HERITAGE FESTIVAL

There was little mentioned about the Russell Heritage Festival September 24, 2011. The only poster I saw about it was in my vet's building when I dropped in to buy cat food today. I wouldn't have been on the lookout for information if I hadn't heard about the art in the park from Heidi Oeschger when I stopped by to see her alpacas. Heidi does European floral design in addition to making alpaca yarn and products.

The art you see here is by Sheila Reid, Heather Presley, Terry Cowan.

MacDougall Park:

Heidi Oeschger:

Sheila Reid:

Heather Presley:

Terry Cowan ... http://www.terrycowan.ca

ALPACAS

While driving past a farm today, I made a sudden decision to drop in to ask if I could take photos of their alpacas. Not having planned this photoshoot, I didn't have a full camera battery so was only able to take a few pics. Their owner is a lovely lady who spins the alpaca wool into yarn and makes socks, etc. which she sells at country fairs. I'll try to find her at fairs that I'll attend this fall.

COSMOLOGY

Is Everything We Know About The Universe Wrong?

"Dark flow is the latest in a long line of phenomena that have threatened to re-write the textbooks. Does it herald a new era of understanding, or does it simply mean that everything we know about the universe is wrong?"

9 PM Monday on Discovery Science. I enjoyed this hour about the standard model of cosmology and various concepts that had to be added as newer data became available. It will be repeated Tuesday, September 20 2011 12:00 AM. http://www.sciencechannel.ca/

Summary: "Dark Flow" is the latest finding from examinations of data collected about our universe. The hour covers the Big Bang theory (standard model of cosmology); the need to explain why the temperature is homogeneous throughout the universe (not an expected result of a Big Bang); Alan Guth's concept of inflation that answers the homogeneous temperature problem; rotation speeds of galaxies that led to the idea of dark matter which is required to explain why galaxies don't fly apart; the curious problem of how to detect dark matter; and finally the "dark flow" of matter discovered upon examination of CMB data (the cosmic microwave background). Is there more structure outside of our universe? Alan Guth predicted that our universe was part of a larger structure.

It doesn't get more fun than the exploration of ideas about cosmology!

Herschel Views the Milky Way: looking toward the constellation of the Southern Cross. Photo from Herschel Space Observatory.

EARTHQUAKE

Yesterday afternoon I was (as usual) sitting on the back deck enjoying the sunshine and tossing Terri's Kong toy for her to catch & fetch. I heard/felt a rumbling and thought it came from some large machinery passing by on the road in front of the house. But the rumbling continued longer than traffic takes to pass by. Being busy playing games with Terri, I didn't think about it until the evening when I checked the earthquake website: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/
You can check for "Felt Events - Last 7 Days" to see an accurate listing of quakes. If you've felt one, you can report how strong it felt to you in your town. Cool, huh?

SHOPPING

Today, for a change, I took time out for some shopping -- just for me. I had fun browsing thru Future Shop. Oooh ... electronics, my favorite stuff :-) I spent a bit of time examining the Canon T3i and discovered it was much lighter than I expected. In fact, it felt about the same weight as my 10 year old Canon Powershot, despite the larger lens. I'll be researching cameras at DPreview.com and thinking about whether I can justify the expense. Someday .... a DSLR.

Good news/bad news ... from the folks at Toyota. Good: nothing expensive needs to be done now. Bad: I had asked them to do a thorough check and said I needed to keep it on the road for as long as possible. They inspected and told me that parts will be wearing out and I'll come to the point where it may not be cost effective to keep it. Boo hoo! I want to drive it forever.

THE GRAND DESIGN

HOT, sunny beginning for September on the 2nd; a glorious Saturday that I spent at Farran Park, watching the lovely dogs in the conformation rings. It was at least 30°C!

Monday the 4th is much colder (16°C); an overcast gray day. This combination of sun and rain made the grass grow like crazy in 4 days.

Gray weather invites me to snuggle up with Terri & Flower and a good book. The great book that I'm reading now is The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow. It's a marvelous overview connecting ideas and theories in physics from Newton's gravity through Feynman's view of quantum theory to M-theory; from the quarks that form protons and neutrons to the expanding universe/multiverse. With this model-dependent perspective of reality under your belt, various physics theories seem to fit into the jigsaw puzzle of Life, The Universe, and Everything more understandably. As some critics say, Hawking and Mlodinow may be too confident about M-theory and it may be trashed in the future but for this time and place in our universe, I like how well they explain all the concepts. June 19, 2012: Came across this set of pages about The Grand Design ... http://www.livescience.com/18035-stephen-hawking-book-physics.html

SUMMERTIME

No matter how long it is, summer is always too brief. That's why I always make the most of it by staying outdoors as much as possible with Terri. Flower often joins us when we laze around in the back yard. Once September hits, I'm even more aware of the need to soak up the warmth of the sun before the cold sets in (although I generally do this in the shade of the big spruce to avoid too much UV exposure).

Summer's shortness parallels the canine lifespan so that's another reason Terri and I enjoy as much time together as we can playing her favourite games.