soulbrotherv2:

Dark Dreams: A Collection of Horror and Suspense by Black Writers edited by Brandon Massey

Thriller writer Massey’s strong anthology showcases 20 new horror and suspense stories by African-American writers, both established and upcoming. Massey evokes America’s enduring black cultural heritage in his understated “Granddad’s Garage,” about a humble, peculiarly long-lived pack rat who collects such rarities as a signed copy of Phillis Wheatley’s 1773 book of poems. Lawana Holland-Moore’s “Empty Vessel” poignantly touches on the cruelty and tragedy of slavery. Hair is the focus of D.S. Foxx’s brief “Dreads,” the sensitive narrator’s account of growing up in “a vanilla town, the darkest child in my school.” In Patricia E. Canterbury’s unsettling “Wild Chocolate,” a married couple’s visit to a remote Brazilian village leads to supernatural mischief back home in Oakland. Linda Addison plays fresh variations on the voodoo theme in “The Power.” Colorful and highly idiosyncratic islanders’ language enriches Francine Lewis’s lyrical “Siren Song.” “Danger Word,” an apocalyptic SF tale by husband-and-wife Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due, doesn’t deal with race per se, but forms a lively end to a volume whose universal human themes will resonate with many readers. 

water-when-dry:

The jalapeno pepper plants I brought home from school brought some adult fungus gnats along with them. They died quickly, with the help of some manual squishing, but it looks like they survived long enough to reproduce because now almost all of my oldest transplants have little larvae crawling around in them. 

This is really bad because fungus gnat larvae will eat plant roots and stunt their development. Combined with the fact that I had been overwatering the plants, this could be almost certain death if I don’t get it under control long enough to put everything outside.

It was pure chance that I even saw the larvae, they’re very hard to spot. I was intently staring at a tomato for some unknown reason, possibly meditating, when I saw something wiggle - next thing you know I was seeing them everywhere. They’re little transparent worms with black heads that live in the upper surface of soils with a high amount of decaying organic matter (ie. peat moss).

While I checked all the other plants for larvae, my boyfriend heroically went to the computer and found a link through google (ironically on a forum for growing illegal natural substances) with an interesting solution - hydrogen peroxide!

Hydrogen Peroxide, or H2O2, breaks down into water and oxygen so it shouldn’t harm your plants, but it kills the larvae upon contact. A 3% solution from the pharmacy should be diluted with 4 parts water to 1 part H2O2, and be sure to use a bottle that doesn’t have any other chemical additives, such as preservatives. Let your plants dry out for a few days, and then water them thoroughly to flush out stagnant water with the freshly made solution, being sure to cover the whole soil surface. Keep an eye on the situation for a few days, and repeat if the larvae aren’t all killed. 

Hydrogen peroxide can also be used to treat root rot because it brings oxygen deeper into the soil, stimulating root development and combatting the effects of overwatering. It apparently takes a lot of H2O2 to kill a plant, so don’t be afraid to make this a fairly regular part of your regimen.

I’ve already started trying to dry my plants out since I realized I was keeping them too wet, so in a few days I’ll try this treatment and let you all know how it works.

pierrebennu:

Until you do right by me everything on this ship will fail

slay-z:

i figured out this week exactly why i’m such a huge Jay-Z fan.

like, yeah, I’m way into his music and it has a lot of connections to me because of my father introducing me to it and because Jay’s been a consistent figure in music for me since I was six… 

but also, this nigga is literally the American Dream. LITERALLY. I mean, Black success is really the only legitimate American Dream anyway (because of the severe disenfranchisement of Black people that still continues), but this nigga literally went from being a broke kid in the projects in Brooklyn to being a billionaire with a beautiful loving wife, an adorable baby girl and another baby on the way, and one of the few niggas who’s been relevant in mainstream music for pretty much his ENTIRE career. He built a fucking empire. Yo, and he did it in the span of my lifetime SO FAR. like, really, think about that shit. When I was born, that nigga was basically no one. I’m 23 and he’s a fucking billionaire with music, clothing, a record label, a fucking sports agency, brands of liquor, the Brooklyn Nets, the Barclays Center… AND HE HAS A FAMILY! And he did it through rap, which muhfuckas TO THIS DAY, will argue isn’t legitimate and is wrong and noise and confusion and takes no talent, this nigga built an empire off of his pure Blackness like FUCK, what more could you want?! Black excellence, man.

froth:

fupa-dupa:

get on his level

Raffi’s so perfect

help there is a large crowd of presumably mostly white people somewhere nearby having a large singalong to hits like “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Hey Jude” and screaming at the top of their lungs in between every tune and it feels vaguely cultish and makes me feel really uncomfortable.