#the more you know

[elfgrove]

New Things to Beware on the Internet

On May 3rd, Google released 8 new top-level domains (TLDs) -- these are new values like .com, .org, .biz, domain names. These new TLDs were made available for public registration via any domain registrar on May 10th.

Usually, this should be a cool info, move on with your life and largely ignore it moment.

Except a couple of these new domain names are common file type extensions: ".zip" and ".mov".

This means typing out a file name could resolve into a link that takes you to one of these new URLs, whether it's in an email, on your tumblr blog post, a tweet, or in file explorer on your desktop.

What was previously plain text could now resolve as link and go to a malicious website where people are expecting to go to a file and therefore download malware without realizing it.

Folk monitoring these new domain registrations are already seeing some clearly malicious actors registering and setting this up. Some are squatting the domain names trying to point out what a bad idea this was. Some already trying to steal your login in credentials and personal info.

This is what we're seeing only 12 days into the domains being available. Only 5 days being publicly available.

What can you do? For now, be very careful where you type in .zip or .mov, watch what website URLs you're on, don't enable automatic downloads, be very careful when visiting any site on these new domains, and do not type in file names without spaces or other interrupters.

I'm seeing security officers for companies talking about wholesale blocking .zip and .mov domains from within the company's internet, and that's probably wise.

Be cautious out there.

[onenicebugperday]

I’ve seen a few ~aesthetic~ photos of rock stacks in rivers recently and this is just a reminder that you are destroying habitat when you move rocks around in rivers and streams.

In addition to dragonfly nymphs, rocky river beds are home to lots of other larval invertebrates like damselflies, mayflies, water beetles, caddisflies, stoneflies, and a bunch of dipterans. Not to mention lots of fish and amphibians!

Plus large scale rock stacking can change the flow of a stream and lead to increased erosion.

Anyway dragonfly for admiration:

Calico pennant by nbdragonflyguy

[ljf613]

Alright, Chanukah starts tonight, which means it's time for me to finally make a post about different kinds of menorahs.

This right here? This is the Temple Menorah:

There's some debate over whether the branches were straight or curved, but here's a few things we do know:

It had seven branches of equal length.

It was made of one solid piece of gold

It was at least five feet tall.

It used pure olive oil.

The Temple Menorah is what people mean when they talk about The Menorah. It's what you'll see on historical or commemorative artifacts such as the Arch of Titus in Rome or Israeli currency:

During the time when the Temple stood in Jerusalem, the High Priest lit all seven flames on this Menorah every day (using the aforementioned pure olive oil):

No one lights this on Chanukah.

This is a Chanukah menorah:

There are countless variations, but here are the important things:

It has eight branches of equal length, plus a ninth "helper" branch, known as the shamash, which is set apart from the rest of the branches and used to light the others.

It can be made of any material.

It is usually used with wax candles or oil, but, if necessary, one can use anything that burns.

In Hebrew, this kind of menorah is called a chanukiah.

Some Chanukah menorahs, like the one shown above, have the shamash in the middle. Others have it on the side:

Regardless, this kind of menorah is the one that has been lit by Jews on Chanukah for thousands of years. It's the menorah you'll seen in photographs of Jewish households, including this famous picture taken in Germany in 1931:

(The message written on the back of the photo reads: "Death to Judah"/ So the flag says/ "Judah will live forever"/ So the light answers)

On Chanukah, whoever is lighting the menorah will first light the shamash, then the number of candles corresponding to whichever night of Chanukah it is. The first night, only the rightmost candle is lit, the second night the two rightmost, etc. (The newest candle is always lit first):

Again, a valid Chanukah menorah has eight branches of equal length, along with a shamash. There is no such thing as a Chanukah menorah with six branches of equal length and a longer seventh branch, and no valid Chanukah menorah has eight branches of completely different lengths.

If you see either of the above designs (or anything similar) on Chanukah-themed decor, it tells you the creator has absolutely no idea what they're doing and couldn't be bothered to do more than two seconds of research to make sure their product was accurate. Anyone who knows anything about the holiday will laugh at these. (They may buy them anyway, especially if that's all that's available-- my new Chanukah sweater has an invalid menorah pattern, but it's adorable, so I'm still going to wear it. But I am also laughing about it and invite you all to do the same.)

Anyway, have a happy Chanukah, everyone!

[theacecouple]

Many Aces go through a process where they learn what society conventionally considers "sexy" and learn how to feign sexual attraction, without experiencing it themselves, based on those standards. This is known as "hacking the allo-gorithm"

[markscherz]

Just learned that tadpoles with injured tails sometimes regenerate them with extra legs

[src]

So that's neat.

