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nasa · 1 month

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What We Learned from Flying a Helicopter on Mars

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter made history – not only as the first aircraft to perform powered, controlled flight on another world – but also for exceeding expectations, pushing the limits, and setting the stage for future NASA aerial exploration of other worlds.

Built as a technology demonstration designed to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, Ingenuity performed flight operations from the Martian surface for almost three years. The helicopter ended its mission on Jan. 25, 2024, after sustaining damage to its rotor blades during its 72nd flight.

So, what did we learn from this small but mighty helicopter?

We can fly rotorcraft in the thin atmosphere of other planets.

Ingenuity proved that powered, controlled flight is possible on other worlds when it took to the Martian skies for the first time on April 19, 2021.

Flying on planets like Mars is no easy feat: The Red Planet has a significantly lower gravity – one-third that of Earth’s – and an extremely thin atmosphere, with only 1% the pressure at the surface compared to our planet. This means there are relatively few air molecules with which Ingenuity’s two 4-foot-wide (1.2-meter-wide) rotor blades can interact to achieve flight.

Ingenuity performed several flights dedicated to understanding key aerodynamic effects and how they interact with the structure and control system of the helicopter, providing us with a treasure-trove of data on how aircraft fly in the Martian atmosphere.

Now, we can use this knowledge to directly improve performance and reduce risk on future planetary aerial vehicles.

Creative solutions and “ingenuity” kept the helicopter flying longer than expected.

Over an extended mission that lasted for almost 1,000 Martian days (more than 33 times longer than originally planned), Ingenuity was upgraded with the ability to autonomously choose landing sites in treacherous terrain, dealt with a dead sensor, dusted itself off after dust storms, operated from 48 different airfields, performed three emergency landings, and survived a frigid Martian winter.

Fun fact: To keep costs low, the helicopter contained many off-the-shelf-commercial parts from the smartphone industry - parts that had never been tested in deep space. Those parts also surpassed expectations, proving durable throughout Ingenuity’s extended mission, and can inform future budget-conscious hardware solutions.

There is value in adding an aerial dimension to interplanetary surface missions.

Ingenuity traveled to Mars on the belly of the Perseverance rover, which served as the communications relay for Ingenuity and, therefore, was its constant companion. The helicopter also proved itself a helpful scout to the rover.

After its initial five flights in 2021, Ingenuity transitioned to an “operations demonstration,” serving as Perseverance’s eyes in the sky as it scouted science targets, potential rover routes, and inaccessible features, while also capturing stereo images for digital elevation maps.

Airborne assets like Ingenuity unlock a new dimension of exploration on Mars that we did not yet have – providing more pixels per meter of resolution for imaging than an orbiter and exploring locations a rover cannot reach.

Tech demos can pay off big time.

Ingenuity was flown as a technology demonstration payload on the Mars 2020 mission, and was a high risk, high reward, low-cost endeavor that paid off big. The data collected by the helicopter will be analyzed for years to come and will benefit future Mars and other planetary missions.

Just as the Sojourner rover led to the MER-class (Spirit and Opportunity) rovers, and the MSL-class (Curiosity and Perseverance) rovers, the team believes Ingenuity’s success will lead to future fleets of aircraft at Mars.

In general, NASA’s Technology Demonstration Missions test and advance new technologies, and then transition those capabilities to NASA missions, industry, and other government agencies. Chosen technologies are thoroughly ground- and flight-tested in relevant operating environments — reducing risks to future flight missions, gaining operational heritage and continuing NASA’s long history as a technological leader.

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You can fall in love with robots on another planet.

Following in the tracks of beloved Martian rovers, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter built up a worldwide fanbase. The Ingenuity team and public awaited every single flight with anticipation, awe, humor, and hope.

Check out #ThanksIngenuity on social media to see what’s been said about the helicopter’s accomplishments.

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Learn more about Ingenuity’s accomplishments here. And make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

#tech #technology #futurism #space #robotics #inspiration #science #planets #NASA #aviation #Youtube

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targetstudy · 1 year

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What is Norovirus, Causes, Symptoms, Infection, Treatment & More

Norovirus is a contagious virus that have common causes of gastroenteritis (vomiting and diarrhea). This virus is spread maximum during winter seasons.

Norovirus is also known as the “winter vomiting bug”. This virus has maximum effects on children. This Virus can also spread from one person to another person coronavirus.

