MC
Mary Cerimele
@mcrocketscience
Aero Engineer, retired from NASA JSC, blue dot/red state
Houston, TX
Lover of science, reading, whisky. Nerd for human spaceflight, rockets, JWST, and voting. Fierce advocate for women, especially in STEM.
466 Posts
Recap of the first day of Trump's criminal trial in NY , with some color commentary on the atmosphere, getting into the courthouse, and David Pecker — the former head of the National Enquirer and the first prosecution witness. Go straight to 26:50 for the funniest bit where Ben Wi Trump trial testimony gets underway
To help understand the underlying charges, here is a succinct primer of what Trump's NY criminal case is really about. By @klasfeldreports of justsecurity.org. A fantastic legal journalist and comprehensive website. #Trump #crime #law #legal #CampaignFinanceLaws #CatchAndKill Trump hush money jury selection complete, then this...
For the record, after selecting 12 jurors and 6 alternates from a pool of hundreds in Trump's criminal trial, counsel for the defense attested that the selected jurors were "Satisfactory" to the defense. Not that that will make any difference to his more virulent supporters. Then Given the crazy number of times Disney used imagery of Caitlin Clark, Emma Stone, and Taylor Swift in its promo reel during today's Shareholders Meeting, I hope Bob Iger at least sent them a fruit basket. FWIW Bob, Disney doesn't get to claim these women's successes as its own. Di This absolutely enrages NASA-loving me
"Soft, irresistibly cute, and crafted from plush minky fabric, Chibi in Chief is excited to unveil the much-anticipated release of the Trump Chibi Astronaut plushie, set to launch in the summer of 2024. "This charming collectible features meticulous embroidery that stands out, par Tradition upheld
Behold, this year's crop of Easter eggs. The kids are long since gone from the nest, but some things are too fun to let lapse. Also traditional, dying eggs atop the vinyl Christmas tablecloth. Covering the Christ story from birth to resurrection? Or just the only waterproof tablec Defend your truth
Yesterday, at the local hole-in-the-wall burger joint in deep red Texas, I was at the counter placing my order. A big, 70-ish, white guy seated near the counter waiting for his burger was pontificating to his beleaguered wife about his political views. Her whole body language had The Ides are upon us
Now that we've all been lulled into complacency with pie during Pi Day yesterday, it's good to remember to beware the Ides of March today, lest you be stabbed in the back. That way you'll live to imbibe more green beer on Saint Patrick's Day Sunday. Busy week. Honestly — gigantic explosion aside — Barbie was a better movie than Oppenheimer. That's a hill I'm prepared to die on. #Oscars Mail service in Houston/Harris County continues to get worse. Mail-in voting shaping up to be a disaster.
This morning's surprise. The fourth Cluster Box Unit under a mile from my house that's been broken into and damaged beyond use in the last year. This is in addition to the over 100 master keys for these CBUs that have been stolen in our area. Adding insult to injury, the USPS won Fundie Baby Voice, anyone?
I hadn't even heard the term "fundie baby voice" until Katie Britt's GOP Response speech last night. (See IG video for example.) Apparently it's used by in fundamentalist communities , often by the tradwife set, to signify their worthiness as good Christian women and showing defere State Of the Union Republican rebuttal debacle
The optics of it being delivered by a smiley woman in a kitchen is so emblematic of the GOP vision of their ideal. Huge TikTok "1950s tradwife" influencer vibes. This was the most egregious aspect. Her perky tone and gleeful expressions often did not match the seriousness of the t Harris County elections are abysmally flawed since the State of Texas took over in Aug. '23 — Part 2
Back in 2020, the State of Texas, backed by Texas Supreme Court, ruled that no county could have more than ONE drop off location for mail-in ballots. A county with 2,000 voters would have the same number of drop boxes as Harris County's 2.5 million voters. Because that's the TX G Harris County elections are abysmally flawed since the State of Texas took over in Aug. '23 — Part 1
Here's an eye-popping example of just how broken the system now is: FIVE DAYS before the primary , Harris County was sending out this email begging anybody who had worked a past election night, in any capacity, to be full-on Precinct Judges. Five. Days. They did not have sufficient Well, well, well
Wouldn't it be interesting if a civil fraud trial is what ends up tanking Trump's candidacy, because all the campaign coffers are empty? He can't appeal the size of the judgment until he can post the whole amount on bond. It must grind his gears to admit he can't scrape together m Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lander will end operations today
When it tipped over on landing, most of its solar panels were obscured. It will not have enough power after sometime today to communicate data back to Earth. Some science payloads will not be able to respond at all since they are facing the ground. Odysseus will fall short of its Regressive conservative movements are increasingly coopting progressive language in their outreach
I've read the proxy statements ahead of the shareholder meetings for both Apple and Disney. This one, from Apple, lists Shareholder Proposals that appear designed to increase diversity, civil rights and human rights at Apple. The actual text of these proposals is vastly different With unforced errors, space is even harder
It's confirmed by the CEO of Intuitive Machines, Steve Altemus, that the Odysseus lander tipped over upon landing. Its antennae are on the side facing the surface, hindering easy communications. They are speculating it's resting at an angle with its top on a rock. It has full pow Should we count embryos in the Census?
If all those frozen embryos are people, then we counted the 2020 US census incorrectly. States with robust IVF medical services should be getting an increase in federal dollars and a higher allotment of US representatives. Intuitive Machines lunar landing attempt happening now
Exciting moments happening now for Intuitive Machines on their lunar landing attempt. Meanwhile, I haven't seen a spaceflight control room look this...uniform...in quite a while. Sigh. I'm sure they're all great guys. All great, white, guys. POST LANDING UPDATE: The control team ha
