The Sun in all of its Glory

Wow, these pictures speak for themselves. These came from a gallery post of 21 pictures here. Additionally, the SDAC or Solar Data Analysis Center at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland USA has a page dedicated to the Sun and its many different faces.

Their site is found here showing many more views.

In 2006 NASA launched the STEREO mission to study the sun in 3D. An excerpt from their website explaining the mission is below:

STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) is the third mission in NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes program (STP). This two-year mission, launched October 2006, will provide a unique and revolutionary view of the Sun-Earth System. The two nearly identical observatories - one ahead of Earth in its orbit, the other trailing behind - will trace the flow of energy and matter from the Sun to Earth. They will reveal the 3D structure of coronal mass ejections; violent eruptions of matter from the sun that can disrupt satellites and power grids, and help us understand why they happen. STEREO will become a key addition to the fleet of space weather detection satellites by providing more accurate alerts for the arrival time of Earth-directed solar ejections with its unique side-viewing perspective.

For additional information about that mission, follow this link.

Unnecessary and Necessary Kitchen Items, MMM . . . Crepes.

Although I will never hear the end of the cinnamon in the spaghetti incident, I actually enjoy cooking. And no not just the drop a slice of toast in the toaster and sit back and watch kind of cooking. I can still whip up a mean batch of peanut butter cookies from scratch if it was a life and death situation.

Along those lines, a secret love of mine is Good Eats. I have Good Eats set to record on my DVR and have a few of those saved for perpetuity. (He recently had an episode on where he made Cracker Jack from scratch that I want to try.) Well, one thing that I really enjoy about his program is all of the different implements of torture that he has in his kitchen. Well, not really torture but he has some great, easy to use, gadgets in his kitchen that he regularly uses. One of those that I have yet to purchase are the measuring cups that slide up to push out the measured item. That description really does not do them justice so here is a link and a picture. (I found out that they are called Wonder Cups and are really not that expensive.) Another item that I want is the small kitchen scale to measure items by weight. I just think that's cool.

A recent article by Ricardo DeAratanha of the Los Angeles Times discussed which items we actually need in our instruments of destruction in the kitchen and which ones are superfluous. That link can be found below:

Kitchen Essentials, and Items You Can Pass By