George Budd @Gbudd@qoto.org

Karl Jansky invented the field of radio astronomy #OTD in 1932.

During a solar eclipse he saw no change in the faint radio hiss he'd been monitoring, which ruled out the sun as a source. He soon attributed this "star noise" to large ionized gas clouds near the center of the Milky Way.

A good friend of mine unexpectedly lost his wife. A couple months later we were golfing together, chatting about nothing. He asked what my dinner plans were and I told him wifey wanted my homemade chili and cornbread, but I didn't feel like stopping at the store. We golfed a few more minutes when he quietly said, “Make the chili."

did you know that 100 years ago there were *electromechanical* radio transmitters?

these things are so crazy, you just have to read this

I still cannot get over the wonder and mystery of what gall wasps can do to plants. This is bio-engineering! The wasp lays her egg and somehow the plant makes a structure that is not a fruit, it is not a seed, it not a leaf or stem. It's a wholly recombinant architecture customized to the needs of the growing young larva. The plant provides food and shelter-- It's like a cancer, but with a purpose.

How did it evolve? How is it done!?

(Photo by Timothy Boomer, https://wildmacro.com/)

Division By Zero

I could only hear one side of the conversation:
- "What was that 80s movie where they were all immortal except they had to cut each other's heads off?"
- "What? No, it wasn't Ferris Bueller's Day Off."
- "Yes I'm sure!"

"Johnny B. Goode"
de Chuck Berry,
Version para "shamisen"
Artista Sayo Komada

Our 10yr old has gotten ***REALLY*** into mechanical watches & clocks to the point he's on the verge of starting a side gig repairing them. He mentions his hobby to everyone, and a lot of folks have a not-quite-working item sitting around. He's fixed a number of them.

He has had a tough time with an civil war era pocket watch, but was finally able to salvage a compatible part from somewhere, and he got it ticking today. He was so proud, and wants to share with everyone.

#hobby #watchrepair

#CircleOfLife

#JeffBridges surprising #JohnGoodman by putting on the original #THEBIGLEBOWSKI "Dude" sweater to speak at Goodman's Walk-of-Fame ceremony. His expression is priceless.
#Hollywood #walkoffame #thedude

When my daughter was 6yo, she figured out that thing where you sneakily stick a note on someone’s back.

But she didn’t know the notes should say things like “kick me.” Instead, she would put space facts on them. She was really into outer space at the time.

One time I felt something on my back, then heard her run off giggling. I reached around, peeled off the little post-it, and found this:

I present you hard evidence I didn't chew your remote.
Now where's my apology, Susan?

@RickiTarr @AirlockDoc Oooh! Storytime!

When I was a little Lana The Musician, one of my heroes was Yo-yo Ma. Growing up in a tiny little backwater town in Kansas, though, my only real contact with him were his albums. I would listen to them on rotation literally all day long in my pocket DiscMan. (That'll tell you how old I am!)

Well, one day I found out he was actually coming into town to play as the featured soloist with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra. I was over the moon with excitement! I had been volunteering at WSO for the last couple of years, because they allowed you to sit in and listen to the symphony when you were done taking tickets and opening/closing doors. So I was determined to go usher for his performance.

The day came, and the house was packed. I could barely contain myself. Yo-yo was actually here! In the same building! Then disaster struck! Try as I might, I could not find an empty seat anywhere in the theatre!

/1 for the rest of the story

[Image transcription]
RUN THE DISHWASHER TWICE.

When I was at one of my lowest (mental) points in life, I couldn't get out of bed some days. I had no energy or motivation and was barely getting by. I had therapy once per week, and on this particular week I didn’t have much to ‘bring’ to the session. He asked how my week was and I really had nothing to say. “What are you struggling with?” he asked.

I gestured around me and said “I dunno man. Life.” Not satisfied with my answer, he said “No, what exactly are you worried about right now? What feels overwhelming? When you go home after this session, what issue will be staring at you?”

I knew the answer, but it was so ridiculous that I didn‘t want to say it.

I wanted to have something more substantial. Something more profound.

But I didn’t.

So I told him, “Honestly? The dishes. It's stupid, I know, but the more I look at them the more I CAN’T do them because I'll have to scrub them before I put them in the dishwasher, because the dishwasher sucks, and I just can’t stand and scrub the dishes” I felt like an idiot even saying it.

What kind of grown ass woman is undone by a stack of dishes? There are people out there with actual problems, and I'm whining to my therapist about dishes?

But my therapist nodded in understanding and then said:

“RUN THE DISHWASHER TWICE.”

I began to tell him that you're not supposed to, but he stopped me.

“Why the hell aren’t you supposed to? If you don’t want to scrub the dishes and your dishwasher sucks, run it twice. Run it three times, who cares?! Rules do not exist, so stop giving yourself rules."

It blew my mind in a way that I don’t think I can properly express.

That day, I went home and tossed my smelly dishes haphazardly into the dishwasher and ran it three times. I felt like I had conquered a dragon.

The next day, I took a shower lying down.

A few days later, I folded my laundry and put them wherever the heck they fit.

There were no longer arbitrary rules I had to follow, and it gave me the freedom to make accomplishments again.

Now that I'm in a healthier place, I rinse off my dishes and put them in the dishwasher properly. I shower standing up. I sort my laundry.

But at a time when living was a struggle instead of a blessing, I learned an incredibly important lesson:

THERE ARE NO RULES. RUN THE DISHWASHER TWICE!!!

RE: https://pounced-on.me/users/vixencore/statuses/110764806153373580

There are many worst parts to losing a loved one, but one of them is when someone else tells you a story and you irrepressibly want to share it with the deceased.

Like, there’s this momentary blink, every time, where you cycle through the ways of getting in touch and concede that none of them will work. You feel so, so powerless.