On November 11, 1966, NASA launched Gemini 12. On board were Buzz Aldrin and Jim Lovell (who was later on Apollo 13).
- Good News! Religious leaders meet to discuss climate change (Video) – An article by one of our best link-finders, CriticalDragon1177!
- My dad gave me “Fear of Flying” at 15, and it wasn’t the sex that shocked me – I’m afraid to say I haven’t read any of these books–maybe I should?
- What happens when a female model starts dressing as a man – “Elliott Sailors has gotten media criticism and homophobic slurs, but says she’s just expressing her masculine side.”
- Comparing Vastly Different Body Types of Olympic Athletes – Showing that there is no universal standard for “beauty” or “healthy-looking.” From Otoki Sicily.
- Why Hot Water Freezes Faster Than Cold—Physicists Solve the Mpemba Effect – Huh, I didn’t even know this was a thing.
- When Did Two-Strapping Get Cooler Than One-Strapping? – An interesting report on backpack-wearing trends. Come to think of it, I totally switched from one-strap to two recently as well!
In elementary school (1986-1992), I’m pretty sure I two-strapped my backpack, but I also don’t remember it really being a “thing” one way or the other. Then again, I wasn’t exactly one of the “cool kids.” Once in middle school, though (1992-1995), I started getting teased for two-strapping — not much, but, you know, a little — and switched to one-strapping. Early in high school (1995-1999), though, a few people started… well, not teasing, but telling me “Wow, you’re going to, like, KILL your back doing that,” and I switched back to two-strapping because they were totally right.
I was the kid who didn’t want to use a locker so I carried ALL of my books around. That wasn’t good for my back either.
I did the same thing! I wonder if this says anything about us, personality-wise.
Buzz Aldrin is also famous for being part of an Apollo crew. Please say you know which one, without having to look it up.
Really?
Mary,
I really like the space program. I wish we’d give NASA some more funding
Me too! I’m always amazed when I see that list of stuff that we use that was invented because of NASA. Also, space pens are fun.
Yeah, my experience with backpacks was pretty (apparently) typical for my cohort: two straps in elementary school, one strap in middle school and even upgrading to the single-strap shoulder bag for a year or so in high school, but then we had to haul around so many really heavy textbooks that it became completely impractical and everyone just used both straps all the time. Definitely two straps in college, when you’re hauling a laptop around — it’ll be interesting to see if the rise of the tablet changes that again.
I should note that I have a single-strap messenger bag again, but this one has an additional strap that goes underneath the other arm and straps the thing securely to my back. It’s not for cool-factor, it’s for mobility while riding my bicycle. Two-strap backpacks ride up and hit my helmet, particularly when wearing a parka during the winter, and that’s dangerous.
My new favorite backpack is a Vespa-brand pack. It’s small, has tons of pockets, is well-made, and I picked it up for $15. It’s perfect for my tablet plus I also use it as a mobile diaper bag.
I would like to donate towards the relief effort in the Philippines, but through an atheist organization so that there will be some record of aid coming from atheists. Does anyone know of a way to do this?
Sorry to bother everybody, I should have searched Freethoughtblogs first for an answer. You can donate to the Citizen’s Disaster Response Center by way of the Foundation Beyond Belief. They are based in the Phillipines, and so are already “on the ground”. 100% of your donation goes to CDRC, the foundation does not take a cut.
http://foundationbeyondbelief.org/crisis
Another option I just came across, also based locally: http://patas.co/articles/activities/call-donations-typhoon-yolanda-haiyan/
I’m feeling all kinds of ambivalent about the story of the model wearing masculine fashion. I grew up in the eighties, and the androgynous look was kind of a revolutionary, kind of gay thing to do. I was not particularly interested in wearing what one calls “feminine” clothes. Ever.
So, I just wonder if we are trying to enforce gender roles here by saying a fashion model is appropriating trans narratives? I mean, if she is supposed to stick to what our culture deems feminine, am I also obliged? And does that oblige trans folks to the fashion of their transitioned gender? Should a trans woman only wear pretty, feminine clothes, or should she not be able to put on overalls and work in the garden?
