#ox articles

[littlequeenies]

70 YEARS AND COUNTING: We talk to Jane Asher about family, longevity and returning to Oxford Playhouse in ‘The Circle’ after her debut aged 12!

By Ox In A Box - 16th January 2024

Jane Asher first stepped foot onto the Oxford Playhouse stage aged 12 as the lead in Alice – a stage adaption of Lewis Carroll‘s two most revered books.

“I remember that even though I was quite young it was really exhausting because of course Alice is on stage the whole time. And while these amazing creatures come and go, I was always there, so it was fun but relentless.

“And yet when I appeared at the Oxford Playhouse‘s 80th celebrations to perform Lewis Carroll‘s Jabberwocky, I remembered it word-for-word from all those years ago. Very strange,” she says.

65 years later, she’s not only back, but has never really gone away, having worked constantly. Remarkably non-plussed about her seven decades in show business, having emerged as a child star aged five in the film 1952’s Mandy, she went from strength to strength, steering her career through films, TV, stage and radio and even a stint as Paul McCartney’s girlfriend.

“I’m just lucky to still have a job”

From cinematic classics such as Alfie with Michael Caine, to The Prince and The Pauper, dramas such as Brideshead Revisited and soaps including Holby City and Waterloo Road, her CV runs on and on, especially her theatrical credits. Oh and she has written three novels.

In fact the only time Jane Asher seems to have reined it in is when she had three children with her husband of 30 years the illustrator Gerald Scarfe, instead finding herself at the forefront of a burgeoning cake empire, of all things.

The fact that she couldn’t be nicer is an extra bonus, as she waxes lyrical about Somerset Maugham’s sparky comedy of manners The Circle, coming to Oxford Playhouse next month (we already have our tickets!). In it she plays Lady Kitty, a society beauty who ran away with her lover 30 years before, finally returning to England to face her family. Cue drama.

“coming from a state school helped keep my feet on the ground because I was ribbed if I ever talked about my acting at school”

It premiered at The Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond last year and did so well that the cast were then asked to tour: “We were all very keen because the audience clearly enjoyed it – it is terribly funny – and we all get on so well. So I thought why not?

“I’ve always been a Somerset Maugham fan and this is a wonderful part to play,” she adds. So does Jane Asher actually like Lady Kitty? “I certainly warmed to her, and felt great sympathy for her predicament, having been totally ostracised for so long. But she is certainly not a frail old lady wearing black and lace, and so the story unravels with quite a twist!

“But then Somerset Maugham was always sympathetic to the plight of women, being terribly unhappily married and a gay man, so The Circle has huge depth. It’s very clever, funny and simple at the same time.”

“my children were always my number one priority”

Now 77, Jane Asher’s energy shows no sign of abating, although she sympathises with Lady Kitty’s struggle with ageing. “We all know how that feels,” she chuckles. “But yes as an actress you sit around and hope people will ask you to do something you like. And now that the children have grown up, I am freer to go on tour or location, so I like a mix of both, but I know I have been extremely lucky.”

“Of course notoriety dips and wanes, and you get older there are less parts, so I just try to enjoy my work. I think coming from a state school helped keep my feet on the ground because I was ribbed if I ever talked about my acting at school, and my parents were very down-to-earth. So there was no pressure. It was all because I wanted to do it,” she says.

“And then when I had the children I fitted things around them, taking them to the studio with me as long as I was back in time to get their tea ready, because they were always my number one priority.”

So does she ever have time to look back over her career? “Oh no, that would be terribly nostalgic but it’s nice when people come up to me and say we saw you in this or that, and I think ‘oh yes I remember’. I’m just lucky to still have a job.”

Jane Asher stars in The Circle at Oxford Playhouse from Tue 6 – Sat 10 Feb. Book here https://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/events/the-circle

[rayveneyed]

cw: sexually explicit content / blood / relatively light sadomasochism / age + experience gap (reader is older + more experienced) / sub!choso / vampires 🧛‍♀️ / sex and violence as two sides of the same coin /

choso kamo is 160 years old when he meets you.

in those years of walking the earth, undead, he believes he’s embraced his vampirism as much as he possibly can. the broiling self-hatred he had once found solace in has reduced to a simmer, strongest in those moments of blood and guts and weakening heartbeats; and although he often avoids crowds, and companionship, and light, he no longer believes himself to be a slave of his own nature.

to be true — in the grand scheme of immortality, of vampirism — he isn’t anywhere close to the level of control he’d wish to have. often, when indulging yuji’s desire to enjoy the world as he did before his death — boardwalks and arcades and cotton candy — he feels his canines aching in his gums, stretching until they dimple against his bottom lip.

it’s not comfortable. it’s not confident. but even despite the growing aches, he’s no longer cowering in alleyways; no longer drinking from poor stray cats and garbage-chewing rats to momentarily satiate that ever-growing, gnawing hunger. he has some sense of control—

“oh, you baby-bats. so adorable.”

control which he now flounders to grab.

a sharp, inky black nail scrapes up the column of his neck — he can’t help but arch into it, head tilting back until his wide, pupil-blown eyes find the ceiling, with its intricate coving and obsidian chandeliers. the music from the main hall is nothing but a buzzing in the back of his head; thoughts of his friends’ whereabouts, an afterthought. your fingernail crowds the underneath of his jaw and stops at where his pulse point would have thrummed, would he have been alive.

you’re a demon. a devil. a she-beast. a succubus. any horrid, terrible name he could call you, he will — dressed in blacks and burgundies and gold older than him, your lips painted an ox-blood red and your eyes as sharp and dark as any polished knife. in your hands he is small. weak. mortal.

“satoru usually keeps his strays away, after last time,” you say, pouting now, though it’s a crude approximation of sadness — even now, your eyes glint with devilment. “so mean, when he knows i have a weak spot for bats like you.”

that wretched finger stretches up; pokes at his bottom lip, scrapes against the fangs that had — embarrassingly — extended from his gums at the simple weight of you on top of him.

“look at that,” you coo, and your grin is something unsettling, something that curdles in the pit of his stomach and heats between his legs. “excited, pup?”

his answering breath comes ragged, and it’s always more embarrassing than it was when he was human. his heart doesn’t work, his lungs do not work, and he has no need to breathe — in fact, he lost the reflex to do so around 92 years ago — but his brain is scrambled, it seems, wilted neurons confusing signals from almost two centuries ago. “i’m — ahem — i’m okay, duchess.”

“how sweet. you don’t have to call me by my title, you know. my name will do just fine.” at his silence, you push yourself up from where you’d been laying low against his chest — looking far too excited when you say: “unless, of course, you like it.”

his hands tremble at his side. he can’t remember the last time he’s indulged in — in debauchery. the last time someone’s made him feel like they’re holding his heart in their hands. over the past hundred-odd years, he’s avoided it like the plague, and for good reason — most vampires aren’t known for their commitment, let’s just say. and now you’re on top of him looking like every sin he’s tried to avoid, and he’s straining so hard in his pants he fears he’ll cum before you even hint at removing a single article of clothing.

you press yourself flush again, nosing at his neck. he knows, for the first time in his long life, what it feels like to be prey. is this what his victims had felt when he ripped into their throats, young and inexperienced and bloodthirsty? did their vulnerability sit like a stone in their throats?

a groan comes from you, suddenly, and your tongue darts out to lave against his skin. choso’s answering moan is more of a whimper, broken and weak in his mouth, but you don’t seem to notice — or care. he flexes his glutes in an effort to stop himself from rutting up against you — not only would it be embarrassing, desperate, but it would be rude. this is your house, after all. your soirée. your gilded halls and bedazzled walls. your silk sheets against his back. your satin skirt bunched around your waist.

