#aphelion

Earlier this week, the earth reached its greatest distance from the sun, a point known as “aphelion.” It seems counterintuitive that Earth reaches aphelion in summer, but it’s the planet’s tilt, not its proximity to the sun, that gives us the season.

At aphelion, we’re about 94.5 million miles from the sun, a distance so vast as to be unfathomable. What we can fathom: our two feet pressing into Earth, taking up just inches of space. We’re here, now, in this room, in this house, in this town, a body and a mind and five senses taking in as much as we can. We’re so small, but so powerful that we can think and dream and fuss and project entire worlds into existence. And then we think those worlds are the entire universe. Meanwhile, the earth’s orbit continues, the sun goes on shining.

Easier to conceptualize: On July 2 at noon, we reached the exact middle of 2026, 182.5 days on either side. We can’t feel this any more than our distance from the sun, but we understand days. We understand the year and its cadence. We can picture the calendar in our minds, our equal distance from last January and next December. I picture the year as a sea, and I’m treading water right here in the middle, two shores equidistant. Of course, there’s no choice but to head for the far coast; the tides will have it no other way.

This coming Friday, Christopher Nolan’s cinematic interpretation of “The Odyssey” opens. Odysseus is hardly a man to tread water in the middle of a punishing sea, but he gets aid from the gods when he’s drowning: “The current ceased; the River God restrained / the waves and made them calm. He brought him safe / into the river mouth.” It takes Odysseus 10 years to make it home from the war. Ten aphelia, 10 summers, 10 midpoints from which to look forward and look back.

Actually made some progress! And I'm still somewhat sane (for now)! Still posting from the queue so I hope you're all doing well in the future.

I realized I could use spatter brushes for clouds and have leveled up my rendering.

O silêncio daquela instalação não era vazio. Ele parecia respirar entre os corredores metálicos, escondendo respostas que ninguém deveria encontrar. Em algum lugar além das portas seladas e dos sistemas danificados, algo continuava funcionando quando já deveria ter parado há muito tempo. O que você irá encontrar no vídeo de hoje? 00:00 – Início da Missão O Nexus 04:23 – Como Chegar à Enfermaria 08:27 – Explorando o Nexus 16:19 – Destruindo o Nexus | Clímax da Missão

More work on page 20, this time using this paper to get a bit of a handle on hypersonic retropropulsion. It's pretty neat stuff!

Há lugares onde o silêncio parece infinito. Em Persephone, porém, ele nunca vem sozinho. Entre montanhas de gelo e horizontes apagados pela neve, algo se move por trás da tempestade. Não é possível enxergar muito além de alguns passos, e talvez seja justamente isso que torna cada avanço tão inquietante. O desconhecido não está escondido em ruínas antigas ou criaturas misteriosas. Ele sopra junto ao vento. O que você irá encontrar no vídeo de hoje? 00:00 – Início da Missão A Tempestade 02:40 – Liberando o Caminho Congelado 08:23 – Como Sobreviver à Tempestade 14:21 – Procurando uma Saída Segura 17:18 – Fuga Contra o Tempo 22:01 – Saindo da Caverna de Persephone

First post-baby update! Though this is queued so you're reading this long after I wrote it. Hopefully I'm still sane. I'm trying to sneak away a little bit of art time when I can, but don't expect a lot. Babies are messy. I mean, I knew this, but they're really messy.