“The closer he looks at the child, the less he sees … The more he looks at it, there’s nothing there. He fears that the more you look at him the less you see. There isn’t anything there.” - John Hughes
(Source: davidfincherings, via whatdoesalonemean)
high tide and low tide in great britain. photographs by michael marten
(via anchorsandmacaroons)
Where can I get a tastefully over-sized sun hat? I need to step up my collegiate summer wardrobe game.
SPEAKING OF SECRET SOCIETIES
I have mentioned many times that one of the PRIMARY reasons I wanted to go to Yale was my fascination with the senior secret societies and their landmarked, windowless club houses that are actually called “TOMBS.”
So imagine my happiness when, in my very first year, one such society opened its doors to non members one night for a party. I wish I could say that I was invited, but the truth is that I MADE IT MY BUSINESS TO BE INVITED by harassing people I barely knew.
I remember the moment I walked up to those open doors very well. BUT THAT IS THE LAST THING I REMEMBER, because as soon as I got inside I got so drunk that I fell down the stairs and hit my head and my memory of EVERYTHING I SAW AND DID INSIDE THAT WINDOWLESS BUILDING WAS ERASED FROM MY MEMORY.
This is complete truth: there is an actual hole in my memory. Because secret societies know how to keep their secrets.
All of which is to say that I am going north to New Haven for my 20th anniversary this weekend.
And if there is anyone who has access to Book and Snake who wants to help an old man remember, please contact me.I am hodgman at maximumfun dot org, and I pay my debts.
THAT IS ALL
Atomic weights revision changes periodic table
A magnificent period piece from mid-19th-century Russia has just received a bit of a renovation. Five elements at the heart of the periodic table will never look the same again, following an update to their atomic weights.
“Your chemistry teacher probably said to you ‘atomic weights are constants of nature’, but nothing could be further from the truth,” says Tyler Coplen, director of the Reston Stable Isotope laboratory in Virginia. In fact, the atomic weight of some elements varies depending on where you are on Earth.
Most of the mass of an atom resides in its nucleus, composed of protons and neutrons (with the exception of hydrogen, whose nucleus consists of a single proton). The number of protons in the nucleus determines what atom you are dealing with: all carbon atoms have 6 protons, all oxygen atoms have 8, and so on. But the number of neutrons can vary from atom to atom of the same element. Atoms of the same element but with different numbers of neutrons are called isotopes.
Every element has a number of unstable isotopes, which break apart through radioactive decay, but some elements have more than one stable isotope too. This is where chemists run into problems when it comes to defining the atomic weight…
This has led the guardians of the periodic table – the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) – to decide that the atomic weights of bromine and magnesium are better accommodated by intervals than by single numbers… While they were at it, the IUPAC also took the opportunity to tweak the atomic weights of three more elements: germanium, indium and mercury.
Source: newscientist.com
goddammit, Science
gil721 said: FUCKIN RADICAL
I was just born to shred gnar, you feel me brah?
Yamel Cakes
Every year on Yom Kippur, Jewish men and boys wear yamel cakes on their heads, which are very important to the Jewish faith. Wearing the yamel cake symbolizes that you are truly a man and not a woman.
We’re so excited that we can finally announce this - we have a book coming out! The galleys just came in today and look amazing.
Bigger announcement and Amazon link coming soon, but here are the Cliff Notes:
- It’s coming out September 3rd;
- There’s 50 stories told on our stage, transcribed and edited for your reading pleasure;
- Plus introductions by Adam Gopnik, George Dawes Green and The Moth’s artistic director, Catherine Burns.
More info coming soon, but we couldn’t keep it to ourselves any longer!
YAY! We heart The Moth.
