Up At The Ranch And Beyond

[Bluegreen]

The Night Sky

Friday-Saturday, June 20-21 - Northern Summer Solstice



On Friday, June 20 at 10:42 p.m. EDT or 7:42 p.m. PDT (which converts to Saturday at 0242 GMT), the sun will reach its northernmost declination for the year, delivering the maximum daylight hours of the year for the Northern Hemisphere and the minimum daylight hours of the year for the Southern Hemisphere. The June solstice marks the beginning of the summer season in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere.


Saturday-Sunday, June 21-22 - Crescent moon crosses Venus



After another 48 hours of eastward orbital motion, the crescent moon will move to shine off to the upper right (or celestial west) of brilliant Venus in the eastern sky on Saturday morning, June 21. The pair will make a lovely photo opportunity from the time Venus rises, at about 3 a.m. local time, until the brightening sky hides them. The following morning, the moon will shine to Venus' upper left and a little closer to the planet.


Wednesday, June 25 - New Moon - Stargazers' Delight



On Wednesday, June 25 at 6:32 a.m. EDT, 3:32 a.m. PDT (1032 GMT, the moon will officially reach its new moon phase. At the new phase, our natural satellite will be located in western Gemini, and about 4 degrees north of the sun. While new, the moon is travelling between Earth and the sun. Since sunlight can only shine on the far side of the moon, and the moon is in the same region of the sky as the sun, it becomes completely hidden from view from anywhere on Earth for about a day. After the new moon phase, Earth's celestial night-light will return to shine as a crescent in the western evening sky.

[Bluegreen]

Litha – Summer Solstice





The Origins and Meaning of Litha





Litha (pronounced Lee-tha or sometimes Lit-ah, depending on tradition) marks the summer solstice — the longest day and shortest night of the year. It falls around June 20 and 21 in the Northern Hemisphere, when the Sun reaches its highest point in the sky.

For Wiccans and many modern pagans, Litha is the solar climax of the Wheel of the Year — a fiery, golden celebration of growth, joy, abundance and light. It’s a time to revel in nature’s bounty, to celebrate all that has blossomed since spring, and to honor the turning point as the days now begin, slowly, to shorten.

It follows Beltane, the fiery celebration of fertility and union, and comes before Lughnasadh (or Lammas), the first harvest festival. While Imbolc and Ostara sparked the light, and Beltane ignited passion, Litha is the Sun in full blaze — a moment to honor life at its fullest, just before the wheel turns toward the waning half of the year. Like Mabon and Yule, its power lies in transition — and in the magic of balance shifting.

As such, Litha invites reflection as well as revelry — a pause in the sunlight to take stock of what you’ve grown, and where you’re headed.





Historically, midsummer festivals were marked with bonfires, dancing, and rituals to protect crops, cattle and communities. In Norse tradition, blazing wheels were rolled down hills to mimic the sun’s path. In ancient Rome, festivals for Juno and Vesta aligned with the solstice, while in Slavic countries, it was a time of fertility rites and water magic.

Every culture that watched the Sun’s rise knew this moment mattered. And it still does.










https://www.thenotsoinnocentsabroad....ummer-solstice

[Bluegreen]

George Carlin Coast to Coast with Art Bell



Mr Carlin had a lifelong fascination with UFOs and the beyond. He rarely talked about it. Interview from 1999.

(1:22:22)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=jcjXIE8N5Vs

[Bluegreen]

More George

Colonizing Space

George has opinions on space travel.

(1:07)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=3hcWWTF8WUw

[Bluegreen]

There May Be A ‘Third State’ Between Life And Death





As humans, we typically look at life and death as two sides of the same coin. However, some researchers believe there could be a “third state” between the two. One piece of evidence for this additional state is the way we continue to use organs, tissues, and cells beyond when the organism they’re attached to dies. Somehow, they continue living.

In a post on The Conversation, researchers behind a new paper break down exactly how they think these biobots exist, and how they were able to take cells and turn them into multicellular organisms with new functions after their death. Despite how it sounds, these aren’t zombie cells. Instead, they appear to be new organisms with an entirely different life to live.

But how exactly does this prove that there is a third state beyond life and death? Well, typically death is viewed as the irreversible end of an organism. At that point, there’s no more functioning for the organism in question. But that isn’t the case here. Instead, the researchers proved that certain cells could live on and be changed into something completely different.

