Thursday, January 27, 2005
Heliostatic Bounce
Alpine
townsfolk in Rattenberg, Austria figured out
one way to promote "psychological well-being" despite resting in the shadow
of sun-blocking mountain (Statberg Mtn.). To deny the ominous rock-face one consequence of its presence, a redirect, a mirror-refraction from nearby Kramsach. (via)
Dr. Peter Erhard: "Erecting mirrors to shine a bit of light on our village is a great idea." Redirect.
Here in Syracuse, we don't live at the foot of the Alps, but Thornden Hill obscures sunrays in the neighborhood. Well, the hill and the clouds, and the standpipe. On overcast, frigid winter days, I've started thinking about ways to bring such a device to Westcott (E. Syracuse). But even more than an application for lifting the shadows with eight-foot mirrors, I dig this setup for its figurative applications. Redirect. Shine a bit of....
If all of this is unusually off-balance, the break I deserve is that I've been in just more than seven hours worth of class time devoted to prefigurative tropes, blog issues, RSS feeds, Bloglines, OPML imports with 205ers, Hayden White, transclusion. To relax this evening: a quick game of Operation. Guess the part nobody could get. Yeah. Wrenched ankle. Gets me all the way from naive metaphor to self-critical irony.
Posted by Derek Mueller at January 27, 2005 10:41 PM
to Rhetorico-Geography
Michael has often proffered two scientific solutions to the Syracuse weather: 1) Cap the lakes and thus cap the occurrence of lake effect snow and cloud cover due to precipitation; 2) install large hair dryers or heat blowers of some kind pointed up so that they not only stop the snow but melt it on contact. Both (dubious) solutions that possibly could be put in the large mirror category of how in the heck did they do that!
Posted by: jenwingard at January 27, 2005 11:19 PMI don't have these grand solutions, but I do own a lightbox, which I dutifully sit in front of every morning. Okay, okay, I use it to justify my morning computer time, but it definitely helps me!
Posted by: susansinclair at January 28, 2005 9:12 AMGather together a bunch of lesser hair blowers and we'd have a greater heat blower, I think (which could also dry folks' hair, as needed). We'd need bungy cords, though, and lots of electricity. Warmth might just be worth it.
I'd like to know more about your lightbox, Susan. My rays come from this laptop's screen, which means bright days and dim days in no particular sequence.
Posted by: Derek at January 28, 2005 10:58 AM