Antikythera update 3

This was update one and this was update two.


"It was not clear initially what the device was, except that it was clearly a sophisticated mechanism. X-ray analysis was subsequently used to probe the inner structure of the device, the details of the gears [video link]. Finally in 1974, a full analysis was published by Professor D. De Solla Price. While some of the original gearing was missing, there was enough to work out that the device was intended to show the motion of the Moon, Sun, and most likely, the planets when the handle was turned."


Click image to view animation of gears.


Meanwhile, at Archaeoastronomy:

"The letter in Nature for Nov 30, 2006, announces the findings of the X-ray team and appears to confirm the astronomical hypothesis. The X-rays have enabled more of the mechanism to be read. An inscription on the back door appears to include astronomical periods, including the Saros cycle of 223 synodic months (a synodic month being the period from one New Moon to the next). The inscription on the front door is fragmentary but with lines like 'brings towards the Sun up to... and conjunction,' it would take a powerful imagination to conclude it wasn't some form of [astronomical] calculation device."

Medicine in Mali

"Bourama Soumaoro's pharmacy looks much like any other: packets of pills in glass cabinets and jars of powder to fight everything from toothache to dysentery. But nowhere in the doctor's small shop in Mali's capital, Bamako, is there a chemically manufactured drug.

Soumaoro's remedies are made exclusively from ground-up local plants, the exact mixture based on knowledge passed down through the generations by traditional village healers.

"Culturally, we're born into traditional medicine rather than Western medicine. From being babies, our mothers take us to traditional healers to clean us and cure us with plants," Soumaoro told Reuters.

"The story of modern medicine is foreign to our culture."

Namdaemun Moon

A crescent Moon beyond the big screens
and bigger buildings of central Seoul.

Local color in different locales

Planetary gearshifting, part sixMe and my retrograde shadow

This was part five.


"When any planet goes retrograde, it actually goes through the same span of the zodiac three times -- forward, then backwards, then forwards again. When the planet changes direction, this is called a 'station' or 'being stationary' (motionless). The planet's progress through the zodiac slows down until it [seems to] pause (the station). Then it gradually starts moving again in the opposite direction."

Mercury, which turned direct on Nov. 17, will leave the shadow zone on December 6. Saturn will turn retrograde on December 5 and turn direct on April 19.

Gap-Toothed Women, The Blues, and the Burden of Dreams

These are some of the titles of films produced by Les Blank. I just saw some stills and synopses posted on Magpie.

Excerpts of Les Blank's films can be viewed thanks to the UC Berkeley library.

Planetary gearshifting, part five:MercRet only slightly in effect.

This was meant to be a comment on a friend's blog,
but her Movable Type module locked me out.

"At the time of your writing, Mercury was still in its retrograde shadow. This means that while Mercury began direct motion on Nov. 17 [and Uranus did the same on Nov. 20], the planet has not yet moved past the area in space where its retrograde trip began.

That will happen on Dec. 6... by which time Saturn will have gone retrograde. In regard to that situation, which will last until April 19, 2007:

"When Saturn is Retrograde, there is a refocusing, reconsideration and re-evaluation of [status, reputation, physical and financial security, and responsibility] in your life. Saturn Retrograde is a time of examining, judging, shoring up, making stronger, reinforcing, solidifying, strengthening the foundations of those structures in your life. With Saturn Retrograde, you are fortifying those things that you rely on for your security, things you have built step-by-step over time, and which you want to keep intact and safe because of their obvious value to you in the future."

This was part four, by the way.

Skies in the 90s

More archived photos. The first, taken in Sedona after I picked up my jaw from the ground, was published in a book of photos for which this domain was created.

When a piece of scanning equipment arrives from Chicagoland, I'll get the original nmazca images back online.


[1111px version]

Old autumn leaves

I've spent the last couple of nights sorting through archived files from two, three and five years ago. Here are some the results:


[1111 px version]




[1111px version]

Unearthing Africa's written history

Researchers in Timbuktu are fighting to preserve tens of thousands of ancient texts which they say prove Africa had a written history at least as old as the European Renaissance.

