shadowaccio6181 - Tumblr blog

[shadowaccio6181]

I am super against light pollution, and have been for decades

but I am also super annoyed by the way it's framed as "without light pollution you can see how beautiful the night sky is" way more prominently than it's framed as "hey, did you ever stop to think of how much energy/resources/money are literally wasted by having so much light shine up into the sky?"

so people get the idea that light pollution can only be remedied by eliminating all night-time light, which would make being outside at night very inconvenient, instead of by making night-time light shine only on the ground where, y'know, the people who need it are

[shadowaccio6181]

It's stupid that bread goes bad so fast. Bread should last ten million years on your countertop. You should be able to feed yourself off the same loaf of bread from the day you are born to the day you die. They should pass down bread between generations like a family heirloom. There should be remnants of still-good bread after the heat death of the universe.

[shadowaccio6181]

VERY IMPORTANT a dam in the Netherlands, the weerdsluis lock, is directly on a migratory path for spawning fish. They have a worker stationed there to open the door for the fish, but they can take a while to open it. So to keep the fish from getting preyed on by birds they installed a doorbell. Only, the fish don't have hands to ring the doorbell. If you go to their website, they have a LIVE CAMERA AND A DOORBELL that YOU RING FOR THE FISH when they're waiting, and then the dam worker opens the door for them! I can't express how obsessed I am with this. look at this shit. oh my god.

Please check on the fish doorbell once in a while :)

[shadowaccio6181]

Shrinkflation

So, I found out a fun fact this last weekend!

Every state has a Department of Weights and Measures. One of their jobs is to make sure that companies are actually selling you the quantities they claim they're selling. For example, this is the department which tests gas pumps and makes sure they're really pumping out a gallon of gas when they charge you for a gallon of gas.

So....

If you happen to, just as an example, notice that your 1lb (16 ounce) box of San Giorgio spaghetti actually only has 10oz of noodles, and you weigh your other boxes of spaghetti to discover they run from 10 to 14 ounces but never the full pound they're supposed to have, and that's why you never seem to have enough pasta for leftovers the next day, then you can report that to the Department of Weights and Measures.

They will want to know where you bought the item, and then will investigate whether the store or the manufacturer is routinely shorting customers. If they do, they will issue a fine to the offending party, you will be eligible for a refund, and under some circumstances lawsuits may follow.

Now, I don't know the outcome of the complaint I just initiated, but they did not want to know specific receipts or times of purchase. Which is good for me as I didn't keep any of those things, at the time I just said "Wow, fuck San Giorgio" and switched brands. But this is still enough to get an inspector out.

[shadowaccio6181]

Or just go to browse and hang out! I promise it will be inspiring :)

[shadowaccio6181]

So you're telling me, after I finally got the laundry in the washer, I also have to wash the dishes? But that's it, right? They're clean forever after that, right? No more laundry, no more dishes ever again? Okay I'll be all right then I can do that much.

[shadowaccio6181]

Btw much as I love to make fun of twitter and reddit's business decisions, I have 0% trust in tumblr's management to not go a similar route so this is your gentle reminder that you should regularly go to your blog settings to export your blog. That's a fancy way of saying you can download a backup of your blog so if everything goes down you'll still have a backup of your posts & convos.

[shadowaccio6181]

mark's back monday

[shadowaccio6181]

[shadowaccio6181]

I just had a truly horrible realization. I was talking about the worldbuilding in fma with someone the other day, and they mistakenly said it took place during the Victorian era, or Amestris’s equivilant to it.

I, being a lover of fashion history as well as an insufferable pedant, corrected them by saying that both the year(s) it takes place in as well as many of the technological and cultural influences seen in the world are actually more in line with the subsequent, much shorter era known as the…

the Edwardian era.

God fucking dammit.

[shadowaccio6181]

Oh! Since we're heading into the Charity/Giving Season...

If you want to/you're going to give to an organization that helps people who need food/basic care items/etc, here are some observations from someone who volunteered at one of them for about 8 years:

Giving money directly is still probably your best bet. I know, it's boring and it feels like you don't "know" what they did with it, but these kinds of organizations can often get bulk discounts/charity rates that you can't. Your money can go farther if you donate directly. Especially food banks, who also have the benefit of knowing what they are low on/can get at a good price right now.

BUT, I know people don't always want to do that or can't do that. IF you want to give actual physical items to these sorts of organizations: - They have enough pasta and macaroni and cans of soup. Obviously if you HAVE extra on hand that you can't use, by all means bring it over, they're never going to be MAD about getting extra food. I'm just saying, don't go out of your way to BUY these items for this purpose. - If you're gonna buy food to donate, please consider baby food/formula, and nutrition shakes for people who need them. Almost nobody donates this stuff and these are expensive foods that very vulnerable populations need. - BUY BORING HYGIENE PRODUCTS. Oh my God. In the particular area I worked with, I dealt with TONS of women who had JUST given birth. You know what a lot of women who just had a baby want? PADS. Those gigantic, real-deal ones that are not cheap. The hospital sends you home with some, but only enough to get you through a day or two. Now imagine you're also A) severely strapped for money and B) dealing with a very sick baby. Also, just...buy all the things. Toilet paper, shampoo and conditioner, deodorant, toothpaste/brushes. Basically just think to yourself "what do I like to have on hand when I first wake up to help me take on the day?" and go from there. - Go easy on the toys unless it's for specific Giving Tree-type stuff for particular kids. Just trust me on this. People LOVE buying toys; they love THINKING about cute little kids getting toys, and as a result numerous charities have an INSANE amount of toys but not, say, tampons or hair brushes or Children's Advil. It always killed me a little bit every fall/winter when people would show up with a 1990's Toys-R-Us store's worth of brand-new toys, clearly expecting to be treated like saviors (because toys! Christmas! Santa!), when I was thinking about how we didn't have enough toilet paper in storage for the weekend. I know those aren't as fun to buy, but please trust me on this: people are SO happy when you have these things. I once found a full brand-new box of tampons in our storage for somebody who really needed them at that exact moment (and if you've been there, you've been there) and she was so glad to not have to deal with having to find and buy them at that point in her (awful) day. Fun stuff is fun. Kids are cute and who doesn't like to buy kid toys? But just think about the stuff you take for granted that your day would be ruined without and go from there.

[shadowaccio6181]

[shadowaccio6181]

Things fanfic is reputed for inserting into the source material:

Sex

Things fanfic actually inserts into the source material:

Sex

Holding hands

Bizarre misunderstandings

Meticulous descriptions of food and clothing

The author’s unaddressed traumas

Found family

Plausible explanations for existing plot holes

Additional plot holes

Exciting new frontiers in speculative physics, economics, chemistry, biology, zoology, psychology, theology, and/or ontology

Tax evasion

Gender

Very bad puns

[shadowaccio6181]

I’m all scratched up and I can still taste spray paint in my mouth and my husband almost fell out of a tree BUT THE GHOST SCULPTURES ARE FINISHED!

They’re finally finished and I’m so happy with them!!

Some progress shots:

[shadowaccio6181]

Felt like doing something picture book like.

[shadowaccio6181]

I've always disliked the "I Am No Man" moment in Peter Jackson's Return of the King because it fails to capture the fact that when the Witch King threatens Eowyn with horrific unimaginable torment, she responds by making him soil his ghostly britches.

[shadowaccio6181]

hey if you’re in the U.S. and use food stamps or know somebody who does i found this online cookbook that has recipes for eating well on approximately $4/day :o)