LAURLY

musings on outer space, technopolitics, and the humanness of things

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A delta-v subway map of the solar system. Nice.

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Last week I decided to start a space e-newsletter to share with my friends. Today, I sent out the first edition!

The gist of it: every two weeks I curate a sampling of the coolest space exploration stories and events, and present them in a way that’s accessible, digestible, and beautiful for all. Because one shouldn’t need a PhD to appreciate the cosmos!

This first issue talks about stories such as Hubble confirming an ocean in Jupiter’s moon Ganymede and March’s total solar eclipse, viewable over northern Europe. Click here to subscribe or visit www.urbanspacecamp.com.

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Beautiful site describing all the human-made spacecraft, and links to learn more. They even have gorgeous posters available!

more: http://spaceprob.es/

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Animated gif showing the amount of water on Earth vs. Jupiter’s moon Europa.

via Business Insider

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From the Stars to the Earth: Eric Garner, Injustice, and the Complexity of Despair

My thoughts on why intellectuals cannot afford to opt out of engaging with issues of injustice. Now up on HuffPo.

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From the Stars to the Earth: Injustice, Transcendence, and the Complexity of Despair

I can’t recall the moment that it happened, but at some point in high school I decided to devote my life to exploring the universe. I’ve spent the years since then working on robots that traverse the surface of Mars, studying aerospace engineering and space policy, and most recently, helping tell the stories of the future exploration of Jupiter and its icy ocean moon Europa. And with the test flight of NASA’s new Orion spacecraft scheduled for tomorrow morning, the opportunity to wander amongst the cosmos is that much closer.

I suspect these ambitions began with daydreams, daydreams manifested in an attempt to drown out the gunshots from down the street, or the anguish that comes with seeing friends and neighbors trapped in cycles of violence and poverty. I believed that the only way out was up, and so I approached the telescope.

But in the wake of today’s Eric Garner grand jury decision, instead of looking up at the stars, I find myself looking down. I look down not just because my head is too heavy in despair for yet another case of injustice for an unarmed black man killed by police; I look down not only because I’m afraid to meet the gaze of strangers, a gaze blurred by eyes filled with tears of pain; But today, I find myself looking down because it feels like a betrayal to look up. 

A betrayal to Trayvon. 

To Eric. 

To Michael.

To Tamir. 

I have come to the understanding that in many ways, looking up has been a convenient distraction from looking around. It allows me to opt out of facing the darkness here on Earth.

Looking up gives me comfort, even in its challenges. I decided to make it my life’s work to deconstruct the values, and policies, and technologies that stand in the way of humanity becoming a multi-planet species. I take pleasure in analyzing the complexities at the intersection between politics, technology, and culture. I’ve got theories. I know which studies to run. Who the stakeholders are. What hypotheses to test.

Institutional racism, being murdered by those sworn to protect you, and a justice system that doesn’t seem to value your humanity? That, I cannot wrap my brain around. 

When news of Mike Brown’s killing first broke out, people—white, black, brown, and everything in between—joined the conversation (or some semblance of it). Many on the right denied it was a thing. The people of Ferguson and the left took to the streets to demand justice and that #blacklivesmatter. And some folks on all sides got a bit distracted by the promise of an easy solution to our nation’s centuries of racism, and settled for demanding police body cameras. 

And two days after President Obama makes an announcement about federal funding for said cameras, the police officer who killed an unarmed Eric Garner walks. Even though it was all caught on video.

And so I retreat to the sky.

I think of the beautiful images the Hubble Space Telescope’s cameras have collected, showing us the splendor and vastness of the universe. We gasp at the pictures in wonder as we contemplate our place in it all. 

However, on Earth, on that sidewalk in New York, cameras were not enough. Cameras will never be enough. 

And maybe that extends to space: after all, despite 25 years of Hubble’s magnificent images, space programs are still underfunded and we remain a single planet species.

Recently I was profoundly struck by a story a friend of mine shared with me about his father, who’d been unjustly deported from his own country. He’d been a physicist passionate about teaching, but his plight had galvanized him towards a career in politics. One day while flying over the U.S., he looked out the window of the plane and said, “They took the stars away from me and they left me with the Earth.”

And in that sentence, my heart broke. Because today, I want both the stars and the Earth.

What do we do? How do we tackle this? The moment we begin to crack open the system and see inside of it the quagmire of centuries of hate, pain, and brutality, we become overwhelmed. Some of us trudge through it because we have no choice, some of us trudge through it because it is moral to do so, and some of us are just not yet capable of seeing it for what it is.

