Congratulations, you've made it through the week!

Have a Happy Thought:    We’ve reached the solstice! That’s the date where the Earth’s tilt has the greatest impact on the length of the day. For those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, that means we’re at our longest days – here’s hoping the rain holds off enough for us to enjoy these daylight hours! And for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere – have hope! Your longest night is now behind you.   Speaking of Northern Hemisphere, you’ve got more land mass than we do in the south, so more people live in areas with heavy snowfall. Which leads to wonderful cultural artifacts like…   Snowplows.   Or, specifically, snowplow names. A few local governments have fully democratised naming snowplows and, even if you’re in the heat of summer right now, you’ll enjoy these names:   From Minnesota Department of Transportation : Plowy McPlowFace Plow Bunyan Darth Blader Ctrl Salt Delete No More Mr. Ice Guy ...

RIP Smaug (2011?? – 9 Dec 2022)

Have a Happy Thought:    You know lightning is, in general, amazing to see. But sometimes it can still really surprise you.   This is known as a “jellyfish sprite” – two guesses why. a glowing red patch in a late evening sky, with dark clouds on the horizon below the glow. There is an upper, diffuse bell-shaped glow, with about a dozen points of brighter glow. from each of those points there are what look like dozens to hundreds of streamers coming downward.   Image: Stephen Hummel   This phenomenon happens when there’s enough electrical discharge way up above where storms are. Storms tend to happen in the troposphere, or maybe up into the stratosphere. Sprites are dozens of kilometres above that, in the mesosphere.   For those of you that don’t have kids at exactly the right age to have the layers of the atmosphere memorised… Layers of Earth's Atmosphere. image showing layers of the atmosphere, up to 100km above earth's surface. T...

Have a Happy Thought:    You may have learned a new word when Merriam-Webster published this year’s Word of the Year – Gaslighting . (or maybe you just learned this word now – if so, congratulations, you're one of today's lucky 10,000 !)   What’s mentioned in the write-up from Merriam-Webster Dictionary is that the word comes from the name of a 1938 play, that was then turned into a movie – more than once! A UK version was made in 1940, and then this version in the US in 1944. Movie Poster from the 1994 movie Gaslight. Pastel drawings. A woman's head and upper torso leans to one side, with a man's head and torso shown leaning over her. Another man watches, concerned, from the background. The names Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten are written in large letters above the image. Angela Lansbury is listed along with other supporting cast and crew below the image in smaller text. Image in public domain, original Copyright 1944 Loew's Incorporated - S...