Time Change Blues

Time Change Blues

Geese on the Sacramento River 10/29/08

I was down by the river the other day, thinking about the changing of the clocks. The geese don't care, the river doesn't care, the trees don't care, so I wondered,"Why do we change the clocks?"

I guess the first question should be; "Why do we all set our clocks the same?"
The answer was over my head.

Why we have standard time.
Bigger Hint...

Trains!
To keep trains on schedule,(and from running into each other), Standard time was established in London, 1840. When the whole country got their clocks together, it was 1847, and they called it Greenwich Mean Time. ( I suppose I would be mean too, if I were a green witch!).
Back on the Track

Tracks just before they go under Lake Blvd.
While I followed time, I followed the tracks that take the trains I hear from my apartment. On a warm summer evening, I can hear the trains from downtown Redding, and can follow their course across the river and through the gully, under Lake Blvd, to Oasis road and beyond to Lake Shasta.

Looking toward Lake Blvd from Oasis Rd.

Looking toward Lake Shasta from Oasis Rd.
You may wonder what sitting on my patio on a warm summers night, listening to the train, has to do with Daylight savings time... Well, it all began in 1784 with an idea that Ben Franklin had for an, "economical project", or it could also be attributed to William Willit, as he was riding one English morning in 1907, and noticed peoples houses still had their shutters closed. He thought that was wasted daylight that would be better used in the summer evenings.

A rose by any other name.... 10/29/08

It was the Germans and Austrians that implemented the first national "Daylight Savings Time", in 1916, to conserve fuel for electric power.
In America we called it, "War Time", during the 1940's.

Someone thought it would be good to change the days we start and end daylight savings in America this century, so we go back on the 1st Sunday in November. The thought was to have more daylight on voting day. Right! Then they thought it would be good for trick or treaters, but they forgot that kids don't go out until it's dark.
I sure hope Obama wins, and we get some smarter people in government positions.

Mushrooms by the stairwell 10/29/31

Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;
Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

Perfect Timing

Daylight Savings Got Me

A Little Behind

No, I am not referring to my backside.

This Is A Backside
Dark side of the moon as photographed by the Lunar Orbiter.

I am referring to the semi-annual timepiece changing we do to enable daylight savings time. I have written about this phenomenon before. (HERE)



This time, even though I had prepared more effectively than in the past, I still managed to skew the timing on a few scheduled events.  The screwy clock changing at least provoked me to play around with the unfinished song I wrote about the time change.


Blueberry muffin behind ice cream, whipped cream, and blueberries.

So, I recorded some new parts, and made some changes to the timely song about the time change, and I liked the results. I uploaded the song for today’s song of the day, but I wasn’t done; In today’s iTunes world, one must also produce artwork.


I figured, since I added some narration to the song, I should use an image of me narrating. I think the recording session, and the graphic design process took equal amounts of time. From my perspective, both endeavors are equally rewarding and fascinating so I lose all track of time. (Whoa, that’s heavy.)

Today’s Relatively Appropriate Song;
 Time Change Blues by Phil Seymour



It’s About Time

It's About Time

And Saving It



I have written extensively about the time changes in the spring and fall. Should you have missed any of my research and observations, you can find some HERE.

I even wrote a piece of music called, “Time Change Blues”.



As I wrote to Garie Lebow, earlier this evening, “Tomorrow I have to hurry up, or I will be an hour behind!”
 


I did a little exploring of the newly reopened park area at the north end of Bechelli. It is an ideal spot to take a dog who loves to run and fetch, freely. The area is part of the Turtle Bay trails and recreation projects.

From the meadow on the banks of the Sacramento river, one can look up at the McMansions, perched on the edge of the bluff.



It was a beautiful day to be out taking pictures and enjoying the sunshine with pleasant temperatures in the low 70’s. I’ll bet a good realtor could sell one of those behemoth money pits on a pleasant temperate day like today.



I wonder if the batteries are still good on the clocks I put in a drawer last fall? You would think a person would remember how to set the various digital clocks, one has around the house, but I forgot how to set a couple of them.

My stress free solution was to put them in a drawer until the spring, at which time they would once again be correct, (unless I messed them up while trying to figure out the sequence of button pressing required to change the hour).



Tonight, I got around to creating a little soundtrack for a time lapse video, shot last week, of a trip to the store in the rain at night. The colors of the lights through the wet windshield and their reflections on the wet streets, is a treat.

Today’s Timely Video;



Now, Is When Things Happen

Changing Time Measuring Devices

Back One Hour



Once again we are asked to set our clocks back after setting them forward just about 6 months ago.

It should actually be just one of the items on the list to do this time of the year. There is also the matter of changing the batteries in smoke alarms, taking down the screens, putting up the storm windows, changing the furnace filters, sweeping the chimney, and replacing at least one incandescent light bulb with a CFL.



Tomorrow is November 5. During the day, I will be putting together the playlist for the Phil Seymour Band. We play Saturday evening at a fund raiser for the Shasta Blues Society at Lulu’s, here in Redding. I plan to set the clocks when I go to bed.
 


On Sunday I would be in Washinton DC, for the Tar Sands Action. Instead, I will be there in spirit, supporting the thousands of people who will be surrounding the Whitehouse to encourage President Obama to do the right thing regarding the proposed Keystone pipeline across Americas heartland, down to Texas and the Gulf. The pipeline will carry tar sands oil from Canada, to be refined in Texas and shipped off to China. It is a very bad idea which will ultimately damage our cropland and the Ogalala aquifer.

The president has the authority to say no to this ill advised venture.

It will be a defining moment in Barrak Obama’s presidency. Does he represent the American people, or is he owned and operated by the 1%, like the Republicans and the ‘blue dog’
democrats? We shall see.



The 49ers will be playing the Washington Redskins on Sunday. It will be a big day for the nations capitol. San Francisco has been making an impressive showing on the gridiron this season. They haven’t looked this good since Joe Montana.

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Today’s Relatively Appropriate Song;
(This song of mine works 2 twice a year.)

 Time Change Blues by Phil Seymour


Be Kind To Mother Earth

Revised Additions

And Altered Entries





Every now and then, I will re-write a complete blog post. I think it’s because the first post is just to get some stuff out of my system, but I don’t necessarily wish to introduce the tone, or content into the blogosphere.



Tonight, I still had a few lingering misgivings regarding politics and the 163 billionaires who tried to buy the election. I wrote those observations here. I made some grand grammatical constructs that amused and illuminated the reader, ( The reader in this case was only my consciousness, the spirits of loved ones, muses, and various manifestations of God that are included in the being I call, me ).



Once I have placed the words, thoughts, facts and figures upon the page, it has a cleansing effect on my psychological compendium which is further enhanced when I type over those words with a more universally communicative message.



Here is an example of the type of writing I usually erase/replace;

Instead of tilting at windbags*, (like Limbaugh and Trump), I have been having fun learning how to creatively use combinations of manual, and auto-Macro focus on the Lumix FZ8. It takes longer for me to compose each shot, but I feel good about the results.

*My apologies to Cervantes, but I thought it was ‘punny’ paraphrasing.



I am becoming more proficient with the new/used Lumix FZ8 camera. This week I have been exploring the creative possibilities that come with various combinations of manual and auto focus. I like the results.



Around seven o’clock this evening, right after dinner, I felt tired and weary as if it were midnight, or 3 in the morning. It was the Time Change Blues catching me off guard. I had momentarily forgotten that we had recently tampered with our clocks.



The image above shows Tuesday night’s dinner. Beneath the rice is a chunk of meat from some poor factory farm creature plus some other leftover stuff that was in the icebox. The steamed veggies were fresh. It was tasty, but I still won’t know if it was real food or GMO, until I begin to experience the effects of long term nutritional deficiencies.

I felt less than artistic when I took that dinner picture because I used the flash instead of setting up the tripod and combining light and shadow to define the inner character of the subjects.



We are supposed to get some rain tomorrow night, here in Redding. Cooler temperatures are expected as well. We shall see.

Today’s Video Offering;

ECAL Low-Tech Factory/Rocking-Knit from ECAL on http://vimeo.com">Vimeo
.


Purls Of Wisdom

Monkeyshines

Happy to be a Primate
Blessed to be a Human
About 2 million years ago, the brains of ancient humans and chimpanzees began to diverge from each other. Humans got smarter, chimps didn't. A study of animal genomes showed little change over the last 300 million years, except in humans.

Within the HAR1 region, they found a gene that, 2 million years ago, turns on during the 12 weeks when the cerebral cortex begins to form within the human embryo.

