Istanbul was Constantinople

I am fixing to espy some galaxies maybe. But first, I like to get to know the important and conspicuous naked features of the sky in the neighborhood of the galaxies. That is why I was outside this morning, getting to know some of those naked features.

There they were, naked features, up there in the sky, from Ursa Majoris to Corvus. First I made sure I knew which important stars were which. The important stars between Ursa Majoris and Corvus that I can see just employing my spectacles are Cor Caroli, Deneloba, Arcturus, Vindemiatrix, Porrima and Spica. Yes. I made sure I knew which was which.

Then I decided to set up the Lomo and check out the sky around Cor Caroli. Cor Caroli is an easy yet pretty double, white and gold, that splits even in my trusty yet goofy 40mm plossl. M94 is close to Cor Caroli. So is M63. Plus M63, is close to a four star group that is easily visible in the finder. Yes. About the time I was fixing to espy the location of M94, high clouds sauntered in from the west, occluding the view.

It was time to go get the newspaper. Istanbul was Constantinople. Mumbai was Bombay. No wonder the Liberal and Conservative Media regale the reading public with stories of how average Americanos are geographically illiterate. How can we be expected to actually know any geographic facts when the locals are always renaming their miserable cities?

Even I, a learned Druid Ovate, did not know until like maybe yesterday that Mumbai was Bombay. That’s why I was totally unconcerned with the attacks on those hotels. I figured Mumbai was just some recently prefabricated Mammonite city like Trophy Club up near Fort Worth.

But then, when I actually found out that Mumbai was Bombay, my level of concern increased ever so slightly. Goodness, I thought, I hope those holy warriors don’t mess up any of the archaeology.

Hmm. Holy warriors! I got to thinking. If the WG made me pick sides and actually participate in the holy war, which side would I pick? Would I be on the Christian, Muslim, Jew side, or the Hindu side? Well, obviously, I would, if forced, mostly against my will, side with the Hindus. That’s because Hindus worship elephants, not to mention cows. And like Druids, the Hindus believe in Goddesses.

Yes. Given those options, if drafted, I would join up with a Hindu regiment. That settled, out I went to espy whether the clouds had moved off east. They had. I quickly established that M63 and M94 were invisible in the Lomo and that the sun, that Druids reference as Ogma Sunface, was fixing to come up.

My astronomical morning was over at last. Yet I then began to ponder the name of the star, Vindemiatrix. But not for long. I quickly realized that cognitive dissonance was afflicting me. I was mixing up Vindemiatrix with Vercingetorix.