[On the evening of 13 and the morning of 14 December, skywatchers across the northern hemisphere will be looking up as the Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak, in one of the best night sky events of the year...
The last total lunar eclipse occurred on Feb. 20, 2008. While there are two total lunar eclipses in 2011, North American skywatchers will have to wait until April 2014 for one as potentially spectacular as the eclipse occurring this month.
For the Western Hemisphere, the eclipse will begin on Dec. 21 at 12:29 a.m. EST (9:29 p.m. PST on Dec. 20) as the moon begins to enter Earth's outer, or penumbral, shadow. This total lunar eclipse lasts only 72 minutes from start to finish.
Skywatchers will not notice any changes in the moon's appearance until about 45 minutes into the event, when a slight "smudge," or shading, begins to become evident on the upper left portion of the moon's disk.]
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2010/12/-cosmos-alert-spectacular-meteor-shower-and-total-lunar-eclipse-to-dazzle-december-sky-.html#more
Monday, December 13, 2010
Cheese in Spa-a-a-a-a-a-ace
[If you were launching a spacecraft on a historic voyage, what would you choose as your secret payload? For SpaceX of Hawthorne California, it was this wheel of Le Brouere cheese. The firm launched its Dragon Capsule into low earth orbit on Wednesday and landed it safely - a first for a commercial company - bringing the cheese back to Earth in one piece.
The cheese was stashed in a payload secretly bolted to the spacecraft's floor. You may well ask why, and it turns out to be a tribute to a Monty Python sketch - presumably the one in which John Cleese attempts to buy cheese from a cheese shop that, it transpires, has no cheese.]
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/12/space-matured-cheese.html
Pigs in Space: The End of the Universe and Meaning and Purpose of Life
Pigs Space and Star Wars:
The cheese was stashed in a payload secretly bolted to the spacecraft's floor. You may well ask why, and it turns out to be a tribute to a Monty Python sketch - presumably the one in which John Cleese attempts to buy cheese from a cheese shop that, it transpires, has no cheese.]
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/12/space-matured-cheese.html
Pigs in Space: The End of the Universe and Meaning and Purpose of Life
Pigs Space and Star Wars:
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Aretha: "Think (Freedom)"
Reminded by Will Bunch on Attytood of her transcendent career and current pancreatic cancer. God Bless you, Queen of Soul.
God Bless.
What Would Jesus Buy? True Religion Eau De Toilette?
Oh goody, now I don't have to worry on working on becoming a christian or whether to follow Allah or Buddha, we all can buy True Religion in a bottle. Available at Dillard's for dullards.
3.4 oz for $79.00
Friday, December 10, 2010
Anarchy in the UK 2010
[The Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, reacted with shock as their car was attacked by rampaging students during last night's tuition fees protest in London.
Angry demonstrators targeted the couple as they were driven along Regent Street towards the London Palladium for the annual Royal Variety Performance. Charles and Camilla were seen joking in the foyer with acts including Take That, Kylie Minogue and N-Dubz. Their Rolls-Royce limousine, which had cracked windows and a large white paint stain on a rear panel, was left parked outside.
A witness said the vehicle became separated from its police escort near Oxford Circus and was surrounded by protesters leaving Trafalgar Square. Bottles and dustbins thrown by the crowd struck the limo, and another car carrying members of the royal staff had its windows smashed.]
Thursday, December 9, 2010
On the Other Hand, RepubliKKKans Block Care for US Heroes
At long last RepubliKKKans, have you no decency nor shame?
[Republican senators blocked Democratic legislation on Thursday that sought to provide medical care to rescue workers and others who became ill as a result of breathing in toxic fumes, dust and smoke at the site of the 9/11 World Trade Center attack.
The 9/11 health bill, a version of which was approved by the House of Representatives in September, was among several initiatives that Senate Democrats had hoped to approve before the close of the 111th Congress. Supporters believe this was their last real opportunity to have the bill passed.
