Sunday 23 December 2018

Toomas Karmo: Jõulumõtted, "Koduse Koli" mereoperatsioonide lõpupäevil/ Christmas reflections, as "Operation Eastward Ho!" Maritime Operations Wind Down

Kvaliteedihinnang: - Quality assessment:

Selle viiepallilise skaala kohaselt, mis kehtib praegu Eestis, ja kindlasti ka naaberriikides, ja on tuttav kadunud, mitte tagantjärele leinatud, NSVL-i akadeemilise elu vaatlejatele (siin rakendades neid kergeid, lõtvu, kriteeriume, mida Kmo rakendab oma nõgises fantaseeritud "Aleksandr Stepanovitsh Popovi nimelises sangarliku raadio instituudis" ja oma nõgises fantaseeritud "Nikolai Ivanovitsh Lobatshevki nimelises sotsialistliku matemaatika instituudis" - kus, fantaasias ette kujutatud kaksikinstituutide lõdva ja vähenõudliku hindamisreeglite kohaselt 1/5 on "eepiline läbikukkukmine", 2/5 "läbikukkumine, mis poli nii katastrofaalne, et eepilusust saavutada", 3/5 on "kehvavõitu läbipääsemine", 4/5 on "hea" ja 5/5 on "eeskujulik": 3/5. Põhjendus: Tähtis teema leidis veidi kiire käsitluse. -  On the 5-point scale current in Estonia, and surely in nearby nations, and familiar to observers of the academic arrangements of the late, unlamented, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (applying the easy and lax standards Kmo deploys in his grubby imaginary "Aleksandr Stepanovitsh Popovi nimeline sangarliku raadio instituut" (the "Alexandr Stepanovitch Popov Institute of Heroic Radio") and his  grubby imaginary "Nikolai Ivanovitsh Lobatshevski nimeline sotsalitsliku matemaatika instituut" (the "Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky Institute of Socialist Mathematics") - where, on the lax and easy grading philosophy of the twin Institutes, 1/5 is "epic fail", 2/5 is "failure not so disastrous as to be epic", 3/5 is "mediocre pass", 4/5 is "good", and 5/5 is "excellent"): 3/5. Justification: An important theme got treated a little rapidly.  


Variandikroonika: - Revision history:

Kõik kalendrip
äevad-kellaajad variandikroonikas on ära toodud UTC-s. UTC, ehk "Maailmakell", on vana GMT-i, ehk "Greenwich Mean Time"-i, täpsustus. Tarvitusel on ISO ettekirjutatud YYYYMMDDThhmmZ ajastembi formaat (kusjuures YYYY on UTC aasta, MM UTC kuu, DD UTC kuupäev, hh UTC tunniarv, mm UTC minutiarv). UTC praegu jookseb Toronto tsiviilkellast 5 tundi ette, Tallinna tsiviilkellast 2 tundi taga. - All times in these blog "revision histories" are stated in UTC (Universal Coordinated Time/ Temps Universel Coordoné,  a precisification of the old GMT, or "Greenwich Mean Time"), in the ISO-prescribed YYYYMMDDThhmmZ timestamping format. UTC currently leads Toronto civil time by 5 hours and currently lags Tallinn civil time by 2 hours. 
 
  • 20181223T1720Z/variant 1.0.0: Kmo laadis piisavalt  lihtivud tööd blogspoti serverile. Ta jättis enda kätte õiguse teha veel pisikesi, sisusliselt tähtsusetuid, puhtkosmeetilisi õiendusi, järgmise 48 tunni jooksul, kui siin protkollimata variandid 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3, ...   - Kmo uploaded an adequately  polished version to the blogspot server. He reserved the right to make further tiny, nonsubstantive, purely cosmetic, tweaks, over the coming 48 hours, as here-undocumented versions 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3, ... . 
[HOIATAV TEAVE: Tunduvalt vigane bloggeri-nimeline serveri tarkvara on viimaste kuude jooksul näidanud kalduvusi paigutada soovimatut valgevahet niimõnesse siia laaditud esseesse. Kui tundub, et ekraan lõpeb tühja ruumiga, tuleb veel allapoole liikuda, hiire abil. Essee lõpp ei ole käes enne, kui esineb tavaline bloggeri sõnum "Posted by Toomas (Tom) Karmo at". - Bloggeri tarkvara on ka näidanud kalduvusi, vähemalt kui rakendatud minu varema, aegunud, veebi esseedekirjutamise brauseri kaudu, toota HTML-i, mida eri allalaadivad brauserid formaadivad erinevatel viisidel. Mõned allalaadivad brauserid on võimalikult vahest mitte korralikult sisse lugenud kõik need "Cascading Style Sheets'e" (CSS-e), mis igas tavalises veebibrausers juhivad lehekülje servade, kõrvalparagrahvide jms. paigutamist. Kui Te oletate, et Teie kasutuselevõetud brauseris esineb CSS-e probleeme, olge kannatlikud: tõenäone on, et ehkki osa sisust on paigutatud mõnda veidrasse kohta (näiteks, brauseri alumise serva vastu, kui ta pidanuks minema parema serva vastu), siiski kõik serveri sisu on lükatud Teie brauserisse ühte või teisse kätteleitavasse paika. - Viimaseks, on võimalik et on bloggeri iseärasusi-eksitusi, väljaspool minu kontrolli, tähtede suuruse määramises, ridade vahemaa määramises või trükiploki parema serva õgvendamisstiili määramises. - Kes soovib aidata sääraste veebivigade parandamisega, või kes soovib ka teisigi tehnilisi nõuandeid pakkuda, võiks julgesti mulle kirjutada aadressil Toomas.Karmo@gmail.com. - CAUTION: A bug in the blogger server-side software has in some past months shown a propensity to insert inappropriate whitespace at some points in some of my posted essays. If a screen seems to end in empty space, keep scrolling down. The end of the posting is not reached until the usual blogger "Posted by Toomas (Tom) Karmo at" appears. - The bloggersoftware has also shown a propensity, at any rate when coupled with my erstwhile, out-of-date, Web-authoring uploading browser, to generate HTML that gets formatted in different ways on different downloading browsers. Some downloading browsers have sometimes perhaps not correctly read in the entirety of the "Cascading Style Sheets" (CSS) which on all ordinary Web servers control the browser placement of margins, sidebars, and the like. If you suspect CSS problems in your particular browser, be patient: it is probable that while some content has been shoved into some odd place (for instance, down to the bottom of your browser, where it ought to appear in the right-hand margin), all the server content has been pushed down into your browser in some place or other. - Finally, there may be bloggervagaries, outside my control, in font sizing or interlinear spacing or right-margin justification. - Anyone inclined to help with trouble-shooting, or to offer other kinds of technical advice, is welcome to write me via Toomas.Karmo@gmail.com.]

(A) Oma pealkirjast hoolimata, istun praegu merest kaugel Tartumaal, Nõo vallas, Tõravere alevikus, oma suures töötoas observatooriuimi peahoone läheduses. Homme algavad kauakestvad perekonnapühad, vist kahes erinevas Eesti linnas järjestikku. Praegu tahaksin fotode abil Heldele Lugejale kirjeldada siinset vaikselt peetud neljandat advendipüha.  - My title headline notwithstanding, I am sitting at present far from the sea, in Tartu County, in Nõo Commune, in the Tõravere hamlet, in my big workroom near the observatory Administration Building.  The long-drawn-out family holiday celebrations start tomorrow, apparently in two different Estonian cities in their turn. At the moment, I would like to describe for the Gentle Reader, with the help of photos, my quietly celebrated local Fourth Sunday in Advent. [NOTE ADDED: The coast lies roughly 100 km to my west.] 

Kui tore, ka kui muusikaliselt korrektne, oli Missa, Tartu katoliku kirikus, Tõraverest 20 km eemal! Nüüd on aga kohvi joodud kirikulistega, kringlitükk söödud, seega tagasisõidu aeg käes. - Such a wonderful, and also musically correct, Mass, in the Tartu Catholic church, about 20 km from Tõravere! Now the parochial coffee and kringel have been consumed, and so it is time for the journey home. [NOTE ADDED: Estonians everywhere, both at home and abroad (for instance, in the Canadian postwar diaspora) serve their coffee at their more fastidiously catered public functions with "kringel", a rather heavy sweet cake baked in the shape of an oven-sized prezel.


