Avatar

Random Nerdy Stuff

@books-and-whatever / books-and-whatever.tumblr.com

Avatar

I’ve recently finished the book “Howls Moving Castle” and I loved it. Howls character is IMO more interesting in the book so I drew a bunch of sketches of him, this is one of them. They turned out to be something of a mix between the book description and Ghiblis version haha.

THIS IS SUCH A GOOD HOWL. 

Avatar

Northern Bottlenose Whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus)

…a species of beaked whale that occurs in the North Atlantic, ranging from the north sea to the northeastern United States to the west and Cape Verde to the east. H. ampullatus is a social species and is often seen in groups of around five to ten. They typically feed on deep-water squid and various species of fish. Unlike other whales H. ampullatus does not make seasonal migrations, and spends the whole year in cold water.

Currently Hyperoodon ampullatus is listed as data deficient but it still likely faces threats from hunting, prey depletion and pollution (both chemical and noise).

Classification:

Animalia-Chordata-Mammalia-Cetacea-Ziphioidea-Ziphiidae-Hyperoodontinae-Hyperoodon-H. ampullatus

Image(s): Anke

Avatar
Avatar
sententiola

[Video of venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough standing amid vegetation.  On a near-horizontal branch above his head is a brown and yellow greater bird of paradise, about the size of a crow, with big floaty yellow plumage puffing out along its back.]

Bird:  Pwuk.  Pwuk. Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  This, surely – Bird (hopping along the branch):  WUKWUKWUkwukwukwukoooh.  Oooh.  Oooh.

[Cut.  Same shot.]

Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  This, surely, is one – Bird:  Kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark kark. Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  This, surely –

[Cut.  Same shot but the bird is on the other side now and venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough has his hand on the branch.]

Bird (hopping up and down on venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough’s fingers):  Eh-eh.  Eh-eh.  Eh-urrrr.  Eh-urrrr. Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  Close up – Bird (hopping away from him):  Tiktiktiktik.  Tiktiktiktik. Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  – the plumes – Bird (hopping around):  Huek. Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough: – are truly – Bird:  Huek. Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  – exquisite. Bird:  Huek.  Eh-eh. Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  The gauzy – Bird (hopping and spinning on the spot):  HukWUKWUKWukwukoooh.  Oooh. Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  …

[Cut.  Same shot but the bird is back on the original side of the branch.]

Bird:  Aark. Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  Of course, by the eighteenth century – Bird:  Ehhh. Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  – naturalists realized that birds of paradise – Bird (hops across to the other side of the branch) Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  – did have – Bird (hopping back again):  Krrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  – legs.  Even so – Bird:  WUKWUKWUKWukwukwukooh.

[Cut.  Same shot.] Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough (apparently trying to tickle the bird’s tummy):  – by about the eighteenth century – Bird (hops away and spins round) Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  – and so – Bird:  AAAAAK AAAK AAAK AAAK AAAK AAAK AAAK AAAK AAAK AAAK AAAK aaak. Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough (wearily):  …  Very well.

[Cut.  Same shot.]

Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  – but Karl Linnaeus, the great – Bird (vibrating rapidly on the spot and then flapping its wings):  PWAAAAAAAK. Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  – classifier of the natural world – Bird:  AAAAAUUUH AAAUUUH AAAUUUH AAAUUUH AAAUUUH AAAUUUH AAAUUUH AAUUH. Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  – when he came to allocate a scientific name – Bird:  … Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  – to this bird – Bird:  … Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  – called it – Bird:  Wooo-ooo. Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  – wooo-ooo – Bird (surveys the surroundings with a dignified turn of the head) Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  ‘paradisia apoda’: the bird of paradise – Bird:  Hoooo. Venerable TV naturalist David Attenborough:  – without legs. Bird:  Eh-eh.

[Close-up of the bird.]

Bird:  WUKWUKWUKWUkwukwukwukwukoooh.  Ooh. Bird:  Ooh.

[Fade to black.]

Officially the only good post on tumblr

Avatar
jhameia

I’ve been planning to teach students how to describe videos and write transcripts and I shall save this post for this very purpose.

Avatar

Lin-Manuel Miranda crashed Hamilton karaoke at a My Brother, My Brother And Me release party

Los Angeles, what were you doing Thursday night? Unless the answer was “singing karaoke with potential EGOT winner Lin-Manuel Miranda,” you definitely missed out.
Miranda, ostensibly in town for Sunday night’s Academy Awards, dropped by the Lost Knight pub in Echo Park for the premiere party for the new Seeso series “My Brother, My Brother and Me” and sang karaoke with enthused revelers.
Still, the evening’s most exciting moment came when someone had the chutzpah to cue up Miranda’s own “Alexander Hamilton” in front of him; the possible EGOT winner took the dare, hopping on stage multiple times to nail Hamilton’s parts of the song. Crashing someone else’s turn on the mic is usually a karaoke faux pas, but we’re pretty sure this one earns an exception. Great job!
Avatar

Went to the Unite Against Islamophobia counter-protest on Sunday. It was organized to counter another protest, which was being held against Motion 103 at City Hall. 

Motion 103 (which you can read here, it’s only 175 words) is a simple motion condemning Islamophobia and all other forms of discrimination, and asking for a study into hate crimes, but far-right websites have been fear-mongering about it as a “threat to free speech”, which is patently ridiculous. It’s not a bill or a law, it’s not “taking away your right to criticize Islam”, it’s a message of solidarity to the Muslim community and a good move to study hate crimes in Canada. It’s disgraceful that sites like the Rebel are using it whip up xenophobia and paranoia, just weeks after six Muslim men were murdered for going to evening prayers in Quebec. These people have no shame. 

On the bright side, our protest outnumbered theirs by the hundreds. Here’s a sample of signs, my favourite is the last one, where someone literally printed out the motion.  Unite Against Islamophobia 

Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, ON

Sunday March 5th

You are using an unsupported browser and things might not work as intended. Please make sure you're using the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.