The action by the Senate created huge uncertainty over the bill’s future. Its proponents were working on Thursday to salvage the legislation, with one possibility being to have it inserted into a large tax-cut bill that Republicans and Democrats are trying to pass before Congress ends its current session.
But such a move seemed unlikely, since it might complicate passage of the tax package, which includes another provision that Democrats, including President Obama, sought in return for supporting the extension of tax cuts for all income levels that Republicans wanted: a continuation of unemployment benefits for jobless Americans.
In a vote largely along party lines, the Senate rejected a procedural move by Democrats to end debate on the 9/11 health bill and to bring it to a vote; 60 yes votes were needed, but the move received only 57, with 42 votes against.] emphases added
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/nyregion/10health.html?_r=2&hp
Silly citizens, Democracy in the US Senate means you need a 60% vote to get even a potty break, much a major piece of legislation to help heroes' health.
[Republican senators blocked Democratic legislation on Thursday that sought to provide medical care to rescue workers and others who became ill as a result of breathing in toxic fumes, dust and smoke at the site of the 9/11 World Trade Center attack.
The 9/11 health bill, a version of which was approved by the House of Representatives in September, was among several initiatives that Senate Democrats had hoped to approve before the close of the 111th Congress. Supporters believe this was their last real opportunity to have the bill passed.
The action by the Senate created huge uncertainty over the bill’s future. Its proponents were working on Thursday to salvage the legislation, with one possibility being to have it inserted into a large tax-cut bill that Republicans and Democrats are trying to pass before Congress ends its current session.
But such a move seemed unlikely, since it might complicate passage of the tax package, which includes another provision that Democrats, including President Obama, sought in return for supporting the extension of tax cuts for all income levels that Republicans wanted: a continuation of unemployment benefits for jobless Americans.
In a vote largely along party lines, the Senate rejected a procedural move by Democrats to end debate on the 9/11 health bill and to bring it to a vote; 60 yes votes were needed, but the move received only 57, with 42 votes against.] emphases added
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/nyregion/10health.html?_r=2&hp
Silly citizens, Democracy in the US Senate means you need a 60% vote to get even a potty break, much a major piece of legislation to help heroes' health.
"Screw the Middle Class" Sayeth Spiteful Progressive Sloggers
[The above quote is from Jason Leopold a popular member of the liberal online movement — a group of people whose defining feature appears to be an endless, wrenching disgust with presidents of their own party — waging what turned into mwith Shoq, also a liberal, but one who doesn’t wake up every morning consumed with near birther-level rage at Barack Obama.
For folks like Leopold, and Jane Hamsher, and Glenn Greenwald, and the new front-line defender of all things pissed off, Adam Green of PCCC, President Obama will never be liberal enough, and the only thing that matters is that the president provide sufficient amounts of Anger Theater to make the base feel it. Well it turns out, governing is a lot harder than blogging, and sometimes, a president has got to have someplace to send the prisoners before he can close Gitmo, if you know what I mean.
The tax cut compromise has offered the left a perfect opportunity to replace the PUMAs (“party unity my ass” Democrats who wanted Hillary or bust) with COMAs — whose mantra is “compromise, my ass” — and for whom any deal cut with the bad guys is no deal at all. So even if it means every single middle class American’s taxes go up, and the unemployed go over the cliff this Christmas, all that matters is that the president “fought.” In Leopold et.al.’s world, the president should have actually allowed taxes to rise for Americans who are just fighting to stay afloat in this crappy economy, and somehow, after two years of what they themselves say has been failed White House communications (and Jesus, it has been bad…) found a way to convince Americans that the big dip in their paychecks in January is the GOP’s fault.
Good luck with that.] emphasis added
http://blog.reidreport.com/2010/12/why-we-lose-the-lefts-screw-the-middle-class-obama-rage/
For folks like Leopold, and Jane Hamsher, and Glenn Greenwald, and the new front-line defender of all things pissed off, Adam Green of PCCC, President Obama will never be liberal enough, and the only thing that matters is that the president provide sufficient amounts of Anger Theater to make the base feel it. Well it turns out, governing is a lot harder than blogging, and sometimes, a president has got to have someplace to send the prisoners before he can close Gitmo, if you know what I mean.
