Fuck this thing in particular

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I foresee this as being your preferred method of studying...

**Image Credit: DailyFailCenter

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Crash Course Big History is Amazing

So Crash Course Big History may be my favorite Crash Course series yet, and I have watched all of them. It is wonderful because it covers the history of the universe, it brings together so many different  branches of science to give us the big picture view of all of history.

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In honor of you recently starting high school...

I have composed a list of very useful websites for helping you take advantage of this time and all of the amazing things you can learn while in high school in preparation for the even more amazing things you will learn in college.

• Google Scholar: It works just like regular Google, but it allows you to search only scholarly articles. It also has a rather fantastic Library function where you can store some of your favorite articles. Unfortunately some of the articles are behind paywalls, but at least it gives you a way to find them without access to a university library. Later when you are in college you can link it to your university profile and get past the paywall to journals that your university subscribes to. I have taken advantage of this many, many times. 
• Khan Academy: This started out as a YouTube channel a few years ago and has developed into an amazing resource for learning math, science and can help you prep for the SAT when you get there. This resource is the reason I got an A in calculus, although at that point it was just on YouTube.
• Crash Course:  This is a YouTube channel with huge collections of videos on US History, World History, Big History, Chemistry, Biology, Ecology and Psychology. The videos are entertaining and informative, providing the perfect combination for learning all sorts of fascinating material. 
• DuoLingo: A great website and also an iPhone app that can be used to learn German, French, Spanish, Danish, Italian, Portuguese, and Dutch.  It could provide an additional resource for you to study German. 
• TED: One of my favorite sites for learning about the new and promising research, but it also has fantastic videos of people doing extraordinary things to try and change the world. 
• I Fucking Love Science: A great resource for learning about current events in science. 

***Image Credit: Image found via Pinterest, original image lost in the interwebs. 

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Badass Woman of the Week

Misty Copeland is not only a phenomenal Ballerina (my super-secret dream career ever since I was a little girl), but she is also crushing racial stereotypes with her amazing skills and determination but she is encouraging women and girls to chase their dreams with the books she has written. Misty is only the third black female soloist in the history of the American Ballet Theater and is currently the only black female member of the company. Read more about the amazing Misty Copeland here and here via HelloGiggles.

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A Gentle Reminder

Image Credit: DumpADay

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Frankenstein, MD

I recently found this fantastic video series on YouTube (produced by PBS) that modernizes the story of Frankenstein by Mary Shelly with modern medical science and a female protagonist. The series is currently on it's fifth episode and they are all fantastic. I am very excited to see how the series develops in the future and see how they adapt the story of Frankenstein to modern medicine.

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I can't not share this with you....

***Image Credit: 9GAG

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I have a confession to make...

I judge books by their covers. I know that everyone says you shouldn't because you never know what will be on the inside; but there is something about a book that is as beautiful on the outside as the words on the inside that I just can't get enough of. In fact I have on more than one occasion bought a new copy of a book I already own just because this new version is more visually appealing and it will make my book shelves prettier. I have also intentionally not bought a book because I didn't like the cover design (even if I really want to read that book) because I know there are more visually appealing copies in existence. This is exactly the reason why I do not own How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown, all the copies of it I can find have a truly, fantastically hideous cover that I refuse to put on my book shelves.

***Image Credit: Ideal Bookshelf

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In honor of missing word of the week for most of the weeks since I started this blog....

Here are a few truly spectacular words:

Cattywampus (adj): in disarray or disorder.

• Fun fact: catawampus and kittywampus are also appropriate substitutes. 
• I had to add all three to my computer's dictionary because it has an insufficient vocabulary for my needs. 

Crapulent (adj). Of or related to drinking or drunkenness.

• Fun Fact: my computer knows this world.

Widdershins (adj): in a left-handed or wrong direction; counterclockwise.

***Image Credit: Behondentertainmentblog. Unfortunately the book seems to be a concept, not a real thing.

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This makes me feel a little better about myself...

Image Credit: Jokideo via Pinterest.

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On Finding Balance...

I know it's been a while since I last posted anything and a lot of that has to do with the craziness that is my life and also not having a good balance in my life of work vs. things I enjoy. Not that I don't enjoy my job, because I have a very good job; but just that I spend a disproportionate amount of my time at work. There are so many other things I want to do in my life other than eat, sleep and work that sometimes it is incredibly frustrating and it feels like I spend so much of my time not sleeping, eating or working trying to catch up on the things that have piled up while I was trying to survive. Things like maintaining my home; cleaning and fixing thing, things that have to get done and usually by me or they will just sit and fester. I have to remind myself every day that I can do anything, but I can't do everything. Because I always feel like I am not doing enough, like I am not enough. Like I am not good enough. I often cannot sleep because I am making lists of things that I need to do, things I could be doing other than trying (unsuccessfully) to sleep. I am trying to find balance in my life, it is something that I struggle with daily, something that I am quite certain that I will continue to struggle with.

