Iris Scott - Lunar Eclipse, 2020 - Oil On Canvas

Regarding Blank Check Wizardries

So I’ve been rereading SYWTBAW and I stumbled across something that I’d forgotten – it is Kit, not Nita, who suggests using the blank check wizardry. Nita actually worries about the ramifications of the spell, but Kit shrugs it off and says, “I don’t think the price’ll be too high.” Cue the Song of Twelve. Imagine how Kit must have felt when he realized that Nita’s looming death was payback for a gamble that he had made. Imagine the guilt crushing in, harsher and deeper than any ocean, as he clung to his fierce denial out of sheer desperation. Imagine how painfully he must have wished that he’d insisted on casting the blank check spell alone – which was his original intent – instead of letting Nita stubbornly join in. Imagine the extra agony wrapped up in the words read the fine print before you sign. I didn’t think that Deep Wizardry could wreck me any more, but here we are.

Happy Earth Day: Earthrise

One of the most famous aspects of the Apollo 8 flight was the Earthrise picture that was taken as they came around for their fourth orbit of the Moon. This was the first time that humans had taken such a picture whilst actually behind the camera, and it has been credited with a role in inspiring the first Earth Day in 1970. It was selected as the first of Life magazine’s ‘hundred photos that changed the world’.

Taken by Apollo 8 crewmember Bill Anders on December 24, 1968, showing the Earth seemingly rising above the lunar surface. Note that this phenomenon is only visible from someone in orbit around the Moon. Because of the Moon’s synchronous rotation about the Earth (i.e., the same side of the Moon is always facing the Earth), no Earthrise can be observed by a stationary observer on the surface of the Moon.

Young Wizards will always be the best YA series because you’ll fall in love with and cry about sentient tears in spacetime, sharks, amalgamations of spheres, computers, gods, macaws, and most importantly you’ll begin to believe fiercely in the beauty and heartbreak of the universe.

see, the thing about the young wizards series is

the thing about diane duane is

she infuses everything with so much life. she gives everything thoughts and feelings and personality. she makes you care about them, makes them matter. from grass chorusing “grow grow grow” to planets explaining how they show affection towards fellow celestial bodies by resonating

it’s beautiful, and it’s vital in the truest sense of the word. and I love it. it’s important on a level that I can’t even fully comprehend. it’s almost spiritual

I never thought of myself as a spiritual person, never felt moved by something larger than me. but the things I’ve read about in this series? the intention and compassion and wonder for all things

that’s something I can believe in

Tor.com

Five Stories About Precocious Young Wizards

Imagine, if you will, a story featuring a wizard, sorcerer, or mage who is not an elderly greybeard or crone but rather a child or teen. Ide

...Okay, this is a lovely shout-out. And to be mentioned in the same neighborhood as both Ursula Le Guin and Terry Pratchett and @neil-gaiman is seriously something I have to take a breath to recover from.

...Okay, better now. :)

I'm in Northern Michigan!

Map of cousins based on the directory. Some other cousins were added who have mentioned their whereabouts in conversation and i happened to remember but who are not listed. That said, consider this your invitation to update your directory listing if you so desire. There are several of you who are not in it who maybe want to be? (No pressure, of course!)

Orange dots are for people whose specific location was unclear, but i put them in the correct state/province (except that one in the middle of Canada, because all it said was ‘Canada’). Blue dots are close to the cities that were listed.

Some people have two dots, like me because i listed Cleveland and Boston, or like Erin because i know she’s moving soon.

Other locations listed were China, Japan, Asia, and i know there is at least one person in Germany.

The Journey to Mars Begins Tomorrow

NASA is preparing for the first test flight of the Orion crew vehicle set for an unmanned launch on Dec. 4 at 7:05 a.m. EST from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The Orion spacecraft is designed to eventually take astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit to destinations never explored by humans. It will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to distant planetary bodies, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel, and provide safe reentry from deep space.

This mission is the first of three trial runs that the Orion mission must overcome before NASA deems it safe enough for human space travel. 

The next test flights in 2018 and 2021 will use NASA’s Space Launch System rocket (SLS), which is currently in development. When it’s finished, SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built, boasting even more thrust than the Saturn V booster that blasted astronauts toward the moon in the Apollo era.  

The spacecraft will launch atop a Delta IV Heavy, a rocket built and operated by United Launch Alliance. While this launch vehicle will allow Orion to reach an altitude high enough to meet the objectives for this test, a much larger, human-rated rocket will be needed for the vast distances of future exploration missions.

Exploration Flight Test-1, will mark the farthest distance traveled by a human spaceflight vehicle since 1972 made by Apollo 17.

During its grueling four-and-half-hour test mission, NASA’s Orion space capsule must shoot 3,600 miles away from Earth (15 times higher than the International Space Station!), orbit the planet twice, and brave a thick belt of cosmic radiation. 

Upon re-entry it must deploy 11 parachutes to slow down from 20,000 miles per hour to 20 mph, while withstanding 4,000-degree Fahrenheit temperatures before plunging into the Pacific Ocean. 

Check out these incredible photos from the development and testing of the spacecraft.

Countdown, launch and mission coverage will begin at 4:30 a.m. on NASA TV which is available on air and streaming at nasa.gov/nasatv