Day: 02/01/2018

How Long Is A Day On The Sun?

/ Marilyn Armstrong / 6 Comments

Need a good sun tan? I think this might be your answer.

ScienceSwitch

A day is the amount of time it takes for a planet to spin around and make one full rotation. On Earth, it’s about 24 hours – but what about the Sun? How long is a day there?

THIS IS COOL. I WANT TO LEARN SOMETHING ELSE, TOO!

Video via – MinutePhysics
Further Readings And References @ Solar Rotation (Wikipedia), Gravitational Time Dilation (Wikipedia), Universal Time (Wikipedia)

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DUKE THE DOG

/ Marilyn Armstrong / 32 Comments

I haven’ t been getting out much since winter began. I can’t get it together with stomping through snow, or rain, or mud. I’ve gone to the doctor with Garry and the grocery store a few times. I’ve even gone out on the balcony and shot a few pictures there.

But mostly, I’ve been in the house. Reading — or more accurately, listening. Except I’m also reading (text reading) too.

The Duke

In between, when my dogs do something particularly cute, I grab a camera and take a few pictures. 

I was watching The Duke standing on top of the sofa, watching outside. The neighbors must have been outside. Whenever they emerge, he goes completely wacko. Anyone would think they’d done something bad to him! He tries to fling himself through the dining room French doors by knocking down the gate.

CRASH, BANG, BARK, BARK, GROWL, BARK.

Then he races to the living room, stands on the top of the sofa and growls. Barks. And finally, stands in front of us and whimpers. He really has a spite on those people. You’d think they did something bad to him, wouldn’t you?

Sometimes, he just likes to stand watch on the back of the sofa. He likes the height. It gives him a great view of the neighbors driveway.

GROWL, BARK, BARK, WHIMPER, GROWL.

(Race to dining room,)

CRASH, BANG, GROWL, BARK.

(Race to living room.)

(Leap to sofa.)

GROWL, BARK, BARK, BARK.

“Duke, chill. Good grief, calm down!”

WHIMPER.

“Duke, it’s the neighbors. They live there. They aren’t going to leave no matter how much you bark. Calm down! Garry, did you give him his Prozac?”

I took some pictures. As soon as he saw me with the camera, he decided he needed to get really close to the lens. If I try to back off, he’ll just move up on me, so I do the best I can. 

Duke is a pretty good subject, though. Unlike Bonnie and Gibbs, he has enough white in his coat to reflect light and be visible, even if the room isn’t very bright.

He is a good boy. Total wacko, of course. 

CONFESSIONS OF A PEN SNATCHER – GARRY ARMSTRONG

/ Garry Armstrong / 35 Comments

I could run for elective office if I so chose. Even in retirement, after more than 40 years as a TV and radio news reporter I’m sufficiently recognizable that I could put my name up for election. I don’t have a lot of skeletons in my closet. Certainly none scandalous enough to draw attention. Maybe, given the way times have changed, I don’t have enough skeletons, but that’s a conversation for another day.

Nonetheless, I felt it was time to come clean about the addiction I have not been able to shed.

I steal pens. I am a pen thief.

My reputation precedes me into the offices of public officials, religious leaders, doctors, lawyers, business, and law enforcement. I am welcome with smiles and handshakes — but the pens are locked away.

My pen thievery is the stuff of legend, admired by icons like “Tip” O’Neill, the late Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. “Tip” and I once swapped anecdotes about the quality of watches and pens on “The Hill”. He actually once double dared me.

Having swiped pens from Scotland Yard, the Vatican, Buckingham Palace, state houses, city halls, and other high-profile venues, I set my sites on the biggest of all: The Oval Office.I’d already established a rapport with then-President Clinton. He knew and liked me. I had it planned. A one-on-one interview with no one else in the big room. I diverted the President’s attention and reached for one of his elegant pens — only to find him staring at me. Smiling.

“We know all about you, Garry”, President Clinton smiled cheerily.

Turns out the good pens had been stashed and replaced by cheap, discount ones that dried up after a few uses. I later found out some of my best political contacts — on both sides of the aisle in DC — had joined in a bi-partisan move to warn the President about the notorious pen thief from Boston.

Being a legend isn’t as easy as it looks.