The tax cut compromise has offered the left a perfect opportunity to replace the PUMAs (“party unity my ass” Democrats who wanted Hillary or bust) with COMAs — whose mantra is “compromise, my ass” — and for whom any deal cut with the bad guys is no deal at all. So even if it means every single middle class American’s taxes go up, and the unemployed go over the cliff this Christmas, all that matters is that the president “fought.” In Leopold et.al.’s world, the president should have actually allowed taxes to rise for Americans who are just fighting to stay afloat in this crappy economy, and somehow, after two years of what they themselves say has been failed White House communications (and Jesus, it has been bad…) found a way to convince Americans that the big dip in their paychecks in January is the GOP’s fault.
Good luck with that.] emphasis added
http://blog.reidreport.com/2010/12/why-we-lose-the-lefts-screw-the-middle-class-obama-rage/
Operation In Their Boots
[Operation In Their Boots (OITB) is a unique filmmaking fellowship in which Brave New Foundation commissions five veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to produce and direct their own documentary films.] http://www.intheirboots.com/itb/operation-in-their-boots/about-oitb.html
intheirboots.com
intheirboots.com
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
"In this case, blame the party, not the president."
As liberal bloggers hurl themselves lemming like off cliffs with their lilliputian laments over "Obama's Betrayal," it would behoove them to consider our President has to deal with a Democrat In Name Only like the inexcrable Ben Nelson, hypocrite NE, and Joe Lieber-douche, Senator from some cockamamie place that believes in Dorothy's Oz and Joe's honesty.
[Obama is a president, not a king. On taxes, for example, his position has been steady and clear all along: extend the broad tax cuts but kill the cuts aimed solely at the rich.
[Obama is a president, not a king. On taxes, for example, his position has been steady and clear all along: extend the broad tax cuts but kill the cuts aimed solely at the rich.
So why hasn't it happened? Because ofopposition from within his own party. A tax bill could have been passed by reconciliation in the Senate, but for some reason it wasn't. It could have been passed in the House, but a combination of Blue Dogs and fainthearted centrists afraid of attack ads blocked it. And as much as we all like to pine for the days of LBJ and the "treatment," those days are long gone. It's genuinely not clear what kind of leverage Obama has over recalcitrant members of Congress. Not a lot, in any case.]
US Fighting in Afghanistan Longer than USSR
If United States forces cannot defeat a Pashtun insurgency, what sense does it make to keep troops there?
[US forces have now stayed longer in Afghanistan than the Soviet army during Moscow's ill-fated intervention...
"When the Soviets came in, everybody wanted to fight against them," admits General Nur al-Haq Ulumi, a powerful leader under the Communist regime, who was military commander for the whole of southern Afghanistan. He adds that, in complete contrast, "when the Americans arrived in 2001, everybody supported them and nobody wanted to fight them."
[US forces have now stayed longer in Afghanistan than the Soviet army during Moscow's ill-fated intervention...
"When the Soviets came in, everybody wanted to fight against them," admits General Nur al-Haq Ulumi, a powerful leader under the Communist regime, who was military commander for the whole of southern Afghanistan. He adds that, in complete contrast, "when the Americans arrived in 2001, everybody supported them and nobody wanted to fight them."
The popularity of the Americans and their foreign allies has not lasted. They are increasingly blamed by Afghans for the continued violence and as sponsors and protectors of a deeply unpopular government. As the US, Britain and almost 50 other states reach their 10th year of military action in Afghanistan, the dilemmas facing them resemble the problems that the Soviet army wrestled with a quarter of a century ago.
