What Would Jimmy Do?

This month’s full moon will occur tonight…. July’s full moon is most commonly known as the Buck Moon, but some also call it the Full Thunder Moon. The Buck Moon was named by the Algonquin tribes that lived in the northeastern United States because it appears at the time of year when male deer regrow their antlers. It’s often called the Thunder Moon due to the frequent thunderstorms that are common in the summer.

Europeans often call the July full moon the Full Hay Moon — for the haymaking in June and July. For Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, this is the Guru Full Moon (Guru Puriima,) celebrated as a time for clearing the mind and honoring the guru or spiritual master.

For Theravada Buddhists, this full moon is Asalha Puha, also known as Dharma Day or Esala Poya, an important festival celebrating Buddha’s first sermon. The day of the full moon of Waso (the fourth month of the traditional Burmese lunisolar calendar) marks the start of the three-month annual Buddhist retreat called Vassa.

Tonight’s full moon will have an extra reddish or orange hue to it because of ash from the wildfires raging out west. The moon or sun near the horizon always looks reddish because it is being viewed through more of the Earth’s air, but the wildfire ash makes the effect more prominent.
— 30 —

Happy Pi Approximation Day! Both you readers know that Pi Day (March 14) is a day that I celebrate every year — the day gets it’s name from 3.14, the first three digits of the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. The date, March 14, is written as 3/14 — thus the name.

But today, July 22, when written as 22/7 (the 22nd of July) is a fraction that has a value of 3.132857 — so it also has the same first three digits of Pi.
Even though both 3.14 and 22/7 are only approximations of Pi, 22/7 is really closer to Pi than 3.14.
So if you’re a purist, today is a better Pi Day than March 14. 

In case you haven’t been following this blog, I should probably repeat that the March 14 Pi Day looks like 3.14 only for those that write dates in the month, then day format. That format is rarely used outside the Americas. Today, July 22, when written as 22/7, is in line with the European format.

Pi Day was born in the US where the month, then day format is used. Worldwide, by far the most popular date format is day/month/year — Pi Day (March 14) doesn’t work with the world’s most popular format, but the 22nd of July (22/7) does.

Anyhow, today is Pi Approximation Day, also known as Casual Pi Day. Pi has been known for almost 4000 years — it’s believed that mathematicians began to use the Greek letter for Pi (𝛑) in the 1700s. Pi is the mathematical constant with the most acknowledgement and recognition in the world. The Pi (𝛑) symbol has been used regularly in its mathematical sense for the past 250 years. Most scholars and experts also regard Pi as the most significant and interesting number in all mathematics. Pi is also called the “circular constant,” “Ludolph’s number” and “Archimedes’ constant.” 

So today, Pi Approximation Day, celebrates the Pi symbol (𝛑) and its importance to mathematics. No matter how you celebrate, recognize Pi to the extent that your belief in mathematics allows.
— 30 —

Yesterday was a noteworthy day for the United States and those interested in the space program. We always remember the anniversary of the first Moon landing. Today, July 21 happens to also be a noteworthy day in the field of space exploration. It’s almost as signifiant at the Moon landing, but much sadder, and it also involves a landing.

On July 21, 2011, the Space Shuttle Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center. It was the final flight of NASA’s space shuttle program. The final shuttle mission was STS-135.

Atlantis was the fourth shuttle built and obviously the last one to fly into space. It was in service for 25 years and flew 33 missions. 

Atlantis was named after a ship that did work for Massachusetts’ Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute between 1930 and 1966. That sailing ship was the first to image the ocean floor using electronic sounding devices.

Atlantis had an impressive list of accomplishments during it’s lifetime, including being the last shuttle to visit the Hubble Space Telescope. During a mission in May of 2009, the Atlantis crew made 5 spacewalks to repair and add equipment to the Hubble. 

The first flight of Atlantis was October 3-7, 1985 (STS-51J) — it’s last flight was July 8-21, 2011 (STS-135.) During it’s 33 missions, Atlantis spent 306 days, 14 hours, 12 minutes and 43 seconds in space. 

To this day, Atlantis’ first flight is shrouded in secrecy. We know that mission STS-51J took five people into space and lasted four days — the payload was, obviously, classified. Today’s anniversary marks the end of an era and the last time a spaceship landed in Florida. RIP Atlantis — you had a good run.
— 30 —

Fifty two years ago today (June 20, 1969) the Eagle lunar landing module, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, landed on the Moon. Six hours after landing, Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the Moon’s surface. 

