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Zooming into a star that detonated twice. From the European Southern Observatory
This video zooms into the supernova remnant SNR 0509-67.5, the expanding remains of a star that died by detonating twice. This object is located 160 000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy that orbits the Milky Way.
This zoom was made by blending together images taken at different times with different telescopes. The video ends with an image captured with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), which shows the distribution of different chemical elements ejected when the star died. Calcium is shown in blue, and it is arranged in two concentric shells. This indicates that the star exploded with a double detonation.
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We need to pay attention and we need to stay in the fight. Because of course we do. But we should spend as much time as we possibly can over the next four years with friends and lovers doing things that bring us joy. Anyone who tells you that making time for joy — however you define it — is a distraction or a betrayal has no idea what they’re talking about. During the darkest days of the AIDS Crisis, we buried our friends in the morning, we protested in the afternoon, and we danced at night. The dance kept us in the fight because it was the dance we were fighting for. It didn’t look like we were going to win then and we did. It doesn’t feel like we’re going to win now but we could. Keep fighting, keep dancing.
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My rep did the same thing. Every time you hear that the two parties are the same? This is one of the reasons why. This right here:
received a reply from my House rep — I’d written in saying I questioned her commitment to our laws for voting to table impeachment, she said yeah what the president did was unconstitutional but we were never gonna win and it would have looked partisan… so basically, confirming her lack of commitment to law in favor of "politics"
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There are actually Fish Crossing road signs in the Pacific Northwest. This is why.
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Author Robert Aspin. We should all go this way.
At the end? Bob died yesterday afternoon (May 22, 2008). A peaceful death, by all accounts, dozing on a sofa with a Terry Pratchett book still open in his hands. Unexpected? yes. Surprising? no, not really.
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TNG Skant – Uniform Analysis by Obsessive Costuming Dude at the Star Trek Costume Guide (including sewing patterns).
Very detailed info on the skant. For example:
As with all of William Ware Theiss’ TNG-era Starfleet uniform designs, the TNG skants were made of jumbo spandex (except the neckline/yoke piping, which was a lighter-weight spandex). Also typical of Theiss’ TNG-era uniforms, the jumbo spandex was cut with the fabric “weave” oriented horizontally, so the fabric stretched vertically (instead of around the wearer’s body).
The neckline on the screen-used women’s TNG skant I examined was only about 4 ¾” at its widest – about where the shoulder seams were. The lower yoke extended over the shoulder onto the upper sleeve, cut as a continuous piece; there was no “traditional” upper armscye seam.
Here, you can see the slight color/sheen differences between the jumbo spandex and lightweight spandex used for the neckline/yoke trim.
Both the front and back yokes were actually two separate pieces (upper front yoke, lower front yoke, upper back yoke, lower back yoke), with a seam establishing the contour of the yoke piping. The strip of lightweight spandex (used for the yoke piping) was sewn into the yoke seam, and the allowances were pressed upward.
The center front yoke depth of the TNG skant appears to have been comparable to that on the early TNG jumpsuit, although both varied considerably. As you might recall from my TNG jumpsuit analysis, the yoke depth on the jumpsuits fluctuated over the course of the first season and grew significantly deeper over the course of season two.
On the screen-used women’s TNG skant I examined, the vent was 12” on the front panel, but the side panel was slightly shorter, with the vent only being about 11 ¼” tall. The vent allowances were simply turned under and hand-sewn into place via catch-stitching. Curiously, the front vent’s hem allowance was 2″ at the top of the vent, but this widened to 2 ⅜” at the bottom of the vent.
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The delight of getting your sense of smell back after days of being sick; the distress of it happening at the public library.
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Greatest neon lighting ever.
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Golden hour. Netarts.
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They really are the same, the two parties.
Republicans made internment camps. So did Democrats. More than once. Sometimes they did it together.
Republicans made the USA Patriot Act (Bush). Democrats expanded and codified it under the US Freedom Act (Obama). Both Bush and Obama greatly increased domestic surveillance and consolidated power in the executive branch.
The DNC stated, in a court of law, that they are not beholden to voters, "and we could have voluntarily decided that, Look, we're gonna go into back rooms like they used to and smoke cigars and pick the candidate that way. That's not the way it was done. But they could have."
Both Democrat- and Republican-led cities where police murder people (George Floyd, Justine Diamond, Breonna Taylor, Daniel Shaver, and Philando Castile to mention a very very very few) with no change made to police departments.
Tuskegee Syphilis Study from 1932 to 1972 - decades of Republicans and Democrats in power.
The coups we instigated and treaties we broke over the centuries for oil and bananas and oil and rubber and oil and land and oil? Republicans and Democrats.
For the most part, the people we elect don't respect us, we're just labor for their economic engines.
Voting for either party over the years has gotten us exactly where we are today.
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Sometimes a bee will hit our big window overlooking the backyard and I have to wonder...did a bee just prank another bee?
Like, maybe Robbie the bumble bee was doing his waggle dance but instead of telling the other bees to turn left at the deck he tells them to turn right? And maybe after a couple of bees fly off Robbie says to all the other bees, "No no no guys. Don't go yet. Ya gotta see this!" and all the bees watch as eager beaver Toby, the first one to fly off, natch, smacks into our window?
Do bees snicker? I bet bees snicker.
Or maybe Robbie can't waggle dance. Robbie's got no rhythm. So Robbie meant to tell all the bees the proper place to go but when they all took off, Toby (that eager beaver, again) led the way and ran smack dab into our window. All the other bees would just shake their antennae and say, "Yup, that's Robbie for ya, can't waggle for shit," before they swooped down to make sure Toby was okay?
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Physics of badminton’s new killer spin serve
Serious badminton players are constantly exploring different techniques to give them an edge over opponents. One of the latest innovations is the spin serve, a devastatingly effective method in which a player adds a pre-spin just before the racket contacts the shuttlecock (aka the birdie). It's so effective—some have called it "impossible to return"—that the Badminton World Federation (BWF) banned the spin serve in 2023, at least until after the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.
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Simpsons. Library.
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Think not of the books you've bought as a "to be read" pile. Instead, think of your bookcase as a wine cellar. You collect books to be read at the right time, the right place, and the right mood.
caveat lector