sansasquatch asked: I remember reading in several medieval works about ridiculous creatures called "unipeds." I never saw an illustration of one, but they were described to be a shiny, human-like being with one large foot, and they would sit with this foot flopped over their heads for shade. I specifically remember mentions of them in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville as well as in The Vinland Saga, which are two very different works. Ever seen any illustrations of those things?
I actually haven’t, which is surprising because you’d think they’d fit right in with the grotesques that were so popular in manuscripts. Humanoids and beasts don’t really show up in the same places, though, so I might have just missed them. I’ll keep an eye open in the future.
they’re also called monopods or sciapods and there are plenty of examples on wikimedia so i pulled some up for ya
from the nuremberg chronicle, 1493:
from the heures à l'usage des antonins, 15th century:
Mohanis fishermen catch herons in the Indus River. They sneak up on unsuspecting birds by wearing headgear made of heron as a decoy. Birds are caught for food, as well as for sale and to be trained. Pakistan, Randy Olson.
ahh i actually havent ! at first i thought you were actually talking about a CATERPILLAR that looks like a snake, and said cocoon on accident (specifically the caterpillar of the hemeroplanes triptolemus, or snake-mimic hawk moth)
but it TURNS OUT theres a species of butterfly that takes it way further, to the point where all the other caterpillars are like “is this really fucking necessary”
its the chrysalis of the daring-owl butterfly ! a species thats found in trinidad and spends a good portion of its young adult life trying to convince other things that its not actually completely helpless
LOOK at the detail thats gone into this though- i cant even imagine the journey this look mustve taken, with lightly less-snakelike chrysalises being eaten over time again and again until youve got something with definable eyes and scales
apparently if disturbed theyll also rock violently back and forth, furthering the idea that this is a very dangerous pitviper with the tiniest body imaginable
the adult butterflies are much less exciting but honestly they dont need to be with a history like that a+ bug
I JUST HAD TO CLOSE MY EYES FOR A SECOND AND LIKE……..DIGEST THIS WHA T THE HELL
They came from minstrel shows and black face. At least the ones we are familiar with today did. Clowns have been around since mid evil time but they look NOTHING like they do today. Their look drastically changed to fit that if the black face and minstrel era when it came around. I remember looking it up one time and here’s a post from someone who also looked it up.
Columbia University student Emma Sulkowicz carried her mattress across the stage at her graduation ceremony this morning. Sulkowicz and her friends have been carrying the mattress around for the whole academic year in protest of the way the school handles sexual assault issues. As New York Magazine explains, for her senior thesis in visual art, Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight), Sulkowicz vowed that she would carry her dorm-room mattress whenever she was on campus as long as her alleged rapist remained on campus. “The piece could potentially take a day, or it could go on until I graduate,” she said.
