A Little Something Happy

the-science-llama: If Earth Had Rings First off, they would be...

Mon, 20 May 2013 23:29:36 -0400

Guatamala

Washington, DC

Quito, Ecuador

Polynesia The Earth's Shadow appears on the Rings at night

Arctic Circle The Rings are barely visible

the-science-llama:

If Earth Had Rings

First off, they would be really pretty to look at. They would also dominate the sky in both night and day at exactly the same place as they would never rise nor set. And at night you would see the Earth’s shadow swing across the rings, like in the 4th photo here.

However, life would be very different on Earth if this were the case. Nocturnal animals would have a hard time being nocturnal, as the light reflecting from the rings would illuminate the night.

Because we are closer to the Sun than Saturn is, the rings would be more rocky than ice, making them less bright but still pretty bright. In fact, you would see far less stars at night (living anywhere other than the equator or the arctic circle) because of the light pollution and not to mention ruin most meteor showers because of that.

During the day the rings would block sunlight in certain regions of the planet creating wild weather cycles and effecting plant life as well. So basically, they would be definitely pretty to look at but they would also make a whole lot of things screwy.

Illustrations by Ron Miller // io9
— Click the photos for captions

fishingboatproceeds: David Foster Wallace was like, Art must be...

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:20:55 -0400

fishingboatproceeds:

David Foster Wallace was like, Art must be sincere! We must use every tool in the linguistic toolbox to cut through sentiment and dishonest cliche and build fresh ways to reveal the power and reality of unironized emotion.

And Mister Rogers was like, Basically the same thing, but without any shame or pretense or fear of sincerity.

nprfreshair: Because today is Mel Brooks day....

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:51:38 -0400

nprfreshair:

Because today is Mel Brooks day.

oldfilmsflicker:

Anne Bancroft on meeting Mel Brooks

ilovecharts: Things Yahoo! Has Made Better

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:01:29 -0400

ilovecharts:

Things Yahoo! Has Made Better

Texts with Mom

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:14:00 -0400

Me: Where are you coming from?
Mom: Dallas. I was in training.
Me: There's more for you to learn? Is that where all the "I piss excellence" status came from?
Mom: Yes. :)
There was a big debate on the nature of our existence too.
It was $3 margarita night.
Me: You can't start an existential debate without cheap margaritas.
Mom: Exactly.
One of the guys on my team has a Masters in Philosophy. He didn't participate; he just labeled all of our beliefs.
Me: Typical.

Photo

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:58:00 -0400

ilovecharts: I’m thrilled to announce that next Wednesday, May...

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:29:00 -0400

ilovecharts:

I’m thrilled to announce that next Wednesday, May 22, Maggie Appleton will be doing a Chartist in Residence.

I first ran into Maggie’s work thanks to a few of her rather ingenious charts of quotations (like the one below) that made their way to my inbox. Maggie is an illustrator-designer-chartist with a penchant for anthropology, tea, and illuminating quotations and we will be giving her the keys to the blog next Wednesday to do whatever she choses for the entire day. Please tune in to see some brand new charts and illustrations and whatever else she decides to bring to the table with her unique charting style. Should be awesome!

thedailywhat: Restored Faith in Humanity of the Day: Reddit...

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:37:42 -0400

thedailywhat:

Restored Faith in Humanity of the Day: Reddit Restores WWII Veteran’s Damaged Navy Photo

Back in April, at the request of his 87-year-old grandfather, Redditor stevieboy1984 turned to the /r/PicRequests subreddit to see if anyone could clean up a scanned JPEG image file of his grandfather’s World War II-era photo taken during his service in the Navy as a submarine sonar/radar operator. After a number of people offered their photoshop wizardries to help its restoration, stevieboy1984 showed his grandfather six variations before handing him a framed version of top commenter unhi’s submission. Here’s a video of the big reveal. Grab a box a tissues, manly tears are coming.

jillthompson: im-a-kittycat: “So my amazing daughter, Emma,...

