Mt. Wilson Webcam Dusk Into Darkness T-Storm

At dusk this evening I noticed a storm cell over the Mojave Desert southeast of Barstow, CA, via the Mt. Wilson 150-Foot Solar Tower Current Towercam. Given the play of light and the composition of the image in light of all the factors at play I realized this scene might continue to be worth monitoring. I'm sure glad I did because I sure was correct in that analysis. What follows are a series of images I saved off of the Mt. Wilson webcam and have arranged here in the order they were captured. The storm cell in question went on to become a severe-warned thunderstorm during the period these images were captured. 

7:36 p.m.

7:47 p.m.

7:51 p.m.

7:54 p.m.

7:58 p.m.

8:07 p.m.

8:09 p.m.

8:24 p.m.

Courtesy of UCLA Department of Physics & Astronomy

My Voice Now Travels The Cosmos

Today in my capacity as chairman of this year's 21st Annual Rockhounds Roundup gem, mineral, and jewelry show in Paso Robles I had the honor of appearing with Santa Lucia Rockhounds past-president Richard Smithen on 1230AM KPRL's "Sound Off" radio program with Dan Del Campo. Our primary purpose was to promote our show and secondarily promote interest in minerals and fossils and geology and the earth sciences in general and more broadly an interest in science en total. Below are four images I captured of my experience. Note: I thank the station and its staff and management for their cordiality and generosity and in particular to Dan Del Campo for his inviting us on his show today. 

I have always liked the radio station's art deco-esque architectural flavor. This view taken on my way into the station.

Santa Lucia Rockhounds past-president Richard Smithen waiting in the station lobby for our signal to head into the studio.

Dan Del Campo immediately prior to our live on-air interview.

Immediately following our interview Richard got out this contraption and confirmed that the stone in the diamond wedding ring of station secretary Mary is indeed the real thing. Green above the red means YES!

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

11th Anniversary of 9/11

Today marks the 11th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, PA. Below are my two postings here to date regarding this infamous episode in United States history.

My Recollections of 9/11

In My Seat

Apostle's Creed ~ My Credo

Earlier this evening at a Sunday evening sermon taught by my pastor, the Apostle's Creed was introduced to me for the very first time. I have spent most of my life shunning most of the trappings of traditional religiosity be it catch-phrases (WWJD) or popular books (The Purpose Driven Life) and so on. This particular element of traditional Christian religion I find most awesome and useful and not at all gag-inducing like so much else in this general category. It is an all-purpose primer on the Gospel itself and I claim it as my credo as well.

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again;

he ascended into heaven,

he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting.

Amen.

Source: Wikipedia

2012 CFMS Big Sur Jade Hunt

Today I participated in this month's CFMS field trip which conveniently enough for me just happened to be to some of the more well-known Big Sur jade-hunting grounds in the Pacific Valley area of Greater Big Sur. Most often these "federation field trips" as they are more commonly known take place too far away for my convenience' sake. Not so this time as this one occurred just over an hour's drive from my house.

Over the course of this year I have grown increasingly stir-crazy to get out and rockhound as I have been too busy and too poor to afford the time to indulge in what is now for me an avocation and no longer a failed attempt at a vocation. Quite fortunately I was able carpool with fellow Santa Lucia Rockhound member Dale Conrad (our rock show dealer chairmen) whose automobile we utilized (as opposed to my "beater").

Dale and I headed up the Central California coast as the only contingent from the Paso Robles club to which I'm aware. We arrived late as CFMS (South Region) Field Trip Co-Coordinator Robert Sankovich (who along with his wife were camping in Plaskett Creek Campground) had already taken the main body of field trip attendees down to North Cove (Jade Cove). Nonetheless, Dale and I contacted Robert's wife at their campsite which was the meeting place for this field trip and signed in thus insuring we were covered by the CFMS insurance policy.

While there I had the honor of meeting my favorite history teacher at Cuesta College (which I am currently attending), my friend Dennis Judd (he taught the three history classes I have taken in college heretofore), who by coincidence was breaking camp at the adjacent campsite. Following those two details Dale and I headed diagonally across the street down to Sand Dollar Beach to look around and get our first taste of the day of jade hunting. What follows is a photographic journal of the day. Each image is shown in the order it was taken and none have been altered in any way.

