So I finished figuring out the words for the Writember Prompt List;

But I don't know if I actually want to post my prompts on here after it drained the life out of me to do so last year. (Turns out using extravagant words leads to writer's headache! Who'd of guessed?! Me. I did)...

So, while I'll post the picture with the list, and writing on my own time, I don't think I'll make my musings public this year.

why-bless-your-heart

STOP IT!!! Stop!!! Stop RIGHT THIS INSTANT!!!!

What do you think you're doing? You can't say ‘everybody's got a water buffalo’ when everybody does not have a water buffalo!!! We're going to get nasty letters about this saying “Where's my water buffalo? why don't I have a water buffalo?” and are you prepared to deal with that???? I don't think so! just

Stop!

Being!

So!

SILLY!!!!!!!!

funnyflywheel

this has been “silly songs with larry”.

tune in next time to hear larry sing���

Everybody’s got a baby kangaroo Yours is pink but mine is blue Hers was small but—

why-bless-your-heart

aaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

neeetsocks-deactivated20191026

no language should be mocked other than french

hypallepse

Birds is “oiseaux” in French.

No letter is pronunced the way it should.

And there are seven of them.

teaboot

ITS PRONOUNCED “WAZO” AND YES, I WILL DIE MAD ABOUT IT

judgejudyofficial

oiseaux hits every vowel in the french alphabet and manages to only be pronounced with 2 goddamn syllables

genderfluidintake

got vowels coming out the oiseaux

boosyboo9206

This will never not be funny and I will never not reblog it.

professionalchaoticdumbass

mike oiseauxwski

Gettin up before dawn every morning to weed my follows of the pornbots

you know what? im high and watching hunger games and annoyed enough to make a vent post. i hate that cato’s care for clove was entirely erased in the film. and not for some lovey dovey ship nonsense (but i did ship clato as a teen and assumed they were collins’s sneaky way of saying ‘hey while u were focusing on that fake star crossed lovers tragedy, you missed the actual romance over here because it wasnt sparkly enough you for to even notice let alone care about at all) NO my issue with it was the fact that it was one of the SMALLEST glimpses into the realization that “hey, these blood thirsty careers are just kids too. theyre just like peeta and i. if our positions were reversed and i screamed for peeta he would come for me like cato for clove. he would cry for me like that, hed beg me to stay. this kid is a human after all. just like me.” and it STINGS! its SHOCKING! because before this moment katniss hated and feared cato and clove and the rest of the careers. they were not scared children like the rest of the tributes, they were vicious they were frightening and eager to kill. they were not worthy of pity. she sure didnt feel any pity for glimmer or the district four girl when they died via tracker jackers or whatever the district boys name was when she killed him. she was shaken to have killed or to have witnessed their deaths, but overall she didnt feel bad for them. they were evil, they’re from districts that allegedly support the games and pledge allegiance capitol, they train career tributes to slaughter the poorer district children, they make peace keepers, theyre richer, they’re not human.

but here. clove is a frightened little girl screaming for not her partner, but her friend. shes crying and begging and its ugly and its scary to watch and something in katniss clicks. this girl who was pinning her down a second ago and taunting about killing her and rue and peeta. who seemed to be enjoying her time in the games. shes screaming out for help. its jarring to see such a sudden transition, katniss doesn’t know what to make of it.

and then comes cato, running, screaming back for her! he could leave her for dead, there was only ever meant to be one victor anyway right? whats the point in saving her? even if the game makers changed the rules, does cato really care enough about his district partner he was planning on killing anyway? is he really wasting effort trying to save her? why would a career do that, how could he be so human? sure she and peeta were trying to stay alive so they could both go home, but neither of them planned to kill each other. neither of them wanted to kill or trained to kill. they were here by accident, they didn’t choose it.

