So it turns out that "Earth" is actually Sunset Beach on English Bay in Vancouver,
and who's got there first but,
Buffy.
TV is weird.
If you want to know, but don't want to sit through the entire first three years,
the plot:
in eight minutes.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Meet Herbert,
the Biggest Spider in the World.
One of the many things I like about England, and this part of it in particular, is the way it reminds me of my Island. The tree species, the gardens, all sorts of things are just like home...
...including the incredibly huge wolf spiders.
Herbert lived in my kitchen for quite a while. Behind the fridge where he could be closer to the back door and keep an eye on things. He's got eight, after all.
I was fine with that.
I hadn't seen him for a while, so I thought he'd gone off to find, errr, greener pastures...so to speak.
But the other day as I was dusting the parlour, I saw that he had taken up residence in the parlour window frame.
I'm none too pleased with this development. I don't remember giving planning permission for a new residential unit.
He seems to be a great deal bigger than he was. Maybe he would simply overpower any would-be burglars.
I'm hoping, though, now that he is out from behind the fridge, Winnie will eat him.
One of the many things I like about England, and this part of it in particular, is the way it reminds me of my Island. The tree species, the gardens, all sorts of things are just like home...
...including the incredibly huge wolf spiders.
Herbert lived in my kitchen for quite a while. Behind the fridge where he could be closer to the back door and keep an eye on things. He's got eight, after all.
I was fine with that.
I hadn't seen him for a while, so I thought he'd gone off to find, errr, greener pastures...so to speak.
But the other day as I was dusting the parlour, I saw that he had taken up residence in the parlour window frame.
I'm none too pleased with this development. I don't remember giving planning permission for a new residential unit.
He seems to be a great deal bigger than he was. Maybe he would simply overpower any would-be burglars.
I'm hoping, though, now that he is out from behind the fridge, Winnie will eat him.
Ow!
Hey, what does it mean when you wake up and the area just above waist level on the left side at the back, where you think your kidneys might be, is in incredible searing agony?
Is that bad, do you think?
Is that bad, do you think?
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Wind him up and watch him go
I like how Michael keeps playing the Mohammed Elmasry clip over and over and over and ...
Best news I've heard all month
567,894
I love that you can go into any cafe and say the words, "Full English please" and they will bring you a reason to keep living. Oh Baby! English bacon! Black pudding!
No breakfast will ever be complete unless it includes mushrooms, fried tomahhtoes, beans, bangers, bacon and a mug of extra-brown tea. Kidneys are a nice optional extra.
I had a friend in Tranna who was always going on about how one could not find real English bacon anywhere in the GTA. She felt that this was the reason the country was going to the dogs.
I didn't know what she meant until I went to a cafe and said the magic words.
Am I the only person in history who moved to this country because of the food?
By Sky News SkyNews - 2 hours 22 minutes ago
Eating a big breakfast is the key to keeping slim, according to new research.
(Advertisement)
The bigger and more carb-laden the meal the better, experts say.
The study found women who eat half of their daily calories first thing lose more weight in the long term than those who start the day with a small breakfast.
And they are also less likely to pile the pounds back on.
It is thought that eating a meal packed with protein and carbohydrates helps cut cravings for sweet or starchy foods, as well as boosting the metabolism.
Nutritionist Angela Dowden said: "A big breakfast every day might be impractical but you are more able to deal with hunger pangs later and eat less overall.
"The ideal breakfast is grilled bacon, sausage, scrambled egg, mushrooms and tomatoes.
"It must be low-fat, high-protein, grilled, not fried."
Scientist compared the 'big breakfast' diet with a strict low-carb weight-loss regime.
They studied 94 obese, inactive women and found that low carb dieters initially lost more weight.
But the 'big breatkfast' group continued to lose weight while those on the strict diet regained almost all their weight loss.
Dr Jakubowicz, from the Hospital de Clinicas in Caracas, Venezuela, who led the study, said: "A very low carboydrate deit exacerbates the craving for carboydrates and slows metabolism.
"After a short period of weight loss, there is a quick return to obesity."
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Family-Friendly
"...take the sleaze out of ...the sex industry."
OK, let's just remain calm.
