Just passing through @layly-rpg - Tumblr Blog

It’s crazy that countries on the edge of the Sahara desert are reversing desertification by just digging half circles

The ground in these places is too compact for water to soak in during wet season which leads to flooding but digging these holes gives the water a place to stop and soak in. And they’re pushing back the desert with this. By just digging holes.

The new plants also help even more water soak into the ground which reduces flooding even more.

These places also give people places to grow food and graze animals like people are turning completely dry compact desert into a refuge for wildlife and plants and solving regional food insecurity just by digging holes.

untitledgoosegay

The half-circles are called zaï! They're a traditional farming practice in the Sahel desert, and their introduction + reintroduction can be largely credited to Yacouba Sawadogo, the man linked above! He reintroduced and innovated on the zaï on his own farm in the 1980s, and did extensive outreach (along with scientist Mathieu Ouédraogo) to encourage other farmers to adopt them as well.

He also promoted the use of cordons pierreux, which are basically just lines of rocks to reduce erosion, preserve sediments, and increase water absorption.

Immensely cool dude. He's been a personal hero since I learned about him.

catsbeaversandducks

By Ed Himelblau

yeehawpim

My liege, if you recall, the prophecy stated that you would fall by the hands of your first born son. Yes, I understand that twelve daughters is a very impressive feat, but mayhaps you should consider quitting while you’re ahead?

My liege, you mustn’t be so reckless. If you recall, your prophecy stated “you shall not die by any efforts of man or woman, nor of any material from this land”, and it feels rather pertinent to your most recent decision. Please consider the situation with your father and your brother, and to a lesser extent your 32 younger sisters, and know your prophecy is not one to be neglected. Your father tempted fate and look where that got him. Yes my liege, I do know it was a heart attack that he passed from, but the royal guard directly saw your baby brother reach out towards your father with his hands as he passed. Yes, I know the prophecy would be better stated to say “beside the hand” rather than “by the hand”, I didn’t write the prophecy. No my liege, I mean no disrespect. Yes, I agree, this was a very inappropriate time to discuss your father, and we should go back to the issue at hand. Yes, I do recall that no man or woman may slay you, however, if you think about the prophecy with the context of your newly imported elephant,

My liege, this is hardly the appropriate attire for a hunting trip, especially one to the woods you were forbade from entering. Yes your majesty, I know you are ruler of this kingdom, but if you recall your prophecy- you mock me. I take your safety and fate with the upmost sincerity, and you respond with “mi mi mi mimi”? Please recall your- yes I know what your prophecy states, “your reign shall last until nature itself regains your throne and crown”, I was about to recount it for you. Look my liege, I think this hunting trip is a terrible idea. You are far too clumsy and the forest floor is uneven with roots! If the stairs of the palace or your own feet are enough to cause you to trip, remaining upright may be difficult, and, to put it frankly, falling hitting your head on a rock would hardly a glorious engraving on your tombstone. Please don’t wear the crown on this hunting trip, they’ll know you’re the new queen because of how similar you look to your sister. It’s a prideful act that will only- oh the royal messenger is here. What news do you have? Oh this requires my immediate attention. I will return, my liege. Do not attend that hunting trip in your current attire, though you should consider not going at all.

Royal To-Do List

Schedule date of coronation

Organise a trip to the Royal Soothsayer with the new Queen

Search forest for the crown

Purchase a new throne, or locate the stolen one

Fix elephant-shaped hole in the throne room

Now, as a part of the induction protocols, all new employees are to be informed of a long-held family tradition. When each new ruler comes to power, they receive a letter a few days later from the old soothsayer. Yes, the one who lives in the woods, we paid for them to live there. Thought it would be a good way to avoid receiving more prophecies, as she wouldn’t receive notice of the coronation until afterwards, but now they just get sent in the mail. We used to add in 15 minutes leeway to the schedule for when the soothsayer interrupted the event, it was a nightmare to try and predict when they’d show up. If it were up to me, we’d stop the postal service going that far, but only the Queen can make that ruling. I’m getting sidetracked. As I recall, the Queen’s prophecy states “your heart will bleed when the man who could never love you distances himself, his aim not one intending to hurt you, yet he will be your demise”. In order to circumvent this, she is not allowed to take a hand in marriage, and any casual romances are monitored to ensure attraction is present from both parties. Furthermore, suitors are not informed of the Queen’s status as royalty, further preventing anyone attempting to woo her for wealth or political status. She’s also elected to take on many hobbies to fill her time, to focus less on any romantic endeavours. It’s a good system, if a little difficult to source new hobbies on short notice. Oh, yes, please voice your concerns. It’s always a good sign when new employees take the Queen’s prophecy seriously.

