Always Under Construction

Answer 9
Notes

Posted 7 months ago

I read a ton of fantasy growing up, but for some reason I never read much sci-fi (despite loving science). Later in life it always seemed too overwhelming to get into a new genera when I had no point of reference to judge quality before dropping the money/time on a book. But reading some of your FO fics and later your original drabbles reminded me that I still wanted to get into sci-fi more. So my question is, do you have a list of recommendations of good sci-fi books?

cannibro asked

logicalfangirl:

Anne McCaffrey and Isaac Asimov are two fairly nonthreatening scifi writers that I like to recommend to people who are new to the genre. I also handed my wife a lot of off-the-beaten-path Ray Bradbury if that helps, but anyone who’s read Fahrenheit 451 in school might be biased against him because they read it in school and he’s also fairly wordy and metaphorical in his style so don’t try to skim-read his books.
Specific recs are as follows:

Keep reading

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer! Yeah, I would have just grabbed a list of classics and went by that, but things that are classics always vary in quality so much. Sure, certain things may have been popular or revolutionary for the time, but they sure are boring or outdated as hell to read now.

I’ve actually already grabbed a copy of I, Robot and The Caves of Steel because you mentioned Harkness reading Asimov and I saw them for cheap at the bookstore one day. I pretty much devoured them, which is what drove me to ask for more recommendations. Also I did read Fahrenheit 451 in high school, kinda. I was home schooled through high school, so it was a willing choice to read it. I remember liking it, although it’s been a while now, so I might pick up some more Bradbury.

Also I’m totally cool with more hardcore science. I have a brother who is really into physics, so I’m used to having conversations about confusing subjects I sometimes barely understand, lol. Even if I don’t always get it I still think that stuff is neat. (I’m more a biology dork myself, but I do love me some robots and space. I’m just not as versed in them.)

via logicalfangirl

Video 38516
Notes

Posted 11 months ago

why-animals-do-the-thing:

sandshrew13:
archiemcphee:
The Sahara sand viper (Cerastes vipera), is a small, venomous viper endemic to the deserts of North Africa and the Sinai Peninsula and it has a very special skill. It can hide itself by burying itself in the sand. They do this in order to wait for prey. They wiggle their tails to attract a potential meal and then lunge out from under the sand to chomp them.
Photographer Zac Herr had the brilliant idea of giving a captive-bred Sahara sand viper the opportunity to show off its special skill in a pool full of rainbow sprinkles instead of sand. pacinthesink provided the snek and jdrrising recorded the results:
And Zac Herr photographed the sneaky snek after it was done:
“The best part of this picture is that the snake has no idea how comical it is.“
Prints of these awesome sprinkle viper photos are currently available via Zac Herr’s online shop.
Video by jdrrising, photos by Zac Herr
[via Nerdist and Zac Herr]
@why-animals-do-the-thing Is… this ok? If it’s not eating it’s not going to swallow any or anything I guess?
Yup, this is fine! You’re correct -the snake shouldn’t be ingesting any of the substrate unless you’re feeding it in there, and that didn’t happen. Even if the snake did end up ingesting a small amount of the sprinkles, it wouldn’t be the end of the world: they don’t have the enzymes to digest sugar, but they have to be able to deal with the bones of prey and any other foreign objects in the stomach of the things they eat, so a small amount of something as small as sprinkles would just get passed as waste.
Snakes appear to be able to see some color (and UV light), but as this species buries themselves in the substrate rather than trying to camouflage themselves against it, it’s unlikely that they’d be stressed by the varied colors of the sprinkles.
And, as always, this sort of thing is fine for a short photo shoot - but it’s not the type of appropriate set-up you’d want to leave the animal in for a long period of time or have it live in.

(Source: archiemcphee)

via why-animals-do-the-thing

Text 27
Notes

Posted 2 years ago

forestferncreations:

Unpopular opinion time:
Never understood why it was funny or cute to teach your dog tricks that involve them pretending to be dead, shot, or fall over from a fake punch. I guess this is one more thing to add to my ever growing “why I’d make a shitty dog trainer” list.

For me a lot of the funniness in watching dogs do this is two things. One, they’re usually way too excited either over the prospect of treats or because they’re having fun playing so they look way too happy to be “dead.” Second, a lot of dogs will ham it up and ridiculously over act being shot or punched or whatever. It’s kind of like watching a little kid pretend to faint by doing the over dramatic, hand-on-the-forehead swoon thing and it’s too ridiculous to be anything but funny.

via fernsandbones

Photo 14244
Notes

Posted 3 years ago

Zoom

princess-chrysalis29:

Bio-engineered vaginas grown from patients’ own cells
Four young women have shown great success with implanted vaginal organs that were grown from their own cells.
Those cells were then “seeded” into a biodegradable scaffolding-like material, which was hand-sewn into a vagina-like shape that was designed to fit the participant.
Here is the article
Here is an interview about the prospect of lab grown penises for trans men.
Using advanced techniques in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, doctors in the U.S. are reporting their first successes with lab-grown penises. They’ve worked in rabbits, and now scientists say they’re ready to begin testing the penises on humans.
“Penises grown in laboratories could soon be tested on men by scientists developing technology to help people with congenital abnormalities, or who have undergone surgery for aggressive cancer or suffered traumatic injury.”
Check out my post about pregnancy in transgender women
So to my fellow trans people, there is a lot of science coming for you in the future!
-Vanessa