Tarume - Untitled

Miniature Stained Glass Doors // Glassy Leaf

Natsu preaches his love for his friends, and he’ll die protecting them, no questions asked. Except I think he holds grudges. Never allowed to express them, because he’s always expected to love his friends. But sometimes he sits across Lucy’s table and breaks the silence of them eating, by saying something along the lines of “I didn’t like it when Erza punched me in the face today. I seriously didn’t mean to ruin her cake, it was an honest accident. She didn’t even apologise, even though I did.” And Lucy won’t say anything, because she knows he doesn’t want an answer - he just needed to air his frustration out. “Happy gave me the silent treatment, but I don’t think I deserved it. He always butts into our conversations, but I can’t say hi when he’s talking with Carla. He has double standards and I can’t help but feel annoyed.”

Lucy once tried to get him to tell his friends about the troubles he was having - that he didn’t care for being punched or being treated like nothing when he was doing all he could for everyone, but Natsu just told her that having someone to talk to about it was enough. Except Lucy couldn’t help but wonder if she ever made him feel that way - defeated, overlooked. So she asked him. He only said that his wishes regarding her hadn’t been because she upset him - it was him being possessive. Wanting her to stay in bed for longer, wanting her to spend more time with him rather than her books - all things he’d also be sad if she did, because he knew she loved reading and writing, and he loved the coffee she made every morning for the two of them.

Yes, Lucy was the one person who Natsu could never hold any grudges against. She who had offered so much to be with him - how could he be anything but grateful

It's sad, because the most down to earth people tend to be outdoorsmen. Hunters, fishers, campers, hikers, ect. All have a good relationship with nature and respect for maintaining it while thinking "climate change" is a bunch of hoopla. Everyone has a critique for the forest service and the braindead politicians making environmental decisions they don't understand, but it's not a political movement. Maybe it should be.

I don't like the stupid boomer insult, but everything else is spot on. Honestly, real environmentalism--things like conservation, supporting zoos, and limiting pollution--is something the right has a really big opportunity to be leaders on. Every aspect of environmentalism is infected by the climate cult. I've talked about it before, but you can't donate to any environmental cause without there being a good possibility that your money is going to go towards lobbying politicians to ban air conditioning or instituting a gas tax. Even things like zoos are infected. Every zoo I've been to in the last 5 years has listed climate change as one of the biggest--if not the biggest--reasons why species or their habitats are endangered. Every single natural disaster is blamed on climate change.

And all of this is possible only because the right ceded the entire environmental protection movement not just to the left, but to the craziest of the crazies. People who attack whaling boats and put spikes in trees to loggers get maimed when their chainsaws strike them. The environmental terrorists are the face of environmentalism. But at least in the past the slightly less crazy ones would publicly distance themselves from the ones actually committing terrorism, even if their efforts were lukewarm. These days, the World Is In Crisis! It's the Climate Emergency! The future of humanity and the planet are literally at stake, so nothing is too extreme in the face of extinction.

We really need some right wing environmental groups. Groups that recognize the need to preserve and cherish our land and wildlife, but who also understand economic and developmental reality, along with energy needs. Groups that will actually do things like fighting beach erosion or repopulating species or rebuilding habitats that were destroyed in natural disasters, not shutting down pipelines because oil makes them mad, or seizing people's private property because there's a puddle that's just big enough to qualify as a regulated body of water on their land. I know it's a fever dream at this point, but I really do think the environmental left has gotten so crazy and so insufferable that there's a real chance to move in and make those issues our own.

If you're asking then you should take it. The optimal amount of pain is none. And you should have an ice cream cone too. Meds for the body and sugar for the heart.

to take ibuprofen or not to take ibuprofen, that is the question

*screams incoherently*

Good News Network

Scientists Grow Tree from 1,000-year-old Seed Found in Cave–May Be Lost Medicinal Plant in the Bible

Dr. Sallon and her team thought it was an extinct species known from history as Judean Balsam, but it turned out to be something called Tsor

"During an archaeological dig in a desert area north of Jerusalem 40 years ago, a seed was discovered which was determined to be in pristine condition but had obviously seen many a year.

Now, despite falling from its parent 1,000 years ago, it has grown into a mature tree, and botanists examining it believe it may be an extinct species that was used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years—even receiving a nod in the Bible.

Neither Israeli botanists, nor Dr. Sarah Sallon, a physician who founded the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem, could determine what species it was from simply from the seed covering. So they did what nature intended—they planted it.

Using a well-documented technique that saw 2,000-year-old date palm fruit pits germinate, Dr. Sallon soaked the seed in hormones, liquid fertilizer, and water, and then planted it in a pot of sterile seed; then waited.

Despite its genetic code being exposed to environmental stressors for over 1,000 years, the seed sprouted after 5 weeks. The shoot was protected by a caplike feature called an operculum. As the shoot grew, the operculum was shed—leaving something for the team to radiocarbon date. It narrowed down the age of the almost 10-centuries-old seed to between the years 993 an 1202.

Fast forward 14 years and the plant has become a 10-foot-tall tree. Dr. Sallon shared images of the tree, its bark, and its leaves with botanists around the world. One expert suggested it belonged to the genus Commiphora, found across the Arabian Peninsula and parts of Africa. A genetic analysis subsequently revealed this was the case, but a perfect match was lacking.

Pictured: The tree, now 14 years old.

Dr. Sallon and her team thought it was an extinct species known from history as Judean Balsam, but the best way to confirm that suspicion would be to have some aromatic traces similar to the resins of the myrrh tree to which it is related. However, no such fragrant compounds were detected.

Instead, the chemical analysis of the leaves identified a group of phytochemicals known as guggulterols which have been observed in a related species called Commiphora wightii that’s known to possess certain cancer-fighting properties in its resin.

A medicinal balm, the origin of which is not known, is mentioned in multiple historical texts including the Bible as ‘tsori,’ and rather than the fragrant Judean Balsam, it’s this tsori that Dr. Sallon and her team believe they have found.

They must wait until the tree, now 14 years old, produces flower or fruit to know for sure if it’s an extinct species, and if so, how to perhaps keep it alive.

Dr. Louise Colville, senior research leader in seed and stress biology at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London who wasn’t involved in the research, told CNN that it was a major accomplishment to grow a seed that old and possibly lead to a resurrection of this Biblical botanical.

“What’s surprising in this story is it was just a single seed and to be able to have one chance for that to germinate is extremely lucky,” she said.

“Working in a seed bank, seeing the potential for that extreme longevity gives us hope that banking and storing seeds that some at least will survive for very long periods of time.”"

-via Good News Network, October 8, 2024

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Note: This is such a good demonstration of why seed banks are so important!! They give us such real and massive hope for deextinction and the revival of endangered species.

"i love you" should be platonic by default and if you want to use the phrase romantically, that's on you to clarify

don’t ever put ideas in my head or I will draw and ruin them… i wonder why anyone would wanna talk to me