#i assumed it was still common in the 80s?
Text
Shut Up & Drive
matt sturniolo x mechanic!reader
a/n: i know nothing about cars yall so i’m sorry to the car bros if i get something wrong
genre: fluff
summary: when matt needs to take the car into the shop, he meets a cute mechanic who fixes his car.
cw: language
—————————————————————————-
OIL CHANGE REQUIRED. matt groaned audibly as he saw the notification on the car. “what?” nick asked from the backseat. “i need to get the oil changed for the car.” matt sighs. he was not a fan of taking his car into the shop (but who is?). “cant you do that at home or whatever?” chris said. “no, i’ll have to take it into the shop.” matt retorted. “oh, ok, so do that.” chris brushes him off. since matt was the only one who could drive, he was obviously always the one to take care of the car too. “i’ll do it tomorrow, i guess.” matt grumbles.
the next day, matt drove to the mechanic to get the oil changed for the car. when he arrived at the shop, it appeared to just be a big open garage with cars parked all around. the sounds of buzzing and car doors opening and closing was overwhelming. as he was trying to look for someone who worked there, he spotted somebody underneath a car, fiddling around with something on the bottom. “shit!” the person exclaims before sliding out from beneath the car, shaking her hand in pain.
matt couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was. she wore a baggy f/c jumpsuit with the top half unzipped and wrapped around her waist, a black tank top on the upper half of her body. safety goggles were propped on top of her head but she didn’t seem to use them. her h/l h/c hair was pulled into a ponytail. a few tattoos decorated her left arm.
“mother fucker-“ she cuts herself off when she sees matt. “oh, hi! i, uh, didn’t see you there.” she chuckles. “are you ok?” matt asks, looking at her finger that she’s clutching in her hand. “wh- oh! this? i’m fine, it’s just a tiny cut.” she dismisses it. “i’m y/n, what do you need help with?” she holds out her hand for matt to shake and he does. “i’m matt. my car needs an oil change.” he explains. “lead the way, matt.” she grinned.
as she was working on his car, he couldn’t help but admire her. “so how old are you? usually it’s older people bringing their cars in because kids just have their parents bring it in.” y/n asks, still focused on the car. “i’m 20. how about you?” he replies. “no way! me too!” she exclaims as if she’s never found someone the same age as her. the conversation continues smoothly and matt can’t help but like her more and more by the minute. turns out they actually had a lot in common. he was fighting the urge to ask for her number or something, but he didn’t want to make things weird or uncomfortable and assumed her friendliness was just her customer service attitude.
y/n finishes the oil change and the two of them head over to the register. “alright, that’ll be $80.” y/n says when she rings him up. he swipes his card and thanks her. she waves goodbye to him as he walks to his car, seemingly contemplating something. as soon as he enters the car and turns on the engine, she runs over to him.
“are you free tomorrow night? wait- i should ask if you’re single—are you single?” she blurts out when she leans into his window. “um, yeah- yes, i’m single. and also free tomorrow night.” he awkwardly chuckles. “great! do you maybe wanna get dinner tomorrow?” she asks, suddenly a little shy. “yes, of course! i mean, where should i pick you up?” he can’t help but smile. “here’s my number and my address.” she writes on a small piece of paper and gives it to him. “i’ll see you tomorrow then?” he confirms. “yep! see ya, matt!” she grins and quickly kisses him on the cheek before jogging back to the shop. going to the shop wasn’t so bad this time.
#matt sturniolo x reader#sturniolo triplets#matt sturniolo#sturniolo#chris sturniolo x reader#matthew sturniolo#matthew sturniolo x reader#matthew bernard sturniolo
117 notes
·
View notes
Text
So I’ve written the Beemer as a stick shift but TBH I have no fucking idea about how common automatics were in the 80s
#jackrabbit underneath#honestly that is wild that i never googled it#because i went down a rabbit hole that involved multiple chefs about a frozen pastry question#that was a throw away line#(BUT ALSO I do not know when frozen puff pastry was made market ready to this day)#God if you know about frozen puff pastry let me know because it haunts me#(I eventually went fuck it and put it in the Valentines day bit)#but IDK my parents only let me drive stick shifts#and while I knew a the time it was outdated#i assumed it was still common in the 80s?#but I am now realizing that may nto be true?
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
tagged by the bestie @a-little-unsteddie ( •̀ ω •́ )✧ who was gracious enough to listen to me ramble about this
rules:
✧ generate 5 random words using this generator and then write something using those words!
✧ tag 5 (or however many you want) mutuals to challenge!
✧ if you don’t like the five words you got, reroll them. this is meant to be a fun little challenge, not something to stress over. have fun!
✧ my words: stoichiometry, glenoid, secretion, encounter, fleam ✧ warning: this is some spooky stuff, lots of water imagery, stay safe ✧
If there's one thing Eddie hates more than sitting through another lecture from another townie about the dangers of the lake, it's being forced to listen to their made-up bullshit about what's out there.
They don't know a single thing about what lurks under the surface of the water.
They talk about the smell of blood, the sound of howling, the quick flash of fangs in the moonlight, all the typical bullshit they make up to scare kids away from the lake. They don't even put any effort, any imagination into the stories, being as vague as they can because god forbid the people of Hawkins add a little pizazz to their warnings.
And that's the real kicker really, that the scariest things they can come up with are so vague, so general it could be about any store-brand monster out there. The reality of the lake is unfathomable to them. It was unfathomable to Eddie too, once.
But he's had encounters. Real ones.
And now he knows.
The townsfolk would never talk about the goosebumps that prickle your skin when you're near the lake. The sense of awe and dread that soaks into your bones when you look at it, as though just the sight is enough to engulf you in the water. The way your limbs will lock for a moment, just a moment, when you step into old, wet footprints, the ones that leave the lakeside muddy, that make you think, wait a second, because those footprints don't go into the water.
They walk out of it.
And now Eddie is walking towards it, leaving his van and any chance of escape far behind him.
What a life.
With a grumble, Eddie stomps towards the cabin, rickety stairs creaking, and he pushes the door open.
"It's simple stoichiometry, my dear -"
"Hello friends and foes alike!" Eddie greets as he steps through the door. Or at least, he would have said that had he not been accosted against the wall with a firm arm crushing his throat to it.
He scrambles, staring into the black void eyes that glare at him. The snarl from something you can't really call a man, but there is no other word for the sight of him, echoing through his bones.
The arm against his throat pushes harder for a moment and he thinks, slightly hysterically, well, tit for tat, I guess. Not the usual tit I'd go for but beggars can't be choosers.
"Steve! Steve, it's okay, it's just Eddie!"
"Hey man," Eddie wheezes, grasping at Steve's forearm. "Been eating your greens, I gather?"
With a snort, Steve lets him go and steps away. Eddie takes a minute to gasp air back into his lungs, coughing out the instinctual fear that claws through his blood every time he sees - well.
"So," Eddie croaks out, rubbing at the skin of his neck, wiping away the cool water and the goosebumps that always take a while to fade away. "Why'd you call me here again, Henderson?"
Dustin gawks at him as Steve shuffles his way back to his stool. "I didn't call you!"
Eddie narrows his eyes and shoves his medallion, the one Will carved out for each of them, right in front of Dustin's face, making the kid go cross-eyed. "Oh yeah? So this signal wasn't from you, huh?"
"Wha - but - I didn't -" sputters Dustin, who then goes silent and turns around to Steve with his hands on his hips. "Steve."
What a sight he is to behold.
Leaning back on his stool, one arm supporting his weight from behind, Steve inspects the darkened nails of his other hand, not even gracing Dustin with a glance. It'd be the perfect rendition of the Kegstand King if it weren't for his sickly skin, always so cold and just on the wrong side of damp, and the way his face is perfectly still, no twitching, no blinking, no movement from any inch of him other than the droplets of water that drip from his hair.
Eddie always forgets that he doesn't breathe anymore.
"Steve," Dustin stresses again. "Did you call for Eddie on our emergency-only channel, the same one that has a limited amount of calls because of, oh y'know, Will's magic?!"
There's silence. Then Steve shrugs and Eddie laughs out loud.
"Steve!"
"Chill out, man," Eddie pats Dustin's shoulder. "We can always recharge the calls once your superhero girl comes back from the edge out there. She'll be back in what, two days?"
That doesn't seem to be enough to deter Dustin from glaring at Steve, who lazily looks back. An acidic taste rises at the back of Eddie's throat at how those voids stare, empty of intention, empty of the exasperated affection that he was so used to seeing.
Eddie clears his throat. "Did I hear something about science on my way in?"
