March 20, 2017 Open Thread; Spring Equinox, Ostara, Mabon
March 20 is the 79th day of the year. There are 286 days left.
Today's number is 20
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An icosahedron has 20 faces
A dodecahedron has 20 vertices.
20 is the atomic number of calcium.
"what's your 20?" = "10-20" = "where are you?"
20 is one meaning of "a score"
A 20 is a Jackson until 2020 when it will be a Tubman
20 is an android app, - some sort of game
20 is 2 times 10, the bases of two very widely used number systems
Base 20 number systems are known as "Vigesimal", which brings us to the fact that
The Maya used a Vigesimal number system
20 is an impossible perfect score in France
Title 20 of the US Code is EDUCATION.
20 BCE
was the Year of the Consulship of Appuleius and Nerva
Parthia and Rome entered into a peace treaty.
20 CE
was the Year of the Consulship of Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus and Cotta
Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso committed suicide rather than face trial for the murder of Germanicus
On this day in:
1815 -- Napoleon Bonaparte's "Hundred Days" rule began.
1852 -- Uncle Tom's Cabin was published
1883 -- The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property was signed
1915 -- Einstein's general theory of relativity was published.
1923 -- Pablo Picasso's first US showing took place
1933 -- Himmler ordered the creation of Dachau
1942 -- MacArthur promised to return to Bataan
1952 -- The US Senate ratified a peace treaty with Japan
1956 -- Tunisia gained its freedom from France
1985 -- Libby Riddles was the first woman to win the Iditarod
1987 -- The FDA approved AZT to fight AIDS
1995 -- The Aum Shinrikyo cult staged a sarin gas attack
2003 -- The coalition of the witless invaded Iraq on false pretences
Born this day in:
43 BCE -- Ovid, poet
1612 -- Anne Bradstreet, Puritan poet, first woman published in England's American colonies
1811 -- George Caleb Bingham, luminist painter
1821 -- Ned Buntline, journalist, author, publisher, and know-nothing leader
1828 -- Henrik Ibsen, poet, playwright, and director
1840 -- Illarion Pryanishnikov, painter
1856 -- John Lavery, painter
1884 -- Philipp Frank, physicist, mathematician, and philosopher, Vienna Circle member, Philosophy of Science
1890 -- Beniamino Gigli, tenor and actor
1904 -- B. F. Skinner, psychologist and author, pigeon fancier
1906 -- Ozzie Nelson, actor and bandleader
1915 -- Sister Rosetta Tharpe, singer, songwriter and guitarist
1917 -- Vera Lynn, singer
1918 -- Marian McPartland, pianist and composer, Jazz Master, founded Halcyon Records
1922 -- Larry Elgart, saxophonist and bandleader
1925 -- John Ehrlichman, lawyer, criminal, Nixonian scumbag
1928 -- James P. Gordon, physicist and engineer, designed & built first maser.
1928 -- Fred Rogers, Mister Rogers.
1934 -- Willie Brown, lawyer, and politician
1936 -- Harold Mabern, jazz pianist and composer
1937 -- Jerry Reed, singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actor
1939 -- Don Edwards, guitarist, singer, and songwriter
1939 -- Walter Jakob Gehring, biologist and academic
1948 -- Nikos Papazoglou, singer and songwriter, formed band named oblique order
1950 -- Carl Palmer, drummer and songwriter
1955 -- Ian Moss, guitarist, singer, & songwriter
Died this day in:
1726 -- Isaac Newton, physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher
1964 -- Brendan Behan, Irish republican, poet, novelist, short story author and playwright
Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days and such:
Ostara (Northern Hemishpere)
Mabon (Southern Hemishpere)
Vernal Equinox
Great American Meatout (United States)
Extraterrestrial Abduction Day
International Astrology Day
New Year (Thelema)
Feast of the Supreme Ritual (Thelema)
That does it, 2, count them, 2 Thelemic Holidays. This calls for
So, for music Beniamino Gigli Ozzie Nelson Sister Rosetta Tharpe Vera Lynn Marian McPartland Larry Elgart Harold Mabern Jerry Reed Don Edwards Nikos Papazoglou Carl Palmer Ian Moss-
Beniamino Gigli
Ozzie Nelson
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Vera Lynn
Marian McPartland
Larry Elgart
Harold Mabern
Jerry Reed
Don Edwards
Nikos Papazoglou
Carl Palmer
Ian Moss
OK, what's on your minds?
