#Sunspot Propulsion

[thecraziestfanever]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Ready Jet Go! (Cartoon) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Jet Propulsion (Ready Jet Go), Sunspot Propulsion, Sydney Skelley, Sean Rafferty, Celery Propulsion Additional Tags: Humor, Hurt/Comfort Summary:

After the whole "Sunspot-almost-shrinking-down-into-nothing" incident, Jet has become a little more careful.

[randofanficrecs]

Today's random fic is brought to you by the Ready Jet Go!(cartoon) fandom, When It Rains by bluffscove

Chapters: 1/1 Words: 912 Fandom: Ready Jet Go! (Cartoon) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Jet Propulsion (Ready Jet Go), Sydney Skelley, Sean Rafferty, Mindy Melendez, Carrot Propulsion, Celery Propulsion, Sunspot Propulsion, Face 9000 Additional Tags: Rain, takes place during early season 1, a little bit after Jet arrived on Earth, One Shot Language: English Summary: Jet experiences Earth rain for the first time.

[spacenutspod]

Embark on a celestial sojourn with today's episode of Astronomy Daily - The Podcast, where the wonders of the cosmos unfold before our very ears.  Join your host, Steve Dunkley, and the ever-cheeky AI companion, Hallie, as they navigate the afterglow of a recent solar spectacle and delve into the latest space-faring innovations.  We kick things off with a colorful discussion about the recent auroras that have painted the skies with otherworldly hues, as seen through the lens of our global community.  From there, we dive into the heart of our solar system, examining the sun's fiery temperament and its most powerful flares that have supercharged Earth's auroras and challenged our technological resilience. 1. **Auroral Afterglow**: Hallie and Steve share the global aurora experiences. 2. **Solar Storm Spectacle**: A deep dive into the sun's recent outburst of flares. 3. **Spinlaunch's New Horizon**: Exploring the leadership change at the forefront of space innovation. 4. **Voyager's Enduring Journey**: An update on the Voyager probes' remarkable 46-year odyssey. 5. **Geomagnetic Revelations**: Understanding the impact of solar activity on Earth's technology. Get ready to be enlightened by the tales of human fascination with the night sky's beauty and the relentless pursuit of cosmic understanding.  For the full astronomical experience, visit our new URL at astronomydaily.io and subscribe to receive the Astronomy Daily newsletter in your inbox. Engage with us on X (@AstroDailyPod) or join the Space Nuts podcast group on Facebook to share your celestial sightings and thoughts.  Until next time, let your curiosity lead you to the stars, and remember, in the grand tapestry of the universe, every story is interwoven with the threads of discovery. Clear skies and cosmic wonder to all our fellow stargazers! This episode of Astronomy Daily - The Podcast is a journey through the vibrant auroras to the sun's magnificent flares, the innovative minds at Spinlaunch, and the enduring legacy of the Voyager probes.  Tune in for a cosmic update that connects the dots between the beauty of the night sky and the intricate dance of celestial forces. This episode was brought to you with the assistance of NordPass....the password manager we use and swear by. Check out our very special deal by visiting www.bitesz.com/nordpass.

[coolsomejet]

SPACE CAMP PREVIEW BREAKDOWN

iTunes uploaded a clip of Space Camp, and I already posted it to my main blog. Let's break it down, shall we?

A new plot factor has emerged - Jet's favorite TV show character is revealed to be "Great Galacto," a "space hero." Jet is inspired by this character to surf on waves in outer space. Based on the description of the character, it reminds me of Flash Gordon for some reason.

The animation here is gorgeous. It's to be expected, since this movie is co-produced by Universal and Dreamworks, which would give it a bigger budget. The colors here, such as pink, purple, and blue, make it even prettier. Hey.....

As Jet is surfing, he records a letter/song to the Great Galacto Fan Club. The song appears to fall into the ska genre, and the lyrics are this:

Dear Great Galacto, It’s Jet Propulsion, your greatest fan Writing to tell you, if I can How much of my life goals are owed to your Great Galacto space hero ?? (I can't make out what he says here) Bravery, toughness, self-reliance A student of the laws of science Never afraid to take that chance And always ready for a song and dance Mentally, and physically fit A solo act, and proud of it Stronger, faster, healthier To the great unknown, excelsior!

All this time, Jet based his entire personality on the Great Galacto. He even admits how much of his "life goals" are owed to the character. "Bravery, toughness, self-reliance" - these are all some of Jet's personality traits, since he is fearless and always finds a way out of any problem.

"A student of the laws of science" - a law of science is a statement, based on repeated experiments or observations, that describes or predicts a range of natural phenomena. As Jet sings this line, he can be seen juggling planets, so I guess the "laws of science" in this case would refer to gravity.

"Never afraid to take that chance" - Jet, multiple times throughout the series, acts before he thinks.

"And always ready for a song and dance" - Jet also bursts into song at the drop of a hat throughout the song.

"Mentally, and physically fit" - Jet is definitely physically fit, since he can run fast, and he somehow never gains weight despite how much he eats. The mentally fit part is questionable though. Jet is a genius, there's no doubt about that. He can name most of Jupiter's moons, quickly calculate how many Earths can fit into the sun, is a decent inventor, and during this line, he plays chess. However, he's also an idiot, since he can't keep his identity a secret at all. But we love him just the same.

"A solo act, and proud of it" - I don't quite understand this line. I don't think Jet is a "solo act." He loves having his friends around, and even if they aren't there, he's always with Sunspot. It's implied that he hates being alone in a few episodes. In "Jet 2," he goes into despair when he thinks that Sean and Sydney don't want to be his friends anymore, and in "My Three Suns," he has a bad daydream where he's left all alone in a void, to be "it" forever. I think that this line will come back somehow. Maybe in the movie, Jet will try to do something by himself, only to later need the help of friends.

"To the great unknown, excelsior!" - Jet also seems to have lifted his "excelsior" catchphrase from Great Galacto. The phrase itself is Latin for "onward and upward," which he states in "Treehouse Observatory."

Great Galacto seems to be like a masculine, Bortronian counterpart to Commander Cressida (I'm assuming that Galacto is male/masc because his name ends in an "o," which is usually considered masc). Both are space heroes, both have alliterative names, both star in TV shows, and both are idolized by one of the main characters. Sydney idolizes Cressida, and Jet idolizes Galacto. Maybe this will be brought up in the movie. Who knows?

[le-velo-pour-dru]

Sorry I'm just thinking about that drawing of Sunspot I did, and it got me thinking about Ready Jet Go!... I'm gonna see if I still remember all the words to the theme song

Okay, here goes:

Jet Propulsion, that's his name

Jet Propulsion, he'll rocket to fame

When he arrived, he created a buzz, cause

There was no house, and then there was

He said, "People of Earth, you ain't seen nothin' yet!

I'm from Bortron-7, and my name is Jet!"

Jet Propulsion, that's his name

He looks like us, but he isn't the same

I'm a, a space-tripper and a galaxy crosser!

My parents brought me here in a flying saucer!

And just to prove it was a fact, he flew them out to space and back!

Jet Propulsion!

Jeeeet Prooopuuuulsioooon! (Ready, Jet, go!)

He showed up, and now it's a blast!

