Gaming, Science, History, Feminism, and all other manners of geekery. Also a lot of dance
243 posts
Latest Posts by stubborn-turtle-blog - Page 4
50, 100 years down the line, will this be in the history books? Will the "War on terror" be over?
Battle of Mosul begins as forces push toward Islamic State stronghold.
Vote down ballot - the presidency isn't the only office of importance!
Time for another political essay. If you’re not an American citizen or able to vote in this upcoming election, my apologies.
I make no secret that I fucking despise Donald Trump. I actually like Hillary Clinton, which seems to be a weird rarity considering the amount of good work she’s done and the fact that all of the bad press about her is the result of the Republicans trying (and failing) to tear her and her husband down for thirty years.
Trump is now trailing far behind Clinton, which I consider a cause for celebration. But it is NOT a cause for complacency.
The biggest landslide election in US history was the election of Warren G. Harding in 1920, when Harding won with about 60% of the vote to his opponent’s 34.2%.
Some polls are reporting Trump with as little as 35% of the popular vote right now.
If turnout is large enough and loud enough, we can make Donald Trump the least supported major candidate in US history. Since the recording of him bragging about sexual assault came out, he has turned to dragging the whole election into the mud by striking back at Bill Clinton’s affairs; the usual goal of that kind of tactic is to drive down voter turnout. Trump’s band of Redcaps is pretty much guaranteed to vote, so they figure if they reduce turnout enough, they’ll win.
I want their plan to fail. I want their plan to fail so fucking spectacularly that NO ONE will dare to run for President on a platform of thinly-veiled fascism again.
The Republicans thought the House of Representatives was safe this year. In 2010, they gerrymandered the shit out of district lines to keep the House safe for them for at least ten years. But there’s a problem with gerrymandering: if the demographics shift unexpectedly between censuses, then suddenly a lot of districts wind up flipping against the party that the gerrymandering was meant to support. And Donald Trump is driving away the Republicans’ most secure core of voters, the evangelicals. And as I’ve said before: Congress is MORE important than the presidency.
If turnout is strong enough, and if people vote down ballot, the possibility exists for a massive upset. A Democratic presidency, a Democratic House, a Democratic Senate. They’re within our grasp. All you need to do, voters, is show up.
Motherfuckers don’t want you to vote. Young people, people of color, women, LGBTQ+ folks–they want you to be scared away, or to be convinced that voting doesn’t matter. They want your voice silenced. Don’t give the fuckers the satisfaction of letting it happen.
GO VOTE. VOTE DOWN-BALLOT. MAKE TRUMP THE BIGGEST LOSER IN US HISTORY.
IF YOU CAN’T BE BOTHERED TO VOTE OUT OF CONVICTION, THEN DO IT OUT OF SPITE.
Whoah
Living and Working Aboard Station
Join us on Facebook Live for a conversation with astronaut Kate Rubins and the director of the National Institutes for Health on Tuesday, October 18 at 11:15 a.m. ET.
Astronaut Kate Rubins has conducted out of this world research aboard Earth’s only orbiting laboratory. During her time aboard the International Space Station, she became the first person to sequence DNA in space. On Tuesday, she’ll be live on Facebook with National Institute of Health director Francis Collins, who led the effort to map the human genome. You can submit questions for Kate using the hashtag #SpaceChat on Twitter, or during the live event. Here’s a primer on the science this PhD astronaut has been conducting to help inspire your questions:
Kate has a background in genomics (a branch of molecular genetics that deals with the study of genomes,specifically the identification and sequencing of their constituent genes and the application of this knowledge in medicine, pharmacy,agriculture, and other fields). When she began her tenure on the station, zero base pairs of DNA had been sequenced in space. Within just a few weeks, she and the Biomolecule Sequencer team had sequenced their one billionth base of DNA aboard the orbital platform.
“I [have a] genomics background, [so] I get really excited about that kind of stuff,” Rubins said in a downlink shortly after reaching the one billion base pairs sequenced goal.