“tell me, pup,” you say, and he fights the instinctual reflex to shiver at the brush of your lips against his skin, “have you ever fed from our own?”

“hm?” it’s a sound of confusion brought half on by his simple lack of knowledge, and half on by his slow-processing brain. only seconds after does he fully register your question, and the eyes he hadn’t realised he had screwed shut flew open. “no. i — i didn’t know that was possible.”

all at once, you’re sitting up again — swinging your leg over his hips until you’re standing. it wouldn’t be right to call it clambering — you are impossibly graceful, even passed the agility and elegance that comes with the gift of the undead. his hands reach for you before he can stop them, a sound like a question on his tongue, and you send him the sweetest, most tooth-rotting, stomach-turning smile. he thinks he likes your biting, cruel grins more, though you’re lovely regardless.

you begin to reach for the ties of your corset at your spine — just another thing that makes his mouth water. people didn’t wear these sorts of clothes anymore, not in the human world. but he remembers the skirts and corsets from paintings of noblewomen hundreds of years ago, and how he’d admire the curve of their waists, the swell of their chests—

“of course, satoru wouldn’t tell you. why would he?”

his eyes snap up from your chest, caught with his hand in the cookie jar. but you don’t seem to mind. the corset is removed painfully slowly, for no other reason than to torture him; then, the outer dress, with its carmine satin and intricate embroidery. you throw it to the floor carelessly, as if the most knowledgeable museum curators wouldn’t prostrate themselves at your feet for the simple chance to display it for millions to see — a while his eyes drink up the sight of more skin, the whisper of form beneath your underdress and bloomers, you near him once more.

metal to a magnet, a moth to flame, he pulls himself to the edge of the bed. you find a place between his legs and grasp his chin, and choso can’t look away from you.

“i can take you apart and put you back together,” you say — promise — voice like crushed velvet, quiet and creeping like a choking vine. your thumb smooths over his cheek and ends at its apple, where you press the sharp tip of your nail into his flesh. “i can show you the pleasures of your eternal life, and its pains, and everything in between. i can bring you to every edge, and draw you back from them just as quick — and it will be painful, and you’ll enjoy it so much you won’t be able to go another day without it.”

he’s lost the ability to speak. his unmoving heart is in his throat — or in your hands, or between your sharp teeth. you tilt your head and regard him with knowing, twinkling eyes.

“all you have to say, pup, is yes.”

oh, it’s out of him so quick he can hardly keep up — a word so breathy you’d swear you’d already had your way with him. but embarrassment is a thing of the past when your smile stretches, and you murmur marvellous. you release him from your grasp, much to his chagrin, but when you begin pulling down your bloomers his attention shifts.

he can smell you. smell you. the musky, salty scent of between your legs — a smell that has his mouth watering and his fingers cramping from how hard he fists the sheets. your bloomers are damp when you discard them, sticky with your arousal, and pride glows in choso’s chest. he didn’t do much, but it seemed enough — if he had only let himself lose control, hump up against you harder, perhaps it would’ve stained his clothes; seeped through your layers and onto his lap. he’d go home and hold it over his nose until the scent faded, and perhaps after.

“new as you are,” you say, climbing onto your bed once more and reclining back against the numerous pillows — huffing a mean-sounding laugh when he crawls after you. “i’ll do you the mercy of taking it easy, just this once. oh, don’t make that face — you look like a kicked puppy. i promise you’ll enjoy what i have in store for you.”

and you hike up your underdress, and spread your legs. choso’s mouth waters — the thick smattering of hair on your mons, your flower-like labia, shiny with your arousal. and your clit, peeking out from its hood, pink and shiny and begging to have his mouth on it. but as if this wasn’t enough — as if he wasn’t already scrabbling to get between your legs — you take one of those long, sharp nails, and drag it against your inner thigh. the skin splits. blood trickles down from the wound like a river of gold, flowing into the crease between your thighs and your pussy, and it smells ambrosial. if his fangs were aching before, they’re screaming, now. this isn’t human blood; this is richer, sweeter, creamier. delectable. hedonistic. you’ll make a glutton of him.

“after all,” you say, grinning wickedly, “i’m treating you to a most delectable meal.”

[bovineblogger]

Hi there barley. I love cows and all bovines. I think they are the closest thing we have to living gods on this wretched earth. However I am not very learned in the many different species of cattle, buffalo, yak, etc. What are your recommendations of some good bovines for beginners looking to expand their knowledge of cows. Thank you for your input

H hhHHGH H HH H. HHh OK SO. OK I LL G.

ill give u. one... three bovine species to read about okay . ok .ok.

tibet has a huuge population of domestic yaks and and and and and its so interesting reading about them they care and lvoe for them so much heres an article

ok ok along with knowing about the type of cattle you guys are probably used to (taurine cattle) it is also super important to know about zebu cattle and sanga cattle! theyre from india and africa respectively. zebu and taurine cattle are descended from two different domestication events but we arent sure if sanga is a third distinct species or not. (article here !)

i didnt realise u ssaid . species for beginners. woops but heres the magnificent kouprey(forest ox)!!!!!!!!!! theyre huge, live in the forest, but that's really all we super know about them. we dont know their origins or where they went, we dont even know if they're extinct or not!!! i hope they arent cuz i love them and id love to know more about them... (article)

thank u so much for ur interest in bovines i hope this helps!!!!

[gingiesworld]

Missing Piece

Taylor Swift x GN! Reader

Warnings: Angst and fluff

Taglist : @natashamaximoff-69 @canvascoloredin @wizardofstories @louxbloom @wandanats-goodgirl @the-ox-fan20 @ladyqueenxoxo @aemilia19 @wandaromamoff69 @mfd-101 @dorabledewdroop @marvelogic @dopeyouth @karsonromanoff @bimad @lizzieislife94x

18+ MINORS DNI

Y/N Y/L/N was a name that no one in the public had heard of, although they were the one that Taylor had loved with all of her. But the moment she had gotten bigger, her name was known worldwide, every teen girl was a huge Swiftie. Tickets would be sold out worldwide. But the break up was always raw in the back of her mind.

Y/N knocked on her door, after dating since Junior year in high school. They had watched as she released her first album. Her first tour was only small but Y/N had supported her dream.

"Y/N, I thought our date was tomorrow." She spoke as she stepped outside.

"No." They told her as she observed the sad look on their face. "I can't do this, us anymore Tay."

"Don't." She told them as she stepped away. "Don't you finish that sentence."

"You're going to be huge, Taylor. Your music's taking off and I am just me. A simpleton."

"No." She told them with tears in her eyes. "You're more than that."

"I don't want to hold you back. You're meant to be more than just this small town girl." They told her. "This is all I am meant for, I go to a community college for crying out loud."

"I don't care." She told them. "We can make this work." She cupped their face as they exhaled a shaky breath.

"No." They told her. "I can't keep doing the long distance. I can't keep you from being who you're meant to be."

"I love you." She told them as they kissed her forehead.

"I love you but I have to let you go." They told her, releasing her and moving away from the porch. "Just promise me one thing. That this place here, at Christmas will always be ours."

"I promise." She told them as they gave her one last smile.

