Mar 20 2023 - Spring Arrivals

What is the significant Spring arrival this week?  Spring itself arrives today around 5:30pm DST.   A little Crocus tommasinianus is blooming in my garden, along with Iris Reticulata, Snow drops and Winter aconite.  That's the garden story.   Trump's arrest would likely be the big event. It is reported that he posted in all-caps on his Truth Social platform:  "ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK."  The prospect of Trump’s arrest—the first in history for a former president—raises questions about the process Trump would be subject to during his arrest and trial—including whether any extraordinary measures would be in place. TIME spoke to legal experts about each step of the process and outline it HERE.  Can you imagine Trump walking into the front entrance of a courthouse or police station?  Can you imagine jury selection?  Wouldn't the majority of people have some opinion? Or multiple opinions. So we await the revelation of the Trump prophecy. And for the equinox news?  It is pagan festival time. According to the BBC, "this turn in the seasons has been celebrated by cultures throughout history who held festivals for their gods and goddesses at this time of year. Aphrodite from Cyprus, Hathor from Egypt and Ostara of Scandinavia. The Celts continued the tradition with festivities at this time of year.  Today, Pagans continue to celebrate the coming of Spring" Ostara is continued to be used as its festival title today.  Poor Stonehenge - it is a commercialized tourist destination.  Look through all those tour listings.  The English Heritage website says that the Solstice will be celebrated at sunrise on Tuesday 21 March.   We can go to skycap HERE. This shows the ambient, skyscape and tour views.  Click on the about at the bottom left and find out about the website developed by English Heritage.

Here are the garden club spring gardeners on Saturday.  They are planting the pots that will hang along the main street in Grimsby.

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Sep 2 2021 - The Month of Birthdays

 

This is the month of most Birthdays, according to several articles.  Another says that it is August for the U.S. But supposedly the most common birthday on the planet is September 9th, followed by September 19th.  What about this question?  Do humans have mating seasons? This is the LINK to a heat map showing the countries from the Polar Zone to the North Temperate Zone to Tropical, Equator, and then South Temperate zone.  The map shows peak birth months shifting farther to the right as one moves down the latitudes.  Once you’ve entered the middle latitudes, or the tropical zone, September and October become the highest-ranking months by average number of live births per day, followed by November and December, with some spilling over into the next year. There are a few studies on this. The Journal of Reproductive Rhythms says the ideal time of the year to conceive is when the sun is out for 12 hours and the temperature is between 50 and 70 ° F. For reasons that are not totally understood, these are the perfect conditions for conception, either because they stimulate sperm production or ovulation--or a combination of both. And the earliest birthday mention?  The Bible has the earliest mention of a birthday - around 3,000 B.C.E.  and it is Pharaoh's that is referenced.  It was their birth as a god, or coronation date, not the coming into the world as a human. Then the Greeks have a part to play. The Greeks offered moon-shaped cakes and put candles on them for the glowing radiance of the moon to celebrate their lunar goddess. Celebrating the common person's birthday? That is attributed to the Ancient Romans - for men only.   All of the articles say that female birthdays weren't celebrated until around the 12th century.  But alas, there is no history of female birthday celebrations and how they were missed out for so long and then came into being so late. And our final contribution comes with a bit of a sour note, given birthdays are about sweet and sugary cakes.  Don't look to Christian history for any happy contribution to the celebration of birthdays.  Early Christians considered birthday celebrations evil as humans were born with "original sin" so were tied to pagan gods.  It wasn't until they caught up to the civilizations before them and decided to celebrate the birthday of Jesus around the 4th century, that birthdays got new status.   The extensive Wikipedia entry also shows the heat map of births through the year. And our picture today for September's calendar is the wonderful Sumach.

