Happy Awesome Solstice!
Photo courtesy of my marine biologist niece, Dianna, in South Carolina tonight!
Solstice occurs at 6:38pm EST.
Meanwhile...
The total lunar eclipse is occurring from around 1:00am to 5:00am EST, with absolute midpoint at 3:17am. The last time this occurred on the day of the solstice was 21 December 1638. The next time will be 21 December 2094. Fascinating that it's always on the 21st when this happens.
More here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/20/AR2010122006447.html
I just checked outside (9:15 PM PST), but the clouds are too thick to see the moon. (I think I see a patch of light where it ought to be.) Will check again before going to bed. And Howard Dean is even firstlier than solstice eclipses!
ReplyDeleteI was wondering why if it's going to happen again in 85, and hasn't happened for 385 years why the differential? The stars is pretty steady. . . . Then I remembered, lol!, how many times we've messed with the calendar in the last few hundred years. . . .
ReplyDeleteWell, it's gone gone gone. Was there a while ago, and just starting to get red. . . . 12ยบ brrrrrrrrr.
ReplyDeleteNew front page photo is up!
ReplyDeleteMerely 372. ;-)
ReplyDeleteBack, about half. Not red at all now. Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteLooks about full back, but hard to say: it's clouding over for our morning's snow. . . .
ReplyDeleteVERY pretty pic, listener!! Talented relatives you have. . . .
ReplyDeleteShe just told me she didn't realise at the time she still had the camera set for "whales" so this is slightly underexposed. Given that she is a whale researcher, we'll have to cut her some slack! Ha!
ReplyDeleteIt was taken without a tripod, too. Impressive.
Really beautiful. Thanks for sharing, listener.
ReplyDeleteIt was too cloudy to see anything here AND we didn't get any snow. I thought, if we had to miss the eclipse, at least they could give us a good, solid snowfall. But, we got nothin'!
ARG! Sis is mad at me because I posted to my FB page Engelbert's version of "Love Me Tender." OK, so he's not Elvis. He doesn't try to be, and it's a lovely version on its own terms. I mean, It's not as if I expected her to listen to it. But, she got all bent out of shape. *sigh* I wonder what it's like to have a sister who shares your tastes, and doesn't laugh at the music you listen to and the books you read and the movies you watch?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of movies, Patty and I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 on Sunday. Well, we saw most of it. We were about fifteen minutes late. I enjoyed it. To my mind, it's the best of the movies yet. Alan, I don't remember. How did you like it?
Couldn't tell you what it's like to have a perfect sister -- I'm an only child. ;)
ReplyDeleteLol! Wasn't doing the math, just quoting Rick. Guess I need to keep tabs on him, eh?
ReplyDelete*They* are saving the snow for Christmas, I think. We didn't get any either, though promised. But now they've extended the Christmas storm to Sunday. Hope they're wrong about it all. . . .
ReplyDeleteI have two sisters and I don't know either.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good thing you don't have to get all of your sibling camaraderie from your biological siblings.
I think they dropped all the snow here and in Buffalo this season. Especially Buffalo. All you need to do is make a Great Lake a mile or two to your west, and you'll have lots of it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, puddle. It's kind of nice that he rounds UP!
ReplyDeleteYep. Chicago can get a good bit of snow when the wind is a bit east of morth. But wind from that direction is nowhere near as common as wind from the west.
ReplyDelete2010 Census results
ReplyDeletehttp://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/
12 House states have shifted
It looks like the red states picked up the most.
[Republicans are having multiple children; Democrats and Progressives tend to limit family size.]
House seats GAINED ~
Texas gained 4 House seats.
Florida gained 2 seats
+1 seat for each state: Washington, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Georgia, South Carolina
House seats LOST ~
New York lost 2 seats
Ohio lost 2 seats
-1 seat for each state: Louisiana, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Massachusetts
Hubby and I did our part. We made 4 Democrats and one Progressive/Libertarian, and have three liberal granddaughters.
Of course, Vermont is one of the states with the least people per square mile.
It makes me all the more proud of the strength of our legislators!
Well, look at it: Warm, dry states (plus Washington as a notable exception) gained seats. Cold states (plus Louisiana, for reasons we all remember) lost seats.
ReplyDeleteFlorida's gain is easily explained by aging Boomers retiring there. Not sure if that totaolly accounts for Texas, although I know one person who retired to that state.