Jody Victor : We have come to call the 4th of July simply the "fourth." As a great day in the founding of our country, we have celebrated it in many different ways. Here are some from the past.

* In 1777, thirteen guns were fired, once at morning and again as evening fell, on July 4, in Bristol, rhode Island. Philadelphia celebrated the first anniversary in a manner a modern american would find quite familiar: an official dinner for the Continental Congress, toasts, 13-gun salutes, speeches, prayers, music, parades, troop reviews, and fireworks. Ships were decked with red, white, and blue bunting.

* In 1778, General George Washington marked Independence Day with a double ration of rum for his soldiers and an artillery salute. Across the Atlantic Ocean, ambassadors John Adams and Benjamin Franklin held a dinner for their fellow Americans in Paris, France.

* In 1779, July 4 fell on a Sunday. The holiday was celebrated on Monday, July 5.

* In 1781, the Massachusetts General Court became the first state legislature to recognize Independence Day as a state celebration.

* In 1783, Moravians in Salem, North Carolina, held the first celebration of Independence Day in the country with a challenging music program assembled by Johann Friedrich Peter. This work was titled "The Psalm of Joy."

* In 1791 was the first recorded use of the name "Independence Day."

* In 1870, the US Congress made Independence Day an unpaid holiday for federal employees.

* In 1941, Congress changed Independence Day to a paid federal holiday. The residents of Vicksburg, Mississippi, celebrated Independence Day for the first time since July 4, 1863, when the Siege of Vicksburg ended with a Union victory during the American Civil War.

Have a great Holiday!

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : June's third birthstone is the moonstone. This gemstone belongs to the family of minerals called feldspars, an important group of silicate minerals commonly formed in rocks. About half the Earth's crust is composed of feldspar. This mineral occurs in many igneous and metamorphic rocks, and also constitutes a large percentage of soils and marine clays.

Rare geologic conditions produce gem varieties of feldspar such as moonstone, labradorite, amazonite, and sunstone. They appear as large clean mineral grains, found in pegmatites (coarse-grained igneous rock) and ancient deep crustal rocks. Fledspars of gem quality are aluminocilicates,  minerals containing aluminum, silicon and oxygen, that are mixed with sodium and potassium. The best moonstones are from Sri Lanka. They are also found in the Alps, Malagasy, Burma and India.

Moonstones are believed to be named for the bluish white spots within them, that when held up to light, project a silvery play of color very much like the moon. When the stone is moved back and forth, the brilliant silvery rays appear to move about, like moonbeams playing over water.

The ancient Roman natural historian, Pliny, said that the moonstone changed in appearance with the phases of the moon, a belief that persisted until the sixteenth century. The ancient Romans also believed that the image of Diana, goddess of the moon, was enclosed within it. Moonstones were believed to have the power to bring victory, health and wisdom to those who wore it. In India, the moonstone is considered a sacred stone, often displayed on a yellow cloth, also considered a sacred color. The stone is believed to bring good fortune, brought on by a spirit that lives within the stone.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : June's second birthstone is the Alexandrite. The stone is named after Prince Alexander of Russia (which is why the "A" in Alexandrite is capitalized), who was to later become Czar Alexander  II in 1855. Discovered in 1839 on the day of the prince's birthday, Alexandrite was found in an emerald mine in teh Ural Mountains of Russia. Because it is a relatively recent discovery, there has been little time for myth and superstition to build around this unusual stone. In Russia, the stone was also popular because it reflected the Russian national colors, green and red, and was believed to bring good luck.

The Alexandrite possesses an enchanting chameleon-like personality. In daylight, it appears as a beautiful green, sometimes with a bluish cast or with a brownish tint/ However, under artificial lighting, the stone turns reddish-violet or violet.

Alexandrite belongs to the chrysoberyl family, a mineral called beryllium aluminum oxide in chemistry jargon, that contains the elements beryllium, aluminum and oxygen (BeA12O4). This is a hard mineral, oly surpassed in hardness by diamonds and corundum (sapphires and rubies). The unusual colors in Alexandrite are attributed to the presence of chromium in the mineral. Chrysoberyl is found to crystallize in pegmatites (very coarse-grained igneous rock, crystallized from magma) rich in beryllium. They are also found in alluvial deposits - weathered pegmatites containing the gemstones that are carried by rivers and streams.

Alexandrite is an uncommon stone, and therefor every expensive. Sri Lanka is the main source of Alexandrite today, but the stones have also been found in Brazil, Malagasy, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Burma. Synthetic Alexandrite, resembling a reddish-hued amethyst with a tinge of green, has been manufactured but the color change seen from natural to artificial lighting cannot be reproduced. Such stones have met with only marginal market success in the United States.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : This Saturday, June 14th is Flag Day. A day to fly our national flag proudly. Today's flag of the United States of America has 13 stripes - 7 red and 6 white - and 50 stars on a blue field - five rows of 6 and four rows of 5. The stripes remind us of the 13 original colonies that gained us our liberty. The stars  represent the states that are bound together into one country.

The flag of today grew out of many earlier flags raised in days gone by over American soil. From the time that America was discovered, different flags flew over differnet parts of the country; the flags of Spain, France, Holland, Sweden, and England.

An English flag, known as the Red Ensign, waved over the 13 colonies from 1707 to the Revolution. The Red Ensign was the merchant flag of England. It was red with a union in the upper corner combining the cross of St. George (red on white), patron of England, with the diagonal cross (white on blue) of St. Andrew, patron of Scotland.

The flag that became known as the Grand Union flag was raised over George Washington's headquarters outside Boston on January 1, 1776. The Revolutionary War had started the year before and the colonies needed a flag of their own. The Grand Union flag retained the union of the English flag. Six white stripes broke the red field into seven red stripes - a total of 13 stripes.

The first official flag of the new nation was created by a resolution of the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia. The resolution was passed on june 14, 1777. That is the date we celebrate each year as Flag Day. The resolution specified "that the flag be 13 stripes alternate red and white; that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." Since the resolution did not state how the stars were to be arranged, flag makers arranged them in different ways, among them; rows, in a half circle, and in a full circle. The one adopted was mad by Betsy Ross and had the stars in a full circle.

The flag that waved over Fort McHenry when it was bombarded, September 13-14, 1814, was a 15 star and 15 stripe flag. Two stripes and stars had been added to the original 13 on May 1, 1795. It became famous as the Star Spangled Banner. It was the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write our national anthem.

The Flag of 1818 had the stripes reduced to 13. Five more stars had been added, for a total of 20. When still more states joined the United States, it became evident that the flag would get to be an awkward shape if more and still more stripes were added. Therefore, on April 4, 1818, Congress passed a law that restored the design back to the original 13 stripes. It also provided that a star be added to the blue field for each new state.

Remember to display the flag outside only during the day unless lighted for night, and with the blue field always in the upper left corner.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : June's birthstone is pearl, alexandrite, and moonstone. The synthetic stone for June is simulated alexandrite. The oldest and most well known of these is pearl.

