24 April 2020 - Plague Journal Day 43

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Huzzah! It's Arbor Day - the day to plant a tree - the last Friday in April. I don't know the weather where you are (after all, I don't know where you are - I'm not Facebook nor Google), but I do know that it's far too cold to be out planting trees here in Michigan. How can it be that we've been plagued with snow and far-below-normal temperatures all this month?
Allow me to explain.

The only thing that's been holding off the Ice Age we've anticipated since the 1970s is the small amount of greenhouse gases we've added to the Earth's atmosphere. Now that the pandemic has the factories and cars and trucks mostly shut down, Nature is taking her course. Enjoy the fruits of the lack of labor, folks, and put another log on the fire.
"What are you talking about?" I hear you mutter. Allow me to elucidate with a bit of a quotation from a very fun novel (Fallen Angels, by Larry Niven, Michael Flynn, and Jerry Pournelle):

"What's to lecture?" Needleton demanded. "It was all simple, and known before 1980. The sun is not producing enough neutrinos. Ergo, it is not fusing. Yet, according to the technetium levels in deep molybdenum mines there were plenty of neutrinos passing through the Earth during interglacial and preglacial periods."

"Excuse me, Bob," said Gregory Lutenist, "are you leading this discussion or am I?"

Bob waved a hand. "Sorry, Greg. Go ahead." In a near-whisper, "Gordon, it's a cycle. Fusion stops, the sun cools a bit, shrinks a bit, the core gets denser and hotter, fusion starts again, the new warmth inflates the sun. See? Is that a relief, or what?"

"Maunder Minimum!" someone shouted.

Lutenist beamed. "The sun goes through sunspot cycles. Lots of sunspots, it gets warm here. Few sunspots, colder weather. An astronomer named Maunder recorded sunspots and found that the last time there weren't any the planet went through what was known as the Little Ice Age, the Maunder Minimum." He paused dramatically. "And in the 1980s it became certain that the planet was going into a new Maunder Minimum period."

"Yes, yes, we know this," Gordon said. "Sunspots are important to us. But if so important to Earth, why do they not know cold is coming?"

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

23 April 2020 - Plague Journal Day 42

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today, as every day, it seems, has multiple celebrations from which to choose.
It's St. George's Day (time to sing England's national song).
It's also Slay a Dragon Day (frankly, that's simply a corollary to the first celebration).
Finally (at least in this post), it's also World Book Day.

"But how," I hear you cry, "how am I to join these three seemingly unrelated celebrations?!"
Allow me to allay your anxiety. I simply suggest that you get - and read - a copy of Gordon R. Dickson's The Dragon and the George to make your day complete.

As an added feature - a bonus, in fact - I'm posting a picture of Mr. Dickson's famous "Dragon Signature" which the author inscribed to your humble blogger some time ago, and not in the book in question (as you can see), but in another novel of his which I can also recommend to you - Time Storm.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

22 April 2020 - Plague Journal Day 41

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day, or as you're likely to see it written these days, earth day.

You know what bothers me? You know what drives me batty these days? When did we stop capitalizing proper nouns? There's a difference between Earth and earth - the former is a planet, the latter is dirt (or a component of electrical wiring if you're of the British persuasion).
Good grief, people - you wouldn't say you're from paris or detroit, why would you say something happened on earth unless you were distinguishing it from having happened on water?

grr.


Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

21 April 2020 - Plague Journal Day 40

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

In a shattering turn of events, directly following 4/20 (April 20) is today, April 21, the locus of celebration of Keep Off The Grass Day. So there.


Yesterday I nearly asked what seemed to be a rhetorical question: "What could make your day better than watching Christopher Walken dance?"
Apparently it wasn't as rhetorical as I had intended. I immediately came up with the answer.
You're welcome.

By the way, do you know what you get when you cross a riddle with a rhetorical question?


Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

20 April 2020 - Plague Journal Day 39

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Here's a stunningly timely vintage plague hygiene video for your consideration (fear not, you'll enjoy this brief presentation).

And, now that you may be a bit worried about the pathogens around you, for no reason other than what could make your day better than watching Christopher Walken dance, here you go.

You're welcome.


Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

19 April 2020 - Plague Journal Day 38

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is Orthodox Easter, so let me say that Χριστός ανέστη!

Beyond that, beyond the most importan celebration that could possibly be in the history of the world, today is John Parker Day - I guess Buckaroo Banzai must be a more popular film than I had thought!

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

18 April 2020 - Plague Journal Day 37

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

As noted in an earlier post, the grand Moving Vans World Tour will not take place this year. Today was to have been the 2020 GPUMC Gospel Fest, one of the first and finest of our expected and unexpected appearances. Sadly, it was not to be. Perhaps an old (very old!) recording from another GPUMC Gospel Fest would ease the pain? Let's find out, shall we? Here is a recording, very slightly cleaned and amplified from the original 1997 master (a cassette tape) of Blind Bartimus.

In another interesting collision of celebrations, today is both Animal Crackers Day and Velociraptor Awareness Day. Maybe time for a mashup?
It might be nice to get a little revenge by eating them, don't you think?
Still, if you'd rather just celebrate the former day, consider this link.

Finally, hardly a man is now alive who remembers why this day is famous, especially from another year, so take a gander at this classic of literature.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.