owe pee 4 a ee ee by | Fae Mooney _ Snow stars . "Each of these countless snow- Stars comes whirl- ing to earth... These glorious Spangles, the sweeping of heaven’s floor," wrote Thoreau. Beautiful to behold, shimmer- ing and sparkling _ in the sunlight, snowflake adhering to snowflake in a freshly spread blanket of crystalline i ice — snow stars. In all its icy splendour, a simple snowflake is nothing more than a ‘‘single feathery crystal of snow’’. Snow crystals occur in an endless variety of hexagonal (six-sided) and star-shaped. forms, all of them symmetrical. Sometimes snowflakes will interlock to form large, visibly intricate patterns. On rare occasions, snow- flakes can grow in size to three or four inches (7-10cm.) in diameter! Describing this ‘‘little star of great beauty’’, physicist Hans von Baeyer wrote that “‘sometimes... the whole flake looks like six Christmas trees joined at their bases. In other cases (the snow- flake gives) the appearance of a decoration on the chest of a Czarist general. Sometimes the branches are so close together that they fuse and the flake becomes a six-petaled flower... Other flakes are adorned with such exquisitely fine whiskers that they resemble down.”’ Why white? What makes these feathery, stellar-shaped crystals appear white? My Funk & Wagnalls encyclopedia explains that it is-, because of the many reflecting surfaces-of the snowflake-— it - reflects light. To be precise, 75 percent of light hitting a snowy surface is reflected. Types of snow crystals Dry snow crystals tend to be small. They form at temperatures well below freezing. Wet snow occurs at temperatures near the freezing point. Tiny snow crystals coated thinly with ice form small grains — snow grains. A good description for snow pellets might be miniature snow balls. They are like soft hail, but very small, and because they are soft they don’t bounce on impact. Ice pellets, however, do bounce when they hit the ground. Stars and feathers Snowflakes form star-shaped crystals from freezing water droplets. Frost produces unique feathery patterns from freezing dew. Frost crystals on a window pane develop their feathery pat- terns as the frost melts and recrystallizes ¢ on the glass. A gift of Nothing History records a light-hearted letter written by the renowned astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler. It describes his presentation of a most unusual gift to a friend. On a snowy winter day in 1609 he wrote: ‘“T am well aware how fond you are of Nothing, not so much for its low price as for the sport, as delightful as it is witty... and so | can readily guess that the closer a gift comes to Nothing the more welcome and acceptable it will be to you... ‘‘Embarrassed by my discourtesy in having appeared before you without a New Year’s present... vexed too at not finding what is next to Nothing, yet lends itself to sharpness of wit. Just then by happy chance... specks of down fell here and there on my coat, all with six corners and feathered radii, ‘Pon my - word... here was the ideal New Year’s gift for the devotee of Nothing, the very thing for a mathematician to give, who has Nothing and receives Nothing, since it comes down from heaven and looks like a star. “Back to our patron while the New Year's gift lasts, for fear that the warm glow of my body should melt it into nothing,”’ Nothing but perfection What Nature bestows on us, generously and teasingly, each winter is an exquisite gift of next-to-nothing, and nothing less than perfection. Henry David Thoreau knew this: ‘‘Nature is full of genius, fill of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.”’ When again these downy snow stars float and drift to earth, raise your eyes skyward and lift up your hands to receive Nature’s gift — “These glorious spangles, the sweeping of heaven’ s floor.” Receiving a variety of awards at the recent 4-H annuai awards banquet were the junior members of the Shamrock Livestock Club. Above (rear from ‘eft) are Kirsten Muller, Mitchell Eisner, Brandy Rafuse, lan Hayes, Lindsay Bailey, Amy Martin, . (front). Patrick Hayes, Ben McNelll, Jennifer Ansems, Caro! Kozier and Danny Ansems. Thornhill honour students named The administration of Thorn- hill Junior Secondary School last week released the names of students who make the first term Honour roll. Honours indicates a grade point average between - 3.5 and. 4.0; Meritorious Achievement 3.25 to 3.49; and Honourable Mention 3.00 to 3.25. The students are: GRADE 8 Outstand Achievement: Melanie. Minten- ki, Jason Yamashita, ‘Suzanne Stone, Dale Walker, Ryan Mon- sen, Scottee Rootham, Scott HH no commission SALES STAFF A No costiy FRILLS OF GIMMICKS NO MEMBERSHIP FEE TREM Prices a as low ais 1/ 2 | Long. Meritorious -Achievement: Melanie Dubois, Sarah Davies, Soren Hedberg, Earle Ratcliffe. - Honourable Mention: Shane Clutterbuck, Tony Leross, Kent Rathjen, Derek Cooper, Faye Coburn, Cheryl Irwin, Krista Pearse, Willow Van Genne, Matthew Clark. GRADE 9 — Outstanding Achievement: Jonathan Duffy, Maria Schlamp. Meritorious Achievement: Sonya Hedberg, Aaron Petovel- lo. ° Honourable Mention: Yvonne Schmidt, David Halley, Dallas . Wiebe, Adam Hill. GRADE 10 — Outstanding Achievement: Josee Banville, Steven Maxim, Darla Weber, Nita Schlamp, Bryan Trehearne, Rodney Sanches, Kari Eisner. Meritorious Achievement: Christine Todd, Keri Sauer, Fran Walker, Jon Hildebrandt, Gynette Gogag. _ Honourable Mention: Jen Smith, Heather Cameron, Keri Fell, Tanya Booth, Joel Roesel, Kerri Zilinski, Tasha Mcavoy. sses for les / DIRECT FA AH Low cost WAREHOUSE opERATiON [A DIRE 4 HUGE MAN | Terrace g “foc” 4730 Keith Avenue. 635-4111 (H vouume DEALER - AGE SELECTION OF BRAND NAMES ENDOUS SAVINGS! those of regular stores. CTORY PURCHASES UFACTURERS DISCOUNTS LOW PROFITS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC: Monday-Friday Saturday Sunday 10 am -9 pm 10 am-6pm Closed