MIKA

Music I am currently (and probably temporarily) obsessed with:

(Yes, you have to watch all 3 videos. No, you may not just watch the first one. No, you may not just watch the first thirty seconds of each one and then comment as if you have an informed opinion. No, I don't care that you are trying to watch this at work and the third video happens to feature a guy dancing (prancing?) around in his underwear) : )

BTW, I love all these, but they are in order from best to not-quite-as-best. : )

Yearbook Photos

Thanks to Troy and Laura (and my slow workdays) for these gems:


Ah, 1960. What a lovely year...



I was a good girl in 1966



1980, not quite fully into my crazy grunge period yet...



Ah, there it is. 1984!



I think I look just like Jaima in this photo (Jaima of 1992, not Jaima of 2010)



But things finally started coming together by 2000. Whew!

Solar Tsunami

As many of you may know, this week held some pretty cool solar activity. Four large coronal mass ejections took place, allowing for fabulous aurora borealis viewing on Earth. Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are similar to and related to solar flares, but the relationship is not yet fully understood. Flares generally produce a visible, well…flare.., which shoots away from the sun. As you can see from this video, no flares were visible during these recent events, though you can glimpse the power of a large CME.

CMEs of this magnitude are cool because they cause such bright northern lights that folks in non-polar regions have a good chance of seeing them. Unfortunately, they also may knock out some unprotected parts of the power grid and mess with satellites.

Nevertheless, the sun is cool (figuratively speaking). Also check out this crazy-awesome photo:


This image is an extreme ultraviolet snapshot from the Solar Dynamics Observatory. It shows the sun's northern hemisphere in mid-eruption. Different colors represent different gas temperatures ranging from ~1 to 2 million degrees K.

*Note: "Solar Tsunami" would be an excellent band name.