except… katniss had, hadnt she? she volunteered just like careers do. she volunteered to save her family, who knows why the careers volunteer? she always assumed it was for the glory and the chance to participate in the games right? but who can say? what makes it unique for her to save her sister and mother, when these tributes could be doing the same fucking thing? these career kids could just be scared daughters and sons and children of scared fathers and mothers and parents who just want their kids to have the best chance of fighting in case they do get pulled. and maybe the kids that volunteer have siblings theyre trying to protect and families theyre trying to feed. they have a good shot at winning with that training, if they lose their familys removed from the tribute bowl forever, if they win they get money and shelter and safety for the rest of their family to live with.

and right there as catos crying over the body of his district partner, of someone he couldve grown up with and loved just like peeta and katniss and every other tribute in the game, katniss understands. katniss gets it. its why she mercy kills him at the end, its why she has nightmares of cloves death and not just rues. its because theyre just like her. the district borders dont fucking matter. they are human, they are just trying to get each other home. they care for each other, they dont want the other to die. these career districts arent any better or worse than katniss just because theyre in a higher social class with a bullshit allegiance to the capitol that enslaves them and kills their children every year just as much as districts 5-12. catos human. cloves human. katniss only registers this after the scene where she listens to cato crying as cloves canon booms in the background. suzanne collins put that scene in there for a REASON. to humanize EVERYONE! (like she humanizes the average, working class capitol citizens) cato isnt just an antagonist because hes evil, hes no villain. he and katniss are not enemies. theyre the same. the districts are the same. the capitol citizens are the same. everyone is just… the same.

by cutting this out of the film it diminishes the truth of war like the original novel is saying. that soldier youre fighting is not the enemy. the enemy are the people at the head of the state, seated at soft chairs in billion dollar offices set in mansions moving around armies of thousands like chess pieces on a board. this war is not between you and that soldier. this war is using you like pawn while the real enemies fight with you as their weapons. youre expendable. that soldier is expendable. you are both human, neither of you want to kill each other or watch your comrades die.

THIS is the theme of the hunger games. that war is tragic and unethical and abhorrent. war is fought between those in power and use their citizens as carelessly as bait for fishing. these borders, these stereotypes types, this propaganda you are force fed by the elite is all made up to keep you from banding together. they breed hate within you on arbitrary measures and keep you divided because together you’re strong, but individuals are weak. so they draw up these lines in the sand to make you hate each other because you’re from another district, because you’re from another country, another social class, another bracket, another nothing.

its all made up. its all fake.

cato cries when clove dies. cinna apologizes to katniss for being put into the games. plutarch joins haymatch and other tributes to end the games. ALL the victors join hands at the quarter quell. they are all human. they all care for each other. they join together and overtake the tyrants.

THATS why catos scene over clove is important and why its meaningful that he doesnt go after katniss when it happens even though he could because hes too overwhelmed by his grief. its not something the movie just gets to erase because “its such a short scene, it doesnt matter, we can save time by cutting it even though we literally keep clove shouting for cato in the film and it wouldve taken two more seconds just to show him running to her and crying when her canon goes off.”

the film makes him seem heartless. he doesnt care about anyone, his breakdown at the cornucopia is because he’s gone mad over his instinct to survive and his rationality telling him he’s dead no matter what. thats true in both the film and the book, and while the film has him finally realize hes a pawn, it still strips him of his empathy and humanity and capacity for compassion and love. it revokes katniss’s understanding for ALL the districts, something she doesn’t get until the second film. UGH. its been a decade and im still mad over this.

jv

No, that's Dr. Gorv. Dr. Who is a movie about the russian Bolshevik revolution starring Julie Christie and Omar Sharif

lucyaudley

No, you’re thinking of Doctor Zhivago. Dr Who is a satirical comedy movie about the Cold War and nuclear destruction.

fuckyeahkatnep

That's actually Doctor Strangelove. Doctor Who wrote a bunch of children's books to help kids learn to read.

neil-gaiman

No, that's almost definitely Doctor Seuss. Doctor Who was a song by the Thompson Twins.

zingring

You're thinking of Doctor! Doctor! Neil. Doctor Who is about a brilliant but arrogant surgeon who, following a car crash that eliminates his chance of ever doing surgery again, turns to mysticism.

