Astro-image of the day: the clouds of Venus

Have you been watching Venus lately, around sunset? So bright! Here's what it looks like from the Hubble Space Telescope:

Click the image to see the story.

Best,
Chris

Astro-image of the day: the clouds of Venus

Have you been watching Venus lately, around sunset? So bright! Here's what it looks like from the Hubble Space Telescope:

Click the image to see the story.

Best,
Chris

Astro-image of the day (bonus): the surface of Altair!

You know how stars always show up as little points of light, even in the biggest telescopes? Well, check out this image:

Click the image to see the story.

Doesn't seem like much, eh? Until you realize that what you're looking at is an actual image of the surface of a star! This is the first time ever that astronomers have taken a photo of a star's surface. Holy magnificent magnification, Batman! They used a process called optical interferometry; read the science article .pdf if you want to know how they did it.

Click here for the science article and animations and more images. (The movie explains why it's squashed like that; think Mesklin.)

Wow!

Best,
Chris

Astro-image of the day (bonus): the surface of Altair!

You know how stars always show up as little points of light, even in the biggest telescopes? Well, check out this image:

Click the image to see the story.

Doesn't seem like much, eh? Until you realize that what you're looking at is an actual image of the surface of a star! This is the first time ever that astronomers have taken a photo of a star's surface. Holy magnificent magnification, Batman! They used a process called optical interferometry; read the science article .pdf if you want to know how they did it.

Click here for the science article and animations and more images. (The movie explains why it's squashed like that; think Mesklin.)

Wow!

Best,
Chris

suggestion to improve LJ re: recent unpleasantness

In case this doesn't make it to the suggestions community, posting here. Whaddya think? (This assumes LJ won't seize up when I try to post this...)

Title

• Add "likes" list in addition to "interests" list.

Short, concise description of the idea

• "Interests" are not "likes."

Full description of the idea

• A graduate student in my department wrote his thesis about vermin, specifically rats and cockroaches in literature. He does not "like" rats and cockroaches - in fact, he's disgusted by them - but is interested in how we portray them in fiction.
  By adding a "likes" list, we can avoid all the recent unpleasantness about what shows up in people's "interest" lists.

An ordered list of benefits

• Accurately reflects what users like vs. what interests them.


• Avoids unpleasantness of late on LJ.


• Helps users better understand other users and match interests and likes.


• Allows for more granularity in user profiles, as we can understand what's an interest and what's a like.

An ordered list of problems/issues involved

• Requires people to split up interests and likes.


• Requires LJ to create a new field and allow more listed items in profiles.

An organized list, or a few short paragraphs detailing suggestions for implementation

• Create a new field in the User Profile section.

(PS: Wow, this actually posted! I guess the DDoS attack has been beaten.)

suggestion to improve LJ re: recent unpleasantness

In case this doesn't make it to the suggestions community, posting here. Whaddya think? (This assumes LJ won't seize up when I try to post this...)

Title

• Add "likes" list in addition to "interests" list.

Short, concise description of the idea

• "Interests" are not "likes."

Full description of the idea

• A graduate student in my department wrote his thesis about vermin, specifically rats and cockroaches in literature. He does not "like" rats and cockroaches - in fact, he's disgusted by them - but is interested in how we portray them in fiction.
  By adding a "likes" list, we can avoid all the recent unpleasantness about what shows up in people's "interest" lists.

An ordered list of benefits

• Accurately reflects what users like vs. what interests them.


• Avoids unpleasantness of late on LJ.


• Helps users better understand other users and match interests and likes.


• Allows for more granularity in user profiles, as we can understand what's an interest and what's a like.

An ordered list of problems/issues involved

• Requires people to split up interests and likes.


• Requires LJ to create a new field and allow more listed items in profiles.

An organized list, or a few short paragraphs detailing suggestions for implementation

• Create a new field in the User Profile section.

(PS: Wow, this actually posted! I guess the DDoS attack has been beaten.)