July 23, 2010

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For a great introduction to modern physics, visit the Cern website. The science is very clearly, non-technically explained and features a comprehensive glossary of terms. It also conveys the excitement and wonder that is at the heart of the the project of physics, stretching from the interior of atoms to the furthest reaches of the universe.

This is especially appropriate since the Web was invented at Cern. And for a fascinating glimpse at how the Web came about check out an interview with Robert Cailliau, one of its founders. Here he is talking about the competition between European and American scientists.

Not only will you not just leave us alone, you will not stop working. You will not switch off. You will not take holidays. You will not enjoy life. You just work like crazy, and you can put that in your article, if you like. It's very hard competing with you guys. It's impossible.

The Cern site also has a very good section on how the Web works and its origins.

Finally finished scrubbing the porch. Only took me four days. Looks spectacular.

The principal of the Carter School in the South End has given me permission to photograph their Sensory Outdoor Garden. This is where remanents of the ruins of Martin Luther King's residence were dug up - massive granite foundation blocks and building bricks - and incorporated into this garden designed for special needs kids.

Quote of the Day
We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.
Anais Nin

That sounds like a statement of the anthropic principle, doesn't it?

Image ... Sunbather in a Saltmarsh 2. Gloucester, Mass.

February 28, 2010

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Working on the March 1 edition of Roofscape. Above is the new cover image. A nice summery photograph to offset winter's gray nadir.


March 2 marks the 55th anniversary of one of the seminal events of the civil rights movement. On this day in 1955 an angry black teenager, Claudette Colvin, refused to surrender her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama and was dragged off to jail shouting, "It's my constitutional right!" This was nine months before Rosa Parks, age 42, secretary of the local NAACP chapter and trained at the Highlander Folk School, took the same stand.

To learn about this major, but not well-known, civil rights figure and get a fresh perspective on the subsequent Montgomery Bus Boycott, we'd like to recommend an excellent new book, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Maine author Phillip Hoose.

Made the Shepherd's Pie, outlined four posts below. Well this isn't it. I was worrying about other stuff, serious stuff, and so not focusing. Made mistakes. Which I knew the minute I did them, if not before. Came out like a soup version of the dish. But it tasted OK. It still might be cool. Maybe it's shepherd's stew pie.

Image (at top) ... Sunbather in a Saltmarsh. Gloucester, Mass.