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Happy September Equinox, dear friends![*]
As I post this, the Sun should be passing over the subsolar point on the equator, and the [imaginary] line connecting the center of Earth and Sun will be perpendicular to the Earth's [less imaginary] axis of rotation! Huzzah for Mabon! Pretty soon, the days and nights will be equal length -- at least for those of us up here in the North![**]
Meanwhile, we have just completed our day of physics here in Tokai. A day in which my former thesis adviser and our current International Co-Spokesperson[***] narrowly declined to bet his wife and kids against neutrinos travelling faster than light. It is worth nothing that, except for a small string of about five e-mails, no one mentioned this potentially enormous discovery at an experiment very similar to our own. Yeah, I don't believe it, either.
Completely unrelated, I mentioned in my previous post that Day One of this trip to Japan contained both a typhoon and an earthquake. The quake turned out to be a magnitude 5.2, just slightly weaker than the 5.8 that hit Virginia last month. I think that it felt stronger to me because, as this map shows, we were sitting practically on top of the epicenter.
After getting off to that exciting start, here is a summary of how the rest of my trip is shaping up thus far:
Day One: Welcome to Japan. Typhoon, then earthquake.
Day Two: Boring day: No typhoon, no earthquake.
Day Three: Less quiet: No typhoon, but another earthquake.
We had a M5.0 about an hour or so ago, during the last session of the afternoon. The speaker paused for a moment and sat down. Then, before the shaking had fully subsided, the discussion resumed. Methinks we are getting acclimated. For my part, I simply turned to the person next to me and calmly asked: "What do you think? 5.1?" Turns out, I was not far off.
Also, it seems that my "Keeper for a Day" pictures were a bit of a success. With adorable animals like that, I am not surprised! There were some requests for more pictures from the outing, so here are a couple of extras -- enjoy!!
Tis all for now, my friends! Until we meet again, have yourselves a merry little equinox!
[*] To avoid North/South confusion, I have adopted the convention of referring to September and March equinoxes, rather than Autumnal and Vernal ones.
[**] Not so much "huzzah" on this one, as I greatly prefer Summer to Winter. Perhaps a return to Argentina is in order?
[***] Who happen to be the same person.
As I post this, the Sun should be passing over the subsolar point on the equator, and the [imaginary] line connecting the center of Earth and Sun will be perpendicular to the Earth's [less imaginary] axis of rotation! Huzzah for Mabon! Pretty soon, the days and nights will be equal length -- at least for those of us up here in the North![**]
Meanwhile, we have just completed our day of physics here in Tokai. A day in which my former thesis adviser and our current International Co-Spokesperson[***] narrowly declined to bet his wife and kids against neutrinos travelling faster than light. It is worth nothing that, except for a small string of about five e-mails, no one mentioned this potentially enormous discovery at an experiment very similar to our own. Yeah, I don't believe it, either.
Completely unrelated, I mentioned in my previous post that Day One of this trip to Japan contained both a typhoon and an earthquake. The quake turned out to be a magnitude 5.2, just slightly weaker than the 5.8 that hit Virginia last month. I think that it felt stronger to me because, as this map shows, we were sitting practically on top of the epicenter.
After getting off to that exciting start, here is a summary of how the rest of my trip is shaping up thus far:
Day One: Welcome to Japan. Typhoon, then earthquake.
Day Two: Boring day: No typhoon, no earthquake.
Day Three: Less quiet: No typhoon, but another earthquake.
We had a M5.0 about an hour or so ago, during the last session of the afternoon. The speaker paused for a moment and sat down. Then, before the shaking had fully subsided, the discussion resumed. Methinks we are getting acclimated. For my part, I simply turned to the person next to me and calmly asked: "What do you think? 5.1?" Turns out, I was not far off.
Also, it seems that my "Keeper for a Day" pictures were a bit of a success. With adorable animals like that, I am not surprised! There were some requests for more pictures from the outing, so here are a couple of extras -- enjoy!!
- Feeding a capybara. These "little" guys are the largest species of rodents living in the world today. Cute, too... and fun to pet!
- A boy and his tenrec. These awesome animals are a bundle of contradictions -- spiny, yet soft; able to go very flat, or roll into a ball! Getting some cuddle time with one was an excellent experience... as you can likely tell from the smile on my [poorly lit] face!
- Finally (for now), the lemur pictures were so popular that I had to throw in one more. Here you go, gentle readers: A lemur and I share a quiet bonding moment. (At least until the food was gone.)
Tis all for now, my friends! Until we meet again, have yourselves a merry little equinox!
[*] To avoid North/South confusion, I have adopted the convention of referring to September and March equinoxes, rather than Autumnal and Vernal ones.
[**] Not so much "huzzah" on this one, as I greatly prefer Summer to Winter. Perhaps a return to Argentina is in order?
[***] Who happen to be the same person.
