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Wednesday/ a little hail ⛈️

A storm brought thunder, lightning and a little hail to the city today (a quarter inch).

By 6 pm I could go for a walk with my umbrella but I did not venture out too far. It was only 42°F  (5 °C).

There was some damage to the tulips and daffodils in the neighborhood.
A Tesla service truck full of Tesla tires was out and about, and had just replaced the rear wheel and tire on a white Model Y by the curb.

Hail covers Seattle’s Denny Way on Wednesday afternoon.
[Photo by Karen Ducey / The Seattle Times]
The Tesla service truck had come out to replace this Tesla Model Y’s wheel.
(Teslas do not come with spare tires, spare wheels, or jacks in any of their models. The space is saved to increase cargo volume and improve energy efficiency. Instead, Tesla provides roadside assistance and recommends using a portable tire repair kit with a sealant and compressor for minor punctures.)
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Tuesday/ it’s World Quantum Day ⚛️

Happy World Quantum Day.

World Quantum Day is an international celebration held annually on April 14 (4.14, a nod to Planck’s constant*, to promote public awareness and understanding of quantum science and technology.
It features global events, including lectures, lab tours, and workshops, aiming to make quantum physics more accessible.

*The value of Planck’s constant is about 4.135667696×10^−15 eV⋅Hz−1.
There is another value for it, in SI units— the one that we used in science class in high school, which came to approximately 6.62607015×10^−34 J⋅Hz−1 .
Ten to the power minus 34 is an infinitesimally small quantity and we would say about something annoying or boring ‘I care less about it than Planck’s Constant, ha ha ha 😁’ as a little inside joke, understood and appreciated by the science class nerds.

A major advance in the understanding of atomic structures began in 1924 with a proposition made by Fench physicist and nobleman Prince Louis de Broglie (pronounced ‘de broy’). It was already known at the time that light is dualistic in nature— behaving in some situations like waves and in others like particles. De Broglie proposed that this duality should hold for matter in general. Electrons and protons, he said (thought of as particles at the time), may in some situations behave like waves. This was the start of a revolution in thinking about physics at the sub-atomic level— a detailed theory called quantum mechanics.
The foundational, modern quantum mechanics of the 1920s was primarily laid by Werner Heisenberg (matrix mechanics), Erwin Schrödinger (wave mechanics), Max Born (probability interpretation), and Paul Dirac (transformation theory/relativity).
They built on earlier quantum theories from Max Planck and Niels Bohr, with key contributions from Wolfgang Pauli and Louis de Broglie.
Above are diagrams of the 1s, 2s, and 3s hydrogen-atom wave functions. These are solutions to the Schrödinger equation describing an electron in the lowest orbital angular momentum state (l=0) at different energy levels.
The wave functions are spherically symmetric (no angular dependence), decay exponentially with distance from the nucleus, and possess n-1 radial nodes, representing increasing energy and distance from the nucleus.
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Monday/ tulips in the P-Patch 🌷

It was a cool, drizzly day here in the city (56 °F/ 13°C).
By late afternoon, it was time to get away from all the insanity in the news. I walked down to the Thomas Street Gardens P-Patch, where I found the tulips.

Note: A P-Patch is a parcel of property used for gardening.
The term is specific to Seattle.
The “P” originally stood for “Picardo”, after the family who owned Picardo Farm in Seattle’s Wedgwood neighborhood, part of which became the original P-Patch in the city.
[From WIkipedia]

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Sunday/ Orban is out 👏

Hungary’s Viktor Orban, ally of Trump and Putin, concedes election defeat

With record turnout, Hungarians chose to end the 16-year rule of the prime minister who was a self-proclaimed champion of illiberal Christian democracy.

– Headlines from the Washington Post

The election in Hungary made me look up these pictures of political and propaganda posters that I took inside the Budapest History Museum.

It was December of 2008 and a heady time for me.
I had just voted in my first election— as a new American citizen— and Senator Barack Obama was now President-elect Obama.

