#Landscape language

[mountrainiernps]

Landscape Language

Zygomorphic (adj) – flower that divides along an axis into mirror-like parts

Also known as bilateral symmetry, zygomorphic flowers have an irregular flower structure that can be divided into mirrored halves. Classic examples are members of the orchid family, such as the Calypso orchids found in Mount Rainier National Park. Calypso orchids have a crown of five petals and a slipper-shaped lower lip that forms a mirror image if you imagine a vertical axis splitting the flower in half. In addition to the 15 orchid species found in the park, other examples of zygomorphic wildflowers include monkeyflowers and penstemons.

NPS Photo of Calypso orchids in the Longmire area, April 2016. ~kl

[sayitaliano]

Valerio Minato's photo that won the Astronomy Picture of the Day Contest by NASA on December 25th, 2023.

In the picture: the moon, the Monviso Mount and the Basilica of Superga (on the Superga hill) outside Turin are all aligned. it took him 6 years to take this shot (and I take it as an example to never give up on your dreams).

[kemetic-dreams]

[thesilicontribesman]

David Harding's 'Henge', Glenrothes, Scotland

[wingsoffirenames]

SkyWing Names - Letter A #1

Ablaze (Burning fiercely, or something brightly colored.) Accentor (A dull-colored Eurasian songbird) Accipiter (A genus of medium-sized forest-dwelling hawks that have short broad wings and a long tail.) Achondrite (A stony meteorite without rounded grains) Acorn (Fruit of the oak tree.) Actinolite (A fibrous mineral that can be pale green, yellow, blue and black.) Adret (The sun-facing side of a mountain.) Adularia (A white or colorless mineral often found in the alps) Aegolius (A genus of small owls) Aerial (Of, relating to, or occurring in the air or atmosphere.) Aerie (A large nest of a bird of prey, especially eagles, typically built high in a tree or on a cliff.) Aerosol (Small particles suspended in the atmosphere.) Afterburn (A burning sensation.) Agate (A variety of chalcedony that comes in many colors, often with swirl or banded patterns throughout.) Aiguille (A sharp-pointed pinnacle of rock.) Airstream (A current of air.) Alabaster (A mineral often used for carving.) Alabio (An Indonesian duck breed.) Alate (To have wings or wing-like appendages.) Albite (A pale-colored, usually white, mineral.) Alder (A type of tree from the birch family with toothed leaves.) Alev (A Turkish name meaning 'flame'.) Alexornis (A prehistoric bird.) Algodonite (A copper arsenide mineral.) Alizarin (A red pigment.) Almandine (A type of garnet with a violet tint.) Alp (A high, rugged mountain that is often snowcapped.) Alpaca (A domesticated mammal related to the Llama and known for its wool.) Alpenglow (The rosy light of the setting or rising sun seen on high mountains.) Alpine (Relating to high mountains.) Altitude (The height of an object or point in relation to sea or ground level.) Alto or Altocumulus (A fleecy cloud formation that occurs at a medium altitude.) Altostratus (A fairly uniform mid-altitude layer of gray cloud.) Alunite (A white, gray, or reddish mineral that can be found in volcanic rocks.) Amaranth (A purple color.) Amaterasu (The Japanese Shinto goddess personifying the sun.) Amber (A hard and translucent fossilized resin, or a yellow/orange color.) Amblygonite (A pale yellow gem.) Amethyst (A violet or purple quartz gem or a violet color.) Ammolite (An opal-like gemstone made of the fossilized shells of ammonites.) Analcime (A white, gray or colorless mineral.) Anapaite (A green mineral.) Anatase (A rare gemstone that comes in many colors.) Andalusite (A gemstone that is typically brown, red or green.) Andes (A South American mountain range.) Andesine (A rare gem known for it's orange-red and red colors, but also comes in yellow, green, and blue.) Andesite (A gray lava rock with white and black speckling. The speckles are crystals such as feldspar or quartz.) Andradite (A kind of garnet that comes in many colors.) Angelite (A blue gemstone but can also be white, violet, colorless, or dark gray.)

[miraenart]

Forget Me Not.

[noosphe-re]

Stone erratics. Transcending time, eclipsing distance. Shipwrecked monoliths that sail across the empty landscape. As natural markers and ports of call, they have been worshipped as loci of divine power since time immemorial. They have formed the focal points for human wonder and wish fulfilment. And being untethered from their place of origin, they are a kind of pilgrim – commuting across the ancient byways and migrating from ancestral grounds of stone. The root of 'erratic' is in the Latin errare which means to wander. As they wander through the immensities of time and space these giant rocks become witnesses to the earth's internal monologues. They are the eavesdroppers of the sediments.

