You can't see me because I'm wearing camoflauge!

It's been a while since a post but I saw this on MSNBC's week in pictures today, and wondered if it was a joke:

 

In case you can't read the caption, it says:

 "Saudi special forces display some of their skills and equipment during a ceremony as they prepare for the influx of people in the annual Hajj, in Arafat, nine miles outside of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Nov. 10. Security is a major concern during the pilgrimage by Islam's devout to the holy sites of Saudi Arabia." 

Now I have never been to Saudi Arabia, but I think it looks something like this:

Note the conspicuous lack of green stuff.  Up close I imagine a lot of it looks like this:

But upon further research I guess areas around Arafat can look like this:

And Mt. Arafat itself has some vegetation too:

But still, the image of those three guys at the top trying to be stealthy while hiding in in a featureless brown desert made me chuckle.  From the last image it seems like wearing a full-length white robe (aka Islamic "Jubba") would provide more cover for special forces during the Hajj.

And now I've just learned my interesting fact for the day - the definition of 'Jubba,' which is also the name of the Somali restaurant Kate and I went to on my birthday last weekend!

Rocket Car!

When your somewhat technologically-challenged parents start commenting on your lack of blog posts, I suppose it is time to get back on the interwebs and post! Fortunately, I have just the thing - a Physics demo that I've been wanting to do ever since I went back to teaching. The idea isn't mine - I have to credit my college prof Delo Mook, who was certainly an inspiration. It (obviously) still needs a little work, but boy was it fun!!!