stuff and ghosts
reconsidering my collections, and a spectral visit to the Moon
Dear word explorer,
Spring is quickening its pace and the extra daylight slanting into my rooms is highlighting cobwebs and dust and neglected corners. Every year the urge to de-fuzz the winter burrow begins like a low-grade fever, and by the end of March I’ll be burning to reduce and recycle what’s no longer needed.
This reassessment has prompted me to consider my consumption of media — and I’m not talking about the news! Nope, this is about music and films in particular, and their organisation in my space. Over the years I’ve collected a lot of CDs and DVDs (and some Blu-rays), so how am I using them now? When I want to listen to music, or watch a movie or a TV show the habit is to reach for a remote (or my phone) to open up a streaming service. It’s the (laziest) easiest option.
I’ve been mulling over a lot of questions. Do I have detailed knowledge of all music and movies that I own thanks to my decades of collecting? Can I easily access and enjoy them? How can I put this material under my control so that it’s simple to use, even if I’m on the move? What solutions are open-source and not another fee-based service?
After all, what’s the point of owning archives of books, comics, DVDs/Blu-rays if I don’t enjoy them regularly? Are they mere decoration? The external manifestation of my taste? Most importantly, are they enhancing my life, bringing me joy, and enriching the experience of being human? If they tick most of these boxes then I don’t have a problem…
I’ve been ruminating on this issue and starting the tedious work of cataloguing titles and considering better ways of organising them. This coincides with home network reconfigurations (kudos to Martin) as part of regular maintenance and the coming forced obsolescence of fully functional devices due to the dictates of Apple and Microsoft (I won’t rant). Change often brings a charge of defiant resistance, but can I transform that spiky resentment into a flowing curiosity?
I’m taking a careful look at what entertainment services I need. I’m unlikely to (re)watch my entire library of TV shows and films in the coming decades, never mind absorb the constant influx of new material. Yet I want to remain receptive to art’s continuing evolution.
It’s that tricky combination of openness and focus.
A lens dilating and contracting; the wide soft gaze followed by the precise laser point.
In space weather news, solar maximum continues, and currently the Earth is experiencing a minor G1-class geomagnetic storm thanks to a Coronal Mass Ejection flung in our direction a few days ago by the sun. With luck and clear skies, those of you in northerly latitudes might spot flashes of aurora borealis, especially as we’re heading towards the Equinox.
Northern and Southern Lights are more common during March, April, September and October, when the sun crosses the equator and the Earth experiences equal amounts of daylight. This noticeable seasonal interaction between the Earth’s magnetic field and the plasma carried to Earth by the solar wind is known as the Russell-McPherron Effect thanks to the scientists who first wrote about it in 1973.
Hopefully this burst of energy missed the Moon, because it has a new visitor!
On Sunday a private American company, Firefly Aerospace, safely landed a lunar lander called Blue Ghost1 near the Mons Latreille volcanic feature, within Mare Crisium, a 500 km-wide basin on the moon. Blue Ghost blasted off from Earth on 15th January, and used its 4.51 million km journey to conduct several science experiments, so it was multi-tasking the entire trip. Firefly Aerospace plans to deliver small payloads to the Moon with Blue Ghost landers as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS), public-private partnership initiative, which is designed to reduce the cost of space exploration.
This is a strategic element of the current Artemis program, which aims to put NASA astronauts back on the moon. And it’s not the only moon landing this month. Intuitive Machines’ Athena lander is already en route and scheduled to land on the 6th March on the mountain of Mons Mouton, about 160 km from the lunar south pole. Once it lands it will run tests for ten days.
If everything goes to plan, on 14th of March both Blue Ghost and Athena will witness a total lunar eclipse as the Earth’s shadow glides across the moon. Two Earth days later, lunar ‘night’ will occur. Both landers are unlikely to survive this two-week plunge into freezing darkness. Alone, but together in mission, they will expire on their frigid watch.
But that’s not all! Japanese company ispace also launched a lander, called Resilience, in mid-January. Its slow but fuel-efficient course means it won’t arrive until June at the northerly Mare Frigoris site.
Although they had different arrival dates, at one point the three Earth spacecraft were in transit to the Moon at the same time.
A trio of silent scouts, establishing the trails and waypoints for the next explorers.
I hope the cosmos treats them kindly.
The landers are named after the firefly Phausis reticulata, which is known as the Blue Ghost.