New Moon Tonight - Dark Skies on Tap

Last year I published a post concerning  the problem of light pollution and how it can mess-up your viewing of the celestial bodies on a dark night.  Tonight offers a terrific opportunity to venture outside for what might be the last of the winter stargazing as long as the skies remain clear and cold.  This is because it will be extra dark tonight.  The darkness is a consequence of the new moon.  

With this new moon, the earth, moon and sun will align with one another in a straight line.  The moon will fall between the earth and the sun appearing in front of the sun and hidden by the glare. 

In this alignment the moon is 'disappears' because the side we see not illuminated.  Word to the wise - never observe anything in the direct path of the sun.  Doing so may damage your eyes and cause permanent blindness.

Book Review

The publishing of this post has everything to do with my finishing this book on Monday afternoon and nothing to do with the impeachment trial of Donald Trump.  That is coincidence.  As former FBI Director James Comey said - Impeachment would let the American people off the hook and have something happen indirectly that I believe the they're duty-bound to do directly. 

Donald Trump has already been completely removed from office.  But I digress.

The title of this book is deceptive as it is far more than simply removing a president from office. This is a historical account of our country’s rather dark political and presidential election history. 

This is an excellent read chronicling the drama of party intrigue and betrayal, backroom deals, presidents who died in office by means of natural causes and at the hands of an assassin. Presidents undermined by opponents and subordinates, presidential departures and presidential ambitions of some particularly talented individuals thwarted. There is more than a fair share of corruption and graft in the historical timeline - a veritable double-dose. It reminds us that our nation has had some really terrible, horrible, very bad chief executives. 

David Priess takes a deep dive into pertinent provisions of the U.S. Constitution to explain how the Founding Fathers struggled with how much stability to offer a chief executive without making the position ineffective. As well, how to avoid the tyranny of a presidential monarch. 

The author makes the historical context relevant by means of good storytelling and a bit of dark humor. If you think that the last couple of elections have been laden with drama you need to wrap your mind around the historical record. 

In particular, I was previously unaware of the circumstances surrounding the Electoral College drama in the contest of New York Governor – Democrat Samuel Tilden against the Republican many American came to know as ‘Rutherfraud’ B. Hayes. 

If you like politics and history this is an eye-opening and terrific read.

 

Celestial Hunter

Orion - a familiar image situated on the celestial equator - is one of the most recognizable constellations in the night sky.   

Named for Orion 'The Hunter' of Greek mythology the constellation's brightest stars are blue-white Rigel and red Betelgeuse. The most noticeable part of Orion is Orion’s Belt – with the alignment of three stars sure to catch your eye.  Hanging from The Hunter’s belt is a sword identified as three fainter stars. The central star of the sword is actually not a star at all – it is the Great Orion Nebula.

In the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere this time of year Orion appears to be lying on his side – with the Belt stars pointing upward – when he rises in the eastern sky. 

This photo taken with my iPhone XR from the driveway looking east.

click on the image to enlarge

As the story goes - Orion hunted along the river Eridanus along with his ever-present dogs – Canis Major and Canis Minor.  With his dogs Orion stalked various celestial animals including Lepus the rabbit, and Taurus the bull. In the mythology of the ancient Greeks Orion was in love with Merope - one of the Seven Sisters forming the constellation Pleiades.  Alas, Merope spurned Orion’s advances. Tragically, the heartbroken Orion met his end when he was stung by Scorpious the scorpion.

Nevertheless, the gods were kind and they consequently fixed Orion permanently in the heavens with his two dogs. The creatures he hunted were placed in the sky as constellations as well. With foresight the gods exiled Scorpius to the opposite side of the heavens so that Orion would forever be safe from harm. 

Raising a toast to cold, clear winter skies and star gazing.   

Cheers!

Monday Morning Quarterbacking

I recognize that my friends and acquaintances who happen to be die-hard Trump supporters continue to embrace a belief that the election was stolen from their guy. The intent of this post is not to change their hearts and minds. I recognize that is impossible. Besides, everyone is entitled to their own belief system.

The purpose of this post is to briefly review the truthful reasons for Trump’s defeat in the last election as revealed by an autopsy conducted by his campaign’s internal polling people.

To be clear – this isn’t made-up fake news – this is the actual 27 page Exit Poll Analysis by Fabrizio, Lee and Associates and published by Politico. Hit the hyperlink for a redirect to the document – it is an easy read.

The report focuses on the ten battleground states that Trump won in 2016 but split in the 2020 election. The five states won by Biden in 2020 are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin while the five states held by Trump in 2020 include Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.

There’s much to learn from the Autopsy but the key takeaways are among the following:

1. While Trump increased turnout in 2020 among GOP voters – receiving a record number of GOP votes – Trump lost independents.

2. Trump increased his support among Hispanics by a significant margin, broke even among Black voters but lost significant support among White Males across all states.

3. Support for Trump shrank among all age groups but was greatest among 65+ and 18-29 year-old groups. The greatest losses were among College-Educated White voters in all states.

4. New voters in 2020 supported Biden.

5. Both candidates were not perceived as particularly honest or trustworthy – nevertheless, Biden held a double digit advantage over Trump in flipped states.

