#people recommend first.

[mxdotpng]

i feel like people should just start admitting the reason they like fma is bc edward is a good protag. and because they like to watch the fight scenes. like i feel like ppl need to drop the pretense of "it handles [x,y,z] so well!!" because it doesnt. it doesnt matter what youre putting in that spot bc the answer will still be no it does not.

#.text #not to mention the anime leaves out a lot of the actually like Good written parts of edwards disability #fmab is poorly paced and tells its story in a way that makes little sense to a new viewer. which also sucks bc its the one #people recommend first. #im not even going to mention the racism issue bc i think if u think it handles racism well then. idk what to tell you #im also not even going to mention the end of it. bc its bad. sorry #generally dislike the 'disabled character gets magically healed at the end!!' trope but the fact that fma does it like 3 times over #isnt fun. but hey what do i know #i still like it. but for some reason lately ive seen people put it on a very high pedestal lately and its like. stop that. #please.

[ale-arro]

been going a little bit insane about this sentence from Ace by Angela Chen for the past week

#replace this with any other type of significant relationship too #also! this book actually rules btw i really recommend it #i didnt read it when it first cane out bc i was like. well i am already pretty familiar with asexuality and not rly interested in 101 stuff #but it turns out it doesnt feel 101-y at all its a super awesome piece of queer theory and also chen has Good opinions #and not weird watered down ones that i am sometimes wary of in aspec communities (frankly especially ace ones) #i think maybe if more people approached asexuality the way chen does (including and maybe even especially ace people) #i would be more inclined to still ID as ace #but anyways! #aro #aromantic #<- tag selections that reflect how i personally engage with this quote #also #described in alt text #also also #j tag #:/ #aro media

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Chu Wanning, kit-tea man. (Part 2)

(for @onionlings)

#chu wanning #Erha #2ha #the husky and his white cat shizun #I do not know what to tag this (there are a lot of variations and I did not realize they were all for the same series...) #I'm going with my gut then #poorly drawn erha #There were a lot of requests for this series so I hope that people are happy even if they didn't necessarily 'win' the raffle draw. #I do not know this man but he looks like he needs a quiet room and a nice cup of tea. #Get it? Kit-tea man. Kitty man. That was all I had. I'll see myself out. #This isn't the last we will see of these characters. I have had this series recommended to me so many times - I'll be back. #First of the raffles done! Thank you all for being extremely patient with me.

[vaguegrant]

Inuktitut by Elisapie

I haven't been this excited to discover an album in months.

Inuktitut is Elisapie's fourth album, and it's nominally a cover album. Except for two differences: It's sung entirely in the Inuit language, and these 'covers' are absolutely brilliant rearrangements. Familiar songs are completely transformed, both through genius reorchestration and subtle changes that make each song sound like it was originally written in Inuit—as if no other language could really be suited for those songs.

Elisapie's vocals deserve plenty of credit too, of course. Her voice is rich and enveloping, but with a certain chilly depth that lends even the lightest of pop songs gravitas.

My favorite song is almost certainly Elisapie's entirely brass take on Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here", but every single track stands out and stands alone. Metallica, Fleetwood Mac, Queen, Cyndi Lauper, Led Zeppelin, Blondie—Inuktitut includes and perfectly reappropriates a broad swath of popular music, fearlessly and effortlessly.

I do not know how to recommend this album to you strongly enough. It is a must-listen.

#vaguegrant's music finds #music #bandcamp #music recommendation #indigineous people #first nations #quebec #inuit #elisapie #inuktitut #Bandcamp

[its-wabby-stuff]

Mikey Goes To Oz

<Time spent: 49 hours 17 minutes>

When Mikey takes some time away from a loud family squabble he accidentally ends up getting “flushed” down the sewers. This winds up sending him to the colorful land of Oz where he meets a good witch, a wicked witch, a brainless scarecrow, a heartless Tinman, a cowardess lion, and a powerful wizard, all disguised behind very familiar faces.

A canon adjacent spin off set before the season one finale but after they discover Splinter is Lou Jitsu

I wanted to fit each of the boys into their “you’ve had this all along” category. Leo isn’t brainless, in fact he’s pretty clever with a street smart, people reading ability on par with Donnie’s intelligence. Donnie isn’t heartless, he just has a tough time expressing his feelings. They are complex and unalgorithic but he can get just as excited or sad or angry as anyone, as much as he may deny it. Raph isn’t a coward, but being brave sometimes means admitting you’re scared and that you maybe don’t have all the answers. You dont have to be strong all the time and you don’t have to do it by yourself.

