I'm a college kid. I do what I want. But not really because I usually do nothing at all and then regret every decision I've ever made and watch TV shows while I eat and cry instead of doing something productive.
Formerly callmeaziraphale
i read this interesting fact the other day that pirates wore eye patches because they frequently transitioned from bright sunlight to darkness below deck and when they went below deck the covered eye would already be adjusted to darkness so they could immediately see really well and not have to wait for their eyes to adjust
THIS IS LEGIT THEY PROVED IT ON MYTHBUSTERS.
i learned this from a gay pirate au fanfic i read
Why has Tumblr taught me more about basic living than all of my previous schooling experiences combined
Evolution wishes you a very happy Valentine’s Day. May you all be as lucky in love as these leopard slugs. Just try not to chew each other’s bits off afterward, okay?
The recent unprecedented video footage of a giant squid filmed in its deep ocean habitat has renewed interest in the enormous — and yet still mysterious — species. It’s believed that giant squid (genus Architeuthis) can grow up to 55 feet long. The individual captured on video via a small submarine located in the North Pacific Ocean was about 30 feet long and silver and gold in color, marine biologist Edie Widder, who helped to shoot the footage, said. Her colleague Tsunemi Kubodera added that the squid was missing its two longest tentacles. Cephalopod experts are intrigued by the world record footage.
[x]
This is a real dinosaur foot.
It still amazes me that these things were REAL and that we’re finding things like this. Skeletons are one thing but this foot is freaking wild.
tHIS IS REALLY COOL OK
Because everyone needs a gif of making ice cream sandwiches on their blog.
This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
Going to the store tonight. Adds ice cream sandwiches to list.
Wrinkles Help Fingers Get a Grip
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A long soak in the tub can wreak havoc on your fingertips, transforming your smooth digits into wrinkly eyesores. But this rumply skin may actually serve a purpose, according to a new study. It helps us get a stronger grip on slippery objects, especially those underwater.
Scientists long thought that wrinkly fingers were caused by osmosis—swelling of the outer layer of the skin as water seeped into cells. But experiments conducted in the past few years—as well as observations that water-induced wrinkles don’t form on the tips of previously severed but subsequently reattached fingers—suggest that the wrinkles are instead produced by nerves that automatically trigger constriction of the blood vessels beneath the skin, reducing the volume of the tissues there.
Having something under the direct control of a nerve, even an involuntary one, suggests it serves an evolutionary purpose. But that begged the question of what function finger wrinkles have. In 2011, a team of neuroscientists proposed that the folds improved our grip on wet or submerged objects, just as the treads on tires help improve traction. “That seemed like a clever hypothesis that would be easy to test,” says Tom Smulders, an evolutionary biologist at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom.
So, he and his colleagues designed an experiment where volunteers picked up 45 submerged objects such as glass marbles and lead fishing weights from a bin one at a time with their right hand, passed them through a postage stamp-sized hole in a barrier to their left hand, and then dropped them through another hole into a box. When test subjects had wrinkly fingertips—induced by soaking their hands in 40°C water for 30 minutes—they completed the task about 12% faster than they had when their fingers hadn’t been soaked, the team reports online today in Biology Letters. When performing the same task with dry objects, wrinkly fingertips didn’t provide a performance advantage.
The team’s results are “very interesting,” says Xi Chen, a biomechanical engineer at Columbia University who has analyzed how the skin on fingertips buckles when vasoconstriction causes underlying tissues to shrink. “They show that the wrinkles have a biological function.”
(via sciencemag)
As someone who writes fics with action sequences and the use of guns, I thought maybe it would be helpful to pass some things on. Even though I’ve done lots of research and talked with family members (I live in WI which is a big hunting state and we have lots of guns), I still catch myself making mistakes with specific terms and their usage. Reading more James Bond fics lately, I catch others making mistakes also. So here is a little guide to help writers.
