AMERICANA / THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

Delivered by President Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863 

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. 

It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. 

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. 

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. 

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us

— that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion

—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain

—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom

— and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. 

SPACE CADETS / HOW CLOSE IS THE ALIEN COMET TO THE SAN DIEGO ZOO?

Clueless to the numerical gobblygook but we're assured it's a real photograph of 3i/ATLAS as it zips through our solar system.

Here’s the San Diego/North Park–specific snapshot for Mon Nov 3, 2025 (North Park News wire services): 

• Distance from Earth and the San Diego Zoo: ~2.25 AU or 208 million km. TheSkyLive 

• Where in the sky: In Virgo, very low in the ESE pre-dawn sky. Current coordinates are roughly RA 13h 19m, Dec −06° 09′. It’s just coming out of the Sun’s glare and sliding into the morning sky. TheSkyLive+1 

• When to look (San Diego): About ~2 hours before sunrise, i.e., roughly 4:30–5:30 AM local time this week. Expect it to sit low above the ESE horizon at only a few degrees altitude, improving slowly through November. Sky & Telescope+1 

• Brightness / gear: Around magnitude ~10–11 right now — you’ll need at least a small telescope (camera assists help a lot). TheSkyLive 

• Safety: On a hyperbolic, outbound path; no threat to Earth. Closest Earth distance will be ~1.8 AU in December. NASA Science 

Artist’s concept, not an actual capture of 3I/ATLAS.