Learn more about this achievement:
+First DNA Sequencing in Space a Game Changer
+Science in Short: One Billion Base Pairs Sequenced
Why is DNA Sequencing in Space a Big Deal?
A space-based DNA sequencer could identify microbes, diagnose diseases and understand crew member health, and potentially help detect DNA-based life elsewhere in the solar system.
+Why Sequencing DNA in Space is a Big Deal
https://youtu.be/1N0qm8HcFRI
Miss the Reddit AMA on the subject? Here’s a transcript:
+NASA AMA: We just sequenced DNA in space for the first time. Ask us anything!
NASA and Its Partnerships
We’re not doing this alone. Just like the DNA sequencing was a collaborative project with industry, so is the Eli Lilly Hard to Wet Surfaces investigation, which is a partnership between CASIS and Eli Lilly Co. In this experiment aboard the station, astronauts will study how certain materials used in the pharmaceutical industry dissolve in water while in microgravity. Results from this investigation could help improve the design of tablets that dissolve in the body to deliver drugs, thereby improving drug design for medicines used in space and on Earth. Learn more about what we and our partners are doing:
+Eli Lilly Hard to Wet Surfaces – been happening the last week and a half or so
Researchers to Test How Solids Dissolve in Space to Design Better Tablets and Pills on Earth
With our colleagues at the Stanford University School of Medicine, we’re also investigating the effects of spaceflight on stem cell-derived heart cells, specifically how heart muscle tissue, contracts, grows and changes in microgravity and how those changes vary between subjects. Understanding how heart muscle cells change in space improves efforts for studying disease, screening drugs and conducting cell replacement therapy for future space missions. Learn more:
+Heart Cells
+Weekly Recap From the Expedition Lead Scientist for Aug. 18, 2016
It’s Not Just Medicine
Kate and her crew mates have also worked on the combustion experiments.
Kate has also worked on the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), an experimental expandable capsule that docks with the station. As we work on our Journey to Mars, future space habitats are a necessity. BEAM, designed for Mars or other destinations, is a lightweight and relatively simple to construct solution. Kate has recently examined BEAM, currently attached to the station, to take measurements and install sensors.
Kate recently performed a harvest of the Plant RNA Regulation experiment, by removing seed cassettes and stowing them in cold stowage.
The Plant RNA Regulation investigation studies the first steps of gene expression involved in development of roots and shoots. Scientists expect to find new molecules that play a role in how plants adapt and respond to the microgravity environment of space, which provides new insight into growing plants for food and oxygen supplies on long-duration missions. Read more about the experiment:
+Plant RNA Harvest
NASA Astronaut Kate Rubins is participating in several investigations examining changes in her body as a result of living in space. Some of these changes are similar to issues experienced by our elderly on Earth; for example, bone loss (osteoporosis), cardiovascular deconditioning, immune dysfunction, and muscle atrophy. Understanding these changes and how to prevent them in astronauts off the Earth may help improve health for all of us on the Earth. In additional, the crew aboard station is also working on more generalized studies of aging.
+ Study of the effects of aging on C. elegans, a model organism for a range of biological studies.
Performed by: Morgan Day and Emily Wigger
Number: “Super Mario Bros”
Style: Lindy Hop
From: National Jitterbug Championships 2011
audience member: what do you respect about each other
clinton: i respect that trump's children haven't stabbed him yet. i'm consistently shocked and amazed by it
Something a little more frivolous
I have been all of these at one point or another.
Science Aesthetics
I was feeling inspired last night, so I decided to make this purely for fun.
To the moon and back: Cold, dark nights clutching thermos flasks of hot coffee. Machinery whirring as telescopes trace a star across the sky. Intricate, geometric drawings of the celestial sphere. A messy bun and a NASA t-shirt. Filling in the logbook while punk rock blares in the background to keep you energised and awake. Pictures of nebulae and galaxies everywhere, because pretty space pictures is half the fun. Annoyed huffs every time someone mentions their star sign.
