#aunt tea podcast

[nimblermortal]

Nimblermortal's Covid Survival Tips 2023

because what's the point of having this if I can't make it easier for the next person?

First symptom for me was a mild sore throat. This started around noon; the next morning I woke up with no symptoms but feeling terrible, which I interpret as the medical "sense of impending doom" that is a real symptom.

Charmin toilet paper. This stuff is softer than Kleenex. Get you a whole roll and a shopping bag. Don't have a runny nose for a symptom? Don't care, it'll come.

Blankets you can kick on and off. I spent two days "cycling" - chills, fever, then lucidity. You need to be able to both vent and huddle.

If you are scientifically inclined: Keep a thermometer nearby. I regret not taking my temperature during the cycles, I'm really curious about whether I was running hotter or colder during the hot stages. That said, you will definitely not have enough energy to take your temperature during these stages.

Some sort of infinite podcast. It doesn't matter what it is. Honestly I recommend Critical Role even if you don't like D&D live plays. You do not care what is going on here, the point is white noise that you don't have to change. Make sure the device is plugged in. I could only nap while there was white noise happening - and when I say 'nap' I mean 'I don't know if I slept or not, just that I was face-down and some time passed'.

Advil. This will lower the fever. If you can, wait until the second day - the fever helps burn out the disease, but this only applies to the first 24 hours. But don't let the fever get too high. I ran a steady 101 F/38.3 C for two days, which is fine. You can take one every 4 hours up to 6 times a day. For me the best effects only lasted 2 hours and I was ready by the fourth (but also a stubborn pig who tried to hold out; there's no advantage to this after the first 24 hours).

Small dishes. People kept trying to feed me and I couldn't finish anything. Small dishes, plain foods, let yourself have the ability to win at meals. (Note: this may not apply to you, but I'm the sort of person who used to be sent to elementary school with a single small potato because the cafeteria was too noisy for me to eat but I needed to win at lunch.) If you're preparing just-in-case, you could put some in the freezer

Immune boosters. My aunt swears by Sambucol, which is elderberry and vitamin C and zinc. Zinc matters more if you are male. My take on the Sambucol advantage is elderberry taste good.

Non-caffeinated tea. Something that goes down the throat easy. I had a sore throat to start with, then after the cycling I've got a progressively increasing cough; warm beverage nice. (I also craved a masala tea in the middle of the cycling, so caffeine might be nice, but you probably want to let yourself sleep.)

Vicks vaporub. Apply directly to the forehead liberally once the coughing starts. The package says you can do this 3 times a day.

Don't worry about cough medicines unless you have one you trust implicitly. Mum says they're not very effective, so you want that sweet, sweet placebo effect.

Someone to watch over you. Partly to make sure you don't get it worse than I had. Mostly because when I'm weak and sick I get clingylonely and I need someone to assure me I am loved. I had the same problem with the vaccines - shivering under the blankets calling weakly for Hyacinth because I was alone and Sad. Honestly the covid has been less intense but longer.

Recovery time. Covid heals a lot slower than comparable sicknesses. Whatever you think your return-to-work day might be, add at least two days to it. (I thought I was getting away with something last Wednesday, tried to work Thursday, and survived for one hour.)

More recovery time. This thing heals very slowly. I haven't had symptoms in a week - aside from having to plan for being able to do single-digit numbers of tasks in a day. And 'digesting a meal' is a separate energy task from 'eating a meal' is a separate energy task from 'preparing a meal' is a separate... (No really, I had to plan energy expenditure for digestion.) At a week out, I am still having to make room for daily hour-long naps and activities interspersed with lying down - though at least now I can embroider with a TV show during these periods. Give yourself lots of time, even when it feels stupid.

[allwaswell16]

All the One Direction fics I read and enjoyed in April 2023. You can listen to my podcast to hear me talk about each of these fics as well as an overview of what was posted on ao3 including the fics on this month’s fic roundup which you can find here! Please let the writers know if you liked the fics by leaving kudos and comments! Happy reading!

Fanfictional Podcast #49 |  ko-fi | fic recs

—Louis/Harry—

🪷 Higher, Further, Faster by hazzahtomlinson / @itsnotreal

(NR, 31k, uni au) Or the one where Harry decides to go to college regardless of what his team warns him about and has to face the consequences, some of which aren’t so terrible after all. 

🪷 I'm Weaker Without You by The_Halcyonic_Lachesist / @chai-hat-tea

(T, 20k, Regency au) Alpha Lord Louis Tomlinson is a rake who refuses to settle down. Will he settle down for the Society's most talked about Omega? 

🪷 they say looks can kill (and i might try) by LiveLaughLoveLarry / @loveislarryislove

(M, 18k, superhero au) Now he walks those same streets as Rogue, a vigilante who makes his own justice - and he's making damn sure that justice is coming for CowellCorp too.

🪷 Wanna play you like a game, boy (what's the thrill of the same toy?) by thebreadvan / @thebreadvansstuff

(E, 10k, dom/sub) Louis is Harry's boss, and Harry has a humiliation kink.

🪷 Unraveling by D1ona30

(E, 10k, roommates) He thought over the past few weeks, how he’d just known at certain times what Louis had been thinking or feeling, needing or wanting and it didn’t make sense to him. Until he had the wild thought, “Can I read Louis's mind?”

🪷 to be a better man by devilinmybrain / @thedevilinmybrain

(E, 9k, cheating au) “But if you’re so concerned, go see what he wants. Make him happy enough to leave me alone, eh? Since you’re so worried.”

🪷 Maid in the A.M. by @lainy122

(E, 9k, famous/not famous) “You’re not supposed to be here.” The lad frowned at him.“Sorry,” Harry said automatically. Which, wait. No, that wasn’t right. “Um, actually, I sort of live here?”

🪷 Read you like a book by becka / @realmenwearpuppypants

(E, 8k, canon) Louis realises Harry can read his mind. He'll do anything to make Harry admit it. 

🪷 Warm Chilling by Larry_you_know / @larryyouknow

(G, 7k, countryside) Louis moves into a cosy cottage in the English countryside with his dog Clifford to look after his great-aunt's animals.

🪷 Somethin' Old and Red by nonsensedarling / @absoloutenonsense

(NR, 5k, vampire au) There was a ritual with these things. He’d pour a splash into a wine glass —his favourite little joke was telling humans he loved a nice glass of red every now and again— then sat down in his living room and listened to music while he drank.

🪷 out of time by missinglockets

(G, 5k, canon) Louis finishes his cigarette, contemplating what to say to Harry. They don’t do this anymore. He doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into.

🪷 Things Unsaid by LadyLondonderry / @londonfoginacup

(G, 4k, soulmate au) where you have a tattoo of the first thought your soulmate has when they see you

🪷 Harry Styles Plays with Kittens While Answering Questions by @sadaveniren

(T, 4k, hybrids au) Louis runs a Youtube channel and Harry is his celebrity guest

🪷 Unplant by @hellolovers13

(M, 4k, neighbors) Louis should've looked where he was going, then he wouldn't have to desperately try to save a little flower now.

