I just saw the news that the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, NY is facing foreclosure after a group of donors failed to produce about $30 million USD that they had promised.
The museum is run by the Paleontological Research Institution, whose collection has about 7 million fossil specimensâone of the largest in the USâand is one of only a few natural history museums in upstate NY. PRI runs both the Museum and the Cayuga Nature Center, which is also dealing with the budget shortfall.
The organization is working on restructuring (namely downsizing) to improve their financial sustainability but they still need funds, and one thing they've said could help is if people shop at their store!
The foreclosure news broke like two days ago and their shop is already selling fast (testament to how many people want them to survive!) but there are a few items left in stock, including some prehistoric plushies. If you want to make a purchase to help maybe keep them afloat, their online gift shop is here and is honestly extremely reasonably priced.
so how about a FOOT LONG TULLY MONSTER
OR A DUNKLEOSTEUS
OR SOME
TRILOBITE SLIPPERS
They've also got some books, shirts, toys, etc. and I'm sure those sales numbers will help the authors/artists as well.
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M27 nebula. A dying star.
The blu comes from oxygen atoms.
The air you breath now, is full of atoms that were once in a nebula just like this, billions of years ago.
Photo by Patrick A. Cosgrove
Iâve barely written anything for several months but I just spend the last six hours writing a chapter for my DannyPhantom/DC fic âUniversal Ghost Distribution Systemâ
I feel amazing and tired and Iâve only got four hours to sleep before I need to wake up for work, and this isnât even the next chapter in the lineup, but the two after that, so I canât post it on ao3 yet
But I wanna share a chunk of it with yâall.
This was inspired when I was thinking about Jack saying âIâm gonna tear that ghost apart molecule by molecule!!â and wondering what kind of molecules he intended to find in something made of ectoplasm rather than carbon-based life, and all my theoretical astro-physics classes came flooding back.
Also Tim still isnât trusting Danny even when his new ghost instincts say he should totally eat that bowl of strange green glowing Dippinâ Dots looking cereal stuff Danny insists is good for him and not radioactive or poison. (A growing kid needs to eat their greens!) Danny just wants his new baby ghost to grow big and strong and thinks explaining why eating ectoplasm is a good thing for ghosts in scientific terms will help Tim understand.
âYou said youâve met other ghosts before?â
âYeah,â Tim side-eyed him.
âDo you know what ghosts are made of? Did they tell you?â
âUh⌠Emotions and magic?â
Tim actually hadnât asked Greta or Boston. They didnât exactly like discussing the afterlife, and he didnât want to upset them so he did his own reading. The research heâd found from several nations and cultures mostly agreed on those two things even if how ghosts were created had more debate, and why ghosts were created and their purpose an even greater amount of debate. Several scientists around the world searched for more defined answers than âmagic ties strong emotions to an item or placeâ but few of them went about the process of study in a way Tim found valid. The published articles were either too vague or biased, and most focused on a single cultural belief rather than a worldwide view of ghosts. These beings existed all over the world and (Tim got confirmation from Green Lantern) on most other planets, so why hadnât anyone started research with a wider scope?
âI mean yeah,â Danny shrugged and nodded, âEmotions and magic play a part in every sentient thing, but I meant more like base components. Life has its basic building blocks of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon, but death has different substances to build with.â
Timâs eyebrows scrunched together. He wasnât sure how this would connect to eating the glowing green Dippinâ Dots but he nodded for Danny to continue.
