After doing some research on camels it turns out they can actually adapt pretty well to below freezing temperatures so I apologize to Chief Zoologist Williamson.

Unfortunately, Williamson’s innovative camel-powered arctic travel theory would never be tested, as HMS Nimrod collided with a whaling ship off the coast of Greenland and sank.

i could plan 1,000 doomed to fail 19th century arctic expeditions probably. like it’s hard

As with the horse poll, please regard these options as sliders. The extent to which each one deviates from 1/6th of the total will determine the amount that canine aspect deviates from the "average."

I will draw the dog we make. :)

Combeferre infodumping to Enjolras about whichever branch of science he's most recently developed an interest in my beloved

Fandom: Les Miserables

Sample Size: 25,546 stories

Source: AO3

we talk a lot about ohhhh what if my calling is to be the greatest mammoth hunter ever and I'm wasting my talents in the modern era but we never think about what if Thog from 30,000 BCE was the only person ever born who could get a sub-7min Donkey Kong Country any%, and he never got the chance. what about thog

marius & courfeyrac doodle for today's drawing

regardless of everything, it’s too bad that hating on the 1830s seems to be having a moment. since it’s a decade that probably a lot of us have a soft spot for, it sort of sucks to see people say things like “everyone would smell like shit and have the iq of a lobotomized cow” or “easily one of the most unremarkable decades in history”

of course it’s true that horrific things happened in the 1830s. but it’s also true that, like in any decade, there were people trying to make the world a better place anyway. but i don’t need to tell you guys that!

@impetusofadream do you also comment this on enjoltaire posts. just wondering

1/1000:

Chief Zoologist Williamson convinces the gang to bring camels instead of ponies, on account of snow is basically like sand

i could plan 1,000 doomed to fail 19th century arctic expeditions probably. like it’s hard

my experience whenever i go into the notes of a political post that mentions a guillotine

i could plan 1,000 doomed to fail 19th century arctic expeditions probably. like it’s hard

Two men reading Le Charivari by Honoré Daumier, 1840.

Happy Eighteen-Forties Friday, my friends!

lol nice outfit loser *puts phone up to ear* huh…? what? oh um- okay. anyway 1828 called. they said they found something really really scary in goya’s house

The one, in which Valjean observes the Thénardiers in their natural environment. Too much is going on, so I will select just a couple of aspects. Valjean, though perceptive himself, remains an enigma to the Thénardiers. They debate whether he's a beggar or a wealthy eccentric, convinced that the rich cannot be polite.

The description of emaciated, bruised, scared Cosette clad in rags is excruciating. Hugo’s and Valjean’s reaction to what they see is humane and natural: “The hollows in her neck were enough to make one weep,” but it’s not enough for the good people of Montfermeil. Cosette was “on the verge of becoming an idiot or a demon.” Luckily, she would escape this fate, but Éponine, trapped in this environment, would eventually label herself “a devil.”

Éponine is amusing, inventive, and lovely, explaining Azelma the rules of playing with a cat: “Gradually, you will perceive her whiskers, and that will surprise you. And then you will see her ears, and then you will see her tail and it will amaze you. And you will say to me, ‘Ah! Mon Dieu!’ and I will say to you: ‘Yes, Madame, it is my little girl. Little girls are made like that just at present.’” Hugo is so good at conveying children’s behaviour.

On the other hand, Cosette doesn’t quite know how to play. This is a skill one has to learn socially, and Cosette never had time for it. Valjean is paying for her time to play, then he buys her a fancy doll. And It’s heart-breaking to see how all she can do with a new doll is to admire it silently: ““Play, Cosette,” said the stranger. / “Oh! I am playing,” returned the child.”

Hugo is imposing gender norms of his time, preaching about girls and dolls, and women and babies. However, this was the mainstream opinion of the time, so Hugo is just a normal man of the nineteenth century.

The image of Jean Valjean wandering around the house at night, acting as St. Nicholas, rewarding good children with a coin, is precious!

A dip in the lake