I hope the galaxy-print trend never goes out of style, because I really enjoy finding new pieces to add to my little collection. This dress is a beauty in person, mainly because the print is so vivid and realistic, unlike some that look more computer generated.
It's getting to be my favorite time of year for star-gazing. I just love laying in the backyard at night in the fall, listening to music on my headphones while watching the stars above me. It's chilly enough to need some blankets but not quite freezing yet. And the chances of getting attacked by a swarm of bugs are significantly smaller than they are in the summer ;)
Actually, it's just one of many best-wishlist-wednesday-finds-ever, all from an etsy shop called The Science Boutique. My favorite is the Tesla Brooch, but my mind can't even comprehend the amount of awesomeness going on in this store. A close runner-up in the favorites category would be this charm bracelet depicting the evolution illustrations from Carl Sagan's Cosmos. Speaking of my hero, they also have two Carl Sagan brooches and a necklace! Best etsy shop ever? I vote "yes!!!!"
Finally, a galaxy print dress that I like love. I've mentioned before that they always seem to be made in really unflattering shapes or fabrics, but this is not only fit-and-flare (my favorite) but the fabric is velvet. Can you say awesome x100?!
It's a wee bit pricey though, and actually I just purchased galaxy fabric to make my own dress! I'm using this fabric (it came in the mail last week and it looks seriously amazing in person) and I'm leaning towards New Look pattern #6020... I just wish I could find one I like where the bodice was all one piece though, so it wouldn't break up the design (the bodice on 6020 is assembled from three separate pieces.)
Even if my homemade dress turns out fantastic, I'll probably end up buying this one when it (hopefully) eventually goes on sale. 9 times out of 10 it seems like if I just wait long enough, my favorite asos things end up reduced by 50% or more! *fingers crossed*
If you're anything like me, you probably got super excited when you heard about the Higgs boson discovery this week even though you had absolutely no idea what it was or why it was so important. All I knew at first was that lots of physicists seemed to be very happy, so that made me happy too. Then I decided to do some investigating to find out what all the fuss was about!
It's complicated stuff. I must have read at least 10 articles that were supposed to explain it in a way that non-scientists would understand, but it was still pretty baffling. They'd be like "I'm going to go ahead and assume you already know the properties of a quark. Well imagine if a quark suddenly turned into another element. 92% of the time that would be caused by this event but we can only predict it 2.3% of the time, the other 97.7% of the time this process is governed by another law of physics that you don't understand but I'm going to pretend that you do."
You see, there's a problem with explaining physics to people who don't know physics by using PHYSICS lingo! You need to put it in terms we can understand. For instance, compare it to snow:
Snow I can understand. I can wrap my brain around this. Combined with this article (I found the video in this one completely useless though) it's beginning to make some sense. If I'm understanding it correctly (I'm probably not) it seems that the Higgs boson creates matter, and it would have attracted the elements that created the big bang. My grasp on the concept is still incredibly loose (what I wouldn't give to have Neil deGrasse Tyson on speed dial!) but I think I'm closer to understanding thanks to this video.
I love things that make science approachable for right-brained people. I'm a pretty smart cookie but start trying to explain something to me in terms of quarks and nuclei and I get lost very quickly. I love that people like John Ellis, the physicist in the video, help curious non-scientific minds grasp concepts that are otherwise out of our reach.
I thought this video from one minute physics was sort of helpful, although it also relied a little too heavily on a prior knowledge of physics that I'm sadly lacking. Also this faux-interview with the Higgs boson particle was pretty funny (and the 2nd answer is relatively informative.) If anyone has any links to layman Higgs boson information please leave them in the comments! I'd love to learn more :)
I purchased this illustration from Megan Bentley on etsy last week. I'm so smitten with her work, and I can't wait to hang this up when it arrives! It reminds me of the line from The Pale Blue Dot, "that's here. that's home." It gives me goosebumps!
Sorry for the crummy photo booth picture... my brother (aka the only other person in the house with a camera or iphone) isn't home, so this was the best I could come up with for taking a picture of what's on my phone!
So, what IS on my phone, you ask? It's the Night Sky app! It determines which stars are directly overhead! And because it uses GPS you can use it in the daytime too. I tested it out for the first time today and, though I couldn't see them with my own eyes, I learned that the constellations Cygnus, Lacerta and Cepheus were hovering above. I cannot WAIT to try this out when it's dark out and I can actually see the stars on Night Sky in the actual night sky!!