Experts believe the 150,000 texts collected so far are just a fraction of what lies hidden under centuries of dust behind the ornate wooden doors of Timbuktu's mud-brick homes.

"This is just 10 percent of what we have. We think we have more than a million buried here," said Ali Ould Sidi, a government official responsible for managing the town's World Heritage Sites.

Some academics say the texts will force the West to accept Africa has an intellectual history as old as its own. Others draw comparisons with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

But as the fame of the manuscripts spreads, conservationists fear those that have survived centuries of termites and extreme heat will be sold to tourists at extortionate prices or illegally trafficked out of the country.

South Africa is spearheading "Operation Timbuktu" to protect the texts, funding a new library for the Ahmed Baba Institute, named after a Timbuktu-born contemporary of William Shakespeare.

The United States and Norway are helping with the preservation of the manuscripts, which South African President Thabo Mbeki has said will "restore the self respect, the pride, honor and dignity of the people of Africa."

The people of Timbuktu, whose universities were attended by 25,000 scholars in the 16th century but whose languid pace of life has been left behind by modernity, have similar hopes.

"The nations formed a single line and Timbuktu was at the head. But one day, God did an about-turn and Timbuktu found itself at the back," a local proverb goes.

"Perhaps one day God will do another about-turn so that Timbuktu can retake its rightful place," it adds.

It's time for tea.

Immunity: Rosemary, cloves, peppermint, sage, angelica root, and ginger (diced pieces of the root would be preferable to powder, but go with what you've got). Pour in boiling water and let this steep for at least 15 minutes. Drink at least three times daily (when ill; drink it once a day to help prevent illness). Highly recommended if you spend time around lots of people, especially the young ones (hands in their mouths, noses and such).

This blend is sold as Four Thieves Tea at Rainbow Pharmacy in Seattle. The name comes from a story about four thieves who were caught robbing the homes of people who had died during the plague in Europe. It's said that they were told their lives would be spared if they explained how they stayed alive after being in infected areas. It was the herbs.

I made this blend last week, but w/o angelica (didn't have any in the house and didn't know what it was called in Korean). I used rosehips and crushed star anise instead. Did ya know that star anise provides the main ingredient for Tamiflu?

Sore throat: Blackberry leaf, slippery elm bark, hyssop, calendula flowers, sage. Pour in boiling water and let it steep for at least 7 minutes. An alternate would be to boil some licorice roots and then pour that over the herbs above... to which you might also add mullein leaves or flowers.

Congestion: Boil a couple finger-length segments of cinnamon bark along with ginger root and lemon. Place a handful of raisins and a couple slices of apple in a large mug or glass. Pour the boiled water over the fruit and add a half-teaspoon of cayenne powder (more if you're adventurous). Then add a bit of honey and perhaps some clove. Sip it down and then eat the fruit. Sweet and spicy. Good before bedtime, as is...

Relaxation: Oatbuds, strawberry leaf, skullcap, catnip, lavender flowers and lemon balm. Pour in boiling water and let it steep for at least 10 minutes.

Cold+flu: Sekem Flu tea (an Egyptian blend I picked up last year) contains tilia (linden) leaves, guava leaves, peppermint, verbascum (mullein) flowers, marjoram, fennel seed and licorice root. The directions say to let this steep for 3 minutes, but I'd say 10.

Finally, two very important points:

Put a lid on it. Keep herb teas -- anything like mint, sage, rosemary -- covered while they steep. The important volatile oils will float away on the steam if you leave your pot/cup uncovered. It also takes more time for the good bits to be drawn out of such herbs, which explains the long steeping times above.

Avoid the nuclear option. Please boil water (or, if you must, microwave it) and then pour it over your tea. If you put a teabag or an assortment of herbs in water, and then put that in a microwave, then the essential components will be "nuked." Not good for flavor or for you.

To our health...

New Moon in November

"The few-day dynamics kicking off this New Moon set in motion a mobilizing and potent lunar cycle, one highlighting creative action in mutual support that can lead to our greater self-mastery and fulfillment in the world."


The Moon will be new at 5:18 p.m. Eastern,
2:18 Pacific, on Nov. 20 in North America.
The graphic shows planetary aspects in Korea
at 7:18 a.m. on November 21.

