I'm almost 59 years old. I've been online for 33 years - starting with my own dial-up bulletin board system in 1993 - and continuing with AOL, my own dot.com web site, Myspace, WordPress, Twitter / X, Flickr, and Facebook.
It was a slower than normal week of blogging all-around, but as vacations end, schools begin, and we return to a more normal daily routine the blogging shall once again pick back up again. Have a great weekend everyone !
This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter’s gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.
The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.
Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.
By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m. That’s pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.
Share this with your children and grandchildren.
NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN
This widely-circulated perennial E-Mail defies all astronomical logic, and it is of course an Internet HOAX !
‘Positivication’ – That’s not actually a real word in the English language, but follow along with me anyhoo.
Larry King Live ! has a ‘Quick Vote’ up (on their web site) with the following statement – ‘I am generally …’ – followed by three responses that you can select – ‘A positive person’, ‘A negative person’, and ‘I don’t subscribe to this stuff’.
As of press time of this post 78% had selected ‘A positive person’. 78% of the people that responded to the ‘Quick Vote’ may have responded as such, but deep down in their hearts and souls only a fraction of them are genuinely positive. Who really wants to state that they are not ‘positive’ ? Who really wants to declare themself to be ‘A negative person’ ? 14% apparently do ! 14% were actually so honest with this ‘Quick Vote’ that they actually responded realistically. And then there was the 8% that ‘don’t subscribe to this stuff’. They generally don’t subscribe, follow, support, or believe in much of anything at all – not even themselves.
Incidentally I responded that I am ‘A positive person’. I really am ! I just wish that more people in this world were positive. It would make for a nicer world to live in.
CountUp 