🪷 lucky once, could be lucky again by @jaerie

(E, 2k, a/b/o) Louis has been letting the rich and famous knot him for cash since he found himself walking out on the lavish lifestyle of his rockstar future mate.

🪷 Baby you're a little mind reader by larrycaring / @mystupidamours

(G, 2k, uni au) Person A is thinking inappropriate thoughts, suddenly panics and thinks: “If you’re a mind reader, cough right now.” Person B: *coughs*

🪷 ready for a war by @nouies

(E, 1k, pwp) Harry was so close to getting caught, and it was all on that stupidly pretty cocktail waiter.

—Rare Pairs—

🪷 for your eyes only by @muldxr

(M, 9k, Harry/James Bond) While on a dangerous mission, 007 reunites with an old flame.

🪷 Come get your man by Lhhome / @lhhomefics

(T, 3k, Niall/Harry/Lewis Capaldi/Shawn Mendes) “Oh that well its a funny story, I was drunk and it was like four in the morning or something and i sent him something that i don't even remember but it was one of those messages that disappear so I couldn’t even find out what I sent him and he refuses to tell me so honestly I am excusing myself from the narrative, it's all on him” Lewis explains.

[tradewaiters]

For this week’s episode we read My Aunt Is a Monster by Reimena Yee, whose unique and thoughtful approach to cartooning gave us lots to talk about, from panel transitions to world-building to colouring. This is a unique book and a welcome addition to the YA graphic novel canon.

Also mentioned in this episode: The Carpet Merchant of Konstaniyya, Seance Tea Party, and Alexander: The Servant and the Water of Life, also by Reimena Yee The Creators’ Guide to Comics Devices by Reimena Yee The Cartoonist Co-op The Spirit by Will Eisner Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson Asterix by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo Garfield by Jim Davis Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi Stephen Universe created by Rebecca Sugar All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely The Batman Adventures: Mad Love by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm Third Voice by Evan Dahm and Kaleidoscope: A Fruit Salad Comics Anthology by various

Music by Sleuth

You can find us at: J Dalton Jam Jeff Ellis

Our next episode will be on The Jellyfish by Boum

You can also follow the TradeWaiters on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Ko-Fi.

[in-pleasant-company]

Here's some of the things I learned from the American Girl Fan Podcast that I thought were the most interesting. I've sorted them by character, but they were not necessarily revealed in the order I have them listed.

Kaya (Kaya's Story/Aug 10 episode)

All plot lines in Kaya’s books are based on real stories that were either passed down through oral tradition or actually happened to members of the advisory board. Kaya’s special whistle for Steps High is based on the story of an advisory board member who reunited with his beloved horse in the same way.

The Cooperative Extension Educator program has a Kaya Club and produced a Kaya cookbook. (I think it may be this book, which is free.)

Rebecca (All About Rebecca/Aug 17 episode)

Rebecca’s school is PS 64. Jacqueline Dembar Greene mentions going to visit it, but the building is currently abandoned/condemned.

Author Jacqueline Dembar Greene, met two sisters in their nineties who showed her a photograph of their mother, Rebecca Rubin, who arrived in America from Russia in 1914.

The samovar in the back of Candlelight for Rebecca belonged to the ancestors of editor Jennifer Hirsch. (I checked Candlelight for Rebecca and there is no photo of a samaovar.) Her ancestors also had tea towels embroidered in Russian. (This photo appears in the back of Meet Rebecca.)

Kirsten (The Inside Scoop with Valerie Tripp/Sept 7 episode)

Kirsten was originally “Kristen” and from Norway. She was changed to be from Sweden because Pleasant found a Swedish sweater she liked.

Samantha

Pleasant Rowland’s niece suggested a character should be an orphan, leading to Samantha.

Valerie thinks another story about Samantha could involve Samantha’s other grandparents would come to take her to live with them on “a hardscrabble farm in Nebraska.”

Felicity

Writing Felicity’s adventures with Penny was wish fulfillment for Valerie. She wanted a horse as a child and used to give her bicycle grass pretending it was a horse.

A girl wrote a letter to Valerie Tripp after she broke her arm asking her to write a story about a girl breaking her arm. That led to Felicity Takes A Dare.

Does Felicity marry Ben? There’s a store in Williamsburg called the Davidson store.

Josefina

Josefina’s personality is shaped by the New Mexican landscape. Homes are quiet and subdued on the outside but the inside is filled with music and noise and the smells of delicious food.

Kit

Kit’s scotty dog pin inspired Valerie to create Inky.

Some details from Kit’s stories are based on Valerie’s mother’s childhood like her family running a boarding house and her brother not being able to go to college. Her mother’s thriftiness also inspired Aunt Millie.

Molly

The hula girl costumes on getting ruined on Halloween in Meet Molly really happened to Valerie but it was a neighbor who sprayed her and her friends with a hose, not a brother.

Valerie suggested Molly might go on to run the Red Cross.

Emily

Valerie used to change the numbers on her practice chart like Emily does in Brave Emily.

[allthingslinguistic]

All Things Linguistic - 2022 Highlights

2022 was a year of opening up again and laying foundations for future projects. I spent the final 3 months of it on an extended trip to Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand, which is a delightful reason to have a delay in writing this year in review post. 

Interesting new projects this year included my first piece in The Atlantic, why we have so much confusion on writing the short form of "usual" and 103 languages reading project: inspired by a paper by Evan Kidd and Rowena Garcia. 

Continuations of existing projects: 

Return of LingComm Grants

A survey for those using Because Internet for teaching

10 year Blogiversary of All Things Linguistic: highlights from the past year and highlights from the past decade

6 years of Lingthusiasm

Conferences/Talks

LSA 2022 and judging Five Minute Linguist

I was on panels about swearing in SFF and the Steerswoman books at a local literary speculative fiction con, Scintillation

I was on panels at WorldCon (ChiCon 8) in Chicago: Ask A Scientist, That's Not How That Works!, and Using SFF for Science Communication

I was a contestant for the second time in Webster's War of the Words, a virtual game show fundraiser for the Noah Webster House.

I attended the Australian Linguistics Society annual meeting in Melbourne and the New Zealand Linguistics Society annual meeting in Dunedin, where I gave a talk co-authored with Lauren Gawne called Using lingcomm to design meaningful stories about linguistics

Lingthusiasm

In our sixth year of Lingthusiasm, a podcast that’s enthusiastic about linguistics which I make with Lauren Gawne and our production team, we did a redesign of how the International Phonetic Alphabet symbols are layed out in a chart, in order to correspond more closely with the principle that the location of a symbol is a key to how it's articulated. This involved much digging into the history of IPA layouts and back-and-forths with our artist, Lucy Maddox, and we were very pleased to make our aesthetic IPA design available on a special one-time edition of lens cloths for patrons as well as our general range of posters, tote bags, notebooks, and other all-time merch. 