Well yes, this is why we hired you. She’s been interested in archery as a hobby recently, and we can’t exactly send somewhere accessible to the general public. What if she falls for someone outside of our control? No, it’s much safer to hire you as her private archery instructor. And I presume she’ll learn quickly, not every archery instructor considers himself an “arrow ace”.

My liege, I’ve been reviewing some of the royal funding and budgetary records, and a few things have come to my attention. Now, I understand that we have surplus funding in the royal vault as a result of your prophecy, which, if you recall, states that “you will die by a blade not intended for battle, but one that will find it’s way to you in a moment of joy”. I stand by it being a wise decision to keep you away from any activities such as woodworking or cooking, and that the money that would have gone into funding those activities was yours to allocate as you wished, but I suspect I’ve found some errors on the records. Firstly, we have two categories of payments going to the soothsayer; one for living expenses, and one, as I have just discovered, labeled “prophecies”. I suspect that- I beg your pardon my liege? We pay for the prophecies? Why on earth- We’re paying them to not deliver us prophecies, that’s why they live out on the far end of the woods. This doesn’t- Tradition? I understand it’s a tradition my liege, but if we are paying for it to be inconvenient to deliver prophecies, and then paying for the prophecies themselves- Is that why your sister wished to go to the soothsayer in person rather than wait for a letter? She was aware of this? And the rest of your sisters too? My liege, surely you see that it undermines our efforts in preventing prophecies to pay for them. At the very least, one of the payments should be discontinued to improve our financial status. You’re right my liege, this is a very complex discussion that requires more time to process, and I shall “shut up about the soothsayer” as you so eloquently put it. We will be discussing this later. The other issue I came to inquire about was that within the records for the entertainment budget, each performance is listed by name. I once again would like to reiterate that the extra funding for entertainment, while not aligning with my recommendations, is reasonable given the circumstances of your prophecy. However, once again with considerations to your prophecy, “Pablo the Knife-Juggler”,

My liege, I’m beginning to understand why you have called me to the castle rooftop. As your most trusted advisor, overseeing your actions and assisting with difficult choices is why I have been employed under your family for so long. However, one key aspect of my services that has remained fairly neglected by your sisters, and your father, is that of your prophecy. Often advice regarding your prophecies leads directly to the passing of the crown, and I believe this to be a critical moment in your rule. You had a much simpler prophecy than most of your sisters, but the vagueness that comes with that should really indicate where to place your trust in me, and the rooftop seems to be that very place. If you recall, your prophecy stated that “Pride shall be your downfall”, which- No my liege, I believe that you can do a kick-flip,

My liege, I am incredibly concerned about the prophecy you have received. Usually it takes a week or two to come in the mail, but not a day had passed since your coronation before the wax seal of the soothsayer arrived at the palace doors. I have spent the past few hours contemplating what should be implemented considering its slightly paradoxical nature. As you recall, your prophecy states that “in a time of unmatched uncertainty, the one you entrust the most shall betray you”. I have been the royal advisor for your family since your father’s rule, a well trusted and respected figure by many who came before you, and I shall do everything within my power to prevent a potential betrayal, regardless of how the prophecy speaks of me. As such, having worked for your father and under all of your sisters that ruled before you, I feel I have accumulated enough sick leave,

Thank you all for attending the all-staff meeting. We have several topics to discuss today, so we’ll begin post-haste. Firstly, I’d like to address the royal elephant in the room. We still have no idea where the royal elephant is, and may have to cut back on searching due to budget cuts, which leads us to our next point, the metaphorical elephant in the room. With our last Queen’s untimely death we’ve made significant progress on finding what was the cause of her death. Based on the fact she died at her one-year ruling anniversary banquet, and her prophecy, which if you all recall stated that “rended flesh for naught but greed shall end in rended flesh”, we believed that it likely something about the food killed her. We had checked for choking hazards and tested others for poison and had found no clues, so our thought process was that her body was unable to tolerate something resulting in her demise. This is where the budget cuts come into place.