The Soviet Union and the US both proved unable to break a military stalemate in which they occupied the cities and towns, but were unable to crush an Islamic and nationalist rebellion in the countryside, where three-quarters of Afghans still live. Geography has not changed. Today, as in the 1980s, the guerrillas cannot be conclusively defeated so long as they can move backwards and forwards across the 1,600-mile border with Pakistan and enjoy the support (open in the case of the Soviets; covert in the case of the Americans) of the Pakistani army.] emphasis added
Better Boozes for Biosphere
Article recommends greenest distillers and brewers. Who knew Tequila production left, "11 pounds of pulp and 10 liters of vinazas, or acidic waste."
http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/11/carbon-footprint-beer-whiskey-tequila
http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/11/carbon-footprint-beer-whiskey-tequila
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Jesus, You know I didn't mean to sound meanful to that militant Samaritan at SoDo Target
"Seriously, she saw me sitting there in 'lectrtic scooter going no where so what could she do?
OK, maybe I could have smiled and said something more social than, 'If you can magically put juice in this machine, go ahead/'
But do you know how annoying it gets to have ever'one try to help me as they want to do despite all reasonableness and without asking me,, ripping doors out of my hands and me falling flat on my face in public, pushing the damn wheelchair without asking me and near 'bout breaking me knuckles?"
"Not specifically but surmise. You do know people have an innate desire to help?"
"Sure, but don't they have to do it in the right spirit to make it count for extra credit?"
"I don't keep score; you'll have to ask My Father that question."
Silence. An uncomfortable silence on my part since I make up both sides of this Dialogue with myself.
"OK, what really made me mad? Her telling her daughters within my hearing, 'Gosh, you just try to help some people and see how they act?'"
"Maybe as they pulled out of the parking lot the mother reminded her children to try to help because they might help an angel without even knowing it?"
"OK. OK. But which do you laugh at more: when I fall down in private or public?"
"You know I know you think pratfalls funny, so we laugh at both."
"You got that right Lord."
OK, maybe I could have smiled and said something more social than, 'If you can magically put juice in this machine, go ahead/'
But do you know how annoying it gets to have ever'one try to help me as they want to do despite all reasonableness and without asking me,, ripping doors out of my hands and me falling flat on my face in public, pushing the damn wheelchair without asking me and near 'bout breaking me knuckles?"
"Not specifically but surmise. You do know people have an innate desire to help?"
"Sure, but don't they have to do it in the right spirit to make it count for extra credit?"
"I don't keep score; you'll have to ask My Father that question."
Silence. An uncomfortable silence on my part since I make up both sides of this Dialogue with myself.
"OK, what really made me mad? Her telling her daughters within my hearing, 'Gosh, you just try to help some people and see how they act?'"
"Maybe as they pulled out of the parking lot the mother reminded her children to try to help because they might help an angel without even knowing it?"
"OK. OK. But which do you laugh at more: when I fall down in private or public?"
"You know I know you think pratfalls funny, so we laugh at both."
"You got that right Lord."
Monday, December 6, 2010
Wisdom of Solomon?
"For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of [the Lord's] goodness. Although she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets; for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom."
- Wisdom of Solomon 7:26-28
Sunday, December 5, 2010
John Prine: "Paradise"
When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.
Chorus:
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away
Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.
Repeat Chorus:
Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.
Repeat Chorus:
There is nothing new under the sun." As our technology improves, humans find ways to use it for good or ill.
So Mr. Peabody's coal trucks have become dynamite blasting apart mountains for Mountain Top Removal, and we have billionaire Koch brothers bankrolling Tea Party crackpots, thwarting climate reform legislation, and seeking to extinguish all gains made by working class folk in the guise of getting government off the back of the people
Listening to this song (also below)--way back in my youth in the time of dinosaurs, vinyl albums, and no internets--probably helped make me a yellow dog Democrat. I'll vote for a yellow dog before a RepubliKKKan.
So now we have washed hordes of "liberal" bloggers bashing Barry Obama, so pure in their ideals they know, without a metaphysical doubt or conception of the un-democratic framework of US Republic, what he ought to have done as if he could have magically wiped away misuse of the filibuster by RepubliKKKans.
