Thekingsbutler - Hiding In The Butler's Pantry

Latest Posts by thekingsbutler

thekingsbutler

3 days ago

Seeing the Invisible Universe

A black circle is surrounded by arcs of red, blue, orange, and white. Farther out from the circle are blotches of red, blue, orange, and white representing celestial objects. Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Coe, J. Anderson, and R. van der Marel (STScI)

This computer-simulated image shows a supermassive black hole at the core of a galaxy. The black region in the center represents the black hole’s event horizon, beyond which no light can escape the massive object’s gravitational grip. The black hole’s powerful gravity distorts space around it like a funhouse mirror. Light from background stars is stretched and smeared as it skims by the black hole. You might wonder — if this Tumblr post is about invisible things, what’s with all the pictures? Even though we can’t see these things with our eyes or even our telescopes, we can still learn about them by studying how they affect their surroundings. Then, we can use what we know to make visualizations that represent our understanding.

When you think of the invisible, you might first picture something fantastical like a magic Ring or Wonder Woman’s airplane, but invisible things surround us every day. Read on to learn about seven of our favorite invisible things in the universe!

1. Black Holes

This short looping animation starts with a white flash as a small white circle, representing a star, gets near a small black circle, representing a black hole. The small white circle is torn apart into billions of small particles that get whipped into an oval coiling around the black hole from the right to the left. One trailing stream is flung in an arc to the left side of the animation while the end closest to the black hole wraps around it in several particle streams. Thousands of flecks from the outermost edge of the streams fly farther away from the black hole as the animation progresses, while the inner stream continues to loop. Two jets of fast-moving white particles burst out of the black hole from the top and bottom. The white speckled outbursts get brighter as the animation concludes. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA/GESTAR)

This animation illustrates what happens when an unlucky star strays too close to a monster black hole. Gravitational forces create intense tides that break the star apart into a stream of gas. The trailing part of the stream escapes the system, while the leading part swings back around, surrounding the black hole with a disk of debris. A powerful jet can also form. This cataclysmic phenomenon is called a tidal disruption event.

You know ‘em, and we love ‘em. Black holes are balls of matter packed so tight that their gravity allows nothing — not even light — to escape. Most black holes form when heavy stars collapse under their own weight, crushing their mass to a theoretical singular point of infinite density.

Although they don’t reflect or emit light, we know black holes exist because they influence the environment around them — like tugging on star orbits. Black holes distort space-time, warping the path light travels through, so scientists can also identify black holes by noticing tiny changes in star brightness or position.

2. Dark Matter

In front of a black background, there are millions of glowing green dots. They form a fine, wispy web stretching across the image, like old cobwebs that have collected dust. Over time, more dots collect at the vertices of the web. As the web gets thicker and thicker, the vertices grow and start moving toward each other and toward the center. The smaller dots circle the clumps, like bees buzzing around a hive, until they are pulled inward to join them. Eventually, the clumps merge to create a glowing green mass. The central mass ensnares more dots, coercing even those from the farthest reaches of the screen to circle it. Credit: Simulation: Wu, Hahn, Wechsler, Abel (KIPAC), Visualization: Kaehler (KIPAC)

A simulation of dark matter forming large-scale structure due to gravity.

What do you call something that doesn’t interact with light, has a gravitational pull, and outnumbers all the visible stuff in the universe by five times? Scientists went with “dark matter,” and they think it's the backbone of our universe’s large-scale structure. We don’t know what dark matter is — we just know it's nothing we already understand.

We know about dark matter because of its gravitational effects on galaxies and galaxy clusters — observations of how they move tell us there must be something there that we can’t see. Like black holes, we can also see light bend as dark matter’s mass warps space-time.

