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Astronauts are preparing an experiment on the Marangoni effect, in which a variation in surface tension can cause mass flow, for flight aboard the International Space Station. The effect, also responsible for causing tears of wine, will benefit from study in microgravity because competing effects like gravity-induced sedimentation and buoyant convection will be negligible. Astronaut Ron Garan reports more on the upcoming experiment on the Fragile Oasis blog.

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Dante and Virgil (detail) — 1850 oil on canvas William-Adolphe Bouguereau

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PIMENOV, YURY (1903-1977)

Wet Posters, signed with initials and dated 1973.

Oil on canvas, 70 by 55 cm.

Macdougalls

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Jean-Michel Basquiat

Nervous System, 1982

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The mitochondria being the powerhouse of the cell is a fact which is often discussed on the internet. The Golgi apparatus, however, being the post office of the cell, has not gotten nearly as much recognition. This is in line with the years-long underfunding of the postal service, which provides a deeply important service to society yet does not get the recognition it deserves. In this essay I will

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Nikoleta Sekulovic, woman reading

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Kneesvember Day 10

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everyone shut up and look at this

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John Taylor, A Delicate Dainty Damnable Dialogue between the Devil and a Jesuit, 1642

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I reblogged a comic the other day about a doctor watching House, MD and diagnosing toxoplasmosis, tagging it with "you're more likely to get toxoplasmosis from a salad than a cat". There's a story behind that.

I used to work in the kennel at a vet clinic. One day one of the vet techs came into the kennel in a tearing hurry, handed me two cat carriers, and said, "Find a cage for these two. Don't know how long, but you can put them together." And then she left.

This was not how that was supposed to happen. I had no cage cards--no names, no feeding instructions, no health information--they weren't on the schedule, and techs didn't usually intake boarders. Medical cases had a separate kennel, so a tech shouldn't be bringing me an animal in during office visit hours. But I had a cage in the cat room, so I tucked them in--two adult females, very friendly, apparently healthy.

Half an hour later the tech came back--with cage cards--and said, "It's okay, they're staying overnight and going home tomorrow." She slumped against the kennel wall and told the cats' story.

They had been brought to the clinic to be euthanized, to die.

These healthy, friendly, beloved cats had been brought in to be killed, because a woman's doctor, her obstetrician, had told her that they had killed her unborn baby. He told her if she ever wanted a child she had to get rid of the cats. He told her they should be euthanized before they killed any other woman's unborn child.

He said, with no evidence, that they had toxoplasmosis. He said that toxoplasmosis caused her miscarriage.

The woman was distraught. She had just lost her baby, she was dealing with the hormonal changes of the pregnancy loss, and now she had to euthanize her beloved cats. Fortunately no vet I've ever worked for will euthanize healthy animals brought in by a sobbing client without asking why!

The vet spent almost an hour talking to the woman, educating her on toxoplasmosis, telling her all the reasons her doctor was wrong.

Not all cats have toxoplasmosis, and even when they do they only shed the oocytes in their feces--they're only infectious--for the first few weeks. Most cats are infected as kittens and are no longer infectious as adults. According to Wikipedia, "Numerous studies have shown living in a household with a cat is not a significant risk factor for T. gondii infection,[61][63][64] though living with several kittens has some significance.[65]"

Most people get toxoplasmosis from raw vegetables, especially salad greens that grow close to the soil and are hard to clean. Raw or rare meat, raw seafood, and unpasteurized milk are also a risk.

Toxoplasmosis can be a soil-borne disease from feces in the soil. Gardening is a greater risk than cat cohabitation.

Toxoplasmosis infection is dangerous to the fetus in pregnancy, yes, causing birth defects and miscarriages. But only the first time the person is infected. If this this woman had lost her first pregnancy to toxoplasmosis--and the vet said it really didn't fit the symptoms--she would be at low risk in a subsequent pregnancy.

So basically the vet told the woman that 1) her miscarriage probably wasn't toxoplasmosis, 2) even if it was, she probably didn't get it from her cats, 3) even if her cats had given her toxoplasmosis, they weren't infectious anymore.

The woman kept her cats and got a new obstetrician.

Human doctors get a few lectures on zoonotic diseases--diseases transmitted from animals to humans or vice versa. Veterinarians get semesters. If a doctor ever tells you your animals have given you a disease, get a second opinion from your vet!

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I think it's important to understand that the vast majority of voters do not spend much time thinking through their political decisions because it's simply not something that occupies much space in their minds. You can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into, and it's extremely difficult to fight feelings with facts.

Now that the Democratic party's inner core is highly-educated cosmopolitan urbanites, it seems to have lost the ability to deal with that reality.

Most people do not feel like trump is a fascist, or that he wants to be a dictator. Most people do not feel like any of Biden's massive legislative/executive accomplishments improved their lives at all. Most people do not feel like Harris's platform would've actually gotten done or helped them. Most people feel like Trump ran a better economy and that it's Democrats' fault that inflation got so bad.

In an individualistic, selfish nation with one of the worst education systems in the industrialized world, a political party cannot win by serving up a charcuterie board of various poll-tested policies that it then tries to explain to people who could not care less and don't understand anyway. It needs to create an overwhelming feeling, a feeling that changes the minds of people who don't give a fuck about anything but themselves and their wallets. Trump found that overwhelming feeling. Through bravado, cruelty, and levity, he created this zeitgeist of blunt, confident grievance that countless prideful people who feel left behind by the economy could grab onto. This feeling inspired people far beyond his cult of enthusiastic fascists and self-identified bigots.

The country chose trump because Trump's brand, vibe, and message inspired compelling emotions in more people, especially in people who have no interest in civic engagement, don't follow the news, and have been given little understanding of government/economics by our failing education system.

This problem wasn't fully apparent in 2022 during the midterms, when more low-propensity voters stayed home and highly-educated, highly-engaged people made up more of the electorate.

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DEMI MOORE ph. by Max Farago for J. Crew

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the amount of redditors like "as someone who escaped the alt right pipeline, here's the problem with the left" *writes out essay revealing a massive victim complex*...you did NOT escape the right i'm afraid 😭🙏 at the core of reactionary politics is aggrieved entitlement!

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Thoughts on the exit polls…screenshots taken from NBC’s exit poll.

Men really, really do not want to vote for a woman. I’ve seen this viewpoint branded as TERF rhetoric so lemme just say in advance that I’m non-binary. It is not TERF rhetoric to blame sexism for this loss, and I think we need to confront the ways in which, yes, sexism runs deep with U.S. men and we need MORE feminism, not less.

Trump did make some inroads among Black voters: 92% went for Biden in 2020. Way more Latino voters shifted, though: 66% voted for Biden in 2020. Asian voters also dropped from 63% in 2020. What on earth could account for the —

Support among white men dropped from 48% for Biden to 39% for Harris. Support among Black men ticked down very slightly but not much. The biggest change: Latino men went from supporting Biden by 59% in 2020 to 44% in 2024.

The bottom line: yes, it was the men. Men across multiple races and ages supported Harris less than Biden, and we need to be clear-eyed about that. Unfortunately in the short term I think that means, Absolutely do not run a female Democratic candidate in 2028. Because we can’t even talk about this issue without someone taking exception and wailing “NOT ALL MEN!!”

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girls I know this isn’t at the top of the concerns list but you’re gonna want to stop eating commercially produced meat real soon

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The majority of my hate belongs to men but I hope that women who voted for Trump realize that they’re weak willed idiot followers and cowards who should be begging themselves and other women for forgiveness after such a shameful and pathetic decision. Disgusting.

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