50 Years of Mars Exploration
Just learn
We all have cameras on our cellphones … no reason not to
The Truth Hurts – We take everything for Granted
Waiting to inhale …
Laphroaig 18 – Review
Laphroaig is my favorite Scotch distillery. I’ve at least tasted most of their regular line-up (the Triple Wood was one of my favorites up to this point and my review of it can be found here). But, since Scotch is so expensive in the States (and always going up in price) I don’t keep a lot of it stocked in my bar.
I love the level of peat in Laphroaig’s. However, as I’ve begun to try more and more whiskey my tastebuds have evolved. I’ve begun to enjoy the drams from the more delicate side of the Scotch aisle.
I’d heard the Laphoraig 18 was the mellow giant sibling of the Laphroaig 10. So, when I connected with a fellow blogger, Josh, over at A Dram Good Drink, and conducted a sample exchange, I was sure to get a few samples of this fine tipple. Without further adieu I present…
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They paved paradise …
… and put up a parking lot
There has been a building boom in the far west Houston area. They must be building for the next boom because oil patch layoffs are at an all time high. All manner of woodlands, grasslands, and former rice fields are being paved over to build subdivisions, apartments, office complexes, and shopping complexes. I am not a tree hugger and am more aware than most that the only constant in the universe is change.
I just passed another area of new construction and this tune started playing in my head. At no time in the past 45 years has it been more true than today.
Scalzi | Kitten Update 11/4/15
More kitten photos at link above.
I recommend you follow Salzi | Whatever for the kitten updates and because he is a great Sci-Fi writer.
Enceladus Flyby
The North Pole of Enceladus during the October 30th, 2015 Cassini Flyby (NASA/ESA/ASI)
Since 2004, the Cassini spacecraft has been in orbit around Saturn. The robot probe (a joint effort of NASA, ESA, and the Italian space agency) received the most press when it launched a flying saucer lander onto Saturn’s planet-like moon Titan, but it is still out there doing amazing work. Last week, while I was busy writing about Halloween themes, the probe made its closest pass yet to Saturn’s ice moon, Enceladus. Enceladus is only 500 kilometers in diameter and it is coated in ice, but it is of great interest to scientists because ice plumes venting from the moon’s south pole seem to indicate a large polar subsurface ocean of liquid water. Warmed above freezing by tidal flux, this ocean beneath the ice probably has a thickness of around 10 km.
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Knowing Jack Schitt
Which one had the snack company so frequently referenced on Archer?
This piece of writing has been floating around cyberspace for quite some time; I’ve tried to track down just who is responsible for it, with no luck. It’s so tongue-in-cheek, your tongue may permanently stay there, and I dare you not to think of the whole family tree the next time you hear any of the associated phrases!
Who is Jack Schitt?
The lineage is finally revealed. Many people are at a loss for a response when someone says “You don’t know Jack Schitt.” Now you can intellectually handle the situation.
Jack is the son of Awe Schitt and O. Schitt. Awe Schitt, the fertilizer magnate, married O. Schitt, the owner of Needeep N. Schitt Inc. They had one son, Jack. In turn Jack Schitt married Noe Schitt, the deeply religious couple produced six children: Holie Schitt, Fulla Schitt, Giva Schitt, Bull Schitt, and the twins: Deap Schitt and Dip Schitt. Against…
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Scalzi | Kitten Update 11/3/15
Enough is Enough
Scalzi | Thing 1 vs Thing 2
Deep Thoughts
OMG he or she is cute
Testing – ignore
COOL PEOPLE – The Lone Ranger – Who Was The Real Lone Ranger and What Becomes a Legacy Most?
[cb note: Experimenting with “featured image”. Unfortunately the iOS version (if not all versions) seems to crop the “featured image” in undesired ways. I had to extend the canvas size of Bass Reeves to avoid cropping out his eyes. Even it still cropped his eyebrows. 😦 ]
This is a interesting post addressing many aspects of the Lone Ranger legend, but to me the most interesting part of the story comes at the very end of the post …WHO THE REAL LONE RANGER WAS
What Becomes a Legacy Most
To put you in the mood here is the theme song from the #Lone Ranger series that ran from 1949-1957
https://youtu.be/uUpDG680uew
Glen Campbell Plays “The #William Tell Overture” (acoustic)
Published on Aug 18, 2015
From September 1974 in New York’s Central Park, Glen Campbell plays an acoustic version of “The William Tell Overture”. In later years he always used an electric guitar for this. Sometime around 1974 Glen recorded an acoustic studio version of William Tell that sounds much like this, but it went unreleased for years until it was accidentally released on the 1997 Razor & Tie 2-CD set “The Glen Campbell Collection”. I say accidentally because the track listing for the compilation lists the live 1977 version with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, but what you hear is the 1974 studio acoustic version.
https://youtu.be/0bhuxkzjuQc
The Lone Ranger S01E02 – The Lone Ranger Fights…
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Scalzi’s Kittens
sometimes paradise is el dia de los muertos
I loved the video …
The following video beautifully exemplifies the meaning and celebration of Dia de Los Muertos or Day of the Dead. It is a 2013 CGI Student Academy Award Gold Medal Winner Short Film HD: “Dia De Los Muertos” from Whoo Kazoo.!!
