Misplaced Lens Cap
almost home
JVL
Not today Justin
2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year
sheepfilms
One Nice Bug Per Day
tannertan36
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
𓃗
bliss lane
pixel skylines
RMH
Kiana Khansmith
izzy's playlists!
todays bird
official daine visual archive
Noah Kahan
tumblr dot com
No title available
seen from Vietnam
seen from Puerto Rico
seen from Puerto Rico
seen from Malaysia
seen from Bangladesh
seen from T1
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from India
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Puerto Rico
seen from Italy
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from Russia
seen from Russia
seen from Netherlands
seen from Colombia
seen from United Kingdom
@sunnysam-my
Hi, I'm Fizz :>
Please be aware I don't always understand how my writing comes off as. I never mean to belittle or offend anyone unless I explicitly say so. I often use harsh big words, but I'm not actually upset or anything, usually just surprised.
My other blog is for stimboards: @twich-of-tism
AO3: Sunny_Sammy
Klimt + The Addams Family
I don't think we give Jonathan Harker nearly enough credit for his absolutely unhinged choices. In 1897, that pathetic wet cat of a man was written with enough grit, willpower, and raw human stupidity to rival any of our modern horror podcast protagonists. When faced with a centuries-old vampire, in a coffin, drenched in fresh blood, he really thought the best thing to do was to hit it in the face WITH A SHOVEL. The audacity. The misplaced confidence. The sheer desperation. No plan. No hesitation. Running on fear and spite alone. And i fucking love him for it. Truly the character of all time.
I don't think we give enough credit to how unhinged the entire book is.
Dracula casually throws out the window Johnathan's mirror after attacking him, because he cut himself shaving.
Dracula crawls out the window of his bedroom, up and down the wall
Dracula pretends to be the staff of his castle
Johnathan keeps falling asleep in random places, even when knowing this can get him killed, because he's too lazy to go to bed
Johnathan hits Dracula with a shovel in the heat of the moment
Dracula wears a cape that makes it look like he has bat wings
Dracula stole Johnathan's clothes and would hunt in them
I feel like people misunderstand the title of Mo Dao Zu Shi, or of what Wei Wuxian does as “demonic cultivation” (mo dao). It’s not. It is, however, what most people in canon THINK he’s doing
Mo dao messes with the cycle of reincarnation, which is why the Yiling Patriarch becomes so reviled. The term mo dao is actually used only ONCE in the novel - when Wei Wuxian notes that people called him “the grandmaster of demonic cultivation”
It uses living humans, extracts qi out of them, and involves the destruction of golden cores, brainwashing, and effectively vampiring living beings for the sake of power. It doesn’t use ambient resentment, it creates it by harming others.
The reason we’re continuously told (by people who know nothing of Wei Wuxian’s path) that he’s at risk of going insane is because that’s what mo dao does. It warps the mind and body because the source of resentment is within the user
Wei Wuxian calls his cultivation “the ghostly path” or “ghost cultivation” (gui dao). Hell, the only other person shown to match his expertise on the subject - Xue Yang - also calls it gui dao. Xue Yang !! He’d be delighted to call his actions demonic !! If he’s insisting on calling it “ghostly”, then that tells us that the difference matters
So what is gui dao ? First of all, we know that it doesn’t mind-control people as a baseline - that’s why Wei Wuxian ended up dying the first go around. We know that it utilises pre-existing resentful energy in the world to direct the dead
We know, also, that it requires a certain level of understanding of the dead. One of the spells Wei Wuxian creates is literally named Empathy.
We know that the power source is usually external (the Burial Mounds, the Stygian Tiger Seal), and that it, most importantly, doesn’t create demons. It creates ghosts and fierce corpses. And because of this, it likely doesn’t prevent reincarnation.
Why is the distinction important ? Because the former is what mo dao does. It creates mo.