According to the world health organization (WHO) said there are 685 million cases coming annually and from them, children’s cases are 200.

The norovirus infection causes an approximated 2 lakhs deaths to come per year and more than 50,000 death cases of children.

Read More About Norovirus

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mostlysignssomeportents · 25 days

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General Mills and cheaply bought "dietitians" co-opted the anti-diet movement

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in NEXT THURSDAY (Apr 11) in BOSTON with Randall "XKCD" Munroehttps://cockeyed.com/lessons/viagra/viagra.html, then PROVIDENCE, RI (Apr 12), and beyond!

Steve Bannon isn't wrong: for his brand of nihilistic politics to win, all he has to do is "flood the zone with shit," demoralizing people to the point where they no longer even try to learn the truth.

This is really just a more refined, more potent version of the tactical doubt sown by Big Tobacco about whether smoking caused cancer, a playbook later adopted by the fossil fuel industry to sell climate denial. You know Darrell Huff's 1954 classic How To Lie With Statistics? Huff was a Big Tobacco shill (his next book, which wasn't ever published, was How To Lie With Cancer Statistics). His mission wasn't to help you spot statistical malpractice – an actual thing that is an actual problem that you should actually learn to spot. It was to turn you into a nihilist who didn't believe anything could be known:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/04/how-to-truth/#harford

Corporations don't need you to believe that their products are beneficial or even non-harmful. They just need you to believe nothing. If you don't know what's true, then why not just do whatever feels good, man? #YOLO!

These bannonfloods of shit are a favored tactic of strongmen and dictators. Their grip on power doesn't depend on their citizens trusting them – it's enough that they trust no one:

http://jonathanstray.com/networked-propaganda-and-counter-propaganda

Bannonflooding is especially beloved of the food industry. Food is essential, monopolized, and incredibly complicated, and many of the most profitable strategies for growing, processing and preparing food are very bad for the people who eat that food. Rather than sacrificing profits, the food industry floods the zone with shit, making it impossible to know what's true, in hopes that we will just eat whatever they're serving:

https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2003460

Now, the "nothing can be known" gambit only works if it's really hard to get at the truth. So it helps that nutrition and diet are very complex subjects, but it helps even more that the nutrition and diet industry are a cesspool of quacks and junk science. This is a "scientific discipline" whose prestigious annual meetings are sponsored (and catered) by McDonald's:

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/05/my-trip-mcdonalds-sponsored-nutritionist-convention/

It's a "science" whose most prominent pitchmen peddle quack nostrums and sue the critics who point out (correctly) that eating foods high in chlorophyll will not "oxygenate your blood" (hint, chlorophyll only makes oxygen in the presence of light, which is notably lacking in your colon):

https://www.badscience.net/2007/02/ms-gillian-mckeith-banned-from-calling-herself-a-doctor/

When the quack-heavy world of nutrition combines with the socially stigmatized world of weight-loss, you get a zone ripe for shitflooding. The majority of Americans are "overweight" (according to a definition that relies on the unscientific idea of BMI) and nearly half of Americans are "obese." These numbers have been climbing steadily since the 1970s, and every diet turns out to be basically bullshit:

https://headgum.com/factually-with-adam-conover/what-does-ozepmic-actually-do-with-dr-dhruv-khullar

Notwithstanding the new blockbuster post-Ozempic drugs, we're been through an unbroken 50-year run of more and more of us being fatter and fatter, even as fat stigma increased. Fat people are treated as weak-willed and fundamentally unhealthy, while the most prominent health-risks of being fat are roundly neglected: the mental health effects of being shamed, and the physical risks of having doctors ignore your health complaints, no matter how serious they sound, and blame them on your weight:

https://maintenancephase.buzzsprout.com/1411126/11968083-glorifying-obesity-and-other-myths-about-fat-people

Fat people and their allies have banded together to address these real, urgent harms. The "body acceptance" movement isn't merely about feeling good in your own skin: it's also about fighting discrimination, demanding medical care (beyond "lose some weight") and warning people away from getting on the diet treadmill, which can lead to dangerous eating disorders and permanent weight gain:

https://www.beacon.org/You-Just-Need-to-Lose-Weight-P1853.aspx

Fat stigma is real. The mental health risks of fat-shaming are real. Eating disorders are real. Discrimination against fat people is real. The fact that these things are real doesn't mean that the food industry can't flood the zone with shit, though. On the contrary: the urgency of these issues, combined with the poor regulation of dietitians, makes the "what should you eat" zone perfect for flooding with endless quantities of highly profitable shit.

