bloodyrosemccoy: Calvin and Hobbes looking at the moon with binoculars (Moongazing)
My friend had a baby today. Today, I want you to know, is an AWESOME day to have a baby because HOLY SHIT IT'S MOON-LANDING DAY. This is the anniversary of the first time humans put their feet on a not-Earth. Because they were romping around on the god damn MOON.

Maybe this baby's birthday is an auspicious sign and she will help us get BACK to the Moon! Or even beyond!

Happy Moonday, baby!
bloodyrosemccoy: (Xenofairies)
What I've Learned Since The Spring Equinox

  • In an early script for The Little Mermaid Ursula was supposed to be Triton's sister. It kinda shines through.

  • Lily Tomlin played Miss Frizzle in the Magic School Bus show.

  • Annie Jump Cannon, who developed stellar classification, was ridiculously super-focused. She would spend each day painstakingly going through stars and categorizing them with spectroscopy. As someone who enjoys that sort of tedious infosifting, I am always glad when someone else who likes doing that gets recognized.

  • The modern white greasepaint clown look was invented by Joseph Grimaldi in the late 18th Century. I'd curse his name, but without him we wouldn't have the greatest comic book villain ever, so I salute you, you creepy clown!

  • Literary agents like to play musical agencies, so you're never sure which agency you've queried and which agent.

  • It turns out the "Augie's Great Municipal Band" song from The Phantom Menace was NOT intended to be a bouncy upbeat foreshadowing version of the Emperor's theme. I find this extremely disappointing. Here I was all "That's BRILLIANT!" and it was just a coincidence. The few points I give to the prequels must be deducted again.

  • Io's crazy volcanic activity is all due to the gravitational free-for-all between Jupiter and Jupiter's other big moons.

  • The latest theory about why lunar maria are only on the near side of the moon is that the moon was quickly tide-locked to Earth after they split, and the still-molten Earth kept the rock vaporized and blew things like aluminum to the far side of the moon and thus made the crust thicker. So it was a lot easier for the near side's crust to crack and bleed out the lava that hardened into those basaltic plains.

  • Handwriting is part of the Utah core curriculum--because of the neurological and developmental benefits. This is apparently unusual.

  • The great battle between British and French food hinges entirely on the quality of ingredients. The better your ingredients, the less need you have to complicate them with sauces and so forth. Rich People Food used to be blank chunks of meat. The Garbage Parts Of The Food only got popular as Rich People Food after everyone figured out how to make them good.

  • Antarctica's elevation is pretty high, bro.

  • Chainmaille weaving is hard on your back muscles.

  • The night sky on a planet inside a globular cluster would be pretty dang bright.

  • One of the most fun things to do with liquid nitrogen is to dump it out when you're done demonstrating its uses. POOF!

  • Balloons do not scare me if they are only partially blown up.

  • A lot of Catullus's poems were basically old-timey versions of hip-hop grudges.

  • The original difference between ginger beer and ginger ale is that ginger beer is brewed, with yeast and so forth, and ale is ginger syrup in carbonated water. That's the original difference. Nobody cares anymore, though.

  • The hipster soda section of the supermarket is terribly fun.

  • I can make an awesome rose ginger lemon soda, but it must be drunk within a week or two or it will turn beery.

  • There is such a thing as conductive thread. So you can sew LEDs into your clothing!

  • Astronomy dome theaters have great models of the skies of all sorts of other planets. You can watch Jupiter's phases from Europa, for crying out loud!

  • Unsurprisingly, nerds who work on the slides for spherical screens are more than willing to abuse their power. Science On A Death Star!

  • Sometimes you can take a chance with a new job and it turns out TOTALLY AWESOME.

bloodyrosemccoy: Calvin and Hobbes looking at the moon with binoculars (Moongazing)
DAAAAAMN.
bloodyrosemccoy: Calvin and Hobbes looking at the moon with binoculars (Moongazing)
Still getting used to my new Space Place schedule,* but by god I'm having a great time. Got to play with the dome theater today--you know, the big motion-sick domes that can give you some great night sky tours. You can tour the solar system and get 3D From Space views of all the planets and moons and little space greebles and a few of the stars floating around out there, or you can do sky views from any of the aforementioned things. Or you can show their orbits. And while they default to real time, you can run them to any length of time. You can mark all the constellations and then charge hundreds of thousands of years into the future till they've scrambled into unrecognizable scribbles, or you can head out to Rigel and render them unrecognizable thataway.** Or you can stand on Mars and watch Phobos and Deimos do their weird little zigzag, or watch Jupiter change phases from Europa.