Istun Tartu jaama kohvikus. Rong väljub 15.04, umbes tunni või poole tunni pärast. Hetkel saab pisut Vana Testamendi heebrea keelt õppida, kohvikuvaikuses. Fotos ongi näha minu teetass ja minu hästi kulunud Pratico-Van Pelti keeleõpik. - I am sitting in the Tartu station café. The train pulls out at 15.04, in roughly an hour or a half-hour. At the moment, it is possible to study a bit of Old Testament Hebrew, in the silence of the eatery. In the photo, my teacup can be seen, and also my well-worn Pratico-Van Pelt Hebrew manual. [NOTE ADDED: The station (the café, and also its small suite of waiting rooms) has in the last few years been restored to its  general Victorian appearance, from around 1876. The café features exposed brick and rough woodwork. In the waiting rooms are wooden benches, and also quite a few glass cases and wall displays, illustrating the history of the old "Baltische Eisenbahn". I am fond of a wall-mounted reproduction of an old timetable, giving details of services to Berlin-Vienna.]  



Rong jõudis Tõraverre umbes 15.24, mõni minut pärast loojangut. Talvine matk hõlmab umbkaudselt 1.5 km, rongipeatusest minu korterihoone eesukseni. Praegu, võib-olla mitte veel selle jaltuskäigu poole maa pealt, paistab puuridade keskelt observatooriumi peahoone esikfassaadi keskmine lõik. - The train reached Tõravere around 15.24, some minutes after sunset. The wintry walk extends over about 1.5 km, from the railway platform to the front door of my apartment building. At the moment, perhaps not yet halfway in this hike, the central portion of the main facade of the observatory Administration Building appears between rows of trees. 


(B) Asudes siin merelt kaugel, ometi mõtlen ma merendusele.  Osaliselt tuleb see juba sellest, et iga observatoorium, Eesti oma väike teaduselaev kaasa arvatud, on alus Jumala Mereväes. Kuid osaliselt, tõsi öelda, on selline mõttelend tänavu ka sellest tingitud, et minu umbes 2000-st Kanadast saadetud köitest on umbes 315 soolaveega kokku puutunud, seega tekitades mul kindlustusameti paberiteajamist. Nagu näitavad vastava spetsialisti hiljutitehtud hõbenitraadi korduvad katsed, sündis kahju tõenäoliselt minu koorma Montréali-Bremerhaveni lõigul. Oletaksin, et õnnetus tuli siis, kui lained peksid üle parda, minu (võimalikult pardalasuva) 20-jalgse konteineri vastu. - Situated far from the sea as I am, I nevertheless think of seafaring. In part this stems already from the fact that every observatory, Estonia's little astrophysical vessel included, is a hull in God's Navy. But in part also, if the truth be told, my maritime thinking this year stems from the fact that of my roughly 2000 book volumes shipped from Canada, about 315 have come into contact with brine, thereby triggering insurance paperwork. As the repeated silver-nitrate trials of an insurance specialist show, the damage probably occurred on the Montréal-Bremerhaven leg. I would presume the misfortune to have occurred when waves broke over the deck, against my (probably deck-stowed) 20-foot container. 

Siinjuures tahaksin Lahkele Lugejale pakkuda oma tõlke Charles Dickens'i jõuluklassikust, noppides sealt tõlikimiseks välja vaid lühikest merega seotud lõiku. Klassikut oma täies ulatuses on kerge kätte saada originaalkeeles, näiteks aadressil https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-h/46-h.htm. - I would like herewith to offer the Gentle Reader my translation from Charles Dickens's Christmas classic, picking out for my translation just that short passage which connects with seafaring. The unabridged classic is easily obtained in its original English, for instance from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-h/46-h.htm


Scrooge' i ehmutuseks, kui ta tagasipoole vaatas, nägi ta maa lõppu, kui kohutav seljatagune kivihari; ja tema kõrva ajas kurdiks vete mürin, kui meri rullus ja möirgas, raevutsedes keset neid hirmsaid koopaid, mida ta oli välja uuristanud, oma kurjatahtlikus maapinna õõnestamispüüdluses. - To Scrooge’s horror, looking back, he saw the last of the land, a frightful range of rocks, behind them; and his ears were deafened by the thundering of water, as it rolled and roared, and raged among the dreadful caverns it had worn, and fiercely tried to undermine the earth. 

Ehitatuna trööstitu uppunud kari otsa, mille peal merevesi aina küüris ja peksis, metsiku aasta läbi, seisis - mõni viis versta rannast - üksildane  majakas. Suured vetikate hunnikud haarasid selle alusest kinni, ja tormilinnud - võinuks oletada, et tuulest sündinud, nagu vetikadki veest - tõusid ja langesid majakapaiga ümber, nagu need samad lainedki, mida need linnud oma madalate lendudega riivasid. - Built upon a dismal reef of sunken rocks, some league or so from shore, on which the waters chafed and dashed, the wild year through, there stood a solitary lighthouse. Great heaps of sea-weed clung to its base, and storm-birds—born of the wind one might suppose, as sea-weed of the water—rose and fell about it, like the waves they skimmed.

Kuid ka siin, kaks meest, kelle kohustuseks oli majakalambi hooldamine, olid tule teinud, mis läbi paksu kiviseina pilu heitis oma heleduse kiirt õudsale merepinnale. Pannes oma parkunud käed kokku üle karedapinnalise laua, mille juures nad istusid, soovisid nad üksteisele oma joogitoobritega häid pühi; ja üks neist - pealegi see vanem, tema nägu kannatanud ja armides raskete ilmade tagajärjena, nagu mõne vanunenud laeva vöörifiguur - alustas jõulise lauluga, mis oli juba iseenesest mõni Tormituul. - But even here, two men who watched the light had made a fire, that through the loophole in the thick stone wall shed out a ray of brightness on the awful sea. Joining their horny hands over the rough table at which they sat, they wished each other Merry Christmas in their can of grog; and one of them: the elder, too, with his face all damaged and scarred with hard weather, as the figure-head of an old ship might be: struck up a sturdy song that was like a Gale in itself.

Scrooge'i vaimuilmast teejuht kihutas aga edasi, üle musta ja hoova mere - edasi, edasi - kuni, olles kaugel (nagu ta seda Scrooge'ile seletas) igast rannast, sattusid nad laevale. Nad seisid tüürimehe kõrval, roolil; nad peatusid vöörivahi kõrval; naid seisid vahiohvitseride seltsis; tumedad, tontlikud kujud kõik, igaüks oma ametipostil; kuid iga mees nende seast umises mõnda jõuluviisi, või mõlgutuas mõnda jõulumõtet, või pajatas summutatud häälel oma ligiseisvale ametivennale mõnest ammuläinud jõuluajast, mille jutu juures oli tal oma kodupoole suunatud lootusi.  Ja igal mehel pardal, olgu ta kas ärkvel või tukkumas, kas iseloomult hea või vastupidi, oli pakkunud mõne heatahtlikuma sõna oma ligemesele selle päeva jooksul kui ta seda oli teinud ükskõik millel teisel päeval oma aastaringis; ja oli mingisugusel määral osalenud selle päeva pidutsemistel; ja oli endale meelde tuletanud need, kes olid kauguste tagant talle südamelähedased, olles ka teadlik, et neilgi oli rõõm teda meelde tuletada. - Again the Ghost sped on, above the black and heaving sea—on, on—until, being far away, as he told Scrooge, from any shore, they lighted on a ship. They stood beside the helmsman at the wheel, the look-out in the bow, the officers who had the watch; dark, ghostly figures in their several stations; but every man among them hummed a Christmas tune, or had a Christmas thought, or spoke below his breath to his companion of some bygone Christmas Day, with homeward hopes belonging to it. And every man on board, waking or sleeping, good or bad, had had a kinder word for another on that day than on any day in the year; and had shared to some extent in its festivities; and had remembered those he cared for at a distance, and had known that they delighted to remember him.



(C) See olgu minu mitmele lugejale - pereringis Eestis; teistele pereliikmetele, hõimudele, sõpradele rahutu ookeani taga Kanadas, ja mujalgi; vahetevahelt raskevõitu isikutele Kanada munitsipaalses elus ning Venemaa Föderatsiooni luureametis - mu parimate soovidega koostatud jõulukaardiks. Jõululapse rahu tulgu teile kõigile. Ja head pühade algust!  - Let this be my Christmas card, put together with my best wishes for my many readers - for the family circle in Estonia; for friends and other family, including those across the restless ocean in Canada; and for occasionally problematic individuals in Canadian municipal life and in the Russian state-security establishment. May the peace of the Christmas Child be with you all. And a happy start to the holidays!   


