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Musings on Random Musings


Kara Zor-El

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Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

I'm sure you already know this' date=' guys, but you have a tornado watch in effect for the area including St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Memphis. Guess it takes a while for the effects of the orbital death ray to dissipate.[/quote']

 

Indianapolis?

 

That's me!

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedaries never told me anything about a tornado...hey, where did the palindromedaries go?

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Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

I'm sure you already know this' date=' guys, but you have a tornado watch in effect for the area including St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Memphis. Guess it takes a while for the effects of the orbital death ray to dissipate.[/quote']

 

National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center

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Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

I'm sure you already know this' date=' guys, but you have a tornado watch in effect for the area including St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Memphis. Guess it takes a while for the effects of the orbital death ray to dissipate.[/quote']

 

I'm going to have to come back and reputize you later.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

After I round up the palindromedaries

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Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

I wrote this several years ago.

 

 

 

Four Meditations In Oz

 

 

The storm has passed, but a tree still smolders where lightning set it afire. The fire frightens me, even though it is dying in this rain soaked wood. I fear the embers, so much like eyes glaring at me with contempt for my cowardice. Beyond the smoking tree is a road, yellow as my cowardly streak, but how can I dare to follow it when I am paralyzed by fear?

 

 

The storm has passed, but rain still drips from the trees. Each drop that strikes my body makes a metallic sound. I feel the trees weep for my hollow heartlessness. Through the forest runs a road, yellow as the hair of the Munchkin girl I once loved, but how can I care where it leads, when I am helplessly rusted in place?

 

 

The storm has passed, but the field still ripples and thrashes in the wind as if it were alive and breathing. The wind shakes my straw stuffed body but never lifts me from the pole. The crows’ harsh voices sound like laughter. I think they mock me because I am brainless. Beyond the fence is a road, yellow as the ripe grain, but how can I think of following it, when I can’t even figure out how to get down off this pole?

 

 

The storm has passed, but I don’t think I’m in flat, gray Kansas anymore. The grass is so green, the flowers so bright, I hear birdsong and running water. Perhaps those small strange men look so grave and solemn because they know I am far from home and family. The woman approaching looks ever so kind and wise; I should ask her if I should follow that yellow road I see. I will certainly never get back home by standing here!

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Copyright Palindromedary Enterprises

 

PPS Post Palindromedary Stuff: To me, The Wizard of Oz will forever be the book and I think of the movie secondarily if at all. The above is written in accord with the book, not the movie.

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Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

I'm sure you already know this' date=' guys, but you have a tornado watch in effect for the area including St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Memphis. Guess it takes a while for the effects of the orbital death ray to dissipate.[/quote']

 

Yep. Fun times. Power was out for a bit. (not more than a minute or two) and winds got pretty high. (don't know exact speed yet.) Luckily no tornado here. Just more rain. ope everyone else in this storm's path is okay.

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Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

Yep. Fun times. Power was out for a bit. (not more than a minute or two) and winds got pretty high. (don't know exact speed yet.) Luckily no tornado here. Just more rain. ope everyone else in this storm's path is okay.

 

We got hit hard last night: golf ball sized hail and heavy rains but whatever tornados hit missed us. And todays batch of storms is farther north of us so it seems the worst is over here. Prayers and good vibes for all of you in the path of the storm.

 

If it helps, here's what I listened to to get me through last night's storm:

 

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Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

Wikipedia trivia: if you take any article' date=' click on the first link in the article text not in parentheses or italics, and then repeat, you will eventually end up at 'Philosophy'. Is this true?[/quote']

 

More likely you eventually end up in a repeating loop, jumping back and forth between two articles that reference each other.

 

edit: This ties into a book I'm reading in a way that's not even funny.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Riding a palindromedary out

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Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

I'm sure you already know this' date=' guys, but you have a tornado watch in effect for the area including St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Memphis. Guess it takes a while for the effects of the orbital death ray to dissipate.[/quote']

 

We had tornado warnings here earlier this evening -- just as I was going out to dinner. Hunger overcame the desire to cower in the basement. There was a funnel cloud sighted about 10 miles southwest, headed my way, but I was headed east at 65mph. The lady at the toll booth where I crossed the IN border thought I was insane. Got to the restaurant five minutes ahead of the storm, and ate dinner while all hell broke loose. On the drive home I stopped for gas; the station attendant was listening to the radio -- the announcer reported 36 tornado sightings in their listening area tonight. Got home and the house is still here.

 

What, me worry?

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Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

I'm not sure things got radically better within the lifespan of most individual members of those groups. The latter two groups only "improved" their lot via the collapse of their respective civilizations.

 

That said, things do get better, if only because technology improves. The web that lets me hang out with you guys has only existed for less than twenty years. Effective smartphones have existed for less than ten. There's a vaccine for chicken pox now. There are downsides to many technological developments, but it's clear to me that the positives greatly outweigh the negatives.

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Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

The Aztecs vs the Spaniards wasn't a clash of civilizations.

 

It was a clash of abominable savageries.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

I only know of palindromedaries since 1991 but I suspect they were around for 1881

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Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

(Note to Astronomers, Math Professors, Scientists, and Engineers: This is a musing I thew together and not somthing I spent the time tracking down the precise measurements for. :))

 

The Moon is (roughly) 384,000 km away from the Earth. The speed of light is (roughly) 300,000 KPS. The Moon orbits at (roughly) 1.02 KPS.

 

We see The Moon where it was a little over a second ago.

 

There are laser reflectors on The Moon, left there by Apollo astronauts. It takes the laser a little over a second to get to The Moon (and the same to get back).

 

The people who measure the Earth-Moon distance via laser have to lead their target by over two seconds of apparent motion, or a little over 2 km. :nonp:

 

FWIW, that's two seconds of time's worth of the motion of the Moon, not two seconds of arc on the sky. I have known people to be confused by the different meanings of the word "second" in applications like this.

 

In practice, that position shift for light-travel-time gets neglected. Diffraction widens the beam sent from Earth by much more than that 2 km at the distance of the Moon.

 

I did the observations for my PhD at McDonald Observatory, which has always been a major participant in the lunar laser ranging business. At the time I was there, they got the use of the 107-inch telescope up to three times a night for their laser shots. Each such shot sequence took about 20 minutes from start to finish, IIRC. I regularly had my observing program interrupted for that, and I knew the guys who were the brain trust for the program. The standard result that the Moon is spiraling out now at about 4 cm per year is from their program.

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Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

Rain hurts bad enough at 40mph. But I' date=' too, think it would be "neat" to be in a tornado, for however many seconds it took before something hard hits you. You know, like the ground.[/quote']

 

Try it with a waterspout then. The main thing that is getting sucked up then is more water -- and maybe a few small fish.

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