Don't blame me; I voted for Hillary. But just as hysterical as John Aravosis got during '08 primaries over Hillary trying to hijack the process, he and others--hi Susie Madrak--have become just as shrill over Obama's failures to accomplish items on their agenda.
Now while agreeing the current, legally elected, President may not have used the "bully pulpit", as well as one would wish, he ain't on the ballot this year.
"All politics is local," said Tip O'Neil. In my US congressional, FL 08, we have Alan Grayson, a firebrand true progressive running as a Democrat against a self described arch conservative who deny women abortions in ALL circumstances. You can give him $ with match at Act Blue.
We have Feingold in WI, Meek in FL, Sestak in PA, Sink for Governor of FL and tons of Democratic candidates in state races that need our help, if not monetarily, than by reminding friends and other voters of issues that matter, like a woman's right to Choice.
One benefit of my giving my proverbial widow's mite has come getting on a first name basis with Alan, Kendrick, and Alex. So quit your bitchin' and organize because we all live "Under the Gun."
A million "mites" of $5 makes $5,000,000.
Do not despair; change yourself, your block, your neighborhood, bit by bit, and brick by brick (link NSFW) maybe we can make the world better.
Hey, it has happened in history, with near eradication of human slavery and women's sufferage.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Undermanned Magic Paste Pistons 104-91
[AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Their superstar center sat out because of a stomach virus. So did their starting point guard. So did their top perimeter defender. So did their backup shooting guard.
Even the third-string power forward hurt his foot in the first half and did not return, leaving the Magic with just eight healthy players to face the Detroit Pistons.
The Magic beat the Pistons 104-91 anyway.]
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orlando-magic/os-magic-pistons-game-1204-20101203,0,1671556.story
Even the third-string power forward hurt his foot in the first half and did not return, leaving the Magic with just eight healthy players to face the Detroit Pistons.
The Magic beat the Pistons 104-91 anyway.]
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orlando-magic/os-magic-pistons-game-1204-20101203,0,1671556.story
Prison Labor Clears Camps of Homeless Humans at Behest of Foreign Owners
[CHARLOTTE COUNTY - In the woods near the Port Charlotte Town Center mall, a weathered, plastic red and blue flowered wreath marks a path where sheriff's deputies and a prisoner crew will navigate heavy equipment to clean out 16 homeless camp sites today...
Charlotte County sheriff's officials emphasized the camps' "environmental hazards."
"It's a quality-of-life issue," said Billie Hatmaker, an environmental crimes investigator, nodding to the retail stores. "Look how close we are to businesses."
The county treats the abandoned camp sites as environmental hazards because of possible human waste, so Hatmaker is accompanied by an agent from the state Department of Environmental Protection to oversee the cleanup.
Charlotte officials cannot say where residents cleared from the dozens of camps have gone. But they draw a distinction between those who are chronically homeless and unwilling to accept help and those who are merely "homeless" and economically displaced.
There is a difference, deputies insist, and it has to do with alcohol and drugs.
"People with economic issues will normally accept our help," said Hatmaker.
That usually means referring people to the Charlotte County Homeless Coalition, the area's only shelter, which has room for 52 people and typically has a waiting list.
The county does not offer transportation.
Charlotte deputies have initiated the camp sweeps by tracking down property owners and giving them a choice: Sign an order that declares the campers trespassers, in which case the county offers to use prisoners to clean up the sites at no cost, or resist.
"If the owner won't agree, then it's a code enforcement issue" and county workers will clean it up and send a bill, Hatmaker said.
Tracking down landowners has involved international calls to people as far away as Hong Kong and Japan.
"Many of these people have bought the property sight unseen," he said, adding that they "are more than happy" for the cleanups...
He said the cleanups do not cost the county anything because officers work their normal hours and the prison labor is free.] Emphasis added
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