A sophisticated human can become primitive. What this really means is that the human's way of life changes. Old values change, become linked to the landscape with its plants and animals. This new existence requires a working knowledge of those multiplex and cross-linked events usually referred to as nature. It requires a measure of respect for the inertial power within such natural systems. When a human gains this working knowledge and respect, that is called 'being primitive.' The converse, of course, is equally true: the primitive can become sophisticated, but not without accepting dreadful psychological damage.
from Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
63 notes
·
View notes
So helpful for understanding what a job description means by working knowledge.
0 notes
"I am going to get a good grade in ___________, a thing that is both normal to want and possible to achieve" drifts through my brain with positively alarming regularity.
7K notes
·
View notes
Joust ⚔
29K notes
·
View notes
Geraldine had spent many long hours giving Cal a working knowledge of her family tree, so that come Teresa's wedding he'd know who was who.
"Weaveworld" - Clive Barker
0 notes
everyone makes fun of soap when they find out how many hair and skin products he keeps on hand. the cabinet in his bathroom is filled to bursting and he always keeps travel sized bottles on him on missions
when soldiers outside the 141 find out, they call him precious and self-obsessed, a vain pretty boy too preoccupied with his reflection to focus on the enemy. no wonder how he got his callsign. price has given up telling him to leave them on base and just teaches him to individually wrap them so they don’t rattle against each other and give himself away
what they don’t know is that each product contains an ingredient that when mixed with any number of the others, creates potent chemical bombs. he was caught unarmed once, he won’t let it happen again
5K notes
·
View notes
strange fellas
3K notes
·
View notes
Dead Language Expert
Danny never thought that he could "major" in languages, and get a job as a translator. But apparently knowing all the dead languages by default and being able to time travel with the help of your ghost tutor was pretty useful outside of Amity.
It happened purely by chance, he was walking through a museum and started laughing because of a mistake in one of the sentences that completely changed the meaning of the text. The museum manager, of course, did not believe him, since many people had said that the piece was "impossible to translate". But he study it anyway.
Days later they were looking for him to translate all the things from that time. And he just carried on with it, in many more civilizations. In some cases he even asked for a few trips to the past to Clockwork to verify.
It got to a point where the wizards, heroes and villains over the world knew him as "the translator of dead languages" and some of them even tried to kidnap him to perform a summoning ritual. Danny rolled his eyes and easily freed himself, but the League assigned him an "escort" anyway.
Exasperated, the halfa escaped from his escorts and continued his work as normal. Superman almost fell out of his chair at the Watchtower meeting when he was informed that the boy had translated the language of Krypton and other missing planets. Besides having managed to lose both the Flash and Green Latern, what the fuck?
4K notes
·
View notes
Whooooooo’s ready for another conspiracy theory btw!
That ^? That’s Laios’ shirt
Think about it
Laios wears that style with the lil collar and v neck
(The height of the collar on this shirt is… interestingly variable from panel to panel, but that happens. It’s collared enough to show up under his over shirt later)
Kabru and Mithrun ran into Laios’ party’s old packs and took their shit
Mithrun got spidered the fuck up
Kabru a) has no spare clothes on him and b) is not that much bigger than Mithrun; he’s bigger, but not quite “swimming in his clothes” bigger
The only other Canary bigger than Mithrun is Lycion
And. Well. We know it’s not his.
Other options in the area are: Thistle, one of the few people tinier than Mithrun, and these guys
Yaad’s too short and his shirt is too fancy, Monsieur Mannequin has his elbows out, and if Delgal is wearing similar it’s a layer deep, so I doubt it
That’s Laios’ fucking shirt
And Mithrun’s wearing it for the full rest of the series so I mean whether Laios even noticed or not he’s probably not asking for that back
This is as usual entirely meaningless trivia I just like to make useless connections and enjoy the idea of the final dramatic showdown and Mithrun’s just stolen Laios’ shirt
1K notes
·
View notes
putting my prediction on record now that the coming decade is going to see the rise of viral-marketed fancy at-home water filtration systems, driving and driven by a drastic reduction in the quality of U.S. tap water (given that we are in a 'replacement era' where our current infrastructure is reaching the end of its lifespan--but isn't being replaced). also guessing that by the 2030s access to drinkable tap water will be a mainstream class issue, with low-income & unstably housed people increasingly forced to rely on expensive bottled water when they can't afford the up-front cost of at-home filtration--and with this being portrayed in media as a "moral failing" and short-sighted "choice," rather than a basic failure of our political & economic systems. really hope i'm just being alarmist, but plenty of this already happens in other countries, and the U.S. is in a state of decline, so. here's praying this post ages into irrelevance. timestamped April 2023
5K notes
·
View notes
i like those ff where zuko gets paid minimum wage
5K notes
·
View notes
Everytime I hear someone say "love is what makes us human"I think of that one guy who was trying to describe humanity and said humans were featherless bipedals and another guy responded to that claim by bringing in a plucked chicken saying "BEHOLD A MAN"
Like I could hold up a million animal species and say "BEHOLD A HUMAN" because they feel love. Something that isn't just a human experience.
The point being that describing a group based solely off a few features or emotions makes the definition too broad to claim that it is what makes that species said species.
Saying humans are humans cause they have no fur would include furless animals. Same with saying love is what defines humanity. Like either you think elephants don't feel love or elephants are human. Your dog doesn't actually love you or your dog is human.
You can't use vague overly broad concepts to define humans as a species. So maybe stop trying to dehumanize people for not feeling the same emotion as you in the same way you do?
3K notes
·
View notes
2K notes
·
View notes
Everytime SQQ mentions how much of a lazy pretty boy he is an alarm in my head going "NO NO FALSE THATS SO WRONG" goes off in my head. Like, you're lying!! You're such a lier!! The moment you transmigrated you jumped head first in going above and beyond with your second life!! You know how I know?
...He hasn't done it because he had a twisted hobby inflicting corporal punishment upon the great male lead, but because he just couldn't endure it any longer. After taking over Luo Binghe's education, he'd mulled it over and decided that since he was to be a role model and worthy teacher, he ought to at least do some proper teaching. This way, after they fell out in the future, he would be able to utter the phrase, "Within a master-disciple relationship lies the grace of knowledge passed down," without reddening from shame before the words left his mouth. Volume 2 pg. 234.
SQQ went above and beyond, and honest to goodness, BECAME an actual attentive teacher. A good one at that apparently! His students adore and respect him, his colleagues see no fault in his teaching, no faults found among his community for years!
And we have proof that his teaching paid off with Luo Binghe specifically. Because earlier in volume 2 there is this whole thing about Shen Qingqiu being particular on teaching Binghe proper footwork and how to outmaneuver his enemies, which then cuts to Binghe using these particular skills against Shen Qingqiu and he's like "shit! He's using the stuff I taught him against me! And doing it flawlessly!"
Like, he didn't have to go all in and *literally* become a teacher/scholar/peak lord hybrid like SJ, and then also do every aspect of it ten times better. For funsies. For the immersion. But he did. Lazy my ass!
I mean, we already knew that SQQ was a lying lier who lies, but heres another example lmao.
2K notes
·
View notes