Lonely Language

Overturning Roe v Wade was a big part of Trump’s campaign and the reason he has placed judges on the Supreme Court, despite criticism and protest. Thankfully the House is ruled by Democrats who support abortion, however the Senate may side with the Republican agenda. Thankfully some states do have it stated that abortion is a constitutional right, so hopefully in those states their residents would be protected or at the very least provide additional support of why Roe should not be overturned at the federal level.

These are warrior shields from the Wahgi people of Papua New Guinea. The warriors paint them with imagery meant to symbolize animals who have traits they wish to embody in battle. These depictions are intended to give the person using it the powers of what they’re depicting.

Now. Look at this Wahgi shield:

Hmm. That looks a bit different from the others.

That looks VERY different. Why, it looks like

The Phantom… American comic book character by Lee Falk. And that’s because it is.

The Wahgi people were isolated from the rest of the “modern” world until 1933. They came into contact with WWII service men who shared some aspects of western culture with the tribesmen. In particular, they showed them the comic books they read while shipped out. The Wahgi loved them. In particular, the Wahgi adored the stories of the Phantom, who wasn’t even particularly popular in its home of America.

He is so popular that the few Wahgi who can read english will read the comics out loud in the village center and hold out the pages for everyone to see, so the whole tripe can enjoy them and marvel at the Phantom’s might in battle.

They identify with the Phantom because he came from a jungle territory, like them, wore a mask to fight, like them, and came from a long line of warriors, which the Wahgi, who worshiped their ancestors, deeply respected. Further, despite not really having superpowers, the Phantom is strong, clever, and incredibly fast. He was so fast that his enemies began to believe that he was impervious to bullets and could not be killed.

Therefore, the Wahgi began painting HIM on their shields to invoke HIS abilities in battle. There are TONS of Phantom-Wahgi shields out there.

biologist:

 (Like we’re so aggressively social that we looked at APEX PREDATORS and went ‘they look soft! Friend????’)

*sigh*

DID THEY EVEN WATCH THE ORIGINAL MOVIE JASMINE DIDNT WANT A GUY SHE WANTED TO ESCAPE A LITERAL ARRANGED MARRIAGE AND SHE ACTUALLY WANTED TO SEE THE WORLD THUS HER GOING TO EXPLORE AGRABAH AND LOOKING AROUND AND THEN ALADDIN TAKING HER TO SEE THE WORLD THUS A BIGASS MUSICAL NUMBER ABOUT IT AND YES SHE DOES WANT TO BE QUEEN SHE MENTIONS TO JAFAR HOW SHE WILL BANISH HIM DISNEY STOP FUCKING MAKING IT LOOK LIKE ALL OF THE PRINCESSES WANTING TO HAVE PRINCES WHEN THAT IS FARTHER THAN THE THE TRUTH OF MOST OF THEM THIS IS WHY WRECK IT RALPH GAVE THE GIRLS CAMEOS TO TELL YALL THEY ARE MORE THAN BIG STRONG MEN BUT REAL HUMAN BEINGS JUST STOP IT DISNEY

FUCK

01/16/19

Marie Kondo didn’t do anything wrong, you’re just hating on her culture

First of all: Marie Kondo’s decluttering philosophy is not just some “woo-woo nonsense” she came up with on the fly. The Ascent explained that she’s using practices from Shintoism, which includes beliefs that nature and material things have spirits and must be treated with respect.

We all joke about what Toy Story “did” to us, but it really is true that many people feel an inexplicable guilt when they throw something away, not just because it feels wasted, but because we feel, somehow, vaguely, impossibly, maybe it can feel sorrow.

I’ve only seen this addressed a few times by organization experts, and even then it was mocked.

Marie Kondo connecting her culture with that universal worry and telling people it’s okay, normal, to have that anxiety, and to give them ways to cope with it (i.e. thanking the object for its time in your life) is a really effective way to help people let go of these unecessary possessions!

Moreover, in the United States, many of us have been raised by our parents’ generation on the idea of the “starter house,” a smaller space we deem only acceptable until we can “upgrade.” But our generation can’t afford that.

In the show, young couples with children say they don’t have enough space, that their house is too small, and Marie Kondo teaches them that in fact, they do, and it’s not, they just need to learn how to manage and prioritize their space. People end up happier about their situations and lives.

The truth is we do live in a highly materialistic and throwaway culture, in which we accumulate a lot that we don’t need, until eventually we are drowning in our own Stuff.

This is especially a problem among the poor and disabled (both of which I am), because we hold onto things we don’t need now in case we need them later because we can’t just buy them again. But I think that fear of throwing away something we’ll need later grows to extremes, until we are trapped in a mess created by our anxiety.

I think it’s extremely refreshing for an expert to come in without judgement, without looking at us as if being poor and living in a mess of hand-in-hand, like so many others do, and saying there is a way to bring peace to your space, no matter who you are. She meets people on a level they can function on. Everyone is different with different needs, and she works with that.

This anxiety, along with the judgement we are Used to feeling from people who have jobs like Marie Kondo is what has made so many people feel so defensive and negative about what she has to teach, but it’s no excuse for the racist and culturally negative attitudes people use alarms against her work.

I have OCD, I am poor, I have a clutter problem. Solving it isn’t easy. I’m getting rid of stuff I think I can’t possibly part with. But once it’s gone, I feel so much lighter.

Things have been crazy lately so I just wanted to take a moment and remind you to love yourself because you are important!  No matter who you are or where you come from! Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise!

