What Would Jimmy Do?

For a number of reasons, I’ve been tracking the development the new space telescope for a few years now. Finally, on October 12, the Webb Telescope arrived in French Guiana via ship. The telescope is the world’s largest space telescope. It is currently scheduled to be launched December 18th on an Ariane 5 rocket.

The telescope, named the James Webb Space telescope and referred to as the JWST, by astronomers has been in the design state for twenty-six years. Progress on its development has been delayed countless times. 

The new telescope will dwarf the Hubble Space Telescope in size, resolution and the ability to see very faint objects. The Hubble telescope operates primarily in the visible spectrum. The Webb telescope will use cameras and spectrographs tuned to near- and mid-infrared wavelengths. That should allow astronomers to view some of the oldest objects in the cosmos — it will have a sensitivity 1,000 times better than current infrared space telescopes. Scientists believe the new telescope will be able to collect photons that have been journeying toward the earth since a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.

Assuming a successful launch, it will take nearly a month to reach its “home” in space. It will then deploy and unfold its many parts in a complex sequence. It will unpack and extend solar arrays, antennas, booms, radiators, mirrors, and the sunshield (which deploys like a layered umbrella.) The telescope will then cool down to temperatures around minus 400º Fahrenheit…. during this time it will be kept facing away from the sun, moon and Earth — to maintain its infrared sensitivity. It’s interesting that the JWST, unlike the Hubble, is not designed to be upgraded.

Right from the start, the scope of the project was underestimated, and it was woefully under budgeted.. The original, 1966, estimates came in at $1 billion to $3.5 billion, and with a projected launch date in 2007. Today’s price tag exceeds $9.3 billion. 

Northrop Grumman is the telescope’s prime contractor. The original contract winner, TRW, was bought by Northrop in 2002. At its peak, as many as 2,000 scientists and technicians were working on JWST, with a total of about 10,000 people involved in its construction over the decades. 

As launch day approaches, astronomers are both excited and nervous. The rocket ride itself won’t be the worst part. About 50 deployments need to occur after launch to set up the system. There are 344 “single-point failures.” These are individual steps that have to work for the mission to be a success. This exceeds the singe-point fails for landing on Mars by a factor of three. 

Probably most of the news about the new telescope you’ve been reading concerns its name. Most people are thrilled about the scientific promise of the new telescope, but some have taken issue with naming it after James Webb, who ran NASA during the key years when it was working to put astronauts on the moon. Those objecting to the name, claim that when Webb was NASA administrator, he went along with government discrimination against gay and lesbian employees in the 1950s and 1960s. 

It’s too bad such a scientific effort has to be clouded by issues that should have long-ago been put rest…..
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Today is my favorite grandson’s birthday — Locke is seven years old. They say that grandchildren don’t stay young forever… that’s probably good, because Poppi’s only have so many horsey rides in them. But even so, grandkids grow up too fast.
One suggestion that seems to have merit is that you should never have children, only grandchildren. 

But today is my grandson’s birthday and not to brag, he is the coolest… okay, I’m bragging a little bit, but Happy Birthday to my awesome grandson, Locke!!!

Guy Fawkes was born in 1507 in York, England. He was a member of a prominent Yorkshire family and a convert to Roman Catholicism. Due, at least partially, to his adventurous spirit and his religious zeal, he left Protestant England in 1513 and enlisted in the Spanish army in the Netherlands. 
He won a reputation for great courage and cool determination. 

Due to King James I increasing oppression of Roman Catholics in England, Robert Catesby, with the help of a small band of Catholics instigated a plot — known as the Gunpowder Plot. The objective was to blow up the palace at Westminster during the state opening of Parliament, while James I and his chief ministers were there.

Catesby decided that they needed the help of a military man who would not be as readily recognizable as he or members of his organization were. They dispatched one of their group to the Netherlands to enlist Fawkes. Fawkes, without knowledge of the precise details of the plot, returned to England and joined Catesby’s group.

The plotters rented a cellar extending under the palace, and Fawkes planted 36 (some say fewer, some say more) barrels of gunpowder there and camouflaged them with coals and sticks. But the plot was discovered, and Fawkes was arrested during the night of November 4 – 5 (1605.)

Today, November 5 is observed in Britain as Guy Fawkes Day — also called Bonfire Night — to commemorate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

Today Guy Fawkes Day is a time to get together with friends and family, set off fireworks, light bonfires, attend parades and burn effigies of Fawkes. Children traditionally wheeled around their effigies demanding a “penny for the Guy.” That’s led some to compare the Guy Fawkes celebration to our Halloween tradition of trick or treating.

