The Mystery Of Spring

Easter

It's a beautiful day before Easter here at the Treehouse.

How Did We Get Easter?

The Venerable Bede, (672-735 CE.) a Christian scholar, first asserted in his book De Ratione Temporum that Easter was named after Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Similarly, the "Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility [was] known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos." Her name was derived from the ancient word for spring: "eastre."

In The Building "A" Lobby

I love this place where I live. It's Easter-ween, 2009.

Confused?

Actually, many people get confused about which customs accompany holidays, and why.
What do Bunnies, Eggs, and Bouquet's have to do with Jesus?
I will be happy to help clear that up for you;

Sleeping Beauty eggshell carving.

Spring is a time of re-birth. The life within the dormant plants springs forth in beautiful displays of color and shapes to attract pollinators. It's time for lifeforms to make more of themselves, the rites of spring are upon us. Everything is making babies like, well,... Rabbits.

But how does this fit with the Jesus story?

Spring is in the air.

This from Wikipedia;

Pope Gregory the Great ordered his missionaries to use old religious sites and festivals, and absorb them into Christian rituals where possible. The Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Christ was ideally suited to be merged with the Pagan feast of Eostre, and many of the traditions were adopted into the Christian festivities.^[5] There are also good grounds for the association between hares (later termed Easter bunnies) and eggs, through folklore confusion between hares' forms (where they raise their young) and plovers' nests.^[6]

Or;

The ancient Persians painted eggs for Nowrooz, their New Year celebration, which falls on the Spring equinox. The Nawrooz tradition has existed for at least 2,500 years. The decorated eggs are one of the core items to be placed on the Haft Seen, the Persian New Year display. The sculptures on the walls of Persepolis show people carrying eggs for Nowrooz to the king.

What About The Ham?

Coming to an Easter dinner near you.

About.com has this;
In the United States, ham is a traditional Easter food. In the early days, meat was slaughtered in the fall. There was no refrigeration, and the fresh pork that wasn't consumed during the winter months before Lent was cured for spring. The curing process took a long time, and the first hams were ready around the time Easter rolled around. Thus, ham was a natural choice for the celebratory Easter dinner.

Taking A Gander

Also popular to eat during the Christmas season.

I haven't found a long standing Easter goose tradition, except for the giving of goose eggs. I did find a recipe that an Australian used for Easter dinner, but it was a first time event. I will ask Lon, tomorrow when I stop by for Easter goose dinner.

About The Flowers

.
Flowers are abundant here at the Treehouse.

See the bee?

Beautiful flowers everywhere I turned. 4/11/09

There were so many photogenic blooms,
I made a slide show video.

Todays Relatively Appropriate Song;
Life Is What You Make It -Happy Phil

Be Thankful-Blame No One

Getting The Picture

How to Blog?
Making Big Pictures Fit
The Happy Phil Way

Poppies by the doctors parking lot. 4/7/09

Put picture on desktop as png file.

Insert image in Google Docs.

Now you have the picture in the document editor, where it can be moved around, sized, and used to illustrate text.

The Video


I made this video for George Bleich, explaining how I reduce 10 mega pixal pictures from my photo library so they will fit on a blog or web page. His mail server cant handle a 17MB file, so I put it here for all to see. I hope it's helpful.

Good Stuff To Eat

I really enjoy Natures Path cereals.

I am not real big on granolas, but this is different. It's good by itself, or when mixed with another cereal. I feel good about the cereal that I get from Natures Path, especially after I went to their website. I have written about them before. You can find those previous posts with the search blog box. Type "cereal", or "granola", or "Natures Path", and it will find the articles I have written that have that word in them. It's actually much easier than the labels. The labels are getting top heavy. I may change that feature.

Dog In A Teacup

Chihuahua-Jack Russel mix. 1 month old.

I remember when you could buy a dog that fit in a tea cup. Just send $4.95 and the coupon from the back of the comic book. You could also get "Sea Monkeys" for $1.49.