3. Dark Energy

An animation on a black rectangular background. On the left of the visual is a graph. The y-axis reads “Expansion Speed.” The x-axis is labeled “Time.” At the origin, the x-axis reads, “10 billion years ago.” Halfway across the x-axis is labeled “7 Billion years ago.” At the end of the x-axis is labeled “now.” A line on the graph starts at the top of the y-axis. It slopes down to the right, linearly, as if it were going to draw a straight line from the top left corner of the graph to the bottom right corner of the graph. Around the 7-billion mark, the line begins to decrease in slope very gradually. Three quarters of the way across the x-axis and three quarters of the way down the y-axis, the line reaches a minimum, before quickly curving upward. It rapidly slopes upward, reaching one quarter from the top of the y-axis as it reaches the end of the x-axis labeled “now.” At the same time, on the right hand of the visual is a tiny dark blue sphere which holds within it glowing lighter blue spheres — galaxies and stars — and a lighter blue webbing. As the line crawls across the graph, the sphere expands. At first, its swelling gently slows, corresponding to the decreasing line on the graph. As the line arcs back upward, the sphere expands rapidly until it grows larger than the right half of the image and encroaches on the graph. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Animation showing a graph of the universe’s expansion over time. While cosmic expansion slowed following the end of inflation, it began picking up the pace around 5 billion years ago. Scientists still aren’t sure why.

No one knows what dark energy is either — just that it’s pushing our universe to expand faster and faster. Some potential theories include an ever-present energy, a defect in the universe’s fabric, or a flaw in our understanding of gravity.

Scientists previously thought that all the universe’s mass would gravitationally attract, slowing its expansion over time. But when they noticed distant galaxies moving away from us faster than expected, researchers knew something was beating gravity on cosmic scales. After further investigation, scientists found traces of dark energy’s influence everywhere — from large-scale structure to the background radiation that permeates the universe.

4. Gravitational Waves

In this animation, two small black circles, representing black holes, orbit one another in a circular counter-clockwise motion. There is a square grid pattern behind them. Around each black hole, a purple haze glows, getting more transparent farther out from the black holes. The haze creates a circle about the size of the black holes’ orbits. Trailing in an arc out from each black hole, an orange hazy strip curls around the frame as the black holes’ orbits circle, like the spiral of a snail shell. The orange strips move farther from the black holes over time, and as they pass over the gridded background, the background warps so that the grid-lines under the stripes appear to bump up. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

Two black holes orbit each other and generate space-time ripples called gravitational waves in this animation.

Like the ripples in a pond, the most extreme events in the universe — such as black hole mergers — send waves through the fabric of space-time. All moving masses can create gravitational waves, but they are usually so small and weak that we can only detect those caused by massive collisions. Even then they only cause infinitesimal changes in space-time by the time they reach us. Scientists use lasers, like the ground-based LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) to detect this precise change. They also watch pulsar timing, like cosmic clocks, to catch tiny timing differences caused by gravitational waves.

This animation shows gamma rays (magenta), the most energetic form of light, and elusive particles called neutrinos (gray) formed in the jet of an active galaxy far, far away. The emission traveled for about 4 billion years before reaching Earth. On Sept. 22, 2017, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole detected the arrival of a single high-energy neutrino. NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope showed that the source was a black-hole-powered galaxy named TXS 0506+056, which at the time of the detection was producing the strongest gamma-ray activity Fermi had seen from it in a decade of observations.

5. Neutrinos

This animation shows gamma rays (magenta), the most energetic form of light, and elusive particles called neutrinos (gray) formed in the jet of an active galaxy far, far away. The emission traveled for about 4 billion years before reaching Earth. On Sept. 22, 2017, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole detected the arrival of a single high-energy neutrino. NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope showed that the source was a black-hole-powered galaxy named TXS 0506+056, which at the time of the detection was producing the strongest gamma-ray activity Fermi had seen from it in a decade of observations.

Because only gravity and the weak force affect neutrinos, they don’t easily interact with other matter — hundreds of trillions of these tiny, uncharged particles pass through you every second! Neutrinos come from unstable atom decay all around us, from nuclear reactions in the Sun to exploding stars, black holes, and even bananas.

