Holy. Frakkin. Wow. So, I attended, no, experienced my very first Dragon*Con. It was on a scale of something that I have never seen before. Tens of thousands of freaks and geeks, many in costume, descended upon downtown Atlanta to laugh, squee, drink, and just be themselves (or whoever they want to be) for a…
Last week at the meeting of the Virginia Atheists and Agnostics, we had a fascinating talk by Chris Bell, titled “When are Tibetans not Buddhist?” Chris is working on a Ph.D in religious studies with a focus on, of course, Tibetan Buddhism. I won’t even pretend to recap the incredible depth of detail, including pictures…
If this doesn’t make you pissed off or raving mad, I don’t know what will. First, a terrorist attack on US soil, as blogged by PZ Myers. A mosque full with attendants for prayers was sprayed with a chemical irritant, allegedly by the good citizens of Dayton, Ohio. Don’t be assholes. Violence is NOT the…
Michael Shermer blows my mind again with a nice op-ed in the LA Times entitled “Toward a Type 1 Civilization.” It’s nice to see free market economics supported with such optimism and with the inclusion of globalism as a good thing. Not to mention, the little notion of “civilization types” from sci-fi and pop-sci. I’ve…
A friend sent me this story (thanks!) this morning for a good chuckle. Apparently, the last shipment to the South Pole Research Station includes a year-long supply of condoms for the scientists and staff that winter over at the base. Go scientists! I always knew we were sexy. And I’ve also commented that we tend…
Thanks to Kelly for passing this along. We don’t need to be hypnotized! http://www.newsweek.com/id/67929/page/2 Now music all day, that I can handle.
I’ve been working at Berkeley for the past few days, and it’s been quite a nice, thought incredibly busy, time. On the way to the hotel from the airport, I thought about how every time I go to a new place, I try and pick up the slight cultural, geographic, architectural, etc. differences. Ooh, it’s…
I’m hanging out in the Charlottesville airport, a cute and cozy one by most standards, thinking about the past weekend I had with my friends and wedding gown fitting. We had an amazing time, and the bride-to-be looked absolutely gorgeous in her wedding dress. So much so, that I’m much less jaded about one day…
On March 22, 2013 we found out that many NASA EPO programs will be suspended as a direct result of US budgetary sequestration. We are proactively working to raise money to make sure that CosmoQuest can continue to support its staff and its programs.
Your donation will support science education that produces science!
Total Raised: $3,385 (as of 2pm CDT, 4/18/2012)
I’m a brand new post-doc in astronomy working as part of the CosmoQuest team. My thesis focused on radio astronomy instrumentation. That means, I got to build cool telescopes that will open up new frontiers in the universe. I also love to teach, both in a classroom setting and informally. I'm happy to talk about the universe with anyone who will listen, and I am skeptically curious about all things.
