Wrap this around your mental astronomical-phenomena spindle and see if you can make of it more of a skein than a snarl:
Where I live on the west coast of the U.S.A., astronomical equinox is at 1:20AM Pacific Daylight Time on Wednesday 23 September 2015. The time from sunrise to sunset should be equal to the time from sunset to sunrise, right?
Doesn't work that way.
Wednesday actually has six more minutes of daylight than Friday. On Friday 25 September we actually get 12 hours zero minutes between sunrise and sunset.
Why?
First, the astronomical definition of equinox is at the moment the earth in its orbit around the sun crosses a particular point in reference to what astronomers call the fixed stars. We know that point wanders with respect to the earth's axis-wobble and the earth's elliptical orbit (precession of the equinox) -- ve-e-e-r-r-y s-slo-o-o-owly! But can it make a difference of a day or two?
Second, there's the spin of the earth. Does the spin, added to the round-the-sun motion, make a difference?
I admit I haven't done the research. But hey, give me some credit for finding the conundrum.
9/22/2015
Papa Francisco's Optics
No, I am not interested in the Pope's eyeglasses. I do find it distressing, however, that the Holy Father does not seem concerned with the optics surrounding his visit to North America. Specifically, doesn't it look like he is offering comfort and appeasement to Obama and Castro?
I firmly believe the pope is not intending to aid democrats and communists in a direct political way. But it is too easy to believe that the good Pope Francis is just to naive for the world scene.
Who won the fight over anti-Catholic guests at the scheduled White House meeting? We'll see how that whole thing plays out. And why offer the appearance of legitimacy to the murderous tyranny that is Cuba?
Don't hold your breath waiting for world-shaking words of courage from the pope. I will be happily surprised if he has a Brandenburg Gate moment while visiting down where the bananas grow: "Mr. Castro, tear down this police state!"
I firmly believe the pope is not intending to aid democrats and communists in a direct political way. But it is too easy to believe that the good Pope Francis is just to naive for the world scene.
Who won the fight over anti-Catholic guests at the scheduled White House meeting? We'll see how that whole thing plays out. And why offer the appearance of legitimacy to the murderous tyranny that is Cuba?
Don't hold your breath waiting for world-shaking words of courage from the pope. I will be happily surprised if he has a Brandenburg Gate moment while visiting down where the bananas grow: "Mr. Castro, tear down this police state!"
9/14/2015
Words Mean Things - And Opposite Things
In Charles Dickens' The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (Chapter VI), Mr. Tupman is wounded by a small bore "rook rifle" shotgun, when Mr. Winkle demonstrates what happens when you ignore three or four of the rules of gun safety. Pickwick, Snodgrass, and Winkle then depart to enjoy a local cricket match with their host Mr. Wardle, leaving Tupman "in charge of" the ladies of the household. Dickens is not saying that Tupman has been vested with authority to police the ladies' behavior. Quite the opposite. The ladies are to see to the well-being of Tupman.
When did the change in meaning occur? How is it that words can flip meanings?
Then there's Subject and Object. Some time between the 12th and the 21st centuries, Subject and Object passed each other going in opposite directions on the towpath of language, and as they passed they traded meanings. "Subjective" used to mean, "of or pertaining to the subject," where "subject" meant the thing being "subjected" to scrutiny. Now, of course, the subject of scrutiny is called the "object", and if you object to that, you will be subjected to the ignominy of being misunderstood. What you study is the "object", unless you're talking about your school schedule -- in which case you still study the "subjects" on the list. The final lens on a microscope or telescope is the "objective" lens. But how handy to introverts it could be when attending a social function, to be able to pull out a little lorgnette or pince-nez or opera glasses holding high-quality subjective lenses! Perhaps then the (unspoken) object of the person talking to you would be magnified, their point revealed. All the feels they subjectively hold, all the bias they subjectively project, would be visible in shifting pleochroic auras under an optical-quality subjective lens!
And if I were to look at myself in a mirror through the subjective lenses of my hypothetical binoculars, would I stumble across the threshold of some kind of Burnsian satori?
When did the change in meaning occur? How is it that words can flip meanings?
Then there's Subject and Object. Some time between the 12th and the 21st centuries, Subject and Object passed each other going in opposite directions on the towpath of language, and as they passed they traded meanings. "Subjective" used to mean, "of or pertaining to the subject," where "subject" meant the thing being "subjected" to scrutiny. Now, of course, the subject of scrutiny is called the "object", and if you object to that, you will be subjected to the ignominy of being misunderstood. What you study is the "object", unless you're talking about your school schedule -- in which case you still study the "subjects" on the list. The final lens on a microscope or telescope is the "objective" lens. But how handy to introverts it could be when attending a social function, to be able to pull out a little lorgnette or pince-nez or opera glasses holding high-quality subjective lenses! Perhaps then the (unspoken) object of the person talking to you would be magnified, their point revealed. All the feels they subjectively hold, all the bias they subjectively project, would be visible in shifting pleochroic auras under an optical-quality subjective lens!
