Ancient drought may have wiped out the real-life hobbits 61,000 years ago
A massive, centuries-long drought may have driven the extinction of the “hobbits” of Flores.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260218031601.htm
From the article:
On his return home, Schreiber wanted to spread the word. The next year he held his first wind turbine-building workshop, founding PureSelfMade, a nonprofit to teach people how to make their own wind turbines from scratch.
Ever since, Schreiber, who returns to Scoraig every year to see Piggott and other friends, has been offering courses, usually for groups of between eight and 20 people, on how to make wind turbines from scratch, including rotor blades and custom-made generators, and setting up the basic electrics.
Although outputs vary depending on locations, most turbines could power several appliances, but not an entire home.
Often they are connected to batteries to store energy for when it’s needed.
In the context of volatile energy prices, the pressing need to shift to renewable power, the limits of centralized electricity systems and the risks of relying on foreign supply chains, there’s growing demand for communities to become energy self-sufficient. Until now, so-called “small wind” has been a relatively overlooked local provider.
But for Schreiber, the “DIY approach” brings with it a level of reassurance and freedom.
“Instead of big industry, I prefer the more grassroots way,” he says. “I like the idea of decentralization. With a lot of chaos in the world, it’s better to be self-sufficient, to have a reliable energy system at home.”
PureSelfMade is expanding into selling parts kits for DIY wind turbines as well as detailed guides. Most of the materials for their designs can be purchased at a local hardware store, and the wood blades are biodegradable when they need to be replaced.
to all artists painting the same thing over and over and to all writers writing the same story over and over
[screenshot of black text on white background]
But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun.; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic monotony that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never gotten tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.
G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
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i think being proud of where you come from is one of those things that becomes fun the more specific you get. like "proud to be english" bad rancid vibes. makes you sound like the kind of person who rants about immigrants. "proud to be from yorkshire" better vibes. i cannot deny the yorkshire cultural heritage. "proud to be from pocklington" absolutely fucking hilarious please never let anybody kill your pocklington pride.
i love the USA: weird vibes. dont trust that.
i love muskegon michigan: you are experiencing a kind of personal joy that i can and will not take from you
Okay LotR fandom, I invite you to consider:
Fourth Age Gimli desperately trying to figure out whether or not it's uncouth to make rings for a former Ring-bearer, because he wants to craft some matching-jewelry-sets to send along with Legolas as presents for Galadriel when he Sails, but should there be rings included or not included!?
And of course, he didn't think about this until after Elrond and Gandalf both left for the Undying Lands, so he can't just ask somebody. There's no one left to ask who knows! Yes, of course Sam was a Ring-bearer too, but I don't think he knows much about elvish jewelry customs, Legolas!
No, no asking Thranduil won't help, because even if he knew (which why would he, he wasn't a Ring-bearer?) you know he'd lie just to stir shit up with Galadriel. You know he would. Nothing Thranduil says on this subject can be trusted, you know that.
Okay, hear him out: what if Gimli makes the matching rings, but only as a back-up to be given to her if it seems like she's down with wearing rings again? And if she isn't, Legolas, then you'll hide them forever or melt them down or something, and no one will ever need to know they existed except you and me. But you can't ask her directly! Just, like, observe, and see if you spot her with rings or not, and base your decision off that. Okay?
But don't ask her! And don't ask anyone else, either, because what if she finds out from them that you asked? And if it turns out it would be rude to give rings to a Ring-bearer, and she discovers that Gimli made her rings, she'll be offended! and Gimli would sooner shave his beard off than offend Galadriel!
Oh but then what if she finds out that he made her rings and then didn't give them to her, and she's offended by that? Oh, that would be worse! (Would that be worse? It seems worse!) Oh, what is a poor dwarf to do!!!?
No Legolas, stop laughing, this is CRUCIAL. This is a situation of dire-straits, the most dire Gimli has faced since the Paths of the Dead, you don't understand, what if he gets this wrong...!?
The picture in the background of the second one
Tama is boss
THE TRAINS HAVE CARTOON TAMAS ON THEM
Sad update everyone, Tama recently passed away… An estimated 3,000 people, including railway officials, attended Tama the cat’s funeral on Sunday, days after she died of heart failure aged 16. [x]
For those who haven’t read articles about it, the local shrine elevated her to a god. She’s now the Eternal Stationmaster and patron god of the station.
Beautiful.
Now I’m crying thanks
and a new cat was hired right?
yep! her name is Nitama (essentially ”second tama” or “tama II”) and she served under Tama as an apprentice before being appointed her deputy
she works very hard
Everytime this crosses my dash, I reblog. It is the law.
