#but maize is built a little different

[smiley-maize]

This is a blog where I post Maize, my very special corn snake

Maize is a rescue corn snake with a wonky jaw as a result of a harmless birth defect. His open mouth is not the result of illness. He has annual reptile vet visits where he's tested for any respiratory illness just to be safe.

He can close his mouth, drink, eat, and live like a normal snake. Sometimes it's just comfy for him to open his mouth, or he ends up making some goofy faces!

He's a happy, healthy, and silly boy 🐍

[whencyclopedia]

Wari Civilization

The Wari Civilization flourished in the coastal and highland areas of ancient Peru between c. 450 and c. 1000 CE. Based at their capital Huari, the Wari successfully exploited the diverse landscapes they controlled to construct an empire administered by provincial capitals connected by a large road network. Their methods of maintaining an empire and artistic style would have a significant influence on the later Inca civilization.

The Wari were contemporary with those other great Middle Horizon (c. 600 - 1000 CE) cultures centred at Tiwanaku and Pukara. The more militaristic Wari were also gifted agriculturalists and they constructed canals to irrigate terraced fields. The economic stability and prosperity this brought allowed the Wari to implement a combined strategy of military might, economic benefits, and distinct artistic imagery to forge an empire across ancient Peru. Their superior management of the land also helped them resist the 30-year drought period which during the end of the 6th century CE contributed to the decline of the neighbouring Nazca and Moche civilizations.

The Wari were undoubtedly influenced by contemporary cultures, for example, appropriating the Chavin Staff deity — a god closely associated with the sun, rain, and maize, all so vital to cultures dependent on agriculture and the whims of an unreliable climate. They transformed it into a ritual icon present on textiles and pottery, spreading their own branded iconography and leaving a lasting legacy in Andean art.

Huari

The capital at Huari (25 km north of modern Ayacucho) is located at an altitude of 2,800 m and is spread over 15 square kilometres. It was first settled around 250 CE and eventually had a population possibly as high as 70,000 at its peak. Huari shows typical features of Andean architecture: densely packed wall-enclosed rectangular structures which can be further divided into a maze of compartments. The city's walls are massive (up to 10 metres high and 4 metres thick) and built using largely unworked stones set with a mud mortar. Buildings had two or three stories, courtyards were lined with stone benches set in the walls, and drains were stone-lined. The floors and walls of buildings were generally covered with plaster and painted white.

There is little distinction in Wari architecture between public and private buildings and little evidence of town planning. A royal palace has, however, been identified in the northwest section of the city, its oldest area of habitation and called Vegachayoq Moqo. A now ruined temple was located in the Moraduchayuq compound in the southeast of the city. It was built in the 6th century CE and had subterranean parts with the whole structure once painted red. Like other buildings at the site it was deliberately destroyed and ritually buried. The city seems to have been abandoned c. 800 CE for reasons unknown.

Tombs have been excavated at Huari which contained fine examples of Wari textiles. Ceramics are also amongst finds at the site. A royal tomb was discovered in the Monjachayoq zone which consists of 25 chambers on two different levels, all lined with finely cut stone slabs. In addition, a shaft descends to a third level chamber which has the shape of a llama. Finally, a circle chamber was cut out at a fourth level down. The llama-shaped tomb, looted in antiquity, was the royal resting place and dates to 750-800 CE.

Huari was once surrounded by irrigated fields and fresh water ran through the city via underground conduits. Further indicators of prosperity are the presence of areas dedicated to the production of specific goods such as ceramics and jewellery. Precious materials for these workshops and imported goods indicate trade with far-flung places: shells from the coast and Spondylus from Ecuador, for example. The presence of buildings used for storage at Huari and other Wari cities also indicates a centrally controlled trade network spread across ancient Peru.

Continue reading...

[a-clown-with-wings]

can I have an outline of how you draw bodies for reference please ^^ if u can and want too

I’m not good with tutorials because I’ve never been asked, but I’ll try my best tee hee

Also forgive the crusty art, it’s 2 am and I’m drawing mermaids.

Now, personally, I have a very different style that’s mainly culminated of many other styles that I have studied from other artists that I like, so this might not work for you or any other person that sees this, but I think trying in general is a big step in the right direction!

1. BLOCKING!!

Funny enough, I just started this step very recently, so if anything, it’s just an extra step to make sure everything is right. It’s actually helped me quite a lot since I have problems with anatomy and posing, so I really recommend it as a first step.

Think of it as a really messy sketch. In this step, you can do literally anything without being upset for getting frustrated because it doesn’t look right. It’s just a silhouette of an idea that you will expand on in the next step. I also recommend this for character design since silhouette is a BIG part of it and can make or break a line of characters. The last thing you want is for everyone character to look like a recolor of each other. ^^’

2. SHAPES!

I cannot stress enough how important shape language is for literally every single thing. Everything is made of shapes. People, animals, buildings, food. It all can be broken down into squares and circles. This is a part of anatomy that takes a little study, but once you get it, you get it.

For me, it’s changed a lot, but to put it simply: trapezoid and triangles. That’s all you really need for torsos really.

Now, for people of different body types, that’s a whole different story. Of course pear shaped people are not going to be built the same as people that are under rectangle or apple. That’s for another day, though. Slow and steady winds the race. If you take in too much, you’ll stress yourself out.

3. DETAILS!

Warning! If this part stresses you out the most, you are not alone.

I am better at drawing women and femmes because that was what my first Ocs were, so I’m still learning maize anatomy, but whatever. Nothing to worry about now.

This is completely reliant on what the person looks like. People have different bodies so not everyone is going to have a perfect hourglass figure. That being said, simply making the body wider or taller is not enough!! People have fat, it’s just one of the many things we are made of. Some people have more, some have less.

Think of it like a blanket almost. If you were to put a bed sheet over a chair, you would be able to see almost everything regarding the shape of it. If it was made of something thicker, like chunky crochet yarn, it would be harder to see the shape of the chair underneath. That’s putting it very simply. Things like muscle and stuff would be like throwing clothes onto the chair before putting the blanket on. Not a nursing major or anything, so take this with a grain of salt. I’m a stupid little guy.

It would take me forever to explain all of this, so I suggest looking into it on your own time in order to get a more in depth understanding of bodies and stuff like that. :)

EXTRAS!

If you haven’t noticed already p, which I completely understand, I am not that good at robots. I joined fnaf when Security Breach came out cus I like Suna nd Moon and I started this account with the intent of gaining an audience for my other Ocs. You goobers reeled me in and now I’m stuck here.

Anyway, when it comes to metal people, I draw them slightly different. They don’t have organs or anything, and are video game characters, so they don’t need a space for them. And nothing is better than saving space :)

I also make their bust a literal circle because I come on this app each day and see someone else draw them better and I start to sob uncontrollably. /j

This is completely up to you since people draw them all kinds of silly ways and I see no problem with that.

I don’t know how to end this but I hope this helped in some way :)

[gkathleenk]

BOTSWANA

DAY ONE

I flew in from Morocco to Gaborone, Botswana. The first thing I did when landing in Gaborone is make my way to my Airbnb. I chose to stay at a little tiny home cottage that cost 1915.65 BWP (Botswana Pula) (139 USD) per night.

After checking in, I went to the National Museum and Art Gallery. It was an 11-minute walk from my Airbnb. In Botswana, the most common form of transportation is bus, but since the distance was so short, I took a walk. Opened to the public in 1967, the National Museum and Art Gallery was made to show off African artwork and culture. The museum tries to promote lesser known artists as opposed to super famous ones. In 2007, the museum added a botanical garden. They show history in Africa in the museum, with displays such as oxcarts and traditional thatched houses.

After the museum, I walked to Nandos Main Mall. I decided to get a Nando's Salad, which was 55 BWP (3.99 USD) and the burger meal with fries, and that costed 93 BWP (6.75 USD). My tab was 148 BWP and I tipped the waiter 14.8 BWP, as 10% is the customary in Botswana.

Even though I ate in The Main Mall, I decided not to shop. The Main Mall is the biggest tourist attraction in Gaborone. Instead, I went to The Three Dikgosi Monument. Built in September 2005, this monument shows three 18ft tall Dikgosi (chiefs) who played roles in Botswana's independence from Great Britain: Khama III, Sebele I, and Batheon I. In 1895, the three Dikgosi went to Great Britain to demand freedom, but they didn't until 1960, but that was way sooner than what it would have been if the three Dikgosi didn't talk to them. Even though Great Britain had control of Botswana for 75 years, their effect on the country was actually minimal, and they didn't destroy the pre-existing culture when they took over. That is why so much of Botswana culture is so prevalent today.

