jonkarki

[jonkarki]

Y'all, the world is sleeping on what NASA just pulled off with Voyager 1

The probe has been sending gibberish science data back to Earth, and scientists feared it was just the probe finally dying. You know, after working for 50 GODDAMN YEARS and LEAVING THE GODDAMN SOLAR SYSTEM and STILL CHURNING OUT GODDAMN DATA.

So they analyzed the gibberish and realized that in it was a total readout of EVERYTHING ON THE PROBE. Data, the programming, hardware specs and status, everything. They realized that one of the chips was malfunctioning.

So what do you do when your probe is 22 Billion km away and needs a fix? Why, you just REPROGRAM THAT ENTIRE GODDAMN THING. Told it to avoid the bad chip, store the data elsewhere.

Sent the new code on April 18th. Got a response on April 20th - yeah, it's so far away that it took that long just to transmit.

And the probe is working again.

From a programmer's perspective, that may be the most fucking impressive thing I have ever heard.

[jonkarki]

Cocaine was a stimulant used by a priestly caste of the middle period United States called businessmen in order to commune with The Market. [1]

[jonkarki]

Some non-D&D games lean in so hard into being so different for the sake of being so different that they almost become this absurdity, too.

People keep trying to construct analogies for the cultural dominance of Dungeons & Dragons in tabletop roleplaying spaces like "imagine you met a guy who considers himself a cinema buff but exclusively watches Marvel Cinematic Universe films released within the past 12 months, explaining that he doesn't branch out because he just doesn't have the time to learn the lore of a second cinematic universe; when you suggest avoiding that problem by watching a standalone film that isn't part of any cinematic universe, he reacts like you're a huge weirdo, and after a bit of questioning it turns out he genuinely believes that films which are part of massive cinematic universes and black and white Eastern European art films about depression are the only kinds of movies which exist", and I know this is intended as hyperbole to illustrate the absurdity of the situation at hand, but, like, I have literally met the guy they are describing.

[jonkarki]

EEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEE EEEEEEE

That's right! It's International Bat Appreciation Day! We share our planet with over 1400 species of bat, making the second most abundant mammal order, and they perform a wide variety of ecological roles, from dispersing seeds to pollinating flowers to eating thousands of insects in a single night! Over 200 bat species are listed as Threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature--that is over 14 percent of all bats!

YOU can help endangered bats today by donating to Pennsylvania Bat Rescue at this link. This PA-based organization rehabilitates sick or injured bats and helps educate people like you and me in how we can create more bat-friendly environments.

If you want to learn about particularly-cool bat species native to New Zealand, check out this Consider Nature article on the Pekapeka, the bat that walks:

For the rest of the day, Consider Nature will be bat-bombing Tumblr with some of our favorite bat species to share them with the world!

Alt text: a small brown bat stretching its wings with the kind of fabulous flourish that would impress Ryan Evans.

[jonkarki]

It makes sense that the Finnish kangaroos would develop a winter coat.

A white kangaroo. Nothing special apart from that this was taken in Finland.

[jonkarki]

Selina Kyle would dump his ass in minutes..

[jonkarki]

[jonkarki]

/ Wim Wenders, Lounge Painting, Gila Bend, Arizona, 1983

[jonkarki]

[jonkarki]

Oh my god this story on Ask A Manager’s request for Machiavellian triumphs at work

[jonkarki]

Imperial passport of Kublai Khan “I am the emissary of the Khan. If you defy me, you die.” 1240 A.D. [886x960]

[jonkarki]

[jonkarki]

Rick Moranis: I was a big George Carlin fan. How could I not be? But there came a point where I saw him on a talk show, and he was reading off cards. I had a feeling I could look like him, so I did an impression of him reading off notes and telling lazy jokes.

Years went by and I was at an awards show. Across the aisle was Carlin, sitting there. We looked at each other, and he just said, “Brutal. Brutal, man. Brutal.” I sort of shrugged and gestured about how much I love him. But I never really met him.

Years later, after he passed away, I spoke to his daughter, Kelly. She wanted to use the SCTV clips in a show she was putting together. I told her, “Look, I want you to understand that, believe it or not, that was really done out of reverence.” She said, “No, you don’t understand. It had a profound effect on him. He wasn’t aware that he was really being lazy. He was unhappy and wasn’t doing the kind of work that he wanted to be doing. And your impression caused him to change his approach.” God, am I glad I spoke to her.

[jonkarki]

another one

[jonkarki]

“You're the original anomaly!”

[jonkarki]

Sorry English, but Finnish has you beat when it comes to the common name of otocyon megalotis, or the "bat-eared fox." It's "korvakoira." Ear dog.

[jonkarki]

this is hardcore pulp 📽️