This third state then, challenges everything scientists understand about cell behavior. Because they can turn the already existing cells into new organisms with different purposes, they have started calling them living robots. These organisms could have multiple uses in medical and scientific fields, though researchers are still working to understand exactly how this happens.

Published 16th June 2025 by Joshua Hawkins – BGR
https://bgr.com/science/there-may-be...ife-and-death/

Scientists Create the Next Generation of Living Robots



Scientists at Tufts University and the University of Vermont team up to create the next version of Xenobots – tiny biological robots that self-assemble, carry out tasks, and can repair themselves.

(1:40)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=g_eLsiAv8w4

[Johnnycomelately]

Th 1950’s were a wacky decade, especially for aviation. Here is the story of a successful attempt at setting a new world record for number of days aloft for a manned airplane, which record still stands.

This plane, a Cessna 172 high-wing 4-seater, flew for 56 days, getting fuel twice a day from a truck and food and water when necessary from same.

This record has never been broken. They landed on Feb 7, 1959, so they were airborne when my dad sent my mom to the hospital in a taxi to birth me. Feels like I should be famous for that, except that this stunt was so inane. The record achiever swore off any further such effort, basically painting it as a dumb thing to have to endure. “If I start talking of doing this again, please put me in a garbage can a feed me chopped up food in a thermos, until a psychiatrist can get down there”.


How a Tiny Cessna Set an UNBREAKABLE Record

EverydayAero
674 subscribers

Posted June 14, 2025

“In this video I cover the seemingly unbreakable record set by a Cessna in the 1950’s. The most commonly available plane ever set a record so difficult to beat that it has never been broken since, despite incredible advancements in technology.”

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=b_yWU80TzWc

[Bluegreen]

Space Bites w/Fraser Cain



Artificial Solar Eclipses // Mother of All Meteor Storms // Vera Rubin's First Light

A new mission can make solar eclipses on demand, what do supernovae and stellar flybys do to Earth’s climate, how asteroid 2024 YR4 will make the mother of all meteor showers, and Starship 36 explodes during testing in Texas.

Published 20th June 2025 (22:13)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=wI_Hk36bx7Q

Mr Cain defers to others for video of the Starship explosion.

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
SpaceX Starship 36 Explodes during Flight 10 Testing at Starbase

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=71AwkBt3_ts

[Bluegreen]

Matt Finn: Electric Glow of the Sun | Thunderbolts



Published 22nd June 2025 (11:28)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=gUe-sUCP2hU

The radiance of the Sun remains a mystery. Other than the occasional aurora, lightning flash, volcanic eruption, or comet discharging, it's the only body in our solar system that produces it's own visible light. All others reflect the light of the Sun.

So what unique trait of the Sun enables it to shine?

We're told the Sun is a colossal ball of gas powered by thermonuclear fusion—churning out heat and light in a predictable, mechanical dance. It's a bold claim told confidently, taught in textbooks, and it's hard to find any experts willing to question—but is it accurate, or is Big Space ignoring the evidence that doesn't fit the model?

Author and narrator Matt Finn explores the Sun’s behavior, its dazzling displays of energy, and how its intricate structures point to something far more dynamic—an Electric Universe where plasmatic matter and the electric charge, not just gravity, call the shots.

[Bluegreen]

Heat Wave Relief



Driving from Truckee California to Lake Tahoe in a Blizzard 4k

(38:30) / (39:25)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=iJnrqbYlO_Y

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=EjGutXxcieI

Timed to be played simultaneously if you like.

[Bluegreen]

Houdini's Lost Diaries Revealed (S2, E4) | History's Greatest Mysteries | Full Episode

Harry Houdini left behind a diary that had been kept from the public, held under lock and key by a wealthy New York City family. Now, magician and Houdini expert Bill Kalush has finally secured access to these pages.

Just an in-depth biography really, no new revelations, but quite good. The contemporary magicians interviewed obviously revere the man to this day.

Published 17th June 2025 (1:20:03)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=keKsgIpOhHU

[Johnnycomelately]

For lovers of the old west. “A love triangle”.

L = 38:51

Best of: Tombstone

The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

1.56M subscribers

Jun 25, 2025

“While The History Guy is off eating tea and crumpets in the UK, enjoy three classic episodes about the Earps in Tombstone.

