mars

maxhaskins
Mars (aka the Red Planet) is a planet in the solar system colored red by Iron Oxide, and is home to the largest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons, as well as one of the largest canyons in the solar system, Valles Marineris. Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos.

ancient egypt

trustycoffeemug
where to begin? egyptian history spans over 5000 years. egypt was ancient long before the single day on which rome was built.

to be as brief as is feasible, the upper and lower portions of egypt first became unified sometime between 3200 and 3000 BC, possibly by somebody named Narmer or Menes, who thus became the founder of the first dynasty of pharaohs. narmer's dynasty dicks around for a bit, leave behind a few prototype tombs in the village of saqqara, and is replaced by a second dynasty. that dynasty does more dicking around and is replaced again. this more or less sets the tone for the rest of egyptian history.

old kingdom egypt (3rd-6th dynasties); the big pointy pyramids you're thinking of come from the fourth dynasty
* an intermediate period (7th-11th dynasties)
middle kingdom egypt (11th-13th dynasties); the book of the dead, that famous egyptian book you've heard of, only shows up in rough draft form around this period
* another intermediate period (13th-17th dynasties)
new kingdom egypt (18th-20th dynasties); tutankhamun, the one pharaoh everyone has heard of, was the second-to-last pharaoh of the 18th dynasty
* sure, why not another intermediate period (21st-25th dynasties), followed by some twilight years (the late period extending to the 31st dynasty), during which egypt got conquered by persians


By this point it's already the 330s BC, and greece (led by alexander the great) took over egypt and left it in control of some doofus named ptolemy. not too long after that, it was conquered again by the romans, by which time we've only just arrived at caesar boinking cleopatra.

five deadly venoms

trustycoffeemug
a reasonably famous piece of hong kong cinema released in 1978, when the martial arts craze was still going relatively strong. the domestic popularity of the film was such that the central cast was propelled to significant local fame

the plot runs as such: the aged master of the poison clan once had five students, each trained to fight like a different kind of venomous animal: the quick-handed centipede, the flexible snake, the stingy scorpion, the really-good-at-climbing-walls lizard, and the, um, *indestructible* toad. however, this aged master is now on death's doorstoop, and he is haunted by a dream that one or more of these students have used his teachings for evil. he calls on his newest, youngest, sixth student to go to the nearby village and investigate to see which, if any, of the five are guilty, which is complicated by the fact that all the students wore masks and their identities are secret.

in case you're curious (but not curious enough to actually watch the movie): scorpion is evil, centipede is a willing accomplice, snake is an unwilling accomplice, toad is murdered and lizard is a hero who teams up with the main character.

election

trustycoffeemug
a means of selecting political leaders in which candidates perform for the amusement of the citizenry and attempt to suppress their objectionable characteristics, in exchange for which eligible citizens award them points in the form of little slips of paper with the candidates' names written on them. the points are then tallied to determine the winner and everyone goes home unhappy

elections are generally seen as mercifully less exciting than the previous system of violent uprisings and revolutions

obsessed

the devils dictionary
Vexed by an evil spirit, like the Gadarene swine and other critics. Obsession was once more common than it is now. Arasthus tells of a peasant who was occupied by a different devil for every day in the week, and on Sundays by two. They were frequently seen, always walking in his shadow, when he had one, but were finally driven away by the village notary, a holy man; but they took the peasant with them, for he vanished utterly. A devil thrown out of a woman by the Archbishop of Rheims ran through the streets, pursued by a hundred persons, until the open country was reached, where by a leap higher than a church spire he escaped into a bird. A chaplain in Cromwell's army exorcised a soldier's obsessing devil by throwing the soldier into the water, when the devil came to the surface. The soldier, unfortunately, did not.

weather

the devils dictionary
The climate of an hour. A permanent topic of conversation among persons whom it does not interest, but who have inherited the tendency to chatter about it from naked arboreal ancestors whom it keenly concerned. The setting up of official weather bureaus and their maintenance in mendacity prove that even governments are accessible to suasion by the rude forefathers of the jungle.

