Paging John Sayles

Summer Doldrums - Dreaming of the Beach

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:21:26 GMT

Question of the Day: Where was the coldest water in which you have set foot?

Kinda sleepy at work here. Spinning class at lunch time today was the usual. I always feel so serene, satisfied, and dare I say a bit sleepy after these cardiovascular workouts. So, going back to the office only makes my pleasant fatigue more exaggerated.

I don't feel like concentrating on my in-box of tasks so instead I am mentally planning what we need to get done before we head out at 6 AM on Saturday towards New England. Fifteen phornax-oids under one roof! Zoinks! Five children under the age of seven! OMG!

I checked the weather forecast for the next ten days in zip code 01966: variable cloudiness, highs in the high 70s F. 70s???? You don't know how good that will feel to a transplanted Bostonian still sweating it out here in DC.

Before The Boy went to Argentina he was shopping for wet suits. Yeah, I made the mistake of telling him how cold the water was in New England. If we're lucky, it might just crack 70 F. But not likely, since in order to do that you need a heat wave and, preferably, 2 months of the summer already gone by. And he complained that when we were in Puerto Rico the water was just a scoash too cool - at 88 F.

He said he would only buy a wet suit if I got a matching one.

<voce-del-interiore>
"Um, no. You are just going to have to suffer in the water. If you want to hug me while you're suffering, you're more than welcome. But there's no way you're going to stuff me in a rubber suit. What do you think I am? A German?"
</voce-del-interiore>

Let's see. What else am I forgetting to do before I leave?

Telescope Tuesdays: I'll Tumble For Ya

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:43:36 GMT

Question of the Day: What's the most interesting place you've stumbled upon during your holidays?

Back in February 2000, the NEAR spacecraft encountered asteroid 433 Eros -- on Valentines Day and became the first artificial moon of an asteroid. Eros is approximately the shape of a ballet slipper, and rotates once every 5 hours and 15 minutes. This series of pictures was taken on 4 February 2000 at a range of 7,400 kilometers.

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Credit:
Andrew Cheng , NASA

Stats on the Driver's License

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:27:23 GMT

There was an interesting article in yesterday's Washington Post. The gist was that women lie about weight, men lie about height. Somehow I think the author forgot about the, um, gay perspective.

View Poll: Stats on the Driver's License

These Cylons are TOAST!

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:33:36 GMT

Ganked from grok:

Smells Beachy

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:19:49 GMT

In ten days, the Real Family Vacation will start in Rockport, Massachusetts. It's what my parents wanted: all fifteen of us together for a week, in celebration of their 50 years of marriage. Should be lots of fun.

I have vivid memories of Rockport, and strangely enough (or not) all these memories have associated smells.

Coppertone lotion
Bubbles from birch beer
Dried crab carcasses
Kelp
Fried clams
Beach towels moist with salt water

When I was an undergrad at William and Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia) I have similarly strong olfactory reminiscences.

Waxy hoya flowers
Lichen-filled cracks on steamy brick sidewalks
Paper mill smoke (or was it brewery smoke?)
Chlorinated pool water at Blow Gym
Lemony magnolia grandiflora blossoms
Sweet smoky super-starched dorm bed linens

Question of the Day: What smell memories do you have?

Damn Furrin' Marriages...

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:56:41 GMT

A very important bill is scheduled to be voted on in the Massachusetts State House today.

Cross your fingers, if you believe in superstitions like that. Better yet, call your state senator if you're a Bay Stater.

[EDIT: 4:22 PM EDT]

Bill passes Senate! On to the House! Woo-hoo!

Fortius Quo Fidelius, Dude

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:51:41 GMT

I don't want to toot my own horn here too much, but...

...oh, heck. You're not buying that one. Might as well just spill.

Last night was chest night at the gym, so I got to the point in my routine where I do the dreaded push-ups. Mind you, six months ago I could barely do six without my whole torso trembling with fatigue. Last night? I executed three sets of 12 with piston-like precision.

This strength thing? I think I'll keep it.