Looks like the future really got here fast!

Nice to meet ya, human race! Tell me all about the place!

Jet Propulsion! Jet Propulsion! Jet Propulsion!!! READY, JET, GO!

(Okay I'm gonna be honest I DIDN'T THINK I'D REMEMBER THE WHOLE THING FDHHFXGJCHJCG- It took some effort, and I did forget a few of the lines at the end for a while, BUT THEY CAME BACK TO ME!! 🤣)

[jcmarchi]

From Space to Your Face: Less Wrinkles - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/from-space-to-your-face-less-wrinkles-technology-org/

From Space to Your Face: Less Wrinkles - Technology Org

Radiation-resistant microbe studied in space leads to fewer wrinkles, less sun damage on Earth.

After surviving the cosmic radiation and extreme temperatures of 18 months in space, an organism first identified by NASA decades ago is now improving sunscreens and anti-aging products.

Skin care – illustrative photo. Image credit: Pixabay (Free Pixabay license)

Bacillus Lysate, which doesn’t actually contain any live bacteria, is a skincare additive derived from Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032, a bacterium identified by NASA in the late 1990s.

Found in a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where Mars-bound spacecraft were assembled, the microbe stood out because it had survived intense sanitization efforts by the Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group, which aims to prevent planetary contamination.

“When you are going to look for life on other planets, it’s better you don’t take any microbes along with you as hitchhikers,” said Kasthuri Venkateswaran, a senior research scientist at JPL, explaining why the space agency goes to such great lengths to sanitize spacecraft. Venkateswaran identified Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032 in 1999.

This microbe did end up making it to space after all, when astronauts, in a highly controlled study, set it outside the International Space Station for 18 months. Then Venkateswaran and his team performed extensive analysis on it, resulting in about 30 publications over two decades.

The extremophile – an organism that can thrive under extreme conditions – is resistant to hydrogen peroxide and ultraviolet (UV) and gamma radiation. In fact, it’s one of the most resilient microbes known.

The original bacterium, Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032, was collected in the late 1990s in a clean room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where it had survived intense sanitization measures. Over the next two decades, the organism was studied extensively and even survived for 18 months outside the International Space Station. Image credit: NASA

The NASA team patented the bacterium, based in part on its potential usefulness in medicine, sunscreens, and research on how to keep clean rooms clean – once Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032 has been cleared out of an area, most everything else has been as well.

NASA and the California Institute of Technology, which manages JPL, licensed the organism to Worcester, Massachusetts-based Liberty Biosecurity, a company that had previously been recognized by the space agency for its work on mitigating radiation during long-duration space missions.

Initially thinking Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032 could be incorporated into fabric or possibly coatings to add radiation resistance, the company analyzed Venkateswaran’s research and conducted its own, determining that the organism’s ability to absorb UVA and UVB radiation could be most valuable in skincare.

“That’s what sunscreen blocks, right?” said Kyle Landry, who helped Liberty Biosecurity spin off skincare-focused Delavie Sciences LLC, where he is now president. Delavie Sciences, which is also based in Worcester, developed Bacillus Lysate using an extract of the organism Venkateswaran found at JPL.

Bacillus Lysate is also a key ingredient in Delavie Sciences’ own line of anti-aging skincare products. Image credit: Delavie Sciences LLC

“UVB and UVA are linked to skin damage,” Landry said. “They’re linked to sun damage, sunspots, wrinkles, and other health conditions. So, we thought, let’s see if we can enhance sunscreen with the addition of Bacillus Lysate.”

The company registered Bacillus Lysate as an ingredient for use in cosmetics after conducting safety, efficacy, and stability tests. Now Delavie Sciences produces Bacillus Lysate in large quantities and sells it as an SPF-boosting additive for sun care products. The company also started its own line of face and eye creams – the Aeonia Age Defying Serum and the Aeonia Eye Refresh.

“We were able to expand on Venkat’s research and go from lab to reality,” said Landry, referring to NASA’s Venkateswaran, who agreed.

“We just do the basic science and apply it to NASA’s missions,” Venkateswaran said. “Then we have to connect with companies like Delavie Sciences that come forward and do their own research to make something for people on Earth.”

Source: NASA

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[silvazeanimaniacsfangirl642]

I decided to do a collage of fictional girls and women from my All-Time favorites. These are my favorite female characters from A-Z. (These are official characters, by the way). I ended up having 64 in my mind since I am a girly girl.

No need to judge since there are parts that I'm doing to follow my Islamic Religion. This is not meant to offend anyone.

Anna, Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Belle Fontiere, Birdo, Blisstina, and Blossom.

Bubbles, Buttercup, Celery Propulsion, Cinderella, Coco Rivera, Daisy, Delia, and Dixie Kong.

Dolores Madrigal, Dot Warner, Eggplant, Elena Rivera, Elsa, Honeymaren, Iduna, and Imelda.

Isabela Madrigal, Jasmine, Laura Padovan, Laurel Lightfoot, Lillian Wong (Ready Jet Go), Lily Frog, Ludovica Grimani, and Luisa Madrigal

Marinette, Meggy, Melony, Merida, Mindy Melendez, Mirabel Madrigal, Moana, Moonbeam, and Mulan

Namaari, Noi, Pauline, Peach, Pinga, Pingi, Pocahontas, and Rapunzel

Raya, Rosa Rivera, Rosalina, Rosita Rivera, Saiko, Snow White, Socorro Rivera, and Sydney Skelley

Tari, Tiana, Tinkerbell, Toadette, Victoria Rivera, Vittoria Grimani, Wendy Darling and Yelana.

This is similar to the A-Z collages, but, there are new characters that I added to unify this piece of fanart.

I decided to do a collage of fictional boys and men from my All-Time favorites. These are my favorite male characters from A-Z. (These are official characters, by the way). 36 characters came to my mind and most of these characters are favorites.

No need to judge since there are parts that I'm doing to follow my Islamic Religion. This is not meant to offend anyone.

Row 1:

Abel Rivera, Adrien Agreste, Agnarr, Alessandro Grimani, Antonio Vivaldi and Barley Lightfoot

Row 2:

Boomer Rowdyruff, Brick Rowdyruff, Bronco, Bruni, Butch Rowdyruff, and Carrot Propulsion

Row 3:

Hector Rivera, Ian Lightfoot, Jet Propulsion, Julio Rivera, Kristoff Bjorgman, and Leap Frog

Row 4:

Luigi, Mario, Miguel Rivera, Mitchell Petersen, Oaken, and Olaf

Row 5:

Pingu, Quigley, Sean Rafferty, Sunspot Propulsion, Tad, and Wakko Warner.

