Emotional support water bottles are human nature confirmed
i just think they're neat
Submitted 5 weeks ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/efe7697d-9e29-47fd-b7d8-18ac269bc13a.png
Comments
Broadfern@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Zwiebel@feddit.org 5 weeks ago
They are edible tho
Warl0k3@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Among other things
The gourd is used traditionally to administer enemas. Along the upper Congo River an enema apparatus is made by making a hole in one end of the gourd for filling it, and using a resin to attach a hollow cane to the gourd’s neck.[52]
which sounds… splintery…
chtk@feddit.nl 5 weeks ago
If only we had told this to Aleksey Tartarov sooner.
Bluewing@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
There is always risk in any medical procedure. Or sexy time fun…
ryedaft@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
They probably just made really good bongs
ruuster13@lemmy.zip 5 weeks ago
Why do you think we say “stoned off his gourd”?
shalafi@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Just going to sit here and stare at this comment for a while.
wetbeardhairs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
And in a pinch, dongs.
jballs@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
jballs@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Why would ancient humans have bothered growing bong gourds when they could have just punched holes in empty beer cans instead?
Contramuffin@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
It probably has to do with weight. Pottery is pretty heavy and I assume this gourd, when hollowed out, isn’t
Ashiette@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
And resistance. Pottery tends to break easily, organic material is more resistant to most types of mechanical stress.
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 4 weeks ago
it also kinda sucks to make pottery actually, tons of work
meanwhile growing gourds is like… put seeds in the ground 4head
carotte@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 weeks ago
holy shit is that why a common word for reusable water bottles in french is gourde??? whoa
WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
You have an accent aggue on your name, so I’m inclined to believe you, but so do I. I do I don’t know how much authority it really imbues. Can you be trusted?
carotte@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 weeks ago
i am to be trusted, in my opinion (which you can trust because i am to be trusted) ☺️
/j
mavu@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
more durable and lighter than pottery.
gourd does the job better.janus2@lemmy.zip 5 weeks ago
also carries water much better than a basket
mavu@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
I hope someone is going to post a “well, actually…” with an obscure wiki link soon, or i might lose my faith in the internet… it’s been almost 8 hours…
Hotzilla@sopuli.xyz 5 weeks ago
There could be some sense figuring first out using plant as water bottle. Old saying is that human survives few minutes without oxygen, few days without water and few weeks without food. Water > Food, and as hunter gatherer, food is around you (berries, roots, game) and you can carry them with you. Drinking water is more scarce and it’s storage is not so easy.
SeptugenarianSenate@leminal.space 5 weeks ago
I saw bucketloads of blackberries growing down in the trees behind the park the other week. But as water with decreased nanoplastic contamination levels continues to become scarce in as many accessible places throughout nearly every system in our environment, Gourd is Good for keeping a filtered fitty (50 fl. ounces) of crystal clear lectrolyzed gulpers on hand in a pinch. It may even prove itself to be Great again, who knows!
Zephorah@discuss.online 5 weeks ago
Consider the luffa next. It’s a squash of sorts that grows on a vine. The inner matrix of the large zucchini looking fruits is the luffa sponge. Zone 10.
faythofdragons@slrpnk.net 5 weeks ago
You can even eat the luffa before it gets too old and fiberous.
Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 weeks ago
Portable water is kind of a big deal technologically, IMO. Especially for a persistence predator species (aka humans).
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Some fun facts: Grover Krantz, the originator of the concept of human persistence hunting (which Wikipedia labels “conjecture”), was better-known as a staunch advocate for the existence of Bigfoot (there is of course no such thing as Bigfoot - it’s obviously a Yeti in a gorilla suit). Interestingly, he didn’t propose it as an explanation for bipedality, one of the unique characteristics of the human lineage, but rather as an explanation for our big brains, speculating that bigger brains would allow persistence hunters to survive a large fraction of their brain neurons dying from the heat stress that would result from long-distance running during the day.
