Intro
We're just leaving the New Moon (3rd), in most old cultures the considered
start of the new month. Long ago a man would sit on a hill and sound a
trumpet as soon as he saw the thin sliver of the first crescent,
signalling the month to begin. Children were taught never to point at it,
as this was not only discourteous but bad luck for the whole month to
come. Nor was it deemed propitious to look at the New Moon through glass,
or even worse, reflected in a mirror. That first glimpse of the New
Crescent should be made outside, in the open air. To bow or curtsey to the
New Moon was highly recommended and in some countries (I kid you not),
bowing several times was strongly advised. So too, was turning over a
silver coin in the pocket at the sight of that thin lunar shape - said to
increase one's wealth. And because there would be more chance of them
being granted; this time too, is when you were supposed to do most of your
heavy wishing.
Weather: coming
Last week I said I was expecting clearance in a few areas on Monday. As we
have seen in the past, Full and New Moon brings rain for a couple of days.
We can look forward now to clearing, a spot of more rain in some areas but
then a general clearing on or before Thursday. The next lot of significant
rain in the north is expected around 13th.
Viewpoints
BRITAIN, Weather update for UK: Depression moving in today, wind and rain
approaching from the SW. A wave looks like it will develop with heavy rain
in central areas. Then an anticyclone moving in behind it after the
weekend. Looks like a mobile situation from west to east. Your latest
prediction is correct...again!.
Carl Mathews
(Carl is a UK meteorologist who runs a weather station in the Lake
District)
GREENBELT, Maryland (AP) -- The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, after nine
years of unprecedented studies of the universe, was deliberately slammed
into the atmosphere Sunday where it broke up and fell in a shower of hot
metal to a remote stretch of the Pacific Ocean. NASA officials said
Compton was the first major space observatory to make a systematic survey
of natural sources of gamma rays -- an invisible ray that is the most
energetic part of the electromagnetic spectrum. In nine years of
observations Compton has changed the way astronomers view the universe.
The craft detected more than 2,600 gamma ray bursts and showed that they
are occurring throughout the universe.
"We discovered they came from everywhere, and from huge distances," said a
NASA spokesman. Causes of rays remain a puzzle. What causes gamma ray
bursts is still a puzzle. But what is indicated is that space is FULL of
electromagnetism.
Astrologists have been saying this for thousands of years.
ATLANTA (AP) -- Scientists have finally figured out why candy wrappers are
so noisy when opened in a quiet theater, no matter how slowly or
deliberately they are unwrapped. The sound is caused by the pops and
clicks as creases in the packaging material are pulled apart, according to
Eric Kramer, a physicist from Simon's Rock College of Bard in Great
Barrington, Massachusetts. The study was released this week in Atlanta at
a meeting of the Acoustical Society. There is VERY LITTLE a theatergoer
can do to decrease the loudness of those sounds.
...scolded kids have been saying this for thousands of years...
Weather, US
The New Moon/perigee brought stormy weather to the Northeast and mid
Atlantic on Saturday, leaving behind wind damage from Virginia to
Massachusetts.Ý A line of severe thunderstorms that produced hail the size
of tennis balls and wind gusts up to 85 mph moved through Warrenton,
Virginia, on Friday. A wind gust of 113 mph was reported in Stevensville,
Maryland. The tail end of the cold front was expected to bring
thunderstorms and heavy rainfall across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas,
Missouri, and New Mexico. A frontal boundary dropping south from Canada
was expected to bring strong to severe thunderstorms across portions of
Nebraska, Iowa, and the Dakotas. And don't forget this is SUMMER weather
in these regions...
Bernard Boyd
http://www.members.tripod.com/~astrover/
Carolyn Egan, astrometeorologist
http://www.weathersage.com/
Weather in Australasia
http://cnn.com/WEATHER/Australia/forecast_map.html
Moon rise/set times anywhere in the world
http://riemann.usno.navy.mil/AA/data/docs/RS_OneYear.html
Global warming
http://www.vision.net.au/~daly/dalybio.htm
http://sightings.com/general/climate.htm
Earthquakes in NZ
http://www.gphs.vuw.ac.nz/seismology/igns_report.html
NZ from satellite
http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/national/satellite/IDE00005.latest.shtml
Q: I'd like to ask you about your scientific credentials. While everything
you say about the moon's influence on our weather seems to make a lot of
sense I'd like to know if these ideas have been scientifically verified.
Have you published any peer-reviewed papers on the subject? What are your
scientific qualifications? Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to knock you
down in any way, I'd just like to be better informed.
(Stephen Barnett)
A: No, I am not a scientist, just an ex-maths teacher who took psychology and anthropology at university and a 20 year hobby interest in the Moon behind me. There is no university chair of astro meteorology. Because I am not working my way up any university system I do not have to publish peer-review papers. My work is out there, for the layman to read freely and make some use of, not the cloistered student. I do regularly submit articles to the Herald, Metro and the Listener, but I am largely ignored. About 1 in 15 letters to the editor make it into print, but it is not for want of trying.
Q: Thanks for your reply. My wife is studying for a PhD in Physics at
Auckland University so we've had a fair exposure to the scientific
community from the inside and I would have to agree that a lot of
scientists are more worried about being seen to be right than actually
being right. Pressures about funding and bad public perception of science
have taken their toll. To me someone in your position has just as much
credibility (more in some cases) as someone with the letters after their
name worrying about their funding. Keep up the good work. Why do you think
this subject is not publicly debated?
Cheers, Stephen
A: Meteorology is the only science that has not progressed since 1900, primarily because it has been based on wrong modus operandi, namely that the sun generates weather, that there is such a thing as climate change, and that tides have a vertical gravitational component. All are wrong. Eminent scientist Sir George Darwin (father of Charles) misread Newton and the upshot is that tide formation has never been understood properly. Hardly any except for a more enlightened few seem to know about air-tides, gravitational waves and electro-magnetic radiation, let alone the Moon's role in all of these. If they did, they would have to rewrite all the texts.
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