05/16 International Day of Light

May 19, 2018 sunrise 6:25AM

~~~       sunrise_051918

The word light is probably most often used in the sense of visible light, or illumination, or concepts of that ilk where it is not meant to be the opposite of "heavy".  "Light", whatever it may be, is a chunk of the electromagnetic spectrum, which includes radio, TV, radar, microwaves, and hard radiation.  Beyond that, Schrödinger's wave equation extends it to particles, so it is somewhat universal and foundational.  Where light or other emf falls on the spectrum is determined by its frequency (f) or wavelength (λ), which are related by the formula λ = c/f where c is the "speed of light".  The visible spectrum typically runs from about 700 nanometers (RED) to around 380 nanometers (VIOLET).

So, why do we have an International Day of Light?  Damnfino.  Perhaps because the future appears so dark and bleak as to ecology, climate, poverty and all things socio-political?  Perhaps on the theory that shining a light into the dark corners will expose corruption and deceit, something unlikely in these times of unbridled censorship, even before the creation of MiniTruth, brought to us by those who gave us babies being tossed out of incubators, the Tonkin Gulf Incident, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and untold numbers of other fabulous tales and fictions.  Perhaps it is supposed to remind us of the light at the end of the tunnel, always there and ever receding, like Ahab, beckoning us to follow it?
 

On this day in 1918 1918 – The Sedition Act of 1918 was passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government during wartime an imprisonable offense. It was repealed less than two years later and then more recently gradually reinstated through various laws and edicts like the "Patriot Act" and section 1021 of the 2012 NDAA and the like and then even extended to include assassination of those living abroad.  Of course, probably the biggest change is that we somewhere along the way transitioned to an evidence free reality, where accusations and assertions, sometimes called "assessments" are deemed to be an adequate substitute for actual facts supported by actual evidence.

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On this day in history:

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11527 – The Florentines drove out the Medici for a second time and Florence became a republic

1532 – Sir Thomas More resigned as Lord Chancellor of England.

1739 – The Marathas defeated the Portuguese army at the Battle of Vasai.

1812 – The Treaty of Bucharest endied the Russo-Turkish War.

1832 – Juan Godoy discovered the rich silver outcrops of Chañarcillo sparking the Chilean silver rush.

1842 – The first major Oregon Trail wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest left Elm Grove, Missouri, with 100 colonizers

1866 – The US Congress established the nickel.

1877 – The 16 May 1877 crisis occurred in France,

1888 – Nikola Tesla delivered a lecture describing the equipment that would allow efficient generation and use of alternating currents to transmit electric power over long distances.

1891 – The International Electrotechnical Exhibition opened in Frankfurt, Germany,

1916 – The UK and the French Third Republic signed the Sykes-Picot Agreement partitioning former Ottoman territories such as Iraq and Syria.

1918 – The Sedition Act of 1918 was passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government during wartime an imprisonable offense. It was repealed less than two years later.

1919 – A naval Curtiss NC-4 aircraft commanded by Albert Cushing Read left Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight 

1943 – The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ended.

1951 – The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights between Idlewild Airport in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London began

1960 – Theodore Maiman operated the first optical laser

1961 – Park Chung-hee led a coup d'état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea.

1966 – The Chinese Communist Party issued the "May 16 Notice", starting the Cultural Revolution.

1969 – The Soviet space probe Venera 5 landed on Venus.

1988 – A report by the Surgeon General of the US stated that the addictive properties of nicotine were similar to those of heroin and cocaine.

2005 – Kuwait permitted women's suffrage

2011 – STS-134,  the final flight for Space Shuttle Endeavour, was launched from the Kennedy Space Center

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Some people who were born on this day:

Children are to be guided to make a beginning in all the arts and sciences without interference with their spontaneity, the instinct of imitation being so used as to give them order without constraining them.