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:24:32 -0400

jillthompson:

im-a-kittycat:

“So my amazing daughter, Emma, turned 5 last month, and I had been searching everywhere for new-creative inspiration for her 5yr pictures. I noticed quite a pattern of so many young girls dressing up as beautiful Disney Princesses, no matter where I looked 95% of the “ideas” were the “How to’s” of how to dress your little girl like a Disney Princess…We chose 5 women (five amazing and strong women), as it was her 5th birthday but there are thousands of unbelievable women (and girls) who have beat the odds and fought (and still fight) for their equal rights all over the world”

- Jaime Moore, Not Just a Girl

This is awesome!

ilovecharts: -diagrammatical Dearest chart-enthusiasts, It...

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:10:30 -0400

ilovecharts:

-diagrammatical

Dearest chart-enthusiasts,

It appears we, as a group, have occasioned some criticism for our interest in women in politics. While I am tempted to dismiss this with a flippant GIF, I will instead direct you to this chart from the Center For Women In Politics:

… and then a flippant GIF.

creativemornings: How can you not love this? The Amazings is a...

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:11:50 -0400

creativemornings:

How can you not love this? The Amazings is a wonderful idea that celebrates our elders, those with amazing life experience that they have to bestow.

From Guitar Lessons From a Punk-Rock Hero to Retro Hair Do’s, they offer a multitude of courses on skills and knowledge that might otherwise disappear from generation to generation.

The Amazings is currently based out of London. Fingers crossed for a branch near us!

the-science-llama: thescienceofreality: ISS Astronauts...

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:04:56 -0400

Back on Earth: Expedition 35 CrewCredit: NASA TV

Soyuz Leaves Space Station: Expedition 35Credit: NASA TV

Landing Site via Gizmodo.com

Canada's Chris Hadfield: Thumb's Up on EarthCredit: NASA TV

the-science-llama:

thescienceofreality:

ISS Astronauts Returned Safely to Earth.

“After inspiring all of us on Earth, Commander Chris Hadfield and crew have finally re-joined us here. The Soyuz space capsule landed safely at 10:31 PM EDT in Kazakhstan. Hadfield had spent 144 days on the ISS, 2,336 orbits around the planet and totaled up around 62 million miles. That’s a lot of miles!

The Soyuz capsule landed vertically, which is the preferred position. The crew, which includes Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield, NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, are back on Earth and reportedly all feeling good as they re-adjust to the gravity. Marshburn was one of the astronauts who performed the awe-inspiring emergency spacewalk to fix the leak of ammonia coolant two days ago.

The landing of the capsule comes a little over three hours since the capsule undocked from the ISS. It marks the end of the ISS’ Expedition 35 Crew in space. The crew will head over to the medical tent to get all properly tested and fixed for normal Earth life. Or as normal life can be in the eyes of men who were in space.” via Gizmodo

“On Sunday, Hadfield handed over command of the space station to Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov.

As part of his personal farewell to the space station, Hadfield released a video of his version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, which NASA said is the first music video made in space.” via CBC

Hooray!! Welcome Back!

Weekday mornings

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:04:06 -0400

whatshouldwecallme:

the-science-llama: 13 Must See Stargazing Events for 2013 —...

Mon, 13 May 2013 08:20:53 -0400

the-science-llama:

13 Must See Stargazing Events for 2013

— Listed In Chronological Order

~~1) January 21 — Very Close Moon/Jupiter Conjunction~~

A waxing gibbous moon (78% illuminated) will pass within less than a degree to the south of Jupiter high in the evening sky. Your closed fist held out at arms length covers 10 degrees. These two wont get that close again until 2026.

~~2) February 2-23 — Best Evening View of Mercury~~

The planet Mercury will be far enough away from the glare of the Sun to be visible in the Western sky after sunset. It will be at its brightest on the 16th and dim quickly afterwards. On the 8th it will skim by the much dimmer planet Mars by about 0.4 degrees.

