill

[what-even-is-thiss]

My entire church singing in unison: ♫ Sir, please calm down! ♫ Calm down, sir! ♫ Sir, please calm down! ♫ Take it easy, sir! ♫

[argumate]

LORD, you’re making a scene

[ingridverse]

🎶 Sir, this is an Arby’s 🎶

[lurkingteapot]

Free Thai language learning resources

I’ve been learning Thai for the past 20 months. This list is by no means complete or comprehensive, what works for me doesn’t have to work for you, etc etc. That said: I’ve used most of these and found them useful, I thought you might, too. Have fun!

Youtube channels with free video lessons:

There are tons of wonderful teachers on youtube; this is by no means an exhaustive list. The three channels listed here are comprehensive, long-running, and updated regularly; if you have other favourites, please reblog and append!

Comprehensible Thai is a channel that teaches Thai in Thai, from zero, via the comprehensible input method. They have videos from total beginner through upper intermediate/lower advanced levels available.

Learn Thai with Mod – Mod runs a language school that offers good, structured group classes; she and her co-teachers often upload short videos about specific aspects of Thai. The channel has been around for a long time and they cover a lot of topics, including grammar points.

Thai Lessons by New (Learn Thai one Word one Sentence) – lots of good vocabulary and situational phrases

Other channels I like:

Advanced Thai with Kruu Momm – one of my favourites, Momm’s a star. Not included in the upper list only because this is definitely more of an intermediate-advanced resource.

Thai with Grace – I knew of Grace via her polyglot channel and travel vlogs before I realised she also teaches Thai. Fun stuff.

Kat talks Thai – I believe Kat is more active on instagram (@kattalksthai), but these are still really neat.

Perth Nakhun’s Basic Thai playlist

Honourable mentions because they’re interesting and can be nice supplements (yes, the video titles on these channels tend to be clickbaity, the content is useful, though):

Stu Jay Raj: Stu is a polyglot based in Thailand. His channel is a bit of a mixed bag, but he has a very interesting approach to languages and sometimes does foreign accent reduction / accent analysis sessions on his channel (with consent and participation of those whose speech he dissects).

Thai Talk with Paddy: Paddy is an Australian who learned Thai when he was a volunteer in Thailand, he’s kept it up. Fun things about language learning and culture

Listening comprehension

I’m assuming many folks on here who are interested in Thai already watch some Thai shows (yes I’m stereotyping but also this is tumblr), which means you’re spending time listening to Thai.

If you’re not:

Netflix, Youtube, WeTV, and Viki all have several Thai shows with English subtitles available. The Youtube channel of Thai broadcasting giant GMMTV has English subtitles on nearly all of their uploaded series, some series are also subtitled in languages other than English. one31 is another huge channel; they have English subtitles on some series and some series also have subtitles in Thai. There’s tons more – find a rec list and a Thai show that sounds like you’d enjoy it, chances are you’ll be able to watch it for free, legally, on youtube. You can use the youtube controls (or the ones on netflix) to turn the speed down to 75% – this can make it a lot easier to catch what’s being said. 50% gets so draggy that I personally find it almost harder to understand, but ymmv – give it a shot!

https://lingopolo.org/thai/ has real-life recordings for listening practice; sign-up is required but it’s literally just an e-mail-address, user name and password. Using the site is free.

https://www.activethai.com/ has a section dedicated to learning the tones (under “Overview of Thai Tones”) including a self-test for listening that I found very useful.

Learning to read

I will always, always, ALWAYS recommend learning to read the Thai script. All available romanisations for Thai have drawbacks, and besides, you learned to read English with its “though through thorough tough thought”, you can damn well learn to read Thai. I promise it will help you improve your pronunciation (yes, really) and overall understanding of how the language works.

Learn-to-Read-Thai resources that seem comprehensive and like they should do everything in one:

Anki decks “Read Thai PHASE 1 - The Consonants“, “Read Thai PHASE 2 - Thai Vowels“, “Read Thai PHASE 3 - Consonant Classes” and “Read Thai PHASE 4 - Tone Rules” by Khruu Gaan (ครูกานต์). Anki is probably the most powerful spaced repetition software I have ever used. It’s free on all desktops and android. These decks have sound.

Memrise course “Read Thai: A Complete Guide to Reading Thai“

Other resources I used (In hindsight, I feel like I should’ve picked one resource to learn to read from and stuck with it; I think I was rushing and made things more complicated than need be for myself with my hodgepodge mix-and-match approach. But hey, I can read now.)

https://www.activethai.com/ – the site I started with. Teaches the consonants separated by class and with sound. The only reason this is no longer my top recommendation is that I ended up using this alongside a resource that helped me memorise what the words used to represent the letters actually mean because the site itself didn’t tell me, and I wanted that easy way to have 44 vocabulary words ready as soon as you’re done learning your consonants, and it gives you access to neat mnemonics such as ไก่จิกเด็กตาย(เฎ็กฏาย)บนปากโอ่ง.

The chart on Wikipedia’s English article on the Thai Script

the reference section of Thai-Language.com

In order to better learn to read Thai written in different fonts (modern and handwriting fonts can be tough at first), the Thai Script typographical styles overview on Thai-language.com was a huge help, as was throwing simple phrases things into gdocs and messing around to see how different fonts made them look. This chart from sanukmaak.com also helped.

Speaking and pronunciation

The hardest one for any new language for most folks. For me personally, finding someone who speaks the language and is willing to correct me was an absolute necessity, but I know that’s not always an option. If you’re going it on your own, make sure you check out the resources above for learning to hear the tones and those consonants and sounds not present in your own language correctly first.

Things to try on your own:

shadowing: Whenever someone on a show utters a sentence you think might be useful, or provide a useful pattern, or something just sounds cool, rewind and try to speak along as they say it, trying to make it sound as close to their pronunciation as you can.

try to record yourself and listen back – yes, it’s cringe af but it will HELP.

memorising short sentences and phrases: tying back to the section above, there’s a ton of youtube videos that is “phrases to use in [situation]” that are great for targeted learning if you’re up for it

self talk (cautiously! don’t want to cement bad pronunciation habits)

if you’re linguistically inclined: looking up descriptions on how to make a sound correctly sometimes helps, as does watching videos of folks who’ve successfully learned the language.

once you’ve learned to read: find sentences to read somewhere (twitter, a textbook, whatever) and read them into your phone’s dictation engine. See if the software understands you correctly. Adjust as needed until it does.

Websites and apps to find language partners or (paid) tutors

Like any other app where you ‘meet people’, please exercise caution on these.

italki (mainly for finding tutors and teachers, but you can find language partners on the forums)

Preply (web/app) (for finding tutors/teachers)

hellotalk (app only, iOS/android) for finding language partners – free to use basic features like messaging, voice rooms, etc; has annoying ads

tandem (app only, iOS/android) for finding language partners – free to use basic features, has ads

any other app or website that’ll let you meet people, like local facebook groups (yes really), instagram, etc

(note: Neither hellotalk nor tandem allow users to sign up without selecting a binary gender. it sucks. I’ve seen people who managed to circumvent this on Hellotalk by signing up via apple ID (? I think), but it’s hearsay and I have not managed to do so myself.)

Books (a book) that are (is) worth spending money on imo

Higbie & Thinsan: Thai Reference Grammar. The Structure of Spoken Thai. Orchid Press: Bangkok, 2002. Yes, it’s ancient in textbook terms. It’s not perfect, but it’s still the best reference grammar for Thai I’ve come across so far, and I use it frequently.

Random bits and bobs

Stu Jay Raj has two videos in particular that I, as a phonetics-and-phonology-loving person, loved and found extremely useful and wished I’d watched before I started to try and learn the script: Thai Vowels for Dummies in 5 Min v2 - A System Impossible to Forget and Thai Bites Extended Edition - Transliterating Thai using IPA. I realise these may be overwhelming and less helpful for people with no prior phonetics or phonology training, but they helped me so much it’d feel amiss not to include them.

Resources I recommend AGAINST using when starting out

drops/hello words – seems like their Thai courses have been created using machine translation that wasn’t sufficiently proofread. They will assign you nouns in places of the corresponding verb or false cognates, and that’s within the first 10 or so lessons. Might be useful once the level where a learner can tell “ah, yeah, that’s … not right” has been reached? idk.

transcription as generated by google translate: BURN IT WITH FIRE. it’s a transliteration, i.e. 1-to-1 representation of 1 Thai letter = 1 Latin letter (extended), it’s not phonemic, it’s not going to help ANYONE (and those who can make sense of it presumably already read Thai and would be better off with just Thai script). Just. Stop.

Google translate as a dictionary: still shitty but not AS bad as the transcription function. Still, for the love of all that you hold dear, please, save yourself the pain and confusion and just use thai2english or thai-language.com instead.

