Monday, February 21, 2011

Geology of Meteorite Impacts - 42:297

COURSE OUTLINE

Ch.1 Introduction

Ch.2 Detection of Asteroids in Space

Ch.3 Inventory of World Meteorite Craters

Ch.4 How to identify a Meteorite Impact

Ch.5 Mechanics of Impacts

Ch.6 Classification of Terrestrial
Meteorites

Ch.7 Analytical Data Derived from Meteorites / Comets

Ch.8 Meteorites and Extinctions

Ch.9 Meteorites and Craters in Manitoba and Canada

Ch.10 Survey of Notable World Craters and Meteorites

Ch.11 Threat of Asteroids / Comets in the Future

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

New Year's Polar Plunge

The January Christmas & The New Year polar “Plunge”

Although for most people Christmas is Dec. 25^th, we hear of another celebration on Jan. the 6^th. It sounds like there are 2 Christmases! Actually, there was a change in the world calendar that was eventually accepted by all countries, or almost everyone.

The old calendar was known as the Julian and was adopted in the days of Julius Caesar. However, the experts decided that the duration of the year, a complete revolution around the sun, is shorter than the 365 days and 6 hours as is in the Julian calendar; in fact the so called tropical year, average time between two spring equinoxes, is 365 days and 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds long. That difference would make us lose half a second in a century or 2 days in 400 years.

This discrepancy was described by the Byzantine historian Nikiforos Gregoras (1259-1359) who proposed the first change. It was later adopted by the Pope Gregory the 13^th who ordered the change in the calendar in 1582. The new calendar was called Gregorian after Gregoras or Pope Gregory, or both. The committee that was set up to calculate the change decided that Thursday Oct. the 4^th, 1582 was followed by Friday Oct. the 15^th. On top of that a series of leap years with 366 years were devised. Only years whose last two digits can be divided exactly by 4 are the leap years.

France

was the first country to adopt the new calendar. Other countries copied the change but only much later. Some of the last countries were China in 1912, Russia after the revolution in 1917 and Greece in 1923.

Some people in the Eastern Christian churches are skeptical of decisions taken by the Western Christian churches because of the schism (break apart) between the two major bodies of Christianity. Therefore, most Russian and some Ukranian and Greek people adhere to the old calendar for reasons of trust. According to those, Christmas is Jan. the 6^th and the New Year is Jan. the 14^th.

Another custom that comes with the New Year is the plunge into the usually frozen waters of the ocean that some brave people undertake. Why should people jump into the frozen waters to celebrate the New Year ? Well, this custom may be linked to the Epiphany (Theophany) celebration of Jan. the 6^th (in the Gregorian calendar). This is the day Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river by St. John the Baptist. During these celebrations in the Eastern churches (Greek) the priest throws a cross into the nearby body of water and lots of people jump in to recover it. The finder will be rewarded, therefore the competition is strong, notwithstanding the temperature of the water.

Easter - Mardi Gras

When will Easter be this year? what has Mardi Gras got to do with Easter?

Easter (name taken from an unrelated German feast, otherwise known as Pascha) refers to the day of resurrection of Jesus, so it is the most important celebration in Christianity. However, because of the perplexity in the determination of the date every year the event has lost its gravity in the West, although in the East it continues unchanged (schools get a 2-week break, people follow the rituals, esp. fasting). Jesus was crucified on the 14^th of the Nisan month when the Jews happened to sacrifice the Paschal lamb. The Resurrection took place on a Sunday, so that day of the week became a day of celebration and overtook the event of the crucifixion in importance. Fasting before Easter became popular, therefore, it was necessary to know the date beforehand. Since it was linked to the Jewish celebration, Pascha, Easter was linked to that unrelated event which was held on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox! However, differences in longitude can give different dates, thus churches have argued and quarreled over the date of Easter for centuries. Besides some churches still use the Julian Calendar (all the arguments can fill up a book easily). It was recently proposed to have a set date for Easter, just like for Christmas, but this has not been ratified and probably will never be.

We also hear of the Mardi Gras (Great Tuesday) in New Orleans and, at the same time, the Carnival of Rio de Janeiro that attract many tourists to both places. These events are supposed to be followed by fasting, but there is no such reference when these events get reported. Would you start fasting when you think of, or see the Mardi Gras Craziness ? or the Rio nakedness ! That would be the day !

To get an explanation for these events one has to go back where they were originally celebrated: in Greece where most events have ancient roots.