Toomas Karmo 

Monday 12 November 2018

Toomas Karmo: Operatsioon "Kodune Koli": edukalt Eestis/ Operation "Eastward Ho!": safely in Estonia


Kuplipõranda grupipilt südandtkiskuvalt õhtult, 2018-10-26 (R), kui olin saadetud DDO Defendersite õnnesoovidega pikale 2018-10-29/2018-10-31 teekonnale Toronto-Pearsonist üle Keflaviki ja Lutoni Eestisse. Vasakult: astro-teadlane dr Tuba Koktay, endine DDO teleskoobioperaator ehk ööasistent pr Heide DeBond, mina ise, meie ülemitmeaastane hea sõber (ning tähtede sõber) hr A.McC. Tagaplaanil DDO 1.88-meetrine (esimene valgus 1935.a. kevade lõpul). Kuni 2008.a.-ni, kui DDO oli veel Toronto Ülikooli valduses, oli spektrograafi CCD-kaamera jahutus vedellämmastikuga. Tõravere on DDO-st moodsam, ja sisuliselt valgusreostuseta taevaste all, kuid veidi tagasihoidlikumalt varustatud: 1.88 meetri asemel 1.5 meetrit, ja jahutuseks vedellämmastikust oluliselt soojem Peltier termoelement. Pildistajaks oli dr Ian Shelton. Südamlikku tänu Sheltonite perekonnale, õhtu korraldajatena. - Observing-floor group photo from the heart-wrenching evening, 2018-10-26 (FRI), on which I was sent off by the DDO Defenders, with their good wishes, on my long 2018-10-29/2018-10-31 journey from Toronto-Pearson via Keflavik and Luton to Estonia. From the left: astro-scientist Dr Tuba Koktay; former DDO Telescope Operator (i.e., night assistant) Mrs Heide DeBond; I myself; and our good friend over the years (and friend of the stars) Mr A.McC. In the background is the DDO 1.88-metre (whose First Light was in the late spring of 1935). Until 2008, when DDO was still in the possession of the University of Toronto, the spectrograph CCD camera was cooled with liquid nitrogen. Tõravere, although more modern than DDO, and although enjoying skies free of substantive light pollution,  is a little less well endowed: 1.5 metres in place of 1.88 metres, and for cooling not liquid nitrogen, but a significantly warmer Peltier thermocouple. Dr Ian Shelton took the picture. Heartfelt thanks are due to the Shelton family as organizers of the evening.   

Nüüd on Kanadast saanud mälestuste maa. Siin mu uue elamu aknariiul Tõraveres, ühe ja teise mälestusesemega: Korporatsioon Vironia värve (loodaksin oma liikmelisust sel hilissügisel üle kanda Torontost Eestisse); kaarte Kanada sõprade õnnesoovidega (esireas kaks kaarti DDO Defendersite praegusest juhatusest, üle antud 2018-10-26 (R) jumalagajätuõhtul, nagu ka eelmises blogspot'i fotos dokumenteeritud); Kanada looduspiltide kalender, sõbralt kingituna. Käbid on juba Tõravere, mitte Kanada, puudest. Kruus on eriti markantne lahkumistähis, kingitud mitte DDO Defendersite vaid Richmond Hill Naturalistsite DDO kaitserühma poolt. Peale on kuidagi laaserprintitud foto, mida tegi Naturalistsite rühm päeval, kui ametlikult lõppes n.ö. Dunlapi Sõda (nagu mul ka siinsamas blogspot'is kirjeldatud ajastembil 2018-06-10 (P), inglise keeles, rubriigil "The 'DDO&P Conflict', 2007-09-10 to 2018-06-09"). Riiuli serval asub väike auguline münt, Taanist, 1925.a.-st. See asus Isa-Ema asjade hulgas, mõnes kastis või lauasahtlis, kui ma poisike olin Nova Scotia paguluses. Juba tollal imetlesin ma tema viikinguajastu augulist kuju. Praegu aga hindan ma teda kui raskete aegada mälestist. See minimaalse nominaalse väärtusega Taani münt pidi tulema ajast, mil Isa ja Ema olid pagulased Kopenhaagenis. Seal toimus nende VE-päev, ehk nende 1945-05-08 (T). Kopenhaageni aeg oli mu vanemate pika põhiliselt läändesuunatud teekonna varajaseid etappe: neil järgnes Rootsi, aga siis Isa puhul Empress of Canada Inglismaalt Halifaxi, 1948.a. hilistalvel, Ema puhul Gripsholm otse Göteborgist Halifaxi, 1949.a. jaanuaris.  - Now Canada has become a country of memories. Shown  is the window ledge of my new sleeping-room in Tõravere, with various mementos: my colours in the Estonian academic fraternity Korporatsioon Vironia (I would hope to transfer my Vironia membership this late autumn from Toronto to Estonia); some cards from Canadian friends with the good wishes (at the front, two cards from the current executive of the DDO Defenders, given to me in the farewell evening of 2018-10-26 (FRI), as documented also in the previous blogspot photo); a calendar with Canadian nature photos, from a friend. The cones are for their part already from Tõravere, not from Canadian, trees. The mug is a particularly notable memento, given to me not by the DDO Defenders but by the Richmond Hill Naturalists' DDO conservation team. On it has somehow been laser-printed a photo which the Naturalists' team took on the day the Dunlap War officially ended (as I have recounted here in blogspot under the timestamp 2018-06-10 (SUN), in English, under the title "The 'DDO&P Conflict', 2007-09-10 to 2018-06-09").  At the front edge of the window embrasure is a small coin, with central hole, from Denmark, dated 1925. This item lay among Mum's and Dad's things, in some box or drawer, when I was a little boy in the Nova Scotian segment of our national postwar diaspora. Already back then I marvelled at its Viking-era perforated design. Now, however, I keep it as a memento of hard times. This coin, of minimal nominal value, must have come from the period when Mum and Dad were exiles in Copenhagen. It was in that city that they had their VE Day, in other words their 1945-05-08 (TUE). Their Copenhagen time was one of the early stages in their long, in essence westward, journey: Sweden came next for them, but then in my Dad's case the Empress of Canada from England to Halifax, in the late winter of 1948, and in my Mum's case the Gripsholm directly from Göteborg to Halifax, in January of 1949. 

Kvaliteedihinnang: - Quality assessment:

Selle viiepallilise skaala kohaselt, mis kehtib praegu Eestis, ja kindlasti ka naaberriikides, ja on tuttav kadunud, mitte tagantjärele leinatud, NSVL-i akadeemilise elu vaatlejatele (siin rakendades neid kergeid, lõtvu, kriteeriume, mida Kmo rakendab oma nõgises fantaseeritud "Aleksandr Stepanovitsh Popovi nimelises sangarliku raadio instituudis" ja oma nõgises fantaseeritud "Nikolai Ivanovitsh Lobatshevki nimelises sotsialistliku matemaatika instituudis" - kus, fantaasias ette kujutatud kaksikinstituutide lõdva ja vähenõudliku hindamisreeglite kohaselt 1/5 on "eepiline läbikukkukmine", 2/5 "läbikukkumine, mis poli nii katastrofaalne, et eepilusust saavutada", 3/5 on "kehvavõitu läbipääsemine", 4/5 on "hea" ja 5/5 on "eeskujulik": 3/5. Põhjendus: Tähtis teema leidis veidi kiire käsitluse. -  On the 5-point scale current in Estonia, and surely in nearby nations, and familiar to observers of the academic arrangements of the late, unlamented, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (applying the easy and lax standards Kmo deploys in his grubby imaginary "Aleksandr Stepanovitsh Popovi nimeline sangarliku raadio instituut" (the "Alexandr Stepanovitch Popov Institute of Heroic Radio") and his  grubby imaginary "Nikolai Ivanovitsh Lobatshevski nimeline sotsalitsliku matemaatika instituut" (the "Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky Institute of Socialist Mathematics") - where, on the lax and easy grading philosophy of the twin Institutes, 1/5 is "epic fail", 2/5 is "failure not so disastrous as to be epic", 3/5 is "mediocre pass", 4/5 is "good", and 5/5 is "excellent"): 3/5. Justification: An important theme got treated a little rapidly.  


