Tag Archives: New Year

New Years Day 2017

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Happy New Year!

Here is the first sunrise of what we hope is a promising new year. It arrived exactly on schedule at 7:24 am with a certain amount of fanfare and flair. The Director, as is his wont, made the arduous climb up the 842 steps to the solar observatory in the very top of the East tower of the main building here at *The Institute to take the annual sunrise photograph. It being a tradition here at The Institute to record the ushering in of the new year with a photo taken to prove that sunrise did indeed occur and we can all rest easy.

Under an agreement with Lenny at the Better Business Bureau in Florence, Italy and Gino the guy that helped get the telescope out of the building without anyone seeing him at the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (renamed the Museo Galileo in 2010) in Florence, Italy, we have on permanent loan one of Galileo’s original telescopes. Yeah we know, quite a coup on our part.

Simply by duct taping a new D810 Nikon digital camera with 36 megapixels for prettier pictures and nice leather on the body to the eyepiece, we were able to make this image showing the sun peeping over the horizon. Seeing everything was all clear it continued its journey up into the heavens thereby officially starting the New Year. This is an Institute exclusive of which we are justly proud, and unavailable anywhere else on the Interweb. Below is a picture of the telescope prior to our duct taping our camera to it. Well, it does look a little ratty but remember this thing is 400 years old. Once we wrap some black electricians tape around it, it’ll look better.

So having done our duty yet once again, The Director, The Institute, and yours truly the author of this blog, wish you a very Happy New Year. May everything you hoped for this year become a reality. See you soon with a whole new year full of new and exciting adventures, journeys and observations as we continue to bring you all that *The Institute has to offer.

* Note: For those of you unfamiliar with The Institute and what it does, please see the page labeled The Institute on the Menu Bar above. That should explain everything. You shouldn’t have one single question remaining regarding The Institute after reading it. None. For those of you favored few who already know about the Institute, Nevermind. Return to your daily activities. Thank you for your support.

Another Year

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AnotherYear0821Discarded Feather  Zion National Park                    click to enlarge

It’s a another year gone by in the blink of an eye, or a nano second, the new way we measure things, we no longer use what was the standard for measurement of things that happened really quickly, the old standby “New York minute”. New York minutes have gotten so slow they’re now used to measure turtle races, or my pulse as I watch Tournament Bridge on TV. Last year has been discarded into the past to become nothing more than a memory. Yours may have been good or may have been bad but there is one thing for sure, it’s history now. We can do nothing but face the future and journey through this new year with our best intentions and try to make it the best year we can.

Some of us have the good fortune, or is it misfortune, to be able to have a year very much like the one that just passed. Others of us can have a year that can be anything we want it to be. We can fill it with joy or despair. We can have incredible new beginnings, or for the less adventuresome a nice slow steady year that brings a level of contentment that is as satisfying in its own way as any satisfaction can be. Sort of like the choice for breakfast between Shrimp Diavalo with a good red wine or perfectly cooked eggs with buttered toast and hot coffee. Some of us can even have it all. At least once in a while. I personally prefer the contentment option with a few high energy E-rides thrown in unexpectedly.

Lots of people take this opportunity to make resolutions for the coming year, to set up huge goals and lofty ambitions. I say to hell with resolutions. Life puts enough pressure on us every day and to add more by assigning ourselves unrealistic goals that we would have accomplished last year, if we really meant to, just adds another layer of angst to our lives that we don’t need. The things that are meant to change will, with or without any help from us. Give yourself a break.

It is a new year. 2014. The old year is dead, Long live the new.