A moon by any other name..is still a moon

If the sky was clearer we would be able to see the full moon. Did you know that not only is it the last full moon of the year it is also the smallest full moon of the year as well.

Apogee and Perigee of the Moon

Apogee and perigee refer to the distance from the Earth to the moon. Apogee is the farthest point from the earth. Perigee is the closest point to the earth and it is in this stage that the moon appears larger. Looking at the moon in the sky without anything to compare it to, you wouldn't notice any size difference. But the difference in size can in fact be quite significant.

If you were to photograph a full moon at apogee and perigee (using the same lens), here's how the two sizes would compare:

Effects of Apogee and Perigee

The apogee and perigee of the moon have an effect on the tides here on Earth. When the moon is at apogee, the furthest distance from the Earth, it has less gravitational pull which, along with other factors that influence the tides, can contribute to lower tides or lower variation in the high/low tide level. When the moon is at perigee, closer to the Earth, there is much more gravitational pull which contributes to the opposite effect: higher tides or greater variation in the high and low tide.

Four legs good...

Now there’s something you don’ see every day.

The Man and I were standing at the bus stop this evening on our way home and would you believe it a man walked past with a ferret on a lead.Calm as you please as though it is

Yes really a ferret.

The little critter was lolloping along ahead of its owner so it was the first thing I saw. Initially  thought it was big rat.

Folks have some odd pets over here

From the local pet store along with kitten sand puppies and fish you can buy snakes, liards, spiders scorpions, large spiders , hermit cabs and axolotls. Now would you like to give a home to any of those creepy crawlies.

Well except the axolotls. I’m rather partial to them.

The Man isn’t though so I guess I will have to continue to admire them from afar, just as I do those big white parrots and horses. Not going to have either of those either.

I don’t know what it is about axolotls that I find so interesting.

The name “axolotl” is thought to have originated from the Aztecs, derived from two words: atl, meaning “water”, and xolotl meaning “monster”. Axolotls do not develop adult characteristics but retain their gills, fins and other larval characteristics throughout their life. They live permanently in water, in the wetlands and canals associated with Lake Xochimilco and Lake Chalco, adjacent to Mexico City. Once eaten as a delicacy in Mexico City, they are now a protected species in Mexico and Critically Endangered in the wild.

Don't you think that's cute

Christmas...or is it

Did you ever wonder about the origins of Christmas?

The Christmas that we celebrate today derived from pre-Christian Germanic, Roman, and Celtic people who celebrated the winter solstice. The use of holly, mistletoe, yule logs, wassail bowls, and decorating a tree derived from early pagan customs. Many European countries still call this celebration "Yule-tide" meaning "wheel time," the cycles of time. None of these derive from Christian origin.

The Persian Mithras cult spread during the 3rd and 4th centuries B.C.E. and predates Christian ceremonies and rites such as: baptism, communion wafer, and Sunday rest. On December 25, the sacrifice of a bull celebrated the Sol invictus (the invincible sun) and signaled the birth of a young sun god who sprang from a rock or a cave in the form of a newborn infant.

The Romans celebrated the Winter Solstice on December 25th as a renewing of the sun every year. Also the Romans celebrated the festival of the Saturnalia from December 17th to the 24th to honor Saturn, the god of grain and agriculture. The festival consisted of a period of goodwill, devoted to visiting friends and the giving of gifts.

At the beginning of the first century, Christianity emerged as a fledgling religion but not until the 4th century did Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus. The motive behind the introduction of this celebration aimed at subverting the practice of pagan rituals such as Mithra and Saturnalia. Pope Liberus introduced the Nativity on December 25th 354 C.E.. By the 5th century, the event became so customary that it began to mark the beginning of the ceremonial year.

Today, we still celebrate with ornaments on trees, mistletoe and giving gifts, none of which has anything to do with Christian mythology. So instead of celebrating the Christian deception, why not opt for the earlier non-god celebration of the Winter Solstice? After all, it represents an actual event as the planet earth orbits about the sun. The universe presents us with far more magnificent events than the superstitious religionists have ever dreamt up. Even more than the imagination of Dr. Seuss.

Just a wee one

Ah nice numerically correct date that, there is something decidedly odd in writing numbers that don't sequence, and yes in my job I do have to hand write the date...not often I grant you, not often enough.

Small blog tonight cos The Man and I are off to the movies shortly.

Going to see Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson in Saving Mr Banks. Saw the trailer a few weeks ago and it looked a good one. I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

Went to a radiation protection course this afternoon. Not what you think. As part of our the expanding scope of practice we will be able to request x-rays directly rather than just filling in the form and getting the doc to sign it, often unseen by the doc. But now it will be official.

There were some interesting statistics bandied abut. Did you know that granite gives of quite a lot of radiation in the form of radon? Here in the UK some homes being sold need to have a radon report, and in places like Canary Wharf where I work the level is high due to all the granite in the buildings.

The amount of radiation you receive for various procedures can be staggering.
OK the stuff is out there in the world, from the sun, the food we eat. Did you know that the potassium in bananas, which is good for you, means that they are also high in radiation. Hang on don't chuck them all out, you would have to eat huge numbers of the fruit and anyway the body would excrete any potassium that you don't take up.

So on that chearie note I will sing off and we are off to the flicks

Saved by a mistake ...

I've been doing a bit of background reading for my family tree writing.
I came across this information in a book called A Historie of London and Londoners.

