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dandelionsresilience · 1 month

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Dandelion News - August 22-28

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my new(ly repurposed) Patreon!

1. Safari park welcomes flamingo chicks

“An animal park has said it is experiencing a "baby boom", including new flamingo chicks that have hatched. Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire has also recently welcomed rare Amur tiger cubs and an endangered cotton top tamarin monkey baby. [… Flamingos] live 15-20 years in the wild, however in captivity and safe from predators, they can reach ages of 70 years.”

2. Golf clubs fight biodiversity loss

“The project aims to help green-keepers create havens for wildlife, particularly bees and butterflies, as well as introduce mowing methods to protect rare chalk grassland and encourage wildflowers. […] “Clubs doing this are seeing significant increases in pollinators, such as butterflies, without impeding the game."”

3. ‘We’ve got baby owls again’: how farming policy is helping English wildlife

“[In Abby Allen’s] lush Devon fields native cattle graze alongside 400-year-old hedgerows, with birds and butterflies enjoying the species-rich pasture. [… The Environmental Land Management Scheme] pays farmers for things such as planting hedges, sowing wildflowers for birds to feed on and leaving corners of their land wild for nature.”

4. $440 Million to Support Pregnant and New Moms, Infants, and Children through Voluntary Home Visiting Programs

“Through this program […] trained health workers […] provide support on breastfeeding, safe sleep for babies, learning and communications practices that promote early language development, developmental screening, getting children ready to succeed in school, and connecting with key services and resources in the community – like affordable childcare or job and educational opportunities. […] In addition, the [CDC] announced a new investment of $118.5 million, over five years, to 46 states [and] six territories […] to continue building the public health infrastructure to better identify and prevent pregnancy-related deaths.”

5. Endangered leopard frogs released into the wild

“More than a hundred leopard frogs have been released into the wild at Columbia National Wildlife Refuge in Washington state. Leopard frogs are endemic to North America but have been classed as endangered since 1999.”

6. Heat-based batteries are a surprisingly versatile tool

“[T]hermal energy storage [… is] expected to be more cost-effective than conventional lithium-ion batteries for storing cheap clean electricity over longer durations[….] Thermal storage systems take up less space per unit of energy stored than lithium-ion batteries do, [… and] can also deliver their stored energy without the efficiency losses that occur in converting electricity from [AC to DC and back].”

7. Dolly Parton is sending free books to children across 21 states — and around the world

“[In 21 states,] all children under the age of 5 can enroll to have books mailed to their homes monthly. […] Since the program started, books have been sent to more than 240 million to [sic] kids in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia.”

8. Biden-Harris Administration Awards $100 Million to Navigators Who Will Help Millions of Americans - Especially in Underserved Communities - Sign Up for Health Coverage

“The grants are part of a commitment of up to $500 million over five years - the longest grant period and financial commitment to date, and a critical boost for recruiting trusted local organizations to better connect with those who often face barriers to obtaining health care coverage. […] Navigators offer free assistance to people exploring health coverage options through HealthCare.gov, from reviewing available plans to assisting with eligibility and enrollment forms, and post-enrollment services such as using their coverage to get care.”

9. ‘Ultra-Accommodating’ Hotel Concept Goes Beyond ADA Accessible

“The property […] will feature wider hallways, larger guest rooms, easy access to elevators and other modifications that exceed the standards required under the [ADA]. Staff will be trained in disability etiquette, how to assist with mobility devices and provide various accommodations ranging from hearing aid loops to sensory-sensitive lighting. […] The location in San Antonio is expected to be the first — not the only one — developed under this concept.”

10. Melbourne zoo welcomes rare southern white rhino calf to the world

“Kipenzi and the new calf have been closely monitored this week, with mother and baby being kept in a secluded area accessible only to keepers while they get to know each other and bond. […] The calf has already been showing a forthright personality, snorting and stomping around his enclosure[….]”

August 15-21 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

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bluecoolr · 1 year

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My OCs as Influencers

inspired by @solmints-messyocdiary

The Todd Siblings

Darrell

mainly YouTube

has Insta, reddit, and tumblr but uses those mostly to lurk

content is mostly helmet cam footage of him driving through Devil's Peak and the surrounding highways

trail cam footage of the wild hogs, many of it grainy, black and white, and mildly unsettling

educational stuff about the hogs, shows off Jeb like a subway sandwich for views

"close encounters" videos with "supernatural beings" in the woods

DIY home repair and gardening tutorials

unintentional thirst traps, especially when he films himself changing clothes at a rest stop

Susannah

Instagram and tiktok

content is Southern Belle/cottagecore realness

posts the most beautiful pictures you've ever seen

selfies are always stunning

seamstress by trade and probably has an etsy shop

models all the clothes she makes

GRWM videos with the most soothing voice-over

gets loads of hate but is genuinely super nice

Nathan

YouTube vlogger

cinematic vids showcasing farm life

day in a life vids

informational vids about the crops, etc.

gained lots of attention because he's cute and looks hot in overalls

not above making thirst traps, unlike Darrell, he claims they were unintentional.

Judah

tiktok, insta and YouTube

dark academia content

posts playlists, book and fashion recs, and study with me/study tips

sometimes posts his poetry with accompanying music and visuals

very highbrow stuff

Salome

tiktok

videos about thrifting, plushie hauls, and art

sketchbook tours

draws strangers and random farm animals

reviews art supplies

does art giveaways

just does her thing and has one of the most wholesome comment sections

super easy to befriend

Darcellen

Youtube for her covers and original songs

a private insta for keeping in touch

not really an influencer, just someone who wants an outlet for her talent

Rex Hoskins

this old man? social media? Pfft

"influence? Influece what?"

too busy rounding up cattle

Stephanie

tiktok

mostly shows off outfits and gives styling tips

style is gurokawa ("creepy cute") and/or pastel goth

positive pov videos (like "if you're sad watch this")

probably collects monster high dolls and sanrio merch

Cheryl Catacutan

Cheryl Fear on YouTube

video essayist and aspiring filmmaker

focuses on horror, film analysis, real-life and internet mysteries, and urban legends

has an ongoing found footage horror series shot in first person

actually really good at acting and sound design

collaborates with "Clancy" for her soundtracks

has other socials that are completely empty except for when she uses them to promote her projects

goes on pinterest a lot for inspo

"Clancy"/"Pay Phone"

manages his band's youtube channel aside from being the lead singer

also has a bandcamp

heavy metal/doom metal

some of his band's music videos are directed by Cheryl

#influencer au #todd siblings #darrell todd #nathan todd #susannah todd #judah todd #salome todd #rex hoskins #stephanie #zombie oc #cheryl #pay phone #slasher oc #orignal characters #bluecoolr.txt

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braveclementine · 4 months

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Chapter 2

Warnings: None.

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Elizabeth Silvertongue and Clementine Greenleaf. I also own Clementines' brother Donavan. The following OCs are owned by other Wattpad writers as this is a collaboration project. Their OCs are on the face claim page. I do not condone any copying of this.

"Do you think these are organic?" Clementine asked, holding up one of the schools hard boiled eggs to the light, as though detecting something wrong with it.

"I doubt it." I said, the faintest of smiles on my face.

"We need to go shopping." Clementine huffed, putting the egg back down in the container, sliding it back into the refrigerator. We had come downstairs for breakfast, both of us dressed and ready for the day.

"Let's do it after school." I responded while she continued to search the cafeteria for something to eat. I sighed as I grabbed some scrambled eggs and sausage links. "Clem, you should just eat something. You'll get light headed if you go all day without eating something, especially since you threw your dinner out last night."

Clementine huffed about it, but got the boiled eggs and a water.

We talked about the classes we had that day, before we parted our separate ways and I finally separated from her for the first time since stepping foot on the campus.

The campus was huge and I immediately regretted not arriving a few days earlier in order to figure out where my classes were. My first class was British Literature with Mr. Wilson, and I barely made it before the bell rang, crossing the threshold, having the door be closed behind me. I quickly took a seat near the front, pulling out a notebook and blue pen.

Mr. Wilson was a five foot ten, black man, probably around thirty-eight or so. He had a clean beard and a great smile. I immediately fell in love with his energy as he spoke to the class and called attendance.

"Elizabeth Silvertongue?" Mr. Wilson asked, looking around the classroom.

"Present." I responded quickly, cheeks turning a little pink. He continued with roll call and I took the time to glance around the classroom.

It was not at all what I had expected of a college classroom, for the posters looked more like what I would've expected to see in a high school. Inspirational posters, posters with book quotes, posters with authors and quotes, that sort of thing. In the back of the room was another poster that showed the alphabet in cursive.

I noticed many of the students were on phones, some having air pods or earbuds in, giving Professor Wilson perhaps thirty percent of their attention. I turned back around, deciding to pay them no mind.

He started the lesson off after a gentle reminder to pay attention, which many of the students did not listen to. I diligently took my notes up until the time the bell rang, writing down that I would need a copy of Animal Farm for the first month of class.

I was both disappointed and also excited. Disappointed because I had already read and reviewed Animal Farm for ninth grade, but also excited because I loved the book and couldn't wait to share my ideas with the class. Despite my degree being in accounting, I had always wanted to be a writer.

"Have a wonderful day Elizabeth." Professor Wilson said as I packed my things up, being one of the last people to leave the classroom.

"You too Professor Wilson." I said politely.

"Call me Sam." Professor Wilson said, waving a hand. "No need to be so formal."

"Oh. Of course." I said, taken back, heading out the door. No need to be so formal? It wasn't formal, it was just polite. . . wasn't it?

My next class wasn't for another two hours, so I headed off, locating the school library which had a starbucks, panara, and some sort of chinese restaurant inside of it. I found the literary section with no problem- some things are constant no matter what I suppose- and found several copies of Animal Farm. I wished I had thought to bring my own copy, but I had thought we would be doing harder, newer books.

I checked the copy out for the rest of the month and then headed downstairs to see a long line at starbucks.

I would never understand the deal about them. Coffee wasn't the best thing in the world, in fact it was rather disgusting. And even if it was good, I wasn't sure why anyone would buy it for that much money, when they could buy a large pot at the grocery store and make it themselves for cheaper.

I did get an orange chicken and fried rice bowl at the Chinese restaurant, eating that quickly, before deciding to use my last remaining hour to see where the rest of my classes were.

It was a good thing too, as it took my fifteen minutes to find one classroom alone.

To finish off my day was biology with Dr. Banner and Psychology with Professor Barnes. The classes would be the same Wednesday. Tuesday and Thursday was The Survey of East Asian History with Professor Rogers. Small group communications with Professor Potts and The study of Cultural Anthropology with Professor Udaku was on Friday.

I found all of the classrooms except for the Psychology one easily. It took me forever to find the psychology classroom, before finding it tucked away in the corner of a building none of my other classes took place in. The door was shut and it was quiet in the hall.

I checked the name on the plate along with the room number, seeing that it was indeed Professor Barnes.

"Great." I muttered to myself, tracing the path from my biology class to this class in my head. I made a note on my piece of paper before the door to the classroom opened and I came face to face with the most beautiful man I had ever seen outside of animes.

His face was pale and smooth, his eyes baby blue. His hair was short and blond, his jaw chiseled and his nose perfect. He was tall, probably somewhere around the six foot range. He was dressed nicely in a baby blue button up shirt. An old spice smell with a mix of autumn leaves.

"Can I help you with something?" He asked, his voice sending shivers up my spine. His voice was hard to describe, neither light nor dark or heavy or breezy. It sounded. . . old fashioned. A specific cadence to it that I couldn't put a finger on.

"N-no." I stuttered out, glancing at the sign again. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize." He shook his head, offering me a smile. "I just thought I heard someone out here."

"Oh, well I had an hour of free time and I figured I would find out where all of my classes were." I explained in a rush. "um, so yeah."

"Would you like to talk to the Professor?" The man inquired, looking over his shoulder.

He wasn't the Professor? That was a pity, something I felt deep in my gut.

"Oh, no, that's not necessary." I said breathily, already heading back down the hallway, retreating a little. "But thank you, uh-"

"Steve Rogers ma'am." The man said.

