The Eclipse is Coming, The Eclipse is Coming!

Hi All,

The eclipse is coming, the eclipse is coming.  Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you probably know that there is a total solar eclipse coming on Monday, August 21st!

The last time there was a total solar eclipse was in 1991 - over 25 years ago.
NASA has a great eclipse site  for adults and for kids!  Click here for the site. 
And the site has links to Events and Activities and Resources all related to the eclipse.  Click the prior links to go to that subject. 

CNN Travel created a funnish site called the 'Slacker's Guide to the 2017 Solar Eclipse'.  For complete coverage of the eclipse users can visit the formal CNN Eclipse website.  Viewers can also watch live, in virtual reality, as the eclipse moves coast to coast on August 21st!

Click on this link that will tell you the best place(s) to see the 2017 eclipse! 

So when you are watching the eclipse you'll need a set of eclipse glasses.  Click here to learn more. 
And here.
And here.  

TimeandDate.com  has a map of the solar eclipse on this site.

For those of you who are awed at the rarity of the eclipse, visit this Washington Post site for an article titled 'Here's every total solar eclipse happening in your lifetime. Is this year your best chance?'

Finally, click here to learn a bit more about the history of the eclipse and much, much more.

Enjoy the sites and the links and the eclipse.

Regards,
Stu

HubbleSite - Space Images, Videos and More!!!

Hi All,

Check out HubbleSite for news, images, videos, blogs and more about astronomy, space and 'things related to NASA'.  

Click this link for news articles about celestial phenomena and the universe.   Click on this link to learn more about Space Telescope Science Institute.

This link takes you to many different space images while this link takes you to many videos related to space, astronomy and NASA.

The site has many interesting blog posts.  Users can search by type of blog post - for example you can search by text, video, audio and more.

Users can explore the site in much more detail by clicking on any of these 4 links - Discoveries, Astronomy, Technology or Education/Museums.

And to see the future of big space astronomy, click on this link to the James Webb Space Telescope!  Great information and 'inside baseball' related to the telescope on the site.

Enjoy the site and the videos and the pictures!

Regards,
Stu

Daylight Saving Time is Right Around the Corner!

Hi All,

It's that time of year again!  Daylight Saving Time (DST).  Get ready, get set, go....change your clocks! Forward.

The first question that should cross your mind is, 'when does DST begin?'.  Answer: it starts on  Sunday, March 8th, 2015!  That is this upcoming Sunday morning.  Oh, and fyi,...DST ends on November 1st, 2015 this year.

Click on this link from Wikipedia for pretty much all there is to know about DST!   If you are interested in the history of DST, click on this link - again from Wikipedia.

Click on this link for a nice concise and entertaining summary and background of DST in the USA.

Some folks are against having DST, others are for having DST...click on this link which discusses the Pros and Cons of DST. 

This next link discusses why authorities should re-think and evaluate DST!

Click on this link from NASA.gov which discusses some more of the history of DST.  Interesting and well written article.

And there you have it - all you need to know about DST!  Enjoy the links - and remember, 'spring ahead, fall back'...

Regards,
Stu

Astronomy Picture of the Day and NASA website

Hi All,

Just a quickie post today.  Click on this link for NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Picture of the Day. 

Here is a summary of NASA's picture of the day: "Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer." Now that's a quick and accurate summary of the website!

Note that there are links below the picture.  The webpage is very heavily hyperlinked.  For example, you can click on Subaru Telescope, locked in a cosmic dance, Hubble Legacy Archive,  loops and tails, interacting galaxies back up to quintet status and constellation Pegasus.  Clicking on these links will get you ever deeper into the various (and myriad) sub sites of the NASA website.  Very cool  stuff - fore example, I clicked on the 'interacting galaxies back up to quintet status link' and I got more links from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory!  On this page you can find Chandra Observatory images by date - which goes all the way back to 1999!

Those of you who like 'all things NASA would do well to visit the Multimedia link on the NASA homepage. It is very, very interactive and has links for the Public, for Educators/Teachers, and For Students.  The shear number of  videos, images, NASA TV Live, Interactive Features, Podcasts and 3D Resources on the Multimedia page is awesome!

So sit back and gear your tablet, laptop or desktop computer up for a long, long adventure when you visit the NASA website!  

Enjoy the links and the website!

Regards, 
Stu

NASA Picture of the Day

Hi All,

If you didn't already know it, NASA has an amazing repository of 'Astronomy Picture of the Day' going back to June 16, 1995.  Amazing photos of stars, suns, galaxies, nebula's, comets, solar system, nova's, moons, planets and more.  Here is the link to the archives for the pictures. 

Click on this link to search all the Astronomy Pictures of the Day since 6/16/95.  

Other parts of the NASA site that might be interesting include:
1. Astronomy Picture of the Day's Educational Links
2. Are you interested in partaking in a discussion about a particular Astronomy Picture of the Day?  If so, then click on this link for a discussion forum. 
3.  Click on this link to the main NASA website.  There are links to News, Missions, Multimedia and ways to Connect with NASA. 

Enjoy the site!
Stu

Duct Tape - How Cool Is That?

Hi All,

Duct tape. Very few people think about the myriad things you can use it for...unless you actually need some right now. 

Who knew that there are websites devoted to various aspects of duct tape?  Go figure.  Without further ado, a completely different and remarkably useful blog entry dedicated to duct tape - and just as useful.

