I refuse to accept Pluto’s resignation as a planet.
– Amy Lee
If you’re like us, you grew up with a solar system that had nine planets in it. You also grew up in world that didn’t teach new math, but that’s a rant for a different day. Then one day they suddenly decided that designating Pluto as a planet was just wrong, and our most distant friend in the solar system suddenly was told he wasn’t good enough for the planet club anymore, and would forever be considered a ‘dwarf planet’. Kind of a consolation prize for those not cool enough for the big planets club. Pluto Day celebrates the discovery of Pluto in 1930, when it was designated as a planet, and that’s how it should have stayed!
The story of how Pluto was discovered actually starts in the 1840’s, when one Urbain Le Verrier determined that there was a planet outside of Uranus, but that planet obviously wasn’t Pluto, it was Neptune. But the same methods by which Neptune was discovered led to another beyond it. You see, Uranus was demonstrating some oddities in its orbit, oddities caused by its nearest, yet undiscovered, neighbor, Neptune. Once they were able to actually observe Neptune, they realized that another planet must be disturbing Uranus’s orbit as well, what they were seeing couldn’t be explained merely by Neptune.
This led to a search for Planet X (an Amazing name that we think Pluto should have kept, but we’re not able to do anything about that, obviously) headed by Percival Lowell. Unfortunately Powell would pass from this mortal coil (and into the hands of Pluto, God of the Dead) before Pluto was discovered… At least, before he would know about it. You see, during their surveys of the deep sky in search of ‘Planet X’, two faint smudges would appear that were later to be revealed to be Pluto.
The actual discovery of Pluto happened in February of 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh. After so many years and so many lives spent searching for it, we think that Pluto deserves to remain a planet, don’t you?
For those who’d like to know? Pluto was named by Venetia Burney, an 11 year old who had a fascination with classical mythology.
alk3r
An illustrator who goes by the name Sparrows has been sharing a lovely series of imaginative GIFs. Each storybook animation features some form of magical realism where pelicans play scrabble, tattoos bloom from skin, or breakfasts appear to cook themselves. Sparrows tells us that she works professionally as an illustrator, but these brief standalone pieces are just ideas she wants to exist outside of her head. The snapshots appear to exist in the same little universe but aren’t meant to be part of a larger narrative.
Word of the Day
| |||
| Definition: | (noun) One engaged in a dispute. | ||
| Synonyms: | eristic, controversialist | ||
| Usage: | Other tribes of the new federation took sides with the original disputants or set up petty revolutions of their own. | ||
Idiom of the Day
have (something) to do— To have some task or action that one must complete or undertake. |
History
Yoko Ono (1933)
Ono is a Japanese artist, musician, author, and peace activist best known for her marriage to John Lennon of the Beatles. She was raised in Japan and the US, where she started exploring conceptual and performance art. A member of the Fluxus movement, Ono developed a reputation as an avant-garde filmmaker, conceptual artist, performance artist, and experimental musician.
Saidai-ji Eyo Hadaka Matsuri
| Hadaka Matsuri means, literally, "naked festival". The young men who participate are naked except for traditional white loincloths known as fundoshi. Sometimes the participants in Hadaka Matsuri immerse themselves in a river beforehand to purify themselves. Occasionally several semi-naked young men will carry a mikoshi, or portable shrine, in the form of a horse, rice bale, or sake barrel into the river with them. |
Where Is Zealandia? Geologists Say They Have Discovered Eighth Continent
You know the seven continents. Meet the eighth.
READ MORE:
1564 - The artist Michelangelo died in Rome.
1735 - The first opera performed in America. The work was "Flora" (or "Hob in the Well") and was presented in Charleston, SC.
1885 - Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published in the U.S. for the first time.
1930 - Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to fly in an airplane.
1953 - "Bwana Devil" opened. It was the first three-dimensional feature.
1953 - Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz signed a contract worth $8,000,000 to continue the "I Love Lucy" TV show through 1955.
1977 - The space shuttle Enterprise went on its maiden "flight" sitting on top of a Boeing 747.
1987 - The executives of the Girl Scout movement decided to change the color of the scout uniform from the traditional Girl Scout green to the newer Girl Scout blue.
