#OKAY that's enough for today lol

[focsle]

Hello! Jumping aboard the question whaleboat today. When the ship gets back home, where do the barrels go? Is the oil processed? Graded?

The processing depends on the oil! Oil from baleen whales was considered inferior to sperm whale oil, and didn't have the same intensive refining process as sperm oil. The crude oil was pumped from the old casks--to leave behind the sediment--into a new one and could be sold from there. Here's a fellow pumping oil from an old cask into a new. All the pictures on this post come from the collections of the New Bedford whaling museum.

This is something that could be done on the wharf, but eventually oil refineries tried to purify the whale oil a little more by heating it and then skimming off the impurities to improve the value of it. They were very careful not to mix it with sperm oil though cos it'd ruin the whole batch, so refineries had an entirely separate processing buildings/storage for the two forms of oil. But New Bedford's wharf was just...covered with oil barrels at all times.

The barrels had the name of the ship or the oil merchants' company written on them, to avoid confusion.

For sperm oil, that was brought to a refinery because it was the fancy stuff that was processed ashore. Frederick Douglass was employed at a refinery for a time when he arrived in New Bedford, and described the work:

"By the kindness of Mr. Ricketson I found in this "candle-works," as it was called, though no candles were manufactured there, what is of the utmost importance to a young man just starting in life--constant employment and regular wages. My work in this oil-refinery required good wind and muscle. Large casks of oil were to be moved from place to place and much heavy lifting to be done. Happily I was not deficient in the requisite qualities. Young (21 years), strong and active, and ambitious to do my full share, I soon made myself useful, and I think liked by the men who worked with me, though they were all white."

Here's a view of the yard of one refinery. The casks would also be stored in sheds with tiers.

The sperm oil was heated for hours to remove any impurities, and over the course of that time it'd turn a pale to almost clear color. The lighter the oil was, the better the grade. Oil gaugers would also taste test it! If it was clear and sweet, that was the good stuff. If it was dark or tasted bad, it's because it was contaminated in some way with said impurities (but that'd still be sold too, just a lesser grade). After being heated, the oil would be stored in casks, and then left there to harden in the winter. Then that winter, on a warmer day, the spermaceti would be put into bags and run through a press, and the oil strained off would be collected. Here's what one of the presses looked like:

On the left is hardened spermaceti that would be ground up and put into the press bags on the right, and then they'd be put in the press itself at the center.

Winter-strained oil was the most prized because it was the purest and didn’t freeze in the winter months. The solid bits that were left were stored again for a few more months, and then pressed in the spring. Spring-strained oil was less valued and brown in color, but still expensive. There was also the lowest grade sperm oil, that was summer-strained. The oil was also bleached sometimes to improve the quality; same goes for regular whale oil. The stuff that was left after THAT would also be heated, bleached, and then made into candles in the late spring or summer.

[shanastoryteller]

okay i know it literally lost the poll but the heart wants what the heart wants ect and 4 days and 20k words later here we are. it was supposed to be like 5k. to be clear. i hope the three people who voted for it like it T_T

dumb luck or good ghost

Dean wakes up after the accident and his father tells him that Sammy is dead.

[crybaby-bkg]

“Oh, I’m sorry, baby. Want me to kiss it where it hurts?” Kirishima purrs up at you, his place between your thighs seemingly the closest thing he can get to ascension. His eyes are wide, his pupils blown out, any red swallowed up by the lust pooling in his eyes. he looks like the picture of adoration and worship, all faux worry and pure hunger as he bounces between your gaze and the pretty picture that twitches in front of his face. his eyes cross to watch the slick ooze from your hole, sighing.

“It’s the least you could do for me,” you pout to him, running your nails through his soft locks, tugging a little meanly at the root. “After using me like a toy on your cock for so long.” Your words are sighed wistfully, your eyes betraying just how much you want his mouth on you as he wants to taste you. Kiri moans at that, quiet and in the back of his throat, but you hear it none the less.

