plant nerd

A serious cartographic map from the era looked more like this:

THESE MAPS ARE AT LEAST 80% ACCURATE

So, @socialmaya (because if I don't tag people, no one will read this).

Yes, in the early to high middle ages, Christian European maps were very schematic. There were the so-called T-O maps, with the internal seas (Black and Mediterranean) in a T shape, dividing Europe, Africa and Asia, and surrounded by the O-shaped world ocean:

Then, a bit more detailed, Beatus maps, depicting the known world still as a more or less monolithic island in the world ocean:

Until eventually, in ca. 1000-1100 AD they became highly complex, if very inaccurate maps of the old world, like the Ebstorf map:

Those maps were simplified, since as per Christian canon the mortal world was sinful and not worth depicting in detail, from earlier maps like the 700 AD Ravenna cosmography:

which was itself based on maps from Antiquity such as the one by Anaximander:

The map by Muhammad Al-Idrisi, also known as Tabula Rogeriana (made for King Roger II of Sicily) did lay the foundation for later mapmaking and it itself is the result of Islamic cartography having evolved directly from Ancient Greek cartographers like Anaximander and Ptolemy because the Islamic golden age was a time when classical works were preserved, examined and built upon in the Muslim world, unlike in the Christian one.

And then came the 1200s and European sailors started demanding more accurate maps for navigating the seas for trade and war. At that point, mostly the Mediterranean and Black seas, to trade with the Levant and the Golden Horde. Thus came to be the portolan maps, made specifically for seafaring.

The earliest known map of this type is the so called Carte Pisane, or the map from Pisa:

As you can see, it encompasses the Mediterranean and Black seas, which would be true for most such maps for centuries to come. It is also covered in numerous, intersecting lines - the so-called "rhumblines" radiating from several central points on the map which were used for navigation before map projection was a thing.

Portolans drew on Arabic cartography and there was some back-and-forth exchange of cartographic knowledge around the Mediterranean. First, there was the Genoese cartographic school, product of which were the Carta Pisana and the earliest example of an illuminated portolan map, such as the Lucca chart, again from ca. 1300-1320:

Early Genoese cartographers this codified the portolan map as the principal map type of the age, which was to yield important navigational and political information (well not really, flags were often obsolete by hundreds of years, I've seen Byzantine eagles over Constantinople on maps made 100+ years after the city fell, etc.)

Those flags, btw, are why I became so fascinated with portolan maps in the first place and why they're still my passion.

Maps encompassing the whole then-known world, also known as *mappae mundi* (literally "maps of the world"), evolved independently from portolans, although often by the same cartographers: from the T-O and Beatus maps, through Arabic world maps, to accompany portolan maps and atlases. A shining example are the maps (ca. 1320) by Genoese cartographer Pietro Vesconte:

And then the ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE of Fra Maro, a Franciscan monk, from ca. 1450:

(image limit hit so link)

The practice then went to the kingdom of Aragon where (mostly Jewish) cartographers would spread from Genoa to Mallorca and Barcelona, founding the Catalan map school:

1375, Abraham Cresques (the so-called Catalan atlas):

Venetians, Portuguese, French and others soon followed, founding their own portolan making traditions.

Diogo Homem (Portugal), 1563:

Muslim (Arab and later Ottoman) cartographers also would make portolans sometimes:

1461, Ibrahim Al-Mursi from Tunis (sorry, lost my good copy):

Then, in the 1480s, a copy of the Cosmpgraphia, an atlas by the Ancient Greco-Roman cartographer Claudius Ptolemaus was discovered, leading to the rediscovery of polar projection:

(13th century Byzantine Greek copy)

Thus cartographers like Sebastian Münster (early 1500s) and Gerhard Mercator (late 1500s) were able to build on those foundations.

Sebastian Münster, Cosmpgraphia, 1550:

Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, 1572:

So yeah, the "BLERGH STOOPID YUROPIAN MAPP" is bullshit. That one is a very symbolic map no one at the time believed was true. There are other allegorical maps, such as Münster's "Europe as Queen":

Botanical illustrations taken from 'La botanique mise à la portée de tout le monde' by Geneviève and Nicolas-François Regnault.

Published 1774 by the authors.

That’s Louis Rossman, a repair technician and YouTuber, who went viral recently for railing against Apple. Apple purposely charges a lot for repairs and you either have to pay up or buy a new device. That’s because Apple withholds necessary tools and information from outside repair shops. And to think, we were just so close to change.

Have an iPhone and are in need of repairs

Have a friend with that problem

Hate Apple and are more than happy to spite them in some way

So I asked the internet, well how hard IS it to repair? And I saw this guy’s video, and while I am no techie, I AM fueled by spite, so I was all “oh, they do that shit on purpose specifically so they can charge me $1200 bucks or make me buy a new computer hunh? FUCK THEM” and I bought all the tools I needed for about $25 and I bought all the parts I needed for about another $25 and I watched a few tutorial videos, and I replaced my own keyboard.

So, once you are doing the actual deed, it becomes pretty obvious that they are finding creative ways to make this much harder than it has to be on purpose. On thing that stood out to me is, instead of all the tiny screws being the same size, there are about two dozen very slightly different sizes. They could easily be all the same size, or like, two sizes at most, but no.

These mother fuckers will take a panel that screws into place and they’ll use a different size screw for each corner. They are so close that you almost cannot tell them apart visually, but they each will only screw into the matching corner. Like, it’s a pretty clear “fuck you” to anyone trying to do repairs.

Grace Smith-Vidaurre

(She/Her)

Grace is a Latina biologist who identifies as queer. She recently received her PhD in 2020 at New Mexico State University. She is interested in ecology and the ability to change vocalizations through social learning.