Have you tried any astronomy apps or other awesome science-y apps?
I've been bookmarking a lot of things that could easily be included in wishlist wednesday or star stuff, but I kept putting off posting them because I couldn't decide where to include them (overthink much?) Anyway, I obviously ended up choosing to post them for Star Stuff because here they are! :)
ps. After I saved the wishlist I realized I didn't like the galaxy image in the background but because I was stupid (I didn't save the psd file) and lazy (I didn't feel like re-doing the whole thing) I'm posting it as-is lol...
I've seen a collage of these floating around pinterest lately, and every time I saw it I was ridiculously smitten, so I'm really glad I found bigger images here. They're just so beautiful! I love the photographs we have from the Hubble telescope, but there's something so lovely and goose bump-inducing about antiquated depictions of outer space. These are by Maria Clara Eimmart from the 17th century.
Also, how amazing is this graphic about Stephen Hawking?!
It's probably no surprise that I'm obsessed with the galaxy print trend. But despite my love for the print, I haven't really liked any of the garments it's adorned. I think it's considered edgy and it tends to be paired with street style cuts, like bodycon dresses, or things with one shoulder or an asymmetrical hem. They're nice, but just not for me.
When I saw this skirt on Romwe, I immediately fell in love with the cosmic fabric, but not the cut. It originally had an asymmetrical skirt with a sheer train. Upon closer inspection I noticed that it had a raw hem so the wheels in my head started turning... super easy DIY! I carefully measured, and turned this into a normal mini skirt with the help of some sharp scissors. Now it's one of my favorite skirts! :D
ps. The shirt I'm wearing is listed on forever21 as a cropped top but on my 5' frame it hits exactly where a normal shirt should (not mid-thigh like most regular shirts do.) I've been getting a lot of cropped shirts lately and they're all the perfect length for me! Just a tip in case anyone else is super short and has trouble finding proper sized shirts like I do.I'm not usually fond of the selection in petite sizes so I'm finding the whole cropped shirt trend pretty awesome!
I received a comment on last week's star stuff post letting me know that the words in the artwork I posted were misquoted. They actually aren't from Galileo, but from a poem by Sarah Williams entitled "The Old Astronomer to His Pupil." It's a beautiful poem, so I thought I would share it today!
Reach me down my Tycho Brahe, I would know him when we meet, When I share my later science, sitting humbly at his feet; He may know the law of all things, yet be ignorant of how We are working to completion, working on from then to now.
Pray remember that I leave you all my theory complete, Lacking only certain data for your adding, as is meet, And remember men will scorn it, 'tis original and true, And the obloquy of newness may fall bitterly on you.
But, my pupil, as my pupil you have learned the worth of scorn, You have laughed with me at pity, we have joyed to be forlorn, What for us are all distractions of men's fellowship and smiles; What for us the Goddess Pleasure with her meretricious smiles!
You may tell that German College that their honor comes too late, But they must not waste repentance on the grizzly savant's fate. Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.
Since the original image attributed the quote to Galileo (and I still can't track down where it came from! ergh!) I decided to just make my own flapper doodle version with credit given to the correct author. It's available in my etsy shop here :)
Also did anyone snag the Carl Sagan shirt on teefury yesterday!? I wanted one but completely forgot to order until the 24 hours were up, darn it!
I've seen this on pinterest a couple times but it's one of those crazy link chains where one image links back to a tumblr, which links to another tumblr, which links to weheartit and nowhere can you find the original source. So if anyone knows who made this please let me know! I'd like to credit them & probably buy a print :)
Anyway, I think the quote is absolutely beautiful. I love nighttime -- I like the still quiet, the feeling of being awake when almost everyone else in your time zone is fast asleep and obviously being able to see the stars. Night is the only time that the naked eye can peek out into the universe, and I think that's lovely.
I will admit, despite the fact that I am a night owl, I do get scared of the dark sometimes. Although, strangely, I'm never scared of the dark when I'm outside, only when I'm inside. It's stupid because it's a lot more likely that a killer would be lurking in my backyard than under my bed, but I suppose fear isn't usually caused by rational thinking...
Update: The quote isn't actually by Galileo, but by poet Sarah Williams. You can read her poem and see my own artwork with the quote in this star stuff post :)
I could easily rename this series "Things I found on Neil deGrasse Tyson's twitter."
