i think it’s a sign of how (thankfully) far removed we are from that kind of violence that achilles’ dragging of hector’s corpse is so often framed mostly as an act of extreme disrespect, or only some brutal show of triumph. personally i think that’s underselling both achilles’ intention and what the trojans must be thinking as they watch it happen.
hector’s corpse is divinely protected so it can’t be damaged by the greeks after death; all that effectively happens in the iliad is that his body gets dirty. but under normal circumstances (and i’m not gonna impose realism on mythology, but the iliad is famously detailed when it comes to bodily trauma), the physical reality of dragging a corpse along stony ground for miles would be severe disfigurement and dismemberment. first the skin would wear off, then soft tissues, then extremities would start to detach. i think the iliad’s original audience would be aware of that as an intended outcome.
achilles (who doesn’t yet know that hector’s body has been granted divine stasis) doesn’t just want to parade his enemy’s corpse, he wants to tear it apart (“i only wish that this fury inside my heart would drive me to carve you to pieces and eat your flesh raw…”), he wants it to not resemble a human anymore. he wants hector’s blood and flesh to circle the city of troy. he wants to make it impossible for hector’s family to gather the pieces of him to cremate and that way hector’s spirit won’t find passage into the underworld. that’s what the gods are preventing from happening, they’re not just keeping the corpse pretty for priam to pick up later.
man it sucks so many people on here have absolutely convinced themselves that entire categories of consumer goods like perfume are bougie. you are depriving yourself of little treats by just assuming you cant ever afford anything! this isnt an avocado toast post either im not saying ‘just save up and buy it lol’, i would never say that, what im saying is perfume (that is: scents in liquid, paste, oil or solid form intended to be worn as a personal adornment) as a commodity starts at “free” and gradually increases in price from there. my favorite perfumes are priced everywhere between $0 and $300. one of the most lauded amber scents in the world (regrettably JUST discontinued), “Amber Paste” by Kuumba Made, is one of those little hippie oils you get at Whole Foods and it cost $10.
and im not telling you to wear perfume, obviously people have allergies and shit, or just dont care for it, im talking to the people who WANT to own fragrances. im saying they aren’t all going to cost $150.
you can also get unlimited (unlimited over a long enough timeline, they limit you to a couple or three per visit) free samples at a lot of sephoras and nordstroms if you live somewhere that has those stores (this depends on the location and a lot of other organic factors, you’ll have to check ahead of time or just try it if you’re nearby, it’s sort of random). if you’re actually buying something at sephora (and they have a lot of stuff that isn’t a million dollars as well, despite their branding) ask for every free sample at checkout that they have. they will often load you up, and not just with perfume. secondhand outlets like Value Village and Goodwill also do huge business in perfume because people are ALWAYS donating it.
sephora also does perfume refills. if you actually do buy a full size bottle, they can refill it for much less than buying a whole new bottle of the stuff. i don’t know exactly how much it costs because i havent used this service myself. and idk how careful yiou have to be about reeceipts either, but look into it if you bought a full size and its running out
idk it just bums me out there are all these people who actually want perfume and seem to think it’s out of their price range. the really basement-tier dupes of popular brand scents are so good these days it’s often worth dropping the $10 at Walmart or Rite Aid too.
some of my favorite ever perfumes were some weird crap i got in a crystal wizard store, or a drug store, or a goodwill, or whatever. if you want perfume you can get it
Sorry to hijack this post, but I’ve frequently encountered similar attitudes when it comes to attending the opera or a live classical music performance. Ask any regular opera patron and they’ll tell you that opera companies desperately need young people to come out to performances, that they can’t keep solely relying on the financial support of a rapidly shrinking circle of upper class patrons. I’ll hear “oh but it’s so bougie going to the opera”, no it’s not, there’s a reason why “Va, pensiero” from Verdi’s Nabucco became an anthem for the Italian revolutionaries during the Risorgimento. “Opera only caters to elite tastes, besides I don’t know Italian/French/German/Russian etc.” I guarantee that it doesn’t, and most modern opera houses use some kind of subtitle technology in their performance. “Attending the opera or symphony is too expensive.” If you’re under 30 or a student I guarantee that you can get absurdly cheap tickets. The Canadian Opera Company here in Toronto used to (they still might, I don’t know) offer $25 tickets to under-30s, $35 if you wanted the best available seats the day of, which is how I wound up with seats that would’ve cost me hundreds of dollars otherwise on more than one occasion. Just go, please, it’s always a wonderful experience.
Folks need to read more Emma Goldman:
“I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody’s right to beautiful, radiant things.’ Anarchism meant that to me, and I would live it in spite of the whole world — prisons, persecution, everything. Yes, even in spite of the condemnation of my own closest comrades I would live my beautiful ideal.”