And then I found a bug.

I wanted to see how the Earth looked from Tranquility Base, and how its phases might change over the course of the month. SO I set up the simulation, cranked the digital dial, and--

--the Earth started moving.

Not, like, the wiggly changes you'd expect. Darn thing was cruising from horizon to horizon. I don't know how much you nerds know about tide-locking, but, uh, it's not supposed to do that. It's supposed to hang in the sky and change phases. We have whole lessons devoted to how the Moon faces the Earth, dangit. And now I'd gone and broken the moon.

Naturally, as this was like Day 3 of me using the dome, I figured this was a user error. SO I asked The Boss about it, and he did everything right, and--god dammit, the Earth was still moving.

It took us a while to figure out why. Finally we realized that the dial we were using to speed up time also moved us around on the surface of the Moon. The other dials, like the daily one I used when watching Mars's moons or Jupiter's phases, leave you in one place, but the yearly one sends the viewer's location just zooming all over the place.

"I think you found a bug!" The Boss said. "I'll talk to the computer guy about this!"

"I HOPE it's a bug," I said. "I really don't want to have broken it."

Really, though, I'm sort of stupidly pleased that knowing a bit about astronomy actually made me savvy to the problem. Plus, we managed to finagle a way around it so I still got to see the Earth phases. And now it's Somebody Else's Problem, so I'm left with nothing but smugness. Good times.


*For example, I keep forgetting when it's Tuesday, so my [livejournal.com profile] torn_world updates have suffered. Sorry, Ellen!

**An experience that holds sentimental value for me after reading all those sci-fi books where the seasoned space captains lament that they're so far from Earth they don't even have constellations anymore.
bloodyrosemccoy: Lilo and Stitch in a rocket ride (Space Adventure!)
I've already got a reputation here at the Space Place. Every time I'm introduced to someone, they say, "Are you Jordan's Friend?"* Perhaps this means he's been talking about me. I think that's good news.

Anyway, just to add a thin layer of anonymity to this, I'm not gonna name the actual facility. Let's just say it will be the Space Place That Will Remain Super Secretly Nameless, But Totally Has:

  • Exhibits like Guess Your Weight On Other Planets, moon rocks, interactive simulations of planetary orbits, planet surfaces, and some kind of Rube Goldbergy exhibit with springs and levers and balls and dinging bells that you can interact with,

  • A giant spherical screen in the lobby that can project rotating simulations of each solar system planet and climates and tectonics and so forth (and also, because it is programmed by supernerds, has a Death Star mode and an OMG WTF GIANT EYEBALL MODE like you've just run into the second scariest thing in Super Mario 64.**),

  • A dome theater,

  • Crazy science demonstrations, and

  • The most unbelievably awesome gift shop ever. No, seriously, you guys. I am buying all my presents from this place from now on. Have a wedding? Birthday? Housewarming? Xmas? YOU ALL GET MYTHBUSTERS SCIENCE KITS, DAMMIT.

So yeah, this totally secret Space Place is GREAT.

Anyway, my job is in education presentations to K-12 school groups, so I get to work with the sphere, dome, and the secret bonus third option for schools to far away to drive all the way to Space Place, Skype + Magic Educational Remote View. All of these use simulation programs to check out stuff like What's In The Sky and The Sun Is A Mass Of Incandescent Gas and Plate Tectonics and so forth. I've spent the last few days watching presentations in each of these media. It looks like a goddamn ton of fun, though I suspect the first time I try each one myself will be TERRIFYING.*** But first I've got to learn all the equipment, so next week I get to futz with the software and maybe make the eyeball follow patrons and see if any of them know that the secret is to run around it until it explodes into coins. It should get easier when the school year ends in a few weeks and I'll have time to do that. Later on, probably starting next school year, I get to travel to schools and demonstrate Cool Science to them.