“I’m sorry, baby,” he repents, but it’s all for naught when his tongue laves over your sensitivity and doesn’t let up until you’re crying from the overstimulation once more. he’s so sorry—that you can only cum so many times before you tap out. he’s so sorry—that your thighs are more sore from tightening up around his head than his working jaw. he’s so sorry—that you’re so addicting, that he can lay between your legs until his last breath leaves him.

[kaddyssammlung]

[genericpuff]

Uh weird question: Can someone who's from a community that hasn't been oppressed write a character that's from opressed community as long as it's well written? Like for example, a straight guy writing a lesbian couple or a white person writing POC characters.

If they couldn't then we'd have a lot less media out in the world LOL Need I remind y'all that I am a non-Greek person writing and drawing a retelling of a comic that's based on Greek myth ;p So all that said, the following is my opinion as a writer and someone who fits into certain minority groups, but bear in mind that I myself am someone who isn't part of a specific group writing about that group.

I see your question and I raise you a hypothetical. Which would you rather be - a writer who actually challenges themselves and engages with other topics and perspectives for the sake of telling a good story, or a writer who only exclusively writes about things limited by their own perspective and experiences?

Sorry if that's a bit of snark for the day, I understand that people get worried when it comes to writing about other groups that they don't "fit into", but there's a point where you can get so paranoid and over-correct too far that you don't actually branch out and that's how you wind up trapped in an echo chamber (or at the very least, trapped in a cycle of writing about the same stuff constantly lol) which can ironically lead to becoming more ignorant and offensive than if you had simply genuinely tried in the first place and maybe fumbled in a few areas. And white heterocis people aren't the only ones who are at risk of trapping themselves in those chambers, it can happen to anyone who's not willing to branch out. Making mistakes in and of itself is not the end of the world, you just have to be willing to learn.

Part of a very necessary process of writing is consuming content written by and for other people so that you can gain a sense of perspective, understanding, and empathy for others that don't live the same lives as you. Not doing those things out of fear of offending people is how you cause the opposite effect - trapping yourself in a bubble of misinformation because you never bothered to look outside of your own comfort zone and thought it was 'safer' to just keep reading and writing content that could only apply to you. Really all that accomplishes is narrowing your world view and stunting your writing capabilities.

The biggest thing you can do to write characters that don't align with yourself is just doing your research, being open to critique and feedback from the groups you're depicting (best way to write about a character who is not yourself is to ask for feedback from a person who IS reflected in that character!), and not writing from assumptions (as a lot of assumptions are rooted in stereotypes / prejudice / racism / etc.) There are loads of people from communities in need of representation who are willing to offer their help and feedback, don't be afraid to put out feelers for that sort of thing, it's why beta-readers are still so essential for a lot of writers.

And it also depends what your writing is trying to achieve. Are you actually trying to represent these groups, or are you just writing a character who you think is neat who happens to be from a specific group? What messages are you trying to send, what point are you trying to make, what do you want the reader to walk away with? Keep in mind that it's just as important to have characters who simply exist and aren't white/heterocis/etc. as it is to have characters who are fulfilling certain representations for the sake of sending a message / making a point. Because oppression comes in a variety of forms and not every single one will necessarily be as much a hurdle as the last; and just like not expanding your worldview through challenging yourself with new topics, it can be just as harmful to reduce people's identities to just a label and assuming that once they have that label they have to fulfill a specific 'role' within a story (that's how you end up with the "token black guy" tropes) or that if you don't share that same label, that means it's completely off-limits for you to depict in your writing or that they have to be depicted the exact same way every single time. People are not tags on AO3. People are what you're trying to write about. Don't restrict yourself by the labels.