This Carnival, or Apokries as it is called locally, is a 3-week event originally a worship to Dionysos, god of wine and feast. Parading, costuming and feasting escalate in the last 3 days before the beginning of the 40 days of Lent (basically 40 days without meat). Carnival literally means “goodbye to meat”, so is Apokries. The largest carnivals today are at Rio and New Orleans (you see them in the news), but are more numerous in cities around Greece today (only see them if you are there). Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent is equivalent to “Clean Monday” (with ‘pure food’, without shedding of blood), a holiday in Greece, basically a family day with kite flying as a national sport for that day. As for food, emphasis goes into grains, such as flat bread and macaroni (the word means ‘blessed’ and ‘eternal’, from a special service for the dead which happens to be 2 days before Lent).

So, there you have it old customs mixed with the new.

Ayia Barbara

SAINT BARBARA

Barbara was born around 210 A.D. in Nikomedia, Asia Minor (today, Turkey). (Most of the people of Asia Minor at the time were either Greek or Hellenized natives of many indigenous tribes).

Her father Dioskoros was a fierce loyalist of the, then, existing pagan religion. When Barbara declared that she became a Christian her father reported her to the regional ruler Martinos. She refused to change, so the ruler tortured her. Eventually, her own father decapitated her, but at the same time he was struck by lightning and fell to the ground (we don’t know if he survived).

Her remains were transported to the capital Constantinople during the 5^th century and in 991 AD Emperor Vasilios the 2^nd offered her remains to the Venetians who buried them inside the Saint Mark Cathedral in Venice (therefore, she was considered an important martyr).

(Because of the constant threat of invaders such as Arabs and Turks, people and important relics were migrating westwards into Europe in order to survive).

St. Barbara is a protector of the military and the explosives manufacturers, also of the marines and miners.

Annual feasts in honour to St. Barbara were celebrated in the town of Merzifon (Fazimon) in the Sevastia district of Asia Minor ( coordinates 41’ North, 35’ 30’ East) as late as the 13^th century (after that time Islam became the dominant religion that was imposed by force by invading Turks and Mongols)). Maybe this last city is where Barbara spent most of her short life.

Saint Nicolaos

About Saint Nicolaos, or Santa

Nicholas was born in Patara, Asia Minor, in the 3^rd century. It was the beginning of the Byzantine Empire, the first nation / empire that adopted Christianity. The Empire was destroyed by the Turks in 1453 AD. It had been weakened by constant raids from various groups of peoples. Ironically, the biggest blow to the Empire came from the Christian West and was delivered by the Crusades.

The language of the Empire was Greek, its capital was Constantinople (Istambul, today) and the empire centered on Asia Minor which today is called Turkey. Contrary to popular belief, Turkey is not 99 % Muslim, but has about 35-40 % crypto-Christians (these are people who were Christians, but under Turkish law the practice of Christianity is punishable with death, something that USA, Turkey’s faithful ally, is desperately trying to hide).

St. Nicholas’s parents were wealthy, but died young during epidemics. They raised Nicholas to be a devout Christian, so he gave the money he inherited to the poor, the needy, the sick and the suffering. He was made a bishop of Myra, a nearby town, when he was a young man. He became known for his generosity, his love for children and his concern for sailors and ships. Patara /Myra were on the principal boat route between the Aegean and the East. He used to give presents to the sailors for their children that undoubtedly would miss their fathers during the long journeys. Under the Roman Emperor Diocletian he was exiled and imprisoned. When he was released, he attended the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. He died December 6, AD 343 in Myra. He was buried in his cathedral church, where a unique relic, called manna formed in his grave. This liquid substance said to have healing powers, fostered the devotion to Nicholas. The anniversary of his death became a day of celebration, St. Nicholas Day and is a major celebration in Greece today. It is also celebrated at Myra today, but unfortunately, the Turks will not allow the roof of the church to be completed, so the liturgy takes place in the open ! (yes, you guessed it, the US, supposedly a Christian nation is in complete agreement with that as well !).

St. Nicholas story was picked up by the Crusaders along with countless others, such as those of Saints George (who became the patron saint of England), Andrew (of Scotland), St. Barbara, St. Gregory, etc.

Through the centuries many stories and legends of his life and deeds passed around Europe. These help us to understand his extraordinary character and why he is so beloved and revered as protector and helper of those in need. The story of the Three Impoverished Maidens or the Story of the Dowries is one of the most popular:

A poor man had 3 daughters. In those days a father had to offer prospective husbands something of value. The larger the dowry, the better the chance a young woman would find a good husband. Without that a woman was unlikely to marry and probably would be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, a bag of gold appeared in their home at the right time for each of the daughters. It was tossed through an open window and said that it landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry. (It was the bishop who threw the gold secretly during the night) This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes eagerly awaiting gifts from St. Nicholas.

Unlike Europe and North America where children are waiting for St. Nicholas to deliver presents to them, the custom is different in St. Nicholas’s home country (Greece) where another Saint, St. Basilios, is delivering presents to children, not on Christmas Day, but on New Years’ Day.