"Our New Moon of Nov 20/21, 2006, resides in early sidereal Scorpio, just in font of the Scorpion's Head. The first few degrees of Scorpio embody the theme of sacrifice and offerings, but sacrifice does not mean self-sacrifice.

"In the true sense of the word, sacrifice means to give up a lower office for a higher office. When offering up the lesser, we are also faced with taking on a greater responsibility, moving from victim consciousness -- where we acquiesce to the conditions of life in which we find (or place) ourselves --to a mode of taking responsibility for creating our life scenarios and choosing a new path that supports our experiential growth, physical fulfillment, and spiritual maturity."

As Above, So Belownear the banksof the Nile

"[The image above] is an aerial photo of the Memphite Necropolis site at Giza, southwest of Cairo. Look carefully at the way the pyramids are aligned. At first glance, they seem to be imperfectly positioned. Classical Egyptologists maintain that this was either a mistake or a result of the terrain on the Giza Plateau. Compare this photo to the image of the belt stars of Orion and things become a little clearer. Far from being a mistake, the pyramids are aligned almost exactly as [Orion's] belt stars appear."


"Robert Bauval was the first to notice that the alignment of the Pyramids was a very precise mirror image of the belt stars of Orion. He called this the Correlation Theory, which forms the backbone of his current research."

Sweet Giza

[1947px version]

Image by way of the Smithsonian's Earth from Space site

Maximowiczia in the mix

A few days ago, I made my way through the aisles of one of the local groceries, and I thought to look for licorice. We'd just run out of the licorice root that I'd brought with me from Seattle (a year ago). Yes, I travel with bags of herbs -- don't you?

Anyhow, I found some specimens that looked and certainly smelled like licorice. There were some packages of tiny red berries nearby that I thought might be from hawthorn trees. Hawthorn berries are a good heart/circulatory tonic.

Of course, both packages were marked in Korean -- so I just took what I had, knowing that there'd be a benefit in having them, even if they weren't what I wanted.

감 초 (gamcho) was indeed licorice. 오 미 자 (omija) were schisandra berries, not hawthorns... and that's just fine.


"Schisandra chinensis is a woody vine that bears numerous clusters of tiny, bright red berries. The plant is found throughout northern and north-east China (especially in Jilin, Lianoning, Heilongliang and Hebei) and the adjacent regions of Russia and Korea. The fully ripe, sun-dried fruit is used medicinally.

"Schisandra has a mixture of sour, sweet, salty, hot, and bitter tastes. This unusual combination of flavors is reflected in its Chinese name wu-wei-zi (五味子), meaning "five-taste fruit." Other names for schisandra are Schisandra japonica, Maximowiczia chinensis and Kadsura chinensis.

The primary benefits of Schisandra chinensis:

* Increases physical and mental performance
* Increases acuity of vision and hearing
* Decreases eye fatigue in tasks requiring extended visual concentration
* Improves concentration and attention
* Increases physical and mental performance
* Restores strength after severe and prolonged exertion, and in convalescence from disease
* Strengthens muscular and speed abilities in sport exercises
* Helps the body withstand such stress factors as heat, cold, noise, emotional overloads, etc.
* Is successfully used in integrated programs for the treatment of gastrointestinal and communicable diseases, and some mental conditions

Also note:

"The main effects of adaptogens are an increased availability of energy during the day, a reduction of stress feelings, increased endurance, greater mental alertness, and deep and restful sleep. Also, adaptogens significantly accelerate the recovery process after illness."

Daehanminguk digicam:The lost photographs

I've been occupied with so many things Above (and so Below... and before that, on Jeju-do) that these photos from October had gone unposted.

Earlier "daehan-digi" posts were uploaded on: June 10, a little later on June 10, June 26, July 4 and July 17.


Happyland on mama's back
(video link of same)


If you're young and with someone in Korea,
you announce that fact with matching clothes.


I hadn't seen much in the way of military boosterism
until the week after the DPRK's nuclear test.


Korean Americana


A literal cornershop:
an arm's length by
a long leap in size.



