last week's eclipse

situated as I am in the western hemisphere, it was sure nice to see all the AP & Reuters photos of last week's eclipse posted on boston.com. I guess it was 6 minutes long over parts of India & China, the longest eclipse anticipated this century.

it's also been sort of fun -in more of a petty, less cosmically inspiring way- to skim over the hundreds of things said in multiple languages in response to the truly amazing photo collection. aside from effusive gratitude, the comments generally seem to follow one of a couple basic threads. bickering: whether it's the Ganges or Ganga, whether Hyderabad is in India or Pakistan, and so on. and evangelism: Islam, Christian, anti-Christian, math & physics, and so on.

as if a "one planet, under heavenly bodies, with sunlight and darkness for all" weren't more than enough for us to just agree on and be thrilled with. (and then there's the occasional wild posting of stuff like lyrics from an entire Pink Floyd song.)

anybody else ever seen an eclipse? I've just seen a couple partials. the first was one morning they let us out of junior high. I held up a sheet of looseleaf and we watched 3 crescents form in the shadow it cast. the second was one evening, 7 or 8 years ago from my lawn.

anyway, for those of us who missed this last one, we can try to console ourselves w/ this video.

a final pitch for next Saturday

I first announced this last month and if it turns out to be even half as much fun* as the deal last week with the suits, then you won't want to miss it. a week or so ago I went and drove the course; it's pretty spectacular. (did I mention mostly downhill?)

a few things you can expect along the way: a handful of small emerald lakes, larks and larks, wildflowers, spruce, pinyon, aspen, juniper, snakes?, a few 4 wheelers (just being honest here, Saturday in Sanpete County), deer, the bleached bones of sheep & elk, and a lot of sky.

again, it's this Saturday, July 25 (around 10am). please feel free to run all or just part of the course, arrange a relay, do it on your bike, whatever. also feel free to contact me w/ any questions.

english dot brooks at snow dot edu

* yes, I can guarantee it will be at the very LEAST half as fun as the suit run.

4.01k suit run roundup

for anyone who missed the important meeting this last Saturday, here are a few photos, beginning w/ everyone starting up on Wall Street:



summary: 20+ real serious types, well-groomed, fancy photographers, wingtips, blouses, bluetooths(blueteeth?), a stroller, all kinds of jaywalking, conference calls and networking, an unscheduled jaunt through the farmers market, snacks, high-tech prizes, a plazaful of tiny geysers, a bride and groom (?), God Bless America (??), handshakes. "thanks for coming." breakfast.

for more detail, see the latter half of these July pics on picasa. this "the professor" character has also posted some real-nice professional quality photos over here. and there are plenty more photos all over facebonk, I recommend starting w/ Abigail's gallery.

if you've got photos too, please post any links in the comments section. congratulations all; a very productive morning.

Shopping for Independence Day

You need certain things for the marinade:
Ginger root, olive oil, garlic, soy sauce, Coca-Cola.

Giant plastic letters mounted to the concrete above the entrance.
The letters are sky blue, and a pair of crows sit atop the “a”.
Iridescent, mouths open, they pant in the shimmering heat.
One hops onto the r, the m, a, c, y, and flies off.

Deep inside, way in back, there’s a shallow marine tank.
Surrounded by schools of static, headless fillets.

Bubbles. The lobsters wait like strangers, cocks and hens
Each for its day, to whistle and snap like firecrackers.
Fastened to the armored wrist of one, a barnacle.
Still pulsing, it reaches and strains, licking the desert suspension for particles.

An analogue watch, set to a more tidal rhythm. A lunar calendar
beating within our Gregorian grid of bank holidays.

But there we go, anthropomorphizing. I pluck the last ingredient-
An 8 ounce bulletshell, red, and white stripes- from the display;
It releases so easily from the plastic cuffs, like a lowest-hanging fruit.

7/25 - Wasatch Plateau Skyline Run III

OK, this will be a little shorter than the last couple years (just over 21 miles). as always, you can run it, walk, mountain bike, do a relay, whatever. and, because of the length, it makes a great training run for anyone doing a Marathon in the fall (St. George, Logan, etc.).

here's a map of the general neighborhood.



and here's a map of the course. this time we're starting at the top of Ephraim Canyon, running the Skyline Drive (about 10,000 ' elevation) to the top of Manti Canyon, and then heading down into town. since most of the route runs down Manti Canyon, this will be mostly a downhill course. (hooray!)

here are the posts detailing similar runs from the last couple summers: 2008, 2007

and for more details you can follow this link to the of course it's legal event disclaimer and FAQ's (a la Gil Scott Heron)

otherwise, let me know if you're in or have any other questions. things will probably start around 10 am.

7/11 - Suits Are Kicking Up the Hill 4.01k

it's been a while since I can remember having worn a suit to anything. (Cate, maybe to your wedding a couple years ago.) but, for the last several months I've had this persistent longing to put on an old suit (yeah, I know) and go run somewhere. maybe even with a briefcase in hand, some sort of styling product in my hair. somewhere public. you know.

