Welcome Home, Expedition 35!
Crew Members Arrive Safely Back On Earth
Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)
After traveling nearly 62 million miles, completing 2,336 orbits of planet Earth, spending 146 days in space, 3 members of the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 35 crew undocked from the orbiting laboratory and returned safely home Monday, May 13, ending a nearly 5 month long mission. Their departure marks the beginning of Expedition 36.
Station Commander Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency, Soyuz Commander Roman Romanenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and NASA Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn undocked their Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft from the space station at 7:08pm EDT, and landed southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, about 10:31pm (8:31am May 14, Kazakh time).
Video highlights:
* :00 to 3:21 – Crew member farewells and closing the hatches between the Soyuz and the ISS Rassveet Module.
* 3:22 to 6:47 – Undocking and physical separation of the Soyuz from the ISS at an altitude of 255 statute miles over Eastern Mongolia. (Particularly breathtaking view of the Soyuz and Earth at 5:27!)
* 6:48 to 7:37 – Soyuz re-entry module approaching landing zone on main parachute and firing its solid-fuel soft landing engines at one meter above the ground.
* 7:38 to – 10:58 – Romanenko, Marshburn, and Hadfield being extracted from the craft and administered to before being moved to medical tent for initial exam.
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Expedition 35 Commander Chris Hadfield’s Mission Reflections
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Current ISS Crew, Expedition 35-36
Currently on the station: Pavel Vinogradov, center, of Roscosmos is in command of Expedition 36. Along with Vinogradov is NASA Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy, left, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, right. Image Credit: NASA
This morning at 6.20am I had the pleasure of watching as this ISS crew made their way across the San Antonio pre-dawn sky. The ISS appeared in the Southwest and traveled quickly across the sky before disappearing a couple of minutes later into the haze towards the North. Just as with any occasion I get to view the station, it was absolutely amazing! Anyone wishing to also view the station from their own backyard can sign up for NASA’s Spot The Station service to receive email or text message notification of when and where to look.
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Expedition 36-37
At the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, Expedition 36/37 Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg of NASA, left, Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, center, and Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency. The three crew members are set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in their Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft on May 29. Photo credit: NASA
AMAZING Images From Chris Hadfield
Anyone who’s a regular reader here is aware, without question, of my admiration for Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut and International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 35 commander Chris Hadfield. In addition to all he’s shared with us from space, one of he’s most amazing contributions has been the beautiful images he tweets from his unique vantage point in The Cupola, the European Space Agency (ESA) built observation module on the ISS.
Sunrise over the Great Lakes region of North America, Mar 31, 2013.
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Venezuelan valley framed by misty clouds, Jan 30, 2013.
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“Clouds, shadows and sand, playing with my imagination.” – Cmdr Chris Hadfield, Feb 4, 2013
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Glacial water burping into the Atlantic in deep Southern Argentina, Feb 10, 2013.
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The Richat Structure, in the Sahara, Mar, 25, 2013. “A giant gazing eye upon the Earth.”
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The Australian outback, Jan 24, 2013.
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Clouds and shadows off the China coast, Feb. 9, 2013.
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“If you give wind and sand enough time together, they create art.” – Chris Hadfield, Feb 10, 2013
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Green, lush, wetness of the Amazon basin, Feb 6, 2013.
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Even with all the things he’s seen and tweeted, the commander can sometimes be at a loss for words. This view over Africa seemed to leave him speechless. “My breath was taken away”, Feb 2, 2013.
All images: Chris Hadfield/CSA/NASA
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Other TIL articles featuring Cmdr Hadfield:
* The Inspiring Commander Hadfield
The Sagan Series – Part 3 – A Reassuring Fable
It being Friday, I’m continuing The Sagan Series with Part 3 – A Reassuring Fable, which can be found below. However, today also being April 12, I would be lacking to not additionally mention a couple of rather significant (HUGE!) historical events in space exploration which took place on this day.
The feeling of weightlessness was somewhat unfamiliar compared with Earth conditions. Here, you feel as if you were hanging in a horizontal position in straps. You feel as if you are suspended. - Yuri Gagarin
April 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut, then 27 years old, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, making a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft beginning the era of human spaceflight.
STS-1 Launches – On April 12, 1981, a new era in space flight began when the first shuttle mission soared into orbit from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Commanded by John Young, and piloted by Bob Crippen, the shuttle became humankind’s first re-usable spacecraft having the ability to launch like a rocket and land like a plane. It was also the first time in history a new spacecraft was launched on its maiden voyage with a crew aboard.
And now with these mentions done, today’s continuation of The Sagan Series.
As a reminder The Sagan Series is the work of Canadian science promoter and time-lapse photographer Reid Gower. In the 10 part video series Gower uses bits of narration from Sagan’s TV series, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, edited over contemporary and historical cinematography.
The Epically Awesome Award of Epic Awesomeness!
Compact Payload Test Range at the European Space Agency’s (ESA) space research and technology center (ESTEC). In this zone of silence metal walls form a ‘Faraday cage’ to block all external signals, isolating the facility from TV and radio broadcasts, aircraft and ship radars, and even mobile calls. EPICALLY AWESOME!!
Also EPICALLY AWESOME…
…This past weekend I was given an EPIC surprise when …things I LOVE! was nominated for the The Epically Awesome Award of Epic Awesomeness! And how AWESOME is that?! Well, I’m about to tell ya……
The award, as EPIC as it is in its own right, was made even more AWESOMELY EPICALLY AWESOME because it was presented to me by the AWESOME and brilliantly EPIC photographer, and all-around AWESOME sweetheart, Charlie from the EPIC Charles Schnyder Photography. Thank you VERY much Charlie, and anyone who isn’t familiar with Charlie’s work should definitely head over and check out some of his AWESOME photography in EPIC posts such as Budapest, Potpourri of Zürich, and his most recent Pillow Fight Day Zürich 2013 – which looks like an EPICALLY AWESOME lot of fun!
Now, as with any award, The Epically Awesome Award of Epic Awesomeness does come with rules – and also as with any award I will EPICALLY ignore them. According to Charlie I’m suppose to write 10 AWESOME facts about myself, and also pass the award along to 10 AWESOMELY EPIC blogs….hmmm…
…I’m thinking people want to read 10 AWESOME things about me nearly as much as I want to ‘LIKE’ shit on facebook, which is not at all! So instead, I’ll present 10 things which I think to be AWESOMELY EPIC!
1- APOLLO EPIC!!!!
Today being April 11 (my AWESOME nephew’s birthday!), no post on EPIC AWESOMENESS would be complete if failing to mention Apollo 13. Launched April 11, 1970 Apollo 13, the 7th manned mission of the TRULY EPIC Apollo Program and the third intended lunar landing, was commanded by James A. Lovell, with Jack Swigert as Command Module pilot and Fred W. Haise as Lunar Module pilot. The mission’s lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded crippling the service module upon which the Command Module depended. Despite limited power, loss of cabin heat, shortage of potable water, and the critical need to jury-rig the carbon dioxide removal system, the crew EPICALLY returned safely to Earth on April 17.
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2 – STELLAR AWESOME!!!
VY Canis Majoris – red hypergiant in the constellation Canis Major – truly EPIC and AWESOME in every sense of BOTH words!
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3 – STELLAR-ENVY EPIC!!!