Row 6:

Waluigi, Wario, Yakko Warner, Yoshi, Zerk, and Zucchini.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Captures Video of Solar Eclipse on Mars The Mastcam-Z camera recorded video of Phobos, one of the Red Planet’s two moons, to study how its orbit is changing over time. NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has captured dramatic footage of Phobos, Mars’ potato-shaped moon, crossing the face of the Sun. These observations can help scientists better understand the moon’s orbit and how its gravity pulls on the Martian surface, ultimately shaping the Red Planet’s crust and mantle. Captured with Perseverance’s next-generation Mastcam-Z camera on April 2, the 397th Martian day, or sol, of the mission, the eclipse lasted a little over 40 seconds – much shorter than a typical solar eclipse involving Earth’s Moon. (Phobos is about 157 times smaller than Earth’s Moon. Mars’ other moon, Deimos, is even smaller.) The images are the latest in a long history of NASA spacecraft capturing solar eclipses on Mars. Back in 2004, the twin NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity took the first time-lapse photos of Phobos during a solar eclipse. Curiosity continued the trend with videos shot by its Mastcam camera system. But Perseverance, which landed in February 2021, has provided the most zoomed-in video of a Phobos solar eclipse yet – and at the highest-frame rate ever. That’s thanks to Perseverance’s next-generation Mastcam-Z camera system, a zoomable upgrade from Curiosity’s Mastcam. “I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t expect it to be this amazing,” said Rachel Howson of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, one of the Mastcam-Z team members who operates the camera. Howson noted that although Perseverance first sends lower-resolution thumbnails that offer a glimpse of the images to come, she was stunned by the full-resolution versions: “It feels like a birthday or holiday when they arrive. You know what’s coming, but there is still an element of surprise when you get to see the final product.” Color also sets this version of a Phobos solar eclipse apart. Mastcam-Z has a solar filter that acts like sunglasses to reduce light intensity. “You can see details in the shape of Phobos’ shadow, like ridges and bumps on the moon’s landscape,” said Mark Lemmon, a planetary astronomer with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, who has orchestrated most of the Phobos observations by Mars rovers. “You can also see sunspots. And it’s cool that you can see this eclipse exactly as the rover saw it from Mars.” As Phobos circles Mars, its gravity exerts small tidal forces on the Red Planet’s interior, slightly deforming rock in the planet’s crust and mantle. These forces also slowly change Phobos’ orbit. As a result, geophysicists can use those changes to better understand how pliable the interior of Mars is, revealing more about the materials within the crust and mantle. Scientists already know that Phobos is doomed: The moon is getting closer to the Martian surface and is destined to crash into the planet in tens of millions of years. But eclipse observations from the surface of Mars over the last two decades have also allowed scientists to refine their understanding of Phobos’ slow death spiral. More About the Mission A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover. Arizona State University leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego.

[jamieroxxartist]

✔ Mark Your Calendars: Wed Sept 1, on 🎨#JamieRoxx’s Pop Roxx Radio 🎙️#TalkShow and #Podcast with Featured Guests:

A War Within ​(#Rock)

☎ Lines will be open (347) 850.8598 Call in with your Questions and Comments Live on the Air.

● Click here for Guest Details and to Set a Reminder: http://tobtr.com/11985776

Pop Art Painter Jamie #Roxx (www.JamieRoxx.us) welcomes #AWarWithin (Rock) to the Show!

● LT: linktr.ee/awarwithin ● IG: @awarwithin ● FB: @AWARWITHINBAND ● TK: @awarwithinmusic ● TW: @awarwithinmusic

Hailing from #Detroit, Michigan, A War Within is no stranger to the rock music scene, the band has played with BlessTheFall, The Word Alive, Miss May I, The Plot in You, Ded, Thousand Below, Sirens and Sailors, Divisions, The Anchor, Darkness Divided, The Paramedic, Sycamore, Words Like Daggers, It Lies Within, In Search of Solace & more! They have appeared At: Warped Tour (2015, 2018), Annihilation, Sunspot Music Fest, Toledo Music Fest (2016 - 2019), Michigan Metal Fest 2018, This is the End Fest, Hertfest 2017, Cthulu Summer Showcase, October Fest 2016, Excellency Fest 2016, Tiffin Music Fest 2016. Propulsing through the airwaves with a vengeance, a purpose and the ultimate anthem of the decade, comes the heavy hitting band, A War Within with their new single, "G.F.Y.S. (Go Fu** Yourself)." Non-apologetic, straight to the point, amped up with a fervor, G.F.Y.S. will have you addicted and singing the lyrics incessantly.

● Media Inquiries: Angela Mockbee Crusher Media Group www.facebook.com/crushermedia

[andromeda1023]

Pic 1) Live television was transmitted from the moon to three ground stations, two in Australia and one in California. The signal was converted to a standard broadcast signal and then sent to Houston, via, satellite, landline or microwave antenna. These graphics show the path of the television feed. Credit: NASA 

Pic 2) A 1969 Photograph of  CSIRO’s Parkes radio telescope. Credit: CSIRO

From the Moon to the Earth

“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” On July 20, 1969 those words were broadcast across the world. Millions watched as Neil Armstrong became the first human to step upon the Moon.

The famous video of Apollo 11 began as a faint, high-frequency transmission from the lunar lander. By the time the signal reached Earth it was too weak to be detected by common radios and televisions. It took radio astronomers with sensitive antenna dishes to capture the signal. The Apollo mission was a tremendous feat of engineering. It was a bold plan never attempted before or since. But it took the ingenuity of radio astronomers to tell its story.

Radio astronomy grew out of early experiments in the 1930s. Karl Jansky’s first detection of astronomical radio waves demonstrated that radio could be used as another window to the universe. Early radio astronomy focused on bright radio sources, such as the Sun and the center of the Milky Way. Grote Reber built upon Jansky’s work to make the first map of the radio sky. James Stanley Hey made the first detection of radio signals from the Sun, while Ruby Payne-Scott used radio interferometry to show that solar radio bursts originated from sunspots.

During the Second World War the rise of radar led to advancements in radio imaging. After the war, more sensitive radio telescopes were constructed, and there was a growing interest in astronomical radar. Payne-Scott worked on top-secret radar systems during WWII, and after the war she published a report on limiting factors of radar distance measurements. In 1946 the U.S. Army initiated Project Diana. The project, designed to bounce radio signals off the Moon and detect the reflected signal, marks the dawn of radar astronomy. Project Diana demonstrated that radar signals could be sent and received through and that interplanetary radio communication was possible.

Apollo was born out of the cold war, which began when Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite in October of 1957. Named Sputnik I, the satellite contained a radio transmitter that could be heard around the world. Anyone with a simple short-wave radio could listen to the steady “beep-beep-beep” as Sputnik passed overhead. The battery-powered transmission lasted for weeks, signaling to the world that the Russians were the masters of space.

As the Soviet Union advanced toward crewed missions, the United States followed with its own human space program. In early 1960 the Eisenhower administration began plans to send a man to the Moon within a decade. The plan was made famous by President Kennedy’s proposal to congress in 1961. At the time, only a handful of humans had reached low Earth orbit, only a few hundred miles above Earth’s surface. Kennedy’s challenge was for humans to travel a thousand times farther.

Through radar astronomy, the motion and distance of the Moon was known to within about a kilometer. Precise enough for an attempted landing. Radar-ranging would allow a lander to reach the lunar surface safely. But Apollo still needed to send radio messages from the Moon. And the Kennedy administration wanted to have a live feed of the lunar landing.

By 1962 it was clear that a new kind of radio communication system would need to be developed for Apollo.  Both the Mercury and Gemini programs used separate radio systems for voice, telemetry and tracking. This was fine for low Earth orbit, but for lunar distances NASA developed system known as the Unified S-band, or USB. Voice, telemetry, tracking and video were combined into a single transmission. This simplified the design and power needs of the lunar modules, but it meant that the signal had to be detected on Earth with a high sensitivity. NASA needed radio astronomers.

