Totally agree…

I’ve been using mint for the last 4 years, and while I have had to use the command line for some obscure installs, it also works as an OS without needing to use it (i jumped in at the deep end and installed it in a pc I got from my brother and used it as my everyday OS)

I don’t understand why Mint isn’t the first suggestion for Linux ‘virgins’ switching over from Windows etc, it has everything you need pre installed plus the download manager for anything else

Linux has a flavour for everyone, and after a while when you’re confidence and skills grow there is the fun of using the command line and a bit of tinkering…or not, if you are happy with the ‘basics’

I don’t normally comment on news posts, but in this instance, FUCK CANCER

Fuck cancer for stealing my brother from me, and for taking half my bf’s lung

I seriously hopes this works for everyone out there living with this disease, and for their families, friends, the people who love them…

…and also for everyone who has died too soon and missed their chance for survival. Their donation of tissue samples and furthering the cancer research that ultimately wouldn’t help them, but will help the poor bastards that are diagnosed today and in the future…It is bitter sweet

Fuck cancer

I’ve seen lots of contemporary dance performances which have blown me away, one was called ‘The Silk Road’ and showed how dance, as well as material goods was passed on via the silk road.

It had traditional Indian dance and Spanish dance (the one where the men do the foot stomping, I’ve not been up for long and my brain is still in sleep mode). It was amazing. The dancing was beautiful and demonstrated how culture and ideas are transmitted, in this instance- the similarities of dance movements

Also saw a free performance of some students of Chethams School of Music (Manchester) perform the harp. I think there was 4, maybe 5 female students, and it was beautiful. I’ve never heard the harp performed just on its own and they used percussive rhythms made by drumming and tapping the instrument…

I have the flyers from both above performances, so I’ll edit my comment later on after I’ve found them

Also adding Estas Tonne…my boyfriend is a big fan and we traveled down to London for a week which included one of his gigs…it was held in a church and was just him and his guitars (and 2 incense sticks)

Guilty as charged

I rather like this one…

wearily she waves

the white flag of surrender

cobwebbed butterfly

—Tracy Davidson from here

Pawprints fade, empty

Silence fills the empty space

Love lives on, always

From here

I sometimes feel that the classic haiku are let down by some translations, and the fact there are Japanese words that don’t translate across very well or at all.

I have a soft spot for this one

The old pond,

A frog jumps in:

Plop!

Translated by Alan Watts from here

It’s interesting to see how each translation differs, and tries to put into English something that is probably untranslatable…also…

pond

frog

plop!

Translated by James Kirkup

‘The sound of water’ ‘kerplunk’ ‘splashing the water’ ‘leap, splash’ ‘water note’ …just don’t capture it for me

Do you know any that are decent?

I discovered The CryptoNaturalist over at the other place, and ending up buying ‘Field Guide to the Haunted Forest’ and ‘Love Notes from the Hollow Tree’ by Jarod K. Anderson…

Which is unusual for me as I detest poetry. I think it’s a pile of long-winded, navel gazing wank…Except for haiku, (because they’re short and sweet, and condense things down to their essence, which I like).

I like The CryptoNaturalist though, probably because they write about nature in a weird, beautiful and wonderous way. I want to use the word ‘magical’ to describe it, but am reluctant, for reasons

Also, thanks to this post I just found out there’s a couple of other books available which I’m going to buy tonight 😀

I find that I’m both drawn the the building as well as the exhibits when I’m there, all the pillars are trees with texture and foliage (and monkeys too), the large room with the minerals has sea creatures carved onto the stonework. The carved wood, the floor even the outside with the metal drain pipes and tiled roof…it’s a Temple to Nature, really beautiful place!

