there’s this phenomenon i’ve noticed on youtube which i dub “man math” which is when men STEM-ify hobbies/activities/art forms in order to make them more masculine. it’s very noticeable in the cooking video sphere where there’s an endless stream of videos made by men along the lines of “the SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN best way to cook an egg” (and dgmw, i watch them and find them helpful, but the observation stands), but i notice it also in the way men approach ceramics (a lot of focus on mold-making and slip-casting to perfection, basically reinventing one man mass-production rather than play and discovery), tailoring/sewing/knitting/textile art, gardening and other nature-oriented hobbies, interior decor, furniture making and woodworking, journaling/planning/productivity, even drawing and painting, there’s always some man math angle to it that although interesting it often strikes me as some sort of overcompensation to move away from the inherent vulnerability that comes with art making and once you notice it it’s literally everywhere
The emotional equivalent of attaching a big nylon brush end to a power drill and suddenly they are not cleaning the car, they are detailing :)
slightly furious reminder that fish do in fact feel pain and do in fact experience fear and distress when in pain since people seem to love spreading the myth that fish don’t feel pain. what is it with people assuming a creature is incapable of feeling pain or emotion just because it doesn’t have complex facial muscles. come on gang
As my main income, I work with fish in a specialty pet store that’s privately owned (so I’m allowed to say no and be stern to customers when it’s needed).
You learn really quickly that not only do fish have individual personalities and emotions but they also have memories and recognize people! There are certain fish who will only come out for me and hide for everyone else. The pufferfish spits at me because she gets pissy that I haven’t fed her. The flowerhorn bites everyone but me and my coworker when we clean his tank. I trained a fire eel to come up and eat directly out of my hand.
Fish are beautiful complex creatures and I thank the universe everyday that I get to work in a place where I’m encouraged to tell animal abusers to fuck right off.
So, like, fun fact: all of us, down to nearly the very base of animal tree of life, basically have the same neurotransmitters for motivation/drive. We all seem to have comparable pain receptors and react to opioids (pain reduction)
(Well, invertebrates use octopamine instead of noradrenaline, but supposedly that is very similar.)
And by almost the entire tree of life I do mean all of us: mammals, fish, bugs, jellyfish, POSSIBLY sponges (it is a little unclear if someone checked)
All, that is, except ctenophores.
Also known as ‘a swimming string of led lights wrapped in a plastic bag’.
Completely different neurochemistry.
May as well be aliens.
Anonymous asked:
thank you!! immediate follow-up question: why do you hate case-based languages? i am so ready to read a good rant (if you have it ready), esp because i do know two case-based languages and i genuinely can't imagine any reason to hate cases
unfortunately i do not think i can answer this question rn because that last sentence (just the concept, NOT you!!) filled me with so much bewildered rage that my shoulder cramped up again.
My native language is a case-heavy one and I do not think it is normal to be good at them ‘naturally’, I think after years of immersion/exposure your brain sort of internalizes the patterns (they exist, but: ugh) and that’s about it.
Like, I am sure it is technically possible to memorize it all, but, again: ughh.
It sure helps if humans make mouth noises at you in these languages since you are born.
I saw someone wondering about flower language, but there’s none, rather thorough the comic I only used one flower - yarrow, which historically had been used to stanch the blood flow from the wounds. I just wanted to have some physical symbol with which I can show the connection between the women. On the 2nd page I use it to show the nun’s vocation (apothecary), on page 3 she asks for yarrow to stop the bleeding, and later in the comic whenever we see the peasant fiddling with the flowers, it is to help prepare them for drying. By page 14, the apothecary mentally connects the yarrow flowers with the peasant.
In page 8, the hymn in the background translates to “Come, bride of Christ, receive the crown which the Lord has prepared for you for all eternity.” I found that it is sung during perpetual vows in some nunneries.
I tried to convey much with the compositions. The idea was that it is a monastery that follows the Benedictine Rule, which encourages the practice of silence. I tried to convey this rule-driven monastic life with symmetrical, decorative, silent compositions, and reverse it when the rule was disturbed (or when the apothecary’s mind was disturbed). In the last page, I tried to merge both, to convey that the two women found balance and connection.
When you learn how to crochet/ knit or really any type of fiber arts, there will be a voice in your head that tells you that you should make something for everyone for the holidays.
As an artwork, netsuke are unique to Japan where, from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, they were worn as a part of the traditional Japanese clothing, the kimono. Because kimono have no pockets, small objects were carried in boxes, called sagemono (literally, “hanging object”). Sagemono took many forms: inro were lacquered cases for cosmetics, medicines, or seals, kinchaku were money cases, and tabako-ire were tobacco cases. The sagemono were suspended from a cord passed behind the obi, the sash holding the kimono closed. The netsuke served as the counterweight, attached to the other end of the cord, thereby preventing the sagemono from falling through the obi. The sagemono in the image is an inro made by the famous seventeenth century lacquer artist Ritsuou. Japanese lacquer work is unique in Asia, involving the sprinkling of gold and silver powder onto the surface. Lacquer art was extremely difficult; one inro could take years to be completed. The inro on the left (11 x 8 cm) displays a falcon tied to a perch shaped as a demon’s head. Text and image via Psych Dept, University of Alberta, Canada
Maybe because the sleeves are already giant pockets?
I have a secondhand haori and they work pretty well for that. But i can imagine heavy things, fragile things, or things that could stain fabric preferably not going in there.
today is polish christmas in poland. on this day we bring tree into house and decorate tree with pierogi. then we leave out bottle of vodka. if we were good this year, maria skłodowska curie drinks our vodka and leaves us polonium under pierogi tree. if we were bad, baba jaga comes into our house and makes us into soup. i was good this year so today i have polonium and i am not soup
*last time baba yaga made my sibling into zupa I decided to devote myself to Maria Patronka Chemików. I have her holy depiction tattooed into my arm. Unfortunately it makes me too Rad, but our pierogi tree always gently glows with Polon. Her arrival is preceded with sound of geiger counter above our house*
And remember to leave a kerosene lamp by the front door to light the way in the dark night, the days might be getting longer now, but the darkness is still deep and treacherous so this gift from the Saint of Street Lights Ignacy Łukasiewicz is there to guide us
