Total Eclipse of the Sun

Astronomers Studying an Eclipse painted by Antoine Caron in 1571

My Jim and I were talking about Total Eclipses of the Sun and when we saw one as a child. He remembered that he was about 7 years old and that it was in the afternoon and he was in the Solarium in his house when it happened; I remembered that it was when I was with my Dad making his rounds in the dry cleaning delivery truck on a Saturday and knew I had to be about 8 years old or so and remembered it being in the afternoon (I thought). But neither of us could be sure what year for sure it was.

We wanted to nail it down, since we both saw it together in two different states together. So, I went to the NASA Solar Eclipse page and started looking in the early 60s for a Total Eclipse. Sure enough, there it was July 20, 1963 (here‘s the page where we found it).

All these years later, we both remembered quite a bit about it … and the deepest part of the eclipse only lasted about 1 minute 40 seconds.

Eclipses can be exciting, maybe even a little bit scary, or may cause some measure of anxiety for a child because they have never seen such a thing happen before in their little lives. Giving them as much information as possible, especially for a curious child, can be a great defense against such anxiety. We loved it. Both of us did, even as children. But both of us had some knowledge of what was going on. Science fascinated us both. I remember a woman from the West Indies who was with me when it happened (we stopped at a Judge’s house at the Jersey Shore on my Dad’s rounds noted earlier, and this woman and her husband worked in the house and were good friends of my Dad), and she said that this could be a once in a lifetime thing. She had only seen one once before in her life.

The next Total Eclipse of the Sun for our area in the United States won’t happen again until 2017 (August 21). Hard to say whether we both will still be here then. But I think it will be really interesting if we could share it together this time, instead of seeing it separately in two different states together like last time. Jim in Ohio and me at the Jersey Shore. We didn’t even know each other back then.

It is on my calendar for August 21, 2017 just in case.

Solar eclipse of July 20, 1963 (Wikipedia)

According to Wikipedia, the next Total Solar Eclipse of the Sun after the one August 21, 2017, (that we could see here in the continental United States) won’t occur again until September 23, 2071.

I am pretty certain we won’t be here for that one, but our grandchildren will be.

Information on Solar Eclipses:

Solar eclipse (Wikipedia)

There are some very good external links on that page as well.

You can even listen to the article in .ogg format in two parts from Wikimedia linked on that page or click on the links below:

Solar Eclipses article in audio format from Wikimedia:

Part 1
Part 2

Solar Eclipses have been interpreted as all kinds of omens, portents, etc. in history; particularly related to battle.

In addition, there are some really interesting observations made including some cool scientific observations, as well as some anomalies as well, such as this from the Wikipedia article:

Gravity anomalies

There is a long history of observations of gravity-related phenomena during solar eclipses, especially around totality. In 1954 and again in 1959, Maurice Allais reported observations of strange and unexplained movement during solar eclipses. This phenomenon is now called the Allais Effect. Similarly, Saxl and Allen in 1970 observed sudden change in motion of a torsion pendulum, and this phenomenon is called the Saxl effect.

A recent published observation during the 1997 solar eclipse by Wang et al. suggested a possible gravitational shielding effect, though there is some serious debate. Later in 2002, Yang and Wang published detailed data analysis which suggested that the phenomenon still remains unexplained. More studies are being planned by NASA and ESA over the next decade.

Very interesting stuff!

Good Men Project – Book, Film, Website

Good Men Project

Check out my posting on MyPassionIsBooks blog about the Good Men Project book, documentary film, website, and the link to my article (just posted today) on the Good Men Project blog entitled Walkabout and other Rites of Passage.

Enjoy!

Ron Paul we cannot afford our Empire anymore

Ron Paul we cannot afford our Empire anymore (YouTube)

Lyme Disease – HR1179

Lyme Disease is a dastardly disease and it’s a much bigger problem than people think.

ANNOUNCING INTRODUCTION of HR-1179
Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases Prevention, Education & Research Act of 2009
Take Action Now, please!

Those that suffer with Lyme Disease need this so bad, but they need all of us (in all 50 States) to speak out … to contact our Senators and Representatives to support U.S. House Bill HR1179.

If you are not familiar with Chronic Lyme Disease, this movie trailer for Under Our Skin may help:

In addition, there are many wonderful advocacy groups/sites for Lyme Disease which are working hard on behalf of Lyme Disease patients and their families. One such site is the Turn The Corner Foundation. Turn the Corner is dedicated to the support of research, education, awareness and innovative treatments for Lyme Disease and other tick-borne diseases.

