Archive for the Solstice Category

Solstice (December 20, 2021)

Posted in Solstice on December 20, 2021 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “It has been an unusually long and cold winter so far, but I will go with ‘long’ in a life that is looking a lot shorter.”

J          “And technically this is just the start of winter, but who is carefully counting each and every additional second of light starting tomorrow.”

. . .

K          “The evergreen tree is proof that a god may exist.  The sentry of summer stands tall throughout the winter.”

J          “The evergreen is proof that life endures and goes on.  Verde is verity.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Darkness . . . And Light.  Oh, And Happy Winter Solstice! (December 17, 2018)”.]

Good tidings of comfort and joy from team Joey:

Bumper stickers of the week:

“We are intent on not letting Omicron disrupt work and school for the vaccinated.  You’ve done the right thing, and we will get through this.

For the unvaccinated, you’re looking at a winter of severe illness and death for yourselves, your families, and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm.”

________________________________

Hmm. We’re having trouble finding that site.

We can’t connect to the server at [the sites you are searching that we are blocking.]

If that address is correct [It is.], here are three other things you can try:

    Try again later.  [I tried.]

    Check your network connection.  [I checked.]

    If you are connected [I am.] but behind a firewall [I am not.], check that Firefox has permission to access the Web.  [It does.]

Solstice (June 21, 2021)

Posted in Solstice on June 21, 2021 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Yesterday really.  11:32 p.m. on the Coast East.  The day triggers introspection.  The party has just started and the punch bowl is pulled back unrelentingly a little at a time and then more quickly.”

J          “The great rheostat starts turning down the lights.  We need to light up our lives.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Weather / Climate.  Oh, And Have A Happy Solstice! (June 17, 2019)”, “Another Solstice (June 20, 2011)” and “Solstice (June 21, 2010)”.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Party on!

Weather / Climate.  Oh, And Have A Happy Solstice! (June 17, 2019)

Posted in Climate, Environment, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Google, Solstice, Weather on June 17, 2019 by e-commentary.org

[After more than a dozen tries today, Google is not providing access to www.e-commentary.org when searching for www.e-commentary.org.]

. . .

Climate is what you expect.  Weather is what you get.

Weather is what you wear.  Climate is what’s in your closet.

Weather is the day-to-day state of the atmosphere and its short-term variation in minutes to days to weeks.  Folks regard weather as the combination of temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, visibility, and wind.  Climate is the overall weather of a place averaged over a period of time such as 10 to 20 to 30 years.

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Solstice (June 21, 2010)”, “Another Solstice (June 20, 2011)” and “Darkness . . . And Light.  Oh, And Happy Winter Solstice! (December 17, 2018)”.]

 Bumper sticker of the week:

 “Everybody complains about the weather, but no one does anything about it.”  Mark Twain

Introducing And Inducing Extreme Inefficiency In Commercial Fishing (June 19, 2017)

Posted in Fukushima Daiichi, Solstice on June 19, 2017 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “The anadromous fish return to the mouths of rivers with almost clock-work predictability.  Fish traps at the entrances could collect the fish efficiently and allow for the tender tender and immediate transport to the market.”

J          “That is hard not to notice.  Yet that approach may be too efficient and too logical.  Instead, an expensive and elaborate flotilla of fishing vessels and tender vessels steams out to the open seas, jeopardizes the lives of captain and crew, and intercepts the fish a few hours or minutes before their appointment and otherwise ready, compliant and inexpensive assembly at the mouth.”

K          “Go figure.”

. . .

K          “Yet the most fundamental question presents itself.  How to distribute the bounty if it is harvested collectively rather than individually.”

. . .

J          “And the scourge that cannot be acknowledged continues unabated.  Fish corralled using either technique may still be irradiated.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary by typing “Fukushima Daiichi” into the Search Box.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Fish on!

The worst day fishing beats the best day working

Another Solstice, another year

Better the crook we know than the crazy man we don’t?  Applying The Conservative Tie Breaker. (June 20, 2016)

Posted in Clinton, Elections, On [Traits/Characteristics], Political Parties, Politics, Presidency, Solstice, Sports, Supreme Court, Trumpi, Wall Street, War, War and Wall Street Party on June 20, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Better the crook we know than the crazy man we don’t?”

J          “You sure?”

. . .

K          “Better the crazy crook we know than the crooked crazy man we don’t?”

J          “You sure?”

K          “Better the war-savoring, crazy crook we know than the xenophobic, crooked, crazy man we don’t?”

J          “You sure?”