Scientists theoretically predicted neutrinos, but we know they actually exist because, like black holes, they sometimes influence their surroundings. The National Science Foundation’s IceCube Neutrino Observatory detects when neutrinos interact with other subatomic particles in ice via the weak force.

6. Cosmic Rays

Earth’s horizon from space divides this animation in half from the top-left corner to the bottom-right corner. The slightly curved surface glows faintly white into the inky black space that takes up the other half of the frame. Earth is primarily blue, covered in soft patchy white clouds that glow soft yellow. Hundreds of small white streaks rain down diagonally from the right toward Earth. As they reach the faint white glow, they suddenly break into thousands of smaller particles that shower down onto the planet. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

This animation illustrates cosmic ray particles striking Earth's atmosphere and creating showers of particles.

Every day, trillions of cosmic rays pelt Earth’s atmosphere, careening in at nearly light-speed — mostly from outside our solar system. Magnetic fields knock these tiny charged particles around space until we can hardly tell where they came from, but we think high energy events like supernovae can accelerate them. Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field protect us from cosmic rays, meaning few actually make it to the ground.

Though we don’t see the cosmic rays that make it to the ground, they tamper with equipment, showing up as radiation or as “bright” dots that come and go between pictures on some digital cameras. Cosmic rays can harm astronauts in space, so there are plenty of precautions to protect and monitor them.

7. (Most) Electromagnetic Radiation

A diagram reading “electromagnetic spectrum.” The diagram consists primarily of a rectangle that stretches across the width of the image. The rectangle is broken into six sections labelled left to right, “gamma,” then “x-ray,” then “ultraviolet,” then “visible,” then “infrared,” then “microwave,” and finally “radio.” The sections are not all the same size, with visible being the smallest by far, then gamma ray, then x-ray, then ultraviolet, microwave, radio, and finally infrared being the longest section. The individual sections are divided further into five sections that create color gradients. Gamma, x-ray, and microwave are gradients of grey. Ultraviolet is a gradient from a pinkish purple on the left to purple on the right. Infrared is a gradient from red on the left to orange on the right. The visible section creates a rainbow, going from purple, to blue, green, yellow, and finally red. Above each section is a squiggly vertical line. Each section has squiggly lines taking up the same vertical space but they have larger and larger curves going from left to right, with gamma having the smallest amplitude and wavelength and radio having the largest. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

The electromagnetic spectrum is the name we use when we talk about different types of light as a group. The parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, arranged from highest to lowest energy are: gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet light, visible light, infrared light, microwaves, and radio waves. All the parts of the electromagnetic spectrum are the same thing — radiation. Radiation is made up of a stream of photons — particles without mass that move in a wave pattern all at the same speed, the speed of light. Each photon contains a certain amount of energy.

The light that we see is a small slice of the electromagnetic spectrum, which spans many wavelengths. We frequently use different wavelengths of light — from radios to airport security scanners and telescopes.

Visible light makes it possible for many of us to perceive the universe every day, but this range of light is just 0.0035 percent of the entire spectrum. With this in mind, it seems that we live in a universe that’s more invisible than not! NASA missions like NASA's Fermi, James Webb, and Nancy Grace Roman space telescopes will continue to uncloak the cosmos and answer some of science’s most mysterious questions.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

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thekingsbutler

6 days ago

As one of the 31, I'm very excited and I hope you all enjoy this project!

Welcome to the Hozier Fanzine!

"This Is Hungry Work: A Hozier Anthology."

This is a currently-running zine unaffiliated with Hozier, featuring all of Hozier's music–singles and albums included.

The end product of this will be a free Download-able zine of writing and artworks each inspired by Hozier's music.

With 31 Contributers and Over 60 Original Works inspired by Hozier's music–it's going to be a beautiful final project!

~~~

Reblog and share and follow to keep up with us in this process!

Follow along for more information about the zine, it's contributors, and the release date!

~~~

If you have any questions, feel free to send in asks!

