"In his domestic administration my father had this system . . . to keep a journal and insert in it all occurrences of any note . . . A record very pleasant to look at when time begins to efface the memory of events, and very well suited to get us out of perplexity: When was such and such a thing begun? When completed? What retinues came? How long did they stay? Our trips, our absences; marriages; deaths; the receipt of happy or unhappy news . . . An ancient custom, which I think it would be good to revive, each man in each man's home. And I think I am a fool to have neglected it." (Montaigne, Book I, Essay 35 (publ. 1580))

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Haboob

This video (and other similar videos) has been widely distributed but I want to post it here so I don't forget about how impressive this looked. We've had a "haboob" or three during our time in AZ, but either they didn't look this massive, or the photographers weren't as effective. The time-lapse method is great for this.



At our house: no storm, but it looked like a very heavy fog had rolled in. Highly unusual. In the morning we could see that absolutely everything is covered in dust. The newly-refinished streets in our little subdivision no longer look black (despite the efforts of the street sweeper shown in left photo below, which mostly just stirred up the dust) (and note all the dirt on my office window).

I had gone hiking at 40th street earlier that evening, and bottom right photo shows the mildly ominous look of the sky at that time.

No comments: