Europa Clipper News!
The Europa Clipper launched about 4.5 months ago with the goal of eventually examining Jupiter’s moon Europa. On March 1, it will perform a gravity assist by flying by Mars.
(Pic from here).
Unlike what you’d probably expect from something called a “gravity assist,” the Europa Clipper won’t be using Mars’ gravity to speed up but rather to slow down and reshape its orbit around the sun. This will set it up for a second gravity assist around the earth in late 2026 before it finally heads off to Jupiter.
Cool, huh?
Monster Energy? NO! MONSTER TRUCKS!
So every once in a while I get these vague memories of a monster truck game that I used to play when I was a kid.
(Because of course I played a monster truck game.)
I’ve always wanted to see if I could figure out exactly what game it was – because, as you may expect, there are a decent number of monster truck games out there, especially from the 90s – but never actually tried to find it.
But I did a bit of internet sleuthing today and I’m pretty sure I found it: Terminal Reality Inc.’s 1996 Monster Truck Madness.
I don’t remember the announcers, but that music is like seared into my brain. I remember I had one save file titled something like “TO THE MOON!!!!!!!” where I just drove off at night in the direction of the moon in the sky.
(Because of course I played a monster truck game but used it to chase a celestial body instead of actually race.)
Anyway.
HELP
I have had this song:
Plus its derivative YouTube Poop version:
Mashed up and stuck in my head ALL FREAKING DAY.
Especially the lines “I don’t even KNEEEEE” and “no you didn’t have to POOP!”
2012 was certainly a…thing.
Want to Sleep? Count Biphasic Sheep!
So remember back in the summer when I was running so early in the morning to beat the heat? I would go to sleep around 10 PM, wake up at 1 AM, run, and then get back home and crash for a few hours (usually between 5:30 AM and 7:30 AM, except for when the fall semester started and I had to forego the second sleep).
Well, that sleeping schedule worked perfectly with how my body operates. I’ve never felt as good as I did when I was on that sleeping schedule.
My body liked it so much, in fact, that I’m still having a really hard time adjusting back to the normal “sleep for one solid period of time” schedule.
My husband can attest to this.
Anyway, I came across this Twitter thread yesterday and it got me thinking about that summer sleeping schedule. It also got me thinking about the fact that I have never seemed to need as much sleep as other people.
My mom can attest to this. Even when I was a kid (and even when I was a fetus in the womb), I did not sleep very much.
The tweet referenced above (and other articles on biphasic sleep) suggest that the typical pattern was sleep for 3-4 hours, wake for 1-2 hours, then sleep for another 3-4 hours. My sleep sessions are shorter than that, and my middle “awake” period is longer than that. I can function perfectly fine on three hours of sleep (less than that and I can really tell, but three hours seems A+). I suspect part of that is just how I’m wired, but I suspect another part of it is that I’ve just trained my brain and body to expect that little sleep and so I’ve become incredibly efficient when it comes to falling asleep and going right into REM sleep. No matter what the circumstances are (how I’m feeling, where I’m sleeping, how the day went, the temperature, etc.), I fall asleep within at most like two minutes as soon as I lay down.
Both my mom and my husband can attest to this.
Anyway. Just a few thoughts on sleep, sleep patterns, and sleep duration.
How many hours of sleep do you think you need? Have you ever tried any sort of polyphasic sleep schedule?
Are you ready for some BALLFOOT?
(This has nothing to do with ballfoot)
It’s another watercolor! I took some liberty with the colors on this one.
OUTSIIIIIIIIIDE
So our temperature swung up to 45 degrees today (!!!) and I finally, FINALLY got to run outside.
I haven’t gotten to run or walk outside (apart from going to campus and/or the grocery store) THIS ENTIRE MONTH.
IT’S THE TWENTIETH.
I was losing my freaking mind on that treadmill, man.
It’s been a while, but…
We’re back to sawing off delinquent toenails!
Or parts of them, at least.
This just kinda snapped off the end of my middle toe
PUT IT IN THE TOENAIL BAG!
Armageddon The Hell Outta Here!
(I think that’s a joke from MAD magazine’s parody of Armageddon)
Y’know what?
I’m down for it.
2024 YR4 for president 2032.
Book Review: The Death of the Heart (Bowen)
Have I read this before: Nope.
