#Zoology books Online

[scientificpubonl]

The Ultimate Guide To Buy Zoology Books Online

[troythecatfish]

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By; Andrew Doyle

Published: Feb 28, 2024

Many years ago I gave a talk at the London Metropolitan Archives in which I outlined my reasons for rejecting the then fashionable theory of social constructionism in relation to human sexuality. In the coffee break that followed, I was approached by a lesbian activist, who claimed to have chosen her orientation as a means to oppose the patriarchy. She demanded to know why I would not accept that sexuality had no biological basis, even though I had spent the best part of an hour answering this very question. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said, ‘but I’ve already explained why I don’t agree with you’. ‘But why won’t you agree?’ she shouted in response. ‘Why?’

Primary school teachers are familiar with such frustrated pleas. The anger of children is so often connected with incomprehension, a sense of injustice, or both. When it persists into adulthood it represents a failure of socialisation. We frequently hear talk of our degraded political discourse – and there is some truth to that – but really we are dealing with mass infantilism. Its impact is evident wherever one cares to look: online, in the media, even in Parliament. Argumentation is so often reduced to a matter of tribal loyalty; whether one is right or wrong becomes secondary to the satisfaction of one’s ego through the submission of an opponent. This is not, as some imagine, simply a consequence of the ubiquity of social media, but rather a general failure over a number of years to instil critical thinking at every level of our educational institutions.

To be a freethinker has little to do with mastery of rhetoric and everything to do with introspection. It is all very well engaging in a debate in order to refine our persuasive skills, but it is a futile exercise unless we can entertain the possibility that we might be wrong. In Richard Dawkins’s book, The God Delusion (2006), he relates an anecdote about his time as an undergraduate at Oxford. A visiting academic from America gave a talk on the Golgi apparatus, a microscopic organelle found in plant and animal cells, and in doing so provided incontrovertible evidence of its existence. An elderly member of the Zoology Department, who had asserted for many years that the Golgi apparatus was a myth, was present at the lecture. Dawkins relates how, as the speaker drew to a close, ‘The old man strode to the front of the hall, shook the American by the hand and said – with passion – “My dear fellow, I wish to thank you. I have been wrong these fifteen years.” We clapped our hands red’.

This is the ideal that so few embody, particularly when it comes to the unexamined tenets of political ideology. We often see examples of media commentators or politicians being discredited in interviews or discussions, but how often do we see them concede their errors, even when they are exposed beyond doubt? There is a very good reason why the sociologist and philosopher Herbert Spencer opened his First Principles (1862) by asserting that there exists ‘a soul of truth in things erroneous’; but such concessions can only be made by those who are able to prioritise being right over being seen to be right. Too many are seemingly determined to turn difficult arguments into zero-sum games in which to give any ground whatsoever is to automatically surrender it to an opponent.

The discipline of critical thinking invites us to consider the origins of our knowledge and convictions. A man may speak with the certainty of an Old Testament prophet, but has he reached his conclusions for himself? Or is he a mere resurrectionist, plundering his bookshelves for the leather-bound corpses of other people’s ideas? Hazlitt expounded at length on how sophistry might be mistaken for critical faculties, noting that the man who sees only one half of a subject may still be able to express it fluently. ‘You might as well ask the paralytic to leap from his chair and throw away his crutch,’ he wrote, ‘as expect the learned reader to throw down his book and think for himself. He clings to it for his intellectual support; and his dread of being left to himself is like the horror of a vacuum’.

The natural human instinct for confirmation bias presents a further problem, one especially prominent among ideologues. Anything can be taken to bolster one’s position so long as it is perceived through the lens of prejudgment. We can see this most notably in the proponents of Critical Social Justice, who start from the premise that unequal outcomes – disparities in average earnings between men and women, for instance – are evidence of structural inequalities in society. They are beginning with the conclusion and working backwards, mistaking their own arguments for proof.

Worse still, such an approach often correlates with a distinctly moralistic standpoint. Many of the most abusive individuals on social media cannot recognise their behaviour for what it is because they have cast themselves in the role of the virtuous. If we are morally good, the logic goes, it must be assumed that our detractors are motivated by evil and we are therefore relieved of the obligation to treat them as human beings. What they lack in empathy they make up in their capacity for invective.

Again, we must be alert to the danger of cheapening argumentation and analysis to the mere satisfaction of ego. One of the reasons why disagreements on social media tend towards the bellicose is that the forum is public. Where there is an audience, there is always the risk that critical thinking will be subordinated to the performative desire for victory or the humiliation of a rival. In these circumstances, complexities that require a nuanced approach are refashioned into misleading binaries, and opponents are mischaracterised out of all recognition so that people effectively end up arguing with spectres of their imagination. The Socratic method, by contrast, urges us to see disputation as essentially cooperative. This is the ideal that should be embedded into our national curricula. Children need to be taught that there are few instances in which serious discussions can be simplified to a matter of right or wrong, and fewer still in which one person’s rightness should be taken as proof of another’s wrongness. In the lexicon of Critical Thinking, this is called the fallacy of ‘affirming a disjunct’; that is to say, ‘either you are right or I am right, which means that if you are wrong I must be right’. One cannot think critically in such reductionist terms.

To attempt seriously to understand an alternative worldview involves, as Bertrand Russell put it, ‘some effort of thought, and most people would die sooner than think’. In the study of psychology this is termed the ‘cognitive miser’ model, which acknowledges that most human brains will favour the easiest solution to any given problem. These mental shortcuts – known as heuristics – are hardwired into us, which is why being told what to think is more pleasurable than thinking for ourselves. I remember an English lesson in which I had initiated a discussion with my students about the representation of Satan in Milton’s Paradise Lost, a topic that routinely comes up in exams. I wanted to know what they thought, and why. One student was sufficiently bold to ask: ‘Can’t you just tell us what we need to write to get the highest marks?’

This was not the fault of the student; there has been a trend in recent years, most likely influenced by the pressures of league tables, for schools to engage in ‘spoon-feeding’. Schemes of work and assessment criteria are made readily available to the pupils so that they can systematically hit the necessary targets in order to elevate their grades. The notion of education for education’s sake no longer carries any weight. I have even seen talented pupils marked down by moderators for an excess of individuality in their answers. In such circumstances, even a subject like English Literature can be reduced to a kind of memory test in which essays are regurgitated by rote.

It is hardly surprising, then, that pupils who opt for Critical Thinking courses at GCSE or A-level often perceive it to be a light option, a means to enhance the curriculum vitae without too much exertion. Courses are generally divided into Problem Solving and Critical Thinking, the former concerned with processing and interpreting data, and the latter covering the fundamentals of analysis and argumentation. Pupils learn about common fallacies such as the ad hominem (personal attack), tu quoque (counter-attack) and post hoc, ergo propter hoc (mistaking correlation for causality), along with others derived from Aristotle’s Sophistical Refutations. The Latin may be off-putting, but in truth these are simple ideas which are readily digestible. If one were to discount arguments in which these fallacies were committed, virtually all online disputes would disappear.