This is one of those days that just about everyone can remember where they were when it happened. I won’t repeat myself, but if you’re interested, you can check the entry of this blog for July 20, 2019 to find out where I watched the historic event.

For many, today is referred to as National Moon Day… commemorating the day man first walked on the moon. When the event occurred in 1969, NASA reported the moon landing as being… “the single greatest technological achievement of all time.” 

In 1971, President Richard Nixon proclaimed National Moon Landing Day on July 20th to honor the anniversary of man’s first moon landing. But — no continuing resolution followed. There have been several movements to create an official National Moon Day — many of them claiming that “If there’s a Columbus Day on the calendar, there certainly should be a Moon Day.” The goal of these movements is to make July 20th a federally recognized holiday.

In 2019, President Trump proclaimed July 20th as the 50th Anniversary Observance of the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing, but to date no National Moon Day has been declared. 

Today is a good day to think about 52 years ago and where we were, what we were thinking and about how proud we were to be Americans. I’m not sure an official National Mood Day can bring back those thoughts and  feelings, but I suppose it couldn’t hurt.
— 30 —

This past weekend Emily asked when the fireworks would start and she was told, “after dark.” That seemed to satisfy her, but I’ve alway been curious about the phrase. When we say “after dark,” we really mean “after light” — when the daylight has faded and it’s becoming night. 

Well, my extensive research, while not completely satisfying, did shed some “light” on the subject. The real meaning of “after dark” is “after dark comes” or “after darkness falls.” It was never meant to mean “after dark is over.”

If you look up dark in the dictionary, among the definitions of the noun dark is nightfall. So “after dark” could mean “after nightfall.”

The term has been around since at least the 1700s, and can be found in many literary works throughout the years. Gilbert & Sullivan used the term in one of their operas in 1882 — Lolanthe (The Peer and the Perl) about a fairy (Lolanthe) being banished from fairyland, in the following lyrics:

I heard the minx remark,
She’d meet him after dark,
Inside St. James’s Park,
And give him one!

The term has been around for a long time, and it’s obviously not technically correct, but no one — even kids — have any trouble interpreting its meaning correctly. Besides, it just sounds better than “after light.”
— 30 —

We visited our grandkids, Locke, Rory and Ellie, a couple of weekends ago. It’s interesting how each generation of kids has different interests. Things that we were fascinated by, or liked, are of little or no interest to the little ones today.

I concluded from one conversation, that money doesn’t have the same meaning to kids that it once did… maybe it doesn’t have any meaning to them now. I can certainly understand why — even us old people don’t think about and handle money the same anymore.
Anyhow, this naturally got me to thinking about money and how it originated and who came up with the idea? 

There are many theories about the origin of money. Money, in some way, shape or form, has been part of human history for at least the last 3,000 years. Many historians believe human beings have used cash currency for maybe 40.000 years. 

First, people bartered — people made direct deals between two parties using desirable objects. Money came along later and its form evolved over time — from natural objects to coins to paper to digital versions. 

Money, in and of itself, may or may not, have actual value: it can be a shell, a metal coin, or a piece of paper — or, something else. Its value depends on the importance that people place on it — as a medium of exchange, a unit of measurement, or a a storehouse for wealth. 

The first region of the world to use an industrial facility to manufacture coins that could be used as currency was in a region of Europe called Lydia (modern-day Western Turkey,) in approximately 600 B.C. The Chinese were the first to devise a system of paper money, in approximately 770 B.C.

Most of the time, the terms “money” and “currency” are used interchangeably, there are several theories that suggest the terms are not identical. According to some theories, money is inherently an intangible concept, while currency is the tangible (physical) manifestation of the intangible concept of money.
The basic form of money is numbers — today, the basic form of currency is paper notes, coins, or plastic cards (credit or debit cards.)

