gender is an n-dimensional hypervolume

I write stuff! I have opinions on science! I draw! I talk about plants! | icon by sunnysam-my | 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ QUEER | SWITCH TO FIREFOX. DO IT.

[errorschacha]

Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions

A public resource tracking the legal challenges to the Trump administration's executive orders and actions.

Thought I'd share one of the things I like to look at during my scream breaks.

[seabeck]

This mushroom tasting thing is making me imagine the hand shake meme with mycologists and geologists, tasting what we're studying

Don’t forget archeologists in that!

[winkingrain]

A relatively recent subject of discussion on a bryologist (mosses, liverworts, hornworts) thread I'm on was how taste and smell might be used to identify mosses. The last email on it was someone desperately trying to discourage younger bryologists from eating random things they pick up.

[winkingrain]

gotta say, I'm not a fan of describing Grace's exit from academia as him being "kicked out." textually, he alienated at least one major figure in his field directly, as well as antagonizing his field at large with a deliberately inflammatory thesis. he's not the tragic victim here. he may have been deprived of desperately needed support (who let that thesis go to print...) and in a bad mental state, but he still did that, and leaving academia after that is not so much "getting kicked out" as it is "autonomously torching his collegial relationships and career prospects". also, frankly, there are plenty of unpleasant people in academia, and while we don't get lots of detail, I'm inclined to interpret this event through the lens of the rest of Grace's character development: he couldn't take what he was dishing out, and he ran away. he created a hostile environment and then fled the consequences. it is step 0 in the arc of Ryland Grace: Coward and wayyyyy more interesting than additional fodder for Ryland Grace: Woobie.

[everythingismadeofchaos]

Hey I get what you're saying and you're not wrong, but I would like to point out that we don't actually know the sequence of events. It could be that he became known as the "water is not essential" kook, it ruined his career, and that's what drove him to kind of tell everybody what he really thought in that paper.

Although I also don't know what it takes to attend the UNESCO conference in Denmark. If you need an invite that would imply that he was still on the inside. But maybe it's not that hard to get in if you subscribe to enough journals.

It does really make me curious as to what he was actually doing for a living; scientists do a lot of different stuff. He could have been at a research institution, or working in private enterprise, or even pursuing an additional degree when all of this happened. We simply don't know.

But hell, there are probably fanfics about it

[winkingrain]

Okay, fair enough. I do have a couple things that can clear this up a little.

I've been to conferences before, and a visit to UNESCO's website seems to indicate it is not much different. Going to a conference is not invite-only (usually), you register and pay a fee (which varies conference to conference and also based on your career status), and if you're presenting, you need to submit an abstract for everything you're presenting. So being still acceptable to his colleagues has nothing to do with it, really.

Additionally, most people who publish papers are attached to research institutions--private sector employees obviously can (anyone can, if it passes peer review) but people employed by research institution have a greater pressure to publish.

More specifically, in Stratt's introduction, Grace says "Academia didn't work well for me" and Stratt describes Grace's experience leaving as involving "assholes who get you kicked out of your university" (Chapter 3). I think it's textual that Grace was employed at a University. He might have been doing a post-doc, which would make it easier for other people to impede him receiving funding or getting published. However, I'm more inclined to say he was a tenure-track associate professor because he had enough autonomy to be writing monographs with apparently no one looking it over in-progress, and I don't think Andy Weir knows how academia works. I don't think it's likely that he was pursuing another degree unless he suddenly decided to get a Master's degree; most people do not get multiple PhDs.

Anyway, to your point, we do have a few scant timeline clues. Stratt says "You spent years combating the assumption that life requires liquid water." So he's spent minimum two years on this particular idea. Given his age, post-doc or not-tenured professor makes sense. Grace describes when he wrote the paper as "I was in a bad place when I wrote that" and he'd "had enough of the research world and that was a sort of 'kiss-my-butt' goodbye".

