My Friend Is In The Hospital For Pneumonia And She Just Texted Me This

10732) Yeah no Mom, I don't like the dress for how it looks on women. I like the dress because I like how it'd look on me.

Ahhggg nooo pls horrible feelings go away.. I really don't need to be feeling dysphoric and shitty.. please... not today I need to get things done..

Ion Propulsion…What Is It?

Ion thrusters are being designed for a wide variety of missions – from keeping communications satellites in the proper position to propelling spacecraft throughout our solar system. But, what exactly is ion propulsion and how does an ion thruster work? Great question! Let’s take a look:

Regular rocket engines: You take a gas and you heat it up, or put it under pressure, and you push it out of the rocket nozzle, and the action of the gas going out of the nozzle causes a reaction that pushes the spacecraft in the other direction.

Ion engines: Instead of heating the gas up or putting it under pressure, we give the gas xenon a little electric charge, then they’re called ions, and we use a big voltage to accelerate the xenon ions through this metal grid and we shoot them out of the engine at up to 90,000 miles per hour.

Something interesting about ion engines is that it pushes on the spacecraft as hard as a single piece of paper pushes on your hand while holding it. In the zero gravity, frictionless, environment of space, gradually the effect of this thrust builds up. Our Dawn spacecraft uses ion engines, and is the first spacecraft to orbit two objects in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

To give you a better idea, at full throttle, it would take our Dawn spacecraft four days to accelerate from zero to sixty miles per hour. That may sounds VERY slow, but instead of thrusting for four days, if we thrust for a week or a year as Dawn already has for almost five years, you can build up fantastically high velocity.

Why use ion engines? This type of propulsion give us the maneuverability to go into orbit and after we’ve been there for awhile, we can leave orbit and go on to another destination and do the same thing.

As the commercial applications for electric propulsion grow because of its ability to extend the operational life of satellites and to reduce launch and operation costs, we are involved in work on two different ion thrusters of the future: the NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) and the Annular Engine. These new engines will help reduce mission cost and trip time, while also traveling at higher power levels.

Learn more about ion propulsion HERE.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

17 Smart DIY Garage Storage Ideas →

I am one with the Force, the Force is with me.

The ongoing saga of Harker and the stapler

My ball python, Harker, is really scared of this one stapler.

Every time he sees it, he balls up.

I was grading today and sure enough, the stapler was still scary.

However, for the first time, I introduced a second stapler!

He was nervous at first… 

But it didn’t take him long to warm up to it.

Pretty soon it became his best friend!

There was nothing the new stapler couldn’t do!

Including protecting him from the other stapler.

The moral of the story?

My snake is a weirdo.

Seeing that other question gave me the courage to ask, I would really like to know the effects and also how reversible that are.

These are the typical results of hormone replacement therapy which includes taking estrogen and anti-androgens (testosterone-blockers). 

NOTE: Remember that hormones affect each person differently and not all of these effects are guaranteed for everyone)

Breasts

semi-reversible: will shrink a little, surgery needed for full removal

Body hair

lessens and becomes thinner

fully-reversible

Facial hair

facial hair may become thinner/lighter but will not disappear completely without permanent hair removal 

fully-reversible (before permanent hair removal)

Skin

skin will become noticeably softer and thinner/delicate

bruising will likely occur more easily

fully-reversible

Fat redistribution

fat will redistribute from masculine areas (upper body, waist and stomach) to feminine areas (lower body, hips and butt)

fat redistribution will also occur in the face

fully-reversible

Muscle Mass

significant decrease in muscle mass and strength (especially in upper body)

fully-reversible

Genitals

testicles will shrink significantly

penis may shrink somewhat

production of testosterone and sperm will be greatly reduced

reduced sex-drive

reduced erections

reduced ejaculation (may stop completely)

probable infertility in the long term

semi-reversible: it is not known whether or not these effects are reversible or not. These effects are likely reversible in the short term, and likely not reversible in the long term

Body/other

decrease in oiliness of hair

possible minor feet/height shrinkage (rare)

change in body odor

Emotional changes

Most trans girls I have talked to have experienced an emotional shift when starting hormones. Having the correct hormone fueling our bodies results in a calmness/peace within ourselves both emotionally and hormonally that makes you feel much more at-ease in your own body. That is the best way I can describe it.