Will Code For Coffee.

Love being brutally called out by the British Library

Lights of Java via NASA https://ift.tt/2wnzAiL

Random stuff about the types

Weird random thoughts (INTP)

xNTJs: Intimidating. Actually quirky. Sad inside. Pretty funny though. Fun to talk to. Organisation. Planning ahead. That solid voice. Coffee. The kind of not-sweet, expensive-smelling perfume. Neat handwriting on a notebook. Money. 

xNTPs: Hilarious. Kinda weird. But you’re weird like me. Science. Debates. Animated voice. Secretly softies. Glowing magnesium. Quickly typing on a keyboard. Blowing bubbles at night. When everything finally makes sense.

xNFJs: Somehow knows so much about me? Feels deeply. Spaces out. Wants to connect. Fun. “I told you so,” you say, but I know you care. Cake. Sunshine. “Someday”. That semi-drunken-sounding “eyYyyYyYy”

xNFPs: Vibrant? Poetic. Fun fun fun – and stressed inside? Laughing really loudly and not caring what others think. Pastel highlighters. Dreaming. Excited or dreamy voice. Lowkey feelings in all you do. Fireworks. A sparkler candle.

xSTJs: Hilariously insensitive sometimes. A marshmallow, inside. Would be a stock photo (in the best, meme-ish way). Perfect powerpoint presentations. “Measured” voice. Good gel pens. Graphite. Cumulus on a bright blue sky.

xSTPs: WHY DO YOU WEAR A HOODIE ALL THE TIME?? Secretly 0.1% of a sweetheart. Riding a motorcycle alone. With shades. Carpe diem. Voice smooth but spikes at the same time? “lmao”. Risk-taker in the chillest way.

xSFJs: Really kind. Dedicated. Freshly baked cookies. Hanging out with a group of friends. Whipped cream. Scent of grass. Warm voice. Works hard. Has a social life (*sniff* teach me how??). A flock of birds in the noon sky.

xSFPs: Living energy bars. Full of art. And tears. Music. Voice either hyper or kinda quiet but quirky. Aesthetic. Spices. The feeling of the wind. A little sad inside? Delicate wispy poofy dresses. The glint of jewellery. Rose petals.

Happy National Techies Day!

October 3 is National Techies Day…and here at NASA we have quite a few people who get REALLY excited about technology. Without techies and the technology they develop, we wouldn’t be able to do the amazing things we do at NASA, or on Earth and in space.

Our Techies

We love our techies! The passionate engineers, researchers and scientists who work on our technology efforts enable us to make a difference in the world around us. They are responsible for developing the pioneering, new technologies and capabilities needed to achieve our current and future missions.

Research and technology development take place within our centers, in academia and industry, and leverage partnerships with other government agencies and international partners. We work to engage and inspire thousands of technologists and innovators creating a community of our best and brightest working on the nation’s toughest challenges.

Technology Drives Exploration

Our investments in technology development enable and advance space exploration. We are continually seeking to improve our ability to access and travel through space, land more mass in more locations, enable humans to live and explore in space and accelerate the pace of discovery.

Techie Technology

Advanced Manufacturing Technologies

When traveling to other planetary bodies, each and every pound of cargo matters. If we can reduce the weight by building tools once we arrive, that’s less weight we need to launch from Earth and carry through space.

Additive manufacturing is a way of printing three-dimensional (3-D) components from a digital model. If you think of a common office printer, it uses a 2-D file to print images and text on a sheet of paper. A 3-D printer uses a 3D file to deposit thin layers of material on top of each other, creating a 3-D product.

Thanks to techies, we’re already using this technology on the International Space Station to print wrenches and other tools. Our Additive Construction for Mobile Emplacement (ACME) project is investigating ways to build structures on planetary surfaces using resources available at a given site.

Discover more about how our techies are working with advanced manufacturing HERE.

Technology Demonstrations

Our techies are always innovating and developing new cutting-edge ideas. We test these ideas in extreme environments both here on Earth and in space.  

Science missions in space require spacecraft propulsion systems that are high-performance, lightweight, compact and have a short development time. The Deep Space Engine project is looking to meet those needs. Our techies are currently testing a 100lbf (pound-force) thruster to see if this compact, lightweight, low-cost chemical propulsion system can operate at very low temperatures, which allows long duration storage capabilities.

Another technology in development is PUFFER, or the Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot…and it was inspired by origami! This robot’s lightweight design is capable of flattening itself, tucking in its wheels and crawling into places rovers can’t fit. PUFFER has been tested in a range of rugged terrains to explore areas that might be too risky for a full-fledged rover to go.

