Word of the Day: nostrum(NOS\truhm); a medicine of secret composition and unproven or dubious effectiveness; a quack medicine
Weight: 206 pounds
Goal: lose 100 pounds in one year duration
Pounds to lose: 74 pounds
Waist Size: 41 inches
Rowing Duration: 96 minutes, thirteen (13) seconds
First, I want to apologize regarding yesterday's post, there is/was a spelling mistake of the word of the day, hogmanay. I had problems publishing yesterday's post, and even though I didn't bother with telling you then, I will tell you now that it took three (3) attempts at writing that post, well, on the third attempt, and, as it turns out, the only successful attempt, I misspelled hogmanay, I didn't insert an a for the second last letter of the word, je regret encore.
Cover of Shania Twain
Cover of Shania TwainI also wanted to suggest that regarding my attempts to get you to help me stay motivated with my writing, and to give money towards charity at the same time, I suggested a sum of five (5) dollars for each short story. I am now going to ameliorate that and you can give whatever sum you like for the short story, as long as you contribute a minimum of one (1) dollar, however, if you want a hard copy of the short story, instead of by email, then you should pay the postage.
In addition to paying the cost of postage, all of the same rules apply regarding not sharing my story by sending it to your friend (s) and that no refunds will be given for whatever reason.
I did not tell you yesterday that my writing short stories has nothing to do with this blog, I'm telling you now that I shall continue to write "posts" every day, as the two things, my blog, my short stories, are separate from each other.
My rowing went alot better today than from yesterday, it did take me two (2) attempts to finally get into it, but I did get into it and I had a very good workout, I was pleased.
How is the New Year going for you so far? I'm sure that there is at least one (1) of you who has broken your resolution and that you are puffing on that cigarette, what can I say, but SHAME on you!
In spite of the two injections that I received this week from Zac, my lungs are still quite full of matter, and I remain wheezy! In addition, I no longer have any water pills so I am retaining quite alot of water throughout my entire body, but especially in my feet.
Throughout the day, I try to stay off of my feet, as much as I can, and then I also try to keep the feet elevated, it is just sometimes difficult to go on with the business of life under these conditions, but I know things will get better, they always do!
Currently, I can no longer wear any shoes, not only do they not fit, but just putting socks on is an exercise in extreme masochism. My big concern, however, is what will I do when I get back to my home in Canada, wherein the grounds are going to be covered in snow, and I can't wear shoes, or boots? I know, I know, I just won't go outside, yeah right!
I also managed to get some more writing done yesterday (my short story,) formerly called "Olive and O'Niel Only," now tentatively titled "The Lottery." I like the former title and may use it, but if I do go back to it, I will need to change O'Niel to a more commonly spelled and accepted version of the given name.
I used the spelling version of O'Niel because I had a work colleague who spelled his given name that way and I wanted to honour him, but subsequently, because of the spellchecker on my personal computer, and because of certain people strongly recommending me to use another accepted version, like, "O'Neal"I wrote it, but, the spellchecker and some people keep saying I need to correct it so I have done just that very thing.
There were a couple of celebrity marriages over the New Year holiday, Canada's own Shania Twain tied the knot again, and Valerie Bertinelli, of television's "One Day at a Time,", and "Jenny Craig" fame, also a personal favourite of mine, also got married for the second time around, good luck to both of them!
The study of Science in school was not my best subject, (although I did manage to do well in Biology and Chemistry, don't ask me how or why,) although, I always passed I never really took much interest in it on a whole level, thus, the television series "Star Trek" also never ever caught my interest, even though I do like many science fiction movies. I know, I'm complicated.
Anyway,whenever I heard of "vulcan," I thought that this pertained to the television series "Star Trek" not comprehending that "vulcan" is actually the name of a plant, hypothetical or real. To account for inconsistencies between Mercury's predicted and observed orbital path, French astronomer Urbain Jean Joseph Leverrier postulated that a tiny, hypothetical planet, which he named "Vulcan," was present within Mercury's orbit.
Le Verrier postulated that the excess precession could be explained by the presence of a small planet inside the orbit of Mercury, and he proposed the name "Vulcan" for this object. In Roman mythology, "Vulcan" was the God of beneficial and hindering fire, including the fire of volcanoes, making it an apt name for a planet so close to the Sun. Le Verrier's recent success in discovering the planet Neptune using the same techniques led veracity to his claim, and astronomers around the world attempted to prove the existence of this hypothetical planet.
Sightings of "Vulcan," were reported until 1878, and Leverrier died believing he had discovered another planet. Eventually, however, the orbital anomalies were explained by Einstein's general theory of relativity, wouldn't you know it, just when I thought I had the names of all the planets memorized!