Sometime around 700 – 800 B.C., the Chinese moved from using actual usable objects, such as tools and weapons, as a medium of exchange to using miniature replicas of the same objects that had been cast in bronze. These miniature objects didn’t prove to be practical and the tiny daggers, spades and hoes were eventually abandoned for objects in the shape of a circle. These objects became some of the first coins. Shortly thereafter, the Chinese moved from coins to paper money and they seemed to have a pretty good handle on the money supply and various denominations. It’s interesting that in the place where modern American bills say, “In God We Trust,” the Chinese inscription back then warned — “Those who are counterfeiting will be decapitated.”

So over the years money and/or currency has taken the form of iron, gold, beads, silver, shells and even live animals such as cows. And just in our lifetime more has changed more than we might think… just try offering your grandkids a quarter.
— 30 —

Well, we all seem to have made it through the 4th safe and sound so we find ourselves in the midst of summer. In case you’re reading this some years from now, you may be interested to know that the President and First Lady hosted a July 4 celebration at the White House yesterday with a barbecue for military families and essential workers. Part of the reason was to celebrate “independence” from the coronavirus as cases continue to fall and vaccinations rise.
Demolition experts took down the rest of the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida yesterday.
Tropical Storm Elsa’s outer bands are forecast to reach into the Florida Keys today.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that he would continue wearing a mask in any place that has low coronavirus vaccination rates.
Jeff Bezos formally steps down as CEO of Amazon on Monday.
Pope Francis is recovering after intestinal surgery.
Joey Chestnut won the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest for the 14th time in 15 years on Sunday, breaking his own record by downing 76 hotdogs in 10 minutes.

And here in Deerfield Village, we’re still enjoying having the porta-potty out front…. we may only have this treat for another week or so. For some of you it’ll be back to work tomorrow, but some of us will just settle in for those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer….
— 30 —

Happy Birthday America!!  Americans across the country are ready to celebrate July 4 in a big way, especially since the pandemic pretty much prevented much celebrating last year.

Here in Deerfield Village, looks like things are all set — the porta-potty is prominently on display with a great view from our front yard. And tonight we’ll have the annual fireworks display set off way too near our houses — luckily we got a fair amount of rain the past couple of days, so the fire hazard should only be “moderate,”

Speaking of fireworks, they have been part of our Independence Day celebrations from the start. At the first July 4 celebration in Philadelphia in 1777, Americans fired a cannon 13 times in honor of the original 13 colonies. Thirteen “fireworks” were also fired in the city as part of the celebrations. Revelers in Boston also set off fireworks in 1777. 

The fireworks tradition is probably a hold-over from a tradition of public celebrations in England. Fireworks have always been part of the festivities in England on Guy Fawkes Day, that commemorates a foiled plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament.

The tradition of fireworks in early Independence Day celebrations seem to have stemmed  from a continuation of earlier kinds of political culture — but made more American…
July 4th just wouldn’t be Independence Day without fireworks (and porta-pottys.)
Have a safe and happy 4th.
— 30 —

Here we are at the start of a long holiday weekend. Of course tomorrow is the big day — July 4th, “America’s Birthday.” The Naional Park Service will host the annual Independence Day fireworks celebration on the National Mall and President Joe Biden is set to host a group of essential workers and military families on the South Lawn of the White House on Sunday. 

The United States commemorates July 4th as its birthday — even though the Declaration of Independence didn’t become official until everyone had signed it in the first part of August. 

Americans began celebrating July 4 the year after the Declaration of Independence was signed. Former President John Adams wrote that July 4, 1777, was celebrated in Philadelphia “with a festivity and ceremony becoming the occasion.”

But July 4 became more widely observed by Americans following the War of 1812. Independence Day became the most important nonreligious holiday for many Americans by the 1870s, and Congress passed a law making Independence Day a federal holiday on June 28, 1870.
— 30 —

Yesterday, we talked about what happened on July 1, 1776 — the Continental Congress re-convened for the purpose of adopting the Lee Resolution for independence. They didn’t actually get down to business until the following day — today’s day in history, July 2, 1776 

July 2, 1776 is kind of interesting…. Lee’s resolution calling for independence was approved by 12 of the 13 colonies, making it the Continental Congress’ first vote for independence. The formal Declaration of Independence wasn’t adopted until a couple of days later. 

Luckily for us, the colonists found a way to put differences aside and join together to work for a common goal. Sad to say that on this July 2, if Congress had to come together for that common goal of independence, we’d probably all be driving on the left side of the road….
— 30 —