Proving that size doesn’t matter, our own sun fights back with this EPIC March 21, 2013 M-Class eruption unleashed from Active Region 11692. AND! Our sun has EPICALLY AWESOMELY dramatic back-ground music, and VY Canis Majoris does not!
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4- MORE STELLAR EPICNESS!!!
That’s right, I said MORE STELLAR EPICNESS! On yesterday, April 10th, The European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope in northern Chile announced that it’s captured what it calls ‘most detailed picture ever taken‘ of the glowing green planetary nebula IC 1295. AWESOME? Without doubt! The image shows the nebula surrounding a dim and dying star located about 3300 light-years away in the constellation of Scutum, and give us an AWESOME glimpse as to what will eventually happen with our own sun. As stars the size of our Sun make the final transition into retirement their atmospheres are blown away into space. For a few tens of thousands of years they are surrounded by spectacular, colorful glowing clouds of ionized gas. EPIC! And thanks to my AWESOME friend, Mark A, in Arizona for bringing this EPICNESS to my attention!
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5 – EPIC NERD AWESOMENESS!!!
The ‘ESTEC Shake’ on an actual electrodynamic shaker which is normally used to test spacecraft. Filmed at the EPIC, and aforementioned, European Space Agency’s (ESA) technical center, ESTEC, in Noordwijk, the AWESOME Netherlands. Nerdy as fuck? Absolutely. AWESOME? No Doubt!
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6 – EPIC UAVSAR!!!
On Mar 17, 2013, NASA’s EPIC Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) acquired synthetic aperture radar data over the Napo River in Ecuador and Peru. The image colors indicate a likelihood of flooding beneath the forest canopy, which is difficult to determine using traditional optical sensors. The image is a 8.7-mile-wide by 5.6-mile-long segment of an image measuring more than 124 miles long. Data from UAVSAR helps scientists assess the effectiveness of using synthetic aperture radar data to study the flooding dynamics of rivers around the world. AWESOME? Hell, YES!!
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7 – AWESOME CHANDRA!!!
From EPICALLY AWESOME NASA and its EPIC Chandra X-ray Observatory this video shows a fast moving jet of particles produced by a rapidly rotating neutron star. EPIC! The star of this AWESOME show is the Vela pulsar, a neutron star formed when a massive star collapsed. The Vela pulsar is about 1,000 light years from Earth, spans about 12 miles in diameter, and makes over 11 complete rotations every second. EPIC? Hell, YES!
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8 – EPIC SPACE POOP!!!
The AWESOMELY EPIC International Space Station (ISS) commander and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut EPIC Chris Hadfield giving an AWESOME explanation of how toilets work in space. EPICALLY ewww (TMI!), but AWESOMELY funny.
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9 – AWESOMELY EPIC ALMA!!!
10 – EPIC JOHNSON STYLE!!!
Never to be out-geeked by those guys and gals at the European Space Agency, NASA’s Johnson Space Center turns up the nerd-meter with this EPICALLY AWESOME Gangnam Style parody. Forget K-Pop! We got J-Pop! EPIC!!!
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Well, there you have it – 10 EPICALLY AWESOME things I LOVE, and you have to admit they’re much more AWESOME than me telling you 10 facts about myself such as my irrational dislike of cumquats. And to conclude this post, and because it’s grown to EPIC oh-for-fuck’s-sake massiveness already, I’ll now give my shout-outs to 10 TRULY EPICALLY AWESOME fellow bloggers, in no particular orer –
1 – The AWESOMELY and quite EPIC White Lady In The Hood
2 – The EPICALLY AWESOMELY FUNNY Wrong Hands
3 – The AWESOMELY (INSANELY!) EPIC A Window Into The Woods
4 – The EPIC and massively AWESOME Colline’s Blog
5 – The AWESOME EPICALLY MEGA-EPIC Werner Priller
6 – The EPIC and-not-to-mention AWESOME Science Springs
7 – The AWESOMELY EPICALLY EPIC My Beautiful Things
8 – The EPICALLY (squared!) EPIC Silent Astronomer
9 – The AWESOME EPICALLY AWESOME The Future Is Papier Mache
10 – The EPIC and certainly AWESOME Mathematical Mischief
As always, I mention these fellow bloggers simply because they deserve mention, and my mentioning in no way obligates them to accept or pay it forward. And I may even, at some point, get around to mentioning to them that they have been mentioned. Maybe 
You, however, SHOULD check out their EPIC AWESOMENESS ASAP!!
Once again, EPIC thanks to the AWESOMELY AWESOME CHARLIE!!
(Oh, crap! Do I now have to go back and link all of this!? AND TAG TOO?!!! TOO FREAKING EPIC!)
The Sagan Series – Part 2 – Life Looks For Life
As I did last Friday, today I continue The Sagan Series with Part 2 — Life Looks For Life.
As a reminder The Sagan Series is the work of Canadian science promoter and time-lapse photographer Reid Gower. In the 10 part video series Gower uses bits of narration from Sagan’s TV series, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, edited over jaw-dropping cinematography.
To accompany today’s episode here are some (hopefully!) interesting bits of Sagan Trivia!
* Sagan never said the phrase ‘billions and billions’ on Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. The closest he came was in his book Cosmos where he wrote the phrase ‘billions upon billions’, (chap 1, page 3). He did, however, frequently use the word ‘billions’ delivered with a high emphasis on the ‘b’ in order to distinguish it from the word ‘millions’ in the mind of his viewers.
* In honor of Sagan the term ‘Sagan’s number‘ is used to humorously represent the number of stars in the observable universe. This number is reasonably well defined, since we know what a star is, and we know what the observable universe is, but its value is not known with exact certainty. It’s safe to say it’s A LOT!
* Sagan resigned from the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board voluntarily surrendering his top secret clearance in protest over the Vietnam War.
* The Martian landing site of the unmanned NASA Mars Pathfinder spacecraft was renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station on July 5, 1997. Interestingly, an episode of the TV series Star Trek: Enterprise entitled ‘Terra Prime‘, featured a quick shot of the Pathfinder rover, Sojourner, alongside a historical marker at station. The marker displays a quote from Sagan - ‘Whatever the reason you’re on Mars, I’m glad you’re there, and I wish I was with you.‘ Also interestingly, Sagan’s son, writer Nick Sagan, wrote several episodes for the Star Trek franchise, and one of Sagan’s students, Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University Steve Squyres, was a principle member of the team that landed the Spirit Rover and Opportunity Rover successfully on Mars.
Also in this series:
The Sagan Series – Part 1 – The Frontier Is Everywhere
The Sagan Series is a brilliant, and quite powerful, collection of videos dedicated to the late astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, and science communicator, Carl Sagan. The series is a project by science promoter, public speaker, and time-lapse photographer Reid Gower of Victoria, Canada.
Utilizing breath-taking cinematography and a hypnotic soundtrack as a backdrop to narration from Sagan’s TV series, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, Gower manages, very nicely, to convey Sagan’s message of awe and wonder at the world, and universe, in which we live, as well as his message of inspiration and hope towards the human race, while at the same time humbly reminding us of our relevant insignificance in the scope of the universe. A message which, for better or worse, places the future of mankind squarely into the hands of mankind. To some this message may be a frightening one, to myself it is an inspiring one.
The Sagan Series is presented in a collection of 10 videos with the 10th being Gower’s TEDxVancouver talk titled Defining The Frontier in which he discusses the development of his video series as well as his passion for promoting scientific literacy in the general population. The 1st video in the collection is titled The Frontier Is Everywhere -
I will be featuring the entire collection of Gower’s Sagan Series videos, 1 video each Friday for the following 9 weeks.
