Today’s 10 best Each Way bets (from earliest to latest runner) are:
1. Secret Gesture (Best Priced 10/11 with Coral)
2:20pm – Betfred ‘The Bonus King’ Oaks Trial Stakes (1M 3F 106Y) – Lingfield
Great start to career at the end of last term and looks set to progress.
Form Line: 21-
Jockey: Jim Crowley
Trainer: Ralph Beckett

2. Main Sequence (Best Priced 5/4 with Coral)
2:40pm – Buckhounds Stakes (1M 4F) – Ascot
The class of this field on form and should prove it.
Form Line: 112425-
Jockey: Ted Durcan
Trainer: David Lanigan

3. Greatwood (Best Priced 8/11 with Paddy Power and Coral)
2:55pm – Betfred Derby Trial Stakes (1M 3F 106Y) – Lingfield
Hugely consistent and the class of this race.
Form Line: 231-2
Jockey: Jamie Spencer
Trainer: Luca Cumani

4. Westwiththenight (Best Priced 15/8 with Sky Bet)
3:15pm – Bovis Homes Fillies’ Handicap (1M) – Ascot
Couldn’t have won more impressively at Doncaster and can cope with the rise in weights.
Form Line: 2/1434-1
Jockey: Richard Hughes
Trainer: William Haggas

5. Lightning Cloud (Best Priced 12/1 with Totesport, Betfred, BetVictor and Coral)
3:50pm – Betfred Victoria Cup (7F) – Ascot
Proven record at this track and in these sprints.
Form Line: 59003-3
Jockey: Amy Ryan
Trainer: Kevin Ryan

6. Restiadargent (Best Priced 15/8 with Paddy Power)
3:55pm – E.B.F. Weatherbys Hamilton Insurance Kilvington Fillies’ Stakes (6F 15Y) – Nottingham
Best piece of form in the race and can get off the mark for new trainer.
Form Line: 735609-
Jockey: Graham Lee
Trainer: William Haggas

7. Kendam (Best Priced 9/2 with Ladbrokes, Coral and William Hill)
4pm – betfred.com Chartwell Fillies’ Stakes (7F) – Lingfield
2nd to Gordon Lord Byron is the best form on offer by far.
Form Line: 9330-82
Jockey: Thierry Jarnet
Trainer: H.A. Pantall

8. Soaring Spirits (Best Priced 7/2 with BetVictor)
5:05pm – Most Reliable Bet DG Taxis Handicap (1M 75Y) – Nottingham
Heading towards a victory on last year’s form and can grab one here.
Form Line: 822-
Jockey: Michael J M Murphy
Trainer: Roger Varian

9. Lions Arch (Best Priced 9/4 with Bet365)
5:15pm – Pertemps Handicap (1M) – Haydock
Continued progress this term and can claim the hat-trick.
Form Line: 56-11
Jockey: William Twiston-Davies
Trainer: Richard Hannon

10. The Mongoose (Best Priced 9/2 with Bet365)
6:05pm – Kingstone Press Championships Handicap (6F) – Warwick
Impressive winner at Salisbury and can defy the penalty for that win.
Form Line: 453971
Jockey: Miss H Doyle
Trainer: David Evans

This is a good starting point, but there is much more to it. A plot of the absolute magnitude of stars M vs the color index B-V (which can be related to the temperature of the star) shows groups of stars out of the general linear trend.

This kind of representation is called Hertzprung-Russell diagram (HPD), its “Y-shaped” form is characteristic (see below).

Note: There are different things that one can put in the axis of a HPD.

• An “observational” representation would use properties that can be observed, i.e. absolute magnitude and color index.
• A theorist’s representation would use properties that are calculated, in particular luminosity and effective temperature.

However, the scale is consistant. For magnitude and color index we use a linear scale, for luminosity and temperature we use a logarithmic scale. Why that? Well, because the relation between magnitude/color index and luminosity/temperature is logarithmic.

Hertzsprung-Russell diagram from wikipedia (modified).

The diagram above contains most of the relevant information in this post. A few things to note:

• For one given spectral type. Look in particular at the spectral groups K and G. There are groups of stars with similar temperature but completely different luminosity L. The brighter stars were called giants or supergiants. The dimmer stars were called dwarfs. For a given temperature, larger L means larger radius R.
  
  
• There is something called the main sequence stars. These are the ones who follow the linear-ish relationship between temperature and luminosity.
• In fact, the stars of the main sequence don’t line in a line, but in a narrow band. This is caused by variations in temperature, luminosity, and composition.
• Don’t confuse dwarf with white dwarf! White dwarfs are very dim, extremely small, and hot stars, far out of the main sequence.
• Parallel lines with a certain slope in the HRD connect stars with the same radius. These are the lines indicated in the diagram with a label such as 100R⊙, such line means that whatever stars lines on top of it has a radius 100 times larger than the radius of the Sun (the lines I drew are quite approximate, you may see a better approximation here, where the line for the Sun is not so misplaced as in my pic…).
• The position of a star in the main sequence depends only on one factor: the mass.
• Masses of stars of the main sequence are known to range from 60 times the mass of the Sun (top-left) to 0.08 Sun masses (bottom-right).
• The average densities of stars:
  - Sun ~1.41 g/cm³
  - Sirius ~0.79 g/cm³ (thus stars of the main sequence in the top-left of the HRD are a bit less dense)
  - Betelgeuse (a red supergiant) ~10-8 g/cm³ (extremely low density!)

Two-dimensional Morgan-Keeman system of spectral classification (M-K): based in the differences in strength of spectral lines of giant and main sequence stars of the same spectral type (i.e. similar temperature but different luminosity).

In general, for the same stellar type, more luminous stars give narrower spectral lines. This is related to the atmospheric density of the star.

This classification is also indicated in the HRD above. It consists on classes defined by the Roman numerals I and V:

• The numeral “I” is used for giants and supergiants.
• The numeral “V” denotes a main sequence star.

Thus, the classification:

• I = supergiants, with two subgroups; Ia (really gigantic and very luminous) and Ib (still gigantic but not so much). 
• II = bright giants
• III = normal giants
• IV = subgiants
• V = main sequence
• VI, sd = subdwarfs (i.e. smaller than dwarfs, not indicated in the HRD, but they’re right under the V stars toward the bottom-right tail of the main sequence)
• D = white dwarfs.

Spectroscopic parallax: From the information of the spectral lines and the HRD we can calculate how distant a star is by the method of spectroscopic parallax. It contains the word “parallax”, but it has absolutely nothing to do with parallax! That’s how it works:

1. Look at the spectrum, and identify the star according to the M-K classification.
2. Find the approximate position of the star in the HRD diagram.
3. Read M from the vertical axis.
4. Measure the apparent magnitude m.
5. Use the formula:
   

The accuracy of d calculated this way is of a factor of 1.6 (10^1/5), since the accuracy of our M is of about +/-1.