K          “Better the war-savoring and Wall Street-favoring, crazy crook we know than the xenophobic, bigoted, crooked, crazy man we don’t?”

J          “You sure?”

K          “Better the lying, war-savoring and Wall Street-favoring, crazy crook we know than the lying, xenophobic, bigoted, crooked, crazy man we don’t?”

J          “You sure?”

. . .

J          “We are now stuck with two presumptuous Presidential nominees and zero hope.”

K          “Clinton is part of the problem; the Donald does not even understand the problem.  Full stop.”

J          “I’m sure that we have a problem.”

. . .

K          “The conservatives resolve these conundrums by resorting to the aphorism:  ‘Better the devil we know than the devil we don’t.’”

J          “I sure don’t know who is the devil we know and who is the devil we don’t?”

K          “In the final analysis, it all comes down to the Supreme Court.”

. . .

K          “The solstice is the sunniest day of the year up here.  Defaulting to the lesser of the two diabolical devils isn’t the most promising ray of sunshine.”

J          “It starts getting darker every day after 22:34 UTC this afternoon.”

K          “There are still some long days in our future.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “The First Look At The ‘Second Political Party’ (January 3, 2011).”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“And how many more of these stinking double-downer sideshows will we have to go through before we can get . . . a chance to vote for something, instead of always being faced with that old familiar choice between the lesser of two evils?”  Hunter S. Thompson

Better the crook we know than the crazy man we don’t?

The other election this week in Britain on the “Brexit” will be revealing.

Cleveland was hot yesterday and may be hot this July.

Succession Forest / Recession Forest: An Old Timer’s Perspective (June 22, 2015)

Posted in Climate, Collapse, Gas/Fossil Fuel, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Personal Stories Series, Personal Story, Solstice on June 22, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

OT          “The grass, weeds and fireweed gave way to bushes, alders and willow which gave way to paper and smooth birch which finally yielded to a variety of mature spruce.  In an area I cleared thirty years ago, the process began anew and today the birch are under challenge from the up and coming spruce.  Winters were always 40 or 50 or 60 below zero for weeks at a time.  Winters are now only 10 or 20 or 30 below for a week here or a week there.  Alder and willow have erupted everywhere and are winning the competition against the birch and the spruce.  Passage through the woods is difficult with the new undergrowth.  The succession forest has become a recession forest.  Things are going backwards.  Rainfall has not markedly changed in the last fifty years.  Only the average temperatures have changed.  That’s all I know.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Grexit”, “GrexEUnt”, Percolating Problems: PIIGS, BRICS, EU, EC, ECB, IMF, NATO, WTO, WAR (February 23, 2015).]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Summer Solstice

Brave 1984 Farm: The Best Of All Possible Worlds (March 19, 2012)

Posted in Civil Rights/Civil Liberties, Consumerism, Facebook, Google, Internet, Military Commissions Act, Move To Amend, National Defense Authorization Act / FY 2012, Occupy Movement, Pogo Plight, Privacy, Society, Solstice, USA PATRIOT Act on March 19, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

C1          “All I really needed to know I learned in junior high school.  Three junior high school standbys provide the road maps delineating our current collision course.  Brave New World chronicles a craven world sated and sotted with diversions and divertissements.”

C2          “Some say the phrase ‘bread and circuses’ captures the contemporary zeitgeist.  But bread will soon cost a lot more bread.  And a day at the circus may cost a month’s wages at the job lost by the breadwinner last May.”

C1          “And 1984 is the ‘how to’ manual for the emerging police state in America.  The USA PATRIOT ACT and the NDAA of 2012 provide the ‘legal’ cover.”

C2          “Some are concerned.  For over a century, the thinking set has struggled with the emerging notion of privacy.  An academic treatment in 1890, a judicial pronouncement in 1965 and a trenchant comment or two today raise real and troubling concerns.  However, without a real debate, discussion, plebiscite or referendum, we surrendered our privacy a few years ago.  It appears to be over.”

C1          “So now we good citizens can watch our favorite gladiators invade another town and vanquish fellow citizens on plasma tv while the government videos us on closed circuit video tv and Google and Facebook monitor us on our home monitors.  We should heed the warning in Animal Farm and the advice in the Old Farmer’s Almanac and make the sojourn back to the farm and the garden.”

C2          “The Occupy Movement and Move To Amend are the Black Swan taking slow flight and moving us off the couch and into the streets.  Six months ago, a few kids looked around and concluded that something is wrong and something must be done.”

. . .

