February may be the coldest month – it’s feeling like that. I see joggers and cyclists in short pants and sleeves while I’m out riding in the bulkiest textiles I can find. Perhaps you’re one of those hardy souls and go out under the sky in the coldest hour, the hour before dawn.
See the end note about enlarging illustrations.
That’s what they call the Summer Triangle aloft in the east – Cygnus, Aquila, and (off the top of the picture) Lyra, because they are aloft in the south on summer evenings. The Milky Way looks like a toboggan ride. And the planets are in hibernation.
As to my scheme (broached a couple of days ago) of alternating separate posts, astronomical and non, there have been kind comments to the effect that the mix is okay as it is. Yes, I have found devious ways to make an astronomical topic slalom into a sublunary one. The trouble is that, if you’re interested in poetry or human rights and not in astronomy, you may not get down as far as the “Home planet department.” And, frankly, I could outpour three rants about monstrosities of politics, or seven about curiosities of language, for every one about the sky.
So I’m not yet sure what to do about my –
Home Planet Department
If you will for sure be my Valentine
All days will be perfectly valid time
For being together
Like birds of a feather,
And all through the night-time we shall entwine.
February can have spots of warmth amid the scowling weather, like the days the forecast calls “sunny intervals”.
On February 1 Myanmar’s army did what Donald Trump was hoping to do on January 6: forcibly ousted the elected government and appointed itself to be the government. And the bogus justification was just the same.
Said the lawyer concluding the case for the ex-president’s defense:
“This trial is about far more than president Trump. It’s about silencing and banning the speech the majority doesn’t agree with. It’s about canceling 75 million Trump voters and criminalizing political viewpoints.”
Sloppy arguments for a lawyer to make. Hitler was elected by 17 million; if it had been possible to impeach him, that would not have “cancelled” those votes. The right of free speech does not extend to shouting “Fire!” in a crowded cinema or shouting “Attack the senators and congresspersons with your guns to stop them certifying the election!” Trump is not impeached for a viewpoint but for an action.
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ILLUSTRATIONS in these posts are made with precision but have to be inserted in another format. You may be able to enlarge them on your monitor. One way: right-click, and choose “View image”, then enlarge. Or choose “Copy image”, then put it on your desktop, then open it. On an iPad or phone, use the finger gesture that enlarges (spreading with two fingers, or tapping and dragging with three fingers). Other methods have been suggested, such as dragging the image to the desktop and opening it in other ways.
Sometimes I make improvements or corrections to a post after publishing it. If you click on the title, rather than on ‘Read more’, I think you are sure to see the latest version.
This weblog maintains its right to be about astronomy or anything under the sun.
My late Aunt Phoebe ran pubs across the north east of England and always said that there where 3 subjects she banned the drinkers from talking about; religion,sport and politics but she was ok with astronomy!
I appreciate whatever you desire to write (or draw) about, whether I agree with it or not (though I am in total agreement with the amazing view you take of the universe in general.) It is your website, people have to take an action to get here, and that is their responsibility. You also have the option of having “no comments” at all. That you chose to allow people to post their opinions is admirable. I think of it as you honoring the humanity in each of us, which I believe is one your core tenets of belief — that each of us is an individual worthy of respect. Your site’s title is aptly reflects what to expect — a workshop is where we go to learn about something, and we come here to learn something universal about where and what we are. The best (and possibly worst) trait of our species — the capability to learn.
Well said!!
Tjis is in resonse to several comments.
Mitch McConnell, Republican leader in the Senate: “There is no question, none, that President Trump is practically, and morally, responsible for provoking the events of the day. His conduct was a disgraceful dereliction of duty. President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he’s in office. He didn’t get away with anything yet.” McConnellvoted for acquittal on the technical ground (contradicted by constitutional experts) that a president cannot be impeached after leaving office. But McConnell suggested that Trump could still face criminal prosecution.
Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader (who voted for the imoeachment to go ahead), called Trump while the rioters were breaking into the Capitol and begged him to tell them to desist. Trump refused. He just said: “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.
