Emotional Infidelity: A Love Affair or Just Friends? A common plea: But, we're "just friends.

" However the "emotional connection" is quite obvious by the amount of time spent in communication and the "vibes" that are set off. These emotional connections often arise at work or in a social context in which working intensively toward a common goal consumes energy. Here are a few observations of the "just friends" emotional affair: 1. This person often struggles knowing where to draw the line. S/he often throws him/herself into something 100%. Other aspects of his/her life may suffer or be ignored. There often is a lack of personal balance between family, work, self care. 2. He/she struggles with intimacy. (I want to be close to someone, but don't like intimacy.) The "just friends" emotional affair means neither spouse nor OP (other person) ever get "intimate." Neither relationship is fully consummated or has potential for growth. 3. Of course the "just friends" comment means either "stay away" or I'm, underneath all this, really confused about where I fit in relationships, what I want from them, or what they mean to me. There is an "emotional connection" to the OP that defies description. A sad kind of "stuckness or lostness." The lover or "falling in love" emotional affair has a different twist. The common complaint to the partner is: "I feel badly about this, and I don't want to hurt you, but, I'm not "in love" with you anymore. "I love you but I'm not in love." This often indicates: 1. This person usually has a need for drama and excitement. Life easily becomes a soap opera. Emotional juice from the fall-out of emotionally intense relationships reigns rather than living life from the core of who one is. 2. The person "looking for love" is actually looking for the ideal, someone out there, who will project back to him/her that he/she is OK. No, more than OK, close to perfect. 3. This person needs to be adored, or think another adores him/her, because there is a lack of inner strength and solid identity. The other becomes my world, because I lack a world. Being "in love" is the panacea for my emptiness. 4. This type of affair often occurs when there is a "lull" in the marriage relationship. The responsibility of raising children, starting and maintaining a career, paying bills, etc. become the focal point for the couple. Romance becomes a foreign word. There are many many subtle differences in affairs. Emotional affairs are only one kind.

Once you begin to see and understand the differences, a new sense of empowerment overtakes you embark on a more confident path of resolution. What is loyalty and how do you develop it? By Aaron Green, 2/20/2007 Human resources professionals know that employee retention is a key factor in an organization's success. In this column I'd like to examine retention more closely and talk about the difference between longevity and loyalty because your goal is to have a workforce that is both longstanding and loyal. Loyal employees represent a cost savings over recruiting and training new hires, and loyal employees can be incredible assets to a growing company. Furthermore, there is a direct relationship between customer loyalty and a company's growth and profitability. You can't have loyal customers without loyal employees. Employee loyalty is evident to your customers and it's nearly impossible to generate loyal customers without strong internal loyalty. There's no way around it. Just what is loyalty? I like the definition of loyalty provided by Fred Reichheld in his book, The Loyalty Effect. He defines loyalty as the willingness to make an investment or personal sacrifice to strengthen a relationship. It's easy to confuse longevity with loyalty. For instance, for a few years I ate at the same restaurant every week. To some it may have seemed that I was a loyal patron; however, nothing could have been further from the way I felt. Their food was bad, I complained about it to anyone who would listen and I only returned to this restaurant because it was near my home and stayed open late. The very day another restaurant opened up nearby was the last day I ever ate there. The point is that you need to scratch below the surface to find out whether someone is loyal or not. This concept of loyalty applies to employees as well. Just because someone has worked for your organization for twenty years does not necessarily mean he or she is loyal. Maybe he is unhappy but doesn't feel like looking for another job, or maybe she doesn't have marketable skills and can't find another employer to hire her. It is important to identify your loyal (not your longstanding) employees. Why? Loyal employees Your employees serve as the face of your organization on a daily basis. Whether they interact with clients by telephone or e-mail, or meet customers face-to-face every day, you need loyal employees in order to have loyal clients. If an employee is not happy at your organization, that fact will come across to customers; if he is loyal, that will come across

too. Employees who are loyal and enthusiastic will encourage your customers to also feel loyal and enthusiastic toward your organization. Loyal customers Without loyal customers it is harder to grow your business and more costly to service the customers you have. It is harder to grow your business because the best sources of new customers are referrals and positive comments from existing customers. If this source of new business dries up, your company either does not grow or must acquire new customers in a more costly fashion (i.e., expensive advertising, larger sales force, etc.). It is more costly to service disloyal customers because they are the ones who keep your employees busy with their complaints. Additionally, unhappy customers become more price-sensitive. So, to sum it up, loyal customers are simply more profitable than customers who are not loyal and it is easier to grow your company when you retain loyal customers. And it is easier to have loyal customers when you have loyal employees. So how do you foster employee loyalty? Since each employee is a unique individual, no single approach works for everyone, but here are ten ideas that I have put into practice in my own business to improve loyalty: 1. Offer more than just a job Employees who view their current job as part of a rewarding career path with their employer are naturally more motivated and invested in their work. They may also be more likely to view necessary but tedious parts of the job in the context of the bigger picture. 2. Generate goodwill through good deeds Being involved with a company that "does good" makes employees feel good about their jobs and their employer. In some way, each employer supports the larger community. Develop and communicate your company's outreach efforts and community support philosophies. Then offer employees the opportunity to participate in those efforts or to have their own involvement in charitable causes supported by the company. 3. Get out the checkbook While you can't buy loyalty, you can destroy loyal ties if you're not paying someone what he or she is worth. 4. Empower employees Providing a channel for employees to communicate ideas and influence company practices gives them a stake in the business' success and promotes team spirit. 5. Invest in training and development If you invest in your employees, they are more likely to invest in your company. They'll also have a better understanding of your organization's business goals and practices, which can likely translate to improved performance.

6. Share your vision Communicate your company's direction and decisions. Employees feel trusted and are more trusting when they know about company decisions. 7. Challenge employees My experience is that setting and meeting high expectations makes employees feel more positive about their jobs. 8. Recognize and reward often Employees appreciate positive feedback and tend to be more productive after receiving it. Additionally, giving praise to an employee is like tipping over a row of dominos: a productive employee tends to inspire and motivate co-workers by example. 9. Find common ground Align career development with company goals. If a concession that you make for an employee is not good for both the employee and the company, it will not be good for long. 10. Get to know your employees An employee's relationship with his/her boss and coworkers is one of the most important factors in determining how loyal that employee is. Treat employees as individuals and look for ways to foster solid relationships. I'm excited about the subject of loyalty and how adopting a loyalty initiative can improve the employment experience for your staff and simultaneously enhance your company's growth and profitability. Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. A smile confuses an approaching frown. ~Author Unknown People seldom notice old clothes if you wear a big smile. ~Lee Mildon A smile is a curve that sets everything straight. ~Phyllis Diller Smile. Have you ever noticed how easily puppies make human friends? Yet all they do is wag their tails and fall over. ~Walter Anderson, The Confidence Course, 1997 The world always looks brighter from behind a smile. ~Author Unknown

Start every day with a smile and get it over with. ~W.C. Fields Before you put on a frown, make absolutely sure there are no smiles available. ~Jim Beggs A smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks. ~Charles Gordy Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been. ~Mark Twain, Following the Equator The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief. ~William Shakespeare, Othello A smile is the light in the window of your face that tells people you're at home. ~Author Unknown If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it. ~Andy Rooney If you smile at someone, they might smile back. ~Author Unknown Life is like a mirror, we get the best results when we smile at it. ~Author Unknown Always remember to be happy because you never know who's falling in love with your smile. ~Author Unknown Everyone smiles in the same language. ~Author Unknown If you don't have a smile, I'll give you one of mine. ~Author Unknown I've never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful. ~Author Unknown Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles. ~George Eliot

She gave me a smile I could feel in my hip pocket. ~Raymond Chandler Smiling is infectious, You can catch it like the flu. Someone smiled at me today, And I started smiling too. ~Author Unknown A smile appeared upon her face as if she'd taken it directly from her handbag and pinned it there. ~Loma Chandler A laugh is a smile that bursts. ~Mary H. Waldrip Smile - sunshine is good for your teeth. ~Author Unknown The shortest distance between two people is a smile. ~Author Unknown If you don't start out the day with a smile, it's not too late to start practicing for tomorrow. ~Author Unknown Is a smile a question? Or is it the answer? ~Lee Smith Smiling is my favorite exercise. ~Author Unknown I have a tickle in my brain. And it keeps making the corners of my mouth point toward the heavens. ~Jeb Dickerson, www.howtomatter.com Wear a smile - one size fits all. ~Author Unknown No matter how grouchy you're feeling, You'll find the smile more or less healing. It grows in a wreath All around the front teeth Thus preserving the face from congealing. ~Anthony Euwer