(Of course, the gym went downhill afterwards as we wandered into spinning class and found out that our fate was to be punished by Crazy Tony, who was subbing for Tourette Girl.)

Telescope Tuesdays: the Heat Is On!

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:08:15 GMT

Question of the Day: Where is the hottest place you've ever been?

Caloris Planitia on Mercury was created by the impact of a large asteroid. The basin is one of the largest in the solar system, covering about 1,550 kilometers, and is seen in yellowish hues in this enhanced mosaic. At 427 °C, it's also one of the hottest places in the solar system -- besides the surface of Venus -- because it faces the Sun much of the time. (Mercury's rotation is locked in 2/3 proportion with its revolution.)

The January 14, 2008, image is from the Messenger spacecraft. Orange splotches around the basin's perimeter are thought to be volcanic vents. Messenger also confirmed that Mercury has a global magnetic field generated by a core dynamo process.

Click image to enlarge.

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Credit:
Sean Solomon , Brian Anderson , Deborah Domingue
, NASA

"Pretty Boy": the New "Dude"?

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:49:49 GMT

Lots of weird stuff at the gym today. All without the appearance of Mole Man, used condoms, or "calling cards."

After class I told the substitute spinning instructor I enjoyed her class and asked her what her name was.

"Judy, Judy, Judy," she said, quoting something that Cary Grant never said on film, only intoning the phrase with Judy Tenuta's voice. Weird.

Even weirder was the banter in the shower. Not once, but twice, did I hear two nominally straight guys call another guy "pretty boy." In between chewing on sports and complaining about their wives.

Is it the new "dude?" Have I missed out on a marked change in urban jargon until now?

You be the judge.

Question of the Day: What are kids these days calling each other besides "dude"?

Betting on an Election

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:23:27 GMT

I guess nothing should surprise me now, but folks are betting on the likelihood that Obama can get elected in the fall:

The biggest thing going for Obama is McCain's status among Republican supporters as "the only viable option." Charlie Cook of the National Journal has said that the people who support John McWayne don't look at his military service nor at anything remotely resembling his long standing in Congress. They don't believe Obama is capable of the job and that old Hothead is the only other man left standing. Cook concludes that the election is Obama's to win or lose. If Obama can engender enough trust that he can make the right decisions, he will be next US President and there is little McCain can do about it.

The worst thing about Obama is his pandering to religious conservatives. It was bad enough that he and his wife did not consider gay rights on par with problems of racial discrimination, and that actual same-sex marriage should not be on the political road map "for now," but of late he's been shooting off his mouth on abortion. That pregnant women past 22 weeks of gestation should not be able to get an abortion unless their physical health is threatened. No mention of mental health, which runs counter to 35 years of legal precedent staked out by Roe v Wade.

Very discouraging.

Telescope Tuesdays: Leaping Lasers!

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:50:01 GMT

Question of the Day: Which sci-fi film scenario would you like to see become reality first, and why?

A light saber? Not quite: a laser used to create an artificial star for guiding a huge telescope. Comes in handy when there are no bright stars near where you want to point and you just want to be sure everything is calibrated with respect to atmospheric fluctuations. Below, my friend from graduate school, Adam Contos, took this shot of a laser beam shooting out of the Keck II 10-meter telescope on Mauna Kea. Adam was part of the adaptive optics team that deployed the laser.

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Credit:
Adam Contos

I Got Nuttin'

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:12:44 GMT

So, indulge me. Tell me something you think I should post about.

Is That a Handgun in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Happy to See Me in DC?

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:15:19 GMT

Whoa. Big news today.

Supreme Court Strikes Down DC Handgun Ban

It's not as if you couldn't own rifles or other larger firearms. If they strike down handgun bans, does this mean AK-47 bans will go down, too?

Disturbing.

Professorial Ego

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:43:33 GMT

die7fox had an interesting entry today about high school math students losing interest because teachers either are unable or unwilling to engage them with practical applications of daily lessons. It got me thinking: there were certainly teachers who were arrogant, who did not appreciate students questioning their lectures or such.

"When are we going to use this in real life?"
"On the surprise quiz today!"

