Tag Archive | book
May 31, 2020  

As Comet C/2020 F8 (SWAN) Makes Its Flacid Swansong, I Bring You Comet C/2017 K2.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE.

As I say in my ‘Comets’ book it is a very atypical comet.

Read the little blurb on it.

Click to ENLARGE.

More on this comet in the coming days.

Click to access the Amazon listing. Thanks.

Related posts:
Check Category ‘astronomy’.

by Anura Guruge

May 29, 2020  

Comet C/2020 F8 (SWAN): Very Low & Barely Naked-Eye In The Night Sky, In The U.S.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE.

So, this is where it was at 11pm tonight, i.e., Friday, May 29, 2020.

It brightness, in ‘absolute magnitude’, is DOWN to +6. That is NOT good. That is borderline naked-eye visible.

So, I am NOT expecting C/2020 F8 (SWAN), alas, to be a BIG hit. I, after the collapse of ‘ATLAS‘, was ultra-cautious. I did not want to build-up, false expectations.

But, I will keep you posted.

You might want to check out my new ‘Comets’ book — published yesterday!

Click to access the Amazon listing. Thanks.

Related posts:
Check Category ‘astronomy’.

by Anura Guruge

May 29, 2020  

“Comets” — THE Book.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE.





Click to access the Amazon listing.

The title tells you everything you need to know. Comets.

If you insist this is the ‘Table of Contents’.

Click to ENLARGE.

As I always say with my book, use Amazon’s FREE ‘Look Inside‘ feature to TEST DRIVE it. Plus, Amazon lets you read the book & then RETURN it. No questions asked. Full refund. So, what have you got to lose?

I have shared some of the 61 full-color figures — not counting a number of info-packed tables.

This is how I spent the last 5-weeks.

I was trying to beat quite the deadline. Comet SWAN might be naked-eye visible as of next week. I wanted this book, published, prior to that. And comets travel fast! SMILE.

Well, this will be one of the ways I will remember the pandemic. “Ah! Yes. That is when I wrote that Comet book“.

Oh, NOT my first comet book. Actually my 4th. That helped. I knew, by rote, 70% of the material.

 

Related posts:
Check Categories ‘Books’.

by Anura Guruge

 

March 24, 2020  

What IF Pope Francis Dies During The COVID-19 Pandemic?

by Anura Guruge

A friend (& collaborator), a devout, lifelong Catholic asked me to address this.
So, I am.

Pope Francis did have the flu at the start of the pandemic,
and this ‘concern’ went ‘unsaid’.

One could assume that God will NOT allow this to happen.

If so this is all academic.

There are essentially 4 scenarios:

  1. Francis, prior to anything going awry, issues an edit that the conclave can be delayed.
    Highly, highly UNLIKELY. Popes hate having the papacy vacant — on the valid premise that ‘when the cat is away the mice will play‘.
    —-
  2. Francis, prior to anything going awry, issues an edit permitting secure, remote voting.
    Unlikely, and the Vatican will struggle trying to implement, in time, a proven, secure methodology to permit totally untraceable vote casting.
    —-
  3. Cardinal electors already in Rome and those able to travel will hold a conclave and ‘openly’ elect an ELDERLY caretaker pope with a tacit understanding that he will resign (per Benedict XVI) in June 2021.
    —-
  4. Cardinal electors already in Rome and those able to travel will hold a conclave and elect a new pope — with no caveats.

The issue, of course, is the travel restrictions.

Italian quarantine rules per se will NOT apply since the Vatican is its own independent sovereign state.

There is NO airport at the Vatican, but there is a helipad. So, cardinal electors could be choppered in from a nearby country that permits air travel — e.g., Croatia.

As I have repeatedly pointed out in my various ‘conclave’ books there is NO minimum quorum for a conclave. NONE. But, there is the sacrosanct two-thirds majority requirement. So, just 3 electors will suffice. It would not be difficult to muster 40 cardinal electors in/around Rome — at any given time.

Pope John XXIII was elected in 1958 by 51 electors. So, you don’t need 100+ electors to elect a good pope!

The current Dean, 85-year old Giovanni Battista Re would make a good caretaker pope. I think most electors will agree that he is trustworthy. Angelo Scola, 78, might be a great compromise — a cross between a caretaker and ‘normal’.

So, those, per I, are the only 4 meaningful and relevant scenarios.

Related posts:
Search ‘Pope’, ‘Francis’ or ‘Conclave’.

by Anura Guruge

March 5, 2020  

Accidents Happen — In My Case I Wrote & Published A BOOK, Yes A Book, Accidentally.

by Anura Guruge

Click image to access my ‘accidental book’ on Amazon.

The cover. Click to ENLARGE to admire. Picture I took, last August, at ‘Hershey Gardens’, Pennsylvania.

Some pages from the inside.

When you write and publish as much as I do, accidents happen!

I had over 31 real books published prior to this. So, I am entitled an accident. SMILE.

This is what I say in my blurb, for this, my accidental book:

“Accidents happen. Arundhati Roy, the celebrated Indian author said: ‘All my books are accidental books’. I wish I could say the same. For good or for bad all my books have not been accidental. But, this one sure was – as I try to explain in the ‘Preface’ to this accidental book. When you write (and publish) as much as I do, and for as long as I have done, you should be entitled to at least one accidental book. Well, I am claiming this to be that.That should come as a great relief to the likes of David Busch the doyens of ‘Camera Books’. I have no intentions, whatsoever, of trying my hand – and luck – at writing a camera book. I do not have the expertise, experience, diligence and temperament to write a halfway acceptable camera book. So, this is NOT a real, or for that matter, even a pretend, camera book.This book really is not for public consumption. The title should make that somewhat obvious. A ‘crib sheet’ is not something that one – especially a onetime professional writer with over 30 ‘non-accidental’ published books and over 375 technical publications in print – usually sets out to publish and share with the world and sundry. This was a book I had not intended to write! It truly, in every way and every sense, was an accidental endeavor.I created the title, rather dumb I will admit, on Amazon ‘accidentally’. Amazon will not let me delete it. Fastidiousness is one of my many foibles. I could NOT abide having a book title on Amazon that was ‘empty’. That looks bad. Made my other books look bad. So, I set out to write a quick ‘accidental’ book to make things right. That is what this book is all about. Nothing more, nothing less. My accidental book.It really is not for public consumption. Just a set of words and pictures to ensure that an accidental book title had a body to go with. Sorry. Thank you. Smile.”

P.S., I will NOT be counting this in my book tally, going forward!

Related posts:
Check Categories ‘Books’.

by Anura Guruge

 

December 10, 2019  

‘The Glass Castle’ (2017) Movie — Powerful, Haunting & Heartning.

by Anura Guruge

Click to access the Amazon Prime Video listing.

Click image for IMDb.com listing.

The autobiography the movie is about. Click to ENLARGE and read here. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeannette_Walls

What a story!

Wow. What a story.

This movie is all about the story. Nothing else. It is said to be ‘real life’ and true to life. At the end they include some ‘home movie clips’ and a video made in the late 1980s. That all adds together. I don’t think she embellished her story. She probably didn’t have to.

Wow. It is so disturbing. And I know, alas, that stuff like this happens. Breaks my heart. Wish I could help each and every child who is suffering as such.

I am going to buy the book. I want my 13-year old to read it. It will do her good.

The movie had, unfortunately, some critical gaps. Rather vague on how the kids started going to school in Welch, West Virginia and how the parents supported them in that endeavor. basically nothing in the movie about that. That intrigues I.

Also how the eldest, ‘Lori’, made it to New York. I am sure all of this has by now been documented and treaden over. It was all new to I since I do not follow trends, best sellers, book clubs or book lists. So, I didn’t know how famous this book was. But, now I do.

I totally recommend the movie. Must watch. In the end very heartening — folks with the gumption, talent & fortitude to overcome seemingly impossible adversity..

Related posts:
Category ‘Art’.

by Anura Guruge

 

November 19, 2019  

Astounding Spanish Sculptor, ‘José Manuel Castro López’, Who Peels & Squeezes Stone.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE and be mesmerized. From Google Images.

Check out this article. Click image to access.

I saw the ‘book out of stone’ picture (highlighted in red on the top image) on my Facebook timeline this morning. I was intrigued. Somebody had opined that it was PhotoShop. That did not ring true. So, I did a bit of digging. Glad I did.

Pretty amazing. I can see how it is done but I also appreciate, fully, that it is a hell of a lot of work. You are basically chiseling off layers and layers of stone. Very clever. I was impressed.

I wanted to share with YOU. Check the YouTubes. Enjoy.

Related posts:
Check Category ‘Art’.

by Anura Guruge

 

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