Not A Gator - Blog Posts

Cheetahs are wonderful animals.

I didn’t know cheetahs meow I’ve always thought they roar my whole life has been a lie

This is so rad! And the person that reblogs these also makes sure that every artist is credited so you can check them out! Props to both!

Two-headed Dragon with a Skull, ink on paper by Zhyreb

This artist on Instagram

Some cool advice from Neil Gaiman

Hi Mr Gaiman, I'm pretty sure your answer is going to be something along the lines of "just write" but, I am having trouble starting on my book. I have plans, I have a path. But my brain is having issues stepping over the threshold as it were. Neurodivergence is a bit shit like that. Is there any advice you could give?

For me, the best thing to do is to persuade my brain that I'm not actually working, that I'm doing stuff that doesn't matter. Look, I'm not even typing. I'm just scribbling down some ideas. With a pencil! And now I'm typing up notes.

Do something that your brain can't stop you doing, whether it's handwriting or dictating or writing on old brown paper bags or big post-it notes.

This isn't a gator or skeletons, it's just something that makes me happy when I see it. I live for dumb stuff like this.

“Oh, I didn’t know about that. That is good.”

This is fun!

Who wants a Paranatural Tool random generator?

(I’m posting the link to it in the reblog to this because I think Tumblr is being weird about links rn)

Some of these are inviting, in their own odd way. Some of these faces seem as if the person is turning to you with the words "can you believe what's going on here?" about to leave their lips. The gentleman staring gives off a "sitting on the subway train longingly gazing out the window, thinking of love" vibe.

I fucking hate James Tissot’s paintings because in ALL OF THEM there is ALWAYS someone staring right at you, but it’s not always immediately visible. You just feel watched by this mf. Sometimes the little shit is right there at the centre, but others the bastard is just gazing from the distance, it is CREEPY, my guys

Dragons and unicorns have such variety in designs!

“Dragon” is such a vague category of creature with such a ridiculous diversity of bauplans. It doesn’t matter how big it is or how many legs it has or whether it has wings or not: you can call it a dragon if it is kind of snakey, and/or breathes fire (virtually anything that can breathe fire has the potential to qualify as a dragon).

Case in point, look at all these different things that are dragons:

some amazing art by Kevin Hong! I love the way the dragons are drawn!

Kevin Hong  -  http://www.kevinhong.com  -  https://www.behance.net/K141?  -  https://twitter.com/Taijuey  -  http://taijuey.deviantart.com/?rnrd=194005  -  http://k141.tumblr.com/tagged/k141  -  https://www.instagram.com/kevinhongart

Wishing for a Pokemon Game that'll never be made

You know what? Pokemon Colosseum made me want for big things.

Pokemon Colosseum did not put you into the shoes of another 12 year old child going to see the world (not that there's anything bad with that!)

no, they gave you this:

and said "this world is so desolate that your goal is not to catch them all, but to blow up the evil organization you were a part of until ten minutes ago and steal all the pokemon back that were tortured until their hearts broke in order to rejuvenate them back to health".

Then the sequel went and made you a ten year old again. BUT they returned one of the best characters in the game, MIROR B. The FUNKIEST villain to ever grace the game.

All I'm saying is that I would absolutely adore another Pokemon Colosseum game but instead of playing as a ten year old you played as Miror B:

on a quest to make the funkiest team ever (let's funk up the Elite Four, baby!) and coincidentally also take down the mafia. Not because it's your sacred duty or anything, but because they're harshing your vibe (or maybe stole one of your fabulous Ludicolos and baby that just won't stand)

These are really neat lizards!

FIVE BANDED GLIDING LIZARD Draco quinquefasciatus

Draco is a genus of agamid lizards that are also known as flying lizards, flying dragons or gliding lizards. These lizards are capable of gliding flight; their ribs and their connecting membrane may be extended to create “wings” (patagia- similar to flying squirrels), the hindlimbs are flattened and wing-like in cross-section, and a flap on the neck (the gular flag) serves as a horizontal stabilizer (the flag is sometimes used in warning to others).

Draco are arboreal insectivores.

While not capable of powered flight they often obtain lift in the course of their gliding flights. Glides as long as 60 m (200 ft) have been recorded, over which the animal loses only 10 m (33 ft) in height, which is quite some distance, considering that these lizards are only around 20 cm (7.9 in) in total length (tail included).

They are found in South Asia and Southeast Asia, and are fairly common in forests, gardens, teak plantations and shrub jungle.

