Encouraged by Michi_Grrrl and Ima(not so)lilhothead:

1. All I need is L.O.V.E.

2. I apparently am a non profit organization that assesses needs and provides counseling and job skills.

3. I am RAW REALIST Art! But my browser can't access all the data needed to display this correctly. [Sorry - would love to show you all!]

4. I've got Associates! and I Offer the highest quality industrial bulb for all needs! [Wow! I sure wonder what the heck that means!]

5. I'm a Wedding Photographer, but need to FLASH in order to properly have this work out well.

6. I have all the passion and drive that one needs to make it in the music business.

7. I'm a Corporal, United States Army (thought I was in the Air Force) ... a hero and at this time we need our heroes to be together rather than apart. ... [I agree with all of this except Army!]

8. My songs stem from spiritual awakening ... There's nothing wrong with that -- we all have these kinds of needs.

9. I died on Dec.10 last year... cause of death - [no one's saying - apparently there were girls involved.]

10. I've been interviewed ... and I'm "all the entertainment you need!" I give "stars in [your] eyes"

11. I have handouts and medical information to assist in your on going health care needs. ...

12. I am an open source developer with SourceForge ... and I'll meet your needs.

13. I made pipes, and dreamcatchers for nieces, nephews, and whoever needed them.

14. I --- Needs Assessment: --- am Seeking a. Woman. For. Dating. [Tell me something else I didn't know!]

15. I need to spend the rest of my life studying one particular woman whom I am deeply in love with.

[Apparently, unlike Ima, I don't need toilet paper, advice, advertising or a gun. Unlike Michi, I don't need to grow up, wheels, to change, or another brother or sister or a library bag.]

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Although The Sun continues to be extremely quiet, and thus cooler, the major effect that can be seen on Earth from a burst of activity, the Northern (and Southern) Lights continue to give shows occasionally. This is due to a solar phenomenon known as "coronal holes" - where Sun's magnetic field is arrayed in a way that allows solar material to stream away at a higher than normal rate. This is not even close to strong as the solar "flares" that give rise to Auroras at middle-latitudes like mine , but those who live far north or south still get a nice show. The following from Spaceweather.com:

NORTHERN LIGHTS VS MIDNIGHT SUN: At this time of year, night doesn't fall around the Arctic Circle until almost midnight. The window of darkness for auroras is shrinking as summer approaches. Nevertheless, "we saw some beautiful Northern Lights over the weekend," reports Sylvain Serre, who sends this April 25th picture from the outskirts of Salluit, an Inuit village in Nunavik, Canada:


Photo details: Canon EOS 30D, 10mm, f 3.5, 800 ISO, 15 sec

"The sky was not very dark at 11:00 pm, but the Northern Lights came anyway. They were beautiful with a lot of movement over our heads."

People like me can never get enough of the Auroras, and though I can't see them in person during Quiet Sun periods, at least we can see photos and movies of them.

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From a "Town Hall" given today - ---
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First 100 days for Obama

Not that anyone is counting or anything, because let's face it, spending trillions of dollars we don't have is fun, isn't it? Speaking of that, Obama had one of those fancy town hall meetings today and had the audacity of hope to say this: "I have personally asked leadership to pass into law, rules that follow the simple principle: you pay for what you spend. So that government acts like any responsible family does. Want a new program? You've got to pay for it. We can't rest until we restore the fiscal discipline that will keep us from leaving our children with a mountain of debt."

What a riot this guy is, eh?

The above was from Glenn Beck's show today... I seldom send people stuff like this, but this one really deserves some extra air time. Not only has the current government added about three trillion dollars to the expected debt over the last 100 days, that figure does NOT include the huge additional debt and drag on the economy they are going to attempt to add when they address Government Health Care and "Carbon Taxes" to "fix" non-existent "man-made global warming" (It's the Sun, Stupid!) --- both of which government programs you can BET your bottom dollar will NOT provide the expected benefits, and their "cost" to the taxpayer and economy will be greatly underestimated. You can count on it: if either is passed, one to three years from now all the political class will be scratching their heads and wondering where they went wrong on both factors.

