Back on December 1st
California’s Poet Laureate visited Bakersfield. For those that
don’t know, that’s a position given to someone that does a lot to
represent poetry. In particular, California’s Poet Laureate, Dana
Gioia (JOY-yah), has made it his goal to present poetry in every
California County. Which, given the population of some of our
counties, means he’ll be talking to some pretty empty rooms.
Rambling thoughts from someone trying to keep his "I wish I had..." list as
short as possible.
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Resting on Laurels
Saturday, October 29, 2016
“Birds” Watching
So recently I spent
some time in the small towns of Bodega and Bodega Bay. The weather
was rainy due to a small storm sliding down California, so there
weren't a lot of outdoor activities that could really be enjoyed. I
did some photography of the waves crashing into the beach. (Even a
small storm can make some pretty dramatic waves.) And I did a little
bird watching.
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Retrograde
Every night about
nine o'clock, Moonpi (our dog) and I step outside. For him it's an
opportunity to do some sniffing around and do some other doggy
business. And for me it is an opportunity to look up at the night
sky. For the past few months I've been watching a small triangle of
stars on the southwest part of the sky.
Saturday, September 3, 2016
Historical
I've been getting
exposed to history that I was never taught in school. I'm learning
quite a bit from a podcast (which is an internet audio “lecture”
or “discussion”) called “Stuff You Missed In History Class”.
That podcast covers all manner of topics, from the tasty (a history
of cheese) to the silly (the West Point Eggnog Riot of 1826) to the
horrific (the Tulsa Race Riot). But there are many things that just
don't show up in history classes. Partly due to time, there just
isn't enough time to cover everything. And partly due to a certain
kind of censorship, people just don't want to talk about certain
things.
Friday, August 5, 2016
It's Too Hot
So far 2016 is the
warmest year on record. Following 2015 which was previously the
warmest year on record. Out there in Death Valley they're flirting
with surpassing the world's record temperature (134ºF
from 1913). But it wasn't
that long ago that we were still getting glaciers forming in the
Sierras.
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Stuff
I have recently been
involved in trying to help some people move. And since they are going
to a smaller place they have to get rid of stuff. A lot of
stuff. And even when something isn't an heirloom it can still be a
memory. And a memory can be important.
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Time to Celebrate
It's almost May and
Summer is around the corner. The end of April has been very busy for
me so I hadn't really thought of anything that I could write about.
But I discovered the National Day Calendar
(http://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/calendar-at-a-glance/).
And if you're needing a reason to celebrate they've got you covered.
Getting Animated
Due to getting
access to YouTube on my TV I've been watching more stuff on YouTube
than I used to. There seems to be something for everyone on there.
I've found cooking videos for people who are Revolutionary War
reenactors and others for how to take apart your computer.
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Burning Daylight
So, it's just
around the corner. Yet again. Daylight Saving Time. Another year with
the horrible weeks of adjusting to a new timezone without even
moving. Now I can sort of theoretically understand that there are
people that like it.
Wavy Gravity
Physics
was making big news again just recently. When Albert Einstein created
his general theory of relativity it suggested that gravity was
actually warping space. And that's the model that people have been
using since many of it's predictions have been verified. Like gravity
bending light, and slight differences in the flow of time between the
Earth's surface and out in space (which has to be accounted for to
make your GPS work).
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Lunar-C
Time is a strange
dimension. Mathematically we can move all around in space, but with
time all we can do is follow along as time keeps moving “forward”.
We can look back in time through memory, history and scientific
methods, but when we go forward we have to make predictions. These
can be as good as predicting a solar eclipse years in advance. Or as
poor as guessing who's going to be president next year.
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Out in the Cold
I don't always know
where my projects are inspired. But this time I'm pretty sure that my
interest in cold smoking came from how expensive smoked salmon
is. Cold smoking is like barbecue in that food is flavored by smoke
of long periods of time, but since it's “cold” the food doesn't
get cooked.
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Cal-Earth
Not too long ago we
were watching PBS (it happens) and saw a short segment on a group
here in California building structures out of EARTH (don't call it
“dirt”). They had gracefully curved buildings that would remind a
person of a hobbit home. Cozy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)