too many things to be normal about

Art collab of my asexual disaster son, Jonathan Sims

Colors by @oifaaa

Lineart by @dragonpyre

Sketch by me

Art collab of my asexual disaster son, Jonathan Sims

Colors by @oifaaa

Lineart by @dragonpyre

Sketch by me

ok being serious here for a sec, but you absolutely can climb through air ducts and it's very fun!!!! If you move slow it's quiet, they are not full of filters and equipment (why would they be full of things that obstruct air flow????), and yeah they can be cold and windy but like, that's part of the fun? They're also not dusty, why would a place with extremely strong airflow be dusty?????

I feel like everybody vaguely remembers that one mythbusters episode and quotes it like that was the be-all and end-all of HVAC duct traversal wisdom

The air systems I installed usually had a branching design where the main corridor off of the air intake was in theory big enough for a person, but each branch gets progressively smaller, because this is more efficient, because the farther from the pumps the less air pressure the system has. So while there are large enough vents exist, they are not the majority of vents. Second, these often had crossbars to strengthen them at regular intervals, which would at the very least make traversing them awkward. Third, while some vents have the structural support where a worker could rest their weight on it, and thus presumably a person could go in it, again, this is only true of some vents in a larger system. Fourth, while not dusty per se, the inside of old vent systems are sometimes full of crusty white limescale from condensation. I remember replacing one such system that had been installed in the 1980s. Definitely not the clean interior you see in the movies. Fifth, on the matter of equipment that restricts air flow, most vent systems actually have firestoppers at regular intervals so that a vent can be closed off so that smoke and fire cannot move through the building via the air system. Sometimes literally blocking the flow of air is a good thing!

All true, and those conditions are pretty much guaranteed to converge in a machine room of a large building! Also you don't need blueprints if you just walk around and look up.

Furthermore! You'd be surprised how narrow of a space a fully grown adult can squeeze through with a bit of practice. Turn your head sideways and scoot forward on your toes, with your arms straight to keep your shoulders narrow. But yes, it's easiest near the fans, where the ducts are big and you can shuffle on your elbows. You can even traverse vertical ducts if somebody has tied off a rope to a cross bar and you sort of shrimp-scrunch and have a bit of faith.

And yeah at a certain point you can't go any further, usually not more than one or two branches. So it's not great for infiltrating places, but its still a lot of fun!! It's great to wiggle around in dark spaces with a headlamp, scratches the same itch as caving but much safer, except for the screws.

There is a scene in this version where, after Gilgamesh and Enkidu meet, where Gilgamesh goes to his mother Ninsun to tell her about him and Ninsun responds to Gilgamesh (in a fragmentary section) that he is a hairy wild man that has no family, and Enkidu collapses and bursts into tears. As I said it’s fragmentary but the interpretation seems to be that she thinks Enkidu won’t make a suitable partner for him.

This edition contains a related poem, “Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld,” where Enkidu is summoned from the realm of the dead by Gilgamesh

(there’s a manuscript that directly continues their story with Enkidu alive from here, which suggests that Gilgamesh rescued Enkidu alive from the netherworld in the minds of some Sumerians. But there are lot of parallel timelines and different versions of the stories with them.)

Anyway, that poem contains, well, this:

@magsintherain excellent question! I would have to dig deeply and do more research for a full understanding of the answer; what DID ancient sumerians generally see to be “the” story of Gilgamesh?…would they disagree on it?…was the poem we understand as THE epic of Gilgamesh seen as more reliable or more authoritative about the story…?

But I can say that the distinction between “canon” and “fanfic” is a modern invention. Arguably, “fanfic” is closer to how storytelling worked for most of human history.

The term “canon” is derived from the Christian tradition to describe works that are considered divinely inspired and/or sanctioned by the church, distinguishing them from other extra-canonical writings. It is interesting to note that in this original sense, “canon” isn’t a self-evident reality, it is something that had to be created to suppress the proliferation of different understandings of the same story.

There is a scene in this version where, after Gilgamesh and Enkidu meet, where Gilgamesh goes to his mother Ninsun to tell her about him and Ninsun responds to Gilgamesh (in a fragmentary section) that he is a hairy wild man that has no family, and Enkidu collapses and bursts into tears. As I said it’s fragmentary but the interpretation seems to be that she thinks Enkidu won’t make a suitable partner for him.

This edition contains a related poem, “Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld,” where Enkidu is summoned from the realm of the dead by Gilgamesh

(there’s a manuscript that directly continues their story with Enkidu alive from here, which suggests that Gilgamesh rescued Enkidu alive from the netherworld in the minds of some Sumerians. But there are lot of parallel timelines and different versions of the stories with them.)

Anyway, that poem contains, well, this:

@magsintherain excellent question! I would have to dig deeply and do more research for a full understanding of the answer; what DID ancient sumerians generally see to be “the” story of Gilgamesh?…would they disagree on it?…was the poem we understand as THE epic of Gilgamesh seen as more reliable or more authoritative about the story…?

But I can say that the distinction between “canon” and “fanfic” is a modern invention. Arguably, “fanfic” is closer to how storytelling worked for most of human history.

The term “canon” is derived from the Christian tradition to describe works that are considered divinely inspired and/or sanctioned by the church, distinguishing them from other extra-canonical writings. It is interesting to note that in this original sense, “canon” isn’t a self-evident reality, it is something that had to be created to suppress the proliferation of different understandings of the same story.

a. She’s 5′ 11″ and can never find pants long enough for her legs or shirts long enough for her arms.

b. She hates synthetic fibers as much as I do and it’s difficult to find natural fiber clothes that aren’t made of cotton

c. She’s a biologist and would physically fistfight microplastics if given half a chance

So her gift from mom and dad for her birthday was a sewing machine. Not a super expensive one but a good solid serviceable one.

And recently she asked “So where do I GET wool or linen and thread that isn’t polyester” and mom was like ‘go ask your sister’

“Bets, u know I’m a 15th degree blackbelt of buying shit on the internet”

cotton and Silk thread; https://redrockthreads.com/

Linen thread and wool fabric; https://burnleyandtrowbridge.com/ (they’ve got wool stuffs and worsted wool fabric for $15 a yard! I just got three yards of navy worsted wool I’m making a constellation winter skirt from)

More linen thread and wool; https://wmboothdraper.com/ (just ordered wool broadcloth to make a coat)

Silk fabric (THE best place to get silk lining fabrics and raw silk fabric):https://www.dharmatrading.com/

A varying assortment of wool and silk and cotton and even some leather, use coupon code  spring2020 for 50% off your full order, worked yesterday when I bought some stuff there; https://metrotextilesnyc.com/

The Linen Lab has a variety of weaves, weights, and colors available