2006 - American Shani Davis won the men's 1,000-meter speed-skating in Turin. He was the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history.
DAILY SQUEEK
READERS INFO
1. Oops .. a day late (sorry)
endlessly intelligent, visit Patty's son in law's interesting
endlessly intelligent, visit Patty's son in law's interesting
blog:
2. Feb. 18, 1930: Clyde Tombaugh, a U.S. astronomer,
discovered Pluto. Prior to Pluto's discovery, astronomers
theorized the existence of an unknown planet based on its
apparent gravitational influence on Uranus and Neptune's
orbits. In 1894, Percival Lowell founded the Lowell Observatory
in Arizona and, in 1906, began searching for an undiscovered
planet he called Planet X. At the time of his death in 1916,
Lowell had not discovered the planet.
In 1929, Clyde Tombaugh, an astronomer at the Lowell
Observatory, was tasked with finding the undiscovered planet.
Tombaugh used a blink comparator to compare two
photographs of the night sky to determine whether any objects
had moved. He found a moving object on Feb. 18, 1930, when
comparing pictures, which was later verified and named Pluto.
It was later determined that Pluto could not be Planet X as its
gravity was not sufficient to affect Neptune and Uranus's orbits.
Further, a new determination of Neptune's mass accounted for
the orbits of Uranus and Neptune.
At the time of its discovery, Pluto was classified as a planet.
However, in 2006, the International Astronomical Union
created, voted on and passed new guidelines for the
classification of planets. Pluto failed to meet the three criteria
to be considered a planet, and its designation, according to the
IAU, was changed to dwarf planet.
Pictures of the day
The PlayStation 4 is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. Released in 2013, it competes with Nintendo's Wii U and Microsoft's Xbox One, as part of the eighth generation of video game consoles. The console, which features an AMD Accelerated Processing Unit built upon the x86-64 architecture, places emphasis on social interaction and integration with other devices and services. The console was positively received, and by the end of 2016 more than 53 million consoles had been sold.
Artist Completely Transforms Intersection with Incredible Owl Mural
Street artist WD just completed this owl mural in Athens, Greece for the “Petit Paris d’Athènes Art Festival”
knit
knit - TEDDY BEAR SHELF/COMPUTER SOFTIE
knit - converse baby booties
knit - thanks, Connie
knit - thanks, Patty
crochet - thanks, Lisa
Purple Sherbert Bobbles Purse
crochet - thanks, Doris
Elegant Floral Throw
crochet
crochet
Dancing Leaves Coasters pattern by Linda Dean
crochet
RECIPE - thanks, Heide
Tangy Marinated Baked Chicken
CROCKPOT RECIPE
thanks for these three funnies, Shelley
SWEETS
ADULT COLORING
CRAFTS
Cork Magnets
hometalk
Step one: drink some wine with the friends and save the wine corks. Not too much! :-)))))
Boil them for about 10 minutes, covered, so they will not crash when you cut them.
Cut the wine corks carefully.
Glue the magnets.
Be creative if you want.
And... make amazing plans!
CHILDREN'S CORNER ...
Easy way to keep track of chores done using a mason jar &
painted popsicle sticks. You paint one end of the stick & then
flip it around when that chore is done. When all the colored
ends are pointing up...your chores are done! :)
PUZZLE
Year of the Goat Jigsaw Puzzle
QUOTE
CLEVER
Accidentally cooked something greasy in your favorite sweater? You can use chalk to remove grease stains from clothes. Simply rub white chalk on the affected area and wash as normal - the chalk will absorb the grease and be
washed away in the cycle.
thanks, Ellen
EYE OPENER - thanks, Gina
Odd Facts About 7 Iconic American Products
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1. Philadelphia Brand cream cheese was made in New York.
American cream cheese was an attempt to replicate the style
of French neufchâtel cheese as it was made in the 1800s.
Cream cheese was first made in 1872 in New York State by
dairyman William A. Lawrence. Eight years later, the
enterprising cheese distributor A. L. Reynolds packaged the
cheese in foil wrappers and called it Philadelphia Brand
because the public associated the City of Brotherly Love with
high-quality food products. To this day, Philadelphia cream
cheese has a monopoly on the cream cheese market.
