RABBIT RABBIT, UPPER VALLEY!
"Blue has always spoken to something beyond ourselves: it is a colour that draws us into the void, the infinite sky." Back in 2020, British science writer Philip Ball wrote a series of blog posts on the three primary colors. Blue was the second of his essays, starting with the blue-glazed soapstone carvings known as faience, which were produced in Mesopotamia as long ago as 4500 BC, and taking us to the lapis lazuli that Marco Polo found in what is now Afghanistan in 1271, which produced (after laborious work) ultramarine. At the link, all three essays: red, blue, and yellow, and the materials they require."There's not much to think about, except trying not to die." Skijoring around here usually involves a dog. But in Leadville, CO every year, it's been a horse-with-rider-towing-a-skier competition since 1949, and as the AP's Thomas Peipert writes, skiers "can top 40 mph over jumps as high as 8 feet and around obstacles as they try to lance suspended hoops with a baton, typically a ski pole that’s cut in half." Peipert's article is hair-raising enough, but really, it's the video: skier's-eye-view, horse's-butt view. "It's pure adrenaline."SPONSORED: SUMMER SINGS! Wednesdays, August 6, 13, 20, and 27. Want to enjoy some no-commitment choral singing? The Choral Arts Foundation is delighted once again to host a series of Wednesday evening sings in August. We have an all-new lineup of wonderful area directors, each bringing their own repertoire to sample and their personal brand of conducting magic to share. No preparation necessary: Just show up. $10 to cover costs. August Wednesdays 6:30-8:30pm, Unitarian Congregation of the Upper Valley, 320 Rte 5 South, Norwich. Hit the burgundy link or here for more information. Now that the 747 has been deep-sixed, Boeing engineers can focus on the important stuff. Like paper airplanes. Boeing engineers Dillon Ruble and Garrett Jensen and collaborator Nathaniel Erickson now hold the Guinness world record for paper aircraft flight: almost 290 feet. Jalopnik's Erik Schilling explains that the team’s planes “are meant to be more darts than traditional paper planes, and there is little, if any, gliding.” Lots of folding, though, following research on paper, origami methods, and aerodynamics. Oh, and simulations. “I didn’t think we could get useful data from a simulation on a paper airplane. Turns out, we could,” says Jensen. Includes instructional folding video.Today's Wordbreak. With a word from the regional news.
Every so often, it's helpful to dive back into the pandemic just for a reminder of how much the human spirit, even in isolation, wanted to share its creativity. One of the more viral performances to come out of that time was Curt Smith, of Tears for Fears, and his daughter Diva
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No surprise this thing took off about two seconds after they uploaded it. And now, here we are five years later, and Diva's going after her own solo career—not garnering the attention she drew back then, but she's on her way.
from back in May this year.
See you Monday.
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