Review: This was…alright, I guess. It starts off with an interesting premise and conflict, but so many of the characters are just generally unlikeable and snotty and irritating that it was a bit hard to get through (even if the unlikableness was half the point). I guess if you’re interested in a story where “I want to punch this character the most” changes from chapter to chapter, this is the book for you. Bowen does do a good job with Portia’s relative immaturity as a teenager and her inability to find a place where she feels she truly belongs.
Favorite Part: I liked the time Portia spent near the sea with Mrs. Heccomb and her stepkids. It highlights Portia’s inability to belong even with a group of entirely new and different people than she’s used to and there’s a lot of character tension throughout that part of the book.
Rating: 4/10
BABAAAAAAAR!
Nate and I watched Beauty and the Beast tonight. It’s been a LONG time since I’ve seen that movie, but all the tavern scenes (among other things) have been permanently replaced with this freaking classic YouTube Poop:
I know I’ve shared this on here before, but that “he was in here tonight, raving” and “woah, slow down, Maurice!” (2:14) is still absolutely hilarious and I was trying not to laugh as we watched the associated segments of the actual movie.
Thank you, internet, you have broken me.
One Ham, No Hams. Steamed Clams? Steamed Hams!
Oh my god, PLEASE tell me this isn’t AI-generated.
I love this meme. I will forever love this meme in all its formats.
Edit: dude who uploaded this has an explicit “no AI” policy on his channel. A+ work.
Edit again: LIKE 70% OF HIS VIDS ARE ABOUT THIS MEME OH MY GODDDDDD
The Last of the Kinvaras (by James Fenimore Cooper)
So that last pair of Kinvara 13s in my size finally came from the Running Room the other day and today was the day to put them on!
OH
MY
GOD
I forgot how GOOD a new pair of 13s felt. It’s like I’m walking on ANGELS’ SOULS.
Saucony, please just bring these back. I promise we won’t be mad.
(The Running Room doesn’t have the 15s yet, but I’m scared of them already, haha.)
Oh Dear
Well this is an…interesting way to display this data.
I have mixed feelings about the use of Chernoff faces (or any derivatives) to visually display multivariate data. Unless done correctly, I think that this type of visualization can be difficult to interpret. I also think it lacks one of the main purposes of a visual – a quick and relatively easy way to understand the data – because it involves a lot of parsing of the individual pieces (eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, face shape, etc.) which is a pretty big ask if someone’s just quickly glancing at the faces.
But anyway, I do like the idea of trying to make “Chernoff emojis” for each state based on the variables in question. Using the color of the faces as a representation of one of the variables rather than face shape/size makes them all look a bit more uniform and makes comparing the other features a bit easier.
Also:
Yeah, that’s my expression whenever I think of West Virginia, too.
Book Review: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (Twain)
Have I read this before: Nope. I’m not the world’s biggest Twain fan (Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer didn’t do it for me, but I also read them back in like 10th grade, so…), but I figured I’d give this one a shot.
Review: I enjoyed this more than I thought I would! It was much more engaging than I remember Finn or Sawyer being and I like the overall idea of Hank (the Connecticut Yankee) trying to bring 19th century technology and ideas (and education) to the 6th century. Honestly, the only thing I knew about this novel prior to reading it was the solar eclipse scene, and that was due to an old Bugs Bunny cartoon, haha.
(7:24)
It also gets more unhinged the longer it goes, which was quite amusing.
Favorite Part: Merlin’s beef with Hank and how Hank shows him up every chance he gets, but without it being obvious that he knows he’s superior in “magic” and “spells.” He even blew up Merlin’s tower with “fires from heaven,” haha. Also, the knights riding in on bicycles to save Hank (or “The Boss,” as he’s known) and the king is a pretty great visual.
Rating: 7/10
Hey, American Friends?
Y’all okay down there? It sounds scary.
Man…
We really do live in the dumbest timeline, don’t we?
This Is Actually Chilling
Book Review: The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoyevsky)
Have I read this before: Yes, way back in 2009.