With our partners at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., we’ve also collaborated on the Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM), which will flight test a “green” alternative to the toxic propellant, hydrazine, in 2018. GPIM is the nation’s premier spacecraft demonstration of a new high-performance power and propulsion system — a more environmentally friendly fuel. This technology promises improved performance for future satellites and other space missions by providing for longer mission durations, increased payload mass and simplified pre-launch spacecraft processing, including safer handling and transfer of propellants.  

Find out more about our technology demonstrations HERE.

Aircraft Technology

What if you could travel from London to New York in less than 3.5 hours? Our techies’ research into supersonic flight could make that a reality! 

Currently, supersonic flight creates a disruptive, loud BOOM, but our goal is to instead create a soft “thump” so that flying at supersonic speeds could be permitted over land in the United States.

We’re conducting a series of flight tests to validate tools and models that will be used for the development of future quiet supersonic aircraft.

Did you know that with the ability to observe the location of an aircraft’s sonic booms, pilots can better keep the loud percussive sounds from disturbing communities on the ground? This display allows research pilots the ability to physically see their sonic footprint on a map as the boom occurs.

Learn more about our aircraft technology HERE.

Technology Spinoffs 

Did you know that some of the technology used in the commercial world was originally developed for NASA? For example, when we were testing parachutes for our Orion spacecraft (which will carry humans into deep space), we needed to capture every millisecond in extreme detail. This would ensure engineers saw and could fix any issues. The problem was,there didn’t exist a camera in the world that could shoot at a high enough frame rate – and store it in the camera’s memory – all while adjusting instantly from complete darkness to full daylight and withstanding the space vacuum, space radiation and water immersion after landing.

Oh…and it had to be small, lightweight, and run on low power. Luckily, techies built exactly what we needed. All these improvements have now been incorporated into the camera which is being used in a variety of non-space industries…including car crash tests, where high resolution camera memory help engineers get the most out of testing to make the cars we drive safer.

Learn about more of our spinoff technologies HERE.

Join Our Techie Team

We’re always looking for passionate and innovative techies to join the NASA team. From student opportunities to open technology competitions, see below for a list of ways to get involved:

NASA Solve is a gateway for everyone to participate in our mission through challenges, prize competition, citizen science and more! Here are a few opportunities:

Vascular Tissue Challenge 

The Vascular Tissue Challenge, a NASA Centennial Challenges competition, offers a $500,000 prize to be divided among the first three teams that successfully create thick, metabolically-functional human vascularized organ tissue in a controlled laboratory environment. More information HERE.

For open job opportunities at NASA, visit: https://nasajobs.nasa.gov. 

For open internship opportunities at NASA, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/stu-intern-current-opps.html

Stay tuned in to the latest NASA techie news, by following  @NASA_Technology on Twitter, NASA Technology on Facebook and visiting nasa.gov/technology.

Happy National Techies Day!

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

Feeling Like Myself Again

Mental illness wrecks you. You feel like a shell of yourself, constantly in a daze. It’s terrifying when you think about it. In an effort to find myself again (er, maybe to create myself for the first time), I’m compiling a list of things I love, things that make me feel like me, things I know are no good for my mental health, and things that make me feel fake. This is an ever-evolving list, so stay tuned. 

| Things I love |

1. Running—not fast, just simply putting one foot in front of the other. Occasional weightlifting.

2. Weddings. Check out my Pinterest board.

3. Planning, being organized, sticking to a schedule.

4. Traveling. Road trips, backpacking, hiking, camping. Taking flights, dressing the part, finding the perfect outfit to roam around a city in, gathering inspiration from people-watching, creating new goals based on lifestyles I see.

5. Hawaii. Literally everything about it. The relaxed vibes, the *mostly* constant sunshine, the waves, the vivid hues of the water. The food, the coffee, the adventure, the lifestyle. Oh, and it helps that there is a military base for every branch on Oahu ;).

6. Learning and problem solving. Reading nonfiction books about topics and people. Using the NT part of my personality (ENTJ). The feeling of accomplishment when I solve something challenging. 

7. Nutrition. The science, the creativity, the recipes. 

8. Eating clean. Little sugar, lots of fruit and nuts, whole grains.

9. Fandoms. Star Wars, Doctor Who, Harry Potter, etc.

10. Outer space. Complex theories. Technology. Fierce debates. 

11. Concerts. Symposiums. Expos.

12. Shopping. Finding steals. Buying myself and others little treats just because.

13. Exploring cities—the neighborhoods, the shops, the bakeries/restaurants.

14. Daydreaming. Writing down ideas for businesses, inventions, my personal life, etc. 

| Things that make me hollow |

1. Partying. I do enjoy hanging out with friends and playing competitive games, but drinking makes me sick. Being out till 2 am makes me sick. Pretending to be someone I’m not in order to fit in makes me sick. 

