Common Human Existence

A common human with common ideas and common interests.

[with-grace-and-guts]

[smartgirlsattheparty]

http://amysmartgirls.com/interview-with-iris-gupta-the-12-year-old-scientist-stopping-allergies/

The 2015 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge was full of inspiring young scientists looking to make a difference with the world. 12-year old Iris Gupta, from North Potomac, MD received fourth place for her innovation that seeks to stop allergies at the source through inhaling or in…

[mblhistoryproject]

Women of the Lab: Sally Schrader

(Image MBL History Project)

Meet Sally Hughes Schrader. She studied at Columbia University in the 1920′s, obtaining both her masters and her PhD in zoology. Schrader was the first person to ever dissect all the cranial nerves of the dogfish (Squalus icanthias). After obtaining her degrees, Schrader became a Professor of Zoology at both Columbia University and Bryn Mawr College.

(Image MBL History Project)

Schrader at the MBL. Schrader first came to the Marine Biological Laboratory as a student in the Embryology Course in 1918. At the MBL, Schrader studied dogfish. She later enrolled in the protozoology course, and spent many years as an independent investigator at the lab. She and her husband, geneticist Franz Schrader, enjoyed active pursuits such as swimming and boating around Woods Hole. They later became Life Members of the MBL Corporation. The MBL has a collection of Schrader’s photographs and letters in the archives.

(Franz, Sally, and Mary Huettner, Image MBL Library)

This has been a Women of the Lab post. Through photos and stories, these posts draw from the archives of the Marine Biological Laboratory to paint a clearer picture of science throughout history.

For more great images and resources such as online ehibits, interviews with scientists and more, check out our website http://history.archives.mbl.edu/ and find us on Twitter and Facebook @mblhistory 

[edwardspoonhands]

Since I know you'll be in the Portland area for the Welcome to Night Vale tour, I thought I would let you know about a very exciting thing that's happening. The American Rabbit Breeders Association National Convention will be at the Portland Expo Center from October 31 to November 4 and you should definitely check it out. There's going to be 14,000+ RABBITS IN ONE BUILDING. It's a really cool thing to see.

I will not be able to make it, but in case there are other Portlanders who would like to see 14,000 rabbits, I will answer this ask publicly. SO MANY BUNNIES YOU GUYS!!!!

[commonhumanexistence-blog]

More of my favorite foods!

[guardian]

Beautiful bacteria: winners of the 2015 Agar Art Competition | See full gallery

Microbes and germs were used to paint masterpieces on a canvas of agar jelly in a competition run by the American Society for Microbiology. Scientists from around the world submitted entries, recreating famous paintings as well as original works. See more of the beautiful, bacterial entrants.

[smartgirlsattheparty]

20 of the most important travel books written by women

"So here’s to the ladies. We’ve rounded up some of the best travel writing not penned by men. All books in this selection are non-fiction, and focus on place, experience, or the notion of travel itself."

Get your hair wet Smarties!

Great article from @matadornetwork

[edwardspoonhands]

Hank, I am so distraught. I am terrified for the future of my generation and the generations after mine. I can't reconcile the incredible lack of common sense and it's feels naive to tell myself that I'm being too hasty and that everyone around me is being too hasty too and that homo sapiens isn't just the biggest asshole species on the planet and has such a short field of vision that those with money have no interest in the future. HOW DID WE LET IT GET THIS WAY??

First, common sense doesn’t exist. Your common sense will never be the same as everyone else’s. Common sense really just means “cultural agreement” and if other people don’t have it, it’s because you have a different worldview than those people, not because they’re idiots.

Second, of all the species on earth, humans have BY FAR the longest field of vision. In fact, we’re pretty much the only species that doesn’t just live day to day.

Do we need a longer field of vision? Absolutely, especially because we have far more impact on our environment than other species. But in answer to your question, “HOW DID WE LET IT GET THIS WAY” we did it mostly by trying to make our lives better. We did it by creating systems to ensure our feelings of security and to feed our children and to make ourselves feel valuable. 

People aren’t bad. We’re a fluke…we’re a magnificent and dangerous fluke. We’re also as good at solving problems as we are at creating them. So far.

[commonhumanexistence-blog]

Positivity.

[commonhumanexistence-blog]

Food diary!

[commonhumanexistence-blog]

More food. Food for me contains great memories.

[commonhumanexistence-blog]

Food diary continued...

[fishingboatproceeds]

Have you read the book called The Dumbest Generation by Mark Bauerlein? If you have, I was curious what your opinion was about it?

I have not read the book, but I have read its subtitle, “How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future.” I’m not going to criticize the book, as I have not read it. But I will criticize its subtitle, which I have read.

Like, come on. Adults always dismiss young people as disengaged and self-involved and stupefied, and adults are always wrong.

Like, when you think–as all middle-aged people including me inevitably do–”young people these days are different and worse because of X, Y, and Z,” you should also think, “Hey, when my parents said this about me they were wrong. And when my grandparents said this about my parents they were wrong. MAYBE I AM ALSO WRONG.”

Anyway, the kids are all right, as they always have been. It’s we adults who need to accept that the world changing does not mean the world is getting worse. (To be clear: This goes for me as well as Mr. Bauerlein.)

[edwardspoonhands]

In which Hank has some thoughts from Yellowstone National Park, one of the coolest and most dangerous places on Earth.

In a weird way, this video is a response to John’s about the refugee crisis. Anything that makes us confront that cliff of the unknowable that we exist upon every single second is scary, especially when I have known so much safety and security all of my life. But maybe the truly terrifying thing is, when faced with the reality that some people have fallen off that cliff…have lost everything, I often look to my own terror that the same thing could happen to me, rather than the hope that I can help rescue them from their fall, and whatever disturbance that brings to my (admittedly precious) stability is worth it.

Change is scary…and it is inevitable.

[commonhumanexistence-blog]

For later viewing.

[commonhumanexistence-blog]

Food Diary, pt. 2

[commonhumanexistence-blog]

Food diary, pt.1

[qweety-deactivated20131214]

The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: 50 pounds of pots rated an “A”, 40 pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot — albeit a perfect one — to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work-and learning from their mistakes — the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

Art and Fear- David Bayles and Ted Orland (via qweety)

Perfection is intimidating.  I think most artists blocks come from the fear of creating something imperfect.

(via buttastic)

putting it even more simply: just make shit. eventually it’ll be good shit. maybe most of it will just be shit! but you can’t make good shit if you’re not making a lot of shit.

GET EXCITED AND MAKE THINGS.

(via aintgotnoladytronblues)

Also needed this today! 

(via authorsarahdessen)

Yeah!

[fishingboatproceeds]

In which John discusses the Syrian refugee crisis and the growing number of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, and Eritrea crossing the sea with the help of smugglers to seek refuge in European Union nations.

Also discussed: The difference between migrants and refugees, the rights of refugees as established by international law, the globalization of all regional crises, and how the death of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi galvanized the world.

PLACES TO GIVE:

The UNHCR.

Save the Children fundraiser created by author Patrick Ness.

(Click through for sources.)