Perhaps you've gotten some of this shit on you. Have you found yourself watching a video from a dietitian influencer like Cara Harbstreet, Colleen Christensen or Lauren Smith, promoting "health at any size" with hashtags like #DerailTheShame and #AntiDiet? These were paid campaigns sponsored by General Mills, Pepsi, and other multinational, multibillion-dollar corporations.

Writing for The Examination, Sasha Chavkin, Anjali Tsui, Caitlin Gilbert and Anahad O'Connor describe the way that some of the world's largest and most profitable corporations have hijacked a movement where fat people and their allies fight stigma and shame and used it to peddle the lie that their heavily processed, high-calorie food is good for you:

https://www.theexamination.org/articles/as-obesity-rises-big-food-and-dietitians-push-anti-diet-advice

It's a surreal tale. They describe a speech by Amy Cohn, General Mills’ senior manager for nutrition, to an audience at a dietitian's conference, where Cohn "denounced the media for 'pointing the finger at processed foods' and making consumers feel ashamed of their choices." This is some next-level nihilism: rather than railing against the harmful stigma against fat people, Cohn wants us to fight the stigma against Cocoa Puffs.

This message isn't confined to industry conferences. Dietitians with large Tiktok followings like Cara Harbstreet then carry the message out to the public. In Harbstreet's video promoting Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs and Trix, she says, "I will always advocate for fearlessly nourishing meals, including cereal…Because everyone deserves to enjoy food without judgment, especially kids":

https://www.tiktok.com/@streetsmart.rd/video/7298403730989436206

Dietitians, nutritionists and the food industry have always had an uncomfortably close relationship, but the industry's shitflooding kicked into high gear when the FDA proposed rules limiting which foods the industry can promote as "healthy." General Mills, Kelloggs and Post have threatened a First Amendment suit against such a regulation, arguing that they have a free speech right to describe manifestly unhealthy food as "healthy."

The anti-diet movement – again, a legitimate movement aimed at fighting the dangerous junk science behind dieting – has been co-opted by the food industry, who are paying dietitian influencers to say things like "all foods have value" while brandishing packages of Twix and Reese's. In their Examination article, the authors profile people who struggled with their weight, then, after encountering the food industry's paid disinformation, believed that "healthy at any size" meant that it would be unhealthy to avoid highly processed, high calorie food. These people gained large amounts of weight, and found their lives constrained and their health severely compromised.

I've been overweight all my life. I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting when I was 12. I come from a family of overweight people with the chronic illnesses often associated with being fat. This is a subject that's always on my mind. I even wrote a whole novel about the promise and peril of a weight-loss miracle:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781429969284/makers

I think the anti-diet movement, and its associated ideas like body acceptance and healthy at every size, are enormously positive developments and hugely important. It's because I value these ideas that I'm so disgusted with Big Food and its cynical decision to flood the zone with shit. It's also why I'm so furious with dietitians and nutritionists for failing to self-regulate and become a real profession, the kind that censures and denounces quacks and shills.

I have complicated feelings about Ozempic and its successors, but even if these prove to be effective and safe in the long term, and even if we rein in the rapacious pharma companies so that they no longer sell a $5 product for $1000, I would still want dietary science to clean up its act:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2816824

I'm not a nihilist. I think we can use science to discover truths – about ourselves and our world. I want to know those truths, and I think they can be known. The only people who benefit from convincing you that the truth is unknowable are the people who want to lie to you.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/05/corrupt-for-cocoa-puffs/#flood-the-zone-with-shit

#pluralistic #corruption #nutrition #food #diets #dieticians #nutritionists #junk science #junk food #astroturf #fat acceptance #fatphobia #health #nihilism #steve bannon #flood the zone with shit #general mills #dietitians

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opensourcec2m · 2 years

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#14th December 2021 #Founder & CEO #Click2Cloud #Deepak Vij #Software Strategist #5G & AI.#artificial intelligence #science #technology #futurism #robotics #gadgets #business #education #news

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insperonjournal · 2 years

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#latest science and technology news #science and technology latest updates #new technology 2021 in computer science #science and technology news today

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sir-kettle-of-countertop · 4 months

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So, I saw a post circulating here about the “extinction of birds in 2023“, with this picture attached

My, what a bold claim! All these poor birdies, “went extinct” in just one year alone? Why would such an outrageous, depressing and catchy claim be spread around? Let’s fact check it.

