Category: Arts and Culture


October sky

 Moon  Photo KDG

Moon
Photo KDG

The summer has seen a number of super moons this year, accounts that the moon is closer than it has ever been have gotten people to look at the sky when the moon is full. The next one is on September 8th and the one in October should be good as well. A source says that the darker October sky will present a better opportunity for viewing a photos then the ones before when the horizon still has some residual light. The length of the day on September 9th will be 12 hours and 47 minutes. the full moon on October 8th will rise at 10.51, November 8th at 22.23.

Harvest Moon” and “Hunter’s Moon” are traditional terms for the full moons occurring in autumn, in the Northern Hemisphere usually in September and October respectively. The “Harvest Moon” is the full moon closest to autumnal equinox, and the “Hunter’s Moon” is the one following it. The names are recorded from the early 18th century.[17]OED for “Harvest Moon” cites a 1706 reference, and for “Hunter’s Moon” a 1710 edition of The British Apollo , where the term is attributed to “the country people” (The Country People call this the Hunters-Moon.) The names became traditional in American folklore, where they are now often popularly attributed to “the Native Americans“.[18] The Feast of the Hunters’ Moon is a yearly festival in Lafayette, Indiana, held in late September or early October each year since 1968.[19] In 2010, the Harvest moon occurred on the night of equinox itself (some 512 hours after the point of equinox) for the first time since 1991.[20][21]

All full moons rise around the time of sunset. Because the moon orbits the earth in the same direction the earth is rotating, the moon rises later each day – on average about 50.47 minutes later each day [22] The Harvest Moon and Hunter’s Moon are unique because the time difference between moonrises on successive evenings is much shorter than average. The moon rises approximately 30 minutes later from one night to the next, as seen from about 40 degrees N or S latitude. Thus, there is no long period of darkness between sunset and moonrise for several days following the actual date of the full moon.

The  Merritt Public library is having a talk by an astronomer named Colleen O’Hare on September 20th at &:30 pm, sign up at the front desk is required.

Today in history: August 28th 1609
Henry Hudson discovers Delaware bay

319 LIndley Creek Road

319 LIndley Creek Road

The Nicola Valley Fall Fair has a deadline for entries to its 2014 fair. The deadline is  the 27th at 5 PM. Entries with the correct fees must be dropped of at Blacks Pharmacy or
Pharmasave  by that time. Catalogues with Entries are available at the Merritt herald for the exhibition on August 30 and 31st at the Merritt exhibition grounds #319 Lindley Creek Road. There are two forms in the catalogue each section must have its own form and there are 17 sections of items for entry. there are also 5 sections of Members choice. entries fees are 75 cents an item for a possible 3 dollar first, 2 dollar second and 1 dollar third cash prize. there are also lots of prizes from manufactures and sponsor’s.
The Dance is on August 31st 8:30- 1AM with the live Country music of The Randy Chillhitza Band

FMI:Marianne Reimer
Today in history:

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Sunday Cancellation

The press box at the enterance to the Music festival grounds now used by Sturgis Canada.

The press box at the enterence to the Music festival grounds now used by Sturgis Canada.

The four day event that the Sturgis Canada group put on at the music festival grounds south of Merritt ended early. According to reporting by Q101 FM Sundays performance was cancelled without explanation. Thursday had been a free day, Friday and Saturday, normal with some accounts of low attendance, (we think normal for a start up ) accounts of the 66 headliner Burton Cummings performance were positive. there is no word on refunds for Tickets for Sundays performance, however if bought on a credit card you may want to check with card issuer.

He was the lead singer and frequent keyboardist for the Canadian rock band The Guess Who. During his 10 years in The Guess Who, from 1965 to 1975, he sang and wrote or co-wrote many songs including “American Woman,” “No Time,” “Share the Land,” “Hand Me Down World,” “Undun,” “Laughing,” “Star Baby”, “New Mother Nature,” and “These Eyes.” His solo career includes many Canadian singles including “Stand Tall”, “My Own Way to Rock” and “You Saved My Soul.” source Wikipedia

Talk about the California earthquake over the weekend having something to do with the cancellation ,is not substantiated.

 

BBC TV

 

Have a great day, we are on holidays, for a week, please enjoy the day in history untill we return.

Have a great day, we are on holidays, for a week, please enjoy the day in history untill we return.

Today in history: August 22 1932

The BBC experiments with television broadcast

Old age/ holiday

Have a great weekend, we are on holidays, for a week, please enjoy the day in history untill we return.

Have a great day, we are on holidays, for a week, please enjoy the day in history untill we return.

Today in history: August 14th 1935
Old age security is created in the United States.

