You are deluding yourself if you think the officially-called Inflation Reduction Act (signed into law only a few moments ago) is actually going to reduce inflation.
Inflation is a monetary phenomenon.
The bill isn’t going to have any noticeable impact
at all.
One of the regular wildlife representatives on the trail cameras is Canis latrans...
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| Nocturnal |
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| Soggy |
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| Hungry |
It has occurred to me this evening that with Wyoming's primary election tomorrow Liz Cheney has Missouri senator, and Trump sycophant, Josh Hawley’s tiny little testicles hanging from the grill of her SUV.
Yesterday I picked another batch of cukes from the garden and figured I now have enough to begin canning my infamous crispy crunchy sweet and dill pickles.
The pickle barrel has been fetched and delivered to the kitchen for use later today. All I have to locate is a big head of fresh garlic for the dills. And another bottle of spices for the sweet.
In further news there are these ripening on the vine.
An heirloom tomato called a Striped Stuffer. It seems somewhat hollow. Do you stuff it with something? I'll cut one open to check. The interweb likely has a stuffing solution.
Finally, the kitchen counter is home to these delightful snacking tomatoes - two kinds of red and one yellow variety.
When the winter winds of February howl and Ma Nature is flinging freezing rain and sleet at my windows the memory of these would drive an ordinary man to commit high crimes and misdemeanors. I resolve to remain strong as there is homemade Uncle Dick's Tomato Juice in my bunker.
Bottled, liquid sunshine.
Vive le Jardin Magnifique!
The month of August has a plethora of astronomy to occupy your summer evenings. And at great risk of going apocalyptic on my readers it also brings something that should keep you up at nights.
Something worth worrying about.
For thousands of years the meteor shower that we call the Perseids is a consequence of earth passing through the debris field left behind by Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle.
Yup. the periodic return of Swift-Tuttle bears the seeds of our own demise.
Swift-Tuttle is big (16 miles across) and fast (36 miles per second). It is estimated that it is up to 300 times more powerful than the asteroid that struck earth and wiped-out the dinosaurs. And sometime in the next couple of thousand years it is going to pass perilously close to our planet.
Swift-Tuttle's next approach to earth will be in August of 2126 bringing it within about 14 million miles or 60 times the distance from the earth to the moon. Current models predict that the comet won't get any closer than 80,000 miles of earth's orbit. That may seem like a great distance but in outer space terms that is a near miss. Under the worst of circumstances our gravitation field could alter the comet's trajectory causing it to strike the earth.
That would result in the largest mass extermination event in hundreds of millions of years. Yowza. Game over. A terrible, horrible, very bad day.
Nevertheless, I certainly don't plan on being around over a hundred years from now much less 2400 years from now.
For the present we can sleep well...
When a stellar object is opposite the sun in the night sky this is what is known as opposition to the sun. (Word of the Day) The object might include a planet from our own solar system such as Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus or Neptune. It can also include a dwarf planet such as Pluto or an asteroid such as Vesta. These opposition events are significant for us stargazers as the object will rise at sunset and set at sunrise. It will remain visible in the night sky in-between those times.
Opposition is the very best time these bright and shiny objects in the night sky.
For one time every year the earth passes between the sun and the the sixth planet, Saturn. As a consequence tomorrow evening Saturn will will be in opposition and quite observable even with the light interference of a full moon.
August has a great deal going for it - Comet K2, the Perseids, a Super Sturgeon Moon and Saturn being closest and brightest in our night sky. ALL NIGHT LONG.
Watch for Saturn as it rises in the east and sets in the west. To locate it look for Jupiter which is the very brightest planet in the sky this time of year. Saturn will be to the right and slightly higher (refer to the sky map).
While you can enjoy a very good view of Saturn without optics if you have access to a telescope this is an excellent opportunity to observe the rings of the planet. If you are lucky you might even spot Titan - Saturn's largest moon!
Fingers-crossed for clear night skies and enough breeze to sweep the mosquitoes away.
Cheers!
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| Stellarium |
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