Pearls, according to Indian mythology, were dewdrops from heaven that fell into the sea. They were caught by shellfish under the first rays of the rising sun, during a period of full moon. In India, warriors encrusted their swords with pearls to symbolize the tears and sorrow that a sword brings.

Unlike most gemstones that are found within the Earth, Pearls have an organic origin. They are created within certain species of oysters and clams. Some pearls are found naturally in mollusks that inhabit the sea or fresh water settings such as rivers. However, many pearls today are cultured - raised in oyster farms that sustain a thriving pearl industry.

A pearl is created when a very small fragment of rock, sand grain, or parasite enters the oyster or clam. It irritates the mollusk, who responds by coating the foreign material with layer upon layer of shell material. Pearls formed on the inside of the shell are usually irriegular in shape and have little commercial value. However, those formed within the tissue of the mollusk are either spherical or pear-shaped, and are highly sought out for jewelry.

Pearls possess a uniquely delicate translucence and luster that place them among the most highly valued of gemstones. The color of the pearl depends very much on the species of mollusk that produced it, and its environment. White is perhaps the best-known and most common color. However, some pearls also come in delicate shades of black, cream, gray, blue, yellow, lavender, green and mauve. Black pearls can be found in the Gulf of Mexico and waters off some islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Persian Gulf and Sri Lanka are well-known for exquisite cream-colored pearls called Orientals. Other localities for natural seawater pearls include the waters off Celebes in Indonesia, the Gulf of California and the Pacific coast of Mexico. The Mississippi River, and forest streams of Bavaria in Central Europe contain pearl-producing freshwater mussels.

Japan is famous for its cultured pearls. Everyone familiar with jewelry has heard of Mikimoto pearls, named after the creator of the industry, Kokichi Mikimoto. Some cultured pearls are bred in large oyster beds in Japanese waters. An "irritant," such as a tiny fragment of mother-of-pearl, is introduced into the fleshy part of two to three year-old oysters. The oysters are then grown in mesh bags submerged benearth the water and regularly fed for as long as seven to nine years before being harvested to remove their pearls. Cultured pearl industries are also carried out in Australia and equatorial islands of the Pacific.

La Peregrina (the Wanderer) is considered by many experts to be the most beautiful pearl. It was said to be originally found by a slave in Panama four-hundred years ago, who gave it up in return for his freedom. In 1570, the conquistadors sent the pearl to King Philip II of Spain. This pear-shaped white pearl, one and a half inches in length, hangs from a platinum mount studded with diamonds. The pearl was passed to Mary I of England, then to Prince Louis Napoleon of France. He sold it to the British Marquis of Abercon, but then it disappeared for a century only to turn up once again at a New York auction house in 1969. The pearl was purchased by actor Richard Burton for his wife, Elizabeth Taylor.

Pearls were also widely used as medicine in Europe until the 17th century. Arabs and Persians believed it was a cure for various kinds of diseases, as well as insanity. Pearls have also been used as medicine as early as 2000 BC in China, where it was believed to represent wealth, power and longevity. Even to this day, lowest-grade pearls are gound for use as medicine in the Orient.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : Hope you are all having a safe and wonderful weekend! Here's some quotes in honor of Memorial Day, 2008.

Today let us, as Americans, honor the American fighting man. For it is he - the soldier, the sailor, the Airman, the Marine - who has fought topreserve freedom. It is his valor that has given renewed hope to the free worl that by working together in discipline and faith our ideals of freedom will always prevail.  Admiral Forrest P. Sherman

We cannot, in this day of exploding world competition on all fronts, be content to maintain the status quo. We must also realize that the preservaion of our freedom in the years ahead may require greater sacrifices from us than those made by Americans who have walked before us.   Gerneal Nathan F. Twining, 1960

Our Servicemen and women are serving throughout the world as guardians of peace - many of them away from their homes, their friends and their families. They are visible evidence of our determination to meet any threat to the peace with measured strength and high resolve. They are also evidence of a harsh but inescapable truth - that the survival of freedom requires great cost and commitment, and great personal sacrifice.  President John F. Kennedy, 1963

Our servicemen and women shoulder the burden of defense as one of the responsibilities of citizenship in this free country. Having participated in protecting our rights and having met oppression on the battlegrounds of the world, they are able to appreciate and savor the blessings of citizenship in the country they serve.  The Honorable Melvin Laird, 1970

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : Victoria Day is celebrated on the first Monday preceding May 25th. It is a statutory holiday throughout all of Canada except the Atlantic provinces (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrodor, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island).

Victora Day falls on the second to last Monday in May, which is usually the third weekend, but can be the fourth in years like 1999 where the 31st falls on a Monday. It falls on the weekend preceding Memorial Day in our United States. Some cities celebrate this day with fireworlds in the evening.

Victoria Day is officially the Sovereign's birthday. The Sovereign's birthday was first observed in Ontaio (then called Canada West) in 1845 to celebrate the birthday of Queen Victoria of England (1837-1901).

After the death of Queen Victoria, an Act was passed by the Parliament of Canada establishing a legal holiday on May 24 in each year (or May 25 if May 24 fell on a Sunday) under the name Victoria Day. An amendment to the Statutes of Canada in 1952 established the celebration of Victoria Day on the Monday preceding May 25, making it the first long weekend of the summer season.

From 1953 to 1956, the Queen's birthday was celebrated in Canada on Victoria Day. In 1957, Victoria Day was permanently appointed as the Queen's birthday in Canada. In the United Kingdom, the Queen's birthday is celebrated in June.

Victoria Day has also been known as the Queen's Birthday, Empire Day, and Commonwealth Day. The holiday name was changed to Empire Day in the 1890s when enthusiasm for the British Empire was at a peak. By the mid-20th century, however, the Empire had given way to the Commonwealth, so the holiday became known as Commonwealth Day. In 1977, Commonwealth Day was moved to the second Monday in March and Canadians continued to celebrate Victoria Day in May.

In Quebec, since 2003 it has also been known as National Patriots' Day to honor the rebellion against the British in 1837. Before 2003 in Quebec it was known as la Fete de Dollard or Dollard Day in honor of the 17th century soldier, Adam Dollard des Ormeaux.

Happy Victoria Day!

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : May's birthstone is the emerald. If you were born in May then this gorgeous green stone will bring luck to you when you wear it. Some people wear their May birthstone as a pendant, ring, or earrings, others simply keep them in a nice display. But I can't imagine not wearing such a beautiful stone.

Emeralds were once prescribed for eye diseases because the green color was believed to be sootheing to the eyes. Early stone cutters kept emeralds at their tables to gaze upon as a way to give their eyes a break. Even 21st century color specialists agree that green is soothing, restful, and relaxing for the eyes.

The Incas worshiped emeralds...as long as they could. In the 1500s, they were invaded by Spanish conquistadors who stole their gemstones and pillaged their mines. As a result, many of the world's most magnificent emeralds were lost at the bottom of the sea inside shipwrecked Spanish galleons.

