#real world

[theblvcksupreme]

[asikan]

“Cahil insan, sırtında koca bir anahtar taşıyıp da, hangi kapıyı açacağını bilmeyen kişidir. Bilgiye gözlerini kapar, hakikate kulaklarını tıkar; ama yine de dünyanın bütün kapılarını zorlamaya kalkar. Oysa anahtarın büyüklüğü değil, onu doğru yerde kullanabilme basiretidir insana değer katan. Cahil, ağırlığını taşır da, ışığı göremez;

Gölgesinde kaybolur da, yolunu bulamaz. Ne zaman ki insan cehalet zincirini kırar, işte o zaman sırtındaki yük anahtar olur, önündeki engeller kapı olur ve hakikat tüm ihtişamıyla açılır.”

“An ignorant person is like someone carrying a giant key without knowing which door it opens. They shut their eyes to knowledge, close their ears to truth, yet still try to force every door of the world. But it is not the size of the key that matters, it is the wisdom to use it in the right place. The ignorant carry the weight but never see the light; they are lost in their own shadow, unable to find the path. Only when one breaks the chains of ignorance, the burden becomes a true key, obstacles turn into doors, and truth opens in all its glory.”

ASİKAN

[msilverstar]

Welsh water voles and glitter

Water voles are almost extinct in Wales - could glitter save them?

It is hoped edible glitter could help conservationists to track the shy species in the wild.

Now that's science with a flair for PR

FYI @becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys

[hale-my-nathan]

Trump Weird News - Eye Opener Pics Show Maga Unrealities !!!

[albineanmoose]

Since Dedue's family comes from a village of blacksmiths, they probably lived near Sacred Gwenhwyfar and the other mountains leading into Fódlan proper.

It's likely that some members of the community were familiar with the basics of Fódlan language, given the mineral wealth of Duscur being its primary interest to the nearby kingdom. Dedue may well have had an easier start than Petra, though he speaks the truth when he says he is stronger with spoken Fódlan than written. Partial immersion upbringing. Maybe he always had an idea of representing the culture of his people to the wider continent.

I actually headcanon that his mother comes from an agricultural town northwards— and that in a different future, he might have left the place of his birth to worship the god of earth in another way than his father, alongside his maternal grandparents.

Other worldbuilding thoughts on Duscur I might eventually move to their own post:

I also headcanon that Duscur was formerly closer to Albinea, and the Sacred Gwenhwyfar mountain range was formed when the geologic plate slid into Fódlan's continental plate. (This would be related to my ideas on trade with Albinea, local ecology of northern Fódlan, and extant relict populations of elk descended from Albinean domestic reindeer. The berries are like salmonberries or gooseberries.) (Alternatively, Albinea broke away from Fódlan and is moving north on a tectonic scale.)

There's probably also long tradition of smoked, pickled, and salted fish, considering the peninsular marine access and nearby salt mines in the mountains bordering Pryderi territory (latter info from Hopes). It's said that Duscur has rich forests, implying that wood (likely larch and bristlecone pine) is not a popular building material for typical domiciles or water vehicles. The flowers of Duscur in Garreg Mach's greenhouse are drought resistant, but easily overwatered by the freshwater available for that purpose, possibly indicating a brackish origin with halitic soils and saline water table. Seals are abundant along the coasts of rocky cliffs, similar to in the real-world northern United Kingdom. Perhaps selkie folklore can also be found in Duscur. Sealskin is probably the boatbuilding material of choice.

We know that Duscur culture also has a bear totem; this could be like real-world Korea's, or Siberian and Inuit, origin myth cosmologies. Bear meat is sacred to the Ainu of Hokkaido and Kamchatka, consumed ritually as part of ceremonies honoring the relationship local people have with the land as participants of a cycle both spiritual and ecological. It is likely that Duscur bears are closest to the Eurasian brown bear. (I have a special place in my heart thinking of it as the Ussuri subspecies!) Due to the presence of bears, wolves have less prey and territory for hunting and a lower population in the region.

With mountains, coasts, and bears, we can assume Duscur to have an annual salmon run and plenty of rocky postglacial waterfalls. Add that to the tourism bureau's pamphlet right up there with the wildflowers— I prefer to picture something like bluebell woods, personally.

The Duscur people have probably domesticated some sort of gourds, like calabash or pumpkin or acorn squash. Root vegetables may be more common than leafy greens, depending again on soil salinity.