All the species listed, Bachman’s wabler (Vermivora bachmanii, 1988 or 1980s), Kāmaʻo or large Kauaʻi thrush (Myadestes myadestinus, 1989 or 1987), Bridled white-eye (Zosterops conspicillatus, 1983 and 1983), Kauai ʻakialoa (Akialoa stejnegeri, 1969 or 1960s), Kauaʻi ʻōʻō (Moho braccatus, 1987 and 1987), Kauaʻi nukupuʻu (Hemignathus hanapepe, 1899 and 1899), Maui ʻakepa (Loxops ochraceus, 1988 and 1988), Kākāwahie or Molokaʻi creeper (Paroreomyza flammea, 1963 and 1963), Maui nukupuʻu (Hemignathus affinis, 1896* and 1996 ) and Poʻouli (Melamprosops phaeosoma, 2004 and 2004) are all, indeed, either extinct or possibly extinct, according to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

What are the dates after the scientific names? Well, those all are *last sightings* per IUCN Red List and USFWS accordingly. So, these birds were not seen for DECADES and in one case FOR MORE THAN A GODDAMN CENTURY. And sure as hell there is NO information about them very suddenly being gone all last year.

What’s the deal then? Where did this claim even come from? Well, likely from this article "21 Species Delisted from the Endangered Species Act due to Extinction" from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. It includes all the birds in the picture (with the last date of sight, listed above).

From the article: “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is delisting 21 species from the Endangered Species Act due to extinction. Based on rigorous reviews of the best available science for each of these species, the Service determined these species are extinct and should be removed from the list of species protected under the ESA. Most of these species were listed under the ESA in the 1970s and 80s and were in very low numbers or likely already extinct at the time of listing.”

They didn’t ALL fucking suddenly drop dead all in the same year – if they did, as some other people have already pointed out, there would be an uproar EVERYWHERE. Ornithologists alone would not let it live down. They were officially delisted from endangered status by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service that year, there was a proposition to do so back in 2021, too. Some were already declared extinct before by IUCN.

Despite not being seen for so long, they remained on the list of critically endangered for a long while, cause you cannot just immediately declare a species extinct. There’s no RTS unit amount number that goes to 0 once there’s nothing left; people keep checking for them over and over and over again. Sometimes it turns out that a species previously thought to be extinct is actually still out there. Attenborough's long-beaked echidna for example was last sighted SIXTY YEARS ago before being sighted again in 2023. It was thought to be extinct for a while, before 2007, when signs of its activity was spotted again. More often than not though, a species turns out to be actually very extinct, unfortunately – like in this case. I cannot possibly know if the creators of this picture, or people that spread it on social media ever had good intentions behind it for awareness, however even if they did, it turned out to be nothing but very blatant misinformation, with a fearmongering effect. The only thing this achieves is not awareness of habitat destruction or pernicious tourist influence or climate change or what have you – the only thing this achieves is despair and panic. People already so casually fall into complete doomerism, they’re very used to hear bad news. And guess what doomerists do? Typically nothing. It renders people helpless. It’s not gonna make people get up and be ready for action, it, at best, would just make people feel sad and/or angry, or at worst, feed into the current alarming rise of ecofascism. NOTHING good comes out of this. At the very goddamn least, no one needs to lie to promote a goal.

The aim of the USFWS article, on the other hand, IS to make people aware about those animals that are already gone from the face of the planet, no matter how long ago, and that now we have to protect those animals that are critically endangered and still out there – to not have to repeat those tragedies.

Be very critical of what you see on the internet, especially if it’s sited with no sources. Especially-especially if it causes a strong emotional reaction. Lies and misinfo could only hurt the cause, no matter how noble. And please, be aware of your local wildlife status. Check in with it accoding to trusted sources.

[*sic, possibly a typo and it was meant to be 1996, other confirmed date listed there is 1989] Addendum: I could not for sure find the uncredided (who woulda thunken that ppl that don't cite their sources would also not credit the artists) author(s) of the bird illustrations. If someone finds them, please, let me know! Edit: Huge thanks to moosefinch for finding the sources for the artwork! I'll add their contribution below:

"Image sources!

The Kauai ʻakialoa, Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, Maui ʻakepa and Kauaʻi nukupuʻu are from Birds of the World.

The "Maui nukupuʻu" and "Molokaʻi creeper" illustrations are also Birds of the World, but are actually a female Kauaʻi nukupuʻu (the other being the male) and Laysan honeycreeper/Laysan ʻapapane respectively.

The bridled white-eye is by Lauren Helton according to this source.

Bachman's warbler is by Lynn Hawkinson Smith/smithhouse2 according to this Etsy listing.

The Poʻouli is by Christina Czajkowski."

#ah I just now see that the tumblr reblog of the pic and the twitter thread attached was deleted #yet the post is still in circulation. The damage lingers #so fucking irresponsible #fact check #misinformation #birds #bird #ecology #environmentalism #extinction #conservation #species conservation #animals #hawaiʻi #important

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pedroam-bang · 7 months

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Crysis 3 Remastered (2021)

#2021 #gaming #science fiction #post-apocalyptic #Crysis 3 Remastered #Crysis 3 #Crysis #Alcatraz #Nanosuit #Prophet #Psycho #CELL #New York #New York City #NYC #Mk.20 #SCAR

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mammalidentifier · 7 months

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all kidns of strange and wonderful beafts in the world. how do we even know them all. wh

That’s the beauty of it: we don’t know them all! We’re constantly discovering new species! Granted, some of these discoveries weren’t completely unknown to science and were only misidentified as a different animal, but they’re still pretty cool nonetheless. Here are some mammals that were discovered in the past few years:

The Popa langur (Trachypithecus popa), first described in 2020.

The northern greater glider (Petauroides minor) and the central greater glider (Petauroides armillatus), upgraded from subspecies of the southern greater glider (Petauroides volans), to their own species in 2020.

The Ramari’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon eueu), described from a single beached specimen in 2021!

The striking Halloween colored Nimba myotis bat (Myotis nimbaensis), described in 2021.

The southern maned sloth (Bradypus crinitus), first described in 2022.

The Benin tree hyrax (Dendrohyrax interfluvialis), first described in 2022.

The eastern Mindanao gymnure (Podogymnura intermedia) and the Kitanglad gymnure (podogymnura minima), first described this year, in January 2023.

And the Talpa hakkariensis mole, described just last month in August 2023!

#Monkeys #Gliders #Bats #Whales #Sloths #Hyraxes #Gymnures #Answers #Seeingsmoke

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fatehbaz · 8 months

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This April [2021], the Iowa Department of Corrections issued a ban on charities, family members, and other outside parties donating books to prisoners. Under the state’s new guidelines, incarcerated people can get books only from a handful of “approved vendors.” Used books are prohibited altogether [...].

In 2018, the Michigan prison system introduced an almost identical set of rules, and Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington have all made attempts to block book donations, which were only rolled back after public outcry. Across the United States, the agencies responsible for mass imprisonment are trying to severely limit incarcerated people’s access to the written word [...].

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The official narrative is that donated books could contain “contraband [...]" -- the language used in Michigan [...]. This is a flimsy justification that begins to fall apart under even the lightest scrutiny. [...] [Contraband] [...] [is] not originating from nonprofit groups like the Appalachian Prison Book Project or Philadelphia’s Books Through Bars. [....] The old cartoon scenario of a hollow book with a saw or a gun inside just isn’t realistic, and its invocation is a sign that something else is going on.

That “something else,” predictably enough, is profit. With free books banned, prisoners are forced to rely on the small list of “approved vendors” chosen for them by the prison administration. These retailers directly benefit when states introduce restrictions. In Iowa, the approved sources include [B&N] and [B-a-M], some of America’s largest retail chains -- and, notably, ones which charge the full MSRP value for each book, quickly draining prisoners’ accounts. An incarcerated person with, say, $20 to spend can now only get one book, as opposed to three or four used ones; in states where prisoners make as little as 25 cents an hour for their labor, many can’t afford even that.

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With e-books, the situation is even worse, as companies like [GTL] supply supposedly “free” tablets which actually charge their users by the minute to read.