I had something like a 5k in mind. and I was really trying not to put too fine a point on it, but a friend suggested making it a 4.01k. (you know, suits.) and who could resist that?

anyway, here's the plan:
a little over 4 kilometers (run, walk, both, whatever)
wear a suit, tie, slacks (blackberry, cufflinks, etc. again, whatever, you get it.)
if you could find an old race number or two to pin on that would also be handy.

when:
Saturday July 11, around 8 am. (let me know if you're interested and we'll work out the details.)

and:
of course, this is not an organized "race".
so there's no fee. no t-shirt. no trophies. no cops. (hopefully no cops.)

we'll be starting up at the Utah State Capitol, running basically down State Street to 300 S. then taking a right over to 400 west before wrapping back up north for the final three or so blocks. although not required, jaywalking is of course heartily encouraged. here's the map.

as you look things over, you'll also notice that the run finishes in the middle of the big fountain at the Gateway Mall. from there maybe we can go for breakfast somewhere.

any questions? who's in?

another post about running

the desert thunderstorms have let up for a couple days and it's definitely summer. so I'm planning a couple runs for next month that I want to sell you on. when talking with friends, sometimes I tend toward a kind of bossy moralizing about "why you aught to run". but instead of doing that here why don't I direct you to last month's Radio West show where Doug Fabrizio talks with w/ Christopher McDougall about his book Born to Run.

it's a pretty great interview despite Doug Fabrizio's signature half-question-followed by statement-followed by slight backpedaling-followed by surprisingly keen observation-concluded with either totally leading or vaguely open-ended question style. they cover everything from human anatomy, to the Tarahumara/Raramuri runners of the Sierrra Madre, to those funny glove-shoes with the toes that you see people shopping in when you go to Whole Foods. maybe best of all, they reference some of Running After Antelope by our (Utah's) own beloved Scott Carrier. (for more of this latter piece check out one of these four This American Life shows.)

related: getting there, going

creation, blessing

reconquista 84627

I thought this little story from the Salt Lake Tribune might be of interest to some.



from there it looks like it got picked up by the AP and went out on Deseret News, KSL, Daily Herald, City Weekly, Fox and a couple blogs.

and since then, the SL Trib went and did an editorial too.

3 haiku: early summer

pollen clouds blowing
from the trees, like golden smoke
or a solar wind.

runoff flows over,
and she still tries to unstop
our flooding culvert.

we take a last run,
chase peacocks, deer, and make your
headwreath of bindweed.

all the weekend tee vees

yard sale, Saturday. $4-5 hundred? haggling. rain.



memorial day. Six-Mile canyon. orange peels (lichens). Elmer's glue.


artist-in-residence.

animal magnetism

last year maybe you heard about how these Czech scientists "recorded body alignment of cattle in satellite images provided by Google Earth" and found that cattle and deer "orient their body axes along the field lines of the Earth's magnetic field." yeah, north-south.



photographer Christine Chin's Alternative Alternative Energy (A[2]E) sort of picks things up and takes them from there.

"A[2]E's Moth Generator uses moths to generate electricity. The moths in the generator are fed a high iron diet and polarized, which results in magnetized moths. The moths are induced to fly alternately from one side of the generator to the other using their innate attraction to light. The flight of magnetized moths past conductive coils generates current in the same manner as an alternating current generator. While a single moth would only create a small charge, the millions of moths in the generator create a significant output."
text from ASCI



there's also a mosquito generator, a bat generator, combustible ice worms, a terrifying plastic rodent that runs on apple batteries, and something (?) about methane and sea cucumbers.

related: exploiting systems, Brian Burkhardt, Insect Lab, arcadia-immersion

Rigo 23 & the Mata Atlântica massive

Caiçara, Guaraní, Quilombola villagers give Lockheed Martin a run for their submarines and cluster bombs.

Teko Mbarate


Sapukay

details here.
and if you have 7 minutes, the video over here is worth it.

-------------------------------------------------------------some additional context - FYI

Trident by Numbers*
14 - Trident nuclear-armed submarines in U.S. fleet
24 - Trident missiles per Trident submarine
6 - nuclear warheads per Trident missile
100 - kilotons on each Trident W76 warhead
1,632 - W76 warheads deployed on Trident fleet
345,6000 - total kilotons deployed on Trident fleet
$170,200,000,000 - low estimate of total cost of the entire Trident program through year 2042

*borrowed/ripped off from the March 2009 edition of The Mormon Worker

cultivating the primitive

it was good, that afternoon to thaw the hawk that had spent the last month in my freezer, to stretch a tape measure from wingtip to wingtip, from beak to tail and determine, "yes, Cooper's Hawk,"to ask it for a few feathers it will no longer need, and to finally bury it in the clay banks of a stock pond outside of town.
then the boys made atlatls and darts from brittle willow sticks and peacock feathers. Ash, of course, loved this too.

after 5 or so years of being the Webelos leader, I've gotten pretty well reacquainted with the 10-year-old heart.
and poop jokes.

plein air taxidermy

I was over at Matthias Merkel Hess' blog the other day where I found these and was then referred to Jim Baughn’s taxidermy website. there's a kind of sweet penitent intention about mounting these on trees overlooking an autumn field off a Kansas highway. we want to put them all back the way we found them, sort of.

something mythological too, like ill-conceived species of minotaur, centaur, or dryad. the tree as this sort of galley space has also been conceived elsewhere.
(btw, do yourself a favor and avoid searching google images for "centaur")

highway 50 - Salina, UT to Reno, NV and back

Circus Circus' house kennel channel, w/ the Cure playing. no kidding.

Austin, NV. Serbian Christmas, now you know.

basin and range

river of shoes



a little something for everyone in Fallon


trash or treasure was here

hauling a warp and weft of sheetrock across the Paiute rez

petroglyphs at Hickison Summit. lava caves at Pyramid Lake (w/ flycatcher nest).



Humboldt - Toiyabe