I really enjoy trail-riding on my mountain bike (an old Specialized Rock Hopper). At the same time, I hate what mountain bikes do to some of my favorite trails. It's a conundrum, forcing a little bit of self-examination and recognition of hypocrisy that I haven't figured out how to resolve. To be clear, I'm not…Read more Tearing Up Jack…
Opposition (Astronomy, Week of 6/16/19)
Happy Father's Day all! A least to all the fathers out there. I haven't been sharing any astronomical thoughts for a while, as I've been too busy being a dad, myself. But despite my lack of writing, I've consistently been looking up. Enough to notice that Mars has slipped away and almost disappeared into the…Read more Opposition (Astronomy, Week of 6/16/19)
Westward Bound
Keeping up the sailing theme - the "Dove" was the smaller of two ships carrying those who founded the colony of Maryland in 1634. It took an act of courage to venture across the Atlantic.
“Hatikva” Sails Again!
I've had a sailboat sitting, for a long while, in a place not very well suited for a boat of any kind, much less one with a 25' mast. It's been sitting on a trailer in my garage, and it's been sad. I bought her from a co-worker. Spent a few months fixing things -…Read more “Hatikva” Sails Again!
Cryptochromes and Bird Migration
Spring is here! Around here, the trees are budding, the weather is alternately windy, stormy, and cold - and the birds are returning. Flocks of robins cover the neighbors' lawns, and the ospreys have returned to claim and improve last year's nesting sites. Bird migrations have long been a mystery to us simple humans. We've…Read more Cryptochromes and Bird Migration
Inspiration From An Interplanetary Snowman
Back on New Year's Day, 2019, the world got its first glimpses of MU69, a tiny rock orbiting our Sun almost a billion miles farther out than Pluto, in the heart of the Kuiper Belt. This rock represented our first up-close look at such a distant solar system object. Though it dwells in the same…Read more Inspiration From An Interplanetary Snowman
Growing Daylight
At my latitude, yesterday we saw 10:30 hours of daylight - and that's increasing as we leave Dark Winter behind and enter the Groundhog Days. Hopefully we'll start seeing enough daylight that we're not stuck at work for all of it!
