#not my usual post but genuinely northern lights are so special to me and I want you guys to experience them too!

[sirmanmister]

Hey guys!! I’m pretty sure the majority of you are from mainland America so you don’t have the opportunity to see the northern lights, like, ever. Tonight you can!! Possibly. There’s a pretty severe geomagnetic storm going on and it’ll be hitting pretty darn south and a whole crap ton of people that have never seen northern lights, might be able to see them!!

I highly encourage everyone in the red/yellow lines to try to take a look tonight! I grew up with northern lights literally in my backyard and they’re just such a pleasant sight to see. According to the weather network it’ll go down as far as Alabama!

[astrogeoguy]

Walking the Dog on Moonless Nights, Evening Mars and Pretty Pre-dawn Planets!

(Above: This detailed star chart of the area around Canis Major, the Big Dog, shows the main stars and deep sky objects (labelled yellow symbols) in the constellation. The southern sky is shown for early March at 7 pm local time.)

Hello, Stargazers!

Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of March 3rd, 2019 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics. I repost these emails with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where all the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails. If you are a teacher or group leader interested joining me on a guided field trip to York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory or the David Dunlap Observatory, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

I can bring my Digital Starlab inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event, visit DiscoveryPlanitarium.com and request me. We’ll tour the Universe together!

Public Astro-Events

Taking advantage of dark moonless evening skies this week, astronomers with the RASC Toronto Centre will gather for dark sky stargazing at Long Sault Conservation Area, northeast of Oshawa on (only) the first clear evening (Monday to Thursday) this week. You don’t need to be a RASC member, or own any equipment, to join them. Check here for details and watch the banner on their homepage or their Facebook page for the GO or NO-GO decision around 5 pm each day. 

Every Monday evening, York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory runs an online star party - broadcasting views from four telescopes/cameras, answering viewer questions, and taking requests! Details are here. On Wednesday nights they offer free public viewing through their rooftop telescopes. If it’s cloudy, the astronomers give tours and presentations. Details are here. 

On Thursday, March 7 at 8 pm in the Legion Hall in Waterdown, the RASC – Hamilton Centre will present a free public talk by Professor Michael Fich, University of Waterloo entitled New Frontiers in Observational Cosmology. Details are here. 

On Thursday, March 7, starting at 8 pm, U of T’s AstroTour will present a free talk entitled Kepler’s Story: How one Telescope Changed Everything we Know about Exoplanets. It will be followed by observing (weather permitting) and their planetarium show. Details are here. 

Eastern GTA sky watchers are invited to join the RASC Toronto Centre and Durham Skies for solar observing and stargazing at the edge of Lake Ontario in Millennium Square in Pickering on Friday evening, March 8, from 6 pm to 11 pm. Details are here. Before heading out, check the RASCTC home page for a Go/No-Go call in case it's too cloudy to observe. The rain date is Saturday. 

On Friday, March 8 at 7:30 pm in the Hamilton Spectator Building in Hamilton, the Hamilton local astronomers will present a free public talk entitled A Step Back, and a Look Up. Details are here. 

If it’s sunny on Saturday morning, March 9 from 10 am to noon, astronomers from the RASC Toronto Centre will be setting up outside the main doors of the Ontario Science Centre for Solar Observing. Come and see the Sun in detail through special equipment designed to view it safely. This is a free event (details here), but parking and admission fees inside the Science Centre will still apply. Check the RASC Toronto Centre website or their Facebook page for the Go or No-Go notification. 

Saturday, March 9 marks the opening of a six-month exhibition at the Aga Khan Museum entitled The Moon: A Voyage through Time. The museum will feature installations of art, culture, history, and science pertaining to the moon. A public talk, The Moon: Mirror of Faith, Science, and the Arts will be delivered by Dr. Christiane Gruber on Saturday at 2:00pm. Details are here. 

On Saturday, March 9 from 6 to 8 pm, weather permitting, astronomers from RASC Toronto Centre will carry out free public evening stargazing on the Teluscape at the Ontario Science Centre. Details are here. 

Evening Zodiacal Light

For about half an hour after dusk between today and the new moon on March 6, look west-southwest for a broad wedge of faint light rising from the horizon and centered on the ecliptic. This is the zodiacal light - reflected sunlight from interplanetary particles of matter concentrated in the plane of the solar system. The glow will be centred on the horizon directly below Mars. Try to observe from a location without light pollution, and don't confuse the zodiacal light with the brighter Milky Way to the northwest. I posted an image of it here. 

(Above: Canis Major is one of two dog constellations that accompany Orion in the winter sky, as shown here at 7 pm in early March. The Little Dog, Canis Minor is the “stick-like” constellation at top left. Perhaps they are chasing Lepus, the Rabbit. The winter Milky Way runs vertically, just to the east (left side) of Canis Major.)

Walking the Big Dog

The night sky’s brightest star Sirius is sure to catch your eye in the evening sky this time of the year. Once the sky darkens at around 8:30 pm local time, Sirius will be sitting a third of the way up the southern sky, to the lower left of Orion (the Hunter). During the rest of the evening, Sirius will slowly descend into the southwestern sky and set just after midnight local time. 

Sirius name means “searing” or “scorching” in Greek. It’s also commonly known as the Dog Star because it is the brightest star in Canis Major (the Big Dog). To my eyes, the constellation genuinely resembles a wiener dog! Sirius sparkles at the dog’s collar. The pup’s head is formed by several medium-bright stars to Sirius’ upper left, but those are near the limit of visibility in urban skies. Nose to tail, the constellation measures about 19°, or two fist diameters held at arm’s length. He’s about one fist from ears to paws. The rest of the dog’s body, composed of more easily visible stars, extends to the lower left (southeast) of Sirius. The dog is rearing up and facing west, as if he is begging Orion for a treat. 

