Good morning, RVA! It's 37 °F, and today looks a lot like yesterday. Tomorrow, though, cold weather moves in, dropping temperatures down into the icy teens—I just set a reminder to leave the faucet running in the one freezing-cold bathroom. On Sunday you should expect some sort of winter weather that will likely lead to some sort of accumulation. Megan Wise at NBC12 says we could be looking at a snow-to-sleet-to-rain situation Sunday that leaves us with 2–5 inches on the ground.
Water cooler
I think Governor-elect Youngkin has made the last of his appointments, choosing his Superintendent of Public Instruction and then a boatload of appointments across a ton of agencies. Kate Masters at the Virginia Mercury has a profile of the superintendent, Jillian Balow, which you could probably write yourself—she wants to stop teaching kids about racism and inequity, she's big flustered by The 1619 Project, and she's excited to ban books that make her feel uncomfortable. Youngkin's pick for Assistant Secretary, Elizabeth Schultz, hails from Fairfax, where she led a movement to keep Black and Hispanic students out of their governor's school. Here's Youngkin's quote on the appointments, "Jillian and Elizabeth are going to be crucial in helping Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera restore excellence in education." It should be super clear to everyone that "restore excellence in education"—like "Make America Great Again"—is coded language for repealing and reverting progress made in making our schools more equitable for Virginia's kids.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch's Mel Leonor has great background on the early legislative progress to bring to life Governor-elect Youngkin's promise of charter schools everywhere. Despite Republicans' insistence that smaller, local government is better, the current proposal (which is still in the early goings) would create "regional bodies [that] would have the power to approve new charter schools...Under that system, localities would always have minority power and would be unable to reject charter school applicants — outnumbered by board members appointed by a charter-friendly state government." Expect more on charter schools throughout the winter, as this looks like one of the General Assembly's most high-profile legislative priorities.
Ben Paviour at VPM has a really interesting profile on Lt. Governor-elect Winsome Sears. I do not know what to make of this person, but she's famous for holding a machine gun and refusing to disclose her vax status so...
Saturday at 12:00 PM Governor-elect Youngkin becomes Governor-regular Youngkin in an inauguration ceremony held at the Capitol, which you can livestream here. Richard Hayes at RVAHub has a map and a list of all the road closures, and many bus routes will make detours in and around Downtown. Plan ahead if you're headed out on Saturday!
Also from Richard Hayes at RVAHub this really excellent photo of one of the smallest dragon fly in Virginia, the Eastern Amberwing.
Logistical note! Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a state holiday, and I will take the morning to sleep, tinker with some of my GMRVA processes, and gird myself for the incoming gubernatorial administration. I'll be back in your inboxes on Tuesday. Have a great weekend, stay warm, and enjoy the snow!
This morning's longread
Mirror, Mirror…On Its Way!
Way out in space, over the next many months, hundreds of mirrors will move just millimeters per day, aligning into a single, amazing space telescope. Incredible!
The mirror control system is designed to operate only one actuator at a time. That way is both simpler (in terms of the complexity of the control electronics) and safer (since computers and sensors can closely monitor each individual actuator as it works). Furthermore, to limit the amount of heat put into Webb’s very cold mirrors from the actuator motors, each actuator can only be operated for a short period at a time. Thus, those big 12.5-millimeter moves for each segment are split up into many, many short moves that happen one actuator at a time. Scripts sent from the Mission Operations Center will direct this process under human supervision, slowly and steadily moving one actuator at a time, taking turns between segments. At full speed, it takes about a day to move all the segments by just 1 millimeter. It’s about the same speed at which grass grows!
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