Elsewhere in the ancient world, the Romans associated emeralds with fertility and the rebirth brought about each Spring. Nero, it's said, watched the gladiators through emerald glasses.

May's birthstone seems perfectly suited to the rites of Spring, matching the colors of the season with its own bottomless green. In fact, the Egyptians engraved emeralds with symbols for Spring foliage to represent eternal youth, and then buried the jewels with their dead.

An emerald shines like green lightning, filling us with the same wonder as the civilizations that came before us. Ancient Egyptians mined emeralds in the eastern desert region 2,000 years before Cleopatra's birth, yet today recent finds in North Carolina may provide a new source for quality emeralds in the U.S. Columbia, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Madagascar, Nigeria, and Russia, are where most emeralds are mined today.

The word "emerald" is a variation of the Greek word "smaragdos," which means "green stone" -  perfectly appropriate for a gemstone that is, in fact, the green variety of the mineral beryl. Emeralds range from strong bluish-green to green hues, although some emeralds have a slightly yellowish green.

If the hue is too yellow - or to blue - it loses its "emerald" status and is simply a different variety of beryl. Colombian emeralds are generally agreed to be among the most beautiful gemstones in the world, with a grass-green coloring highlighted by a touch of blue.

Besides being the birthstone for May, emerald is also the anniversary gemstone for the 20th and 35th years of marriage. Some people believe wearing an emerald brings wisdom, growth, and possibly patience. It is perhaps this last attribute that explains why a gift of emerald for an anniversary - or any occasion - is symbolic of love and fidelity.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be! And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be. Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810. And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico.

So why Cinco de Mayo? And why should Americans savor this day as well? Because 4,000 Mexican soldiers smashed the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning of May 5, 1862.

The French had landed in Mexico (along with Spanish and English troops) five months earlier on the pretext of collecting Mexican debts from the newly elected government of democratic President (and Indian) Benito Juarez. The English and Spanish quickly made deals and left. The French, however, had different ideas.

Under Emperor Napoleon III, who detested the United States, the French came to stay. They brought a Hapsburg prince with them to rule the new Mexican empire. His name was Maximilian; his wife, Carolota. Napoleon's French Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion. The French were not afraid of anyone, especially since the United States was embroiled in its own Civil War.

The French Army left the port of Vera Cruz to attack Mexico City to the west, as the French assumed that the Mexicans would give up should their capital fall to the enemy - as European countries traditionally did.

Under the command of Texas-born General Zaragosa, (and the cavalry under the command of  Colonel Porfirio Diaz, later to be Mexico's president and dictator), the Mexicans waited. Brightly dressed French Dragoons led the enemy columns. The Mexican Army was less stylish.

General Zaragosa ordered Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry, the best in the world, out to the French flanks. In response, the French did a most stupid thing; they sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to butcher them. The remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through sloppy mud from a thunderstorm and through hundreds of head of stampeding cattle stirred up by Indians armed only with machetes.

When the battle was over, many French were killed or wounded and their cavalry was being chased by Diaz' superb horsemen miles away. The Mexicans had won a great victory that kept Napoleon III from supplying the confederate rebels for another year, allowing the United States to build the greatest army the world had ever seen. This grand army smashed the confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the battle of Puebla, essentially ending the Civil War.

Union forces were then rushed to the Texas/Mexican border under General Phil Sheridan, who made sure that the Mexicans got all the weapons and ammunition they needed to expel the French. American soldiers were discharged with their uniforms and  rifles if they promised to join the Mexican Army to fight the French. The American Legion of Honor marched in the Victory Parade in Mexico City.

It might be an historical stretch to credit the survival of the United States to those brave 4,000 Mexicans who faced an army twice as large in 1862. But who knows?

In gratitude, thousands of Mexicans crossed the border after Pearl Harbor to join the U.S. Armed Forces. As recently as the Persian Gulf War, Mexicans flooded American consulates with phone calls, trying to join up and fight another war for America.

Mexicans, you see, never forget who their friends are, and neither do Americans. That's why Cinco de Mayo is such a party - A party that celebrates freedom and liberty. They are two ideals which Mexicans and Americans have fought shoulder to shoulder to protect, ever since the 5th of May, 1862. Viva! el Cinco de Mayo!

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the classical Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was made by the famed classical sculptor Phidias (5th century BC) circa 432 BC in Olympia, Greece.

The seated statue, some 12 meters (39 feet) tall, occupied the whole width of the aisle of the temple built to house it. "It seems that if Zeus were to stand up," the geographer Strabo noted early in the 1st century BC, "he would unroof the temple." Zeus was a chryselephantine sculpture, made of ivory and accented with gold plating. In the sculpture, he was seated on a magnificent throne of cedarwood, inlaid with ivory, gold, ebony, and precious stones. In Zeus' right hand there was a small statue of Nike, the goddess of victory, and in his left hand, a shining sceptre on wheich an eagle perched. Plutarch, in his Life of the Roman general Aemilius Paulus, records that the victor over Macedon "was moved to his soul, as if he had beheld the god in person," while the Greek orator Dio Chrysostom declared that a single glimpse of the statue would make a man forget his earthly troubles.

The circumstances of its eventual destruction are a source of debate: some scholars argue that it perished with the temple in the 5th century AD, others argue that it was carried off to Constantinople, where it was destroyed in the great fire of the Lauseion. According to Lucian of Samostata in the later second century, "they have laid hands on your person at Olympia, my lord High-Thunderer, and you had not the energy to wake the dogs or call in the neighbours; surely they might have come to the rescue and caught the fellows before they had finished packing up the swag."

Perhaps the greatest discovery in terms of finding out about this wonder came in 1954-1958 with the excavation of the workshop at Olympia where Phidias created the statue Tools, terracotta molds and a cup inscribed "I belong to Pheidias" were found here, where the traveller Pausanius said the Zeus statue was constructed. This has enabled archaeologists to re-create the techniques used to make the great work.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : The first shrine to the Goddess Artemis was probably built around 800 B.C. on a marshy strip near the river at Ephesus. The Ephesus Goddess Artemis, sometimes called Diana, is not the same figure as the Artemis worshiped in Greece. The Greek Artemis is the goddess of the hunt. The Ephesus Artemis was a goddess of fertility and was often pictured as draped with eggs, or multiple breasts, symbols of fertility, from her waist to her shoulders.

That earliest temple contained a sacred stone, probably a meteorite, that had "fallen from Jupiter." The shrine was destroyed and rebuilt several times over the next few hundred years. By 600 B.C., the city of Ephesus had become a major port of trade and an architect named Chersiphron was engaged to build a new large temple. He designed it with high stone columns. This temple didn't last long. In 550 B.C. King Croesus of Lydia conquered Ephesus and the other Greek cities of Asia Minor. During the fighting, the temple was destroyed. Croesus proved himself a gracious winner, though, by contributing generously to the building of a new temple.