We’re told the difference - very intentionally - in one of the earliest parts of the story, when Lan Qiren asks Wei Wuxian the difference between gui (ghosts) and mo (demons) and yao, and gets the correct answer
There’s foreshadowing littered all across the earlier chapters, actually. I might make a post on that some day
As a person who knows absolutely no Chinese, I find this really illuminating. It totally changes the story for me.
魔 = Mó is «a tricky term. It can be used to describe dead evil people, emphasis on evil. Interestingly, Baidu says the Chinese language does not have the word mó - it is rather an adaptation from the word “Mara” in the Buddhist scriptures. Strictly speaking, mó describes all negative human emotions that prevent humans from practising Buddhism / their quest for Nirvana. It describes doubts, temptations, jealousy, etc. which are the roots to “evil”. It later evolves to describe “evil” in general. When people are corrupted with thoughts like greed, envy, they are said to develop a 心魔 - xìn (heart) mó – literally: evil in their hearts. In MDZS, what Niè Míngjué undergoes is called 走火入魔 – Zǒu huǒ rù mó, which has been translated as qì deviation, the word mó appears in this phrase, and its linked verb ru mo (to enter/descend to evil)."» quote taken from:
https://www.tumblr.com/lucifermeo/184695953681/ancient-chinas-fantastic-beasts-and-how-to-call?source=share
I have a bit to add to this. That classroom scene is my favourite exposition in all media I've seen or read! It actually explains everything very well, you just have to know it's important. Here's that scene cut down and translated by me.
“Tell me, are demons (妖 Yao), devils (魔 Mo), ghosts (鬼 Gui) and monsters (怪 Guai) all the same thing?”
(“我问你，妖魔鬼怪，是不是同一种东西?”)
Wei Wuxian smiled. “No.”
“Why not? How do you distinguish between them?”
“Demons are transformed from living creatures other than humans. Devils are transformed from living humans. Ghosts are transformed from the dead. Monsters are transformed from inanimate objects other than humans.”
(“妖者非人之活物所化；魔者生人所化；鬼者死者所化；怪者非人之死物所化。”)
“‘Yao’ (妖) and ‘guai’ (怪) are easily confused. Could you give an example to distinguish them?”
(“‘妖’与‘怪’极易混淆，举例区分?”)
[…] “Take, for instance, a living tree that has absorbed overheard knowledge for a hundred years, cultivated itself into a spirit, developed a consciousness, and now haunts and troubles people. That's a ‘demon’ (妖). But if I were to take an axe and chop it down, leaving only a dead stump, and it were to cultivate into a spirit again, that would be a ‘monster’ (怪).” (“臂如一颗活树，沾染书香之气百年，修炼成精，化出意识，作祟扰人，此为‘妖’。若我拿了一把板斧，拦腰砍断只剩个死树墩儿，它再修炼成精，此为‘怪’。”)
[…]
“Let me ask you this: there was once an executioner who had parents, a wife and children, yet beheaded over a hundred people during his lifetime. He met a violent end in the streets, his body left exposed for seven days. His pent-up resentment has led him to haunt and commit atrocities. What should you do?”
Lan Wangji […] said calmly, "Salvation first, suppression second, extermination third. First, appeal to their parents, wife, and children, fulfilling their wishes in life and dispelling their obsessions. If that doesn't work, then suppress them; if their crimes are heinous and their resentment lingers, then eradicate them completely, allowing them no chance of survival. […]"
Wei Wuxian said, "Although 'salvation' is said to be the first priority, 'salvation' is often impossible. 'Fulfilling their wishes in their previous life and dispelling their obsessions' is easier said than done. If these obsessions are a new set of clothes is fine, but what if it means killing an entire family to avenge a wrong?"
Lan Wangji said, "Then, suppression should assist salvation. If necessary, extermination would also follow."
Wei Wuxian smiled slightly and said, "What a waste." […] "This executioner died a violent death, so it's inevitable that he became a fierce corpse. Since he beheaded over a hundred people in his lifetime, why not dig up the graves of those hundred, stir up their resentment, and gather the hundred to fight against the fierce corpse."
