detenebrate:

0xymoronic:

shitarianasays:

theeyesinthenight:

the-sonic-screw:

platinumpixels:

volpesvolpes:

unseilie:

sarahvonkrolock:

gaysexagainstawall:

them-days-was-olden-as-fuck:

The spread of the black death.

Poland

Poland, tell us your secret.

Poland is the old new Madagascar. 

If I remember correctly, Poland’s secret is that the jews where being blamed all over europe (as usual) as scapegoats for the black plague. Poland was the only place that accepted Jewish refugees, so pretty much all of them moved there. 

Now, one of the major causes of getting the plague was poor hygiene. This proved very effective for the plague because everyone threw their poop into the streets because there were no sewers, and literally no one bathed because it was against their religion. Unless they were jewish, who actually bathed relatively often. When all the jews moved to Poland, they brought bathing with them, and so the plague had little effect there.

Milan survived by quarantining its city and burning down the house of anyone showing early symptoms, with the entire family inside it. 

I reblogged this tons of times, but the Milan info is new.

Damn Italy, you scary.

Poland: “Hey, feeling a bit down? Have a quick wash! There, you see? All better”

Milan: “Aw, feeling a bit sick are we? BURN MOTHERFUCKER, BURN!!!!!”

Also, this might have something to do with it: from what I understand, O blood type is uncommonly… common in Poland. Something to do with large families in small villages and a LOT of intermarriage. The black plague was caused by a bacterium that produced, in its waste in the human body, wastes that very closely mimic the “B” marker sugars on red blood cells that keep the body from attacking its own immune system. Anyone who has a B blood type had an immune system that was naturally desensitized to the presence of the bacterium, and therefore was more prone to developing the disease. Anyone who had an O type was doubly lucky because the O blood type means the total absence of ANY markers, A or B, meaning that their bodys’ immune system would react quickly and violently against the invaders, while someone with an A may show symptoms and recover more slowly, while someone with B would have just died. Because O is a recessive blood type, it shows in higher numbers when more people who carry the recessive genes marry other people who also carry the recessive gene. Poland, which has a nearly 700 year history of being conquered by or partnering with every other nation in the surrounding area, was primarily an agricultural country, focused around smaller, farming communities where people were legally tied to, and required to work, “their” land, and so historically never “spread” their genes across a large area. The economy was, and had been, unstable for a very long period of time leading up to the plague, the government had been ineffective and had very little reach in comparison to the armies of the other countries around for a very very long time, and so its people largely remained in small communities where multiple generations of cross-familial inbreeding could have allowed for this more recessive gene to show up more frequently. Thus, there could be a higher percentage of O blood types in any region of the country, guaranteeing less spread of the illness and moving slower when it did manage to travel. Combine this with the fact that there were very few large, urban centers where the disease would thrive, and with the above facts, and you’ve got a lovely recipe for avoiding the plague.

Interestingly enough, as a result from the plague, the entirety of Europe now has a higher percentage of people with O blood type than any other region of the world. 

WHY IS THIS ALL SO COOL

When Tumblr teaches you more about the plague than 12 years of school ever did.

Just to throw a nod in, as a medieval historian, this is all credible, and is the leading theory as to the plagues effectiveness at this point. So. Enjoy your new knowledge!

magicallycapricious:

shrimpwonder:

sinvraal:

persian-slipper:

anathemarmotqueen:

Hello tumblr allow me to present you the swedish vallhund

i´m VERY confused as you guys are not freaking out about these little guys yet since they´re basically WOLF CORGIS.

I swear to god, I thought it was a photoshop at first.

Oh my Glob, it’s “the little cattle dog of the Vikings”. Not only is it a wolf corgi, but it’s a Viking wolf corgi.

VIKING WOLF CORGI

I —

what do I —

VIKING WOLF CORGI

Done

etall:

Mist Eel, 100% inspired by waneela’s stuff.

visitingfan:

colossaltitan:

Meet Ventricaria ventricosa. It’s algae. It’s found throughout the ocean, especially in tropical regions. Grows out somewhere between 1.5 and 2 inches in diameter.

this is terrifying because it’s a single-celled organism. that green blob is one cell. Just one cell. What on earth. like

big organelles inside? no. just a TON of them. tons of microscopic organelles floating around inside one of the biggest single-celled organisms in existence. I want to poke it with a stick

One quick google search, and

it’s real, bitch!

costumecommunityservice:

[full size]

This is perhaps approaching graduate level information as far as digital costuming is concerned, but I think that the more fidelity professional game artists have access to, the more mindful the details ought to be. This is especially true in the case of low-tech/medieval/pre-industrial fantasy where everything in the world is handmade; these little details are really crucial to selling that look.

zarhooie:

kattahj:

cockleses:

There’s currently a shorts prohibition for staff working on the Roslag Railway in Sweden. Some men took to wearing skirts in the heat. (x)

I love the fact that the company they work for is totally on board with them doing this.

“According to our line of thinking, you should look stylish and neat when you represent Arriva, and these are the uniforms available. If the men want to wear skirts that’s okay. Telling them anything else would be discrimination.”

fuck yeah, sweden