Tags

hozier fanzine

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thekingsbutler

6 days ago

It's always something with these motherfuckers

The Republicans have decided we no longer need bees and are defunding the USGS Bee Lab. Please tell your friends, your representatives, local beekeepers, crafting clubs, your classmates, and everyone who has ever seen a bee that this is happening and that the Republicans are behind it. Scream about this. We in the professional bug world make fun of the bee people for having some of the only consistent funding and support in the whole field, but now even that is going away. Write it on your car. Tell someone at the store. Email your professor. Make a tiktok. Draw it on the sidewalk. Do NOT let them sneak this by.

Government Executive

Thousands of layoffs to hit Interior, National Parks imminently

Employees fear diminished capacity after RIFs are tacked on to existing mass exodus.

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thekingsbutler

2 weeks ago

In honor of my recently passed cat, I'm finally publishing this fanfic I've been sitting on.

archiveofourown.org

Beyond the Horizon - ButlerOfKings - The Travelling Cat Chronicles - Hiro Arikawa [Archive of Our Own]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

"Feeling the weight of a cat’s paws pressing into your shoulders in the middle of the night—not much beats that." - The Travelling Cat Chronicles.

I'll meet you out there some day, my sweet boy.

Tags

ao3 writer the travelling cat chronicles hiro arikawa rare fandoms pet death more people need to know this

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thekingsbutler

3 weeks ago

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thekingsbutler

3 weeks ago

Seconding Deadly Education trilogy. That had be in a CHOKEHOLD

In honor of JKR being a total waste of breath and space yet again:

Other (better) books to read instead of Harry Potter—

1. The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson.

“ Under Platform 13 in one of London’s busiest train stations is an old doorway covered with peeling posters. Behind I is the entrance to a magical kingdom and island where humans live happily with mermaids, ogres and mysterious creatures called mist makers. When a beastly woman named Mrs. Trottle kidnaps the islands young Prince, it’s up to a strange band of rescuers to find him, save him, and return him to the king and queen. But can the rescuers—an ogre, a hag, a wizard and a fey troop around London unnoticed? And what if the prince doesn’t want to go back?”

(This book contains an impoverished ‘orphan’ raised by cruel adults, a bumbling old wizard, magical young adults, and an entrance to a magical world on a train platform in London. Sound familiar? Because it was released in 1994…three years prior to the first Harry Potter book. Just sayin’.)

More below the cut:

2. A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer.

“Teenager Farris Nallaneen is the heir to the small northern dukedom of Galazon. Too young still to claim her title, her despotic Uncle Brinker has ruled in her place. Now he demands she be sent to Greenlaw College. For her benefit he insists.

To keep me out of the way more like it!

But Greenlaw is not just any school—as Farris and her new best friend Jane discover. At Greenlaw students major in…magic. But it’s not all fun and games when Farris makes an enemy of classmate Menary of Aravill, life could get downright…deadly.”

(A fabulous magical coming-of-age story with an interesting heroine and clearly defined magic system. The sequel is excellent as well.)

3. A Deadly Education by Naomi Novic.

“Everyone loves Orion Lake. Everyone else, that is. Far as I’m concerned he can keep his flashy combat magic to himself. I’m not joining his pack of adoring fans. I don’t need his help surviving the Scholomance, even if they do. Forget the hordes of monsters and cursed artifacts—I’m probably the most dangerous thing in the place. Just give me a chance and I’ll level mountains and kill untold millions, make myself the dark queen of the world.

At least, that’s what the world expects.”

(A dark magical school actively trying to kill its students and a misfit heroine with a mysterious power. A golden retriever of a male hero who is in constant need of being rescued and a group of misfits who come into their own power by forging their own paths…the book ends on a cliffhanger but the series is complete.)

3. Anything Tamora Pierce. She does coming of age in a magical world stories so well. My personal favorites are the Trickster's Choice duology of Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen and the Beka Cooper series which begins with Terrier.

There's SO many series out there which do the themes of Harry Potter in more interesting, well-written stories that don't support the physical embodiment of a Dementor. Try some out! I love recommending these books to the students in my life that are looking for good books 'like Harry Potter', but these are just my personal suggestions. I'm always on the lookout for more...

