 |
|
wSpring Tide |
|
|
 |
The tandem pull of the sun and the moon
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
wTuesday, April 30, 2002 |
|
|
|
Apple gives you "Cosmos," "Forest" an "Beach" slide shows as screensavers with OSX. They ain't got nuttin on "Plankton."
posted by
Just Mary at 1:39 AM
6 comments
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
wFriday, April 26, 2002 |
|
|
|
The tide is going out.
posted by
Just Mary at 12:36 AM
1 comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
wTuesday, April 16, 2002 |
|
|
|
fuck.
Just found out when we're getting our take home stats midterm... next Tues instead of this week. We have one week to do it. I have a Plankton exam the day its due.
Doesn't seem like a big deal, right? Well, I was going to do the radical move of actually doing something fun for my birthday. I was going to see my oldest bestest friend up in Oregon. This exam schedule pretty much means I can't take off the 3 days I would need to do this (one day each for driving, one day of playing.)
So instead I'll spend my birthday weekend doing homework. At home.
Fuck. Now I have to work on not feeling sorry for myself.
Double fuck.
Well, there are other things I can do here. I won't be entirely pathetic. But still, this sucks.
posted by
Just Mary at 12:07 PM
6 comments
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
wSunday, April 14, 2002 |
|
|
|
Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous. I found the dock where the boats were and found my sailing buddies. We had a 24 foot boat to play with -- The Judy -- so we rigged her up and got a tow out of the harbor. The guys towing us were escapees from the Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure school of boating, and it was a bit exciting going out of the harbor ("Dewd, we're like, going too fast. Whoa.") But they finally figured out principles of momentum for towing us, (its a bad idea to gun it) and we got beyond the mouth just fine, ultimately, past the charming lil lighthouse that keeps watch at the harbor entrance.
There was some kind of scow boat race going on -- very serious buff men in wetsuits, hiking out over the windward side to keep their scow from capsizing, their kevlar sails glinting in the sun with purple and green irridescence. Screamingly fast lil boats. Looked like fun. The fleet racing to the mark on the downwind run, chutes flying, against the backdrop of the hills made a pretty picture. Bit "O" on their sails, with little 5's around it.
We did a reasonable job of staying out of their way.
We sailed out to the 1 mile buoy, said "hi" to the sealions lazing in the sun on the mark and I got a seawater sample to bring back to the plankton lab. It doesn't classify as oceanic water, like I'd hoped, but I wasn't setting the course and one mile out was the best I could do. My stats prof took pictures of me trying to get the sample and plans to use it in our class on Tues. Heh. "If Mary lays on her tummy and hangs half her body over the leeward side of the boat, what is the probability she will get dumped in the water?"
Saw swarms of "By the Wind Sailors," the Velella velella, a close relative of the Portuguese Man-o-war hydroid. They've been blown in off the open ocean into our bay for some reason. I would have liked to have grabbed one of those too, but I only had one sampling jar. Plus I think my invert collecting permit is expired.
Sharon was sitting on the foredeck and saw the blowing whale first. About a quarter of a mile away. She screamed. Then we saw it again. Astounding. We were only about 1/2 mile off shore, there was plenty of boat traffic.. what the heck was a whale doing in this close?! We jibed to follow, but lost it... we kept a sharp eye but didn't see it again and just continued on our way.
About 45 minutes later, we were about 2 miles west of our original sighting. Sharon screamed. Right off our bow. Oh my freaking god. The whale moved past us, not more than 20 feet from our boat. A California grey whale. She was doing a rolling swim... you know, with parts of her body surfaced as she rolled through the water, other parts submerged. Astounding.
I've seen a breaching whale. Once. Must have been a mile off shore. And I wasn't even sure I'd seen it after it breached. Soo far away. There was no mistaking this sighting. No rubbing the eyes to make sure we'd seen what we'd seen. Unmistakeable. Right off the boat. She surfaced in front of us and moved around us, heading out to Lighthouse Point and beyond.
We were quiet for the rest of the sail. We sailed between some points again, keeping a sharp eye out, while enjoying the waves and the water. We finally decided it was time to head in. We all had late afternoon schedules to keep, things to do, places to go. But we couldn't have asked for a better day -- nice breeze, responsive lil boat, lots of sun to keep us warm in the wind, lots of wildlife and a whale. A freaking beautiful barnacly whale.
posted by
Just Mary at 1:17 PM
14 comments
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
wThursday, April 11, 2002 |
|
|
|
woo hoo!
I'm going sailing Saturday. :) :) :)
I'm a happy girl.
I used to sail a bunch back in Minnesota. My parents got their first boat when I was about 8. When I was 9, they'd loan me out to their friends who had a small baby -- I'd do fordeck on their morgan 25. (not like, spinnakers or anything hairy.) I sailed on Lake Pepin (a widening of the Mississippi -- think "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder) and on Lake Superior. Most of my experience is on boats ranging from 24 feet to 42 feet. I'm no Ted Turner, but I know my way around a boat, can hold a course, trim a sail etc.