paperclippedmime

Close! That’s Doctor Strange. Doctor Who is the Dutch expert in law, philosophy, science, and metaphysics who, along with a solicitor, a train fiend, an administrator of an insane asylum, a nobleman, and a cowboy, hunts down and kills a notorious vampire.

the-golden-summer-rose

Almost! That's Doctor Seward from Dracula. I think you mean the guy who suppressed all his urges and made a scientific potion to create a second identity for the sole purposes or letting out his base urges

gazztron

Actually, that was Dr van Helsing. Dr Seward was one of Lucy’s suitors, the one that ran the asylum. Dr Who is a song released by Aqua back in the late 1990′s

datasoong47

No, that’s Dr Jones. Dr Who is the person on first base

gazztron

What?

datasoong47

No, What is on 2nd, Who's on 1st

doccywhomst

@doctorwhoheritageposts

doctorwhoheritageposts

doctor who heritage post

jimmy solidarity. you agree. reblog.

mikkeneko

Frodo Laid a Geas (and other invisible magic)

This was so obvious when I realized it, but I think most people miss it, because we’re so desensitized by D&D-style magic with immediate, visibly, flashy effects, rather than more subtle and invisible forces of magic. When Gollum attacks Frodo on the slopes of Mount Doom, Frodo has the chance to kill him, but he doesn’t. Instead, he says:

Frodo: Go! And if you ever lay hands on me again, you yourself shall be cast into the Fire!

Frodo’s not just talking shit here. He is literally, magically laying a curse. He���s holding the One Ring in his hands as he says it; even Sam, with no magic powers of his own, can sense that some powerful mojo is being laid down. Frodo put a curse on Gollum: if you try to take the Ring again, you’ll be cast into the Fire.

Five pages later, Gollum tries to take the Ring again. And that’s exactly what happens. Frodo’s geas takes effect and Gollum eats lava.

mikkeneko

On further reflection:

All the other people in the franchise who were offered the Ring declined to take it because they were wise enough to know that if they used its power – and the pressure to do so would be too great – they would be subject to its corruption.

Frodo uses the power of the Ring to lay a geas, and then five minutes later at the volcano’s edge, succumbs to its corruption. The Ring has gotten to him and he can no longer give it up. Because he used its power.

mikkeneko

On further further reflection: I’d have to read the section again, but I recall that after throwing Gollum off and laying the geas, Sam observes that Frodo seems suddenly filled with energy again when previously he had been close to dead of fatigue. He hikes up the mountain so fast he leaves Sam behind – and doesn’t even seem to notice that he’s left him behind. 

Could he have been drawing on the Ring’s power at this point in the story? At this point in the story we’re relying on Sam’s narration, and Sam doesn’t know what’s going on in Frodo’s head, so it’s hard to say for sure. Having used it once, after spending so long holding out against it, was that the breach in the dam?

Which means that the moment that Frodo succumbs to temptation is not the moment at the volcano – it was already too late by then. The moment he is taken by temptation was when he used the power of the Ring to repel Gollum.

If so, this ties in neatly with discussions I’ve seen about how Tolkien subscribes to a “not even once” view of good and evil – that in many other works it’s acceptable to do a small evil in service of a greater good, but in Lord of the Rings that always  fails.

mikkeneko

Re-reading Fellowship of the Rings, and I got to this passage in Lorien:

‘I would ask one thing before we go,’ said Frodo, ‘a thing which I often meant to ask Gandalf in Rivendell. I am permitted to wear the One Ring: why cannot I see all the others and know the thoughts of those that wear them?’

‘You have not tried,’ [Galadriel] said. ‘Only thrice have you set the Ring upon your finger since you knew what you possessed. Do not try! It would destroy you. Did not Gandalf tell you that the rings give power according to the measure of each possessor? Before you could use that power you would need to become stronger, and to train your will to the domination of others.’