Even public-domain classics, available on Project Gutenberg, are only available at a price under these systems -- and prisons, in turn, receive a 5% commission on every charge. All of this amounts to rampant price-gouging and profiteering on an industrial scale.

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The rise of these private vendors has also been mirrored by the systematic dismantling of the prison library system. In the last ten years, budgets for literacy and educational resources have seen dramatic cuts, reducing funding to almost nothing [...]. In Illinois, for instance, the Department of Corrections spent just $276 on books across the entire state in 2017, down from an already meager $605 the previous year. (This means, incidentally, that each of the state’s roughly 39,000 prisoners was allotted seven-tenths of a cent.)

Oklahoma, meanwhile, has no dedicated budget for books at all, requiring prison librarians to purchase them out-of-pocket. [...]

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These practices become all the more abhorrent when you consider the impact books can have behind bars. By now, the social science on their benefits is well-established [...]. [O]ther inmates have reported that reading meant “the difference between just giving up mentally and emotionally and making it through another day, week, or year,” countering the dehumanizing effects of their imprisonment. A book can offer a brief, irreplaceable moment of calm in hellish circumstances. [...]

[There is] a shameful pattern in American society, where many people simply don’t think about the incarcerated on a day-to-day basis, let alone sympathize with their worsening conditions. [...] One of the most common arguments for the American carceral system, and its continued existence, is that of rehabilitation. According to its defenders, a prison is not simply a place of suffering, where unwanted populations are sent to disappear. Nor is it a callous money-making machine, intended to squeeze free labor from them in a regime of functional slavery. Instead, prison rehabilitates -- so the story goes. [...] In these terms, the basic legitimacy of mass imprisonment, and its allegedly positive social role, is taken for granted. [...] But the practice of book banning exposes the lie. Not only do American prisons have little interest in education, healing, and growth, but they will actively prevent them the moment there is a dollar to be made or an ounce of power to be secured.

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Text by: Alex Skopic. "The American Prison System's War on Reading". Protean (Protean magazine online). 29 November 2021. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

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rudrjobdesk · 2 years

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धरती पर से टल गया संकट का बड़ा साया ! यूरोपियन स्पेस एजेंसी ने की पुष्टि

Deadly Asteroid is Out of Risk List : अंतरिक्ष की दुनिया बेहद रहस्यमयी है. यहां हर रोज़ कुछ न कुछ होता रहता है, जिसका असर हमारे ग्रह पर भी पड़ता है. कभी ये असर हमें खौफ में ला देता है तो कभी राहत देने वाला होता है. हाल ही में वैज्ञानिकों ने इस बात को लेकर राहत जताई है कि 30 साल बाद हमारी धरती के लिए खतरा बना हुआ एक एस्टेरॉयड (Dangerous Asteroids For Earth) अब रिस्क लिस्ट से बाहर हो चुका…

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lookingforcactus · 3 months

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Went to a big quilting convention today and am feeling inspired so here's todays edition of

What the fuck do you mean that's a quilt??

Most people have no idea about how much craft goes into quilting or how much quilting as a craft, art, and even a science has been evolving in recent years. So here's my personal appreciation post

And btw the flat images do NOT even do these quilts justice, especially in terms of the absolutely amazing and detailed texture embroidery that a lot of quilters are using these days. Up close the texture and the sheer detail of many of them is just stunning

These are all from the Road to California quilt show 2023

1st Place: Portrait

Title: Sharing the Moment Maker: Hollis Chatelain Quilter: Hollis Chatelain Design Basis: Maker's Original Design African-American women are a powerful force in motivating their families and communities to vote. I wanted to create a piece about this and highlight the fact that African-American women did not receive the right to vote in all 50 states until 1965 when the Voting Rights Act was passed. I met Phyllis at a rally. I was drawn to her and asked if she would be my model. Without hesitation she said yes. She later brought her friend Loretta with her.

1st Place: Naturescape

Title: Augustinii Maker: Andrea Brokenshire Quilter: Andrea Brokenshire Design Basis: Maker's Original Design “Augustinii” is a blue/purple variety of rhododendron my momma planted within her forest garden. I was lucky to be home on when it was in bloom. When I see this quilt, I am reminded of my momma and how she loves to tend her garden and “grub in the dirt.”