Perhaps most troubling is that some of us have the privilege to declare that we are more evolved than all this. Our day-to-day lives do not include a risk of being shot dead in the street or having to watch our father’s killer walk free. We privileged have convinced ourselves that somehow our intellect allows us to transcend these unenlightened earthly perspectives. That race and oppression are social constructs, and therefore humanity’s progression lies in rising above this faux reality. That technology, yoga, and meditation will heal all. And that these wars and this suffering are beneath us. 

But these wars and these sufferings are us. Technology, yoga, and meditation could not have saved Mike Brown or Eric Garner. And while we sit upon our thrones amongst our fellow intellectuals in our salons and unconferences, 12 year-olds are getting shot by police.

Our grand visions for the future may come through zooming out, but the action and realization of those visions come through zooming in or the reality of the present.

We all bear the burdens of the crimes and sufferings of both our ancestors and our neighbors. The people that will one day populate the surface and caves of Mars are the same ones bearing the cultural traumas of our dark and bloody roots. And the DNA of these roots will follow us, like poltergeists, to whatever exoplanets we run to.

So let’s stop running. Let’s wrestle with this. Let’s get dirty. Let the brightest minds of the day step down from their thrones and engage. Engage in not only what inspires us to greatness, but also what reflects our deepest failures as a species.

Look around at both the beauty and the suffering surrounding us.

Look inside at both our darkness and our light.

Look down in shame at our crimes.

Look up at the stars.

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"I am tormented with the everlasting itch of things remote."

Narrated by Carl Sagan, a bold vision for Humanity's future amongst the bodies in our solar system.

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Is there life on Jupiter's moon Europa? 

more: http://1.usa.gov/1srmKa5

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Explore Europa. 

1.usa.gov/1k48Wlb 

  via @nasasolarsystem

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NSF Report: The American Public's Attitudes Towards Science and Engineering

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via projectiqeq:

The National Science Board — which governs the National Science Foundation — released its 2014 Science and Engineering Indicators, highlighting major developments in International and US science and engineering. In Chapter 7, Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding, the NSB outlines recent trend over time with the population’s comprehension of and engagement with S&T issues ranging from climate change to evolution. Here are some highlights:

In general:

Levels of factual knowledge in the United States are comparable to those in Europe and are generally higher than levels in countries in other parts of the world.

Four out of five Americans say they are interested in “new scientific discoveries.”

About 4 in 10 Americans cited the Internet as their primary source of S&T information in 2012 compared with about one-third in 2010.

The percentage of Americans saying they relied on television as their primary source of S&T information dropped between 2010 and 2012.

A survey experiment showed that 48% of respondents said they thought it was true that “human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals,” but 72% gave this response when the same statement was prefaced by “according to the theory of evolution.” Similarly, 39% of respondents said that “the universe began with a huge explosion,” but 60% gave this response when the statement was prefaced by “according to astronomers.”

Americans are more likely to have a “great deal of confidence” in leaders of both the scientific community and the medical community than in leaders of any group except the military.

The scientific and medical communities are also among the most highly regarded groups in most other countries surveyed.

Less than half of Americans say they have an “excellent” or “good” understanding of what scientists and engineers do at work. Americans say they have a better understand ing of engineers’ work than scientists’ work.

Most Americans see scientists and engineers as “dedicated people who work for the good of humanity.”

On government funding of science and technology: 

Most Americans continue to say that the benefits of science outweigh the potential harms and that the federal government should fund research that “advances the frontiers of knowledge.”

As in past years, about 4 in 10 Americans said the government was spending “too little on research.” In 2012, about half of respondents said government spending on scientific research was “about right,” and about 1 in 10 said there was too much research spending.

Majorities have also consistently said that they believe health, “alternative energy,” and environmental improvement and protection receive too little funding.

On climate change:

Americans are about as concerned about the overall environment as respondents in many other developed countries.

About 3 in 10 Americans say that “dealing with global warming” should be a priority for the president and Congress. 

Many of the other countries surveyed show more concern than the United States about climate change.

Americans are more likely than residents of other countries to say they believe that any apparent change in temperatures is the result of natural rather than man-made causes.

And on other issues:

Americans are less concerned about “modifying the genes of certain crops” than residents of most other countries surveyed, although most still see potential danger.

In 2013, 6 in 10 of Americans saw using stem cells from human embryos as acceptable. This percentage has stayed relatively stable since 2005.