About a fist’s diameter below Sirius is the bright star Wezen, which marks the dog’s “bottom”. Wezen, Arabic for “weight” is a rare, massive yellow supergiant star. One day it will explode in a supernova. The tip of the dog’s tail, marked by a modest star named Aludra, is found 4° (four finger widths) to the lower left of Wezen. Four degrees to the lower right of Wezen, a bright star named Adhara represents the dog’s rear legs. (Some representations include two dimmer stars for the rear paws.) Adhara is a hot blue giant star with a surface temperature of a whopping 21,000 K located about 34 light-years from the sun. It’s the brightest star in the sky when viewed in ultraviolet light, and it, too, is on the way to a supernova death. 

The dog’s front legs are formed by the bright star Mirzam, which is located about a palm’s width to the lower right of Sirius. Mirzam, which means “the Herald” because it rises just before Sirius, is 60 times more luminous than Sirius. If it were located where Sirius is, instead of 500 light-years away, it would appear 15 times brighter than Venus! 

In the heart of Canis Major, about four finger widths below Sirius, is a bright little cluster of stars designated Messier 41, sometimes called the Little Beehive Cluster. Binoculars should show it easily. The cluster, which is about 2300 light-years away, consists of several brighter golden stars and numerous fainter ones. Another nice cluster sits about 2.5 finger widths to the upper left of Wezen. Scan around that area of sky with your binoculars – the winter Milky Way has populated Canis Major with many treats. 

Canis Major is only one of Orion’s two hunting companions. The other one, Canis Minor (the Smaller Dog), sits 30° (three fist diameters) to Orion’s left. This constellation is composed of only two stars - very bright white Procyon and dimmer Gomeisa, which sits about four finger widths to Procyon’s upper right. Ironically, the constellation resembles a stick more than a dog! The two dogs might well be hunting Lepus (the Rabbit), a constellation of modest stars that sits directly below Orion. 

(Above: In this over-exposed image of the star Sirius, its white dwarf companion, the Pup, or the Flea, is the speck at the lower left.)

Sirius is so bright because it is about 25 times more luminous than our Sun, and only a mere 8.6 light-years away from Earth. Furthermore, it is heading towards us, and will brighten over the next millennia! Sirius has a tiny companion star, designated Sirius B, that some astronomers call the Pup. I prefer to call it the Flea! 

Sirius is famous for exhibiting flashes of intense colour as it twinkles. This is because northern hemisphere observers usually see the star positioned low in the sky, so its very bright starlight is passing through a thicker blanket of air. The pockets of turbulence in our atmosphere that makes stars twinkle also work like tiny refracting prisms – splitting apart Sirius’ white starlight and randomly sending different colours (wavelengths) to our eyes. 

The ancient Egyptians linked their calendar to the arrival of Sirius in the pre-dawn sky because it signaled the onset of the Nile floods around the beginning of summer. In China, Sirius is called Tiān Láng天狼, aka “the Celestial Wolf”. Many First Nations cultures saw a dog’s shape in these stars and called Sirius the Moon Dog Star (Inuit), the Wolf Star (Pawnee), and the Coyote Star. On the next clear evening, have a look at our bright neighbour! I’ll post sky charts and pictures here. 

The Moon and Planets

The moon will start the week as a slim, old crescent sitting low in the southeastern sky before sunrise. Even though New Moon won’t occur until Wednesday morning, the shallow angle of the moon’s orbit this time of year will cause the moon to rise almost beside the sun, hiding it from view for several days. 

The moon will return to view as a young, slim crescent sitting low over the western horizon on Thursday evening right after sunset. At the same time, sharp eyes might catch Mercury sitting 8.5 degrees to the right of the moon. The best time to look for Mercury will be around 7 pm local time. The moon will complete the week by waxing fuller daily and climbing higher – landing a fist’s diameter below Mars on Sunday evening.

(Above: Mercury will complete its best appearance of 2019 for northern hemisphere observers this week. Look for it low in the west after sunset, but a little lower every day. Meanwhile, reddish Mars at top left, continues to shine brightly every evening until it sets before midnight. Dim Uranus is below Mars. The sky is shown for 6:45 pm local time on Sunday, March 3.) 

Speaking of Mercury, during the first half of this week, the normally elusive planet will continue to be easily visible in a darkening western evening sky while it descends toward the sun. The optimal viewing times will fall between 6:45 and 7:15 pm local time. If you view Mercury in your small telescope, the planet will exhibit a waning half-illuminated disk. Find a viewing spot where the western horizon is low and free of foreground obstructions. Once the sun has fully set, sweep the sky with binoculars - or your own sharp eyeballs – looking for a medium bright, unmoving point of light. 

The other easy evening planet to see this week will be Mars. When the sky begins to darken, Mars will appear as a medium-bright, reddish pinpoint of light about halfway up the western sky. The Red Planet will set at about 11:15 pm local time. Mars has been slowly shrinking in size and brightness as we increase our distance from it little-by-little. 

The much dimmer, blue-green planet Uranus is also in the western early evening sky. It can be identified by aiming binoculars about 1.6 finger widths above the modestly bright star named Torcular (or Omega Piscium). Look for Uranus right after dark - this week the distant ice giant planet will set at around 10 pm local time.

(Above: Three bright planets will parade across the eastern pre-dawn sky during the coming weeks. Bright Jupiter will rise first, followed by dimmer Saturn, and then Venus, the brightest of all. Venus’ orbit, red curve, is carrying it downward and east, toward the sun. The sky is shown for 6 am local time in early March, 2019.) 