This was next to the last of the great temples to Artemis in Ephesus and it dwarfed those that had come before. The architect is thought to be a man named Theodorus. Theodurus's temple was 300 feet in length and 150 feet wide with an area four times the size of the temple before it. More than one hundred stone columns supported a massive roof. The new temple was the pride of Ephesus until 356 B.C. when it was destroyed by a young Ephesian named Herostratus. He wanted his name to go down in history and managed this by burning the temple to the ground.

Shortly after this horrible deed, a new temple was commissioned. The architect was Scopas of Paros, one of the most famous sculptors of his day. Ephesus was one of the greatest cities in Asia Minor at this point and no expense was spared in the construction. According to Pliny the Elder, a Roman historian, the temple was a "wonderful monument of Grecian magnificence, and one that merits our genuine admiration."

The city continued to prosper over the next few hundred years and was the destination for many pilgrims coming to view the temple. A souvenir business in miniature Artemis idols, perhaps similar to a statue of her in the temple, grew up around the shrine.

By the time the great Temple of Artemis was destroyed during a raid by the Goths in 262 A.D., both the city and the religion of Artemis were in decline. When the Roman Emperor Constantine rebuilt much of Ephesus a century later, he declined to restore the temple. He had become a Christian and had little interest in pagan temples.

Despite Constantine's efforts, Ephesus declined in its importance as a crossroads of trade. The bay where ships docked disappeared as silt from the river filled it. In the end what was left of the city was miles from the sea, and many of the inhabitants left swampy lowlands to live in the surrounding hills. Those that remained used the ruins of the temple as a source of building materials. Many of the fine sculptures were pounded into powder to make lime for wall plaster.

In 1863 the British Museum sent John Turtle Wood, an architect, to search for the temple. Wood met with many obstacles. The region was infested with bandits. Workers were hard to find. His budget was too small. Perhaps the biggest difficulty was that he had no idea wher the temple was located. He searched for the temple for six years. Each year the British Museum threatened to cut off his funding unless he found something significant, and each year he convinced them to fund him for just one more season.

Finally in 1869, at the bottom of a muddy twenty-foot deep test pit, his crew struck the base of the great temple. Wood then excavated the whole foundation removing 132,000 cubic yards of the swamp to leave a hole some 300 feet wide and 500 feet ong. The remains of some of the sculptured portions were found and shipped to the British Museum where they can be viewed even today.

In 1904 another British Museum expedition under the leadership of D.G. Hograth continued the excavation. Hograth found evidence of five temples on the site, each constructed on top of the other.

Today the site of the temple is a marshy field. A single column is erect to remind visitors that once there stood in that place one of the wonders of the ancient world.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : With so much concern over global warming and the future of our environment, it can be overwhelming. Sometimes, it seems there is not much we can do - especially as an individual. But there are things that small groups or individuals can do - they are even easy to do. In honor of Earth Day 2008, April 22nd, see how many things you can do from this list - I'll bet you're already doing some things and could think of many more.

* Turn off lights in rooms you are not going to be in for a while at home and at work.

* Reduce waste of waterand energy by doing full loads of laundry (don't use the extra rinse cycle), and by carrying a refillable bottle of water with you.

* Walk or cycle to the library, store, drugstore, etc. when possible (also good exercise!!).

* Organize an anti-liter campaign for your community - or at least, don't liter yourself.

* Recycle as much as you can - paper, plastic milk jugs, cans, aluminum cans, glass jars and bottles. Take it to a recycle station in your area or you may find a waste management company who does curbside recycling in your area.

* Adopt a spot for litter pickup - a park, stream or roadside in your area.

* Plant new trees or take care of/fertilize trees in your yard.

* Buy items made with recycled materials.

* Build or buy a blue bird, bat or butterfly box to install near your home.

* Donate or raise money for an environmental cause.

* Attend your local Earthfest or other environmental festivals throughout the year.

Happy Earth Day!

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : If you were born in April, your birthstone is the diamond. Diamond is the ultimate gemstone, having few weaknesses and many strengths. It is well known that Diamond is the hardest substance found in nature, but few people realize that Diamond is four times harder than the next hardest natural mineral, corundum (sapphire and ruby). But even as hard as it is, it is not impervious. Diamond has four directions of cleavage, meaning that if it receives a sharp blow in one of these directions it will cleave, or split. A skilled diamond setter and/or jeweler will prevent any of these directions from being in a position to be struck while mounted in a jewelry piece.

As a gemstone, Diamond's single flaw (perfect cleavage) is far outdistanced by the sum of its positive qualities. It has a broad color range, high refraction, high dispersion or fire, very low reactivity to chemicals, rarity, and of course, extreme hardness and durability.

In terms of it's physical properties, diamond is the ultimate mineral in several ways:

* Hardness: Diamond is a perfect "10," simply the hardest substance known by a wide margin.

* Clarity: Pure diamond is completely colorless and transparent over a larger range of wavelengths (from the ultraviolet into the far infrared) than is any other solid or liquid substance - nothein else even comes close.

* Thermal Conductivity: Diamond conducts heat better than anything - five times better than the second best element, Silver! This characteristic is the basis for "diamond tests" as it is simple and cannot be faked.

* Dispersion: Diamond has a relatively high optical dispersion which gives diamond the "fire" that makes it so desirable.

Diamonds may be nearly any color in the rainbow plus browns, grays, and white. Shades of yellow are most common, followed by colorless. Blue, reddish, and greenish are more valuable (some extremely so).

Diamonds are found in a type of rock called "Kimberlite," which comprises the core of certain volcanoes over especially thick portions fo the earth's crust. This hard stone is mined and then crushed between giant steel rollers. The kimberlite is reduced to fine gravel, yet the extremely hard diamonds come out unharmed! Water is added and a grease covered roller sorts the diamonds from the gravel, as the diamonds stick to the grease. Typically, a single carat of diamond is recovered from a ton of ore.

Diamonds are found in many areas including South Africa, Russia, and even in Arkansas. In all cases, diamonds formed deep within the earth's mantle, and were brought to the surface in volcanic eruptions. In many cases, the diamonds weathered out of the kimberlite by natural processes, and were transported downstream by water. Many diamonds are mined in the resulting alluvial deposits in areas such as along the coast of South Africa.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : Are you ready for April Fool's Day? Got your prank planned for a certain someone?  April Fool's has been around for a long time. There have even been pranks pulled by countries, radio and television stations. Here are a few from the annals of time. Enjoy!

* Left Handed Whoppers - In 1998, Burger King ran an ad in USA Today, saying that people could get a Whopper for left-handed people whose condiments were designed to drip out of the right side. Not only did customers order the new burgers, but some specifically requested the "old," right-handed burger.

