Remembering My Dad, in His Own Words

by JonathanNo Comments
Father's Day 2017. My father passed away eleven years ago, but it still seems much more recent than that. I was struggling to come up with an appropriate way to summarize my memories of him, which is frustrating because there are so many aspects I'd want to capture. And then I remembered the closing chapter to the autobiography to the memoir he wrote for my siblings and me ("The Little Round Man Who Goes Boom"). I printed out the chapter for everyone who attended his end-of-life celebration in May 2006. I hadn't looked at it since that time. Looking at it now with the benefit of more than a decade to put my thoughts and feelings into perspective, I find it astonishing that a man who sometimes seemed so well-defended and sure of himself was able to see his strengths and weaknesses so clearly, and to laugh at himself and his foibles. [My friends will see a lot of him in me,...
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Perspectives on Saturn and Jupiter

by JonathanNo Comments
Last night, I captured the first photo I've ever taken of Saturn. I'm the first to admit that this isn't a spectacular or even good photo by any stretch of the imagination. I can find lots to criticize about it. However, I was surprised that a modest camera with a 300mm zoom lens was able to show the rings and planet so distinctly. This is probably as good as or better than the view Galileo had of Saturn when he discovered its rings with his primitive telescope in July 1610. He couldn't even see them as rings with his telescope. He thought they were smaller planets on either side of the the main body of Saturn. And I should count myself fortunate that my photo turned out as well as it did in the first place. The ten images I took afterward were all blurred by atmospheric turbulence, since Saturn was pretty low in the southeast sky when I shot the photos. Saturn is nearing opposition, which means that the Earth is...
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The Science of Eats

by JonathanNo Comments
My hat is off to the wonderful folks at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC. They know how to attract traffic at the museum - with food and alcohol after hours! Last night was the museum's annual "Science of Eats" adults-only special event. Exhibitors with fine foods and beverages crafted in North Carolina were featured, all with a bit of a scientific tie-in for their products. For example, a local craft whiskey distiller had information about the fermentation and distillation process. I was invited to participate, since I've had a table as a Solar System Ambassador at the museum's "Cocktails and Cosmonauts" events in the past. They told me I didn't need to talk about food but would be happy to have me there anyway. I'm not one to turn down an invitation to participate in an event with food or to leave a challenge unaccepted. I decided to put together a video on the evolution of the food that astronauts have taken...
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