Hack, Hack, Hack…….Oh My!
A long time ago, right in my own little corner office, I decided that learning how to create and code websites would be fun. I think people who troll the Internet to hack into other people’s sites think the same way. If you have been trying to get to my site over the past few years and thought I was gone, it wasn’t my doing but that of hackers.
Yes, I was hacked. Not once, not twice, but several times and it has been a journey getting The NASA Lady site back up and functioning. There are still some kinks and I will be working on getting them fixed as well as adding new content as I have not been able to access the admin side of the site even though it did come back online with a few php errors that lived happily on top of my home page.
So what’s new? Way to much to talk about in my welcome back post but I will be adding new categories, new ways to interact with me. my workshops, and programs. Twitter has never stopped working so you can always find and contact me there as well @thenasalady
Gratitude goes out to Donna Michaels of Before IT Happened for inviting me to be among the first interviewees on her podcast. I met Donna at Toy Fair and we have been friends ever since. Her work is incredible and I will be posting her interview of me here on the site in the coming days.
NASA and spaceflight have also advanced so much since the last time I posted content. The US can now send astronauts back into space following the end of the Space Shuttle Program. New, bigger, more powerful rockets, rovers on Mars, space telescopes, and so much more have all happened as I worked with my hosting provider to FIX the issues.
It has been a while but I am happy to say “I’m BACK” so come and visit often, get the best news and information on all things NASA, educational opportunities including workshops, internships, and programs for students, families, and communities. Look for our new features including STEM Bytes, and much more!
Gender Equity & Action Figures
As I was reading my Twitter feed yesterday, I came across this conversation from a friend who is as passionate about young girls being exposed to and involved in STEM as I am:
Twitter conversation on the missing Rey figure from Star Wars gift sets
I always had a special place in my heart for the female figures that Hasbro, Bandai, Playmates, and other manufacturers made as part of a toy line and last Monday, when I finally went to see Star Wars the Force Awakens, my son and I stopped in a nearby Target. Smaller than traditional Target’s, this store had very limited shelf space for toys but still a selection of single boxed figures. “Do you see a Rey?” I asked my son as I moved box after box and realizing this Target only had five of the figures from the line. “She’s limited,” he replied. Ah, another one of those strategic decisions by toy manufacturers to only put one or two of her in a box. Does this strategy make Rey more sought after as a toy? Unfortunately no. When I asked my son, who is now an avid and knowledgeable toy collector, he said, “Female figures don’t sell as well as the male ones do.”
And therein lies the rub. There are two markets these days for action figures. The play market and the collector market. Children who want to play with their toys take them out of the package or box and start imagining and creating their own stories. That is the beauty of play. There are numerous toys on the market now designed to break gender stereotypes and many of these are STEM focused in bringing once male dominated play such as engineering (LEGOS), chemistry, science, and electronics to girls, the action figure market hasn’t made any attempt, on either side, to market to girls or encourage boys to make sure whatever female figure is part of the line, are bought and played with just like the male figures.
When I started buying action figures for my son in the 80’s they were $3.77 each. Today, the going price is between $19.99 and $24.00. It’s hard to think that making the decision to buy a toy or multiple ones from a line has become a financial decision (I bought three Storm Troopers during our Target foray for a total of $66). For boys, will they want to forgo the Finn or My son and I somehow always get around to the conversation of adults paying that much money for a toy that will be played with and to have most of a collection, counting each series and number of figures in a series that a manufacturer produces, playing with actions figures can cost upwards of thousands of dollars. Ditto for collectors but at least there’s the hope that some of the figures will go up in value. Once you take a toy out of the package and play with it that $19.99 price drops significantly in value but never in sentiment until that figure becomes outdated a new, more exciting action figure arrives on the scene to take its place.
We’re Back!!!!!!!
After what seems like forever, several site hacks, malware, and countless hours resolving then finding the problem was not resolved later, the site is finally up and running. Thanking all the great programmers who worked with me to find what one person told me were ‘chomped core files’ that malware had a virtual feast on. Being back means also means that there has been soooooooooooo much news, NASA content, and happenings since I was last able to post that my head is spinning. Since we were down, NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars and is doing phenomenal science, the James Webb Space Telescope is in position and soon will be sending back the first images of deep space, and we have returned to manned space flight with NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station.
Getting Kids Excited About STEM and Space with “The NASA Lady” Pamela Greyer
Grab your passport and let’s go on a journey together with Donna Loughlin and her interview with Pamela Greyer “The NASA Lady” on Before IT Happened. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/getting-kids-excited-about-stem-and-space-with-the/id1571396481?i=1000529686679
