by Rupe | Sep 23, 2016 | Inspiration
This star is ending its life by casting off its outer layers of gas, which formed a cocoon around the star’s remaining core.
This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the colorful “last hurrah” of a star like our sun. The star is ending its life by casting off its outer layers of gas, which formed a cocoon around the star’s remaining core. Ultraviolet light from the dying star makes the material glow. The burned-out star, called a white dwarf, is the white dot in the center. Our sun will eventually burn out and shroud itself with stellar debris, but not for another 5 billion years.
Source: Hubble Views a Colorful Demise of a Sun-like Star | NASA
My Comment: Simply Awesome!
by Rupe | Sep 22, 2016 | Mentoring
These traits separate the successful students from the not-so-successful ones.
The first year of college is a tough transition, and for many students, a disillusioning one.
A study conducted last fall at the University of Toronto found that incoming students arrived with unreasonably optimistic expectations. On average, students predicted they would earn grade-point averages of 3.6. Those dreams were swiftly punctured. By the end of the year, the average freshman had only a 2.3.
Source: Why students who do well in high school bomb in college
My Comments: If I am being honest, I think my son exhibits a bit of both, with a slight bias to the divers. I chalk this up to entering college a bit young and immature. Hopefully, he can develop some grit.
by Rupe | Aug 25, 2016 | Military-Political
Republicans and Democrats of 2016 have neither intelligible boundaries nor enforceable norms. As a result, renegade political behavior pays.
It’s 2020, four years from now. The campaign is under way to succeed the president, who is retiring after a single wretched term. Voters are angrier than ever—at politicians, at compromisers, at the establishment. Congress and the White House seem incapable of working together on anything, even when their interests align…
Source: How American Politics Became So Ineffective – The Atlantic
My Comments: Really good piece that dissects the American political machinery and why we are where we are.
by Rupe | Aug 23, 2016 | Social-Race Issues
As a white mother of two black children, three white children, who all have a white father, I have something to say.
Racism exists. It is real and tangible. And it is everywhere, all the time.
When I brought my boys home they were the cutest, sweetest babies ever. Wherever we went, people greeted us with charm and enthusiasm. Well, not all people and not everywhere. But, to me, they were the “wacko” exceptions. I thought to myself, “Get over it.”
Source: “The Cloak I Was Offering Them Was Identification …
My Comments: First person accounts are usually pretty deep. I found this quite moving.
by Rupe | Aug 10, 2016 | Fitness
So many runners hit a plateau fairly early on in training — we get stuck around the four- or five-mile mark for our longer runs and just never seem to more »
Think about how fun it would be to hit the trails for two hours — just you, your heartbeat and nature — on the weekend. Or maybe you dream of running a marathon. If you have a goal in mind, a training plan is highly advisable when it comes to adding mileage to your week, but if you’re just looking to add a few more miles to your weekly total for fun or to see how long you can go, there are a few simple tricks to going long when you’ve never gone long before. Here we present six of them. The keyword to keep in mind? Slowly.
Source: 6 Tips on How to Run Long (When You’ve Never Run Long)
My Comments: Really good piece of advice.