Tags

anti jkr the scholomance a deadly education

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thekingsbutler

3 weeks ago

So you know when you're writing a scene where the hero is carrying an injured person and you realize you've never been in this situation and have no idea how accurate the method of transportation actually is?

Oh boy, do I have a valuable resource for you!

Here is a PDF of the best ways to carry people depending on the situation and how conscious the injured person needs to be for the carrying position.

Literally a life saver.

(No pun intended.)

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thekingsbutler

3 weeks ago

Are we having a fun time working on our projects?

David Lynch in his Weather Report series: I hope you all are having a lot of fun working on your favorite projects.

Lynch: I want to wish everyone great good luck with your projects.

Lynch: And I hope your projects are going well and you're having a great time working on them.

David Lynch's Weather Report 3/6/21, 4/10/21, 2/20/22... among others! It was a very recurring sentiment. He wanted everyone to have good luck and fun with our projects.

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thekingsbutler

3 weeks ago

EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP SCIENTISTS AT THE SCHMIDT OCEAN INSTITUTE HAVE FOOTAGE OF A LIVE COLOSSAL SQUID FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

🦑‼️🦑‼️🦑‼️🦑‼️🦑‼️🦑

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thekingsbutler

1 month ago

People used to comment on web comics.

People used to comment on fanfiction.

People used to comment on fanart.

People used to comment on OCs.

I hate "content" culture.

I hate "consuming content" and scrolling immediately to the next thing.

People used to be excited about the art that other people created.

People used to want to share that excitement with creators.

I hate this future.

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thekingsbutler

1 month ago

WHITAKER???

@happinessisntfun and I have been discussing who should find Robby mid breakdown in Pedes (assuming anyone finds him) and I....

Best- Dana, Collins, maybe Kiara? Mel would do her best but I don't think he'd want to be seen by her like that.

Worst- Langdon, Santos, any hallucination of a dead person, the reporter guy who faked being injured.

Unhinged???- Myrna (have we found her yet?), Random SWAT man that just backs right out of the room.

I am NOT ready for tonight, regardless.

Tags

the pitt michael robinavitch the pitt spoilers

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thekingsbutler

1 month ago

Luigi Mangione could be getting the death penalty…

This man is innocent, his appearance and build doesn’t match that of the killers, the only “motive” he had was a convenient written confession showing that he supposedly viewed healthcare companies as “parasitic” and too expensive (which does somewhat contradict the actual killers actions) he had said note and the murder weapon conveniently on him while living his ordinary life, the killer held the gun in his right hand while Luigi is left-handed, Luigi and the Killer were potentially seen simultaneously, they wore slightly different coats.

The NYPD KNOW these are different people, they know the evidence is lacking, this isn’t a mistaken identity, it’s framing, they are trying to make themself appear to still be control by catching this man, humiliating him, killing him, when they know full well that the person they are prosecuting ISNT EVEN THE RIGHT GUY! This is an injustice! This is not a fair trial! This is downright tyranny!

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thekingsbutler

1 month ago

@happinessisntfun and I have been discussing who should find Robby mid breakdown in Pedes (assuming anyone finds him) and I....

Best- Dana, Collins, maybe Kiara? Mel would do her best but I don't think he'd want to be seen by her like that.

Worst- Langdon, Santos, any hallucination of a dead person, the reporter guy who faked being injured.

Unhinged???- Myrna (have we found her yet?), Random SWAT man that just backs right out of the room.

I am NOT ready for tonight, regardless.