But also, 2013 is here, and the world moves on no matter what tragedy is crawling across it. Decision #1 is Spring or Fall itinerary. I have a third draft of a spring itinerary, the travel cost has come down again while the length has increased, and while I may not be able to see everyone I want to, they’ve made it clear they’d be up to see me if they can. I’ve got a good (and rather fortuitous) handle on visa requirements, and so far travel restrictions and advisories haven’t changed. That is as much as I can ask for right now given world affairs. I could be feeling a whole lot better, but that’s not worth waiting on; I’m gonna feel how I feel no matter where I am. A thorough physical will let me know if there’s anything I have to really worry about. Decision #1 has to be made by 2/1.

I also did a dry run of recording video of myself talking about 2πr for the first time. I haven’t been able to bring myself to watch it because it seems so silly, but Sam, Gus and I learned a lot in the setup process. Uncomfortable vulnerability in 1080p takes some effort and good lighting to capture.

So here I come, entire Northern Hemisphere, awkward and all. 2πr is a go.

The study result was published in the journal Nature. The dusty disc is divided into an inner and an outer part by a gap, which is thought to have been carved by newly forming gas giant planets clearing out their orbits as they circle the star.The inner disc reaches from the star out to the equivalent of the orbit of Saturn in the Solar System, while the outer disc begins about 14 times further out. The outer disc does not surround the star uniformly, instead, it has a horseshoe shape, probably caused by the gravitational effect of the orbiting giant planets.According to theory, the giant planets grow by capturing gas from the outer disc, in streams that form bridges acrossthe gap in the disc. “Astronomers have been predicting that these streams must exist, but this is the first time we have been able to see them directly.The gap in the dusty disc was already known and also discovered diffuse gas remaining in the gap, and two denser streams of gas flowing from the outer disc, across the gap, to the inner disc.The observations answer another question about the disc around HD 142527. As the central star is still forming, by capturing material from the inner disc, it would have already been devoured, if it was not somehow topped up.

A Planetary Nebula

Stars, surprisingly, begin as nebulas, clouds of dust and gas in space.  Gravitation brings the particles together, which increases the temperature of the particles and also ionises them, and they produce light.  At this point it becomes a protostar, which is very large and can have a surface temperature of 3000K.  However, at this point it is much larger than a star with similar mass, and the gravitation continues, decreasing the volume of the star.  The contraction continues until the core has become completely ionised plasma. Nuclear fusion begins converting the hydrogen in the core to helium, the protostar is now a star, which can be found on the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram. As described in our earlier post, the Introduction to Astrophysics, the gravitational pressure and radiation pressure are equal.

A Hertzsprung-Russel Diagram

The larger the mass of the star the greater its luminosity and temperature, stars can be found in the main sequence. The size of the original mass of the star determines how long its time on the main sequence is.  Our sun, is actually a relatively small star, and will burn for approximately 10¹⁰ years, however, a star with a mass of 25 times our sun’s will have burn its hydrogen core for only 10⁶ years. After this is complete, the star leaves the main sequence, becoming a red giant. The fusion in the core has stopped and now with no opposing forces the gravitational contraction increases the temperature of the core, and the outer layers of the star. As the outer layers increase in temperature, the star expands, the luminosity increases, but surface temperature decreases.  Helium is created from the fusion of hydrogen, and this causes to core to further contract, until the temperature becomes so high that helium becomes to fuse, to produce Oxygen-16 and Carbon-12.  The process is repeated. Surprisingly, as the core decreases, the size of the star increases.

Once the fusion of helium in the core is complete, the core contracts again increasing the temperature of the outer layers, allowing helium fusion.  This is the second red giant phase,  and when the sun goes through this phase, it will likely engulf Earth. During this phase however, the outer layers of the star are expelled, exposing its hot core.  The 100000K core ionises the outer layers, causing them to emit visible radiation.  This stage is called a planetary nebula.  However, if the mass of the star is between 4-8 solar masses, it is possible to produce heavier elements through fusion, namely neon, sodium, oxygen and magnesium. The lack of fusion causes the core to cool, and the sun becomes a white dwarf cooling down and out of sight.

This however, can only occur if the mass of the core is less than 1.44 solar masses.  At 1.44 solar masses, the gravitational contraction force is at equilibrium with electron degeneracy. This is the force of electrons repelling each other, when they are tightly packed together.  it exists because of the Pauli exclusion principle, which states that no two electrons can be in the same state. But if the core of the star is greater than 1.44 solar masses, the gravitational contraction force is greater than the electron degeneracy pressure, and the star becomes either a black hole or a neutron star. This is called the Chandrashekar limit. Whether it becomes a black hole, or stays a neutron star, will be discussed later in this article.

However if the mass of the star is above 8 solar masses, the process of fusion continues, once helium has been fused, carbon is created. Once all the carbon in the core is fused, the temperature rises to 10⁹ K, here neon is fused.  After this, the process repeats and oxygen is fused, producing silicon. Finally the temperature is large enough for the fusing of silicon, which produces iron, the most stable of all elements.  This is called a super red giant. 

Once the whole core is iron, it contracts rapidly, reaching a temperature of 6 x 10⁹ K.  High energy gamma photons, collide with the iron nuclei, breaking them into alpha particles.  Then the negative electrons and positive protons combine, producing neutrons and large quantities of neutrinos.  These carry energy away from the star, causing it to contract once more.  However, this rapid contraction creates produce a wave of pressure that moves outwards away from the centre of the star.  At the same time, because the core is contracting, matter is falling into the centre of the star, however, this is repelled by the outwards pressure wave. The wave accelerates, but soon reaches the speed of sound, becoming a colossal shock wave that rips the outer layers of the star apart.  This exposes the hot inner cores, and large amounts of radiation enter space.  The process is called a supernova.  Through this process 96% of the star’s mass is lost, and the material flung out into space forms nebulae, where new protostars can be created.

However, the stellar evolution is not yet finished. The remnant from the supernova has formed into neutrons, and these combine to form an extremely dense star called a neutron star.  The collapse is prevented by neutron degeneracy pressure.  If the mass is greater than between 2-3 solar masses however, a black hole is formed.  The figure is not precise, as the equations regarding extremely dense matter are not yet known. This marks the enter of the stellar evolution as we know it.

A neutron star is an extremely dense star, equal to the density of the whole human population packed into the size of a sugar cube. Neutron stars are typically small, and thus to conserve angular momentum must rotate.  This pheneomena is known as a pulsar. The rotating magnetic field of the pulsar produces radio waves, which are detectable from Earth. In fact, it was through these that pulsars were detected originally.

Now we will briefly look at black holes.  The earth has a gravitational constant of 9.81ms^-2, we can temporarily leave the surface if we jump, but gravity brings us back down.  However, if an object was so dense that this acceleration equalled to the speed of light, then nothing would be able to leave the surface of the Earth, not even light.  This is what we find in a black hole, and that is the reason why they are black, because nothing can escape then.  To picture this we must consider the fabric of space time. Large masses bend spacetime, however, if an object is so large, then space time will be bend around completely, preventing the escape of anything.  Even more interesting is the theory of General Relativity, which describes how in a gravitational field, time will slow down.  At points where the escape velocity equals to the speed of light, time ceases.  This is known as the event horizon.  Furthermore, when the entire mass of the star contracts into the event horizon, the density will be infinite. This is known as the singularity, where density is infinite.  A black hole consists of both a singularity and an event horizon.