"Mr. Rogers." I smiled a little and then turned, heading down the hallway, heart fluttering in my chest.

Damn he was fine.

ꨄ︎

Biology passed in a daze, something that I wished hadn't happened as Dr. Banner went in depth even on the first day on anatomy. I was glad that I had taken advanced anatomy in high school, otherwise I would've been completely lost.

I headed straight to Psychology after that, despite the thirty minute time period within classes, mostly in hopes of seeing Mr. Steve Rogers again.

I sat outside of the classroom, curled up in one of the armchairs that sat in the hallway. I was so deep in thought in my book, I didn't look up until I realized someone was standing in front of me.

I yelped as Clementine picked the book up out of my hands. "Clem!"

"Animal Farm? Let me guess, you have Mr. Wilson too?" Clementine said in a disapproving voice.

"Yeah." I sighed, reaching up, taking the book back from her. "At least this month will be easy. It'll help lighten the load for my biology class. Anyways, how are your classes going?"

"You'll never believe this." Clem said, perking right up. "I have Tony Stark for mechanical engineering."

"No way." I said, stunned. "He's a teacher?"

"Apparently." Clementine said, excitement lacing her voice. "This is going to be great! Anyways, how do you like the Professors so far?"

"Well Professor Wilson seems nice enough, though not super strict." I replied, closing the book, placing it back into my bag. "Dr. Banner was interesting and very clear. Wish he'd gone just a little slower, but I'll just have to study a little harder." I paused and then said, "And then there was a really handsome teacher that I don't have but. . ."

"Oh, do tell?" Clem said, a teasing smirk on her lips. "Whose caught Elizabeth Silvertongues' attention this week?"

I pushed her shoulder playfully before saying, "Mr. Steve Rogers. Hes' beautiful."

"Blond? Blue eyes? Pale skin?" Clementine smirked.

"You have him?" I asked, feeling jealous.

Clementine rolled her eyes. "Professor Rogers. He teaches my American History II class."

"Lucky." I muttered, sighing. "Maybe I'll switch my courses."

"Ha." Clementine laughed.

I grinned as the door to the Psychology door was opened and I was suddenly thrown for a loop once more. The man standing in front of us was tall, possibly even taller than Professor Rogers. He had dark blue eyes and a dark persona. His shoulders were back and straight, broad. His hair was a dark brown, which was cut short. He was wearing a gray striped suit, though he also had black gloves on his hands. Perhaps a skin condition?

"Hmm, new record." Clementine teased, making me jolt as students started to walk into the classroom, chatting with each other. "I think you just put two people on your hot list in one day."

"Shut up." I muttered, standing. Clementine smirked, nudging my shoulder.

The Professor however, stopped the two of us as we neared the door. "Don't sit next to each other. I would prefer no trouble in my classroom."

Smiles slid off both of our faces and we headed past him silently. In the classroom, girls were huddled in groups, giggling and laughing, a group of guys were roaring in the back as they looked at something on one of their phones. And in the corner, a girl and boy were making out without a care in the world.

"Yeah. . ." Clem scoffed. "We're the ones who're gonna cause trouble. Un-be-lievable." She stormed off to sit on the left side of the room next to the wall while I sat in the front row on the right side of the room.

Professor Barnes closed the door behind him with a final sort of 'snap'. He stood at the front of the classroom, hands in his pockets, just staring until the class slowly started to quiet down. His eyes seemed to meet each of ours and I glanced down at the textbook in front of me as he reached me.

"Now that you've all shut up, we'll get started." He said, his voice dark and cold.

The classroom was completely different from all of the others I had been in today. No one made a sound, the only thing to be heard was his voice and the sounds of pens and pencils scratching on paper as we wrote.

Occasionally, he would ask a question, before immediately directing it at me. I would turn red every single time and lightly say that I didn't know the answer, embarrassment eating me up from the inside out every time.

As the clock hit the time when class ended, Professor Barnes wrote the homework down on the board. I spent the last few minutes writing it down in my planner, barely noticing other kids leaving.

"See you in the hallway." Clementine muttered as she passed me, clearly wanting to get out. I capped my pen, starting to put everything away.

"Miss Silvertongue." A far more pleasant voice said, and I glanced up to see the blond haired man there once more.

"Hi." I said, nervously, now seeing that Professor Barnes was glaring at the two of us from over his papers.

"Did you enjoy the class?" His lips lifted into a secret smile, as though he knew exactly what had gone on in the classroom.

"It was very different from my other classes." I answered honestly and watched his blue eyes twinkle.

"You want something Steve?" Professor Barnes grouched at the front of the classroom.

Steve turned, crossing his arms over his chest. His smile was addicting, I could feel my own lips turning into a smile, just watching him. I swung my bag onto my shoulder so I could leave. "the team wants to get drinks tonight."

"If Sam is there I'm not going." Professor Barnes said, cleaning off the board in front of him.

I headed down the steps towards the door.

"Aw, c'mon Buck." Steve's voice continued as I exited the classroom, before trailing off as Clementines' voice took over.

"God what an asshole!" Clementine huffed, music blaring from her earbuds.

"How scandalous, you have earbuds in your ears. Whatever shall you do if you get radiation poisoning?" I teased.

"They're not Bluetooth wireless Elizabeth. They still have a wire." Clementine said, not noticing the sarcasm in my voice through her red hazy anger. I just smirked as the two of us walked back to the dorm.

ꨄ︎

"Well there we are." I said, putting the last of the food into the cupboard. We had done our best with getting organic, healthy foods, but without having a stove or oven, it was still going to be very hard to eat what we wanted. "You feeling better?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Clementine sighed, closing the refrigerator door, wrapping all of the plastic bags up into a ball, throwing it into the trash. She reached up, pulling her hair out of the ponytail she'd put it into, letting it down. "I'm gonna take a shower and go to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"See you." I said, watching her head off to the bathroom, before settling down on the couch, deciding to get a start on the Psychology homework. After two and a half hours, I stumbled to the bathroom, took my own shower, brushed my teeth, and then collapsed into bed, exhausted.

