the-science-llama:

If Earth Had Rings

First off, they would be really pretty to look at. They would also dominate the sky in both night and day at exactly the same place as they would never rise nor set. And at night you would see the Earth’s shadow swing across the rings, like in the 4th photo here.

However, life would be very different on Earth if this were the case. Nocturnal animals would have a hard time being nocturnal, as the light reflecting from the rings would illuminate the night.

Because we are closer to the Sun than Saturn is, the rings would be more rocky than ice, making them less bright but still pretty bright. In fact, you would see far less stars at night (living anywhere other than the equator or the arctic circle) because of the light pollution and not to mention ruin most meteor showers because of that.

During the day the rings would block sunlight in certain regions of the planet creating wild weather cycles and effecting plant life as well. So basically, they would be definitely pretty to look at but they would also make a whole lot of things screwy.

Illustrations by Ron Miller // io9
— Click the photos for captions

(via keypix4)

How The Face Changes With Shifting A Light Source

(via barbaraswife)

arpeggia:

Lisa Oppenheim - Lunagrams, 2010

In Lunagrams (1851/2010), a series of photograms, negatives depicting a lunar phase from 1851 are illuminated by moonlight of the same lunar phase in 2010, providing a translation of images of the past into the present. The source images are glass negatives taken by John William Draper, who was the first to photograph the moon. Photography as well as celestial bodies, such as the moon, can be seen as generic markers of the passing of time. The process of making these images is bringing to life which would otherwise be hidden away under a layer of dust in a library or archive - illuminating the past through the light of the present. [klosterfelde]

colorfuloddity:

our-flag-was-still-there:

Why history is important to me, summed up in four images.
I love this “Know Where You Stand” deal.

Mother.
Fucking.
History.

(Source: photojojo, via pancakeshio)

infinity-imagined:

The formation of the Solar System and the collision that created the Moon.

(via sagittariirising)

tantoun:

Fierce Regina mills

setfabulazerstomaximumcaptain:

sonic-hip-attack:

canikon-bokeh:

Exactly. 

Imagine a wall full of circular holes, that circles can keep walking in and out of with no difficulty.

Now imagine that the triangles manage to get the resources together, after years of not being able to fit through the circle’s holes, to drill a single triangle space into the wall.

Now imagine that the circle — who previously supported the triangle’s efforts because they are well-rounded (har) and value equality —  comes along and sees the construction project. But instead of being happy, they get angry.

“Well, I won’t be able to fit through your hole!!!!” the circle cries.

“I helped you get the drill!!!!” the circle shrieks.

“Make it fit me too!!!!” the circle demands.

The triangles, barely holding it together enough to get a triangle hole together, stare at the circle in confusion. 

“You have all the holes you need,” the triangles explain. “This is for us. You don’t need to fit through our hole, too.”

“YOU’RE BEING UNEQUAL AND HURTING MY FEELINGS!” the circle wails. “I DON’T SUPPORT YOUR HOLE IF IT DOESN’T FIT ME TOO. GIVE ME MY DRILL BACK.” 

“It’s not your drill, it’s our drill. You helped us get it, because you said you cared.”

“I ONLY CARED WHEN I THOUGHT YOU’D MAKE A HOLE EVERYONE COULD FIT THROUGH. YOU’RE PERPETUATING INEQUALITY!!!”

“Why is it up to us, the small group that has never been able to fit through the wall at all, to make a hole everyone can use? Why isn’t it up to you, the people who have been able to cross back and forth at will for years? We just want to see the other side; why are you yelling at us?”

“I DIDN’T ASK TO BE BORN A CIRCLE, OMG. I’VE HAD TO WORK HARD ALL MY LIFE TOO. YOU’RE JUST BEING BIGOTED AGAINST ME BECAUSE OF SOMETHING I CAN’T CONTROL, JUST LIKE EVERYONE IS AGAINST YOU.”

“You are interfering with our project and asking us to comfort you while we’re trying to make progress. Please leave.”

“I’m going to tell everyone about this,” the circle warns. “Nobody will support you now.”

“Apparently nobody ever did,” the triangles sigh, getting back to work.

It’s kind of sad

That we have to draw comics using colorful shapes

To explain systematic inequality to people

(Source: charliebink, via doctor-of-asskicking)

mystracarlile:

im-the-doctor-basically-run:

savberry:

im-the-doctor-basically-run:

I don’t people realize how sad this is.

I audibly, “Awww“‘d for this man in the theater.

Look at his face in the second gif. He is SO happy. Someone sent him something, someone thought about him, someone noticed him.

He probably works all the time, an ex wife who never speaks to him and child she never let’s him see, no other family, no friends, maybe a pet but probably something like a goldfish. He had accepted his place in the world, resigned to be alone, and then this little bit of hope flies into his window that someone out there acknowledges his existence.

Maybe it was his son, who after all these years, remembered all the fun times they had making paper airplanes together before the divorce, and somehow tracked him down. With newly resurrected hope, he looks out to see who this magical lifeline of a person is, who with this small act, is saying, “I SEE you, I validate you as one human being to another.” 

But the lifeline is severed in one brief gesture. “No, not you,” the gesture says. It was meant for someone else. And suddenly, he is alone again, right all along that no one cares anymore. That the world is cold and gray, he is not the main character in this story, just another extra no one will remember.

And in a fit of resentment for the person who got his hopes up, he crumples it up and throws it away along with his hope.

or maybe he’s a cartoon character?

Oh right I forgot that fictional characters don’t have back stories that govern every look, every reaction, every movement, every choice of their character. Part of any good story is creating and learning a long and rich personal history for a character. Characters are only believable when there is a sense of motivation behind their actions, the same as “real” people. The existence of something in flesh is no more real than something that exists only on a page or screen. Writers, actors, directors, cartoonists, etc, have to make these choices for MULTIPLE characters the same way you make your own choices based on your personal history.

The addict isn’t going to just one day become sober for no reason.

A person doesn’t just start murdering.

Someone doesn’t just decide to be a cop or a doctor or an artist.

You don’t just break up with someone or cheat or get divorced or fall in love or get married.

EVERYTHING has a background to it that led up to an action. Just because they aren’t “alive” doesn’t make their struggles or triumphs any less valid and people’s reactions to them aren’t any less real just because a character is fictional.

Do people cry fake tears when Simba dies or at the beginning of Up or when Dean Winchester is ripped apart by Hellhounds or when the Doctor fades before telling Rose, he loves her?

Is the audience pretending to be happy? Or faking laughter? Or anger?

Who are YOU to someone on the other side of the world who you will never meet?
You are just a story.
We are all just stories.
I would even argue that fictional characters are MORE real than living people. They will exist long after we die. Not even the authors will exist forever. How much unattributed literature is there? People will always be telling stories and those characters will be more real than anyone has ever existed or possibly existed(nod to religion). The settings may change and a few details may change, but the characters, the core of the character will remain, while our nameless carbon is recycled back into the earth.

This is tumblr for crying out loud.

If you think a fictional character is any less deserving of feelings than a “real” person,

I think you might be in the wrong place.

(Source: saltandtorchit, via hannibalthecanibal)

kerryswashington:

Tumblr in a nutshell