Bonus: some ELP
I won’t be here when this publishes, sorry. Carry on.
Comments
Good morning
everybody. Thanks for the morning tunes, el.
I always try to think of something for Today's Number. All that comes to mind this morning is
20/20 vision is a term used to express normal visual acuity (the clarity or sharpness of vision) measured at a distance of 20 feet. If you have 20/20 vision, you can see clearly at 20 feet what should normally be seen at that distance. If you have 20/100 vision, it means that you must be as close as 20 feet to see what a person with normal vision can see at 100 feet. - American Optometric Association
changes
Looks like the site formatting changed. I'm not seeing the number system for the comments on the left.
Good eyes, OLinda
Numbering system for replies seems like last week. We go with the flow. Adaptation is healthy.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Morning, riverlover.
Yes, no problem here. Just an observation.
What a significant date in history!
If you possibly can be, be in Chichen Itza, Mexico on the day of the vernal equinox. It's a spectacular visual event and a a momentous religious occasion, with pagan and Catholic religions blending seamlessly, as they often have in Mexico.
As the sun moves in the heavens, the serpent god "descends," one perfect triangle of sunlight at a time, from the top of pagan temple to the earth to fertilize it. The descent is complete when the sun suddenly lights up the head of the serpent, as though an electric switch were thrown. It's a perfect day for planting seeds--and for Catholic wedding ceremonies at the archaeological site. Because it's also a day for celebrating Mexican cultural heritage, many Mexicans are present, as well as tourists and wedding guests.
In the fall, the process reverses and the serpent god goes up the stairs to the temple again, one perfect triangle at a time. However, the end of fertility for the year is not the joyous event that is the spring equinox.
We happened to be at Chichen Itza for the equinox one year by sheer accident, one of the very lucky events of my life. Check with Mr. Google before making travel arrangements because the spring equinox does not always fall on the 20th. When I was there, the head did not light up until almost 5 p.m., but you need to arrive early in the day to get a good spot on the grass near the serpent. Besides, you won't want to miss all the joyful weddings.
Wear a hat. Pack a blanket or some beach towels and a good amount of food, snacks and water. If you will be alone, you may want to bring some reading material, too.
Base20 is fingers and toes, presumably.
When I was a youngster, my mother taught us at home, various things. Reading Beowulf on the sofa. SMSG (School Mathematics Study Group) math, learned on the sofa about different number base systems and how to count in them, learned negative numbers, something our government loves to hate. SMSG was a math learning set back when all education was being re-thought. It was used in Louisville for a few years in the advanced programs (I did not get invited in until 6th grade, chose private schooling for myself) and then fizzled, on to better or bigger or cheaper.
I still learned Palmer Method cursive, but immediately changed out Q's, S's to something legible to me. Hybrid print/write. Is cursive taught now? Parents out there: what IS taught in schools now? My daughter is 28. And a leftie. Her signature looks like printing to me.
Daughter is a RN at the local hospital. Very bad work conditions coming down, many nurses are upset. Two months ago, someone DIED in the ER waiting room from neglect. Management response was to beef up ED coverage by moving ED patients into unit beds before they had been seen by a doctor. Daughter is in a convalescent unit, they have increased the bed # but not the nurse# for coverage. So she has more patients than is acceptable to most nurse's unions. But no union there. One of those strange deals, a University town, pro-labor, but many nurses do not want unionization. She would be happy for a union. All of the baby-nurses are vehemently anti-. Trumpland.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
"Is cursive taught now?" Common Core killed it? Thx Obama
good morning Happy Equinox. Thought I read about cursive being dropped in California schools, this is a couple years old already. When Public goes away, Private rushes in: Cursive Vanishing From Schools As Common Core Takes Focus
Try writing bird guides, ha ha! Who can pronounce those sounds? /digress
Mandatory cursive handwriting sounds like something DeVos would support, I think. Maybe not, it would be one of those areas makes me go WTF agreement? For me, it is good old-fashioned hand eye coordination training, like touch-typing (or gaming?) but slower. Something occurs in the brain that makes it sharper, more focused. Huh kinda sounds like all of learning.