HUNGARIANS! THE RED ARMY WILL LIBERATE YOUR HOMELAND FROM THE FASCIST YOKE!
The Red Army (officially the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army) was the armed force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, later, the Soviet Union (USSR). Founded in 1918 to defend the Bolshevik revolution, it became one of the largest and most influential militaries in history, pivotal in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II and, in 1946, it was renamed the Soviet Army.
Statistics from World War I.
World War I caused the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, resulting in severe consequences for Hungary. The 1920 Treaty of Trianon stripped Hungary of two-thirds of its territory and over half its population. The nation suffered 600,000 soldier deaths, severe economic collapse, and post-war political instability, leading to a conservative, “counterrevolutionary” regime led by Miklós Horthy.
Imre Nagy (born June 7, 1896, Kaposvár, Hung., Austria-Hungary—died June 16, 1958, Budapest, Hung.) was a Hungarian statesman, independent Communist, and premier of the 1956 revolutionary government whose attempt to establish Hungary’s independence from the Soviet Union cost him his life.(He was put on trial, sentenced to death, and executed).
– From Britannica.com
The Workers’ Militia (Munkásőrség) was an armed paramilitary force formed in Hungary after the 1956 Revolution, operating from 1957 to 1989. Under the direct control of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party (MSZMP), it served as a loyal force to defend the communist regime and prevent another uprising, often viewed as a security check against both the public and regular armed forces.
A poster for the 1989 Hungarian Referendum
A four-part referendum was held in Hungary on 26 November 1989.
Voters were asked whether the President should be elected after parliamentary elections, whether organizations related to the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party should be banned from workplaces, whether the party should account for properties owned or managed by it, and whether the Workers’ Militia should be dissolved.
All four proposals were passed, the first narrowly by 50.1% of voters, and the remaining three by 95% of voters. Voter turnout was 58.0%.
[From Wikipedia]
Poster for the Communist Youth League called
“Let the Communist Youth League be the heir to the most beautiful traditions of Hungarian youth, the successor to the youth of March and the sacrificial struggles of the KIMSZ.”
The text on this Hungarian propaganda poster, originally created by artist Sándor Légrády in 1919 and later reprinted in 1957, translates to:
You! Rumor-spreading counter-revolutionary hiding in the dark. Tremble!
The Hungarian text on the poster translates to:
“For the country of iron, steel, and machines, vote for the People’s Front!”
This is a 1949 Hungarian propaganda poster for the Hungarian Independent People’s Front.
It was created to encourage citizens to support the Communist-led coalition during national elections, emphasizing industrialization as a key national goal.
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Saturday/ no deal 😵

U.S. And Iran Fail to Agree on Peace Deal After 21 Hours of Talks, Vance Says

Vice President JD Vance said the Iranian delegation had not accepted American terms for ending the war after a marathon, face-to-face session in Pakistan.

    – Headline and reporting from the New York Times
A report from Farnaz Fassihi on the New York Times live blog.
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Friday/ the splashdown 💦

Happy Friday.
It was great to watch the live feed of the splashdown of the Orion spacecraft.

A visualization by NASA of the Orion spacecraft after it had entered Earth’s atmosphere, here still some 30 miles from Earth.
(The Orion spacecraft seems to be kind of upside down, or— it seems an odd angle to present to the viewer for the visualization). 
Look at the Orion’s speed: 25,127 mph (7 miles per second). 
Superheated plasma (ionized atoms from atmospheric gases) builds up all around the capsule, not just at the bottom, creating a “fireball” effect. The ionized gas enveloping the craft caused a 6-minute data and communication blackout.
The first parachutes (drogue chutes) for the Orion capsule deploy at an altitude of 20,000 to 25,000 feet (about 6 to 7.6 km, 4 to 5 miles) above Earth.
The final three main parachutes for the Orion capsule deploy at an altitude of approximately 6,000 feet (about 1,800 meters, about 1.1 mile).
NASA’s Orion spacecraft with Artemis II crewmembers NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist aboard is seen as it lands in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026.
NASA’s Artemis II mission took Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a nearly 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth.
Following a splashdown at 8:07 p.m. EDT, NASA, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force teams are working to bring the crewmembers and Orion spacecraft aboard USS John P. Murtha.
[Photo and caption by NASA/Bill Ingalls, posted on NASA HQ photostream on flickr.com] 
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Wednesday/ a ride on the 2 Line 🚉

I walked down to the Capitol Hill light rail station this morning, and took the new 2 Line extension to Judkins Park station (it opened on Saturday March 28).

