lonerofthepack

[lonerofthepack]

My biggest gardening tip is that if you have $100 to spend on perennial plants you should aim closer to getting twenty little perennials than three or four big perennials. Planting four $25 plants will have a very small impact visually and you’ll be way too precious about them. Five small plants of the same species will make a bigger visual impact than one large plant of the same species. Plants are living things that you’re planting outside in the weather. You should be buying plants with the understanding that they are closer to folding chairs than Ming vases. If you spend $25 on a plant and accidentally step on it, you haven’t killed the plant but you’ve probably broken off about $12 worth of stems. If you step on a $5 plant you’ve caused like $2 worth of damage and it was probably young anyway so it might push out enough new growth to fill back in by the end of the season. You’d have to outright kill 5 of your $5 plants to equal losing one $25 plant. You will always kill some of your plants, or at least they won’t all thrive. Better to lose a $5 plant than a $25 plant.

Also plants grow, usually quickly. Very few perennial plants look good their first year in the ground, buying a bigger plant doesn’t really change that. Most of the time the difference between buying a gallon perennial and a pint perennial is that you dig a bigger hole for the gallon, you pour more water on the gallon, and you watch it look bad more closely.

All I’m saying is that it recently came to my attention that people when people complain about gardening being expensive it’s because they are spending $600 on landscaping that, frankly, looks like nothing bc they’re buying $50 to $100 plants.

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Bambi concept art by Tyrus Wong, Retta Scott, Gustaf Tenggren, Maurice Noble, Marc Davis, Harold Miles, Dick Anthony, Nino Carbe and Art Riley (c. 1940)

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Share this post with someone who needs to hear it and read more at BitchesGetRiches.com!

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Tech Enthusiasts: Everything in my house is wired to the Internet of Things! I control it all from my smartphone! My smart-house is bluetooth enabled and I can give it voice commands via alexa! I love the future!

Programmers / Engineers: The most recent piece of technology I own is a printer from 2004 and I keep a loaded gun ready to shoot it if it ever makes an unexpected noise.

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i think we should all start using arabic words and phrases more often because its a beautiful language and also theres not really. english equivalents that have the same vibes

theres also the comedy potential of it. you guys dont know the joy of having your muslim friend text you "hopefully the racists in our city will all get sick and cant go to the protest" and you, as a pasty white guy, responding with "inshallah they get covid"

its a one hit KO every time. its fucking hilarious. theres no english word that has the same effect.

he also once texted me that he got over a mysterious illness he came down with (i think? i cant remember the exact context) and i responded with "subhanallah he is cured"

again, one hit KO. he lost his shit.

what im saying is we gotta normalise arabic. its just a language like any other, and it has some great words. its just like saying "thank god" or whatever, but theres so much variety and nuance. its beautiful

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Day 11, citrine canary-flycatcher

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THE OLDEST PREDATOR-PREY ARMS RACE UNCOVERED IN CAMBRIAN FOSSILS

A recent fossil study has revealed the oldest known evidence of an evolutionary arms race between predators and prey, dating back 517 million years to the Cambrian oceans. Researchers examined fossilized shells of Lapworthella fasciculata, a small shelled animal, and found that over 200 of them had holes likely caused by an unknown drilling predator. This predator, possibly a mollusc or soft-bodied worm, was able to penetrate the prey’s defences, triggering an adaptive response.

Interestingly, over time the shells of L. fasciculata became thicker, suggesting that the animal developed mechanisms to reinforce its shell and better withstand attacks. As shell thickness increased, so did the number of perforations, indicating that the predator also improved its ability to drill through the prey’s defences. This back-and-forth adaptation is a clear example of an evolutionary arms race, where each species evolves in response to the other in a constant battle for survival.

This discovery is crucial for understanding how predator-prey interactions drove early animal evolution, and supports the idea that predation played a key role in the diversification of biomineralizing organisms during the Cambrian explosion. Published in Current Biology, the study offers a fascinating glimpse into marine life over 500 million years ago and highlights how quickly evolutionary changes can emerge under environmental pressures.

main image: Examples of Lapworthella fasciculata shells (under scanning electron microscope) from Flinders Ranges, South Australia, showing holes made by a drilling predator. Scale bars represent 200 micrometres (0.2 mm).

Reference: Bicknell et al., 2025. Adaptive responses in Cambrian predator and prey highlight the arms race during the rise of animals. Current Biology.