Texas Hill Country – Part 2
The scene outside The Pioneer Museum along Main Street in Fredericksburg, Texas.
After leaving Enchanted Rock and returning to Fredericksburg, and with the Funyuns seriously wearing off, Lucero and I were ready for some hardy eats. Luckily in F-burg there is no shortage of dining options. Lucero expressed a wish for ‘German food’ and within minutes we encountered the Altdorf Biergarten….
The town of Fredericksburg was established in 1846 and has a population of roughly 10,000 — all of whom apparently avoid the Main Street area on a Saturday evening. The Altdorf Biergarten is housed in a landmark limestone building dating to back 1847, so without question, one of the oldest structures in F-Burg. The German community here boasts F-burg as being one of the oldest settlements in Texas, someone should inform those crazy Spanish as they were establishing missions south of here about 140 years prior. (San Francisco de la Espada, 1689) This does not, in any way, negate the food at Altdorf! Lucero, being much more continental than myself, understood the menu, while I mainly focused on the selection of beer! (In fairness, she was driving.) Finding Shiner Bock on the menu, I was happy! Extremely HAPPY!
Shiner, Texas and the Spoetzl Brewery — a whole ‘nother road trip!
After a wonderful meal of German meats, which we started with some Tex-Mex nachos (of course!), we spent some time strolling up and down Fredericksburg’s main street. It was somewhere around this time we encountered the 4 drunk girls — who were, in fact, so drunk they had been thrown out of one restaurant and were hard-pressed to find another who would serve them. Yes, there are few things sadder (and funnier!) than drunk AND hungry Texas girls. After a much-too-long time hanging on Main Street with the girls, I was ready to exit Fredericksburg, and luckily so was Lucero. But not before a cruise around town looking for an open liquor store — for more Shiner Bock, of course! Finding the liquor shop, I also found Enchanted Rock Vodka! (I shit you not!) Apparently, the folks up at E-Rock are making vodka and putting it into clever tourist-eye-catching bottles. And of course, I bought one! But, you know, just the trial-size.
The Admiral Nimitz Museum
Admiral Nimitz National Museum of the Pacific War, established in the old Nimitz Hotel, Fredericksburg, 1852. There were NO drunk girls in here.
Lucero and I headed out of Fredericksburg in the direction of Kerrville along the banks of The Guadalupe River. The river runs from Kerr County southeasterly before emptying out into the Gulf of Mexico. The town itself boasts a population of 20k, and was named after Texas Revolution major James Kerr. However, before arriving in Kerrville, we pulled off the highway onto some long and deserted Texas back-road to engage in a bit of star-gazing. And, indeed the stars at night ARE big and bright deep in the heart of Texas.
IT. WAS. AWESOME!!!
Arriving in Kerrville, where we planned to stay the night, our attention was immediately caught by the lights of a Ferris Wheel! Apparently, we’d stumbled upon a small-town Texas carnival, and there was NO WAY IN HELL we weren’t going!
Folks in Kerrville, Texas enjoying a very pleasant Saturday evening.
After a night’s stay at the lovely Kerville Motel 6, where Lucero was finally able to do a bit of drinking, and we talked till about 3am, we woke to a very CHILLY Texas Hill Country morning. (Ok, it was more like noon.)
Sun rising over the hills from a Motel 6 balcony. Kerrville, Texas
After a breakfast/lunch at the local Cracker Barrel, and much coffee, we headed to the town’s visitor center to find out what was going on in Kerrville. It was then we found….Stonehenge! Or rather — Stonehenge II. It seems in the nearby town of Ingram, Texas, population 1,740, a local farmer, Al Shepperd, with the help of his neighbor, Doug Hill, had constructed a near-replica of the original Stonehenge located in Wiltshire, England. This being the stuff of road-trip glory, we were off and heading towards Ingram! We were SO not disappointed!
In addition to Stonehenge II, which is reputed to be 2/3s the size of the original, Sheppard and Hill also fabricated a pair of awesomely cool looking Moai, or Easter Island, statues.
Realizing that with our encounter with Stonehenge II we’d pretty much hit ‘road-trip nirvana’, Lucero and I headed back to Kerrville to chill out with a hike along the banks of the blue-green waters of the Guadalupe River.
Scenes of the Kerrville Dam of the Guadalupe River.
Cyprus Trees along the river bank.
Texas Wildflowers
After a nice hike, and a HUGE brownie, we were off and back on the road — this time heading for the town of Boerne, population 10k or so.
Crappy Moving Vehicle Photo #5
In Boerne, after cruising up and down the nearly deserted main street, we found out about the Boerne City Park Lake, and decided to head on over.
Campfire remains at Boerne City Park Lake!
After leaving the lake it was time to head back towards San Antonio, and towards more food! Lucero was craving Puerto Rican food, and that was sounding pretty damn good to me! But before reaching SA we encountered more road-side wild flowers and we just had to stop!
Road-side Bluebonnets!
All Photographs: Alex Autin
Texas Hill Country – Part 1
On Saturday morning my friend Lucero and I headed out for a little Texas road trip. We had no REAL destination, as any good road trip should NOT, and only a general idea of wanting to hit The Hill Country.
The Texas Hill Country pretty much applies to a region of Central Texas consisting of tall rugged hills which feature thin layers of soil atop limestone or granite. It includes the Llano Uplift and Enchanted Rock. (More on E Rock in a bit!!) The Hill Country reaches into portions of San Antonio’s northern suburbs, the western half of Travis County, and ends just west of Austin. The terrain’s large number of limestone or granite rocks and boulders plus its thin layer of topsoil makes the region very dry and prone to flash flooding. The Hill Country is also home to a host of cool native Southwestern vegetation including yucca, prickly pear cactus, cedar scrub, and the Texas live oak. And in the early spring — Bluebonnets, the Texas state flower!
Since this was a road trip, and since I’m pretty sure that trips of such nature are meant to be started late, we tried our best to get a late start. And we succeeded wonderfully! Even before leaving San Antonio, in fact less than a mile from my house, we had already made our first stop of the trip for roadside eats. In our defense it was nearly noon…. and who can resist Texas Brisket!!
Sal’s was delicious, and as promised, sloppy!
I had the brisket taco with jalapenos (on the right), Lucero had the brisket sandwich on Texas toast. (And no, I will not be documenting every meal we ate with photos. But only because I forget to take them! I remembered to take these — so I was damn sure gonna use them!)
It’s my thought that any proper road trip should include lots and lots of really crappy photos taken along the way from inside a moving vehicle. If you share this thought, this post WILL SO NOT disappoint! Here we are moving leisurely along I-10, and we’re fairly certain we’re moving in the right direction.
Crappy Moving Vehicle Photo #2
Me: It’s starting to look all hilly!
Lucero: Damn, did I miss my turn? (I heard this A LOT, and loved it each time!)
Crappy Moving Vehicle Photo #3 – Fredericksburg! Our first ‘official’ destination. Fredericksburg is a very cool town in Gillespie County, known as the home of ‘Texas German’, a dialect spoken by the first generations of German settlers who initially refused to learn English. It’s a lovely place, very German-ish-y, and not nearly as out-of-focus as this exit sign would imply.