And with that, the kid's face brightens up like the sun and he launches into his investigation into the "secretion from the roots closest to the lake, the colour is way off, way too green to be tree resin, and we couldn't cut through it, not even with Mrs. Byers' fleam so we figured -"
Throughout the rant, Eddie's eyes flicker between Dustin and Steve, his body freezing in place when the latter's gaze locks onto his own.
It's so bizarre to look at him. To look and see the Steve that protected the kids, the Steve that would gripe and groan, the Steve that would laugh goofily. But that Steve is a ghost, a memory laid over his body like those photographs Will brings to their sessions, proud and adamant about his brother's talent in - what did he call it? Double exposure.
This Steve doesn't laugh like that. He doesn't make much sound at all, beyond huffs and hums. This Steve doesn't look at Dustin with brotherly annoyance, or Lucas with cheerful pride, or Max with loving snark. This Steve looks at all of them with the same eyes, black and eternal, the same smile, hollow like a one-way mirror, the same tilt of his head, as if still contemplating who among them are prey.
This Steve doesn't take his eyes off of Eddie. And then he tilts his head.
"Okay, buddy," Eddie smacks a hand onto Dustin's shoulder, cutting him off. He glances back at Steve and sucks in a breath as he starts to lean forward. "Think it's time I get you home."
"What?" Dustin scrunches his nose. "It's not even sundown yet! And I still have to look at Steve's right glenoid, Robin said there might be some -"
"Kid." Eddie tightens his grip on Dustin's shoulder. Steve watches them. "Go sit in the van."
"Eddie -"
"Now."
With a grumble, Dustin gathers his books and equipment, hauling it all into his backpack. Steve doesn't look away from them. Eddie doesn't look away from Steve. Finally, the kid manages to get everything in and ready to go before he fucks it all up and sticks a hesitant hand out to Steve. "See you tomorrow?"
And then, then something incredible happens.
Steve blinks. He breaks his gaze away from Eddie, looking over to Dustin and his outstretched hand, and then he gives his own hand in return, bumping the two fists.
Dustin glows so brightly Eddie almost wants to grab the old pair of sunglasses he keeps inside his jacket pocket, the ones Robin told him to keep safe. The ones Steve used to wear.
"Bye Steve!" Dustin calls out as he leaves the cabin, snapping Eddie's gaze back to Steve.
Steve, who is smiling.
It sends shocks up Eddie's spine because that's Steve's smile, the sweet one, the warm one, the one so full of fondness it might as well have been carved into every crevice of his lips.
"Steve?" Eddie says quietly.
And just like that, those eyes snap back onto Eddie and in one smooth motion, Steve stands and stalks towards him, smile gone, warmth gone.
"Woah, woah," Eddie swears as Steve crawls into his space, the smell of wet grass invading his lungs. Steve has him against the wall again, arms caging him in, and face leaned in close. Eddie squeaks out, "That eager, huh?"
Steve tilts his head again before his mouth stretches out and up, a terrifying reflection of Eddie's nervous grin that makes sweat crawl down the skin of his back.
"Yeah, yeah." Eddie breathes out as Steve drags his nose down Eddie's neck, shivering at the ice-cold touch. "I'll be back tonight, just let me get Dustin home first."
The humming is the worst part. There's an odd melody to it, rising and lowering in pitch, as though he's using words. But he's not. He's just humming.
"Steve," Eddie whispers as the creature before him noses at his collarbone. "Just let me get Dustin home first. Please."
At the sound of Dustin's name, Steve sinks away. He stares up at Eddie, giving one, solitary nod towards the open door.
With frenzied nerves, Eddie makes his way over to the door and is just about to step outside when he hears a hum behind him. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Eddie glances back.
Steve is staring at him. None of the sunlight touches him, shadows creeping along the ground where he stands.
And then a hoarse, haunting sounds echoes through the cabin.
"Don't be late."
Eddie doesn't remember rushing into the van or the ride back to the Hendersons' place. By the time he settles back into his body, he's already standing in front of the cabin again, the sun sinking below the horizon, red skies bleeding into black trees.
Hawkins will always lament the terrors of the lake, Eddie thinks as the door creaks open for him. But they'll never know a single thing about what really lies down in it.
They'll never know who waits down there, with black eyes and hollow smiles.
They'll never know what he'd do to keep his family safe.
Who he would become.
"Welcome back," says a hoarse, lilting voice and Eddie hopes the people of Hawkins will never have to know.
and some no pressure tags:
@xenon-demon @unamusing-s @wynnyfryd @onirislanding @heartscoops
#this roll was the second attempt out of five and the other ones used equally as common words#so i'm just gonna assume this generator thinks i needed science vibes and honestly fair enough#sailor✧writes#steddie#writing#ficlet#au content#i gotta make a tag for all the monster stuff i write#or maybe i could post them all on ao3 as a monster vibes series?#also welcome to another episode of sails dropping you in the middle of a vague setting but this time with even more confusion#because it's still the 80s#just with magic apparently
31 notes
·
View notes
Text
How Old Is Thistle?
(EDIT: I've made a follow-up post to this one that goes deeper into the math and additional evidence that the 5:1 ratio is correct. You can read it here!)
I've seen people debating this and a lot of folks insisting that Thistle is a child, and since Thistle just debuted in the anime, I wanted to do a full write-up to help myself and others figure this out.
We don't know how old any of the Merini family members are exactly, so the best we can do is guess based on the information we have, but after carefully studying the manga, I think Thistle is at least a teenager, but much more likely a young adult, and definitely not a prepubescent child.
Here's what we know:
EDIT: Depending on what translation you read of some of the extra materials, Freinag implies that Thistle is the same age as some of his advisors.
Here's a detailed translation of this panel from my friend Fumi:
Elves age 5 times slower than tall-men.
16 year old tall-men in Dungeon Meshi's medieval time period are adults, they commonly join the military, get married, have children, etc.
An 80 year old elf is an adult. Pattadol is 82 and she's a lieutenant in a military unit. It's her first job and she's obviously a rookie, but Captain Flamela tells Pattadol to accomplish her mission or die trying.
Many fully adult elves look like what we might consider children or young teens, because they're short, petite, and have androgynous features.
An average elven adult is around 150-155cm tall (5 ft), meaning some are shorter than that, and some are taller. Thistle is 130 cm, which is short, but not unheard of.
Fleki is 130 (26) years old and she's 140 cm tall (4'7")
Otta is 137 (27) years old and she's 130 cm (4'5") tall, the same height as Thistle!
They are both women, but there's probably plenty of elven men in their height range.
Just so we can compare Thistle to some adult elven men, Mithrun and his brother are probably adults (or close to it) in the panel on the left.
Mithrun (in this image) is somewhere between 75 and 144 (probably in his 80's), and his brother is older than him (so he could be in his late 80s or 90s). As you can see, they don't look that different from Thistle, Otta or Fleki.
So, how old is Thistle?
(Spoilers below the cut)
Thistle was brought to the royal court as a child (found on the street, stolen or purchased, we don't know how they got him). At the absolute youngest I'd guess Thistle is 25 years old here (so about 5 years old for a tall-man.) He can already play the flute, and possibly the lute, and most children that aren't prodigies can't handle playing an instrument (physically or mentally) until they're around 5.
EDIT: We now know that Thistle is the same age as Freinag, the king that takes him in! So Thistle must be at least 25 years old in this comic, though realistically he could be anywhere from 25 to 40 based on how Kui drew Freinag.
He lived in the court for an unknown amount of time, Freinag hasn't changed much but Thistle appears to have aged a little, so let's say it's been 5 years and Thistle is 30 (6) when Delgal is born. More than 5 years could have passed, but I'm trying to keep the numbers low.
Delgal gets married and has a child. Delgal should be at least 15 at this point, but since he has a full mustache before his wedding, I think he's in his 20's, since teenagers tend to not be the best at growing robust facial hair.
(He has a full beard by the time Eodio's a young child.)
Thistle puts the kingdom inside the dungeon around this point, however, people are still aging: Delgal's grandson Yaad is born, and Eodio is clearly a young adult here, probably in his 20's. Therefore, there is NO REASON to assume Thistle stopped aging. "The dungeon lords don't age" is a common fan headcanon I've seen people spreading, but it has no clear canon basis.
Yaad ages until he looks about 13-15 years old, and at this point all of the people of the kingdom and Thistle appear to stop aging, and 1,000 years pass.
So, the youngest Thistle could possibly be, if he was 30 (6) when Delgal was born, if Delgal was 15 when he had Eodio, and Eodio was 15 when he had Yaad, and Yaad is 13 years old...
Is 73 years old, which would make Thistle about 14.6 years old by tall-man standards.
HOWEVER, I think it's VERY unlikely that all the characters are that young.
