USA 193, we hardly knew you...

The 'decaying' spy satellite named USA 193 has been hit by a missile. The debris should have passed overhead ten or twenty minutes ago but I couldn't see anything. It isn't due to fly over New Hampshire again for another three hours and hopefully I won't be awake then. The eclipse was nice though. I was hoping that the bright reds would highlight the larger shards of orbiting space trash for me. Nothing. Maybe it was demolished completely. Maybe it got pushed into a different trajectory and is now silently heading towards Pluto (our estranged planet).
What would be cool (but sort-of impossible) would be for the folks on the Navy ships to be looking up in the sky to watch their $10 million bottle rocket disappear on it's mission and then you see a bus sized super secret satellite barreling straight down, dropping like a duck that has been shot. The flames from re-entry would make it easy to spot. "Full speed ahead boys..."
It will take 24 hours to find out if the missile did more than dent the solar shields, but at least they hit it. USA 193 was doing a complete orbit in 90 minutes so I am not sure why it will take 24 hours to evaluate the situation, but you can be sure that there is a Lear-Jet packed full of lawyers trying to predict where the largest pieces will fall.

Icy Scenes on Valentine's Day

Icy Scenes on Valentines Day

[Album]
[SLIDE SHOW]

Seattle happy hour

one more picture just because its soooo cool
WW's Phone

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Mackenzie said...
Hey guys it mackenzie. ha funny story, the other day we had to extra tickets to the circus and i told dad to just take beth and warren.

we are getting the puppy in a week. im really excited. my mom said you had some names. right now we are leaning towards charlie but i really want your opition. talk to you soon

July 20, 2007 10:35 PM

From the big trees to the land of shaved mountains

We are now in Oregon. There is quite a difference from National/State/County protected forests of northern California to the lumber farming SouthWest corner of Oregon.

All of the roads have a thin hedge of beautiful trees that give you a nice forested feeling, but when you get a peek through a bare patch you can see that the hills are clearcut for as far as you can see. It feels like a holleywood set. The hills look like New Hampshire looked in 1907.

I suspect that "farming" is not quite the term that I should be using here. There doesn't seem to be ANY reforestation being done. Just cut and run. There are spots where you can see just how tall the trees used to be because they don't actually clearcut, they leave behind the diseased or damaged trees or ones that are just too thin to make good lumber. These tall reminders of what "used to be" tower above the scrub that blankets the hills after a number of years.
Oregon seems to be a beautiful state, but the clearcutting takes some getting used to. It is similar to passing by the strip-mines in other states. There is a product to be sold, there are people to buy the product, and there isn't a lot of incentive for a company to reuse the same resources like there is with a farmer that has to use the same fields year after year. The trees will grow back, but there are no signs of planned forestry here like you see in other parts of the country. They just move on to a new area.

Fern Valley

Fern Valley is right on the coast of California. It is a small gorge with xx varieties of ferns. It is a wonderful place to scurry around in.

There are MANY more pictures of this little spot that I will add later.

Fern Valley: The Set

Fern Valley: Slide Show

Sonoma Vineyards 5:53am

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André Benjamim said...
beautiful picture!
July 7, 2007 2:17 PM

Everything is BIG

The sunset 10 minutes ago

The Staten Island Ferry at sunset.