Many in the USA celebrate this holiday as the beginning of the summer season and our household is no exception. We are in the midst of a barbecue weekend and are enjoying it all. But we are also thinking about our fallen heroes in all disciplines of public service, be it first responders, law enforcement and most importantly, our men and women who gave their all in military service. God bless them all.
Our centerpiece this weekend is this patriotic bouquet. Click image to enlarge.
The actual location of the Four Corners Monument is off a bit, but not by the 2.5 miles reported by the Associated Press and a Salt Lake City newspaper.
However, legally (and symbolically), the Four Corners Monument is, indeed, on the spot where the borders intersect, since the Supreme Court of the United States decreed it to be so in 1925. Political boundaries are, after all, at the behest of politicians and judges.
However, the actual intersection of the defined longitude and latitude may be as far away from the monument as six hundred meters.
I found the Four Corners monument using both Google Earth and Google Maps. Even between the two Google sources, they disagree. They both show a segment of border that runs slightly west from the monument. I could find no reference to the anomalous segment.
I checked several other on-line map sources and no two agree. Some show the anomalous border segment and some do not.
The Arizona Geology Blog has a brief post about the confusion.
Wikipedia has already picked up on the cause of the erroneous report:
The Four Corners Area is generally defined as a circle around the Four Corners Monument located at 36° 59″ 56.31532′ N by 109° 02″ 42.62019′ W. A series of news stories from April of 2009 indicated that more recent surveys had determined that the intersection of the corners was not where it was intended to be.
However, the news stories used whole degree co-ordinates, not accounting for the fractional degree offset between the Washington Meridian, standard used at the time, and the current standard, the Prime Meridian. In addition, general U.S. land principles, law, and the Supreme Court have determined that the location of the monument is the legal corner of the four States.
Click on either image to enlarge.
This picture shows Damsel standing on the Four Corners Monument the last time we were there.
This is one of this year’s Easter lilies lighted from behind by sunlight from the window above. Click on the image to enlarge.
Finally! My poppies were late coming out this year, but they’re finally coming out just in time for California Poppy Day on April 6th next week.
I took this picture of one of the poppies out back this morning. Click on the image to enlarge.
Some information on the California poppy from WikiPedia:
The California poppy is the California state flower. It was selected as the state flower by the California State Floral Society in December 1890, winning out over the Mariposa lily (genus Calochortus) and the Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri) by a landslide, but the state legislature did not make the selection official until 1903. Its golden blooms were deemed a fitting symbol for the Golden State. April 6 of each year is designated “California Poppy Day.”
California poppy leaves were used medicinally by Native Americans, and the pollen was used cosmetically. The seeds are used in cooking.
The Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve is located in northern Los Angeles County, California. At the peak of the blooming season, orange petals seem to cover all 1,745 acres (7 km²) of the reserve.
I stopped into a sandwich shop yesterday to get a ‘care package’ on the way to my Mom and Dad’s place. When I stepped outside, this was parked right there – right in your face. Bob thinks it’s a Ford ‘Hi Boy’ chassis, uhh, slightly modified. It looks like a lot of love and effort went into this interesting hot-rod.
Click to enlarge image.
Landsat 5, one of several Landsat Earth-observing spacecraft has been operational for 25 years and counting. Originally intended for a three-year mission, this bird is still ticking. One of the more startling observations made by the Landsat program is a 25 year visual history of Las Vegas urban expansion.
Images courtesy and © NASA/USGS. Click image for larger view.
A Desert City Blooms
In the 25 years that Landsat 5 has been in orbit, the desert city of Las Vegas has gone through a massive growth spurt. The outward expansion of the city is shown here with a series of false-color images. The dark purple grid of city streets and the green of irrigated vegetation grow out in every direction into the surrounding desert. These images were created using reflected light from the shortwave infrared, near-infrared, and green portions of the electromagnetic spectrum (Landsat 5 TM bands 7,4,2).
Credit: NASA/USGS
Notice the runways at Las Vegas McCarran Airport (Just below the center of the urban mass), barely visible in 1984, now clearly visible in 2009, as it has been surrounded by industrial growth.
Really – and for only 3½ million bucks.
But it’s got provenance. Flown in by Raul Castro, being one of it’s notable (?) historical claims.
I believe that I know the person selling this car on eBay. Years ago, I worked in the same laboratory with Carl, whose wife, Marilyn ran a car parts business out of their garage. In connection with the garage operation, they collected a few rare and interesting vehicles, such as the Italian Isetta, among others. I lost touch with them before they acquired the Aerocar in 1981.
I taught Carl to fly in the 1970’s and used to spend a lot of time with them at that time. Maybe I’ll register and bid on the car just to open that nostalgic door.
Check out this Aerocar video.
I found a pretty good article about this on wired.com. Here’s an excerpt from the December, 2008 article:
Just six Aerocars were ever built, and they did fly when they were built. Marilyn Felling bought Aerocar No. 2 more than 25 years ago, but never restored it. She insists it has been examined by a mechanic and could be made airworthy in a few hours. Of course, N103D hasn’t flown since the Ford Administration, so that may be optimistic.
Still — how cool would it be to own a flying car that’ll do 60 mph on the highway and 110 in the air? Just think of the joy you’d feel. And if you can’t think of enough good reasons to own it, the folks at aerocarforsale.com have spelled them out for you.
You can pick one up “for inclusion in your private collection.” Or if you’re feeling philanthropic, buy one “for a donation to your favorite museum.” Maybe your kids or grandkids would appreciate it “as a legacy for the heirs of your estate. “Our favorite is the promise of “a 1031 property exchange,” though we have no idea what that means.
Despite all those perfectly rational benefits, after two years the Aerocar still hasn’t attracted a buyer and Mrs. Felling turned to eBay. We know gas is getting cheaper, but we’re not so sure about her decision to keep the “Buy it now” option at her original price of $3.5 million. There’s a “Best offer” option, but as of Monday morning, no one had made one.