”
This was a violation of his oath of office, which states (Article II, Section I, Clause 8 of the Constitution): “I do solemnly swear that I … will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Trump’s defense lawyers used a snall fraction of the 16 hours allocated to them. They knew they didn’t need to work up a strong case, because it was certain that enough Republican senators would be afraid to vote for conviction.
You and your links reveal what really happened. Hate-filled elected political operatives threw it all out the window to “get Trump!” No due process was not relied on to criminalize someone’s Constitutional rights and their use thereof.
The outcome was as expected. Enough Senators voted to uphold these rights. Second impeachment. When will the 3rd get a vote in the ultra partisan Left-wing House.
Home Planet Guy should be taken to task for having fallen into that lazy trap of making one of those empty and utterly irrational Trump-Hitler comparisons.
FWIW, the above comment was intended as a response to David Stroud below, @ 2021-02-13 at 19:51
Good limerick and nice artwork. Did you do the drawing?
Yes. It was scratched into a piece of lino so I could rub white on and take a print. One of my less explicit erotica.
At first i thought that you painted or chalked a black plate and then scratched off some of the paint. Now I know that you carved it into a piece of linoleum then painted it and pressed it on a black surface.. Came out nice.
I tried to find the drawing on your “Paintings” tab but it wasn’t there. Maybe you can add it to a new category named Erotica
I should dare to do that, sometime.
I may have mis-described it (my phase of making prints in various ways was back when I lived in Traveler’s Rest, SC): I must have cut the lines into a piece of linoleum, then rolled some black ink on, then laid a piece of paper on and pressed it; and must more recently have taken a computer scan of this and reversed its colors.
Maybe the original was better. I’ll add both to the Nudes part of my Paintings tab, but not just now, because I’ve forgotten how to manage that and have something else I want to post today.
I cherish clear pre-dawn skies. None of my neighbors have gotten up and turned on their lights yet, so I have a little patch of relative darkness in my small back yard, with views to the north and east, a couple of windows between buildings and trees to the south, and about 45 degrees below the zenith to the west. It’s a pleasure to see the stars that will be visible in the evening in a few months. Recently I’ve been watching Vesta moving retrograde in Leo and refamiliarizing myself with the binocular objects in Hercules and Ophiuchus. A couple of weeks ago the head of Scorpius was in one of the windows, now Antares. Cygnus is almost fully visible before dawn.
Fortunately we’ve been getting some rain, so I can enjoy the occasional clear sky with less worry about the coming fire season.
Trump’s impeachment trial should be straightforward. The most important question going forward is how many senators will uphold their own oaths to protect and defend the constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic.
Just got the news, the Senate voted 57 to 43 to convict Trump. Seven brave and honorable Republican senators:
Richard Burr of North Carolina
Bill Cassidy of Louisiana
Susan Collins of Maine
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Mitt Romney of Utah
Ben Sasse of Nebraska
Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania
Unfortunately this fell short of the two-thirds margin (67 votes) needed for a conviction.
Mitch McConnell’s ringing condemnation of Trump’s actions while still voting to acquit him on the article of impeachment is a head-scratcher.
Alas, the sham “impeachment” is NOT about an alleged “action” but about getting Trump at all and any cost. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/impeachment-trial-sacrifices-our-values-just-to-sack-donald-trump/ar-BB1dEiAR?ocid=msedgdhp&fbclid=IwAR2YFcVSigc3DJh9W1R_JPoE13hOvTXBogcGxj_ADcC2bFd8tZlQUVEaX7k
This charade is about political theatre, a DEMOCRAT Party theatre, based on mis-application of big words they do not understand but like to use. There was no coup attempt, no insurrection, no nefarious plot as alleged in this entry – merely the bungled attempt to control too many rioters by too few police. It happened before and no one threw a sham such as this … https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4134621813234467&set=a.904708756225805&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZWGcQ37srmyygnSLJItrhy1MrPy8IzSxojY_hvGdoCyw2iB2D38j1wJ62dVnHl3VDZrHDjWOx__DFBx1LVU2Jn85HTzA_ilpgbGlmV3YfKKiA-4It5HZrBDHcNp7pQ2bq7doxVxW5tVnsTqS4wP5xRqKBIxs76ZPxEpXN9zSCojiQ&__tn__=EH-y-R
Acquitted … https://www.yahoo.com/news/senate-acquits-trump-for-second-time-as-seven-republicans-join-democrats-in-guilty-vote-211230767.html … but the Josef Stalin Award for political theatre of the absurd goes to the House Democrats for the SECOND time in a calendar year.
