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NASA Image Of The Day
Orbital Sunrise
The Expedition 24 crew on the International Space Station photographed this image of polar mesospheric clouds illuminated by an orbital sunrise. Polar mesospheric, or noctilucent ("night shining"), clouds usually are seen at twilight, following the setting of the sun below the horizon and darkening of Earth's surface. Occasionally the station's orbital track becomes nearly parallel to Earth's day/night terminator for a time, allowing the clouds to be visible to the crew at times other than the usual twilight because of the station's altitude. This photograph shows polar mesospheric clouds illuminated by the rising, rather than setting, sun at center right. Low clouds on the horizon appear yellow and orange, while higher clouds and aerosols are illuminated a brilliant white. Polar mesospheric clouds appear as light blue ribbons extending across the top of the image. The station was located over the Greek island of Kos in the Aegean Sea (near the southwestern coastline of Turkey) when the image was taken at approximately midnight local time. The orbital complex was tracking northeastward, nearly parallel to the terminator, making it possible to observe an apparent "sunrise" located almost due north. A similar unusual alignment of the ISS orbit track, terminator position and seasonal position of Earth's orbit around the sun allowed for this striking imagery of over the Southern Hemisphere. Image Credit: NASA...
Reviews
Adam Lambert and the Angry Television Set Print E-mail
Prose - Reviews
Lisa Jain Thompson   
Wednesday, 06 January 2010 16:00

Adam Lambert

Fairfax, VA, USA. I find it comforting to know that Rock and Roll can still be threatening enough to have a performer banned from a television show.

Adam Lambert is neither the first or the last rock singer ever to be placed on the forbidden list by the powers that be. We can debate whether the ban was the result of Adam being out and gay or the result of a typical knee jerk reaction by the suits.

The facts are this: on the same television broadcast Janet Jackson grabbed a guy’s crouch without any particular uproar; Adam kissed a guy and he’s out of here. I will let you do the math.

I’m not particularly interested in Adam’s sex life. I’m not into gay guys, nor are they into me. He is, however, an attractive male, good looking with an undeniable stage presence.

What he does off stage is none of my concern but I find his music interesting and have spent some time thinking about his roots. What follows may not be entirely correct, but I think it a good platform for discussion. Start with the music on his first CD.

Last Updated on Sunday, 03 January 2010 12:39
 
His Smoke Rose Up Forever Print E-mail
Prose - Reviews
Lisa Jain Thompson   
Sunday, 17 September 2006 09:05
James Tiptree, Jr., The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon is the first major work on a person born transsexual coming to terms with her place in an unknowing society.
 
Book cover: James Tiptree, Jr., The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, by Julie Phillips.
James Tiptree, Jr.,
The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon.

By Julie Phillips.
Illustrated. 469 pp.
St. Martin’s Press. $27.95.
 
Fairfax, Virginia, USA. James Tiptree, Jr. (August 24, 1915 – May 19, 1987) was the pen name of American science fiction author Alice Bradley Sheldon used from 1987 until her death. Until 1977, no one knew that James Tiptree Jr. was a woman.
 
On May 19, 1987, at age 71, Sheldon took the life of her 84-year-old, nearly blind husband and then took her own, ending a life of great successes matched by greater personal torments.
 
Phillips’ biography shines a light on both the bright seductive surface of Tiptree’s short stories and the bleakness of Sheldon’s personal life that lies hidden in the stories’ undercurrents. Tiptree/Sheldon wrote powerful fiction that challenges readers' assumptions about sex and gender.
 
Most reviewers approach this biograghy as feminists, seeing the life of Tiptree/Sheldon as a parable of the the feminist movement. I too am a feminist but I also am a person born transsexual. Reading the pages of Phillips’ book I heard Alice’s own words strike deep inside me.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 December 2008 00:51