- A ‘clip’ is something that stores multiple rounds of ammunition. It is not what you would insert into a handgun to load it. Clips make loading into a magazine easier because they simply store the rounds. It helps with organization.
- A magazine is what feeds the ammunition into the barrel. Magazines vary in capacity. They, unlike clips, are spring-loaded, which helps the ammunition move in the gun. So, when you want a character to reload, they would use a pre-loaded magazine, NOT a clip.
- A silencer is really a suppressor. ‘Silencer’ is a word that’s used in media to refer to a suppressor that doesn’t exist in real life. Guns that are suppressed will still be loud and have a sound. This is because compressed air will still leak out of the end of the barrel, you can’t silence a bullet moving extremely fast through the air, and you can’t silence the mechanical parts on a gun. There will be a noise, but it just won’t be as loud or more importantly, alert people in a nearby area that a gun was just fired. SO suppressor is a much more accurate term technically speaking.
- There are different kinds of suppressors. One important kind suppresses the muzzle flash. It’s likely a sniper would use this more than they would want to use a sound suppressor, as the muzzle flash more easily enables you to be spotted when you don’t want to be. These are simply referred to as flash suppressors.
- After a handgun runs out of ammunition, the slide will lock back into place and you will know that it is out. There is no ‘click’ signifying an empty weapon that is so dramatized in movies and tv. A more likely scenario that would prevent a gun from firing would be a jam. Or programming the gun to recognize certain palm prints.
- A great place for writers, in particular fanfic writers, who want information on guns is imfdb. You can find out what guns are used in movies and shows, and what guns characters use. You can also just search for guns.
- If you want to get really specific, check out YouTube. There are users who will post reviews of guns on there, which can be really helpful if you want to see how a particular gun looks or how to shoot it.
So yeah! Here are just a few basic tips if you want to write a fic where a character uses guns.
I see you’ve got terminology down, now let’s go for a little technicality.
- Firstly, let me explain the “kick” of a gun. A “kick” is the feeling of the round leaving the barrel of the gun. Every gun has one, the impact of the “kick” depends on the caliber, make and type of gun.
- Another way to describe a kick is the feeling of the gun exploding in your hand. Of course, the gun doesn’t literally explode, but it is a great burst of power that only lasts a second.
- For example: A .45 mm hand gun with have a bigger “kick” than a .22 mm hand gun. If someone is a first time shooter and does not know what to expect, they would most likely drop the gun after firing it once due to the shock of the force being released in their hands.
- Sniper Rifles are incredibly accurate and mainly used for long distance hits. They are also ridiculously heavy, as most rifles are, therefore, be prepared for a gigantic “kick”.
- Sniper Rifles are special because they are so powerful (they need to be in order to have the same impact a .45mm would 10 feet away compared to the shell half a mile away), thus a stand is required to use it.
- No matter what you will always need a firm holding to place the rifle (besides your grip) in order to prevent the gun from falling over after it is discharged and injury to your person. There are ridiculously powerful guns.
- General rule of thumb is that you place the butt of the rifle next to your shoulder, just below your clavicle. I’m not very good at describing this position, so I suggest looking it up. DO NOT place it anywhere in the armpit area, dislocation is likely to occur. Depending on how prepare you are and the type of rifle being used (excluding snipers), bruising might occur.
- You will be standing if you use a normal rifle, so make sure you are steady and prepared for the “kick” that follows after.
- If you are using a sniper rifle, you will be on the ground or leaning against something. Some people have special rests for their snipers specifically to fire the gun from any spot. Point is: do not stand alone while firing this. You will get hurt.
Other helpful tips:
- Earplugs or Ear Protectors are your friends.
- Safety glasses are also your friend to avoid shells from flying into your face.
- Keep the safety on until you are ready to fire the gun.
- If you are NOT currently firing the gun, whether it is loaded or unloaded, and it is in your hand, ALWAYS hold it with two hands and point it at the ground at your feet. DO NOT get distracted.