1st Place: Pictorial

Title: Leap of Faith Maker: Kestrel Michaud Quilter: Kestrel Michaud Design Basis: Original design In this Steampunk fantasy world, men and women have taken to the skies on ships held aloft by hot air, ingenuity, and luck. Faith’s favorite past-time is bungee-jumping off the side of her airship, with Bubo, her pet clockwork owl. This quilt depicts the photo Faith took on her latest jump to test her brand-new camera and selfie stick.

2nd Place: Naturescape

Title: Homage to Birches Bare Maker: Jessica Noble Quilter: Jessica Noble Design Basis: Fabric recreation of Kesler Woodward's Birches Bare, acrylic on I fell in love with Kesler Woodward’s Birches Bare painting and knew I had to create it in fabric. I cut about 1,700 pattern pieces out of freezer paper and then fused fabric, through the fall of 2019 until the pandemic started. During this time, I homeschooled my two children and the quilt sat in quarantine. I quilted this freehand on my midarm in the winter of 2021. I managed to take the majority of the summer of 2022 on the binding.

2nd Place: Pictorial

Title: Toroweap Overlook Maker: Sandra Mollon Quilter: Sandra Mollon Design Basis: Derived from a photo Toroweap Overlook, in the Grand Canyon National Park, is an incredible view of the Colorado River. When John Slot sent me the photo to consider for an art quilt, I realized the complexity of the amount of the pieces it would require, but knew I had to do it. Raw edge fused, machine quilted, small amounts of media.

3rd Place: Pictorial

Title: Catch it Yuri! Maker: Hiroko Miyama and Masanobu Miyama Quilter: Hiroko Miyama Design Basis: Maker's Original Design Inspired by dogs’ action. Yuri, golden retriever big jumped to catch a ball and Ponta, mix hardly waited his turn. Dogs and girl were fused appliquéd.

Seriously can you believe these are all quilts!!! incredible amazing showstopping spectacular

#I said today's edition but this is in fact the only addition #so far!#might make another one when they put up the winners from this year #which will hopefully be in the next few days #quilting #quiltblr #fiber crafts #fabric art #fiber art #fibercraft #textiles #quilt art #quilt making #quilts #textile art #fibre arts

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blueiskewl · 7 months

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New Mexico Footprints are Oldest Sign of Humans in Americas

Fossil footprints date back to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago, upending previous theory that humans reached continent later.

New research confirms that fossil human footprints in New Mexico are probably the oldest direct evidence of human presence in the Americas, a finding that upends what many archaeologists thought they knew.

The footprints were discovered at the edge of an ancient lakebed in White Sands national park and date back to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago, according to research published on Thursday in the journal Science.

The estimated age of the footprints was first reported in Science in 2021, but some researchers raised concerns about the dates. Questions focused on whether seeds of aquatic plants used for the original dating may have absorbed ancient carbon from the lake – which could, in theory, throw off radiocarbon dating by thousands of years.

The new study presents two additional lines of evidence for the older date range. It uses two entirely different materials found at the site, ancient conifer pollen and quartz grains.

The reported age of the footprints challenges the once conventional wisdom that humans did not reach the Americas until a few thousand years before rising sea levels covered the Bering land bridge between Russia and Alaska, perhaps about 15,000 years ago.

“This is a subject that’s always been controversial because it’s so significant – it’s about how we understand the last chapter of the peopling of the world,” said Thomas Urban, an archaeological scientist at Cornell University, who was involved in the 2021 study but not the new one.

Thomas Stafford, an independent archaeological geologist in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who was not involved in the study, said he “was a bit skeptical before” but now is convinced.

The new study isolated about 75,000 grains of pure pollen from the same sedimentary layer that contained the footprints.

“Dating pollen is arduous and nail-biting,” said Kathleen Springer, a research geologist at the US Geological Survey and a co-author of the new paper.

Ancient footprints of any kind can provide archaeologists with a snapshot of a moment in time. While other archeological sites in the Americas point to similar date ranges – including pendants carved from giant ground sloth remains in Brazil – scientists still question whether such materials really indicate human presence.

“White Sands is unique because there’s no question these footprints were left by people, it’s not ambiguous,” said Jennifer Raff, an anthropological geneticist at the University of Kansas, who was not involved in the study.

