thinking about the time a prof told us that in real research mathematics it's fine to be slow, speed itself is not essential, as long as you can find it within yourself to make consistent unyielding inexorable forward progress, like the time some guy stole an M60A3 tank and terrorized a suburban neighborhood with it, said guy wasn't going that fast but plowed through cars and telephone poles and shit no problem. i'm not kidding that's what he said, that's the metaphor he used, he told us that the act of mathematics is like the 1995 san diego tank rampage

Yeah that’s math baby

So, as Confucius said: "It does not matter hoe slpely you go, as long as you do not stop". Be like that guy driving a fucking tank baby

crown jellyfish!

crown jellyfish are the name given to six families of true jellyfish in the coronatae order!

they can emit light through bioluminescence

crown jellyfish live in the pacific and atlantic ocean!

unfortunately, their lifespan is only six months

they’re about 60cm long

crown jellyfish have appendages but no one knows what they’re used for, scientists speculate it’s to capture food!

they are one of the most venomous types of jellyfish but are not harmful to humans :)

Fu Manchu Lionfish (Dendrochirus biocellatus)

This is a fish that runs on butterfly hardware I think

I just want to remind you that sometimes your life really doesn't begin until you are 26+... Romanticizing and obsessing over our youth is harmful. Growing up is beautiful. Discovering who you are and how you interact with the world is a gift. Maturing and learning what you truly want out of life and living in that purpose brings fulfillment and peace. Your life is not over in your early 20's because you haven't figured it out yet, it's just beginning.

Animal of the Day!

Tasmanian Giant Crab (Pseudocarcinus gigas)

(Photo in Public Domain)

Conservation Status- Unlisted

Habitat- Coastal Southern Australia

Size (Weight/Length)- 17 kg; 46 cm width

Diet- Carrion; Crustaceans; Starfish

Cool Facts- Being one of the heaviest species of crab, the Tasmanian giant crab is the apex of its environment. These crabs live a slow life due to their size. They eat as many bottom dwellers as they can, helping to build up their extremely thick carapace. Despite being relatively slow, they can slam their giant claws with enough force to crack open mussels and other crabs. Once every nine years, Tasmanian giant crabs molt their carapace and can be threatened by large species of sharks and seals. People see the crabs as a delicacy, but their harvest is carefully regulated and only specific sizes can be gathered.  When a crab has enough strength to snip off a finger like a carrot, I salute anyone who gets within pinching distance.

Rating- 12/10 (Carcinization at its finest.)

THIS OCTOPUS IS HAVING A NIGHTMARE, SCIENTISTS BELIEVE.

Sleep is a fundamental biological function present in all vertebrates and most invertebrates. Octopuses are really complex animals, displaying active and inactive sleep states similar to those of vertebrates. In particular, octopuses have active sleep states during which they display sequences of camouflage patterns, while remaining relatively quiet and unresponsive to external stimuli. Some scientists have speculated that these states could be analogous to dreaming in mammals.

Now, researchers have recorder what is believing an octopuses having nightmare. During a month, researchers recorded a male Brazilian reef octopus (Octopus insularis), and they detected four brief episodes were identified during which the octopus abruptly emerged from sleep, detached itself from its sleep position, and engaged in antipredator behaviors, despite no predator was present. The longest of these episodes resembled the species-typical response to a predatory attack, suggesting that the animal may have been responding to a negative episodic memory while sleeping.

However, these are just conjectures, as it is hard to be sure, according to scientists, who claim that more studies are needed to ensure that they really are nightmares.

I’m sorry, WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!?!?

Early 1900s speedrun

this was a great read. “Laziness Does Not Exist” by Devon Price

[image description: a quote. "If a person can't get out of bed, something is making them exhausted. If a student isn't writing papers, there's some aspect of the assignment that they can't do without help. If an employee misses deadlines constantly, something is making organization and deadline-meeting difficult. Even if a person is actively choosing to self-sabotage, there's a reason for it - some fear they're working through, some need not being met, a lack of self-esteem being expressed. People do not choose to fail or disappoint. No one wants to feel incapable, apathetic, or ineffective. If you look at a person's action (or inaction) and see only laziness, you are missing key details. There is always an explanation. There are always barriers. Just because you can't see them, or don't view them as legitimate, doesn't mean they're not there. Look harder." /end ID]

enemies to lovers but with myself

Tommy’s guide to self-dx

(from a professionally diagnosed individual)

This is about psychiatric/neurodivergent conditions.

