The scientomythologist.

The homo sapiens, which gets dopamine flowing when his brain sees science, and mythology. The eternal GIMPer and Smiter. This blog is a collection of my mostly random stuff. And have I mentioned my love for sarcasm? Kemetic blog at tomsci-the-dwjehuter.tumblr. com

[tomassci]

The scientific Kemetist

Just a guy learning to use his ankh to fight entropy and the heat death of universe.  Praising...

My Kemetist blog

[il9vemyputer]

everyone on replies is terrified of this fact but i just think it's so sweet and heartwarming. she's holding our hand and leading us somewhere secret and we're both giggling like kids. i love her

[solowinged]

let’s travel through the vast unknown with mama

[omnybus]

Space chickens

[neat-deadandlive-things]

"What the fuck?"

no, "Watch the Phacus".

Take a 30 second scrolling break to watch these little algae swim.

[tomassci]

How to fix underwriting:

just move your pen up

[tomassci]

I recently took a look in the Tumblr Disease Fandom, I don't regret anything

[tomassci]

your mileage may vary, especially if you're queasy about health-related topics

[tomassci]

I recently took a look in the Tumblr Disease Fandom, I don't regret anything

[diseases-for-center-control]

[bteddy3276]

Ccan someone better than me draw their great observatories in tge fantasic 4 thing PLEASW chat im BEGGING

[nekom-art]

a bit late to the bandwagon but i took the chance to draw the GOATS

[charl0ttan]

play terrible games win unspeakable prizes

[skluug]

play solved games win known prizes

[machine-unlearning]

play non-deterministic games win randomly selected prizes

[jintsi]

play topological games win determined prizes

[corollarytower]

Play tautological games and win prizes that are prizes.

[tomassci]

Play logic games ⇐ win prizes

[great-and-small]

When I was in vet school I went to this one lecture that I will never forget. Various clubs would have different guest lecturers come in to talk about relevant topics and since I was in the Wildlife Disease Association club I naturally attended all the wildlife and conservation discussions. Well on this particular occasion, the speakers started off telling us they had been working on a project involving the conservation of lemurs in Madagascar. Lemurs exist only in Madagascar, and they are in real trouble; they’re considered the most endangered group of mammals on Earth. This team of veterinarians was initially assembled to address threats to lemur health and work on conservation solutions to try and save as many lemur species from extinction as possible. As they explored the most present dangers to lemurs they found that although habitat loss was the primary problem for these vulnerable animals, predation by humans was a significant cause of losses as well. The vets realized it was crucial for the hunting of lemurs by native people to stop, but of course this is not so simple a problem.

The local Malagasy people are dealing with extreme poverty and food insecurity, with nearly half of children under five years old suffering from chronic malnutrition. The local people have always subsisted on hunting wildlife for food, and as Madagascar’s wildlife population declines, the people who rely on so-called bushmeat to survive are struggling more and more. People are literally starving.

Our conservation team thought about this a lot. They had initially intended to focus efforts on education but came to understand that this is not an issue arising from a lack of knowledge. For these people it is a question of survival. It doesn’t matter how many times a foreigner tells you not to eat an animal you’ve hunted your entire life, if your child is starving you are going to do everything in your power to keep your family alive.

So the vets changed course. Rather than focus efforts on simply teaching people about lemurs, they decided to try and use veterinary medicine to reduce the underlying issue of food insecurity. They supposed that if a reliable protein source could be introduced for the people who needed it, the dependence on meat from wildlife would greatly decrease. So they got to work establishing new flocks of chickens in the most at-risk communities, and also initiated an aggressive vaccination program for Newcastle disease (an infectious illness of poultry that is of particular concern in this area). They worked with over 600 households to ensure appropriate husbandry and vaccination for every flock, and soon found these communities were being transformed by the introduction of a steady protein source. Families with a healthy flock of chickens were far less likely to hunt wild animals like lemurs, and fewer kids went hungry. Thats what we call a win-win situation.

This chicken vaccine program became just one small part of an amazing conservation outreach initiative in Madagascar that puts local people at the center of everything they do. Helping these vulnerable communities of people helps similarly vulnerable wildlife, always. If we go into a country guns-blazing with that fire for conservation in our hearts and a plan to save native animals, we simply cannot ignore the humans who live around them. Doing so is counterintuitive to creating an effective plan because whether we recognize it or not, humans and animals are inextricably linked in many ways. A true conservation success story is one that doesn’t leave needy humans in its wake, and that is why I think this particular story has stuck with me for so long.

(Source 1)

(Source 2- cool video exploring this initiative from some folks involved)

(Source 3)

[handforthstudy]

Unfortunately, I don’t have citations, but I have heard about the same phenomenon through Nat Geo Live presentations in the Amazon and Serengeti. Most individuals who are poachers or use slash-and-burn farming are doing this out of survival, not ignorance or greed. They have families to feed and children who will starve if they don’t find food or money. As OP said, fixing the human suffering fixes the conservation issue and is a win-win, while preaching conservation to starving people does nothing.