Image Credit: Motherland Design Co.

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The smartest parody I've ever seen:

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Word of the Week

**Image Credit:Words, words, words.

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Science says reading makes you a smarter, more enjoyable human...

I read an interesting article today that sums up several other articles about the diminishing prevalence of people who read deeply; those of us who do not skim but instead savor the words. This article provides a compelling argument for reading in this manner and for seeking out those that do, specifically it sates that "Readers [are], scientifically, the best people to fall in love with". Which I think given the evidence provided may be a bit of a stretch. However I can see what the author is getting at, as she sites several studies that indicate that people who have a voracious reading habit are more understanding, more intelligent, have better vocabularies, and are more wordily than those who do not read.

So if I am ever bothering you to please just read a book and my reasoning is that it is good for you, I can prove it with science. Although I might not choose to site this article, I would probably do some digging on Google Scholar and find some awesome source that I would find fascinating and you would never read.

Some books I've read recently;

• A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving: A heart breaking story of friendship that spans nearly four decades, that is complicated and wonderful. It has a complex narrative that weaves in and out of multiple time frames until it reaches the pinnacle of the story, when everything suddenly makes sense. Quite possibly one of the best books I've ever read. 
• Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan: This book has a fast paced, murder mystery feel but without the murder. Instead it seeks to unlock the greatest mystery of a several hundred year old cult that centers around books. Naturally this appeals to my inner bibliophile, so naturally I loved it. 
• Persepolis & Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi: A pair of splendid graphic novels detailing a young woman's life in Iran during the Iranian Revolution in the 1970's, her departure from the country, and then her eventual return. 

Image Credit: Smart Chicks Commune

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The infinite wisdom of Adventure Time

A very smart person, who is admittedly a little odd and has two small children, introduced me to Adventure Time. I think Adventure Time is pretty a fantastic cartoon because it addresses really important issues like life and death, gender equality, gender stereotypes, self respect, sexual consent (in a pretty G rated manner) human imperfections, adulthood, and being a good person. These are big, important concepts that I think many children are not being exposed to because they are sometimes difficult to talk about and to effectively communicate, but Adventure Time has found a way to do it. Plus Adventure Time uses "Mathmatical" as a way to describe how awesome something is and includes some really great quotes, for example;

• "Just think happy thoughts and follow the beat of your heart."
• "Man, you're letting your brain dial turn your fear volume up."
• "You're getting all hung up, all hung up on imaginary problems. You gotta focus on what's real man."
• "You don't need a mirror to know you look good. You're beautiful on the inside. Like your brain and stuff."
• "Sucking at something is the first step to becoming sorta good at something."
• " You don't always call sweatpants give-up-on-life-pants Jake?"..."I do because peeps need to respect themselves when the leave the house even if it's just for ice cream, or T.P. or whatev."
• "I want to marry my bed."
• "If I think about it too much, I get all soul-surchey and weird."
• "Your constant harassment of the female gender makes me sick."
• "I know I mess things up sometimes, but I'm really trying."
• "I'm just thinking about the future, I guess. We're on, like, the leading edge of history. Everything ahead of us is totally unknown and there is no guarantee that everything's going to be alright. It's exciting, but it's also pretty scary, y'know?"
• "I don't need to feel like I'm waiting to be noticed. I know who I am and I'll know what I want if and when it ever comes along."
• "Home isn't a place; let me give you a clue. Home is anywhere that people care about you."
• "When bad things happen, I know you want to believe they are a joke, but sometimes life is scary and dark. That's why we must find the light."
• "People make mistakes. It's part of growing up, and you never really stop growing."
• "Responsibility demands sacrifice." 
• "No one flicks me in the butt without my consent!"
• "We where all born to die."
• "Swag is for boys, class is for men."

**Image Credit: Originally this was a poster available on esty, sadly it no longer exists. But I found it on this pinterest board dedicated to Adventure Time. 

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Yes that is a Tardis nail decal...