That said, the existence of Critical Thinking as an academic subject in its own right might not be the best way to achieve this. As the psychologist Daniel T. Willingham has argued, cognitive abilities are redundant without secure contextual knowledge. Critical thinking is already embedded into any pedagogical practice that focuses on how to think rather than what to think. The increased influence of the new puritans in education presents a problem in this regard, given that they are particularly hostile to divergent viewpoints. Any institution which becomes ideologically driven is unlikely to successfully foster critical thinking, and this is particularly the case when teachers are at times expected to proselytise in accordance with fashionable identity politics. The depoliticisation of schools is just the first step. Critical thinking requires humility; this involves not just the ability to admit that one might be wrong, but also to recognise that an uninformed opinion is worthless, however stridently expressed. Interpretative skills are key, but only when developed on a secure foundation of subject-specific knowledge. This is the basis for Camille Paglia’s view that art history should be built into the national curriculum from primary school level. In her book, Glittering Images (2012), Paglia explains that children require ‘a historical framework of objective knowledge about art’, rather than merely treating art as ‘therapeutic praxis’ to ‘unleash children’s hidden creativity’. Potato prints and zigzag scissors have their place, but we mustn’t forget about the textbooks.

When I was a part-time English teacher at a private secondary school for girls in London, one of my favourite exercises for the younger pupils was to ask them to study a photograph of a well-known work of art for five minutes without speaking, after which time they would share their observations with the rest of the class. So, for instance, I would give them each a copy of Paul Delaroche’s ‘Les Enfants d’Edouard’ (1831), which depicts the two nephews of Richard III in their chamber in the Tower of London just prior to their murder. My pupils knew nothing of the historical context, but after minutes of silent consideration were able to pick out details – the ominous shadows under the door, the dog alerted to the assassins’ footfall, how the older boy stares out at us with a sense of resignation – and offer some personal reflections on their cumulative impact. To create, one must first learn how to interpret.

The kind of humility fostered in the appreciation of great art could act as a corrective to the rise of narcissism and decline of empathy that psychologists have observed over the past thirty years. According to the National Institutes of Health, millennials are three times more likely to suffer from narcissistic personality disorder than those of the baby boomer generation. Writers such as Peter Whittle, Robert Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett have traced the rise of hyper-individualism in Western culture. One particular study revealed that in 1950 only 12 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement ‘I am a very important person’. By 1990, this figure had risen to 80 per cent and the trajectory shows no signs of stopping. One of the ways in which this trend manifests itself is the now common tendency for arguments to deteriorate into accusations of dishonesty. After all, it takes an extreme form of egotism to assume that the only possible explanation for an alternative point of view is that one’s opponent must be lying. In order to think critically, we cannot be in the business of simply assessing conclusions on the basis of whether or not they accord with our own.

An education underpinned by critical thinking is the very bedrock of civilisation, the means by which chaos is tamed into order. Tribalism, mudslinging, the inability to critique one’s own position: these are the telltale markers of the boorish and the hidebound. A society is ill-served by a generation of adults who have not been educated beyond the solipsistic impulses of childhood. At a time when so many are lamenting the degradation of public discourse, a conversation about how best to incorporate critical thinking into our schools is long overdue. Our civilisation might just depend on it.

This is an excerpt from The New Puritans: How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World. You can buy the book here. It’s also available as an audiobook.

[fitzrove]

Fun fact! If you put in "Exlibris & Supralibros: Kronprinz Rudolf" into the austrian national library's online search, you can find a small selection of books they have that are from crown prince rudolf's library xD I know there are maybe 3 people who care about this but among the books he had are:

"Humoristische Schriften : 1 : Das Soldatenleben im Frieden" (= Humorous writings : 1 : The life of a soldier in peace) from 1872. This would've come out when he was like 14 so I'm assuming it's like, teenage boy literature ajjajjd. Like how publishers (used to?? Maybe it was a 00s thing) make loads of these joke collection books with crass and not that great humor which I (an 8 year old girl XD) would then read. Wait omg he actually also had parts 2, 3, 4 which are titled "Wachstubenabenteuer 1/2/3"... I don't know how to translate "wachstube", it's like a military/police break room xD So um. break room adventures...

All of Carl von Clausewitz's big huge multi-part military theory work "On War" from the 1830s (I anticipated this lmao)

Books on roman law

"Guide to cattle breeding" (??? xD I'm assuming a lot of these are his school books)

"Textbook of zoology for grammar schools, secondary schools, forestry and agricultural colleges, pharmaceutical institutes etc. and for self-instruction". 1874

French hypnosis guide on "animal magnetism" (12 easy steps), 1879. Omg I need to read this wtf ajsjjffj. It's like mesmerism stuff. Maybe Rudolf was hate reading it... If anyone else speaks French here's an archive.org link

"The Russian-Turkish campaign in European Turkey in 1828 and 1829. With maps and plans" by Helmuth von Moltke the Elder (an extremely prominent Prussian military commander)

It's so wild to me that the literal actual books still exist in the ÖNB's collections ajdjdj amazing

[starsfic]

Scooby Doo: Together Forever

The adult Scooby Doo idea I mentioned starting discussing with @vegalocity

After years and years of making their name known through mystery solving, brushes with the supernatural, and gaining top marks in their college classes, Mystery Incorporated heads back home to Cool Crystal, Florida, for summer break. It's nice to unwind and charge the batteries at home...

Until summer is over, and they are unable to leave.

Old mysteries will be uncovered, and the perfect skin of Cool Crystal will be ripped apart as Mystery Incorporated tries to break free, helped by allies like the DJ Angel Dynamite, ex-Manticore Marcie, and the mysterious Mr. E.

Characters below:

Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated's heart, Scooby has a big heart, a bigger stomach, and an even bigger talent in magic. He serves as Shaggy's familiar and seems to have a magical history of his own. Despite his easily spooked nature, Scooby is determined to protect his friends, his family, no matter the cost.

Shaggy Rogers- 23, majoring in cooking/athletics/zoology: Shaggy is the jack of all trades in the gang and the strongest. He specializes in cooking and kitchen magic, and his powers possibly stem from a family history of magic. He started learning magic after the werewolf incident and flourished with Velma's help. Despite being easily scared and distracted by his stomach, Shaggy loves the gang and will make sure they all survive this.

Daphne Blake- 22, majoring in semiotics/molecular neurobiology: Daphne was a normal wealthy heiress until a demon broke into her home in hopes of stealing her pure soul as a child. Now, Daphne trains in various athletics, hoping one day to take revenge for the death of her mother, having trained her body to actually be able to punch ghosts. She's also the smartest emotionally-wise, actually taking the steps to admit her love for all of the gang.

Freddy Jones- 22, majoring in engineering: Freddy is the himbo of the group and serves as the group's shield- to the point of jumping in front of the gang to protect them from anything, whether ghost or actual person. The ghost thing seems to not be a problem for some unknown reason. Still, he's never seen without his lucky ascot, something enchanted by the rest of the gang. He can also talk about traps all day long if you give him the chance.

