Expression of Love

(From conversation in 1999)

I love you, Bevie

I love you bigger, my Mattybear!

How can you love me bigger? My love for you is so deep!

Because, I fell in love with you first.
You tripped me.

I tripped you into falling in love with me, my love?

Oui!

Will I ever be able to catch up with you in my love for you?

No!

Why?

Because, I started falling first.

So, I'll just hafta live with the fact that you will always love me more?

Bigger! Oui!
You tripped me, and I fell in love with you first.
You didn't give me any choice but to love you.

How did I not give you a choice?

Because, Matty, you tripped me!

How did I trip you?

I was walking, and you came along and tripped me.
How could I not fall in love with you?

When did this happen?

That night..., the first time we...

Is that when you realized you had feelings for me?

Oui!

Did you have feelings for me before that night?

I didn't let myself have those feelings until I let go that night.

How could I not help but to love you, Beviepie?
I love you more than anything in the Universe!

And I love you bigger than that, my Mattybear.

Bode's Law

Bode's Law, or Titus-Bode Law, is a now refuted law governing planet location with our Solar System. It presumes a relationship between all of the planets in their distances from the Sun.

Formulation

The Law relates the semi-major axis, a, of each planet outward from the sun in units such that the Earth's semi-major axis = 10, with

a = n + 4

where n = 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 ..., with each value of n > 3 twice the previous value. The resulting values can be divided by 10 to convert them into astronomical units (AU), which would result in the expression

a = 0.4 + 0.3 · 2 ^m

for m = − , 0, 1, 2,...^[1]

For the outer planets, each planet is 'predicted' to be roughly twice as far away from the Sun as the next inner object.

Origin

It's name comes from the fact that it was promoted by Johann Elert Bode when in 1768, he wrote the second edition of his astronomical compendium Anleitung zur Kenntniss des gestirnten Himmels, which states the following.

Let the distance from the Sun to Saturn be taken as 100, then Mercury is separated by 4 such parts from the Sun. Venus is 4+3=7. The Earth 4+6=10. Mars 4+12=16. Now comes a gap in this so orderly progression. After Mars there follows a space of 4+24=28 parts, in which no planet has yet been seen. Can one believe that the Founder of the universe had left this space empty? Certainly not. From here we come to the distance of Jupiter by 4+48=52 parts, and finally to that of Saturn by 4+96=100 parts.

History

At the time, Saturn was the farthest known planet. Bode's Law gained credibility when Uranus and then Ceres where discovered. These bodies happened to fall in line with predictions made by the formula. However, this Law become refuted when Neptune was discovered at a location from the Sun that was no where near its predicted location.

Also, to further refute Bode's Law is the fact that other systems exist in our Solar System which do not follow its formula. Although the moons around Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus do follow some sort of pattern, they do not follow Bode's Law; nor do they share patterns with each other.

Status

The discovery of Pluto and more recently other Kuiper Belt objects have proven Bode's Law to be false. It appears that Bode's Law was a misguided attempt to explain an observation that did not have enough data. Given what is known now, it seems that perhaps there is some sort of rule that applies to naturally formed orbiting body systems, but there is no formula that can predict the arraignment of such. Perhaps Bode's Law can be useful in the future, not to predict planet placement in other extrasolar systems, but maybe to point us in the direction to understand planet formation and resonance. We can see there is some sort of resonance. We can also see that a particular resonance is not shared between different systems, and only applies in a limited fashion. It is not useful for anything else. Although it really cannot be called pseudo-science, since it was based on observation and did make some predictions that panned out, it is really not useful science today. Further complicating the issue is that the definition of planet has changed. Ceres and Pluto are no longer considered planets. This means that any use of Bode's Law in the context of what is now known can be called pseudo-science.

Planet Distances from the Sun (from Wikipedia.org)

Mercury factor: 0
Bode’s Law: 0.4, Actual: 0.39

Venus factor: 1
Bode’s Law: 0.7, Actual: 0.72

Earth factor: 2
Bode’s Law: 1.0, Actual: 1.0

Mars factor: 4
Bode’s Law: 1.6, Actual: 1.52

Ceres factor: 8
Bode’s Law: 2.8, Actual: 2.77

Jupiter factor: 16
Bode’s Law: 5.2, Actual: 5.2

Saturn factor: 32
Bode’s Law: 10, Actual: 9.54

Uranus factor: 64
Bode’s Law: 19.6, Actual: 19.2

Neptune factor: 128
Bode’s Law: 38.8, Actual: 30.06

Pluto factor: 256
Bode’s Law: 77.2, Actual: 39.44

Alaska Cruise planning

A couple years ago, Allie and I decided that we'd go on an Alaskan cruise with her folks. The main location that interested me was Glacier Bay. Also, I wanted a cruise that was earlier in the year before the big crowds. I didn't know much about cruises (I've never been on one before) so I had to rely on my research. I wanted to book our cruise last year, though several factors forced us to wait for a 2010 cruise.