Below showing wings and gular flag. ©A.S.Kono Sulawesi Lined Gliding Lizard Draco spilonotus

What an amazing skull piece!

Awwww yeah baby, Demon Skull time

The (neuro)science of getting and staying motivated

There is no question that motivation is one of the hardest and yet important factors in life. It’s the difference between success and failure, goal-setting and aimlessness, well-being and unhappiness. And yet, why is it so hard to get motivated – or even if we do, to keep it up?

That is the question that scientists led by Professor Carmen Sandi at EPFL and Dr Gedi Luksys at the University of Edinburgh have sought to answer. The researchers worked off previous knowledge that told them two things: First, that people differ a lot in their capacity to engage in motivated behavior and that motivational problems like apathy are common in neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. Second, to target an area of the brain called the “nucleus accumbens”.

Sitting close to the bottom of brain, the nucleus accumbens has been the subject of a lot of research. The reason is that it was quickly found to be a major player in functions like aversion, reward, reinforcement, and motivation.

To test and quantify motivation, the EPFL team designed what is known as a “monetary incentive force task”. The idea is that participants perform a task with increasing – and measurable – effort and get paid sums of money that correspond to their effort. Basically, do more and get paid more.

In this study, 43 men were scanned to measure–metabolites in the nucleus accumbens in their brains with a sophisticated brain-imaging technique called “proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy”, or 1H-MRS. This can specifically measure the abundance of neurochemicals in the brain, such as neurotransmitters and metabolites. Because of this 1H-MRS is used even in clinical settings to determine neurological disorders.

Subsequently, each participant was asked to squeeze a device that measures force – a dynamometer – to a given level of contraction in order to earn either 0.2, 0.5, or 1 Swiss franc. This procedure was repeated for a number of 120 consecutive trials, which made performance in the task quite demanding.

The idea of the experiment was that the different sums would push participants to decide if they were going to invest energy and perform the task accordingly at each trial. The scientists also ran the experiment under isolation and group conditions to investigate the influence of competition on performance.

Once they had gathered the behavioral data, the researchers processed it through a computational model that estimated the most appropriate parameters that should be measured with regard to utility, effort, and performance functions. This allowed them to interrogate whether particular neurotransmitter levels predicted specific motivational functions.

The analysis revealed that the key to performance – and, by extension, motivation – lies within the ratio of two neurotransmitters in the nucleus accumbens: glutamine and glutamate. Specifically, the ratio of glutamine to glutamate relates to our capacity for maintaining performance over a long period of time – what the researchers term “stamina”.

Another discovery was that competition seems to boost performance even from the beginning of the task. This was especially the case for individuals with low glutamine-to-glutamate ratios in the nucleus accumbens.

“The findings provide novel insights in the field of motivation neuroscience,” says Carmen Sandi. “They show that the balance between glutamine and glutamate can help predict specific, computational components of motivated performance. Our approach and data can also help us develop therapeutic strategies, including nutritional interventions, that address deficits in effort engagement by targeting metabolism.”

This is some pretty awesome art, good job!

Plz draw my girl Dr. Zarei

Oh Absolutely! 

We love an icon who pulls off being both a badass and an absolute gay disaster

If there's one thing that will instantly brighten up your day it is seeing the wildly different approaches each contestant took to eating a watermelon. Including completely obliterating it on the floor.

Taskmaster one task per episode 1.01 eat as much watermelon as possible in one minute (Romesh Ranganathan)

Useful info.

Safety with non-electric heating, aka "Don’t Fuck Around with Carbon Monoxide”

If you don’t have to deal with this kind of cold normally you might be tempted to use what you have for heat, but you might not know what’s safe. This is non-exhaustive and I’ll link as many resources as I can, but the bottom line is you gotta be extremely careful when burning anything for heat because even with ventilation carbon monoxide can easily build up and that shit can kill you fast if you don’t notice.

-Never idle a car in an enclosed space. If your garage is attached to your house, never warm up the car in your garage even with the door open. If your garage is detached, you can warm up the car in the garage as long as the garage door is wide open.

-Don’t sleep in an idling car, especially during a snowstorm. A few reasons: First, if it runs out of gas during the night you’re stuck with no heat AND no fuel to get anywhere. If it snows overnight it could block your exhaust pipe and allow CO to flood the cabin. And this last one is rarer but even with a perfectly clear exhaust pipe, there could be a leak in your exhaust system that allows CO to build up.

If the car is the only warmth available, idle it for brief periods to warm up and then turn it off and set an alarm to idle it later. Open the windows every once in a while to vent the air.