So I was browsing Accio Lacquer (where geek and lacquer make babies) and I stumbled upon another geeky and glorious gem, Fandom Cosmetics (Live long and Polish) where they not only have super sweet nail polishes inspired by Harry Potter, Dr. Who, Firefly, and Disney but they also have the most epic nail decals, for those of us lazy nerds that will only spend a very minimal amount of time on their nails. Now I can very easily have a Tardis, Loki, Batman, a mocking jay, or the deathly hallows on my fingers.

**This like all my other posts, is not sponsored because like most blogs, I do not have sponsors.

** Image courtesy Fandom Cosmetics.

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I have found this awesomeness and I must share it with you!

Meet GeekChic, the super sweet cosmetic company that is vegan and cruelty free (two things I really like in a make up company...mainly because I don't think it necessary to hurt animals in order to make my self pretty and I'm not a huge fan of companies who do). They have a range of super cool eyeshadows that are inspired by different, awesome nerdy things; like Harry Potter, Dr.Who, Sherlock, and Game of Thrones. But they also have lip sticks that they have dubbed "joy sticks" and "button master" nail polishes inspired by nerd culture, with epic names like "star stuff" and "sweet transvestite" how can you not love this stuff. 

Also thanks to GeekChic I have discovered a sweet new blog that I think you might like, it's called Accio Lacquer: where geek and lacquer make babies. That is where I found this awesome gif of the great nerd god, Carl Sagan proclaiming that we are all made of star stuff.

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It's been ten days since the last word of the week...

This week's word is a real humdinger; it's a German word I am quite fond of that has made its way into English vocabularies.

Schadenfreude: The pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. (Wikipedia - its actually a pretty good source for basic stuff)

*** The image is just for funsies, and can be found at this sweet new easy shop I discovered called Entropy Trading Co. FYI... You can also find a poster at this internet shopping place of awesomeness that says "Free house elves, donate a sock".

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I thought you would enjoy this...

Several years ago thousands of bouncy balls where released down the hills of San Francisco for I believe a Sony commercial. But these stunning still photos where taken by Danish artist Peter Funch. I think they are not only quite beautiful but also so fun and a bit magical.

*** Image Credit: http://www.lumas.com/artist/peter_funch/

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#Overly Honest Methods

I recently stumbled upon this Twitter called Overly Honest Methods which includes little gems such as the above image and other amazing little gems such as;

• "The plates where incubated an extra 20 minutes because we couldn't hear the timer over the Frozen soundtrack."
• "In case of doubt....Sound convincing."
• "Curves were drawn, and the data was plotted."
• The procedure was paused for 5 minutes to dance to Lady Gaga. And the grad student joined in."
• "Did not make corrections suggested by reviewer 1, because we think reviewer 1 is a fucking idiot." 
• "A modified protocol was implemented because a certain graduate student seems unable to follow simple instructions."
• "The eppendorf tubes where "shaken like a Polaroid picture" until the part of that song ended."
• "Our results where non-significant at p >0.05, but they're humdingers at p . 0.1!"

*** Image Credit: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/post/40105118499/overlyhonestmehods

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Word of the Week

So I was listening to a TED talk the other day, because I'm a huge nerd and I enjoy listening to educational talks in my spare time and I came across a lecture about the evolution of the English language. It was wonderful, funny and smart and introduced me to a new word that I think needs to be incorporated into vernacular.

Multislacking: The practice of using a computer at work for tasks or activities that are not related to one's job. (Oxford English Dictionary)

Such a fantastic work, multislacking, it is quite literally the exact opposite of multitasking. I am quite proficient in using both of these tasks in my daily life but I do think I am more practiced in multislacking, specifically when working on homework or studying. Because Pinerest provides such a lovely and relaxing foil for studying Organic Chemistry or Bio-Chemistry.

*** Note for Loo: I know you are only 14, but you are a very intelligent young woman and you know how to use google and your cell phone. So if there is something you don't understand, google that shit. Its the best way to learn, to find the answer your self and if you can't find a satisfactory answer then feel free to ask.

*** Image Credit: http://lawsofmodernwoman.tumblr.com

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Revenge of the Nerds

So remember how last week I was telling you about you shouldn't try to grow up too fast so that you don't "peak early" and have a less than promising life after high school? How you should try to develop yourself as a person because there are far more important things in life than just being "cool" between the ages of 14 and 18. Well it turns out that a group of psychologists have been studying phenomenon for many years and their results are strikingly similar to what I have observed with some of my old classmates and many other 20 somethings that I know including myself.

