Small and angry.PhD student. Mathematics. Slow person. Side blog, follow with @talrg.
213 posts
Since I already brought up my university’s chaplain once today, I thought I’d share with you the best advice he ever gave me.
If someone is suffering and you want to help, instead of saying “let me know if there’s anything I can do,” offer a few options of things you know you can do.
“Can I do your dishes while you study for your exam?”
“Would it help if I came to the waiting room with you?”
“I can distract you if you like.”
When someone’s suffering, making them choose how to be helped can sometimes be an extra burden, especially if they don’t know how serious your offer is. By giving examples, they only need to say yes/no, and they know you wouldn’t offer anything too big for you to handle.
me: *puts effort into my appearance before i go out anywhere* *checks myself out in any reflective surface i encounter* *observes myself in the mirror from the perspective of a stranger*
the unavoidable presence of margaret atwood that resides permanently in my consciousness:
ESO’s La Silla Observatory over the night sky
Image credit: ESO
24/03/2019
🎶🎧 I Wanna Get Better - Bleachers
friday the 24th of may 2019
hi! i have a week of break now yay and i’ll be less active here sorry
but here’s a pic that i took a month ago when i was studying for chemistry while we were in usa for a road trip!!
zoned out
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What I really hate about younger people in fandom asking older fangirls why they’re “still” in fandom is that it’s the outcome of a misogynistic lack of representation for older women to be seen as people who have fun and fuck off.We never ask dude fans the same question. We have all kinds of cultural narratives of dude’s fucking off, playing videogames well into their 40s. And even when these narratives aren’t 100% sympathetic (ie: the perpetual manchild), there’s always this sort of exasperation around it like, what can you do? Boys will be boys. But when women age into fandom, there’s a whole lotta confusion around her very existence. When a younger fan wants to know why I’m here, in this space, they seem genuinely confused and uncomfortable. Because what are our archetypes for older woman: wife, mother, cougar even. Not womanchild. Not fuckoff. Not fangirl. Men are allowed seemingly childish pursuits but women better get in the kitchen and start scrapbooking.
y’all deserve to hear the good news too, and yes i fact checked these.
7 miles of habitat for bees will be planted in london
the biggest coal plant in north america has been converted to solar panels
roads in edinburgh will close once a month to help pollution
maine has banned styrofoam
new york city and los angeles have both made “green new deals”
The london marathon replaced 200,000 single use water bottles with seaweed water pods
the bees in notre dame survived the fire, and the roof could possibly built in a more eco-friendly way.
the population of flightless kakapos (a cool bird) is rising
the carbon emissions in the uk are the lowest they’ve been since 1998
Another large bee habitat (.5 mil acres) has been created
there is a robot that delivers young coral to help repopulate the great barrier reef
portugal plans to stop using plastic on fruit, vegetables, and bread by 2020
106 new species of bees have been discovered in australia since 2010
a group of Sikhs plan to plant 1,000,000 trees as a gift to the earth
disney has made a mickey-shaped solar farm
Morgan freeman turned a 124 acre ranch in mississippi to a bee habitat
China plans on making a “forest city” to help clean up their air
An increasing amount of countries and states are beginning to ban single use plastics.
A couple replanted a whole forest in brazil (2.7 mil trees) in 20 years, and the animals have come back to live there
The hole in the ozone layer is repairing itself more each year
China plans on spending 360 billion dollars to improve renewable energy and has scrapped plans for coal powered plants that were going to be built.
A national park has been built in the amazon (3.3 mil acres in peru) to preserve the rainforest
Ireland and the uk have declared a climate emergency
The guy who played aquaman (jason momoa) has spent 31,000 dollars to help clean up plastic
South korea is now recycling 95% of food waste
There is a cleanup campaign being planned for mt. everest
Puerto rico wants to use all renewable energy by 2050 and is setting official goals for that
Some schools have special water bottle fill-up stations that encourage you to use refill and reuse plastic bottles rather than throwing them out after one use, these are becoming more common.
