[The life I've always wanted/ I guess I'll never have/ I'll be working for somebody else/ Until I'm in my grave/ I'll be dreaming of a live of ease/ And mountains, oh mountains o' things

To have a big expensive car/ Drag my furs on the ground/ And have a maid that I can tell/ To bring me anything/ Everyone will look at me with envy and with greed/ I'll revel in their attention/ And mountains, oh, mountains o' things

Sweet lazy life/ Champagne and caviar/ I hope you'll come and find me/ Cause you know who we are/ Those who deserve the best in life/ And know what money's worth/ And those whose sole misfortune/ Was having mountains o' nothing at birth

Oh they tell me/ There's still time to save my soul they tell me/ Renounce all/ Renounce all those material things you gained by/ Exploiting other human beings/ Consume more than you need/ This is the dream/ Make you pauper or make you queen/ I won't die lonely I'll have it all prearranged/ A grave that's deep and wide enough/ For me and all my mountains o' things

Oh they tell me/ There's still time to save my soul they tell me/ Renounce all/ Renounce all those material things you gained by/ Exploiting other human beings

Mostly I feel lonely/ Good good people are/ Good people are only/ My stepping stones/ It's gonna take all my mountains o' things/ To surround me/ Keep all my enemies away/ Keep my sadness and loneliness at bay

The life I've always wanted/ I guess I'll never have/ I'll be working for somebody else: Until I'm in my grave/ I'll be dreaming of a life of ease/ And mountains, oh mountains o' things

I'll be dreaming, dreaming, dreaming/ I'll be dreaming, dreaming, dreaming/ I'll be dreaming, dreaming, dreaming/ I'll be dreaming, dreaming, dreaming]

Lawnmower Man wouldn't even be the worst Protestant Superhero.

Remember that if you want to do more of something, you have to do less of something else. It's that time of year where people set goals for the new year and they have plans and hopes and it's always focusing on what they want to do more of. More studying, more exercise, more crafting, more socialising, more making things from scratch. Okay, great. What are you going to do less of in order to have the time and energy to do more of those things you really want to do?

This is even more the case if you are Already Tired.

If you are Already Tired, you probably actually have to do TWICE as much "less" in order to add any new More, since you should probably already be doing "less" in order to not be so fucking Tired.

良いお年を。

A group of rough looking boys walked past me today and all I heard of their conversation was “he’s got that anxiety disorder bro so I went with him so he’d be more comfortable” and it made me realise the world isn’t all that bad

#this is team skull

The pet store I worked at had a pen with rabbits near the front door. On every side of the pen were huge signs saying “You can pet me, but don’t pick me up!” One day two absolutely huge guys came in and one immediately reaches into the pen to grab a rabbit. Before i could say anything his friend grabbed his arm and asked him “did you see the sign?” He said “yeah! it says that you can pick them up but don’t pet them!” Then he went quiet for a moment and softly said “I didn’t read it right did I?” And his friend just puts his arm on his shoulder and said “its ok, i know you’ve got that thing where words get mixed up. Let just pet these cute lil shits” And I still haven’t gotten over that interaction.

I was walking my dog through Boston bc he likes the likes car rides. He’s a little thing tbh we call him short and long. So this huge scary man with a full beard approaches me like “hey can my buddy and I pet your dog? He gets nervous around dogs but your’s is so small I think it’s a good place to start.” Ofc I was like “yes he’s very friendly!” So this guy brings his equally big friend over and they sit on the floor while this man looks terrified of my tiny dog so big man number one asks “can I pick him up?” And i say yes so he picks him up and puts him on man number two’s lap and man number two is abt to freak out and his friend straight up just goes “hey man, it’s okay just relax I’d never let anything hurt you. He’s a good boy.” I’ll never forget it ever bc I know that man looked at me (5'3 , glasses, probably wearing a sweater vest) and my dog (kinda goofy looking little thing) and was like ‘ah yes the two least intimidating living things I’ve seen in Boston all day he’ll feel relaxed around them’ and went out of his way to help his friend. It makes me so happy

My husband had this Dungeons and Dragons group ages ago, and one of the guys was TERRIFIED of cats.  The moment he sees one he freezes up and can barely breathe.  Said guy is almost seven feet tall and solid wall of muscle.  Whenever he came over I’d put the cats in the bedroom and chill out with a book because my cats don’t like being shut away without one of us. 

