What happens on 12/21/12?

Contrary to some fanciful speculation, it will not be the end of the world.  It will only be the end of a Mayan Long Count, after which a new one starts.  On 12/22, most of us will wake up, and go back to our Christmas shopping.  On the other hand, some people will die on 12/21, but that will be merely the natural course of events, and have nothing to do with Mayan astronomy.

Due to precession, the wobble in the earth's spin, the apparent position of the sun (observed from earth, with respect to the stars) at the solstices and equinoxes is slowly moving along the ecliptic, which is the apparent path the sun takes through the sky (and through the constellations known as the Zodiac) every year.  Each of the solstice and equinox points takes 26,000 years to move one complete cycle around the ecliptic, this movement being in the opposite direction of the sun's yearly path.  Thus, while the sun moves from Aries to Taurus to Gemini, each point will slowly move from Gemini to Taurus to Aries at some time within the 26,000-year cycle.  As this article by John Major Jenkins explains, the winter solstice point is close to the galactic equator.  For more information, go to his website.

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Happy And Sad News In The Senate

First the happy news:

To replace Senator Jim DeMint, who announced his intention to resign from the Senate and become the leader of the Heritage Foundation, South Carolina governor Nikki Haley has appointed Tim Scott, currently one of their state's representatives in the House.  He will become the first black Republican senator in over 30 years, and first ever black senator from South Carolina.  Because there are four years left in DeMint's term, Scott will serve for two years before facing a special election in 2014, to determine who serves the last two years.  Read more at the Weekly Standard, National Review, Yahoo News, Newsmax, the Christian Science Monitor and Time.

Now the sad news:

Senator Daniel Inouye, who had represented the state of Hawaii in the Senate since 1963, becoming the second longest serving senator in U.S. history, died earlier today of a respiratory ailment, at age 88.  The son of immigrants from Japan and first Japanese American to serve in Congress when he was elected to the House in 1959, Inouye also won the Medal of Honor in World War II.  While fighting in Italy, Inouye destroyed two machine gun nests after being shot in the stomach while leading an assault against the Germans, after which he was again wounded, losing his right arm.  Inouye died at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.  The last thing he reportedly said was "Aloha".  Hawaii governor Neil Abercrombie will name a successor to serve the remaining two years of Inouye's term.  Read more at the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, CNN, Slate, the New York Daily News and the Hawaii Reporter.

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Happy Birthday, Beethoven

December 16, 1770 is the accepted date for the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, who grew up to become one of the great composers of classical music.  (He was baptized on the 17th.  Since babies were normally baptized within 24 hours of their birth during that era, the 16th is thought to be his actual birth date.)  He was born in the German city of Bonn, and later moved to Vienna, where for a while he took lessons from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and also worked under Franz Joseph Haydn.  He died in 1827, leaving behind nine symphonies, more than 30 piano sonatas, one opera and many other works.

My own childhood piano lessons included quite a few of Beethoven's compositions, including his 8th sonata, known by the French title of Sonaté Pathetique.  This is a rendition of its second movement, played (as it were) by Schoeder in the movie A Boy Named Charlie Brown.

Over a century after Beethoven died, rock and roll singer-guitarist Chuck Berry came out with a song named Roll Over Beethoven.  In 1973, the Electric Light Orchestra took Berry's song and combined it with Beethoven's fifth symphony.  If Beethoven ever heard this version, he probably would roll over.

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A Bit More On The CT School Massacre

Some follow-up on yesterday's shootings in a Connecticut elementary school:

From Sky News, the shooter was an honors student at Newtown High School.

From the New York Post, a father's anguish after losing his son.

From ABC News, a timeline of yesterday's events.

From the Wall Street Journal, some details emerge about Adam Lanza's family.  The guns used in the shootings were registered to Nancy Lanza, Adam's mother.  There also seems to be some question about whether she was a teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

From Natural News, is the real problem medications, not guns?

From NBC News, authorities have identified the victims as the people of Newtown seek answers.  Lanza was not "buzzed in", but forced his way into the school.

From the Washington Post, a live blog including the names of the victims.  Scroll down to the entry at 4:24 pm.

From Fox News, the shooter's father, Peter Lanza, speaks out.

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Massacre In Newtown, Connecticut

This morning, a man named Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother at her home, and then went to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut where she was a teacher, and murdered 26 more victims, 20 of them children, before killing himself.  He was armed with two pistols and an assault rifle, and was carrying an ID that belonged to his brother.  The brother, Ryan Lanza, is not a suspect, but Adam Lanza's girlfriend and another friend are unaccounted for.

The New York Post has several articles about this horrible event:
At least 27 people, including 20 children, shot dead at elementary school.
The sounds of the Newtown school tragedy.
A history of mass shootings.
The rampage took only minutes.

Also reporting on the Newtown school shootings are the Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC News, MassLive and CBS News.  The Blaze notes how some media outlets misreported some facts about the massacre, including naming Ryan Lanza as the shooter.

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Strong In The Farce, They Are

Over 25,000 people have signed a petition asking the federal government to build a Death Star.  While such a project is clearly beyond the current capabilities of all earthbound governments, the White House will have to respond to the petition, due to the number of signatures.  I remember the Reagan administration advocating a space-borne missile defense system, dubbed "Star Wars" by its detractors, but a Death Star would cost even more than the Obama administration is willing to spend - or so I hope.

Read the story at Cosmic Log on NBC News.

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Union Supporters Attack AFP Tent

During a protest against the new right-to-work legislation in Lansing, Michigan, some people protesting against the new law tore down a tent put up by Americans For Prosperity, a group in favor of it, while some people were in the tent.  Rightwing reporter Steven Crowder, trying to find out what the protesters had against the right-to-work law, found himself dealing with a knuckle sandwich.  These videos were put on Twitter by several people I follow:

For all you labor union supporters in Michigan, how's that new civility working out?

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