- Crappy Moving Vehicle Photo #3 Hilly AND Curvy – LOVE it!
We checked out Fredericksburg for a bit, and realizing that Lucero’s a shopper and I’m a hiker — we then knew that compromises would need to be made. And quick!
In F-burg, taking part in the strange activity referred to as ‘Antiquing’. Interesting…. Lucero has Olympic-quality antiquing skills! I mostly walked around texting anyone and everyone I know. In fairness we spent very little time here, and were soon back on the road and heading for ENCHANTED ROCK! The locals at The Red Baron Antique Mall, extremely nice people who showed no signs of refusing to speak English, gave us directions to The Rock, and also a very valuable heads-up — If the road sign on Ranch Road 965 was ‘flashing’ this meant the park was full and no more visitors would be allowed in. Oh no! We now were re-thinking that whole ‘leaving late’ thing. But in true road-trip fashion we decided to give it a shot and headed out to Ranch Road 965 — after a quick stop for water and Funyuns. Hell yeah! (If you don’t have Funyuns — it’s not a road trip!)
Crappy Moving Vehicle Photo #4 — IT’S NOT FLASHING!!!! WOOHOO for us!
Enchanted Rock is one of those ‘must do’ places I learned of when first coming to Texas. So far, I had not been, and this was all about to change! (Thank you, Lucero!) According to Wiki — The Enchanted Rock State Natural Area includes Enchanted Rock, an enormous pink granite pluton rock formation, and 640 acres of surrounding land. E-Rock rises approximately 425 feet above the surrounding terrain to an elevation of 1,825 feet above sea level. It’s the largest such pink granite monadnock in the United States, and was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1936. According to me — 100% pure awesomeness!
Enchanted Rock’s prominent granite dome is visible for many miles in the surrounding Llano Uplift basin. The weathered dome is actually the visible above-ground part of a segmented ridge, the surface expression of a large igneous batholith of middle Precambrian material that intruded into the earlier Packsaddle Schist. The intrusive granite of the rock mass was exposed by extensive erosion of the surrounding sedimentary rock, primarily the Cretaceous Edwards limestone, which is exposed a few miles to the south of Enchanted Rock.
There are more than 500 species of plants inhabiting the rock, such as this White Lace Cactus. Vernal pools on the rock– ecologically threatened depressions of flora and fauna adapted to harsh environments — are said to contain fragile invertebrate fairy shrimp. I saw no evidence of fairy shrimp!
I did, however, see Bluebonnets! : )
Since this post is growing to monster proportions — and with Enchanted Rock how could it not?! — I’ve decided to break it up into 2 posts. Be sure to catch the next installment where Lucero and I return to Fredericksburg for some fine German dining including Shiner Bock (!!!), encounter the ‘drunk girls’, make a last-minute run to a liquor store (more Shiner Bock!), head out for some jaw-dropping middle-of-nowhere star-gazing, stumble upon coolness in another small Texas town, hike along the banks of the Guadalupe River, argue over freedom of expression, and find Stonehenge….
On the way back to F-burg, goats…who were completely unimpressed with E-Rock….
All photographs – Alex Autin
Distilled Postcards From The Future
Distilled Art
How do you enjoy your tequila? If you’re anything like me you enjoy it with triple sec, lime juice, and a little salt. (A glass in the shape of a cactus is COMPLETELY optional!) However, if you’re anything like the folks at BevShots you enjoy your tequila crystallized on a slide and photographed under a Polarized Light Microscope. And what would that mix of tequila, triple sec, and lime juice (traditionally referred to as a margarita!) look like through a microscope? It looks something like this:
Stunning? Absolutely! But then again anything containing tequila usually is stunning!
BevShots was founded by research scientist Michael Davidson who, while looking for novel ways to fund his Florida State University lab, decided to take his micro-photographs to businesses for possible commercial opportunities. BevShots is licensed from Florida State University and Michael Davidson, but apparently the main party man is Lester Hutt, president of BevShots MicroArt, LLC. Hutt, while working on his graduate degree in chemistry from UC Berkeley, according to the Bevshot website, also worked on NASA’s Mars probes searching for evidence of past life on our neighboring planet. And that’s just damn cool!
A BevShot Vodka and Tonic! This, and other equally amazing micro-photograped beverages, alcoholic and non, are available on giclee canvas or metallic prints at the BevShot site (where hours can be lost just going through their vast catalog of completely interesting images). Check them out!
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Postcards to Tassie
A recent call out was issued to excite the life of one particular post office worker in Australia. Apparently, Kelly in Woodbridge, Tasmania (population 271) is trying to fill the walls of her office with postcards from around the world. And how COOL is that?!
I became aware of this Postal Project via a post by Heather (aka Kanerva) of A Taswegian in Finland in her Feb, 26 post titled Let’s Get Postal! And apparently Heather was made aware of the project by a post by Jennifer of Coffee, Camera & Kids in her post of the same day titled Postcards for Kelly. Exciting? No doubt! I love how these projects spread like wildfire!
If you’d like to get involved, and I know that you do, just pickup a postcard from your hometown, or when you’re on your Spring Break road trip, or during your summer travels, or preferably all of the above, and post them over to Kelly!
Kelly E
C/- Woodbridge Post Office
Woodbridge, Tas, 7162
Australia
Also, it’ll be really cool if you jot a few words to Kelly, not mandatory, but I’m sure she’d love to hear about you in addition to the places you live and visit! My postcard from ole San Antone is sitting on my desk right now waiting for me to make the trek down to the post office….which I’ll do, right after my 3rd cup of coffee. It’s only a couple of blocks away, but — you know — it’s TEXAS sized blocks so caffeine is required. I’ll probably need my hiking boots too….
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Has The Future Arrived?
with Neil deGrasse Tyson
The Science of…..LOVE!
Springtime Of Love ~ Franz Stuck
In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. ~ Lord Alfred Tennyson, Locksley Hall
I’m thinking Tennyson’s words do not only apply to men, and certainly not esclusively ‘young’ men. I think we’ve all experienced that rush of springtime ‘I’m in LOVE!‘ euphoria. There are many different explanations of why this happens in spring. According to Dr Frank Bronson, a biologist from The University of Texas at Austin, in his book Mammalian Reproductive Biology, spring fever in mammals is, in part, regulated by sunlight. (Sound damn romantic, doesn’t it?!) Bronson goes on to say there are both direct and indirect photoperiodic cues which increase the amorous air this time of year. Simply put, the change from winter to spring brings more sunlight, longer days, better moods, (less clothing!), and a better all-around climate for romance in mammals, including humans. The change in season also means plants and insects will begin to do their thing again, which has a positive effect up the food chain and creates an environment suitable for procreation. In us humans the procreation part is, of course, purely optional. (And, in my opinion, highly over-rated.)
So this explains why we do it, and why it seems to happen more often in spring. But, why does it make us feel so freaking amazingly good? For this I turned to the guys at AsapScience, a weekly updated YouTube channel featuring fun, interesting, and informative science on a variety of scientificy topics. Here’s what they had to say on the subject…..
Well, THAT certainly explains a lot! And it, without question, puts a wide smile on my face. What’s more — what science CAN’T explain, Louie Armstrong has no problem at all in doing so!
I agree with Louie, let’s do it! Get out there and fall in love!
