Tag Archives: Sun

In the Pursuit of Trivia and World Peace

Standard

Life in the Emerald City has taken a turn for the worst.  The water well has gone dry several days ago and rain is no where in sight.  The water well on the ranch of the Tin Man was dug in the 1800s and has never stopped flowing…..

…..that is until now….. 

Shall the Emerald City one day look like the surface of the Moon? 

Every week the water truck pulls up to the house and pumps water into the holding tank and the Tin Man wonders how long he desires to live in this place, the place of his ancestors. 

It fills the heart he got from the Wonderful Wizard of Oz with great sadness.

 

Recently, someone wrote a history of the area and presented him with a copy of the book; the Tin Man was quite touched as he sat and read the stories of these brave immigrants to a new world, a world belonging to Mexico and how these early immigrants relied on the help and protection of these original owners in order to survive. 

He looked into the expectant faces from the old photographs and envisioned the dreams the ancients had for creating a better place. 

He read the stories of how the original people of this land, the Mexicans helped them and protected them and wonders how and why today the people of this new land turn their backs on the original owners and want to build giant fences to separate themselves from these giving people, why today the inhabitants of this new world want to show disdain for the beautiful, melodic language spoken by the original owners of this land. 

The Tin Man wonders how this ignorant hatred found root in the hearts and minds of people whose ancients would not have survived this new world without the help and care of those original owners. 

So his heart is heavy with sadness and he wonders if the great gods of the ancient lands have decided to take the water away from these new people as punishment for their arrogance and hatred birthed out of self-serving ignorance and self righteousness.

So in order as to not become overwhelmed by this arrogance and ignorance he has decided to try and focus on some trivial facts of our world to lighten his heart.

Did you know that Buzz Aldrin’s Mother’s maiden name was MOON?

Nobody knows where Mozart is buried..

85% of all Life on Earth is Plankton

Ants do not Sleep

The Oldest Known Vegetable is the Pea

To See a Rainbow You must have your back to the Sun

Millions of Trees are planted by squirrels that bury their nuts and then forget where they left them……

…….Thank You squirrels

Monaco’s National Orchestra is bigger than its Army

Every year the Sun looses 360 Million Tons

The average 4 year old asks 400 Questions a Day

 

The Creature with the Largest Brain in relation to its body is the Ant

A Chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in the mirror, but a Monkey cannot

Panama Hats come from Ecuador

Charlie Chaplin once won Third Place in a Charlie Chaplin look-a-like contest

Shrimps are the loudest thing in the Ocean

The Fruit Fly was the first Animal in Space

The Largest Man Made Structure on Earth is “Fresh Kills”

The Rubbish Dump on Staten Island, New York…..a real tribute to mankind

So until a time when every Country’s Orchestra is bigger than its Army…….
…….and we realize that Ant’s have bigger brains than us…….

The Tin Man wishes for…..


…..a bit more care for our fellow humans and respect for their hearts…..and to celebrate our differences…

Solar Eclipse – Almost!!!

Standard

We were lucky enough to have been able to observe the Solar Eclipse on Sunday, May 20th……….or at least most of it!

The eclipse occurred just as the sun was setting so it was not optimal……but an event like this is always amazing to see.

The earliest record of a solar eclipse comes from ancient China.

The date of the eclipse is recorded as, October 22, 2134 B.C.

Oriental belief held that an eclipse is caused by an invisible dragon devouring the Sun.

Observers would make great noise and commotion in order to frighten away the dragon and restore daylight.

I began my quest to observe this great and historic event by gathering the necessary items……..a quick trip to my wine cellar for a proper Chardonnay………unoaked for the eclipse

……remember never look directly at a Solar Eclipse…….unless you are drinking an unoaked Chardonnay…

I settle myself on the deck and prepare for this event that on May 28, 585 B.C. was startling enough to cause a five year war between the Lydians and Medes to end as the two Middle Eastern armies agreed to a peace treaty and cement the bond with a double marriage due to the day being turned into night by a Solar Eclipse.

The sun seems to be getting ready for her great hour by shining in a most brilliant and spectacular way…..

….or it could be the Chardonnay!

………the anticipation is great and I ponder the words of the poet Archilochus,

“Nothing there is beyond hope, nothing that can be sworn impossible, nothing wonderful, since Zeus, father of the Olympians, made night from mid-day, hiding the light of the shining Sun, and sore fear came upon men…..”

…..and then it begins….the heavens seem to swirl……

…..I fear that I may even see the Witch of the West crossing the sky……

The moon slowly moves in front of the sun as it is setting much too quickly………

……I wish that I could run to the West to continue to watch this amazing sight……remembering the Greek historian Phlegon reporting “…in the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, there was an eclipse of the Sun which was greater than any known before and in the sixth hour of the day it became night; so that the stars appeared in the heaven; and a great earthquake that broke out in Bithynia destroyed the greatest part of Nicaea.”

…..but with all her majesty, the sun slips past the horizon taking with her the beautiful artistry of the eclipse….I am left to bask in her waning light, with my Chardonnay…


………..as English poet John Milton, in Paradise Lost, wrote:
As when the Sun, new risen,
Looks through the horizontal misty air,
Shorn of his beams, or from behind the Moon,
In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds
On half the nations and with fear of change
Perplexes monarchs

…….so until August 21, 2017, when the eclipse will make a 185 mile-wide shadow across the continental United States from West to East….cheers!