Most Americans continue to express support for nuclear energy as “one of the ways to provide electricity,” although support remains lower than before the 2011 nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan.

What do you think of Americans’ perceptions of science? Are you surprised by any of the report’s findings? Do any of the results give you hope or inspiration for conversations you have to have with the general public about science and engineering?

The full text of the Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding report can be viewed here. Click here for the other sections of the 2014 Science and Engineering Indicators report, including chapters on higher education statistics in STEM and national R&D trends.

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NASA's Curiosity Rover sees Earth from the Red Planet for the first time. (Apparently while listening to an 80's crime drama soundtrack)

(source)

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I'd drop everything and hit the campaign trail.

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In Defense of Internet Comments, Tawdry Tweets, and Facebook Fights

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“Never read the comments!”

Yes, in unadulterated quantities, reading the comments at the bottom of blog posts, New York Times articles, and “'like’ if you think Obama should go back to Kenya!” Facebook memes is indeed bad for your health. But if read with some distance, purpose, and intention, they can also be really valuable data.

Now if you'd prefer to exist in a self-centric silo, looking for messages that simply reaffirm your views, then nothing I say here will be relevant to you. (That's harsh, I know.) But if you have even some small sense of purpose for better understanding an issue in your community in hopes of generating progress on it, then hear me out. It may be time to renegotiate your relationship to the comments section, your Twitter Timelines, and the oh so out-of-control multi-paragraph Facebook arguments. Here's why:

The World is Online.

First, let’s just do away with the knee jerk default response of “well get offline and get out in the world and have real conversations!” To say this would be to ignore the fact that a rapidly growing proportion of communication, information transfer, and education is taking place over the Internet. On average, Americans spend 23 hours a week online. We email, g-chat, tweet, surf Facebook, likely far more than we are having real face-to-face conversations. The reality is, this is how people “connect” these days. The web is the new Town Hall, forum, and agora for discourse. So if you want to reach people, this is how you do it. And this really matters because:

We live in echo chambers.

I remember a few months ago when I was watching a football halftime show, commentator Bob Costas gave a rather unorthodox diatribe about how the Washington Redskins team name was a racial slur. My friend, a fellow minority left-leaning policy wonk, was happy that Costas spoke up about this issue, one that had been bothering him for some time. And even as a non-football fan, it seemed like a reasonable argument to me, as well. We felt good about the speech. Seemed like a no-brainer. But in recent months, whenever I believe something to be categorically true, I have found that I can always turn to Twitter to discover that my assumptions about the state of the world need to be checked. And so was the case with the Redskins: the Twitterverse was instantly ablaze in anger over Costas’s display, calling him amongst other far more vitriol things, a sanctimonious twerp. So while in one place we were praising the man, in a million other places, people were scorning him. Thank God it was just a halftime show. But what if the stakes had been higher?

As we get older and our tolerance for drama decreases, and we have less and less meaningful exposure to people who are different from us.  How often do you actually have honest, thoughtful, painful, and real conversations about controversial and intractable issues alongside people who think drastically different from you? I’m talking conversations that genuinely inquire about the values that underlie your positions, force you to challenge your assumptions, and make you walk away questioning your own beliefs? For most of us, not that often.

This same dynamic is repeated online. We decide whose friend requests we accept. We choose whom to follow on Instagram. We curate our news sources in Currents and Flipboard. On the Internet, we create a safe filtration system for the information we choose to consume. It keeps us from going mad, but it also prevents us from being exposed to views and perspectives unlike our own. We miss not only the opportunity to learn, but also the opportunity to influence others on the issues we deeply care about. We fail our causes because we fail to:

Know thy enemy.  But more importantly, know thyself.

If we are blocking out all the opinions of those unlike us in favor of being saturated with those that are similar, we never know what we’re up against. And we also miss out on anther opportunity: learning more about our own positions. Where are the holes in our arguments? What part of our message just isn’t taking? In what ways are we being effective? Without feedback – regardless of how callous, egregious, and poorly spelled – it’s impossible to know how we’re really doing. There are plenty of friends out there to “like” and “retweet” us; but in the absence of an oft-requested “dislike” button, we can live in the fantasy that everything we say is awesome, and we are being really really really effective. So to break this affirmation cycle, we must:

Collect data.

Underneath the piles and stacks and mounds of BS are piles and stacks and mounds of data. At its simplest and most technical, this data is great for gauging the size and vitriol of the opposition. You’d be surprised how easily we delude ourselves into underestimating that. At a minimum, by collecting this data we can gain valuable insight into strategies for conversion, a snarky attack, or a good comeback at Thanksgiving Dinner with the in-laws.

