Red Headed Stepchild
(The Barrett family memoir of Navy Life)
by Sophie Ruth Meranski with photos
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Ireland word square - map like - many words diagonal, backward, down-up++++NEW IDEA APRIL 12 CONTAIN or REFLECT SOLAR HEAT back toward surface with GREENHOUSE GASES in lower portion of sun's CORONA.--WARM solar SURFACE - AMPLIFY ESCAPE of MASS from SURFACE of SUN to SOLAR WIND. This might be safest technique to remove mass uniformly from all areas of sun. ++++May 27+=+ TIME SCALE OF THE UNIVERSE If you understand radioactive half lives, each isotope has a characteristic decay period, which varies extremely slightly. The most important is Uranium 238, which has 50% decay every 3.3 billion years. Isotopes with short decay periods have disappeared almost completely since the earth formed a little over 4.6 billion years ago. Isotope ratios are telling us that a very few meteorites are older than the sun and formed either in cool red giant stars like Betelguese or in supernovas. The inert rare gas Xenon has many isotopes. The heaviest and lightest Xenon isotopes are ordinarily rare, but in certain uncommon meteors, they are greatly enriched, indicating they are older than the solar system and fomed in ancient stars that no longer exist. If you are going to understand scientific concepts of age, isotopes and radioactivity are fundamental. Four basic forces are known in physics - more may be discovered that work at very high temperatures and pressures or at extremely short distances, but we know the strong and weak nuclear forces that hold nuclei together despite their positive electric charges which repel each other - then the electromagnetic force - light, radio, heat, X-ray chemical bonds - and gravity, which is weakest but works at great distances. Radioactivity is the basis of scientific chronology, but many other lines of evidence corroborate the picture. I may try later to extract some of this for an essay to put on my website. Many of my essays start with letters and E mails. There is still some uncertainty over the precise age of the observable universe, but it is currently estimated around 13 billion years plus or minus around 15%. It started with a huge incredibly hot fireball of unbelievable density. What happened before, or whether there are other universes is not well understood. For most scientific discussions the universe means what we observe in telescopes by electromagnetic and gravity waves. The speed of light is a constant a little over 186,000 miles per second, as was observed in Denmark in 1676 - the eclipses of Jupiter's four moons was delayed a thousand seconds when Jupiter was behind the sun at far point of orbit. At that point the light has to travel the diameter of the earth's orbit extra to reach us- that distance is 186 million miles - it takes a thousand seconds, so a very accurate determination of speed of light was made in 1676. It has been verified many times - U.S. Navy with mirrors made an accurate determination in late 1800s Michelson-Morley group. [Don't argue with U.S. Navy!] When we look out great distances, we are also looking back into the past. The cosmic background radiation is the oldest thing we see in all directions - it is estimated to have formed three hundred thousand years after the formation of the observable universe, at a time when matter had cooled sufficiently so that light could escape and go its own way. This has cooled to about three degrees K. above absolute zero. This took over twelve billion years. I am going to check its usual name n the literature Cosmic Background Radiation or Cosmic Microwave Radiation. Get in habit of reading "Science" and "Nature" magazines at your libraries and you will see a great deal of current research - look up BOOMERANG observations in Antarctica in year 2000. They are finding a huge vibration pattern like sound just before the electromagnetic radiation separated from the dense matter. - In the Bang Bang mostly the lightest element Hydrogen was created - just one proton H+ - then some deuterium - a protom plus and neutron charge plus one, atomic weight two - and Helium with two protons and two neutrons charge plus two, atomic weight Four. For reasons I have't completely studied, most of the deuterium from the Big Bang went on to form heavier elements, which were less than one per cent of original Big Bang matter. Scientists attach great importance to determination of the relative abundance of Deuterium in the universe - for some reason it predicts the total amount of Baryonic matter - which is made up of protons and neutrons and their components called QUARKS in the nucleus and the electronegative orbiting electons. About a billion years later recently Hubble orbiting telescope studies show galaxies and stars forming earlier than we expected or predicted. What happens it seems, is that mysterious dark matter collects gravitationally first, and then the familiar baryonic matter. Baryons are quarks, protons, neturons. We don't know what the mysterious dark matter is - it may be twenty times more abundant than the conventional matter we know. It does not react to electromagnetic forces and does not clump in nuclei under the strong nuclear force, which has been described by Richard Feynmann's mathematical techniques renormalization and Quantum Chromondynamics. I am not completely sure if it is known if the weak force affects non-baryonic matter, but we know of its existence only through its gravitional effects, including the rapid rotation of the sun around the center of the Milky Way galaxy, which is a hugh black hole about 25,000 to 27,000 light years from us in direction of contellation Sagittarius. I have been starting from the Big Bang, and we have gone out to release of Cosmic Background Radiation about 300,000 years later and then formation of stars, quasars, and galaxies less than a billion years later over ten billion years ago. In our Milky Way galaxy the oldest stars have around 98% Hydrogen and a little Helium and very little of the heavier elemets, which astronomers call "Metals" but not in a chemist's sense. These stars are called POPULATION TWO stars. Arcturus is the brightest of these only about 37 light years away, passing through the plane of the visible Milky Way Halaxy, which is a warped but flat disk about six thousand light years thick and one hundred thousand light years in diameter. A light year is 5.9 trillion miles. Earth and sun are about half way from center of disk to the rim out beyond autumn-winter constellations Auriga and Taurus in direction between bright stars Capella and Aldebaran. Stars keep forming when shock waves gather gas together, though star formation was greatest in early history of galaxy. Younger stars usually have more heavy elements recycled from old stars where these heavy elements formed. The sequences and ages are being worked out in great detail, but you need to understand isotopes and nuclear physics if you are going to understand it. The oxygen, nitrogen, carbon in our bodies formed in old stars more than 4.6 nillion years ago, mostly in the final supernova stages, where they blow off incredible energy. Some important isotopes were formed in cool outer shells of Red Giant stars, which are nearing supernova. The properties of stars can be predicted largely if you know their total mass and age. Metal content and spin are additional minor factors. There is a Herzsprung-Russell diagram that relates