Winging It /  by LoLC

The last-minute cobbling together of this year's Christmas "tree" from dumpster scraps, an antique broom handle, and generous quantities of duct tape is almost too perfect a metaphor for our times than I can bear.

(click on photos to enlarge)

IMG_3588.JPG

Happy Holidays, folks.

Here's to keeping it together, against the odds.

Make That Tredecim /  by LoLC

An unexpected plunge down the rabbit hole of intellectual property misuse today, but grateful that three of these unauthorized Astronomy 101 translations at least sort of credited the original? (Tsk tsk, thieving ZDFinfo). 

The League remains pleased by the enthusiasm of skywatchers around the world, and always says "yes" to translation requests, so feel free to ask! Apparently Turkish, Hungarian, Portuguese and German are now covered, but that still leaves plenty :-). 

(click on images to enlarge)

Turkish (posted on Uzaydan Haberler)

Portuguese (source unknown)

Hungarian (posted on MLZPhoto)

German (source unknown)

 

 

Novem Linguae /  by LoLC

The best part of having the League's sky chart featured as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day again back on September 24th was getting asked about more translations. I love seeing this thing continue to make its way around the world four years on.

My thanks to Ahmad and Marc for these Arabic and Dutch versions (bringing the total translations up to nine!), and happy skywatching to all.

(click on images to enlarge)

Arabic (posted on السماء الليلة - Sky Tonight)

Dutch, with addition of "Iridium flare" (posted on personal FB page)

Back to School /  by LoLC

As you may have gathered from previous posts, fifth grade was a momentous time. We were a motley crew of 28,  but Ms. D was as fearless and enthusiastic a teacher as they come, and by the end of the year, our inner-city public school classroom was full of 11-year-olds ready to change the world. Ms. D encouraged the reluctant to love reading and the timid to speak up; she promoted artistic expression and common sense; she championed environmental stewardship, and turned at least one of us into the sort of person who will carry an empty bottle across the country to her home recycling bin if she can't find one while traveling.

Ms. D celebrated diversity, nurtured kindness, and advocated personal responsibility: lessons worth remembering always, but especially in these troubling times. She died six years ago, but I've been thinking of her a lot lately, so it felt particularly fortuitous to happen upon this copy of the second pledge we recited every morning of fifth grade. Unlike its patriotic counterpart, which was dulled by constant repetition, this one was delivered with gusto, each time; an inspiring chorus of 28 little voices, and one big one.

As a new school year kicks off here in these divided United States, against a backdrop of great turmoil, here's hoping that the voices of tolerance, big and small, soon prevail.