The initial plan was to use radio telescopes built by NASA specifically for deep space communication. Goldstone observatory was built in 1958 by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to communicate with the early Pioneer missions to lunar orbit. Armstrong’s landing was timed so that Goldstone could capture the signal, as well as the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station in Australia. Parkes Observatory (made famous in the movie The Dish) also captured some of the lunar images, though not Armstrong’s first minutes on the Moon. Without radio astronomy, the live images of Apollo 11 wouldn’t have been possible.

Humans last walked upon the Moon in 1972. For now, human missions to the Moon and beyond remain a dream. But robotic missions have entered a golden age of exploration. From the last message of Opportunity on Mars, to the New Horizons images of Pluto, the discoveries of these terrestrial ambassadors are captured by an advanced network of radio telescopes. The demand for more data and higher resolution images will require radio telescopes that are increasingly sensitive to their faint signals. Our success in space is based upon a collaboration between the builders of probes and the watchers of the stars.

We’ve only sent machines beyond the Moon for now, but humans will follow. When they do, their messages home will be delivered by that same radio telescope network. They will capture the faint signal when the first human does set foot upon Mars, and she proudly declares: “And thus, through peace, Humanity has conquered the god of war.”

https://public.nrao.edu/blogs/from-the-moon-to-the-earth/?fbclid=IwAR34B4zriqB-lB7SCJW4E1pzjtOO9Y9Qj4It9JihyQG2BnwbpSBFl7lWEYs

[corystssides]

Me, directly after switching my major: science was too hard and I don’t think I was really interested anyway.

Me during the summer: hello family I notice we’re in the car and there’s no escape from me so I’m gonna tell you about Jupiter’s moons and Mars’s rovers and sunspots and propulsion and orbits and what kind of lights you should put on clothes so they don’t catch on fire and why a larger part of our grid should run on solar power.

[thecraziestfanever]

The Sunspot plush is back!!!

https://readyjetgo.shop.pbskids.org/catalog/view/717943

[readyjetgotrash]

Ready Jet Go! Season 2 Episode Descriptions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mindy Turns Five: Mindy has finally turned five and is super excited that she is now old enough to go to space. But she's planned a tea party in the back yard. The kids convince Mindy to move her tea party to the Moon! In her first trip to space ever, Mindy gets to board the Propulsion family saucer and experience space travel, rounding out their Moon tea party with a quick trip out to Pluto and back.(April 2, 2018)

Endless Summer / Jet Shrinks the Kids: Jet is amazed to find out that the entire Earth doesn't have the same season at the same time. So he flies with Sydney and Sean from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere to compare and experience holidays in winter and summer...all in one day! / Mindy feels bad that she's the smallest kid in the group, so sympathetic Jet and friends use a shrink-ray and become her size. The plan goes awry, and Jet, Sean, Sydney, and Sunspot become the size of mice. Mindy has to follow intricate diagrams to reverse the shrink-ray! (April 3, 2018)

Mindy's Ice Rink / Measure for Measure: Mindy is impatient for winter, because she wants to ice skate. So Jet, Sean, Sydney, and Celery fly to Saturn's icy rings to gather ice from them and return to build a Saturn-ringed skating rink around Jet's house. / Jet, Sydney, Sean, Mindy, and Sunspot decide to make a scaled replica of the solar system using found items in their own neighborhood and in doing so learn that an Astronomical Unit is the distance from the Earth to the Sun. (April 4, 2018)

Mindy and Carrot Bake / Commander Cressida Begins: While making a cake, Carrot and Mindy find they are one are short one ingredient, so they head to the store. But Carrot accidentally pushes a wrong button on the wagon's newly-updated control panel, and they take off into outer space! Using a diagram, methodical experimentation, and record keeping, Mindy and Carrot figure out how to properly fly the saucer back home, where they finally finish the cake. / Mindy has a problem: now that she's been to space with the bigger kids, she realizes how much there is out there to see! How can she decide where to explore next? Sydney asks her mom, Dr. Skelley, who presents them with the very first edition of Commander Cressida comics! In reading the comic book, Mindy comes to appreciate that she, like Commander Cressida, can explore space "one adventure at a time." (April 5, 2018)

Mindy's Bedtime / Galileo, Galileo!: Mindy has to go to bed when the Sun goes down, but she's having such a fun day with her friends. She asks Jet and the others to help her keep the Sun from going down. The older kids humor Mindy and try to help "slow down the Sun." All their efforts make Mindy so sleepy that she decides to go home and sleep. / Sydney and Jet are having a hard time explaining to Mindy that the Sun doesn't move - the Earth is moving around the Sun, so the Sun seems to move. Then Sean comes over dressed as his science hero Galileo, getting ready to do a school report. Mindy asks "Galileo" to explain why the Sun seems to move, and Sean practices for his report by explaining how the planets move, in character as Galileo! (April 6, 2018)

Is it just me, or is every episode this season about Mindy? Don’t get me wrong, she’s a good character, but the other characters should have focus too.

[spacenutspod]

