RenoVous

 Hello Vousers! I'm off at noon today so this will be an open thread. Here's a night sky image from Perseverance . There's also a really cool panoramic picture  Here In 8 days (sols, as they're called on Mars), the rover has already taken 5,614 images! And  here  you can listen to some audio it has picked up. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!

 For Black History Month I focused more on fashion this year, (last year I did local histories), but as we near the end of the month, I found one more thing I wanted to share. Hiram Rhodes Revels, the first black man to serve in Congress.  Also the first person with Native American ancestry, from the Croatan tribe. He was elected senator from Natchez, Mississippi in 1870. Born free in North Carolina in 1827, he later moved to Ohio where he voted before the Civil War. During the war, he helped organize regiments of the Colored Troops in the Union Army, which included other minority groups as well.  He also served as a chaplain. When he arrived in Washington DC, opponents argued, based on the 1857 Dred Scott ruling, that a person of African descent was not a citizen.  Since the 14th Amendment was not ratified until 1868, Revels did not meet the requirement of nine years' prior citizenship. Those who supported Revels claimed that the war and the Reconstruction amendment...

 Hubby just cannot get enough fishing lately, so last weekend we tried Wilson's Common Pond in Washoe Valley.  It would have been a lovely day if not for the wind. And the birds took off. He wants to go camping/fishing this weekend too.  I'm happy to hang around, read a book, snap some photos - as long as I can be warm.  :-)

We're just checking in on the Sauces Bald Eagles again.  Jak took over just before 6:30 this morning and I saw that they only have on egg left.  It's due to hatch in the next few weeks, so hopefully it stays strong! The camera went out for a period of time, so it's not clear what happened with Audacity's other two eggs. Last time, DDT was mentioned as being responsible for the decline in bald eagle populations on the island during the 1960's - this decline was largely due to eggshell thickness. Studies have shown that eggshell thickness is back to its expected measurement though. Here you can see the brood patch - this develops during the incubation period and helps transfer body heat onto the eggs.   We'll check back again near hatching time!

Urban ease and comfort is the vibe I get. She got a big push when Beyoncé wore her clothing. Gabrielle Union also loves the brand. Designer Samantha Black (She was on Project Runway season 11) Site

Following up on yesterday's space post and the landing of the Mars rover, we're going to focus on Perseverance today. This is the first image sent back from its landing location in the Jezero Crater. Interactive Map Main Job: To seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and soil. 3D Rover Perseverance carries seven instruments to conduct "unprecedented science." Mastcam-Z for panoramic and stereoscopic imaging. SuperCam can provide imaging, chemical composition analysis, and mineralogy from a distance. Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithoscopy (PIXL) which can map the fine-scale elemental composition of the Martian surface materials. Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) which uses UV to map mineralogy and organic compounds. Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE), a technology demonstration that will produce oxygen from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide. Mars Environmental D...

In 1905, astronomer Percival Lowell noted odd deviations in the orbits of Neptune and Uranus, so he theorized the existence of an unknown ninth planet.  It wasn't until this day in 1930 that it was confirmed by Clyde Tombaugh. The name was suggested by an 11 year old from Oxford, England.  Her grandfather passed it on to Lowell Observatory, and they liked it! Some astronomers questioned if Pluto could really be affecting the orbits of the larger planets, until they found its moon, Charon, in 1978.  It was thought that maybe they were a double-planet system.  But Pluto actually has five moons, including Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra. When NASA's New Horizons flew by in 2015, astronomers caught a glimpse of huge canyons and a reddish polar cap on Charon.  The spacecraft also saw a frozen lake with channels nearby, suggesting that the dwarf planet was once more alive.  Astronomers also believe they may have seen clouds, which would be composed of ethane and h...

 Land artist, Jon Foreman, loves to adorn the coastline of Pembrokeshire, UK with his wonderful art. Quadra Effluo, 2020 Divinum Stella, 2019 Triplex Deorsum, 2020 Obnatus Luna, 2020 Superius et Inferius, 2020 Alienus, 2019 Sunflower, 2016 Calyx Vacuus, 2020 Multum Pertusum, 2019 Tredecim, 2019 Reversio, 2019 He also makes art inland too though. Torquenti, 2019 Simpuvium, 2018 Foliis Luna, 2020 Rasa Oculus, 2019 Shroom Circle, 2018 From the series "Derelict" Glassircle, 2018 Sootstar, 2014 Site

 I finished Brave New World already.  I can't say I liked it, but it held my interest, and it made its point. So I was looking for something to start for today, a short story that we could share perhaps. There are 12 stories, and I was able to find a pdf link for the first one, Heads of the Colored People: Four Fancy Sketches, Two Chalk Outlines, and No Apology. Link Nafissa Thompson-Spires was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work. She won an Audie Award for Short Stories and the PEN/Open Book Award. The latter is meant to foster racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities.

  Growing up in Pennsylvania, young Zelda learned to sew by watching her grandmother's seamstress.  She offered to design a dress for her and it was a perfect fit. After high school in 1923, the family moved to White Plains, New York and she worked in her uncle's tailoring shop.  In the 30's she worked at an upscale boutique, and in 1948 she opened Chez Zelda.  She was the first black person to own a store on Broadway. Some of her clients included: Ella Fitzgerald Dorothy Dandridge Josephine Baker Joyce Bryant Mae West Eartha Kitt For the opening of his club in 1960, Hugh Hefner commissioned Zelda to create a uniform for the waitstaff.  An icon was born. During the 70's, she designed costumes for the Dance Theater of Harlem. She would also dye each and every pair of tights to match the dancer's skin tone. Zelda passed away in 2001 at the age of 96, having never retired. "I just had a God-given talent for making people beautiful."