Other Frontiers

Hi Carolyn,



Believe me, I'd love to be able to say that all of that research  was wrong and that the full moon is the explanation for all of those strange/weird/bizarre items we've encountered - especially as educators. 

 Supposedly,  the original rationale was that just as the moon influences large bodies of water so too it affects smaller ones. The brain, being made up largely of H2O ( I know a few folks whose brains are 100% water,in fact! ) is susceptible. What seemed to get overlooked in the full moon lunacy scenario is that the gravitational pull is the same whether its a full one or not! 







So, there have been tidbits of note in the world of tomorrow this week. First item that caught my attention was the news that Chris Hadfield is retiring from the space program and moving back to Canada. This isn't a surprise since he's been at it for three decades plus. One thing I found intriguing was his mention that he's going to take a good deal of time to contemplate his  next phase  because he knows of astronauts who have struggled to adjust to life after the space program.

 

 

 

I thought this to be a strange statement at first but as I thought about it more it occurred to me that leaving the space program would probably be a major come down ( small pun intended ) since there isn't much else one could be doing that would be nearly as fantastic.  He mentioned also that he's ready to pursue interests " outside government " . This seemed a bit telling as entering politics seems to be a step that has been  taken before by retired spacemen on both sides of the 49th parallel. Another Canadian former astronaut,  Marc Garneau, recently just about became the leader of the Federal Liberal Party and a potential next Prime Minister.

Somehow Hadfield doesn't seem like he's cut from a politicians cloth, though.


Also:


Saw the first promo blurb for Act Two of the Hobbit movie ( Let's call it what it is - a three act movie. After all it was made that way.) It's not going to be out until Christmastime so prepare for five or six months of merciless teasing and enticing.







And...., back on March 13 ( coincidentally, the same entry that I yapped about Chris Hadfield's taking over as commander of the I.S.S. )  I  wondered why couldn't we replay our dreams like we do our memories. Well low and behold I ran across this item recently.

According to a recent report in Science magazine, researchers in Kyoto, led by the study's lead author, Dr. Tomoyasu Horikawa, have gotten one step closer to accurately recording people's dreams. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the research team was able to successfully record visual imagery from a group of sleeping test subjects.


Cool!



And..., I was stretching myself three ways while putting this blog item out. The Stanley Cup first game was on, and chugging into a third overtime period, and a special episode of The Colbert Report featuring Sir Paul was airing as well. I wouldn't even mention this except to carp a bit about how one of the numbers he performed was Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite,  from the Sgt. Pepper album. It was originally  John Lennon's  melodic pastiche inspired by an old circus flyer he had framed in his rock star mansion. It simply didn't work  in a voice other than Lennon's.

 

 

 

I'm going to follow your lead  Carolyn and take a riddle R&R break this week. You were correct about last weeks offering. It was fingernails.

 

Don

 

 



All images sourced from Google Images

Fig. 1 - moontidepress.com
Fig. 2 - cbc.ca
Fig. 3 - o.canada.com
Fig. 4 - onlinetutblog.com
Fig. 5 - Sciencemagazine.com
Fig. 6 - tumblr.com