I'm really enjoying this non-partisan government stupidity.

I hope you all are, too.

Cheers... or should I say "Bottoms Up" since I'm trying to stay drunk.

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Back to "normal" life!

The light that illuminates the dark areas of Moon is called "Earthshine". Due to clouds being more common on Earth during April and May, Moon is "brighter" in those dark areas those two months. Here is a picture taken yesterday:

spaceweather.com/swpod2009/28apr09/Tamas-Ladanyi1_strip2.jpg" class="embedded-image" >

Instead of directly linking to the larger, more beautiful image, I am going to force you all to go to [url]http://www.spaceweather.com/[/url] today, and click on the above image there. (In the future the link may be something like: [url]http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=28&month=04&year=2009[/url] - They deserve the acclamation. It is one of my favorite websites, as many here have certainly noticed.

Notice the "bluish" color of this photo demonstrating the Earthshine is indeed bluish from our unusual planet! There are more details and references at spaceweather.com.

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I got so distraught after my tax/car debacle a week ago that I was not able to blog. I'm not quite sure what I did, in fact. I'm not sure if I've been drunk, or sleeping, or simply comatose since that time. I'll write what I recall about the fool episode.

For the last 15 years, I have gotten my taxes done and sent in on the last day possible. This has not been entirely intentional- there are years I have honestly intended to get them done BEFORE Apr.15, and even some I wanted to get them done in January, but most of the time my target has been for mid-Apr. No matter what my target was, though, it seems that something has always delayed me until the last day. Now for most Americans, tax day IS Apr.15 or the following Monday. However, I'm blessed with a charge of sending my tax return to a state address which has designated 15Apr as a State Holiday! WheeE! So MY taxes have to be mailed by 16Apr or the following Monday. It is a good thing that is true, or I would have crapped out this year, and many others.

So, here I was - all proud of myself this year - got my tax return completed on the 13th! WOW! Just about a record for me! Was I happy! Pressure is off. Three days to get a copy made and put them in the mail!

The next day, I mosey out the the car, get in and turn the key. Nothing! Totally dead battery: I had left the glove compartment open and the stupid little light in there drained the battery. Look at my last blog for the rest of my rant about that situation. Today I'll only add to the part about THAT battery is that all winter, this battery had shown no signs of being close to dying: It started the car right up at -5F/-20C - but the stupid little glove box light killed it.

- - - look at my last blog for the middle part of this story if you really want to hear my rant about the light killing a car battery - - -

Here it is the 15th, Spare battery charged up: reads about 13 volts - looks good. Now I have to hook it into the car. "Spare battery" is a top terminal. Car that has the stupid "side terminals". I've never dealt with these things before; not once. Should be easy to disconnect, though, right? I have plenty of wires and things to figure out how to connect it somehow...

Not so fast, moose breath! First thing is to get the old battery out, at least out of the circuit. I had to take apart a couple items of the car in order to REACH the stupid nuts on that battery with a wrench! Amazing! Finally, I'm in, and I start to turn the nut. Try to turn it, I should say. It didn't budge. Neither would the other terminal! I had the PROPER size socket on it, and amazingly enough, I put enough force on that stupid nut that it started to strip the nut! I checked "lefty loosey righty tighty" about ten times to make sure I was turning it to loosen it Spray on penetrating oil. Time to get another drink. An hour later, they still won't turn. Now getting on in to mid-afternoon. Phone the car dealer. "Is there some kind of strange fastener on these side terminal batteries? A Dzus fastener or something? Is it oppositely threaded? Why can't I get this off?" I really don't want to CUT the wire from the battery, for cripes sakes! "Nope, sir: it is a normal nut/bolt type thread". So it is time to go balls to the wall and forget about trying to save the nut.

