FU.....N

I shouldn't promote bad behavior of my nieces and nephews, but it's too easy to do, especially when they're hysterical.

Cynderballz made me a pot roast dinner last night and invited me to take a break from my dissertation. I stopped by (it was delicious) and there was some debate about who was going to eat the last croissant. Everyone had one, but one family member already had two and was hawking to get it for his third (no names. Okay, Dylan). Disappointed, he went downstairs to blow up Nazis and destroy Russians.

Nickerdoodles finally decided because she's young and growing that she'd be the person allowed the second croissant, but being genetically connected to Casey and me, she couldn't eat it until she called her brother back upstairs. When he arrived, she bit into the croissant, which triggered and "F.U." from her brother and a "go to your room" from Cynderballs and Mike.

As he marched away, Nikki said sarcastically, "The poor boy. He only wanted a roll."

Inappropriately, we all started laughing. Cynderballs looked to the bottle of wine for a last drop and discussed something about pan-sexuality and I went to Dylan's room to tell him, "Dude. If that was me. I would have said no one ever listens to me. I'd tell them if they listened, they'd know I was spelling F.U. - D.G.E., because I wanted some for my vanilla icecream. You need to be more clever next time."

Karma is watching my childhood exhibited before my eyes through the antics of my niece and nephew.

Happy Halloween! I'm dressed as an apathetic uncle who is going to Nikki's field band championship at the Carrier Dome. I'm dressing up as an unenthusiastic relative who reads books while the bands perform. I hope people recognize my amazing efforts.

a song from the apple picking day

A month ago, while taking a new colleague apple picking for the first time in New York State, and with two arrivals from Uganda sitting in the back seat, a song was sung to make our road trip a little more meaningful. Rochelle sang "America the Beautiful" with her Tennessee music and filmed the scenery of upstate New York. Yesterday, she gave me a copy of the footage and I post this clip as a karmic reminder of time and how this song and her singing of "His Eye is on the Sparrow" made the apple picking extra special and meaningful.

She told me she will kill me if she knows I posted her singing, but I wanted to put it somewhere where I knew where I could find it later on. And that is why it is here.

America was truly beautiful on that day.

Oh, man.

My colleague asked me to fill in for her at a local middle school to do a writing workshop for twenty-five 7th graders. I knew the class was all girls and that my buddy, Cedric, was doing a workshop with all the boys. What I didn't know was that they established a classroom for creating young ladies, and when I arrived, a girl asked me, "Excuse me, but what does a man know about being a lady. Where's Marcelle?'

That was the first five seconds.

The girls were loud and full of middle school drama. I only had an hour and I wanted to establish a routine quickly. We practiced a call so that they knew when they needed to listen to me. "Hey, Ladies," I'd yell, and they'd respond, "Get Funky." I'd then shout, "Say what?" and they'd snap their fingers twice, clap their hands twice, then point to themselves shouting, "Diva."

It worked.

The teachers said they were going to steal this call and response from me because they've never seen the girls so focused on anything for so long.

The problem with such karma, however, is that it took all the energy I could muster to sustain one hour of their attention. I don't know how anyone worked with the beautiful abilities of Patty Labelle and Aretha Franklin for so long. I had a room full of divas in training, and man, although I needed part of the instruction to be about me, it definitely was mostly about them.

blended verbally

My friend, Cedric Bolten of Verbal Blend, asked me to judge a poetry slam at Syracuse University, and I found this story of what he does on YouTube. I took his invitation as a sign to reconnect with what I love to hear and see: youth spitting out ideas within the parameters of how they hear the muses and meters of rhythm and verse. As the evening when on, the mics got more emotional, and from each poet became a devotional display of their thoughts. Karma is what each fought for on stage. I'm at an age to appreciate such magic.

biogeokimia

Anomali alias keanehan Air

Seperti yang telah gurumuda jelaskan dalam pokok bahasan pemuaian, kebanyakan benda akan memuai (volume benda bertambah) jika suhunya bertambah dan benda menyusut (volume benda berkurang) ketika suhunya berkurang. Air mau beda sendiri… Keanehan air terjadi antara suhu 0 ^oC sampai 4 ^oC.

Antara suhu 0 ^oC sampai 4 ^oC volume air berkurang (air menyusut) seiring bertambahnya suhu. Misalnya jika kita memanaskan air pada suhu 0 ^oC, semakin panas si air, semakin berkurang volumenya. Proses penyusutan akan terhenti ketika air mencapai suhu 4 ^oC. Di atas 4 ^oC, air menjadi benda yang normal lagi. Maksudnya, volumenya akan bertambah (terjadi pemuaian) seiring bertambahnya suhu.

Sebaliknya, air akan memuai (volume air bertambah) ketika mendingin dari 4 ^oC sampai 0 ^oC. Misalnya air kita masukan ke dalam kulkas. Mula-mula suhu air 30^oC. Ketika dikurung dalam kulkas, air mulai kedinginan (suhu air menurun). Pada saat suhu air menurun, volume air juga berkurang (air mengalami penyusutan). Nah, ketika mencapai suhu 4 ^oC, air akan memuai (volumenya bertambah). Pemuaian akan terhenti ketika suhunya mencapai 0 ^oC. Volume air juga semakin bertambah ketika ia membeku menjadi es. Sangat berbeda dengan benda lain yang menyusut (volume benda berkurang) ketika benda semakin dingin.

