Just an Early Notice

Bump - change your clocks tonight.

This Coming Sunday November 6th ..Daylight Savings Time again.

Don't forget to turn your clocks back!

"PUMPED UP KICKS|DUBSTEP "

Dubstep is a form of music I've been paying attention to lately. Wikipedia says,  "Dubstep (/ˈdʌbstɛp/) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in south London, England. Its overall sound has been described as 'tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals'.^[1]" 

Some dubstep I like, and some I hate. It's not a genre that I can say I love, but there are interesting things happening there.

And From the "Outstanding Citizen Award" Dept.....

WHOA! You bet these guys won't be getting the key to the city anytime soon. From WSTP.com for your Friday enjoyment.....

Daniel Everett Child Sex Abuse

Four for Fridays

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Four for Fridays after a long and exhausting week. This week's questions, once again, are random...

1) What kind of toppings do you like on your pizza?

2) For the girls-Do like facial hair on men?
For the guys-How much make-up should women wear?

3) Do you remember your dreams?

4) What did you do for your last birthday?

Enjoy your weekend!

Open Blog - Friday & Weekend

Have a wonderful day and an even better weekend.

Tweeting Curiosity

I am happy to announce that I have been selected to attend the launch of the Mars Curiosity Rover as part of the launch tweetup! The launch is currently scheduled for November 25th.

Curiosity is the next rover headed to Mars. It is much larger than the previous rovers, Spirit and Opportunity and will carry a much larger suite of instruments. Although Curiosity is not designed to directly look for life on Mars, it will continue our attempts to determine if Mars had life on it in the past and if there are any pockets where life could still exist. It's nuclear power source will let it cover a lot of ground and power more advanced instruments (and it won't have solar panels that can get covered with dust!) It will be able to drill into rocks and scoop up soil and dust to analyze.

A rover this large can't land with airbags. It has a really cool crane type system that will lower it to the surface of Mars while the crane unit is held aloft by rockets. Kind of hard to envision, so here's the really cool animation. As you watch the video, remember this all has to happen automatically. Real time communication is not possible at that distance so there is no chance to fix any problems that may develop!

150 Twitter users have been selected to attend the launch tweetup. We will spend November 23rd touring the Cape, talking to mission scientists and trying not to get into too much trouble. We will have a day off on Thanksgiving before watching the launch from the media center on November 25th. Of course we will all be tweeting and blogging about our tours and the launch. You can follow me on twitter @halfastro (for my facebook friends, all tweets are automatically posted to facebook). You can also follow @marscuriosity, @nasatweetup or the #nasatweetup has tag.

Obviously, I will be blogging and tweeting a lot that week!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my scampering squirrels! How are you? Are you enjoying the color still available in the area? We’ve had a fairly warm fall so far and the show seems to be going on a little longer than usual. I love the reds, yellows, browns, and greens backlit by the sun low in the sky. I’ve more or less stopped taking pictures of the foliage, though. I have so many photos from past years that I never look at. It’s a gorgeous repeat performance every year.

After a restful bye week, our marvelous, magnificent, and mind-blowing Green Bay Packers are destined to defeat the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium, this Sunday, Nov. 6th, at 3:15 PM. Hail, hail Packers! Enjoy the weather while you drain the Charges of their power. Not even the Energizer Bunny will be able to get them back up after the Packers are through.

I received two messages this week, my dears. The first is from our own Sheriff:

Dear Madame Zoltar:

Although the spam filters work well, we still receive an occasional unsolicited email at the JTI. The one below is a request for a link exchange. Considering the source, http://www.mypsychicadvice.com/ I thought it best to refer this one to you, dearest Madame. We haven't done link exchanges in the past, but if you advise us otherwise on this one, then perhaps we will consider it.

Thank you for your time and effort.

Respectfully,
The Sheriff

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Date: Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 6:05 AM
Subject: Link Exchange Inquiry to Relevant Site
To: jtirregulars@jtirregulars.com

Hello,

I was browsing the web when i saw your site jtirregulars.com, and when i look at it, the relevancy is the same to my site, would you mind if I offer you to have a link exchange (reciprocal link exchange) with my site, here is our site http://www.mypsychicadvice.com/

Here is our site info

Title : Psychics

URL : http://www.mypsychicadvice.com/

Description : Enjoy a complete site encompassing Online Live Free Psychics.

Get link from http://www.mypsychicadvice.com/LinkPartnersList.aspx

If your interested make this link live and you can email us back with your site details, looking forward to grant my request. You can put link it anywhere close to homepage.

Thanks,

Dear Sheriff, my psychic advice to you is to avoid mypsychicadvice.com like the plague it is. They are unscrupulous charlatans preying on the weak on the web. It disgusts me. Always check for the PPPA (Professional Psychics Pseal of Approval) somewhere on the site, literature, or on display in the room of any psychic. It is there to protect you.

The second message came from our beloved Ms. kk:

Dearest Madame. I recently found this advertisement.(attached)
I really don't know what to say.... I never recall you pulling at your clothes like that during any sessions we've had together.

kk

Dear Ms. kk, Thank you so much for contacting me in regard to this practice. Again, I can almost assure you that this “psychic” is not certified by the PPPA. Her lurid tearing and rending of her clothing is to assure the rapt attention of her audience while her partners in crime pick their pockets and purses. One of the oldest tricks in the book. How shameful! I detest faux “psychics” that give us a bad name.

Thank you all for reading my blog this week. It is an honor to be visited by you. You make me what I am. I love all Irregulars and regulars. I am here to help you and guide you on your journey. Never hesitate to contact me if you have a problem.

You can reach me here: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com. In an emergency, meditate upon me and chant my name three times. I will appear. Or I overshot my mark again and I’m in your neighbor’s wall. Oh my.

Have a safe and sane week my wonderful friends. The Christmas onslaught has already started. Try not to let it spoil your holidays. However, if I ever have to endure Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer again, I will not be responsible for the consequences. Cosmogenic!

Love 1950’s style

Open Blog - Wednesday & Thursday

Ah, to be a child again...

Are you a “Black Friday Shopper”?

When I was working I use to listen to some of the ladies discuss their “Plan of Attack” for the day. It was some serious business to them; they would have it written down on paper exact time of when and where they would be. “Pick up Susie at 4am, go to Denny’s for breakfast, be at Target at 5 and yada, yada, yada, I got a big chuckle out of it.

I see now Kohl’s has joined in the “early opening scheme’ along with other large retailers such as Macy’s and Target. These stores have now committed to opening at midnight November 25th and remain open for 24 hours.

I think it’s a good idea verses fighting the long lines at checkout. I wouldn’t doubt in the next few weeks 24-hour restaurants will advertise specials for the wee early morning shoppers.

Archie Bell & The Drells - "Tighten Up"

I remember the song well, but I think this is the first time I ever saw them.

Binary Clock

As long as we're on a clock kick, here is the binary clock from my desk (surrounded by cats).

Yes, I can read it, can you?

"Time Twister - LEGO Mindstorms Digital Clock"

In keeping with SER's time theme below:

http://tiltedtwister.com/

Check out his site. He has a couple of other robots using Rubik's Cubes.

Open Blog - Monday & Tuesday

Happy Halloween!