ytykbydkaa Strikes Again

The local blogger, ytykbydkaa, who recently provided Racine Uncovered with an editorial cartoon entitled "Johnny Boy's Big Day!" (http://racineuncovered.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Dickerts-big-day.jpg), has submitted a couple more cartoons to the JT Irregulars. I hereby present "The Fountain"

Below is "Crime Cam B"

Thanks again to Racine Uncovered (http://racineuncovered.org/?p=15966), we also know that ytykbydkaa has his own blog entitled "RaScene": http://rascene.wordpress.com/ It has been added to the blog list on our sidebar.

Thank you, ytykbydkaa!

The Smoking Jacket

How many times have you been at work and wished you could have the thoughtful, insightful articles Playboy is known for but you couldn't because your boss blocked it due to the girlie bits? You are in luck because Playboy just unveiled its safe for work site called the Smoking Jacket according to an article on CNN. No nudity, just a site that "provides guys with smart and sexy distractions throughout the day." Just the way the boss wants you spending the day I am sure!

I have looked at the home page, but have yet to find a link to click on that does not scare me at least a little bit.

It's Mars Hoax Season

Well, it's that time of year again. I got my first email of the Mars Hoax Season. The Mars Hoax Season reaches its height in August when emails are flying around the internet claiming Mars will be as big as the full Moon. Here is the one I got this morning.

The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles (55,763,108 km) of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m. That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month. Share this with your children and grandchildren. NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN

Well, there is almost always a kernal of truth in these things. This hoax originated in 2003 when Mars really did come within 35 million miles of Earth. That really was an unusually close approach and Mars appeared much brighter than usual. The problem is that the original article had a line about when viewed through a telescope at 75x (75 times actual size) Mars would appear the same size as the full Moon. In other words, Mars without a telescope, Mars would be 1/75 as large as the full Moon (not nearly as impressive).

Mars has a very elliptical orbit so sometimes we have closer approaches than others. The most recent opposition (i.e. closest approach) occurred on January 29th, 2o10 and Mars was about 99 million kilometers (about 60 million miles) away.

Now something cool is happening with Mars right now. Mars, Saturn, Venus and (for sharp eyed observers) Mercury are putting on a show in the west after sunset the next few weeks. I took this picture last night and have labeled the visible planets.

I was out a little later and Mercury already set (and is tough to see during this opposition). You might notice that Mars does not exactly look as big as the full Moon. To top if off, Mars is moving farther away from Earth!

During the next couple of weeks, Saturn and Mars will move closer to Venus. Mercury will hang out beneath them, but Mercury will never get very high in the sky and will be difficult to see. Mars, Venus and Saturn will make a lovely trio in their own right and you should get out there and take a look. Here is a snapshot of what you have to look forward to on August 9th (at 8pm from Tucson, your results may vary).

The crescent Moon will join the party on August 12th and 13th (just in time for the Perseid meteor shower...more on that later!) You can bet I will be out fighting the Arizona monsoons trying to find breaks in the clouds to take pictures of this conjunction!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

"Board rejects 'whiteman' ballot language from Milwaukee candidate"

"Madison — State elections officials narrowly rejected a Milwaukee Assembly candidate's attempt to run with the slogan 'NOT the "whiteman's bitch" ' under her name on the ballot.

"Ieshuh Griffin, a Milwaukee independent running to replace retiring Rep. Annette 'Polly' Williams (D-Milwaukee), said in response she would sue the Government Accountability Board for infringing on her freedom of speech.

" 'I'm not making a derogatory statement toward an ethnic group. I'm stating what I'm not,' Griffin told board members. 'It's my constitutional right to freedom of speech.'

"Unlike candidates from the established Democratic and Republican parties, independents are allowed a five-word statement of purpose on the ballot to explain to voters what their candidacy is about."

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/98941309.html


LOL. They shoulda let her keep the slogan on the ballot. Now I'm trying to think up good slogans (5 words or less) for independent candidates:

"NOT a Career Politician"
"NOT For Sale"
"NOT the Same Old Sh*t"
"NOT Becker or Dickert"

You got any?

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my magnificent marigolds! How are you? Have you been taking advantage of this glorious weather and going to some of our festivals and concerts? Maybe some out of town events? It’s that time of year and we better enjoy it while we can because in 6 months we’ll be talking about what we can’t do, in January. Oh dear, just the thought of that makes me shiver. Turn up the fan and sip some more iced tea. Be sure to get out and take advantage of all that Racine and the surrounding area have to offer. We are fortunate to live where we do.

I know that one good source for information on upcoming events is the Racine Post’s Racine Kiosk: http://kiosk.racinepost.com/ Another source is Downtown Racine Corporation’s Calendar of Events: http://racinedowntown.com/calendar.html (Shame on you, Journal Times, for still having up last year’s Downtown Events page.) Oh my, it’s “Micros on the Monument” this Saturday: http://racinedowntown.com/microcar.html I’ve known a few men with micro brains and micro other things. I wouldn’t think it would be anything to be crowing about.

This week I received a missive from the illustrious and scholarly Mr. Hale-Bopp, entitled “Confusion.” In it, he wrote:

Dear Madame Z,

As an astronomer, it is common to be mistaken for an astrologer. I have also worked in physics and our dyslexia challenged population occasionally mistakes me for a psychic. This happens often enough that at universities we sometimes joke that we work in the department of Psychics and Astrologers (instead of the common name of the department of Physics and Astronomy).

So I was wondering if you were ever mistaken for a physicist or astronomer.

Hale-Bopp

Oh, Mr. Hale-Bopp, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy and important schedule to contact me regarding an issue of mutual interest. Have you been invited to any more Washington beltway insider festivities lately, sir? Have you ever considered the advantages of escorting a certified psychic to such an event? We could entertain our hosts and their guests with our mesmerizing tales of psychic/physics mix-ups and astronomer/astrologer malapropisms.