Don’t Panic…
Happy Birthday Douglas Adams - March 11, 1952 – May 11, 2001
From my (shortish!) tribute to Douglas Adams posted Jan 5, 2012 –
I LOVE…Douglas Adams! I find brilliance, intellect, and cleverness to be absolutely compelling, and Douglas Adams possessed no shortage of these qualities. He’s easily in my top 5, completely-love-to-read, writers, and most importantly, he is a constant reminder to not take any of this ‘life’ crap too seriously. Read more….
So long, and thanks for all the fish…
The Inspiring Commander Hadfield
Anyone with the least bit interest in space is most likely aware of who Chris Hadfield is. The 53 year old Canadian Space Agency astronaut, and International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 35 Commander, is through the use of social media, quickly becoming a low-Earth-orbit icon as he zooms around the planet tweeting, making videos, preforming first-ever Earth-Space music collaboration, interacting with students, and sending us gravity-bound humans some of the most amazing photographs of our planet-from-orbit ever seen. All of this in addition to his rather extensive work-load aboard the ISS. There would be few who are aware of Hadfield and not be impressed with, and inspired by, the man. In addition to his internationally popular ISS activities, Hadfield’s list of accomplishments is as epic as his numbers of Twitter followers and includes such extreme coolness as U.S. Navy Test Pilot of the Year (1991), Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from the Royal Military College (1996), and NASA Exceptional Service Medal (2002).
During a recent Reddit IAmA, Cmdr Hadfield was asked to give advice to young people considering a career in space science. His inspiring reply hit home with Australian artist/cartoonist Gavin Aung Than. Than, the cartoonist behind Zen Pencils, a blog which transforms inspirational quotes into cartoons, is quite inspiring himself. Quitting his unsatisfying work in the corporate graphic design industry after 8 years, he decided to focus on his true passion — illustration and cartooning. Asked by a reader to adapt Cmdr Hadfield’s quote into cartoon form, Than set to work, and the results are nothing less than brilliant. And, I’ll let it speak for itself….
Commander Hadfield’s Advice through the Pencil of Gavin Aung Than: 
This should be printed and posted in every class room, everywhere. The message is clear and simple; You are what you do.
Little Star, The Piano Guys, and Star Wars
The Piano Guys consists of 5 guys from different walks of life who somehow came together to combine music, video, and a appreciation of nature. Individually they are Jon Schmidt (piano), Steven Sharp Nelson (cello), Tel Stewart (videography/editing), Paul Anderson (videography/piano store owner) and Al van der Beek (music producer), combined they are nothing short of spectacular.
Hailing from Utah, The Piano Guys, in addition to their brilliant combination of classic and pop music, have become known through their YouTube channel for presenting striking natural backgrounds fronted by technically and creatively stunning music. The video above, Twinkle Lullaby, features some amazingly beautiful time-lapse astro-photography of Utah’s desert skies taken by Tel Stewart, Paul Anderson, and Shaye Scott as a backdrop to Jon Schmidt, Al van der Beek, and Steven Sharp Nelson’s arrangement of Twinkle Little Star.
‘We love showcasing the beauty of the earth—where people don’t expect to find classical instruments.’ Paul Anderson
All Piano Guys video are shot on location, usually requiring an incredible amount of effort to do so, and most are shot in Utah. The scenery is so breathtakingly beautiful I’m wondering why I am not booking a flight there at this very moment. Please note — I said ‘most’ are shot in Utah. Not all. Some were shot a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….
Happy Birthday Copernicus!
To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge. ~ Nicolaus Copernicus
Born Feb 19, 1473 – Died May 24, 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who’s heliocentric theory first proposed a mathematical model of the solar system with the sun at its center as opposed to the Earth. Copernicus along with Galileo Gallilee and Johannes Kepler are generally considered the fathers of modern astronomy. The publications, in 1543, of Copernicus’s De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres), along with Andreas Vesalius‘s De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human body) is often cited as marking the beginning of the Scientific Revolution.
Andreas Cellarius‘s illustration of the Copernican system, from the Harmonia Macrocosmica (1660).
Asteroids and Sounds from Space
The above image, brought to us by the very cool folks at Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland, is an up-to-date map of our inner solar system. The map displays the orbits of the 4 terrestrial planets in our system, with the Earth’s orbit being highlighted in bright blue — because we think it’s kinda special.
In this image, the small green points mark the location of asteroids which do not approach close to the Earth right now. (This is subject to change.) The yellow objects are Earth approaching asteroids which are called Amors. Amors have orbits which come close to the Earth without actually crossing the Earth’s orbit. Their orbits are, however, close enough that they could potentially be perturbed by the influence of the planets. (There are over 300 known objects on such orbits.)
And the red boxes? These mark the location of the Apollo and Aten asteroids. These asteroids DO cross the Earth’s orbit and are the most directly identifiable astronomical threat for the near future. Keep in mind, this is a current map — updated daily. It shows the estimated position of thousands of known asteroids. Astronomers at Armagh remind us, however, that even conservative estimates would suggest that for every asteroid on a Earth-approaching orbit there are hundreds more which have yet to be discovered. It’s estimated that there are perhaps 100,000 to 1,000,000 undiscovered asteroids on similar Earth crossing orbits.
If NASA never deflects #2012DA14 and it hits Earth one day, we’ll confirm that humans possess a lethal absence of foresight. - Tweeted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Feb 15, 2013.
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And, to help us wash the not entirely uncool taste of asteroid from our mouths, and for anyone who missed this, here’s the first ever space-to-earth musical collaboration! Featuring Canadian Space Agency astronaut, and Expedition 34 flight engineer, Chris Hadfield, Barenaked Ladies, and Canada’s Wexford Gleeks choir, the song is titled I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing), and is VERY cool! Chris Hadfield, who will become Expedition 35′s commander next month, is quickly becoming a big-time hero in my eyes. If you’re not following him on twitter you’re missing some of the most incredible Earth-from-Space images EVER! Do we really need much more proof than this to know that the Canadians are SO much cooler than us Americans?!
…things I Loved! Week of Jan 20th – Jan 26th 2013
I first became aware of this stunning image in a Jan 25 post on EarthSky by Deborah Byrd titled Underwater Fish Tornado Off Baja California. The photograph is the work of photographer and marine biologist Octavio Aburto, captured at the Cabo Pulmo National Park in Mexico, in the course of studying the courtship behavior of a species of Jack fish. Mr Aburto’s photograph, aptly titled David and Goliath, captures his friend David Castro’s miniscule size in comparison to the gigantic school. For more of Octavio Aburto’s brilliant marine photography visit his website, which can be found here. Also, check out the video below to learn more about the making of David and Goliath.
WOW! And on the subject of ‘WOW’…..there’s this…
My favorite astronomy image of the week was taken by astro-photographer Luis Argerich of Buenos Aires, Argentina. This image titled, Airglow Above Buenos Aires was featured as Earth Science Picture of the Day for Jan 26. The image is a 360-degree stereographic projection showing the entire night sky near Mr Argerich’s location about 60 miles from Buenos Aires. Airglow is a weak light emission stemming from the chemical reactions involving oxygen, nitrogen, sodium and ozone (chemiluminescence) at altitudes between about 50 to 60 miles above the Earth’s surface. According to Mr Argerich, the green color bands, which are obvious to the camera, were not visible to the naked eye and seem to converge because of perspective. In addition to this awesome image, Mr Argerich was also featured this week as Jan 24′s Astronomy Picture of the Day for his photograph called ISS and the Summer Milky Way, featuring starry clouds and nebulae along the southern hemisphere’s summer Milky Way arc above the horizon, and the orbiting International Space Station tracing a long streak through a single, 5 minute, star-tracking exposure. Be sure to visit Luis Argerich’s site for more of his amazingly beautiful work!