Peace & Love
P.S. My opinion on what ails U.S. education system is, software monopolists. First, it was Apple, then Microsoft, now Google. Teachers LOVE a locked-down system, that is the only way to keep semblance of control while filling young minds full of stuff. But the monopolists have made people much dumber while they got rich, not a fair trade.
Mexicans on my mind. They stole California before the Irish
Merry meet. ^That's California history as I know it anyway. I think Howard Zinn taught it to me, it sure wasn't in the groovy West Marin edu-pods I was programmed through. Those were times of "permissive thought", still pretty tightly bounded. I say Irish because those are my European ancestors that came here just before "statehood" occurred. Not First Contact, but the destroyers that followed. Still coming here in droves.
Our family reaction to grief was to always go camping. Go away, get outside, live with nature, ponder the meaning of life. That's how I got to see California coast all the way down toward La Paz, camping on the highway in the desert in Baja was scary awesome. Surreal. Since then I feel even more connected to the land and the people. We got kicked out before making our destination because my dad refused to bribe the cop that pulled us over for not checking in at an immigration stop. lol omg I have the same stubborn genes. Ethics, lol.
Gold mine’s permit canceled by ruling Yay! Solidarity.
more like that
Peace & Love
+
This one's for LoneStarMike, the great graphics guy. Texas used to belong to Mexico too:
Friendly
Thanks for hosting open thread. Good robot! (joking about the essay schedule bot). Thanks a lot enhydra lutris, and hey JtC. Shout out for software that does what you want. Cheers. Merry part.
Good morning
Happy spring everyone. I found this tidbit interesting...
Here’s a natural phenomenon you might never have imagined. That is, the sun actually rises and sets faster around the time of an equinox. The fastest sunsets (and sunrises) happen at or near the equinoxes. And the slowest sunsets (and sunrises) happen at or near the solstices. This is true whether you live in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere.
http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/when-are-the-fastest-sunsets
Thanks HernyWallace for the Mayan pyramid in Chichen. I was fortunate to get to see the night show there with pictures projected on the pyramid. It was a full moon night with Jupiter and Venus shining bright too.
Here's the illuminated pyramid with Venus in the background. You can almost see the equinox 'snake' with the light at the base as the head
Here's what it may have looked like with plaster and paint in it's heyday
And a last shot from the 1800's ...
The Yucatan is a fascinating area with the second largest coral reef running down the Caribbean side, Mayan ruins all over (several UNESCO sites), and Spanish colonial cities interspersed. Relatively inexpensive too.
Well hope your first day of spring is a great one...
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Finally (3rd try) propane delivery to my bomb.
$1099.00 for 338 gallons. Like I said, a bomb. 10 feet from my house. Heat and hot water. This delivery should last until Fall. Please.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
All I can say is....
Abduct an Extraterrestrial before they abduct you...
My tinfoil is stronger than yours ...so there!
I want a Pony!
What?? Germanicus is dead!!??!!
and it's Ovid's birthday. Ok. Is that Julian or Gregorian?
Ovid wrote one of my favorite books, "Metamorphoses". It's brilliant. It might even be my #1 book, even ahead of "The Stranger". I should make a list of my fave books. Let's see...those two..."Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test"? Maybe. Collections of short stories by PG Wodehouse, Alan Sillitoe, F. Scott Fitzgerald. I think those should count. Maybe "The True Story of the Beatles" by Billy Shepherd. Or "The Beatles: The Authorized Biography" by Hunter Davies. Or "The Man Who Gave the Beatles Away" by Allan Williams. Those are all great.
Yes, Germanicus, a name that opened all doors, kaput.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --