“Wool Mattresses Are the Best!”
(also from Deb. I’m glad she’s seeing the good side of sheep. :)
Today in tremendous geekiness.
This happened.
This is why Twitter, despite its flaws, still wins the Internet.
The bottom line is that this economy, at its root, is built on a web of scientific knowledge from physics to chemistry to biology. It’s impossible to just cherry pick out parts we don’t like. If the Earth is 9,000 years old, then virtually the entire construct of modern science is simply wrong. Not only that, most of the technology that we rely on most likely wouldn’t work – as they’re dependent on science that operates on the same physical laws that demonstrate the age of the universe.
Alex Knapp, in Why Marco Rubio Needs To Know That The Earth Is Billions Of Years Old - Forbes
Knapp makes a solid point: having religious views is one thing, but ignoring the most basic facts about our world is downright dangerous to modern civilization.
The punchline: Marco Rubio is a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
(via globalspin)This.
Ethereal vs. Sticky
An ethereal, delicately sweet wine encourages creative pairing whereas a “sticky” sweet wine can be a dessert unto itself. Seldom do wines of this category do well with all but the simplest of dessert. In fact, many sweet “dessert” wines shine in the company of cheese rather than cakes, puffs or caramel because overly sweet desserts can send your palate over the falls. The Pinot Gris Late does no such thing. It is a subtle wine with ethereal sweetness, a beautiful companion to cheese or a cake such as a Caramelized Pear Skillet Spice Cake. The pears boost the seductive pear-spice scent while the whisper-sweet cake lightly supports the delicate sweetness of the wine. This is a partnership I love and crave with every new vintage.
Until the next wine…
Maria
Sooo, good.
The Wibbly Wobblyness of the Story of The Ponds
This is why time travel stories are awesome. They keep telling themselves even after we think we’re done with them.
Less logic every season.
I really, REALLY wish you could read this article about a father who started wearing skirts because his son likes to wear skirts and dresses and he wants his son to feel stronger
Like, holy shit, the end made me feel so happyI took the liberty to translate the text.
Please note that it’s not a word to word translation.
Sometimes men simply have to be role models.
Because his son likes to wear skirts Nils Pickert started with it as well. After all, the little one needs a role model. And he thinks long skirts with elastic bands suit him quite well anyways. A story about two misfits in the Province of southern Germany.
My five year old son likes to wear dresses. In Berlin Kreuzberg that alone would be enough to get into conversation with other parents. Is it wise or ridiculous? „Neither one nor the other!“ I still want to shout back at them. But sadly they can’t hear me any more. Because by now I live in a small town in South Germany. Not even a hundred thousand inhabitants, very traditional, very religious. Plainly motherland. Here the partiality of my son are not only a subject for parents, they are a town wide issue. And I did my bit for that to happen.
Yes, I’m one of those dads, that try to raise their children equal. I’m not one of those academic daddies that ramble about gender equality during their studies and then, as soon as a child’s in the house, still relapse into those fluffy gender roles: He’s finding fulfilment in his carrier and she’s doing the rest.
Thus I am, I know that by now, part of the minority that makes a fool of themselves from time to time. Out of conviction.
In my case that’s because I didn’t want to talk my son into not wearing dresses and skirts. He didn’t make friends in doing that in Berlin already and after a lot of contemplation I had only one option left: To broaden my shoulders for my little buddy and dress in a skirt myself. After all you can’t expect a child at pre-school age to have the same ability to assert themselves as an adult. Completely without role model. And so I became that role model.
We already had skirt and dress days back then during mild Kreuzbergian weather. And I think long skirts with elastic bands suit me quite well anyways. Dresses are a bit more difficult. There was either no reaction of the people in Berlin or it was positive. They’re used to spacy people. In my small town in the south of Germany that’s a little bit different.
Being all stressed out, because of the moving I forgot to notify the nursery-school teachers to have an eye on my boy not being laughed at because of his fondness of dresses and skirts. Shortly after moving he didn’t dare to go to nursery-school wearing a skirt or a dress any more. And looking at me with big eyes he asked: “Daddy, when are you going to wear a skirt again?”
To this very day I’m thankful for that women, that stared at us on the street until she ran face first into a street light. My son was roaring with laugher. And the next day he fished out a dress from the depth of his wardrobe. At first only for the weekend. Later also for nursery-school.
And what’s the little guy doing by now? He’s painting his fingernails. He thinks it looks pretty on my nails, too. He’s simply smiling, when other boys ( and it’s nearly always boys) want to make fun of him and says: “You only don’t dare to wear skirts and dresses because your dads don’t dare to either.” That’s how broad his own shoulders have become by now. And all thanks to daddy in a skirt.
I hope it’s alright like this.
This.
Congratulation to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the successful launch of Mars Curiosity! Huge. You deserve to celebrate. And be celebrated. You’ve made Earth proud.
I also celebrate NASA/JPL for how visible women were as part of this extraordinary event. Several times on the livestream last night people made reference to kids looking at the launch of the Mars Curiosity and seeing possibilities for themselves in STEM - and thanks to a number of prominent women on the team, little girls will see a path to space for themselves too.
There were six members of the JPL team in the control room for the launch. In no particular order, they were:
- Pauline Hwang, Deputy Integrated Planning & Execution Team Chief
- Erisa Hines, Attitude Control System Engineer
- Ann Devereaux, EDL Flight System Engineer
- Kelly Clarke, Deputy Realtime Operations Team Chief/GDS Engineer
- Leslie Livesay, Director for the Engineering and Science Directorate
- Nagin Cox, Assistant Flight System System Engineering Manager
…and present in rehearsal (unsure what role she had at launch; confirming)
- Tracey Nielson, Fault Protection System Engineer
NASA commentator/reporter Gay Hill tied it all together as the night wore on.Also, those delightful @MarsCuriosity tweets are voiced by a trio of ladies, led by NASA’s social media manager Veronica McGregor (who opened the press conference after the launch), with Courtney O’Connor and Stephanie Smith. Still giggling over “GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!”Anyhoo. Not that we’re indifferent to Bobak’s charms - please, we’re totally down - but we wanted to give shout-outs to the incredible ratio-changing people who were part of the MarsCuriosity’s terrific team. We’re sure there are more, but these were who we saw. See, visibility is important. Even from space.
I loved seeing all the women at Mission Control; this ain’t yo daddy’s 60’s space program. Thank goodness!!
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