* Taco Liberty Bell - In 1996, Taco Bell took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times announcing that they had purchased the Liberty Bell to "reduce the country's debt" and renamed it the "Taco Liberty Bell." When asked about the sale, White House press secretary Mike McCurry replied tongue-in-cheek that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold and would henceforth be known as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

* Shuttle Landing -  In 1993, a San Diego radio station fooled many listeners into believing that the space shuttle had been diverted from Edwards Air Force Base and was about to make an emergency landing at a small loval airport.

* Theft of a Locomotive - In 2006, a Cheyenne radio station reported to listeners that during the previous night, a Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 "Big Boy" steam locomotive was stolen from Holliday Park. Although the locomotive weighed more than 550 tons and had no tracks connecting it to any nearby railroad, this making its theft near-impossible, several listeners fell for the joke and went to investigate. The road that overlooks the park was jammed for hours as people realized that it was a hoax, and the locomotive was still on display in the park.

* In 2005, TV 3 Estonia broadcasted a news story, where the station claimed that thanks to a new technology, they knew exactly how much they are being viewed at the moment. They also asked viewers to put a coin against their TV screens if they liked the running broadcast.

* On April Fool's Day, 1997, Cartoon Network ran the 1944 Srewy Squirrel cartoon Happy-Go-Nutty repeatedly from 6 am to 6 pm, suggesting that the cartoon character had taken over the network.

* The night-time channel Adult Swim has had several pranks over the years. In 2004, mustaches were drawn on characters during shows.

Happy April Fool's!

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : Long ago in a country far, far away....that's how a fairytale begins. It almost seems that way about the legendary Hanging Gardens - just a fairytale. Let's find out.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon (also known as Hanging Gardens fo Semiramis) (near present-day Al Hillah in Iraq) are considered one of the original Seven Wonders of the World. They were built by Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 BC. He is said to have constructed the gardens to please his wife, Amytis of Media, who longed for the trees and fragrant plants of her homeland. The gardens were destroyed in an earthquake after the 1st century BC.

The lush Hanging Gardens are extensively documented by Greek historians such as Strabo and Diodorus Siculus. Through the ages, the location may have been confused with gardens that existed at Nineveh, since tablets from there clearly show gardens. Writings on these tablets describe the possible use of something similar to an Archimedes' screw as a process of raising the water to the required height.

There is some controversy as to whether the Hanging Gardens were an actual creation or a poetic creation due to the lack of documentation of them in the chronicles of Babylonian history. In ancient writings the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were first described by Berossus, a Chaldean priest who lived in the late 4th century BC. These accounts were later elaborated on by Greek historians.

Recent archaeological excavations of the palace in Iraq have uncovered evidence of a building with vaults and a well nearby however, the location of the palace complex contradicts where Greek historians placed the Hanging Gardens, which was on the banks of the Euphrates River.

Recently there have been excavations on the banks of the Euphrates River of some substantial 25 meter-thick walls. Also, excavations have shown that there may be some seeds scattered around this area which may suggest that the Gardens did exist after all.

A newer theory proposes that the garden was actually constructed under the orders of Sennacherib, who took the throne of Assyria in 705 BC-681 BC. During new studies of the location of Nineveh (located in the eastern bank of the Tigris in ancient Assyria) his gardens were placed close to the entrance of his palace, on the bank of the river Tigris. It is possible that in the intervening centuries the two sites became confused, and the hanging gardens were attributed to Babylon.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : Have you ever wanted to 'kiss the Blarney Stone'? I have often wondered if there is an actual 'Stone' or if it is just an old tale from Ireland - the home of Blarney! I have some friends who visited Ireland not long ago, and toured Blarney Castle which is 8 km from Cork, Ireland. They actually saw the stone there and learned a lot about it.

The Blarney Stone is a block of bluestone built into the battlements of Blarney Castle. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of gab (great eloquence or skill at flattery). The stone was set into a tower of the castle in 1446. The castle is a popular tourist site in Ireland, attracting visitors from all over the world to kiss the Stone and tour the castle and its charming gardens. My friends did the kissing of the stone - which requires some agility, I'm told,  you must lean way out and down over the wall of the battlement - while someone holds your legs. All good things have a price.

The stone, which is believed by some to be half of the original Stone of Scone, was presented to Cormac McCarthy by Robert the Bruce in 1314 in recognition of his support in the Battle of Bannockburn.

The proprietors of Blarney Castle list several alternative explanations for the origins of the Stone and its supposed powers, all of which suppose that the Stone had previously been in Ireland but was the taken to Scotland and returned to Ireland in 1314. The stories they list include:

* the Stone was the stone that Jacob used as a pillow, and was brought to Ireland by the prophet Jeremiah

* the Stone was the pillow used by St. Columba of Iona on his deathbed

* the Stone was the Stone of Ezel, which David hid behind on Jonathan's advice, while fleeing from King Saul, and may have been brought back to Ireland during the Crusades

* the Stone was the rock that Moses struck with his staff to produce water for the Israelites, during their flight from Egypt

* in Ireland, the Stone was known as the Lia Fail or "Stone of Destiny," part of the king's throne, with mysterious powers

* the Stone's powers were revealed to the McCarthys by a witch who had been saved from drowning

The word blarney has come to mean clever, flattering, or coaxing talk. It is claimed that the synonymy of "Blarney" with "empty flattery" derives from a circumstance in which Queen Elizabeth I, while requesting an oath of loyalty to retain occupancy of land, received responses from Cormac Teige McCarthy, the Lord of Blarney, which amounted to subtle diplomacy, and promised loyalty to the Queen without "giving in." Elizabeth proclaimed that McCarthy was giving her "a lot of Blarney," thus apparently giving rise to the legend.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : If your birthday is in March (Happy Birthday!), your birthstone is aquamarine. The name aquamarine was derived by the Romans, "aqua" meaning water and "mare" meaning sea, because it looked like sea water. They were considered sacred to Neptune, god of the sea. This association with Neptune promised safe voyages as well as protection against perils and monsters of the sea. Its first documented use was by the Greeks between 480-300 BC. They wore aquamarine amulets engraved with the god Poseidon on a chariot.

Beginning in the Roman period, the aquamarine was believed to possess medicinal and healing powers, curing ailments of the stomach, liver, jaws and throat. During the Middle Ages, it was believed to be an effective antidote against poison. Aquamarines were thought to be the source of power for soothsayers, who called it the "magic mirror," and used it for telling fortunes and answering questions about the future. It is said that Emporer Nero used it as an eyeglass 2,000 years ago, and much later, aquamarines were used as glasses in Germany to correct shortsightedness. In fact, the German name for eyeglasses today is "brille," derived from the mineral beryl.

Aquamarines vary in color from deep blue to blue-green of different intensities, caused by traces of iron. Naturally occurring deep blue stones are the most prized because they are rare and expensive. However, yellow beryl stones can be heated to change them to blue aquamarines.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now Cairo, Egypt in Africa, and is the only remaining member of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It is believed to have been built as a tomb for Fourth dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu and constructed over a 20 year period concluding around 2560 BC. The tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years, it is sometimes called Khufu's Pyramid or the Pyramid of Khufu.