Variandikroonika: - Revision history:

Kõik kalendrip
äevad-kellaajad variandikroonikas on ära toodud UTC-s. UTC, ehk "Maailmakell", on vana GMT-i, ehk "Greenwich Mean Time"-i, täpsustus. Tarvitusel on ISO ettekirjutatud YYYYMMDDThhmmZ ajastembi formaat (kusjuures YYYY on UTC aasta, MM UTC kuu, DD UTC kuupäev, hh UTC tunniarv, mm UTC minutiarv). UTC praegu jookseb Toronto tsiviilkellast 5 tundi ette, Tallinna tsiviilkellast 2 tundi taga. - All times in these blog "revision histories" are stated in UTC (Universal Coordinated Time/ Temps Universel Coordoné,  a precisification of the old GMT, or "Greenwich Mean Time"), in the ISO-prescribed YYYYMMDDThhmmZ timestamping format. UTC currently leads Toronto civil time by 5 hours and currently lags Tallinn civil time by 2 hours. 
 
  • 20181112T1625Z/variant 1.0.0: Kmo laadis piisavalt  lihtivud tööd blogspoti serverile. Ta jättis enda kätte õiguse teha veel pisikesi, sisusliselt tähtsusetuid, puhtkosmeetilisi õiendusi, järgmise 48 tunni jooksul, kui siin protkollimata variandid 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3, ...   - Kmo uploaded an adequately  polished version to the blogspot server. He reserved the right to make further tiny, nonsubstantive, purely cosmetic, tweaks, over the coming 48 hours, as here-undocumented versions 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3, ... . 
[HOIATAV TEAVE: Tunduvalt vigane bloggeri-nimeline serveri tarkvara on viimaste kuude jooksul näidanud kalduvusi paigutada soovimatut valgevahet niimõnesse siia laaditud esseesse. Kui tundub, et ekraan lõpeb tühja ruumiga, tuleb veel allapoole liikuda, hiire abil. Essee lõpp ei ole käes enne, kui esineb tavaline bloggeri sõnum "Posted by Toomas (Tom) Karmo at". - Bloggeri tarkvara on ka näidanud kalduvusi, vähemalt kui rakendatud minu varema, aegunud, veebi esseedekirjutamise brauseri kaudu, toota HTML-i, mida eri allalaadivad brauserid formaadivad erinevatel viisidel. Mõned allalaadivad brauserid on võimalikult vahest mitte korralikult sisse lugenud kõik need "Cascading Style Sheets'e" (CSS-e), mis igas tavalises veebibrausers juhivad lehekülje servade, kõrvalparagrahvide jms. paigutamist. Kui Te oletate, et Teie kasutuselevõetud brauseris esineb CSS-e probleeme, olge kannatlikud: tõenäone on, et ehkki osa sisust on paigutatud mõnda veidrasse kohta (näiteks, brauseri alumise serva vastu, kui ta pidanuks minema parema serva vastu), siiski kõik serveri sisu on lükatud Teie brauserisse ühte või teisse kätteleitavasse paika. - Viimaseks, on võimalik et on bloggeri iseärasusi-eksitusi, väljaspool minu kontrolli, tähtede suuruse määramises, ridade vahemaa määramises või trükiploki parema serva õgvendamisstiili määramises. - Kes soovib aidata sääraste veebivigade parandamisega, või kes soovib ka teisigi tehnilisi nõuandeid pakkuda, võiks julgesti mulle kirjutada aadressil Toomas.Karmo@gmail.com. - CAUTION: A bug in the blogger server-side software has in some past months shown a propensity to insert inappropriate whitespace at some points in some of my posted essays. If a screen seems to end in empty space, keep scrolling down. The end of the posting is not reached until the usual blogger "Posted by Toomas (Tom) Karmo at" appears. - The bloggersoftware has also shown a propensity, at any rate when coupled with my erstwhile, out-of-date, Web-authoring uploading browser, to generate HTML that gets formatted in different ways on different downloading browsers. Some downloading browsers have sometimes perhaps not correctly read in the entirety of the "Cascading Style Sheets" (CSS) which on all ordinary Web servers control the browser placement of margins, sidebars, and the like. If you suspect CSS problems in your particular browser, be patient: it is probable that while some content has been shoved into some odd place (for instance, down to the bottom of your browser, where it ought to appear in the right-hand margin), all the server content has been pushed down into your browser in some place or other. - Finally, there may be bloggervagaries, outside my control, in font sizing or interlinear spacing or right-margin justification. - Anyone inclined to help with trouble-shooting, or to offer other kinds of technical advice, is welcome to write me via Toomas.Karmo@gmail.com.]


Maailmakella ehk Temps universel coordonné ehk UTC järgi 20181031T0851Z lõppes mu pereringi Teine maailmasõda. Sõda oli mu vanemad Eestist pagulusse heitnud 1944.a. sügisel. Täheldud hetkel läbisin, kiiresti ja kergelt, Vabariigi passiga Tallinn-Ülemiste lennujaama passikontrolli. Vahest tundub asi, nüüd Tõravere põldude-puude kõrval kõndides, või nüüd Tartu hoonestikku uurides emale ja isale nii tuttavaks saanud munakivisillutistelt, pisut ebareaalne. On vahetevahelt nagu 126. Lauluski:  "Kui Jehoova tõi tagasi Siioni vangid, olime kui unenäos." - In the framework of Universal Coordinated Time, or UTC, the Second World War ended for my immediate family circle at 20181031T0851Z. That was the instant at which I passed, easily and rapidly, with my Republic of Estonia passport, through passport control at the Tallinn-Ülemiste air terminal. At times it feels, as I now stroll past the trees and fields of Tõravere, or as I now inspect Tartu streetscapes from some cobblestone paving grown so familiar to my mother and father, unreal. It feels at times as in Psalm 126: "When the Lord brought Zion's captives home, we were like people dreaming."

Alles nüüd saan ma aru, kuivõrd raske oli läbi aastakümnete nii mõne paguluse väljakutsega toime tulla. Nüüdse tagasiheidetud pilguga tundub, et on pagulus mul sageli tähendanud mingisugust varjatud kaost: mõnda nuansseeritud mõtetust, kus ma kippusin vastuollu langema ebaratsionaalsete inimeste või ebaratsionaalsete ühiskonnatavade või ebaratsionaalsete asutustega. - Only now do I grasp how hard it was, through the decades, to come to terms with some of the challenges of exile. Now, in hindsight, it appears that the exile decades often meant for me a confrontation with a kind of camouflaged chaos - confrontation with a kind of nuanced thoughtlessness, making me liable to stumble into conflict with irrational people, or with irrational communal customs, or with irrational institutions.  

Sellest eriti eredaks näiteks sai Kanada Richmond Hilli linnas, David Dunlapi nimelise 77-hektarilise observatooriumi (DDO) pargi 32-hektarilise rohelise alamala kaitseaktsiooni nurjumine. Kaduma läks 32 hektarit, umbes 530-580 elamu arvel, ehkki samaagselt on umbes samasuurune maatükk, Richmond Hilli peamise tuiksoone Yonge Streeti idaserval, lagedaks ja väljaehitamatuks jääanud. Dunlapi piirkonna ühistransport, Bayview Avenuel, on Yonge Streetist paratamatult kehvem. Juba sellest seisukohast, astrofüüsikast ning Kanada kultuuripärandist rääkimata, näib, kuivõrd on kohalikud munitsipaalsed asjad sassi läinud. See veel linnas, mille ajalooline tsentrum, otseselt mainitud Yonge Streeti tühimiku lõunaserva all, mädaneb, olles ka keskpäeval jalakäijatest tühi (postkontoritki pole tsentrumis olemas; samuti pole õiget pangandust ega õigeid toidusisseostude võimalusi). Samuti see linnas, mille raekoda asub tsentrumist kilomeetrite kaugusel, peaaegu linna kagupiiri vastu. - A particularly vivid instance of this was in Canada's town of Richmond Hill, with the failure of efforts to save a 32-hectare greenspace portion of the 77-hectare David Dunlap Observatory (DDO). Lost were 32 hectares, through the construction of some 530-580 units of housing, even while a terrain of about the same area, on the eastern edge of Richmond Hill's principal artery Yonge Street, lay empty and undeveloped. The Dunlap-area public transport, along Bayview Avenue, is of necessity inferior to public transport on Yonge. Already from this public-transit standpoint, without regard for astrophysics and Canada's cultural heritage, it is evident what a mess has been made of municipal affairs. And this in a community whose historical downtown, immediately beside the southern edge of the Yonge Street wasteland, is decaying, lacking pedestrians even at midday. (There is not even a post office in the historic downtown core, nor proper banking, nor proper grocery shopping.) And this in a community whose town hall lies kilometres away from its historic core, almost on the southeastern municipal border.