At Judkins Park station, my two amigos joined me, and we went on to Bellevue Downtown station to go to a movie theater there. (I will report about the movie later).

The map and the drone picture below it are from the Seattle Times.
The rest of the images are my snapshots from the roundtrip on the 2 Line from Capitol Hill Station to Bellevue Downtown, and back.

The Judkins Park station and Mercer Island station were the ‘missing link’ between the 1 Line and 2 Line.
These were the two that opened on Mar. 28, and now commuters can go from Lynnwood City Center all the way up north to Downtown Redmond, or to Federal Way.
A light rail train crosses the I-90 floating bridge during testing this month.
[Photo by Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times]
Here’s a new view of downtown from the light rail, from the 2 Line after it left the International District station. That’s Lumen Field stadium on the left, home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer (MLS), and Seattle Reign FC of the National Women’s Soccer League.
Going under Interstate 5 along South Dearborn Street and the steel truss bridge called the Jose Rizal Bridge (constructed in 1911).
The platform at the new Judkins Park Station, looking where I came from, from Seattle downtown. Trains on this side go through Seattle downtown and up north to Lynnwood City Center.
Artwork at Judkins Park station.
My amigos arrived on foot at Judkins Park station, and here comes our train that will take us to Bellevue Downtown station.
We arrived at Bellevue Downtown station, and walked up to the little plaza above it. Here comes a train that started out at Downtown Redmond station.
The City Hall plaza by the Bellevue Downtown station has a new reflection pool. That’s the City Center Plaza building on the left.
The building with the orange accents is brand new and called Bellevue 600: a 43-story high-rise office building developed by Amazon.
We’re making our way on foot to Bellevue Square.
I am stopping to turn around and admire the vanishing edge of the Symetra Center: a 25-story office building built in 1986.
We went to the movie theatre to see Project Hail Mary, and went for a beer and a bite, and made our way back to Bellevue Downtown station.
Here comes our Lynnwood-bound 2 Line train that will take us back to Judkins Park station and Capitol Hill Station.
It’s nice to see people already lining up to take the train, even though it is still early (4 pm).
Inside the train.
A view of the intersection of Interstate 90 and Interstate 405, from the train.
The marina with its boat slips on the shore of Lake Washington that is called the Newport Yacht Basin.
Going through a tunnel on the way to Mercer Island station.
Arriving at Mercer Island station.
Going over the floating bridge on Interstate 90 that take us over Lake Washington. The Mountain was out today.
Almost across Lake Washington, and Judkins Park station.
I am spotting a Cybertruck on Interstate 90 (in the middle of the picture).
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Tuesday/ Earthset 🌏

Earthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. ET on April 6 during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the moon.
A muted blue Earth with bright white clouds sets behind the cratered lunar surface. The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime.
In the foreground, Ohm crater has terraced edges and a flat floor interrupted by central peaks. Central peaks form in complex craters when the lunar surface, liquefied on impact, splashes upward during the crater’s formation.
[Image and caption supplied by NASA, and was posted at npr.org]
Reported by the staff from National Public Radio at npr.org:

The Artemis II astronauts are making their way back to Earth after the lunar flyby.

The crew became the first astronauts in over 50 years to fly around the far side of the moon. They also experienced a solar eclipse.

During the mission’s loop around the moon, the crew took geological observations of places of interest on the lunar surface with their own eyes and snapping thousands of photos of the surface.