And if I were to look at myself in a mirror through the subjective lenses of my hypothetical binoculars, would I stumble across the threshold of some kind of Burnsian satori?
O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie usOn second thought, I will pass on the subjective lenses and go on seeing myself as richer, younger, healthier, and handsomer than I may look to "ithers."
To see oursels as ithers see us!
9/13/2015
MS Edge U Doin It Wrong
Here's a funny thing:
Having installed Windows 10 on the laptop many weeks ago, I decided for some unknown reason to try out Microsoft Edge, the new "I'm-Not-Windows-Exploder" web browser. Meh. Then I tried to import bookmarks from Chrome.
The good news I guess is that the bookmarks did, technically, move from Chrome to Edge. The bad news is that all my bookmarks in Edge are upside down. Inverted. Sorted precisely backward from where they were in Chrome.
Careful, Microsoft, or somebody might think you suck and you hate us.
Having installed Windows 10 on the laptop many weeks ago, I decided for some unknown reason to try out Microsoft Edge, the new "I'm-Not-Windows-Exploder" web browser. Meh. Then I tried to import bookmarks from Chrome.
The good news I guess is that the bookmarks did, technically, move from Chrome to Edge. The bad news is that all my bookmarks in Edge are upside down. Inverted. Sorted precisely backward from where they were in Chrome.
Careful, Microsoft, or somebody might think you suck and you hate us.
9/02/2015
JAPAN SURRENDERS!
Seventy years ago, the formal articles of the unconditional surrender of Japan were signed aboard USS Missouri (BB-63).
"It's V-J Day! Go kiss a sailor!," as my mother used to say. (Dad, of course, was in the Navy!)
"It's V-J Day! Go kiss a sailor!," as my mother used to say. (Dad, of course, was in the Navy!)
9/01/2015
Those compressed garbage trucks... kind trucks!
I get junk email at work. This one actually makes more sense than many do. You have to grab all the humor you can wherever you can find it!
Dear manager.
Good morning, glad to meet you. Thanks a lot that you had read my E-mail.
We are a manufacturer. We design and supply different non-standard hydraulic cylinder for compressed garbage trucks, dump trucks, arm-swing trucks and swill collectiong trucks. Hope that we will have a chance to contact more about your cylinders for these kind trucks, thanks.
Please keep in touch.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Have a nice day and best regards,
Lena
Int'l Sales Manager
8/06/2015
Hiroshima Day
The atomic bombs made my life possible. At the time Truman gave the go-ahead, my father was on an LST in the Pacific, preparing for the invasion of the Japanese home islands.
The use of the atomic bombs saved lives, compared to anticipated casualties from the planned invasion.
The tyranny of the government of Imperial Japan was the cause of so much suffering.
Yes those photos are ghastly. But every time Hiroshima Day rolls around I thank the One True God® that the bombs were used and the surrender was secured.
The use of the atomic bombs saved lives, compared to anticipated casualties from the planned invasion.
The tyranny of the government of Imperial Japan was the cause of so much suffering.
Yes those photos are ghastly. But every time Hiroshima Day rolls around I thank the One True God® that the bombs were used and the surrender was secured.
7/16/2015
Korean War Martyr
U.S. Army 19th Infantry troops had been in action along the Kum River through 16 July 1950. They intended to disengage but their retreat was blocked by Communist forces.
Quotes below are from the wikipedia article:
"U.S. troops from the 19th Infantry, desperate to move around the roadblock to obtain supplies and care for wounded, began moving through the surrounding hills. One tank was able to make it through the roadblock to evacuate the 19th Infantry's wounded commander, but by 19:00 commanders ordered the regiment to move its wounded along the ridges to the east of the roadblock."
"...At 21:00, about 100 men of the 19th Infantry moved into the hills to the east of the town. They carried with them about 30 wounded, including several litter-bound patients too seriously wounded to walk. Some of the group of 100 were ordered to carry these men, but many of them separated from the group in the mountains. By the time they reached the top of the mountain, officers decided some of the seriously wounded could not be carried any further, as their carriers were exhausted.
"The regimental medical officer, Captain Linton J. Buttrey, and Chaplain [Franciscan Roman Catholic priest] Herman G. Felhoelter remained behind with the wounded, intending to move them when another group of troops came through who could carry them."
The chaplain urged the medical officer to escape. Buttrey was wounded but survived.
