Phil Plait gave Slate a guide on getting the best show:
Every year around August 11 – 13, the Earth plows through the interplanetary debris left behind by comet Swift-Tuttle. As we ram into this cloud of tiny particles, they plummet through our atmosphere and burn up in an ephemeral and lovely streak of light called a meteor.
This year should be a good show; the Moon sets early, so dark skies will prevail…
Don’t fret too much about finding the perfect viewing site; last year the Spousal Unit & I got a pretty good show watching next to a bunch of idling semis, at a Rte. 495 rest stop near Tewksbury. But do bring a blanket, because even in August it gets surprisingly chill lying on a lawn chair gazing upwards.
Meanwhile, what’s on the agenda this morning?
NotMax
Personally feel a bit of penal enlargement was called for, but in terms of military-specific charges and punishments, suppose the mission of justice was accomplished.
raven
@NotMax: I got more than that so selling a few 5kw generators in the ville in Korea!
BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: Oh, that’s were my father-in-law got it.
NotMax
@raven
Used the profits to buy hooch?
dance around in your bones
My son-in-law and I were sitting on the back porch the other night and saw a sideways streak of light that broke up into golden pieces at the end. I swear no hallucinogens were involved.
Once my husband and I were driving from SoCal to Arizona, and we pulled off into a rest stop in the middle of the night. We climbed up onto the nice warm hood of our pickup truck and watched meteors streak through the sky for an hour. I’m sure we bothered the other denizens of the rest stop (who were all inside their vehicles) with our “Whoa, oh my gawd, did you see THAT?!” exclamations.
Also, my husband was very much into the night sky – could identify and name all the constellations and knew when meteor showers were going to happen. He’d wake me up in the middle of the night and have a reclining lawn chair all set up with pillows and blankets and tuck me in to watch ‘shooting stars’ as they fell through the night. It was so cozy and special.
So – go outside and watch the Perseids!
Amir Khalid
@raven:
Considering the pretty serious political consequences in Afghanistan, it does seem a light sentence.
raven
@NotMax: Oh god. We were out in the field on a shoot (arty). Two of us got sent back to the fort to pick up some supplies and when we went to the mess hall there were two dudes that were put in our unit to await court martial. They came up and asked if they could use my truck (this was a tiny forward arty base right on the Imjin). Like a dumbass I said sure. Ten minutes later they came back and said “we’ll get in the back, you guys just drive out the gate and take us to the ville”. They had gone down to the generator shack, kicked in to door and loaded the generators. We got to the ville and they knew where to fence them. They got the dough, gave us a couple of bucks in MPC. And we proceeded back to the field. By the time we got there the CO knew what had happened and we were popped. These two cats were hard core badass dude from the ghetto and they didn’t give a shit one way or the other. We were two stupid white boys who were in WAY over our heads. The Bn Commander sent down word that we were to get article 15’s but, a week later, there was a big black market bust at division and the General put out an order that ALL black market busts would result in courts martial. We got a special, busted to E-1 and 30 days in the stockade. They suspended the jail part and gave us “extra duty”. It was fucked up but we had no one to blame but ourselves.
eta, the other guy was so distraught that he re-upped for SIX fucking years, took his bonus and bought a girl out of a cat house in the turkey farm. Always wondered what became of him.
raven
@dance around in your bones: I had that experience driving from Phoenix to Tuscon one time!
raven
@Amir Khalid: Yea, I think it’s all over but the shouting there.
raven
Sara Smile, ooo, Baby Baby. Smokey and Daryl.
NotMax
@raven
Know full well you cannot hear me, but that got a George Takei-esque “Oh, my.”
raven
@NotMax: Ah shit, I was 17. A stranger in a strange land.
gotta hit the bricks for the farmer’s market, the pups insist!
dance around in your bones
@raven: It’s one of the redeeming virtues of Arizona – the night skies, as well as the sudden and very picturesque thunderstorms. We lived in Tucson for a while and loved it.