Something many may not have considered before is the presence of beavers in Duscur. Beavers are an excellent way to decenter European ecology and culture from wider historically inspired fantasy works, since they went nearly extinct in that region just before the Colonial Age. The second largest kind of rodent, and the largest endemic to our planet's northern hemisphere, beavers are what are referred to as 'keystone species' and 'ecosystem engineers'. A really effective way of representing the negative effects of imperialistic colonization is through the degradation of local ecology as beaver populations decline from fur hunting. Using the beaver as a symbol, we can represent a shorthand for the reintroduction, reconstruction, reparation, and respect for indigeneity promised by King Dimitri Blaiddyd I of United Fódlan to the native Duscur people.

A fantasy setting offers fascinating opportunities to think about what defines something in our world and to look at how it might be different with different physics. What if beavers had gills? What if otters could transition from sea to river? What if seal blubber had flavor? What if flowers were salt-tolerant!? I really enjoy exploring potential answers to the questions Fuukasetsugusu doesn't even realize it asks, and I hope my posts can get some readers experimenting with what the more mundane aspects of fantasy world might look like.

[oneofstarkskids]

freedom

happy birthday steve rogers!!!

genre: angst with a happy ending

note: it's 2 am now, but today was july 4th. bills have been passed. decisions have been made. this whole year has been a shit show so far and i'm pissed. and i know he would be too.

channel six is on in the common room. clips of disasters, sobbing children, men in tactical gear, senate hearings, and angry protesters flash across the screen.

steve is frozen on the couch, eyes glued to the chaos. you swear he hasn't so much as taken a breath for twenty minutes.

"steve," you say softly.

he didn't hear you. his mind is somewhere else entirely.

you grab the remote, clicking the power button before he can sink any deeper.

immediately, his head drops, eyes squeezing shut.

you make your way over to him, hand finding his shoulder. "steve..." you try again, softer this time.

he looks up at you, jaw clenched, brows furrowed. you offer him a warm smile and hold out the plate in your free hand.

he studies it for a moment before his expression softens. "is that...the last donut?"

you grin, "with red, white, and blue sprinkles? of course."

his hardened exterior cracks a bit and he takes the paper plate from your hands, whispering a thank you.

you cross your arms, "don't you want to join the rest of us out on the deck?"

his gaze lingers on the donut, almost like he's studying it, "maybe in a bit."

you sigh, sitting down next to him. "you've been in here all day, steve."

he doesn't respond.

"i don't know about you, but this would be a pretty shitty way to spend my birthday," you say as you wrap your arms around your knees.

"yeah, well. shitty people deserve shitty birthdays," he says with a sadness to his voice.

you frown, taken back, "you don't actually believe you're shitty, do you? after everything you've done for-"

"everything i've done? really? what about all the things i haven't? all the people who've suffered because of the things i've done?" he snaps, startling you for a split second.

his words are sharp and cut deep but you shake your head, "stop it."

he rests his elbows on his knees, letting his hands bear the weight of his aching skull.

"steve," you place a reassuring hand on his leg, "you're not the problem. you can't be responsible for every life. every tragedy. there are forces in this world that not even you can stop. greed, selfishness, and hatred. no vibranium shield can fix that."

steve begins to feel the burn of fresh tears in his eyes.

"and they will stop at nothing. but that doesn't mean you give up or sulk. it just means that you keep fighting too. you keep speaking up for what's right. you get out there every day and show the world that empathy is not a weakness," you tell him.

"and you take it one day at a time," your hand finds his, squeezing until he finally lifts his head again.

you rest your head on his shoulder, "because it's not easy. it's terrifying. and sometimes it feels hopeless...but you're never alone."

steve stays silent as he processes your words. they don't fix anything, but he knows you're right.

he finally smirks, "not too bad for a beginner."

you can't help but laugh, poking him in the side for good measure.

"yeah, well. i learn from the best," you say fondly.

steve looks down at you, admiration softening his tired blue eyes.

he sets the donut aside for now before nodding curtly, "let's go join the others."

and though each pop of a firework in the distance made his heart ache for those still suffering, and the promises for freedom ringing in his ears felt hollow for so many people anymore...

steve spent his birthday the only way he knew how. not by celebrating failures, but by honoring others. holding their grief and pain close to his heart.

and cherishing the moments of peace he was given.

[siriuslyobsessedwithfiction]

Wikipedia is begging for donations right now while people buy Gemeni pro and Chatgpt pro to get wrong information and chat with AI slop. When I thought it'd be cool to live in a futuristic world when I was reading dystopian YA books in middle school, this is not what I meant.