That was the last she had seen or heard of them. Although they had kept the same number, Taylor had never lost it, always transferring it to her new phones. She always wondered if they had ever gotten out of the town, if they had managed to get a job or career away from where they had grown up, but Y/N wasn't that lucky. Unfortunately they remained working on their parents ranch, although they had a teaching degree, they just couldn't put it to use as their father had fallen ill, landing them with more responsibilities.

But they had made sure to buy every record that Taylor had made, everytime she was performing live nearby, they would be in the crowd. A proud smile on their face as she played her music as everyone cheered.

She never knew that they had supported her, or that they were in the crowd every time she played in their home town. They heard about every relationship, every break up that she had gone through. Wondering why no one would love and care for her the way she deserved. She deserved more than what those relationships had given her. She deserved to be happy and loved unconditionally. Just how Y/N had always loved her.

Every Christmas, they returned to the place where they would walk, the snow covered hills and trees as the cold wind cut through their skin. There was a lake nearby that froze over every year, but it was always thin, not safe to walk on.

"I love this." She whispered as Y/N smiled at her. Admiring her rosy features as the frost bit her skin.

“I love you.” They whispered as she smiled at them.

That was the last exchange they had before Taylor had stopped coming to their spot. Leaving Y/N to wonder every year how the rising star was doing. If she thought of them as much as they thought of her.

They saw articles of Taylor moving forward with her life, moving on with new relationships. So, while they were at college, they met the woman who would become their wife and the mother of their children, but that was all short lived.

“You keep saying how you love me, but I can see it.” Tracy told them. “Your heart isn’t mine. It never was.”

“Trace.” Y/N tried as they reached for her, only for her to flinch and step back. “I do love you. I love you and our girls.”

“I know you do.” She sighed in defeat, her tears falling. “But your heart isn’t in this marriage and I know it hasn’t been since we got together. I tried to ignore it, I really did, but I need to do this for me.” Y/N bit their lip as they looked away from her. “I think we need a divorce.”

“No.” They whispered as she moved to cup their face.

“We can still be friends, raise the girls together.” She told them. “We just can’t be us anymore.”

“I’m sorry.” They whispered as they closed their eyes.

“It’s ok.” She told them softly. “I don’t hate you. I don’t think I could ever hate you.” She kissed their lips one last time before packing herself a bag. Leaving Y/N in the bedroom alone, feeling like their whole world was crumbling.

The divorce proceedings ran smoothly, the two had taken 50/50 custody of the girls. What Y/N never expected was to do christmases without their daughters. But since the moment Tracy had met her now fiancè, they felt out of place spending the holidays there. Although the girls tried to make them feel at home, they never did.

That was how they ended up where they are now, sat in their usual spot, watching over the frozen lake. The one place they always felt at home, soon broken from their reverie as they heard the snow crunch beneath someone's footsteps.

“Hey you.” They heard the one voice they longed for.

“You’re here?” They asked shakily as they rose to their feet, watching as she nodded with a teary smile. “But your dream?”

“Means nothing if you’re not there with me.” She told them honestly. “I always felt as though a piece of me was missing, but I figured it out.” She cupped their face as she gazed into their eyes. “It’s you. You’re my missing piece.”

“I love you.” They whispered as they felt the warmth radiate from her, noses touching as their lips ghosted the other.

“I love you.” She whispered before kissing them softly. The first time it felt like they were complete, the reason why neither could truly move forward was because the other had their heart. The first Christmas in years that the two felt at home.

[whencyclopedia]

Ancient Egyptian Agriculture

Agriculture was the foundation of the ancient Egyptian economy and vital to the lives of the people of the land. Agricultural practices began in the Delta Region of northern Egypt and the fertile basin known as the Faiyum in the Predynastic Period in Egypt (c. 6000 - c. 3150 BCE), but there is evidence of agricultural use and overuse of the land dating back to 8000 BCE.

Egyptologist and historian Margaret Bunson defines ancient Egyptian agriculture as "the science and practice of the ancient Egyptians from predynastic times that enabled them to transform an expanse of semiarid land into rich fields after each inundation of the Nile" (4). In this, she is referring to the yearly flooding of the Nile River which rose over its banks to deposit nutrient-rich soil on the land, allowing for the cultivation of crops. Without the inundation, Egyptian culture could not have taken hold in the Nile River Valley and their civilization would never have been established. So important was the Nile flood that scholars believe many, if not most, of the best known Egyptian myths are linked to, or directly inspired by, this event. The story of the death and resurrection of the god Osiris, for example, is thought to have initially been an allegory for the life-giving inundation of the Nile, and numerous gods throughout Egypt's history are directly or indirectly linked to the river's flood.

So fertile were the fields of Egypt that, in a good season, they produced enough food to feed every person in the country abundantly for a year and still have surplus, which was stored in state-owned granaries and used in trade or saved for leaner times. A bad growing season was always the result of a shallow inundation by the Nile, no matter the amount of rainfall or what other factors came into play.

Tools & Practices

The yearly inundation was the most important aspect of Egyptian agriculture, but the people obviously still needed to work the land. Fields had to be plowed and seed sown and water moved to different areas, which led to the invention of the ox-drawn plow and improvements in irrigation. The ox-drawn plow was designed in two gauges: heavy and light. The heavy plow went first and cut the furrows while the lighter plow came behind turning up the earth. Once the field was plowed, then workers with hoes broke up the clumps of soil and sowed the rows with seed. These hoes were made of wood and were short-handled (most likely because wood was scarce in Egypt and so wooden products were expensive) and so to work with them was extremely labor-intensive. A farmer could expect to spend most of a day literally bent over the hoe.

Once the ground was broken and the clods dispersed, seed was carried to the field in baskets and workers filled smaller baskets or sacks from these larger containers. The most common means of sowing the earth was to carry a basket in one arm while flinging the seed with the other hand.

Some farmers were able to afford the luxury of a large basket one attached to the chest by hemp straps which enabled one to use two hands in sowing. To press the seed into the furrows, livestock was driven across the field and the furrows were then closed by workers with hoes. All of this work would have been for nothing, however, if the seeds were denied sufficient water and so regular irrigation of the land was extremely important.

Continue reading...

[orionsangel86]

My friend just linked me to this article in light of my rage at all the stupid bullshit comments to that dumb post that Neil Gaiman answered attacking any Good Omens meta that may suggest AziraCrow may want sex in the future.

This article focuses on Heartstopper and Red, White, and Royal Blue, but its relevant. Purity culture is insidious and a current plague infecting our fandom spaces. Don't let puritanicals use asexuality as a disguise and shield for their shitty views either. This has nothing to do with asexuality and everything to do with an infestation of conservative christian fundamentalist viewpoints within fandom spaces specifically aimed at attacking canon mlm media.

The fact that apparently in Good Omens fandom fans arent even allowed to make their own posts discussing potential themes and subtext within the show that dares to imply AziraCrow could have a sexual relationship without puritanicals going to Neil Gaimans inbox to complain that such discussions are offending their delicate puritanical sensibilities is horrifying to me. Its not an attack on your sexuality if fans claim that an intense ox eating scene is oddly sexually charged in their opinion.

We really must keep up the discussion against purity culture and stamp down on sex shaming within fandom.

Anyway it's an excellent article. Please read it.