I think it's clear from Kui's drawings that Delgal and Eodio are not 15 years old when they become fathers, and that Freinag is at least 25 when he takes in Thistle.
If we assume Thistle was 30 when Delgal was born, and Delgal and Eodio were both at least 20 when they had children, even if Yaad is only 13 years old, that makes Thistle at least 83 years old (16.6), and makes him older than Pattadol, who is an adult at 82.
However, I think it's entirely possible that Thistle was anywhere from 40-50 when Delgal was born, and Delgal could have been anywhere from 20 to 30 when he had Eodio, and Eodio could have been anywhere from 20-25 when he had Yaad. If you use the maximum ages, and assume Yaad is 15, then Thistle could be as old as 120 (24).
I think a reasonable middle ground is assuming Thistle was 30 (6) when Delgal was born, Delgal had Eodio at 25, Eodio had Yaad at 20, and Yaad is 15... Which would make Thistle 90 (18) years old.
This of course says nothing about Thistle's emotional maturity or sanity, he's obviously stunted in some ways, but the point I want to make here is:
Thistle's age could be anywhere from 14.6 to 24 at the most extreme, but more realistically he's somewhere between 16.6 and 18.
And that's not even counting the thousand years that he's lived since then!
And that's all I've got to say about that 🙏🙏🙏🙏
(EDIT: Follow-up post with additional evidence here.)
EDIT 2: I've seen a lot of people talking about the page Kui drew talking about elven earmuffs. It's considered just barely okay for Pattadol to wear them, but it's ok for Thistle to wear them... In which case I'd say Thistle could be any age younger than 83. That's handy as it knocks out some of the older ages!
So in that case Thistle's age is between 73 years old and 82, which makes him developmentally between 14.6 and 16.4!
#dungeon meshi#delicious in dungeon#dunmeshi#dungeon meshi spoilers#Thistle#Thistle Merini#thistle dungeon meshi#thistle delicious in dungeon#sissel#spoilers#theories
818 notes
·
View notes
Text
okay, since some of you asked for it:
unpopular opinion but i don’t actually think eddie was a nice soft boy at all. dustin and mike are literally afraid to ask him to move hellfire. ‘he’s always revved up,’ implying that he’s always like this, always a little close to snapping. he’s not nice to them when he asks them to find a replacement. he also guilt trips them about 'taking them in like lost sheep' and shoves them off to find a replacement instead of keeping lucas included. which is why i don't understand the 'fierce protector of his friends' take because he's so quick to drop lucas just because he's 'moved to the dark side.' aka, throwing balls into laundry baskets.
which leads me to when he gets up on the table, people are not trying to fuck around with him. this is a common occurance, people are not surprised to see him up there and yelling. they aren't surprised that he's making a spectacle of himself. if eddie was soft and sweet, he would’ve gotten beat up. if eddie was soft and gentle, he'd probably be scared of jason. guys like jason in the 80s loved being macho and punching out losers — eddie just gave him the devil horns and called it a day. eddie’s absolutely gotten in fist fights before and won (his dad is a literal criminal!) otherwise someone would've thrown something or told him to shut the fuck up. people are scared of him, even his own friends! there’s more reasons than just playing DND and metal that make town certain that he’s a cult leader. you don't just assume someone is a murderer if they haven't shown any interest in violence before, especially considering his dad was likely a shitty dude. he even bullies erica when she first shows up to hellfire and only respects her when she bullies him back and bests him. he is someone you have to EARN respect from. he will never respect anyone outright or be understanding outright. he doesn't fully respect dustin or mike to start either, he views them as underlings.
even chrissy assumes he's going to be mean and scary, there's gotta be reason behind that. he's not nice or kind in school, which is likely a defense mechanism. he’s sweet with chrissy because he likes her, he has a crush on her. it’s very clear that he has since he was a kid, otherwise why would he bring up them hanging out in middle school? why would he even remember that if he hasn’t been pining for her this whole time? he admits too, albiet flirtily, that he thought SHE'D be mean and scary too, because he doesn't like people 'like that', people he assumes are 'on the dark side'. i’m sure he hoped they’d kiss a little when she went to his trailer. he's even a little sarcastic when she's there, again, defensive. 'the maid took the week off'. but ultimately, he's nice to her because he wants to kiss her and has a crush on her. i don't think it's because he's fully 'showing her who he really is'.
also he's a literal drug dealer????? like?????
he only becomes more gentle and open with dustin and co. when he gets pulled into the upside down/vecna stuff because he needs support. they grow a bond over shared trauma. and i do believe eddie had a big brother type relationship with dustin, but just like steve he loves him begrudgingly 'i love you, you little shit bag' kind of shit. i do believe he liked and cared for his friends but i also think he always had a big layer of mean kid armor on because he had a hard life growing up. how i percieved the character is 'mean bully whose secretly nice but is mean and boisterous and loud as a cover' trope.
when he explains that his father taught him to hotwire, he seems bitter about it. of course he is, all the other kids were learning to play ball. but he obviously still retains this information and a whole bunch of other crime tricks from his dad. he's BEEN partaking in this shit. he KNOWS he's a shitty guy. you don't just get taught how to hotwire once and then suddenly know how to do it years later. he's done it before! multiple times! he has practice! he likely knows about warzone cause his daddy absoLUTELY had a gun or two. his dad probably took him there once. he was pulled left and right into bad shit growing up and that will HARDEN YOU.
wayne says that murder 'ain't in his nature' and i'm sure it's not. i'm sure he's different with wayne, but idk, to me, it doesn't erase the fact that outwardly, i don't think eddie was nearly as sweet and gentle as people think he is canonically. i think he's a very hardened and tortured person and that even becomes clear with his reaction to chrissy's death and how he goes about things going forward. he was a weird kid with weird interests in a cookie cutter conservative town, had a criminal father, and an unconventional family situation in the 70s and 80s, that shit'll fuck you up and over -- look at boomers y'all! they are emotionally stunted!
but, i could go on forever with this character analysis. so i'll stop here. but -- in the words of the real housewives reunion meme:
that's MY OPINION!
1K notes
·
View notes
Text
i'm workshopping halsin's past in terms of relationships
considering that halsin was very likely bullied as a kid (thaniel was his only friend) and how he is a prime target for an abusive relationship (you can say all kinds of nasty things to him and he will just look sad but not break up with you or draw any kind of line that next time it's over or anything - and sure player chara lifts the curse so it's all magic on a pedestal and heart eyes but still…)
the way i see it time-wise: he's 350 now and i don't see him having any relationships like that since the shadow curse / taking over as archdruid, so that takes us down to him at 250 - his slavery 3 years were in his youth so im gonna assume that's closer to him either below or just around 100 so let's say ages 20-80/100 he might have had some relationships, then underdark happened at some point and then ages 80/100-250 again he is out and might be in relationships
so with that in mind, i'm trying to picture his past relationships and how they ended, what could be some common threats in most / many of them and were the breakups amicable or not
maybe besides duty and power imbalance and lack of peers / actual friends the reason he didn't have any relationship in the time as archdruid would also be that he was at that point aware enough that when he gets involved with sb he is easily manipulated by them, even if a relationship starts all sunshine and roses it always devolves when the other party(-ies) pick up on that and - not even to keep himself safe from that but to keep the grove safe from the potential dangers of that - he stayed single? that would also fit with him expecting the ship with tav to end even if it's going well and they are living in the commune, he's still waiting for that other shoe to drop, like all the other times
would his past lovers have issue with his relationship with his bear shape? they'd know he's a druid but he's not exactly standard in his approach, whether you go with werebear approach or not. would that have been a point of conflict in some relationships? would he have ended things if it was?
would some of them - either intentionally or through ignorance - hear him say openly he's polyamorous and take it as an open invitation to cheat on him or to involve third parties without properly discussing it with halsin and just assuming he'd be up for anything and with anybody? (i get wood elves are culturally polyamorous so this point might not necessarily apply to them, but clearly halsin doesn't limit himself to just dating wood elves)
on the flipside i don't want him to only have bad relationships, or only ones that in time turn abusive, but what would happen there? imo the simplest would be 'we're just having fun and want different things long term from life' or duty calls and the like that would necessitate a breakup. i would hate the idea that tav is the only / first good happy steady relationship in his long life and thus somehow special - outside of the special aspect being around the curse breaking bc can't argue with that.
thoughts? anybody?
135 notes
·
View notes
Text
One of the reasons I believe a lot of people are so aggressively threatened, freaked out, and even offended by the concept of a gay or bi Mike is because then they’d have to face the fact that queer people are just people. Which, duh. Of course, they are! But Mike Wheeler, at least in the first season (and sorta the second season), is THE main character. He’s THE guy.
