Where?

Ok so it’s been a long time since I have posted any drawings. But lately I haven’t done many, what I have done is some lettering and doodles.

Now, I really like to do lettering, make it all fancy or make it go with the theme. I specially like to do this on the front cover of my notebooks, which I usually do when I have free time between lessons or the class has become way to boring even for the least of attention. Examples of this are the ones below, which I did for my EM/biology/general astronomy notebook. Neat huh?

But I also enjoy doing something much more fancier, with much more detail (I love detail! ^_^) like this:

(click on it for a much larger version ^_^)

I really like how the curls come out when they emerge from the words, it gives it a feeling of flow, of movement, yet it is still somehow delicate.

Another thing that comes out nicely is words written around an image, as if mirroring the central object, like this one:

I did this one for a friend’s recital’s poster and brochure. It came out quite nice, though in the end she decided to change the name ^_^ nevertheless, the image was kept, and the wordings still mirrored the object’s image which was the main idea. (btw, that is actually the top part of her violin.)

Also, recently I’ve been doodling this little guy here all over my notebooks:

I find him really cute, but still no name I should find him one.

Well that’s all the art I got for now. Enjoy.

Cheers, NM

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“Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another”

Plato

I had mentioned that this semester I took a course on observational astronomy. And man is it worth it. It leaves so much knowledge, and can be really inspiring and informative as to how all the optical observations (which is what we have been seeing until now) are made, and how those striking photographs of nebulas, galaxies, star clusters and every celestial object known to the astronomical catalogues are produced. And from just seeing the image, you’d never imagine it goes through so much processing, but I shall dedicate another later and detailed post to that (when I manage to organize my thoughts and notes :D)

It’s really interesting to see how information from images can be extracted.

But observational astronomy has come a long way. From old school methods of film and glass plates to CCD devices and satellite images with high resolutions. This Gallery from the Discover online magazine gives an interesting comparison between images taken 50 years ago with the technology available then and images taken in more recent years with our present technology. It’s amazing the long way astronomy observation methods have evolved. Though, this is only a small sampling of photographs from the Solar System, and most (if not all) of it done through satellite and probe imaging, it is still a good example.

This incredible close-up image of a sunspot is another example of how detailed our images have become (and how much information you can obtain from it).

And if you are interested, good source for lots of astronomical (both earth-based and satellite) images is APOD.

Well that’s all for now. Enjoy.

Cheers, NM

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We have all seen them flying around, specially on warm nights, near lakes or puddles, big and small, and of almost all colors they come in: Dragonflies.

I personally love them, I find them so beautiful and graceful, and so interesting, how they undergo a transformation from being water insects in their early lives to later emerging from the water and becoming airbourne. They are one of the fastest insects alive, both under and above water (earning them the nickname of torpedeos when in water.)

So I was delighted to find an article -in one of the many physics blogs I tend to read- on the physics of Dragonfly Flight. The article is relatively short but good. It first gives an introduction on the basics of flight dynamics, and then it explains how dragonflies fly. In short, lots of good physics applied to the real world.

Enjoy.

Cheers, NM

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Calls during my sleep always bring good news. Friday’s was no exception.

Since my friend started with her most recent craze over lasagna, I knew we would soon find a place around here to get it. My art teacher helped in that endeavor by suggesting quite a nice place, though a bit out of the traveled path.

I’ll tell you one thing, having lasagna here in Taiwan is no easy task, they aren’t famous for good Italian food, so much that many local average Italian restaurants will serve a bit thicker noodle as spaghetti and rice in creamy sauce as risotto. The only thing I’ve seen them get right are gratins. Some do get to the point of using real spaghetti and pasta, but they still have a long way to go.

Anyways, I’m digressing again.

We ended up on Friday afternoon, after a looooooooong walk, at the Swallow Cafe (夏綠地 咖啡) in Hsinchu’s Downtown. The place is like hidden, but so worth it. It’s ambience is very cozy, very mediterrenean. The menu is well filled. But we were going for one thing and one thing only: Lasagna.

yum!

And man, that was lasagna. Thin layers of pasta inlaid with layers of cottage cheese, ground meat and bathed in a very nice tomato sauce, not too sweet not to sour. And on top, gratin cheese. Simply delicious.

But more than a delight I have not had in such a long time, the lasagna left me something else, a memory, a nostalgic memory.

Back when I was home, back in CR, like one or two Sundays a month, my mom would make lasagna, chicken spinach and cream sauce lasagna, with lots of cheese. I remember helping her do the lasagna, prepare everything and then put it together. And also help her eat the leftover pasta and chicken. After it was baked and cooled a little, we would sit, all five of us at the table for lunch. Oh how I miss those days. I remember how hard it was to take out the first piece, which usually ended up requiring a spatula, a spoon, a knife an a lot of strategy. But it always went well, and always tasted so good (despite my mother’s opinion, cause she said it was either too liquid or not moist enough :D)

The lasagna was soo good, that it was well known among our (my sister’s, brother’s and mine) classmates and professors, they wouldn’t miss the chance to ask my mom to make it for some party or meeting. (truth be told, a lot of my mom’s cooking is famous among our high school professors, but that is another story)

In short, I really do miss that lasagna, but oh well, I’ll have to wait to get some, either until my mom comes or until I go back… sigh. ^_^

Cheers, NM

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