Allow yourself momentary respite from pandemic storms with Starlight:Deserts of Chile by Adrien Mauduit at Night Lights Films.
Monthly Archives: March 2020
Springtime STEVE Sightings
STEVE ( Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement ) might look like an aurora, but it’s not. STEVE is an atmospheric phenomenon characteristic of northern hemisphere spring and fall. The result of uppity solar wind messing with Earth’s magnetic field. Meddling which allows ribbons of super heated gas travelling at speeds exceeding 13,000 mph to create observable arcs of soft purple hues. STEVE favours latitudes between +50N and +55N. Go STEVE! Hope to meet you one day.
Photo credit – Jocelyn Blanchette
Pandemic Grief Meter
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance – otherwise known as five widely recognized stages of grief. Make no mistake, our pandemic world is mourning disruption of life as we know it. So where are you? Personally, denial and anger expired days before losing my job, bargaining served no purpose. Unemployment was met with pragmatic inevitability. So where am I a week after realizing I had no job? No indication when life might return to normal, no assurance employment insurance benefits could arrive in timely fashion? Have to admit I’m depressed.
People In Sweden Are Rushing To Have Microchips Inserted Into Their Hands To Make Life More Convenient
This is crazy….
Aurora Cam Solution
Stay at home orders needn’t be defined by endless hours of television or Netflix. Consider using free time to embrace space weather, specifically Aurora Borealis. Start with https://spaceweather.com/ familiarize yourself with solar wind, sunspot numbers and current auroral oval. If favourable conditions suggest uppity auroras, find yourself a Aurora Cam.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/aurora-borealis-webcam-goes-live-1.866540
List of aurora cam links below –
Comet ATLAS
In December 2019 astronomers at ATLAS ( Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System ) in Hawaii discovered Comet C/2019Y4, flagging it as one to watch come May 2020. Almost immediately C/2019Y4 became known as comet ATLAS. At first astronomers predicted May 31, 2020 as day to watch ATLAS pass within the orbit of Mercury and the Sun at 0.25 AU distance, culminating in spectacular brightness as dissolving heat set ATLAS ablaze.
This week astronomers watched in amazement as magnitude increased 4,000 fold from +17 in early February to +8 by mid-March, stunned by runaway magnitude several months ahead of perihelion (closest orbital approach to the Sun ). Magnitude is a measure of brightness observed from Earth, the lower the magnitude, the brighter the cosmic object. For perspective, faintest objects visible from Earth with binoculars have a magnitude of +9.5. Venus and Mars at their brightest, magnitude -4.4 and -3.0 respectively. More magnitude linked below –
https://lco.global/spacebook/distance/what-apparent-magnitude/
“Comet ATLAS continues to brighten much faster than expected,” says Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC. “Some predictions for its peak brightness now border on the absurd.”
According to Dr. Tony Phillips at https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2020/03/16/comet-atlas-is-brightening-faster-than-expected/ if ATLAS magnitude continues to bloom at this pace, by May it could range between +1 to -5, possibly brighter than Venus and visible to the naked eye in daylight.
Comet ATLAS (C/2019 Y4) photographed on March 6, 2020, by Austrian astrophotographer Michael Jäger. The comet’s diffuse green atmosphere is about twice as wide as the planet Jupiter.
Planet Of The Apes….
A fight between rival gangs of monkeys in Lopburi Province, Thailand delivered another global pandemic reality. In the pre-COVID-19 world, throngs of monkey feeding tourists kept peace between city and temple simians separated by a railroad track. Gang warfare driven by starvation ensues when absence of tourists obliterate their primary food source. A local shopkeeper captured this brawl over a single piece of food. –
Time To Buckle Down
This time last week it was business as usual, tonight I’m applying for unemployment insurance benefits. Cheerful optimism fell laughably short of calculating the impact of COVID-19 on my livelihood. Corporate client cancellations started trickling in seven days ago. Come Wednesday a swanky event at Science World cancelled with less than 24 hours notice. The following day cancellation notice came moments before guest arrival. Seems coronavirus concerns outweighed $12,000 invoice for calling it quits on the spot. I sent staff home with assurance they’d be paid for time and inconvenience. Yesterday, end of business concluded with notice all venues, universities, conferences and corporate meetings were cancelled until April 30th. As of yesterday I’m a hospitality causality of COVID-19.
Time to buckle down. Went shopping today, grocery store shelves were stripped of canned goods, meat, frozen vegetables, bread and cold/flu medication. Being a workaholic I’ll need time to adjust. On the upside my kitchen needs a fresh coat of paint – looks like I’ll have time to polish my nest.
Quotations On Presidential Responsibility
In any time of crisis, the United States looks to its President for true leadership, for someone who can guide and understand the magnitude of the times, for someone who can also accept responsibility.
“The Buck Stops Here!” (from desk sign)
Harry S. Truman
(www.pixabay.com)
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
Abraham Lincoln
(www.pixabay.com)
“Let us not seek the Republican answer, or the Democratic answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”
John F. Kennedy
(www.pixabay.com)
“Power always brings with it responsibility.”
Teddy Roosevelt
Sometimes, leaders do not rise to the necessary levels during such times of need.
“I don’t take responsibility at all.”
Donald Trump
Hand Washing (during these “End Times”) eer
Cosmic advice from Kenneth T.
When you want to wash your hands the right way– and you have forgotten the words to the Happy Birthday song (due to copyrights) or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star;
You can always go the Star Trek (tos) way:
“Space, the final frontier
These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise
Its five year mission
To explore strange new worlds
To seek out new life
And new civilizations
To boldly go where no man has gone before”
It takes about 20 seconds to say the opening lines.
~ijs
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