the sun that pins the branches to the sky

[freckles_and_doubt]

Partial solar eclipse yesterday, who saw it? I managed to view it completely accidentally, courtesy of my Cherished Institution's spanky new Vice Chancellor, whose hands-on management style has led him to (a) gently boot out the Deputy Vice Chancellors scheduled to welcome students in my orientation programmes in favour of welcoming them himself, and (b) spend ten minutes wandering around the Plaza amid dancing, shouting, singing freshers and OLs, lending out his smoked lenses and encouraging people to have a look. I find this curiously endearing.

Also, eclipses are strange, disturbing, rather wonderful things. There's a deep, atavistic part of human nature which knows that that simply shouldn't happen to the sun, and that it's therefore magical.

Comments

[herne-kzn.livejournal.com]

There are, it is said, some rather nifty experiments on babies (the best kind) suggesting that object permanence, among other things, is a pretty basic expectation we have. Babies are very bothered by things that should be there but aren't or mysteriously change number.

[wolverine-nun.livejournal.com]

I read some stuff by Dehaene talking about that; how one can measure the extent of a baby's surprise by how long it stares at something. So you stick a toy behind a curtain, pull away the curtain and the toy's no longer there - cue long stare etc. Dehaene was talking about how the numerosity :) (or whatever) of quantity up to 3 seems to be hardwired and thereafter not so much. So, 3 objects becoming 2 causes surprise, 5 objects becoming 4 not really. Interesting stuff.

So yes, 1 sun becoming half a sun - a bit worrying :D

[bronchitikat.livejournal.com]

Not being in even the correct hemisphere, I didn't see it. Awaiting reports.

We had a change in Vice-Chancellor at the university we attended (so many years ago we'd rather not count). While the old one was never seen by students except at Graduations, the new one was down there in the car parks, at the main bus stop, helping students shift their luggage at the beginning of the year. Nice guy too.

Sounds like your Vice Chancellor could be a good guy.

[wolverine-nun.livejournal.com]

:D
I'm just wondering how he'd like being called spanky. Probably quite a lot.

[dragonroost.livejournal.com]

We are infact, should council ever get off their asses and lets us do our jobs, renovating the new VC's residence as it turns he is the first family man to live there in 100 years or so...

eclipse

[(Anonymous)]

and how magical that, in a universe of so much randomness, that the moon as seen from the earth is *just* the right size to eclipse the sun beautifully...martyn