Seeing Far

Yesterday was an eventful day. I don't know that I'll get to all of it, but there is enough I'm sure I want to describe that it won't all come today. The thing that's on my mind presently is something that happened outside the library in Hollywood. I had just come out after finding myself a DVD. There's more that precedes this and more that follows it, but this is what it's going to be today. There were telescopes.

Some kindly organization of what I assume to be volunteers was there with a pair of home-made telescopes. It was a peculiar thing, having two telescopes set up in the middle of Hollywood before the sun had even set, but they were pointed at the moon, which was visible and quite vividly captured by the instruments. Having time to kill, I spent nearly an hour there chatting with the volunteers and periodically have a fresh glimpse into the eyepieces.

Other people happened by at a good rate, and most of them were game to have a look. A few couldn't be bothered, but most were delighted by the prospect of telescopes being at their disposal, including a pair of stoners who were openly smoking on the street. They seemed nice enough, even without considering their interest in science, and they weren't half as spacey as purportedly sober individuals who walked by.

The volunteers were great, describing their work in making the telescopes, telling stories about their background in the field and tipping me off to some other stuff I'm eager to look into. I was photographed, and perhaps I'll be able to turn the picture up online. I also signed up for some kind of whale-watching tour that was being raffled off. It was lots of fun, and I'l glad I made a point of checking it all out.