Presenting something as open, when it is not actually open.

see full def.

https://youtu.be/mMaBVfIedFw?t=1141

In almost every scientific paper that describes proteins you’ll find Duke biochemist Jane Richardson’s handiwork. The images, commonly referred to as “ribbon diagrams,” are basic to the language of protein science. Ranging in likeness from a flapping kite tail to a tight coil of crimped gift ribbon, these carefully etched diagrams invented by Richardson have served for many years as a primary way that scientists can describe what they see in their data.

As the elegance and complexity of proteins became more evident, scientists needed something better than wire models to articulate the subtleties they were identifying, especially in print journals. Several people had published schematic drawings of individual proteins, but each used different conventions and viewpoints. For a major review article comparing folds and details of all the known structures, Jane Richardson needed to develop a good, consistent system. She picked up a pencil and began to try drawing smooth ribbons over the atoms in early, crude computer-graphics printouts. It was promising, but hard to correctly convey the proteins in three dimensions.

“I’m not an artist and I’m not very good at drawing anything else,” she said. “It took a very long time to figure this out, how you can really show the 3D relationships on a 2D page, and also keep them accurate to the experimental atom coordinates.”

Druze people are an ethnic religion, like Judaism. The Druze faith is Abrahamic and monotheistic, dating back about 1000 years. It was initially an offshoot of an offshoot of Islam, but its members are not Muslims. They believe in many prophets, and in reincarnation leading to being united with the Cosmic Mind. They have influences from Christianity. You can't convert, you can only be born into it. There's about a million Druze people in the Middle East, including in Israel. They apparently do well in Israeli society. They are educated. They serve in the military.

Druze in Syria are not doing well, though. They are under attack right now, where things are just generally kind of shit. The Syrian government is trying to hold things together, but Syrian government forces are killing people and attacking religious minorities, including the Druze. The Druze, for their part, refuse to give up their weapons and want to maintain territory for themselves.

tw: politics

Today I learned that, since April, the Supreme Court of the United States has sided with Trump in all 15 rulings it has issued on the President’s emergency requests. Of those 15 rulings, the court has only written 3 majority opinions. 7 have come with no explanation at all.

I don't have to convince anyone here of what's going on in America, obvs. I just wanted to share because this fact surprised me. I didn't realize that they weren't even justifying their decisions, which normally they do.

for background, I shaved my forearms for practicing methods of shaving my legs. low-key a mistake, don't think id recommend shaving arms lol

I picked up a pizza after getting a shower and to dry out my hair faster I didn't turn on the AC, was in a hot car in Florida for like 5m while it cooked and this is what happened. Pretty cool!

Edit: also it's interesting to visualize how much water is lost when you sweat

Paraphrased:

The narcissist’s smirk is a subtle but telling expression that occurs when a narcissist experiences pleasure from manipulating or deceiving someone.

For narcissists, the smirk usually reflects contempt, which is a deep-seated disdain or lack of respect towards others. For narcissists contempt is tied to their belief in their own superiority. They view others who do not serve their needs as worthless or beneath them, showing a complete disregard for how their actions impact those around them.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17409179/

The thought that young children are using these suggest they'll suffer issues in their mid twenties which is horrifying, and then the issues could get worse throughout their life.

For a long time, I believed the story that they QWERTY keyboard was designed to slow down typing, because typing too fast would cause jams on old typewriters, but apparently it isn't true.

Skip to 3:00 for the part that talks about this.

David-Neel already had a passion for travel in her youth. She travelled through many european countries and wrote travel guide books. She was also active in anarchist and feminist circles all over Europe. At 21 she converted to buddhism and later travelled to India, where among other things she learned Sanskrit. From the ages 27 to 36 she worked as an opera singer and writer.

In 1911, at the age of 42, she set off on her longest journey to India and Tibet. She met the 13th Dalai Lamai in India and became fluent in Tibetan. The next years were spent in a buddhist monastery in India studying with several buddhist teachers. In 1916 she began her Journey to Tibet, entering which was at the time forbidden for foreigners. Still she managed to study buddhist scripts at the tempels and had an audience with the Panchen Lama. Upon her return to India the british authorities informed her that she was to be deported for violating the ban. Instead of going back to France, she travelled on to Japan, where she again spent time meeting with and learning from buddhist philosophers.

In 1924 she again entered Tibet, this time disguised as a beggar monk. Since she was travelling illegally, she mostly moved at night. She recounts fending off robbers and highwaymen by reciting songs or poems in her native language, French. Together with her unfamiliar European looks, that convinced the often very superstitious Tibetan robbers that she was a witch and to better not mess with her. In case that didn't work she was carrying a gun. She reached Lhasa as the first European woman the same year. She mingled with the crowd of worshipers and celebrated the Monlam Prayer Festival. She managed to stay for two month before she was discovered and had to leave. After 13 years in Asia, she decided to return to her home country.

In May 1925 David-Neel finally arrived back home in France. She wrote the book "My journey to Lhasa" and bought a house, which she turned into a buddhist temple that she called "Samten-Dzong" or "fortress of meditation".

In 1937, age 69, she again travelled to China to study buddhist scriptures. Again she also visited Tibet, studying scriptures at various temples. She returned back to France in 1946 at age 78. She went on to publish several books about buddhism and translated many buddhist scriptures from Tibetan to French.

In 1956 she went to stay with a friend in Monaco where she died in in 1969, one month before her 101st birthday.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_David-N%C3%A9el

https://himajomo.com/the-life-and-legacy-of-alexandra-david-neel/

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240313-trailblazing-journey-forbidden-city-of-lhasa

https://womeninexploration.org/timeline/alexandra-david-neel/

Attached a pretty cool article covering it. This is something I never would have thought of before.