Inside the blogosphere this week there was much to think about, smile about, and out-and-out laugh about. For a brilliant, and hilarious, look at what your brain is doing while you’re at work check out Canadian cartoonist, John Atkinson’s Jan 23rd post on Wrong Hands titled Occupational Preoccupation. While there be sure to check out some of John’s galleries, but be warned, his work is very, VERY, addictive!
Also falling into the category of Things I Love one of my favorite blog writers, White Lady in the Hood, also know as Chica Blanca, treated us this week to a post titled The River Rats. Managing to combine humor and reflectiveness, Chica, has a knack of not only drawing the reader in, but also eerily making us feel as if we are there taking part in the story she’s sharing with us. Her writing is good, very good, but it’s her ability to connect with her readers which shines most brightly. Chica’s an elusive poster, she won’t flood your inbox, but if you enjoy a good read and are anything like me, when you do find one of her posts in your mailbox you’ll be heading right over.
If you haven’t had your mind exercised and excited lately, you might want to pay a visit to Wired Cosmos and check out Jason Carr’s Jan 23 article, Sending Odors and Tastes as an Email Attachment, to read about some of the uses, and potential misuses, of the technology of electronic noses and tongues. Wired Cosmos is a fascinating journal of science, technology, and futurism, and by fascinating I mean mind-blowing. A couple other of Jason’s articles I’ve particularly enjoyed include his Nine Must-Read Dystopian Novels, (Considering I’ve only read 4 of the 9, I’ve some catching up to do! How many have you read?), and his recent emerging technology article Future Computing: Meet the Flexible Paper Computer. Ok, I SO want one of those!
My favorite song of this past week was posted by Xandi from World Music in a post titled, Music from Argentina – Alerta Pachuca, and features the song Nunca Dejes de Bailar (Never Stop Dancing). Alerta Pachuca, formed in 2008, is a Latin fusion group composed of 7 multi-instrumentalists from Buenos Aires. I hope you enjoy!!
Here’s hoping everyone a great week. Keep looking up!!
…things I Loved! Week of Jan 13th – Jan 19th 2013
On Wednesday, January 16, NASA published this animation of the Orion spacecraft’s upcoming (2017) Exploration Mission-1. Did it excite me? Just a bit, a great bit! Exploration Mission-1 will be the first integrated flight test with both the Orion spacecraft and NASA’s new Space Launch System.
In other Orion related news the European Space Agency (ESA) announced this week that, in a collaborative effort, it will be supplying a driving force to the Orion spacecraft in the form of its Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATVs). The ATV-derived service module will provide propulsion, power, thermal control, as well as supplying water and gas to the astronauts in the habitable module.
”ATV has proven itself on three flawless missions to the Space Station and this agreement is further confirmation that Europe is building advanced, dependable spacecraft,” said Nico Dettmann, Head of ATV’s production program. This collaboration between ESA and NASA continues the spirit of international cooperation that forms the foundation of the ISS.
This awe-inspiring image of spiral galaxy NGC 1309 was by far my favorite astronomy image of the week! Brought to us by the Hubble Legacy Archive, the ESA, NASA, and with processing by Martin Pugh, this stunning galaxy, which lies 100 million light-years away in the constellation of the River (Eridanus), spans about 30,000 light-years making it about one third the size of our own Milky Way galaxy. <– Click link for a jaw-dropping artist’s illustration of what some distant astronomers might likely see if peering back at us from across the expanse! I don’t want to sound all boastful or anything, but WOW, we have one awesome galaxy!!
In the blogosphere this week, I first and foremost have to sincerely thank the brilliant photographer, writer, artist, and all-around Renaissance-dude, J.E. Lattimer, for his very kind mention of Things I Love in his January 14th post, Blog of the Year 2012. The nod is very much appreciated, and many congrats to J.E. on his award. I first mentioned J.E. back in March of last year in my post titled …things I LOVED! Week March 12th through March 18th. Since that time Mr Lattimer has expanded to 3 blogs: Fictional Machines, Arcane Arrangements, and Mysteries of the Wasteland. Check them out, prepare to be amazed!
This week, for me at least, seemed to be dominated by images and the photographers who take them. 3 photographers in particular completely blew me away. Not only am I impressed with their images, but also in how they fully demonstrate how the resulting images, no matter how good the equipment, depend entirely on the artist behind the camera.
In his January 15 post titled Bavarian Forest National Park – Lusen Mt, one of my very favorite astro-photographers, Werner Priller, documents through words and A-MAZ-ING photographs a night spent camping out in -17C temperature just a stone’s throw from the Czech border. This is an incredible effort on the part of a photographer who makes a life’s work out of incredible efforts; the forest, the frozen summit cross (WOW!!), Warner’s camp site, the wolves (!!), all under such a beautiful starry night as to make Van Gogh blush! I don’t think I have to mention again to check out this post …you’re probably already there.
Another photographer I’ve mentioned before, the elusive George Weaver of She Kept a Parrot, this week stole my heart right out of my chest (she has a way of doing that!) with her January 16 post titled The Star Wars Cowboy. Ms Weaver is, by far, one of the best story-tellers I’ve ever come across. Though her stunningly honest photography, and her equally honest words, she takes us on a journey which always feels familiar because she is, in fact, reminding us of who we are. And we are human. Thank you George.
Speaking of humans, the 3rd photographer to catch my attention this past week is Richard Guest of The Future Is Paper Mâché. Since May of 2012 Richard has been walking up to complete strangers in the streets and alleys of London, asking if he could take their picture, and the results are entirely interesting! This week, amongst others, I found absolutely intriguing Mr Guest’s January 13th post titled Street Portrait #48 (Pierce), and his January 16th entry Street Portrait #50 (Peter). While you’re there checking out Richard’s street photography be sure to also check out some of his collaborations with other artists, including the above mentioned J.E. Lattimer (Nineteen Eighty-Four).
In closing this week I leave you with an earworm from The Misfits, I Turned Into A Martian, a little shout out to Curiosity who’s about to start drilling up the Martian surface!! Yep, we’re cooking rocks on another planet, and how freaking cool is that!!
Have a GREAT week, and Dare Mighty Things!!
…things I Loved! – Week of Jan 1st – Jan 5th 2013
On Friday, January 4th, NASA posted this video on its website of a solar eruption which took place Dec 31, 2012. (And you thought your New Year’s fireworks rocked!) NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured this four-hour event in extreme ultraviolet light shown here at a high cadence of an image every 36 seconds. The graceful flow of plasma rises up from the sun driven by magnetic forces, however without enough force to overcome the sun’s gravity much of the plasma then falls back into the sun. To give you an idea as to the scale of this solar event — the length of the eruption extends about 160,000 miles out from the Sun, or about 20 times the diameter of our planet.
Elsewhere this week, in the ‘Cooler Than The Moon’s Dark Craters‘ department, on January 2nd Kim over at Check Your Premises posted this amazing video tribute to Nikola Tesla titled Marco Tempest: The electric rise and fall of Nikola Tesla.
