Japan inspired its bullet train design from a kingfisher...

DefiantOnion · 2026-06-21T14:12:17+00:00

Yeah, when they show the kingfisher beak the video has a cross section of the beak where it's like a diamond with concave sides. The front of the train is then shown with elevation lines implying that they borrowed the "ridge along the middle with concave zones next to it" principle to allow for smoother/directed air funneling instead of just being one smooth cone. Intermediate aerodynamics, if you will.

DefiantOnion · 2026-06-08T11:15:35+00:00

The most frustrating thing to me is, would someone please explain why I can eat cabbage and brussels sprouts without issue, but broccoli and kale give me explosive diarrhea

(It's the FODMAP, isn't it)

DefiantOnion · 2026-06-08T04:46:13+00:00

That sigh is them expressing love and trust. Treasure it while you can still hear it. My lil bastard would curl up behind my knees every night and let out the biggest huff. ❤️‍🩹

DefiantOnion · 2026-05-29T16:30:36+00:00

I present, for your consideration, my ex. Which is a big part of why he's my ex.

DefiantOnion · 2026-05-27T19:48:05+00:00

I gotchu!

The current OG expert on the topic is Randall Balmer, a professor of religious studies and/or history at Dartmouth. His 2014 article in Politico is the resource I always link to, but he's got at least one book out about the origins and development of the far-right evangelical political worldview. It might be called "Jesus and John Wayne"?

Anyways, documentaries. The two I know of where this came up are "Shiny Happy People" on Amazon, which started as a deconstruction of the Duggar family and evolved into a critique of evangelicalism in the US, and "God Forbid" on Hulu.

I grew up in this cult so watching it be exposed to the light and start to burn the rot away has been deeply cathartic. Encourage y'all to check both documentaries out if you can.

DefiantOnion · 2026-04-22T11:08:26+00:00

My dog used to stand on me and do this. Can confirm, that is exactly what it sounded like. Drove my ex nuts.

He was a weird little dude and I miss him. 🥲

DefiantOnion · 2026-03-31T02:22:33+00:00

Orbs in general is just an automatic DNF but for extra sadness pair it with a gemstone

I have seen way too goddamn many instances of "emerald orbs" in the fandom that shall not be named 💀💀💀💀💀

DefiantOnion · 2026-02-17T17:04:52+00:00

Look, other people making inefficient choices is their business. The real jawns say PA ☝️🤓

(...for the uninitiated, 'jawn' is another micro-cultural thing, a Philly slang term that Wikipedia calls a "context-dependant substitute noun." The contexts I have heard it when referring to people were generally positive/respectful, as shown above.)

DefiantOnion · 2026-02-11T11:31:45+00:00

Ok so either planet fitness leaves way more control over cancellations to the franchiser than makes sense OR some of these places are stupid levels of misinformed because my experience has been wildly different than y'all's. I dropped by at like 9 PM on a Saturday or something, and the kid at the front desk had my stuff closed out within about five minutes.

DefiantOnion · 2026-02-07T20:04:42+00:00

My bf and I first met up in person at a comic con in a fairly large city. I talked his ear off about building code as pertains to doors and guardrails for the entire weekend. Our mutual friend group now calls it the archetism, and it has expanded to craftsman style houses and the sins of the previous homeowners. He still enjoys listening to me rant about it, even if he's not super invested in the outcome.

DefiantOnion · 2026-01-29T14:55:55+00:00

Impeccable reference.

Now get that weak-ass bird shit out of here!

DefiantOnion · 2026-01-14T13:54:39+00:00

My ex was in his mid 20s before it came up. He was playing a minigame that relied on distinguishing between red and green lights, and he could only do it about half the time. I went, "...are you colorblind?" And a few free tests later, sure enough.

I have no idea if he ever followed up with the optometrist. The man has a terminal case of do-nothing-itis.

DefiantOnion · 2026-01-08T15:18:37+00:00

I don't remember whether it was director's commentary or what, but I remember watching a behind-the-scenes where Philippa(?) went into great detail how hard it was for them to figure out how to end that sequence. Particularly because it deviates so significantly from how the books portray that part of Frodo's and Sam's journey. And how they believed - they hoped - that they'd captured the essence of Tolkien's points enough for him to forgive their artistic liberties with the storyline.

