Icon by @ThatSpookyAgent. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. BlueSky: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. The X-Files. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.

“These animals are phantoms as well as monsters. They are, because they exist; if they were not, reason would be justified. They are the amphibia of death. Their improbability complicates their existence. They border on the human frontier, and people the region of Chimeras. You deny the vampire, the octopus appears. Their swarming is a certainty which disconcerts our assurance. Optimism, which is the truth, nevertheless almost loses countenance before them.”

— Victor Hugo, still completely losing what little chill he possessed over the existence of the octopus.  (via pilferingapples)

Lost Arthurian Kingdom May Be Found

oftempestsandteacups:

historical-nonfiction:

You probably are familiar with Camelot and Avalon. Legendary places in British legends, they were places the Knights of the Round Table and King Arthur visited or lived, sometime in the unsettled 500s between the collapse of Roman power and the coming of Saxon invaders. One of the less-well-known places in Arthurian legend is Rheged. It was home to a famous knight in the legends: Sir Owain, son of King Urian and Morgan le Fay, the man who killed the Black Knight. And now archaeologists may have found Rheged.

The researchers were drawn to Trusty’s Hill, a hill fort in Galloway in Southern Scotland, beccause there are pictish symbols carved into its bedrock. They are unique in the region, and archaeologists (plus 60 volunteers) wanted to survey what they could about the mysterious Picts. And in the course of their examination in summer 2016, archaeologists realized they had accidentally uncovered something else: the Pictish symbols seemed to form a symbolic entranceway, which in many sites in Scotland is associated with royalty. Had they found a royal stronghold? Then the dig uncovered pottery from France, and a workshop exclusively to produce costly fine metalwork and jewelry, which support that the site was a significant trade center at the time.

image

Putting everything together, it seemed they had accidentally uncovered a royal hillfort stronghold, which flourished sometime around 600 CE under the rule of Britons who lived in Galloway. The region’s wealth, demonstrated by the finds at Trusty’s Hill, make it the strongest contender we have for the legendary kingdom of Rheged. We are pretty sure Rheged existed because of it is mentioned in Arthurian legends dating to the 1100s, and because Urien of Rheged was praised in verse by Taliesen, a poet we know lived around the 500s CE.

@electrarhodes

“

The rot of bad faith and sheer malevolence at the core of Trump’s claim that Obamacare is already “gone” need to be fully appreciated. Trump is not only rolling back the last administration’s efforts to reach the uninsured; he is also telling the American people that a government program that is up and running and designed to help people get health coverage they can’t afford no longer exists. This, even as he and Republicans have already confirmed that they are incapable of producing a replacement, despite his promises otherwise.
 
 

Trump’s incompetence is a key reason why he and Republicans failed to pass an affirmative plan of their own for the many millions of people currently benefiting from the ACA. But that incompetence isn’t preventing his malevolence from destroying what is already there for them.

”

— Trump’s incompetence will not save us from his malevolence (via wilwheaton)

rudjedet:

thoodleoo:

so our students watched disney’s hercules in class and as a justification for it we had them fill out a viewer guide, and i have to say, watching middle schoolers try to explain or phonetically spell greek names and terms that they have mostly never seen before in writing is quite entertaining. here are some of my particular favorites:

the muses

  • mueses
  • musises (really fun to say if you pronounce it “moo-see-says”) (go on, try it, i’ll wait)
  • the gospels (i’m guessing this person got confused by the song title)
  • prostitutes, “because they wear togas”

zeus

  • most people who mispelled zeus mispelled it as zues, but one person spelled it zesus, which really amused me

satyr

  • saroph
  • ceatar
  • sader
  • seder (wrong religion there bud)
  • sephora (???)

thebes

  • theives
  • phebs
  • thez
  • theas
  • feebs
  • dedes
  • thebies
  • dees (go on, make the joke we’re all thinking of)

achilles

  • akeles
  • acillies
  • achieles
  • arcillies
  • acileus
  • acylese
  • acelues
  • and my personal favorite, because it’s more accurate than the student probably knows it is: akilles

The prostitute bit reminds me of Mike telling a story the other day about how he, while teaching changing cultural values for Roman women, was explaining that eventually only prostitutes wore togas. Complicated historical material for eleven and twelve year-olds, you know, so there were bound to be questions, right?

So one of them raised their hand and went “sir, what’s a prostitute?”.

Which Mike, as a Belgian, did not see coming because he just assumes that all Dutch kids are at least aware of the term prostitute.

Cultural perception lessons all around that day. 

Quebec set to pass law banning face coverings for anyone receiving public service — even a bus ride

cbc.ca
Muslim women in Quebec who wear a burka or niqab could soon be required to uncover their faces to ride a city bus under a proposed provincial law.

fucknomontreal:

The bill, Vallée said, is unlike the PQ’s failed values charter in that it doesn’t target religious symbols. The law would also apply, for instance, to masked protesters.

“We’re talking about having the face uncovered. It’s not what is covering the face,” she said.

Yeah, no. Call us when it’s -40 out and people aren’t allowed on the bus til they’ve unwrapped their scarves, removed their hoods and (god forbid) peeled off balaclavas.

(heads up @allthecanadianpolitics this garbage again)