6. Trump was perceived as mishandling Covid across the board – particularly in flipped sates.

7. Covid was the Number One issue for voters across the board but more so in flipped states. Biden won that support 3:1

8. The economy was the Number Two issue for voters across the board and Trump won that support 6:1

9. Three-fourths of voters across the board favored mask mandates.

10. 90 percent of voters said that Supreme Court appointments were a factor. Strangely, for those that said it was they supported Biden across the board. Those that said it wasn’t largely voted for Trump.

Conclusion:

Trump’s slow-walking of the pandemic and personal behavior (truthfulness) was a big deal – particularly for suburban voters. Spurn the Big Fat Middle of the electorate at your own peril. Politicizing the virus, wishful thinking and ridiculing masking was a strategic blunder. Same for obsessing over the stock market.  

Trump had at his fingertips the virtually limitless resources of the federal government, its agencies and its scientists.  Trump failed to seize the moment like George Bush did when he mounted the still smoking ruins of the 9/11 attack with a megaphone. 

In my own opinion, if Trump would have seized on the notion that China ‘did us bad’, focused on early detection and contact tracing of the virus, set an early and consistent example in common sense public health measure (social distancing, hand washing and masking) and ceased conflating the economy with the stock market he would have won the election. Maybe by a landslide.

 

Bathroom Humor

Hard to believe someone could get away with this - yet the proof is in the picture......

Wile E. Coyote

Near the dawn of time, the story goes; Coyote saved the creatures of Earth. According to the mythology of Idaho's Nez Perce people, the monster Kamiah had stalked into the region and was gobbling up the animals one by one. The crafty Coyote evaded Kamiah but didn't want to lose his friends, so he let himself be swallowed. From inside the beast, Coyote severed Kamiah's heart and freed his fellow animals. Then he chopped up Kamiah and threw the pieces to the winds, where they gave birth to the peoples of the planet.  

– Nature

Yote - short for coyote, Wile E. Coyote, Canis latrans.   If you were to inquire of a wildlife biologist they would tell you that there are nineteen subspecies of coyote that are exceedingly well-adapted to living in urban, rural and wild America.   

Male coyotes top out at about 44 pounds while females weigh-in slightly less.  For scale my Lab is bulkier than the average coyote.   

Coyotes are known for how well they adapt to different habitats.  They are found living in and around large cities, the central plains, farmland, and northern forest, in the desert scrub of the Sonoran Desert, foothills and mountains as well as in populated ring suburbs. 

Coyotes dine on large prey and also eat snakes, insects, rodents, fruit and other mast.  As an opportunistic hunter coyotes have been known to prey-upon small pets and livestock.  In an urban setting they will eat garbage and pet food left on a deck or patio.  The coyote is a gregarious animal - socially-inclined - like the wolf.  This is likely a consequence of the need for a family unit or pack of animals combining to bring down large game. 

Recent genetic studies suggest that coyotes are not native to the eastern United States - having largely evolved on the Great Plains.  As the eastern old growth forests were cleared for settlement and agriculture coyotes adapted to the new environs.   It is thought that coyotes dispersed to our neck of the woods early in the twentieth century.  These canids are presumed to have come from the northern Great Plains and are unique in their genetic origins.  Additional coyotes dispersed from here to New England via the northern Great Lakes region and southern Canada meeting in the 1940s in New York and Pennsylvania. These coyotes have inter-bred  with gray wolf and Eastern wolf populations adding to their own unique genetic diversity and further contributing to their hybrid vigor and ability to adapt to an ever changing environment.  Coyotes here are known as the Northeastern coyote. 

More frequently Jill and I hear coyote vocalizations than we see them live and in person.  In rural America coyotes share the same natural aversion to people that other wildlife do.  They are scared-to-death of people.  However, from time to time I do capture a handful of digital photos on a trail camera.

All of which leads to this:  From the centrally-located camera set on video mode is this short, silent, video vignette.  A bonus.....

 

Nutcracker

Plenty of birds will make quick trips to and from your feeder – too many for it to be eating them all – it is likely to be storing the seeds for later in the winter, by caching them in nearby trees.  Blue jays do this and so does this bird.

clinging to a screen on our porch

Meet Sitta carolinensis - The White-breasted Nuthatch.  The names is derived from the Middle English word 'nuthak' from the bird's habit of wedging nuts in the bark of a tree and using its beak to break-open the hull to extract the seed within.  

A common visitor to your backyard feeder - summertime fare is primarily insects and larvae and nuthatches are distinctive when searching for food as they descend tree trunks head-first and can hang upside-down beneath twigs and branches locating food that other birds overlook.

Identified by its black cap (gray if female) and a chestnut lower belly. The upper parts are pale blue-gray, and the face and underparts are white. Nuthatches have small tails and almost no neck, making them appear chubby in appearance.

As a casual winter feeder observer it is clear that this bird is inclined to  join mixed flocks of Juncos, Chickadees, Downy woodpeckers, Finches and Redpolls.  It is thought that the vigilance of many birds foraging together assists all of them in keeping an eye out for raptors.

A cavity nesting bird - breeding pairs are monogamous raising one brood per year.  Female builds the nest and both parents assist in feeding raising their young.

form monogamous pairs that remain together year-round from the time of courtship and establishment of a territory until one of the pair dies or disappears.

form monogamous pairs that remain together year-round from the time of courtship and establishment of a territory until one of the pair dies or disappears.

form monogamous pairs that remain together year-round from the time of courtship and establishment of a territory until one of the pair dies or disappears.