Great episode of 99% Invisible podcast about the sounds of street vendors of Mexico City. I remember hearing interesting calls from street vendors while growing up. Did not hear as many of those sounds and saw very few street vendors during my last visit to India this year.
A famous quote from the poet, Robert Frost.
In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.
Not surprised he said this considering that he lost his wife and 4 out of 6 children during his lifetime.
Mars in the Beehive
Mars and the Beehive star cluster (M44) in Cancer, which is one of the closest star clusters to us (at about 600 light years) and it can be seen with naked eyes. All the stars in this cluster are quite young - only ~600 million years of age.
Mars and the Beehive star cluster (M44) in Cancer, which is one of the closest star clusters to us (at about 600 light years) and it can be seen with naked eyes. All the stars in this cluster are quite young - only ~600 million years of age.
#astro
Mountain laurel is in full bloom around here. It is the state flower of Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
The buds are as pretty as the flowers.
White and red horse chestnuts are blooming as well.
Indian team for the World Test Championship match includes Pujara and Rahane. Have they become so cocky that they want to play against Australia with only 9 players? And with Rohit Sharma in the team as well, it is more like 8.5 players.
I don’t see myself buying Apple vision pro right now but if I am to be alive in 20-30 years when the world is destroyed because of global warming, I’ll definitely need it.
Tour de Lyme 2023
Today’s Tour de Lyme was the 10th anniversary version of the ride. I have missed only one instance over the years in 2022 when I was on a trip to India at the same time.
This ride goes over all the familiar roads in the area that I ride on but, I go this long version only during these rides - thanks to all the support. They have nicely spaced rest stops with lots of food and water. These roads are kinda remote in location and there is nothing around to stop and get a candy bar or a bottle of water if you run out. Also, in this hilly area, the elevation gain adds up quickly as the rides get longer.
Here is today’s ride on Strava. I did what they called a “challenge” ride. It was challenging and I am surprised that I finished it in under 4 hours - thanks to all those nice downhills after climbing up on the hills. Here is a photo showing typical roads in this area of SE Connecticut.
The elevation profile shows how challenging the ride was. There was 2000+ ft elevation gain in the first 20 miles. Those were the hardest miles of the whole ride. 
Needle galaxy and other distant galaxies
The needle galaxy (NGC4565) - perfect edge-on view of a spiral galaxy that is at about 30 light years away.
Captured a couple more galaxies in the same photo. The ones marked with yellow circle (PGC41976, NGC4565C) are at 310 million light years away. The one in red circle (IC3533) is 429 million light years away. This is probably the farthest object I have captured so far.
This image is a stack of sixty 2 minute exposures taken with ZWO ASI533MC-Pro camera attached to William Optics ZS61 telescope.
While scanning the TV channels last night, there was Scripps National Spelling Bee and the preview of the first game of NBA finals at the same time. Asked my son if we should watch the spelling bee. He said, “There is no need. I’ll tell you the result right now - another Indian American kid is going to win. Let’s watch NBA game preshow”. And he was absolutely right. Another Indian American kid did win the spelling bee last night.
14-year-old Dev Shah of Florida wins Scripps National Spelling Bee with final word ‘psammophile’
Snagged one year of Peacock premium subscription for only $15. They had a 50% off special on the website for first-time subscribers and American Express offered $5 for using the card for any Peacock subscription. Nice deal. Now, I can watch Tour de France live.
Voyager2 is the only spacecraft that has done a close flyby of Neptune. Look at this badass photo of Neptune and its moon Triton from 1989. What a stunning capture! I think Voyager has been the most successful program by NASA.
Right now, there is so much talk about mental illness/wellness/health everywhere - in the news, at work, in podcast ads etc. I wonder many times if I need to get a therapist. It is FOMO and looking at the size of DSM-5, I am sure there is something in there that describes me.