spectral characters of starlight to total luminosity, corrected for distance of the star, as light apparent brightness varies as square of distance. Two women at Harvard made very important contributions to understanding all this - Henrietta Swann Leavitt 1869-1921 studied variable stars and found that major classes the Cepheid and RR Lyrae stars have a regular period of variation that is related to the absolute luminosity closely enough so that their distances can be estimated fairly well - this is one of the most important lines of evidence on the distances of globular clusters in the Milky Way halo and in distant galaxies. Both Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars are approaching supernova stage. The Cepheids are very large stars and include the North Star Polaris and Deneb "Arabic 'tail'" in Cygnus the Swan or Northern Cross. The RR Lyrae stars are very old Population Two stars that are abundant in globular clusters, many of which are about as old as Milky Way Galaxy. Annie Jump Cannon 1863-1941 observed and catalogued over four hundred thousand stars correlating their spectral colors with their absolute luminosity, as corrected for distance. Distance estimates are a real problem in astronomy and affect ages and velocities, but they are continually being improved. The bigger a star is, the greater the temperature and pressure at the core, nd the faster fusion reactions occur, and the sooner it uses up Hydrogen at the core. Since Hans Bethe's 1930s work, it is generally accepted that a small region at core of sun and what are called "MAIN SEQUENCE" [important concept] stars get their heat from fusion of hydrogen to helium in a small core region where temperature is around 14 to 15 million degrees Kelvin [Celsius + 273]. Minor corrections are bring made as we estimate number of neutrinos formed etc. It takes a million years about for this fusion energy to work its way out FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND MILES to surface of sun - first by radiation for seventy per cent of distance and then by plasma convection in outer thirty per cent of diameter. Stars are classed by surface temperature OBAFGKM -"Oh, Be A Fine Girl[guy] Kiss Me The hottest stars class O have surface temperature 25,000 to 50,000 degrees K. Examples Alnitak in Orion's Belt or Delta Canis major - but they are about 1600 and 500 light years away respectively, fortunately. You don't want them in your meighborhood. These O stars have spectral lines of ionized Calcium and Helium. The next category B is around 11,000 K. and looks blue in spectrum, as the bright supergiant Rigel, the knee of Orion. These have ionized helium but not calcium I think. The next categories A and F - I must check temperatures - somewhere between six and ten thosand degrees K - nearby Sirius is A and Procyon F - I believe they are "dwarf" meaning they are still on main sequence fusing hydrogen at core and stable - then sun surface temperature 5500 degrees Celsius or about 5770 K. is in Class G - there are numerical subdivisions and I think the sun is G2 - and the Roman numeral V [five] is used to mean the sun is a Main Sequence or Dwarf star. If a star has Roman Numerals 1a Ib II III IV it means it is a Supergiant Giant or SubGiant - enlarging, less dense, unstable, often with inner shells and approach supernova ending stage. Most O B A F stars are younger than the sun. The sun is class G dwarf on Main Sequence. Stars in class K and M are cooler than the sun. The smallest stars with sustained fusion at core are about 7.5 to 8 per cent of solar mass, and they will remain on main sequence up to five trillion [five thousand million years] good places to retire. That is why I want to remove mass from the sun. Objects smaller than eight solar masses beginning as gas clouds as stars do, and heat up as gravity makes them contract. They often burn light elements deuterium and lithium, but they do not reach a core temperature and pressure needed for fusion of common hydrogren, so they cool off and have been named "Brown Dwarfs" though some people prefer the name substars. A great many old large stars that were classes O B A F or G stars formed earlier than sun have now burned out their fusion energy and are called White Dwarfs". Their ages can be inferred from their temperatures, as they are extremely dense and cool slowly. The coolest white dwarfs are the oldest, and there are ones believed to be at least eight billion years old, so the Galaxy must be older. On the Internet - using Search Engine www.google.com enter " trip3 Milky Way " for an excellent account and maps and pictures of the area around the solar system by Annemie Maertens in Belgium. For a couple of million years the solar system hase been passing through an unusual high-vacuum "Local Bubble" created by relatively reent supernova activity. In about fifty thousand years the solar system is expected to encounter galactic clouds in the "Aquila Rift" in direction of constellation AQUILA the Eagle. The rotation of the sun about the galactic center takes about 250 million years. As a group the stars near the sun are rotating toward a point in direction of constellation Cygnus. The sun has a periodic motion of its own in a sixty-six million year cycle, crossing the glactic plane every thirty-three million years. This Belgium source on Internet says the sun is now about sixty light years north of the Galactic Plane and will elongate to a maximum of about 240 light years north of the galactic plane in 14 or fifteen million years, then move back townard the plane. The sun is moving away from nearby Alpha Centauri, Sirius, and Procyon and moving toward a point in constellation Hercules near its bounday with constellation Lyra and bright star Vega. Estimates of the extent and mass of the Milky Way's Galactic Halo are being increased. It is suggested the dark mass of the halo is twenty times the visible matter, and that the halo formed first. Gravitational Lensing observations are finding some white and brown dwarfs, but theorists expect that there will be unfamiliar non-baryonic matter. The Milky Way has captured many smaller galaxies, and is believed to have a "barred spiral" form that reflects this history. It is expected eventually to capture the irregular small galaxies in southern sky known as Large and Small Magellanic Clouds about 160.000 - 180,000 light years away. An spectacular supernova 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud 1987 has been closely studied, and many obersevations of gravitational lensing by Milky Way halo objects have involved light from stars in these two neaby galaxies. Eventually the Milky Way is expected to merge with the other large galaxy in the LOCAL GROUP, the Andromeda Galaxy, estimated between 2.5 and three million light years distant. Beyond the Local Group our galaxies appear gravitationally bound to those hundreds of millions of light years away including the galactic cluster centered in constellation Virgo, where elliptical galaxies appear to have formed by more advanced galactic mergers [perhaps lawyers get rich in these]. Some chronology of life on earth. Shorter-lived isotopes add information -there is a potassium isotope with half-life between 100/150 million years, and Carbon 14 half life of 40,000 years is used in archaeology. Position of North star moves in 26,000 year cycle called "Precession of the Equinoxes" which is confirmed by Chinese, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek records. Elso Barghoorn 1964 published records of bacterial fossils in Gunflint Chert about 1.1. billion years old near Lake Superior western Ontario - they were discovered 1954 but publication was delayed. Oldest bacterial fossils are well over three billion years, and rocks are at least 3.96 billion. Eukaryotic red algae discovered by Nicholas Butterfield and Andrew Knoll appear to go back a billion years, and higher animals arthropods, mollusks, chordates appear in Cambrian over 500 million years ago.In 1998 Harvard-Canadian Earth Scientist Paul Hoffman published strong evidence for ice ages between 730 and 580 million years ago when oceans worldwide were covered by ice to the equator, but the reduction in photosynthesis led to renewed warmth as carbon dioxide from volcanic activity accumulated. Harry Whittington, Derek Briggs, and Simon Conway-Morris of Cambridge University have greatly advanced understanding of Cambrian animal explosion by their studies of Burgess Shale in Yoho National Park, british Columbia, where soft body parts were exceptionally well preserved by sudden burial in turbidity currents. This story was narrated with outstanding illustrations by Stephen Jay Gould in book "Wonderful Life." Petroleum companies use form variations in fossils like ammonoids and fusulinids to trace ages of stratigraphic layers which contain economic minerals. This was a practical economic incentive for study of evolutionary paleobiology. There was an early anoxic period when iron was in reduced chemical state in Archaean epoch. Although photosynthesis appeared around three billion years ago, and then blue green algae "cyanobacteria" developed a form of photosynthesis that releases oxygen, some chemical proecess removed oxygen from atmosphere until about 2.2 or 2.1 billion years ago, in the Proterozoic, when oxygen began to be major component of air. Higher land plant spores have been identified by Jane Gray 1929-2000 from Caradocian epoch of Ordovician 458-449 million years ago and a group at Boston College Weston Observatory recently may have found them in Cambrian sediments of Arizona and Tennessee. Since the Cambrian there have been five big extinctions - one in Ordovician connected with ice age - one in Upper Devonian age of fish around 360 M, the biggest exntinction at end of Permian about 248 million years ago, end Triassic when mammal-like reptiles had setback and dinosaurs became dominaant, and end Cretaceous when comet at Chicxulub Yucatan, may have contributed to extinction of dinosaurs, ammonoids, and many sea forms. Flowering plant pollen goes back over 130 million years. Opening of Atlantic Ocean separated old and new world monkeys and, break-up of Gondwana distributed plants and animals to South America, Arica, Madagascar, India, Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand. In Cretaceous, most of earth had tropical and wet climate, and oxygen and carbon dioxide levels were much hgher than today. Seasonality has increased in temperate and polar regions, and grass and desert have come to occupy perhaps a third of surface of earth. Paleomagnetism tells ages of ocean floor and continental movements by plate tectonics. Some continental rocks are four billion years old, as granite with 2.7 density of water floats atop ocean floor basalt, density 3.2 times water. Granite is also light in color with quartz, feldspars, micas, oxygen, silicon, aluminum, and various combinations of potassium, calcium sodium. Basalt has dark augite,and relatively large amounts of heavy iron and magnesium. Ocean floor is re-cycled deep in mantle. Some of the oldest ocean floor east of Guam Trench in western Pacific is about 170 million years old formed in Pacific. An area of eastern Mediterranean floor may be older geologically and part of the ancient Tethys Sea between northern Laurasia and southern Gondwana, but this area was dry land for a time about six million years ago. Persian Gulf, Mediterranean, and Dead Sea are said to be remains of the very ancient Tethys Sea, but Red Sea is part of the Rift Valley systems in Africe connected to mid-ocean ridges where new ocean floor is forming. Ocean fllor paleomagnetism is like a tape recording of earth history. Drying trend most of Africa transformed rain forest to savannah over 80% of continent, and human ancestors came down from trees, adapted to walking erect, and hunting in groups, where fossils indicate adaptations for speech 1.8 million years ago. Earlier human ancestors behame addicted to Vitamin C while on a high fruit diet in trees. Common ancestor with chimpanees was about 7-8 million years ago. Immune systems are remarkably similar - Major histocompatibility complex variation is older than human species. |
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Pyramid Peak and Lake Crescent. autumn 1999 photo by Albert Brown of Joyce, veteran driver of Forks-Port Angeles Clallam county bus. Peak is predominantly basalt. Lake Crescent is over 600 feet deep and has very steep cliffs from glaciers 2000 to 3000 feet thick. Rare landlocked Beardsley and crescenti trout highly endangered breed near Lyre River outlet and Boundary Creek and need protection. Spring 2000 there has been a sharp drop in trout egg-laying areas called "redds". Causes need to be identified and spawning areas added to Olympic Park. A small scenic area west of Fairholm should be added to the park near the season "LaFollete Falls" and old manganese mine to protect steep cliffs of glacial cirque and Lake Crescent scenery. The park boundary is just east of LaFollette Falls.---- }C{ Part 3 Chapter One Barrett Family History p 75 #1254 From 1116 skeleton for`Chapter One" History of the Barrett family" in Notebook Two of Sophie Ruth Meranski Barrett "Red Headed Stepchild" - additions by John Barrett marked with double parenthesis [[....addition]] from website p 58 #1116 [[#100 Robert Mehegan letter- #100 "Red Headed Stepchild- Memoir of the Century "-]] TEXT: Chapter One- The Barrett Family History--- When Jack found a letter written by Robert Mehegan, a printer for the Boston Herald, to his son Robert Mehegan, junior, written in [[September]] 1911 to Evanston,Wyoming, where the son worked in the Land Office, he [[Jack 1967]] renewed his interest in the history of the Barrett family. Jack found the letter in his [[childhood]] home at East SeventhStreet South Boston [[after the death of his sister Mollie of cancer October 11, l967]]. Robert Mehegan senior was the son of Jack's father's aunt Ellen Barrett Mehegan, who emigrated from Ireland to Boston. The 'John Barrett' referred to in the letter is Jack's father, and the boy 'who was serving Uncle Sam' was Jack himself. The letter, written in Boston, to Robert Mehegan, junior, in Evanston, Wyoming, gives a great deal of the Barrett family history: [[September l9ll letter of Robert J Mehegan l857-l925 to his son Robert junior then working in Evanston,Wyoming in Federal Land Office:]] "As long as you have fully made up your mind to visit San Francisco,we will have to put you wise to the people that you will see and visit.Had we known some years ago that you should be so far away from home we could have talked over these different relatives of ours to a greater satisfaction than to write.You will be asked a number of questions about the relatives in Boston and vicinity.Consequently I shall have to climb the family tree for your inspection. The Barrett family came from Ireland and landed in Boston in 184l