A Day That Will Live in Infamy

Today is the 65th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A couple of days after the attack, a reporter named John Lomax was doing man-on-the-street interviews in Dallas, Texas; he interviewed an elderly woman, Lena Jamison, who had this to say back then:

“My first thought was, what a great pity that another nation should be added to those aggressors who choose to limit our freedom…I find myself at the age of eighty, an old woman, hanging on to the tail of the world, trying to keep up. I do not want the driver’s seat but the eternal verities. There are certain things that I wish to express: one thing that I am very sure of is that hatred is death, but love is light. I want to contribute to the civilization of the world but…When I look at the holocaust that is going on in the world today, I’m almost ready to let go…”

Image and quotation found in the archives of the Library of Congress.

It’s a pity today as well, that Lena Jameson’s sadness prevails in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, another infamous day. Hatred is death, indeed.

Update: To all WW2 Veterans and all Veterans who have served before and after, thank you and God bless you.

Does Mars Leak Water?

NASA Scientists announced today that there is compelling evidence that liquid water flows on Mars: From NASA:

NASA Images Suggest Water Still Flows in Brief Spurts on Mars

NASA photographs have revealed bright new deposits seen in two gullies on Mars that suggest water carried sediment through them sometime during the past seven years.

“These observations give the strongest evidence to date that water still flows occasionally on the surface of Mars,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, Washington.

Image right: A new gully deposit in a crater in the Centauri Montes Region. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Liquid water, as opposed to the water ice and water vapor known to exist at Mars, is considered necessary for life. The new findings heighten intrigue about the potential for microbial life on Mars. The Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor provided the new evidence of the deposits in images taken in 2004 and 2005.

“The shapes of these deposits are what you would expect to see if the material were carried by flowing water,” said Michael Malin of Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. “They have finger-like branches at the downhill end and easily diverted around small obstacles.” Malin is principal investigator for the camera and lead author of a report about the findings published in the journal Science.

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Major Solar Flare

A major solar flare associated with a new, giant sunspot, indicates increasing solar activity as our Sun approaches its 11-year peak (maximum is forecast to occur in 2011). If the sunspot count is particularly high this cycle, we can expect increasing global temperatures as the predominant climatological change generator (the Sun) heats up the planet.

From SpaceWeather.com:

Earth-orbiting satellites detected a major X9-class solar flare this morning at 1035 UT (5:35 a.m. EST). The source: big, new sunspot 929, which is emerging over the Sun’s eastern limb. GOES-13 captured this X-ray image of the blast:

Because of the sunspot’s location near the limb, the flare was not Earth-directed. Future eruptions could be, however, because the Sun’s spin is turning the spot toward Earth. Sunspot 929 will be visible for the next two weeks as it glides across the solar disk.

Al Gore and his band of Greenbats ought to get a clue about actual climate science. How dare they compare anthropogenic climate effects to those of this giant stellar monster? HOW DARE THEY?

A Safe Experience

It’s not often that I get to write about a good experience when it comes to dealing with retailers, but I am especially pleased about a recent purchase from Lowe’s Hardware Stores.

A couple of weeks ago while at the gun show, Damsel and I had a discussion about getting a gun safe for our weapons and other valuable items. We had no immediate plans to acquire one, but started considering options: location for the safe, reasonable cost, adequate capacity, compliance with insane California gun laws and so forth. We put the thought on a back brain cell for the time being.

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Damsel’s S&W 908S

She had a pretty good day at the range today. Last weekend we bought some spare magazines for the Smith & Wesson 908 pistols, and went to the range to fire a few rounds using the new units. They worked just fine, and Damsel came pretty close to the center of the target most of the time. Later, we fired the shotguns. Damsel wanted to try my full-size 12 gauge out just in case she might have to use it instead of her youth-size 20 gauge. She did well with that too.

There’s a short video of one of her runs below the fold.

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A Pleasant December Day

After a few days of seasonable but cool weather, we got a warm day just in time for the weekend. We took the short drive to Redondo Beach and stopped at an overlook near the pier. I was photographing the waves and seagulls on the beach when a brown gull swooped up towards us.

There are a couple more photos below the fold.

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Flower Shot of the Week

We had occasion to visit our local home improvement emporium today. Even when we’re there for another purpose, I always like to see what’s going on in the garden section. What else but poinsettias? A sea of red with green undertones. One of these beauties became mine and sits on the dining room table (until we move it to accommodate the Christmas tree next weekend, that is).