Natural Philosopher: Long, intellectual debates in coffee shops about mathematics, physics, philosophy. Chalkboards covered with equations and calculations in a precise, curving handwriting. That Eureka moment while deep in thought, expressed only with a small smile and a scribbled proof on the back of a serviette. Chaotic desks in front of bookshelves groaning with old textbooks. Antique lab equipment as functional decor.
“Trust Me, I’m a Scientist”: Large computer screens running freshly-typed code. Neat lab books and PDFs of journal articles. The smell of whiteboard markers. Polished new equipment in a tangle of cables, hooked up to a digital oscilloscope. Exact amounts of chemicals in rows in metal shelves. Resting your feet up on the bench after a long day in the lab. The satisfying hum of your colleagues as they work on their experiments around you.
Science Expedition: Dirt under your nails and a loosely-bound collection of field notes. Plant clippings carefully taken to be analysed back in the lab. Soft fur on tough, wild animals. The bitter smoke from eco-friendly firewood while you roast marshmallows and listen to a supervisor’s witty stories. Free-handing diagrams while looking through a microscope. Sketching flowers and that gorgeous ocean view from your last field trip. Reading Darwin on the bus home but falling asleep on your lab partner’s shoulder out of sheer exhaustion after the first three pages.
Life is a Science: Scrolling past an anti-vax facebook post and resisting the urge to burn down the internet. Shiny dissection kits and the sharp smell of formaldehyde. Making time to work out and pack a healthy lunch because your mind is sharpest when your body is well. Debunking the latest superfood fad with peer-reviewed journal articles. Making friends with some of the nicer med school kids in anatomy class. Colour-coded, neatly labelled diagrams and a thousand different terms memorised. Getting a double-helix DNA sculpture for your desk.
What they show on TV isn’t real hacking: Rubbing your eyes after staring at a screen for five hours straight. Having a blank keyboard because all the letters are rubbed off already. Energy drinks in strange colours at strange hours. Being fluent in four different coding languages. Circuit boards and printouts. Ones and zeroes. Running jokes about turning everything off and on again. Rage-quitting when you realise you forgot a comma or a colon somewhere. Black screens with brightly coloured lines. The comforting click-click of fingertips tapping keys. Applying to intern at Google every three months because maybe they’ll take you this time. Writing a piece of code to do something simple just because.
The victors write history
"Lost Cities" Discovered In Libya
The Garamantes were an ancient civilization, in what is today Libya, on the African northern coast. Unfortunately for their legacy, most of what we knew about them comes from their enemies, the Romans. Unsurprisingly, the Roman accounts described the Garamantes as “barbaric nomads and troublemakers on the edge of the Roman Empire.” This view of the Garamantes as a minor, annoying tribe is being overturned by recent digs. In 2011, a team of researchers led by archaeologist David Mattingly from the University of Leicester discovered more than 100 fortified farms, towns, and villages with castle-like structures in Libya that date from 1 CE to 500 CE. The Garamantes operated a trans-Saharan trade, and were even pioneers at building oases! Hardly the “barbaric nomads” the Romans unfairly called them.
Bacteriophage. This is one of a few pieces I’ve submitted to a gallery show I’m having with my friends/coworkers at Tr!ckster in Berkeley. Tried a somewhat different approach than my usual on this one, and I like it.
Probably will have little prints available soon.
Voskhod-the first multiple-manned mission
Although we now take for granted the long term success of the International Space Station, it wasn’t too long ago that we were totally earthbound. That changed on this day, October 12, 1964 when the Soviet Union launched the Voskhod 1 (Восхо́д), the first manned capsule to carry more than one person into space. The Voskhod program was a proof of concept program to test systems for more ambitious space exploration. The Voskhod program was notable for several firsts: the first multi-person mission to space (Cosmonauts Komarov, Yegorov and Feoktistov in the Voskhod 1) and the first space walk (Belyayev and Leonov in Voskhod 2). The Vostok and Voskhod programs provided the framework for what became the Soyuz program and ultimately the current ISS.