When I moved to Mexico, I became enamoured with the Mexican celebration of Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. Despite, its rather gloomy sounding name, Dia de los Muertos is a joyful celebration.! Family members and friends gather with food and drink to remember, honor, and pray for their deceased loved ones. Basically, they invite the deceased back into their lives for an annual visit.
The holiday is celebrated October 31, November 1st, and November 2nd and is tied to the Christian traditions of All Hallow’s Eve, All Saint’s Day, and All Soul’s Day. However, it also has origins dating back to the Aztecs and…
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9 Reasons – Why you should be Kinder
I aspire to be like this. Most days I succeed. Sometimes I don’t, but later wish I had.
Have you ever had a off day? You know the type of day where everything seems to go wrong, where it seems like every person you interact with has a personal vendetta against you. Like all the people and things you deal with are completely against you. I am not even being dramatic here, because we have all been there, you just cant seem to catch a break.
Think about the last day you felt like that. Work, family, friends, finances any number of things can add to stress, shaping a day that has the potential to plummet into sadness. But what about when you are in that terrible mood and you share your frustrations with the people you interact with? You spread the negative vibe. A domino effect begins.
What if you spread the vibe with someone else and you later found out that person has a mother who is dyng of cancer…
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Top 10 Scary Cats in Witches Hats
A few smallish items…
‘I think people of a religious persuasion should keep it private, and not advertise their beliefs with items of attire.’
‘Oh really? You won’t like my bible belt then?’
‘You have a bible belt?’
‘Yes, look…’
‘Oh, how very novel!’
‘Yes, I used to have it buckled up as far as Leviticus, but I’ve put a bit of weight on since and I’m on Genesis now; it’s the last hole…’
‘Ah, right…’
But first…
Dulltown, Europe: Today’s unusual pencil sharpener is the one shaped like a cumulonimbus.
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Excuses for being late. No. 269.
I’m sorry I’m late, but I found a George III half-sovereign in a tin of cream of mushroom soup.
A single overheard remark:
‘Yes, but look what happened to her omelette…’
‘I think people of a religious persuasion should keep it private, and not advertise their beliefs with items of attire.’
‘Oh really? You won’t like my bible belt then?’
‘You have a bible belt?’
‘Yes, look…’
‘Oh, how very novel!’
‘Yes, I used to have it buckled up as far as Leviticus, but I’ve put a bit of weight on since and I’m on Genesis now; it’s the last hole…’
‘Ah, right…’
I’m toying with the idea of changing my name to Jim Nastix.
Now, what’s this? It’s another item of spam in my comments box. This…
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Bitter Irritating Friday Giftures
Must … re … blog …
I think my veins are filled with either honey or fear. Because of the warm weather (65 degrees!, just kidding 85) in the last two days, I have had to roll down the windows of my car. It seems like whenever I pull up to a stop, a member of the bee community has been stalking me, to the point that they are flying to get in my car to show their psychotic tendencies by planting a stinger in my arm, thus making it really hard to text and ignore the road, while having to deal with a huge bee sting. Yeah, bees are irritating. Today I’m going to demonstrate other irritating things by way of Bitter Irritating Friday Giftures.
Do you want to know what really irritates me?
When you hit a home run that ruins your home.
Another thing that irritates me?
This guy…
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Scaredy Cat Bitter Friday Giftures
Hilarious …
For some reason, around this time of year, fears seem to pop up as an issue. People seems to want to talk about their fear of spiders or ghosts or the dark or cholesterol or the way too upbeatness of SpongeBob. Maybe it’s because Halloween brings the spookiness out of people, or this time of year is way too busy with parties that bring out the inner rage of introverts, that just want to lay on the couch and watch TV instead of going to yet another Halloween party and have talk yet even more words. Since it is so close to Halloween, we will finally address some of those fears in our weekly Bitter Friday Giftures.
First we should probably talk about the fact that humans have many fears…
…but ducks don’t seem to have any.
So what are some fears that we have? Some people have the..
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The WAR on SCIENCE
We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.
Carl Sagan
Perhaps society has always been at war with science. Science challenges belief systems. Science threatens the status quo. Scientific thinking requires one to question everything.
However scientific thought does not grant one the ability to throw out centuries of hard-won knowledge just because the doubter does not “believe” it. The Internet is chock full of blogs decrying the “lies” perpetuated by scientists, NASA, the media, the government. It is truly ironic that the science and technology that made computers, smart phones, tablets, and the Internet possible is the very science under attack on the Internet. So much of the “information” on the Internet is opinion and belief offered up as fact. The Internet gives everyone an equal voice.
Instead of making us smarter, the Internet is making us dumber. Our knowledge is based on “factoids” and “sound bites”. Few people bother to dig deeper. TL;DR
Sadly, I ran across this video on one of those “anti-science”, “we have been lied to” blogs. The author comments:
This is just such a great example of how sometimes the propaganda gets so heavy in it’s shaming tactics that it only serves to show how desperate and panicky the official side is seemingly becoming.
Science = propaganda
Sigh
Whatever other titles I have held during my professional career …
I proudly claim the title of Scientist.