We hired a mage.

Settle down. I understand this is a controversial decision, but the benefits have already begun to reveal themselves. While the mage is unable to detect ailments on a corpse, several of the princesses have all shared an ailment referred to as a “shellfish allergy”. While it is unclear what allergy means, it sounds detrimental, and the mage clarified that it is deadly if not handled. As lobster was served at that banquet, that is likely the culprit, and as such shall be removed from the palace’s future supply orders, preventing future queens from following her path. Staff members will be allowed access to the current stock until we run out, so I hope a nice lobster dinner will quell your fears.

Now, some of you have likely been worried about this decision in relation to the current Queen’s prophecy. We have made sure to screen this mage as thoroughly as possible, and have concluded that he is, in fact, a mage. Not a swindler nor soothsayer, not a wizard nor fae. We have determined his status as a mage. This is of great importance to us, as I would not like to be responsible for the passings of any more rulers. I will admit that taking a month off right at the start of a new reign was not my finest decision, but that’s not relevant at the moment. What is relevant is the new queen’s prophecy, which should be easy to recall given how short the letter was. As you should recall, the prophecy stated “Wizard’s curse”, but as this is not a Wizard, we have no cause for concern. Now, as a mage is very costly, the budgetary restrictions over the next month will be implemented across the following areas…

He lied on his resume

My liege, a letter has just arrived from the royal soothsayer. It is likely regarding your prophecy. I shall read it verbatim for you. *Ahem*. “You shall die underfoot of an animal trained for war.” Ah. It appears this letter was intended for your dearly departed sister. Had this letter arrived three days earlier, her rule may have lasted more than a week. It would have been very helpful in preventing her horse-riding accident. My apologies my liege, I know you were looking forward to hearing your prophecy, and I am truely sorry to disappoint. I shall alert you when it arrives. Thank you for your attention, you may return to caring for the royal hounds.

I would like to thank you all for attending this all staff meeting on such short notice. We are here to discuss the events regarding the passing of the most recent Queen. It appears I have neglected that horses are not the only animal trained for war, that animal related incidents may occur to more than one queen, and that the soothsayer is, in fact, a soothsayer. In related news, we have located the royal elephant.

My liege, please reconsider your stance on the soothsayer’s employment. They cannot be trusted and- my liege, I’m on your side. It’s been made very clear in the decade I’ve been working for your family that you find receiving accurate prophecies to be of the upmost importance. Even if none of you listen to me when- No my liege I didn’t mumble anything. The point is, if your family finds it important to reticence prophecies, it is my duty to ensure they are of the upmost accuracy. My liege, don’t you find it strange that the most recent prophecy was inaccurate? I ask that you recall your late sister’s prophecy. Yes the most recent one. It stated “you shall live far longer than the others in your family, only passing from a poison one cannot ingested. This poison will only affect you far into the future, once the sun itself is outshined”. As we know, she did not in fact live “far longer than the rest of her family”. In fact several of her sisters were older when they passed. And what if the poison? She was last spotted falling into a frozen river, from which she did not resurface. Despite us being yet to locate her body, it is unlikely that has been in hiding for the last month. To me, this suggests the soothsayer was… wrong. They are getting rather old, is it possible that the soothsayer is losing her skills? If she’s inconsistent, is it worth receiving her prophecies? Say, do you think she no longer offers a service we require? I knew that you would agree that something was amiss, you are far more reasonable than- a royal investigation? My liege, you cannot be serious. It is obvious what the correct course of action is here. I do not think this warrants a royal investigation, it would be a massive waste of- you know what, sure. We can have a royal investigation. Your prophecy said something about dying on the first full moon of your reign, you may as well get a royal investigation. You’ve only got a few days left if the prophecy’s correct, let’s get you that paperwork