The Russian desire to ‘win’ the Space Race led to many dangerous compromises. The interior of the capsule (shown above) was so cramped that the cosmonauts would not have room for space suits, making the flight extremely dangerous in the event of depressurisation. To insure the engineers paid enough attention to this, head designer Sergei Korolev assigned the lead engineer to fly inside the capsule, therefore motivating him to design the safest capsule possible.
The Russian word Voskhod (Восхо́д) means sunrise and is a combination of the Russian words vos- (from vostok восток) meaning east and xodete (ходить) meaning go or rise.
"We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of America's story in space," writes the President, "sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth."
Let’s go next Space Race
"The sun is a mass of incandescent gas, a giant nuclear furnace. Where HYDROGEN is built into HELIUM..." Main reason I remember that, thank you They Might Be Giants
I started stoichiometry today and began with the difference between nuclear and chemical reactions. I drew this equation on the board and asked where this reaction takes place and why it’s important to life and the universe. Blank stares and crickets…the entire class of 45 first-year college students had no clue WTF I was talking about.
Do they even teach earth space science in high school anymore?
The Black Death Is Older Than We Thought
A recent study analyzed DNA from the teeth of Bronze Age people who lived in Europe and Asia. It found evidence of plague infection, from the Yersinia pestis bacterium, dating to 6,000 years ago! What later became the Black Plague was, 6,000 years ago, spread only through contaminated food or human-to-human contact. It was later that a genetic mutation in the bacterium allowed them to survive in the guts of fleas – researchers estimate around the turn of the 1st century BCE.
The black death’s early co-existence with humans, and its ability to pass person-to-person, also suggests an interesting new avenue for forensic diagnosing. The yersinia pestis bacterium may have been responsible for early epidemics, such as the plague of Athens. Many early plagues are known to have passed person-to-person so scientists previously discounted yersinia pestis from the running. But proving which ancient plagues were really the Black Death in an earlier form is a subject for another study.
“Sophia means wisdom,” Hanson explains, “and she is intended to evolve eventually to human-level wisdom and beyond.”
She still has a long way to go.
“Sometimes she can figure things out in a way that’s sort of spooky and human-like,” Hanson says. “And other ways, she just doesn’t get it.”
During Sophia’s interview, Rose asks her if she’s been programmed, but she responds only with silence. At times, her replies were nonsensical. But at other moments 60 Minutes producers were surprised by her ability to converse with one of the great conversationalists in journalism.
Lovelace’s friend Charles Babbage designed a concept for a machine he called the “Analytical Engine” – essentially a mechanical computer that would have relied on punch cards to run programs. He recruited Lovelace to translate some notes from one of his lectures, but while Lovelace was translating she added to the notes herself.
The notes grew to three times their original length, as Lovelace described what many call the first computer program. Because of funding issues, the machine was not built during her and Babbage’s lifetimes.
But Lovelace’s published article on the Analytical Engine later became a source of inspiration for Alan Turing’s work to build the first modern computers in the 1940s.
Women are sometimes considered outsiders in the science and technology fields, but Lovelace and many of the female computer programmers who followed her are proof that this paucity is a function of society, not capability. We forget or never learn about the female “computers” who programmed early mechanical machines in World War II, or that the women’s magazine Cosmopolitan once ran articles suggesting that women were perfectly suited for programming.
If the lack of acknowledgement of women’s contributions to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields grinds your gears, then Ada Lovelace should be one of the first names you go to right that wrong.
Further reading:
Wikipedia profile
10 Things You May Not Know About Ada Lovelace
What if there were more women in tech?
Why we ALL need to celebrate Ada Lovelace Day
Watch subsequent decades have a mass exodus from the tropics towards the poles
Population density, 3000 BC to 2000 AD
Stay safe, you guys
Live wind map of hurricane Matthew – expected to make landfall in FL late tomorrow
In early September of 1666, the Great Fire of London devastated the city for four days. Archaeological evidence suggests the searing heat may have reached as high as 3000 F. At that temperature human remains, bones and all, become ash.
Sympathy cards for scientists | @myjetpack
Chlorosulfonation of an imidazole derivative with chlorosulfonic acid.
