A RARE LJ post!
Still here, just mostly cruising through nowadays.
From a meme on FB:
1. I have considerable artistic talent - as a kid I wanted to become both an artist and a (MAD) scientist.
2. When I was in Kindergarten, I was fascinated by high tension power lines (from Niagara-Mohawk hydro-electric). I constantly drew them, even classified them into groups. My Kindergarten teacher thought I had a total lack of artistic talent (go figure, she was a grumpy old German lady).
3. I started collecting insects in elementary school, and often had jars full of insects & spiders in my room. By junior high, I was a member of a 4-H club. I was extremely good at classifying and pinning my specimens - so much so I won 1st prizes at both the Erie County and New York State fairs. I donated my collection my entire collection to SUNY at Fredonia's biology department - to be used as their main reference collection (1979).
4. When I was young, I had an eidetic memory - esp. when it came to numbers. Even now, I still 'see' numbers flash as I recall them. I put this to use very early - I was able to fool the nurse checking my vision in 3rd grade by reciting the last several lines of numbers/letters. By 4th grade, my constant squinting alerted my teacher to vision problems - so I was tested by a optometrist (and got glasses..).
5. I taught myself how to read topographic maps by 4th grade, and soon was reading my father's college level (including graduate level books) on geography and history. For his history classes - I often drew the maps and figures for his term papers. I created whole fantasy worlds as a kid, some had extensive collections of maps (a skill that came in handy for RPG's). Even today, I LOVE maps and have a fair sized collection of both world and star atlases.
6. My interest in astronomy started back in the early 1960's, watching the space race to the Moon. My best friend's father was the curator of Astronomy at the Buffalo Museum, and he let us use a nice 4-inch refractor to look at the Moon and planets - esp. Mars in 1972. My first real telescope was an Edmund 4 1/4" f/10 GEM, which i got as a Christmas present in 1975. I was lucky to have good, dark skies and soon found all the Messier's and hundreds of other objects with that scope.
7. During the mid 1980's, I worked at the College Planetarium. I didn't like using their 'canned shows' and often did my own programs.
8. My brothers and I were into playing chess and various competitive board games - esp, Avalon Hill in the 70's. Some of these games had no boards - but rather took up the entire room floor (like Jutland - a WWI battle between the British and Germany) or had 1000's of pieces (Terrible Swift Sword - Gettysburg). Some games took *days* to complete. By the late 70's, I was into playing RPG's - including early versions of Dungeons and Dragons.
9. On a more personal note, I've had bad luck with 'best friends'. over the years, three have died of rather unpleasant means - Eric Both (drowned in 1972), Steve Fischer (auto accident - 2004), and Keith Burns (suicide 2010). At this point, I won't have any more 'best friends' - and leave it at that.
10. I published my first astronomy article in 1992, on seeing spiral structure in galaxies (Astronomy magazine). Since then, I have published dozens more for various magazines and journals on a wide variety of topics, plus chapters in books. In 2006, I co-authored a book on Galaxies with Wolfgang Steinicke. I also have a number of professional papers in paleontology, geochemistry, radiochemistry/Health physics and physical chemistry.
From a meme on FB:
1. I have considerable artistic talent - as a kid I wanted to become both an artist and a (MAD) scientist.
2. When I was in Kindergarten, I was fascinated by high tension power lines (from Niagara-Mohawk hydro-electric). I constantly drew them, even classified them into groups. My Kindergarten teacher thought I had a total lack of artistic talent (go figure, she was a grumpy old German lady).
3. I started collecting insects in elementary school, and often had jars full of insects & spiders in my room. By junior high, I was a member of a 4-H club. I was extremely good at classifying and pinning my specimens - so much so I won 1st prizes at both the Erie County and New York State fairs. I donated my collection my entire collection to SUNY at Fredonia's biology department - to be used as their main reference collection (1979).
4. When I was young, I had an eidetic memory - esp. when it came to numbers. Even now, I still 'see' numbers flash as I recall them. I put this to use very early - I was able to fool the nurse checking my vision in 3rd grade by reciting the last several lines of numbers/letters. By 4th grade, my constant squinting alerted my teacher to vision problems - so I was tested by a optometrist (and got glasses..).
5. I taught myself how to read topographic maps by 4th grade, and soon was reading my father's college level (including graduate level books) on geography and history. For his history classes - I often drew the maps and figures for his term papers. I created whole fantasy worlds as a kid, some had extensive collections of maps (a skill that came in handy for RPG's). Even today, I LOVE maps and have a fair sized collection of both world and star atlases.
6. My interest in astronomy started back in the early 1960's, watching the space race to the Moon. My best friend's father was the curator of Astronomy at the Buffalo Museum, and he let us use a nice 4-inch refractor to look at the Moon and planets - esp. Mars in 1972. My first real telescope was an Edmund 4 1/4" f/10 GEM, which i got as a Christmas present in 1975. I was lucky to have good, dark skies and soon found all the Messier's and hundreds of other objects with that scope.
7. During the mid 1980's, I worked at the College Planetarium. I didn't like using their 'canned shows' and often did my own programs.
8. My brothers and I were into playing chess and various competitive board games - esp, Avalon Hill in the 70's. Some of these games had no boards - but rather took up the entire room floor (like Jutland - a WWI battle between the British and Germany) or had 1000's of pieces (Terrible Swift Sword - Gettysburg). Some games took *days* to complete. By the late 70's, I was into playing RPG's - including early versions of Dungeons and Dragons.
9. On a more personal note, I've had bad luck with 'best friends'. over the years, three have died of rather unpleasant means - Eric Both (drowned in 1972), Steve Fischer (auto accident - 2004), and Keith Burns (suicide 2010). At this point, I won't have any more 'best friends' - and leave it at that.
10. I published my first astronomy article in 1992, on seeing spiral structure in galaxies (Astronomy magazine). Since then, I have published dozens more for various magazines and journals on a wide variety of topics, plus chapters in books. In 2006, I co-authored a book on Galaxies with Wolfgang Steinicke. I also have a number of professional papers in paleontology, geochemistry, radiochemistry/Health physics and physical chemistry.