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aprilfollies

@aprilfollies@mastodon.online

I write, therefore I am. I read, therefore you are. The rest follows. Space, science, animals, social justice, silliness, and random thoughts. (She/her). Allowing tootfinder.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

futurebird , (edited ) to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

In isopod cosmology the world is a giant "whale fall" - the world is a carcass of a great living beast that died long ago… in the vast desert sea floor of space life blossoms in an orgy of death.

This is the answer to your Fermi "paradox."

The first to arrive? The elder gods, the deep ones. Sea Isopods- they prepared the carcass of the Earth* for life.

This is the isopod creation myth-- is it based in truth? We do not know.

*only they do not call it "the Earth" they call our planet "the Sea"

aprilfollies ,
@aprilfollies@mastodon.online avatar

@futurebird “How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.” -Arthur C. Clarke

MikeDunnAuthor , to random
@MikeDunnAuthor@kolektiva.social avatar

Today in Writing History June 24, 1842: Ambrose Bierce, American short story writer, essayist, and journalist was born. The American Revolution Bicentennial Administration named his book, “The Devil’s Dictionary,” one of the top 100 masterpieces of American literature. Many consider his horror writing on par with Poe and Lovecraft. As a satirist, he has been compared with Voltaire and Swift. His war stories influenced Hemingway. In 1913, at age 71, he traveled to Mexico to cover the revolution. He joined Pancho Villa’s army and witnessed the Battle of Tierra Blanca. He never returned from Mexico. No one knows what happened to him and his body was never found. However, a priest named James Lienert, claimed that Bierce was executed by firing squad in the town cemetery there.

aprilfollies ,
@aprilfollies@mastodon.online avatar

@MikeDunnAuthor I have this one on one of my slides:

“Telescope, n. A device having a relation to the eye similar to that of the telephone to the ear, enabling distant objects to plague us with a multitude of needless details. Luckily it is unprovided with a bell summoning us to the sacrifice.”

futurebird , (edited ) to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Sometimes I think about the interesting mineral formations & fossils human manufactured items will become. What will happen to concrete and rebar if it isn't tuned to soil? Will landfills form deposits of their own strange oils and gasses? Will plastic fossilize into amber like formations?

Even bricks could become interesting finds for the minds of the future ... if there is anyone there to admire them.

What if plastic amber was a luxury jewel?

aprilfollies ,
@aprilfollies@mastodon.online avatar

@futurebird Seeing pictures of flooding in Miami recently has called to mind those old, drowned English towns that preserve… sort of… buildings and all under the sea. I wonder how long a skyscraper would last, compared to a stone cathedral?

Now I’m wondering what becomes of a city on the longer, geologic timescale that you’re envisioning…

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

When your weakest student gets a solid A on the last math test: and it was a hard one! That is what I’m talking about. This kid will be fine next year— more than that she might surprise some of the people who probably don’t see her coming. heh heh heh

I’m gonna miss this year’s classes. :(

aprilfollies ,
@aprilfollies@mastodon.online avatar

@futurebird That’s a student who will remember your support for decades to come, just as I remember my middle school math teacher (shout out to Ms. Kaplan, wherever she may be now.)

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Im off to the races!! Also? I met this moth. Apantesis phalerata.

A very fuzzy black and white moth with feathery antennae.

aprilfollies ,
@aprilfollies@mastodon.online avatar

@futurebird You look great! Sharp and stylish. The moth, otoh, looks so fluffy it makes me want to cuddle it.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Taught my CS how to program a mandelbrot set generator from scratch today.

Still don't have the colors doing exactly the right thing. This is in python, but we'll sort it out in the next class.

The most annoying thing is making the magnitudes of the terms in the series into a number between 0 and 256 without knowing exactly how big they will get.

I need to find my old James Gleick book.

aprilfollies ,
@aprilfollies@mastodon.online avatar

@futurebird Lovely!

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Ever find a video so funny you had to describe it so no one would miss it?

https://www.tumblr.com/futurebird/752487199245729792/video-description-a-marketplace-in-a-busy-town?source=share

aprilfollies ,
@aprilfollies@mastodon.online avatar

@futurebird 😂

elizabethtasker , to random
@elizabethtasker@mastodon.online avatar

Morning 😳 This phone alarm was accompanied by the creepiest music from the street speakers that sounded like the lead up to a jump scare in a movie.

…and I felt… nothing 🤔 I am now awake 😅

aprilfollies ,
@aprilfollies@mastodon.online avatar

@elizabethtasker A literal jump scare, since they were scared that the Earth might be a bit jumpy in your area! Glad nothing manifested, sorry you had such a rude wake-up!

Uair , to bookstodon group
@Uair@autistics.life avatar

@bookstodon

Idea:

Bookstores should group fantasy with horror instead of scifi. Both fantasy and horror are purely creations of the author's mind; scifi is tethered to factual information.

If you need to group scifi, I'd put it with mysteries and thrillers.

aprilfollies ,
@aprilfollies@mastodon.online avatar

@_L1vY_ @Uair @bookstodon And I would argue that most self-styled “science fiction” is as much “stuff we made up” as in fantasy. Telepathy. Faster than light travel. Aliens that look very much like humans and are sometimes (ahem) cross-compatible. “Gravity generators” and “antigravity”.

Sure, there are many authors who stick close to currently understood science, or make plausible predictions about future science. But they are in the minority.

aprilfollies ,
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@JonSparks @alexlubertozzi @Uair @bookstodon @_L1vY_ @elysegrasso @deirdrebeth @jpaskaruk @stephenwhq

I think some context is being missed. OP: “Idea: Bookstores should group fantasy with horror instead of scifi. Both fantasy and horror are purely creations of the author's imagination; scifi is tethered to factual information.”

I added a caveat to that last phrase.

Jennifer , to bookstodon group

I need some new science fiction to read, who has some suggestions? I don't like military sci-fi. For reference, my favorite series is the Expanse, I also enjoyed Scalzi's Collapsing Empire, I love Robert Charles Wilson's books. I mostly enjoy space operas and unique stories about technology, for example I really liked the recent book Mountain in the Sea about AI and intelligent octopus. Suggestions from the awesome Bookstodon community? @bookstodon

aprilfollies ,
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@AlsoPaisleyCat @Jennifer @bookstodon +1 on Cherryh. The (very long) Foreigner series might be a good place to start. Each book is (usually) a self-contained story, and each trilogy tends to focus on a particular story arc. The central character is a diplomat, and his whole reason for being is to prevent conflicts. That doesn’t stop him from being involved in many…

luckytran , to random
@luckytran@med-mastodon.com avatar

The CDC:

aprilfollies ,
@aprilfollies@mastodon.online avatar

@luckytran Painting of Marie Antoinette in full French royal splendor, with the caption, “Let them work sick.” 😷

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

What if when making a "fear monster" for you fantasy or sci fi story you didn't base it on a spider, snake, insect, or a slug?

So many creepy things in nature, I'm sick of spider monsters with "glossy chitinous legs" snake-like monsters that "slither sinisterly."

Cut it out.

Base your scary creature on a chinchilla, a capybara, an orchid, a dove, a human.

Leave the arthropods, snakes and invertebrates out of it.

Or if you MUST do an insect do butterflies. THEY can't be trusted.

aprilfollies ,
@aprilfollies@mastodon.online avatar

@futurebird Geese. Number one most ornery creature in the animal kingdom.

KitMuse , to bookstodon group
@KitMuse@eponaauthor.social avatar

I need your help #bookstodon. One of the classes I'm taking at the graduate level this semester is Religion & Science Fiction. I read more fantasy, and would like to do my research paper on something that's not obvious (like ST/BS5/Matrix/etc.) & I'd love to use more modern sf rather than the golden age classics.

Anyone have any interesting ideas for my research paper on regarding the intersection of religion and science fiction?

@bookstodon #sciencefiction #scifi #ReligiousStudies #academia

aprilfollies ,
@aprilfollies@mastodon.online avatar

@KitMuse @bookstodon For more “Hard” SciFi, Arthur C. Clarke’s short stories, “The Nine Billion Names of God”, and “The Star.”

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