Why is this a special thing? Chlorosulfonic acid reacts with water explosively forming sulfuric acid and hydrogen chloride. So when I added 200 g of a compound to 500 cm3 of chlorosulfonic acid, a highly exothermic reaction happened and immediately and a highly acidic fog formed in the flask as the reactants contacted each other.
Important note when working with chlorosulfonic acid: NEVER WASH ANYTHING WITH WATER WHAT CONTAINS A RANDOM LIQUID, since if its chlorosulfonic acid, it could blow a highly acidic solution on your labcoat/hands/face. And always pour chlorosulfonic acid and reaction mixtures that contain this chemical on large excess of cracked ice to avoid serious problems.
P.S.: always wear proper PPE.
World’s Oldest Fossils Found in Greenland
Geologists recently found evidence of ancient life in Greenland which they think dates to 3.7 billion years ago. If their findings are confirmed, that would make the fossils the oldest evidence of life yet known. The great age of the fossils makes reconstructing the evolution of life from the chemicals naturally present on the early Earth more difficult. You see, the fossils are too old. It leaves little time for evolution to have occurred, and puts the process of life emerging and evolving close to a time when Earth was being bombarded by destructive asteroids.
Memories of Gonder prior to Timket 2015. A traditional dancer at one of Gonder’s more famous cultural restaurants. The Tej made it all a blur but I had the presence of mind to pull out the xT1 and go up to some extreme ISO to try to make this pic. I am always inspired by Eskesta especially when done by some of the most beautiful woman on the planet… #Ethiopia #Ethiopian #EthiopianOrthodoxChurch #EthiopianOrthodoxTewahedoChurch #Timket #Timket2015 #culturaldance #Eskesta #Habesha #HabeshaCulture #PhotoToaster #fuji #fujifilm #fujixt1
Read more comics like this at smbc-comics.com
Like this strip? Buy a print!
Dolce Far Niente in Dance Sport - Dance Comp Review
New Post has been published on http://dancecompreview.com/dolce-far-niente-dance-sport/
Dolce Far Niente in Dance Sport
It wasn’t that long ago, when I set up a new training schedule for my partner and I: a plan with all the goals, the training sessions and the topics we wanted to improve. To be honest, I was proud of what I created, because it was so thought through along with a lot of things finally falling into place. Well, at least these were my thoughts – until I brought the plan for discussion to a private lesson with our coach…
I am so glad that I had a professional eye to look over this! When he saw the schedule, he nodded and then said: “Good work so far, but there is one crucial thing missing.” It was like a wakeup call when he told me: “I see everything in this plan, except for the time when you do nothing at all”. That was it! I totally forgot to plan the time for regeneration: one of the key components when it comes to successful training.
In a (dance)-society that is (mostly) driven by the words higher, faster, stronger, we all tend to forget that we only get better in the time we leave our bodies to regenerate. This doesn’t mean of course that we will get better by doing nothing at all. It’s all about doing nothing AFTER we have been working hard. For instance, if we want to make our muscles more powerful, they first have to be exhausted and then they need time to rebuild to an even stronger version. But also our brain needs downtime to process new information. If we learn something new, it’s first saved in the short-term memory and then by processing the information, it will probably be stored in the long-term memory. And as we all know, in sleep our brain consolidates memories best.
Active work demands for active recovery from the physical and mental demands, in order to improve what we are doing. This goes for nearly all aspects in life and also perfectly for dancing. What do I mean by “active recovery”? Here is a quick and personal list:
Giphy
Low Impact Activities
It’s always great to go on a short, easy 15-minute-walk. You can also do a really low impact Yoga session or stretch a little bit. Everything that makes you feel calm, relaxed and refueled. But don’t overdo it! Really give your body a rest!
Giphy
Nutrition
Of course and as always, what you put into your body is crucial. A balanced nutrition is key to your healthy body as well as active recovery. Try to really control the amounts and also the quality of food you are taking in, and your exhausted muscles will thank you. Not to mention, your concentration on the next lesson will be so much better. One really important tip to keep in mind is, that starving your body (in case you are trying to lose weight or you’ve been telling yourself that “you don’t have time to eat”) is not good for your recovery at all. It will stress your system even more and will not let your body improve.