After the monument, I went back to my Airbnb.

DAY TWO

Today in Botswana I wanted to explore religion in Botswana. Located a 2-minute drive away from my Airbnb was Trinity Church. The official religion of Botswana is Christianity, even though only 20% practice the religion. The remaining 80% practice various different religions. The main form of Christianity practiced is Protestantism. Christianity got its start in Botswana in 1812, and it was quickly adopted. Christian holidays are the only public holidays celebrated. The smallest religion is Hinduism, with 0.3% of the population practicing it. There are only 5 Hindu temples located in Botswana. There are some traditional African religions practiced, those being Badimo and Modimo. Badimo doesn't believe in gods or demigods, but they do believe in "living dead." The word 'Badimo' translates from Sotho-Tswana, and it means ancestors. Modimo is the name of the god that the Tswana worship. Modimo translates to "the high one" in Lesotho Sesotho. Tswana isn't really a religion in itself, it is instead the name of a Bantu ethnic group native to Botswana. The constitution of Botswana protects the peoples' freedom of religion, and forced conversion is against the law.

Speaking of laws and the legal system, Botswana has a Dutch-Roman law system. Dutch-Roman is an uncodified legal system, which means that it is absent from legislative statutes and existing only by virtue of the common law. The most common crime in Botswana is pickpocketing. Locals recommend carrying your backpack in front of you instead of on your back. You should also sit with your belongings close by.

After the church, I decided to get something to eat. The national dish of Botswana is Seswaa and it's a meat stew served over polenta or pap. Polenta is an Italian dish that is just yellow cornmeal, while pap is a porridge made from maize.

After eating I traveled to Kgale Hill, a famous tourist attraction in Gaborone. Kgale Hill translates to "The Place that Dried Up" in the countries national language of Setswana and is now nicknamed "The Sleeping Giant. Kgale Hill is 4,222ft above sea level. The hill takes an hour and 35 minutes.

After the 3 hour hike it took to do up and down, I decided to head home before my flight out tomorrow. See you in Oceania!

[jkl-fff]

*cracks knuckles*

The French aristocracy. Colonialism in the Carribbean. Advances in transportation technology.

One thing we have to understand about European cuisine is that it *sucked* before the 1500s because practically everything really yummy isn't indiginous to the continent. Tomatos, potatoes, corn (maize), rice, peanuts, tropical fruits, cocoa, coffee, tea, vanilla, cinnamon, most spices--all of these come from other continents. A good deal of them were utterly inaccessible before the 1500s because they come from the Americas, too.

Sugar is also not indiginous to Europe. This means that it (like most tasty foods) were ultra-rare luxuries that only the ultra-rich could afford because of the low supply that came practically only via Silk Road merchants. So usually, up until the 1500s, the only available sweeteners in Europe were honey, carrots (this is why carrot cake exists), beets (ugh!), or whatever fruits can grow in Europe (sometimes boiled down into syrups ... usually in lead pots so as to not spoil the flavor) (this was a common, popular practice even in Ancient Rome) (yes, that does mean Romans were frequently giving themselves lead poisoning, and they were fully aware of this, but didn't care so long as their food had some godsdamned flavor for once).

But in the 1500s, Europe started long-distance, overseas operations in American colonies where there were new foodstuffs (like cocoa) *and* ideal agricultural conditions for mass farming of rare foodstuffs from other continents (coffee and sugarcane especially, which are from Asia). This increased the supply and lowered the price considerably, given that Europeans now controlled the supply themselves and ... well, produced it relatively cheaply, since they didn't have to pay plantation slaves (yeah, the history of pastries is unfortunately tied to the history of slavery) (just like chocolate production nowadays, because of bastards like Nestlé). To be clear, these luxuries were still *very* expensive, but now the merely rich could afford them, too, not just the ultra-rich.

Now, rich assholes aristocrats love flaunting their wealth and "refinement" by consuming conspicuously. Fashionable clothes, flashy toys, glitzy houses, stunning art, sumptuous food--all in front of other aristocrats. So during the 1500s - 1700s, they would host parties where their chefs prepared exciting, new foods featuring exciting, new ingredients from the exciting New World. And since the French were particularly invested in Carribbean colonies where they were going nuts on sugarcane, theirs often involved the now relatively cheap and super delicious sugar. Boom! We see an explosion of different pastries--not just sweets, but pretty, little *delicacies* that were as much a visual work of art as a gustatory one. Airy, fluffy, fancy, difficult to produce. This isn't cake or pies or cookies (which had existed for thousands of years, are much easier to make, and are much more solid and nourishing--y'know, peasant foods), but edible art only the rich can afford to show off how rich they are.

But as time went on, more plantations were built using more slaves, so there was more supply. And ships and shipping practices improved (sail gave way to steam, the best routes were charted, packing got more efficient, etc.), making more supply, too. The cost kept going down until, in the 1800s, even the middle classes could afford occasional luxuries like some of the easier to produce pastries now available in special bakeries (using previously established and disseminated recipes in cookbooks compiled by earlier chefs). Which they very much wanted to do, because 1) delicious, 2) it made them look rich, too, which was always super, suuuuuper important.

By that point, pastries were a culinary institution in and of themselves (especially thanks to their association with French culture, which everyone knows is the most culture). And still are today!

Silly Game Time: Bringing back a crowd favorite! If you had to talk about something for an hour--anything at all, no matter how bizarre or niche--what subject would you choose?

40K

anyways guess what I spent three hours talking about this morning

[weaversweek]

Uncool50 - finding my place

Part of the #Uncool50 project, a sort-of autobiography told through the memories of pop singles. This installment covers the second half of the 2000s. Nothing from 2005 or 2006, by now my head had been turned by European hits and the anglophone stuff just wasn’t fun.

The theatre kid who made it. "Grace Kelly" came out of nowhere at the start of 2007, as flamboyant and ostentatious and unashamedly queer as anything. Mika sounds like Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen who was snatched from us far too soon.

The homophobes hated it. Of course the homophobes hated it, they cannot stand anything fun, colourful, honest. One review at the time said, "Like being held at gunpoint by Bonnie Langford", as if this was a bad thing!

This song is fun, it's catchy, it worms into your ears and is never going to leave. Might just be the greatest pop song of the decade. More power to Mika.

The greatest pop moment of the decade comes straight after the breakdown in "About you now". We hear the chorus line again – "can we bring yesterday back around?" But this time it's different – a little higher-pitched, a touch yelpy. And there's a gloriously discordant high tone, "coz I know how I feel about you now".

By this time, we're up to Sugababes 3.0 – Siobhan's long-gone, Mutya's been replaced by Amelle - but the songs still remain awesome. Dancey-electronica with a scuzzy overtone. And the video with the young man parkouring his way around south London, hopes to meet up with his date on the Southbank.

My long list of 300 songs had a lot of Sugababes – "Overload" and "Freak like me", "Too lost in you", "Ugly" and "Change" all featured. But none of them have this yelp of joy, that’s the clincher.

"This is the life", Amy MacDonald's defining hit. Breakthrough single "Mr rock and roll" had positioned Amy as a troubadour, sings songs about people's lives. She uses a few words to describe a scene, and whoosh – we're in it!

"This is the life" is a personal, probably autobiographical, song. "So you're sitting there with nothing to do, talking about Robert Riger and his motley crew". Life-affirming through its melancholy, drunken nights out and waiting in for friends and thinking both that this is excellent and this is terrible.

Number one for the year in Belgium, Netherlands; for some weeks in Austria and Czechia; top five in all civilised markets around the continent. And number 28 on Britain, because the playlisters and programmers in London are a complete waste of space and goodness knows who pays them. Amy's built a hugely successful career in Europe, and still makes top-drawer albums to this day.

So I started hanging out with a bunch of friends from the karaoke bar, and we went out to a maize maze, ears of corn up to eye level. Or for Caz, ears of corn over the top of her head. Caz managed to lose contact with the group, get lost, and had to be rescued by the tall stablehand.

