Some words for you to ponder...

That Justice is a blind goddess
Is a thing to which we black are wise:
Her bandage hides two festering sores
That once perhaps were eyes.

by Langston Hughes.

There are a few poets out there that just have it. Hughes has it. Every time I read his stuff I find words that resonate profoundly inside my skull.

Another local starts an amature writing career....

Off The Cuff has entered the Delmarva blogosphere. So far, he is as advertised, a straight shooter, neither good nor bad, just out there calling it like they see it, you know with objectivity and observation. I have also updated my links so if you haven't looked at them in awhile, there is some new stuff over there.

4 meters long ribbon fish captured in eastern China.

4 meters long ribbon fish captured in Zhejiang Yo if you know what an oarfish is, go check out that link to see a 12 footer. Pretty freaky lookin fish. Seeing something like that always makes me wonder what else live in the dark depths of the ocean. Like what will happen when the giant squid decide to come back up to the surface? Or the sharks really get pissed and start eating humans wholesale? Crazy world we live in.

Glancing at history for today...

I always read this day in history at a couple of sites. I don't know why, I guess its just part of my nature. Sometime I write about 3 or 4 things that happened, sometimes just one. Because that one thing is so freakin important that is all you really need to know. Well today I just want to mention one thing that I hold as important. In 1835, Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born. He wrote "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn" under the name Mark Twain. Thats right. Mark freakin Twain. You could make the argument that he was and still is the best American writer so far to fall in to our countries history.

Check out the wiki entry on MT, which aint all bad.

Also here

And I will leave you with this quote from Twain about nations- "Nations do not think, they only feel. They get their feelings at second hand through their temperaments, not their brains." - How good is that. You can find an excellent source for Twain quotes here.

A Spaceport for Treehuggers.

A Spaceport for Treehuggers | DISCOVER Magazine
This is just phat. As a sci-fi freak, this is the stuff I live for.

Earth's Eighth Continent

Earth's Eighth Continent :: News :: thetyee.ca Read that article and you may flip out. How in the fuck do we let a garbage pile the size of Texas just accumulate in the Pacific? Se for all the good plastic does, there is a lot of bad too. For instance, plastics don't break down and degrade. It become small pellet sized plastic balls that look a lot like fish eggs and guess who eats fish eggs. Thats right fish, shrimp, birds, and just about any other animal in the ocean you can think of. Then guess who eats them? Thats right we do. You know what plastic can do? It has a knack for holding onto toxic chemicals. Lots of toxins. So when those fish eat the eggs that are really plastic and we eat those toxin laden fish we are filling our own selves with toxins. Isn't it fun being human?

Scientists restore nerve sensation from amputated limb in chest

Scientists restore nerve sensation from amputated limb in chest I had to post this up. This is just plain freaky. See they took the nerves from missing limbs and reconnected them to muscles in the chest and guess what? Yep after a few months of growin, those folks could feel their long lost hands or arms. Freakin crazy. This is huge tho- think Luke's artificial hand or Darth Vader in general. That really has been the problem with artificial limbs all along. You can't feel them, they are clunky, aesthetics, so forth and so on. But if it looked real and you could use it like real and feel it for real, no one would give a shit if they had a fake leg or not.

Sorry I have been suckin on the post lately, but I am under it at work right now. End of the month shit piling up fast. keep coming back tho- it will get better.

DNA Genetics, Paternity, CSI & General Science » Evidence for a parallel universe?

DNA Genetics, Paternity, CSI & General Science » Evidence for a parallel universe? You know sometimes when I am staring off in space and just thinking, I get to thinking about physics and what the laws of physics can't explain. Like what happens when two universes meet? Are there other universes? If so how is that possible. Which begs the question whats between universes or what is that space out side of space called? Either way the above mentioned article is a very interesting read and the suggestion made by Ms. Mersini-Houghton made a light click in my head. I have to agree that this is another universe poking a hole in ours. We have been breached!

For the love of the History.

Well well, hope you all had a good turkey day. It was pretty good at our house. We had friends, family, countrymen from the past, present, and future with us. We got the Christmas tree up and it looks spiffy and all of our shopping is done for Christmas. ALL OF IT. It isn't all wrapped, but give us another week or two. I hope your jealous....

What a quirky day in history. Kinda anyway. Like for instance in 1716, the first lion to be exhibited in America went on display in Boston, MA. That is pretty cool. That is way before the American Revolution and all that. I guess it goes to show that as a people we are way more preoccupied with entertaining ourselves than governing ourselves. So bring on the lions!

