Moving

For anyone who cares, I will be moving this blog to the land of Wordpress. This might happen sooner than later, but I'll have the new link posted for a while before I delete this blog.

Wobbler

Behold a sweet animated .gif that I stole from Wikipedia. Sometimes, I wish I had special vision, like seeing in time-lapse (also, I would like telescopic binocular vision). Seeing in time-lapse would be a step toward seeing in the 4th dimension, which was written about in a cherished Vonnegut book, "Breakfast of Champions." Although in the book, a man's genitalia was referred to being seen in the 4th dimension, not the Moon.

In all honesty and seriousness and scientificness, the motion of the Moon is interestingly complex, as I've discovered for myself recently. Thanks again, Wikipedia! We can attribute the Moon's difference in size throughout the lunar month to its elliptical orbit around the Earth and we can thank the iron-rich, basalt-filled maria (seas...the dark patches on the Moon) for the differential in mass throughout the lunar "sphere." Gravity's action on that differential causes us to see that denser "face" of the Moon more or less perpetually.

There are other things like libration, nodal precession, and a ~5° orbital-plane-inclination-to-the-ecliptic that I can mention as well, but that's too much analysis, I think, even for my obsessive interest. These are ideas, mainly, that don't make much sense because they're incredibly hard for most of us to actually visualize. I find that images like this .gif really unlock the understanding of astronomical phenomena that require - in most cases - extremely long amounts of time to transpire. Most of the time, for most of us, simply "pondering the heavens" isn't enough to comprehend their true nature. Pictures help, and I am on the lookout for more of these!

Wheel Spinnin'

Some things I've been doing over the past 12 months in order to kill time:

(in a roughly chronological order, since approx. June 2009)

1) Playing old Super Nintendo games on my laptop
2) Teaching myself Adobe Illustrator
3) Designing/writing/inking comics
4) Brushing up on my caricature skills
5) Re-learning calculus, physics, and chemistry (many thanks to iTunes U)
6) Teaching myself introductory astronomy; learning how to navigate the night sky
7) Reading lots of Kurt Vonnegut
8) Planning to re-enroll in college
9) Watching all 6 seasons of "The Office" in about 2-3 months' time
10) Changing my mind about college; considering becoming an electrician
11) Starting to exercise (a toughie)
12) Playing Warcraft III
13) Chronically losing myself in internet lala-land
14) Mastering the painfully mind-bending art of WAITING!
15) Waiting; perfecting the list of what I want to do when I get back to the U.S.
16) Waiting for our vacation to the UK and Ireland
17) Generally waiting...

To those considering Peace Corps, make sure you have a long, LONG list of things you can do on your own to keep yourself busy!!!

Evening Star

At around 7pm UT, Venus was approximately 20 degrees above the horizon, easily the brightest object in the twilit sky.

Apparently, Venus will be in conjuction with (fancy astronomical phrase for "will be visually close to") the thin crescent moon on the evening of March 16th. If the weather cooperates, I will display this conjunction tomorrow.

If the Earth's atmosphere wills it...

Yes, I'm a dork.

Doppleganger Tuesday

Mr. Newton, you just got served...

Chefchaouen - Rif Mountains in Northern Morocco

After climbing a fairly simple path up the side of a mountain, we stopped to take in the views. Didn't spot any patches of kif, but we could see the snow-capped mountain peaks.





This blog is going through some evolutionary steps, and in the future, will hopefully include more topics on travel, science, and certain other topics of the left-brained nature.

Winter Solstice Time-Lapse

The Sun has now begun what will be its 6-month trek northward; this movie marks the spot where it dips below the nearby mountains our horizon before the beginning of every year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Things I am thankful for:

1) A patient, supportive wife (she's much more patient than I give her credit for).
2) Good health.
3) An active mind.
4) An wide-open future (I'm considering relocating to Cleveland, Ohio with Emily in pursuit of a career that I began at Case Western Reserve University 10 years ago).
5) Those cans of cranberry sauce that Emily's mom got for us before we came back from America...they really tied our Thanksgiving dinner together!

Luna ≈ Day 7

39% Waxing Crescent. Nikon S6 (handheld) through Pentax 10x50 binoculars.

Prominent crater toward bottom: Maurolycus. This was named after Francesco Maurolico, an Italian mathematician and astronomer. Maurolico sighted a supernova in Cassiopeia in 1572, but Tycho Brahe got much of the credit, including the name of the supernova.

Two smaller craters toward top (bottom one first): Eudoxus and Aristoteles.

Eudoxus was a Greek astronomer/mathematician who studied under Plato. Eudoxus developed a type of mathematics that was a precursor to integral calculus.

Aristoteles is named after Aristotle, a Greek philosopher who was integral in the founding of Western philosophy. Yet another student of Plato, he believed that since women are "colder" than men, they are a lower form of life, even going so far as to say they are not fully human. Wow.

Lunar Geography note: Plato (a larger lunar crater) is located just to the east of this subordinate pair. I'm sure the geographic nomenclature of the moon has many more instances of this "teacher/pupil" coincidence.

Hahahahahahaha

Who says astrophysics isn't cool....?

Some perspective...

We all ponder the Universe now and again...Nikon came up with a way to attempt to visualize that pesky, infinite bugger, and everything that calls it home!

Nikon Universcale.

Recent Ink

Here's some stuff that's been keeping me busy for the last month and a half.