Totality and the April 8th total solar eclipse offers a rare chance to study the Sun. Totality! As seen from Madras, Oregon, during the 2017 total solar eclipse. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani We’re less than three weeks out now, until the April 8th total solar eclipse crosses North America. And while over 31 million residents live in the path of totality, many more will make the journey to briefly stand in the shadow of the Moon. Several scientific projects are also underway to take advantage of the event. The eclipse traverses Mexico, the United States from Texas to Maine, and the Canadian Maritime provinces before heading out over the Atlantic. Maximum totality for this eclipse in 4 minutes and 27 seconds, longer than the 2017 total solar eclipse. This is the only total solar eclipse worldwide for 2024, and the final total solar eclipse for a generation for the contiguous United States until 2044. A Brief History of Total Solar Eclipse Science Eclipses have always offered astronomers a chance to carry out rare observations. The element helium (named after ‘Helios’ the Greek god of the Sun) was discovered in the solar chromosphere during the August 18th, 1868 total solar eclipse. Astronomers swept the sky near the eclipsed Sun in July 29th, 1878, looking for the hypothetical planet Vulcan. World War I thwarted astronomer’s plans to test Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity during the August 21st, 1914 eclipse. This had to wait until Arthur Eddington led an expedition to Principe in 1919, and vindicated Einstein with measurements of the deflection of stars observed near the Sun during totality. Stranger experiments continued right up into the 20th century. One of the more bizarre eclipse experiments was hunting for the elusive ‘Allais Effect,’ looking for the deflection of a pendulum during totality. Alas, Maurice Allais’ findings alluding to this fringe idea have never been replicated. Maybe LIGO Livingston just outside the path of totality on 2024 could take up the challenge? Four Eclipse Science Projects In 2023, NASA selected four major experiments to chase totality: 1. The Solar Patrol sunspot campaign: This effort is led by Thangasamy Velusamy out of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This initiative seeks to monitor subtle changes in the magnetic fields of active sunspot regions as the Moon passes over them. The team will use the 34-meter Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope based in California (outside of the path of totality) to carry out this experiment. We’re headed towards the peak of Solar Cycle 25 over the coming year, so the odds are pretty good that the Sun will be dappled with multiple sunspots, come eclipse day. 2. SuperDARN to probe the ionosphere: Led by Bharat Kunduri out of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, this experiment seeks to measure how the upper ionosphere reacts to the eclipse. Crucially, totality passes over three SuperDARN (Super Dual Auroral Radar Network) sites during the eclipse, offering an unprecedented opportunity. 3. Pro/AM ‘Listening Party’ to observe QSOs: Ham radio operators are familiar with the enhanced nighttime reflectivity of the upper ionosphere. This effect allows for reception of distant stations that are otherwise silent in the daytime. This sort of contact is known as a ‘QSO’ in ham radio-speak, and it also occurs during an eclipse, as totality briefly mimics the approach of night. Nathaniel Frissell of the University of Scranton is leading an effort to make QSO contacts on April 8th. A good strategy is to pick an AM station a few hundred miles distant and listen before, during and after totality passes. Even today, most cars still come equipped with AM/FM radios. This is also an experiment that can be done from outside of the path of totality. A modified, eclipse-chasing WB-57 aircraft is towed out for a mission. NASA Chasing the Shadow 4. NASA’s WB-57 missions to take flight once again. The most ambitious endeavor is once again underway, as NASA’s two converted WB-57 Canberra aircraft will once again chase the shadow of the Moon. NASA owns the last three Canberra aircraft still in service. Two of these aircraft will fly out of Ellington Field outside of Houston, Texas on eclipse day. The jet aircraft will intercept the Moon’s shadow, which will be moving at over 2,500 miles per hour. This allows for an extra two minutes of totality. Both aircraft will carry a suite of cameras and spectrometers, allowing astronomers to analyze the inner corona very near the Sun. Studying the region could go a long ways towards solving the ‘coronal heating problem,’ a mystery evolving why the corona is exponentially hotter than the photosphere of the Sun. Images of the Sun from GOES-16, versus the Sun during eclipse (far right) showing loops in the lower corona. NASA Observations from the 2017 eclipse hinted that oscillations in the lower corona may feed ‘nano-flares’ that pump energy into the outer corona. This time, two new observatories will be on hand to back up NASA’s eclipse measurements. These are the European Space Agency’s Solar Observatory (SolO) and NASA’s Parker Solar Observatory. The flight will also continue the campaign to scan the sky near the eclipsed Sun to hunt for elusive Vulcanoid asteroids interior to the orbit of Mercury. General Relativity did away with the need to evoke an inter-Mercurial world to explain the anomalous precession of Mercury’s orbit. The jury is still out, however, on whether smaller asteroids could still exist near the Sun. MESSENGER scoured the region near the Sun en route to Mercury. NASA will once again look for Vulcanoids as a secondary objective during the 2024 eclipse. NASA has also chased eclipses aloft using Gulfstream III aircraft: More Total Solar Eclipse Science Other citizen-science projects are also planned for April 8th. One intriguing project is the Citizen Continental-America Telescope Eclipse network, known as Citizen CATE. This project sees volunteers setup along the total solar eclipse path, with the objective of augmenting corona observations. An animation of the corona in polarized light, as seen during the 2017 total solar eclipse. NASA/Gopalswamy et al. I have a deep respect for all those who are devoting precious time during totality to eclipse science. Perhaps, you’ll simply be happy will clear skies to enjoy the view. If you haven’t got your eclipse glasses yet to safely obverse the Sun, Astronomy For Equity still has ‘em available. Hey, they’re for a good cause… Good luck and clear skies to all who are headed into the shadow of the Moon on eclipse day, whether its for the cause of science, or just to enjoy the view. The post NASA Experiments Planned for the April 8th Total Solar Eclipse appeared first on Universe Today.

[coolsomejet]

NEW SPACE CAMP INFO! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

Production info:

This movie is not produced by Wind Dancer Films, but by "Silver Creek Falls Entertainment," which is the new production company of Dete Meserve, one of the executive producers of the show. We already knew that Universal was gonna distribute the movie, but DREAMWORKS IS INVOLVED TOO??? WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL?? So Dreamworks, famous animation studio, just up and helped produce a made-for-TV-movie based on an publicly-aired educational cartoon??? I am just flabbergasted

Plot info:

We have an expanded plot line! Sunspot’s allergic reaction causes him to shrink, and the cure for this illness is called "Deshrinkulum." Jet builds an intergalactic hyperdrive to get the cure in time, but he pulls a Jet™️ and screws it up by putting it into one of the mock spaceships at the space camp. Team Propulsion will have to use their skills to pilot the mock spaceship and get the cure.

I made a post not too long ago theorizing that the movie would be a parody of the 1986 movie SpaceCamp, which is also about a bunch of kids who go to space camp and accidentally wind up in space. When PBS SoCal revealed the plot of the movie, I thought I was wrong about the reference. But it turns out I was right all along. Funny how life works.

[yeoldontknow]

As Still As Sound: Prologue

Author’s Note: i really didn’t think i’d start another series so soon, really i didn’t. but this came to me one night, and i feel like i’m going to scream if i don’t write it. this story is basically a love note from me to a lot of different things; some of it is personal, some of it is fictional, a lot of it is me doing something i never do and writing real, true love story. i hope you enjoy this prologue!

Summary: Two years after soulmate bonds are formed in our universe, and still the world is reeling from the connections. Everyone seems to be affected, except you. You seem to think you’ve been left out and forgotten, though you don’t really want a soulmate at all. All you really want is to be alone with your music…

O/C’s Spotify song this chapter: Blow - Ghinzu (music for each chapter will be the song the reader/oc/you is listening to)

Pairing: Chanyeol x Reader (oc; female)

Genre: Soulmate!AU; fluff; angst; drama; sci-fi; eventual smut

Rating (this chapter): PG

Warnings (this chapter): references to threats of self-harm

Word Count: 5,024

METRO UK      APRIL 8, 2013

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW! FIRST UK SOULMATE PAIR DISCOVERED: TWO YEARS ON 

Anita and Wesley Goulding made history on this day in 2011 as the first couple in the UK to find their soulmate after the Era Shift. They’ve sat down with us today to discuss how they met, the struggles they endured in the early days of finding one another, and why they think the new soulmate process is a double edged sword.

Q: Congratulations on two years!

Anita: Thank you! It really doesn’t feel like it. I wake up every morning and see him, and I somehow fall more in love with him.

Wesley: I honestly don’t know what I was doing in my life before I met her. It’s been the most magical two years.

Q: Finding your soulmate is different for everyone. Tell us what happened to you both, as the first.

A: Well, I don’t think we were technically the first [laughs], but I think we were the first to find each other and document it in some way, or at least reach out on a national level to alert people that this was happening? But, for me, I woke up one morning knowing I wasn’t alone in my mind. I know that sounds terrifying or awful, but it actually felt comforting. I could feel him there, sort of at the side, all day until I was able to hear his thoughts.

W: Yes, I woke up that day feeling like I was warm. Warm sounds like a silly way to describe it, but I could feel her presence and it just made me feel good, like down to the core.