We welcomed Anna into our friendship group, and she turned out to be the glue to hold us together, and we loved her dearly. "Bulletproof" by La Roux is one of many many songs from those years. This time, maybe, I'll be bulletproof.

[sciencespies]

Common weed may be 'super plant' that holds key to drought-resistant crops

https://sciencespies.com/nature/common-weed-may-be-super-plant-that-holds-key-to-drought-resistant-crops/

Common weed may be 'super plant' that holds key to drought-resistant crops

A common weed harbors important clues about how to create drought resistant crops in a world beset by climate change.

Yale scientists describe how Portulaca oleracea, commonly known as purslane, integrates two distinct metabolic pathways to create a novel type of photosynthesis that enables the weed to endure drought while remaining highly productive, they report August 5 in the journal Science Advances.

“This is a very rare combination of traits and has created a kind of ‘super plant’ — one that could be potentially useful in endeavors such as crop engineering,” said Yale’s Erika Edwards, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and senior author of the paper.

Plants have independently evolved a variety of distinct mechanisms to improve photosynthesis, the process by which green plants use sunlight to synthesize nutrients from carbon dioxide and water. For instance, corn and sugarcane evolved what is called C4 photosynthesis, which allows the plant to remain productive under high temperatures. Succulents such as cacti and agaves possess another type called CAM photosynthesis, which helps them survive in deserts and other areas with little water. Both C4 and CAM serve different functions but recruit the same biochemical pathway to act as “add-ons” to regular photosynthesis.

What makes the weed purslane unique is that it possesses both of these evolutionary adaptations — which allows it to be both highly productive and also very drought tolerant, an unlikely combination for a plant. Most scientists believed that C4 and CAM operated independently within leaves of purslane.

But the Yale team, led by co-corresponding authors and postdoctoral scholars Jose Moreno-Villena and Haoran Zhou, conducted a spatial analysis of gene expression within the leaves of purslane and found that C4 and CAM activity are totally integrated. They operate in the same cells, with products of CAM reactions being processed by the C4 pathway. This system provides unusual levels of protection for a C4 plant in times of drought.

The researchers also built metabolic flux models that predicted the emergence of an integrated C4+CAM system that mirrors their experimental results.

Understanding this novel metabolic pathway could help scientists devise new ways to engineer crops such as corn to help withstand prolonged drought, the authors say.

“In terms of engineering a CAM cycle into a C4 crop, such as maize, there is still a lot of work to do before that could become a reality,” said Edwards. “But what we’ve shown is that the two pathways can be efficiently integrated and share products. C4 and CAM are more compatible than we had thought, which leads us to suspect that there are many more C4+CAM species out there, waiting to be discovered.”

Story Source:

Materials provided by Yale University. Original written by Bill Hathaway. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

#Nature

[kawuli]

I grew up on stories of the Dust Bowl.

My dad’s parents were Okies--environmental refugees, before anyone had a word for it. They left their families, the land they were renting, their animals, took their 1-year-old daughter, and drove to California. My grandpa worked in a peach packing plant. My grandma cleaned houses.

They were so lonely that after a couple years they went back to Oklahoma, with their total savings of $20. Later, they bought land. Built a house. Survived.

My mom’s dad was a kid then, and his family stayed in western Kansas. Stayed because my great-grandpa was too damn stubborn to leave, stayed when their neighbors had all left, stayed because they didn’t have enough money to leave. They slept with wet rags over their faces. My great-grandpa tied a string around his waist, tied the other end to the house, and went to check on the cows, while my great-grandma tried to make soup from a little milk and a little flour. There was so much dust swirling in the air, the soup turned to mud. She cried, begged her husband once more to let them leave, and they went to bed hungry.

My grandpa’s oldest brother was the first one in the county to leave his wheat stubble in the field instead of plowing it under after the harvest. His neighbors made fun of him. His parents scolded him for having messy fields. 70 years later, at his funeral, someone told how people from Japan came to visit the farm, to see what he was doing differently.

More than 80 years after the Dust Bowl, I stood on a mountain in Ecuador watching, horrified, as a man with a tractor plowed a steep field. He would back up the hill, set the disk in the ground at the top of the field, and drive down, breaking up the soil, dragging it downhill. Dust billowed around him.

The man next to me, a rich-for-the-area farmer, sighed happily. “Look at all that dust. Isn’t that great?”

“What? No!” I was shocked.

“Why not? That’s what a modern farm looks like.”

I thought of the old black-and-white photos, dust clouds like black walls rolling in across the prairie. That’s what a modern farm looked like, too.

The next field down, four people and four oxen--well, dairy cows used as oxen--were planting. They used plows, too, but instead of a disk pulverizing the soil, their plow was a straight piece of wood, metal from an old leaf spring bolted to the end. One team of oxen used that plow to open a furrow, the women walking behind dropped maize seeds into the soil, and the second team of oxen dragged the same kind of plow just above the first, closing the furrow and burying the seeds. They walked along the hill--side to side, furrows running along the contour of the hill. If they were raising any dust, it wasn’t enough for me to see from across the valley.

The man with the tractor probably finished in an hour or two. The whole group, people and oxen and all, probably spent the whole day planting the same size field.

As the maize grew tall, you could see the difference: In the tractored field, the top rows were yellow, spindly, trying to root in the yellow-brown clay the topsoil had once covered. Down below, in dark, rich earth, the maize was tall, green, strong.

In Mali, years later, a farmer explained to a group of visiting scientists why, despite having made erosion control bunds, his rows of maize still went up and down the slope, instead of along the contour, parallel with the bunds. “Because of the wind,” he said, like it was obvious--because it was. In the rainy season, the wind comes from the south, and when storms come it blows hard enough to send dust and dishes and clothes left on the line flying and tumbling with it.

The rows of maize have to be parallel to that wind, or they’ll blow over. So sure, you can put the scientists’ earthen ridges in to block the downhill flow of water, but your rows can’t follow that meandering contour. Your rows have to face into the wind. 

For thousands of years we’ve been coaxing, wrestling, dragging our food from the soil. If we’re careful, and lucky, we can make our peace with it. If we charge into places unknown--the high plains of Kansas and Oklahoma, the steep slopes of the Andes, the storm-swept fields of West Africa--if we plow, and plant, and harvest without thinking? Without learning from the place? Dust clouds blackening the horizon, stunted maize on worn-out soil, crops blown down in  thunderstorms--the earth is forgiving, but only so far. We have time to learn, to make mistakes, to do what is easy even when it does harm, but only so much. Beyond that, we destroy the very literal foundations of our lives.

[neptunesdaughtr]

Here is Carol arriving at the Salt Pier. A little bit of history according to Geocaching:

Bonaire Salt Works History

In 1633, the Dutch took possession of Curacao, Bonaire and Aruba. The largest island, Curacao, emerged as a center of the notorious slave trade. Bonaire then became a plantation island belonging to the Dutch West Indies Company. It was during those early years that the first African slaves were forced to work, cutting dyewood and cultivating maize and harvesting solar salt. Grim reminders of those days still remain in the form of slave huts and salt pans which were laboriously constructed by hand. They are an important part of the island's heritage and have been left to stand mute testimony to Bonaire's repressive beginning.

Until 1816, ownership of Bonaire changed hands a number of times, finally being returned that year to the Dutch as a result of the Treaty of Paris. A small fort, Fort Oranje, was built to protect the island's main resource, salt. Salt was one commodity that Bonaire had in endless supply, although it took back breaking slave labor to produce it. In the early days of the industry, the most important use for salt was in the preservation of food, since refrigeration was still centuries away.

By 1837, Bonaire was a thriving center of salt production. The government, who by then controlled the industry, built four obelisks, each painted a different color, red, white, blue and orange (the colors of the Dutch Flag and the Royal House of Orange). They were erected strategically near areas of the salt lake. The idea was to signal ships where to pick up their cargoes of salt. A flag of the corresponding color was raised atop a flagpole, thus signalling the ship's captain where to drop anchor. Three of the obelisks can still be seen today.

The abolition of slavery in 1863 signaled an end to the era of exploitation of those first Bonaireans. It was almost a hundred years later that the salt industry was revitalized. Today it is a division of Cargill, Incorporated, one of the largest businesses in the world.

The Outdoor Solar Salt Mine

Solar salt is produced by the action of sun and wind on seawater. The water evaporates until the brine is so concentrated salt crystallizes on the floor of the ponds. Solar salt mines must be located in areas of low rainfall and high evaporation rates.