In its most beautiful form, however, data collection gives us the opportunity to listen, and I mean really listen to the state of the world. This allows us to see beyond your own biases and assumptions about “these people” and be curious about the why, and the values that are shaping their positions. And when we look at the values, rather than the positions themselves, there is far more to work with.

Let’s take an overly-simplified (and admittedly non-ideal) example as a case: the rifle owner who lives in a cabin in the Smoky Mountains. Big tent politics have led this man to align his pro-gun position with that of the NRA. But the values that inform his position may not be related to 2nd Amendment rights at all; instead, maybe he values his role as a father and husband. A role engendered by loyalty to his own father and what he was taught about what it means to be a man who is able to protect his wife and children from animals and intruders who out there, really do wish his family harm. Perhaps as a child, such a firearm saved his live. But all he hears from the Left is that guns are bad, and the liberals are threatening his way of life--a life rooted in love for his family. So in the absence of an alternative, he must take on as allies those who are against background checks for handguns, or those who support legalization of high caliber automatic weapons. And thus, we toss him into the horrible—and erroneously defined—category of “hillbilly who cares more about freedom to own his guns than he does about children being murdered at school.” By doing this, not only do we empower the opposition, but we lose a potential ally by attacking the position, rather than the problem.

So what is it that we gain through listening and data collection? At a minimum, we learn how to make stronger more persuasive arguments in hopes of conversion. But we also risk the very real danger of confronting the possibility that maybe, just maybe, we don’t really have it all right. Maybe, in some ways, the other side has a point. But this is no cause for concern: what it means is you have one less counterfeit battle to fight, and if progress is what is truly at the center of your actions, then you have set yourself on the better path to it by focusing on a more informed and more moral objective. But getting to that moral objective is only possible when you:

Really Listen. And do so with compassion and curiosity.

This is the hard part. How can you feel compassion for the racist or the homophobe? It will not be easy. But if you start with curiosity--and I mean a real and deep curiosity--a path opens up. When you are curious, you want to know more, because you know it will help you listen, which will help you collect better data, which will in turn, help you better understand the problem you want to make progress on. It’s rather practical, actually.

Compassion is driven by curiosity, and curiosity driven by a real and actual desire to move a community towards progress. Without these, you cannot really understand why the racist and the homophobe believe what they do. What values are they holding onto that are threatened by equality? (And while it may be comfortable, it's best not to default to the shelf answer of "power.") Really ask yourself, what would a more equitable world mean for these people? What would they have to give up in their traditions, families, and communities? Who would they have to answer to or be disowned by if they supported gay marriage or brought home a biracial child? And while to you those losses may be sustainable, do not underestimate the feeling of vast and insurmountable loss that they may fear. Feel what is like to be told that what you believe and have been taught your entire life is wrong. Feel within yourself the pain that change can bring when what you value most is at stake. This is how you find the compassion.

But let’s not get it mixed up: I’m not preaching some fluffy Kumbaya everyone gets a medal and a microphone nonsense. And there is the very real fear that listening to the opposition and being compassionate to them and their perspective risks a moral slippery slope. So let me be very clear:

Listening does not mean validating.

Some people’s ideas are indeed dumb. You know who I’m talking about, and it is not elitist to acknowledge this cold hard fact. I’m not talking about a difference of opinion, but rather, a refusal to acknowledge reality (e.g. many a science issue comes to mind). These folks are rather uneducated on the ideas they love to pontificate on, and worse, they believe their opinions are equal to if not more valid than those of the experts. And sometimes this myopia leads to overconfidence, aggressive attacks, and a refusal to see reason.

But fear not, smarties: listening to their perspective does not mean that you validate their arguments or give them credence based on their merits; instead, by reading those nasty little comments you allow yourself to collect valuable data and insights, beyond what your side’s talking points neatly and conveniently tell you to assume. Because if it were really so simple as a couple of bullet points, this problem wouldn’t be so intractable.

Now don’t get me wrong: I am in no way advocating for the perpetual Facebook argument or subscribing to all the opposite-wing-than-thou Twitter feeds. That is a one-way ticket to Hades. But what I am saying is, next time, don't hide that Duck Dynasty meme. Don’t un-friend the guy who posted that Obama birther link…again. And don’t unsubscribe to the updates of that otherwise reasonable woman who occasionally outs herself a climate change denier. Because regardless of how wrong and infuriating it is, all of this is data. If harnessed purposefully, it is a tool for peeking into the mind of the opposition, which has been unfiltered and entrusted to you. And with a little digging—alongside a splash of curiosity and compassion—you may just unearth something deeper than the headlines.