[yamayuandadu]

What do you mean by an ishtar type goddess

I’ve picked this term up from Gary Beckman’s late 1990s articles Ištar of Nineveh Reconsidered and The Goddess Pirinkir and Her Ritual from Hattusa (CTH 644). In both of them he makes a point that across the “cuneiform world” (so, in modern terms roughly from the middle of Turkey to the west of Iran) multiple deities could be designated by the same logogram - IŠTAR, to be specific - and that this broadly reflects all of them having certain shared features , and indicates the existence of a category encompassing all of them in the imagination of ancient theologians. At the same time, he stresses that each of such deities will also have unique features which become evident when enough sources become available. He demonstrated it on examples like Shaushka, Pinikir and the Kizzuwatnean “goddess of the night” (the correct reading of her own name remains unknown). As far as I know Beckman was more or less the first to advance views like that equally successfully, but other studies using a similar methodology soon followed. For example Barbara Nevling Porter has managed to prove in the early 2000s that it is safe to say there are multiple fully distinct goddesses named Ishtar in Neo-Assyrian sources, and that they could even be portrayed interacting with each other (see her Ishtar of Nineveh and Her Collaborator, Ishtar of Arbela, in the Reign of Assurbanipal for more details).

These views are fairly mainstream today, though popular understanding very clearly lags behind. Tonia Sharlach in her excellent Ox of One’s Own. Royal Wives and Religion at the Court of the Third Dynasty of Ur (a fantastic book even if you’re not very interested in Mesopotamia) calls the names Inanna and Ishtar “umbrella terms” (p. 269). Spencer L. Allen dedicated an entire monograph to the phenomenon of one name often designating multiple functionally fully separate deities, The Splintered Divine. A Study of Ištar, Baal, and Yahweh. Divine Names and Divine Multiplicity in the Ancient Near East. There are numerous other examples, but these are what I’d consider the best introduction. The classification of (some) deities as exemplars of bigger “types” is not limited to Ishtar(s) and is overall fairly standard in Assyriology, see ex. the discussion here, pp. 298-299. The precedents for this sort of systematization are quite common in primary sources. We know that the scribes employed by the Ur III court essentially saw Ninisina as a “type” since despite the two being distinct, Gula could be referred to as “Ninisina of Umma” by them. God lists will sometimes have entries like “Enlil of Subartu” or “the Kassite Adad” and so on. “Type” is just the term I’m used to because Beckman was my introduction to this idea but I’ve also seen phrases like  “Nergal figure”, “lesser Nergal” etc. employed by Frans Wiggermann, for instance.

[gallusrostromegalus]

How do Hisagi and Kira cope with all the chaos Tousen and Gin wind up causing?

So my concept of this is based off these panels in the Manga, where Shuuhei realizes just how much work goes into running the Ninth Division:

(I love Jushiro's r u fuckin' serious? face here lol)

From the interlude between major battles in the middle of the Arrancar arc, in a cafe in seireitei:

*****

Kira sat in awkward silence as his friend and mentor bawled into his shoulder.

"EVERYTHING! I SWEAR, HE WAS DOING EV-ER-Y-THING!!" Shuuhei wailed. Five drinks in and the teetering walls of Shuuhei's stoic facade has crumbled like day-old cookies. "Managing all our contacts and sources, writing in the cultural articles as needed, keeping the presses stocked and in working order, wrangling the other captains to actually submit their reports, keeping the filing up-to-date- He was even writing the crossword every week!"

"It's uh. It's been a change for me too." Kira mumbled, awkwardly patting his shoulder. Across the table, Rangiku has assumed a facade of gentle sympathy as she waited for the storm of emotions to blow over.

"WHY?" Shuuhei demanded, sitting back up. "WHY DIDN'T HE ASK FOR HELP? The workload must have been killing him- it's killing ME and I read at least twice as fast as he ever did! Did he just... Not Sleep?"

"Well, perhaps he found the tasks he had delegated to you to be difficult for him, but the stuff you're struggling with was easy for him?" Kira tried, optimistically.

"No, that can't be it- It's almost the same work, just more of it." Shuuhei sniffled. "Did- did he not TRUST me to handle the workload? He was always a stickler for details- was- am I not good enough?"

"There's also the whole Treason thing." Rangiku pointed out, unhelpfully. "If I were plotting to overthrow the government, I'd take on extra paperwork to keep it quiet."

Shuuhei slumped over the table, contemplating the thought despondently. "...Was I not good enough to take wi-?"

"-You finish that sentence and I'll break this bottle right over your skull." Rangiku threatened. "You were TOO Good for him to make you an offer like that. If anything he knew you'd do the right thing and turn him in."

Shuuhei sniffled, unconvinced.

"How are you holding up Blondie?" Rangiku changed the conversation with the gracelessness but irrefutable power of an ox.

Kira considered her question, chewing his lip awkwardly. "I... Well I don't know how to say this delicately but, um-" he glanced down nervously at Shuuhei, who at least looked like he couldn't get MORE miserable. "-It's actually been kinda great."

Shuuhei stared up at him from the table, scandalized, and Rangiku barked a laugh loud enough to make the room ring.

"Gin was a...hands off sort of manager. He would always back up whatever we decided to do of course- Heck, he crossed swords with the old fart that runs the Fon Clan for us once, but ah... well. As annoying as him being largely absent was, he was worse when he decided to help." Kira sighed.

"THAT'S GIN!" Rangiku cackled. "I swear talking to him was like talking to someone from a different dimension sometimes- not a damn clue how anything worked."

"Yeah..." Kira smiled weakly. "We had a secret staff calendar to make sure he'd be occupied with something if we had a REALLY important project going on, which probably should have been indicative of something, now that I say it out loud."

"It's indicative of a crap manager, which is a far cry from treason, even if both should be hanging offenses." nodded Rangiku. "Speaking of management- Any idea when you lads are going to take the captain's exam?"

"What?!" Both yelped, startled.

"ME? CAPTAIN! ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Kira shrieked, laughing nervously like a Hyena.

"Nononono-" Shuuhei waved. "I'm half-dead running things as is, and Tousen left things relatively tidy- Apparently Aizen absolutely TRASHED the fifth division's filing and casework on the way out and it's bedlam over there. For all his other sins, Capt- Tousen at least finished payroll out until the middle of November." Shuuhei shrugged.

Rangiku blinked at what Shuuhei said, confused, but was distracted by the sudden arrival of more friends.

"Hi Rangiku-Chan!" Orihime waved from the door, out of breath and lightly singed from training with Rukia, who followed her in, looking equally gleefully disheveled.

"HEY GIIIIRL!" Rangiku squealed with delight, waving for Orihime to come over for a hug, and the girl practically tackled her. "Oof- How's training?"

"She can throw any Hado up to the mid-seventies right back at me now!" Rukia panted, delighted. "We're gonna start on Bakudo tomorrow, to give myself a break."

"-And Miss Rukia has been casting Hado in the 80's and a 90th level one without incantations, so I can't predict what the next attack is be like!" Orihime bounced with excitement.

"Sorry you're doing fucking what?" Kira gaped as Rukia sat down next to him, looking more than a little smug.

"Casting without incantations Kira, try to keep up!" She teased.

"Goddamn." Muttered Shuuhei. "All I've been doing is drowning in paperwork and failing to drown my sorrows."

"Oh no!" gasped Orihime, joining them at the table. "What's wrong?"

"Besides the everything?" Kira laughed darkly. "Apparently Tousen had been doing like 90% of the Ninth Division's Work and now Shuuhei is playing catch-up."

"Oh, wow." Orihime nodded, patting Shuuhei's shoulder sympathetically. "-that's a lot of work! And with his Spinal Implants too!"

The table blinked at Orihime, confused.

"...what spinal implants?" Shuuhei asked, peeling himself off the table and staring at her.

