#and modernity as technological advance

[noirve]

love how armand was all "like someone got sick on the canvas?" about a modern artwork yet his own plays at that time were completely niche and experimental and just straight-up absurd

[siriuslyobsessedwithfiction]

If I had a nickel for every time my favourite character from a vampire show was a centuries old vampire with issues and toxic relationships who became a rockstar, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it has happened twice.

[unicorngunter]

Sometimes it's just a girl and her near death experience against the world

[tofixtheshadows]

Many things in Dungeon Meshi make me go "Ryoko Kui is the funniest woman alive" but obviously today I'm thinking about her decision to reveal that dwarves had/have access to crazy advanced steampunk technology that no one in the party of quasi-medieval fantasy adventurers really remarks on or ever mentions again. Unironically an excellent grasp of genre.

[lolo3hwriting]

The White Lily Greenhouse - How Would It Work?

Pure Vanilla Cookie has always been a favorite character to me because of his hobby of gardening. As someone who gardens as well as studies horticulture, it’s fun to see all of the gardens and plants he has in the story. The most notable example for me is the White Lily Greenhouse because it plays such an important role in Pure Vanilla’s character and story. He built it as a place to relax and to enjoy the white lilies he loves so much. But it made me wonder, how in the world would he manage it? Realistically it would take a lot of effort, and considering it's a private greenhouse within his castle, Pure Vanilla would most likely take care of it all alone.

Before I get into anything, I wanted to talk about the specific type of lilies that Pure Vanilla grows. The character White Lily Cookie is based on lilies in general, but most significantly the Madonna Lily. However, I couldn’t find much information about growing Madonna Lilies (Lilium candidum) in greenhouses specifically, so most of the information I have is from growing Easter Lilies (Lilum longiflorum) or lilies (Genus Lilum) in general in greenhouses. The growing requirements are mostly the same, but might have a few slight differences.

Specific Requirements for Growing Lilies and Greenhouses

(Diagram of a bulb, image taken from here)

So first, I wanted to explain briefly about the morphology of lilies and how that impacts their management. Most lilies grow from bulbs, which are specialized structures made up of a short fleshy stem enclosed by thick, fleshy leaves. At the bottom of a bulb is the base plate where the stem, leaves, and roots grow from. One way to propagate lilies is through bulblets (also called bulbils), small bulbs that grow from the base plate, which can be removed and planted on their own. However, the most common way is through bulb scales where the first (and sometimes second) outer portion of the leaf scales are removed and planted. But whatever the case, both the bulblets and bulbs scales need to go though some period of cold temperatures to break their dormancy. This means you can plant them in the fall and let them stay over the winter, or you could put them in a refrigerator to chill. Considering the Vanilla Kingdom is in a mountainous region and high up in the sky, I’m sure they can be put outside before transferring them to the greenhouse.

Heating and lighting are two important factors in making lilies grow well. Lilies need full sun, which is about 6 hours per day. Generally a south facing greenhouse will have more light exposure, otherwise you may need artificial lighting. Lilies will start growing when temperatures are warm enough, so greenhouses usually aim for 60 F, but they can also grow well up to 75 F. I'll discuss how heating and lighting might work for the white lily greenhouse.

Although lilies are perennials and bloom year after year if you maintain them, most ornamental gardens will plant new bulbs every year because old bulbs won’t produce as much or as big flowers as younger bulbs do. This would mean Pure Vanilla would have to dig up old bulbs and plant new ones every year, unless he has some type of special magic that will make them bloom as big and numerous consistently.

Weeding and pest management are always something to keep in mind with greenhouses, but if you don't let them become a problem then it's pretty easy to deal with. Proper sanitation like removing weeds before they produce seeds, removing plant debris and dead plants, and having clean growing media will all help prevent problems. I think Pure Vanilla is vigilant enough to do all of that.

Historical Greenhouses

(A classic greenhouse from England, image taken from here)

In the past, greenhouses were heated just by the sun or with additional heating like furnaces, hot water, or steam. This meant that temperature control was not very precise and had to be fiddled with in order for the greenhouse to be properly heated. If this was the case, I think there would have been some type of boiler specifically for the greenhouse situated at a higher elevation so that the hot water/steam could be carried by gravity into the greenhouse. Water for irrigation had to be brought in unless you had a nearby water pump. Carrying water in would have taken a lot of effort, not to mention that you would have to do watering by hand, which would have been tedious for one person. However, I doubt that Pure Vanilla would mind with his patient nature and enthusiasm for gardening.

The cost of glass and steel to build the greenhouse itself would have been expensive. But taking into account that Pure Vanilla was a king, he probably didn’t have much trouble with the cost of construction or equipment. 

The Vanilla Kingdom is based on Germanic countries, and those countries have a long history of using greenhouses. During the 16th and 17th centuries places like England, France, Italy, and the Netherlands had greenhouses to grow exotic plants that they collected. So the locale and inspiration for the kingdom lines up.

The Modern Approach

(A modern Dutch style greenhouse, image from here)

Considering the Vanilla Kingdom had the waffle bots and advanced technology, it would be reasonable that Pure Vanilla could have access to more modern greenhouse technology similar to what we have today. Things like automatic misting systems, electrical and gas powered heating, and artificial greenhouse lighting. Not to mention all the sensors and timers that can help automate things. However, I’ve seen greenhouses built pretty recently that still use hot water pipes to heat the greenhouse and manually watering their plants. Seeing that Pure Vanilla is more old fashioned and traditional, he could have also run his greenhouse using old school methods. 