A: I think we went about two days before we could talk to one another. It was a constant inner monologue. I wanted to tell him everything the second I heard his voice.

Q: How did you end up meeting or finding each other?

A: We were quite lucky that we only lived about an hour away from each other. We suggested meeting in Bristol for the day because it meant we’d have things to do, and we could leave whenever we wanted if it went badly. He waited for me at the train station and when I saw him by the platform it felt like seeing the sun for the first time.

W: I was quite nervous meeting her because already I knew that I was in quite deep. To be honest, I wasn’t even thinking about if I’d find her attractive because I already knew I would. Everything about her felt right, and when she came off the platform it was like having my breath stolen from me but paradoxically, I could breathe easier knowing she was there and she was mine. 

Q: Had you been in a relationship during your time discovering one another?

W: No, and I think again we were lucky in that regard. We’ve all heard stories about people already being married, engaged, or in serious relationships learning that they aren’t soulmates. We were both single and I think that’s why we were able to surrender to the magic of it.

A: I don’t know how we would have handled it had we already been committed to other people. The pull towards him is irresistible and I have great respect for those who are going through that tough situation right now.

[…]

THE SCIENCE OF SOULMATES

Natasha Waters - Edited for Metro UK by Miles Kuyer

Before we begin, it is critical that some discussion on the historical context regarding the Era Shift is initiated as to better understand the complexities arising within the studies of Soul Searching, and the concept of the soulmate bonding itself. Furthermore, I would like to point out that this paper exists only as a method of summarising and categorizing what is known, confirmed, and defined in Soul Searching. New discoveries are being made daily given the tumultuous and varying nature of the science, and so I make no attempt to tangentially comment on, or speak to, what may still be considered hypothetical or theory as these are wholly outside of my qualifications. While there is little progress in the study of how soulmate bonding came into fruition (i.e. the direct connection between ion proportion and pheromone detection), there are many things within scientific circles considered to be true and founded, and my hope is to present these to the public to act as a definitive guide on the subject.

In July of 2010, two separate sunspots were discovered on the Sun’s photosphere, each with a diameter of approximately 75,000km in what was eventually discerned to be opposite magnetic polarity. Each spot traveled at the same velocity and propulsion for two days before converging on the photosphere as one critical mass event with a spot diameter of 160,000km. While it is normal for sunspots of this size to endure for a timeframe that varies between two to seven days, this spot endured for three weeks before resulting in a coronal loop. This became the first of many small solar flares across a six month period.

In September of 2010, two other sunspots were discovered in the exact same positions, however these only had diameters of 50,000km. They followed the same trajectory before converging into a single spot with a diameter of 110,000km. The single spot endured for one week before resulting in yet another coronal loop. 

In March of 2011, a coronal mass ejection of 1 × 10^25 joules was released in the position where the two sunspots had converged and decayed. This coronal mass ejection resulted in possibly the largest solar flare we had seen in three decades and reached Earth’s atmosphere in the early hours of March 27th.

Four days later, the first soulmate couple was reported on American local broadcast station Channel 5 in the state of Maryland.

Scientific circles have been able to connect the events of the solar flare to the discovery of soul mate bonding, and Soul Searching, due to the processes through which the electrons and ions were able to restructure neurological responses within the human brain. Through various methods of MRI and X-Ray technologies, we are able to state with absolute certainty that the amygdala has seemingly adapted to respond to pheromone triggers across long distances.

While it is still difficult to accurately discern which other parts of the brain have been affected, as the case study for this issue could undoubtedly be humanity itself - especially with each soul bond differing from case to case - there is confidence that the Reticular Activation System, Temporal lobes, and Limbic systems have all evolved or adapted since the solar flare of 2011. 

[…]

HE STOLE HER CAR AFTER SHE LEFT HIM FOR HER SOUL MATE

[…]

Tune in TONIGHT on Channel 4 to watch The Bond, the latest reality show from the makers -

[…] 

Two years after the Era Shift, many adults are still trying to adapt to the ways in which their soul bond will take effect. Not least of which are a group of individuals from Manchester who have come together as a support group after the loss of major senses.

‘I thought I was terminally ill,’ says Catherine Fisher, 30. ‘You really can’t imagine what it’s like to wake up in the morning and suddenly…everything is so grey. I’m still not used to it, really. My memories are all in colour, and I have pictures of events that I know are in colour but I can’t see them that way.’

Within the group, there are many, underlying feelings regarding the concept of the soul mate as a whole. 

‘We thought it was supposed to be for the betterment of humanity, you know?’ says Daniel Goddard, 36. ‘I was married to a woman I really did love and we have a beautiful daughter, but how do you tell her mommy and daddy aren’t meant to be together? And how do you explain to your wife that you love her, but it’s not enough? And how can you tell me it’s ok I can’t hear music until I meet the person I’m supposed to be with? I know people have it worse off, really I do, but it’s sh**.’

You shut the paper with a huff and rest your head against the wall of the tube carriage, turning the volume of your music up to drown out the roar. Once again, no Sudoku puzzles. The usual page overrun by redundant soul bond news.

Two years on and still the Era Shift seemed to consume the media, the public, the world. As if this was the only thing to care about. As if love was the only newsworthy event because the lack of choice suddenly made it exciting or mysterious. People falling in and out of love made the front page just as often as a world leader or the start of a new war, and both topics make you feel uneasy and uncomfortable in equal measures.

Love has become an irresistible force and consequently, the heart is now an immovable object. Logically, neither can truly exist. Logically, a love like this should be impossible. Choice of partner has been eradicated, replaced instead with a forced paradox of biblical proportions and you can’t find it in your heart to be pleased.

Some days, admittedly, you feel you may be too ungrateful or scornful. You’ve heard the stories of those who’ve lost colour vision, the ability to hear music, the doom clock on the arm that is constantly counting down, and you know, in some way, you’ve been blessed. Ever since the flare, you’ve felt no discernible or ominous change. Your body and your mind have belonged completely to you, always, never intruded on by someone else’s thoughts or feelings and for this you are thankful.

But you feel the same. Unchanged and unmoved, you’ve yet to feel any sort of connection to humanity beyond the basic framework of how things worked before, and you almost feel as though you are the only one who’s been left behind. 

You think you’re supposed to feel part of a grand design. Perhaps, you should feel an anxious sort of excitement that washes over you at whim, whenever you think about prospect or opportunity or fate. Instead, you feel nothing but a tepid neutrality that leaves you feeling bored and, truthfully, bitterly disinterested.

Your thoughts are interrupted by the sensation of being watched…admired. The hairs on your arms start to rise in knowledge and slight discomfort, and you release a quiet sigh.

You remember when tube journeys were an anonymous, rather stoic affair. Not long ago, you felt like you could fade into the sea of faces in a tube carriage, enjoying the comfortable silence that came with the ride. Now, even with your eyes closed, you can feel eyes scanning your face, searching for some kind of trigger or shock that says she’s the one. Two years ago, this kind of scrutiny would have been impolite and in poor etiquette. Lately, you’ve grown used to it and occasionally welcome it. You’re starting feel comfortable in the disappointment and distraction, sometimes luxuriating in gladness that others are just as lost as you.