Three spectacular bright planets – Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus, will all continue to appear low in the eastern morning sky this week. Bright Jupiter will rise first, at about 2:30 am local time. By 7 am local time, it will be a beacon in the southern sky. Yellowish Saturn, which is twice as far away as Jupiter, is correspondingly dimmer. The ringed planet will rise at about 4:15 am local time and will be lost in the twilight by 7 am. Our sister planet Venus is only one-fifth as far from Earth as Jupiter. Venus’ blazing brilliance will grace the southeastern dawn sky after 5 am local time, and remain in view until sunrise. In a telescope, Venus will exhibit a gibbous (more than half-illuminated) phase. 

Dark Night Delights

If you missed last week’s write-up about grabbing your binoculars and telescopes and exploring the darker sky for deep sky treasures, I posted some beautiful images and sky charts here. This week will be just as good!

Keep looking up, and enjoy the sky when you do. I love questions and requests - so, send me some!

[meetmeatthecoda]

Waking: Part 3 - Wondering

Okay, y’all, here’s the last installment in the Red angst fest! It’s to do with Red’s actions in the later months of Lizzie’s coma, a few months before she wakes up. This one is important to me but I did struggle with it a little (maybe something to do with the fact that it’s 4am but whatever I mean who cares) so I’m just hoping it can hold it’s own as a fic but it also fit vaguely with the others? Idk, just hoping you guys can enjoy it. I got to let out my reading nerd and actually put my soon-to-be acquired music degree to good use. I fit a lot of dialogue in here (all Red, of course) so I’m hoping it flows well and still stays in character. So the usual stuff, I guess. Anyhoo, I really hope you guys like this 3 part angst parade cause I certainly enjoyed writing it. I’ve loved seeing all your comments and I’m sorry I made some of you cry. :) These two crazy kids are just so tragic, I can’t. :’) Anyway, I should wrap it up here so, per usual, this is also on my FF.net and AO3 accounts. The song for this was “All I Want” by Dawn Golden. Please let me know what you think about this final part of the series! I love your feedback! :) Now that this is completed, I get to start on that fic I posted about last week where Liz is suffering from apraxia and Red is caring for her. Super pumped for that :D So yeah, enjoy peeps! :) Much love! <3

Red wonders if Lizzie can hear him.

He read somewhere that people in comas may be aware of their surroundings. He hopes that’s true. He can’t handle thinking of Lizzie just sleeping for the past seven months, lying there in absolute darkness and silence. The thought just…wrecks him.

So, he tries to provide a stimulating auditory environment for her. He talks to her constantly. It starts as just mundane things like the weather and the color of the paint on the walls in her hospital room. But then he looks at Lizzie’s sleeping face and he can almost hear her scoffing and rolling her eyes.

“Really, Red? I’m stuck in a hospital bed recovering from brain surgery and you think I want to hear about the weather? You can do better than that, come on!”

(The minute he starts imagining Lizzie’s responses to what he says is the minute he starts being genuinely concerned for his sanity. Ah well. He supposes if he’s going to hear a voice in his head, it might as well be Lizzie.)

So, he starts talking to Lizzie, really talking, telling her anything that comes to mind. He tells her about the new coffee creamer he tried this morning, describing the taste and texture with an amount of detail she probably wouldn’t have been able to stand ordinarily but he’d rather be too descriptive than not enough.

He’s living for the both of them now.

When he’s describing the foods he’s eaten and the flavors he loves (“I was initially quite skeptical of calamari, Lizzie, I won’t pretend otherwise, but it was surprisingly pleasant, I must admit.”), the bizarre dishes he describes leads him to telling her about all the places he’s visited.

He knows Lizzie has always wanted to travel and since he’s painfully aware she can’t go anywhere at present, he settles for telling her everything he can think of, from the consistency of the snow in Vienna and the color of the ocean in Haiti.

“I can’t wait until you wake up, Lizzie, and then I can take you whenever you want to go. You’ll like someplace tropical, I know you will, but you should really give Iceland a shot, it is unbelievably beautiful…”

He tries not to get too personal with his ramblings, tries not to share anything that she would have been uncomfortable hearing if she were awake, (like the fact that he’d love to take her to Antarctica and lay with her in the snow and moonlight and see the northern lights reflected in her blue eyes), but it’s quite hard to resist telling her things he’s always wanted to tell her when he knows she won’t sigh exasperatedly and walk away.

(All he wants is to tell her how much he loves her while she’s awake to hear it. It never occurred to him that someday that would be impossible.)

Telling her about the places he’s been reminds Red of the people he’s met and the ridiculous situations he so often seems to find himself in, stories that normally she would be reluctantly amused by. He misses telling her these things over morning coffee or during a car ride, observing her closely, watching as she stifles a grin, pretending not to like his fantastical tales.

He wishes he could see that again.

“…and it was quite a stench, Lizzie, let me tell you, camels are not to be trifled with. And that Bedouin trader could have warned me but I truly don’t think he’s ever forgiven me for the way I insulted his wife. But it was completely unintentional, Lizzie, believe me…”

When Red runs out of stories of his own to tell, he turns to books. Lizzie never seemed to have enough time to read so he makes it his goal to expand her literary world.

(If she can’t venture out into the world, he’ll do his damnedest to bring the world to her.)

He starts with things he knows she’ll like, things Dembe found on her bookshelf when packing up her apartment. He slogs through her silly romances and crime novels, playfully berating her for her lack of variety.

“…and clearly it was the tax collector who murdered the grocer, Lizzie, it’s obvious. Some detective this hero is, really, he’s just pathetic. I mean, I know we’re only on page seventeen but I’m quite sure of myself. At any rate, we’ll see if I’m right in the end…”

They make good progress, usually several chapters in a day, and Red soon makes it through Lizzie’s scant collection. He moves on to things he thinks she’ll like based on her collection. He starts with Jane Austen.

“I have a feeling you’ll like this, Lizzie. Much better than those trashy paper backs you seem to consider ‘romance’. This is sophisticated love, you see. Much more entertaining. Mr. Darcy can be a bit tiresome but I think you’ll like the heroine…”

He tries to stick to her preferred genres but he also occasionally picks an outlier, something he knows she wouldn’t have picked off a shelf for herself.

His biggest gamble was the Lord of the Rings. He’s not sure Lizzie would like them but he so enjoys reading the rich descriptions of such a fantastical land out loud, savoring them, trying to create a vivid mental picture for Lizzie.

It takes him a month and a half to get through them all. He saves them for dreary days when he can hear the rain pitter-pattering on the roof and the light is dim all day and it feels like he and Lizzie are the only two people in the world.

He wonders if she can hear him.

After months of talking and reading, Red starts to think that perhaps Lizzie would like to hear something other than just his voice. So, he asks Dembe to fetch his record player and collection from his Bethesda apartment.

Dembe had raised his eyebrows in question at that. It was a general rule that Red’s Bethesda things stayed in Bethesda, no exceptions. But Red took one look at Lizzie’s soft, pale eyelids, closed and still, and urged Dembe on.

This is all she has.

Red starts to alternate days of reading with days of listening, though he still makes a point to narrate everything they listen to. He tries to vary the selections, changing the genres depending on the weather and his mood, trying to guess what Lizzie would pick.

He wishes he could ask her.

For the first week or so, he opts for jazz.

“This is Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet, Lizzie, he was really something. A legend in the world of jazz, so talented. Did you know that someone knocked over his trumpet and bent the bell? Instead of getting it fixed, he decided he liked the way it sounded and kept it, bent to hell. Can you imagine?”

He buys a special record of “Symphonie Fantastique” just for Lizzie. They spend a whole afternoon listening to all five movements, the sound so crystal clear it’s as if the orchestra is in the room with them.

“This was composed by Hector Berlioz, Lizzie. Interesting man. The poor thing was wildly in love with an actress, obsessed with her. Completely harmless, of course, but still she wanted nothing to do with him. That’s what the symphony is based on, you know. The protagonist is so desperately in love with the woman of his dreams but his feelings go unrequited so he takes opium to drown his sorrows. You’d probably say that’s a little melodramatic of him but…” he reaches up and gently brushes a lock of hair behind Lizzie’s ear. “…I’m not so sure. I think I rather understand him.”

On sunny days, Red plays 80s hits by Billy Joel and Pink Floyd from his iPod, sometimes singing quietly along, his rumbling bass filling the room pleasantly. He imagines that Lizzie has a beautiful singing voice.

He wishes he could hear her.

Red spends months with Lizzie like this, talking, reading, singing, never silent. He never wants her to feel as though she’s alone in the dark. He is here, with her, always. He hopes she knows that. He wishes he could ask if it helps, his constant noise, so desperate to keep her company.

(Or perhaps it is him that needs to feel less alone. He’s not sure anymore.)

And in the dark of night, sitting at her bedside clutching her hand, he tells her things, things he only feels safe telling her when it’s just the two of them, her asleep, him awake, always awake and waiting.

In the dark, he pleads with her.

“Lizzie…Lizzie, please come back. I miss you so much. You’ve been gone so long and…you must come back. We’ve gone through a lot of books and records over the past nine months…I’d love to hear your opinions on Tolkien and Berlioz. Wake up and tell me what long-winded saps they are. Tell me you miss me…Lizzie, tell me you love me. Because I love you, sweetheart. So much. I’m sure you know that by now. So, please wake up so I can tell you in person. I miss you. I miss you, Lizzie…please…come back to me…”

He wonders if Lizzie can hear him.

He wonders if he wants her to.

[oliverarditi]

A horizon obscured by banality

I’m generally unimpressed by assertions of a cultural distance between Northern and Southern Europe. Such ideas usually revolve around differing attitudes to work and leisure, the importance of food and family in the South, the more relaxed lifestyle found in warmer climates, and so on. I don’t dispute that such differences exist, but I tend to feel that what separates the north from the south culturally is far outweighed by what unites the two, in comparison to the difference, say, between European and South-east Asian cultures, or between mainstream British culture and my own values. However, entering the Catacombs of the Capuchin Monastery in Palermo, to be confronted by row upon row of corpses of nineteenth-century burghers hung on hooks in their Sunday best, was to encounter genuine and significant cultural difference. Whether this is simply the difference between the Catholic and Protestant domains, or whether a Catholic from Bavaria or Ireland would be equally baffled by such funerary practices, I can’t say; but this fetishisation of death, also seen in the ubiquitous reliquaries of Palermo’s churches, is something quite alien to me. For me, death is neither to be feared or desired, but simply an aspect of existence through which we must all pass, and the idea of preserving my image post-mortem is uninteresting. Having said that, there is something grotesquely entertaining about the spectacle presented in these catacombs, and had I been in the right place at the right time, I might have wanted to participate.

Some of the corpses appear to be in dialogue, whispering asides to one another, or sharing a joke; whether this is by some accident of their tendons contracting as they withered, or by deliberate contrivance of the staff, is impossible to guess, but there are a variety of social dynamics displayed along every corridor. Some, naturally enough, relate to status, as expressed in the quality of the clothing, and presumably also in the company kept by each of the deceased, the desirability of the real estate in their particular corner of necrotopia. There are other forms of status on display here, those more peculiar to the life of the church, or to the leisured sentimentality of those whose economic status was secure: little walled gardens are set aside for the corpses of virgins, and for those of children. Of course we are used to the idea that children are more valued and enjoyed in Southern Europe than in the North, but I would guess that their special status here is more to do with the fetish of innocence, in a religion which identifies sex with sin, and death with a defining moment of moral judgement.