#New Mexico Footprints are Oldest Sign of Humans in Americas #fossil #fossil footprints #White Sands national park #ancient artifacts #geology #geologist #archeology #archeolgst #history #history news #ancient history #ancient culture #ancient civilizations #ancient man

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2kmps · 7 months

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alucard could never just outright say that he wanted attention.

notes; 850 words, written in 2021, sotn-coded alucard, roughly proofread.

As it was a peculiar day, there were the behaviors to match. Within the spiraling towers of somber stone of the castle, haven was found in the countless grimoires bound in dark, stretched leather that held a certain mustiness accompanying their age.

There were such books on sciences and medicine, of great magic and witchcraft; a seemingly endless collection rowed the gargantuan shelving that touched top and bottom of the tower. Much of the matters discussed within their pages were meticulously preserved, yet they still were worn yellow with some holes, crisp texture and grit beneath your fingertips as you skimmed them.

In truth, you understood very little of what was being explained, most of it in languages and writing you were unfamiliar with. You were not imbued with magical abilities, you were no creature of the night nor fae nor beast; merely a human with the insatiable curiosity to persist in your pursuit for new knowledge.

It had, perhaps, been that reason alone that Alucard had provided you refuge so long ago now. You were simply a nosy human, no more harm than a fierce woodland rodent.

He had kept you at an impressive distance for quite a long time, so much so that you thought you occupied a space with a ghost. You saw him drift from room-to-room often, seemingly like an aimless entity, always gliding at a brisk pace with stale air catching beneath his long coat. His eyes were so focused, there was a goal in mind, though you wondered what he ever accomplished.

And, without fail, you noticed the way his hair moved around him. That beautiful hair that glistened like tinsel when the light filtered in from grungy stained glass. You had thought him to be of an otherworldly kind of beauty; somewhat angelic, somewhat ghostly and intangible.

You had fallen in love with him upon sight.

“It’s dim,” Alucard rarely brought attention to himself during his excursions to track your whereabouts in the castle, though this had recently changed. Tonight, he brought with him an exquisite lantern with warm colored glass that set the room awash in yellow light. “Is your candle sufficient for your reading?”

“I think I’m doing alright, thanks.” You replied, providing a swift glance at the dancing, delicate flame within arms reach of you. “What brings you all the way to this wing of the castle tonight?”

It was custom for him to thwart your attempts to question him, better yet, he often didn’t answer you at all. As of late, you had seen a change in his behaviors, he stayed nearby, usually no further than a room or two away. When your evenings were spent engrossed in texts, he took to being in that space with you as well, usually without any words to accompany it.

However, tonight was one of those peculiar nights.

“The halls are far too empty.” He said this so solemnly, though his expression remained still as stone. “Do you wish for privacy?”

You kept your thumb tucked between the pages for a moment before fully setting aside the book, shifted your body on the canape and gave your thigh an eager pat. Predictably, Alucard did nothing for a long while as he contemplated your gesture, despite fully knowing what you meant by it.

He was gentle with the lantern as he placed it nearby, finding a seat opposite of you on the piece of furniture, lowering himself onto the cushions with the back of his head resting on your lap. His legs were close to hanging off the edge of the seat, forcing him to draw a knee up while the other draped over the side. He made a point to avoid your gaze at first, and then close his eyes altogether once your fingers touched his scalp.

“I’m going to start asking you to tell me what you want.” You said with a teasing tone, lightly coiling his loose curls around your fingers as you worked through the long tresses. “There’s nothing wrong with telling me you want company, or to spend time together. There’s nothing wrong with not wanting to be alone.”

“I am aware,” he mumbled, resting both hands on his chest. “I do not want to burden you with something so insignificant.”

You shook your head, fixated still on watching his hair shine like spun gold and slip between your fingers as if the strands were of the finest silk. If you had considered that he’d look for attention tonight, a brush would had been kept close by. You worked through the few knots that had formed while you played with his hair, wrapping strands through your fingers until they resembled gold rings. The dainty curls that framed his face bounced with the motions.

After a silence which spanned long enough, you slid your hands lower until they cradled the sides of his face, giving a comforting warmth to his cold skin. Alucard opened his eyes slowly, lifting his chin to better meet your gaze.

“You’re beautiful, Alucard.”

A wisp of a smile. “As are you.”

divider; @/anlian-aishang

reposted from my deleted blog, cardeneiv

please interact & reblog if you enjoyed this piece! ❤️

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