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tcplnyteens · 1 year

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Review: The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

The House of the Scorpion is a pretty old book. So old that I remember seeing it on the shelves of bookstores and libraries when I was in elementary school. This year, in fact, marks its 21st anniversary since publication. But for the past few weeks, I’ve had snippets of free time here and there throughout the day, and The House of the Scorpion proved to be the perfect thing to fill those odd gaps.

I need to preface this by saying that The House of the Scorpion is one of the best pieces of dystopian fiction I’ve ever read (and quite possibly one of the best books I’ve ever read, period). It’s up there with the classics like 1984 and Animal Farm, and the short stories of Ray Bradbury. I had so many thoughts and feelings after I finished The House of the Scorpion that I just had to write them down, which is a testimony to how good this book is.

The House of the Scorpion is about a boy named Matteo Alcarán. Matt is a clone of the ancient El Patrón, the supreme leader of a country called Opium, a strip of land that lies between the United States and what used to be called Mexico. Growing up on the Alcarán estate, Matt must face off against people who see him as nothing more than a monster because of how he was born. In a heavily prejudiced and violent society, Matt struggles to reclaim his humanity—until a betrayal by one of the only people Matt has ever loved forces him into the dystopian hellscape of the outside world. Fleeing from the Alcarán estate, Matt discovers unspeakable truths, meets true friends, and begins to forge his own path in the world.

This book is so, so good that I don’t think any review I can write will do it justice. Nancy Farmer has mastered the morally gray protagonist. I never thought I could genuinely hate and continuously root for a book character as much as I did for Matt. As irrational and destructive some of his actions were, I felt that I could truly understand his character and where he was coming from. After all, how can you expect a kid to not turn into a selfish psychopath when the people around him have dehumanized and abused him all his life? It’s only human, and that’s what Farmer does so well—create characters that are so painfully human. As such, I found myself becoming more and more invested in Matt’s development over the course of the book. It was immensely rewarding to see him rise above the terrible definitions the Alcaráns assigned to him and grow into a strong, intelligent person.

The worldbuilding in The House of the Scorpion is also absolutely top-tier. Nancy Farmer flawlessly combines the pressing issues of the current day—climate change, the border crisis, drugs, cloning and ethics—into a strikingly realistic dystopia. The world of this book is not extreme like that of 1984. Instead, it’s a future projection of today’s issues, and a commentary on the state of the world and humanity, which brings me to my next idea: this book’s powerful ideas about humanity and the human psyche. How do children respond differently to oppression and abuse? In the worst situations, which parts of human nature shine through? What does it really mean to be human? These questions and more are all explored in depth in The House of the Scorpion. This book made me really think about my own opinions about humanity and the advancement of technology.

Despite the masterful character and worldbuilding, the most appealing part of this book is, in my opinion, the storytelling. Nancy Farmer is a storyteller like no other. I don’t remember the last time I was so invested in and scared to continue reading a book. The sheer suspense and pacing of the story were done just perfectly. I couldn’t stop turning the page, but at the same time, I didn’t want to know what would happen next. I was genuinely terrified that Matt was going to die. Part of it was the genre of this book, and part of it was the perfectly anxiety-inducing plot progression, but I don’t think I’ve ever been so convinced that a character was going to die. Usually when I read thrillers or action novels, I’m relaxed because the protagonist’s plot armor will protect them from anything. This was not the case for The House of the Scorpion, to my genuine surprise and fright. (I’m not telling you if Matt dies or not. Muahahaha.)

Anyway, that looming sense of dread made the book’s bittersweet ending hit so much harder. I won’t tell you why it was bittersweet for me, because I think this book needs to be experienced completely authentically. I’ll just say that even though it was sad, I was ultimately really surprised and happy that Farmer gave us a somewhat happy ending. I was preparing myself for an emotionally damaging ending, like the ones in 1984 and Animal Farm, so I appreciate that Farmer ended the novel on a hopeful note. I think writing happy endings for dystopian novels is such an important thing, because the point of dystopian novels is, often, “if we don’t fix this issue in the present then a terrible thing will happen.” But giving all of these books terribly hopeless endings really doesn’t do much to inspire people to act. Seeing my favorite characters rise back up stronger and more determined than before, despite all of the awful things they endured, gave me hope for humanity.

Overall, just go read The House of the Scorpion. It’s such a good piece of writing, and a combination of all the things I love most in books: a dystopian setting, slightly twisted characters, commentary on the world, and well-done suspense. I would recommend this book for people who are looking for thought-provoking, complex ideas and who don’t mind mild violence and fear. I guarantee that if you finish it, even if you don’t like it, you will have learned something profound about the world or about yourself.

~Tania

#tcpl #books #book review #ithaca #library #ya #science fiction #sci fi #scifi #ya dystopian #dystopian #dystopia

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marble-mountain · 2 years

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Cycles of Norse Mythology by Glenn Searfoss

About the Book:

These stories are old, old as the Behmer Wold and seldom in life has there been such a brewing...

Cycles of Norse Mythology captures the passion, cruelty, and heroism of an ancient world. Encompassing Odin’s relentless pursuit of wisdom across the nine worlds, Gullveig’s malicious death at the hands of the Æsir that sparks a brutal war with the Vanir, Thor’s battles against the giants of Jotunheim, the tragedy of Volund, the many devious machinations of Loki, and the inescapable events of Ragnarök, this lyrical re-imagining of the Norse myths presents the gripping adventures of the Norse gods and their foes in a style to delight modern readers of all ages.

A detailed glossary provides a quick reference to the meaning behind names and terms used in the book. A Source Reference is included for persons who want to delve deeper into the study of Norse mythology.

Reviews:

“Searfoss brilliantly captures the voice of ancient Norse myths through a stunning writing style and characters who deliver astonishing tales about the time of gods and creation. The tales are divided into cycles, with the events occurring based around themes of prophecy, victory, vengeance, premonitions, Ragnarok, and the relationship between gods and men. The stories are brought to life with well-crafted details and vivid characters as Searfoss reimaginines the beginnings of well-known Norse characters. Several of the characters featured include Loki, Thor, Freyja, Sif, and Odin, each of whose origins are explored as well as their victories and struggles.”