It’s what turned Finn Wolfhard into a heartthrob and fast-tracked him to starring roles in movies like It and Ghostbusters: Afterlife. For people who grew up loving 80s childhood adventure movies, on which the Duffers based their show, Mike Wheeler is Elliot from E.T. He’s Mikey from The Goonies. He’s Marty from Back to the Future. He’s Luke from A New Hope. In other words, he’s the kind of young sci-fi hero every boy dreamed of becoming. I mean, who wouldn’t want to find out that magic/the supernatural is real, go on an insane, life-changing adventure with their friends, stand up to bad guys, and fall in love with a girl with superpowers in the span of a week?!
Other than being nerdy/into D&D (which is honestly not that far from being a theatre kid, tbh)/hj, kinda melodramatic, and somewhat unathletic (affectionate), there’s nothing about Mike Wheeler that radiates gayness on the surface. Plus, he’s the protagonist! In Season 1 we experience most new things through his eyes. That makes him the audience surrogate character, so how can the audience surrogate character be (gasps) GAY?! That’s OBviously impossible. He’s just a guy. He’s just a dude. He’s just a person. He’s just the boy next door.
And if queer people are just people, then that means ANYONE could potentially be queer. Even your younger sister. Even your best friend, who has no stereotypically gay traits, plays football, and has a girlfriend. Even your children (gasps). Even you (am I gay quizzes? were born from fears like this). That’s terrifying for people who expect the world, and the media they consume, to be black-and-white.
People like boxes. They like things that are safe. Every time general audiences are introduced to a new character they fully assume the character is straight, even if they aren’t shown to have any interest in girls (like Will) unless they are an obvious stereotype, say the words, “I’m gay,” or explicitly make out with a boy (even then, some people will still try to claim they’re confused or simply “struggling with their sexuality”).
Kevin Keller from Riverdale. Kurt Hummel from Glee. Patrick in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (as much as I love that movie). Carlos in HSMTMTS. These are all characters that are Gay™️. They are almost always the comic relief sidekick, or the gay bestie for the main female character, or some variation of common tropes. Audiences (even homophobic ones) are increasingly used to seeing these types of characters on their screen, but a gay Mike Wheeler would be a different type of character entirely.
“Mike being gay or bi would just be OUT OF NOWHERE and would be bad writing done just for woke points.” Okay. Aside from the fact that it would simply NOT be out of nowhere (gestures wildly at the Byler Proof Slides), let’s unpack the phrase “out of nowhere” for a second. Why is something only considered “out of nowhere” when it’s gay and never when it’s straight? Was it out of nowhere for Dustin to find a girlfriend while at camp? Is the resurrection of Stancy out of nowhere? And to the people who are still somehow convinced that Will Byers isn’t gay, just “maturing slower than his friends,” I guarantee you they wouldn’t call it “out of nowhere” for Will to suddenly have a female love interest, even though it clearly would be. They would encourage it, even if it was someone especially ridiculous like El, who is literally his sister, or Max, with whom he’s had almost no on-screen conversations. This is why you see people on TikTok and YouTube who genuinely believe Will’s painting is for the random girl he danced with at Snowball. Talk about out of nowhere!
“But Mike just isn’t gay. Don’t be delusional. Don’t be unrealistic. He is straight. He has only been shown to like El and has one of the most extreme cases of romantic tunnel vision in fiction I’ve ever seen.” Okay, let’s push aside the constant lip stares, the romantically charged conversations with his best friend, the fact that he can’t say or even write, “I love you” to his girlfriend, the ways the Duffers have consistently framed the Will/Mike/El dynamic with love triangle imagery and drawn our attention to this for the entire show, and more (gestures wildly at the Byler proof slides once more!!) for one second.
The emphasis on “just isn’t” betrays them and their underlying perspectives. Let’s be clear. You can say Robin just isn’t straight because she’s been explicitly confirmed in show and out of show to be lesbian and into girls. You can say Will just isn’t straight because his sexuality has been all but confirmed as well. But you can’t say Mike “just isn’t” gay if the only concrete “proof” you have for this is his (turbulent) relationship with Eleven. Keep in mind. Without Vecna, we don’t have access to the innermost thoughts of any of the characters. All we have to go by is their actions, their words, and the intentional ways the Duffers have coded their characters. Ultimately, people who say this are saying that Mike Wheeler “just isn’t gay” because he doesn’t fit their pre-conceived, ignorant, myopic notions of what a gay person is. Mike “just can’t be” gay in these people’s minds because he hasn’t done any gay “actions,” whatever that even means (that’s why they believe Will- sweet, innocent Will- is a predator/homewrecker because they associate gayness with freakish deviance and see it as something inherently sexual, whereas if Will were a girl with the exact same feelings towards Mike, they’d never in a trillion years see it this way).
In both real life and in fiction, despite all the progress we’ve made as a society, straight is something you’re allowed to just be, by default, regardless of whether you’re dating someone. Gay is something you have to PROVE or “fall into,” and even then it’s treated with incredible suspicion (this is why people who ship Stobin believe Steve can “fix” Robin and make her into boys). Bisexuality is tragically either erased altogether, treated as a joke/a phase, or completely misunderstood (I heard someone say Mike could never be bi because he’d never date Will and El at the same time - what?! That’s not how bisexuality works). And comphet is something entirely baffling to straight audiences. You might as well be saying 2+2 equals armadillo.
They’d rather believe that he’s just become an asshole, or that Finn Wolfhard has suddenly become a bad actor. Because accepting that Mike Wheeler isn’t straight means accepting that he can be the cool, brave, valiant, kind, caring protagonist of seasons 1 and 2, AND also be madly in love with his best friend. That feels like a bait-and-switch to some people because they don’t see queer people as “normal,” even if they claim they aren’t homophobic. They see queer people as “the other,” as something alien. [Insert Visibly Stereotypical Character Here] can be gay, not MY Mike Wheeler. He’s straight. STRAIGHT. He’s madly in love with El. He and Will are just friends. JUST friends. Sound like someone?
That’s one of the reasons that Byler will be such powerful, meaningful, representation (aside from just being the only logical explanation for Mike’s weird actions). Byler becoming canon will give hope and provide a voice for the millions of LGBTQ+ kids out there who don’t fit a stereotype or society’s pre-conceived notions but who just happen to not be straight. Mike Wheeler will join Nick Nelson as one of the best LGBTQ+ teens EVER on screen. It will be a cultural reset. And it will hopefully open people’s minds to the beautiful tapestry of humanity. A love story so pure, so beautiful, and so overwhelming that the boy who tried so hard to be “normal” and to deny his feelings for his best friend and the boy who survived bullies, a week in a hellish alternate dimension, and a possession that took over his mind and body had no choice but to go crazy together.
#byler#mike wheeler i know what you are#byler endgame#i think mikes a bit fruity#will byers#mike wheeler isn't straight#byler rights#noah schnapp#finn wolfhard#I hope these words age like fine wine on Friday and not like milk
4K notes
·
View notes
Note
what's ur process for identifying cars? like what features do u look at and so on?
oh hell yeah i assume you’ve seen my other blog lol, yeah a lot of it is just years of paying attention to them and design trends, so i can usually place a general era and brand based on what logos i see, what some companies design languages were at different times, body styles, stuff like that. so even if i can’t identify an exact model, i can look at a big long boxy sedan in usually rather muted colors with a long hood but sleek profile with rectangular headlights and a specific hood emblem and know it’s a cadillac from the 70s or 80s. if i don’t know more than a brand and general era i’ll usually have to do a bit of googling but just having that preliminary knowledge helps narrow it down.
for a lot of relatively common or newer cars i usually just recognize them, i’ve hyperfixated on cars for almost 20 years, used to get tons of car enthusiast magazines and still engage with a lot of enthusiast media, so i kind of just know a shit ton of them. then it’s usually just googling to check my work/intuition and get an exact year or range of years. like i identified a toyota 4runner and specific generation of it in a video where a lot of the more obvious identifying features were only visible for a second, but in that second i recognized it even at a glimpse because i am just somebody who could recognize a car from a taillight in the dark when i was like 9. or in cases where it’s a closeup shot, like the toyota highlander from the daffy duck fish sticker post, all i had was a cut off bit of the text and the bottom of a taillight, but i know the highlander model and could estimate the general era of car based on the shape and moulding of the body contours and taillights, and narrowed it down further based on differences in the tail light housings between generations
i know that was a long explanation that probably made only so much sense but the tl;dr is autism :3
#mothman answers#thank you anon for the question!#gonna reblog it to the related sideblog too#maybe even pin it
425 notes
·
View notes
Text
How The Fuck Do Classes At Aguefort Work
AKA Brennan gave me a number of students for this school and I am going to use my expert knowledge of being a teacher in real life to extrapolate things
(disclaimer: i am australian and thus my knowledge is limited to the australian school system of how things are arranged, number of students in each class, etc. this is basically how I would organise aguefort if it were up to me)
SO
aguefort has approximately 500 students split across four year levels, making for about 125 per year level, which you could easily split into 5 'homeroom' classes of about 25 students each. Or 31-32 if you wanted to squish them into 4.