Now that you mention it…and it now looks really gross and disturbing lol

Thanks for the ID, I always keep the title the same as the original uploader 👍

Destroying angels are among the most toxic known mushrooms; both they and the closely related death caps (A. phalloides) contain amatoxins.[1]

Destroying angels can be mistaken for edible fungi such as the button mushroom, meadow mushroom, or the horse mushroom. Young destroying angels that are still enclosed in their universal veil can be mistaken for puffballs, but slicing them in half longitudinally will reveal internal mushroom structures. This is the basis for the common recommendation to slice in half all puffball-like mushrooms picked when mushroom hunting. Mushroom hunters recommend that people know how to recognize both the death cap and the destroying angel in all of their forms before collecting any white gilled mushroom for consumption

The destroying angel (Amanita bisporigera) and the death cap (Amanita phalloides) account for the overwhelming majority of deaths due to mushroom poisoning. The toxin responsible for this is amatoxin, which inhibits RNA polymerase II and III. Symptoms do not appear for 5 to 24 hours, by which time the toxins may already be absorbed and the damage (destruction of liver and kidney tissues) is irreversible. As little as half a mushroom cap can be fatal if the victim is not treated quickly enough. The symptoms include vomiting, cramps, delirium, convulsions, and diarrhea.

wikipedia

The panther cap is an uncommon mushroom, found in both deciduous, especially beech and, less frequently, coniferous woodland and rarely meadows throughout Europe, western Asia in late summer and autumn.[4] It has also been recorded from South Africa, where it is thought to have been accidentally introduced with trees imported from Europe and Asia.[5]

It is an ectomycorrhizal fungus, living in root symbiosis with a tree, deriving photosynthesised nutrients from it and providing soil nutrients in return.

A. pantherina is toxic; if consumed fresh, it may not be fatal to humans. It can cause diarrhea, vomiting, and hyperhidrosis, which can lead to severe dehydration

A. pantherina contains the psychoactive compounds ibotenic acid and muscimol,[7] two psychoactive constituents which can cause effects such as hallucinations, synaesthesia, euphoria, dysphoria and retrograde amnesia. The effects of muscimol and ibotenic acid most closely resemble that of a Z drug, like Ambien at high doses, and not a classical psychedelic, e.g. psilocybin.

Fun Fact

A. muscaria and A. pantherina are illegal to buy, sell, or possess in the Netherlands since December 2008. Possession of amounts larger than 0.5 g dried or 5 g fresh lead to a criminal charge

wikipedia

The mushroom itself is edible, but can absorb arsenic from the soil. Because its bright amethyst coloration fades with age and weathering, it becomes difficult to identify, hence the common name “deceiver” wikipedia

It doesn’t say on wikipedia if it can be used for making dyes, but the colour is due to light exposure…

Young fruit bodies that are still beneath the earth are white; as they mature and emerge from the ground, the exposure to light causes the color to change to violet

and also

It was one of six species that appeared as part of a series depicting native New Zealand fungi on stamps, released in 2002

It is incredibly striking, so I can see why it was ‘honoured’ with a stamp

mushrooms are the ultimate life form

Slime molds do it for me also, I just don’t know whether they fit here though? I have started some posting to macro photography (which is another community that’s gone quite quiet recently)

edit, can’t spell quiet

They’re quite otherworldly aren’t they? I did an image search on ddg and some of them are really intense

They are really beautiful, the green and blue ones look like they belong on the ‘Avatar’ planet. I’m going to have a look for some nice photos to post, cheers 👍

I quite often do this for art books, I find it easier on my eyes reading text on the pirate ebook version (I can make the font as big as I need), but use the hardcopy for eyeing up the pictures

I can’t remember who originally made and posted this (but thank you for your service!)

Seconding the massage gun, I had terrible muscle pain around my knee for over a year and after using one it went. I nearly fell off the bed as there wasn’t any pain. I’m now trying to loosen up the ligament/tendon around the knee and in my hip as it’s still tight…It’s really nice to be able to go on a long walk and not be in pain or having to use sticks when going downhill

I know I may sound like an Amazon review, but the difference is amazing, and also reassuring as I thought I would be heading over hill into pain and general decrepitude…I’m also using it to loosen up the bf’s knotty shoulders and bad back

I like how it’s reflecting the clouds, crane and orange ‘panels’