They're basically comments on the juxtaposition of Moroccan and American culture. I'm taking what happens here in Morocco and "imagining" it happening in America, with hilarious results...

Of course, you kinda have to know about both Moroccan AND American culture to understand these, so the prospective audience is pretty limited to American expatriates and Peace Corps Volunteers in Morocco....





Ok, the first one on top shows 3 Americans busting the chops of a Moroccan guy. Essentially, I've found that many Moroccans will try to "encourage" your language learning by saying that you don't know anything and that you're a "poor thing." From personal experience, I know that many Americans have a slightly "different" way of encouraging people...

The second one depicts a church giving a call to prayer. This, of course, is a normal fixture in Islamic societies. I don't think it would go over very well outside these societies, especially in America (and especially at 4:30am)!



The top one above illustrates how most Moroccans will greet each other in the streets, minus the cheek kissing. The greeting can take an unnecessary amount of time - in the eyes of Americans - and I find the exchange particularly funny in an American context.

The bottom one depicts the Moroccan version of a toilet. 'Nuff said.



Most Moroccans don't own their own cars, but rely on public transportation, especially taxis, to get from place to place. Each "Grand Taxi" has 6 seats, and doesn't leave without payment for those seats. Taxi stand workers here in Morocco try to expedite the filling and departure of taxis, as is depicted by the "subway guy" above. Trying to imagine this happening in America, a society based on concise time schedules, is funny to me.

Literally EVERYONE in Morocco has a satellite dish because the cost of satellite television programming is free. Anywhere you go, especially cities, you see these "parabols" stuck on the side of buildings like barnacles on a sea ship. I've personally seen many a mud house that has a satellite dish attached to its exterior. I've just taken this phenomenon one step further...



As mentioned above, there are 6 seats in a Grand Taxi: 2 people in the passenger seat and 4 people in the back. This is usually EXTREMELY uncomfortable, especially with bigger people in the vehicle. I've personally been in a station wagon taxi that had at least 12 people in it. In that particular trip, there were 2 people sitting in the driver's seat, 2 people in the passenger's seat, and several others crammed in the middle and back of the station wagon. I don't think police in America would view this as very prudent...

When Moroccans enter a room, they say "Peace Be Upon You," (in Moroccan Arabic). This will happen even in places where nobody knows each other. I find this as a funny contrast to the American response to this situation, which is not to cause any attention to yourself. I've seen a "business" situation interrupted in this manner here in Morocco, and it made me laugh as I thought about how this method of greeting would fail miserably in Corporate America.



Dental hygiene isn't as widespread in Morocco as it is in the US. The translation of "toothpaste" in Moroccan Arabic is "tooth medicine," and lots of people will apply it to their teeth when they hurt (and only when they hurt). It's not hard to foresee the results of this after, lets say, 30 years or so. This situation is compounded by Moroccans' love of sugary drinks and snacks, premiere among this being their amazing mint tea.

The last panel represents a funny situation regarding money here in Morocco. The unit of currency is the Dirham, but most of the merchants (and customers) will quote you in "Ryals," an antiquated currency that was last used in the early 1900s. 20 Ryals equal one Dirham, so when a merchant tells you 120 Ryals, they really mean 6 dirhams. In America, this would be the equivalent (sort of) of getting a price quote in nickels!

Dat me

Pretty much the first caricature that I've done of myself that I feel is accurate.

RINGO

A quickie. Those lips, boy those lips....

Another Lindberg Family Caricature

I introduce to you: my brother Jacob, his wife Liz, and their illegitimate child, Bella.







I inked this bad boy with india ink and a brush. Also did washes to build up some value. I actually added the color with Photoshop, so as to "foresee" how it would look with some blue washes to distinguish the figures a little bit. Without this color, the composition is a bit confusing. So, now that I know what to do where, I'm gonna mix me up a nice blue wash and actually put it down!

warm epileptic glow

FIRST: A picture of myself with my better half, all hatted up in Asilah, a coastal city in northern Morocco!



SECOND: Remember when your Nintendo used to be on the fritz, flickering crazy lights and showing a whole bunch of crazy numbers. It was pretty frustrating at the time, but it's kind of a cool idea to experiment with (however, not for people that are prone to a seizure or two). Anyways, I figgered out how to do animation in Photoshop, so here goes:



THIRD: I've been drawing to be sure, but as I have no scanner here in Morocco (and dubious lighting conditions sometimes), it's not always easy to produce images to post. Let the aforeposted Frank Zappa be an indication of this fact. I have a desire to try to post daily, so I might have to use strange, non sequitir "fillers" such as these to bridge the gap, so they say. Maybe that's a good thing. It'll help me be more random.

PARMESAN CHEESE MONSTER!

my buddy: FZ

I've never gotten the pleasure of meeting Frank (I was like 11 when he passed away), but if Frank Zappa were alive today, I'd probably ask him to be my buddy. He's nifty! Here's a sketch of Frank on the john! I saw him on the potty before (on the internet!), but not with the guitar. I heard that Jimi Hendrix used to shred while pooping, so I figure if Jimi did it, it's not inconceivable that Frank could do the same!



I just finished an inked, comic booky caricature of Frank, but I'm waiting to scan it so that I can add digital color. Here's a little preview:

Alas, poor Lindberg, I knew him well...

30 minutes in photoshop (with mouse). I will work on it more (maybe).

Gonzo Johnson

Sounds like the name of a porn star, actually...