—

And that’s that from me, friends. Yeeting this into the void before I second-guess myself more. Please append additional resources!

Edited to fix a couple of typos and errors on 2023-06-15

[logically-asexual]

i feel so seen!!

(twitter thread)

[lordbrezel]

Holy shit, this!

I would say I am a cis guy, yes, but I really don’t care. I could see myself being a girl aswell (heck I prefer to play feminine characters in video games that allow me to chose), but not in a way would I consider myself trans. Like, I would be fine with any. Obviously I don’t have the experience of being trans, but there is no dysphoria for me. There are things I don’t like about myself, but I feel like that would be the case in any way.

Gender is such a weird concept to me.

[qwanderer]

Yup! And again I am reminded of that jokey post that said gender is half mating ritual, I really think they were onto something with that.

[wilwheaton]

[thebroccolination]

Back in January of 2021, I made a thread on Twitter praising SOTUS S, so I'm gonna post it here for safekeeping (with some inclusions and edits – there's no character limit here yay) because it's still one of my favorite threads.

SOTUS S - One of My Favorite Series in Terms of Writing and Why I Love It as Much as I Do

One of my favorite aspects of SOTUS S is also something I see it widely critiqued for, so lemme heap some well-deserved praise on my beloved series.

I think Arthit's awkward, uncomfortable, and almost cold behavior is realistic, because That's the Point.

Allow me to explain.

Okay, so here's the timeline as I understand it:

• SOTUS takes place during Kongphob's first year and Arthit's third • The special scenes at the end of SOTUS S episodes are during Kongphob's first/second year and Arthit's third/fourth year • The main storyline of SOTUS S is set during Kongphob's third year as head hazer and Arthit's post-graduation entry into the working world

The reason I start by outlining that is to highlight a brilliant thing SOTUS S does with two timelines compared to SOTUS, which only has one:

SOTUS S shows us two very different stages of their relationship.

When they were in university together and part of the same world:

and

2. After they've been separated into different worlds:

That difference fuels and contextualizes the central conflict of SOTUS S: Arthit closeting himself and his relationship from his coworkers.

So why does he do that?

Well, Arthit is two years older than Kongphob, and when they start dating, he already has an established level of status at their university. He has a close circle of friends who stand up for him and sacrifice for him, he has the respect of his juniors and seniors, and he also maintains a high academic standing. It tracks that Arthit at this stage of his life is at his most open and confident with his relationship with Kongphob. Everyone knows, and he's fine.

At the end of SOTUS, he happily tells everyone that they're dating. This is immediately after they've publicly exchanged a matching set of bracelets that Arthit bought to replace the SOTUS string.

When Kongphob's car breaks down, Arthit shuttles Kongphob to his next class on the back of his bike. Kongphob asks if he can hold onto him, Arthit says no, and then he only smirks and shakes his head when Kongphob cheekily holds onto him anyway. (It's what they're into, don't kinkshame them.)

While talking about an upcoming meteor shower, Arthit's immediate reaction to Kongphob telling him they won't be able to see it in Bangkok is to earnestly suggest they take a trip to see one together.

And when Kongphob is absolutely delighted, this delights Arthit.

When Kongphob keeps up his "but I wanna see the meteor shower" bit, Arthit offers to take him to the planetarium.

At which point, Kongphob just goes in for the move he intended from the start:

This is why Arthit's reluctant to ever give in: there's no game of chicken Kongphob would ever lose at.

Then Arthit actually gets his own extremely rare Uno Reverse moment:

I fuckin' love this scene. Look at Kongphob's face. This is, like, the thousandth time he's envisioning their engagement, wedding, and honeymoon simultaneously.

(Did I have to go through that whole scene to prove any kind of point? NOPE. I just really like it. They're idiots. <3)

In another scene that I interpret as shortly following SOTUS and the start of their relationship, Kongphob hurts his foot and Arthit offers to carry him on his back. The way Kongphob looks up at him is like a knife in my heart; and then when Arthit actually follows through and carries him, he's so happy.

He also surprises Kongphob with a gift on Valentine's Day in the middle of campus in broad daylight. He finished his work early purely to see Kongphob. I think he's genuinely one of the most devoted boyfriends we see in all of Thai BL.

While they're at university together, Arthit's never closed off about their relationship. Everyone knows they're dating, and Arthit does not mind. (I mean, he was the first to approach Kongphob when Kongphob was visiting their university, after all. He also initiated their first kiss. Grabbed him by the tie, even.)

