Bewitched by the kitch of the slow pitch twitch in the drainage ditch...

The Orbiter Discovery docked with the ISS this morning. STS-120 was stowing more than just the Harmony node. The prop used as Luke Skywalker's lightsaber, in the original Star Wars movies also flew aboard this mission. It's supposed to remain safe, sound and unopened in cargo and given back to George Lucas after returning to Earth. Comemorates the 30 anniversary of Star Wars. I can only recall a few things about my younger childhood. I do remember seeing Star Wars in 1977, at the impressionable age of 6, then seeing the sequels repeated as they were released over the next 6 years. The first movies I bought, way back when BetaMax was in fashion and tapes cost like $40 a pop, was the Star Wars trilogy. I suppose that and a healthy obsession with Star Trek (then and now) is what honed me to be fascinated with outer space.

A press release this week mentions that astronomers using the Chandra X-ray space telescope have found a very heavy black hole in Messier object 33. The black hole is part of a binary system which also includes a gigantic star. The two are orbiting around each other at a very high velocity. The system as been titled M33 X-7. The importance if this is that scientists need to re-evalute models of black holes. Why would one massive star so close in proximity to another massive star collapse before the other? The star of this binary system is huge, about 70 times larger than our Sun, so the star that created the black hole must have been massively huge. The parent star's radius must have been larger than the distance between the two stars, so when the star collapsed into a singularity, it must have pulled the other star closer. The rapid orbit of the star and singularity cause the star to eclipse...this is the first recorded instance of a blackhole eclipse. M33 is a galaxy that is three million lightyears away from Earth, so this event is happening fairly close on a cosmological scale.

-A

Shooting from the hip with a well aimed quip...

The Space Shuttle Discovery launched into orbit this morning. STS-120, the 120th shuttle mission had a successful lift-off at about 10:38 CST, on her way to the ISS to deliver the Harmony section and bring Nebraskan astronaut Clay Anderson back to Earth. I never get tired of watching those lift-offs. Amazing that a vehicle carrying humans can ignite and 9 minutes later is in orbit with engines roaring at over 6000 mph. Then once in orbit, over 200 statute miles in space the Orbiter is doing 17,500 mph, watching 16 sunrises and sunsets every 24 hours...now that's fast.

-A

Long curls and swirls and twirls from the girls tongue song flung on the wrong wrung...

Here's a pic from the Hubble telescope of a galaxy called I Zwicky 18. This galaxy was found about 40 years ago and thought to be young by cosmic standards. Now scientists have found data pointing at older stars in the galaxy, so the galaxy could be youthful in appearance but up to 10 billion years old. See scientists have open minds and are willing to change them when research shows new evidence...nothing at all fundamental about that.

The mindset of a grand creator being, blinking all of this into existance in six days, and being so gracious as to will it all to humans to steward and have control over, seems not just a tad, but hugely preposterous. If this is were the case each human on earth would own, have complete dominion and be responsible for at least sixteen galaxies. Delusions of grandeur. On this planet alone humans cannot even agree on one god figure...which you would think would not be a difficult task at all if a creator were so. Now imagine at least one planet in each of the millions of galaxies, that might have developed lifeforms that are appearently conscious of their own indiviuality. So conscious of themselves that they think they have an immortal soul and a greater purpose than just being born and taking care of themsleves and loved ones before dying. A greater purpose meaning...what happens to them after death? What? If all of these galaxies worshiped that one god, and were indeed on the proper path to a blissful afterlife...imagine the logistics of heaven and hell. Heaven/Hell would be so incredibly overpopulated. Maybe souls do not take up time and space? But what about saving all of those pro-life embyros so that the unborn souls have a fleshy vehicle waiting for them. So souls do take up space? Imagine all of the souls in the universe taking up space? With only two possible places to go, that would make for one crowded eternity. There seems to be an endless supply of souls in limbo just waiting to be injected into a mommy's tummy...where are those kept? In Heaven? Hell? A staging area? That would meean there are three possible places for an immortal soul to be kept. Even if Earth were the only planet with animals bearing souls, the eternal logistics of where to store them are simply nightmarish to contemplate.

Humans are the only animals that have the appearent brain malfunction, that when recognizing (unexplainable to them) patterns in nature put a supernatural explanation to them. Do bees worship a bee god that brings them fresh flowers anually? Do salmon dance around a maypole or fashion fertility idols? No, they swim upstream.

