Word of the day: Kwanzaa \KWAHN-zuh\ noun: an African-American cultural festival held from December 26 to January 1.
Did you know?
In 1966, Maulana Karenga, a Black-studies professor at California State University at Long Beach, created a new holiday patterned after traditional African harvest festivals. He called it "Kwanzaa," a name he took from a Swahili term that means "first fruits." The holiday, which takes place from December 26th to January 1st, was originally intended as a nonreligious celebration of family and social values. Each day of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of seven principles: unity, self-determination, collective responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.
Hanukah: The Holiday of Lights -- celebrating the miracle of a little oil that lasted eight days, and continues to illuminate our lives to this day.
Today the first ever lighting of a Minora on "The Great Wall" in China. This was in celebration of Hanukah. For the Chinese government to allow this to happen, and furthermore allow it to be broadcast globally, speaks strongly to the systemic changes taking place in the Chinese Communist Party.
When I was listening to the news this morning, I thought of Stephen, Dex's friend and my new acquaintence when they were speaking of an opossum in a christmas tree in Pennsylvania. Reportedly, the opossum, after the tree was fully decorated was quietly inside the tree and had climbed to its top knocking off the star atop the tree. This was FREAKY!
Yesterday it was in the mid 50s temperature-wise. Overnight a major cold front has come through and brought with it rain, sleet, ice, and SNOW. I hope the weather improves before I try to make my drive to Washington, DC tonight.
NEW: Price of Gasoline: (Regular Unleaded 87 Octane) $2.06.9 (Bristol, VA).
NEW: Star Gazing Crab Nebula: Crab Nebula
The Crab Nebula is one of the most famous objects in the galaxy. It's a fuzzy patch of light that looks like a Hollywood special effect. Colorful streamers spread in several directions -- like the claws of a crab. That widespread structure tells astronomers a lot about how the Crab was born -- and about how massive stars die.
The Crab was born when a star about 10 times as massive as the Sun exploded as a supernova. Skywatchers observed the blast in the year 1054. The star's outer layers were blasted into space. This material now spans about 10 light-years, and it continues to expand.
The star's core survived the blast, but in a very different form. It was crushed so tightly that it formed a neutron star -- a ball that's perhaps twice as massive as the Sun, but only about as big as Austin. This ball spins about 30 times a second. As it spins, it interacts with its powerful magnetic field to send out "jets" of charged particles.
The magnetic field and the nebula's odd shape may reveal something about the explosion that created the Crab -- and we'll talk about that tomorrow.
Look for the Crab Nebula in the constellation Taurus, the bull, which is well up in the east this evening. A V-shaped pattern of stars forms his face. The Crab is near the tip of the bull's left horn. Binoculars reveal a fuzzy patch of light. But you need a good telescope to see any of the Crab's wispy structure.
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