The thing is, Arthit is also shy. He's pretty well-established as an introvert who intellectually understands the SOTUS system, but he isn't naturally good with people, and it leads to all the issues with the system that we see in SOTUS. In his defense, though, we do find out that it was even worse when he was a first-year, and he is actively trying to do a better job. He's just, y'know, obsessed with 0062 and probably doesn't know anyone else's name. (I kid, but…do I though. Do you, Arthit. Speak up.)

In the main storyline of SOTUS S, though, Arthit is closed off. He does mind. He's afraid. So much more than he ever was before. And why?

Because he's left the world where he was known and respected and loved. That's the world Kongphob still lives in. When Arthit comes back to campus for the string-tying ceremony to support Kongphob, he's in Kongphob's safe space, not his. It isn't where Arthit belongs anymore, and it's clear from his body language that he knows it.

His new world, his new community, is at work. In sales. As an introvert. It's a department where he doesn't feel comfortable, one he actively wants to transfer out of. In this series, he's not an introvert in a position of power like he was in SOTUS; instead, he's an introvert on the bottom rung of a company. He came from a world where cogs are treasures that represent the heart to a world where cogs are cheap and replaceable because they're a dime a dozen.

This is why SOTUS S is mostly from Arthit's perspective: in SOTUS, Kongphob was the one in a new world figuring out his place there. By taking away Arthit's comfort zone, he's the one who has to confront his flaws and improve.

One of my favorite scenes is in episode one. Arthit is out to dinner with his new coworkers, and he's only given ONE opportunity to talk about his boyfriend naturally. His coworker asks indirectly if he has a significant other, and he's nervous but ready to say yes—and then just as he starts to speak, he's cut off, and the courage visibly drains out of him.

That's it. He's pressured himself back into the closet.

No one at that table said anything negative about queer people. No one gave him even a hint that they would be prejudiced against him, but he's in a new place and he's already so shy he's made faster friends with Bonus, the office fish. That's the flaw he has to overcome: he overthinks, and then he spirals. (He does it in Our Skyy too, which I love because fears often manifest in different ways, and it can take years to fully overcome them. Arthit does grow and change over time, but he's still inherently shy and anxious, and he's never framed by the narrative as in the wrong for that. He's only ever framed to be wrong for the harmful decisions he makes as a result of his fear.)

We saw him spiral in SOTUS when he admitted to Knot his fears about a potential future relationship with Kongphob. Kongphob absently mentioned his niece to Arthit one time and Arthit sent himself into a tailspin thinking he'd never be enough for Kongphob because they'd never be able to have biological kids so obviously Kongphob would resent him for it so why even start anything when their relationship would inevitably end in a fiery plane crash at the base of a smallish mountain in the Himalayas.

You can almost hear Arthit's mind working during that restaurant scene: he's new in a department he doesn't feel suited to, he's on the bottom rung, he doesn't understand certain office protocols that have already gotten him yelled at by a very senior supervisor, and his senior John is actively taking advantage of his kindness and politeness using the excuse of sharing the same alma mater (the memories of which Arthit loves and cherishes, and where he met the person he loves most). Now, because he didn't speak up when it was natural to, he feels he has to hide his relationship, too. And why not? What if they are bigoted? What if they do think less of him? What if he never gets a place in the production department? What if what if what if.

And that's on top of what Kongphob says to M at the start of the series: that they hardly see each other because of Arthit's job and Kongphob's hazing activities. We see in a shot that's framed through Kongphob's perspective that Arthit seems tired and disheartened even when he's with his friends after work. This is why I love the writing in SOTUS S: it's a Big Fish in a Small Pond Becomes Small Fish in a Big Ocean story. (His company is even called Ocean Electric, which is probably a coincidence but still amuses me. And again, he makes friends with a small fish in a bowl.)

It's also at its core a story about how an openly queer character loses their confidence when they enter the working world. And boy do I have experience with that, so this series hits a very deep chord for me.

Okay, back to SOTUS S. To Kongphob, specifically.

We're shown that Kongphob doesn't realize how much things between them are changing. He still lives in the safety of their university where he's head hazer, where Arthit was his boyfriend and a senior he and everyone else admired. Through no fault of his own, Kongphob probably can't conceive of Arthit feeling afraid the way he is.

When he shows up at Arthit's office, this is probably no different in his mind to meeting Arthit somewhere on campus after class. And thanks to the post-episode scenes of their past, we see how close they were before Arthit graduated, how much time they spent together. For Arthit to panic and tell him with annoyance, "You should have told me before you came here," it's no wonder Kongphob is taken aback and obviously hurt.

