maul 🤝 pippin
making a mistake next to a deep pit

hate to spoil your big entrance, but unfortunately by simply cogito-ing about potentially sum-ing, ergo you already do

But close under the cliff there stood, still strong and living, two tall trees, larger than any trees of holly that Frodo had ever seen or imagined. Their great roots spread from the wall to the water. Under the looming cliffs they had looked like mere bushes, when seen far off from the top of the Stair; but now they towered overhead, stiff, dark, and silent, throwing deep night-shadows about their feet, standing like sentinel pillars at the end of the road.
‘Well, here we are at last!’ said Gandalf. ‘Here the Elven-way from Hollin ended. Holly was the token of the people of that land, and they planted it here to mark the end of their domain; for the West-door was made chiefly for their use in their traffic with the Lords of Moria. Those were happier days, when there was still close friendship at times between folk of different race, even between Dwarves and Elves.’
…
‘What does the writing say?’ asked Frodo, who was trying to decipher the inscription on the arch. ‘I thought I knew the elf-letters, but I cannot read these.’
‘The words are in the elven-tongue of the West of Middle-earth in the Elder Days,’ answered Gandalf. ‘But they do not say anything of importance to us. They say only: The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter. And underneath small and faint is written: I, Narvi, made them. Celebrimbor of Hollin drew these signs.’
‘What does it mean by speak, friend, and enter?’ asked Merry.
‘That is plain enough,’ said Gimli. ‘If you are a friend, speak the password, and the doors will open, and you can enter.’
‘Yes,’ said Gandalf, ‘these doors are probably governed by words. Some dwarf-gates will open only at special times, or for particular persons; and some have locks and keys that are still needed when all necessary times and words are known. These doors have no key. In the days of Durin they were not secret. They usually stood open and doorwards sat here. But if they were shut, any who knew the opening word could speak it and pass in.’
…
‘I was wrong after all,’ said Gandalf, ‘and Gimli too. Merry, of all people, was on the right track. The opening word was inscribed on the archway all the time! The translation should have been: Say “Friend” and enter. I had only to speak the Elvish word for friend and the doors opened. Quite simple. Too simple for a learned lore-master in these suspicious days. Those were happier times.’

so to answer your questions:
why is it in elvish? because it was made by and for elves, in collaboration with dwarves, to facilitate friendly traffic between their realms
why is it barely a riddle? because it wasn’t intended to actually be a barrier to anyone who could read it
why do dwarf doors need magical secret words to open? because that’s just how dwarves do; and also most of the time the doors were simply left open anyway
why is the password “friend”? because it was made in a time when you could believe people if they were willing to say that they were your friend

in the book it’s actually Gandalf who wants to go through Moria, and Aragorn who wants to avoid it. Gimli is barely involved, other than being the first one to agree when Gandalf suggests it

if an 8 minute round trip saves you $15, then you’re essentially paying yourself $112.50/hr to be your own delivery driver

I find it so weird when people call him “Bibi”. could you imagine people in 1940s America talking about “Adi” or “Winnie” or “Joey”?

they learn it in church. from the time they’re tiny children they learn that even the most perfect being that could ever conceivably exist can decide that someone deserves to be tortured for eternity because they wore mixed fabrics, and still claim to love that person unconditionally

it is just also a name though. it’s not very popular but it’s a normal name that other people have, and have had for a long time. three different Bible characters have it

if there’s a minimum amount of consuming fossil fuels that’s required to continue to live in society, and the goal is to eliminate that, then we need change on a societal level. individuals alone cannot solve the problem, and therefore cannot be blamed for the problem existing

because not purchasing anything that is produced or transported with energy from fossil fuels means fucking off into the woods to starve to death naked in a hut made of mud and twigs

conservatives fundamentally don’t believe in reality. they think things become true by being spoken into existence. “if you don’t test, there’s no cases.” the purpose of words is not to describe the world, but to prescribe it. therefore whoever can speak loudest, and get the most people to speak with them, has the power to literally remake the world. they think “proving” something is just coming up with the right sequence of words that sound convincing enough, regardless of whether they correspond to anything in the physical world

that’s why they think, for example, that addressing the existence of gay people turns more people gay

fox once again imagining a much more based world to get mad about

new age ambience nightcore edit

ah, I see. I often forget that there are people who are somehow entertained by simply saying something that doesn’t make sense without being underlain by any implication that could actually be construed as humorous

I think you mean, better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it

in all cases, regardless of other factors, a situation where you do not need a gun is better than a situation where you do

oh, that makes more sense. I thought it was a crab-walk pose, but couldn’t understand why the capture area would include so much empty space underneath

that’s not the half of it, at dinner she served her pet cat

I feel like that would have come up at some point during my two years of thermodynamics classes where we were constantly using ∆T. just did a search for “C°” in quotes, and for delta T; first one returned nothing, second showed a bunch of sources where the units of ∆T were °C. any idea where you might have heard this?

you’ve got me, I don’t know what C° is, I only know °C

close, it’s actually Bugweiser