I didn't do much in my 20s but then in my early 30s I hooked up with my friend Johnny and we did a lot of SF Bay sailing. Wild hippies on the water woo hoo! Damn we had fun...
Alas, I ended up moving to SC and he started doing Transpac stuff and other large races. And I haven't been sailing since coming here. But my TA and professor just asked me if I knew anything about sailing and if so, did I want to go out on Sat.
So there it is.
WOOOO.
posted by
Just Mary at 12:06 PM
6 comments
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
wSunday, April 07, 2002 |
|
|
|
written sometime last weekend
Been a quiet weekend. Did some studying and watched a couple of movies. I liked Space cowboys -- cute flick, cheesy ending. Kpax was much better. Some nice visual metaphors with light (is that what I want to call 'em?) and some good stuff about relationships. I thought it was well-crafted. Croupiers -- really good.
Really really really gorgeous today outside so I went and looked at the ocean for awhile.
Ahhhh.
posted by
Just Mary at 5:45 PM
0 comments
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
wFriday, April 05, 2002 |
|
|
|
I used to work for a company that organizes its customers (who are all progressive) to take easy political actions -- calling congress critters, or flooding the white house with letters and calls. The company also channeled revenues to progressive groups concerned about civil rights, military issues and the environment along with groups concerned about reproductive and abortion rights like Planned Parenthood and National Abortion Rights Action League.
We used to get death threats and bombscares from the anti-abortion folks because of our funding and political activities. Sometimes we'd get calls from hostile folks who just wanted to express their disapproval, but mostly the "opposition calls" would just make their dirty whispered threats and hang up. Depending on the nature of the call, we'd either vacate the premises while the SFPD Bomb squad did their thing, or we'd stop and think about it and then go back to our work.
The company does not list or show pictures on its website of the people who work for it because of these threats. It would be very much in the spirit of the company to do so, but they can't. The risk is too great to employees, given the clinic bombings, and the murders of doctors and clinic workers nationwide.
When I was doing clinic defense in the San Francisco area, there would be a pack of men with 2-3 women trying to shut down a Planned Parenthood. Typically, being the muddy headed liberal I am, I'd try to talk to 'em. Particularly the very few women with the men. But you couldnt talk to the women. The men would interupt them, step in front of them -- in short, we couldn't have a conversation with the women. It wasn't allowed or something. Maybe they saw us as some sort of dangerous pack of amazons, out to convert their women to our secret pagan, undoubtedly lesbian, hairy legged, baby-killing ways.
Anyway, the truth is, those men trying to shut down the repro health clinics didn't have enough respect for women to let them speak, let alone make decisions about their own bodies.
So when I saw the antiabortion table at school yesterday with their 5 foot high bloody fetus sign and proclamations of the "holocaust," my blood boiled. I didn't engage them. I was too furious and deeply deeply offended by their presence. I wanted to say "shame on you" to the young men -- but decided instead to make some phone calls to campus officials and bitch.
I've talked to antichoice folks on many occasions before and its always the same arguments -- nothing new. Its pretty much a waste of my time if the intent is to change the tablers' minds The only positive is that the folks who listen in on the argument -- the folks passing by -- may have open minds and thus be swayed. But I knew I was too furious yesterday to be effective. I was angry enough to want to do violence, actually. I wanted to kick over their signs or beat them over the heads with 'em.
Its kind of a humorous image actually. Me, the old woman chasing after the young men, beating them over the head with my umbrella/cane, scolding them and crying "shame on you!"
Ok, I'm not that old. Just old enough to be their mother.
Ultimately, I felt pretty powerless. There are few things that piss me off more than being powerless.
The ultimate pov of campus (so far) was that its "free speech." That seems like so much bullshit. There are plenty of POVs deemed offensive enough to not be on campus. My campus has banned "hate speech" on campus, but they let this movement on campus that has murdered doctors and clinic workers nationwide. They let this movement on campus that thinks the State has the right to control women's bodies and curtail women's rights.
To me, letting these people table was akin to letting the KKK on campus or the Aryan Nation distribute leaflets.
My phone calls didn't do much good. The table was there the entire afternoon, and campus officials assert its free speech. Why this speech got to fall in that category while others don't is another question all together.
I'll be more prepared next time, I think.
posted by
Just Mary at 1:41 PM
31 comments
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
wWednesday, April 03, 2002 |
|
|
|
Ah, the smell of the sea.
Turns out its the smell of plankton.
Yesterday's class was most excellent. Saw some gorgeous electron microscopy shots of various diatoms. The silicon structures are quite beautiful and I'm left with my jaw hanging open once again. Asterionella was the star under my scope this time -- a beautiful helical colony.
Asterionella apparently uses the helix to propel itself upward in the water column or downward -- the silicon of its body is quite heavy so it must continue a gentle spiral to keep from falling to the depths or to keep from going too far up into the surface during upwelling (more nutrients are at depth than at the surface of the water.) The motion also helps with diffusion of nutrients by keeping a small current on its surfaces.
Such a simple yet elegant design. Helices rule.
Have a lovely day, people... don't forget to stop and smell the plankton.
posted by
Just Mary at 7:29 PM
0 comments
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