Yes, it happens to me, too, and to others in my line of work. I occasionally receive telephone calls asking me where to look for Uranus. It can be frustrating. Prospective customers turn out to be interested in, say, Hailey’s comet or your namesake, Mr. Hale-Bopp, instead of a reading. When I try to explain to them who I am and what I do, I get the strangest looks. Some have even laughed – not for long, of course. And the next fool who wants to talk about the Big Bang Theory may just receive the bang of his life.

Ahem, excuse me, sometimes I get a little worked up. It can be hard enough to eke out a living in these dark times, but it’s only made more difficult by what you rightfully call “our dyslexia challenged population.” I wonder how many prospective clients we have lost to each other because of their confusion. I would think that anyone seeking psychic advice who hears “E=mc²” will probably not be looking me up in the future. What a shame.

Thank you everyone for reading my blog this week. Was “magnificent marigolds” a greeting that I’ve used before, my dears? I’ve written so many blogs now that I can’t remember them all. No matter, you know that I love you and watch over you, irregular and regular alike. I try to return every iota of love that you give to me.

Don’t forget to send your love letters and hate mail to me at: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

Keep enjoying the summer. There are lots of good fruits and vegetables in the stores and farmers’ markets. Be careful of too much sun, dears, and keep yourselves hydrated. Surf’s up! Perihelion!

Open Blog - Wednesday

Sometimes, that's the best way to look at things.

Project Calliope and the Age of Personal Satellites

Yep, for the low price of only $8,000 you too can launch your own satellite. Interorbital Systems will launch a TubeSat for you for $8k, although you have to design and build the satellite to do what you want. The TubeSat is small satellite that is shaped like, well, a small tube. They are launched into very low Earth orbit, so low the satellite will reenter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up in a few months at the longest (this is intentional to avoid adding to space debris). It has a maximum mass of .75kg (or about 1.65 lbs) for everything you want to put in it...sorry, not big enough for a space based death ray!

However, there are many interesting things you can do. Project Calliope is one of the first TubeSats. Headed by Alex Antunes, it will make measurements of Earth's ionosphere and translate its measurements into a midi file which will be sent back down to Earth. You can keep up with progress on Project Calliope blog or see the presentation given at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington DC.

I think this is a great project and hope it succeeds (I am speaking both of Interborbital Systems and Project Calliope). I was at the Satellite Educator's Association meeting last fall and they had a booth promoting TubeSats. I had dinner with a the woman at the booth (I can't remember her name) and she was very enthusiastic and had big plans. I was a little skeptical, but hoping they can succeed where others have failed. I will say she did a great job of answering all my skeptical questions giving me hope they could make it. They are expecting their first launch in the first quarter of 2011, so we will find out soon.

Good luck Project Calliope. I look forward to hearing some music from space!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Editorial Cartoon from a Local Blogger

Here's the blog: http://racineuncovered.org/?p=15607

And here's the cartoon: http://racineuncovered.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Dickerts-big-day.jpg

Thank you, Racine Uncovered and ytykbydkaa. "Johnny Boy's Big Day" made my day.

Make Your Own Pretty Pictures

Pretty pictures are a good way for astronomers to make the news. A lot of work goes into those images as they data is usually pretty ugly when it comes out of the scope. Once it is all cleaned up and made presentable, astronomers then have to make a nice pretty color picture out of it all.

While you might not be able to get time on one of the big telescopes, there are ways for you to do that last step and combine images to make your own pretty picture. Today's Chandra Blog talks about the Open FITS Project. Open FITS is working to give people the tools and knowledge to try their hand at some basic image processing. FITS is the file format (Flexible Image Transport System) that astronomical images use. You need special software to work with FITS files (or plug ins to allow your program to import FITS files).

Fortunately, there are some good free options out there. The Open FITS Project uses GIMP for a lot of their work (ImageJ is another option). GIMP is kind of the poor man's Photoshop (in the respect that it's free...doesn't quite do everything Photoshop does, but for a free program, it is very powerful). Once you install GIMP, you can use it to open FITS files and away you go.

Telescopes take all images in black and white. To make a pretty color image, you have to combine images through three different filters: One filter is assigned to the red channel, one to the green and one to the blue. If you use data from outside the visible spectrum, you still use three images for each of red, green and blue. Usually, the shortest wavelength (highest energy) image is assigned to blue and the longest wavelength (lowest energy) is assigned to red.

And that's what Open Fits does. Right now there are six different objects you can try your hand at. Open the three different images and combine them in GIMP. You can change the intensity of the colors and rescale them to bring out different features. Astronomers try to make decisions that are both visually pleasing and highlight the science at the same time.

If you have Photoshop, you can try your hand at Hubble data using FITS Liberator. I don't have Photoshop, but I am getting more into photography and might just have to use my academic discount to get myself a copy.

So give it a shot and play astronomer for a day.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

One for the Animal Lovers

MOOSE IN THE SPRINKLER

Open Blog - Monday

Another day, another daisy.

Rustic Picture

Picture taken at Doty, WI near Boulder Lake 7/17/2010

Science and The Arts

One of my friends tweeted today the LA Times posted a blog about an interview with musician Herbie Hancock. First, I must post the disclaimer that Herbie Hancock went to Grinnell College like me (although he left one course short of graduation...when you look at the list of famous people that went to Grinnell but did not graduate, some of my friend started joking that the biggest mistake we ever made was graduating since that ensures we will never be famous). He studied engineering for a couple of years which he credits with helping him in his music.

"It was easier for me because I was an engineering major in college for two years. So when synthesizers came in, they used terminology I knew. I knew what an amplifier was and I knew what it did."

It's good to see artists talk about the technical aspects of their work. I am more science, but I have a foot in the performing arts world as well. When I was teaching, I would incorporate the arts as much as I could whether it was how instruments produced sound, examining the waveforms of different instruments, or the different types of theater lighting and color mixing to produce different effects.