Can you imagine a rational person (ie: a Christian) writing a phrase like this? What do you think it might mean?
H/T to Steve.
OK, let's just remain calm.
Can you imagine a rational person (ie: a Christian) writing a phrase like this? What do you think it might mean?
H/T to Steve.
Well Duh...
Research shows conservatives nicer people than lefties...
John Muggeridge and I once worked out why. Lefties, John maintained, are interested in the grand movements of history, in The Good of Mankind, in altering and improving Humanity and Society and Peoples, etc. They think in terms of theories, of mass movements, of political ideologies being applied (usually forcibly) to entire populations and damn the realities of people's day to day lives. This was the effect of the various social and cultural, agricultural and industrial revolutions in Maoist and Stalinist states. The "land reform" concept that looks good on paper but in reality destroys lives, ruins economies and results in mass famines. The theory is all, and reality be hanged (along with anyone who objects). Being focused on the Macro means that individual people do not matter as long as your Grand Scheme is implemented.
For example, the left is interested in the Grand Overarching and Absolute Principle of "A Woman's Right to Choose" and insists that the law be changed to reflect it. The fact that individual persons are harmed by this is considered immaterial, or at least an unfortunate but essentially unimportant side effect. The principle is all, whether it hurts people or not.
The left is interested in Mankind. The right is interested in this particular person.
My own discovery, after a lifetime of total immersion in the world of the hippie left, was that outside the Southpaw Matrix there is such a thing as kindliness. I grew up in the little hippie universe where everyone was focused on "finding themselves". Oh yes. The Me Decade. The ME generation. Dream therapy workshops, gestalt weekends, doing your own thing, getting in touch with your inner narcissist. The talk was all about "compassion", but when everyone you meet is walking around with a metaphorical mirror strapped to his chest, it is difficult to tell what is meant by the word.
The trouble with communicating this is that most people have no idea there is another world, the world of The Real, outside their bubbleworld. How can you explain colour to a man who has been blind since birth?
George Orwell once wrote that politics was closely related to social identity. 'One sometimes gets the impression,' he wrote in The Road To Wigan Pier, 'that the mere words socialism and communism draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, nature-cure quack, pacifist and feminist in England '.
Orwell was making an observation. But today a whole body of academic research shows he was correct: your politics influence the manner in which you live your life. And the news is not so good for those on the political Left.
There is plenty of data that shows that Right-wingers are happier, more generous to charities, less likely to commit suicide - and even hug their children more than those on the Left.
John Muggeridge and I once worked out why. Lefties, John maintained, are interested in the grand movements of history, in The Good of Mankind, in altering and improving Humanity and Society and Peoples, etc. They think in terms of theories, of mass movements, of political ideologies being applied (usually forcibly) to entire populations and damn the realities of people's day to day lives. This was the effect of the various social and cultural, agricultural and industrial revolutions in Maoist and Stalinist states. The "land reform" concept that looks good on paper but in reality destroys lives, ruins economies and results in mass famines. The theory is all, and reality be hanged (along with anyone who objects). Being focused on the Macro means that individual people do not matter as long as your Grand Scheme is implemented.
For example, the left is interested in the Grand Overarching and Absolute Principle of "A Woman's Right to Choose" and insists that the law be changed to reflect it. The fact that individual persons are harmed by this is considered immaterial, or at least an unfortunate but essentially unimportant side effect. The principle is all, whether it hurts people or not.
The left is interested in Mankind. The right is interested in this particular person.
My own discovery, after a lifetime of total immersion in the world of the hippie left, was that outside the Southpaw Matrix there is such a thing as kindliness. I grew up in the little hippie universe where everyone was focused on "finding themselves". Oh yes. The Me Decade. The ME generation. Dream therapy workshops, gestalt weekends, doing your own thing, getting in touch with your inner narcissist. The talk was all about "compassion", but when everyone you meet is walking around with a metaphorical mirror strapped to his chest, it is difficult to tell what is meant by the word.
The trouble with communicating this is that most people have no idea there is another world, the world of The Real, outside their bubbleworld. How can you explain colour to a man who has been blind since birth?