The following is the process in which salt is mined on Bonaire

Intake ponds

The Intake ponds are where the process starts. They are surrounded by short levees that separate them from the ocean and follow the couture of the shoreline. Seawater is let in to the intake ponds through cuts in the shoreline, and then it is then pumped from the intake ponds into the evaporation pools.

Traveling along the seashore you can see several seawater inlets and levees that were first built centuries ago. Some of the old windmill pumps that pumped the seawater can also be seen, but now days most of the pumps are electric.

Evaporation Ponds

Through natural evaporation, water is drawn out of these ponds, creating increasingly saline brines. The art of salt-making involves keeping minerals in solution (or liquid phase) while sodium chloride precipitates into its pure white crystals. The minerals stay in solution and are harvested after the salt has crystallized.

In Bonaire these evaporator ponds and the intake ponds that surround them are an important habitat for the Pink Flamingo, because the ponds are shallow - an average of 1.5 feet deep - it's easy for the Flamingos find a meal in the low to mid salinity ponds.

Evaporation Pond Distinctive Colors

Once the ponds reach a high salinity, the native fish and plants can no longer live, their prey, the organisms lower on the food chain, multiply. These are bacteria, sometimes referred to as blue-green algae. The most dominant, actually changes the color of its protoplasm. As the brines grow saltier, the algae darken and its orange hue transforms into a brilliant vermillion, coloring the brines the same vivid red.

Harvest

When the brine is fully saturated, it is called "pickle." At that point, the brine is holding as much salt as it can, and the salt begins to crystallize. The salt is harvested by scraping the crystals off the bottom of the pond and then transported to the Wash House.

Wash House

At the wash house, the salt is dumped into a saturated brine solution to wash off any impurities that might be stuck to the crystals. Because saturated brine is already carrying as much salt as it can hold, very little salt dissolves in the wash.

The harvested salt goes through a series of washers and augers. The cleaned salt is then dropped onto a conveyor belt with a distinctive, triangular frame and moved onto the salt stacks.

When the fresh salt is first placed on the stack, it is 99.5 percent pure. For a few days, the fresh salt retains the pinkish color of the "pickle" from which it evaporated. Within a week or two, however, it turns a dazzling white.

Salt from the stack is transported by conveyor belt to waiting ships, where it is transported for further processing.

[whencyclopedia]

Homolovi

Homolovi or Homolovi State Park (formerly: Homolovi Ruins State Park) is a cluster of archaeological sites that contains the ruins of eight pre-Columbian Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) and Hopi pueblos in addition to some 300 other remains and petroglyphs. Homolovi lies within sight of the Little Colorado River in a floodplain, 2 km (4 miles) northeast of Winslow, Arizona in the United States. Archaeologists believe that Ancestral Puebloan peoples and the ancestors of the Hopi tribe once occupied these settlements, which spread out along a 32 km (19 miles) corridor on the Little Colorado River, at different intervals of time from c. 1250-1425 CE. Two pueblos - Homolovi I and Homolovi II - each contained more than 1,000 rooms in ancient times, and 40 ceremonial kivas are scattered throughout the park. The Homolovi ruins are unique in the ancient Southwest as they have helped archaeologists better understand the cultural transitions and social changes that occurred in the region during the 13th through 14th centuries CE. Four of the sites at Homolovi are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, and the park is currently managed by the Arizona State Park system.

Geography & Prehistory

Homolovi or Homol'ovi is Hopi for “place of the little hills,” and Arizona's Hopi Reservation and Hopi Mesas are located only 84 km (52 miles) north of Homolovi. Lying in extreme close proximity to the Little Colorado River (Hopi: Paayu), Homolovi is situated in the Great Basin Area Desert Grasslands and is 130 km (80 miles) southeast of Flagstaff, Arizona, 117 km (73 miles) from Wupatki Pueblo, and 217 km (135 miles) west of Gallup, New Mexico. Homolovi covers a total area of 1,800 ha (4,500 acres) and sits at a high desert altitude of 1494 m (4,900 ft). Homolovi only receives about 178 mm (7 in) of precipitation annually.

Scientific and archaeological research has shown that nomadic, prehistoric peoples occupied the area that now comprises Homolovi intermittently from c. 4000 BCE- 400 CE. The Little Colorado River made the area somewhat attractive to an array of fauna: cottontail rabbits, jackrabbits, beavers, prairie dogs, porcupines, waterfowl, fish, elk, deer, and antelope come to the river seasonally. Ancient prehistoric peoples and tribes came occasionally to the region while hunting and migrating seasonally, but they did not construct settlements within the region until c. 500-600 CE. The reasons for this are likely due to the area's very dry climate and lack of wood and storable food resources. When possible and climatic conditions were favorable, early sedentary people hunted and gathered like their prehistoric forebears, but they also began farming, growing corn, beans, squash, and other small crops. It is also known that they grew cotton for textile production. Yucca and rice grass have grown in the area for several millennia, and indigenous people utilized rice grass as a staple food when the maize crop failed.

There were two periods of inhabitation of Homolovi prior to the construction of the pueblos at Homolovi in the 13th and 14th centuries CE: an Early Period from c. 600-900 CE and Middle Period from 1000-1225 CE. When favorable climatic conditions existed in the 11th and 12th centuries CE, indigenous peoples built small pit houses as opposed to large-scale constructions made of adobe. These earlier occupations of the area around Homolovi appear short-lived and sporadic, lasting around a decade or two. This pattern of periodic settlement and abandonment is likely due to changing local environmental conditions and the Little Colorado River. Depending on the year, the river could be bone-dry due to lack of rain or prone to flooding due to heavy snowfalls near the river's headwaters. It is known that the Little Colorado River was flooded regularly in the early 1200s CE and that the decades leading up to the 13th century CE were wet.

Continue reading...

[newstfionline]

Headlines

Western wildfires (NYT) Across a hellish landscape of smoke and ash, authorities in Oregon, California and Washington State battled to contain mega-wildfires on Sunday as shifting winds threatened to accelerate blazes that have burned an unimaginable swath of land across the West. The arrival of the stronger winds on Sunday tested the resolve of fire crews already exhausted by weeks of combating blazes that have consumed around 5 million acres of desiccated forests, incinerated numerous communities and created what in many places was measured as the worst air quality on the planet. “There’s just so much fire,” said Ryan Walbrun, a fire weather meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “And so much smoke.” The fires, which have killed at least 24 people in the last week alone, have engulfed the region in anguish and fear, as fairgrounds have turned into refugee camps for many who have been forced from their homes.

The Maitre d’ Will Take Your Temperature Now (NYT) In recent weeks, a new cadre of gatekeepers armed with thermometer guns has appeared at the entrances of hospitals, office buildings and manufacturing plants to screen out feverish individuals who may carry the coronavirus. Employees at some companies must report their temperature on apps to get clearance to come in. And when indoor dining resumes at restaurants in New York City later this month, temperature checks will be done at the door. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the practice of checking for fever has become more and more commonplace, causing a surge in sales of infrared contact-free thermometers and body temperature scanners even as the scientific evidence indicating they are of little value has solidified. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York last week called for checking patrons’ temperatures as one of several ground rules for resuming indoor dining in restaurants, along with strict limits on the number of tables and a mask mandate for diners when they are not seated. Restaurants also will be required to obtain contact information from one guest at each table.

Voting by mail (California Sunday Magazine) Voting by mail is an increasingly attractive and necessary option for voters, but it requires actual infrastructure to accomplish, large machines to be built and acquired, and a significant effort to get the ballots where they need to be. In 2016, 20 percent of Americans voted by mail, but this year it could be as high as 50 percent. A commercial grade printer can make 50,000 ballots in an hour, but it takes an enormous $500,000 device called an inserter to get the envelopes—linked by barcode to a specific voter—appropriately stuffed at the clip of 14,000 ballots per hour. The process is meticulous: when in 2014, an inserter misfired for 35 seconds in Phoenix, 232 voters in California and 1,000 in Colorado and Arizona got misprinted ballots, and when they caught the error they were able to fix that. The other 3.8 million ballots handled at the facility were fine.