One of my former students went to college in theater. I ran into her after her first semester in the parking lot of the grocery store near my place. She told me she had to take technical theater and it was all physics..and she knew it! She playfully slapped me which, based on our relationship and her personality, I took as an annoyed thank you for being right that she would need to know this later in life.

With the increasing use of tech in music, theater, and movies, it is more important than ever that we don't let kids off the hook saying they don't need to know science because they are going to be an artist.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

The Tornados - "Telstar"

I loved growing up in the new space age. Someday, they were even going to put a man on the moon . . .

A Disapperaing Number

Thursday morning, NPR had a story about a play called A Disappearing Number now playing at the Lincoln Center Theater Festival. Since I am bringing it up here, you can bet that there are plenty of science connections in this show.

A Disappearing number weaves a number of stories and themes together, some based in history and some original. One of the threads involved a young Indian mathematician named Srinivasa Ramanujan who goes to Cambridge to study with G.H. Hardy during WWI. Together, they worked on formulas which now have applications in string theory. Hardy is famous for writing A Mathematicians Apology, one of the books to read if you want to know how a mathematician thinks. The story is interwoven with that of modern day Ruth (a math professor) and her husband Al, a futures trader (which has plenty of math in its own right).

I love seeing science make its way onto the stage through shows such as Copenhagen, Proof, Next to Normal, Arcadia, the Farnsworth Invention and Hapgood to name a few.

I haven't seen the show and it only runs for five days (two of which are gone) so unless you have tickets, you probably won't see it live this time. Fortunately, it is being recorded for a broadcast to movie theaters in October. I just signed up for their twitter feed so I will not miss it!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

This picture pretty much says it all....

I Write Like

"Check which famous writer you write like with this statistical analysis tool, which analyzes your word choice and writing style and compares them with those of the famous writers."

http://iwl.me/

I copied and pasted a few paragraphs from a story I wrote. The result was:

I write like
Kurt Vonnegut

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

The Next Phase of the War On Drugs...

Moves to you iPod. Yep, the Oklahoma Beaureau of Narcotics is warning parents about kids getting high listening to special mp3 tracks. They even have different tracks to simulate the effects of different drugs. Oklahoma New 9 has the scoop.




I heard about this on Buzz Out Loud yesterday where they played one of the tracks which was pretty annoying. I listened to it while at the gym this morning and didn't get high for the record. Maybe its one of those things that only teenagers can hear. I love the comment: will future politicians who are caught with this on their iPod say, "I had it on mute!"

Seriously, where is there a shred of scientific evidence this has any more effect than a good song getting you pumped? Are we going to ban music in aerobics classes as a performance enhancing drug next? Are organ players going to be fired from ballparks across the country? Will Tipper Gore get labels on certain music for it drug like effects? Will Obama be forced to speak in a monotone so he doesn't risk inspiring people? Will I be forced to stop asking rhetorical questions?

The video purportedly showing a person getting high could be easily faked by a fair to middlin' actor. Seems to me like someone came up with a clever idea to try and sell mp3s to a gullible teen audience, and there are bat shit crazy adults are willing to do anything to protect the children from all threats, not matter how implausible they may be.

Open Blog - Weekend Version

:)

Four for Fridays

Hello everybody! Another Friday is here! Would do you know, this one came rather quickly... This week's questions are about blogging.

1) When did you start blogging?

2) What attracted you to the world of blogging?

3) What websites do you like to visit?

4) Do you remember your first blog posted?

Enjoy your weekend!

"BP Says That Oil Flow Has Stopped as Cap Is Tested"

NEW ORLEANS — Oil stopped gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for the first time in nearly three months, as BP began testing the cap atop its stricken well, a critical step toward sealing the well permanently.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/us/16spill.html/


It's not for sure yet - they're watching it with underwater cameras - but it has stopped, for now.

I hope they've done it.

Darth Vader and Princess Leia Walk Into a Subway Car...

And you can see what happens...this is the latest mission from Improv Everywhere.

"Ninja Fail" - Ow! Ow! Ow!

Btw, ow!

The return of the Bird of the week, special edition.

Bird Bird Bird, bird is the word. Especially if it is keeping something that should be front page screaming news on the down low, unless your independent media like Racine Uncovered, who deserves a huge slap on the back for a job well one. Seems like no ones mayor but yours Lying John Dickert has tried to stop all discussions of a small incident at our Jail last night. You would think that something that needs every cop on the beat, plus the RCSD and RFD called to the jail would need to be related to the citizens of our little area. Not according to "Keep it quiet" Johnny.

SO for conduct unbecoming a mayor, rabid censorship, total disregard for freedom of the press and general D-baggery, I hereby name you the winner of the bird of the week, special edition. Congrats John, and party on!

Riot in Racine County Jail, but Dickert Says, "Shhh!"

From Racine Uncovered, "Riot at the Law Enforcement Center-700 Wisconsin" http://racineuncovered.org/?p=14858

And, "Thank you Alderman Jeff Coe-City knows at least you care" http://racineuncovered.org/?p=14901

According to Racine Uncovered, there was a riot at the County Jail last night, which occupied about 20 squads and fire engines - enough that the city was considering calling in Mount Pleasant to cover for us. Jeff Coe ("my" alderman!) also responded and called the mayor, lying John Dickert, to the scene. According to a witness, the mayor arrived and instructed Coe not to talk to anyone about the incident.

There is nothing about this in our "mainstream" media. Given Racine Uncovered's tenacity in covering the crime problem in Racine, I doubt the incident was fabricated. Police scanner logs should verify that. So what happened? Don't the taxpayers have a right to know, or does lying John just sweep this under the rug along with the rest of his bodies and skeletons?

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my pickled pelicans! How are you? (Pickled pelicans? – Tee-hee, I just wanted to see if you were paying attention.) Well, summer certainly is in full swing after the 4th of July. Last weekend we had the Great Midwest Dragonboat Races and this Saturday, July 17, we have Gallery Night in Downtown Racine: http://kiosk.racinepost.com/2010/07/my-friday-girls-art-group-showing.html. There is always so much going on in Racine in the summer. Like I said last week, we know how to party.