But the thing is, we have all the DND Classes to think about, with each class having its own dedicated teacher and specialist class. There are 12 standard dnd subclasses, plus we know that artificer is also an option, making 13.
It's unlikely that any particular year level has all of its students evenly split between those classes (it would be an average of 9-10 per class if they did, which is quite small for a single class, but not unheard of for (using a real life example) elective subjects like business or design tech)
ADDITIONALLY, we do know that 'regular' classes exist at aguefort, like history and home ec, so I'm assuming other typical subjects like maths, english, science (perhaps broken down into chem/bio/physics, maybe not), maybe PE as well for students that aren't part of one of the martial classes, among other things.
Most likely, the school day is arranged so that each student (assuming this student has a typical workload, AKA nothing absolutely bonkers like what the bad kids are doing in junior year) has at least one Class-Specific class per day, and then some general education ones as well, and then perhaps some more adventuring-focused classes like survival + archery or arcana.
That way each class-specific teacher should be able to fit one lesson with each year level a day, because those classes are probably considered far more important than like. Modern History.
DND-Class classes are likely much smaller and more individualised, and then general ed classes would be with a far bigger group.
I also think Aguefort has a lot of composite classes! Particularly for the less popular Dnd-Classes. Freshman+Sophomores together and then Juniors+Seniors together is probably the most common.
I think sorcery classes are often composites, partly because its one that students Literally have to be born to be able to do, so its not one that other students can multiclass Into, so its numbers probably fluctuate a bunch depending on the cohort.
More technical classes like artificer are probably also composites! Simply because I bet they're less popular than things like Fighters, Rogues, so on.
Bards are also absolutely composites, because they are already split within themselves with multiple teachers depending on the students particular focus (like we did with a separate Music class and Dance class with different bard teachers). So I wouldn't be surprised if some bard classes contain freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors all within the one class and still only have like, ten students total because they're that specialised.
I think combined classes also probably happen on a fairly regular basis. Esp if like, teachers call in sick. The fighters will go join the barbarians for a day, or the clerics will join the paladins.
And then of course they don't actually give a shit if you show up to your classes or not so theres probably some poor admin staff out there who painstakingly arranges every schedule at the start of each semester and then 80% of students ignore half of it anyway
#dimension 20#this is an incredibly niche rant that probably doesnt even make any major exciting points#but class arrangement is something im passionate about#and the idea of composite and combined classes at aguefort is very fun
73 notes
·
View notes
Text
the time that glenn howerton was in a gay period-piece play about crossdressing
so awhile back i was poking around glenn howerton's wikipedia looking for movies and such that i might have missed, and i noticed it had a small theatrical section listed. this was never something i'd given much thought in the past, but on this particular occasion i was so hard-up for new Glontent that i decided to see what i could find about the three plays listed there, because i'd never seen anyone else have much luck with that and i love a good internet scavenger hunt. walk with me.
compleat female stage beauty caught my eye right away-- the title of the play itself is interesting, and i happened to know already that the most famous real-life duke of buckingham was the lover of king james. so of course i went delving...
and what should i find but the entire playscript for compleat female stage beauty, For Free, on archive dot org? anyone on earth can rent it and read it for an hour at a time, or for 14 days if you want to really take your time with it. i have to assume that this is NOT common knowledge among sunny fans (or anyone else), as the archive upload only has 99 views at the time of making this post.
to give a VERY succinct summary of what the play is about-- in the 1660s, during the english restoration, women were allowed to act professionally onstage for the first time in english history. this caused problems for the male actors who had previously made their careers playing female characters, such as edward kynaston, around whom the play centers. outside of his acting career, kynaston is a gay man, and he's in a romantic entanglement with george villiars, the duke of buckingham (NOT the same duke of buckingham who was fucking king james-- that was this villiars' dad. we love gay fathers and their gay sons!) kynaston struggles to find his place in a changing social landscape where it seems as though his talents are no longer needed or wanted.
before getting into the script proper, the book has some information about notable early productions of the play. this is great because it pins down a lot of details about glenn's involvement in the show that wikipedia left unanswered, but there's also an unexpected sunny crossover here-- in an even EARLIER production, the lead role was played by david hornsby!
(i also learned over the course of my deep dive on this that glenn's costar, lead actor brandon demery, was a fellow member of glenn's graduating juilliard group!)
things don't end well for kynaston and villiars, but still, the onstage relationship between the two is both electrifying and heartbreaking as it changes over the course of the show.
now, this WOULD be where i would include cast pictures or footage or any kind of photos of glenn in this show... but if any such material exists, it's not publicly available. i went so far as to email the publicity and outreach coordinator for the theater that hosted glenn's production of this show to ask if they had any archived materials, but she told me that they didn't.
but this production took place in october of 2000, meaning it was pre-that 80s show, meaning we can all sit and think about how a glenn that looked like This was acting in a gay period piece about crossdressing and gender roles and the mystery of human sexuality. dudes rock.
a bit of a disappointing note to end on, i know, but i really wanted to talk about this play and share it with people!! it's a super interesting and overlooked part of glenn's early career, but also i think the script is fascinating and very well-written in its own right. i definitely encourage yall to check it out on the internet archive if you're interested-- again, it's literally free!
#glenn howerton#iasip#it's always sunny in philadelphia#compleat female stage beauty#this is a longer and more coherent version of a post i made two months ago that got no traction--#--because i accidentally opted out of having my blog's original posts show in any tags. lol. and even lmao#it's crazy what's just like. there and relatively easy to find on the internet if you take the time to look
136 notes
·
View notes
Text
General stuff I wish more cis people knew:
Being trans is a situation one is born into. No, trans children are not cis kids who are being manipulated or abused by parents because it's "trendy". That shit is just a modern reworking of the "gays are recruiting kids into homosexuality!" bullshit from the 70's and 80's.
Trans women are not "biologically male" and trans men are not "biologically female". Transition causes massive biological changes; trans men who are on testosterone and have had a hysterectomy have far more biologically in common with cis men than with cis women, and trans women who are on estrogen and have had reconstructive surgery have far more biologically in common with cis women than with cis men.
The existence of trans people is not a recent phenomenon, and the number of trans people is not increasing. Trans people have always existed; there are just more out trans people now.
Trans women are not gay men who attempt to become women in response to homophobia, trans men are not women who attempt to become men in response to sexism, and trans people would still exist and still need to transition even if both homophobia and sexism were eliminated.
Many trans women are bi or lesbian; many trans men are bi or gay (attracted to other men) (see p.28-29)
Allowing trans women and girls to use the same public facilities as other women (e.g., restrooms, locker rooms, etc) does not put cis women and girls at risk
That there are not more trans women than there are trans men.
Most trans people are not visibly identifiable as trans
Being trans and/or transition is not biblically condemned, and being trans/transitioning is not universally condemned by mainstream religious organizations
Spelling and grammatical notes:
It's transgender, not "transgendered"
It's dysphoria, not "dysmorphia". Dysmorphia is an unrelated anxiety condition on the OCD spectrum.
Transgender is an adjective, not a noun. So there are transgender people, but nobody is "a transgender".
The word cis is a Latin prefix, not an acronym, so there's no need to capitalize it as CIS. Cis is short for cisgender, which is the opposite of transgender. The prefix cis- means "on this side/on the same side", while trans- means "across/beyond/on the other side". E.g., cislunar vs. Translunar orbits
Faux pas to avoid:
Don't ask about our genitals unless you're our doctors or there's mutual interest in sex. Don't ask about "the surgery" either, which is still really just asking about our genitals
Same goes for the graphic details of our sex lives. Unless we're already in the kind of relationship where we casually discuss these matters, it's none of your business
When talking about something a trans person did before they transitioned, refer to them by the name and pronouns they use now unless they have specifically told you otherwise. It's like talking about someone who used to be married to an abusive asshole, but has since divorced him and stopped using his name. Even if talking about something she did while still married, I really hope you wouldn't call her "Mrs. Abusive Ex". That would be spectacularly tactless. That's not her name now and not how she wants to be known.
