Road Tunes

Here's a funny video that brings new meaning to the term "road tunes".

 

Cancelled, Closed, Cut Off!

With the current pandemic crisis going on and the need for social distancing, there are many many events that have been cancelled, stores and facilities closed, and people cut off from even being in contact with family and friends. 

So, what does one do when practicing physical distancing, isolation or semi-isolation with only immediate family members? Plenty!! All you need is a bit of creativity, some motivation, and some space, though  a lot of the latter isn't critical.

I like to workout and stay fit, which also proves to be good for one's mental state of mind too! Sweat it out, so to speak!! haha  But fitness doesn't always have to be about a big grind, nor does it require a gym or studio space or participation in a fitness class. Yes, they can help and add some comaraderie as well as variety, but just to start the day off right when waking up in the morning, I do a bunch of exercises in the corner of my kitchen. Not much space required at all.

So, get started on some sort of fitness routine, even if it's just a few pushups and situps. You can build on it by adding a few more every few days and think of it as a good way to get the blood flowing and a welcome distraction when experiencing all this Covid-19 physical distancing. 

You Learn Something New Every Day!

You learn something new every day, or at least you should try to do so and thereby increase your knowledge!

Crepuscular rays emanating from the view toward the sunset 

For me, that every day learning often comes in the form of a new word, one which intrigues me when reading a book or hearing someone speak.

In today's case, an Instagram post that contained a really interesting photo also came with a description of the "anticrepuscular clouds". What an awesome word! And with that I knew there would soon be some research involved, though the first thought was to break it down and figure it out by logic!

Being somewhat familiar with the root of the word ( check out my aprevious post "Watch Out For Wildlife") crepuscular refers to twilight, occuring either at dawn or dusk. In the case of the aforementioned post, crepuscular animals such as deer are those who are active in twilight.

With that in mind, crepuscular rays would logically be rays of light that occur sometime around "Twilight,( And I Don't Mean The Movie)". But anticrepuscular? Either it meant not near twilight, or maybe against twilight, perhaps? Now, off to the internet we go in search of more information.

As the diagram above shows, light from a low sun occuring sometime around twilight will be visible in the form of emanating rays when there are conditions that allow shadow, such as the presence of clouds or a mountain. In the case of the diagram, the perspective is looking toward the sun, which would be crepuscular rays, therefore looking away from the sun would be those anticrepuscular rays. 

If it makes it easier, think of a anticrepuscular rays being created in a simialr manner to a rainbow, with the sunlight refracting, reflecting or dispersing on water droplets on the opposite side of the location of the sun. 

Anticrepuscular rays emanating on the horizon opposite of the sunset

Anticrepuscular rays are essentially parallel, but appear to converge toward the antisolar point (the vanishing point) due to a visual illusion created by the linear perspective. 

Flatten The Curve

Yes, there is cause for concern when it comes to the Covid-19 virus and perhaps the most serious has to do with flattening the curve of the infection rate and giving our health care system the ability to handle the disease.

The virus is contagious and can be life threatening, especially for more vulnerable groups like seniors or those with compromised immune systems. But, treatment is possible as long as the health care system isn't overwhelmed, as is the case in Italy and possibly other countries like Spain and Germany.

Essentially, the request by health officials to practice "social distancing" is to limit the number of people getting infected at the same time. As the graph above shows, if we can keep that infected rate below the line we have the ability to effectively handle the number of potential patients and reduce the death rate.

   

We all need to do our part to prevent the disease from spreading so please heed the recommendations put out by health officials, despite the fact that they may seem draconian.

Be Concerned And Be Careful, But Not Fearful!

Yes, the Covid19 virus has been declared a pandemic, meaning it is a world wide virus that has spread faster than expected and has no known cure. It's affected a lot of people and killed some of them too, sad and serious facts but something that needs to be kept in perspective.

Consider these facts and weigh them out against what is happening with Covid-19!

• During a typical flu season, about 500,000 people worldwide will die from the illness. 


• With a current world population of 7.8 billion, the mortality rate of the typical flu equals approximately 0.064%  while that of the Covid19 sits at approximately 0.028%.


• Approximately 26,000 people die every day from cancer


• Heart disease kills about 24,000 people daily


• Another 4300 people die every day as a result of diabetes


• Mosquitos and the diseases they carry cause 2700 deaths on a daily basis


• About 1300 people are killed each day by other people

So, maybe when considering the Covid19 flu virus, we need to recognize its' significant impact and potential danger, but realize that panic mode does absolutely nothing to prevent contracting the disease or from it being spread.

It's not a good situation and though it currently ranks somewhat low in the grand scheme of things,  people might stop the panic and remember the basics of dealing with any contagious illness, like staying home if they're sick, washing their hands on a regular basis, avoid touching their faces and mouths, and being extra considerate and cautious when dealing with those who are more susceptible to these things, like the elderly and young children.  

March

March is a significant month in many ways, both in historical and contemporary times, and there are many adages which refer to this time of year. 

The month of March is associated with the end of Winter and beginning of Spring, most welcome in our Northern Hemisphere after having experienced 4 or 5 months of cold and snow. I mean, even though many people enjoy Winter activities, who isn't excited by the thought of warmer weather and all that it brings? 

As the photo above might suggest, the term "mad as a March hare" relates to some of the frenzy and frenetic behaviour of (brown) hares at this time of year, when mating rituals and competition for a suitable doe has the bucks leaping about, boxing each other. Along the same lines, another old saying "on the first of March, crows begin to search" refers to the fact that crows begin to look for a mate at the beginning of March.

A rebirth, so to speak and one of the reasons March is celebrated as a time of planting and fertility.

Consider the old saying "a peck of March dust is worth a king's ransom" (a peck is a dry measurement of two gallons whose usage is pretty much obsolete). March is typically a wet month and if it's dry enough to produce some dust, it bodes well for crop planting.

If you read my last post, titled "March Comes In Like An Emu?", you'll know that pretty much everyone knows the saying "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb", or some variation of that, with the idea that the weather is somewhat unstable in this month. It can still be wintery in the beginning, with better conditions near the end, or vice versa, depending on meteorolgical conditions.

How about "beware the Ides of March"? A famous quote from William Shakeseare's play "Julius Caeser", whereby the Emporer recieves a prophesy from a seer, soon to be realized in his assasination at the hands of Brutus and his fellow Roman senators. That's the line from the play and Caeser was, indeed, assasinated on the Ides of march, but what is that exactly? 

The Death of Julius Caesar by the acclaimed Neoclassical painter Vincenzo Camuccini (1771–1844)

In Roman times, the days of the month were not numbered from start to beginning but rather had 3 significant days within the month from which they used as a reference to count back. Since Ides in Latin means divide, this day was the middle of the month, in March being the 15th. ( there was also the Nones and Kalends, but that's a different story. haha) It was all as much related to the moon phases but was also considered a time to settle debts, which in the case of Julius proved to be fatal. 

Here's another bit of March trivia is related to basketball and referred to as "March Madness". This refers to the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament, a single-elimination tournament of 68 teams that compete in seven rounds for the national championship.

In 2020, the first day of Spring is somwhat early by comparison to other years, ushered in on Thursday March 19th. What can we expect for weather, especially in these current days of climate change? 

It's hard to say but Charles Dickens certainly had a nice way of summing it up when he so eloquently phrased "It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade."     Charles Dickens

March Comes In Like An Emu?

John Belushi as the "Weatherman", in an old SNL skit about the adage "March comes in like a lion...." 

Old John

And, the transcript...

Chevy Chase:

Last week we made the comment that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. Now here to reply is our chief meteorologist, John Belushi, with a seasonal report.

John Belushi:

Thank you Chevy. Well, another winter is almost over and March true to form has come in like a lion, and hopefully will go out like a lamb. At least that's how March works here in the United States.

But did you know that March behaves differently in other countries? In Norway, for example, March comes in like a polar bear and goes out like a walrus. Or, take the case of Honduras where March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a salt marsh harvest mouse.

Let's compare this to the Maldive Islands where March comes in like a wildebeest and goes out like an ant. A tiny, little ant about this big.

[holds thumb and index fingers a small distance apart]

Unlike the Malay Peninsula where March comes in like a worm-eating fernbird and goes out like a worm-eating fernbird. In fact, their whole year is like a worm-eating fernbird.

Or consider the Republic of South Africa where March comes in like a lion and goes out like a different lion. Like one has a mane, and one doesn't have a mane. Or in certain parts of South America where March swims in like a sea otter, and then it slithers out like a giant anaconda.

There you can buy land real cheap, you know. And there's a country where March hops in like a kangaroo, and stays a kangaroo for a while, and then it becomes a slightly smaller kangaroo. Then, then, then for a couple of days it's sort of a cross between a, a frilled lizard and a common house cat.

[Chevy Chase tries to interrupt him]

Wait wait wait wait. Then it changes back into a smaller kangaroo, and then it goes out like a, like a wild dingo. Now, now, and it's not Australia! Now, now, you'd think it would be Australia, but it's not!

[Chevy Chase tries to interrupt him]

Now look, pal! I know a country where March comes in like an emu and goes out like a tapir. And they don't even know what it means! All right? Now listen, there are nine different countries, where March comes in like a frog, and goes out like a golden retriever. But that- that's not the weird part! No, no, the weird part is, is the frog. The frog- The weird part is-

[has seizure and falls off chair]