The fastest scoop on recent earthquakes and what they measured can always be found at the United States Geological Survey, here.
This isn't Caltech's earthquake building, but it should be. (It's the new astronomy building.)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The earthquake this morning...
...which woke me up at 4:04 AM, measured about 4.4 on the Richter Scale. And it measured a 5 on the Caltech scale, which is the number of news vans parked in front of the earthquake building when I arrive for work. Five is very high for such a small quake, but it's because the quake was local.
The fastest scoop on recent earthquakes and what they measured can always be found at the United States Geological Survey, here.
This isn't Caltech's earthquake building, but it should be. (It's the new astronomy building.)
The fastest scoop on recent earthquakes and what they measured can always be found at the United States Geological Survey, here.
This isn't Caltech's earthquake building, but it should be. (It's the new astronomy building.)
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Carmelites in concert
If that excites you, too bad-- it already happened last week. It was the Alhambra Carmelites singing at Santa Teresita. I went and really enjoyed it. Before the concert happened Fox News ran a story on it, and the sisters then added a second concert and both sold out. The reason you see different habits in the video is that the group includes professed sisters, novices, postulants, and nine candidates (candidacy is the year or two before postulancy that this particular congregation requires.) Among the candidates I recognized two girls I'd met two years before, when we were all on the Come and See retreat at the Carmelites' motherhouse to try to figure out if we should join that community. Evidently for some of us the answer was yes. :) I also caught a glimpse of my sister's roommate's sister who's a sister, and yes, I had fun typing that phrase. My favorite musician was the postulant with the big drum solo. She was great. And the girl I happened to sit next to during the concert turned out to be a most interesting person, which just goes to show what high-quality people attend these functions. ;)
In the Fox video you can see Mother Regina Marie. I still remember the talk she gave to all of us two years ago. I'd been expecting something like, "How to Know if You Have a Vocation", but instead she talked about the life of the congregation's founder, and a scene at the deathbed of one of the older nuns, and some other things, and all of it together left me feeling unexpectedly peaceful about not knowing whether I'd be a nun or not, because the more important, deeper thing is to follow God closely no matter what.
The next day at lunch we girls started talking about Mother. "She's fascinating... I like hearing her talk... You get the feeling she understands people... I wish we had more time with her..." Suddenly, as if summoned by our wish, Mother herself appeared and sat down to chat with us. We were all immediately tongue-tied. I vaguely remember blurting out whatever questions I could think of just to keep her at the table.
One really great feature of that retreat was that there was a whole day just to pray. Nothing to go see, nothing to do-- just a couple of very short talks from the chaplain about vocation discernment, and the rest of the time we spent by ourselves, staying in our rooms or wandering the beautiful grounds of the retreat center. That, ironically, was the only time I ever visited a convent and left feeling that I'd had enough time to pray.
Incidentally, that chaplain... I think he must have had experience with how shy girls can be in certain situations. At the end of one talk he asked if there were any questions, and nobody spoke up. But instead of leaving, he just kept staring at the podium, as if distracted, until someone worked up enough courage to ask her question. He answered it, and then there was another period of silence while he focused intently on his own folded hands. Then another girl managed to ask a question, and he answered that, and then he waited some more.... and so on. In the end there were lots of questions, but he wouldn't have heard any of them if he hadn't given us enough time to psych ourselves up to it.
Hm. I have wandered far from the given subject of my post, so I will tie everything together in an impressive circle by saying that I hope the Alhambra Carmelites give another concert soon. There!
In the Fox video you can see Mother Regina Marie. I still remember the talk she gave to all of us two years ago. I'd been expecting something like, "How to Know if You Have a Vocation", but instead she talked about the life of the congregation's founder, and a scene at the deathbed of one of the older nuns, and some other things, and all of it together left me feeling unexpectedly peaceful about not knowing whether I'd be a nun or not, because the more important, deeper thing is to follow God closely no matter what.
The next day at lunch we girls started talking about Mother. "She's fascinating... I like hearing her talk... You get the feeling she understands people... I wish we had more time with her..." Suddenly, as if summoned by our wish, Mother herself appeared and sat down to chat with us. We were all immediately tongue-tied. I vaguely remember blurting out whatever questions I could think of just to keep her at the table.
One really great feature of that retreat was that there was a whole day just to pray. Nothing to go see, nothing to do-- just a couple of very short talks from the chaplain about vocation discernment, and the rest of the time we spent by ourselves, staying in our rooms or wandering the beautiful grounds of the retreat center. That, ironically, was the only time I ever visited a convent and left feeling that I'd had enough time to pray.
