just some random jottings after looking through the polarizing stroboscopic filter...

(Image of Hydnangium carneum from Jean Louis Émile Boudier (1904 - 1909) Icones mycologicae ou iconographie des champignons de France, principalement Discomycètes

courtesy http://www.mushroomthejournal.com/greatlakesdata/Terms/basid133.html)

Basidium

a Berlin School homage and thank-you to Edgar Froese (1944-2015), one of the major musical influences in my life and millions of others.

Edgar was the founder of Tangerine Dream and the only member to play on all their albums. He passed away suddenly on 20 January, 2015.

Edgar, I never met you, but you inspired me tremendously and gave me a massive amount of excellent music. Thank You and RIP.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Marmalade Skies

RainbowGlass

Triassic Swing

Seasons End

Cold Front

feeding time in the Milky Way

(image: NASA, Hubble Space telescope)

Cygnus

a heavily reworked version of my earlier track "Banshee"...

In pre-Celtic lore, Cliodhna was the queen of the sheoques, otherworldly females whose keening wails echoed across the valley each night.

One morning Cliodhna decided to take on human form and go down among the human villagers. She met a mighty hunter, and while he chased a boar she sunned herself on the rocks by the seaside. Cliodhna was lulled to sleep by the surf. But the tide came in and her body washed out to sea. As night fell, her lifeless body was awakened and she transformed back into queen of the  sheoques. But she never forgot her day among the mortals.

Cliodhna

in August 2011 astronomers learned that an orangish star 36 light years from earth, in the constellation Vela, has a planet in the "habitable zone", where liquid water might exist on the planet's surface.

HD 85512b

In memory of the Fallen Heroes who have died during manned spacecraft operations. This song is a musical impression of Columbia's final mission ten years ago, but it also honors the crews of Apollo 1, Soyuz 1, Soyuz 11, and Challenger.

The excitement and tension of launch day begins. The countdown clock reads off the final seconds, then LIFTOFF!!!

Shortly after the spacecraft clears the launch pad, a problem undetected by anyone at the time creates a gaping hole in the left wing. But Columbia continues to fire her engines, headed "uphill". The solid rocket boosters burn out and fall off, then the main engines shut down and Columbia drifts into orbit. The crew enjoy the feeling of weightlessness as they go about their duties. After a long mission there's a brief period to relax a bit before making preparations to return to Earth.

Retrofire drops the spacecraft out of orbit, into a return trajectory aiming for the runway at the spacecraft's launch site. But (again unknown to anyone at the time), the damage caused at liftoff allows superhot plasma to stream into the orbiter's left wing. The damage gets steadily worse and makes Columbia increasingly unstable, until...LOCV (Loss Of Crew and Vehicle).

Exploration has a price, and the brave men and women who gave their lives for spaceflight have our grateful remembrance.

(Photo courtesy NASA)

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