That's A Cute Baby

Infant Francois Langur. Toranga Zoo Wildlife Hospital.

When people show me their babies, "cute", is not the word that comes to my mind. But, this little monkey is the very esscence of cute, in my humble opinion.

Albino Bottlenose Dolfin

Albino dolphin in Louisiana's Lake Calcasieu,(inland estuary).

Meanwhile In Space

Dust lanes backlit by millions of stars in NGC 7049 halo.

The Hubble and ESA telescope images never fail to fascinate me.

Nanotubes Strengthen Plastic

Electron microscopic view of nano composite strength test.

(PhysOrg.com) -- A research group from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel has discovered that adding carbon nanotubes to a widely used commercial plastic can greatly strengthen it. Their work is one example of how incorporating carbon nanotubes into plastics and other materials can yield composites with much improved properties.

Happy Phil Podcaster

Still experimenting with the new microphone. 4/7/09

I have tried the new 1" diaphragm condenser mic, singing a song, and speaking a voice over. It sounds great. Another experiment will be with my friend, Fred, down in Mississippi. He wants to do a radio show/podcast, and is finding the places on the internet where we can do it. It should be fun. Fred and I were in radio, years ago.

Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;
Radio -Van Morrison

It might rain tonight

Trash/treasure, True/false, Good/Bad

Character

This camera has given me thousands of good pictures.

My old Olympus camera won't focus anymore. It was in the trunk of the Buick during our record breaking 4 inches of rain in an hour downpour, and got damp. I wouldn't have known it was malfunctioning, except I dug it out for a photography lesson/field trip. At first the motorized lens wouldn't respond and the lights didn't light. I opened it up and the batteries felt damp, so I left it open to dry out. A couple of days later, the lens would extend and retract, but the motor/relay/circuit that adjusts the focus isn't moving.

I have been hoping that eventually it will start working again, but so far, it still wont focus. I liked some of the qualities it would give to certain kinds of pictures. Even though the lens has a couple of scratches, it had character. Now, it's time to let it go.

This letting go thing is still a complicated and emotional process. We develop attachments to our stuff, some greater than others. Saying goodbye can be as simple as tossing something in the trash, or keeping a broken item for years, thinking that one day there will be a use for it. It might be that it reminds me of some one or place and time, so it would be classified as a memento, a keepsake, an heirloom. It just seems wasteful to throw it away.

I grew up in a time when a camera would be passed on to the next generation. This was the result of 2 things.

1. The cameras were made to last.
2. We didn't have a lot of disposable products, yet.

People in America were still making things in the world when I grew up. Now we just buy stuff made elsewhere.


These Were Prized Possessions

Cameras are recycled at Sims Recycling Solutions.

Coincidentally, I ran across a story on recycling electronics, at the same time I am deciding what to do with my camera. There was a picture of a pile of cameras about to be reduced to their basic substances. It is kind of weird to see them all piled up like that.

The Story

Ham, Avocado & Cheese.

It was a good sandwich.


The Space Station

It looks good with all the solar panels attached.

Plastic Water Bottles

Dangerous? Nope.

You may have seen the email going around that warns of killer plastic water bottles. Not true. It seems that a college student based his masters thesis on an un-reviewed assumption. He thought the PET plastic used in water bottles was chemically changing in his freezer. The email incorrectly states that PET plastic uses diethylhydroxylamine, when it is actually diethylhexyl adipate that is used as a plasticizer in the productuction of water bottles.

Just use common sense when re-using water bottles, wash them before refilling.

My New Boat?

Ahoy there.

I thought I would spend the day shopping for a boat to spend my newly found millions on.

That's right, I got an email from a woman, (who cant spell), and she wants to give me 10 million dollars because she is dying and cant use it. All I have to do is contact her barrister at his "gmail" address and he will make all the arrangements. I can hardly wait.

She must have a lot of money because she wants to give millions to thousands of people with email. Speaking of email. Gmail is a powerful beta program that is free, and used by millions of people. I am one of them. What it is not used for is business. Legitimate businesses do not use Hotmail, Yahoo, or Gmail. (Although I do have a paid Yahoo mail address that could be used for business, if I redirect the mail that is sent to my website.)

Imagine my disappointment when it began to dawn on me that the, "$10 million USD", would not be swelling my bank account. Then I began to wonder what to do with this toxic email. If I delete it the wrong way will it infect my computer or email somehow? What if I accidentally clicked on the link when I tried to get rid of it? How did they get my address? I wonder if it will rain next week? I think I will take a shower and deal with it later.


Easter On The 12Th

The ancient Germanic festival of Ostara (in honor of the goddess also known as Eostra, from whose name the word estrogen was derived) celebrated the cyclical return of light and life with fertility rituals and symbols, some of which still survive in the modern observance of Easter (also derived from "Eostra"), which traditionally falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox.

Here In Redding

Waterfall at Cyprus, Pine, and Market Streets. 4/4/09

What a nice place to wait for the light to change.

Nice little oasis in the three street intersection. 4/4/09

It is a beautiful day here. The weather report suggests rain will possibly begin on Tuesday. We shall see. In the meantime all is well.

Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;
It's Getting Better All The Time
-Beatles

Enjoy

Once Again

Repeating History

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a moneyed aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." Thomas Jefferson


"...corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money powers of the country will endeavor to prolong it's reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in the hands of a few, and the Republic is destroyed." Abraham Lincoln


Speaking Of History...

"I taught I taw a puddy tat, but I can't find my glasses."

My sister sent me this picture, reminding me that, "Tweety", is 60 years old.
Thank you Sue.

Stellarium

The illustrated view from my balcony. 3/26/09 6:02 AM

I got a great program to assist me with stargazing. It's called, Stellarium. The download is free. You can set it for the sky anywhere, on, and off the earth.

I enter Redding, and my zip code and I get a picture of what I look at from the balcony.

Planets and stars, I am not seeing, yesterday afternoon.

I found Stellarium, while reading Toms Astronomy Blog . Thanks Tom.
Get Stellarium.

$2.8 Billion a Year

My laptop turns off automatically, thank you.

The other day, I was at a friends house and I asked him why he didn't turn his computer off when he wasn't using it. It was just the way he had been taught when he had a PC. I got to thinking that even PC's probably should be turned off when not in use. A little more research and I found that especially with windows, it's important to turn them off when not in use. It will help you avoid having to reboot each day because your cache gets clogged. (Or something like that.)

Anyway, if we all turned our computers off while we are not using them, we can save $2.8 billion in electricity costs each year. I think that the leaving it on goes back to UNIVAC and warming up the vacuum tubes until they were at a stable temperature.

So now you know. It's good to turn your computer off when you are not using it.

Killer Flapjacks?

They look good to me.

The killer pancake e-mail is back.

I got one from Garie, this evening. It must have had more than 100 email addresses that it had gone to.

Here is what I wrote back to Garie;

Hi Garie,

I knew I had seen that e-mail before. The last time I got it was in 2008. It began circulating in 2006. According to snopes, there was a dear Abby letter with the story, but they couldn't verify that it was a true story.

However, in 2001, 2 pathologists in Charleston, reported a case of a 19 year old who died from a mold allergy after eating pancakes made from a box that had sat open in a kitchen cabinet for 2 years. His friends didn't finish their pancakes because they tasted bad. They didn't get sick.

Snopes advises that if you have a mold allergy, don't eat pancakes from an open box that has been sitting out for 2 years.

I wonder why people write e-mail like that?

Phil

I Saved $20

Redbox rentals cost $1.00

You may have noticed these DVD rental machines at your local supermarket. They have a couple of them at the local Raley's, where I shop. I have used the machine to rent 2 or 3 movies like, Wall-E, (Loved this movie.), and something else not as memorable. But how did I save $20?

