Going to Mars (maybe)

 

In case you're interested, with a hopefully successful Artemis II launch and mission slated to happen today, here's the National Academies of Sciences report on how to explore Mars, if humans actually get there.

A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars

I'd sure like to see Olympus Mons up close.  Instead, we have to rely on great satellite views like this:

This is just terrible

 

Just read about the idiotic Trump administration's plans to move the U.S. Forest Service to Utah, and while doing that, to close down thirty-one research sites. 

The utter disdain of this administration for the value of science is appalling -- but we've known that for years. Yet to see it demonstrated again and again and again causes constant angst and pain for the loss of what sometimes has been long-standing research, and well, forests don't grow overnight. 

Trump plans to move Forest Service headquarters to Utah and shutter research sites

"The Wilderness Society also pointed to Trump’s prior attempt with the BLM, saying that resulted in many staffers leaving who had valuable years of management experience. The group said this could end up hollowing out the Forest Service.

Many regional offices will close in the reorganization, and their services will shift to hubs in New Mexico, Georgia, Colorado, Wisconsin, Montana and California. Instead of maintaining multiple dispersed research stations with their own leadership, the agency will anchor its research at a single location in Fort Collins, Colorado."

For example, here's a description of their Experimental Forests and Ranges. 

"This research network provides an incredible wealth of records and knowledge of ecological change in natural and managed forest and grassland ecosystems across the United States. Hosted on a combination of public and private lands, the network provides a home for long-term science and management studies in most major vegetation types of the United States. Individual sites range in size from 47 to 22,500 ha."

If you want to see where they are in the Rocky Mountains (and nearby):   Experimental Forest and Range Locations

Yes, the IDIOTS are going to shut that down.  

Cover up by reconstruction

 

Donald Trump decided to close the Kennedy Center he named after himself for 2 years, basically because nobody wants to play the venue he named after himself.

Here are a couple of quotes about how it got to this point.

"On Sunday, Representative Chellie Pingree of Maine, the top Democrat on the House subcommittee that oversees funding for the Kennedy Center’s building, questioned the motivation for the planned closure in a video posted to social media, suggesting that the president was just “covering up the financial disaster he’s created there.”

" “This man has destroyed the place,” she said in the video. “He’s run it into the ground financially; he’s made it a place where performers don’t want to perform, and individuals don’t want to attend performances.”

"Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, representing groups that have sued the Kennedy Center on behalf of Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), said in a statement that Trump’s announcement “raises serious questions about whether his purpose isn’t to renovate but to shut the Center down to avoid further embarrassment” of artist and patron boycotts. They would consider “all legal remedies” to address the closure, they said."

And they're right.

Cristy Ren is a wonder

 

Glamor model Cristy Ren doesn't take herself too seriously, but she has looks that require serious attention. Two recent captures are shown here. It's not hard to find her with a search:  her name is sufficient but other descriptive words and provide more detail.

The 2026 Winter Olympics are over, but ...

 

Even though the 2026 Winter Olympics and all of their drama (some of which was pretty dramatic) ended a month or so ago, but this article about former Olympic venues provides some historical perspective.  I've actually been to one Olympic Games, and visited several places that hosted them, including both swimming venues for the 1936 and 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.  Sadly, now that we are in an era of temporary venues built in big stadiums (as will happen in 2028 for swimming in the Olympics) there won't be as many shrines to former athletic heroism to visit.

So, this list is interesting:

5 of the Oldest Olympic Venues Still in Use

The five of them are:

• Zappeion and Panathenaic Stadium – Athens, Greece 
• Vélodrome Jacques Anquetil – Paris, 
• France Francis Olympic Field – St. Louis, 
• Missouri Ryde Pier – Isle of Wight, England 
• Stockholms Stadion – Stockholm, Sweden

Regarding Ryde Pier, "this heritage structure on the Isle of Wight remains a popular local landmark more than a century on — not least because it’s the second-longest seaside pleasure pier in the U.K., after the Southend Pier. During the 1908 Games, spectators gathered at the end of the pier to watch yacht races, all of which were won by the Great Britain crews, to the delight of the crowd.

This is Ryde Pier (actually, the end of it):

Getting back to lingerie

 

We won't be seeing the last of Sydney Sweeney anytime soon, I can guarantee that. And she also has her own line of lingerie.  The pictures accompanying the Daily Mail article indicate that it fits her quite well.

Sydney's Lingerie: 

Sydney Sweeney lifts the lid on her lingerie empire plans as she strips down for jaw-dropping photo shoot

The article also features this appealing quote: "Sweeney worked hard to make the undergarments feel as comfortable as a second skin. 'Boobs and bodies are like fingerprints; everyone's are different, and I wanted to design for that,' Sweeney shared."

Good plan, and it looks like it's a quality product as well. Representing it herself probably doesn't hurt sales one bit.

Yes, it's a house

 

I saw this on a short list of celebrity homes that are quite impressive.  And this one is certainly that.  The name of this impressive domicile is Friar Park, and it was owned by Beatle George Harrison for three decades.  According to the list text, his wife still lives there. 

A few other people could live there too.

Here's a short summary of what's there. This is from Country Life UK.

"The Victoria County History describes Friar Park as ‘a colourful and eccentric melange of French Flamboyant Gothic in brick, stone and terracotta, incorporating towers, pinnacles and large traceried windows’. It was enlarged and embellished by Sir Frank Crisp, a brilliant lawyer, who bubbled over with charm and energy, but was also an enthusiastic botanist and treasurer of the Linnaean Society of London. He was rich enough, too, to employ 45 gardeners at Friar Park. Alpine plants were his greatest passion and, in 1896, he began to develop his spectacular four-acre Alpine Garden, topped by a scaled-down copy of the Matterhorn."

The house itself?

It apparently doesn't have 120 rooms -- George Harrison's wife, who still lives there, says that's too many -- but it probably doesn't have much less than that.