Neil Armstrong Says The World Needs Nerdy Engineers
In our ongoing effort to get more excited about space travel and all things space science-y, here is a video from Universe Today in which Neil Armstrong says the world needs more nerdy engineers.
Universe Today (UT… actually, I don’t want to use that abbreviation, people might think I’m talking about the University of Texas, or the state of Utah) is a very cool web site that I was recently turned on to by Lucas Gonze. It is something that I should read daily. I’m saying this publicly in order to shame myself into following through on that plan.
Also, this pic from the Universe Today twitter feed is all sorts of awesome.
Awesome! RT @kpcuk: ;) .-? / |? ?| ? ? | . ?| |[][][]| |F9?| |?? | S | | P | | -? | C? | E | | X? | |?? |?? /_/_
— Universe Today (@universetoday) April 1, 2014
Neil Armstrong: Why The World Needs ‘Nerdy Engineers’ (In Animated Form).
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Britax Boulevard Convertible Car Seat Lightning Deal
Again, act fast if you want this one – a Britax Boulevard Convertible 70-G3 Convertible Car Seat for $203.99, a 36% savings, from Amazon.com’s Lightning Deals. That price is only good for as long as the deal lasts. Hence the “act fast” admonition. Consume! Mass! Quantities!
Amazon.com: Britax Boulevard 70-G3 Convertible Car Seat Seat, Onyx: Baby.
Watch A Captain America Movie From 1944 For Free
Captain America: The Winter Soldier will be in theaters on Friday, April 4. But if you want you can watch a Captain America movie from 1944 for free, thanks to the good folks at the Internet Archive.
The film, an old black and white serial, runs 25 minutes and 16 seconds and is titled Captain America, Chapter 1 (1944). It stars Dick Purcell as Captain America, aka Grant Gardner (more on this in a moment), Lorna Gray as Gail Richards, Lionel Atwill as Doctor Maldor (think he might be a bad guy with that name? He also wears a monocle), along with Charles Trowbridge and Russell Hicks. The description from IMDB is as follows: Read more »
Hot Wheels Moto Racer Trackset Lightning Deal
If you want this Hot Wheels Moto Racer Trackset, buy it quick because it’s an Amazon Lightning Deal. $12.99, usually $19.99. Hot! Steaming! Cheaper!
Clock! Ticking! Buy! Now! Exclamation points!
Amazon.com: Hot Wheels Moto Racer Performance Raceway Trackset: Toys & Games.
Commenter’s Kid Schools Walking Dead Character
This comment was posted on an interview with Josh McDermitt, who plays the character Eugene Porter on The Walking Dead, on AMCTV.com. I’ll let it speak for itself.
I’m writing this on behalf of my son, Gideon, who is 6 years old. Because of him, I’ve learned a lot about dinosaurs, and I knew enough to realize that when Eugene Porter said last night that he would love to see a revived Ankylosaur fight a Diplodocus, the otherwise brilliant Dr. Porter had made an egregious and embarrassing error. I reported Dr. Porter’s comment to my son (since I don’t let him watch the show, of course), and he makes the following observations. First, both those dinosaurs were herbivores, and they would almost certainly never fight. If, for some reason, they did get annoyed with each other, it would not be the kind of bloody combat that Dr. Porter salivated over. It would probably just be a quick pushing match to get at some branches. Second, “ankylosaur” is an umbrella category of dinosaurs. It was not a specific dinosaur, unlike Diplodocus which was a specific dinosaur species. So it is not clear what dinosaur the Diplodocus would be fighting. Third, the archetypal ankylosaur, namely, the Euplocephalus, only appeared in the late Cretaceous era, whereas the Diplodocus lived in the late Jurassic. Tens of millions of years separated them, and they never would have encountered each other. Dr. Porter should be more careful than to perorate on dinosaurs, because the average 6-year old can be a merciless fact-checker.
It gets better. Or worse, depending on your point of view. Other people responded, some slightly unkindly, to what this parent had to say.
And BTW… It’s Euoplocephalus. If your going to be snarky at least spell stuff right!
