Name's Nikko. Please be respectful and kind. My askbox is open to anyone and everyone who needs it. | 30 | ||♋️☀️♓️🌙♎️⬆️|| ||ENFP|| ||Genderfluid|| MY BLOG IS A SAVE ZONE FOR ALL MOGAI/LGBTQPIA MEMBERS Literally talk to me about anything
med people are so annoying "This family's 8 year old child who was about to go through a major surgery and kept crying that she was hungry so they pitied her and gave her food, she then had a heart attack in the surgery. They're so stupid 😒" girl they didn't know that could happen or why it happens. it takes so little time to explain to them that will happen instead of telling them "no food" with no explanation 10 times
"Before surgery, your body’s reflexes that protect your airway are relaxed by anesthesia. If there’s food or liquid in your stomach, it will near certainly come back up and go into your lungs, which can cause choking, a severe lung / heart infection or even a heart attack. That’s called aspiration, and it is life-threatening. It's hard, but it's only a single day to prevent near certain death. Not eating or drinking beforehand massively lowers the risk and helps prevent these life threatening situations under anesthesia." <- TIP: patients have brains which allows them to receive information just like you
I have four kids. I’ve had one or another of them need some kind of surgical procedure that requires anesthesia four or five times over the past 15 years.
This Tumblr post is the first time someone has explained to me *why* I couldn’t feed them before those instances.
I’m not stupid. I understood that just fine. Hell, my kids would have understood that just fine. But no one bothered to tell us.
i did know this before having kids (i have six). we have a kid that's needed multiple procedures requiring anesthesia. and every single time, i am asked multiple times if i'm sure he was not given any food or water after a certain point.
every single time i have had to say, "i understand that if he had food or water, he could aspirate it into his lungs under anesthesia. i am not lying to you." THEN someone would make a little note and i would stop being repeatedly asked.
not a single time was that risk explained to me. the only reason it came up was because i already knew. i still don't understand why it isn't standard pre-op counseling or pre-op check information, when me as a parent acknowledging the actual risk also put THE MEDICAL STAFF at ease because i conveyed that i had informed understanding as reason to not lie about giving my kid food.
"maybe some people will get nervous and refuse surgery" okay so they need more counseling about risks and anxiety, not less information in a way that actually does endanger their child or themselves!
This has been bugging me for ages and I feel like you’re the only other blog who would appreciate my conundrum here. Do you think people in the avatar-verse drink cow’s milk?
On the one hand the lost lore archive seemingly confirms that cow-pigs produce “delicious” milk, but how canon can we really consider that? On the other hand, if you didn’t already know, most humans are lactose intolerant. The gene for lactase persistence (the ability to digest milk past babyhood) originated in the Middle East or Europe and spread from there. Even today East Asia has some of the highest rates of lactose intolerance in the world, and lactase tolerance was virtually nonexistent in North America pre-colonisation. Not drinking cow’s milk is the norm for humanity, not the exception, so I just think it would be cool to have at least one fantasy world where the main characters are lactose intolerant and soy milk is the norm.
Granted, given that cheese can be made to be palatable to lactose intolerant people and that there does seem to have been some lactase persistence traditionally in northern Indian and Himalayan regions (at least at a cursory research glance), you would probably expect it to vary by region and culture. Maybe cow-pig milk is consumed in only certain regions and otherwise usually made into cheese. I personally headcanon that air nomads eat sky bison cheese, which might taste similar to chhurpi.
From what I've read, dairy cows aren't native to East Asia, hence the lack of cow milk in most of the traditional cuisine of that region. I would say that cow-pig milk in Avatar might just be a local delicacy unique to the EK town from "Zuko Alone".
However, a predisposition towards lactose intolerance is not necessarily a permanent roadblock to enjoying milk products. Speaking from personal experience, I can generally build up my tolerance for dairy if I make a point of drinking milk every day. However, if I take a break of more than a week, then I have to start the whole process over again.
As for the consumption of other animal milks...