But because Arthit is still near the start of his character arc, Arthit won't tell him what he's feeling. I'd venture a guess that it's mostly pride. He's two years older than Kongphob, and while Arthit repeatedly makes the choice to use polite Thai pronouns with Kongphob that equalize them more and put them on more even ground with each other, he still feels responsible for him and their relationship. (It isn't made clear in the series, but the SOTUS S novel explains that the biggest part of why he's dismayed when he sees the portrait of Kongphob's family is that, again, he spirals and panics about their relationship potentially hurting Kongphob, who in Arthit's eyes now has much more to lose through bigotry than he does.)

Instead of confiding in Kongphob, Arthit asks for advance warning in the future. Not because he's afraid of being outed—his actual fear—but for practical reasons that don't sound unreasonable (he might be out or meeting with a client), so Kongphob accepts his explanation and doesn't question him.

The scene after this is crucial, because it shows that while Arthit's taken a hit in how he acts publicly, he's still devoted and affectionate privately. They have dinner together, Arthit gives Kongphob head hazer advice, accepts Kongphob's invitation to attend a hazer event and visibly just enjoys goofing off with him. Arthit adores Kongphob, and he shows him in his own way where he's comfortable.

And of course, Kongphob isn't perfect, either. He has his own communication issues, he oversteps Arthit's boundaries just like he did in SOTUS, and he considers everything thoroughly before he ever brings it up to Arthit. He's gone from an upstart first-year who questioned everything Arthit did, to the one who's holding their relationship together by taking on every obstacle for both of them, which ends in his emotional collapse later. He even refuses to cry in front of Arthit (in ALL THREE iterations of SOTUS).

That's what makes their relationship feel so authentic to me. They're both at fault by not talking about what's going wrong, and it's relatable and painful because we're shown that they're just trying to protect themselves and each other. In every iteration of SOTUS, Arthit's biggest fear is that their relationship will negatively affect Kongphob, and Kongphob's is…losing Arthit.

The problem has never been that Kongphob and Arthit don't love each other enough.

The problem is that both of them keep trying to take the lead from each other until their biggest fears bring out their worst flaws: Kongphob pushes, and Arthit runs.

It's why their resolution at the office party is so perfect, even if it had to give lethal doses of secondhand embarrassment to some members the audience. (Good job, Arthit, no one'll even remember the beach photo now.) This scene addresses both of their fears simultaneously, because they're intertwined: Arthit chooses to prioritize his relationship above all else, and by doing so, he proves to Kongphob that he won't lose him. He doesn't just apologize and say he'll do better: he takes a bat to the emergency glass and says, "There. Now we're public again."

And luckily Kongphob's, y'know. Very into that.

Arthit reclaims that confidence he had back in university in a scene that parallels the rooftop party in SOTUS, but now it's not just in front of their peers: it's before the world.

[oysters-aint-for-me]

three fun and sexy facts about me: 1.) i have a slight fructose intolerance which manifests itself mostly in me getting violently ill whenever i eat garlic. 2.) i have “delayed phased sleep disorder” aka my body wants to sleep during the day and stay up at night. 3. i am extremely sensitive to sunlight and cannot be in direct sunlight for more than like five minutes without getting burned or overheated.

[oysters-aint-for-me]

extra bonus fun and sexy fact: the one and only time i stepped foot in a catholic church, someone spilled hot coffee on me and i got a bad burn on my chest and had to leave before the service started

[oysters-aint-for-me]

unrelated: i think i might start taking classes to become a phlebotomist 

[sandersgrey]

wait i gotta google something

[sandersgrey]

yeah this is funny

[i-might-be-vanny]

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

To be fair to that last point, that kills just about everyone.

[hedgehog-moss]

Some very sweet elephant behaviours I read about in Carl Safina’s Beyond Words:

a young elephant kneeling down in front of their car in a playful way and throwing zebra bones at the researchers, trying to get them to play with him

an 8-month-old elephant trying and failing to pick up some grass with her trunk (the author: “it reminds me of someone learning to use chopsticks”) and whose mother then pulled a sheaf of grass and ate it while making sure her daughter was watching the demonstration

baby elephants suck their trunk for comfort (as we all know!!) but also like to swing and whirl it around as they try to figure out what it can do and how to use it, and sometimes accidentally step on their trunk and trip over it

