Perseids

[sildra]

On Saturday night, I went to watch the Perseid meteor shower. The county naturalist opens a park after dark every year for this purpose; last year it was a sleepover, but this year it was only supposed to go until 2 am (and in fact, she kicked everyone out at midnight because it was cloudy and she decided she wanted to go home

Comments

[eclectic_boy]

Yay for the whole evening, but especially for the serendipitous discovery of a nearby roundsinging group!

[sildra]

I can't decide which is more exciting, a roundsing or the discovery that potato chips glow in the dark. (The roundsing is probably more lastingly exciting, though.)

[sildra]

One of the people at the roundsing turned out to be Josh B.'s long-distance girlfriend. It turns out she knows a whole bunch of Swatties through English/Scottish, and Morris dancing. In fact, she even guessed I went to Swarthmore, because I knew some apparently-obscure round that she'd previously taught the local group (she at least narrowed it down to I had to either be a Quaker or have gone to school in Philly, and guessed Swat because that's where she has connections so that was the first school that came to mind). Roundsinging is apparently a really small world.

[aryky]

Let us know if you ever do manage to find out which ingredient in potato chips glows in the dark!

That's a funny coincidence about the roundsings, definitely.

[sildra]

Well, I tried google, and to my disappointment but not surprise, it didn't tell me anything. (Except that there are common fungi that grow on plants that glow in the dark, but those should not be on potato chips, and are especially unlikely to be on potato chips and popcorn from two separate sealed bags. Also I already knew about those fungi because my grandfather has a Holocaust story about them.)

[aryky]

Okay, well, I'll bite - what is your grandfather's Holocaust story about glowing fungi?

[sildra]

I've probably told you this story before.

When my grandfather was learning how to cross the Alps on foot in the dark with a group of people (after the war), he was taught to find a rotting log, scoop it out, and paint the rotten wood on everyone's backs. This is because there's a fungus in Europe that's very phosphorescent and even faintly bioluminescent. The idea was it only glowed bright enough for you to notice if you were looking for it, so you'd be able to find your companions, but not nearly as brightly as a flashlight, so you weren't so likely to get caught by the authorities.