Let’s not forget the real reason for the season

December 25th is the day the Fellowship departs from Rivendell on their quest to destroy the ring!!

HAPPY FELLOWSHIP DAY!!

This speech-language pathologist taught her dog 29 words, and he can even form full sentences.

Video by Christina Hunger

Dogs actually do have a language center in their brains. They process language just the same way we do, just not as well.

They do understand our words. This is not true of all domesticated animals (horses, for example, can only manage to distinguish a relatively small number of spoken commands…but boy do they know what you’re really saying).

They don’t understand “just your tone of voice” as a lot of people think.

As of 2016 the record vocabulary for a dog demonstrating understanding of words is over 1,000.

So if you give them a way to talk back, they’re going to use it.

The development of language skills is probably a side effect of domestication and of being kept in close contact with humans. A dog that was a better hunting partner would be kept and bred and over time they developed a better understanding of language.

In other words, dogs are pretty dang smart because we need them to understand us.

And also that is a very good boy.

^ Would like to agree and make one amendment - very good GIRL. This is Stella the dog!

Check out the owner Christina’s Instagram: one of the first things I saw was a video where the dog started barking and, when prompted by the owner, said “outside, look look look look look look look, come outside.” Which is basically exactly how one would expect a dog to speak. 

The owner described bringing an unknown package into the house, and the dog ran away to push the buttons for “help no no help help” which is also about what I expect goes on in a scared pup’s mind.

In another video, the dog tried to push a button, and the button wasn’t working. The dog paused and then pushed the buttons for “No. Help.” 

In yet another (which the owner seemed impressed by), Stella said “come eat come play.” The owner asked the dog which she wanted to do, to eat or to play? And the dog clarified “come eat.” After eating, then the dog tried to instigate play. So the dog may have been able to understand a short spoken question, and how “questions and answers” work, and also understands sequences, even if she can’t express them (”I want to eat, THEN I want to play”)

Stella can even recount short-term memories, like when her family returned from the beach for dinner and she said “water good, no eat, play”

By the way, the owner uses the buttons as well, which probably really helps reinforce their meaning. She uses them to say things like “Stella all done eat” or “Stella and Christina go outside, bye!”

Wanna know my favorite part? Stella sometimes pushes the buttons for “Stella good” when she’s done a good job. Stella IS good! :D She also makes phrases using “love you,” like “Christina, love you, come play!”

still think about that post that’s like dragon age characters are always breaking character to go on suspiciously detailed centrist rants. it’s so funny. what if that happened to all of us

my roommate: hey kate when you’re at the store can you pick up some paper towels, we’re out

me: oh? paper towels?

my roommate: yeah thanks

me: what an interesting request

my roommate: uh—

me: disastrous for the environment, paper towels. or at least that’s what they say. swaths of forests cut down to make them every hour

my roommate: oh ok yeah i mean if you’d prefer we could look into using cloth towels—

me: oh! but bacteria builds up on cloth towels so easily. i knew a man a while back. yes, i’d even call him a friend. he died from an infection caused by a cloth towel that an environmentalist forced him to use against his will

my roommate: dude what—

me: it’s just so hard to know what the right choice is

my roommate: oh hold up you’re breaking character to go on a suspiciously detailed centrist rant, i forgot you told me you did this sometimes

me: maybe both sides are wrong

#dragon age#i’m crying#they’re always phrased just like that too#and then your friend would say ‘i guess paper towels are okay sometimes’ and you’d greatly disapprove and threaten to move out

@nonhoration you’re deeply deeply right lmao. game of the year

Looky what I gooooot. @thebibliosphere

Can’t wait to read.

Eeee! I hope you enjoy. And your aesthetic is *chef kiss* love it.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver — s07e30

If you see fucking ANYTHING about how in the New Year you need to "lose the quarantine 15" or whatever bullshit guilt trip these bullshit diet companies are going to inundate us with- you look at that thing, you say, outloud "look at this toxic shit" and then you MOVE ON.

Your body has carried you through a PLAGUE. Through months and months of unrelenting physical and emotional and social stress. Your body kept you ALIVE.

You have nothing to be ashamed of. If your weight changed during this pandemic? Who gives a SHIT. Your body gave you what you NEEDED to keep going. So you keep going. Fuck those diet companies and whatever poison detox slurpee they wanna guilt you into buying.

I would like to wish everyone an uneventful new year

May we live in very uninteresting times

Make bored great again

sleepy baby

RepostBy @wildeandrose: “Merry Christmas! 🦌” (via #wildeandrose @instagram)

They said you could become anything, so I became a woodland fairy. My dream has come true 🧚‍♀️ 

reminder that palestinians have once again been subjected to violence during the olive harvest, leaving many trees damaged and/or completely destroyed. b’tselem report here.

if you’re able, please join me in donating an olive tree sapling to attempt to repair some of the damage done over the last 70 years.

Big suffering!

The twelve months of 2020

Whump fic authors naming their chapters

this is exactly the sort of information we the public needed to know 🥺

not letting you hide this in the tags

— Anaïs Nin (via ladyofthecanyons)

begin again.. welcome tuesday

https://www.pinterest.com/