-Never pile up snow around your car. Either you got snowed in, or you’re stranded off the side of the road. You’d think that snow will insulate the car and let you stay warm longer- DO NOT. Snow makes it harder for rescuers to find you. It gets your car even more stuck and it’s really easy to damage your car in the process of digging it back out. Finally if you block the exhaust system too much then CO will quickly build up in the cabin. 

-Never start a car when the tailpipe is blocked by snow. Even in the short time it takes to dig out the car, CO can reach deadly levels. Dig the car out first, THEN start it.

-Never use propane or charcoal (like a grill) for heat indoors. I get it, it’s available, but it’s incredibly dangerous. People have already been hospitalized in Houston this week from using their grills for heat. These grills are made to be used outside, where there’s no way for dangerous gases to build up. Also, it’s a huge fire risk.

-Never use an oven or gas range for heat. Same reasons as propane.

-If your house has a fireplace and chimney, don’t use it unless you know it’s been inspected and deemed safe. Just like a blocked exhaust pipe on your car, a blocked chimney won’t vent CO properly and it can build up in your home. Also, if it hasn’t been inspected in a long time, it may be structurally unsound or full of stuff like twigs or squirrel nests that are a serious fire risk.

-If you have a gas generator, make sure it’s far enough away from your house. Never run it inside, or in a basement or garage.

-Get a battery-powered CO detector.

Click2Houston: Carbon Monoxide Safety Primer

NSC: Basic CO Safety

CPSC: CO Information Center and Resources

I wonder if the role of those two is ever going to expand at some point.

Max's city friends trying to text him again: How was your first week in the new town?

Max: I solved at least 4 people's emotional issues and was rewarded by being trapped here forever. I'm also being stalked and blackmailed and a kid broke my scooter. On the bright side, I'm basically a superhero.

Damien and Sam: You know you don't have to make stuff up. It's only been 6 days, we didn't expect much of a report

Procrastination via uqiz is always fun.

i made a quiz for what your final act as a villain would be, and it would be very cool if you wanted to take it B) 

This is morbid, but it's also really cool. The Timeless Journey of the Mind (and the rest of the skull)™

Decapitated Stone Age woman's head rolled into a cave in Italy

Following her death about 5,600 years ago, a Stone Age woman’s skull took an unexpected journey when mud and water washed it away from her burial site and into the craggy rocks of a steep cave in what is now Italy, a new study finds.

When archaeologists found the skull, its resting spot in the cave shaft was so hard to reach that only one archaeologist, using rock climbing equipment, could squeeze into the space to recover it. During a later analysis, the researchers found that the skull was very scratched up; at first, they couldn’t make heads or tails of what had happened to the ancient woman.

But, after determining which of the skull’s lesions were likely caused by humans and which were likely incurred as the skull tumbled against various rocks, the researchers came up with a possible scenario. Once this woman died, people in her community likely dismembered her corpse — a funeral practice performed at other burials from this time period and region. Read more.

yoooo this is rad!

Pennsylvania Archaeology and You

The Pennsylvania Archaeological Council (PAC) is an organization of professional archaeologists from all over the State dedicated to education, consultation, ethics, and advocation of Pennsylvania archaeology. The PAC works to advise policy and legislative interests in the commonwealth as well as provide consultation with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Anyone with a graduate degree in anthropology, archaeology, or a similar subject is encouraged to apply. Recently this membership has been expanded to include those with extensive experience and PAC has taken an interest in student membership. Check out this website for more information.

For anyone interested in local archaeology, the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology (SPA) exists alongside PAC. Anyone is welcome to join this special interest group that is made up of regional chapters. Established in 1929, the goals of SPA include; promoting the study of archaeological resources in PA, discouraging irresponsible exploration, connecting avocational and professionals, and promoting the conservation of sites, artifacts, and information. To disseminate information, the SPA facilitates one of the oldest State Archaeology Journals, Pennsylvania Archaeologist. 83 years of the publication are available for purchase on the website.

The Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, Inc., the parent archaeological society, meets annually at announced places. Membership in the SPA is highly recommended. Dues are $30 per year for individuals. Membership entitles one to receive The Pennsylvania Archaeologist twice a year. For those interested in taking an active role, the SPA is made up of many individuals from regional chapters. I’ve decided to highlight two of those chapters in this blog. To find your regional chapter visit pennsylvaniaarchaeology.com/Chapters.htm

If you live in Pittsburgh, our local chapter is called Allegheny Chapter #1. We meet the first Tuesday of every month at 7:30 p.m. Due to the pandemic, this is currently done virtually. For membership information contact Amanda Valko at amanda@quemahoning.com The chapters take an active approach by conducting investigations of sites in their region. The Allegheny Chapter started working on a local site called the Hatfield site back in July of 2007. The first thing we did was set up a grid and took some geomorphology samples under the direction of Brian Fritz.