Ärinduslik põhjendus kaitseaktsiooni nurjumiseks on küll olemas: Yonge Streedi idaserva tontidelejääanud maatükk oli paarkümmend aastat tagasi veel tööstushoonete all,  kusjuures selle kannatadasaanud muld vajanuks tänapäeval kulukat puhastamist või kulukat eemaldamist enne elamute püstitamist. Selle vastu oli 32-hektariline kaotsiläinud Dunlapi ala pristiinne haljasmaa, kus polnud midagi muud vaja kui mets maha raiuda. Aga isegi kui too mets poleks olnud osa viimasest olulisest linnakesksest metsast meie York Regioni nurgas, hullumeelne oleks vaadata Dunlapi Observatooriumi läbi sääraste äriprillide. - There is, to be sure, a business case to justify the failure of the environmental conservationist action. The wasteland along the east edge of Yonge was a couple of decades ago still under industrial use. Its damaged soil would today require expensive remediation or expensive removal before housing could be erected. The destroyed 32-hectare Dunlap terrain, on the other hand, was pristine greenspace, where nothing had to be done beyond felling the forest. But even had this woodland not been part of the last remaining significant stretch of urban forest in our corner of York Region, it would be insane to view the Dunlap Observatory through such commercial spectacles.  

Nüüd saab hingata kergemini, ehkki elu ka siin ei saa tulevikus täiesti mõnus olla, nii noores ja nii majanduslikult kitsas pisivabariigis. - Now it becomes possible to breathe more easily, even though life cannot in future be fully pleasant even here, in so young and so economically constrained a micro-republic. 

Missas ei ole ma sunnitud enam inglise keeles mõtlema, ammugi mitte mulle 1958. aastast saadik koolides vajalikuks osutunud inglise keeles palvetama. Tartu kohalikus koguduses pühapäeviti kell 12.00 jäävad Kanadas tavaks saanud (Missal kahestusväärsed) liturgilised kitarridki ära. Nende asemel
 oli eile natuke gregooriust a capella, ühel õnnelikul puhul koguni keskajamoodi neljarealisest partituurist (ehkki mindi varstu üle tänapäevasele viierealisele - võimalikult samal koraalihetkel, kui ladina keelt vahetati eesti keelega välja). Nüüd pean edasi arendama omaenda ladinakeelse breviaariumi tarbimist, silmas pidades muuseas meie Tartu kiriku liturgilist korrektsust. Sealjuures tuleks mul rõhku asetada just universalis.com-i pakutud ladinakeelsele variandile (nagu näiteks näha lehelt http://www.universalis.com/L/europe.sweden/0/i-lauds.htm). Selles pean ma üle minema pelgast hommikupalvest rangema hommikupalve-õhtupalve-kompliini argipäeva rutiinile. - I am no longer forced to think in English during Mass, and certainly am not obliged to pray in the English language that has since 1958 proved necessary in my schooling. Even the liturgical guitars customary in Canada (regrettable instruments in a Mass) are absent in Tartu at the 12:00. In place of guitars, we yesterday had some Gregorian chant a capella, at one happy moment even from the old 4-line mediaeval staves.  (We did move over soon enough to the usual modern 5-line staff, possibly at the same instant in our hymnody at which Latin gave way to Estonian.) Now I must continue developing my use of the Latin breviary, keeping in view, among other things, the liturgical correctness of the church in Tartu. In that work, I ought to be placing particular emphasis onto the Latin option at universalis.com (as viewable from, for example, the page http://www.universalis.com/L/europe.sweden/0/i-lauds.htm). And I must make the transition from a bare praying of the morning office to a more strict morning-plus-evening-plus-Compline workday routine. 

Loodan, et saan Eesti kui väikseriigi suhtelises vaikuses ka jätkata heebrea keele õppimist. Sellele ma juba vihjasin Eesti kontekstis siinsamas blogspot'is ajatsembil 2018-01-08. Lugeja, kes sellest huvitatud, peaks eriti vaatama 2018-01-08 pala lõik, mille alguse ligidal seletus "[Ladina keel] peaks meie kaasaegses katoliku maailmas olema vaid auväärne sild pühakirja algkeeltesse, s.o. heebrea ning koiné sõnastusse". - I hope that I shall be able to continue studies in Hebrew, given the comparative quietness of small-nation Estonia. I already referred to such studies in an Estonian context here at blogspot under the timestamp 2018-01-08. The interested reader might want to look in particular at that portion of the 2018-01-08 posting which contains, soon after its beginning, the words In the present-day Catholic world, Latin should be only a respected, honoured bridge to the scriptural source languages, in other words to the Hebrew and the koiné texts

Argielus osutub Eesti Tartumaal lihtsamaks kui Kanada Richmond Hillis elada ilma vee- ning elektripillumiseta, ka ilma suure prügitegemiseta. Korteriperemehe poolt lahkelt muretsetud pesumasinal on õnneks vaid väike trummimaht; on lihtne lülitada korteri boiler sisse ainult pooleks tunniks päeval, veidi enne duššitamist; ja Tartu Tarbijate Co-op'ilt, ülikooli pearaamatukogu rajoonis, saab osta rosinaid-maapähkleid-tomateid kaalu järgi, omaenda kaasatoodud kilekottidega, pannes need kaalupannile otse müügiriiuli kõrval. Üldse tundub, pisut paradoksaalsel kujul, et paavst Franciscuse "Laudato sì'" põhimõtteid on kergem realiseerida usuliselt nii ükskõikses Eestis kui formaalselt katoliiklasemas Kanadas. - In everyday living, it proves easier in Estonia's Tartu County than in Canada's Richmond Hill to get on without wasting electric energy and water, and also without generating much garbage. The washing machine which my landlord has generously procured is, fortunately, of low drum volume; it is easy to energize the hot-water tank for just half an hour a day, a little before taking a  shower; and it is possible to buy peanuts-raisins-tomatoes in the Tartu Consumer Co-op, in the neighbourhood of the main university library, by weight, using plastic bags brought from home, and putting one's prospective purchases onto a weighing pan right beside the retail shelf. In general it seems, a little paradoxically, easier to implement the principles of Pope Francis's "Laudato sì'" in theologically apathetic Estonia than in more formally Catholic Canada. 

****

Enne lõpetamist, paneksin veel paar asja kirja, lühidalt: - Before finishing, I would like to set down a couple of further points, briefly: 

(1) Ei ole unustanud, et peaksin ka tulevikus edasi viima oma blogspot'i eesseedesarja "Perception, Action, and 'Subjectivity'". See on viimaste kuude jooksul soiku jääanud, logistiliste olude sunnil. - I have not forgotten that I ought in future to carry on with my blogspot essay series "Perception, Action, and 'Subjectivity'". In recent months, logistical pressures have obliged me to neglect the task. 

(2) Astronoomiatöö liigub edasi siin, hetkel peamiselt just Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC)  https://www.rasc.ca/sites/default/files/Bright_Stars_extra_rows_2019.pdf väljaande laiendamise-täiendamise näol, umbes 2018-12-31 kavandatud lõpuleviimisega. Ilmad on olnud sedavõrd halvad, et ei ole olnud võimalik kasvõi praegu kaasasoleva 7x35 binoklikga Tõravere taevast uurida. Tihe pilvede kate aga omamoodi selgitab Tõravere olusid: kui selge taeva juures on selle Tartu Observatooriumi vaatluskompleksi taevõlv lootuste kohaselt pime zeniidist ilmakaareni, siis praeguse halva ilma juures on paraku näha valguslompe vastu pilvi, nii Elva kui ka Nõo-Tartu suunas. Õnneks on need heledad valguslombid, pilvekihi alumisel serval, vaid umbkaudselt 10-20 kraadi kõrgusega. - Astronomy moves ahead here, at the moment for the most part just in my updating and expanding of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) publication  https://www.rasc.ca/sites/default/files/Bright_Stars_extra_rows_2019.pdf. Completion is envisaged for roughly 2018-12-31. The weather has been so bad lately that I have not been able to view the Tõravere astronomical sights, even with the 7x35 binoculars currently accompanying me. However, the thick cloud cover in its own way clarifies Tõravere conditons: whereas with a clear sky it is possible to inspect the celestial vault of that Tartu Observatory dark-sky compound from the zenith right down (as one would desire) to the horizon, with the present bad weather two patches of light unfortunately appear against the clouds, in the respective directions of Elva and of Nõo-Tartu. Happily, on the other hand, these bright puddles of light, on the bottom surface of the cloud deck, extend to an altitude of just 10 or 20 degrees. 