Velma Dinkley- 20 (about to turn 21), majoring in criminology/history/etc.: For years, Velma claimed to never believe. However, years of running into various supernatural phenomena have caused her to believe and start training. Thanks to long hours in the library, avoiding the rest of the town as the main source of gossip, Velma can find any book and shares its knowledge with Shaggy. She's also the only one willing in the gang to put on a mask herself.

Other characters-

Mr. Blake- Daphne's father who has spent his life in a mental health ward after the violent death of his wife. He claims to have visions of Cool Crystal burning, so many dead, and over it all... Scooby. Doctors believe that he isn't helped by his room sitting next to Pericles' cell.

Mrs. Dinkley: Velma's suffocating mother, Angie, has long believed in ghosts, to the point of creating an entire business out of the various supernatural phenomena that haunt the town. However, even if she's willing to drag dirty secrets out for money, she has her own secrets.

Angel Dynamite: The town DJ, Angel has provided a safe space for the kids- specifically Velma- since middle school. While she holds many secrets, including how she learned to throw CDs like throwing stars, she has none that she's willing to endanger the kids with.

Marcie Fleach- Velma's former science fair rival, Marcie has developed a strong friendship with Velma and the gang to the point of a mutual crush. She attends online college as an engineering major, having stayed in town to help her dad with their amusement park. Although she doesn't believe in the supernatural yet, she is more than willing to help Shaggy with taste-testing.

Sheriff Stone- The town's sheriff. Also an idiot.

Ed Machine- The CEO of the biggest company in town, Destroido Corp., Machine stays stone-faced throughout everything, even as he serves as an errand boy.

Amelia- A newcomer to Cool Crystal, Amelia has supposedly moved in order to serve as the new head of security of Destroido Corp. She's much nicer to the gang than her stonewalling boss, willing to help them in solving mysteries and turn a blind eye when they sneak in.

Mr. E- A mysterious supplier of clues and hints as the gang learns about the dark secrets of Cool Crystal. He planned to play the gang like chess pieces, but he was unprepared for the weirdness of this group of kids.

Professor Pericles- Pericles has admitted to having caused the disappearance of a group of kids in order to gain "knowledge." He's known to be sadistic, willing to cause whatever harm he needs in order to reach his mysterious goals. The gang provides a way to both reach Mr. E and find information while he is locked up.

Nidhogg- A mysterious spirit, Nidhogg seems to be very interested in the mystery in the city's heart. He's calm and manipulative, bordering on gentle for the gang, whispering in their ears, unlike E and Pericles' blatant power struggle.

[thisbelongsto-nohbodys]

What future headcanons do you have for gravity falls characters from the Cipher wheel?

(Dipper, Mabel, Stan, Ford, Soos, Wendy, Pacifica, Mcgucket)

Huh, didn’t expect this kind of thing (thought I’d get TOH post-series headcanons before GF ones, lol) but here’s a few quick ones I guess.

Dipper: Following in his Grunkle Ford’s footsteps he became a researcher in the paranormal and supernatural. Getting a degree in several fields such as zoology, mythology, literature, religion, archaeology and occultism just to name a few. He wrote several boos on his findings along with having a semi-popular YouTube ghost hunting/debunking channel. He and Mabel still have adventures with each other and she helped Dipper graduate early and get accepted into the dream college that Ford wanted to go to but couldn’t. He would often write books under the pseudonym of “Dr P”

Mabel: Getting a degree in art she is more of a freelancer and does odd jobs wherever she can. Before going to college she did a trip around the country to figure out what she wants to do in the future. Her unique and interesting sweater designs got the attention of fans when she’d appear on Dipper’s ghost hunting webshow and she opened an online store selling her sweaters and personalized patterns. She came out as pansexual to the surprise of no one. She eventually grew to be the taller twin after Dipper had a growth spurt, he suspected she used the crystal lights but she swears she didn’t.

Grunkle Stan: Traveling with Ford and helping him catch up on things that he missed while gone (well, Stan’s view on things. Ford would look it up himself later and knows that Stan left out a few details). He comes back to the Mystery Shack in the summer and helps Soos run it, take care of his (Soos) kid and hang out with Dipper & Mabel whenever they visit. He also brings souvenirs from his adventures with Ford to make as new displays in the Shack.

Grunkle Ford: Traveling with Stan and uncovering more mysteries around the globe about various weirdness spikes. He often helps Dipper with his research and comes on as an expert on Dipper’s web show. He brings back some interesting things from his adventures back to the shack and treats the store more of a museum of weirdness than a tourist trap. He spends more time with Mabel who has knitted him several turtle neck sweaters and she would often be along for the ride when Ford and Stan go somewhere new (Dipper can’t always go due to school but he is okay with Mabel going)

Soos: Becoming the new Mr Mystery he ran the Mystery Shack better than ever and he not only kept the fake stuff but also expanded into a museum of weirdness where both Ford and the magical creatures can submit things to display. He and Melody eventually got married and had one or two kids whom he swore to be the best father in the world for them (he was). He also likes to go around town and help with random handyman jobs during the off-season for the shack and continues the legend of the ronin handyman

Wendy: Wendy worked for her dad at his lumberjack job in order to pay for college out-of-state. While there she discovered and came out as bisexual, having better luck in the dating/romantic game with women then she did with men. She and Dipper remained the best of friends and she even helps him with his relationship issues. She takes some freelance writing jobs to help pay the bills but also helps with Dipper’s web show and has gained a number of fans when she’d appear (mostly woods based videos where she acts as security for Dipper and his crew).

Pacifica: Learning the value of a dollar and taking several jobs to help afford her own place, education and other expenses humbled this former rich kid to the point that she cringes whenever she thinks of how she used to act. She started several web-businesses and has found a bunch of success, one of which is in helping Mabel sell her sweaters online. She and Dipper tried dating briefly but they found that they were better friends, especially since Dipper is usually engrossed in para/supernatural things, however Paz has an on again-off again relationship with Mabel which she (Paz) wants to solidify but respects Mabel’s free spirit and is willing to wait for them both to be on the same page. She doesn’t talk to her parents much and has pretty much cut them out of her life, especially after she caught them pretty much stealing from her and use the “we’re your parents, your money is our money” excuse.

McGucket: With both a newfound wealth and a somewhat restored sanity, Fiddleford started up a robotics company and is on the cutting edge of advanced robotics and AI. There’s still a few “evil” program glitches but it’s easily dealt with in the development phase. He and his son rekindled their relationship and became closer, he’s easily the “crazy grandpa” to his grandkids.

That was just a few off the top of my head since it’s been a while since I’ve rewatched gravity falls

[anishenanigans]

I think it's time for a new pinned post. Hello!! I'm Ani and this is my blog.

You can call me Ani, Anim, Finn, or any other variation you come up with on any of my online names. I'm cool with any pronouns but mostly use She/They.

Some of my interests are:

Zoology, biology, environmental science

Animal husbandry

Art and animation

My own OCs/Headworld

LEGO Monkie Kid

Wings of Fire

TLOZ

FE3H

Pokemon

HTTYD (books only)

Final Space/Godspeed

The Dear Hunter

(Main interests are marked in bold letters)

I love receiving asks, being tagged in posts, etc! I am freshly un-shadowbanned and can interact once more

Tagging system:

I tag eyestrain and potentially triggering content as #[thing]

Anything potentially upsetting that I don't have a specific tag for is tagged as #sensitive

OC posts are #oc stuff.

