So this is a beautiful song, one of my favorite pieces. It’s up to you which version you choose. There’s the Trans-Siberian Orchestra version, which is a little more fantasy and wonder and has kittens and a very sweet little girl. And then there’s the Savatage version, used on their Dead Winter Dead album, and …
Monthly Archive: December 2012
Dec 24 2012
What Pass for Winter Scenes In Seattle – With Basalt, Baby Sloths, and Sea Otters
It’s not going to be a white Christmas here. More like a gray wet one. That’s how Seattle goes. Still, when the sun peeks out for ten seconds, and the new basalt column fountain’s going, it’s quite pretty even without the frozen white stuff mucking up the roads. So, it’s Christmas Eve here in the …
Dec 23 2012
Sunday Song: Autumn’s Last Gasp
Really. This is getting seriously ridiculous. Autumn refuses to leave. But I think it’s on its last legs now, so this may honestly and actually be the last of it. These lovelies are from my breaking-in-shoes walk a couple of Saturdays ago. For the most part, we’re down to a few bedecked branches, and some …
Dec 22 2012
Silly Rhododendron. Don’t You Know It’s Winter?
Yay, we survived the current apocalypse! Woo! I am just astounded beyond words, reely. In celebration, I’m being completely lazy and refuse to turn on the computer. Good thing I had some winter-themed rhodies in drafts, then right? I took a walk two Saturdays ago to break in my nifty new shoes. I took a …
Dec 21 2012
One Week
The flag at the Seattle Times building is at half mast, too – I see it when I pass by on the way to work, and remember. I hope this time we don’t forget. Charlotte Bacon, 6 Daniel Barden, 7 Rachel Davino, 29 Olivia Engel, 6 Josephine Gay, 7 Ana M Marquez-Greene, 6 Dylan …
Dec 21 2012
Maya Apocalypse Day Music Madness: Only The End of the World Again!
Welcome to the Umpteen Thousandth Annual Apolcalypse! Brought to you by the Maya Long Count Calendar – and we all know that things carved in stone must be true. Never mind that people have based their idea that the end times are upon us on a cultural misunderstanding. Somehow, the fact that the Maya expected …
Dec 20 2012
New at Rosetta Stones: I Snark At the Media. Do Contain Your Surprise.
Back to geology for a bit: our own RQ sent me some articles that got me started on Tolbachik and the media’s fractal wrongness. One thing I’ve learned during these last years of science writing: don’t trust science writing. Really don’t trust anything you see in the popular media, and take stuff written up by …
Dec 19 2012
A Child Armed Himself
So there’s this, and it broke my heart. Good job, America. You’ve convinced eleven year-olds that they need to be armed and dangerous. And what happens when we arm children? They don’t know how to use a gun responsibly, so they wave it at people, and we have one more data point in the set …
Dec 18 2012
Space and Time to Heal
If I can figure out how to do it, I want to post a delightfully science-ific parody of the “Gangnam Style” video here: NASA Johnson Style Okay, that didn’t seem to work. But do click on the link, and enjoy a few minutes of sciency silliness. Why? Because I need time to think. The first …
Dec 18 2012
A Few Important Items
Before we get back to our a semblance of our normal routine, I want to share a few things with you. First, for those who want to help the Sandy Hook families with funeral expenses and paying for counseling, Atheists Giving Aid has set up a fund. You can donate here. I will have some …
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