Never out someone unless they have given you explicit permission to do so. Don't assume that because they're out to some people that they are comfortable having others know that aspect of their medical history
If you accidentally refer to someone by the wrong pronouns, just correct yourself and move on. Don't dwell on it, just make a serious effort to not do it again
#mtf trans#scp mtf#pre op mtf#mtftm#mtf#mtf positivity#actually mtf#transsexual#transgirl#transgender#mtf pride#mtf trap#girlslikeus#trans mtf#ftm hrt#ftm#ftm bottom#ftm dom#gay ftm#ftm ns/fw#ftm cnc#ftm ed#trans man#transmasc#ftm mlm#trans boy#trans ftm#trans guy
980 notes
·
View notes
Text
Vox: Flatscreen vs. Box (CRT)
One thing has been mildly bothering me when it comes to people’s interpretation of Vox, specifically when showing him off in older settings: his portrayal (or lack thereof) as a box TV.
Obviously we all know he was a CRT (cathode ray tube; this is the more technical name for “Box TV” or “old-style tv”). We see him with this style of TV head in the picture of him and Val on the desk in Val’s room. (S1 E2 at about 7:27)
Not the highest quality photo, my bad, but it still gets the point across. We can also assume that this picture was probably taken in the 70s, since that’s when Valentino died. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say late 70s, maybe early 80s.
CRT tvs have really only gone out of fashion recently, and flatscreens have only been common for the last 15-20 years. Although unlikely, it’s not impossible for Velvette to have been in Hell before Vox transferred to a flatscreen TV. Despite this, I still see a lot of people drawing Vox with a flatscreen way before they existed—or in general acting like he’s been a flatscreen way longer than he has.
I want to be clear and say that this doesn’t bother me a ton, and I still love all the art regardless. It’s just the little history nerd in me trying to point these things out and being mildly bothered by it.
I have a feeling it’s probably caused by a lot of younger people in the fandom that maybe weren’t old enough to remember their families having a CRT tv, or maybe they were born after their family had upgraded to a flatscreen? I don’t know. Maybe I’m all wrong with that idea, and the artists are purposely drawing him with a flatscreen because they prefer it?
Another headcanon of mine that I haven’t seen a ton of people talking about, that would support Vox not having a flatscreen until quite recently: new tech probably takes longer to get to hell.
When explaining this to my friend I used the analogy of how trends (fashion, architecture, lifestyle, internet, etc.) in the US tend to start on the coasts and work their way towards the center. By the time they even reach the Midwest, some of the shorter fads are already out of style on the coasts.
I sort of assumed this is how things work with hell and earth. Tech is invented/innovated on earth first, and generally takes a little longer for it to become common in Hell. Also, as far as we know (unless I’m mistaken) the main way hell finds out about the goings on on Earth is via sinners dying and relaying their expanded knowledge on to the rest of hell.
If this headcanon proves to be true, then that would push back the date when Vox upgraded to a flatscreen even more.
Idk, this is all just me rambling and just some food for thought. No hate to any artists or writers that have been portraying Vox as a flatscreen before it would make sense for him to have one.
Also rest in peace to all of the hazbin fans who were too young to have the life experience of almost being crushed by one of those old CRT TVs. Really missed out on that character building moment.
#hazbin hotel vox#hazbin hotel valentino#hazbin hotel theory#hazbin hotel headcanon#hazbin hotel#staticmoth#hazbin hotel velvette#hazbin hotel vees#vivziepop#plasticbag3207#ramble
71 notes
·
View notes
Text
THE MILK5 COFFEE GUIDE VOL. 1
REMOVE #BADBEANS FROM YOUR LIFE FOREVER
If you are a #TrueBlueCoffeeHead and subsisting on supermarket beans and/or frequent visits to big chains like Starbucks, PLEASE help yourself (and your local community, the environment, coffee workers, etc) and buy a pour over filter and freshly roasted, quality beans from a local roaster. Explicitly seek out Fairtrade Organic/Smithsonian Bird Friendly certified beans if possible. The taste of shade-grown coffee is incredibly flavorful AND you can be certain that your beans aren't the product of yucky pesticides, actual slave labor, and the annihilation of millions of acres of rainforest.
To start with what you need, a goose-neck kettle and pour over carafe are good purchases, but a suitably sized mason jar and regular kettle still work on a budget. Learning how to make a great pour over will raise your home coffee game to professional standards without needing to spend literal thousands of dollars on a real grinder/steamer/espresso machine setup -- if you're able to buy all of these items new for less than a thousand dollars, you're going to be down a few hundos in exchange for some pretty shitty machines. Regardless, a pour over setup with good beans will pay for itself VERY rapidly, assuming it replaces frequent Starbucks visits or whatever other chain you were going to. If you frequent a LOCALLY OWNED coffee shop that you like, keep going! You're an important part of the ecosystem.
What about grinding the beans? Should I get pre-ground beans? Would a cheapo blender-like blade grinder work?
NEVER touch a blade grinder again. It doesn't matter as much if you have #BadBeans, but if you have good beans, ALWAYS use a grinder with a burr; blade grinders just chop up your beans randomly into particles of massively varying sizes, leading to simultaneous over-extraction and under-extraction, generally leading to wildly inconsistent flavors and low repeatability. Burrs will always grind the beans into uniform particles and ensure that you're always (more or less, every cup is different to an extent) getting a consistent flavor. Don't buy a burr grinder -- just bring your beans to a local coffee shop, buy a drink, tip well, and ask the barista if they could grind the beans for you when you can clearly tell that they aren't busy. I have NEVER been refused, just go to a place with less sour employees if they won't help you out. Specify the coarseness that you'd like; smaller grounds have a greater surface area, so they're extracted to a greater extent, resulting in a more intense flavor; coarse grounds are the inverse. Lots of people recommend medium-coarse for pour overs (about 80% coarse 20% fine), but I prefer the stronger flavor of medium/drip (dead middle, 50% coarse 50% fine). It's also better to grind your beans periodically, as freshly-ground beans will taste better, but it's fine to have it pre-ground or ground all at once if you aren't able to easily make coffee shop trips every week or two. As far as roasts go, there's an entire gradient for you to explore -- not just the few that I list here; light roasts have a more sour, fruitier flavor, medium roasts are well rounded, and dark roasts are rich and smokey. Medium-dark is my personal favorite.
Experiment!!! It's all about your own taste, after all.
How do I make a good pour over?
Again, it depends on your taste. My go-to is a vigorous fourth-cup of grounds to 300ml of water; this is easily on the stronger end, but it's what works for me. More common ratios are usually weighed out on a kitchen scale, so consider picking one up if you don't already have one. Document your process until you get to your favorite! I always stop the kettle a little before it gets to its terminal temperature, then pour just enough water onto the grounds to let it bloom -- wait for one minute, and then start pouring a small-ish portion of the water onto the grounds every 20 seconds (this is where my own technique varies the most, it usually takes between 3-4 minutes to finish since I'm not pouring standard amounts; some people DO measure their pours for even greater consistency). Use the stopwatch on your phone, it's much better than keeping track in your head. Make sure to distribute the water evenly over the grounds, particularly making sure to wash the grounds off the sides every pour. When I'm finished, I like to immediately take a sip to see if a splash of milk or half-and-half would help or hurt the cup -- I think a very good cup of coffee can easily stand on its own without anything else, but additives can absolutely help depending on your personal preferences. Just be sure to taste the black coffee before you add anything.
What if I like the syrupy sweet drinks? What about iced coffee?
From my experience working at/visiting coffee shops, Monin is the most common syrup brand I see at local places. As far as iced coffee goes, coldbrew would be probably be the superior option -- it's also pretty easy to make at your home. I'm not going to be writing a guide for coldbrew any time soon, so you're out of luck there. I also never steam my milk if I'm doing a pour over, so I can't really point you to an inexpensive way to do that. Just know that the cheap handheld stick-frothers do not do the same thing as an actual steamer.
What was that about certifications?
