I know I already tweeted this last night. But it is so freaking cool that I have to share it everywhere.

Favorite part… dancing Sigma Ood!

Thanks to Whitney for sharing this on Facebook. This made my night.

… says Derek Colanduno, director of the massive sci-fi/fantasy/geek convention’s Skeptic Track.

“It’s other people’s Halloween,” quips biologist and evolution defender Eugenie Scott.

Frankly, it’s a little bit of both. Not enough candy, mind you, unless you really enjoy Tuaca (which tastes like Christmas in your mouth). But there are costumes… costumes galore! From Storm Troopers and Star Trek officers to Cookie Monster and “Macho Man” Randy Savage, thousands fly their geek/freak flag for one massive party in Atlanta.

"Oooooooh yeeeeeeeeeaah!" Photo by Tim LeGower

As it is, I’ve recovered from the epic weekend, gotten nearly enough sleep, and seem to have avoided the dreaded “con crud.” Dragon*Con is not just excellent because I get to geek out over my favorite sci-fi shows and books, though that helps. (Geeking out over James Marsters geeking out over Apollo 11 was pretty cool.) D*C is also a great place to reconnect with some of the smartest, funniest, most creative people I know: astronomers, authors, musicians, designers, bloggers, and real-life superheroes. The Skeptic, Science, Space, and Podcasting tracks were full of them. George Hrab sang, Scott Sigler read, Phil Plait proposed a way to save the Earth, and Sara Mayhew entertained through her art. Superheroes like Maria Walters and Jamie Bernstein raised thousands of dollars for cancer research and treatment while vaccinating over 200 people against harmful diseases. I even got to bring a little bit of the universe down to Earth with model meteors and comets. And those are just the tip of the iceberg!

Discussing world-ending catastrophes with Scott Sigler, Pamela Gay, and John Cmar

So, what is it that I’m trying to say? Well, if you missed out, come next year! Tim and I have already secured a room in the Hilton, home of the “reality” tracks, for Labor Day 2012. I’ll be there once again to help spread the love of science, have a great time with some of my favorite people, and, oh yeah, be a fangirl.

It's like this. Every night. (By Bruce Press. With 3 bald skeptics, a physics teacher, two Skepchicks, and tiny double trouble.)

Greetings! Oh how I’ve missed blogging, though I’m sure I was hanging out with a good chunk of my readers at The Amazing Meeting 9 in Las Vegas last week. Now, I’m taking some much deserved downtime at Lake Wallenpaupack in Pennsylvania with Tim and family. Of course, downtime also means catch-up on blogging time, and I have the next in my series of “South Africa Travelogues” almost ready to go. (See part 1!)

In the meantime, I have a quick but exciting announcement. If you are wavering on going to Dragon*Con, a ginormous geek-fest in Atlanta over Labor Day weekend, waffle no more. Not only will there be the lovely Skeptrack, Space Track, and Science Track, but the Atlanta Skeptics are once again having their annual Star Party in honor of Jeff Medkeff. The event will be hosted by the Bad Astronomer himself, Phil Plait, the lovely and inspiring Pamela Gay, and me! Here is a preview from TAM9, photographed by Bruce Press:

Now you know you want to be there, enjoy the stars, and kick cancer in the BUTT!

And all the planning and craziness leading up to today is over. Let the adventure begin! I’m heading to South Africa to work on The Precision Array to Probe the Epoch of Reionization, aka PAPER, aka the project on which i am writing my thesis. I’ve talked about PAPER a bit before, as it is a radio telescope that is being built to look for hydrogen in the very, very young universe, over 10 billion light years away.

I’ll be gone for three weeks, though it seems that I will have internet access in the desert after all. We’re putting out 32 antennas to join 32 already there, for a 64 antennas array to search the sky at low frequencies. Will send pictures as I can! And, I’m using the hashtag #psa64 on Twitter. Please do comment and tweet as I’ll be looking to keep up with the outside world even when I’m on my adventure.

I’m working on improving various aspects of my life at the moment. One is my overall fitness and conditioning level. Sure, I’m in pretty good shape. I’ve been training pretty hard for bellydance, but I need something a bit more well-rounded. So here are two of my challenges that I’d like to put out there to make them more “official.”

One Hundred Pushups

Tim and I picked up this Android app from Amazon for free the other day. It sets you on a 6-week training program to be able to do 100 consecutive pushups. Oh me of little upper body strength, I can only do “good form” pushups from my knees and not my toes, but I can eek out 15 of these in a row before I collapse. The idea is to work on them for 30 minutes a week for six weeks and see if you can get to 100! I’ll officially start on Sunday. (P.S. You definitely don’t need the app, since the training program is available on the website. But the app is handy!)

Fix My Knees/Suhaila Sword Choreography

This challenge started as “Fix my Knees,” since my dancing is partly hampered by weak knees. (I’m thinking it’s this, but I’m too lazy/stubborn to see a proper physical therapist. However, many other causes have been ruled out by my physician.) So I set up a simple workout program to increase leg strength. Diffiuclty: I can use gym equipment, but not when I’m traveling, which will be the end of June and all of July. Again, Android and the internets come in handy, with a website and app from JEFIT that let’s me customize and keep track of my workouts. I have to geek out about everything, right?

