Becca Stareyes

I can't seem to get the hang of posting on one topic. Oh, well.

I played softball today. We had a grand total of six people show up, and we got our butts kicked. Though not as badly as we could. I still am batting 0.000, unless you count the time I got on second by fielding error. (League rules is if the opposing team throws the ball out of bounds, you can advance one extra base -- mostly to cover situations where the ball gets thrown into the bushes and it takes a bit to retrieve.) On the other hand, I'm getting better at fielding -- I managed to hold one to a double. I'm still hindered by my inability to throw hard enough to get it to the infield.

So, question for you all, blog. So, over on Bad Astronomy, Phil Plait posts a quote from Buzz Aldrin, where Buzz says that the unrealistic expectations created by science fiction makes people less interested in the real accomplishments of the space program. Phil disagreed -- he thinks that science fiction spurs us on and inspires us.

I'm biased -- I was a space nut before I learned how to tell SF from horror. Every time I saw the crew of the Enterprise beaming down to a planet, or read novels about imaginary moon colonies, I wanted to work all that more to go there. Or at least learn as much as I could about the real thing.

So, what do you all think?

So, I'm trying to think of a Halloween costume. Here are my criteria, in order from strongest to least strong:

1. No wigs. Hats are okay, and makeup is okay, and I might even go for hair extensions, but I don't feel like putting down the money for a quality wig. (And I don't want to deal with a cheap wig -- someone else can tell the story about how Integra Hellsing suddenly developed short, dark hair because my cheap wig gave up the ghost around lunchtime of Day I of AnimeIowa)

2. Something I can wear to CJAS's cosplay contest. Which means anime or manga character. Maybe video game. Probably not anything from Western fandoms or webcomics.

3. Something that is recognizable as something* by the mundanes, in case I go out with my work friends, or decide to wear the costume to campus or something. By which, I mean, they might not recognize Kenshin Himura, but the sword and outfit look like 'samurai'.

* Something reasonably specific, not 'what the hell costume is that?'

( Current Ideas )

Also, I found this blog post by Mike Brown that pretty much sums up the whole planet debate. It makes the point that scientists had two classifications: 'round & geologically varied (plus the gas giants, which are round and atmospherically varied with interesting interiors)' versus 'not round and & impact-dominated geology' and 'single objects in distinct orbits' versus 'clouds of similar objects in similar orbits'. Both are useful, and a scientist might deal with one more than the other (a geologist cares more about the first, to the point of even throwing in moons, while a dynamicist the second), and asking 'which is a better classification scheme' is silly, because they are both good and useful things. The IAU wasn't asked that -- they were asked, which classification scheme should be used as planet versus not-a-planet. Which is really a judgment call.

I was thinking the same thing, but this post explains it better. I was thinking about it because I noticed Dr. Bell (Martian geologist) has a 'Save Pluto' bumper sticker pinned to his bulletin board. In retaliation (I assume), Dr. Margot (asteroid and Kuiper Belt dynamicist) put up a 'Save Pallas' sign on his bulletin board. (Guess what both of them think of the IAU's definition? Go on, guess.)

We also have a new official dwarf planet -- Pluto, Ceres and Eris can welcome Makemake (mah-keh-mah-keh) to their numbers. First dwarf planet named after a non-Greco-Roman god, also! (Makemake was the creation deity of Rapa Nui (aka Easter Island) -- Makemake was discovered near Easter, and informally called Easterbunny.)

http://martianchronicles.wordpress.com/

I didn't realize three of my classmates kept a Mars blog.

So, click to learn about Mars!

(The really weird thing is that I learned about this via the Planetary Society's blog, via the Bad Astronomy site. People I know are Internet Famous.)

Does this mean I have to give in to Ryan and Briony bugging me to give a lunch talk, since their blog is more widely read than mine?

Yes, this is a tasteful post. Not surprising, if you know me.

( Cut for SCIENCE! )

So, here are two pictures I saw today. Both were taken by the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, orbiting Mars. And reconnoitering.

And it found an avalanche by accident. It's spring on the northern hemisphere of Mars, and the ice caps are receding. Which means that you can get landslides. And this one happened to occur when HiRISE was looking.

(Statistically speaking, since we have crazy amounts of pictures of Mars, it had to happen sooner or later.)

And this, which is not Mars. Yes, that is the Earth and Moon. Yes, it was taken from Mars. Isn't that cool?

(Sadly, when we take pictures from Saturn of the Earth, it looks like a pale blue dot. NASA loves Mars more. ;_;)

I didn't get anything I wanted to do done over the weekend. Bah.

Oh, and there's also an initiative to map the light pollution in the sky this fortnight (today until March 8, while the Moon isn't visible in the sky). And you all can help, provided you can find Orion in the sky. Go here for more info.

I want you all to do this. It'll maybe take an hour of your time, and it's a good excuse to go stargazing and learn one constellation.