In the movie Dorothy’s journey home is also a representation of her running away. The important thing was to remember there were people who cared about her. Mikey is experiencing a similar phenomenon, wanting the escape the bad vibes in the lair. His “you’ve had it all along” is interesting because it is an object, since the Ruby kneepads could’ve taken him home the whole time. And sometimes getting home means going on a journey only to realize you never left.

I put April as Glinda because Glinda appears as a defender of the weak, and I see April in a similar light. Always willing to help and beat someone up if it is so required. Splinter as The Wizard of Oz represents Splinters own willingness to hide behind different personas, his running from the past and the pulling back of the curtain for Mikey in timeline. The Wizard grows through the movie, albeit quickly, and ends up leaving Oz to go home leaving his legacy with the scarecrow, the Tinman, and the lion. In this case the passing of the baton to his sons.

Meanwhile Draxum as the wicked witch felt much more how Mikey sees Draxum at this time in the show, mostly just an antagonistic force who wants something from them. Fun fact: I imagine throughout this dream, Draxum is uninterested in being the wicked witch but is pressed into it via plot. Hence his disinterest in being “melted.”

Additional characters not pictured: Big Mama as the Wicked Witch of the East (those were her Ruby kneepads!!) and Todd as the Mayor of Munchkin Land. If you can think of more, feel free to leave them in the comments or tags.

#rottmnt #wabbystuffpost #Mikey goes to Oz #I’ve had this in my WIP file for far too long #I got a little lazy with the rendering #especially for the first piece #I may update it later but for now it’s going out like this #let’s just say it’s rise style #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #leonardo #donatello #raphael #michelangelo #april oneil #baron draxum #Hugnin and Munnin #splinter #Lou Jitsu #wizard of Oz #my art #wabbyart #questions are always welcome #close ups of specific things are under the Mikey goes to Oz tag #tmnt #please don’t flop #additionally Leo doesn’t have as many bones so he’s tripping or supported on almost every page #Dorothy tells off the Lion in the movie as the Scarecrow and Tinman cower and I imagine that’s a very funny scene in this AU #I also think Mikey keeps mixing everybody up with their irl people #if you haven’t seen the movie in a while I recommend watching it again cause some scenes may be funnier with this context

[nelkcats]

Ghost on your screen

Danny decided to become a Streamer after taking his "Eldritch" look, honestly he didn't even know he had more than two forms but apparently being a ghost comes with a lot of surprises.

He named his channel "Ghost on your screen" and dedicated to telling horror stories. The stories were told on what was supposed to be a black background, but the more you looked at the screen the more you noticed there was something present watching you.

Danny was obviously taking advantage of his new abilities by camouflaging himself in the worst way possible, but it was fun to see the live reactions on his chat and the video reactions when someone decided to show his channel to a friend.

Jason enjoyed listening to the stories, he even showed Tim the channel on one of the days where he was sleep deprived, that video ended up in the family chat.

The problem was that Bruce became paranoid and was about to investigate the "dangerous entity", Jason was upset, he didn't know if Ghost was an effect or not but he wouldn't let B ruin his weekly entertainment.

#DPxDC #eldritch danny #Jason is his first fan #honestly Roy was the one who recommended the streamer #after Lian scared him with it #Jason liked the storytelling #Ghost personality was good too #live reactions of other people was just a bonus #Danny is questioning if show his face or no #but that is fun for now #Bruce is as paranoid as ever #probably #dead on main #is a love story #inside an horror story #JasonxDanny #JLD would be scared #They don't get pay enough for this #dpxdc

[icezeebee]

This all comes from @dilatorywriting ‘s work please go check them out they’re awesome! I wanted to make something for their 4k special so I made a request and made up my mind to draw most of it.