"Aslan," said Lucy through her tears, "could you -- will you -- do something for these poor Dwarfs?"
"Dearest," said Aslan, "I will show you both what I can, and what I cannot do. ... You see," said Aslan. "They will not let us help them. They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their own minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out."
Roma Roma
I suspect that Rome is one of those places that casts a spell on some people. One is either ensnared, enchanted, caught, or one is not. For me, it happened instantly. I saw the city, in all its enormity thoughout the ages, its squalor, its crumblyness, its beauty, its magnificence, and was caught.
I've heard of such things said of other places, and even professions. We hear about "catching the theatre bug". I went to theatre school, hoping to catch that divine illness, but never did. No oracular fugue state fell upon me from the gods, so I went home again, having failed the test of initiation.
I know someone who was caught by France while on a high school trip. He did not move there, but it changed him forever.
The world is wide and great. So much greater than I ever expected when I was growing up on my Island. I remember the elaborate disdain with which I regarded those who undertook to go away from the sacred Island. There were only two places then: The Island, and Outside. Sensible people, even sensible romantics, simply did not go Outside. If one were romantic, one read books about Outside, with its darkness and chaos and exotic dangers. Otherwise, one knew that everything anyone could want was already here.
It is a rare thing to find an Islander Outside, even now. Most of the people I went to school with are still there. But something came to me, hidebound as I was, from over the water. I couldn't stay, even while the idea of leaving remained unimaginable.
But isn't that the Christian life? To be called away unexpectedly to go somewhere you have never imagined, and would not think to go? To do things that it would never cross your mind to do had you not heard that strange imperative whisper?
Distance: 1352.84 miles Time: 21 hrs 9 mins
* Starting in CHESTER, ENGLAND on NICHOLAS STREET go toward BLACK FRIARS - go 0.1 mi
* At traffic circle, take first exit onto GROSVENOR STREET(A5268) - go 0.2 mi
* Continue to follow A5268 - go 0.5 mi
* At traffic circle, take third exit onto THE BARS(A51) - go 0.1 mi
* Continue to follow A51 - go 1.5 mi
* At traffic circle, take second exit onto TARVIN ROAD(A51) - go 2.2 mi
* Continue to follow A51 - go 0.7 mi
* At TARVIN ROUNDABOUT, take third exit onto A51 - go 4.9 mi
* At traffic circle, take third exit onto A49 - go 1.6 mi
* Continue on A51 - go 6.6 mi
* Turn Left on A51 - go 1.4 mi
* At traffic circle, take second exit onto A500 - go 0.5 mi
* At traffic circle, take third exit onto A500 - go 1.0 mi
* At traffic circle, take third exit onto A500 - go 0.6 mi
* At traffic circle, take second exit onto A500 - go 2.3 mi
* At traffic circle, take first exit onto A500 - go 1.2 mi
* At traffic circle, take second exit onto A500 - go 1.2 mi
* At traffic circle, take second exit onto A500 - go 2.2 mi
* At traffic circle, take fourth exit onto a local road - go 0.2 mi
* Take ramp onto M6 toward STOKE (SOUTH)/BIRMINGHAM - go 81.3 mi
* Merge onto M1 - go 59.2 mi
* Take Left fork onto M10 toward ST. ALBANS/HATFIELD - go 2.8 mi
* At PARK STREET ROUNDABOUT, take second exit onto NORTH ORBITAL ROAD(A414) - go 1.9 mi
* At LONDON COLNEY ROUNDABOUT, take third exit onto LONDON COLNEY BY PASS(A1081) - go 1.4 mi