-bullet journalling was invented by a man with a learning disability (99% sure it was ADHD but his website now just says learning disability so I can't be 100%) as a system for organizing his life/way to work WITH his learning disability

-the general concept is bullet point the important things you need to do and use a simple system of symbols to mark whether it's done, rescheduled, cancelled, etc. with very little fanfare, keeping it all in one notebook so you know where to easily find the information at a glance

-people pick it up and it starts getting popular

-bullet journaling becomes an aesthetic movement largely populated by white neurotypicals

-bullet journaling has turned into creating an extremely pretty notebook that has some function, but largely depends on complicated decoration and aesthetic function that takes more time to set up than is tenable for the people it was created for

-new entries to bullet journaling feel pressure to shop at particular stores, use particular brands, purchase lots of stationery purely for its aesthetic value, and prioritize the artistry of the pages rather than the information being stored on them

-people who would massively benefit from the original system can only really find information on it from members of the aesthetic movement. There is now a barrier to entry for ppl with ADHD and other similar conditions, as bullet journaling now requires a focus and motivation to start that these same people often lack or struggle to maintain consistently

Or the assumption that just because you can read well or you like math class, you’re somehow more EMOTIONALLY mature than your little kid brain is actually capable of being.

“i’ll tell you how i’ve learned to deal with this sort of thing. i didn’t develop a sense of joy in my academic study until i realized that what really matters is the work itself. it’s not about trying to impress anybody or trying to earn a specific grade. it’s all about loving the work, the reading, the writing, the critical conversation. and i think you do love those things, and you do enjoy your academic work when you can get out of your own way about it. now, where i’m at in my career, i have to think about what gets me up in the morning, and that’s not publishing 20 articles a year or seeking external approval. what it is, is writing, reading, and teaching about what I love, my own little academic world that i’ve created.” – prof c

 “i wrote shitty papers in college, and i still got a phd. you’re not supposed to know everything yet! you’re still learning! you know what, write that on a post-it and stick it on your laptop. you don’t have to know it all yet. you don’t have to be perfect.” – prof s

“while i can assure you that you should not feel like an imposter, i can also confess that the syndrome is common at all levels of academia – so you should not think yourself abnormal to be experiencing it.” (x)

“i hate to say/write this, but it’s sort of true: that you having these impostor-syndrome reactions, these worries about disappointing those you respect … to me, that sort of signals that you do have traits common to many successful academics! even people who have masses of success behind them – and, come to think of it, particularly the people who have a lot of cred *and* outside affirmation of it – suffer from impostor syndrome *if* (and the if is important) they genuinely care about the quality of their work. so: if it’s possible to think of these feelings as symptomatic of a characteristic many good academics share, then please do.                                                                                          (…) the important thing is this: how counterproductive it can be for self-sabotaging people to think of themselves as being ‘born’ to do something. it makes any possibility of missing the mark immediately existential. academic work is something one chooses because one has a strong interest in a certain field of study, an ability to study and produce credible work (as judged by ‘authorities’ in said field), and a social possibility to choose to proceed in that direction. sometimes, i, at least, find it helpful to remind myself of the simple facts of this.                       (…) i do think it’s important to put the activating gesture of entering grad school very firmly in your own hands. you are choosing this. you are choosing it because you want it, others have said that you are capable, and you have the practical possibility of choosing it. this is enough. the work will be enough without the existential heft, and the existential heft will not make the work better.” – s

me: oh, mighty professor, bearer of knowledge infinitely superior to mine, I humbly beg thee to answer my lowly cries for help interpreting the sacred texts which I, but a small pupil of your elite occupation, dutifully study at your excellency's demand. pray tell, will you condescend to clarify, when the moment pleases you, to which of my meager mathematical calculations does this elaborate visual diagram apply?

Wake up to your phone on the other side of the room so you're forced to get out of bed to grab it and do your morning scroll for social media

Have your meds in a visible area like in the fridge next to the milk or juice that you drink every morning or beside the coffee pot so you take them with your morning coffee

When you want to do homework, tidy your space, get a drink, put shoes on, then start work - do this every time until your brain registers the physicality of that routine of tidy, drink, shoes to equal 'work now'

If you have a pet, feed them around the time you want to have dinner each night - that animal will register the routine and help you stick to it.

Want to remember something but apps, reminders, and notes don't seem to work? Write them on your bathroom mirror or buy a whiteboard and stick it in your kitchen. And dont write in black - write in your favourite colours,or in multiple colours, and don't deny yourself the chance to be silly with the whiteboard. If you designate it a work only space, you'll never use it - so draw on it, write quotes on it, be silly with friends. The more you use your whiteboard, the more likely you are to read the important reminders on it. :)

People with ADHD need routine but neurotypical routines don't work for us because a lot of NT routines inherently rely on having the executive function to get moving - we don't have that. We need mental triggers to spark that, something that grounds us in the moment and helps spark the intention into productivity.

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Also, hack for motivation to clean?

^^^^This? Is an absolute fucking disaster for people with ADHD.

The kind of “routine” that helps with ADHD is different: it’s linking together tasks in the day.

Instead of working out a specific time slot in which to do all your Tasks, you just do this: “This week, I’m going to try to make breakfast right after my shower, while my hair is drying”

If you want to organize your life as a person with ADHD, start with something you do reliably do every day (or almost every day) and try to link another task onto it, a small one.

Please, please, please do not try to work out your ENTIRE schedule all at once. You’re just building a chain: start with two links, then three, and so on.

This means you don’t have to gather the mental effort for each individual task, you can just “ride” the current activity, and you can get on the train at any time.