#fanart for dilatorywriting #twisted wonderland #my art #digital illustration #digital art #digital drawing #twst fanart #twst x reader #leona kingscholar x reader #leona x reader #leona kingscholar #disney twisted wonderland #did you know that I choose to draw the same mc type as I did with the previous work #yep they’re the same person I like the idea that people will always find each other #i just started college this year so this took me forever to finish sorry about that hope it’s not too much of an issue that its #checks watch almost 2 months late?! #I know it gets overcrowded but I felt it was a disservice to get rid of the dialogue pieces #i recommend going to their page and reading the fic first #its in the 100 prompts section and as of now its the only leona one #anyways i hope this was worth your viewing time thank you #Sorry if there’s any spelling issues #also I was gonna draw a wedding scene from that one anon’s ask but I thought I couldn’t do it justice

[tsams-confessions]

I’m sick of people complaining about how toxic this fandom is, and how there’s nothing but doom and gloom here.

Like “WAAAAAAAA I DONT LIKE SOLAR X MOON, ITS INCEST AND ITS ALLLL OVER MY TUMBLR FEED :((((“ block the tag.

“WAAAAAA I DONT LIKE SOLAR X MOON AND ITS ALL OVER MY YOUTUBE FEED :((((((” mark the video as “uninterested”.

“WAAAAAA EVERYONE HERE IS SO GLOOMY :(((((((” yeah no shit. The shows about trauma and family issues. What did you expect? Everyone to be sunshine and rainbows?

“WAAAAAAAA I DONT LIKE THIS FANDOM :((((((((“ just go to our cousin/parent fandom the DCA fandom. If you want sunshine and rainbows then look no further. because from what I hear it’s still really fun and chill even though it’s, what? 2-3 years old now?

If you really don’t like the fandom THAT MUCH, then why don’t you just leave? You could still watch the show and not be a part of the fandom.

And if you really think this fandom hates everyone, then look no further then the comments of fan animatics. I know it’s kinda a weird thing to bring up, but if you look there, the only thing you’ll find is people being positive and praising their fellow fans. it could literally be the most ugly art that you’ve ever seen, and you’ll still have everyone in the comments praising the artist.

So yeah, this fandom has a lot of issues. But what fandom doesn’t? We have our own blemish’s and bruises, but if you look closely, even the most perfect fandoms do. That doesn’t excuse them in the slightest don’t get me wrong, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and take the good with the bad.

So uh yeah, ummmmm don’t be the guy on the left in that one bus meme with the two dudes looking out the window (you know the one.)

.

#sun and moon show #the sun and moon show #tsams #sams #tsams confession #< block this if you dont want to see these #mod 1blood #i dont usually like the first two arguments cuz thats not that effective #for the first. people tend not to tag their stuff #for the second. ive been marking ai covers on youtube as not interested for months and i still get them recommended to me lmao #but otherwise! i agree that people shouldnt stay in a space they dont enjoy #the solarmoon debate

[brazilian-whalien52]

Would you recommend some of this to someone starting with BLs? Of course it depends on their taste, but which one you think is the best "universal" first one?

Also wanted to add Moonlight chicken and be my favorite in the list but no space

#bad buddy the series #not me the series #semantic Error #kinnporche the series #History #word of honor #Cherry magic #my love mix up #bl drama #i told sunset about you #would never recommend kinnporsche as the first but a lot of people started wuth jt #triage

[cloud-based-and-rainpilled]

In goofy David Tennant/Michael Sheen Loud news, my husband stumbled upon an edit with David Tennant and Michael Sheen about how they’re In Love ® and he’s been solidly on the ‘Yeah, they’re prob fuckin’ train because of me & he was like, “I don’t get it, they’re not physically compatible at all, one is really skinny and the other is cherubic—“ and I was like bruh you literally described the one who plays an angel on TV as cherubic 💀 💀 💀 certifyibly Good ™️ casting big rare W to Neil Gaiman

#he’s not even in the fandom he just had a fancam recommended to him & it was almost all staged clips lmaooo #he didn’t believe me at first until i explained to him how aggressively bisexual michael sheen is and the heavily implied poly drama #he isn’t nearly as invested as I am but he’s a full believer now as an *outsider* lmaoko #*lmao (i am not retyping i cannae type on mobile) #also ‘not physically compatible’ made me chuckle like bruh these men are so thirsty #i love people (and celebrities) whomst’ve just cannot help but constantly reveal themselves lmaooo #also he thinks rpf is hysterical & we used to read livejournal beatles rpf in high school on school computers so he really is the one #good omens #bbc staged #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #crowley #david tennant #michael sheen #i must stress he is entirely outside of the fandom and skeptical on all ‘these ppl are fcking’ shit and even he’s like ‘oh okay lol i guess’ #incredible #also i don’t want good omens stuff on his computer like was it just listening to us?? help???

[sneez]

corvin

[id: two digital drawings of corvus from the video game paladins. he is a pale-skinned young man wearing a red and black caped coat with the collar pulled up over his mouth, and has brown hair with a white streak. the first image is a portrait of him from the shoulders up alongside a full-body drawing. text beside it reads 'guy who really needs to stim but isnt letting himself so hes just standing about looking intensely uncomfortable'. the second image is a full-body drawing of him holding his pistol and knife in an action pose against a background of scenery from the game. overlayed text reads 'I'M JOINING THE WAR AGAINST AUTISM ON THE SIDE OF THE AUTISM'. end id. ]

#paladins champions of the realm #pcotr #how do i tag him he doesnt have a surname does he. or does he <- guy who doesnt know the lore #paladins corvus #that should do it. im a tagging master #anyway i have been playing more paladins than is good for my health recently and i love this guy a lot #i love For The Greater Good characters especially when they are extremely autism also #it makes me so sad that so many people hate him. i mean i get why but also Hes fun :( and sillay #my entire perspective on him changed once i realised he was autistic (which was almost immediately tbf) #everything made sense. enlightenment #anyway i cant decide if i would recommend paladins because it has kind of ruined my brain and also my sleep #schedule but if any of you already play it/play it in the future im VictorKain over there :-) #can you guess who i main. anyway feel free to friend me (altho i wont know who you are unless you message me first) #i hope you are all doing well my friends! i still have some things to answer im sorry about that i am a slow beaft #i love you all very much. kiss you on head #artwork

[rosielav]

Rosie's Favorite (currently finished/caught up) Podcasts:

The Amelia Project - silly, quirky, morbid but almost always more jaunty and eccentric than completely dark. Great for anyone who loves 'narrator' or interview type podcasts. If I'm not mistaken, I've posted some of my thoughts on here using the pod's hashtag.

The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbitity, and Mortality - another narrator type podcast, and probably my favorite of all time. The main voice you hear is perfect imo and keeps you engaged in all the right ways, bringing tension where it's needed, and levity where it's funny or odd. Absolutely consumed this podcast with a voraciousness I haven't felt for a bit. Keeps you guessing and always wanting more from every exhibit.

Victoriocity - excellent voice acting, interesting and unique premise and setting, and great plot. One of the podcasts I'm most looking forward to returning :) think steam punk but also it's the 1800s still in weird ways. If you love an old timey British accent, you'll love this haha.

The White Vault - probably my favorite specifically horror podcast, that makes you wait for answers in a craving sort of way, a longing to know what's going on, and not slogging through a bunch of filler to then get answers. It's great, gorey, geographically diverse fun. Interesting mashups of various cultures re: mythology, history, religion(?). Another on my list to watch out for the return of.

Midnight Burger: the quick pitch is - a time traveling diner that always services people in need, no matter what time, space, or dimension they may reside in. Excellent cast of characters, great development, wonderful implementation of a new character(s), and in general a very comfortable vibe to return to (speaking of, once I run out of recommendations I may relisten to this one). Highly recommend if you like sitcoms with time travel splashed with a bit of horror.

Edit: just finished up another one, so time to add it to the list!!

Monstrous Agonies: A radio show advice segment, about, by, and for the Creature Community. If you like WTNV, but find it a bit intense sometimes, or a bit too plot heavy/etc, you'll absolutely love this. Instead of the whole show, you just get the advice segment, but oh ho ho, is it so much more than that. If you're queer, BIMPOC, from a blended/mixed/broken/anything but 'typical' home... I think you'll like it. Very much what I would call 'easy listening', meaning you can just ease into an episode without having to remember a huge cast of characters, a plots b plots C plots meta plots... And it just feels *real*, in that strange and beautiful way WTNV does, but instead of a fictional town, the setting is the real world, with real problems, and real solutions. Sometimes you really do just need to howl or cry or chew on some slippers and that's OK. Highly recommend for ADHD havers or anyone with a short attention span who loves a soothing voice.

Edit: Another absolute banger to add to the list

Wooden Overcoats - how do I even properly describe the experience of this podcast. Let's start with the basics: It's the story of twins who run a funeral parlor on a small island, in a small village. Their family has been running said parlor for hundreds of years, as the only funeral directors on the island. Until one day... They aren't. A man arrives and sets up his own funeral parlor directly across the square, and boy, do things change for those twins. If you've listened to (and loved) Victoriocity, or The Amelia Project, I guarantee you'll enjoy this one. Strange, silly, and interesting things are always happening, except this one doesn't have quite as much drama (well...... Perhaps a different kind of drama. I'd call this an interpersonal dramedy, with emphasis on the comedy). An incredible listen, through and through. I thoroughly enjoyed every single episode, and the ending was quite safisfying :)

Another EXCELLENT addition to this ever increasing list of content!!! I'm not even finished with this one, I just love it so much that I can't help but add it to the list:

Mission Rejected - you know in those spy movies, where the spy gets a secret message from HQ and they say 'your mission, if you choose to accept it...' ok great. Now imagine if 007 said 'no'. This is the story about the backups, the team that takes the missions rejected by the Top Spy Guy. It's got diverse voice acting (in many senses of the word - you can tell the voices apart, it's not exclusively straight cis white dudes, etc etc), wonderful worldbuilding, great pacing, an excellent plot, I really could go on and on. I highly recommend this specific podcast to anyone who wants something light to get deeply invested in, that has a lot of comedy but also develops the characters outside of just their bits. 100/10 no notes

Edit: not sure which podcast/podcast enthusiast rb'ed this yesterday but I'm so glad more folks get to see this list!!! It makes me so happy that lots of folks enjoy this list, a d share their fave ones, and!!!! Aaaggghhhhhhhhh!!! I love podcasts and podcast enthusiasts!!!!!

Also I have another one for yall :3 if you're looking for another improv comedy to add to your list!!!

Hey Riddle Riddle - exactly what you think it is, but also so much more. Three friends/coworkers who also happen to be sensational improv comedians solve riddles and puzzles together, while also introducing bits and skits and reoccurring segments, so it never feels like 'just a Riddle podcast' (whatever that means). I have laughed every single episode, which is a big deal for me (some comedy podcasts only make me laugh every few episodes, and I require at LEAST one laugh per episode). I can genuinely say this is one of the funniest podcasts I've ever listened to, and the absolute best improv I've ever heard. I'm all for committing to the bit, and this one absolutely delivers on both the commitment part and the bit part haha. Seriously can't recommend this one enough if you maybe listen to a lot of drama/horror and need something easy to listen to (easy meaning there's not a plot you have to be intensely listening for, you can just enjoy it casually). 1000/10, please listen and also tell me YOUR favorite riddles :)

#podcasts #podcast recommendation #Midnight Burger #victoriocity #the amelia project #the mistholme museum of mystery morbidity and mortality #the white vault #I spent a lot of time in Midnight burgers first episode wondering if Zebulon was Paul F Thompsons lmao #Anyways I love these podcasts please someone ask me about them #I desperately want to interact with more podcast people #Yell at me about podcasts #Ask me about my favorite characters or episodes #monstrous agonies #wooden overcoats #mission rejected podcast #Skip Grainger has made me realize what a blorbo truly is. I love this man. I love him so fucking much. With his little filing systems. #I want to scrunch him down and put him in my pocket forever I wanna just rotate him around in my brain he's the perfect lil guy #Finally a man i could truly feel safe around like... This man understands platonic love like no other man I've ever seen #hey riddle riddle

[deadpanwalking]

apologies if you've answered this before, but is there a translation of homer you'd particularly recommend?

If you haven't read Homer before, Fagles is a great choice because his translations strike a good balance between preserving the lyrical elements of Homer's poetry (i.e. more-or-less sticking to the five-beat lines, keeping in the repetitions) and remaining accessible to a modern reader (i.e. sometimes he'll evoke Homer’s line-ending alliterations by using end-rhymes). The other nice thing about the Fagles translations is the introduction and annotations by the great Bernard Knox, whose commentary illuminates the text by providing a lot of important context and background info. If you find Fagles too rich for your blood, Lombardo's translations are also really good to cut your teeth on—his more contemporary language is a little easier to parse.

#lattimore's translation is the most accurate one #but i find people are more amenable to it after they've already fallen in love #i hesitate to recommend wilson's translations to a first time reader #not because i don't love them #but because i think they're even better when you can appreciate what makes them so different from previous translations #also don't be afraid to mix and match translations—i.e. if you like fagles' iliad but you're not vibing with his odyssey try lombardo's #anonymous #assbox #classics mutuals feel free to chime in

[anipgarden]

Collecting Milkweed Seeds - All Facts, All Seeds, No Fluff

(OK but please also consider I'm not an ~expert~ I'm not a ~scholar~ I'm just a nerd on Tumblr who really likes milkweed and wanted to make a fun lil post about it)

[Image ID: a green, leafy common milkweed plant (Asclepias syriaca) with five large, ovalish and bumpy green seed pods. The seed pods are currently unopened.]

It’s fall, which means if you haven’t seen them already, now’s the time that milkweed plants will start producing seed pods! (Well, technically, they’re called follicles, but fuck it they’re seed pods).  Each pod has dozens of seeds inside, some species can even have up to 200 seeds, so even collecting just a few can be a good way to boost your pollinator gardening efforts big time! What you do with them then is up to you--adding life to your backyard garden, sharing with friends, making seed bombs--but first you’ve gotta collect them.

The first thing you want to do is identify your milkweed plants--in an ideal world, you’d be able to tell precisely what kind of milkweed you’re collecting from (so you can know precisely what growing conditions that species prefers.) But when they’re dying back, forming pods, and releasing their seeds, it can be hard to tell. It helps to visit sites early, to know what milkweeds are there, and while you’re there you might even find some forming pods. 

It can be helpful to band off the pods early! This will keep the seeds from escaping, so you can come back later and collect them! I would only do this for a couple of pods--each pod has a lot of seed in it, so only taking one or two from each plant should still net you plenty of rewards! When I’m doing this in my backyard, I tend to use rubber bands--the size of rubber band you’ll need varies depending on the species. I’ve also seen people use the lacy-looking jewelry bags to a similar effect--if the pod splits open, all the seeds get trapped in the bag!

[Image ID: the first image is of appears to be swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) with about fifteen long, green, smooth and pointed seed pods. Most of the pods have small black rubber bands wrapped around the midsections. The second image is of what appears to be common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) with two large, ovalish and bumpy green seed pods. A white fine mesh bag has been tied over the pods.]

For people who want to get seeds from unopened pods, you have to be very careful not to force open a pod that isn’t ready--otherwise, the seeds inside won’t fully develop. How do you tell if a pod is ripe? There’s a seam in each pod, and it should open fairly easily with minimal pressure if it’s basically ready. If you’re basically prying it open, you’re too early. The seeds inside should be a nice dark color, and be plump in the middle--if they’re creamy colored or light orange, you’re too early. There may be some undeveloped seeds in each pod (I am talking maybe 1 to 3 here), but if the majority of them are ready, you’re good to go!

[Image ID: a tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) seed pod that has been opened at the seam, revealing dark brown seeds and lots of creamy white floss. Four seeds are floating away from the pod on fluffy white comas. The pod is being held between a white person's fingers.]

I’ve also seen people who go late late late into the season, after most of the pods have already fully split off and released their seeds. Some of the seeds occasionally stay in the pod, so they’ll take the leftovers that didn’t get scattered after winter passes. That’s a fair strategy! I prefer to get mine way early on, so I can get a clear ID of what kind of milkweed it is (some will flower and produce pods at the same time), but if you already got an ID early in the season and then come back later this can also work! But…

[Image ID: several dried brown seed pods have opened fully, releasing a cloud of milkweed floss with seeds attached. Some seeds are still in the pods, but many are primed to float away.]

There is, however, one thing that tends to be a bit annoying about collecting milkweed seeds--and that’s the fluff. These fluffy white bits attached to the seed--called comas--function similarly to the iconic fluffy dandelion seed. A milkweed seed’s coma allows it to float through the air and on the water until it (hypothetically) reaches bare soil or an otherwise suitable start to settle down and germinate. If you’re collecting the seeds for later use, though, that same coma can mean your milkweed seeds are traveling through the air and away from where you’re collecting them, or all over your apartment once you get them home. Removing the comas by hand is an option, but tedious, and still leads to a nice pile of fluffy that will get airborne at the first gust of wind. At the end of the day, for many people trying to collect milkweed seeds, the coma is just an annoying part they dread.

Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to collect milkweed seeds without having to deal with the comas long-term!

[Image ID: A single brown milkweed seed floating on a comparatively huge mess of white fibers.]

Method 1

So this is my favorite method because it's honestly one of the simplest and easiest once you get used to it. You open the pod, grip the top part of the middle ‘pith’ section tight, and gently scrape off the seeds into a bowl or bag. This leaves you with almost no fluff in your collection bin, and you can then toss the middle fluffy part--or I’ve heard of people collecting milkweed fluff for spinning! Most of the videos I’ve seen on it use common milkweed or other large milkweed pods as an example--however, I’ve successfully done this with smaller milkweed pods like A. curassavica as well. 

Method 2

This method is one I’ve used in the past. Take the seeds and fluff and put them into a bag (paper or plastic) and add a coin or two. Shake the bag around--a lot. The coin will dislodge the comas from the seeds. The seeds will then drop to the bottom of the container, and the fluff will float around on the top. I’ve also seen this with buckets and blocks, like in the video below!

Method 3

I’ve seen a handful of people discuss burning the floss of the seeds! Apparently the seeds themselves aren’t damaged badly by the fire, though honestly this is a method that I am simply too anxious to try myself.

Method 4

This was a method I found while I was looking for other methods people have done. Apparently, you can just roll the pod between your hands and it’ll work to dislodge the seeds? I may have to try it next time!

Hopefully this advice is helpful for you all! I know collecting seeds was a hassle for me before I learned my favorite method. If I had a nickel for every time I got yelled at for releasing milkweed fluff into the house...

If you've got a method that I haven't heard about yet, let me know!! I'm always down to learn more about milkweed, and it can also help someone else down the line!

#milkweed #asclepias #seed saving #seed collecting #pollinator garden #outdoor gardening #gardening #flowers #ani rambles #out of queue #i think this was my first time doing image descriptions??? if they suck ass let me know and I'll Make Adjustments As Recommended #i've seen people talk about spinning the milkweed floss??? but I saw online that it was too brittle to be spun???? #but either way if you wanna save the floss and do Stuff with it go for it #did you know. or actually this is me functioning from memory. #but if I recall correctly I believe in either the WWI era or the WWII era #people would pay kids to go around fields collecting milkweed seed pods and pay them by the pound #and then they'd take the floss and use it to fill life jackets for soldiers? #i think this was less of a 'extorted child labor sweat shop' deal and more of a like #'hey kids wanna earn some cash and also be a Patriotic Citizen? go find some seed pods and we'll give you money' #which i guess many people WOULD consider an Extorted Child Labor kinda deal but like #idk seems like a chill deal to me #anyways hope you guys like this post #Youtube

[bijoumikhawal]

hello! i hope it's alright to ask you this but i was wondering if you have any recommendations for books to read or media in general about the history of judaism and jewish communities in egypt, particularly in ottoman and modern egypt?

have a nice day!

it's fine to ask me this! Unfortunately I have to preface this with a disclaimer that a lot of books on Egyptian Jewish history have a Zionist bias. There are antizionist Egyptian Jews, and at the very least ones who have enough national pride that AFAIK they do not publicly hold Zionist beliefs, like those who spoke in the documentary the Jews of Egypt (avaliable on YouTube for free with English subtitles). Others have an anti Egyptian bias- there is a geopolitical tension with Egypt from Antiquity that unfortunately some Jewish people have carried through history even when it was completely irrelevant, so in trying to research interactions between "ancient" Egyptian Jews and Native Egyptians (from the Ptolemaic era into the proto-Coptic and fully Coptic eras) I've unfortunately come across stuff that for me, as an Egyptian, reads like anti miscegenationist ideology, and it is difficult to tell whether this is a view of history being pushed on the past or not. The phrase "Erev Rav" (meaning mixed multitude), which in part refers to Egyptians who left Egypt with Moses and converted to Judaism, is even used as an insult by some.

Since I mentioned that documentary, I'll start by going over more modern sources. Mapping Jewish San Francisco has a playlist of videos of interviews with Egyptian Jews, including both Karaites and Rabbinic Jews iirc (I reblogged some of these awhile ago in my "actually Egyptian tag" tag). This book, the Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry, is avaliable for free online, it promises to be a more indepth look at Egyptian Jews in the lead up to modern explusion. I have only read a few sections of it, so I cannot give a full judgment on it. There's this video I watched about preserving Karaite historical sites in Egypt that I remember being interesting. "On the Mediterranian and the Nile edited by Harvey E. Goldman and Matthis Lehmann" is a collection of memiors iirc, as is "the Man in the Sharkskin Suit" (which I've started but not completed), both moreso from a Rabbinic perspective. Karaites also have a few websites discussing themselves in their terms, such as this one.

For the pre-modern but post-Islamic era, the Cairo Geniza is a great resource but in my opinion as a hobby researcher, hard to navigate. It is a large cache of documents from a Cairo synagogue mostly from around the Fatimid era. A significant portion of it is digitized and they occasionally crowd source translation help on their Twitter, and a lot of books and papers use it as a primary source. "The Jews in Medieval Egypt, edited by: Miriam Frenkel" is one in my to read pile. "Benjamin H. Hary - Multiglossia in Judeio-Arabic. With an Edition, Translation, and Grammatical Study of the Cairene Purim Scroll" is a paper I've read discussing the Jewish record of the events commemorated by the Cairo Purim, I got it off either Anna's Archive or libgen. "Mamluks of Jewish Origin in the Mamluk Sultanate by Koby Yosef" is a paper in my to read pile. "Jewish pietism of the Sufi type A particular trend of mysticisme in Medieval Egypt by Mireille Loubet" and "Paul B Fenton- Judaism and Sufism" both discuss the medieval Egyptian Jewish pietist movement.

For "ancient" Egyptian Jews, I find the first chapter of "The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC-1492 AD” by Simon Schama, which covers Elephantine, very interesting (it also flies in the face of claims that Jews did not marry Native Egyptians, though it is from centuries before the era researchers often cover). If you'd like to read don't click this link to a Google doc, that would be VERY naughty. There's very little on the Therapeutae, but for the paper theorizing they may have been influenced by Buddhism (possibly making them an example of Judeo-Buddhist syncretism) look here (their Wikipedia page also has some sources that could be interesting but are not specifically about them). "Taylor, Joan E. - Jewish women philosophers of first-century Alexandria: Philo’s Therapeutae reconsidered" is also a to read.

I haven't found much on the temple of Onias/Tell el Yahudia/Leontopolis in depth, but I have the paper "Meron M. Piotrkowski - Priests in Exile: The History of the Temple of Onias and Its Community in the Hellenistic Period" in my to be read pile (which I got off Anna's Archive). I also have some supplemental info from a lecture I attended that I'm willing to privately share.

I also have a document compiling links about the Exodus of Jews from Egypt in the modern era, but I'm cautious about sharing it now because I made it in high school and I've realized it needs better fact checking, because it had some misinfo in it from Zionist publications (specifically about the names of Nazis who fled to Egypt- that did happen, but a bunch of names I saw reported had no evidence of that being the case, and one name was the name of a murdered resistance fighter???)

#cipher talk #I find Leontopolis fascinating because after the first time a bunch of Egyptian Jews built a temple in Egypt a second guy did it #And allegedly had a not terrible scriptural justification! And the temple lasted for THREE EXTRA YEARS after Jerusalem was sacked! #Never let anyone tell you there was only one temple #There's also other stuff but this is what I immediately had #Some books I have I'm pretty sure just aren't good to start with lmao they're about very specific stuff #Modern Middle Eastern Jewish Thought: Writings on Identity politics and culture is interesting and includes Egyptian Jews #But it's definitely got a zionist bias. It's mostly essays #I'd definitely recommend reading up on Joseph Cattaui and Murād Farag because they were simply so influential #Even though Farag was a dumbass that wrote the first Arabic defense of Zionism #Ya‘qub Sannu‘ is also fascinating- he spent a lot of his time defending Muslims to European audiences so some people assumed he reverted #He didn't he just took a hard stance on it. Also he got exiled for criticizing the Khedivate #All 3 are in MMEJT iirc

[autisticburnham]

People who recommend you start with ds9 are so... what are you talking about? Like, yes, it is the best one, but it's good precisely because it deconstructs the story as it has been presented to us in tos and (mostly) tng. It's not like you can't watch it without watching those first, but it loses so much of it's impact if you don't come in already believing in the story of the Federation as a utopia. Why are you trying to undercut your own fave like that, bro?

#also it's like people who recommend blink as your first doctor who episode #yeah it's great but it's so different from the rest of the franchise #if you base your expectations for what star trek is off of ds9 then you will be disappointed by the rest of them #not because the rest are worse but because ds9's tone and framing is not representative of the work as a whole #ds9 #queue