* At traffic circle, take second exit onto M25 - go 34.9 mi
* Continue on A282 (Portions toll) - go 5.0 mi
* Continue on M25 - go 3.1 mi
* Take exit #3/DOVER/CHANNEL TUNNEL/MAIDSTONE onto M20 - go 47.9 mi
* Take exit #11A/CHANNEL TUNNEL onto CHANNEL TUNNEL - go 25.4 mi
* Continue on TUNNEL SOUS LA MANCHE - go 14.2 mi
* Turn Right on AVENUE DE FRANCE - go 1.4 mi
* Take ramp onto A16 toward CALAIS/LILLE/REIMS PARIS (A26)/E15/BRUXELLES - go 3.8 mi
* Take Right fork onto E15 toward A26/ST OMER/ARRAS/REIMS/PARIS - go 0.5 mi
* Merge onto A26 (Toll applies) - go 163.5 mi
* Merge onto A4 (Portions toll) - go 216.2 mi
* Continue on A35 - go 9.8 mi
* Take Left exit #9/A35/SAINT-DIÉ-DES-VOSGES PAR TUNNEL/MULHOUSE/COLMAR/OBERNAI onto D1422 - go 0.7 mi
* At traffic circle, take third exit onto D1422 - go 1.2 mi
* At traffic circle, take first exit onto D1422 - go 0.8 mi
* Continue on A35 - go 23.9 mi
* Continue on N83 - go 6.6 mi
* Continue on A35 - go 41.1 mi
* Continue on A3 (Toll applies) - go 2.1 mi
* Merge onto A2 (Toll applies) - go 26.0 mi
* Merge onto A1 (Toll applies) - go 4.8 mi
* Take exit #47/GOTTHARD/LUZERN/REIDEN onto A2 (Toll applies) - go 147.5 mi
* Continue on A9 (Toll applies) - go 19.7 mi
* Merge onto A8 (Toll applies) - go 2.8 mi
* Take the TANGENZIALE OVEST/TORINO (A4)/GENOVA (A7)/BOLOGNA (A1) exit onto A50 (Toll applies) - go 19.9 mi
* Merge onto A1 (Toll applies) - go 326.3 mi
* Take the ROMA CENTRO/GRANDE RACCORDO ANULARE/AEROPORTI/CIVITAVECCHIA (A12)/ROMA NORD/RIETI exit onto A1DIR (Toll applies) - go 14.9 mi
* Take ramp onto GRANDE RACCORDO ANULARE toward NOMENTANA/SS5/TIBURTINA/L'AQUILA/A24/TERAMO/A1/NAPOLI - go 5.8 mi
* Take exit #14/PRENESTINA/L'AQUILA-TERAMO (A24)/ROMA SUD/NAPOLI/PESCARA (A25)/FIRENZE-NAPOLI (A1)/ROMA CENTRO/TANGENZIALE EST onto A24 toward #14/ROMA CENTRO/TANGENZIALE EST - go 4.6 mi
* Take ramp onto CIRCONVALLAZIONE TIBURTINA toward EUR/S. GIOVANNI - go 0.6 mi
* Take ramp - go 0.1 mi
* Continue on LARGO SETTIMIO PASSAMONTI - go 0.1 mi
* Bear Left on VIALE DELLO SCALO SAN LORENZO - go 0.3 mi
* Continue on LARGO EDUARDO TALAMO
* Continue on VIALE DELLO SCALO SAN LORENZO - go 0.2 mi
* Bear Right on PIAZZALE LABICANO - go 0.1 mi
* Turn Right on VIA DI PORTA MAGG. - go 0.2 mi
* Continue on VIA PRINCIPE EUGENIO - go 0.2 mi
* Continue on PIAZZA VITTORIO EMANUELE II - go 0.2 mi
* Continue on VIA NAPOLEONE III - go 0.2 mi
* Turn Right on VIA GIOBERTI - go 0.1 mi
* Turn Left on VIA GIOVANNI GIOLITTI - go 0.2 mi
* Bear Left on VIALE LUIGI EINAUDI - go 0.1 mi
* At PIAZZA DELLA REPUBBLICA, take second exit onto VIA VITTORIO EMANUELE ORLANDO - go 0.1 mi
* Arrive at the center of ROME, LATIUM
I've heard of such things said of other places, and even professions. We hear about "catching the theatre bug". I went to theatre school, hoping to catch that divine illness, but never did. No oracular fugue state fell upon me from the gods, so I went home again, having failed the test of initiation.
I know someone who was caught by France while on a high school trip. He did not move there, but it changed him forever.
The world is wide and great. So much greater than I ever expected when I was growing up on my Island. I remember the elaborate disdain with which I regarded those who undertook to go away from the sacred Island. There were only two places then: The Island, and Outside. Sensible people, even sensible romantics, simply did not go Outside. If one were romantic, one read books about Outside, with its darkness and chaos and exotic dangers. Otherwise, one knew that everything anyone could want was already here.
