Latest Forum Topics

This Week's Sky at a Glance

Bill — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:16:46 +0000

Friday, May 11

• Brilliant Venus is dropping lower in the west-northwest every evening this month. A telescope shows it enlarging and waning in phase, as shown here; it's swinging ever closer to the line between us and the Sun. Look a little to its right for the much fainter star Beta Tauri (not shown here). As of tonight the planet and star are 1½° apart.

Saturday, May 12

• Last-quarter Moon (exact at 5:47 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time). The Moon rises in the middle of the night, looking lopsided and awkward in dim Aquarius.

Sunday, May 13

• Use Venus, the bright landmark point in the west-northwest at dusk, to identify stars in the May twilight. Capella is to Venus's upper right. Pollux and Castor are farther to Venus's upper left, and Procyon is lower left of Pollux. These four stars form the enormous Twilight Arch of Spring.

Monday, May 14

• The pair of points you'll find shining fairly high in the southeast at nightfall are Saturn and (to its lower right) Spica. Look to their lower right for the four-star pattern of Corvus, the Crow. Look farther to their upper left for brighter Arcturus, the "Spring Star."

Tuesday, May 15

• Arcturus shines high in the southeast after dark. Vega, equally bright, shines lower in the northeast. A third of the way from Arcturus to Vega look for dim Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, with its one modestly bright star, Alphecca.

Two thirds of the way from Arcturus to Vega is the dim Keystone of Hercules.

Wednesday, May 16

• This is the time of year when the Big Dipper floats upside down at its highest due north when the stars come out. Far below it is Polaris. Far below Polaris, near or even below the horizon depending on your latitude, is W-shaped Cassiopeia.

Thursday, May 17

• The Summer Triangle is fully up in the east by about 11 p.m. Its top star is Vega, the brightest in the eastern sky. About two fist-widths to Vega's lower left is Deneb. Farther to Vega's lower right is Altair. If you have a dark sky, you'll see that the Milky Way runs through it.

Friday, May 18

• Arcturus is the brightest star high in the southeast these evenings. It's the leading light of the constellation Bootes, the Herdsman. The main stars of Bootes form a narrow, bent kite shape extending left of Arcturus, nearly three fists at arm's length long. Or maybe the kite is a pointy-toed shoe, with Arcturus the tip of the toe.

Saturday, May 19

• Venus, moving lower in the west every evening as twilight fades, is now 2° left of much fainter Beta Tauri, which has been descending almost in parallel with it.

• Partial/annular solar eclipse tomorrow! On Sunday afternoon, all but easternmost North America will experience at least a partial eclipse of the Sun. So will the Pacific and (on the morning of May 21st local date) the eastern half of Asia. The eclipse will become annular — with the rim of the Sun a brilliant ring surrounding the dark silhouette of the Moon — along a path from south China and parts of Japan across the Pacific to the California-Oregon coast and from there southeastward to end at sunset in Texas. See our article May 20th's Annular Eclipse of the Sun, which has links to detailed maps, local timetables, and many other resources, including How to Watch Safely. Reminder: Looking at any part of the bright Sun without a proper, safe solar filter can permanently damage your vision.

Profile Cover Photos

data66 — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:07:34 +0000

You can add a cover photo to your profile now.

On your profile page you will see Add a Cover button. Click it and you can either upload a photo or use one that's uploaded already.

I searched google for Profile cover photo and used an 852 x 314 sized one that you can see on my profile.

Famous Quotes

Bill — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 10:33:36 +0000

“I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.”
― Marilyn Monroe

The Beatles End

Bill — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:17:39 +0000

The Beatles Called It Quits 42 Years Ago Todayby: Dave Swanson 7 hours ago

Potter/Hulton Archive, Getty Images

All good things must come to an end, and this was never more true in the world of rock and roll than it was forty two years ago today (April 10, 1970) when it was announced that the the Beatles were no more.

The tale of the breakup of the Beatles is a long and, well, winding road. The band had begun to implode for a while. When manager Brian Epstein passed away in 1967, the first cracks were showing. By the time of the recording of the 1968 double-record set ‘The Beatles’ (aka “The White Album”) things had gotten worse. The Beatles were working less and less like a band, with each member focusing on their own compositions in the studio.

Flash forward to early 1969 and recording sessions for what would eventually become the ‘Let It Be’ album. Captured forever thanks to a documentary film crew (though hidden from public view for many years) the film ‘Let It Be’ shows the band breaking up before our eyes. With tensions running high and resentment building, it was clear they were not long for this world. Even though they would somehow carry on and record the much more harmonious ‘Abbey Road,’ the end was in sight.

