Here’s a link to the first photos from my mission to the sun, written about here.
Subscribe2
Lighting a Candle
“They keep our vegetables fresh for three to four weeks, depending on the type of crop. They are very good in a hot climate such as ours [Sudan] where fruit and vegetables get spoiled in one day,” she told Practical Action. “Since I learned how to make zeer pots, our life has been so much better.”
Keeping fold cold without refrigeration
Posted: 2025 Feb 14
Photo Memory of the Week
Posted: 2025 Feb 13
Blog Memories of the Week
Music of the Week
Listen for the "broken-field runner" opening line in this next one, a country classic.
Poetry of the Week
Roadrunner
- by Sharlot Mabridth HallOut of the western chaparral
Where the raw, new highways run,
He flashes swift as a rainbow flame
And races the morning sun.
He perks and preens with lifted crest,
He dances, heel and toe.
He will jig and flirt in the roadway dirt —
Then — off like a shot he'll go.Posted: 2025 Feb 13
Notices
All text and photographs are protected by copyright. This site collects anonymous user data for Google Analytics.
As I grow older, my emphasis seems to be shifting from “What do I know?” to “What difference does it make?” This applies particularly to religion; I have a friend who insists that Jesus is God, or God is Jesus, and I ask, “What difference does it make?” If it doesn’t affect his relationship with the cashier at the grocery store, it’s meaningless. I ask the same question of the NASA solar mission (even though I admit to being fascinated by such things as the sun getting hotter as you move away from it) but I wonder what difference that knowledge will make to us humans on this earth. Will it change the way I live? Will it change the way I interact with you, say, or with my grandson? I’m not saying that NASA shouldn’t have done it, but I’d like them to spell out how this new (and unspecified) knowledge that they expect to gather might make a difference.
Jim T
Jim T – I don’t know whether NASA could put forward a compelling case for this mission. I think in general it’s hard to argue for basic research on practical grounds – at least, on specific and practical grounds. My impression is that they often don’t know what will come of a line of enquiry, but they’re pretty sure that something will.