[See the Fresh Air radio program on drones and the threats to privacy at http://www.npr.org/2012/03/12/148293470/drones-over-america-what-can-they-see]

[See the “e-ssay” titled “USA PATRIOT ACT (April 4, 2005)”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

T For Truth; J For Justice

Panem et Circenses

Il faut cultiver notre jardin.  We must cultivate our garden.  Candide, Voltaire

Do something different on the Equinox

Another Solstice (June 20, 2011)

Posted in Society, Solstice on June 20, 2011 by e-commentary.org

. . .

O          “Solstice is a regular reminder of something more ominous.  The Last Sunset.  Seems like a day to mourn rather to celebrate.  The day is heralded as the beginning of Summer, yet the day harbingers the ending of additional day light.  Summer is otherwise just dawning and just finishing the first quarter, yet Nature reverses the rheostat and lowers the lights.”

Y          “Summer is more like a hockey game.  The lights go up during the first period – Memorial Day – and then down before the second period – Independence Day.  The third period – Labor Day – eases the transition to Fall.”

O          “The lights should stay on until half time.  Keep them lit until July 21.”

Y          “It is what it is.  The second period may not offer as much light, yet it is still warm.  There is lots of time to play.”

O          “And each Solstice appears to arrive sooner every year.  We should be inspired by the golden-crowned sparrow that enchants us with its plaintive song all Summer.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Carpe Diem

Why not enjoy the day

Fishing is fast; catching is slow.

On The Vernal Equinox (March 21, 2011)

Posted in Guns, Society, Solstice, Sports on March 21, 2011 by e-commentary.org

. . .

A1       “The equinox is the ‘equal night day.’  The science jocks contend that the equinox is the time when the sun crosses the equator and creates a night and thus a day of equal length.  Another marker from the Heavens of an ending and of a beginning.  Winter is going.  Summer is coming.”

A2       “And another biathlon season is going.  Hard to fault an event that mixes cross country skiing and target shooting.  The biathlete in the long race skis 5 kilometres and then takes a bout of 5 shots at metal targets from the prone position with a .22 long rifle round.  And then skis another 5 klicks before taking another bout of 5 shots from the standing position.  And then skis another 5 klicks before repeating it again.  The heart pounds and sounds like a Pfaff sewing machine wired to 220 volts.”

A1       “Always seems akin to boxing one round and then playing the violin and then boxing one round and then playing the violin and repeating it again.”

A2       “The perfect outlet for rambunctious Buddhists.”

A1       “Chess boxing.  That is the real thing.  And you can participate year round.”

A2       “Buddhists don’t usually box.  And a real winter event requires snow.  And atonement.  A missed target must be ‘atoned for’ by either skiing a penalty lap or taking a time penalty.  Miss a penalty loop and you are disqualified; miscount and ski any extra penalty loop and you are lost.  As usual, the one who spends the least time on the trail and at the range prevails.  Time to put up the skis and lock up the gun and transition to God’s game.”

A1       “Soccer is a great workout, yet it does allow for idle hands.”

A2       “That is where women’s lacrosse comes into play.  The women’s game remains true to the original rules of America’s first sport.  The women’s game is poetry.  The men’s game is doggerel prose.  Both are demanding and fast-paced.”

A1       “Helmets or no helmets?”

A2       “They should require helmets for women.  The game requires one to use one’s head which should be protected.”

A1       “And despite all the rapid social and cultural changes, you can play the traditional and timeless co-ed inner tube water polo year round.”

. . .

[See the “e-ssay” titled “Less Government Regulation Series: Motorcycle Helmets (June 15, 2009).”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Co-ed inner tube water polo rules

Idle hands and feet are the devil’s workshop.

The Equinox is a time of equanimity

Compost . . . because a rind is a terrible thing to waste

Spring bird musings:

Songs – to breed (to attract a mate)

Calls – to communicate (to repel a transgressor, usually)

Song – “Over here, baby.”

Call  –   “Go away, Jack.”

Solstice (June 21, 2010)

Posted in Society, Solstice on June 21, 2010 by e-commentary.org

. . .

#          “They say that the Earth’s axis of rotation is not perpendicular to its orbital plane.  That is convenient because we get the Solstice with yards of sun in June and July.  And because it is not an official holiday, we are not required to shop.”

%          “Almost all other events on the calendar are man-made concoctions.  The Solstice is Nature’s contribution, the apex and the zenith, an alpha and an omega.  The day that marks the beginning of the formal summer season in the northern hemisphere is also the day that marks the ending of increasing sun light.  The transition never changes, yet it should.  We should not start losing sun light until September.”

#          “That is an immutable reality we cannot do much to change.”

. . .

Bumper sticker of the week:

Celebrate The Solstice Responsibly