I know how to party, too. Last night I went to an astrologers bar with a friend. I knew I shouldn’t, but we had already had a few drinks down at the Psychic Club. (If you don’t know where that is, you don’t belong there). We ended up in some tealeaves readers’ joint and I proceeded to drink a snootful of cheap gypsy wine. Oh my. You would not believe the size of my head today. I swear that I can hear the beating of a fly’s wings, just over the roaring jackhammer directly behind my eyeballs. I must remember that I am not as young as I once was and cannot party till I drop anymore, for I drop much too soon and much too hard these days.

Therefore, instead of putting a lot of mental effort into this week’s column, I’ve decided to let Google do the blogging for me by once again using their search engine to find where my surname, Zoltar, takes us on the internet. The first stop appears to be this little video gem:



I’m not exactly sure what that is all about, but there is a much longer version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnb9VaZUsM, and a link to a story in Sneaker News: http://sneakernews.com/2010/06/08/zoltar-x-nike-sportswear-shaman-project/. All of this apparently has something to do with the 2010 World Cup. What it has to do with me is anybody’s guess.

Next, there is an app for me, err, more correctly, for my ex: http://www.superdeadly.com/zoltar/. Sorry, but I would find it creepy to have him with me all of the time - or even some of the time. Is there a restraining order app?

Here’s a group (or something) named Zoltar on MySpace Music: http://www.myspace.com/coolbox. Try “HAPPYMEAL THRASHCORE Minimix” for a snappy little tune.

Finally, I even have a listing in the Urban Dictionary: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Zoltar.

Thank you all so much for reading my blog today. (And thank you for speaking so softly out of respect for my hangover.) I love, love, love my dear regular irregulars and irregular regulars. Sharing time with you, even hung-over, makes my day. We are family.

Don’t forget to send the family secrets to: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

Be careful celebrating the summer, my dears. You don’t want to end up like me. Moderation in all things and all things in moderation. In other words, do as I say, not as I do. Happy summer! Viraginity.

Open Blog - Wednesday

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do . . .

How to Take a 3D Picture

I recently got a couple of cameras on the cheap to try and take some 3D pictures. Well, I just got my first results. I decided to make a short video outlining how I took the pictures so you know what I did.

Now on to the pictures. Be sure the picture you choose matches the type of 3D glasses you have. Click any of them for a larger version.

First, the red and cyan version.

Now for the red and blue version.

And finally, a magenta-green anaglyph (HINT: The 3D version of the Coraline DVD comes with magenta-green glasses that work great with this version).

Of these three, I think the magenta-green one works best with my glasses. I see the 3D effect the best. I'll post more in the future as I take them.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Embrace Me, Love Me, Worship Me

Why? Because it's Embrace Your Geekness Day! And I will out geek anyone. Who else has a cat named Hale-Bopp? A spare space shuttle tile in his house, a spare mirror from the Suzaku X-ray space telescope and a Sloan Digital Sky Survey plug plate? Who gets as upset as Sheldon would over that one hot pixel on the digital projector in theater 13 at his local cineplex? Actually understood the jokes when Stephen Hawking was on the Simpsons? Who spent a month contemplating the physics of smooth (soccer) balls? Who spotted rendering errors in Avatar that bothered him (although at least he didn't see it at the theater with the hot pixel!) Who has befriended his eye doctor and schedules late afternoon appointments so she will let him play with the equipment at the end of the day (she has cool toys!)

Don't be ashamed...embrace your Geekenss!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

A Cloud Top Green Flash

I went out tonight hoping to get a photo of the crescent Moon with the rapidly gathering line of planets in the west after sunset. Unfortunately, it is getting to the rainy season here and lots of clouds ixned that idea. However, I did not come back empty handed.

As the Sun was setting behind some clouds, I saw a very bright green flash from the top of the Sun. It lasted long enough for me to snap off a shot from my camera (which I had already set up and was taking a few sunset shots). I missed the brightest part of the flash, but caught the end. Unfortunately, the shot is a little overexposed as well...it looked a lot more green visually.

I admit I hadn't thought of this before, but when I got home I typed cloud top green flash into google and sure enough, quickly found out that this is a known phenomena. Guess you can see green flashes in a wider variety of conditions than I previously thought.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Monday Night Grin

An elderly couple were having dinner one evening when the husband reached across the table, took his wife's hand in his and said, "Martha, soon we will be married 50 years, and there's something I have to know. In all of these 50 years, have you ever been unfaithful to me?"

Martha replied, "Well Henry, I have to be honest with you. Yes, I've been unfaithful to you three times during these 50 years, but always for a good reason.

Henry was obviously hurt by his wife's confession, but said, "I never suspected. Can you tell me what you mean by 'good reasons?'"

Martha said, "The first time was shortly after we were married, and we were about to lose our little house because we couldn't pay the mortgage. Do you remember that one evening I went to see the banker and the next day he notified you that the loan would be extended?"

Henry recalled the visit to the banker and said, "I can forgive you for that. You saved our home, but what about the second time?"

Martha asked, "And do you remember when you were so sick, but we didn't have the money to pay for the heart surgery you needed? Well, I went to see your doctor one night and, if you recall, he did the surgery at no charge."

"I recall that," said Henry. "And you did it to save my life, so of course I can forgive you for that. Now tell me about the third time."

"All right," Martha said. "So do you remember when you ran for president of your golf club, and you needed 73 more votes?"

Gene Simmons Military Tribute

This video comes to us via the wayward cyndi in an email that claims the backup band is KISS. It is a fitting tribute to our men and women in the armed services and I like the idea at the end of the video about thanking troops personally.

Open Blog - Monday

What, no parade this week?