I decided to make a step by step “How-to Jenny’s Witchy Brew” for Self Love ~ Rose Soy Milk Tea <3

Things you will need: -Rose Tea: I get mine at 99 Ranch Market but it’s essentially just dried rose hips so if you have rose hips that you can dry out, that will work too! You will want to use 6-8 rose buds, the more you add the stronger the flavor!

-Organic Soy Milk: This can be regular milk or almond milk, I prefer unsweetened organic soy milk. If you decide to use soy make sure it’s organic! Brands such as ‘Silk’ isn’t good, even if they claim it’s organic, for some reason it burns and wont cook right. It’s gotta be the real deal! For this recipe you only need 1 cup. -Honey: Any kind of organic honey will do, if you have herbal honey that’s even better for adding more florals to your tea! I usually add about 2-3 teaspoons, but feel free to add to taste! -Cinnamon & Nutmeg: This is optional! I like to add just a pinch of both spices to add a little kick to my tea. If you don’t care for spice try ¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract instead!

-Sugar: This is also optional, I like my tea to be a little on the sweet side & since we are using organic unsweetened soy milk it helps to really sweeten it up! I only use barely a ½ teaspoon,  but just add to taste!

-Small Pot

-Mesh Strainer: For removing the flowers once it’s cooked.

-Your Favorite Mug! Mine is a black mug with my astrological sign gold leafed into it!

Before starting, take a moment to close your eyes, clear your mind, breathe deeply through your nose and slowly release through your mouth (do this a few times). Visualize letting go of any negativity or weight you may be carrying on your shoulders…now…

<3 LET’S GET BREWING! <3

1- Pour soy milk into pot, turn heat on low

2- Add rose tea, gently crumble a couple of the buds

3- Add cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar

4- Add desired amount of honey; while you slowly drizzle it in feel free to draw symbols with it such as hearts or infinity symbols- whatever you feel is right for helping to instill your manifestations of self love into your tea!

5- Stir your brew clockwise! While slowly stirring visualize the self love that this tea will bring you & say some positive affirmations about yourself such as:

“I love the person I am, I am strong & caring, I am creative, I am beautiful inside and out…” say whatever best suits your needs for self love and take a moment to appreciate the wonderful person you are! <3

6- Let your tea brew for approximately 10 minutes on low stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. DON’T LET IT BOIL! You want to create an infusion of the flowers which means a longer slower heating process. Boiling will mean scorching the flowers and milk!

7- You’ll notice the rose buds will begin to loose their color, remove your brew from the heat to let it cool and allow the tea to steep for about 3 minutes.

8- Remove roses with mesh strainer and compost.

Enjoy! As you drink, visualize your tea as a pink white healing light of love and remember your affirmations taking deep breaths in-between each sip! <3

so 越来越 is a grammar point that most mandarin learners are exposed to at a beginner level (don’t worry if you don’t know it. i will be explaining both of them) what i never knew was that 愈来愈 existed and that it is basically the same thing as 越来越

越来越 means “more and more” and it can be broken down into 越…越… to mean “the more…the more…”

Subject+越来越+Adjective/Verb

OR

Subject+越+Verb+(Subject 2)+越+Adj/Verb

她越来越高

She’s getting taller and taller

我越来越想家

I’m getting more and more homesick, or I miss home more and more

你越说我越生气

The more you speak the angrier I get

我越听越喜欢

The more I listen to it the more I like it

他越来越会做家务

He’s getting better and better at doing chores

if you only have one subject (e.g., 他), you don’t have to repeat it. but if there’s two different subjects, then you naturally have to say both

越来越 is pretty simple, so now the second part of this post: what’s the difference between 越来越 and 愈来愈 ? well, according to native speakers, there is no difference in usage

this means that in all the examples above 越 could be replaced with 愈 without a problem (e.g., 你愈说我愈生气；她愈来愈高)

the only difference is this: 越来越 is used more commonly when speaking, whereas 愈来愈 is more literary. i also had a couple native speakers tell me 愈来愈 sounded older than 越来越 and that it’s way more common to hear people use 越来越 

so that’s it for this posts. if there’s any comments, questions, or corrections please let me know! the best way to reach me is by sending an ask or a direct message, so if you do have something to say please use those means of communications. otherwise, i might not see your comment

Phonological natural classes and set theory

Someone posted on Reddit about being in a phonology course that was being taught through set theory:

I’m in this course of Phonological Analysis this term and the classes so far have been pretty far from what I was expecting, but I’m wondering if I just didn’t know what to expect or if my prof is doing something very unusual.[…]

The first class was a course on set theory. It was naive set theory, it wasn’t super formal, and it wasn’t axiomatic, but it was still more mathematical than most students expected (as judged by the radical drop in the number of students from the first to the second class). When set theory was assumed to be understood, he used it to define n-tuples and from n-tuples he defined strings. He also used set theory to define relations un sets and from relations he defined functions. Only when he had those did he introduce functions on sets of strings, and from that the notion of phonological rules. It took about two weeks of class to reach a point where we’re doing anything resembling Phonology.

(via Generative-Grammar)

Which got me thinking that sets would actually be a pretty interesting way of representing phonological features or natural classes. And so I made this diagram (click to zoom in). 

I think it’s a cool representation, and it was fun to make. Each symbol is enclosed in its own unique intersection of sets/features, which is good from a rule-writing perspective. Interestingly, the most logical layout for the vowels seems to resemble the vowel trapezoid quite a bit, but the only layout I could get for the consonants doesn’t at all resemble the IPA consonant chart.

Preparing for Imbolc