Today is day 356 of the Gregorian Calendar year, Setting Orange, The Aftermath 63, 3186 YOLD And let us not forget 13.0.8.2.2 mlc (the Mayan Long Count)
In the Northern Hemisphere, December 21 is the shortest day of the year and is the first day of astronomical winter. In the Southern Hemisphere, December 21 is the longest day of the year and marks the summer solstice. This year there will be an awesome conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Such conjunctions, between the two largest planets, are called "great conjunctions". This year's "Great Conjuction" will be the closest since 1623 and will appear as one huge bright star. Conjunctions of this specific pair of planets only happen every 20 years, so hope for cloudless skies. Many astrologers and some priests are predicting global change of one type or another up to and including the end of the world as we know it. Other people are reviving the "End of the World Because Mayan Calendar" hoax, alleging that some fiddle involving various conversions, especially to Gregorian introduced systemic errors such that the correct date wasn't 2012 but is 2021. This is all based on a complete misunderstanding of the Mayan Calendar, aided and abetted by the Spanish Imperialist Slaver Conquerors, one of whom found the calendar to be a fun puzzle and with virtually no knowledge of their culture, history or calendar created some "codices" from which many false conclusions have been made. A summary of the debunking of this silliness may be found here: https://earthsky.org/human-world/david-stuart-on-the-mayan-calendar-and-2012-doomsday-predictions among other places. In 2012, or, if you believe the Gregorian date fiddle, 2021, the long count calendar turned a page, that is all. That calendar will still be counting off days until long after the sun has gone nova. So, should you party like there's no tomorrow? Of course you should, because there isn't, because tomorrow never comes ...
'cause as a matter of fact, as we discovered in the train, tomorrow never happens, it's all the same fucking day, man.
~~ Janis Joplin
At any rate at and after dusk, look to the west. There is plentiful information online, which a search for "Great Conjunction" should turn up. Here's a link to one site: (https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/great-jupiter-saturn-conjuncti...)
Alternatively, you can start with https://skyandtelescope.org/ and then pick "observing" and "tools". Observing gets you, among other things this weeks sky -( https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-decembe... )
Tools will get you both of the following, once you launch them https://skyandtelescope.org/interactive-sky-chart/https://skyandtelescope.org/wp-content/plugins/observing-tools/almanac/a...
Important - Please Note:
Today is: National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day That's MEMORIAL, you know, as in "in memoriam" and so many other phrases and usages. They are as good as dead already, or at least dead to all of us, to society, and to the political classes and ruling elites. Alas poor nameless Homeless Persons, I knew them, Horatio. Alas indeed.
On this day in history:
1620 – The Mayflower's cargo of "Pilgrim" Colonists landed on what is now known as Plymouth Rock 1826 – Colonists in Nacogdoches Mexico (Tejas) declared their independence, starting the Fredonian Rebellion. 1844 – The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers commenced business at its cooperative in Rochdale, England, starting the Cooperative movement. 1879 – Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House premiered 1907 – The Chilean Army massacred at least 2,000 striking saltpeter miners in Iquique, Chile 1913 – The first crossword puzzle, was published in the New York World. 1919 – Emma Goldman was deported to Russia. 1937 – Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, premiered 1965 – The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination was adopted. Well, it does have a nice ring to it 1968 – Apollo 8 was launched and put its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans. 1988 – The first flight of Antonov An-225 Mriya, the largest aircraft in the world.
Born this day in:
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry
Also
Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.
~~ Frank Vincent Zappa 1401 – Masaccio, painter 1603 – Roger Williams, colonist, founded the Colony of Rhode Island 1728 – Hermann Raupach, harpsichord player and composer ( 1795 – Leopold von Ranke, historian, author, and academic 1803 – Achille Vianelli, painter and academic 1805 – Thomas Graham, chemist and academic 1815 – Thomas Couture, painter and educator 1843 – Thomas Bracken, journalist, poet, and politician 1866 – Maud Gonne, political activist 1868 – George W. Fuller, chemist and engineer 1872 – Trevor Kincaid, zoologist and academic 1872 – Albert Payson Terhune, journalist and author 1876 – Jack Lang, lawyer and politician 1878 – Jan Lukasiewicz, mathematician and philosopher 1884 – María Cadilla, writer, educator, women's rights activist 1889 – Sewall Wright, geneticist and biologist 1890 – Hermann Joseph Muller, geneticist and biologist 1978 – Shaun Morgan, musician, singer, and guitarist 1892 – Rebecca West, journalist and author 1905 – Anthony Powell, author 1905 – Käte Fenchel, mathematician 1914 – Frank Fenner, microbiologist and virologist 1915 – Werner von Trapp, singer 1917 – Heinrich Böll, novelist and short story writer, 1920 – Alicia Alonso, ballerina and choreographer, founded the Cuban National Ballet 1920 – Adele Goldstine, computer programmer 1922 – Cécile DeWitt-Morette, mathematician and physicist 1937 – Jane Fonda, actress, producer, and activist 1940 – Frank Zappa, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1943 – Albert Lee, guitarist and songwriter 1944 – Michael Tilson Thomas, pianist, composer, and conductor 1946 – Carl Wilson, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1947 – Paco de Lucía, guitarist, songwriter, and producer 1978 – Shaun Morgan, musician, singer, and guitarist 1950 – Lillebjørn Nilsen, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1953 – András Schiff, pianist and conductor 1953 – Betty Wright, singer,and songwriter 1955 – Kazuyuki Sekiguchi, singer, songwriter, and bass player 1961 – Ryuji Sasai, bass player and composer 1971 – Matthieu Chedid, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
Died this day in:
“Nothing is so indecent that it cannot be said to another person if the proper words are used to convey it.”
~~ Giovanni Boccaccio 1375 – Giovanni Boccaccio, author and poet 1824 – James Parkinson, physician and paleontologist 1933 – Knud Rasmussen, anthropologist and explorer 1937 – Violette Neatley Anderson, judge 1940 – F. Scott Fitzgerald, novelist and short story writer 1964 – Carl Van Vechten, author and photographer 1965 – Claude Champagne, violinist, pianist, and composer 1992 – Albert King, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer 2009 – Edwin G. Krebs, biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 2017 – Bruce McCandless II, first untethered spacewalker
Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: Sanghamitta Day (Theravada Buddhism) Yule in the Northern Hemisphere (Neopagan Wheel of the Year) ribbon candy day first day of winter national short story day national hamburger day national french fried shrimp day national look at the bright side day National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day humbug day don't make your bed day short girl appreciation day several more
Music goes here, iirc, well, With apologies ;-)
It's an open thread, so do your thing
Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com