00:00 The Lowdown Murder of Morgan Earp
13:30 Wyatt Earp's Rivals: Old Man Clanton and the Cowboys
24:46 Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp: Wyatt Earp's Common Law Wife”

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=PRVfrUKH-Q4

[Bluegreen]

Orbs Around The World

Metallic Spherical UFO Flying Over Shayukou Reservoir: Beijing, China, June 5, 2025

(2:00)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=yxv8DNKtXKw

Eyewitness:

"On June 5th, around 7 PM, I was walking and taking photos of the scenery on the shallow area of Shayukou Reservoir. At first, I saw a metallic spherical object flying eastward above the water surface from the west side of the reservoir. At that time, it seemed to hover occasionally before continuing to fly, and it disappeared behind a hill. I initially thought it was just a strange hydrogen balloon and didn’t pay much attention. Around 7:30 PM, as I was about to head back, the sphere reappeared in the south. There was no wind at all, and the evening was very quiet. Surprisingly, the sphere was able to fly at varying altitudes, hovering midway before continuing to fly.

I watched for a few minutes and became certain it was definitely not a balloon or a drone. I then started filming, but the object was strange—every time I filmed for a short while, it would move behind the trees. Whenever I thought it had completely disappeared, it would reappear. This continued intermittently for over ten minutes, during which I recorded three video clips. After the last clip, it disappeared completely."

Source:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/commen...tted_in_china/

[RunningDeer]

Divers Discover Vintage Car at the Bottom of Banff Lake

June 13, 2025
Rebecca McPhee
article

Photo: Alan Keller

For eight decades, a local legend spoke of an old car that had sunk beneath the surface of Lake Minnewanka in Alberta’s Banff National Park. The story started so long ago that people were unsure if it was actually true. Now, a group of divers has found the vintage car. 

Passed down through generations, the story tells of a man who drove his vehicle out onto the frozen lake. As he stopped on the ice to set up his camera, the ice cracked. He could only watch on as his car sank into the lake. This likely happened sometime in the late 1930s or early 1940s. The exact details of the incident have faded over time. 

The scuba-diving grapevine

Divers John Ryan, Alan Keller, and Brian Nadwidny heard about the car through the scuba-diving grapevine and decided to see if they could actually find it.

“We found it because there were people in the lake a few years ago doing some searching for other purposes,” Keller told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “And so they came across this target. And of course with the world being a small place and scuba divers being a small community, they shared that information with us.”

After about seven minutes of searching, they spotted the old car, which lay 55m down. The lake’s frigid temperature had preserved it remarkably well. Keller described the excitement they felt when they made the discovery.

“It was a state of like, ‘Holy cow, we actually found it,’ ” said Keller. “To be able to find something so small on a first go, but also to be the first people to lay your eyes on it after 85 years was pretty spectacular.”

The group thinks the car is a 1928 Hudson Essex Saloon. It still bears its Saskatchewan license plate, number 48009. Sitting upright on the lake bed, its body largely intact, you can even see the park pass from some angles. 

Although divers cannot remove the car due to its location in a protected national park, they have captured detailed photos and video, offering a rare glimpse into a piece of lost history. Parks Canada has confirmed that the vehicle poses no environmental risk and will remain in place. 

[Bluegreen]

Bright Green Fireball Lights Up Skies Over Northeast US States



Published 26th June 2025 (1:08)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=SHbHcNFm4EE

[Bluegreen]

A Closer Look At The Damage To Starship's Test Site



During a static fire test of the SpaceX Starship's upper stage and before engine ignition, a catastrophic anomaly resulted in the loss of the vehicle, and with it, a good chunk of the test stand. In various videos showcasing the aftermath, you can see some of the damage done to the test stand itself, along with some of the propellant tanks and infrastructure.

Published 19th June 2025 (8:03)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=GxjZNMSHVT4

[Bluegreen]

Project Camelot Interviews Brian O’Leary: Space Exploration, and the Future of Humanity



In this captivating 2009 interview, Project Camelot sits down with Dr. Brian O’Leary, a former NASA astronaut, physicist, and visionary advocate for free energy, sustainable technologies, and the exploration of humanity’s cosmic potential. Recorded on February 25, 2009, this conversation delves into O’Leary’s groundbreaking work and his vision for a future free from the constraints of fossil fuels and outdated systems.

