My followers are extremely fickle. If I were to switch to another url I bet most of them would leave in a heartbeat (probably to start following you). I don’t think I should risk it.

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Explain what you would do with it, and how that would be better than what I’m doing with it. If you make a sufficiently good case, I might be persuaded that the greater good requires me to give it up.

But please understand, I’ve been issuing this challenge to url suitors for a while now, and so far I’ve been, in the words of one such suitor, “a stubborn little fucker” about hanging onto it. So there’s that.

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I know, right?

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christinelinnell:

recoverykitty:

“I’ve read interviews where certain big female stars are like, “I’m not a feminist.” I’m like, That’s not what it’s about. She’s great, but I listened to that Lana Del Rey record and the whole time I was just thinking it’s so unhealthy for young girls to be listening to, you know: “I’m nothing without you.” This sort of shirt-tugging, desperate, don’t leave me stuff. That’s not a good thing for young girls, even young people, to hear.” (x)

God fucking bless

Do be patient with me, I’m going through a thing with Lorde right now.

Heh. Everyone in my immediate family (except me) is really plugged into popular music. Meanwhile I get this weird smattering of artists that happen to pop up on my Pandora stations (which themselves tend to be weirdly specific and unrelated to anything particularly current), plus whatever happens to come across my dash. But basically the running joke around here is how “John’s/dad’s music is so weird/outdated/uncool” (except when it’s not, which sometimes happens, too, in that something I like will turn out to accidentally have hipster cred, though that tends to be explained as exception-that-proves).

So it was funny the other day when I mentioned to Linda, “so, I really like ‘Royals’, and was listening to some of Lorde’s other music. Is she popular?”

Literal spousal eye roll. “John, I’ve _taught_ it.” (She teaches voice, piano, and guitar.) Apparently one of her young charges was sufficiently enamored to request “Royals”, which means at some point in the last few months I probably was in the house while Linda was working out and teaching the song.

Maybe that’s why it sounded familiar when I first heard it.

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dduane:

lumos5000:

fimblesarebest:

theguff:

wickedlovelyperfectlyimperfect:

This is a picture from the Curiosity Rover on Mars showing Earth from the Perspective of Mars. You are literally looking at your home from the Perspective of another planet. Epic times indeed

I hate how I look in this picture.

but you and your favorite celebrity are in the same photo. isn’t that amazing?

It would be if it wasn’t Photoshopped.

Sorry, guys, this is a fake. In fact if you look very closely at one of the corners, you can see the branding of the software that produced it.

(sigh) The reality’s wonderful enough. Why do people have to tell lies about it?

(I ran this past Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, and he confirms. ETA: Here’s the link to that posting, along with images of some other fakes.)

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fuck-yeah-aquascaping:

Timucin Sagel’s tank is just unreal.

I am not such a big fan of the grand sceneries of the tanks that usually make the top of the list, but I hope I could create a scape like this at some point of my life. 

I started getting tired of the “tree” thing after seeing it so often, but this one…

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spaceplasma:

Twilight phenomena

Twilight phenomenon is produced when unburned particles of missile or rocket propellant and water left in the vapor trail of a launch vehicle condenses, freezes and then expands in the less dense upper atmosphere. The exhaust plume, which is suspended against a dark sky is then illuminated by reflective high altitude sunlight, which produces a spectacular, colorful effect when seen at ground level. The phenomenon typically occurs with launches that take place either 30 to 60 minutes before sunrise or after sunset when a booster rocket or missile rises out of the darkness and into a sunlit area, relative to an observer’s perspective on the ground.

This phenomenon usually produces a cloud of green, blue, white and rose colored hues which takes on a corkscrew appearance as it is whipped around by wind currents. It is seen within two to three minutes after a launch has occurred. Depending on weather conditions, it could remain in the sky for up to half an hour before dispersing.

Pre-dawn launches are probably less spectacular than their dusk counterparts. During dusk launches, the sunlight shines through the exhaust plume. Pre-dawn launches, on the other hand, produce a more subtle display because the sunlight directly reflects off the plume.

Living in southern California, I’ve seen these several times after a Vandenburg launch. I remember one in particular when I was living in Redondo Beach in the apartment on Carnegie Lane, which would have made it 1986 or so. Or maybe it was later, when we were renting the house with bad plumbing on Lynngrove Dr.; that would have been 1994-ish. Weird that I can’t remember which it was. But it was one or the other.

I remember the moment itself clearly. We had ordered takeout from a Mexican restaurant on Highland Avenue, down near the beach, and I’d driven down and found parking a block or so away. I was walking north on the east side of Highland toward the restaurant. The sky was clear, with that warm, half-hour-after-sunset glow.

As I admired the view I saw what looked like a bright star or planet low in the west. It was like Venus, except I knew Venus wasn’t there. It rose, slowly at first and then faster, and as it rose it brightened, and the brighter it got the more trouble I had convincing myself it was a helicopter or an aircraft with its landing lights on.

Then staging happened. The bright dot bloomed into a big, translucent bubble, and as the central dot reappeared and continued crawling upward I could see the contrail, and I finally knew what it was. I watched as the rocket winked out at the end of its burn, then watched the backlit contrail twist in the high-altitude wind until it looked just like those images above.

I wanted to share the moment. I looked at the people passing by, but no one made eye contact. No one followed my gaze. They just stepped around me and kept walking, heads down.