For a history of duct tape - click on this link from Wikipedia. Is is duct tape or duck tape?  Click here to find out.

For a seriously outdated website - think early 2000's - click on this link entitled 101 Uses For Duct Tape. Alternatively you can click on this link - similar, but different then the last one though.

And, finally, click on this link from Reader's Digest entitled, 'Extraordinary Uses For Duct Tape'.  You know that you can make 'art' out of duct tape - click here for some examples of duct tape art.  Click here for another duct tape are website - link is from About.com and has more duct tape related links at the bottom of the page also.

And wouldn't you know it...good old YouTube is liberally sprinkled with video of duct tape art.  OMG! Click here for a bunch of duct tape related images from a Google Image search.

Finally, if you are a Farmingdale Public Library patron, come on down to a program that we are hosting on Friday, February 8th at  4:15pm...program is for kids in 3rd grade, 4th grade or 5th grade.  How cool is that?  A whole program dedicated to duct tape fun!

Enjoy.
Stu

EarthSky

Hi All,

Just came across a website called EarthSky.org.  Earthsky.org conducts interviews with the world's top scientists every day.  It is, to a large extent, a science advocacy website.  On the site there are links to blogs, interviews, FAQ's, and to Science Wire (which is a link to science media releases from around the world)

There are three main links at the top left part of the homepage entitled 'Earth', 'Space' and 'Human World'. 

Links from the 'Earth' category have recently included articles on the recent Russian floods, the Colorado Springs wildfire, rainbows, Earth as Art and more.  Links from the 'Space' category have recently included articles on magnetic portals between the Earth and sun, sunspots, medium sized black holes, looking at the center of the Milky Way galaxy and what causes the aurora borealis?  Links from the 'Human World' discuss has recently had articles like the role of women in the 21st century, did scientists recentlyfind the Higgs boson?, an article on anxiety and more. 

EarthSky partners and is supported by many scientists and scientific institutions including Fast Company, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Google, the NOAA and the Economist.  To say the sites' advisors are well qualified is an understatement.  

Oh, right...the articles are timely, clearly written and pretty darn interesting.  Science news junkies should definitely give the site the once over to see if it warrants bookmarking or visits during the day. 

Enjoy the site!

Stu

Asteroids and Space Stuff

Hi All,

Check out this article from MSN entitled, 'City Block-Sized Asteroid Will Pass Near Earth Tonight'. Even better, you can watch the flyby of this extraterrestrial juggernaut by clicking on this link at about 8pm tonight.  Hold onto our seatbelts for a wild ride.

And while you are holding on to your seatbelts, you can click on this link from NASA showing their Multimedia links.  Now this is some great material.  Users can find NASA images, NASA's latest videos, a link to NASA Television, find NASA Interactive Features, Audio Podcasts and Video Podcasts. 

Are they serious? This is all free material for users!!! The pictures and video are amazing, the information is top-notch, unbiased and fascinating.  Definitely a must-view for the astronomy buff in your family or for you!

Enjoy the stars, and the galaxies, and the planets, and the moons and the universe!

Stu

A Rose of Galaxies

Hi All,

I find science and technology type topics pretty interesting so when I found this link I immediately thought about blogging the link.

Check out the link to the article entitled, 'A Rose of Galaxies? NASA Rings in Hubble's 21st Birthday. '

What really caught my attention was the photo attached to the article - click here for the link to a totally cool photo of a really, really big GALAXY!

Check out this site for more amazing photos of stars, planets, nebulae, galaxies, suns, etc...from Astronomy.com. Note that this is the link to the multimedia portion of the site where you can find computer wallpaper, videos, and the picture of the day! Great stuff to put on your computer tabletop!

Regards,
Stu

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Semordinlap Palindromes - Backwards and Forwards

Hi All,

Yes, I know, two days in a row with a blog entry. I'm on a roll now!

Yesterdays' blog entry was just a bit stuffy and formal and well, too button-down. I'm going to change that today that's for sure. Just trying to mix it up for my readers!

Readers might have noticed the strange words in the title of todays' post...

So what the heck is a semordinlap? Well, actually I'm trying (possibly not succeeding) to be funny. You see a palindrome is (click here) 'a word, line, verse, number, sentence, etc., that reads the same backword as forward. For example, the phrase 'madam, I'm adam' or 'poor Dan is in a droop' are examples of palindromes. So...the word 'semordinlap' is actually the word 'palindromes' backwards'.

Click here for a list of 886 palindromes that someone created...go figure. Click here for another list of 50 palindromes - note that these are just words that are spelled the same backwards and forwards. Kind of cute.

Okay, now for another interesting website...you've probably heard of NASA - the National Aeronautics and Space Administration? Well, they do amazing things for the space and earth sciences. Click here to view the main NASA website. Some links that you might find interesting include 'News', 'Missions', 'Connect', and 'Multimedia'. Click on any of the words and you'll go to that particular part of the NASA website.

One of the best parts of the NASA site is the Image of the Day gallery - click here to view the link. So, what does the image gallery do for you? It is a day by day link of images dealing with things related to NASA (including missions, topics of interest relating to NASA, people topics and much more). If you like science, astronomy and 'things' related to outer space this is a neat site for you to bookmark or make a favorite.

Regards,

Stu

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