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nasa

The Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn

nasa

Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Have you noticed two bright objects in the sky getting closer together with each passing night? It’s Jupiter and Saturn doing a planetary dance that will result in the Great Conjunction on Dec. 21. On that day, Jupiter and Saturn will be right next to each other in the sky – the closest they have appeared in nearly 400 years!

Skywatching Tips from NASA

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

For those who would like to see this phenomenon for themselves, here’s what to do:

Find a spot with an unobstructed view of the sky, such as a field or park. Jupiter and Saturn are bright, so they can be seen even from most cities.
An hour after sunset, look to the southwestern sky. Jupiter will look like a bright star and be easily visible. Saturn will be slightly fainter and will appear slightly above and to the left of Jupiter until December 21, when Jupiter will overtake it and they will reverse positions in the sky.
The planets can be seen with the unaided eye, but if you have binoculars or a small telescope, you may be able to see Jupiter’s four large moons orbiting the giant planet.

How to Photograph the Conjunction

Credits: NASA/Bill Dunford

Saturn and Jupiter are easy to see without special equipment, and can be photographed easily on DSLR cameras and many cell phone cameras. Here are a few tips and tricks:

These planets are visible in the early evening, and you’ll have about 1-2 hours from when they are visible, to when they set. A photo from the same location can look completely different just an hour later!
Using a tripod will help you hold your camera steady while taking longer exposures. If you don’t have a tripod, brace your camera against something – a tree, a fence, or a car can all serve as a tripod for a several-second exposure.
The crescent Moon will pass near Jupiter and Saturn a few days before the conjunction. Take advantage of it in your composition!

Get more tips HERE.

Still have questions about the Great Conjunction?

Our NASA expert answered questions from social media on an episode of NASA Science Live on Thursday, Dec. 17. Watch the recording HERE.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

great conjunction christmas star jupiter saturn photography nasa save forever

cartoonmaster

Voice: Medic vs. Brynjolf [0:51] Headphones recommended. Best for last again. Pic by me.

Summary: TF2’s Medic (left ear) and Skyrim’s Brynjolf (right ear)—both voiced by Robin Atkin Downes—usually sound different enough…until they start yelling.