By that time the nuts about had it anyway. Got out the ViceGrip. After about 20 minutes of failing to grip it hard enough, I get the idea that if I grab the washers UNDER the nut, I might be able to turn them and the nut will loosen. WORKED LIKE A CHARM! In fact, what looks like washers are PART of the nut, and the ViceGrips hung on to them beautifully, and for whatever reason, I was able to turn them! Whee Haw! I'm almost there! Might get into town, have time to make a copy and get it in the mail! Not going to take the old battery completely out - there is still a problem with that, but if the car starts with the spare battery now, I'll figure something out.

But it does not start. Battery looks OK as far as voltage, but does not have enough power/ amps to turn the car over. TIME FOR A DRINK. There's always the 16th. Actually, time to get DRUNK. ?Use the lawn mower battery?

Plan R, I must have been on by this time... Post office closes by the time I've finished pulling out my hair about this, and now I'm looking at the the last day: Apr.16... as usual for me. At least I had an "Request for Extension" of the date to file handy, so I'll put that in the mailbox on the 16th if needs be.

Meanwhile, I go out to my storage rooms with my mind swimming, and hunt through my mucho big pile of computer equipment I've accumulated from here, the junk yards, the curbs and work over the years. I'm certain that SOMETIME I had in that pile at least one scanner/copier -If I get it hooked in before the mailtruck comes, I can just copy and mail from home tomorrow and figure out how to start the car later. I KNOW it is there somewhere. Maybe if I go look right now, one will fall on my head, or break my ankle as soon as I get close. On the 15th&16th, I hunted for over an hour in several snatches between trying to get drunk, and I didn't see even one. Maybe I wasn't drunk enough.

Spare battery is definitely charged up and it IS reading 13V on the 16th. I put it in the circuit of the car - but settle it down by my feet inside the car. Open the window, and run jumper cables from it to the battery wire and ground - get a good connection. I tried to start, but knew it this wouldn't start it after yesterday- had to try once anyway. Hook up up the battery charger TOO, and LO and behold, Car starts! First stop: to get a new battery, and MUST not turn off the car! (Take all the tools with me, too!)

Third place I go to, I buy a battery, never having turned off the car - letting it run in the parking lot. Go over to a garage, to drop off a tire I need repaired, and they see the jumper cables running from the hood of the car into the compartment and ask why I'm letting the car run. "gotta get to post office"... I go there next, get my copies, and mail the taxes! Yeah! Victory. Oops... I forgot that I needed to keep the car running. It won't start, of course with "Spare Battery" so now I have no choice but to hook in new battery. I can do that at home, easily, so I figure I'll just hook IT to the jumper cables.

No you won't. There is nothing to grab on to! Aaaaaagh!

Have to get the old battery out here, now. No problem? Well, not exactly of course. Finally I get ready things apart enough to lift old battery out. But there is not enough room to grab the battery underneath. No handle on it. I tried several times to grab it on the sides, but I didn't have enough finger strength to lift it. I was just about to look for some clever way to put things under it and slowly lift it out when a wonderful BIG guy came by and asked if I could use some help. He was able to lift it out just using finger strength on the sides of the battery, though it took him a couple trys. THANK YOU! Whew.

The rest was easy: put the new battery in and turn the switch. Of course...

It started! About the only thing that happened as easily as expected those days! I got home the 16th and I've been sulking since then. Or maybe I've been drunk. Or growling.

I hate Taxes!
!!!

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I say again, for those who are deaf, "I hate the way the USA does taxes!"

Every single year, I find some way or other to procrastinate until the very last day to finish them, whether I want to or not. I always have what I owe figured out such that I have to pay, and get no "refund" of money that I have lent the US.Govt at no interest.

Well, this year, since it only came to 100$, I actually did them a day early. Of course something had to go "wrong".

I need some stupid picture here... let's see what I can come up with:



That is about right. Yesterday, I hopped in the car to go to town. You see, I need a copy or two of the tax return. Turn on ignition. Car does not start. It makes no peep. Look over at glove compartment, and stupid door is open, so "light in glove box" has been lit, and has used up the battery. I love these "wonderful" features that the car companies think we need. I paid an extra dollar or so for my car in order to have a switch and light that would drain the battery if the stupid glove box is not perfectly closed.

