[Sir John Franklin] risked everything to find his way through those icy straits, but was it indeed romantic and wonderful, as [other authors] would have us believe? Was it a transcendent expression of human daring, this long and painful quest for a largely useless geographical clarity? […] We can admire the courage, even the persistence, of the quest, but if we respect history at all, we must temper whatever admiration we may feel with the image of pieces of human arms and legs, cooking in a kettle, while starving men stare with deadened eyes at the ultimate consequences of this spectacular piece of folly.

Anthony Brandt, The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage

mica-low:

Some of what I’ve been working on for my Master’s thesis. There’s still a ways to go on this exhibit, so no pictures of it in action (yet!), but here’s some samples from the preliminary design package that’s going to be presented at my thesis defense, and to the client. 

After June, I’ll have more time to work on science art, and I’ve got some exciting stuff in the works, so stay tuned!

goddamnshinyrock:

I can identify the point at which I gave up on plant ID for my thesis, and it’s where my species list goes from “Lady Fern (Athyrium filix–femina)” to “Polytrichum moss, exact species uncertain” to “Other mosses, various”

I keep finding new plants that I photographed but never recorded as I go through my site pictures to find good ones to go in my project report, but my species list is now in three different documents, so every time I make a change I have to change it in each one

I can identify the point at which I gave up on plant ID for my thesis, and it’s where my species list goes from “Lady Fern (Athyrium filix–femina)” to “Polytrichum moss, exact species uncertain” to “Other mosses, various”