Season Of Enlightenment

It Might As Well Be Spring

Flowers in Dorothy's garden. 3/20/09

That was the scene Friday afternoon.

This evening, (Saturday), the sound of the blowing wind is accented by the occasional rumble of thunder. There is a chance that we may get some rain with these clouds and gusty air. I have some books to read while I am warm and dry in my abode. They are; The Wordy Shipmates-Sara Vowell, Bones-Jonathan Kellerman, and The Brass Verdict-Michael Connelly.

I like to read more than one book at a time, and I picked these three new releases from the library to enhance this rainy weekend, should it actually rain. This is the first book by Sara Vowell, for me, and I am finding a kindred soul in her observations, and the way she bundles time, and related events, into compound sentences in a way that gives the reader room to tie up the loose ends with our own knowledge of history.

Some of you already know that there seems to be something extraordinary about the seemingly random choice of books that I read in groups. This is the case with the Sara Vowell book and a Michael Crichton book I am still reading. They both stress the importance of knowing history and how the present, like an island, is just the tip of the mountain. The Crichton book is, Timeline.


Island Paradise Available Soon

Remodeling underway at island paradise near Tonga.

Sweet Story

« Review of the Day: Sugar Cane ... Good, new, kid's book.

From the tomato sauce on a Pizza Hut pie called “The Natural,” to the just-released soda Pepsi Natural, some of the biggest players in the American food business have started, in the last few months, replacing high-fructose corn syrup with old-fashioned sugar.

You may have read my research on the damage that HFCS is doing to the health and well being of humans who have been consuming products that contain this non-food sweetener, or read for yourself about the epidemic increase in obesity, diabetes, heart disease, allergy's, and other global health issues; and how it can be linked to the introduction and proliferation of HFCS in processed food and drink products. Well, take heart, if yours is not too damaged by this stuff, corporate food companies are switching back to sugar.

Have Your Wedding Here

Juliet's balcony, now available for weddings.

Travel to Verona and get married at the house of Juliet, (13Th century home of the Cappello family). The house of the Capulet's, in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

What could be more romantic than the balcony that played a part in the tragic suicide of a couple of teenagers. I don't think it bodes well for a long and happy life together.

I love This Stuff

Photo by Jimmy Sakuma, using his iPhone. 3/18/09

March 23rd begins with a crisp clear spring morning, here in Redding.

Mount Shasta awakes in a shroud of cloud, while a mantle of mist lies upon the southern flank of Lassen.

Ever changing,
the morning reveals more more majestic perspectives.

Now a cotton candy coating in the sunlight, glowing on Shasta leads me back home to a cup of organic coffee and soon, this being Monday, breakfast, just the way I like it, prepared by Sandi.

I am blessed. God makes everyday beautiful. My eyes are open. I am happy.

Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;
It Might As Well Be Spring

Grateful

Extended Evenings Ahead

Time Change

Newly adjusted time and temperature.

It seems like we just did this time changing thing last year. I even wrote a piece explaining the origins and historical events pertaining to, "time".
You can see that post by doing this;

Or you can click HERE
if you wish to read about time.

What A Day

It was a perfectly good day for pictures...3/7/09

I am glad I had my camera with me when I went to the music store to return a couple of microphones. I have been trying out various condenser microphones to add to my recording equipment. I got a new AT Pro37 mic, last month and I really enjoy the improved quality in my recordings. So I have been looking for another condenser mic to enhance the overall texture of my productions. The ones I tried the other night were not up to the task, and I will keep looking.

While I was out, Mt. Shasta and Mt. Lassen kept appearing at every turn in the road. They begged to be photographed, so I obliged them. I am glad I did.

You can see a little slide show I made with Picasa, and uploaded to You Tube. Just click HERE

I Just Saved A Bundle!

The lizard was right. I saved a lot by switching to Geico.

I was just about to write a check for my regular car insurance, when I saw the Geico commercial I got in the mail. I had set it aside just for this moment. I figure it's worth checking out, so I filled out the stuff for a free quote. I am glad I did. The premium for Geico was a little over half of what I was paying to Farmers. I signed up right away, in the middle of the night. It took about 15 minutes.

On the 15th, I switch from the farmer, to the lizard.

I Like This Stuff...

Leonardo Da Vinci
invented the scissors.

I Sure do enjoy the fun and informative e-mail you send me.
This was part of an e-mail I got from my neighbor.
Thanks Jo Anna.

Sunny Day At The Park

Picturesque day at the park...3/8/09

Your table is ready...

What a beautiful day. I went to a couple of meetings* and on my way back home, I stopped at the park for a few minutes. How nice.

*We had a, "special", board meeting to replace the president who quit. It was an instructive and entertaining event. During the meeting, the vice-president quit. He wanted me to be the president, but it seemed that the secretary would be happier being president than me. Now we had two seats to fill. We discussed our options, and came up with a satisfying solution. Positions were filled and we continue to function.

Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;
Why Cant We Be Friends

Providence

Happy To Be A Musician

Sounds Good

"Studio Musician". Oil on Canvas... Robert Schefman

In a study in the latest issue of European Journal of Neuroscience, an interdisciplinary Northwestern research team for the first time provides biological evidence that musical training enhances an individual's ability to recognize emotion in sound.

"Quickly and accurately identifying emotion in sound is a skill that translates across all arenas, whether in the predator-infested jungle or in the classroom, boardroom or bedroom," says Dana Strait, primary author of the study.

In essence, musicians more economically and more quickly focus their neural resources on the important -- in this case emotional -- aspect of sound. "That their brains respond more quickly and accurately than the brains of non-musicians is something we'd expect to translate into the perception of emotion in other settings," Strait says.

Roadwork

President Obama signed the release of money to the states for roads. This could result in the immediate employment of 400,000 people.

To keep the state governments from dragging their feet, they must begin using the money on road projects within 4 months, or they will lose it.

Another reason to get that money into the system quickly; To prevent more layoffs.
The tax credits in the stimulus package will help those who still have jobs.
There is even some money in there to help people like me, on social security.


Darwins piano playing wife
gets credit for theories.

Music inspired the theories of Darwin.

Charles Darwin was so captivated by his musician wife Emma's daily piano playing that her music influenced at least two key evolution theories formulated by the British naturalist, according to a new paper.

"The long-term marital dance of Emma and Charles Darwin was set to the routine beat of an almost daily piano recital," according to Julian Derry, who told Discovery News that "music was central to home life and a panacea after a hard day's work, or often when not feeling well."

Charles Darwin, music lover.

In "The Descent of Man," Darwin wrote, "I conclude that musical notes and rhythm were first acquired by the male or female progenitors of mankind for the sake of charming the opposite sex."

Rewriting History
As It Happens

George Bush and puppeteer Karl Rove

George Who?
What 8 Years?
It's no accident that Rush Limbaugh is all over your TV screens, sweating and spewing anti-government slogans. This is a carefully orchestrated effort by Karl Rove, to draw attention away from the real cause of our current crisis; 8 years of republican rule. While keeping the illiterate, ignorant followers of Rush Limbaugh, focused on bringing down Obama, he is quietly sweeping the responsibility for the failed policies of the Bush years under the rug.

Granted, the economic stimulus wont do much for millionaires like Limbaugh, Rove, and Bush, but to attack it with so much hate and venom, is suspect.

Question; 95% of Americans will be helped by this economic recovery package, why are these guys making so much noise?

Answer; To keep people from remembering it was these greedy jerks that got us into this mess.

Dawn Get's Mars Close-up

Mars from 341 miles away. (photo credit-Dawn spacecraft)

The Dawn spacecraft did it's Mars flyby and is on it's way to explore Vesta and Ceres. It uses Ion propulsion, but saved even more fuel by being slung around Mars to achieve even greater velocity. At first this picture didn't seem to look all that great, but the longer I looked at it, the more detail seemed to appear, (Like the rim of the crater).

Electric Roadster

The Tesla Roadster

If you have the,"Green", you can buy an environmentally friendly, race car from Tesla. I am content to visit their website and pick out the color I want by just moving my cursor over the color choices. TRY IT , it's fun.

East Coast Snow

Picture of Eastern States after snowstorm.

This picture from space was taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite.

The Weatherman Said Sunny

Sky from my balcony....3/4/09

It's "ARMY DAY".
..March 4th...
...wait for it...
..march forth, ha, ha, ha.

Thank You

Thank you for reading, "Phil's Place".

I made a little thank you video,
I hope appears here...

Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;
Strange Magic -ELO

Tranquility

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

It's A Smaller Blog

After All

Here are a few things I found while meandering on the web today;

Glacier Gloves

Review

If you are like me, and some of you are, your hands get cold easily. For most people, this is not a big deal, but for some people, the cold is just the first stage in a series of levels of pain that is best avoided. According to the review, these gloves will keep your hands warm, dry, and flexible under the most severe of conditions. You can find out more at Glacier Gloves

On line Doctor?

Wellsphere worked well for me

Wellsphere is one of the 5 medical sites I found in a review today. It worked well. The main page was open and uncluttered. (Must have been designed by someone like me.) I tried the search feature with the word, "hernia". It gave me a good choice of information links that led me to 2 video's.

The first video was an inside look at laproscopic surgical repair. (I wouldn't reccommended this for those who might be nervous or apprehensive about up-coming hernia repair surgery.) As far as I know, I am scheduled for Monday.

The second was a lengthy discussion, with pictures and arrows, that was very informative.

The written articles and information at the Wellsphere site were helpful, too.

If you have medical questions, you may want to try one, or more, of these;

5 Medical Sites

The Future Of Manufacturing
Nano Tubes

This model of a rotating Carbon nanotube shows its 3D structure.

I am still promoting the conversion of Co2 into Oxygen and Fullerenes.

Popular Science has published articles about the possible uses of fullerenes in armor. I hadn't heard of that one before.

The Hubble Telescope

Actual picture of Hubble Space Telescope in space.