The crew will return to Earth on Friday and splash down off the coast of California. NASA says a landing on the lunar surface won’t happen until 2028, at the earliest.

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Monday/ the monorail, and flags 🚝

Here is my final installment of the flags for World Cup 2026 on the monorail pillars in downtown Seattle.

It seems as if all the flag images on the monorail have now been installed, and I found South Africa’s flag.
(Hint: the other two are from countries that are part of the United Kingdom. Do you know which ones?)

Here comes the train from the Space Needle— I’m looking north from the 11th floor of a building on Olive Way.
And this time I am standing by the Westin Hotel on 5th Avenue.

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On Easter Sunday

I was very relieved late last night, to learn that the US airman whose fighter jet had been shot down* had been rescued out of Iran.
*We subsequently learned he is an Air Force colonel, actually.

But then Sunday morning came, and here is what Greg Jaffe, Helene Cooper, Eric Schmitt and Julian E. Barnes reports for the New York Times:

The moment of celebration seemed to pass quickly for Mr. Trump, who on Easter Sunday morning returned to the reality of an unpopular war for which he seemed to have no clear exit strategy. The airman was safe, but the Strait of Hormuz was still in Iranian control, imperiling as much as 20 percent of the world’s oil supply and the global economy.

Mr. Trump had tried bullying America’s allies in Europe and Asia to come to his aid, but his entreaties were ignored.

So he threatened Iran’s leaders in an angry and profane social media message.

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.

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Friday/ our blue planet 🌍

NASA posted this image of Earth on X, taken yesterday from the Orion spacecraft by Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman.

The picture was taken with a Nikon D5 with a wide-angle zoom lens (14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8) at ƒ/4.0 with focal length 22.0 mm at 1/4 s and ISO 51,200*.
*This is an extremely high ISO, necessary for the very low level of light. At this moment, this side of Earth is dark with the sun behind it. With the naked eye none of these colors would be visible, but the extreme sensitivity of the camera sensor produces this image.

The large brown mass visible on the left side is Africa (the Sahara Desert), with the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and the Mediterranean Sea in the lower-left quadrant of Earth’s disk.

The South Pole is oriented toward the top of the frame, so the prominent green glow at the top of the atmosphere is aurora australis (the southern lights). A second, fainter aurora (aurora borealis, the northern lights) is visible near the bottom-left edge of the planet’s image.

The image also captures zodiacal light (a faint glow from sunlight scattering off interplanetary dust) in the bottom-right corner, appearing as Earth partially eclipses the Sun from the perspective of the Orion spacecraft.

The bright rectangular cluster of spots in the middle of the image is probably a reflection of something from inside the Orion spacecraft.

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Thursday/ Day 2 of the Artemis II mission 🚀

From Google AI Overview:
The main event on Day 2 of the Artemis II* mission (April 2, 2026) was the successful Translunar Injection (TLI) burn, which sent the Orion spacecraft and its four-person crew out of Earth orbit and onto a trajectory toward the Moon.

*In Greek mythology, Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo.
Artemis I was launched on November 16, 2022, at 1:47:44 a.m. EST. The uncrewed mission lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, marking the first integrated flight test of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft.

Key Details of Day 2:
The Burn: The Orion spacecraft ignited its main engine for 5 minutes and 50 seconds, beginning at 7:49 p.m. EDT, 25 hours after launch.
Significance: This maneuver marked the first time humans have left Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Trajectory: The burn placed Orion on a free-return trajectory, ensuring the spacecraft would loop around the Moon and return to Earth.
Other Activities: The crew also worked on preparing the spacecraft, initiated early space-to-ground video communication, and began adapting to the space environment.

The Artemis II crew during a video-conference call today. 
The crew consists of four astronauts (from left to right)—NASA’s Reid Wiseman (Commander), the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen (Mission Specialist), Christina Koch (Mission Specialist), and Victor Glover (Pilot). 
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Wednesday/ a sunbreak, and a full moon 🌕

It is a soggy start to April here in the Emerald City.
There was a beautiful sunbreak at 6.50 pm, as I stood on the corner of Thomas St and 13th Avenue East on Capitol Hill.