My liege, I ask you to please recall your prophecy. Your death has been foretold, and I fear this is the moment it occurs. Your prophecy stated that “your rule will end in obvious mistake after obvious mistake”. I know what your heart is telling you, but please listen to my advice. This is life or death. I beg of you, you are so alike your father, as all your sisters are, but please be the one to heed my warning. I have advised all twelve sisters that have ruled before you, and- no I am certain it is twelve. Twelve queens, you being the thirteenth. Yes I know you were the fourteenth born, but not all of your sisters became queens, my liege. I have advised since your father’s rule, I would know if- my vacation? What of it? I was away for two weeks, and did not realise taking my holiday leave would be considered the betrayal foretold to her. When I returned, the kingdom was under the rule of Queen Acrea, who would later pass from a shellfish allergy. There’s no point where- A CORONATION WAS HELD WITHOUT ME? I was informed that Morgana deserted after the late Queen Rosalinde’s death and that no coronation was held. I thought she ran away to avoid the- SHE WAS LOST IN THE DESERT? I- I believe I have misunderstood, I don’t. I never checked the archive because I didn’t believe something so major would happen within two weeks, and if it had then someone would tell me, did they- I don’t- My apologies my liege this is a lot to take in. I have failed as a royal advisor. I have failed your father, I have failed, by my count, four of your sisters, I have failed the whole kingdom. This is most distressing. I’ll need to have a think about this after- YOUR PROPHECY. I’m sorry my liege, I had gotten sidetracked from the more pressing matter at hand. No, you may not “go and pet it”, it’s not a “cute fluffy puppy”. That is a bear.

My liege, I have good news and bad news. On one hand, we received a letter from the soothsayer, and as your coronation was two days ago, we believed it to be your prophecy. On the other hand, there was a lot of rain as the letter arrived, and there were a lot of puddles, and a couple of drops of water got on the letter, and some of the windows were open letting in strong wind, but to cut a long story short, I may have accidentally thrown your prophecy letter into a fireplace. I would like to apologise deeply for accidentally burning your letter, but at the very least- Oh someone’s knocking, I shall get that for you, my liege.

Another letter? The mailman missed one? Well it’s a good thing he came back, thank you for passing it on. Who is it from? The soothsayer? Did we just receive a letter from them? This is of great concern. What could the soothsayer be so desperate to inform the Queen of. I’ll read it now and dispose of it in a moment. We shouldn’t let the Queen see any of her prophecies. Yes, I’m opening it, don’t rush me, I know you want to know what it says just as much as the Queen. Fine, I’ll read it aloud to you. It says “You left the Queen’s fireplace lit” oh no

chgkhojlbjvh-deactivated2026011

It’s not often we let members of the general public seek an audience with the royal family, however, you have made a mockery of yourself and of this entire meeting. You have wasted your only opportunity to speak within the palace walls, and I will ensure you are never allowed within the castle walls again. Consider yourself lucky that there is no queen to order your execution. This is absurd. Considering the late king’s… choices regarding child rearing, it may appear your claim to the throne is feasible from an outsiders perspective, but anyone well read on his history would know your claim is absurd and frankly a slight against his name. You claim he conceived you with one of his many lovers, and you were left to be raised alone by said lover? Ridiculous. The late king was a loyal man, and only had one lover. His wife. He did not engage in any affairs, and furthermore, had he engaged in one, he would have treated the child born out of wedlock like the rest of them. Two of his children were adopted, after all, and they have right to the throne when their times come. You, however, do not. The king made time for all his children, and while he did not make the best decisions regarding their conception, he treated each of them with the upmost care. He loved his children more than I’ve seen any other love their own. Every part of your story is inconsistent, and you have no claim to the throne. You have wasted your time, you have wasted my time, and you have- I’ll get back to you in a second, Miss. What’s happening, this is too important to be- a letter from the soothsayer? My my, Miss, it appears you may have some credibility. We have only ever received letters from the soothsayer regarding the deaths of queens. If one has arrived now, while there is no queen ruling, it may indicate the throne is your next. Let’s have a look, hmm? “The faker” hmm “shall receive a death met only by queens.” Well this is certainly interesting. It appears the soothsayer has foretold your arrival, and confirmed your status as a liar, though that was obvious, hmm? Begone. Leave the palace and never return.