Every day you spend without a smile, is a lost day. ~Author Unknown Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. ~Mother Teresa A friendly look, a kindly smile, one good act, and life's worthwhile. ~Author Unknown A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles. ~Washington Irving Beauty is power; a smile is its sword. ~Charles Reade A smile is the universal welcome. ~Max Eastman Keep smiling - it makes people wonder what you've been up to. ~Author Unknown You're never fully dressed without a smile. ~Martin Charnin A smile can brighten the darkest day. ~Author Unknown It takes seventeen muscles to smile and forty-three to frown. ~Author Unknown Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important. ~Janet Lane All the statistics in the world can't measure the warmth of a smile. ~Chris Hart If you would like to spoil the day for a grouch, give him a smile. ~Author Unknown Smile - it increases your face value. ~Author Unknown

Peace begins with a smile. ~Mother Teresa A smile is a powerful weapon; you can even break ice with it. ~Author Unknown Most smiles are started by another smile. ~Author Unknown A smile is something you can't give away; it always comes back to you. ~Author Unknown A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it. Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give. ~Author Unknown It takes a lot of work from the face to let out a smile, but just think what good smiling can bring to the most important muscle of the body... the heart. ~Author Unknown

The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself. ~Benjamin Franklin Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it. ~Jacques Prvert If you want to be happy, be. ~Leo Tolstoy Happiness is never stopping to think if you are. ~Palmer Sondreal

Most people would rather be certain they're miserable, than risk being happy. ~Robert Anthony The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. ~Mark Twain If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time. ~Edith Wharton Happiness is excitement that has found a settling down place. But there is always a little corner that keeps flapping around. ~E.L. Konigsburg Nobody really cares if you're miserable, so you might as well be happy. ~Cynthia Nelms Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness. ~Robertson Davies Those who can laugh without cause have either found the true meaning of happiness or have gone stark raving mad. ~Norm Papernick Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it. ~Fyodor Dostoevsky What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner. ~Colette The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet. ~James Openheim Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open. ~John Barrymore

"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best," and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called. ~A.A. Milne People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost. ~H. Jackson Browne It's pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness. Poverty and wealth have both failed. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard Happiness and sadness run parallel to each other. When one takes a rest, the other one tends to take up the slack. ~Hazelmarie Elliott (Mattie) Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want. ~Margaret Young Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible. ~St. Augustine Can anything be so elegant as to have few wants, and to serve them one's self? ~Ralph Waldo Emerson There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. ~Logan Pearsall Smith, Afterthoughts, 1931 This is my "depressed stance." When you're depressed, it makes a lot of difference how you stand. The worst thing you can do is straighten up and hold your head high because then you'll start to feel better. If you're going to get any joy out of being depressed, you've got to stand like this. ~Charlie Brown Pleasure is spread through the earth In stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find. ~William Wordsworth, 1806

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. ~Abraham Lincoln Happiness is a form of courage. ~Holbrook Jackson We must laugh before we are happy, for fear of dying without having laughed at all. ~Jean de La Bruyere Tranquil pleasures last the longest; we are not fitted to bear the burden of great joys. ~Christian Nestell Bovee We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. ~Frederick Keonig Every now and then, when the world sits just right, a gentle breath of heaven fills my soul with delight... ~Hazelmarie Mattie Elliott, A Breath of Heaven It's never too late to have a happy childhood. ~Berke Breathed Happiness is the soundtrack of my life. ~Grey Livingston The secret to happiness is to put the burden of proof on unhappiness. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com Happiness? That's nothing more than health and a poor memory. ~Albert Schweitzer

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. ~Eleanor Roosevelt Happiness is a direction, not a place. ~Sydney J. Harris Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important. ~Janet Lane A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery while on a detour. ~Author Unknown If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. ~Dalai Lama Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower. ~Author Unknown There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness. ~Lady Blessington The best vitamin to be a happy person is B1. ~Author Unknown A great obstacle to happiness is to expect too much happiness. ~Bernard de Fontenelle Is it not clear, however, that bliss and envy are the numerator and denominator of the fraction called happiness? ~Yevgeny Zamyatin A happy thought is like a seed that sows positivity for all to reap. ~Miriam Muhammad Happiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination. ~Immanuel Kant Man must search for what is right, and let happiness come on its own. ~Johann Pestalozzi He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has. ~Henry Ward Beecher

If you search the world for happiness, you may find it in the end, for the world is round and will lead you back to your door. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com Just as a cautious businessman avoids investing all his capital in one concern, so wisdom would probably admonish us also not to anticipate all our happiness from one quarter alone. ~Sigmund Freud There are some days when I think I'm going to die from an overdose of satisfaction. ~Salvador Dali

The secret of happiness is to find a congenial monotony. ~V.S. Pritchett We are no longer happy so soon as we wish to be happier. ~Walter Savage Landor The only way to avoid being miserable is not to have enough leisure to wonder whether you are happy or not. ~George Bernard Shaw Real elation is when you feel you could touch a star without standing on tiptoe. ~Doug Larson The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness. ~Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind, 1954 If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years. ~Bertrand Russell The world is full of people looking for spectacular happiness while they snub contentment. ~Doug Larson Cheerfulness is what greases the axles of the world. Don't go through life

creaking. ~H.W. Byles What I'm looking for is a blessing that's not in disguise. ~Kitty O'Neill Collins My crown is called content, a crown that seldom kings enjoy. ~William Shakespeare Ask yourself whether you are happy and you cease to be so. ~John Stuart Mill, Autobiography, 1873 We are seldom happy with what we now have, but would go to pieces if we lost any part of it. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960 The happiness which is lacking makes one think even the happiness one has unbearable. ~Joseph Roux The search for happiness is unlike any other search, for we search last in the likeliest places. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com As people spin faster and faster in the pursuit of merely personal happiness, they become exhausted in the futile effort of chasing themselves. ~Andrew Delbanco Happiness is the feeling you're feeling when you want to keep feeling it. ~Author Unknown Joy is a flower that blooms when you do. ~Author Unknown So long as we can lose any happiness, we possess some. ~Booth Tarkington Jumping for joy is good exercise. ~Author Unknown Seeking happiness, I passed many travelers headed in the opposite direction, seeking happiness. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

She thinks that happiness is a mat that sits on her doorway. ~Rob Thomas, "3 A.M." Happiness is a by-product of an effort to make someone else happy. ~Gretta Brooker Palmer Happiness is a way station between too little and too much. ~Channing Pollock, Mr. Moneypenny The happy have whole days, and those they choose. The unhappy have but hours, and those they lose. ~Colley Cibber The art of living does not consist in preserving and clinging to a particular mode of happiness, but in allowing happiness to change its form without being disappointed by the change; happiness, like a child, must be allowed to grow up. ~Charles L. Morgan Happiness is a matter of one's most ordinary and everyday mode of consciousness being busy and lively and unconcerned with self. ~Iris Murdoch Happiness is... usually attributed by adults to children, and by children to adults. ~Thomas Szasz When neither their property nor their honor is touched, the majority of men live content. ~Niccolo Machiavelli You cannot always have happiness, but you can always give happiness. ~Author Unknown The happiness of most people is not ruined by great catastrophes or fatal errors, but by the repetition of slowly destructive little things. ~Ernest Dimnet One joy scatters a hundred griefs. ~Chinese Proverb

We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it. ~George Bernard Shaw, Candida, 1898 One should be either sad or joyful. Contentment is a warm sty for eaters and sleepers. ~Eugene O'Neill A man's as miserable as he thinks he is. ~Seneca One filled with joy preaches without preaching. ~Mother Teresa Misery is almost always the result of thinking. ~Joseph Joubert My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate. ~Thornton Wilder Be happy. It's one way of being wise. ~Colette Precisely the least, the softest, lightest, a lizard's rustling, a breath, a flash, a moment - a little makes the way of the best happiness. ~Frederich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness. ~William Saroyan People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy. ~Anton Chekhov Happiness grows at our own firesides, and is not to be picked in strangers' gardens. ~Douglas Jerrold Unhappiness is not knowing what we want and killing ourselves to get it. ~Don Herold If you are not happy here and now, you never will be. ~Taisen Deshimaru

It is strange what a contempt men have for the joys that are offered them freely. ~Georges Duhamel If the day and night be such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more immortal that is your success. All nature is your congratulation, and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself. ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden The fact is always obvious much too late, but the most singular difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is a solid and joy a liquid. ~J.D. Salinger There is no expert on what happiness is but many on what it might have been. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com Eden is that old-fashioned house we dwell in every day Without suspecting our abode until we drive away. ~Emily Dickinson Happiness is a function of accepting what is. ~Werner Erhard Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and you learn at once how big and precious it is. ~Maxim Gorky Unquestionably, it is possible to do without happiness; it is done involuntarily by nineteen-twentieths of mankind. ~John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism, 1863 Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. ~Joseph Addison Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. ~Samuel Johnson There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do. ~Freya Stark, The Journey's Echo

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com In order to have great happiness you have to have great pain and unhappiness otherwise how would you know when you're happy? ~Leslie Caron On the whole, the happiest people seem to be those who have no particular cause for being happy except that they are so. ~William R. Inge To be happy, we must not be too concerned with others. ~Albert Camus, The Fall, 1956 Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. ~Mahatma Gandhi When you're really happy, the birds chirp and the sun shines even on cold dark winter nights - and flowers will bloom on a barren land. ~Grey Livingston Happiness is like the penny candy of our youth: we got a lot more for our money back when we had no money. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960 Happiness is the interval between periods of unhappiness. ~Don Marquis If someone loves a flower of which just one example exists among all the millions and millions of stars, that's enough to make him happy when he looks at the stars. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupry, The Little Prince, 1943, translated from French by Richard Howard Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com When a man has lost all happiness, he's not alive. Call him a breathing corpse. ~Sophocles

Many things can make you miserable for weeks; few can bring you a whole day of happiness. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960 Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit. ~Hosea Ballou To be obliged to beg our daily happiness from others bespeaks a more lamentable poverty than that of him who begs his daily bread. ~Charles Caleb Colton Some pursue happiness, others create it. ~Author Unknown The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things. ~Epictetus Gather the crumbs of happiness and they will make you a loaf of contentment. ~Author Unknown Give a man health and a course to steer, and he'll never stop to trouble about whether he's happy or not. ~George Bernard Shaw Happiness is the natural flower of duty. ~Phillips Brooks But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads? ~Albert Camus Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind. ~Thomas Jefferson We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements in life, when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about. ~Charles Kingsley You need to learn to be happy by nature, because you'll seldom have the chance to be happy by circumstance. ~Lavetta Sue Wegman

It is a comely fashion to be glad; Joy is the grace we say to God. ~Jean Ingelow If you observe a really happy man you will find him building a boat, writing a symphony, educating his son, growing double dahlias in his garden, or looking for dinosaur eggs in the Gobi desert. He will not be searching for happiness as if it were a collar button that has rolled under the radiator. He will not be striving for it as a goal in itself. He will have become aware that he is happy in the course of living life twenty-four crowded hours of the day. ~W. Beran Wolfe You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. ~Albert Camus Happiness is the resultant of the relative strengths of positive and negative feelings rather than an absolute amount of one or the other. ~Norman Bradburn If you ever find happiness by hunting for it, you will find it, as the old woman did her lost spectacles, safe on her own nose all the time. ~Josh Billings Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn't stop to enjoy it. ~William Feather Happiness is your dentist telling you it won't hurt and then having him catch his hand in the drill. ~Johnny Carson It is not happiness until you capture it and store it out of the reach of time. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com I am a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy. ~J.D. Salinger Before we set our hearts too much on anything, let us examine how happy are those who already possess it. ~Franois Duc de La Rochefoucauld Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. ~Marcel Proust

For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness. ~Author Unknown To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. ~Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic response. ~Mildred Barthel [U]sefulness is happiness, and... all other things are but incidental. ~Lydia Maria Child, The American Frugal Housewife, 1829 Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length. ~Robert Frost The best way for a person to have happy thoughts is to count his blessings and not his cash. ~Author Unknown Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling. ~Margaret Lee Runbeck Many people are extremely happy, but are absolutely worthless to society. ~Charles Gow All of us have had the experience of a sudden joy that came when nothing in the world had forewarned us of its coming - a joy so thrilling that if it was born of misery we remembered even the misery with tenderness. ~Antoine de SaintExupry, Wind, Sand and Stars, 1939, translated from French by Lewis Galantire Most of us believe in trying to make other people happy only if they can be happy in ways which we approve. ~Robert S. Lynd I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot: they amount to fourteen. ~Abd-El-Raham The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase: if you pursue happiness you'll never find it. ~C.P. Snow

Happiness: an agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary rom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search "Aurora Borealis" redirects here. For other uses, see Aurora Borealis (disambiguation). "Aurora Australis" redirects here. For the ship, see Aurora Australis (icebreaker). For the book, see Aurora Australis (book). For other uses, see Aurora (disambiguation).

The aurora borealis shines above Bear Lake

Red and green aurora in Fairbanks, Alaska

Northern lights with very rare blue light over Moskosel, Lapland in Sweden

Aurora australis in Antarctica

Aurora timelapse video An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae) is a natural light display in the sky, particularly in the polar regions, caused by the collision of charged particles directed by the Earth's magnetic field. An aurora is usually observed at night and typically occurs in the ionosphere. It is also referred to as a polar aurora or, collectively, as polar lights. These phenomena are commonly visible between 60 and 72 degrees north and south latitudes, which place them in a ring just within the Arctic and Antarctic polar circles.[citation needed] Auroras do occur deeper inside the polar regions, but these are infrequent and often invisible to the naked eye. In northern latitudes, the effect is known as the aurora borealis (or the northern lights), named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for the north wind, Boreas, by Pierre Gassendi in 1621.[1] The chance of visibility of the aurora borealis increases with proximity to the North Magnetic Pole.[citation needed] Auroras seen near the magnetic pole may be high overhead, but from farther away, they illuminate the northern horizon as a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red, as if the Sun were rising from an unusual direction. The aurora borealis most often occurs near the equinoxes. The northern lights have had a number of names throughout history. The Cree call this phenomenon the "Dance of the Spirits". In Europe, in the Middle Ages, the auroras were commonly believed a sign from God (see Wilfried Schrder, Das Phnomen des Polarlichts, Darmstadt 1984). Its southern counterpart, the aurora australis (or the southern lights), has similar properties, but is only visible from high southern latitudes in Antarctica, South America, or Australasia. Australis is the Latin word for "of the South".

Auroras can be spotted throughout the world and on other planets. They are most visible closer to the poles due to the longer periods of darkness and the magnetic field. Modern style guides recommend that the names of meteorological phenomena, such as aurora borealis, be uncapitalized.[2]

Contents
[hide]

1 Auroral mechanism 2 Forms and magnetism 3 Solar wind and the magnetosphere 4 Frequency of occurrence 5 Auroral events of historical significance 6 Origin 7 Sources and types 8 On other planets 9 History of aurora theories 10 Images 11 In traditional and popular culture 12 See also 13 References o 13.1 Footnotes 14 External links

[edit] Auroral mechanism

Auroras result from emissions of photons in the Earth's upper atmosphere, above 80 km (50 miles), from ionized nitrogen atoms regaining an electron, and oxygen and nitrogen atoms returning from an excited state to ground state. They are ionized or excited by the collision of solar wind particles being funneled down and accelerated along the Earth's magnetic field lines; excitation energy is lost by the emission of a photon of light, or by collision with another atom or molecule: oxygen emissions Green or brownish-red, depending on the amount of energy absorbed. nitrogen emissions Blue or red. Blue if the atom regains an electron after it has been ionized. Red if returning to ground state from an excited state. Oxygen is unusual in terms of its return to ground state: it can take three quarters of a second to emit green light and up to two minutes to emit red. Collisions with other atoms or molecules will absorb the excitation energy and prevent emission. The very top of the

atmosphere is both a higher percentage of oxygen, and so thin that such collisions are rare enough to allow time for oxygen to emit red. Collisions become more frequent progressing down into the atmosphere, so that red emissions do not have time to happen, and eventually even green light emissions are prevented. This is why there is a colour differential with altitude; at high altitude oxygen red dominates, then oxygen green and nitrogen blue/red, then finally nitrogen blue/red when collisions prevent oxygen from emitting anything. Green is the most common of all auroras. Behind it is pink, a mixture of light green and red, followed by pure red, yellow (a mixture of red and green), and lastly pure blue.

A predominantly red aurora australis Auroras are associated with the solar wind, a flow of ions continuously flowing outward from the Sun. The Earth's magnetic field traps these particles, many of which travel toward the poles where they are accelerated toward Earth. Collisions between these ions and atmospheric atoms and molecules cause energy releases in the form of auroras appearing in large circles around the poles. Auroras are more frequent and brighter during the intense phase of the solar cycle when coronal mass ejections increase the intensity of the solar wind.[3] Seen from space, these fiery curtains form a thin ring in the shape of a monk's tonsure.

[edit] Forms and magnetism

Northern lights over Calgary Typically the aurora appears either as a diffuse glow or as "curtains" that approximately extend in the east-west direction. At some times, they form "quiet arcs"; at others ("active aurora"), they evolve and change constantly. Each curtain consists of many parallel rays,

each lined up with the local direction of the magnetic field lines, suggesting that auroras are shaped by Earth's magnetic field. Indeed, satellites show electrons to be guided by magnetic field lines, spiraling around them while moving towards Earth. The similarity to curtains is often enhanced by folds called "striations". When the field line guiding a bright auroral patch leads to a point directly above the observer, the aurora may appear as a "corona" of diverging rays, an effect of perspective. Although it was first mentioned by Ancient Greek explorer/geographer Pytheas, Hiorter and Celsius first described in 1741 evidence for magnetic control, namely, large magnetic fluctuations occurred whenever the aurora was observed overhead. This indicates (it was later realized) that large electric currents were associated with the aurora, flowing in the region where auroral light originated. Kristian Birkeland (1908)[4] deduced that the currents flowed in the east-west directions along the auroral arc, and such currents, flowing from the dayside towards (approximately) midnight were later named "auroral electrojets" (see also Birkeland currents). On 26 February 2008, THEMIS probes were able to determine, for the first time, the triggering event for the onset of magnetospheric substorms.[5] Two of the five probes, positioned approximately one third the distance to the moon, measured events suggesting a magnetic reconnection event 96 seconds prior to auroral intensification.[6] Dr. Vassilis Angelopoulos of the University of California, Los Angeles, the principal investigator for the THEMIS mission, claimed, "Our data show clearly and for the first time that magnetic reconnection is the trigger." [7] Still more evidence for a magnetic connection are the statistics of auroral observations. Elias Loomis (1860) and later in more detail Hermann Fritz (1881)[8] established that the aurora appeared mainly in the "auroral zone", a ring-shaped region with a radius of approximately 2500 km around Earth's magnetic pole. It was hardly ever seen near the geographic pole, which is about 2000 km away from the magnetic pole. The instantaneous distribution of auroras ("auroral oval", Yasha/Jakob Feldstein 1963[9]) is slightly different, centered about 3-5 degrees nightward of the magnetic pole, so that auroral arcs reach furthest towards the equator around midnight. The aurora can be seen best at this time.

[edit] Solar wind and the magnetosphere

Schematic of Earth's magnetosphere The Earth is constantly immersed in the solar wind, a rarefied flow of hot plasma (gas of free electrons and positive ions) emitted by the Sun in all directions, a result of the milliondegree heat of the Sun's outermost layer, the corona. The solar wind usually reaches Earth with a velocity around 400 km/s, density around 5 ions/cm3 and magnetic field intensity around 25 nT (nanoteslas; Earth's surface field is typically 30,00050,000 nT). These are typical values. During magnetic storms, in particular, flows can be several times faster; the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) may also be much stronger. The IMF originates on the Sun, related to the field of sunspots, and its field lines (lines of force) are dragged out by the solar wind. That alone would tend to line them up in the SunEarth direction, but the rotation of the Sun skews them (at Earth) by about 45 degrees, so that field lines passing Earth may actually start near the western edge ("limb") of the visible Sun.[10] Earth's magnetosphere is formed by the impact of the solar wind on the Earth's magnetic field. It forms an obstacle to the solar wind, diverting it, at a distance of about 70,000 km, forming a bow shock 12,000 km to 15,000 km further upstream. The width of the magnetosphere abreast of Earth, is typically 190,000 km, and on the night side a long "magnetotail" of stretched field lines extends to great distances. The magnetosphere is full of ions trapped as the solar wind passes the Earth. Perturbations in the solar wind increase this flow of ions. The excess moving along field lines and eventually accelerated toward the poles are responsible for changes in the aurora.

[edit] Frequency of occurrence

Aurora australis 1994 from Bluff, New Zealand They are occasionally seen in temperate latitudes, when a magnetic storm temporarily expands the auroral oval. Large magnetic storms are most common during the peak of the eleven-year sunspot cycle or during the three years after that peak.[citation needed] However, within the auroral zone the likelihood of an aurora occurring depends mostly on the slant of interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) lines (the slant is known as Bz), being greater with southward slants.

Geomagnetic storms that ignite auroras actually happen more often during the months around the equinoxes. It is not well understood why geomagnetic storms are tied to Earth's seasons while polar activity is not. But it is known that during spring and autumn, the interplanetary magnetic field and that of Earth link up. At the magnetopause, Earth's magnetic field points north. When Bz becomes large and negative (i.e., the IMF tilts south), it can partially cancel Earth's magnetic field at the point of contact. South-pointing Bz's open a door through which energy from the solar wind can reach Earth's inner magnetosphere. The peaking of Bz during this time is a result of geometry. The IMF comes from the Sun and is carried outward with the solar wind. The rotation of the Sun causes the IMF to have a spiral shape. The southward (and northward) excursions of Bz are greatest during April and October, when Earth's magnetic dipole axis is most closely aligned with the Parker spiral. However, Bz is not the only influence on geomagnetic activity. The Sun's rotation axis is tilted 8 degrees with respect to the plane of Earth's orbit. The solar wind blows more rapidly from the Sun's poles than from its equator, thus the average speed of particles buffeting Earth's magnetosphere waxes and wanes every six months. The solar wind speed is greatest by about 50 km/s, on average around 5 September and 5 March when Earth lies at its highest heliographic latitude. Still, neither Bz nor the solar wind can fully explain the seasonal behavior of geomagnetic storms. Those factors together contribute only about one-third of the observed semiannual variations.

[edit] Auroral events of historical significance

The auroras that resulted from the "great geomagnetic storm" on both August 28 and September 2, 1859 are thought the most spectacular in recent recorded history. Balfour Stewart, in a paper[11][12] to the Royal Society on November 21, 1861, described both auroral events as documented by a self-recording magnetograph at the Kew Observatory and established the connection between the September 2, 1859 auroral storm and the Carrington-Hodgson flare event when he observed that "it is not impossible to suppose that in this case our luminary was taken in the act." The second auroral event, which occurred on September 2, 1859 as a result of the exceptionally intense Carrington-Hodgson white light solar flare on September 1, 1859 produced auroras so widespread and extraordinarily brilliant that they were seen and reported in published scientific measurements, ships' logs and newspapers throughout the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia. It was reported by the New York Times[13][14][15] that in Boston on Friday September 2, 1859 the aurora was "so brilliant that at about one o'clock ordinary print could be read by the light".[14][16][17] One o'clock Boston time on Friday September 2, would have been 6:00 GMT and the selfrecording magnetograph at the Kew Observatory was recording the geomagnetic storm, which was then one hour old, at its full intensity. Between 1859 and 1862, Elias Loomis published a series of nine papers on the Great Auroral Exhibition of 1859 in the American Journal of Science where he collected world wide reports of the auroral event. The aurora

is thought to have been produced by one of the most intense coronal mass ejections in history, very near the maximum intensity that the Sun is thought to be capable of producing. It is also notable for the fact that it is the first time where the phenomena of auroral activity and electricity were unambiguously linked. This insight was made possible not only due to scientific magnetometer measurements of the era but also as a result of a significant portion of the 125,000 miles (201,000 km) of telegraph lines then in service being significantly disrupted for many hours throughout the storm. Some telegraph lines however, seem to have been of the appropriate length and orientation, which allowed a current (geomagnetically induced current) to be induced in them (due to Earth's severely fluctuating magnetosphere) and actually used for communication. The following conversation occurred between two operators of the American Telegraph Line between Boston and Portland, Maine, on the night of September 2, 1859 and reported in the Boston Traveler: Boston operator (to Portland operator): "Please cut off your battery [power source] entirely for fifteen minutes." Portland operator: "Will do so. It is now disconnected." Boston: "Mine is disconnected, and we are working with the auroral current. How do you receive my writing?" Portland: "Better than with our batteries on. - Current comes and goes gradually." Boston: "My current is very strong at times, and we can work better without the batteries, as the aurora seems to neutralize and augment our batteries alternately, making current too strong at times for our relay magnets. Suppose we work without batteries while we are affected by this trouble." Portland: "Very well. Shall I go ahead with business?" Boston: "Yes. Go ahead." The conversation was carried on for around two hours using no battery power at all and working solely with the current induced by the aurora, and it was said that this was the first time on record that more than a word or two was transmitted in such manner.[16] Such events led to the general conclusion that The effect of the Aurora on the electric telegraph is generally to increase or diminish the electric current generated in working the wires. Sometimes it entirely neutralizes them, so that, in effect, no fluid is discoverable in them . The aurora borealis seems to be composed of a mass of electric matter, resembling in every respect, that generated by the electric galvanic battery. The currents from it change coming on the wires, and then disappear: the mass of the aurora rolls from the horizon to the zenith.[18]