9 endangered species are thought to make a comeback this year
20 countries in africa are planning to make a “green wall” of trees and plants that will span the width of africa to stop desertification
recently, a lot of volunteers and organizations are planting a ton of trees.
Awareness about the environment and climate change is growing super fast right now among people and countries, which will only help us
Most pollution is caused by like 100 companies, but a few of those (like pepsi) are trying to cut down on that.
if this stuff keeps happening things will get even better, and the only thing stopping us really are those big companies who don’t want to pay the money to switch to more eco-friendly energy sources. i know the media tends to cause fear and stress about this stuff for a lot of people, but there really is hope.
easy things we can do:
Recycle
Plant gardens in your yard for bees if you can
Participate in community volunteer things that plant trees and gardens
Theres this search engine called ecosia that plants a tree for every 45 searches you make, it has almost 2 mil users.
Pick up trash if you see it when you’re at the beach or in nature
If you have a fair amount of money, consider donating some to trustworthy environmental organizations
Start using a reusable water bottle (like those ones at target) rather than relying on single use plastic ones.
Cut the plastic rings on plastic milk bottles. You know, the little spiky plastic ring near the cap. Birds get those things stuck around their neck and die, so cut them so that they can’t get stuck on a neck.
If you can afford it, get some of those reusable grocery bags and sue those. most grocery stores have them, and it saves a lot of waste.
Don’t worry. Start now. Get up, take a few deep breaths, stretch, count to ten with your eyes closed. Then take out your books and a notebook and a pen. Get on with it. Start reading, annotating, take down your notes. If you feel your focus faltering, sit back, take a few deep breaths, walk around a bit, get back to your books. It’s never too late.
I really love my family, but it was supposed to be a quiet weekend and now it’s not and I am stressing out.
The thing is, my family organized a very small lunch tomorrow with my grandmothers but now everyone is showing up and tomorrow I have an eight-hour long lunch with fourteen people. So I’ve spend all morning shopping and now I got a bunch of work that I need to finish plus I have to bake two cakes and pack as I am spending all next week on a conference. Ok, there are all good things, I know. But I don’t know how to chill out, so now I’m an anxiety ball and my headaches are acting out again. Fun life!
Time: “She knows action on climate change won’t happen instantly, but she’s prepared to dedicate years to this cause, even if life in the public eye has its drawbacks.
“When I grow up, I want to be able to look back and say that I did everything I could,” she says. “I think that more people should feel like that.””
The ink-mixed water behind the leaf has a lower surface tension than the water in front of it. While this gradient tries to equalize (Marangoni effect), the different adhesive forces around the leaf pull it along. (Source)
If u don’t fuck a special relativity then we can’t be friends
Iron Man- 0/10. No trains.
The Incredible Hulk- 1/10. No trains, but a verbal reference to the subway.
Iron Man 2- -100/10. No trains, negative 100 points for a cameo by train-hater Elon Musk
Thor- 0/10. No trains in space :(
Captain America: The First Avenger- 7/10. Cool train heist scene, and monorails go by at the World’s Fair
The Avengers- 3/10. A freight train goes by at the beginning. Cap tells the police to get people into the subway, giving hope for more train content that goes unfulfilled. The only scene of Cap riding the subway was deleted.
Iron Man 3- 0/10. No trains.
Thor: The Dark World- 10/10 THOR RIDES THE TRAIN
Captain America: The Winter Soldier- 0/10. No trains.
Guardians of the Galaxy- 0/10. Still no trains in space :(
Avengers: Age of Ultron- 6/10. Okay action scene involving stopping a train.
Ant-Man- 9/10. Fight scene involving Thomas the Tank Engine!!!!
Captain America: Civil War- 1/10. Cap and Sharon meet next to high-speed rail tracks but no trains go by.
Doctor Strange- 6/10. Subways go flying by in the mirror dimension!