To be clear: we are talking about a fictional character. In the case of the commenters, they are directing their comments AT a fictional character. Some people take this stuff seriously.
Here’s another dinosaur picture. Because why not.
Q&A – Josh McDermitt (Eugene Porter) – AMCTV.com
Boy Brings My Little Pony Backpack to School; Boy Gets Bullied; School Blames Backpack
It’s the same old story you’ve heard a thousand times before. Boy brings My Little Pony backpack to school. Boy gets bulled. School blames backpack, calling it a “trigger for bullying.” Story gets picked up by national media. Internet explodes.
Oh wait. The old story is “Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back.” This one is actually new. Sort of.
Bullying is a serious problem that is finally being taken seriously after countless years of being explained away by adults who would prefer to look the other way and/or actually didn’t/don’t give a crap about the kids who were/are being victimized by small-minded jerks.
Ten years ago, this story might not have made national news. Twenty years ago it absolutely would have been ignored. The kid would be called a fag, a queer, gay, been beaten up, and his school would have done nothing to stop it.
In this particular case, school officials decided that the way to solve the problem was to tell the boy to stop carrying around his ‘My Little Pony’ backpack. Get something more butch, like Spider-Man. (I made that part up; as far as I know no one offered him any specific backpack suggestions.)
In general, the Internet hive mind is horrified by the notion of blaming the backpack. But school officials are not wrong that the backpack makes the kid an easy target for bullies.
What is wrong is the way they handled the situation. Telling the boy that the solution is to leave the backpack at home sends the message that being different is a bad thing, and that if you are different it’s OK for people to taunt you and beat you up. This is especially important because we are talking about a very young kid. He’s only nine and already equates colors with gender; he was pleasantly surprised to find a blue ‘Pony’ backpack because “most of the [‘My Little Pony’] toys are girly,” he told a reporter from People magazine.
The behavior “triggered” by the backpack is indeed bullying in the truest sense of the word. According to the article on People.com, kids at school were “taking it a little too far, with punching me, pushing me down, calling me horrible names, stuff that really shouldn’t happen.” That’s remarkably articulate for a 9-year-old. It also makes me cry man tears. The school has to stop the behavior immediately. Focusing on the backpack is wrong.
The boy’s mother is quoted thusly: “Saying a lunchbox is a trigger for bullying is like saying a short skirt is a trigger for rape. It’s flawed logic, it doesn’t make any sense.” I respectfully disagree with her. A lunchbox, in this case a backpack, is in fact the trigger for the bullying. Bullies see backpack. Bullies commence bullying. That doesn’t mean the school handled the situation appropriately. But we should stop saying things are “like rape” because the only thing that is “like rape” is rape. (I have no wish to knock the mother of the bullied boy. Note that I’m not using either her name or his.) There’s no need to compare bullying to something else in order to make it more terrible. Her son is/was being beaten up at school. Why? It doesn’t matter. He should be able to go to school and feel safe, actually be safe. The bullies should be punished immediately. Suspensions, expulsions if the bullying continues. Any parent of a bully who tries to defend their child’s behavior is flat out wrong.
The article on People.com has a link at the end that I won’t click because I know it will only make me more sad.
RELATED: 11-Year-Old Boy Attempts Suicide After Being Bullied for My Little Pony Passion (People.com)
That’s where it goes if you keep blaming the victim. The victim is the 9-year-old boy, not his backpack.
Since the word bullying has become a bit watered down — Justin Bieber claims that when people call him names on Twitter that’s “bullying”, which is bullshit — maybe we should start calling the behavior what it would be called if these were adults.
Assault and battery.
Grayson Bruce Prohibited from Bringing ‘My Little Pony’ Backpack to School : People.com.
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Godzilla Trailer (DaddyTube)
Here is the new Godzilla trailer.
It looks like a fun movie. Bryan Cranston is the star, he’s a good actor. Feels closer to the old Godzilla movies I used to watch on Channel 9 back in the day. (I can say “back in the day” because I’m, y’know, old.)
Godzilla – International Trailer – Official Warner Bros. – YouTube.
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