With the #US elections drama behind us we can again focus on the important questions:

If the powers that be require us all to have a tame animal buddy / side-kick from the following list, which will you pick and why?

#animals

I just learned of https://welcometomygarden.org and added our woodland shelter to it as it appears to be much more friendly than Warmshowers. Curious if anyone has experience with Welcome To My Garden?

#WTMG #slowtravel #hiking #cycling

At this point I looked at dog. Dog had its tail between their legs and stood very close to me. Not a common thing.

Also at this point I thought "oh fuck wolf" (and also "oh cool wolf!") and went down a mental list to discard every other animal it could be. It could only been a wolf (or a really big dog, but considering there's been many wolf sightings here and no wild dog ones that wasn't likely).

The moon breaking through the clouds solved it. I could see a vague but clear outline.

/4

Dog and I were at an entrance to our woodland (see photo). As I looked to step over the chain two eyes reflected the light of my headlamp even though the main beam wasn't enough to illuminate the area surrounding it.

My first thought was a couple of deer (we have a LOT of those, for now) but it felt a bit off. As I turned the headlamp to max I also shouted "hey deer!", which is always enough to get them to run.

Instead the eyes appeared to move a little bit towards me.

/3

First of all: I like that we have wolves in Denmark. Today I realized that while I don't have an urge to again see them in person.

One of my favorite things is walking out late at night, or at least when it's dark. The world is a bit quieter, the stars or moonlit clouds are out. It's tranquil. And as it goes dog and I were out enjoying the rhythm of the night.

As clouds covered the moon, and fog was coming in, my headlamp didn't illuminate beyond the immediate.

/2

So. For a great many years I've wondered what it would be like to encounter a wolf while walking in the woods at night.

Now I know. It's genuinely unnerving in a manner I have never felt before while out in nature. Frankly. It was intimidating as hell.

Dog and I had an encounter with -I think- a single wolf a couple hundred meters from home.

Thread to jot down my thoughts / the events ->

To answer the obvious question: Yes I would indeed send physical mail more often if the entire delivery proces was performed by a 40yr old Kevin Costner riding a pony.

Talking with my mom I learned she sends physical mail at least once a month. Mostly postcards. The only time over the last decade I send mail was when our child was born and we send out birth announcements as physical keepsakes. As we're done having kids I don't really see a need to ever send another letter or postcard ever again.

Do you ever send physical mail?

*I'm talking letters, postcards etc, not packages.

No, I am not traumatized by this. Unless there is financial compensation. In that case. Yes, I am one thousand euro traumatized.

For now though. I'm just curious to what the real point of that experiment was.

Before someone asks: person one was very much also taking part as a participant and not an actor. We discussed our confusion at the experiment over a drink (both of us had just made €50.. Serious money for a student in the early 2000s).

edit: I answer some other questions in the comments. This was in a university of Groningen building in mid 2002. That's unfortunately all info I can find (I really just participated in these things for the free lunch and small compensation..).

I was person two. As I greeted person one I explained I don't think core beliefs should be part of a mind game. I then explained the €100 if they would just SAY their core belief was changed. And proposed an equal split.

We finished our coffee and were out in five minutes. Person one did their thing.

I received our €100. As I left the investigator told me I fucked over the experiment. I ignored them.

That final bit is my question: was my reaction to that last bit the actual experiment?

2/2

Any #psychology researchers here? You might be able to answer a thing I've been low-key wondering about for decades.

As a student I took part in an experiment. There were two parts and two participants (strangers):

1) Person one is asked for one of their core beliefs. The investigator then shares that with person two.

2) Person two is tasked to change this core belief through conversation. They have an hour and receive €100 if person one comes out and says their core belief was changed.

1/2

Wrote a letter to my child as they moved from vuggestue (0-3yr old) to børnehave (3-6yr old).

The letter is to them, if they ever care for it, and for me, if decades from now I want to reconnect with these events. You're welcome to read the online version and tell me where the grammar sucks :-)

https://io.leslunesdejupiter.eu/42114.html

#parenting #letters

"but three people tried out the new clothes! They liked them"

Oh, and was at least one of those three people our one woman or our little half-scale man?

"well I can't ask everyone to try out any new clothes now can I?"

...

No, indeed you can't.

#work Some of our technicians got new work-clothes. The versions for the one woman and the one very slim guy have fake pockets. The person who bought them thought that looked better.

As Einstein said: We might not know what weapons will be used in World War III but it's a near certainty woman will not be able to carry those weapons in their pockets. CAUSE THEY HAVE NO FUCKING POCKETS.

ffs.

edit: at least those sticks & stones for WW IV are easily held in ones hand.

Notes:

The machines were working until the day of the fire. Mechanically they're sound.

These machines are covered in soot (easy optical clean) but below that absolutely fully corroded. This is due to the fire burning lots of stock material with PVC. When PVC burns it creates soot containing corrosive hydrochloric acid, HCI.

Fixing this requires real restoration as to prevent corrosion to reappear a year or two from now. I will assist (virtually) with how to do this and what chemicals to use.

Offer for people living somewhere in the middle of the Netherlands:

At work we have two industrial Adler sewing machines ready to go to scrap. They were near a fire and are heavily corroded. Machines are free for pickup but need complete dismantling and repainting.

You'll need to disassemble it, remove & neutralize corrosion, fix and reassemble it. This is days of work.

I will also get one and will share restoration tips.

The attached stock photo is of a similar one in good state.

#sewing

A bunch of dead animals. The sad eyes of the squirrel are on eye level for young kids.

/2

We're in a childrens hospital (regular visit) and it's comforting to see how much capacity there is to fill it with random stuff.

Thread 🧵

Ah. Just realized I posted this as "Public" while the original thread (https://mastodon.online/@Pepijn/117217156531309285) was "Followers only".

I'll leave it at that for now as I'm doubtful whether the original thread should be indexed by search engines.

edit: And just to say. There were also a couple of really nice comments and "silent likes", so focusing on the three messages I perceived as negative might be overkill. They kinda did get to me though, especially as they were from people I've interacted with before.