Wednesday Words 10/28/15: Rocks
C.B. …
“I got a rock.”
–Charlie Brown
“Charlie Brown is the one person I identify with. C.B. is such a loser. He wasn’t even the star of his own Halloween special”
–Chris Rock
Peter Edler, “Sir!”.
This seems strangely related to my previous reblog …
Let’s talk about #assaultatspringvalley
Wow … the “police” have gotten seriously out of hand
Welcome to infinitefreetime dot com
I’m going to start this with something I said yesterday.
What will be painful: they’ve got CNN on in this damn waiting room, and they keep going back to that poor kid getting her ass beat by that cop in South Carolina the other day. Having to watch/hear the footage is rage-inducing enough; I swear to God if I have to listen to some fucking Hoosier conversation about it I’m gonna go to jail today, and it’s good that we’re already at the hospital.
I have a new policy, and I’m sticking to this motherfucker: if I am ever in public where a 24-hour news station is audibly playing over a television set, and I’m in a situation, like a waiting room, where I literally cannot get away from the TV, I’m unplugging the goddamned thing, and to hell with the consequences.
I had to spend several hours in a waiting room yesterday…
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Keep Cal …
when you are old and grey and full of sleep
365/227
Pöttöm (you guessed it … sleeping)
the science of sleep
More Pöttöm …
let sleeping cats lie
Close ups of Pöttöm …
if you are old and have the shakes
Meet Pöttöm, (teeny tiny in Hungarian) she reminds me of Patches …
How I Was Complicit in Destroying the World as We Know It
I too am responsible, perhaps more so than the original poster.
Yet I am at a loss to even know what to suggest.
If you ignore the aspects of mining, processing, transport, waste disposal, NIMBY, and potential terrorism … nuclear power is the cleanest power available (too cheap to meter).
Wind power kills birds and bats.
Concentrated solar power of the Ivanpah thermal tower variety incinerates birds.
Photovoltaic solar power has the potential to pollute based on the processes required to make square miles of phovoltaics.
Batteries can pollute during the manufacture and reprocessing or disposal stage.
We all know the impact of fossil fuel extraction and use.
Yet technology is the only way up and out. Imagine a world where we deforest for wood to burn for heat. Or the health implications of a return to horse and buggy. One can argue that the real problem is global population growth, a topic of so much discussion decades ago. It is easy to argue for less consumption, but try explaining this to a growing global population who are just now gaining access to the comforts of modern life.
…
A Touch of Art -The Incredible Earthworks of Stan Herd
How cool is this …
The Incredible Earthworks of Stan Herd
An installation Herd completed in 1994, Countryside, which was an image of a pastoral Kansas landscape on an acre of property owned by Donald Trump in New York City, is the subject of an independent film by Chris Ordal called Earthwork. The film’s Kansas premiere, in Herd’s adopted hometown of Lawrence, took place September 10, 2010, at…
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Yuri Gagarin
Ground control to …
Weightless. Mr. Bowie feels like Yuri Gagarin. Although, it shows I’m not a great photographer. You always have to be ready and expect the unexpected. Get great pictures by balancing aperture, shutter speed and ISO. But wait a minute… A cat and boxes? There is nothing new, nothing unexpected in this scene! Anyway, I hope that I’m a better musician and songwriter than a photographer… One day, we will rock you.
Love put me in space, way above the trees
Listen NASA can you get my heart back please?
Weightless, love is a pure sensation
Weightless, I feel like Yuri Gagarin“Weightless” – Prefab Sprout
Bad Greek Letter Puns
If you haven’t seen it its new to you …
no π can make u ψ
but 4 a φ u can have t
ρ ρ ρ your boat
last night i η π
these greek letter puns r bad
they’ll make u want 2 cry
I have no excuses 2 offer
Oranges, Pickles, Tangerines
So, Jesus’s mother…
This is just too funny …
But first…
Dulltown, Europe: Today’s peacock is the drab nunty one.
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‘So anyway, Mary, in the bible…’
‘Which one?’
“Which one?’ Are there more than one?’
‘Yes, at least two.’
‘Really?’
‘Oh yes, there’s the Virgin Mary, and there’s Mary Mag….’
‘Virgin Mary?’
‘Yes… Of course.’
‘Ah yes, I remember now, it was a sort of miracle wasn’t it? She is Virgin Jesus’s mother, right?… Oh, and by the way, what did her husband, good old Joseph, think about all this? I don’t suppose that gets a mention in the book.’
‘I don’t know… and anyway, he’s not called the Virgin Jesus!’
‘Oh? Why not? Did he have sex then?’
‘No, certainly not!’
‘Well he’d be a virgin then.’
‘Yes, but he’s not called that!’
‘Well, that’s not very even-handed is it? His mum gets the title and he’s just plain old Jesus.’
‘Don’t be silly, he’s not…
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Inspection
Code of the Warrior
3 Hours Later
Tears
Money
1 Hour Later
Today in “Cats”
Fueled by the future …
October 21, 2015
My Bed
Only 11 Days to Halloween
Pickles and Hillary approve













