~~     Elizabeth Palmer Peabody

1606 – John Bulwer, doctor
1718 – Maria Gaetana Agnesi, mathematician and philosopher
1763 – Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, pharmacist and chemist
1804 – Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, educator who founded the first U.S. kindergarten
1821 – Pafnuty Chebyshev, mathematician and statistician
1831 – David Edward Hughes, physicist, co-invented the microphone 
1862 – Margaret Fountaine, lepidopterist and diarist
1876 – Fred Conrad Koch, biochemist and endocrinologist
1888 – Royal Rife, microbiologist and instrument maker
1890 – Edith Grace White, ichthyologist
1898 – Tamara de Lempicka, painter
 
1903 – Charles F. Brannock, inventor and manufacturer
1906 – Alfred Pellan, painter and educator
1906 – Margret Rey, author and illustrator
1910 – Olga Bergholz, poet and author
1912 – Studs Terkel, historian and author
1913 – Woody Herman, singer, saxophonist, and clarinet player
1914 – Edward T. Hall, anthropologist and author
1919 – Liberace, pianist and entertainer
1919 – Ramon Margalef, ecologist and biologist
1923 – Victoria Fromkin, linguist and academic
1924 – Barbara Bachmann, microbiologist
1925 – Nancy Roman, astronomer (
1929 – Betty Carter, singer and songwriter
1929 – Adrienne Rich, poet, essayist, and feminist
1930 – Friedrich Gulda, pianist and composer
1937 – Yvonne Craig, ballet dancer and actress
1938 – Ivan Sutherland, computer scientist and academic
1944 – Billy Cobham, drummer, composer, and bandleader
1946 – Robert Fripp, guitarist, songwriter and producer
1947 – Cheryl Clarke, writer
1950 – Georg Bednorz, physicist and academic
1950 – Ray Condo, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1951 – Jonathan Richman, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1953 – Richard Page, singer, songwriter, and bass player
1957 – Yuri Shevchuk, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1964 – Boyd Tinsley, singer, songwriter,  and violinist
1965 – Krist Novoselic, bass player, songwriter, author, and activist
1965 – Tanel Tammet, computer scientist, engineer, and academic
1966 – Janet Jackson, singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress
1966 – Scott Reeves, singer, songwriter, and actor
1968 – Ralph Tresvant, singer and producer
1970 – Danielle Spencer,  singer, songwriter and actress
1971 – Rachel Goswell, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1977 – Emilíana Torrini, singer and songwriter
1992 – Kirstin Maldonado, singer and songwriter

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Some people who died on this day:

You've got to bear it in mind that nobody ever lived is specially privileged; the axe can fall at any moment, on any neck, without any warning or any regard for justice.

~~     James Agee

1620 – William Adams, sailor, navigator, and samurai
1669 – Pietro da Cortona, painter and architect, designed the Santi Luca e Martina 
1703 – Charles Perrault, author and academic
1818 – Matthew Lewis,  author and playwright
1830 – Joseph Fourier, mathematician and physicist
 
1910 – Henri-Edmond Cross, Neo-Impressionist painter
1938 – Joseph Strauss, engineer, co designed The Golden Gate Bridge 
1944 – George Ade, journalist, author, and playwright
1947 – Frederick Gowland Hopkins, biochemist and academic
1953 – Django Reinhardt, guitarist and composer
1955 – James Agee, novelist, screenwriter, and critic
1979 – A. Philip Randolph, union leader and activist
1981 – Ernie Freeman, pianist, composer, and bandleader
1984 – Irwin Shaw, playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short story writer
1990 – Sammy Davis Jr., singer, dancer, and actor
1990 – Jim Henson, puppeteer, director, producer, and screenwriter, created The Muppets 
1993 – Marv Johnson,  singer, songwriter, and pianist
2010 – Ronnie James Dio, singer, songwriterand producer
2010 – Hank Jones, pianist, composer, and bandleader
2012 – Chuck Brown, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
2013 – Heinrich Rohrer, physicist and academic

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Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:

International Day of Light
Biographers Day
Love a Tree Day
National Mimosa Day

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Today's Tunes

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Woody Herman

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Liberace

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Betty Carter

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Friedrich Gulda

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Billy Cobham

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Robert Fripp

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Boyd Tinsley

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Janet Jackson

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Django Reinhardt

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Ernie Freeman

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Sammy Davis Jr.

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Marv Johnson

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Hank Jones

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Please save Covid-19 commentary for a separate thread. Thank you.

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Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. So what's on your mind?

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Comments

Lookout's picture

I like Newton's colorful prism experiment with light.

Newton.jpg

I mean there's light and then there's light. Plants are picky about it...
photosynthesis.jpg

Me, I use LED's primarily when inside.

Thanks for the OT and light conversation!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

enhydra lutris's picture

@Lookout

great photosynthesis graphic. We mostly use LED's indoors though a few fixtures are still running CFLs which have refused to burn out.

I have several WYZE color bulbs which are internally programmable to have routines, turning themselves on and off according to programmed schedules and tunable as to frequency. I have some in the garage which illuminate a large tray of pea-sprouts one tuned to my best approximation of that blue/purple peak in the photosynthesis chart and one tuned to the red peak. (No sense wasting wattage on green(ish) hues, which will simply be reflected.) This was an experimental set up from which I have harvested 3 cuttings of shoots and the survivors are destined to be transplanted in the hopes of growing pea plants. I put 5 in one of my hanging planters yesterday and intend to do more over the next couple of days so that I can plant more seeds for shoots.

be well and have a good one

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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 --

earthling1's picture

@enhydra lutris
Do you eat the sprouts?

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

enhydra lutris's picture

@earthling1

"shoots" - anywhere from 3 to 6 inches tall, then harvest. I [ut them in a variety of dishes, as does my wife; soups, stews, sandwiches, salads, omelettes, etc. I also yoss them with pasta. After about three cuttings they start to get woody and then my current plan is to transplant them outside in the hopes of getting a pea crop either to eat or to use as seeds. There are videos and other instructions on the whole process - look for "pea shoots".

be well and have a good one.

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1 user has voted.

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 --

lotlizard's picture

@Lookout  
After all, it’s the light they don’t use — “waste light,” like the waste substances that animals excrete because they have no use for them?

On the other hand, green plants like actual animal waste because it makes good fertilizer. So a plant calling something “shit” might be a compliment?

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Trying to make light of the offerings today.
As with the opposition to heaviness ..

substituting light with line
this is what came up in the muddy
recessives of the mind ..

thanks strongly for the OT and suggestive topicals!

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enhydra lutris's picture

@QMS

1969 was a good year for all kinds of lines, iirc.

Thanks for the tune.

be well and have a good one

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1 user has voted.

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 --

@enhydra lutris

go fish

K

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dystopian's picture

Hi EL, Hope it's all good, for all!

Django, Liberace, and Fripp!?! Big day for heavies. Love 'em all. Masters amongst the masters.

In coral world 440 is where its at man. If you keep corals you will first have to fall in love with 440 brother. Actinic (ak-tin-ik) blue. Das is de majik holy wavelength. I was already into a 4x0 thing (before it was called that of course), so 440 came easy for me.

When the sun is not high in the sky, as in the first and last two hours or so of the day, most of the light getting any distance below the surface, such as down to corals is actinic blue, about 440nm. Proper reef tanks have (now LED and programmed) a couple hours of blue light (actinic) to start and end the bright photoperiod. I still have a half-dozen 4' actinic fluor. tubes. Now it is all LED.

The other majik coral number was 6500. This the kelvin of the sun at the equator at high noon. These two numbers were the silver bullet breakthrough in the 1980's that allowed coral keeping, and even indoor aquaculture of them. Learning about the 6500 kelvin and 440 nanometer actinic blue. In order to keep the photosynthetic alga that lives in and feeds the coral, alive. 440 man. If you fall a little short and just make it to 420, that will work too. Wink

Mrs. dysto just spotted a male Mourning Warbler at the birdbath which took a full monty spa treatment.

be well all!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

enhydra lutris's picture

@dystopian

Thanks also for all the info on coral world and 440. 440 is indeed the magic frequency, it is the "A" that everybody tunes to, 440 hz audio. More coincidental majik is that the 440 was my favorite distance in high school, a quarter mile and pretty much a straight sprint for the kid I was then.

be well and have a good one

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4 users have voted.

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 --

today after the Buffalo mass shooting, apparently carried out by a teen with racist views using an assault rifle which was legal but was later illegally modified.

A major Supreme Court ruling is due soon which could further make things unsafe for the public, or depending on your pov give expanded muscle to alleged individual 2A rights. Regards a NY state law limiting conceal and carry permits. Court could rule that such "show justification" statutes are unconstitutional as they infringe on a person's right to carry concealed for the purpose of self-defense which purpose could reasonably be in most situations outside the home.

The Court in Heller (2013) improperly interpreted the 2A, imo, in seeing it as being about individual rights. The first part of the second amendment clearly states it is about guns in the context of a well-regulated militia.

But it's one of those poorly-worded amendments that in a better country would have been repealed long ago. It's just crazy that in most states, it's not illegal to purchase an assault rifle.

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Roy Blakeley's picture

@wokkamile The shooter wore a black sun NAZI symbol that has become common among white supremacists internationally. The insignia of the Azov Battalion (our heroic allies in Ukraine) is a wolfsangel over a black sun, combining two NAZI symbols in case one was not enough.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@wokkamile

go into podiatry to take care of all those foot shooters we can expect. I don't know what to think or say. But, looks like nothing will change before people themselves do, and I don't have a ton of hope for that.

be well and have a good one

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2 users have voted.

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 --