Acquitted technically. On a more real level, condemned, 53-47. The widest margin in any presidential impeachment in history. The only president impeached twice. The margin was wide because a few senators had had the courage to go with what they knew to be right rather than with fear of the mob; it would have been wider if a few more had.
The trial turned on whether Trump’s use of the word “fight” was literal or metaphorical (though I never saw it expressed that way). On the very day when Congress was meeting to certify the election result, Trump was asking his supporters to stop this from happening. They could try to do so by protesting or by physically attacking. If he was asking them to do so by protesting, he would have said so.
If you look deeper into that vote, you will see that the Senate Democrats voted in lock step, 100% guilty. Only the Republican Senators showed any bipartisanship.
Twice impeached, but also twice acquitted, and never removed. And not disqualified from running again should Trump choose to do so.
57 to 43, not 53 to 47.
Totally agree with you David, but don’t waste your breath here. The owner of this page is as loony lefty liberal as they come. Great astronomer, fantastic publications, but his politics? Meh.
To David and Andrew: Sorry, guys, but the arc of history is NOT bending in your direction. I could say more, but not without descending into profanity.
Andrew, setting aside our fundamental political disagreement, I would like to ask you to have some respect for our host. Would you walk into Guy’s home, peruse his library, enjoy his artwork, sit and listen to him educate you about the universe, and then make a loud insulting comment about him to a fellow guest? I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming you wouldn’t do that in his home, so why is it okay to do it on his blog?
I admire Guy’s restraint and generosity in approving your comment and leaving it up without responding to it, but I imagine it must be hurtful, and I think he is being too kind.
Returning to our political disagreement, I’m afraid that the normalization, indeed valorization, of boorishness in public discourse will be part of Trump’s legacy.
That’s very kind of you, Anthony, but a blog isn’t like a private home, is it? It’s out there, and if you go public you must be ready for scrutiny and reprimand. I’m not thin-skinned. I think the worst comment anyone could throw at me, including obscene language, would not deter me from “approving” it. Let someone try! (As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve only “unapproved” one because requested to do so.)
I respect how you manage your blog. But ad hominem attacks degrade public discourse. “Guy’s argument is loony and here’s why” would be within my sphere of acceptable discourse, while “Guy is loony” is unacceptable to me.
I realise that this can offend non-Catholics who don’t believe in such things, so apologies in advance: The Relics of St Valentine are in Whitefriar Street church in Dublin.
The three lads at the top of the World’s Most Favourite Saint(TM) league table are in Ireland: Patrick’s remains are in Downpatrick, Valentine’s as mentioned above and Nicholas — or at least half of him — is buried at St Nicholas’s church in Newtown Jerpoint which is well worth a visit.
I see hardy individuals walking on the beach in shorts and it was about 1c., very brave fellows this cold winter but be careful of these people, including those in long pants too, as they are often walking dogs and when the dogs run up to you for a sniff the owners will bellow at them to come back sending a cloud of possibly coronavirus laiden air flying in your direction unless you are clever and note the wind direction and stay up wind of them.a glove,if it has a string on it,makes a canny windsock.perhaps Bernie Sanders uses his now famous mittens for this purpose when not keeping his hands warm?a fine view of Orion and Sirius last night and thinking about Canopus well under my horizon.roughly draw a line from Procyon to Sirius and go a slightly longer direction south and there’s Canopus,in my case buried in the hills of the North Yorkshire Moors National Park which has just been given Dark Skies Park status.