Tags

I am not prepared- dana evans the pitt trinity santos frank langdon the pitt spoilers dr robinavitch dr heather collins kiara alfaro

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thekingsbutler

1 month ago

Reblog if you too would like to pick out 1,000 pieces of gravel from a man's leg

Tags

autism things the pitt frank langdon mel king

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thekingsbutler

1 month ago

Art challenge where you have to finish what you're making

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thekingsbutler

1 month ago

I Made These As A Way To Compile All The Geographical Vocabulary That I Thought Was Useful And Interesting

I made these as a way to compile all the geographical vocabulary that I thought was useful and interesting for writers. Some descriptors share categories, and some are simplified, but for the most part everything is in its proper place. Not all the words are as useable as others, and some might take tricky wording to pull off, but I hope these prove useful to all you writers out there!

(save the images to zoom in on the pics)

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thekingsbutler

2 months ago

Happy Beloved Tumblr Holiday Of Ides Of March.

Happy Beloved Tumblr holiday of Ides of March.

I tried to put these in a story telling order, because I have issues.

Tags

ides of march WE SHOULD TOTALLY JUST STAB CAESAR

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thekingsbutler

2 months ago

we’re about to have purim, holi, ramadan, lent, and pi day all at the same time and this is all i can think of

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thekingsbutler

2 months ago

Happy Pi Day!

TIME

Find Your Birthday Hidden in Pi

Celebrate Pi Day with this fun interactive

Tags

pi day mathblr Pi jokes are irrational

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thekingsbutler

2 months ago

Most anti phone advice is so inane and regurgitated to me but one thing I’ve been thinking about for days is “social media is okay, but the real danger comes in when you think your phone should be your go to during your limited pockets of leisure” like that’s literally the truest thing ever

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thekingsbutler

2 months ago

the suffering never ends

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thekingsbutler

2 months ago

Things to consider.

Roman mosaic floor discovered under a vineyard in Negrar di Valpolicella, Veneto.

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thekingsbutler

2 months ago

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thekingsbutler

2 months ago

Source

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thekingsbutler

2 months ago

5 simple exercises to awaken dormant muscles

{source}

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thekingsbutler

2 months ago

Some truths about the publishing industry because I certainly got blindsided when going in. Now I'm so broken by this industry I struggle to encourage aspiring writers lmao

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thekingsbutler

2 months ago

Please stop trigger tagging with #epilepsy tw/cw/warning/etc.

I need every single person to understand how horrible tumblr’s tagging system is

I go into the tag for epilepsy and its all flashing lights. We can’t use our own tag because people without epilepsy fill it up with improper warnings.

Use ‘flashing’ in place of ‘epilepsy’ in your tags. You aren’t warning people of epileptics, you’re warning us of flashing lights. Please please tag properly. Epileptics say this endlessly and constantly and it’s ignored. You are risking lives by doing this.

Here’s proof of what I mean:

Please Stop Trigger Tagging With #epilepsy Tw/cw/warning/etc.

THIS POST IS 100% OKAY TO REBLOG, I ENCOURAGE PEOPLE WITHOUT EPILEPSY TO ESPECIALLY DO SO!

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thekingsbutler

2 months ago

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thekingsbutler

3 months ago

Hi... I'm said friend...

I would like the record to state that I only microwave bottled sweet tea (Gold Peak, specifically) when I was sick and really wanted a Hot Toddy but had no energy or spoons to make tea on the stove. If I had homemade tea already, I'd microwave that.

Typically, I'll make a pitcher of sweet tea from a pot on the stove. However my family, and thus I when I lived with them, usually makes a pitcher from the microwave.

So in the end, there's a good chance I'd invoke the wrath of Martin anyways.

Jmart safehouse setting where the first words to come from Martin since exiting the Lonely is "What the hell are you doing." And its in response to him blankly watching John try to quickly make them tea in the microwave- the humming noise breaking Martin's partial dissociative state, and scaring the shit out of John after all the silence (minus his own mutterings)

Tags

i accept my fate

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thekingsbutler

3 months ago

I am exceptionally lucky in that my parents never hit me, grounded me, confiscated my things, banned me from my hobbies or threatened any of these actions to make me behave as a kid. as an adult it has made me realise how very very long a road most people have to traverse before they can take a statement like 'no rule that must be enforced by threat is legitimate' seriously.

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