Friday, March 29, 2013









If  the Earth was the size of a tennis ball, then the Sun would be an orb 22' in diameter about 1/2 mile away.

The Moon would be bigger than a red globe grape almost six feet away.

Jupiter would be roughly the size of a beach ball, about 2 miles away.

The relative sizes of objects in the solar system and the vast distances between them is something I can't comprehend without making them relative to something I can.
















Sunday, March 24, 2013












       “(T)he honour and distinction of the individual consist in this, that he among all the world's multitudes should become a source of social good.  Is any larger bounty conceivable than this, that an individual, looking within himself, should find that by the confirming grace of God he has become the cause of peace and well-being, of happiness and advantage to his fellow men? No, by the one true God, there is no greater bliss, no more complete delight.”

― `Abdu'l-Baha 







Friday, March 22, 2013

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Baha'i Year B.E. 170






Today is the beginning of a new Bahá'i year (B.E. 170), and Naw Rúz, (pronounced no rooz), or New Day, is celebrated by Bahá'is around the world.









"Do you know in what day you are living? Do you realize in what dispensation you are alive ? Have you not read in the holy scriptures that the consummation of the ages there shall appear a day which is the sun of all the past days?"

--'Abdu'l-Bahá


                                                                      ♦
Another Video, where Bahá'is from South America send their Nooruz greetings to their persecuted Iranian brethren.





One more!


Naw Ruz English version from Nadine Reyhani on Vimeo.

                                                                         ♦




The Baha’i year consists of 19 months of 19 days each (361 days), with the addition of “Intercalary Days” (four in ordinary and five in leap years) between the eighteenth and nineteenth months to adjust the calendar to the solar year. The months are named after the attributes of God.

The Baha’i New Year coincides with the March equinox (March 21). The Baha’i Era commenced with the year of the Bab’s declaration (1844 A.D.). Each Baha’i community holds a Nineteen Day Feast on the first day of each Baha’i month. The Feast has spiritual, administrative and social functions and is the principal gathering of Baha’is of a particular locality. Because the Baha’i day lasts from sunset to sunset, the Nineteen Day Feast is generally held in the evening on the day before the first day of the Baha’i month according to the Gregorian calendar.


Here's a graphic.



From here.










Wednesday, March 20, 2013





I had a new visitor to my garden today: A Varied Thrush.  After drinking and bathing in the bird bath, he spent awhile scratching around in the wet leaves and duff for whatever Varied Thrushes scratch around for.

Be sure to click on this image and view the beautiful details of this bird!  Maybe I need a life, but when I saw him I gasped, and then I grabbed my binoculars and tried to etch his image into my memory. Looking at my "Local Birds of the Monterey Bay Area" guide, I first thought he was a Western Meadowlark, and then a Northern Oriole--that pretty much indicates my powers of observation and what a skilled bird watcher I am....doh!




(Photo and info here. Song, too!)





Tuesday, March 19, 2013




Marketing genius in three words:  Wash. Rinse. Repeat.





Monday, March 18, 2013





Any guesses?




Here's one in Tacoma





Sunday, March 17, 2013






A Girl From Killarney passed this way...









Thursday, March 14, 2013









You're B.E.??

I've been drawing structural plans for the same engineering office in the Monterey Bay area for many years. One day, a steel fabricator came into the office with a question about a particular project, and when I told him I was the one who drew the plans and pointed to my initials in the "Drawn By" box, he exclaimed "You're B.E.? I've been building your projects for years".

That was about twenty years ago.  I wonder if he's still building the structures I'm drawing?








Wednesday, March 13, 2013




My cat Tuffy, a.k.a. Tug, knows how to strike a pose.





He's finally discovered that he can jump to the top of the armoire.  I believe it is a response to watching through the bedroom window the birds and squirrels that are flourishing  in the backyard this year.









Tuesday, March 12, 2013






Kitty angst







Sunday, March 10, 2013



The U.S. Treasury




On this day in 1862 the United States Treasury issued paper money, or "Greenbacks"  ($1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1000) for the first time, replacing State bank notes and 'Demand Notes', which were issued during the Civil War.

I don't know whether there was a national debt at that time, but I would imagine it was nowhere near what it is today.







Saturday, March 9, 2013





Baha'i Archives, Mt. Carmel, Israel








Friday, March 8, 2013







CHIEF PETTY OFFICER JOSHUA EWING






 Chief Petty Officer Ewing is stationed at the Aviation Technical Training Center in Elizabeth City, N.C., and is in charge of the final phase of instruction given to Aviation Maintenance Technicians (AMT) "A" school students. Ewing has a degree in Professional Aeronautics and a Masters in Aeronautical Science with an emphasis in aviation safety.
Q: What is one thing about the Coast Guard that you think more people should know about?
A: Coast Guard aviation does more with less. With the aviation enlisted rate consolidation down to three specific jobs in the late 1990's, aircraft maintainers now resemble civilian related aviation jobs more so than other branches of today's military. Also, aviation personnel are required to maintain a flight crew status. We are fixers and flyers, not just one or the other. One minute you could be maintaining an aircraft, the next minute you could be flying to save a life. 

From HERE




Thursday, March 7, 2013






SKELETON, HERCULANEUM









Wednesday, March 6, 2013









Free thyself from the fetters of this world, and loose thy soul from the prison of self. Seize thy chance, for it will come to thee no more.    --Bahá’u’lláh




Sunday, March 3, 2013



A song in Persian, with scenes associated with the life of Bahá'u'lláh, including the Siyah-Chal (Black Pit) prison in Tehran, Iran, the prison at Akka, Israel, the Mansion at Bahji, and the Garden of Ridvan.




I'm afraid I do not know the words, but the sentiment needs no translation.