Note: we found Sand Dollar Beach parking lot entirely filled with Rest Station #3 of the cycling portion of the 2012 Best Buddies Challenge. Cyclists were everywhere coming or going or taking a break at the rest station. There was a snack bar, port-a-potties, and loud electronica pulsating throughout the immediate vicinity, something I had never before heard in this bastion of neo-hippiness (flavored with paleo-hippiness). Dale and I had noticed on the way up as far south as the old townsite of San Simeon (in and around Sebastian's Store) that there was some sort of cycling event underway today. CHP units both on two wheels and four, were all over the place maintaining safety for the cyclists.

Mrs. Sankovich was both accommodating and affable. I felt sorry for her that she had to "woman" the fort and not go down to the beach to hunt jade. She seemed happy enough while "taking one for the team".

The Juddster showing off his jade finds.

South Sand Dollar Beach.

North Sand Dollar Beach

Stairway to heaven (upper end).

Interesting piece of serpentine with chrysotile.

Stairway to heaven (lower end).

Sand Dollar Beach

Large landslide of the south bluffs of Sand Dollar Beach as viewed from the bluff-top.

Gopher Snake adjacent to the Sand Dollar Beach parking lot.

The second place we visited today. Dale was too winded to do the requisite bluff climbing so our visit here was brief.

Next stop: North Beach at Willow Creek and my first and only jade discovery of the day.

There was a guy on the beach hunting for gold. Note the solar panel powering this operation.

By coincidence I met my jade-hunting mentor Mike Lyons at North Willow. He found jade here today.

The waves were distractingly awesome here today as the tide continually rose during our visit.

As my visit here progressed I found myself increasingly drawn away from jade-hunting and towards the powerful waves and gorgeous scenery.

This is late Summer when the seas here are relatively tame compared to winter and Spring.

These conditions are perfect for finding jade as the gravels are constantly churned by the wave action.

I found this odd beauty (or beautiful oddity) as part of a larger boulder lodged on the beach.

 Note Highway 1 on the mountainside above the beach.

The sort of gravel conditions of which jade dreams are made.

Dale and the gold-hunter.

The gold-hunter was friendly and helpful and offered Dale his pan and taught him some tips about panning.

Dale found a few small flakes.

By this point I was thinking little of jade.

A wave poised to strike this huge boulder.

And BOOM!

Repeat Step #1

Repeat Step #2

The road down to Willow Creek day use area lined with autos.

The Highway One bridge spanning Willow Creek Canyon.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved)

Picture of the Day - Scott Fire Early On

Just after 1 p.m. today a wildland fire broke out in the hills southeast of Ukiah and immediately exploded across the BLM-managed landscape despite the nearby presence of a lot of aerial firefighting resources due to the ebbing North Pass Fire and the flowing Sixteen Complex. Below is an image taken at 2:02 p.m. PDT by a Caltrans traffic webcam located at the intersection of Highway 101 and Highway 20 a short distance north of Ukiah and looking southward.

At last report today this fire, labeled the Scott Incident, had scorched around 1,600 acres and had little to no containment. Update as of 9/11/12: 50% containment on 4,618 acres. 

Image courtesy of Caltrans.

Darker Repercussion

In the middle of the night (which it is right now where I'm typing this) is the perfect time for trance and progressive house, both being sub-genres of electronica or electronic dance music, This sort of music has been my musical passion since early 2001 when I first discovered it as the storm clouds of mental illness began to clear from my mind as noted HERE. For some reason the following two trance tracks, Brancaccio & Aisher's "Darker" (Sin@Dogstar.Mix) and Science Department's "Repercussion" (Funk Fuction's Future Mix), have really re-resonated with me of late. Indeed, so much so that I find myself listening to them over and over again quite often the past couple of weeks. 

Anywho, these two tracks appear in the order seen here on the album "Trance Nation America" by Ministry of Sound in Great Britain in 2000 (on the Jimmy Van M side). I purchased this album a year later and it was one of my musical mainstays of musically meditative medication as I came out of turbulent storm clouds of mental illness during that time that had begun to form during my senior year of high school in 1988. I had a fever and the only prescription was NOT more cowbell but more trance and progressive house!

Note: some would argue they are" progressive house" hence my mention of it here and in all fairness there is often some confusion by music afficionadoes of the difference between these two sub-genres that often overlap which is the cause of the confusion in the first place. Final note: the jacket for the aforementioned audio CD erroneously stated that the second song below (which is the 8th track on the CD) is Funk Fuction's Melody Mix when in fact it is their Future Mix of this track.