I'm gonna have FUN here.

By the way, as you may expect, this place is full of nerds. Silly mustaches abound, one guy was telling me about the comic he's working on, I'm not gonna say who but ONE of us is trying to sell a YA fantasy novel and is (re)writing one about Doctors! In! SPACE!!, and I am pretty sure D&D groups figure into the weekly event schedule. There's even one guy who has been to Kenya, so even if we aren't talking strictly about NERD stuff, we still have things to connect on. I think I will do well here.

Plus, seriously, y'all, this gift shop. I am going to own more science bullshit than will fit in my house. I am okay with this.


*Except for the guy there who used to be my acting teacher back when I was, like, twelve. He knows me as "Mia." I know no one cares, but this guy was great back then, and it's a huge kick to talk to him again.

**Yes, second. Seriously, fuck that piano.

***The other "new" guy, who's been working in Concessions for years but is now graduating to an Edumacator, got to do his first ever presentation yesterday. Poor dope did well but was clearly flying on an adrenalin high.
bloodyrosemccoy: (Space Madness)
Tonight's Cosmos was especially excellent. The stuff about panspermia was the most fun (bouncing bacteria!) and always gets my recently re-revved sci-fi brain sparking,* but I also liked that the inevitable exhortation to not be so bloody shortsighted with our own species ended on an optimistic note. Sure there are stubbornly obtuse people refusing to think more broadly, but I like to think that they're a small minority. And, of course, I'm trying to do what I can to help, too.

Hope this is the sort of stuff I get to talk about at Space Place. Got a tour of it the other day. I think I'm gonna have FUN working there. If I get to basically tell kids how awesome the universe is, well, I'll be helping the next generation NOT to be so obtuse. I think that's a goal worth going for.


*DOCTORS PLOT SOLUTION, Y'ALL. THIS BOOK IS STILL GETTING WROTE.
bloodyrosemccoy: (Venus By Air)
My new summer tradition seems to be Trying Out New Jobs At Education Centers.

So anyway I got this job. AT A SPACE PLACE.

Soon, hopefully, I will have a part-time job as Carl Sagan/Neil DeGrasse Tyson/Bill Nye/Ms. Frizzle.* I get to tell school kids Cool Stuff About Space! I tell people that sort of stuff all the time anyway, so might as well do it for money.

Although I've got to say that hands down that was the best job interview I've ever had. Probably it's because I've known one of the interviewers since we were in fourth grade together. We spent part of the interview reminiscing about that time in sixth grade when our class went on a field trip to some weird educational starship LARP thing** and he and I were behind-the-scenes "Mission Control," and then we all geeked out about Star Trek. I am pretty sure the line "Have you read Redshirts?" is what actually got me the job. (At least, I assume. Next time I go to a job interview, when they ask me what my weakness is I'm gonna say "job interviews." Because I'm shit at them. Any time someone tells me they were really impressed by how I handled myself during one, I have to suppress the urge to say, "Really?" Even on this one, where we spent 90% of the time just geeking out. THe 10% where I had to sell myself was what got me.)

So! It sounds like they actually have a job description in place for me alread, so they're one step up from the abortive museum job last year. Although I still DO have to do the Official Application now that they've already given me the job, because I guess bureaucrats want you to prove your devotion to the job or something.

Mom's a bit bummed out that it might cut into my time at the office, mostly because doing the office sucks when you're by yourself. And I hate change, so I'm not sure how I feel about this, either, but I think it's good for me. Change is rough, man.

On the other hand, I get to wear a lab coat. That should make it all worthwhile.


*I realize that one of those things is not like the others, but dammit Ms. Frizzle has been one of my heroes for forever, fictional wizard or not.

**I have no idea what that was about, but that was an awesome field trip.
bloodyrosemccoy: (Xenofairies)
What I Learned Since The Winter Solstice

  • The Cooking Hypothesis suggests that the invention of cooking precipitated a rapid evolutionary change in humans, allowing them to more efficiently process nutrients and, of course, growing bigger brains. I always said cooking was an important part of humanity, dangit!

  • Nancy Kerrigan was filmed right after being attacked sobbing and asking "Why? Why?"--and a lot of people thought she was being a wimp or a drama queen because she was only bruised. Dude, it still hurts, but quite apart from that, when you get attacked, it's probably TERRIFYING and it HURTS YOUR FEELINGS.

  • The difference between triple axels, triple spins, triple lutzes, etc., has to do with where you push off from and what direction you're facing and okay fine I've already forgotten.

  • Flavoring sodas is a lot like brewing tea. Really sugary tea.

  • But brown sugar makes them taste rather bitter.

  • Also, soda-brewing is similar to making beer, except you don't let the yeast go far enough to make alcohol.

  • Furthermore, there is a lot of argument over just what the "cream" in "cream soda" refers to. Vanilla? Adding cream to the soda? Or cream of tartar? It's a HISTORY MYSTERY.

  • In tangentially-related soda discoveries, SodaStream is a company fraught with political tensions and controversy.

  • Cloth pads and panty liners are surprisingly expensive, but also surprisingly worth it.

  • There is a constellation in the Southern Hemisphere called "The Poop." Yes, it refers to a ship's stern (poop deck), BUT STILL. HURRRR.

  • There are, naturally, all sorts of recipes for Ent-Draught on the internet.

  • Mainlining Atop The Fourth Wall has taught me something I always rather thought: I have terrible comic-reading comprehension. I do okay with some, mostly in comic strip form, but it takes me a long time to parse each page, way longer than it takes to read straight prose, so if I'm going to read a comic, I have to be committed. And even then I have trouble regarding them critically.*

  • I did learn, however, that lots of people find it extremely difficult to keep comic continuity straight. Comic writers, for instance. Case in point: Donna Troy.

  • The director of Tremors is Ron Underwood, who got his start in the film industry making educational shorts for Barr Films--such as one of my favorite Rifftrax-featured shorts, Library World.

  • My mom, who watched very little TV as a kid, nevertheless has strong opinions about what Mr. Peabody's voice sounds like.

  • Mork & Mindy was a spinoff of Happy Days.  Clearly, I never watched either of them.

  • Getting feedback on your novel can be a mixed bag. You get excited that you can make it better, but frustrated when you can't tell if the feedback makes sense.

  • Publishing a serial story online gets more difficult with each installment because there's a lot to keep track of. BUT DAMMIT IT'S STILL POSSIBLE.

  • You can unclog standard drain clogs with the use of science fair volcano technology.

  • After you turn into the left-turn-lane, it's legal to drive 500 freaking feet in that lane. Which is almost a whole block even here in Salt Lake City.

  • The Beautiful Creatures movie might be adapted from a novel of the same name, but don't let that fool you. It is clearly a remake of The Touch of Satan.

  • The first female-directed movie ever to gross more than $1 billion is Frozen. Which is awesome, but dang, it took a while to get there. Let's hope this is a good precedent!



*Interestingly, though, I read a lot of Archie comics as a kid. It fascinated me the same way 1950s Educational Shorts fascinate me--it shows some weird whitebread cultural ideal that somehow I can't look away from.
bloodyrosemccoy: Calvin and Hobbes looking at the moon with binoculars (Moongazing)
So about five years ago I got this quilt kit for Xmas. I've been poking at it off and on ever since, and a few weeks ago I finally poked at enough that it turned into an actual quilt!

BEHOLD

 photo Space_zpsfe5c0ebe.jpg
This is not my bed; I sleep on a hobbity little twin bed. But the lighting on this one is much better.

That right there is an awesome space-themed quilt. It was billed as a wall hanging, but I added enough exra fabric to it to make it into an actual people-sized (well, hobbit-sized) blanket. It's got a blue flannel back to it and is wonderfully comfortable.

 photo Borders_zpsf54cd7de.jpg
What the hell happened to the lighting in this photo? I don't know how to camera.

Plus, it's got rocketships all up on it.

 photo Panel_zps144fdc5c.jpg

The center panel is a rather haphazardly-arranged collection of constellations whose placement would probably appall Neil DeGrasse Tyson. But hey, at least the constellations themselves look right. And it's got both Northern- and Southern-hemisphere patterns, so I can learn some unusual ones, like "The Toucan," "The Telescope," and "The Poop."*

To quilt it, among other things I traced the constellations. I have no idea if I managed to learn them better, but it was kind of fun tracing them.

But of course, you're all just dying to know the big question, the most important thing about this quilt. You will not be satisfied until I answer the burning demand: Does it glow in the dark? And I am here to tell you that yes. Yes, it does.

The stars and the planet outlines do. I have yet to get a good photo of it because, again, I am bad at camera, but it's a lot of fun. I'e taken to turning on my big overhead fluorescent lights before going to sleep, just so I'll have the constellations glowing happily at me when I do. It's glorious.

I should really make quilts more often than every seven or eight years, But at least I feel super special when I do get them made.


*Yes, really. A lot of the Southern constellations were officially named during the Age of Exploration, and so explorers gave them more modern names, defined as "whatever junk was lying around in their immediate view at the time." So you have a lot of constellations named after navigation instruments. There were also a lot of ship parts--including the "poop deck." Which leads me to a follow-up. Dear Astronomers: please quit coming up with names that make it incredibly difficult to have conversations about astronomy without having to at least acknowledge awkward double-meanings. It's just getting ridiculous now.
bloodyrosemccoy: (Lobot!)
So they've found that there's water in Martian soil, but that it'll take some processing to actually get to it. Well, that'll be handy once we get up there and start to HOLY SHIT WAIT A SECOND.

MOISTURE FARMERS. The water is eventually going to have to be extracted by MOISTURE FARMERS.

That's right. We are one step closer to living in a Star Wars universe.

God DAMN, science is good.

Ahem

Jul. 20th, 2013 04:31 pm
bloodyrosemccoy: Calvin and Hobbes looking at the moon with binoculars (Moongazing)
This is your yearly reminder that HOLY SHIT WE HAVE BEEN TO THE MOON.

That is all.
bloodyrosemccoy: Calvin and Hobbes looking at the moon with binoculars (Moongazing)
Mom and I went to see Phil Plait give a guest lecture at the planetarium this evening!*

His topic was asteroids, since, you know, they keep trying to slam into us, and that is unsafe. He's an entertaining lecturer. His critiques on Deep Impact vs Armageddon always make me happy. And then he passed out a big chunk of iron meteor for us to take a look at, which was awfully brave of him.

The Q&A was brief--blessedly so, because Utah audiences are ASSHOLES. The first dude was a wise guy who as far as I could tell was trying to wedge in a plug for Budweiser. The second guy got hold of the microphone and immediately went stark raving Time Cube Guy:

GUY: My question is about how important it is that everyone read my website.
PLAIT: Uh huh ... ?
GUY: For example, homeopathy. It's a thing. You address it, and I have problems with something about the way you do. Have a tortured metaphor about Big Gulps! There are people being KILLED!
PLAIT: Um ...
GUY: Also, I don't want to be offensive, but let's start dissing Mormons!
AUDIENCE: DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION, DUDE?
PLAIT: *recovering* These are complex issues that I can't address in such a short time frame and thank you for coming good-bye ...
GUY: WHARRGARBL
PLANETARIUM DIRECTOR: Phil Plait, everyone! Now get the hell out of this theater, there's a movie showing in fifteen minutes.

At that point the audience burst into Crazy Guy Drowning Applause, and I dashed down to the front to act as a diversion. I had a legitimate reason--since I was in the very last seat in the nosebleed section, I was now Keeper Of The Meteor. So I jumped on the dais, handed it back to him ("Here's your meteor! It smells like money now!" "I know, right? Weird, huh?"), then went out to wait for him to sign my book.

It is funny to meet and chat with someone with whom you have a celebrity relationship. After all, you feel you know that person quite well, since you read their blog and books and things. It's easy to forget that they are unaware of you. You're all like HI PALBERT LET US GO OUT FOR BURGERS AND THEN WATCH MST3K LIKE WE ALWAYS DO IN MY HEAD and they're thinking, Damn I wonder how long till I can go to bed. I hope Wharrgarbl Guy doesn't corner me again. Next!