We also did our first Lingthusiasm audience survey and Spotify for some reason gave us end-of-year stats only in French, which I guess is on brand, but we were pleased to see notebooks, and Lingthusiasm is one of Spotify's top 50 Science podcastsF/href.li/?https:/www.redbubble.com%2Fi%2Fmouse-pad%2FAesthetic-IPA-Chart-Square-by-Lingthusiasm%2F129215087.G1FH6&t=OTkxYjYxYjNmMzA1M2VhNGViOGIxZWIxOGI0NDRjYjE2YTIzYTE2NCw2YTgzNDQyZTM3MzY0YjRkNjc3NGJkNzhhYzJhMzk3ZjA2Y2NkYzIz&ts=1684794278">other all-time merch!

Main episodes from this year

Making speech visible with spectrograms

Knowledge is power, copulas are fun.

Word order, we love 

What it means for a language to be official

Tea and skyscrapers - When words get borrowed across languages

What we can, must, and should say about modals

Language in the brain - Interview with Ev Fedorenko

Various vocal fold vibes

What If Linguistics

The linguistic map is not the linguistic territory

Who questions the questions?

Love and fury at the linguistics of emotions

Bonus Episodes

We interview each other! Seasons, word games, Unicode, and more

Emoji, Mongolian, and Multiocular O ꙮ - Dispatches from the Unicode Conference

Behind the scenes on how linguists come up with research topics

Approaching word games like a linguist - Interview with Nicole Holliday and Ben Zimmer of Spectacular Vernacular

What makes a swear word feel sweary? A &⩐#⦫&

There’s like, so much to like about “like”

Language inside an MRI machine - Interview with Saima Malik-Moraleda

Using a rabbit to get kids chatting for science

Behind the scenes on making an aesthetic IPA chart - Interview with Lucy Maddox

Linguistics and science communication - Interview with Liz McCullough

103 ways for kids to learn languages

Speakest Thou Ye Olde English?

Selected Tweets

Linguistics Fun

aunt and niece languages

Swedish chef captions

IPA wordle

wordle vs kiki

creative use of emoji and space

resume glottal stop

dialects in a trenchcoat

which of these starter Pokemon is bouba and which is kiki

(for no author would use, because of the known rendolence of onions, onions)

acoustic bike

An extremely charming study by Bill Labov featuring a rabbit named Vincent

Rabbit Meme

Cheering on linguistics effects (Stroup and Kiki/Bouba) in a vote on the cutest scientific effect name

Old English Hrickroll

The word you get assigned with your linguistics degree

Sanskrit two-dimensional alphabet

Cognate Objects

Linguist Meetup in Linguaglossa?

baɪ ði eɪdʒ ʌv θɚti

j- prefixing

"But clerk, I am Bill Labov" (pagliacci meme)

Usual winner

Because Internet Tumblr vernacular

Linguist "Human" Costume

Cursed kiki/bouba

dot ellipsis vs comma ellipsis

intersection of signed languages and synesthesia?

Antipodean linguistic milestone

Selected Blog Posts:

Linguistic Jobs

Online Linguistics Teacher

Impact Lead

Customer Success Manager

Hawaiian and Tahitian language Instructor, Translator & Radio Host

Language Engineer

Data Manager & Digital Archivist

Linguistics fun

xkcd: neoteny recapitulated phylogeny

Eeyore Linguistic Facts

Lingthusiasm HQ: Frown Thing!

xkcd is making a vowel hypertrapezoid

Title: Ships and Ice Picks: An Ethnographic Excavation of alt.goncharov

Missed out on previous years? Here are the summary posts from 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. If you’d like to get a much shorter monthly highlights newsletter via email, with all sorts of interesting internet linguistics news, you can sign up for that at gretchenmcc.substack.com.

[mallory-x]

*CRASHES IN* HELLOOOO! ALDRICH/SEBASTIAN PLS?? 🥹

I knew you’d ask for Aldrich/Sebastian as soon as you saw my post and I love you for it! For those who haven’t had the pleasure yet - Who is Aldrich Kemp? is a BBC podcast series about an elusive criminal mastermind played by the wonderful Ferdinand Kingsley (Hob Gadling in the Sandman, if you’ve been living under a rock /s). Aldrich is a charming narcissist and Sebastian is one of his team, the Themis Group.

This fic is my take on Sebastian’s backstory and how he ended up with Aldrich in his (headcanoned) role of ‘kept boy’.

Sorry Jani, I haven’t written the smut yet! But have a snippet of the team discovering that Aldrich has brought Sebastian back to Themis House for the first time.

CW age difference I guess? (Sebastian is early 20s, Aldrich mid 30s in this bit)

“So you’re collecting waifs and strays now, Aldrich?” Nakesha didn’t look impressed, hands planted on her hips and one brow raised in an incredulous manner.

“Nakesha,” said Aldrich, drawing out her name placatingly. “One boy hardly makes a collection.”

“Don’t be facetious, Aldrich.” Aunt Lily’s clipped tone spoke of her clear disapproval. “Are you going soft? I thought I could hand over the Themis Group knowing it would be in safe hands, but if this is what it’s going to become I wonder if I should change my mind before it’s too late.”

“Aunt Lily… Nakesha. Do you have so little faith in my judgement?”

“What judgement? You’ve brought some little finance kid into this house, and for what? Because he’s got pretty curls?” Nakesha stood over Aldrich, genuine anger in her eyes. “You can’t just act on impulse any more, Aldrich, you have to think of the rest of us and what it’s risking to bring an outsider here.”

“Nakesha is right, Aldrich.” Aunt Lily was calmer, but just as resolute. “You just killed this boy’s father. Destroyed his livelihood. Stripped his assets. What makes you think he won’t turn on you the minute he gets a chance?”

“I know you have your doubts, but there’s just… something about him. Not just his curls, thank you, Nakesha.” Aldrich gave a sarcastic little nod in her direction. “He has dreams. Ambitions. I can see so much potential in him.”

“Oh, I’m sure you can. But is it potential to be something useful to the Themis Group, or potential to be useful to you?”

“Nakesha. I won’t deny I think he’s attractive, I do have eyes, you know. But he’s also intelligent, hard working, and brave enough to stand up to two armed strangers who’d just killed his father. Did you know he went to Oxford? Not as good as Cambridge, obviously, but I think it was his father’s influence that pushed him to study there. Given the chance to start again, study something he’s actually interested in… I think we can mould him into someone who could be a real asset for Themis. Far beyond anything he would have had the chance to do if he’d stayed working for his father.”

“Really, Aldrich? It all sounds a bit far-fetched. Life isn’t a fairy story, you know,” said Aunt Lily.