Between 1866 and 1878 no reliable observations of the hypothetical planet were made. Then, during the total solar eclipse of 29 July 1878, two experienced astronomers, Professor James Craig Watson, director of the Ann Arbor Observatory in Michigan, and Lewis Swift, an amateur from Rochester, New York, both claimed to have seen a Vulcan-type planet close to the Sun.
Watson, observing from Separation, Wyoming, placed the planet about 2.5 degrees southwest of the Sun, and estimated its magnitude at 4.5. Swift, who was observing the eclipse from a location near Denver, Colorado, saw what he took to be an intra-Mercurial planet abou three (3) degrees southwest of the Sun. He estimated its brightness to be the same as that of Theta Cancri, a fifth-magnitude star which was also visible during totality, about six (6 )or seven (7) minutes from the "planet". Theta Cancri and the planet were very nearly in line with the centre of the Sun.
Watson and Swift were excellent observers. Watson had already discovered more than twenty asteroids, while Swift had several comets named after him. Both described the colour of their hypothetical intra-Mercurial planet as "red". Watson reported that it had a definite disk, unlike stars, which appear in telescopes as mere points of light, and that its phase indicated that it was approaching superior conjunction.
These are merely the more reliable observations of alleged intra-Mercurial planets. For half a century or more, many other observers tried to find the hypothetical "Vulcan." Many false alarms were triggered by round sunspots, that closely resembled planets in transit. During solar eclipses, stars close to the Sun were mistaken for planets. At one point, to reconcile different observations, at least two intra-Mercurial planets were postulated.
In 1877 Le Verrier died, still convinced of having discovered another planet. With the loss of its principal proponent, the search for "Vulcan" abated. After many years of searching, astronomers were seriously doubting the planet's existence.
The final act came in 1915, when Einstein's theory of relativity explained the perturbations of Mercury as a mere byproduct of the Sun's gravitational field. His equations predicted slightly different results than classical mechanics, and exactly in the right amount to explain Mercury's actual orbit.
The difference applies to the orbits of all planets, but the magnitude of the effect diminishes as one gets farther out from the Sun. Also, Mercury's fairly eccentric orbit makes it much easier to detect the perihelion shift than is the case for the nearly circular orbits of Venus and Earth.
Observing a planet inside the orbit of Mercury would be extremely difficult, since the telescope must be pointed very close to the Sun, where the sky is never black. Also, an error in pointing the telescope can result in damage for the optics, and injury to the observer. The huge amount of light present even quite away from the Sun can produce false reflections inside the optics, thus fooling the observer into seeing things that do not exist.
The best strategy for observations would be to wait for the planet's transit of the Sun's disk. A small, round dark spot might be seen moving, as happens regularly with Mercury and Venus.
In 1915, when Einstein successfully explained the apparent anomaly in Mercury's orbit, most astronomers abandoned the search for "Vulcan." A few, however, remained convinced that not all the alleged observations of "Vulcan" were bogus. Among these was Henry C Courten, of Dowling College, New York.
Studying photographic plates of the 1970 eclipse of the Sun, he and his associates detected several objects which appeared to be in orbits close to the Sun (Miami Herald, 15 June 1970). Even accounting for artifacts, Courten felt that at least seven of the objects were real. The appearance of some of these objects was confirmed by another observer in North Carolina, while a third observer in Virginia saw one of them.
Courten believed that an intra-Mercurial planetoid between 130 and 800 kilometres in diameter was orbiting the Sun at a distance of about 0.1 astronomical unit. Other images on his eclipse plates led him to postulate the existence of an asteroid belt between Mercury and the Sun.
None of these claims has ever been substantiated after more than thirty years of observation. It has been surmised, however, that some of these objects, and other alleged intra-Mercurial planets, may exist, being nothing more than previously unknown comets or small asteroids. Today, the search continues for these so-called "Vulcanoid" asteroids, which are thought to exist in the region where "Vulcan" was once sought. None have been found yet and searches have ruled out any such asteroids larger than about 60 kilometres, too bad!!!
Ross Rocklynne wrote a short story, "At the Center of Gravity", about two individuals trapped inside a hollow "Vulcan." The story was published in the June 1936 issue of Astounding magazine and republished in the 1963 anthology Exploring Other World.
A resurge of interest in the theory occurred in the 1960s, and planets called "Vulcan" began appearing in the science fiction of the time. In the Doctor Who serial entitled "The Power of the Daleks" the setting is the "Earth colony on Vulcan" in the early 21st century.
As aforementioned, Science was not my raison d'etre, but I thought the above was interesting and believe you will concur, at least I hope you do.
Have a good day, and all the best.
Topics coming soon:
Art
Politics
Technology
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