Salacious Sesquipedalion

something- yr old, LLB/BA student with far too much time on her hands.

[rosewind2007]

Happy Tom Holland Day to those who celebrate:

[rembrandtswife]

As John Rogers said on BlueSky, "Centuries from now this video will be internet scholars’ complaint tablet to Ea-nāṣir."

[dailyhistoryposts]

On This Day In History

March 23rd, 2021: A container ship runs aground and obstructs the Suez Canal for six days.

[fandom]

Happy anniversary to [tumblr]'s beloved Ever Given getting stuck in the Suez Canal.

[doreenchloepoetry]

happy international women’s day, 2025

[oneheadtoanother]

[mewvore]

Sometimes you need to read something twice to get it. You might need to watch a movie three times to understand it. You might have to have that album on repeat for a week until the lyrics make any sense. You're allowed to engage with it and can keep engaging with it until it means something to you. People will see a painting at a museum and laugh about not getting what the big deal is but like you can come back, you can see it at another time, and maybe that next time it'll be different for you. I'm of the belief the "media literacy crisis" would solve itself if more people just sat down and did it again. Watched, read, played, listened, etc like I don't think people are getting more ignorant necessarily I just think we're not glorifying personally replaying things nearly as much as we should be.

[sistertaxon]

Incidentally, one cannot read a book: one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader. And I shall tell you why. When we read a book for the first time the very process of laboriously moving our eyes from left to right, line after line, page after page, this complicated physical work upon the book, the very process of learning in terms of space and time what the book is about, this stands between us and artistic appreciation. When we look at a painting we do no have to move our eyes in a special way even if, as in a book, the picture contains elements of depth and development. The element of time does not really enter in a first contact with a painting. In reading a book, we must have time to acquaint ourselves with it. We have no physical organ (as we have the eye in regard to a painting) that takes in the whole picture and can enjoy its details. But at a second, or third, or fourth reading we do, in a sense, behave towards a book as we do towards a painting.

- Vladimir Nabokov, Lectures on Literature

[redlipstickresurrected]

Paul Rouphail (American, b. 1987, Chicago, IL, USA, based Philadelphia, PA, USA) - Suncatcher, 2022, Paintings: Oil on Linen

[tedcruzisthezodiackiller]

[the-uncanny-dag]

The notes on this post

(by @rydengg)

[allsadnshit]

"Growing Around Grief"

Lois Tonkin, 1996

[eternal--return]

This is the most important thing I’ve learned about grieving. It never goes away. Time doesn’t make it smaller. Time, if you do the work, makes you bigger. Self expansion is key. Self expansion through creativity and passion and communication. My grief used to be all of me. Now it is a part of me. An important part, but just a part. I love this visualization so much.

[nuclearfaggot]

oh man. oh jeez

[sailermoon]

huge shout out to this little kid for writing my favorite poem

[ryebreadgf]

favorite tweets

[goddessactuality]

[teaboot]

Yeah Mr. Darcy’s proposal was a complete turd and a half but you gotta understand. You got your life together. A good career, stable income, retirement plan, all that shit together. And you meet this girl. And she’s everything. Clever, outspoken, funny, calls you on your bullshit. Grade A cutie, right? And she doesn’t go out of her way to spend time with you but she’s nice, and sometimes you catch her looking your way in a way that makes you think you might have a shot.

But her family. Holy shit.

First off, it’s p much ALL women, and mostly UNMARRIED women, which at this time means of something happens to her dad then you’re financially responsible for like. Four grown ass adults, potentially forever

Because mom in law is DEFINITELY gonna need someone to take care of her when dad in law kicks it, and they have like. NO money. So already you’re accepting that if all goes well, you’re gonna be one random old bag’s retirement home. That’s expensive and exhausting, yeah? Imagine asking someone on a first date knowing that if they say yes and things go good her high-strung chihuahua mother is gonna move in with you. IMAGINE.

