Lunar Eclipse 02.20.08

The combination of two events -a total lunar eclipse, and a clear night sky (in Seattle both are quite rare) prompted me to go out and document the occasion.

I could see a lot of detail with my binoculars, and managed to take a few photos and video, but most of the detail was lost.

Unlike solar eclipses, lunar ones aren't particularly spectacular. The Moon does not go completely dark, but acquires a redish hue. While Earth does block all direct sunlight to the Moon, some is refracted through Earth's atmosphere, the blue portion of the spectrum being absorbed in the process -just like at sunset, when sunlight paints everything red.

I wonder how it looked like from the Moon. I imagine the Earth slowly blocking the Sun, its black circumference bordered by a red-gold ring of glowing atmosphere... but that of course, would be a solar eclipse.

Caucuses

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the democratic party presidential caucuses -where voters have the opportunity to vote for their choice of nominee. I almost didn't make it, but I am glad I did. The caucus location was -a very large room at a highschool- filled to capacity; but more than that, the crowd seemed to be humming with a kind of electricity. After speaking with several caucuses veterans, my impression that this caucus had attracted much larger crowds than usual was confirmed. For starters, for the first time in US history, a candidate that is not a white male has a serious chance of becoming president. Add to that the fact that a large part of the population is desperate for change -even on the republican side, those who supported the current administration are fed up with it, according to the polls. This could explain, at least in part, why McCain -the most anti-establishmentarian force within his party- has become the republican front runner in spite the hostility of the party's conservative core and after all the pundits forecast his early demise -he, more than anyone in his party, represents change; at times it seems like he is single-handedly saving his party from obsolesence.

What I found most interesting about the caucus, however, is the willingness of people to listen to other's views. While there were, of course, those who had made up their minds long before, many wanted to hear what others had to say, and made their choice at the tables, moments before casting their vote.

Seeing so many people together, genuinely interested in doing their part to ensure the best possible leader got elected was very reassuring and left me with a positive feeling of optimism -but then again, after the past seven plus years, things can only get better.

Expiration date

As I looked through my usually empty kitchen cabinets earlier this evening, I was happily surprised to find a TV dinner, just when I was debating which of my healthy and nutritious meal options to opt for (go hungry, order pizza, or suck on some mustard packets).

The TV dinner's history is divided into two distinctive epochs: pre and post- convenience store. The former began sometime between its arrival at the convenience store, and an unknown point in time after the big bang. The latter ended a few moments ago, and started when, sometime last year, I picked up the TV dinner at said convenience store on my way to work. Somehow, it ended up in a remote corner of an unused drawer, where its existence soon faded from my mind. A few weeks ago, it again saw the light as I was cleaning my desk, and I decided too bring it home for later examination. Again, I threw it in yet another unused drawer -this time in the kitchen, and soon forgot about it.

This time, when I found it, noticed something I usually never look for -the expiration date, which in this case happened to be 03/29/07. I firmly believe that expiration dates are set with a generous margin of safety to minimize unpleasant legal complications, but this one was pushing the envelope. In the interest of science, I decided to test my theory.

It was actually much better than I expected -I would say that it was even borderline pleasant- and what it lacked in quality, it made up for in quantity -not much, but more than the mustard packets.

So far, I feel OK.

Pangea Day

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