sixty-nine years ago.The family consisted of five members,four women and one man.The man was the oldest of the family, his name was Robert Barrett.After being in Boston some years he married and settled in South Boston. They had four children, two boys and two girls.Mr. amd Mrs. Barrett died when the children were very young.Michael the eldest of the family was about sixteen or seventeen years old at the time and went West and went into the cattle business.When the Grand Army had their convention in Boston in l89l (sic-actually August,l890) he came on from the West and visited us when we were living on Carlyle Street in Cambridge.The last I heard of him shortly after leaving Boston he was in a place called Somerville,New Jersey. If he is living today he must be over sixty years old.The two girls of the family was taken by your grandmother and lived with us in South Boston (East Fourth near I Street until l871) when their aunts sent for them to live with them in San Francisco.The names of these two girls are Mary and Kate Barrett. Mary after being in California a short time entered religious life and has been a Sister of the Presentation order for a great number of years. You have seen her picture surrounded by her scholars in one of our rooms at home.She is now in a convent located at Berkeley,a town near San Francsico. By all means you must see her,but the best of my opinion you will have to be accompanied by some female relative or friend.Katie the yonger of the two girls and about my age, never married and always made her home with her aunts.The other member of the Barrett family is John, and at the death of his parents went to live with a family by the name of Thompson at City Point (640 East Seventh) and when a young man learned the plumbing trade.He is now in business for hmiself. and has been for some time located on Harrison Avenue Boston directly in front of St. James Catholic Church.He is married and owns and lives in the Thompson house that he went to when a small boy. His first wife died and left one boy who is now an officer on one of Uncle Sam's battleships (correctly a Revenue Cutter School cadet l9ll).I never saw his second wife but there are some children. He is quite distant and does not visit his relatives much. That is about as much as I can say about my uncle Robert and his family who came out from Ireland.Now for the four women of the original Barrett family.Kate the oldest married Charley Mehegan's father and is dead between forty and fifty years. She left three children; Robert the oldest (l848-l9l6),whom you know, Mary, who you never saw,and who married a widower named Barry Sullivan who had quite a large family, and when she died there were four children left after her.[[ (Mary l852-l885 died in childbirth.)]].One of her stepdaughters married Dr. Devine, one of the leading doctors of South Boston.Regarding her own children they are all grown up and able to care for themselves. As for Charley of course you know all about him. [[(l857-l9ll letter carrier City Point, five children - wife accidentally drowned l9l0 surname Sullivan).]] You will probably be asked about Robert: [[the writer's double cousin, whose name was the same as his own.]] Of course you know the kind of life that he has led and you can make it as pleasant for him as you can,not unless you are unable to do otherwise. You know that he has a daughter [[(Elizabeth l880-l978 lived to age 97 years seven months) ]] who was married and had one child. Both husband and child are dead ( she remarried l9l2 to Joseph Hoarde in Waltham - four children, seven grandchildren more than twenty-two great-grandchildren). The third member of the original (Barrett) family was Ellen,who was your grandmother (l822-l895,married John Mehegan). The other two women of the original family is Margaret and Johanna.They left Boston in l854 for California and are at last account living at 2043 Polk Street,San Francisco. Johanna married a Mr. Hession,a very industrious and good man.They had four or five children.Mr. Hession has been dead for a number of years and the children [[(INSERT-all the children) ]] likewise, with the exception of one married daughter Mrs. Fahrbach, who has been an invalid for years (Elizabeth,died l907).The last member of the old family is Margaret.She never married and always made her home with the Hessions.These two old ladies at the time of the great San Francisco fire lost all their property,which consisted of three houses on Polk Street which was their principal income.Since the fire I think they have only rebuilt one of the houses,which they live in themselves.I have gone over the Barrett family to the best of my ability but there are numerous other relatives there that you will see and hear about.The Colemans and Murphys and several others whose parents in coming from Ireland to Boston (sic) never settled in Boston but went to the Golden horn of California. Your grandmother was the second oldest of the four women of the Barrett family and died when we lived on Elm Street in Cambridge sixteen years ago, and if she lived to the present day would be eighty-nine years old.Her sisters,whom we hope will be alive when you reach San Francisco are about eight-five and eighty-seven years old respectively.When they left Boston for California,it was a far different thing than going there at the present time.The was no railroad running from the Atlantic to the Pacific and only taking a few days to get there.The only way overland was the prairie schooner, and the other way was by boat from New York to the Isthmus of Panama and then up the Pacific Cost to San Francisco. It was a far different place than you will find on your arrival.Among other people you will be asked about is "Auntie Mehegan." She was the second wife of Charley Mehegan's father and came over Charlie when he was a very small boy.As you are well aware,she died last November (1910) and she did not die in South Boston but at the home of her nephew Timothy Sullivan on Hanover Street,Boston.He is a bachelor and over sixty years old., and his housekeeper is his aunt,who is a sister of "Auntie Mehegan" who is over eighty years old and blind and never married. She spent a great number of years in San Francisco and is well known to the old ladies there.They were acquaintances of theirs when the lived in Ireland years ago.These things that I have gone over you will find useful on your visit. (Sophie Barrett note - Jack spoke often to me about his aunt Sister Mary Joseph and about his great aunts who crossed the isthmus of Panama by muleback.) [[Robert Barrett died Dec. 1859 of lung disease on Goddard St., which became W. Eighth Street between Lark and E Sts,. Charles Mehegan immigrant railraod builder to Concord N.H. died l868. His first wife Kate Barrett died l863. His seond wife "auntie" Mehegan lived to l9l0. A grandniece Mrs. Kelleher was located Ballinreesig Cork l971. -add end-]] SOPHIE text at p 305: [[From Massachusetts probate records]] Jack learned that Robert Mehegan junior had died in the early 1930s [[1933]] and had left a widow Elvira Mehegan and four children: Eileen, John, Edmund, and Paul. He believed Elvira had returned to Evanston, Wyoming. I sent a letter to the Catholic Church in Evanston, Wyoming to inquire about Mrs. Mehegan, and the priest forwarded my letter to Elvira in Denver, Colorado. She wrote me promptly explaining that she had settled in Denver after retiring from teaching school [[ for thirty years 1933-1963]] in