Girlie Wisdom

1. A friend of mine confused her Valium with her birth control pills... she has 14 kids but she doesn't really care.

2. One of life's mysteries is how a 2-pound box of chocolates can make a woman gain 5 lbs.

3. My mind not only wanders, it sometimes leaves completely.

4. The best way to forget your troubles is to wear tight shoes.

5. The nice part about living in a small town is that when you don't know what you are doing, someone else does.

6. The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat are really good friends..

7. Just when I was getting used to yesterday, along came today...

8. Sometimes I think I understand everything, and then I regain consciousness.

9. I gave up jogging for my health when my thighs kept rubbing together and setting fire to my panties.

10. Amazing! You hang something in your closet, for a while, and it shrinks 2 sizes!

11. Skinny people irritate me! Especially when they say things like...'You know sometimes I forget to eat!' .....Now, I've forgotten my address, my mother's maiden name, and my keys, but I have never forgotten to eat.. You have to be a special kind of stupid to forget to eat!

12.. The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing -- and then they marry him.

13. I read this article that said the typical symptoms of stress are eating too much, impulse buying, and driving too fast. Are they kidding? That's my idea of a perfect day!

The Pooter Tutorial by Jack Vale

http://thepooter.com/

If it were not for the internet, we might not know that products like this exist.

When something changes . . .

. . . I don’t like it. Recently, Google News (http://news.google.com/) changed the layout of their site. Google News is one of the sites I’ve become addicted to. As far as I’m concerned, their new format is for crap. Although you can customize the page, you lose that every time you dump your cookies, and I do that quite often. And even customized, the page is not what it once was. If I perceived some benefit to these changes, I wouldn’t complain. But like so many other changes that I see, it seems to me like it was change for the sake of change.

I have a friend who managed the café at one of a chain bookstore’s locations. She says that once a month, “the suits” would mandate that her stock be displayed in a different way. Every three or four months, the stuff would be back in its original locations. Change for the sake of change. I know that some of it is marketing, but I think that most of it is suits justifying their existence.

I also think this must be part of the natural process of becoming an old(er) coot, like my intolerance for loud noise/music (unless I generate it) and my general disdain for the “younger generation” and their habits and mores. I’m getting even crankier, if that’s possible. Thanks for letting me vent.

Change? No thanks, I don’t have or want any.

A Good Political Essay...

My friend Phil Plait over at Bad Astronomy just posted a very nice essay on his political philosophy. I recently mentioned that I have long thought about writing my a blog here on my own and it would share a lot in common with his.

There are things I would write differently, put a little more emphasis on some ideas than others, and I am a little surprised he didn't specifically call out pure research as a government function (pure research is that which does not have immediately obvious commercial applications so it is typically ignored by the private sector, yet frequently has enormous economic benefits later on. Such as the internet which was originally developed by ARPA to name a big obvious, easy to understand example...when I first got on the internet, I used ARPANET).

So give it a read. I have known Phil for a long time and shared many good conversations with him on science and politics. I wish I got to see him more often...mixing it up with people like him is fun and it keeps me sharp.

Open Blog - Weekend Version

Sorry, I'm a tad late this morning. I slept in . . .

Four for Fridays

Good morning everybody! Friday is here after a short week! Here's some more random questions about summer...

1) Gas grill or charcoal?

2) Brats or burgers?

3) What's your favorite kind of cheese?

4) White milk or chocolate?

Enjoy your weekend!

Budapest Multiparker 730

Wouldn't it be cool if the system somehow screwed up and you got someone else's Mercedes after parking your heap of a car?

A Little Boy

Why I write this here I do not know. I guess I have a bit of a heavy heart and need to unburden it a bit. I'm not sure.. Don't know what I expect for responses or if anyone will respond, not sure it's really right to tell this story as it's not mine, this comes from what I myself heard from her whether right or not here it goes...

Last week in a little town close to me there was a report of a little 3 year old boy who drown in a pool. I was sad to hear this news as I sit and think that my daughter Mina is 3 years old I could only imagine what the family must be going though, a horrid thought.

Today I was talking to my mother in law, who is very active in helping people of other cultures acclimate themselves in Swedish society, as it is not an easy culture to become a member in. Some two years ago she took on the responsibility of being what is called a contact person for a family that comes from Iraq. Well not quite a whole family as it was only a woman and her 1 year old son. She fled Iraq just over 2 years ago to Sweden because she had a baby with a man she was not married to, not only that he was an Egyptian man, truly scandalous.. She was once married and had 4 children with that man, something happened and he died (not sure what that story was)she then got together with this other man and got pregnant. Turns out this man is very abusive and she needs to get away from not only her dead husbands family who call her a whore but this new man whom she became this whore for...

She has tried to acclimate herself in this society but the need to work is far more important than spending real time trying to learn the language. If she does not work she will have no where to live or food to eat (within a certain standard as Sweden is a very liberal country and there is always help to be had but it's not easy to live on that).. School for the language is at the same time as her work so of course she chooses her work over school..

She left her 4 other children back in Iraq as she did not have the means to take them with her. They stayed with her dead husbands family no longer went to school because the family would not pay for it. They were expected to basically take care of everything around the house if they wanted to live there. The whole time they (dead husbands family) are telling her kids what a whore their mother is and unclean and everything truly despicable..

This woman was having a hard time with the whole situation, her 4 children back in Iraq and worried about the war going on there with her children so far away, she trying to get into the Swedish way, dealing with a very active and "difficult" 1 year old who unfortunately reminded her of the man that beat her..

She finally through a lot of paper work and saving of money got her 4 kids here, thank goodness, but they had been pretty much brain washed when they got here. So instead of getting her children safe and thought she would be happy. Instead she got kids that called her a whore. The oldest who is now over 18 thinks it's okay to spit at and scream at his mother. The youngest is a bastard child and not worth much.

My MIL like I said was a contact person for this family, which meant that she was to come help out when needed. Sometimes she would just need a break and have my MIL come and take the youngest. He has spent many nights over by them. My daughter Mina would play with him out at the parks around here. He was a difficult child only because of the situation he was in. As soon as he would be away from the mess of the family he would turn into this extremely sweet but extremely active little boy. he wanted to run and you really had to keep a close eye on him.

