*hugs you all* Because today is a day for hugs, and I’m going to run out of spoons if I go putting hugs in everyone’s ask box.
Feel free to reblog this to give a hug to every one of your followers.
*who is comfortable with being hugged. If you do not like hugs or are uncomfortable with physical contact, or even just prefer not a hug from someone not a mutual friend, cookies or other snacks suitable for your dietary needs and restrictions.
Jessamine: 2 Mice: 0
I have three of them in the container in the freezer right now. I just hope the mice stay out of the apartment the weekend of Philcon, because I do not need to come home to a half-eaten mouse.
Methos would have a tumblr account full of shitposts and memes and cat videos, with the occassional vagueblogging about his Immortal friends, Watchers, and whatever anon hate has lately graced his askbox. Which he cheerfully deletes without posting, because he’s too old for that shit.
And he keeps his current life’s brick-space activities off his tumblr, because tumblr doesn’t need to know his current brick-space life, and he doesn’t need his current brick-space life to find his tumblr.
WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!
KING. What’s he that wishes so?
My cousin, Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say “These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.”
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words—
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester—
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
William Shakespeare’s Henry V, in Act IV Scene iii 18–67 (via jhaernyl)
*hugs you all* Because today is a day for hugs, and I’m going to run out of spoons if I go putting hugs in everyone’s ask box.
Feel free to reblog this to give a hug to every one of your followers.
*who is comfortable with being hugged. If you do not like hugs or are uncomfortable with physical contact, or even just prefer not a hug from someone not a mutual friend, cookies or other snacks suitable for your dietary needs and restrictions.
Bleah. Have an appointment to take my laptop in to the local authorized repair shop tomorrow and see if they can fix the laptop’s screen issues and for how much. Here’s hoping it’s not too expensive. (And that they can do in-shop repairs same-day, and dad can thus ransom the laptop on his way home from work.)
And whether or not that happens, I’m looking at getting a new computer. Which, considering that I do not have the spoons to learn a new operating system, is going to be a Mac, means I’m looking at a pretty chunk of change I don’t actually have. And I’m not getting another laptop, I’m getting a desktop, because for the most part, I don’t need the portability, and when I do, I have my phone for internet, and actual physical notebooks for writing long-hand. And if with mom, the iPad.
Still, I’m looking at $1200 for the computer + trackpad + keyboard, especially since I want solid-state hard drive, not spinning. My brother has extra monitors, so not adding another chunk of change on that. (And even if I did, I’d still be paying less than I would for a comparable laptop, the fuck.)
I’m going to look at Patreon, and see what I can do with that, because if I can get that running enough to pay down a balance on a credit card, I don’t have to worry about having the money up-front. Or crowd-funding options to get enough in my bank account to afford to pay the whole thing up-front. Something.
*sighs, and thumps head against the wall a moment*
It’s a five-year-old laptop. It’s not surprising I’m having issues (although the screen issue has been an intermittant thing for the last three years, really). It’s just really annoying, and replacing this is going to be a pain in the ass.
Just as a heads up to people – I’m doing another pass through my follows this evening to unfollow people I’d missed in the last pass that I tend to mute and/or tend to end up with a bunch of blocked posts on my dashboard w/my blacklist.
This is not a value judgement of anyone, but doing things to cope with the anxiety brain weasel that’s been very, very loud since about April.
Edit: 111 to 83, and there are still probably another twenty or so that the guilt over unfollowing people is being louder than the need to reduce input to manageable levels at the moment. Both of which are anxiety brain weasel related. Which means there will be another run through the follows before the end of the year.
Another season of Leverage watched, with some internal screaming over Eliot’s shoulders.*
Down to most of the bottom hem to finish on the sewing project tomorrow. And a new project added to my mental queue of a blasted pin cushion. My fingers will thank me for not stabbing them while reaching into the cup that currently holds the straight pins.
*Just. broad shoulders that are nicely muscled with a proper overlay of fat to pad them are. really. fucking. appealing. ok? Also, his physicality is likewise appealing. He’s not the only one who is, he just hits some very specific buttons. I mean, can you imagine being cuddled by that? Just. All wrapped up and snuggling into him. GAH!
*stomps off muttering to themself about pretty men and a very annoying case of skin hunger*
Have you heard him sing yet?
(Christian Kane has a band IRL, too.)
*grins broadly* I need to check how much more I need to acquire, because I haven’t been very good about getting more since his first album came out. Mostly because my eclectic taste in music has been wandering elsewhere.