Insadong neon nightlife
(video link of same)


Insadong signage


The view from Yongsan Station;
here's the same view,
six months earlier.


[1111px version]
Moviegoers outside of the Seoul Art Cinema
(or is it Cinematheque Seoul?)


Storefront grapes that show how
any space can be used for gardens.


Before...


...and after
at Dimibang


Our neighbors' garden, which we've peered at through the window since the spring. The very next day, a cold snap withered the remaining stalks and vines.


This last shot was taken yesterday. The wife of the man above, along with her daughters and friends, prepared enormous amounts of winter kimchi. Many if not most families are engaged in kimjang these days.

When my Lady Friend and I went for a walk soon afterward, the women offered us some of the uncut product: garlic and pepper paste in full effect!

Mercury transit recapand a bonus from Venus

This was the original recap.


"Mercury marched in front of the Sun from 19:12 UT on November 8 to 00:09 UT on November 9. Mercury was seen as a round-shaped shadow on the Sun. The Mercury Transit was observed in Asian countries including Japan in the morning of November 9 local time. The Hinode spacecraft, which is put on a Sun-synchronous orbit around the Earth, observed the event without atmospheric distortion."





I was collecting some images of Saturn from a Norwegian site and found lots of coverage of the Venus transit in 2004. Highlights:

The Thousand Handsof Limitless Compassionappeared on 11.11

"In this photo released by China's Xinhua news agency, members of the Chinese Art Ensemble of the Handicapped perform a dance named 'Mother Buddha' at the Xinjiang People's Hall in Urumqi, northwest China, on Saturday, November 11, 2006. Consisting of hearing-impaired dancers, the art troupe, set up in 1987, has given performances in more than 30 countries and won sound reputations, Xinhua said." (AP Photo/Xinhua, Wang Min)

Please see related posts and photos from: Sept. 26, Jan. 25 and Dec. 4.

Back to Bandiagara:An Eclipsed Moonabove Mali in March

This is what came before from Bandiagara.


I spoke with a good friend in Ohio a few days ago about our intention to leave the Land of Morning Calm. We plan to go back to Africa -- this time, south of the Sahara. I mentioned March as our arrival date, and my friend suddenly became all excited and loud: "That's when it happens! March 2007!"

"What happens?"

"I remember, that's when it's supposed to happen: March 2007!"

"What happens?!"

Well, in 1994 my friend had a dream in which the planets were grouped together during an eclipse. She mentioned it to a friend soon afterward, and was told, "Yeah, that's really going to happen in March 2007."

So she asked me what else I might knew about this event, but I just sat on this end, brow furled, knowing there isn't going to be a solar eclipse in March*... and then I became all excited when I remembered the total lunar eclipse that will take place that month. Not only will the eclipse be visible across the whole continent, but it will also occur just before the massive commemoration of Ali Farka Toure's life in Mali.

Anyhow, having remembered all of that, I knew I'd have to look into this decade-old signal that my friend had retained from dreamtime.

Here, then, is some advance info about the total lunar eclipse of March 3/4, 2007:

"The first of two total lunar eclipses in 2007 is unique in that it is partly visible from every continent around the world. The eclipse occurs 3.2 days before apogee and 1.9 days after the Moon occults Saturn (seen from northern and eastern Europe).

"During the eclipse, the Moon is in southern Leo, about 13º east of the 1.3-magnitude star Regulus (alpha Leo). The Moon's orbital trajectory takes it through the northern half of Earth's umbral shadow. Although the eclipse is not central, the total phase still lasts 73 minutes."


The graphic above details the Moon's path through Earth's shadow on March 3, 2007. The map illustrates worldwide visibility of the lunar eclipse.


The stellar projection above shows the sky at 11:11 p.m., March 3, 2007, at 19.5N, 3.3W. Note that every planet except Saturn will be on the opposite side of the planet.


19.5N, 3.3W is several hundred kilometers directly north of Timbuktu in Mali. A location along the same longitude, but at 14.3N [the villages of Tireli and Amani], is in the area of the Bandiagara Escarpment, home to Mali's Dogon tribe.

