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Meniscus and meniscus

Why are these words the same? One meaning the liquid climbing up the side of the glass (see: capillary action) and one meaning the thin ligament (tendon? membrane?) in the human knee.

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I think about this post on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis.

Future rabbit holes: the various cycles at play here - water, nitrogen, others; plants that grow well in terrariums.

This miniature ecosystem has been thriving in an almost completely isolated state for more than forty years. It has been watered just once in that time. The original single spiderwort plant has grown and multiplied, putting out seedlings. As it has access to light, it continues to photosynthesize. The water builds up on the inside of the bottle and then rains back down on the plants in a miniature version of the water cycle.

As leaves die, they fall off and rot at the bottom producing the carbon dioxide and nutrients required for more plants to grow.

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Face masks use capillary action

I wondered how the clay face mask I was wearing worked, why it was worth my time. Clay can absorb many times it’s own mass in liquids via capillary action (or capillary motion, or capillarity, or wicking). This falls under the laws of continuum mechanics, a subset of classical mechanics, which treats substances as a continuum rather than discrete particles. 

Capillary action allows a substances to act independently and even against external forces, and to flow into narrow spaces propelled by surface tension and adhesive forces.

The clay absorbs excess sebum from the skin it comes into contact with using capillary action. Capillary action itself is not that surprising a mechanism here. But, the relative malleability of the mask allows the clay to come into contact with more surface area of the skin than say a blotting paper used for the same purpose.

Future rabbit holes: fluid vs liquid; laws and mechanics classes in physics; math and physics (a continuum operates outside of a coordinate system, lots of interesting math there to explore in terms of geometry as well as force calculations); wtf is skin care and how to active ingredients work?

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What do I have to do to get a kitty that stands on his two back legs? I'll do anything

me in gym class

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When his hair is like this I want to die

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Ugh such good points! !!

John’s assumptions and comments about Sherlock and women are genuinely such a hilarious commentary on mainstream het romance, like a woman drugs and beats Sherlock and John’s like well I guess you’re going to have CHILDREN together now, and when John’s wife literally shoots him, ‘you two should have gotten married’, meanwhile Sherlock like ??? if this is straight romance, i thank god every day that I am gay, 

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The bridge between Denmark and Sweden dips into a tunnel. 

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Choosing the right potato for your recipe is largely based on density - the ratio of moisture to starch. And, surprise of surprises, I learned more about amylopectin! Potatos have two starches - amylose and amylopectin. Amylose is structured in long chains that break down as they cook. Amylopectin has a branched structure that holds firm. So, russetts are denser - more starch to moisture ratio - but have more amylose, so they break down during cooking and absorb more moisture over time. The opposite for red bliss potatoes. And my favorites - Yukon golds - are right in the middle!

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I’ve been looking for this video my whole culinary life.

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I was stuck trying to decide which rice to buy today. I went with whole grain basmati rice, which I really like. But I thought I might learn more about rice. This article says basmati rice must be soaked, but I usually don’t do that ...

I learned the word -amlopectin- the sticky starch that covers rice in varying intensities depending on the variety.

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A surefire way for mothers to get their sons to tuck in their shirts, 1940s style (via Kitsch-Slapped)

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I DIDNT KNOW WHAT THIS WOULD BE SO I CLICKED PLAY AND MY MOM IS RIGHT NEXT TO ME AND MY COMPUTER IS ON FULL VOLUME I HATE EVERYONE

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All I want is education, and I am afraid of no one.  Malala Yousafzai

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i don’t even know anymore 

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There are three divisions of French Senior Women’s soccer, and division 2 has three groups - A,B, and C - and Division 3 has four groups - A,B,C, and D. They are professional and semi-professional. There is relegation, it seems like it is between groups and divisions. 

There seems to be a cup, like the US Open Cup, that is open to pro, semi-pro and amateur clubs, but it functions as the championship? More on that later.  

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So this happened half an hour from where I now type, 25 years ago.

Despite its occurrence at the start of the decade. It’s perhaps the most iconic photo of the 1990′s in Canada.  In brief, when an already contested golf course sitting on a Mohawk burial site was expropriated to add another 9 holes over the graves and history of many Mohawk ancestors, their community near Montreal decided to fight back, blocking the bridge leading into the city while facing off with federal troops and local police. The extra holes were never built and looking back, it seemed like one of many events that led to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on the history of government sponsored persecution of native peoples in Canada.