neil-gaiman:

I’m scared for my trans friends in the UK and the US. I’m scared for the young trans people I’ve not yet met. So you are more than welcome.

andmaybegayer:

femmenietzsche:

Neanderthal adhesives were made through a complex synthesis process

Birch bark was heated in underground chambers to create a tougher adhesive.

Ars Technica

Neanderthal tools might look relatively simple, but new research shows that Homo neanderthalensis devised a method of generating a glue derived from birch tar to hold them together about  200,000 years ago—and it was tough. This ancient superglue made bone and stone adhere to wood, was waterproof, and didn’t decompose. The tar was also used a hundred thousand years before modern humans came up with anything synthetic.

After studying ancient tools that carry residue from this glue, a team of researchers from the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen and other institutions in Germany found evidence that this glue wasn’t just the original tar; it had been transformed in some way. This raises the question of what was involved in that transformation.

To see how Neanderthals could have converted birch tar into glue, the research team tried several different processing methods. Any suspicion that the tar came directly from birch trees didn’t hold up because birch trees do not secrete anything that worked as an adhesive. So what kind of processing was needed?

Each technique that was tested used only materials that Neanderthals would have been able to access. Condensation methods, which involve burning birch bark on cobblestones so the tar can condense on the stones, were the simplest techniques used—allowing bark to burn above ground doesn’t really involve much thought beyond lighting a fire.

The other methods involved a recipe where the bark was not actually burned but heated after being placed underground. Two of these methods involved burying rolls of bark in embers that would heat them and produce tar. The third method would distill the tar. Because there were no ceramics during the Stone Age, sediment was shaped into upper and lower structures to hold the bark, which was then heated by fire. Distilled tar would slowly drip from the upper structure into the lower one.

The resulting tars were all put through chemical and molecular analysis, as well as micro-CT scans, to determine which came closest to the residue on actual Neanderthal tools. Tars synthesized underground were closest to the residue on the original artifacts.

“[Neanderthals] distilled tar in an intentionally created underground environment that restricted oxygen flow and remained invisible during the process,” the researchers wrote. “This degree of complexity is unlikely to have been invented spontaneously.”

Weeping with joy over the idea of a Neanderthal industrial engineer

buzzardwoman-deactivated2023062:

gateway-2000:

wetchickenbreast:

ragingdwarf:

wetchickenbreast:

wetchickenbreast:

my coffin shaped locket is the perfect size to fit one singular ibuprofen

this is surprisingly useful actually

stop wasting space and add another

tres ibuprofenitos

darryn-gray:

melonalemonade:

‘aight, mate, we’re done! Looking like a proper little punk now, eh?

HOBIE GIVING MAYDAY LIBERTY SPIKES, IM IN LOVE

animentality:

eternal–return:

Bill Watterson · Calvin and Hobbes (August 18, 1988)

jenroses:

neil-gaiman:

They would tell you what I would tell you, which is to grieve, and let yourself grieve. And then, when your life returns, not to feel guilty for having a life, and not to feel bad about feeling bad either. Be there, and remember your friend.

This ^^^^ is one of the best responses I’ve seen to questions about grief.

I suffered a staggering loss 19 years ago and my husband said to me then, “I can’t know what you’re going through exactly but it is obvious that you’re devastated. I’m here for you and it’s okay to be sad.”

Many people panic at the sight of other people grieving and try to make them feel better to “fix” the problem and make it go away so they can be more comfortable. But the only way through grief is to take the time to be sad.

At the worst of it, I didn’t want to feel better, I needed that sadness because it was real and the only thing I had left of what was supposed to be a great joy. The people closest to me accepting that and making room for my sadness and not pushing me away let me come out of it much faster than I’d come out of less terrible things before. That wasn’t their goal, it just worked out that way.

In the words of my favorite and only sister:

This shit is legitimately hard. Anyone would have a hard time with what you’re going through. It doesn’t mean you’re weak, it means you’re human.

My mother told a friend who was deep in grief: Now, so soon after your loss, it’s normal and understandable if you are not very functional or coping with it. Your primary purpose right now is to grieve, to let yourself feel your feelings. It’s okay to wallow in it. If you’re still having a hard time getting out of bed in six months or a year, the conversation might be different. But for now, the only way out is through.

And for me, I can say that without a doubt, letting myself feel my feelings without judgement or rush is the only productive way to move through the process. When I have needed to function short term in the face of grief, it is possible to metaphorically put those feelings in an envelope before I walk in the door of the place I need to function at, but it is still vitally important to take them back out again when I leave.

Go easy on yourself.

sinksanksockie2:

secondlina:

tattooedzombigirl:

theman:

beardedmrbean:

I GOT A FUCKING RAISE THE POTATO WORKED WTF

This potato works. Every. Fucking. Time.

Reblogging because it’s a damn potato and I want to encourage people to assume potatoes are magical.

w-what if potato is actually lucky