Paul Prudence, Figured Stones: Exploring the Lithic Imaginary

[des-vanecido]

— Love languaje.

[bfpnola]

nov 9 - nov 13 readings

hi! this is reaux (she/they)! as many of you know, BFP is slowly waking up and will be undergoing a full makeover in the coming months. in the mean time, to help get back into the pattern of posting and to continue to share resources, i want to start posting what i read each week!

without further ado, here is everything i've been learning from and engaging with so far just between last saturday night [nov 9, 2024] and right now [wednesday afternoon, nov 13, 2024]! i tried to post this on tiktok @/edgeofeden.17 (go check me out for cool political talks and reading recs!) with my reactions as well, but they said it violated community guidelines :(

journal article: The House on Bayou Road: Atlantic Creole Networks in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

wikipedia: Plaçage

wikipedia: Signare

paperback book: Africans In Colonial Louisiana: The Development of Afro-Creole Culture in the Eighteenth-Century

article: Why Is Gen Z So Sex-Negative?: A prehistory of the Puriteen.

article: Policy-makers must not look to the “Nordic model” for sex trade legislation

article: Sex workers face unique challenges when trying to unionize: Anti-sex work stigma and labor status create roadblocks in sex workers’ fight against the industry status quo

wikipedia: Decriminalization of sex work

short youtube video: "Decriminalization of sex work does not mean the decriminalization of human trafficking."

short youtube video: What About Legalization? Decriminalization is the only solution

short youtube video: Dis/Ability and Sex Work Decriminalization

short youtube video: "Helping people through police is inherently coercive." - Gilda Merlot

wikipedia: Page Act of 1875

essay: Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power by Audre Lorde

wikipedia: Erotic Capital

long youtube video: KATHERINE MCKITTRICK: Curiosities, Wonder, and Black Methodologies // 09.14.20

journal article: Black life is Not Ungeographic! Applying a Black Geographic Lens to Rural Education Research in the Black Belt

journal article: Black matters are spatial matters: Black geographies for the twenty-first century

journal article: Unspoken Grammar of Place: Anti-Blackness as a Spatial Imaginary in Education

short video: Chicago Works | Andrea Carlson: Shimmer on Horizons

zine: Evaluating What Skills You Can Bring to Radical Organizing

diagram + workbook?: The Social Change Ecosystem Map (2020)

essay: How to Build Language Justice

guide: Anti-Oppressive Facilitation for Democratic Process: Making Meetings Awesome for Everyone

radical resource library: Center for Liberatory Practice & Poetry

short essay: The Short Instructional Manifesto for Relationship Anarchy

essay/blog post: Access Intimacy: The Missing Link

i think that's everything? whew. let's see how i finish off the week! if you need PDFs for anything i didn't directly link, lmk and i'll find a way to get it to you. might upload it to my google drive or something!

--

topics: Louisiana Creole history + heritage, women of color + erotic capital, sex work decriminalization, Black geography, revolutionary organizing, language, relationship anarchy, disability, intimacy

[worldtalks]

Which skyline is this? (don't check tags)

[rebirthofdiana]

the type of love that i crave 💕😔

[mountrainiernps]

Landscape Language

Skirting effect (noun) – trees with denser branches towards the ground

It may be summer, but signs of Mount Rainier’s long winters are still visible in the landscape. Look for the "skirting" effect on trees with stunted upper branches and longer, denser branches near the ground. Harsh winds stunt the higher branches, while snow protects the lower growth. At this location, the changes in the branch growth reveals that the typical snowpack is about 5-6 feet (5’9” person for scale). What other signs of winter are you still finding in the park?

NPS Photo of skirting effect on a subalpine fir along the Crystal Lakes Trail, 7/4/23. ~kl

[useless-catalanfacts]

View of the Pedraforca mountain, in the Pyrenee mountain range. Central Catalonia.

When there's a small layer of snow like this, in the Catalan language we call it an "enfarinada", whose literal translation would be "sprinkled flour", because it looks like the top, thin layer of flour on a bread.

Video by Visit Pedraforca (Instagram, Facebook).

[thesilicontribesman]

Last day of the Robert McFarlane and Jackie Morris Exhibition, 'Lost Spells, Lost Words: Beyond & Before' Exhibition today at Rheged, Cumbria. A great journey home!

