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kaberettplease entertain me! with An Interesting Fact or a story or questions! I might not get to most of them interaction-wise until tomorrow, but I will appreciate them.
(If you have sent me an e-mail recently in which you e.g. ask me how I am, the reason I haven't replied is that my brain shorted out on the idea of giving you a proper answer At That Point, so now I need to get up the activation energy to get moving again. Probably tomorrow. I like and appreciate you and appreciate the e-mails and they are in no sense unwanted or an imposition, just, you know, brains. <3)
(If you have sent me an e-mail recently in which you e.g. ask me how I am, the reason I haven't replied is that my brain shorted out on the idea of giving you a proper answer At That Point, so now I need to get up the activation energy to get moving again. Probably tomorrow. I like and appreciate you and appreciate the e-mails and they are in no sense unwanted or an imposition, just, you know, brains. <3)
(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-09 02:47 pm (UTC)Finally my link hoarding comes in handy. A couple of my recent Pinboard entries that might amuse:
1. Lake Natron, an incredibly alkaline lake in Tanzania which is a stunning shade of red. I originally read about it on Tumblr (content note: first image shows a dead animal, albeit gore free): http://kedreeva.tumblr.com/post/175414868283/the-other-day-i-got-a-bug-up-my-ass-about-lake
2. Also from Tumblr, a story about illegal cucumber trees: http://steverogersisbi.tumblr.com/post/177425363154/a-tale-of-trees-and-espionage
3. And here’s a curiosity in Japanese Unicode (which isn’t about the Emperor’s abdication): https://www.dampfkraft.com/ghost-characters.html
(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-09 03:04 pm (UTC)2. THE ILLICIT TREE IS SO GOOD. THE SMUG PHOTOGRAPH. YES THANK YOU. I AM ALWAYS DELIGHTED TO BE REMINDED OF IT. <3
3. Oooooooooooh thank you, this is splendid (A you will enjoy this if you didn't already know).
(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-09 08:42 pm (UTC)I was not aware that flamingoes were artificially pink (or that they became so by eating
baking powderbaked goods). This is an excellent thing to know!2. I’m waiting for the inevitable allotment update in which you've acquired and planted an illicit cucumber tree. (How’s that going?)
3. It’s good, isn’t it? Back-compatibility for written languages.
PS
4. I’ve been going through some old photos; you might enjoy these pictures of cute otters and meerkats and a wildcat: https://twitter.com/alexwlchan/status/1049750169279975424 (There will be another photo or two of terrifying Nile crocodiles, but in a separate thread.)
(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-09 02:50 pm (UTC)Interesting Fact: today I learned about turtle penises (nsfw, impropriety).
Question: what sort of babysitting does a very expensive vacuum leak require? Does it like snacks? Stories?
(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-09 03:19 pm (UTC)(2) VERY DEFINITELY SNACKS, if "very dilute acid but a lot of it" counts as snacks (typically my samples are 1ml of 0.1MHNO3-0.1%H2SO4 acid with ~5ppb of thallium in them plus up to 20ppb lead, so they're REALLY much closer to water than most tap water). It is also incredibly finicky about the temperature, and whether the windows are open, and whether all its blankets are in the right place, and whether the mirrors are reflecting the WRONG KIND OF LIGHT, and whether you've provided the right kind of straw to drink its snack with. It is SO FUSSY.
Occasionally you have to pat it very gently and tell it you understand that it's doing its best, but if it could try again that would be great.
You also have to be super careful to avoid doing anything that gives it nightmares.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-09 05:03 pm (UTC)2. I'm so glad I asked. The very expensive vacuum leak sounds adorable. I'm so glad it has a good babysitter who understands it and gives it apple juice with the curly straw.
whether the mirrors are reflecting the WRONG KIND OF LIGHT
I know you don't play Sunless Sea, but for the benefit of anyone reading this who does: THAT IS SO SUNLESS SEA.
Follow up question: what gives it nightmares?
(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-10 09:15 am (UTC)And who also wanted to know what gave the vacuum leak nightmares!
To which the approximate first-order answer is "not having enough of any of its nighttime drinks" (if a sample runs dry and you suck air in through the system for any length of time you destabilise it and all your subsequent data are probably useless until after you've very gently made sure everything is back in its proper place and comfortable again). This is most likely to happen overnight when its babysitter has GONE TO SLEEP rather than watching like a hawk; similar effects arise for "it didn't quite manage to hit its drink with the straw", "a power brown-out", "the temperature in any one of a number of rooms went wrong", and so on, and so forth...
(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-09 03:01 pm (UTC)Have you already seen "Four Things that Weren't Adequately Covered in Mulan's R.A. Training"?
(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-09 06:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-11 04:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-11 06:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-09 03:18 pm (UTC)A pilot keeps a promise.
What's your best garden thing going on right now?
(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-09 04:00 pm (UTC)https://www.reddit.com/r/biology/comments/193fj5/these_fucking_scissors/c8kf5t4/
Priceless.
Things.
Date: 2018-10-09 04:33 pm (UTC)- This also means that the fourth language they are functionally fluent in is Catalan Caló, so now I have a whole new track to run down.
- I had something else but I have forgotten because my cat was distracting. Bah.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-09 04:48 pm (UTC)Best prank caller ever.
I did not know this about London Bridge! (and I'm sorry if I earwormed you)
It may be possible to ID fake art via nuclear fallout
Cities may be making animals smarter
Good luck babysitting!
cool possible experiment
Date: 2018-10-09 05:43 pm (UTC)I have no pointers for this one: it came up in a conversation/panel between Emmet O'Brien and Jon Singer at Scintillation Sunday morning, and was presented as "a cool thing one of them heard about. (Your best bet here is probably to ask Emmet, but give them a few days to recover from the con first.)
(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-09 06:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-09 06:36 pm (UTC)Assorted means of energy/psychic cleansing.
Spinning and weaving in ancient Greece.
Tarot spreads for shadow work.
Solarpunk.
Lunarpunk.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-09 08:49 pm (UTC)PHONE: [Number I do not recognize, but that has been calling the last few days.]
ME: Fine, I'll answer it. *boop* Hello?
GORMLESS POLITICAL CANVASSER: Hello? Is this the [terribly mangled pronunciation of the Evil Ex's surname] household?
ME: This phone number is no longer associated with her.
GPC: Okay, so I have a wrong number. But let me ask, do you plan on supporting [Candidate Y] this November?
ME: [TERMINATES CALL WITH PREJUDICE.]
Which is a terrible move for Candidate Y, because now I'm [more] prejudiced against them because an operative (associated directly or no) still asked their question even after being told they had a wrong number. The only thing I wish I could have done was physically slam the earpiece back into the cradle.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-10 12:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-10-13 01:41 pm (UTC)