Giphy
Sleep
According to the National Sleep Foundation, Serena Williams, a really successful tennis player, enjoys to go to bed at 7pm in order to get enough sleep. I am not telling you, that this would also work for you, but it is worth giving a thought. I used her example to really emphasize on how important sleeping is, even more for people who are physically active. It doesn’t matter if you consider yourself as a serious athlete/artist, or if you are just in it for fun, but getting the right amount of sleep is decisive to your performance and also to your improvement. Adults between the age 18 and 64 need between 6 and 11 hours, while 7-9 hours of sleep are recommended. I understand that this is a lot of time, but, in my opinion, sleeping is not enough of a priority anymore. Find yourself a sleeping schedule and also keep it on the weekends. Turn off electronics, find your ideal light, sound and temperatures in your bedroom and give your system a chance to reboot.
Giphy
Let go of the “Coulda Woulda Shoulda”
If you now come to the conclusion that some downtime for yourself is what you need, you also have to let go of all the Rumba Walks you could have practiced in that time. Really! Focus on relaxing, recovering and refueling your energy! And, stop overthinking all the things you could’ve, should’ve or would’ve been able to do then. Just enjoy the famous Dolce Far Niente. And, afterwards – Dance on, even better than before!
Author: Sophia Wedel Photography: Maggiore Fotografico Exclusively for Dance Comp Review
It’s Friday...Come Space Out with Us
It’s Friday…which seems like a great excuse to take a look at some awesome images from space.
First, let’s start with our home planet: Earth.
This view of the entire sunlit side of Earth was taken from one million miles away…yes, one MILLION! Our EPIC camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory captured this image in July 2015 and the picture was generated by combining three separate images to create a photographic-quality image.
Next, let’s venture out 4,000 light-years from Earth.
This image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, is not only stunning…but shows the colorful “last hurrah” of a star like our sun. This star is ending its life by casting off its outer layers of gas, which formed a cocoon around the star’s remaining core. Our sun will eventually burn out and shroud itself with stellar debris…but not for another 5 billion years.
The material expelled by the star glows with different colors depending on its composition, its density and how close it is to the hot central star. Blue samples helium; blue-green oxygen, and red nitrogen and hydrogen.
Want to see some rocks on Mars?
Here’s an image of the layered geologic past of Mars revealed in stunning detail. This color image was returned by our Curiosity Mars rover, which is currently “roving” around the Red Planet, exploring the “Murray Buttes” region.
In this region, Curiosity is investigating how and when the habitable ancient conditions known from the mission’s earlier findings evolved into conditions drier and less favorable for life.
Did you know there are people currently living and working in space?
Right now, three people from three different countries are living and working 250 miles above Earth on the International Space Station. While there, they are performing important experiments that will help us back here on Earth, and with future exploration to deep space.
This image, taken by NASA astronaut Kate Rubins shows the stunning moonrise over Earth from the perspective of the space station.
Lastly, let’s venture over to someplace REALLY hot…our sun.
The sun is the center of our solar system, and makes up 99.8% of the mass of the entire solar system…so it’s pretty huge. Since the sun is a star, it does not have a solid surface, but is a ball of gas held together by its own gravity. The temperature at the sun’s core is about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million degrees Celsius)…so HOT!
This awesome visualization appears to show the sun spinning, as if stuck on a pinwheel. It is actually the spacecraft, SDO, that did the spinning though. Engineers instructed our Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to roll 360 degrees on one axis, during this seven-hour maneuver, the spacecraft took an image every 12 seconds.
This maneuver happens twice a year to help SDO’s imager instrument to take precise measurements of the solar limb (the outer edge of the sun as seen by SDO).
Thanks for spacing out with us…you may now resume your Friday.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com
A great visualization of where the stratosphere is thanks to Mt. Etna.