Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD

@erikas

👩🏻‍💻 Linguist, anthropologist, writer re: marriage, population, and the internet 📍ORD 2nd generation Etsy witch; 3rd generation socialist; Friendly internet matchmaker for hire: 🦝4🦝 English/日本語/Русский/יידיש they/she • あの奴 • она • זי

763 Following3,095 Followers17,368 Posts

YouTube Website Bluesky

education writing

Is this your profile?Claim it and erikas.dirty.social is yours.Claim profile

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· 29d

Garlic habanero sauce + cheeeeese filling this gluten-free twisty bread

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Jul 10

Please admire this incredibly perfect slice of fresh sourdough bread. That I made.

It's a slice of white sourdough bread. It's a very sandwich square shape with a nice crumb. It's square because it was baked in a pullman pan, which also works a lot like a cloche or dutch oven for baking crusty bread. Except also square.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Jul 10

Based on this email, attendance at the American Anthropology Association conference is down. A lot. Last year it was sensibly in Canada. This year they're asking people to brave US border control? And sending me a special email to alert me to how easy it would be to get there from Chicago?

Text against a vaguely academic-vaporwave skyline of St. Louis, Missouri. Text reads:

ANNUAL MEETING
JOIN AAA IN ST. LOUIS
THIS YEAR, THE MEETING IS PRACTICALLY NEXT DOOR.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Jun 18

Anyway today I learned that piranhas are sparkly motherfuckers and my whole life has been changed for the better.

Piranha in a fish tank at a proper aquarium. Its scales are such a deep gold and SO SPARKLY. It has a kind of grumpy little face and a red-brown eye looking at me.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Jun 18

Is it just me or is the fish in this statue staring at the viewer, crying for help?

A statue of two figures. A dark-skinned person with short curly hair is wearing a men's dress shirt and trousers. He is embracing a fish held vertically, that is about as tall as he is. Water is spouting out of the fish's mouth, because this is a fountain. The fish's golden eye, on the side of its head, appears to be staring directly at the camera in an unsettling way. It does not look happy about being embraced by the man.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Jun 18

Sorry, that's not about pokemon, it was just really good to see. Also they had meteorites that you can pet.

A metallic meteorite with a smooth surface. It's about the size of a small-medium dog, maybe. There are two small signs on the display platform. One says, "Please touch all you like—but for your own safety, please do not climb." The other says, "Iron meteorite. Gladstone, Queensland, Australia. Me 2114."

I bet you could make the coolest sword for a god from this.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Jun 18

Also pokemon are CUTE, if they're anything, and they built life-size fake fossil pokemon skeletons, and have them side by side with real fossils to talk about what you can learn from the fossil record (NOT EVERYTHING!)

Me, wearing a black KN95 mask, peeking out of the edge of the frame, wide-eyed. I'm standing in front of a giant "fossil" Tyrantrum skeleton. Tyrantrum is basically a pokemon T-Rex. It's genuinely hard to get all this stuff in the frame.

Elsewhere in the museum, an actual fossil skeleton T-Rex relative, lunging in a pretty epic pose towards some fossil prey on the ground.

A replica of the a real T-Rex skull, right over by the Tyrantrum skeleton, so you can compare.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Jun 16

Cat tax

A grey cat lies on a grey couch in a weird twist. Her bright yellow eyes are open wide in the sunshine and she looks pretty crazy.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Jun 11

Not just touching grass today, but having it stick aggressively to my sweaty, sunscreened, pale-ass legs.

My leg. It's a leg. It's a very pale white person leg. It's a perfectly fine leg. It is resting on some grass. The rest of me is sitting on a blanket on the grass with the wee beastie. My foot is shod in a grey sandal with a big puffy white funfetti sole. There are little bits of freshly mown grass sticking to my skin.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Jun 9

just two cats

A long but still somehow small human toddler with blond hair and a matching pink strawberry-covered outfit is curled up in a fetal position on a circular green cushion. The little spoon to their big spoon is a very fluffy long-haired void cat, who is curled up in a similar way.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Jun 8

Not like I've literally been reading Agrippa lately or anything. www.theodramatist.com/early-modern...

YOUR CLOSEST COUNTERPART
The Hermetic Magus
C. 1460-1600 • ITALY & NORTHERN EUROPE • NATURAL MAGICIAN
Agrippa, the Occult Philosophy

You suspect the universe is alive and laced with hidden correspondences only the learned can read. You think the adept who knows the ancient keys can reach up and pull on its strings.

REPRESENTATIVE FIGURES Marsilio Ficino, Cornelius Agrippa, John Dee, Giordano Bruno

HOW THE FIELD FALLS
1. The Hermetic Magus - natural magician
2. The Virtuoso - experimental philosopher
3. The Mathematical Mystic - cosmos as divine geometry
4. The Cambridge Platonist - rational religion
5. The Mercantile Burgher - regent
6. The Philosophe - enlightenment publicist
7. The Humanist - Christian humanist
8. The Leveller - radical democrat

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Jun 5

It's a cheap, bulky, amazing, nearly impenetrable acrylic sweater I got 2 of at a Turkish clothing shop in Astana's biggest mall! Absolute staples of my wardrobe, vaguely hideous in color (they come in 1970s kitchen colors) but so trusty, with lovely shawl collars and pockets.

The photo from the previous post but in color so you can see the 1970s kitchen orange and black colors of the sweater

Me wearing a black beret, a vaguely alarmed expression, and the same cardigan but this time in olive and black.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Jun 4

Pick a selfie from your gallery and turn it black and white

Me peeking out of the edge of the frame, looking a little sten and wearing a prince of wales check plaid sweater. It's a hideous color but you can't see that now. On a ledge behind me stands a black cat, staring at the camera even more sternly.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Jun 1

I mean look at this tall, whole-ass child that I somehow have. When did this happen?!