Art tag is #ani's art

You can also find me on Toyhouse, Twitter, Pinterest, and Artfight under the name Anishenanigans.

[lesbianchemicalplant]

The Squonk, an imaginary being whose existence was first written about in a book of American regional folklore published in 1910 titled Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods by William T. Cox, became popularly known in the late 1960s after the English language publication of Jorge Luis Borges’ Book of Imaginary Beings (E. P. Dutton, 1969; co-authored with Margarita Guerrero). I’ve always believed the word is a portmanteau comprised of “squawk” and “honk,” both onomatopoeic words (that is, derived from a primarily oral culture) the squawk associated with a chicken and the honk with a goose. But the Squonk is described by William T. Cox not as a fantastic, bird-like creature but rather as a four-legged beast having “a very retiring disposition” and having “misfitting skin . . . covered with  warts and moles” (pictured, image courtesy of the online edition of Cox's book).

The first edition of Borges’ and Guerrero’s book, containing 82 pieces about mythical creatures, was published in Mexico in 1957, titled Manual de zoologia fantastica (Handbook of Fantastic Zoology). A second edition, re-titled El libro de los seres imaginarios (The Book of Imaginary Beings) was published in Buenos Aires a decade later (Editorial Kier, S. A., Buenos Aires, 1967), with thirty-four additional articles (now totaling 116 pieces). For the English-language edition, several of the original articles were corrected, emended, and/or revised with four new ones added. Thus the E. P. Dutton edition, published in 1969, contains 120 entries about fantastical creatures.

I do not know the year of the Italian translation of Borges' book, but so far as I know the Squonk was first referred to in the popular arts in Mario Bava’s film Ecologia del delitto (Ecology of Murder, 1971), released in the U. S. in 1972 first as Carnage and subsequently as Twitch of the Death Nerve. According to Tim Lucas, in his IPPY Award-winning Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark (2007), the Squonk was, rather interestingly, first popularly invoked in the context of post-coital pillow talk, when the character Frank asks his sex partner Laura, "Can't you hear it calling? It was a squonk." When asked by Laura what a Squonk is, Frank says the Squonk is a “dark-colored creature...covered with moles...And do you know what it does when it's captured? It dissolves into tears. Some of its peculiar qualities are sulkiness, diffidence, and possessiveness” (864). Tim subsequently observes that the Squonk is a figurative substitution for the figure of the female (Laura), who also has the traits of “sulkiness, diffidence, and possessiveness.” Hence, early in its popular usage, the Squonk serves as a heteroclite, figurative displacement for a sexualized human being.

The Squonk soon reappeared in Steely Dan's song “Any Major Dude Will Tell You,” included on the album Pretzel Logic, recorded late in 1973 and released in March 1974. One wonders whether Walter Becker and Donald Fagen learned of the Squonk through Mario Bava’s horror film or through the 1969 English-language version of Borges’ book. Given the lyrics it is hard to tell.

I never seen you looking so bad my funky one You tell me that your super fine mind has come undone CHORUS: Any major dude with half a heart surely will tell you my friend Any minor world that breaks apart falls together again When the demon is at your door In the morning it won’t be there no more Any major dude will tell you Any major dude will tell you Have you ever seen a squonk’s tears? Well, look at mine The people on the street have all seen better times [CHORUS] I can tell you all I know, the where to go, the what to do You can try to run but you can't hide from what’s inside of you [CHORUS]

Although Borges placed the Squonk in the category of fantastic creatures, I prefer to say that the Squonk is a cryptozoological creature. I know this is not precisely the correct usage of the word cryptozoological, but the reason I prefer this term is that carries the meaning of “hidden” or “hidden away" or even “secluded,” all behavioral characteristics associated with the Squonk, a solitary, acutely self-conscious, innately morbid creature that lurks in the woods, avoiding civilization and hence human beings, preferring to keep its own company. The Squonk hides itself away during the day, preferring, according to Borges (and his source, William Cox), the twilight and dusk. The singer of “Any Major Dude Will Tell You” asks “you”—the unnamed person that would seem to be in the midst of some personal crisis—the rhetorical question, Have you ever seen a squonk’s tears? assuming that the answer has to be no: since the Squonk is a very retiring creature that leads a solitary lifestyle and is rarely seen by people, the singer assumes you has never seen a Squonk, let alone a Squonk’s tears. “Well, look at mine,” the singer says, the point of which is to tell you that while the singer may not be a Squonk, he is figuratively much like a Squonk, and perhaps even strongly identifies with a Squonk—an unhappy creature with a misfitting skin covered in warts and moles—that is, a highly singular, solitary species given to a morbid personality which, as the result of a certain genetic birthright, not a curse as such, simply a matter of genetics, has a rather unattractive, if not ugly, appearance (hence the self-consciousness). Moreover, the unnamed you can “try to run” but cannot “hide from what’s inside” of himself, meaning despite himself he must be acutely aware of his real self, his true identity, the ineluctable reality that you wants to run away from, to hide from, to deny—but cannot. He—you—cannot escape what he is; like the Squonk he cannot escape his own freakishness. The singer speaks to you as one can do only when one is like the one to whom one speaks. They are two of the same kind, equals: I and Thou. The same. Hence the Squonk is used here, figuratively, as a creature with whom one can identify that is not like other people, one that is different because of genetics, a certain ugliness as perceived by others. Steely Dan likes such singular, solitary creatures, especially crepuscular ones—those who come out when the sun sets, like the Squonk. A bat is a crepuscular creature, as is the rather ungainly, awkward creature known the opossum, the closest actual living analogue to the Squonk, I think. Steely Dan likes such crepuscular figures; take, for instance, the figure of Deacon Blues, a figure that likens himself to a snake (viper), a creature that comes out at night. He tells us: I crawl like a viper Through these suburban streets Make love to these women Languid and bittersweet I’ll rise when the sun goes down Cover every game in town A world of my own I’ll make it my home sweet home

The next appearance of the Squonk was in the eponymously named song by Genesis, on the album A Trick of the Tail (1976), where the text of Cox's 1910 depiction of the Squonk was more or less re-told in narrative form. As in Steely Dan's song, there is a figure referred to as "you" to whom the lyrics are presumably addressed, but "you" is a much different kind of figure than the one in Steely Dan, the latter the one that interests me the most.