Fireworks, a major component of most Guy Fawkes Day celebrations, represent the explosives that were never used by the plotters. Guards perform an annual search of the Parliament building to check for arsonists — although today the search is ceremonial.
All in all, sounds like a fun day — Happy Guy Fawkes Day.
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Congratulations to the Braves — this year’s World Series champions. Even though the World Series doesn’t get the attention it did when I was growing up, it’s still a fall classic and it really is America’s national sport. Pretty much every country has a “national sport” of some kind. I’ve been to a lot of sporting events around the world that aren’t popular (or even legal) in the United States, like the bullfights in Spain or the cock fighting in Mexico. But one of the most bazar sports that I’m aware of is buzkashi — the national sport of Afghanistan. 

I never attended a buzkashi “match,” but I’ve been near when it was played…. it draws a huge crowd of passionate fans, and involves big money — at least by afghan standards.

In addition to the interesting choice of a ball — the carcass of a goat, decapitated, de-hoofed and soaked overnight in cold water to make it stiff — the players are mounted on horseback and wear traditional Uzbek garb (turbans, robes, and scarves around their waists.)

The playbook isn’t complicated… only a minimally regimented strategy that requires, or more correctly, encourages, no-hold-barred violence. The referees carry rifles in case things really get out of hand. The playing field has no set boundaries and spectators are in constant danger of being trampled. 

The objective of the game is to gain possession of the goat and carry it to a designated goal The winning players cook and eat the carcass.

The name buzkashi translates to “goat pulling” or “goat dragging.” It probably originated with nomadic Turkic peoples that moved west from China and Mongolia from the 10th to the 15th centuries. Today, it is played mainly in Afghanistan. 

The game has two basic forms — modern and traditional. The modern version is played with teams of 10 to 12 riders. The traditional form has no formal teams — it’s every man for himself. 

Both forms of the game are played in an implicitly political context. The competitions are often sponsored by khans (“traditional elites”) who gain or lose status on the success of the events. Their purpose is to demonstrate, and thus enhance, their capability to control events in the country’s ever-shifting power structure. 

From what I’ve read, originally, buzkashi was training in preparation for war…. and apparently the games today look like a time capsule from the days of Genghis Khan, when battle exercises were disguised as sport. If it sounds like this game would appeal to you, you’ll probably have to go to Afghanistan — I’m pretty sure it won’t be an Olympic sport anytime soon.
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Today is election day in Virginia and a few other states…. we’ve all heard that voting is our civic duty. But do we really take that seriously? I’ve mentioned before that I’ve lived in places where elections were not fair or there were no elections. I think if everyone had those experiences we wouldn’t have such a lackadaisical attitude about voting.

I think voting is more important today than anytime in my adult life. I truly don’t understand why people would not vote. One reason I hear often is that people don’t believe their vote counts — no matter if you vote, there is corruption and nothing will change. OK — let’s say you don’t vote on voting day. Voter turnout is low, which invariably favors the incumbents — the very people you’re not happy with. You’re unhappy, you didn’t vote, and they get re-elected. The bottom line is that the candidates that you believe could have best represented you don’t get into office — and you are still discouraged with the government. If you continue to do this, how do you expect things to bet better? There are three words you hear every election year and they say it all: Your. Vote. Counts.

Every adult citizen of the United States should exercise their right to vote in every election. People have died to establish this right — to be heard and have a say in electing the best administration for future generations. 

People that don’t vote but complain about how the government is run are hypocrites. You have to earn your right to complain. Go vote — what do you have to lose?
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Today’s blog is to Dave and Chassie on their wedding anniversary — number 8, I think.
I remember your wedding and that everyone marveled at the rustic cake stand — made by an artist from West Virginia.

Of course the expression of love to another isn’t reserved for a single day, or a special occasion like an anniversary — It’s more about how you live each day with the one you love and care for. So take some time today to celebrate the memories you have created and home of love you’ve provided.
Happy Anniversary to an awesome couple!
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Today is Halloween — 2021. In Mexico, it’s the Day of the Dead, or at least the start of it. The Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, takes place October 31 through November 2 in Mexico and a few other Hispanic countries. November 1, Dia de los Inocentes, honors children that have died, and family members decorate graves with baby’s breath and white orchids. On November 2, Dia de los Muertos, families honor adults who have died and place orange marigolds on grave sites.

The original Aztec celebration lasted a month, but when Spanish conquistadors came to Mexico in the 16th century, they merged the festival with the Catholic All Saints’ Day. Today’s celebrations are a mix of both Aztec rituals of skulls, altars to the dead and food, with Catholic masses and prayers.

If you live in Des Moines, Iowa, last night was Beggars’ Night. The event began in Des Moines about 1938 as a way to prevent vandalism and give younger children a safer way to enjoy Halloween. Beggars’ Night is very similar to regular trick or treating, except the kids are required to tell a joke, poem, or perform a “trick” for a treat. 

