Gartesian Meditations
for van t. carlson.
for having the privilege to be around mary, max and ruby during their hard times.
and for my amazing friends who show me unconditional love and support daily no matter what. thank you for all of your texts, e-mails, calls and spontaneous visits.
Occupy Oakland, General Strike, Nov. 2, 2011
Submitted by apowers
npr:
Scientists have discovered a planet not too much bigger than Earth that’s circling a distant star that’s much like our own sun. What’s more, this planet is in the “Goldilocks zone” around that star — a region that’s not too hot and not too cold. That’s the kind of place that could be home to liquid water and maybe even life.
The planet, known as Kepler-22b, is the first near-Earth-sized planet to be found smack dab in the middle of the habitable zone of a twin to our Sun.
The planet is about 2 1/2 times the size of the Earth. It orbits a little closer to its star than our planet does to our sun, and goes around once every 290 days compared with our 365. But its star is a bit cooler than our sun, says William Borucki of NASA Ames Research Center, who heads NASA’s Kepler space telescope mission, which detected this planet.
“That means that that planet, Kepler-22b, has a rather similar temperature to that of the Earth,” Borucki says. “Its surface temperature would be something like 72 Fahrenheit.”
It’s not yet clear what kind of surface the planet might have — researchers don’t know if the planet is made mostly of rock or water or something else. And don’t expect astronauts to climb on a rocket and go there anytime soon.
“The star is some 600 light-years away,” says Borucki, “so it’s not terribly far away, but not terribly close either.”
Uh…no, December 7th is already taken! It’s Pearl Harbor day, DUH!
(Source: hellogiggles.com, via hellogiggles)
I didn’t peek!! Instead I called the lovely KC and chatted with her briefly.
I wish I could say that I didn’t peek because I was able to control myself, but calling KC was a means to distract myself. It worked! I actually talked with her for a mere five minutes because soon after we started talking, Max waltzed right in! O.M.G!! I would have been caught red-handed!!
Max had been waiting for a package from Fed-Ex all last week. The package finally arrived yesterday, at which time he made me leave the room while he inspected the contents of the box. After a few minutes, which I deemed the appropriate amount of time for inspection, I walked over and he said, “those are some of your Christmas presents. Promise me you won’t peek!”
Me: um…ok ;)
Max: I’m serious! I’m going to be mad if you do.
Me: Ooh!!! They’re that cool, huh??
Max: Carina, I’m not kidding (Max only calls me by my name when it’s something serious).
Me: Fine!!
We then gathered our things and left for the day. This morning Max went over to his parents and I went to do some volunteer work. We were supposed to meet up after my volunteer work so I could go to his parents, but…I ended a bit early and now I’m home. Alone.
I’ve already peeked in his office and I see *the* box.
What is a girl to do?? HELP!!
