What Happens Next: A Gallimaufry

Foz Meadows is a bipedal mammal with delusions of immortality. Also, she writes fantasy novels.

Philosophers After Dark

  • Philosopher 1: So I told my students about my drinking today.
  • Philosopher 2: How did that go?
  • Philosopher 1: They were... skeptical. They didn't believe you could smoke and drink in the shower at the same time.
  • Philosopher 2: You can totally do that!
  • Philosopher 1: I know, right?

evayna asked: That 'tribal song' story has been attributed to cultures outside of Africa too, and considering I've seen the childbirth section of the Wikipedia page for Himba get changed... I don't know.

It could well be fake, or at least mis-attributed; I wouldn’t be surprised. It reminded me a bit of that made-up Native American story about the two wolves warring inside of you that’s still tragically doing the rounds, which is why I looked it up. But, yeah. It sucks that people falsify and conflate this kind of thing, and it really annoys me that the OP went and changed ‘Himba’ to ‘African tribe’ despite quoting someone else’s text. GAH. 

wyte-one-thousand: pleiadian-princess: radagastlovesyou: you-are-another-me: There is a tribe in Africa where the birth date of a child is counted not from when they were born, nor from when they are conceived but from the day that the child was a thought in its mother’s mind. And when a woman decides that she will have a child, she goes off and sits under a tree, by herself, and she listens until she can hear the song of the child that wants to come. And after she’s heard the song of this child, she comes back to the man who will be the child’s father, and teaches it to him. And then, when they make love to physically conceive the child, some of that time they sing the song of the child, as a way to invite it. And then, when the mother is pregnant, the mother teaches that child’s song to the midwives and the old women of the village, so that when the child is born, the old women and the people around her sing the child’s song to welcome it. And then, as the child grows up, the other villagers are taught the child’s song. If the child falls, or hurts its knee, someone picks it up and sings its song to it. Or perhaps the child does something wonderful, or goes through the rites of puberty, then as a way of honoring this person, the people of the village sing his or her song.In the African tribe there is one other occasion upon which the villagers sing to the child. If at any time during his or her life, the person commits a crime or aberrant social act, the individual is called to the center of the village and the people in the community form a circle around them. Then they sing their song to them.The tribe recognizes that the correction for antisocial behavior is not punishment; it is love and the remembrance of identity. When you recognize your own song, you have no desire or need to do anything that would hurt another.And it goes this way through their life. In marriage, the songs are sung, together. And finally, when this child is lying in bed, ready to die, all the villagers know his or her song, and they sing—for the last time—the song to that person.You may not have grown up in an African tribe that sings your song to you at crucial life transitions, but life is always reminding you when you are in tune with yourself and when you are not. When you feel good, what you are doing matches your song, and when you feel awful, it doesn’t. In the end, we shall all recognize our song and sing it well. You may feel a little warbly at the moment, but so have all the great singers. Just keep singing and you’ll find your way home. This is the most amazing thing I have ever read. THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL IM ALMOST TEARING UP Reblog for eternity. So yes, this is beautiful, but I’m a little puzzled why the OP has basically copied this article verbatim (except for removing the actual name of the people in question - the Himba - and replacing it with ‘African tribe’, which… yeah) and apparently without attribution. However, given that the source is an actual news site from Zimbabwe, it looks like this is legit, which is incredibly awesome if so.

wyte-one-thousand:

pleiadian-princess:

radagastlovesyou:

you-are-another-me:

There is a tribe in Africa where the birth date of a child is counted not from when they were born, nor from when they are conceived but from the day that the child was a thought in its mother’s mind. And when a woman decides that she will have a child, she goes off and sits under a tree, by herself, and she listens until she can hear the song of the child that wants to come. And after she’s heard the song of this child, she comes back to the man who will be the child’s father, and teaches it to him. And then, when they make love to physically conceive the child, some of that time they sing the song of the child, as a way to invite it.


And then, when the mother is pregnant, the mother teaches that child’s song to the midwives and the old women of the village, so that when the child is born, the old women and the people around her sing the child’s song to welcome it. And then, as the child grows up, the other villagers are taught the child’s song. If the child falls, or hurts its knee, someone picks it up and sings its song to it. Or perhaps the child does something wonderful, or goes through the rites of puberty, then as a way of honoring this person, the people of the village sing his or her song.