I am continually impressed and awestruck by these deep space Hubble photos. Look at all the galaxies that are in just this one view of the universe. Hundreds of evolving galaxies can be seen just from the Hubble Telescope concentrating on one postage stamp sized camera field of the universe. Amazes me for sure.

-A

PS: Here is a movie I have been meaning to watch...so I finally watched it. If you can get past the electronic music and trippy computer effects, it is very informative IMHO. In the vein of Aaron Russo's AFTF movie. Russo sound bites are even in this one too. Done in three parts...paraphrasing here...Religion=Astrology, 9/11=Fear, International Banking=One world government...a'la GW Bush's NAU. Zeitgeist.

A motion for potion that washes the gollashes and shines the equine...

Very eye-opening documentary...America: Freedom to Facism.



If I was ever to vote for a republican...can't believe I'm even entertaining that notion...Ron Paul has some platforms I sort of agree with, mainly dismantling the IRS.

-A

Black hole blues in the lack of soul in your boogie shoes...

I am by no means a great fisher, but I enjoy doing it. Catch and release is extremely fun to me. I also like spending time outside by the lake water, listening to birds, frogs, insects and fish flop...and I'm obsessive when I do something I enjoy. I have a few rods and reels, nothing really spectacular as fishing gear can get really expensive really quick. I have a two light set-ups - a BPS jigger and BPS baitcaster for panfish/crappie/etc. A couple medium set-ups for bass/trout/etc. - a Shimano spinner and Abu Garcia spincaster. And a couple set-ups for catfish - a Shakespeare Tiger and Zebco 808. I even keep all of my tackle segregated depending on what I'm going after. That way I can travel light and be mobile since I only shore and dock fish.

I've been lusting after either an Abu Garcia Ambassodore or one of the Quantum casters, but the prices are steep compared to what I normally fish with, paying for the brand and the better quality. Well I found a deal on a Quantum 1310 I could not pass up...but I did pass it up since I had to save up. In my quest to find that deal again, I stumbled upon a deal for a Quantum 1420mg with an Affinity rod for the same price as the 1310. So I snagged it this time around. My first foray into upper scale gear. Of course the sky is the limit when bass fishing, if you can afford it, but a dependible Quantum will suit me and my budget just fine. Pic of a 1420mg above. I also have some new mono-line and salt injected tubes, I'm ready to go.

Found a neat fishing weight estimater...

Fish Calculator

Looks like the 27 inch long catfish I caught, was around 11 lbs.

-A

The ballyhooed lude and rude and their half-brewed feud over crude...

I found this small session very interesting. Richard Dawkins, Johnathan Miller and Norman McCleod.

Part One...



Part Two...



-A

Being polite, upright and contrite to fight the spite of fright and blight...

I was trying to think of something to write about today as I drove in to the office. My mind was wandering since it was a very pleasant morning, the window was down and left arm out. I had Grateful Dead music cranked as I rolled through the farmlands. Thanks to road construction going on all but one route for me, I have to take the scenic way in to the urban sprawl. Which is quite nice but a longer drive, more miles and time. The morning was dewey, so the farm grass smelled nice...amazing how sometimes even equine and bovine piss doesn't stench off all that bad. High clouds with the Sun's intrepid photons busting through whispy gaps. Inspiring on a totally natural basis. The night skies have been big for the last few days, autumnal atmosphere seems to give a good showing of stars...again a sense of awe even with trace surface light pollution.

These types of circumstances just drive home in my rationing that nature is absolutely wonderful. A sense of inspiration and awe does not need to stem from an imaginary consoling father figure...as a matter of lack of evidence it surely does not. No need to close your eyes and wish really hard, that talking to yourself makes things turn out better. Not even finger crossing or tossing salt over your shoulder can change anything. Humanity can change, can indeed make things better. If not, then nature moves on regardless. There is so much beauty that most take for granted. The cosmos is nearly incomprehensively fantastic, a mystery that defies and requires no supernatural explanation. Music, night sky, sunlight, clouds, a painting, a hug, smell of grass and rain, might sound like a wishy-washy-hippy to admittedly fully appreciate such things, but they are there to be experienced, and are tangibly real.

-A