The Squonk: Part 1

This came up while I was trying to find out if Fagen and Becker learned of the squonk from the Borges & Guerrero book or elsewhere. (It seems to be commonly assumed that they did, but I haven’t found explicit confirmation or anything stated by Fagen/Becker themselves)

(Disclaimers: I don’t like all of this, especially the repeated references to “genetics” (:/), this also somewhat treats “ugliness” as an objective matter of being, but enough of this is interesting to me to keep it saved. “Steely Dan likes such crepuscular figures”....they sure do 😹

Unfortunately I’m also very much not well-versed in Folklore or critiques of folklore wrt settler-colonialism. the squonk at least does not seem to be yanked and decontextualized from indigenous people like certain other mythical creatures/spirits/beings which are wrongfully, disrespectfully misinvoked in popular fiction. though it is obviously still informed by the context of colonialism: copying this bit from the wiki page

Although the earliest written account of the squonk was from the 1910 book Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, there are no records of the tale being told in Pennsylvania before the book's publication. The next written iteration, from the 1939 book Fearsome Critters, suggested that the creatures had migrated from deserts to swamps to finally settle in Pennsylvania. As logging camps were continuously moving in the early 20th century, this could explain the “creature's” migration to Pennsylvania.

Lastly, all of the links in the original blog post’s text are broken. the only one I included here has been updated to a slightly different archive.org link for my own reference later)

[arts-i-enjoy]

15 questions for 15 friends

Tagged by @professorrajansavarimuthu. Thanks! :3

Are you named after anyone?

Nope

When was the last time you cried?

yesterday

Do you have kids?

Nope

What sports do you play/have you played?

Used to play tennis and swim way back when I was little. Not really sure that counts lol.

Do you use sarcasm?

Yes, frequently

What is the first thing you notice about people?

Hm, I guess in-person, usually their clothes, I try to pay people compliments whenever possible and clothes are a good bet. Online....sense of humor?

What's your eye color?

Green

Scary movies or happy endings?

Generally happy endings but trying to get a foot in the door with scary movies :P

Any talents?

I don't particularly think so, not as such. I like to think I'm good with parrots, but that is definitely something developed over hundred and hundreds of hours with hundreds of birds lol.

Where were you born?

Florida, but the boring part

What are your hobbies?

Don't have a whole lot I do consistently. I'm trying to read/listen to books more like I used to, spend a little time doodling, needlecraft stuff on a rare occasion. Not any consistency.

Do you have any pets?

3 parrots, 1 snake, 2 cats that don't live with me anymore but I still consider mine. A colony of darkling beetles, bonus pets as a result of the snake.

How tall are you?

5 foot 6 if I'm being honest. 5'7 on a good day.

Favorite subject in school?

Meh. I guess maybe biology? My favorite course I ever took was a zoology course...

Dream job?

No aspirations on career, but maybe dream hobby/pastime would be working with rescue birds.

Tagging.....hm my options are somewhat limited on this blog, not everyone knows me here.... @wolfbro92 @hurdygurdywizard @astarlingdiscovery @childoferebus @yaboynotaboyoshalyn @thehotgirlproject @thenarrativefoil @vulture-bone @evilweasel24 @pom-seedss @sootlet-too @nyaz-chys @aeli-tan-art @fourteen--steps @jlinns

[dramatic-shitpost-poet]

*BLOG IS ON HIATUS/NOT ACTIVE DUE TO MY STATE OF BEING GETTING WORSE AND HAVING NO SPOONS. THANK YOU.*

-Due to the graphic nature of my blog, please do not interact if you are under 18. There is gore, sexual content, drug mentions, medical pictures, and other things that could be hurtful or triggering. I borderline romanticize disturbing topics too, you need to be in the proper headspace. So, proceed with caution and be 18+. Consent is key.-

💜You can either address me by my username or Zer (someone called me it from another username I use and I love it). If you wish to flirt, I can okay with being called Sir, Master, or Doctor, but no obligation by any means. Also I am a trans masculine nonbinary person that uses they/he/Zer/fae pronouns so keep that in mind.

💜Please know I am aroace as well. I will flirt and engage in kink, usually harder ones, but actual sex turns me off unless we've built a connection, so I fall closest to demisexual on the asexual spectrum. I do not mind the gender of anyone who flirts as it has little to no effect on me, just don't be a dick. I am fully aromantic too, so no conventional romance please! Think of it as more a look, don't touch ;)

💜I enjoy my own fantasies more in my head and through online flirting rather than doing meet ups. I am a switch but I will never likely sub for anyone and I am dom 90% of the time. I am both a sadist and masochist but the sadism tops me over more. I prefer being on top too. I find comfort in the macabre and sex is cannibalism as far as I'm concerned. But, ask nicely and I might negotiate.

💜 I am on the autism spectrum, so I am openly neurodivergent. I suffer from PTSD and C-PTSD as well, so, if I forget conversations, I apologize. I have been in recovery for Bulimia Nervous for around 2 years so I wish to refrain from weight discussion. I am physically disabled with fibromyalgia, benign hyper mobility syndrome, POTS, and a few other disorders. I use canes, braces, medications, and TENS units. I may be low on spoons so if I don't respond, that is likely it, I am not upset or ignoring you. If I'm pissed, I will tell you or just block you.

💜No racism, transphobia, enbyphobia, homophobia, fatphobia, antisemitism, sexism, and honestly any other bigotry or dick behaviors will be tolerated. You will be blocked fast.

💜I am in college to study for biochemistry, zoology, and anatomy/physiology. So, I am seeking my education and holding down a part time job, hence why I may not be active sometimes. I am a science major and that leaked over into me being an utter mad scientist.

💜My biggest special interest is anything animal related, specifically herpetology and entomology. Send me pics of reptiles, amphibians, arachnids, and insects!! I love them. I also gladly will take any ask relating to me, kink, my mad scientist persona, fandoms, etc. I don't bite unless you ask nicely.

💜I am the dad to 4 snakes, 2 turtles, and 2 guinea pigs. I foster animals when I can, but for now there is no room.

💜Parasites are another special interest and I collect them. I collect a lot of taxidermy and wet specimens. Heartworms are my favorite parasite and please tell me how they make you feel all squirmy inside.

💜I dress mostly goth or renfest when I can. I am a faerie, vampire, and mad scientist. I engage in tomfoolery and weird behaviors. May this blog be chaotic neutral and shitposty.

💜My fandoms are: mad father, witches house, misao, our flag means death, good omens, any V.C. Andrews, Stephen King books, IB, Charlie the unicorn, the Chucky franchise, saw, Bojack horseman, Hazbin hotel, Ethel Cain, Nicole Dollanganger, Schaffer The Darklord, Dr. Horribles sing along blog, Gravity falls, Moral Orel, I have no mouth and I must scream, don't hug me I'm scared, Gotham, Hannibal, Scrutinized, and many others! I kin a lot of characters too.

If you wish to support me/my health, my animals, being able to foster and engage in hyperfixations, or just give me kinky shit, here is my wishlist!