Along with enhancing language and memory, the cerebral cortex, popularly known as the brain's, "grey matter,'' plays a central role in planning, emotion and judgment calls.

You may recall an earlier post where I shared my research on teenage behavior and the not yet developed pre-frontal lobes. The similarities between human children and adult monkeys actually has a scientific basis.

They can be cute though.

Temple monkeys near Bangkok, Thailand.

Getting Rudolf ready for Christmas eve flying.

"So that's how you eat these things."

For more monkey pictures, CLICK HERE

Looking at the Moon

Moon and Venus as seen from Brighton, England. 12/1/08

Now that guy got a close-up. I have a pair of binoculars that, when placed against the lens of my camera, will greatly improve the lengths to which I can go with photography, but I haven't found the coupler that will make that possible with a tripod, yet.

I will show you what I mean;

Mount Lassen and Moon, 2:15PM 12/6/08
For my demonstration, I went out to the east end of the parking lot. Its a good place to shoot Lassen, and it's right here where I live. It was there I realized I had forgotten 2 things; Batteries for the camera, and the cash to buy more at the dollar store, nearby. This was around 12:30 and the moon was just rising above Lassen. Oh, well...I drove to the bank, downtown, to use the ATM there so I wouldn't get any surprise, hidden ATM fees from another vendor.

Got cash, went to the dollar store, waited patiently while people in line, ahead of me, looked in their pockets and purses for exact change. Waited with a smile, while the checker counted and re-counted dollar bills, then decided to give me a ten instead. Waited in traffic, 2 blocks from here, with the Moody Blues singer, waiting for a miracle in his life, on the radio, and returned to find the moon high above Lassen, but beautiful and inspiring.

Binocular and camera lens
I could use a piece of rubber tubing to hold them together, but the weight of the binoculars would damage the motor driven zoom lens.

I can hold the binoculars to the lens and get a picture like this...

Holding binocular to camera lens 12/6/08
The problem I can see, now, is scratches on my lens! No, not dust, but some scratches that show up on my pictures as a gray blurry spot. (Here it is a black spot on the side of the volcano.)

Getting Back On Topic;
Wednesday evening, Dec. 10, the moon will be above and to the right of the Pleiades star cluster. By around 10:30PM here on the west coast, the moon will actually appear to touch the Pleiades cluster.

The Pleiades, 7 Sisters, 7 Orphans, 7 Ukrainian Maidens, etc.

The American Hopi Indians built their underground Kivas so that night passage of the Pleiades over the center of the entrance hole would mark the time to begin a ceremony.

The Lakota Indians used the cluster as an eye exam.

You may need to use binoculars on the 10th to see it because of the moons brightness.

I once bought a telescope for star gazing. It was a $250.00 lesson. Any telescope under $3,000.00 is a waste of time and money. The distance between the naked eye or binoculars, and realistic, viewing satisfaction, is a major investment.

You would be better off spending the money on an astronomy seminar at one of our famous observatories.

Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;

The Seventh Son-Willie Dixon

God Is Everywhere

God Is In Everything

Amazing?

Perhaps



I was reading an article in Wired magazine about gadgets, and they showed some contraptions that are just for making s'mores. I found out who invented s'mores...



Loretta Scott Crew was a Girl Scout who in 1927 invented the S'more. Crew's recipe was first published in the 1927 Girl Scout Handbook after she created the snack to feed a group of hungry Girl Scouts at a camp. Crew reportedly earned an award for her creative cooking.
(Wikipedia)



The Ponderosa fire continues to burn east of Redding. At last report, it had consumed 21,500 acres and 50 homes. There have been dozens of smaller fires throughout the north state, most of which were the result of last weeks lightning storms. The smoke is affecting our air quality and people have been advised to close the doors and windows. We are encouraged to spend our time indoors as much as possible to avoid respiratory problems.



I stopped by John’s shop today so he could listen to the recordings of the music we played Thursday and Sunday with different musicians at the blues jams. It helps to analyze the effect on our songs that different combinations of players can cause, (both good and not so good). It was also a chance for John to hear how his new amplifier sounded live.



Late in the afternoon, if one looked up at the middle of the sky over Redding, there was a blue color cast behind the haze. Out on the periphery, the smoke was still thick, gray and brown, but overhead conditions were improving. I took that opportunity to snap a few pictures around the Treehouse.



