My family drove to a beautiful home on the shore of Lake Huron today for lunch. Thankfully, the home is owned by friends (actually, my former boss — he retired), and they were expecting us. When we arrived, they had gifts for the family, and the coffee mug below is one that I think he’s had for years, but wanted to give me because he thought I would appreciate it. He was correct. 🙂
Space
I Want One of These.
I don’t know why. I know that I would like to wear it to work. And just one, because two would be silly.
If you want one, just click on the photo, it will take you to an online store. Please buy me one too, because there’s absolutely no way I could convince my wife it was a good idea.
The Problem With NASA
See:
Astronauts to Inspect Space Station Joints in Spacewalk
I don’t think they should be smoking marijuana on the space station at all. Call me a prude if you will, but I have to draw the line somewhere.
That said, are the laws the same once you leave the planet? If an astronaut kills another in space, is it illegal? How far do our laws extend? Yes, these are the things I think about…
We Like The Moon (and Perigee!)
Tonight, the full moon is also the Perigee Moon — which means it’s actually at it’s closest point to us. Here in northern Michigan, we have a beautiful clear night as well, so the view is spectacular. In celebration of the Full, Perigee moon, I give you the Spongemonkey’s rendition of, “We Like the Moon.” You’re welcome. 🙂
If I Were a Star
A literal star I mean. I would want to be a brown dwarf. They just look cool, what with their eerie glowingness and all.
If I couldn’t be a brown dwarf, I would want to be a star large enough to go supernova, because I think that’d be fun. I’d also want to be large enough to be a black hole, or at least a neutron star. I mean, that’s some cool stuff.
If I couldn’t be a star, I’d settle for a failed star, like Jupiter. At least it emanates light. It’s just so gassy, it seems a little lame. But I could have red storms and stuff. That’d be cool.
So if you could be a heavenly body, what would you be?
Are You Awake?
If you’re awake, and it’s Sunday night (the 12th of August, or if it’s already past midnight, the 13th), GO OUTSIDE AND LOOK UP!!! The Perseid meteor shower is going on right over your head!
Ok, in all fairness, it’s largely better in the Northern Hemisphere, but it’s worth a look regardless. The peak will be about 2 hours before the sun comes up on Monday morning, so make some coffee and get a comfy chair.
Meteor showers are great, because you don’t need anything but eyeballs to see them. The are expected to peak with 60-80 meteors per hour. Just watch the entire sky, partially easterly sky if you want to have a facing direction, and you should see them. Tonight is especially great because of the new moon. (New moon = no moon visible)
Below is a diagram of the sky. The meteors appear to streak from the Perseus constellation, and go across the whole nighttime canvas. It should be great!!!
I Made It Around the Sun Again
Well, that’s 32 times now I’ve flown around the Sun. Relatively speaking, I’ve traveled 18,380,173,760 miles, which means I could have flown to Pluto and back, then taken a quick jaunt back to Uranus for souvenirs. I still would have made it back in time to blow out candles this afternoon. Of course, for that to happen, my Mom would have had to launch me into space when I was born at 18.5 miles per second (the orbital velocity of Earth). I was born fast mind you, but my mother is human. 🙂
So there you have it. In comparison to the entire universe, my 32 laps are pretty insignificant. But hey, Jupiter hasn’t even made it around the Sun 3 times in my lifetime. What a pokey little fella.
Bright Stars
Last night, I found myself driving home after dark with our youngest daughter. Going for a ride in Daddy’s truck is a special treat, and apart from the loud exhaust, rusty body, and non-existent shocks, I can understand why. My old truck rocks. It’s a stick shift, and Daddy drives it kinda rough — great fun.
Anyway, the really cool part is that as we walked into the house, I thought I’d give her my “look at Venus” speech. My whole family hears it all the time, but I thought maybe I’d spark some emotion in my youngest.
It turns out I was right on the money. I called Lizzie to the front of the house, away from the porch light. I pointed up to the west, and said, “Lizzie, do you see that really bright star over there?”
“Uh huh.”
I was tickled that she said it with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. “That’s not really a star, it’s a planet, like Earth is a planet.”
“Really?!?!”
“Yep. It’s name is Venus, and it’s not as big as Earth, but it shines really bright so it looks like a star.”
“Wow, cool!”
She was actually excited about knowing it was a planet. 🙂 The coolest part was when we went inside, and Lizzie ran to Donna. “Mommy, did you know that really bright star is a planet? It’s name is Vee-Nuts!”
I love my family. 🙂
Let’s plan a vacation!!!
It just doesn’t get any cooler than this! Scientists found a planet in the “sweet spot” that would support liquid water! It’s 20.5 light years away, but has an estimated average temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
I’m so excited about this kind of stuff!
Incoming Subspace Signal
OK, I’m waaaay too proud of this ringtone, but I made it from television show clips, and think it is awesome. It’s an MP3 (Razr Compatible) file of the Enterprise computer from TNG saying, “Incoming subspace signal…”
I’ve gotten so many comments from people about it, that I wanted to put it here for everyone to download. So here’s for all the search engines to pick up on this post:
Free Star Trek Ringtone. Download for free. MP3 Star Trek TNG ringtone. Get it while it’s hot!
UPDATE: Here’s an iPhone ringtone version too. 🙂