As Sally chugs to coast, Gulf residents get ready (AP) Hurricane Sally, a plodding but powerful storm with winds of 90 mph, crept toward the northern Gulf Coast early Tuesday, with forecasters warning of potentially deadly storm surges, flash floods spurred by up to 2 feet (.61 meters) of rain and the possibility of tornadoes. Hurricane warnings stretched from Grand Isle, Louisiana, to Navarre, Florida, but forecasters — while stressing “significant” uncertainty — kept nudging the predicted track to the east. That eased fears in New Orleans, which once was in the storm’s crosshairs. But it prompted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare an emergency in the Panhandle’s westernmost counties, which were being pummeled by rain from Sally’s outer bands early Tuesday.

Russian opposition leader Navalny able to leave hospital bed (AP) Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is off a ventilator and is able to leave his hospital bed briefly, his doctors said Monday, while Germany announced that French and Swedish labs have confirmed its findings that he was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. Navalny, 44, was flown to Berlin for treatment at the Charite hospital two days after falling ill on a domestic flight in Russia on Aug. 20. Germany has demanded that Russia investigate the case. Although noting the improvement in Navalny’s health, the statement didn’t address the long-term outlook for the anti-corruption campaigner. Doctors have previously cautioned that even though Navalny is recovering, long-term health problems from the poisoning cannot be ruled out.

Lukashenko meets with Putin (Foreign Policy) More than 100,000 protesters flooded the streets of the Belarusian capital of Minsk on Sunday in one of the largest demonstrations against the rule of longtime President Aleksandr Lukashenko since his disputed victory in last month’s presidential elections. Police said they detained 400 people during the protests. The demonstrations came before a meeting between Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin scheduled for today, during which they will reportedly discuss deeper integration of their two countries. Lukashenko’s relations with Moscow had deteriorated in the months leading up to the election, but he has since warmed to Moscow again as the threat to his reign has grown more acute. Putin recently confirmed that he would send a reserve police force to Belarus if Lukashenko requested it.

US issues sweeping new travel warning for China, Hong Kong (AP) The U.S. on Tuesday issued a sweeping new advisory warning against travel to mainland China and Hong Kong, citing the risk of “arbitrary detention” and “arbitrary enforcement of local laws.” The new advisory warned U.S. citizens that China imposes “arbitrary detention and exit bans” to compel cooperation with investigations, pressure family members to return to China from abroad, influence civil disputes and “gain bargaining leverage over foreign governments.” “U.S. citizens traveling or residing in China or Hong Kong, may be detained without access to U.S. consular services or information about their alleged crime. U.S. citizens may be subjected to prolonged interrogations and extended detention without due process of law,” the advisory said.

In Japan, coronavirus discrimination proves almost as hard to eradicate as the disease (Washington Post) When a cluster of coronavirus infections broke out in Kyoto’s Horikawa Hospital, medical staff were not only battling a potentially deadly disease at work. They came home to fight an even more unsettling disease—fear and discrimination. Their children were turned away from nursery schools and after-school clubs, their spouses were told not to come to work, three were fired from their second jobs and one was told point-blank to stay away from a favorite diner. “Our staff were really shocked, severely shocked,” said Masaaki Yamada, the hospital’s administration chief, explaining that the affected workers had not necessarily been in close contact with infected patients. “Some even said they were afraid to go home, and afraid of being seen by their neighbors,” he said. “They got family members to put the garbage out for them. Some said they would go to work when it was dark and come home when it was dark again.” The hospital received anonymous phone calls telling employees to die or threatening to burn the place down. Nearly nine months after the coronavirus first arrived in Japan, “korona sabetsu” (coronavirus discrimination) is proving almost as hard to eradicate as the virus itself.

Mideast deals tout ‘peace’ where there was never war (AP) For the first time in more than a quarter-century, a U.S. president will host a signing ceremony between Israelis and Arabs at the White House, billing it as an “historic breakthrough” in a region long known for its stubborn conflicts. But while the optics of Tuesday’s event will evoke the groundbreaking agreements that ended decades of war between Israel and neighboring Egypt and Jordan, and that launched the peace process with the Palestinians, the reality is quite different. The United Arab Emirates will establish diplomatic relations with Israel, a fellow U.S. ally it has never gone to war with, formalizing ties that go back several years. The agreement cements an informal alliance against Iran and could pave the way for the UAE to acquire advanced U.S. weapons, while leaving the far more contentious Israeli-Palestinian conflict as intractable as ever. A similar agreement announced Friday with Bahrain, which welcomed a visiting Israeli Cabinet minister as early as 1994, also formalizes longstanding ties. But it’s debatable whether agreements like these, among already friendly countries, do much to advance regional peace. “Normalization of states in the region with Israel will not change the essence of this conflict, which is the systemic denial of the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to freedom and sovereignty,” said Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official.

Nigeria reels from twin crises that threaten food availability (Reuters) Mal Shehu Ladan took a boat across what was, until this month, a growing rice paddy. Now, like thousands of hectares of rice in Nigeria’s Kebbi state, it is under water. Floods early this month across northwest Nigeria destroyed 90% of the 2 million tons that Kebbi state officials expected to harvest this autumn, the head of the state branch of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria told Reuters. The loss amounts to some 20% of the rice Nigeria grew last year, and the waters are still rising. Farther south, outside Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, chicken farmer Hippolite Adigwe is also worried. A shortage of maize forced him to sell most of his flock of more than 1,000 birds, and the 300 left are hungry. Chicken feed prices have more than doubled, and he isn’t sure how long he can cope. Twin crises, floods and maize shortages, come just after movement restrictions and financing difficulties caused by COVID-19 containment measures complicated spring planting. Some farmers and economists say it could push Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, into a food crisis. Rice is the country’s staple grain, and chicken is a core protein. “There is a real fear of having food shortages,” Arc Kabir Ibrahim, president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria told Reuters. “The effect on the food system is going to be colossal.”

After Two Decades of Rot, Zimbabwe Is Coming Apart at the Seams (Bloomberg) In Zimbabwe, pregnant women are left alone in hospitals to give birth, taps have run dry in major urban centers, infrastructure has all but collapsed and more than half the population needs food aid. This is the toll that two decades of economic mismanagement have taken on a nation once considered one of Africa’s shining stars. Promises of an economic revival and more political freedom made by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, now in his third year of rule, have rung hollow and public anger over intolerable living conditions has spurred protest action that’s been brutally quashed by the military. Western governments that berated long-time ruler Robert Mugabe for violating civil rights are leveling similar criticism against his successor. And even South Africa, a regional power broker and long-time Zimbabwe ally, has now entered the fray, dispatching envoys and ruling party officials to Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, to try and help its neighbor resolve the deepening crisis. No headway was made in initial talks and more are planned in coming days.

[jacowaymoulinefan]

moses basket bassinet

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[reversewerewolf]

maple spice maize?

maple - is there a hobby / skill that you’ve always wanted to try but never did?

yeah, you name it and i’ve probably wanted to do it and then haven’t, lol. mostly sports stuff. i really wanted to do archery when i was younger, and i was super interested in sailing at one point. hiking. rock climbing. physical and financial limitations had those off the table, though

(the rest under a cut because my next answer is LONG)

spice - have you ever encountered a house that you believed to be haunted?

two (and a half)!

half:

i used to hear really weird noises in the house i lived in my teens to early twenties. late at night there would be this strange, rhythmic thumping near the front door. it was loud enough to be jarring when it started up, and distracting when it continued. i mentioned it to my mom on more than one occasion and she constantly told me i was hallucinating it because i never slept (thanks). she and my dad were never able to hear it, but my brother also heard it. we eventually moved out, but never figured out what it was. i eventually came to feel like it was something taunting me.

i would also hear footsteps outside and see shadows moving near the windows at night. the house was only a few years old when we moved in, and no one had died there, but it was built on top of a fucking civil war battleground, which didn’t help my over-imaginative ass sleep at night.

one:

a long-abandoned mansion in my city. creepy old white building up on a hill, boarded up, siding falling off, just... dilapidated. you know the drill.

i never went inside (i’m a coward), but i went to look at it from the road with some friends, and just as one of them was saying that they felt weirdly compelled to go inside, we saw something moving upstairs. yet i still had to physically drag this friend back into the car. it was creepy as fuck.

apparently the building was built in the 1890′s and served as a home for unwed mothers, a polio treatment hospital, a sanitarium, and a nursing home. someone was trying to renovate it into apartments, and now it looks like it’s just a historical landmark, but i can’t really find any current information. it’s a creepy-ass building, though.