I want to start off by saying that everyone has mental health problems. Not every struggle means that you necessarily have a disorder. People have symptoms, and your symptoms are valid. You deserve help and resources for your struggles. Depression doesn’t necessarily mean you have Major Depressive disorder. Disordered eating doesn’t necessarily mean you have an eating disorder. Inattentiveness doesn’t necessarily mean you have ADHD (and as well as being a stand-alone symptom, it can also be a symptom of many, many other psychiatric and physical disorders).

And so you think you’re symptoms might be more than just symptoms? What should you do?

It might be tempting to google “do I have [this]?” or ask your friend with the condition if they think you have it. Which I would advice against either. A 20 question quiz through a screen isn’t a good indicator of anything (and most symptoms have overlap with other disorders), and your friend is going to have a hard time being honest/unbiased since you’re friends.

I have a process for starting research that I usually recommend, and this is just a recommendation. 

1.) Google the disorder. This doesn’t mean to trust doctor google, but it’s impossible to understand the disorder unless you know about it. Use several different websites and use critical thinking to gauge which websites are giving helpful information and which ones are bull. Literally, please please please read the DSM 5′s entry on the disorder. I don’t understand people who self-dx without even knowing what the diagnostic manual outlines. During this step, I would avoid seeking out social media information on the disorder since it’s not helpful here.

During this step, if you notice any symptoms that keep coming up, take note.

2.) Research disorders with similar symptoms. Research should make you think about the topic. It’s good to change your mind if something comes up that brings new information to the table. Maybe you thought had BPD, but looking at the symptoms, your experiences more closely match Bipolar disorder, or ADHD, or something else entirely (and maybe it’s just symptoms and not anything more). It’s good that you noticed this so that you can better understand yourself. Maybe this exercise helped you understand the disorder you came in with better, and now that you researched other disorders, you know that those don’t match your experiences. But now you can say with more certainty that you might have what you came in with in mind. Or might have something else. If you came across another disorder that most closely matches your experiences, go back to step one. 

3.) Move away from websites with general information. Read papers written by psychologists. Read personal experiences of those living with the disorder. Watch YouTube videos by psychologists/people with the disorder. Go on a deep dive to try and understand the daily struggles and thought patterns of the disorder you think you have. It’s really important to understand what it’s like living with a disorder. It gives you a much deeper understanding than a list of symptoms (which is also important to know about). Psychology papers are sometimes inaccessible, so it’s fine if you can’t find many, but try your best.

4.) After all of this, now talk to people with the disorder. It’s really really annoying when someone comes up to me and asks my opinion on whether or not they have my disorder when they haven’t done a minute of research. I (and most people) don’t want to do your homework for you. I’m happy to help, but only after you understand what it is you think you have. And if you’ve reached this point and decide you probably don’t have the disorder you previously thought you did, that’s awesome! I’m glad you understand yourself better. 

I would recommend hanging out in spaces for those with the disorder, instead of directly asking “Hey do I have this?”, because again, that’s really annoying. Join discord servers. Spend time in the tags. Make friends. There are a lot of ways to meet people with the disorder you think you have. And maybe once you get a better understand of real life people with real life symptoms, you can start asking the question “do you think what I’m going through might mean I have this?”

5.) With all of this information, you probably have questions and concerns, so doing more research might give you an even better understanding.

Now that you’ve done all of this, it’s really up to you to decide what you think. I personally think that it should take at least a month or two to determine what you think you have, but the time isn’t important so much as the research and knowledge. It should take a period of self-reflection though. There are some disorders that are really hard to self diagnose, so please just take your time to really understand yourself. It’s really annoying to see people who don’t understand themselves or the disorder say they have, for instance, BPD, and then spread blatant misinformation. And this just makes self diangosers look really bad and annoying in general. Just… use critical thinking please.

