Friday Unrelated Information

1. I'm pretty sure this week needed....more Toby! 

That's all, actually. What could top Toby?

Speaking Of Hippies

...how could I not post this?

(Actually, Scott McKenzie here, almost-original member of The Mamas and The Papas, died just last week at age 73. Peace, dude.)

Hippie Power, Now With Science

Here's something to ponder: "Listening to Complainers is Bad for Your Brain." The article summarized a book which sites "reasearch" saying that

exposure to 30 minutes or more of negativity--including viewing such material on TV--actually peels away neurons in the brain's hippocampus. 

As a worrier and a misanthrope, negativity is almost my natural state. But my inner hippie wants to change, and now my inner scientist has some proof that

Our actions and states of mind matter...Working on our own consciousness is the most important thing that we are doing at any moment, and being love is the supreme creative act.

(Ram Dass, via Mystic Mamma)

Tuesday Project Roundup: Car Knitting

There's a road trip going down and I can almost gaurnatee that I won't be needed as a relief driver. So what will I be doing (besides sleeping the width of Nevada)? Knitting! 

I'll be working on Skyler's little Hobbit sweater (here's the beginnings of the hood) and expect to make a lot of progress. I'm even packing extra yarn.

Going To California

Led Zeppelin's hair is enough to brighten up any Monday.

  

 Damn, they were good.

Friday Bradbury Information

1. I didn't want to steal my dad's thunder, but Wednesday also would have been Ray Bradbury's 92nd birthday. In honor of that, did you see that the Curiosity rover named its landing site after him? 

2. The video in the post linked to above is really, really great--Ray talking to a roomful of JPL and Caltech engineers in 1971 on the eve of Mariner 9 going into orbit around Mars and then reading one of his poems.

So don't let the politicians of the world get you down. There's engineers and the next Ray out there too.

Coming Out Of My Bubble To Point Out This Contrast

I find it unbelievable that the same country that gives us people who can figure out how to land a robot on Mars also gives us people--people in power--who fail to grasp the very nature of biology. 

No, Rep. W. Todd Akin,  it is actually NOT true that women who are victims of "legitimate" rape can avoid pregnancy because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Wasn't true in the 1200s, isn't true now. While we're talking science, I bet I can clear some things up about evolution for you, too. 

Todd Akin is on the House Committee for Science, Space, and Technology. Can we replace him with Bobak, please? 

Happy Birthday To My Dad!

It's my dad's 65th birthday today. He is riding 100 miles on his bike and then we will eat pie. I'll let the video do the talking this year, except to say, "Happy birthday and don't fall off your bike!"

Tuesday Project Roundup: I'm Taking Requests

I finished the boot toppers and they were such a satisfying project: The cables kept thing interesting, they were small enough that you saw real progress even with a short amount of knitting time, and they used up leftover yarn.

So I was pretty happy when my friend asked for a pair for herself--more cables and nearly-instant gratification ahead! 

(Amber, is this yarn the right color?)

It's Monday

Let's watch a supercut of Don Draper saying "what?" and see how many times we can do that today, too.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. I can't believe that people are against space exploration, but in case you're one of the huffy ones saying, "NASA's a waste of money," here's a site telling you what the f*** NASA has done to make your life awesome.

2. The Science Chicks from History blog is a nice way to learn about, well, women in science throughout history. 

Books!

My summer reading bug has finally kicked in, just a few months late. After my last progress report on the "reading a new book a month" thing, I made up for lost time by reading THREE books in ONE month. I was so proud of my reading prowess--until the significant other pointed out, "They are children's books. And look at the size of the type." 

Yes, I read The Hunger Games trilogy. The first one was good, the second one seemed to repeat the first, and the the third one got even more violent and didn't wrap up political parts to my satisfaction. 

But at least I'm reading again. And in the spirit of summer books, I'm keeping everything non-challenging. These are the two I currently have from the library: 

Yes, that is the tenth "novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes" and yes, I have read the rest of them. 

 

This is about going to college, but it's Magic College and there's a lot more swearing and no scarves and it's set in New York, so it's nothing like Harry Potter. Nope.

Anyway, to sum up, I'm reading books. Oh my gawd!

