Collection of Shinies

ink-bloggo >> inkryosis aekirou, 23, he/they local internet creature's reblogs + more Come back next time, I guess?

[faustique]

just a reminder in case your mind is playing tricks on you today, you matter. you're important. you're loved. and your presence on this earth makes a difference whether you see it or not.

[kipine]

[llaloyd-draws]

"Get to work, Dr Grace. The world is counting on you."

non-quote version below

[calamarispiderart]

in case i dont see ya,

[gaslit-dipshits]

[appalachian-werewolf]

PoweredByWho — Who's Building Data Centers in Your Backyard?

Follow the money behind America's data center boom. Track 2,300+ projects, PAC spending, and the politicians who sign off on it.

[reasonsforhope]

Reasons for hope: Lots of amazing people did a ton of work to make this fantastic, fully interactive resource available - because no matter how bleak things seem, there are millions, and millions of people doing everything they can to protect both the world and their own communities.

You can use this to view and subscribe to updates, project statuses, and for at least some of them even whole dossiers. This is an amazing resource, I highly recommend checking it out

[eggsdoodz]

all we have is time ͙͘͡★

[catchymemes]

[is-the-owl-video-cute-deactivat]

Not just any paper maps, they had textbook sized atlases of the entire delivery area with each street meticulously mapped out.

These were insanely handy and a new edition came out just about every year to stay up to date on construction and road changes. I remember stocking my car with these for any of the cities I tended to travel to because they were the only way to actually get anywhere unless you wanted to call a friend and get very in depth instructions on how to get there.

[ralfmaximus]

AAA is now mostly known for roadside assistance, but at one time their primary business was MAPS.

For a few bucks a month you could become a Triple-A member and yeah, roadside assistance was one of the perks. BUT ALSO you could pick up the phone, call their 1-800 number, and tell the human operator who answered that you were planning a road trip.

They'd get your starting and destination address. Ask a few questions: what kinds of hotels you liked, preferred gas stations, any interest in touristy things?

Then in 7 to 10 days you'd get a thick package in the mail of carefully customized maps. Each map was the size of a paperback book cover, perfect for holding in the passenger's or driver's lap. Each was enumerated starting at #1 and ending at #whatever number of minimaps the trip required, with a hand-drawn highlighter path drawn on the map marking the route from one edge to another; entrance & exit points for that section of the route.

Motels, gas stations, and (if requested) tourist traps were indicated in color coded ink -- again, by hand. Sometimes detours were drawn in red marker, overriding the printed map because AAA kept up to date on road closures & regional disasters.

These maps were customized for your particular trip, and were invaluable since GPS did not exist. Unless you were familiar with the local region, the alternative was buying a map at the next gas station and guessing.

GPS is amazing and I wouldn't want to give up the ease & simplicity of Google Maps, but my god the old tech was miraculous too in its own way.

[leveragehunters]

Refidex my beloved - that's the Aussie version, the big book of maps that got my ass everywhere until years after I got my first smartphone. It has a full index of street names in the back with a map and grid reference, so you could flip forward and easily find it.

I was told by a taxi driver that in the old days they had to basically memorise the Refidex to pass the Taxi Licence test, since they weren't allowed to use it during the test.

BUT searching for a picture of the 2023 Refidex led me to this!

Brisbane and environs in 1951! Fully digitised with machine readable text and high quality images! I can buy it for 19.50 - nay, I'm GONNA buy it for 19.50! (Although I wish it was $19.51).

Holy cow, they've also got 1926.

Yoink!

[thelittleblackfox]

in the UK all London taxi drivers have to do 'The Knowledge’. It takes 3-4 years of study before being able to pass the test, and is considered one of the hardest driving exams in the world

The Knowledge was first introduced in 1865 but has changed little. Drivers must memorise all the roads and landmarks within a six-mile radius of Charing Cross, around 25,000 streets.

[elodieunderglass]

I read the OP and was like, I wonder how many notes before someone mentions The Knowledge.

London cabbies who hold The Knowledge experience changes to their brains that are explained in every Neurobiology for Babies course. It’s a wickedly difficult skill: rather than the pizza delivery people in the OP, starting in one defined zone (pizza place) and radiating out from there, a cabbie starts a route in any position and has to navigate across a partially-medieval city with no grid pattern, deranged place names, and not many bridges across a very large river. It would be useless to refer to a paper map, so cabbies were required to have all the Knowledge memorized. This means that the paths and optimized routes would have to be at the top of one’s brain, ready for instant access. As a result, the cabbies develop materially different brain regions as they study and use the Knowledge. They have detectable, measurable changes in their hippocampi, with an increase in grey matter forming in those who pass the Knowledge test and use it.

