Dreams Of Noise

Great sadness. Sally Ride, the first woman from the U.S. to reach space, has passed away at the age of 61.

Ms. Ride was a hero to little girls everywhere, and to little boys, too, and she was everything you could want in a spokesperson for the space program, and she spent her life promoting science and breaking down walls, and she will be missed. Condolences and songs (many, many songs) go out to her family and friends, especially her lifelong friend and partner, Dr. Tam E. O'Shaughnessy.

You might want to check out her web site, Sally Ride Science.

By George, I think we've got it.

Now, what do we do with it?

Behold FIBIAC.

What's your favorite site for stuff like this? I'm just starting to poke around into it, and Thingiverse is very cool but it can't be the only one.

Here It Comes Again: A "life-threatening" storm system, with the possibilities of tornadoes and hail is stretching from the Northern Plains to Texas, and definitely including Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri, heading east like a big ol' honkin' squeegee of destruction. The next few days may be awful for a lot of people in the central-to-eastern U.S. If you find yourself in the danger zone, PLEASE BE READY TO TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.

weatherdude at dKos keeps us informed. He does one-stop clearinghouse like nobody's business. And here's a very useful page: Weather Underground's Tornado Map, which has lots of info and a live feed of tornado warnings across the country.

(And, from several days ago, an article I've been looking for an excuse to link to: a meteorologist who made it a point to mention his conservative politics... who is not only not a climate change denier, he's really ticked off at his side of the political aisle because he's convinced there are going to be some truly devastating storms hitting major urban areas, resulting in huge casualty tolls.)

Sound off once you're in the clear.

ETA: a couple of links.

ETA2: Weatherdude's original diary is still there, but he's continuously updating this one.

A number of people have reminded me of Rick Santorum's newest noise (although I think Mittens's is just as much "fun"), but tomorrow is Primary Day here in Michigan, so I'll go off on them in the morning.

Meantime, some stuff you might actually be interested in:

• Could Benedict Cumberbatch be playing The Master?
• Teach your kids -- and remind yourself -- all about critical thinking.
• How To Train Your Dragon is continuing as a TV show.
• Several new free Windows VSTs of interest: Latte (with both a pay and free version), HG Fortune's The Tiger (with both a pay and free version), Face Bender, and the very nice Piano One (intended as a gateway to Supreme Piano's pay products).
• Movie: The Movie.

Whassup on your end o' things?

Could be very pretty, depending on your local weather.

What scientific hardware do you have, have you had, or do you want? When I was a kid, I had a chemistry lab, a couple of microscopes, and a Radio Shack 200-in-1 kit. I also recall having one of their first computer kits, but I don't remember how many experiments that one came with. The biggie was a telescope, which is still in the family -- my brother has it. I haven't raelly got anything besides (obviously) the computer right now, but at some point it'd be fun to have a telescope again.

ETA: For some of us, a real blast from the past -- Edmund Scientifics.

io9 keeps us informed on Higgs-Boson, toast landing butter-side-down, and the journal of Isaac Newton.

Any cool science we should see?

"Researchers have discovered that if they eliminate a cholesterol membrane surrounding the virus, HIV cannot disrupt communication among disease-fighting cells and the immune system returns to normal.

Read all of it -- it's not a long article. But it fills me with hope. Because it sounds like one of those, "-- oh, jeez! That's what it's doing! We can deal with that!" breakthroughs.

Fuck. Yeah.

Few details yet, but not good.

ETA: More details. Not a plant, a waste storage facility. No leaks as of yet, and a leak does not appear likely. One person killed, four injured.

This is exciting, and way cool.