It really wasn’t much of an imposition to spend time inside with air conditioning. Even though the temperature was barely 100 outside, the filtered, cool air indoors felt very pleasant.



There is a new hypothesis that adds a twist to the big bang theory. James Quach and his colleagues at the University of Melbourne, say the Big Bang should be modeled as a phase change: the moment when an amorphous, formless universe analogous to liquid water cooled and suddenly crystallized to form four-dimensional space-time. (Story Here)

Today’s Video;




Big Universe

More

Remembered

A birthday bouquet from the Treehouse Apts. for me.

Last week, the Treehouse apartments had a Mad Hatters Tea Party, (Not to be confused with the 'Mad Haters Tea Party' that Fox news created). They gave bouquets to the people who had birthdays in May. The flowers were from the beautiful gardens here at the Treehouse. I was one of the lucky recipients of a birthday bouquet.

Playing For Change


Sign Of The Times

Memorial Day

For 142 years, Americans have taken the last Monday in May to remember those who have died in our wars. Like all deaths honored by the state, flags fly at half-staff. However, on Memorial Day, the U.S. flag only flies at half-staff for the first half of the day, and then is raised to full height from noon to sundown. This unique custom honors the war dead for the morning, and living veterans for the rest of the day. Complete article, HERE.

Where's My Nest?

"If a tree falls in the forest...?"

This saying really demonstrates our human-centric view of the the world. The answer of course is, "Yes, the tree makes a sound that thousands of ears will hear, even if no human is there to hear it".

When Stuart, Sandi and I got back to their house after they treated me to birthday dinner on May 21st, they noticed that the wind had blown down a neighbors tree. I took a few pictures of the fallen tree, and while doing so, I noticed a California scrub jay sitting in the fallen branches, looking bewildered and confused. I took a couple of pictures of the bird at the time.

A few days later, I was looking at the pictures of the bird and a number of thoughts and impressions coalesced into the realization that this bird most likely had a nest in that tree. There are a pair of jays with a nest in the tree by my balcony that I have been watching for about a month so it's quite possible at this time of the year that the jay in the fallen tree, had just experienced a natural disaster and his home, (with eggs?), had been destroyed.

This got me to thinking about the other living creatures that were affected by this toppled tree. Other birds, insects, parasites, moss, molds, fungus, bacterium, and many more life forms had colonized that tree. The tree itself, was part of a vast family that were connected by their root system, mycelium, vibrations, and other means which we are not yet aware of. I hope the pair of Blue Jay's find a more secure tree next year.

The Band

Phil, John, Jeff, and Mark at the Blues Jam. 5/27/10

Sandi and Stuart came to Lulu's on Thursday and Sandi took a few pictures of the band with Jeff, our new drummer. The pictures, and a couple of video clips of the band were just what I needed to get our new website started. You can check it out, HERE. It has a really neat calendar where I put our upcoming appearances, and a number of useful pages you can visit to see videos, pictures, band news, a guest book for you to sign, a contact page where you can email us, and even a forum where you can participate in discussions.

I think the new site will be a lot of fun... http://thephilseymourband.webs.com (It does have commercials, but that is how they can offer these sites for free.)

My Bi-Annual Steak Dinner

5 Minutes Later

It was perfect. The potatoes were from Trader Joe's.

Part of my approach to nutrition is variety. I have a feeling that it's not really necessary to eat a bunch of different things each day, but instead I eat like the human species that survived for 3 million years; I eat what ever is on sale or given to me. That means that, other than organic cereal or eggs and potatoes for breakfast, I have no regular daily combination of foods. I might eat a steamed bag of chopped veggies and Nancy's yogurt for a couple of days, and maybe a prepared eggplant parmesan from Trader Joe's the next couple of days, followed by a TV dinner. In other words, a balanced meal over a week or two, interspersed with an occassional steak every 6 months.

I eat organic food whenever possible. I no longer care much for chicken or pork, since those are most likely Monsanto Frankencorn in the shape of a chicken or pig, (I avoid corn fed beef, too).

The result of this less regimented daily input is my feeling better healthwise than I can remember ever feeling before.

Thank you Sandi for bringing me this grass fed, giant chunk of beef.

Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;
Eat It - Weird Al Yankovic



Choice