That is perhaps one of the purposes of the entire display, a reminder of death as the leveller of all earthly inequalities; but it was seemingly somehow impossible for the custodians of this place to abandon their attachment to earthly status. Some of the most prominent citizens displayed here, bishops and military officers, and the American consul who fell so in love with Palermo that he wanted to be interred in the local manner, have their dignity apparently punctured  in the way they are propped up and arranged like furniture, but doubtless the special circumstances accorded to them are intended as a mark of distinction. There is a certain degree of hypocrisy at work here, in the way that death as a symbol of our equality before God becomes a further pretext to display and reinforce socio-economic status. Perhaps this is why the Catacombs made my skin crawl as much as they did; I’m not overly sensitive to death or corpses (although admittedly most of those I’ve encountered have belonged to rodents), and I have absolutely no fear of ghosts or any sense of the ‘supernatural’, but I was reluctant to enter this labyrinth of hubris, and felt deeply uncomfortable while I remained within.

The catacombs are barely below ground, and several of the passageways have windows, which gives the impression they were contrived in imitation of rather more terrifying, ancient places, but were intended to be amenable to the bourgeois pieties of their visitors. Their only real affordance now, beyond cheap thrills for tourists, is as a resource for the historian of costume, or for costume designers on historical stage and screen productions. In Palermo’s dry air the level of preservation is extraordinary. If it was ever the function of this place to confront its visitors with the prospect of their own death, that is now obscured by historical distance, but I doubt whether death was ever much of a presence here. That boundary between the known and the unknowable, the portal through which no reports return, is hidden beneath the kitsch banalities of social display, its light-eating surface, like the event horizon of a black hole, obscured by the energetic collision of all that is sucked into it. Here, the interested tourist, like the burgher of the past, can stare at death, but never on it; their gaze is deflected by the accumulated residue of all that the dead strove in vain to take with them to that place which we must all attend naked and alone.

[tripstations]

18 of the World’s Most Delightful Airport Features

Airports can be busy, stressful, and sometimes, awesome. Dawn Huczek/CC BY 2.0

There was apparently a time, in some far-off age, when commercial air travel was exciting and fun. Today, it’s easy to understand why most people now feel that airports are dreaded prisons of bureaucracy and inconvenience. And yet, even as airports have turned decidedly toward the dystopian, one can still find awesome surprises in bustling terminals across the globe. We recently asked Atlas Obscura readers in our Community forums to tell us about the most wondrous attractions they’ve ever encountered in an airport, and their responses made us want to arrive for our flights even earlier than before.

From psychedelic neon tunnels to sandy beach runways, our readers sent us a first-class selection of unbelievable airport features. Take a look at some of our favorite recommendations below, and if you have an incredible airport oddity of your own that you’d like to share, head over to the forums and keep the conversation going! Flying might not seem as wondrous as it once was, but airports can still amaze.

Tony Webster/CC BY-SA 2.0

Sacramento International Airport (SMF)

“These fantastic pillars of luggage in baggage claim at the Sacramento Airport are a wonderful example of environmental-friendliness: reuse, reduce, recycle.” — AnyaPH

Captison/CC BY-SA 3.0

General Mitchell International Airport (MKE)

“Mitchell Field in Milwaukee has Renaissance Books—used and rare books. If you didn’t pack sufficient reading material, this is the place to get a good book. When I lived in the northern part of Illinois, I’d always use Mitchell when I could, not least because of Renaissance Books.” — JLP60615

Joe/CC BY 2.0

Recombobulation Area

General Mitchell International Airport (MKE)

“In Milwaukee, after you take off your shoes and belt to go through security, put yourself back together in the ‘Recombobulation Area.’” — pinchanygo

David Brossard/CC BY-SA 2.0

Mudra Sculptures

Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)

“First trip to India (#AtlasObscura) in March. Blown away by wall-to-wall metal discs and beautiful hand mudras in the Delhi Airport.” — marys826

Paul VanDerWerf/CC BY 2.0

‘Sky’s the Limit’

Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)

“Chicago O’Hare has a fantastic tunnel between terminals. Which I personally think they need to hang gold coins above to complete the video game chic.” — Bumpy

calflier001/CC BY-SA 2.0

The Yellow Submarine

Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LPL)

“Always loved this yellow submarine outside John Lennon Airport in Liverpool. Built by one of the biggest ship builders in Liverpool (Cammell Laird), it even contains genuine submarine equipment on the inside.” — ollieclark96

Jag9889/CC BY-SA 4.0

John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)

“JFK Airport in New York has a new spectacular oddity! The historic TWA terminal, designed by Eero Saarinen, has been turned into a hotel (an oddity in itself) and they’ve now adorned it with a restored Lockheed Constellation L-1649A, known as ‘Connie.’ It’s one of only four of these aircraft remaining in the world.” — Philip_Shane

Simaron/CC BY-SA 2.0

Barra Airport (BRR)

“Landing on the beach in Barra [in Scotland] is pretty special.” — Kenneth_Wardrop

Joanna Poe/CC BY-SA 2.0

Laminar Flow Fountain

Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW)

“The fountain in DTW Terminal A is also very interesting. In a city known for engineering, the fountain employs a few cool engineering features. The water jets come from laminar flow nozzles, so it looks like noodles or little hot dogs of water jump across the fountain surface. Water flows over the entire edge of the circular fountain, but instead of having a sharp edge for the water to fall over, the fountain curves back underneath itself. Surface tension causes the water to cling to the surface, so it appears that the water is defying gravity. I always chuckle when I see people leaning up against the fountain edge, only to walk away with a wet line across the front of their pants.” — tiretester

JasonParis/CC BY 2.0

Light Tunnel

Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW)

