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Sci & Sci-Fi

@xenobotanist / xenobotanist.tumblr.com

Call me Xeno or Teddy 🧸 Mostly Star Trek, but also science and social issues
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I was planning to drop the items from the linked tweet thread onto this post, but there are SO MANY new bills that it became a wall of text - line after line after line of incredible things Minnesota has enacted in a single session.

  • Marijuana will be fully legal starting in August, but the bill also wipes past criminal records and sets up marginalized communities to benefit from the new incoming profits.
  • voting rights are restored immediately after leaving prison, probation is capped, and phone calls for prisoners are free now.
  • there are so many labor rights being added i can't begin to list them. an end to non-compete clauses, paid sick and family medical leave for the WHOLE STATE, unemployment for seasonal education workers, safety regulations for workers in warehouses and nursing, establishment of minimum wages for gig drivers!
  • carbon free electricity by 2040
  • cutting child poverty by 1/3 immediately
  • price caps for high cost pharmaceuticals
  • more funding for public transit, public defense, education, homelessness prevention, and the removal of ALL lead pipes in the state water system
  • roe v wade is codified, conversion therapy is banned, and other state's anti-trans bills are blocked for anyone receiving gender related care here.
  • undocumented immigrants can get drivers licenses and basic healthcare through the state
  • improvements to our already robust voting rights
  • basic gun safety laws, like background checks and red flag laws

I'm.... actually blown away. the political landscape often feels so hopeless, but the DFL pulled themselves together, getting every member on board for these changes - real changes that are going to protect health, keep people out of jail and housed, and improve work conditions massively. this should be a beacon for every other state democratic party - change doesn't have to be incremental. things can get better and they can get better right now. get crackin'.

tbh i don't really get why we divide the oceans into different oceans because they're all connected it's the same ocean

no metaphor here just pure confusion...is there a line where one ocean stops and another begins? or is it like a smooth gradient of percentages of one ocean shading into another ocean?

Yes, there is a line. There are confluences you can see and touch and they are NOT subtle in the slightest.

That's the Atlantic and the Caribbean on a particularly pronounced day.

This is the Indian and the Pacific. It's not always this obvious everywhere but the dividing lines are very much there.

Oceans have their own properties as far as temperature and salinity and unless something like a storm or a current forces them to mix they won't. Mostly this applies to vertical mixing and it gives you things like thermoclines and haloclines but water is wierd and won't mix horizontally either.

The ocean basins tend to have their own currents that go in a circle and define that ocean, and those patterns mix the water within that ocean. Like a washing machine.

The Caribbean has a little loop of its own that not on this map, but that current keeps that ocean pretty internally consistent. It's got clear warm water because of the shallow bowl of limestone sand it sits in. Where it meets the Atlantic with wildly different conditions the water is traveling in opposite directions, and it acts kind of like an oncoming lane of highway traffic. Species that have adapted to a narrow band of temperatures and salinities (most fish) can't cross, while species with a stronger homeostasis hang out there on purpose, (marine mammals, turtles, sharks). Plankton, that cannot control their horizontal movement in the water column, are held in their home territories by these barriers.

Oh for pity's sake, here's another one.

Yes, there are some variations in water properties between oceans: temperature, salt content, inhabitants, direction of currents, etc.

But also NO

These pictures do not show where oceans meet. We're talking thousands of miles of water here. There is no extreme line between entire chunks of Earth's surface. You may see sometimes see a clear line between forest and grassland, but sometimes it's a fade. Mountains can show a cutoff between tundra and taiga, but good luck finding that elsewhere. One biome fades into another. And even more so in the oceans when we're talking about a fluid.

Not to mention you generally can't see even see salt content and temperature variations.

So are these pictures real then?

Yes

But if you want to know the truth about them, check out these articles. They explain the actual origins of the pictures above.

Nature is already cool enough. There's no need to lie about it.

Don't just spread stuff for clicks.

Edits have been made

Does this mean that some pies are quiche and some pies are calzones?

Discuss

...I want to refute this but no, I....yeah

[captions]

Person on screen: needs a couple pats of butter, a splash of olive oil, simmered on low with a bay leaf and a cinnamon stick. What?! You never seen a boy who knows his way around the kitchen? 

Yeah my mom always wanted a little girl but she got stuck with me instead. That wasn’t gonna stop her though so all my friends were opening up nerf guns and bmx bikes on their birthday, I was getting crockpots. 

(scene changes to the person dressed in a nice black suit jacket, bright pink dress shirt, and black tie) Yeah laugh it up! Take a picture while you’re at it 'cause this is the last time you’ll ever see me in a suit! How do boys wear these things??

(scene changes to the person dressed in the same shirt and tie with no jacket and the shirt cuffs unbuttoned and rolled up, with purple nail polish on their nails) No, I don’t know how to fight. I was only ever taught how to deescalate situations with healthy communication and emotional validation.

“Pants were invented for men” not according to my ancestors.

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Pants were invented for riding horses. People who didn’t have nomad horse culture all wore dresses. Dress wearing old greek men considered pants to be the mark of barbarism. Like the Scynthians and Samaritans.