Of course, all of this can be hand waved with magic but I like to think that the creation of spells is also considered special techniques that have to be learned and trained. I'm sure that Pure Vanilla or even White Lily Cookie could have developed some type of specialized magic to grow plants easier, similar to how in real life new technology is constantly being developed in order to more efficiently grow plants.

Sources:

https://wyoextension.org/publications/html/B1185R/

[transingthoseformers]

would you rather have dinosaurs or Transformers actually exist in the world today?

This was a very difficult choice, but I eventually decided (with a heavy heart) the non-avian dinosaurs had their chance, and that the implications of aliens being real and here too enormous for me to pass up

[oceandiagonale]

breaking news: historians have theorized that this friendly neighborhood merchant and this mysterious stranger were Very Good Friends 

[littledreamling]

Hob would’ve been so invested in the space race during the 60’s. Not because he’s particularly interested in the geopolitical aspect; he couldn’t care less about the petty feud between the US and Russia, but the fact that mankind was going to space for the first time?? He’d lose his shit and you can bet your ass he kept an incredibly detailed journal about it to share with his Stranger if he showed up after their fight

[shopcat]

i've decided if some sort of theoretical atla animated film about the earth avatar has to be set in the modern verse it should either be like INCREDIBLY different from ours to stop things from being ... bad. and that the spirit world influences have really ramped up so that it still feels like magical realism or w/e. but alternatively it would just be really good if it wasn't set in like the 2020s but very obviously the 70s-90s that would be awesome for me personally

[kaatiba]

today in writing adventures - i am 'inventing' clothes that a character wears that are supposed to indicate that she's been in an otherwordly place.

...it's polyester. she's wearing polyester :)

[canonicalcryptid]

Coffee in thedas

This started because I want coffee in my da2 but fanfic but like;

Varric inherits a deal for coffee import from Rivain after Bartrands death. The Hanged Man serves it, it’s awful. It starts at in Act 1 with boiling whole beans and ends in Act 3 with a protein powder-esque coffee flavored substance because they realized you have to grind the beans but not how to filter it properly. Isabela def knows how to make it and is horrified but also too amused to tell anybody. She goes to make it for herself when no one’s around. (Fenris maybe knows how to make it?)

My coffee making knowledge is garbage but i only really imagine nobles would have something resembling a pour over. I think those tiny metal espresso pots might also be more of a luxury, so regular people probably use coffee socks, if it’s not expensive in the area period.

 I don’t think Fereldan or the Free Marches has coffee as a regular thing.  Antiva def has it although I don’t think it’s native to there. Orlais probably gets it imported from Antiva but it’s exclusively a rich person thing. 

I imagine either it’s native to Par Vollen or Seheron since both of those are implied to be warmer climates, I think? Maybe Rivain, or at least considering some of it is part of the Qun it’s grown there. 

Tevinter maybe has it but it’s also an import - whether as beans or an actual crop. They’d probably use something closer to a modern-ish maker because like ✨ magique. ✨

The Qunari probably use something industrial-sized and actually have like bottled coffee. 

[vakducationtoday]

In our latest blog post, we described the transformative power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in shaping the landscape of education. As technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, AI emerges as a revolutionary tool that holds immense potential to revolutionize how we teach and learn.

Join us as we explore the myriad ways in which AI is making its mark in education.

https://educationtoday.co/blog/blog-details?id=1618&url=Importance-of-AI-in-Education

[sapphicauntie]

What if Sonic took Knuckles to an arcade and made him try Virtual Reality games? Would Knuckles think it's sorcery?

*sighs and sips drink*

for the last time, just because Knuckles is from an island and has had no contact with the outside world before Sonic and Eggman, it doesn’t mean he’s going to think everything technological is witchcraft or is primitive. He’s unfamiliar with technology, but interacts with it fairly often in game canon, ie Sonic Riders and doesn’t comment.

and I also believe he’d get a headache from the lights and sounds and experience of the arcade alone and generally have bad stimuli with the whole experience. “streaking lights, loud sounds and instinct / are the elements that keep me going”; he doesn’t like lights and loud sounds due to his isolation.

besides which, I believe Sonic would pay attention to his friend’s likes and dislikes and would immediately pull him out of any situation that would make him uncomfortable.

[bxdtime-ceai]

It's so weird to me that the adults around me cannot cook and will not learn. Like obviously you don't have to cook every meal but how do you still not have these skills in your mid/late twenties after years of living alone. How do you still have nothing in your fridge AT ALL. Not even a fruit. What is the root of this

[zroqravity]

Thinking about how much more devastating Gillions need for Finn to remember him becomes once you discover that there are no contraceptions in mana. Finn most likely has many kids, he has to, there is no way of getting around it, which, in return, means Finn most likely has a huge amount of grandchildren. Gill looks up to his grandpa, he loves him, and the fact that he is just another one of the many many grandchildren he has is devastating to him, he isn't more special to Finn than any of the tens of other grandchildren he has out there. Gillion is just another grandchildren, just another byproduct of finn fucking around, but he wants to be more than that, he wants Finn to remember him, he wants this person who he looked up to to recognize him. He just wants Finn to see him for the person he is, he want finn to see him as Gillion Tidestrider, and not as just as grandchildren number who knows what

[ljf613]

Been rereading the Pendragon series. (Oh look, it's my childhood!)

Third Earth freaks me out. Bobby describes it like some kind of perfect utopia, but all I see is a disturbing dystopia.