Tag Archives: spring

March 20, 2019

Spring Forecast: Muon Showers

In the March Mathness post I mentioned that one reason I love March is that it contains the Vernal Equinox, the official astronomical start of Spring. More importantly to me, it means six months of more daylight than darkness, and as much as I’m a night person, I prefer long, sunny days.

Well, today is the day! The equinox happened at 21:58 UTC (two minutes before 5:00 PM locally). What’s better is that, after all the miserable bitter cold and all that snow in February and into March, the weather is indeed finally turning. Deeply embedded in our mythologies is the idea of spring rebirth; New Year’s parties aside, this, today, is the true new year.

And the forecast is for muon showers!

17 Comments | tags: Albert Einstein, equinox, muon, Special Relativity, spring, spring equinox, tau, vernal equinox | posted in Physics

March 15, 2015

Death. And Life!

By Wyrd Smythe

Terry Pratchett, 1948-2015, RIP

My mom died a year ago today. Yesterday I attended a memorial service for my best friend’s mom, who died this past February. Also in February, Leonard Nimoy took a final bow and exited stage left. Most recently — just last Thursday — another star went out, and it was one that shone brilliantly in the sky for so many of us.

Sir Terry Pratchett finally got to meet one of his key characters. I like to think that, for him, it might have been like meeting an old friend — and sadly, a visitor he’s been expecting for quite a while now. We fans know that Death personally attends the passing of wizards.

And Terry Pratchett was a wizard beyond compare.

12 Comments | tags: celebration, death, Discworld, Joy, Jurassic Park, Leonard Nimoy, Life, loss, Michael Crichton, mourning, Soul Music (novel), spring, Terry Pratchett, vernal equinox | posted in Life