i want you all to know that there is an artist (carmen papalia) who, after he started using a white cane, assembled a 12 foot long white cane and began using it in downtown vancouver. the length of the cane made it functionally useless as a device and the only purpose it served was making him an obstacle for sighted people. dare i say… 2019 goals
therapist to sighted patient: long cane isnt real and it cant hurt you
carmen papalia:
[id: a dimly lit photo of carmen papalia using his 12 foot “long cane” piece. he walks casually behind it. the cane takes up the majority of both the photograph and the sidewalk.]
Okay I went to a conference where this guy was a keynote and he’s so fucking cool. He’s done a ton of art around disability rights. The twelve-foot cane is really cool, but here are some of my other favourites:
From the series on replacing his cane, this is one where he replaced his cane with a megaphone and would stand at intersections repeating “I can’t see” until somebody would stop and help him cross the street
Another cane replacement, this time replacing it with a high school marching band who would change the music depending on if there was something in the way or not.
A museum intervention where he got people at the MET to go through the museum with their eyes closed and experiencing touching things he’d gotten permission to touch (the floor in this image) and just exploring a visual art museum blind.
The Blind Field Shuffle, in which he has dozens of people form a conga line behind him with their eyes closed and leads them on a blind tour of the city - literally the blind leading the blind.
Wish I could find a better photo, but this is a museum gallery he curated where the works are almost at floor height, making them accessible to children, little people, and people in wheelchairs, but requiring abled people to bend down or sit on the floor in order to see them properly.
In short, this man is amazing and I love his work.
id’s in order
[begin id 1 of 5: a photo of carmen papalia from the upper torso up holding a megafone to his face while walking on a sidewalk. He is at the forefront of the image in the camera’s left corner, and the megafone takes up a lot of the corner. behind his head stretches the sidewalk and road, with a fence and trees on the other side of the sidewalk on the camera’s right. he’s speaking through the megafone with a neutral expression. it has captions that read: “I can’t see you” four times. end id 1 of 5]
[begin id 2 of 5: a photo taken across the street from where carmen papalia is standing at a crosswalk and facing the camera with a marching band behind him. the marching band’s conductor has his back to the camera and is in the middle of conducting as some people watch from the camera’s right. end id 2/5]
[begin id 3/5: a photo of two people who are kneeling on the floor of a museum, one has straight mid length dark hair, the other has long hair tied back. The one with their hair tied back is guiding the other person’s hands along the floor, both look happy. there are museum goers in the background and to the camera’s right. end id 3/5]
[begin id 4/5: a photo taken of carmen papalia walking down a sidewalk towards the camera with his cane. he is leading a long group of people who have their eyes closed. half the line is approaching a turn in the sidewalk that the others have already taken. most of them look happy. Carmen and people close behind him have more neutral faces. there is an onlooker from the camera’s right who looks like an officer of some type, his expression is neutral. end id 4/5]
[begin id 5/5: a photo taken from a low pov of a museum display where all the images are close to the ground. Someone is standing close to the camera but facing away, i think it’s carmen papalia. there are a few people sitting on the floor looking at the artwork. end id 5/5]
The tsunamis from the Theran eruption devastated Crete, weakening the then-powerful Minoan civilization, leaving them open to being invaded by the Mycenaeans.
The volcanic winter it created devastated crops in China leading to the fall of the Xia Dynasty.
The abrupt and catastrophic loss of the people of Thera may have also inspired the myths about Atlantis.
if anyone wants a full list heres how they happened:
basically they all stem from a massive eruption of a volcano on the island of santorini off the coast of greece. the ash then floated over to egypt which kickstarted the plagues
1) blood: the ash carried the mineral cinnabar, which has the capability of turning water red
2) frogs: the ash also had many toxic and acidic substances so naturally, all the frogs are gonna flee the river
3) lice: given what was going on insects would have burrowed into dead animals/peoples skin and laid eggs, which then hatched
4) beasts: everything is getting poisoned from the ash and toxins, causing animals to freak the fuck out/die
5) pestilence: toxins again
6) boils: the ash would have caused storms that carried acid rain which when it fell, would irritate peoples skin causing boils
7) hail: the storm again
8) locusts: again with the insects and the amount of dead bodies and such which attract more insects. a lotta insects basically.
9) darkness: the ash covered the sky, blocking out the sun
10) slaying of the first born: given that children’s bodies were found in higher numbers than others, some archeologists think they may have been sacrificed to stop all the destruction, but they aren’t 100% sure about that. this is just me but I would say another possibility is that babies/kids are a lot more susceptible to toxins and shit, so while an adult may have been fine or gotten a bit sick, it might have been very dangerous/deadly for kids or babies
the volcano would also attest for the parting of the sea weirdly enough. the red sea was in fact the ‘reed’ sea, and was very shallow, probably waist deep or so. given the amount of shit dumped into the ocean from the volcano, this wouldve caused a tsunami to head towards egypt. the water would get sucked out from the reed sea right before the tsunami hit, letting people pass it easily, then the actual tsunami would hit, fuckin up anyone who tried to follow.
another theory is that the red water was caused by algae, which would cause the frogs and stuff to jump out as well. the algae also carried substances toxic to animals so if they ingested any they’d get sick and die, so more insects. in this theory there was a sand storm coincidentally that caused the rest
Fun fact! Water actually turns “blood red” when it is contaminated by sulfur creating sulfuric acid. And scientists have discovered that around the time of the plagues a volcano went off that disturbed Egypt’s environment. So the plagues are scientifically proven. The other parts of the plagues are explained by the sulfuric acid river making the animals leave the river and escaping into the human population.