Actually Miss, before you leave, I have some advice. Given you are not related to the ruling family, there’s a chance you may listen to it. Not that I really care, I feel I’ve made it abundantly clear my opinion of you. Either way, this information may be beneficial to your survival. Or maybe it won’t. Only one prophecy has been wrong so far, I’d say you don’t have luck on your side. But, you might be able to make that two incorrect prophecies. Given your prophecy, it is abundantly clear to me how you will die. If I were you, I’d keep an eye out for the royal elephant. Now leave.

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A federal judge ordered the release of more than 600 people arrested as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Illinois

615 immigrants abducted from Chicago have been ordered to be released on November 21st, unfortunately on a $1500 bond. Not only are most of their families already economically disenfranchised, but have typically lost their breadwinners to these abductions and been unable to seek additional work out of fear. Please please please donate to Midwest Immigration Bond Fund, your support may be the only thing standing between these people and deportation

Midwest Immigration Bond Fund

tacowizard

Federal judge ordered ICE release hundreds detained in Chicago after unlawful arrests violated agreement. 13 to be freed by Friday, 615 othe

#fuck ice #they'd better pay the bloody bonds back when the arrests are ruled as unlawful #fuck capitalism #fuck racism #fuck hate being escalated and used for profitering

I like the idea in fantasy that humans are better at maintaining things long term because they set up societies or professions to do it whereas dwarves and elves and stuff are like “just get bob to do it he’s got a good few hundred years left” and then bob doesn’t teach anyone else how to do it

Elf: How have you kept this castle maintained for a thousand years if your lives are so short?

Human: We just train new people how to do it?

Elf: *gears visibly turning in their head*

Human: Are you alright?

Elf: I just realized that we didn’t have to let that whole city fall to ruin just because my grandfather died.

Human: What?

presidentofthelipglossclub

Human: Wait that’s why there’s ruins of elven cities even though you live for so long? You just keep not asking people how to do things? How do you learn anything?

Elf: There’s a lot of “you’ve got time to figure it out on your own” attitudes floating around in our society that I’m starting to question somewhat.

unassimilatedsoul

Elf: That sword, where did you get it?

Human: My cousin made it.

Elf: Impossible! Those metalworking techniques were lost a hundred years ago!

Human: What do you mean lost? My great-grandmother learned to make these swords from an elven smith, then taught it to her kids.

Elf: That's ridiculous. No elf would give such secrets to a human.

Human: They didn't. Meemaw delivered the metal to the forge, and no one kicked her out when she stayed and watched. She always said they barely acknowledged her even when doing business with her, like she wasn't worth noticing.

Elf: Come to think of it, my great-uncle always was rather single-minded when he started working.

Human: So he wasn't ignoring her, he just forgot she was there?

Elf: Oh, he was definitely ignoring her, too. He was super racist.

thefiresontheheight

Okay but elves who live nearly forever unless killed never having the idea of instructing or schooling anyone. They can make wonders but there are dozens of hundred year long gaps in their history where a city gets destroyed and, oh wait, that’s everyone who knew how to sing living stone into shapes dead I guess were going back to living in trees.

But dwarves on the other hand neither show much advancement nor gaps in their history. Near as human archaeologist can tell they’ve been making more or less the same type of mines and cities, hives if you will, for hundreds of thousands if not millions of years. Before humans evolved behavioral modernity certainly and possibly even before elves, although that’s debated.

Sometimes a hive will be abandoned, of course. A plague or a volcano or something. They go to war with each other, write things down, have history. Boy do they have history, ask a dwarf about his great grandmother and he’ll never stop talking about the glorious battle of tunnel 17.

But the truth of the matter is they don’t learn like you or me. I mean, sure, they can learn and remember things. This band of humans is trustworthy and this one isn’t. But they don’t learn how to make the mines and cities and arches and hives. They’re born with it, hatched from eggs already having all the knowledge of stone and bracing and excavation they will ever need.

Dwarves, you see, are eusocial.

tangent101

I've been having fun doing some different things with my elves and dwarves (and beastfolk and other non-human races) for my revamped old campaign world.

For one thing, time is measured in Seasons, not years... as each Season is 450 days long. A year would be 5 Earth Years. When a human reaches 16 Seasons of age, they are considered adults (and in Earth years would be 20 years old). (Fortunately there are things that grow in the winter months. Not a lot of things, but enough for people and animals to survive off of, supplementing stored foods.)