(3) Nii ühelt poolt minu vanad RASC-i ning DDO Defendersite (DDOD) sõbrad praeguses Dunlapis (eriti DDOD ridadest  astroteadlane dr Ian Shelton, oma astroteadlasest abikaasa dr Tuba Koktay'ga) kui ka teiseilt poolt minu tulevased sõbrad Tõraveres peaksid silmas pidama DDO-Tõravere tulevikulisi koostöövõimalusi, kasvõi lihtsas Johnson-Morgan UBV-fotomeetrias. Seda ma kirjutan silmas pidades muuseas Tartu Observatooriumi (Tõravere) dr Taavi Tuvikest, kes on laiaulatuslikus kampaanias uurinud SX Phe klassi kuuluvat muutlikut tähte CY Aqr-i. Kampaania hõlmas kuulsate observatooriumite kõrval, muuseas USNO-Flagstaffi, ka Itaalia Südtirolis asuva Realgymnasium Brunecki lihtsat 10.-sentimeetrilist Meade'i. Ilmselt ka tagasihoidlikes tingimusis, nagu Bruneckis, osatakse sisulist korda saata. Ehk Richmond Hilli linnavolikogu, pidades CY Aqr-i eeskuju meeles, saaks suunata mõningaid resursse Sheltonite poole DDO fotomeetria taaselustamiseks - ja see nüüd eriti olukorras, kus DDO Pätsi-epohhi pitoreskse 1935.a. peahoone filmimisvõimalusi on hakanud rahasid tooma selle munitsipaaliteedi laegastesse?  - On the one hand my old RASC and DDO Defenders (DDOD) friends at the present-day Dunlap (particularly, from the ranks of DDOD, astro-scientist Dr Ian Shelton, with his astro-scientist wife Dr Tuba Koktay), and on the other hand my future friends at Tõravere, ought to keep in view possibilities for future DDO-Tõravere collaboration, at any rate in simple Johnson-Morgan UBV photometry. I write this while recalling, among other things, the example of Dr Taavi Tuvikene at Tartu Observatory-Tõravere, who has in the course of a wide-ranging campaign observed the SX Phe variable CY Aqr. The campaign drew in not only well-known observatories, among them USNO Flagstaff, but also the humble 10-centimetre at Realgymnasium Bruneck, in Italy's Südtirol. Evidently the skills exist for procuring substantive scientific results even in such simple settings as Bruneck. Perhaps Richmond Hill Town Council, mindful of the CY Aqr example, could direct some resources toward the Sheltons, for the revival of DDO photometry - and this particularly now in a situation in which filmshoot opportunities at DDO's Konstantin-Päts-era 1935 Administration Building have begun generating monies for the municipal coffers? [Note added: In Estonia, a thing from the "Päts era" is a thing redolent of Joan Crawford, of Wallis Simpson, or of DC-3 stewardesses - in other words a thing exuding a prewar elegance in some instances risible, but in others (as with DDO) prized by cognoscenti.]

[See on praeguse blogspoti pala lõpp. - This is the end of the current blogspot posting.]

Tuesday 25 September 2018

Toomas Karmo: Operation "Eastward Ho!" Update: Now in "Major Maritime Manoeuvre"

Quality assessment:


On the 5-point scale current in Estonia, and surely in nearby nations, and familiar to observers of the academic arrangements of the late, unlamented, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (applying the easy and lax standards Kmo deploys in his grubby imaginary "Aleksandr Stepanovitsh Popovi nimeline sangarliku raadio instituut" (the "Alexandr Stepanovitch Popov Institute of Heroic Radio") and his grubby imaginary "Nikolai Ivanovitsh Lobatshevski nimeline sotsalitsliku matemaatika instituut" (the "Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky Institute of Socialist Mathematics") - where, on the lax and easy grading philosophy of the twin Institutes, 1/5 is "epic fail", 2/5 is "failure not so disastrous as to be epic", 3/5 is "mediocre pass", 4/5 is "good", and 5/5 is "excellent"): 2/5. Justification: This is a posting with only scant content.





Revision history:

  • 20180925T2317Z/version 1.0.0: Kmo uploaded an adequately polished  version 

[CAUTION: A bug in the blogger server-side software has in some past months shown a propensity to insert inappropriate whitespace at some points in some of my posted essays. If a screen seems to end in empty space, keep scrolling down. The end of the posting is not reached until the usual blogger "Posted by Toomas (Tom) Karmo at" appears. - The blogger software has also shown a propensity to generate HTML that is formatted in different ways on different client-side browsers, perhaps with some browsers not correctly reading in the entirety of the "Cascading Style Sheets" which on many Web servers control the browser placement of margins, sidebars, and the like. If you suspect "Cascading Style Sheets" problems in your particular browser, be patient: it is probable that while some content has been shoved into some odd place (for instance, down to the bottom of your browser, where it ought to appear in the right-hand margin), all the server content has been pushed down into your browser in some place or other. - Anyone inclined to help with trouble-shooting, or to offer other kinds of technical advice, is welcome to write me via Toomas.Karmo@gmail.com.]



Here is a rapid, rather informal, update, regarding my envisaged 2018 October emigration ("Operatsioon 'Kodune Koli'"/'Operation 'Eastward Ho!'") from my native Canada to my ancestral Estonia. 

I am now in the "Major Maritime Manoeuvre" phase of the overall emigration Operation. Readers who are themselves engaged in international moves should note my thinking regarding this Manoeuvre, as one key component of the overall Operation:

  • Even if one's load is in volume terms a "Less than Container Load" (in shipping-industry language, an "LCL"), it is nevertheless advisable to consider making it a (20-foot) "Full Container Load" (an "FCL"). The reason for this is, as I am advised by an engineer, that in a mere LCL scenario one's boxes get placed onto a pallet, or onto some similar platform, and are then liable (a) to have someone else's boxes put on top of them, thereby exerting unhealthy vertical pressure, and (b) to be squeezed very tightly, as the maritime-preparations crew work hard to use up all room on their ship (thereby exerting unhealthy vertical or lateral pressure). 
  • It is advisable to study the restrictions on wooden packaging entailed by ISPM 15, for instance as regards the import of wooden packaging into the European Union. (In my own particular case, as already described at http://toomaskarmo.blogspot.com/2017/03/toomas-karmo-stackerboxes-and.html, ISPM 15 does not seem to apply. My wooden packaging is of "particle board", assembled with glue under conditions of heat and pressure, and therefore immune from ISPM 15 restrictions curbing the international movement of wood-borne organisms. Other people, however, may be less lucky than I.)
  • It is advisable not only to get quotes from several firms, and to read consumer reviews to the extent that one's time may permit, but also to keep an eye on the level of knowledge which seems to be present within the various firms with which one is corresponding. ISPM 15 is one possible test case.  The lowest quote may or may not come from the most knowledgeable firm. - I propose, upon completion of "Operatsioon Kodune Koli"/"Operation 'Eastward Ho!'", to divulge the identity of my selected firm and to discuss its performance. So far everything has gone well, making my present level of confidence high.
[This is the end of the current blog posting.]

Tuesday 21 August 2018

"DDO Park Archivists" Online Catalogue Launched

Revision history: 

  • 20180822t013000Z/version 1.0.0: Kmo uploaded base version. 

A short public-service announcement: 

As I prepare for my envisaged 2018 October permanent emigration from my native Canada to the Tartu Observatory dark-sky compound (in the hamlet of Tõravere, in Nõo Commune, Tartu County, about 20 km southwest of Tartu, in my ancestral Estonia), I and some friends are putting casework archives from the David Dunlap Observatory and Park ("DDO&P") heritage-conservation case into order. We hope to donate the casework archives to one or more branches of government in Canada. The beginnings of an online catalogue for the archive, with also a couple of background essays in already-polished prose (explaining the guiding values of the project, and some of its mechanics) can from about 2018-08-20 onward be viewed at  http://ddoparkarchivists.blogspot.com/

[This is the end of the current blog posting.]

