Happy Persian New Year and Happy Birthday to Twitter and this blog

Nowruz Mubarak!  Happy Persian New Year to my readers, a happy 11th birthday to Twitter, and a happy sixth birthday to this blog!

I traditionally celebrate Nowruz by explaining the holiday and showing the White House's celebration.  The first one is easy: What is Nowruz How to celebrate Persian New Year.

What is Nowruz? How to celebrate Persian New Year
For nearly 190 million people around the world, Monday is one of the most important days of their calendar.
Nowruz - which means New Day in Farsi - marks the start of Spring.
Its origins are ancient - believed to have been started by Zoroastrians around 3000 years ago - but now it is an important part of modern lives.
But what exactly is Nowruz? BBC Persian's Sahar Zand visited Little Persia in London to explain how her family celebrate the Persian New Year.
Produced by Joe Inwood. BBC

The second one I am likely to discontinue after this year, as the current occupant of the White House is not a fan of multiculturalism and dislikes Iran.  However, I can benefit from conserving my resources last year by showing Nowruz at the White House with Silk Road Dance Company.

Historic White House Celebration of Nowruz with introduction by First Lady Michelle Obama and performances by Silk Road Dance Company of Washington DC, under the direction of Dr. Laurel Victoria Gray.  Founded in 1995, the ensemble has a repertoire of over 200 dances from Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East.

I'm going to miss celebrations of Nowruz at The White House.

Follow over the jump for two news reports about what passes for Twitter's birthday.

Seeker/DNews on Spring for the Vernal Equinox

Happy arrival of astronomical Spring!  USA informs its readers of the exact time of the Vernal Equinox in First day of spring officially arrives early Monday.

It's the day warm weather fans have been waiting months for: Monday is the first day of spring!

Spring officially arrives at 6:28 a.m. EDT (3:28 a.m. PDT) Monday, when the sun will be directly over the equator, marking the spring (aka vernal) equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere. For the folks down under in the Southern Hemisphere, it will be the first day of autumn.

To celebrate, I'm sharing three videos from DNews, which now calls itself Seeker, about Spring in general and the Vernal Equinox in particular, beginning with What Is Spring?

It's the first day of spring, which means longer days, warmer weather, and the advent of flowers blooming. In this DNews video, Trace has the lowdown on what signals the changing of the seasons, plus the nifty way flowers know this intuitively!

That video was from 2013.  Follow over the jump for two more, one each from 2014 and 2015.*

Kellyanne Conway is not Inspector Gadget. She's Maxwell Smart asking "Would you believe?"

Trump's wiretapping claims and vulnerability to conspiracy theories is still playing out more than a week later.  This time, it was the claim that household appliances, including microwaves, were being used to spy on the Trump campaign.  The best moment came when Kellyanne Conway said that she "was not Inspector Gadget."  That prompted a lot of ridicule by the late night television comics.  Watch the Stephen Colbert segment beginning at 0:39 for Conway making her cartoonish remark.

VIDEO: A roundup compilation of late night talk show hosts rip into Kellyanne Conway microwave remarks...

Conway was lambasted after she was asked about President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claims that his namesake tower in New York City was wiretapped by Barack Obama.

She told the Bergen County Record this weekend: 'What I can say is there are many ways to surveil each other. You can surveil someone through their phones, certainly through their television sets.'

She also mentioned 'microwaves that turn into cameras', but later backtracked her comments, joking that she wasn't 'Inspector Gadget'.

Jake Tapper at CNN joined in the mockery by poking fun at Kellyanne Conway's remark to open his show.

CNN’s Jake Tapper led The Lead on Monday with a swipe at Kellyanne Conway‘s “I’m not Inspector Gadget” line earlier in the day on New Day.

I guess Conway knows about Inspector Gadget from watching the show with her children, which means she's watching the reboot.  Here is the original opening for her edification, along with the complete theme that the Late Show band was riffing on.


As for her not being Inspector Gadget, I agree.  She's much more like another character brought to life by Don Adams, Maxwell Smart.  Both Conway and Smart like to play a game of "Would you believe?"


Conway (as Smart): "Would you believe Obama had Trump Tower wiretapped?"
KAOS Agent: "No, I would have a hard time believing that."
Conway: "Would you believe he had the British spying on Trump."
KAOS Agent: "No."
Conway: "Would you believe he put a camera in Trump's microwave?"
KOAS Agent: "Now you're being silly."
Agent 99: "Oh, Max, you know that never works."

Follow-up to last week's wind storm

I expressed my puzzlement in Service interruption from worst storm in DTE history when I wrote "The cause of the high winds baffles me, but the rain and warm winter I can blame on climate change."  That prompted Kevin Roberts to ask in the comments "We've been having some crazy wind here in Northern NY for a week or so. I can't blame that on climate change?"  My response expanded on why I was confused.

Well, you can. I have trouble with doing so because the expected effects of climate change I recall don't include strong winds out of a clear blue sky. Strong winds from more intense rain storms, yes. What we had, no. Those threw me, as they behaved like the Santa Ana winds I thought I left behind when I moved out of southern California.