"What values do people hold that they consider more important than progress? Is your sense of purpose no more than your cultural paradigm? We are still fighting wars of the past. The past is something that continues to shape our role and relationship to the problem. What needs to be said today to bring things to completion? What do you listen for? Who do you listen to? Where do you listen from?" 

-Dean Williams, Harvard Kennedy School of Government Lecturer, Author, and Instructor in Adaptive Leadership

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5 Ways Outer Space Taught Us About Earth in 2013

source

Alright, back to the science stuff! This story can also be found on the Huffington Post and Spaceflight Insider. -L

Another year of the Internet has come to a close, which can only mean one thing: time for more lists! The science magazines will undoubtedly create exciting top 10's of the most awesome things to happen in space in 2013. But some of the stories that most need telling are not the big-ticket tales of human spaceflight and new exoplanet discoveries. For most people, it's the less flashy things that can mean the most in the lives of people right down here on Earth. And these benefits are not limited to spinoffs like microelectronics and high-tech medical technologies that people from rich countries enjoy; from human rights to food security, space assets provide incredibly meaningful humanitarian contributions to the planet. Here are five of the many ways in which space touched us down here on Earth in 2013:

Since the March 2013 coup and ousting of President François Bozizé by the rebel Seleka Coalition, more than a thousand people have been killed, over 100,000 displaced, and the situation is growing worse by the day with reports of rape, torture, executions, and other atrocities. In the CAR, space-based intelligence gathering, along with the stories and research from people on the ground, lead to the United Nations' decision in November to unanimously authorize the deployment of peacekeeping troops into the country.

Satellite imagery becomes particularly useful in conflict zones where it is too dangerous to send in reporters and aid workers, and when affected villages are too remote to reach by vehicle. In response, Human Rights Watch has used satellite imagery to collect detailed evidence of tell-tale signs of humans rights abuses. For example, viewing arson attacks on multiple civilian villages (considered a war crime by international humanitarian law) in the CAR, such as the gold mining village of Camp Bangui, where "black burn" scars indicate around half of the village has been destroyed. In other areas, satellite imagery  detailing new tent-like structures indicate mass displacement of people -- another common indicator of abuses.

In addition, the escalating violence between Christians and Muslims has incited the very real fear that genocide is imminent. In other conflicts such as those in the Sudan and in Kosovo, human rights abuse investigators have used satellites to look for mass graves -- a feature commonly correlated with genocide. In fact, a mass grave was discovered by Red Cross workers a few days ago in Bengui, the CAR capital. Let us hope that this is one use satellites will not need to serve.

source 

2) Space assets were used in search and rescue operations in the Philippines

We all saw the harrowing images of Typhoon Haiyan, which left 6,111 people dead, 1,799 missing, and 4.4 million homeless -- a disaster so devastating and disruptive that weeks after the storm, over a thousand bodies still remain unburied.

During the immediate aftermath of the storm, rescue workers used space assets to help to coordinate the search, rescue, and relief efforts. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) deployed satellite phones and broadband satellite terminals for data to many of the regions most affected. This allowed for those conducting humanitarian assistance to coordinate logistics when deploying medical assistance, food, and water to those in need; allowed rescue workers to figure out how to reach victims when roads and landmarks are destroyed, rendering maps useless; and helped people contact their loved ones after being separated. In addition, companies like DigitalGlobe and Astrium have already (at no charge) provided emergency workers with imagery that detail the devastating before and after images. As the country rebuilds, images such as these will be critical in assessing the damage and prioritizing recovery efforts. The United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER) has collected and made available several images, all accessible to the general public.

source

3) Satellites helped map the density of the world's vegetation 

More than 800 million people worldwide suffer from malnutrition and chronic hunger. According to the World Health Organization, one of the key pillars to food security is food availability -- that is, having sufficient quantities of food available on a consistent basis. In an effort to better understand where this is most challenging, Earth observation satellites provide detailed mapping of agriculture activities, including the distribution and condition of crops.

In November 2103, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) released a set of stunning color images detailing the places on Earth that are green vegetation rich, and the places that were lacking due to stress conditions such as drought. By compiling data gathered over the course of a year, the Suomi NPP satellite allowed us yet another way to  visualize the Earth that was both data rich and beautiful. A particularly stunning view: images of the of vast North African dryness, with the green colored banks of the river Nile -- the agricultural lifeblood of the regions through which it flows.