On the 24Th, Apple began offering HD movie downloads. They claim to be better than HDDVD's and nearly as detailed as BluRay. I am intrigued by the amazing quality of HDTV broadcasts, so I thought I would get a movie to enjoy on the great equipment I have. They have a few movies offered at this time, but I haven't seen any of them. They charge $19.95 per movie.

I like James Bond movies, or at least I thought I did. I liked the Sean Connery, and Roger Moore, "Bond", movies that I have seen, and I noticed a bond movie in the HD selections. It is called, "Quantum of Solace", and features some, "new guy", as Bond.

What I like about Bond movies, and thought would look good in High Definition, are the sweeping vistas and exotic location shots. I like the humor and the clever dialogue, the puns and double entendres. The tounge in cheek performance as, "Bond....James Bond". I was thinking about investing $20 in this movie, but wondered how I might be able to see it first. REDBOX! If the movie was good, I would consider downloading the $20 HD version, to savor in striking color and detail.

Thank you Redbox, I saved $20. It would have been awful to sit through that movie in a theater. I'm glad I watched it at home, where I could move around, eat dinner, read the news, fix cake and ice cream, go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, edit photographs, take my meds, and clip my fingernails while I waited for Quantum of Solace, to end.

Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;
Live and Let Die -Wings

Shaken, Not Stirred

After Extraction Thoughts

Honey vs sugar vs HFCS

Making Honey

Making Sugar

Making HFCS

Honey is all natural.

Sugar is just the boiled juice of plants, but is missing some key ingredients for healthy eating.

Table sugar lacks minerals and vitamins (hence it's been often called empty calories), they draw upon the body's nutrients to be metabolized into the system. When these nutrients are all used up, metabolizing of undesirable cholesterol and fatty acid is impeded, contributing to higher cholesterol and promoting obesity due to higher fatty acid on the organs and tissues.

Both sweeteners contain glucose and fructose. However, for sugar, in the process of manufacturing, the organic acids, protein, nitrogen elements, enzymes and vitamins in the sugar cane are destroyed, whereas honey, a natural sweetener, subjects only to minimal heating. Also, honey has certain beneficial antioxidant and antimicrobial properties which are not present in table sugar.

Sugar, however, is nowhere near as detrimental to our health as HFCS. (High fructose corn sweetener).

From Wikipedia;
The process by which HFCS is produced was first developed by Richard Off. Marshalle and Earl P. Kooi in 1927.^[4] The industrial production process was refined by Dr. Y. Takasaki at Agency of Industrial Science and Technology of Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan in 1965–1970. HFCS was rapidly introduced to many processed foods and soft drinks in the U.S. from about 1975 to 1985

Archer Daniels Midland ,manufacturers of HFCS, began in the late 1970s to finance a lobbying effort to strictly limit the amount of foreign sugar that could be imported into the United States. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan, signed into law draconian sugar quotas that remain in effect to this day. (The free-market champion must have felt sheepish signing this blatantly interventionist act.) The domestic price of sugar immediately spiked, and food manufacturers -- including, crucially, soft-drink bottlers -- quickly began substituting HFCS for sugar.

HFCS is cheaper than sugar.

That's why manufacturers began putting it seemingly in everything -- and U.S. sweetener consumption boomed along with obesity and diabetes rates.

Whoa, that's enough! I can see where this is going. I have enough information to form a relatively educated opinion;

Honey is made by bees.

Sugar is made by boiling beets, or cane.

HFCS is made by a corrupt corporation.

That clears it up for me.

Bed Bugs?

Stuffed Bed Bug

Once again, bed bugs made the news. I read a good informative article in Scientific American where I found out they aren't just in beds.
The article points out;
"They are found in all kinds of furniture, electric appliances, clock radios, computers, printers, behind pictures, books and, of course, bookcases. They are found in cracks and crevices in the wall and within walls as well as in electric outlets, wiring, pipes, plastic and metal conduits."

READ ARTICLE
They explained a couple ways to find out if you have them in your abode.
Very interesting.