This remarkable video is the work of technoillusionist Marco Tempest and utilizes a digital update on Tanagra Theatre, however instead of mirrors Tempest uses projection mapping combined with a pop-up book to tell the story of Nikola Tesla – called by some ‘the greatest geek who ever lived’. Kim has a knack for finding, and presenting, some of the most amazing stuff…ever! If you’re not subscribed could it be that you just don’t like complete coolness delivered to your inbox on a regular basis?
In addition to the awesomeness in imagery posted on Check Your Premises the opening week of 2013 presented us with absolutely no shortage of images to leave us breathless. (Did I just write ‘awesomeness in imagery’? Wow, I really do need a long vacation.) On Jan 4th photographer Carl Milner at Milners Blog, in a post titled Technicolour Star Trails, treated his readers to a mesmerizing collection of long exposure star trail photography by Australian photographer Lincoln Harrison. If you find yourself running short of ‘awe and wonder’ this week, check out Carl’s blog for a massive-sized dose of both. Be sure to check out Carl’s Dec 30th post titled My 2012 in Pictures. One look at this collection of images had me searching for the Follow button!
Also this past week, in the ‘That’s Just Freaking Funny’ department, two of my long-time favorite bloggers, Suzanne Rogers of A Window Into The Woods, and Smaktakula of Promethean Times, both took a foray into the world of YouTube, and both with hilarious results. Suzanne in her Jan 2nd post titled WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM… alerted us, via YouTube, as to the horrific activities of Cranky-Pants Deer in Diva Town. Check out Suzanne’s post for a link to the video, but I warn you….it’s not pretty! Smak, in his Jan 4th post, On Proper Behavior While At The Theater, tells us how he was banned from a theater…for life. It’s also ‘not pretty’, and yes it does involve a transsexual transvestite. You can find Smak’s video on his post. Thank you Suzanne and Smak for once again proving that brilliance is just a short trip down the road from insanity.
Closing with my favorite music video of the week is Stan from Xandi’s World Music with his Jan 3rd post of Denmark’s Lucas Graham and his incredibly catchy song Drunk In The Morning. Check out World Music for this and other awesome music videos from around the world. I hope you enjoy the song as much as I do, also hoping everyone has a fantastic new week!
An Astronomical Amount Of FOOLISHNESS
A few days ago I was approached, via email, by someone I do not know. This, in itself, is not a rare event. I am often electronically approached by a variety of unknown individuals, including many Canadians who are greatly concerned with the health of my sex life.
This particular solicitation, however, had nothing to do with sex. Had it, I would have …well, never mind. I won’t go down that road. What it was, actually, was an invitation to participate in a Birthday Event. Now let me be perfectly clear in stating that I, as a rule, avoid Birthday Events. Sort of in the same way I avoid Facebook ‘Friends’ and Jehovah Witnesses, who, I’m convinced, are the exact same individuals… the sneaky fuckers.
Though I typically ignore socially forced celebrations and their attempts in making the ‘unextraordinary’ extraordinary, the recipient of this particular celebration is someone I choose to not ignore. In fact, he would be very difficult to ignore even if I did choose to.
By now it’s clear I’m referring to El Guapo, of Guapola – The Asylum Within The Asylum. And music! And apparently today is his birthday. Why anyone over the age of 25 would want to be reminded of a birthday is complete FOOLISHNESS, but without question, when it comes to FOOLISHNESS no one does it better then Guapo. Also, in my experience, no one does niceness, cleverness, and sweetness better than Guapo. Besides his abilities as a writer, which he highly under-rates, and his being one of the very first people to make me feel like a part of this twisted, ego stroking, community known as WordPress, I have a great admiration for people completely willing to jump off things, from things, and into things. I also adore anyone with the ability to allow themselves to go totally geek for the things which they love, another category in which Guapo excels. So, without more being said, because really ….how much more needs to be said……
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUAPO!!!!
Oh, one last thing….I was asked to include a Song of the Day. Here you go Guapo, just for you!! No, not a pony, but better! A unicorn…
I have no idea what the fuck this is. Catchy though…
New Orleans Street Musicians – The Sounds of Home
Image Credit: Atlantis Now, A New Orleans Magazine Dedicated to all things Fleur de Lis.
“First I must explain how our quartet used to do its hustling so as to attract an audience. We began by walking down Rampart Street between Perdido and Gravier. The lead singer and tenor walked together in front followed by the baritone and the bass. Singing at random we wandered through the streets until someone called to us to sing a few songs. Afterwards we would pass our hats and at the end of the night we would divvy up.” Louis Armstrong, Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans
As long as there’s been a New Orleans there has been New Orleans street musicians. Just as the city absorbs, assimilates, and adopts food, architecture, and culture, puts it all in the same pot, stirs it up, and claims it as it’s own so it does with music. It’s one of the very few places left where a musician can arrive from anywhere with nothing but a horn, a guitar, or a voice, and be warmly welcomed.
Doreen ‘The Clarinet Queen’ Ketchens. After Hurricane Katrina classically trained clarinetist Doreen Ketchens was forced to take her incredible talents to the street in order to feed her family. Something tells me she, and her family, have never been happier.
Grandpa Elliot and Oscar Castro on Toulouse Street perfectly demonstrating that unique blending of culture and sound New Orleans is famous for.
Smoking Time Jazz Club performing in The French Quarter. This group of excellent musicians never know which ‘members’ will show up to play on any given day, nor do they care, the music will go on.
And because he’s such an icon, such a part of New Orleans street culture, here’s Grandpa Elliot once again doing what he does he does best; uniting people, blending sounds, and making people happy.
New Orleans street music – Always free, no cover charge, no drink minimum, no age limit. Always good!
One Lovely Blog Award – What Kind of Fuckery…
A few days ago I was mentioned in a post titled One Lovely Blog Award Nomination written by the very thoughtful Carina Ragno from L’Amore e Forte Come la Morte. I must thank Carina for this mention, not because it’s in The Rules, which of course it is, but because she has consistently been a supporter and of that I’m very appreciative. Thank you Carina.
Now on to this Award… as with any blog award I do appreciate the mention and will do my best to respond. (There are some awards which came my way during my 3 month break which I’ve not, as yet, gotten to. Please know I’m aware of this!) My approach to these mentions is to attempt to accept gracefully while maintaining a sense of fun and community. In this approach I’m not always successful, though I should point out that I don’t consider failure in any endeavor a reason to no longer, at the very least, try.
The Rules: According to Carina there are 5 rules associated with the One Lovely Blog Award.
Rule 1: Thank the person presenting the mention and link back to their blog. Again, thank you Carina!
Rule 2: List 7 random facts about yourself. This, The Random Self-Facts, seems to be a common theme of these awards. Apparently the fact that blogs tend to be ALL about ourselves is not enough of a dive into egocentrism and we should delve even further. Since I’m quite certain the existence of anyone actually reading this would not be complete without knowing 7 MORE interesting tidbits about me, I’ll capitulate:
- Random Fact # 1 – I completely dislike listing Random Facts about myself. I’m much more into specifics…
- Random Fact # 2 – I think 7 is an insanely HUGE number of Random Facts to list about one’s self.
- Random Fact # 3 – I think the words ‘What kind of fuckery is this?’ to be the most brilliant opening to any song …ever. (Thank you Amy Winehouse!)
- Random Fact # 4 – I have a secret crush on Sam Harris. (I’m not sure if this qualifies as a Random Fact. Actually, I’m not even sure if it’s a fact at all. It could all be in my mind.)
