In the Dark

Do you recognize that famous photo?

It's from the first theatrical movie ever made; a documentary about the Apollo program. If I had more time, I would write a few paragraphs about how Georges Melies influenced my creative development and advanced the cause of science...but I'll leave that for another day.

(I will take a moment to note that the music in the hyperlinked clip above relates to the Winter Olympics in a significant way. Anybody know how?)

As for yesterday's trivia, well, I'm not surprised that everyone knew that "Viene la tormenta" was from "Terminator," which is the movie that convinced me to be very wary of so-called "artificial intelligence." I write my Congressman every few months to insist that they defund Cyberdyne, and spend the money on arming ordinary citizens instead.

(OK, you caught me. My technological wariness actually predates Arnold's rampage by a couple of decades. Who could fail to miss the dire warning contained in the story of the M5?)

Anyway, the point is that the moon was shining when I went for my pre-swim run this morning...but it didn't help.

I'm still trying to get back into my running routine, and to get my mileage back to where it needs to be after recovering from my cold. So I was happy that the temperature and wind were at least tolerable this morning. When I saw the moon (about half full) almost directly overhead, I concluded that I wouldn't need a headlamp. And if Ward Road wasn't closed, that conclusion might have been correct.

But because of the construction, I had to run on Coal Mine and Bowles. Something about the lighting on those streets supplemented the inadequacy of my night vision, and left me running pretty much blind--especially when cars would pass by and shine their headlights into my face.

What made it worse was the fact that there was still a lot of debris on the sidewalks from the giant windstorms. I lost count of how many branches and twigs I stepped on...but luckily there was only one trash can lying across the path, and I spotted it just in time. I made it back to the Ridge without injury, but the experience definitely made me re-think my headlamp threshold.

Of course, regular readers know that in my case, lessons learned are not necessarily lessons remembered. Feel free to make fun of me if I arrive at the pool bloody after another lampless moonlight jog. In the meantime, I urge you to try exercising several hours before sunrise; it's an excellent way to ensure that you have a great day!