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The Rising Sun ..and nights full of stars
I've been watching the events unfold in northern Japan since Friday morning. The degree of devastation left by monstrous earthquake (and after shocks) followed by the seemingly endless terrible videos of the tsunami have really left me emotionally drained. Though the nuclear reactor(s) situation is very serious, it is in no way the same order of ( Read more... ) -
Two for Tuesday..
Fun with Technisches Deutsch!
Yesterday I sent my 'pre-review'/recommendations regarding a New High Resolution Lunar Atlas (German - Fotografischer Mondatlas to the editor of Cambridge University Press. Not only was he pleased with my write-up, but I got to 1) keep the awesome atlas and 2) get credit for $150 worth of new book swag ( Read more... ) -
Yeah, I read a LOT.
What Kind of Reader Are You?
Your Result: Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
You're probably in the final stages of a Ph.D. or otherwise finding a way to make your living out of reading. You are one of the literati. Other people's grammatical mistakes make you insane.
Literate Good Citizen
Dedicated Reader
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of ( Read more... ) -
AnachroCon 2011
Or the adventures of a Flogging Friar.
This year's AnachronCon 2011 was a great success and both pixelmonster's history tract and my science track were well received. Next year should be even better, as Dragon*Con's Science Track director (Drew Myers) will be working with me to produce a much expanded and exciting Science and Technology Track. This includes ( Read more... ) -
Con games
Anachrocon - Feb 25 -27
Tomorrow I'll be headed off to Anachrocon for a weekend of panels, steam-punk insanity and much mead drinking. I am actually the director of the Science track, while pixelmonster heads up the history track. As a result, a number of the panels are 'joint' history/science tracks. awakenedwarrior will be doing several panels - including one on the Art ( Read more... ) -
Scoping the Giants
Usually when the Moon nears full phase, I'll switch over to 'planetary mode' imaging. "Deep sky" objects like nebulae and galaxies are generally washed out by Moon-light (or light pollution), but the brighter planets and the Moon can be imaged from even urban areas.
But first, let's take a quick peak at the Moon:
Sinus Iridium - or "Bay of ( Read more... ) -
Meet Lynx-O and Mr. Kitty!
A 'cute' critters seen yesterday prowling around Mars House.First, we have "Lynx-O" - a HUGE male cat that likes to prowl the edge of my property. Easily over 20 lbs, he's the king of cat beasts in my neighborhood. I was tipped off to his presence when "PC" started to stare out the glass door window, tail twitching. No doubt PC has had encounters ( Read more... ) -
"VD"
The Anti-Schmoopy Zone
The other night I was reminded *once again* that most artificial and trivial of 'holidays' is near - "Valentine's Day" or VD. I briefly spied an animated VD special in the form of a Peanuts cartoon in which good old Charlie Brown once again gets the shaft. It brought back those harsh elementary school memories of just what a ( Read more... ) -
Weekend Stuffs
Super-bowled, err, whut?
So, who watched the "Super Bowl" or even cared? I *think* I saw maybe 2 minutes of it. At least Big Ben Rapistburger, err..Roethlisburger didn't get "redemption" - as IF winning a SB "pardons" his sins.. Yeah, riight ( Read more... )