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!!!

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“It’s not like… I order a large herbal tea from a cafe, and I try it, and it’s definitely not herbal, so then I tell the woman who made it but she insists it IS herbal, so then I drink it anyway even though I know it’s not what I ordered, and then I realize I forgot to put clothes on.”

– The Autobiography of Jane Eyre, Ep. 29: Babies

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designcloud:

Steal Like An Artist.

You don’t need to be a genius, you just need to be yourself. That’s the message from Austin Kleon, a young writer and artist who knows that creativity is everywhere, creativity is for everyone. A manifesto for the digital age, Steal Like an Artist is a guide whose positive message, graphic look and illustrations, exercises, and examples will put readers directly in touch with their artistic side.

When Mr. Kleon was asked to address college students in upstate New York, he shaped his speech around the ten things he wished someone had told him when he was starting out. The talk went viral, and its author dug deeper into his own ideas to create Steal Like an Artist, the book. The result is inspiring, hip, original, practical, and entertaining. And filled with new truths about creativity: Nothing is original, so embrace influence, collect ideas, and remix and re-imagine to discover your own path. Follow your interests wherever they take you. Stay smart, stay out of debt, and risk being boring—the creative you will need to make room to be wild and daring in your imagination.

Get it here.

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rainbowrowell:

siminib:

nicoeatsbooks:

artydeskart:

My love and appreciation for Fangirl is kind of indescribable.

Awww I love this one!

I especially love the hands.

SO GOOD.

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fairy-wren:

Blue Throated Bee Eaters. Photos by Graeme

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fishingboatproceeds:

A very sensible, straightforward, and important video from Hank about climate change.

I think sometimes people don’t think too much about climate change because it’s overwhelming or because there are “competing narratives” or whatever, but it’s probably the most important problem facing our species (and most other species), and we need to understand and acknowledge it.

It’s true: I’ve said some kind of whiny things about Hank’s ego lately, but he’s talking about stuff he knows here, and does a good job,

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mucholderthen:

A ROGUES GALLERY
of UNTREATABLE ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT ORGANISMS
Courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]
Microorganisms with names in bold are shown in illustrations above, in the order listed.

Microorganisms with a Threat Level of Urgent

1. Clostridium difficile
2. Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae 
3. Drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae 

Microorganisms with a Threat Level of Serious 

1. Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter 
2. Drug-resistant Campylobacter 
3. Fluconazole-resistant Candida (a fungus)
4. Extended spectrum β-lactamase producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBLs) 
5. Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE)  
6. Multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa 
7. Drug-resistant non-typhoidal Salmonella 
8. Drug-resistant SalmonellaTyphi 
9. Drug-resistant Shigella  
10. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
11. Drug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae 
12. Drug-resistant tuberculosis  

Microorganisms with a Threat Level of Concerning

1. Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA)
2. Erythromycin-resistant Group A Streptococcus
3. Clindamycin-resistant Group B Streptococcus 

Source: CDC Drug-Resistant Health Threats

So, kids, the next time someone says to you, “You might as well take an antibiotic, it can’t hurt,” just say no!

I know someone who would have been really into this. She doesn’t follow me, but maybe she’ll come across it somewhere else.

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bourbakiaxiom:

Art History Meme | Regions 3/3 Paris for Australian Artists

1. A Summer Morning, c 1897, by Rupert Bunny, Paris
2. Mrs Conder in pink c.1901, by Charles Conder, Paris
3. The Green Parasol, 1912, E. Phillips Fox, Paris

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gandalf1202:

Aaron Westerberg – Admiration on Flickr.

Native California Aaron Westerberg grew up in San Diego. It was a class in traditional life drawing that drew him to continue his art training. He studied with Jeff Watts and later attended the California Art Institute, where he taught and expanded his focus to include the works of nineteenth century American and European Masters. Aaron feels a connection to these great painters of form and light. In his paintings, he strives for elegance and timelessness while striking a balance between classic techniques and contemporary subject matter. Currently Aaron lives in Santa Clarita with his wife Jennifer and four children Stella, Lucy, Violet, and Sen Sei.

See: www.westerberg-fineart.com

[RayMar Art Fine Art Competition – Oil on canvas, 48 x 24 inches]

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siminiblocker:

“A freelance life, a life in the arts, is sometimes like putting messages in bottles, on desert island, and hoping that someone will find one of your bottles and open it and read it, and put something in a bottle that will wash its way back to you: appreciation, or a commission, or money, or love. And you have to accept that you may put out a hundred things for every bottle that winds up coming back.” – Neil Gaiman, “Make Good Art”  

Started this a back when he gave the speech because the comparison felt so true. Anyways… recently found the file and finished it up.

Still true.

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“I had originally not wanted to see Galaxy Quest because I heard that it was making fun of Star Trek, and then Jonathan Frakes rang me up and said ‘You must not miss this movie! See it on a Saturday night in a full theatre.’ And I did, and of course I found it was brilliant. Brilliant. No one laughed louder or longer in the cinema than I did, but the idea that the ship was saved and all of our heroes in that movie were saved simply by the fact that there were fans who did understand the scientific principles on which the ship worked was absolutely wonderful. And it was both funny and also touching in that it paid tribute to the dedication of these fans.”

–

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windandwater:

In time of silver rain When spring
And life
Are new.

—Langston Hughes

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