Random Clayworth

OMG - We're DOOMED....wait, maybe not.

2010-03-23T13:37:00.001-05:00

One of the most common components of political punditry is the prediction. It usually goes along the line of the "if this goes on..." structure, and forecasts either doom or utopia depending on the pundit and the topic. I suppose this tendency towards hyperbole is just the nature of the beast. You don't get a lot of readers nodding their heads if you just predict "more or less the same".

So, there have been hordes of predictions from panels of pundits about the evils that will befall the country because of the health care bill just passed. Frankly, I find it freaking hilarious. We're doomed. We're on an inexorable course towards socialism/communism/decay. We will spend so much on entitlements that our military will suffer and our ever-alert enemies will use this opportunity to humiliate our once-great nation. One-third of our doctors will quit. Granny will be denied her arthritis medicine, but here's a handy morphine overdose. Rush Limbaugh will move to Costa Rica. Glenn Beck will cry his eyes out.

Now if I suffered from a lack of couth, I might respond to these Cassandras with a growl of "HORSE EXCREMENT", but I'm a soft-spoken guy, and I say that in all likelihood, there's just not going to be that much havoc.

Oh, I'm not saying there's not going to upset, or problems, or even re-workings of the mechanisms. But I think it's going to be your basic, “oh, crap, what do we do now” problems that we get all the damn time! And we find a way to deal.

Before Dennis Miller turned into a Conservadroid, he used to say, "But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong." I could be wrong, but my prediction is that I'm not.

Songs of my youth - Reflections of my Life

2009-12-10T23:35:00.001-06:00

There's no way of knowing what piece of popular music will latch onto your mind and never let go. Here's one from nearly 40 years ago. Reflections of my Life, by Marmalade.

Astronomy Day 2009

2009-10-27T09:22:00.004-05:00

For my non-Facebook friends, here's some video I shot at the Astronomy Day shindig this past Saturday.

It was a marvelous time, as usual. The weather was perfect, and I and dozens of other volunteers helped the public get their astronomy on with views of Jupiter, the Moon, and celestial wonders near and far.

I also took a bunch of pics, which you can find here:

Pictures

New toy

2009-10-07T13:34:00.002-05:00

Linda and I got iPhones this past weekend, and I've been having a lot of fun playing with it. I'm impressed with its camera. It's not going to replace my Canon DSLR, but for casual photos, it's surprisingly good.

An actual moment of quasi-coolness

2009-08-31T16:14:00.002-05:00

It's been so long since the weather has been anything but hot and humid that is was like a barely remembered dream to walk outside this morning and feel a breath of cool.

It's not Autumn yet, not by a long shot, but the most brutally steamy days are behind us, and I'm looking forward to the first real cool front that whisks in and sweeps away the crud.

If I had the means, Linda and I would have a summer home somewhere in the mountains. As it is, I'll have to be content with making the annual trek to visit Linda's folks in Illinois on Thursday. The weather in Sterling has been 50's in the morning, and 70's in the afternoon. I'm going to love it.

Nom Nom

2009-08-18T08:47:00.001-05:00

A nearby fairyland

2009-08-06T21:40:00.004-05:00

I've driven by this Indian temple any number of times, and I was fascinated by its ethereal beauty. It's like something out of a fantasy. It's hard to believe something like this is just a few miles from our house.

The Fast and the Furriest

2009-07-02T16:27:00.002-05:00

I'm gonna have to get wood floors, just for this:

Filler Post Because I've Been Remiss

2009-06-29T07:40:00.003-05:00

I've been neglecting my blog in favor of Facebook , but here's a picture of myself taken at Kevin and Erin's annual party.

Deep in the elbow of Texas

2009-04-22T16:40:00.002-05:00

Geographically, I'm not deep in the heart of Texas -- it's more like the elbow. But the stars are big and bright here, too. We've had three good nights so far, even if it did get close to freezing in the early morning hours. Tonight (Wednesday) looks to be somewhat cloudy, but tomorrow looks better.

Anyway, here I am, posing with my Celestron:

Another TSP coming soon

2009-03-30T12:10:00.002-05:00

Yep, the Texas Star Party is coming up next month, and I'm getting excited about it. This year, it's April 20-27, and I'll be heading to West Texas with my gear.

This year, I'm going to be just taking the Celestron. With its larger diameter, I'll be able to take advantage of the dark skies and chase some of the fainter objects.

I'm also going to do a little imaging. With my Canon DSLR, I'll set it up to take one 30 second exposure after another, and a couple of thousand frames later, I should have a very cool movie showing the stars and Milky Way rotating across the sky.

April is considerably cooler in West Texas than June is -- I'll be taking some warmer clothes, and might invest in some more long johns.

My big brain will rule!

2009-03-08T10:40:00.005-05:00

I got myself an iMac, and I've been having a little fun with the Photo Booth app.

Here's undistorted me:

Frostie has better moves than I do

2009-03-03T13:38:00.000-06:00

I'm not so sure about this new Watchmen movie

2009-02-27T11:25:00.001-06:00

The Cute Will Kill You

2009-02-19T14:27:00.002-06:00

Doe and Cat, with a guest appearance by a bunny.

The Actor

2009-02-12T19:51:00.002-06:00

Few musical groups have lasted as long as the Moody Blues. Even with the various personnel changes, Justin Hayward's beautiful melodies and evocative lyrics still call to me.

Space Puppets

2009-02-07T23:19:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite Saturday morning kidvid shows was Fireball XL-5, a black & white space opera done with puppets. It was created by Gerry Anderson, who was also responsible for Supercar and Thunderbirds.