HOWEVER. While I enjoy working out the timeline, I don't think any of it really affects my original post: writing a monograph with sections calling his colleagues "idiots" and calling them out by name in it is still a choice he made. Per the movie, calling someone "a staggering waste of carbon" is not something a mature adult does. I think it's reasonable to say that Grace's recollection of these events is not reliable--Stratt mentions that his colleagues believe he could have been a prominent member of his field if he hadn't left (run away), and Grace's description in comparison is deeply antagonistic.

[adamnagaitis]

can everyone reblog with the interest of theirs that was the most intense or continued for the longest because i’m so curious

[loverboyilya]

what do you use as your bed cover?

comforter

duvet

quilt or coverlet

blanket

multiple of the above

sheet only

nothing

Remaining time: 4 days 1 hour

feel free to explain your reasoning in the tags!

rb for bigger sample size

[yesornopolls]

do you have any friends that are 4x your age or more?

Do you have any friends that are 4x your age or more?

Yes

No

Remaining time: 1 day 44 minutes

[figtreeandvine]

I have friends a quarter of my age, if that counts?

[copperbadge]

If I was friends with someone 184 years old I would never shut up about it. They would be "my friend who is 184 years old..." every time I opened my mouth at least until next year when they would become my friend who is 185 years old.

[winkingrain]

gotta say, I'm not a fan of describing Grace's exit from academia as him being "kicked out." textually, he alienated at least one major figure in his field directly, as well as antagonizing his field at large with a deliberately inflammatory thesis. he's not the tragic victim here. he may have been deprived of desperately needed support (who let that thesis go to print...) and in a bad mental state, but he still did that, and leaving academia after that is not so much "getting kicked out" as it is "autonomously torching his collegial relationships and career prospects". also, frankly, there are plenty of unpleasant people in academia, and while we don't get lots of detail, I'm inclined to interpret this event through the lens of the rest of Grace's character development: he couldn't take what he was dishing out, and he ran away. he created a hostile environment and then fled the consequences. it is step 0 in the arc of Ryland Grace: Coward and wayyyyy more interesting than additional fodder for Ryland Grace: Woobie.

[luxiomahariel]

"ftnb people are functionally transmasc and mtnb people are functionally transfem"

choke.

[alagaisia]

Hey. Why isn’t the moon landing a national holiday in the US. Isn’t that fucked up? Does anyone else think that’s absurd?

[alagaisia]

It was a huge milestone of scientific and technological advancement. (Plus, at the time, politically significant). Humanity went to space! We set foot on a celestial body that was not earth for the first time in human history! That’s a big deal! I’ve never thought about it before but now that I have, it’s ridiculous to me that that’s not part of our everyday lives and the public consciousness anymore. Why don’t we have a public holiday and a family barbecue about it. Why have I never seen the original broadcast of the moon landing? It should be all over the news every year!

[alagaisia]

It’s July 20th. That’s the day of the moon landing. Next year is going to be the 54th anniversary. I’m ordering astronaut shaped cookie cutters on Etsy and I’m going to have a goddamn potluck. You’re all invited.

[watermelon-converse]

Hey. Hey. Tumblr. Ides of March ppl. We can do this

[emi--rose]

Hell yeah moon holiday

[hello-delicious-tea]

Ooh coming up we should celebrate

[ariaste]

PITCH: We call it Moon Day, and then every 7 years when it falls on a Monday, that's an even BIGGER deal and we call that Moon Day Monday and go absolutely apeshit about it (the next Moon Day Monday is in 2026 so we have a couple trial runs first)

[sarostheghostcat]

MOON DAY MOON DAY MOON DAY

[wafflebloggies]

moon day is 20th July!!!

[silly-jellyghoty]

Scheduling this a day earlier to remind you all and myself about the Moon Day tomorow!

[kedreeva]

I scheduled this in 2025 to give you all a week to make Moon Day Monday preparations! I think I will order a little rocket cake or bake some moon phase cookies!

[spin-the-wheel-polls]

You have became this medieval role, how do you feel about it

you are in the medieval era and you have this role!

How do you feel?

great!! I love this

good!