“It might not be. But our parents believed in charity. They believed that we could help people. So let me help this one? My money, my responsibility?”

“You want him to be your pet project?” Nakesha smirked at him, in the way only siblings can.

“I don’t appreciate your tone, Nakesha,” said Aldrich, smirking back at her. “But yes, if you like. Sebastian can be my pet project, and if it doesn’t work out–”

“Then Mrs Boone can put a bullet in his head,” said Aunt Lily, decisively. “Well, that’s settled then. Now, I think it’s time for a spot of tea, don’t you?”

[bookgeekgrrl]

tagged by: @door who knows i love these kinds of things 🥰

last song: according to my music app it was "daydream believer" by the monkees

favorite color: purple, pretty much every shade. other jewel tones are good too tho

currently reading: a pocket full of rye by agatha christie on audiobook, narrated by richard e. grant. i've plans to start a nice long stucky fic after i've snuggled into bed for the night in about 30 min

currently watching: slowly making my way thru dimension 20: a starstruck odyssey but also watching occasional episodes of Handsome podcast on YT

last movie: i don't really watch movies much so according to my media tracking spreadsheet, the last movie was the martian back in july

sweet, spicy, savory?: like door, savory is a big yes. i also do like a sweet. spicy is big fuck no

relationship status: (assuming this means romantic) absolutely not

current obsession: the usual fandom blorbos rotating in my brain. doing a slow reread of the nero wolfe series atm

tea or coffee: strong black tea with lots of milk and sugar

last thing i googled: i searched the phrase 'aunt calling to aunt like mammoths across the tundra' because i was looking for the exact jeeves & wooster quote (it's 'mastodons bellowing across premieval swamps' ftr)

tagging folks gives me anxiety so if you want to do it, then consider yourself tagged. and tag me so i can see yours!!!

[growling]

please give us the tea on the warrior cats ships!!!

I'll go first by saying Mothpool is overhyped and Leafpool had more chemestry with Cinderpelt. (in my opinion, ship what you like!)

:3c !!! Didn't think anybody would actually ask I am gonna gonna ramble now.. Separating this into pos and neg opinions

Positive:

I did think of leafcinder before and thought it was cute but not really something I'll get passionate about (i tend to be very picky on these kinda age gap/mentor x apprentice ships), now that I'm reminded of it I can really see it! They would have a great dynamic (taking tnp cinderpelt personality into account here. tbh her in tpb and her in tnp are almost different characters to me... where's your whimsy girl...), and honestly, there are almost endless options for Leafpool ships (she interacts with so many cats woagh that's crazy for this series she actually has friends??) that have more chemistry than crowpool. I mean it's fine I guess from a strictly plot perspective (and even that's well. bendable) but why is Leafpool, 30 cat years after their breakup, dead, in cat heaven, STILL deeply in love with cat Clay Puppington. I know they will get back together in StarClan because the authors absolutely love them and think they popped off writing their romance subplot they think they created a banger. Sorry this veered off into negative can't help being a hater.

hollyjaylion, leafsquirrel and bramblehawk are the three shipcest pairings I will never be able to be normal about. Canon to me. I say this as if I'm joking but I'm serious oughhh the goddamn dynamics. On a joking note though, graysky. there is no healthy nothing to see here just bro supporting his bro explanation for whatever the hell gray wing's problem was this entire arc

spottedtiger is cool it's interesting it's mindblowing it saves lives and it's haters are sooo silly I am sorry... "but spotted is his aunt according to the family tree!!!!" ok. and is this made relevant in the books at all? do they ever even acknowledge these two as kin. It's so pointless.. draw them making out

why's the fandom turning on darktiger suddenly now because they're still related (which is not even relevant or explicitly pointed out in the books and them being related was only decided way after both of their arcs together were done I. ughhhh.) wasn't this your favourite little henchman x fascist dictator toxic yaoi ship just a few years ago?? cowards. draw them making ou- ah wait that's just dark being obsessed with tiger, who on the other hand would RATHER NOT he wants that useless lickspittle OBLITERATED he doesn't CARE

ivyhawk good she could fix him. or he can make her worse. once again the fandom are major cowards for turning on it just like they did with darktiger, but much, much more aggresively so. like you people need to calm tf down just take deep breaths it's just a warrior cat ship...

people complaining about dovetiger's age gap (which are commonplace in the wc series tiger is not alone in dating apprentices) are so boring. they actually have the most wholesome dynamic in the current era/arcs I'd argue. they're in love and I love them. as a ship and both as characters.

fallenholly had the option to be one of THE best dubiously-canon wc pairings to come out of this series had they just went the direction of making fallen actually somewhat more messed up after being trapped as a ghost in the torment tunnels for cat centuries like. I remember someone else wording this really well earlier but I'm not really gonna search so just. Yeah. fallen leaves ships.

leopardtiger is hilarious I don't care. she thinks he's sooo correct and intelligent and truly the enlightened sigma worthy of the tigerclan podcast throne while also poisoning his food because he's fucking pissing her off in their side twitter dms and plotting his demise every night while he's snork mimimi'ing next to her in their kitty political marriage cuddle pile. ben shapiro x pragerU fucking ship I hope they kill each other

mudhawk... funny... seriously WHY is the fandom picking the most interesting goddamn ships to get pissed off at and call "problematic"??????? "age gap" THEY WERE BOTH ADULTS WHEN THEY MET WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ON LET HAWK MANSPLAIN MANIPULATE MANFUCK THAT OLD MAN

I didn't read AVoS in it's entirety (and don't want to. it's... boring for the most part. I mean I love violet but is she enough to make me keep reading all that.) and don't remember if they even had any notable interactions but violetpuddle is very cute and my favourite (and, honestly, only) option for their ships. puddle's mother suckled violet but they don't consider each other "real" siblings just like how their mother doesn't consider violet as her daughter but try telling that to the fandom who can't distinguish between wet nurse arrangement, foster siblings and adopted siblings. Proud only resident of violetpuddle nation...... literally nobody else is here...

Negative: (gonna start censoring the cat/ship names now)

so correct moth.pool overhyped and their fans annoying. and also because I headcanon moth as aroace like there is not a single romantic thought in her body I cannot ever imagine her in a relationship moth don't care.

