A Peace Sign

I was sitting at a red light, and then suddenly noticed that the jeep in front of me had a purple peace sign on the spare tire cover.  Then it hit me that I hadn't been aware of seeing any peace signs recently.  Then I began to wonder about the origins of the symbol.  You might be interested to know the peace sign was originally designed in 1958 for the British nuclear disarmament movement by Gerald Holtom. The symbol is a combination of the semaphore signals for the letters "N" and "D," standing for "nuclear disarmament".  In semaphore the letter "N" is formed by a person holding two flags in an inverted "V," and the letter "D" is formed by holding one flag pointed straight up and the other pointed straight down. Superimposing these two signs forms the shape of the centre of the peace symbol.  Amazing, huh?

Collimation Night

For a telescope to work at its best, the optical elements must be precisely aligned. This includes multiple mirrors within the telescopes.  This alignment is called "collimation."  So tonight one of the experts on collimation in our club gave a talk about how the complicated process works, and then we had two different types of telescopes set up indoors, so people could see what a perfectly aligned telescope's image looks like, and how a badly aligned scope's image appeared.  Here one member of the club adjusts the focus knob as he watches the image change.

Smith Observatory, Geneva, NY

While driving around Geneva with Kathy and Vince and Joanne, we happened to drive by the famous Smith Observatory.  I had actually forgotten it was here.  It was built in 1888, along with a house for the astronomer, Dr. William R. Brooks, who was mainly noted as being one of the most prolific discoverers of new comets of all time.  He was attracted to Geneva by businessman William Smith who built both the house and the observatory for him.  Dr. Brooks Brooks went on to become Director of the Smith Observatory at Hobart College, Geneva, New York, where he lectured and undertook his astronomical research. His observations at the Smith Observatory produced 16 new comets. 

Upstate Skies

 

Today was the day we drove home from Rochester.  The forecast was for rain all day, which I was not looking forward to.  But, wonder of wonders, we started out on an overcast day with no rain, ran through some light rain for perhaps twenty minutes, and then had only overcast skies and dry roads for the entire rest of the trip.  And what skies!  There were stunning layers of silver gray overcast clouds from overhead all the way to the horizon.  I could have stopped a dozen times to take photographs, but I didn't.

The Ladies and Their Easter Plants

Vince had the brilliant idea for he and I to buy Jo Anne and Kathy Easter flower arrangements.  So we did, and they were so pleased to receive them! It was such a surprise.  Don't they look pretty, and pleased?

Ampersands

I was at the RIT Cary Graphic Arts Collection the other day and they have, in addition to their spectacular library of books, among other things, some works of art, both paintings and sculptures.  This is one of the sculptures that I had not seen before.  It is an arrangement of ampersands cast in iron. Not surprisingly t's called "Ampersands" and it's by the sculptor William Tighe.  I think that is is a really brilliant sculpture.  The Ampersand is probably my favorite character in a typeface.  There are some astounding ampersands out there in different typefaces, if you go looking.  I think that each one of these pieces is about a foot tall.

Good Friday at the Cemetery

We drove an hour southeast today, to Geneva, NY where Kathy and Vince, and their brother Tom and sister Elaine were born and raised.  We drove around town, and saw the schools they attended, and the homes where their friends lived, and the changes in the town.  We came to see the graves of Eleanor, and Arthur, their mom and dad, and Elaine, their sister.  It was a cold, windy and overcast day, and for some reason seemed appropriate for visiting the cemetery, on this Good Friday.