#human endurance

[howifeltabouthim]

His speed was not inhuman but it was the absolute limit of what a human could achieve.

Lev Grossman, from The Bright Sword

[stone-cold-groove]

Illustration of the U.S. Air Force’s Project Man High - a series of balloon flights to the edge of space in 1957.

[insightfultake]

Beneath the Waves: The Record-Breaking Underwater Odyssey of Rudiger Koch

In the serene waters off the coast of Panama, where the Caribbean Sea met the horizon in an endless embrace, Rudiger Koch—a 59-year-old German aerospace engineer—embarked on an audacious journey. Beneath the waves, at a depth where sunlight danced in faint ribbons, Koch was about to redefine human endurance and exploration...Expand to read more

[zankalony]

The One Place I’d Never Want to Visit: A Journey Into the Unknown

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.— Ralph Waldo Emerson What place in the world do you never want to visit? Why? Traveling the world is an exciting adventure that many of us dream of. Exploring new cultures, tasting exotic cuisines, and witnessing breathtaking landscapes are just a few of the reasons why people love to travel. But is there a place in the world that you never want…

[benevolenterrancy]

the fish babies are NOT adjusting well to the limitations of being human

[kaiserouo]

"Huh."

[mxtxfanatic]

Why Lan Wangji Endures

I breifly touched on this topic before in this post, but I wanted to go more in-depth with it in combination with this post. When Lan Wangji says this:

"...When I went to see him, I told him, ‘Young Master Wei was already in the wrong, why add onto the wrong committed?’ And he said....... He can’t affirm whether what you did was right or wrong. But no matter what, he was willing to shoulder all of the responsibility together with you...."

—Chapt. 99: A Hatred for Life Part 2, boat-full-of-lotus-pods

...he is not making a statement on the morality of either his or Wei Wuxian's actions. In fact, his opinions about the moral righteousness of their actions are separate from his opinions on his clan's (and the greater cultivation world's) meted-out punishments. Why? Because the rules and laws of the cultivation world are now wholly separate from what is moral, and so Lan Wangji has matched Wei Wuxian in cleaving his sense of morality from what is considered acceptable by the status quo. Lan Wangji cannot confirm to Lan Xichen (or the Lan Clan, or the cultivation world as a whole) whether Wei Wuxian was right or wrong because they are not operating under the same understanding of "right and wrong." At the same time, Lan Wangji's (summarized via Lan Xichen's) speech above is not in conversation with his brother but actually in conversation with Wei Wuxian's speech back in Yiling:

There was no such road. No solution existed. Wei WuXian spoke slowly, “Thank you for keeping me company today. Thank you for telling me the news about my shijie’s marriage too. But, let the self judge the right and the wrong, let others decide to praise or to blame, let gains and losses remain uncommented on. I, too, know what I should and shouldn’t do. I believe that I’ll be able to control it as well.” As if he’d anticipated such an attitude since a long time ago, Lan WangJi nodded slightly and closed his eyes. And that marked their farewell.

—Chapt. 75: Distance, exr

Wei Wuxian was put into a dead-end situation where any act of self-defense or defense of innocents was an automatic crime. In the end, he experienced the ultimate consequence of death because his act of self-defense led to the death of an important individual, a death that was seen as "unforgivable" in the eyes of the cultivation world, unlike the deaths of Wei Wuxian and the Wen remnants. Likewise, Lan Wangji's actions in protecting Wei Wuxian against his clan were met with punishment, because even though he had good cause in rescuing the Wen remnants' only protector, going against his clan is "unforgivable" in the eyes of a society ruled by tradition and orthodoxy over morality. This is why Wei Wuxian says that the self must judge the self, and why Lan Wangji is following that creed by enduring the Lan Clan punishment while maintaining an unshakeable belief in Wei Wuxian's righteousness.

It was never about Lan Wangji doubting his or Wei Wuxian's morals. It was never about Lan Wangji putting love above righteousness. It was always about how Lan Wangji so much believed in Wei Wuxian's morality and the righteousness of his actions that he was willing to protect the man when the entire world said he was in the wrong, when his own family stood opposite him. And just like Wei Wuxian eventually accepted the consequences of his actions and used his last moments to attempt to destroy the Stygian Tiger Seal, Lan Wangji, too, endured being whipped 33 times by the discipline whip, then went on to rescue Wen Yuan and raise him and the other Lan disciples with morals so strong that they could transcend the mob mentality that their parents never learned to unsubscribe from. Lan Wangji's steadfastness in the face of the incredible hypocrisy and corruption baked into the system he lived in is why Wei Wuxian is able to resurrect into a world where the new generation can look up to him as a hero and a mentor rather than a scourge and a terror.

This endurance is Lan Wangji's ultimate act of love.