*takes a deep breath* mouse.fur is not aroace. tall.star, raven.paw and barley aren't gay. authorial statements made 10 years ago at some con ARE NOT CANON. IF IT'S NOT IN THE TEXT IT'S NOT CONFIRMED CANON. Also the latter examples also reek of biphobia lol. you can ship any of these characters with anyone forever, what is any of you people's problem.

long.fire, shadow.root, holly.cinder, bright.cloud, jay.kestrel are boring yaaawn I am falling asleep and do not see it. same with sandfire; these two did not have the groundbreaking dynamic (nor was sand that uh, well-rounded as character) you think they did you're just nostalgic. I actually prefer spottedfire and cinderfire over sandfire. anything over sandfire.

hawk.ash pisses me off because their shippers are always "hahahaha toxic yaoi sooo fucked up they make each other worse!!" but show them an actual toxic pairing and they immediately shit themselves and call you an abuse fetishizer. COWARDS you lot are COWARDS and this is why I cannot get behind hawk.ash at all like I associate them with the most annoying people so much I cannot sorry. I'm sure it's a cool ship or whatever

I actually got tired and now am too sleepy to articulate myself properly anymore but still here are the other ships that I either dislike or just plain out hate seeing: fern.ivy, alder.needle, crow.squirrel, bristle.root, bramble.squirrel (but that's a very popular one lol), lion.cinder.

thanks for the ask! :3

[lingthusiasm]

Lingthusiasm sixth anniversary: help share the show and do our listener survey!

Lingthusiasm is turning six! 

In celebration of our sixth anniversary this November, we’re asking you to help introduce the show to people who would be totally into a linguistics podcast, if only they knew it existed! Lingthusiasm is a great fit for anyone in your life who is curious about language or who likes hearing ad-free conversational deep-dives into hidden patterns in the world around us from people who are extremely invested in articulating why it’s so cool.

Your recommendations really do work (we see it in the stats!), whether it’s a shoutout on social media, sending a personal message to a friend, or sharing the RSS feed with your cool aunt.

We also love being recommended as guests on your (other) favourite podcasts! Every podcast is in a language, and we love chatting about the link between linguistics and your other favourite topics (we’ve done linguistics and science fiction/roleplaying games, linguistics and conlanging, linguistics in romance novels, linguistics and mythology, and more!). 

Trying to figure out what to say about Lingthusiasm? Here are some ideas:  

What’s Lingthusiasm like?

Ever find yourself distracted from what someone is saying by wondering about how they say it? Lingthusiasm is a podcast that’s enthusiastic about linguistics as a way of understanding the world around us.

From languages around the world to our favourite linguistics memes, Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne bring you into a lively half hour conversation on the third Thursday of every month about the hidden linguistic patterns that you didn’t realize you were already making.

“Lauren and Gretchen know their stuff, have an easy rapport, and are skilled at pitching linguistic concepts to a general audience.” —Sentence First

“Joyously nerdy.” —BuzzFeed

“I checked out Lingthusiasm by playing a random episode and it was funny and fascinating and educational AND it had a shout out to Dinosaur Comics!” —Ryan North

Which episode should I start with?

You can start listening to Lingthusiasm anywhere! See what grabs your attention from this list of episodes that came out this year:

The linguistic map is not the linguistic territory (transcript)

What If Linguistics - Absurd Hypothetical Questions with Randall Munroe of xkcd (transcript)

Various vocal fold vibes (transcript)

Language in the brain - Interview with Ev Fedorenko (transcript)

What we can, must, and should say about modals (transcript)

Tea and skyscrapers - When words get borrowed across languages (transcript)

What it means for a language to be official (transcript)

Word order, we love (transcript)

Knowledge is power, copulas are fun (transcript)

Making speech visible with spectrograms (transcript)

Where to get your English etymologies (transcript)

Share your enthusiasm with us, 2022 listener survey

We're also doing a listener/reader survey for the first time to celebrate our anniversary this year! This is your chance to tell us what you're into on Lingthusiasm, what we could do more of, suggest topics and guests for future episodes, and also answer some fun linguistics experiment questions, which we might write up into an Official Academic Paper someday! (And either way, we'll report back on the results.) The survey is online, and will take 5-30 minutes (depending on how much you want to tell us in the open text boxes).

bit.ly/lingthusiasmsurvey22

This survey is being conducted by Lingthusiasm in conjunction with La Trobe University (Ethics approval HEC22181). Thanks to La Trobe for the support to collect data that we can share with Lingthusiasm listeners and academic audiences. More information can be found in the Participant Informed Consent Form before the survey starts.

Journey back through time to previous anniversary posts

Fifth anniversary post

Fourth anniversary post

Third anniversary post

Second anniversary post 

First anniversary post

[tinkabelle24]

Ask Game!

9, 11, 21, and 30 please and thank you, beautiful!

Comin' right up! 😊

9 -> What calms you down?

I don't like being idle when stressed - it makes my thoughts spiral. So, instead, I pop my earbuds in and start cleaning/organising whilst listening to podcasts, story/character analyses, true crime documentaries, spooky stories, or simply music.

11 -> What's your ideal date?

"Keep it simple, stupid." is what I tell my fiance whenever he asks what I'd like to do on an upcoming date.

The more extravagant it is, the less fun I have.

Dinner at a nice restaurant (and by nice I mean good food, good value, decent portions) followed by a few rounds of bowling or a movie, or even an escape room; ending with a "cool shit" (i.e., junk food) run on the way home.

21 -> If you could tell your past self one thing, what would it be?

Be a bit more of a "selfish bitch".

That's what my mum used to call me whenever I tried instilling boundaries with her. Yes, standing my ground undoubtedly would've caused more drama, but it may have pushed me to finally leave.

30 -> What reminds you of home (doesn't have to mean house... just things that remind you of the feeling of home)?

A fair few things 😅

The smell of my aunt's home. It sounds weird but it's so comforting. I grew up with my paternal cousins and grandparents (dad wasn't into being a parent, so they often got his custody time). We now live on opposite sides of the country from each other, but my MIL (who lives around the corner from us) buys the same hand soap as my aunt - Palmolive White Tea - which permeates the entire house. I love it so much.

Rice Bubbles with warm milk and peaches. As I mentioned, I grew up with my paternal grandparents. Whenever I slept over, this is what my granny usually made me for breakfast... that, or canned sardines on toast with my late pa's tomato sauce. I wish he'd known what he put in it; I would've continued the tradition 😅💔

Crisp summer mornings, as the sun is peeking over the horizon. Most of my fondest memories occur during this time.

Baking. Growing up, my granny and I baked often. My favourite recipe was a simple chocolate biscuit. When she and pa moved into their retirement home, she all but dropped this hobby. I still remember the day I first visited their new house, and she pulled out a store bought sponge cake. I've yet to find that chocolate biscuit recipe... 😔

I had more to list, but this question surprisingly made me emotional... 😭

Thank you so much for the ask ❤️

@android-cap-007 @happymoonangel @miss-andromeda @mysticboombox

[polerikapolerika]

Of Love, Doom and Scones

So... I don't know how that happened, but I've accidentaly written an Aldrich Kemp fanfic. The first one out there. (At least I didn't find any others.) Well. Here it is. (And if you didn't listen to Aldrich Kemp podcasts, please do! They are wonderful!)