"Oh! oh no, I didn't mean to blab medical information-" Orihime waved.

"Traitors aren't covered by HIPPA, What Spinal Implants?" Shuuhei demanded, calmly but firmly grabbing her by the shoulders to stress the seriousness of the situation.

"I- um, well- When I was being attacked by Mayuri-Taicho, um, Mr. Tousen stepped in and- well frankly, he saved my life!" Orihime mumbled. "But- he lost his um, what do you call it-? The white jacket? and the back of his uniform had been ripped open so I got a pretty good look at his spine and honestly I thought it was some kind of weird body piercing thing at first but when I asked he got really cagey for a bit and said something about 'spinal implants' but MAN, they looked like they had to have HURT, not to mention the big scars on his shoulders..."

The assembled shinigami shared wary looks.

"...Okay, you're not in trouble. In fact, you might be doing us a big favor." Rangiku gently put her hands on Orihime's. "-But I need to you be totally honest about what you saw, or didn't see, or what you think you might have seen but aren't totally sure about, okay?"

Orihime nodded.

"-Did you, at any point, see Aizen's sword, or think you saw one of it's attacks?" Rangiku asked, eyes focused on the girl in a way that reminded her uncomfortably of being stalked by a leopard at the zoo as a small child.

Orihime thought carefully. "I- um. I saw the big Kido spell he launched right before he and Mr. Gin and Mr. Tousen went through that portal- he was really far away, but I don't think he had his sword out. I couldn't actually see what he looked like, just where the light was coming from? It's kind of embarrassing, but I still don't know what this Aizen guy actually looks like?"

"Oh my god." Realized Rukia. "He didn't take Kyoga Suigetsu out the whole time he was at the execution grounds. If Orihime hadn't seen him before then, she was never under his illusion."

"Rukia, sketchbook." Rangiku demanded, hand out and Rukia rifled through her pockets for the book and a handful of pens. "Alright Orihime- do you think you can draw what you saw on Tousen's back?"

"Oh! yeah, I think I can do that!" She nodded.

"Remember, only draw what you're really, really sure you saw- no adding details!" Rukia prompted, remembering The Orihiminator form her art midterms.

"Right! Um- well, if this is his back-" She drew an outline of a human back, noting were his spine and shoulders were. "-there were these like? Little iron nails? Going up in pairs on either side of his spine. I'm not totally sure, but I'm like... 98% sure there was one pair for every vertebra. His hakama and scarf were in the way so I don't know how far up and down the went, but it looked like his entire spine? and then there was this bright red thread woven and tied in really elaborate knots between them- Um. I'm not sure how exactly, but it was something like this- if I saw pictures I'd be able to point the pattern out again." She explained, continuing the illustration.

"-And then on his shoulders there were a pair of Kanji that had been like- carved into his skin? They were bright red, like they were infected or maybe that's what they look like when he'd been running? but um- yeah, it was "Silence" on his left shoulder, and "Obedience" on his right- Like this!" She said, holding up the drawing.

The shinigami, as a group, turned white. Rukia slapped a hand over her mouth that only sort-of stifled the scream she let out. Kira started to shake and Shuuhei got up and leaned out the window like he might be sick.

"...They weren't medical implants like he said, were they?" Orihime winced.

Rukia reached over and gently pushed the drawing down so it was facedown on the table. "That's. um. That's a Curse Orihime. That's a really, really nasty curse." She explained gently.

"Shuuhei-" said Rangiku, frowning. "You said that Tousen had finished the Payroll, right?"

"Yeah, out to the middle of November." Nodded Shuuhei, still looking green. "Weirdest thing- he ended it on the thirteenth, a Teusday. Totally not like him."

"-Its also really weird for a guy who is allegedly planning on committing treason to make life easy for the people he's leaving behind by finishing out the payroll." Explained Rangiku, taking out her communicator and Dialing. "Shuuhei- I want you to go back to the Ninth and see what other work he finished that doesn't make sense, and keep track of the dates he finished them out to, Kira- you do the same for the Third Division. That Teusday thing is bothering me. Rukia- I need you to go find someone from the Kido Corps and meet me at the First Division. Orihime- you're with me."

"Yessir!" The three lieutenants jumped to their feet and took off as Rangiku finished placing the call.

"-Sasakibe-San?" She asked when the line clicked on. "Sorry to disturb you, but I think Miss Orihime has discovered something of critical importance. Can I meet you and Yamamoto-Sotiacho at the first division? Now?"

[sansmeanswithout]

i thought it might be interesting if my interpretation of the lamb had a cult mainly made of animals that have been used as sacrifice throughout history.

My thinking behind this is that lamb wants to reminded of their family and thus has decided to protect those that have been at higher risk of being sacrificed in the name of the old faith.

On the other hand my interpretation of the goat is more logical about who joins their cult though they still will take in people who need protection they are especially fond of horses I think

This list of animals comes the Wikipedia page for animal sacrifice, the Wikipedia page for rabbit test, an exhibit from the Smithsonian of a mummified cat, an article on the roots of easter, and articles about the history of the rabbit/hare in the moon

I ignored the many mentions of sheep and goats on the Wikipedia page.

Interestingly the most common ones mentioned after the sheep and goat are cows, pigs and birds

Below the cut is a list of animals a little about the history of them being sacrificed and wether or not we already have that follower form in cult of the lamb. I won't get very graphic with the history part though I will mention if they were specifically mummified. I will mainly be mentioning in what culture and religions they were used as sacrifice, what was thought to be gotten from the sacrifice and the deity the sacrifice was made to

Also domestic animals that people consider pets are in this list you have been warned

gazelle - not in cult of the lamb - only mentioned in the prehistory section of the wiki page and is found in ancient egypt specifically buried at the foot of a grave but it seems to have been rare

felines specifically domestic cats with fur - in cult of the lamb (also has a sphinx, lion, tiger) - while killing cats was considered a crime in ancient egypt there were many exceptions made as some specifically raised cats for sacrifice or people wished to be buried with their pets. Cats were mummified and given elaborate coffins

hippo - in cult of the lamb - once again in ancient egypt and only mentioned once in the wiki page most likely was in honor of powerful citizens or buried with an owner

baboon - not in cult of the lamb the closest we have is a monkey or gorilla - same thing as the hippo just with a baboon

cattle (includes cow, ox, bull, and buffalo) - in cult of the lamb as cow and bison though we don't have a bull, ox, buffalo though the bison follower is based on the American buffalo/bison maybe we could use a water buffalo - this one is mentioned to many times for me to go into much detail but here's how many times it's mentioned outside of the references on the wiki page Cattle 6 times, Cow 9 times, Bull 8 times, Buffalo 6 times, Ox 4 times, and heifer has 1

pig - in cult of the lamb - also to commonly used for me to go into detail though apparently Scythians would never sacrifice them and hated having swine on their land. Now for how often pig and swine are mentioned outside of the references and the Scythians section swine 2 times, pig 17 times

fowl includes geese, duck, pheasant and chicken but it's usually just listed as fowl so this will be a case by case thing so I'll only mention one of the bird if it's a livestock animal or is mentioned in the wiki page - in cult of the lamb as chicken and duck we don't have goose or pheasant - birds are used to much for me to go into detail so the times mentioned is happening again though the pheasant gets a bit of detail specifically it's a green pheasant that used to be sacrificed at Shinto festivals in Japan now for the times mentioned, bird 2 times, goose/geese 2 times, rooster/chicken 7 times, poultry 1 time, fowl 2 times, duck 1 time

