Oooh, apparently there may be "talent" at our holiday party tonight. But we're not supposed to bother them or ask for pictures so I assume it will just be a lot of people very casually just happening to walk up to the bar at the same time as Matt Smith and pretending it's a coincidence.

chocolates are resolved and I have handed off the poster to someone with plotter expertise.

Now to make the labels and then run buy gift cards for big boss.

Doctor Strange.

Those lions are supposed to be a genetically distinct population which is not the same thing as a new species. The original articles I read stuck to population and didn't say species (well, until IO9 and its ilk got their hands on the story), and now the articles say both, but in no way indicate why or how this is a new species. Not being pantherus leo is a huge deal--being another subspecies of pantherus leo (there are like 5, 10?) is still big, but--if you're not the same species of lion, are you still a lion?

Billytea, where are you? We need your adjudication.

There is not complete agreement in biology about how best to define a species. The definition that people use is driven by the methods that they use. A field biologist might focus on breeding potential; an anatomist on morphology; a quantitative genetic researcher on evidence of genetic separation.

Within that mess, these lions can be considered a new species or just a sub-species.

Are all the lions now one species?

Remember that company that wants to set up a colony on Mars? This has nothing to do with that.

Golden Spike Company announces plan for commercial lunar space expeditions

An announcement of note this morning about The Golden Spike Company, a new private space travel venture, backed by private investors. Their tag line? "Extend Your Reach." Snip from today's press release:

On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 17, the last human exploration of the Moon, Former Apollo Flight Director and NASA Johnson Space Center Director, Gerry Griffin, and planetary scientist and former NASA science chief, Dr. Alan Stern, today unveiled “The Golden Spike Company” – the first company planning to offer routine exploration expeditions to the surface of the Moon. At the National Press Club announcement this afternoon, Dr. Stern, Golden Spike’s President and CEO, and Mr. Griffin, chairman of Golden Spike’s board of directors, introduced other members of Golden Spike’s leadership team and detailed the company’s intentions to make complete lunar surface expeditions available by the end of the decade.

...

The company says it plans to "maximize use of existing rockets" and market the resulting system to "nations, individuals, and corporations with lunar exploration objectives and ambitions," promising "prices that are a fraction of any lunar program ever conceived until now." A tall order, to be certain. Those I've spoken to in the space biz are skeptical, but of the mind that the more entrepreneurial efforts and private sector innovation we see in the Space space, the better.

Buffista F2F in 2020: Tycho crater, Moon?

eta: This from the article should be included:

The company is registered as a business in Colorado, where medical marijuana was just made legal. COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT.

All African lions? Depends on where the person you are talking to went to graduate school and when.

All lions? I don't think you will find anyone trying to make a case for that.

I assume it will just be a lot of people very casually just happening to walk up to the bar at the same time as Matt Smith and pretending it's a coincidence.

If Matt Smith was at my holiday party, I would be doing a very lot of this. Or, really, anyone from any show I watch.

Suzi, that was nice of you! People are often very taken aback when people do things like that for them, but I'm sure beneath his bewilderment he appreciated it.

I assume it will just be a lot of people very casually just happening to walk up to the bar at the same time as Matt Smith and pretending it's a coincidence.

Well, that'll be fun anyway.

I slept in until 8:30 this morning, and feel rather more human. Looked at rationally, there's no real reason for me to have melted down so badly yesterday, but I'm not going to beat myself up about it.

I'm not without resources, people are available to help, and if the job falls through I'm sure I will not end up on the streets. I think it's just that the job thing has gone on for so very long, and I feel as though nobody in authority has any particular interest in me as myself. Which rather puts the lie to all the statements we get about "The [agency name] Family".

Anyway, I send good wishes for Homer, Jesse. I'm taking TNG to the vet this afternoon: she has an ugly rash on her stomach that just hasn't cleared up. I'm hoping it's something mild.