The detection of black holes however, is difficult, as the phenomena does not emit radiation, and thus we cannot see them.  We have to look at the nearby stars, that may be having matter pulled off their surface, and radiation emitted by these types of processes.  Physicists believe their may be a black hole in the centre of our galaxy.

But does it work I wonder…Unfortunately I cannot post the video directly but check out the sequence here.

Though there’s not much to see in that solar system. Hundreds of balls, some in different sizes, some in color but mostly grays, set against the stark blackness of space. It doesn’t exactly take your breath away (or it does, if you’re not space-suited up), so it helps to have an imagination and / or consider it beyond its looks.

The idea is similar to the Solar games already on XBLIG, or something like Osmos (the Dev’s own admission). You must build your core, slowly and meticulously, launching yourself around the level by ejecting mass (which, fair warning, shrinks you with each shot). That same discarded mass can ‘grow’ the bodies around you, altering trajectories and helping (or hurting) your cause. You can also zoom out (and you should) to gain a better appreciation of the given stage’s scope and moving pieces. It’s equal parts puzzle and strategy.

Games like these tend to attract the more casual crowd, but Main Sequence is anything but a pushover. There is no progression to speak of; all of the game’s ten stages are selectable from the start to allow you a taste of anything you’re in the mood for. Frustratingly, the difficulty rockets upward past the introduction. With dozens upon dozens of planets (or multiple stars and orbits) in every direction, most of which are mightier than you, each boost you undertake becomes a complicated maneuver that can either set you back a few sizes or outright end the game. Tricky gravitational pulls, layered rings of rocks, and planet-sucking rogue stars to contend with are simultaneously impressive to work with and incredibly daunting to witness.

That said, it’s still too limited to draw you in. That’s partially the mechanics (world-swallowing has its charms, though they be fleeting), but mostly it’s the odds that work against you relentlessly. Almost every successful move I made was attributable to luck, impossible to replicate even under the exact same circumstances. This makes for some fun moments and razor-thin misses, but also highlights your seeming lack of control. No amount of skill can help you here. Does that realism reflect the randomness of space and our own existence? Sure does, and it’ll probably kickstart a few metaphysical chats the next time you’re drunk and among friends. Will that same harsh truth lead you to play the game for an extended amount of time? No, likely not.

Only a scientist gets excited by this.

If you’re a strategy nut, appreciate threading an interstellar needle over and over, don’t mind the simplistic visuals but do enjoy a chill soundtrack, Main Sequence might be your bag. If you’re lukewarm on the idea and inherent odds already (probably the vast majority), there’s nothing to see here that you can’t find elsewhere, and in a more stylish and involving package. Boot up a Katamari game if you have one.

You’d never see something as unpatriotic as that on national networks these days. They were too effective. Apparently, Ronald Reagan was so shaken by The Day After (which is about a jillion times less graphic than Threads, thereby making it slightly less accurate) he telegraphed the producer a note after signing a major nuclear arms reduction treaty acknowledging its influence. No shortage of plagues either, with the rise and crest of the American AIDS epidemic. Thousands of men were dying of things they shouldn’t have had in the first place, and no one knew why. They happened to be gay, though, so the occasional bible thumper would trot out a verse about Sally’s Seven Vials or Sodom and Gomorrah and ecstatically proclaim the end was nigh as his flock cheered while a generation wasted away and choked to death.

What a gleeful time to come of age! Now add relentless bullying, suicide, and sexual assault to that and you’ve got my tweens. There were times when it seemed like the end of the world would have at least been a decent distraction.

The years 1988–1993 were so fucking bad they very literally changed the direction of my life. They were so bad there isn’t even room for blame. It would be just as easy to say that it was anyone or everyone’s fault as to say it was no one’s fault. I saw things no child should see, I was hurt in a way no child should be. Getting into the gory details here isn’t really relevant. What’s relevant is the fallout, and that took nearly twenty years to fully wash out.

In 2007, I was waiting for a train. I can’t really be more specific than that because I was waiting for the train a lot then going back and forth from work, and the days were starting to bleed into one another. I was on my third big deal grant job (the recent natural sciences grad’s ever-dwindling bread and butter) working for Stanford, and got my name in a few publications. My resume was fucking stellar after two very short years, but I looked a lot better on paper than I felt. That oppressive sense of The End was back, and the ever present threat of The Other Shoe hadn’t felt closer in ages, and it didn’t make any fucking sense at all. I was living with Gus, the man I would marry, I didn’t have to work three jobs to scrape through college anymore, and I was doing something I really, really tried to love. But what I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and hide with some noise.

Conveniently, Trent Reznor felt the need to exorcise his end times demons with an album called Year Zero. It’s not an easy listen, and I have an irrational thing against concept albums; I think that’s Styx’s fault, domo arigatou. He keeps it simple and brutally blunt, and it’s among his best work: a narrative about a superpower gone horribly wrong and a supernatural Presence reaching out of the sky for the righteous and unrighteous alike. He even organized an alternate reality web of sites and files that gave the world he was describing a disturbing depth. It was a scenario painted in New Media just plausible enough, not unlike The Day After or Threads, to be existentially frightening, even if it was ultimately a pop album with fancy promo materials. Predictably, I was sold, because there’s no guide for the end of the world, but this sure made for a solid starter kit, with soundtrack.

I’d stagger out of work after looking at one too many charts of people being eaten alive by cancer, and make my way to the platform to wait for the train. I was past crying. I cried after tough meetings, no matter how well they went, though I was intent on hiding it. This time, I was blanking out while listening to some stunningly dark shit, on the train then suddenly walking up the steps to my apartment. Not pedestrian dark like his earlier brilliant messes, but primal, ancient fears like those people have been documenting since well before Revelation. And a few minutes after I entered my apartment, I was hooked to an EKG and being rushed to the hospital by paramedics.

Sometimes the world gets so dark we can’t help but feel there’s going to be some awful, dramatic denouement in hopes that The End will finally make all of that awfulness end. Tellingly, and like most good end of the world stories, he put a couple of hints at redemption at the very end, a validating elegy among all the ghosts that maybe it was worth something after all. That’s the part that really grabs you, whether the Bible or Trent Reznor or a guy grasping at straws while waiting for the train, that thought that maybe if the whole thing just comes apart at the atomic level, there’s still some light left for the survivors. It’s a desperate form of hope, and some people need that to get through the ride home. That hope has its own religious metaphor, too.

The concept of the afterlife and Lieber & Stoller’s song “Is That All There Is?” come from the same existential place: “There’d better be a fuckin’ prize in the bottom of this shitty cereal box, otherwise why the hell did I show up in the first place?” Peggy Lee made it sound wistful and pretty. An 80′s novelty named Cristina made it campy and kind hilarious, though L&S were apparently HIGHLY offended and tried to keep her from releasing it. But there’s a third version by Polly Jean Harvey and John Parish from their first collaborative album that haunts, a song that will no doubt be playing somewhere if/when humans go the way of the dinosaurs and into some future sentient life’s gas tank. It does not flinch at the potential ugliness of life. We don’t like to think about war or violence or famine or disease or death or The End, even if it’s ingrained into the books of our faith. We don’t like to talk about the bad parts unless they’re happening to someone else. We pity and empathize and hope it just goes away because even if we pray it never happens to us, we are still headed toward that looming future gas tank.

In the spirit of denial that makes us so human, we are constantly striving for the happy ending or the great story, and sometimes we just don’t have room for the mundane horrors of humanity. But when you see that horror up close and experience what we call trauma, that’s the version of the song that rings truest—life as an empty promise. Mark of great songwriting; Lieber & Stoller were pretty fantastic at multidimensional lyrics and music. Peggy Lee kept it relatively light compared to PJ Harvey’s relentless misery, delivered like someone who’s resigned to the dread of “that final disappointment.” While Year Zero explored how the world approaches the end, Dance Hall At Louse Point explored what might be playing on the radios left afterward. “Taut” is a terrifying ride through religious abuse, “City Of No Sun” is screeching and manic, and “That Was My Veil” is the sound of the breaking heart itself. The whole album has a smoking, scorched finality about it, and that version of “Is There All That Is?” is what played in my head while I thought I was dying in my living room in 2007.

PTSD makes the world look very different from what most people see. It reinforces the threat of those shittier possibilities, because you’ve experienced something so bad it changes your fucking mind and body to prepare itself if shit happens again. Your brain gets burned just right, and you start releasing stress hormones at abnormally high levels, permanently. Flashbacks and nightmares are no joke, and panic is a nasty little bitch. The first sign of panic disorder is very often exactly what happened to me at 27 after getting off that train—a trip to the emergency room precipitated by a panic attack mistaken for a heart attack. I was in objectively bad physical shape, but something had finally snapped in my head, not my chest, and the end seemed very, very near. I looked back on my life, and the things I didn’t ever talk about loomed largest, and all I could think was “That’s it? After ALL I have survived, now I’m gonna die alone in my living room just as it gets good?” You see, that’s one of the nasty tricks of PTSD: you think you can think your way out of it like you’re supposed to be able to do, like it seems everyone else can do, but the second things feel safe, things roar back because you have too much breathing room and thoughts become all too real. My mind was screaming “DEAL WITH THIS!” for years, and between the ages of 8 and 27, I kept saying “NO!” right back. Now my body was not giving me a choice.

I had hoped for a while that I was just crazy, and for a while, that worked to explain the weird things I felt for so long. Like people were looking at me. Like I might be crushed in the crowds. Like I was being followed. I knew it wasn’t rational, I didn’t really believe it, but I felt like if I let down my guard, something might happen again. That level of vigilance has effects on the body that are devastating after an extended period of time. I had nightmares that I could only keep at bay by sleeping with the TV on. I had headaches that felt like that exploding brain Scanners guy looks. And now, I was fixating on the pain in my sternum from shitty posture at the computer. I’m fat. I’m stressed. I’m watching and documenting how people die at my job. And then I’m reading about the symptoms of a heart attack in my living room that day, and just like that I am CONVINCED it is the end. My heart is about to give out, I’m alone in my apartment, and my body goes into one of the most epic fight or flight reactions ever. The fact that I survived the rate my heart got up to and the raise in my systolic blood pressure, both in the 200′s, is actually pretty good proof that my heart was just fine. But I did what you’re supposed to do—called 911 and said “I think I’m having a heart attack.” Hot paramedics were there in minutes, gave me aspirin and nitroglycerin immediately, and yet I still insisted against their advice and walked down the stairs by myself when the time came for me to get in the van. If this is all there is, I want to be on my feet until the last moment, show the world I stood as tall as I could under the crushing weight I was carrying.

I was not thinking clearly.

Stayed in the ER under observation for 8 hours. Gus sat in the corner, silent and scared in the midst of the boring apprehension that is every ER, and I watched the EKG and heart rate for anything untoward. Cardiac enzymes were fine. Stress test was fine. I was not. The next day I tried to go to work, but I made it through less than half the day before I left. I was dazed. I went home and played Super Paper Mario on autopilot, trying to figure out what the fuck had just happened. I kept panicking—was it a heart attack this time?—for three months before I got help. I tried to keep it under wraps so I wouldn’t lose my job. I was bad at it. The End had finally reared its head in my imagination, and was now turning me into a terrified husk. I had lost at least 40 pounds and would lose 80 at the nadir; I barely ate. I hid in the public bathroom of the lobby of the hospital I worked in, crying silently and uncontrollably. I was scaring the shit out of Gus. I had to go out on disability, and I did eventually lose my job, but that termination letter was a relief, and frankly remains the nicest firing that may have ever been typed, up to and including the invitation back when I was better. I finally deteriorated to the point where I was given the choice of hospitalization or outpatient observation and intensive psychotherapy. I successfully completed the latter, but I entered 2008 a different man. Sedated, wasted away, jobless. I didn’t understand what had snapped, and I felt overwhelmingly guilty.

Is that all there is?

TBC…

Jeff :: Hit me.

Jπr :: So. someone said I changed their life for the better about a week ago. A person I never met, with whom I’ve had not-super-extensive but significant contact. A person who has experienced some shit and is still a humanitarian, so someone I respect deeply.

Jπr :: He said I helped make him proud to be a gay man and to steer his life to where he is today – much, much happier.

Jπr :: Because of my fucking blog that I had when I was 22. That is a compliment I was not prepared to receive. Sometimes, it’s hard to feel good about myself. I actually thought I was having a panic attack because my heart was beating faster until I recognized the emotion: joy. It’s not that I don’t have joy in my life. It’s that it’s scary to feel it, because PTSD makes you feel like there is a shoe ready to drop at any moment. So I come off as aloof and quiet.

Jπr :: I also hide from the world because I don’t have a job, I’m a gay man in a country that will gorge on fast food to help a CEO donate me out of existence, I have panic attacks, and that is all getting old. That’s a good sign, I think, and I think it’s time to stop hiding and start writing again. So here’s the idea.

Jπr :: I made a list of the people I met through my blog and other online stuff, and other friends who just happen to be splattered across the globe. Guess what I found?

Jπr :: I can make a ring, going eastward, and the longest flights are over oceans.

Jπr :: My blog was called Circular Logic. I want to fly around the world, meet these people who have left an imprint on my life and apparently vice-versa. I want to write it up, take a bunch of pictures, film it, and maybe make a personal documentary on it.

Jπr :: Partly because I want to be the guy with PTSD who wants to visit/meet some of these people that make me less fucking afraid of the world, and partly because I’m lucky enough to have those friends.

Jπr :: I want to see my East Coast friends again. I want to see my non-local friends’ places I’ve theoretically been welcome to but have never been able to see. I want to see the grave of the woman who changed my life, and I want to meet the guy whose life I changed not just from the other side of the world, but basically the other side of the Western fucking looking glass. That is so humbling it makes me want to go back and examine how the Internet really brings the world together.

Jπr :: And it’s so scary and compelling I feel like it might be a little crazy.

Jeff :: Holy. Shit.

Jeff :: Yes.

Jeff :: Yes.

Jeff :: Yes.

Jeff :: If a trip around the world is what it takes for you to realize how incredible and… life-changing you are, then I’m for it.

Jeff :: You’ve got my support. For as much of it as you want to/can do.

Jeff :: Your blog, by the way, will need guest posts from the people you’re going to see.

Jeff :: I will start mine with, “John, as he told me later, had a crush on me.”

Jπr :: Yeah, yeah. It took me a while not to be mortified by that snowy walk back to your dorm. Gaydar wasn’t super functional.

Jeff :: And since you’re already writing thousands of words of text, START WRITING.

Jπr :: Part of the process.

GREAT VOLTIGEUR STAKES – YORK – WEDNESDAY 22nd July

Although on the Wednesday of the first day of the Ebor Meeting, all eyes will be on Frankel, the early ante-post prices on the second biggest race of the day have come as a huge surprise to me. I’ve been stung a couple of times with ante-post bets and horses being withdrawn late on, but everything signals that MAIN SEQUENCE will be lining up and if he does so, I’d have him as around a 15/8 chance to win this race, given the distinct lack of top-class opposition and he can surely get in front, even accounting for the likely small penalty he occurs by Ted Durcan most probably taking the ride. Originally allotted a handicap mark of 79, he’s won two handicaps easily enough before making the transition to Group 3 company a winning one at the Lingfield Derby Trial, when beating one his likely rivals in this race in Shantaram. That proved his stamina for the Epsom Derby, a race in which he ran superbly in, being well-beaten by Camelot but doing best of the rest and proving himself to be one of the top horses in this Classic Generation, a crop that hasn’t proved quite up to scratch just yet.

Anyone who backed Main Sequence in France last time out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dpbjk-wGw0) can feel hard done by; given one of the poorest rides you’ll see in Group Company. He constantly met trouble, did well to finish 4^th and could have probably won had he got a clear run. That piece of form is clearly above any of his potential rivals in this contest. Noble Mission looks awkward in my book and although he battled well to beat Encke last time out, they hardly look the strongest of stayers to me. I may be very wrong on that, but they don’t quite look classy enough at this 1m4f distance, especially when against the likes of Main Sequence.  Shantaram is a likely improver, but as previously mentioned, Main Sequence got the better of him at Lingfield and his current price is probably about right at this stage. One who could run a big race is Energizer, who did me a big favour at Royal Ascot. He’s upped in trip but I’m not particularly convinced about if he’ll stay on his running style, alongside the fact that Godolphin has a record of turning these types sour. He’d be my next idea of a bet in this race and could be worth siding with on the day though if he was a double figure price. Thomas Chippendale has a similar profile to Main Sequence in a sense (has come through the handicap route too) but does need to improve mentally for him to continue to go forward, as he’s looked headstrong on occasions. It’s probably not worth the risk at the current prices but Main Sequence really should pick this race up in style before a crack at the Leger. He’s got proven top-class form, was unlucky last time out, will appreciate the forecast rain but handles all going conditions and there’s plenty of room at York to get a run, so there should be less excuses for traffic problems. I’d have him at about 15/8 in this race, so the current 3/1 on offer really does look huge. Small/medium stake advised and fingers crossed that he lines up (nothing has suggested he won’t).

Ante-Post Bet

Great Voltigeur Stakes – Main Sequence; 2pts @ 3/1 Bet365, Paddy Power, William Hill (A-P)

(Link to Oddschecker Market: http://www.oddschecker.com/horse-racing-betting/ante-post-racing/flat/great-voltigeur-stakes)

Evolution of High-Mass Star

>8 Solar Masses (M☉) Evolution

Note: H = hydrogen, He = helium, C = carbon, O = oxygen, Mg = magnesium, Ne = neon, S = sulfur, Si = silicon, Na = sodium, Fe = iron,

Step 1: H –> He (core) via CNO Cycle

Step 2: He –> C (core); H –> He (shell)

*Star is now a super-giant

Step 3: C –> O, Ne, Mg (core); He –> C (shell); H–> He (shell)

Step 4: S, Si –> Fe (core); O –> S, Si (shell); Ne –> O, Mg (shell); C –> Na, Ne, Mg (shell); He –> C (shell); H –> He (shell)

• As high-mass stars enter evolution, they swell to enormous sizes as shells form around the cores
• High-mass stars move horizontally back and forth across H-R diagram after leaving the Main Sequence
• As stars pass the “instability strip,” they become pulsating variable stars (change in luminosities)
• The heavier the element that the star starts producing in its core, the higher the temperature of the core, and the shorter the burning stage of the element
• Fusing less massive elements (less massive than Fe) releases energy, while fusing heavier elements (heavier than Fe) doesn’t release energy; instead, heavier elements require energy for fusion— heavier elements do not “burn”
• Fe is the most stable element and the most tightly bound (strong attraction between nucleus and electrons)

Core Collapse

• The final  stage of nuclear burning in the core of a massive star: sulfur and silicon –> iron and nickel
• Once the core produces iron, no more energy can be extracted via nuclear fusion reactions
• Even electron degeneracy pressure (electrical repulsion of atoms) can’t prevent the core from collapsing to a much smaller, denser state
• With no further source of energy, gravity begins to compress the core to smaller sizes
• When the temperature reaches 10 billion K, the core implodes at 1/4 the speed of light
• Black-body radiation is so intense in the core that iron nuclei are broken apart
• Electrons combine with protons to form neutrons and neutrinos (e + p –> n +ν)
• Neutrinos carry energy out of core
• Core collapses to a radius of about 10 km
• Outer layers of star are blown off explosively, leading up to a Type II Supernova
• 99% of energy in Type II Supernova comes sin the form of neutrinos (e.g. supernova 2011 dh in galaxy M51 – Whirlpool Galaxy)

Supernova

Milky Way Galaxy Supernovae

• Usually 1-2 supernovae per century
• In 1572 and 1604: supernova observed
• The supernovae may have been hidden by dust clouds
  • Crab Nebula: remnant of a Type II Supernova in 1054 A.D.
  • Vela supernova remnant
  • Cygnus Loop
  • SN1987A: Type I supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud
    • Blue Supergiant at 20 M☉
    • 19 neutrinos detected at the Irvine-Michigan-Brookhaven neutrino detector (underground mine in Ohio) three hours before light from the supernova was seen

Neutron Star

Neutron Stars

• Remnant of cores of massive stars, left over after the core collapses in the supernova explosion
• 1.5x more massive than the Sun, only 10 km in radius
• 1 cm³ = 1 billion tons
• How to Detect Them
  • Pulsars: spinning neutron stars that emit radio waves
  • X-Ray Binaries: in a binary star system, accretes matter from the other star

Welcome back everyone! To recap, the previous article was on the life cycle of stars. I, then, preceded to pose the following question:

What is an H-R Diagram?

The H-R Diagram, or Hertzsprung-Russel Diagram is (well, if you look at the photo below, that is what it is).

Its completely different from any previous graph you’ve seen before. Simply because, rather than only having the x- and y-axis labelled (the horizontal line at the bottom and the vertical line to the left respectively), it has the axes labelled twice.