New information will come across your life all the time. It’s okay to reevaluate your symptoms and realize you were wrong about [xyz]. That first self-dx gave you access to resources and knowledge that helped you better understand yourself, so it wasn’t a waste or harmful.

Note: Self-diagnoses should be used for resources, support, trying to better understand yourself/cope, and creating accommodations in your life. Self-dx isn’t for labelling yourself and then not doing anything. Otherwise, what’s the point? The only reason people are professionally diagnosed is for (again) resources, support, medication and therapy, and creating accommodations in life, so it should not be any different for self-dx. I know some people would prefer if self-dxers used the phrase “I think I have [this]”, but I personally don’t care.

The wonderful Glass Octopus. Living at depths of around 3000 ft and only being about a foot long, these strange little creatures are rarely seen by scientists.

Bobtail Squid Appreciation 💙

you forgot the best part tho

(via @butchmuppet)

no lie, the second half of this post really helped me put a different perspective on my life and greatly the decreased the anxiety i have about my life to come

rare vent art from a few months ago

I feel this!!! Also love how you muted the color along the way, I think it makes it that much more impactful!

This is the thing!

Hey, don't cry. A single thread in a tapestry, though its color brightly shines, can never see its purpose in the pattern of the grand design, ok?

simply dont monday

simply don’t tuesday

simply don’t wednesday

eye-opening tumblr post for me included the words "people are meant to be burdens" as in humans rely on and support one another and it's not a bother it's our purpose; to love and be loved in return. so if you ever think you're being annoying just remember we were made to love and it's going to be okay

things get better slowly. you’ll wake up and you won’t feel an aching dread in your chest, but feel lighter. you’ll start to notice little things that make you smile: sunlight, soft pyjamas, hot tea, biting into fresh fruit. you’ll seek out these things, and your life will get warmer and fuller. day by day. you may still have days where you can’t get out of bed, but they’ll be fewer - small dark spots in a world of colour. if things aren’t too good yet, please remember that recovery is slow. show yourself some kindness. you deserve it.

Saddest thing ever is reading an academic paper about a threatened or declining species where you can tell the author is really trying to come up with ways the animal could hypothetically be useful to humans in a desperate attempt to get someone to care. Nobody gives a shit about the animals that “don’t affect” us and it seriously breaks my heart

“No I can’t come out tonight I’m sobbing about this entomologist’s heartfelt plea for someone to care about an endangered moth”

This is how I learn there's a moth whose tiny caterpillars live exclusively off the old shells of dead tortoises.

[Image description: text from a section titled On Being Endangered: An Afterthought that says:

Realizing that a species is imperiled has broad connotations, given that it tells us something about the plight of nature itself. It reminds us of the need to implement conservation measures and to protect the region of which the species is a part. But aside form the broader picture, species have intrinsic worth and are deserving of preservation. Surely an oddity such as C. vicinella cannot simply be allowed to vanish.

We should speak up on behalf of this little moth, not only because by so doing we would bolster conservation efforts now underway in Florida, [highlighting begins] but because we would be calling attention to the existence of a species that is so infinitely worth knowing. [end highlighting]

But is quaintness all that can be said on behalf of this moth? Does this insect not have hidden value beyond its overt appeal? Does not its silk and glue add, potentially, to its worth? Could these products not be unique in ways that could ultimately prove applicable?

End image description]

because we would be calling attention to the existence of a species that is so infinitely worth knowing

I was so inspired by this I made it into a piece of art for a final in one of my courses for storytelling in conservation

You are all lovely and kind and correct, but let’s also name the moth: Ceratophaga vicinella

I can’t find any information on how to promote or donate to moth conservation, but the tortoises are endangered, and support to habitat conservation in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi are a good way to help both the tortoises and the moth! https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/animals-we-protect/gopher-tortoise/