Stop The Spying!

Suffering, Sacrifice and Truth

In an article entitled, “Entangling Alliances” by 2008 Presidential Candidate, Ron Paul, he writes,

Free trade means no sanctions against Iran, or Cuba or anyone else for that matter. Entangling alliances with no one means no foreign aid to Pakistan, or Egypt, or Israel, or anyone else for that matter. If an American citizen determines a foreign country or cause is worthy of their money, let them send it, and encourage their neighbors to send money too, but our government has no authority to use hard-earned American taxpayer dollars to mire us in these nightmarishly complicated, no-win entangling alliances.

When we look at global situations today, the words of our founding fathers are becoming more relevant daily. We need to understand that a simple, humble foreign policy makes us less vulnerable and less targeted on the world stage. Pakistan should not be getting an “allowance” from us and we should not be propping up military dictators that oppress people. We should mind our own business and stop the oppressive taxation of Americans that makes this meddling possible.

There are American Citizens that can’t afford enough food for their table or medical help, and many are finding it harder and harder in the face of ever increasing gasoline prices (affecting everything we buy and sell) and doomed to failure attempts to supplement our dependence on oil (doomed to failure because of special interests), to afford gas money to run their own businesses or get to/from work, and some foreigner is being paid an ‘allowance’ out of our overtaxed Citizen’s pockets!?!

With statements like this in the Canadian Press article entitled, “Runup in oil prices raises questions about longer-term crude supplies” on November 15, 2007 hanging like a black cloud over all we do, “Demand is so strong that Matthew Simmons, a Houston oil and gas investment banker, says US$100 a barrel oil may even be a bargain, with US$300 crude likely in the future.“

They are bleeding us to death! And stripping us of any way to survive.

More interesting articles by Ron Paul here as well as other places on the Web, like the one I mentioned in my last few postings.

I hope Simpson’s article entitled “Suffering, Sacrifice and Truth” is correct,

I believe that when people hear the truth, great change is not only possible; it is inevitable. … We the people can begin building a long-term process to heal our communities, our nation and our world. This will be a long-term struggle. It will require our collective sacrifice as we undo the debt, repair the destruction, demand accountability and, most importantly, seek the truth.

Let’s return to the Constitution. Let’s remember the rule of law. Let’s begin the national dialogue. What is the balance of powers? What is justice? What is liberty? What is tranquility? What is security? What did our forefathers mean when they said our union was to promote the general welfare?

It seems an insurmountable problem, people working against the Citizen from within and without. Just another sign of part of the problem is in this article entitled, “In light of this Assault on our Finances” by Haas:

The problem today isn’t with organizations such as Liberty Dollar. The problem is with the U.S. Congress and the Federal Reserve. The government didn’t raid and steal the assets of Liberty Dollar because the organization was engaged in real criminal activity. It raided and stole the assets of those involved and invested in the organization because it was a threat to the worthless Federal Reserve debt system and the goal of maintaining a debtor nation. Americans carry more debt and have less savings than at any other time in our nation’s history. The people are broke, and so is the U.S. government. Collectively, we are drowning in debt thanks to the criminal monetary policy of the Federal Reserve.

(LINKS mine)

So when does it all end? And where does it end? Would getting back to what the Founding Fathers wanted for us through our Constitution – the Inalienable Rights of Individual Citizens as long as those rights don’t trample the rights and liberty of other citizens or damage/destroy property – really work now? Would it truly help this great nation to get back on its feet to return to the non-interventionist roots (at home and abroad) of what the Founding Fathers wanted for us as a nation? It’s what many of us have seen for many, many years. But do we as citizens of this great nation have the intestinal fortitude to pull it off? And will they (governments and corporations) let us do it? Or will greedy or well-meaning groups keep us from accomplishing it? Is it too late, or has this gone too far already to turn back? I sure hope not.

And hope is what it’s all about, isn’t it? Hope in being able to return to our Constitutional rights and responsibilities – to live our own lives not have our lives dictated to us by others; not some convoluted idea of what we are supposed to be or do that continues to backfire in our children’s and grand children’s faces.

Or do we just give up all hope and sink deep in depression (or antidepressants) and futility, or commit suicide like Nero when he waited too long to fix things and all was lost?

There has to be a better way!?!