AmandaIsNerdley.

"In short, to anyone with dating experience, “nice guy” sounds like “essentially lackluster, if..."

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 13:23:41 -0400

“In short, to anyone with dating experience, “nice guy” sounds like “essentially lackluster, if largely unobjectionable male person.” And this is what you’re presenting as your best trait. This is what you aspire to. Now, I hear some of you complaining “women always say they want a nice guy.” I know lots of women — I’m even related to a few — and I can’t say I’ve ever heard any of them say that. I can’t prove it, but this sounds like one of those things stand-up comedians say about women and everyone else just repeats. I’ve also never known a woman who cries when she breaks a nail — although I’ve known a few who swear like a 15-year-old sailor in jail — and I’ve never had a woman ask me if her outfit made her look fat unless she actually wanted and subsequently appreciated my opinion. So either I’ve stumbled upon a secret trove of women who aren’t passive-aggressive sob machines, or you need to stop mistaking Dane Cook routines for peer-reviewed sociological studies. At any rate, if a woman does say “I just wish I could find a nice guy,” I would suggest this is the equivalent of “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.” Which is to say, she’s not hoping you’ll say, “You’re in luck, I have a dead horse in my backyard!” The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis states that the way you use language shapes your perception of the world. (This should not be confused with the Sapir-Worf hypothesis, which states that the Romulans are lying and we should raise shields.) So maybe you’d become a better person if you started by not using such a flaccid, pallid term to refer to yourself. Here’s my suggestion: Instead of trying to be a nice guy, aspire to be a good man. You might be surprised at the results.”

- Alt Text: Taking Another Look at the Myth of the ‘Nice Guy’ | Underwire | Wired.com (via bulletinaweave)

comedycentral: This was magical. If you ever needed a reason to...

Sat, 04 May 2013 00:41:04 -0400

comedycentral:

This was magical.

If you ever needed a reason to follow @TheDailyShow, this is it.

Here’s the original segment, in case you missed it.

This shit is why I lalalove Twitter.

avengerco: Behind every stack of books is a ton of knowledge.

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 00:55:42 -0400

avengerco:

Behind every stack of books is a ton of knowledge.

nevver: Europa

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 00:48:45 -0400

nevver:

Europa

I wish more than anything that I had just been born into a normal family. It’s hard to explain...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 01:09:42 -0500

I wish more than anything that I had just been born into a normal family. It’s hard to explain just how fucked up everything was. I would really like to move on with my life and just forget it all. Lock it up someplace inside me where it can’t hurt anymore and pretend I know what it’s like to be happy. But I fucking can’t. And I never will. Congratulations. You broke me so thoroughly I can’t even imagine letting myself love freely. Although I guess I should thank you for making me so desperate to get out that I haven’t once looked back. People ask me if I miss you, you know. Miss you? It’s hard to miss the person who told me daily that I was nothing. Hard to miss the person who told me that it should’ve been me. Hard to miss the person who sent me to school with busted lips and bruises.

I’m sad. I’m incredibly fucking sad. Everyday. Because I just don’t think I can fix myself. Honestly, the only fucking reason I’m still alive is because I’m lucky enough to know that if I weren’t, there are a few people in my life who would, in turn, become utterly broken themselves. At least for a little while. And if there’s anything I want to never do, it’s break someone like you broke me.

ikenbot: rzinz: So let me tell you about some of the...

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 17:42:50 -0500

ikenbot:

rzinz:

So let me tell you about some of the most adorable research about beetles going on right now.

Done by Marie Dacke and Jochen Smolka (and many others) this work has led to many interesting insights, all of which are overshadowed by the research methods of the group.

Namely, these guys love to put clothes on beetles.

The picture on the right of the dung beetle (Scarabaeus lamarcki) wearing some stylish green silicon boots comes from the much-publicized paper in late 2012 by Smolka et al entitled “Dung Beetles use their dung ball as a thermal refuge”. Published in Current Biology, this paper found out that the balls of dung constructed and rolled around by the intrepid little dung beetles provided the beetles with a place to escape the scorching desert sand. Not only that, the dung balls also acted as a heat sink!

Since the balls are cooler than the surrounding sand, they absorb heat from it. Dung beetles push their balls in front of them as they move through the desert, and this can actually lower the temperature of the surrounding sand by 1.5 degrees C. (This is about 34 degrees Fahrenheit, for all those unfamiliar with metric).

Back to the boots- Smolka et al coated the beetle’s legs with heat-resistant silicon in order to gauge which legs the beetles use to sense heat. It turns out they seem to sense the hot sand with the protibia of their front legs.

The picture on the left shows a beetle with a rather dashing hat. This hat was used in the 2013 paper by Dacke et al titled “Dung Beetles use Milky Way for orientation”, also published in Current Biology.

In this paper, the authors determined that a different species of dung beetle (Scarabaeus satyrus) used not only stars in the night sky, but specifically the Milky Way galaxy to keep themselves rolling their dung ball in a straight line.

When the beetle’s vision was obscured with these stylish hats, they took significantly longer to push their dung ball out of a predetermined arena because they couldn’t seem to push it in a straight line.