It is a rare thing to find an Islander Outside, even now. Most of the people I went to school with are still there. But something came to me, hidebound as I was, from over the water. I couldn't stay, even while the idea of leaving remained unimaginable.
But isn't that the Christian life? To be called away unexpectedly to go somewhere you have never imagined, and would not think to go? To do things that it would never cross your mind to do had you not heard that strange imperative whisper?
Distance: 1352.84 miles Time: 21 hrs 9 mins
* Starting in CHESTER, ENGLAND on NICHOLAS STREET go toward BLACK FRIARS - go 0.1 mi
* At traffic circle, take first exit onto GROSVENOR STREET(A5268) - go 0.2 mi
* Continue to follow A5268 - go 0.5 mi
* At traffic circle, take third exit onto THE BARS(A51) - go 0.1 mi
* Continue to follow A51 - go 1.5 mi
* At traffic circle, take second exit onto TARVIN ROAD(A51) - go 2.2 mi
* Continue to follow A51 - go 0.7 mi
* At TARVIN ROUNDABOUT, take third exit onto A51 - go 4.9 mi
* At traffic circle, take third exit onto A49 - go 1.6 mi
* Continue on A51 - go 6.6 mi
* Turn Left on A51 - go 1.4 mi
* At traffic circle, take second exit onto A500 - go 0.5 mi
* At traffic circle, take third exit onto A500 - go 1.0 mi
* At traffic circle, take third exit onto A500 - go 0.6 mi
* At traffic circle, take second exit onto A500 - go 2.3 mi
* At traffic circle, take first exit onto A500 - go 1.2 mi
* At traffic circle, take second exit onto A500 - go 1.2 mi
* At traffic circle, take second exit onto A500 - go 2.2 mi
* At traffic circle, take fourth exit onto a local road - go 0.2 mi
* Take ramp onto M6 toward STOKE (SOUTH)/BIRMINGHAM - go 81.3 mi
* Merge onto M1 - go 59.2 mi
* Take Left fork onto M10 toward ST. ALBANS/HATFIELD - go 2.8 mi
* At PARK STREET ROUNDABOUT, take second exit onto NORTH ORBITAL ROAD(A414) - go 1.9 mi
* At LONDON COLNEY ROUNDABOUT, take third exit onto LONDON COLNEY BY PASS(A1081) - go 1.4 mi
* At traffic circle, take second exit onto M25 - go 34.9 mi
* Continue on A282 (Portions toll) - go 5.0 mi
* Continue on M25 - go 3.1 mi
* Take exit #3/DOVER/CHANNEL TUNNEL/MAIDSTONE onto M20 - go 47.9 mi
* Take exit #11A/CHANNEL TUNNEL onto CHANNEL TUNNEL - go 25.4 mi
* Continue on TUNNEL SOUS LA MANCHE - go 14.2 mi
* Turn Right on AVENUE DE FRANCE - go 1.4 mi
* Take ramp onto A16 toward CALAIS/LILLE/REIMS PARIS (A26)/E15/BRUXELLES - go 3.8 mi
* Take Right fork onto E15 toward A26/ST OMER/ARRAS/REIMS/PARIS - go 0.5 mi
* Merge onto A26 (Toll applies) - go 163.5 mi
* Merge onto A4 (Portions toll) - go 216.2 mi
* Continue on A35 - go 9.8 mi
* Take Left exit #9/A35/SAINT-DIÉ-DES-VOSGES PAR TUNNEL/MULHOUSE/COLMAR/OBERNAI onto D1422 - go 0.7 mi
* At traffic circle, take third exit onto D1422 - go 1.2 mi
* At traffic circle, take first exit onto D1422 - go 0.8 mi
* Continue on A35 - go 23.9 mi
* Continue on N83 - go 6.6 mi
* Continue on A35 - go 41.1 mi
* Continue on A3 (Toll applies) - go 2.1 mi
* Merge onto A2 (Toll applies) - go 26.0 mi
* Merge onto A1 (Toll applies) - go 4.8 mi
* Take exit #47/GOTTHARD/LUZERN/REIDEN onto A2 (Toll applies) - go 147.5 mi
* Continue on A9 (Toll applies) - go 19.7 mi
* Merge onto A8 (Toll applies) - go 2.8 mi