I wrote back in the comments section;
Happy Phil at 04:24 PM on 02/27/09

This might explain the tiny bites I sometimes get after
sitting in that nice easy chair someone gave me.
I will look into it. First I get some coriander,
smell it, bang on the chair, and if it smells the same,
bedbugs? Great.

$2,500 Car

The Nano goes 60 mph and gets 50 mpg

From the TATA car company, (The same ones that sell the car that runs on air.), is this new Nano. 8.5 feet long, 5 feet high, this $2,500 car will seat 5 passengers.

Like the TATA air car, it is not available in the U.S., but maybe the new administration will let us catch up to the rest of the world in saving fuel and money.

Speaking of nano stuff;

Nano Tube Radio

Click on the Image above for the link to watch and listen to Nano Tube Radio, or click the link below to just listen.
The first part of the song is noisy while they tune to the radio station.
Layla (entire song)
I am always happy to find another use for Fullerenes. This radio is one I didn't know about. Amazing.
"Courtesy Zettl Research Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California at Berkeley."

Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;
Bach's Partitia in E
Vanessa Mae

Comforting Thoughts

Seeds Will Scatter

Anyway The Wind Blows

Different layers of clouds moving differently

Looking up is like looking at the ocean from an airplane.

The winds have been blowing today.
Different weather systems have met and are mixing it up gloriously, here in Redding.

Higher Up In The Sky

Map of the moon

ScienceDaily (Feb. 23, 2009)

Using the laser altimeter (LALT) instrument on board the Japanese Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE) satellite, the researchers mapped the Moon at an unprecedented 15-kilometer (9-mile) resolution.

The map is the first to cover the Moon from pole to pole, with detailed measures of surface topography, on the dark side of the moon as well as the near side. The highest point -- on the rim of the Dririchlet-Jackson basin near the equator -- rises 11 kilometers (more than 6.5 miles) high, while the lowest point -- the bottom of Antoniadi crater near the south pole -- rests 9 kilometers (more than 5.5 miles) deep.

In part, the new map will serve as a guide for future lunar rovers, which will scour the surface for geological resources.

The Old Rand McNally Map

If the drivers of the Lunar Rover needed a road map.

Name That Room

Artists conception of cupola in new room with a view.

Node 3 module

NASA has a contest to name the new room on the space station.

Click here To cast your vote.

Serenity seems to have a substantial lead.

Saturn's Moons
To Put On Show Tonight

Hubble photo of Saturn "edge on". 1995

Big show tonight/tomorrow, (3AM). Saturn's largest moon, Titan, leads Mimas, Dione, and Enceladus across the planet, and we get to watch. If you have clear skies and a good telescope, you are in for a rare treat. If you aren't awake, with clear skies and a large telescope, others will be, and we can view the pictures on various websites, at our convenience.

If you are awake tonight, you might check out Comet Lulin at this site, Coca Cola Space Center
Lulin and Saturn will be close in the night sky and it's possible the two will be seen at this site.

The Hubble will be taking many images. We can see them one day, too.

Back On Earth;

Monsanto's "FrankenCorn"
Invades Mexico

Is this natural, or Genetically Modified?

The latest study of Mexico's maze crops have substantiated earlier studies that showed Monsanto's GM corn crossed the border and has contaminated traditional crop strains. Studies published in 2001 and 2005, were discredited by Monsanto's lawyers, but new research shows the original studies were correct. Monsanto claims there are no adverse effects from eating Genetically Modified food products, but international studies show an alarming increase in diabetes, heart disease, stroke and obesity, in populations that have been eating GM foods.

Less Disturbing

Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio's first TV appearance was on Romper Room.

I'm Glad Things Change

There is a windy, rainy, cold night out there.
It's good to have a home tonight.

Claim Jumpers Beef Pot Pie.

I wasn't too long ago that I didn't have a place inside, warm and dry, to spend a stormy night. I am so glad I let go of the things that kept me out in the cold and the rain.

Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;
Rainy Night In Georgia
Brook Benton

Books Not Bombs