“Detroit’s airport (DTW) is my favorite place for a layover. Airplane travel can be harsh and disorienting, but Detroit’s rainbow tunnel is truly restorative. The rainbow tunnel (possibly not its official name) connects the airport’s two terminals via an underground passageway lined with frosted glass and slowly changing multi-colored lights, while some soothing music plays. That might sound crushingly hokey, but it’s such a welcome reprieve from the usual airport-as-mall experience. Plus, you kinda have to go through it to change terminals, so you might as well enjoy it! It has a moving sidewalk, but I always just walk so I can spend more time there. There are other nice things about Detroit Airport (I like the fountains, trees, and birds too), but the rainbow tunnel is what makes me happy to pass through.” — latourex

rkrichardson/CC BY 2.0

‘Iron Feathers’

Will Rogers World Airport (OKC)

“Outside of Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City are four 70’ long steel arrows, rusting in the sun.” — tzircher

Zairon/CC BY-SA 4.0

Baggage Claim Polar Bear

Svalbard Airport (LYR)

“A taxidermied polar bear at the baggage claim in the Longyearbyen, Svalbard airport?” — penelopeashe

itravelNZ/CC BY 2.0

Lord of the Rings Features

Wellington International Airport (WLG)

“I love the Lord of the Rings theme at Wellington Airport in New Zealand.” — Taz_Coronado

Djasc112/CC BY-SA 4.0

‘Flight Paths’

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)

“The forest walk between Concourse A and B at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta.” — zamand

Dr. Raju Kasambe/CC BY-SA 4.0

The Gardens

Singapore Changi Airport (SIN)

“The Changi Airport in Singapore is almost a destination in of itself. [There’s a] butterfly hatchery in the butterfly garden, one of many gardens throughout the airport. There’s a water lily garden; a sunflower garden on one of the rooftops where you can grab some snacks and watch planes among hundreds of sunflowers; a fantastic cactus garden; an orchid garden; an arrival garden… Throughout are major art works, some are interactive. Very social media friendly.” — tpalms

delta82/Public Domain

Bamboo Tunnels

Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SSA)

“I particularly love this bamboo archway that welcomes you to the city of Salvador [in Brazil] right after you leave the airport (Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport). There’s one road leading in and one leading out—and yes, they’re both under individual bamboo arches.” — ravelmarques

Mike McBey/CC BY 2.0

Gibraltar International Airport (GIB)

“The most bizarre thing I’ve seen at an airport is in Gibraltar. To enter or leave the country by foot, car, or airport transfer, you have to cross the runway. When a plane is preparing for landing or take off, the barriers go down, traffic stops, and the runway is cleared.” — PinkyPea

Antonin/CC BY-SA 2.0

Tintin’s Rocket

Brussels Airport (BRU)

“Brussels is a glorious experience for anyone who loves The Adventures of Tintin. Hergé’s hero is everywhere (along with other Franco-Belgian comics icons like The Smurfs) and that extends to the airport. Before you blast off back home, admire the rocket from the Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon albums…” — JamazingClayton

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

The post 18 of the World’s Most Delightful Airport Features appeared first on Tripstations.

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[hunterssauces-blog]

Hunters Sauces

Chinese Cooking - Sauces & Spices

Sauces and spices are the input any cooking. They would not be tasted great without by any meals. The only exemption is the fact that some beach creatures might be boiled or merely steamed before serve. Because they're salty already in their body well, that's. Imagine eating water shrimp that is steamed? I'dnot bother!

I'd like to introduce some of spices and the hottest sauces that daily is used by us. You could possibly already know a number of them, but I guess you haven't heard of others.

Sauces

Bean Curd Sauce (Dou Fu Ru):

Fermented bean curd, full of meats. Could possibly be maintained for time that was fairly long. Is available in two sorts - red. Crimson is usually used to make Braised Chicken. Bright preferences hot and is commonly employed like a side dish along with noodles, buttocks, or congee. Some want to offer with vinegar and soy sauce for beef dumplings, hotpot recipes, yet others. Well-liked by north and northwest of China.

Shrimp Sauce:

Gas from baby shrimp dried and fermented. Use for dishes that are sauteed. Employed seriously for recipes from south of China.

Sauce:

Fat from oyster. Heavily salted. Use for dishes. Popular in Hongkong, Cantoon (Guang Dong, to be correct), and a few regions in south of China whilst not employed at all in northern and west of China with the exception of hotels and some restaurants.

Sesame Sauce (Zhi Ma Jiang):

Ground sesame seed with flavor that is strong. Used for cold meals.

Hot Pepper Sauce:

Hot sauce produced from combination of beans and warm spices. Red or brown in-color. Use sparingly in meals or dishes. In north, people frequently blend this sauce to stir fried minced meat and offer with noodles (ensure it is Crackers with Meat Sauce).

Oil:

Taste is too powerful for use in ing that is frying. Utilize limited to boosting taste of cold and baked dishes, noodles, hot pot marinade, soups, etc.

Pepper Oil:

Created from sesame oil and red pepper. Assist with meat dumplings, buttocks, etc.

JiangXi Vinegar:

A particular vinegar stated in JiangXi province. Lighting amber in-color using a distinct smell. Use for recipes that are cold and beef dumplings.

Spices

Salt:

Mixture of pepper dust with sodium. Offer with fried chicken, meat, and bass.

Raw-food sauces are (you have noticed this term before) delightful and healthy. For instance, my formula for organic Fettuccine Alfredo dresses clear ribbons of light green zucchini using a gravy made from a delicious spice blend and soaked cashews. Trust me; you may not miss the cream or perhaps the butter (or perhaps the fat and calories).

One among my personal favorite raw food sauce dishes could be the Fake Peanut Sauce that I made for Organic Food Made simple for one or two People. Typically, this sauce demands roasted peanuts, but organic butter is used by me instead. As well as keeping more vitamins, I do believe the menu is truly tasted better in by raw almond butter.

Try my organic Pesto if you prefer your sauces inexperienced in the place of white. Such as the initial, my recipes calls for pine nuts , olive oil, garlic and leaves. The distinction is the fact that the nuts are natural as opposed to roasted.

Pepper:

Dry brown round tart. Included infrequently in poultry and beef could take away the uncomfortable smell (bad smell). May also be employed for making even or pickles some deserts.

Five Powder:

Celebrity fennel, a mixture of pepper, clove, cinnamon, and dried peel. Modestly found in beef and cooking seafood.

Celebrity Fennel:

Fashioned brown incolor, like nine cornered star. Use for cooking with offal, meat, chicken and seafood.

You can make Your own almond butter it in shops. Only ensure you select natural almond butter.

Mock Peanut Sauce

* 1/2 glass natural almond butter

* 1/4 cup water

* 1 tablespoon lemon juice that is fresh

* 2 tablespoons pure MARINADE SAUCE maple syrup

* 2 teaspoons tamari

* INCH/2 teaspoon crushed garlic

* 1/4 teaspoon grated fresh cinnamon

* Rush cayenne

* Dash salt

* place-all the components in a blender and procedure until smooth

This natural gravy that was basic might be retained for five times within the refrigerator. Drizzle it at your next celebration at lunch or dinner or utilize it as being a dipping sauce to include Asian flair towards the crudites your serve over your preferred veggies.

Jennifer Cornbleet is an internationally known raw-food instructor and cooking, as well as the composer of the top-selling cookbook Raw Food Made simple for 1 or 2 People. She presents hands-on, talks, sessions courses, and consultations nationwide. She's at Living Light Culinary Arts Institute in Fort Bragg, a faculty coach.

The food that is trick to Thai count on two things, Thai Herbs and Thai Gravy. Herbs are about the fragrance nevertheless the mouth-watering style comes from the sauce. Tasty Thai dinners originate from Spanish sauce dishes that are excellent. You are on the road to preparing ideal Spanish Food, in case you get the combination right.

The next time you will find on your own in a Thai diner, lookover to your neighbors' table. Generally occasion, you will discover small extra British sauces in those recipes, unless your distinct British restaurant provides exclusively to low-Thais. I imagine what I am saying is, the more Spanish sauces the more reliable Japanese food you'll get is found to the tables by you. It truly is often an indicator that is good if these sauces while in the tiny dishes taste great. You'll be able to believe that other sauces possibly arises from a well-built marinade dishes. In addition to this, if you notice condiments with herbs and Japanese gravy on the table, you realize this diner is rather genuine. Thai cooking is all about sauces , spices, and mixing herbs . There is no greater solution to provide all the types that are intense than Thai marinade. Indian sauce is divided into two group, sauce and cooking sauce.

Sauces:

Sauce

* Prik Naam Pla (fish sauce with sliced soup and lime juice) - a worldwide sauce that goes with almost every grain meals. Some restaurants included it while in the condiment.

* Prik Naam Som (chili & vinegar marinade) - condiment used to flavor crackers

* Naam Prik Pao (roasted chili paste) - condiment found in selection of dishes (sauces, salads, stirfries). Some Thais use Prik Pao as jam exchange to distribute on toast.

* Aa-jaad (pickled cucumber Salad) - excellent dipping sauce for fried fish cakes, satay, as well as other fried snacks

* Naam Jiem Saate (peanut gravy) - one of the most widely used British sauces out side of Thailand. It likes so excellent folks don't simply utilize it to swim Satay but put it to use as much more, pizza sauce substitute, pad-Thai sauce substitute, and salad dressing. The American must contact it " Notice " sauce, what ever food you view you soak in this sauce.

* Naam Jiem Talay (Fish Marinade) - yes, you've thought it. Jiem Talay is actually a dipping sauce for all you seafood need. Transfer melted butter! Get ready for a fiesta in your mouth. This badboy is saturated in taste and when you take a bite, the intense mix of hot, poisonous, salty and special will knock-your socks off (if created right).

* Naam Jiem Buoi (plum sauce) - common among baby and individuals who cannot handle spicy food. Jiem Buoi is Great for any fried dishes.

* Lure Choe (vinaigrette soy sauce) - use for making warm and bad soup and dipping sauce for potsticker and Dim-Sum.

* Naam Jiem Gai (chicken dipping sauce) - sweet and hot sauce. Good with BBQ chicken

* Naam Jiem Seir Rong Hai (crying lion gravy) - Crying Lion is among the popular dinners in the US. Seared medium rare meat served with sauce, consists of soy sauce, ground-roasted almond fish sauce, and limejuice.

Sauce

* Nam Pla (seafood marinade) - for putting salty flavor. Used in soups, stir fry, and creating sauces. You will find seafood marinade in meals like Tom Yum (warm and bitter soup), Tom Kah (coconut soup), and station krapow (stir fry sacred basil).

Use within sauces, wrong and special stir fry.

* Pad Thai Sauce - use for cooking station Thai. Pad Thai menu will be offered inside our post that is later.

* Phu Khao Tong (Natural lid soy sauce) - flavored soy sauce. one of the critical gravy which included in several Indian stirfry sauce recipe

* Notice iew Dum (Nice black soy sauce) - for making Station Discover iew (Special friend fried noodle with chinese broccoli and meat). Compound in Khao Mun Khai (Broiled chicken beef over tasting grain) dipping sauce

* Observe iew khao (gentle soy sauce) - significant sauce in many dipping sauce.

Juice - significant component in pad thai sauce. Contained in some dipping sauce and Thai Khang Som soup (Bad soup with tammarin based)

Gravy - ingredient in lots of Thai stir fry sauce recipe including bad and lovely stirfry.

* Curry substance - All curry pastes have spices and similar herbs but unique percentage.

Thai menu is going to be granted in our guide that is later.

