Over the past ten to fifteen years, with computers connected online to the public network of other computers and data bases, one has had access to cameras situated in various locations. One could have live views of sites around the world. I wrote long ago about my favorite webcam at the time, which was set up within Crater Lake National Park. Since then, I've made brief visits to a few other webcams - a famous street in England, my college alma mater. I've visited several web cams focused on birds nesting and feeding young.

The National Park webcam was a favorite because I could watch the changes in light during the day, and the changing seasons. I saw when the snows arrived, and how early or late in the year they melted. The other webcams made me a bit uncomfortable, shy about seeing people crossing the street and cars going by without them knowing I was 'there' watching. These were public areas, though, and so it didn't seem that big of an issue.

The birds nesting is a little different. One camera was focused up close on a great blue heron nesting high up in a light fixture. The bird's face and head filled much of the screen. Access to this particular webcam had been publicized, and there was notation on the website about how many viewers were watching the heron at this moment. There was a running string of dialogue, commentary from various watchers online.

Professors used to caution us about attributing emotions to non-human species, but this heron did not look happy. She looked a little agitated, on alert, her eyes twitching from side to side, her head turning back and forth. I wondered if having the attention of several hundred distant viewers focused on one creature could affect its peace of mind - in this instance, a heron who, from what could be seen, looked alone, safe in her nest incubating eggs.

7th grade science, 1960s

Around 1966-67, Mother Pezolt taught 7th grade science, based on a standard text book. Thinking back on the class, she had a lot to offer. We worked on several projects. I remember drawing a poster of oil deposits pooled underground at the base of a salt dome. She arranged for a class trip to see the NASA museum (National Aeronautic and Space Administration) in Houston, Texas. We got to touch the truly small capsule that the astronauts were contained in during their journeys orbiting the earth. (I remember thinking the astronauts could use more window to see out of, that little canister so claustrophobic. There's been commentary that the first astronauts were like lab mice in a sardine can, or something like that. They had no control of the craft - no steering wheels or brakes so to speak.)

The science project I've been thinking about involved making a replica of the sun, one with a segment removed so that one could see the inner layers. I used a styrofoam ball, and it was more difficult than I anticipated, but I muddled through. I don't remember the names of the layers within the sun. I do remember sunspots were thought to be storms on the sun's surface - that their temperature was considerably cooler than that of the rest of the surface. The solar surface also featured - was it prominences and corollas? Like geysers of fire shooting out from below - some went straight out, others arced like a bridge. We were taught about the three states of matter on earth: solids, gases and liquids. There was another form of matter, very hot, that could be found within the sun called plasma. Even in the 1960s, I was curious - how do we know that?

Was yesterday the 12th day of Christmas, or was it the day before? January fifth or 6th? Maybe it starts at sunset on the fifth and ends at sunset on the sixth, and the night in between is 12th night. Twelfth night.

Is it about the Epiphany? or the arrival of the three wise men to the manger? (Did the family stay at the barn that long?)

King's cake - is it the same recipe as challa? only dressed up in Mardi Gras beads and colorful frosting? Where does brioche fall in? If my computer or cell phone were more responsive, I'd look these little mind ticklers up.

Who invented the violin? (isn't it a little odd to tuck one's instrument under the chin?) Who was Lawrence of Arabia? What makes a stork so special this week?

An encyclopedia might help. My life has been enhanced by the volumes of information presented with pictures and using clear and practical language. A comfortable chair and a random volume, say V-Z, can amuse me for quite a while.

the cosmic cartographer

 


he cast his net 
into the night sky
each star, each rock, 
each wandering cat
mapped for a moment
within a square 
of the infinite grid

The Genius of China: 3,000 years of science, discovery & invention, by Robert Temple, first published in 1986, contains all sorts of fascinating facts and pictures regarding Chinese inventions and discoveries. Matches, umbrellas, and 'the magic lantern' - an ancestor of movies - were made in China long before they reached other continents. Suns-spots and solar winds were discovered by the Chinese. Two things that caught my attention browsing through the book are the first earthquake alert device and a simple map-making technique.

The earthquake alert system looks like an elaborate piece of bronze pottery. Dragons' heads circle near the top, and toads circle at the base. Each dragon has a ball in its mouth. Hidden within the jar is a kind of pendulum. When an earthquake occurs, a ball drops from a dragon's mouth to the toad below. The location of the specific toad reportedly points the observor toward the location of the tremors.

Some of the ancient Chinese maps are very simple grids. They don't show the topography of the land, but rather show precisely how many units of distance away, and the location of towns or other points of interest. Seeing these ancient drawings, and other ways of doing things characteristic of the Chinese, is an enlightening experience.

Nice, good and great are words in the American vocabulary used to casually assert approval in a conversation. Awesome! they say when you tie your shoelaces on your own.

Groovy, keen, neat (and neato-keeno) were used in a similar fashion when I was a young kid in the sixties. These slang words evolved into far-out (a John Denver favorite), solid (from The Mod Squad), psychedelic, and others that are fast escaping my memory. Copascetic was popular among an erudite few.

Cool seemed to come in with the beatnik poets of the 1950s, and has survived to the present. Swell was first popular some decades before that, I've read. The elders thought it slightly vulgar and thus the youth used it with enthusiasm. Swell is still heard here and there today, with spot-free acceptance.

Parenting is a big job. We spend a lot of energy and time making decisions that will best help our children grow up to be happy, strong, and responsible. Kids in both strict and relaxed families tend to grow up fine, when the parents are reasonably consistent with their approach - when they don't abruptly change their rules and expectations - when they love their children.

Some of this is coming from my training and experience as a psychologist, some from my training and experience as a mother. Recent trends have encouraged a kind of parenting similar to yanking a pet on a leash. Life doesn't have to be so rugged. Having a strong parent figure that can be trusted is very wise and important and sometimes, in fact, it's beneficial to both child and parent for the child to lead the way. This can hold true for babies as well!