The Light Around the Bend, Refraction and Diffusion

I was interested in how light has color. I had read that white was all colors and black was no colors. I went looking for an explanation. And I found it. This is fine, except I didn’t understand any of it. There were graphs, diagrams and I don’t know what all else. It is complicated. I got nowhere in understanding why light looks the way it does in some circumstances. I couldn’t stand anymore and so, I stopped reading about it and found pictures instead.

Most of the pictures are from Wikipedia Commons. I will label those that aren’t.

I did find one diagram that is pretty and so I am showing it to you first. It’s from NASA. I don’t really understand it. You are on your own.

This next picture is of a glass with blue colored water and a straw. It is a good example of how the light changes the appearance of the straw.

By, Berowell at English Wikipedia

I read that rainbows are diffused light. They aren’t reflections off of water mist. It makes sense if you about it for a minute. Here are two pictures.

By, Sompop5

By, Borg Gastain

Here is a diagram of light through a prism showing light refraction.

The caption says refraction varies by frequency. See what I mean? But it’s a nice diagram. By, R. Hall

Another diagram that shows light through a prism.

Next are two photos of light going through prisms.

By, Zatonyl Sandor

By, Zatonyl Sandor

I found two pictures of double rainbows.

By AnemoneProjectors

By, N1 Philip Sheldrake

These next pictures are of light diffusion at the horizon. The first one is the sunrise at a mountain and I’m not sure what this is called, but is is a gorgeous photo.

By, d huez

This is a great picture of the horizon effect.

By, US Navy Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kristopher Wilson

Here are four pictures of  circumhorizon  arcs.

By, Luis Argerrich

By, ProfessorX

By, Mitternach90

By, Jeff Cubina from the Milky Way Galaxy

The next picture is of a sun arc.

By, Fancy cats are happy cats

This is a picture of Light Pillars.

By, Joe n blow, English Wikipedia

The next two pictures are of Sundogs.

By, Gopherboy6956

By, NOAA

A Halo with tangent arcs.

By, Grant W. Goodge, NOAA

This is a Complex Halo.

By, Broken Inaglory

This is an Ice Halo.

By, Marlyn Gorman

This last picture has a little bit of  almost everything in it. It is by, 46 Nasko.

Dried Fruit on the Oregon Trail.

I didn’t find much information about the dried fruit used on the trail.
I did find that dried apples were used quite a bit.
The kind of fruit brought along would have depended on if they could get them.
They were on the trail starting in either April or May. They landed at home anywhere from August to October. Walking alongside of wagons for 2,170 miles doesn’t make one want to get creative with food. The hot summer days had to be taken into consideration when the travelers bought food in Independence Missouri at the start of the trip.
Unless there were berries or fruit trees along the way, they had to eat whatever dried fruit they brought along.

Two maps to start.

Oregon Trail Map  by, National Park Service

NASA Topographical Map with red line  by, Mathew Trump, Wikipedia Commons

The next four pictures are from Wikipedia Commons.

Currents drying  by, Robert Wallace

Raisins  by, Scott Ehardt

These are dried apricots, pears and prunes  by, Andre Kawath

The last picture is of dried apples  by, Matthew Deute.

Mars Rover Curiosity: I’m Talking To You

Curiosity has been a busy girl on Mars. The wind sensor didn’t work and it would have been nice to see a windsock on her mast. They didn’t put one on.
Curiosity has performed two tests and passed with flying colors. The first test zapping a rock. The second test was going for a drive on Mars. She also took great pictures of all this.
All the pictures are from NASA.

First is a diagram of Curiosity.

Here she is in the lab on Earth.

Curiosity on Mars.

Curiosity talks to the guys at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

Here’s a diagram of how Curiosity talks to them.

Here is a pictures of the rocks.

Here is the rock zapper on Curiosity.

A close up of the zapper.

The rocks before and after the zaps. Curiosity 1  Rocks 0.

Getting ready to roll. Kicking the tires.

She can see where she’s been by looking back at the tracks.

Last picture, a look at a track.

 

 

Quality of Light

This morning I was looking out of the window and noticed that the light is a bit different from it was a few weeks ago. This made me wonder about light in general.
I did read some information about why light looks the way it does in certain circumstances. My eyes rolled back in my head and I couldn’t stand it.

When the sun comes up, and it is at the horizon, the color is pink. When the sun rises higher, the color is yellow. This goes in reverse at sunset.

I found pictures of  sunrises, morning light and sunsets. They are all from Wikipedia Commons.

Sunrise  by, NOAA

Sunrise,  by, Chameleon, English Wikipedia

Beautiful morning light in Colorado Springs, Colorado  by, Mattcatpurple from Hay River, Canada

Morning light  by, Bala

Morning light  by, Bala

Sunset  by, AngMoko

This last picture is of a sunset  by, NOAA.

Herbs on the Oregon Trail

I am not sure of all the kinds of herbs they carried on the trail. I rounded up a bunch of different herbs. I found wonderful pictures and that was the main reason some of them are in this post.

First, two maps.

Oregon Trail  by, National Park Service

NASA topographical map and trail line by Mathew Trump, Wikipedia Commons.

All the rest of the pictures are from Wikipedia Commons.

The most common item used for food was salt. It was used in cooking and for preserving meats.

Ground floor tunnel, Khewra Salt mines, Pakistan  by, Simsarmad

Salt  by, kevindooley

Black pepper comes in handy.