I used a rolling duffle bag, it had back straps, but I usually just carried it with one arm. I got made fun of for it, but I was easily the most prepared person in the whole school. My current disaster bag is based on it. It contained*:
Laptop
External media (mostly DVD-RW’s, at least one thumb drive that I remember)
Headphones
Phone charger
Laptop charger
Pens
Pencils
Paper
Geometry kit (protractor, ruler, compass)
Two calculators (TI-89, solar powered)
Two steel water bottles
Collapsible water bottles (five days if filled to capacity)
Purification tablets
Five days worth of food (not GOOD food, but food)
Can opener
Wrench and socket set
Screwdrivers
Wire cutters/strippers
Soldering kit
Hammer
Jumper cables
Tow rope
WD-40
Duct tape
Zip-ties
Velcro ties
Twine
Rope
Utility knife
Scissors
Hatchet
Candles
Eating utensils
Collapsible cups
Air horn
Flares
Fire extinguisher
Two man tent
Sleeping bag (rated for minus forty)
Two T-shirts
Two pairs of jeans
Five pairs of boxer shorts
Ten pairs of socks (eight regular, two thick wool)
Rain coat and hip waders
Sweater
Winter jacket
Three pairs of gloves (winter, work, and mechanics gloves)
Winter boots
Sewing kit
Toilet paper
First-aid kit
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Soap
Hand sanitizer
Flashlight
Radio
Batteries (assorted sizes, rechargeable, with charger)
Kerosene
Inverter
Ethernet cables
USB cables
Universal charging kit
And a binder containing information on first-aid, survival, machine maintenance and repair, electronics and maps (all laminated, of course), as well as two hundred dollars in fives and fifty dollars in coins.
…I read a lot of apocalyptic fiction.
*based on my current disaster bag inventory, plus a few items I remember having, minus a few recent additions.
Oh, I almost forgot
Slide-rule
Math book from the sixties (it wasn’t a textbook, it was a paper-back filled with guides on how to do all sorts of problems with just pen and paper and a bunch of tables of things like tangent, sine, cosine values, etc. I found it in the library, and seeing as it hadn’t been checked out since 1991, just took it).
I also kept a multi-tool on me at all times.
I would suggest you add
plastic garbage bags (for use in a 5 gallon bucket as a toilet)
collapsible shovel
aluminum foil (to make radar retro-reflectors)
bailing wire (annealed iron wire).
Already have the garbage bags and shovel. They’re not in the bag, but right next to it, as they’re part of the everyday use of my truck (the shovel is because Canada). However, now that I think of it I might want to keep a full box of bags in the bag just in case I’m out or running low the moment disaster strikes (the whole point of disaster preparedness is that you don’t know when it’ll happen). The aluminum foil is already in there (serves a bunch of purposes, not least being that I can cook things in it). And I might swing by UFA for some bailing wire.
Struth!! got me beat, I have a transistor radio and some,…yep, flat batteries :(
Yeah, the trick is to keep anything perishable in semi-constant rotation. For instance every once in a while (usually about once a week) I’ll eat a meal or two out of the bag and replace it. It also gives me a reason to go through it periodically.
If you’re preparing for the all-out-holy-fuck apocalypse, it’s good to think of things you might take entirely for granted that might seem trivial. Good example being spices. Some spices were worth their weight in gold back in the day. There’s a good reason for that.
LOL, and I thought only ultra right wing nutjobs were survivalists!
Tell me, how much of that stuff have you actually used? I imagine getting thru the airport would be a bit of an issue.
I don’t take the bag to the airport with me, it just sits in the back of my truck. I will admit that disaster preparation is a minor hobby of mine (and the forums are filled to the brim with whackaloons), but it does have some practical application, mostly because my job takes me into the bush a lot, the only items listed above that I’ve never used are the purification tablets, candles, and flares. Everything else has come in handy at least once. Besides, being prepared for the inevitable hiccups in life can easily stop them from becoming full blown disasters in the first place.
Besides, LARPing the apocalypse might actually save my or someone else’s life someday. And it’s not like I’m actually expecting the end of the world, my priorities are actually determined by likelihood of certain events, namely:
Forest fire causing evacuation (happens all the time, Slave Lake being a really good recent example)
Snow storm causing loss of essential services (happened in Quebec)
Civil unrest causing mass migrations (unlikely but one good plague could easily result in huge social disruption)
Meteor impact (we could easily, easily get caught off guard).
Limited nuclear exchange (I should remind you that I live in Canada, a nation situated directly between two major nuclear powers).
Something completely unpredictable (this may be the most likely one, as it covers a great many kind of situation from small personal emergencies to all out global catastrophes).
So there’s that.
I certainly take your point, especially considering the increasing probability of natural disasters. Your list makes interesting reading and should be a good starting point. Cool.
I’m pretty sure the Mpemba effect is not actually a thing. It takes water time to cool from hot to cold. So cold water has a head start in the freezing process. Water doesn’t remember how hot or cold it used to be.
I think Mpemba has re-discovered N-Rays.