(1:40:50)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=_4RH29j_gcg

[Bluegreen]

How The Country With the Most Gold Stole It From ...



Bankers: First stop – Hell. Includes paid promotion.

Published 15th April 2025 (21:10)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=QIQxAVj3dVI

[Bluegreen]

Boötes the Herdsman and the Bright Star Arcturus





Boötes the Herdsman is a Northern Hemisphere constellation best seen in the late spring or early summer. It’s one of the largest constellations in the sky, ranking 13th out of 88. Boötes is most famous for its bright star Arcturus, which is the 4th brightest star in the night sky.






Locating the constellation Boötes

You can find Boötes south of Ursa Major the Great Bear, off the handle of the Big Dipper. Boötes’ brightest star, Arcturus, is part of a mnemonic device used to orient people to the night sky. And, because the Big Dipper is easy for most observers to find, you can use the handle of the dipper to point to other important stars. The saying goes, “Arc to Arcturus, spy to Spica.” This means that as you follow the curve in the
dipper’s handle away from Ursa Major, you will run into a bright star, and this is Arcturus in Boötes. The other star mentioned in the saying is Spica, which is a part of Virgo.


Tracing out the shape of Boötes

Boötes is supposed to be the figure of a man, which is somewhat recognizable with its tall diamond shape and two stick legs jutting out at the bottom. The point at which the tall diamond shape and stick legs intersect is the star Arcturus. In addition, the Herdsman also appears to have his left arm raised over his head. Some say it’s easy to pick out as a kite-shaped group of stars.


The stars in the Herdsman

Arcturus, the brightest star in Boötes, shines at magnitude -0.04. Arcturus is the 4th brightest star in the night sky. The name Arcturus means bear watcher or bear guard, referring to its closeness to Ursa Major. Lying 37 light-years away from Earth, Arcturus (or Alpha Boötis) glows with a faint orange hue.

The second brightest star in Boötes lies on the left side of the diamond shape. It’s called Izar, or Epsilon Boötis, and is 10 degrees up from Arcturus. It’s a magnitude 2.37 star lying 203 light-years away.

The third brightest star in Boötes is his left knee, which is found to the lower right of Arcturus (assume that all objects in the sky are facing you, the observer). This star is Muphrid, or Eta Boötis, at magnitude 2.68. Muprhid lies 37 light-years away.

The bright orange star Arcturus is especially noteworthy for its large proper motion, or sideways motion, as seen on the dome of Earth’s sky. Arcturus is actually moving at a tremendous speed (122 km/s or 76 miles/s) relative to our solar system. From the vantage point of Earth, Arcturus is rapidly moving in a southerly direction at a rate of 3.9 arcminutes per century. Its closest point to Earth will be about 4,000 years from now.
Boötes the Herdsman and its bright star Arcturus

The other stars in the body of the Herdsman are all of comparable brightness. Starting above Izar and working up, around and back toward Arcturus are the stars Delta Boötis, Beta Boötis aka Nekkar (consider this Boötes’ neck), Gamma Boötis (or Seginus) and Rho Boötis.

Delta Boötis shines at magnitude 3.46 at a distance of 121 light-years. Nekkar shines at magnitude 3.49 and lies 219 light-years distant. Seginus has the brightest magnitude of these four stars, at 3.04. It is also the closest of the four at 84 light-years. Finally, Rho Boötis, which lies almost even with Izar, shines at magnitude 3.57 and lies 149 light-years away.

Arcturus shows large proper motion

https://x.com/tony873004/status/1537256771936350208


The bright orange star Arcturus is especially noteworthy for its large proper motion, or sideways motion, as seen on the dome of Earth’s sky. Arcturus is actually moving at a tremendous speed (122 km/s or 76 miles/s) relative to our solar system.

From the vantage point of Earth, Arcturus is rapidly moving in a southerly direction at a rate of 3.9 arcminutes per century. Its closest point to Earth will be about 4,000 years from now. Then as it moves away, it will vanish from visibility to the unaided eye in about 500,000 years.Why is Arcturus so much brighter and why does it move so much faster than the other stars in the constellation? The answer is because Arcturus is much closer to us compared to the other stars in Boötes.