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the main part of a complex setting of buildings that included two mortuary temples in honor of Khufu (one close to the pyramid and one near the Nile), three smaller pyramids for Khufu's wives, and even smaller "satelite" pyramid, a raised causeway connecting the two temples, and small mastaba tombs surrounding the pyramid for nobles. One of the small pyramids contains the tomb of queen Hetepheres (discoverd in 1925), sister and wife of Sneferu and the mother of Khufu. There was a town for the workers of Giza, including a cemetery, bakeries, a beer factory and a copper smelting complex. More buildings and complexes are being discovered by The Giza Mapping Project.

The pyramid was constructed of cut and dressed blocks of limestone, basalt or granite. The core was made mainly of rough blocks of low quality limestone taken from a quarry at the south of Khufu's Great Pyramid. These blocks weighed from two to four tons on average, with the heaviest used at the base of the pyramid. An estimated 2.4 million blocks were used in the construction. High quality limestone was used for the outer casing, with some of the blocks weighing up to 15 tons. This limestone came from Tura, about 14 km away on the other side of the Nile. Granite quarried nearly 800 km away in Aswan with blocks weighing as much as 60-80 tons, was used for the King's Chamber and relieving chambers.

At completion, the Great Pyramid was surfaced by white 'casing stones' - slant-faced, but flat-topped, blocks of highly polished white limestone. These caused the monument to shine brightly in the sun, making it visible from a considerable distance. Visibly all that remains is the underlying step-pyramid core structure seen today, but several of the casing stones can still be found around the base. The casing stones of the Great Pyramid and Khafre's Pyramid (constructed directly beside it) were cut to such optical precision as to be off true plane over their entire surface area by only 0.5 mm. They were fitted together so perfectly that the tip of a knife cannot be inserted between the joints even to this day.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : Even the well-known children's author, Dr. Seus, knew and wrote about Timbuktu - an exotic, distant land full of mystery and riches. Timbuktu is a city in Tombouctou Region, in the West African nation of Mali. It is home to the prestigious Sankore University and other madrasas, and was an intellictual and spiritual capital and centre for the propagation of Islam throughout Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries. Its three great mosques, Djingareyber, Sankore and Sidi Yahya, recall Timbuktu's golden age. Although continuously restored, these monuments are today under threat from desertification. Timbuktu is primarily made of mud.

Timbuktu was established by the nomadic Tuareg as early as the 10th century. According to popular etymology its name is made up of : tin which means "place" and buktu, the name of an old Malian woman known for her honesty and who once upon a time lived in the region. Tuareg and other travelers would entust this woman with any belongings for which they had no use on their return trip to the north. Thus, when a Tuareg, upon returning to his home, was asked where he had left his belongings, he would answer: "I left them at Tin Buktu," meaning the place where dame Buktu lived. The two terms ended up fusing into one word, this giving the city the name of Tinbuktu which later became Timbuktu. However, the French orientalist Rene Basset forwarded a more plausible translation: in the Berber languages "buqt" means "far away," so "Tin-Buqt(u)" means a place almost at the other end of the world, resp. the Sahara.

Its geopraphical setting made it a natural meeting point for nearby African populations and nomadic Berber and Arab peoples from the north. Its long history as a trading outpost that linked west Africa with Berber, Arab, and Jewish traders throughout north Africa, and thereby indirectly with traders from Europe, has given it a fabled status, and in the West it was long known as a metaphor for exotic, distant lands: "from here to Timbuktu."

Although Tuaregs founded Timbuktu, it was merchants (mostly from Djenne) who set up the various markets and built permanent dwellings in the town, establishing the site as a meeting place for people traveling by camel. Like its predecessor, Tiraqqa, a neighboring trading city of the Wangara, Timbuktu grew to great wealth because of its key role in trans-Saharan trade in gold, ivory, slaves, salt and other goods by the Tuareg, Mande and Fulani merchants, transferring goods from caravans coming from the Islamic north to boats on the Niger. So if the Sahara functioned as a sea, Timbuktu was a major port. It became a key city in several successive empires: the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire from 1324, and the Songhai empire from 1468, the second occupations beginning when the empires overthrew Tuareg leaders who had regained control It reached its peak in the early 16th century, but its capture in 1591 by a band of Moroccan adventurers was not the start so much as a symptom of the crumbling of the ancient economy with Portuguese goods that came instead from the river's mouth

The most outstanding treasure at Timbuktu are the 100,000 manuscripts kept by the great families from the town. The collection of ancient manuscripts at the University of Sankore and other sites around Timbuktu document the magnificence of the institution, as well as the city itself, while enabling scholars to reconstruct the past in fairly intimate detail. Dating from the 16th to the 18th centuries, these manuscripts cover every aspect of human endeavor and are indicative of the high level of civilization attained by West Africans at the time.

Today, Timbuktu is an impoverished town, although its reputation makes it a tourist attraction to the point where it even has an international airport (Timbuktu Airport). It is one of the eight regions of Mali, and is home to the region's local governor.

Timbuktu is a UNESCO Worl Heritage Site, listed since 1988. In 1990, it was added to the list of World Heritage Sites in danger due to the threat of desert sands. A progam was set up to preserve the site and, in 2005, it was taken off the list of endangered sites.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : In honor of President's Day, here are some famous quotes from former Presidents of the United States of America.

"When you are in any contest you should work as if there were - to the very last minute - a chance to lose it." - President Dwight D. Eisenhower

"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In this life we get nothing save by effort." - President Theodore Roosevelt

"A man is not finished when he's defeated, he's finished when he quits." - President Richard M. Nixon

"Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong." - President Calvin Coolidge

"Effort and courage are not enough without purpose and direction." - President John F. Kennedy

"We believe that all men are created equal because they are created in the image of God." - President Harry S. Truman

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : Valentine's Day - an annual holiday honoring lovers. It will be celebrated this Thursday, February 14 with our customs of sending greeting cards, flowers, or gifts to express affection. The cards are known as valentines and are often designed with hearts to symbolize love.

For most of us it is a wonderful holiday right in the middle of winter - it is a bright red heart in the middle of gray skies, road dirt covered snow, and cold days and nights. The holiday probably derives from the ancient Roman feast of Lupercalis (February 15), also called the Lupercalia. In an annual rite of fertility, eligible young men and women would be paired as couples through a town lottery. Briefly clad or naked men would then run through the town carrying the skins of newly sacrificed goats dipped in blood. The women of the town would present themselves to be gently slapped by the strips and marked by the blood to improve their chances of conceiving in the coming year.

As Christianity came to dominance in Europe, pagan holidays such as Lupercalia were frequently renamed for early Christian martyrs. In 496 Pope Gelasius officially declared February 14 to be the feast day of two Roman martyrs, both named Saint Valentine, who lived in the 3rd century. Neither Saint Valentine seems to have an obvious connection to courtship or lovers.

