Sunday, October 5, 2008

Bird, Bat Girl, Books, and Saturn Sings

Reflections


Great picture sent by Jo Anna

Fly Like An Eagle



Bat Girl in The Badlands

The Badlands 10/2/08

Bat Girl checks out Horse Thief Lake 10/4/08
"We stopped at Mt. Rushmore, but they wouldn't allow me on the observation deck."

"Stay tuned for my next exciting installment."


Here in Redding

Looks like rain 10/3/08
We got some much needed rain on Friday.

Reading during a moment of Saturday sunshine.
Today the skies cleared and the sun appeared between a few lingering showers. It is good to have a day to enjoy with a couple of good books.

News From Houston
I got a letter from my sister. She went down to Crystal Beach, Texas, to see the vacant lot where her beach house stood. She writes; "New Orleans was nothing compared to our situation. There were perhaps 60 houses on my street. Now there are 2, and they are beyond repair...My neighbors found our custom made, huge flagpole with the American + Texas flags still intact, the 8 ball from our pool table + our huge oyster shucker."

She went on to write; "What was strange was there were no appliances or furniture in sight but you would find someones plate without a chip! My fish fryer and lid were intact! A lot of people were digging, but I told the kids to forget it."
Just after her letter arrived I got an e-mail from her, so after 16 days of no power and no phone, she now has some basic services in Houston.
As for her beach house that washed away, she says if she were rich she would rebuild, if rebuilding was allowed there.

The authorities are still finding dead bodies of those people who opted to stay and ride out the storm.

In A Galaxy Far, Far, Away


Another spectacular Hubble Space Telescope image
Messenger to take more
pictures of Mercury Monday.


Mercury picture taken by Messenger, January 14th

The probe was sent to gather more information on the planet closest to the sun.

MESSENGER is due to fly about 124 miles above Mercury's surface at nearly 15,000 mph .


How to find Uranus
I know you expect me to say something funny.
Especially now with republicans trying to prove America is number 1 in the IQ limbo contest, (How low can you go?)
But really, Uranus is visible now in the night sky if you know where to look. It's just to the left of Aquarius. For further instruction, you can click HERE .

Sounds From Saturn


This is so cool. The Cassini spacecraft that studies Saturn, has been recording its radio waves since 2002. What is amazing to me is the similarity to the sound used in old science fiction movies. You can hear it for yourself.
Saturn Sings
Time on this recording has been compressed such that 73 seconds corresponds to 27 minutes, or, the recording is at 22x real time. Since the frequencies of these emissions are well above the audio frequency range, they have been shifted downward by a factor of 44.

Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;
Spinning Wheel-Blood, Sweat & Tears

"I cannot live without books"
Thomas Jefferson

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