It's okay

So bad. I hate this

This is similar to my real job!

Results/other

Voting ended onJul 18

[byjove]

I do think you lose your right to medical privacy when you decide to become a politician and it is mad fucked up that these people hold our lives in their hands and are allowed to disappear for months on end with no explanation. You need a doctor’s note to miss school for a cold but we have no clue if Mitch McConnell is dead or alive and Tom Kean was allowed to fuck off for 4 months without telling the public why. I don’t give a fuck about your privacy, you’re not protecting my privacy, if you’re leeching tax dollars and partying it up in a rich person rehab resort somewhere while your constituents vote against our access to healthcare, we should be allowed to know. Fuck you. I say this as a disabled person, I’m always having to explain the nature of my disability and the details of my health but we’re not allowed to know what the fuck is going on with these people.

[badassdemonsword]

You couldnt come up with a jollier name for a bird if you tried

[minmos]

this thang has one of my favorite ebird descriptions of all time

[strawberry-crocodile]

for real tho it feels exhausting that ive seen this whole "woman should be allowed to abstain from X beauty standard" -> "i perform X beauty standard, am i evil? do you think im evil? please forgive me i came up with a dozen excuses 🥺" since like 2015 (and i know its been going on longer than that) like girl thats not the poiiiiint

[strawberry-crocodile]

look me in the eyes. repeat after me. "i face societal pressure to perform this beauty standard. i should not face that pressure. i conform to this standard. i am rewarded for performing to this standard. i need to respect women who do not perform this standard. this is not about whether or not i am a sinner for wearing makeup."

[moonshinemagpie]

researching the history of education in japan and learning that, pre–Meiji Restoration, peasants/commoners formed their own schools to become educated because it was the best way of fighting tax fraud.

That is, when an official told you, a rice farmer, that you owed more taxes than you really did, it was very useful if you were good enough at math to know he was lying (and could prove it) and if you were good enough at writing to write a letter to your government defending your case.

all of which is to say it's crazy that mega-corporations are now pushing education to be "what if you paid us whatever we tell you to for the rest of your life and never do math or write anything ever again"

[thatpollguy]

Which of these would you choose?

You can speak every language

Everyone you meet has to tell you the truth

You can relive any moment from your past at any time

You can choose one thing to be exceptionally talented at

You can speak to animals

All food and drink you want is free (but only you can consume it)

You can manifest one thing you want into reality

Any time you sneeze you get 1 dollar (or whatever money you use)

Thanks for the poll request, anonymous! Keep 'em coming, folks.

Which one of these abilities would you rather have?

You can speak every language

Everyone you meet has to tell you the truth

You can relive any moment from your past at any time

You can choose one thing to be exceptionally talented at

You can speak to animals

All food and drink you want is free, but only you can consume it

You can manifest one thing you want into reality

Every time you sneeze, you get 1 dollar (or your currency's equivalent)

I don't want any of these abilities

Voting ended onJul 10

[winkingrain]

What the fuck, Word? What does that mean? What the fuck are you talking about??

[beezlebutch]

"Pride month is over"

WRONG! Your pride month is over! Me and all the other disabled queers are having pride month two: disability edition

[jehandant]

Reblogging this again bc people in the notes are asking a lot of "Am I included? Am I disabled if I have x?" and I just wanted to add the flag here to show people who the pride month is for.

This is the new flag, the old one was more vivid and in a z shape, but it's been made more neutral to be inclusive of people with seizures or sensory issues.

Each stripe represents a different aspect of disability:

Red: Physical disabilities

Yellow: Cognitive & intellectual disabilities

White: (And this is the key one I think) Invisible AND undiagnosed disabilities

Blue: Mental illnesses

Green: Sensory disabilities

If you're autistic or have ADHD? this is your pride month. If you have a mental illness, it's your pride month. If you're hard of hearing, this is your pride month. If you have an autoimmune disorder, this is your pride month. If you are not diagnosed with anything but you know something is up with you: THIS IS STILL YOUR PRIDE MONTH.