Well, I’ve added another condition: flexibility. Of course, that involves strength as well, so I’m on track. Why? I want to be able to perform this in September:

Yeah. Awesome. The bellydance movements aren’t difficult at all, especially for one who has been training in the Suhaila style for years. And as recent experience with a cane choreography shows, I’m okay at balance as well. It’s the splits and back-bends and floorwork that require a level of athleticism that I just do not possess at the moment. But I’m getting there. I’m also about to start making that costume. Our teacher makes the skirt and bra and belt, and I get to sew all the little silver dangly things on. Hooray?

Also, do you notice some cool basic physics in that video? Finding the center of mass of the sword is crucial to the balancing acts, and the turns near the end require you to get the sword to move at the same angular velocity as your body. Again, will geek out about anything…

Feel free to shame me if I fall off the wagons

We have more University of Virginia Astronomy tweeters! A few I’ve had to pester, most came here on their own. They all have such lovely stories to tell, and I’d recommend following them to anyone! They are all listed at UVa-Astro.

We have my officemate, @demessieres, a sweet, lovely geek who is just about at the finish line for her thesis and currently looking for a job relating to science communication. (Hint: She’s brilliant at it.) I used to share an office with @privong, who is always tweeting from his exciting travels, and @astroknots, a kick-ass radio astronomer who also knits like a fiend. Then there is the unstoppable @rareflwr41. If you are involved in astronomy or science education and haven’t heard of her already, you will. My dear friend @astrogailis is crazy busy making a brand new research instrument called APOGEE work, which you’ll hear more about soon. @mickeyj26 isn’t technically at UVa anymore, now a post-doc in Boulder, CO, but he’s still part of the family. And our newest to join is @astro_sailor, who has been watching twitter from the sidelines (aka twit-stalking) for a while, until I bugged the crap out of him to make a damn account already.

Much science and silliness is sure to ensue. Because we don’t have enough to distract us, right?

Thanks for letting me brag about my awesome friends!

But I can watch Pomplamoose’s hilarious cover of the theme song!

(via Tim)

Updates:

We survived! And with $230 raised for autism education. Thanks, everyone

[progpress title="Money Raised for Autistic Kids in Central VA" goal="300" current="230" previous="80" label="Dollars"]

Donors will get my eternal gratitude and a virtual hug from me. But only if you remember to email me with the amount you donated to the program!

Also, note that we aren’t usually good with running or mornings, so every dollar you donate just motivates us even more.

I looked into the VIA and they are doing some pretty awesome work. It is a school in Charlottesville for children on the autism spectrum and was started by several parents of autistic children. From their website:

The Virginia Institute of Autism (VIA) is a non-profit organization providing a day-school and other resources for families, educators and health professionals seeking services, training or information about autism and evidence based interventions.

With all the dangerous misinformation running rampant about autism that has been exposed, it is important to focus on the real interventions that can actually help families who need it.

So! How can you help? You can sponsor me, or Tim, or both of us in the 5K! Yes, we are getting our butts out of bed and into Charlottesville by 7:30 on a Saturday morning for a good cause. All you need to do is:

1. Email me or Tim with your name and how much you’d like to pledge.
2. Go to the VIA site and click “Sponsor”.
3. Put your donation amount under “Run for Autism 5K – Sponsor a Runner or Team” and go through the checkout process.

(Note, if you are local to either of us, you can skip the online process and just hand us a check made out to “Virginia Institute of Autism”.)

No, neither of us actually run. My knees would quit and detach from my body if I tried. However, we will be jogging/walking, so don’t look for any competitive times or anything like that. I’m not a jock like my brothers! I AM, however, really looking forward to helping a good cause and working off that free ice cream I just ate. Thanks for your support!

Brief paper-writing break to showcase my two favorite videos this week. First, Tim Minchin’s STORM has been animated and is finally available on YouTube! Seriously, let the whole thing upload, then watch high-def full screen. It is so awesome. I am floored by the talent of the illustrators and their ability to convey the message, and the fun, of Minchin’s infamous 9-minute beat poem.

(Note of awesomeness, Tim and I got tickets to see him live in Boston on June 4th!)

Second up is a video of my favorite bald, be-spectacled skeptical men doing a LIVE performance of “Death From the Skies”, based on the awesome book and on this awesome album, in New York this weekend.

Sadly, I could not make NECSS, but that is mostly because I am a) working and b) saving up to attend TAM9 From Outer Space! in July. I already have my registration in, thanks to the lovely, fantastic donors to the TAM Forum Grant (please donate so even more students can attend!), and my airfare booked.

So excited! So… think we can get Phil and George to do a live performance at TAM???? (Pretty please??)

Oh. Uh, hello there.

*Unburies self from pile of papers*

Glad you are still here, reading this and such. My research took a turn for the busy in the last month (yay!) and now I’m focusing my attention on writing. Writing is… hard. Silly for a blogger to say, but this is like writing for a scientific journal and my thesis type of writing, so it’s hard.

Anyway, trying to not let my blogging lapse too much, so here’s a fun story about “teenage” black holes that I recently wrote for Discovery News. And here’s even more spacey goodness from the latest Carnival of Space. And I’ll have something “sweet” coming along in a bit as well… so stay tuned.

What else has been going on? Well, I’m now addicted to the “Song of Ice and Fire” series by George R. R. Martin, having just gotten into Book 3. Oh, and knitting. I knit now. Who woulda thunk?

Timothy shows off my first project, a coffee cozy for him! "Sad Etsy Boyfriend" in the works?

If you are also inclined towards the “fiber arts” then friend me on ravelry.com, partly because I’m going to need all the n00b help I can get

Speaking of books as well, I joined goodreads.com, so come share your book preferences with me!

There is a social media site for everything, isn’t there?