"During totality, the spring constellations will be well placed for viewing so a number of bright stars can be used for magnitude comparisons. Spica is 40º southeast of the eclipsed Moon, while Arcturus is 49º to the northeast. Alphard or Alpha Hya is 28º to the southwest and Procyon is 50º to the west. Saturn shines at magnitude +0.8 about 24º northwest of the Moon near the western border of Leo.

"The entire eclipse will be visible from Europe, Africa and western Asia. In eastern Asia, moonset occurs during various stages of the eclipse. For example, the Moon sets while in total eclipse from central China and southeast Asia. Western Australia catches part of the initial partial phases but the Moon sets before totality. Observers in eastern North and South America will find the Moon already partially or totality eclipsed at moonrise. From western North America, only the final penumbral phases are visible."

"This is the number of galaxies in nothing."

"This is what [goes unseen] when we stare
at a blank spot in the sky where nothing appears to be."

One person's statement about the importance of the Hubble Deep Field and Ultra-Deep Field images, 10- and 11-day exposures that revealed thousands of galaxies in the far reaches of the universe.


Hubble Deep Field, 1995


Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, 2003

There was a Deep Field South image released in '98, also.

As I searched for full-sized images of the photos above, I found a Norwegian astro site that featured some of the secondary images from the Ultra-Deep Field release. One of them was an image that I'd used on the now-defunct nmazca.blog in 2004. I had been looking for more information about "Peering through the cosmic sphere" by Camille Flammarion at the time, and the UDF graphic came up during my search.

I was struck by how this depiction of the universe resembled a cut-away image of a baby inside the womb. "Cosmic placenta!" was what I excitedly banged away on the keyboard that day...

A dream beach, indeed.

I've seen the same starscapes in dreams.

Mercury transit:recap and rewind

This animated image produced by the Hinode spacecraft shows Mercury's second contact during its transit of the Sun on Nov. 8/9, 2006. A 1024x1024-pixel, 21MB version is here.

Subsequent images came from the newswire, Spaceweather.com, and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. The SOHO site has more transit images and video in dif't wavelengths of light, by the way.


"Trying to find tiny Mecury on the face of the Sun was a little difficult with only a small pair of binoculars and a digital camera, and trying to dodge clouds, wind, and other things. If you have trouble finding Mercury, hint: It is the smallest of the three objects in this picture."

Cloudbreak at a quarter past nine

I was out in front of the building yesterday morning, trying to see something through the clouds, much less get a bead on Mercury. The clouds blew past just around the time that Mercury ought to have glided out of view... but I still think that we might have seen it as I projected an image onto a piece of paper.

Or maybe it was just a round piece of dust.

Anyway, I noticed some dramatic cloudshaping going on after I put the telescope to the side. Most arresting was a pre-emergence highlight along one cloudbank, with all of these diffuse hues of peach and blue and yellow. These photos (certainly at their scanning resolution) do no justice...




1111px version


1111px version

Saturn in sepia

"Saturn's B and C rings shine in diffuse, scattered light as the Cassini spacecraft looks on the planet's night side. The southern hemisphere is lit by sunlight reflecting off the rings, while the north shines much more feebly in the dim light that filters through the rings and is scattered on the northern hemisphere. The fine, innermost rings are seen silhouetted against the southern hemisphere of the planet before partially disappearing into shadow."

The eye of a storm on Saturn

"The Cassini probe stared deep into the swirling hurricane-like vortex at Saturn's south pole, where the vertical structure of the clouds is highlighted by shadows. Such a storm, with a well-developed eye ringed by towering clouds, is a phenomenon never before seen on another planet.

"This 14-frame movie shows a swirling cloud mass centered on the south pole, around which winds blow at 550 kilometers (350 miles) per hour. The frames have been aligned to make the planet appear stationary, while the sun appears to revolve about the pole in a counterclockwise direction. The clouds inside the dark, inner circle are lower than the surrounding clouds, which cast a shadow that follows the Sun.

"At the beginning of the movie, the Sun illuminates directly from the top, and by the end it illuminates from the left... The south polar storm is approximately 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles) across, which is considerably larger than a terrestrial hurricane..."

"Considerably," indeed. Imagine a hurricane that stretched from Australia to Japan.