Last week sometime after his mother picked him up from daycare they went home to their apartment on the bottom floor. It was a hot day so all doors and windows were open. He needed to go to the bathroom so he took off his pants and sat on the pot. His mother went into the kitchen to start dinner. After (I don't know how long) some time she went to check on him because she didn't hear him call for her to tell her he was done and he was no longer there. She immediately went out calling for him and send the rest of her family out to look for him but could not find him. Later on that night he was found in a neighbors pool.... lifeless..

Today was the funeral. From what I understand a pretty typical Muslim funeral. They had it at the house. It started with a person washing his body and wrapping it in cloth. They put his clean wrapped body on a board and walked a procession to a part of graveyard that was set aside for Muslim families. They laid his body down in a grave. Only the men were allowed to be near the grave, the women had to keep farther back and they covered his body with dirt. This sweet little active boy is no longer in this world and it breaks my heart.

I don't really know how to feel about it. I knew him but not extremely well.. my daughter played with him but not that often. I am holding my children a little harder today and hopefully everyday from now on. I know that death happens to us all but you really don't expect it in a little boy of 3 years old. So it's really chocking and upsetting.. Thank you for letting me vent, like I said I really don't know if I should be writing about this but it's the only way that I can express myself right now and it feels like I really needed to get it out there somewhere.

Chutzpah from Lawrence Hunter, PhD

Warning: Rant on Poltics

Somehow, I have managed to get onto all kinds of Republican and conservative mailing lists recently. (I admit I considered changing my voter registration to Republican so I could vote FOR John McCain in the primary since I consider his challenger really unacceptable but it looks like McCain is in control of the race now so I won't have to do that). I have requested to be removed but to no avail. I got the following gem this morning which I am pasting verbatim (except for the pics that were in it).
____________________________
AARP Above The Law Once Again;
U.S. House Places Restrictions on Free Speech
for Groups Like SSI While Exempting AARP

It’s not enough for congressional liberals that AARP already has its own special private-letter ruling from the IRS exempting its insurance-commission revenues from the income tax; now the liberals in Congress want to give AARP special political-speech rights that it would deny to smaller, newer non-profits groups such as The Social Security Institute.

Such unequal treatment under the law is unfair, unjust and unconstitutional.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of campaign finance reform (The DISCLOSE Act) in an effort to sidestep the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. The Federal Election Commission, which struck down the McCain-Feingold law as an unconstitutional infringement of free speech by corporations and labor unions. In order to head off opposition to the bill by the powerful National Rifle Association, which surely would have killed the legislation, bill sponsors slipped in a carefully tailored exemption freeing the NRA and a few other big liberal non-profit organizations such as AARP from the strictures of the law.

Do Not Allow Liberal Democrats to put AARP Above the Law Again;
Fax Congress NOW to Prevent Another Sweetheart Deal for AARP

The DISCLOSE Act draws an irrational and unjustified distinction between non-profit groups for purely political reasons, and in the process, it produces a discernable disparate impact politically by favoring liberal organizations over conservative groups. Only organizations at least 2 ½ years old with 500,000 or more dues-paying members (including at least one dues-paying member in each of the 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico) are spared the political-speech restrictions created by the bill. There are very few non-profit organizations that meet the narrowly drawn distinctions of the DISCLOSE Act, all of them liberal with the exception of the NRA.

By drawing this unwarranted and irrational distinction, Congress consigns newer, smaller groups such as The Social Security Institute to second-class citizenship status, imposing on them indefensible restrictions on their right to engage in free and unfettered political speech in election campaigns.

Such unequal treatment under the law is unfair and unjust.

There was no rational basis for the House to create two classes of organizations, one with fewer free-speech rights than the other. The only purpose of the discriminatory, rifle-shot exemption was political, to neutralize political opposition from the powerful NRA. But once Congress decided for political expediency to make some groups more equal than others, House liberals took full advantage of the opportunity to expand the exemption just enough to cover its favorite left-leaning groups and put liberal groups such as AARP, the ACLU and the Sierra Club above the law.

Do Not Allow Liberal Democrats to put AARP Above the Law Again;
Fax Congress NOW to Prevent Another Sweetheart Deal for AARP

Before the DISCLOSE Act moves to the U.S. Senate, all Americans who believe in free speech and equal protection under the laws must fax their senators and demand the AARP exemption be removed from the bill.

The AARP exemption not only is constitutionally repugnant, it is also a political rifle shot right at the heart of groups like SSI. This sweetheart deal for AARP will greatly disadvantage conservative groups such as The Social Security Institute in competing with AARP in the political arena.

The evidence of the political bias the AARP free-speech exemption creates is crystal clear: Liberals are in a heated rush to ram the legislation through Congress in time to freeze conservative advocacy during the upcoming fall campaign.

Do Not Allow Liberal Democrats to put AARP Above the Law Again;
Fax Congress NOW to Prevent Another Sweetheart Deal for AARP

It is bad enough that Congress is trying to circumvent the Supreme Court’s ruling and find a slippery constitutional means to restrict political speech by non-profit organizations. The only thing worse is for Congress to impose restrictions on some groups but not others.

It is irrational and unjust for Congress to sneak around the First Amendment with a backhanded restriction on the right of non-profit organizations to speak freely during elections campaigns. It is irrational, unjust AND outrageously unconstitutional for Congress to anoint some non-profit organizations freer than others to speak their piece.

Fax Congress NOW. Don’t let liberals exempt AARP from restrictions on political speech while imposing those restrictions on other groups such as the Social Security Institute.

Make your voices heard in the halls of Congress.