It also reminded me of a story I read in the Wall Street Journal back in May, before I left for my Hawaii vacation. An English professor at Dartmouth decided to sue the college for putting her in a "hostile work environment" for allowing students to challenge her thesis that science is not a physical or natural reality but a social or political construct. She ended up quitting and taking a position at Northwestern, instead of following through with a lawsuit.

I found some direct accounts in the Dartmouth Review.

Listen, I taught astronomy for years. College students take science courses to satisfy their own intellectual curiosity, or to satisfy university requirements. Largely the latter. They tend more often than not to attend classes with one or more friends. They influence each other's opinions. There exists a meta-culture of opinion about certain profs which usually bends reality a bit.

I can't for the life of me understand why she thought poor evaluations and combative students constituted a "hostile work environment," but then again, I wasn't in her classrooms.

Telescope Tuesdays: Hanny's Voorwerp

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:57:00 GMT

Question of the Day: To your eye, what form does the "green thingy" below have?

That "green thingy", Hanny's Voorwerp, is still a mystery. It lies at the same distance as its brighter companion galaxy, but does not look like anything else in the universe. They say it might be a small galaxy reflecting green light from a background quasar.

Click image to enlarge.

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Credit:
Matt Jarvis , Bill Keel , NASA

In Case You Were Wondering, Women's Lingerie Was Mentioned

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:23:00 GMT

The golden anniversary party went fabulously. The air travel to and fro? It did not. I am so looking forward to the next vacation in July, which will entail a round trip drive with Massachusetts as the destination, in my beloved Toyota Camry hybrid.

Since I obsessed enough over the content of my anniversary party toast in locked entries of last week, I might as well tell you how that went.

I decided that a happy marriage could be parametrized threefold:

1) love

2) ability to solve problems rationally (or to soundproof one's bedroom so that the children can't hear the shouting) ***guffaws from the audience at that point***

3) tolerance of other people's quirks (especially the mate). Instead of embarrassing either one of them, in order to make my point, decided to embarrass HLL -- with his permission.

When Mom and Dad first met HLL, it was Thanksgiving time, and we had just arrived at their house after a madhouse trip from Washington Dulles to TF Green at Providence. Oy, the baggage carousel. A nightmare.

So when we got home, Mom took HLL up to the bedroom and he proceeded to unzip his luggage, only to reveal a nice, pink, frilly teddy.

Mom was totally unfazed.

*** at which point I totally brought the house down with laughter ***

(If you were curious, a Ms. Debra Lee Peterson took his bag by mistake, and HLL was left with hers. Temporary garments were rendered unto HLL for the duration of the holiday stay.)

Oh, yeah, and I'm tardy in my Telescope Tuesdays post because of this week's airport fiasco. I shall remedy shortly.

Telescope Tuesdays: Live Fast, Die Young, Stay Pretty

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:13:32 GMT

Debbie Harry probably didn't have stellar evolution in mind when she sang that song, but some songs have universal appeal nonetheless.

Eta Carinae (η Carinae or η Car) is a super giant luminous blue variable star about 7,800 light years distant. It is about four million times brighter than the Sun and about 120 times more massive. Expected to go supernova "any day now"^[1] and become a black hole, it is only a couple of million years old. (The Sun is more than a thousand times older, at about 4.6 billion years, in contrast.)

Stars like η Car are quite rare — only a few dozen in exist in the Milky Way. In 1843, it mysteriously surged in brightness to become the second brightest in the night sky. In 20 years, after ejecting more mass than our Sun, it faded. This outburst appears to have created the Homunculus Nebula, pictured in this Hubble Space Telescope taken in the 1990s. Visible in the center is purple-tinted light reflected from η Car.

Click image to enlarge.

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Credit:
Jon Morse , Nathan Smith , NASA

^[1]Within a million years or so.

Never Too Early to Project...

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:42:56 GMT

Looking good!

Haleakalā 1, Kilauea 0

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:38:06 GMT

As I was mentioning to 2manynotes yesterday, it was quite difficult to see anything at the Kilauea volcano on the big island of Hawai'i, which has been erupting toxic gas for the last six months. The park headquarters on the edge of the main caldera was open, but there was so much haze you could barely see the bottom. All of the exciting stuff, including the roads out to the active lava flows on the shore, were closed. Even the park bypass road from Pahoa to Kapa'ahu, which reaches the shore and permits pedestrian access to the lava-ocean interface, was shut down.

That disappointing experience left me quite determined to show HLL the crater at Haleakalā on Maui. Especially since I had such fond memories of Kilauea on a previous trip to Hawai'i with an ex, back in 1991.

We had to get some stunning photos before we left Hawai'i, and even with partial cloud, the gorgeous Waipio Valley on the Hāmākua Coast of northeast Hawai'i never fails. Back in 1991, we stayed at a bed and breakfast in Kukuihaele which was 300 yards behind me from this vantage point, and gave the same view of the valley, plus a 100 meter cascade, framed by tropical flora. As I took this photo last month, I could hear the roar of the waterfall behind me.

The weather was much more cooperative a couple days later on Maui. We had spent the late morning and lunch time at the Tedeschi Vineyards in upcountry Maui, and then swung up the mountain road to the summit. No elevation sickness this time. There are telescopes up there, too, but they are not used by professional astronomers, apparently.

The colors and shadows were just stunning up on the summit.

Here's another shot:

Sigh.

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:11:28 GMT

Telescope Tuesdays: Sunset on Mauna Kea

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:06:05 GMT

This week, something a little different. Instead of lauding other astronomers, I focus on me, ME, ME!!! I figured you wouldn't mind, since I completely missed two Telescope Tuesdays while I was away on vacation.

On the afternoon of Wednesday, May 21, 2008 (at about 0100 GMT on 22 May, actually), we boarded a charter tour van outside the fabulous Buns in the Sun Bakery in sultry Kailua-Kona.

It's about a two hour drive through lava flows and fog-enshrouded ranch country to the visitor acclimation station below Mauna Kea. Mauna Kea means "white mountain" in Hawaiian and relates to the fact that Polynesians likely never had seen snow before they got to Hawaii. The peak area is almost always covered partly in snow. In winters there can be several feet of frozen precipitation accumulated.

We learned this and hundreds of other factoids and tidbits. In fact, after eight hours of travel our brains would be ready to explode. But first, we had to get used to the elevation. They make all tourists stop at the 9000 foot level and take a one hour dinner at the visitor center. The dinners are provided by the tour groups, so they're nothing special. After 86F (30C) in Kailua, the temperatures at the acclimation station are rather brisk at 50F (10 C). We bought a couple of souvenir space-age liter coffee mugs with MK logos, and I noticed that I was getting a bit short of breath. No headaches, thank gawdess.

But I did find out that acute mountain sickness (AMS) increases in likelihood with body weight. Hence, large-proportioned invididuals such as myself tend to get dizzy sooner. HLL seemed totally unaffected. At 13,900 feet (4200 meters) I felt quite dizzy and short of breath, but not enough to dampen my enthusiasm or affect my ability to take photographs.

After the climb we went back down to 9000 feet elevation after sunset and proceeded to have a stunning star party for two hours. Yeah, TWO HOURS. Two hours of absolutely unbelievable views of the celestial sphere. I only wish my digital camera were equipped to handle that.

Anyhow, here are the twin Keck telescopes, minutes before sunset:

Food, O Foul Temptress

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:52:15 GMT

Or, In Search of Good Eats in the Sandwich Islands

Question of the Day: When were you last disappointed with food?

We went to Rosa Mexicano last night for my birthday dinner, and while the food was OK, it just wasn't as terrific as it has been in the past. My slight disappointment got me thinking about the food during our vacation to Hawai'i.

You'd think that being a cultural melting pot would help raise the quality baseline. Native Hawaiians, Japanese, Chinese, Filipinos, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Mexicans, and gringos could get together and produce some amazing things. Never mind the kitschy "flush it down the poi-let" taro root mash, kailua pork, etc., that you'd get at the average Joe Blow lū'au. We're talking world-class international cuisine.

All this potential seems to be wasted on the tourists, who tend to gravitate toward monstrosities like Fuddruckers and Wolfgang Puck Express. Maybe all the great stuff is hidden in hole-in-the-wall Mom and Pop places that we missed this time. Dunno. I was unable to find the Vietnamese bargain joints I frequented in 1991.

We were so desperate for exotic eats this time around that we committed the cardinal sin of eating from the absolutely huge selection at the labyrinthine Shirokiya department store on a Sunday. (The fishermen don't bring in a catch on Sunday morning, so you're eating Saturday's leftovers. :^/)

But you know you've been uninspired to eat when you look forward to airline food. I guess I've been spoiled by United Airlines' first class cabin.

Anyhow, the result? We came home weighing the same as we weighed when we left. After two weeks.

I leave you with a pleasant shot of Hot Latin Lover at Waikīkī Beach. More shots will follow in the coming days.

Telescope Tuesdays: Stars and Mars

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:38:28 GMT

Most times, if you look at Mars on successive nights, you might notice it moving slowly forward (eastward) compared to the background stars. Once every two years, or so, we passes Mars in its orbit. During the 2007 overtake, Mars being so near made the red planet appear larger and brighter than usual. Pictured below is a series of images digitally stacked so that all of the stellar images coincide. Mars appears to trace out a retrograde loop in the sky.

Click image to enlarge.

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Credit:
Tunc Tezel

Hey Bob

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:57:50 GMT

The trip to Hawaii started on a rather surreal note. Hot Latin Lover had gotten us upgraded to first class (!!!) for all the legs of the trip – being 1K on United has its perks, you see – and we were safely ensconced in seats 1A and 1B. We kept on hearing the flight attendants say that we were completely full on the flight from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles, and yet, there were 1C and 1D, still empty. For half an hour. Very strange.

Just minutes before scheduled takeoff, though, in came a large, beefy man, who I thought was a flight marshal, who stood in the aisle next to me. Suddenly, out of the lavatory in front of us, came an old dude in a fishing cap, plaid shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers. With dangling half-rim spectacles.

It was Mr. Bob Newhart. He sat in 1D at the window while his assistant managed to squeeze into 1C. No one else seemed to have seen our celebrity comic passenger except the bodyguard, me and HLL, and perhaps the first class flight attendant.

So we took off, the beginning of the flight was normal, they served lunch as usual, and then they started a TV series rerun before the movie. The afternoon’s episode was "Children Will Listen" from the first season of Desperate Housewives. The episode where Bree and Rex find out that their conniving son, Andrew, thinks he's gay. And the one where Susan's ditsy mom, Sophie (Leslie Ann Warren) shows up saying that she's split from her boyfriend Morty (Bob Newhart) because he's been beating her.

Yeah. Really surreal. When Bob made his first cameo, his assistant turned to me grinning widely, and said "How about that?"

I leaned over and made big thumbs-up and mouthed "Bravo" so that Mr. Newhart could see and hear me. He clearly appreciated my gesture.

And that's when things started to head downhill. And became even more surreal. The ignoramus in 2B, directly behind us, had been complaining about this and that since the moment he plunked his ample ass in his seat. Thankfully, he had started snoozing about 15 minutes into the flight, but now that the aromas of lunch were wafting around him, he woke up and wanted his food, damn it. While he was waiting for the flight attendant to serve him, he focused his attention on the Desperate Housewives episode showing.

Right as the "Morty" character gave a great line, the ignoramus yelled, "Can't you show anything better than this crap on TV?”

Bob Newhart stood up, turned around, and addressed the loudmouth, evoking his famous "Driving Instructor" routine:

"No, I don't suppose it is so damn funny."

The entire first class section erupted in laughter and applause, and suddenly we didn't have a complainer in our midst any more.

How I Feel About Today's News Out of California

Thu, 15 May 2008 22:57:56 GMT

("I Haven't Seen This Day Before", The Innocence Mission, Birds of My Neighborhood [1999])

2. Same-sex marriage will be legal again in California on June 14, 2008, 15 days after we visit San Francisco. I guess our elopement plans will have to wait. :^)