Saturn photo taken by Cassini sometime before the end.
From the last word on nothing
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Where did I find beauty?
September 28, 2017What is going on in my neighborhood?
September 27, 2017
In the early 19th century my town was the location of the North Union Shaker community – whence its name, Shaker Heights.
The Shakers dammed Doan Brook to form two lakes for a woolen mill, a grist mill and a saw mill. The Shaker buildings are gone, but the lakes remain as park areas for the city. A few artifacts such as the gate post above and a mill stone still exist and are memorialized with historical plaques.
In the early 20th century when Shaker Village was being developed, two more lakes were formed adding to the park-like ambience of the town. Green Lake, or the Duck Pond, is a popular place to walk, watch the birds, and feed the ducks. For some time, the lake was been filling up with debris from leaves, geese and ducks, and general eutrophication.
This led to the introduction of a dredging project, as the ducks have not been swimming so much as walking across the lake. The project got off to a rocky start when some endangered turtles were discovered in the lake. Now, however, the turtles have been moved and dredging is taking place.
It has been fun to watch the little blue and white dredge, War Eagle Charlie, making its way across the lake, laying out buoy lines, setting down stabilizers, and sucking up the muck from the bottom of the lake. Here are some photos.
The dredge, War Eagle Charlie
Looking toward Andover Road
War Eagle Charlie
Looking toward South Woodland
Where am I traveling?
September 25, 2017
From the Red Sea to Hong Kong on a 30-day time lapse voyage on a container ship. Filmed by photographer, Jeffrey Tsang.
What am I sappy dinosaur blogging?
September 22, 2017A perfectly preserved new species of dinosaur discovered by researchers in Canada.
Discovered in a mine in Alberta, the fossilized dinosaur’s skin, its heavily-armoured back and head is clearly visible, that Canadian palaeontologists named the specimen the ‘Mona Lisa’ of dinosaurs.
Above, one of the best preserved dinosaur fossils ever found, complete with skin and scales. Credit Courtesy of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Drumheller, Canada.
Some 110 million years ago, this armored plant-eater lived in western Canada, until a flooded river swept it into the sea. Its undersea burial preserved it in stunning detail.
The specimen’s stomach contents have been also preserved, giving new clues to its nutrition.
An artist’s impression of the Borealopelta markmitchelli. Courtesy of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Drumheller, Canada.
One the researchers Caleb Brown, from Royal Tyrrell Museum in Canada, said:
“Strong predation on a massive, heavily-armoured dinosaur illustrates just how dangerous the dinosaur predators of the Cretaceous must have been.
This nodosaur is truly remarkable in that it is completely covered in preserved scaly skin, yet is also preserved in three dimensions, retaining the original shape of the animal. The result is that the animal looks almost the same today as it did back in the Early Cretaceous. You don’t need to use much imagination to reconstruct it; if you just squint your eyes a bit, you could almost believe it was sleeping … It will go down in science history as one of the most beautiful and best preserved dinosaur specimens – the Mona Lisa of dinosaurs.”
What am I drawing?
September 21, 2017
Edward Hopper, age 9
Pablo Picasso, age 8
Georgia O’Keefe, age 14
Albrecht Durer, age 13 (self-portrait)
Michelangelo, age 12 or 13
Some artists are late bloomers, but with others talent is obvious from an early age. An article by Abigail Cain on Artsy looks at the early works of famous artists and shares her discoveries here.
My favorite is that Hopper sketch of a little boy, drawn on the back of his third grade report card.
Whose birthday am I celebrating?
September 20, 2017
Malcolm ‘Mal’ Reynolds was the captain of the Firefly-class transport ship Serenity. During the Unification War, Mal fought for the Independents and was the highest ranking Browncoat to participate in and survive the Battle of Serenity Valley.
Mal was born on September 20, 2468 and was brought up on a ranch on the planet Shadow. Raised by his mother and “about 40 hands,” Mal apparently received a fairly decent education growing up. Though Mal usually seems more practical than intellectual, he occasionally surprised his friends by displaying familiarity in a wide range of literature varying from the works of Shan Yu, a psychotic dictator, to poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He does, however, have no idea “who” Mona Lisa was.
Quote: I’ll take the shuttle in closer. Zoe, ship is yours. Remember, if anything happens to me, or you don’t hear from me within the hour… you take this ship and you come and you rescue me.
How am I talking today?
September 19, 2017
Where am I playing?
September 18, 2017
For the last several years, Danish design firm MONSTRUM has constructed wildly imaginative playscape features for playgrounds around the world with an intense focus on both artistic and architectural quality. The playgrounds are designed and built locally in their large studio just outside Copenhagen and then shipped in components to sites around Denmark, Sweden, Russia, and even Dubai. The design studio has a strong background in theatrical set design which lends itself to their thematic playscapes, one of our recent favorites being the “Justin Beiver” playround in Partille, Sweden. Collected here is a sampling of designs from the last few years, but you can see more on their website.
Gunsmoke and Knitting 