Some Cool Night Shots

post # 84 

The Arts

      These are some pictures I took using my digital camera and long to medium exposures.  I had some that were surrealistic, but they somehow vanished completely from my computer using extremely long exposures.  And the disk I saved them to isn't working either.  It somehow got damaged and when I put it in the drive I get a message that reads, "Data unreadable."  I'll just have to set it all up sometime and shoot them again.  
      The ones I'm posting tonight I only have because I posted them at one time to Facebook.  

      The first three here are the moon (obviously).  All I used was a tripod, and I played with the exposure, and some of the effects.  

          This one came out so crystal clear you can almost feel the texture of the moon's craters. 

      This next batch was of the full moon again, but as it back lit the clouds that were out that night.  They remind me of the skies in those horror/monster movies made mostly by Universal Studios back in the late 1930's, 40's, and the early 50's.   These were the Frankenstein, Wolfman, and Dracula movies starring Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney Jr.  

In this picture (above) the exposure was about two whole minutes.  At that exposure time, the clouds look like they are just whizzing by.  

      In this last one, take note of how light the sky is.  Then look at the direction of the shadows.  They appear to be going the wrong direction - toward the light sky.   This picture was taken at about 1:30 to 2:00 AM.  Again I used a two minute exposure time (which is the max for my camera).  That light sky is actually straight north.  Although here in Northern Minnesota we still well over a thousand miles, or maybe two thousand miles (I don't really know) from the Arctic Circle, and we don't see the sun, or even a twilight throughout the night, the northern sky in the middle of the summer never gets completely dark.  There is always a mild glow like from a city (that isn't there).  The sky never actually gets black or even dark blue, but varies between a royal blue color to a medium blue.  The light that is making all the long shadows is from a full moon to the south. 

Taking a Different Look at the Earth

Post # 83 

      The Cassini spacecraft has been sending us pictures since the late 1990's.  It sent some great close up pictures of asteroids early on in its photographic career.  Then it took some great pics of Jupiter's moons.  Now some fifteen years later, it is back at it again.  
      The Cassini has finally reached Saturn.  It's flying in close and taking pictures of Saturn's many moons.  It will also be looking at the field of small rocks and other debris that encircle Saturn as a belt, otherwise known and recognized as its rings. 
      While they were at it though, the Cassini looked homeward.  It took some pictures of the Earth.  In the pictures we can clearly see both the Earth and the Moon - as very tiny specks.  The earth should look small from that far away.  It is 900 million miles away from its home. 

                         This is an enhanced view.  NASA hasn't cleaned up any of the images yet  

      Not to be out done, the Messenger spacecraft took pictures of the Earth too.  Messenger is presently orbiting Mercury, and sent us pictures from the opposite direction.  Mercury is only a "mere" 61 million miles away.  That's not exactly a walk to the local convenience store, but compared to the 900,000,000 miles to Saturn, it's almost close.  It's all relative. 

"Big Nosed Horn Face"

Science Fridays 

Post # 82  

      How would you like to go around with that for a name?  "Hey, Big Nosed Horn Face, I need to borrow a five spot."  It sounds like one of those horrible names in the genealogy list at the beginning of Groenlendirssaga.  In that old list of people from the Norse colony in Greenland, two that stand out to me are Aud the Mindful, and Kettil Flat-nose.  I wouldn't want to go around with names like that either.  Then of course there's that other viking, Ivar the Boneless.  His very name floods my otherwise acceptably normal brain with very weird images. 
      Big Nosed Horn Face wasn't a Viking though.  It was a dinosaur - a recently discovered/uncovered dinosaur found in the fossil fields of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah.  He wouldn't have had to put up with a name like that then, because we wouldn't have been around to call him that.  But, if we were, we wouldn't be asking him to loan us a fiver.  It might be more on the lines with "Hey Big Nosed Horn Face, go get me that bus" or if he was in redneck territory, it would be more like "Wontcha see if you can go tip that bus over."   