"...[O]bservers from the 19th Infantry's regimental Headquarters and Headquarters Company watched through binoculars from a distance as a patrol of young-looking and possibly untrained North Korean troops approached the site of the wounded. The troops were armed with Soviet-made rifles and PPSh-41 "burp guns". As Felhoelter knelt to pray over the wounded U.S. soldiers, the North Korean troops shot him in the head and back. They then proceeded to shoot and kill all of the 30 critically wounded soldiers with their automatic weapons before withdrawing into the wilderness."
Father Felhoelter had received the Bronze Star as a chaplain in World War II. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously.
Quotes below are from the wikipedia article:
"U.S. troops from the 19th Infantry, desperate to move around the roadblock to obtain supplies and care for wounded, began moving through the surrounding hills. One tank was able to make it through the roadblock to evacuate the 19th Infantry's wounded commander, but by 19:00 commanders ordered the regiment to move its wounded along the ridges to the east of the roadblock."
"...At 21:00, about 100 men of the 19th Infantry moved into the hills to the east of the town. They carried with them about 30 wounded, including several litter-bound patients too seriously wounded to walk. Some of the group of 100 were ordered to carry these men, but many of them separated from the group in the mountains. By the time they reached the top of the mountain, officers decided some of the seriously wounded could not be carried any further, as their carriers were exhausted.
"The regimental medical officer, Captain Linton J. Buttrey, and Chaplain [Franciscan Roman Catholic priest] Herman G. Felhoelter remained behind with the wounded, intending to move them when another group of troops came through who could carry them."
The chaplain urged the medical officer to escape. Buttrey was wounded but survived.
"...[O]bservers from the 19th Infantry's regimental Headquarters and Headquarters Company watched through binoculars from a distance as a patrol of young-looking and possibly untrained North Korean troops approached the site of the wounded. The troops were armed with Soviet-made rifles and PPSh-41 "burp guns". As Felhoelter knelt to pray over the wounded U.S. soldiers, the North Korean troops shot him in the head and back. They then proceeded to shoot and kill all of the 30 critically wounded soldiers with their automatic weapons before withdrawing into the wilderness."
Father Felhoelter had received the Bronze Star as a chaplain in World War II. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously.
6/20/2015
Midsummer walk
 |
| Elderberries getting ripe |
 |
| My little buckeye |
 |
| Sweet Pea blooming on pea vine hill |
 |
| Huge midsummer sun bow - the black dots are swallows |
Had a little midsummer eve walkies and saw some things.
6/14/2015
Tanka for June 13, 2015
Nearly midsummer
Bare stalks with round bead-like seeds
All along the path
Under warm scent of laurel
Pinhole pictures of the sun
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| Base of Mount Wanda trail |
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| Indian Soap going to seed |
 |
| Acorn Woodpecker work -- but where are the acorns? |
5/22/2015
FREE! An Idea Worth $1,000,000
Okay so here's my latest million dollar idea:
Kitchen Floor Air Hockey.All you have to do is come up with a battery-operated hover-puck. How hard could it be?! Some kind of little fan that sits in/on a little disk thing. So you don't need a special dedicated pneumatic playing surface, just the HoverPuck®. Turn that baby on and -- boom! -- your kitchen or patio becomes an air hockey rink. Bat that sucker around! Hilarity ensues!
5/21/2015
In which I brush the cobwebs off an old poem that has no punctuation
Your Eyes
written May, 1998
-------------------------------
Our house so seldom empty
Greets me only with the sound of settling
A ticking a whirring
So rarely filled with silence
Are there echoes even now
The clamor laughter angry ardor
I can almost see them
But what I see is what I miss
Your eyes
You there in the house
All the years the love your eyes
All the ways and times
Even you there in the dark
How can I know when your eyes are on me
Dizzies me
How your eyes know mine
I kiss your neck
Your closed eyelids
There have been times your tears have wet my lips
Then what comfort can I give
Solace to settle your nerves
When like as not I am the cause of tears
Downcast I wander past
Your eyes meet me before my eyes meet yours
I know your eyes
Sinking creaking in next to you
Settling down to your lips
My closed eyes blink open to meet
Yours searching
What
My eyebrow curve of temple
My heart
Always looking to me
Even when I am away
Or when you are away
How do I know
I know I feel your love your gaze
Your inward eyes are turned toward me
Me the one who does not know the worth of anything
Doesn't know the value of a dollar
Ah but you
You are the treasure in that field
Yes all that and more
Some day
The dust settling over my dead years
Dead artifacts and personal effects
Among them a photo of your eyes
Perhaps our great-to-the-Nth grandchildren
One can only hope
May be taken by your eyes too
The wonder of such love
So you can see
This is not finished
written May, 1998
-------------------------------
Our house so seldom empty
Greets me only with the sound of settling
A ticking a whirring
So rarely filled with silence
Are there echoes even now
The clamor laughter angry ardor
I can almost see them
But what I see is what I miss
Your eyes
You there in the house
All the years the love your eyes
All the ways and times
Even you there in the dark
How can I know when your eyes are on me
Dizzies me
How your eyes know mine
I kiss your neck
Your closed eyelids
There have been times your tears have wet my lips
Then what comfort can I give
Solace to settle your nerves
When like as not I am the cause of tears
Downcast I wander past
Your eyes meet me before my eyes meet yours
I know your eyes
Sinking creaking in next to you
Settling down to your lips
My closed eyes blink open to meet
Yours searching
What
My eyebrow curve of temple
My heart
Always looking to me
Even when I am away
Or when you are away
How do I know
I know I feel your love your gaze
Your inward eyes are turned toward me
Me the one who does not know the worth of anything
Doesn't know the value of a dollar
Ah but you
You are the treasure in that field
Yes all that and more
Some day
The dust settling over my dead years
Dead artifacts and personal effects
Among them a photo of your eyes
Perhaps our great-to-the-Nth grandchildren
One can only hope
May be taken by your eyes too
The wonder of such love
So you can see
This is not finished
5/20/2015
Diver Dan - Hard Water
Speaking of puppet shows:
Scoff all you want -- I was probably watching this at the tender age of 3 or 4 years old when it first came out in 1961! There was this thing called "TV", see? And there were THREE channels. There would have been four but Dad didn't put up a UHF antenna.