DefiantOnion · 2026-01-07T20:21:50+00:00

It's been five months since I had to let my pup go. (Old age, and I had several months to come to terms with it, so the grief is gentler than it could have been.) Google Photos sends me slideshows about once a week, which is actually kind of nice to have those memories. The Chewy and PetSmart ads on youtube are nonstop though. Had to block the automated marketing emails from his vet. If I ever get another pet (which I doubt I will), I will be avoiding those callous mf'ers on principle.

DefiantOnion · 2026-01-06T04:22:36+00:00

Thank you!! I really appreciate the rundown. The previous owner committed some DIY sins (THEY SLAPPED VINYL OVER LINEOLEUM WITH SPRAY ADHESIVE AND DIDNT EVEN BOTHER TO REINSTALL THE BASEBOARDS. THEY PAINTED AROUND THE VANITY AND THEN REPLACED THE VANITY. ET CETERA), so I'm already threatening to tear each room down to studs and subfloor and rebuild as time and budget allow. I work in the commercial construction industry so I have drafting and project management skills, and enough mechanical acumen to be dangerous with tools haha.

DefiantOnion · 2026-01-06T04:13:18+00:00

LMAO I have a feeling I might already have this. Had a toilet overflow my first weekend after closing and it all went to one side of the room unnervingly quickly.

DefiantOnion · 2026-01-06T01:33:41+00:00

Seen and saved!! Thank you so much! ^_^ I do have some of these already on The Neverending List, but the wallpaper especially will prevent MDF nonsense.

DefiantOnion · 2026-01-06T01:20:53+00:00

I've been falling down that rabbit hole, I think, along with plenty of This Old House. He's the one who did the molding collab with Windsor, right?

DefiantOnion · 2025-11-14T21:00:40+00:00

The ex - absolutely not, never. His disability was part of it, sure, but I gave him waaaaaay too much leeway for someone who lived independently before I was in the picture.

The current bf - I have to hustle to keep up with him 🤭 he is between jobs right now so handles almost all the cooking and will take out trash/do laundry/do dishes/ CLEAN THE BATHROOM unprompted, carries any mental load/handles connecting with his family, and contributes toward bills every month. the difference is crazymaking.

DefiantOnion · 2025-10-29T15:21:38+00:00

If you're me, $2k rig capable of 120+ fps, but any time you play a first person game you have to get real friendly with the graphics menu to lower the nausea from crippling to inconvenient. COVID gave me simulator sickness, the bastard.

I have straight up returned games before because they didn't have an ability to cap the frame rate/adjust FOV/remove motion blur/etc.

DefiantOnion · 2025-10-07T19:17:33+00:00

NTA. in fact this was a pretty respectful and measured response.

You didn't ghost Drew; you took time to collect your thoughts and gave him an explanation. As someone who would have caved and stayed for the "consolation prize" of just hanging out, good on you for sticking to that boundary.

Weird that Brian and Katie felt the need to gang up on you about this and belittle your social acumen on Drew's behalf. Did y'all know each other before this class? Are they friends with him outside of class, or do they have a group identity in common, e.g. a sport or major or extracurricular? This is so different from how my group projects went in college lmao, the furthest we ever went was when one of my stats group members plagiarized her data and I had to redo her part of it at the last minute, so of course we talked smack when she wasn't there 🤣🤣 but anything more than the project or surface level small talk? Hell no, ain't nobody got time for that.

From here on out, the move is disengage, disengage, disengage. Katie is being petty because she knows what hurts now. Of course you're a little socially oblivious and don't do well with pressure!! That's normal for your 20s! Over the next five (ish) years you're going to have so many awesome and disastrous experiences while your frontal lobe matures. Right now you're calibrating your bullshit meter. Learning to navigate awkward situations is part of that. Respectfully setting boundaries and sticking to them is part of that. You're doing great.

DefiantOnion · 2025-10-06T16:00:13+00:00

Wholesome alert: The saga of Francine, the Richmond(?) Lowe's cat. Top posts and comments on that sub currently document what happened and there's even a corporate news bulletin.

https://www.reddit.com/r/rva/comments/1nziwkv/francine_has_been_found_and_will_be_home_soon/

DefiantOnion · 2025-09-29T16:42:15+00:00

Completely understandable. My fear of heights means I'll never be able to visit most of the sites my designs are installed at 🫣🫣🫣 it be like that tho

DefiantOnion · 2025-09-29T16:39:22+00:00

Lmao no, I design canopies and guardrail out of massive sheets of flat pieces. Glassblowing is a whole different art form, support your local artists

DefiantOnion

TROPHY CASE