Tuesday 7 August 2018

MUNICIPAL ADVISORY: child hazard at Richmond Hill Public Library now corrrectly managed; thoughts on public art, including precision sundials

The telescope-like artwork, in essence a kaleidoscope without the moving beads,  installed in the rose garden of the Richmond Hill Public Library in the early afternoon of 2018-08-07. My iPhone3 photo, from perhaps a half hour after the installation was completed by the artistic crew. I have rotated the artwork on its azimuth axis into a dangerous position, such as a child might unwisely select when pointing the device at the morning sun during the winter months.  (At that season and time, the sun lies rather low in the sky, in the southeast.) Note the fine cooper detailing, with an open-book motif on the pedestal heat-treated under oxyacetylene; the fine selection of matte-or-similar stainless steel for the tube body; the fine selection of copper rings at sky end and ocular end; and the short-focal-length converging lens, in plain glass, at the sky end.

Revision history: 


  • 20180809T153000Z/version 2.0.0: Kmo added a big update, not only documenting a facourable response from the Town regarding the public-hazard question but also addressing a related topic: might the Town some day commission, as public art from the already-known artists, a -precision sundial? 
  • 20180808T164300Z/version 1.2.0: Kmo identified further aspects of the problem and wrote again to Clerks (appending the fresh correspondence as an "UPDATE"). 
  • 20180808T150200Z/version 1.1.0: Kmo added (1) photo, (2) update regarding municipal response.  
  • 20180807T172800Z:/version 1.1.1 Kmo wrote base version, and at the same time e-mailed his base version to clerks@richmondhill.ca


This starts out as a hasty posting, addressing a kind of civic emergency, but morphs into a rather significant reflection, at my customary "quality assessment" of 4-out-of-5, on high-precision sundials in the context of public art. So scroll down, folks, until you get to the meaty part, on sundials.



OPEN LETTER TO CLERKS, TOWN OF RICHMOND HILL, 
AS clerks@richmondhill.ca,
FOR RAPID FORWARDING  BY CLERKS
TO APPROPRIATE PUBLIC-SAFETY AUTHORITIES

On 2018-08-07 (TUE), around 12:20 EDT or 12:30 EDT or 12:40 EDT, a team of artists finished installing a decoration in the rose garden of the Richmond Hill Public Library Main Branch, in Ontario.  

I discussed the hazard with the artists in a friendly way during their installation, which I stumbled upon through sheer accident (having taken my mid-day coffee into the Library rose garden). Pretty much as soon as the installation was complete and the artists gone, I went out again, inspecting the installation carefully to confirm my suspicions. 

The installation is a device which on a casual glance resembles a telescope, but in fact is identical to a classic kaleidoscope except in lacking the classic kaleidoscope's moving beads. Upon sighting through the eyepiece end one encounters, as with a classic kaleidoscope, a set of mirrors, producing multiple reflections. The view through the eyepiece is beautiful. Still more beautiful is the exterior of the installation - finished, as it is, in oxydized, partly torch-treated, copper, and in black matte-or-similar stainless steel, with an emblematic open book (worked in copper) on its pedestal. 

At the sky end of the device is a converging lens of short focal length. Between the lens and the ocular end (the end opposite the sky end) are one or more diffusing screens. 

Dangerously, the device is free to move through 360 degrees of azimuth, and to be pointed up to an altitude of very roughly 45 degrees. 

The danger scenario is the following: Some child, on some sunny morning or some sunny afternoon, when the sun is rather low in the sky and yet clear of nearby treetops, takes the device to be a telescope and points it to the Sun. The child does not sustain dramatic retinal burns, since (1) the converging lens at the sky end is of short focal length (surely bringing incoming parallel solar rays to a point far in front of the child's eye, rather than to a point within or near the eye), and (2) interposed between the converging lens and the child's retina are one or more diffusing screens. Nevertheless, the child sustains mild retinal burns, as a child might on staring at the Sun for a while through a piece of tissue paper or Kleenex. 

The danger scenario can be blocked (as I pointed out in a friendly way to the artists) by installing restraints, in peg form, preventing the device from moving through a full 360 degrees of azimuth. If the device were allowed to move in azimuth only within 20 or so degrees on either side of North, the danger would be gone, and the artistic integrity of the installation - I reiterate that it is of quite breathtaking beauty - would be unimpaired. 

I gather from the artists that this installation has cost the Town about 7,000 CAD. This is in my judgement money correctly spent. But where were the Town officials who are paid by us, the residents, to consider public safety? The artists told me the Town had been worried about the mechanical integrity of the mounting, fearing that the installation tube could come loose and fall. Although the Town had been right to worry about this (and the worry, as I saw, was duly addressed, with the wielding of a formidable spanner at installation time), the Town seems to have neglected the bigger, purely ophthalmological, problem. 


TOWN: I recommend your replying via the standard blogspot reply interface, so that full public transparency is maintained. My blogging-comment rules, as laid out here in 2006 April,  would be adequately met by a reply giving the name of the replying official, and an e-mail address for him or her, and the simple phrase "writing from Town of Richmond Hill, Ontario". 

********

UPDATE: At UTC=20180807T1902Z, Clerks wrote me as follows: /.../ your concerns as detailed in your email /.../ have been forwarded to senior staff at the Public Library and the Town.

UPDATE: Around UTC=20180808T160740Z, I wrote again to Clerks, as follows:


Coordinated Universal Time (= UTC = EST+5 = EDT+4): 20180808T160740Z


Dear Clerks, with subsequent cc to my blog:


I have now updated http://toomaskarmo.blogspot.com with a photo of the problematic artwork at the Richmond Hill Public Library (the subject of our correspondence yesterday, and of a blog posting yesterday under heading "MUNICIPAL ADVISORY: child hazard at Richmond Hill Public Library (telescope-like device capable of pointing to Sun)").

On brooding over this problem at lunch time today, I suddenly notice two things which i should have noticed yesterday, but failed to notice then:

(1) Since the converging lens at the sky end of the tube is of short focal length, and since there seems to be a diffusing screen just behind the lens, there is some danger that the lens could, when pointed at the Sun, form a (in ray-optics terminology "real and inverted")  image of the solar disk inside the tube, close to its presumed internal diffusing screen. If the lens-screen distance is within a millimetre or two of the lens's focal length, the consequent concentration of light on the diffusing screen will be high enough to raise its temperature, possibly to the point of combustion. The design of the device therefore needs to be checked. It will be necessary for the Town to learn the focal length of the lens, AND the lens-screen distance, and to check that the distances are safely far from equal. - Admittedly, if the device can be prevented from pointing to the Sun, with the azimuth-pegging solution I proposed to the Town yesterday (allowing the device to move in azimuth ("left-right", as opposed to "up-down") only within plusminus 20 degrees or so of North), rays from the Sun will never be parallel to the tube, and the combustion scenario will be blocked.

(2) On asking myself today (I should have thought of this yesterday) how the problem plays out in Ward terms, I note to my sudden grief that the problem sits in the ward of Councillor Cilevitz. I don't quite now where this leaves us. Perhaps the Councillor will want to reach out to me, taking this problem in the Town as an opportunity for the meeting which she owes me? - If it helps the Clerks, do please note (a) that I continue to request a meeting with Councillor Cilevitz, in my capacity as a resident of Richmond Hill, as I have already long been requesting; and (b) that the Councillor is formally required to grant my request, since she does meet with other residents of Richmond Hill, and since her oath of office formally commits her to impartiality.

I might further note (c) that I now, without referring SPECIFICALLY to the Cilevitz-Karmo 2014 out-of-court settlement, in GENERAL terms deprecate the idea of civil litigants settling their cases out of court. My legal reasoning for this deprecatory stand is the reasoning set out by jurist Dame Hazel Genn in her 2009 Hamlyn Lectures, to which I refer at http://www.karen-vs-toomas-legaldocs.ca/GNOC____20140505__settlement_schedule_c.pdf.

I would respectfully submit to Clerks that whatever the general merits or general demerits of out-of-court settlements in general jurisprudence, at any rate points "(a)" and "(b)" cannot be undermined by my out-of-court settlement with Ms Cilevitz, and that in general no out-of-court settlement can be used by any Councillor in any municipality as a reason for evading formal oath-of-office obligations (including the obligation to meet with any resident requesting a meeting).

Perhaps you could tersely acknowledge receipt of this e-mail, and in your receipt assure me that you are doing what you in legal and moral propriety are ABLE to do in the matter of Cnclr Cilevitz? I do note that you may not be able to do very much, and that I will therefore have to exercise restraint, good humour, and tolerance in this particular aspect of the Library-safety casework.