One of my cats was pawing at the door and meowing loudly, an indication she REALLY needs to use the litter box.  I let her out and decide, hey, I’m hungry, and decide to the kitchen.  I forgot to shut the bedroom door. 

Next thing I hear is the group going completely silent.  My husband very calmly asks me to come over and help him gather our two cats up.  I go over to where the group is and my black cat, Cacoa, is rubbing up against the guy’s leg, purring, and doing her “let me on your lap” meow.  The other cat, Jasper, is sitting at the window, chilling out.  I go over and pick up Cacoa and tell the big dude she’s harmless, loves laps, and would be thrilled if he pet her.  Very slowly he touches my cat’s face, and she leans right into his hand.  He then pets her back and sighs because she’s really soft and purring like mad.  After a few minutes he asks how to pick her up and if it’s okay if she sits on his lap.

He spent the next six hours spoiling my cat.  The next week he showed up with cat treats and toys because he fell in love with the cats.  He told me he was doing some research on house cats, and even talked to a vet about them.  A couple months later he adopted two cats and was as thrilled and excited as a new parent. 

Oh no a new one!!!

Blessed post.

I used to work at this stable for icelandic horses and every now and then this man would turn up by the field to just watch the horses. One time I walked by him as I was going to get the horses inside, and he went ”I always wanted to learn how to ride but I’m afraid of horses because they’re so huge. If I could ride ponies like this, maybe I’d dare but now I’m too big and heavy for them.” You should have seen his face when I told them that actually they’re not ponies, just small horses and they could totally carry him. His face just lit up. Next thing I’m helping him to get on back. Today he knows how to ride.

A few years ago my sister and I were in Daytona Beach, and we saw this huge, burly biker. Looked like the stereotypical biker: big black beard, the goggles, leather, and a bandana. He also had a baby carrier, and in that baby carrier was a tiny little orange Pomeranian. We complimented his dog and he said, in one of the deepest voices I’ve ever heard, “thanks, his name’s Little Bear!” And he told us about how he’d take Little Bear out on his motorcycle everyday and how much the dog loved it.

Such a lovely post.

I’m not even putting this in the museum, it shall run free and collect more lovely stories.

TIL some bacteria can form structures that blur the lines between unicellular colonies and multicellular organisms, complete with the specialization of simple tissues. 🤯

[Photo ©shk5 on iNaturalist]

Insane to me that certain comic book creators who shall not be named dismissed Jonathan Harker as a "milk sop" and a boring character. White-haired avenger with ambiguously vampiric superstrength Jonathan Harker. Most violent and unhinged member of the vampire hunters Jonathan Harker. Ran at Dracula with a kukri knife without skipping a beat and then tried to climb out of a window to pursue him Jonathan Harker. "Like a living flame" Jonathan Harker. Calls his bond with his wife "the holiest love" and determines that if she becomes a vampire, even if Dracula calls her to his side, "she shall not go into that dark night alone" Jonathan Harker. You know. That one.

by @pb-dot

Would anyone like to join me in my New Year's tradition of reading about good things that happened this year?

A couple highlights:

This year was deeply shitty in a lot of ways - but not all of them.

well that caught me off guard

Freakishly accurate tag

Depth 0: The Rainbow Gallery

Durm was young, by dwarf standards, and dreamed of the glory he saw in favorite songs of knights and their great quests. He wished for a chance to not just tell the tales of their adventures, but to be one, and have an adventure of his own.

Through a reluctant donation from his father, he found his way the being the squire of sir Alric, a dour and grim thieftaker, who had no time for Durms fancies, and frankly looked for any chance to be rid of this new annoyance.

The lucky break came for them both when the charlatan magician Alyosius escaped capture by running into the local park and dissapeared through a doorway that all agree hadnt been there yesterday. Durm was the first and only to volunteer to go in after him.

As he rushed though the doorway, instead of the small urban park, he was instead in a sprawling garden as far as he could see.

It was a very formal looking place, although now noticably rundown and overgrown. It was decorated with elegant classical marble statues, some overgrown with ivy.

The white of the statues were lit by brilliant colours like peacock feathers or the shimmer of oil on water. These came from the sunlight reflecting and refracting off of the tangle of dark glass tubes that crisscrossed the ground, entangling in and out of the vegetation.

