Whimsy

For over a week, I have spent almost all of my time inside the station. A huge crowd of SPT folks has recently arrived and there is so much activity out at the telescope that it is a little bit of a zoo over there. I am taking the opportunity to quietly work on analyzing data. I set myself up at around 8pm in the science lab at the station and work on software and analysis all night. It's great to have the time to dig in to some of the data, but the long hours at my laptop in the quiet of the night sometimes feel a little dull.

Once in a while, though, some odd event puctuates the routine. I thought I'd post the picture below in honor of my mom's birthday, which is today. It has just the sort of whimsical flavor that she appreciates. This is a picture I snapped out the window at my desk, when I randomly looked out and saw someone attempting to fly a homemade kite in some of the most outrageous South Pole winds we've had recently. As well as I could tell, the kite itself was made of a gigantic piece of black scrap plastic. It was clearly very heavy, and when it crashed it cut well into the snow. But the winds were intense that day and had no trouble lifting it and piloting it in erratic patterns across the sky. I watched this anonymous person battling with it for a while until he wandered away from my view. Given that it was an unusual time of day for anyone to be doing much, I wonder if he had any idea anyone might be witnessing his experiment.