horse (plus donkey) - in cult of the lamb as horse to be fair a donkey follower would look kinda the same in-game we also have a unicorn - horses and donkeys are mentioned as a possiblity in ancient greece but there doesn't seem to be much evidence for it, Scythians considered horses to be the most prestigious offering, large amounts of horses would be sacrificed in ancient china however this seems to be rare as the wiki page just has a picture in that section labeled Horse sacrifice to Duke Jing of Qi 5th century BCE China, horses have also been used in Japan as sacrifice in the same context as the pheasant

canines specifically domestic dogs and wild dogs - in cult of the lamb as dog, poppy (a schnauzer), Ralpherz and Frankerz we don't really have a wild dog but the wild canines we have are fox, fennec fox, and wolf - in ancient rome Robigo was specifically given red dogs (and red wine) for protection of crops from blight and red mildew, dogs and wild dogs were used in ancient china being sacrificed at different times of the year by nobles but these sacrifices would lessen if there were hard times the dogs were considered spirit guides, there's also the story of the church grim a black dog in church graveyards which comes from the belief that the first to be buried in a graveyard would have to guard it and help spirits but couldn't pass on so a dog was buried first

camel - not in cult of the lamb the closest we have is llama - used in Islam by those on pilgrimage to mecca during Eid al-Adha the wording of the wiki page implies that the camel is sacrificed by a group also mentions that the meat is shared amongst the community it's one of four species that are considered lawful for this sacrifice

bear - in cult of the lamb - sacrificed in Japan at some Shinto festivals as well as at lomante (イオマンテ) sometimes written as Iyomante (イヨマンテ) which is a ainu ceremony that uses a brown bear

deer - in cult of the lamb as deer, stag, moose and deer skull - sacrificed in Japan at some Shinto festivals

hare - not in cult of the lamb - Hares were buried with humans in neolithic age europe archaeologists interpret this as a religious ritual with hares representing rebirth this tradition continued for a long time, hares have also been used in rituals related to the beginning of spring which is likely the pagan origin of easter

rabbit - in cult of the lamb (there's also star bunny) - rabbits are less historically sacrificed but are still associated with it for example the story behind the rabbit in the moon is about self sacrifice though it's been interpreted as both hare and rabbit, there is also the rabbit test or friedman test an early pregnancy test rabbits were injected with the urine of a person who might be pregnant the rabbit is then dissected to look for changes in the ovaries other animals have been used for this but rabbits are the more well known one

[mopillow]

He Cheng Week Day 1

I have to make a confession, forgive me OX because I have sinned, I didn’t made any content for Shark Week aka He Cheng week and I have been punished with 2 Q updates, still OX was so kind that they added some data for us to gain some He Cheng content

So 10 years ago Q looked like this

And He Cheng like this

I don’t really care much for Q but the information that we got with the last update is quite interesting

He joined the military, like any redneck he did it to touch a gun seriously He Cheng you could do better,did you guys knew I can handle a gun? I can also disarm people anyway when can you join the military in China?[Article 12] Each year, male citizens who have reached 18 years of age by December 31 shall be enlisted for active service. Those who are not enlisted during the year shall remain eligible for active service until they are 22. You can join after finishing college too but I doubt Q went to one, I’m guessing 18 is his age

18+2=20

22+2=24

Got it, now I think that in the 10 years ago chapter he was already a bodyguard, why? Well because of this dialogue

So in the first imagine Q could be between 20 to 24 if that’s his first job after getting out of the military, He Cheng looks younger

Now they look close to this

10 years ago He Tian was 5, He Cheng was already taking care of him if he was the same age as Q that would have made them at least 15 years apart but they share the same mom, was she a teenager when she had He Cheng? Or is He Cheng younger than Q? could it be that He Cheng wants to fuck an old guy? Wait … what was I saying? Oh yes if we take this in count Q could be from 30 to 34 and He Cheng could be younger, mind you we don’t know if the 10 y ago chapter is when the kids were 15 or current time so the age could also be from 30 to 38 no info on He Cheng but the estimation made a few years ago isn’t that far off, thank you OX for your kindness pleases gives me more He Cheng and less Q

[journeytothewestresearch]

Japanese Monkey God

User @red-lights-burning asked if there was a connection between Sun Wukong and the monkey gods of Japan. They provided lovely info, which was split between two asks, but I decided to put everything together into a single post.

@red-lights-burning asked: Japan has their own monkey protector named Masaru AKA Sannō Gongen, who was created back in the early 9th century by Tendai Buddhist sect founder Saichō shortly after he returned from China. So it makes me think if Monkey King was already a thing in the 800’s and if he was one of the inspirations for Masaru. A description from onmarkproductions (a really great site for anyone curious about Japanese Buddhism and Shintō) MASARU 神猿 Literally “Kami Monkey.” Masaru is the sacred monkey and protector of the Hie Shrine (aka Hie Jinja 日吉神社, Hiyoshi Taisha 日吉大社). The term “Masura” is often translated as “excel,” reflecting the belief that this sacred monkey can overcome all obstacles and prevail against all evil. Masaru is thus considered a demon queller par excellence (魔が去る・何よりも勝る). In the Heian era, Masaru (also translated “Great Monkey”) was invoked in Kōshin rituals to stop the three worms from escaping the body. Masaru also appears in Japanese scrolls used in Koushin rites. Here’s a couple other descriptions SANNŌ GONGEN 山王 権現 SARUGAMI 猿神 Fertility, Childbirth & Marriage Monkeys are patrons of harmonious marriage and safe childbirth at some of the 3,800 Hie Jinja shrines in Japan. These shrines are often dedicated to Sannō Gongen 山王権現 (lit. = mountain king avatar), who is a monkey. Sannō is the central deity of Japan’s Tendai Shinto-Buddhist multiplex on Mt. Hiei (Shiga Prefecture, near Kyoto). The monkey is Sannou’s Shinto messenger (tsukai 使い) and Buddhist avatar (gongen 権現). The monkey messenger is also known as Sarugami (猿神; literally “monkey kami”). Sarugami is the Shinto deity to whom the three monkeys (hear, speak, see no evil) are reportedly faithful. The monkey shrine at Nakayama Shrine 中山神社 in Tsuyama City, Okayama Prefecture, is dedicated to a red monkey named Sarugami, who blesses couples with children. According to shrine legends, the local people at one time offered human sacrifices (using females) to this deity. The shrine is mentioned in the Konjaku Monogatari-shu (今昔物語集), a collection of over 1000 tales from India, China, and Japan written during the late Heian Period (794-1192 AD). Sarugami, like Sannou Gongen, is also worshipped as the deity of easy delivery and child rearing. At such shrines, statues of the monkey deity are often decked in red bibs -- a color closely associated with fertility, children, and protection against evil forces and diseases like smallpox.