~ Elizabeth Konkel, Seattle Book Review

Full Review

“There are many stories about the Norse realm. Only a few are common and easily accessible. Glenn Searfoss gives readers access to more than just the common ones. The reader gets more dimensions with regards to the characters in the fictional universe. This book is a rewrite of the stories on Norse mythology with a fresh voice and packed with exciting tid bits. The book offers a revamped look at all the suffering, victories and battles of the characters in Norse mythology accompanied by a glossary for a better reading experience.”

~ Literary Titan

Full Review

Buy the Book – Amazon, Bookshop.org

About the Author:

Engaging storytelling transports the reader to a different time/place/viewpoint and encourages their exploration of a subject.

A professional writer of 30+ years, Glenn Searfoss has authored numerous technical manuals, as well as books in the arenas of computer science, natural history, science fiction, and mythology.

Glenn lives with his wife in a turn-of-the-century, brick farm house in Colorado, USA. When not busy making a living, he gardens, works on the house (there is always something to work on with an old house), reads classic and not-so-classic literature and does research for new book projects.

Edda's and Sagas of the Northland recount epic struggles for control of the world. In this land lost amid the cycles of time, canny gods battle shrewd giants, while valiant heroes struggle against honorable foes. Comprised of over 100 stories, Cycles of Norse Mythology takes the reader on a thrilling exploration of the Norse Universe as the Gods and Giants are exposed in their complex interactions. From creation of the world to its violent ending, this comprehensive re-imagining breathes life and modern relevance into the Norse gods and their foes. Cycles of Norse Mythology is the culmination of 16 years intensive study of Norse myths that involved consuming research literature and story compilations published from the late 1700's to the present. Through engaging, lyrical storytelling, this work presents the author's interpretation of the subject matter. It is frustratingly easy to find out what happened to Odin, Thor, and Loki at Ragnarök, but not the other participants in the battle, nor the goddesses and the animals that populated their world. Delving into this world prompted the inevitable who, what, where, and why questions, which required more background and more tales from earlier in the mythology. So, the scope of this work lengthened over the years to encompass the entire breadth of Norse Mythology.

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aboutanancientenquiry · 2 years

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A review of a book on the werewolves in Antiquity, with a reference to Herodotus’ report of the story about the lycanthropism of the people of Neurians

“The werewolf in the ancient world

Daniel Ogden, The werewolf in the ancient world. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2021. Pp. 288. ISBN 9780198854319 $32.99.

Review by Scott Bruce, Fordham University. [email protected]

Stories about werewolves, defined in this book as “a creature that changes form, or appears to do so, or can be inferred to do so, in whole or in part, between the humanoid and the lupine” (p. 7) are vanishingly rare in ancient Greek and Latin texts. Other than a vivid vignette told by Petronius in chapter 68 of the Satyricon (c. 66 CE), in which a soldier transforms into a wolf in a graveyard, terrorizes a local farm until it is wounded with a spear, and is later revealed to be a “skin-changer” (versipellis) by the persistence of that wound when he returns to human form, most ancient references to people changing into wolves and back again are pithy and laconic. Undeterred by this limitation, Daniel Ogden sets out in this book to examine ancient references to these skin-changers through the lens of folklore and to provide lengthy translations of primary sources that allude to “werewolfism.” The resulting book – part comparative history and part sourcebook – shares the hybrid character of its subject matter. The results are mixed as well. Readers lured by the title may be disappointed to find that not only are werewolves very scarce in this book, for the reasons cited above, but also in many places medieval, early modern, and modern comparanda overshadow the meagre ancient evidence.

The Werewolf in the Ancient World comprises six chapters. Chapter 1 argues that the metamorphosis of human beings into wolves and back again in ancient literature often involved the agency of witches, who could turn hapless people into animals, as Circe did to her visitors, or transform themselves in the same way, as Herodotus claimed the race of the Neuri could do. Much of the chapter is given over to the witches (striges) themselves, who were also known to take the form of animals, usually the eponymous screech owl (strix), but only rarely wolves. Chapter 2 explores the association between werewolves and ghosts in ancient thought. Here the tissue of evidence is very thin and largely associative. Ancient skin-changers, like Petronius’ soldier, often changed their form in graveyards, and individuals afflicted with medical lycanthropy, a condition that caused them to “go out by night in the month of February in imitation of wolves or dogs in all respects,” were known “to hang around tombs” (p. 71) until the sun rose. Chapter 3 examines some persistent motifs in premodern werewolve literature: the belief that skin-changers abandon their clothing to assume their wolf-form and must later recover them to become human again; the notion that some people are wolves on the inside, a fact only revealed upon their deaths when their hearts are found to be stuffed with hair; the claim that skin-changers in human form carry the wounds received when they were wolves; the idea that the ingestion of certain kinds of food, especially human flesh, precipitates the transformation from human to wolf or vice versa; and the impulse of the newly-changed wolf to abandon the city for the forest. While this chapter presents a rich summary of these folkloric motifs, most of the examples are not drawn from ancient sources. The reliance on post-ancient evidence also pervades Chapter 4, on the association of werewolfism with shamanistic soul-projection. Here Ogden dwells at length on late medieval, early modern, and modern examples, but contends that statements by Augustine and John Damascene and the feats of Greek shamans in the Pythagorean tradition hint at the ancient origins of this association. Building on the affinities presented in Chapter 2, Chapter 5 argues at length that the wolfskin-wearing ghost of Polites, a crewman of Odysseus, should be considered a werewolf, while Chapter 6 disentangles the myths and rites pertaining to the festival on Mount Lykaion in Arcadia, during which young men assume the lifestyle of wolves as a rite of passage. Both chapters provide dense textual analysis to make their respective arguments, but the werewolves themselves remain elusive. It is telling that the summary of “good stories about werewolves we can document, directly or indirectly, for the ancient world” (p. 206) barely takes up two pages of the book.

Unlike Ogden’s previous work on ancient dragons, which yielded a hefty monograph and a rich primary source reader, there is simply not enough evidence about ancient werewolves to sustain a treatment of this length.[1] The book’s frequent reliance on post-ancient source material suggests that a broader approach to the premodern werewolf that positioned the ancient sources alongside their medieval and early modern analogues would have reduced the significant burden that the Greek and Roman material struggles to bear in the present study.[2] Readers will most certainly find lasting value in the many long translations of primary source materials marshalled in The Werewolf in the Ancient World, which will provide a useful refernce for all future discussions of the ancient and mysterious versipellis.