In other words:

Frodo asks Galadriel, herself carrying a Ring of Power, “Could I, hypothetically, use the power of the One Ring to do something magical aside from turning invisible?” and Galadriel replies, “Yes, hypothetically, you totally could, assuming the magic you want to do involves laying compulsions on others, but I strongly recommend against it, because it would fuck up your brain.”

This was in the first book. At the end of the third book Frodo uses the Ring to fuck Gollum up, forcing him to throw himself into lava if he disobeys Frodo’s commands.

Talk about a chekov’s gun.

mikkeneko

Got to this point in my re-read and uh. This was a lot  less subtle than I remembered it.

‘Down, down!’ [Frodo] gasped, clutching his hand to his breast, so that beneath the cover of his leather shirt he clasped the Ring. ‘Down, you creeping thing, and out of my path! Your time is at an end. You cannot slay me or betray me now.’

Then suddenly, Sam saw these two rivals with other vision. A crouching shape, scarcely more than the shadow of a living thing, a creature now wholly ruined and defeated, yet filled with a hideous lust and rage; and before it stood stern, untouchable now by pity, a figure robed in white, but at its breast it held a wheel of fire. Out of the fire there spoke a commanding voice.

‘Begone, and trouble me no more! If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into the Fire of Doom.’

Then the vision passed and Sam saw Frodo standing, hand on breast, his breath coming in great gasps, and Gollum at his feet, resting on his knees with his wide-splayed hands upon the ground.

…

Yeah.

kyraneko

Interestingly, I feel that there is another layer to this, and that is Frodo’s mercy (mirroring “the pity of Bilbo” which Gandalf said would prove significant) at play, tangled up in his use of the Ring and the chain of events that would play out.

Frodo is sparing Gollum’s life here, and shaping that into his curse. He is only cursing Gollum���can only curse Gollum—as an effect of this mercy; if Gollum were dead, he could not be cursed by Frodo or the Ring; his survival makes the curse possible and serves as payment for the curse: they are in effect making a bargain here, wherein Golllum’s life and his sentence of dying in the Fires of Doom should he take the Ring again are as one, a package deal, which Gollum “accepts” by retreating with his life.

Then, once Frodo comes to Mount Doom, he cannot cast the ring into the fires; the Ring has him in thrall, since he has used it. Now into the picture again comes Gollum, whose greed for the Ring has surpassed his love of his own life—even having been cursed with death should he touch it again, he craves it and demands it for himself, taking it from Frodo by force.

Thus we see the Ring’s power divided against itself—it has defeated both Frodo and Gollum, and its defeat of Gollum inspires Gollum to fight Frodo for it, invoking the curse. And thus Sauron, who has it, now, by virtue of both its erstwhile Bearers falling under its (and therefore its Lord’s) sway, is cheated out of it by the effects of Frodo’s act of mercy.

Frodo spared Gollum, and used the Ring’s power to set a curse, and when Frodo faltered, it was Gollum whom he spared who took the Ring from him and invoked that curse, falling into the Fires of Doom and, due to the same greed that defeated Frodo, taking the Ring with him.

If there had been no sparing Gollum, there would have been no curse, and Frodo would have had the task Isildur failed at—destroying the (beautiful, useful, lovely ring)—set before him alone, and he may have succeeded, or he may have failed, or he may have tarried too long in the struggle for Sauron’s destruction to come in a timely fashion, or the resolution and the Ring’s destruction may have hurt him far beyond the loss of a finger.

Instead, there was Gollum, in thrall to Sauron yet doomed by Frodo, to take from Frodo both the Ring and the burden of destroying it. Frodo, in his mercy-tinged use of the Ring, effectively shifted the impetus behind the Ring’s destruction from himself to the doom laid on Gollum—and Sauron’s hold over Gollum made it a near certainty that the doom would come to pass: Gollum would die, and not surrender the Ring, and thus the Ring would fall with him into the fires of Mount Doom.