Anyways, this turned into a big post, but yeah, just be willing to look for and listen to feedback, and remember that you're (I'm assuming) someone who's at the beginning of their journey, there's not as much pressure on you as you think there is. As much as I talk shit about people like Rachel front left and center here for all of her problems with representation, it's only because Rachel is someone who's taking credit for representation that just isn't there (or tries to be there and sucks immensely because it comes across as horribly misinformed and almost boomer-like). And then you've got the Cait Corrains and James Somertons of the world, people who literally try and silence the voices of those who belong to the groups they're claiming to be a part of (or aren't, in Cait's case with her review-bombing POC work) all for the sake of their ego. Cait Corrain and James Somerton don't actually care about 'representation', they just want to be the center of attention within the discussion and given all the credit for being progressive, even if it means literally stealing from or abusing the people who are on the same side as them.

All that said, I know I get intense here with how I discuss stories like LO and how they handle 'representation', but I don't ever want to give anyone the impression that they're not allowed to write about groups that they don't fit into or that the answer is "only write from your own perspective ever" because that's just not productive and will, if anything, have the opposite effect to what you're trying to achieve. Representation is complicated and oftentimes more nuanced than people give it credit for. Most average every day writers aren't getting in trouble just for writing characters outside of their demographic, even when they make the odd mistake or miss something in their research; the people who get in trouble are the ones who do it to an incredibly offensive degree and then double down when they get called out on it. Those are the scenarios that wind up being the loudest / most explosive and give budding writers the impression that they shouldn't try writing anything outside of their worldview ever but that's not the conclusion you should be coming to. Just be respectful and put in the effort like you would any other character, and don't use your character writing as an excuse to put yourself above voices from those groups. Be sincere, be humble, and always be willing to learn more.

[mamawasatesttube]

i wish it wasn't so normal for people to complain about unfinished wips or fics that take a long time to update. because sometimes i think i have a really fun idea for a fic but it'd take a while for me to write, and i like talking about my work as i do it and i don't like writing entire fics over like 20k without sharing, because i lose steam. so if i were to write and post that cool fic idea, it'd be as a wip. and then i think about all the people who just refuse to engage with wips, or all the other people who would just go "update pls" all the time, and of how people only really comment in the first 24 hours something is posted and then it's lost to obscurity, and then i just go "actually whats the point in going through the effort writing this out? i'll just daydream about it now and then and be done with it." and then i don't write it. alas!

[seraphic-sibyl]

I should have been born a frog. I should have been born a frog. I should have been born a frog. I should have been born a frog. I should have been born a frog. I should have been born a frog. I should have been

[plusultraetc]

Fourteen Days of MHA | 13/14: Future, Growth, Change, Evolution

[Vague manga spoilers in the caption!! The snippet itself is all au :) ]

The aforementioned old WIP!! Not gonna lie, I've been thinking about this fic A Lot in light of recent chapters. It was originally inspired by this theory by class1akids and this post by sassypantsjaxon (which also inspired a web weave; that post hit me like a truck at the time okay? & you know what it still does!!) Anyway, I still have a lot of wildly different feelings about 'Kuroboro,' but if you want a fic rec that handles the concept in a really cool way, check out Crumbled Rooftops by Kyurilin on ao3!

Okay, that's enough links for one post. Snippet :D

[icewindandboringhorror]

I have found a beautiful perfect humble rock specimen that is light yellow with a weird dark yellowy brown lining, somewhat resembling a chunk of smoked gouda cheese... effervescent

[bethncherry]

♡ Chapter 2: Page 24

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[felidthing]

idk what has come over me but ive been browsing around for oc adopts and chicken smoothie pets. desperately need to collect some guys rn

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Month 6, day 5

The bones have friends! I still like the empty sands better, but I'm not the one who made the tutorial :P Oh well, I'm getting practice in with certain features of Blender that I'm gonna be using a ton in the Tanta Sword Scenes, so I ain't complaining

Except that I liked the empty sands better lol

[kyouka-supremacy]

Failed a social interaction 0 injured 1 killed (me)

[novococain]

🦴

[spacespore]

HI TUMBLRR it’s me

[orcelito]

Did driving practice today. Actually did parallel parking practice this time, even tho I really didn't want to still. Finally got it into my head that I can maybe do this.

SO......

I have scheduled my driving test. For November 13th, 3 weeks from today.