Artemis II Wisdom

I was quite moved by NASA's recent Artemis II mission. Here are some great quotes from the crew of the lunar fly-by:

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover show a photo of Earth taken just moments
after the Orion spacecraft ignited its thrusters for a final burn for 8 seconds, producing a change
in velocity of 4.2 feet-per-second and pushing Artemis II toward Earth. | Photo: NASA

"Houston, if you could give me about 20 new superlatives in the mission summary for tomorrow that will help out my vocabulary a little bit, that would be great. Thank you."

“If you’ve ever seen the top of the spotlight of the top of the Luxor at night in Vegas, this looks like what it wants to be when it grows up.”

"To all of you on Earth, and around the Earth ... we love you, from the moon."

"You can see the surface of the Moon ... we just went sci fi."

"It is so great to see Earth again. To Asia, Africa, and Oceania: we are looking back at you. We hear you can look up and see the moon right now. We see you too."

"We will always choose Earth. We will always choose each other."

“It’s a bright spot on the moon, and we would like to call it Carroll.”

"I said that we do not leave Earth, but we choose it. And that is true."

"Christina has been sleeping head down in the middle of the vehicle, kind of like a bat"

"It's really fun to be floatin' around, it just makes me feel like a little kid."

"Trust us, you look amazing, you look beautiful."

"'Homo Sapiens' is all of us, no matter where you're from or what you look like. We're all one people."

"I'm proud to call myself the Space Plumber."

"I know I haven’t learned everything that this journey has yet to teach me but there’s one new thing I know, and that is planet Earth: You are a crew."

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

Vote What You Started

Vote like your life depends on it, because it DOES. The personal IS political.

You have the right to vote. If anyone tries to stop you, call the Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-687-8683.

Vote.org has written a crucial guide to your voting rights:

Election Protection
Last updated on May 20, 2019

Here are the basics:

1. Keep your place in line. The lines may be long, but as long as you are in line when the polls close, you will be allowed to cast your ballot. If you leave the line, you may not be able to vote.
2. Do everything you can to vote a regular ballot. Cast a provisional ballot only if you have no other option. In many states if you cast a provisional ballot at the wrong polling location it will not be counted.

If you experience any of the following, report it to Election Protection (866-687-8683) immediately:

• Intimidation
• Harassment (including harassing questions about your qualifications to vote)
• False information about voting requirements
• People impersonating poll workers or election officials

If you are told you are not on the voter roll:

• Confirm that you are registered to vote.
• Confirm that you are at the right polling place.
• If you registered and are not showing up on the voter roll, call the Election Protection Hotline (866-687-8683).
• Did you recently move? If so and you didn’t update your registration, you are likely on the voter roll of your old polling place.
• Check with a poll worker to see if you can update your registration and vote a regular ballot where you are. Otherwise, you may need to vote at your old polling location or at a central polling place.
• Make sure the poll worker is spelling your name correctly and is looking in every place that you could be listed. Ask a poll worker if there is a separate “inactive” or “suspense” list of voters that you may be on. Many states maintain similar lists of voters who have not recently voted. If you are on this list, you can still cast a regular ballot.

If you are being turned away from voting for not having the proper ID:

• Confirm which forms of ID your state accepts
• Figure out if you have anything on you that qualifies. Some states accept documents you may not think of as ID, like a paystub or utility bill with your address.
• Do you have something at home that qualifies that you can go back and get? If you can’t come back the same day, some states may allow you to come back and show your ID following Election Day. Ask a poll worker if this is an option.
• If you do not have any acceptable form of ID, does your state allow you to vote without ID by signing something under oath?
• In several states where ID is required (CT, ID, IA, LA, MI, MT, NH, SD, TN), you may be able to vote without proper ID by signing a something under oath.
• Cast a provisional ballot if that is your only option. In some states that require ID, your provisional ballot will be counted if your signature matches what is on file in the voter registry.

If you cast a provisional ballot:

• Ask for written instructions about what you must do to ensure the provisional ballot will be counted.
• Ask for a phone number you can call to confirm if your vote was counted.
• IMPORTANT: In 27 states, if you cast a provisional ballot at the wrong polling location, your vote will not be counted.

For more information, visit:
https://www.vote.org/

R.I.P. Chadwick Boseman

A New Flag For Humanity

Award-winning multidisciplinary artist and designer Sven Signe Den Hartogh has created a new flag, not for a region or a nation or a people, but for all of humanity. It is a lovely emblem.

"This installation represents the new flag of humanity. By creating a transparent flag that stands for equilibrium and equality in the world regardless of (country) borders, skin color, sexuality or other labels. Where flags are normally used to give signals or are used as a so-called representative symbol, this flag is not intended to distinguish people or groups of people, but this is a universal flag that stands for people all over the world to hopefully restore the balance and to show people that there is no need to indicate a difference through labels.

It is my goal to spread the ideas behind this and to raise the ‘New Flag For Humanity’ in many places in the world such as schools, museums, government buildings and other inspiring places to show that we are all equal and that these ideas can hopefully help restore balance in the world."

https://svensignedenhartogh.com/usawa