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We’re having some electrical work done today, which means I’ll be in and out of the modern world. It also means that I will be spending a non-zero amount of time asking questions about power, and wishing my childhood had included a little more time with (Presidential Medal of Freedom awardee!) Bill Nye and his catchy explanations of science science science. 

Good news, it’s not too late!

Bill Nye The Science Guy – S01E18 – Electricity

And for those of you who just want the basics, i.e. how not to become a path to ground for the “opportunistic freeloader” that is electricity, check out this quick explainer:

THE BASICS OF ELECTRICITY

Stay safe, friends, and for those days when electrons fail you, keep your pencils sharp!

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The Year in Space

Welcome to the new year! Here’s what you can expect from space in 2025 (including a new way of studying the solar corona that looks enough like the Millennium Falcon to be extra fun):

Look up! Here’s what’s to watch for in space in 2025 – NPR

After a spectacular 2024, which featured a year of wonder in the skies, including a total solar eclipse and rare sightings of the northern lights, 2025 is set to bring even more astronomical events.

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Photo by Benjamin Davies on Unsplash

Mostly Books

Today is the last day before the day job resumes. I shall spend it wisely, with food, chill, and books. Mostly books.

“Sections in the bookstore

  • Books You Haven’t Read
  • Books You Needn’t Read
  • Books Made for Purposes Other Than Reading
  • Books Read Even Before You Open Them Since They Belong to the Category of Books Read Before Being Written
  • Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered
  • Books You Mean to Read But There Are Others You Must Read First
  • Books Too Expensive Now and You’ll Wait ‘Til They’re Remaindered
  • Books ditto When They Come Out in Paperback
  • Books You Can Borrow from Somebody
  • Books That Everybody’s Read So It’s As If You Had Read Them, Too
  • Books You’ve Been Planning to Read for Ages
  • Books You’ve Been Hunting for Years Without Success
  • Books Dealing with Something You’re Working on at the Moment
  • Books You Want to Own So They’ll Be Handy Just in Case
  • Books You Could Put Aside Maybe to Read This Summer
  • Books You Need to Go with Other Books on Your Shelves
  • Books That Fill You with Sudden, Inexplicable Curiosity, Not Easily Justified
  • Books Read Long Ago Which It’s Now Time to Re-read
  • Books You’ve Always Pretended to Have Read and Now It’s Time to Sit Down and Really Read Them”
    ― Italo Calvino, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler

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Today, Travel

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”

― Ursula K. Le Guin

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Photo by Phil Aicken on Unsplash

What Do You See?

Good advice to artists of all kinds, as quoted in this article on “Les Archives de la Planète” in 77 Stunning Color Photos Of The World’s Cultures A Century Ago:

“I ask only one thing of you,” Kahn said… “It is that you keep your eyes wide open.”

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Photo by Alexandru Zdrobău on Unsplash

Follow Your Own Tune

“Oh God, the terrible tyranny of the majority. We all have our harps to play. And it’s up to you to know with which ear you’ll listen.”

― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

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Photo by Jules D. on Unsplash

On Time and Trees

On the first day of this new year, a short poem on the relative nature of time. And nature.

Do we seem as slow

To hummingbirds on the wing

As trees do to us?

Wishing you a happy new year.

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To the New Year

“Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.”

― Tom Stoppard

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Photo by Eric Muhr on Unsplash

What AI Needs

A thought: One thing AI really needs is a sense of disgust. So many of the images I see have some element that triggers at least a little body horror, at least for me.

One downside to not having a body, I suppose.

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Image by Neeqolah Creative Works on Unsplash

Undoubtably, On Vacation

“What do you say, Pooh?”
Pooh opened his eyes with a jerk and said, “Extremely.”
“Extremely what?” asked Rabbit.
“What you were saying,” said Pooh. “Undoubtably.”
― A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner

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Photo by Amira Yucra on Unsplash