Tonight, there is a full moon in the sky.
Very appropriate— with the Artemis II mission to the moon launch that happened just a few hours earlier from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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Tuesday/ shorter drives, lights out 🕯️

The gas price (petrol price and diesel price) increases for April in South Africa have been announced.

Gas (petrol) prices will increase by 15% (not 30%, as was feared).
The South African government reduced the general levy on gas for April and May to make this possible. Gas prices are regulated and adjusted once per month. Diesel prices are not as strictly regulated, and follow a government-issued guideline.
In Johannesburg, gas will now cost ZAR 23.36/ liter ($ 5.24/ gallon).

Diesel prices will increase by 40%.
In Johannesburg, 50 ppm diesel will now cost ZAR 26.11/ liter ($ 5.89/ gallon).

Two million of the poorest South Africans (3.6% of households)— that live off the electrical grid in rural areas— use paraffin for cooking, for heating during winter, and to illuminate their homes.
The illuminating paraffin price increase is set to increase by more than double, so more than 100%.

Dad to kids: Sorry, but we only have enough gas for Easter weekend to drive down the street to go visit Uncle Gert and Aunt Gertrude. (Sidebar in the corner: Does not sound like a high-octane getaway.)
[Cartoon from South African newspaper ‘Die Burger’ (The Citizen) by cartoonist Dr. Jack Swanepoel]
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Monday/ a month at war 💣

The four weeks of war with Iran have now turned into a month.
So now we have started to count the war time with Iran in months.

Catastrophic miscalculation when it comes to Iran goes back all the way to the 1978–1979 Iranian Revolution*, argues Scott Anderson in his book published a few months ago.

*The 1978–1979 Iranian Revolution was a populist uprising that toppled Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s absolute monarchy, ending 2,500 years of imperial rule and establishing an Islamic Republic.

This book by veteran war journalist Scott Anderson came out in August 2025 (so after the June 2025 bombing by the U.S. of Iran’s nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan).

Scott Anderson’s take of the current situation, during an interview with him on CNN today, were more or less as follows:
“(Members of) The Revolutionary Guard are not going to negotiate.
They have nowhere to go.
They are hated by the people.
Their backs are to the wall.
I feel there is a huge element of wishful thinking in this (by the Trump Administration):
‘Maybe if we talk to moderate people, maybe that empowers them somehow.’
I am not even convinced that they’re taking to many people at all.
Five days ago Trump was saying we’re very close to a deal, and then the Iranian foreign minister said ‘We’re not talking to the Americans at all.’
Time is on the Iranians’ side.
Who has to cut a deal here quickly?
I think it’s Trump.
He’s seeing his favorability ratings go down by the day.
That’s going to increase, the longer the oil crunch happens, and as inflation spreads through the whole economy. They can wait this out.
Trump is the guy who needs a settlement soon.”

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Sunday/ little feather ball 🪶

It was a coldish, rainy Sunday here in the city today with a high of only 46°F (8°C).

These pictures of a little dark-eyed junco in my backyard are from Friday.
The little feather ball of a bird bounce-bounce-bounced on the pavers, flitted up to the fence just for a second or two, and then it was gone.

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Saturday/ another protest 🪧

It was time for another ‘No Kings’ protest today.

Here in Seattle, we gathered at Cal Anderson Park at noon.
There were a few speeches, and then the crowd made its way along Pine Street,  past the Seattle Convention Center and on to Seattle Center.

My two amigos and I made it to the Convention Center, from where we surveyed the long parade of protesters and their signs that kept on coming.

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Friday/ bird of prey 🦅

Happy Friday.

Look what was in the fir tree in my backyard today, prey and all.
It is a juvenile Cooper’s hawk* (Astur cooperii).
It’s hard to tell if it’s a squirrel that the bird had caught, but that would be my guess.

*Identified with the help of Google AI, and matching the sound it had made, with its record on audubon.org.