We are still here, with enough veterinary medicine to open a small practice in my bedroom!
#CassieCat had dangerously high levels of ammonia in her blood, that might be due to dehydration from poor circulation caused by her cancer 😕
There’s this humungous construction in my living room and all I can do is flop beside it. #CassieCat (futon pulled into main room to keep an eye on her after such a tough day!)
Guys, Vet Elizabeth is not the greatest. Instead of a fluid filled cat, I now have a wet cat 😕 Some (maybe most) did go in, but it wasn’t the neat, dry job that occurs at the vet.
When you’re trying to give your cat her meds… #CassieCat
After suffering another seizure this afternoon, #CassieCat is having a difficult night. She’s very hot and restless. I’ve given her all the medicine from vet (anti-seizure and steroid, plus subcutaneous fluids) and I’m hoping she settles 😕
2am. We have not settled.
Sadly, #CassieCat did not recover. She’s still with us, but she’s been fading all day and we probably only have a few hours left together.
The Japan Cat Network (from where I was fostering Cassie) called me to see how I was holding up. It was incredibly kind. Love hurts, y’all.
I’ve lost my incredibly brave #CassieCat. Thank you for all your warm thoughts.
Thank you everyone for all your support. Re-reading your replies made today a lot easier.
I’ve taken #CassieCat to the Jonan Pet Cemetery, where Tallis’s ashes are also in their little shrine. I’ll order a pretty memorial plaque for her later.
I visited Jonan Pet Cemetery where Cassie’s ashes now rest and ordered a memorial plate for Cass. The manager sat and talked with me about Cassie and was incredibly kind. I think this could be the nicest place on Earth.
タスカー家愛猫キャシー (Beloved cat of the Tasker family, Cassie). The pretty nameplate for #CassieCat is now at the Jonan Pet Shrine ♥️🐈 Did I mention how lovely this place is? I couldn’t find Cassie’s name, but when I went to reception they recognised me & showed me the plate.
The Jonan Pet Cemetery Shrine is always packed full of offerings for loved pets. But what #CassieCat really enjoyed was a fresh shrimp, which I don’t think anyone would appreciate me leaving in this heat! I may have to find a plastic one 😅
Today is day 48 since #CassieCat left us. According to Buddhist belief, the soul departs for the next life on day 49. I visited Jonan Pet Cemetery and added a little cat sticker to her memorial plate (an essential guide to finding it again!). I also refreshed Tallis’s sticker.
While you cannot donate karma, deeds performed during the 7 weeks after death are said to have a positive impact for departed loved one. I therefore neutered 3 stray cats, helped rescue a cat, and fed a bunch more 😸If that doesn’t nail enlightenment, then I don’t know what will!
Professor Hashimoto Tatsuaki who leads the OMOTENASHI team reports here with sad news about the CubeSat Moon lander. After separation from the SLS, the radio signal from the CubeSat was unstable and it was difficult to get telemetry from NASA’s Deep Space Network Madrid station.
When OMOTENASHI finally locked with the ground station, the solar cells were found to be facing away from the Sun but the CubeSat was rotating fast. Rather than using the attitude control to redirect the solar cells, the team therefore released a gas jet to stop the spin.
But as the battery voltage dropped, the team switched from stopping spin to using the gas jet to change the spin axis to point the solar cells towards the Sun. But as Madrid went out of range, the transmitter turned off due to lack of voltage. Communication has not been restored.
#CassieCat has two tactics at the vet. The first is to look absolutely symmetrical under her towel, so you cannot tell which is head or tail. The second (demonstrated here) is to make the carrier look completely empty 🤔
After 10 weeks of treatment, we now go to the vet every fortnight! We’ll all enjoy this immensely😸
It’s hard to know how #CassieCat is doing overall. Cancer treatment is based on statistical success rates with no way to monitor individual progress. We won’t know until we fail😕
We know of over 4000 exoplanets, but for the majority of these worlds, we do not even know both their mass and radius, leaving us in the dark about their nature. Be these gas 💨, watery 🌊 or rocky worlds with the potential for a decent latte 👽☕️? [1/5]
Despite mass and radius being key to the nature of a planet, they are often impossible to measure, even with a telescope bigger than the one you planned to build when you were 5 🔭. So must we give up on knowing about thousands of worlds? [2/5]
We’ve wanted to go back to Europa since the Galileo mission visited the icy moon in the 1990s and spotted a subsurface ocean. Could Europa harbour life?
But plans for a new mission are only now coming to fruition. This is because Europa is a dangerous destination for a spaceship
Embedded in Jupiter’s magnetic field, the radiation levels at Europa would fry an orbiting spacecraft within 1 - 2 months, explains Stefano Campagnola (NASA JPL & former ISAS/JAXA). That’s plenty of time to collect kickass data, but not long enough to transmit it back to Earth.
NASA @EuropaClipper will flyby Europa then pull out of the high radiation zone and orbit Jupiter for 2 weeks, transferring data to Earth, before swinging past the icy moon again.
This extends the mission lifetime to 4 years, rather than the 1 month possible in an Europa orbit.
We’ve discovered many planets in the habitable zone, but the majority (if not all) will be completely unfit for life. This is because those worlds may be dressed completely inappropriately for the conditions.
(Doodly in thread form: Part 1/3)
The habitable zone can be thought of as the spot to hang out if you're wearing the right atmospheric coat. If you've donned a different atmosphere, the temperature isn't going to be pleasant.
(Doodly thread: Part 2/3)
So if the habitable zone requires a very particular Earth-like atmospheric coat to be comfortable, but we don't know what atmospheres most exoplanets are wearing, why is the term useful and could we do better?