G, Gen, 1.4k words

"What's happening to Aldrich?" Sebastian hisses to Nakesha across the tea table, loud enough to startle everyone except, well, Aldrich, who just sighs wistfully and looks as if he's miles away.

"Can't you guess?" Nakesha inquires calmly. "Mrs. Boone, would you be a dear and bring another pot of tea?"

"Certainly, miss."

Of course, Sebastian could guess. Frankly, it is quite obvious: the old chap literally has heart-shaped eyes and smiles ridiculously at a distance, like the worst romantic cliche of the most sickening lovey-dovey movie on Earth.

But firstly, Sebastian has never seen him like that, not even that time in Tanzania, about three years ago, with a young Miss What-Was-Her-Name, who somehow managed to keep Aldrich's attention to herself for the whole two evenings. (And nights, unfortunately. Sebastian's bed was just a wall away, and they were abominably loud and enthusiastic. He feared that the ceiling might collapse on top of him at any moment, and it was impossible to fall asleep. He was forced to contemplate sleeping on a couch in the other room of his suite! Luckily for him, on the third night, she was gone and never mentioned again. Needless to say, from that time on, whenever they traveled together, he booked himself a room across the hallway from Aldrich's—just in case.)

Secondly, and most worryingly, it screams trouble more than anything Aldrich has managed to drag them into before, and that is an accomplishment in itself. It's a wonder that Nakesha doesn’t seem troubled at all. Certainly, if it comes to the worst, they can always plan an untimely demise for the poor girl. It's a shame, though. For all Sebastian knows, she’s an innocent bystander just like any of them, who had the misfortune to be caught in the way of a catastrophic force that is Aldrich. But then, maybe she'll listen to reason and run as far away as possible. Nah. It won't make a difference since it seems that Aldrich has firmly made up his mind. Death it is, then. She'll thank them later.

Or maybe…

"Wait, it's not Clara, is it?"

Clara, who is sitting right next to him, chokes on a scone.

"More tea, miss?" Mrs Boone tops her cup from a fresh pot without batting an eye.

"No! Er- Yes, thank you, Mrs Boone. No, Sebastian! It's not me! Gosh, I hope not… Aldrich?!"

"Calm down, Clara!" Aldrich laughs, finally deciding to grace them with the gift of his company, "of course it's not you. Although I do find you fascinating in your own way and love you almost like a sister—” Nakesha throws a napkin at him, but he simply shakes it off, “Oh, Nakesha, don’t be like that! But no, that woman, she's… " He sighs again, and Sebastian feels dread twirling in his stomach.

"Oh no," he groans, "this time we're all going to die, aren't we?"

Nakesha exchanges pointed looks with Aunt Lily. Yes, fine, he is being overdramatic, perhaps. But Aldrich is dangerously reckless at his best, and now, when he's suddenly head over heels for some mysterious woman…

"Aldrich, my dear, you are pulling Sebastian’s strings mercilessly." Aunt Lily puts her cup on a saucer with a meaningful clank. "And while I agree that most times it is quite entertaining, right now we have all had enough suspense. Who is that woman you are mooning over like a fool?"

"I have no idea!" Aldrich exclaims with manic glee as if it is the most exciting thing in the world. Oh God. It's worse than Sebastian could imagine. They are doomed.

“Well, we are waiting!” Aunt Lily raises her voice a bit and Sebastian notices that nobody drinks their tea anymore. Even Mrs Boone’s unobtrusive presence seems somehow more focused than before. That’s good. At least now they are taking this seriously.

Aldrich laughs again, a bit bashfully, and puts hands in the air in mocking surrender. “Fine, fine, I’ll tell you everything.”

Wait, is he blushing? Sebastian isn’t sure he believes his eyes.

“So, do you remember how last week I failed to obtain the emerald bracelet that was brought from Munich to the National Gallery for a special exhibition?”

At that Clara makes an undignified squeak. No doubt, she has something to say about the attempted theft of a priceless jewelry piece, but that is not the point at the moment. They weren’t even the ones who’ve stolen it, though not for the lack of trying! So, Sebastian is very grateful to Nakesha for a hearty elbow jab that prevented an untimely interruption.

Undisturbed, Aldrich continues: “As you know, my plan was flawless. Everything was going smoothly as a buttered biscuit. The guards were adequately subdued, the alarm system was off, Nakesha was waiting outside in a getaway Porsche. All that remained was to remove the glass and take the bracelet. And that’s exactly what she did! I saw her from the entrance of the hall, but it was already late to intercept. She made a run for it in the opposite direction. Naturally, I ran after her, although it would be easier to shoot her, I suppose. Still, I couldn't risk firing a gun at the museum. I’m not an animal.”

Clara snorts. Aldrich looks offended for a moment, but then sighs in defeat. “Well, long story short, when I got to the next hall, she was already gone. I’ve checked all obvious escape routes, but found nothing. Not a trace. All the CCTV cameras nearby were on a recorded loop thanks to us. And that’s the end of it. I was outplayed.”

He smiles, elated, as if Christmas came early. Sebastian groans internally.

“Well, then,” Aunt Lily says. “Surely you must have found out who this woman is? It’s been a week, as you said. No one can be that good—that we don’t know of.”

“Oh, Aunt Lily, believe me, I tried,” Aldrich chuckles dryly. “I’ve exhausted all the possible means aside from asking any of you for help. Sorry about that, by the way, but as you can see this is a personal matter. I’m sure you understand.”

There’s that ghastly awestruck expression on his face again.

“I’ve only caught a glimpse of her in the twilight. A brief memory. Oh, what a grace. What a beautiful laughter, like a chime in the wind. It’s like she was a ghost. Or some magical creature. I could almost come to think that I imagined her, but the lack of the bracelet in my possession seems to suggest otherwise.”

“So…” Nakesha drawls plaintively, “this girl has laughed at you and you’re not mad at her? You know what, Sebastian, this time you might be right. I believe we should find her, and fast. At the very least she has my birthday present.”

To Clara’s credit, she only rolls her eyes at that. Aldrich beams.

“As a matter of fact, you don’t need to worry about that. I have a plan!”

Aunt Lily sighs theatrically and asks for more tea and scones. Mrs Boone leaves for the kitchen. Clara shifts at her seat uneasily. Nakesha scoffs. Sebastian doesn’t bother with a reaction. It’s Aldrich, after all, of course he has a plan. What’s new? Good thing is he is forced to share it, so they have at least a chance to prevent the most devastating consequences.

Aldrich doesn’t pay them any mind, as usual.

“It’s quite simple, actually, as most good things are. As you might know, the Grand Duchess of Oldenburg is going to attend the Coronation and—” he points up a finger, “wear the twin bracelet to the one we haven’t managed to obtain. Obviously, I was planning to relieve the Grand Duchess of it anyway. They do look much better in a pair. So, all we have to do is wait for my lovely vis-a-vis from last week to reappear and this time be faster than her. Easy as rain.”