Incidentally, that chaplain... I think he must have had experience with how shy girls can be in certain situations. At the end of one talk he asked if there were any questions, and nobody spoke up. But instead of leaving, he just kept staring at the podium, as if distracted, until someone worked up enough courage to ask her question. He answered it, and then there was another period of silence while he focused intently on his own folded hands. Then another girl managed to ask a question, and he answered that, and then he waited some more.... and so on. In the end there were lots of questions, but he wouldn't have heard any of them if he hadn't given us enough time to psych ourselves up to it.
Hm. I have wandered far from the given subject of my post, so I will tie everything together in an impressive circle by saying that I hope the Alhambra Carmelites give another concert soon. There!
Monday, March 08, 2010
The redhead gene
Ten years ago, as an undergraduate biology student, I wrote a research paper on MC1R, a gene that helps control hair and skin color. Certain mutations of MC1R cause very pale skin and red hair. In my paper I wrote that it's advantageous to have that combination if you live in northern climes, because your skin needs sunlight exposure to produce Vitamin D, and there's so little sun up north that it's better to have translucent skin to let as much sunlight through as possible. Nearer the equator, there's no worry about getting enough sun (unless you're a woman who keeps all her skin covered for cultural reasons-- such women do sometimes suffer from rickets, a disease caused by lack of Vitamin D.) But there is worry about skin cancer where the sun is bright, so at the lower latitudes it's better to have very dark skin.
None of this was original thinking; it was the conventional thinking which I lifted from the papers I read in the course of my research. And now some other student has written a paper on a similar topic and has offered the same standard theory, which isn't surprising at all. What is surprising is that the Telegraph seems to think that it's news!
Whatever. Here's a fun fact: the MC1R gene that causes red hair in humans is also responsible for similar coat colors in rats, dogs, and the glorious Highland cow.
None of this was original thinking; it was the conventional thinking which I lifted from the papers I read in the course of my research. And now some other student has written a paper on a similar topic and has offered the same standard theory, which isn't surprising at all. What is surprising is that the Telegraph seems to think that it's news!
Whatever. Here's a fun fact: the MC1R gene that causes red hair in humans is also responsible for similar coat colors in rats, dogs, and the glorious Highland cow.
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Recent pictures from my life
Just to prove I wasn't lying about that tres leches cake:
I made some chocolate star cookies as well, to use up the last of the frosting, and thought I'd decorate some like little scarlet pimpernels:
Most I decorated like this:
We're going to have peaches this year! If the recent rain hasn't destroyed all the peach blossoms.
Check out this ironic screenshot of an entry on a medical website and the ad that was assigned to load with it.
I saw that screen shot two days again, and then yesterday I came downstairs to find that the kitchen table settings had changed... to this:
It's enough to make me anatidaephobic! But nothing will make me anatiferous.
Speaking of produce from our yard, the peaches and tangelos and tangerines and Valencia oranges and navel oranges and boysenberries and sweet peas and herbs are all great, but watch out for the lemons-- they're a bit aggressive.
They often grow with curved spiky ends, but this is the first time I've seen one grow a long finger like that.
Contemplate it in different lighting...
...and from different angles...
...and it's still pretty strange!
I mentioned the hard rain we've been having. It's awesome. Transforms our front yard into a fairyland.
I made some chocolate star cookies as well, to use up the last of the frosting, and thought I'd decorate some like little scarlet pimpernels:
Most I decorated like this:
We're going to have peaches this year! If the recent rain hasn't destroyed all the peach blossoms.
Check out this ironic screenshot of an entry on a medical website and the ad that was assigned to load with it.
I saw that screen shot two days again, and then yesterday I came downstairs to find that the kitchen table settings had changed... to this:
It's enough to make me anatidaephobic! But nothing will make me anatiferous.
Speaking of produce from our yard, the peaches and tangelos and tangerines and Valencia oranges and navel oranges and boysenberries and sweet peas and herbs are all great, but watch out for the lemons-- they're a bit aggressive.
They often grow with curved spiky ends, but this is the first time I've seen one grow a long finger like that.
Contemplate it in different lighting...
...and from different angles...
...and it's still pretty strange!
I mentioned the hard rain we've been having. It's awesome. Transforms our front yard into a fairyland.
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