~~3) March 10-24 — Comet PANSTARRS at its best~~

First discovered in 2011, this comet should be coming back around for about 2 weeks. It will be visible low in the northwest sky after sunset. Here are some sources predicting what the comets may look like in the sky; 1, 2

~~4) April 25 — Partial Lunar Eclipse~~

A very minor, partial lunar eclipse (not visible in North America) where only about 2 percent of the moon’s diameter will be inside the dark shadow of the Earth.

~~5) May 9 — Annular Eclipse of the Sun (“Ring of Fire” Eclipse)~~

It will be visible in Northern Australia and parts of Papua New Guinea but mostly within the Pacific Ocean. See all the solar eclipse paths for 2001-2020 here.

6) May 24-30 — Dance of the Planets

Mercury, Venus and Jupiter will seemingly dance between each other in the twilight sky just after sunset as they will change their positions from one evening to the next. Venus will be the brightest of all, six times brighter than Jupiter. Look towards the west just above the Sun after it sets to see the three planets grouped together.

7) June 23 — Biggest Full Moon of 2013

It will be the biggest full moon because the moon will be the closest to the Earth (Perigee) at this time (11:32 UT) making it a ‘SuperMoon’. The tides will be affected as well creating exceptionally high and low tides for the next few days. More cool facts about the Moon.

8) August 12 — Perseid Meteor Shower

One of the best and most reliable meteor showers of the year producing ~90 meteors per hour provided the sky is dark. The meteor shower is expected to peak the night of August 11-12, however, you will be able to see a good amount of meteors even in late July. This year (for the peak) the moon won’t be in the way as much as it will set during the evening, leaving the rest of the night dark. Here is a useful dark-sky finder tool to find the best place to watch where you live.

9) October 18 — Penumbral Eclipse of the Moon

Visible mostly in Asia, Europe and Africa, at this time 76% of the moon will be covered by the penumbral shadow of the Earth.

10) November 3 — Hybrid Eclipse of the Sun

A Hybrid Eclipse meaning, along its path, the eclipse will turn from Annular to Total and in this case most of the path will appear to be Total as there will be a slight ring of sunlight visible near the beginning of the track. This one will begin in the Atlantic (near the East Coast of the U.S.) and travel through Africa. See the path here. The greatest eclipse (with 100 seconds of totality) will appear in Liberia, near the West Coast of Africa.

11) Mid-November through December — Comet ISON

The second comet this year, ISON, could potentially be visible in broad daylight as it reaches its closest point to the Sun. It will reach that point on November 28 and it is close enough to the Sun to be categorized as a ‘Sungrazer’. Afterwards it will travel towards Earth (passing by within 40 million miles) a month later. Hopefully it will survive and become brighter than Panstarrs.

12) All of December — Dazzling Venus

The brightest planet of them all will shine a few hours after sundown in the Southwestern sky and for about 1.5 hours approaching New Years Eve. Around December 5th, a crescent moon will pass above the planet and the next night Venus will be at its brightest and wont be again until 2021.

13) December 13-14 — Geminid Meteor Shower

This is another great (if not the best) annual meteor shower. This year put on a show at about 120 meteors per hour and in 2013 it won’t be much different so expect another fantastic show. However, the moon - as it is a few days before full phase - will be in the way for most of the night obscuring some of the fainter meteors. You might have to stay up in the early morning hours (4am) to catch the all the meteors it has to offer. If you missed 2012’s Geminid Meteor Shower, here are some great photo-sets; 1, 2, 3

— Notes
*The gif is of a total solar eclipse, made from this video
* Find a dark sky to watch the meteor showers with this tool
* Estimate your locations meteor shower rate with the Fluxtimator

the-science-llama: Our Night Sky When We Collide With...

