Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Crescent Moon

On a very cold (for us) and clear December morning, the moon showing a thin crescent rises above the eastern horizon.

Earlier, I was able to see Saturn about 10° to the left of “la bella Luna” but the morning twilight obscured the normally dazzling planet as dawn drew closer.

Not seen in this view are the crisp outlines of the San Gabriel and Santiago peaks jutting up from the horizon.

This was a very nice morning for vistas, both terrestrial and celestial.

I took this shot with my little Canon PowerShot 3.2 Mega Pixel camera. Not as high resolution as Damsel’s Digital Rebel, but does a fair job. I used a little tripod to steady the camera for a longer exposure in the reduced light.

18 Dec 2006 by Astronomy Photography

How the Chinese See Us

While browsing through the activity logs for the blog, I ran across a referring link that aroused my curiosity. When I followed the link, I found myself looking at our blog in Chinese! Apparently, Babel Fish, a service of AltaVista offers a universal web page translator.

It won’t translate words in images or Flash™ and it leaves unknown words as they were. Fun to try in a couple of different languages.

18 Dec 2006 by Blogosphere Culture Technobabble

The Magic of Flight

Today is the 103rd Anniversary of man’s first powered flight. The Wright Brothers were driven, as were men for centuries before, to be able to soar like the birds in the skies.

Today we were visiting a place called “Land’s End” in San Pedro, CA, on a cliff overlooking the Los Angeles Harbor and the Catalina Channel. This seagull and many others like him were soaring in the updrafts along the cliffs there.

17 Dec 2006 by Aviation California Photography

Red Amaryllis

We’re enjoying our weekend getting ready for the Christmas holidays. This bright red Amaryllis is one of (soon to be) eight blossoms on this bulb. I’ll have a picture later of all eight when they come out. What a brilliant display of Christmas red!

16 Dec 2006 by Home & Garden Photography

The Essence of Democracy

Friday, December 15, 2006 marks the 215th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights, the very essence of our democracy.

The National Archives Experience Website says that during the debates on the adoption of the Constitution, its opponents repeatedly charged that the Constitution as drafted would open the way to tyranny by the central government. Fresh in their minds was the memory of the British violation of civil rights before and during the Revolution. They demanded a “bill of rights” that would spell out the immunities of individual citizens. Several state conventions in their formal ratification of the Constitution asked for such amendments; others ratified the Constitution with the understanding that the amendments would be offered.

On September 25, 1789, the First Congress of the United States therefore proposed to the state legislatures 12 amendments to the Constitution that met arguments most frequently advanced against it. The first two proposed amendments, which concerned the number of constituents for each Representative and the compensation of Congressmen, were not ratified. Articles 3 to 12, however, ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures, constitute the first ten amendments of the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights.

Continue reading…

15 Dec 2006 by Firearms Law and Order Patriotism

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