WELCOME BACK TO DAYBREAK DIVERSIONS, UPPER VALLEY!
Lost Woods: Pickerel are aliens! In a world far from the trappings of civilization.Still terrified by the Twilight Zone episode “The Invaders?” Then you’ll spare a thought for Frank Nischk. In Ecuador, the entomologist found himself the lone guard at a field station when millions of army ants invaded. His weapon: a broom. “A stream of hard, small bodies welled up through the cracks in the floorboards like water in a flood,” he writes on Atlas Obscura. When your heartrate returns to normal, keep reading. The ants, it seems, are critical to the survival of a host of other creatures. More than 500 species, from beetles to birds, tag along with the marchers, feeding off their leftovers and each other.Okay, so werewolves don't exist. But what if they did? And one was on a mission to the moon? That's the premise of astronomer Phil Plait's entirely earnest yet entirely tongue-in-cheek piece in Scientific American. As NASA and the Canadian and European space agencies prep for a return to the moon, even a passing familiarity with werewolves suggests the problem: They become beasts in full moonlight—and a day on the moon lasts two Earth weeks. Even worse: What if one's orbiting the moon in a capsule, which takes two hours—one in darkness, one in full moonlight? "Mayhem," Plait writes.SPONSORED: Help someone who needs a hand right now! Hearts You Hold is an Upper Valley nonprofit that supports immigrants, migrants, and refugees across the US by asking them what they need. It can range from baby clothes to work gear to laptops for people trying to establish themselves and their families in their lives here. At the link you'll find people in both New Hampshire and Vermont, but there are newcomers all over the country—from all over the world—who need something as simple as a car seat or baby shampoo. You can make a difference! Sponsored by Hearts You Hold.And hey, while we're being spooked out... There's a nice, scientific reason why the pulsar PSR B1509-58 and its wind nebula resembles an x-ray of a human hand, which NASA's Beth Ridgeway explains in accessible detail. Even so, the pics from the space agency's x-ray telescopes are something to see.Today's Wordbreak. With a word from the regional news.
Some years back, a biography came out about the blues musician known as Seasick Steve that found that not only was he younger than he'd claimed (born in 1951, not 1941), but he also wasn't an untutored Mississippi-born knockabout who made his first guitar out of a cigar box and a spatula. While some of his tales about his early life may have been true, mostly he was an accomplished California session musician with a storytelling gift. But here's the thing: No one much cared. Because Seasick Steve is also a magnetic performer with a supremely loyal following. "Alone on stage," a reviewer once wrote, "his surprisingly nimble fingers coax or hammer extraordinary noises from his selection of battered guitars, while his voice is a rich, weathered growl."
See you Friday.
If you like Daybreak and would like to help it keep going and evolve, please hit the "Support" button below and I'll tell you more:
And if you think one or more of your friends would like Daybreak, too, please forward this newsletter and tell them to hit the blue "Subscribe" button below. And thanks! And hey, if you're that friend? So nice to see you! You can subscribe at:
Thank you!