We had a big old adobe house out in the middle of nowhere and used to climb up on the roof to dance around in the rain (prolly stupid, but fun!) plus we had a huge swimming pool that we spent most of our time in because it was so fucking hot. Bats would swoop over it at night to scoop up bugs but they never bumped into us. Must of been that sonar thing :) (Yes, we were often in the pool at night. It was even hot at night).
I liked Arizona – didn’t pay any attention to politics then, just reveled in the lovely countryside, the hiking, the tarantulas and even the damn scorpions. Oh, and the saguaros! Like goofy people shaped cactus! We used to seek out the weird crested or cristate saguaros which were not uncommon to find. Here’s a picture of one.
Nature! Who’d a thunk of some of this stuff?
Linda Featheringill
@Amir Khalid:
Indeed.
I have often wondered whether war attracts subhuman humans or does it strip the participants of their humanity?
Raven
@dance around in your bones: I don’t have access to my pictures at organ pipe right now! Lots of friends moved from Champaign to Tucson in the mid 70’s and some are still thee.
Raven
@Linda Featheringill: “war atrracts” ? There are every kind of person inside and outside of the military.
TheMightyTrowel
Mr. Trowel is finally back in Australia tomorrow – I’m getting him from the airport at 8am. Huzzah! I’m celebrating by cleaning the house and re-watching Queer as Folk (the UK one).
Poopyman
As it happens, I’m finishing up packing up the truck to head to the mountains for 2 nights of the Perseids with a few old friends. It’s the one time each year we get together, and have been doing it since we were in our early 20s a few decades ago. Only the sky remains unchanged, in a relative way.
Betty Cracker
@dance around in your bones: Your husband sounds very nice — prepping the star-gazing lounge area and all. Mine is a peach too, but only between 6 AM and 10 PM. The man sleeps like a log at night, so I have to deal with meteor showers and late night emergencies (giant cockroaches, escaped livestock, etc.) solo.
The best Perseid shower I ever saw was around 1998 or 1999, and it wasn’t under ideal viewing conditions since I was living in a city at the time rather than out in the sticks. Still, it was an impressive show — one streaking bit of space dust after another.
NotMax
So who ordered something exhilarating to start the day?
If Robert Lindsay’s hat didn’t get its own credit in the program, there is no integrity.
(Apologies if multiple posts – fist tries seem to have gone to Barnard’s star.)
SectionH
Managed to sleep until 4:45. Yay?
I need to spend most of the day in front of the computer, no NOT here, but actually producing artwork. The Worldcon starts in < 3 weeks and though some stuff is done, I have one design to revamp and another not even started. Currently, I expect this to be the last Worldcon we sell at, so I want to do a good job. Well of course I always want to do a good job, but this one has been a slog all the way along.
We have friends who retired to Oracle because he's an astronomy geek. The most spectacular night sky I ever saw was in Northern Arizona. Never actually saw the Milky Way in all its glory before – or since. I intellectually understood about light pollution but the demonstration was shocking. And I guess being at 7000 ft was also a factor.
Schlemizel
@Linda Featheringill:
The uncles all served in WWII. Though they rarely talked about their experiences in the Pacific several of their stories involved witnessing some pretty bad behavior. Reading a lot of history I feel fairly confident in saying they what kids go through changes them and for reasons I don’t think we understand some number of them do really horrible things. This particular incident was not horrible but it is the sort of thing some of those guys wouldn’t have dreamed of earlier.
OTOH – some number of people do pretty horrible things without have seen combat so maybe its just us
Schlemizel
XKCD created a handy chart of meteor events here:
http://xkcd.com/1249/
but, being XKCD, some of them need an explanation:
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1249
hedgehog the occasional commenter
Getting set to head up into the mountains near Black Hawk (CO) to feed folks lunch at an SCA archery tournament. Original plan was to leave at 7:30 with the rideshare, now delayed until 8:30 (and of course I did not see the change until I got up and checked email. Could have slept in one more hour. Sigh.)
