Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Culture

Just What Is A Blue Moon?

blue-moon.gifTomorrow night, when the full moon rises over North America, it is believed that this will be a “blue moon.” The modern definition for “blue moon” is the second full moon to occur within a calendar month and tomorrow’s full moon will indeed be the second to occur in the month of May, 2007.

Cartoon Image courtesy of NASA.

But hold on – Sky and Telescope magazine retracted it’s 1946 second-in-a-month definition in favor of stating that the “blue moon” is actually based on the four seasons and is the fourth full moon to occur within a season (Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn). Using this definition, a “blue moon” may or may not occur within a calendar month.

It gets even more confusing.

Continue reading…

30 May 2007 by Astronomy Culture Science

Memorial Day BBQ

This is part of the meal we prepared to celebrate Memorial Day. We started cooking this morning with baby back pork ribs in a special barbecue sauce in the crock pot. The ribs cooked all day until we took them out to the grill and browned them up for about 10 minutes over some smoking hickory chips. The corn was roasting on the grill in their husks before shucking them and browning them a little with butter and pepper brushed on. We also had Cole slaw and baked beans. This meal was every bit as good if not better than your favorite commercial BBQ restaurant.

bbq-ribs.jpg

We took the time last week to send a donation to The Wounded Warrior Project knowing that some of our soldiers would be facing this holiday with serious injuries and we hoped that we could make it a little better holiday for those recovering from their injuries. We hope that you might consider donating to one of our fine Military Charities. Look in our sidebar for a few links to some organizations that make a difference for our troops. God bless our Military Men and Women.

28 May 2007 by Culture Home & Garden Photography

Shimpaku Juniper Bonsai

One of our stops today was to briefly visit the Bonsai Show sponsored by the South Coast Bonsai Association at the South Coast Botanic Garden. This is a picture of a Shimpaku Juniper, one of many beautiful exhibits on display.

shimpaku-juniper

26 May 2007 by Culture Home & Garden Photography

USPS Jedi Master Mailbox

r2d2-post.jpgWhile taking my after-lunch walk today, I saw this mailbox painted up to resemble R2D2. Apparently, there is a contest underway to select which Star Wars character gets depicted on a stamp. Yoda is ahead. Click the image for a full-sized view.

From the Washington Post:

Under cover of night, officials at the USPS stealthily deposited 400 of the costumed letterboxes on high-traffic street corners nationwide — about a dozen in the Washington area — to promote a new line of postage stamps. They unbolted mailboxes from sidewalks and replaced them with ones decked in decorative adhesive panels.

The switcheroo, carried out March 16, was intended as a teaser until the new postage design was announced.

The 41-cent stamps — the rate is going up May 14 — were unveiled Wednesday in Hollywood to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Star Wars phenomenon. You know the one. And if you don’t, well, that sort of admission will find you subject to all sorts of derision.

07 May 2007 by Culture Photography

Church Bell Tower (with DirectPray)

Yesterday, I had to drive to an appointment. On the way, I took this picture of a church tower. Since yesterday was the National Day of Prayer and because of the prominent location of the little dish, I figured this must be the latest contrivance of this “progressive church” in California.

steeple-dish.jpg

A progressive church — you know, they have names like “Ocean Shore Church” — will customize the seven sins and ten commandments to fit the more progressive California lifestyle so liberals can feel good about being in church without really having to abide by any hard-line church rules.

04 May 2007 by Culture Photography Satire

Satanic Hearses

Well it’s not actually a hearse — I was just kidding about that to make the headline sound like Salman Rushdie’s famous fatwa-worthy manuscript.

This ghastly paint job is actually on a black pickup truck seen in Trump’s parking lot last weekend. I can’t really make out if that is a shrunken head hanging from the real-view mirror or not. We didn’t wait around to see if the driver had “half of the tackle box pierced into his face” (to quote Dennis Miller), but it wouldn’t have surprised me. The whole burning-in-hell effect sorta creeps me out.

satanic paint job

25 Apr 2007 by California Culture Photography

Psychedelic School Bus

During my lunchtime walk, I spotted this interesting-looking vehicle parked behind the mall. One side was an undersea scene and the other side was parrots in trees. I did not see or smell any hippies, however.

psych-bus5.jpg

19 Apr 2007 by California Culture Photography

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