[…]
Lan Qiren abruptly stood up: "‘Subduing devils and taking down demons, driving out ghosts and destroying malevolent forces (伏魔降妖、除鬼歼邪,) —all this is done for the sake of salvation! Not only do you fail to contemplate the path to salvation, but you even seek to stir up their resentment? You've spit in the face of natural order, disregarding human ethics!"
Wei Wuxian said, "Since some things are useless for salvation anyway, why not make use of them? Even Yu the Great knew that blocking is the worst strategy, while dredging is the best. Suppression is blocking, isn't it a worst strategy." […] "Spiritual energy is energy, and resentment is energy too. Spiritual energy, stored in the dantian, can split mountains and fill seas for human use. Why can't resentment be used for human use?"
[…] "Then let me ask you again! How can you guarantee that this resentment will be used for your own benefit and not to harm others?"
Wei Wuxian […] replied: "I haven't thought of that yet!"
Lan Qiren roared: "If you had, the entire cultivation world would not have allowed you to live. Get out!"
I believe we actually do see Mo several times in the novel! Mostly in the form of qi deviations and use of the Tiger Tally.
走火入魔 is translated as qi deviation, but "being possessed" is more fitting. Modernly it's used as a way to say "to be obsessed", but in the original daoist/buddhist context, it's about focusing on hallucinations that can arise during meditation. It happens due to unhealthily intense focus on sensations, feeling, desires, ect, leading to confusion between illusion and reality. The Nie clan is prone to it because they use sabers that eventually became monsters filled with killing intent. The users become possessed with rage or despair and it eventually kills them.
However, we also see this with WWX too! During the Bloodbath of Nightless City he looses control of corpses and is so overwhelmed with anger mixed with despair he became possessed with his need for revenge. After he looses all control of himself he also looses recollection of what happened and act as if he wasn't consciously there. He's just mindlessly hurting everyone around. An important role in that plays the Tiger Tally which is similar to Nie clan's sabers. Both are filled with and feed off of resentment, but the resentment also infects the user of the weapon. The saberes are cultivated using resentful energy of beasts and creatures they slay, while the Tally was created with the sword from inside the Xuanwu of Slaughter, which was filled with the resentful energy of all the people it ate. The Tally however doesn't form any conciseness or bonds with any user, it's just a tool filled with the overwhelming intent of mindless revenge.
Another thing are the actual Mo cultivators, who use energy of living humans rather than dead like Wei Wuxian does. He understandably doesn't like them, because unlike the ghost path, which requires control over your emotions and compassion, it's done to or with the harm of living humans. He wanted to use the unrest dead to deal with those being that can't be saved, ideally additionally helping the unrest with moving on by using them. In this way even people too weak to form a core can help with night hunts. Instead people who have selfish desires use it to harm others. This is exactly what Lan Qiren feared. Wei Wuxian opened the door to demonic path, whether he wanted or not. He never figured out how to make sure the method is used for good and not to harm others.
Another thing that got lost in translation, but is also just willfully ignored/distorted, is Mo Xuanyu makeup.
Mo Xuanyu wore makeup which made him resemble a hanged ghost. He specifically used his mother's makeup, one of the only things he had, left behind by the only person who loved him, after she hanged herself.
Diào sǐ guǐ (吊死鬼), the ’hanged ghost’, is a restless, vengeful spirit. They have pale face, bloodshot, protruding eyes with dark red circles around them, disheveled hair, and a long, blood-red tongue. Often they are portraited with long neck and purple lips. It was believed that people who committed suicide by hanging had strong resentment and needed to find a substitute to die in their place in order to be able to be reborn. Hanging ghosts cannot be reincarnated unless they find a substitute.
Wei Wuxian also couldn't be reborn after the death he brought on himself, it's implied his spirit couldn't even be contacted until Mo Xuanyu died and gave his body in WWX's place. By offering his body and soul to a "heinous evil spirit" he was able to be reincarnated, but the ghost needs to fulfill the caster's wishes or their soul will be permanently destroyed. Wei Wuxian gave up on the world. I don't think Mo Xuanyu makeup was just accidentally resembling a hanged ghost. Wei Wuxian basically killed himself and refused to do anything as a ghost.