- Random Fact # 5 – I wake at 4am. Most days… not EVERY day! Some days I’ll sleep right through to like 5 or 6am. Shocking, but true.
- Random Fact # 6 – Vegans greatly reduce my dining pleasure. Not that I’m against eating a vegan diet at times, I’m not. I think it healthy. It’s the vegan, himself, I’m opposed to. Really? This is what you eat daily yet it still takes 3 hours to decide on a restaurant, and I’m to then sit patiently as you interrogate the waiter for half an hour as to the ‘humaneness’ of the House Salad. Are you shitting me?
- Random Fact # 7 – I’ve never had a One Night Stand. Not that I’m opposed, I did actually try once with a Canadian I met in a bar. It didn’t work because he then kept coming back and inviting me to dinner and stuff. I tried to explain the rules, but he wasn’t getting it. I think I should have tried with an Italian instead…
Rules 3 and 4: Nominate 15 bloggers for this award and notify them as to their mention. 15!!?? Madness. I can not, and will not, do this. It’s this aspect of these blog awards which make them so unappetizing for so many; sure the mention is nice, but in doing so we also pass a huge responsibility to others. Either play along or be considered an ungrateful ass with no sense of community. Fuckery, indeed. Though I choose to play along, I certainly do not wish to force this on others or in any way make others feel obligated. So, to this, I now nominate everyone on my Blog Roll! I attest to the ‘Loveliness’ of each and every one of you. As for the notification; if you’re reading this, consider yourself notified. If you’re not reading this …lol… well, fuck you! See if I ever nominate you again!
Rule 5: Post the lovely ‘Lovely Award’ logo on your blog. Done!
WHAT A VOICE!!
Neil Armstrong – 1930-2012
‘Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.’
With The Eagle’s computer sounding alarms, and after having to improvise and manually pilot the ship past an area littered with boulders, with only 30 seconds of fuel remaining, The Eagle touched down … and Neil Armstrong use these words to inform very relieved mission controllers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. His use of ‘Tranquility Base’ also surprised mission control personnel, as they had never heard it before. Armstrong had created the name on his own. Later with the words, ‘That’s one small step for (a) man. One giant leap for mankind’, he, and mankind, stepped down unto the surface of another world for the first time.
As much as I love the grainy images taken from the Moon’s surface, this picture of Armstrong, taken by Buzz Aldrin back aboard the lunar module after their historical walk, is my favorite. Though I could not, in a million years, imagine what was going though his mind at this very moment, Armstrong’s teary-eyed expression, to me, signifies awe, absolute joy, and the realization of accomplishment. Not the accomplishment of one man, or even a group of men, but the accomplishment of mankind.
I believe we all have moments such as these, moments when we are overwhelmed with beauty, splendor, achievement, and the complete knowledge that we are 100% alive. These are the moments we live for, the moments which make all the work, all the planning, and all the effort worthwhile. Thank you Commander Armstrong for sharing one of your such moments with humanity.
If you haven’t as yet, tonight when you step out to have a look at the moon, think about the fact that we were there. Think about what this means, think about the effort required to do so, and send a wink up to the Moon in honor of Neil Armstrong. I guarantee you, if there’s a heart beating in your chest, you will feel a little glimpse of that same awe and splendor shown on the face of Mr. Armstrong.
…things I LOVED! Week of Aug 13th – Aug 19th
The above video, We’re NASA and We Know It, created by Satire hit YouTube on August 15 and as of this morning has received 1,822,175 views …and counting. Way to go viral! I’m sure only about a quarter of those hits are mine! I was introduced to the video earlier this week via Frank of A Frank Angle in his August 16th post title Opinions in the Shorts: Vol. 153. Leave it to Frank to find the cool stuff…and find it FAST! Frank is now on a 3 week break from the Blogosphere, and will be missed. If you’re not familiar with Frank (which rock have you been living under?) check him out. You’ll find no shortage of interesting articles to keep you occupied until his return.
Also while on the subject of NASA, one of my favorite subjects, here’s a heads-up that NASA’s Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) are set to launch two spacecraft aboard a United Alliance Atlas V rocket from Florida’s Space Coast on Thursday of this week (23rd). The RBSP spacecraft are designed to fly and operate in the heart of the most hazardous regions of near-Earth space to collect data and help researchers develop an understanding of the Van Allen radiation belts, two rings of very high energy electrons and protons that can pose hazards to human and robotic explorers. This two year mission is part of NASA’s Living With a Star Program to explore aspects of the connected sun-Earth system.
Exploring the Van Allen Belts! – Yeah, they’re NASA and they know it! (Image credit: NASA/T. Benesch, J. Carns)
Now back to inside the blogosphere where this past week there was no shortage of good stuff! My absolute favorite cartoonist, John Atkinson, of Wrong Hands provided us with a couple of laughs this week. John’s August 14th His Pet Peeve cartoon is hilarious! John then backed this up on August 17th with Easy Chair ….which may be, in my opinion, one of John’s funniest so far! One of my favorite humor writers, White Lady, aka Chica Blanka, of White Lady in The Hood also kept us amused this week with her August 16th post titled What Women Want. This post was so interesting I couldn’t help but to ‘see’ her post ….and raise her! Well done White Lady!
Not at all to be confused with humor, the hard-hitting journalistic team of Tardsie D Bagg and Smaktakula over at Promethean Times kept us informed and enlightened this past week with a flurry of timely (and freaking brilliant!) posts such as the August 14th edition of Ask Tardsie titled So Ya Like Rocket Ships? In Glorious Hear-O-Vision! Amazing work, guys! Also, on a somber note, on August 15th the boys posted a moving tribute lamenting the passing of TV’s Horshack, Ron Palillo, titled Requiem For a Horshack. Words … cannot … express … my grief. Thank you Promethean Times.
My photography of the week award goes to Mike over at Mike’s Look At Life. The ever prolific Mike clicks far faster than I can keep up with, but I do try …some things are just worth the effort! (Mike also gets the nod for best comment of the week, but that’s more a personal thing!) His August 13th entry titled Creek Bed is absolutely stunning. In addition to some muy interesante y muy Mike-esque photography such as August 18th’s Silo Slice and August’s 17th’s Partial Door, Mike also posted a couple of shots of one of the most unique creatures I’ve ever seen. Don’t take my word for it, check out his August 16th’s Newest Friend. Mike is also taking a short summer break from the Blogosphere, and as with Frank, Mike has plenty archived to keep us amazed during his absence ….this by no way means he should linger any longer than absolutely necessary!
Closing out the past week, with an entry in the ‘Science Is Cool’ department, comes a couple of completely interesting and well written posts from Adam Benton of EvoAnth (that’s the UK’s Adam Benton, not to be confused with the US’s Adam Benton!). Adam’s August 16th post titled How “god” Evolved is extremely fascinating and presents some compelling research concerning the origins of religion, which we still don’t have a complete understanding of, and the concept of a ‘high god’. It also includes a few of Adam’s clever, and signature, charts explaining ‘what he just said’. Adam closed out my week yesterday with his equally interesting follow up titled How “god” evolved #2: the religious revolution. Adam notes that this second post in no way is an attempt to game the popularity of his previous post …which became his most viewed post in just 3 days. No Adam, it’s because they’re that interesting…. well done.
Have a great week, and keep looking up …that’s where we keep the stars! 
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