2. Gatorade does have something to do with "Gators"
In 1965, a coach for the Florida Gators college football team
and one of the university's kidney specialists came up with a
concoction of water, salt, sugar, and lemon juice to keep the
school's football players hydrated and energized while playing
football under the hot Southern sun. Two years later, Gatorade
was marketed nationally and has since netted the University of
Florida more than $90 million in revenues.
3. SPAM stands for something!
In 1937, in Austin, Minnesota, the Hormel Company developed
the first canned meat product that did not require refrigeration.
Made of chopped pork shoulder and ham (a cut from the pig's
buttock and thigh), it was marketed simply as "Hormel Spiced
Ham." The public's response was anticlimactic. Other
companies developed their own canned meats, and Hormel's
product was soon at risk of getting lost in the shuffle. To save
he day, a decision was made to offer a prize to the person who
could think up a catchy new name. The winning entry was
"Spam". Several versions of the name's meaning are in
circulation — the two most credible are: It's a blend of "spice"
and "ham," and it stands for "Shoulder of Pork and Ham." What
is known for certain is that Kenneth Daigneau, a Broadway
actor — and the brother of a Hormel vice president — submitted
"Spam." As the contest winner, he was given a prize of $100.
Today Spam is iconic. It is still an inexpensive source of protein
Today Spam is iconic. It is still an inexpensive source of protein
that can stretch a budget; yet it is "famous" enough to have
spawned fan clubs and cookbooks. It is known (sometimes by
reputation and sometimes by taste) by Americans of all ages.
As is fitting an icon, its packaging was accepted into the
Smithsonian. And if you travel to Austin, Minnesota, you can
visit the Spam Museum, opened in 2001. You will be welcomed
by a variety of interactive and educational games, exhibits,
and video presentations, all singing the praises of Spam,
Spam, Spam, Spam.…
4. What does the Frisbee have to do with pie?
The Frisbie Pie Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, sold pies.
Local college students used the empty tins (embossed with
the words "Frisbie's Pies") to play catch. In 1948, Walter
Morrison and Warren Franscioni found a way to capitalize on
this free toy by creating a plastic version called the Flyin' Saucer and later renamed the Pluto Platter Flying Saucer. (This was after the
alleged UFO sightings in Roswell, New Mexico.) When the
founders of Wham-O bought rights to the toy and renamed it
Frisbee, sales truly went out of this world.
5. What is a chicken noodle in Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup?
"Chicken with Noodles" soup was a variety introduced to the
public by Campbell's in 1934. Despite the fact that it is now
considered a mainstay comfort food, sales back then were
slow — until the product's name was misread during an
episode of the popular Amos 'n' Andy radio show. Once
listeners heard the words "chicken noodle soup," consumer
interest was captured. Folks began to call Campbell's to ask
about this "new" soup. Wise to a good thing, the company
quickly dropped the "with" and the "s" and renamed the soup
to match the blooper that raised its sales.
6. What do Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs have to do with doctors?
In 1916, Nathan Handwerker started his own hot dog stand in
Coney Island, using an all-beef recipe developed by his wife,
Ida. He charged 5 cents because he wanted his product to be
affordable. The public stayed away, reasoning that if it was so
cheap maybe it was horse meat! Nathan devised a creative
solution: He hired people to stand and eat in front of his place
wearing lab coats and stethoscopes. He then posted a sign
reading, "If doctors eat our hot dogs, you know they're good!"
It was this type of moxie that enabled him to build his stand
into a hot dog empire, and create a brand name that is
recognized around the globe.
7. Marshmallows used to soothe sore throats.
Today a marshmallow is a spongy treat cooked over campfires.
Up until the mid-1800s, marshmallow candy was used
medicinally. Doctors extracted juice from the roots of the
marsh-mallow plant and cooked it with egg whites and sugar,
then whipped it into a foamy meringue. This hardened and the
resulting candy soothed children's sore throats. Eventually,
advanced manufacturing processes replaced the root juice
with gelatin, which eliminated any healing properties.
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