As the train comes to a halt, you open your eyes and stand to depart. It’s now that you see who was looking at you, studying you with a quizzical and fascinated stare. You smile brightly, though you know this will have little result. He’s handsome, handsome in all the right ways with broad shoulders and long fingers - a musician with kind eyes, you think, and you know you’d call him your type. He smiles back, but it’s sad - for both you and him.

In another life, you’d call this a meet cute. In another life, maybe you would have slipped him your number. Today, you are strangers and today you are not soulmates, neither of you belonging to the other for any substantial amount of time. And while he will forget you, moving on to the next pretty face to find the right curves and teeth and hair, you will remember him only because he was wrong, a mistake you could have made. And you know that you would have picked him, picked him and relished the disaster of it, had you only been given the chance.

Hesitantly, you depart the train as your heart says goodbye to a man who could have been yours, in another life.

The walk to the pub from Angel station is quick, drenched in uncharacteristic sunshine and tucked away from the busy high street. It helps you recenter yourself, finding joy in the smallness and simplicity of things. Life continues on around you and in the heart of the city, you almost feel as though nothing has changed. There’s comfort here, in the obscurity of city streets and you relish the sensation of being alone with yourself.

When you arrive, Kate is already waiting for you in a corner booth near the back, and she waves at you with an awkward enthusiasm, childlike in its nature. She’s radiating joy, it’s brimming out and over from her smile and into the room, and you’re blinded on impact; she’s even ordered you a cider. 

Immediately, you’re wary. 

‘Hiya,’ you say, shrugging your bag off and onto the cushion between you and the wall. ‘What’s all this about, then?’

‘What do you mean?’ she asks, airily. ‘Can’t I buy you drink?’

‘Kate, you’ve literally never bought me a drink unless it was my birthday.’

She looks down at her own glass, smiling with a warm sort of shyness you haven’t seen since you first met her. It’s unlike her to be so reserved or bashful. Usually, she’s rather frank, even to the point of sometimes catching you off guard with her seemingly absent sense of tact. This is unlike her. She has something she wants to tell you, but she’s afraid of your reaction. She’s afraid of you. 

‘I have some news,’ she begins, lightly. 

‘Of course you do,’ you say, softly, trying to ease her into the conversation. ‘What’s so important it couldn’t wait until after my shift?’ 

‘I bonded last night.’ 

‘Oh…’ 

Words live in your mind and die on your tongue, dissolving before you can birth them into the atmosphere. A slight chill has wandered down your spine, settling in your bones and dropping your stomach with disappointment. For a whole minute, you forget that your surprised sigh is the only sound you’ve made.

‘Wow, that’s incredible!’ You hope this exclamation sounds excited; you’re sure that it doesn’t. 

‘You don’t sound terribly enthusiastic,’ she laughs.

Anyone else, and you know they would have been upset at your reaction. Bonding is meant to be treated like engagement announcements of the past, and your lukewarm response would be considered hurtful and rude. But Kate knows you, knows everything about you down to your core, and she already expected this from you. 

‘No I am, really!’ you backtrack with a laugh. ‘I just…you were like, the one friend, you know? We had the shit end of things. And now I’ve got no one to complain to.’

You’re trying to keep the mood light, lacing your tone with a playfulness you think might have been found on single women before the flare.

As usual, she cuts your words down to the heart of your sentiments.

‘You have a soulmate,’ she presses. ‘I know you do.’

This really isn’t what you wanted, changing her announcement into a debate about you and your seemingly absent soul bond. Truthfully, you’re not in the mood to discuss all the ways you seem to be excluded from a newfound sense of completeness, so you change the subject to something that interests you more. 

‘Whatever,’ you say, dismissively. ‘Let me see the clock.’ 

Resting her right arm on the table with an awed expression, you lean forward to admire the purple-white numbers just below her skin.

23:04:16:17:04:22

Twenty-three years, four months, sixteen days, seventeen hours, four minutes, and twenty-two seconds. That’s how long it took her to find her soulmate.

Unlike many people who were fortunate enough to have a clock that counts down to finding their soulmate, Kate had received a clock that tracked how long it would take. You both found this to be one of the least helpful gifts of the solar flare, and, while it isn’t a major sensory loss, for a time you both considered this to be one of the most traumatizing. 

The morning she woke up and discovered a clock beneath her skin was the first time you ever heard her cry. She’d called in a panic, her breaths falling in quick, shallow succession as her words became mangled in her sobs. Initially, she thought she had been dreaming, but the burn along her flesh was far to tangible to be fiction of the mind. Then, she thought it was a tattoo and, for a brief moment, she felt comforted. But soon, she realized she hadn’t been out the night before and, probably most horrifying of all, the numbers were moving.

They were counting, upwards and towards something, and for days all she did was watch the clock. She’d skipped classes, sat in her bathtub and watched the way the numbers made the water drops glow. After about a week of trying to figure out what it could possibly be counting to, she threatened to cut the numbers out with a kitchen knife. Screaming over the phone, she said they were driving her crazy, that the numbers haunted her even behind her eyes. She was trapped and consumed by time, and if this was what it took to find true love then she didn’t want it at all.

This was her lowest point, her lowest, darkest point, and it’s difficult to have this memory, so visceral and clear in your mind, as you watch her smile at the thing she once so deeply hated.

In the grand scheme of things, you find this to be an incredibly short period of time: to change your mind about the clock, to change your mind about your soulmate - to find your soulmate at all. It’s all happened so fast, and you’re starting to feel left behind.

Shaking your head to clear your head, you lean back and take a large drink of cider. ‘So, tell me how it happened.’

‘It was in Covent Garden actually.’

Your laugh comes out as an unsurprised bark, accidental in the magnitude of its volume. Covent Garden is her favourite part of London. This story almost sounds romanticized and predictable. ‘Of course it was.’ 

‘Ha ha,’ she mocks. ‘He was actually coming out of Whittard’s as I was going down to watch the string quartet, and when I saw him it was…it was like seeing stars.’

‘Stars are just lights in the sky,’ you casually remark with a shrug. ‘They aren’t really that special.’

‘I don’t mean like a standard city night sky,’ she retorts with a roll of her eyes. ‘I mean…imagine whole galaxies blooming in front of you.’

Eyes wide at this statement, you almost choke on your drink. ‘Oh, so suddenly you’re a poet?’ 

‘Maybe I am, now!’ she laughs.

‘So when are you seeing him?’

Her response is terribly quick.

‘Tonight actually.’

Now you do choke on your drink. ‘To-tonight? That’s so soon.’

‘I know,’ she giggles. ‘But within minutes I just wanted to do absolutely everything with him. Like, even right now I’m anxious being away from him.’ 

Everything about this sounds like it’s moving impossibly fast. There’s no courting, no collection of texts to prelude an actual date, no time to actually get to know one another. Perhaps because you’re the only one without the tension and anticipation of emotional connection, it makes you terribly nervous.

‘Please be careful,’ you say, seriously.

‘He’s my soulmate, not a stranger,’ she sighs.

‘I mean he kind of is.’ Your voice is colder than you intended, so you soften yourself before continuing. ‘You’ve known him, what, twenty-four hours and you’re already in this deep?’

She narrows her eyes at you, and you can feel her frankness before she even opens her mouth.