- NEVER joke around with someone by pointing the gun at them. EVEN IF YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE THAT THE GUN IS TOTALLY UNLOADED, MAGAZINE OUT OF PLACE, DO NOT RISK IT. It is not funny. Even if the gun is on safety, do NOT do it. You could accidently switch off the safety or the gun could misfire despite the safety.
- Lastly TWO HANDS. One on the side near the trigger and the other underneath. This is not the movies, do not attempt to fire a gun with one hand. Not only will your aim be incredibly off if you are inexperienced but you will also endanger yourself as well as others if you lose control of it.
- Guns can be scary and if you ever feel nervous or uncomfortable about firing one, do not do it.
Centralia (Pennsylvania)
mine fire burning beneath the borough since 1962
This place literally inspired Silent Hill you guys
oh shit this place
this place is literally burning from the inside out
there’s this mine underneath the town that they used as a landfill and years ago it caught on fire
they had to evacuate the whole god damn place because the street was caving in and shit and smoke was spilling out
the fire hasn’t stopped since then and it’s predicted that it will burn for the next 150 years
this place not only inspired silent hill but it’s like literal hell on earth
y’all know who you are 8)
PAGES UPON PAGES OF ANATOMICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF DIFFERENT ANIMALS
I AM SO FUCKING PUMPED JUST TO HAVE FOUND THIS
Some people were having trouble connecting to the page due to a session error, so I’ve just updated it so it should work all the time!
Please reblog this one so that the people who are having trouble seeing the site can get to it, thank you! uvu
i would l to learn how to pick locks
first it was the general knowledge acquired from Supernatural. Then it was “hide the body in a cemetery” then it was “use a dull knife” and now it’s “how to pick a lock”.
Tumblr is teaching me how to be a Winchester.
People asked why I squeed at the picture of praya dubia (top left); I just today wrote part of a fic about Sherlock in a coma, and though it’s probably cliché, the deep ocean is my metaphor:
Notes from “In the Deep” (working title):
In the oceans, available living space has both vertical and horizontal dimensions. The oceans offer 99% of the potential living space on earth. The deep sea, in utter dark, is the planet’s largest habitat. And we know practically nothing of it. Sherlock explores.
Every night and every morning, billions of sea creatures travel from the black deep to the surface and back again in search of food and some fragile warmth. It’s the largest synchronized animal movement on earth, this vertical migration, and it happens every day, twice a day, diurnal. Sherlock drifts.
The sea below 1000 meters is pure pressured dark, but the life is light, spectacular bioluminescence. In some areas 90% of the living things glow; it’s the rule rather than the exception, to be alight.Their colors run the whole radiant spectrum, but most often they’re blue. Blue is the color that travels furthest through seawater. It’s the only color most deep sea life can see, so they live by blue. He follows the blue.
The siphonophore praya dubia is the largest invertebrate on the planet, longer than a blue whale. It glows blue-green. If brought to the surface, without the pressure of the deep to hold it together, it dissolves into small unrecognizable pieces.
The only part of galliteuthis phyllura that isn’t transparent is its eyes.
The teeth of the viperfish do not fit into its mouth, so it has to carry them outside, dangerously close to its eyes.
Sherlock loves the ocean.
DO YOU SEE IT NOW?
i think i just wasted about half an hour of my life staring at this.
It switches sides when you look at it using the left and right sides of your brain.
Wut.
my brain hurts
![russian-criminal-tattoos:
‘Man is a wolf to man’
This tattoo signifies ‘I am angry with my fate - my life is a failure’.
[The more time I spend on tumblr - the more applicable this tattoo becomes…]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m74hvpaX3w1rsqvpwo1_500.jpg)
‘Man is a wolf to man’
This tattoo signifies ‘I am angry with my fate - my life is a failure’.
[The more time I spend on tumblr - the more applicable this tattoo becomes…]