* Green curry paste

* Orange curry paste

* Reddish curry paste

Curry paste

* Panang curry paste

* Khua Kling curry paste (Southern Thai food)

* Khang Pa curry paste (Not preferred in international place)

* Khang Som curry paste (Not popular in foreign state)

Actually the recipes, unique percentage that is same produce a big difference in flavor. why marinade menu could be the key to separate superior Spanish food from excellent Indian treat, this is exactly.

Japanese food count generally on Indian marinade, while you can see from your record above. If you combine and match sauces, they become many different dinners.

Like I mentioned " you're on your way to preparing perfect Spanish Food, in case you got that combination right ".

Why Food?

That's a problem that is great. Now here's a good remedy: we like Japanese food. Well basically, we love Japanese food. And we enjoy Indian food so much that individuals feel you ought to think it's great also. Therefore it really is our goal to provide everyone who enjoys Indian food - or anyone who enjoys food in general - with an easy and fast way to discover the food they appreciate.

What is Regional Thai Food?

The answer is rather basic: delightful and hot Indian food close you'll be able to smell it! Well, not that near to load oneself on food that is excellent, and fast. You notice, the work of LocalThaiFood.com would be to assist you to pick the one which best fits your Japanese food needs, and also to assist you to find British restaurants which can be in your immediate location, or as close that you can.

Who Loves Food?

We do! And hopefully you are doing - or, at the very least develop you will shortly! Anyways, LocalThaiFood is run of us people here in California by simply a number and we might want to satisfy with you!

[grapsandclaps]

GRAPS AND CLAPS - SEASIDE SPECIAL PART 1

Welcome again one and all to the story of the #80showyear which this time hailed from the glorious seaside hotspot of Blackpool for PCW Wrestling and their big "Free" show at the Tower Circus. So lets stop the Clowning about and get on with what went down. It was a very early start from Rochdale train station at 920am to get to my connection in Manchester, luckily i had enough time to sample 2 double sausage and egg McMuffins from McDonalds at a cost of around £5.60, not long ago you could easily buy this for way less than a fiver - another sign of food inflation gone mad! So breakfast down me, it was off on the usual 25 stop Northern Rail service train to Blackpool North calling at places they just invent to annoy you. I mean who ever lives in Adlington? It was on this trip where a song in the making has been thought up for PCW Debutant on the 12th August - Su Yung, we will have to find out whether it goes down well with the Preston massive. With only getting there at just gone 1205pm, not much time was to be spared before Show number 40 of the 80 show year which was another "free" show put on by PCW which replaced a previous one that was supposed to take place in Early May but was cancelled due to "logistics" 😞. This show took place in a beer garden of all places due to the rare sunshine that we are accustomed to in the North West and personally i think it was a good idea - i am very much one for weird settings for show. The beer on offer here wasnt one to crow about though - £4 for a multipack 300ml bottle of budweiser, easily making at least £70 per pack of 20 - as overly expensive this is, i would easily do this myself as a promoter with the mark up price, wrestling crowds tend to be drinkers so it makes sense. So here i only had the 4 bottles and 2 cokes which were 2 quid each. Onto the matches that took place and a brief rundown of what happenend Seymour Gains vs Chandler Sandford (the former Craig Sanders) of blue zone - this was what you would expect from 2 trainees just basic stuff but it can be excuses as Sandford picked up an injury during the match. Went about 6 minutes, Gains is a better talker than wrestler and has improved since i last saw him in person. JG Nash vs Freakshow - this replaced the advertised Dave Birch vs Sheikh el Sham match. Lots and lots of stalling here between the two, Freakshow had a great resemblance to Jeff Jarrett in a clown outfit, no disrespect but this was Shitarse Wrestling bad, that bad even our Geoff had the Racing Post out in this match. DND vs Philip Michael and Jake Long After the first 2 matches, we needed a pick me up match and this certainly was a good match involving 2 promising wrestlers from the PCW Academy - Philip Michael who i have mentioned before is a great technical wrestler and is now starting to show some personality in his matches, still only 19/20 and could have a bright future in the next 2 years or so, Jake Long as far as i know comes from the Johnny Moss Wrestling School, he has very much got the moveset and the look of Finn Balor but has got some very good moves of his own. DND are the current IPW tag champs and are a decent heel team, good action in this match with DND eventually get the win with the "Chasing the Dragon". The losers were not disgraced in their efforts. Lucy Cole vs Lauren - good womens match, Lauren is probably the best of the 3 PCW Academy girls currently and Lucy Cole works generally in Scotland but has already done a PCW in the past at GIRL POWER in May and proved such a hit there she has been rebooked on this weekend. Cole i think is a very good talker whilst wrestling and has good interaction with the crowd, she eventually picked up the win with a low boot to the face. Next match was supposed to be Cuban Heat vs BIG T but due to Cuban bribing BIG T to join him, this was changed to a tag match with the aforementioned Cuban Heat and BIG T vs James Finn and Ashton Smith. The good guys had most of the best bits of this match including a great spot with Ashton lifting BIG T and catching him.with a knee - great facial spot by BIG T here, i think that is one thing T does well - facial reactions. Cuban Heat i guess is more of a character/comedy act which is more suited to a managerial role than that of a wrestler. Imagine a cross between Cien Almas/Armando Estrada and Omid Djalili, just wasnt that impressed by him. Finn and Ashton got the win here, not too bad a match i thought. Main Event was Joey Hayes vs T-Bone in a fun comedy match with lots of playing about on the outside of the ring here involving T-Bone getting hit with a soft toy, Joey and Boner chatting up Female Wrestler Christi Jayne (more on her in Part 2). Bone got the win with the DDT in a 10 minute match, very much light-hearted fun. Overall a good way to pass on a couple hours in a setting i would like to see happen again as its something different. The wrestling had some good points and on the other scale - a genuine worst live match of the year contender but you cant have it all. Part 2 later tonight will focus on what shenanigans i got up to in the afternoon and the big Tower Circus show. #grapsandclaps