See also: Enter the Dragon Storm

Hot times in the old homestead:The Orion Nebula in infrared

Early yesterday, while I produced some star maps to go with a friend's natal chart, I dialed up my own birthdate and made a new discovery: the Orion Nebula was precisely aligned with the horizon when I was born.

I was amused and excited to see this, as I've had a long -- lifelong -- attraction to Orion. I can recall sneaking out of the townhouse I shared with my father many years ago in order to walk along the abandoned rail tracks and stare into the night sky. In the fall or the early winter in those years, it seemed that Orion was astride the sky and so immense.

When I lived in New Mexico several years ago, I would stay out in the cold, still air and peer into the nebula with my telescope, discerning its broad curves and thinking that I was almost able to make out those distinct pink hues that are seen in so many photos.

I remember marveling at how the stars in Orion's "head" were in a similar alignment to the large, bright stars in the belt. And how, with maximum magnification and an indirect gaze, I could take in a view of the stellar nursery in the Trapezium.

No wonder, then -- considering its position at my birth -- that Orion's appearance has conveyed such a sense of wonder and reassurance for me. One of the most meaningful apparitions was the night I scattered my father's ashed into the Grand Canyon -- the last place we visited together, along with my mother, a year before he died.

As I conducted my little ceremony from the edge of the cliff, the sky seemed to glow blue-green because of the abundance of stars. It was when I finished, I think, that I noticed Bellatrix and Rigel and the belt stars rising above the North Rim. What a fitting signal for re-emergence and rebirth in the midst of mourning.

Anyhow, with all of this in mind, it was wonderful to see this new image, which was produced from Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescope observations... and which was released the same day I made my personal discovery about the nebula's placement.

See "Hail, Osiris" and "Infrared Orion," also. I think that the image in the latter post was used in the new composite.

Also! A Stellar Census of the Sword of Orion

Echoes, strandsand serpentsin space

"Variable star V838 Monocerotis lies near the edge of our Milky Way Galaxy, about 20,000 light-years from the Sun. Still, ever since a sudden outburst was detected in January 2002, this enigmatic star has taken the center of an astronomical stage.

"As astronomers watch, light from the outburst echoes across pre-existing dust shells around V838 Mon, progressively illuminating ever more distant regions... Researchers have now found that V838 Mon is likely a young binary star, but the cause of its extraordinary outburst remains a mystery."



"The double helix nebula. The spots are infrared-luminous stars, mostly red giants and red supergiants. Many other stars are present in this region, but are too dim to appear even in this sensitive infrared image.

"The double helix nebula is approximately 300 light-years from the enormous black hole at the center of the Milky Way. (The Earth is more than 25,000 light-years from the black hole at the galactic center.)"



"This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows what astronomers are referring to as a 'snake' and its surrounding stormy environment. The sinuous object is actually the core of a thick, sooty cloud large enough to swallow dozens[!] of solar systems. In fact, astronomers say the 'snake's belly' may be harboring gigantic stars in the process of forming.

"Yellow and orange dots throughout the image are enormous developing stars; the red star on the 'belly' of the snake is 20 to 50 times as massive as our sun. The blue dots are foreground stars.

"By studying the clustering and range of masses of these stellar embryos, researchers hope to determine if the stars were born in the same manner that our low-mass Sun was formed -- from a collapsing cloud of gas and dust -- or by another process in which the environment plays a larger role. The 'snake' is located about 11,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius, 'slithering' along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy."

How to plant [a billion] trees

The following instructions came from the UN Environmental Programme's site, which I visited after learning about The Billion Tree Campaign. The goal of the campaign is plant one billion trees in 2007.

This initiative is led, in part, by Prof. Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya and Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2004.

How To Plant a Tree

1. Dig a hole at least twice the width of the root ball to allow the roots to spread out. Remove the tree from its container, carefully cut off broken roots, and slightly loosen the root ball.

2. Place the tree in the planting hole. Always lift the tree by the root ball and never by the trunk. Spread periphery roots outwards. Avoid planting the tree too deep. Make sure that the soil line of the young tree is higher than the surface of the surrounding hole.

