flaminm

social media platform that knows you better than your close friends. it can analyze your personality and tendencies after your 8 facebook likes.

eulagisca gigantea looks like something evolution designed after watching too much sci fi. it’s a giant antarctic scale worm that lives in cold deep water, grows up to around 8 inches long, and has a retractable throat armed with large jaws for grabbing prey. the weird golden “fur” along its sides is actually part of its segmented body.

basically proof that the deep ocean has been quietly making monsters this whole time.

i decided to look a little more closely at norway, since it is one of those countries we seem to envy for almost everything.

i was honestly stunned. the story is almost too good.

norway had been in a union with sweden until 1905, when it broke away and became fully independent.

the norwegians wanted to remain a monarchy, but there was one small problem. they had no king and no royal family of their own.

so they literally went looking for a king.

yes, looking for a king. it sounds ridiculous, but that is basically what happened.

their first choice was the swedish royal family they had just separated from. norway essentially asked whether sweden might spare one of its princes so they could make him king. sweden declined.

so they turned to denmark.

there they found a suitable candidate, prince carl of denmark. he was scandinavian, had naval training, was young, and already had a son.

when the offer reached him, he did not simply jump at the chance. he insisted that he would only accept the crown if the norwegian people actually wanted him.

a referendum was held in november 1905, and the monarchy was approved by a large majority. prince carl accepted the throne and took the name haakon vii, reviving the name of earlier norwegian kings and tying the new monarchy to the country's older traditions.

and norway later discovered that it had chosen an extraordinary king.

during world war ii, haakon vii refused to submit to nazi germany and became one of the great symbols of norwegian resistance. this man had essentially been invited in from another country to become king, yet when norway faced its darkest moment, he stood by it completely.

you could not ask for much more from a monarch.

he also strongly respected norway's parliamentary system and became a lasting symbol of constitutional monarchy during the development of the modern norwegian state.

everything gets less complicated if you think love is just "a hormonal reaction".*

let's see what notable people said about love:

theodor seuss geisel:
you know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.

taylor swift:
when you are missing someone, time seems to move slower, and when i'm falling in love with someone, time seems to be moving faster.

kim kardashian:
i think you have different soul-mates throughout your life, that your soul needs different things at different times. i do believe in love. i will always believe in love, but my idea has changed from what i've always thought.

oprah winfrey:
lots of people want to ride with you in the limo. but you want someone who'll help you catch the bus.

william watson purkey:
you've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
love like you'll never be hurt,
sing like there's nobody listening,
and live like it's heaven on earth.

elie wiesel:
the opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. the opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. the opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. and the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.

william shakespeare:
love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.

neil gaiman:
have you ever been in love? horrible isn't it? it makes you so vulnerable. it opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up.

lao tzu:
being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

chuck palahniuk:
the one you love and the one who loves you are never, ever the same person.*

paulo coelho:
when we love, we always strive to become better than we are. when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.

one is loved because one is loved. no reason is needed for loving.

mahatma gandhi:
when i despair, i remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. think of it, always.

where there is love there is life.

sarah dessen:
love is needing someone. love is putting up with someone's bad qualities because they somehow complete you.

oscar wilde:
never love anyone who treats you like you're ordinary.*

plato:
every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. those who wish to sing always find a song. at the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet.

john krasinski:
when you're lucky enough to meet your one person, then life takes a turn for the best. it can't get better than that.

katy perry:
first and foremost, self-love, and then give love away.

fyodor dostoevsky:
above all, don't lie to yourself. the man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. and having no respect he ceases to love.

edgar allen poe:
we loved with a love that was more than love.

sigmund freud:
psychoanalysis is in essence a cure through love.

it is often described as the rarest personality type. it usually comes across as wise and deeply empathetic, but its darker side can be genuinely intense.

although it is introverted, its fe cognitive function plays a major role. it tries to act logically, but concern for how other people feel often takes priority. it may sometimes be grouped alongside the analyst types.

people with this personality type tend to enjoy thinking about abstract ideas and exploring fields such as sociology and psychology, which examine human behavior and society. from what i have seen on forums, many of the people with extensive knowledge of mbti who type others seem to belong to this personality type.

their level of self awareness is usually very high, and they often try to serve as a mirror that helps others develop greater self awareness as well. they may develop a savior complex or even a god complex.

their empathetic nature can leave them emotionally drained, but they may also use that same ability to understand others for darker purposes.

knowing you're loved

a player said to have switched teams at 42 to chase a ring.

a country with pluses and minuses, but one whose pluses far outweigh its minuses.

speaking from personal experience, i'm reporting this straight from the bottom of my heart.

he's gotten a little too tall. it looks like he's lost some of his quickness in tight spaces. if he doesn't adjust to his new frame this season, there's a good chance his career will start to decline and he'll never reach his full potential. kind of a weird thing to say about a professional soccer player.

you open instagram. one friend's in the maldives, sand white, sea turquoise, legs flawless. another just got promoted, champagne on the table, a motivational caption underneath. another one got married, they're dancing, the dress, the makeup, everything perfect. and you, meanwhile, are at home, slippers on your feet, tea in hand, the evening news on tv. in that moment something happens. a tightness in your stomach. you think you're unhappy. when five minutes ago you were doing just fine. this, right here, is what this app does to you.

social media is a giant stage. everyone's the lead. nobody shows what's behind the curtain. that friend in the maldives is going to be paying off the debt for six months and has no idea. the one who got promoted couldn't sleep that night out of fear of getting fired. that dancing couple had a mother-in-law meltdown a week after the wedding. but you don't see any of that. everyone shares the trailer for their life, while the full movie is always packed with the same boring details.

psychologists call this social comparison theory. you compare yourself against other people's best moments. naturally, you lose. because the material you've got is a real life, while theirs is a filtered, staged, well-lit display window. it's like looking through a bakery window and expecting to feel full. impossible.

narcissism means excessive interest in or admiration of oneself and one's physical appearance. people with lots of facebook friends more likely to be narcissists.

all over the world civilization is going backward. nobody gives a damn about the rules, social contracts are going bankrupt, individualism is on the rise. the world is heading toward a more and more absurd place by the day. i just hope all this stupidity doesn't end up leading to some nonsense like another world war.

retro fashion can be thought of as bringing the iconic styles of the past back to life with today's production technology. the difference from vintage is that the garment isn't old, it's new in an old style. it describes new clothes that capture the spirit of a particular era (usually 20 to 50 years ago).

nostalgia, and i've stopped to talk about its psychological effects on people in my entries before, forms an emotional bond that makes people feel safe. fed by a longing for the aesthetic values of the past, this trend is the greatest proof of the fact that fashion is "a cycle that repeats itself." these days the retro elements combined with modern pieces (like a crop top over a pair of high-waisted retro pants) are thought to create a balanced style that blends the past with the future.

every decade has its own particular retro influence. for example, the 50s' poofy skirts and polka dots, the 60s' mini dresses and geometric patterns, or the 70s' bell-bottoms...

the opposite of doomscrolling. the act of browsing social media with content that will fix a person's mood and morale by way of watching happy content, cat videos, and so forth.

the other person getting too absorbed in their phone on a first date is actually one of the biggest red flags. because if they're choosing to escape into the screen instead of being present in that moment, this isn't just a momentary lapse in attention. it seems like a quiet indicator of the value they place on the person across from them too. on a first date a person is a little curious, listens a little, and tries a little to get to know the one across from them. constant notification checking, scrolling, and texting, on the other hand, break this natural flow.