Science
History of Blue Moon
HISTORY OF BLUE MOON “Do you see that full moon in the sky tonight? That happens once in a blue moon.” Scientifically, this happens 7 times in 19 years or about once in 3 years. I first wrote about this on July 31, 2015. We had blue moons in January and March 2018 and…
Read MoreHistory of Infinity Day: Why is it on August 8
HISTORY OF INFINITY DAY: AUGUST 8 Infinity Day is also known as Universal & International Infinity Day. It is a commemoration held on the 8th day of the 8th month of each year to celebrate and promote Philosophy and Philosophizing for the ordinary person. Why 8 is significant, apart from Infinity Day 8 planets…
Read MoreHistory of a Sturgeon Supermoon: Once in a Blue Moon?
History of a Sturgeon Supermoon You may have noticed we’re presently experiencing a full moon. But it is not your typical, ordinary, usual full moon. It’s a supermoon, or more precisely, a Sturgeon Supermoon. What makes a supermoon? Supermoons are bigger and brighter than your typical run-of-the-mill full moon. The one we see this…
Read MoreHistory of the 1st Moon Landing – Apollo 11: 54 Years Ago
HISTORY OF THE 1ST MOON LANDING: APOLLO 11 Fifty-four years ago today, at 3:17 Eastern Time, July 20, 1969, the first human stepped out of the Apollo 11 lunar module onto the moon. With the immortal words of the 38-year-old Neil Armstrong: “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.” …the…
Read MoreScience of the Summer Solstice: Start of Summer
SCIENCE OF THE SUMMER SOLSTICE Solstice comes from the Latin word solstitium, meaning “Sun, standing still.” The Summer Solstice occurs on June 21 at 14:58 UTC, Coordinated Universal Time, Zulu Time, or roughly Greenwich Mean Time. Greenwich, England, is the prime meridian — the zero point for longitude lines. Why is UTC the abbreviation for Coordinated…
Read MoreHistory of Star Wars: Premiered 46 Years Ago
HISTORY OF STAR WARS The original Star Wars movie premiered on May 25, 1977. Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away… when living in Berkeley, in November 1976, I picked up a new science fiction novel, “Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker” by George Lucas. I did not know then that it…
Read MoreHistory of Earth Day
HISTORY OF EARTH DAY April 22 is called Earth Day because it commemorates and celebrates the observance of the anniversary of our discovery of planet Earth. By all accounts, there is general agreement that Earth is far superior to the planet from which we came, as I shall recount below. Meanwhile, several companies on Earth…
Read MoreHistory of World Backup Day
HISTORY OF WORLD BACKUP DAY There isn’t much history, as the first celebration of this geek holiday was in 2011. World Backup Day is barely a decade old. But the need is genuine, now more than ever before. Especially in light of this salient fact: April Fools’ Day. March 31, the day before, is an…
Read MoreHistory of The Spring: What is the Vernal Equinox?
HISTORY OF THE SPRING In Colorado, we have a saying; we begin the first day of Spring like we began the Fall: with snow. This symmetry is relevant as the beginning of Spring and Fall coincide with the Equinox. This word is comprised of two Latin root words, aequus and nox, meaning “equal night,” referring…
Read MoreHistory of Pi Day: 3.14
HISTORY OF PI DAY This holiday is often overlooked by those who do not speak Greek or those who do not speak Geek… but for the science major, this is a special celebration. Though it is an irregular constant number, regularly and annually on March 14, or 3/14, or 3.14 — we have the first…
Read MoreHistory of Daylight Saving Time: Why do we Spring forward?
HISTORY OF DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME It seems like only yesterday that we discussed the end of Daylight Saving Time, or DST, a brilliant campaign to convince us we’re getting more daylight each day when in reality, they’ve simply changed their clocks and then forgotten about it within two weeks. It was only back in November, four…
Read MoreHistory of the Santa Tracker: How a Typo began Christmas tracking at NORAD
History of the NORAD Santa Tracker: How a typo began Christmas tracking at NORAD
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