But on top of that, you know who the most ardent conservationists are once security has been achieved? The people who had once been forced to poach or slash-and-burn to survive. You know who’s great at tracking down gorilla poachers? Ex-poachers. Who’s good at understanding and advocating for people forced to do these things to survive? Ex-poachers. Who can convince others to take a chance on finding a better way to survive? Same answer.

It is win-win-win. As ecologists, conservationists, and environmentalists we must get out of our ivory towers of knowledge, stop carrying them into the field, and remember humans are part of the ecosystem too. And that sustainable change will never happen if human needs aren’t addressed.

[buttons-beads-lace]

I also love this story about the arapaima in Brazil. They increased the population of this endangered giant fish literally a hundred times over- from 3,000 to 300,000- by ending the total ban on arapaima fishing and instead creating legal fishing organizations. The fishing organization members get trained on how do population counts and determine how many fish they can take while still leaving enough for the population to grow.

The former illegal fishers are now sought-after experts, because they know how to spot the arapaima and tell juveniles apart from adults. They get to keep practicing the fishing skills that were passed down to them. The actual process of fishing is easier because they can work together and don't have to sneak around. The profits are higher because they can sell the fish openly to restaurants and to the public. The fishing organization members make sure that other people in their communities don't fish illegally. And the numbers of arapaima keep going up and up, so there's plenty to go around even as more people join the fishing organizations.

If you click all the way through to the report from the conservation org that started the fishing organizations project, there are quotes from fishing organization members:

"We built a second house and I'm putting my oldest two kids through college on the money we get from fishing."

"Nowadays you have young people walking around with pockets full of cash saying "I got 6,000 from fishing this year!" It used to be you wouldn't even get 50 reais of pocket money."

"At the first harvest after we started the fishing organization, I saw full-grown arapaima for the first time, really big ones like they're supposed to be. Before, I had only heard about how big they could get. That's when I knew that our work was paying off and we could keep moving forward."

[thewormscientist]

Highly scientifically accurate depiction of me and my friends sharing one brain cell during the lectures.

[daily-public-domain]

Day 247: Riemann Zeta landscape

link

–This image is part of the public domain, meaning you can do anything you want with it! (you could even sell it as a shirt, poster or whatever, no need to credit it!)–

[mist-the-wannabe-linguist]

Another tidbit about the Czech language that I love: in ornithology, the non-breeding and breeding plumage of birds is called a "simple dress" and "wedding dress" respectively

he's put on a black tie and a waistcoat for his wedding <3

[anexperimentallife]

[nabanna]

thank you mister snerpy we salute you good sir

just because I have trouble figuring out which sounds vowels make like this, I have found an audible guide (for the goddess's name):

[tomassci]

Visit Original Link

I once downloaded OpenBoard, the open-source whiteboard software. When I listened to this piece, something struck my mind. I recognize this scheme! It reminds me of the Earwax Lobby music...

Now, I am unsure whether I have uncovered an inspiration, or if my brain is just noticing patterns that don't exist in reality, but I still find it interesting that the connection could be there. Part of the reason I post it here is to get people who understand music and/or jackbox more than I do to validate/refute me. And to find the original composer of the sonata.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Solvatochromism

When a solution changes color depending on the solvent a given solute is dissolved in, the effect is known as solvatochromism. This effect is also said to be a "response to a change in polarity of the local environment", and thus solvatochromism can be used as an indicator of solvent polarity. Solvatochromic materials are typically dyes, and are used to differentiate organic solvents.

Sources/Further Reading: (Image—Wikipedia) (2015 article) (2008 article) (Ball State University) (2001 article)

[fujo]

SenshiStock’s gallery consists of millions of pictures that are free to use as reference.

General Drawing Poses Sit and Kneel Dramatic and Reaching Drawing Poses Magic and Hogwarts Drawing Poses Staff Weapon Pose Reference Hammer, Axe and Bat Pose Reference Sword Weapon Drawing Reference Small Bladed Weapon Pose Reference Gun Weapon Pose Reference Bow and Arrow Archery Stock Foreshortening and Perspective Poses Dynamic Flying Falling Action Poses Deafeated or Laying Drawing Poses Magic Crystal Magical Girl Wand Weapon Transformations and Dance Cards Back Pose Reference Pin Up Inspired Poses for Drawing Performances Poses Life in General Poses Fights and Fighting Pose Reference Leaning Poses Classic Sailor Senshi Poses Wings Sailor Moon Villains Pairs Romance or Couples Pose Reference All the Male Stock Hanging Stock Drawing Reference Three or More Groups Instruments Mirrors Whip  Technobabble  

[fucktonofanatomyreferences]

A glorious fuck-ton of human pose references.

[dharmagun]

reblogging because i feel like maybe i can draw again. sometime maybe soon.