With elves... I decided their huge trait was memory - specifically the memory of past lives. They live to be 150 Seasons old on average (not counting premature deaths) so twice that of a human... but when they become young adults they start remembering aspects of their past lives. (Given that following the War of Divinity some 1,600 Seasons past, and that the elves had been enslaved by humanity and horrid things done to them... they have reasons for distrusting humanity even if some human groups currently consider what the Empire of the South did as horrific. And they don't know the half of it)

It's half-elves, whether that of human-elf hybrids or elves with other races, that are truly long-lived. They also start becoming... less stable the older they get, as living a thousand Seasons is not really something a mortal mind can handle. But the elves can understand this. Fortunately, while they remember... it isn't constant. It is something they focus on to bring those memories back.

Dwarves on the other hand... it's funny that @thefiresontheheight commented on dwarves hatching from eggs, the whole single-gender male alien species thing from that Star Trek parody series (that honestly ended up far better than Star Trek) inspired my dwarves as well. Except that instead of eggs... dwarves in my world are crafted, be it by the God of Dwarves or by three dwarves working together to carve a dwarven infant, inscribe runes onto their flesh, and then awakening the stone to become a dwarf.

When dwarves bleed in my world, their blood will (in several hours) harden into stone. Dwarves feed their infants their own blood (or have specialist Dwarven forms with breasts to feed infant dwarves similar to how humans and elves rear their young, it seems more efficient than just opening up a vein for the infant dwarf to feed from, until they are able to eat solid foods (vegetables, fungi, and meat - often goat or mutton). And if a dwarf dies (of any cause), over the course of a week the dwarven body returns to the stone from which it was born. Humans marvel at all of the nude dwarven statues in the Halls of the Dead but... dwarves often ask to be posed specifically upon death and their brethren try hard to do just that for them.

Beastfolk are... an interesting case. Their name for themselves is the Children of Faun, as the first Beastfolk was their Goddess, who took the form of a Faun. She had children with human men and elvish men and had other fauns (male and female), but when they eventually interbred, their children would take on random forms. Thus minotaur, merfolk, katari, ratfolk, firbolg, ribbet, mousefolk, and the like all came about when two of the Children of Faun have a child... but if a Child of Faun has a child of a human, elf, or other species, it is of their form. (Thus a catfolk and human's child would be catfolk, but a catfolk and a minotaur's child would be random.)

As an aside, all merfolk have "breasts" - but they are not mammaries. They are water bladders that inflate and deflate underwater, sending water through the gills in the chest. When the merfolk come above water, they instinctively fill those bladders with water. Human sailors may daydream of mermaid breasts but that merfolk may very well be male, and they don't have nipples under the shells that grows around that bladder to protect them from harm.

(In the ancient lore, elves of my campaign world all had six-fingered hands, taking after the Divinity of Death that they were formed in homage of, and dwarves all had four-fingered hands. And yes, dwarves used a base-8 numbering system while elves used base-12. I'm not sure if I'll keep that however.)

its-funnytwittertweets

janokenmun

the thing so many people don't understand is that the reason wikipedia is generally not accepted as a source has nothing to do with accuracy. wikipedia is (generally) extremely accurate! the reason wikipedia isn't allowed as a source for school is because it's a summary of other sources. wikipedia has correct information, but it gets that information from OTHER places, which are either primary or secondary sources, which lends them credibility that wikipedia technically lacks.

so yes, wikipedia is a GREAT resource to learn new things! but if you want in depth, specific, and creditable sources, don't use wikipedia! use wikipedia's cited sources!!

weaselle

a source is the answer to the question "says who?"

and wikipedia doesn't say things, it says here are things other people said about this.

a source is primary (first hand) or secondary (second hand). So a primary source is "i experienced the thing" and a secondary source is "i interviewed the person who experienced the thing." Wikipedia is a tertiary (3rd hand) source, meaning all they do is say "so and so interviewed the person who experienced the thing, and THEY said" and if you're interested in very correct information you want to cut that game of telephone short and go look at that interview yourself. You don't want to be this person

Because she is wrong.

