I found these on the Internet. The first one is ABBA vs. Joan Crawford. The second is Mommie Dearest vs. Quartzlock.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Out Damned Spot?
Evidence continues to mount that the next solar cycle (Solar Cycle 24) is beginning. For the second time in a month, a backward sunspot has appeared. The first backward spot, sighted on July 31st, was tiny and fleeting. The latest, however, is big and sturdy, bipolar sunspot 905:
"Backward" means magnetically backward. Compared to how sunspots have been during the past 11-year solar cycle, the north and south magnetic poles of sunspot 905 are reversed. This is what happens when one solar cycle gives way to another--sunspots reverse polarity.
Sunspots are planet-sized magnets created by the sun's inner magnetic dynamo. Like all magnets in the Universe, sunspots have north (N) and south (S) magnetic poles. The sunspot of July 31st popped up at solar longitude 65 degrees W, latitude 13 degree S. Sunspots in that area are normally oriented N-S. The newcomer, however, was S-N, opposite the norm.
"We've been waiting for this," says David Hathaway, a solar physicist at the Marshall Space Flight in Huntsville, Alabama. "A backward sunspot is a sign that the next solar cycle is beginning."
Solar activity rises and falls in 11-year cycles, swinging back and forth between times of quiet and storminess. Right now the sun is quiet. "We're near the end of Solar Cycle 23, which peaked way back in 2001," explains Hathaway. The next cycle, Solar Cycle 24, should begin "any time now," returning the sun to a stormy state.
Satellite operators and NASA mission planners are bracing for this next solar cycle because it is expected to be exceptionally stormy, perhaps the stormiest in decades. Sunspots and solar flares will return in abundance, producing bright auroras on Earth and dangerous proton storms in space.
The onset of Solar Cycle 24 is big news, because the cycle is expected to be intense, but don't expect any big storms right away. Solar cycles take years to ramp up to full power. The next Solar Max is expected in 2010.
Most, if not all, of this information was lifted from SpaceWeather.com or links found there.
Sunspots are planet-sized magnets created by the sun's inner magnetic dynamo. Like all magnets in the Universe, sunspots have north (N) and south (S) magnetic poles. The sunspot of July 31st popped up at solar longitude 65 degrees W, latitude 13 degree S. Sunspots in that area are normally oriented N-S. The newcomer, however, was S-N, opposite the norm.
"We've been waiting for this," says David Hathaway, a solar physicist at the Marshall Space Flight in Huntsville, Alabama. "A backward sunspot is a sign that the next solar cycle is beginning."
Solar activity rises and falls in 11-year cycles, swinging back and forth between times of quiet and storminess. Right now the sun is quiet. "We're near the end of Solar Cycle 23, which peaked way back in 2001," explains Hathaway. The next cycle, Solar Cycle 24, should begin "any time now," returning the sun to a stormy state.
Satellite operators and NASA mission planners are bracing for this next solar cycle because it is expected to be exceptionally stormy, perhaps the stormiest in decades. Sunspots and solar flares will return in abundance, producing bright auroras on Earth and dangerous proton storms in space.
The onset of Solar Cycle 24 is big news, because the cycle is expected to be intense, but don't expect any big storms right away. Solar cycles take years to ramp up to full power. The next Solar Max is expected in 2010.
Most, if not all, of this information was lifted from SpaceWeather.com or links found there.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Pluto Everto
This morning CNN.com is reporting that Pluto is no longer a planet. This week the International Astronomical Union voted and stripped Pluto of is planetary status thus reducing the number of planets in our solar system to eight. Pluto was discovered in 1930 and has been considered a planet ever since. Pluto doesn’t make the cut under the new definition of a planet: “a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.” Pluto’s orbit overlaps Neptune’s orbit, so it is disqualified. Pluto will be reclassified in a new category of “dwarf planets.” Calls to Pluto for comment were not immediately returned.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
1988 - My Bones are Creaking!
I don't want to make anyone feel old, but do you believe that most of the members of the incoming freshman college class of 2006 (the graduating class of 2010) were born in 1988? Each year since 1998 Beloit College hast released it Mindset List for the incoming class. According to Beloit’s Keefer Professor of Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, this list looks at the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of today’s first-year students. This year’s student form a “generation that has always been ‘connected’ and is used to things happening in ‘real time’.