In 1832, public streetcar service began in New York City. Killa huh? And just look at the evolution of it all! Isn't the NY transit system the jewel of the country? I know, I know it could be worse. I rag on the public transportation system in this country because I lived in Germany and used the public transportation for a year. I must say, European public trans is the shinizzle. I never had any issues with any bus or train in any of the countries I went to. User friendly, tourist friendly, easy to read charts and maps, just a good service.

Other than West Va telling Va to take a flying leap for sticking up for slavery, thats about it for the day. Quirky? Maybe not, but its monday people. MONDAY!

Really really big birds still rockin the sky...

MySA.com: KENS 5: I-Team So last night I could not get my sleep on and was surfing the tube when I settled on the mini marathon on the History Channel called Monsterquest. I must say the teo shows I watched really got me involved. The first was about the squid around Baja Peninsula called Humbolts. Ornery little bastards them squid are. But what got me was they managed to catch a brief glimpse of a really big ass squid be attaching a camera to a little one and letting it dive to about 1000 feet. And that shit worked! Plus I have to say, squid are superbad ass. They are really smart. But I digress. The next show was about these big ass birds that are all black and have been spotted in Alaska, Indiana and Texas. Which interested me, but it really is just a giant black bird. Still they had this dude that was almost eaten by one of these giant birds and his story was compelling. Then I get in the office this morning and when I take my first break to see what is happening around the world, I read that story above from San Antonio about a big ass black bird. Just kinda creepy. Enjoy!

Scientists find fossil of enormous bug - Yahoo! News

Scientists find fossil of enormous bug - Yahoo! News And big it is. Giant in fact. How big? Some are estimating around 8 feet long. Makes sense that they would get that big if predators were still trying to get their act together. Still is is a coincident that this discover was made the same day Tremors gets released in a special box edition with all 4 movies? Coincidence? I think not! By the way, when the hell did they make 3 sequels to that movie? WTF? Where have I been?

And today brings us...

33 days until Christmas. Get on it. My wife and I are done shopping and only have to wrap like 5 more presents. Ha Ha Ha you all.

Hey North Carolina welcome to the party. You signed up on this day in 1789. Now see if you can keep South Carolina straight....

Salvador Dali started to seriously fuck with our collective art heads with his first exhibit in 1929. Thats right 1929. He's been around awhile huh? You thought he was a dirty hippy from the 70's didn't you? Do you even know who the hell I am talking about? You know I wanted to put a picture up of Dali, but google is all screwed this morning. Go here to get a good look at the guy and here for one of the best galleries on the web for him.

And in 1973 we got the 18 1/2 minute gap in the Nixon tapes. And what kills me is that it still surprises people that Cheney is crooked.

And perhaps the biggest cultural moment in TV history next to the Beatles, on this night in 1980, we all wanted to know who shot JR? If you remember that, you are getting old. You better think about what your retirement is doing.

Alright amigos. Have a happy turkey day. I can't wait to start cooking. Going to finish up my grocery shopping tonight and get up with my feet moving fast. I love cooking up a ton of food. I guess you can take the cook out of the kitchen, but not the kitchen out of the cook. Oh and before I forget, all you black friday shoppers, Royal Farms is giving away free coffee from 4 am to 10 am. Any size. Get some!!!!

'Sweet Caroline' Was Caroline Kennedy - Entertainment on The Huffington Post

'Sweet Caroline' Was Caroline Kennedy - Entertainment on The Huffington Post Ain't that some shit? All this time Sweet Caroline was a Kennedy. I guess its shocking in some twisted sense of logic, but I was thinkin Caroline was a school girl crush. Then again we are talking about Neil Diamond here. He was probably punching kitty since the 7th grade, it could have been a middle school crush...

Playa! Brazil stikes it rich...

Brazil, the New Oil Superpower

Yep thats right. Brazil just found a big ass oil field and will tap that shit by 2010. Playa on the world stage. I know they kick everyones asses in World Cup, other than that, do they like us and do they want to sell us that sweet light crude they just found? All I can say is don't hate the playa, hate the game.

Gamers use PS3s to do biomedical research

Gamers use PS3s to do biomedical research
I am totally down with this. If I had a PS3, I would sign up yesterday. But alas, I don't so I will stick to the SETI cause. For more on that go here

Short week!

You know it. Short 3 day work week. Which reminds me of another shorty from history, The Gettysburg Address. For something that is so famous, it was only 2 maybe 3 minutes long. Now if only todays politicians could follow suit....

