Untitled

FINALLY MY PIECE FOR @boromir-week is done!!!

For Day 6: Change of fate

If it is hot, you will need to drink more than normally because you are sweating. You can drink too much, though usually your body knows how to regulate it.

Yes, if it is liquid and not alcoholic it counts to your drinking intake. Yes, drinking lemonades, coke and whatever counts. All of it is still mostly water with some sugar and flavors added. It is fine. Be careful about taking in too much caffeine though, as it is a mild diuretic (means it makes you pee more and hence lose more water).

Yes, you also need electrolytes as you sweat them out. But you do not need to drink sports drinks. Eat some yoghurt with fruits, or some watermelon with salt, or maybe cold soup. It will refill your electrolytes.

No, it is not dangerous for you to sleep in front of a ventilator. This is a complete myth that has absolutely no basis in science whatsoever and literally originates with an Urban Legend. Especially with the recent heat wave in Europe for a lot of people the alternative is the possibility of heat stroke. It is fine. Sleep in front of that ventilator. Just make sure you are not getting too cold.

No, using sunscreen does not stop you from taking in Vitamin D, unless you are permanently using super high standard sun screen and are reapplying it every 6 hours as intended. And let's face it: you are not. Your skin gets enough UVB to make Vitamin D, don't worry about it. Skin cancer is worse.

Yes, switching between a very hot outside and a very cold context (be it super high AC or just jumping into cold water) can be a danger for your cardiovascular system, though unless the weather is very hot or the water very cold making the contrast very extreme, it is normally not a danger to people who do not have otherwise issues with their cardiovascular system. Though being a bit careful and allowing yourself to acclimatize is not a bad idea in general.

Yes, you should definitely not leave any living thing in a car while it is hot. Just don't. Cars heat up while standing very quickly and will become a death trap. If you leave an animal or a child alone in the car for even just 5 to 10 minutes, they might die. Don't do that shit.

Yes, you need to be extra careful about your medications. For once, most medications are not meant to be stored at above 25°C (don't ask me what this is in American units). But also a bunch of medications - especially psychoactive medications - will make your body worth at temperature regulation. So be careful.

Yes, you need shadow. Ideally the shadow of trees, because there is indeed a difference between that and the shadow of a building. But any shadow is good, especially during extreme heat.

In the same vein: be also careful about drugs during heat waves - like, the recreational type. Some of them work differently when your body is warmed up like that. Just... ideally read up online on possible side effects that might occur/be worse if taken during the heat.

Hi hello! I have not become a missing person; I'm just in the middle of my ranger season and haven't had reliable access to WiFi. Daily activities have included! Night hiking, hunting for aquatic macroinvertebrates, quilting, mimicking gray-cheeked salamanders, mimicking fireflies, inadvertently attracting owls, avoiding elk, wrangling chickens, dressing in 19th century garb and baking cornbread on the hearth of a 126-year old house, other duties as assigned. A standard season!

Anyway, I saw this ren faire photo from user Shakespeare922 on reddit and had to turn it into twentysomething Boromir suited up for tournament. HAD to.

BOTH of those terms explicitly position Rohan first and foremost as a border zone, and that seems to me like a notably odd way to conceptualize your own country because it’s relational. You aren’t defined as yourself; you’re defined as the edge of someone else. It’d be like if the U.S. was called “Land of the People South of Canada.” (I don’t hate that, TBH.)

In Rohan’s case, the border they’re talking about can only be Gondor’s. It’s the most consequential border they have by far, and it’s the border that explains their entire existence as a kingdom. It’s why Cirion gave the land to Eorl in the first place — yes, he was grateful for Eorl’s help, but also (and explicitly) he wanted a friendly neighbor on Gondor’s northern/western edges whose kingdom would insulate core Gondorian territory from historical enemies.

With that being the founding purpose of Rohan, it’s not surprising for that role to become inextricably tied to the identity of the kingdom. But I do find it surprising that it was the Rohirrim themselves who chose to reflect that borderland identity in their kingdom’s own native name. They didn’t call their country Land of the Horses (which is essentially what the Sindarin word “Rohan” means) or name themselves after Eorl or import some name of an ancestral place from their northern days. In the most authentic expression of who they are — how they identify themselves in their own language and when speaking only to each other — they chose to identify themselves as the riders who protect Gondor’s flank. You can put forward several different theories about why that might be the case,* but whatever the ultimate cause I just think it’s INTERESTING to think about.

Legolas: The heck was that?

Aragorn: He said good morning.

Legolas: He did?

Frodo: I thought you would… understand that?

Legolas: I’ve never heard someone speak like that before…it was strange, and stilted, and you used full words the whole time.

Aragorn: Elves may sound fancy to us, Frodo, but they speak slang, and almost exclusively in metaphors.

Frodo: Oh.

Legolas: Aragorn has described it as ‘a monstrosity of a language’.

Gimli: Dwarves have a better language.

Legolas: You do.

Gimli: Ha! You admit- wait, you admit it?

Legolas: Elves curse by using the names of trees. Tree names! You have actually cusses. Do you know what I would give to cuss, just once in my life, Gimli? Do you know what I would give to tell someone to f- f- f- I can’t even say it.

Gimli: You can’t say fuck?

Legolas: …I have an idea.

-

Legolas: The-

Gimli: Fuck.

Legolas: -are you talking about?

Boromir: Why did we let the dwarf start swearing for the elf?