Month: March 2016

nevermindbinarity asked: WHYYY (also the way you formatted the link was clever!)

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

itsbenedict:

(I’m gonna put this in drafts and post it in a couple days, once the story’s over.)

the answer to “WHYYY” is mainly “there really wasn’t any other plausible outcome”. like, if it didn’t happen this way, it would have happened some other way, because there’s no chance in hell Arc would ever have been able to do what it took to avoid it.

(even though “what it takes to avoid it” is just “not making all these complicated strings of terrible decisions”.)

(spoilers under cut)

Keep reading

(more spoilers)

Yeah, I was wondering at first why the hell anyone would believe O when they claimed to be J, since surely they’ve proven themself to be completely untrustworthy from the staff’s POV. And then I thought, it doesn’t really matter in the end. Arc could never be satisfied with the situation as it stands. They would always be determined to get their memory back, die trying, or–as it happens–both. If they didn’t die to the fungus on iteration O, they’d die to it in a future iteration, or get themself shot when they pissed off one of the people-with-guns one time too many. They really were doomed from the moment they were infected.

Although it’s not really enough to manifest over the few cycles we see, the process does progressively cordon off more of the brain over time

It doesn’t manifest? Was I reading too much into the fact that N can come up with a not just a plan, but a plan for how to hide their real plan, in the few seconds they have between seeing Orchard and having Orchard come after them, but O has quotes like this:

He turned to me. “Sorry- quick question- what’s your name?”

I froze. What did he need my name for?

[chain of reasoning cut for space]

“Hey. Your name. Can you tell me?” Gah! I wasn’t done thinking! I held up a finger for silence.

[more reasoning]

I’d paused too long. The guard was getting suspicious. “I’m just asking. This isn’t a trick or anything, just… what’s your name?”

And this:

Everything was happening too fast. I couldn’t stop and think through every implication of what they were saying- they kept saying things, without giving me time to analyze it! I couldn’t move, I couldn’t make a judgment- had 5 gotten her to say that somehow? Is that what someone who’d had their cover blown would say out loud? No, but- it explained 5’s behavior, it was plausible- but it could be a trick. HOW could it be a trick? What was Helium even saying, oh, she was saying more things now-

I mean, when I saw the bit about brain damage with each reset, I kind of figured the problem was that O thinks more slowly than N does.

*Potentially*, Arc could be cured with a specialized treatment plan and a really high-security facility, where they just lock them in with no human contact and no clues whatsoever, and hope they don’t work it out for themselves over months of time to think and theorize and potentially hit upon the right solution by chance. Maybe stick a lot of books and video games in there to distract them with? 

Is there a reason why keeping a patient continuously unconscious for six months wouldn’t work, or is it just impractical for them to actually do?

(At first I wondered if you could even avoid the need for amnesia by doing that, but I suppose even if it would theoretically work and they had enough supplies, it would be hard to ensure people are always completely unconscious and not dreaming of elephants.)

Tags:

#cordyceps tcftog #reply via reblog #cordyceps spoilers #not sure what happens to a thread with multiple cuts like this #we’ll find out

Image ~ ~ Brin ~ 1 Comment

So, um, I…I…

(oh god, how do I even word this, it is too exciting for words)

Let’s go with this:

I am now the proud owner of the second-rarest familiar in the game.

(I am no longer the owner of a Red-Footed Akirbeak, Earth Sprite, Plague Sprite, Arcane Sprite, Ice Sprite, or Golden Bantam Fangar, but those are all easy to replace in comparison.)

(I also no longer own a Boneyard Tatters, Archivists Spellscroll, Sunguard Chest, four Frigid Sashes, or a pile of 110k gems, but owning those was always instrumental, a path toward the goal of this.)

(oh my god, it’s finally here, it’s mine, today’s the day)

(eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee)

Tags:

#JT might be my only follower who speaks Flight Rising jargon well enough to understand what’s going on here #the rest of you will have to take my word for it that this is a very big deal #also I left the currency part of the page intact so you can see how much I have left afterward #the only reason I have that many gems is because two unhatched eggs sold right after I bought the Cog Frog #so I guess I’ve already taken the first step towards getting those other familiars back #(completely worth it) #Flight Rising #oh look an original post

Image ~ ~ Brin ~ 1 Comment

angels-are-watching:

Can we please talk about how our history teacher sent a barbie to the smithsonian as proof of the presence of man two million years ago

 

bonequeer:

pleas,e for the love of God read the whole letter, there are tears streamign down my face rn

 

derinthemadscientist:

Can we please talk about how your history teacher has done this sort of thing enough times that he has his own specimen shelf in the Smithsonian

 

theverysarcasticscientist:

“yours in science” tho

 

sinesalvatorem:

“B. Clams don’t have teeth” is the part where I lost it.