In 1895, we got the paper pencil. Thanks for that Frederick E. Blaisdell. Seriously, where would we be without the pencil?

Shout outs to Meg Ryan and Jodie Foster for birthdays, Larry King too.

One last thing, the ship of death showed up off the coast of Plymouth, MAss in 1620. Ship of death to the native americans that is...

You know what I like about this day?

It was on this day in 1952 that Lucy first held that football for Charlie Brown. That's one of those bits that will hang out in American pop culture for awhile. That joke ran from the 50's to the 80's, so its traveled over some generational divide and then some. who knew? It makes sense though. It's always the image of someone busting their ass that we remember. Its like one of the three best memories we have of our friends and family. Which is wacked if you get down to its nature. Why do we remember the pain and humiliation of the people we like the most? I guess its the same need that makes us compelled to make 4 Saw movies. Either way we are a species that likes to remember the dramatic. I don't know why I put that horror stuff in there. But thats interesting too if you think about it. Why the hell do people like to watch horror films? You know horror films ain't like they were back in the day. That shit is way different. Take a look at Nightmare on Elm Street. Kind of comical, kind of campy, kind of scary, but watchable. Some of that shit today is strait up disgusting. Hostile? Saw? That shit ain't scary as much as visually disturbing. I don't know. I guess its a preference in entertainment values, you know a beauty is in the eye of the beholder type thing. So thanks Lucy. Thanks so much for starting us down the road to tasteless humor and an abundance of B flick horror films Charlie Brown. I hope your satisfied!

Tropical Cyclone Sidr

Wunder Blog : Weather Underground Man this is a thing of beautiful terror.

Comet 17P/Holmes is largest object in Solar System

Comet 17P/Holmes There is the article with some great photos. Check it out. If you have not see it, there is a post a bit farther down the blog with a star map. The comet is pretty faint now, you might need some nocs to see it well. Beautiful if you caught it.

A little wit goes along way...

It is the birthday of the stock market ticker. I love how the old school tickers look. That thing would be cool as hell sitting on my desk. Even better if it worked. Now its all digital and just runs on screen looking like the espn sports line. I hate that little line at the bottom of the screen. That shit is burning a permanent line in my plasma tv. Then my movies look like crap. Everything moves in cycles right? Let the ticker make a come back. At least you know your broker will actually have to work to read this damn thing....

Other highlights for the day include Pike seeing a peak in Colorado, Brazil chunking a king out on his ass, and the Soviets wants to get into a missile target shooting match with the US. That does sound fun.

The King, Richard Petty drove in his final race in 1992 and ended a 35 year career. There are plenty of records in sports that will be tough to beat: Lou's 56, Favre's yet to be decided touchdown passes, The Great One's 215. But I think all those record will fall eventually. I really don't think any driver will ever pass Petty's 200 victories. No current driver has more than 100.

Big ups to Georgia O'Keeffe for being born today. Here is a good link to a gallery of her art.

World War I Veteran Reflects on Lessons - washingtonpost.com

World War I Veteran Reflects on Lessons - washingtonpost.com

Dude here says it for all of us vets, "I'm no authority, but I'm not in favor of war unless it's an emergency." Read the article. It is worth 3 minutes.

Happy thoughts on the day we observe Veterans Day.

Prehistoric women had passion for fashion - Yahoo! News

Prehistoric women had passion for fashion - Yahoo! News

Yep and this was around 5000 BC. See what we know about human existence gets pushed back by 500 or 1000 years all the time.

From an email I got...The Value of a Drink.

"Sometimes when I reflect back on all the wine I drink
I feel shame . Then I look into the glass and think
about the workers in the vineyards and all of their hopes
and dreams . If I didn't drink this wine, they might be out
of work and their dreams would be shattered.
Then I say to myself, "It is better that I drink this wine and let their
dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
~ Jack Handy
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may leave you wondering what the hell
happened to your bra and panties.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they
wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're
going to feel all day. "
~Frank Sinatra
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may create the illusion that you are tougher,
smarter, faster and better looking than most people.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading."
~ Henny Youngman
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may lead you to think people are laughing WITH you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not."
~ Stephen Wright
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to think you can sing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk,
we fall aslee p. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin.
When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So, let's all
get drunk and go to heaven!"
~ Brian O'Rourke
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause pregnancy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
~ Benjamin Franklin
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol is a major factor in dancing like a reject.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Without question, the greatest invention in the
history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the
wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does
not go nearl y as well with pizza."
~ Dave Barry
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To some it's a six-pack, to me it's a Support Group. Salvation in a can!
~ Dave Howell
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And saving the best for last, as explained by Cliff Clavin, of Cheers.
One afternoon at Cheers, Cliff Clavin was explaining the " Buffalo Theory" to his buddy Norm.
Here's how it went:
"Well ya see, Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers."