two:

a house that my family was going to look into buying when i was eleven. we were super excited about it initially, because it was in a decent neighborhood, it had a pool in the backyard, and it was three stories tall (not including the attic), none of which should have been in my family’s price range, but... it was! yay! not weird at all!

except for the roof it was a perfectly rectangular building. the houses around it were all different styles and shapes. the back and side yards were bigger than the rest of the properties surrounding it, so there was a lot of space between it and the other houses, but it was set too close to the street. it was also a story taller than the rest of the houses in the neighborhood. the siding was faded, kind of pink. it was just an old house, mostly normal looking, but the juxtaposition against everything else made it stand out severely and uncomfortably.

when we got there, i initially refused to get out of the car. my dad eventually forced me to go inside with everyone else, and the moment i went through the door, it felt like something was pressing down on my shoulders. i’d been in a lot of unoccupied homes around that time, but it was quiet in a way that wasn’t natural, even for an empty house.

everything was yellowing or rusting. there were rust stains in the carpet in the living room that were perfectly square, like metal appliances had been left there for a long time, but they weren’t the right sizes for that and they weren’t even near electrical outlets.

there were a lot of things like that, that just seemed really “off.” the guy who was showing us the house just kept brushing them off, saying it was a fixer upper, a lot of old houses were like this, and so on. my dad and my brother were fine with that explanation, and my mom was off-put (it obviously wasn’t true as we’d been in a lot of old houses recently and none of them had been this jarringly nasty), but the more we looked the heavier i felt.

we went into the kitchen - which was on the second floor, for some reason, which is not common where i live - and there was a huge, faded, reddish-brown stain on the wall. so, i was already freaking out about that, and then i suddenly realized that the door frames in the house were all weird proportions - too tall, too narrow. on top of that, aside from the doors to the outside of the building, none of the frames actually had doors in them. and, when i looked closer, i found, just...

fucking,

razor blades shoved into the top corners of the door frame. and the next door frame. and the next. there were razors shoved into the two top corners of every door frame in the building, on both sides of the wall, and this was not concerning for my father or our realtor.

i refused to go further into the house, and my dad refused to let me wait outside, so i stood next to the giant fucking murder stain with alarm bells screaming in my head until my family eventually returned to collect me. the moment we left the building, the oppressive feeling on my shoulders left.

my father attempted to talk my mother into buying the house. she laughed at him.

i don’t remember a lot of my childhood with any clarity, but i remember this incident almost perfectly down to the weather and what i was wearing (dense clouds, ratty hot pink sweatshirt that i continued wearing until i was 16).

for several years i would have dreams about this house that only consisted of an image of the outside of the building and occasional, unfamiliar voices demanding that i come back. i don’t remember the exact location of this house but if i ever somehow see it again i feel certain i’ll have a heart attack and die on the spot.

maize - share the weirdest encounter you’ve had with a stranger on the street.

i actually haven’t had a lot of these because i go out of my way to avoid both strangers and streets in public. recently i panicked at a crosswalk during stop and go traffic, and when i stepped back out of the crosswalk a very jovial man with a red beard drove through on the other side of the street, shook a finger at me, and shouted “don’t even think about iiiiiit!” which was amusing but still a little weird.

[parks2malawi]

This week I had an opportunity to visit a UN Refugee Camp located just north of the capital in Malawi. Known as “Dzaluka”, meaning “will never return again,” this place was previously used as a prison for 5,000 inmates. Now it serves as a refugee camp for over 40,000 refugees from 17 countries, including from Brundi, Rwanda, DRC, and Somalia.

We were guided by a pastor who’s been in Dzaluka for eight years. A refugee himself, he decided to reject all offers to seek asylum in developed countries like the US and Australia, because he wanted to serve those who have made Dzaluka their temporary home.

Life in Malawi is difficult. Life in Malawi as a refugee is even harder. Those in Dzaluka are not allowed to work in Malawi and are required to check in at the camp once a month. The UN provides a monthly ration that comprises of 4 kg of maize per person, which in calorie terms is less than 3500 calories. The camp itself was initially built to hold 5000 refugees but now there’s 40,000. In this camp there’s nowhere to farm, nowhere to generate any livelihood, or even access to basic needs.

Many Malawians don’t look at these refugees too favorably. Having very little themselves, many see them getting extra help from the NGOs and external organizations, and being a drain on the already fragile system in Malawi. Many see them as ones who come to take away jobs or ones who bring drugs and violence to the country. Whether right or wrong, one can sympathize with their view.

When we visited, the camp itself didn’t look much different from the slums of Lilongwe where the school is. But, when I started to look at these people through a lens where they had no family, no acceptance, no country, nowhere to return to, I could feel the depth of their situation. These people couldn’t survive without humanitarian aid. Mind wandered– what would happen to the children if their parents die? What happens to a newborn? As I pondered, the pastor pointed at a building we were driving by. “This building is where human trafficking happens. There are multiple people in there waiting to be sold.” Silent. Lawlessness was more than evident.

However, even in this grim and dark brokenness, there was beauty in their living. Among the 40,000 were doctors, computer programmers, teachers, pharmacists, and chefs. Though with little, there was an element of the 40,000 creating a community within this brokenness. Though so inadequate by any standards, we saw a handful of students in school doing relay races during gym class (we also saw a plenty of kids not in school). We saw a small shop with computers that were offering Java coding classes. We saw a Congolese woman walking with a Somalian woman carrying water side by side. Small glimmers of hope could be found if enough stones were turned over.

Many of the refugees are in the holding pattern, waiting for even a “refugee status.” Even getting the refugee status is a difficult achievement. Until then, they will be in a holding pattern, barely surviving.

[delphinidin4]

Early human history

(It’s a little Euro-centric. Sorry about that. Also, please note that many dates are approximate or debated.)

Paleolithic: begins 3,300,000 years before present (YBP), with the earliest use of stone tools by hominins 2,000,000—1,500,000 YBP: hominins begin leaving Africa for southern Europe and Asia 400,000—300,000 YBP: use of fire begins

Middle Paleolithic: 300,000 YBP—50,000 YBP

People live in hunter-gatherer bands. Use of knapped stone tools. Nomadic. Much leisure time; often hungry. Begin to produce works of art: cave painting, rock art, jewelry, etc. Beginning of religious behavior such as burial and ritual.

300,000 YBP: appearance of Homo sapiens 250,000 YBP: appearance of Homo neanderthalensis 200,000 YBP: Homo sapiens sapiens appears (eastern Africa) 170,000 YBP: humans are wearing clothes by this date 70,000 YBP: earliest example of abstract or symbolic art (cross-hatch, South Africa) 67,000—40,000 YBP: Neanderthal admixture to Eurasian humans

Upper Paleolithic: 50,000—10,000 YBP. Begins with a marked increase in the diversity of artifacts. Campsites with storage pits. Artistic work blossoms. First evidence of fishing. More complex social groupings, due to more varied/reliable food sources and specialized tool types.

