"In 1978, a student who worked a minimum-wage summer job could afford to pay a year's full tuition at the 4-year public university of their choice ( Read more... )

Space Station overhead at a good time again (Boston area) Good moon viewing, too.
Time: Fri Aug 08 8:26 PM, Visible: 4 min, Max Height: 47 degrees, Appears: WNW, Disappears: NE

Photo of same from earlier this week:

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Moved the fire hydrant! Someone going far too fast at the corner in front of our house hit the fire hydrant, and moved it in the ground about a foot! Driver is OK - I went out and made sure she was ok, got her to sit down when she was shaking, etc, and called the Fire Department so they can come look at the hydrant. It doesn't appear to be leaking ( Read more... )

Today is Day Four of Staycation. Not sure what we're going to do yet.


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Took kids to ice cream to celebrate the end of school. They were properly appreciative. I took my last mid-day nap of the summer before they arrived home. I was properly appreciative.

Meanwhile, last night this happened:

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Some space fabric for your morning ( Read more... )

We saw this yesterday - If you are at all interested in holograms, do go. The pictured hologram is the one that really freaked out people in NYC in 1972, by projecting onto the sidewalk space; it's at least twice life size, and the diamond bracelet is extremely sparkly, if very green ( Read more... )

Ever read anything by Maya Angelou? It's not easy. Or at least "I know why the caged bird sings" wasn't easy for pre-college CV when my college assigned it to be read before I arrived in the fall. It was probably good for my outlook, but whoa! was it different than anything else I'd read. I recommend it to all of you, particularly if you've never ( Read more... )

A long sequence where I explained in detail to my husband the different hats worn by Groucho Marx, especially in casual circumstances, such as after dinner with smoking jackets and before bedtime; fezzes, turbans, and long tassled hats, and why it would be great if those came back in fashion, with a side-trip to same for women ( Read more... )

"There are no blood tests or brain scans for mental illnesses so diagnoses are subjective and unreliable. [Symptoms and diagnoses overlap and change depending on who you talk to.] The way forward, it said, is a new research programme to discover the brain problems that underlie mental illnesses. That research is now taking off ( Read more... )