‘You know,’ she says, voice warm but stern. ‘Not long ago we would have considered this standard excitement over a cute guy. I feel like you think it’s different now because we just know we’re meant to be together.’

‘I’d still be telling you to be careful,’ you reply. ‘Especially if he was just some guy and not your soulmate.’

She takes a long sip of her drink and furrows her brow. ‘Yeah, but he is my soulmate, so I don’t think he’s going to hurt me.’

‘I just have to say it, okay?’ It almost sounds like a plea, and perhaps it is.

Her features relax into an expression of gentle understanding, her lips pulled into a sympathetic smile. Today is not the day for arguing.

‘Sometimes I don’t know why you’re so hard on the soulmate thing,’ she says, changing the subject. ‘You know, considering your parents.’

After the Era Shift, most marriages began to dissolve and shatter as nearly everyone had somehow wound up with the wrong partner. There really wasn’t a single person you knew whose family wasn’t broken because of this, except your own. Somehow, when your parents woke up affected by the solar flare, they faced each other in bed and found The One, the one they had shared a bed with for 35 years. They’d spent the morning laughing, touching, and rediscovering each other, the bond only magnifying their love for one another. This was how it was meant to be, you thought, an awakening and discovery of what was already there. It rarely worked out this way. 

‘They were the minority,’ you clarify. ‘And their fate really has nothing to do with mine, you know? They had each other. You have a soulmate. I’m not even sure what I have.’

Kate sips her drink and regards you with a cool stare. She knows there’s more you want to say, and you know she’s already slightly exasperated with you. None of this is new. It’s a discussion you’ve had with her, and many of your other friends, for the past two years and you keep coming back to it like a crutch. You don’t really feel passionate about love, because you’ve been excluded from it for so long. Nor are you passionate about people, but you feel very passionately about free will and you can’t help but feel like it’s been taken from you.

‘Love is complicated,’ you concede. ‘It’s so complex and difficult, and people are always making promises to each other they can barely keep -’

‘That’s why soulmates are a thing now,’ she interjects, smoothly. 

‘Okay, but it tripled divorce rates because suddenly these people weren’t meant to be together.’ 

‘There’s every chance those marriages would have failed along the way, regardless.’ She tries to say it as gently as she can, but it still comes out a little bit callous.

‘Yeah, but not all of them,’ you say, voice rising. ‘Those people entered into a marriage because they loved each other, and some of them would have worked through their issues or weathered that storm because they chose to. That to me is more beautiful than just knowing things are going to be ok because some kind of fate tells you it’s going to be.’

‘I get that, really I do,’ she asserts in hushed tones, trying to coax you back down. ‘But I don’t think you’re counting the fact that you’ll want to choose your soulmate. At every turn, you’ll want to choose them. And no one is saying the problems are gone. You can’t have a relationship that never, ever has an argument, but it makes it easier to forgive.’

‘You’ve literally known yours for a day and you’re already lecturing me,’ you groan, though you can’t seem to hide your laughter.

‘It comes from a place of love,’ she says dryly, reaching out to touch your hand.

You regard each other in silence for a long while, and mentally you’re already preparing for yet another loss. Soon, her time will be entirely taken up with her soulmate. If you do spend time together, it will include a person who effectively turns you into the third-wheel of a nine year friendship. It pains you to see things this way, but you’ve lived through it enough to know this is how it starts and, though you are aware of it, you’re never quite prepared for how it ends. Several of your friends and family have coupled off, their days spent in a marital bliss unlike anything you’d ever witnessed. You know that Kate will always be your friend, but you know, deep down, things will never feel like this again.

Pensive and just a little bit sad, you glance at the clock on your phone and begrudgingly start to gather your things.  

‘I’ve got to head to the shop,’ you say, coming to stand and downing the last of your cider. ‘Tell me how everything goes, yeah?’

‘Will do,’ she replies, standing with you to offer you a hug.

Her embrace is warm and comforting, connected in a way you know you will soon miss. Pulling away from it is almost painful, but you give her a kiss on the cheek and tell her that everything is going to be just fine. You will be just fine. 

The walk to the record shop is short and what would have been a peaceful stroll is now consumed with thoughts of Kate’s bond. You don’t like to consider yourself envious, you don’t envy her clock and you don’t really envy the fact that she’s found her soulmate, but you think you envy her ability to surrender into the dream of it all. She makes it sound and feel easy, makes it sound like something beautiful and wondrous. Sometimes you think with your guard so high and impenetrable, it’s no wonder you haven’t felt any sort of change. 

Pushing open the door to Flashback Records, you’re relieved to see your favourite coworker standing behind the counter cleaning a record. You don’t often get to work with him, seeing as the market for second hand records is rather small. There’s been a slight influx of customers over the years, the advent of soul bonding seeming to make people nostalgic for the romance of tangible, physical music played from a turntable. Still, business is never busy enough to require more than one person on the till. 

‘How long are you here?’ you ask, sliding behind him to get to the employees only closet. 

‘Until about half-six,’ comes his reply, though he doesn’t both to look up from the record he’s cleaning. His blonde hair has fallen into his eyes, and he’s so focused on his task he doesn’t both to brush it away.

‘Nice. Looks like you’re stuck with me for three hours,’ you tease, nudging him with your hip.

‘Don’t!’ he hisses. ‘You’ll make my hand slip and scratch it.’

Rolling your eyes, you start to clock in on the till computer but you briefly become distracted. On the turntable in the back of the store, Chris has chosen to play something that sounds vaguely familiar to you. You know you’ve heard it before, perhaps with a different guitar effect or voice, but you know that you’ve heard it and you know that, at some point, it meant something very dear to you. 

Part of this doesn’t feel like a memory that belongs to you, but you’re fond of the song and the way it tells a story. All at once, you think you’ve figured it out.  

‘Hey, Chris, wasn’t this in Pulp Fiction?’ you ask, frozen in place at the counter. 

Even as you suggest it, it feels wrong. You know it was used in the film, you’re sure of it, but this doesn’t feel like the question you want to be asking or should be asking. The song feels heavier than a soundtrack, heavier than a memory of cinema or cult fan-boy connection.

‘This is Neil Diamond,’ he snorts. ‘How do you not know this song?’

‘I know the song,’ you say quickly, frustrated. ‘Can you just answer my question.’

‘This is the original version,’ he explains, though he doesn’t sound terribly interested. ‘Urge Overkill did a cover of it that was used in Pulp Fiction.’

‘Where’s the sleeve?’ you demand.

He nods in the direction of the end of the counter, and you eagerly reach for the album sleeve. With it in your hands, you get the passing sensation of slipping, like you’ve held this exact item in your hands before, or heard this precise version or sang it to someone important. You know that you haven’t, and think maybe what you’re experiencing is a prosthetic sort of nostalgia, a nostalgia brought on by a wish for a life you could have lived.

Closing your eyes and taking a deep inhale of breath, you center yourself and, as quickly as it came, the moment passes. You decide then that you need this song in some way, need it to be close to you always, so you pull out your phone and add the album to your Spotify. Truthfully, you don’t think anything has ever been as important as this song is, right here, right now.

It’s important that you have this song with you, tonight and for every tomorrow. Important that you make it yours.