Tumblr! You Black Emperor

Some old pie charts that I generated for the SYTYCD season 8...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:44:25 -0700

Some old pie charts that I generated for the SYTYCD season 8 auditions that for some reason I never shared. This is mostly for historical curiosity and without editorializing on my part (though of course, I had a particular hypothesis that I was testing out when I made them, you can probably guess what it broadly hinted at).

A legend probably helps for the “Results” graphs:

c: Sent to the choreography round
c, v: Sent to the choreography round, then onto Vegas
v: straight to Vegas

I didn’t love her audition, but for some reason, I’m...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:00:37 -0700

I didn’t love her audition, but for some reason, I’m mesmerized by Shanshan’s quarterbacking skills. More at the blog!

Kawaii Leonard, amirite?

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 20:16:29 -0700

Kawaii Leonard, amirite?

Not every Bardo Pond song is 20+ minutes, just as not every 20+...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 12:00:25 -0700

Not every Bardo Pond song is 20+ minutes, just as not every 20+ minute Bardo track is not a HEAVING BEHEMOTH OF EYE-SHOOTING-LAZER MONSTER OF OH MY GOD.

Still a beautiful dork, now showing she can get down, too...

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 12:00:29 -0700

Still a beautiful dork, now showing she can get down, too @catdeeley

Three levels of O_o: Ballet solo to Autechre’s...

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 10:54:46 -0700

Three levels of O_o:

Ballet solo
to Autechre’s “Second Bad Vilbel”
on So You Think You Can Dance (ok it’s the Australian version but still).

H/T totes.

get-elain-a-horse: I tumblr! My name is Elaine. You can see me...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:24:02 -0700

get-elain-a-horse:

I tumblr! My name is Elaine. You can see me in this picture! That is me holding the sign, HI! Well my hubby said that if this gets 1 MILLION notes, he will buy me a horse. I would love a horse I grew up on a farm where I rode and ate horses til i was 15 when I moved. I have not seen a horse since, not even a picture! Only one painting I painted in 7th grade. My husband obviously thinks this is going to be an impossible task thats why I am taking this on the interwebs where i can get likes. I have 5,000 on facebook so I am almost there. I want brown horse with some white. I will braid the hair. Thanks so much everyone! Please help me achieve this! :) God Bless

I can’t like this until I’m assured that she wouldn’t eat the horse.

The enthusiasms and faces of Adam Shankman. More at my blog.

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:00:19 -0700

The enthusiasms and faces of Adam Shankman. More at my blog.

From Ed Yong again, this time a post from Andrew David Thaler on weird animal sexiness: Paper...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 12:00:35 -0700

From Ed Yong again, this time a post from Andrew David Thaler on weird animal sexiness:

Paper Nautlii are a fairly enigmatic species with a rather brutal reproductive cycle. The male nautilus has a gonopod–a reproductive tentacle–which is placed in contact with the female epigynum–an external gential structure. Upon contact, the female simply rips the gonopod off the male. The gonopod continues to function for several hours, during which time it acts as a genital plug, preventing other males from mating with her. Fortunately, the male doesn’t have to worry about regenerating his gonopod, since we have now reached the “sexual cannibalism” portion of the program.

Normally, I’m all AWWW YEAH CEPHALOPODS, and in fact I’ve singled out the paper nautilus before, but traumatic intercourse? Emasculation? Sexual cannibalism…?? Of my favorite taxonomic class?

OH WHO AM I KIDDING, THIS STUFF IS AWESOME. :D :D :D

(Also other fascinatingly weird sexual behaviors from other animals, but. c’mon, I’m all about the octopuses.)

Cat and Jenna’s disquisition on sartorial ballroom wear....

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:00:40 -0700

Cat and Jenna’s disquisition on sartorial ballroom wear. Seriously, the two of them should get a spin-off where they just hang out and talk about how boys are stupid. More on the blog!

Ed Yong links to a Wired gallery that’s entirely up my...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:00:17 -0700

Ed Yong links to a Wired gallery that’s entirely up my alley, and this mite in particular deserves special recognition:

Microscope studies showed that, inside each impregnated female, her own eggs hatch a brood consisting of some half-dozen sisters and a single male. As the brood develops, the lone male copulates with his sisters; by this time, mom has died. By the time the sisters are old enough to chew through her body and reproduce anew, the male’s job is done, and he dies soon afterwards. Sometimes he never even crawls outside, spending the entirety of life inside mom.

DAEREST TEH BLOBFISH, MEET UR REPLACEMENT TEH BLOBFROG. UR...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:00:18 -0700

DAEREST TEH BLOBFISH,

MEET UR REPLACEMENT TEH BLOBFROG.

UR FAITHFUL SERVANT,

EVOLUTION.

PS - Alas, like many other amphibians, this species is looking at the business end of extinction.

I have a final to study for tonight*, which means no Game of Thrones, which means I’m in...

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 21:05:38 -0700

I have a final to study for tonight*, which means no Game of Thrones, which means I’m in spoiler-avoidance mode. So, peace out, ~~Tumblr~~ Internet.

* The final is tomorrow morning. At 7am. (-_- #)

Via Ugly Overload, the LA Times brings word of a, well, you...

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 12:00:34 -0700

Via Ugly Overload, the LA Times brings word of a, well, you know… a caecilian.

Ballad of Japanese Yam

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 12:00:31 -0700

This happy fellow is a satsumaimo, or Japanese yam:

Konichiwa!

But little does he expect…!

Cheer up, Game of Noobs

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 12:00:20 -0700

In the books, everyone survives!

Ooops, spoilers.

lordofdragonstone: Roose Bolton looking positively happy at...

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 12:00:30 -0700

lordofdragonstone:

Roose Bolton looking positively happy at Edmure’s wedding.

Roose: I love weddings.

Two Birds, One Worm, Game of Thrones-style

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 12:00:13 -0700

Considering Grey Worm’s impressive spear skills, Benioff and Weiss could just consolidate his character with the Red Viper, no? Because we can’t have too many sexy brown characters on this show. #problemsolving

Guess Who

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:00:31 -0700

Here is a quotation from a current governor from an interview with James Fallows:

We are governable. We balanced our budget. [My predecessor] just borrowed money, but we’re paying down our debts. Our job creation — we’re 50% faster than the national average. We lost 1.3 million jobs. But we are coming back. Our tax revenues are very volatile, but this increase will be over in seven years. We’ve got to learn to pay down our debts. We are paying them off at $1.5 billion every year. Then that will be $1.5 billion we don’t have to spend.

The [proposed new spending] bills are stacking up! It’s like water on a causeway, it’s going to come rolling down. But I’m here, and I’m going to make sure we’re going to live within our means. They [meaning other politicians] haven’t heard that yet. But they will hear it, as I continue to repeat it.

With all this talk of fiscal responsibility, you’d think that the governor in question would be a Republican, and if you have feeling that I’m going to say he’s a Democrat, you’re right. The other shoe to drop? The state he governs is… California.

Governor Jerry Brown, folks.

So if we’ve recovered from this Red Wedding business, how...

Sun, 02 Jun 2013 22:32:00 -0700

So if we’ve recovered from this Red Wedding business, how about that Grey Worm? More like BROWN NINJA, amirite?