boydster

I don't know what species this is, but I was lichen it when I saw it.

Apologies if the photo quality is insufficient. In a particular bit of forest, I found an area with a large birch population that all seemed to be suffering from the same issue. Something is causing the leaves to first stripe green and yellow, then turn brown/black, and while there are new leaf buds forming, trees are seemingly losing the leaves faster than they can replace them. There are other areas with birch trees on the same forest that don't have this issue at all. In the affected area, some trees have only one or two leaves left with any green in them at all.

This is in New England, USA

According to the lore, Fred Trump, while in the grips of Alzheimer's, insisted on still going to work every day. And the people that surrounded him, in order to let him keep feeling powerful while minimizing the amount of damage he could do to their business dealings, would have him sit in an executive office all day signing papers.

With that backdrop, I got to thinking. I know the administration has been planning on using a steady stream of EOs to keep overwhelming the news cycle. But I think the people surrounding Trump also realize he's completely toast at this point and they're deploying the Fred Trump strategy of keeping him busy signing "very important papers."

That was all. Just some random shower thoughts that were probably too political for the showerthoughts community.

Saw this at the Art Institute of Chicago recently

For people interested in learning Old English, Osweald Bera is an introductory book written by Colin Gorrie that, if I recall from his prior announcement about this, leans on a method called comprehensible input to teach the language. As far as I can tell from watching some of his youtube videos and reading his other online material, this looks like it could be useful for folks that are including "Learn Old English" as an item on their New Year's Resolution list.

The preorders were just announced. They are saying they intend to begin shipping the books themselves mid-November.

Trump was on Univision yesterday for a town hall, and during one exchange he made a huge deal about how great he was for farmers. Additionally, he's been talking about crazy tariffs again at recent events like the Economic Club of Chicago. With those things in mind, I thought it would be relevant to take a quick walk down memory lane. It's also worth noting, the article is pre-COVID - August 30, 2019. As many people with functioning memories will recall, things would not go on to get better from there.

Iran's alleged plot to assassinate former President Donald Trump and hack the Trump campaign amount to "an act of war," according to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

Just days after a would-be assassin's bullet grazed Trump's ear in July, the FBI announced that Iran had allegedly been separately plotting to kill the former president. Federal officials later revealed that Iran had hacked and stolen confidential information from the Trump campaign.

...

Paraphrasing his psychotic post that they are discussing in this article: "Bullets are flying, the war has begun, the Immigrant Problem must be brought to a final solution!"

Just saw these new HoMe boxed sets are coming out, with the first set releasing in November

Here's a fun, ten-minute video from PBS Digital Studios and hosted by Dr. Moiya McTier & Dr. Emily Zarka that discusses trees, especially World Trees (or Great Trees) as seen in so many mythologies, and their prevalence in ancient stories. From Baobab trees to Yggdrasil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txy-3IpFz8M

I'm currently reading the Third Edition of Rosenberg's World Mythology, which is what I referenced when writing the Enuma Elish summary before. For anyone wanting to read more of her work, the Second Edition of her book is available online free and has a ton of great content:

https://archive.org/details/worldmythologyan0000rose

Here's a quick synopsis based on some notes that I jotted down as I was looking over a version of the Enuma Elish that was written in Donna Rosenberg's World Mythology textbook.

What is the Enuma Elish? Great question! It's an ancient creation story, dating back to the Babylonians in Mesopotamia, perhaps reaching as far back as 2000 BCE.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En%C5%ABma_Eli%C5%A1

Everything interesting about this is a credit to Rosenberg's work and to the Babylonian people that documented the stories on clay tablets so long ago, and everything wrong with it is undoubtedly down to my own poor comprehension. Enjoy!

The Enuma elish

Apsu and Tiamat, the fresh- and saltwater primordial gods that existed before all else, have a mist-baby named Mummu. Two more gods form in the mix of salt and fresh water, notably not referred to as children of Apsu and Tiamat, nor as siblings to each other, but it seems implied. These two are Anshar (male) and Kishar (female). Anshar and Kishar have a child named Anu (god of the Heavens). Anu fathers Ea, who is super-wise and becomes god of the Earth. Eventually he will settle down and marry Damkina, but first he and the rest of his still-living ancestry make a lot of noise and royally piss off Tiamat.

Now-enraged Tiamat tells Apsu to get the offspring in line. Apsu says he prefers the nuclear option, kill ‘em all. Mummu is on board. Tiamat suggests they chill a bit. They do not chill. They choose violence, and they begin preparations to wage a battle.

The offspring gods caught wind of their impending demise and got ready. Clever Ea made a trap, put Apsu to sleep, chained him up, killed him until he was quite dead, imprisoned Mummu (because you don’t just go leaving witnesses, ok?), and Bob’s your uncle. Now for some victory nookie.

Ea and Damkina shack up and have a son named Marduk. Marduk is the wisest and strongest of the gods. Truly, a sight to behold. Ea made Marduk all-seeing and all-hearing, and then also made him bright as the sun.

Time goes on, the kids get rowdy again, Anu is kicking up a tempest and it angers the Old Timers. Kingu is especially perturbed. He calls out Tiamat for letting all of this happen. Tiamat finally sees it Kingu’s way and they get ready to rumble. Kingu is Tiamat’s head commander.

It’s important to point out here, I think, the fact that there still does not yet exist an Earth. Or anything. Except the gods and their drama, I mean. An endless void… and god-drama.

Ea finds out there is another fight coming. He freaks out a bit and asks Anshar for advice. Anshar tells him to be brave and strong and to kill Kingu just like he did Apsu. Ea is apparently super inspired because he sets out to give it the old college-try, realizes on the way that he’s gonna die if he tries to fight this, and promptly chickens out and runs home.

Anshar tells Anu to go next. Same deal, he’s super into the idea, gets scared, funs home. Good thing there’s another boy, right?

They tell Marduk he’s got to help them. He basically says “But… it’s only a girl lol” and then goes on to tell them he’ll do it, but they should recognize his most supreme excellence by making his very words govern the fates. The gods call a meeting and decide they will agree, but only if Marduk can do a magic trick first. Marduk makes a towel disappear - and then, reappear ! if you can believe it!

The gods must have known they were in serious trouble because at this point they agreed to Marduk’s terms. He is now the Supreme God of the Void. Huzzah!

Storm God Marduk outfits himself with awesome armor and weaponry. He raises seven winds and four beasts, and meets Tiamat in battle. (Kingu fled, scared) He defeats Tiamat. Half of Tiamat’s body becomes the Earth, the other half the heavens. They catch Kingu, murderize him, and use his blood to give life to all mankind.