Here’s hoping you have a good day, even if it is a Monday:)
Posts Tagged ‘fun’
Mashup Monday
Posted in Funny, tagged #briankesinger, artists, awesome, calvin and hobbes, fun, inspiration, star wars, Thoughts, work, yay on March 6, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Taking the (Very) Long View
Posted in Likes, Science!, tagged #amazeballs, #ThingsILike, awesome, climate change, data, demographics, free, fun, geospatial awesome, Google, Google Earth Engine, google maps, health, risk management, satellite imagery, science, space, timelapse, yay on February 9, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Ok, Google, now this is cool:) For anyone who has ever wanted to take the long (very long) view, there’s a new tool from Google.*
The Google Earth Engine gives users access to satellite imagery from as far back as 1984, and to build timelapse imagery that capture changes across the years.
Google Earth Engine combines a multi-petabyte catalog of satellite imagery and geospatial datasets with planetary-scale analysis capabilities and makes it available for scientists, researchers, and developers to detect changes, map trends, and quantify differences on the Earth’s surface.
Want to see what a timelapse looks like? Here is a short introductory video:
Want to make your own? No problem. Explore the built-in Timelapse features, integrate ready-to-use datasets on demographics, climate, imagery and more, or use your own code. (Check out the case studies from a variety of organizations focused on climate, health, and science, including this one on malaria risk mapping.)
You can also set up a tour to view more than one location. It’s fun, educational, persuasive, and easy to use. And because it’s Google, all this goodness is freely available. Now that U.S. government data may become less accessible, people and organizations interested in the long view need all the access they can get.
* Sadly, I’m not affiliated with Google, just a fan. Although like MIT and Slate and Scout and ASU (among others), Google would be a terrific sponsor for thoughtful new science fiction, don’t you think?
2016, The Cakening!
Posted in Food and..., Holidays, tagged #ThingsILike, birthday, cake, chocolate, creativity, food, fun, home, yay on October 12, 2016| 1 Comment »
Target: Caaaakkkkeeee!!!!!
Another year, another cake:) For this year’s birthday I wanted a little visual contrast, plus a way to use the last of summer’s fruit. Also, pretty. I went with that classic good time, chocolate, and a buttercreamcheese frosting.
Two layers, baked and cooled and torted to make four. To shake things up a bit, I added a thin coating of raspberry jam before frosting the first and third layers, to bring out a touch of fruit flavor. Crumb coat. Thick frosting top. Chocolate ganache trim, topped with blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and mint, with a buttercream flower to wrap it all up.
Cutting it was scary, but worth it.
So tasty!
Gone Fishing
Posted in Holidays, tagged fun, gone fishing, summer, Thoughts, work, yay on July 25, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Oh hello there! It’s been a while since I’ve posted, as apparently I have gone fishing. Not literally, at least not yet, but in the sense that my mind has decided that it’s time for a summer vacation. I’m still working, both on writing and other things, but it seems I needed a little break and I’m taking it here.
Remember what summer meant when the last school bell rang and the doors opened on whole months of freedom and possibility? I’m feeling a little of that right now, and dang it, I’m going to enjoy it. I hope you are too!
God’s Own Strobe
Posted in Likes, Science!, tagged #ThingsILike, @Blitzortung_Org, @GHRCDAAC, awesome, beauty, community, crowdsourced data, fun, home, maps, science on May 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »
So I’m in my house one day last year as storm rolled in overhead. Dark clouds rained down, thunderous booms rumbled, and, off in the distance like God’s own strobe, lightning. I’m at my desk asking myself all the usual questions one does in such situations: Which direction is the storm tracking? Who pissed off the powers that be? Was that last strike closer? And that most critical question of the 21st century: will the power stay on long enough for me to meet my project deadline?
A little websploration later, and I discovered a very fun tool: Lightning Maps.
A project from Blitzortung.org, the site uses crowd-sourced data from a community of contributors with strike sensors:
“Blitzortung.org” is a lightning detection network for locating electromagnetic discharges in the atmosphere (lightning discharges) with VLF receivers based on the time of arrival (TOA) and time of group arrival (TOGA) method.
Lightning emits radio waves detectable from thousands of miles, if you have the right sensor. With more than 500 sensors, the network displays data from America, Europe and Oceania.
Think this is extra cool, have some skill with electronics and want to join in? Keep an eye on the Blitzortung forums to see when their next batch of sensors is available for purchase and deployment.
While the site makes it clear that the data are not suited for insurance or protection of life and property, it’s still a fun resource. I recommend it for anyone interested in a dynamic view of one of nature’s most dramatic forces.
Would you like to know more?
Check out how lightning works and the science of detection.
I prefer the beauty and simplicity of Lightning Maps but there are a number of alternatives. Visit Blitzortung.org for real-time and historical maps, or any of the alternative lightning maps at the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN), the European Cooperation for Lightning Detection (EUCLID), and of course, NASA.
Next time a big storm comes through I plan to cuddle up with a bowl of popcorn and ooh-ahh over the latest lightning strikes… at least until the power goes out:)
Always!
Posted in Entertainment, Holidays, tagged #Maythe4thBeWithYou, awesome, fun, star wars, Star Wars Day, yay on May 4, 2016| Leave a Comment »
thestarwarstrilogy.com
Time for a Syrup Tsunami!
Posted in Food and..., Likes, tagged #MapleWeekend, #SyrupTsunami, #ThingsILike, #VisitOntario, awesome, Ents, food, fun, home, LotR, memories, Ontario, persistence, snow, sugar shack, winter, yay on April 1, 2016| Leave a Comment »
For today’s installment of #ThingsILike, I give you maple syrup. (Honestly, is there anyone out there who does not enjoy this delicious treat from the northern woods?) Lucky me, it looks like this year’s wacky weather patterns have resulted in a veritable tsunami of syrup!
For those of you not intimately familiar with the process of maple syrup production, it goes like this:
[Maple] trees store starch in their trunks and roots before the winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Maple trees can be tapped by drilling holes into their trunks and collecting the exuded sap, which is processed by heating to evaporate much of the water, leaving the concentrated syrup.
Here’s a video to showing a basic tap and bucket assembly, but I’ve seen outfits with setups running what look like miles of bright blue tubing directly from the trees to the sugar shack.
Even with modern improvements, this isn’t the sort of agricultural process that can be exported to alternate climes. The trees require cold winters and sap production levels depend on spring temperatures finely balanced between colder nights and warmer days.
It turns out that the weather this March has been pretty near perfect, at least if you are a sugar maple. Waking trees drink up groundwater during the day, convert the stored starches in their roots to sugar, and pump the resulting sap up their trunks and into waiting sap buckets.
Collect, boil, repeat, at least until the sap stops running.
Making syrup requires a lot of work and patience. The old fashioned way involves big black kettles and a steady supply of wood to keep the fire going. Even with new, more efficient boilers, reducing sap to syrup takes hours.
My mother took us to a friend’s sugaring party when I was a child. My brother and I ran from tree to tree, hauling half-full buckets through the snowy woods to the kettle and back. The fresh sap tasted like the Entish draughts of my imagination, its clear cool taste instantly refreshing. We also poured hot syrup onto plates of snow to make maple taffy. Freaking amazing.
As luck (or clever planning?) would have it, I am located in the heart of maple syrup country. Quebec and Ontario are the largest maple syrup producers in Canada.
If you happen to be in Ontario this weekend and you love maple syrup as much as I do, you’re in luck. It’s Maple Weekend and I plan to stock up for the year. Because delicious!
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