Reblogged from HMS Defiant
Forecasts are great planning tools. We should make use of them and not just for planning our trips.
I’m taking sunblock 10 billion just in case this is the Virginia Cleveland forecast too.
What am I preparing for?
December 20, 2012
What am I saying on Tattoo Tuesday
December 18, 2012Last week it was Science Tattoos – a whole new perspective on the STEM fields. This week it is, not surprisingly, Knitting. Who knew people would go to such lengths to portray their addiction hobby? And have a ball; and pursue a thread; one cannot gauge these things; or look for purls of wisdom here; or one becomes a wrapped up in a skein of stories; and then needs to send a cable – to Kitchener. Okay, I’m done needling you.
If you look really closely, you will see alpaca is not spelled incorrectly.
This post on The Knitting Needle and the Damage Done. Thanks to Curtis for the reference.
What am I gazing at?
December 17, 2012
Besides the obvious benefits of a 7:00 am yoga class sometimes I get to see something like this, as I did last Wednesday. This is Venus in the early morning sky.
And on my way home from work that evening, I saw the new moon in the old moon’s arms. It’s a little hazy, but was still quite lovely. The light below the moon is a Lifeflight helicopter heading for the Cleveland Clinic.
Photo credit Venus: Cole Clark on Spaceweather
What am I sappy cat blogging
December 14, 2012This one stolen unashamedly from Why, because Science. Thanks!
What am I scratching my head about?
December 10, 2012
Warning: This is a frivolous post.
I just came across an ad by Yankee Candle for “man candles.” Really?
I like Yankee Candles, but I cannot imagine that these scents are really, “back by popular demand,” except perhaps as gag gifts.
What about some really, manly-man scents?
What am I sappy cat blogging?
December 7, 2012
As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows,
cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human kind.
Cleveland Amory
What do I find endlessly fascinating?
December 6, 2012This post is a re-blog from Lights in the Dark – always a good read!
Suomi NPP satellite image of North and South America at night
In daylight our big blue marble is all land, oceans and clouds. But the night is electric.
This image of North and South America at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012. The new data was mapped over existing Blue Marble imagery of Earth to provide a realistic view of the planet.
The nighttime view was made possible by the new satellite’s “day-night band” of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite. VIIRS detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as city lights, gas flares, auroras, wildfires, and reflected moonlight. In this case, auroras, fires, and other stray light have been removed to emphasize the city lights.
Although the view looking down from space is of a sparkling show, the downside of course is light pollution over major metropolitan areas which impede the view of the night sky from the ground. (Find out more at the International Dark Sky Association site.)
Read more (and watch a video of these nighttime images of Earth) below:
“Artificial lighting is a excellent remote sensing observable and proxy for human activity,” says Chris Elvidge, who leads the Earth Observation Group at NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center. Social scientists and demographers have used night lights to model the spatial distribution of economic activity, of constructed surfaces, and of populations. Planners and environmental groups have used maps of lights to select sites for astronomical observatories and to monitor human development around parks and wildlife refuges. Electric power companies, emergency managers, and news media turn to night lights to observe blackouts.
This video uses the Earth at night view created by NASA’s Earth Observatory with data processed by NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center and combined with a version of the Earth Observatory’s Blue Marble: Next Generation.
See more images and videos here: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NightLights
NASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon, using Suomi NPP VIIRS data provided courtesy of Chris Elvidge (NOAA National Geophysical Data Center).
What am I sappy cat blogging?
November 30, 2012Cats at work and for those of you who are fans of Red Dwarf – “fish!”
What am I eating, or buying, or something?
November 19, 2012Today’s theme is bacon.
First this story from Orange News about a Chinese farmer who is charging three time the going rate for his bacon. The reason is that his pigs engage in high diving that, he says, makes them more tasty. Here’s the story.
Next, you can decorate your home for the holidays with a bacon theme. These stylish ornaments are available at Artful Home.
Really, there are a lot of bacon-themed decorations to be had. I thought these were kind of classy (as well as glassy.)
Finally, for a touch of home-made, here is a recipe for maple bourbon bacon jam. I have not tried it, but all of the ingredients sound good. Get the recipe at Closet Cooking.
What am I buying for Christmas?
November 18, 2012
This lovely and meaningful gift from the Origami Boulder Company. Thank you, Curtis. for this suggestion. You buy now.
Gunsmoke and Knitting 