theinformationdump:

“Worldbuilding in some sense is a requirement for all writers. The people and places in fiction may have analogs in real life, but a writer in the U.S. cannot depend on every reader (or even most readers) being familiar with the Lincoln Park area of Chicago or the lower east side of Manhattan, much less the streets of Bombay or London or Ladysmith. The writer therefore has to recreate the real place in her fiction, choosing key details that evoke or imply a raft of other things that add up tothat particular place and culture.

“For those of us who write fantasy and science fiction, worldbuilding is even more of a necessity. The places our stories occur often have no real-life analogs; one cannot travel to Edoras or Cair Paravel to check out the sights and sounds and smells. One cannot look up the fashions of the Galactic Empire or the social customs of the kzinti or Klingons. The writer makes them up.

“One of the first things you find out when you start paying serious attention to this is that every detail you invent implies other things, large and small. A codfish dinner served in a town far inland implies not only a fishing industry, but fast and reliable transportation (or the fish would spoil before they got to the table). The existance of such fast and reliable transportation means news will move as quickly as the fish do, so if you want it to be three weeks before they find out about the magical thunderstorm on the south coast, you suddenly need to come up with a really good reason why they wouldn’t hear about it a day later like everyone else. And so on.”

This link is to Patricia C. Wrede’s famous Fantasy Worldbuilding list. It’s extensive, but by no means exhaustive. However, if you’re new to worldbuilding, this is a great starting point to understanding how your world works. And even if you’ve been building worlds for a while, it’s still a fantastic reference.

(Source: pcwrede.com)

thescienceofreality:

1. Quadriplegic uses her mind to control her robotic arm.
2. DARPA robot can traverse an obstacle course.
3. Genetically modified silk is stronger than steel.
4. DNA was photographed for the first time.
5. Invisibility cloak technology took a huge leap forward.
6. Spray-on skin.
7. James Cameron reached the deepest known point in the ocean.
8. Stem cells could extend human life by over 100 years.
9. 3-D printer creates full-size house in one session.
10. Self-driving cars are legal in Nevada, Florida, and California.
11. Voyager I leaves the solar system.
12. Custom Jaw transplant created with 3-D printer.
13. Rogue planet[s] floating through space.
14. Chimera monkey’s created from multiple embryos.
15. Artificial leaves generate electricity. 
16. Google goggles bring the internet everywhere.
17. Higgs-Boson Particle discovery.
18. Flexible, inexpensive solar panels challenge fossil fuel.
19. Diamond planet discovered.
20. Eye implants give sight to the blind.
21. Wales barcodes DNA of every flowering plant species in the country.
22. First unmanned commercial space flight docks with the ISS.
23. Ultra-flexible “willow” glass will allow for curved electronic devices.
24. NASA begins using robotic exoskeletons.
25. Human brain is hacked.
26. First planet with four suns discovered.
27. Microsoft patented the “Holodeck”.

Learn more about each of these scientific break-throughs and discoveries here.

psilentasincjelli:

rusethefox:

cynic-in-denial:

dandelionpunx:

Whoever wants to eat cookie dough and not get salmonella. Here ya go!

Mimi, when we do this, because I know we will, be sure it goes in the fridge for a bit.  It gets too sticky if it’s not cold.

i need this in my life

Guess what I’m making, sans chocolate chips

Once Upon a Family Tree

(Source: thehuntsman)

celebrate-the-magic:

riversonghellosweetie:

willoughbywallabywoo:

“Tiny Bow & Arrow”

What you’ll need:

- sharp knife

- popsicle stick

- q-tip

-dental floss

I need this for class

Welp people are going to hate me now more than they already do

wibblywobbly-doctorywoctory:

lris:

beanigirl:

STOP SCROLLING AND PUT YOUR MOUSE OVER THIS

ALSO THIS

AND THIS

And this

(Source: )

doctorwho:

the-eleventh-blog:

before-series-three:

there’s this unspoken law in britain that you’re not to phone anyone while doctor who’s on, and it was on and the phone rang and my brother was the one that had to pick it up, and he didn’t even say ‘hello’ or anything, he just picked it up and went, “WHO THE [HECK] IS RINGING WHILE DOCTOR WHO’S ON?” and the person on the other end went, “DOCTOR WHO’S ON? I’LL CALL YOU BACK!”, and hung up.

We don’t even know who it was, I just—

and thERE’S A SONG ABOUT IT

(Source: before-series-three)

cherrispryte:

Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003)

Oh. Sobbing. Okay.

(Source: lemonyandbeatrice)

llereurol:

lourdesdeath:

You’re welcome.

this is wonderful because look what i found when i searched “britta”

so many opportunities

rawrrrwithme:

altimateginger:

caramelonion:

And people bitch about me for not knowing how to write.

i read this and i got like mixed up 8 of them up and i know english

leone-con-ali:

finally a Merlin post that did not make me cry

preludity:

samandriel:

grapefruitshampoo:

THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING AND BRILLIANT THING EVER

i would probably buy or do anything they wanted me to. anything.

OH MY GOD I REMEMBER WATCHING THIS IN SCHOOL. My friend and I couldn’t stop giggling once the first guy started stripping… then realised our teacher was right behind us watching too. Best thing ever.

(Source: youtube.com)

apriki:

a couple of tumblr functions if you didn’t know about them:

• you can make tags on an individual blog display from the earliest to latest post by adding /chrono to the end, for example: http://gameofgifs.tumblr.com/tagged/season_202/chrono
• you can search through a tumblog by date…

So I’m at an old cafe by the beach alone and I got up to use the restroom and buy a croissant. When I returned this was in my book

(Source: trinityburn)

saucefactory:

kaciart:

a-big-apple:

piratescarfy:

spumellaria:

windwave:

todays-tuesday-too:

selancastsvalor:

airrling:

vulcanoes:

artofobservation:

expositionfairy:

In which NASA wins at Gangnam Style parodies now and forever.  Everyone else go home.

Crying.

This is beautiful.

It’s amazing that with the growing popularity of social media, large, traditionally professional groups/businesses/etc. are doing things like this. It absolutely blows my mind.

Why aren’t we giving them all of our money yet?

everyone else needs to just go home, because nasa wins everything

This is beautiful and amazing.

NASA I love you.

i hate gangnam style. but this is the best shit ever. nasa u win

it’s awesome!!1

Well that was needlessly awesome.

it just gets better and better as the video goes on

FTW

WOW

MY LIFE IS COMPLETE

(Source: allinthebones)