I’m crying at 11pm over train cats
Nitama, already now a mature cat (born 2010), has a protege named Yontama (fourth Tama, b. 2016). There is no information available for either the physical befellment or tragic self-disgrace which has removed Santama from contention.
^Nitama majestic, and below with Yontama
Yontama.
a legacy
okay but actually what happened to santama (or sun-tama-tama, which is her name because it’s a pun on santama) was that she was basically sent to train for the position in okayama and they liked her so much they refused to send her back
“Sun-tama-tama” (a pun off of “Santama”, lit. “third Tama”) was a calico cat sent for training in Okayama. Sun-tama-tama was considered as a candidate for Tama’s successor, but the Okayama Public Relations representative who had been caring for Sun-tama-tama refused to give the cat up writing, “I will not let go of this child, she will stay in Okayama.” [25]
As of September 2018, Sun-tama-tama is working as the stationmaster in Naka-ku, Okayama and appears occasionally on Tama’s Twitter account.
Every time I see this post there’s new info and it gets better
You are only allowed to scroll pass this after you pay tribute to the great Tama Station masters.
The shrine of Tama Daimyōjin (Great gracious deity Tama), next to the Kishi station where she worked.
Nitama presenting her yearly offerings to Tama Daimyōjin on the anniversary of Tama’s Death, June 23 (The offerings are presented by the company president, as Nitama is a cat and thus can’t hold the offerings herself) (Not pictured, but also present, Yontama)
you cannot pass without reblogging guys. i’m sorry, i don’t make the rules.
You can’t not reblog a goddess. It’s just what’s so. :)
So, fun fact- the manga Noragami has an arc where the main character, Yato (a minor kami/God that is down on his luck but trying to make it big time) goes to a council/conference for all the Gods in Japan.
And they are announcing the winner of the “up and coming god” award, and of course, Yato thinks it’s him.
But no-
ITS TAMA!
Just to update… yes, there is a Gotama (“Fifth Tama”) now, introduced in January of this year.
Nitama and Yontama are still alive and still working. Gotama is Nitama’s second assistant.
Also, there’s not enough pictures of Sun-Tama-Tama in this thread, so have this one:
Sadly, Nitama died last December, so today Yontama stepped up as full stationmaster. Rokutama (“Sixth Tama”) was also introduced as a new trainee.
Another Tama has hit the railways!!
Ted Lasso arts from 2025 because it has lived rent free in my brain all year (still is, tbh)
reblog if you love archive of our own and how they firmly refuse to let censorship have any place on their platform
bedford borough council's soc med person has had it with maggie tyers
I’m not going to get over this easily. Among the responsibilities of the Bedford Borough Council are
- rubbish bins,
- parking permits,
- council tax, and
- the placement of foster children
Within the county of Bedfordshire, England, UK.
Not listed among their responsibilities:
- the creation, positioning, professional conduct, ongoing maintenance and estate costs, and scheduling of the fucking Moon
One year ago today I posted this miniature Ant Man photo I created using real lighting, figures, a coaster in the shape of a button and some crochet I borrowed from my Mum.
They should invent a being a writer that doesn't come with being isolated and diminishing returns on what you are given back compared to how much you give
So there's this story I love about Paul Williams, right? Famous musician who has done a ton of super popular work over a very long career. Well one thing he really poured his heart and soul into was the movie Phantom of the Paradise which fucking BOMBED. Like, mere words cannot describe how bad this reimagining of Phantom of the Opera But At A Disco went. It absolutely crushed Paul Williams. Broke his heart. His biggest failure.
Except during a tour of his he met who described as a young, nerdy Mexican kid who brought him a copy of the Phantom of the Paradise for him to sign. The kid wouldn't stop talking about how much he loved the soundtrack, and how much it inspired him. This kid was literally one of the few people in the world that loved the movie
It wasn't until Paul Williams ran into the kid all grown up did he realize it was Guillermo del Toro.
And it happened again, too! He also met a pair of young French men who wouldn't stop raving about how much they loved Phantom of the Paradise and how much it inspired them and their own band, Daft Punk. The three of them ended up doing an album together. An album that I would listen to on repeat while writing the early drafts of my book.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes the creative process seems cruel, unforgiving, and thankless. You can pour your heart and soul into something only to make zero waves. But even a so-called-failure can inspire and lift up someone that needs it. So you gotta keep creating, if only to be the next link in the chain of creativity and art.
Also I don't know about you but I haven't seriously written in months and I honestly feel like I'm going to explode from too many words so like, you also gotta keep relating or else you might explode.