Animal Cams

This has been making the rounds but it's really worth a watch: Tuna fishermen went out with a remote controlled underwater camera and ended up filming dolphins swimming along. You get a dolphin's eye view and it's really cool (starting about 1:50). Dolphin Cam!

 

The Blue from Mark Peters on Vimeo.

And it looks like I waited too long to post this (viewing season is winding down until September) but explore.org had a live cam on the river showing brown bears fishing for salmon. Bear Cam!

Tuesday Project Roundup: Baby Steps

The knitting lately has been more of the "sneak in two rows here and there" variety than the "sit down for two hours of a movie and go for it" type, but I'm making a little progress.  

The fake socks/boot toppers are nearly done: 

And I got a swatch going for the nephew's sweater, to figure out what size I should make. 

 

Turns out it's the "stop growing, kid, you're nearly a toddler and when did that happen?" size:

Monday's Deep Thought

It's Monday. Get your Zen on: 

The Real Work 

by Wendell Berry

It may be that when we no longer know what to do

we have come to our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go

we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.

The impeded stream is the one that sings.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. My brother and sister-in-law are celebrating their 10th anniversary today. I think I speak for both of them when I say, "That's a long time!" (and happy anniversary!).

2. OMG cats in space. 

3. OMG cat Olympics: someone has photoshopped cat heads onto athletes. Well done, internet user. 

Hippie Quote Thursday

There's an ongoing "let's plan!" vs. "let's not plan!" debate between me and the significant other. Ironically enough, the hippie quotes seem to be supporting his (decidedly non-hippie) view:

When we stop trying to control events, they fall into natural order, an order that works. We’re at rest while a power much greater than our own takes over, and it does a much better job than we could have done. We learn to trust that the power that holds galaxies together can handle the circumstances of our relative little lives.

More Mars Stuff

Here are a couple more odds and ends from the Mars Curiosity landing, found via Bad Astronomy and my friend Jason's blog:

Here's a map of where all the parts ended up, taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter:

See what research tools Curiosity have on board and what they do right here. (Best artist rendering EVER, by the way.)

And that famous first image I posted Monday has already been turned into a meme. What was really there? Monoliths. 

Tuesday: Nothing To Round Up But Some Alpacas

(Picture by ranch owner Linda from the Blue Moon Ranch Facebook page. I'll have some more knitting progress next week.)

Made It!

The Curiosity rover has landed on Mars, intact, on schedule, and is sending back images! 

I think this might be the moon landing of my generation. I mean, we accurately sent a robot through space for eight months, pretty much lowered it onto a different planet via a sky crane, and now we can see what it sees? My god. Good job, humans. Good job.

(Didn't stay up to watch the landing? Check out the NASA JPL site for all the details. Curiosity's Twitter stream is pretty cute, too.)

Friday Unrelated Information

1. I've always been someone who skips ahead in books and likes to know the plots of movies I'm going to see, so I thought this study was interesting:

Two researchers in the psychology department of the University of California at San Diego recently decided to test whether we really hate spoilers, or just like to say we do. What they found surprised them: The majority of people apparently like having a story spoiled for them. In fact, we may enjoy spoiled stories even more than the unspoiled versions.

2. The Mars Curiosity rover is scheduled to make its crazy complicated descent Sunday night at 11:30 MST. Here's a good roundup of coverage of the landing. Come on, Curiosity!

Thursday Poem

This is a nice one from The Writer's Almanac last week. 

Let The Day Go 

by Grace Paley

              who needs it

I had another day in mind

something like this one

              sunny green the earth

just right having suffered

the assault of what is called

torrential rain the pepper

the basil sitting upright

in their little boxes waiting

I suppose for me also the

cosmos the zinnias nearly

blooming a year too late

forget it let the day go

the sweet green day let it

take care of itself

It's A Big Day For Druids

It's August 1, one of the cross-quarter days that fall equidistant between solstices and equinoxes. This one is Lughnasadh or Lammas, a pagan harvest festival or a time to go have your first crops blessed by the Catholic church, whatever your persuasion. 

But wait! there's more for your inner hippie--the first of two full moons this month is today, as well. Since Carl Sagan would not approve of any astrological advice, I'll just say to go make the most of the rest of summer. And look at the moon tonight, too.