Sonnet challenge #36

It was inevitable.  At some point someone was going to challenge me to write a sonnet about Covid-19.  Despite my science background, I was mostly inspired by the roadwork at the corner of Highway 86 and State route 22.

Behind the cones

Workers dismissed, how long for, they don’t know.
Equipment lying folded by the street’s
half torn-up surface; they’ve been here for weeks –
the crane, the gravel truck, the red back-hoe,
all wondering if they’re going to start again.
It’s been a month now since the workers left –
something is wrong – the world’s been set adrift
and they are out here rusting in the rain
that’s also started to erode the work
they’ve done so far. Nature takes back the earth
freed from the blacktopl strange kind of rebirth
spawned from the fear of one small viral quirk.
One day when covid-19’s finally gone
the work behind the cones will carry on.

Of forging and finding

Came across this really interesting article about art forgeries and the science and scientists behind proving that the Perfect Fake is fake, but not perfect.

Sonnet Challenge #25

So for a little light bedtime reading, it’s usually a science book or something similar.  I recently bought a science reference book (it’s useful to have a periodic table handy when my mind wanders) and read about the accuracy of Cesium clocks and other (mis-)uses of radioactive materials……

Atomic Time

 

We count the rot of Cesium to mark time;

we are obsessed with measuring the past

as it come at us, from a future cast

quite randomly; yet we strive to align

the whirl of planets circling the stars

above us.  Slicing time up like a pie

in pieces with precise equality

so we can note the passage of the hours.

We watch the atoms split, then split them more,

note and love the difference in decay,

and harness it to blow ourselves away,

then realize we cannot close that door.

We know that action made the world a mess

but that’s one thing we couldn’t second guess.

Graphene

Concrete is the most commonly used building material in the world. And now, by adding the invisible wonder material graphene to it, researchers have taken a step towards a more sustainable construction industry. The new graphene-laced concrete is two times as strong and four times as water-resistant as the standard stuff, shows a new study…

via Graphene Can Green Up Concrete’s Act — Anthropocene

 

I would like to recommend….

For those of you who are into science – at least reading about it – can I recommend this blog – sciencesprings. Richard posts a lot of interesting science stuff from earth and around the universe.

From Science Alert: “This Volcano Erupted For 5 Years Straight, And The Photos Are Mesmerising” — sciencesprings

Science Alert 5 APR 2018 SIGNE DEAN You’re looking at a very rare type of lava fountain. (USGS) On 24 May 1969, a deep rumbling started within Kīlauea, the largest of the volcanoes comprising the island of Hawai’i. Looking up the slope of Kilauea, a shield volcano on the island of Hawaii. In the foreground, […]

via From Science Alert: “This Volcano Erupted For 5 Years Straight, And The Photos Are Mesmerising” — sciencesprings

So much science in art

My beginning students learn that there is a lot of science in art.  This is an old article but I kept it to reblog:  A neuroscientist working in an art museum.  I was prompted to blog it today after having a conversation yesterday with a lady who had just completed her masters in psychology and was hoping to consult in the corporate world, rather than enter private medical practice, and to incorporate art into her work.  Maybe we’ll work together on something…..

Ah, back on the map, and travelling around it.

So often, Wales get bundled in with England.  I was glad to see that CNN reported the correct geography on this article about hydrogen cars.  We Welsh aren’t noted for engineering like some other countries, but there is a lot of green in the landscape….

Sonnet Challenge #16

Quiver of Quotes came up with some interesting little used words, that piqued my interest for continuing the stream of sonnets.  The flow had taken a break after having finally surpassed (in numbers at least) Shakespeare’s collection.  Here was the one that came to fruition from The Quote’s list.  And thank you as ever to wikipedia.org for giving me enough material!

Armillary Sphere

The mystery of an armillary sphere!

How does it work?  How does it turn around?

Rings built to represent what hangs in air,

or how it is positioned from the ground.

I wonder at the workings of the mind

that dreamed up such an engineering feat;

Ptolemaic turns on earth defined,

Copernican with sun at center seat.

Mankind has realized since he looked up

that stars revolve across the deep blue night

and puzzled at the turnings of this cup

and with the armil, tried to show it right.

Stargazers wonder at the skies so clear,

then track it with an armillary sphere.

Munch’s colors

I thought This Article about Edward Munch’s color theory was really interesting.  Red is interpreted more quickly by the brain than blue because the wavelengths are slower!

And the quote “Quantum mechanics has been very well correlated with the emergence of non-representational art.” – Bober – shows you just how much science there is in art.  So if you want to be an artist, don’t skip chemistry or subatomic physics in school.

Global warming and art

There’s something to be said about global warming – like ‘it’s real!!!!’ – when even art museums are changing the way they choose and store art because of it.  I found this article very interesting.  Maybe art that is destroyed when it becomes too wet is going to be ‘ephemeral art’ in the not too distant future.  Perhaps I should start sculpting in stone…..