So, here it is in all its glory:
So, here it is in all its glory:
BELOIT COLLEGE'S MINDSET LIST®
FOR THE CLASS OF 2010
Members of the class of 2010, entering college this fall, were mostly born in 1988. For them: Billy Carter, Lucille Ball, Gilda Radner, Billy Martin, Andy Gibb, and Secretariat have always been dead.
1. The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union.
2. They have known only two presidents.
3. For most of their lives, major U.S. airlines have been bankrupt.
4. Manuel Noriega has always been in jail in the U.S.
5. They have grown up getting lost in "big boxes."
6. There has always been only one Germany.
7. They have never heard anyone actually "ring it up" on a cash register.
8. They are wireless, yet always connected.
9. A stained blue dress is as famous to their generation as a third-rate burglary was to their parents'.
10. Thanks to pervasive headphones in the back seat, parents have always been able to speak freely in the front.
11. A coffee has always taken longer to make than a milkshake.
12. Smoking has never been permitted on U.S. airlines.
13. Faux fur has always been a necessary element of style.
14. The Moral Majority has never needed an organization.
15. They have never had to distinguish between the St. Louis Cardinals baseball and football team.
16. DNA fingerprinting has always been admissible evidence in court.
17. They grew up pushing their own miniature shopping carts in the supermarket.
18. They grew up with and have outgrown faxing as a means of communication.
19. "Google" has always been a verb.
20. Text messaging is their email.
21. Milli Vanilli has never had anything to say.
22. Mr. Rogers, not Walter Cronkite, has always been the most trusted man in America.
23. Bar codes have always been on everything, from library cards and snail mail to retail items.
24. Madden has always been a game, not a Superbowl-winning coach.
25. Phantom of the Opera has always been on Broadway.
26. "Boogers" candy has always been a favorite for grossing out parents.
27. There has never been a "skyhook" in the NBA.
28. Carbon copies are oddities found in their grandparents' attics.
29. Computerized player pianos have always been tinkling in the lobby.
30. Non-denominational mega-churches have always been the fastest growing religious organizations in the U.S.
31. They grew up in mini-vans.
32. Reality shows have always been on television.
33. They have no idea why we needed to ask "...can we all get along?"
34. They have always known that "In the criminal justice system the people have been represented by two separate yet equally important groups."
35. Young women's fashions have never been concerned with where the waist is.
36. They have rarely mailed anything using a stamp.
37. Brides have always worn white for a first, second, or third wedding.
38. Being techno-savvy has always been inversely proportional to age.
39. "So" as in "Sooooo New York," has always been a drawn-out adjective modifying a proper noun, which in turn modifies something else.
40. Affluent troubled teens in Southern California have always been the subjects of television series.
41. They have always been able to watch wars and revolutions live on television.
42. Ken Burns has always been producing very long documentaries on PBS.
43. They are not aware that "flock of seagulls hair" has nothing to do with birds flying into it.
44. Retin-A has always made America look less wrinkled.
44. Retin-A has always made America look less wrinkled.
45. Green tea has always been marketed for health purposes.
46. Public school officials have always had the right to censor school newspapers.
47. Small white holiday lights have always been in style.
48. Most of them never had the chance to eat bad airline food.
49. They have always been searching for "Waldo."
50. The really rich have regularly expressed exuberance with outlandish birthday parties.
50. The really rich have regularly expressed exuberance with outlandish birthday parties.
51. Michael Moore has always been showing up uninvited.
52. They never played the game of state license plates in the car.
53. They have always preferred going out in groups as opposed to dating.
54. There have always been live organ donors.
55. They have always had access to their own credit cards.
56. They have never put their money in a "Savings & Loan."
57. Sara Lee has always made underwear.
58. Bad behavior has always been getting captured on amateur videos.
59. Disneyland has always been in Europe and Asia.
60. They never saw Bernard Shaw on CNN.
61. Beach volleyball has always been a recognized sport.
62. Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti have always been luxury cars of choice.
63. Television stations have never concluded the broadcast day with the national anthem.
64. LoJack transmitters have always been finding lost cars.
65. Diane Sawyer has always been live in Prime Time.
66. Dolphin-free canned tuna has always been on sale.
67. Disposable contact lenses have always been available.
68. "Outing" has always been a threat.
69. Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss has always been the perfect graduation gift.