50,000 YBP: Homo sapiens sapiens begins to leave Africa 50,000 YBP: 1st sewing needles found 50,000—40,000 YBP: possible development of language. 50,000—40,000 YBP: Homo sapiens sapiens is in Australia 45,000—43,000 YBP: European early modern humans 42,000 YBP: earliest evidence of advanced deep-sea fishing (East Timor): could make ocean crossings to Australia and other islands 40,000 YBP: Neanderthal extinction 40,000 YBP: oldest known figurative art 40,000—20,000 YBP: oldest known ritual cremation (Australia) 36,000 YBP: Humans are in Japan 35,000 YBP: oldest known figurative art of human figures (rather than zoomorphic humanlike figures) 33,000 YBP: oldest known domestic dog skull found (Europe and Siberia) 31,000 YBP: last glacial maximum (many humans forced out of northern Europe by glaciers) 30,000 YBP: spear-thrower/atlatl is in use 30,000 YBP: oldest known calendars (Dordogne, France: a lunar calendar, possibly used to time hunting expeditions) 29,000 YBP: earliest known ovens 28,000 YBP: oldest found twisted rope 28,000—24,000 YBP: oldest known pottery (figurines, not vessels) 27,000 YBP: humans are in Siberia, above the arctic circle 26,000 YBP: people around the world use fiber work 25,000 YBP: Oldest known permanent settlement (Czech Republic) 25,000 YBP: bow and arrow are in use 22,000 YBP: nets, bolas are in use 20,000 YBP: oldest pottery storage/cooking vessels (China) 16,000—13,000 YBP: first human migration into North America 16,000—11,000 YBP: Caucasian hunter-gatherer expansion into Europe 15,000—14,700 YBP: earliest supposed domestication of the pig 14,000—13,000 YBP: blue eyes first appear (Italy and Caucasus) 14,000—12,000 YBP: oldest evidence for prehistoric warfare (Sudan) 13,000—10,000 YBP: end of last glacial period, climate warms, glaciers recede 13,000 YBP: flood on Lake Agassiz in North America may account for American deluge myths. Other floods in this era in the Middle East may be the origins of the Noah/Utnapishtim myths. 13,000—11,000 YBP: earliest proposed domestication of sheep 12,9000—11,700 YBP: Younger Dryas: period of sudden cooling and return to glacial conditions 12,000 YBP: earliest suggested domestication of the goat 11,000 YBP: blond hair appears in Europe 11,600 YBP: Abrupt period of global warming accelerates glacial retreat 11,000 YBP: earliest found proto-religious site on earth (Gobekli Tepe, Turkey) 11,000 YBP: emergence of Jericho, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world 11,000 YBP: giant short-faced bears and giant ground sloths go extinct. Equidae goes extinct in North America 10,500 YBP: earliest supposed date for domestication of cattle

Neolithic: begins 10,000 BYP. The terms “Neolithic” and “Bronze Age” are culture-specific to the Old World, whose stages of cultural development were different than those of the New World. Neolithic Revolution/Agricultural Revolution saw the change from mostly nomadic hunting/gathering to agriculture and settlement. The “Bronze Age” refers to the development of the use of bronze, possibly proto-writing, and urban civilization.  

10,000 YBP: beginnings of permanent settlements and agriculture 10,000 YBP: domestication of maize (southern Mexico) 10,000 YBP: Quaterny extinction event concludes: many ice-age megafauna go extinct, including megatherium (giant ground sloths), woolly rhinoceros, Irish elk, cave bears, cave lions, saber-toothed cats. Mammtho goes extinct in Eurasia and North America, preserved in small island populations until ~3650 BYP/1650 BCE 10,000—9,000 YBP/8000—7000 BCE: In northern Mesopotamia, cultivation of barley and wheat begins, initially for beer/gruel/soup, and then for bread. Begins with a planting stick, and then a primitive plow. Round stone tower built in Jericho. 10,000—5,000 YBP/8000—3000 BCE: Identical ancestors point: all the common ancestors of all present-day humans were alive during this era. 9,500 YBP/7500 BCE: earliest supposed domestication of the cat 8,000—5,000 YBP/6000—3000 BCE: development of proto-writing in China, southeast Europe (Vinca symbols) and west Asia (proto literate cuneiform). 6,500—4,500 YBP (4500—2500 BCE): Proto-Indo-European spoken north of the Black Sea 6,200 YBP/4200 BCE: domestication of cotton in Peru 6,000 YBP/4000 BCE: civilization develops in Mesopotamia/Fertile Crescent (Iraq). Earliest supposed dates for domestication of horse and chicken. Invention of potter’s wheel. 5,700 YBP/3700 BCE: Minoan culture begins on Crete 5,500 YBP/3600—3500 BCE: Uruk period in Sumer. First evidence of mummification in Egypt. 5,500 YBP/3500 BCE: oldest known depiction of a wheeled vehicle (Poland) 5,400—4,300 YBP/3400—2300 BCE: domestication of cotton in Mexico 5,300 YBP/3000 BCE: Bronze Age begins in near east. Newgrange built in Ireland. 5,200 YBP/3200 BCE: Norte Chico civilization in Peru 5,150 YBP/3150 BCE: first dynasty of Egypt 5,100 YBP/3100 BCE: Skara Brae, Scotland 5,000—4,000 YBP/3000—2000 BCE: Stonehenge built (smaller stone circle) ~5,000 YBP/3000 BCE: Egyptian calendar invented 5,000 YBP/3000 BCE: first known use of papyrus, Egypt 4,700 YBP/2700 BCE: Old Kingdom begins, Egypt 4,600 YBP/2600 BCE: writing developed in Sumer and Egypt: beginning of recorded history

Ancient history

4,600 YBP/2600 BCE: oldest known surviving literature, Sumerian 4,600 YBP/2600 BCE: emergence of Maya culture, Yucatan 4,560 YBP/2560 BCE: Great Pyramid completed, Egypt 4,560 YBP/2560 BCE: Land of Punt (Horn of Africa) appears in Egyptian records 4,500—3,500 YBP/2500—1500 BCE: Kerma culture in Nubia 4,500 YBP/2500 BCE: Mammoth goes extinct 4,200 YBP/2200 BCE: Stonehenge completed in its current form 4,100 YBP/2100 BCE: 5 Sumerian poems of Bilgamesh, King of Uruk are composed: origin of the Epic of Gilgamesh 4,000 YBP/2000 BCE: domestication of the horse 3,780 YBP/1780 BCE: oldest record of the Code of Hammurabi 3,600 YBP/1600 BCE: Eruption of Thera (Santorini), resulting in tsunamis that cause the collapse of Minoan civilization on Crete: possible origin of Atlantis myth 3,600 YBP/1600 BCE: Mycenaean Greek culture. Shang Dynasty in China. Beginning of Hittite dominance in eastern Mediterranean. 3,500 YBP/1500 BCE: Composition of Rigveda completed 3,450 YBP/1450 BCE: Mycenaen Greece, first deciphered writing in Europe 3,400—2,400 YBP/1400—400 BCE: Olmec civilization, Mexico 3,200 YBP/1200 BCE: Oracle bone script, first written records in Old Chinese 3,200—3,150 YBP/1200—1150 BCE: Bronze Age collapse in southwest Asia and eastern Mediterranean, the setting of the Iliad and Odyssey (composed about 400 years later) 3,180 YBP/1180 BCE: Disintegration of the Hittite Empire 3,100 YBP/1100 BCE: use of iron spreads 3,050—2,800 YBP/1050—800 BCE: alphabetic writing; Phoenician alphabet spreads around the Mediterranean. 3,046 YBP/1046 BCE: Zhou Dynasty, China ~3,000 YBP/1000 BCE: Rule of King David, Israel. First temple completed. 2,890 YBP/890 BCE: composition of the Iliad, Odyssey 2,800 YBP/890 BCE: rise of the Greek city-states 2,785 YBP/785 BCE: rise of the Kingdom of Kush