After repeated clashes with new business manager Allen Klein, Paul McCartney was looking for it to end, perhaps sooner than the others. When ‘Abbey Road’ was released in September of 1969, John Lennon told the others that he wanted to leave the band, though no formal announcement was made. It would ultimately be McCartney who would spill the beans during the promotion for his debut solo album, which was released in April of 1970. An official announcement from the band concerning the break up would not come until the end of 1970.

There will never be another, we can only be glad they were here as long as they were.

Ciao

AnotherOther — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 20:49:09 +0000

I am from England but have been living in Italy for the last 3 and a bit years. I love Italy and wish I'd moved here years ago. Ciao to everyone!

A Thought For Today

Bill — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:46:25 +0000

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Ambition is like hunger; it obeys no law but its appetite. -Josh Billings, columnist and humorist (1818-1885)

User Name Tagging

data66 — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:41:40 +0000

To Tag another user in comments or wherever, you need to use the @username so if you wanted to tag me you would use @data66.

Introducing the Buffer Button

data66 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:36:55 +0000

You may notice that our Facebook and Twitter share buttons have disappeared. They have been replaced with the Buffer Button. You can share as many things as you want with Buffer and pick to share to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and soon Google+. These can be shared right away or they can post throughout the day at intervals you set. This way, you don't have to worry about swamping your followers/friends with a bunch of posts all at once.

The Buffer Button will also shorten the urls and keep Gabb from being banned from those sharing sites as they have new anti-spam policies and long links, if shared by a lot of people, can look like spam. You can see how many people are looking at your shared items with the analytics feature. You can even use your bit.ly account if you have one.

Buffer has different plans. Free and paid. The free plan allows you to share instantly or to store up to 10 shared items in your buffer to post when you want. You can even set different days to post if you have an event to promote.

Hope you like this new feature.

Widgets for your Pages

data66 — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:31:07 +0000

If you have created a page and want to use a widget, most Javascript widgets won't work so you need to get the flash version of the widget.

Seeking Justice: Film Review

Bill — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 08:44:49 +0000

Seeking Justice: Film Review

The Bottom Line

Vigilante fantasy meets conspiracy nuttiness in silly thriller.

Opens

Friday, March 16 (Anchor Bay)

Cast

Nicolas Cage, January Jones, Guy Pearce, Jennifer Carpenter, Harold Perrineau, Xander Berkeley

Director

Roger Donaldson

January Jones, Guy Pearce and Jennifer Carpenter co-star with Nicolas Cage in director Roger Donaldson's thriller for Anchor Bay about a man who finds himself in the middle of a dangerous vigilante operation.

Not much makes sense in Roger Donaldson's Seeking Justice, a goofy little thriller that jettisons logic anytime it interferes with squeezing in more paranoia. Neither the script's conspiracies nor Nicolas Cage's performance is weird enough to trump the film's generic feel, a low-rent vibe unlikely to wow at the box office.

2 Party System

Bill — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 11:16:40 +0000

Question: Is it time for our electoral system to change?

On the yes side, I would love to see each candidate, whatever party they represent, be on the ballot. This primary stuff is old, and allows more "Shenanigans" to take place. Straight forward is what I'd like. I'd also like a "None Of The Above" choice put on the ballot. Voting is supposed to be about choice, not weeding people out before they have a chance to make an impact. I don't like monopolies, and this Democrat/Republican thing is just that. Those with the most money and lobbyists wins.

Toby Mac

CTcamp — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 08:13:33 +0000

Toby Mac Website: http://www.tobymac.com/

ABOUT TOBY MAC:

The ascension of TobyMac’s solo career has been nothing short of spectacular. In an era of declining music sales he has consistently defied the odds and has seen his sales increase with each new album release. This is no small feat. With his fourth studio album TONIGHT set to release on Feb. 9, he is poised to take things higher yet again.

Having climbed the mountain once with the group dcTalk (4 Grammys, more than 8 million albums sold), TobyMac knows how difficult the journey can be and how much work the process actually takes. Rarely does an artist get to soar to great heights for a second time, but soar he has. He took home his first Grammy as a solo artist last year after receiving Grammy nominations for each of his first three solo projects (Momentum, Welcome To Diverse City, Portable Sounds). And last year TobyMac topped 2 million in total albums sold during his solo career. He has done it with a combination of talent, hard work and humility which has produced songs that resonate with people from all walks of life.

Upon embarking on his solo career, Toby sought to surround himself with a talented and diverse cast of characters, aptly named the Diverse City Band. The result has been a musical fusion that radiates with an unquenchable energy and a penetrating message.

