October 2012
1 post
September 2012
1 post
The very last Calvin & Hobbes Comic
WHAT?!?!?!??!?!
WHY!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!
WHY
Okay, just to lessen the horrible blow, here is the ACTUAL last Calvin and Hobbes strip. Quick, before I drown in my tears:
August 2012
1 post
Amy sells out: colorblind atheism ad →
daggerpen.tumblr.com
Sounds like a very boring, monotonous world you live in Mrs. Bullock. Not to forget that you’re being pretentious.
Being an atheist does not make you better than anyone else.
No Religion?…
First off, the woman was in CRASH, so let’s not act too gobsmacked.
Second off, it’s possibly useful to consider the demographic for this ad. Where is it being presented, and to whom? Who is she trying to convince? Whose mind is she trying change, here? The POC and LGBTQIA I know don’t really need to have these points driven home for them, as they are a part of their every day life- that people feel wrongly superior based on their skin color or religion. I understand the ‘easy for her to say/pretentious bullshit’ knee jerk reaction, but that can be said of any endeavor by any person in a position of fame, power, or wealth. Which are the ones who are featured in message ads, most of the time.
Nowhere in the message does it say, nor did I think it implied upon reading it, that we don’t see these things. If anything, it acknowledges all of these things are what tend to set us apart. This is all anyone sees when they look at people they consider to be other, and NONE of these things are acceptable reasons to be arrogant, condescending, disdainful, hateful or cruel.
For the predominately white well off crowd that’s probably going to come into contact with this add, it’s not the worst message to send out.
Just how I took it.
On a more personal, knee-jerk reaction of my own, as someone who never practiced a religion (but never associated as atheist, and still don’t, I consider myself agnostic), the abuse and ostracizing I experienced from the people who did was as bad or worse than anything I saw being leveled at anyone else in my environment, particularly the years I lived in the south and the midwest. So… woo atheism ads about acceptance.
Sassylash3s pointed out the reason the quote was familiar is because it’s from her Oscar acceptance speech, and is being used out of context for the image above! Good to know!
June 2012
1 post
eruditechick blogged here: This is nuts. →
eruditechick.tumblr.com
Okay, so I wrote a post last night while I was watching Conan, because Conan mentioned The Hunger Games was the third biggest opening for a movie that wasn’t a prequel ever, and that made me happy. Hence, post.
I’m watching Conan again, and that post has ten thousand notes. What. Happened. I…
Reposting this because soooo many new people are reading the thing that spawned it! Yay clarity.
May 2012
1 post
February 2012
1 post
August 2011
3 posts
What I don't need on my Screen. (response)
So my buddy Jackson had a rant a couple weeks ago and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. It’s called Dinosaur Sex. What I don’t need on my Screen. (Not sure if SFW) Then last night on “Great White Invasion” I was a little squicked out about all the talk of shark mating habits. It just seemed a little tawdry.
I really have no idea whether it is SFW or not. It is a discussion of how fucking dinosaurs…fuck. Not for nothing but I see enough of these things on the L train, taking up the seats and complaining about the thin-ness of the mammals they’re hunting in McCarren Park these days. I don’t need to be informed that they are a) capable of having sex or b) how this would happen.
Ok, I see the point of his (yes Jackson, I’m going to refer to you in the third person) premise “I don’t need to see Dinosaur Sex on TV” but I think that it’s as much about a double-standard as anything else. I mean, on the internet the NSFW line is pretty spotty, it’s more like a mist where occasionally the cloud clears enough for you to get a clear OMGWTF reaction and quickly click away know for certain that that WAS NSFW but otherwise, there are a lot of grey areas.
TV on the other hand should definitely know better. I mean, there have been nature shows about “mating” forever, but as anyone who’s been to brooklyn knows, dinosaurs are sentient and contributing members of society. I mean it’s not like the discovery channel hasn’t done human sex docs. For instance “Science of Sex Appeal” is Tyrannosaurus Sex any more exploitative than that?
