ACROSS
1 The one here
5 Group of cronies
9 Natural wound 
protection
13 Discard
14 Prohibited activity
15 “What a shame!”
16 Player getting 
paid
18 Sound from a 
snout
19 Counsel
20 “Am I the only 
one?”
22 Move stealthily
23 “Wait just a 
minute!”
26 “Told you”
27 Rogers Centre 
city
29 Oil field sight
30 Cartographer’s 
dot, maybe
31 Food truck snack
32 Unfulfilled 
campaign pledge 
... and a hint to 
what 16-, 23-, 46- 
and 53-Across all 
contain
37 James of “The 
Godfather”
38 Herbert Hoover, 
by birth
39 O’Hare’s airport 
code
40 Great pains
43 Bobs and waves
46 Docking aids
48 “Rashomon” 
director 
Kurosawa
50 Christmas door 
decoration
51 Health facility
52 Tech sch. grad
53 Closet accessory
56 “Start __”: Rolling 
Stones hit
57 Mandel of 
“America’s Got 
Talent”
58 Melody
59 Coffee servers
60 “If I may 
intrude ... ”
61 Founded, as a co.

DOWN
1 QB-to-receiver 
six-pointer
2 Running track 
obstacle

3 Apple video-
editing app
4 Madrid’s country
5 128 fl. oz.
6 Grandpa 
Simpson
7 Vague idea
8 Charges toward
9 Apt 
Shakespearean 
rhyme for “truth”
10 Fire-breathing 
monsters
11 “Interview With 
the Vampire” 
novelist
12 __ choy: stir-fry 
veggie
14 With 37-Down, 
what corn is on
17 “For shame!”
21 Skater Midori
23 Little songbird
24 Color of some 
Hello Kitty 
products
25 Self-esteem
28 Fútbol cheer
30 Charged 
particle
31 Altoids 
container
32 Saloonkeeper

33 Trooper’s speed-
checking device
34 Versailles rulers, 
once
35 Have bills to pay
36 Indian spice 
blend
37 See 14-Down
40 Finder’s cry
41 “Fooled you!”
42 Overeager 
student’s cry
43 Thingamajig

44 Set in the right 
direction
45 Like some cows 
and vows
47 Maryland team, 
briefly
49 “Roots” role 
Kunta __
51 Rebel Guevara
52 Big bird from 
Down Under
54 Stunned state
55 Comical Conway

By C.C. Burnikel
©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/25/18

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

09/25/18

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Tuesday, September 25, 2018

6 — Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

I 
didn’t 
believe 
in 

superheroes 
until 
LeBron 

James came along, because — 
aside from recently bolstering 
his bid for induction into the 
All-Time Human Hall of Fame 
— LeBron James is really 
good at basketball. He gains a 
cult-like following because he 
does things like effortlessly 
dunking on Kevin Garnett to 
remind us that he is, indeed, a 
superior being. With mouths 
agape and one Kevin Harlan 
assisting our comprehension 
of the insanity with his “with 
no regard for human life” call, 
we feel empowered, because it 
happened. A human did that. 
So, surely, there’s an alternate 
universe where we can do it, 
too.

Caught on the other end 

of that display was Kevin 
Garnett. Future Hall of Famer 
Kevin Garnett. Which is funny, 
because we’ve all been Kevin 
Garnett.

I’ve been Kevin Garnett. A 

lot. Just this past month I’ve 
been yammed on, over and 
over, by strangers and familiar 
faces with a tenacity unseen 
since 
2008 
bedroom 
Nerf 

Hoop showdowns. It stinks. 
It also makes the response 
(the counter-attack) all that 
much sweeter. Because, to live 
a high-flying existence, you 
should — you need — to dunk 
on folks.