Transmission line

A crew is at work on the new transmission line to the Highland valley from Merritt. A source says that 80 percent of the cut line was already in place before starting the current round of work. “We are dealing with Christmas tree size stuff now”. The work of placeing lines and poles will begin in October with “twin poles” placed by cranes.
Not to be confused with the new 500 KV line to the lower mainland that is currently being completed. That is the 3rd 500 KV line to the west from the interior of BC, and the first in a decades long hiatus from that sort of construction.

Today in history: August 12 1992
Canada, the US and Mexico complete free trade negotiations.

Solar power

The summer is about half over here and we have enjoyed a lot of sunshine this year, makes you think about the source of energy and its value to our life. Some European countries have embraced alternate energy generation in a big way now BC Hydro is going ahead with project of some scale. The project is being planned for the old Kimberly mine site in the Kootney region of British Columbia. the mine area produced a lot of the lead that was in gasoline decades ago now it is being offered redemption to say.

Kimberley, B.C., will be home to largest solar project west of Ontario

With more than 300 days of sunshine each year, it’s no surprise that the City of Kimberley in the B.C. Rockies has its sights set on solar power.

Today, the city is an alpine ski resort with world-class recreation. But it wasn’t always known for its breathtaking mountain views; for much of its history, Kimberley was a major mining town. The Sullivan Mine, owned by Teck, was once Canada’s largest underground mine within city limits, and one of the largest lead-zinc mines in the world.

But by January 2015, the former Sullivan Mine site will house more than 4,000 solar-cell modules, as the home of SunMine, the largest solar project in western Canada, and the first one to have an electricity purchase agreement with BC Hydro.

Vancouver-based non-profit organization EcoSmart Foundation led the initiative to transform this historic part of Kimberley into a solar farm. EcoSmart partnered with the City of Kimberley, which owns the project, and Teck, which contributed $2 million in funding and offered the former mine site, to develop SunMine. The project was made possible in part thanks to the ability to sell the clean energy generated back to BC Hydro.

source BC hydro for generations.

Today in history: August 07 2007
Barry Bonds sets an all time hitting record of 756 home runs:

Love lies bleeding

Love lies bleeding, Merritt BC, Photo KDG

Love lies bleeding,
Merritt BC,
Photo KDG

These plants are nearly 5′ feet tall, and have grown in Merritt from seeds that produced plants about 2 and 0ne half feet tall last year.

Amaranthus caudatus is a species of annual flowering plant. It goes by common names such as love-lies-bleeding,[2] pendant amaranth,[citation needed] tassel flower,[2] velvet flower,[2] foxtail amaranth,[2] and quilete.[citation needed]

Many parts of the plants, including the leaves and seeds, are edible, and are frequently used as a source of food in India and South America – where it is the most important Andean species of Amaranthus, known as kiwicha. (see also Amaranth seed and Andean ancient plants) This species, as with many other of the amaranths, are originally from the American tropics. The exact origin is unknown, as A. caudatus is believed to be a wild Amaranthus hybridus aggregate.

The red color of the inflorescences is due to a high content of betacyanins, as in the related species known as “Hopi red dye” amaranth. Ornamental garden varieties sold under the latter name are either Amaranthus cruentus or a hybrid between A. cruentus and A. powelli. In indigenous agriculture, A. cruentus is the Central American counterpart to South American A. caudatus Source wikipedia.

Today in History: August 6th 1912

The Bull Moose party meets in Chicago.

 

Electric SUV

A Tesla S, 85 charges up at Merritt, with an adapter to a DC 500 Volt 120 amp Quick charger, Aug /14 Photo KDG

A Tesla S, 85 charges up at Merritt, with an adapter to a DC 500 Volt 120 amp quick charger, Aug /14
Photo KDG

Randy a person that works for Tesla motors in Vancouver says that there is an SUV edition of the fully electric car coming out next year. Even with out a proto type he says that there are 20,000 advanced orders.
Randy spoke to us while charging his Tesla model 85 400 kilometer EV at the Sun Country charger on Voght street in Merritt on Monday ( BC Day)
http://www.teslamotors.com/modelx
Tesla model X can be, can be pre-ordered for fall 2015 delivery, by risk takers and early opted enthusiasts. Tesla has a better then average track record for reliability with their Roadster ( out of production) and Model S. Third row seating, and falcon wing doors combined with the full EV package make for an interesting and attention getting car.
Today in history: August 5th 1960
Burkina Faso , known as Upper Volta becomes independent from France

TGIF- AC charger is free

A General Motors product, Chevy Volt charges up on the free AC Charger, July 2014 Photo KDG

A General Motors product, Chevy Volt charges up on the free AC Charger, July 2014
Photo KDG

A Chevrolet volt charges up at a charging station last week in Merritt. The Volt had Ontario licence plates and is partial EV, it has a gasoline charging engine that will charge the battery as it drives.
Partial electric vehicles and hybrids are a consumer choice that does not allow for the ideological ” emission free goal but have a cumulative effect to benefit the environment, in the view of some operators. The 2014 volts are in the $37,000 dollar range and where intended to be a mass produced EV. http://www.gm.ca/gm/english/vehicles/chevrolet/volt/overview

The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle manufactured by General Motors, also marketed in rebadged variants as the Holden Volt in Australia and New Zealand, and with a different fascia as the Vauxhall Ampera in the United Kingdom and as the Opel Ampera in the remainder of Europe.

Sales of the 2011 Volt began in the U.S. in mid-December 2010 followed by various European countries and other international markets in 2011. As of June 2014, the Volt and Ampera models have combined global sales of over 77,000 units, with the U.S. as the leading market with over 63,000 Volts delivered since its introduction in 2010. Opel/Vauxhall Ampera sales in Europe totaled over 9,000 units through May 2014. The Netherlands is the world’s second largest Volt/Ampera market and leads the European region with more than 4,900 Amperas and over 1,000 Volts sold through June 2014. The Volt is the top selling plug-in electric car in the United States, and the Volt and its rebadged variants are the best-selling plug-in hybrid in the world.

The Volt operates as a pure battery electric vehicle until its plug-in battery capacity drops to a predetermined threshold from full charge. From there its internal combustion engine powers an electric generator to extend the vehicle’s range as needed. When the engine is running it may be periodically mechanically linked (by a clutch) to a planetary gear set, and hence the output drive axle, to improve energy efficiency. The Volt’s regenerative braking also contributes to the on-board electricity generation. Under the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cycle, the 2013/14 model year Volt all-electric range is 38 mi (61 km), with a combined electric mode/gasoline-only rating of 62 mpg-US (3.8 L/100 km; 74 mpg-imp) equivalent (MPG-equivalent).

The Volt has won several awards, including the 2009 Green Car Vision Award, 2011 Green Car of the Year, 2011 North American Car of the Year, 2011 World Green Car and 2012 European Car of the Year. Controversies regarding the Volt include the extent to which the U.S. federal government may have participated in the Volt’s development, which continued through General Motors’ 2009 government-led bankruptcy,[6][7][8] and concerns about the battery pack fire risk following a crash test that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) performed on a Volt in 2011.[7][8][9] At the completion of its investigation NHTSA concluded that no discernible defect trend exist source Wikipedia

The Tesla S fully electric has had a production of about 30,000 units of the 100 thousand dollar plus car and is bringing out a new version soon to be near par for price with the volt. Range will be a factor in its use as fully EV cars are most useful to those that drive the average Kilometers of an urban driver.

Today in history: August 1st 1984
A preserved bog body, Lindow man is found in Northwest England


 

Any thing in the first meter

The local sign bylaw is strict according to a local merchant.The owner of an optomitry/ jewlery /first/ nation art. Says she can’t put a sign board in the sidewalk. however she says she can put anything she wants in the first meter of walk from the store front. She chooses to put two deer made from tree branches to draw attention to her front door. This is not a problem with the bylaw people,and although it is legal she still can’t put something there that will hinder passage. She must walk a balance to draw attention but not put some one at risk.
A number of years ago her partner had a contention over a huge pair of glasses on the back of a pickup truck that he drove about town.

Today in history: July 31 1588
The Spanish Armada is spotted of the coast of England

Piano in spirit square

A community piano in a community square. Photo: KDG

A community piano in a community square.
Photo: KDG


The CPO, Community policing office has a piano in the Spirit square, in downtown Merritt. Chained to a pillar in a display gazebos it is background by a bio for Michelle Loughery the Vernon BC artist hat did the Walk of stars youth mural project. A display in the window of the community policing office invites people ( youth we think to try to play it) maybe on the of chance that a gifted hear my come along Perhaps the stuff of myths, however they can certainly say there is access to a piano, and maybe by a little social peace for the deprived. Or maybe some one may follow along at a distance from the live performances that are sometimes in the other corner , and sheltered by the vacant Merritt News building with the Glenn Campbell hand print. Glen was not known for piano so much as a guitar and being the fall guy for The duke (John Wayne) in the movie true grit.

The piano is available and has not been vandelized in its two odd weeks of captiity in the Square.

Today in history: July 28th 1993
Andorra joins the United Nations