Brian Fritz and Nina Larsen examining a soil core sample at the Hatfield Site. (Photo Credit: Amanda Valko)

Setting up the grid for soil sampling. Chapter members front to back: Brian Fritz, Peggy Sinclair, Ken Fischer. Chapter members under the shade shelter: Don McGuirk, Nina Larsen. (Photo Credit: Amanda Valko)

The Allegheny Chapter is hoping to produce a report of these excavations soon. Hopefully we can get the Chapter together over the summer to work with the artifacts and start the whole report preparation process.

Southeast of Allegheny County, the Westmoreland Archaeological Society Chapter #23 used to meet on Wednesdays, but due to the pandemic are following an erratic schedule. For membership information contact Jim Barno at bar3686@calu.edu (Jim Barno is a dedicated volunteer in the section of Anthropology at CMNH.)

Chapter #23 was actively engaged in 16 years of excavation at the Console Site, which was an important Monongahela Site. They reach out to the students and faculty at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania encouraging them to become involved with the Westmoreland Archaeological Society by participating in various public events such as artifact displays and colloquiums held at the IUP campus, Fort Necessity National Battlefield, Green County Historical Society as well as local community events such the Derry Agricultural Fair.

IUP students are actively involved in continuing excavations at the Bergstrom Hollow Rock Shelter Site (weather permitting). The chapter also publishes a monthly newsletter called The Trowel that has interesting archaeological subject material as well as listings of local archaeological events and now Zoom links for folks interested in these types of activities.

From the left are the following people Stephanie Zellers, Rachael Smith, Bob Oshnock, and Dr. Chadwick at the Bergstrom rock Shelter. (Photo Credit: Jim Barno)

Earth Day Event at St. Vincent College. Bob Oshnock and Dr. Lara Homsey-Messer (IUP) doing flotation. (Photo Credit: Jim Barno)

Remember to always report archaeological finds to the State Historic Preservation Office! Follow the guidelines specified in the links below.

PA SHPO/State Museum of PA: Instructions for Recording Archaeological Sites in Pennsylvania

PA State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO): Guidelines for Archaeological Investigations in Pennsylvania

Amy L. Covell-Murthy is Archaeology Collection Manager at Carnegie Museum of Natural History as well as a member of the SPA Allegheny Chapter 1, and a recently elected executive board member of the PAC. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

heres Roswell fighting a skeleton. before this i had NEVER seen him do a tail wave. for some reason this skeleton really fucking pissed him off.

Neat!

For a short time in February – if the conditions are perfect – Horsetail Fall at Yosemite National Park in #California glows red and orange and looks like lava falling down the side of El Capitan. Visitors flock to the park every year to see this phenomenon, which happens when sunset hits the waterfall at just the right angle, illuminating the water and mist in brilliant orange light. If you have a chance to witness #Yosemite’s Firefall, remember to go slow, plan ahead, mask up and share the amazing views. Photo of 2019 #Firefall courtesy of Daniel Berson.

“Politicisation of science was enthusiastically deployed by some of history’s worst autocrats and dictators, and it is now regrettably commonplace in democracies. The medical-political complex tends towards suppression of science to aggrandise and enrich those in power. And, as the powerful become more successful, richer, and further intoxicated with power, the inconvenient truths of science are suppressed. When good science is suppressed, people die.”

— Kamran Abbasi, Covid-19: politicisation, “corruption,” and suppression of science

I like the juxtaposition between the message of “the medic is beautiful” and just how ominous he looks in this image. (”You’re Beautiful” plays as he ominously walks towards you, syringe in one hand and snapping his fingers with the other)

Medic from TF2 is beautiful

Requested by @the-man-in-green 

this is a massive trove of knowledge! And hopefully more institutions will follow suit.

Welcome to the space age, ladies and gentlemen

Last few posts (including this one) aren’t gator-related so they feel a little weird to reblog but hey I need a palate cleanser and maybe this will brings others joy too

when we try to befriend cats we mimic their meows and get down on the ground to their level and try to gently coax them to interact with us right

that horrifying entity mimicking human noises at us maybe just thinks we’re cool and wants to pet us?