Hold your own dunk contest, 

participated in by you, judged 
by you, and announced by 
you. 
Visualize 
your 
own 

posterization. Think it into 
existence. 
Win 
emotionally 

over your arena. Where to 
start? Some inspiration:

DUNK: Zach LaVine, New 

York City, 2015

Metaphorically 
suitable 

for: 
rewarding 
job 
offer, 

growth period, impending 
come-up

We 
begin 
not 
with 
an 

in-your-face jam but with a 
smooth 
maneuver. 
LaVine’s 

dunk is marked by grace, his 
6’5” figure unforcefully gliding 
its way through the air. Worth 
noting is the innovation in 
spite of his late entry into dunk 
lineage; yearly complaints of a 
stale, worn-out dunking canon 
have forced each year’s crop of 
dunkers to get more creative 
with their performances. This, 
however, remains fresh. We see 
this then as mental motivation 
for life adaptation and positive 
self-evolution. When you want 
to 
remain 
graceful 
amidst 

any sort of adversity, be Zach 
LaVine. Go behind the back 
and look beautiful doing so. 
Now you see me, now you don’t. 
Look what I can do with me.

DUNK: 
Julius 
Erving, 

Philadelphia, 1983

Metaphorically 
suitable 

for: 
reunions, 
tough 

conversations, 
wholesome 

closure

This “rock-the-baby” dunk 

is just ridiculous. It took place 
in a real-live game with other 
people who are also 6’7,” and 
also have biceps the size of 
my head, and oh my shit, the 
disrespect. It’s legendary. Dr. 
J’s blunt force is complemented 
by a baby, his baby, and you, 
too, can carry your baby so 
triumphantly. Whether that 
baby is a relationship you’d like 
to maintain, or a connection 
you want to reestablish (or 
bring to a peaceful end), dunk 
with it, or all over it. The slam 
speaks for itself; it’s the most 
effective way to show that you 
know your worth.

DUNK: 
Vince 
Carter, 

Oakland, 2000

Metaphorically 
suitable 

for: getting in their business, 
staying in their business, a 
proverbial middle finger

The best part about this jam 

is that, as Vince Carter was 
preparing for the contest, he 
thought, at some point, “What 
if I just jump so damn high 

I can hang my damn elbow 
in the basket for a while?” 
He then he did exactly that, 
and, save for the reactionary 
gasps 
of 
astonishment, 
we 

instantly felt like an inferior 
breed upon watching it. This 
is disrespect of the highest 
order, and we should take 
notes. Go higher, high enough 
even so you can laugh down on 
those still abiding by the laws 
of gravity. Be petty enough to 
hang on the basket for a while 
and make jaws drop in awe of 
unfuckwithability.

DUNK: Michael Jordan, 

Chicago, 1988

Metaphorically 
suitable 

for: 
unequivocal 
personal 

triumph

When 
MJ 
flew 
through 

another galaxy (a full 15.09 
feet in the air, to be precise) en 
route to NBA legend, it wasn’t 
his 
seemingly 
impossible 

airtime 
that 
was 
most 

important, nor was it the fact 
that he did so in front of 18,000 
adoring 
hometown 
Chicago 

fans. Rather, it was Jordan’s 
tongue wag that made the real 
statement. 
The 
wag 
teases 

silent defiance, as if he was 
internally laughing about his 
upcoming stunt on the world. 
So take a full-court running 
start like Mike, especially if 
it means you’re flying 15 feet 
over fools. Wag some tongue 
and warn them that you now 
run the league — er, their world 
— and will control everything 
they love for the next 10 years. 
Heartless is good and heartless 
is healthy.

That being said, you won’t 

automatically 
be 
Michael, 

because no one wins life upon 
first launch from the free throw 
line. You’ll likely be LeBron’s 
Kevin Garnett first, and that’s 
OK. Just remember: When you 
finally get your Vince-hey-just-
hold-my-balls-for-a-quick-sec 
Carter moment and dunk the 
entire country of France all the 
way back to 1789, Garnett will 
be there to cheer you on.

JOEY SCHUMAN

Daily Health & Wellness Columnist

HEALTH AND WELLNESS COLUMN

Navigating life through 

NBA’s best dunks

An artist, an author, a NASA 

advisor and a creative founder, 
Ariel Waldman is a prime 
example of the unexpected. 
Although she has no formal 
science background, she chased 
her admiration and curiosity for 
space exploration, which soon 
lead her to send a spontaneous 
email to NASA. Now, Waldman 
— with a degree in graphic 
design — has launched her 
creative mind into the world of 
NASA, where she advises the 
NASA 
Innovative 
Advanced 

Concepts 
(NIAC) 
program 

and founded a plethora of 
interactive science platforms. 
Being the fulcrum between 
science 
and 
art, 
Waldman 

will be speaking about her 
ingenious work this Thursday 
at the Michigan Theater. 

