Maria Mitchell's Birthday!

“Do not look at stars as bright spots only. Try to take in the vastness of the universe.”
Maria Mitchell 
(1818-1889)

 We are getting ready to roll out a bunch of new and gorgeous astronomy necklaces in our shop and we discovered that it is becoming increasingly difficult to name them in a way that “makes sense” both for us, and our wonderful customers. So we decided to cure this conundrum by naming them after famous women in science. Since today would be Maria Mitchell’s 195th birthday we are starting with this listing which has been renamed “The Maria Planet Necklaces”. 

Maria Mitchell was the first acknowledged American woman astronomer, was the first professor of Astronomy at Vassar College and the first director of Vassar's observatory. In protest against slavery, she stopped wearing clothes made of cotton and was friends with various suffragists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and co-founded the American Association for the Advancement of Women.   She disliked Victorian rigidity, and worked to change the confining “rules” for women in science. Mitchell also was a leader in the formation of the American Association for the Advancement of Women (AAW), which evolved into today’s American Association of University Women.  She was the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was truly a founder of modern science. To learn more, please visit the Maria Mitchell Association at http://www.mariamitchell.org/

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Happy Birthday, Joseph Priestly!

You may just think of today as the day that the Beatles finished recording “Hey Jude” (1968), or the day in 1981 that MTV debuted, but here at Gibberish we celebrate August 1, because this is the day that Joseph Priestly isolated Oxygen in 1774! Mr. Priestly, was a brilliant scientist who had a very colorful life due to his strong political beliefs (he supported both the American and French Revolutions) and his eventual emigration to the United States from his country of birth and work, England. If he were alive today, he would have had quite the Facebook friend list since Antoine Lavoisier, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were only a few of the famous individuals to call him friend. He took a break from friendships and teaching (his lifelong occupation) to focus sunlight on mercuric oxide that had been placed in a pool of mercury. He produced a type of gas that caused a flame to burn brightly…and voila! oxygen was isolated. I think we will celebrate by powering up our fire pit tonight and looking for satellites in our back yard! What about you?

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The Science of Butternut Squash Soup

Okay, so I'm not actually going to go into the science of butternut squash soup but I did experiment with recipes...That counts, right? I bought a butternut squash from Trader Joe's a little while ago and I was determined to do something with it. I've been on a homemade soup kick lately so it seemed pretty obvious what I should make! I looked up recipes all over the interwebs and decided that I would combine a couple of these two: Nom and NOM. It turned out pretty darn good and I am so very pleased that there are lots of leftovers!

I didn't include sage since the reviews made me think that I could light my house on fire if I tried...So instead I topped it with rosemary! Which, in my opinion, was the perfect little kick it needed!

It turned out pretty darn good and I am so very pleased that there are lots of leftovers! 

Sprout Out

Out of this World Jewelry, ShopGibberish

The wonderful folks over at Sprout-Out.com featured us today! Please check it out and look around at the website...It's very cool and features some really amazing local Santa Cruz artists! 

Speak Gibberish! Rock the Post

Hey everyone! We just launched our Speak Gibberish project on Rock the Post.

Rock the Post is a platform that uses crowdfunding to fund projects for small businesses like ours! We would really appreciate it if you could pass the link along to your friends! Donations can be as little as $5 and up to $1000! This is a really exciting opportunity for us and we're so happy to be able to share it with all of you! :)

http://www.rockthepost.com/posts/view/2271/Speak-Gibberish-Science
http://www.rockthepost.com/posts/view/2271/Speak-Gibberish-Science
http://www.rockthepost.com/posts/view/2271/Speak-Gibberish-Science

Our Booth from the CSTA Conference

The California Science Education Conference in San Jose, CA was TONS of fun! We loved meeting all the wonderful teachers that attended the event! We will definitely be there next year in Palm Springs! 

Look what's new!

 

Check out our new geeky cuffs! They are available with geek or with nerd and can even be personalized with your monogram or with a short name. Wear them proudly to show your love of all that is nerdy!  www.shopgibberish.etsy.com