Temperature (K)

On the top we have Temperature (K). The average temperature of the interior of the star in Kelvin.

Converting from Celsius to Kelvin is simple: say room temperature is 25°C. To find room temperature in Kelvin, we would add 273.15 to the temperature:

25 + 273.15 = 298.15

Therefore, room temperature would be 298.15K. Notice it is not degrees Kelvin, it is just Kelvin.

Absolute Magnitude

The axis to the left is labelled Absolute Magnitude. Absolute magnitude is a measure of how bright the star is. The smaller the number, the brighter the star.

When you look up in the sky at night, some stars seem brighter than others. For instance, the star Sirius, in the northern hemisphere  is one of the brightest stars in the night sky. The brightness of the stars is dependent on two things: how bright it is if you are up close to it, and how far away it is.

Imagine you are driving at night. The headlights of the car way back behind you are barely visible. As it gets closer, the lights seem to get brighter. Stars act the same way. The magnitude of brightness of the stars you  see in the sky is called apparent brightness. The absolute brightness mentioned in the H-R diagram is what you see if you all the stars lined up at a far away point (32.6 light years away).

Luminosity

The axis on the right is called Luminosity. According to Wikipedia luminosity measures the total amount of energy emitted by a star. So for instance, if we were to measure the luminosity of a light bulb, it would be how much energy is used by the light bulb.

Spectral Class

The traditional x-axis at the bottom of the diagram is called Spectral Class. This is not how much class something has, but rather what kind of colour the stars are. There are seven classes, O, B, A, F, G, K and M (my mnemonic to remember this for high school was “Oh Be A Fine Guy, Kiss Me”). The informal distinction between them is as follows: O is “blue”, B is “blue-white”, A is “white”, F is “yellow-white”, G is “yellow”, K is “orange”, and M is “red”. Our star is classification G.

So What Does the Diagram Mean?

If you remember my post from a week ago, you might notice common words from the post show up in the labels of the diagram. Words like “Main Sequence”, “Red Giant”, and “White Dwarf” are written on the diagram. This shows the clumps of stars are all in the same category of life. The ‘S’ curve down the middle of the diagram is the Main Sequence Stars, which start off closer to the bottom then move their way through the line and sling shot towards the Red Giants, which are orange on the diagram.

The Diagram also shows relationships like the relationship between amount of energy produced by a star and the brightness of the star, as well as the relationship between the temperature and the colour or wavelength of the star.

It is amazing how connected the world is. Tune in to the next post where I discuss  basic Chemistry of the stars, before explaining fusion and fission.

Image from here.

OBSERVING STARS: Stars are so far away that they appear as infinitesimally tiny “points” of light.

What Do Astronomers Measure in Stars?

• Brightness: Is the star constant or variable over time?
• Spectrum: temperature and chemical composition
• Color: temperature
• Motion and Doppler Shift
• Distance (measuring can be very difficult)

HOW MEASURING DISTANCE TO STARS IS IMPORTANT: Distance and magnitude can determine the star’s luminosity, or how much energy it’s generating and emitting. Distance to stars also determines the structures of galaxies. Then, measuring distances to galaxies can also determine the structure of the universe.

Parallax

MEASURING DISTANCE USING PARALLAX: Parallax is the apparent movement of a distant object when viewing from two different lines of sight. For example, hold out your thumb at arm’s length and close your right eye. Now, open your right eye and close your left eye. See the difference? Astronomers use distance the object “moved” and the angle from Earth and the object’s two different locations to determine the distance to that object. Earth’s motion acts as a baseline to measure the distance of a nearby star. As Earth moves around the Sun, a nearby star will appear to move slightly relative to distant background stars.

• the star’s parallax = 1/2 the angular shift of the star over one year
• parsec = parallax second of arc
• 1 parsec = the distance to a star whose parallax angle is one arcsecond
• 1 parsec = 3.26 light years
• 1 parsec = 3.08 x 10¹⁶ meters
• distance (in parsecs) = 1/parallax angle (in arcseconds) –> d = 1/p

All stars have parallaxes smaller than 1 arcsecond. The nearest star, Proxima Centauri has a parallax of o.77 arcseconds and a distance of 1.3 parsecs. Parallaxes can be measures to 200 parsecs from ground-based telescopes. The GAIA Mission (2013), if launched successfully, will allow astronomers to measure 20 micro-arcseconds, or distances to 1 billion stars!

APPARENT MAGNITUDE: Apparent magnitude is how bright a star appears from Earth. On a logarithmic scale, a magnitude 1 star is 100 times brighter than a magnitude 6 star. Brighter stars have smaller magnitudes. The brightest star in the night sky is Sirius at -1.5. The faintest objects detected by the Hubble telescope are magnitude 30. Photometry is measuring the apparent brightness of an object.

Comparing Two Stars’ Apparent Magnitudes with an Equation

m2-m1 = -2.5 log10 (b2/b1)

• m2 and m1 = apparent magnitudes of two stars
• b2 and b1 = fluxes of two stars (flux is the amount of light energy received per unit of time per unit of area)

Apparent Magnitude Comparison

• The Sun = -26.8
• Full Moon = -12.6
• Sirius = -1.5
• Naked Eye (faintest objects) = +6
• Hubble telescope (faintest objects) = +30

ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDE: Absolute magnitude is the actual luminosities of stars. The Sun has an absolute magnitude of 4.83.

Calculating Absolute Magnitude

m-M = -5 + 5 log10 (d/10 parsecs)

• m = apparent magnitude
• M = absolute magnitude
• d = distance in parsecs

FILTERS & COLORS: Telescopes have filters that isolate specific wavelength regions of the wavelength. The most common filter is UBVRI. Different filters corresponds to different brightness. The ratio of brightness through two different filters correspond to the star’s color. The star’s color also determines the star’s temperature. The ratio between the star’s brightness through two different filters, such as the B and V filters, would be bB/bV.

(B-V) = (mB-mV) = -2.5 log10(bB-bV)

• The B-V color index depends on the surface temperature of the star

The zeropoints are defined by the star Vega. Vega is 10,000 K and Vega’s color index for any filter combination is 0.

Stellar Spectra

STELLAR SPECTRUM: A star’s spectrum is close to a black-body (an ideal physical body that absorbs all electromagnetic waves) curve, with absorption lines imprinted on it by elements in the star’s photosphere. From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, Harvard College Observatory employed women to observe, map, and define all stars in the sky. When the observers disagreed on the classification of these stars, Annie Jump Cannon invented the spectral sequence base on the strength of stars’ Balmer absorption lines (Hα). Star with the strongest Hα lines were spectral type “A”, and the next strongest were type “B.” Later, however, some letters were removed. The astronomers discovered that the strength of Hα lines depends on the stars’ surface temperatures and stars with temperatures of 10,000 K have the strongest Hα lines. The sequence was then re-arranged in decreasing temperature, resulting in: O, B, A, F, G, K, and M. An acronym to remember the spectral types is “Oh Be a Fine Girl/Guy, Kiss Me.” The subtypes range from 0 –> 9, with subtype 0 as the hottest and 9 the coolest.

Spectral Types and Corresponding Temperatures

• O = >25,000 K
• B = 11,000 K – 25,000 K
• A = 7,500 K – 11,000 K
• F = 6,000 K – 7,500 K
• G = 5,000 K – 6,000 K
• K = 3,800 K – 5,000 K
• M = 2,200 K – 3,800 K
• L, T = <2,200 K

* Spectral Types L and T are the recently discovered brown dwarfs, or stars too small for nuclear fusion

In addition to the spectral type and the subtype, each star also has a class. For example, the Sun is G2V (V means main sequence star). While a M0 main sequence star may have 0.6 R☉ and 0.06 L☉, a M0 red giant star will have 40 R☉ and 300 R☉.

RADIUS: The Sun’s radius is 696,000 km, or 1 R☉. A Red Giant is 50 – 100 R☉. A White Dwarf is about   0.01 R☉.

MASS: The Sun’s mass is 1.989 x 10³º kg, or 1 M☉. 1 M☉ is 330,000 times Earth’s mass. Masses of stars range from 0.08 M☉ to over 100 M☉.

H-R Diagram: Majority of Stars in the Main Sequence; Very Few Stars as Red Giants or White Dwarfs

H-R DIAGRAM: The Hertzsprung-Russell (Color-Magnitude) Diagram  organizes the stars into a plot graph, based on color (spectral type)/ temperature and luminosity/ absolute magnitude.

• Main Sequence: normal stars in their prime of life fusing hydrogen into helium
• Red Giants: late-stage stars swollen to enormous size, sued up all fuel
• White Dwarfs: the “dead” star cores

* ☉ = solar units; L = luminosity; R = radius; M = mass

THREE THINGS TO CONSIDER FOR STAR CLASSIFICATION:

1. Mass: star’s evolution, location on main sequence, where is it in its lifetime
2. Age: different locations in the H-R Diagram
3. Chemical Composition/ Metallicity: abundance of metals

According to a new study, HD 10180—a sunlike star in the southern constellation Hydrus—may have as many as nine orbiting planets, besting the eight official planets in our solar system.

The star first made headlines in 2010 with the announcement of five confirmed planets and two more planetary candidates.

Now, reanalysis of nearly a decade’s worth of data has not only confirmed the existence of the two possible planets but also uncovered the telltale signals of two additional planets possibly circling the star, bringing the total to nine. Learn more here.

Red dwarfs – which are smaller and cooler than our sun – are extremely common, making up 80 percent of stars in the galaxy. Considering that about 80%, or 160 billion, of the Milky Way’s stars are red dwarfs, there are likely more than 65 billion stars in our galaxy with a habitable super-Earth and about 100 of them lie within 10 parsecs, or 32.6 light-years, of Earth. Learn more here or here.

• Bonfire heats up Derby betting after victory in the Dante
• Mickdaam set to be Richard Fahey’s first Derby runner after clinching the Cheser Vase
• Astrology another feather in the cap of Aidan O’Brien’s Classic team having strolled away with the Dee Stakes
• Main Sequence will represent David Lanigan having maintained his unbeaten record in the Lingfield Derby Trial
• 2000 Guineas winner Camelot still a heavy favourite

Ironically for Bonfire, on winning the Dante Stakes at York today, the premier trial for the world’s most prestigious Classic, he gave Camelot’s form another boost. Andrew Balding’s charge had been a close-up third to French Fifteen in last year’s Criterium International (albeit suffering a troubled passage) and Camelot readily accounted for that French rival in the 2000 Guineas. With the step-up in trip sure to suit the son of Montjeu and not necessarily Bonfire, the Ballydoyle team must be very optimistic of securing their third straight Classic of the season.

Bonfire had been widely touted over the winter as a hot prospect but the poor ground meant his return to action was delayed. With time running out to get a prep-run into his horse Balding was forced to go to the Knavesmire whether he wanted to or not. The race looked an interesting little contest with Bonfire joined by Godolphin’s unbeaten colt Mandaean, wide-margin Dundalk maiden winner Ernest Hemingway, Guineas fifth Fencing and the progressive Ektihaam as well as a few interesting outsiders.

The market fluctuated widely with Bonfire a big drifter on the course as support came in for Ernest Hemingway, who was eventually sent off favourite. Unfortunately for his supporters he faded badly having set a good gallop and it was left to Ektihaam and Bonfire to dual it out up the home straight. Jimmy Fortune was always in control in repelling Ektihaam and it was a most pleasing reappearance. The pair pulled four lengths clear of Fencing and bookmakers were sufficiently impressed to cut Bonfire to around the 5-6/1 mark although Ladbrokes have stuck their necks out at 8/1.

The Dante is a good trial for the Derby but in case you forget it’s run over two furlongs shorter than the Derby trip and so can often mislead about one’s Epsom credentials. Last year Carlton House was a nice winner of the Dante and was an odds-on ante-post favourite before stamina and preparation doubts saw him pushed out a little on the day. Did he well and truly stay that day when he finished a luckless third? Who really knows but the fact Carlton House is likely to be campaigned at 10 furlongs from now on suggests connections feel he isn’t a true mile and a half horse.

And the same can be argued about Bonfire. His pedigree really doesn’t shout out ‘twelve furlong horse’. His promising sire Manduro was a three-time Group One winner between a mile and ten furlongs but only once raced over twelve, a moderate Group Two in which he won. That gives some hope to Bonfire’s fans but his dam Night Frolic only ever won once in 11 starts in a mile maiden. She was well beaten on her fifth start when trying ten furlongs and never returned to a trip longer than a mile subsequently. A strongly run Derby will certainly expose any limitations in Bonfire’s stamina and even 8/1 doesn’t really appeal.

Of the Chester trials staged recently Mickdaam and Astrology don’t look the Derby winners in-waiting and at 40/1 and 20/1 the market seems to agree. Mickdaam is a tough horse and held on by a nose to beat leading St Leger hope Model Pupil in the Vase but it would take a massive step-up to even make the frame and after nine starts it’s difficult to believe the Dubawi colt has the necessary progress in him.

The O’Brien team has such strength in depth this year that you almost get the impression the Irish maestro is running his horses in big races just to see where his stars lie in the pecking order. Camelot has been ante-post favourite since before Christmas and hardened after Guineas glory. For a horse tipped as a Triple Crown contender the Guineas was always going to be the hardest leg to win, with the emphasis on stamina in Camelot’s breeding would he have the speed for a mile? He did and in winning he made history that day becoming Montjeu’s only progeny older than two to win a Group race at a mile and Epsom looks tailor made for him.

Imperial Monarch: Another Epsom hopeful from the Ballydoyle contingent

Astrology made the most of Bonfire’s defection in the Dee Stakes to romp to an easy 11 length triumph earlier this month. The other three runners look (very) moderate in Group terms and it’s impossible to say what the form is worth. He certainly appreciated the move up in trip but he will face a very different scenario if going for the Derby. This is a race O’Brien will be desperate to win having gone ten years without a winner and he is sure to be mob-handed come June. Father Of Science was another strapping colt to win at Chester and could be a dark horse at massive odds if getting the Epsom go ahead.

