[daftpatience]

this messed up vintage cat sewing pattern has tormented me since i saw it & like some other folks have done in that post - i tried my hand at tweaking the pattern to resemble the illustration (and my personal tastes) a little more. i've ended up with this. i bestow it upon you nice folks now 👐

(update 2, added instructions & it's also on my Kofi!)

go forth and make weird little beanbag kittens! pls show me if you do!

[nabesthetics]

i call him The Catunculus

[homunculus-argument]

Reading a book about slavery in the middle-ages, and as the author sorts through different source materials from different eras, I am starting to understand why so many completely fantastical accounts of "faraway lands" went without as much as a shrug. The world is such a weird place that you can either refuse to believe any of it or just go "yeah that might as well happen" and carry on with your day.

There was this 10th century arab traveller who wrote into an account that the fine trade furs come from a land where the night only lasts one hour in the summer and the sun doesn't rise at all in the winter, people use dogs to travel, and where children have white hair. I don't think I'd believe something like that either if I didn't live here.

[dduane]

A brief moment of rationality from the bird place.

[pazzesco]

Photos courtesy of Yves Adams

Rare yellow penguin photographed for the first time ever! Wildlife photographer Yves Adams spotted the unusual bird on a remote island in South Georgia near Antarctica, in a colony of 120,000 king penguins. The odds of ever seeing an individual like this are one in a million

[myfairylily]

2024, Year of the Dragon

[microwaveexplosion]

[unashamedly-enthusiastic]

This is why I dislike looking back on the past as if everything has been constantly improving to get us to where we are now

Our cement isn't as strong as the Romans, our steel isn't as strong as Damascus steel, we cannot replicate the beauty of a Stradivari violin, we've already lost some of the technology that flew Apollo and Gemini to space

And when I live out a suitcase I have to sift through a pile of stuff like a neanderthal

[the-final-sif]

I don't think that this is a very good way to view the past, things have changed, but a lot of them have changed for a reason and we often tend to view the past through rose tinted glasses. That's not to say everything that's being used now is an improvement, but that's usually not a function of not knowing how, but rather a function of companies doing whatever they can to cut costs and do things cheaply.

To go down the list, many types of concrete we have now is stronger than roman concrete, which we do know how to make thanks to recent advancements in materials fields and research. However, roman concrete has some self-healing properties that coupled with a mostly ideal climate have made it very long lasting. Roman concrete is more durable, but it isn't stronger. It also doesn't work well in every climate, and there's reasons to use it or not to use it.

Damascus steel was great for it's time and all that, but several types of modern steel well outperform it in any category. Plenty of people have also made modern recreations of Demascus steel, so we can still do that if we feel a need to.

Stradivari violins aren't actually better instruments than other well-made violins. That's a long held myth that's been disproved time and time again by blind experiments from all the way back in the 1800s. In fact, a number of studies have shown that audiences tend to prefer modern violins for having better sound carrying quality. Expert players can't actually tell apart when playing either. The idea that Stradivari violins have some magic to them is mostly marketing.

We also haven't really lost technology from the Apollo or Gemini missions. While hardware has been discarded, it's because it wasn't useful anymore and for stuff that was useful, most of it was preserved. Almost none of the previous technology would fit in to modern plans and materials, so most of it wouldn't be of much use anyways. Technology has advanced, and methods of travel have to advance too. Even space travel.

Finally, that motherfucker above would be literally worse than a backpack to have to live out of. It's a steamer trunk, which means it's meant to be stored for a long period as you took a steamboat somewhere. They're very heavy, and good luck trying to get anywhere with that.

If you actually want a suitcase that turns into a dresser, those already exist in the modern day and they're much easier to use and they don't weigh 30 lb.

Again, this isn't to say that everything is rosy in the modern world. But that has very little to do with inability, and a lot more to do with a the profit motives of companies not aligning with the idea of giving people the best possible thing that they are capable of creating. We have the ability to be doing better. It is not beyond us.

[blackhistorystoryteller]