Another valuable mapping contribution came from the European Space Agency's Proba-V satellite, which in July after a month in space captured its own snapshot of Earth's vegetation density. This is only one of the latest in satellites orbiting the Earth that are producing data that when combined with other information such as weather satellites, can be used for drought monitoring and mitigation, and precise early warning forecasting for regions at risk for food insecurity.

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4) Space satellites provided climate scientists with information on the record lows of Arctic sea ice

Every year the arctic sea ice melts to its summer minimum. But on September 13, 2013, analysis of satellite data by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) showed sea ice had reached the 6th lowest level in the 35-year history of satellite measurement (1.97 million square miles). Now, this was an increase over the previous year, which was the all-time record low (1.32 million square miles); but it was still consistent with the long-term downward trend, a decline that has accelerated since 2007, and lead to a 40 percent loss of sea ice since 1980.

The loss of sea ice cover is a leading indicator of climate change, and many scientists believe that within decades, the Arctic will be entirely ice-free in the summer months. Why does this matter? Not only do many animals depend on the ice for their homes, but native peoples of the Arctic depend on these animals for food. The ice also reflects sunlight back out into space, which helps prevent the Earth from getting too warm. Less ice means less reflection; less reflection means a warmer planet and -- you guessed it -- even more ice melting. Several space satellites are orbiting our poles and observing these phenomena, and will continue to report back down on Earth in 2014. Sadly, the predictions indicate the results will not be good.

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5) O3b launched a microsatellite constellation to provide affordable broadband internet to the developing world

The ability to communicate vital information, provide education in an increasingly paperless world, and provide a platform for free speech is becoming more and more dependent on the ability to access the Internet. A 2009 World Bank Study estimated that a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration in low and middle income countries yielded an additional 1.38 percent in GDP growth. And many -- including the United Nations -- have declared universal access to the internet to be a human right.

In developed countries, ground-based fiber has become the dominant technology for delivering broadband internet. But in developing nations, laying ground-based infrastructure can be cost-prohibitive due to geography, rural and remote populations, and low purchasing power of users. And before recently, satellite internet access was also costly, as countries would have to rely on telecommunications giants and their often steep fees to provide high-speed services to their citizens.

The last decade has seen the popularization of small, cost-effective "microsatellites" that can be combined into networks or "constellations," which use their collective capability to deliver high-speed data, which can be an excellent lower-cost solution for emerging markets.

One such company that is revolutionizing this space is O3b Networks, a start-up founded in 2007. Their goal: provide broadband connectivity to the "other 3 billion" people on the planet who do not have internet access. In June 2013, O3b successfully launched its first 4 satellites (of a constellation that will reach 16), and in 2014 will begin to provide its first services. And they've already got users signed up: some of O3b's first customers include governments and companies servicing Papua New Guinea, Somalia, and Peru. The company has plans to continue to extend services across Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific.

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Now, I would not be a proper space geek if I didn't at least mention the incredible feats that have been accomplished in 2013 from a high technology and exploration standpoint, such as SpaceX's Dragon Capsule docking to the International Space Station, China landing on the Moon, or my personal favorite, finding water geysers on Europa. However, sometimes it's valuable to look beyond the razzle dazzle, and reflect on some of the more tangible benefits of investing in space -- especially those that are improving the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable of us. To those who value protecting the child suffering from malnutrition or the refugees fleeing war, it is these stories that will connect our hearts when the money gets tight, our imaginations demand a pause from the wonder, and reality requires from us full on confrontation of the real wounds of humanity that need healing.

[shipperland]

[itsmethegarbagepanda-deactivate]

This is so adorable I want to die.

[anyroads]

All of this better be real. 

[laur-ly]

We waste so much energy trying to cover up who we are, when beneath every attitude is the want to be loved, and beneath every anger is a wound to be healed, and beneath every sadness is a fear that there will not be enough time. When we hesitate in being direct, we unknowingly slip something on, some added layer of protection that keeps us from feeling the world, and often that thin covering is the beginning of a loneliness which, if not put down, diminishes our chances for joy. It's like wearing gloves every time we touch something, and then, forgetting that we chose to put them on, we complain that nothing feels quite real. In this way, our challenge each day is not to get dressed to face the world, but to unglove ourselves so that the doorknob feels cold, and the car handle feels wet, and the kiss goodbye feels like the lips of another being soft and unrepeatable. -Mark Nepo