It’s funny how a lot of the same words even have the same pitch.

~~~~~

I’m super late to the Skyrim party, having just gotten it during the Steam winter sale for cheap and started playing in February. As a Medic fan, I was excited to learn his VA voiced a character in this game. When I got him as a quest follower and started fighting stuff, I was quite amused with Brynjolf’s apparent transformation into BattleMedic. Normally he has a deep, calm, faintly Scottish voice, but as soon as he enters battle he turns into Medic, I swear. It’s glorious.

So I dug in the voice files and made this little comparison. They’re not really supposed to be talking to each other but I did sort of play their lines off each other a little bit.

^{I used Bryn’s “lass” lines because I’m a shameless fangirl.}

Cover art constructed in Illustrator from 4 existing game icons

MEDIC FUS ROH DAH save forever I'm cry omg

cryingcucumber

buzzfeednews.com

COVID Long-Haulers Are Organizing And Demanding Better Care — And They Just Got A Meeting With The WHO

Across the globe, scores of COVID “long-haulers” have been fighting for doctors to believe and help them. On Friday, they finally got a meeting with the World Health Organization.

thebibliosphere

Listen, I know it’s a B*zzfeed article, but if you listen closely you’ll hear the neglected screams of the Myalgic Encephalomyelitis community and all the researchers who fought for decades to get funding for this sort of thing, but because the illness got re-branded as “chronic fatigue syndrome” and WRONGLY classified as a purely psychological disorder, and not a complete autonomic nervous system collapse following a major event (trauma, prior viral illness etc), we’re both woefully behind and wholly unprepared for the mass disability event that is about to follow Covid-19 if steps aren’t taken Immediately to correct the guidelines being handed out by doctors to “long haul” Covid-19 patients when it comes to self care and long term recovery.

Jennifer Brea over on Twitter has been talking extensively about her experiences with having ME/CFS and then contracting Coronavirus on top of that (source). She also regularly boosts the experiences of others, and is one of the most forefront advocates for ME/CFS to be taken seriously by medical professionals worldwide, and her documentary www.unrest.film/ has been paramount to raising awareness to the neglect and medical abuse many people with chronic conditions face.

If you’re a “long haul” Covid-19 sufferer and you’re finding my blog because of the various chronic fatigue things I’ve posted over the years, I’m so sorry. We think I got it back in March/April, and while we also think my MCAS meds might have helped me recover better, it’s been a rough few months, even by my standards. But please know you are not alone. Reach out to the ME/CFS communities online. You’ll find support and resources that may help you affirm that you’re not alone or crazy and that yes, some of the things your doctors are recommending you to do, like “kick starting your recovery with exercise” is in fact making you worse. Many, many, many people with ME/CFS suffer from severe and debilitating exercise intolerance, especially if their ME/CFS comes with a side helping of POTS (Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome). My exercise intolerance is made doubly worse by suffering from a mast cell dysfunction (MCAS), which means if I exercise too hard or too much, I can trigger an episode of anaphylaxis and go into shock. Sounds bonkers I know, but as anyone with a chronic condition can tell you, the body is capable of wild and often terrifying things that as many, many people are now finding out, most doctors are either ill equipped to deal with or even believe in.

But for whatever it’s worth, I believe you. I believe you got sick, and you’re still sick, and if I can give you one piece of advice from one chronically sick person to another, rest. Please, rest, please don’t push yourselves. Be kind and gentle to yourself. Yes you might end up with some deconditioning, but you cannot show this thing who is boss by running a marathon or climbing a mountain. Health doesn’t work that way, no matter what the moral purists and healthful bloggers say. Be gentle, be kind. Your body is going through a trauma not yet fully understood by medical science, and you cannot expect to bounce back the way you once did. I’m sorry. You didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t do anything to deserve this. It’s just how things are. But you’re not alone, and I hope there is some comfort in that for you.

thebibliosphere

Hey fam, thank you for the comments and reblogs of this post, I’m glad it’s helping people. I am going to gently request before any of you email me any further about what to do, that you read the link I provided to Jennifer Brea’s twitter where she explains that rest is paramount to recovery. She also details a few other things (especially helpful to those of us with MCAS). Most of the questions you are asking me are answered in that thread, as well as a few others which you may not realize but find useful to know.

Like me, Jennifer is not a doctor, she’s just an extremely sick person who has learned over the years how to Macgyver her body back together when doctors refused to treat her health seriously. Like me, she also does not endorse mystic woo-woo cures. She’s extremely knowledgeable about the actual science aspect of these things, but like all of us, is piecing this shit together as we go. None of us have concrete answers, merely our shared experiences of what it is like to live with a long term chronic illness for which there is little to no relief.

If you are rightfully angry that you are just now learning about Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and the neglect and abuse endured by the sufferers spanning decades, please stay angry and prepare to fight for yourselves and the ones you love against the systemic ableism that prevents research and adequate treatment of this debilitating illness and the mass disability event that is about to occur. I am genuinely sincere when I say I hope I’m wrong about ME/CFS being the outcome of long term Covid-19 complications, but I don’t think I am. The only silver lining through all of this that so many people are being affected that it is now impossible for doctors to ignore, and while it breaks my heart to know that so many people are suffering in this way, it’s also a relief to no longer feel like we’re screaming alone in the dark.

Stay safe out there. And rest. Please rest. Let yourselves heal. Give yourself the time to climb that mountain in the future.

phoenixonwheels

My ME/CFS specialist - who is one of the top experts in the world - has forbidden all of his patients from exercising. Not only can it make you worse, if you push too hard it can literally kill you.

His #1 piece of advice for ME/CFS patients is “Never ever under any circumstances ever push yourself.”

Rest. Rest rest rest. Anytime you’re even slightly tired, rest. If you think you might be getting tired, rest. Do not, under any circumstances, push yourself. Rest.

do-you-hear-the-fans-sing

I get told to just push through it and doing excerise will give me energy, I never thought it could be harmful.

Is it okay to do excersise if you love it though? Dance is the biggest thing to my mental health recovery so, I always get tired but I now look after myself instead of feeling guilty

thebibliosphere

Regrettably that is often the advice given by doctors still operating under outdated criteria. I know it’s the advice still fully endorsed by the NHS in the UK, which is both unfortunate and appallingly harmful for all concerned.

I can only speak to my own experience and recovery, but gentle exercise is the end goal of recovery once you’ve got your ME/CFS under control, if you are able to get to that stage. “Pushing through” the fatigue and pain however with ME/CFS is now generally accepted to be harmful, and can potentially worsen symptoms if you are in the active phase of illness or may prompt a relapse (Jennifer mentions this briefly in the twitter thread. She realized even going for short 15 minute walks was putting her at risk of relapse during a flare up.)

General advice from my doctors has been to avoid anything that might break a sweat or anything that tires me out, so even my physical therapy had to be modified to be less strenuous to avoid relapses. If you really do love dance and need it for your mental health (and I understand that fully) something gentle like tai chi might be a good option for you. It’s been rec’d to me by umpteen doctors at this point as being a good gentle source of movement to help stave off further deconditioning, whilst also not wrecking my joints/spine/obliterating my autonomic nervous system dysfunction.

If you’re able to dance without worsening symptoms, it may well be fine for you, but you might also be setting yourself back and not knowing it. It’s a tough call to make :(

thebibliosphere

More of our friends are getting sick, so I’m reblogging this.

If you have a Covid diagnosis or suspect you had it and are struggling with extreme fatigue, please do not try to power through or think you can beat the fatigue through sheer stubborn will. You are setting yourself up for long term illness and possible disability.

The long haul symptoms of Covid are real.

Post viral fatigue syndrome is real.

ME/CFS is real.

There is no nobility in suffering. Physical exhaustion is not a moral failing to overcome. That’s the ableism inherent in late stage capitalism talking. Fight the system and take a nap.

important

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archiemcphee

Today the Department of Extraordinary Upcycling salutes B&E, a pair of backyard farmers in Idaho who used a pair of old satellite dishes and a trampoline frame to construct an outstanding UFO chicken coop for their growing flock:

Although it doesn’t feature a tractor beam to lift the hens into their house, the coop is insulated, ventilated, heated, and equipped with surveillance cameras and LED lights throughout for that extraterrestrial ambiance.

Head over to Backyard Chickens for process photos and additional info about the creations of this geektastic chicken coop.

[via Neatorama and Backyard Chickens]