Evanston. Her daughter [[Eileen]] and her son John were living in Denver, so she decided to take a home in Denver to be near them. On October 10, 1970 she wrote: [[ from #64 Elvira letter 1970-Elvira Mehegan 3870 East Wesley Avenue, Denver Colorado 802l0.August l6,l970: "Dear cousin Sophie,Your letter sent to the Catholic Church in Evanston, Wyoming was sent to me. I had heard of the Barretts who were relatives of the Mehegans but had never met any of them.I met Robert Mehegan junior when he worked in Evanston.We were married in August l920.My married life was all spent in Boston & Arlington (Massachusetts). We had four children- one girl Eileen & three boys,John Edmund & Paul. Robert's father died in l925 his mother in l940 & his only sister in l964.My husband died in l933.After his death I came back to Wyoming to earn a living for myself & four children teaching school.I retired from teaching in l963.Then I moved to Denver to be near Eileen.I live alone in a small house about two miles from Eileen.My four children are all married.Eileen has two girls and one boy.John lives in Boulder, Colorado. He has three boys & one girl.Edmund lives in DesPlaines Illinois about fifteen miles northwest of Chicago.He has two girls & one boy.Paul lives in Canoga Park, California about fifteen miles north of Los Angeles He has four girls & one boy.I have quite a collection of grandchildren to visit.I do not see those who live away from this area very often.I was very pleased to get your letter & learn that someone in the East is still interested in the Mehegans. yours truly, Elvira Mehegan." [be near them.] #95-- 3870 E. Wesley Ave, Denver Colorado 80210 Oc 10, l970 Dear Sophie and John, I want to thank you for all the information you have sent me concerning the Mehegan-Barrett family and also apologize for being so slow in replying. I have not been well due to a "flu" session and eye trouble.I expect a call the first of next week from the eye specialist telling me if I am to have a cataract operation. Due to other trouble in the retina there is a question if the operation will solve the problem. You will understand it is not possible for me to answer all your letters in detail. Since I sent you the post card dated l9l5 I found information in an old suitcase of my Bob's. It is an account of his trip to California. It is dated Oct ll, l9ll to Oct. 22. He mentions a Public Lands Convention held in Denver which he attended. He reported for work in the Land Office September 27, l911. He mentioned receiving a letter from Sister Mary Joseph Barrett 2043 Polk Street San Francisco also Miss Kate Barrett was writing to her nephew, who was in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service. Oct. 12 Bob heard from him from New London. I assume that was your husband and father. One thing mentioned that does not apply to the family but was of interest to to me In Evanston Bob paid a dollar a day for room and board in a private family.Bob's trip to San Francisco He left Evanston Sept 5, l911 on the OVERLAND Limited, a coal-burning engine that gave off cinders at Ogden,Utah an oil burning engine was substituted.Great Salt Lake was crosssed over a man-made cutoff a big project of fill-in rock. When the train reached Oakland,all had to transfer to ferry to cross the Bay to San Francisco. He visited many places in San Francisco, then on September ninth he went to visit relatives at 2043 Polk St. There he met the Hessions, Barretts and other relatives. Mrs.Hession's home was near Market street. Miss"Auntie" Barrett and Kate Barrett lived with her. The big l906 fire destroyed her property, which had to be rebuilt. Auntie Kate was Robert Senior's first cousin. Besides the three women, he learned about Sister Mary Joseph, the Kerrigans, Colemans, Murphys, Fahrbachs and Rings. Miss Kate Kerrigan was the only one he met.(Sophie Barrett note'-We have since learned that Kate Kerrigan was the daughter of Mary Barrett, a fifth sister who did not leave Ireland with her brother Robert and four sisters, Kate, Ellen, Johanna, and Margaret.She married a Mr.Kerrigan of Ballymartle near Kinsale, county Cork, and her daughters Kate Kerrigan and Mrs.John Ring went to San Francisco in l897. Ella Collins of Moskeigh managed to trace these relations as her mother's niece Mrs. Joan Ring Finn of Scart, Ballinhassig was a niece of John Ring and remembered corresponding with his wife,their aunt by marriage and a Barrett descendant. There were a number of Ring relations in the Bay area, but of these only Mary Mathews of San Bruno was a surviving Barrett descenant in the l970's. Mrs. Eva Kimbrough of Berkeley was a member of the Ring line and knew much family history. Her daughters attended the Presentation School in Berkeley where Sister Mary Joseph Barrett was Mother Superior in l9ll.- end Sophie Barrett note) continuing Elvira Mehegan letter]]-He had eight meetings with these people. They told him of the western relatives and he told them of those in the East. They treated him very well. While Mrs. Hession was elderly and wrinkled, she was very active physically and mentally. She helped her relations and started Mr.Fahrbach in business. Mr. Hession was a highly educated man a civil engineer and surveyor. The Hessions had three children Robert,John and Mrs. Fahrbach.Robert married but John did not. Both died within six months of each other. John was a letter carrier.Mrs. Fahrbach died about l907. The next person mentioned is Kate Barrett-Robert Mehegan senior's first cousin. She spent her time helping her older relatives. These ladies and Bob went to Berkeley to visit Sister Mary Joseph on September 18. They discussed the eastern relatives.She was very active.There was a discussion of the Kerrigans,Colemans, and Murphys.Bob's last visit at 2043 Polk Street was September tenth.Kate Kerrigan unmarried was the daughter of Bob's grandmother's oldest sister.Kate's sister Johanna had married a Ring. Both Mr. and Mrs. Murphy were dead at the time. Two grown sons survived.They had not kept close to Mrs.Hession.On September 20th Bob took a steamer for Los Angeles.At that time Mrs. Johanna Hession , Kate Kerrigan, the two Murphy boys,and Miss Coleman were the only remaining relatives. On September 25th he left for the return trip to Evanston, Wyoming. Bob wanted to attend college in l9l0 but due to his father's accident when his hand was caught in a press he had to take a business course by correspondence.After passing the Civil Service test he was assigned to the Land ofice in Evanston,Wyoming September 27, l9ll-Elvira Mehegan." On October 16, l970 Mrs. Jessie Fahrbach from from Oakland California" Your letter of October 11, l970 was received and its contents noted with great interest.Strangely enough I know very little about the Fahrbach family, as I shall explain. I was married to Robert Fahrbach senior in l934 having met him in l932. Consequently I know very little about his family previous to that time. Robert and I had a son in l936, who is Robert, junior.I do know that my Robert's father, Emil Fahrbach,married Elizabeth Hession,the daughter of Johanna Barrett Hession.Elizabeth died in l907 when Robert was thirteen years of age.Robert's father remarried after Elizabeth's death.They were deceased when I met Robert.Your mention of Robert Fahrbach having married in l923 is no doubt true.I was not Robert's first wife.Their marriage ended in divorce.Robert's and my marriage also ended in divorce. However, there was no ill feeling, and