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2GLN4Y52G2SKS?ref_=wl_share

[cringelordofchaos]

fandoms

(for my intro post)

The Owl House (#TOH)

Sonic The Hedgehog (#STH)

Amphibia

The Mitchells vs The Machines (#TMVTM)

The Music Freaks (#TMF)

Ninjago

Wolfs Rain

Jacksons Diary (/#jd + #webtoon)

In general Ghost Eyes, The Last Dimension, Blooming Season, Post Harbor, High Class Homos, Will There Be A Tomorrow? (H), etc all on #Webtoon

Moomintroll

Roblox Flicker (#rblx)

my eyes deceive (#rblx)(I know it's not originally from Roblox but we'll pretend it is)

pokemon

OMORI

My Little Pong; Friendship is Magic (#MLP)

Infinity train (#IT)

Avatar: The Last Airbender (#ATLA)

ONE (by cheesyhfj) (#hfjONE)

Total Drama (Island) (#TD)

Wolfwalkers

ghost eyes (#webtoon)

BAD END THEATER (#BET)

Warrior Cats (/#wc)

Her tears were my light (#htwml)

Freakblr

The Music Freaks (#tmf)

Skyrim / the elder scrolls (/#tes)

I Am Not Okay With This (#IANOWT)

Stranger Things (#st)

Parappa The Rapper (#PTR)

Minecraft

MineCraft StoryTime (#mcst)

Willcrafts's Monster school

And my own monster school fanfic

Pseudonymous Bosch's secret series

South Park (#sp)

Friday Night Funkin' (#fnf)

other interests / hobbies / whatever

psychology

physics

roleplaying

storytelling, writing

drawing

daydreaming

talking

Reading about neurodivegence

SOMETIMES Math

reading books or comics

watching television

sociology

basketball

Taking care of bees

singing

mask-making

flute playing

I'm also trying to learn how to play the piano. by just googling piano sheets online and going off from there. its going ok so far

and I'm also tempted to start playing the guitar, I have a guide for beginners, but like I'm not too into it

Collecting random little trinkets

collecting bottlecaps . like a ton of them

Making random uhh. guys. Out of trash/random stuff from nature. (IDK HOW TO EXPLAIN IT. I simply call them Jinklings.)

Shipping (yes I consider it a hobby)

Sometimes zoology

Playing with plushies !! Yes, I am childish, but I quite frankly don't give a shit

Writing

Will update with time

[kinatanhi]

Intro Post

Me -

Hi everyone! Welcome to my little baby blog.

My name is Jax and I’m 19 years old.

I'm genderfluid and go by any pronouns, but prefer they/them.

I live in Ireland and I’m currently doing my Bachelors in Zoology.

I’m a massive nerd about everything sci-fi, fantasy or anything along those lines.

I’m a maladaptive dreamer and I create little characters in my head to insert into and act along with the media I’m consuming, i.e. tv shows, movies, books, etc.

My Page -

I’ve never written or drawn anything to be posted online before, so this is mostly just a cool little experiment for me.

I don’t know how frequent or often I’ll post as they are entirely dependent on the strength of my current hyperfixations lol.

I’m currently working on a multi-chapter OC fanfic for the Fallout show, which is wild considering I normally read x reader fics almost exclusively, and I’m working out the details for my fan clan for Avatar, including a bunch of homebrew fauna I’ve come up with.

In the future, I may start writing x reader fics for whatever I’m interested in, but for now I’m just going to so how my first writing experience goes lol.

This will be an 18+ blog (I have an absolutely filthy mind), so minors please don’t interact.

[spamkimbap]

Do you have any niche interests that you haven’t really talked about online?

Oh this is a great question, I have to think about what counts as niche LOL, most of these probably aren't that niche but I'm not sure what else to call them

I definitely have a LOT of interests I don't post too much about, and some of which I haven't fulfilled IRL yet (like I don't have the means to pursue it as a hobby)

Not really "niche" I don't think and I do post about them (not super in depth though) in the sciences include but are not limited to:

Zoology (this is what I'm going to go to college for once I legally change my name)

Entomology

Linguistics

Archaeology

Paleontology

Biology in general

General environmental sciences

Geology

Astronomy

Anthropology

And probably others I am forgetting

Some hobby based interests of mine include the following (I'll put a note next to the ones I can't actually fulfill as of rn):

Tea drinking/brewing/etc. (probably the biggest one I have) (I fulfill this)

Bookbinding (I can't fulfill this yet)

Painting (not very niche) (I fulfill this but I do not feel comfortable sharing any paintings at the moment lol)

Puzzle-solving

Calligraphy/penmanship (not currently fulfilling this)

Reading (not niche at all but generally I don't post about any of the books I read)

Movies? Not inherently niche but I don't post about this and I'm into watching movies like old films, indie films, and cult classics

Macrophotography (not fulfilling this because I don't have the equipment but I do take pictures of bugs with the macrophotography feature on our old family video camera even if they're not great)

Writing and poetry (not niche but I don't post about this at all, I really want to write starting books and currently write poetry)

Theater/acting (not niche but I don't post about this) (also can't fulfill it)

Tarot/divination (I don't truly believe in it but it's just fun)

Okay I don't feel like reorganizing my list above but going from above here are more things I'm into that can't currently fulfill or just haven't fulfilled yet:

Ceramics

Crochet

Fishing (I've done this like three times)

Things like chess, mahjong, go, shogi, koi-koi and other hanafuda games (I don't know how to play chess which embarrasses me greatly)

Sewing in general

Quilting (I've made one quilt!)

Woodworking

Bug keeping (I want roly polies and snails and some others)

Vulture culture (not very legal...)

Foraging (I have an uncle very into this that I need to help me get into this)

Geocaching

Hiking

Biking (been getting into this a bit recently)

Some miscellaneous interests of mine that I'm not sure how to categorize include the following (some of these might be sciences but I feel like they're not as science-y as the ones I listed before)"

Mythology (this...counts as antropology but shh)

Conlangs (counts as linguistics? sort of?)

Vexillology

Language learning (semi-fluent in Spanish, currently learning: Irish, Welsh, (Scottish Gaelic), Scots, Lushootseed, Japanese, Chinese, I want to learn some other languages as well though)

Sunscreen/sunblock/UV protection (I have no idea what to call this but it's a big interest of mine)

Hedgehogs (big special interest of mine throughout my life)

I collect old books (none of them are all that old and I don't seek out any old titles, but if I see an old book I'll usually buy it, although I've had to put a hold on this because I don't have space) (oldest book I have is very late 1800s)

I have no idea how to phrase this but I love learning about the cultures of different countries as well as the differences in variations of English, I guess this is anthropology and linguistics

Lost media

History in general (this falls into archaeology and anthropology)

Dogs? I'm very into stuff about dogs, not like breeding or dog shows but just different stuff about the breeds or stuff about dogs

Animation (I'm into its history and animated features)

Dragons. As a child I was so autistic about them that I refused to read any book without dragons AND they had to be neutral to good dragons (ties into mythology)

Fairies/fae (ties into mythology)

Plushie collecting (I don't seek out specific plushes or try to fill certain spots in a collection, I just like collecting whatever I like)

There's probably more I'm forgetting

[windupnamazu]

real winners quit!

ffxivwrite2022 #03: temper a person's state of mind seen in terms of their being angry or calm.

alphinaud & lunya, with alisaie. appearances and mentions of other scions + @fistsoflightning's zaya, @verbroil's rjoli, @nuclearanomaly's ninira, and @whitherliliesbloom's illya. mmo gamer au. 1120wc. ⮞ "so," alphinaud said thinly as alisaie once again dropped an aoe on him, "this is the fabled tilted towers."