Do Not Allow Liberal Democrats to put AARP Above the Law Again;
Fax Congress NOW to Prevent Another Sweetheart Deal for AARP


Sincerely,

Lawrence A. Hunter, Ph.D.
Social Security Institute
15 Culpeper St.
Warrenton VA, 20186
P.S.Free Speech is for EVERYONE or it is notFree. YOUR FAXES DO HAVE IMPACT.Send Every Member of Congress a Message – SEND FAXES NOW!
___________________

So here is the key offending statement: "In order to head off opposition to the bill by the powerful National Rifle Association, which surely would have killed the legislation, bill sponsors slipped in a carefully tailored exemption freeing the NRA and a few other big liberal non-profit organizations such as AARP from the strictures of the law. "

The NRA is a liberal non-profit? Yeah, "the NRA and a few other big liberal non-profit organizations..." Sorry dude, you don't get to rail on a the liberals for a provision inserted into a bill for the NRA! Yes, the Sierra Club will also be exempt, but they weren't the ones threatening to kill the bill over this provision.

What gets my goat is the amazingly hypocritical rhetoric. A provision inserted into the bill for the conservative NRA and then conservatives criticize it! Make up your mind already! Talk about damned if you do and damned if you don't!

And the worst part is, I don't want this provision in there! I am in favor of full disclosure and don't want the Sierra Club, the NRA , or whoever exempt. You can also note that he lists many liberal organizations that would be exempt by not other conservative organizations which would benefit (such as the American Family Association which claims to have over the minimum number of members to be exempt as well).

We have the right of free speech, but with rights come responsibilities and I think one of those responsibilities is to have the cojones to tell us who you are.

By framing the issue a) disohonestly and b) in totally partisan terms, Lawrence Hunter, PhD, seems to be going out of his way to alienate people who might AGREE WITH HIM ON THIS ISSUE! No attempt is made to argue the merits (or lack thereof in this case) of the provision, just an appeal to oh, the evil liberals did it...I guess partisan pandering is more appealing that cogent arguments. And he could do a bang up job with the cogent arguments because I think he's on the right side on this one (but he doesn't want to risk badmouthing the NRA).

And Lawrence Hunter, Phd, if you don't want me posting your emails on for all to see, maybe you should finally honor my request (which I have made multiple times and again this morning) to be removed from you mailing list!

Time for some family input!

As you all know, you're like family to me.
We share our lives, our joys, our struggles, many things.
This is why I value your input on this one :)

This isn't the start of a parenting debate, it's 1/2 for fun but also
to get the wealth of input you all have to offer in my time of need.

Yes, Froglover, I AM doing this, deal with it, and DO NOT forewarn him
of any possible things he may be asked.
That said...

We have a probable male suitor who will be coming to talk with my hubby
and myself about dating our daughter, most likely this weekend.
(poor guy!)

I have come up with a few question for him, just to see how he handles
it and to see and get a little insight into how he thinks. I have checked out his family thru people that know them when his brother was a possibility for our
other daughter but we dodged that bullet :)
(thankfully, he would have driven us CRAZY!)
This seems like a good guy, but if a gentleman caller came calling on
your daughter , what things would you ask this poor soul before giving him
the OK to date her?

I am SO looking forward to all advice/input/cheers and jeers,
let the fun begin, and thanks in advance :)

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my zestful zinnias! How are you? Did you have a delightful Fourth Fest weekend? Junior and I eventually made it to Mr. OrbsCorbs’ abode for the parade. He seemed less than pleased to see us. Oh dear. I hope we weren’t imposing, Mr. Corbs. You did invite us. Anyway, Junior had a great time and so did I. The marching bands were glorious. The floats were fabulous. The politicians were, um, there. And the flyby by those two jets before the parade was fantastic! Did you see or hear those? We were in traffic and heard them, but didn’t get a glimpse. They sounded awesome. (The Racine Post has wonderful pictures here: http://news.racinepost.com/2010/07/10-fighter-jets-spending-night-here.html) Racine does know how to throw a party. For a good time, call Racine. Tee-hee.

The smoking ban has gone into effect in Wisconsin and some people are fuming. To be honest, I think that both sides have good arguments. Like many others, I am a former smoker. I picked up the habit as an adolescent. Smokers had been around me since birth. Although my parents disapproved of my smoking, they both smoked. Once the habit was firmly entrenched in me and I approached legal age, they more or less accepted it. I smoked for decades after that. And even I, Madame Zoltar, had great difficulty quitting. But things are different for some people today. They grew up without smoke in their homes. They consider secondhand smoke a danger to them and others. They demanded, and eventually got, a law prohibiting smoking in most public places. Some people are celebrating that, some are cursing, and others just light up another one. Oh my.

This weekend, the Great Midwest Dragon Boat Festival takes place at Samuel Myers Park (11th St. and Pershing Blvd.) in Racine. (http://www.midwestdragonboatfestival.com/) There is a parade of teams on Pershing Blvd. Friday, at 6:30 PM. Then (from the site), “Dragon boat races begin at 8:30 AM on Saturday, July 10 and continue until 5:00 PM. The best viewing is from Simonsen Park, along the hill at Main between Sixteenth and Fourteenth Streets. Food vendors will be at both Simonsen Park and Samuel Myers Park.” This is a great event. It’s free and I believe that you can smoke, although I’m sure that any participants who do will wish they hadn’t.

Well that’s my blog for this week, my dears, short but sweet, like me. Ha-ha. No, short, like this work week. Oh my, I’m full of them. Wednesday already? The firecrackers are still ringing in my ears.

For the keys to your future, or penetrating oil to loosen up the locks on your past, contact me: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

Thank you one and all for reading my blog today. I appreciate the time and effort you put into deciphering my thoughts and words. It is a pleasure and an honor to be associated with such an illustrious and irregular group. I love you. Epiplexis!

Open Blog - Wednesday

That shouldn't be hard . . .

Kitt Peak From Afar...

I was out talking some pictures near Houghton and Old Spanish Trail on the east side of Tucson. Shortly after sunset, pointed my camera to the west-southwest.

That's Kitt Peak, over 50 miles away. And you can even make out some of the telescopes. Here, let me crop that and enlarge for you.

