TedraKitty

examples:

John William Waterhouse official site

In middle school biology, we did an experiment. We were given yams, which we would sprout in cups of water. We then had to make hypotheses about how the yams would grow, based on descriptions of yam plants in our books, and make notes of our observations as they grew.

Here’s what was supposed to happen: we were supposed to see that the actual growth of the plant did not resemble our hypotheses. We were then supposed to figure out that these were, in fact, sweet potatoes.

What actually happened was that every single student in every single class lied in their notes so that their observations perfectly matched their hypotheses. See, everyone assumed the mismatch meant they had done something wrong in the process of growing the plant or that they had misunderstood the dichotomous key or the plant identification terminology. And, thanks to the wonders of a public school education, everyone assumed the wrong results would get us a failing grade. We were trying to pass. We didn’t want to get bitched out by the teacher. Curiosity, learning, science - that had nothing to do with why we were sitting in that classroom. So we all lied.

The teacher was furious. She tried to fail every student, but the administration stepped in and told her she wasn’t allowed to because a 100% fail rate is recognized as a failure of the teacher, not the class. It wasn’t even her fault, really, though her being a notorious hard-ass didn’t help. It was a failure of the entire educational system.

you might be aware of the gene OR6A2 which, when expressed, makes “the aldehyde part of cilantro” taste like soap. there’s another one associated with broccoli. here’s a 2008 NPR article on the subject. we were very aware of it in high school Introduction to Biotechnology bc our teacher got us little test strips with one of those specific chemicals on them, and yep,

some students said soap, some students said nope.

no penalty for either side, obviously, bc the point was to be precise about your answer because we were about to test our own DNA (AWESOME) for the presence of one of the markers that controls soaptaste.

this was going to be awesome.

we had all learned muchly about DNA structure and gel electrophoresis and things and this was the big application step: hypothesize about your family members, yourself, and learn something about your internal code!!! cool!!!!!

so, to do gel electrophoresis, you need to put the whole setup in a warm bath with this protein which snips apart the DNA in specific places. DNA is magnetic, and the strands of different lengths are dragged with magnetic fields through the gel, with longer pieces being dragged more-strongly (which translates to distance traveled in the gel).

the company who gave our school the proteins fucked them up.

everyone’s results were ruined.

the whole class, indiscriminately.

so wha happened ?

teacher was honest with us, fast: turns out the only way you can know the protein supply broke for sure on tight school time is to test it on all the students :( sorry guys. so, this was an incredible opportunity to teach us the following science concept:

you can finish your report if part of the process broke.

she had us describe exactly what we saw (sad busted gels) and carefully write in our lab notebooks what we expected and what must have gone wrong and why. there were control bands that no one saw because the snipping didn’t occur, which means … this.

and then it was over. students got points just like normal, for writing out the process thoroughly.

you gotta understand how pissed i was that i couldn’t know my results—this was the coolest shit in our schedule, using our own DNA—but now i’m realizing the sense of safety i was gifted in that class. that was a good teacher, being honest about the circumstances, thinking on her feet, and teaching us how to own a failure. that’s some life knowledge. that’s some SCIENCE.

⠀

i really liked shaking the micropipettes. they have this perfect weight distribution for shakey shakey shakey by the wrist.

Cutting - in my opinion, the most labor intensive part of the process. The amount of time/effort needed varies depending on the pattern and if seam allowance is included or marked separately, but no matter what this process can not be done by machine. Each and every panel and piece of fabric that goes into a garment must be cut by hand by a person.

Pinning/clipping - pinning (or clipping) is the stage at which you align the pieces you are going to be stitching together and hold them together with — you guessed it! — either pins or clips. This can not be done by machine.

Stitching - the actual sewing. This can be done by a sewing machine, but that machine still needs to be operated by a human being.

Ironing/pressing - two words that mean the same thing. The iron itself is a machine, but once again, it needs to be operated by a human being.

Finishing - depending on the technique you use, there are certain finishing techniques that can only be done by hand. But, let’s assume we’re talking about fast fashion, which is usually just finished with a simple overlock/serger. Once again: these machines need to be operated by people.

These are just the basic steps to making a garment, and don’t include textile arts that I am not as knowledgeable about, such as weaving, knitting, and crochet. Also, it is important to note that there are a lot of things that can only be done by hand, such as certain stitches and decorative techniques.

Also, the machinery being operated in textile factories is not equivalent to a domestic sewing machine. We’re talking about one of these guys:

See that gray cylinder under the table, behind the knee pedal? That’s the motor. These machines can sew through your fingers bones and all and not even stop. The people in these factories and sweatshops are operating heavy machinery, and are subject to all the risk that comes with that in addition to all of the work I mentioned above.

That's bad enough!!!!!!!! But the entire idea of needing permission from state authorities to access anything labeled mature by our friendly AI overlords is some fucking Boll shit. Die Gedenken Sind Frie baby. This is all a reaction to people getting uppity about their lowly lowly rights and is being propped up by the same bad actors tht have made life unlivable. Fuck that shit.

"Well it's only being rolled out in Brazil and UK" Yeah, to start. "Well they're being forced to do this by laws." YOu know it's always really funny when these tech giants (Or whatever you call owning tumblr dot com) get really antsy about laws considering they pick and choose which ones they abide by.

The first time the Muppets would want to get the Rivals on, they can't (Ilya's Manager isn't Yuna yet) (I don't care about canon timeline they're my dollies now let's not pay attention to when the Muppets were actually airing) but they DO reference them. Miss Piggy wears Ilya's jersey (sweater?) bedazzled, ofc and says magnifique, non? And the Boston team is all shouting the only french words they know for an entire month and it's Ilya spamming Jane with Kermit pictures that he thinks that Shane looks just like.

it isn't until later, when Ilya is being handled by much better people for him and playing for the Centaurs and "in much better colors for me anyway, darling" that he's grinning on the Muppet Show beside Miss Piggy and his husband is backstage with Kermit making the same face over the schedule.

and then this kid, this one kid who is always very eager to answer questions and is always kind to his classmates, raised his hand looking a little bothered. now for context, i emphasize thinking for yourself in my classroom, even if that means disagreeing with something i say and he has echoed some stuff that his parents clearly have told him before. he's not a bad kid or an asshole, he's just an 18 year old with conservative parents who otherwise knows nothing about politics. but he just looks so bothered after i explain this about dirty arguing techniques. big frown on his face. looking unsure. when i nod at him to speak, he says, in a very quiet voice, "didn't -- didn't charlie kirk used to do that?"

and i was like. well yes. yes he was famous for stuff like this.

and then the kid looked down and was just like, "oh. i thought he was just really good at debating. i never watched his videos though, only clips. why would he do that?"

Scolopax minor, American woodcock