2. Going to the gym every single day of the week and feeling worthless and disgusting if I don’t. 

3. Hiding my more feminine side to blend in with the guys in my major/field of work.

4. Hiding my more daring, badass side to blend in with the girls in my sorority.

5. Not having a routine sleep schedule.

6. Excessive scrolling on Instagram. Comparing myself to other girls. Not embracing myself. 

7. Putting far too much face value on how I look, the stretch marks I have, the shade of my skin, my frizzy hair, my red blotches or blemishes on my face, the fact that my thighs touch, the fact that I’m naturally curvier than most girls.

8. Being excessively spontaneous and never having a plan. 

9. Drinking too much coffee. Like 3+ cups per day.

10. Hanging out with people I don’t enjoy just so I won’t be alone.

11. Being a “yes” girl. I cannot emphasize this enough. Say no. Take care of yourself. You don’t have to be in charge of everything or even part of everything. Do. Not. Spread. Yourself. Too. Thin.

12. Being lazy. Not kickstarting my day early.

*curtsies* So, I really, REALLY don't want to offend anyone, Duke, but a question has been bothering me for a really long time and I was afraid to ask it because I didn't want to piss off anyone and since you're really eloquent and knowledgeable, I thought I'd ask you. So here it goes: you always say that arts and sciences are equally important, but how can analysing Chaucer or ecopoetics or anything similar compare to biomedicine or engineering in improving human lives? I'm genuinely curious!

*Curtsies* All right. Let me tell you a story: 

When I lived in London, I shared a flat with a guy who was 26 years old, getting his PhD in theoretical physics. Let’s call him Ron. Ron could not for the life of him figure out why I was wasting my time with an MA in Shakespeare studies or why my chosen method of providing for myself was writing fiction. Furthermore, it was utterly beyond him why I should take offense to someone whose field literally has the word “theoretical” in the title ridiculing the practical inefficacy of art. My pointing out that he spent his free time listening to music, watching television, and sketching famous sculptures in his notebook somehow didn’t convince him that art is a necessary part of a healthy human existence. 

Three other things that happened with Ron: 

I came home late one night and he asked where I’d been. When I told him I’d been at a friend’s flat for a Hanukkah celebration, he said, “What’s Hanukkah?” I thought he was joking. He was not.

A few weeks later, I came downstairs holding a book. He asked what I was reading and when I said, “John Keats,” he (and the three other science grad students in the room) did not know who that was. This would be like me not knowing who Thomas Edison is.

One night we got into an argument about the issue of gay marriage, and at one point he actually said, “It doesn’t affect me so I don’t see why I should care about it.”

Now: If Ron had ever read Number the Stars, or heard Ode to a Nightingale, or been to a performance of The Laramie Project, do you think he ever would have asked any of these questions? 

Obviously this is an extreme example. This guy was amazingly ignorant, but he was also the walking embodiment of the questions you’re asking. What does art matter compared with something like science, that saves people’s lives? Here’s the thing: There’s a flaw in the question, because art saves lives, too. Maybe not in the same “Eureka, we’ve cured cancer!” kind of way, but that doesn’t make it any less important. Sometimes the impact of art is relatively small, even invisible to the naked eye. For example: as a young teenager I was (no exaggeration) suicidally unhappy. Learning to write is what kept me (literally and figuratively) off the ledge. But I was one nameless teenager; in the greater scheme of things, who cares? Fair enough. Let’s talk big picture. Let’s talk about George Orwell. George Orwell wrote books, the two most famous of which are Animal Farm and 1984. You probably read at least one of those in high school. Why do these books matter? Because they’re cautionary tales about limiting the power of oppressive governments, and their influence is so pervasive that the term “Big Brother,” which refers to the omniscient government agency which watches its citizens’ every move in 1984, has become common parlance to refer to any abuse of power and invasion of privacy by a governmental body. Another interesting fact, and the reason I chose this example: sales of 1984 fucking skyrocketed in 2017, Donald Trump’s first year in office. Why? Well, people are terrified. People are re-reading that cautionary tale, looking for the warning signs. 