Despite attempts by the Christian church to sanctify the holiday, the association of Valentine's Day with romance and courtship continued through the Middle Ages. In medieval France and England it was believed that birds mated on February 14, and the image of birds as the symbol of lovers began to appear in poems dedicated to the day. By the 18th century it was common for friends and lovers to exchange handwritten notes on Valentine's Day. Printed cards had largely replaced written sentiments by the 19th century. In 1840 Esther Howland of Worchester, Massachusetts, created the first line of mass-produced Valentines for sale. Today, Valentine's Day is second only to Christmas as the most popular card-sending holiday.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : Amethyst is the February birthstone. Associated with February since ancient times, amethyst is the most highly valued form of quartz. It is best known for its intense dark purple color.

Although amethyst can range from transparent light lavender to smoky violet to the deepest royal purple, darker colors are considered more valuable. Siberian amethyst is the most prized color, an intense violet with deep red flashes. Birthstone jewelry made from the Siberian variety is often the most expensive.

Popular with nobility through the ages, amethyst was considered more valuable than diamonds. The Greeks believed it protected them from intoxication, frequently drinking wine from goblets made entirley of amethyst. In fact, the word amethyst derives from "amethystos," Greek for "not drunken."

Ancient Egyptians believed amethyst could prevent poisoning, and it was a favorite crystal of Cleopatra. Many pharaohs were entombed with the purple crystal. Also, wealthy Egyptian rulers bestowed gifts of amethyst upon middle class citizens and farmers.

During the Renaissance, amethyst became a symbol of religious unification. It adorned crosses, rosaries, and rings used by bishops and priests. It was also popular with the common people as a symbol of piety and humilty.

Amethyst is found worldwide. There are several mining operations in Brazil, all of which produce February's birthstone ranging from pale to medium lilac color. One mine in Mexico produces  what is called "highly saturated" deep purple amethyst. Crystals from this region have deeply colored interiors and transparent exteriors and are considered the most elegant of all amethyst.

In the United States, amethyst is found in several states - Montana, Colorado, Maine, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Rhode Island, Texas, Arizona, and Virginia. Amethyst is actually the state gemstone of South Carolina. The American variety generally ranges from medium to deep color saturation and includes smoky and translucent varieties.

Other areas where amethyst is found include Uruguay, Africa, Scotland, Germany, Italy, Argentina, Bolivia, Madagascar, Canada, Sri Lanka, India, and Australia.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : The origin of how stones came to be connected to specific months is cloudy. Some speculate the birthstone originates from Biblical times when a priest's breastplate was adorned with twelve different colored gems. Over time, the number twelve became connected to months of the year and to the zodiac.

Since ancient times, people have associated each of the twelve zodiac signs and months with special, individual birthsones. Birthstones fall under various categories like modern, traditional, mystical and ayurvedic. Depending on the calendar you use or your country of origin, your birthstone may vary providing a wealth of choices in birthstone selection.

People began wearing a different gem each month as a sort of talisman, believing each stone held certain powers. Gradually, specific gems became attached to specific months and and zodiac signs, and people then wore the gem associated with their birth month all year long.

Fast-forward hundreds of years to 1912 in Kansas City, Missouri. The American National Association of Jewelers created a birthstone list, assigning different stones to each month. The birthstone list was controversial because people thought it was purely for commercial purposes. Even so, it is accepted worldwide today as the definitive list of birthstones.

People still enjoy the folklore and magic associated with the tradition of birthstone jewelry. Most believe that wearing a birthstone in any form brings good luck and wards off bad luck. The power of the stone is said to increase during the month it represents. Have fun with your birthstone, whatever it is.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : In honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., I have gathered some quotes from this highly quotable activist. It is said he inspired a nation to change largely through his riveting speeches. Considered one of the greatest orators in American history, his thoughts on racial equality have been repeated by many speakers throughout the years since his assassination. Here are some of his thoughts and words.

"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it."-- Stride Toward Freedom, 1958.

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."-- Strength to Love, 1963.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." --Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963.

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."-- Strength to Love, 1963.

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor." -- Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963.

"The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men." -- Strength to Love, 1963

"Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue." -- Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16,1963

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." -- I Have a Dream, civil rights march on Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : One glance at the deep red seeds nestled inside of a pomegranate fruit explains why the word "garnet" comes from the Latin word "granatus," meaning "grain" or "seed." This name was given to the garnet because of its close resemblance to the succulent pomegranate seed. But don't bite into a garnet, because at Moh's hardness 6.5 to 7.5, it will definitely damage the teeth!

There are many myths and legends surrounding the garnet. One Biblical legend is that Noah hung this gem on the ark to light his way through the dark and stormy mights of God's wrath. A greek myth linked to the garnet is the story of the young goddess of sunshine, Persephone, who was abducted by Hades, god of the underworld. Hades eventually released Persephone, but not before he offered her some pomegranate seeds, which guaranteed her return to him.

Firsty mined in Sri Lanka over 2,500 years ago, the garnet is also found in Africa, Australia, India, Russia, South America; and in the United States, in Arizona and Idaho. Although most commonly known as a red gemstone, the garnet comes in a variety of other hues, including muted yellows, vibrant oranges, rosy pinks, lime greens, and violets - a virtual bouquet of colors. This diversity is due to unique combinations of elements within each particular gem, such as iron, calcium, and manganese.

Archaeologist findings of primitive style garnet jewelry among the graves of lake dwellers dates the early use of this gemstone to the Bronze age. But not all garnet is of gem quality. It is also a very effective abrasive and is used commercially for grinding and polishing. Garnet coated sandpaper is one such industrial use.

The garnet continues to be the protective gem of journeyers. A gift of garnet is thought to be symbolic of love and the desire for a loved one's safe travel and speedy homecoming. It is January's birthstone, but far from being only a winter gem, the garnet, with its brilliance and multitude of colors, is truly one for any season.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : The Earth's axis of rotation - and hence the position of the North Pole - was commonly believed to be fixed (relative to the surface of the Earth) until, in the 18th century, the mathematician Leonhard Euler predicted that the axis might "wobble" slightly. Around the beginning of the 20th century astronomers noticed a small apparent "variation of latitude," as determined for a fixed point on Earth from the observation of stars. Part of this variation could be attributed to a wandering of the Pole across the Earth's surface, by a range of a few meters. The wandering has several periodic components and an irregular component. The component with a period of about 435 days is identified with the 8 month wandering predicted by Euler and is now called the Chandler wobble after its discoverer. This "wobble" means that a (fixed) definition of the Pole based on the axis of roataion is not useful when meter-scale precision is required.

