1st outing on the road bike this Year - a quickie

Cool Vandenberg AFB Launch Sequence - Geekery on the CA coast

A duo of twin satellites have launched on a big Earth mission! Our GRACE Follow-On mission launched onboard a SpaceX (@SpaceX) Falcon 9 rocket today, May 22 at 3:47 p.m. EDT, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. GRACE-FO will study changes in Earth’s 💎ice sheets, 💦groundwater storage, 💥quake-shifted land, and 🌊ocean currents. GRACE-FO shared its ride to orbit with five Iridium NEXT communications satellites as part of a commercial rideshare agreement with the German Research Centre for Geosciences. Changes in how mass is distributed within and between Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, groundwater and ice sheets are fundamental indicators of the large-scale dynamics of the planet. For more than 15 years, our Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission monitored mass changes every month with far-reaching impact on our understanding of the Earth system and how it is evolving. GRACE Follow-On continues the legacy of GRACE, tracking Earth’s water movement and surface mass changes across the planet. Monitoring changes in ice sheets and glaciers, near-surface and underground water storage, the amount of water in large lakes and rivers, as well as changes in sea level and ocean currents provides an integrated global view of how Earth’s water cycle and energy balance are evolving—measurements that have important applications for everyday life. Swipe to see a timelapse image of launch and other launch images. Photo Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls #space #rocket #rocketlaunch #launch #liftoff #vandenberg #vafb #gracefollowon #earth #science #earthscience #nasa #jpl #nasajpl #gracefo

A post shared by NASA (@nasa) on May 22, 2018 at 2:03pm PDT

Philip Roth 1933 - 2018

"a towering figure in American letters"

Fun Up North the Other Day

Finally shedding the winter rubber, my God am I out of shape!

New Lagoons at Crane Beach

Yeah I named a spot because there's no surf there. All that Winter storminess made some really deep (5-6') lagoons on both ends of the beach.
While the water is still a brisk 54°, it was close to 60 ° in these, and no - there were no little kids at the beach that day so I know the warmth came from the sun on the shallow water!

Throwback Thursday - Calling all G&S Hot Curls

Such cool boards! I blew the opportunity to buy a very clean 9'4" back in 1996 for $300.


It's nice to see that Gordon and Smith has brought these back.  Anyone out there have one of the new reproductions?  Check it out here. I'd love to know how they ride. In the meantime set the wayback machine for 1968, Peabody.

Mother's Day Monday

Happy mother's day to all you mom's (and mum's) out there. 

And happy mother's day to the best mother anyone could with for!

Portrait of my mother by Leon Kroll, 1949/1950

Gross Out Special: Sidelined by Dog Bite while Cycling

This happened 2 weeks ago. All patched up & doing fine, but the wound will keep me high and dry for a few more days.

after

before