Australia Cuts 110 Astrophysics/Astronomy Scientist Jobs

Because the science is settled there is no need for more basic research, the government says.

Marshall wrote in the memo that gravity waves, and therefore, astronomy, is now settled science, and basic research is no longer needed.

“The question has been answered, and the new question is what do we do about it, and how can we find solutions for gravity waves we will be living with,” he wrote.

For some reason, the Netflix program requires that the user be signed in to PSN so while it's down, no streaming movies.
I can't imagine a technical reason for this requirement - Netflix streaming works over the internet, so why require the PSN
sign-in?

It reminds me of the Amazon Appstore being required (installed and running) to run any apps downloaded with it.

That one looks like a lion!

Stop hitting yourself! Why are you hitting yourself? Stop hitting yourself!

(For The Simpson's impaired, Nelson is a bully, prone to making people hit themselves.)

These are mostly fantasy, but uniformly excellent:

The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper (especially the book "The Dark is Rising") - forget about the abysmal movie they recently made and that the author hated.

The Earthsea books by Ursula K Leguin (starting with "A Wizard of Earthsea" and which she just keeps on adding to, getting better and better as you grow older with them.)

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (forget about the whole "Ooh, but it's Christian!" - when you're a kid reading them, that doesn't come across and they're great reading.) Read them in publication order starting with "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" (not the newfangled and completely WRONG order.)

"Charmed Life" by Diana Wynne Jones (very fun and you can see where Rowling stole many ideas - really, many of the books I'm listing were sources for her.)

"A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle

"The Riddle-Master of Hed" (and 2 sequels) by Patricia A. McKillip

Possibly "Master of the Five Magics" by Lyndon Hardy (I really liked it, the sequels aren't quite as good.)

Of course, "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkein

And I imagine some people will recommend the "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Philip Pullman, starting with "The Golden Compass". The first book is OK, but I feel they go downhill until they're just anti-Christian rants.

Then, as your kids age, if they're liking the fantasy, I'd say the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser books by Fritz Leiber, starting with "Swords and Deviltry" would be good. But I'm thinking they're a bit too old for pre-teens.

I've loved most of these books for years and re-read them periodically. I hope your kids like them, too!