The first cruise line I looked at was Carnival. However, they don't have any ships that goto Glacier Bay early in the year. Other cruise lines didn't have round trip journeys (which means we'd have to fly back home on some very long flights with layovers). After researching, I found that Norwegian Cruise Line has at least a couple of ships that go up to Alaska during May with round trip itineraries that include Glacier Bay. They start in Seattle and end in Seattle. As a bonus, my best friend lives in Seattle.

The ship that seemed to have the best itinerary for us was the Norwegian Pearl. The ship, its accommodations and amenities appeared to be modern. After a lot of discussion, we pulled the trigger by purchasing 2 balcony suites for ourselves and her parents. Balcony suites are expensive, but since this was likely the only time that Allie and I would ever go on a cruise to Glacier Bay, we had to get them. By September last year, we were set for an Alaskan cruise aboard the Norwegian Pearl for seven days starting on May 9th.

High School Poems II

Duff
Brown, brush
Lies, burns, moisturizes
Forestial protective top soil
Dirt


Boulder
Common, terrestrial
Sits, cracks, crumbles
Is at the mercy of weather
Big rock


For Extra Credit
Great way to improve my score
Ain't this just so great?!


I had classes that covered poetry for 4 years straight, and by the second year, I just started recycling much of my works,just adding extras to cover differing requirements.

I'm not going to add any other poems from my schools years here. There's over 50 or so, but nufin really any good. Some were very ambitious, and I may revisit them later for future projects anew.

Alaska Cruise

May 8, 2010 to May 16, 2010 with Alice and family and friends, visited Seattle, Washington, Crab Pot Seattle, Federal Way, Washington, Juneau, Alaska, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Skagway Brewing, Skagway, Alaska, Ketchikan, Alaska, Rainforest Canopy & Zip-Line Expedition, Victoria, British Columbia and Pike Place Market

Great experiences and fun with the family in Alaska! Some points of interest.

(Original post/backup link)

California Nature (Rev. B)

Your journey roads herald adventure,
Impelling me to climb your cloven heights,
And romp carelessly,
as aureate poppy fields beckon.

Sun-kissed waters bounce along your shoreline.
They entice me to surf the crashing calm waves.

Canopy-enveloped valleys thrive with floral scents
That draw my ingression, but I forestall.

Instead I caper like Death Valley’s mysterious-moving-rocks,
Which tickle your basin by some unseen will.

I endeavor to hike your proud hills,
And find places to gaze lostly into lakes full with sky.

Vineyard nectar overflows like sweet sweat,
To spur my soul’s arousal as I partake.
Your boundless attributes gratify my wanderlust,
And allure me to appease your nature.

California Drone

There is this photo going around of a supposed UFO that was flying over Capitola, California in May 2008. There's an AOL News article which discusses this photo.

There is a likelihood that this photo is a hoax. According to the AOL article, "someone using the name Raji posted images on the Web site Craigslist, answered a few questions from UFO hunters around the world, and then just disappeared into cyberspace."

I have found alternative sources for the photos on flickr.com. In fact, there are a ton of photos uploaded as of March 28, 2008 on the TCorp account. TCorp has sixteen photos of the California Drone, including what appears to be two versions of the craft. The interesting thing about flickr.com is that it gives you the information about the camera used to take the photo. The original version of the photo above was taken with Konica Minolta DiMAGE X. Those who are searching for this "Raji" should keep this in mind. Several other flickr.com accounts also have photos, including hoax debunkers that have some interesting perspectives.

My impression of the California Drone photos is that they are hoaxes. Problems with the photo above? Although the angle of the sun/shades is similar across view of the photo, the angle is different in its depth. The light source between the object and the power lines is from the right side of the photo, but the light sources' height from the presumed ground is different. Also, the light intensity between direct sunlight on the object and the power line pole is much different. Another problem is focus. Both objects are in focus, but differently. It is almost as though they where taken with two different cameras.