According 
to 
Spacehack.

org, Waldman’s work involves 
space 
hacking, 
where 
her 

mission is “to make science and 
space exploration disruptively 
accessible.” While many non-
scientific users used to dream 
of having access to space data, 
information and explorations, 
Waldman 
now 
makes 
that 

dream a reality. 

“I remember early on having 

a desire to apply design, and 
the creativity that comes with 
design, towards a much broader 
range of things,” Waldman 
said in an interview with The 
Daily. Some of her most popular 
multiuser 
science 
platforms 

include 
Spacehack, 
Seahack 

and Space Hack Day, where 
she is the global director. Space 
Hack Day, she explained, “is a 
two-day-all-night event where 
anyone excited about making 
weird, silly or serious things 
with science comes together 
in the same physical space to 
see what they can prototype 
within 24 consecutive hours.” 
With her background in design 
and her passion for science, 
Waldman is the glue between 
these two important societal 
mediums. 

“Design has a huge amount 

of power in the world that is 
often underestimated for how 
much it affects how people do 
things and why they do things,” 
she said. “Being trained as a 
designer is really being trained 
in communication and how to 

be an effective translator.” 

Due to her education in 

artistic design, Waldman has 
a “voracious appetite to apply 
design and creative thinking” 

to the world of science and 
other mediums. As a means of 
understanding and engaging, 
she 
brings 
community 

together to not only explore 
for themselves, but also to 
help benefit professional space 
research and exploration. Many 
of these projects stem from 
Space Hack Day that eventually 

lead 
to 
“real, 
tangible 

breakthroughs.” 

In her Ted Talk, Waldman 

describes one of these beneficial 

projects where a participant of 
Space Hack Day designed “The 
Beard Detector,” a device that 
would detect when he would 
need to shave by using a USB 
microscope, a few codes and an 
open computer vision library. 
Later, 
a 
particle 
physicist 

saw this design and created a 
research program that would 
be used to detect cosmic rays in 
a cloud chamber. It is powerful 
projects like these that allow 
Waldman’s work to inspire an 
everyday, non-scientific user, 
and gives them the opportunity 
to 
make 
a 
difference 
in 

progressing science research 
and space exploration. 

“It’s both breaking down 

their 
personal 
goals 
that 

they’ve built up and working on 
breaking down the walls that 
society puts up for them,” she 
said. “It’s trying to break those 
down from both sides.” 

Society tends to keep art 

and science on either side of 
a spectrum, creating a facade 
that they are opposite and 
impermeable crafts. By letting 
people access scientific data 
and 
use 
their 
imagination, 

however, Waldman brings a 
community of innovative and 
progressive people together, 
synthesizing the powers of our 
left and right brains. 

“I like infusing serendipity 

into 
science 
and 
space 

exploration, and for me, getting 
that chance to work at NASA 
was never something I knew 
I could do. I think it’s still 
something that I need to pay off 
to other people,” she said.

Waldman said she never 

expected her degree to lead 
her into a place like NASA. 
Nonetheless, she lives her life on 
the line of what is possible and 
what is deemed impossible. By 
creating a world of “what ifs,” 
neither she nor her participants 
need to know where their 
imaginations are going to lead. 
The lack of expectation seems 
to be a highlight of Waldman’s 
work and a key aspect to her life 
as well. 

“I think the greatest aspect 

of my work is knowing that the 
door is open for them (users) to 
play around in other disciplines. 
And for that, it can be either life 
changing or not life changing at 
all. But knowing they can walk 
through that door whenever 
they want is the most important 
thing for me.”

Ariel Waldman explores 
space hacking at Theater

COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW

ERIKA SHEVCHEK

Daily Arts Writer

FLICKR

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Penny Stamps 
Speaker Series 
presents Ariel 

Waldman’s 

‘Unexpected Space 

Exploration’

Sept. 27, 2018 @ 5:10 

p.m.

Michigan Theater

Free

By creating a 

world of “what 

ifs,” neither 

she nor her 

participants 

need to know 

where their 

imaginations are 

going to lead