Published 12th June 2025 by Kelly Kizer Whitt – EarthSky.org
https://earthsky.org/constellations/...sman-arcturus/

[Bluegreen]

'World's Richest Shipwreck' Reveal Golden Depictions of Castles, Lions and Jerusalem Crosses

"Holy Grail of Shipwrecks"





Researchers used robotic diving vehicles to study gold coins on the seafloor by the wreck of the Spanish galleon San José.




Details of gold "cobs" observed in ROV images from the wreck site indicate they came from the 1708 wreck of the San José treasure galleon

New details of gold coins found off the coast of Colombia around the "world's richest shipwreck" verify they are from the Spanish galleon San José, a treasure ship that sank in 1708 during a cannon duel with British warships.

The galleon was laden with up to 200 tons (180 metric tons) of gold, silver and uncut gemstones when it sank, and the treasure's modern value may be as high as $17 billion.

Colombia's government hopes to recover some of the artifacts for a dedicated museum that is yet to be built. But there are opposing claimants, including the Spanish government, which asserts the wrecks of its naval vessels, no matter how old, remain the property of Spain.

The authors of a new study, published June 10 in the journal Antiquity, include researchers from Colombia's navy and other Colombian authorities. Their analysis included studying images taken by remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) of dozens of rough coins that now lie scattered around the wreck at a depth of roughly 1,970 feet (600 meters).

In 2015, Colombia's government announced that it had located the San José in the Colombian Caribbean near the city of Cartagena, and the observations were made during four ROV expeditions to the wreck in 2021 and 2022. According to the study, the observations confirm that the coins and the nearby wreck debris are from the 1708 wreck of the San José.




The ROV dives in 2021 and 2022 revealed dozens of distinctive gold cobs at several locations within the wreck, surrounded by other artifacts

The researchers describe seeing dozens of rough gold coins — the total number is not known — at several locations within the shipwreck, surrounded by other artifacts from the cargo, guns and everyday life as it was on board more than 300 years ago.

They used high-definition photography to closely examine the coins and determined that they had an average diameter of 1.3 inches (32.5 millimeters) and a likely weight of 27 grams (about 1 ounce).

The ROV images revealed the coins' designs. One side has a variation of a Jerusalem cross — one large cross surrounded by four smaller crosses — and a shield decorated with castles and lions. On the back, these coins show the "Crowned Pillars of Hercules above the waves of the sea," with the waves being unique to the Lima Mint, the researchers wrote in the study.

They also noted that some bore distinctive marks that had been hammered into the metal, including the marks of an assayer — an expert who tests the purity of metal — from the Spanish mint in Lima, now the capital of Peru, in 1707.

Study lead author Daniela Vargas Ariza, a maritime archaeologist at Colombia's Almirante Padilla Naval Cadet School in Cartagena and the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History in Bogotá, said these colonial Spanish coins were often cut from gold or silver ingots.

"Hand-struck, irregularly shaped coins — known as cobs in English and macuquinas in Spanish — served as the primary currency in the Americas for more than two centuries," she said in a statement.




The "cobs" made in Spanish colonial mints in the Americas were hand-struck coins, often irregularly shaped and cut from gold or silver ingots

The San José wreck is one of the most valuable ever found, and there are intense legal disputes about who has the right to recover it — although it's not known if that's possible. Colombia hopes some of the treasure could be sold to pay for the archaeological recovery effort of the entire ship, but Colombian law may prohibit selling anything deemed a historical artifact.

Spain also claims the shipwreck and all of its treasure, under an international convention on the Law of the Sea that states the wrecks of naval vessels belong to their original nation. But Colombia hasn't ratified that convention, and critics say the provision is intended to protect modern warship technologies, not centuries-year-old treasure wrecks.

The San José was leading a treasure fleet of 18 ships from Cartagena bound for Europe on June 8, 1708, when it was attacked by a squadron of five British warships; Britain was Spain's enemy during the War of the Spanish Succession at that time.

Published 9th June 2025 by Tom Metcalfe - Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/archaeol...usalem-crosses

[Bluegreen]

Space Rock | Seán Doran / Chris Zabriskie





MARS - Real Colors of the Red Planet - Volume I [ 8k ]


(58:20)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=FMb9yqdVML8