[wingsoffirenames]

IceWing Names- Letter A

Abalone (A shellfish, or a very pale gray color.) Achromatic (Literally means 'without color'.) Adélie (A type of penguin. Great for a SeaWing hybrid.) Agate (A variety of chalcedony that comes in many colors, often with swirl or banded patterns throughout.) Ague (A fever or shivering fit.) Ahmar (A mountain range of the Ethiopian Highlands.) Akaishi (A mountain range in Japan.) Alabaster (A soft, white, translucent rock that is often used for carving and making decorative objects.) Alaska (As in the state.) Alba (Latin for 'white'.) Albedo (The fraction of light reflected by a surface.) Albescent (Growing or shading into white.) Albite (A white, brittle, glassy mineral.) Album (Also Latin for 'white'.) Algid (Very cold or chilly.) Alp (A high, rugged mountain that is often snowcapped. Could also be good for a SkyWing hybrid.) Alpenglow (The rosy light of the setting or rising sun seen on high mountains.) Alpine (Relating to high mountains.) Amethyst (A violet or purple quartz gem or a violet color.) Ametrine (A mixture of amethyst and citrine.) Andes (A South American mountain range that i also one of the worlds longest.) Anhydrite (A mineral that is made up of calcium and sulfate. Often pale blue or pale violet.) Annapurna (The 10th highest mountain in the world, located in Nepal.) Antarctic (Relating to the south polar region or Antarctica. Antarctica can work too.) Antler (Horns typically grown on the head of male animals such as deer, and often shed.) Apatite (A phosphate mineral.) Apex (The top or highest part of something, especially one forming a point.) Apricity (The warmth of the sun in winter.) Aragonite (A calcium carbonate mineral that forms in carbonate sediments.) Arctic Hare (A species of hare adapted to live in the arctic.) Arctogadus (A type of fish found in icy waters.) Aufeis (A sheet-like mass of layered ice that forms from successive flows of ground or river water during freezing temperatures.) Aurora (A luminous phenomenon that consists of streamers or arches of light appearing in the upper atmosphere of a planet's magnetic polar regions.) Avalanche (A mass of snow, ice, and rocks falling rapidly down a mountainside.) Azure (A shade of bright blue.) Azurite (A soft, deep-blue copper mineral.)

[virromanus]

How the Renaissance Shaped the Italian Language

The Renaissance, a period of immense cultural, artistic, and intellectual growth in Europe, played a crucial role in the development of the modern Italian language. This era, spanning the 14th to the 17th century, witnessed a revival of interest in the classical art, literature, and learning of ancient Greece and Rome, significantly influencing the evolution of the Italian language.

Dante Alighieri's Contribution:

Dante Alighieri, often referred to as the "Father of the Italian language," was instrumental in establishing the Tuscan dialect as the standard for the Italian language. His most famous work, "The Divine Comedy" ("Divina Commedia"), written in the early 14th century, was one of the first major works of literature written in the vernacular, i.e., the local Tuscan dialect, instead of Latin. Dante's choice of the vernacular over Latin marked a pivotal moment in the development of Italian as a literary language.

Dante's works demonstrated the expressive and aesthetic possibilities of the Italian language, elevating its status and proving it could be used for serious, high literary pursuits, a domain previously reserved for Latin.

Petrarch's Influence:

Francesco Petrarca, known as Petrarch, further solidified the use of the vernacular in literature. He is best known for his Italian sonnet sequences, which focused on themes of love, personal reflection, and the human experience. Petrarch's poetry, particularly his "Canzoniere" (Songbook), greatly influenced Italian literature and language. His refined use of the vernacular and his development of the Italian sonnet format set a standard for lyrical poetry in Italian.

Boccaccio's Contributions:

Giovanni Boccaccio, another key figure of the Italian Renaissance, also contributed significantly to the development of the Italian language. His most famous work, "The Decameron," is a collection of novellas written in the vernacular. It not only had a profound impact on Italian literature but also helped to shape the Italian language by demonstrating its suitability for both serious and more lighthearted, secular topics.

Impact on Standardizing Italian:

The works of these authors were essential in the standardization of the Italian language. Their choice of the Tuscan dialect, particularly that of the Florentine region, as their literary medium contributed to its status as the basis of standard modern Italian.

Legacy and Continued Influence:

The Renaissance's focus on humanism and the return to classical sources also played a role in shaping the Italian language. This period encouraged a deeper exploration of the human condition, emotion, and intellect, aspects that were deeply integrated into the Italian language through literature and art.

In sum, the Renaissance was a period of reawakening that not only rediscovered the riches of classical antiquity but also set the foundation for the development of the modern Italian language. The works of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio were not just literary masterpieces but also linguistic milestones that established the prestige and potential of the Italian vernacular, leading to its evolution into the modern Italian language we know today.