* Take the TANGENZIALE OVEST/TORINO (A4)/GENOVA (A7)/BOLOGNA (A1) exit onto A50 (Toll applies) - go 19.9 mi
* Merge onto A1 (Toll applies) - go 326.3 mi
* Take the ROMA CENTRO/GRANDE RACCORDO ANULARE/AEROPORTI/CIVITAVECCHIA (A12)/ROMA NORD/RIETI exit onto A1DIR (Toll applies) - go 14.9 mi
* Take ramp onto GRANDE RACCORDO ANULARE toward NOMENTANA/SS5/TIBURTINA/L'AQUILA/A24/TERAMO/A1/NAPOLI - go 5.8 mi
* Take exit #14/PRENESTINA/L'AQUILA-TERAMO (A24)/ROMA SUD/NAPOLI/PESCARA (A25)/FIRENZE-NAPOLI (A1)/ROMA CENTRO/TANGENZIALE EST onto A24 toward #14/ROMA CENTRO/TANGENZIALE EST - go 4.6 mi
* Take ramp onto CIRCONVALLAZIONE TIBURTINA toward EUR/S. GIOVANNI - go 0.6 mi
* Take ramp - go 0.1 mi
* Continue on LARGO SETTIMIO PASSAMONTI - go 0.1 mi
* Bear Left on VIALE DELLO SCALO SAN LORENZO - go 0.3 mi
* Continue on LARGO EDUARDO TALAMO
* Continue on VIALE DELLO SCALO SAN LORENZO - go 0.2 mi
* Bear Right on PIAZZALE LABICANO - go 0.1 mi
* Turn Right on VIA DI PORTA MAGG. - go 0.2 mi
* Continue on VIA PRINCIPE EUGENIO - go 0.2 mi
* Continue on PIAZZA VITTORIO EMANUELE II - go 0.2 mi
* Continue on VIA NAPOLEONE III - go 0.2 mi
* Turn Right on VIA GIOBERTI - go 0.1 mi
* Turn Left on VIA GIOVANNI GIOLITTI - go 0.2 mi
* Bear Left on VIALE LUIGI EINAUDI - go 0.1 mi
* At PIAZZA DELLA REPUBBLICA, take second exit onto VIA VITTORIO EMANUELE ORLANDO - go 0.1 mi
* Arrive at the center of ROME, LATIUM
Monday, June 16, 2008
Plutoids, Super Earths and Justin Trudeau
I have to say, I was happy that Dale posted on the Pluto thing. I'm with him completely (and not just because he's always been really nice to me in five years of blogging, neither).
A Traditionalist in all things, I'd like to say I'm an Old Solarist too. Pluto was a planet all the while I was in school doing class projects on the solar system; don't see why it isn't one now. (I'm sure there must be some way in which it is connected to the Vast Plot to Destroy Civilization. Some way.)
And "Plutoids"?! Puh-Leeeze!
I'm also heavily against any attempt to name any celestial bodies after non-Greek mythical persons. So, can we just hold the political correctness thing for a while? Can we just give a pass to names from the Inuit/Borneo/Pygmy legends? When you can show me that a society has established a system of thought, literature and governance that lasts five thousand years and forms the foundation of the greatest civilization the world has ever seen, you can name asteroids after their myths, m-kay? Or maybe just show me that they've mastered the intricacies of weaving cloth and making wheels.
I once remarked to one of my really smarty-smart math-friends (advanced degree in electrical engineering) that I have always been very frustrated not being a number person. "There's diferent kinds of smart, Hilary" he said (not at all smugly. Not at all). I said yeah, but I wished I had the kind that paid better. Math-smart pays. Words? Meh. Not so much.
When I was in school, and usually crying in math class, my mum was sailing effortlessly through an undergraduate degree in mathematics, from which she went on to egineering school. I've been traumatised ever since she tried to teach me algebra.
