RED SUNSET: Imagine, what it would be like, standing on another planet in our solar system, and watching our oh-so-familiar sun set. If you were on Mars, it would look like what's pictured above.
As part of its Mars mission, robotic rover Spirit, deployed in 2005, was programmed to park and watch our sun sink below the Red Planet's Gusev crater.
The photo isn't too far off what our human eyes would see, as fine particles suspended in the thin Martian atmosphere tint the sky a reddish color. The dust also scatters blue light forward, creating the bluish glow near setting Sol.
The sun is less bright on Mars, as compared to Earth, because it's farther away there, of course, and it only appears to be about two thirds of the diameter it appears from Earth.
PUBLISHED POETS: Today's mail brought the quarterly Junior Gardeners' newsletter from Sky Nursery. As I opened the newsletter, I recalled the kids had submitted gardening related haikus for consideration, per a call in the previous newsletter.
Lo and behold, on the very first page inside the newsletter, there they were. The kids were very excited.
NORWEGIAN MORNING: I spent most of the morning working on a report with a today deadline. The kids spent the morning enjoying lectures about and listening to The Beatles. One of the song "close ups" they heard today was about "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," a song written about John. Such a pretty ditty, with lyrics that aren't quite as sweet (especially the end, where he burns his love's house down). The song was the first of The Beatles' that employed use of the sitar, played by George.
In case you're wondering, Norwegian wood, per Paul is "pine, really cheap pine." The song, by all accounts (John, Paul, and friends) is about John's indiscretions while married to Cynthia, his first wife.
Another song talked about was "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away." While the title of this tune might make one think it's about John's further indiscretions, it's actually a song about the band's manager, Brian Epstein.
Epstein was gay, which was actually a crime at the time in England. So Lennon wrote about Epstein and others who had to, basically, 'hide their love' in order to conform to society's norms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz7IjXu0DfQ
LOVE this video of The Beatles performing the song, from their movie "Help!"
We are now halfway done with our Beatles class, and the kids are jazzed they have scored 100 percent on all their quizzes so far.
DOWN SOUTH: This blog post is short on content because we spent most of the afternoon in West Seattle (MPA South at this point!). I actually made a full fledged dinner in his kitchen for the first time, complete with multiple appetizers. Nice to know his kitchen works, it certainly got the biggest workout of the "Rick Era" so far, LOL. We were there because his 'contractors' came over for a meeting at their behest. Silly us, we thought they would want to discuss all of their misdeeds and shortcomings and fibs to date. Hahaha. Nope, they were there all about trying to upsell/add on work. Lame sauce.
The Martian sunset photo really gives one something to ponder. I suppose MPA students think it's routine... It's a generational thing.
ReplyDeleteGood point - you're right, of course. CJ and Annabelle have had actual Martian vistas in their minds as long as they can remember, no doubt. For those of us of an older generation or two, it was the stuff of sci fi.
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