Debris from last weeks satellite collision could keep the repair team from fixing the Hubble. Apparently the combination of bits and pieces from this Russian collision, and the leftover debris from the satellite the Chinese blew up with a guided missile, makes getting to the Hubble a dangerous endeavor for the shuttle. If the Hubble is not repaired and maintained, it will cease to function in about 2 years.

Hope For
Tropical Rainforest Recovery

Clear cuts like this can recover in 20 years or so.

From Discovery News-Deforestation is generally considered to be bad news, especially in the tropics. But there may be some hope: In many places, trees are growing back, according to new research, and some of the new forests are nearly as diverse as the old ones were.

Counting Stars

Image of M82 from Galaxy Zoo 2

Want to be part of the world of cosmology? You can. Visit https://www.galaxyzoo.org/. You sign up, and are given pictures to examine and classify. Your data is then combined with others observations to help catagorize the millions of new galaxy's and space phenomena that are being discovered.

Or, you can go there and look at the cool slide show like I did.

Here in Redding

Yesterday by the Sacramento river. 2/17/09

I was at the park by the river, under a gazebo, watching the rain fall and the river flow. What a great place to live. I am so thankful that I get to spend this time of my life here.

Todays Relatively Appropriate Song;
Ballad Of Bernie Madoff
-Flinch Studio

Laughter Is The Best

Welcome Rain in Redding

Rainy Tuesday and Wednesday

Sundial bridge in the rain...............................2/10/09

There was an article in the local paper about the cost of replacing the glass panels on the Sundial Bridge.

Laminated, 3 layer, 160 lb., $416, glass panels. 2/10/09

City to Spend $10,000
For New Glass Panels

Picture from Redding Record Searchlight....2/10/09

Some people were outraged and submitted their grumpy comments.

I just had to reply;

Posted by HappyPhil on February 10, 2009 at 3:41 p.m.

Wow! Some people love to complain. I enjoy reading the comments. I can see that, over time, the complainers lives don't seem to get any better, but they do make the positive comments shine like beacons of commonsense.

My camera doesn't show the cobwebs when I take pictures of the bridge, unless I am really up close looking for them as pieces of natural art.

I like to imagine that the impacts that break the panels are from the seasonal meteor showers.

I wonder if the old panels can be used to repair potholes, or turned into something like "Sundial Bridge" magnifying glasses.

After reading the article, I am confident that Dan Cannon will do the right thing.

Rainy days are picturesque and magically moody down at the Sundial Bridge, too.

To read the article and comments, click HERE .

I went to The Bridge

I shot some video in the rain.....................2/10/09

I took some pictures in the rain.........................2/10/09

Mt. Seymour
Mountains named after Governors, named Seymour.

Mount Seymour

I got an e-mail from my brother, Jerry, with a picture of a store called; Spirits of Mt. Seymour. It's in Vancouver. I figured if there is a Mt. Seymour, it's probably on a Google map. Yep, and in Google images too.

Mount Seymour
To get the latest snow report and event calendar;
http://www.mountseymour.com/today/snow
They have a valentines weekend ski special.

Hiking, fishing, camping and skiing, oh my!

Mount Seymour-BC

I did a Google search for Mount Seymour and got 438,000 results! Who knew? (Well, obviously, at least 438,000 people).

Wikipedia says; Mount Seymour is most commonly identified for its ski area of the same name, and as a popular hiking area. It is named in honour of Frederick Seymour, second governor of the Colony of British Columbia.

While I was reading about the Canadian mountain, I came across another Seymour mountain in New York.

Seymour Mountain

This one in New York is named after Horatio Seymour.

Seymour Mountain is a mountain located in Franklin County, New York, named after Horatio Seymour (1810–1886), Governor of New York (1853–1854, 1863–1864). The mountain is part of the Seward Mountains of the Adirondacks.

That's enough of the family name for this post, but it is fun to find stuff like this. Mountains named after Governors named Seymour.

Neutron Star is Video Star

To see the video of SGR J1550-5418, click HERE

The Swift satellite's X-Ray Telescope captures an apparent halo of X-ray light expanding outward from SGR J1550-5418. This gigantic star is 40 times greater mass than our sun, and is located 30,000 light-years away in the constellation Norma.


February 11th is my 3rd ex-wife's birthday. Also, it's our anniversary. We don't exchange presents or pleasantries these days, but we had a good time while it lasted. Have a happy day, Vicky, wherever you are.

Interesting Coffee

Fancy coffee was on sale at Raleys................2/11/09

Interesting Book

I found this in the Library's new releases section.

The rehearsal with my new band went well today. We should have a lot of fun at Thursdays Valentines show. We play from 8 to 9.

I stopped at the store on my way home for a few items and saw there was a sale on coffee. Tanzanian sounded like an adventure, so I got some. I think it will go well with the book I am reading, which is mysterious and adventuresome. It somehow ties together Cain and the story of superman. It's 5:30PM, it's raining, the temperature is 40 degrees, and my easy chair is calling to me.

Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;
Sing a Simple Song
-Sly and the Family Stone

Peace is Good