Use those hashtags: #FactsNotFear and #Moms4GMOs and #Dads4GMOs

I have really been thinking about social media lately and how much it influences our emotions and decisions.   Social media is full of truths, half-truths, and plain out lies but for many people it is their to go source of information.   I can open twitter anytime of the day, read the first 20 tweets and know everything going on in the world and all the opinions on that news.   It is useful but it is our job to figure out what is fact, what is fiction, and what is just opinion.  The problem is that many people believe what they read and do not take the time to research the entire picture.  When it comes to GMOs, the anti-GMO groups are very organized on social media.  They know how to use social media to spread incorrect information.  How do you combat bad information that is plastered all over twitter everyday?   The answer is we have to be proactive and spread the truth so people see both sides of the story.  The consumers and scientists that embrace science and not emotion to understand GMOs have unfortunately not been as organized when it comes to sharing that information on social media, at least in my opinion.

Normally I just shake my head as I see post after post bashing GMOs even when the science has consistently shown GMOs are safe.  Even when GMOs are providing vitamin A to malnourished children (http://www.goldenrice.org/) they are bashed.  Even when GMOs can provide solutions to save trees and crops from being wiped out by diseases (http://gmo.geneticliteracyproject.org/FAQ/can-gmos-rescue-threatened-plants-and-crops/) they are bashed .  Even with science backing the safety and the the science providing solutions to help our world, the anti-GMO sentiment is now being used to market items to make money.  We now see manufacturers putting a non-GMO label on EVERYTHING even when that crop or product has no GMO counterpart.

So it was a good day when I saw truth being spread and even a hashtag to consolidate our thoughts on Twitter.   We are on the road to organizing our messages on social media.  A group of moms put their thoughts into a couple of articles about GMOs and how the non-GMO label is not helping anything.  They challenge all of us to show our support for GMOs by using #FactsNotFear and #Moms4GMOs or #Dads4GMOs.

 Take a read of their articles.  Spread the truth about GMOs.  Let's use social media to get the facts out there so people at least read both sides and not just one.  

We are Scientists. We are Moms,

GMOs: A Scapegoat

#Moms4GMOs Letter

The good news is that people are using these hashtags on Twitter.  The truth is spreading, but it needs a lot more help.  Counter the misinformation and gets the facts out there!

#FactsNotFear

 

#Moms4GMOS





#Dads4GMOs

Astrophotography: Pleiades

I had taken a little break over the holidays, but I am ready to get back to some blogging in 2017.  I did get one clear night over the holidays where I had time to get my scope out.  I had one target in mind and had been wanting to shoot it for awhile.  The target has many names.  Commonly is called Pleiades or the Seven Sisters, but is also known as Messier 45 (M45).

Pleiades is a star cluster were a bunch of stars are close to one another.  This is the closest star cluster to the Earth at 444 light years away and can be seen as a faint smudge in the winter sky.  The stars are hot B-type stars which just means they are very hot and blue!  They formed about 100 million year ago.

The best part about the Pleiades besides just being beautiful stars is that there is also some dust in the area that gives some beautiful nebulosity.  It was originally thought the dust was from the formation of the stars but this dust would have been lost years ago.  Now it is known the dust was just in the area the stars happen to be passing through.

My picture was taken with:

SV90 scope
Celestron AVX mount
D5300 camera
150x 60 second lights
45x darks
45x bias
45x flats
Stacked:  DeepSkyStacker
Processing:  PixInsight; Photoshop

The Seven Sisters is from Greek Mythology. Seven of the brightest stars are named for each of the sisters along with 2 other stars names for the sisters parents.

Here is another picture that I did not take as it is much better, but provides a great map of the stars names.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades