More turkey-day thoughts - how hot is the sun?

My youngest son came in from helping mom prepare the turkey and asked, "How hot is the sun?" So I, having temporarily forgotten the exact answer to this question, entered "how hot is the sun?" into my Google search. The first site in the results list is this one, which answers the question very plainly, "The sun is very hot." As the truth in advertising said, "Duh!"

Ok, it goes on to give more specifics, indicating the core temperature of the sun is something like 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (that's for those of us in "unsophisticated" countries that haven't made the switch to Celsius or Centigrade temperatures... I always forget whether it's Celsius or Centigrade, so I guess it's good I'm still using Fahrenheit!). Doesn't list the surface temp (around 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, probably something like 8,000 in the sunspots), or the fact that the corona (the sun's atmosphere) actually gradually gets hotter than the sun's surface temperature, reaching again into the millions of degrees Fahrenheit (do the Google search for "how hot is the sun?" and you'll find various references for this info). Anyway, the first site further goes on to say, "Using a magnifying glass, we can see the very hot heat and the light of the sun. Please do not do that because it can hurt your eyes," and "This makes the light very bright and the heat is so hot it could start a fire." Again I say, "Duh!"

Have you ever noticed how often we state the obvious answers to questions, or how often we overlook the obvious answers to questions? Sometimes, though, the obvious answers are what we need, not the overly complicated ones. On my friend Dean's blog (which is very much worth reading!) he posted an article, "But What Do You REALLY Mean?", which I think illustrates this. All too often we try to overanalyze, outthink, and just plain get silly about things that, in actuality, are rather simple if you'll just stop and take a look and think about it. Common sense seems to be a commodity that's in short supply among modern people. (Please don't be offended if you think I'm talking to or about you - I probably am, but I fall into this category myself at times, hence the title of the blog: [LAPSE... brain dead])

We seem to find it easier to simply let someone else think for us instead of making our own decisions and coming to our own conclusions.

On a completely different note, I noticed that Guitar Center is having a "20% of any one item" sale for two hours tomorrow (8am to 10am, in-store or phone-orders only). A good time to get a great deal on a Christmas gift for the musician in your family. If any of my three readers (I think my readership is that high now!) can't think of a good way to take advantage of this but really doesn't want to pass up such a great deal, let me know and I'll offer you up a wish list of potential gift items you can buy for me. :)

Happy Turkey-day to you all! (Seriously, happy Thanksgiving!)