Rock Hounds in the Bathroom

I hate to admit it now, but Earth Sciences was the most boring science class I took in high school. And I flubbed the practical exam where the instructor asked us to identify a bunch of rocks. Hey, they were just rocks, right?

Since then my love of geology has never approached the level of professional excellence like my professional friends at Falcon Geodetic  or the scientific expertise at Geology.com. But I know a pretty rock when I see one. And this museum had cases and cases of pretty rocks from all over. Marble, malachite, quartz, and many beautiful varieties of each.

And what thought comes to mind when faces with so many pretty tiles? Why, a custom tiled bathroom, of course.

 

Antiquities Museum, Basel

What is a Venus Transit anyway?

Back on June 5 the song King of Pain, by the Police, was running through my mind along with thousands of other Californians. I was fortunate to be near the Auburn Dam Overlook as I wrapped up my business for the day. I joined a crowd of hundreds to enjoy safe viewing of the event organized by Don Maccholz and a band of dedicated amateur astronomers. To see an excellent write up of the event, visit  Venus Transit.

Close Encounters of the Smithsonian Kind

Our family vacation included a stop at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. They've reworked the exhibits since the last time we visited and the layout is an excellent showcase of the U.S. exploration of space. We saw Mercury and Apollo capsules, the lunar lander, the Apollo-Soyuz space station, the Space Shuttle, Space Ship 1 and other experimental aircraft, satellites galore, and lunar rovers. It was a space lover's dream.

As we wandered away from the beaten track, we found this odd little out-of-the-way display. A quick question was asked:
"What is this?"
Without even thinking twice, I said
"The mother ship from Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
"Right the first try!" I was told.

I was suspicious, and walked around the display case until I found the placard on the exhibit. Yes, I was, in fact, correct. This is the very model that Steven Spielberg's crew used when filming that famous scene. Wow, now I've seen everything!

The Answer: To the Universe - And Beyond

I haven't traveled from home much lately, but my drive to explore must be satisfied. So I decided to spend some time on Galaxy Zoo, which I first found out about from an astrophysicist at CalTech. This is just the most far-out traveling I have ever done, visiting the ever-expanding edges of the known universe.

Galaxy Zoo is an on-line science web site started back in 2007. Astrophysicists were literally drowning in data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and later the Hubble space telescope survey. What to do? Why, use the internet to solve the problem and invite volunteers from the general public to classify the deep space objects. According to a member of the team behind the project, Kevin Schawinski, "The human brain is actually much better than a computer at these pattern-recognition tasks."

Sounded like fun to me. I ran through the on-line tutorial, explored and classified some galaxies, then promptly forgot about it for 3 years. But after my last astronomy club meeting, I was reinspired to visit "The Zoo" again. And I can't believe what I found! This image is pretty exciting stuff. All my amateur astronomy friends have never seen anything like it before. It may be the result of galaxies colliding sometime in the far past. I've forwarded the image on to some researchers. We'll see if anything interesting comes of it.

To the Universe - And Beyond

Marriott's in Pasadena, CA

I was surprised to find there are a vast number of Marriott's hotels within blocks of each other in the Monrovia/Arcardia/Pasadena area. We chose the SpringHill Suites.

I was spoiled in South America, because in Buenos Aires and Lima the Marriotts are 5 star luxury hotels. In California, most Marriotts hotels are 3-4 star business hotels. The SprinHill Suites hotel is a small property, near the freeway, and with plenty to do nearby.

The hotel has a swimming pool and an exercise room.
We found the exercise room small, but functional. There were no weights, but there were two treadmills, a stair stepper and an exercise ball. I managed to work up a sweat, so no complaints.

Each room is a small suite, nicely laid out with separate areas to work, entertain, and sleep. A free breakfast was included with our room. Decor is simple, but attractive. Soundproofing is minimal between floors. At 10:45 PM what sounded like a troupe of gymnasts made quite a ruckus in the room above us.

Towels are functional, but not luxurious. They are folded attactively. All the usual amenities are provided, with a sea kelp theme.

Sunset at 30,000 Feet

Have you ever seen a sun sandwich? You know, a layer of clouds below the sun and a layer of clouds above the sun, kind of like a golden oreo?

As I was flying out of Seattle, through a solid cloud deck, the airplane emerged from the lower cloud deck and I was treated to a sight I'd never seen before: the sun, sandwiched between two solid layers of clouds. As I watched, the sky turned gloriously rosy and the sun sank beneath the clouds. It was the most unusual sunset I've ever watched.

See the article by Michael Pidwirny, PhD, of the University of British Columbia for a scientist's explanation (and an even prettier picture) of layers in our atmosphere.

Infinity Mirror in Vancouver

An infinity mirror is a fascinating concept. You may have seen one in a hands-on kids museum, in a disco, or maybe in the temple. But have you ever seen one in the business section of downtown Vancouver?  

Volcanoes Dog My Travels

I was originally scheduled to travel May 23, but wound up moving the date out a few weeks. On May 21, I was very glad I did.

A Los Angeles Times story announced the following.
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND— Iceland's most active volcano has started erupting, scientists said Saturday -- just over a year after another eruption on the North Atlantic island shut down European air traffic for days.


Fortunately, this volcano did not lead to widespread travel disruption like those triggered in April 2010 by ash from Eyjafjallajokull.

While I was flying to Lima, a volcano in the Caulle Cordon of southern Chile erupted.

On the day I was flying home, Argentina's Agriculture Ministry has declared a state of emergency in three provinces. Ash from the volcano disrupted flights in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Australia and New Zealand, but thankfully, not Peru.

Authorities say the ash cloud from the erupting volcano completely circled the globe and is falling on Chilean soil. Today we were watching the German newscasts on You Tube and the ash is horrendous. Imagine ash, falling like snow, 3 feet deep. It is clogging rivers and covering lakes, making it difficult for people to get water for their animals and themselves.

Some interesting links you may enjoy.

National Geographic photos of Chilean volcano
Coming home from his mission a little late.
What is a volcano

Vulcan, Roman god of fire.
Hephaistos God of Volcanoes
Pele, goddess of fire, both creator and destroyer.
Volcano Gregorio in South America.
Modern day appeasement of the volcano gods.