Archives for November 2014

1) The European Space Agency has landed a spacecraft called Philae on the surface of a Central-Park-sized comet FOUR BILLION MILES AWAY, and it’s sending back some truly fantastic photos. Sentences like, “The lander was secured the comet’s surface by ice screws and the craft had fired its tethering harpoons” are all over the news. This is REAL, you guys. We are living in the future. (Unfortunately, it’s likely Philae will run out of battery power and stop functioning tomorrow, as it landed in a spot too shady to use its solar panels. BUT STILL.)

Lately, I’ve been completely obsessed with NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. It’s produced by Linda Holmes, who runs the NPR pop culture blog Monkey See, and features a bunch of NPR’s other music, book, and television bloggers. Each week, they focus on one specific topic, like a single TV show or movie, and one broader topic, like unreliable narrators or nudity in film or the deaths of beloved characters. Everyone who contributes to the show is incredibly smart and entertaining, and I cannot stop listening. At the end of each episode, the whole PCHH team goes around the room and talks about what’s making them happy this week. Anything is fair game: museums, comic books, new albums, internet memes, cakes they baked, etc.