If you could kiss anyone under the mistletoe, who would it be?

It depends on exactly where the mistletoe was hanging...

John

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Today at 17:47 UTC (11:47 AM CST) will be the Solstice, a traditional day in many religions. But what exactly is the solstice?

To a scientist, it marks the shortest day in the northern hemisphere and the longest day in the southern [2]. To a TV weatherman, it represents the “first day of winter” [3]. To an astronomer, it marks the low point in the Sun’s apparent travels in the sky, known as the analemma [4,5]. And to some religions, it marks the start of festivities.

In truth, these are all inter-related. The solstice is the point at which the Earth’s tilt and orbital path combine to create the shortest day in the year [6]. Because this is the shortest day in the year, the Sun does not rise as far in the sky and so is at a lower altitude at noon, making this the lowest point in the analemma. And because less sunlight hits the Northern hemisphere, the hemisphere radiates heat away faster than it comes in and cools, creating winter [7]. Though early priest/astronomer/astrologers didn’t know the physical link between the Sun’s travels and the seasons, they were clever enough to understand that there was a link. Thus, the solstice marked the start of festivities in Babylon, Egypt, Rome, and the Olmec and descendant civilizations.

In any case, this is a special day of the year [8]. So go out and enjoy it!

John

[1] Geek points for the reference!
[2] Thereby demonstrating the old adage that each thing contains its opposite.
[3] Thereby demonstrating that a simple untruth has greater staying power than a complex truth. Remember that Midsummer’s day takes place on the summer solstice, thus “Midwinter’s day” should take place on the winter solstice [a].
[4] Or the high point, for those in the Southern hemisphere.
[5] By the way, making an analemma is easy and a fun science project. All you need is a stick and a place to put it [b]. Just go out to the same place once a week at noon and prop the stick up so it is sticking straight up (i.e., makes a right angle with the tangent to the Earth’s surface). Now mark where the shadow of the stick falls. Plot them up over the course of a year, and you’ve made an analemma! Analemmas made closer to the poles will be fatter and more like a Hershey’s kiss in shape; those made nearer to the equator will be skinnier and look more like a figure eight.
[6] NB: This is not the Earth’s closest approach to the Sun; that happens in early January . If the Earth had no tilt, then perihelion and the solstice would take place on the same day, with summer in January and winter in July.
[7] In the Southern hemisphere, more sunlight comes in, so heat builds up, creating summer.
[8] Then again, what day isn’t?
[a] Yes, these are hemisphere-centric terms. My apologies to all who live in the Southern hemisphere; feel free to swap “winter” for “summer” at will throughout this post.
[b] Get your mind out of the gutter!

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I'm up to my ears in chores today [1], so I'm going to make an old quick and dirty favorite of mine for lunch. Because it primarily consists of various things all dumped together, with stunning originality, I call it "Dump Chili". Though it is quick and easy to make, it is reasonably tasty. So, the next time you want something that is both good and fast [2], give this a try!

Chili1

Chili3

In a medium pan, sauté the onions in the oil until translucent. While the onions are cooking, open the cans of beans and dump them into a colander; rinse clean [4]. Once the onions are ready, dump in the beans, the meat substitute, and the can of tomatoes. If necessary, add 1/4 can of water. Dump in the spices and stir. Cook over low-medium heat until warmed through (about 15 minutes).

This makes a filling and inexpensive meal. The left-over chili freezes well, and makes a nice chili pie [5].

Chili4

John

[1] Cleaning up the yard, weeding the garden, cleaning house, doing laundry, filling in the hole in the backyard, re-upholstering the attic, etc.
[2] And even relatively inexpensive, thus demolishing the old NASA credo.
[3] Everyone has their own chili spices. Like cornbread, spaghetti sauce, and kissing, everyone is convinced that their recipe is best. Mine is 1 tbsp paprika, 1 tbsp chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes. This gives a sweet and low heat that builds, as opposed to a thermonuclear explosion heat that spoils the rest of the meal. Trust me - this will make you sweat without making you regret it!
[4] You can leave the sauce in the beans, but it will make the chili very watery. Trust me on this!
[5] Chili baked in a pie crust, similar to a Cornish pasty, and not to be confused with the Okie tradition of "Frito Chili Pie" (which isn't really a pie but does have Fritos and chili).

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Making a list, checking it twice... How's your holiday shopping going? Who's left on your list?

Just me; I always save the worst for last. (Now where's that anthracite? [1])

John

[1] That's a geology joke, because only us geology-types would think it was cool to get coal for Christmas.

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The New York Times turned me onto this guy - a PhD who decided he'd rather do stand up.

Powerpoint Comedy

John

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If you could hang out with any movie character for a day, whom would you choose as your sidekick?
Sponsored by The Official AVATAR Community on TypePad. See AVATAR in theaters December18, 2009.

Why, God, of course. The real question is "Which one?" Do I go with the burning bush [1]/tower of flame from The Ten Commandments? Or with the nose-beeping, skee-ball playing clown from Dogma? Or with  the mis-placed figurehead of Jason and the Argonauts? So many options, so little time...

John

[1] Did you know that there is an actual bush in the region that may burst into flames spontaneously?

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What’s your favorite movie quote of all time?
Sponsored by The Official AVATAR Community on TypePad. See AVATAR in theaters December 18, 2009.

First place: "      "

From any of Charlie Chaplin's early films.

Second place: "No"

Spoken by Marcel Marceau in Silent Movie.