 

stimmyabby:

@zozi-writes

 

coffiend-jackalope:

The letter says:

“Thank you for your latest submission to the Institute, labeled “211-D, layer seven, next to the clothesline post. Hominid skull.” We have gien this specimen a careful and detailed examination and regret to inform you that we disagree with you theory that it represents ‘conclusive proof of the presence of Early Man in Charleston County two million years ago.’ Rather, it appears that what you have found is the head of a Barbie doll, of the variety one of our staff, who has small children, believes to be the ‘Malibu Barbie’. It is evident that you have given a great deal of thought to the analysis of this specimen, and you may be quite certain that those of us who are familiar with your prior work in the field were loathe to come to contradiction with your findings. However, we do feel that there are a number of physical attributes of the specimen which might have tipped you off to it’s modern origin:

  1. The material is molded plastic. Ancient hominid remains are typically fossilized bone.
  2. The cranial capacity of the specimen is approximately 9 cubic centimeters, well below the threshold of even the earliest identified proto-hominids.
  3. The dentition patters evident on the ‘skull’ is more consistent with the common domesticated dog than it is with the ‘ravenous man-eating Pliocene clams’ you speculate roamed the wetlands during that time.This latter finding is certainly one of the most intriguing hypotheses you have submitted in your history with this institution, but the evidence seems to weigh rather heavily against it. Without going into too much detail, let us say that:
  • A) The specimen looks like the head of a Barbie doll that a dog has chewed on.
  • Clams don’t have teeth.

It is with feelings tinged with melancholy that we must deny your request to have the specimen carbon dated. This is partially due to the heavy load our lab must bear in it’s normal operation, and partly due to carbon dating’s notorious inaccuracy in fossils of recent geologic record. To the best of our knowledge, no Barbie dolls were produced prior to 1956 AD, and carbon dating is likely to produce wildly inaccurate results. Sadly , we must also deny your request that we approach the National Science Foundation’s Phylogeny Department with the concept of assigning your specimen the scientific name ‘Australopithecus spiff-arino.’ Speaking personally, I for one, fought tenaciously for the acceptance of your proposed taxonomy, but was ultimately voted down because the species name you selected was hyphenated, and didn’t really sound like it might be Latin.

However, we gladly accept your generous donation of this fascinating specimen to the museum. While it is undoubtedly not a hominid fossil, it is, nonetheless, yet another riveting example of the great body of work you seem to accumulate here so effortlessly. You should know that our Director has reserved a special shelf in his own office for the display of the specimens you have previously submitted to the Institution, and the entire staff speculates daily on what you will happen upon next in your digs at the site you have discovered in your back yard. We eagerly anticipate your trip to or nation’s capital that you proposed in you last letter, and several of us are pressing the Director to pay for it. We are particularly interested in hearing you expand on your theories surrounding the ‘trans-positating fillifitation of ferrous ions in a structural matrix’ that makes the excellent juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex femur you recently discovered take on the deceptive appearance of a rusty 9-mm Sears Craftsman automotive crescent wrench.

Yours in Science,

Harvey Rowe

Curator, Antiquities”

—————————————————————————————————-

(sorry if there are misspellings or wrong wordings. this was long and i was reading it off my phone)

 

logic-and-art:

“I for one, fought tenaciously for the acceptance of your proposed taxonomy, but was ultimately voted down because the species name you selected was hyphenated, and didn’t really sound like it might be Latin.“

 

moonlitmoor:

@glumshoe

Tags:

#anything that makes me laugh this much deserves a reblog #you’ve probably seen this before #(I know I have seen this one several times over the years) #(but it’s still funny)

{{next post in sequence}}

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

jtotheizzoe:

popsci:

Alton Brown’s Secret Workshop: Inside the Mad (Food) Scientist’s Lair

Food Network star Alton Brown began hacking (he prefers the term “hacking” over “inventing”) on his food-science show Good Eats. During season one (which aired in 1999), he made an inexpensive fish smoker out of a cardboard box. Since then, his hacks have grown in size and showmanship. Brown’s Mega Bake oven uses 54 one-thousand-watt lights to cook a pizza in three minutes, and his Jet Cream makes carbonated ice cream in 10 seconds using two fire extinguishers—one filled with CO2 and the other with a “top secret” chocolate cream mixture.  