Every year around Halloween, you hear about the spirits at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. There are continuing reports from the White House of ghostly appearances and eerie sounds — and not only on election years…. The most famous ghost sighting in the White House is of Abraham Lincoln, who’s supposedly been spotted by Eleanor Roosevelt, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and Winston Churchill.

Jack-O’-lanterns were not originally made from pumpkins… the name jack-O’-lantern is rooted in  an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack who fooled the devil and in turn was forced to walk the Earth with only a burning coal in a hollowed turnip to light his way. The Irish began to call him “Jack of the Lantern,” and then just “Jack O’Lantern. Immigrants in the United States began to use pumpkins, that were native to North America instead of turnips.

A lot of people like Halloween — some don’t. My sister maybe doesn’t “hate” Halloween, but she’s certainly not a big fan. Some people actually fear Halloween. They suffer from Samhainophobia.

One of the “treats” that was popular when I was a kid was candy corn — I still see it in the stores, especially this time of year. Candy corn was created by George Renninger in the 1880s and because corn is what was used to feed chickens, it’s original name was “Chicken Feed”… the box was decorated with a rooster.

So today is Halloween around here, but no matter what you’re celebrating today, hope you have a spooky good time…..
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A number of years ago I was involved in a project that kept me in San Diego for a period of time. Although I never stayed there, I had occasion to visit the Hotel Del Coronado several times. There were a number of good restaurants there and I attended a few “meetings” in the facility.

In case you don’t know, the hotel has become a kind of legend — it’s been there for more than 130 years and has been host to celebrities, royalty, and U.S. Presidents. It was built in 1888 by Elisha Babcock and Hampton L. Story and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977. 

Since this is the Halloween “season” I thought it might be a good time to talk about the thing that made the place most fascinating to me — the hotel, affectionately called “the Del,” is home to some noteworthy ghosts….

On November 24, 1892, Kate Morgan checked into the Hotel Del Coronado under the name of Lottie A. Bernard, from Detroit. She looked pale and she wasn’t feeling well. She mentioned that she was planning to meet her brother, a doctor.
After a few days, the staff began to worry. The mysterious woman had checked in with no luggage. Her brother hadn’t arrived, and she had hardly left her room.
On Monday, November 28, the woman went into town and purchased a gun. Her body was found early the next morning on stairs that led from the hotel to the beach. From the gunshot wound to her head, it appeared she had committed suicide. When police investigated, they found few personal belongings in her hotel room. 

After Kate’s death, police determined that “Lottie A. Bernard” was an alias. They sent a sketch of her to newspapers, which described her as “the beautiful stranger.” Further investigation uncovered that “Lottie” had been born Kate Farmer — in Iowa, and had married Tom Morgan in 1885.

Morgan was rumored to be a con artist as well as a gambler. He allegedly worked the rails and enlisted Kate’s help in stealing money from train passengers. According to a witness, on a train somewhere between Los Angles and San Diego, Kate and Morgan had an intense argument. Morgan got off the train before it reached San Diego. Kate stayed on the train until it arrived in San Diego and then checked into the Del.

Some people claim the clues at the scene add up to a murder, rather than suicide. Attorney Alan May’s book, written in 1990, The Legend of Kate Morgan, claims the bullet that killed Kate was a different caliber than the gun she’d purchased.
But no matter what happened, Kate’s ghost has taken up residence at the Del. She often manifests as eerie eyes and lips appearing in the mirror or reflected in the window of her room. Kate’s spirit may be responsible for strange noises and unexplained breezes around her room as well. The curtains on closed windows billow for no reason, and lights and televisions turn themselves on and off. Kate also appears as a pale young woman in a black lace dress. A sweet fragrance lingers after apparition disappears. 

Kate stayed in room 302. Later, during remodeling, the hotel changed the room number to 3327. The haunted room is so popular that people ask for it as “the Kate Morgan room.” The hotel welcomes and answers questions about the ghost, and everyone treats Kate as an honored guest.

Independent paranormal researchers have documented supernormal activity in Kate’s room using high-tech gadgetry, including infrared cameras, night vision goggles, radiation sensors, toxic-chemical indicators, microwave imaging systems, and high-frequency sound detectors. 

There have also been Kate sightings in hotel hallways and along the seashore. Another very “active” area is the hotel’s gift shop. Visitors and employees routinely witness haunted happenings and giftware mysteriously flying off shelves, oftentimes falling upright and always unbroken. 
In fact the Hotel sells a book, Beautiful Stranger: The Ghost of Kate Morgan in their gift shop.

Actually, Kate isn’t the only mysterious resident in the hotel. Room 3519 is also haunted — maybe even more intensely than Kat’s room.