You don't have to be verbose to convey great emotions; you merely have to know how to act.

John

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A couple of interesting things in the news this week about geology. First, the funny but sad one:

The "Leaning Tower" of South Padre is being demolished. What is that, you asked? The Leaning Tower of South Padre, also known as the Ocean Tower condominium [1] complex,  is a 31-story tall building with neighboring parking garage that was built on South Padre Island. Padre Island (North and South) is of interest to geologists as the longest barrier island in the world. Barrier islands form from sand that is swept down the coast under the influence of tides, waves, and storms; being sand, they are unstable and do not last very long. Thus, only an idiot would build on one [1] and only a true imbecile would build a large hotel on one (or buy a condo there!).

Amusingly, the Ocean Tower began to demonstrate the  foolishness of its investors even before it was finished. With only half the floors finished, it began to settle, cracking the beams and causing enough structural damage that it must be demolished. The investment firm behind the project is suing the architect and engineer for $125,000,000. Personally, I think that they should sue the county commissioners who allowed the project to go ahead, but who expects intelligence from a government employee nowadays?

And now the just plain cool one:

Scientists have calculated the time it took the Mediterranean Ocean to fill [3]; based on their calculations, it took between a few months and two years for it to go from a salt-floored basin to a water-filled one. This was known as the Zanclean flood, and it happened about five million years ago. The flood changes the geography and climate of the Mediterranean basin. It also changed the flow of water through the world's oceans. Because the water that escapes from the Mediterranean is very salty and hence is very dense, it can be tracked for thousands of miles after it leaves the Straits of Gibraltar [4] and goes into the Atlantic.

To put this into perspective, you would have to empty the equivalent of the Great Lakes every four days for two years to fill up the Mediterranean. World-wide, the sea level dropped ten meters (about thirty-three feet) when the Mediterranean filled up, and the water rose in the basin at ten meters a day for two years. The waterfall from the deluge stretched more than a hundred miles long, was more than two miles wide, and spilled more water every second than 11,000 Niagara Falls. Now that is entertainment!

[1] Please, oh please! follow the link so you can see "real estate speak" at its most amusing!

[2] Yes, Galveston, I'm speaking to you!

[3] What? You thought it had always been there? Heck, no! The Med was formed after Pangaea broke apart and two of the pieces (Africa and Europe) crashed back together. When they came together, they enclosed part of the Tethys Sea and formed a mountain range running from the Alps to Iraq. The enclosed basin had more evaporation than rainfall, and so the water levels dropped, forming salt deposits. As the pieces continued to move, they formed the Straits of Gibraltar which was a low-lying place that allowed water to trickle through until it wore down enough to become a flood.

[4] Interestingly, the Straits of Gibraltar are one of the few places in the world with a steady dual-layer flow system. At the surface, water flows out from the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean. As it circulates to the east, water evaporates, increasing the salinity. The denser but warmer water sinks and flows out into the Atlantic along the bottom of the Straits. So which direction the water flows depends on what depth you are at!

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What's your guilty television pleasure?

Watching it. Have you seen the crap that is on nowadays [1]?

John

[1] Of course, this has always been true, even before "My Mother the Car". As Sturgeon once noted, 90% of everything is crap. (Which makes TV critics the moral equivalent of dung beetles.)

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Do me a favor, would you? Start counting. I’m willing to lay pretty long odds that you counted like this:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Don’t believe me? Go back to that counting you just did, only start with 2001. 2009 is only number nine on the list, not number ten. See – we’ve got a whole ‘nother year in the decade!

So why do people do this [2]? Partly laziness and partly a failure to think. The failure to think is obvious – just counting the years would show that this wasn’t the end of the decade [3].The laziness is a little less so. Because so many people have decided to go with the wrong answer, other folks assume that it is the right one [4]. And few of those who know better are willing to make the obvious point that the wrong answer is, well, wrong. They feel (not without reason) that there are more important things to worry about than a misplaced terminator [5] (e.g., the end of the world, the end of the world as we know it, and the end of the whirl as we know it).

To a certain extent I agree with them. But it still annoys the crap out of me that so many cannot even count, much less think about what they are counting!

John

[1] Geek points for the reference!
[2] FWIW, this is not a new phenomenon. There were folks in the 1800’s who were just as confused as to when the twentieth century began [a] and don’t even get me started on the whole change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendars [b]!
[3] Other than in the same sense that any year can be the end of a decade, if the decade is arbitrarily begun.
[4] Sort of like the idjits on TV that refer to Clinton, Reagan, Bush, and the other ex politicos as “President So and so”, even though they are no longer properly accorded that title once they have left the office of PotUS. Or the jukes who think that the seasons begin on the solstices/equinoxes and not half-way between them. Or the kallikaks who vote single party tickets.
[5] They also worry (again, not without reason) of being labeled as “party poopers” and pedants, simply because they would like things to be called by the correct honorific. IMHO, those who use the pejoratives do so because that is the only answer they can make.
[a] And that’s another source of confusion, isn’t it? The first century covers the years from 1 to 100, the second covers the years from 101 to 200, and so forth until we reach the twenty-first century, which covers the years 2001-2100.
[b] Proposed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 CE, it wasn’t the international standard until 1926, when Turkey finally adopted it. What this meant was that if it was Tuesday, March 9, 1926 in Belgium, it was Tuesday, March 22, 1926 in Turkey. Imagine drawing the International Date Line for 1900, when at leat eight major countries had not adopted the Gregorian calendar!

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