      Big Nosed Horn Face is the English translation of its scientific and official name, Nasutoceratops titusi.  The second part of the name, "titusi" is in honor of Alan Titus, a palaeontologist at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and long time supporter of research at the site. 
      The Nasutoceratops lived in the late Cretaceous on Laramidia.  Laramidia was an ancient landmass in what is now north western North America.  Laramidia was a swampy, subtropical island that took up almost a third of the present day North America.  It was related to the Triceratops, and was about half the size of the much larger "Three Horned Face."  It was about 15 feet long and weighed in at about two and a half tons.  That is still not small. 
      Like all of the Ceratopsians, Nasutoceratops was a herbivore.  It had a frilly plate extending out of its head over the back of its neck.  This plate wasn't very good for protection though, because it had two large openings in it.  It was more like the framework for a plate or shield, and wouldn't have been very good against an "ash rain" of a spear and arrow volley thrown by vikings such as Kettil Flat-nose, and Ivar the Boneless.  Its plate was most likely used for display during mating rituals, and the skin in the plate openings would be flushed with blood to change its colors. 
      The astonishing difference between the Nasutoceratops and his other "horned face" relatives is the size of its nose.  Compared to the rest of it body that nose was huge. The description of Naustoceratops was published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, just a couple of days ago, on July 17. 

      The researchers still don't have a clear explanation for the size of its big nose.  It is not for enhanced smell, as the nasal channels are not laid out for olfactory acuteness.  This was confirmed by Scott Sampson, of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the lead author in the study.  My educated guess on the reason for it would be to augment the sound of its call. 

Pluto's Newly Discovered Moons

Post # 81 

      Take that Niel DeGrasse Tyson.  After he and his team of heartless cohorts declassified Pluto as a planet, Pluto has been discovered to have some qualities that are very characteristic of a "real" planet.  Namely, Pluto has been discovered to have multiple moons.  
      Actually I really like Niel DeGrasse Tyson.  His show is awesome.  He teaches the public basic scientific principles in a way that is engaging.  He also has a penchant for showcasing some of the new techs and breakthroughs.  His specialty, however is astronomy.  It was in this capacity that he and a group of other astronomers made the decision to declassify Pluto and other very small planets from their planet status.   According to what I heard Niel say, there was a  lot of angry fan mail over the decision.  Actually what they did was make new levels of classification, the planetoids and the planetesimals.  That didn't seem to matter to many people.  They liked their Pluto.  They spent a long time memorizing it in the list of planets.  For some people reprogramming their memory banks is as difficult as trying to reprogram their old Commodore 80 computer to function like a modern Mac, or even an I-Phone.  

      He explained the decision on an episode of MPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.  "Saturn has moons bigger than Pluto."  Pretty simple explanation.  There are actually so many little planetoids and planetesimals being discovered on a regular basis that it actually obscures the significance of Pluto.  Some of the better known ones are Xena, Zenn, Santa, Sedna,  Quaor, and Orcus.  Sedna has a very elliptical orbit that at times comes close to Pluto, and extends half way to the edge of the Oort Cloud, and takes about 10,000 years to orbit the sun.  Xena is also very elliptical and at times more distant than Pluto, and sometimes moves in closer than Pluto.  Another planetoid was discovered even beyond Sedna.  It has the glamourous name of 1998 WW31. 
      My favorite episode with Niel DeGrasse Tyson wasn't on Nova Science Now.  It was actually an episode of Stargate Atlantis.  He played himself along side of Bill Nye.  My favorite part was when he and Nye were arguing with Rodney MacKay, and Dr. Keller told them to knock off the bickering and said "Stuff it Nye."  
      Anyway, back to Pluto.  Way back in elementary school, when we memorized Pluto as one of the planets, we also learned of Pluto's moon, Charon.  Pluto and Charon, Pluto and Charon.  Our teachers had us recite it so many times that it is firmly etched into the neurons of my prefrontal cortex.  Well folks, it's finally time to exchange that information you have stored in that Commodore 80 you call a brain (I know - it's not fair to say that - a good number of people have at least a Mac II E in their heads) and trade it in for a bigger and better computer, with more complete information.  It's time for an upgrade.  You need to download an update to your program.  Pluto has a total of five moons, not just Charon. 

                                                          An image from the Hubble

      Having a moon isn't completely special, and doesn't make a heavenly body stand out so much.  Even the tiny asteroid Ida, has an even tinier moon, Dactyl.  Having a crap load of moons, however, that almost changes up the game - almost.  It's like Pluto is out there in his chilly little area of existence screaming out, "Look at me.  I am so a real planet.  Please don't declassify me Niel DeGrasse Tyson and his accomplices.  I have five moons.  I really am a real planet, so take that."  "Sorry Pluto.  I'd hate to give you a complex here, but,.... you're just too little.  You can't sit at the big table with all the adults, but will have to sit at the card table in the other room with all the kids."    

                                  An artist's rendition of Pluto with five orbiting moons

      Astronomers have finally given names to these moons they discovered.  They are, in the order of their orbits: Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos (named after the three headed dog, Cerberus who guards Plutonium, the gates to Hell.  I find it odd that Hell would have a need for a bouncer.  But I guess that since people are dying to get in there.... No I'm not sorry for that one), and Pluto's last moon is Hydra.  Some of these moons are almost the size of Pluto.  
      Pluto might have a boatload of moons, but those moons still don't make Pluto a full fledged planet in good standing.  It's just too little. 