And girly’s other sisters. Well, one is a sweetheart, yeah, and she’s getting engaged so she probably won’t be an issue, but that still leaves two more, and those ones are INSUFFERABLE. Never went to school, dumb as rocks, spend cash like it’s toilet paper

And while one of ‘em’s young still and might grow out of it the OTHER one is actively torpedo’ing her entire family’s reputation by wandering off with random dudes and chasing ass. She’s never gonna work, she can’t build connections, she’s a fucking sinkhole, and she’s being led on by the same goddamn con man ass leeching tit who’s been bleeding you dry while telling anyone who’ll listen that your family is full of ratty thieving bastards.

And if he dumps her after a week- WHICH YOU KNOW HIS BITCH ASS IS GONNA- you’ve got a SECOND UNMARRIABLE GROWN ASS ADULT TO PROVIDE FOR. And you KNOW she’s gonna be a tantrum-throwing little shit about it, and it’s not like you can lock her in the basement or something, you’re gonna have to bring her fucking. Everywhere. And give her an allowance and shit while she contributes zero, because again, she NEVER GOT EDUCATED AND HAS NO MARKETABLE SKILLS. She’s not even good to TALK to. FUCK

And you’re looking at this girl’s father like “please for the love of fuck get your spawn under control, marry them off, get them working on their résumé, learning to sew or be nursemaids or manage staff or SOMETHING, yall got no money and one foot in the grave” and that old man just laughs like “haha yeah, what can you do. lol”

So you’re looking to the mom and finally it’s making sense how she got that twitch in her eye and as MUCH as she is you’re starting to realize she’s the SMART one, desperately throwing her armloads of girls at random men like they’re a bunch of fucking lifeboats bobbing around a sinking ship, like yes Jesus Christ sweetly that life boat IS old and ugly and kind of boring but for FUCKS SAKE PICK ONE

And you look back at this girl who is ALSO REFUSING THE LIFE BOATS BY THE WAY and god damn it she’s still the most radiant thing you’ve ever seen so fine, fuck it, Christ alive, you’ll do it. You’ll shoot your shot. She’s everything you’ve ever wanted in anybody abut it’s not even just about that anymore, it’s about being her best fucking shot at a future, and even if she doesn’t like you all that much she’s still gonna say yes and that might break your heart a bit knowing it’s about the money but who knows, maybe it will at least be civil, or companionable, and even if she doesn’t LOVE you at least you’ll know she’s well and cared for

And so you’ll do it. You’ll take on the neurotic stress mess mother in law, the absent father, the broke ass wingnut no brain no money no future airhead sisters, the bad mannered relatives and the embarrassing behaviour and the impending future of sharing your entire shit with a clown parade of freeloaders, you’ll risk it all and accept the absolute certainty of financial ruin and emotional exhaustion for the rest of your whole ass life and you’ll make your own family deal with it too, you’ll do it, you’ll fucking DO IT, you stupid lovesick motherfucker

And so you go to this chick like “look. Your whole family’s a shitshow. You’ve got fucking nothing and you’re gonna die on the street. But for some reason- and I don’t get it either- I’ve fallen in love with you, and I wish I didn’t, but I did, so I’m telling you that whether you like me or not, I’ll give you everything. I’ll give you everything even if it’s the dumbest shit I ever done. Fuck my stupid Baka ass, I’ll marry you.”

And she looks at you- having heard or considered absolutely none of your months-long internal debate and monologue- and goes “The fuck did you just say about my family, you son of a bitch?”

And the shock of that is enough to jolt you back into a reality where you are able to actually hear and process what just came out of your damn mouth And yeah

Yeah, I think I kinda get it

[a-study-in-bullshit]

"I love you , I'm glad we're friends"

[two-bees-poetry]

What poetry would you recommend to someone who doesn't normally like or "get" poetry? I do like "This Be the Verse" by Phillip Larkin, but generally, I've never been big on poetry. I would like to try more though.

Thanks!

This is one of my very favorites- The Orange by Wendy Cope. It comforts me, and I don't think it's difficult to understand. Plus, it rhymes, which for some people, I know, is important for poetry.

[hroethvitnir]

I am needlessly riled by all the posts and humans' inherent goodness.

Humans are *neutral*, man. That's why improving society really needs to look like making doing the right thing the path of least resistance.

A majority of people sit right around the tall bit of some sort of bell curve with "does selfish shit that could hurt others by default, is generous under the right circumstance" is one side of the peak and "is generous by default, will do selfish shit that could hurt others under the right circumstances" on the other.

You can observe it any day by observing people under stress (eg: bad traffic, busy supermarket, an unexpectedly un/pleasant interaction with a stranger who is very different to you) - and in yourself in circumstances you find particularly stressful.

[findingfeather]

Humans are inherently socially oriented mammals, which is another important key to unlocking this. Both our sins and our sainthoods are linked to this fact. We are cursed and blessed with the ability to bond to other humans and feel their pain as our own and that will often lead us to doing very generous and heroic things especially in the short-term and when the cost to ourselves is relatively low -

. . . but in the long term, or when we can't do anything, or when the cost to ourselves is punitive, that very capacity to feel their pain as our own is actually a significant factor in the need to dehumanize them so we stop seeing ourselves in their mirror, and thus stop feeling pain we can't get rid of.

Humans are inherently stressed out social mammals in a big ugly complicated world full of stressors. It is within this context that we then with our thinking cognition try to be what we understand as "good" and "bad". Designating us as either will both lead to erroneous predictions and also unfortunate actions. But realizing that we're scared, stressed, social (nay, hypersocial) mammals trying to live really complex lives?

Then you can start optimizing strategies to make being good easier and being bad unrewarding.

That doesn't mean "when you see good things, be cynical and dismissive and denigrate human nature". Absolutely look at good things we do and go this is us. Hold that really close: this is part of our potential. This is part of our capacity. It's important.

. . . however, you also need to actually look at the horrific shit and also realize this is us and take the fucking warning and do not, ever, fall into the trap of believing that only some ~*other kind of person*~ could possibly do the things (or that it's magically being forced on us by some system or other or whatever).

It's also important.

Humans have astonishing capacity for good shit that mutually reinforces into making the world a better place for everyone.

We also have a legacy of most of our time on this planet being really fucking violent, xenophobic fuckers who have come up with every possible way to hurt, maim and kill one another and even find philosophical justification for it.

And we've also just been stupid and desperate for millions of years too.

All of that is ours. All of it is part of us. All of it has to be engaged with if we want to be better.

[papayajuan2019]

cruelty is so easy. youre not special for choosing it

[ourplague]

[chilewithcarnage]

"The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist; a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain."

-Ursula K. LeGuin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

[wizardnuke]

"Evil is boring. Right? I kinda believe in the banality and mundaneness of evil. Evil is just selfish impulses, which at the end of the day are really easy to understand. It’s easy to understand why people do bad things. It’s like “yeah, ok, you’re selfish and scared and cruel, I get it”. Being good is complex and beautiful and hard." - Brennan Lee Mulligan

[transchakotay]

“Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.”

- Simone Weil

[xic4-4]

"Many people seem to think it foolish, even superstitious, to believe that the world could still change for the better. And it is true that in winter it is sometimes so bitingly cold that one is tempted to say, ‘What do I care if there is a summer; its warmth is no help to me now.’ Yes, evil often seems to surpass good. But then, in spite of us, and without our permission, there comes at last an end to the bitter frosts. One morning the wind turns, and there is a thaw. And so I must still have hope."

- Vincent van Gogh

[elfwreck]

"Each of us from the moment of his or her birth exists in an environment in which it is easy to do evil and hard to do good.... If I know somebody very well, in ten minutes, if I set my mind to it, I could perhaps say to them things so cruel, so destructive, that they would never forget them for the rest of their life. But could I in ten minutes say things so beautiful, so creative, that they would never forget them?"

- Bishop Kallistos Ware