“Oh, and to think I was going to skip the Coronation this time,” Aunt Lily says scornfully, “but needs must. Nakesha, darling, could you ring the Palace and tell them we will need the booth they arranged for us after all?”

“Of course, Aunt Lily, right after we finish our tea.”

As if on cue, Mrs Boone appears with a steaming pot and freshly baked scones. Sebastian snatches one from the pile. It smells heavenly. Well then, no point to dwell on it for now.

“Clara,” he asks, “can you pass me the jam, please?”

[corainne]

comfort things tag game

I wasn’t tagged in this, but I've been seeking out my comfort things a lot lately, so I went looking for a tag game, and added the last two, because we love to overshare

Comfort Show: Castle, probably, simply thanks to the fact that it was my very favourite show growing up. And Taskmaster, which is really random

Comfort Movie: National Treasure. Literally named my cat after Dr Abigail Chase (and Love Actually, for all it’s faults

Comfort Book: Honestly, Agatha Christie books, like in general, not one specific book of hers

Comfort Article of clothing: An old football shirt from my father, that’s at least two sizes too big on and older than me

Comfort Song: I don’t think I have one, really (correction: No Troubles by Other Lives)

Comfort Food: bellpeppers in tomato puree with beef sausage served on rice. I've never encountered it outside of my maternal family, but my grandmother, mother, aunt, cousins and I all make it, with our own spin on it (you can swap the sausage for feta, although I would serve it on pasta in that case, and it does loose a lot of its flavour. Still good tho)

Comfort Place: My bed, under multiple blankets, with my cat next to me, fairy lights and maybe a candle on

Comfort YouTube channel: Emma Angeline. Fucking got me through the back half of 2020, and has remained my go to comfort watch since then

Comfort Podcast: Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics. I've listened to all of the episodes multiple times, and will many many more (currently listening to the episode on Cicero)

Tagging @freizusein @bumblebee-and-tea @the-law-of-progress and @notgoodatcreatingnames

[steamishot]

it's december~

i did a lot of black friday shopping: nordstrom's (with my aunts 40% off), breville, manduka, smith tea, and lululemon. i had a "fuck it, we were overall quite financially responsible this past year" given also receiving a promotion (and saving a lot by not upgrading apartments), so i wanted to be a tad irresponsible and treat myself. it's the most responsible time to be financially irresponsible, at least!

from my last post, i still have some funkiness and sadness going on, but the crying has stopped after that period. i read sara payne's book "i did all of that for this?!", which is a book written by a medical spouse. i think i first read it towards the end of residency but didn't really relate to it too much. however, now rereading it at this point in our lives and the medical journey, i related SO much to basically everything she said, to the point where i had the some of the same thoughts verbatim. i also listened to a few of her podcast episodes called rock solid relationships, which were helpful. additionally, i did some CBT workbook practices - these were all to identify and examine all the thoughts i was having that were impacting my feelings.

i'm letting myself "grieve". recently on the medspouse subreddit, a few people have posted about how disappointed and upset they were at where their partners had matched for fellowship. a number of people have indicated crying and grieving the news. hearing this, i also felt less alone and normal to have these kinds of feelings and wounds.

some news about the job search: matt's interview and chalk talk with USC went pretty well (it seems). the interviewers were impressed by his current title from a fancy hospital. compared to the previous job interviews, he is genuinely interested in this one and doesn't think it's a step down from his current position as the others may have been. this would be a "normal" 8-5 M-F job. additionally, he has interviews with UCI and city of hope coming up. we're also in contact with UCLA. i will follow up with UCSD. cold emailing really works to get interviews. i'm keeping my expectations low but have my fingers crossed for good outcomes. i really hope he can get something with a start date of 7/1/24.

strangely, and perhaps i have some depressed girl vibes going on which is creating this - but this past month has been the most i've ever been complimented by strangers, like ever. on my plane ride to SF, an older white man poked me as he walked down the aisle (i was seated) and said "you're too cute". then, in brooklyn as i was walking to the japanese market, some younger white (?) guy started walking next to me and said "wanted to say what's up, you look kinda good". lastly, yesterday, matt and i went to visit R&T at their upper east side home. we arrived earlier than them so i was waiting at the steps while matt walked around. a black guy that walked by said "you're beautiful, have a lovely day".

i'm telling myself this is god's/the universe's plan for me. that the previous jobs and redlands didn't work out for a reason. that R&T coincidentally moved here to NYC in september so that my remaining time in NYC would be better (and it has been substantially because of them). that random strangers are complimenting me to lift me up.

thanks to R&T, thanksgiving wasn't so lonely this year. last year, i basically spent my thanksgiving weekend alone because matt was working. this year, they joined us on thanksgiving day which was also matt's bday and made it a festive day. that weekend, i spent the day with them at industry city, dropped off coffee for matt, shopped at primark and had dinner at our apartment. they invited us on a trip to CT this past weekend to see their cousin perform at a community theater. it was so nice to just tag along with someone else's plan. we just showed up and went along for the ride.

R&T are very casual and very lenient on time. matt and i's new normal is to rush and be on a time crunch so traveling with them really helped us slow down and chill. it was nice to experience how another couple travels and to finally not be in charge. thanks T for driving! we watched elf the musical (which was quite funny and entertaining), stayed at a hotel that night while they stayed at their cousin's place, visited their family the next day, met up with their resident friend at yale and got a short "tour", and got malaysian food for dinner! they are a bit younger than us, so it also feels like they have more energy. R takes a lot of nice pictures and brings a warm happy energy to the group.

[kudosmyhero]

The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #54: The Tentacles and the Trap!

Read Date: January 11, 2023 Cover Date: November 1967 ● Writer: Stan Lee ● Penciler: John Romita ● Inker: Mike Esposito ● Colorist: {uncredited} ● Letterer: Sam Rosen ● Editor: Stan Lee ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● picking right up from where we left off with Dr. Octavius answering an ad at Aunt May's house. since they've met before--and because May is a terrible judge of character--they're moving right along with the deal ● Aunt May: Didn't I hear something… about you being wanted… by the police? || Otto: Oh, heavens no, madam! That was just a mistake! ● ^that was in regards to the nullifier in the previous issue ● I really love panels with high-contrast lighting