But astronomy was something I never aspired to. I just held astronomers in awe. I read a lot of Arthur C. Clarke when I was younger and I thought that astronomers just walked around all the time in a parallel universe, slightly out of phase with ours, in which we could see them, and they could see us, but no communication was possible.
I wish I could be like them. Living up there in their cloud-city, wearing their shimmery clothes, looking through their fabulous star-watching machines...Oh well...back to the Zenite mine.
But there's more interesting news from up in the sky:
Cool.
I'm probably way behind in my Cloud City Gazettes, but I thought that "recent findings" had it that there were actually very few planets, at least, planets like ours, in the galaxy. I remember that this was a big deal to the people who are still hoping to find someone else out there, that there just didn't seem all that many places where the little grey men could be hiding.
So, it looks as if Justin might have a chance, when he is annointed Ruler for Life of Trudeaupia, to extend his munificent largesse to extraterrestrials after all.
(Am I the only one who gets the screaming willies watching this guy? Actually, watching this video...mmmm...come to think of it, do we really need more proof that the little grey guys have "been here a very long time"? Look into Justin's eyes while he talks about...whatever it is he's talking about.)
(On second thoughts, don't. DON'T look into Justin's eyes at any time.)
A Traditionalist in all things, I'd like to say I'm an Old Solarist too. Pluto was a planet all the while I was in school doing class projects on the solar system; don't see why it isn't one now. (I'm sure there must be some way in which it is connected to the Vast Plot to Destroy Civilization. Some way.)
And "Plutoids"?! Puh-Leeeze!
I'm also heavily against any attempt to name any celestial bodies after non-Greek mythical persons. So, can we just hold the political correctness thing for a while? Can we just give a pass to names from the Inuit/Borneo/Pygmy legends? When you can show me that a society has established a system of thought, literature and governance that lasts five thousand years and forms the foundation of the greatest civilization the world has ever seen, you can name asteroids after their myths, m-kay? Or maybe just show me that they've mastered the intricacies of weaving cloth and making wheels.
I once remarked to one of my really smarty-smart math-friends (advanced degree in electrical engineering) that I have always been very frustrated not being a number person. "There's diferent kinds of smart, Hilary" he said (not at all smugly. Not at all). I said yeah, but I wished I had the kind that paid better. Math-smart pays. Words? Meh. Not so much.
When I was in school, and usually crying in math class, my mum was sailing effortlessly through an undergraduate degree in mathematics, from which she went on to egineering school. I've been traumatised ever since she tried to teach me algebra.
But astronomy was something I never aspired to. I just held astronomers in awe. I read a lot of Arthur C. Clarke when I was younger and I thought that astronomers just walked around all the time in a parallel universe, slightly out of phase with ours, in which we could see them, and they could see us, but no communication was possible.
I wish I could be like them. Living up there in their cloud-city, wearing their shimmery clothes, looking through their fabulous star-watching machines...Oh well...back to the Zenite mine.
But there's more interesting news from up in the sky:
European researchers said on Monday they discovered a batch of three "super-Earths" orbiting a nearby star, and two other solar systems with small planets as well.
They said their findings, presented at a conference in France, suggest that Earth-like planets may be very common.
"Does every single star harbour planets and, if yes, how many?" asked Michel Mayor of Switzerland's Geneva Observatory. "We may not yet know the answer but we are making huge progress towards it," Mayor said in a statement.
Cool.
I'm probably way behind in my Cloud City Gazettes, but I thought that "recent findings" had it that there were actually very few planets, at least, planets like ours, in the galaxy. I remember that this was a big deal to the people who are still hoping to find someone else out there, that there just didn't seem all that many places where the little grey men could be hiding.
So, it looks as if Justin might have a chance, when he is annointed Ruler for Life of Trudeaupia, to extend his munificent largesse to extraterrestrials after all.
(Am I the only one who gets the screaming willies watching this guy? Actually, watching this video...mmmm...come to think of it, do we really need more proof that the little grey guys have "been here a very long time"? Look into Justin's eyes while he talks about...whatever it is he's talking about.)
(On second thoughts, don't. DON'T look into Justin's eyes at any time.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)