Fairtrade is a pretty notable certification for food items produced in areas that have a history for being exploited (so pretty much the bulk of the global south), it can get very complex -- read more about it here. The goal is to ensure that the workers and communities involved in the production of the product receive fair, livable wages, that labor conditions are safe and reasonable, and that the decisions around the production of the product are made by those directly involved in the labor. FTO refers to Fairtrade Organic, which just means that it meets the standards of both Fairtrade AND organic production -- I'm not exactly sure if the organic standards are based on where the coffee is sold, produced, or both, but regardless, it's still a bonus; organic coffee will almost ALWAYS be shade-grown, which is the way that coffee grows naturally. Since coffee is an understory tree in nature, shade-grown coffee is produced more slowly and under a canopy and thus does not require the forest to be damaged or destroyed to grow; however, not all organic coffee will necessarily take place in a completely natural, untouched rain forest setting. Industrial non-organic coffee is most often produced under direct sun in gigantic clear-cut monocrop rows and usually with massive usage of potentially harmful inputs like, such as various pesticides and fertilizers. Direct sun coffee grows faster, but it has a distinctly different taste and is easily the most damaging method of coffee production to both the environment and the local communities. Smithsonian Bird-Friendly is the most rigorous certification for coffee in particular; FTO is more or less a pre-requisite to achieve SBF. Coffee likes to grow in tropical, equatorial environments -- these environments are also the areas of the greatest bird diversity in the world (and, really, biodiversity in general) and the destination for most migratory birds during the winter. The coffee industry has destroyed literal millions of acres of rain forest across the world, which has resulted in the death of billions of birds worldwide over the past 50 years. SBF guarantees the FTO criteria PLUS the additional criteria that the coffee must be produced in forests that are more-or-less in their natural state with thriving diversity of endemic species of flora and fauna. It's harder to find SBF-certified coffee than FT(O)-certified coffee, but the Smithsonian website has a handy vendor locator here. I'm not confident that it works beyond U.S. vendors, so I apologize to anyone interested abroad. Note that some of these certifications may be exclusive to particular continents; I need to do more research on the subject, but the tropical forests around the world vary wildly -- this adds a level of complexity to the goals and criteria of a particular certification. I am confident that all of the certifications that I have mentioned apply to South and Central America (and most likely the Caribbean), so keep that in mind. Also, watch out for phony certifications; big corporations frequently buy out existing certification organizations and/or create new green-sounding organizations to fool well-meaning consumers.
Where should my brand new beans come from?
Like wine, the exact qualities of a bean depend on its terroir, or the specific methods and geographic factors involved in its growth. However, some countries have trends in how the coffee is generally grown; some counties will practice shade-growing more than others and some countries will practice direct-sun industrial methods more than others. As a rule of thumb, Arabica beans are mostly grown in shade or partial shade, while Robusta is generally grown in direct sun. Defer to certifications if applicable.
The following areas primarily practice shade-growing:
Mexico
El Salvador
Peru
Panama
Nicaragua
Guatemala
Cuba
Timor
New Guinea
Ethiopia
Burundi
Rwanda
Tanzania
Zambia (*)
Zimbabwe (*)
Papua New Guinea
Sulawesi
Timor + East Timor
India
The following areas primarily practice direct-sun growing:
Colombia
Brazil
Costa Rica
Hawaii
Yemen
Kenya
Angola
Benin
Central African Republic
Congo
Gabon
Ghana
Guinea
Equatorial Guinea
Ivory Coast
Liberia
Nigeria
Sierra Leone
Togo
Cameroon
Madagascar
Malawi (**)
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Sumatra (***)
Java
Vietnam
China
Jamaica
Again, this is just a rule of thumb; there are exceptions to both and I'm sure that I've left out several production areas. Most of this information comes from the blog Coffee and Conservation, written by ornithologist Julie Craves. I've only tried a very small percentage of these origins; so far, my favorites are Sumatran (Arabica, of course) and Peruvian.
*The source that I got this information from mentioned that some avoid Zambian and Zimbabwean coffee due to concerns of it helping fund violent conflict in the area; this particular article, however, is from 2006 and may be wildly out of date. I couldn't find much more info on this topic when I searched elsewhere.
**They primarily produce Arabica with organic methods, despite the sunny conditions.
***Sumatra is likely the most notable coffee-growing island in Asia; while the majority is Robusta grown on plantations that have deforested a horrifyingly large percentage of the island, the Arabica grown in the north is well-known for its far healthier growing conditions (shade + organic, usually) and extremely distinct flavor.
Volume 2?
I may eventually add on to this post, most likely with a Turkish coffee guide coming next. I used to make Turkish coffee quite frequently, but I would need to dig up my old favorite recipe and cezve first. French press and coldbrew stuff will be in the more distant future if at all.
If any of this info looks wrong, let me know and I'll edit the post :-)
Enjoy your cup!!!!
143 notes
·
View notes
Text
If you want an idea of how completely unhinged Elon Musk has become, according to this article, he has told staff to expect "80 hour weeks". Now, as someone who has worked some long workweeks in some past jobs, I want to explain what this really means.
An 80-hour week means, if you work only 5 days, that you are working 16 hour days. This is not physically possible without (physically and mentally) dangerous levels of sleep loss. If you work 6 days, you're left with over 13 hours. So the only possible way you can work 80 hour weeks is if you are working every day.
If you work all 7 days with no rest, that you are working on average, close to 11.5 hours a day. Assuming you are only taking 30 minute meals and you take 1.5 hours eating, and you leave 8 hours for sleep opportunity (this doesn't mean you'll be sleeping all those 8 hours) this leaves only 3 hours for other responsibilities.
This is pretty much only humanly possible for people who have no other responsibilities outside of work. And this is pretty much no-one. People still need to shower and engage in various types of physical self-care, and maintenance of their household. Anyone with any medical condition needs more time for maintenance of it. Anyone with a family needs a lot of time for it. Unless you live right next to your work, almost everyone loses a significant amount of time to commuting.
So what happens in practice, if a person works such a long workweek, is that they do have other responsibilities, often urgent ones. So they lose sleep, often a lot of it.
And when people's sleep suffers, their productivity as employees suffers too.
Even if you were to be a completely cold, heartless capitalist looking to extract the maximum productivity from your workers, demanding an 80-hour workweek would be a losing proposition for the simple fact that you would be pushing your workers into a sub-optimal state in which they would have very low productive output per-hour.
You can often get much more done with less work, if you stay well-rested. Where this point lies, is different for different people, both because of differing levels of responsibilities outside of work, and because of different needs for sleep. People with certain chronic conditions not only may need more sleep, but may need more sleep opportunity in order to get the same amount of sleep.
If Elon Musk had any common sense, he would understand this. The fact that he's asking for 80-hour weeks shows that he is dangerously unhinged. He is going to run Twitter into the ground, and he is going to ruin himself in the process.
I think it is sad that we as a society allowed this man to become as powerful and wealthy and influential as he is. I don't think it's acceptable for anyone to be that wealthy, that they can just buy a company like Twitter singlehandedly. But it's especially concerning with this particular human being. How did so many people get fooled? The investors, the board of the corporation (Tesla) that he rode to power on? The media and millions of everyday people who became fans of this man and gave him such a big audience? All of these people got duped. All of these people would do well to do some introspection and ask themselves how and why they got scammed by this con-artist.
915 notes
·
View notes
Text
Dungeon Meshi FAQ
Before you send an ask consider checking this FAQ! I'm trying to compile some of the most common questions I see in my notes and inbox. Feel free to send me an ask anyway if you find anything confusing!
But first just some things about asks... I read all of them and feel kinda bad when I don't respond but I can't really respond to everything so:
Most likely will respond:
Requests for sources/images
Requests for links to other posts
Questions about the story or characters (as long as they haven't been repeated in a short while)
Questions about my opinion on canon content/speculation based on canon
Most likely won't respond: (usually cause idk what to say to it)
Headcanons/Shipping
Jokes
Discourse/Rants
Questions that have been repeated in a short time
FAQ under the cut (there's spoilers)
FAQ
First of all just a disclaimer that I don't actually know everything I try to put sources on the posts but if you see anything wrong here please let me know!
Q: Where is this extra/information from?
A: Dungeon Meshi has several worldbuilding details and extra comics in different publications. You can check this post with the places where the extras/information sources
If you wanna know the source for a specific extra don't be afraid to ask!
Q: Have you ever posted about [subject]
A: I haven't posted about everything related to dungeon meshi but please check my pinned post! I have a list of tags there, if you don't find specifically what you were looking try to search for it on my blog, I do my best to tag stuff so it can be found. If you still have trouble just send me an ask and I can link you the tag!
Q: How old is Thistle?
A: Who knows! Mostly likely he's under 80 (16 in tallmen years) my best guess is that he's 14.
Q: Isn't Izutsumi a cat that was transformed into a human?
A: That's not a very accurate description, Izutsumi is a beastkin who was created using ancient magic by fusing the soul of a 6 year old child with the soul of a cat monster known as a greater cat. She's not "A cat that was turned into a human" nor a "human that was turned into a cat" as my understanding goes she was both and now she's still both, spoilers but the plot twist of the Lycion extra is that she can never be fully human again (there's more monster than human so she can't transform between the forms like Lycion)
I made a few posts about it
Q: Are fairies made of Jizz? How do females make them? How come Mithrun's doesn't look like him? Can other races make them?
A: Yes. They probably borrow some. Another person feeds it blood. Probably? For better answers please check the fairy tag LOL
Q: Are there monsters outside dungeons?
A: All points to yes, dungeons just seem to have a higher density of mana which allows more monsters to survive in a higher population.