Art, as Shakespeare taught us, “holds a mirror up to nature.” Art is a form of self-examination. Art forces us to confront our own mortality. (Consider Hamlet. Consider Dylan Thomas.) Art forces us to confront inequality. (Consider Oliver Twist. Consider Audre Lorde. Consider A Raisin in the Sun. Consider Greta Gerwig getting snubbed at the Golden Globes.) Art forces us to confront our own power structures. (Consider Fahrenheit 451. Consider “We Shall Overcome.” Consider All the President’s Men. Consider “Cat Person.”) Art reminds us of our own history, and keeps us from repeating the same tragic mistakes. (Consider The Things They Carried. Consider Schindler’s List. Consider Hamilton.) Art forces us to make sense of ourselves. (Consider Fun House. Consider Growing Up Absurd.) Art forces us to stop and ask not just whether we can do something but whether we should. (Consider Brave New World. Consider Cat’s Cradle.) You’re curious about ecopoetics? The whole point is to call attention to human impact on the environment. Some of our scientific advances are poisoning our planet, and the ecopoetics of people like the Beats and the popular musicians of the 20th century led to greater environmental awareness and the first Earth Day in 1970 . Art inspires change–political, social, environmental, you name it. Moreover, art encourages empathy. Without books and movies and music, we would all be stumbling around like Ron, completely ignorant of every other culture, every social, political, or historical experience except our own. Since we have such faith in science: science has proved that art makes us better people. Science has proved that people who read fiction not only improve their own mental health but become proportionally more empathetic. (Really. I wrote an article about this when I was working for a health and wellness magazine in 2012.) If you want a more specific example: science has proved that kids who read Harry Potter growing up are less bigoted. (Here’s an article from Scientific American, so you don’t have to take my word for it.) That is a big fucking deal. Increased empathy can make a life-or-death difference for marginalized people.

But the Defense of Arts and Humanities is about more than empirical data, precisely because you can’t quantify it, unlike a scientific experiment. Art is–in my opinion–literally what makes life worth living. What the fuck is the point of being healthier and living longer and doing all those wonderful things science enables us to do if we don’t have Michelangelo’s David or Rimbaud’s poetry or the Taj Mahal or Cirque de Soleil or fucking Jimi Hendrix playing “All Along the Watchtower” to remind us how fucking amazing it is to be alive and to be human despite all the terrible shit in this world? Art doesn’t just “improve human lives.” Art makes human life bearable.

I hope this answers your question. 

To it I would like to add: Please remember that just because you don’t see the value in something doesn’t mean it is not valuable. Please remember that the importance of science does not negate or diminish the importance of the arts, despite what every Republican politician would like you to believe. And above all, please remember that artists are every bit as serious about what they do as astronomers and mathematicians and doctors, and what they do is every bit as vital to humanity, if in a different way. Belittling their work by questioning its importance, or relegating it to a category of lesser endeavors because it isn’t going to cure a disease, or even just making jokes about how poor they’re going to be when they graduate is insensitive, ignorant, humiliating, and, yes,  offensive. And believe me: they’ve heard it before. They don’t need to hear it again. We know exactly how frivolous and childish and idealistic and unimportant everyone thinks we are. Working in the arts is a constant battle against the prevailing idea that what you do is useless. But it’s bad enough that the government is doing its best to sacrifice all arts and humanities on the altar of STEM–we don’t need to be reminded on a regular basis that ordinary people think our work is a waste of time and money, too. 

Artists are exhausted. They’re sick and tired of being made to justify their work and prove the validity of what they do. Nobody else in the world is made to do that the way artists are. That’s why these questions upset them. That’s why it exasperates me. I have to answer some version of this question every goddamn day, and I am so, so tired. But I’ve taken the effort to answer it here, again, in the hopes that maybe a couple fewer people will ask it in the future. But even if you’re not convinced by everything I’ve just said, please try to find some of that empathy, and just keep it to yourself. 

kaleidoscope

personal study moodboard

What are the general stereotypes of the types?

ISFJ: Book nerd. Helpful. Shyest of the shy. Hipster blog.

ISFP: Aesthetics are Important. Wanderlust. Tears of joy.

ISTJ: Organization. Always serious. Puns and sarcasm.

ISTP: Can fix things. Probably a mechanic. Will fight you.

INFJ: Existential. Knows what you’re thinking. Probably sad.

INFP: Always crying. Takes everything personally. Artsy. Ideas.

INTJ: No emotions. *Trips*. Probably planning your murder. Music.

INTP: Procrastinates. Knows a lot about space. Hates decisions.

ESFJ: Mom. Bakes. Greek life is their life. Always looks nice.

ESFP: *Flirts*. Parties and dancing. Superficial. Small talk.

ESTJ: Ambitious. Probably your boss. Best at making plans.

ESTP: High school football player. Likes parties. Best at gym.

ENFJ: The Protagonist. Advice central. Never wrong. Helps everyone.

ENFP: Brain is on drugs. “Fairies are real fight me”. Bad at math.

ENTJ: Intimidating. Always wins fights. Non-stop. No free time.

ENTP: Pyromaniac. Class clown. Thinks they’re the best. Awkward.