#because yikes

[thebraxiatelcollection]

The thing about Doctor Who is that you just have to pick and choose your own version of Doctor Who, and it will be so much fun and simpler.

[turtlesandfrogs]

You can actually grow mint in the ground. It takes a bit of a trick, but you can definitely do it.

But first, a personal lesson on why people tell you not to plant mint in the ground (and yes, I knew better, but life happens and I didn't actually intentionally plant this):

This is my apple mint patch, which started by accidently dropping some minty debris and thinking, what's the worst that could happen? This. This is what can happen.

As you can see, it has engulfed potatoes, rhubarb, strawberries, and raspberries. It has received no care. It has out competed the invasive species that was there (bindweed), and replaced it. It's about 4 feet tall in the center, 5 feet wide, and 7 feet long. I really should do something about it this year.

And here's my other mint patch which is lest than 10 feet away, started at the same time, looking a little rough because I pulled some out to give a friend the other day (well, and it's shaded, and that corner of the yard is pretty weedy- but still! It gets the idea across!)

Take a closer look at the soil between the pots:

Notice something? Something like the mint not escaping? Yeah, there's bindweed that's gotten in, but ignore that for now*.

Mint.

In the ground.

Contained.

I also know someone who planted theirs in a chimney flue bricks, and it too, has not escaped- even after 5 years.

Why is this important? Well, because mint likes it moist and pots dry out quickly (which means that if i had to keep an eye on it, it would have died 4 years ago).

But if you half bury the pot, the roots (but not the runners!) go down and out and can use the moisture in the soil. I actually lifted these pots up a while ago to check, and they had sent roots down but not runners- and it has been multiple years.

Meaning I haven't had to water this mint. Not even during the 100+ weather days, and we have a summer dry period where we don't get any rain for months.

Now, truly, I was a bit concerned and not trusting of my own idea when I started this, so let me draw a picture of what this system actually is, for folks like me who think it's too good to be true and want some extra insurance:

So, as you can see, I didn't put the pot straight into the ground- I actually mostly buried a bin (that had holes in the bottom for drainage), and planted mint pots into that. I have not seen any mint escaping from the pots, but that's there, just in case.

*bindweed/perennial morning glory is awful. If you see it starting in your garden, remove it without hesitancy or mercy. Get every little bit of root. It's harder to get rid of than English ivy or Himalayan blackberry.

[khruschevshoe]

Just rewatched The Girl In the Fireplace for the first time in about nine years and Steven Moffat really read the Time Traveller's Wife one time and decided that every single woman companion he was going to write on the show (with the exception of Bill, and since she's a lesbian, she literally couldn't fall for the Doctor) was going to meet the Doctor as a child and then fall in love with him later on, didn't he? Reinette snogged him when she met him as an adult. Amy snogged him the day before she was getting married. River had, well, every single thing about her arc, birth to death. Even Clara, after being introduced as just friends, is revealed to have met the Doctor as a teenager and then is revealed to fancy him in the regeneration episode. Like, it's an absolutely bizarre and a little bit uncomfortable recurring plot point that these women met a man briefly as a child, imprinted on him, and fell in love/had a sexual interest in him/were obsessed with him as an adult, making large portions of their lives from childhood revolve around this man. Like...a bit of a yikes.

[femme--de--lettres]

this might be a hot take, but personally, I love when people ask me to explain my fics! to tell them why they’re worth reading! to talk about specific details even if we disagree about HCs!

part of the joy of being a fic author is getting to share my stories with folks who are—by and large—interested in the same handful of characters that i am, and getting the chance to explain the choices i’ve made or talk about plots i’ve written in further detail makes the fandom feel more like a community of friends who care about each other, and less like a transactional relationship between a consumer and a producer!

but that’s! just! me!

[petrichor102]

Do you think El has ever seen Mike's dreams about Will? Could you imagine that conversation? 😬

[beansnpeets]

I have been looking into reptiles a lot more lately, and honestly, I think I've been scared out of getting a ball python. It seems people have a lot of issues, and I do not have an exotic vet anywhere nearby. I don't suppose anyone has any suggestions for reptiles that are a little more on the hardy side? Boyfriend has a Hermann's tortoise, but I am not interested in tortoises. Would rather not get a pet that could outlive me that I would have to find a home for once I am gone.

[wren-was-here]

listen i know gwen is definitely flawed but all the anti gwen fics i’ve read are like

“she rolled her eyes and scoffed then she talked way too loud and told everyone their feelings didn’t matter and then she punched ianto in the face and then accidentally blew up the hub”

like. bro.

[dawnlitbouquet]

BDS is a targeted boycott for a reason. Do not spread other lists.

Source: The Palestinian BDS National Commitee, at <https://bdsmovement.net/Act-Now-Against-These-Companies-Profiting-From-Genocide>

The organisers specifically chose the companies it did to make the most impact on Israel. In addition, there are too many companies putting their fingers in too many pies; with the fabric of the economy being the way it is, it is impossible to go after every single complicit company and every single product when too many people rely on them now.

As the website states, individual efforts are welcome, but you have to prioritise avoiding the companies on this list specifically. If you spread the other, more extensive lists going around without context on how it's complicit, it loses focus, fails to push BDS's demands for these companies to dissociate from Israel and risks losing legitimacy due to unsubstantiated claims.

I understand other people have already been stating this, and that I personally do not have that wide a reach. But I feel this is important for me to state aloud, because even though my family is more sympathetic to Palestine I found out a good deal of them have become dismissive of boycotting.

The reason for this? The list that they'd seen was one of the extensive ones, the ones that state 'these companies are complicit without clarification'; and one of my relatives noticed that some of the companies listed had no relation to Israel at all. That, plus the sheer length of the list suggesting a complete upheaval of required grocery items is needed, meant they dismissed it as not only impossible, but pointless.

This is why the BDS organisers have been saying not to spread other lists. It isn't targeted, isn't organised, and lacks pressure on the specific issue of association towards Israel. Spread the chart they organised for maximum impact on the Zionist colony. Don't undermine their focus towards the primary targets by spreading other lists that lack context and evidence.