who was the fool who was tasked with naming the galaxy and the only adjective they could think of was ‘mmmmmmmmmmmmilky…’
scientist: (gazing up at space) scientist: ……….. it sure is a milky boy
NO
YOU DONT UNDERSTAND
ASTRONOMERS ARE THE SHITTIEST EVER AT NAMING THINGS I KID YOU NOT.
When it came time to name the two theoretical particle types that might be dark matter THEY INTENTIONALLY CHOSE THE NAMES SO THAT THE ACRONYMS WOULD SPELL “WIMPS” AND “MACHOS” I SHIT YOU NOT
THEY ARE FUCKING TERRIBLE AT NAMING ANYTHING
I just listened to a talk by Neil deGrasse Tyson himself LAST NIGHT and he went on about this more than once.
“I’m walking down the street and I’m like ‘ooh pretty rock…’ and some Geologist is like ‘actually, that’s anorthosite feldspar’ and I’m like ‘Nevermind, I don’t want it anymore.’ Any biologists in the audience? [some clapping] Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. The most important molecule in the human body, what did you name it? It has NINE SYLLABLES and it’s so long that even YOU GUYS abbreviate it as ‘DNA’!
But astrophysicists and astronomers? No, man, we call it like we see it. Star made of neutrons? NEUTRON STAR. Small white star? WHITE DWARF. You know that big red spot on Jupiter? Know what we called it? JUPITER’S RED SPOT.”
okay i’m glad you mentioned the biologist nonsense bc their naming methods are the bane of my existence
I see your astrophysicists-are-shit-at-names and raise you Marine-Biologists-Are-Fucking-Maniacs.
See this beautiful creature?
It’s a carnivorous deep-sea sponge that lives off of Easter Island and never sees the light of day, as it’s about 9000 feet down. Those delicate-looking orbs are covered in millions of tiny hooked spines, which latch onto anything unfortunate enough to bump into it, and hold it in place as it is digested alive by the sponge’s skin. Amazing, beautiful and profoundly creepy. They could have given it so many cool names. Could have drawn on mythology (I think Scylla would have been an appropriate reference), the region it was found in, the textured skin, PHAGOCYTOSIS, anything!
Hey, do you know that feeling of hitching up a long skirt so you don’t fall on your face when walking upstairs, and then you immediately become a wretched yet resolute Jane Austen character? It’s a universal thing, right?
It’s like resting a laundry basket against your hip and suddenly you’re a long-suffering peasant woman, wondering if you’ll survive the winter.
“because a 16 year old girl who had her first orgasm whilst getting raped, had to watch her 34 year old rapist go free because she had an orgasm.
because when one of my guy friends told me and some friends he got raped by a woman when he was 12, a “friend” laughed at him and told him he should be happy he got laid that young.
because my 17 year old friend’s parents let her 14 year old brother roam the streets until 12am, but she has to be home by 10.
Because my brothers girlfriend, told the police she was raped and fell pregnant but the rapist didn’t get jail time as she got an abortion and the ‘evidence’ was gone.
because a guy from my old school was raped by another guy, but because he’s gay, they said it wasn’t considered rape.
because a 19 year old lesbian got raped by a guy, and he didn’t go to prison because he said “he only tried to turn her straight so she would be accepted by her parents”.
because in some cultures, girls (and boys, of course) still get thrown out of the family because somebody sexually assaulted them.
because they’re still teaching girls to walk faster at night instead of teaching boys that they shouldn’t rape.
Because they’re teaching kids that they’re only male rapists and not female rapists too.
because I have to explain why rape makes me mad.“
If you excuse rape for any reason stay the fuck away from me because you are literally a peice of human refuse.
I’ve reblogged this before but he’ll im doing it again
Rape is not, and never will be sex. Rape is the same as a punch in the face, rape is assault.
RAPE IS NOT SEX. RAPE IS AN ACT OF VIOLENCE.
Rape is not sex, it’s violence! If you hit someone with a shovel, you wouldn’t call it gardening!
“B.J. is one of my oldest LA friends and just an all-around dashing guy. He spends money in a cool way: he doesn’t fritter it away on trendy junk (like I do, hello Forever 21), but then, like, buys a Jil Sander jacket or takes out 20 people to dinner at a fancy restaurant on a whim.
Also, he’s always quoting books he’s reading in interesting ways that connect organically with what’s being talked about. I have never been able to do this seamlessly; when I read something interesting I go into work the next day and just upload it to everyone no matter if it’s relevant or not.” — Mindy Kaling
“She’s the most fiery person I’ve ever met. Sometimes in a moment of frustration with a movie studio or network executive, she’ll throw up her hands and say, `That’s it! I’m out. I’m going to get married and have five kids and never write again.’ She always means it 100 percent, but it never lasts more than 10 minutes.” — Bj Novak
please allow me to introduce you to everyone’s favorite Rubik’s cube of the sea, the Yellow Boxfish. they’re, uh.
well. see for yourself.
a vision of geometric perfection and kissy lips
yeah.
despite looking like an ocean-borne Bethesda glitch, the Yellow Boxfish is a real animal with hopes and dreams just like yours.
well, maybe slightly more angular
found in warm water reefs worldwide, (say that five times fast) Yellow Boxfish start life tiny and bright yellow, eventually fading in color as they reach their adult length of about 18 inches. they live mostly off algea and the bitter tears of mathematicians. (just wait until they discover the Hypercube Boxfish)
your frustration sustains me!
we STILL don’t know how they work- being a literal cube seems to make them incredibly agile swimmers, but we’re not sure why. maybe the ocean is just really into right angles?
nature just loves rectangles I guess
also just in case they weren’t weird enough, they also have a bad habit of squirting a deadly poison everywhere whenever they get startled, like an excitable toxin grenade
PANIC! PANIC! RELEASE THE TOXINS
while it is an efficient way to murder the shit out of every other fish in the general vicinity, this toxin has zero effect on humans. unless you were to attempt to eat the Boxfish, so don’t do that.
you probably couldn’t anyway, this is what a Boxfish skeleton looks like
Yellow Boxfish are popular pets and are kept by many aquarists. your local fish store may have one right now, go say hello! but gently, lest you accidentally startle this weird dumb square toxic grenade of the sea.
I got bit by one of these when I took my focus off the seaweed I was holding, trying to lure a shrimp, got bit by a hecking box
Meet one type of boxfish, the cowfish.
They have little spines on their heads as an extra level of protection. They’re known to pop their bags when transported, so for their own safety they are given horn covers. (This is the best visual I could find.)
So not only are cowfish beautiful rectangles, they’re rectangles that need to wear hats.