[edit] Origin

Aurora australis (September 11, 2005) as captured by NASA's IMAGE satellite, digitally overlaid onto The Blue Marble composite image. An animation created using the same satellite data is also available. The ultimate energy source of the aurora is the solar wind flowing past the Earth. The magnetosphere and solar wind consist of plasma (ionized gas), which conducts electricity. It is well known (since Michael Faraday's [1791 - 1867] work around 1830) that when an electrical conductor is placed within a magnetic field while relative motion occurs in a direction that the conductor cuts across (or is cut by), rather than along, the lines of the magnetic field, an electric current is said to be induced into that conductor and electrons will flow within it. The amount of current flow is dependent upon a) the rate of relative motion, b) the strength of the magnetic field, c) the number of conductors ganged together and d) the distance between the conductor and the magnetic field, while the direction of flow is dependent upon the direction of relative motion. Dynamos make use of this basic process ("the dynamo effect"), any and all conductors, solid or otherwise are so affected including plasmas or other fluids. In particular the solar wind and the magnetosphere are two electrically conducting fluids with such relative motion and should be able (in principle) to generate electric currents by "dynamo action", in the process also extracting energy from the flow of the solar wind. The process is hampered by the fact that plasmas conduct easily along magnetic field lines, but not so easily perpendicular to them. So it is important that a temporary magnetic connection be established between the field lines of the solar wind and those of the magnetosphere, by a process known as magnetic reconnection. It happens most easily with a southward slant of interplanetary field lines, because then field lines north of Earth approximately match the direction of field lines near the north magnetic pole (namely, into Earth), and similarly near the south magnetic pole. Indeed, active auroras (and related "substorms") are much more likely at such times. Electric currents originating in such way apparently give auroral electrons their energy. The magnetospheric plasma has an abundance of electrons: some are magnetically trapped, some reside in the magnetotail, and some exist in the upward extension of the ionosphere, which may extend (with diminishing density) some 25,000 km around Earth.

Bright auroras are generally associated with Birkeland currents (Schield et al., 1969;[19] Zmuda and Armstrong, 1973[20]) which flow down into the ionosphere on one side of the pole and out on the other. In between, some of the current connects directly through the ionospheric E layer (125 km); the rest ("region 2") detours, leaving again through field lines closer to the equator and closing through the "partial ring current" carried by magnetically trapped plasma. The ionosphere is an ohmic conductor, so such currents require a driving voltage, which some dynamo mechanism can supply. Electric field probes in orbit above the polar cap suggest voltages of the order of 40,000 volts, rising up to more than 200,000 volts during intense magnetic storms. Ionospheric resistance has a complex nature, and leads to a secondary Hall current flow. By a strange twist of physics, the magnetic disturbance on the ground due to the main current almost cancels out, so most of the observed effect of auroras is due to a secondary current, the auroral electrojet. An auroral electrojet index (measured in nanotesla) is regularly derived from ground data and serves as a general measure of auroral activity. However, ohmic resistance is not the only obstacle to current flow in this circuit. The convergence of magnetic field lines near Earth creates a "mirror effect" that turns back most of the down-flowing electrons (where currents flow upwards), inhibiting currentcarrying capacity. To overcome this, part of the available voltage appears along the field line ("parallel to the field"), helping electrons overcome that obstacle by widening the bundle of trajectories reaching Earth; a similar "parallel potential" is used in "tandem mirror" plasma containment devices. A feature of such voltage is that it is concentrated near Earth (potential proportional to field intensity; Persson, 1963[21]), and indeed, as deduced by Evans (1974) and confirmed by satellites, most auroral acceleration occurs below 10,000 km. Another indicator of parallel electric fields along field lines are beams of upwards flowing O+ ions observed on auroral field lines. While this mechanism is probably the main source of the familiar auroral arcs, formations conspicuous from the ground, more energy might go to other, less prominent types of aurora, e.g. the diffuse aurora (below) and the low-energy electrons precipitated in magnetic storms (also below).

The aurora borealis as viewed from the ISS Expedition 6 team. Lake Manicouagan is visible to the bottom left. Some O+ ions ("conics") also seem accelerated in different ways by plasma processes associated with the aurora. These ions are accelerated by plasma waves, in directions

mainly perpendicular to the field lines. They therefore start at their own "mirror points" and can travel only upwards. As they do so, the "mirror effect" transforms their directions of motion, from perpendicular to the line to lying on a cone around it, which gradually narrows down. In addition, the aurora and associated currents produce a strong radio emission around 150 kHz known as auroral kilometric radiation (AKR, discovered in 1972). Ionospheric absorption makes AKR observable from space only. These "parallel potentials" accelerate electrons to auroral energies and seem to be a major source of aurora. Other mechanisms have also been proposed, in particular, Alfvn waves, wave modes involving the magnetic field first noted by Hannes Alfvn (1942), which have been observed in the lab and in space. The question is however whether these waves might just be a different way of looking at the above process, because this approach does not point out a different energy source, and many plasma bulk phenomena can also be described in terms of Alfvn waves. Wikinews has related news: Aurora Borealis caused by electrical space tornadoes Other processes are also involved in the aurora, and much remains to be learned. Auroral electrons created by large geomagnetic storms often seem to have energies below 1 keV, and are stopped higher up, near 200 km. Such low energies excite mainly the red line of oxygen, so that often such auroras are red. On the other hand, positive ions also reach the ionosphere at such time, with energies of 20-30 keV, suggesting they might be an "overflow" along magnetic field lines of the copious "ring current" ions accelerated at such times, by processes different from the ones described above.

Meteoroid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

Photo of a part of the sky during a meteor shower over an extended exposure time. The meteors have actually occurred several seconds to several minutes apart.

A perseid meteor and Milky Way A meteoroid is a sand- to boulder-sized particle of debris in the Solar System. The visible path of a meteoroid that enters Earth's (or another body's) atmosphere is called a meteor, or colloquially a shooting star or falling star. If a meteoroid reaches the ground and survives impact, then it is called a meteorite. Many meteors appearing seconds or minutes apart are called a meteor shower. The root word meteor comes from the Greek meteros, meaning "high in the air".

Contents
[hide]

1 Overview o 1.1 Meteoroid o 1.2 Meteor o 1.3 Fireball o 1.4 Bolide o 1.5 Superbolide o 1.6 Meteorite o 1.7 Tektite o 1.8 Meteoric dust 2 Ionization trails 3 Color 4 Sound 5 Frequency of large meteors 6 Notable meteors 7 History 8 Gallery 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Overview

[edit] Meteoroid
The current official definition of a meteoroid from the International Astronomical Union is "a solid object moving in interplanetary space, of a size considerably smaller than an asteroid and considerably larger than an atom".[1][2] Beech and Steel, writing in Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, proposed a new definition where a meteoroid is between 100 m and 10 m across.[3] The NEO definition includes larger objects, up to 50 m in diameter, in this category. Very small meteoroids are known as micrometeoroids (see also interplanetary dust). The composition of meteoroids can be determined as they pass through Earth's atmosphere from their trajectories and the light spectra of the resulting meteor. Their effects on radio signals also give information, especially useful for daytime meteors which are otherwise very difficult to observe. From these trajectory measurements, meteoroids have been found to have many different orbits, some clustering in streams (see Meteor showers) often associated with a parent comet, others apparently sporadic. Debris from meteoroid streams may eventually be scattered into other orbits. The light spectra, combined with trajectory and light curve measurements, have yielded various compositions and densities, ranging from fragile snowball-like objects with density about a quarter that of ice,[4] to nickel-iron rich dense rocks. Meteoroids travel around the Sun in a variety of orbits and at various velocities. The fastest ones move at about 26 miles per second (42 kilometers per second) through space in the vicinity of Earth's orbit. The Earth travels at about 18 miles per second (29 kilometers per second). Thus, when meteoroids meet the Earth's atmosphere head-on (which would only occur if the meteors were in a retrograde orbit), the combined speed may reach about 44 miles per second (71 kilometers per second).

[edit] Meteor
"Meteor" and "Meteors" redirect here. For other uses, see Meteor (disambiguation). See also Hydrometeor.

Comet 17P/Holmes and Geminid A meteor is the visible path of a meteoroid that has entered the Earth's atmosphere. Meteors typically occur in the mesosphere, and most range in altitude from 75 km to 100 km.[5] Millions of meteors occur in the Earth's atmosphere every day. Most meteoroids that cause meteors are about the size of a pebble. They become visible between about 40

and 75 miles (65 and 120 kilometers) above the Earth. They disintegrate at altitudes of 30 to 60 miles (50 to 95 kilometers). Meteors have roughly a fifty percent chance of a daylight (or near daylight) collision with the Earth as the Earth orbits in the direction of roughly west at noon.[clarification needed] Most meteors are, however, observed at night as low light conditions allow fainter meteors to be observed. For bodies with a size scale larger than the atmospheric mean free path (10 cm to several metres)[clarification needed] the visibility is due to the atmospheric ram pressure (not friction) that heats the meteoroid so that it glows and creates a shining trail of gases and melted meteoroid particles. The gases include vaporized meteoroid material and atmospheric gases that heat up when the meteoroid passes through the atmosphere. Most meteors glow for about a second. A relatively small percentage of meteoroids hit the Earth's atmosphere and then pass out again: these are termed Earth-grazing fireballs (for example The Great Daylight 1972 Fireball). Meteors may occur in showers, which arise when the Earth passes through a trail of debris left by a comet, or as "random" or "sporadic" meteors, not associated with a specific single cause. A number of specific meteors have been observed, largely by members of the public and largely by accident, but with enough detail that orbits of the incoming meteors or meteorites have been calculated. All of them came from orbits from the vicinity of the asteroid belt.[6]

[edit] Fireball
A fireball is a brighter-than-usual meteor. The International Astronomical Union defines a fireball as "a meteor brighter than any of the planets" (magnitude -4 or greater).[7] The International Meteor Organization (an amateur organization that studies meteors) has a more rigid definition. It defines a fireball as a meteor that would have a magnitude of -3 or brighter if seen at zenith. This definition corrects for the greater distance between an observer and a meteor near the horizon. For example, a meteor of magnitude -1 at 5 degrees above the horizon would be classified as a fireball because if the observer had been directly below the meteor it would have appeared as magnitude -6.[8]

[edit] Bolide

An especially bright meteor, a bolide (in astronomy) "Bolide" redirects here. For the Swedish guided missile BOLIDE, see RBS 70. In astronomy

The word bolide comes from the Greek (bolis) which can mean a missile or to flash. The IAU has no official definition of "bolide", and generally considers the term synonymous with "fireball". The bolide term is generally used for fireballs reaching magnitude -14 or brighter.[9] Astronomers tend to use the term to mean an exceptionally bright fireball, particularly one that explodes (sometimes called a detonating fireball). In geology Geologists use the term "bolide" more often than astronomers do: in geology it indicates a very large impactor. For example, the USGS uses the term to mean a generic large craterforming projectile "to imply that we do not know the precise nature of the impacting body ... whether it is a rocky or metallic asteroid, or an icy comet, for example".[10]

[edit] Superbolide
If the magnitude of a bolide reaches -17 or brighter it is known as a superbolide.[9][11]

[edit] Meteorite
Main article: meteorite A meteorite is a portion of a meteoroid or asteroid that survives its passage through the atmosphere and impact with the ground without being destroyed.[12] Meteorites are sometimes, but not always, found in association with hypervelocity impact craters; during energetic collisions, the entire impactor may be vaporized, leaving no meteorites.

[edit] Tektite
Main article: tektite

Two tektites Molten terrestrial material "splashed" from a meteorite impact crater can cool and solidify into an object known as a tektite. These are often mistaken for meteorites.

[edit] Meteoric dust

Most meteoroids burn up when they enter the atmosphere. The left-over debris is called meteoric dust or just meteor dust. Meteor dust particles can persist in the atmosphere for up to several months. These particles might affect climate, both by scattering electromagnetic radiation and by catalyzing chemical reactions in the upper atmosphere.[13]

[edit] Ionization trails

During the entry of a meteoroid or asteroid into the upper atmosphere, an ionization trail is created, where the molecules in the upper atmosphere are ionized by the passage of the meteor. Such ionization trails can last up to 45 minutes at a time. Small, sand-grain sized meteoroids are entering the atmosphere constantly, essentially every few seconds in any given region of the atmosphere,and thus ionization trails can be found in the upper atmosphere more or less continuously. When radio waves are bounced off these trails, it is called meteor burst communications. Meteor radars can measure atmospheric density and winds by measuring the decay rate and Doppler shift of a meteor trail.

[edit] Color
The visible light produced by a meteor may take on various hues, depending on the chemical composition of the meteoroid, and its speed through the atmosphere. As layers of the meteoroid are stripped off and ionized, the color of the light emitted may change according to the layering of minerals. Some of the possible colors and the compounds responsible for them are: orange/yellow (sodium); yellow (iron); blue/green (copper); purple (potassium); and red (silicate).

[edit] Sound
Any sound generated by a meteor in the upper atmosphere, such as a sonic boom, should not be heard until many seconds after the meteor disappeared. However, in certain instances, for example during the Leonid meteor shower of 2001, several people reported sounds described as "crackling", "swishing", or "hissing"[14] occurring at the same instant as a meteor flare. Similar sounds have also been reported during intense displays of Earth's auroras[citation needed]. Sound recordings made under controlled conditions in Mongolia in 1998 by a team led by Slaven Garaj, a physicist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne, support the contention that the sounds are real.[15] How these sounds could be generated, assuming they are in fact real, remains something of a mystery. It has been hypothesized by some scientists at NASA as that the turbulent ionized wake of a meteor interacts with the magnetic field of the Earth, generating pulses of radio waves. As the trail dissipates, megawatts of electromagnetic energy could be released, with a peak in the power spectrum at audio frequencies. Physical vibrations induced by the electromagnetic impulses would then be heard if they are powerful enough to make grasses, plants, eyeglass frames, and other conductive materials vibrate.[16][17][18][19] This proposed mechanism, although proven to be plausible by laboratory work, remains unsupported by corresponding measurements in the field.

[edit] Frequency of large meteors

See also: Planet Earth collision probability with near-Earth objects The biggest asteroid to hit Earth on any given day is likely to be about 40 centimeters, in a given year about 4 meters, and in a given century about 20 meters. These statistics are obtained by the following: Over at least the range from 5 centimeters (2 inches) to roughly 300 meters (1,000 feet), the rate at which Earth receives meteors obeys a power-law distribution as follows:

where N(>D) is the expected number of objects larger than a diameter of D meters to hit Earth in a year.[20] This is based on observations of bright meteors seen from the ground and space, combined with surveys of near Earth asteroids. Above 300 meters in diameter, the predicted rate is somewhat higher, with a two-kilometer asteroid (one million-megaton TNT equivalent) every couple of million years about 10 times as often as the power-law extrapolation would predict.

[edit] Notable meteors

See also: Near-Earth object#Historic impacts Perhaps the best-known meteor/meteorite fall is the Peekskill Meteorite, filmed on October 9, 1992 by at least 16 independent videographers.[21] Eyewitness accounts indicate the fireball entry of the Peekskill meteorite started over West Virginia at 23:48 UT (1 min). The fireball, which traveled in a northeasterly direction had a pronounced greenish color, and attained an estimated peak visual magnitude of -13. During a luminous flight time that exceeded 40 seconds the fireball covered a ground path of some 700 to 800 km.[22] One meteorite recovered at Peekskill, New York, for which the event and object gained its name, had a mass of 12.4 kg (27 lb) and was subsequently identified as an H6 monomict breccia meteorite.[23] The video record suggests that the Peekskill meteorite probably had several companions over a wide area, especially in the harsh terrain in the vicinity of Peekskill. A large fireball was observed in the skies near Bone, Indonesia on October 8, 2009. This was thought to be caused by an asteroid approximately 10 meters in diameter. The fireball contained an estimated energy of 50 kilotons of TNT, or about twice the Nagasaki atomic bomb. No injuries were reported.[24]

A large bolide was reported on 18 November 2009 over southeastern California, northern Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Colorado. At 12:07 a.m., a security camera at the high altitude W. L. Eccles Observatory (9600 ft above sea level) recorded a movie of the passage of the object to the north.[25][26] Of particular note in this video is the spherical "ghost" image slightly trailing the main object (this is likely a lens reflection of the intense fireball), and the bright fireball explosion associated with the breakup of a substantial fraction of the object. An object trail can be seen to continue northward after the bright fireball event. The shock from the final breakup triggered seven seismological stations in northern Utah; a timing fit to the seismic data yielded a terminal location of the object at 40.286 N, -113.191 W, altitude 27 km.[27] This is above the Dugway Proving Grounds, a closed Army testing base.

