Just for fun, here are my most frequent comments in relation to grammar and style in student assignments. 1. Don't use 'within' when you mean 'in'. writingcooperative.com/the-difference… 2. This is a plural, not a possessive. 3. This is a possessive, not a plural.
thepunctuationguide.com/apostrophe.html

The Chinese Long March 5b rocket stage will re-enter Earth's atmosphere soon. It's part of China's second generation family of rockets. britannica.com/technology/Cha… The Long March rocket family is named after the 1934 retreat of the Communist Red Army in the Chinese civil war. It was a significant event in Mao Zedong's rise to power. #LongMarch5 #spacejunk en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_March

You know, when I talk to a lot of my younger academic colleagues in PhD or post-PhD phases, it seems to me that they are being very poorly advised about their future options and what they can do to build on the capital of the PhD. #phdchat I suppose having said that I should offer some advice! And I should say, as someone who worked in industry for many years, I don't see academia as the only valid path.

OTD in 1979, the first US space station #Skylab fell to Earth over Western Australia. It was a dramatic event that captured the imagination of the world. Today I am going to tweet a random bunch of fascinating things about the death of my second-favourite space station! One of the meals prepared for the crew of #Skylab to eat in their wardroom was Lobster Newburg. Here is a recipe if you want to make a Skylab commemorative dinner. marthastewart.com/354999/lobster… #spacefood

When France established the Centre Spatial Guyanais in the 1960s, they wanted the town layout to break down class and race divisions in this very diverse community, promote egalitarian social relations. From my hazy memory of the archives - #drspacejunk101 This involved designing streets around central plazas to form neighbourhoods where members of all communities would live together and get along. There were very good intentions! #villespatiale #drspacejunk101

Good morning class! Welcome back to Space Archaeology on Twitter. Today we start Module 2 on terrestrial space archaeology - the places and objects relating to space exploration on the surface of Earth. #drspacejunk101

https://twitter.com/drspacejunk/status/1239634146994974720

In Module 1, history and background, we looked at definitions of space archaeology, a few of the early people and publications, and how it relates to ethnoarchaeology, historical archaeology and contemporary archaeology #drspacejunk101

Welcome to Space Archaeology, a free Twitter course on the archaeology of human endeavours in outer space! The hashtag is #drspacejunk101. A couple of basic resources to start with. Here is a bibliography of space archaeology zoharesque.blogspot.com/p/spo.html?m=0. I'll get this plug out of the way early. I recently wrote a popular science book on space archaeology which is available here for ANZ newsouthbooks.com.au/books/here-com… and here for rest of world mitpress.mit.edu/books/dr-space…. However, you don't need it for this course #drspacejunk101

What textures do you associate each planet with? For example, do you think of Jupiter as velvet, Pluto as spiky? 'I smelled the planet Mars, an iron smell, and the planet Venus, a green ivy smell, and the planet Mercury, a scent of sulphur and fire, and I could smell the milky moon and the hardness of the stars'.

Ray Bradbury, The Rocket Man, 1951

Continuing my clean-up of open browser tabs and desktop files! This is an interview with BBC Sky at Night magazine from October 2019. skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/… #spacejunk #tabclosed 'The real question is: can we grow plants in space? What tools will be used to grow our plants in space?' astrobotany.com/2018/05/27/a-b… #astrobotany #tabclosed

In 1963, Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to orbit Earth. But she wasn't the first woman to reach space. Another person holds that honour. #womeninspace #WomenInSTEM In 1934, Jeannette Picard became the first woman to reach the stratosphere piloting the balloon 'Century of Progress'. She later worked as an advisor for NASA. Dr Piccard is widely acknowledged as the first woman in space. nastarcenter.com/jeannette-picc…

How women get written out of history: I'm working on a small blog post about a couple who collaborated closely together. He is the famous one with his own wikipedia page; she doesn't have one. I have to keep correcting myself as this stuff is so ingrained. For example, I have to stop writing as if his work represents them both: it's important to name her and exactly what she did. Instead of saying 'His vision was XX', I rewrote it to say 'Their vision was XX'.

I'm working on a book about gravity. A recent discussion here reminded me of a theme I intend to explore - that gravity is gendered. It is experienced differently by different bodies. Exhibit 1. Gravity is said to be unkind to women in particular. As they age, gravity causes their breasts to sag. THE HORROR. There are huge numbers of jokes around this. #gravity

In two minds whether to tweet about this but I've got a looong bus journey ahead of me. I've been thinking about the contemporary academic workplace, and my experience of it in relation to other workplaces. This will involve some autobiograhical reflections. Before and after my PhD, I was a professional heritage consultant, working with and for a whole range of clients and companies. After my PhD, I didn't have a straight academic path. I took on a big cultural heritage project because I was tired of being poor.

Tales of the ghost cat. When I was doing my PhD, I lived for a while in a small ornate wooden house. Once it had been the billiards room for a wealthy estate. It had a mantlepiece for leaning on with pipes and low hanging lights. @DrMel_T After the wealthy estate was broken up and sold off for residential development, the billiards room (which was lined with red cedar) became a mortuary chapel for the local hospital. #talesoftheghostcat

Well this is interesting. I was just assaulted at the bus stop. A random woman who was also sitting on the bench got up, walked past and hit me on the head, quite hard. I was so fucking angry I got up and yelled at her. She didn't turn around, but gave me the finger. The security guard at adjacent shop helped me call police and offered medical assistance. Police say I have to make a report in person. To be honest I haven't got the energy today. And she will be long gone.

In 2019, I'd like to offer a challenge to my male STEM colleagues. Read a feminist book and tweet about it. #STEMFemBook Here's one of my favourites. Impartial Science: Gender Ideology in Molecular Biology by Bonnie Spanier iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.p… #STEMFemBook

Two things I'll never forget. Arriving in Dublin, first visit to the land my ancestors fled post-Famine. An elderly priest and nun walked up and down the median strip, nun saying the Rosary, priest carrying anti-abortion placard. On a bus in Sydney, pro-life march walking in street. Elderly women on bus gets v angry. Shouts about how her backyard abortion in her youth nearly killed her, the terror and poverty of a pregnant teenage girl, how dare those sanctimonious bastards judge her.

Just recalling the times I've been told I wasn't suited for academia. 1. If you're not succeeding with job/postdoctoral applications, maybe you just can't cut it. 2. Don't bother applying for the job you're currently doing when it's advertised, you're a poor academic. (This one hurt a lot as a dear friend said it). PS I did and got the job.