In 1983, a Secret Service agent stayed in room 3519 while guarding then Vice President George H.W. Bush. The special agent bolted from the room in the middle of the night claiming that he’d head unearthly gurgling noises and that the entire room seemed to glow. 
It’s possible that the Secret Service agent may have encountered a ghost related to the Kate Morgan mystery. According to one legend, while Kate was at the hotel, a maid stayed in what would later be room 3519. In some versions of the story, the maid was traveling with Kate. In others, the maid had simply befriended her. Whatever the connection between the two, the maid allegedly vanished the same morning Kate was found dead. 

That’s not the only ghost story connected with room 3519. Another story goes that in 1888, the year the hotel was built, a wealthy man kept his mistress in that room. When the woman found out that she was pregnant, she killed herself. Her body was removed from the Del, and nothing else is known about her, not even her name. Ghost hunters believe she is the one who causes the lights in the room to flicker and is responsible for the unexplained cold spot in front of the room’s door.

In recent years, some hotel guests have reported sightings of the ghost of Marilyn Monroe. She loved the Hotel Del Coronado and stayed there during the filming of Some Like it Hot. Marilyn’s ghost has appeared at several of her favorite places, including Hollywood’s Roosevelt Hotel, where people see her in the lobby’s mirror.
At the Del, Monroe is often seen outdoors as a fleeting, translucent apparition near the door to the hotel or on the beach nearby. Those who see the ghost comment on her windswept blonde hair and her fringed shawl that flutters in the breeze.

So the Hotel Del Coronado continues to be a popular place and seems like an great place to visit, especially around this time of year. Just remember, if you stay there, you’re never alone. 
Happy Halloween to everyone.
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A few days ago, I discussed trick or treating and mentioned an article I had recently read claiming that the practice only became popular due to a 1951 Peanuts comic strip. I indicated that just didn’t seem right to me because I remember trick or treating from when I was very small. 

Well, I went back and re-read the article and threw in a little extensive research to boot, and I’ve decided that the Peanuts cartoon theory of popularizing trick or treating may have some merit….

When I was young, I remember some Halloween pranks getting a little out of hand and, certainly today, would be classified as vandalism. 
History suggests that excessive mischief and pranks on Halloween led to widespread adoption of an organized, community-based trick or treating tradition in the 1930s. 

That trend was abruptly curtailed, however, with the outbreak of World War II, when sugar rationing meant there were few treats to hand out. At the height of the postwar baby boom, trick or treating reclaimed its place among other Halloween customs, and quickly became standard practice for millions of kids in America’s cities and newly built suburbs. Candy companies, no longer constrained by sugar rationing, capitalized on the lucrative ritual and launched national advertising campaigns specifically aimed at Halloween.

Before candy, the “treats” were, fruit or nuts, or maybe coins. So I suspect that the reference to the Peanuts cartoon was referring more to the increase in the popularity of candy rather than the practice of trick or treating. 

But I guess it just wouldn’t be Halloween without Linus and the Peanut gang — waiting for the Great Pumpkin…. I suppose I should end this right now — Linus always said, “There are three things I’ve learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.”
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I read an article the other day that was describing Halloween traditions. The author indicated that trick or treating became popular in the United States primarily due to a Peanuts Comic Strip published in 1951. Not to start an argument, but I’m pretty sure that’s not very accurate. Trick or treating has been popular for as long as I can remember and I remember going trick or treating long before 1951. Maybe it became more popular due to that comic strip — I don’t know…. but of course I just had to do a little extensive research….

Trick or treating’s roots can be traced back to Celtic Britain and Ireland in the 9th century. The night of October 31 was known as Samhain, a Pagan festival that was later combined with Christian celebrations and renamed All Saints’ Day by the Catholic Church. 

At Samhain, pagans believed the souls of our dead came into our world — and were appeased by offerings of food and drink. Trick or treating may have evolved from a ritual where people dressed as ghosts and demons, performed dances around a bonfire and received treats to appease evil spirits. 

This practice was known as mumming, but by the time Christianity had spread to Britain, a new practice called souling had developed. Poor people would visit the houses of the rich and receive pastries called soul cakes, in exchange for promises to pray for the homeowners’ dead relatives. In Scotland and Ireland, young people would visit their neighbors’ houses and sing a song, recite a poem, or perform another sort of “trick” before receiving a treat of nuts, fruit or coins. 

The term trick or treating wasn’t used until the 1920s, when it was adopted in America. The first mention of trick or treating in print occurred in 1927. A Canadian journalist wrote an article discussing a town’s Halloween meeting….”The youthful tormentors were at back door and front demanding edible plunder by the word ‘trick or treat,’ to which the inmates gladly responded and sent the robber away rejoicing.” 

When this practice first started, adults weren’t too happy about being forced to hand out sweets, under the threat of a trick — they saw it more as an offer they couldn’t refuse. 

So trick or treating has been around a long time and even though it isn’t like I remember it when I was a kid, seems like it’s here to stay.
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