[aliennachos]

The main reason I adore the prototype fanbase is as follows

You cannot make up anything that seems "too far from the source material" to a prototype fan

This is prototype mother fucker, there is no level of "out there" that is too far for a prototype fan

You can say whatever the fuck you want and stick some dark scifi terminology in there and literally nobody will complain about it

You wanna write a prototype fic but don't wanna stick to the lore? Well in this fandom the lore is the instructions on the back of a popcorn bag that tells you not to use the popcorn button, nobody has ever followed those fucking instructions

That unstable anemic emo twunk cheated his way out of a nuke. Law, reason, and believability went out the window a long time ago in this wild West of a fandom

[the-crooked-library]

opened tiktok (mistake number one, i know) and immediately saw someone saying that Thomas Hutter subverts the "disbelieving husband" trope which... listen i love a thoroughly pathetic mess of a man myself and i get that Ellen's other option is a 400yo evil corpse, but can we please not give him credit for things he didn't do?..

the literal inciting incident of the story is that Thomas DOESN'T listen to Ellen. he doesn't believe her. she tells him that she's got a bad feeling about this trip, begs him not to go, tells him about her nightmare - and what does he do? he calls it a childish fantasy, tells her to stop worrying, and implies that she would benefit from talking to a doctor. saying shit softly doesn't make it any less dismissive or insulting, like i'm sorry but this is peak Disbelieving Husband in a Horror Movie behaviour. he only changed his mind once Orlok put him through the horrors himself, which is also a perfectly standard thing for a Disbelieving Husband to do in the second act. furthermore, from the beginning of the film, he neglects Ellen's emotional needs, is uncomfortable with her abnormalities, and doesn't even really know what sort of gifts she likes - and again, these are all standard flaws for a Disbelieving Husband to exhibit. they're indicative of a disconnect between him and his wife that he continuously refuses to bridge.

caring for someone doesn't mean you can't neglect or harm them, and that applies to everyone - including Normal People like Thomas, like Harding, like Sievers, like the viewer; and that's the point of the film

[merrymorningofmay]

and you know what, i get it, i get that a european or canadian or australian official can not just go on stage and say "hey comfortable western burgher, we may need you to go stand close to a war soon," not least because right wing asshats will jump at the opportunity to say "ah see, they want you to go to war, why don't you vote for us instead and stay comfy with your clocks and cabbages" which won't do anyone good either, and i get that the western burgher is unwilling and unready just as most ukrainians were up until the first bomb dropped, but i simply don't have any sympathy left for them, because they're sowing the wind right now, and ukraine will be reaping the whirlwind before they do. we already are, in fact

[antennabot]

Doodle dump of things I drew last year but never posted </3 oops all gijinkas anyways II SEASON 1 REMASTER TOMMOROW WHAT WHAT WHAT AHHHHHHHHHHHH The floor gijinka is lowkey just a rip of how @hiraethminds draws the floor btw so look LOOK AT IT ITS SO GOOD!!!! I literally can't imagine him any other way

heres the full thing of one of the doodle pages btw yippee yippee yipee

[incorrect-green-lantern-quotes]

Humans are persistence hunters.

Where other predators of Earth rely on pure speed, overwhelming strength, or deadly natural weapons like claws or fangs to catch and kill their prey, H. sapiens evolved in the direction of endurance. Longer legs than any other primate, to better trek vast distances. Skin adapted to release the body's water reserves for thermal regulation.

Even the mind, unquestionably the most important tool in the human arsenal, developed to fill in the needs that biology did not cover. Sharpening stone to use as weapons, pattern recognition to track prey that could not be seen. Language to facilitate cooperation toward a shared goal.

Most of humanity has long since left behind the hunting lifestyle, but the echoes of their past have not faded. Agriculture would not have been possible without the intelligence to understand the nature of plants, or the patience to wait for the fruits of labor. The ingenuity and inventiveness of mankind brought about the wheel and sail and engine to traverse the world and beyond.

Across all their cultures, through all their traditions, endurance and creativity are among the values that humans hold most dear. So much so that they have many names for just the slightest nuances of each. Resilience. Inspiration. Courage. Brilliance. Grit. Spark.

Will.

It is no wonder then, that every human who has ever been chosen as worthy of a Green Lantern ring has gone far above and beyond what was thought possible of them, and that there have been so many who have served proudly in the Corps. The courage to overcome great fear, the willpower to bend and shape light, these are qualities that are deeply ingrained into the people of Earth.

The Dark Knight Strikes Again

[l0vagrend]

all the self indulgent cars 2 fanart i made in october

[alaraxia]

genuinely: if you have been considering a boob reduction but are on the fence about it, I cannot express strongly enough of how this was one of the best things I have ever done for myself.

yeah the process is a pain in the ass, yeah recovery sucks at times, but I feel more like a person than I think I ever have and I will spend the rest of my life making sure everyone knows it.

[worthwading]

Sometimes I remember that Will knows what it feels like to be burned alive. and then I have to move on with my day

[chaosroid]

Lotus ambient dialogue after The Lotus Eaters bc I'm obsessed with the implications and her voice sounds nice :^)