Black pepper plant  by, Sugeesh from ml. Wikipedia

Dried black pepper corns  by, Andre Kanwath

Black pepper grains  by, User: Henna

Bay leaves can be used for a lot of soups, stews and other things. The leaves have to be removed before the food is eaten. You can choke on them.

Bay tree leaves  by, Lewis Collard

Dried Bay Leaves  by, Mannsari66

Parsley is good for clearing one’s breath. It is also used in foods. It can be dried and used that way.

Curly parsley  by, H. Zell.

One name for this is Italian Parsley  by, H. Zell

Sage grows readily and could have been used.

Dried Sage  by, User: Henna

Rosemary grows well and could have been used.

Rosemary Plant  by, Donovan Govan

Rosemary Leaves  by, User: maksim

And last, a bundle of thyme  by, Evan-Amos.

Squash

Squash is in season right now. People with gardens have squash overflowing the ground. The joke is, if you see someone with a brown paper bag at this time of year, and they are coming to your house, that bag has zucchini in it, lock your door.
I went looking for pictures of squash. They are all from Wikipedia Commons.

One picture was this.

By, Buurgaard Nielson

This kind of yellow squash is seen in supermarkets a lot.

By, USDA

By, Evelyn Simak

By, David Monniaux

The rest of the pictures are of zucchini.

By, Evan-Amos
By, Hedwig Storch

By, Tarupant

By, Tarupant

The last picture shows another color flower on the zucchini plant.

By, Jolan Denes

 

Once In A Blue Moon, In Memory of Neil Armstrong

Neil Armstrong died yesterday. He was 82. He is known for being the first man to step on the moon. The picture is by NASA

This is a picture of the moon, taken from earth, by, Peter Freman, Wikipedia Commons.

First step on the moon. The rest of the pictures are by NASA.

Neil Armstrong at work on the moon.

The last picture is of footprints on the moon.

McIntosh Apples

McIntosh apples are popular in the US. They ripen in September and you can get them in stores until June the following year.
They are lovely to look at. Inside, they are bright white.
The flavor is not strong and they are sweet with a tad of tartness.
They are eating apples and do well for making applesauce. They cook down to mush.

Here are the pictures. They are all from Wikipedia Commons.

By, Lars Zapf

BY, Marcushagenlocher

The last picture is of a bunch of McIntosh apples. This is how they look when you go to an orchard and pick them. By, infowidget.

 

Petunias and Grape Vines

I had heard a report that the grapes in Michigan and New York state are doing just fine;. During the winter there was a warm spell and then a sudden cold snap. Some table grapes had buds and they got frozen. Those vines won’t have grapes this year. They hope for the best for next year.
The wine grape vines didn’t have that many buds out when that cold snap came. They did lose some buds, but they said that the grapes this year are full of flavor and the sugar level is good.

The grape vines in the mid west also made it for the most part. They didn’t lose may vines to the drought.

I was walking around and I saw two petunias that i had seen when they were smaller. They were full of color and I stood there and looked at them for a few minutes. I was so glad a car didn’t come by and see me standing there looking like a lost soul.

First is a drawing of grape vine roots. The thing about these roots is they go deep into the ground and find moisture that keeps the vine alive when it is so dry.

Next is a picture of grape vines by Chris Reynolds, Wikipedia Commons.

A picture of wine grapes on the vine, by, Jill Clardy, Wikipedia Commons.

Now, for the petunias. This picture is of a striped petunia, by, Kristian Cvar, Wikipedia Commons.

A pink double petunia, by, BETTY, Wikipedia Commons.

And last, a picture of Petunia that was in the general petunia category. It was taken by, Adriano, from Italian Wikipedia.

 

 

Persimmons

I don’t know what made me think of persimmons this morning. I do remember eating and enjoying them.
They show up in grocery stores when they are ripening.
You need to know how to tell when a persimmon is ripe. If you bite into one that isn’t ripe, your mouth will pucker.
Persimmons are well known is Asia. They do grow in the southern US. They grow on trees.
I read that there are two basic kinds of persimmons, but it was so confusing that I couldn’t figure out what made them different.

Here are some pictures.

Persimmon tree  by, Lauralsquirrels, Wikipedia Commons

Persimmon blossom  by, Pollinator, English Wikipedia

The caption says persimmon tree in US National Arboretum  by USDA. It must be bonsai. It doesn’t look like the other trees. No wonder I am so confused.

Unripe persimmons by, Woodlor, English Wikipedia

Ripe persimmons, American  by, Asit K. Ghosh, Wikipedia Commons. This also explains my confusion. These don’t look ripe.

Persimmon garden  by, Vineyard, Wikipedia Commons

Persimmon trees  by, Goemr, Wikipedia Commons

Hachiya persimmons on a tree  by, Downtowngirl, Wikipedia Commons. See what I mean?

Japanese persimmons drying  by, Cla68, Wikipedia Commons

This next picture is of a Korean persimmon wood chest. This is the dark wood. Another kind of persimmon wood is light and has been used to make pool cues. I couldn’t find a public domain picture os a pool cue.

By, Wildbarbara, Wikipedia Commons

Fuyu persimmon  by, Joe ravi, Wikipedia Commons

Hachiya persimmon  by, Alex Lozupon, Wikipedia Commons

this last picture is of ripe persimmons in the front and behind them, unripe persimmons  by, JonRichfield, Wikipedia Commons
I rest my case.