SO. When you look up "steam engine" on wikipedia you will see this sentence: "One recorded rudimentary steam-powered engine was the aeolipile described by Hero of Alexandria, a Hellenistic mathematician and engineer in Roman Egypt during the first century AD.[8] "

but remember wikipedia doesn't say that, wikipedia says someone else said that. Who? That's what that footnote [8] is for! When you go down to the footnotes, you'll see that footnote 8 says: " "turbine". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 18 July 2007."

according to wikipedia, the Encyclopaedia Britannica said it in their "turbine" entry. And not the print version, the online version, as of July 2007 with a link. Well i clicked on that link, and the online Encyclopaedia Britannica no longer has that exact page or entry. The source is missing.

This is why it is important to check the sources. I want you to know this is the first footnote on the first entry i thought to check for this example. The very first source i checked! and the listed source is missing or wrong.

Maybe that information was proven incorrect and removed, maybe the online version and the print version were edited to be more consistent between them and this entry was changed, who knows.

So now, if you say "wikipedia says it" as your source, not only are you wrong because wikipedia doesn't actually make its own claims as a primary or secondary source, you might also be wrong because the secondary source has retracted their assertion of fact.

Now, if you look at what the footnote [8] was providing a source for it was talking about the aeolipile, and simply searching "aeolipile" on Encyclopaedia Britanica does turn up an entry confirming the information, so the Encyclopaedia Britanica is still a source that says what wikipedia says it does.

Now we all usually accept recognized encyclopedias as sources, it's like saying a word is "in the dictionary" but if you were trying to be VERY accurate, you want to cut the game of telephone even more.

So where the Encyclopaedia Britannica online says "aeolipile, steam turbine invented in the 1st century ad by Heron of Alexandria and described in his Pneumatica" you'd want to check their source the same way we just checked wikipedia's source.

So in that case, you would find a translated copy of Pneumatica, which was written by Heron of Alexandria in 1589, and you would check what it said for yourself, and list that as your source. And you'd still have to put WHICH translation, by who, because at some point somebody might come along and say "we now know that So-and-so's translation contained an error, translating [this thing] as "that thing" making this information inaccurate .

This is why sources are so important. Without proper sources, we're all just saying what our best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from some guy, and the actual truth is going to steal his best friend's car and skip gym class instead of proving anything.

layly-rpg

So often during my physics degree I'd have to go hunting for original sources because authors quoted everyone else without actually explaining what a term meant. Often the only people to define the term were the authors of the original paper and the one following it. Rather than citing these, the authors skip the definition, assume everyone knows what they're refering to, and create another link in a long chain in which the only relevance may well be the use of the same term.

Not everyone who reads your work will be an expert in your field. They may still be students or specialise in a different area. Please try to trace sources back at least as far as someone providing a definition. Even if they aren't the original, they at least will provide useful references for anyone seeking more detail.

there i fixed it

kavjacks0219

This is a really shitty thing for someone to do. It’s insane to believe that this woman who has literally built and supported business across multiple industry is somehow less capable of becoming a lawyer than literally anyone else who ISN’T a lawyer… not to say that anyone who is a practicing attorney is has the ability to gauge the capability of someone they don’t know, personally. Anyone who isn’t supporting this, is a piece of shit.

You misunderstood the point of this post, let me explain:

As someone who spent money and grueling time to go through law school, take the bar, and become a lawyer, I have a knee-jerk, eye-roll reaction to any statement that anyone *will* be a lawyer when they haven’t yet done any of what it takes. Kim has to first pass California’s “baby bar” on first year courses before she is even eligible to take the actual bar, which basically no one who does the apprenticeship route ever passes.

Her dad was a famous lawyer and she has all the resources she wants at her fingertips, and good for her that she wants to take on this challenge. But telling the world that a college drop-out doing an apprenticeship is to definitely be a lawyer three years from now is misleading, and annoying for me to see, that’s all. This profession is not a right, nor a shiny thing you can just buy. It’s a privilege that you have to earn with time, money, and a lot of hard work, and even then requires luck to get.

This has aged well

It is now 18 days from 2022 and Kim has finally passed the baby bar, which means she has two more years and the bar exam left

🍷