When I was a boy in elementary school, the classes were equipped with maps mounted on pedestals usually positioned off the to side of the classroom and the maps, I suppose they were more like map stands – with multiple maps in layers, were large enough to be used in instruction from the front of the class so they were actually large enough that important features like national borders, capitol cities and the like were easily seen by the kids in the class – even the kids in back. So you could stare at these things from your little desk while the teacher was droning on and on and on about something or another. I don’t remember much of what they said, but I would stare at those maps and dream of far-away places while waiting for the bell to ring and recess to begin.
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While working my way through a plan to continue and eventually complete my review of The Histories by Herodotus I started getting stuck on all the names and dates; the places, the battles, the people, the customs; not to mention the architecture, the sculptures, the poetry, the dramas, the pottery. Yes, even the pottery made history. The Greeks were awesome!
http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/ancient-greece/pictures/greek-architecture/the-parthenon-at-dusk-3 Continue Reading
Here’s a nice love-poem I found on poetryfoundation.org:
A Pity, We Were Such a Good Invention
In honor of an admittedly rare for Phoenix cool and cloudy day, I submit this short poem by Wallace Stevens:
On the Manner of Addressing Clouds Continue Reading
Book III of Herodotus The Histories is titled: Persian Conquest of Egypt, Samos, King Dareios of Persia, and Herodotus covers a lot of ground here – continuing on his Egypt theme of Book II. Continue Reading
This is somewhat, but not too terribly technical. It is extremely interesting and thought provoking.
![The orbit of Triton (red) is opposite in direction and tilted −23° compared to a typical moon's orbit (green) in the plane of Neptune's equator [image credit: Wikipedia]](https://gregole.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/triton_11.jpg)
The orbit of Triton (red) is opposite in direction and tilted −23° compared to a typical moon’s orbit (green) in the plane of Neptune’s equator [image credit: Wikipedia]
Triton is the seventh largest moon in the solar system. Not only that, it has over 99% of the mass of all Neptune’s moons combined. Its retrograde orbit makes it unique among the large moons of the solar system, and it is also the coldest known planetary body at -235° C (-391° F).
Turning to the orbit numbers, and looking at Triton’s closest ‘inner’ (nearer to Uranus) neighbour Proteus and the next two ‘outer’ moons, we find these values (in days):
1.122d Proteus
5.877d Triton
360.13d Nereid
1879.08d Halimede
We’ll treat Proteus and Triton as a pair, and the same for Nereid and Halimede.
Nereid is over fifteen times further from Uranus than Triton is, so hardly a neighbour at all.
Looking…
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What a night, what a wonderful night!
We played a house concert tonight at a house with absolutely phenomenal acoustics. It was a lot of fun! And then we checked out the moon. It was a great party! I wrote the program notes and played guitar on the second half. The notes will give you a good idea of the concert:
Book 2 (or Book II in Roman numerals (??!) which is how the contents of my translation are listed which is weird because as far as I know, Ancient Greeks didn’t use Roman Numerals…) but anyhow, the second book of a total of nine books of Herodotus the Histories concerns itself entirely of his visit(s) to Egypt, their Geography, their Customs, their History, their Tales – a kind of ancient travelogue. Continue Reading
Wow. It’s been awhile; I’ve been on the road; I’ve been consumed with duties; life. Life is like that. Don’t we all know. I have been planning an architectural blog and it is coming. But in the madness, the confusion of just too much, I return to Rumi. Rumi rocks. He speaks to us through the centuries, but somehow particularly to Americans, his vision is especially pointed. We Americans with our monogamy (isn’t cheating a form of serial polygamy; and with a 50% divorce rate who’s to say?) , our illusion of “having it all figured out”, our systems, our sadness and our violence. Rumi. There is more to life than we might allow. So. Here is a Rumi poem I especially like considering the tone I have set. WARNING: It is at least to be rated X but not triple X for adult themes and sexuality. It is one of my favorites. Continue Reading
Ridin’ Down The Canyon Continue Reading
Alan Olee Book Report 