Sunday, September 26, 2021

Just when you thought it was safe to get back on the bike...

 ... Coffeeneuring returns for 2021!  Begins October 18th.  Initial announcement here.  More details to come as things develop.

Past years: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017

Yeah, I'm pretty stoked.

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Passage Into Fall

 It's a funny thing.  When I started a late afternoon nap on Wednesday it was still summer, astronomically and weather-wise, but when I woke the moment of equinox (3:20pm) had passed and the rains of the first real cool front had just ended.  So I fell asleep in summer, woke up in fall.  It's a nice feeling, I heartily recommend it.

It's definitely feeling  fall-ish  these days since.  Yesterday was a good day for a hike on the High Bluff Trail.

A lunchtime break.  No contacts, I mostly listened to the local weather.  "Recover"?  Yeah, from August.

For all the nice weather, it is good to remember that summer events aren't quite over yet.

Not bad, but still a tad colorful for my tastes.


Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Fall Equinox Today

As usual, NASA's Astronomy Pic of the Day has something enlightening to show

On a somewhat correlated note, the first real cool front of fall moves through the area today.  I'm ready.

Monday, September 13, 2021

More on Fractals, Aesthetics, and Sanity

 This crossed my desk via The Dangerous History Podcast (topic: emergent vs. imposed order) this morning: Why Fractals Are So Soothing at The Atlantic.  The article links to this paper in Nature, Fractal analysis of Pollock's drip paintings (1999).  Here's a bonus article in Smithsonian by the author of that paper, Fractal Patterns in Nature and Art are Aesthetically Pleasing and Stress-Reducing.

Both of these are worth your time, and both are mercifully short.  (In fact, I didn't know that The Atlantic ever published articles that didn't devour at least an hour of my free time.)  Anyway, this is just a continuation of the topic previously discussed here at the blog: This is Your Brain on Broken Fractals, Modern Architecture, WWI-Induced PTSD, and Other Ongoing Problems, and finally the excellent blog The Genetics of Design.

Sunday, September 12, 2021

A little too colorful for my taste.

 Nothing in particular pointed at my corner of the Gulf coast, nothing particularly developed, but that has been known to change.  Put a big stamp saying "let's wait and see" across this one, then... wait and see.



Saturday, September 11, 2021

2021 Ig Nobel Prizes Announced

 Article at the BBC, with a complete listing toward the bottom.  Enjoy.

Don't try this one at home, kids.  But if you do, invite me.

All the cool kids are posting something about 9/11 today, it being the 20th anniversary and not-so-coincidentally the year we got out via a badly botched withdrawal.  But I can't, not now not ever.  8/29 and 9/10 will always loom larger in my mind.  I know this isn't so for most people, but then most people don't blog here.

Thursday, September 9, 2021

Well that came out of nowhere.

 It never got that bad – I've seen far worse thunderstorms – but TS Mindy came as a bit of a surprise.



Thursday, September 2, 2021

So They Say

 https://www.thefarside.com/2021/09/02/2

One of my favorite Far Sides ever.  It's weird, gritty, nerdy, and cliche-busting all at once.

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Distracted Lately

 I've been highly distracted lately by hurricane season and a handful of other items.  I'll be around, sporadically.

Is it October with a nice cool front yet?