Sincerely,


Toomas Karmo

86 Crosby Avenue - 647-267-9566


UPDATE: At UTC=20180808T1740Z,  an official with Community Services, Parks and Recreation, Town of Richmond Hill, sent me a mail with the following key passage:  The artist will be making alterations to the installation to address the possibility of someone looking directly at the sun, through the kaleidoscope. Signage is in place reminding visitors to keep safety top of mind while they interact with the installation.

I replied as follows, raising the idea of a high-precision sundial in our current public-art context:

UNIVERSAL COORDINATED TIME ( = EDT + 04h00 = EST + 05h00): 20180809T1447Z

Dear Ms ((REDACTED)), with also cc to http://toomaskarmo.blogspot.com:

Thanks so much for your briefing. The Town and its library have taken
appropriate steps.

It is a pity that this exceptionally fine piece of creative metalwork
is leaving the Library after the end of September.
i would therefore like to suggest now, in a respectful civic spirit,
that thought be given to some eventual PERMANENT
installation in the Library rose garden, along the same general aesthetic lines.

One idea that particularly comes to mind involves a high-precision
sundial. Low-precision sundials abound.
We have one at the David Dunlap Observatory, where I worked from
2006-11-15 to 2008-07-02. High-precision
sundials, however, are rare. As a kid, I did construct one in
cardboard, following instructions from the _Scientific
American_ from around 1963. I think my device was good to plus-minus
five minutes. Might a high-precision
sundial some day be worked in brass and steel by these same artists?

A five-minute precision, although more
impressive than what it achieved by the typical garden instrument
(such as at DDO), is still not impressive.
It is theoretically possible to achieve something better than
plus-minus one **SECOND** (with respect to
official civil time, not merely with respect to Local Mean Solar
Time), if the device
incorporates setting screws that are adjusted by an engineer every
time the Bureau international des Poids
et Mesures, in Paris, tweaks official civil time by proclaiming a "leap second"
(an unpredictable Paris event that tends to occur
not every year, but occurs perhaps once or twice every decade).

A high-precision sundial, somewhere in the Richmond Hill parks and
library system, would put Richmond Hill
onto the map internationally - the tighter the attained precision, the
more prominently onto the global map.

If you are inclined to pursue this line of thinking at some future
time, you can continue to reach me as
Toomas.Karmo@gmail.com (although from 2018-10-31 or so
I am liable to be physically at the dark-sky compound of Tartu
Observatory, in Estonia). A key local contact person, I would imagine staying
here in Richmond Hill over coming years, is Dr Ian Shelton
(DDO Defenders). He for his part would ideally establish a liaison
with the scientifically best-trained
member of the former daytime DDO engineering crew - an electronics
specialist who, being also
mechanics-literate, would be able to exercise the necessary
supervision on machining within the
atelier of the actual artists (checking tolerances with vernier
calipers or micrometer, etc etc).

It occurs to me this morning, as I continue worrying about that source
of intermittent municipal angst
which is Councillor Cilevitz, and in whose Ward the current
kaleidoscope-styed artwork happens
to my alarm to sit, that Ms Cilevitz could take this sundial idea on, working
closely with Dr Shelton. Although she may be upset if I
write to her directly, you could forward this present letter to her,
asking her for her views.

I also note that the artists, having demonstrated their skill in
metals, might now profitably
consider commissions for the PRIVATE sector, by making custom
mid-tower and full-tower
gaming-class computer cases, in a "Steampunk" aesthetic. This has
already been done, somewhere
in the world. But perhaps these artists could take the idea further.
Had I 8,000 CAD to expend, I would myself
commission such a computer case, specifying black glass, black steel,
and patina copper,
in Full Tower, and on the thermal-engineering side demanding water
cooling of CPU and GPU,
with external flow gauge and external water-temperature gauge! ;-) :-)

I add as an Appendix to this e-mail a slab of prose from my 2003
environmentalist manifesto,
"Utopia 2184", laying out my own fantasy of a high-precision sundial
(set, for narrative reasons,
in the Kentish countryside of 2184, with Saint Thomas More serving as
an interlocutor and guide).
My treatment of precession in the Appendix is not necessarily
accurate, though the essence is
okay. (Perhaps I err in implying a requirement for precession
correction in the first-order
terms of the overall precession equation? I can't get my head around
the problem right now.
Still, it is correct that SOME precession correction is required, with
respect to at least the
HIGHER-order terms. Some prof ought to set this as a problem in a
"Problem Set", as in what
I recall was the  UofT AST225H course.)

Perhaps you could also convey this letter to the artists, with my
regards and good wishes?


Sincerely,


Toomas Karmo

((APPENDIX
SOURCE="http://www.metascientia.com/PNNN____lit/BXPI____utopia__chap02.html"))

Ahead of us lay a steadily widening patch of daylight,
the far end of the Yew Walk. England! - with the sun
bright now, and the Saint conversing easily in my own
debased English, as though cheerful enough to shed
the brocaded encumbrances of high Tudor idiom. As for
those other brocaded encumbrances: while he kept his
Holbein robes, they fitted him well in that
subtropical heat, as black and flowing robes
befit some solemn prince in the shimmering sands of Dubai.

'You really must start,' said he - we emerged now from
yews onto a fine open lawn - 'with a look at the Dial.' This
was most unexpected. Did he mean the dial of a television receiver?

But in a moment his meaning was plain, as we followed
the paving through severely trimmed herbs up the
steps on a low terrace. (A scent of sandalwood mingled
there with the English propriety of Lavandula angustifolia.) The
'Dial' was a dial in a sense Newton, or even Erasmus, would have
grasped, a sundial. And verily a sundial worthy of the practical
astronomer's art, a towering instrument in black glass and fine metals,
with many a pivot, many an adjustable parameter. 'The year we set
here, and here the month, and here the day,' remarked the Saint,
pointing to small, exact wheels. The year I knew without requiring further
instruction, through the same kindly inward light that told me it
was the Feast of Benedict. In a moment,
then, I had turned the yearscrew to 2184, the month to 07, the day to 11.

The yearscrew! A great, exquisite brass worm, the first in a train,
its finely pitched thread ultimately slewing the base of the
two-metre-high mechanism ever so slightly on altitude
and azimuth axes to compensate correctly for year-to-year precession.

Precession, I should perhaps add here - all Observatory people
everywhere and in all seasons show off - is that slow, stately gyration
of Earth's axis that makes celestial bodies shift their apparent
positions in our sky, for instance shifting the Sun's spring equatorial
crossing-point by on the order of fifty seconds of arc each twelvemonth,
as the celestial poles ever-so-slowly circle the ecliptic poles.
The effect is, although tiny, relentless. Thanks to precession, native North
Americans living 4000 years before Christ beheld the Southern
Cross from North Dakota. Thanks to precession, whatever humans
may ponder the skies in Anno Domini 16000 are destined to find not Polaris,
but Vega, marking the approximate location of the North Celestial Pole.
The precession circle repeats itself (or more accurately, comes close
to repeating itself) every 25,770 years, and I was much gratified to note
that the Dial was built with a sufficiently ample worm, and sufficient play in
its foundation mounting, to cover a generous quarter or third of that
immense period. If I recall correctly, the gear train allowed even for a
few of the more obscure of the ten or so terms in the full precession equation
(those are terms making it only reasonably, not fully, accurate to describe
precession as a tidy circular movement in the celestial poles):
a small regular nutation, or "nodding", in Earth's axis,
and a steady secular, nonreversing, tidal drag exerted by the Moon,
come dimly to mind.

The work of the second and third wheels was less dramatic,
more homely. Their joint action caused the sunlight to pass through
the appropriate short segment, hardly more than a pinhole, from a
long and judiciously sinuous slit. This little sliver of sunlight, duly
selected for the given month and day, in turn fell upon a black-glass plane
ruled in silver with curving hour, minute, and second lines. The
spacing of those curves
was evidently varied so as for any selected day firstly to reduce
local apparent solar
time to Local Mean (solar) Time - that's LMT, the time told by a fictitious
Sun that crawls along the equator instead of the ecliptic, and consequently
puts an unvarying twenty-four hours between each pair of adjacent noons -
and secondly to convert the LMT of that particular longitude to the LMT
of the zero meridian. (That's the meridian through Greenwich. The
French once did their best to refer the zero to Paris, but of course
Britannia rules.)

Well, as I say, Observatory people do show off when they get the chance.

Both of us stared, entranced, grinning schoolboys once again,
as we beheld the tiny sunlight sliver creep
forward on the fine black plate: 14:56:56, 14:56:57, 14:56:58.
((/APPENDIX))




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