we kept in touch until he died in l967. Robert's father was highly respected in business circles in San Francisco.Robert senior also thought a great deal of his mother.In fact I have a picture of her which was among Robert's personal belongings which I received after his death.She was a very beautiful woman- Jessie Fahrbach" On October 9, l970 Edmund Mehegan of DesPlaines Illinois, son of Robert Mehegan junior, wrote: "My grandfather Robert Mehegan senior and Johanna (Alberts) Mehegan had nine children but only two lived to adulthood.Robert Mehegan,junior (my father) and his sister Annie, my aunt.I understand that my father's health was somewhat delicate and for that reason he was advised by his doctor to try a Western climate.I think he must also have had some wanderlust judging by the records you have sent- he came by honestly. At any rate he went to Evanston Wyoming about 1909 or l9l0 where he worked for the Post Office [[Land Office]] Department. To my knowledge there was no particular reason for choosing Evanston as opposed to any other Western town.He had no friends or relatives there that I ever heard of.He lived in Evanston in l9l0 and l9ll and met my mother at that time. But he returned to Boston until l9l9 or l920(worked at Boston Army Base-note) when he again went to Evanston long enough to be married.They returned to Boston, where thirteen years and four children later he died l933.Through the efforts of her sister my mother was able to get a teaching job in Evanston Wyoming and so again a trip was made west. My mother moved to Denver after she reitred about l964. Eileen my sister returned to Boston about l938-l939 to study nursing. As to the famous document written by my grandfather, I find it fascinating not only as a family record but as a historical account of the lives and times of nineteenth century America..After seeing the copy of the typewritten original which you sent, may I venture that {A}. You do have the original- and other pages with the salutation and signature were removed because they pertained to matters other than family history. {B}.The second and more logical conclusion is that when my father returned to Boston he made typewriter copies of the original to preserve the information and pass it on to other relatives. He would have no need to add a salutation or a signature since he was copying (his father's) own letter.I am quite sure he knew how to type.Were the handwritten corections on the original when you found it (typed date l842 is changed in pen to l841) I have tried to compare them with my father's handwriting on the post cards,but I cannot tell - the "M" in Margaret seems similar but there are differences.I want to thank both of you for your letters. Aunt Annie had some chairs of my grandmother's that I told her I wanted her to will to me. My sister was in Boston with her when she was dying and telephoned me about the chairs. Annie passed on a few days later.Eileen called but in her opinion the chairs dated only from the late l890's and the cost would have been prohibitive to have them crated and shipped. Eileen salvaged a few old vases and pictures and divided them between us, but the letters are gone forever. My mother has very few relics from Boston as it was not practical in the depression to ship them- Edmund Mehegan. " [[P.312 NOTEBOOK TWO]] In his research on the Barrett family John learned that the girl referred to in the 19ll document as the daughter of Robert Mehegan who had lost her husband and her child had been named Elizabeth [[Mehegan]]Peiper. He found that she had remarried in l9l2 to Joseph Hoarde, and that a family of Joseph Hoarde had lived in Waltham, Massachusetts.He wrote to the son, -also Joseph or Robert Joseph Hoarde, who telephoned to John early in October l970 saying his mother was to celebrate her ninetieth birthday the next day October 8. She had three living children - his sister Mrs. Julia Maloney of Brighton, his sister Mary Brooks of Burlington, and himself, the baby of the family, [[born in l920]].His mother was living with Julia Maloney and her husband :"Chick" (Charles) at 9 Bostonia Avenue in Brighton.That evening John had a three hour telephone conversation with Mrs. Hoarde and her daughter Julia.Mrs. Hoarde was keen and gave him a lot of family history and information about South Boston. Subsequently John called on his third cousins and stayed for dinner and a hockey evening.On Easter Sunday l971 he went to visit Julia's daughter Janice's family the Bagnalls in Waltham, where they had a reunion of about twenty-five member of the family.John gave Mrs. Hoarde asn Irish shamrock whch he had raised from seed sent by Loretto Buckley of Moskeigh..She Mrs. Hoarde enjoyed the plant very much, as it bloomed for her last summer. She recently celebrated her ninety-first birthday.John also located three of the children of the "Charlie" Mehegan referred to in the document.Charlie became a Boston letter carrier and had five children.,of whom three still survive l97l Dorothy Brooks in Washington D. C. , Leonora Carty in Milton, and Eileen Brennan in west Quincy. John also located ninety year old Richard Barry Sullivan the son of Mary Mehegan l852-l884 who married Barry Sullivan and had three surviving children by him. Richard Barry Sullivan lives in Reseda, California where he has been active in real estate for years. John had a letter from his son Roger a lawyer for one of the railroads (later for Los Angeles Catholic diocese). John also talked with Richard Barry Sullivan and his wife. Richard lost his parents in l884 and l892 played baseball for a time in Philadelphia and spent some years in Laramie, Wyoming.His two unmarried sisters lived in Jamaica Plain. Mrs. Hoarde had a vivid memory that her aunt Mary Theresa Mehegan Sullivan died in childbirth when she herself was three years old l884. Mrs. Hoarde's mother was a member of the large Freeman family of West Bolton Street South Boston. Several of the Freemans were glassblowers.One group of her Freeman cousins lived near Mattapan.Her father had an accident involving a coal chute in South Boston but lived until l9l6.His skull was damaged, and his brain sensitive to possible injury. Her mother lost several babies, but her twin sisters born in l889 lived into their eighties, though separated by adoption after their mother's death of tuberculosis in l894. After visiting her uncle Charlie in South Boston and Coughlin relations in Maynard, -where she was corrected for picking an apple blossom in the family's productive orchard -Elizabeth, the eldest child, born October 8, l880,worked as a housekeeper and cook in Waltham, where she met her second husband Joseph Hoarde a butcher in l9l2. They were married fifty-seven years until he passed away in l969 at age ninety-two. Around l911 Boston Mayor Fitzgerald helped Elizabeth find her sister who had been adopted by a family in Salem. Elizabeth was often called "Lil." In her later years,she punned on James Fenimore Cooper's novel and referred to herself as "the last of the Mehegans." She was proficient at crocheting and an enthusiastic baseball fan,though her great-grandchildren played hockey. One of her sisters Mrs.Bussiere had a son and two daughter and lived near Manchester,New Hampshire until she passed away January 5, l97l. One of her married daugters is Dorothy Gamache, who lives near Manchester, New Hampshire. Mary A Lane Barrett was eighty years old when she died January 1938.Born 1857. Buried in Mount Saint Joseph