My answer:

I've read only a little bit about Japanese monkey gods. I previously referenced Sarugami in my article about the possible shamanic origins of primate-based boxing in China. Part of footnote #14 reads:

In Japan, monkeys were also associated with horses and healing via the warding of evil. Apart from monkeys being kept in stables like their Chinese counterparts, their fur was applied to the harnesses and quivers of Samurai because the warriors believed it gave them more control over their mounts. Furthermore, monkey body parts have been consumed for centuries as curative medicines, and their hides have even been stuffed to make protective amulets (kukurizaru) to ward off illness. Likewise, a genre of painting depicts divine monkeys (saru gami), messengers of the mountain deity, performing Da Nuo-like dances to ensure a good rice harvest (Ohnuki-Tierney, 1987, pp. 43-50)

The aforementioned article suggests a connection between monkeys and the Shang-Zhou Da Nuo (大儺 / 難; Jp: Tsuina, 追儺) ritual, an ancient, war-like, shamanic animal dance designed to drive away demonic illness and influences. The pertinent section reads:

It’s possible that the “twelve animals” of the Da Nuo exorcism refer to some precursor of the Chinese zodiacal animals (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig). If true, monkey fur could have been among the animal products worn by the ritual army. After all, monkeys have long been associated with curing illness and expelling evil in East Asia. [14] A modern example of exorcists who don monkey fur are the shamans of the Qiang ethnic group of Sichuan. The Qiang worship monkeys as the source and savior of their sacred knowledge, as well as the progenitor of their people, the latter being a myth cycle common among ethnic groups of Tibet and southwestern China.

This is the only relevant info that comes to mind. But based on what I know, I would guess that Sun Wukong and the monkey gods of Japan draw upon the same cultural sources. I hope this helps.

Source:

Ohnuki-Tierney, E. (1987). The Monkey as Mirror: Symbolic Transformations in Japanese History and Ritual. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

[orange-demons-deactivated2024]

Before I get any questions about it...

I had to take some creative liberties when writing the wedding headcanons with Bosch with a gender-neutral reader.

Queer relationships in Tibet aren't documented enough on the internet. So most of my sources did come from heterosexual marriages.

The act of a woman and a man marrying each other fell into the gender norms of a traditional woman and a traditional man in a relationship.

Same thing with marrying foreigners. There were even fewer articles and websites for Tibetan people marrying outside their race.

I had to alter some aspects of Tibetan customs to fit into the world-building of Nayshall.

Remember Nayshall is an accumulation of Nomadic tribes living in harmony, that's why I used wordings like people and group in my fic. They are all Nayshalli, but there are groups in Nayshall that are from different cultural backgrounds: Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and India.

That being said, even the tradition of Pulling on the Groom's ear (mag pa gi rna mchog 'then), is not widely practiced in Tibet. But here are some sources that I pulled this custom from here, here, and a video here (start at 2:30).

This custom was from rural farming areas of Tibet. And the act is started by the bride's family, pitting the woman against the men of the groom's family. They would tease the groom to get more gifts out of him and to an extent would "pull on the groom's ear."

"Some women wait in the doorway so that the groom cannot run away. They do not care how loudly the groom shouts in pain. They are not supposed to scratch the groom’s face or grasp his hair intentionally. The groom is usually allowed to ‘beat’ the girls with the sleeve of his traditional Tibetan robe, in order to try to get rid of them, but he can never get angry."

When I wrote this scene I had to keep in mind that the reader is gender-neutral, so the party that was supposed to represent the reader had a mix of men and women. And Bosch's side of the family representing him were all men.

You the reader, wouldn't have known any of this, that's why I wrote Bosch's family initiating the conflict.

Plus it's a street fighter game, so someone's gotta be fighting somewhere.

As for Traditional Tibetan clothing, Woman do have their hair braided and wear headdresses for the occasion. But I personally don't like adding attributes to my readers so I had to take out this section entirely.

The same thing can be said with jewelry. Although both men and women wear jewelry, the bride wears an abundance of it all over her body.

So that is why I didn't go into much detail about the outfits.

So I opted for You and Bosch to be wearing the same thing to keep the themes gender-neutral.

The reason why I split up traditional in the morning and western at night is because most Tibetan weddings that I've seen on YouTube are structured this way.

A proposal is the first step in Tibetan marriage. Traditionally, if a man is interested in a lady, he will inquire about her age, date of birth, and her zodiac attributes (i.e., mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, or pig).

In Tibetan Buddhism, a Lama is a spiritual leader or teacher of the Dharma. The word "Lama" is derived from the Sanskrit word guru, which means "venerable one". It can also be used as a term of respect for any respected monk or priest. The word "Lama" is similar to the Tibetan word "bla-ma", which means "boss"

Lamas also participate in Buddhist marriage ceremonies, which include a prayer and the distribution of a religious drink called madyan. The groom and his family visit the bride's home to ask for her hand in marriage, and an astrologer helps determine the wedding date.

Since were on the topic, there was an initial prayer service that was supposed to be done at the Bride's house that I didn't include because you, don't live in Nayshall, so it would've been awkward for me to include it.

The horse that Bosch picked you up with is a tradition for older Tibet folk. People in Tibet today just use cars that they would decorate with scarves to pick up their brides. But when writing it, I figured Bosch isn't the type to go into modern traditions, that's why I kept it to be a horse.

A well-decorated car with colors suitable to the bride's zodiac attributes is also brought to pick up the bride.

I didn't go over this, but most Tibetan marriages are monogamous with familiar 'nuclear' families. However, polyandry families in Tibet were common in ancient times. Even today, there are polyandry families in some rural areas of Tibet. Polyandry is a form of polygamy whereby a woman has several husbands. In Tibet those husbands are often brothers, which is why it is most commonly called "Fraternal Polyandry".

Also to stick out one's tongue is known as a traditional greeting, stemming from a 9th-century myth about an unpopular king with a black tongue. When the king died, Tibetans began revealing their tongues to show they hadn't become his incarnate. Tongue-sucking does not appear to be part of the tradition.

Butter tea holds significant cultural importance beyond its culinary appeal. It is integrated into various ceremonies and rituals, from Tibetan Buddhist practices to traditional celebrations like weddings and Losar, the Tibetan New Year.

Butter tea is made from brick tea, yak butter, yak milk, and salt. It's a vital source of sustenance, especially in high-altitude regions, and provides necessary calories from fat. Tibetans often drink butter tea with tsampa, a staple food, and can consume up to 60 small cups per day. 

 It symbolizes hospitality, is a sacred offering, and can be a meal in itself. When offering tea to another person, both the giver and receiver use both hands to avoid spilling and as a sign of respect.

In tradition, guests are served constant refills of butter tea to symbolize the host's generosity.

[louisupdates]

tpimagazine Following the success of his record-breaking Live From London livestream, which reportedly raised over £1m for touring and live events personnel and charitable organisations, Louis Tomlinson and his tight-knit crew have toured the world twice over. This time, visiting sold-out arenas in Europe and the UK with a cleverly networked live production with abstract video and lighting and a ‘no frills’ approach to sound, which guaranteed that every ticket holder experienced the same show, regardless of where they stood, sat, or screamed (more on that later). With close to 80 shows under their belt, TPi visited London’s O2 arena ahead of the production’s penultimate date of 2023.

Production Manager, Craig Sherwood and Tour Manager, Tom Allen’s vendors of choice included: Altour (travel), Beat the Street, BPM SFX, CSE Crosscom, Colour Sound Experiment (lighting, rigging, and video), Hangman UK, Boxcat Studio and Two Suns Creative (video content), LED Creative, Ox Event House (custom light housings), Sarah’s Kitchen, Seven 7 Management (artist management), Solotech (audio), Stardes Trucking, and TANCK (production design and video content) 🗣️

Read the full story in the latest issue of TPi via the 🔗 in bio 👆

📸: Justin De Souza

[TPI magazine posted on Instagram 15.1.2024 about Louis Tomlinson’s FAITH IN THE FUTURE WORLD TOUR. Link to the article here and here.]