70. They have always "dissed" what they don't like.
71. The U.S. has always been studying global warming to confirm its existence.
72. Richard M. Daley has always been the Mayor of Chicago.
73. They grew up with virtual pets to feed, water, and play games with, lest they die.
74. Ringo Starr has always been clean and sober.
75. Professional athletes have always competed in the Olympics.
Monday, August 21, 2006
The Importance of a Name
I received these in an email today and thought they were funny, so I decided to pass them along. All of these are legitimate companies that didn’t spend enough time considering how their online names might appear…and be misread.
1. Who Represents is where you can find the name of the agent that represents any celebrity. Their Web site is www.whorepresents.com
2. Experts Exchange is a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at www.expertsexchange.com
3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at www.penisland.net
4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at www.therapistfinder.com
5. There's the Italian Power Generator company, www.powergenitalia.com
6. And don't forget the Mole Station Native Nursery in New South Wales www.molestationnursery.com
7. If you're looking for IP computer software, there's always www.ipanywhere.com
8. The First Cumming Methodist Church Web site is www.cummingfirst.com
9. And the designers at Speed of Art await you at their wacky Web site,
www.speedofart.com
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Pics From The Past
I was looking through some pics today, so I thought I would put some online. So of them are from a phone camera so I apologize up front for the poor quality. I am not sure who took some of these or when/where they were snapped!
Kim and Taylor
Timmy and David
Jenny, me, Cole, Timmy and David
Sad Timmy
Sleepy Timmy
Geoff
Cowboy Taylor
Cowboy Cole
Charles????
Timmy??? (It's the hair)
Jenny, Kim and Taylor
Cole, Jenny and David
I think this guy was out last night!
David and Millie
A Bucket-A-Bones
Daivd, me and Jenny
Tay
David and Cole
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
OK Go!
Last night I was at Pearls Oyster Bar with Cole and Jenny. We talked with the bartender about this cool video for a band called OK Go. It is really awesome...
Just Say "Gourmeh"
Lore Sjöberg, a reporter for Wired, is today’s guest author. I would be willing to bet a large sum of money he doesn’t realize he’s writing for my blog.
“I live in Berkeley, California, a town so dedicated to gourmet food that if you wanted to find artisanal cheese made with milk from a grass-fed goat that received daily shiatsu massage and affirmations from its own spirit coach, you might have to go to two stores to find it.
There was a time, before sushi hit strip malls, chai hit Starbucks, and Iron Chef hit the airwaves, that this was considered peculiar.
What's an arugula and why does it cost 10 times as much as good old iceberg lettuce? Berkeley prides itself on being peculiar, so all was well.
Things have been changing, though, as things do. I don't go to Sizzler that often, but I'm pretty sure they didn't used to have baby spinach and blue cheese crumbles to go along with the iceberg lettuce and shredded cheddar.
Pizza chains, once wary of this newfangled pesto substance, are now offering all sorts of psychedelic combinations involving artichoke hearts, Thai peanut sauce, hummus, roasted walnuts and presumably some of that massaged goat cheese if you ask politely.
Options are always nice, and I crave novel taste sensations the way panda bears crave bamboo shoots, so initially I thought this was a good thing. And it would be, except that there seems to be some law of food that there's only so much decent flavor in the country, and as more outlets begin to offer it, it starts to taste more and more like something you'd get at a Target snack bar.
Croissants become more like dinner rolls. Burger chains talk up their 'Angus beef' where 'Angus' is apparently Latin for 'indistinguishable from the other stuff.' You start getting sandwiches where the bread is laced with green speckles and topped with white powder, but these may as well be confetti and sawdust for all they add to the flavor. I have a word for food that tries to look like something you'd get at the queen's birthday dinner but tastes like something you'd poke holes in before you microwave it: gourmeh.
I figure there are two reasons there's so much gourmeh food out there these days. First off, the mainstream always prefers it if you take the unknown and make it more, well, known. Rough edges are rounded off. Afrika Bambaataa becomes MC Hammer. Actually torn and worn clothing becomes carefully pre-torn and pre-worn fashion. Secondly, quality food generally costs money. Fresh herbs are expensive, but dry herbs and white flour are cheap, and just changing 'cheeseburger' to 'gourmet deluxe burger du fromage' on the menu costs next to nothing.
My solution, because obviously the world is turning to me as the bellwether of food culture, is to let food be what it is. I love weird cheeses. I have some goat cheese downstairs that may or may not have involved shiatsu, but it is washed-rind. It was made a few miles from here and it's wonderful stuff, but I don't expect that Yum Brands is going to be able to make a gordita out of it without charging more than I'm willing to pay for made-up pseudo-Mexican fast food.