For apparently no reason, Krantz’ skeleton and that of his favorite dog are on display at the Smithsonian.
ImWaitingForRetcons@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Bottle gourds are still eaten pretty regularly in India, and I suspect, other parts of the world too.
Yep, I just checked Wikipedia, and yes, tons of purple around the world still eat it.
Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
tons of purple around the world still eat it.
I wonder what the other colors eat.
humorlessrepost@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
The blues eat away at my life.
SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 weeks ago
I was surprised to see them called inedible. The young gourds are tender and taste like squash.
solarvector@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
I just found my solution to bringing water to a concert without using a shitty plastic bottle.
dumples@midwest.social 5 weeks ago
At the art fair by my house is a lady who makes gourd earrings, birdhouses and instruments. She even wears a gourd hat. She grows them all herself. I tried to grow a luffa this year inspired by her. It failed because they are hard to germinate. Next year I’m doing a bottle gourd
darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
Never wear a hat you haven’t grown yourself.
logicbomb@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
“As you can see, this hat is felted from my own body hair, and the decorative bits? My toenails.”
dumples@midwest.social 5 weeks ago
Real baller move. Time to get some sheep so I can make my own wool hats I guess. The gourd hat is more decorative than functional in the winter
shalafi@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I’m growing bird houses and luffa! Get another pack of luffa seeds. Mine are 2 or 3 years old and almost every one has sprouted. This year I just stuck ‘em in the ground.
Be aware! Once they get rolling they can grow nearly 1’ a day!
a_little_red_rat@hexbear.net 5 weeks ago
This reminds me of Ursula Le Guin’s “bag theory”: that the first tool humans developed, was not a weapon which is usually taught, like a spear, but rather, a bag, to carry things: for example for berries we picked. A nice reframe from the violent status quo.
quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
They were also used as personal flotation devices and floats for fishing nets.
Vanth@reddthat.com 5 weeks ago
I kinda want to get a gourd and stencil “Stanley” on the side.
fossilesque@mander.xyz 5 weeks ago
I’m gonna slap a Coach logo on it and make a new purse. Maybe spray paint it black too.
Genius@lemmy.zip 5 weeks ago
Is that what Gaara kept his sand in?
Cat_Daddy@hexbear.net 5 weeks ago
They make great marlin houses
BodyBySisyphus@hexbear.net 5 weeks ago
The large number of recipes on the internet seems to suggest that they are actually edible, though?
Duranie@leminal.space 5 weeks ago
My mom used to do arts and crafts things with gourds. When she passed there were easily over a dozen laying around the house plus a giant one she had started prepping, but never finished.
She was cremated, and the plans were to bury her in the plot she already had next to my dad. State or county requirements, however, that works, allowed us to be the ones to dig the hole to actually place her urn in the ground. When the time came, her five children, their spouses and many grandchildren gathered to dig a great big hole in the ground. We ended up taking the big gourd that she had been working on and placed it in the ground, then as we filled that with dirt we placed her urn inside the gourd. In the end everyone took shovelfuls and handfuls of earth and covered her up.
I can never look at a gourd without thinking of my mom.
GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
Someday in the distant future, there is going to be a very confused archeologist.
Duranie@leminal.space 5 weeks ago
Lol when it was discussed with the funeral home folks (who gave us the shovel to dig with - left it leaning against the back door of the funeral home the morning of) they just said to let them know when we were done so they could document what was left there for the records.
Yes. This happened in a very, very rural area lol.
chaogomu@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Depending on how far along the prep work on the gourd was, it may have decomposed.
CobblerScholar@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Thats really sweet, thanks for sharing
grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org 5 weeks ago
My dad grew gourdes. One of the happiest pictures I have of him late in life is him standing on the porch, surrounded by gourdes hanging to dry. I have three of his goudes. I also have one of his loufas.
flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
What a delightful way to go!
Love the whole thing. How big was the gourd? (I gather it held the ashes?)