Notes

[1] Daniel Ogden, Drakōn: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds (Oxford, 2013); and Dragons, Serpents and Slayers in the Classical and Early Christian Worlds: A Sourcebook, ed. Daniel Ogden (New York, 2013).

[2] For a successful example of this approach, see Mercedes Aguirre and Richard Buxton, Cyclops: The Myth and its Cultural History (Oxford, 2020), reviewed by Scott G. Bruce in BMCR 2021.07.10.”

Source: https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2021/2021.12.11/

I think that it must be clarified that Herodotus records the tale about the lycanthropy of the nation of Neurians who lived beyond the Scythians, in the fringes of the inhabited world as known to the Greeks, but he states that he disbelieves it (The Histories 4,105, as translated in The Landmark Herodotus edition):

“ It might well be true that these people [the Neurians] are sorcerers, for according to the Scythians and the Hellenes who inhabit Scythia, once each year every one of ther Neurians turns into a wolf, and, after a few days, changes back to himself again. Those who make these claims do not convince me, but nonetheless, that is what they say, and they swear it really happens.”

Aldo Corcella’s commentary of this passage (in D. Asheri -A. B. Lloyd-A Corcella “A Commentary on Herodotus Books I-IV”, OUP, P. 656) links the reported story to traditions of lycanthropism in the folklor of different peoples and proposes the explanation that perhaps the core of truth of the story about the lycanthropism of Neurians was some collective ritual of disguise, similar to the one practised in the festival of Lycaea in Arcadia.

#classics #lycanthropism #herodotus #daniel ogden #scott bruce

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mirandamckenni1 · 1 year

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Liked on YouTube: Reviewing 18 Books in 18 Minutes || https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTX_Id0XRNY || Welcome back to #Vlognukah! Today I'm going to be reviewing 18 books in 18 minutes 📚 Normally I do a video about my favourite books of the year but since becoming a parent I've had way less time to read & read way less overall so INSTEAD I thought I'd do quickfire reviews of ALL the books I've read this year! And in case kids' books count too, I go through all the kids' books I've read this year too. ABCs of Equality, anyone? Storygraph profile: https://ift.tt/9f3gb8M Eva Bloom: https://ift.tt/ZsuPHVA 📚ADULT BOOKS📚 The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson*: https://ift.tt/5dAaMsO Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert*: https://ift.tt/aWT5LiO Consumed by Aja Barber*: https://ift.tt/YhiLmfA The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green*: https://ift.tt/kdTUwfK The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune*: https://ift.tt/uk0LvCY How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Mike Schur*: https://ift.tt/YU6aBAH Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism by Kristen Ghodsee*: https://ift.tt/p49rtJH The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood*: https://ift.tt/38V6HuI Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler*: https://ift.tt/hrntSN0 Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo*: https://ift.tt/hYInRSs Idol by Louise O’Neill*: https://ift.tt/bTLogZn Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir*: https://ift.tt/M4XSgCZ The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee*: https://ift.tt/vn3EDyb Girl Friends by Holly Bourne*: https://ift.tt/OFKRMoB The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks by Mackenzi Lee*: https://ift.tt/6mjLAv5 Don’t Forget to Scream by Marianne Levy*: https://ift.tt/2uoMt3x Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid*: https://ift.tt/Vxg03ot Infamous by Lex Croucher*: https://ift.tt/KmN7T4A 📚KIDS BOOKS📚 Poppy on the Go: https://ift.tt/tjFlmGy Poppy Says Hello: https://ift.tt/LhUGwlP Whatever Next! by Jill Murphy*: https://ift.tt/4qWkUMQ Zoom to the Moon: https://ift.tt/bLf8xXZ An ABC of Equality*: https://ift.tt/DbUCVg4 Noisy Farm: https://ift.tt/xTRyFfv We’re Going on a Bear Hunt*: https://ift.tt/Jw7qbeY The Lion Inside*: https://ift.tt/ckuQMGd Quantum Physics for Babies*: https://ift.tt/pPDfFcC My First Signs*: https://ift.tt/K4tuBNi The Gruffalo Puppet Book*: https://ift.tt/mp8wcAH Shh! We Have a Plan*: https://ift.tt/6jDYSu4 Book of Animals*: https://ift.tt/K6kbLCX Love Makes a Family*: https://ift.tt/gx3NZr5 The Very Hungry Caterpillar*: https://ift.tt/N39otrC Together*: https://ift.tt/LP1ARp6 CHAPTERS 00:00 – Intro 01:24 – Adult books 13:28 – Kids books 17:11 – Outro SIMILAR VIDEOS Vlognukah 2022 playlist: 🍑MY SEX, RELATIONSHIPS, STOMA & DISABILITY YOUTUBE CHANNEL🍑 Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/hannahwitton?sub_confirmation=1 ✨WANT TO SUPPORT ME AND MY WORK?✨ Join The Common Room on Patreon! https://ift.tt/mEvzi9Z 📚MY BOOKS*📚 The Hormone Diaries: http://bit.ly/TheHormoneDiariesBook Doing It: http://bit.ly/DoingItBook Want to be the first to know about new projects & exclusive content? 📝SIGN UP TO MY NEWSLETTER📝 http://bit.ly/HannahWittonsNewsletter 🌻LET’S CONNECT🌻 Instagram: https://ift.tt/PWfMCzE Twitter: https://twitter.com/hannahwitton Facebook: https://ift.tt/zoONlLw 🎧LISTEN TO MY PODCAST🎧 https://ift.tt/Ru4onZ6 💕JOIN THE HORMONE DIARIES COMMUNITY 💕 https://ift.tt/BjtRq8o 💛MY WEBSITE💛 https://ift.tt/kS6Rr2f 🎮WATCH ME PLAY GAMES🎮 https://ift.tt/FlKOz42 ⭐CAPTIONS BY REV*⭐ https://ift.tt/YvTsuap 🎶MUSIC FOR YOUTUBE VIDEOS* 🎶 https://ift.tt/xj5rXpo 🎥VIDEO EQUIPMENT*🎥 Main camera - Canon 80d: http://bit.ly/HannahsMainCamera Lens - Sigma 18-35mm f1.8: http://bit.ly/HannahsLens Microphone - H4n Zoom: http://bit.ly/HannahsMicrophone Vlog camera - Sony ZV-1: https://bit.ly/HannahsNewVlogCamera Twitch camera - http://bit.ly/HannahsTwitchCamera 🎙PODCAST EQUIPMENT*🎙 Microphone - Samson Q2U: http://bit.ly/HannahsPodcastMicrophone Recorder - H6n Zoom: http://bit.ly/HannahsPodcastRecorder *Affiliate links #HannahWitton #MoreHannah

