🔗 Eclectic Articles: Tue 01.Apr.2025
Wikipedia: Breezing Up (A Fair Wind)
Breezing Up (A Fair Wind) is an oil painting by American artist Winslow Homer. It depicts a catboat called the Gloucester chopping through that city’s harbor under “a fair wind” (Homer’s original title). Inside the boat are a man, three boys, and their catch.
TorStar: Critics slam for-profit plasma donation clinics
Canadian Blood Services’ partnership with a private company that pays for plasma puts the ethics and safety of our blood system at risk, critics say.
So disappointing.
Ars Technica: Starliner’s flight to the space station was far wilder than most of us thought
Many of the questions concerned the politically messy end of the mission, in which the Trump White House claimed it had rescued the astronauts after they were stranded by the Biden administration. This was not true, but it is also not a question that active astronauts are going to answer. They have too much respect for the agency and the White House that appoints its leadership. They are trained not to speak out of school. As Wilmore said repeatedly on Monday, “I can’t speak to any of that. Nor would I.”
⋮
Essentially, Wilmore could not fully control Starliner any longer. But simply abandoning the docking attempt was not a palatable solution. Just as the thrusters were needed to control the vehicle during the docking process, they were also necessary to position Starliner for its deorbit burn and reentry to Earth’s atmosphere. So Wilmore had to contemplate whether it was riskier to approach the space station or try to fly back to Earth. Williams was worrying about the same thing.
Read this and try to imagine what it must’ve been like!
Oxford: Grandparents Contribute to Children’s Well-being [PDF]
Research at the University of Oxford has shown how grandparents play a vital role in children’s well-being and the results have been informing UK family policy.
⋮
A study conducted by the found that children who share close relationships with their grandparents exhibit fewer emotional and behavioral challenges and tend to interact more easily with their peers. Led by Professor Ann Buchanan, the study surveyed over 1,500 children and highlighted the critical role grandparents play in a child’s development. The findings suggest that grandmothers often take on nurturing responsibilities, while grandfathers frequently act as mentors, creating a balance that benefits children in meaningful ways.
CBC: Actor Val Kilmer, star of Batman Forever, dead at 65, New York Times reports
Val Kilmer, the California-born, Juilliard-trained actor who starred in films including Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone and Batman Forever and earned a reputation as a Hollywood bad boy, has died, the New York Times reported. He was 65.
The cause of death was pneumonia, the paper said, citing his daughter Mercedes Kilmer.
Last Updated: 02.Apr.2025 02:55 EDT