Last time: We picked Durm to send in.

Post overview.

Find the Gardens of Ynn here!

Finally - some good news!

"More than 4,500 square miles of ocean will soon be protected by the federal government off the Central California coast. The Biden administration is creating a new national marine sanctuary, which will be the third largest in the U.S.

The sanctuary is also the first to be led by Indigenous people. It was nominated by members of the Northern Chumash Tribe, who drove the effort for more than a decade to protect the rugged coastline that is their historical homeland.

Going forward, the new Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary will be managed in partnership with tribes and Indigenous groups in the area, who will advise the federal government. It marks a growing movement under the Biden administration to give tribes a say over the lands and waters that were taken from them.

“We’re still here, and so are the Indigenous people wherever you live,” says Violet Sage Walker, chairwoman of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, who led the campaign for the sanctuary. “Being able to address climate change, use traditional ecological knowledge, and participate in co-management is Indigenous peoples’ contribution to saving the planet.” ...

National marine sanctuaries are similar to a national forest on land. The new sanctuary will be protected from oil and gas drilling, as well as undersea mining, while fishing is still permitted. It also means more public outreach and monitoring for environmental impacts, something NOAA says is vital to understanding how the ecosystem is being affected by climate change...

The new sanctuary is home to a diverse marine ecosystem, where dense kelp forests support a broad array of life from sea otters to migrating whales. For Walker, the area is also home to many sacred sites dating back thousands of years, like the rocky cliffs known as Point Conception.

“It’s where we spiritually believe that all people leave this world into the next life,” she says. “They take their journey — whatever faith you are, whatever spirituality you have — and that area will be fully and forever protected. For my father, our ancestors, elders who have passed — I think they would be the most excited about that.” ...

“The historic designation of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary comes not a moment too soon,” says Congressman Salud Carbajal, who represents the area. “As our oceans and communities face unprecedented challenges from a changing marine environment, this new sanctuary comes at a critical time for our region.”

-via NPR, October 14, 2024

China Completes It's "Great Green Wall" to Combat Desertification

Image and text from this Reuter's article:

"One of the least respected but most important ecosystems on Earth are seagrass meadows, and a pioneering robotic solution is helping marine scientists restore these underwater gardens.

The ReefGen Grasshopper can plant dozens of seagrass seeds per minute. Not only is this faster than a human diver, but much safer as well.

It works by injecting a tiny slurry of sediment wrapped around the seagrass seed into the seafloor. After covering a growing plot of four seeds, the robot ‘hops’ about 30 centimeters away and starts again.

Despite covering a minuscule portion of the seafloor, seagrass meadows are estimated to hold 35-times more carbon than terrestrial forests—amounting to around 18% of the total carbon stock of the world’s oceans.

ReefGen’s founder Tom Chi dreamed up the idea after watching the degradation of coral reefs on his home island in Hawaii. The first iteration of the robot set coral ‘plugs’ onto existing reefs to help regrow them, but the technology was prohibitively expensive for wide-scale use.

Now however, broader selections of off-the-shelf parts have driven down the costs of manufacturing and maintaining underwater robots, according to Chris Oakes, CEO of ReefGen.

“Manual planting works, but robots are really good when things are dull, dirty, dangerous, or distant—the four Ds,” Oakes told CNN, adding that at the moment, Grasshopper is piloted with a controller by a human on the surface.

“Right now, we’re focused on the planting, the biology, and the mechanical aspects, once we’re confident that that’s all designed the right way, we will overlay more semi-autonomous features like navigation, so you don’t actually have to pilot it,” he said.

ReefGen has been able to not only expand into restoration of seagrass meadows, but also see its robots used in oceans around the world. This July, Grasshopper planted 25,000 seeds in Wales. In October, ReefGen teamed up with the University of North Carolina (UNC) Institute of Marine Sciences to test various seed replanting methods out on the state’s declining seagrass meadows.

Oakes says that as cool and “flashy” as a robotic solution might seem, the most important factor in its success will be the long-term monitoring of the fields it’s replanting. Are they growing to maturity, are the seedlings dying off before then, will they live long enough to seed and germinate fields of their own, how do fields it plants compare to fields planted by hand??"

-via Good News Network, December 24, 2024

From the article: