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This is my cat.

His name is Eddie Potato.

Eddie Potato came home with us from the animal shelter in January (so about 9 months ago, now). He was around five years old, and had been living on the street before he was picked up by the cops and brought to the state run shelter (my boy was arrested for loitering). When we met him, he was sick, mite-infested, and covered in matted fur, scratches, and bites: but he was also very sweet, and very friendly, and he was already fixed, so we knew he must have once had a home with some loving humans.

[Eddie at his first vet appointment, trying to hide behind a paper towel.]

We'll never know what Eddie's first family was like, of course: but within a couple of weeks of adopting him, we were able to make a few guesses. He was happy to be pet, and calm about being picked up: but the only way he had to let us know that he'd like us to stop petting him was to swat our hands away, claws out. He'd then watch us, very closely, a little tense; like he was either expecting to be scolded for scratching, or expecting us to try to touch him again.

This told us that he had an affectionate family, but maybe not one that respected his boundaries. Maybe it was a family with kids, or maybe just a loving but pushy owner.

He's a medium-to-long haired cat, so he needs a bit of grooming to stay hygienic around his, let's say, pants area. I bought some quality clippers and a pet grooming electric razor. The clippers he was completely calm about: he let me trim the mats out of his fur very calmly, even the ones behind his ears.

The razor terrified him. I mean, he knew what it was on sight. He was sitting next to me on the couch when I took it out of the box, and the moment he saw it, his ears went back; he crouched low and fearful; and then jumped down and ran out of the room.

Okay; so his first family groomed him, or took him to a groomer, that was obvious: and it was probably a 'hold him down and get it over with' kind of experience, given how frightened he was.

He was very sweet, and very gentle - except when he wanted you to stop petting him. This was a cat who expected kindness, who believed that the humans around him were his friends: but he'd learned that his friends wouldn't listen to him when he told them to stop unless he drew a little bit of blood.

We just thought: wow, this cat is a really good communicator. He is being, like, so clear.

Eddie Potato is a very stupid boy - uncommonly stupid, even for a cat - so we prepared ourselves for it to take a while for him to learn that things had changed. We paid very close attention to him while we were petting him for the signs leading up to that swat, and we got better and better at stopping before the swat ever came.

I let him get used to the razor very slowly: for the first week, I just set it next to his food bowl at dinner time, about a foot away, so he could see it while he was at his happiest. For the next week, I'd pick up the razor, and move it around while he ate. The week after that, I turned it on for a few seconds, so he could start to get used to the noise. The week after that, it went on for most of his meal time, and I moved it around his body while I pet him: so he could start to associate the razor sound with nice touching.

Then I groomed him. And he was - fine. A little bit antsy, but fine. Happily munching away at his dinner while I neatened up his pantaloons. I usually only had about a minute before he made it clear that he wanted it to stop, but that was okay: I just groomed him for a minute or so for two or three days in a row, until the job was done.

After four months, Eddie Potato wasn't scared of the razor at all anymore.

And it broke my heart a little bit, because his first family had clearly loved him. And Eddie is a cat who needs to be groomed! And it had obviously always been a scary and stressful experience for him. But it didn't have to be! He just needed patience! Surely, if the people he had lived with before had known that he could learn to not be afraid in just a few months, they would have tried.

Teaching him that he didn't need to swat didn't take much longer. It was so clear that this was not a cat who wanted to hurt us. Once we got the hang of stopping before he got tired or stressed out by petting, the swatting went away completely.

What was so sweet was what he learned to do instead: when he was done with being pet, he started placing his big paws on my hand, and gently but firmly pushing it away.

"Oh, okay!" I'd say. "We're done!" and take my hand away. And he'd watch me, for two or three seconds: and then he'd start to purr like crazy, and push under my hand again.

He wanted to be pet. He just wanted to know that he could make it stop if he wanted to!

It's been months now since the last time Eddie swiped at either of us. Sometimes, he likes to play his little push-away game for ten or twenty minutes at a time! He rolls onto his back for a belly rub, and I do for a few minutes; then he pushes my hand away, and watches to make sure I listened; then he rolls onto his back again for more belly rubs. The whole time purring, purring, purring. Eddie loves his belly rubs, and he loves being listened to just as much.

I'm just so proud of him! He's had such a hard and scary year: losing his family, living on the street, ending up in a kill shelter, going to a strange new home with strange new people. And he still extended his friendship and trust to us, and let us show him that he doesn't need to be scared anymore, of razors or hands or thunderstorms or the sound of traffic. He's so dumb and so small and he's had so much happen to him, and now he gets exactly as much petting as he likes, and he isn't afraid to get his pantaloons trimmed.

Like. That's my little guy. I get to make sure he'll be okay from now on.