I got a bit of an answer in WOOD-TV's What causes high winds?



Storm Team 8 Meteorologist Ellen Bacca explains...
Most of that was pretty elementary for me, but the item I found helpful was Bacca showing the low pressure area and snow storm way to the north, which also shows up in the map I used to illustrate this entry.  That it had central low pressure as low as a hurricane's was consistent with the kind of severe weather I expect from climate change, so it helped me make sense of what happened last Wednesday.

Speaking of which, downed power lines, blackouts, fallen trees, and torn-off roofs weren't the only damage from last week's storm.  WXYZ reported on one more casualty of the wind in Wind blows away art in Royal Oak.


Here's to hoping the missing piece of art is found.

St. Patrick's Day drinks from Tipsy Bartender and MLive

After writing Hundreds protest Trump in Willow Run for the Ides of March, I wrote "I feel like having a drink after writing that.  Fortunately, tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day.  Perfect timing!"  With that, Happy St. Patrick's Day to my readers!  To celebrate, I'm sharing yet more drinks from Tipsy Bartender.

I begin with DIY Lucky Charms Vodka.

LUCKY CHARMS VODKA
Lucky Charms Marshmallows
Vodka
Lemon Lime Soda

PREPARATION
1. Arrange lucky charms marshmallows by color. Infuse with vodka.
2. Pour mix into shot glass, top with lemon-lime soda, garnish and shoot. Enjoy responsibly!

Next, Shamrock Shooters.

SHAMROCK SHOOTERS
1 Part Creme De Menthe
1 Part White Creme De Cacao
1 Part White Chocolate Liqueur
Whipped Cream
Lucky Charms Marshmallows

PREPARATION
1. Combine liquors with ice and shake well.
2. Strain mix into shot glasses and garnish with whipped cream and lucky charm marshmallows. Enjoy responsibly!

That's it from Tipsy Bartender for this year.  I could dig through the back catalog, but as I've written before, I'm an environmentalist.  I not only recycle, I conserve my resources, so I'll save the older videos for a St. Patrick's Day in the future when there aren't any new ones being produced.  Instead, follow over the link for six videos from MLive featuring the drinks bars and cafes in Flint, Michigan have on tap for today.  Sorry, no recipes.

Hundreds protest Trump in Willow Run for the Ides of March

The Ides of Trump was not the only protest against the president yesterday.  Trump flew into Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti and was greeted by both detractors and supporters.  MLive shows both in Trump protest meets Trump support at Willow Run site in Ypsilanti Township.



The scene outside Trump's visit to Michigan on March 15, 2017.
The Michigan Daily has more in Protesters gather outside Trump's Ypsilanti rally.

As wind speeds surged and temperatures plummeted Wednesday afternoon, activists gathered near the Willow Run manufacturing complex in Ypsilanti to protest President Donald Trump’s arrival and speech in the city.

With just two days’ notice of the presidential visit, several grassroots organizations from the community organized the protest. Despite the lack of time available, they still managed to draw a crowd of about 400 people.

It seemed bigger in the video, but it still looked impressive.

What about the other side?

The protest took place on one side of Airplane Road, just outside the Willow Run facilities. On the other side of the road stood a handful of Trump supporters, who came to counter the protest with a large float sporting Trump signs and American flags.

That's what the video showed, hundreds against Trump, maybe twenty supporting him.

Now, why was he in town?

Trump arrived at Willow Run — the future site for the American Center for Mobility’s autonomous and connected vehicle-testing facility — to hold a roundtable with executives from the automotive industry and speak to select employees. During the speech, he announced plans to review the EPA’s auto-emissions standards, and roll back restrictions he deems unnecessary.

WOOD-TV has video in Trump announces challenge to Obama-era fuel standards.

President Trump is set to announce in Michigan plans to re-examine federal requirements that regulate the fuel efficiency of new vehicles.

Ugh.  If I had known that's what Trump was going to do and I could get off work, I'd have been protesting, too.

Trump believes that Americans face a choice between jobs and the environment and he chose jobs -- never mind that we can have both.  Also never mind that when the U.S. auto industry was resisting making more fuel-efficient cars while Japan's auto companies were embracing doing so, the value of Ford and GM went down, while Honda's and Toyota's values went up, as seen in this slide from "An Inconvenient Truth."


Then again, Trump is not a big one for data and facts.  Instead, he'd rather listen to Alex Jones, who thinks that climate change is a hoax.  I wish I could say the same about Alex Jones.

I feel like having a drink after writing that.  Fortunately, tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day.  Perfect timing!

Beware the Ides of Trump!

Beware The Ides of March!  Today, I'm going to leave Rome behind and discuss politics from modern America, namely The Ides of Trump protest.  Snopes tells the story in ‘Ides of Trump’ Postcard Campaign Takes Aim at President’s Agenda.

Americans who oppose the policies of President Donald Trump plan to make their objections known on 15 March 2017 by flooding the White House with postcards in an event dubbed the “Ides of Trump” by organizers, who say they hope to see delivery of a million or more cards expressing disapproval of Trump and his agenda to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the days following.

The name is a twist on the expression “Ides of March,” which most people probably know from its use in the Shakespeare play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, in which a soothsayer ominously warns the doomed title character to “beware the Ides of March” (although to the Romans the phrase only meant “the 15th of March”).
...
The Ides of Trump was the brainchild of two Californians, Zack Kushner of Berkeley and Ted Sullivan of Los Angeles, who it was inspired by the Women’s March and has received a [lot?] of interest, not just from Americans but from Netizens all over the world. “To be honest, we have no idea the number of people participating,” Sullivan said via e-mail. “This is a true grassroots movement.”

When asked what message they’re trying to send to Trump, Sullivan boiled it down to a four-word phrase: “The one message we’d hope to get across to him is ‘not on our watch.’

The Huffington Post also has an article on the Ides of Trump protest, along with images of many of the postcards being sent to The White House today.  Here is one of my favorites:


If I were participating, I'd send one saying "Fire Bannon."  I'll explain my reasons for that demand in a future entry.  Stay tuned.

A pie for Pi Day 2017

Happy Pi Day!  To celebrate, I'm returning to one of the sources of inspiration for last year's Pi facts and pie for Pi Day, Rosanna Pansino, who "baked" one of her Nerdy Nummies, Chocolate Oreo Mousse Pi Pie for Ultimate Pi Day two years ago.

Today I made a Chocolate Oreo Mouse Pi Pie in celebration of Ultimate Pi Day! This only happens once every 100 years.
...
INGREDIENTS
* (1) Bag Oreos
* (1) Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
* (1) Pinch Salt
* (1/4) Cup Sugar
* (1) Bag Semisweet Chocolate Chips
* (3) Cups Heavy Cream - Separated
* (6) Tablespoons Butter
* (1) Tub Cool Whip

Bon Appetit!

Vox explains how to impeach a president

It's no secret that I don't like Trump and think he should be resisted.  I'm not alone; Trump is unpopular enought that other people have called for Trump to be impeached and removed from office.  I'm not the least bit optimistic about this, at least before 2019, and will let Vox explain why in How to impeach a president.

What we can learn from Reconstruction, Watergate, and the Clinton saga.
...
The founding fathers included impeachment in the constitution so that Congress would have a way to remove leaders who had "rendered themselves obnoxious," in the words of Benjamin Franklin. But the way they set up the process, it's nearly impossible to remove a president from office without substantial support from the president's own party. That's what happened during Watergate: some congressional republicans protected Richard Nixon, but others demanded to know the extent of his involvement in a break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, and the subsequent cover-up. In the words of then-Senator Howard Baker, a Republican from Tennessee, "What did the President know, and when did he know it?" It was pressure from Republican leaders like Barry Goldwater that made Nixon resign before the House could vote on articles of impeachment-- Goldwater convinced Nixon that too many Republicans were willing to vote to remove him from office, he'd never survive a Senate vote.

The opposite was true during the impeachment proceedings for Bill Clinton. After it became clear he lied during a deposition for a sexual assault suit brought by a former employee, Paula Jones, about his relationship with a different employee, Monica Lewinsky, Republicans in Congress argued the offense was serious enough to be impeachable. Democrats disagreed, and although the House voted to impeach Clinton on a party-line vote, not a single Democratic senator voted to remove him from office. If a President still has the support of a majority of his political party, history suggests the chances for impeaching and removing him from office are slim to none.

While legal scholars, activists, and some Democratic members of Congress have pushed for articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, it seems unlikely at this point that a substantial number of Republicans would break rank in the Senate to create a 2/3 majority in favor of removal from office.

While Trump "rendered himself obnoxious" even before he entered office, I agree that he'd have to lose the support of at least one-third of the Republiicans in the U.S. Senate for him to be removed from office.  That ignores that articles of impeachment would not be passed out of the House Judiciary Committee, let alone be passed out of the House of Representatives, so long as Republicans hold a majority and Trump retains the support of most of his party.  I would not hold my breath for that changing.  That doesn't mean we should despair.  In this case, the Borg are wrong; resistance is not futile.

Spring ahead, although it's probably not good for you

Daylight Saving Time begins in two hours.  While I've posted about its origins before, I think my readers and I can always benefit from another take on the subject.  Here's KSL's News Bytes - Daylight Saving Time.

Daylight Saving Time this year will begin at 2:00 AM on Sunday, March 12 and being in the spirit of upcoming time change, we decided to break down exactly where Daylight Saving Time came from.

I've also written about the health issues arising from Daylight Saving Time.  WXYZ offers a fresh take on those as well in Daylight Saving Time begins Sunday.


As I wrote in November, "I used to like Daylight Saving Time, but I'm beginning to wonder if the dozen states considering getting rid of it have the right idea."