"Congratulations, little man," was the first thing Alphinaud heard as he joined the one other person sitting in the FC's voice chat. Lunya's smug grin was audible in each word. "You've been chosen for «SCION»'s P5S blind prog tonight! And by tonight, I mean in 30 minutes."

"As a healer," Alphinaud sighed.

"As a healer!" Lunya cheerily confirmed. "How was class?"

Exhausting. Why did the new Savage tier have to drop in the middle of the school week anyway, and on the day he had lab with his professor from hell? Why did he even choose general zoology as an elective course anyway when he was a med student?! His only answer for Lunya was a long groan that got her cooing sympathetically.

The idea of raid night wasn't all that promising either—Alphinaud loved his FC. He really did. They had a great dynamic and ran every content available in their favourite MMORPG and even grouped up to play games outside of it. But the Scions of the Seventh Dawn was also comprised mostly of players with the full capability to be hardcore but fucked around so much in prog that they were ultimately a casual group. Depending on who else Lunya pulled for prog this night was either going to be smooth or traumatic.

"Let's see… we've got me and Raha, of course." A no-brainer. The FC's favourite and-they-were-roommates! came as a pair more often than not these days, especially since it was Lunya who introduced G'raha to the game. "Raha's running Paladin so I'm getting Thancred to MT."

Oh, thank goodness, Alphinaud heard G'raha say somewhere else in the room through Lunya's mic, causing Lunya to giggle.

"Urianger and Rjoli are on a date so your co-healer's gonna be Shtola today."

Y'shtola started maining Black Mage during the last expac after a seven year streak of playing White Mage and White Mage only, but he hadn't realized she was keeping WHM geared up too. Skeptical, Alphinaud asked, "Really? What's her ilevel?"

"600. Good luck."

The night was getting more and more stressful by the minute.

Alphinaud breathed in deeply. "Okay. Who's the magic DPS?"

"Thaaaaaaat would be Alisaie."

Oh, gods have mercy.

Strictly speaking, it wasn't mandatory to invite him and his sister to everything together—they were twins, but their own separate people. It mostly happened because their schedules lined up so they were online at the same time, save for days Alisaie had fencing practice or Alphinaud had debate club. He didn't have an issue with it, seriously, because just like he loved his FC, Alphinaud loved his sister. He really, truly did. Really!

"Why not Liya?" Alphinaud asked a little desperately. "Or Ninira?"

"Uh, Kaye's static already scooped up Liya," Lunya said, her tone clearly suggesting she was thinking I thought you knew this? Fake Illya stan. "And Estinien invited Nini but she ate too many boozy chocolates at Book Club today and is suuuuuuuuper messed up right now. In the drunk way. So she's napping it off."

"I… didn't think it was possible to consume the amount of those things you'd need to get drunk before you got sick from the chocolate."

"I thought so too, but, well, it's Ninira," Lunya could only say fondly, if not a little disturbedly. "Anyway, our melee DPS for the night are Estinien and Zaya. You're welcome."

Estinien, Thancred, Y'shtola.... They were all good at keeping things in line, though Thancred was prone to getting swept up in Zaya's shenanigans (generally involving trying to squeeze as much uptime for them as they could), and Lunya's gremlinbility skyrocketed when her pseudo-sibling was around. G'raha was normally composed but everyone knew that if Lunya told him to jump into the death wall at 0.5% enrage he would do it. But while prone to silliness, Lunya loved the thrill of winning more than anyone else and knew how to behave herself during Savage raids.

No. The issue was ultimately going to be Alisaie. Alisaie, who Fantasia'd into a Galka just so she could block his view of his significantly shorter Hume so he couldn't see if he was properly in the safe spot for the last part of last expansion's EX3. Alisaie, who thought Estinien wasn't cool. Alisaie, who stole his pants drop for giggles two raid tiers ago when she already had hers. Alisaie, who caused more wipes than she saved. Alisaie, who used her RDM LB3 specifically to maul the whole party during Storm's Crown just last week.

Alphinaud rubbed his temples.

Girl Power, Alisaie's Galka, sprinted towards his body as the others scrambled across the arena in a blind attempt to survive Devour, sliding right on top of him and immediately leaning back on an invisible wall.

Using the emote was an innocuous action, but Alphinaud knew she had taken a ride through the dark side lately. Paywalled assets stolen from other games, "upscaled" textures run through waifu2x, the modifying of the dev team's hard work and the stomping on other's loving character designs, running illegal plugins that would give her an advantage over others… No, he knew what she was doing.

"Alisaie," Alphinaud said, hand trembling around his gamer mouse. "Please stop Fortnite dancing on my corpse."

"Oops." She was not one bit sorry even as the Proto-Carbuncle took a loving bite out of her head and she joined him on the floor. "I meant to hit Verraise."

"Wait, wait, wait," Lunya cut in, surprisingly not yet dead as she just barely En Avant'd out of the last AoE. "Me too!"

To Alphinaud's horror, her Tarutaru sprinted over to both dead bodies on the floor and leaned against an invisible wall as she stood on them. Zaya wheezed a breathy chuckle.

"Mitigate," Y'shtola intoned over the chaos, not that it would matter with no shields and her piddly i600 heals. Thancred and G'raha overlapped Reprisals.

RAGEQUITTING IS CRINGE, Alphinaud reminded himself. ESTINIEN WOULD NEVER RAGEQUIT. This was a lie, of course, because Estinien did in fact ragequit from E8S one time when Ysayle refused to stop spinning the boss and he kept dropping his combos from missing positionals. He still hadn't forgiven her for it to this day, though they changed the positional requirement with the current expansion.

If it sucks, hit da bricks, Estinien advised Alphinaud after everyone left so they could pick him up again and reinstance. Or at least, he thought that's what Estinien said, but it was hard to tell at the time because Estinien's cat Orn Khai had crawled into his lap and started screaming for dinner as he was saying it.

Alphinaud opened the Duty menu, and just this once, he allowed his cursor to drift to the Abandon Duty button.

[docpiplup]

@asongofstarkandtargaryen I found another interesting film to watch. I'm used to do an upcoming films/series section, but this time it will be a little different.

In this case, this is a film from 2019, it's a period drama directed by Souheil Ben-Barka, and it's a co-production between Morocco and Italy, De sable et de feu (Sabbie e fuoco in Italian, Sand and Fire in English, and in Spanish the film is either called El sueño del califa or El sueño envenenado).

It's difficult to found the film, it isn't available in any streaming platform and I have been looking for it online and I haven't found it yet.

(This is the English version of the trailer, for the French and the Spanish ones, click in here and here)

The film Sand & Fire (The impossible Dream) tells the story of Domingo Badía i Leblich, alias Ali Bey al Abbassi (April 1st 1767, Barcelona -August 30th 1818, Damascus) and Lady Hester Stanhope, otherwise known as Meleki, Queen of Palmyra, (May 12th 1776 Kent, England - 1839 Djîhoun). Set between 1802 and 1818, the plot of the film has resonance for today with searing realism as it depicts a moderate peaceful Islam confronting another which is fanatical and cruel.