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2- 0/10. Still no trains in space :(
Spiderman: Homecoming- 10/10! Peter “Numtot” Parker rides on the train several times and also crashes a car for good measure
Thor: Ragnarok: 0/10. Someone better get some trains in space real soon
Black Panther: 7/10. Cool Wakandan tram goes down the street, and the finale involves a vibranium train!
Avengers: Infinity War: 6/10. Cap emerges from behind a moving train!!
Ant-Man and the Wasp: 0/10. No trains.
Captain Marvel: 11/10 THERE ARE TRAINS IN SPACE!!! TRAINS IN SPACE!!! THERE ARE FINALLY TRAINS IN SPACE!!!! also she rides a train on earth too!!! Carol Danvers: queen of public transportation and my heart
Avengers: Endgame: 0/10. No trains.
This is a video of an Oksapmin woman demonstrating the Oksapmin base-27 counting system. The Oksapmin people of New Guinea use body part counting as a base for their numeral system (which may sound wild and exotic, but is really just a more detailed version of what we do, most anthropologists think base-10 number systems come from humans’ having 10 fingers) starting with the thumb, going up the arm and head to the nose (the 14th number) and going down the other side of the body to the pinky finger of the other hand (the 27th number). It does not matter which side you start counting on, so counting from right-to-left or left-to-right makes no difference.
And if that’s not the coolest thing you’ve ever heard, I don’t know what to tell ya
The fifth season - N. K. Jemisin (spanish edition)
Finish it! And it was incredibly good. Can't wait to begin the second book in the series!
I'm a huge fan of science-fiction and I used to really enjoy fantasy as well, and specially the one with maps at the beginning and new and different worlds, Tolkien style.
But I have kept away from them because it got boring to me. I began to feel like it was always the same: medieval Europe with male white protagonists and dragons or magic.
This book is different. It takes the same base and it innovates. And at the same time gives voice to all the characters that usually don't even have name.
I could talk for hours about it, but I'm terrible at putting words together coherently, so: Really-really good book.
Human invention peaked when we created these bad boys
And that’s the motherfucking tea
Just a reminder that Vincent van Gogh did not eat yellow paint to make himself feel happy, he ate paint, and drank different chemicals because he was suicidal and this is why he was not allowed in his studio while having breakdowns. He also did not paint starry night and his other great works because he was depressed, he painted most of them while he was in recovery and demonstrated his hopefulness and love of the world through this. Most of his great works were painted from his room at a hospital. Van Gogh’s depression should not be glorified. His hope and effort toward a better life, as well as his recovery from depression should be glorified.
Anyone else constantly on edge because we are in the final stages of late capitalism and these next couple of decades are gonna be make or break for the western world, and this just happens to coincide with the part of my life where I’m supposed to make something of myself :/
if you read in a frog paper “specimen was released in the field immediately after capture” chances are very good that what it actually means is
“i dropped the damn frog and despite the fact that we fell all over each other no one could recapture it”
Friendly reminder that Vincent van Gogh willingly checked himself into an asylum so that he could get better, resulting in him creating some of the most iconic paintings of his entire career, done in the asylum, when he was being treated 24/7, because he finally didn’t have to struggle with his demons and could instead focus on his muse, WHICH WERE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS!
Remember this little insignificant painting?
How about this one?
Check this one out:
All of these and more were painted in the asylum when he was receiving treatment for his mental illnesses and I know I just said that but I said it again and I’m saying it a third time until you dramatic abled assholes understand!
VINCENT VAN GOGH
- KNEW THAT HE WAS MENTALLY ILL
- WANTED TO CHANGE THAT
- WENT TO AN ASYLUM
- GOT THE HELP HE NEEDED
- PAINTED SOME ICONIC MASTERPIECES AS A RESULT!