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@SectionH: I’ll be at Worldcon and I’d like to see your work–may I ask what name I should look for?
Gex
Kate and I would always hope for a hot, clear night. If we got one, we’d watch the Perseids while floating in the pool.
Neatest thing ever.
Sigh.
SectionH
@hedgehog the occasional commenter: Just check the convention merchandise area. That’s us. We’ll have some stuff by their Artist GoH, Darrell K Sweet, but some will be mine.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@SectionH: Sweet! Thanks.
S. cerevisiae
Saw a couple last night. It was absolutely perfect seeing, calm and clear. I drove out to a nearby point on Lake Superior away from any lights and the sky was spectacular. The only drawback was the mosquitoes.
RoonieRoo
That made me giggle a bit. Right now it is taking until 10 pm to get to 94 degrees. Gotta love Central Texas….really you have to love it to stay here in August.
Betty Cracker
@RoonieRoo: I had the same reaction (in Central FL). Chilly? Not even at 3 AM with a wind. I hate August.
ruemara
@SectionH: If you don’t mind, what do you do? I’m always curious.
I will be…I dunno today. I think I’ll pack some of the things I’m splitting between myself and the ex. I need to get my 1 hour minimum of writing done and I’m developing some background art for a few projects, so I should spend some time on that too. Since I’ve been up since 5:30 am and it’s 7 and all I have to show for it is a clean bathroom sink and breakfast, I better get the working out out of the way. I may job hunt a bit, but I think that’s a lost cause.
ruemara
@SectionH: If you don’t mind, what do you do? I’m always curious.
I will be…I dunno today. I think I’ll pack some of the things I’m splitting between myself and the ex. I need to get my 1 hour minimum of writing done and I’m developing some background art for a few projects, so I should spend some time on that too. Since I’ve been up since 5:30 am and it’s 7 and all I have to show for it is a clean bathroom sink and breakfast, I better get the working out out of the way. I may job hunt a bit, but I think that’s a lost cause.
handsmile
@Poopyman:
I imagine you’re probably long gone from here (just now reading through the threads from late last night and this morning), but I had to reply in appreciation for such a thoroughly lovely comment. Both in terms of the occasion itself and how you expressed the sentiment.
Yes, the joys of old friends, and the night sky the oldest of all.
dance around in your bones
@Betty Cracker:
My husband was a tender and thoughtful man, though at times he could snore like a lumberjack. But when he put his mind to something (like stargazing or learning to fly a sailplane or surfing) he accomplished it. Sadly, he is no longer among the living. {{{sniff}}} ok {{{tears}}}
I am the designated spider catcher in our household now – the grandkids have been amazed at my ability to catch spiders and even (on a few occasions) let them run around on my hand and arm (I make sure they are not black widows first).
I just have never had a fear of critters (though I hated the cockroaches in ABQ – WHAT is their purpose, anyway?!) I remember going in to a cerveceria (my local beer store in Baja) once, and a guy had something in a paper bag on the counter….he was sure it would flip me out. I peeked inside and saw a tiny little garter snake. I pulled it out and said “oooh, I LOVE snakes!”
And I have met more than a few rattlesnakes in my life. If you leave them alone they generally leave you alone. Just don’t suddenly startle the fuckers.
(jeeez I can ramble on.)
SectionH
@ruemara: Of course not – thanks for asking. I’m a graphic designer. In this case, Mr S and I are producing and selling the souvenir merchandise for the Worldcon (this year LoneStarCon 3 in San Antonio ). The usual sorts of things like T-shirts, totes, etc.
Hopefully the next time BJ does a Strut Your Stuff post for artists or small businesses or whatever, I’ll have our own website updated enough I can link to it. (Had some problems with our old computers and then was in 24/7 care of an elderly relative until she passed recently.)
schrodinger's cat
Free market absolutist, whose blames the housing bubble on poor people and the government, is going to be India’s next central banker. What could possibly go wrong? And the press is acting like he is the second coming of Christ or the 10th avatar of Vishnu.