Domingo Badia was a Catalan scientist militar, traveler and Arabist, who in 1803, was commissioned by Manuel Godoy (prime minister of Charles IV of Spain) to undertook a long journey through Muslim territories, camouflaging him as a Syrian prince descendant of the Abbasids, Ali Bey al Abbassi, son of the Emir of Damascus (assassinated by the Otomans).

On the previous tears in Córdoba around 1795 he had been working on his project of the construction of a hot air balloon that he planned to use to carry out atmospheric observations (height of the atmosphere in relation to sea level, atmospheric pressure, heat and humidity), although after several attempts the project did not end with good results.

His travels took him to Morocco, Algeria, Libya and various regions of the Ottoman Empire (Egypt, Arabia, Syria, Turkey and Greece), which he would describe in the book The Travels of Ali Bey, in which along with detailed descriptions of the cities he visited, recorded his observations on geography, botany, zoology, entomology, geology and meteorology.

Although in fact, he was a secret agent with a mission to gain the trust of the Moroccan Sultan, Moulay Slimane and trying to convince him to accept a proposal to stablish the sultanate as a protectorate under the Spanish rule. By then, Badía was conspiring against the sultan, conducting extensive negotiations with the chiefs of the rebellious tribes, to destabilize the sultanate's government and overthrow the sultan, who was suspect of broking his neutralilty and ally with the English against Spain in the context of the Anglo-Spanish War (1804-1809), but the plan failed and Moulay Slimane expelled Ali Bey from the country.

Apart from his travels and his missions in Morocco, during the Napoleonic invasion he acted as mayor of Segovia and prefect of Córdoba between 1809 and 1811 under the rule of Joseph I of Spain.

Within this time period, Richard Brothers (well known for his extremely detailed prediction of the beheading of Louis XVI of France) revealed in a book that Lady Hester Stanhope, niece of the English Prime Minister, William Pitt, would be crowned Queen of Palmyra, the new Zenobia.

Lady Hester was a British aristocrat, but also an adventurer, antiquarian, and one of the most famous travellers of her age. Her archaeological excavation of Ashkelon in 1815 is considered the first to use modern archaeological principles, Her letters and memoirs made her famous as an explorer. She traveled to several places of the Ottoman Empire like Athens, Rhodes, Constantinople, the Ionian Islands, the Peloponnese, Athens, Malta, Constantinople, Rhodes, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and  Damascus and Jerusalem.

On April 14, 1813, Lady Hester made the decision to charter a caravan of 50 camels, a large retinue of servants and dressed in splendid clothes in the manner of a Druze prince, also hiring a group of armed and uniformed Bedouins as Praetorian Guard. Lady Hester pretended to imitate the mythical queen Zenobia who defied the Romans. On March 29, 1813, the procession arrived at the city of Palmyra, which was splendidly received by the Bedouins. Lady Hester Stanhope earned the admiration and respect of the local Bedouin tribes, who called her Maliki or the White Queen of Tadmir (Palmyra).

Domingo Badia meets Lady Hester when he goes to London on a mission. It is the starting point of a passionate tumultuous love affair which endures for fourteen years before its tragic end; their love unable to sustain two irreconcilable visions of Islam.

Badía died in Damascus in 1818, it is said that he was poisoned by a British agent or that the British ordered to poison him, due to some of his actions during his secret misions were unfavorable for the British, it's said that probably Badía was in a secret mission by that time. Previously he had already frustrated some interventions by the English, such as in 1806 when Badía sabotaged the British plan to remove Mehemet Ali and install their puppet Elfi Bey as pasha of Egypt or when in 1807 in Syria he discovered and destroyed a secret line that the English had to communicate with India.

A film-goer, travelling with Ali Bey through Spain, France, England and Morocco, is transported to sumptuously decorated palaces in Madrid, Paris, London and Morocco of the early 19th century and with Lady Hester to the burning sands of Arabia and the ancient ruins of Palmyra.

The film was shot in Italy, Morocco and England, and it lasts 115 minutes.

After a long absence, Souhail Ben-Barka returned to filmmaking. His career is rich in many films that have marked the history of Moroccan cinema, including the film “Amok” which has won many awards, in addition to his masterpieces “The Battle of the Three Kings”, “The Curse of the Pharaoh” and “The Lovers of Mogador”.

Director's note

I have always had freedom of choice concerning the topics and characters of all my previous films. For this one, I feel designated - as if it has chosen me… With his accomplished seduction, no one can resist the charms of the trickster, The figure full of charisma and mischief, but also the taste for conquest and bluffing of Badia /Ali Bey: From the most humble subjects to the grandest dignitaries, from the Sultan Moulay Slimane, to Lady Hester, Queen of Palmyra, to Napoleon himself who enquires of Talleyrand:

"Your man - is he genius or a madma.?" To which Talleyrand answers.

"A subtle combination of both, Sire. Great men are made that way."

Cast

Rodolfo Sancho (Domingo Badía i Leblich, aka Ali Bay al Abbassi)

Carolina Crescentini (Lady Hester Stanhope, aka Meleki)

Marisa Paredes (Lady Williams)

Giancarlo Giannini (Talleyrand)

Imanol Arias (Sultan Moulay Slimane/ Sulayman of Morocco)

Omar Azzuzi

Massimo Ghini (Amoros)

Marco Bocci (Manuel Godoy)

Abdelaziz Bouzaoui

Younés Kerkour

Hamid Basket

Kamal Moummad (Salem)

Ulisse Provolo (Dott. Blizzard)

Christo Jivkov (Mulai Driss)

Jean-Pierre André Douay

Emanuele Vezzoli (Firmin Didot)

Enrico Salimberi (Napoleon Bonaparte)

Creative staff

Director: Souheil Ben-Barka

Story and Screenplay : Bernard Stora and Souheil Benbarka

Executive Producers: Gianni Sarago and Hamid Basket

Art Director: Amal El Mazouni

Production Designer: Marco Trentini, Francesco Cotone

Director of Photography: Ugo Menegatti

Chief Make Up Artist: Leila Benbarka

Costume Supervisor: Lia Morandini

Music by: Stefano Lentini

Production: Co-production Morocco-Italy: Jal's Production (Casablanca) and Flat Parioli SRL (Rome).

Official website: http://www.desableetdefeu.fr/

Facebook

(I have found more pics about the film, but for thid post these are enough)

[no-psi-nan]

@mediocre-clown-inc Hmmm, good question... I think he would certainly enjoy a good detective story even if he probably figures out the twist way too early.

He definitely enjoys nonfiction books about science, especially biology and zoology. Probably interested in historical books as well. 🤔 And I know for the fact that he has a collection of Bathroom Readers LOL.

I think he'd enjoy fantasy books too but mostly ones with interesting world-building and logical magic rules that are strictly followed, y'know?

Yeah, he'd probably try to write at least one story! It would be a huge-long epic with a plot convoluted enough to make Homestuck look like a cardboard picture book and takes him probably a decade or two to complete. And then he publishes it online chapter by chapter and it becomes a minor indie hit with a tiny but rabid fanbase bless. 💜

[questions for the birthday boy!]