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awesomeforever · 2 years

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Analysis: You may be amazed by that answer, but the area of land used for grazing is vast compared with the meat and milk produced Perhaps the most important of all environmental issues is land use. Every hectare of land we use for extractive industries is a hectare that can’t support wild forests, savannahs, wetlands, natural grasslands and other crucial ecosystems. And farming swallows far more land than any other human activity. What are the world’s most damaging farm products? You might be amazed by the answer: organic, pasture-fed beef and lamb. I realise this is a shocking claim. Of all the statements in my new book, Regenesis, it has triggered the greatest rage. But I’m not trying to wind people up. I’m trying to represent the facts. Let me explain. Arable crops, some of which are fed to farm animals, occupy 12% of the planet’s land surface. But far more land (about 26%) is used for grazing: in other words, for pasture-fed meat and milk. Yet, across this vast area, farm animals that are entirely pasture-fed produce just 1% of the world’s protein. Livestock farmers often claim that their grazing systems “mimic nature”. If so, the mimicry is a crude caricature. A review of evidence from over 100 studies found that when livestock are removed from the land, the abundance and diversity of almost all groups of wild animals increases. The only category in which numbers fall when grazing by cattle or sheep ceases are those that eat dung. Where there are cattle, there are fewer wild mammals, birds, reptiles and insects on the land, and fewer fish in the rivers. Perhaps most importantly – because of their crucial role in regulating living systems – there tend to be no large predators. We don’t think about large predators in the UK, because we’ve exterminated them. Efforts to bring back lynx and wolves have so far been thwarted by the objections of livestock farmers. In the United States, where big carnivores still exist, federal and state agencies wage war against them on behalf of cattle and sheep farmers, often with astonishing brutality. A federal body called Wildlife Services uses poisoned baits, snares and leghold traps and shooting from planes and helicopters to kill wolves, coyotes, bears and bobcats. Its agents have incinerated pups in their dens, or dragged them out and clubbed them to death. Perhaps its most controversial killing tools are cyanide landmines: spring-loaded canisters of sodium cyanide planted in the ground, that spray the poison into the faces of animals that trip them. They’ve killed a wide range of endangered species, dozens of domestic dogs and at least one person. There are very few places – mostly parts of eastern and southern Africa – in which livestock farmers tolerate large predators, generally where tourism revenues are high. Even if we manage to ignore this crucial ecological issue, there’s still a massive problem. Many livestock farmers now claim to practise “regenerative grazing”. The minimum definition of ecological regeneration is permitting trees to return to formerly wooded lands. In the uplands of Britain, to judge by the experience of deer managers, this means a maximum of about one sheep for every 20 hectares (50 acres). They might as well not be kept at all. In the lowlands, the Knepp rewilding project in Sussex shows how far production has to fall to permit the return of trees and other wildlife: it generates just 54kg of meat a hectare. If, as many chefs and foodies and some environmentalists propose, meat were to come only from regenerative farms, it would be so scarce that only millionaires would eat it. In reality, the great majority of “regenerative” pasture-fed meat is nothing of the kind. It’s rebranded ranching, arguably the most destructive industry on Earth. In the US, livestock grazing is the primary reason for land degradation. It has caused an invasive species called cheatgrass to sweep across North America, devastating ecosystems. Cattle fencing excludes wild herbivores and stops migration.

The supposedly-greener methods some ranchers call “holistic management” or “planned grazing” are just as bad for wildlife as conventional ranching. In the UK, my estimates suggest that some 4m hectares of hill and mountain are used for sheep farming. Almost all this land, much of which would otherwise support temperate rainforest, is treeless, as tree seedlings are highly nutritious and selectively eaten by sheep. There are more trees for each hectare in some parts of inner London than there are in the “wild” British hills where sheep graze. The remaining vegetation is badly degraded. Four million hectares is 22% of the entire farmed area. It’s roughly equivalent to all the land used to grow grain in this country , and 23 times the area used for growing fruit and vegetables. But, in terms of calories, lamb and mutton supply just over 1% of the UK’s food. Pasture-fed meat production, in other words, is the major cause of agricultural sprawl. People rail against urban sprawl: the profligate use of land for housing and infrastructure. But the world’s urban areas occupy just 1% of the planet’s land surface, in comparison with the 26% used for grazing. Agricultural sprawl inflicts a very high ecological opportunity cost: the missing ecosystems that would otherwise exist. This is matched by the carbon opportunity cost of pasture-fed beef and lamb. Meat production has two kinds of global heating impact: its climate current account, which means the gases released by farming animals; and its climate capital account, which means the carbon dioxide the land could absorb if it were rewilded. The current account is dominated by the powerful greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide. Organic beef farms, whose animals take longer to raise and need even more land, lose twice as much nitrogen for each kilo of meat as conventional beef farms. In most cases, their current account emissions are astonishingly high, even in comparison with conventional beef farming, though some organic experiments, such as FAI Farms at Wytham in Oxfordshire, have found ways to reduce the time it takes for cattle to fatten. Sign up to First Edition Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Ranching’s capital account is always in debt, because wild ecosystems store more carbon than the fields and pastures that have taken their place. These debts can be enormous. A study of carbon opportunity costs published in Nature found that, while the global average cost of soybeans is 17kg of carbon dioxide for each kilogram of protein, the average carbon opportunity cost of a kilogram of beef protein is an astounding 1,250kg. Another paper calculates that if we all shifted to a plant-based diet, the carbon drawn down from the atmosphere by recovering ecosystems would be equivalent to the world’s fossil fuel emissions from the previous 16 years. The livestock industry has fought back with a massive public relations campaign, seeking to persuade people that pasture-fed meat helps reduce global heating by storing carbon in the soil. Yet, despite the many claims, there is no empirical evidence that carbon storage in pastures can even compensate for grazing’s current account emissions, let alone address the capital debt. Just as the oil industry tried to convince us that CO2 was good for the planet on the grounds that it’s “plant food”, the ranching industry has sought to sow doubt and confusion about its vast environmental impacts. We live in a bubble of delusion about where our food comes from and how it is produced. We’ve been dealing in stories when we should be dealing in numbers. Our gastroporn aesthetics, embedded in bucolic fantasy, are among the greatest threats to life on Earth. George Monbiot’s book Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet, is published by Penguin. This article was amended on 19 August 2022. An earlier version said that 28% of land globally was used for grazing animals. More