Now you can clearly see the large dome on the right. That is the Mayall 4 meter telescope. You can see several other smaller domes as well. Toward the left, you can see what looks like a little triangle. That is the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope.

Since we are close to the solstice, the Sun is setting in the northwest. I will have to come back later in the year and try this shot when the Sun sets farther south. Might get some nicer colors or even silhouette the telescopes against the setting Sun. Look for that shot this fall/winter.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Checking in!

Hey all! I miss coming here and reading and posting. :(
Bad internet service. Sometimes I can get on ( after a 10 minute loading wait) but to log in.. phhhtt! Surprisingly, today has been a good 'net day! That hasn't happened in .. well I can't remember when!

Just thought I'd try tonight and give you all an update on me.

I'm still at the lake. Mr DA is in MN. He comes every weekend. We had a long weekend this time! He's looking at houses for us. Has a couple 'guys' helping him with the areas. (weed out the bad) He's been to SD already! He stays in a motel when he's there. He really likes the new office and the people there. He says MN is beautiful!!
I can't wait to move there!

I'm helping out as much as I can with the in laws. Cooking mostly. Keeping them company, hanging out in the nice weather, watching the sunsets and the wildlife.. .. ( I know ... it sucks) :) Pretty laid-back life style here.. Fireworks everynight!!!!! Starting about now... ohhh yaaa!

I did have something happen last week. Woke up in the middle of the night with my foot in excruciating pain!! I think something bit me. Tried to walk and I couldn't put any weight on my foot. There is no mark or anything, but I have a very swollen foot. It was red ( could have been a bit sunburned) but the swelling and pain would not have been caused by that. Even a week later, it's a'hurting! ( Doesn't help I twisted it wrong today and it started all over again)
And I smacked my baby toe 5 days later, I think it's broke, or at least badly sprained!! NOT having a good week, this past week!
Minnie (dog) and I look pretty pathetic hobbling around for our walks. She's got bad legs too. :(

Have some family coming tomorrow to stay for a few days. Mr DA's older brother from TX and nephew from Racine. Will be nice to see them. Mr DA will be back on Thurs.

Hmmm not much of an update, but at least you know I am still here!

How was everyone's 4th? What's new??

I Kissed A Nerd...

There might be hope for me yet...

Open Blog - Monday

We've added a couple of stars since 1942, but it's still a Grand Old Flag.

Rainbows and Polarizing Filters

I got a polarizing filter for my camera several months ago. This being Tucson, it took a long time before I finally got a rainbow to try it out on. So here are three pictures I snapped on Wednesday night.

The first picture is unfiltered.

The second one is with the the polarizing filter rotated to enhance the rainbow as much as possible.

The third picture has the filter rotated 90 degrees from the second which totally blocks the rainbow.

There is another interesting effect going on here. Notice there are rays some light rays that appear to be going through the rainbow. Also notice that the rainbow is not continuous, this one is broken due to the pattern of rain. In a normal rainbow, the area inside the rainbow is brightened and outside the rainbow is darker (actually, the darker area is between the primary and secondary rainbow...in this case, the secondary rainbow was too dark to see. This dark area between the rainbows is called Alexander's Band). So where you have a bright part of this rainbow, you get a bright band beneath it. Where there is no rainbow, you get a dark area beneath it, hence the rays.

I'll keep looking for more rainbows in those later afternoon thunderstorms as our rainy season picks up and try to get some more pics that show Alexander's Band and other phenomena.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Another Green Flash

I went out tonight hoping to catch a glimpse of Comet McNaught after sunset. The comet proved elusive (I knew it would be tough) but I got there a little early and managed to zoom in and get another set of green flash pictures. Not a particularly impressive one, but I am getting better at catching the subtle ones.

As always, click to embiggen. I think this is probably an inferior mirage flash (a mock mirage flash usually needs cool air beneath you and I don't think there was any cool air around here today!)

Once again proving you don't need to be looking over water to catch a green flash...although I guess technically the Pacific Ocean is about 400 miles out in that direction.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Four for Fridays

Hello everyone! Wow! The fourth of July weekend is finally here! And yes, I'm still on vacation! This week's question's are about the Forth.

1) So what are your plans for this weekend?

2) Do you have any July 4th traditions?

3) What did you do last year for the 4th?

4) What does Independence Day mean to you?

ENJOY your weekend!!!

Politics Take a Holiday

Don't we all wish! Well, you can at least laugh at them a little with the Capitol Steps. The Capitol Steps started as a group of singing Congressional pages at a Christmas party for Charles Percy back in, I think 1982 is how the legend goes. They have kept at it for the last 28 years churning out song after song and a couple dozen albums (including their most recent titled "Liberal Shop of Horrors" which gives you an idea of their level of humor).

In addition to posting a free weekly song on their web site, four times a year they do a radio show. One of those times is the Fourth of July. iTunes just picked up their show and I listened to it at the gym this morning. You can find it on iTunes (for free) or directly at their website. You can hear Obama finally get mad about the oil spill, learn about the true nature of the Barack/Hillary relationship, hear how the Right Will Fight and, perhaps most traumatically, hear the creation of Al Gore's new personal ad.

There is something to offend everyone here...and something to make you laugh at a politician who you think richly deserves a little ridicule.

You are all invited.....

I would like to invite each and every one of you to the annual Sturtevant 3rd of July festival and fireworks show at Fireman's Park. It will be a warm and beautiful day to celebrate independence and the joys of being an American. The festival starts at 2:00. The Unified Show Band, the Great Lakes Navy Band and the Britins will be playing, and the fireworks will go off at dusk. There is NO CHARGE to attend, parking is $5.00. This is a family friendly event, food and beverages available from local vendors. No alcohol carry-ins please. If you are going, find me. I haven't met most of you and I would like too. Just look for the big guy doing parking, or ask someone in the event staff shirts where I am. Happy Independence Day Everyone!