Q: Is resurrection possibly in any dungeons or only in The Island?
A: According to the adventurer's bibles most man-made dungeons have the revival magic active. Here's a post all about resurrection and healing magic:
Q: Why did Fleki get brain damage when her Familiar got destroyed and Marcille didn't?
A: Probably has something to do with the complexity of the familiar and the strength of the connection, lots of people sent some theories pleas check the familiars tag if you wanna read up.
Q: What does the tattoos mean? What do Magic Tattoos do? Only beastmen have tattoos?
A: Those are Magic Tattoos, they work as a supplement for magic, I assume similar to magic circles or magic runes they use in other places in the anime, they aren't necessarily only for beastmen
Q: How does Mana/The Winged Lion/Dungeons work? (and related questions)
A: I made a post about dungeons you might wanna check, haven't done specific posts for the greater demon/winged lion but you can check the tags for some theories/other asks!
I think that's it for now? I'll add more things later if I see more common questions
Mini FAQ about the person running this blog (cause I get a couple of questions sometimes)
Q: Whats your pronouns? Are you brazilian? What do I call you?
A: There's a tiny about me section at the end of my pinned post I'd rather you use she/her or he/him, but they/them is fine, I'm very brazilian and you can call me whatever, Cyan is just a suggestion. You can also check this side blog, it's me
Q: What do you think about [headcanon]/[ship]
A: I probably think it's neat but cant elaborate cause either I'm being socially anxious or I'm afraid of saying something that will generate discourse on my notes LOL
Q: Could you tag [thing]
A: Yes! Please tell me if you'd like me to tag something, both cws or just something you think would be useful to search for. I'm very unaware of what can be upsetting ngl so I often forget to tag 'obvious' triggers, I'm also forgetful and have trouble expressing myself, so feel free to tell me if I said something weird but be nice pwease
30 notes
·
View notes
Text
So, I've decided to start learning biology.
My education left me with only primary school biology knowledge, because I had zero biology lessons in high school, and now I find myself sorely lacking in knowledge. Which is inconvenient, now that I'm sick and have no idea what to do. I didn't know where to start, but my roommate is in high school right now, and I borrowed her biology textbook to get myself started.
The biology textbook was so misinformed and outdated it made me worry for the education system. Not only they didn't update any info from the last 40 years, some of the info was completely wrong. For instance, it claims there's 6 billion people on the planet (there's 8), and that there's 6 empires of all living things (there's 8, and some of the old ones have been renamed and disputed). I learned quickly to fact-check every bit of information on wikipedia, and this is where I found some truly astounding info that I had no idea about.
If you all have learned this in highschool and it's common knowledge, please excuse me, but I am shocked.
One of the first topics the book covers is evolutionary history of the planet, and it explains how blue-green algae were the first historic plants to produce a lot of oxygen, which sounds like a positive development for us, because most of the living things right now thrive on oxygen. But, looking it up wikipedia uncovered that it was in fact, an extinction event. Most of life on earth was at that point, thriving in non-oxygen environment, and the introduction of oxygen killed 85% of all living species on earth. It was a huge disaster that happened! It's called 'Great Oxidation Event', or the 'Oxygen Catastrophe'.
But that's not all, I found out that it was not only that which destroyed almost all life on earth, but there's been 5 different events in the history that destroyed close to 80% of all species on the planet, and for some of them we don't even know why. We only found proof that lots of species disappeared at all times and the dominant species on the planet rapidly changed, but no idea why, for some of them it's assumed it has to do with volcanoes or ice, and of them that is well known is the meteor, that ended the big dinosaurs.
I never realized how much of evolution was destruction and then starting over, this was shocking to me. It was also fascinating, I found myself following links and learning more about extinction events, also that we're currently in the extinction event caused by humans who are driving lots of species into extinction by taking over their habitats, which made me sad.
At this point I started reading other, biology-related materials, for example, I read a book named 'What an Owl Knows', which is written by Jennifer Ackerman, an owl scientist who studied owls her entire life; now I know more about owls. I also started listening to an audio book about the ocean, and this one proved to be very difficult to follow, but I'll tell you what I learned from both.
The owl book was charming, I found out that owls are the most quiet, soundless birds when they fly, because their wings and feathers are the biggest part of their bodies. This is how they manage to swoop up prey without anyone hearing a single flap. They're also very silent and subtle. Unless you're studying owls, you won't be able to tell if the owl is startled, or scared, because she will sit very still and not give you any clues. Smaller owls can go into their 'freeze' response easily if they're being hunted, because their instinct is to be still and not move when in danger! It can make you feel like the owl is not scared, since she's not moving, but she is most likely not comfortable if anyone is approaching her.
Owls have similar faces to our faces, and they're very charismatic to us; this is why baby owls, and injured owls in human care, can sometimes imprint on humans. This is bad news for the owls, because once it happens, they can never again be released into the wild, they'll either never learn to hunt, or they'll act towards humans, like they do to other owls - brawling, attacking, aggressive, territorial. Even if they really like us, they will keep acting like we're other owl, not a different species. They see us similarly to how we see them.
One of the best information I've learned, is that in Serbia, there's the biggest gathering of owls of all species, there can be more than 300 owls in one place at the time. The reason for this is common use of old-fashined methods of harvesting grains, which leaves a lot of leftover corn and wheat on the ground, attracting mice, rats, and other small rodents, which creates a great food source for owls. Serbian farmers don't use rodenticide, so owls don't get poisoned. Owls so beloved and appreciated there, that they have an owl festival every year, and the whole month of november is called 'Sovember', because owl in serbian is 'sova'. I never knew about this, even though it's my neighbour country! I looked this up, and I found a website for the international owl festival, but I couldn't find any more info. I would appreciate it so much if any serbian followers could write me about this and tell me their experiences with it, I've never wanted to visit Serbia more!
The book contains information about owls used in Harry Potter movies, including the names of the owls, as well as discussing how the books made owls popular, and how it made people want them as pets. Owls do not make good pets, because they're predators and will destroy things and be very difficult to care for, but the book encourages readers to find the local owls and keep them safe, to leave old trees with holes in them standing, so the owls could nest in them, or to hang up baskets that can also be used as nests. It was a lovely, charming book and I recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about owls.
The ocean book is named 'How the Ocean Works', by Helen Czerski, and I haven't finished yet, but it opened up a lot of questions for me. The funniest part of it was the breakup of what people used to think about the ocean; apparently before research, people assumed that the sea is salty because it's been left in the sun for too long, and that's just what you get from sun exposure, they believed that deep down it was not salty anymore. They also believed that the sea water cannot go putrid if left standing. It took a scientist checking this to confirm it was not true; sea water did go putrid left in a bucket in the sun, and non-salty water did not turn salty when left in the sun for months. It was interesting to know that for the longest time, people didn't realize it was the salt in the sea that made it salty, I then wondered how they got salt, and it turns out they just got it from the salt mines, which are leftover from the long-dried up seas.
Now new information that I didn't know, was that the salinity is different between the oceans, the Atlantic is saltier than the rest. The book also explained about how the salt is connected to the currents, and to the movements of the sea, and also changes the density of the water. One thing that had me taken aback was that the ocean waves are not only caused by the wind, but the water is reacting to earth's rotation, and this rotation is constantly moving the water. It feels like the ocean is being pulled both by the earth and the moon, constantly being driven by planetary forces, which is interesting, because it's difficult to tell that just by looking.
The book calls ocean the 'blue machine', because it's always moving, and filled with energy. Sun is always warming up the surface, making it a great reservoir of solar energy, and the book goes on about how it's possible to harvest this energy, using hot water, and cold water, apparently there's already buildings being cooled down by the ocean power, but I never managed to figure out how! I tried looking it up, and also found nothing. I wish the book explained the physics of it, so that I could try it out, it's a great thing to be able to get power jut by using hot and cold water, and the water is already heated by the sun, while you can get cold water from the bottom of the sea.
I think I might understand this book better if I read it, rather than listening to the audiobook, which as you can see, just has me puzzled because I do not catch details. Still I wanted to share my new learnings, and ask if anyone can tell me more, or if this is all knowledge that people who had biology in high school already have. I'm having a great time learning, especially because I can just divert in any direction that has my interest, and I can seek out information that gives me useful, practical knowledge. Wish all learning processes could be free and inspired like this!
#biology#owls#ocean#evolution#extinction#learning biology#making up for lack of high school knowledge#information#resources#natural power#harvesting power from nature#ecology#international owl festival#serbia
77 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
creepyhoarder
Untitled
bucked-it-up
Titles are hard
priestpenis
18+ secret blog
emilyartstudio-s
Not Going to the ParTY
soberloosid1
Untitled