(no subject)

Geologist-Astronaut Harrison Schmitt worked next to a huge, split boulder at geology Station 6 on the sloping base of North Massif during the third Apollo 17 extravehicular activity. The lunar rover developed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. operated fine in this rough lunar terrain.
For about four and a half years during my childhood, the moon was a place people went to and explored on a regular basis. By the time we stopped, I was in middle school, and I’d gotten used to that just being a thing that was part of the world I lived in.

“People go to the moon a couple of times a year,” I thought. And that was neat.

It was one of the things I was excited about as a child. But I took it as a given, like having to go to school, weather getting cold in winter, or cartoons on TV on Saturday mornings.

It was a place like anywhere else, and people went and visited it, like anywhere else.

So it’s very odd to look up at the moon tonight and think that people stopped doing that, and haven’t been back for most of my life.

Biofluorescent sea turtle!

"EXCLUSIVE: "Glowing" Sea Turtle Discovered" (Watch on YouTube)

(no subject)

I've been saying since the news first hit about Daraprim that the people who should be angriest about Martin Shkreli and his douchebaggery are the rest of the biotech industry. He painted a great big target on their backs.

From Barron's:

There’s blood in the streets, but nobody’s buying.

Biotechnology and pharmaceutical stocks lead the way down during Monday’s broad stock selloff. Endo International (ENDP), Regeneron (REGN) and Mylan (MYL) were among the worst decliners on the S&P 500, falling 10%, 7.5% and 6.3%, respectively.

Health care stocks on the S&P 500 declined 3.8%.

The horror show for the sector’s stocks began a week ago, after Hillary Clinton made overtures about controlling fast-rising drug costs. On Monday, selling accelerated after Democratic lawmakers distributed a letter calling for a subpoena to force Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) to fork over more documents related to price increases for two heart drugs.

Valeant’s shares are listed in Canada, so the stock isn’t a constituent of big U.S. stock indexes. No matter. Concerns about Vertex fueled indiscriminate selling shares of drug makers on record trading volumes.

That asshole probably shorted all his competitors as soon as he started to feel the heat.

Disclaimer: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned and do not plan to initiate any in the next 72 hours.