Freshly Baked Bread, Smells Great and Tastes Even Better

Post # 80

      I mentioned that last weekend we had several skills workshops up at my place.  I also mentioned that the historical reenactment group who actually hosted this event event calls this event a Muster.   Col. Shawn Gaffney's Regiment of Shotte and Pike has two such musters per year.  They have one in the spring, and one in the mid summer.  At these musters the soldiers and the camp followers can all work on their skills to be better reenactors, and from that be better interpreters to the public.  They learn the skills that any Scotsman would know if he was living in the Highlands in and around 1630.  
      People got various things checked off of their lists for different interpreter levels.  One young lad had done enough to take his second level quiz, and another person completed all she needed for her third level mastery.  Huzzah.  
      One of the workshops was on baking bread in a wood fired oven (not necessary for any of the levels, but a good, rounded education should include things that are not on the test).  It turned out awesome.  We ate almost all of it up while it was still hot and fresh out of the oven, and had it with supper.  There was very little left by morning, but we did each get one more piece with breakfast. 
      There are two schools of thought on fresh bread.  Some people like the very heavy, and kind of doughy breads like a sourdough recipe, and there are other bakers who strive to make the bread as light and airy as possible.  Personally, I always strive for the second, which is more difficult to attain in a wood fired oven, but if you are careful with your recipe and with your fire, it is very possible.  
      I ran this particular workshop and made a whole wheat bread.  Getting the oven ready is the first thing that must be done.  I started the fire before I ever even began mixing up the dough.  This is because it takes a long time for the heat to penetrate the brick walls of the oven so that the bricks will maintain an even heat long enough to bake bread.  I started a moderate fire in each of the two fire compartments, got them burning good, and then started making the dough. 

These are old photos of the oven that were taken while the oven was being built.  Note the two fire boxes.  

      About ten years ago I read a book about using a wood fired oven of this variety when we were first thinking about building one.  We took notes on things, because we had to hurry up and read it and then give it back to the owner.  The book was borrowed.  Sorry, that I can't tell you anything about the author or name of the book.  We just wrote down the information we needed.  The book was in German besides.  It's a good thing that I read that language fluently.  The book mentioned the importance of getting the fire ready.  It also mentioned that once you got the fire going you could cook in it for a long time afterward, but you have to cook things in there in a certain, specific order.  
      The book suggested to get many of the things all ready so that once you got going, you could pretty much continue baking in it for most of the day.  Basically, you start with the things that bake faster and with a hotter fire, such as cookies, and scones.  After that you move on to cakes, pies and short breads (all these things so far can be made in advance).  After those come the breads, beginning with the light and fluffy breads, and then moving on to the heavier breads like the sourdoughs.  Finally, the oven can still be used for the baked dishes (what we in Minnesota call a "hot dish," but others call a casserole I think).  Some day I would like to do that with this oven.  
      I would like to give you a recipe for the bread, but I really can't.  This is because I don't use one anymore.  In fact, when I stopped using a recipe for my bread, the bread started to turn out much better.  I can at least give you an ingredient list with basic instructions.  

Warm water, kind of warm to the touch, but not hot.  
Active, dry yeast
Some sugar

Mix these three ingredients and set them to the side to get them started  

Milk - get it heated up in a sauce pan, but don't boil it.  Just get it real hot.  

Shortening or lard
Salt, and
More sugar

Mix them in the mixing bowl.  When the milk gets hot add it to the bowl.  it will melt up the shortening/lard. 

Add whole wheat flour and also white flour with a higher gluten content.  You need the gluten, otherwise you won't get the bread to rise right or stick together at all without crumbling.  About two thirds of your flour should be bread flour. 

Add an egg (or two for a bigger batch)  Don't try to stir it all up yet. 

Add some cold water
Add the yeast mixture that should have doubled in size by now.  

Now you can start mixing a little, but not thoroughly (you can't add more water if it's completely mixed.  If it seems like it will be too dry still, and stiff then add a little bit more water.  Mix some more, add more water, and mix again.  Do this until it feels right.  Once it feels right, mix it like a crazy man with a good, solid, metal spoon.  Use that spoon like a dough hook.  The dough should still be sticky.  As it rises, the flour particles will soak up the moisture, and it will get more dry, and less sticky.  