Based off cultural inspiration, the Air Nomads likely had close to 100% lactase persistence. Dairy is a huge part of Tibetan and other Himalayan cuisine. Plus, if Appa is any indication, sky bisons were roughly the size of sperm whales. Assuming there was a sky bison for every nomad, there was probably enough extra milk produced for it to become a staple of the Air Nomad diet.
The Northern Water Tribe probably has some lactase persistence, since they have Mongolian and Sakha cultural influence in addition to Inuit. Both Mongolian and Sakha culture are known for their consumption of mare's milk, both as a drink and as an ingredient in dishes. Plus, the NWT canonically has Buffalo-Yaks, which is a combination of two animals whose milk is commonly consumed in parts of Asia. Lactase persistence might not be as strong in the Southern Water Tribe, who don't seem to have domesticated any milk-producing animals.
The Earth Kingdom probably only has lactase persistence in certain regions, such as the village in "Zuko Alone". This aligns with its primary cultural inspiration, China. While most of China does not have a cheese-making tradition, there are pockets of regional cheeses: cow and goat acid cheeses in Yunnan, fermented cow milk cheeses in Xinjiang, and yak cheeses in the Tibetan and Mongolian autonomous regions. However, on the whole, I think most EK citizens stick to non-dairy milks made from soy, seeds, or nuts.
Finally, there's the Fire Nation. I don't think they drink much milk. In addition to China, the Fire Nation's other major cultural influences are Southeast Asia (Thailand, especially) and Japan. Historically, none of these cultures consumed much animal milk. I think the Fire Nation's choice of milks would be soy, sesame, coconut, or peanut.
Aren't arctic camels a domesticated animal in the swt? camel milk is a pretty common staple among people who keep them (and I know several north American farmers that have brought camels. onto their farms specifically for milk!) Sami people also milk reindeer, but immmmm not sure how well snow leopard caribou would take to being milked
You're right! In Korra, we do see arctic camels, so the SWT likely consumes dairy regularly, at least in the post-war period. This would imply that Katara and Sokka have some lactase persistence. I can just imagine Sokka bringing this up whenever a game or situation requires the Gaang to split into teams:
Sokka: Alright, Team 1 will be me, Katara, and Aang. That leaves Suki, Toph, and Zuko for Team 2.
Suki: Are you basing this off seniority in the group or something?
Sokka: More like who can handle a few rounds of drinks without turning into a tomato.
Team 2: *glares*
Sokka: Kidding! It's based on who can have a milkshake without turning into a walking stink bomb---*gets dirtball to the face*
Okay, this really got my cartography brain going, so...
Lactase Persistence in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender!
The map is inspired by the above thread, but also some additional real-world biological anthropology, heavily referenced from this paper.
Of course I kept the high lactase persistence (LP) around the air temples, but I also showed the diffusion of that trait in the areas around the temples. This could be because of Air Nomads mixing into the non-nomadic local populations (genetically and culturally) and due to the trading/gifting of sky bison dairy products to those populations. I think the latter would reinforce the former, in this case.
Important to remember is that this map is representative of the percent of a population's LP if there is a population living in a given location. For example, for over a hundred years, there were no people living in the air temples, but if there were, they would have high rates of LP. Similarly, the Si Wong Desert is sparsely populated, but those who do populate it likely have LP (operating under the assumption that the sandbenders and other nomadic people get milk from the camelephants).
As in our reality, there are also high rates of LP in less fertile lands like deserts or higher latitudes (by the poles) and altitudes, as these regions tend to have more issues growing crops that can meet diet requirements. By having dairy producing animals eat the less nutritious crops, their bodies can basically add in the missing nutrients. This is why I have marked more mountainous regions + the Si Wong Desert as having more LP.
Version without the location labels:
Reference map (Wells 2021):
🌊 If I missed something or anyone has questions, always feel free to tag me! Big thanks to anon, atlaculture, and lizardlicks for the inspiration today!
@atlaculture Your wish is my command~ Almost—I added the character for milk in the negative space because I thought it looked cute there.
Additionally, here's a new map:
Dispersal and Domestication of Ruminant and Dairy Cattle!
We are really going down a rabbit hole with this one.
So once again I'm referencing the Stock and Wells paper, because it has really nice maps and it's pretty accessible in terms of academic language.
This map is pretty straightforward—circles represent points (areas) of origin, and the arrows denote the dispersal of the species. But for lore purposes, this requires some notes.
Flying Bison: I have marked their area of origin as being in the Southern Air Archipelago. We really don't know where they're specifically from, but seeing that there are populations of bison living in the Fire Nation (with/around the Bhanti tribe), I'm guessing they're from either the Western or Southern Air Archipelagos. And purely because the Bhanti tribe lives in the southern part of the Fire Nation, I've placed the bison as from the South. Their dispersal paths are also the most unique of the list, as, since they can fly, I imagine them flying directly to their preferred habitats, and the Air Nomads following/settling based on that.
(Really, the bison are too enlightened to be considered 'domesticated' by humans, but I included them because of their teamwork with the airbenders + their dairy potential.)
Arctic Camels: These creatures have more appearances in the Southern Water Tribe than the Northern, so I've placed their area of origin in the South. Perhaps they reached the North on trading ships or pirate ships traveling between the tribes?
Moo-sow (Cow-pig) and other pig hybrids, excluding the Picken/Pigster: The moo-sow are the only pig hybrids confirmed to be raised for their milk. Others, like the wooly-pig (cross between a sheep and a pig), are raised for specific functions like wool for clothes. But seeing as sheep in our world have been utilized for dairy, I don't think it's a big jump to think wooly-pigs would be in similar circumstances. All other pig hybrids are fully mammal (so this inference could still apply) except the picken (pig + chicken) and pigster (pig + rooster). (I don't know why they're two separate things. Weird!) Since these are birds crossed with mammals, they might not be able to produce milk. In Beasts of the Four Nations, Aang supposes that they lay eggs, and makes no mention of milk.
If the Picken and Pigster are more like chickens than pigs, they are likely to be native to A:tLA's equivalent of Southeast Asia—the Fire Nation. (Wikipedia page for the red junglefowl, from which chickens were domesticated.)
On the subject of the Fire Nation, I remembered—after completing this map, of course—that the Fire Nation has a native milk producer: the hippo cow.
Admittedly, this throws a wrench in the whole 'lactose intolerant Fire Nation' theory, but we could suppose that they are raised primarily for meat, and milk is an extra. According to the wiki, hippo cows are also domesticated in the Earth Kingdom after the Hundred Year War.
Final notes:
Non-hybrid yaks also exist and can be found around the Northern Water Tribe. Their dispersal pattern likely follows that of the buffalo yak quite closely, so they were not included in order to prevent crowding and clutter on the map.
Goat dogs and goat gorillas exist in the Earth Kingdom. While goats in the real world produce milk, these goat hybrids seem to express their non-goat 'genes' more prominently than the goat ones. Therefore, I have decided not to consider them.
New version of lactase persistence map, without labels:
Version of cattle map with labels:
And the lovely reference map (Stock and Wells 2023):
🌊 Questions, comments, concerns, critiques? I'll take them all :P
Your posts are so good! I love how easy it is to encounter academically minded people on Tumblr for literally any subject.
However, regarding the Hippo-Cow, I actually contend that it's not originally from the Fire Nation. Here's the excerpt from the original profile that was on the Nick website:
Creature: Hippo-Cow
If you haven't already guessed, this animal is a cross between a hippo and a cow, and can be found on farms throughout the world. While in most cases the hippo-cow is known to be a vegetarian, in the Fire Nation, things are a little different. The hippo-cows of the Fire Nation love meat. Like Sokka says: In the Fire Nation, "Even the meat eats meat."
