This day marks...

my completion of 55 laps around the Sun.  Yeah, it's my birthday.  I'm not quite sure when fossilization occurs, but I hope I've got a few more good years left.  Now, on to my 56th revolution and the adventures that await.

RELATED: Evolution has given humans a huge advantage over most other animals: middle age.

One more Friday the 13th...

to go this year, in July (then we skate until September 2013).  So far today is going pretty well for me, but I would note that on Friday, 13 January 2012, the Costa Concordia sank off Italy.

Hope all's well with you.

Your grumpiness is understandable...

as Daylight Saving Time begins today, especially since an hour was lost when we set clocks ahead last night.  And please note that it's "saving" and not "savings" as many people incorrectly state.  Yeah, it's a pet peeve of mine, or maybe I'm just grumpy.

Use today judiciously...

since it's an added freebie this leap year.  This extra leap day is typically added to the calendar every four years, making an elderly friend of mine born on this special occasion only 14 years old.  Happy birthday, TF.

Groundhog Day...

falls on a cross-quarter date, midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.  (May Day and Halloween are two others.)  So regardless of what the the famous Pennsylvania rodent sees, it's still six weeks to the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere.

Breaking news:  The buck-toothed Punxsutawney Phil did see his shadow early this morning, signaling six more weeks of winter.  Big surprise.

Happy New Year...

Image credit: Bizzaro.com.

Timeless timepiece...

Engineering the 10,000-Year Clock

The longest and shortest...

night and day, respectively, occurs today/tomorrow (depending on your time zone), known as the winter solstice.  Although this marks the beginning of winter in the northern hemisphere, it also means that daylight hours will begin to gradually lengthen.

And the apocalypse countdown commences.  Enjoy the next 365 days - they're all you've got.

11:11:11 on 11-11-11...

Countdown:  Only 396 days to go until 12-12-12.

Happy birthday, Earth...

according to Archbishop James Ussher who determined the "time and date of the creation as the night preceding Sunday, 23 October 4004 BC."

Party on.

Not so fast after all...

Faster-than-Light Neutrino Puzzle Claimed Solved by Special Relativity

The first day of autumn...

is upon us, when "the Sun, appearing to travel along the ecliptic, reaches the point where it crosses the equator into the southern celestial hemisphere" according to Ottewell's astronomical calendar.  For the record, that special moment occurred at precisely 2:04 am PDT.

Walking in James Hutton's footsteps...

at Siccar Point this morning gave me goosebumps. An innocuous sign along a farm road points one to a grassy cliff top trail that ends at the outcrop that challenged centuries of Church doctrine that the Earth was only 6,000 years old (click to enlarge):

Although Hutton and his companions (John Playfair and Sir John Hall) arrived by wooden sailboat in 1788, the view from the cliff top is especially impressive, with the vertically-dipping Silurian greywackes jutting forth from the sea:

After negotiating a very steep down climb to the outcrop, the classic view of the angular unconformity is clearly presented, with the near horizontal beds of the Devonian red sandstones overlying the older tilted beds:

The index finger of my left hand points to the unconformable contact where 55 million years of Earth history is missing (unknown in 1788), but still suggesting to Hutton that a long expanse of time must have passed, and that the Earth was indeed very, very old:

Playfair later wrote about the visit to this now famous outcrop that "the mind seemed to grow giddy by looking so far into the abyss of time."  I can't say that I was giddy today, but I was certainly profoundly humbled, to have had the opportunity to visit this magnificently historic place.  Priceless.

We're all losers tonight...

when we push the clock ahead one hour as we transition to Daylight Saving Time.

Do nothing for two minutes...

by clicking this link.  It's the weekend after all.

1/1/11...

Time to start another lap around the Sun.  Today we begin the second decade of the third millennium.

Good luck.

UPDATE:  From the back forty, this afternoon:

Happy Birthday Earth...

Oct. 22, 4004 B.C.: Universe Usshered In.

That's right, according to Archbishop James Ussher, Creation occurred at nightfall on this day, 6,014 years ago (apparently there was no year 0).

10/10/10...

is a wonderfully simple and binary shorthand for today, the 10th of October, 2010. Enjoy using it while you can.

Personally, I can hardly wait until 11/11/11. But 12/12/12 still seems a long way off.

Rejoice the summer solstice...

on this, the longest day of the year. Summer officially begins at precisely 11:28 Universal Time (5:28 am MDT) when the sun reaches its highest point on the celestial sphere.

Spring ahead tonight...

by advancing your clocks one hour as Daylight Saving Time takes effect. And please note: it's "Saving" not "Savings."