Anyway, it seems pretty s-l-o-w now. Wow.
Baron Barracuda still creeps me out!
5/07/2015
The Sinking of the Lusitania
One hundred years ago today, 7 May 1915, German Untersee Boot U-20 torpedoed and sank the ocean liner Lusitania. [photo]
Terrorist attack?
A weak America does seem to invite ill treatment from enemies.
I blame President Woodrow Wilson. And I'm not the only one.
On 21 June 1915, former president Theodore Roosevelt wrote in a letter to John H. Lorimer of the Union League Club in Philadelphia: "Personally I do not believe that Wilson was right on the Lusitania matter. Had he acted with reasonable firmness in the Gulflight business the thousand men, women and children who were murdered on the Lusitania on the high seas would be alive today."
The Gulflight tanker bound for France had been torpedoed by German U-Boat U-30 on 1 May 1915, in spite of America's neutrality. When Germany announced its sink-all-shipping policy, Wilson did not protest. When Gulflight was sunk, Wilson did not protest. In true progressive style, he put his best people on it to gather information. A week later they were gathering more than information -- they were recovering bodies.
"Had he acted with reasonable firmness..."
"To forgive and forget is to surrender dearly bought experience."
-- Shopenhauer
 |
| Wikimedia image from the London Illustrated News |
A weak America does seem to invite ill treatment from enemies.
I blame President Woodrow Wilson. And I'm not the only one.
On 21 June 1915, former president Theodore Roosevelt wrote in a letter to John H. Lorimer of the Union League Club in Philadelphia: "Personally I do not believe that Wilson was right on the Lusitania matter. Had he acted with reasonable firmness in the Gulflight business the thousand men, women and children who were murdered on the Lusitania on the high seas would be alive today."
The Gulflight tanker bound for France had been torpedoed by German U-Boat U-30 on 1 May 1915, in spite of America's neutrality. When Germany announced its sink-all-shipping policy, Wilson did not protest. When Gulflight was sunk, Wilson did not protest. In true progressive style, he put his best people on it to gather information. A week later they were gathering more than information -- they were recovering bodies.
"Had he acted with reasonable firmness..."
"To forgive and forget is to surrender dearly bought experience."
-- Shopenhauer
4/08/2015
Tanka for 7 April 2015
Pounding wind, rain, hail --
April can't make up its mind.
Sparkling in the trees:
After the rain, bright sunlight.
A scent of thyme from the path.
April can't make up its mind.
Sparkling in the trees:
After the rain, bright sunlight.
A scent of thyme from the path.
3/14/2015
Terry Pratchett dead. And I wonder.
Author Terry (Diskworld) Pratchett is dead. (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015.)
Given his strong and persistently outspoken opinion in favor of euthanasia (they call it "right to die") -- did Sir Terry off himself? Whether he did or not -- is the unquestioning silence of the press further evidence of pro-euthanasia bias?
Pratchett: atheist, egotist . . . suicide? Doesn't sound like a very creative end for a guy who would have wanted to be known as creative. May the God in whom he did not believe have mercy on his soul.
Given his strong and persistently outspoken opinion in favor of euthanasia (they call it "right to die") -- did Sir Terry off himself? Whether he did or not -- is the unquestioning silence of the press further evidence of pro-euthanasia bias?
Pratchett: atheist, egotist . . . suicide? Doesn't sound like a very creative end for a guy who would have wanted to be known as creative. May the God in whom he did not believe have mercy on his soul.
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