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Cut and pasted from a civil engineering group on Facebook:

A variety of common wood joints used in woodworking and carpentry. Let's break down some of these joints:

Simple Joints:

Butt Joint: The simplest joint, where two pieces of wood are simply butted together. Not very strong on its own, often reinforced with glue and screws.

Mitre Joint: Two pieces of wood are cut at a 45-degree angle and joined to form a 90-degree corner. Often used for picture frames and decorative elements.

Interlocking Joints:

Dovetail Joint: A strong joint used in drawers and boxes. Interlocking pins and tails create a very strong connection.

Half-Lap Joint: Two pieces of wood are overlapped, with a portion of each piece removed to create a flat surface for joining.

Mortise and Tenon Joint: A classic woodworking joint where a tenon (a projecting piece) on one piece fits into a mortise (a hole) in another. Strong and used in furniture and construction.

Scarf Joint: Two pieces of wood are cut at an angle and joined to create a longer piece. Used for lengthening boards.

Mechanical Joints:

Biscuit Joint: Thin, oval-shaped biscuits of compressed wood are inserted into slots cut into the joining pieces. Glue is then applied, and the pieces are clamped together.

Dowel Joint: Round wooden dowels are inserted into holes drilled in both pieces of wood, providing a strong mechanical connection.

Pocket Hole Joint: A specialized jig is used to drill angled holes into the edge of one piece of wood. Screws are driven into these holes to connect the pieces.

Other Joints:

Box Joint: A series of interlocking fingers create a very strong and visually appealing joint.

Dado Joint: A groove is cut into one piece of wood to receive the edge of another.

Bridle Joint: A variation of the mortise and tenon joint, with additional interlocking elements.

Rabbet Joint: A groove is cut into the edge of one piece of wood to receive the edge of another.

Tongue and Groove Joint: A tongue (a projecting piece) on one board fits into a groove in another. Commonly used in flooring and paneling.

Half-Dovetail Joint: A simplified version of the dovetail joint, often used for drawer boxes.

Key Considerations:

Strength: The strength of a joint depends on the type of joint, the wood species, the quality of the joinery, and the glue used.

Appearance: Some joints are more visually appealing than others, making them suitable for decorative purposes.

Application: The choice of joint depends on the intended use of the piece and the desired strength and appearance.

This image provides a valuable overview of the various wood joints used in woodworking and carpentry. Understanding these joints is crucial for any woodworker or DIY enthusiast.

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Girl who has to afford her meds and bills for the month still:

"FUCK."

If you want leather, or books, or to book a tattoo (dm), or anything up to and including just throwing money at the screen, today would be an AMAZINGLY good day for it.

[lonerofthepack]

not sure how to say this without it being misconstrued but I as a Lebanese person who's family has fought against Zionism, and as a bonafide movie enjoyer do not know how to discuss the increase in Hollywood films (The Brutalist, A Real Pain, September 5, Lee, Emilia Perez, etc) centering Israel and the Holocaust. I do not know how to discuss that these films will be used in one way or another (intentionally or not) to manufacture consent for the US Backed Zionist genocide of Palestinians in Palestine. I don't know how to voice criticism of how the influence of military funding in Hollywood shapes patterns in which films are made and awarded that ultimately align with foreign policy - WITHOUT that criticism being dismissed antisemitic, or conspiratorial. I'm not saying at all that these films aren't important stories, or are without artistic integrity because I don't think that. It's just......again, I do not know how to say this without it being misconstrued in bad faith. I was born in the mid-90s. I grew up on post 9/11 media. I know what US-made, Hollywood-produced soft propaganda looks like and it looks like a lot of film and television being greenlit and celebrated that also happens to align with and even justify the USA's imperialist foreign policy.

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I thought it might be a fun idea to give Joe a tattoo pen for kids. 

In case it wasn’t clear, the sun is drawn by Nicky.

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r/goth like "how do i dress goth as a male" goth men used to wear women's clothes and got bullied for being too feminine. Continue doing that

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Long time no see, dear cousin!

(Comm for a friend of mine)

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This week, I read a fic that was around 20 years old, which had originally been posted on the author's personal website and which she added to AO3 a few years ago. She listed her email address with the fic, so after I finished reading, I sent her an email saying how much I enjoyed the story, how much I appreciated the work and effort she obviously put into it, and thanked her for uploading it to AO3. She responded the next day and thanked me for my message, then said she had a few more stories in the same series that she hadn't gotten around to uploading. I checked this morning--she added a 35,000 word novella and thanked me in the summary.

👏 comment 👏 on 👏 old 👏 fics 👏