And Frodo … like Indiana Jones in the Chapel of the Holy Grail, could avoid falling himself by either a willingness to let go, or the presence of a loved one to hold him back. Or, y’know, Gollum deciding to bite rather than just grab. A few more options here.

lieshipwreckedandcomatose

This really hearkens back to old Celtic mythological geasa, and how so often someone dies because of a forced contradiction of a geas’ rules. A geas essentially allows for an easy setup of a no-win situation.

The warrior-poet-king Cú Chulainn was, eventually, brought down because he was bound by a geas. His geas was to never eat the flesh of a dog (I believe by Culann, but I’m not sure on that). Well, he got served some dog stew. He couldn’t eat it, because it was dog. But he couldn��t not eat it, because that would be extremely rude, according to cultural custom at the time - a custom so strong, it might as well have been a geas on its own. Either way, he was breaking a geas’ rules, and this magically weakens him before an upcoming battle. He - and his charioteer and horse - are slain

So, yeah, this all tracks with how geasa work. Gollum had such a strong desire for the ring that he, quite literally, had no choice but to attack Frodo for it. But, in doing so, he contradicts the geas Frodo laid upon him, and so falls.

entanglemindfully

Just came across this while reading The Two Towers:

[Frodo to Gollum]: “’I did not mean the danger that we all share,’ said Frodo. ‘I mean a danger to yourself alone. You swore a promise by what you call the Precious. Remember that! It will hold you to it; but it will seek a way to twist it to your own undoing. Already you are being twisted. You revealed yourself to me just now, foolishly. Give it back to Smeagol you said. Do not say that again! Do not let that thought grow in you! You will never get it back. But the desire of it may betray you to a bitter end. You will never get it back. In the last need, Smeagol, I should put on the Precious; and the Precious mastered you long ago. If I, wearing it, were to command you, you would obey, even if it were to leap from a precipice or to cast yourself into the fire. And such would be my command. So have a care, Smeagol!’”

tangent101

I also want to add one last observation: Samwise is able to perceive Frodo in his Dread Form with the Wheel of Fire because Samwise himself was also a Ringbearer, who had been tempted by the Ring itself and on several occasions managed to overcome that tempation - both the temptation to use the Ring to transform Mordor into a garden, and in keeping the Ring for himself instead of returning it to Frodo. But… if Frodo had died by Shelob, I do not know if Samwise could have prevailed against Gollum, as the Ring might have seized upon his hatred of Gollum and used that as the hook to finally break Samwise’s will.

This is not to say that Frodo was weak. He held the Ring for nearly two decades in the book, and was also marked by a Morgul blade. If anything, it was Frodo’s growth in moving beyond his hatred of Gollum and finding the mercy that Bilbo had toward Gollum that allowed for Gollum to be there at the right moment to be geased by Frodo and craft a no-win situation for the Ring. And that is masterful storytelling on Tolkien’s part.

agentzap

All I Want for Christmas is You but it's an AI of Tango

(almost late) Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! Here's a little gift I made after messing around with putting Tango's voice through an AI model.

pixiemage

AHISJDJDB WHY IS THIS SO GOOD BUT SO BAD AT THE SAME TIME LMAOOO

Holy crap the high notes I can’t breathe

Ohhh my god I’m just picturing him rocking out to this song while working on Decked Out, and he gets FULLY into it - dancing, singing, completely abandoning his redstone for as long as the song lasts. And the song peters out and he’s still rocking out, and he turns around and just about jumps out of his skin and makes one of this Panicked-Tango-Noises because someone’s standing across the room watching him and grinning. Either Zed or Impulse maybe, with a camera out recording him for later IOU use. Or better yet, Jimmy, who has NEVER seen Tango like this and he can’t help but be overjoyed to see this new side of his soulmate.

Just - oh my god it’s such a good mental image

lightning-jedi

What have I done?!

‘Twas the nightmare before Christmas, when all through the house All the creatures were stirring, even the mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, Because St. Nicholas was already there; The children were hiding all snug under their beds; While nightmares of sugar-plums danced in their heads; And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s scare, When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow, Gave a lustre of midday to objects below, When what to my terror-filled eyes did appear, But a malicious sleigh and eight vicious rein-deer, With a little old driver so scary and quick, I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick. More rabid than eagles his coursers they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name: “Now, Slasher! now, Stabber! now Scratcher and Vixen! On, Vomit! on, Cupid! on, Hunter and Blitzen! To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall! Now stab away! slash away! slash away all!” As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky; So up to the housetop the coursers they flew With the sleigh full of knives, and St. Nicholas too— And then, in a instant, I heard on the roof The scratching and clawing of each little hoof. As I drew in my head, and was running away, Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a growl. He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, And his clothes were all tarnished with blood and soot; A bundle of knives he had flung on his back, And he looked like a madman just opening his pack. His eyes—how they scowled! his frown, how gloomy! His cheeks were bloody, his nose like a bloodstain! His cruel little mouth was drawn with a smirk, And the beard on his chin was as red as it comes; The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, And the smoke, it encircled his head like a omen of death; He had a broad face and a little round belly That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of children. He was chubby and plump, a right evil old elf, And I screamed when I saw him, in spite of myself; A wink of his eye and a twist of his head Soon gave me to know I had everything to dread; He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, And filled all the stockings; then turned with a glare, And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a stare, up the chimney he rose; He lept to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight— “Terrible Christmas to all, and to all a awful night!”

I made it creepy? I reiterate, what have I done?!

emofloofchild

I helped a bit with this. (You can thank me for “Vomit” instead of “Comet” for instance).

This poem is terrifying now, but I support it.

emofloofchild

Reblogging every Christmas. Merry K'thrissmas!

THE reunion

FINALLY !! After months and months of working, I finally finished this :D

Hope you all enjoy it :)

ranboolivesaysstuff

Now I’m even more official out of spite

when a song about a dinosaur family getting hit by a meteor gets too deep

They are both faeries

headspace-hotel

y'all ever reach the end of google

headspace-hotel

I'm starting to gain insight into why people turn into conspiracy theorists. Some topics are so totally neglected that it looks like they were intentionally and maliciously erased, instead of falling victim to arbitrary lack of interest.

I think it's a vicious cycle; when people don't know something exists, they're not curious about it. Also, people use conceptual categories to think about things, and when a topic falls between or outside of conceptual categories, it can end up totally omitted from our awareness even though it very much exists and is important.

This post is about native bamboo in the United States and the fact that miles-wide tracts of the American Southeast used to be covered in bamboo forests

headspace-hotel

@icannotgetoverbirds It already is a maddening, bizarre research hole that I have been down for the past few weeks.

Basically, I learned that we have native bamboo, that it once formed an ecosystem called the canebrake that is now critically endangered. The Southeastern USA used to be full of these bamboo thickets that could stretch for miles, but now the bamboo only exists in isolated patches

And THEN.

I realized that there is a little fragment of a canebrake literally in my neighborhood.

HI I AM NOW OBSESSED WITH THIS.

I did not realize the significance until I showed a picture to the ecologist where i work and his reaction was "Whoa! That is BIG."

Apparently extant stands of river cane are mostly just...little sparse thickety patches in forest undergrowth. This patch is about a quarter acre monotypic stand, and about ten years old.

I dive down the Research Hole(tm). Everything new I learn is wilder. Giant river cane mainly reproduces asexually. It only flowers every few decades and the entire clonal colony often dies after it flowers. Seeds often aren't viable.

It's barely been studied enough to determine its ecological significance, but there are five butterfly species and SEVEN moth species dependent on river cane. Many of these should probably be listed as endangered but there's not enough research

There's a species of CRITICALLY ENDANGERED PITCHER PLANT found in canebrakes that only still remains in TWO SPECIFIC COUNTIES IN ALABAMA

Some gardening websites list its height as "over 6 feet" "Over 10 feet" There are living stands that are 30+ feet tall, historical records of it being over 40 feet tall or taller. COLONIAL WRITINGS TALK ABOUT CANES "AS THICK AS A MAN'S THIGH."