Friday Wit

I guess I have to say I am sorry for the lack of posting this week. I have had a lot of work to do, at work and home, but I am back to a normal pace of hecktisy. Your right, that is not really a word, but it should be.

Well lets look at history for a bit, the most tragic event of today was in 1938. Nazis burned and looted temples and Jewish-owned stores and houses in Germany and Austria in what became known as Kristallnacht (Crystal Night—referring to broken glass on streets). As with history, that is whitewashing the facts. It was a freakin riot fill with hate. There were over 7000 business destroyed and over 250 synagogues burned. If that shit went down today, we would send in the Marines. Still it is a sad chapter in human history that a population can be incited to be this hateful. Memo to American citizens of today, keep your wits about you.

On this day in 1989, the east and west met in a big old happy love fest in Germany. Sha. While this will go down as a triumph for democracy for defeating communism, there was a lot of WTF going on when it happened. I was stationed in Germany when I was in the Army in '90 and I can tell you there were many west Germans who didn't want jack shit to do with their eastern brethren. See the west had a good life with money then you turn loose a population that was pretty much a bunch of broke ass poor folks on them, well they were shocked for lack of better words. Shocked at what they saw, shocked at how much the easterners were stealing their shit. But everyone eventually got over it and Germany is a pretty happy place today. Of course, not all is hunky dory in Germany. There is still a good amount of hate and contempt for us Americans. I can't count how many old ass Germans gave me the finger when I was there. And for no other reason than I was an American.

I would like to point out that my brother in astronomy, Giovanni D Cassini died today in 1712. If you have not visited the Cassini-Huygens Home page, you are depriving yourself of some of the most spectacular pictures of the Solar System ever taken, specifically Saturn, but it took some nice pics on its way to Saturn. Yeah I have been watching that project for awhile.

Plus lets take a minute to remember John Ritter. He passed on 2003. I still watch 3's Company reruns....

But lets not check out on a sad note, Carl Sagan, Tom Fogerty, and Nick Lachey were all born today. Ha ha ha ha ha

Have a good weekend.

Wednesday Wit

Sure sure the big news today is that Magic Johnson announced he has HIV. Way to man up Magic. But I don't think that is the biggest event that happened today.

Let's look at 1973, U.S. Congress over-rode President Nixon's veto of the War Powers Act, which limits a chief executive's power to wage war without congressional approval. Now who did this piss off? A few conservatives to be sure, but the two that stand out in my head are Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. It was a slap in the face of those who held ol tricky Dick up as one of their version of all that is good in the world. Those who believed in absolute power wanted an executive branch back them that could do what it wanted. That was the only thing holding them back from winning the war in Vietnam and being keepers of the democratic way of life. The ends would justify the means and as long as it was in the name and spirit of democracy, it was ok. So they swallowed that defeat and let it fester for years and years. Until one day W comes along and another Dick sees his chance to get in the White House and make it right. Cheney saw Bush for what he was, a puppet, a coattail, the next rung to climb on the latter. Long before 911, Cheney started to create an executive branch that would have all the power of a king and could do whatever it wanted with the military without the approval of Congress. After 7 years, he has done it. The most secretive, militaristic, myopic administration in history. The unified executive theory in all its glory according to Cheney. Revenge is his. At some point today, the Veep will hold his glass of single malt scotch above his head and shed a tear that his friend, his hero, his former boss Richard Nixon couldn't be here today to see all the great things Cheney has done. This will be one of those bitter sweet victory celebrations that you always read about.

Sorry I have been off kilter that last few days, but this is the reason why.

Comet P17/Holmes. This little jem is visible to the naked eye and if you have some good nocs, its a great treat to look at. This sky map is pretty big, so click on it and print it out. Take it outside with your kids and check it out. This is a once in a life time deal. You don't see exploding comets everyday. They started to call it the Jellyfish Comet and you can see why with the picture below.

Children of Men...a brief movie review.

