Christopher McKitterick

Why she thought it was a good idea to kick snow in a cat's face, I do not know:

I love how even the dog's all, "Screw that, I'm going inside." And the cat responds, "That's right, Fido. RUN AWAY YOU STINKY DOG OR I'LL MESS YOU UP."

...and here's the result:

"" (Watch on YouTube)

You're welcome.

Don't forget the Perseids tonight!

Chris

You might already knew about this, but Neil deGrasse Tyson is reprising Carl Sagan's most-awesome-ever program, Cosmos! It'll show on both the FOX network and National Geographic TV starting next spring.

More details:

"More than three decades after the debut of Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, Carl Sagan's stunning and iconic exploration of the universe as revealed by science, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey sets off on a new voyage for the stars. Seth MacFarlane and Sagan's original creative collaborators - writer/executive producer Ann Druyan and astronomer Steven Soter - have teamed to conceive a 13-part docu-series that will serve as a successor to the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning original series."

Here's the original-series trailer:

"" (Watch on YouTube)

"Hosted by renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, the series explores how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time. It brings to life never-before-told stories of the heroic quest for knowledge and transport viewers to new worlds and across the universe for a vision of the cosmos on the grandest scale. Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey invents new modes of scientific storytelling to reveal the grandeur of the universe and re-invent celebrated elements of the legendary original series, including the Cosmic Calendar and the Ship of the Imagination. The most profound scientific concepts are presented with stunning clarity, uniting skepticism and wonder, and weaving rigorous science with the emotional and spiritual into a transcendent experience."

And here's the brand-spankin'-new trailer for the new series, just released for DragonCon:

"" (Watch on YouTube)

"Carl Sagan's original series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage was first broadcast in 1980, and has been enjoyed by more than 750 million people worldwide." Including me, a few times now. I can hardly wait for this new one!

Chris

Not much serious here, just some stuff to enhance your day!

First up, "El Martillo de Thor se queda Pendejo." While taking a little break from grading final projects, I stumbled across this insane video about a cultural phenomenon I was not aware of, but now must learn EVERYTHING about. Whoah. You gotta respect Mjölnir, else it tries to launch you into space. Seriously, though, what kind of festivals do they celebrate south of the border?

(Okay, I'd go watch this. Wearing eye protection. And a helmet. And body armor.)

Next, OMG am I charmed half-to-death by "Star Trek: The Middle School Musical":

Finally, if you're local, here are a few upcoming area SF events you don't want to miss:

Spectrum Fantastic Art Live, the most amazing SF art show anywhere, THIS weekend. In its second year.

ConQuesT, the Kansas City SF convention, on Memorial Day weekend.

And of course in a month is the Campbell Conference. Newly confirmed guest authors include Kevin J. Anderson and Robert J. Sawyer, plus we'll host a screening of Destination Planet Negro, among other things:



This year's theme is "To the Stars," an SFnal play on the Kansas state motto. June 13-16.

Okay, I'm either diving back into grading or else going out to the garage to install the fuel pump for the Hot Rod Newport's new fuel-injection rig... decisions, decisions....

Best,
Chris

Comet Pan-STARRS is at its brightest right now, and finally rising high enough above the horizon for people living in the Northern Hemisphere to see it. Lots of details and observing recommendations on Sky & Telescope's website. Here's a chart of where to look, when:


Click the image to see the Sky & Telescope article.

But if a little comet isn't exciting enough for you, we have another one coming in the fall! Space scientists are eagerly awaiting comet Ison, due to fill the sky in November of this year.

In other news, have you seen today's Google Doodle? Don't panic! But be sure to click through the Encyclopedia Galactica, and see if you can identify all the objects on the spaceship control panel. The best description of the Doodle is on the Telegraph's site, but it's full of spoilers! After you play around with the Doodle for a while, check it out.

Finally, the experiment with writing first thing in the morning has resulted in huge productivity. I've been planning about an hour of writing, but every time I've started, I've ended up writing far longer than that. I'm up a couple thousand words since I started doing this last week. (Today's work was mostly Appendix material, but also some story. Writing is weird.) HOORAY! Conversely, whenever I've start doing something else (as I did over the weekend), that's it: No writing.

For those of you playing along, I hope your own experiment is going well.

Best,
Chris

This new xkcd series is frakkin' awesome, updated each Thursday. It's speculative-nonfiction humor writing, leaning heavily toward the Hard SF end of the spectrum.

First up: "What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?" Here's a hint:

Click the image to see the first installment of xkcd's "What if?"

Things don't get better from there. Or they get AWESOME, if you're a physics nerd.

Chris

Fascinating. This is the oldest piece of music known to humankind, originally engraved in cuneiform on a tablet from 1400 BCE, excavated in the early 1950s in the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit. It is a hymn to the moon god's wife, Nikal. The tablets also contain detailed performance instructions for a singer accompanied by a harpist (this recording is harp-only) as well as instructions on how to tune the harp. From this evidence, Prof. Anne Kilmer and other musicologists have created this lovely piece of music:



Listening to this got me thinking: In the days when this was recorded in cuneiform on clay, mastery of anything was a form of magic. Only a genius could have created this piece or performed it, because they didn't have the same kind of rigorous science-based educational system. But since the advent of the scientific method and applying it to our educational system, we have learned how to partition masterpieces (art, music, stories, structures, and so on) into understandable components, analyze them, and reproduce the effect they create in the mind of the audience.


Click the image to see a page about the original cuneiform tablets.