So instead of launching into a discussion of GAMMA RAY BURSTS AMIRITE BUDDY? I just asked him what the correct pronunciation of "Pleiades" is and a quick question about a moon for one of my stories.

He did like that my name was Amelia, though. I forgot that there's an Amelia in Doctor Who. No matter how awkward the setting, man, nerds can always bond.


*Once we had straightened out that the Bad Astronomer is not, in fact, a bad astronomer and would be quite fun to listen to.
bloodyrosemccoy: Calvin and Hobbes looking at the moon with binoculars (Moongazing)
Man, these new glasses make a hell of a difference. I went out to see if the stars were still there tonight, and I'll be darned to find out that not every star is a visibly binary system! Who'd have thought.
bloodyrosemccoy: (Planets)
That's a lot of planets.

I'm starting to wonder if we might actually find alien life while I'm still around to witness it. Sure, we probably won't GET to it, but then I never really thought we'd be spotting planets at this point, anyway. It would be amazing to check out some other lifeforms even if they're just little one-celled wonders, but I'd be pleased just to know for sure that it's out there. It seems statistically absurd that at least ONE other planet wouldn't have something growin' on it.

Hey, I can dream.
bloodyrosemccoy: (Default)
What I Learned Since The Summer Solstice
  • Neil Armstrong was, in fact, mortal.
  • Whorf was half-right on his hypothesis that language affects perception. It seems that once you have a word for a color, you can recognize it faster because the left hemisphere of your brain takes over the perception duties.
  • Leafminers are gross little bugs whose larvae like to live in bubbles on spinach, chard, and beet leaves. Bastards.
  • Nail polish is good if you want to make your arts'n'crafts project look shiny and enameled. And if you can stand the smell.
  • Malaria is believed to be responsible for the death of HALF OF ALL HUMANS since the Stone Age. NOT ME, THOUGH, SUCKA!
  • The name "Starbuck," which I have always liked for the sound, is an English surname most likely deriving from a Norse phrase for "from the great river."
  • Sometimes the supposed Great Unwashed Masses can be persuaded with actual facts and math!
  • Those swinging orange things on Yoshi's sprite in Super Mario World, which I always thought were stirrups or decorations for his saddle, are his ARMS. I can't unsee them now.
  • Those SOS buttons for old or at-risk people living alone are only useful if they actually HAVE them when they fall and can't get up.
  • Tress MacNeille did the voice of Chip in Chip an' Dale: Rescue Rangers. I always thought he was done by Russi Taylor.
  • Radish seeds come in nifty little pods!
  • According to a statement released by the Mormon Church, Mormons are TOTALLY allowed to drink caffeinated products like Coke and Mountain Dew. The real ban is against "hot drinks" like tea and coffee, but not hot cocoa, which is totally cool for some reason. Thanks for clearing that up, church!
  • Tiny laptops are extraordinarily useful to be able to carry around.
  • Ron Perlman continues to forge new frontiers in awesome.
  • The best way to fix Doctors! is to pretty much rewrite it.
  • Jeans shopping is still my enemy.
  • Statistics show that group projects lower productivity pretty much across the board, even with those extroverts who seem to like them so much.
  • Jumpsuits are not that difficult to sew, though practice is called for to get particularly good.
  • When hooking up a new plastic toilet pump, it is perfectly okay to use one of the previous metal nuts to secure it, as long as you make sure there is no leakage.
  • Apparently I've been growing feverfew in my garden and had no idea.
  • Honor Harrington is THE SHIT.
  • I still have a chestburster. Bring me more purple stuff!
bloodyrosemccoy: Calvin and Hobbes looking at the moon with binoculars (Moongazing)
So the Neil Armstrong display we had at work is already down, leaving behind a rather hollow feeling.

At first I was a little surprised: I didn't think I'd be quite so broken up about his death.* But the moment I got the news, it brought home, in ways that XKCD chart could not, that at this point the most astounding thing we've ever done is something in the past. Neil didn't open a floodgate. It was just a blip.

