this, on the other hand, is not adorable.
how can an ebook even have a limited number of copies @jinandtakaya @shadesofmauve can you explain this to me
(I’m assuming the answer is something something licensing something $$$$$$ but that doesn’t make it less weird.)
False scarcity bullshit. Publishers and Ebook distributers wanted at LEAST as much profit as they get w traditional books, so they place arbitrary limitations to make a digital, infinitely copyable resource work as much like a physical book as possible, if not worse. Ebook contracts usually only allow a finite number of checkouts before they must by repurchased, too.
To the intense annoyance of basicaly everyone.
Category: Tumblr crossposts
Crossposts from tumblr (for posterity)
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186,000 Republicans showed up to caucus in Iowa, 65,000 more than four years ago. It was the first time for the majority of them. 60% of Dems were over 45 and went to Hillary. Sanders got the youth vote but only 17% of youth showed up, down from the previous 22%. Youths HAVE to vote. They’re going to carry this election, if they’d just TRY.
VOTE! GODDAMMIT, VOTE!!!
*Shakes cane at US Tumblrites!*
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I can’t tell what my favorite part is, but it’s either
- scientists wasting budget and time to see if ants count their steps
- the idea to put ants on stilts
- there had to be a guy who made ant stilts and put them on the ants
- confused ants
OR E. All of the above.
BUT WAIT THERES MORE!
Can mantids wear and see in 3D glasses? YES
THEY PUT LITTLE GLASSES ON MANTIDS
Do honey bees suffer from sleep deprivation? YES
Here is the BEE INSOMNIATOR.
They put MAGNETS ON BEES and WIGGLED THEM TO KEEP THEM AWAKE
How do scales help snakes move?
Well they put SNAKES IN LITTLE SHIRTS to find out!
SHRIMPS ON A TREADMILL
biology is the greatest
bad and naughty children get put into the bee wiggler to atone for their sins
The best thing about the ant one is that somebody clearly was like “Oh well ants probably count their steps” and that was just like… a thought that came into their head.
THE BEE WIGGLER
This demonstrates that discovery requires madness.
gravity was discovered because Newton just so happened to have an apple fall on his napping ass what do you think science is
This is a cool post but AAAH I need to talk about the ants.
>somebody clearly was like “Oh well ants probably count their steps” and that was just like… a thought that came into their head.
Not just any ants–desert ants! See, most ants lay down scent trails to find their way around. But in the desert the damn ground blows away constantly. So how do desert ants find their way around? Maybe they count.
>scientists wasting budget and time to see if ants count their steps
Okay but like. Ants can count. Ants have teeny teeny tiny brains and they can count. Do you know how teeny an ant brain is? Because I have spent time dissecting them out and let me tell you it is one of the most ridiculous occupations I have ever engaged in. They are like period sized. <–these things here at either end–>.
And the really cool thing about finding out that a teeny tiny brain can do a thing, is that the brains are simple enough that we actually might have a shot at figuring out precisely how they efficiently encode the ability to count. And then we can apply that to things like math and computers and living human brains, which we aren’t allowed to dissect very much because reasons.
Also, this was an awesomely clever experiment because do you want to know the budget for gluing stilts on ants to see what happens? Really small. Like ant brains.
>there had to be a guy who made ant stilts and put them on the ants
Their names were Matthias Wittlinger, Rudiger Wehner, and Harald Wolf, and the stilts were boar hairs! Also there was a second part of the experiment where they trimmed the ant legs to make them take shorter steps, but no one ever talks about that part because it’s less cute and more morbid. :O (It’s… slightly less morbid when you know this kind of thing happens naturally to ants with age and high temperatures. Life is hard for ants. But they are excellent at counting.)
>Science.
I know right?
Okay now I want you to talk about the mantis glasses and the bee wiggler.
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Despite the grey day, we took a slightly indirect route home… Make the journey part of the trip… on Flickr.
Despite the grey day, we took a slightly indirect route home… Make the journey part of the trip…
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But where are the piles of empty boxes? on Flickr.
But where are the piles of empty boxes?
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This isn’t space related. But this needs exposure immediately.
This person is talking about the crisis of obtaining fresh water in their town of Flint, Michigan.
this is literally so horrifying
Oh my god.
This is so truly terrifying
Fucking incredible
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Margaret i dnt think they’re open on sundays
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Do you have any ideas for how Roughwood Seed Collection can reach our fundraising goal? William Woys Weaver’s private collection of nearly 4,000 rare, endangered, and beautiful varieties of heirloom seeds has been around for over 80 years. It is now at risk of being lost unless we get startup money to create and grow our small seed business so that it can support itself and so we can get these important seeds into many hands! Are there any specific people, organizations, foundations, or platforms who you think would be excited to promote and save this historic and important collection? Please please let us know! We need lots of seed sales, lots of small donations, and/or some major ones for us to continue this work. Thanks!
Indiegogo link here! Buy our seeds here!
More info about the collection, from William Woys Weaver himself:
“The Roughwood Seed Collection, which now comprises about 4,000 varieties of heirloom food plants, was begun informally in 1932 by my grandfather H. Ralph Weaver (1896-1956). During the Great Depression, when food was scarce for many households, he set out to feed his family from a one-acre plot in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Since he had been working on the Weaver family genealogy, my grandfather used his Lancaster County family connections to acquire heirloom seeds that had been grown in the Dutch Country for many generations. His passion for rare old-time varieties snowballed so that by the 1940s he managed to create one of the finest kitchen gardens in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Among the many frequent visitors to his garden was West Chester folk artist Horace Pippin from whom he acquired many rare peppers (such as the Fish Pepper, Pippin’s Golden Honey, and Buena Mulata).
My grandfather’s untimely death brought an abrupt end to his chapter of the Roughwood Seed Collection story. Some 10 years later, while a student at the University of Virginia, I discovered his seed collection at the bottom of my grandmother’s deep freezer. My grandfather knew that by freezing seeds they could be kept for a long time, so by this stroke of luck, many of his most valuable seeds were still viable when I began to tinker with them. By the mid-1970s I brought most of his original garden back under cultivation.
In 1979, I moved the seed collection to Devon, Pennsylvania. Since the collection had no official name, I dubbed it the Roughwood Seed Collection after the Victorian name of the old house in which I now live. Since moving the collection to Devon, it has grown dramatically over the years; many are unique and not found in other seed collections.Highly talented seedsman and garden specialist (and musician), Owen Taylorcame to work for me and in 2014 became the Roughwood Seed Collection Manager. He has given the collection its long-needed re-cataloging and computerization, thus we are now able to organize successful workshops on heirlooms, seed saving, and even cooking with heirlooms. With the collaboration of several select organic growers, we are now planting large-scale GMO-free seed crops at Kutztown University, Fields Edge Farm in Lancaster County (Twitter: Alex Wenger @thefieldsedge), and Hill Creek Farm in Chester County (HillCreekFarmPA.com). Our rare Limited Edition seeds are available for sale via the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company in Mansfield, Missouri andHudson Valley Seed Library in Accord, NY.”
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When you broke but you woke
Wait… Guys what?
Is this what you guys think it means when GMO comes up in conversation?
Do you know what else is a GMO?
Dogs. Literally ALL dogs have had their genetics modified to make them more docile, loyal, trusting, energetic, obedient ect.
Ears of corn used to be the size of your thumb. Through selective ‘breeding’ we chose the strains of corn that were the biggest, fastest growing, most resilient ect. Ect.
THAT is a GMO. I don’t know where the idea that genetic modification meant they’re injecting your food stuffs with chemicals to change its DNA. That’s not how it works.
However, they ARE spraying your veggies with pesticides and that is something you should be worried about.
Companies like Monsanto are evil. But not because they are breeding crops to feed more people. But because they’re monopolizing the farming market, sueing farmers who share a geographic area and have some of the same strains of crops in their fields because of unavoidable cross pollination and lying about their business practices.
This is Normal Borlaug. In 1942 he received his Ph. D in plant pathology and genetics. In Mexico, he developed semi-dwarf, high-yield, disease resistant varieties of wheat. A genetically modified food. He introduced these to Mexico, Pakistan and India, resulting in double the wheat yields in a 5 year span. In 1970, Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for saving one billion lives from starvation, and contributing to world peace through increasing the world food supply.
Genetically modified food is great.
This, a thousand fucking times this. Privilege is spouting and spreading pseudo-science bullshit you saw on your Facebook feed or on Twitter because unlike people in drought and famine prone areas of the world, you have the option to do just that. Those other parts of the world that don’t have the benefit of a food surplus and can’t pick and choose what they eat depend on GMOs to not die of starvation or watch their children waste away.
I despise Monsanto as much as the next person and if they ever go out of business, I’ll be the first to dance a jig, but condemning GMOs just because one megacorp is a pile of shitbags is beyond idiotic. If scientists can create new strains of seeds that can withstand disease, pests, all while yielding more foodstuff, then we should be throwing our support behind them.
Also, “They are feeding us chemicals!” is a fundamentally ridiculous statement.
Why?
As a chemist, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret:
Everything is chemicals.