#photos are my own

[mels-notes]

04.12.23

la neige sur campus est magnifique jusqu'à ce qu'il faille grimper une grande colline pour se rendre en classe :’)

[ionomycin]

Grief

ref photo by @jawsstone

[aeriona]

no freaking way

[kensatou]

MODERN WEEKLY STYLE CHINA Photographer: Hailun Ma; Stylist: Macci Leung; Makeup: Yooyo Keong Ming; Hair: Zhou Xue Ming; Art Director: Doris He; Models: Wai Wai, Annie, Una, Juan, Hei Wa, Bonnie, Ginny

[greyphitus]

Hey guys

There's a post going around about something called the "Invertebrate Studies Institute" needing help. A few comments made on the post made me curious, so I checked it out and it seems sketchy to me. (ETA: the post's OP is now aware of the situation and is trying to rectify things on their end, and are ok with my post getting more exposure. Read the notes for more info too!)

The institute is a startup and the owner has displayed misogynistic behavior. He made a company and received "$1.3 million in research grants from the USDA and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation" in 2011, but there aren't any research papers listed on the ISI website more recent than 2012 (sources: ISI website, People Behind the Science podcast transcript, All Things Bugs LLC webpage). It's possible his research is still a work in progress, but I would expect to see some genome sequencing work at the least since that seems to be a major focus.

Also, it's possible to ship frozen specimens in dry ice and have them be fine. Even stuff for molecular work and genome sequencing. So the inability to get help from other research groups, to where they're asking for a local freezer plug-in, is a bit weird to me.

Some screenshots below the cut, didn't screenshot everything since it's mostly just text, but I did cite the sources if you wanna read them yourself.

Not sure what the overall point is of this post is besides "seems sketch to me" but I saw a lot of people worrying on the initial post so I wanted to at least mention this stuff.

Comments from the tumblr post which sparked my initial concerns.

Screenshots from the LinkedIn link, with the initial contact and follow-up legal threat.

Screenshot from the ISI website talking about their facility and "initiative" (I noticed a lot of the wording on the website sounded like they hadn't done significant research, which also gave me pause).

And, for fun, the CDC guide on shipping frozen specimens.

[monstermonger]

Quiet corners 🐈‍⬛

[hedgehog-moss]

I went to the local donkey contest (finally!) and I got to meet the world's tiniest donkey 😭 She is 10 days-old and simply too small for words.

[crystallizsch]

yknow that one meme

[doctorsiren]

I had a thought

[darkmacademia]

my tea / super flower blood moon of 2021. (pt. 1)

[courfee]

paper crowns and fluffy blankets

[mels-notes]

02.11.24

ma promenade à la librairie aujourd'hui 🍂

[uncanny-tranny]

This might seem like an "old man yells at cloud" situation, but it's just wild growing up and being told how dangerous distracted driving is - how, at highway speeds, you can traverse the length of a football field (100 yards, 91 meters) in a matter of seconds - how one split second sending a text while driving could result in a potential fatal crash, and then getting on the road as a driver and being surrounded by billboards. Their entire purpose is to catch one's attention, so they're lining major roads, which tend to be highways. How is it that you're told how important it is to never be distracted while driving, but still being advertised to?

At best, this type of advertising is an eyesore to pedestrians and motorists and a general waste of electricity to light it, and at worst, it is an active danger considering they are there to advertise and therefore, must catch people's attention.

I'm not even against advertising in theory, but this particular mode bothers me so much and I hate how pervasive it is - especially in large cities or highways.

[english-history-trip]

Some of the beautiful illustrations by S.D. Schindler from Brother Hugo and the Bear by Katy Beebe.

The book is based on two real medieval figures: Hugo, a scribe who added a self-portrait (pictured above) to the end of his copy of Jerome's Commentaries on Isaiah, and a bear who appears in a letter from the abbot of Cluny Abbey to a neighboring abbot asking to borrow a copy of The Letters of St. Augustine, "for a large part of ours has been accidentally eaten by a bear."

[philomena-famulok]

©Philomena Famulok

mixed media, 2021/23

[zeeth-scribbles]

average bad kids study session