“often, babies reach with their trunks into the mouths of family members, taking a bit of what they’re eating”

all the female elephants in a family rushing over to help when someone’s baby trips and falls, while making comforting vocalisations

an enormous adult male elephant walking up to a family group and making an exaggerated display of nonchalance, with his trunk casually draped over his tusk, to show the other elephants that he’s not scary

researchers messing with an elephant family by collecting a bit of urine when the elephant walking at the back of the group stopped to pee, then driving some distance to leave the urine ahead of them. “When they encountered fresh urine from an elephant they knew was behind them, they seemed truly baffled, as though thinking, “Wait a minute—how’d she pass us? She’s back behind us!”

mothers instructing their babies to switch to the other side of their body and walk in their shade when the day is very hot

an elephant child trying to climb all over a bigger male teenager who was lying down for a nap, receiving a kick in response, and running back to its mother in alarm—then the teenager followed and lay down flat beside them as if to apologise and invite the child to climb onto him again

elephant children throwing tantrums when they are being weaned and their mother blocks them from nursing (“He got so upset, pushing her, poking her and tusking her, […] it was like, ‘Ooh, I hate you!”)

researchers followed a family that included a baby who was born disabled, with twisted forelegs that he couldn’t straighten. The entire elephant family (from the adults to the baby’s 8-year-old sister) nurtured him, patiently helping him up every time he fell over, “slowing their pace to his disabilities, continually turning to watch his progress, waiting as he caught up from behind” until (after a few days) the little one managed to straighten his legs and learn to walk normally

a researcher once saw an elephant pluck up some grass and place it in the mouth of another elephant whose trunk was badly injured. Also adults are sometimes seen carrying sick baby elephants on their tusks

a researcher saw a baby elephant who was wary of going into the water, wrap her trunk around her mother’s tusk as her mother patiently entered the river with her, like a child nervously grabbing her mother’s arm

“little elephants show lots of concentration while working to master such tasks as picking up sticks. A youngster might twirl and twirl its trunk around a single blade of grass, finally grasp it, drop it and have a hard time getting it back, then simply place the grass blade atop its head”

[cadaverkeys]

im gonna get a huge wolf-like husky and give it a name like James or David or Sandra or something. Something really human sounding. And convince everyone who comes to my house that theyre just my friend who was cursed with lycanthropy.

[cadaverkeys]

I’m gonna renovate my guest bedroom so it looks really lived in. It’s got posters for like. Wolves and stuff on the walls. And a to do list that has stuff like “pay rent” “turn into dog” and I’m gonna put some scratch marks on the walls and the bed and a chain on the heater. And I’m gonna train the dog to sleep there so it really pulls off the whole effect. This is a really long con plan.

[cadaverkeys]

I discussed this idea with a classmate of mine and they pointed out that when i was looking for a room mate and said “you need to be out of the house every full moon and be okay with large dogs” they would surely assume that I was the werewolf in this mix and really this is just the beginning of my life as a weird tv sitcom.

[mockiatoh]

It would be a great cover for your perspective roommate, an actual werewolf

[academic-ana]

“As early as the 1920s, researchers giving IQ tests to non-Westerners realized that any test of intelligence is strongly, if subtly, imbued with cultural biases… Samoans, when given a test requiring them to trace a route form point A to point B, often chose not the most direct route (the “correct” answer), but rather the most aesthetically pleasing one. Australian aborigines find it difficult to understand why a friend would ask them to solve a difficult puzzle and not help them with it. Indeed, the assumption that one must provide answers alone, without assistance from those who are older and wiser, is a statement about the culture-bound view of intelligence. Certainly the smartest thing to do, when face with a difficult problem, is to seek the advice of more experienced relatives and friends!”

— Jonathan Marks - Anthropology and the Bell Curve (via leofarto)

[lierdumoa]

I was reading an interesting article years ago about collective memory. There have been a lot of thinkpieces over the years about how humans are getting lazier and worse at remembering things thanks to technology. There’s a tendency, particularly in the western world, to behave as if memorization was all people did prior to the internet. 

But outside of artificial school test-taking environments, human beings have always relied on the collective memory of their close peers to keep track of information. Anyone who’s ever worked clothing retail knows that no single employee has the location of every item in the store memorized, but as long as you have enough people working the floor, nobody will ever have to waste time searching for an item because at least one employee is bound to remember which rack it’s on.

TL&DR - brains were never designed to function in isolation. 

Testing the intelligence of an individual in an isolation is never going to give you an accurate idea of a person’s true intellectual potential.

TL&DR TL&DR

Two (or more) heads is better than one.