Once I dipt into the future far as human eye could see,
And I saw the Chief Forecaster, dead as any one can be —
Dead and damned and shut in Hades as a liar from his birth,
With a record of unreason seldom paralleled on earth.
While I looked he reared him solemnly, that incandescent youth,
From the coals that he'd preferred to the advantages of truth.
He cast his eyes about him and above him; then he wrote
On a slab of thin asbestos what I venture here to quote —
For I read it in the rose-light of the everlasting glow:
"Cloudy; variable winds, with local showers; cooler; snow."
—Halcyon Jones

(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

list of hobbies

lister
general hobbies

3D printing
Acroyoga
Acting
Aerial silk
Airbrushing
Amateur radio
Animation
Aquascaping
Art
Astrology
Babysitting
Baking
Basketball
Baton twirling
Beatboxing
Beer tasting
Binge-watching
Blogging
Board/tabletop games
Book discussion clubs
Book restoration
Bowling
Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Breadmaking
Bullet journaling
Calligraphy
Candle making
Candy making
Car fixing & building
Card games
Cardistry
Ceramics
Chatting
Cheesemaking
Chess
Cleaning
Clothesmaking
Coffee roasting
Collecting
Coloring
Communication
Community activism
Computer programming
Confectionery
Conlanging
Construction
Cooking
Cosplaying
Couch surfing
Couponing
Craft
Creative writing
Crocheting
Cross-stitch
Crossword puzzles
Cryptography
Cue sports
Dance
Decorating
Digital arts
Dining
Diorama
Distro Hopping
Diving
Djembe
DJing
Do it yourself
Drama
Drawing
Drink mixing
Electronic games
Electronics
Embroidery
Engraving
Entertaining
Experimenting
Fantasy sports
Fashion
Fashion design
Feng shui decorating
Filmmaking
Fingerpainting
Fishfarming
Fishkeeping
Flower arranging
Fly tying
Foreign language learning
Furniture building
Gaming
Genealogy
Gingerbread house making
Giving advice
Glassblowing
Gardening
Gongfu tea
Graphic design
Gunsmithing
Gymnastics
Hacking
Hardware
Herp keeping
Home improvement
Homebrewing
Houseplant care
Hula hooping
Humor
Hydroponics
Ice skating
Inventing
Jewelry making
Jigsaw puzzles
Journaling
Juggling
Karaoke
Karate
Kendama
Knife making
Knitting
Knot tying
Kombucha brewing
Kung fu
Lace making
Lapidary
Leather crafting
Lego building
Livestreaming
Listening to music
Listening to podcasts
Lock picking
Machining
Macrame
Magic
Makeup
Manga
Massaging
Mazes
Mechanics
Meditation
Memory training
Metalworking
Miniature art
Minimalism
Model building
Model engineering
Music
Nail art
Needlepoint
Origami
Painting
Palmistry
Pen Spinning
Performance
Pet
Pet adoption & fostering
Pet sitting
Philately
Photography
Pilates
Planning
Plastic art
Playing musical instruments
Poetry
Poi
Pole dancing
Postcrossing
Pottery
Powerlifting
Practical jokes
Pressed flower craft
Proofreading and editing
Proverbs
Public speaking
Puppetry
Puzzles
Pyrography
Quilling
Quilting
Quizzes
Radio-controlled model playing
Rail transport modeling
Rapping
Reading
Recipe creation
Refinishing
Reiki
Reviewing Gadgets
Robot combat
Rubik's Cube
Scrapbooking
Scuba Diving
Sculpting
Sewing
Shoemaking
Singing
Sketching
Skipping rope
Slot car
Soapmaking
Social media
Spreadsheets
Sleeping
Stamp collecting
Stand-up comedy
Storytelling
Stripping
Sudoku
Table tennis playing
Talking
Tapestry
Tarot
Tatebanko
Tattooing
Taxidermy
Telling jokes
Thrifting
Upcycling
Video editing
Video game developing
Video gaming
Video making
VR Gaming
Wargaming
Watch making
Watching documentaries
Watching movies
Watching television
Wax sealing
Waxing
Weaving
Webtooning
Weight training
Welding
Whisky
Whittling
Wikipedia editing
Wine tasting
Winemaking
Witchcraft
Wood carving
Woodworking
Word searches
Worldbuilding
Writing
Writing music
Yo-yoing
Yoga
Zumba


Outdoors and Sports

Air sports
Airsoft
Amateur geology
Amusement park visiting
Archery
Auto detailing
Automobilism
Astronomy
Backpacking
Badminton
BASE jumping
Baseball
Basketball
Beachcombing
Beekeeping
Birdwatching
Blacksmithing
BMX
Board sports
Bodybuilding
Bonsai
Butterfly watching
Bus riding
Camping
Canoeing
Canyoning
Car riding
Car tuning
Caving
City trip
Climbing
Composting
Croquet
Cycling
Dandyism
Dog training
Dog walking
Dowsing
Driving
Farming
Fishing
Flag football
Flower growing
Flying
Flying disc
Flying model planes
Foraging
Fossicking
Freestyle football
Fruit picking
Gardening
Geocaching
Ghost hunting


Collection hobbies


Educational hobbies


Competitive hobbies


Observation hobbies






to be continued

sign-up or face the consequences!


“"observers" must obey the call.”
join

sign up