3. Shovel some soil into the planting hole. Check the planting depth and adjust if needed. Confirm that the tree is straight. Fill the hole gently but firmly. Pat the soil around the base of the root ball.

4. It is not recommended to apply fertilizer at the time of planting. Water the seedling thoroughly with a slow stream of water to settle the soil. Do not stake the tree. The sooner the tree can stand alone, the sooner it will become strong.

5. If suitable, space trees well to avoid competition for air and soil nutrients, and to encourage the growth of branches. Watch out for drought conditions and provide water if needed, especially during the first few months. Watch out for yellowing of leaves. Always maintain good air circulation in the tree by pruning to avoid pests and other diseases.

Tree Planting Tips

"The ideal time to plant a tree is during the rainy season, in the tropics and subtropics, or the dormant season, in temperate zones, after leaf drop or before bud break. Trees that have been well cared for in a nursery can be planted throughout the growing season.

"Proper handling of trees during planting is essential to ensure healthy growth. Proper site preparation before and during planting, coupled with good follow-up care, allows the seedlings to quickly establish roots in the new location and overcome what is known as transplant shock, a phenomenon that can slow the growth and reduce the vigour of the tree.

"Seeds can be sown in seed beds or seedling containers (preferably biodegradable) prepared with a mixture of sand, compost and soil. The plants will need watering before and after germination. Reduce the frequency of watering as the seedlings grow. Shade the seedlings and gradually reduce the shade as they grow.

"If you decide to plant seeds, collect them from an area that enjoys similar climatic conditions to where the trees will be planted. Collect the seeds from a number of healthy mature trees."

Contact an arborist or a nearby environmental non-governmental organization for advice on caring for your tree(s). For further information consult the following web sites:

http://www.greenbeltmovement.org
http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org
http://www.tree-planting.com/tree-planting-4.htm
http://www.plant-a-tree-today.org/home.asp

Low-impact hillside housing

"The house was built with maximum regard for the environment and by reciprocation gives us a unique opportunity to live close to nature. Being your own architect is a lot of fun and allows you to create and enjoy something which is part of yourself and the land rather than, at worst, a mass-produced box designed for maximum profit and convenience of the construction industry. Building from natural materials does away with producer's profits and the cocktail of carcinogenic poisons that fill most modern buildings."


Some key points of the design and construction:

* Dug into hillside for low visual impact and shelter
* Stone and mud from diggings used for retaining walls, foundations etc.
* Frame of oak thinnings (spare wood) from surrounding woodland
* Reciprocal roof rafters are structurally and aesthaetically fantastic and very easy to do
* Straw bales in floor, walls and roof for super-insulation and easy building
* Plastic sheet and mud/turf roof for low impact and ease
* Lime plaster on walls is breathable and low energy to manufacture (compared to cement)
* Reclaimed (scrap) wood for floors and fittings

The same people who built this house are also involved with another building venture: That Roundhouse.

Pixel pi

"Each of the 10 possible decimals
of the number pi is displayed
by a distinctly colored pixel."

via Infosthetics

モーションペイント第 二弾、壁バージョン

Moons over Yeoju

And from six months ago:

Mercury's big move on mercredi

"Usually, you expect to see planets at night. But in broad daylight on Wednesday, November 8th [sunrise on Nov. 9 in Korea], the planet Mercury will cross the face of the Sun.

"It will be visible in silhouette through a telescope with a safe solar filter placed securely over the front. Mercury will transit the Sun for about five hours, looking like a tiny round sunspot creeping westward across the enormous surface of our home star.

Transits of Mercury don't happen very often. The last was on May 7, 2003, and the next doesn't come until May 9, 2016.

"Well-prepared observers will see Mercury edge onto the Sun's face around 2:12 p.m. EST (11:12 a.m. PST). Watchers in western North America can see the entire transit, which ends when Mercury slips off the Sun's edge at 4:10 p.m. Pacific time. Farther east, the Sun will set while the transit is still in progress.

"To see the event, you'll have to be Sun-safe! You can burn a permanent blind spot in your eye's retina by trying to observe the Sun without proper protection -- and a telescope makes the danger more intense. You'll need a safe solar filter designed to go over the front of your telescope.