It was cheaply made and the special effects were crude, but there was a lot of love for the genre in these shows. You can't really recreate anything like these shows -- they were of and for their time.

Here's a clip of the opening and closing credits. I still think the tune is pretty jazzy.

25 Random Facts About Me

2009-02-07T12:23:00.001-06:00

1. I’ve had my picture taken with Sky King, John Glenn, and Joe Haldeman. Just not at the same time.

2. I once thought that Heaven was populated with skeletons, since dead people become skeletons.

3. Mobius strips still fascinate me.

4. I have recurring dreams about tornadoes.

5. I had a crush on a girl named Jasmine when I was seven years old and she was eleven.

6. It was in England, and we lived next door to a graveyard.

7. I currently have four telescopes.

8. And one microscope.

9. I won the 5th grade spelling bee at my school, made it into the top 12 in the city and lost on the first word in the final round in the city: precipice. How I spelled it: precipus.

10. I’ve taken two sabbaticals in my adult life, but I doubt I’ll take another one until retirement.

11. The first one lasted six months and the second one lasted ten.

12. When I decided to go back to work at the end of my second sabbatical, I colored my hair to hide the gray. I got hired over the phone and never had an in-person interview. So I quit touching up the hair, and a few months later everyone thought the job must be murder because I went gray so fast.

13. I used to reread old books all the time, but now I rarely do..

14. Forty years ago, I showed the public objects through a telescope. I still do that, but back then I was paid $1.25 per hour to do so. Now I do it for free.

15. I’m not religious, but I still think Sundays should be quieter than other days.

16. Pictures of me taken from the right seem better looking than pictures taken from the left.

17. Exercise has always bored me.

18. For some reason, I think that a glass of milk and two slices of bread make the perfect nighttime snack.

19. If Canada Dry ever made Wink again, I’d buy it by the case.

20. I will never forget the Great Whip ‘N Chill fight. Nor will my brother Rick or my sister Linda.

21. The first book I checked out of a school library was called Zip-Zip and His Flying Saucer.

22. I had three years of speech therapy starting in 5th grade. I made my dad laugh for five minutes when he asked if I thought it helped me and I replied, “Yeth.”

23. When I broke my leg at age 9, I was disappointed that the ambulance that took me to the hospital didn’t sound its siren.

24. I love trivia.

25. I detest butterscotch and licorice.

Coolest doggie ever!

2009-02-05T14:11:00.002-06:00

The Young Mr. Clayworth

2009-01-30T15:36:00.003-06:00

Who would ever have that thought that this innocent-looking child would grow up to become the awesome flower of humanity that is me? My brother Rick found this, scanned it, and e-mailed it to me.

It's not a model

2009-01-08T18:47:00.005-06:00

Tilt-shift photography is a method of taking a picture of a life-size subject, and then altering so that the picture looks like it was shot on a miniature model. Photoshop has the option to do this, but a new website allows you apply tilt-shift techniques to digital images you already have. Here are a couple of examples.

Pretty cool, eh?

The Sky in motion

2009-01-04T11:51:00.001-06:00

Let's start the New Year with something beautiful - The Sky In Motion. Four minutes of pure loveliness.

túrána hott kurdís by hasta la otra méxico! from Till Credner on Vimeo.

Pictures from a different source

2008-12-13T10:09:00.003-06:00

I love seeing pictures from earlier times in this country. Recently I found a blog that has some beautiful images from various sources, and the best part is that you can see them in a decent size.

It's called the Shorpy Photo Archive, and here's an example of their pics:

That's a picture from 1960 of an ultra-modern house in the Hollywood Hills in California. Here's the direct link.

Favorite Pictures #4 - Houston Skyline

2008-12-09T07:11:00.002-06:00

During my early years at Waste Management, I worked on the 39th floor downtown. We had an excellent view of the Houston skyline, and I snapped this picture back in 2001.

Favorite Pictures #3 - The moon in eclipse

2008-12-08T07:02:00.005-06:00

Back in May 2003, we had very nice total eclipse of the moon. I've always enjoyed looking at lunar eclipses -- the moon takes on an otherwordly quality. Lunar eclipses can only occur when the moon is full. Therefore, the relief on the lunar surface that one sees during first quarter or other phases disappears. Thus, the apparent smoothness of the lunar surfaces appears a bit incongruous when during the the partial stages of the eclipse, like this picture:

Favorite Pictures #2 - Setting sun

2008-12-07T08:40:00.002-06:00

This picture of the sun setting over the Mediterranean was taken the day after the eclipse we saw in Libya. A bunch of us at our table wanted to see a "green flash", that rare phenomenon that occurs sometimes when the conditions are just right. As the sun descends below the horizon, the light is refracted through thicker levels of our atmosphere, and if you're lucky, you'll see a flash of green light at the top of the solar disk.

Well, we didn't get a green flash, but we did get quite a lovely sunset. The solar eclipse the day before had been stunning. This sunset was a coda to that memorable display.

Favorite Pictures #1 - Renaissance Pop & Tot

2008-12-06T16:11:00.008-06:00

I thought I'd upload some of the pictures I've taken that I like best. This one was taken at the Renaissance Festival in 2004. A father and son in similar garb take in the sights of the festival.

Look for more of my favorites in the future.

All I want

2008-12-06T09:40:00.000-06:00

more animals

A triangle in the sky

2008-12-01T22:14:00.004-06:00

The triple conjunction of the Moon, Jupiter, and Venus was beautiful. I set up my camera at work because the southwestern horizon is better there, and I took a passel of pics. This one seemed to be about the best.

Click on the picture to see a big version.

Name Finder

2008-11-26T09:56:00.005-06:00

Here's an interesting website - you plug in a last name and it shows the countries where that last name is most prevalent.

http://www.publicprofiler.org/worldnames/Default.aspx

You can drill down into each country - for instance, drilling down into Texas shows that Harris County (where Houston is) has the highest concentration of Clayworth's in the state.

I'm not sure where the information is gathered from -- perhaps Census Bureau records, but it's interesting.

New Zealand is the country with the highest frequecy of Clayworth's.

What's with the economy

2008-11-13T16:07:00.001-06:00

Even George is concerned!

When I ruled the world

2008-11-02T01:43:00.002-05:00

I must admit that I don't keep up with the latest in music these days, but even these double-nickel ears can still respond to talent, particularly Coldplay's catchy, intriguing and smart song, Viva la Vida.

Literary cat

2008-10-30T21:18:00.001-05:00

We pause for this political PSA

2008-10-24T07:22:00.003-05:00

There is something simultaneously hilarious and creepy about this video that Ron Howard, Andy Griffith, and Henry Winkler put out. Yes, it's for Obama, but even if you're not a Democrat, you'll laugh at Opie and Andy, Richie and the Fonz.

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Astronomy Day already??

2008-10-17T07:43:00.002-05:00

My, the time, she does fly. Saturday is Astronomy Day again at the George Observatory. I've already made note of it in a Cosmo.Sphere post.

Anyway, I'm going to be doing Photographer/Videographer/Floater duties from about noon to 11 PM. It's a lot of fun to see all those people being introduced to the wonders of the sky ("Bob, meet Jupiter. Jupiter, this is Bob.")

This time around I'm going to have a little more structure to the video I put together. I'll be talking with the guests and getting their impressions, and posing some questions to the volunteers. My aim is to say a little something about what draws people to marvel at the sky.

Here's one of the videos I shot last year:

And part two:

Even Pepper has hurricane duties

2008-09-24T12:14:00.002-05:00

It was windy

2008-09-24T09:24:00.004-05:00

Hurricane Ike paid our area a visit on September 12, Friday night, making landfall at Galveston at around 2 AM. This was a huge storm, almost as big as Texas, and we felt the effects of it long before the eye crossed the coast.

Here is a video I shot out in our front yard Friday evening, about 7.

The wind howled and the rain came and the power was lost.

For eight days. And we were lucky. As I write this, there are about half a million people in the greater Houston area still without electricity.

Here's the view of what things looked like on Saturday morning, long after the storm had passed.

Fortunately, a cool front came through Sunday night, and the next few days were relatively bearable. On Monday, we waved goodbye to the contents of our freezer. So long, sirloin. Bye-bye, frozen veggies.

Our friend Barbara, who lives in another part of Sugar Land, didn't lose power at all. We stayed over at her house a few nights, and we were most grateful.

Also, we got to know more of our neighbors in the past couple of weeks than in the 13 years prior to Ike. That's a good thing.

Ike was just a Category Two hurricane. If we ever take a hit from a Cat 4 or 5, heaven help us.

The Streets of Sugar Land

2008-08-13T19:43:00.003-05:00

For those few who haven't yet heard of it, Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps. Google had a specially-equipped vehicle drive down streets in hundreds of cities in the US and Europe, taking images every few feet. These images are available to anyone with an Internet connection.

I didn't realize it until a few days ago, but they pretty much covered all of Sugar Land, including the swankienda where I hang my hat.

There's our house. Now, I know that the streets are public property, and anyone can come along and snap a picture. It doesn't show anything that really invades my life. It does show that it was garbage day.

But still. I love the InterTubes and the rich oceans of information available at the click of a mouse, but there is a price, and that price is a degree of privacy. It will be very interesting to see where the next hundred years takes us.

Storm Damage

2008-08-06T14:58:00.002-05:00

Tropical storm Eduoard passed through our area yesterday. There are a lot of people telling us that "it was only a tropical storm" and "you got off lucky". Well, I just want to remind people that even a tropical storm can leave devastation in its wake. Here's documentary evidence of the path of destruction left by Eduoard.

Paparrazi to ducklings

2008-08-02T12:13:00.003-05:00

There's a little lake not too far away, and I was driving by it when I saw a duck herding her little ones alone. I had recently acquired a new compact digital camera that could take video, so I stopped by one evening, found the birds, and shot some video.

The papa duck served as bodyguard, hissing at me, sounding just like a ticked-off cat. I snagged the video and left them to their avian business.

The country of the metaphor

2008-07-24T14:22:00.004-05:00

I was talking with a colleague yesterday, and she referred to someone who she couldn't get a hold of as being incognito. That triggered an idea.

If I was designing my own country, I'd like to have some cities with names like this:

Cognito - The city where everyone travels in disguise. If I can't find someone, he (or she) must be in Cognito.

Effable - If I'm looking for someone who's often subject to hard-to-express ideas, I'd be sure to look in Effable.

Ept - The clumsy, useless people are in Ept.

Effigy - This will be where all the hangings take place. "The murderer was hung in Effigy."

Ertia - The people are hard to get going, but once they do, they're hard to stop in Ertia.

You get the idea. If you're looking for me, I'll be in Scrutable.

That cat again

2008-07-22T11:21:00.002-05:00

Simon Tofield has made another one of his delightful cartoons again - a man, a cat, a sofa, and a TV. Once again, cat wins.

Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too?

2008-07-20T20:02:00.003-05:00

We've acquired a new feline overlord. Her name is Pepper, for the salt n' pepper pattern of some of her fur. We obtained her from Citizens for Animal Protection in Houston, and so far she seems to think it's all right to be waited on hand and paw by the strange hairless apes in the house (i.e., me and Linda).

She likes to crawl up on my chest when I'm in the recliner and chew on my beard.

Blogging on Space

2008-07-07T15:44:00.002-05:00

The Houston Chronicle has a new space blog and I'm one of the authors. About a month ago, Eric Berger, AKA SciGuy on the Houston Chronicle website, announced plans to expand the science blogs with new content. The first one, ATMO.SPHERE, was launched a month ago. Now we have COSMO.SPHERE, and I will be contributing posts related to amateur astronomy.

Justin Kugler, a NASA engineer, and Fritz Benedict, a professional astronomer based at UT, will be making contributions on space and astronomy. I already have a post up about the constellation Scorpius and what may be found there.

I'm looking forward to making further contributions, and reading what the others have to say. I'm very excited about this.

Boom De Yada!

2008-06-27T22:10:00.000-05:00

I absolutely love this Discovery Channel commercial!

Texas Star Party 2008

2008-06-12T20:54:00.001-05:00

Pictures from the star party

2008-06-12T19:55:00.001-05:00

Can be found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sclayworth/sets/72157605528782275/

The Happy Astronomer

2008-06-07T19:10:00.001-05:00

It's a star party!

2008-06-02T10:44:00.000-05:00

I got to the Prude Ranch about noon yesterday, after driving about six hours through very nice scenery. Terrain! Hills! Mountains!

I joined a line of about 20 cars and RV’s at the gate, going through initial check-in. Then I went to the Ranch office to get my room key. They gave me directions up the hill to where the upper observing field is located, and I found the room. I unloaded some luggage and sundries.

On the field, which is about the size of a football field, lots of astronomers were staking their claims to their turf. Hmmmm….prime spots were going quickly. I drove my CR-V down and pulled it around to a likely spot, then started to unload. The first thing I did was pull my indoor-outdoor carpeting out and spread it on the ground. The first thing I should have done was get some sunscreen. Noon sun, 5000 feet elevation – it was brutal.

With pauses to get some water (and a helpful fellow next to me who saw my red face and doused me with sunscreen), I nailed the carpeting to the dry Texas soil. Even with a four pound sledge, it was some work.

I had decided in advance that my first evening was going to be one with binoculars and star charts, trying to get familiar with a sky that would be far more crowded with stars than I’m used to. Therefore, I unloaded and sent up the G-11 tripod, but I didn’t set up the scope itself. I covered it with a tarp and secured with bungee cables. I chatted with the other amateurs around me, looked over their equipment (an amazing array of gear), then headed back up the hill to the room.

I had met my roommate, Rick Hillier, earlier. We talked a bit about observing plans. I decided I needed nothing more than about two hours of sleep – I was exhausted. The room was gradually growing cooler, so I sweated, sucked down some more water, and finally dozed.

About 4:30 I awoke. I splashed some water in my face and went outside – and they were still at it on the field. I could hear the pounding of stakes and snatches of conversation. I took a couple of things more down to the field that I would need, then it was down to the dining hall to see what was for supper. I caught a ride with Dennis and Tracy.

Not a bad meal. Pot roast, scalloped potatoes, green beans, different beverages. I sat with the fellow Bendonites (Fort Bend Astronomy Club members) and wolfed down my food.

Afterwards, we drove back to the motel rooms (actually, cabins that are little quadriplexes) and I stretched out again. Then came the crew to tape foil over the windows facing the field – this is the so-called “darkout” where they try to eliminate the possibility of stray light interfering with observations.

About 8 pm, I went down to field. I spent about a half-hour going around taking pictures of the telescopes that were set up. I’ve never seen so much astronomical gear in one area, and this is just one field out of four.

Sunset. Finally, some of the brighter stars start to come out. Saturn and Mars were first visible, and people tested their scopes out those standards. It took 9:30 to become dark enough to see the brighter stars, and about 10:30 before it was fully dark.

It was incredible. I reclined in my lawn chair and scanned the heavens. Steve Cotton, the amateur observer in front of me, was nailing globular after globular with his Celestron, while his wife tooled around with the little go-to Meade that she had. He’d call me over whenever he’d got something good. Like Omega Centuari – this is the finest globular cluster in the skies, and it was like cluster of diamond dust filling the eyepiece.

The Milky Way rising was like it had been described – it looked like clouds coming over the horizon. I was told that some have seen that, decided the observations were going to be over, and started to pack their gear.

I stuck around. From Cygnus through the tail of Scorpio, a hazy river of light was flowing across the night. I spent a good deal of time with binoculars on Sagittarius and Scorpio – there’s so much to see there.

After a bit, I wandered around, ran into Barbara Wilson and her big Dob. She had M-51 ( a galaxy) through and 8mm Tele Vue Ethos eyepiece (something new and expensive to want, dammit) and it was beautiful.

I went back to my observing area, spent a little more time with the binoculars, then finally called it quits about 1:30. I followed my little red light shining on the ground, got inside, tumbled into bed.

It’s the kind of night astronomers dream of.

Packed to the rim

2008-05-31T08:34:00.003-05:00

Saturday morning, 8:35 AM - I have never seen that CR-V packed so full of stuff. For a while, I was wondering I was going to have a leave a telescope and mount behind, but I managed to get it all in.

Here's a partial list of what I'm taking:

2 telescopes and mounts
Indoor-outdoor carpet to spread over the dusty west Texas dirt
Plastic tarps to cover the scopes during the daytime
Bungee cords to hold down the tarps
Observing chair
Reclining lawn chair
Binoculars
Canon Digital SLR
Canon Camcorder
Batteries, extension cords, chargers, tools
Bug repellent
Snacks
Three accessory cases (eyepieces, finder scopes, Telrads, etc.)
Notebook computer

Plus clothing, toiletries, jackets, etc.

I'm leaving shortly. I'll stop in San Antonio for a brief visit to Mom, then off to Junction for an overnight stay in a Best Western.

The long range forecast looks good for the Star Party.

Universe, here I come.

The Stars at night...

2008-05-26T15:34:00.004-05:00

...Are going to be very big and bright next week at the Texas Star Party. I'll be attending this annual event for the very first time this year, and I'm really looking forward to it.

I'll be making the drive to the Prude Ranch starting Saturday, overnighting in Junction, then arriving on Sunday for registration, and coming back the following Sunday. Over six hundred amateur astronomers under some the of the darkest skies in the nation! I've been told that the proliferation of stars is so overwhelming that even experienced amateurs can find it hard to recognize familar constellations.

I'm going to try to take both my scopes, the 5" Astro-Physics refractor on the G-11 mount, and my Celestron 9.25" GPS that I got earlier this year. My poor CR-V is going to be filled to bursting.

I'll be in one of the motel rooms, sharing it with another amateur from the Houston area.

Wireless internet access is available at the Party, so I intend to blog about my adventures while I'm there. I've heard that when the Milky Way rises over the mountains, it's been mistaken for storm clouds. Now that I gotta see!

Pale Blue Dot

2008-04-14T08:20:00.002-05:00

Carl Sagan said it best here - the Earth, the only abode of life that we know, is a very small place, and what happens here is up to us.

Armpit music

2008-03-29T18:53:00.002-05:00

I've always had abiding fondness for Dexy's Midnight Runners and their one hit, "Come On, Eileen". The video evokes Thatcherite early 80's England, and Kevin Rowland's song is catchy and danceable. Armpit music? Just watch the vid.

Arthur C. Clarke - 1917 - 2008

2008-03-18T20:41:00.003-05:00

"...overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out."

- Arthur C. Clarke - "The Nine Billion Names of God"

Air power

2008-03-08T18:28:00.003-06:00

Here's a first hand account of a mission in the SR-71, one of the most incredible aircraft ever made.

"One moonless night, while flying a routine training mission over the Pacific, I wondered what the sky would look like from 84,000 feet if the cockpit lighting were dark. While heading home on a straight course, I slowly turned down all of the lighting, reducing the glare and revealing the night sky. Within seconds, I turned the lights back up, fearful that the jet would know and somehow punish me. But my desire to see the sky overruled my caution, I dimmed the lighting again. To my amazement, I saw a bright light outside my window. As my eyes adjusted to the view, I realized that the brilliance was the broad expanse of the Milky Way, now a gleaming stripe across the sky. Where dark spaces in the sky had usually existed, there were now dense clusters of sparkling stars. Shooting stars flashed across the canvas every few seconds. It was like a fireworks display with no sound. I knew I had to get my eyes back on the instruments, and reluctantly I brought my attention back inside. To my surprise, with the cockp lighting still off, I could see every gauge, lit by starlight. In the plane's mirrors, I could see the eerie shine of my gold spacesuit incandescently illuminated in a celestial glow. I stole one last glance out the window. Despite our speed, we seemed still before the heavens, humbled in the radiance of a much greater power. For those few moments, I felt a part of something far more significant than anything we were doing in the plane. The sharp sound of Walt's voice on the radio brought me back to the tasks at hand as I prepared for our descent."

Read the rest here.

Poster Hedgehog

2008-02-28T18:03:00.004-06:00

I've been having fun playing with the Do-It-Yourself poster maker at despair.com, the good folks who bring you all those demotivational posters. You can upload the picture of your choice and make it a poster, like this....

The picture was from Cute Overload.

Cat is my copilot

2008-02-08T07:37:00.000-06:00

I doubt that I could get Misty to do this. Here is one remarkably calm kitty enjoying a flight perched on the glareshield of the plane (I'm guessing a 172).

Frozen in Grand Central

2008-02-07T17:26:00.002-06:00

Here's an interesting piece of performance art. Over two hundred people agreed to freeze in place in Grand Central Station for a limited time. It's very science-fictional to see them in the video and see how passers-by react.

Jupiter and Venus werethisclose

2008-02-01T07:36:00.000-06:00

A very pretty conjunction of Jupiter and Venus this morning. In one shot, you can see the moons of Jupiter. At their closest, they were 0.6 degrees apart, about the width of the full moon. Click on the pictures to see the large version.

Shoot me now!

2008-01-31T21:57:00.000-06:00

Perhaps the best of Chuck Jones' Bugs Bunny toons, "Rabbit Seasoning" is crazy funny. Mel Blanc's voice characterizations are just perfect in this.

"Ah, ha....pronoun trouble!"

Dos and Don'ts with babies

2008-01-25T18:38:00.000-06:00

http://www.c00lstuff.com/1133/Do_s_and_don_ts_with_babies/

Okay, I admit it - I was a Trekkie

2008-01-21T19:22:00.000-06:00

The new Star Trek movie looks pretty cool. There have been some complaints on the Interwebs that canon has been messed with - such as the Enterprise being constructed on Earth (at Area 51?) instead of in orbit. And other stuff about Kirk being kind of a cheat at the hallowed Starfleet Academy.

I say, let them mess with canon. Let them reboot the whole damned thing. The teaser trailer looks great.

Long Johns and Astronomy

2008-01-20T11:01:00.001-06:00

Last night I volunteered at the George Observatory, taking my newly-acquired Celestron 9.25 Nexstar GPS. This would be my “first light” for the scope, and I was curious to see how well it would perform.

The previous night had been cold and rainy. I don’t mind cold and I don’t mind rain, but mixing the two of them is just misery. At any rate, Saturday was forecast to be clear and cold, and that was certainly accurate. I remembered I had some thermal underwear that I got several years ago for another cold astronomical session (some meteor shower), and I hunted for them. It had been a long time since I had worn them, but I managed to squeeze into them, looking something like a gray sausage.

Jeans went over that, plus a long-sleeved shirt, and my Fort Bend Astronomy Club hoodie. I also took along a leather jacket if necessary. I loaded up the gear and headed to Brazos Bend State Park, arriving about 4:30.

I parked in the semi-secret area behind the observatory and unloaded my gear and took it up to the deck, set it up, and started playing around with the computer-control. With this telescope, once you power it up, it acquires its location from the GPS, and selects a star for alignment. Since it was still daylight, I couldn’t confirm alignment, so I just slewed to the moon, and tried it out. In the 40mm eyepiece it looked just fine.

It got a little darker, and Mars became visible, just about 1 degree away from the moon. I slewed to that, and there it was. This isn’t a particularly impressive time for mars – just 12 arc-seconds in diameter, so it’s basically a cantaloupe-colored tiny ball. Back to the moon.

After it got dark, I was able to do a regular GPS alignment, and confirm it with the stars it selected (Capella and Rigel). The optics on the scope are excellent. The clear night was transparent and seeing wasn’t too bad.

The public started showing up, wandering around the deck and checking the view in various scopes manned by the volunteers. They also had tickets for viewing through the big 36” reflector in the main research dome, plus the FBAC 18” scope in the East dome, and the 14” Celestron in the West Dome.

Earlier in the day, I had bought some hand-warmers at Academy. These are neat – just take the little cloth packet, rub and squeeze it a few times, and it slowly gets warm. Keep the packets in your pocket and stick your hands in there to warm them up. They’ll stay warm for about 5 or 6 hours – marvelous things.

I showed the moon and Mars to quite a few people over the next couple of hours. I always enjoy seeing the reaction of people, particularly if they haven’t looked through a telescope often. “Wow!” and “Oh, that’s so cool!” and “Look at all those craters!” I had a filter on the eyepiece to cut the glare, but even so the moon was very bright – you could see the light from the eyepiece falling on their eyes. I wish I had a dollar for everyone who asked me, “Hey, where’s the flag?”

Dew became a problem, but Dennis (one of the other volunteers – great guy) had a little hair dryer, and after I plugged it in and directed the warm air at the corrector plate, it cleared it right off.

I had a green laser pointer with me to point out various things. Kids love that, seeing that narrow green beam touching the sky. More than one wanted to try it out – I let them press the button while I held the laser, since I didn’t want them to inadvertently dazzle someone.

Later on, I used the computer keypad to go to M42, the Orion Nebula. The nearly full moon pretty much washed out the detail, but you could still see the wispy outline of that stellar nursery, and the Trapezium, the four stars at the heart of the nebula, were very sharp – textbook points of light.

A couple of times during the evening, one of the “floaters” (volunteers who circulate around where needed) came over so I had opportunities to go downstairs and use the restroom and get some hot cider and eat a hasty sandwich.

About 10:15, the regular viewing session came to end. I disassembled the gear, packed it up, carted it down to the Honda, and locked it in. I went inside the office to sign out and shoot the breeze with the other volunteers, and drink some more hot cider. Around 11:15, I said my goodbyes, and headed home. A great night – it’s some work going out there and setting up, but it really is worth it to share the night sky with others and show people something they’ve never seen before.

New Toy

2008-01-16T20:20:00.000-06:00

Last weekend, I acquired a Celestron Nexstar GPS 9.25. This is a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope that features a built in GPS to determine where it is, thus enabling it to select bright stars to align itself. After the alignment, you can select any object in the extensive database, and the telescope will automatically slew to that object.

The 9.25" OTA has gotten a good deal of ink since it was introduced. The primary mirror is a longer focal length than the 8" or 11" Celestrons, and it's developed a reputation for contrast and optical excellence.

I'll be testing it this weekend at the George Observatory (January 19).

The Moon, Mars, and a Christmas Cat

2007-12-23T18:39:00.000-06:00

Tonight, Mars had a very close approach to the Moon (it was occulted in the far Northwest US and Canada), and I got a couple of pictures of it. Plus, Misty checks out the tree.

Click on the pictures to see bigger versions.

Hell for Led Zeppelin

2007-12-19T13:11:00.000-06:00

Found this on John Scalzi's blog.

Bubbles, Tiny Bubbles

2007-12-19T08:21:00.000-06:00

Well, not so tiny. Here's a hilarious parody, set to Billy Joel's We Didn't Start The Fire, about the whole Web 2.0 phenomenon.

Outstanding nature images

2007-12-16T20:13:00.000-06:00

Kirk Rogers, an avid amateur astronomer and photographer, has updated his website with some beautiful images of birds and other fauna. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Southern Journal

Monhegan Island, Maine

And some more

2007-12-14T21:15:00.000-06:00

Falling around the earth

2007-12-14T21:05:00.000-06:00

A friend sent me an e-mail with some excellent images taken from shuttle missions to the ISS. I hadn't seen these before, so I thought I'd share them.
Click on the pictures to see a larger image.

If you can read this, u r a genius

2007-12-12T16:40:00.000-06:00

I found this link which calculates the reading level of a blog.

Cash Advance Loans

(I'd ignore the cash advance link if I were you).

The Last Christmas Medley you will ever need.

2007-12-10T13:46:00.001-06:00

Star Trek has the answer to all questions

2007-12-08T13:45:00.000-06:00

Star Trek inspirational posters

LOL Astronomer

2007-11-21T16:09:00.001-06:00

Astronomy Day

2007-11-18T10:28:00.001-06:00

This makes it worth it.

Comet Holmes

2007-10-29T21:22:00.000-05:00

Once in a great while, a comet will undergo an outgassing, or eruption, of gas and dust, and when that happens, it can brighten dramatically. Comet Holmes, a periodic comet, is heading outbound from the sun, and it decided to put on a show. Almost overnight, it brightened about a million times, going from Magnitude 17 to Magnitude 2.5 (about as bright as the North Star). Naturally, an amateur astronomer lives for such things, and wants to get some images. I went out to Brazos Bend State Park for some dark skies, and was able to get these.

Images were taken with a Canon EOS 20D, 300 mm telephoto lens, at 1600 ISO, exposure was 2 seconds. Just click on the pictures for a bigger image.

Unitarian Jihad

2007-10-08T11:12:00.000-05:00

"Greetings to the Imprisoned Citizens of the United States. We are Unitarian Jihad. There is only God, unless there is more than one God. The vote of our God subcommittee is 10-8 in favor of one God, with two abstentions. Brother Flaming Sword of Moderation noted the possibility of there being no God at all, and his objection was noted with love by the secretary. "

From http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/article?f=/c/a/2005/04/08/DDG27BCFLG1.DTL

Food Fight

2007-10-06T19:11:00.000-05:00

"Are ya gonna eat that?"

Don't you hate it when someone takes food off your plate?

Movie trivia

2007-09-06T14:08:00.001-05:00

80%

FilmCritic.com - Movie Reviews

Recharging the cat

2007-08-31T09:41:00.000-05:00

Deano

2007-08-18T14:32:00.000-05:00

We have a hurricane approaching the Gulf, and this of course has generated a lot of press, because when a whirly-storm threatens, it gives people an awful lot to talk about. Back in 1983, Alicia did a number on us (almost 24 years ago), and while there was a lot of wind and rain, the most memorable thing about it for me was the fact that the power surges after the storm knocked out the A/C in my apartment for about three weeks. Fortunately, I had the keys to an apartment for a friend who happened to be out of town on business, and whose A/C wasn't knocked out. Thanks, Mike.

And in 2005, Rita, a massive storm, looked like it was going to aim dead on at Galveston/Houston, and people left Houston like crazy, leading to bumper-to-bumper traffic out of the city for scores of miles. We stayed here, and the storm curved off to the right. Yes, we were lucky.

Hurricanes are destructive, but like all intense phenomena, they are also quite interesting. With that in mind, I'd like to propose a writing contest. Let's see who can come up with most interesting, the most provocative, and the most terrible hurricane news briefs. I want bad writing. I want to see prose that will make an English teacher vomit.

I want to see something like this:

Hurricane Dean roared ashore with the strength of 10,000 weathercasters leaning into the gale, trying to get that last piece out to the audience before being blown away in the maelstrom of surging torrents and hellacious winds. Like a giant breaking wind, Dean pulverized the coast, a perfect storm of tidal surge and horizontal rain blasters. We can only wait until the destructive demon that is Dean passes into history before we determine the inevitable heartbreaking losses of this counter-clockwise monster.

Classical Reimagined

2007-08-09T22:03:00.000-05:00

Here's Bach's Minuet in G Major - or rather, the hit 1965 song, "A Lover's Concerto", done by The Toys. I've always enjoyed this piece - it's just such a sweet song.

Wikipedia had this to say about it.

Mistakes

2007-07-28T18:35:00.000-05:00

I found the following interesting article on why we make mistakes.

A little bit of perspective

2007-07-12T14:51:00.000-05:00

Eric Berger's blog (http://blogs.chron.com/sciguy/) had this link (http://www.phrenopolis.com/perspective/atom/#electron) about the size of the atom - and how much of the atom is simply empty space.

It's interesting. Take a look and see how far it is to get from the nucleus to the electrons. It's amazing.

Skyler: 1998-2007

2007-07-05T10:52:00.000-05:00

So long, old friend.

And stay out

2007-06-30T11:07:00.000-05:00

From the delightful I CAN HAZ CHEEZBURGER site : http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Countries I've visited

2007-06-20T16:40:00.000-05:00

create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide

I've looked at clouds from both sides now

2007-06-04T20:14:00.000-05:00

Does this look like a dog?

Saturday, Linda and I took advantage of one of the perks of becoming a pilot. We booked a 172 from the good folks at Anson Air and flew to Taylor, a small town northeast of Austin, to visit with some old friends we haven't seen in a while.

The weather was warm and muggy, and we had the usual low-level cumulus that goes along with a high dew point. That meant our flight to Taylor would be low altitude, below 2000 feet. However, along the way, we found some open spots. Linda had been wanting to get pictures of clouds, and this would be the perfect opportunity.

Now a Cessna 172 is not exactly a rocket in a climb, and with the warm air, the best climb rate we could manage was about 500 feet per minute. But we managed to get to 6,500 feet, spiraling around the clouds. As an added benefit, the cooler air at that altitude made the temp in the cabin much more comfortable.

We landed at Taylor and met up with our friends Bob and John. After an enjoyable visit, catching up, and discussing life, the universe, and everything, we headed back.

Here are a few pics.

Bob, Steve, John

A happy pilot

Clouds

More clouds

More clouds

Moon and Venus

2007-05-19T21:26:00.000-05:00

Tonight (May 19th) we had a lovely close approach of Venus to the crescent moon. I got a few pictures and here they are. Just click on the pictures to see a bigger image.

Longer exposure shows the earthshine on the moon.

Reawakening a dormant hobby

2007-03-18T19:21:00.000-05:00

Now that I've gotten my private pilot certificate, I'm able to devote a little more time to my one of my other hobbies, which is amateur astronomy.

Like aviation, amateur astronomy is something that brings people together into communities, and the Internet has facilitated this. Lots of talented people who love the sky have put up webpages devoted to their interest.

One such person is Kirk Rogers. I stumbled across his website while searching for information on an equatorial mount I recently acquired. Kirk's site is: http://www.kiroastro.com/index.html
and it's great. Take some time to peruse it, and you will be amply rewarded.

Of course, there is a downside to this - now I want an observatory.

Let's see, private plane, observatory - I've just got to win the lottery!

Clear skies!

December Flight

2007-02-25T18:29:00.001-06:00

Playing around with Moviemaker. Music is Pink Floyd.

I should also point out that the cinematographer is Linda. :)

A few flying pictures

2007-02-25T17:47:00.000-06:00

I had an oppportunity to go flying today, and it was really beautiful. Nice clear day, good visibility, smooth air. I should have taken a camera...but since I didn't, here are some pictures from previous flights over the past few months.

Steep Turn

2007-01-14T14:27:00.000-06:00

One of the maneuvers all pilots have to demonstrate on a checkride is a steep turn. That's a 360 degree turn with a bank angle of 45 degrees. It's fun, because you have to give a little back pressure on the yoke to keep your nose up, and add a little power to maintain speed.

In a December flight, I demonstrated this for Linda. She took a video of it.

A few pictures

2006-10-07T14:35:00.000-05:00

We'll be getting back to aviation entries soon, but I shot a few pictures I wanted to upload.

A few days ago, I went out in the backyard and found that a spider had been busy. I'm no big fan of spiders, but their webs are amazing to see. Yes, that's a little bug at the center, haute cuisine for spiders.

Last night (October 5) was an exceptionally beautiful Harvest moon. I took the camera and went to spot near our house. This was a full moon at perigee (closest approach to earth) so it appears in the sky 12% larger than when the moon is at apogee. 300 mm lens.

Same moon, exiting from behind a cloud bank. I zoomed out a bit so the trees were visible. I used Photoshop Elements 4.0, and chose autolevels and it came out with this gorgeous blue sky. I liked it.

Crescent Moon

2006-09-27T21:45:00.000-05:00

Very nice crescent moon - September 28, 2006 - 7:30 PM

Landing Video

2006-09-24T14:27:00.000-05:00

Linda took this video of our landing in Sugar Land on our second flight.

More flying pictures

2006-09-24T12:44:00.000-05:00

Pre-flight Check

Starting the engine

Taxiing down to the runway

In the Air!

Flying

2006-09-24T12:17:00.000-05:00

On September 2, 2006, I fulfilled a long-time dream, and became a private pilot. After over two years of flight lessons (a longer time than average, but I was pretty much restricted to flying on weekends) I took my check ride at Sugar Land Airport, under the watchful tutelage of Joe Kapocsi, Chief Flight Instructor at Anson Air. Joe is also a pilot for Continental, and he has over 23,000 hours in the air.

The FAA Practical Exam consists of two parts: the oral examination, where the designated pilot examiner tests the applicant's knowlede of aviation, and the check ride, where he evaluates how the pilot actually flies the aircraft. The oral portion took about and hour and half, and he covered the basics - areodynamics, weather, regulations, navigation, use of charts, etc. I thought that part went all right.

I then pre-flighted the aircraft (N75897, a Cessna 172) while Joe watched and asked questions. We got in the plane, got the ASOS (an automated weather report of conditions at the field), and taxied out to Runway 35. We took off for our planned cross-country flight to Waco. After we cross the Katy Freeway, he announced that Waco was closed, and asked me to divert to another field. I fumbled with charts and plotter, but I eventually got the course and time to our destination.

I won't go into details. We did the basic manuevers I've done a hundred times in lessons - slow flight, stalls, turns around a point, all accompanied by a constant commentary from Joe. During the flight, I thought I was doing terribly, but apparently it satisfied him. I did okay on the most important thing: don't scare the examiner. My airwork was within tolerances.

We did a few landings, then landed to a full stop and parked at the Anson Air ramp. I was dreading the briefing, but it turned out to be quite positive. He told me about some things on the flight to watch out for, and said that I had passed.

I passed. And like the pilots like to say, I had earned my license to learn. I've had a few flights since then as a Private Pilot - Airplane Single Engine Land. Linda went up with me the next day for my inaugural flight carrying a passenger while I was pilot-in-command. (Technically, I was pilot-in-command during the checkride, but I didn't feel that really counted.)

I am looking forward to the flights ahead.

Perspective

2006-05-22T11:26:00.000-05:00

Pictures from Egypt

2006-04-22T22:05:00.000-05:00

The Sphinx
Pyramid and Sphinx
Linda and Steve in front of Pyramid
Very big. Very old.