Cemetery West Roxbury with Katie, Pa Barrett and Mary F. Catherine Barrett died January 25, 1931.John Robert Barrett born November 29, 1854 on Goddard Street Dorchester now West Eighth Street passed away August 21, 1942. William Joseph Barrett and his sister Mollie (Mary Frances) passed away January 21 and October 11, 1967. On September 15, 1970 John jr talked by telephone with Mr. William Curtis, who formerly lived at 638 East Seventh Street, downstairs of the Barretts at 640. He was Pa Barrett's downstairs tenant from about 1926 to 1937. He now lives near Gertrude Granville in Dorchester. While living at 640 he had a young son Bill, and his wife died in childbirth, but the young daughter survived. Young Bill Curtis now does public health work in Hartford, Connecticut. I remember Mr. Curtis and Bill well from my visits at 640 in 1932 and 1933. Bill Curtis was a chubby, pleasant young boy whom Jack's brother Bill Barrett liked to tease. But when little Bill Curtis tried to tease big Bill Barrett, he became very annoyed and sent the boy home. Pa Barrett and grandfather Bill Curtis used to vie with one another to take Bill out in his carriage.Mr. Curtis remarried- had four children by his second marriage. John had a pleasant conversation with the second Mrs. Curtis. Mr. Curtis also knew Father Hasenfus, pastor of Gate of Heaven Church at Fourth and I Streets, who operated summer camp Five Islands on the Maine coast, where Mollie Barrett took many photos in 1925. Mr. Curtis recollected meeting Bill Barrett's widow the former Mrs. Margaret Floyd and Jack's nephew William Joel Barrett at Mollie's funeral in October 1967. -315- On May 27, 1923 Sister Mary Joseph of the Presentation Order - sister of Pa Barrett and Jack's aunt, wrote to Jack from the Convent at !404 Mason Street, San Francisco about her sister Kate's recent death during May 1923. "She made a will about five years ago. She left one-half her possessions to our cousin Mrs. Craig (Robert Mehegan, senior's sister) -- the other one-half is for the support of our cousin, Kate Kerrigan. -I mean the interest of it. When she dies, you (Jack) are to get the half. The house is worth very little. The lot on which it is may sell for sixteen or eighteen thousand. Another lot is valued at two thousand (dollars). One-half of all goes to Aunt Johanna's grandson Robert Fahrbach. He has just been married. The other half to be divided between Mrs. Craig and Kate Kerrigan. More than two thousand will be taken from my sister's part of the estate for debts and late expenses of funeral and doctor. I expect to go to Los Angeles soon after the nineteenth [[June]]. My address there will be Presentation Convent. 4100 East Third Street. Your father has written me that your brother has accepted a position in New York. He is a grand young man. -Sister Mary Joseph." -316- (the will referred to in the above letter is the will of Sister Mary Joseph's sister - and Jack's aunt- Miss Catherine Barrett, who died May, 1923. She had lived with the Hessions as her aunt was Johanna Barrett Hession -also the maiden immigrant aunt Margaret Barrett. [[Sister Mary Joseph passed away and was buried in Los Angeles November 1923 aged seventy-three born 1852 near St. Peter and Paul's Church South Boston. Jack's Boston Latin classmate Dan Lyne represented Jack, who ultimately received slightly over three thousand dollars when Kate Kerrigan passed away in 1926. Aunt Kate inherited half of Johanna Hession's property, and Jack received the remainder of his Aunt Kate's property after income for life to the immigrant cousin Kate Kerrigan. Emil Fahrbach, son-in-law of Johanna Hession, was executor, and Jack met him and his son Robert when Jack visited San Francisco April1925 on the Pacific cruise of the light cruiser MARBLEHEAD prior to war games in Hawaii and the fleet visit to Samoa, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Galapagos.]] On September 28, 1970 John received a letter from U.S. General Services Administration in St.Louis: "Available records show that one Charles W. Mehegan was employed as a letter carrier at the U.S. Post Office Boston Massachusetts from July 1, 1891 to November 12, 1910, the date of his death.The records do not contain any additional identifying information other than that he was born in the state of Massachusetts." (This Charles Mehegan born 1857 was the younger of two sons of Grandpa Barrett's immigrant aunt Catherine Barrett Mehegan, who died 1863 at 650 East Fourth Street in South Boston. His father also named Charles Mehegan came from Ballyheedy, Ballinhassig, county Cork. The letter carrier had a son also named Charles and four daughters including Mrs. Leonora Carty of East Milton born 1901 and Eileen Brennan of West Quincy born 1904. On June 29, 1902 Elizabeth Mehegan, daughter of Robert Mehegan 1848-1916 and Hannah Freeman (died 1895) married Thomas E. Pieper age twenty-two motorman. She had a child but soon lost husband and child. In 1912 she married Joseph Hoarde of Waltham and lived at various Waltham addresses including Ash Street. The week before her ninetieth birthday-317- John located her through her son Robert still living in Waltham- a Navy veteran from the Pacific in World War Two Seabees active in Elks Club and working in 1970s at Charles River County Club in Newton. Julia Louise Hoarde was born February 11, 1913 and on April 19, 1931 at age eighteen she married Charles Mathias Maloney age twenty-two. Their five children are Charles, Donnie, Janice (Mrs. Bagnall) Kenny, and Phyllis (Mrs. Sparkes). There are more than twenty grandchildren Robert Joseph Hoarde was born in Waltham May 1, 1920. Their sister is Mrs. Mary Brooks in Burlington Massachusetts. On August 8, l971 Mrs. Eva Kimbrough of Berkeley California wrote to John in Moskeigh: "Dear Mr. Barrett: Received your letter and will try to give you a little information on the Ring family. My mother, Mary Ring Kelleher,was a sister of John Ring from San Francisco. I remember my mother speaking of Kate Kerrigan,whom you spoke of in your letter. She was a sister of my uncle John's wife Johanna Kerrigan Ring. They had two daughters and two sons. Only one son is living now. He still lives in San Francisco. His name is Neil Ring, but I don't know his address, as I haven't seen him in years. I remember my mother speaking of Murphys who were related to my grandfather, John Ring. - also a Kate Coleman, who chummed with Kate Kerrigan. They lived at Uncle John's home in San Francisco for a while- Eva Kimbrough." |
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Albert Brown photograph Lake Crescent, Pyramid Peak Glacial Cirque above Fairhold-Add to Olympic National Park Just west of Fairholm Store at the western end of Lake Cresent scenic high cliffs of geological importance to student of glaciation are immediately west and outside of the boundary of Olympic National Park. Ice was about two thousand feet thick in this area and sculpted a hollow region that is probably a cirque. The area is visible for five miles or more along Route 101 around miles 221-226. There was a manganese mine in this area, which left an artificial waterfall known locally to the miners as Lafollette Falls, after a lady who worked in Fairholm store years ago. Some neighboring land is in Olympic National Forest, but a small piece of the old mine property appears to be in private hands according to maps. In this location the park boundary runs directly noth-south. Yhe main power line to Forks from Joyce is slightly west of this area.Altitude is around seventeen hundred feet. Interior Department and Park officials might study whether a very small addition to the park would be justified by scenic, geological, and especially Glaciological values. My address is John B. Barrett 113 W. Third Street, Port Angeles WA98362-2824. |
