Just in case you sit around pondering questions such as this…in this month’s issue of Nature, Zeeya Merali discusses the latest in a debate on how black hole death might be: in one corner is “spaghettification” (being ripped apart), the other corner is “the wall of fire” (getting burned alive at the event horizon).
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A group of registered dietitians has taken to Facebook to protest their professional organization’s more and more intimate relationships with “Big Food”. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics often counts on funding from ConAgra, Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s and other large corporations for its conferences and training.
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Even though I have but two children — and I don’t plan to have any more — I’ve never had problems with families having as many children as they would like, provided the children are raised safely and with the intent of being positive contributors to society.
This Mom, who recently announced she’s pregnant with her 5th child, presents statistics supporting how and why her 5 children won’t be a burden on society.
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Imagine using an Orion Spacecraft to go “lasso” an asteroid, position it near the moon, and make it available for long-term exploration. Click through to learn more about today’s announcement.
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What do you think of life without electricity, like what you see on NBC’s Revolution, FX’s The Walking Dead, or in the book/upcoming film World War Z? That’s what a low-yield nuclear blast in the upper atmosphere would cause, by exploding overhead and releasing an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that could impact circuitry of all shapes […]
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The Federation of American Scientists has assembled an infographic on North Korea’s capabilities (based on their known intelligence of North Korea missile systems). Does this make you feel any differently about North Korea’s rhetoric?
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Between April 4th and May 1st, the Mars Curiosity and Opportunity will be in minimal communication with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as it experiences a Mars solar conjunction. Click through to read more about what a solar conjunction is, and what impacts it will have on JPL’s communications with the fleet of Mars exploration vehicles.
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How many of you knew that Juan Ponce de León first landed on the east coast of the United States on April 2-3, 1513? How many of you knew that it was he and his crew who first called the large peninsula on which they landed La Florida, giving props to the Easter season and the beautiful landscape surrounding them. So if you do your math correctly, that would mean today is the 500th anniversary of Ponce de León’s landing. The state of Florida is celebrating this anniversary in style, with commemorations and celebrations throughout the state, throughout the year 2013.
Continue ReadingDear Weather Channel, I wish you would back off on the long form programming that has very little to do with the weather and give up on the winter storm names. PLEASE consider the geek perspective: Gandalf, Nemo, Orko, Khan and Q have completely different meanings to us!
Continue ReadingAre you a “Force of Nature”? Take the pledge to be one during National Severe Weather Preparedness Week from March 3-9th. This is the week that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has joined forces with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to educate and inspire Americans to be ready for this year’s severe weather. They have adapted the catch-phrase “Be a Force of Nature” to help Americans remember to be proactive and ready.
Continue ReadingThis past weekend I ran my second Disney Princess Half Marathon at Walt Disney World. I’ve written about the event before, from my costume to the race itself. I donned the Mrs. Incredible costume that I wore at this past Dragon*Con (most of which was conveniently made by Asics) and had a fun time.
Continue ReadingMy youngest son recently became addicted to the Nyan Cat internet meme. It’s one of the few “clean” memes so I figured there was no harm in it, right? Then he asked if he could have a Nyan Cat-themed birthday party. Um…how on earth would we do that? I love how my sons come up with unique ideas and I was so hesitant to turn it down, so I promised him we’d do our best. Read about how our family came up with a simple Nyan-Cat-meme-themed birthday party that will fit anyone’s budget.
Continue ReadingMany Americans know that Mardi Gras is the last hurrah before entering the more austere Lenten season. And that it’s the kissing cousin of the Carnivales that are celebrated in many other parts of the world. There’s a pocket of America along the Gulf of Mexico coastline that embraces the Carnivale-season-styled rituals and traditions, and I encourage everyone to learn more about it. Many people envision the scenes on Bourbon Street, usually involving women lifting their shirts in hopes of getting some beads thrown down to them from the balconies.
Continue ReadingThis weekend, young men around the U.S. are whittling, sanding, carving, painting and weighing their 5-ounce Pinewood Derby cars in hopes of taking first prize in the Boy Scouts of America Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. As this post goes live, my youngest son — a 2nd grade Wolf Cub Scout — will be racing an iPhone-shaped car down the 32-foot tracks hoping for the blue ribbon!
Continue ReadingI’ve been thinking about culturally sensitive geographic naming conventions that exist in our ever-shrinking global perspectives. It happens all the time, sometimes Americans are taught one name, but Europeans might be taught another. Here are but a few examples of naming conventions that have changed throughout history, or have differing names based on our backgrounds. Some of the changes are internal and peaceful, many are related to external power struggles. Some of the changes are simply a matter of restoring traditional names, some are related to winning a contest for a game show.
Continue ReadingRecently, I’ve acquired a couple of elves to help me bake Christmas cookies. My sons, ages 7 and 10, are old enough to do just about everything in the cookie baking process (with plenty of adult supervision). My youngest son loves cracking eggs, which is just the beginning of the educational value of this annual tradition. I offer to you five small math lessons that can pay dividends for any young person to have a fruitful future in cooking and baking.
Continue ReadingWhen the GeekMoms get to meet in person, it’s a pretty big deal. We call them “meetups” in our group. I’m not sure if there’s some official name for it: when you get to meet in person someone with whom you had this non-in-person relationship for so long. For many of us, after months and months of an online relationship, discussing post ideas, debating current events in parenting, tech news and our assorted fandoms, and sharing news of our lives (such as new babies and upcoming marriages), getting to meet in person is truly wonderful.
Continue ReadingIn this installment of Eat Like a Geek, we’re going to discuss one of my family’s favorite cookie recipes, the Neiman-Marcus cookie, based on the 1996 meme. Neiman-Marcus is Dallas, Texas’s flagship department store, now throughout the United States, and starting on December 1st it will have products available through their partnership with Target department stores.
Even though it isn’t specifically a holiday cookie, I end up making mass quantities of them along with my other favorite holiday cookie recipes; they ship well for care packages to deployed servicemembers, and everyone who ever tastes one can’t get over so much flavor and richness in such a small cookie.
This morning, after all the hype I had been talking up on GeekMom about it, I had the chance to see Lincoln with my own eyes. It was totally worth it!
Like I said earlier this week, this is NOT a war movie with scenes of gore and violence (there is but one brief scene), nor is it an overt film about Lincoln’s specific relationships with any particular person. It’s a glimpse into Lincoln’s last four months of life, both public and private, covering his relationships on duty and off. You will walk out of the theater with a much better understanding of a national leader who had the burden of over a half million casualties of war under his watch.
Continue ReadingAs a military family, we really geek out over learning as much as possible about whatever community the Air Force sends us to. One way we can do that is by trying to get to our state’s museum.
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