ETA: He makes Paul Krugman mad and David Brooks happy.
Betty Cracker
@dance around in your bones: Awww, I’m sorry you lost him but glad you had such a lovely husband.
You are braver with creepy-crawlers than I . Can’t abide roaches or snakes. Lizards are okay, though, and I don’t fear spiders unless they’re ON me.
schrodinger's cat
@Betty Cracker: Don’t you have really big roaches in Florida? The flying ones are the worst.
Origuy
I was camping one August near Merritt, BC, during the Perseids. No towns nearby so it was really dark. I got up and watched them for a while and then went back into my tent. As I was getting back into my sleeping bag, I saw a streak of light through the tent wall, so it must have been really bright.
Josie
@RoonieRoo:
Similar reaction here in south Texas. Blankets are not welcome at this point. I just finished teaching an outdoor camp for 9-12 year olds last week – brutal. One day it got up to 106 degrees. Thank FSM for shade and breezes – otherwise, we would not survive.
Yatsuno
@SectionH: Do you happen to know Karen Hallion? She makes a lot of really good fascinating designs, but her Stitch in a Jayne hat is AWESOME!
Betty Cracker
@schrodinger’s cat: Yep. I hate those flying mofos. It’s like their damn exoskeletons are made out of Kevlar too. You can pound the crap out of it with a broom, and it will wait for you to stop and then fly away.
dance around in your bones
@Betty Cracker:
I like lizards and frogs and toads and all those kind of critters. I have told my story before of acquiring a couple of fire-bellied toads at a store in Berkeley (went there with a friend to buy food for his Mexican burrowing toad – a pet that seemed kind of pointless to me, since it spent most of its life buried in sand. You looked at an aquarium full of sand 99% of the time.)
Anyway, the fire-bellied toads were beautiful (their fingertips and toetips looked like they were dipped in scarlet nail polish) and I smuggled them back in my carry-on bag on an airplane to San Diego. I caught flies and crickets for them to eat, out in our yard. I had a butterfly net that I would swoop over piles of dog poop to catch the flies and would crawl around on the back porch at night, scooching aside the bales of hay we kept for our horse to catch the crickets.
I just ain’t afeared of critters. But if I lived in Florida with those flying cockroaches? It would be like “OMG! Bats can get stuck in your hair!” time. I think that bugs that move fast and scuttle in your general direction are kinda scary.
gravie
The Perseids fall on my birthday every year, so we always try to schedule a viewing. The best to date: From the top of Rollins Pass in Colorado, and more recently on Pass-a-Grille Beach in Florida. At Pass-a-Grille, we had a blanket and a guitar and a (forbidden on the beach) couple of bottles of champagne, with a family group of about 10 to share in the experience, so even with the ambient light it was pretty great. We are now living in Central Oregon and will try to find a good spot this year near Klamath Lake, where viewing conditions won’t be affected by the smoke from the wildfires in this area.
Draylon Hogg
@NotMax: I thought that was going to be a link to Citizen Smith.
SectionH
@Yatsuno: This is very late, but just in case you drop back here:
No, I wasn’t familiar with her or her work. It seems a few of my friends friends like her page on Facebook. The Stitch is great, and I like her Fairy Tale Who images. I wonder if she does Boskone. I wasn’t able to travel for a couple of years; am hoping to get back next Feb. I’ll keep an eye out.
Jay C
The weather here in rustic, low-development America (the Scenic Berkshires ™ in Western MA) has finally cleared up, so meteor-viewing should be OK – we get some really nice skies here: maybe not quite Tucson or Central Texas-quality clear, but starry enough compared to our usual night-sky views (NYC). The link said the best viewing was at “local midnight”, though: i.e. midway between sunset and sunrise, which comes out, AFAICT, to some time after 1:00 am here: but low temps are predicted near 50F tonite: definitely bundling up…