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In the news today, as if it is new at all, they say that scientists think they have discovered the energy source for the Northern lights. They say they have discovered the energy comes from a stream of charged particles that flow like a current through twisted bundles of the Earth's magnetic field. The energy is then abruptly released and...ta da!! Northern Lights! Too bad that is nothing new, what do they waste these conferences on? It's been known that it was super-charged particles streaming from the sun for ages - and during solar flares the Lights are more spectacular and fall over a wider range. "To scientists' surprise, the geomagnetic storm powering the auroras raced 400 miles in a minute across the sky. Angelopoulos estimated the storm's power was equal to the energy released by a magnitude 5.5 earthquake." What on earth was so surprising about that? I guess the "big" news is that the magnetic fields over the earth are not smooth and constant, but are in wound-up twisted bundles of magnetism.
Irregardless of how they are formed, they are beautiful. I still remember a time when I was very small and it was predicted that the Northern Lights would be visible even as far south as northern New Jersey. My father had us awake in the wee hours of the night to watch for them...and we weren't disappointed. Years and years later, I've repeated the same experience with my children - and they loved it. There was an intense period of solar activity a year or two ago and we drove to the darkest place we could. The girls were amazed to see the bands of red and green moving across the sky. There is something magical about been awoken in the midnight hours to huddle in fields with blankets and sometimes a telescope, to watch for mysterious flashes of light - or perhaps shooting stars and other exciting nighttime things.
I always adored in Prince Caspianwhen his half-dwarf professor took him up to the top of the tower in the night to look at the skies and to discuss Old Narnia. I still remember my father reading that to me when I was a child and thinking of how he took us out in the night to make amazing discoveries.
~o~ In other color news, my protein shake this morning was "interesting." Being on the ill side for the past couple of weeks, I haven't been out shopping to Aldi's, the place where I get my frozen fruit at rock bottom prices. As of yesterday, I was out of frozen strawberries, frozen raspberries and frozen mixed berries. I ended up using canned peaches in my protein shake that day. Today, someone else had discovered the canned fruit...so I had no choice. I made my shake with 1/2 banana, 1 scoop whey protein, nonfat plain yogurt and....1/2 cup sweet potato. It did not taste bad - really! Lots of vitamin A, C and B6 are in sweet potatoes, so I'm not going to complain too much.
I do hope I feel inspired to make a trip to the store today! The color left a little to be desired.
~o~ Yesterday I managed a 40 minute yoga workout and it kicked my butt. I was happy to note that I did not lose any flexibility - not at all. I didn't lose any strength, but I was just fatigued so quickly. I'm going to try to inspire myself to do a light bodyweight workout today and perhaps 20 minutes on the exercise bike... I must ease myself back into this.
When I hit the gym in earnest, I'm going to stick to Turbulence Training for a while. Craig has these awesome 40 - 45 minute "cover-all-the-bases" workout plans. I just have no desire to spend 90 minutes in MRSA infested territory right now. I'm sure I'll be a bit weak on the HIIT at first. The work of healing takes a lot out of a body!
~o~ And one more thing: The Biggest Loser. After despising Neil for weeks, I was sad to see him go. He redeemed himself in the past few weeks as the black team one by one picked off the red and blue teams. He learned somewhere along the line about "fair play." I love redemption. I love when someone is a no-good-scoundrel and they see the light and become fair and just.
I am really disappointed that only Black Team members are represented in the final four. The only one I really like is Bill. Although, I did like Isabeau when she chose to not vote for B with her team and stepped out in friendship, loyalty and fairness to keep him on for the extra time.
Looking forward to the finale - I'm hoping that Kae and Jez can come back to win the "other" prize. No matter how you look at it, they are ALL winners. They all have taken back their lives, captured good health and delivered inspiration to thousands.
