This Map Shows Where The Polls Got It Wrong Purple = Trump Received More Votes Than Expected Green =

Not a fan of the color scheme, but those chandeliers have such an awesome structure

Inspiration: Black Living Room

Most of that is the same in the US, though we have slightly different divisions, and more dances because of the Arthur Murray-standardized American Style. I’m just a collegiate Silver Standard dancer, though someone please correct me if I’m off, and I’ll barely mention Open.

Dance Styles: International Standard (Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Quickstep, Viennese Waltz), International Latin (Cha cha, Rumba, Samba, Jive, Paso Doble), American Smooth (Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Viennese), and American Rhythm (Cha cha, Rumba, Swing, Mambo, Bolero). The biggest difference between Standard and Smooth is that the couple can break frame in Smooth.

Divisions: There’s really two sets of divisions: Syllabus and Open. Syllabus divisions have specific figures they can do at their level, and go Newcomer, Bronze, Silver, Gold (or Newcomer, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced). Open has less restrictions on figures, essentially follows Syllabus once Gold starts to get boring, and goes Novice, Pre-Champ, Champ. USADance has also created Same-Sex divisions separated by gender of pairing and Open vs. Syllabus (these divisions would have Newcomer couples compete against Gold-level couples), but in collegiate competitions these couples are not separated out from the rest. For the most part the next division is achieved by points, but Newcomer at all competitions and Bronze at some collegiate competitions are also determined by time. 

The number of dances you compete per style increases as you ascend levels as dances become paired, though some like Viennese Waltz and Paso Doble are typically separated out on their own. Same-Sex dances are currently not paired.

Costumes are pretty much the same, though there isn’t a standard for non-traditional dance roles. I’ve seen lady leaders do black tops and leotards with either pants or skirts, and male follows typically follow leader costume rules.

Ballroom

@carmodance for your anon and for other dance fans who knows nothing about ballroom

I saw a lot of people asking about ballroom, so I’ll try to explain few things (it’s gonna be long).

I’m from Russia and I didn’t compete last 4 years, so rules maybe slightly different. Also I probably forgot a lot of things. And my english isn’t the best.

Read it all under the cut

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In the end, however, the best safeguard was flight; or, as a late fifteenth-century German manuscript put it: ‘Clever doctors have three golden rules to keep us safe from pestilence: get out quickly, go a long way away and don’t be in a hurry to come back’.

from The Black Death by Philip Ziegler (via historical-nonfiction)

Still true

Asteroid Terms: Explained

There are interesting asteroid characters in our solar system, including an asteroid that has its own moon and even one that is shaped like a dog bone! Our OSIRIS-REx mission launches at 7:05 p.m. EDT today and will travel to asteroid Bennu.

Scientists chose Bennu as the target of the OSIRIS-REx mission because of its composition, size and proximity to Earth. Bennu is a rare B-type asteroid (primitive and carbon-rich), which is expected to have organic compounds and water-bearing minerals like clays.

Our OSIRIS-REx mission will travel to Bennu and bring a small sample back to Earth for study.

When talking about asteroids, there are some terms scientists use that might not be in your typical vocabulary…but we’ll help with that!

Here are a few terms you should know:

Orbital Eccentricity: This number describes the shape of an asteroid’s orbit by how elliptical it is. For asteroids in orbit around the sun, eccentricity is a number between 0 and 1, with 0 being a perfectly circular orbit and 0.99 being a highly elliptical orbit.

Inclination: The angle, in degrees, of how tilted an asteroid’s orbit is compared to another plane of reference, usually the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the sun.

Orbital Period: The number of days it takes for an asteroid to revolve once around the sun. For example, the Earth’s orbital period is 365 days.

Perihelion Distance: The distance between an asteroid and the sun when the asteroid is closest to the sun.

Aphelion Distance: The distance between the asteroid and the sun when the asteroid is farthest away from the sun.

Astronomical unit: A distance unit commonly used to describe orbits of objects around the sun. The distance from the Earth to the sun is one astronomical unit, or 1 AU, equivalent to about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers.

Diameter: A measure of the size of an asteroid. It is the length of a line from a point on the surface, through the center of the asteroid, extending out to the opposite surface. Irregularly shaped asteroids may have different diameters depending on which direction they are measured.

Rotation Period: The time it takes for an asteroid to complete one revolution around its axis of rotation. For example, the rotation period of the Earth is approximately 24 hours, or 1 day.

Spectral Type: The classification of an asteroid, based on a measurement of the light reflected by the asteroid. 

Watch live launch coverage of OSIRIS-REx to asteroid Bennu starting at 5:30 p.m, on NASA TV: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv 

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

I'd never heard about this before

Islam is the toughest religion to leave because of the restrictions and consequences associated with leaving. I know there are a lot of people out there contemplating leaving Islam and are already feeling agnostic. My piece of advice to them would be to not come out publicly with your apostasy. You can leave Islam if it feels like the right move, but if you are afraid of the consequences, then keep a secret. There are many ex-Muslims on tumblr, such as myself, you can speak to anonymously if you just need help or someone to share your views with.

Don’t try this at home!

I talked about the interesting structure of graphite (aka pencil lead) in our latest video:

But I didn’t have time to touch on one of the fascinating side effects of this structure - graphite’s conductivity. A single, two-dimensional sheet of graphite (known as graphene) is the most conductive material we know about. Diamond is among the least conductive materials we know about.

Impure graphite - like the stuff we find in pencils - is somewhere in between. It’s more conductive than sea water and less conductive than steel. As free electrons flow through it, it lights up like a filament and puts out a lot of heat.

Some risk-taking YouTubers (MausolfB Education and ElectroBoom) demonstrated this property so you don’t have to.

Diamond photo credit: Macroscopic Solutions, Graphite photo credit: DerHexer

2,200 years ago in Turkey, this insane rental agreement was inscribed in stone

Written in Greek, the lease allows renters to use slaves that come with the property

No ripping up this rental agreement. And the punishments for not looking after the property, not paying the rent, etc. Nuts. Plus new legal terminology. Great stuff.