recent estimates have put this figure at about 26%, and the text (and relevant link) has been changed accordingly. Additionally, a graphic that accompanied this piece has been removed pending a review of the data presented. source

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maariyahfulat · 2 years

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Cycles of Norse Mythology by Glenn Searfoss

About the Book:

These stories are old, old as the Behmer Wold and seldom in life has there been such a brewing...

Reviews:

~ Elizabeth Konkel, Seattle Book Review

Full Review

~ Literary Titan

Full Review

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About the Author:

Engaging storytelling transports the reader to a different time/place/viewpoint and encourages their exploration of a subject.

A professional writer of 30+ years, Glenn Searfoss has authored numerous technical manuals, as well as books in the arenas of computer science, natural history, science fiction, and mythology.

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maaagnetize · 2 years

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Cycles of Norse Mythology by Glenn Searfoss

About the Book:

These stories are old, old as the Behmer Wold and seldom in life has there been such a brewing...

Reviews:

~ Elizabeth Konkel, Seattle Book Review

Full Review

~ Literary Titan

Full Review

Buy the Book – Amazon, Bookshop.org

About the Author:

Engaging storytelling transports the reader to a different time/place/viewpoint and encourages their exploration of a subject.

A professional writer of 30+ years, Glenn Searfoss has authored numerous technical manuals, as well as books in the arenas of computer science, natural history, science fiction, and mythology.

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unendingbooklist · 2 years

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Cycles of Norse Mythology by Glenn Searfoss

About the Book:

These stories are old, old as the Behmer Wold and seldom in life has there been such a brewing...

Reviews:

~ Elizabeth Konkel, Seattle Book Review

Full Review

~ Literary Titan

Full Review

Buy the Book – Amazon, Bookshop.org

About the Author:

Engaging storytelling transports the reader to a different time/place/viewpoint and encourages their exploration of a subject.

A professional writer of 30+ years, Glenn Searfoss has authored numerous technical manuals, as well as books in the arenas of computer science, natural history, science fiction, and mythology.

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bluntshroom · 2 years

Text

Cycles of Norse Mythology by Glenn Searfoss

About the Book:

These stories are old, old as the Behmer Wold and seldom in life has there been such a brewing...

Reviews:

~ Elizabeth Konkel, Seattle Book Review

Full Review

~ Literary Titan

Full Review

Buy the Book – Amazon, Bookshop.org

About the Author:

Engaging storytelling transports the reader to a different time/place/viewpoint and encourages their exploration of a subject.

A professional writer of 30+ years, Glenn Searfoss has authored numerous technical manuals, as well as books in the arenas of computer science, natural history, science fiction, and mythology.

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mariahcaarey · 2 years

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Cycles of Norse Mythology by Glenn Searfoss

About the Book:

These stories are old, old as the Behmer Wold and seldom in life has there been such a brewing...

Reviews:

~ Elizabeth Konkel, Seattle Book Review

Full Review

~ Literary Titan

Full Review

Buy the Book – Amazon, Bookshop.org

About the Author:

Engaging storytelling transports the reader to a different time/place/viewpoint and encourages their exploration of a subject.

A professional writer of 30+ years, Glenn Searfoss has authored numerous technical manuals, as well as books in the arenas of computer science, natural history, science fiction, and mythology.

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mannieflirt · 2 years

Text

Cycles of Norse Mythology by Glenn Searfoss

About the Book:

These stories are old, old as the Behmer Wold and seldom in life has there been such a brewing...

Reviews:

~ Elizabeth Konkel, Seattle Book Review

Full Review

~ Literary Titan

Full Review

Buy the Book – Amazon, Bookshop.org

About the Author:

Engaging storytelling transports the reader to a different time/place/viewpoint and encourages their exploration of a subject.

A professional writer of 30+ years, Glenn Searfoss has authored numerous technical manuals, as well as books in the arenas of computer science, natural history, science fiction, and mythology.

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n-o-t-h-i-n-g-n-e-ss · 2 years

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Cycles of Norse Mythology by Glenn Searfoss

About the Book:

These stories are old, old as the Behmer Wold and seldom in life has there been such a brewing...

Reviews:

~ Elizabeth Konkel, Seattle Book Review

Full Review

~ Literary Titan

Full Review

Buy the Book – Amazon, Bookshop.org

About the Author:

Engaging storytelling transports the reader to a different time/place/viewpoint and encourages their exploration of a subject.

A professional writer of 30+ years, Glenn Searfoss has authored numerous technical manuals, as well as books in the arenas of computer science, natural history, science fiction, and mythology.

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marinela-nac-nac · 2 years

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Cycles of Norse Mythology by Glenn Searfoss

About the Book:

These stories are old, old as the Behmer Wold and seldom in life has there been such a brewing...

Reviews:

~ Elizabeth Konkel, Seattle Book Review

Full Review

~ Literary Titan

Full Review

Buy the Book – Amazon, Bookshop.org

About the Author:

Engaging storytelling transports the reader to a different time/place/viewpoint and encourages their exploration of a subject.

A professional writer of 30+ years, Glenn Searfoss has authored numerous technical manuals, as well as books in the arenas of computer science, natural history, science fiction, and mythology.

0 notes