Luke.stirling

This is a sequel to the video I posted last month.

Dolly Parton's 1973 song "Jolene" is pretty great played at full-speed. It even sounds good when played at 73.333333333333333...% speed! (more…)

More meetings.

medicalmischief:

This might be useful for some of you who are interested in surgery! Credit belongs to ASAPScience on Facebook. (Follow them for more cool science related facts and info!)

cattletyrants:

blurds:

avianeurope:

Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) »by Kee Liu

I’m seeing some confusion about this one in the reblogs, and it is for my money one of the most interesting things to know about birds, so:

The big guy in this picture is the cuckoo - a young cuckoo.  The little one is the momma bird, who is feeding the baby, even though the baby is now like five times as big as she is.  That’s because the cuckoo is a brood parasite.

Cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of other birds.  If the hosts notice the cuckoo egg, they will try to get rid of it - if they don’t, though, and the cuckoo chick hatches, they will raise it as their own, even though the first thing it does when it hatches is to murder all of their other children.

The question with this is always: why, at that point, do the host birds raise the cuckoo chick?   It’s way too hungry, it’s way too aggressive, it hangs around way longer than a normal chick would, and it’s huge, for god’s sake.   It’s obviously not theirs. There are a couple of theories. One is that the begging call a baby cuckoo makes sounds like an entire nest of normal chicks, and the parents are programmed to feed whatever makes that noise.   I got some doubts about behavior models that are that deterministic, though.  I like to think it’s some avian variation on the sunk cost fallacy - the parents put all these resources into making this nest and laying this clutch, and by god they’re going to get a baby out of it, even if it’s a giant monster baby.

There is absolutely zero science behind this but my impression has always been that the parasitized parents, upon raising a gargantuan monster child, are basically just thrilled to pieces, like, “fuck yeah my huge Gundam kid can beat up your honor student” and “gaze upon my feathered monster truck pride and joy and despair”.

treesofarden

[single gay tear]

becomeartist:

what i think of whenever i hear the phrase ‘the gay agenda’

It begins… (images via dain—bramage)

In this remixed GoPro footage by wildlife photographer Megan Lopez, a pair of curious burrowing owls emerge from a suburban front lawn and start dancing to a soundtrack by musician Aquadrop.

giraffepoliceforce:

vnicent:

otteroftheworld:

My parents live in this town and the city legally can’t tear the tree down to build or anything because the tree has its own legal rights and they can’t do anything about it.

how does. how does this happen. how DID this happen

I love this story because this guy in the early 1800’s had so many great childhood memories of this tree and wanted to make sure it was protected no matter what. So he deeded the ownership of the tree to itself and everyone just went with it.

Then in 1942 this intense windstorm came and knocked the tree over. And people were bummed. But someone had saved an acorn from the original tree, so they planted that and now Son of the Tree That Owns Itself is over 50 feet tall.

And since this new tree is technically the offspring of the original tree it’s considered to have legally inherited the plot of land it’s inhabiting.

Two generations of trees owning land is amazing and if you don’t think this is the coolest thing get right out of my face.

I’m mostly just enamored of the name “The Tree That Owns Itself”. There’s something delightfully Just So Stories about it.

hitching a ride [source]

Psychologists terminated a study that showed the ease of implanting false memories of committing terrible, violent crimes in the recent past in their subjects -- the experiment was terminated because some subjects couldn't be convinced that they hadn't committed the crime after they were told the truth. Read the rest

Scientists may say that brakes save lives, but virtually every car-wreck co-occurs with panicked braking -- did you know that in the old days, cars didn't have brakes? Read the rest

One of Hokusai's lesser known works, but worthy of posting here. [via]

Update: created by photosonny. (Thanks, Local Stain)

In case you were wondering, here’s a list of all the good things feminism has done for men.

That’s nice. I can’t say that it would make any difference to me: I don’t support it because it’s good for me, but because unfairness and injustice are not right.

You can see a whole page of stupid: Bill Moyers has the complete list of climate change denialists in congress, complete with quotes from each one, organized by state. What yahoo is representing your state?

And in case you’ve always wondered how much money it would take to buy the government in our democracy, it looks like all it takes is a few tens of millions of dollars. No wonder no one in government is speaking out against Saudi human rights offenses — that’s pocket change.

All told, 170 elected representatives in the 114th Congress have taken over $63.8 million from the fossil fuel industry that’s driving the carbon emissions which cause climate change. They deny what over 97 percent of scientists say is happening — current human activity creates the greenhouse gas emissions that trap heat within the atmosphere and cause climate change. And their constituents are paying the price, with Americans across the nation suffering 500 climate-related national disaster declarations since 2011.

gifsboom:

Video: Hand Feeding & Playing With A Friendly Platypus

Only 4 days left to grab the new shirt!

callchelseaperetti:

hatemachinex:

I WANNA PUNCH GINA FROM BROOKLYN NINE-NINE I CANT STAND HER

I WANT TO BE PUNCHED SO I CAN FEEL SOMETHING What is your location

The best way to win a debate is to present your facts in a clear, respectful way. When that doesn't work, another option is incessant ridicule. Here's why we have to use shame if we want to stop the anti-vaccine movement.

Read more...

gguillotte:

awwww-cute:

It wasn’t easy to get this photo, I hope you all like them much as I do :) [reddit]

treesofarden

“‎People wonder why women don’t “fight back,” but they don’t wonder about it when women back down in arguments, are interrupted, purposefully lower and modulate their voices to express less emotion, […] They don’t wonder about all those daily social interactions in which women are quieter, ignored, or invisible, because those social interactions seem normal.”

-

Harriet J

(via ceasesilence)