devotionsforconfession

[devotionsforconfession]

The result of pretending to be a more amiable, a more forgiving, a more high-minded person than one really is, has sooner or later the effect of causing one to behave as a more disagreeable, a more ruthless and an altogether more unpleasant person than is actually the case. If you dam the stream of natural behaviour, mon ami, sooner or later the dam bursts and a cataclysm occurs!

Hercule Poirot, in Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Dam Agatha Christie

[devotionsforconfession]

Everybody who wears The One Ring in LOTR starts to refer to it as ‘My Precious,’ and Tolkien’s right that is super creepy, but what I really love is that everybody does it, which says to me that this super powerful scary evil sentient ring has a favorite pet name and just, like, will not respond to anything else.

[devotionsforconfession]

I often think about the remains of a Neolithic woman found at a Prehistoric site in Scotland who was isotope tested and found to have been born in southern England and lived there for a significant portion of her life before relocating to northern Scotland. Her life predated the introduction of horses to Britain so she would have had to walk 700+ miles during her life to get to the place she was ultimately buried. What motivated her to do that? What drove her from her home and to a colder and harsher climate? Was it conflict? Was it wanderlust? Was it love? I can’t remember the name of the site but I think I remember other nearby remains in the group tomb had been tested and found to have been lifelong locals so she was probably an outlier in her new community.

[devotionsforconfession]

Harbinger

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Not only are the Comedy Wildlife Photo Award winners all excellent, the banner announcements are glorious when taken out of context.

[devotionsforconfession]

IT’S NOT ‘PEEKED’ MY INTEREST

OR ‘PEAKED’

BUT PIQUED

‘PIQUED MY INTEREST’

THIS HAS BEEN A CAPSLOCK PSA

[devotionsforconfession]

ok I just received the Autobiography of Mr. Spock and holy fucking shit

the section about kirk fully made me throw the book down, walk away, and lay on the floor for about 5 minutes

we have obviously "I have tried on many occasions to write about Jim Kirk. This seems to me an increasingly impossible task. Jim Kirk lies at the very heart of this account; he is present on every page, the ink in which these words have been written...How do you write about someone you have so deeply loved?" Which is just the most romantic and beautiful thing I have read in my life.

we also have "He changed the rules so that people would live. Jim was very bad with rules. Sometimes that could be irritating. More often than not, it was exhilarating."

the one that made me bawl "That letter took a while to reach me, and I often think of it, in transit, containing the news that Jim was both alive and dead. That was the only time that I regretted my mission to Romulus, and I did regret it, bitterly. If only I had been present, somehow. Perhaps I might have saved his life, again (although he told me, once, that he would die alone). Was that not what we did, after all-save each other's life, again and and again? At the very least, I might have seen him, one last time. I have not been to see his grave. I believe I can permit myself one illusion in life." which just...holy FUCK

(you will see him again spock I swear 😭)

and the one that hit me like a brick, referring to the first time he met Jim, "I recall that Jim's face like up, with a smile like the sun. 'I think,' he said, 'that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.' He was not wrong."

these motherfuckers i need to be sedated like yesterday

[devotionsforconfession]

What do we think Spock is thinking at the beginning of For The World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky? When he sees that Kirk has put in a request for a new CMO effective immediately and then doesn't request McCoy to join the away team, when he sees McCoy in the transporter room anyway and a tense scene where Kirk doesn't seem to want him to join, where McCoy almost pleadingly insists on his value to the team and asks!! to go down too with this fog of bitten back grief enveloping them?

[devotionsforconfession]

[devotionsforconfession]

Much & mucho

The word much looks a lot like Spanish mucho and has the same meaning. However, these words aren't etymologically related in any way. The farther you go back in time, the more different they become. Never rely on present-day resemblances in etymology. If words can't be traced back to a common ancestor, they aren't etymologically related. Click my new video to hear mucho and much evolve over a period of two thousand years.

Would you like to know more about their evolutions and their cognates? This accompanying article on my Patreon (1500 words) discusses their evolutions in detail (also available as a one-time purchase).

[devotionsforconfession]

“the habsburgs weren’t even that inbred” uh yes they were, why is this discourse it’s just a scientific fact

[devotionsforconfession]

This permanently effecting me

[devotionsforconfession]

"Carol of the Bells"- Children of War Unite to Perform "Shchedryk", "Carol of the Bells"

In a powerful gesture of solidarity and compassion for the people of Ukraine impacted by Russia’s unprovoked invasion, Pihcintu, a refugee girls’ chorus, in concert with members of the Portland Symphony Orchestra and the Magic of Christmas Chorus based in Portland, Maine and the Mykhailo Verykivsky Kids’ Artschool from Irpin, Ukraine have produced and released a music video for “Carol of the Bells”, to support the children of Ukraine.

“Carol of the Bells” is a beloved Christmas carol, based on the traditional Ukrainian folk song that celebrates the season of rebirth and anticipation of a prosperous New Year.

The song and the video carry a powerful message of empathy, unity and resilience, conveyed by the beautiful voices of young singers from Ukraine and the US, whose families had lived through the horrors of war, being displaced from their homes and the need to experience the basics of life. The music video brings attention to a devastation caused by the war and supports humanitarian relief efforts organized by United Help Ukraine.

Donate to help people and save lives in Ukraine today:

[devotionsforconfession]

love that man. love to see him suffering while in a powdered wig and starched collar and neckcloth and frilled sleeves. breeches and stockings, even. a greatcoat. yeah while having the absolute worst day of his life. in a wig.