wednesday linkspam

[sciatrix]

...because it's probably wise for me to tuck everything aside for later as I go so, let's not lie, as not to lose any of it.

Bad sex award 2018: the contenders in quotes

Extravagant metaphors are indecently exposed in the shortlist for the Literary Review’s annual showcase of ‘outstandingly bad’ erotic writing. Haruki Murakami and James Frey lead the all-male shortlist for bad sex award.

Why do are some people unusually resilient?

The discovery that mental illness was far more the rule than the exception made Schaefer more eager to understand who the remaining 17 per cent of the population were – what was it about their approach to life that preserved their mental health? He presumed, at first, that people who’d been born to wealthy parents or who’d maintained good physical health might end up in the temperamentally blessed group, since poverty and ill health are clear harbingers of mental disorder. That didn’t turn out to be the case, though.

Infamous Man-Eaters of Tsavo Ate Like Zoo Animals

The man-eaters of Tsavo, two lions that killed railroad workers in Kenya more than a century ago, have inspired legends, movies and a lot of research papers trying to explain what drove the big cats to prey on humans (a rare menu choice for Panthera leo). A study out today finds that, in one crucial way, the infamous killers were a lot like — surprise — zoo animals.

Erotic blooms: the sex appeal of flowers

Between flowers and sex there has long been an enduring link. In the classical age, women (especially virgins) were compared to flowers, whether in Virgil’s agricultural Georgics or else in Sappho – who, in one fragment, makes an analogy between a woman, perhaps married, and “a hyacinth in the mountains that the shepherds trample with their feet.” Shakespeare often resorted to botanical metaphors for females, above all in Hamlet, in which Ophelia strews flowers all over Elsinore. You need only think of the names Rose, Lily, Daisy, Violet… Women’s names, all of them.

Zuleyka Zevallos has a scholarly deconstruction of that one study that came out last year purporting that f/f desire evolved to attract men. I admire her quite a bit, but need to read through this further.

I picked up a writing injury guide from sebenikela.

If you're new to Dreamwidth, beatrice_otter put together a list of good links, which I'm going to repost here.

sylvaine has a big rec list of communities.

umadoshi has a couple of posts rounding up lots of guides and stuff about how to use/get to know DW.

conuly has yet more stuff on how to DW.

siderea wrote interesting meta on how to encourage a flourishing community on DW.

melannen has a few interesting posts I want to chew on for later: how to encourage discussion on Dreamwidth, and how to work out a "kudos" style function as a workaround.

By contrast, jesse_the_k has helpful tips for low-effort interaction on Dreamwidth, which this week I vaguely feel like borrowing. Whoof. (More on that in a minute.)

I found a helpful guide to making your blog (and therefore your reading page) mobile friendly! Colors customizable, but I haven't yet worked out how to turn a palette into something I actually enjoy looking at so I'm sticking with the monochrome for the moment.

Via metaquotes, sara has a totally fucking delightful discussion of mushroom fandom:

Tonight's big discussion item on mushroom comm? "I found these mushrooms in a hat on the sidewalk. Can I eat them?" (No.)

last of all, if you want something fun, rachelmanija has a lovely roundup of fun things she's found lately, including werewolves, rainbow fudge, and lesbian chicken farmers.

I swear to god I will respond to comments today--it's been a fairly high-effort couple of days and I am going AUGH WILL YOU NOT, WORK /o\ but I'm really excited to see all of you and all the activity and fun shit flooding into my reading list here!