[edit] History
Although meteors have been known since ancient times, they were not known to be an astronomical phenomenon until early in the 19th century. Prior to that, they were seen in the West as an atmospheric phenomenon, like lightning, and were not connected with strange stories of rocks falling from the sky. Thomas Jefferson wrote "I would more easily believe that (a) Yankee professor would lie than that stones would fall from heaven."[28] He was referring to Yale chemistry professor Benjamin Silliman's investigation of an 1807 meteorite that fell in Weston, Connecticut.[28] Silliman believed the meteor had a cosmic origin, but meteors did not attract much attention from astronomers until the spectacular meteor storm of November 1833.[29] People all across the eastern United States saw thousands of meteors, radiating from a single point in the sky. Astute observers noticed that the radiant, as the point is now called, moved with the stars, staying in the constellation Leo.[30] The astronomer Denison Olmsted made an extensive study of this storm, and concluded it had a cosmic origin. After reviewing historical records, Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers predicted its return in 1867, which drew the attention of other astronomers. Hubert A. Newton's more thorough historical work led to a refined prediction of 1866, which proved to be correct.[29] With Giovanni Schiaparelli's success in connecting the Leonids (as they are now called) with comet Tempel-Tuttle, the cosmic origin of meteors was now firmly established. Still, they remain an atmospheric phenomenon, and retain their name "meteor" from the Greek word for "atmospheric".[31] It is important to realize that meteoroids do not, strictly speaking, "crash into" the earth. A more accurate concept is that the earth sweeps through their paths. Our planet travels at about 107,200 kilometres per hour (66,600 mph) around its orbit, collecting meteors in much the same way that a speeding car collects insects on its windshield.[32]

[edit] Gallery

Orionid Orionid Two Orionids and Milky Way Multi-colored Orionid

Orionid

The brightest meteor, a fireball, leaves a smoky, persistent trail drifting in high-altitude winds, which is seen at the right-hand side of the image left by Orionid.

Animated illustration of differences between A photograph of a a meteoroid, meteor Leonid meteor and meteorite showing a meteor,

ilding is a string of events belonging together.

- Chris Fawcett
Add to Favorite List

Be not imitator; freshly act thy part; Through this world be thou an independent ranger; Better is the faith that springeth from thy heart Than a better faith belonging to a stranger.

- Persian proverb
Add to Favorite List

Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us.

- Bill W.
Add to Favorite List

The man who has not anything to boast of but his illustrious ancestors is like a potato - the only good belonging to him is underground.

- Thomas Overbury
Add to Favorite List

The simple faith in progress is not a conviction belonging to strength, but one belonging to acquiescence and hence to weakness.

- Norbert Wiener
Add to Favorite List

Pages: 1

Jealousy Quotations 01 ~ In jealousy there is more of self-love than love. ~ Franois de la Rochefoucauld ~ A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity. ~ Robert A. Heinlein ~ There is no greater glory than love, nor any greater punishment than jealousy. ~ Lope de Vega ~ Jealous people poison their own banquet and then eat it ~ unknown ~ Peace of mind makes the body healthy, but jealousy is like a cancer. ~ Bible ~ Jealousy is the dragon in paradise; the hell of heaven; and the most bitter of the emotions because associated with the sweetest. ~ A.R. Orage ~ Jealousy is always born with love, but does not always die with it. ~ Franois Duc de La Rochefoucauld ~ Jealousy would be far less torturous if we understood that love is a passion entirely unrelated to our merits. ~

Paul Eldridge ~ Jealousy, that dragon which slays love under the pretense of keeping it alive. ~ Havelock Ellis ~ And oft, my jealousy shapes faults that are not. ~ William Shakespeare

~ Jealousy is all the fun you think they had. ~ Erica Jong ~ There is never jealousy where there is not strong regard ~ Washington Irving ~ Plain women are always jealous of their husbands. Beautiful women never are. They are always so occupied with being jealous of other women's husbands. ~ Oscar Wilde ~ O! beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on ~ William Shakespeare ~ The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves. ~ William Penn ~ Jealousy and love are sisters. ~ Russian Proverb ~ The jealous bring down the curse they fear upon their own heads. ~ Dorothy Dix ~ Love sees sharply, hatred sees even more sharp, but Jealousy sees the sharpest for it is love and hate at the same time ~ Arab Proverb ~ Jealousy is a tiger that tears not only its prey but also its own raging heart ~

unknown ~ Never waste jealousy on a real man: it is the imaginary man that supplants us all in the long run. ~ George Bernard Shaw ~ In jealousy there is more self-love than love. ~ Franois ~ He that is not jealous is not in love. ~ St. Augustine ~ Jealousy is no more than feeling alone against smiling enemies. ~ Elizabeth Bowen ~ Jealousy in romance is like salt in food. A little can enhance the savor, but too much can spoil the pleasure and, under certain circumstances, can be life-threatening. ~ Maya Angelou ~ Jealousy is an awkward homage which inferiority renders to merit. ~ Mme. de Puixieux ~ Anger and jealousy can no more bear to lose sight of their objects than love. ~ George Eliot ~ Jealousy is the great exaggerator. ~ Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller ~ Jealousy... is a mental cancer. ~ B.C. Forbes ~ Jealousy is nothing more than a fear of abandonment ~ Unknown ~ Jealousy is that pain which a man feels from the apprehension that he is not equally beloved by the person whom he entirely loves ~

Project: Love & Care

Auspice: Inala Community House Patron: Annastacia Palaszczuk MP Project Manager: Ann George Design Manager: Jean Thomas

About Us
Project: Love & Care is an inspired and unique program. It is our way of helping children in care, with very little cost to the individual. It is a program where many hands make light work, with no overheads and very little effort on any one's shoulders. The name was chosen because we love the children and care about what happens to them. The heart represents love and the yellow smiling face represents sunshine, warmth and hope.

Our Purpose
To provide Care Kits to children and young people from birth to seventeen years when they are first placed into foster care. The kits provide the child with something they can hold on to and call their own, and include basic items for personal hygiene, clothing, something to do and something to love, all chosen to suit the age and gender of the child. It is sad to see little children standing before you often with nothing but the clothes they are wearing. They feel lost, lonely and afraid and are often traumatised and emotionally scarred. Those precious souls need love and attention immediately to lessen their pain. The people who care cannot be everywhere, but our love can be felt if we all work together.

How Does it work?

We receive donations from the community. Ann and her friends make the Care Kits, Toiletry Kits, and Activity Kits from donated material to hold all the items, the only cost is the drawstring. The completed Kits will be given to each child, as soon as possible on removal from their homes by the Department of Child Safety or the Police. It will give each new child coming into care something to own and to hold onto during the transition to foster care.

All items are donated. There are no overhead costs. All money can be donated to Inala Community House on behalf of Project: Love & Care. We need donations of goods such as those needed for Kits. Every donation is welcome, however small.

Care Kits Contain

Toiletry Kits

Soap Face washer Toothbrush Toothpaste Hair brush or comb Hair bands or clips Sanitary pads Deodorant (roll on only) Small bottle of shampoo

Activity Kits

Crayons Lead pencils Coloured markers Coloured pencils Rubber Pencil sharpener Ruler (wood only)

Care Kits

Cuddly Toys Colouring book/s Exercise books Story books Underwear (must be new) Socks (must be new) Singlets Good second hand clothes for children (washed and ironed) Water bottles

How can you help?

Leave donations by phoning Ann. Ph: 0733728493 124B Buddleia Street Inala Q 4077 georgefamily_23@hotmail.com

Donations can be left at Ann's (124/B Buddleia St, Inala) where sorting and packing take place. The completed Kits are kept until packing day and then delivered to the different Departments of Child Safety. Each package holds a Toiletry Kit, Activity Kit and Care Kit. Please assist us to keep this project going to help our most precious gift - our children. Thank you for your willingnes

Inspirator
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search An inspirator is a device, similar to a venturi tube and an orifice plate, which mixes a fuel gas with atmospheric air in a precise ratio to regulate burn characteristics. Only the pressure of the fuel gas is used to draw in and mix the air. They are the most simple and common type of mixing device for gas stoves and furnaces. Burners using an inspirator are considered to be naturally aspirated. In an inspirator there are 2 tubes. The first is a fuel gas pipe with an orifice at the end where the gas comes out. Then in front of this there is another section of tubing with a larger diameter that the gas blows into. Usually (but not always) this second piece of tubing is tapered so that it starts getting narrower downstream from the orifice. Then, at a certain point, it stops getting narrower and either straightens out or starts getting larger again. This gives the fuel and air time to mix. The fuel/air ratio is determined by the ratio of the diameter of the orifice to the diameter of the mixing tube.

What is true love?

Written by Harriet Sun

Are you a starving student living in rez?