Brown has big plans for 2016, including releasing a new cookbook called EveryDayCook and embarking on a second national culinary variety show tour, the Eat Your Science tour, beginning in April in Charleston, South Carolina. In the meantime, Brown took a few minutes to talk with us about his inventions.

Read the interview here. 

Sensei, I am ready. Let’s collaborate.

Tags:

#Alton Brown #food #the power of science #I may be feeling some Good Eats childhood nostalgia

paintedlandscape asked: Wait, wait wait. What is this intriguing Publish to AO3 Google Doc? I write all my stuff in Google Drive, but I agonize through fixing the formatting when I paste it from there into AO3. Have I been missing something magical?

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

madamebadger:

dealanexmachina:

wagamiller:

petals42:

THIS IS ABOUT TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

So, on the AO3 “Cool Stuff” FAQ, there is a link to this document under “Posting and Managing Works.”

THIS IS THE BEST DOCUMENT IN ALL OF HISTORY. Basically, it has a script in it that has a “Post to AO3″ option and it will go in and fill in ALL the HTML you need – italics, bold, paragraph breaks, you name it!

It has directions in it for how to use it, but it’s real simple. You just always chose “Make a Copy” when you start writing to make a new document that you can then re-name. Change the language to American English (or whatever language you use) and type away. Then right before you post, click the button, get all the code in there, copy, paste, AND POST. 

It is literally so, so glorious and I want to tell everyone. 

(Also, the AO3 Cool FAQ page has some other cool stuff too!)

THIS IS THE GREATEST THING I HAVE FOUND SO FAR THIS CENTURY.

Very Happy Cookie Monster

Oh wow, I spent forever writing a Word macro to do this.  This would have been SO MUCH SIMPLER.

Tags:

#PSA #AO3 #I don’t post anything there myself but some of you might find this useful #epilepsy warning

Image ~ ~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

neornithes:

DS9 season 3 episode 15, “Destiny”, moral: always absolutely believe ancient bajoran prophecies because they will totally come true and ruin your day (esp if your name is benjamin sisko)

Tags:

#Star Trek #DS9 #anything that makes me laugh this much deserves a reblog

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

lullabyknell:

Alright, so I just watched the scene in PS where Hagrid is telling Harry about Voldemort and doesn’t want to say the name. Harry is like, “Maybe if you wrote it down?” and Hagrid is like, “Nah, can’t spell it.”

And that reminded me of how it’s basically canon (I headcanon it anyway) that nobody pronounces Voldemort’s name the way Voldemort (and J.K. Rowling) intended – with the T supposed to be silent. Bc it’s French, right? And so it’s kind of a joke in fandom that nobody says Voldemort’s chosen name right and it drives the Dark Lord absolutely nuts or whatever. So what if people not being able to spell Voldemort is actually pretty common in the Wizarding World?

Like, what if, when Voldemort first started to go public, the newspapers kept on spelling his name wrong? Like sometimes it’s Volldemort and sometimes it’s Voldemore because no one at the Daily Prophet or any other publication is actually sure. Anyway, who the hell cares if they have a typo or two? (Voldemort. Voldemort cares. A lot.)

Maybe Imogen Thorpe in Fashion writes an article commenting on the Knights of Walpulgis’ choice of robes at the Minister’s New Year’s Ball and decides that she’ll just write it as Voldimorte. And Wilbur Hicks in Financial Reports is the worst with getting names right and just writes Volbimort in the hopes the editor will catch it, but Intern Beatrice Fowler is a muggleborn Hufflepuff in the middle of getting her university degree, so she’s just like, “Huh, weird name, right?” and Intern Travis Collins who hasn’t slept in five days just shrugs at her.  And Hester Whittle in Political Reports is hard of hearing and this isn’t a name from the Sacred Twenty-Eight, so she scribbles down Vuldimmori and wonders what those damn frogs think they’re doing trying to get involved in British politics – foreign bastards wouldn’t have dared back in her day.

And imagine, even during both wars, people are still getting it wrong. Diagon Alley has graffiti on the shop walls that says DOWN WITH BARON VOLLDINORT! The Ministry of Magic under Death Eater occupation has a room full of anti-Voldemort fliers where the name continuously switches between Voledeemorte and Vouldiomrt and, oh god, Wuldimurr. “It’s foreign,” Fred explains very seriously to Kingsley, right before Potterwatch, as George and Lee turn them out by the hundreds and Remus is basically crying with laughter into a table.

Tags:

#Harry Potter