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Photo by Albert Brown nearLake Crescent northwest Olympics +++ Astronomy Professor David Latham has suggested that it will take a great deal of energy to achieve the ideal maximum amount of mass removal from the sun to keep the earth habitable as long as possible. However the time frame is very long. The basic equation is mv squared or m DELTA v squared, where m is the desired amount of mass removed, and Delta V is the difference between starting velocity and escape velocity. I believe that "m" the ideal amount of mass to remove over four or five billion years is not precisely known at present. The optimum rate of removal is likely to be a curve rather than a straight line. Too rapid a beginning might trigger an ice age or orbital instability of earth and planets. The longest-lived stars have 7.5 to eight per cent of the mass of the sun and are estimated to remain on Main Sequence with stable heat output about five thousand trillion years - [5 x 10 to twelfth power]. In atlas of the Universe 1998 I see as estimate that sun equals 333,000 earth masses. Suppose that in four billion years, it was desired to remove eighty per cent of present solar mass - this is very likely more than enough, but illustrates the nature of the calculation. This would mean if one proceeded in a linear fashion, that one per cent of solar mass should be eliminated in the first fifty million years, dividing four billion by eighty. So 3,330 earth masses would be removed in fifty million years, or 66.6 earth masses per one million years - around one earth mass every fifteen thousand years. The acceleration would be complex. I have heard the escape velocity at the surface of the sun estimated between 384 miles per second and 500 kilometers per second. However, the heat of the solar surface 5500 C and the much higher heat and convective motion just below the surface may contribute significantly to the starting energy as we come to understand how the existing solar wind forms and the stellar winds of other stars, including those hotter than the sun. For seven years I have been studying whether it would be possible to remove ANY mass from the sun. I call this stage "Leah" after the older first wife of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. Before we get to phase Leah, where we might experimentally try to remove a small amount of mass from the sun to observe technology, there would be phase "Blaise Pascal" where we would do thought experiments and test ideas theroetically. If the technology appeared risky, there might be a phase Alpha where we might test procedures on the star Alpha Centauri before working on the sun. As a target, perhaps an experimental small operation to remove a little mass from the sun might be tartgeted for the year 2099, within the lifetime of persons now living. David Latham has proposed the much more difficult and long -lasting PHASE RACHEL, in which the goal would be to achieve an optimum amount of gas removal to prolong habitability of earth to a theoretical maximum. Rachel was very beautiful, but her father was a demanding gentleman, and Jacob needed great patience and persistence. Since April 7, 2000 a number of possible technologies have come to mind, but they will require huge amounts of energy.Most of the technologies involve heating the solar surface to increase the amount of mass that escapes in the solar wind. At present it has been estimated about one hundred trillionth of solar mass escapes each year in naturally occurring solar wind. Hopefully, the sun's own energy can be utilized in one way or another.It is conceivable that over thousands and millions of years ways can be found to store energy from giant objects deep in space, and then beam or transport it Most technologies involve application of some form of heat to the solar surface. There may also be the possibilty of disrupting the surface chromosphere and exposing slight deeper layers which are much hotter. In the order I have thought of them, these are techniques for warming the solar surface- locally or around the entire surface. [1] Lasers - possibly utilizing hydrogen from the sun itself for fusion power. [2] Reflectors or mirrors to aim the sun's own heat back at the surface. [3} A greenhouse gas - if one can be maintained stably in the lower corona, this would be the ultimate mirror or reflector. Extremely high million-degree C. temperatures occur in portions of the lower corona, and the forces that cause them are not completed known- very likely magnetism is involved. This strategy would take mass relatively uniformly from all areas of the surface. It would be desirable to remove mass from the polar regions of the sun, so that it would travel away from the orbit of the earth and other planets. [4] Disruption of the cooler chromosphere to expose hotter interior gas or plasma. [5] ANTI-MATTER- would be extremely effective annihiliating some of the sun's mass and generating astonish heat if ANTIMATTER can be found, manufactured and handled and contained, as by very strong magnetic fields. There might be advantages in concentrating ther ANTIMATTER at very low temperatures near absolute zero possibly utilizing superconductivity to assist handling, which is far in the future [but Rachel is verey beautiful]. The sun is presently about seventy-one per cent hydrogen, twenty-seven per cent helium, and two per cent heavier elements. The removal of helium probably would favor stability, but the helium tends to be concentrated near the core, as David Latham pointed out in 1995. Recently Sean Root of Port Angeles heard a broadcast on a TV history channel in which something was said about "helium bubbles" obrserved in sunspots. if this is true and if they can be targeted, a substantial amount of helium over a long time can be removed from the convective outer zone, which constitutes thirty per cent of solar radius and sixty-five per cent of volume. Doug Wadsworth of Port Angeles and Western Washington University at Bellinghan points out that if it is possible to reduce solar mass signifiantly, orbits of planets will be affected by reduced gravitational pull, and planets will move further from the sun. This will help delay or prevent over-heating the earth and may be opf great long run importance. Effects on earth and future colonies on satellites of outer planets need careful calclulation [phase Blaise Pascal thought experiments]. It appears likely a time will come when much of the world's population will move to satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. Mars is very small. Colonies can be sent to distant space, but moving all person and animals and plants is much more difficult, but relevant to democratic planning and popular will. Someday it will be possible, but it is important to gain time by keeping earth habitable as long as possible. Thanks to David Latham, Doug Wadsworth, Sean Root, Philip Brown of www.historyoftheuniverse.com, Peter Latham, Bohdan Paczynski, Gibor Basri for comments on various astrophysical topics, including halo and dark matter. |
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