Red Square Post

Happy May Day! - I hope it was candy in the bag on your doorstep this morning. Today the focus is two unique celestial bodies, the Red Rectangle Nebula and the Red Square Nebula.

From NASA:

"So why does it look like a big X? A likely explanation is that the central star - actually a close pair of stars - is surrounded by a thick dust torus which pinches the otherwise spherical outflow into tip-touching cone shapes. Because we view the torus edge-on, the boundary edges of the cone shapes seem to form an X. The distinct rungs suggest the outflow occurs in fits and starts. About 2,300 light-years away toward the fanciful constellation Monoceros, the Red Rectangle nebula should be transformed into a glorious planetary nebula as its cool central star becomes a hot white dwarf over the next few thousand years."

NASA again:

"What could cause a nebula to appear square? No one is quite sure. The hot star system known as MWC 922, however, appears to be imbedded in a nebula with just such a shape."

Some strange information in the Red Sqaure Wikipedia article suggests that the nebula is lucky, and that a competing team named after the Red Square will earn its blessing. Knock on wood.

The Shape of Things

In 1785, William Herschel drew the Milky Way as he thought it might appear - a brilliant, amorphous collection of stars extending roughly outward from our own sun. He came to this shape by measuring the individual distance of each star from the Earth. His resulting picture explained little.

Upon release of the Earth from the center of things, these data begin to draw something with a recognizable shape. Two centuries after Herschel's drawing, it was known not only the shape of our galaxy, but also the shape of countless others. Few resemble Herschel's drawing.

The band of stars named the Milky Way is not scattered aimlessly around a vaguely central Earth. Humans walk within a massive disc, and it appears from Earth as a cross-section.  Much like a wide band of humans, in such number to fill the frame of vision - standing within the crowd, one might consider others in terms of relative distance, with higher importance to those in proximity: those with discernible detail and more immediate effect on the environment of the observer.

Like continents and constellations, The Milky Way is essentially frozen in time to human observers. Humans are moving swiftly about, however, and the shape shifts with the population, much faster than both mountains and the weather. It is the shape of Earth in human passage.

Herschel's drawing from Harvard, diagram from Arizona State, and the crowd from WYES.

Amicable Numbers

It's been busy everywhere, and Seattle too. The drought ends with more to come.




I often work events at Town Hall Seattle, and recently they (much like Northern Virginia Family Service in the NPR report) received a nomination for a grant. Partners in Preservation is sponsoring a month-long daily voting contest to award money to perishing Seattle landmarks. Lots of good institutions are participating, and I encourage everyone to vote.

Below is Town Hall's appeal.

February NVJs

After The Commercial Break

 

I'll be teaching cartooning at the Jefferson Community Center in Beacon Hill throughout spring quarter.  Interested kids can take a look at the flyer to learn more.

Limited Unlimitedness

It shows us that at any given temperature there is an ultimate limit to the sensitivity of any detector or or amplifier. This limit is caused by the random motion of the atoms and electrons that make up the apparatus itself.

Omni, March 1979

Can't Sleep Until I Have Them All

 

  

 

Skiing is a dance,

...and the mountain always leads.

Anonymous

Alex Varanese and the 2010 Olympics.

These pictures are scaring.

God saves us from the heat and fire of hill.

Anonymous

Images of the sun from a new Boston Globe photo essay.  A few reactions from readers:

wow.. so red, does it mean it is so close to the end???As red means old enough to say good bye...anytime soon?hm.. better be prepared!!

sun lover

Fantastic, fantastic
Who create all this???
If a small watch made by people, Who made all these universe??
Must be Super Creature had made it.
Is it G O D ??
I think so

Ruben

Understanding Is The Limit Of A Conceptualisation

 

Not all black birds are blackbirds, just as not all blackbirds are black.

Bertha Morris Parker, The New Golden Treasury of Natural History

Red-winged blackbird from Project Gutenberg, crow from the Dallas Observer.

On A Clear Day You Can See Forever

How it will astound you
That the glow of your being
Outshines every star

 

Lucky astrochumps on the International Space Station just had a new room installed, but it's not just some nook cluttered with busy instruments - it's an observatory.  Seven panels, full panorama, the whole cow.  Made just for looking at space (plus some robotics work, and, famously, exercise on the C.O.L.B.E.R.T. treadmill).  Above is NASA's concept art for the new node, below a concept drawing for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Poemic Strip

 

  

Dino Buzzati above, Brad Neely below.

 

 

From user pszren, on the vispoets discussion board:

poemics is the art between poetry and comics, well, there are more definitions, sometimes better: poemics is the art of adding elements of poetry and comics, or poemics are works that can be seen both as poetry and comics.

Psychic Attacks and Dark Negative Energies

 

Psychic attacks are defined as the manipulation of supernatural energies and forces. Psychic attacks occur when dark and negative energetic vibrations are sent from one individual to another individual or place creating disturbances in the energetic and physical bodies of the person or place...not everything that's considered difficult in a persons life is the result of a psychic attack, but psychic attacks do happen and they happen more often today than ever before.

Mary Kurus, Psychic Attacks and Protecting Yourself

 

Raccoon & Desert

 

  

  

  

 

 

Recently B (brains of Raccon & Rain) came to visit 99352.

Like You Never Left

Hooray for the stately return of Them Thangs, one of those purposeful and premeditated image boards that contrasts the madness of chaotic lairs like 4 Chan. Though careful perusal of the latter can emulate the experience of the former, if one cuts through layers and layers and layers of artless nudity.

A valentine's day selection from both, Them Thangs above and 4 Chan below.

Kafkerotica

Justine Lai and Georgia O'Keefe.

Nobody sees a flower really, it is so small - we haven't time, and to see takes time like to have a friend takes time.

Georgia O'Keefe

Anvil!: This Is Spinal Tap

I came late to all of this...how funny.

N/V/J 1

This is a game called "nounverbjectives". The word must work as a noun, verb, and adjective without any alteration in spelling. Syllabic emphasis is, however - and often necessary. A friend and I created this game as kids and have been compiling words since ~ the present list has a few dozen, mostly monosyllabic words like "fit". More syllables, more credit.

Below, the comic strip Cathy has been synthesized into an example of the nounverbjective "fit":

"Chaos is inherent in all compounded things."

"Strive on with diligence."




Since my first exposure to the Mandelbrot Set, I've associated its image with the seated Buddha. Nerds may note that the set has been shifted 90 degrees counter-clockwise to accommodate the comparison; others may neither notice nor mind.

But from what I've come across, most biological approximations to the Mandelbrot Set seem to be beetles or otherwise squat insects. Some are compelling, some less so. A few for consideration:






Buddha from Ancient Sculptures (if you like what you see, $190.95).

Ornate Leaf Beetle from bioquip, Asian Long-Horned Beetle from NY's Dept. of Ag, Carpet Beetle from Suburban Exterminating.

Whispered In Her Aear

Major Lazer "Keep it Going Louder" from Eric Wareheim on Vimeo.

Aear is the best spelling I could think of for the line that rhymes 'ear' with 'there'. I love this song.

Major Lazer- "Keep It Goin Louder" from trunk animation on Vimeo.