[bovineblogger]

Hi! I'm from Brazil and I thought you might be interested in getting to know about Bumba Meu Boi: a traditional folk festivity celebrated all over the country. The plot regards the death and resurrection of an ox, but since it's so old and widely celebrated, it might have lots of meanings and variations, but there's always the dancing ox though. Anyway, here's the link for its article in Wikipedia, which unfortunately doesn't have many pictures:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumba_Meu_Boi

that sounds like the most wonderful thing ever!!! i love the dancing ox and i love you for telling me about such an amazing thing. thank you so very much! i will definitely be researching about this!!!

images (x) (x)

[3liza]

I've been discussing with my friends and personally mulling over the New Yorker article about the elimination of phonics based reading instruction in many American schools since last night and I want to bring up a few things.

1. the author of the New Yorker piece starts the article by reporting apparently without self-censure or reflection that she has never attempted to teach her kindergarten-aged daughter to read, nor asked the kid to read aloud. this writer is apparently a fully self employed author of books and articles and i don't know what her home life is like but you would have to physically restrain me from teaching my own child literacy at home. the fact that she goes the entire article without apparently linking the fact that she was completely unaware that her 5 year old has no phonics education with the fact that she personally has not taught her daughter any literacy skills would be hilarious if it wasn't so fucking awful for the little girl. i cannot imagine leaving the education of my children to a school of any kind, regardless of my personal employment situations but especially not if i was a self employed writer, presumably working from home.

2. this pattern is noted in the article itself AND IN THE TUMBLR COMMENTS: the single consistent difference between children who can read well and children who can't is whether or not their parents intentionally and directedly teach them one-on-one at home. in real life this usually translates to socioeconomic differences. poor kids get less teaching time with their parents

3. lots of people in the Tumblr notes as well as multiple references in the article to how difficult and nonsensical English is, as a language. that is a commonly-accepted truism about English, but it isn't true. the third part of literacy teaching, after phonics and grammar, is etymology. this part is ignored because it's considered "humanities" and useless. it isn't. Greek, Latin, and proto-Indo-European word origins are how you teach children why words are spelled the same and sound different, or spelled differently but sound the same, why letters are shaped the way they are shaped (alpha is from "aleph" which means "ox", which is still what A looks like when you rotate it around to its original orientation), where words come from and more importantly, when they come from. all the "nonsensical" parts of the English language are not nonsense at all, they are the stories of how we got those words and how we have used them for thousands of years. you cannot skip etymology and have a complete mastery of a language. teaching children stories about words will help them remember everything else about words. you cannot crowd out information with other information, information only reinforces itself the more you add.

4. a couple people in the notes brought up something interesting which is that they were people or knew people who had been taught the shit way of reading as kids, had always been bad at it, and then learned phonics as adults and suddenly got way better at reading as a result. that's fantastic. it means you don't have to be stuck at the level of reading you are at now if you don't want to. you can go back and learn the right way if you feel like it and if you have the capability

5. speaking of capability!!! I've done a lot of reading about dyslexia because my partner has a severe, life-altering case of it that, speaking of school incompetence, no one fucking noticed until i diagnosed him via sheer observation at age 30. he's spent his whole life masking and covering for his disability and just not knowing he even had it. in my reading about dyslexia I've read a lot of descriptions of how dyslexic reading works, especially in the book The Gift of Dyslexia, and i know everyone with dyslexia isn't a monolith so I'm sure it varies, but i talked to my partner and described the process in the book and he agreed that was how he "read" things. the dyslexic reading process was extremely similar to what is described as the "vibes-based reading" in the New Yorker article. specifically, the way that dyslexics are extremely visually oriented and so will try to sidestep the confusion of reading series of letters and words by looking for visual cues: words that have a certain shape, or start or end with certain letters (because the letters in the middle can get switched around by their brains), and also just vaguely scanning text and getting the gist rather than trying to interpret its actual meaning. this process has to be untaught to dyslexics who have taught themselves to read this way because it's useless for comprehension, speed and fluency. this really caught my attention because it means the Calkins method of teaching reading is teaching a method so awful it is recognized as medically and neurologically dysfunctional and considered a DISABILITY when children with dyslexia teach themselves to do it as a way to cope with the way their brain has trouble with language.

6. i read /r/Teachers a lot and although the sub is mostly full of people who hate children and are very stupid, one thing that seems true everywhere is that schools are fucking desperate. if i was a teacher right now i would just be teaching whatever method i knew actually worked and not bothering with dysfunctional syllabi because what are they going to do, fire me? from reports, it seems like a great many public schools actually cannot fire anyone who is even vaguely showing up on time and putting any effort in. i hope the teachers working in places like this are taking advantage of their defacto tenure and doing away with bad teaching plans. all the BEST teachers of my life have been rogue teachers who just ignored what the administration was trying to get them to do.

[whencyclopedia]

Ancient Egyptian Agriculture

Agriculture was the foundation of the ancient Egyptian economy and vital to the lives of the people of the land. Agricultural practices began in the Delta Region of northern Egypt and the fertile basin known as the Faiyum in the Predynastic Period in Egypt (c. 6000 - c. 3150 BCE), but there is evidence of agricultural use and overuse of the land dating back to 8000 BCE.

Egyptologist and historian Margaret Bunson defines ancient Egyptian agriculture as "the science and practice of the ancient Egyptians from predynastic times that enabled them to transform an expanse of semiarid land into rich fields after each inundation of the Nile" (4). In this, she is referring to the yearly flooding of the Nile River which rose over its banks to deposit nutrient-rich soil on the land, allowing for the cultivation of crops. Without the inundation, Egyptian culture could not have taken hold in the Nile River Valley and their civilization would never have been established. So important was the Nile flood that scholars believe many, if not most, of the best known Egyptian myths are linked to, or directly inspired by, this event. The story of the death and resurrection of the god Osiris, for example, is thought to have initially been an allegory for the life-giving inundation of the Nile, and numerous gods throughout Egypt's history are directly or indirectly linked to the river's flood.

So fertile were the fields of Egypt that, in a good season, they produced enough food to feed every person in the country abundantly for a year and still have surplus, which was stored in state-owned granaries and used in trade or saved for leaner times. A bad growing season was always the result of a shallow inundation by the Nile, no matter the amount of rainfall or what other factors came into play.

Tools & Practices

The yearly inundation was the most important aspect of Egyptian agriculture, but the people obviously still needed to work the land. Fields had to be plowed and seed sown and water moved to different areas, which led to the invention of the ox-drawn plow and improvements in irrigation. The ox-drawn plow was designed in two gauges: heavy and light. The heavy plow went first and cut the furrows while the lighter plow came behind turning up the earth. Once the field was plowed, then workers with hoes broke up the clumps of soil and sowed the rows with seed. These hoes were made of wood and were short-handled (most likely because wood was scarce in Egypt and so wooden products were expensive) and so to work with them was extremely labor-intensive. A farmer could expect to spend most of a day literally bent over the hoe.

Once the ground was broken and the clods dispersed, seed was carried to the field in baskets and workers filled smaller baskets or sacks from these larger containers. The most common means of sowing the earth was to carry a basket in one arm while flinging the seed with the other hand.

Some farmers were able to afford the luxury of a large basket one attached to the chest by hemp straps which enabled one to use two hands in sowing. To press the seed into the furrows, livestock was driven across the field and the furrows were then closed by workers with hoes. All of this work would have been for nothing, however, if the seeds were denied sufficient water and so regular irrigation of the land was extremely important.

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