Sun Spots

And Other Illuminating Events

Sun Spots


Sunspot 1339 is directly facing Earth. Credit: SDO/HMI

Scientists are expecting more explosive activity from the giant sunspot, named 1339. It has already erupted with the most massive solar flare ever, while the spot was on the side of the Sun away from Earth. That flare blew solar wind and huge plasma storms toward Venus.

More at SpaceWeather.com


Happy 144 Birthday, Madame Curie



That radiant beauty, Marie Curie would have been 144 years old on November 6. Her discoveries live on, and in, her books, papers, and personal possessions for years to come.

She, and all things that were hers, are enclosed in sealed lead containers to prevent the escape of dangerous radioactivity, (radioactive is a word that she created).

If you sign a waiver and wear a radiation protection suit, you can open one of the lead boxes and read her original research papers.

There is a nice article about her in the Christian Science Monitor.


Attitude



This months AT&T bill contained some more of the charges that I thought were eliminated when I spoke with them last month.

The bill arrived a couple of weeks ago, but I held off calling until the day after my regular bills were paid. This gave me time to discard any unpleasant negative associations I might have regarding phone calls to billing service personnel, and this issue with AT&T.

I find that being pleasant in spirit, allows the person on the other end of the line to feel like they can, and want, to help me. It is a smooth process when one lets the other person find a way to ameliorate the problem.

And, so as to deliver more proof of the power of a kind attitude, within a few minutes, Andrew at the AT&T billing service was able to correct my bill, and helped me create an additional $4.44 savings on each months charges.

Just A Walk Around



On the way to and from the mailbox today, I managed to take about 100 or so, really nice pictures of some spectacular trees and flowers around the Treehouse Apartments. I think I will begin assembling a few themed slide shows to share with you in the future.


A bee adds to it’s load.


A lacy winged visitor stops to smell the roses.


When I looked closely, a beetle was revealed.


This new rose adds to the Fall colors.


The afternoon light shines on this new rosebud.

I was going to put a video about Marie Curie here for the song of the day, but I felt the narrator sounded disinterested, and the guitar soundtrack was distracting. I may redo the narrative and sound for the video and post it at some future time.

Besides, what could be a better song of the day than a bunch of Chinese senior citizens doing a cover version of a Lady Gaga song?

Today’s Relatively Appropriate Song;




生活是美好的