A self-professed perfectionist when making records—he’s been known to relentlessly tweak and massage every little thing in an inexorable effort to make it sound better—Toby is the first to admit that he has to work really hard to make great music. “That’s what drives me,” he says. “I feel like I have to work harder than other people to get there. Sometimes I feel like I’m slightly under-gifted; I usually don’t sit down and write a great song in just a few minutes like others can. But I think my work ethic makes up for that.”

Starting with dcTalk, and then going solo when the group disbanded in 2000, Toby still clings to such rootsy notions as hard work, persistence, patience and—perhaps most relevant of all—the power of music, which he insists is still what keeps him going.

Link to Toby Mac's music:
http://www.tobymac.com/media/music/

Hi there

CTcamp — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 08:03:53 +0000

My name is Conrad, i am married with two beautiful children. I love Jesus and the Word of the Lord.
I am a drummer, but left the band scene to be a better husband and father. i never regret this decision, since the fulfillment of being a husband and dad far outweights the perks of being in a band.

Planets in March night sky

Bill — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 23:53:52 +0000

This Week's Sky at a Glance

Some daily events in the changing sky for March 2 – 10

by Alan M. MacRobert

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jupiter and Venus continue drawing together by nearly 1° per day. On March 2nd they're still 10° apart.

Sky & Telescope diagram
Friday, March 2

• Bright Venus and Jupiter continue to draw closer together in the evening sky this week. And use them to find little Mercury far below. Watch Mercury fading day by day.

• The dark edge of the Moon occults (covers) the 4.1-magnitude star Nu Geminorum late tonight for most of eastern and central North America. With a telescope, watch the star creep up to the Moon's limb and then suddenly wink out. Some times: Montreal, 12:15 a.m. EST; Washington DC, 12:29 a.m. EST; Atlanta, 12:49 a.m. EST; Chicago, 11:21 p.m. CST; Kansas City, 11:34 p.m. CST, Edmonton, 9:32 p.m. MST. More times.

Saturday, March 3

• The Moon shines above Procyon after dark. Upper left of the Moon are Pollux and Castor.

• Mars is at opposition, appearing opposite the Sun in Earth's sky. This is the most distant opposition of Mars in its 15-year cycle of oppositions near and far, so the planet appears only 13.9 arcseconds wide. At its next time around in April 2014, Mars will reach a diameter of 15.2″.

Sunday, March 4

• Mercury is at greatest elongation, 18° east of the Sun. Look for it above the sunset horizon far below and perhaps a bit right of Venus and Jupiter. Mercury remains at nearly the same place above your horizon each evening this week, but it's fading day by day.

Watch the big bright Moon pass Regulus and Mars opposite the Sun.

Sky & Telescope diagram
Monday, March 5

• Mars is at its closest to Earth for this apparition: 100.8 million km (62.6 million miles). Mars appears 13.9 arcseconds wide, compared to the 24″ or 25″ it reaches during its closet swing-bys. The last time that happened was in 2003; the next will be in 2018.

• The eclipsing variable star Algol should be at minimum light, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple hours centered on 9:25 p.m. EST. It takes several additional hours to fade and to rebrighten.

Tuesday, March 6

• The nearly full Moon hangs to the right of Regulus this evening, as shown here. Mars shines to their lower left.

Wednesday, March 7

• Mars shines left of the full Moon this evening, as shown here; both are at or near opposition. (The Moon is exactly full at 4:39 a.m. Thursday morning EST.)

Thursday, March 8

• This is the time of year when Sirius, the brightest star after the Sun, shines due south at nightfall. Upper left of it (by two fists at arm's length) is Procyon. Upper right of Sirius by the same distance is Betelgeuse in Orion's shoulder. These three stars form the bright, colorful Winter Triangle.

Friday, March 9

• The Big Dipper glitters high in the northeast these evenings, standing on its handle. You probably know that the two stars forming the front of the Dipper's bowl (currently on top) are the Pointers; they point to Polaris, currently to their left.

And, you may know that if you follow the curve of the Dipper's handle out and around by a little more than a Dipper length, you'll arc to Arcturus (now rising in the east).

But did you know that if you follow the Pointers backward the opposite way, you'll land in Leo?

Draw a line diagonally across the Dipper's bowl from where the handle is attached, continue on, and you'll go to Gemini.

And look at the two stars forming the open top of the Dipper's bowl. Follow this line past the bowl's lip far across the sky, and you crash into Capella.

Saturday, March 10

• The waning gibbous Moon forms a nice triangle with Saturn and Spica once they're well up by 10 or 11 p.m.

• Daylight-saving time begins (for most of North America) at 2 a.m. Sunday morning. Clocks spring forward 1 hour.

Weird Things In The World

Bill — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 13:58:51 +0000

Add any weird things you know of. Maybe we'll be the ones to figure them out!