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one thing about homer and greek tragedy is that most of it is about the ruling class of mythological characters, which means that all of them own slaves. it's assumed. it's also explicit.

there are people born into slavery and people sold into slavery. there are high status concubines, and low status enslaved women also being abused and assaulted. there are derogatory comments about the nature of slaves. there are enslaved people who are said to be more noble than others because they were literally, at one point, nobles. there are enslaved characters with tragic backstories and enslaved people with no stories at all. there's anxiety about fortunes overturning and making free people into slaves, and anxiety about slaves overturning their fortunes on their masters. slavery is a plot point and it's also wallpaper.

maybe if you don't want to engage with that, or with slave-owning characters in general, ancient literature is not ideal for you.

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Raptors would have been really silly, this is my scientific opinion

Twitter

Bluesky

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so many articles about Fast Fashion, not enough articles about what the hell is happening to the quality of clothes

Like okay. People own more pieces of clothing nowadays and they wear them a lesser number of times before throwing them out. BUT.

Why do we pretend like this is pure vanity or careless wastefulness, rather than forced by the qualities of the clothes themselves?

The other day, I was going through boxes of old clothes in the basement in search of fabric to practice sewing on. The difference in quality of the fabrics themselves is shocking! The worn-out old jeans from twenty years ago are MUCH thicker and tougher than anything more recent. My old baby clothes are made as sturdy as my work clothes from today.

In the past couple years, I have had entire seams rip out of clothes on the first wash. That's not normal!

Polyester blend shirts that feel cozy and soft when they are new, become scratchy and rough after 20 washes or so. I am trying to avoid polyester, but it gets harder and harder; the other day i couldn't find a single pack of crew socks that was 100% cotton. SOCKS!

Also, pilling is out of control. The newest pants I bought developed pills within a single day of walking around campus with a backpack.

These companies are trying to frog-boil us but touching clothes from twenty years ago, the useless crap of today would stick out like a sore thumb...

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and her child

I actually drew this for my mom, she likes the tarot stuff. I'm skeptical about it, but I can appreciate the good artistical aesthetic

and that's the bearded vulture of course, my beloved

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Patroclus moment!

I have doubts about his dogs because they aren't mentioned in any of the other Greek sources I have read. It's normal that they aren't mentioned, I imagine they weren't that relevant, but I still have doubts!

Did Patroclus take these dogs to Troy or were they caught in Troy? Or even on the way to Troy?

Were they stray dogs and he picked them up randomly? Were they bought? Is there any possibility that they belonged to the Trojans from the sacked cities?

What about if it wasn't he who caught or bought them, but someone else? If so, who? Was it Achilles? If it was Achilles, does he regret giving the dogs to Patroclus now that they keep invading their tent or something or is he okay with it?

They were Patroclus's pet dogs, but were they used for something else too? For example, hunting? Cute things on Patroclus' lap, but rather deadly things for the animals being hunted? Philostrathus says that Antilochus liked to hunt with dogs, did he ever "borrow" Patroclus' dogs? Teucer is an archer, did he like to hunt with them?

Were any of these dogs related? For example, Patroclus actually got four siblings at once or something. Or did he actually have a female and a male and the female got pregnant? Achilles pointed at the cute dog couple and said "we" to Patroclus and then Ajax in the background "yes, you're the bitch" just because he needs to tease his favorite cousin or something?

Where did the dogs sleep? Because…there are nine dogs, that's a lot of dogs. A lot of space is needed. Was there a specific place for dogs in the camp in general? A place in the Myrmidon camp? Did they sleep outside Achilles and Patroclus' tent?

Did they have different sizes? Which were small, which were average, which were big? All the really small dogs I've ever met have been noisy, did the Myrmidon camp develop a temporary hatred for Patroclus because his small dogs wouldn't let them sleep? Some big dogs don't realize they're big, I'm imagining Patroclus telling Antilochus "they don't bite" and Antilochus being like "come on!!!" and then getting knocked over by a really big dog. If Patroclus had a really big dog, would that dog's name be Ajax? If so, how does Ajax feel about it? Is he proud, is he offended, is he shocked?

I know two were sacrificed, but the others weren't. Achilles died not long after…if the dogs were still alive at that time, what happened to them? Were they given to someone else? Who? Were they abandoned in Troy when the Achaeans returned? Were they actually part of Achilles' inheritance and went to Neoptolemus? Now I'm imagining Odysseus handing Neoptolemus the armor and being like, "Here, it's yours. The dogs too," and Neoptolemus being like, "Dogs?" and Odysseus being like "you know Patroclus, the guy your dad really liked? Well, he had a lot of dogs. They're yours now."