Aug 29 2021 - Ingrid Bergman Born and Dies on same day

 

As we approach the passing of Summer, I noticed the People who were born on this day headline.  When I looked at the site, Ingrid Bergman showed up in two places:  She was born on August 29th and died on August 29th.  That's remarkable to me.  It makes me consider the Birthday Paradox.  Answersdrive.com has more about this: "The birthday paradox is strange, counter-intuitive, and completely true. It's only a “paradox” because our brains can't handle the compounding power of exponents. We expect probabilities to be linear and only consider the scenarios we're involved in (both faulty assumptions, by the way). Consequently, how likely is it to have the same birthday? One person has a 1/365 chance of meeting someone with the same birthday. Two people have a 1/183 chance of meeting someone with the same birthday. But! Those two people might also have the same birthday, right, so you have to add odds of 1/365 for that. Also, what are the odds of being born and dying on the same day? So we have ~0.3097% chance of dying on a birthday while statistically (1/365) would lead us to believe there is only ~0.27397% chance of dying on a birthday. That is indeed a 13% increase in chance of death on a birthday from 1/365. Is it rare to die on your birthday?  Tradition has it that William Shakespeare also died on his birthday - born on April 23 1564 and died on April 23 1616 - he was 52 years old.  Among 25 million Americans who died between 1998 and 2011, 6.7% more people than expected die on their birthday, and the effect was most pronounced at weekends and among the young – among 20 to 29 year olds, the excess was over 25%." As the days go by, we are coming to the most common birthday:  It is September 9th.  The least common birthday is December 25th.   Our image today is a montage of spring cherries and one of my abstract pastels.  I like the colourful effect with the pastel sensibility.

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It's Your Birthday Today

This is a call out to send Gerry a Birthday Wish today! We highlight Dezi's thoughts on his birthday in our photo card.  Our newspapers offer happy birthday advice via the Horoscope Columns. The question comes to mind:  Why does almost every newspaper have a daily/weekly horoscope but not a science page?  I wonder what it tells about the society as a collective.  There is a simple answer in this article in the independent.co.uk.  Chris French, professor of psychology at Goldsmiths University, who specialises in belief in the paranormal, is entirely sceptical about horoscopes – though he'll flick to his star sign in newspapers. "I do it for the same reason that half the population do: for entertainment," he explains.  So here's our entertainment from the Globe's: The message of your birthday chart this year is that you must focus only on those things that are of genuine importance. What is the long-term goal that means the most to you emotionally? Only do those things that take you at least one step closer to it. Here is the Toronto Star's: This year you might feel that if you detach and try to understand where others are coming from, you will be able to make a difference — not only in their lives, but also in yours. You are likely to gain professional clout as a result. If you are single, you are likely to meet someone of significance before winter 2017. This person will walk into your life without you having to make any kind of effort. If you are attached, share more of what is going on with your significant other. You might hit a misunderstanding or two, but the two of you will be able to work them out. SCORPIO admires your ability to get along with others. This comes from dailyhoroscopes.com: Your gains and losses are of your own making at this time. Many of us like to be in control–this is the time for you to achieve control. You may receive an offer that most cannot refuse, but you will be wise to refuse any hard-to-believe-it’s-true type of offers. Your peace of mind comes when bills are paid–among other things. Do everything in your power to work out a plan of payment with all your debts. Instead of purchases, invest in yourself through savings. Take care of business now as you crave organization and expediency and you want to get things accomplished. You join friends after work today for a bit of celebration. At home, there are more celebrations, perhaps a lot–go with the flow. Happy birthday!

All I Need to Know…About Birthdays

All I Need To Know

Now that we've found out how old Tortoises and Koi can live, we arrive at Dezi's birthday. I found a greeting card last week that gave me insight into everything I could ever need to know about Birthdays.  It is reproduced below Dezi's picture.  I couldn't resist looking up canine records on goggle.  The Guinness Book of Records popped up with interesting records:

Balancing glass of water 

Sweet Pea, an Australian shepherd/border collie, holds a couple of the strangest records on our list: most steps walked down by a dog facing forward while balancing a 5-ounce glass of water (10 steps) and fastest 100 meters walked by a dog with a can balanced on its head (2 minutes and 55 seconds).

Fastest skateboard ride 

Tillman, an English bulldog, traveled a 100-meter stretch of parking lot in just 19.68 seconds during the 2009 X Games in Los Angeles, winning him a world record and making him the Tony Hawk of the canine world.

Most dogs skipping rope 

Uchida Geinousha's dogs are the star attraction of the Super Wan Wan Circus in Japan. The 13 jumping dogs hold the world record for most dogs skipping rope.

Most tennis balls in mouth 

Dogs love to chase tennis balls, but perhaps no pup loves the chase more than Augie, an 8-year-old golden retriever who holds the world record for most tennis balls in the mouth at one time. Augie has successfully gathered and held five tennis balls in her mouth at the same time.

Ah, the life of a dog is indeed full!