We have at least one dramatic ancient story that illustrates the danger of hooking your house up to a public sewer in the first or second century AD. The author Aelian tells us about a wealthy Iberian merchant in the city of Puteoli; every night a giant octopus swam into the sewer from the sea and proceeded up through the house drain in the toilet to eat all the pickled fish stored in his well-stocked pantry.

“What toilets and sewers tell us about ancient Roman sanitation” (via rangi42)

But why didn’t they adopt him?

(via patron-saint-of-smart-asses)

foryourhealth:

gremlint:

the cursed child plot is the worst thing ive read in my entire life please read it i’m losing my mind

cant believe my fanfic is finally accepted as canon

raptorific:

If I didn’t remember actually reading this in an actual Calvin and Hobbes book as a child I’d think it was ironically photoshopped like those comics where Mickey Mouse and Goofy talk about how reality is an illusion but this comic strip was actually just……. already………… like that……………

The craft they were approaching was a Special Forces TIE fighter. Poe couldn’t help it–he rake the ship with his eyes. If one discounted its origins, its dark angles took on a deadly beauty… The entry hatch was open. Open and inviting.

dude do you want to fuck the TIE fighter or what? an actual novel quote (via sathinfection)

oh my god. poe dameron wants to fuck the TIE fighter.

(via dog-of-ulthar)

theblacknessdyer:

prokopetz:

The way that terrible dudes have ruined the phrase Devil’s advocate really irks me, because the origin of the phrase is amazing.

Back in the day, when someone was up for potential sainthood, the Catholic Church would put the stiff on trial.

Each side of the case would be assigned to an actual, accredited lawyer (who was, of course, also a priest, so it’s sort of a priest/lawyer multiclass deal).

One of them would take up the role of God’s advocate, and argue in favour of the candidate’s canonisation.

The other would take up the role of the Devil’s advocate, and argue that the candidate was just a regular asshole and didn’t deserve it.

So in its original sense, the term isn’t at all metaphorical. The Devil’s advocate is literally the Devil’s representative in a court of law.

Which is a. awesome, and b. all kinds of messed up, if you think about it from the perspective of the priest who gets stuck with the job. You’ve devoted years of your life to becoming a priest and an expert in Church law? Good job – here’s your first case. Your client is the actual Devil.

I started going down the Wikipedia rabbit-hole on this one and was introduced to the actual court case United States ex rel. Gerald Mayo v. Satan and His Staff, and I just:

Mayo alleged that “Satan has on numerous occasions caused plaintiff misery and unwarranted threats, against the will of plaintiff, that Satan has placed deliberate obstacles in his path and has caused plaintiff’s downfall” and had therefore “deprived him of his constitutional rights”. This is prohibited under several sections of the United States Code.

The judge considers this very logically, cites “The Devil and Daniel Webster” due to a lack of legal precedent, wonders whether Satan might be considered a foreign prince, but eventually decides…

Ultimately, though, the Court refused the request to proceed in forma pauperis because the plaintiff had not included instructions for how the U.S. Marshal could serve process on Satan.

shoukakukai-nii:

japanlove:

Source : Located in Tokyo, the Macho Nikuya (“nikuya” can mean “butcher” or “meat shop”) is staffed by musclebound men who are prone to flex poses while serving up raw beef.

Is that dude holding a chopstick with his pecs? That’s some high tip talent there boiz

swarnpert:

did-you-kno:

In an experiment, two ravens had to simultaneously pull the two ends of one rope to slide a platform with two pieces of cheese into reach. If only one of them pulled, the rope would slip through the loops, leaving them with no cheese. Without any training they solved the task and cooperated successfully.

However, when one of the two birds cheated and stole the reward of its companion, the victims of such cheats immediately noticed and started defecting in further trials with the same individual.

“Such a sophisticated way of keeping your partner in check has previously only been shown in humans and chimpanzees, and is a complete novelty among birds.”

Source

ravens have achieved full communism

thesteffie:

magnusgear:

blogontheweb:

emes:

i googled “what does lifetime supply mean” and ended up on this Reddit of people who have had to live with the aftermath of winning very large quantities of consumer goods

i’m reading this whole thread and i’m having a great time

Read the whole thread, it’s amazing

pilferingapples:

bobcatmoran:

aporeticelenchus:

I- I genuinely don’t even know what to do with this information

(From Les Miserables: Conversion, Revolution, Redemption)

#’NOW BRING ME PRISONER DATE-HIS-PARENTS-HAD-SEX’#’WE’VE DONE THE MATH AND FOUND YOU CAME NEXT’#’YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS’#’Yes I was conceived’ (tags via aporeticelenchus)

My favorite thing about this is that Hugo almost certainly made it up

This is just Victor Hugo’s headcanon ABOUT VICTOR HUGO.

ok oh jesus gather round:

gurosebe:

billboardbaggins:

so my best friend friendlyfern made me a profile picture today and i posted it with a little innocent weeb comment

and uh well i forgot my grandma cares way too much about what’s going on in my life so a few hours later…

aND THEN I SAW THIS

mY GRANDMA HAS A WAIFU THIS IS WHAT U FUCKING WEEABOOS HAVE DONE TO THIS COUNTRY

your grandma has good taste