Mon, 13 May 2013 08:20:12 -0400

Present Day

2 Billion years from now the of the approaching Andromeda galaxy is noticeably larger

3.75 Billion years, Andromeda fills the field of view

3.85 Billion years, the sky is ablaze with new star formation

3.9 Billion years, star formation continues

4 Billion years, Milky Way is warped and Andromeda is tidally stretched

5.1 Billion years, cores of both galaxies appear as a pair of globes

7 Billion years, the cores have merged, the bright core dominates the night sky

the-science-llama:

Our Night Sky When We Collide With Andromeda

In the photos above in order:

— Present day
— 2 Billion years from now the of the approaching Andromeda galaxy is noticeably larger
— 3.75 Billion years, Andromeda fills the field of view
— 3.85 Billion years, the sky is ablaze with new star formation
— 3.9 Billion years, star formation continues
— 4 Billion years, Milky Way is warped and Andromeda is tidally stretched
— 5.1 Billion years, cores of both galaxies appear as a pair of globes
— 7 Billion years, the cores have merged, the bright core dominates the night sky

Here is an animation of the collision

In around 4 billion years our galaxy, The Milky Way, will collide with our neighbor galaxy Andromeda or M31. You might think this will be a catastrophic event for everything in the galaxy including our solar system but in reality most of the solar systems will simply pass by each other. However, the gas and dust between the stars will collide and eventually form new stars. Also, the orbits of those solar systems will be changed given the new galactic center(s) and the new mass pulling everything towards it and tossing them around.

The massive Andromeda galaxy is about 120,000 light years across while our galaxy is 100,000 light years across. Given their size, the speed that we our hurdling towards each other is relatively small at 250,000 miles per hour.

Sources:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/milky-way-collide.html
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1837.html

rosiebeeloved: uncannylinguist: theautumnbottom: futurefantast...

Sat, 11 May 2013 14:12:50 -0400

rosiebeeloved:

uncannylinguist:

theautumnbottom:

futurefantastic:

badtvblog:

Don’t watch this if you’re soaked in gasoline because it will warm your heart and you will burn to death and die.

THAT WAS THE CUTEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN OH MY GOD OH MY GOD I’M DYING

IM CRYING IM CRYING IM CRYING CHILDREN ARE SO LOVELY AND CUTE AND WAH.

I cried. This is so cute!

Holy shit cute kid alert.

rosiebeeloved: riotingfeminist: tasteslikecocoa: rebekahloves:...

Fri, 10 May 2013 17:14:26 -0400

rosiebeeloved:

riotingfeminist:

tasteslikecocoa:

rebekahloves:

look how easy it could be for disney.

I loooooved these books as a little girl!

THESE BOOKS WERE MY LIFE

Not only did I read almost every single one of these, I’m pretty sure by the time it was all over, I owned them all, too.

Photo

Fri, 10 May 2013 10:48:16 -0400

ilovecharts: Hyperbole and a Half: Depression Part Two Allie...

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:11:04 -0400

ilovecharts:

Hyperbole and a Half: Depression Part Two

Allie Brosh is absolutely the best writer about depression on the Internet. This, like her Part One, is perfect.

Hyperbole and a Half is Back!

Thu, 09 May 2013 11:59:00 -0400

When I read ADVENTURES IN DEPRESSION, I laughed so hard I cried. I read it to my friends thinking it would make them laugh, because who hadn’t felt that sense of soul crushing depression? I was met with very concerned faces. I was finally reading something that put the experience of dealing with depression into words I would use, but couldn’t find a way to say myself.

Now Allie’s back with part two. This was the section I most connected with.

DEPRESSION PART TWO

It would be like having a bunch of dead fish, but no one around you will acknowledge that the fish are dead. Instead, they offer to help you look for the fish or try to help you figure out why they disappeared.
The problem might not even have a solution. But you aren’t necessarily looking for solutions. You’re maybe just looking for someone to say “sorry about how dead your fish are” or “wow, those are super dead. I still like you, though.”

The problem might not even have a solution. But you aren’t necessarily looking for solutions. You’re maybe just looking for someone to say “sorry about how dead your fish are” or “wow, those are super dead. I still like you, though.”

DEPRESSION PART TWO