"Alternatively, you can project the Sun's image out of the eyepiece of a telescope or binoculars onto a white surface a foot or two away; turn the focus knob to get a sharp image of the Sun on the card. For details and illustrations, please see "How to Watch a Partial Solar Eclipse Safely."

Whoops. I eclipsed my own eclipse pics...

...which were meant to go in the previous post.



And now, three more from Old Cairo:

Doha to Daehanminguk:Mr. Damon's rewindthrough time

[I must mention that there's nothing here from the time
that I spent in Seattle after I left Qatar,
but before I went to Egypt.]

Doha















Cairo, Giza...


More on the Hand of Fatima here






...and the Sinai Peninsula








Bangkok





Taipei











Tokyo







Seoul + Yeoju...











...and other spots in Korea

A sliver of Saturnseen thru its rings

"The Cassini spacecraft gazes down through the dark side of Saturn's rings toward the softly glowing planet. The night side southern hemisphere is lit by sunlight reflecting off the opposite side of the rings. The planet's shadow slices diagonally across the scene.

"This view was acquired from about 23 degrees above the ringplane. The sliver of Saturn's sunlit crescent is partly overexposed as seen through the Cassini Division, a region where there is less material to block or scatter incoming light.

"Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Sept. 11, 2006, at a distance of approximately 1.1 million kilometers (700,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 151 degrees. Image scale is about 60 kilometers (37 miles) per pixel."

The shuttle will make one last trip to Hubble.

"Astronauts will use the Space Shuttle to bring new instruments to Hubble along with gyros, batteries and other devices crucial for the telescope's continued success through the year 2013. At the end of Servicing Mission 4, Hubble will be at the peak of its capabilities."

"Hubble's iconic pictures, such as the towering Eagle Nebula, have touched the public in ways that science normally can't do. That's partly because Hubble went from being a failure just after launch to a roaring success, said Syracuse University science and technology professor Henry Lambright.

"'The results of Hubble, the beautiful pictures that we see Hubble produce, the images of the cosmos are gripping to everyone who looks at them,' Lambright said. 'They transmit the magic of space in a way that words cannot.'

"Launched in 1990, it was the butt of jokes at first when it wasn't working properly [the mirrors were improperly installed --Ed.]... In the 13 years since Hubble got a major focusing problem fixed, the telescope has changed the field of astrophysics and what scientists think about the universe, especially about the mysterious dark energy and the expansion of the cosmos."

A hedgehog on my blog

Hedgehog in the Fog [Yozhik v tumane]
by Yuriy Norshteyn, 1975

"This is a story about a little hedgehog (voice of Mariya Vinogradova) and his friend Bear Cub (voice of Vyacheslav Nevinniy). They would meet every evening to drink tea, count the stars and have conversations.

"One day, as usual, the hedgehog decided to bring raspberry marmelade. While passing through the woods on the way to his friend, the hedgehog finds a horse standing in a fog. He is curious as to whether the horse would suffocate if it lay down in the fog. Being an explorer, the hedgehog decides to explore the fog..."

Norshteyn was born in 1941 and he is still producing films. His 1979 production Tale of Tales, from what I've read so far, is considered one of the best animation films ever made.

A 424MB .avi version of Tale of Tales (s l o w connection, likely w/o subtitles) is here... while a long series of frame-grabs from the film is here.

Video sent by a Klassy lady

Speaking of Orion...

"Computer graphics experts at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), astrophysicists and artists at the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium, and C. R. O'Dell of Rice University, worked together to produce a 3D model of the Orion Nebula. This model enables us to fly in and around the nebula, seeing it from the vantage point of a virtual spacecraft.

"Visualization of the nebula uses a volume modeling technique to define the cloudy structure of the nebula. Space in the region of the nebula is divided up into little cubes of space. Each cube is called a voxel, which is short for volume element. Each voxel is given a color and an opacity. The higher the opacity, the denser the gas in the voxel's region of space."

Meanwhile, above the Ukraine...

M42...The Orion Nebula


NGC 2244...The Rosette Nebula

Both by Georg Suturin