There's also a belief that the more you look like a demon at the time of your death, especially if you died violently with hate, the more likely you would become an evil spirit after death.
How in the world does Henry Danger have one of the ugliest, most disgusting, weirdest villain ever while also have one of the hottest and funniest villains ever?
even with those four numbers there are countless possible combinations good luck with figuring out which one is the right one you punk
*straightens calculator*
It’s pretty likely that it’s a four digit number, and as there are four digits chosen there, that means that there cannot be any repetition. This mean that there are:
n!/(n-4)! possible orders. As ‘n’ is 4 (number of digits available). 4!/0! which becomes 4x3x2x1/1 which simplifies to 24. That means that there are 24 possible combinations of codes. This would take you about two or three minutes to input all possible codes.
Unless an alarm goes off if you don’t get it right in 3 tries
*straightens calculator again*
Kick the fucking door in
well ‘technically’ the code is most likley 1970. statistically, a majority of people, when told to choose a 4 digit code will choose their birth year. and this key pad is obviously a few years old to put it nicely, thats most likley it.
some sherlock holmes shit just went down over here
No, no, no. Don’t base your deductions of psychology. Let’s talk chemistry. When you first press a button, there’s more of the natural oils on your skin, and therefore it wears down the numbers on the keys faster. Obviously 0 is the first one, then. Try 0791 first.
Sherlock out.
it got better
and this is why the sherlock fandom could either rule the world or end it….
Close, but not quite, I think. People will almost always choose a number they can remember. What’s memorable about 0791? Try 0719 - a birthday, 19th of July. That is more likely.
Those deductions are great and all, but unnecessary.
The light is green.
The door is already open.
And that’s why we have a John Watson.
This is “top 10 favorite posts” level.
Omg, it’s actually on my dash! This post is like a fossil!
@hellsite-hall-of-fame
Most people don't make their own codes. This is most likely a pre-set movement pattern going from up-down-right-left. 1097 is my guess.
I am so sorry to anyone I didn't respond to from my inbox, it kinda is all messed up for some reason and I get ghost mail while not getting notifications at the same time
Also, it fucking ate my response???? Hello??? I was in middle of writing a long ass response about unschooling TwT
So! This is a perfect case study in situations where you should be wary of misinformation.
Take a moment and ask yourself, a project like this requires a lot of time, money and dedication of resources, why would scientists dedicate that time to something that could just be done by a tree?
The answer is they wouldn't. So that means this claim requires further investigation!
This project is called LIQUID 3, and it's not meant for cities with wide open spaces, it's meant for cities like Belgrade in Serbia. These cities are densely populated and heavily polluted, to the point where pollution actually chokes out current trees and makes creating green spaces difficult.
Liquid 3 was a PhD scientists answer to these problems. The microalgae tank is intended for spaces where you either:
Don't have enough space to plant full trees, or
Don't have enough time to plant trees and wait for them to grow up.
The tank is extremely efficient when you consider the amount of space needed compared to the amount of CO2 turned into oxygen. The tank can operate throughout the winter. And most importantly, it can be quickly set up in areas that desperately need relief from air pollution NOW not in 10 years when trees are done growing. Children currently suffocating on polluted air can't wait for trees to grow, they need to be taken care of now, and Liquid 3 is one of the ways to take care of them. Depending on the species of microalgea used, a number have shown a pretty amazing capacity to pull heavy metals out of the air which is something trees can get choked up by.
The tanks aren't just tanks either! Liquid 3 have solar panels placed on top, they have lighting and mobile phone charging, and they work as public benches. The designers of it want to encourage green spaces where there's room, but where there isn't room or time, Liquid 3 can step in. Realistically, this isn't a replacement for trees. It's replacing boring metal city benches with new, cooler benches that also clean the air (and have at least some heating during the winter).
