My best guess is transhumanism (or transalienism) is the answer to the Fermi paradox. That physical forms are so ill-suited to interstellar travel that galactic civilization is only viable in species that evolve away from them.

I like to think there are aliens out there that started as animal-equivalents but are now algorithms. Like, not even algorithms running on giant gas-cloud supercomputers, not even algorithms being beamed through space as radio waves, just the fact of algorithms.

By analogy to things like HeLa and CTVT, I could totally imagine that Maxwell’s equations or the Planck constant began as something like humans. Or that the ultimate progenitor race was time, and the Big Bang was something like the Cambrian explosion.

The great thing about Ancient Greece is you get the sense that if it wasn’t the first time people had thought about things, it was the first time they thought to tell each other what they thought about things.

I love that you could get famous just by thinking up something that we totally take for granted, and that if you did this a few times you were like a demigod.

I love that a homeless guy who jerked it in public and told everyone to fuck off could be considered a famous philosopher.

I love that you could just straight-up invent the concept of love, and that the guy who did was like “hold on, also I’ve got some great buttsex jokes.”

pureamericanism:

thelandofmaps:

The most popular word used in online dating profiles in each state [1644 x 1140]
CLICK HERE FOR MORE MAPS!
thelandofmaps.tumblr.com

There is so much to love about this map.

waytoomuchportland:

Probably not a real cop.  Probably.

Man I just realized that Counting Crows’ “A Long December” is about the particular feel of winter in LA.

Bitch winter in LA doesn’t have a particular feel.

Bitch LA doesn’t have a particular winter.

Maybe in the canyons, the song does specify the canyons.

(Angeles Crest gets freezing in winter, in the shade. Mountains always do, every few years I forget that.)

In LA I had a crush on a girl from Berklee (e, not y), she wanted to be the next Sheryl Crow, though she didn’t think to put it that way.

She got the “flattered & coked up by producers” part, at least.

@ Beulahland, Portland, OR

Man, I remember that episode of Mathnet.

hello-the-future:

Could we have had Mulder and Scully without Monday and Frankly?

But, if pork and gerrymandering and party bosses are so bad, how come politics seemed to work so much better when all were in full flourish and not under attack by reformers. As Rauch argues, “our grandparents were not all fools and crooks.” To be sure, he says, “we can’t go back to their world” of Tammany Hall and paper bags full of cash handed out on the House and Senate floor. But, says Rauch, “We can learn a lot from it.”

Chapter 1. Honest Graft and Dishonest Graft
Chapter 2. How To Become a Statesman
Chapter 3. The Curse of Civil Service Reform
Chapter 4. Reformers Only Mornin’ Glories
Chapter 5. New York City Is Pie for the Hayseeds
Chapter 6. To Hold Your District: Study Human Nature and Act Accordin’
Chapter 7. On The Shame of the Cities
Chapter 8. Ingratitude in Politics
Chapter 9. Reciprocity in Patronage
Chapter 10. Brooklynites Natural-Born Hayseeds
Chapter 11. Tammany Leaders Not Bookworms
Chapter 12. Dangers of the Dress Suit in Politics
Chapter 13. On Municipal Ownership
Chapter 14. Tammany the Only Lastin’ Democracy
Chapter 15. Concerning Gas in Politics
Chapter 16. Plunkitt’s Fondest Dream
Chapter 17. Tammany’s Patriotism
Chapter 18. On the Use of Money in Politics
Chapter 19. The Successful Politician Does Not Drink
Chapter 20. Bosses Preserve the Nation
Chapter 21. Concerning Excise
Chapter 22. A Parting Word on the Future Party in America
Chapter 23. Strenuous Life of the Tammany District Leader

Said no child, ever.

…conveniently neglecting to mention its role in the brutal occupation of Bajor…

bae: look
me: yeah?
bae: you're a really thoughtful lover and I appreciate it
me: aw
bae: and I know I told you it turns me on being degraded
me: yeah?
bae: but when I'm giving you a beej could you maybe not sing Camptown Races with "gettin' my cock sucked" in place of "all the doo-dah day"?

what

gardensofstone:

Angel of Grief
Hyams Family Tomb

Metairie Cemetery
New Orleans, Louisiana
3.15.2012

My first Angel of Grief.  The mausoleum was locked so the first photo was taken through the glass windows in the doors.  The second photo was taken through an open window on the side.  The window was about three feet over my head so I stood on my tiptoes and held the camera up with one arm to take the pic.

all photos are my own

gardensofstone:

Scottsville/Youree Cemetery
Scottsville, Texas
4.8.2012

Angel of Grief
William Scott Youree

The Scottsville/Youree Cemetery is partly named for Peter Youree, a captain of the Confederate States of America who is interred there. Youree, a prominent banker, also built the first skyscraper in Shreveport, Louisiana.  William Scott Youree was his son who was killed in Monterey, Mexico. (Wikipedia)

Love the height of this monument that allows for the length of the wings.  She is missing a hand, but she is still beautiful.  The detail of her remaining hand and the drape of the fabric over her feet are lovely. 

all photos are my own