Gaythia Weis @Gaythia@social.cleverlibre.org

You know those sliced agate geodes you sometimes see in stores and on display?

Did you know you can "read" them?

Look carefully at the levels, banding, crystal habit and orientation, and you can work out how it formed.

Here's a great guide on how to do that: http://www.quartzpage.de/agate.html

It's on the Quartz Page website. Everything fascinating to know about quartz. That's why I'm voting for #Quartz in #MinCup23.

A new exhibit at the Houston Holocaust Museum is taking a look at the travel guides that Black road-trippers used to help them navigate safe spaces in the Jim Crow South.

https://www.chron.com/culture/article/new-houston-holocaust-museum-exhibit-highlights-18343149.php

#news #texas #history #houston

Similarly, there was no talk of a “free speech crisis” as long as those in power got to define the boundaries of what was / wasn’t acceptable speech – before traditionally marginalized groups gained enough influence and the technological means to make their claims heard. 22/

Nostalgia is a common reaction to change. And weaponized nostalgia is a powerful tool of reactionary politics. Let’s not fall for it. Absolutely no need to mythologize past eras of stable white Christian patriarchal rule.
 
More here: https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-triumph-of-weaponized-nostalgia

“Currently about 2/3rds of all Dutch children walk or bike to school, with 75% of secondary school kids cycling to school. By enabling safe and active travel, Dutch cities prevent an estimated one million car journeys to school each morning.” — Chris and Melissa Bruntlett in #CurbingTraffic @modacitylife

When more rain means less water https://badmomgoodmom.blogspot.com/2023/08/when-too-much-water-leads-to-water.html

Shortly ago Prof. John Perona got in touch to make us aware of his weekly newsletter "Earthward" and his website "From Knowledge to Power," new resources with some mission similarities to Skeptical Science but with strong identity of their own, and powerful content with a "public policy meets science" policy-centric approach.

Excited to learn about John’s website, we interviewed him to learn more of his history and how his site came to be.

#ClimateCommunications
https://skepticalscience.com/from-knowledge-to-power-an-interview-with-john-perona.html?utm-source=mastodon&utm-campaign=socialnetworks&utm-term=sks

Every month I round up the links, books, and media I found interesting. Here's my list for this month. Let me know what I missed! https://werd.io/2023/the-notable-list-september-2023

Thanks to the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling this May, the EPA was forced to remove protections from most of America's wetlands this week.

Harlan Crow's firm lobbied for the rollback while he secretly plied Justice Thomas with gifts.

Anyone see a problem here?

As our kids go #BackToSchool, never forget that we ARE the traffic that we’re using as an excuse. If more walked, biked or rode transit to school, it would erase a massive number of car trips each day, and our kids would be safer, healthier and better at school.

Spread the word.

Meanwhile in #Texas we're barely holding onto sanity in government. Glimmer of hope: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/08/30/texas-death-star-bill-unconstitutional/

From the #Austin Chronicle:
Right-Wing Extremists Harass McCallum High Students at School: They told kids they’re going to hell
https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2023-08-24/right-wing-extremists-harass-mccallum-high-students-at-school/

#news #politics #USpol #Texas #extremism #fascism #transphobia #schools

Want to know what my research is about? Follow this thread 🧵 based on a 10min talk I've drawn for a meeting.

The talk was aimed at non-specialist space science colleagues (not the general public!). The slides were built up step by step, but I'm omitting this here & showing only the final graphs, less this becomes a 34-part thread. 11 is plenty enough!

So: "Understanding Winds of Massive Stars Using High Mass X-ray Binaries"

#astrodon #XraysAreTheBestRays #SciArt #scicomm #VicisAstro
1/11

@futurebird I hope students realize that “took the illegal black history course” is the kind of thing many college admissions committees will consider favorably.

Several schools in Arkansas are defiantly teaching AP African American history. The state has warned them that the students will earn no credits.

Republicans continue to describe Black history as "indoctrination" and "teaching children to hate America" -- showing that they might benefit from the course themselves.

Start your weekend with an amazing video. This scuba diving fly lives in a lake 3X saltier than the ocean! https://www.kqed.org/science/1983796/this-daring-fly-swims-in-a-shimmering-bubble-shield

If you or I went into a state park and incinerated 4 acres and killed a pile of protected wildlife, we would face all sorts of fines, or even prison.

But Elon Musk gets to kill whatever he wants, with no consequence.

#Biodiversity #Texas #Musk #SpaceX

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-08-25/elon-musk-s-spacex-explosion-left-major-debris-after-starship-rocket-launch#xj4y7vzkg

My latest: Public Pushes Back On #CDC’s Plan To Weaken Infection Control via
@forbes
Recap of the #HICPAC meeting
https://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2023/08/25/public-pushes-back-on-cdcs-plan-to-weaken-infection-control/?sh=2f292ef57179
#Covid #CovidIsAirborne #LongCovid #disabilities #ADA #aerosol #ventilation