Classical Antiquity

776 BCE: first recorded Olympic games 753 BCE: founding of Rome (according to tradition) 745 BCE: Tiglath-Pileser III is King of Assyria (founds Assyrian Empire) 660 BCE: first Emperor of Japan (according to tradition) 653 BCE: rise of the Persian Empire 612 BCE: fall of the Assyrian empire 600 BCE: evidence of writing system, Zapotec civilization, Oaxaca, Mexico 563 BCE: Buddha born 551 BCE: Confucius born 550 BCE: founding of Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great 549 BCE: Mahavira, founder of Jainism, born 539 BCE: fall of Babylonian Empire (liberation of Jews by Cyrus the Great) 509 BCE: founding of the Roman Republic (according to tradition) 508 BCE: democracy instituted at Athens ~500 BCE: completion of the Euclid’s Elements 500 BCE: Pingala uses zero and binary numeral system (India) 499 BCE: beginning of Greco-Persian wars 480 BCE: Battle of Thermopylae 475 BCE: Warring States period begins in China 470 BCE: Birth of Socrates 449 BCE: end of Greco-Persian wars 447—432 BCE: Building of Parthenon in Athens 427 BCE: birth of Plato 389 BCE: birth of Aristotle 323 BCE: death of Alexander the Great 300 BCE: construction of the Great Pyramid of Cholula begins in Mexico 260 BCE: earliest written records in south Asia (Middle Indo-Aryan) 221 BCE: Beginning of imperial rule in China, Qin Dynasty, beginning of construction of the Great Wall of China 206 BCE: Han Dynasty begins, opens Silk Road 202 BCE: Scipio Africanus (Rome) defeats Hannibal (Carthage) 200 BCE: paper invented in China 166 BCE: Maccabees defeat Seleucide Empire’s army. Hasmonean Dynasty begins in Judea. 146 BCE: Roman conquest of Greece 44 BCE: Julius Caesar murdered 37 BCE: Herodian Dynasty founded, making Judea a Roman client state 27 BCE: Formation of the Roman Empire (under Octavius); Pax Romana begins 18 BCE: Temple of Jerusalem reconstructed under orders by Herod 4 BCE: birth of Jesus  29 CE: crucifixion of Jesus 43 CE: Rome enters Britain for first time 68 CE: Nero dies; Year of Four Emperors 70 CE: Destruction of Jerusalem by the armies of Titus 79 CE: Destruction of Pompeii 220 CE: Three Kingdoms period begins in China 280: Jin Dynasty, China 285: Diocletian splits Roman Empire into East and West, begins large-scale persecution of Christians 292: Capital of Roman Empire officially moved from Rome to Milan 313: Edict of Milan allows religious freedom in the Roman Empire 325: First council of Nicaea 330: Constantinople named; becomes capital of Eastern Roman Empire 354: birth of Augustine of Hippo (Roman Numidia; present-day Algeria) 380: Arianism declared heretical by Theodosius I, Eastern Roman Emperor 395: Theodosius I outlaws all religions but “Catholic” Christianity (meaning non-heretical, officially condoned Christianity: not the same as the modern Catholic church) 406: Romans expelled from Britain 407-409: Germanic tribes (Visigoths etc.) cross into Roman Gaul for the first time 410: Visigoths sack Rome 429-439: Vandals conquer large stretch of North Africa 455: Vandals sack Rome 476: Last Western Roman Emperor (Romulus Augustulus) forced to abdicate by Odoacer, Chief of the Heruli. Official end of Ancient History.

[abigailht]

😈😈😈 you know what i want. coz bitch, if I’m about to answer all of these fucking questions you can be damn sure I’m gunna try and make you answer them all too! Operation Ultimate Nosey commence!!! XXXX

Oh God, no you didn’t xD But I shall not refuse since I gave you the same monstrous ask, wahhaah (you better do it!)

of course here will also be the answers to your asks @desushoard and @scramblingminds and that anon xD cause apparently, I’m answering them all! xD

keep reading if you want xD this is gunna be very personal (and probably boring, lol)

Autumnal Asks

lantern - how did you meet your best friend? What were your first impressions of each other?

I had so many “best friends” in my life, cause I’m not 12 anymore, lol. One was a childhood friend. One I met at 7th grade, she saved me from having to sit alone in a new class when she asked me if I want to sit with her while I was standing around, unsure of what to do, cause I had no friends. Another I met online, we hated each other from the beginning so much, we would fight all the time in the forum and everyonen would hold their breath xD then we turned into bffs when we found out we had so much in common. classic teenagers, lol. now we don’t talk anymore really. Then I turned 20 and… I don’t think I have thought about friends in “best friend” terms anymore. As you can see, I sadly don’t have one friend that stayed in my life permanently, as they romantisize it in tv shows and movies… well :D

frost - if you could give some advice to your younger self, what would you say?

STOP BEING SILENT. STAND UP FOR YOURSELF. DO WHATEVER YOU WANT. What I regret the most is that I didn’t pursue things because of anxiety and insecurities… ugh. 

maple - is there a hobby / skill that you’ve always wanted to try but never did?

SEWING! and design. I mean… I did sew little things, so I can’t say I have never tried… but I didn’t pursue it. It would be so cool to design and sew your own clothes! 

harvest - what fictional character do you most identify with? Why?

Daryl Dixon. Lol. Because we are both insecure, anxious, emo potatoes who go through long periods of times hating themselves for no real reason… sighhh *hugs daryl* Also I headcanon him as gray-ace, which I identify myself as… soooo, if you write him emo AND gray-ace, chances are that I’ll be all over your characterization lmao. 

fireside - if you had your dream wardrobe, what would it look like?

The Instagram of a Hipster XD 

cider - a food that you disliked as a child but now enjoy?

Pumpkin! Hated it until I turned 20. Now I LUV it. 

amber - share an unpopular opinion that you may have.

That people under the Asexual umbrella belong to the LGBT community XD 

fog - how well do you think you’d do in a zombie apocalypse scenario?

I’m a doctor, so I’d be valuable and expect others to protect me! XD altho if you go by tv-shows and movies, doctors die first for dramatic value. so… y’all better protect my ass! But I’m not very athletic, so I’d die trying to run away because I’d have an asthma attack after 1 min of trying to run away and give up. (so you better PROTECT ME! XD)

jack-o-lantern - if you could look like any celebrity, who would you choose?

Emily Didonato!

spice - have you ever encountered a house that you believed to be haunted?

Nah.

orchard - share one thing that you’d like to happen this autumn.

Me being able to draw again. Me being able to sleep again. Getting healthy…

crow - which school subject do you wish you had an aptitude for?

P.E. XD I was good with all the other stuff, I was an A student lol ~ except for P.E. xD

bonfire - describe your dream house.

Like the ones I built in Sims 2 + 3. Big, spacious, has a pool, has a fireplace, has room for hobbies and a gym and a little cinema and a huge garden.

cinnamon - if you had to live in a time period different than the present, which would you choose and where?

A time in which there is no racism anymore and women and LGBT have equal rights and people are paid what they deserve and wealth is spread more equally among the folks and not just owned by the 0,0000001% of humankind (who are white and most probably male).

Find that time, beam me there, Scotty. Thank.

cobweb - (if you’ve graduated) do you miss high school?

YES. It was easy, easy, easyyyyy. I hated the social aspect of it cause I mostly didn’t have many friends… I was the nerd outcast and people were racist partly, so mostly I pretended to be reading LOTR or something in the breaks so I didn’t have to feel bad for no one talking to me xD BUT so much free time!!!!!! and so EASY. So definitely: YES.

cranberry - what’s one physical feature that you get complimented on?

I guess it’s my eyes. They are fanfic-green. Lmao.

maize - share the weirdest encounter you’ve had with a stranger on the street.

uhhhh only a negative encounter comes to my mind, and I don’t wanna talk about it. 

quilt - how do you take your tea (or coffee)?

with my mouth? like what kind of question is this XD I don’t put anything in it. no sugar or milk or anything. black coffee or just plain tea. 

pumpkin - do you think that humans are inherently good or bad?

uhm. I think they are both. I think the more powerful, the more the bad side of them comes to the surface… I think humans are both and have to work for being good. they have to make active choices. nice people are admirable because they CHOOSE to be nice. that’s tough work, and not many appreciate it, and you still end up being blocked on tumblr, lol. being a dick is easy. and chances are, that bad people will make it farther in life because they have less scruples…

moonlit - are you a neat or messy person? Is your room / house orderly?

Messy xD I try to be neat… buuuttt…

flannel - have you ever gone on a bad date?

I have never gone on a date in the first place. No one wants to date me, lol. So… no xD

cocoa - if you could have any type of hair, what colour and cut would you have?

CURLY BIG AND VOLUMONOUS. I don’t care about the cut or colour. I have alopecia… so… I just want BIG HAIR T_T (okay, NORMAL hair would do it too. I’d be perfectly fine with just normal hair T_T)

ghost - is there someone that you miss having in your life?

Friends who drifted apart from me over time.

THERE, scraming lady @neekanoo, I DID IT!! Now it’s your turn!!! :P

Let’s turn this from Ask meme into a Tag meme, shall we??? XD WAHAHAHAHA I KNOW ITS A LOT AND I DO NOT CARE! Don’t do it if you don’t wanna

I am tagging: @desushoard @toorational @canoncannon @bisexualstarbucky @scramblingminds @vbabe14 @d-j-marlowe @greyhoundsgirl @tpayne-legendary @captainameriqueer @syrabylene @its-me-theicequeen @iiloulouii @maren-believesinsherlock @youremyfanart @lasvegasfabulous @desus-trash @anxiety-instinct @oneofthegoodthings @merrymerricat @sergeant-barnes @just-whelmed @fuzzydaddygrimes @fullm3tal-bucky @remuslupinsmiled @citofonaremeedes @jendavisjendavis @drcloyd @desus-shipper idk who else, if you see this and want then do it and tag me back ok! XD