What a sweet, happy face to greet me this beautiful morning on the last day of March! With those big bright eyes and camouflage like the finest polished agate, the sharp-tailed grouse has an other-worldly beauty.
When Nature painted Jupiter,
She was in such a rush,
She grabbed a grouse by accident
And used it as a brush
–Photo by me
take the mountain path
and reacquaint yourself with
witches and angels
–photo by me
–photos by me
There’s a mathematical formula scientists use called ‘the drunkard’s walk’ to determine how long a photon, emitted in the center of the sun, would take to make the journey to the outer surface. The random turns it makes on its way out are analogous to the random turns a drunkard makes while trying to get home from the bar.
In both cases, the distance traversed from the start is the typical step size times the square root of the number of steps taken. Factor in the length of time a typical step takes, and you have your answer.
For the photon, this works out to be thousands or possibly hundreds of thousands of years “bouncing around” in the sun before being spit out into space and ending up smacking into your eye at 6 trillion miles an hour about 8 minutes later. For the drunkard, it’s a bit messier of a problem with far more variables, but you get the idea.
I only wish I’d known about this back when I was that drunk staggering home. I could’ve explained to my poor wife that I was out there contributing to science for the betterment of all mankind — at which point her fist would’ve smacked into my eye at 6 trillion miles an hour, I’m sure.
–Photo by me
befriend your dark side
for like your earthly shadow
it defines the light
–photo by me
from under my desk
the world’s a mess
the russians are coming
the president’s dead
a classmate was caught
with a knife in her purse–
i don’t know how things
could get any worse
–photo by me
My mother used to tell us that the northern lights were caused by reflections off the ice at the North Pole, and the movement in them was the result of Eskimos walking around on it. Then again, she also told us that fossils were buried by the devil to try to mislead us.
In her defense, she hardly had the time to drive to the library for every question she had. I wonder what she would’ve thought of the internet. Actually, I think I know: she would’ve thought it was part of Satan’s plan for a one-world government.
Yes, ignorance is not always bliss.
–Photo by Aaron
if you look
for serenity,
but you just
can’t find her,
then seek out simplicity
and look behind her
–photo by me
once upon a time machine
he fashioned from a box
with nothing more than crayons
and a cache of broken clocks,
the little boy went scooting
down the corridors of time
and it was all so easy
for a young and open mind.
but now the boy’s a physicist
and studies all his days
to learn to build a time machine
in complicated ways,
and every day it’s clearer
what his facts and figures mean:
that only little boys can build
a real time machine.
the young bearded dragon named mel
thinks his beard makes him macho as hell,
but it seems a bit weird
to think that of a beard
when your lady friend has one as well
–photo by me
michaeljordahl 