Not only that, but the microalgea that grows is native to Serbia and all that microalgea has a ton of great uses! It makes for great fertilizer, compost, wastewater treatment, cleaner biofuels and even for helping create new tanks for further air purification. They only require a quick algae divide once a month, and the produced algae can be carted off to where ever it's needed. This makes them effective solutions for areas that can't sustain complex installations.
So yeah, there's actually quite a lot of places that would like these. Lots of people currently breathing in terrible quality air would much rather have their boring city benches replaced with really fucking cool algae tanks that clean the air and can be used to help create + sustain future green spaces in cities. I dunno about you, but I'd take that over a dumb metal bench any day. Put these at every bus stop and I'd be delighted.
can ppl pls reblog this version
Serbian here living in Belgrade! This is all true and I've actually seen some of these around the city a few times. They're amazing at what they do and really cool to watch up close because you can see pretty swirling inside them. It's not only functional but aesthetically pretty nice as well!
hey, re your post detailing the different types of discrimination aros and aces deal with, you gave out a couple specific numbers/statistics, like the bit saying we're 10% more likely to be offered/undergo conversion therapy. could you tell me where you found those specific numbers?
Hi, I know this is super old, but I've updated my post with the sources now :)
I am so sorry to anyone I didn't respond to from my inbox, it kinda is all messed up for some reason and I get ghost mail while not getting notifications at the same time
found you through the ghost iguana post and then saw your phosphophyllite banner. rare HnK fan spotted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hell yeah!!!! My favourite anime, and favourite manga, and probably one of my favourite stories general
I do photo restoration and words cannot express how much I fucking hate AI.
You can't find any sources to learn from because it's all AI.
You can't find anyone who does real restoration because it's all drowned by AI makers.
You can't ask anyone online to restore a photo for you because it's flooded by AI.
And AI can't do photo restoration for shit! It's complictly unable to do it! It messes up facial details and jewelry. It's also kinda racist, so… Gods, I hate AI.
Redrawing Vintage Black Valentine Cards
I love vintage greeting cards, but unfortunately, it's hard to find any that have black characters and aren't racist, and that makes me sad. I'm working on some more that need a lot of fixing, because those are the most tame I found. Hope you enjoy, feel free to use them however you want.
New badge/pin design, baby! 😁
I unfortunately don't know who that og artist of the symbol is :/ This was inspired by people calling radical groups who steal animals from unethical farms terrorism
Hey, so, remember that in this heatwave people and animals are dying right now, especially in Central and East Europe which isn't prepared for whether above 30°C
If you know there's are people living or begging on the streets in your area, please carry cold water bottles and sunscreen you can give/share. If someone is extremely red, veiny, and doesn't seem to be actively sweating, they are likely going through a heatstroke, call for help.
For wildlife, leave water around, as well as messy parts of garden for shade. If you feed the birds in winter, help them out by leaving some seeds in the feeder. If you see a young bird outside of the nest or a weak, laying on the ground bird, take them with you. If they are young (no feathers, may be fluffy) you will probably need to give it to wildlife rescue, but adults usually just need water and shade. Don't hesitate to take them, they will die out in the sun or will get eaten. Most birds have a poor sense of smell and cannot detect human scent.
I grew up in a cult - DC X DP prompt
Danny had to escape his home dimension due to the GIW hurting him too badly during one of their little hunts, causing the ancients to deem Danny’s dimension too dangerous for him. Clockwork gave him a hand making up an identity in another dimension (DC), but he failed to tell Danny that this dimension was nothing like his, and Danny, so focused on getting himself back to his feet and going unnoticed, doesn’t notice that’s the case on his own.
He’s overwhelmed by how much more advanced technology is in this dimension, and with much reason, they’re like XX years over his dimension, but at least he doesn't have to worry about sustainance, since Clockwork placed him on Gotham's academy Scholarship list, and the school is providing for all the basics. He would cry if he had to figure out a job in a place so much more advanced than his own dimension.
