Here You Are... Wondering... About The Moon Going Crazy, Feb 6, 2012

Tonight I was "wondering" about the moon. So I got my binoculars and stepped out into the crystal clear, bright night.

And the moon looked a little strange to me. I couldn't tell why, though. So onto the Internet I went to visit all those nice people who post videos on YouTube and enlighten us on Wikipedia. Thanks, everyone!!!!

Maybe I only "discovered" something that is normal, and everyone is going to have a good chuckle. At least I found out, though, that I wasn't imagining things.

First we need to clarify "the man in the moon". Or the "rabbit", or "the pretty lady"... but especially, what I will call "the little dog". See the small crater behind the "man in the moon carrying sticks" - that's "his little dog" following him.

Well - who let the dog out?

In "official" pictures of the moon, "the little dog crater"- which I am sure has a proper Greek or Latin name, hangs around at the position of about 2 o'clock.

Well - not tonight!!! Or last night!!! The moon is dancing, and fast!!!


Last night that "little dog" crater hung out at the position way down by 5 o'clock! And tonight it is way up at about 3 minutes past midnight. That's a lot of rolling around in 24 hours!

Here is yesterday's moon, filmed by Chucky - Thanks, Chucky!!! A full view of the moon is at the (1:51) spot in the video, and at the end.

Feb 5, 2012 Video:   http://youtu.be/RiaaTvcnxFs

This is the moon a day later - tonight (2/06/2012) - and tonight's video posted by Mike - Thanks Mike!!! Nice to know I haven't lost my mind, imaging the moon taking a half spin since yesterday.

Feb 6, 2012 Video:       http://youtu.be/ybHQ4G2LTVM

Something to consider - the moon has what's called Libration. Yet - the video below is a one month time lapse - not an overnight, full moon event! 

This may not be normal - but it may be the "new normal" as this happened last November 19-23/2011 , as well as in December 2011 - and not just during the full moon. It supposedly "prompted a response" -  certainly an article on the phenomenon, from Cornell University.

Here is the video of the November 2011 rotations, and the Cornell document (in the video, also):

I love the Cornell response which basically says: "This, and this, and this, does not explain the moon's behavior, and the only thing that could possibly explain it is a huge object in our solar system, but that would be too crazy an idea." Bet they know the real name of the "little dog" crater, though! 

Well - we do, too, now - "Mare Crisium", or "Sea of Crisis"!

The poster "Medusa Media" seems to have a plausible explanation:

"Every millenium the sun has to adjust to accomodate mass burn off.

The sun shrinks in size

It's gravitational pull on the moon relaxes

Earths gravity during this phase exerts a little more pull

The moon wobbles. Given a year or so everything goes back to normal.

Strange effects such as new planets spotted or objects in front of the sun are optical illusions caused by this same gravitational effect on light within the solar system. No end of the world or alien invasion just plain old optics."

That seems simple enough. The sun has been extremely active lately. "Every millennium"? At least that would qualify as an unusual event. Who knew the sun could shrink and let the earth make the moon go crazy - sideways? Somebody write a letter to Cornell! (But spell millennium with two n-s and accommodate with two m-s).

As I am writing this - it is now 2am here in Utah - "Mare Crisium" is at almost the 3 o'clock position. And now, an hour later, it is in at the 4 o'clock position. Dancing fast! This must at least be unusual enough, that it could have been explained on the news so more people and kids could watch and understand it. If it were indeed understood and explainable.

Moon hasn't  rolled any further in the last 20 minutes - so I am going to bed.

Good Night, YouTube! Good Night, Wikipedia! Good Night, MacBookPro!
Good Night, MOON!!!

Here You Are...Wondering...About Weak And Strong...Live Cam On Eagles Nest In Iowa.

This is a live camera watching over an eagles' nest in Iowa. My parents in Germany just called to tell me all about what happened last week - egg by egg, so to speak. We used to watch seagull parents take care of their babies on our dock in California, but now we live high in the mountains in the snow. There is a coyote we see looking for food in the mornings. The puppies most likely hiding in a cave near by. Maybe a bit risky to go and install a camera... but I'll think about it.

Happy spring!

It may take a while to load. You can also go to http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles directly.


Live video by Ustream

Here You Are...Wondering...About Sunshine and Rain...The Day Before

Sunshine and Rain make Rainbows ! I will never forget this day. 

The next day my neighbor's healthy and vibrant mother, who was visiting from Hawaii, fell down the stairs carrying a laundry basket, and was paralyzed for life. The day before, the day this picture was taken, we had all been standing on our decks enjoying this beautiful rainbow for a long time - a kind of neighborhood meditation.  

Both my neighbor and her husband have cancer and are struggling through Chemo while faithfully visiting and taking care of her perfectly healthy, but paralyzed mother, at her nursing home. This accident moved the mother from Hawaii to California, and mother and daughter see each other far more than they would ever have seen each other otherwise during what maybe the last years of their being able to do so. Happiness and sadness weaving the rainbow of our existence.

Here You Are... Among the Butterflies... Photograph

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Siproeta_epaphus_Galawebdesign.jpg

Here You Are...Among The Trees...Photography By Sean Kernan

One reviewer on Amazon doesn't like that the author didn't say anything about the trees or the location of the trees in his book. The next reviewer says - well - you didn't get the intention of the book, clearly stated in it, which says:

"Because this book is not simply about seeing pictures of interesting trees, it is about shifting our minds and awareness to experience the world and ourselves differently. For all the variety of trees, the book is really about the experience of being in among them."

This experience of being among them - without thoughts or lables - is what a child experiences, and the same experience I try to take the reader to in Here You Are.

Whale Wars

If your life has been boring and glum since Jack Bauer went into a coma, fear no more. You can get the same tension and stiff neck you treasure from watching 24, from watching "Whale Wars" on Animal Planet. The difference is that you can watch "Whale Wars" with your ten-year-old. It will make for spirited discussions, and might turn him into an Eco-Terrorist, so be forewarned.

As we were watching the first and second episode, and I was trying to explain the wisdom of doing things the legal way, the democratic way, and the way of least resistance - more like Greenpeace, - or Jesus and Buddha for that matter - the response I got was: "Legal or not, Mom, the other guys are KILLING innocent whales!"

It didn't help that Paul Watson had just explained that if you see someone kicking a puppy in the face, you don't just take pictures, report and wait for lawyers to deal with things, you save the puppy and deal with the attacker." Jack Bauer would be proud. But what would Jesus, and what would Obama do? As the Imam on 24 said to calm Jack: "We live in complicated times."

What Paul Watson and his team do is not - at least in episode one and two - life threatening to the whalers, and far from Jack Bauer's methods. They throw stink bombs the way we did in Middle School, jam the whaling ships' props, and do anything else annoying - and expensive to the whaling boats they can think of - to interfere with the bloody killing of the whales. It is often life threatening to his own crew, as they fight their lonely - and arguably - legal battles in the Southern Ocean - the toughest place for sailing on earth. It is almost always life saving (or at least buying a few more hours on earth) for the whales, though.

This makes for easy math for a ten-year-old.

Is Paul Watson a brave and compassionate hero, is he stupid, counter-productive, self-righteous, helping, or hurting the cause, or all of the above? That's for people who are over ten to decide.

The rest of us...are cheering for the whales.

Laughing Baba Nature Video

Here is a very nice nature video with helpful advice. Let go - let the grass grow - and understand the way of the clouds.