Hi! *Waves*
As you can tell, I have a lot of interests and I have thought that by rotating the contents of the blog it would not get stale and would be sort of new each week. I still believe that and I at least enjoy the randomness as that is kind of my personality.
So I really wanted to check in and see how that format's working.
I have been having a difficult time coming up with posts sometimes, so sorry for that. I am thinking that if that's the case, then maybe I should cut back to one post a week. I haven't really decided, though.
Also, I had originally decided not to personalize the blog very much, but sometimes that's unavoidable. I find it happening more and more, so if may be something that becomes somewhat permanent (actually, you'll see that in Thursday's blog, heh heh).
Summer is coming soon, so there may be some new, exciting posts. I'll see what I comes to mind. My sporadic ideas of inspiration are one reason why I'm not a professional writer - I would probably starve to death.
So, I just wanted to say, "Hey there" and make a post about what's been going on. But, this post seems kind of boring, so...let's jazz it up a bit. Here are a couple shots of the beautiful city of trees:
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Maintainer's Post
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Picture Post: Fractals
I discovered fractals randomly about eight years ago while surfing the web looking for a new wallpaper for my computer. I am not mathematically inclined at all, so I found it fascinating that these insane pieces of art are created from mathematical equations!
Very simplistically, fractals are repeated patterns of geometric shapes that are replicated on a smaller and smaller scale, so no matter how much magnification occurs, the shape is always the same. We all know the dangers of using Wikipedia as a source, but for this purpose, it works well to explain fractals better than I ever could.
So instead of the English major trying to explain a mathematical concept, how about I get back to the original topic of this post: pictures. Below are some of my favorite fractal designs. You can click the image for a larger version.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Grateful
Thanksgiving is fast approaching and I wanted to take a quick moment to post what I'm particularly grateful for this year, which is a furry bundle of 13 1/2 lbs. Our cat, Tom Bosley (yes, named after the Tom Bosley) came into our lives over four years ago. He's provided many scratches and maulings, but also a lot of purrs and a lot of love.
A few months ago he had a health scare that resulted in a diagnosis of chronic cystitis, which really doesn't have a cure, but is manageable and hopefully will go away after awhile. We were so grateful for this diagnosis, as the alternative would have been a bladder tumor, which is pretty much a death sentence. Although annoying and worrisome at times, at least this diagnosis isn't terminal.
We are grateful to the wonderful vets and vet techs who have worked with us for the past few months, providing the best care and medicine possible and answering all of our weird and probably redundant questions. Most of all, we're grateful to have our little furball running around! (I still have yet to figure out what his fascination is with garbage cans...)
What are you thankful for this season?Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Just a tiny speck
Ever since I was little I've been fascinated by space. From the ancient myths about the constellations (a post all it's own, hopefully coming soon) to planets, stars, and other solar systems, I love to just contemplate the universe. Just yesterday I was walking across the parking lot at work and I couldn't help but look up in awe at how massive the universe is and how tiny we all are.
Today's post is a picture post of some amazing space images, which will certainly make you feel just a little insignificant:
The clouds and gas in the image were taken by the Herschel Observatory. This picture show the materials just starting to condense into stars in our Milky Way galaxy.
Yet another star-forming cloud taken with the Spitzer telescope.
Another image from the Spitzer telescope of a spiral galaxy in Ursa Major (46 million light years from Earth). Like most images of space, this is actually a composite of three different images (blue, green, and red capture different infrared wavelengths).
1400 light years away, this very faint "reflection nebula" sits on the edge of the Milky Way galaxy near the Cepheus constellation.
This amazing picture is actually restored from a 1966 picture of Earth taken from the moon. What an amazing perspective!
This picture from the SOHO satellite was taken in 2000. Not only does this picture actually offer a full shot of what our sun looks like, in the bottom left corner there is also an "erruptive prominence" snaking out from the sun. This "claw" is so huge that ten Earths could fit inside of it. That's one huge fireball!
Probably one of the most famous constellations is that of the great hunter Orion. In the Northern hempisphere, it is one of the easiest winter constellations to spot, specifically because of the three stars ( Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka) that make up Orion's belt. These three stars are each hotter than our sun and are 1500 light years away from Earth.
The Gum Nebula is so large and expansive that we are less than 500 light years from its front and nearly 1500 light years from its back.
The Crab Nebula is one of the most famous because it's so beautiful and interesting (of course, the colors represented here are once again, a mosaic of several images). The Crab Nebula spans 10 light years and contains a pulsar at the center that has as much mas "as the sun...but is only the size of a small town."
