shared from Intelligence is sexy
The National Climate Assessment was released today. Do you think people will finally start to pay attention?
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/science/earth/climate-change-report.html?_r=0
Looking together in the same direction.
Sea otters hold hands while they sleep so they don't drift apart.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Just stop and think. Please!
shared from Intelligence is sexy
The National Climate Assessment was released today. Do you think people will finally start to pay attention?
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/science/earth/climate-change-report.html?_r=0
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Friday, May 2, 2014
Thursday, May 1, 2014
"O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?"---Percy Bysshe Shelley
It is still windy and cool. It feels like March rather than the first of May. But there is proof that spring is here. The wild plum thickets in the South Valley park are abloom and the scent is absolutely overpowering. It makes you look up from the trail below your feet and consider things other than the trivial thoughts running through your mind.
And if you look closely, you can see the dozen or so deer at dusk grazing in my yard yesterday evening. May is the one month of the year where my lawn is actually green and appears healthy.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
“I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things... I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind.”---Leo F. Buscaglia
It has been extremely windy and cold lately. The roofers started to replace my hail-damaged roof a couple of days ago, but have had to quit early every day due to the high winds. This job may end up taking a while.
Charleigh-dog has been very upset at all the noise and pounding and people on the roof. The first day, for two solid hours, she would bark, I would squirt her with water, she would pause then bark again, and I would squirt again. Now we are down to occasional quiet woofs that escape her unbeknownst, and she stays glued by my side....no squirting necessary. Needless to say, I cannot go anywhere this week without taking her with me while they are here working. It wouldn't be fair to my anxious, upset dog. She is correct that strangers don't belong on top of the house ripping apart our roof.
I wish you a great day.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
I just discovered the poem from which the above quote is taken. I thought you might enjoy it, too. All of us leave work and discoveries to be finished by other generations, "our pupils." They will build upon what we leave behind.
The Old Astronomer
Reach me down my Tycho Brahé, -- I would know him when we meet,
When I share my later science, sitting humbly at his feet;
He may know the law of all things, yet be ignorant of how
We are working to completion, working on from then to now.
Pray remember that I leave you all my theory complete,
Lacking only certain data for your adding, as is meet,
And remember men will scorn it, 'tis original and true,
And the obloquy of newness may fall bitterly on you.
But, my pupil, as my pupil you have learned the worth of scorn,
You have laughed with me at pity, we have joyed to be forlorn,
What for us are all distractions of men's fellowship and wiles;
What for us the Goddess Pleasure with her meretricious smiles.
You may tell that German College that their honor comes too late,
But they must not waste repentance on the grizzly savant's fate.
Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.
What, my boy, you are not weeping? You should save your eyes for sight;
You will need them, mine observer, yet for many another night.
I leave none but you, my pupil, unto whom my plans are known.
You "have none but me," you murmur, and I "leave you quite alone"?
Well then, kiss me, -- since my mother left her blessing on my brow,
There has been a something wanting in my nature until now;
I can dimly comprehend it, -- that I might have been more kind,
Might have cherished you more wisely, as the one I leave behind.
I "have never failed in kindness"? No, we lived too high for strife,--
Calmest coldness was the error which has crept into our life;
But your spirit is untainted, I can dedicate you still
To the service of our science: you will further it? you will!
There are certain calculations I should like to make with you,
To be sure that your deductions will be logical and true;
And remember, "Patience, Patience," is the watchword of a sage,
Not to-day nor yet to-morrow can complete a perfect age.
I have sown, like Tycho Brahé, that a greater man may reap;
But if none should do my reaping, 'twill disturb me in my sleep
So be careful and be faithful, though, like me, you leave no name;
See, my boy, that nothing turn you to the mere pursuit of fame.
I must say Good-bye, my pupil, for I cannot longer speak;
Draw the curtain back for Venus, ere my vision grows too weak:
It is strange the pearly planet should look red as fiery Mars,--
God will mercifully guide me on my way amongst the stars.
Note: The first four stanzas were included in an anthology, The Best-Loved Poems of the American People, ed. by Hazel Felleman (1936) under the inauthentic title "The Old Astronomer to His Pupil."
He may know the law of all things, yet be ignorant of how
We are working to completion, working on from then to now.
Pray remember that I leave you all my theory complete,
Lacking only certain data for your adding, as is meet,
And remember men will scorn it, 'tis original and true,
And the obloquy of newness may fall bitterly on you.
But, my pupil, as my pupil you have learned the worth of scorn,
You have laughed with me at pity, we have joyed to be forlorn,
What for us are all distractions of men's fellowship and wiles;
What for us the Goddess Pleasure with her meretricious smiles.
You may tell that German College that their honor comes too late,
But they must not waste repentance on the grizzly savant's fate.
Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.
What, my boy, you are not weeping? You should save your eyes for sight;
You will need them, mine observer, yet for many another night.
I leave none but you, my pupil, unto whom my plans are known.
You "have none but me," you murmur, and I "leave you quite alone"?
Well then, kiss me, -- since my mother left her blessing on my brow,
There has been a something wanting in my nature until now;
I can dimly comprehend it, -- that I might have been more kind,
Might have cherished you more wisely, as the one I leave behind.
I "have never failed in kindness"? No, we lived too high for strife,--
Calmest coldness was the error which has crept into our life;
But your spirit is untainted, I can dedicate you still
To the service of our science: you will further it? you will!
There are certain calculations I should like to make with you,
To be sure that your deductions will be logical and true;
And remember, "Patience, Patience," is the watchword of a sage,
Not to-day nor yet to-morrow can complete a perfect age.
I have sown, like Tycho Brahé, that a greater man may reap;
But if none should do my reaping, 'twill disturb me in my sleep
So be careful and be faithful, though, like me, you leave no name;
See, my boy, that nothing turn you to the mere pursuit of fame.
I must say Good-bye, my pupil, for I cannot longer speak;
Draw the curtain back for Venus, ere my vision grows too weak:
It is strange the pearly planet should look red as fiery Mars,--
God will mercifully guide me on my way amongst the stars.
Note: The first four stanzas were included in an anthology, The Best-Loved Poems of the American People, ed. by Hazel Felleman (1936) under the inauthentic title "The Old Astronomer to His Pupil."
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