The date was 1941
On December 7 Japan launched an unprovoked attack on Pearl harbour...America was now in the war allied with Britain  against the Japanese who had already attacked British forces in Asia. This n turn brought America into the European war against Germany Within months American forces were stationed in Britain for the duration
Britain had stood alone until now and was at the mercy of German forces that had already occupied the Channel Islands. Hitler. had put off the invasion of Britain to concentrate on Russia This turned out to be his biggest mistake, as he could have walked into Britain with little or no resistance. Had he done that America would never have been able to get a foothold in Europe to station their troops and air force.
Britain was saved by that simple mistake.

Lazy Sunday

Yes, two days in a row, well i cant let my public down can I, all ......how many is it now lol
After  very nice brekky cooked by The Man's fair hands of course we wandered down to the local bus stop. Past the street traders with thier wares spread out across the footpath. It remined of us when him and we used to be market traders back home in NZ.

On a Friday evening The Man would have ou high top Nissan safari packed to the roof with out goods and gazebos, ready for the off early on saturday morning.
When we got there we'd set to and unpack our wares, bits of interesting china, glass teapots, glass diamonds, and lots and lots of sea shells. The clever man made garden ornaments in the shake of  koru, from pumice and galvanised wire. They sold like hot cakes.
We got pretty good at it and began to buy in from a couple of wholesalers. I did most of the buying, and my rule of thumb was that the product had to be something I would buy.
I only broke that rule once. On a buying trip to Auckland we took a family member with us. He convinced me that a particular product that was really inexpensive would sll well. I took some convincing and in the end bought a dozen.
And did they sell well?
No they did not.
Cutting a long story short we sold them at a discount and the last one we packaged up and sent it to said family member as an early birthday present.
Needless to say I never broke the rule again.

 


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Where were you when the heard the news?

 John F. Kennedy
On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullets as his motorcade wound through Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was the youngest man elected President; he was the youngest to die.

Of Irish descent, he was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. Graduating from Harvard in 1940, he entered the Navy. In 1943, when his PT boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, Kennedy, despite grave injuries, led the survivors through perilous waters to safety.

His Inaugural Address offered the memorable injunction: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." As President, he set out to redeem his campaign pledge to get America moving again. His economic programs launched the country on its longest sustained expansion since World War II; before his death, he laid plans for a massive assault on persisting pockets of privation and poverty.

The popular and charismatic president won many friends in the UK during his short term in office, and following his death an acre of land in Runnymede Meadow was dedicated to a memorial in his memory.

The inscription on the stone is from his inaugural speech

"Let every National know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend or oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty"

Rememberance Day

Here in Britain and in lots of other countries too it has been Remembrance Day. Marking the end of  WWII.  At 11am 95 years ago today, the guns fell silent. After over 9 million deaths in one of the most terrible conflicts in history the Great War was finally over.  

They Shall not grow old" ("Ode of Remembrance." )
A poem called 'For the Fallen' is often read aloud during the ceremony; the most famous stanza of which reads: 

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them." 

Do you know why the Poppy became the Symbol of Remembrance?
Flanders is the name of the whole western part of Belgium. It saw some of the most concentrated and bloodiest fighting of the First World War. There was complete devastation. Buildings, roads, trees and natural life simply disappeared. Where once there were homes and farms there was now a sea of mud - a grave for the dead where men still lived and fought. 

Only one other living thing survived. The poppy flowering each year with the coming of the warm weather, brought life, hope, colour and reassurance to those still fighting.
Poppies only flower in rooted up soil. Their seeds can lay in the ground for years without germinating, and only grow after the ground has been disturbed.
 
John McCrae, a doctor serving with the Canadian Armed Forces, was so deeply moved by what he saw in northern France that, in 1915 in his pocket book, he scribbled down the poem "In Flanders Fields" .
McCrae's poem was eventually published in 'Punch' magazine under the title 'In Flanders Fields'. The poppy became a popular symbol for soldiers who died in battle.

More halloween...

Lots of the stores around Crystal Palace have their Halloween decorations up. Skeletons and pumpkin’s, witches and goblins

I get the relationship between skeletons and witches, but scary faced pumpkins…hmm

So Mr Google, why pumpkins 

If you are not from the British Isles, you won't believe where your hollowed out pumpkin comes from! In Ireland and Scotland hollowed-out turnips with embers or candles inside, became a very popular Halloween decoration a few hundred years ago. Baldrick would have met his dream! (Fans of "Blackadder"  will recognize this!) Tradition held that they would ward off Stingy Jack and other malevolent spirits on Halloween, and they also served as representations of the souls of the dead. Irish families who emigrated to America brought the tradition with them, but they replaced the turnips with pumpkins, which, native to the new world, were plentiful. It didn't hurt that they are a lot easier to carve than turnips.  Have you ever tried to hollow out a turnip?  People began to carve frightening faces and other designs into their jack-o'-lanterns. 

This time of year reminds me of a party The Man and I held when we were members of a club back home in NZ.

We decorated our lounge with bats and spiders, cobwebs and ghosts. The Man decorated a cricket bat and rigged it up on the mantelpiece so that with the tweak if a string it appeared to be flapping.

So decoration done what about costumes. 

Hmmm…Oh I know lets tear that old sheeting into strips and presto chango it’s a ‘ mummy  As for me well with a bit of judicial face painting, a black outfit and a long curly tail, and presto chango I’m a black cat.

Our guests came in a  variety of costumes from Wee Willy Winky to a very impressive looking Franknfurter from Rocky Horror picture Show, complete with net stocking, sexy black corset, thigh high jack boots, cape and the piece de resistance green eye make-up  He came in a tad late and we all had a bit of a laugh when he told us why.

His car had broken down on the high street, fortunately near a phone box…pre mobile phone days. So there he was cowering beneath his cape in the glass sided phone box calling the AA for help.  He said he got some very odd looks from passers-by, not to mention the surprised look on the AA man’s face.