Ingat ya, massa jenis suatu benda akan bertambah ketika benda tersebut menyusut (volume benda berkurang). Sebaliknya, massa jenis benda akan berkurang ketika benda memuai (volume benda bertambah). Ini persamaannya : Massa jenis = massa / volume. Massa benda selalu tetap. Sedangkan volumenya bisa berubah-ubah, tergantung dari suhu. Ketika volume benda berkurang, massa jenisnya akan bertambah. Semakin kecil volume, semakin besar massa jenis benda. Sebaliknya, jika volume benda bertambah, massa jenis benda akan berkurang. Nah, si air khan cuma bisa menyusut (volume air berkurang) sampai suhu 4 ^oC. Karenanya, air memiliki massa jenis paling tinggi pada suhu 4 ^oC. Sampai di sini, ar yu andersten ? 

Perhatikan grafik di bawah. Grafik ini menyatakan hubungan antara volume dan suhu air.

Jangan tanya gurumuda, mengapa air kok jadi aneh seperti itu. Anggap saja ini takdir  Seandainya antara 0 ^oC sampai 4^oC air tidak berperilaku menyimpang, makhluk hidup yang tinggal di bawah air akan punah ketika musim dingin tiba. Masa sich ?

Ketika musim dingin tiba, udara akan kedinginan (suhu udara menurun). Karena permukaan air danau atau air sungai juga bersentuhan dengan udara, maka air yang ada di permukaan sungai atau danau juga ikut2an kedinginan. Karena suhu air menurun, maka volume air juga berkurang. Karena volume air berkurang, maka massa jenis air bertambah. Air yang ada di permukaan memiliki massa jenis yang lebih besar daripada temannya yag ada di sebelah bawah. Akibatnya, si air yang ada di permukaan terjun bebas ke dasar. Temannya yang ada di sebelah bawah segera meluncur ke atas, menggantikan posisi si air yang tenggelam tadi. Ikan2 yang ada di dasar pada stress… kok tiba2 jadi dingin. Karena kedinginan, ikan2 pun berpelukan… musim dingin tiba, ikan2 makin romantis saja… Proses ini terjadi sampai suhu air mencapai 4 ^oC. Ingat ya, air menyusut (volume air berkurang) hanya sampai 4 ^oC. Karenanya, air memiliki massa jenis paling tinggi pada suhu 4 ^oC.

Ketika suhu air di permukaan sungai atau danau lebih kecil dari 4 ^oC, air yang ada di permukaan memuai (volumenya bertambah). Akibatnya, massa jenis air yang ada di permukaan menjadi kecil. Karena massa jenis air yang ada di permukaan lebih kecil dari massa jenis air yang ada di sebelah bawah, maka air yang ada di permukaan tidak bisa terjun bebas lagi ke bawah. Air yang ada di permukaan tetap berada di atas dan akan membeku duluan seiring dengan menurunnya suhu… Jika suhu udara semakin rendah, temannya yang ada di sebelah bawah ikut2an membeku. Demikian seterusnya… jadi urutan perbekuan  dimulai dari atas… Air yang ada di dasar danau atau dasar sungai biasanya tidak membeku, karena suhu tidak sangat dingin. Kecuali kalau di kutub utara atau selatan, semuanya pasti membeku. Karena air yang ada di dasar tidak mendapat jatah es batu, maka ikan2 selamat dari malapetaka musim dingin. Mereka berpelukan ria di dasar sungai atau danau… kata ikan, biar kedinginan asal tidak kejepit es batu 

Indian Summer Run

I admit I'm a total grump these days. I need to be, because I'm guessing at all the work I'm trying to do, while guessing about where I will find time to get any of it done. I wake up, and the guess-work begins and continues until I guess it's time I head off to bed, because I'm simply exhausted. There are days, too, that I realized I've had zero interaction with human beings. It's just me and my ideas.

But yesterday was a day for an Indian Summer run. There was no guessing at all. I knew it was probably the last glimpse of warmth that I'll have for a long time. The air was fresh, the leaves were beautiful, and the scenery cracked me up (including a few snakes that were sunning in the road and a rooster chasing four ducks by a small pond near my house).

Sometimes, I wish I could just wake up and physically run until bed time. My body couldn't handle it, but if it could, I would. The mental marathon that is my life never seems to end. I need to remember a day like today to fuel me for the other days where I'm guessing at what it is I'm actually doing.

At least, I guess I do.

Light Artist Marcus Tremonto

Marcus Tremonto's light art in these two photographs were inspired by video games. His compositions  show images that are full of light instead of showing a direct light source. Instead of solar light, he uses cool burning electroluminescent wires.

                                        

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/9074/marcus-tremonto.html

http://www.lightmark.de/lightmark_54.htm

cenci goepel and jens warnecke's art is more imaginitive and showing light in unreal places, while Marcus shows light in a more realistic but animated way through video games and electronic themes.