Okay where do I start. First I waited to watch this film for sometime because some critic somewhere said it was Blade Runner of the 21st century. Well that pissed me off cause BR is one of the movies that sci fi was built on. Has there been a movie that ripped off by other sci fi films? I don't know. But that is an argument for another day. I guess I am glad for watching Children of Men. At first I was not impressed with the story and where it was going. The cinimatography was what kept me involved for awhile, but the story go rolling after about 45 minutes. When you think about it, the plot is terrifying. It's 2027 and its been 18 years since a child was born, then comes a girl who is pregnant. The dude in the poster, Clive Owen is the character that is thrust into the roll of saving her and delivering her and her baby to the smart people. Like most thrillers, this story is set at the point hope begins, which means the movie is pretty damn depressing. If your looking for killa special effects, this aint it. But it is a pretty realistic look in the future. Scary political terrorist fighting scary political governments. The story ends in this concentration camp type setting that produces some of the best action put to film. A lot of hand held camera shots. There is even this one point where the camera has some blood smack the lens and they keep it rolling for a couple of minutes. Puts you right there. I found myself all tense. And if a movie does that, its done its job. Would I watch it again, sure. That is about as good a compliment you can give a flick. So go rent it or catch in on HBO. You will be affected...in some manner.

Fall Haiku

leaves of color fall,
golden, red, and yellow leaf
plants give next years seed.

Rock and Roll motherbitches!!!!! Friday Wit is here.

Greetings my timid and humble misfits. Welcome to November, there are 20 days left until Thanksgiving, 52 until X-mas. Get it in gear people.

Hey daddy o, back in the day, 1957 to be precise, Elvis was rockin the country with his number one hit Jailhouse Rock. I mean that was 50 years ago and Elvis is still the number one dead earning celebrity out there. Sure there has been some comp, Kurt Cobain jumped up the list last year, but that was because Cortney need money to fix that fucked up tummy tuck she had. That is some scary stuff. But it is a testament to how freakin cool Elvis was man. Dude made $49 million from the grave last year. Plus its not like he is falling off the list, dude is always in the top 3. And he has been dead and gone for a few decades now. Seriously, we got teenagers running around who never heard of Elvis Costello or Ronald Reagan, but they know a few things about Elvis. Doesn't that just seem a little whacked?

On other historical fronts, in 1889, North Dakota and South Dakota were admitted into the union as the 39th and 40th states. People who aren't smarter than a 5th grader still can't find them on a map. Better yet, if more US Americans looked at maps they could figure out what the hell Miss South Carolina was talking about. Maybe, could be, such as....

In 1947 one of my favorite characters from Hollywood and history, Howard Hughes flew his "Spruce Goose," a huge wooden airplane, for eight minutes in California. It was the plane's first and only flight. The "Spruce Goose," nicknamed because of the white-gray color of the spruce used to build it, never when into production. Now this was a big ass plane. Even by today's standards, this was a big ass plane. This betty was supposed to carry 700 troops on its 320 foot wingspan. Yeah 320 foot, end zone to end zone baby. The Goose never hit production, but that doesn't mean anything. Hughes kept his baby preserved in a personal hanger at the cost of a million a year. He did this up until he died in 1976 then the Spruce Goose went to live at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. She is still there to the day, so if you get the chance stop in and say hi. Oh and don't watch that Leo flick about Hughes, that shit is unwatchable.

Hey Ronald Reagan wasn't all bad, in 1983 he signed a bill establishing a federal holiday on the third Monday of January in honor of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Rock on MLK!

And since we are rockin to some Elvis today, here is the quote of the day:
"I didn't like the '50s, you know. I appreciate Elvis, but I'm not a big fan. I'm not a rockabilly fan. And the '60s and early '70s were, to me, the greatest times to live."
- Brett Hull
True that Mr. Hull. I have to agree. I was a teenage nightmare in the 80's and I know I got away with shit that these kids would never get away with today. Hell I am the reason there are noise ordinance laws out there. Play it louder, drive it faster, and drink it harder than all those around you. Sure I can't hear shit, my insurance is through the roof and I have ulcers, but it was fun. Sometimes when I am laying on the couch and I laugh for no reason, its just those dumbass moments in teenage time that make me laugh. I mean who the hell cruises the strip anymore? I still think I am the last guy to cut perfect figure 8 donuts on the high school lawn. And don't even get me talking about the damage I used to inflict on the soccer field. Plus where the hell did those Matilda Bay Wine coolers go? I used to put a shot of grain alcohol in them and they would put in turn put me on the floor. Ahhh the good ol days.

Have a good weekend folks. Remember its hunting season, so wear orange if your walking around in the woods. You never know when or where Dick Cheney could be hunting...