DEAR SOPHIA,

I AM SURE YOU ARE HEARING A LOT IN THE NEWS ABOUT SOLAR ECLIPSES. THIS IS NOTHING NEW TO US OR YOUR ANCESTORS. OF COURSE I AM GOING TO TAKE A MOMENT TO GIVE YOU A LESSON ABOUT YOUR HERITAGE.

IN THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C. MOST LIKELY A DEVICE BUILT BY ARCHIMEDES WAS FOUND IN 1901 IN A SHIPWRECK. IT IS THE WORLD’S FIRST KNOWN COMPUTER. IT WAS SO SOPHISTICATED THAT IT PREDICTED LUNAR AND SOLAR ECLIPSES WITH ASTONISHING ACCURACY.

HERE IS A LITTLE CLIP FOR YOU TO READ:

In 1901, an extraordinary ancient Greek artefact was discovered in a shipwreck just off the tiny island of Antikythera. It was later shown to be a complex astronomical calculating machine and is now known as the Antikythera Mechanism. In 2005, it was established that it predicted eclipses, using a 7th century BC Babylonian eclipse cycle of 223 lunar months, known as the Saros Cycle. Understanding the complex eclipse prediction scheme on the Antikythera Mechanism has resulted from a fascinating series of discoveries.

THE POINT I AM MAKING FOR YOU NOW IS THAT WHAT WE ARE DISCUSSING WITH FASCINATION TODAY IS NOTHING NEW BECAUSE OUR ANCESTORS WERE CONTEMPLATING THE WORKINGS OF THE COSMOS AND DEVISING COMPUTERS TO DEMONSTRATE THE NATURE OF THE COSMOS.

SO IF YOU ARE GOING TO OBSERVE THE SOLAR ECLIPSE IN ANY FORM, YOU ARE IN A WAY PRACTICING THE SAME CRITICAL OBSERVATION THAT ARISTOTLE WROTE BOOKS ABOUT.

NOW HERE IS ONE MORE INTERESTING FACT.

100 YEARS AGO, A PERSON BY THE NAME OF ALBERT EINSTEIN WHO WROTE THE SPECIAL GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY PREDICTED THAT SPACE IS WARPED AND THAT LIGHT WOULD BEND AROUND THE SUN BECAUSE OF THE SUN CAUSING SPACE TO BE WARPED. HOWEVER, TO PROVE THIS THEORY, THE ONLY WAY THEY COULD DO THIS 100 YEARS AGO WAS TO TAKE SPECIAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE SUN DURING AN ECLIPSE. THIS WOULD SHOW THAT LIGHT FROM DISTANT STARS WAS WARPING AROUND OUR SUN BECAUSE OF THE CURVATURE OF SPACE.

WHEN THEY LOOKED AT THE PHOTOGRAPHS FROM A SOLAR ECLIPSE FROM VARIOUS POINTS ON THE PLANET, SCIENTISTS WHO WERE SKEPTICAL OF EINSTEIN WERE ASTONISHED TO FIND THAT, YET, LIGHT DID BEND AROUND OUR SUN DUE TO THE CURVATURE OF SPACE AND THEREFORE, SPACE IS A FABRIC.

MY POINT IS THAT FROM 2500 YEARS AGO, CONTEMPLATING THE NATURE OF THE COSMOS TO EINSTEIN’S THEORY IS A CONTINUATION OF SOCRATIC AND LOGICAL THINKING.

AS ALWAYS, I ENCOURAGE YOU TO EMPLOY THE BEST LOGICAL THINKING IN EVERY DECISION YOU MAKE. THAT’S ENOUGH OF A LESSON FOR NOW.

I AM ALWAYS THINKING ABOUT YOU. I WONDER HOW MUCH YOU’VE GROWN AND ALWAYS AM PRAYING THAT YOU SAFE AND THAT I SEE YOU SOON!

LET ME TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED IN COURT THIS WEEK. THE JUDGE WHO IS DOING THIS TO ME – AS I ALWAYS HAVE EXPECTED – IS STILL ABUSING HIS POWER. HOWEVER, HE DEMONSTRATED TO EVERYONE WHAT A COMPLETE JACKASS HE REALLY IS.

I WAS VERY GRATEFUL THAT VARIOUS MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA FINALLY SAW WHAT A COMPLETE AND UTTER INCOMPETENT, BIASED, ABUSIVE JACKASS THAT HE IS.

I HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN THAT I AM GOING TO GET MY RELIEF FROM OTHER COURTS AND I AM 1,000% CONVINCED THAT I WILL GET JUSTICE FROM OTHER COURTS TO END THIS ABUSE OF POWER.

AS ALWAYS, 143-8 I LOVE YOU. STAY SAFE, STAY CLOSE TO THE CHURCH. AND I PROMISE YOU THAT I WILL SEE YOU AS SOON AS THIS IS OVER.

LOVE,

DAD