The group of researchers from the University of Virginia followed 184 teens from the age of 13 to 23 documenting things such as engaging in what they call "pseudo-mature" behavior which is categorized as using drugs, drinking alcohol, or engaging in sexual activity in order be perceived as "cool" by their peers not only engaged in increasingly risky behavior as they aged but also experienced "difficulties in social functioning" as a young adult. The study also indicated that a large number of these teens who engaged in this "pseudo-mature" behavior also had a much higher likelihood of developing substance abuse issues and criminal behavior.

As someone who was not particularly popular in high school, I can't help but feel a bit of Schadenfreude when I read studies like this. But at the same time I feel incredibly frustrated that our culture glamorizes this kind of behavior with TV shows such as 16 and Pregnant, Gossip Girl,  and a plethora of other shows I am not familiar with because I prefer to watch Dr. Who, Game of Thrones and The Daily Show in my spare time. And as much as I love the movie Mean Girls for the shear comedic genius of Tina Fey and epic one liners. I really hope you don't end up like the Plastics, who the nerds totally get revenge on in a truly epic Mathlete fashion.

Note: unfortunately the link only goes to the ScienceDaily summary of the original article published in the journal Child Development, as I have only limited access to full academic articles because money.

*** Image Credit: Paramount Pictures

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Required Reading/Viewing...

I'm starting small, because I know you and I know that even though you love the Harry Potter movies, you have never read the books which is blasphemy. But we will address the book issue later, for right now lets start with some blogs:

Tomboy Style It's a fantastic source of stories about amazing women, great fashion, and fantastic gear including some pretty sweet cars.

A Well Traveled Woman This is mostly a visual blog, which makes the sparse quotations even more profound.

I Fucking Love Science This amazing blog has everything from bizarre sea creatures, solar flares, and NASA's latest designs for a space ship capable of achieving warp drive.

Crash Course This amazing balls YouTube channel covers everything from Literature to Psychology to Biology. It's fantastic, and it commonly refers to Carbon as a "sexy little minx" and water as "Liquid Awesome".

** Image credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

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Stay Rad.

I know I was a bit ambiguous the other day when I was pleading with you to not be one of those people that peak early. What I mean by that is the type of person who spends all of their time in high school focusing on being popular; who spend so much time on the social aspects of school that they don't spend any time developing intellectually. They develop social skills, which are quite important, but don't spend any time working on making themselves better, more well rounded, human beings. They lack the ability to become well rounded adults and end up still living at home at the age of 25 working as a Bikini Barista. Or worse...living in a trailer park and working at a fast food restaurant.

High school could be a time before adulthood and maybe collage to learn valuable life skills, not too many though you do want to enjoy your youth and the freedom from real responsibilities as long as possible. To do things like learn a new language, which is a phenomenal exercise in becoming a better human and giving your still developing brain a hefty workout. I heard you are taking German, I'll enjoy practicing my rusty German with you, just as long as you don't tell me I am nict sehr hässlich. At least have the courtesy to tell me I am schön, which is not Kristin's preferred way to describe me in Deutch. 

What I'm saying kiddo, is continue to develop your personality. Don't be a mean, surly teenager just because you can. Make a conscious effort to develop your mind and personality, stay rad. 

**Image from Bloom:http://meggielynne.tumblr.com/post/28735179993

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Lindsey-Loo this blog is for you...

I worry about you kiddo...All the time. Because I still see you as this tiny girl full of promise and wonder, and yes I know that sounds like a cliche. But I don't really give a damn, because it is far more important to me that I try and help you navigate this world and the next four years of your life, because they do matter. Every single second matters, and how you spend them will help shape the rest of your life.

Now before I dissolve into a fit full of cliches, I want to tell you why I am creating this blog for you, for us really. Because I will never have a normal schedule, it is simply not in the cards for me kiddo. So I will never be able to pick you up regularly from school and have you hang out at my house like Kristin does. And I may not even be awake during the same hours as you some days, because these days I am primarily a day sleeper, this being mostly the result of not getting off work until roughly 6 a.m. Unfortunately I do not see this changing anytime soon. So this is a way for me to share all of the super cool things I am inspired by with you, in a way that is archived on the internets so you can read them at any time. Well any time you have access to the internets, which is most of the time.

Also, I apologize in advance for lecturing you, making fun of cheerleading, bows, and the absurd amount of make up that you have to cake on your face in order to go to a cheer competition. I just don't understand why you can't play basketball, or volleyball, or soccer. Something that doesn't require my baby sister to sake her ass in a mini skirt. I'm getting off my soap box now. Have a nice day.

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