One challenger that perhaps went under the radar a little was Main Sequence who took the Lingfield Derby Trial last Saturday and maintained his perfect record. Some might be prepared to treat the form lightly, perhaps because it was run on the all-weather and perhaps because the winner didn’t represent the most fashionable of connections. I believe that would be a grace mistake as it was a strong race, run at a proper tempo and without doubt better than some of the other trials that have taken place.

Shantaram is a well-liked sort from the Gosden yard and although he now hasn’t won in three starts he looks a good horse and him and Main Sequence pulled six lengths clear of the rest at Lingfield. Rougemont and Goldini are solid 100 rated benchmarks and they were well-beaten. Ed De Gas had looked a useful sort when winning his first three starts (rated 97) but he was thumped, finishing second last, 12 lengths behind Main Sequence. The overall impression I have is that David Lanigan’s star is a 115+ horse already and that isn’t far off what the principals have achieved. The 16/1 available was quickly snapped up but the 14/1 that is left looks well worth an investment. He will surely be a single-figure price on the day and any unbeaten horse warrants serious respect.

Some of you may know I am a massive fan of Imperial Monarch and have long viewed him as a Derby horse. He made a good reappearance at Sandown on poor ground and I’m hoping he will improve even more for better ground and the longer trip. Camelot will be the first string but there is more than a precedent for O’Brien’s less-fancied runners to outshine their better-fancied stable-mates. Also with Joseph O’Brien riding Camelot it is likely Ryan Moore (Derby winner in 2010), Seamie Heffernan or Colm O’Donoghue (Derby runners-up in 2011&2012) will be in the saddle and their Epsom experience could prove crucial as Joseph has only had three unsuccessful rides on the idiosyncratic Surrey track.

Another thing to note this year has been the power of the Ballydoyle euros. Imperial Monarch (9/4 into 11/8), Twirl (13/8 into 5/6) , Ernest Hemingway (4/1 into 11/4) are just a few examples of big gambles on some of the stable’s runners. True a few have gone astray but if you fancy a Ballydoyle horse for the Derby get your money on now. The 11/10 best price for Camelot is a good bet if you like him as on the day it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him odds-on when an avalanche of bets crush the layers’ resistance.

Recommendations: Main Sequence 14/1 e/w, Imperial Monarch 16/1 e/w

This picture shows the size of a sphere that would contain all of Earth’s water in comparison to the size of the Earth. The blue sphere sitting on the United States has a diameter of about 1,385 kilometres, with a volume of about 1,386,000,000 cubic kilometres. The sphere includes all the water in the oceans, seas, ice caps, lakes and rivers as well as groundwater, atmospheric water, and even the water in you, your dog, and your tomato plant. Learn more here.

The 2^nd day of Lingfield’s two day Derby and Oaks trials will be run on the all weather surface due to the unracable nature of the turf track and connections of Main Sequence will be hoping that he acts on the surface.  The unfancied chestnut colt made his racecourse debut in a Maiden at Yarmouth last September, but clearly had not read the script when he won by 1 ¼ lengths at a starting price of 50/1.

The bookmakers did not underestimate him on his second run which was in a Class 4 Handicap at Newmarket last October.  His debut run was over 1 mile and he was stepped up in trip to 1 mile 1 furlong.  The race was well above average for a Class 4 Nursery as 7 of the first 9 finishers has won last time out and with runners trained by both Godolphin trainers, Richard Hannon, Roger Charlton, Andrew Balding and Jeremy Noseda the race was of a high quality.

Main Sequence has learned plenty from his first start when he ran green and was happy enough to be dropped in at the rear of the field.  He was put into the race 2 furlongs out and was leading from 1 furlong out.  He kicked for home 150 yards from the finish and quickly went away to win conformably by 3 ¼ lengths.  What was noticeable was his above average turn of foot which he had also displayed when winning his Maiden.

His connections clearly think a lot of him as he was supplemented for The Derby before his seasonal reappearance and their belief in the horse did not seem unplaced when he came out and won again on his first run of the season.  He ran at Newmarket again and was up in class and distance, contesting a Class 3 Handicap over 1 mile 2 furlongs.  The race followed a similar pattern to his handicap debut in that he was dropped in at the rear again.  He was ridden and made headway inside the 2 furlong pole and went to the front just inside the final furlong, running on to win by ½ length.

He had an entry in the Dante at York next week but is running here today instead in what should be a much more winnable opportunity.  He is running over 1 mile 4 furlongs for the first time, but he is bred for the job and has been staying on strongly in all of his races to date.  He is up in class again today and runs in pattern company for the first time.  He has accounted for some decent types on his last two handicap starts so deserves his chance at Group 3 today.

With very little group class form on offer today, Main Sequence is certainly worth chancing to keep up his unbeaten record.  He has easily beaten whatever has raced against him so far and despite the fact that he flashes his tail when the whip is applied he is has done all that has been asked of him so far.  The suspicion is that he just does enough and keeps a bit back for himself, so it will be very interesting for his connections to see if his Derby entry still looks credible after the race today.

I love this type of research. I look up at the Southern Cross often, at this star! it just could have some one looking back at me.For Real!

Read on

read on

The fact that one got me so damn moved enough to write about them in general just speaks for itself.

Doesn’t matter if you love the show and watch every episode religiously, doesn’t matter if its something you watch because you’re bored, a good main title sequence can really get you in the mood, regardless of the quality of the following episode.

In fact, the main title sequence for ‘The Chicago Code’, in my opinion, takes it from a just above average procedral to something that has my fingers dancing and a grin on my face in anticipation as the title music begins.

~

And then there’s ‘Friday Night Lights’ a show I would admittedly love regardless of the title sequence. But that music, the memory of Connie ‘Tami Taylor’ Britton swaying her hips to the music, arms in the air, then the empty football field at the end of a game. Well, as they say, “Texas forever” and I’m not even from Texas, I’m not even from America, I don’t know the first thing about football.

(to be honest, this isn’t the sequence I was referring to. They kept it pretty much the same(ish) for s1-4 then changed it for this, s5, which was the only one I could find on the mighty ‘tube)

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Of course, for the purpose of this blog entry and my own personal preference in general, when I say titles I, more often than not, mean a main title theme, music, lyrics and all.

Title ‘cards’, which I classify as primarily text driven/computer generated sequences, are fine in a ‘fine’ kind of way. Short but sweet, getting it over with so they can devote more time to story (or lack thereof in some cases). Fringe’s is a particular delight, changing text and/or hue in correlation to where that particular episode takes place, often with clues within as to what is ahead in the season. Supernatural’s changes every season to match the current plot (although the original card always wins for me, purely on a nostalgia basis).

But I do believe very strongly that a well chosen, well written theme song beats a title card sequence any day. It can set the tone of a show, give a feel for the environment of what is to follow.

Here are a few of my other favourites, each really bringing forth the essence of the show in its opening moments. The quality of these shows is debatable in some cases (and feel free to debate) but the PTB for these shows really understand that it isn’t about getting the titles out of the way so they can get their content out there faster but about spending the time to give their show an identity.

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These next two are legendary and brilliant but honestly are a tad too long. No matter how brilliant they are I always fast forward through them if poss.

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fin.