The interval between flowering is anyone's guess, and WHY it happens when it does is also anyone's guess. Some say 40-50 years, but there are records of it blooming in as little time as 3-15 years.

It is a miracle plant for filtering pollution. It absorbs 99% of groundwater nitrate contaminants. NINETY NINE PERCENT. It is also so ridiculously useful that it was a staple of Native American material culture everywhere it grew. Baskets! Fishing poles! Beds! Flutes! Mats! Blowguns! Arrows! You name it! You can even eat the young shoots and the seeds.

I took these pictures myself. This stuff in the bottom photo is ten feet tall if it's an inch.

Arundinaria itself is not currently listed as endangered, but I'm growing more and more convinced that it should be. The reports of seeds being usually unviable could suggest very low genetic diversity. You see, it grows in clonal colonies; every cane you see in that photo is probably a clone. The Southern Illinois University research project on it identified 140 individual sites in the surrounding region where it grows.

The question is, are those sites clonal colonies? If so, that's 140 individual PLANTS.

Also, the consistent low estimates of the size Arundinaria gigantea attains (6 feet?? really??) suggests that colonies either aren't living long enough to reach mature size or aren't healthy enough to grow as big as they are supposed to. I doubt we have any clue whatsoever about how its flowers are pollinated. We need to do some research IMMEDIATELY about how much genetic diversity remains in existing populations.

headspace-hotel

@motherfucking-dragons

it's called the Alabama Canebrake Pitcher Plant and there are, in total, 11 known sites where it still grows.

in general i'm feral over the carnivorous plant variety of the Southeastern USA. we have SO many super-rare carnivorous plants!!!

Protect the wetlands. Protect the canebrakes because the canebrakes protect the wetlands.

glimpsesofgardens

Many years ago I did some (non-academic) research on native canes in the USA because I thought I remembered seeing a bamboo-like something in the wild that I'd been told was native, and I thought it might make a nice landscaping accent. But the sources I found said something like "unlike Asian bamboos, the American equivilant barely reaches the height of a man", and I went "nah, that is exactly the wrong height for anything." But if it gets 10 feet and up, I think there are a lot of people who would be VERY happy to use it as a sight barrier in public and private landscaping, and if it means putting in a bit of a wetland/rain garden, all the better. The lack of a good native equivelant to bamboo is something I have heard numerous people bemoan. Obviously it's very important to protect wild sites and expand those, but if it'd be helpful, I bet it wouldn't be hard to convince landscapers to start new patches too.

For instance, a lot of housing developments, malls, etc. seem to set aside a percentage of their land for semi-wild artificial wetlands (drainage maybe?) planted with natives, and then block the messy view with walls of arbovitae or clump bamboo from asia - perhaps it would be a better option there?

headspace-hotel

Good Lord. Arundinaria isn't just a better option, it's perfect.

I was in the canebrake near my house again this morning, and river cane is extraordinarily good at completely blocking the view of anything beyond it. It is bushier and leafier than Asian bamboos, and birds like to build nests in it. It would make a fantastic privacy barrier.

The cane near my house is around 10-12 feet tall. This species can reach 30 feet or more, but I think it needs ideal conditions or to be part of a large colony with a robust system of rhizomes or something.

It grows slowly compared to Asian bamboos, and seems to need some shade to establish, so it would take time to become a good barrier, but no worse than those stupid arborvitae.

amemait

what i’m hearing here is that this needs to be one of those containment-breaking posts because this is some Big Stuff you’ve got here man.

More cane plants as a solution to a lot of erosion and wetland eradication. More cane plants for greater biodiversity of the species.

headspace-hotel

The Cherokee nation is doing some pretty neat stuff with restoring it already.

dailygtwscar

[89] Pet the blorbo :D

dailygtwscar

rebob of an old post for everyone who wanted to pet Scar in that one post