This time it's an amazing interactive animation that shows you the scale of various things in the universe -- from the super duper tiny (the theoretical strings in string theory) to the super duper enormous (the entire universe!) and everything in between. It's absolutely fascinating, and it was created by a 14 year old student and his twin brother! It seriously puts my science fair projects to shame lol... Anyway, you can take a peek here! It's definitely the most informative, fun 15 minutes I've spent online recently.
I started reading The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan last week, and when I saw his cosmic calendar in print I knew it had to be the first Star Stuff post of the year! Sagan had a remarkably brilliant way of illustrating the history of time in a way that you can actually wrap your head around. Think of every single second that has passed since the Big Bang as one single calendar year. The Big Bang is the first second of the first day of January. Humans don't emerge until 10:30PM on December 31st, New Year's Eve! You can click on the image to view it bigger and see all of the different milestones in Earth's history, and when they happened on the cosmic calendar.
Star Stuff and Wishlist Wednesday Thursday worlds combine! How amazing is this star projector!? I desperately want it for my bedroom now. According to the site, "it is possible to set up your AstroStar by aligning it according to your location and the time of the year, so it can project a map of the clear night sky all around you." Where I live the street lamps make it difficult to view the stars in the night sky, so this would be incredibly fun for someone like me who longs to star-gaze, but can't! Available here, and found via Kelly Christine.
Okay, so in last week's star stuff post I mentioned how I always tend to skip over videos on blogs, and I'm pretty sure everyone does too, but please just watch this little 4 minute video, yadda yadda. Well, this one today is one hour and 42 minutes long. I know, I'm asking a lot. But TRUST ME, it is soooo worth watching. And you can actually just listen to it, you don't even need to sit still and watch... hit play, and fold the laundry or make dinner while it plays. I was actually sad when it was all over, I enjoyed it so much!
Now I guess I should add what "it" is, right? It is Stephen Colbert - out of character - interviewing Neil deGrasse Tyson. And it is brilliant, informative and hilarious! Fast forward about 6 minutes to skip over the hosts introducing the event and doing obligatory "thank you's" to everyone who made the event possible ;)
I know I already featured Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot" on star stuff before, but I was listening to the audiobook last night, and when this passage came on I got the biggest the urge to draw it. Something about this quote just moves me so much, and I wanted to create something that visualized what he was talking about. This pale blue dot, suspended in darkness, is home to everything and everyone we've ever known.
It was so sad though... when I was listening to the book, around chapter 4 Carl Sagan stopped talking and a robotic voice took over. I'm assuming it's because he was so sick he couldn't do it anymore, and that just breaks my heart. I couldn't listen after that. The only reason I was reading the audiobook to begin with was to hear Carl Sagan's inflection and measured, deliberate way of speaking, so I'm going to get the paperback copy and pick up where I left off.
On last week's star stuff post I got two comments that mentioned The Big Bang Theory. I've heard of it before, but I never knew what it was until the comments piqued my interest and I finally looked it up. And um, I'm halfway through season 3 now.
The show is about four socially awkward scientists and I think my #1 wish right now is that they were real so I could be friends with them. There's this one episode where the guys get together to buy what they think is a miniature version of the time machine from the 1960 sci-fi movie The Time Machine starring Rod Taylor. When it arrives, it's actually the full-scale model that was used in the film. They joke about what a chick-magnet it'd be but OH MY GOSH. For real, if a guy told me that he had THE time machine from THAT movie, I'd go weak in the knees so fast I'd probably tip over. These characters are my spirit animals.
My whole life I've felt like such a loser. Rather than try to get along with people who possess social skills I never will, I'd love to be able to hang out with nerds like me who have just as much trouble with human interaction as I do, who share an interest in the same uncool things. We can talk about star stuff and sci fi movies, tell really corny jokes and give each other clumsy hugs and high-fives. Sometimes I think there should be a country (or planet, the left-brained among us could pull that off.) just for geeks where all of us could live and be awkward together. I think that's my dream.
One of my absolute favorite people to follow on twitter is the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. This tweet alone made him into my top ten. Anyway, a few weeks ago he tweeted a link to a youtube channel called Minute Physics, which features little one minute illustrated science lessons. Like Tyson and my hero Carl Sagan, the channel makes science approachable without dumbing it down. It's fun, but you definitely walk away knowing something you didn't know before. This video here is probably my favorite (it has cats in it, duh.) but I highly recommend clicking over to their channel and watching every video they've uploaded!