I’m not sure I’d call that porn, which is what I think Jackson is trying to say, but I don’t think it’s MORE exploitative than other sex-based shows on cable. I mean, it’s not Starz, it’s not even Cinemax. I mean, it’s weird thinking about dinosaurs that way, but who are we to say they wouldn’t watch a discovery channel show about mating either?
Isn’t it a little dino-racist? speciesist? I mean, 1) I know Jackson, he’s not a dino-racist, but don’t we need to take a good hard look at why these things make us uncomfortable. I mean, I don’t have a problem with dinosaurs, I don’t necessarily want to watch them boning, but I know some and they’re perfectly nice individuals. 2) IDK, it just doesn’t seem more exploitative to me than other shows on the discovery channel.
July 2011
3 posts
May 2011
1 post
April 2011
2 posts
BC Scientist's Fossil Discovery May Indicate Life on Land Evolved Earlier than Thought
These diverse microfossils include mostly simple single-celled organisms, but do include some rare multicellular structures with organic walls that measure up to one millimeter long. The team reports that these simple eukaryotes lived in ancient lakes that periodically dried out, exposing life directly to the atmosphere. This discovery places eukaryotes in freshwater settings approximately 500 million years earlier than previously thought.
Life probably originated in the sea more than three billion years ago; however, the first signs of life on land are less well-defined. The identification of eukaryotes in non-marine settings described by Strother’s team indicates that eukaryotic evolution on land may have commenced much earlier than previously thought.
March 2011
1 post
February 2011
9 posts
Botany and Clyde- FIRST PODCAST EVER!
Hey everyone,
I had this brilliant idea over the weekend, thanks to a revelation I had at the Gutter. I was listening to the x-ray eyeballs and thinking to myself how can I talk about Paleobiology more often? The blog is a start but it’s easier to speak than to type. With that in mind, I asked my boss if I could take some time on Thursday before she’s speaking at an event to film a podcast, and she said YES.
So! Join me on Thursday at http://www.livestream.com/transmedianewyorkcity and watch the podcast live! I’ll put it up here afterwards but you should really make an effort, you’ll be able to follow it on twitter at #transmedianyc or you could theoretically try to go see it live, but you have to RSVP and it’s pretty full.
Dino-nip
Do you remember that one episode of Land of the Lost, where they find some kind of weed that the dinosaurs find irresistible? The idea of this is actually a pet dream of mine but it’s a catch-22. Finding such a plant would enable us to understand so much more about the physiology of dinosaurs- but we would need dinosaurs to discover it. I can’t exactly go around waving crab grass at lizards and just hoping for a response.
I mean, I could. It would be more fun than my current job.
I wish I had a boy-repelling weed. Oh wait, I don’t need one, it’s called ‘expecting you to be responsible’. Ffffuuu. Boyfriends and Social Media «««< Extinct plants.
Who Am I? What am I doing here? Why are you reading this?
Hi everyone,
I’m Ellie, I hope to someday soon be Dr. Ellie but until then I’ve got my Masters and no acceptance letters yet to my name for programs at universities prestigious or otherwise.
For most people, they’d be waving flags and rejoicing, YAY! I HAVE A MASTER’S DEGREE! WOOT! but no, for me, without the Ph.D. there’s just no way I’m getting anywhere in paleobiology. Well, I guess I do have some options, I could
- live with my parents and apply next year… Um no.
- Move to a city cheaper than New York… my boyfriend’s career is really here.
- Get a mindless job to tide me over in the meantime… tried, failed, went to craigslist
- Get an internship that will pay my rent… tried, failed, waiting tables part time
- Get an unpaid internship that is somehow related to my field… found an unpaid internship doing social media instead.
So here I am. I’m spending most of my day talking about things that just aren’t what I want to be talking about, and that my friends, seems to be what most blogs are prompted by don’t you think?
So here we go. I’m going to blog here about things I actually think are interesting, and probably a lot of ephemera that crosses my path and keeps me from going absolutely insane at the day job. For starters… I love this idea www.jurassicparkslope.com
Dinosaurs, hipsters, it’s hilarious. Go, look at that. I’ll be here when you get back.
