“I Am Not Overwhelmed By The Emotions Of Others”

1. ) Candle [white] from 30 pack candles from walmart (cause they were cheap). You can use whatever candle you got. 

2. ) Sharpie (but you can use a needle to push into the wax/carve into the wax, water, whatever you feel comfortable burning).

3. ) Wrote on the top of the candle first:

“I want peach cobbler.”

4. ) Around candle:

“This will happen in one week.”

5. ) On an ordinary piece of computer paper I wrote:

“I will get a piece of peach cobbler in seven days.”

3 times.

6. ) Folded that paper. 

7. )Stuck under candle

8.) Lit candle.

WOOOOOOOOOW.

That…I just….wow.

One can pick up clues about the richness of the Kansas prairie before white settlers by some of the observation Pa makes RE; the abundance of game, the streams full of fish, ect ect. All of those were, of course, dependent on the prairie ecosystem which was intentionally maintained by the native tribes.

There are several references to large packs of wolves, which thrived on the abundant large mammal life that the grazing lands of the prairie supported. The settlers immediately go about attempting to shoot all of the wolves; for the importance of large predators to an ecosystem please see the ecological impact of re-introducing wolves to Yellowstone national park. There are, of course, no wolves living wild in Kansas any longer.

The regular prairie fires that are an integral part of a healthy prairie ecosystem are here seen as a terrible threat, and the settlers are suspicious of the Native Americans because they assume that the fires were set to get rid of the settlers.

The settlers, of course, immediately start plowing it up as fast as they possibly can. Notes are made that the sheer density of the roots of the prairie plants make it difficult for even a steel moldbord plow to cut through the mass. (Half of a prairie’s biomass is the root systems of the plants that live there!) It is specifically this dense root and vegetation growth that secures the soil in place during windstorms and drought, and prairie plants grow very deep root systems (up to seven feet deep!) in order to access water even during droughts. The family plant wheat and corn, both of which are shallow-rooted, and while wheat is less water-intensive than corn it is still unsuitable for areas such as the High Plains that simply do not get enough rain to grow it without extensive irrigation. Corn is a water-intensive crop and not suited for long drought periods.

Or possibly you might like the Green Day version?

Lolz anyone here have expert thoughts?

On either crystals or scams 😂😂🤣🤣

@earthstory @thebibliosphere

@thebibliosphere​ is totally correct in this instance; not all ‘crystals’ are created equal!

While quartz- the three crystals in the advertisement above are all derivations of quartz- is relatively benign (sand, the primary ingredient of glass, is mostly ground up quartz), you have no guarantee that the crystals on the ends of these straws are going to be both quartz and only quartz, as opposed to some closer look-alike or a dyed stone or just glass.

The big issue with the ‘crystal’ supply chain is that it is almost entirely unregulated, a rabbit hole that starts with ‘cheap glass dyed to look like amethyst’ and ends with ‘literal slave labour was used to strip these stones from the earth in the most damaging way possible’ (which, okay, won’t poison you, but should  be a factor!)

In general, stones that are in any way green or blue will leach arsenic and/or toxic copper compounds - while very pretty, turns out copper isn’t very good for the human body in most forms. Stones that are at all metallic probably have lead in their chemical components somewhere so please don’t put them in your mouth. Stones that have pretty ‘inclusions’ - a different type of crystal inside of another - could have wildly different solubility conditions (the quartz is fine in your drink! the rutile inside of it significantly less so - to quote my mineralogy textbook, “when cleaning, avoid transferring material from hands to mouth”). Softer stones will chip, often microscopically, or dissolve depending on their chemical makeup.

A secondary issue here is anyone who actually buys and uses these straws: What are you drinking out of these straws? Is it always just water? You swear? Not lemon water, not electrolyte water, not sprite or some other soda, not any other liquid that may or may not react with the crystals in a way water doesn’t?

How are you cleaning them? Bleach is extremely reactive with certain minerals in a way that the cute crystal water is not. Pretty much all cleaners can induce a chemical reaction that you probably don’t want happening on something that goes into your mouth/body: vinegar, ammonia, alcohol, detergents, and common household soaps are all on this list.

And again: how are you cleaning these straws? A dishwasher is prrrrobably not a good environment for a lot of different crystals over time, not to mention the structural integrity of the things. Handwashing prrrrrobably isn’t doing the trick when it comes to bacteria, which are already a problem with reusable straws that are a single piece tub with no extra cracks for hiding out and multiplying.

I know, I know, they’re super cute (I’d wear them in my hair, personally!), but generally speaking it’s not a good idea to put a crystal in your body; this goes for... all your holes, folks, please by all the gods

If you have to have your crystal water, try something that is crystal-adjacent instead of crystal-immersive. There are (expensive) water bottles out there whose bases can be filled with the mineral of your choice and are much safer alternatives.

With my Witch Hat on, I can say this has pretty much the same energetic effect that the straws do, without chances of accidental lead poisoning!

tl;dr

a) Most minerals/crystals are toxic

b) The mineral/crystal industry is wildly unregulated so quality will pretty much always be suspect

c) Keeping these straws clean is a nightmare