It is desirable to tie the system of Earth coordinates (latitude, longitude, and elevations or orography) to fixed landforms. Of course, given continental drift and the rising and falling of land due to volcanoes, erosion and so on, there is no system in which all geographic features are fixed. Yet the International Earth Roatation and Reference Systems Service and the International Astronomical Union have defined a framework called the International Terrestrial Reference System. The North Pole of this system now defines geographic North for precision work, and it does not quite coincide with the rotation axis.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : During the summer months, the North Pole experiences twenty-four hours of daylight daily, but during the winter months the North Pole experiences twenty-four hours of darkness daily. Sunrise and sunset do not occur in a twenty-four hour cycle. At the Northe pole, sunrise begins at the Vernal equinox taking three months for the sun to reach its highest point at the summer solstice when sunset begins, taking three months to reach sunset at the Autumnal equinox. A similar effect can be observed at the South Pole, with a six-month difference. This day/night effect is in stark contrast to what is observed at the Equator.

This effect is caused by a combination of the Earth's axial tilt and its revolution around the sun. The direction and angle of axial tilt of the Earth remains fairly constant (on a yearly basis) in its plane of revolution around the sun. Hence during the summer, the North Pole is always facing the sun's rays but during the winter, it always faces away from the sun.

Happy New Year!

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : On August 2, 2007, a Russian expedition made the first ever manned descent to the ocean bottom at the North Pole, to a depth of 4.3 km, as part of a research program in support of Russia's 2001 territorial claim to a large swathe of the Arctic Ocean. The descent took place in two MIR submersibles and was led by Soviet and Russian polar explorer Arthur Chilingarov. In a sumbolic act, the Russian flag was placed on the seabed at the exact position of the Pole.

The expedition is the latest in a decades-long series of moves by russia intended to show that it is the dominant influence in the Arctic. The warming Arctic climate and summer retreat of sea ice there has suddenly turned the attention of countries from China to the United States towar the top of the worl, where resources and shipping routes may soon be exploitable.

As for the Christmas Eve Polar forcast, it looks like Santa Claus and his reindeer will have a cold and clear night for all his work.

Merry Christmas!

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets the Earth's surface. It should not be confused with the North Magnetic Pole.

The North Pole is the northernmost point on Earth, lying diametrically opposite the South Pole. It defines latitude 90 degrees North, as well as the direction of True North. At the North Pole all directions point south.

While the South Pole lies on a continental land mass, the North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, amidst waters that are almost permanently covered with constantly shifting sea ice. This makes it impossible to construct a permanent station at the North Pole (unlike the South Pole) except for Santa's house, of course. However, the Soviet Union (Russia) have constructed a number of manned drifting stations, some of which have passed over or very close to the Pole.

The sea depth at the North Pole has been measured at 4,261 meters (13,980 ft). The nearest land is usually said to be Kaffeklubben Island, off the northern coast of Greenland about 440 miles away.

As early as the sixteenth century, many eminent people believed that the North Pole was in a sea, and in the nineteenth century it was called the Polynia or circumpolar sea. It was therefore hoped that passage could be found through ice floes at favorable times of the year. Several expeditions set out to find the way, generally with whaling ships, already commonly used in the cold northern latitudes.

One of the earliest expeditions to set out with the explicit intention of reaching the North Pole was that of British naval officer William Edward Parry, who in 1827 reached latitude 82 degrees 45' North. Then there were numerous attempts after that some ending in disaster.

The conquest of the North Pole is traditionally credited to American Navy engineer Robert Edwin Peary, who claimed to have reached the Pole on April 6, 1909, accompanied by American Matthew Henson and four Inuit men named Ootah, Seeglo, Egigingwah, and Ooqueah. Of course, there have been many expeditions by sea, by ice and by air since then. But most would agree, the favorite person living on or near the North Pole is Santa Claus - soon to be making his yearly visit.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : In its day, the construction of Stonehenge was an impressive engineering feat, requiring commitment, time and vast amounts of manual labor. In its first phase, Stonehenge was a large earthwork - a bank and ditch arrangement called a henge, constructed approximately 5,000 years ago. It is believed that the ditch was dug with tools made from the antlers of red deer and, possible, wood. The underlying chalk was loosened with picks and shoveled with the shoulderblades of cattle. It was then loaded into baskets and carried away. Modern experiments have shown that thes tools were more than equal to the great task of earth digging and moving.

About 2,000 BC, the first stone circle (which is now the inner circle), comprised of small bluestones, was set up, but abandoned before completion. The stones used in that first circle are believed to be from the Prescelly Mountains, located roughly 240 miles away, at the southwestern tip of Wales. The bluestones weigh up to 4 tons each and about 80 stones were used, in all. Given the distance they had to travel, this presented quite a transportation problem.

The giant sarsen stones (which form the outer circle), weigh as much as 50 tons each. To transport them from the Marlborough Downs, roughly 20 miles to the north, is a problem of even greater magnitude than that of moving the bluestones. Most of the way, the going is relatively easy, but at the steepest part of the route, at Redhorn Hill, modern work studies estimate that at least 600 men would have been needed just to get each stone past this obstacle.

The question of who built Stonehenge is largely unanswered, even today. The best guess seems to be that the Stonehenge site was begun by the people of the late Neolithic period (around 3000 BC) and carried forward by people from a new economy which was arising at this time. These "new" people, called Beaker Folk because of their use of pottery drinking vessels, began to use metal implements and to live in a more communal fashion than their ancestors, Some think that they may have been immigrants from the continent, but that contention is not supported by archaeological evidence. It is likely that they were just indegenous people doing the same old things in new ways.

The legend of King Arthur provides another story of the construction of Stonehenge. It is told by the twelfth century writer, Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his History of the Kings of Britain, that Merlin brought the stones to the Salisbury Plain from Ireland. Sometime in the fifth century, there had been a massacre of 300 British noblemen by the treacherous Saxon leader, Hengest. Geoffrey tells us that the high king, Aurelius Ambrosius, wanted to create a fitting memorial to the slain men, Merlin suggested an expedition to Ireland for the purpose of transplanting the Giant's Ring stone circle to Britain. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, the stones of the Giant's Ring were originally brought from Africa to Ireland by giants (who else but giants could handle the job?). The stones were located on "Mount Killaraus" and were used as a site for performing rituals and for healing. Led by King Uther and Merlin, the expedition arrived at the spot in Ireland. The Britons, none of whom were giants, apparently, were unsuccessful in their attempts to move the great stones. At this point, Merlin realized that only his magic arts would turn the trick. So, they were dismantled and shipped back to Britain where they were set up as they had been before, in a great circle, around the mass grave of the murdered noblemen. The story goes on to tell that Aurelius, Uther and Arthur's successor, Constantine were also buried there in their time.

Situated in a vast plain, surrounded by hundreds of round barrows, or burial mounds, the Stonehenge site is truly impressive, and all the more so, the closer you approach. It is a place where much human effort was expended for a purpose we can only guess at. Some people see it as a place steeped in magic and mystery, some as a place where their imaginations of the past can be fired and others hold it to be a sacred place. But whatever viewpoint is brought to it and whatever its original purpose was, it should be treated as the ancients treated it, as a place of honor.

Jody Victor