In the African tribe there is one other occasion upon which the villagers sing to the child. If at any time during his or her life, the person commits a crime or aberrant social act, the individual is called to the center of the village and the people in the community form a circle around them. Then they sing their song to them.



The tribe recognizes that the correction for antisocial behavior is not punishment; it is love and the remembrance of identity. When you recognize your own song, you have no desire or need to do anything that would hurt another.

And it goes this way through their life. In marriage, the songs are sung, together. And finally, when this child is lying in bed, ready to die, all the villagers know his or her song, and they sing—for the last time—the song to that person.

You may not have grown up in an African tribe that sings your song to you at crucial life transitions, but life is always reminding you when you are in tune with yourself and when you are not. When you feel good, what you are doing matches your song, and when you feel awful, it doesn’t. In the end, we shall all recognize our song and sing it well. You may feel a little warbly at the moment, but so have all the great singers. Just keep singing and you’ll find your way home.

This is the most amazing thing I have ever read.

THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL IM ALMOST TEARING UP

Reblog for eternity.

So yes, this is beautiful, but I’m a little puzzled why the OP has basically copied this article verbatim (except for removing the actual name of the people in question - the Himba - and replacing it with ‘African tribe’, which… yeah) and apparently without attribution.

However, given that the source is an actual news site from Zimbabwe, it looks like this is legit, which is incredibly awesome if so.

(Source: thegodmolecule, via sexgenderbody)

doggedlyjohn:

mrsbenevolent:

gypsyfaggot:

literally the best buffy tribute video i have ever seen (if you don’t want to watch buffy after seeing this you need to have a time out)

IF THIS VIDEO DOESN’T CONVINCE YOU TO GO WATCH THIS SHOW IMMEDIATELY  THEN YOU LACK A SOUL. 

Dear god that was amazing.

OK, yeah, this is pretty awesome.

(via vixyish)

GODFUCKINGDAMNIT TUMBLR, STOP DROPPING MASSIVE SPOILERS ABOUT THE ELEMENTARY FINAL

SO HELP ME I WILL TURN THIS CAR AROUND

emergency sos help

I’m surrounded by philosophers

they won’t stop talking shop

WHY IS THE RUM GONE

[W]hen we launch in a territory the Bittorrent traffic drops as the Netflix traffic grows. So I think people do want a great experience and they want access – people are mostly honest. The best way to combat piracy isn’t legislatively or criminally but by giving good options. One of the side effects of growth of content is an expectation to have access to it. You can’t use the internet as a marketing vehicle and then not as a delivery vehicle.

—

Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer at Netflix (via laliberty)

Look, someone who gets it.

(via knitmeapony)

This this this!

What I download goes down dramatically as my access increases! I downloaded a lot of stuff when I was living in a rural area before Netflix started. Now that Netflix streaming is available, as well as Amazon Prime Instant, I download dramatically less. I live in an even more remote area now where video stores are nearly 30 miles away and Redbox is almost 20. The closest movie theater is a crappy 3 screen that barely shows what I want to see. Even PBS is impossible to get where I live, so most of what I do download is currently airing TV shows. And I know that my access compared to that in other parts of my state, much less the country, is great.

(via dressesandyarn)

So much this. It takes FOREVER for good American shows to air in other countries (and vice versa), and unless you want the internet to spoil all the good bits for you in the months or years before your local stations finally catch up, the natural instinct is to try and find a way, any way, to watch them - plus, it means you can actually participate in global conversations about pop culture as they happen instead of lagging behind, and that’s important, because while such conversations will always be going on, at the point when something has first aired, you potentially have the ability to influence ratings and public perception, or to make the creators realise they’ve done something problematic. 

And yeah, with Netflix and the like, there’s still a bit of lag, but not nearly as big a one - and instead of scratching around on awful, ad-strewn sites that throw disgusting porn popups your way every time you open a new tab in search of the one player that sorta usually works right, you can browse through a nice-looking layout and have stuff recommended to you based on your tastes. It’s the difference between scrounging for scraps in a different alley every night, and being a regular at a restaurant where the waitstaff know your name. 

(via moniquill)

derpycats:

Japan leads the world in cat-sushi technologies.

That one with the lobster, though.

“I will destroy you, human. VENGEANCE SHALL BE MINE.”

(Source: archiemcphee)