Now anyone with sufficient interest and patience can learn the theory that once produced magic, and with practice and a lot of effort can perform such a piece and maybe even come up with one that has a similar effect. It's like Hogwart's for everyone. I suspect this is why creative genius today is so hard to pick out from a crowd of art - anyone can look like a genius. But it's also why we recognize true genius when we do encounter it.

Chris

First up, new research suggests that 2.7% Of Drivers Are Stupid Jerks, Will Go Out of Their Way to Kill Turtles. This is a follow-up to another study, 2.7% of Drivers Are Stupid Jerks. Both studies find that about 2.7% of drivers intentionally swerve in an attempt to kill box turtles or other reptiles.

Click the image to see the article.
Let's say we have 300,000,000 people in the US. If 2.7% of them are animal-murderers (a short step from full-blown psychopaths), that suggests we have 8,100,000 psychos-in-waiting. Whoah. I wonder what keeps most of them from emerging like murderous butterflies from their cocoons?

How about some GOOD news? Here, have some hope for curing Alzheimer's.

Click the image to see the Kurzweil.com article.
Some more cool science: Quantum gas goes below absolute zero. This is fascinating. Things behave very strangely at the quantum level, so I'm strangely unsurprised! They also suggest this might be the explanation for dark energy....

Ever wondered how to pick a lock? This is a great graphic demonstration:

Click the image to see the Tumblr post.

My New Year's gift from the universe was a lovely cold. Thankfully, my fever broke last night (in a puddle in my bed - seriously, my sleeping-hat was DRIPPING), and the cough has become, ahem, productive. I've also become a snot factory. On the plus side, my brain is working again.

Hope you're doing well!

Best,
Chris

Had to share this article about a woman who has been driving for 94 years:

Margaret Dunning, a charming, energetic 102-year-old from Plymouth, MI, burst onto the national car scene last summer, becoming a popular and honored guest at motoring events from coast to coast, most recently at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

"It’s a dream come true," Dunning said, standing near her 1930 Packard 740 Custom Eight Roadster on the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach. "They’ve treated me very well. A lot of people want to talk to me, but I don’t know why everyone is making a fuss. I just love cars like everybody else."

Click the image to see the article at Hagerty.

The truth is, Dunning isn’t like anyone else. She is a walking treasure, eager to share first-hand knowledge of life in pre-Depression America. Certainly there are few people - if any - with more driving experience than she has. While growing up on a dairy farm in southeastern Michigan, she served as a tool chaser for her automobile-loving father, of whom she said, "I adored." Dunning’s dad taught her to drive at the age of 8, and when he died four years later, she was awarded a driver’s license so that she could drive her arthritic mother wherever she needed to go. That means Dunning has been driving for 94 years and has carried a license for 90.

"Oh, yes, I’ve driven my share, that’s for sure," she said.

Dunning still enjoys getting behind the wheel of her cream-colored Packard, which she has owned since 1949. "I love third gear. The car just sings," she said. "I never used it as my everyday driver, but I do like to get it out at least once a month. They were made to be driven, you know."

Daniel Clements, son-in-law of Dunning’s best friend, Rachel Churches, maintains Dunning’s collection of classic cars, which includes a 1931 Model A, ’66 Cadillac DeVille and ’75 Cadillac Eldorado convertible. Clements is also something of a caretaker for Dunning whenever she travels. "Not like she needs to be taken care of. She’s like the Energizer bunny," Clements joked. "I’ve been around the hobby for over 30 years and have been taking care of her cars for 15-20. She doesn’t like to sit; she wants to be involved. She could stand here all day and talk to people."

Dunning did a lot of that at Pebble Beach. Among her many well-wishers were NBC "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno, popular actor and Concours Master of Ceremonies Edward Hermann, and the Maharana of Udaipur (India), Arvind Singh Mewar, who kissed Dunning’s hand and offered her a gift. "It was all very exciting,” she said. “It certainly makes your heart thump."

Dunning has a great sense of humor, and she isn’t afraid to share it. Asked the key to her longevity, she said, “I never got married.” Whether or not there is truth in that statement, Dunning proved long ago that she can stand on her own two feet. She built her fortune in the retail clothing industry, sold her business in the late 1960s and now enjoys serving her community, particularly the Plymouth Historical Museum. Dunning’s love of history, particularly classic vehicles, makes perfect sense considering that she grew up just down the road from Henry Ford, who knew her parents and would sometimes stop by to visit. "I was told he even rocked me in my baby carriage," Dunning said, repeating a story she shared with Henry Ford III and Edsel Ford II while at Pebble Beach.

"Meeting all these good people just shows that car people are car people," Dunning said. "We come from difference places and different backgrounds, but we all have that in common."

One thing is for certain: None of the car aficionados that Dunning met at Pebble Beach has driven as long as she has, and few - if any - can match her 63-year "marriage" to her award-winning Packard.

"I’m so pleased to see that the old car is still desirable," Dunning said. "It gives me such pride. It’s quite a thrill."

I want to be like Maragaret when I grow up.

Chris

Today's inspirational quote by Russell Kirsch, the guy who invented the computer:

"...nothing is withheld from us what we have conceived to do. Most people think the opposite - that all things are withheld from them which they have conceived to do and they end up doing nothing."

Check out the full story (archived below). We all need to be open to meeting such people. Next time you're in a coffee shop and some weirdo starts talking to you, take the opportunity. You never know what you might learn.

( archived here because the blog is getting trounced into the ground )
Now I'm off to do something productive. In the words of a famous Wizard, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

What are you going to conceive of and do with your time this week?

Chris