Roads
Blacksmith, Turnip Patch, Nira, Lemon Tree, Bent, Rush Fork, Black Ridge, Conner Grove, Light Shade, Maple Swamp, Maple Shade, Dairy, Widow, Hurricane Ridge, Tory Creek, Broken, Webb Hollow, Pine Branch, Dugspur, Gibson Knob, Stone Mountain, Joppa, Calvary Way, Excelsior School, Stillhouse, Willow Shade, Horse Shoe Bend, Retriever’s Run, River, Old Quarry, Big Ivy, Community, Cherry Creek, Busted Rock, Central Academy, Trot Valley, Howell Bottom, Poplar, Mayo, Mountain View, Long Level.
Adult, adolescent, adult
I seem destined to go through my adult life borrowing other people’s Dysons. I don’t have a problem with this. I was about to have a problem with it when one of the attachments popped off the vacuum Dyson and rolled under the car parked next to mine this morning but–miracle of miracles–the woman who owns that car walked outside right at that moment to smoke and had her keys with her. She backed her car up, I retrieved the wayward attachment, and disaster and rage were averted. For now.
I’ve been watching the Mars Phoenix Lander coverage on NASA TV. Occasionally, I wander off and come back to find that some of NASA’s educational programming for students is on. I hate that stuff. I really do. I sit and watch it for a while until I can feel my blood pressure rising and I turn away. Here’s what I don’t like: I don’t like the way the content, what there is of it, is presented. If you’re addressing adolescents, consider challenging them. Assume they have the capacity to think and push/pull them along toward more sophisticated thinking. Don’t predetermine what data are acceptable for their age and rigorously limit their exposure to that. Gah. I’m getting angry just writing this.
In other news, I am off this week and spending the majority of it (starting tomorrow) in the mountains. Today is getting chewed up with all sorts of grown-up stuff that is effectively canceling out any chance of this day being a vacation. I don’t know how this happens but it almost always does. I think it is an unavoidable fact at this stage in my life.
Speaking of which, I need to get back to work.
Pineapple FYI
Fresh, sliced pineapple that has been soaked in equal parts rum and water, dusted with cinnamon and nutmeg, and then grilled (over a flame coaxed from perfectly stacked charcoal briquettes1) is just about the best thing I have ever eaten.
1. Said stacking ability, I am told, comes encoded on the Y chromosome. Noted.
There are so many things that can go wrong.
“Radio signals received at 4:53:44 p.m. Pacific Time (7:53:44 p.m. Eastern Time) confirmed the Phoenix Mars Lander had survived its difficult final descent and touchdown 15 minutes earlier. The signals took that long to travel from Mars to Earth at the speed of light.”
Also, I like what Erik has to say about this.
The subject line is a quote from Roving Mars, which is exceptionally interesting and moving. And on TV as I type this.
Handlebars and Old Glory
The rumbling starts on Thursday afternoon and doesn’t stop until the following Tuesday morning. Thousands and thousands and thousands of motorcyclists, the preponderance of them apparently riding Harleys by the sound of it, converge here for the annual Rolling Thunder gathering. Muscular and assertive bikes appear at every intersection, in every parking lot. All of Arlington becomes a sea of handlebars, tank tops, Old Glory, helmets, leather, and denim.
I love it.
Infrasound front
“Mysterious bands of shadow which sometimes pass across the ground during an eclipse might be produced by sound pulses, according to a new theory. ‘Shadow bands’ have been observed travelling across the ground before and after totality – when the Moon completely covers the Sun. Many attribute these regular light and dark bands to atmospheric turbulence. But astrophysicist Dr Stuart Eves thinks the phenomenon could be down to something called infrasound.”
[via]
I could stand a little more emphasis on the might be produced by part. Interesting, though.
Confession of a musical variety
I don’t like The Doors.
There, I said it.
It isn’t an active dislike. I don’t HATE them but I admit to the following:
- I dislike their music just enough to go to the trouble to turn it off.
- I don’t ever want my love to become a funeral pyre.
- I think Jim Morrison is overrated as a sex symbol. I get the feeling he probably smelled bad and was incredibly tedious…unless you were high, in which case he still smelled bad and was incredibly tedious but maybe you didn’t notice.
- I have no idea what “Seven horses seem to be on the mark” means. And I don’t care.
I am confessing this now because despite my best efforts at avoiding The Doors, they still invade my brain. I woke up this morning with one of their goddamned songs running through my head and am still nurturing a resentment about it now almost 5 hours later.