On the one hand, I'm perversely glad--he lived his whole life as a unique, mind-boggling explorer. Moonwalkers aren't exactly commonplace, so he kept a distinction in life and death that we might not have perceived had we continued traveling there and established permanent bases or an amusement park WITH BLACKJACK! AND HOOKERS! or something.**

But on the other hand, I really hope his death does for others what it did for me--reminds us that if we don't do something soon, we are going to run out of people who can remember standing on ANOTHER FUCKING PLANET. And we need people who know, in the way only experience can teach you, that IT CAN BE DONE. I don't want to lose that certainty. I don't want to have to start over.

So I toast you: Neil and the other three vanished Moon Men, and another toast to the eight we still have. You guys know it's possible. Keep reminding us.


*Possibly because I wasn't entiredly convinced he could die. The other Apollo dudes were, y'know, dudes, but I've been under the subconscious impression that the Apollo 11 guys were selected because they were indestructible.

**Of course, even now some of his distinction has waned rather patheticlally. I went to work on August 25th and kept telling people "Neil Armstrong died!" and everyone under 40 replied with "Aww, after all this steroid scandal, too!"
bloodyrosemccoy: (Why)
The HELL? A VERY sad day!

I was half-convinced he was immortal.
bloodyrosemccoy: (Loltrek)
MY SISTER while watching the Curiosity landing: The guy in the red over there is feeling stupid because he forgot it was Blue Shirt Day at NASA. "Oh, wait, that was TODAY?!"

MOM: Nah, he's just the expendable guy. They always have one in case anything goes wrong.


... Yeah, so we've corrupted Mom. I kinda like it.
bloodyrosemccoy: (WOO SCIENCE)
Before the day is over, I just want to remind everyone that on a July 20th, this happened:



We should do that again sometime!

As awesome badass Neil deGrasse Tyson said, "July 20, 1969 -- "Men Walk On Moon" -- The only positive event in the last 50 years for which everyone remembers where they were when it happened."

(Although The Onion's comment had a certain ring to it, too.)
bloodyrosemccoy: (Default)
A day late, but gimme a break—yesterday was as bonkers as Monday. Anyway, here’s …

What I Learned Since The Winter Solstice
  • Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds had lupus.
  • In other WTF music deaths, Melvin Franklin, the awesome bass singer from my favorite band, died of necrotizing fasciitis—the FLESH-EATING VIRUS.
  • The platypus’s bill is electrosensitive.
  • Quinoa comes in all the colors!
  • Friendship bracelets work on the same knot-tying principles as macramé, except for some reason they’re a lot more fun.
  • Gliese 436b is an ice planet with a surface temperature of 800˚F. Yes, that means it’s a planet of hot ice.
  • Gallbladder surgery can be avoided with magic purple stuff!
  • If you watch enough of them, it’s possible to date old western movies to within three years of their release.
  • Scientists have spliced spider genes into goats, making spidergoats whose milk can be processed into spider silk. And the spiders aren’t even radioactive.
  • Even turning into a skid won’t always save your car from blunt force trauma.
  • Wearing a seatbelt can save you from a lot of injury, but it may give you a purple boob if your car has a front-end impact.
  • There are three timelines in the Zelda universe, splitting with Ocarina of Time. In one, Ganon got the Triforce and was defeated by grown-ass Link. In another, little Link tipped everyone off to Ganon’s shenanigans (shenaniganons?) and Ganon didn’t get to become the King of Evil. In the third, Link failed and the sages had to seal Ganon into the Sacred Realm.
  • The receptionist from Monsters, Inc. has a MEAN older brother.
  • The brain-eating amoebas are IN YOUR TAPWATER RIGHT NOW. RUN.
  • Contadina sauce is the best for pizza.
  • Writing a synopsis for your own book is never easy.
  • Bomber jackets can be amazingly warm.
  • People seriously believe that monitoring the state of my reproductive system is a serious job requiring lots of government resources.
  • THERE IS A SPACE OPERA VERSION OF THE HOBBIT.

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