A2 Google Fiber

You know when Google announced their Google Fiber project and suddenly every US city started pulling stunts like jumping into lakes and chilling with sharks and... I don't know, riding flaming cows or something? Yeah, that.

So Ann Arbor (MI) decided to get its gig on today. What did everyone do? Lined up on the campus square and chanted and waved their arms around and in general looked rather silly.

Here's a little stop-motion. I had no video.

Everyone was sent notices of "Hey! Flash mob at noon!" Not quite what it really ended up being, though. I'm all for Ann Arbor, hurrah and all that, but I supposed I just imagined something more dignified. Or more energetic, and less staged. One or the other.

Skywatch No. 34

Dreary weather and/or boring skies this week. This's an old one, shot while barreling down the freeway.

Dear People,

Dear People Who are Screaming Big Brother at the Healthcare Bill,

Please calm down. This legislation will not fix everything, but it neither will it be the end of world. Anything anyone, including the government, can do will have both positive and negative effects. It is well-intentioned and not a plot to take control of everyone's lives. The end.

DISCLAIMER: BEYOND THIS POINT, I AM NOT PLAYING DIPLOMAT. I AM NOT GOING TO REMAIN CAREFULLY NEUTRAL. I AM GOING TO RANT.

DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING IS NOT INTENDED TO OFFEND. THE PEOPLE AND THE GOVERNMENT ARE SEPARATE ENTITIES.

Dear Chinese Government,

You ask the world to accept you as one of them but like to turn a convenient blind eye to the fact that you are still doing one thing but saying another. "Hey, we're totally free!" Uh, no. No, you're not. Liars. That probably just made you censor my blog (if Blogger wasn't already blocked in the first place). Thanks, Chinese government. Stop trying to block every bit of information that differs from your love-us-or-die doctrine. You're like an oversensitive three-year-old in that you're way too insecure to hear the smallest bit of criticism. I don't think you've realized that if you stop threatening/imprisoning/killing people that don't like you, they'll like you more. Bing bing! Amazing logic!

Dear People Still Reading This,

Congratulations, you win... um... nothing, actually. But you do get extra stars for putting up with my cynicism/sarcasm/slightly deranged ranting.

First Treasury (Evar, yo.)

A few pieces of mine have made it into others' treasuries before, but I've never been able to actually snag one. So after sitting around for several hours with a mouse in hand and eyes riveted to the screen, I have finally succeeded in creating a treasury.

Angell Hall Observatory

The Angell Hall Observatory sits on the rooftop of a five-storey building in the middle of a light-polluted city. But it still has credentials/is awesome.

I didn't have the time/equipment/conditions for any extensive photo-taking last night (so no, there's no astrophotography in this post), but it was still well worth the time. It's the first time I've been able to see stars from this city, or the sky properly at all, there was a crescent moon hanging low in the sky, and the air was for once cool without being cold.

I Despair of the Future of Humanity

I saw these firsthand, people. It's slightly frightening.

Skywatch No. 32

The days are longer and warmer and the sun is making a reappearance. There is in fact now less snow than can be seen in this picture- today was a day of triumphant sandal-clad crunching over the sad, scraggly remnants of snow.

(One of these days, I shall once again post something of value other than a Skywatch. I promise.)

A Silent Night

Full moon recently. For a while the scene resembled the standard full moon surrounded by ragged, drifting clouds, framed by a tracery of skeletal branches. Was rather excited for a moment, until I remembered I didn't have enough zoom for that.

Curses.

Other than that, not much is new. Vacation lasts for a few days longer, then it's back to school with Andunie. Though there was a rather splendid adventure a few weeks back involving floors and floors of dead silent library stacks and empty cavernous stairwells covered in graffiti... but that's a story for another time. I'll be taking a camera in there when I get back, and there'll be an update with that sometime in the near future.

But until then, happy Skywatching.

Skywatch No. 30

We denizens of Michigan like to poke fun at our weather (which of course is in reality merely a thinly-disguised pompous declaration of hardcore-ness). 65F one day, blizzard the next!

Yes, well. The day before this photo was take was a snow-melting, sun shining, let's-open-all-the-windows-and-wear-tshirts-because-it's-above-freezing day.

Another Year, Part Deux

Chinese new year, that is. Not greeted with much fanfare on my end this year, though I did get drafted out by a friend to dinner last night. A dozen strangers (to me), squeezed around a crowded table in a packed little restaurant downtown. It was an atmosphere I hadn't experienced in some while.

Also of interest may be the fact that the lunar new year happened to fall on the same day as old St. Valentine's today. The campus dining halls outdid themselves, turning out bizarre hybrid decorations such as this one: a large Asian-style parasol leaning casually over a rose-filled vase and arranged artistically on a heart-checked cloth.

It's unique, if nothing else.