Review: This book was not at all what I remembered, haha. I mean, I guess 2009 is a long time ago now, but still. This doesn’t rank as high as Crime and Punishment for me, but it was enjoyable once things picked up a bit and we got out of the monastery. Apparently Alyosha was modeled in part after Dostoyevsky’s son, who died of epilepsy when he was three. You can also see his son (and the loss of his son) in Ilyusha.
Favorite Part: I love a book with contrasting characters, so I really enjoyed the differences between the three brothers (and, of course, their father) and how they approached the conflict between Dmitri and their father. But I think my favorite part of the book was Ivan’s hallucinating the devil and the subsequent conversation they had together. It’s a slow few chapters (in a good way) and it really highlights his descent into madness.
Rating: 6/10
United Canada
I don’t know how much of this you all are seeing down in the States, but all this crap about Trump and his stupid-ass tariffs has really united Canadians. There’s a huge country-wide push to buy Canadian (or just not buy American) and there’s a very vocal agreement across all provinces and territories that there’s no way in hell we want to become Trump’s stupid “51st state.” Stores are going out of their way to clearly label products that are made in Canada, sales of Canadian flags are skyrocketing, Canadians are cancelling vacation plans to the US and/or selling any US property they own, and there’s even been a strong pushback against the UCP because of their lack of response to Trump’s nonsense.
I’ve lived here for (a total of) about thirteen years and this is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this.
Saucony, I am BEGGING you…
Please return to the Kinvara 13 style. I have exclusively worn Kinvaras since 2012 and I have never had a single problem with any of their iteration until I hit the Kinvara 14s. Once I started wearing them, I had tons of foot pain and lower leg pain – things that I’ve never had. It was to the point where it was incredibly difficult to walk* and I actually reverted back to my previous Kinvara 11 pair (see this blog for the out-of-order shenanigans of my past few shoes).
Then today I thought: why go back to the 11s? I have a whole pile of Kinvara 13s that have about 500 miles on them each; surely a few days of walking/running in those won’t be too bad.
So I wore an old 13 pair today while running and guess what? The foot pain disappeared.
Entirely.
It’s like there was never any pain to begin with, which is pretty shocking given how bad the pain had actually gotten.
So yeah. Please please please please PLEASE go back to the 13 style. Your most loyal Kinvara customer will thank you.
*I did anyway, though. And ran. So I’m sure that didn’t help.
I’d like to issue a formal apology to the Kinvara 11s
Ugh.
SO.
I’m having a really rough time with the Kinvara 14s – rough enough that I actually reverted back to wearing my old worn-out Kinvara 11s (the ones I just finished with prior to this pair of 14s). While they’re not nearly as comfortable as the Kinvara 13s, they’re better than the 14s because it doesn’t feel like my ankle is getting actively eaten by a chainsaw when I wear them.
An angry bear, maybe, but not a chainsaw.
ANYWAY.
I was looking at the Running Room website last night to see if they had the Kinvara 15s yet and they had ONE PAIR LEFT of the Kinvara 13s in my size. I have never gotten my credit card out so fast, haha.
So at least I’ll have one more pair of 13s before having to go back to an inferior iteration again.
I have not been having a good time with shoes lately.
Caught in a Rad Bromance
The feels like is -29 degrees Fahrenheit right now.
Have a flower.
(I technically finished this on Saturday but who cares?)
Excuse me WHAT
You can buy the ORIGINAL Sims game on Steam now?
You can buy the Sims 2 on Steam now, too?
AND THEY BOTH COME WITH ALL THE EXPANSION PACKS AND STUFF????????
???????!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!?
I don’t care how glitchy it sounds like they are; I NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED
Edit: Nate bought me The Sims 2 Legacy as a birthday present. He has no idea what he’s done.
Edit again: I modded the everloving shit out of my original Sims 2 game; I wonder if I have all those mods somewhere and if they’d work in this game…
Edit again again: OF COURSE IT WAS
God dammit, USA
Trump hasn’t even been in office for two weeks yet, WHAT THE SHIT
Edit: this whole bag of nonsense has absolutely united Canadians. The “Buy Canadian” or “Don’t buy American” sentiment is strong. Stores are removing US products and/or clearly labeling which products are Canadian. Canadians are cancelling trips to the US; some others with winter homes in the south are selling them, not wanting to deal with this shit for the next four years. Even the US national anthem is getting booed at sporting events, which is wild.
Eigenblogger 