SDO, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory marked its 10th anniversary in June 2020. Ten years and 425 high resolution images later, SDO gives us a decade of Sun. Ponder this remarkable video, every second represents one day –
Monthly Archives: November 2020
Pareidolia
Nothing in life escapes official designation, everything has a name, there’s a name for everything. Take Pareidolia, who knew it defined the rabbit your minds’ eye sees in the oil slick on the garage floor? Be it ink blot, cloud formation, piece of driftwood or crisp edge of a grilled cheese sandwich – familiar objects or patterns in completely unrelated objects or patterns are pareidolia.
https://www.inverse.com/article/49527-what-is-pareidolia
Here’s the so-called “face on Mars” as originally captured in a 1976 image from the Viking 1 orbiter. Click here to see how subsequent spacecraft revealed the “face” to be simply a play of light and shadows.
Examples of Pareidolia – Bing images
Storm Clouds
Ponder storm clouds, three minutes of mesmerizing timelapse tonic to soothe your furrowed brow.
Trump Vaccine
Geraldo Rivera wants to heal a nation divided by naming the first COVID vaccine “the Trump”. Earlier this week Rivera Tweeted – “If you are really interested in conciliation, and sincerely want everyone to work together to make the next administration a success, why not start with this suggestion: call the first vaccine to market the Trump. #TrumpVaccine ”
What the freaking hell? This morning Rivera pitched the Trump on Fox & Friends, saying – “It would be a nice gesture to him, and years from now it would become kind of a generic name. Have you got your Trump yet? I got my Trump, I’m fine. I wish we could honor him in that way”.
Since president elect Joe Biden defeated Trump, coronavirus has claimed 24,000 lives. Over a quarter million have died since Trump flippantly dismissed it as nothing to worry about earlier this year. Every two seconds another U.S. citizen is infected. National new infections per day are pushing 200,000. Trump refuses to concede, denies Biden’s transition team access to vital resources required to implement a national pandemic action plan and announces New York State will get the vaccine last because he didn’t like criticism from Governor Andrew Cuomo. What the freaking hell?
Rivera praised Trump as “prime architect” of Operation Warp Speed, a government funded vaccine development program. Chirping – “But for him we would still be waiting into the grim winter for these amazing miraculous medical breakthroughs”. But for him? Cool your jets Geraldo, the only involvement Pfizer had with Operation Warp Speed was as a supplier. The Trump administration contracted 100 million doses, but no government funding for development. https://www.newsweek.com/pfizer-part-operation-warp-speed-alex-azar-distanced-trump-program-1546594
The staggering absurdity of Rivera’s initiative defies reason. What the freaking hell? It would be a nice gesture if U.S. citizens honored Trump by calling COVID vaccine “the Trump”? Enough! I can’t laugh, cry, shake my head or call upon irony to make it better. Get a grip America, you have mud on your face.
Spiders Rule
Forget cute baby kittens, look beyond conventional fluffiness and embrace the Peacock Spider. Look at this guy, he’s delightful. Yes, that’s a spider! A jumping spider native to Australia. Jumpers have excellent vision and stalk rather than trap prey in webs.
Delightful knows no bounds. Watch his courtship dance –
Considerably less fluffy, but equally remarkable are Diving Bell Spiders. In ponds across Europe and Asia, these wily arachnids spend their entire life underwater. They breathe air trapped in bubbles that are held in place by webs. Divers leave their bubble to hunt prey, surfacing only to gather fresh oxygen for their bubble.
Flying spiders? Who knew threads of wind swept silk propelled spiders hundreds of miles? Known as parachuting or ballooning, countless small spiders raise their abdomen and cast silk to the wind. A phenonium which explains sudden appearance of spiders on ships at sea.
Small spider raising its abdomen to balloon away. Image via Sarefo.
Putting Things On Top Of Other Things
Ponder putting things on top of other things. A Monty Python classic nailing my opinion of the United States……
Your Sky Tonight
One of humanity’s greatest challenges is ambivalence toward night skies. Technology and light pollution erode inclination to gaze upward after sunset. Astronomical observations are the fabric of humanity, defining ancient monoliths, pyramids, temples and settlements. The cosmos gave us navigation, seasons, moon phases, the calendar and inexplicable feats of ancient architecture. Today, GPS points North, few know that “star” is actually Mars and Betelgeuse might as well be Beetlejuice. Sigh.
Rudimentary sky basics needn’t be elusive – ponder Time and Date night sky map and planets. Linked below –
https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/night/
Enter your location, voila! An instant interactive sky map tracks anything you fancy. View live, adjusted for current weather conditions. Scroll left or right to adjust time of day. Click on the Sun, Moon or planets, follow their path in relation to location and time of day. Curious about meteor showers like the Leonids peaking in a few days? Click on https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/meteor-shower/leonids.html
Time and Date is a valuable, uncomplicated resource. Give their night sky map a try.
You’re Fired
Excuse me Mr. Trump, sorry to interrupt your golf game but by the way, you’re fired. Don’t be mad, you brought it upon yourself. Dig deep for a shred of decency, for once in your life take the high road, concede defeat. No sir, you weren’t robbed, nothing was stolen. What can’t you understand? Yes sir, I realize how hard you tried to stop Democrats from voting, bent over backwards to handicap the postal service, assumed lies enough to sway public opinion.
Do you understand Mr. Trump? It’s over, the people have spoken. You’re fired. Don’t despair, your run at re-election prompted the highest voter turn out of any presidential election in U.S. history since 1900. Close to 67% of eligible voters spoke their mind during a global pandemic. Excuse me sir, are you listening? Pardon me, recount you say? To what end, at what cost? Not over until you say so? Please sir, clean out your desk. Leave with dignity, spare the embarrassment of calling security to show you the door.
Seriously
Trump nation fosters acute disdain for Canadian perspectives. Blinders sewn of propagandist misinformation demand immediate dismissal of even the most respectful engagement, based solely on the fact it’s offered by an insignificant Canadian. Apparently I’m a “Libtard” fool living in a Fascist nation. Whoa. All I said was Canadians don’t take issue with mail-in ballots. Sheesh, settle down.
According to Pew Research Center, a survey of 13 democratic countries including France, Japan, Britain, Canada, the Netherlands and Sweden reported U.S. approval ratings between 57-72% when Trump took office in 2016. Today favorable U.S. approval has fallen to 34%. Global consensus by 84% of respondents cited terrible response to COVID-19 by the United States as reason for failure to impress. More telling was confidence in Trump, a paltry 16% gave him approval. Less than that of Russia’s Putin ( 19% ) or China’s Xi Jinping ( 23% ). Compare that to Obama who left office in 2016 with approval ratings between 68 and 93 percent among surveyed democratic nations.
Trump nation doesn’t care about global opinion, as far as they’re concerned external trepidation is born of left wing indoctrination. Thumping patriot chests, they scoff at unsophisticated interlopers daring to challenge their lofty hubris. Good luck Trumpsters, mock this Canadian and the rest of the world with wild abandon. When the dust settles you can clean up the mess, no skin off my Liberal nose.
I leave you with Seriously, a video from the Lincoln Project. Former Republications united to oust Donald Trump –
notestoponder 
