Absence of Heat

Mr. Snow-Miser brings the cold to Colorado

 
Most people who have at least a 10th grade education know that there's no such thing as something emanating "cold".  The concept of cold does not exist the way we think.  Something cannot give-off "cold".  When you hold an icy pitcher of, say, anteater placenta aloft and you put your hand under it, it feels like it's pouring down cold air.  Actually, this is not true, though it seems like it.  Cold is merely a value of an absence of some heat.  Cold air is more densely-packed, however, so the air molecules that are pushed together like Japanese subway riders rush-out to less dense areas once the doors open. 

Now where did I put that trans-dimensional engine cone?

  Same thing with air and wind.  High-pressure air rushes towards low-pressure areas.  If you have a high-pressure (marked as an "H" on weather maps) in, say, Canada, and a low-pressure area where you are (assuming you're somewhat near Canada) that air (which is undoubtedly cold, being so far north) will rush towards you.  Depending on the difference in pressure, the wind will be more or less.  Expect it to be cold within a day or two (depending on distance, etc.)  Same thing goes if there's an "H" in Mexico and you're somewhat nearby and you're an "L".  Yep, warm weather awaits.

Mr. Heat-Miser

  The universe tries to do this a lot.  Gravity interferes with that process on a galactic level, however, but usually high-pressure things want to space-away from each other until gravity kicks-in with very large things or ions kick-in with very very small things like electrons and quarks.  A good example is a 2-liter bottle of Mountain Dew pressurized with carbon-dioxide.  The little bubbles shoved all up in there wanna get out.

  Enough of the Physics 101 lesson, I'm sure you all remember it from when you were 15 and practice it daily whether you realize it or not.  Irregahd'less (Bostonian speak sic.) it seems that this principal can work in several ways that aren't so physics-based.  Consider...

Okay, so let me get this straight, these factors are self-evident in non-quantum physics, right?

• There is no Darkness there is only the absence of Light
• There is no Evil there is only the absence of Good
• There is no Hate there is only the absence of Love
• There is no Pop Music there is only the absence of Guitars
• There is no Silence there is only the absence of Music
• There is no Ugly there is only the absence of Cute
• There is no Ketchup there is only the absence of Good Cheeseburgers
• There is no Chocolate Cake there is only the absence of Chocolate Cake
• There is no Scrawny, Gross, Bony-Chick there is only the absence of Chippy-munky.

Enjoy the physics-to-philosophy lesson, kids!  Remember to hug a Chippy-munky-girl today!  They like that a lot and make cute  warble sounds when you do.

No absence of Chippy-munky here.

Night Sky

  It's that time of year when here in Colorado I get a tease of the Southern Constellations.  Only around now are they visible.  By reference, below the very familiar-to-all constellation of Orion...

  The little center star in his "sword" is actually the Orion Nebula, which is pretty neet, and through binoculars or an okay telescope looks like this:

  and then more fully, with a better telescope at about 50x looks like this:

   I get to see Lepus the Rabbit (as in the movie starring DeForest Kelley, Night of the Lepus).

  Very faintly, on the horizon, below Lepus is Columba "the Dove".  At the horizon it's expanded so its size is about thumb-to-pinky if extending your arm outwards.

  It's really hard to see anything below Columba, and there's not too interesting constellations besides; only Pictor and Caelum are the below it at a maximum horizon-view, and they're boring, 3-star constellations (barely a constellation, truly).  To the left of  the star SIRIUS, aka "The Dog Star" Sirius and down is Puppis.."The deck of the ship".

.. and even tonite, a little further down, Vela "The sails of the ship".. and a hint of Carina "The keel of the ship".

  It's all upside-down though, as they're southern constellations and would appear backwards in the southern hemisphere.  Orion would be upside-down as well, as shown here:

  If you like this, there's a free program you can download here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/stellarium/?source=dlp

You'll have to enter your location as it defaults to France but it's really cool.  Enjoy that.

  Still, it's a shame I can't see the southern constellations myself.  I almost got to see Crux "The Southern Cross" but humidity and low-horizonal cloud-cover prevented me from it in February in Barbados near Venezuela.  It is my quest to see it someday, as well as Alpha Centauri to the left of it.  To me, the deepest space-mysteries lie in the southern hemipshere, such as the Magellanic Clouds and other naughty space-things that suggest intergalactic civilizations.  The southern hemisphere has about twice as many starry things.  Shame the Aussies hoard it, and the Argentinians don't know what to do with it, though viewing in their mountains suggest very clear night-skies.  JEALOUS!!!


Until tomorrow, happy star-hunting!

Ponycorn Adventure

For 2013, the DoD is laying off a 70k to 90k jobs, thanks to .. OBAMA!  YAY!  Don't worry though, Colorado allows the use of marijuana so you'll think everything is okay.  Wait, did my grandpa marry my 16 year-old cousin?  Yep, gay-marriage to a first-cousin is okay too, and the legal age to wed in Colorado with parental consent is, you guessed it, SIXTEEN!  YAY!  Everything is great!  The Great US weapons-ban has just started!  We're following Soviet Russia's governmental technique from the late 1950s!  This is so great!

  Even Neil Peart or Rush was duped by the "Free Health Care" bill in the US.  A lot of folks thought that the bill would give free health-care to those who needed it.  Not so.  It's actually mandatory purchase of health-care for all US citizens and their children, even if it takes up half your paycheck to buy.  Those who receive government aid have that portion removed from their paychecks to pay for their "free" health-care.  Those collecting unemployment benefits have their unemployment checks garnished as well.  It was a trick.  In the end, we'll all pay for it, and there's no limit to what insurance-companies can charge for standard (and mandatory) service.  None.  They can charge anything they want on a case-by-case basis, and you have to pay.  Enjoy, suckers.

This is what we get when teenagers vote.  DOOOOOOM!!!!!

Welcome to Crazy World.

While we're waiting for God to smite us utterly, you should play Ponycorn Adventure, a game written by a 5 year-old.

http://ponycorns.com/game.html