Dwarf Planet in Purple

Colorimetry is weird. Don't believe me? Try looking up "Planckian locus" or "MacAdam sphere" or "CIELUV." Granted, I've long known about color temperature, both instinctively and scientifically, but some of this other stuff is … just weird. (I am writing a short newsbrief about this stuff, due tomorrow, so that's why I'm noodling over it while watching Game 6 of the World Series.)

Incidentally, this game is taking the same overall shape as so many of the playoff games that have preceded it: some early fireworks go off before the contest settles into a pitchers' duel. Except this time Houston is ahead 2-1 and Strasburg is getting into trouble. >:-(

*sigh* Maybe I'll go raid the fridge.

In which your humble correspondent comes up for air after quite the whirlwind!

The past week was intense, to say the least. It would have been a lot worse if my new editor (editor of the magazine I freelance for, I mean) hadn't given me a little more time to work on the current articles. Whew. So that gave me the freedom to go to the scientific conference for a couple of days, write about it, and then throw myself into finishing up the Ottoman outfit I'd started to make for Kingdom Twelfth Night. I don't think I've done so much sewing, trying on, and re-sewing since ... well, for a long time.

Plus, there was LOTS of Facebook drah-ma over the event. That was all crap, as it turned out, and does NOT need to be repeated.

The event was lovely, several of my friends got unexpected awards, and I got a TON of compliments on my outfit. Even if the bottom of the hem *was* held up by safety pins. :-) That was the first lined garment I have ever made, so I was actually pushing my personal envelope there.

It almost feels weird to be going back to a "normal" week of working on freelance articles that have nothing to do with astronomy. But, hey, gotta pay the bills.

Today was full of science in ways both big and small.

This year I was asked to make my homemade creamed corn gluten-free because of a couple of guests who can't have gluten. Yesterday I posted on Facebook about this and got various suggestions. The only thing I needed to replace in the recipe was 1/4 cup of Wondra flour. I ended up using cornstarch because I could find some amid all the disarray in the kitchen area.

While watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (yay, I got to see the UMass Minuteman Band on national TV!), I thought of Comet ISON and its close encounter with the Sun. I was lucky enough to find the NASA Google+ Hangout devoted to the Sun-grazing. I'm not sure the comet survived, and scientists aren't either, but it was certainly interesting to follow along as the creamed corn cooked itself in the crock-pot. (And, of course, I thought of how excited Pedro would have been.)

Finally, even though I've been criticizing the big-box stores for opening on Thanksgiving Day, I raced home from my Thanksgiving at T.H.'s after dessert so I could do a Skype interview with an engineering professor in Melbourne, Australia (which is 16 hours ahead of us right now). Hey, when you're a writer interviewing people all over the planet, you usually have to get them when they are available. So she and I (notice I said "she") had a nice chat about optical wireless communications.

I hope everybody in the U.S. had a great Thanksgiving!

I found this "death-ray baby" image (obviously Photoshopped) here and just had to make it into an icon. I have no idea of the provenance of this photo beyond that website.