(I had a reminder today about why I fucking adore his singing, because third season has the county music episode, and fuck damnit.)
Another season of Leverage watched, with some internal screaming over Eliot’s shoulders.*
Down to most of the bottom hem to finish on the sewing project tomorrow. And a new project added to my mental queue of a blasted pin cushion. My fingers will thank me for not stabbing them while reaching into the cup that currently holds the straight pins.
*Just. broad shoulders that are nicely muscled with a proper overlay of fat to pad them are. really. fucking. appealing. ok? Also, his physicality is likewise appealing. He’s not the only one who is, he just hits some very specific buttons. I mean, can you imagine being cuddled by that? Just. All wrapped up and snuggling into him. GAH!
*stomps off muttering to themself about pretty men and a very annoying case of skin hunger*
Quote from this article:
“That we so often maintain that Eastern objects in Viking Age graves
could only be the result of plundering and eastward trade doesn’t hold
up as an explanatory model because the inscriptions appear in typical
Viking Age clothing that have their counterparts in preserved images of
Valkyries.”
Fuck yes thank you thank you thank you more widespread acknowledgement of this fucking PLEASE
This would be awesome if I could trust the research was well done.
To quote from people who have more clue than me, because this is their balliwick:
These come from a discussion on the Historic Tablet Weaving group on FaceBook where there is a low level of kookness and a good level of People Who Know What They Are Talking About. – The Weaving Laurel I have immediate access to, on the above screen caps.
(I do not have links because (1) I do not have Facebook and thus cannot directly access the group, (2) these comments are buried in posts and (3) may or may not be accessible outside of the group. If you would like more on this, the group name is in fact in the quote provided on the origins of the screencaps.)
Annika Larsson has also, in the past, presented research that is not done well as fact, with others expressing skepticism about the quality of her research and her findings*. Her current work – and the linked article above – would be awesome if she could better substantiate it. I hope that more evidence is provided, but until then, I will take this article and its originator with a large grain of salt.
*google “annika larsson apron dress -pinterest”. Not all results are skeptical of her claims, but some of the top links are. Specifically, as mostly accessible posts/articles – this, and this, both of which I have read, along with articles about the recreation that are not skeptical. The first link also links to a criticism of Larsson’s work that is in Swedish, and no longer available at its original location, but only as an archived capture of the original article.
I completely blanked out on this being Annika Larsson’s work! Yes, she’s known for having flashy theories (not von Däniken-magnitude of preposterous, more like jumping to Conclusions because Enthusiasm).
OTOH, in these cases what you might call a “weak form” of the theory (Arabic script found in Nordic textiles, possible Islamic influence) is still often interesting, even if a “strong form” (Viking Muslim communities!!!11!!) is an overreach. And the subject seems to spark strong emotions and lead to extremes (Viking Norse Ethnocultural Purity! vs. Birka Was As Diverse As Modern Stockholm!) – honestly, I’d rather err on the side of enthusiasm long enough to check the physical evidence, because dismissing theories simply because they are out there will never correct the assumptions that lead to misgendering burials.
As I said in my previous post on this, I would be 0% surprised to find out that some Vikings converted to Islam, because people are people and they did come into contact with Muslims both in the East (Central Asia, Middle East) and in Spain (Umayyads), sometimes even peacefully. However, there is no indication of any stable Muslim communities in the north, and I’d have to see much more convincing proof than these textiles, even if they did find legible Arabic script.
I would also be 0% suprised to find out that there are some textiles that do have Arabic script or patterns influenced by Arabic script, because Vikings imported silk and fancy things, and also there’s a tradition of copying pretty things – I’ve seen both genuine mediaeval Arabic coins found and finds of domestic copies of coins with mangled Arabic script made as jewellery by silversmiths who couldn’t read Arabic. So, Arabic script on clothing is not necessarily an indication of the wearer’s religion.
As for the band shown in the article, a similar if not the same band (it wasn’t identified in the article IIRC) is Birka 21, of which you can see a reconstruction here. Larsson’s reconstruction with the mirror has parts not found in that band, and I don’t have enough information on the actual textile finds (or Arabic script) to know if there are other examples that could not also be interpreted as the tooth/comb motif (widely popular around the Baltic).
*bounces gleefully* That reconstruction is awesome, and thank you for sharing that! (There was a moment of absolute glee when seeing the photos of that, because I recognize that technique, and the way the pattern was done at the bottom.)
And as for the rest, I could do a long bit about how I agree, but it’s easier to just go Yes! All of this!
There's a Mirror on the Wall 