Tall blond toddler on a sidewalk near some very tall native plants. They're competing in height.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Jun 1

Cat watching toddler

A black cat lies belly and paws-up on the couch. His big yellow eyes are STARING suspiciously at the toddler lurking over him behind my shoulder

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Jun 1

My companion void has decided I can be allowed to sit upright.

A black cat curled up on a grey couch next to my thigh. His little paws are reaching towards a red buffalo plaid fleece blanket that does not match the couch at all.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· May 30

Just once, I would like to read something about Kazakhstan or Qazaq language that isn't at least a little bit dreadful. (DERIVED from Chagatai???) Also, spoilers, but Latinisation by 2025 did not happen.

4.2 Kazakh Language

The Kazakh language, the official language of Kazakhstan (10 million native speakers, out of a total population of 18 m), is an agglutinative and synthetic, highly inflected language from the Turkic group. The language is derived from Chagatai, an extinct Turkic language which used to be a lingua franca of Central Asia. The vocabulary originates mainly from Turkic, with a strong Russian influence at present, and possesses Arabic and Persian loans. There is a changing story of alphabet use in the country. Originally Arabic script was replaced by Latin. During Russian occupation Cyrillic was introduced while at present Latin alphabet is to replace Cyrillic as the writing system for the Kazakh language by 2025.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· May 20

Japanese engineering is incredible. (Yes, I'm signed up for email updates from Shoyeido.) THEY FIXED LITTLE INCENSE STICK ENDS.

In an email from Shoyeido, a venerable Japanese incense company:

"Simply lay the incense flat
And enjoy every last bit without waste "takuba"

Incense tray takuba allow you to enjoy incense without an incense holder. Simply lay the incense flat on the tray.

Using our specially developed ceramic felt, the tray helps reduce the lingering burnt smell.

Unlike normal incense holders, it leaves almost no unburned residue, allowing the incense to burn cleanly all the way to the end"

There is also a picture of the incense tray itself which doesn't really look like much of anything.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· May 19

For a second I thought it was telling me this herb is cis.

STARWEST BOTANICAL
Item# 209445-31
MUGWORT HERB C/S ORGANIC
ARTEMISIA VULGARIS
Origin: ALBANIA
Processed, packaged and quality tested in California, USA.
Kosher Certified by Kosher Certification Services.
WARNING: Not to be used during pregnancy.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· May 18

The wee beastie (2;5.75) insisted on carrying this little pouch of mine to the library with me and it was very cute, that is all.

A small blond child wearing a patterned top and charcoal shorts with black sneakers walks confidently into the local children's library. In their left hand, they're carrying a dark blue pouch with the world's brightest pink peonies embroidered on it.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· May 16

It’s REALLY cute. Different blanket below, same idea.

A navy and white checked light cotton blanket covers a large mystery lump.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· May 12

Tis the season where all the catnip blooms

Purple stalks of tiny buds and open flowers tower above heart-shaped leaves with ridges and serrated edges.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· May 10

Managed to drag myself a block and a half to a little fair with spring plants for the garden I don't have; did get a few little guys and also this free pen

It's a pen shaped like an eggplant, I'm a child, I love it.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· May 5

There's a lot of talk about what's wrong with Bluesky culture (certainly not nothing!) but I think we're doing OK as long as this can happen. Have fun, furries!

Current Bluesky trending topics:
1. Ohio Primaries
2. Healthcare Advocacy
3. Furry Weekend
4. Browser Controversy
5. Election Day

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· May 3

Found in the back issue bins at my local store on free comic book day

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· May 1

Went to a physical art supply store; had significant revelation about the linguistics term "calque."

Photo of pads of tracing paper labelled in French and Spanish: "paper à calquer • papel de calcar"

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Apr 22

If for some reason you felt like being mad about Soviet Nationalities/language policy today: the Soviets fucked up the ability of Central Asian peoples to communicate with each other (and other Turkic speakers) across their very similar languages ON PURPOSE. www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...

In December 1936, Kazakhstan and the Kirghiz Republic were made a union republic of the Soviet Union. This was the 'union republic' status that presumed the nominal right to separation from the USSR which remained until December 1991. In 1923, the Soviet government adopted different Arabic alphabets for Uzbek, Kazakh and Kirghiz, thus artificially complicating their communication. From 1925, importing printed materials in the Arabic alphabet into the Muslim republics of the Soviet Union was forbidden altogether. In 1928, the modified Latin alphabet was introduced for Central Asian languages, aiming to undermine the kinship among these languages. However, in 1939-40, by which time Turkey had already adopted Latin script, new Cyrillic script was imposed to supersede the Latin script in Central Asian languages.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Apr 15

I think my marriage is 🦝4🦝

Facebook post by Ella Minnope. 3 August 2020.

"Stop asking 'Who wears the pants in the relationship?' and start asking 'Which one of you is the feral raccoon and which one of you is the little old lady with a can of tuna trying to coax a weird ugly gray cat into her house?"

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Apr 15

In other wee beastie news, they had to stop on the way to the park to luxuriate in this really nice grass

A lanky 2-year-old with a messy ponytail squishes tiny baby hands into lush green grass that is JUST the right length to be really plush without being long.

Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD@erikas· Apr 13

I also don't know why you'd make THIS talisman because it is BORING. I think a magnet will point you north even if you don't do a little ceremony for it.