The Hippo-Cow's "default" state is being an herbivore, but it seems to have adapted to becoming a carnivore in the Fire Nation. This implies that they're native to somewhere else, most likely the Earth Kingdom. This leads me to think they're a rather recent (<100 years) import from the colonies and the Fire Nation raises them for meat rather dairy. They kind of look like those scarily buff cows they raise for their lean meat.
the fact that we only have “herculean task” and “sisyphean task” feels so limiting. so here’s a few more tasks for your repertoire
icarian task: when you have a task you know you’re going to fail at anyways, so why not have some fun with it before it all comes crashing down
cassandrean task: when you have to deal with people you KNOW won’t listen to you, despite having accurate information, and having to watch them fumble about when you told them the solution from the start (most often witnessed in customer service)
feel free to chime in i ran out of ideas much faster than i anticipated
Promethean task: opposite of a Cassandraean task. You have the right information, and SOMEONE has to share it. But it's all in the delivery and if you're the person to identify the problem you WILL be hated forever.
Oedipal Task: (1) Attempting to avoid an unspeakably awful outcome and in doing so creating the circumstances that will bring it about.
(2) Trying to solve an problem and discovering that you are in fact the problem you are trying to solve.
Scientists invented a fake disease. AI told people it was real: Nature.com
I'm a bit frightened for the time when someone less ethical than the person that did this decides to repeat the experiment but leave out the part where they come in later and announce that it was fake and people wind up diagnosed with the fake condition and all kinds of wacky hi jinks ensues.
I'm following blogs that haven't posted in like eight years but I don't care I shall never unfollow them because I am a true and loyal knight #loyalknight
A Study Of Colors In Homestuck And How They Affect The Narrative
spoilers for the entire comic, as well as a little bit of the epilogues too.
Red - Ensures the narrative
Red is always connected with Time, so much so that every single canon Time-bound character in the comic is associated with Red. Dave, Aradia, Damara, and Caliborn being the ones. Dave types in Red, so do Aradia and Damara. Aradia and Damara are rust bloods, and Caliborn has candy red blood. Time players ensure that everything happens as it should.
Red is also connected(pun intended) to Blood, being the aspect of bonds and connections. Both canon Blood-bound characters have candy red blood, being Karkat and Kankri. Connecting to Green, Karkat and Kankri both are mutated lime bloods, showing their connection to both Red and Green a bit.
Also noted that The Handmaid’s outfit as a youngster and her psychic powers have Green. The Handmaid is the rust blood ancestor of Aradia.
Also the SBURB Alpha logo is Red, because the Alpha session only exists to ensure the win of the Beta kids and everyone else.
Orange - Is aware of the narrative
Orange is connected to one character in particular. Dirk Strider. In the epilogues and Homestuck^2/Beyond Canon, Dirk is very much aware of the narrative, being able to fully control sections of it as well.
Believe it or not, Tavros Nitram falls into this too. Tavros is the only non-Seer character to be fully aware of his Exile’s voice in his head. While all others besides the Seers feel the words in their mind and feel inclined to do the things the Exiles tell them too, Tavros can also hear the voice of his Exile.
Yellow - Serves the narrative
Really only the main point for yellow is Sollux Captor, and how he hears the voices of the imminently deceased. Also how he's a literal Doom-bound character. The aspect of Doom is literally connected to fate, or in this case, the narrative. Sollux being a Mage of Doom, meaning he understands and understands through fate, shows how connected he is to the narrative and how he serves it by doing things like setting up the SGRUB game for the trolls to play in the first place.
Also John's god tier shoes are yellow, and the Breath outfit being blue and yellow for John, symbolizing refusal and servitude, is really interesting for his character, especially in Act 6.
Green - Creates the narrative.
Green is always connected with Space, and just like Time, every character who is Space-bound is associated with Green. Jade talks in Green, Kanaya and Porrim both talk in Green and are jade green blood(which notably is also a very rare blood color), and Calliope has lime green blood. Space players’ whole thing is being associated with creation.
Another thing connected to Green and Space are the First Guardians, being Bec and Doc Scratch. Note that Bec is Jade’s Guardian.
Also note that the SBURB Beta logo is Green, because it is the first and main session we ever see, creating the narrative of the game.
Also Nepeta works for Green as well, being that her role-playing works as a sort of “creation of a narrative,” that being her own personal role-playing story/narrative.
Note that Terezi(teal blood) is the one who plays along with Nepeta’s role-playing the most, and the closest to what Nepeta desires.