Are Aliens Really Alien?

A question I've asked myself is that what if the beings we call aliens (visitors from other planets) are really not aliens at all, but inhabitants of our own planet. There are several ways for this to be true. The idea of ultraterrestrials and metaterrestrials is not new. However, there , is one more possibility that seems just as likely from a particular perspective.

There is a possibility that we are being visited by beings from the future. This is based on two assumptions. First, the human species will continue to evolve throughout time. Second, time travel is a technology that we will eventually obtain. If these two assumptions are true, then the most likely source of "alien" encounters is actually future evolved human-descended visitors that come back in time to observe their primitive past. They would come back to study us or to see us out of curiosity.

This would be that two major class of visitations would occur: site-seeing and scientific, or tourists and scientists. Almost on a lark to describe this possibility, I coined the term Future Evolved Terrestrial Tourists and Scientists (FETTS).

This would mean that some beings either come back to observe ancients times much in the same way we visit the pyramids or other ancients sites. In fact, there are stories that every president of the U.S. in modern times has seen U.F.O.'s at some point in their life. President Carter himself is even on the record as being a person who has seen one.

This also means that some other beings comes back to experiment on their primitive ancestors, much in the same way that we modern humans experiment on great apes, including climps.

This explanation is actually more likely than others if time travel proves to be easier than space travel. According to current understanding of the Universe, there is no reason as to why time travel shouldn't be allowed; though General Relativity does demonstrate that faster-than-light travel impossible. With this fact, assuming visitations from beyond are real, it seems most likely that these visitations are from our own world.

Cars: Protecting the protection

OK, I just saw something truly ironic.  A Prius had corner sticker bumpers for its rear bumper cover {which protects the main bumper, which protects car from nothing more that 2 MPH impacts}.  That has got to be worse than buying floormat covers to protect factory floormats that protect the carpet on the floor from getting dirty.

Casted Braches (final version)...almost

Night’s pale spirit dashes spiderwebs upon earth, 

Like villains cast onto silver screens, 

Lying without breath; but breathing, as wind affects, 

To spook our children on All Hallows’ Eve. 

Creaks and cackles echo, 

While creep jostles our own essence. 

This comforts ghosts banned from bliss, 

As they hide from Inferno’s joy. 

Clamoring so, and wailing, 

Lost souls seek new abodes; 

Haunting our windows as light upon memories; 

Whisking about, agitated, frustrated…then night wanes. 

Apollo rides out with his own cast of characters, 

To sweep away specters and their weeps, 

And comfort bring to little ones as they arise, 

Oblivious to the crypts under tread. 

About this poem: Casted Branches is about the pain of lose of a loved one, and the phases we experience when dealing with that lose. The challenge was to find new ways to express that kind of lose with a fresh and creative approach, since the topic is one of the most common and poorly written for poems. Cast Branches is prolly the best and most thoughtful poem I have written. In a way, it summarizes a period of my own life that stretched for several years. I also understand how this poem may be used to address the ending of a relationship, though this is not how I personally relate to it.

High School Poems I

I know a man with a big nose,
I'd swear it was a water hose.
He'd say it was not,
but it sure dripped a lot.
It ran all day;
Enough to fill the bay.
I told him his faucet had to be fixed.
So he gave his lip many licks.
His nose still ran with that slime.
Oh, how I hate the color lime.

The Brave Man

There once was a brave man
Who said, "I will, I can!"
So he did go
And tried, ya'no,
But he got scared and ran.

Hetch Hetchy exposed

Here's a photo of an exposed section of a southern portion of the infamous/famous Hetch Hetchy Aquaduct as it cuts through Santa Clara, CA.

My Beviepie

I used to sing this little ditty to Bevie (circa 1998-1999), set (roughly) to the tune of the ol' Spider-man cartoon theme song. It used to make her giggle...well, because it's pretty silly.

Beviepie, Beviepie

My-oh-my Beviepie

She's so cute

Yeah she is

She a beaut

I want to kiss

Hey hey,

There's my Beviepie

Days of Honor (florist version)

Each sunrise is a badge
we branshish with pride.
Honor of many days
Is our grace and blessing.
We flourish, grow,
And bloom with fullness,
To gift our energies
For this day.
Becuz we are flower & sun.