26 March 08
Tired: Let Me Count the Ways (Then Name Them)
Nicole of Turning Leaves just posted about how we lack words for states of tiredness.
Not words for “tired” — we have plenty of those. She wants words to describe these feelings:
There is the wonderful fatigue of relief. There is the foul mood of not having slept at all, or worse, having slept tiny dribs and drabs while in an uncomfortable position. There is the nervy sensation of having had a chance to really sleep, but not being able to.
There are several I’d add: the irritable fatigue of trying to get some sleep in a hospital but being continually woken by officious nursing staff taking readings and changing drips at all hours of the night (and day). The sweet, salty but aching fatigue of a long bike ride (or hike or run or aerobics class) and the sweet, salty but utterly different aching of a day spent digging in the garden. The honey-fatigue of deep relaxation, such as that following a massage. The monotonous and monochrome fatigue of depression. The fatigue of having really been under sniper fire, instead of just misspeaking about it, and not just for a brief trip to an airport tarmac but for days, weeks, or even years, the miracle of adrenaline finally giving out with disastrous consequences. The long slow blank fatigue of hunger. The deep fatigue following energetic sex.
Any ideas for words for any of these states of being?
26 March 08
Variable Nights
I got clouded out this evening. T Tauri and Z Ursae Majoris will have to wait until another time.
With my Messier survey well under way, I have been getting started at what seems to be my next astronomical adventure. This is being a variable star observer. A variable star is, simply put, a star that varies in brightness over a period of time, whether from minutes to decades. There has been a long tradition of amateur astronomers recording data about the brightnesses of variable star — the largest organization coordinating such activities, the American Association of Variable Star Observers, dates back to 1911.
I did some variable star observing almost 10 years ago, when we were living up the mountain in Santa Barbara, and am now back into it. I enjoy looking at faint fuzzy galaxies under dark skies as much as the next observer, but in the bright skies I live under, the faint fuzzies are either a) invisible or b) dim, washed out, and completely lacking in drama. Variable star observing is quite a different path to take. It’s a lot of fun. First, there are lots of stars to follow, no matter how bright the skies are or how modest your optical equipment is. Second, I love looking at star charts, and estimating things — the standard procedure in making visual observations is to interpolate the brightness of the variable star from precise measurements of the brightness of comparison stars as printed on the star chart. Third, it’s fun to climb the skill ladder as an observer. Finally, there is lots of interesting science to learn about in the process. Even a basic question like “what are the different types of stars” is now of immediate concern.
Tomorrow night is expected to be cloudy again. Dang.
23 March 08
Five-year Retrospective
Last week was the five-year anniversary of the start of the disaster in Iraq. We started Feathers of Hope shortly afterwards. The blogosphere was teeming with political commentary; we elected not to do much of that, but to focus on our little spot in this part of the Central Valley. It doesn’t mean we’re not political or don’t read (still) political blogs, but our choice (much like Beth’s, I think: Cassandra Pages turned five a couple of days ago) was not to write much about politics.
I still think that was the right decision. What can we add? The words still fly fast and furious and we’re still in the middle of the disaster in Iraq. We are hoping for a change this November. I think Obama’s speech on Tuesday is the most important I’ve heard in my lifetime (possibly with the exception of King’s, though I was nine and living in Madrid at the time). Whether he can prevail through the crud that will undoubtedly be hurled his way first by the Clinton campaign and then by the Republicans will remain to be seen.
There are California poppies in bloom outside. Today I saw the first Western Kingbird of the year. The Swainson’s hawks have been back a week and have sent most of the red-tails to the foothills already. I can still look and take delight in these things despite the stress/funk cycle that I’ve been mired in.
Thanks for sticking with us for all these years.
19 March 08
Speech For The Ages
Barack Obama gave an amazing speech today on race and politics. Don’t just read the commentaries on it — it’s well worth the time to watch or listen to the video of the speech, or at least read the complete text of it, all of which can be found here.
15 March 08
Procrastination
I have dozens of things that need to get done. I seem unable to finish any of them. It’s a spiral that’s not good to go down…
12 March 08
Nova In The Morning
Having daylight savings time begin while it is still winter is simply ludicrous. But yesterday I got up earlier, rather than later, at 5 AM PDT because I wanted to have a look at a newly-discovered nova in Cygnus — N Cyg 08. Such a star is not at all impressive to view — it just looks like any other faint 8th magnitude star — but the interesting thing is to follow the time course of their brightness over days and weeks. First you have to find it. This took me a long time — I haven’t seen that bit of the sky in a while and I can use more star-hopping practice (step 1 — orient your chart before you do anything else). I then marvel at how someone managed to recognize among all the hundreds of stars in the eyepiece that this one was new.
It puts one in a nice frame of mind, early morning astronomy.
8 March 08
Carrots Love Tomatoes
Okay, so I’ve been gardening. I now have a pair of Rosie’s Coveralls since I’m sick to death of getting my nightie covered in mud every day (though now it’s more likely to be dust; we’ve moved from winter to almost summer in record time).
I have tomato seedlings going at work, and I’ve planted a bunch of coriander, butternut squash, eggplant, and pepper/chile seeds in my newspaper pots. It seems late. Everything catches up, though, here.
Today at the Coop I picked up a copy of Louise Riotte’s Carrots Love Tomatoes, a book I’ve seen referred to all over the place. It’s been updated since its first publication in 1975. It’s a bit like having your Aunt Nancy for tea. Consider: “By now I’m sure everybody knows that rue doesn’t like basil. But an authority as ancient as Pliny tells us that ‘rue and the fig tree are in great league and amitie together’.”
SO: No fennel near anything, basil, carrots and onions near most things, parsley near everything, radishes near squashes, okra near peppers and eggplant, avoid curcubits with potatoes (no problem there), be sure to double plant marigolds against nematodes.
This is a gardening entry and Illustration Friday’s topic of the week is garden. Have at it, gang.
6 March 08
Doritos For Aliens
The UK astronomy and physics communities are undergoing a severe funding crisis, to the amount of a 80 million pound budget shortfall. So some astronomers have come up with a novel means to raise money — advertising to aliens. The first such ad targeted towards the alien market will be promoting Doritos and will be aimed at the star 47 Ursae Majoris which is some 42 light-years off and is known to have at least two planets. The message will be beamed using a 500 MHz radar system located in Svalbard which is normally used to study ionospheric disturbances and auroras. Bridge to the stars, anyone?
5 March 08
Reason #431 Why I Love the Coop
We’re standing in line at the checkout waiting to pay having seen Jim and talked about canning tomatoes and having seen Ann and talked about Kilimanjaro and the lad with the strawberry blond hair and beard greets us and takes the yoghurt container full of prunes and mutters numbers and then I tell him I have ten gallons of water and he says okay then I hand him the card and he says Agh brain overload then quickly apologizes and says I just got handed a note by a pretty girl.
Discretely, he says.
He goes bright red almost like his hair, smiles from ear to hear, pulls the note out of his pocket and reads it again.
(I feel oddly honored that he should have divulged this to me. Tickled.)
Oh, and Brian finally started a blog. About time, monsieur le philosophe.
4 March 08
Wolverine Sighted In California
The first confirmed sighting of a wolverine in California in 30 years took place last Thursday. This was recorded by a remote camera array in the Tahoe National Forest; a link to the photo is here.