The Third Monday of September

September 20 is the 263rd day of the year. There are 102 days remaining until the end of the year. Today is the day for mindfulness of the nature of reality; with it reflection of dharma is pure.

Tomorrow is actor Bill Murray's birthday.  In 2014, Murray starred in the film St. Vincent.  The birthday of singer-songwriter Annie Clark, who records under the name St. Vincent, is September 28.  Instead of Labor Day, perhaps we should set aside the third Monday of each September and call it St. Vincent's Day for both Bill Murray and Annie Clark.

Nothing against the labor movement.

The full Harvest Moon occurs at 7:54 p.m. tonight.  As September's full moon corresponds to the time of harvesting corn, some people call it the Corn Moon.  Those people apparently don't listen to Neil Young much.  

The Harvest Moon will rise at 7:51, a few minutes before achieving total illumination, and will set at 7:52 tomorrow.  Sunrise and sunset are at 7:25 a.m. and 7:36 p.m. - the full moon, being on the opposite side of Earth from the Sun, always rises at sunset and sets at sunrise.

On this day in 1498, the Meiō earthquake occurred off the coast of Honshū, the main island in Japan. The death toll associated with the earthquake (estimated magnitude of 8.6) is uncertain, but between 5,000 and 41,000 casualties were reported. The earthquake triggered a large tsunami which washed away the building housing the Great Buddha statue at Kōtoku-in in Kamakura, although the statue itself remained intact. It has remained outdoors ever since.

Today is the third day of almost continuous, non-stop rain.  Despite the wet and rainy conditions, Piedmont Park in Midtown Atlanta managed to host the annual Music Midtown festival, after missing 2020 due to the pandemic.  I didn't go, as the Top 40 pop-music lineup was atrocious.  However, wet weather and humidity carries sound more efficiently than dry air, and sound can ricochet off of low cloud cover.  As a result, even though Piedmont Park is some 4 miles from my home, I could hear the rumble and bass of the Music Midtown performers, even inside of my house, for the first time that I can recall.

People all over the Atlanta metro area were reporting the same thing on the Next Door app.  Apparently, the sound carried across the entire Buckhead community and all the way out to Vinings in Cobb County. That's pretty impressive.

Most of the Next Door commenters seemed to think that this year's Music Midtown was just plain louder than any previous year, as if the headlining Jonas Brothers were some some of death metal band.  Amazingly, some of the Buckhead residents, probably those already inclined toward supporting a separate Buckhead City, claimed that the noise was just more evidence to support secession.  As if a new political jurisdiction would somehow stop sound waves at the new city limits.  As if a Buckhead City would have any influence on events held in Midtown Atlanta.  One commenter said that her subdivision had a curfew on loud music after 9 p.m., and she was going to report Music Midtown to her Homeowners' Association for still performing at 10:45 p.m. I hope that someone posts a video of that conversation on line.

This all speaks to the mindset of the secessionists.  They're reaction to anything is secession.  Crime? Leave Atlanta.  Noise? Leave Atlanta.  Covid mandates? Leave Atlanta.  None of them has explained yet how secession will solve these problems. They just want to leave Atlanta.