Now, I say, well, at least I am a day early getting the taxes done - Just charge up the battery! Right? Yeah! Great plan. Meanwhile, I look through my pile of computer junk for the scanner that I know I have somewhere in case I want to try to copy the tax forms here at home. Couldn't find it, of course. I'll probably see it in a week. I know somewhere... I don't really need it anyway, though... there is still tomorrow.

Today (tomorrow, above) I go out to start the car after being charged up all night. Turn key. NOTHING! What? Nothing? Yup.

Check the voltage of the "fully charged" battery. It is clear 1-2 cells of the battery were killed by the simple act of draining it through a small glove compartment light. Wonderful technology, that! This makes no sense to me, but I'm not going to dwell on it further now.

Neighbor is out walking, and I ask her if she perchance has a copier at home. No. Sigh.

So now, I am charging up my "spare battery" that has all cells good- It is close already. I'll hook it into the car, God willing. Of course, the stupid car battery is a "side terminal" battery (The ONLY one of those I've ever actually seen) and my spare battery is "top terminal" so I'll have to figure out some silly way to connect this stupid car to this normal battery.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

again: grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

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I want to thank each and every person who, in the last two weeks or so, made comments on my blog entries, or otherwise sent condolences or prayers, hugs or wishes, for me and the family of my friend who died of cancer.

These are all taken to heart, and are truly appreciated.

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

Death is inevitable for us all, and for many is nearly impossible to fathom. Personally, I am very comfortable with the concept: This life is merely a shadow of the world we will live in throughout eternity. Thus, since I came of age, I have never had a great fear of death for myself or others if they have lived a good Christian life. Of course I can not judge, and my judgment doesn't matter anyway, but I've worried for some now-dead friends who made choices I thought were poor, and I pray for mercy upon them as well as me and others.

[img]http://www.wga.hu/art/b/burgkmai/crucifix.jpg[/img]

Though dozen of things are incorrect in this image, one of them being a lack of nudity, never forget that This Death made true life possible, and thus has become a symbol NOT of pain and hopelessness, but instead is a symbol of victory and ecstasy for all of us.

I wish all of you a Good day.

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So those stories about going fishing or hunting or to the ball park all the time sound a bit fishy to you, and you're sure you detect a fishy smell, perhaps it isn't as bad as you think.

Possibly it is even worse:



It's hard to imagine not being able to do better than this. Is there a neuron left in the skull???

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Gotta run quick...

A short update on the Sun. Right now we have been 30 days without a sunspot. Thus, the length of the solar minimum has been extended for another month. I have addressed the significance of this as far as the likelihood of much cooler temperatures for Earth in an earlier blog of mine.

In short, the longer this minimum, the cooler the earth is going to be over the next decade or two. See my Mar23 blog.

This is EASILY the deepest solar minimum since 1913. We've already easily exceeded the number of spotless days of all the intervening minimums, and you can see from the charts below that we should expect many more.

The deepest minimum since 1913 was 568 spotless days in the 1933 solar cycle. This minimum has exceeded that with our current number of 594, and it is easy to imagine looking at the chart above that we will exceed the 1019 spotless days of the 1913 minimum.

The graph immediately below charts spotless days in orange for the current minimum up until mid-May2008... About ten tall orange bars must be added to the upper graph below in order to bring it up to the present date, as can be seen from the graph I link at the bottom of this page.



The lower chart shows the 1933 minimum spotless days. There really is no indication from these charts that we've clearly hit the midpoint of the spotless days of this cycle.

If you mash the link below, you can see the period June 2007-Mar2009... to show that we need to add many orange bars to the graph above. It also shows in blue the 1996 solar minimum.

[url]http://www.solarcycle24.com/graphs/sunspotgraph.gif[/url]

I'll work on updating this chart in the next few days with the current data, and see if I can locate the spotless data for years prior to 1913. I'll put a link in the comments below when I do so.