SO DON’T YOU DARE COME OUT HERE WITH THIS, “I WISH I WAS DEPRESSED SO I COULD BE AS CREATIVE AS VAN GOGH” BULLSHIT BECAUSE EVEN HE KNEW THAT HIS DEMONS WERE HARMING HIS WORK, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, HIS HEALTH, AND HE DID EVERYTHING WITHIN HIS POWER TO FIGHT THEM EVERY SINGLE DAY OF HIS LIFE, UNTIL THEY ENDED UP WINNING!
In the early 1990s, Brazilian photo-journalist Sebastião Ribeiro Salgado was stationed in Rwanda to cover the horrific accounts of Rwanda genocide. The on-ground experience left him traumatised. In 1994, he was returning to his home in Minas Gerais, Brazil, with a heavy heart, hoping to find solace in the lap of a lush green forest, where he had grown up.
But, instead, he found dusty, barren land for miles and miles, in place of the forest. In only a few years, his beautiful hometown underwent rampant deforestation, leaving it fallow and devoid of all the wildlife. For him, everything was destroyed. “The land was as sick as I was. Only about 0.5% of the land was covered in trees,’ he shared in an interview with The Guardian. Salgado was shattered.
Saldago’s Wife Wanted to Recreate The Forest
It was at this time that Salgado’s wife Lélia made a near-impossible proposal. She expressed her wish to replant the entire forest. Salgado supported her idea, and together the couple set out on a heroic mission. Brazil Photographer Forest
Salgado bought an abandoned cattle ranch from his parents and started building a network of enthusiastic volunteers and partners who would fund and sustain their mammoth project. In 1998, the couple founded Instituto Terra – the organisation which tirelessly worked to bring a forest back to life.
PNHR Bulcão Farm | by Weverson Rocio – 2012
Salgado sowed the first seed in December 1999. The couple hired around 24 workers in the beginning and was later joined by numerous volunteers over the years. They worked day and night – from uprooting the invasive weeds to planting new seedlings. Soon, their hard work bore fruit as tropical trees native to the region started flourishing in the area. They received a donation of over one lakh saplings which gave rise to a dense forest. The handcrafted forest comprises mostly of local arboreal and shrub varieties. Latest satellite imagery revealed how a soothing green forest cover has enveloped the area which once was a devastating arid eyesore.Since 1998, they have planted more than 2 million saplings of 293 species of trees and rejuvenated 1,502 acres of tropical forest. The biodiversity-rich zone has recently been declared as a Private Natural Heritage Reserve (PNHR).
The Impact of Salgado’s Forest
The afforestation project, which is undoubtedly one of the greatest environmental initiatives in the world, has also helped to control soil erosion and revived the natural springs in the area. Eight water springs which once dried up, flow at around 20 litres per minute at present, relieving the drought-prone region of its woes. Salgado’s forest also happens to solve the much-debated notion about climate change, proving that the trend can be reversed if tried. His forest has resulted in causing more rainfall to the area and cooler weather, bringing a drastic and desirable change in the climate.
Instituto Terra’s Fauna | by Leonardo Merçon – 2012
The most important positive aspect of the forest till now has to be the return of the lost fauna. More than 172 species of birds, 33 species of mammals, 15 species of amphibians and reptiles have been spotted in the forest interiors, something which was beyond imagination two decades ago. Many of the plant and animal species in his forest actually feature on the endangered list.
Efforts For Good
Climate change is a harsh reality. Mankind is bearing the brunt of the relentless destruction they inflicted on the planet. Yet, people like Salgado and Lélia fill us with hope, proving that patience and persistence can be our keys to heal the wounds of nature. If two people can create a 1502-acre forest in just 20 years, then imagine how much can be done if everyone comes together to protect the environment. It must be reminded that for every tree we plant, we are adding 118 kgs of oxygen to the air every year, and reducing the carbon footprint by 22 kgs.
Efforts For Good urges all the readers to actively engage in planting trees and gradually turn this into a fixed habit.
Sources: http://www.scienceinsanity.com/2019/03/brazilian-couple-created-1502-acre.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/bg0ebn/a_couple_decided_to_rebuild_their_deserted_piece/