Let the dough rise in the bowl for about an hour.  Cover the bowl and go tend to the fire.  

After an hour, pull the dough out and only put flour on the counter to keep it from sticking to it, and cut it and shape it into loaves.  Put the loaves on something (I use a baking sheet), and cover them with a towel.  Let the loaves rise for about another hour.  They will have just about tripled in size.  

Go tend the fire some more.  

When the loaves are ready put them into the oven, and pay attention to the heat as the bread cooks.  It takes about 35 to 40 minutes to cook.  Pull the bread from the oven with a piel. When you pull them from the oven check for the "hollow" sound. 

Pass the Muster

Post # 79 



      Sometimes we hear the phrase, "pass the muster."  The has no relationship at all with a similar sounding phrase that might be heard around a table full of bratwurst being "pass the mustard."  This second phrase is gastronomical, whereas the one I'm talking about has a military term as its roots.  It is related to the term, "Muster the troops."  
      In its simplest terms the word muster means to gather or to assemble a group of soldiers or an entire army.  Under feudalism a noble was required from time to time to muster a group of soldiers and knights for his overlord, or liege.  This practice dates back at least as far as the dark ages, such as in Anglo-Saxon England.  The size of the required body of fit, fighting men to be mustered depended largely on the size of the estates of the particular noble.  Under the agreements of their vassalage, those lords with larger holdings were required to muster larger bodies of soldiers.  
      Sometimes someone would come through a region to get new recruits, usually as mercenaries for a different country.  An example of this was Johann Spens, who in 1629 got permission from the British crown to recruit and hire mercenaries throughout Scotland for King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden to fight for him in what was known then as "the Holy Warres of Germany" (the Thirty Years War).  Sometimes even local nobles of sorts would be allowed to recruit their own regiments of mercenaries on behalf of Johann Spens and the Swedish King.  McKay did this and had his own regiment in the service of Gustavus Adolphus, and so did Alexander Hamilton (not to be confused with the man of the same name who was shot by Aaron Burr over 180 years later).  
      They would go into a town and a sergeant or some officer would cry out.  They would promise riches, gold and glory.  Since the areas they went through were extremely economically depressed during that time, the six Riksdalers per month sounded like a good idea at the time.  One by one men would come up to a table they had set up, and would take a soldier's oath.  They would be given a small sum as a recruiting bounty (an incentive), and would be allowed to go home for a short while to set their houses in order before departing to fight in the "Warres."  The time allowed for doing this was usually about a fortnight (two weeks).  When the fortnight was over they were expected appear at a preordained muster camp (with penalty of law to back them up).   At this muster the men would train in their weapons for a short time before moving on to the next community.  Eventually Spens shipped them all over to Sweden to get ready for the invasion with other mercenaries, and with levied regular army.  
      In later periods mustering troops is the same as gathering them.    It could also often involve training and drilling.  
      In the world of historical reenactments, there are sometimes events that are called Musters (for military reenactments).  These are basically a gathering of reenactment groups who portray specific units, and and are for specific timelines.  

      17th Century groups have musters, such as the annual one that is hosted at Historic St, Maries City.  In this event groups portraying various units gather together.  They drill together, they strut their stuff, and there is often a battle reenactment or a tactical demonstration too.  Some 18th century events are called musters also.  I don't know if War of 1812, or Civil War reenactors have musters or not.  
      One reenactment group that I belong to has two events per year that they call musters.  In these events they are a time for the members of the regiment to gather together and drill.  They are also a time to have reenacting skills workshops, or classes.  The members are all taught and display skills that everyone during their period would have known.  There are classes on things like proper period correct clothing, how to interpret properly for the public, how to use the various weapons safely and correctly, fire starting, cooking period correct foods, and even things like spinning wool.  Period dance and music are also included.  

  Members all participate in these skills workshops, and they get checked off for them as they get completed.  These musters are designed to make the members better reenactors. 

      I am at one of these events this weekend.  We have had a full schedule of workshops, and we will still have many more.  I have been at all the workshops so far, and I have even run some of them (such as "creating a believable, and correct persona")  Since we have much more to go, I have to go get back out there. 

Happy Birthday Nikola Tesla

Science Fridays

      This week the world of the sciences has many stories to report; so many of them that it might have been hard to choose which one to publish for this week's Science Friday.  In the world of drones, the Navy had success with a drone that can land on the deck of an aircraft carrier.  A hovercraft golf cart has been developed.  In Spain a computer program has been developed and used that mimics a 14 year old girl in order to catch online sexual predators.  Those are just a few of the things this week from the world of science and technology. 
      So that makes this week perfect for observing the birthday of Nikola Tesla, and it is only fitting then that this week's post be about him.  Maybe I can save the other stories for weeks that are scientifically and technologically weak. 