Check out Life in Residence on Facebook and see other students have to say about campus living. True love: what it is and what it isnt. Find out if youve got the real deal. Find out what to do to get the real McCoy. Try out our short course on True Love 101. I can picture the day. Rice flying, a limo pulling up to take him and me to the airport, white clusters of flowers on the pews, tears in my mothers eyes, my bridesmaids in lavender chiffon. All the details of my wedding day are worked out in my head. All of them, that is, except for the groom. Oops. Thats an important part, huh? Love. Its a commonly thrown around four-letter word. I love macaroni and cheese. I love Vanilla Ice. (Remember that?) Sometimes, even an I love him or I love her. What is real love? And is there a difference between that and the heart-pounding adrenaline rush I feel when I see? You know the person Im talking about. That hot guy playing basketball at the gym the cute girl who makes eye contact as she passes by the friend of a friend of a friend maybe a best friend. Its that person we keep track of when he or she is in the same room, whose comments and actions we analyze to no end. There are a few things love isnt. Love isnt a feeling. Although real love is often accompanied by strong feelings, love does not equate with the sense of floating on clouds. Unlike the type of love that movies, television, and songs portray, people in love dont always feel ooey gooey around each other. A relationship wouldnt last long on emotions. In fact, knowledge is the basis of a healthy relationship. Knowing about the other person is key. I used to and sometimes still do fall in love with guys that I have never had a conversation with, whether it be a movie star in the latest romantic drama or the guy sitting behind me in a calculus class. I would know his name and his face, and that was the extent of my knowledge of him. If I were to start a relationship with him, who knows where that would lead us! Knowing about the persons personality and character are so important. One good test is to list the qualities that attract us to that guy or girl. If the list is long, we know a lot about them and like those things. If the list is short, we either dont know a lot about them or we know a lot but arent attracted to his or her personality. Another important factor in a relationship is common life goals. If the relationship is going to be long term, we need to be going in the same general direction as the other person. If his dream is to travel as an international businessman and she wants to be a realtor in a single location, conflict could arise. If she wants to live in the countryside with

nature and he likes the hustle and bustle of a big city, there are potentially serious problems with the direction of the couples lives. Love isnt sex. That statement alone goes against a lot of what the entertainment industry feeds us. Whenever two people hook up in pop culture, they have sex. Without showing some of the unpleasant realities of premarital and extramarital sex, it is drawn up to be a wonderful, fun recreational activity. Sex is created for marriagea long-lasting commitment between a couple. Outside of marriage, sex can have harsh consequences. Pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, guilt, insecurity, and shame can follow. A relationship based on lust can only last as long as the two are physically close and find each other sexually attractive. Love is a choice. Its a commitment. Although feelings will accompany love, and although sex will be a part of marriage, a lasting, healthy relationship cannot be based on these things. The Bible says that God is love. God, as our designer and creator, made us with needs for love. Do you ever wonder why we constantly seek love from others but never feel completely satisfied? Its because God designed us for an unconditional love, and we, as people, are flawed. Is true love possible? Tell us what you think People, whether friends, family, or your significant other, will invariably let you down at some point. God wants us to find our need for love and acceptance in him first. One person cannot meet all our needs, even if hes funny or shes thoughtful.

We were made for Gods love, and Gods love alone can fill that need. Only after experiencing and knowing the unconditional love that God has for us, the love that drove God to send his Son to die for us on earth, can we begin to love others with the same quality of unconditional lov

WHAT MAKES A DIAMOND SPARKLE

Brilliance is an essential attribute of a beautiful diamond and has 2 components; brightness and contrast. Bright diamonds return lots of light from the surroundings back to a 'face up' an observer. If light from above leaks out the back of a diamond, naturally it has less brightness. But light that enters and leaves in the face up direction is wasted because your head blocks the lights. Diamonds that are too deep or very shallow do this -they have areas that act like a mirror back to the viewer; they return less light and so they have less brightness.

To be brilliant, a diamond needs more than just brightness. Consider the contrast of a chess board, although it has only 1/2 the light return of a sheet of white paper, it appears brighter, especially when it is moved because it 'scintillates'. Fire or dispersed light appears as flashes of rainbow colors. You see more fire in darker environments like restaurants that have just a few point light sources or just a flickering candle. Fire is also a result of a diamond's symmetry and proportions. There are several factors that greatly influence the amount of fire a diamond produces such as star facet length, lower girdle facet length, pavilion angle, facet junctions, the angle at which light enters the diamond, and the angle of the light rays as they exit the diamond. Diamond experts have known for a long time that steep crown angles and small tables (like 'old cut' diamonds) produce more fire. But this combination also produces less light return. Less light return makes it easier to see fiery flashes that might otherwise be swamped by bright white sparkles; that one reason is why old cut diamonds and some fancy cuts appear to have a lot of fire. Scintillation is the intense sparkles in a diamond as it moves. Black and white sparkles of scintillation show well in flood lit or office lighting environments where fire can be totally absent. Under pin point or spot lights fire also adds to scintillation. Ideally a diamond has many pleasing flashes spread across the surface of the stone, with few dull dead patches. Polish is graded the same way as symmetry: Ideal, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair or Poor on a GIA report. Poorly polished facets may reduce the intensity of light reflected from, or refracted into and out of, a diamond. Labs assess polish by examining the diamond, facet by facet, with reflected light under a microscope; you or I may not see any difference.

How symmetry and proportions maximize light return

Every facet in an AGS Ideal Cut diamond must be placed at precise angles and contain precise proportions. This ensures an Ideal balance between maximum brilliance and dispersion of light. Any discrepancy from these proportions will disrupt the even distribution and dispersion of light within the stone, resulting in a loss of sparkle.

A well-proportioned pavilion is especially important to a diamond's brilliance. Brilliance is the brightness created by the combination of all the white light reflections from the surface and the inside of a polished diamond. If the pavilion is too deep or too shallow, it causes light to strike outside the critical angle - the largest angle at which light rays inside the diamond can escape - causing the light to exit through the pavilion rather than reflecting back to the eye as brilliance.

WHAT MAKES A DIAMOND SPARKLE

Brilliance is an essential attribute of a beautiful diamond and has 2 components; brightness and contrast. Bright diamonds return lots of light from the surroundings back to a 'face up' an observer. If light from above leaks out the back of a diamond, naturally it has less brightness. But light that enters and leaves in the face up direction is wasted because your head blocks the lights. Diamonds that are too deep or very shallow do this -they have areas that act like a mirror back to the viewer; they return less light and so they have less brightness. To be brilliant, a diamond needs more than just brightness. Consider the contrast of a chess board, although it has only 1/2 the light return of a sheet of white paper, it appears brighter, especially when it is moved because it 'scintillates'. Fire or dispersed light appears as flashes of rainbow colors. You see more fire in darker environments like restaurants that have just a few point light sources or just a flickering candle. Fire is also a result of a diamond's symmetry and proportions. There are several factors that greatly influence the amount of fire a diamond produces such as star facet length, lower girdle facet length, pavilion angle, facet junctions, the angle at which light enters the diamond, and the angle of the light rays as they exit the diamond. Diamond experts have known for a long time that steep crown angles and small tables (like 'old cut' diamonds) produce more fire. But this combination also produces less light return. Less light return makes it easier to see fiery flashes that might otherwise be swamped by bright white sparkles; that one reason is why old cut diamonds and some fancy cuts appear to have a lot of fire. Scintillation is the intense sparkles in a diamond as it moves. Black and white sparkles of scintillation show well in flood lit or office lighting environments where fire can be totally absent. Under pin point or spot lights fire also adds to scintillation. Ideally a diamond has many pleasing flashes spread across the surface of the stone, with few dull dead patches. Polish is graded the same way as symmetry: Ideal, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair or Poor on a GIA report. Poorly polished facets may reduce the intensity of light reflected from, or refracted into and out of, a diamond. Labs assess polish by examining the diamond, facet by facet, with reflected light under a microscope; you or I may not see any difference.

How symmetry and proportions maximize light return

Every facet in an AGS Ideal Cut diamond must be placed at precise angles and contain precise proportions. This ensures an Ideal balance between maximum brilliance and dispersion of light. Any discrepancy from these proportions will disrupt the even distribution and dispersion of light within the stone, resulting in a loss of sparkle.

A well-proportioned pavilion is especially important to a diamond's brilliance. Brilliance is the brightness created by the combination of all the white light reflections from the surface and the inside of a polished diamond. If the pavilion is too deep or too shallow, it causes light to strike outside the critical angle - the largest angle at which light rays inside the diamond can escape - causing the light to exit through the pavilion rather than reflecting back to the eye as brilliance.