They Should Invent Being Awake And Attentive And Having Energy

NPR

A NASA spacecraft discovers a formation on Mars resembling a bear

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped the uncanny photo in December. Eyes are formed by craters. A hill with a "V-shaped collapse struc

Come on [tumblr] where’s my Mars Bear fanart?

かぐや姫の物語 (2013)

*copying the thai alphabet* ooh loopies hell yeah this is so cool

*reading typed thai* where are all the loopies

“Why do we persist in thinking about gender differences? I think it’s telling to think about who benefits, when we think about why this research is even being done. Why is anyone trying to prove that there are innate differences between men and women in intelligence, scientific ability, competitiveness, or any other traits that seem to confer high status in society? One general reason to cling to the idea of innate ability is to give ourselves an excuse for not being good at something. If I claim that I just have no natural aptitude for sports, that gives me an excuse for being very, very bad at sports. Conversely, when people declare that I am very talented at the piano, that negates the thousands of hours of practice I have put in. People can declare themselves to be a right-brained, “creative” person, and use that as an excuse for being disorganised. They can boast of being a left-brained, “logical” person, and use that as an excuse for being insensitive. (This is in spite of the fact that the left-/right-brain theory has been largely debunked.) The more invidious reason to claim that people are born with certain traits is to avoid having to help people do any better. This is a way of not having to address our prejudices. If we can somehow argue that women are innately less intelligent than men, then we won’t have to address issues of inequality in education, science, business, politics, and every echelon of power. If “innate” biological differences are found, they become fodder for people who seek a pseudo-rational basis to maintain structures that discriminate against women.”

— Eugenia Cheng, x + y: A Mathematician’s Manifesto for Rethinking Gender

my mum showed me her korean notes and im vibrating out of my body this is the dream scenario we're in this shit TOGETHER

Know what's great? Books. Know what's even better? Free books. I meant to put together this list ages ago and was just reminded of it yesterday, so here's just about every method I know of to (legally) obtain free ebooks and audiobooks. I'll add to this list if I come across any more.

Free Ebooks:

*Librivox - Provides access to audiobooks in the public domain, run by volunteers. Mostly classics.

*Project Gutenberg - Provides access to ebooks in the public domain. Mostly classics.

Digital Public Library of America - Provides access to books in the public domain.

hoopla - Free app that lets you access ebooks and audiobooks available through your library. Requires your library card info.

*Libby - Same concept as hoopla. Run by Overdrive.

Sora - Similar concept as hoopla and Libby but instead it's for schools (requires your school info). Also by Overdrive.

The Palace Project - Another app like Libby and hoopla that provides access to library books. This one also allows you to download books from DPLA right from the app if you don't have a library card/your library is not yet signed up with them. The downside is they don't seem to yet have access to as many libraries as Libby or hoopla.

*Riveted by Simon Teen - Provides access to full ebooks and extended excerpts of popular YA books. The books available switch out monthly so you'll have to read in the given time frame.

*Tor.com Newsletter - Weekly emails highlighting their blog, scifi/fantasy news, and short fiction. Occasionally they pop in a freebie that you can download from book depository (I got Gideon the Ninth this way). Just make sure you download the book before the deadline.

*Bookbub - Newsletter that emails you daily ebook deals curated to your tastes, often includes 1-2 free ebooks in most of its daily recs. Also a great way to discover lesser known books.

______

*Chirp - Newsletter that emails daily audiobook deals. I've never seen a free audiobook here but I figured they'd still be worthwhile to mention. Prices usually range from .99c to ~$4.99. Must download the Chirp app to listen, but it's a great alternative to Audible.

*currently using these ones myself

I love space, I love shuttles, I love telescopes, I love learning about galaxies and stars and supernovas and blackholes and planets no matter how far away they are. I love looking at pictures of the stars, I love showing those pictures to my friends, I love talking about new things I learn about space, I love hearing about humanity working together in order to see things millions or billions of lightyears away because of our ingrained want to explore and learn.

sent an email without exclamation points #mean #meanie #meancore #evilgirl #hurtingyou #indifferent #gayandrude

tips for applying to colleges as a 21 year old?

Apply using the Coalition Application to save money and take special care to apply to colleges that have no application fee outside of the Coalition App. Go out of your way to apply to as many places as you possibly can and just have fun with your applications. I would apply to a variety of large state schools and smaller liberal arts colleges and have a huge mix going on so that your application pool is large and relatively varied. Apply to some huge SEC schools, apply to some cute liberal arts schools, apply to colleges with a few great scholarships, apply to colleges that you idolise, take the time to just have fun and apply all over the map. I applied to the American University of Bulgaria just for the thrill of it and I don’t regret a single application. Most colleges consider January 15th the last day to do applications but some have rolling admissions so try to get on that right now and get to applying to schools.

Don’t be afraid to move far and start anew, there’s nothing like a fresh beginning and you can be whoever you want to be. There’s no shame in moving away and getting away from your old reputation and recreating yourself, there’s no shame in making new friends and forgetting that you used to be shy and fearful, and there’s no shame in taking full advantage of all of your new opportunities. There’s no reason why you should refrain from moving and becoming your best self in a brand new city and making the choice to become who you were always meant to be and enjoying your life. I know so many women who had total glow ups and took the time to get thin, change their style, and fix what was hurt upstairs before they went to college as older students and I’ve seen how they’ve succeeded and actually ended up giving life another fair chance.

Apply for all of the grants and scholarships that you possibly can so you’ll have an excess. I used to apply for a huge amount of scholarships just so I could have an excess and spend it on the things that I wanted and so I could use my scholarship money to help fill out my savings account and offset my cost of living. If you get scholarships and you already have your tuition on lock, a lot of the time the money will just be given to you in check form, same with grants. I used to use the money that I got from grants to buy clothes and travel just so that I could continue improving my quality of life. Life is for living and college is for fun and if you have the ability to win scholarships and grants, some of the funds should be used for your own enjoyment and your savings account, not everything should be so serious.

Rush a sorority. I’m telling you. Rushing a sorority truly changed my life and has given me friends and so many opportunities that I would have never had had I not chosen to go through rush. My sorority has changed me and changed my life, it’s given me purpose, and it’s helped me get so many career opportunities and become friends with women who I literally would not be able to survive without. My sorority has given me access to so many things, I’ve been able to learn so much, I was helped with scholarships and with learning better English, my sorority has helped me through the hard parts of life, I’ve been able to learn and experience history, I regret not going to a school that gave me the ability to Go Greek for four years and have that family. I’m constantly recommending that women go through rush and I would strongly recommend that any older first year at university go through rush just so that she could have the ability to make friends and have all of the same benefits that I’ve been blessed enough to have. I’d consider Going Greek my best decision ever.

Go on tours!! So many colleges give you the chance to tour free, so many are easily accessible, and so many are accessible with minimal money spent and so my advice is to try to tour all of your top colleges and get a feel for where you want to be. Tours, having the opportunity to experience a college, and having the ability to see the campus and witness the culture are really what can make or break your decision. I’m a huge proponent of trying to go somewhere and trying to see what’s up before you make the decision to spend four years in said place. Going on tours helped me, I got to meet cool new people and have even cooler walks on the campuses where I went, and I got to have the time on campus that helped me decide if the university was for me or not. I did this with the schools I applied to for my year abroad and for my actual undergraduate uni and I had the ability to fall in love with both campuses. Tours are an essential part of applying to colleges and I would highly recommend doing affordable uni tours.