      Nikola Tesla was born in Serbia on July 10th, 1856 (died on Jan. 7, 1943).  This man thought so far out of the box for his era that people are still trying to figure out all of his works.  The world was just simply not ready for him yet.  Someone during his lifetime, in his defense said something to the effect of, if you invent some great new life changing creation, everyone will pat you on the back and congratulate you.  If you invent two things like that people still like it but you won't get the adulation.  If you make three great things people will still use the invention, but will be leery of you.  If you create any more than that people will fear you, refuse to acknowledge or use the invention, and they will brand you as a mad scientist. 
      Nikola was already well established in the world of science when he came to America at the invitation of Thomas Edison to work for him.  His time with Edison was short lived and filled with stress and disappointment.  He was basically treated as Edison's slave, and was only paid a very minimum wage.  To get anything done he had to argue with Edison every step of the way, and anything he did accomplish for him was Edison's property.  When he quit, Edison declared that Tesla owed him money, and that he had stolen some of Edison's inventions. After this Tesla built a lab just outside of Colorado Springs.  His lab was raided and ransacked by some of "Edison's Men." 
      Some of the things that Tesla invented that are used all over today are the electric motor, radio, neon lights, remote control, and he made what can be called the first robot (the last two took a century for people to finally use and embrace).  One of the things he argued with Edison over was using AC current instead of DC current for a number of reasons.  DC current has too much "heat loss," (lines can't go too far from the power source before they lose power), is far more dangerous (what would be a shock with AC current would instantly kill a man who accidentally bumped a live DC line (many men died horrifyingly working with Edison's DC cables), and DC current is just way more expensive to operate.  There are many other issues with DC current, but these are the main three.  Edison refused to budge.  Westinghouse, however did listen and after his ill fated stint with Edison Tesla worked with Westinghouse to develop a system for using AC power.  The reason you can read this right now and have your lights on and a refrigerator  keeping your food from spoiling, as well as a host of many other conveniences, is because of Tesla's work in this field. 
      Some of Tesla's most amazing work was from his years in Colorado Springs.  In 1886 (a very early date for work such as this) he set up a bank of lights at the end of a field, each one equipped with something like a radio receiver.  He then on the other end of the field set up an AC generator (an alternator - yes thank him for the fact that your car runs well and has lights and radio and the rest).  With this alternator he had a device not unlike a radio transmitter and he broadcast the electricity to the lights on the other end of the field.  He and his assistant were able to walk between the transmitter and the lights without any harm (below is an old photo of this experiment). What he had there was wireless transmission of electricity.  

      Tesla had a deep understanding of the workings of magnetism.  He understood how the earth is a giant magnet, and he also used the earth itself to create electricity.  He said that using just the static electricity from the earth people everywhere could have free electricity for all their needs. 
      One of his most controversial inventions was what he called the Teleforce.  By his description, both of how it is made, and what it would be capable of doing, it would be the equivalent to a Star Wars blaster, or a Jaffa staff weapon.  The US army upon hearing of it called it the Death Ray.  Tesla's own description of it is a particle gun that "[The nozzle would] send concentrated beams of particles through the free air, of such tremendous energy that they will bring down a fleet of 10,000 enemy airplanes at a distance of 200 miles from a defending nation's border and will cause armies to drop dead in their tracks."  In 1937 a banquet was given him in his honor for his experiment with the Death Ray.  He explained though, "But it is not an experiment... I have built, demonstrated and used it. Only a little time will pass before I can give it to the world."  None of the governments he approached however, wanted to by it.  Someone did break in to his lab though, and try to steal it.  

 
      The same technology that would make a charged particle weapon possible would also make possible things such as force shields, cloaking, and propulsion for hovering, flying, and even space travel.  He also claimed to be able to teleport both in space and time.  Nearly every tech idea found in Science Fiction books and movies are derived from his works (both confirmed and claimed works).  Conspiracy theory nuts love to cite his works. 
      Many inventions have been named after him (such as the Tesla coil), and so have been universities, labs, streets, and even a unit of measurement.  Nikola Tesla was part of that generation that took the world from the last vestiges of the Medieval world into the modern world - from a world of mostly animal powered travel, and candle and lantern lighting to the speeding world of cars and electricity and radio.  Had people not feared him and branded his work as balderdash and the ravings of a mad scientist, he would have completely bypassed the world we live in today and taken us straight into the world of Star Wars or Star Trek.