Why nine? This is a very specific number! Why is there ironically one for every full year that Patroclus spent in Troy, minus the tenth, which is the year he died and was therefore an incomplete year? I'm not suggesting that Homer thought of this, in fact I think it's a coincidence. But it's a comically sad coincidence.

And yeah, my doubts developed into headcanons lol

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I'm trying to make a good pot roast in my crockpot, but after I take it out it gets dry. It's on "low" (whatever that means) for 8 hours. I've tried searing it before and still dry. It's submerged in plain water with some herbs and spices for that time. Am I over/undercooking it? It's a cut with low fat %, is that why?

I love you. I think you learned how to make pot roast from someone on Opposite Day, or perhaps April 1st. The only thing you got right is 'low heat for 8 hours'.

Choose a fatty cut of tough meat. Look for lots of fat marbling on a Chuck roast or Shoulder roast. Tough meat has a ton of flavor, and the fat keeps the meat from drying out. The long cook time on low heat, plus acids will make 'tough' meat into a pull-apart, melt-in-your-mouth glory.

Make sure the meat is completely thawed, NOT frozen.

Plain water and nothing else except herbs/spices is.... not what I'd do. A lot of flavor can come into the broth when you add whole carrots (minus the carrot top!) and quartered onions in there. I'm a fan of adding some big chunks of pumpkin or butternut squash and chunks of turnip as well.

I think using red wine for part of the liquid base, and adding a hearty helping of worcestershire sauce will also help the flavor and making the meat 'melty.' The acid and alcohol will draw more, and different flavors from the meat and vegetables that water alone cannot do. Makes it richer.

For my very best pot roast recipe, which had my wedding guests fuckin' clamoring to get the recipe; I cheat. I'm not ashamed of that fact. For the richest, most face-punchingly meaty tasting broth, go to an asian market (or online) and find a mushroom hot pot soup base. It'll be a thick liquid inside a bag, which you then dilute with water. Use THAT as the liquid base (remember to dilute it!), and add your wine and wocestershire sauce to it, along with those herbs & spices. Your whole face will be blown off with flavor. It's the best.

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Lolo the Pallas's cat at the Novosibirsk Zoo is proudly showing off her seven fluffy cubs, and letting us watch them be kittens as well!!!!!!!!

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but ALSO more people should be losing their nuts over the mycenaean ivory triad from the national archaeological museum in athens. is this mic on hello

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Anne Carson | An Oresteia | Elektra by Sophokles

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I wish there was a website where you could input a character's description (height, weight, sex, medical conditions, etc.) And a situation (car crash, falls, stabbing, etc.) And it would calculate for you from most to least likely the injuries that character would receive, potential complications, and how long it would take recover. This would make writing injuries SO MICH EASIER if I wasn't guessing at everything

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and her child

I actually drew this for my mom, she likes the tarot stuff. I'm skeptical about it, but I can appreciate the good artistical aesthetic

and that's the bearded vulture of course, my beloved

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Andromache should be allowed to kill Neoptolemus and Odysseus, as a treat.

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A 22 yr old in my org got drunk tuesday night and kinda shit on the fact that I'm running a community cleanup for our chapter. Said something along the lines of "i didn't join up to pick trash." Which really bothers me and it took me a while to figure out why. The whole point of the community cleanup is that we're returning to the neighborhoods where we knocked doors for A4 to help clean up their streets and provide material improvement for free in an effort to build inroads with those neighbors.

Like... if your socialism doesn't include picking uo trash, I'm guessing it also doesn't include doing the dishes, babysitting, or anything else that is important but not prestigious. Idk man, fuck off with that shit. You'll pick up trash and you'll like it until you understand why picking up trash isn't anyone's job but your own. I hate that attitude. If helping and doing activism was always fun and visible and impressive, everyone you know would already be doing it.

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Can you please tell me how Argonautica Jason is different from a typical hero? I have only read a piece of the Argonautica but I'm going to get to the full version soon and I long to know.

Don't worry, Jason from Argonautica, I see you. I can appreciate how atypical you are for the male hero of a Greek epic poem. You are fascinating to me, you are hated by everyone but not by me. Unfortunately, people ignore Argonautica, but know that I don't ignore it. I love your wife too, man. Medea from Argonautica, I'm sorry people ignore you and only care about Euripides' play. I can see how much you follow Hellenistic Era trends that I love. I louve you in other sources too, but in this moment I talking about Argonautica.

Apollonius Rhodius, man, you wrote something very interesting. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise! Euripides, no shade.

(Bitter Thetis of Argonautica, I am with you too. Your relationship with Hera is a bit fucked up in this dialogue, but you are certainly mother and daughter)

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please stop making patroclus normal, he's as weird as achilles and maybe a little more. they match each other freaks in the worse way and i think it's beautiful.