Don’t fall into this trap of thinking pleasure and beauty are bourgeois. The whole fucking point of reforming the world is so we can all have pleasure and beauty and leisure time to cultivate them. You’re not a martyr to the cause by denying yourself pleasure. You’re just miserable, and your misery only serves the upper class, not the people you should be fighting alongside.
The Hollywood Bowl offers tickets for as low as a dollar for classical and jazz performances. I used to go with my parents ten times a summer because thursday shows were $5 for the cheap seats, and you can show up early with a picnic packed for dinner. People tend to think that the classical events are expensive and exclusive, but you have no idea how many times I listened to Mozart sitting on a bench with a chicken sandwich in my hand because it was cheaper to go see the LA Phil conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Bowl than it was to go to the movies.
The French rape trial that shocked the world and sparked widespread calls for justice for women rape victims ended on Thursday with the conviction of 51 men for raping and attempting to rape Gisele Pelicot, including her husband, who drugged and arranged the abuse for years.
Dominique Pelicot, her husband, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while the other 50 men were sentenced to between three and 15 years. Two were found guilty of attempted rape and two of sexual assault, while the rest were found guilty of rape.
A crowd of demonstrators burst into applause and cheers outside the courtroom in Avignon, southern France, as the verdict was read aloud. For months, protesters swarmed the outside of the courtroom, cheering in support of Gisele Pelicot and the feminist motto her case sparked – “shame must change sides.”
“I am thinking about the unrecognized victims whose stories often remain in the shadows, I want you to know that we share the same battle,” she said in a statement after the verdict.
“Engineers at the University of Pennsylvania have made a critical breakthrough that promises better outcomes for pregnancies threatened with pre-eclampsia, a condition that arises due to insufficient blood flow to the placenta, resulting in high maternal blood pressure and restricted blood flow to the fetus.
Pre-eclampsia is one of the leading causes of stillbirths and prematurity worldwide, and it occurs in 3 to 5% of pregnancies. Without a cure, options for these patients only treat symptoms, such as taking blood pressure medication, being on bed rest, or delivering prematurely—regardless of the viability of their baby.
Making a decision to treat pre-eclampsia in any manner can be a moral conundrum, to balance many personal health decisions with long-standing impacts—and for Kelsey Swingle, a doctoral student in the UPenn bioengineering lab, these options are not enough.
In previous research, she conducted a successful proof-of-concept study that examined a library of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs)—which are the delivery molecules that helped get the mRNA of the COVID vaccine into cells—and their ability to reach the placenta in pregnant mice.
In her latest study, published in Nature, Swingle examined 98 different LNPs and their ability to get to the placenta and decrease high blood pressure and increase vasodilation in pre-eclamptic pregnant mice.
Her work shows that the best LNP for the job was one that resulted in more than 100-fold greater mRNA delivery to the placenta in pregnant mice than an FDA-approved LNP formulation.
The drug worked.
“Our LNP was able to deliver an mRNA therapeutic that reduced maternal blood pressure through the end of gestation and improved fetal health and blood circulation in the placenta,”says Swingle.
“Additionally, at birth we saw an increase in litter weight of the pups, which indicates a healthy mom and healthy babies. I am very excited about this work and its current stage because it could offer a real treatment for pre-eclampsia in human patients in the very near future.”
While further developing this cure for pre-eclampsia and getting it to the market for human use is on the horizon for the research team, Swingle had to start from scratch to make this work possible. She first had to lay the groundwork to run experiments using pregnant mice and determine how to induce pre-eclampsia in this animal model, processes that are not as well studied.
But, by laying this groundwork, Swingle’s work has not only identified an avenue for curing pre-eclampsia, it also opens doors for research on LNP-mRNA therapeutics addressing other reproductive health challenges...
As Swingle thinks ahead for next steps in her research, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, she will also collaborate to further optimize the LNP to deliver the mRNA even more efficiently, as well as understanding the mechanisms of how it gets to the placenta, a question still not fully answered.
They are already in talks about creating a spin-off company and want to work on bringing this LNP-mRNA therapeutic to clinical trials and the market.
Swingle, who is currently finishing up her Ph.D. research, has not only successfully led this new series of studies advancing pre-eclampsia treatment at Penn, she has also inspired other early career researchers in the field as she continues to thrive while bringing women’s health into the spotlight.”
one of the funniest items I own is this one-inch extension cord
Can you confirm if the two plugs face the wall when the third is plugged in?
I’m delighted to tell you it’s worse than that, this item is badly constructed enough that you can swivel the cord around 360° in the plug like an owl’s neck
wait I forgot the funniest part. I literally don’t know if I bought this, found it when I moved into my house, or made it myself. like, I’ve wired up my own more normal extension cords before. take off a 1-metre cord and put on a 2-metre one, etc. am I responsible for this monstrosity? the month it appeared is in the middle of my Trauma Induced Memory Hole so we will unfortunately never find out
amhrancas 