2454833 (20081231)

i try to develop a habit of using julian day long long ago
it looks too good, at least for a SF enthusiast
being much more elegant than writing 1/1/2009 or something similar
 
of course my attempt is not successful, besides some occational appearance in writings
for someone who seldom write down the date
 
of course that number is meaningless to readers
maybe it is the real reason why i have to write such thing
even the writer himself will not remember which "day" that number stands for
when he read the entries years later
and obviously he will not check

there is another experience of using an "odd" calendar
my Space Museum internship started on the day after Phoenix lands on Mars
therefore i used the Martian calendar during that period of time
checking the "date" is then a real trouble
there should be training session for people to live in longer/shorter days for colonizing space
those who lives 36/5 can be exempted

欲言又止 (20081207)

最近click入http://www.xanga.com/private/editorx.aspx不下數十次而未能完成任何一篇. 欲言又止就是這麼一回事吧. 以往有不少"文章", 只有頭緒而沒有發展, 就這樣在private domain的底層發霉. 一直以來也覺得這不是什麼需要感到可惜的事. 放棄總比勉強寫些連自己也不忍卒睹的廢話好吧.

說在下寫作的過程非常痛苦的話, 最痛苦的必定是寫第一個字. 最糟的情況就是連頭一句也寫不到, 白白浪費了一時的遊思.

所幸的是在下的記憶力還過得去. 若能留下隻字片語的話, 日後翻看時總能記起空白處的意念. 但那一刻的感覺, 想當然已一去不返了.

(20081201)

古人一個晚上可看到4500顆星. 在現代城市, 抬頭望天, 大概只能看到4, 5顆吧. 但想想看, 除身份特殊的人外, 古人大概也將滿天繁星看作空氣草木一般的存在, 並不會怎樣留意. 這跟完全看不到星又有什麼分別呢? 這樣想的話, 就不難理解要說服公眾管制光害和某些空氣污染物絕非易事.

當然, 即使一般市民也會覺得近年的空氣越來越不妥, 以前只能在教科書看到的"smog"現在已是家常便飯了. 市民亦不再視巨大明亮的廣告牌為理所當然. 這些都是因為空氣污染和光害影響生活所致.

要提昇大眾對星空的興趣則是完全另一回事. 在下只能說, 以往所做的大都文不對題. 比較客氣的說, 就是過份"理科為本". 一般人想要的, 不過是欣賞斗轉星移. 對他們來說, 我們注重的"object-oriented"觀星 (亦即認星座, 找深空天體)根本就不重要, 更不用說各種理論了.