Black history is not all about slave trade

Slave trade is not just black history it’s just 10% of the history africa holds

This is a message to my black brothers and sisters in America

Today I will be talking about the Zulu tribe

The ancestors of the Zulu migrated from west Africa into southeastern Africa during the Bantu migrations from 2000 BC until the 15th century. The Zulu tribe expanded into a powerful kingdom, subdued surrounding groups, and settled in the region known as KwaZulu-Natal in present day South Africa. After enduring colonialism and overcoming apartheid, they have emerged as the dominant ethnic group in South Africa todayAccording to Zulu ancestral belief, the first Zulu patriarch was the son of a Nguni chief who lived in the Congo Basin of Central Africa. By the early 1800s, the Zulu had migrated to Natal, where they lived among other Nguni-speaking chiefdoms. There were ongoing power struggles among these chiefdoms.Around 1808, Chief Dingiswayo of the Nguni-speaking Mthethwa people led wars of conquest to end the power struggles among the chiefs in the communities surrounding his chiefdom.Chief Dingiswayo centralized power by organizing the military into age-based groups, rather than lineage-based regimens. This weakened kinship ties of the conquered communities. Chief Dingiswayo left the conquered chiefdoms relatively intact after they accepted his dominion.The Zulu developed into a distinct cultural group by the time they were conquered by Chief Dingiswayo and his Mthethwa people in the early 1800s. At that time, the Zulu were a small lineage numbering around 2,000 people led by Chief Senzangakhona.Shaka, the future founder of the Zulu Kingdom, was the illegitimate son of the Chief Senzangakhona. Shaka was drafted into the Mthethwa and became one of Chief Dingiswayo's bravest warriors. When Chief Senzangakhona died, Shaka seized the Zulu throne.Using Dingiswayo's military style of weakening kinship ties amongst warriors, Shaka controlled the Zulu community. After Dingiswayo's death, he killed the legitimate heir and installed a puppet as Chief of the Mthethwa.Before long, Shaka seized control over Mthethwa's regiments and assumed power of the newly formed Zulu Kingdom in 1818.

Shaka, Zulu King 1818 to 1828.

Zulu tribe facts include the following:

Shaka Day is celebrated in September by slaughtering cattle, wearing traditional clothing, and wielding traditional weapons. Dignitaries from other tribes and nations attend.

Traditionally a senior male is the head of the clan. Young men train from childhood to fight and defend the clan. Members of the clan have kinship ties based on blood or marriage.

To show respect, the Zulu do not refer to elders by their first name; they use "Baba" meaning father, and "Mama" meaning mother.

Patrilineal inheritance and polygamy are practiced in Zulu culture; having more than one wife is acceptable if one can afford it.

In Zulu culture, bride wealth must traditionally be paid in cattle. Most native groups in South Africa, including Nguni-speaking Xhosa, Ndebele, and Swazi pay bride wealth.

[ltwilliammowett]

Nef (table centrepiece for spices or wine) in the shape of a galleon, partially gilded and enamelled. Painted with various scenes from classical Greek mythology. And provided with small silver figures serving as crew. The ship is held by a two-tailed Nereid. Made by Karl Bender, Vienna, late 19th century

[miabrown007]

not in the fandom, not out of the fandom, but a secret third thing

[design-is-fine]

Joachim Tielke, musical instruments, 1688–1703. 1/ 2 Viola da Gamba 3/ Bell cistern 4/ Guitar 5/ Angelique 6/ Viola da gamba, seven strings. Hamburg, Germany. Via MKG

[catchymemes]

[orlyofhousesnark]

[leashamariel]

Do people know this is the husband of the prime minister of New Zealand

[creekfiend]

And who is the guy burying him in the sand

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

by 徐大花xudahua

[fluffygif]

Amazing dominoes structure

[cricketoid]

god destroying the tower of babel

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

there really is nothing more charming or telling about humanity than the amount of time and effort we’ll put into something just to see how cool it will look when we make it fall down 

[saint-ambrosef]

me: that’s a lot of….oh…OH

[mapsontheweb]

Counties of England that call their last meal “tea” vs “dinner”.

[robobee]

why won't people talk about how Goncharov's narrative structure is a direct allegory for Reagans years in office like yalls film bro mindset is really showing .. ignoring such a poignant message :/

[hypokeimena]

goncharov came out in 1973 when do you think reagan was president lol. like 'is it part of the early-70s reactionary backlash against the social progress of the 1960s' absolutely. but calling it reaganesque is both inaccurate and unnecessarily harsh lol

[andhumanslovedstories]

Real ones know Goncharov was Reagan’s favorite film and that his whole presidency was just he was trying to make the movie real

[zootycoon-archive]

i got these knockoff boots online and instead of the brand name on the tag they have the name of an apparently nonexistent martin scorsese movie??? what the fuck

[loseremo]

[brightwanderer]

Reblogging to save the lives of anyone who took their eye off tumblr for five fucking minutes and now thinks they’re living in an alternate universe. ;)

[Image ID: a black boot - as in the shoe - with a label that, bizarrely, reads “The greatest mafia movie ever made. Martin Scorsese presents GONCHAROV. Domenico Procacci Production. A film by Natted JWHJ0715 about the Naples Mafia.” End ID]

[Image ID: tumblr user abandonedambition replying to the picture of the boot with “this idiot hasn’t seen goncharov”. End ID]

(No, it’s not a real movie. The current tumblr meme is to joke post about the non-existent film, playing “yes, and” with other people’s posts. At the rate we’re going we will have generated a screenplay by the end of the week.

I’m explaining the joke because while I enjoy it a lot, it’s the kind of thing that can get genuinely confusing/distressing very fast if you’re not sure you can trust your memory.)

[iitsnotme-123]

Tumblr should make different colors of verified checkmark

[iitsnotme-123]

maybe even… give them as achievements…

[artimies6]

@noitspronouncedgif