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

Okay, so, you know how cats make those absolutely silly stink faces when they’re smelling something? (It’s called a flehmen response, and they do it to to pull air into the sensory receptors for a specialized organ that’s above the roof of their mouth). Most of the good photos of it online are of lions or tigers or domestic cats, right?

Not anymore! I am super excited to be able to show you you the first photos I’ve ever seen of snow leopards doing a flehmen response. They are stinking cute. Taken by a friend and shared with permission, this is Blizzard, his son Coconut, and their stink faces.

Blizzard:

Coconut:

I just can’t even.

Photo credits: M. Owyang

[ao3-shenanigans]

Oh my gosh this is actually so cool though!! I didn’t know this!!

Fourth person uses plural first pronouns for the narrator/titular character(s)

An example might be instead of:

‘I sit in the chair by the window’ Or ‘Jon sits in the chair by the window’

‘We sit in the chair by the window’

Here’s an excerpt from The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides that uses 4th person:

“It didn’t matter in the end how old they had been, or that they were girls, but only that we had loved them, and that they hadn’t heard us calling, still do not hear us, up here in the tree house, with our thinning hair and soft bellies, calling them out of those rooms where they went to be alone for all time, alone in suicide, which is deeper than death, and where we will never find the pieces to put them back together.”

[cypherdecypher]

Animal of the Day!

Flying Gurnard (Dactylopterus volitans)

(Photo from Shorefishes)

Conservation Status- Least Concern

Habitat- Atlantic Ocean

Size (Weight/Length)- 50 cm

Diet- Crustaceans; Small fish; Aquatic worms

Cool Facts- The flying gurnard is a magnificent fish with its gorgeous ‘wings’. These ‘wings’ are just extremely long pectoral fins. They are displayed when the fish grows excited or nervous and allows its body to look much larger, and harder to swallow, than it did a few seconds ago. They tend to stick to the sandy bottom of the shallow ocean, walking on the floor using their pelvic fins. Flying gurnards can only swim for short bursts using their ‘wings’ like a gliding mechanism through the water. These fish are capable of making a low, grunting noise by vibrating their swim bladder. Scientists believe they may use these noises to communicate with each other or possibly frighten predators.

Rating- 12/10 (Their wing-tips are edged in phosphorescent blue.)

[beebeedibapbeediboop]

La Mer(e)

[sox-in-fox]

Did you know that sharing the same post more than once doesn't make any more people see it, it just annoys the people who follow you because they have to scroll through 9 copies of the same exact post?

[onenicebugperday]

I am somewhat happy that jumping spiders are becoming popular as pets and even people who normally don't like spiders seem to find them cute, but people have GOT to stop acting like they are miniature mammals who want love and affection and pets and want to hang out with you.

I have seen countless posts in jumper groups from people asking why their jumper tries to escape when they're holding it or seems skittish or threat poses at them. It's because you are a giant predator and they want to get away from you. They don't get any happy chemicals from handling like mammals would.

I'm starting to see this in millipede groups as well. "Why is my millipede secreting this liquid on me?" Because it does not want to be handled. It's stressful for the animal, and stress can kill them.

Not only does it stress them, but often taking them out of their enclosure is dangerous for them - I have seen a lot of posts from people whose spider escaped and was injured or was crushed in the door of the enclosure because they were taking it in and out frequently. Drops can also be harmful, especially for larger invertebrates like tarantulas and bigger millipedes.

In general, invertebrate pets are not going to be a good option if you want to handle something frequently. There are definitely some species and individuals who tolerate it more, and if you're an experienced keeper, you can learn the signs of a stressed animal and only handle ones that are chill about it. But the majority of the time, they should be left alone and observed only.

[clownin44]

Sbg takes place in 2016, so the group is turning 22-23 this year

[caterpie]

Concept art for a potential EarthBound/Mother sequel, pitched to Nintendo by Monolith Soft circa 2003. Intended to be released for the GameCube, the game was going to sport a cute felt craft aesthetic. Shigesato Itoi had no interest in pursuing the project at the time, so it was never picked up by Nintendo.

[markscherz]

My mother and I have two masters degrees between us and yet somehow we could not figure out if frogs have lungs or not.

Can you help settle the debate?

All frogs have lungs except one! The bizarre Barbourula kalimantanensis is the only known frog to lack lungs. It makes up for this by being heckin' flat, basically imitating the bizarre pipids.