âOkay so just like living things are made of organic matter, humans specifically being shaped out of tissue and bones and cartilage, ectoplasm is what gives ghosts their form,â Danny waved his arms as he spoke, his voice slipped into a pace and tone that Tim knew from his brothers getting caught up in a new interest. âItâs made up of a few different things, like various dark matters held in a Higgs field - because obviously youâve gotta prevent Detachment Space or else youâre just creating a portal - but ectoplasm is the result of these particles combining and fuels the existence of all sorts of larger structures. Think of it as ectoplasm is for ghosts what water is for living matter. Water is made of smaller particles, and essential to build and support bigger things. It isnât the only thing humans are made of but thatâs most of it. Except the average human is 60% water while the average ghost is 95% ectoplasm. I guess a closer comparison would be ghosts and jellyfish. Humans are way more complex in structure and survival needs. Ghosts much less so, but still more complex than a jellyfish because you canât take a jelly out of water for long but ghosts donât need constant access to ectoplasm so I guess itâs more like if humans drank three gallons of water a day. The point is we need it to survive. Newly formed ghosts need consistent and structured ectoplasm like humans need meals, and thatâs one of the guardianâs jobs, is to feed the baby. As a baby ghost grows in power its core forms and that stabilizes the personal Higgs field much like a planetâs magnetic field but instead of forming an atmosphere to repel subatomic particles, it collects WIMPs that attract non-baryonic ectoplasm to fuel the ghost through osmosis. Bigger meals of structured ectoplasm are still encouraged but only needed about once a month. Haha, itâs opposite in humans, since a baby ghost needs lots of solids but adults mostly drink their ectoplasm? If osmosis counts as drinking. Anyway, since Iâve got an ice core I like to structure mine like ice cream for fun, but we can find you something that better fits yourrrrr ooohhhh no youâve bluescreened.â
Danny had been floating around the ceiling during his tangent-filled explanation, and it was only when he turned back to try handing Tim the ice bowl again that he found a blank stare.
A small part of Timâs brain had kept track of Dannyâs movement and words but most of it was trying to compile the MASSIVE AMOUNT OF THEORETICAL PARTICLE PHYSICS INFORMATION this 14 year old dead boy had just dropped casually as if it were fact and all it implied about the universe as a whole.
âIâm sorry,â Danny said, looking contrite. âI get excited and forget not everyone grew up with ectobiologist parents hearing about this all day. I can explain in laymenâs terms instead.â
âEcto⌠biologistsâŚâ Tim echoed. His own words felt far away but his brain needed to connect the dots before it could reboot. As if there were too many tabs open at once and he had to shut them down one at a time. âGhost biology⌠is⌠dark matter?â
âUm. Yeah. But look, thatâs not the important part. I didnât mean to confuse you. Point is you gotta eat. Ectoplasm is your water now.â
âYour parents⌠studied theoretical particle physics⌠and came to the conclusion⌠itâs ghosts?â
Danny sighed long and hard. His eyes closed and the tension around them spoke of painful memories.
âThey started at ghosts. Theorized that life and death were opposite sides of the same coin, so what ghosts were made of must be the opposite of living matter. Dark matter and other unknown particle physics was a good candidate. My dad got his doctorate in that because he was real excited about subatomic particles and wanted to study the molecular structure of ghosts. Molecule by molecule,â he said the last part bitterly.
Tim blinked. Some dots connected in his mind but he didnât know what they connected to yet. Danny continued.
âMom double majored a masters in engineering and applied mathematics, then got her doctorate in electrical engineering. They shared what they learned the whole time with the sole focus of building any equipment necessary to detect and capture ghosts.â
âCapture,â Tim repeated. His eyes finally focused and stared hard at Dannyâs face. The ghost met his eyes for a split second before turning down and aside.
âThey didnât even consider ghosts would be sentient. Just an odd manifestation of ectoplasmic energy and post-human consciousness. They followed the common theory that magic ties emotions to ectoplasm, that some memories could get dragged along, but the resulting structure wouldnât be a real person. It wouldnât think or feel, just be an imprint. A physical echo they could dismember and study to advance science and rid the world of unstable ecto-anthromorphs that lash out in dangerous ways.â
âYour parents. Did theyâŚ?â
Tim wasnât sure what he wanted to ask, his brain was still moving so fast. Did they accept you? Did they change their views? Or did they use their research to hunt and hurt you?
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How much would you pay to go to the moon?
In my current financial state, I would not pay any money to go to the moon because I know such an adventure would cost way more than I could get my hands on without doing things against the law and against my morals.
I have, however always had a dream of being part of some science study that would give me superpowers, so if the chance arose at thisâŚ