Blue - Refuses the narrative/is disconnected from the narrative
Blue is associated with mainly two characters. John and Vriska. In Act 6, Vriska opens the chest with the house-shaped juju inside, and John sticks his hand in it, giving him retcon powers which essentially allow him to be disconnected from the timeline and therefore the narrative. Vriska is a Thief of Light, meaning she is basically the most relevant character in the entire series. Which is true. On multiple occasions, she has refused the narrative that has been set up for her and has chosen to go off and do her own thing. John’s retcon is also the only reason why the kids and trolls win the game, being that he brought Vriska back to life. Vriska is why the game could be won. The aspect of Breath, John's aspect, is Blue.
Also Equius being a Void player means that he is completely disconnected from the narrative and kinda serves zero purpose.
Also there's the theory that the SGRUB Alpha logo could be Blue, which would make sense for the Blue-Purple-Red-Green game logo theme that's been going on here.
And also the connection order of the kids being Blue, then Purple, then Red, then Green. The opposite of their effect on the narrative. Creation(Green), Ensurement(Red), Forced Connection(Purple), and then Refusal(Blue).
Purple - Haunts the narrative/has forced connection with the narrative
Purple is seen mainly in both Rose and Gamzee. Rose was the first one to ever set up a connection with anyone for the game of SBURB. Throughout the series, Rose has always just been forced to go along with the narrative. Gamzee is the most important character in all of Homestuck. He didn't choose to be, he was forced to be. Being possessed by Cal to raise Caliborn, and then serve him. Rage, the aspect of refusal, is purple. However, Gamzee is a Bard, one of the destructive classes, meaning that the Rage-bound’s tendency for refusal is sort of canceled out. He can't refuse the narrative. If he does, he dies. Gamzee haunts the narrative.
Also Eridan is the only other troll to kill multiple other trolls in their session.
Note that only characters associated with Purple have gone Grimdark.
Pink - Unaffected by the narrative
Roxy is unaffected by any big narrative event(besides the timeline split), including Game Over, being the only one besides John to survive. She is also a Void-bound, the aspect of elusiveness.
Feferi is completely irrelevant and has no effect on the narrative. Sorry, Feferi.
Grey - Facilitates the narrative.
Karkat talks in Grey, and his ancestor is the Signless/Suffered, one of the characters who influences the story behind the scenes the most. Karkat is also the one who opened the door at the end of their session, creating the Beta Kids’ universe.
Calliope talks in Grey as well, and she is a Muse, the literal class of facilitation.
Black - Is the narrative
All narration that happens by a non-established character(or Hussie) is in Black text. Everything that isn't colored to be symbolized is Black.
White - Oversees the narrative
Really the only example of this is Doc Scratch, who talks in White. His whole job is to oversee the narrative and make sure Lord English arrives in the universe.
that's all my findings for now, lemme know if any of y'all find anything out that can be added to my Study of Colors. bye bye!!!
i think we should be ridiculing them more for this. you don't get to try and go all "queer website" when your staff likes to go on nuking sprees targeting the trans fem users
would be remiss not to mention that the rainbow notably straight up just removed the trans flag colors from it. like they’re gone. it’s the progress flag minus the trans flag colors.
unfortunately very true. Doing Better does not always mean never being upset or never being triggered or never having trouble. often Doing Better means experiencing those things and being able to keep going/cope healthily/move on. if you’re in a bubble with no sensation, if you’re numbing yourself out, that’s not what recovering really is. it won’t help you have a happier life it’ll just make your world smaller and smaller until you can’t fit anywhere anymore. gotta learn to make peace with the hard stuff too, that’s the only way to keep going
when a government bans young people from using social media, and then categorises messenger apps like Signal and WhatsApp as "social media", they are pushing those young people toward using text messages, a fundamentally insecure form of communication. texts are not encrypted in transit and can be read by both the sender's mobile carrier and the recipient's. that also means they can be leaked in data breaches, subpoenaed, or just handed over willingly to law enforcement at the carriers' discretion.
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