Also- the Scynthian and Samaritan tribes were known for equality between genders. Where women were renouned hunters and archers. They are where the greeks got the idea for Amazons.

So sorry bro pants are totally for women. You just mad its for riding something that’s not you.

Okay but like based on genital structure, it would actually make sense for mean to wear skirts and women pants, why are we even talking about logic

the scottish did it right

The Scottish did it to hide more knives

The Scottish did it right

Did you ever just feel so lucky for knowing someone you met online? Like.. I was one click away from not following you. I was one second away from never even knowing of your existence.I would never have been this happy!!!...

i am so here to support ash and chess but i join others in the notes pointing out it is unhelpful and misplaced to be angry at target. they made the decision that would best protect their employees and customers safety. the anger should be at the police and governments who are not willing to.deal with this domestic terrorism and who willingly encourage and create it.

As other threads have mentioned, if they were only interested in protecting employees at stores they would not have removed everything from the website as well. They could have found ways to support the individual artists. They are still carrying other companies Pride merchandise at individual stores.

Okay thinking about that one deleted scene from The Wire script where Sisko mentions he and Curzon worked at the Federation Embassy on Romulus and his Romulan friend was arrested by the Tal Shiar (calculations w Sisko’s age put this around 2360), what if they were there at the same time as Garak? Like the Embassies are probably clustered pretty closely together to keep the aliens in a single area so if they were in the same city, there’s a good chance they would cross paths with each other at one time or another.

Curzon Dax fucked Garak

I’ve always thought Jadzia and Garak would make great friends and peak wlw/mlm solidarity but THIS explains why they avoid each other and are almost never on screen together

Oh okay. So not from a script from the HBO series The Wire.

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Blood-belly comb jelly my beloved ❤️ 🩸

Meet Lampocteis cruentiventer, the bloodybelly comb jelly. This deep sea ctenophore was first collected in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, in 1979.

Scientists believe the bloody-belly's red belly helps mask bioluminescent light from the prey it consumes. A predator with a glowing gut could easily become prey.

The genus name Lampocteis derives from the Greek roots for “brilliant comb,” referring to the bright iridescence diffracted from the animal’s comb rows.

Love to sea it 🌊

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Wait what's a buildings fire evacuation plan if you aren't supposed to use the elevator to get down

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You go down the stairwell/fire escape. Is that weird?

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But what if you have a walker or a wheelchair??

in america at least, in this situation, there isnt one. either your loved ones or the firemen can get you out using the emergency fire escapes or stairs, or you die 

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That's fucking horrific, thank you

“fun” little story:

last summer my friend who is an amazingly talented artist and i were in this super tall building, and she’s in a wheelchair and i’m pushing her around the room. it’s an art exhibit and some of her art was chosen to be showcased there and so it’s all fine and dandy until suddenly an alarm starts going off

a FIRE ALARM

everyone starts running for the stairs and my friend just looks at me with this forlorn look on her face

“i can’t go down the stairs”

but i’m a stubborn bitch “i’ll carry you”

“what about my chair? it’s too expensive for me to be able to get another one if i can’t get this one back”

“i’ll carry that too”

and i did. we went to the stairs (by then most people from our floor were gone) and i lifted her up in a fireman’s carry over my shoulder and then lifted her chair up and used the ridiculous amount of adrenaline that was coursing through my veins to make it down approximately 20 half-flights of stairs until we met some people exiting lower floors, one of which who kindly took the chair. I changed positions so i was holding my friend bridal-style which was, somehow, easier and the person who took her wheelchair (with her permission to handle it of course) accompanied me to the ground floor and then out the doors

basically there is no real protocol for people who can’t use the stairs in an emergency. it’s up to the people with them, if anyone, to help them or the person to somehow make it down the stairs alone, unassisted

thank fuck that it was just a faulty alarm system, because if i was unable to carry her down those stairs and the building was on fucking fire???? then i don’t know what would have happened to her, but i don’t think it would have been very good.

it’s fucking ridiculous and ableist to the absolute max.

I use a cane. When I did a day-long fire safety training at my northeast American university (UMass Amherst), I asked that exact same question: “what am I supposed to do if the fire alarm goes off and I’m in my lab on the twelfth floor?” 

the fire marshal hemmed and hawed for a while and then said to take the elevator- you’re supposed to leave it free for the fire department to use and they want able-bodied people out fast not waiting for elevators. if the fire alarm has just gone off the building probably hasn’t suffered enough structural damage to make using the elevator dangerous, and modern elevator wells are heavily reinforced. many large and high-trafficked buildings on my campus have fire rated elevators that link in with the fire alarm system so they won’t let you off on a floor with a possible fire. 

if the elevator isn’t working, wait in the stairwell and call the fire department to let them know where you are. modern stairwells are also heavily reinforced- it might not be pleasant but modern building code usually requires fire-resistant stairwell doors in office and big residential buildings, also to help firefighters get in and out safely. older buildings’ stairwells may or may not be retrofitted with fire-resistant doors but a stairwell is generally the safest place to wait if you can’t get out. 

what happened to your friend was horrible, and i’m very glad you were there to help her out, but you can absolutely use the elevator to evacuate if it’s not shut down. those don’t-use-the-elevator rules are for abled people.  

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This is GOOD TO KNOW. why do they not tell people this??

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Okay, firefighter here. If you are not physically able to use the stairs, and the elevator is NOT compromised, use the elevator. But you MUST be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that the elevator is NOT compromised before you get into it, because there is always the chance that once you get into it, you may not exit it. Power could go out. The elevator may actually BE compromised and you just couldn’t tell from where you were until you were in there, and it suddenly shuts down on you. Something else could happen. 

Understand that once you enter the elevator, you could POTENTIALLY be taking your life into your hands there.

It is NOT LIKELY, to be perfectly honest. It’s only in a pretty catastrophic scenario - think the Twin Towers, USA, on September 11th - that the elevators will be compromised and out of service. But there is a NOT ZERO PERCENT CHANCE and you need to understand that and accept it.

As for leaving the elevators free for the firefighters, okay, here’s the deal. Unless your nearest fire station is literally right next door? Your first on scene fire truck is NOT likely to be there on scene and needing that elevator before you get to the ground. It takes us TIME to find the address, gear up, and drive to the building. Then we need to hoof it into where the elevators even ARE, so YOU HAVE TIME to use the elevator to get down to the ground floor... BUT ONLY IF THERE’S NOT A RUSH ON THE ELEVATOR! And THAT is WHY we don’t tell people this shit. That’s WHY we tell people to NEVER USE THE ELEVATOR... because every self-entitled asshole will use it because they don’t feel like walking, and then put YOU in danger by delaying the elevator’s arrival to you.

IF, however, the elevator IS compromised, or you just can’t get it to come for you, or whatever, and you either don’t have anyone with you who has the adrenaline fueled BALLS to be able to toss you over their shoulder and hoof it down the stairs with you - because, let’s face it, that is RARE AS FUCK, then HERE IS WHAT YOU DO:

You call 911 and tell the call taker that you are in the building that has a fire alarm going off, and you are not able to evacuate because of a physical disability, and you tell them what floor you are on, and EXACTLY what stairwell you are waiting at. And the very FIRST thing that the firefighters are going to do once they arrive, if it is, indeed, a REAL emergency, and not a false alarm, is come get your ass and bring you down. Whether that means carrying you down the stairs, or whether that means locking out the elevators so that no one else can override them and coming to get you themselves, they WILL come get you FIRST THING if it is a real event. And if it is a false alarm? You will probably be the first person who is not involved with the building to know, because the call-taker is going to stay on the line with you until you are under someone’s care and out of danger, or until the scene has been sorted out as real or false, and you are out of danger that way.

These are pretty standard operations in the fire service throughout the United States. There may be some minor variations based on specific municipalities, but, for the most part, this is pretty typical: LIFE BEFORE PROPERTY. So, as long as SOMEONE knows where you are - hence why you call 911 - Firefighters will come get you. You are NOT alone, and you have NOT been abandoned. I PROMISE. It’s like, our whole reason for doing the shit we do: to save lives and to break shit. Sometimes, we get lucky enough to do both at the same time.

High rise fires suck ass, and I always hated them. But the very FIRST thing I asked anytime we got one was if we had “any entrapments” - which is what we call anyone who could not self-evacuate for ANY reason. We ain’t leaving you behind. And yes, your friend who doesn’t have the stamina to carry you down can stay with you, too. Because I would never ask that of someone, honestly. 

Also, just a little FYI... MOST fire alarms are false alarms. Not to make anyone complacent or anything, but, yeah. Most of them are either system malfunctions, someone accidentally hit a pull station, or someone burned popcorn in a break room. So don’t let a fire alarm freak you out until you need it to - by smelling or seeing smoke or flames. 

i have had multiple nightmares about this very thing because NOBODY BOTHERS TO ACTUALLY TELL WHEELCHAIR USERS THIS STUFF

In high school one of the common fund raisers was carnation flowers for a dollar during prom season and valentines and a couple other times of year. And you could “order” flowers to be delivered to kids during their homeroom times so it was always a big deal to get flowers and it was super fun

But one of these fundraisers I had a guy friend who commented he never got any because he was always single or his girlfriend always expected flowers but never gave him any

So my senior year valentines I decided I was going to buy all the guys in my homeroom (which he was in) a carnation and said they were from “Anonymous Girl in your homeroom”

So the day came and all the guys started getting flowers and they all realized they were from the same one girl and all got super excited and giddy and protective of their flowers and all day long I saw the guys in my homeroom wear flowers behind their ears or stuffed in their notebooks and they flaunted them around to other guys that didn’t get flowers. One guy tried to see if it would make his girlfriend jealous. A couple of them tried to play detective to figure it out who it was.

Then the next day apparently they all (or at least most of them) got together and bought all the girls in homeroom a carnation as a thank you to whoever it was so every girl in my homeroom got a bouquet of one from every guy (so it was a bouquet of about a dozen) and every single girl was smiling and happy and bouncy as the guys were the day before

And no one ever knew it was me but I was always super proud of that

One simple act can have a ripple effect of kindness that grows as it spreads