When asked to navigate a route between two points, they describe the mental process as instantaneous and explosive visuals: it sounds as if the map generates itself behind their eyes. (One potential tradeoff, though, is the decrease in associated brain matter in areas associated with other forms of memory.) After retiring, the brains of London cabbies would appear to return to “normal” - when not exercised, the brain region dedicated to holding the Knowledge seemingly rewires itself - which is exciting because it indicates that brains are still capable of rewiring and adaptation even in later life.

That’s all very interesting for neuroscientists, which is why it’s in all the textbooks and underpins a lot of our understanding of brain plasticity (adaptability) especially in old age. After all, it’s only ever adults who go through this process: babies rarely do a PhD in becoming a human Google Maps.

Some science-fiction series, like Dune, have explored the idea of no-longer-human navigators. still, it’s under-explored. Today, researchers are interested in seeing how London cabbie brains could help with Alzheimer’s research, or other progressive brain conditions that deteriorate the hippocampus.

Cute concluding sentence, sci-comm joke, rhetorical question intended to provoke reflection but mistaken in the comments for an actual question.

[shimmywrites]

take care of yourself and have a good day

[tiktoks-i-enjoyed]

The art of mindless embroidery.

by @ toolbburs (no pronouns in bio).

[spaceshipsandpurpledrank]

[lobstabear]

To my 25 - 35 year olds, you've reached the age where people around you are starting to give up on themselves because they think it's too late. Don't let that energy rub off on you. It's not too late.

[knittingontheroad]

I became a tattoo artist at 49.

Married the love of my life at 50.

Got my Class A CDL at 59.

You've got time.

As long as you're breathing, you've got time.

[haejjoon]

more experimenting

[rotten-m3]

stratt dabbing up rocky

o7

[hi-its-the-blackmold]

As both a science and English nerd, I love the idea that since Eridians are cosexual (am I using that term right? Let me know), they don’t have pronouns indicative of sex or gender but rather state of relation. Like how Rocky says, “friend Grace”, he is stating the relation of the subject to him. And taking it further, pronouns of possession, like Rocky talking to another Eridian would refer to Adrian as, “my Adrian”, and the other Eridian would refer to Adrian as “your Adrian” throughout the conversation. Because the state of relation is that Adrian and Rocky are mates. And that shifts based on who’s in the conversation when the state of relation to who is present changes. Say Rocky isn’t there. Same Eridian, who works with Adrian, talking to another Eridian who works with Adrian. Now it’s, “coworker Adrian” or “<job> Adrian”. Same Eridian talking to another Eridian who doesn’t know Adrian at all, and now it’s dependent on the context of the conversation. It could be, “Rocky’s Adrian” or “coworker Adrian”. If two states share the individual equally, you get “our Rocky” for Adrian speaking to Grace.

Now that we have discussed this: I would like you to imagine the first time after Rocky left for Tau Ceti that somebody has the gall to speak of Adrian and Not refer to them as “Rocky’s Adrian” when the context would make that the appropriate way to refer to them. Implying they’re available now.

I would now like you to imagine Adrien crushing them into a smoldering gritty smear on the ground.

[scruq]

This study is being done by Dr. Lisa Littman, Dr. Kenneth Zucker, and J. Michael Bailey. The same people behind the “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria” and other Transphobic pseudoscience. Do NOT give information to them via ayagdos, they have a long history of retractions and reported misconduct.

Report this ad wherever you see it. The fact that staff allows this kind of shit yet still turning a blind eye to everything else is just pure hatred.

Burden of Proof:

Scientists Behind the "Social Contagion" Myth Are Recruiting Trans Young People For Study, Community Leaders Warn

The project is called AYAGDOS—brought to you by the same names behind “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria” pseudoscience.

Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net)

If you see this, don't participate. It's a rigged study by Lisa Littman and unethical researcher J. Michael Bailey meant to undermine access

[to-orrr]

[s-u-w-i]

Sketch from a while ago based on a Slovak folk ballad "Ringére". About Death coming for a young man who refuses to go with her because he wants to marry first. To which the Death replies, he can marry her; she is all dressed in white anyway. Not sure if I'm ever gonna finish this, but I've always wanted to draw something inspired by the song.