● Spidey gives up searching for Doc Ock and heads home. he looks exhausted, really ● picks up the phone to call Aunt May ● (random thought: are boarding houses still a thing?) ● we don't see any of Peter/May's phone convo ● May's tv is showing electrical interference ● the next morning we see Harry calling to Peter offering breakfast ● Peter is startled because he's in the middle of mixing web fluid, and his Spider-Man costume is just hanging on the back of his closet door ● Peter comes out of his room finally, but by then Harry is in a pissy mood ● Peter heads to the Bugle to try to get a lead on Doc Ock ● he meets Joe Robertson for the first time ● no news on Ock, so Peter goes to the Coffee Bean (I guess Silver Spoon is old news in terms of hip hangouts) ● Gwen and M.J. competing for Peter's attention ● buuuut Peter remembers Aunt May has a new boarder and he wants to go see if everything's ok (what was even the point of coming to the Coffee Bean?) ● Peter gets to Aunt May's (Mrs. Watson is out of town), and his Spidey sense starts going off ● Aunt May and Otto Octavius are sipping tea while Peter just about shits himself in shock ● Aunt May tries to calm Peter down. Octavius offers to speak to him alone ● we don't often see extreme emotion on Peter's face; in his most high-strung situations, his expressions are hidden behind his mask, so it's kinda cool to see panels like these

● Peter lurks outside of May's house for hours until it's dark enough to become Spider-Man ● Spider-Man shines his light through the window of Ock's room, which shocks Ock because he thought he was dead. (you're a scientist, Dr. Octavius. You made an assumption without evidence. Shame on you.) ● Spidey wants to lure him out of his aunt's house, but Ock reaches out to his former crew when he was the Master Planner ● boy, they arrived fast ● Spidey is holding back because he doesn't want to attract Aunt May's attention ● gas attack! ● (why didn't they lead with that?) ● (ah, that's why. it's short-acting. took Spidey down for maybe 10 seconds) ● one of the neighbors called the cops ● Aunt May goes outside to see what all the fuss is about, which means Ock is in the house alone; Spidey makes his move ● Aunt May comes back and… well… see for yourself:

● Spider-Man stays with Aunt May while Doc Ock makes his escape ● Anna Watson is gonna be livid when she sees the state of her house… ● wow, Spider-Man unmasks to try to show Aunt May she has nothing to fear, but she's still limp in his arms ● he calls the doctor and changes into civvies while he waits ● "Do you know what caused the shock?" I dunno, Doc, but that giant hole in the wall might have something to do with it… ● Peter is pissed ● 👏👏👏👏

Synopsis: Believing that Spider-Man is dead, Dr. Octopus decides to lay low for a while. Coincidentally enough, he ends up taking up residence at May Parker's home in the room she put up for rent. Setting up shop there, Octopus gets in touch with his men and gets them to organize once more. While at Peter's apartment he shares with Harry Osborn, tensions between Peter and Harry increase. After a quick trip to sell pictures of Dr. Octopus to Jameson, Peter visits Mary Jane and Gwen Stacy where both compete for a date with Parker, when Peter remembers he should check on his Aunt May to make sure everything is okay with the new boarder. When he arrives at his old home, he is shocked to find the boarder in question is his long time foe.

Peter tries to warn Aunt May about how dangerous Octopus is, however Aunt May won't hear it, and when left alone with Octavius, the doctor warns Peter that his aunts life depends on him keeping his mouth shut. Of course, Octopus doesn't know that Parker is his old foe, and when Spider-Man arrives later that night to battle him, Octopus is shocked to see that his enemy survived their last battle.

The Doctor's men arrive and there is a battle on the front lawn of the Parker house. When Aunt May is roused by the battle, she sees Octopus battling Spider-Man. When Octopus tells May that Spider-Man was trying to rob her home, she faints. Rushing to May's aid, Spider-Man is unable to stop Dr. Octopus from getting away. Changing back to his identity of Peter Parker, Peter calls for an ambulance and vows that he will get his revenge against Dr. Octopus.

(https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Amazing_Spider-Man_Vol_1_54)

Fan Art: Doc Ock by MattDeMino

Accompanying Podcast: ● Swinging Through Spider-Man - episode 54

● Let's Read Spider-Man - episode 33

[totallyhussein-blog]

Kitchen Radio is shedding light on Middle Eastern and North African Jewish food and culture

When Regine and Nathalie Basha, creators of the Kitchen Radio podcast, started talking about doing a show together, they wanted to find a way to share their heritage and history. As Debra L. Eckerling wrote, the duo, who happen to be aunt and niece, respectively, decided to do that through food.

“We’ve been finding that so many people out there … besides our own interest, have been creating food blogs and reviving their Arab Jewish history through food,” Regine  told the Jewish Journal. “We thought the best thing to do is just start interviewing people who are doing this as well.”

“Kitchen Radio” was released by Reboot Studios on April 3. In each episode, hosts Regine (Founder of “Tuning Baghdad”) and Nathalie Basha (The Travel Muse) feature a dish and a conversation to introduce the still little-known Jewish culture of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Tannaz Sassooni making the Persian rice and poultry dish Gondi Kashi kicked off the season. Jewish Journal columnists The Sephardic Spice Girls, as well as cookbook author Claudia Roden and artist Rafram Chaddad also appear  on Kitchen Radio’s first season. New episodes will be released every Tuesday in April.

“When we speak about Jewishness and Jewish food, at least here in the U.S., we automatically go to Ashkenazi Jewish,” Nathalie  told the Journal. “When we would tell people that we are Iraqi Jewish, most people would say, ‘What does that even mean? How can you be both?’ So we thought that would be a really interesting way to start this conversation.”

Food has been an integral part of the hosts’ upbringing. Regine and Nathalie remember the open houses  “Aunt Daisy,” a family friend from the Iraqi Jewish community, would host every Saturday.  

“Basically, it would just be a smorgasbord of food,” Nathalie said. “Anybody who wanted to come from  10 a.m. until whenever would just come.” There would be tea flowing, cheese, fruits and platters of Iraqi delicacies, along with the sharing of stories and history.  

“It was such a positive, happy moment in both of our childhoods and even going into early adulthood,” she said. “When it stopped, we were like, ‘Who’s going to do this? Who’s going to keep this tradition?’”

Regine and Nathalie are thrilled to share the little known foods they grew up with and the history behind them. “Getting this information out there is like inviting everybody else into this really colorful, beautiful world of Arabic Jewish food,” Nathalie said.

Nathalie’s favorite dish is a dessert called Konafa, which is featured in episode four with Claudia Roden, an Egyptian-born British cookbook writer and cultural anthropologist of Sephardi/Mizrahi descent.

“It’s a kind of ubiquitous Middle Eastern dessert,” Nathalie said. “Everyone, meaning every country, tries to claim that they were the originators of Konafa.”

Made with white cheeses — depending on your family’s region or country, the cheese mix changes —- sandwiched between pressed down vermicelli-like noodles, drenched in butter and cooked until it’s “really crispy, and the cheese inside gets very, very melty,” Nathalie said.

When the dish comes out of the oven, you spoon a simple syrup, usually enhanced with rose water or orange blossom, all over it. “I can’t even describe how good it smells,” Nathalie said. “But it hits all the notes that you want in a dessert: it’s crunchy, it’s salty, it’s sweet, it’s chewy.”

Just like that dessert, Regine and Nathalie hope their podcast enhances all of the senses, while giving listeners a delicious taste of history.