There's a lot of great cheap food out there. Hamburgers and ribs can be amazing even at a family style price point, if you know where to go. It's hard to screw up a hot dog as long as you don't try something stupid like making it healthy. And for God's sake, don't try to make your national chain-restaurant sandwiches gourmet, just work a little harder to make them good.”
The original article can be found here.
“I live in Berkeley, California, a town so dedicated to gourmet food that if you wanted to find artisanal cheese made with milk from a grass-fed goat that received daily shiatsu massage and affirmations from its own spirit coach, you might have to go to two stores to find it.
There was a time, before sushi hit strip malls, chai hit Starbucks, and Iron Chef hit the airwaves, that this was considered peculiar.
What's an arugula and why does it cost 10 times as much as good old iceberg lettuce? Berkeley prides itself on being peculiar, so all was well.
Things have been changing, though, as things do. I don't go to Sizzler that often, but I'm pretty sure they didn't used to have baby spinach and blue cheese crumbles to go along with the iceberg lettuce and shredded cheddar.
Pizza chains, once wary of this newfangled pesto substance, are now offering all sorts of psychedelic combinations involving artichoke hearts, Thai peanut sauce, hummus, roasted walnuts and presumably some of that massaged goat cheese if you ask politely.
Options are always nice, and I crave novel taste sensations the way panda bears crave bamboo shoots, so initially I thought this was a good thing. And it would be, except that there seems to be some law of food that there's only so much decent flavor in the country, and as more outlets begin to offer it, it starts to taste more and more like something you'd get at a Target snack bar.
Croissants become more like dinner rolls. Burger chains talk up their 'Angus beef' where 'Angus' is apparently Latin for 'indistinguishable from the other stuff.' You start getting sandwiches where the bread is laced with green speckles and topped with white powder, but these may as well be confetti and sawdust for all they add to the flavor. I have a word for food that tries to look like something you'd get at the queen's birthday dinner but tastes like something you'd poke holes in before you microwave it: gourmeh.
I figure there are two reasons there's so much gourmeh food out there these days. First off, the mainstream always prefers it if you take the unknown and make it more, well, known. Rough edges are rounded off. Afrika Bambaataa becomes MC Hammer. Actually torn and worn clothing becomes carefully pre-torn and pre-worn fashion. Secondly, quality food generally costs money. Fresh herbs are expensive, but dry herbs and white flour are cheap, and just changing 'cheeseburger' to 'gourmet deluxe burger du fromage' on the menu costs next to nothing.
My solution, because obviously the world is turning to me as the bellwether of food culture, is to let food be what it is. I love weird cheeses. I have some goat cheese downstairs that may or may not have involved shiatsu, but it is washed-rind. It was made a few miles from here and it's wonderful stuff, but I don't expect that Yum Brands is going to be able to make a gordita out of it without charging more than I'm willing to pay for made-up pseudo-Mexican fast food.
There's a lot of great cheap food out there. Hamburgers and ribs can be amazing even at a family style price point, if you know where to go. It's hard to screw up a hot dog as long as you don't try something stupid like making it healthy. And for God's sake, don't try to make your national chain-restaurant sandwiches gourmet, just work a little harder to make them good.”
The original article can be found here.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Has Broadway Finally Gone too Far?
I am a huge fan of musicals; however, in its ever increasing demand for new entertainments, the fan base may have finally pushed Broadway over the line. I found this on Broadway.com.
“One of the most popular cult film series of all time is now an off-the-wall off-Broadway musical.
“One of the most popular cult film series of all time is now an off-the-wall off-Broadway musical.
Ready for a bloody good time at the theater? Evil Dead: The Musical is on its way! The story is simple: Boy and his friends take a weekend getaway at an abandoned cabin, boy expects to get lucky, boy unleashes ancient evil spirit, friends turn into Candarian Demons and boy fights until dawn to survive, trusty chainsaw in hand. The mayhem escalates in musical numbers like 'All the Men in My Life Keep Getting Killed by Candarian Demons,' 'Look Who's Evil Now' and 'Do the Necronomicon.'
This hilarious new show combines the fun of the '80s horror films Evil Dead I and Evil Dead 2 to create the craziest theatrical experience to hit New York in a long time. Blood with fly. Limbs will be lost. Demons will tell bad jokes. And everybody will sing and dance. You don't have to be a fan of horror to enjoy the chilling experience of Evil Dead: The Musical—live at off-Broadway's New World Stages.”
What have we come too?
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