Sorcerer's Apprentice
I heard the other day that Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt, said that the war against Iraq should not be fought and that it will result in a hundred bin Ladens. This really stirs my imagination up good. What I envision is Osama bin Laden wandering around after Planeattack, bringing lots of trouble just like the broom in "Sorcerer's Apprentice" brought all that water to the apprentice. So what do we do? Smash the Iraq broom into a zillion pieces. And then the haunting music starts again. And all those pieces and rubble left over from the Saddam regime grow and turn into copies of bin Laden, and then I see the entire landscape covered with copies of Osama bin Laden wandering off into the world to do their dirty work. Dum de Dum de dun-dun-dun Dum de dum de dun-dun-dun …
A Journey through Blogrealm
Blogtrek
Blogtrek
2003/04/02
2003/04/01
National Dark Sky Week
Today is the day of National Dark Sky Week. For the next eight days, keep your lights off between 10 am and midnight Mountain and Eastern time, between 9 and 11 pm Pacific and Central Time, and if you are elsewhere, for two hours just before your local midnight. National Dark Sky Week is the brainchild of a 15-year-old woman named Jennifer Barlow, of Midlothian, Virginia. It was her idea to do more than just the usual A project in Science Class, more than a Science Fair even, but to engage in a project that affects all of us. This nationwide project is sponsored by many organizations, including the Astronomical League. So turn off your lights tonight.
I did tonight and I brought out my telescope for viewing. I aimed it at Jupiter and saw one moon on one side and one on the other. Then I tried for a tougher object. Spring is galaxy time, as the Milky Way is along the horizon and not very visible. The constellation Virgo is loaded with galaxies, including the elliptical galaxy M87, which looks like a ball of fuzzy light with a jet emanating from it, most likely caused by a supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center. This object is more than 40 million light years away. I did see a galaxy, and I remembered some guide stars. I then looked it up in Uranometria 2000 and found that I most likely saw NGC 4452 instead. It is also probably a member of the Virgo Cluster, as is M87, and appears to be an edge-on galaxy.
I'll try again some other night for M87. But note that I had darker skies than usual because of my telling my community association about National Dark Sky Week.
Today is the day of National Dark Sky Week. For the next eight days, keep your lights off between 10 am and midnight Mountain and Eastern time, between 9 and 11 pm Pacific and Central Time, and if you are elsewhere, for two hours just before your local midnight. National Dark Sky Week is the brainchild of a 15-year-old woman named Jennifer Barlow, of Midlothian, Virginia. It was her idea to do more than just the usual A project in Science Class, more than a Science Fair even, but to engage in a project that affects all of us. This nationwide project is sponsored by many organizations, including the Astronomical League. So turn off your lights tonight.
I did tonight and I brought out my telescope for viewing. I aimed it at Jupiter and saw one moon on one side and one on the other. Then I tried for a tougher object. Spring is galaxy time, as the Milky Way is along the horizon and not very visible. The constellation Virgo is loaded with galaxies, including the elliptical galaxy M87, which looks like a ball of fuzzy light with a jet emanating from it, most likely caused by a supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center. This object is more than 40 million light years away. I did see a galaxy, and I remembered some guide stars. I then looked it up in Uranometria 2000 and found that I most likely saw NGC 4452 instead. It is also probably a member of the Virgo Cluster, as is M87, and appears to be an edge-on galaxy.
I'll try again some other night for M87. But note that I had darker skies than usual because of my telling my community association about National Dark Sky Week.
The Grumble Zone
I heard on CNN tonight that soldiers like to grumble at each other about things. I probably could not tolerate too much of this. I feel that people should work things out amicably rather than grumble or argue about it. Please get me out of the Grumble Zone. My favorite place to be is as far away from the Grumble Zone as I can get.
I heard on CNN tonight that soldiers like to grumble at each other about things. I probably could not tolerate too much of this. I feel that people should work things out amicably rather than grumble or argue about it. Please get me out of the Grumble Zone. My favorite place to be is as far away from the Grumble Zone as I can get.
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