A further battery of tests confirmed that these beetles actually use the Milky way galaxy specifically to orient themselves and keep moving in a straight line.

With all that in mind, I encourage whomever reads this to go and put clothes on any animal you find, and record your observations.

Trust me, it is for science.

I was reading about this the other day and let me say, it has given me a new found appreciation for dung beetles. Next time you see em basking in dung, keep this in mind. They’re little crapstronomers.

ichthyologist: Pelagic Tunicate Free swimming tunicates can be...

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 17:38:35 -0500

ichthyologist:

Pelagic Tunicate

Free swimming tunicates can be divided into three major orders: salps, diliolids and pyrosomes. All are filter feeders, collecting plankton in strands of mucus as they drift around in the ocean currents.

Nick Hobgood on Flickr

Photo

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:43:37 -0500

New Study Shows Anti-Choice Policies Leading to Widespread Arrests of and Forced Interventions on Pregnant Women

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 18:16:31 -0500

New Study Shows Anti-Choice Policies Leading to Widespread Arrests of and Forced Interventions on Pregnant Women:

bebinn:

stfuprolife:

•A woman in Utah gave birth to twins. When one was stillborn, she was arrested and charged with criminal homicide based on the claim that her decision to delay cesarean surgery was the cause of the stillbirth.

•After a hearing that lasted less than a day, a court issued an order requiring a critically-ill pregnant woman in Washington, D.C. to undergo cesarean surgery over her objections. Neither she nor her baby survived.

•A judge in Ohio kept a woman imprisoned to prevent her from having an abortion.

•A woman in Oregon who did not comply with a doctor’s recommendation to have additional testing for gestational diabetes was subjected to involuntary civil commitment. During her detention, the additional testing was never performed.

•A Louisiana woman was charged with murder and spent approximately a year in jail before her counsel was able to show that what was deemed a murder of a fetus or newborn was actually a miscarriage that resulted from medication given to her by a health care provider.

•In Texas, a pregnant woman who sometimes smoked marijuana to ease nausea and boost her appetite gave birth to healthy twins. She was arrested for delivery of a controlled substance to a minor.

•A doctor in Wisconsin had concerns about a woman’s plans to have her birth attended by a midwife. As a result, a civil court order of protective custody for the woman’s fetus was obtained. The order authorized the sheriff’s department to take the woman into custody, transport her to a hospital, and subject her to involuntary testing and medical treatment.

Who could have seen this coming?

stellar-indulgence: Bird’s Nest Fungi (Nidulariaceae) Credit:...

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 14:47:07 -0500

stellar-indulgence:

Bird’s Nest Fungi (Nidulariaceae)

Credit: Steve Axford

These odd and fascinating little fungi look for all the world like tiny birds’ nests. The fruiting bodies form little cup-like nests which contain spore-filled eggs. The nests are called “peridia” (“peridium” in the singular), and serve as splash cups; when raindrops strike the nest, the eggs (called “periodoles”) are projected into the air, and they latch onto twigs, branches, leaves, and so on. What exactly happens next is not completely clear, but eventually the spores are dispersed from the egg. They then germinate and create mycelia, which eventually hook up with other mycelia and produce more fruiting bodies.

Five genera—Nidula, Nidularia, Mycocalia, Crucibulum, andCyathus—are included in the bird’s nest family, which is called the Nidulariaceae. In North America the majority of the bird’s nest fungi are subtropical and tropical, but a handful of species can be found north of the Gulf Coast. Identifying the bird’s nest fungi is a matter of careful inspection of physical features (you may need a magnifying glass) and, occasionally, microscopic analysis.

Source: [x]

bloodyhellhptattoos: Hedwigs theme around my ankle, freshly...

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 17:43:13 -0500

bloodyhellhptattoos:

Hedwigs theme around my ankle, freshly done today! I was on a waiting list for 6 months and I’ve finally got it!

generation-swine.tumblr.com

bigbardafree: #cant deal with these fake geek boys and their...

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 00:48:56 -0500

bigbardafree:

#cant deal with these fake geek boys and their slutty costumes

jtotheizzoe: There Are Whales Alive Today That Are Older Than...

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 19:53:58 -0500

jtotheizzoe:

There Are Whales Alive Today That Are Older Than Moby Dick!

Eskimo hunters, whaling off the coast of Alaska, discovered 19th century stone and metal harpoon tips embedded in the blubber of bowhead whales. That means these relatives of humpbacks and other baleen whales were dodging harpoons as far back as the 1870’s!

Of course, Herman Melville published Moby Dick in 1851, so dating harpoons just means they were born sometime before 1879. Biologist Craig George decided to use a technique that measures certain protein chemistry in the whales eyes (basically as whales age, their eyes accumulate certain amino acids) to date them more accurately.

The result? There are likely bowhead whales out there that are more than 200 years old! That makes them older than any known tortoise, and perhaps the oldest animal on Earth! Check out more at Smithsonian.

They still don’t have anything on trees when it comes to age, though.