True Anomaly

Astronomers Support My Global Warming Theory

2009-11-13T13:39:00.002-07:00

Distant stars shed light on the solar cycleSustained drops in the energy output of the Sun could be more common than modern experience suggests, according to an international team of astronomers that has studied the activity of a number of Sun-like stars. The results could mean that past changes in global temperatures are more likely to be related to variations in solar activity than previously

Why I Call Them WingNutDaily

2009-11-07T22:24:00.000-07:00

U.S. troops' continental insignia bears U.N. colorsYeah, OK, no. I like WND, but most of the time, they go off the deep end. If you scan down through this story, they are trying to say that the U.S. NORTHCOM patches indicate some sort of conspiracy to merge the U.S. with Canada and Mexico. While I think there may be some who want to do this sort of thing eventually, this NORTHCOM patch is not

Lunar Orbiter Images Apollo Site

2009-11-05T09:09:00.001-07:00

LRO's Closer Look at the Apollo 12 Landing SiteWell, there you have it, folks, FINALLY, proof that the stuff left behind by the Apollo astronauts on the Moon is actually there. I'm sure there will be some who will still doubt that men walked on the Moon, but you can't do anything about that.

Heading Out to Start a Business

2009-10-28T20:15:00.002-06:00

No, not me. A friend of mine is doing just that, though. Our company offered people a voluntary layoff in August, and he decided to take it. He has one week left before he leaves, and he'll get several weeks' severance pay as part of the layoff. In the meantime, he's starting his business, and I wish him the very best of luck.Oh, how I would love to follow him out the door. But there's one

Don't Look At Me

2009-10-16T20:49:00.000-06:00

1 In 7 Girls At Robeson High School Got Pregnant - cbs2chicago.comWow, talk about your Obama Baby Boom.

Commercial Spaceflight: All Systems Go - WSJ.com

2009-10-16T13:44:00.000-06:00

Commercial Spaceflight: All Systems Go - WSJ.comThe best place to exercise and grow these space-exploration partnerships is in low Earth orbit, where humans have the most experience and where economic incentives exist to make space travel routine. While it's completely appropriate for NASA to continue developing systems and the new technologies necessary to take crews farther out into our solar

Signs of That War I've Been Worried About

2009-10-05T22:51:00.000-06:00

The demise of the dollar - Business News, Business - The IndependentYep, well, there it is, one of the things that will lead to the next World War. The current depression will lead to war just as the Great Depression was followed by World War II. And we have Barack Obama as CIC. God help us all.

No Chicago Olympics

2009-10-02T10:52:00.001-06:00

Rio Wins Race To Host 2016 OlympicsHa ha ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, this is so funny. The President goes to talk to the Olympic committee to get them to pick Chicago for the 2016 Olympics, and they end up eliminating it from consideration. Instead, they picked Rio de Janeiro. Well, I sure as heck would rather go there myself.Yep, the President is definitely "restoring" America's image to the world;

Al Qaeda Is So Gay

2009-09-29T20:41:00.000-06:00

Al Qaeda Bombers Learn from Drug Smugglers - CBS Evening News - CBS NewsMan, talk about your case of raging hemorrhoids. If you've ever been in the security line at the airport, and thought that those dang terrorists could just stick their bombs up their asses, well, they've gone and done it.Now guess what you're going to have to do when you go through that line next time...

So You Think The Sun Doesn't Affect the Earth?

2009-09-03T21:23:00.000-06:00

Telegraphs Ran on Electric Air in Crazy 1859 Magnetic Storm | Wired Science | Wired.comWow, very interesting article. If we had a similar solar storm today, I think many of our satellites would be down, and a few of those may not be recoverable. Not to mention all the electronics on the ground that would be messed up.And, yes, I know that this was a singular event, not a climate-changing thing,

Signs of the Coming Eurabian Caliphate?

2009-08-24T16:37:00.003-06:00

I recently read one of John Birmingham's latest novels, Without Warning. It was a very good book, but you definitely have to suspend your disbelief to accept the premise: a magical force field appears out of nowhere over most of North America which incinerates all living things within its area. The United States, as well as Canada, and Mexico, are gone in an instant. The only exceptions are

Oh No, We're All Going to Die!

2009-08-24T16:36:00.000-06:00

Swine Flu May Cause 90,000 U.S. Deaths, Report Says (Update2) - Bloomberg.comOh no! Not the Swine Flu!Let's all rush out and get some untested new vaccine shot into our arms, and the arms of our children!

Jokerbama

2009-08-06T16:16:00.007-06:00

I absolutely love this image of the President as the Joker:OK the pic was creeping me out; click to see it.This is a brilliant idea. What has been

The Real Fahrenheit 411

2009-08-06T11:37:00.000-06:00

The New Book Banning by Walter Olson, City Journal 12 February 2009This law is just so shortsighted and ridiculous. Not only are books to be destroyed under this law, but old clothing has to be tested as well. As a sometime customer of second-hand shops, I know that this will hurt not only the stores like Goodwill that sell old stuff, but especially the poor folks who depend on those stores.

Good Grief, Put A Shirt On Already

2009-08-04T16:42:00.000-06:00

Bare-chested Vladimir Putin strikes a macho pose - Times OnlineWhoopee doo, old Pooty-Poot is going around doing manly things lately, all bare-chested and brawny. Yep, he's real secure in his masculinity. Does he shave or something? Because I've got more hair on my knuckles than he has on his chest.Which polls better? Clean-shaven chests, or hairy chests?Where's Medvedev? Isn't he supposed

Yeah, He Does That Sometimes

2009-07-29T10:22:00.000-06:00

Pope: "Guardian angel" did not stop accidentWow, if even the Pope needs to be taught a lesson by God sometimes, then perhaps when bad stuff happens to the rest of us, it's for the same reason.On the other hand, sometimes those guardian angels do prevent injuries from occurring when they don't prevent the actual accident. Yesterday, Mrs. Astro was hit from behind by a young man who wasn't paying

Sorry for the Lack of Posts

2009-07-14T22:09:00.002-06:00

I just haven't wanted to bother posting anything lately. I'm too busy with stuff at work, and while I still surf around a bit at night, there's just too much to comment on and no benefit to making those comments. Politics has just gotten ridiculous. The Democrats seem to have completely neutered the Republicans, who were pretty worthless anyway. There's no one standing in their way of tearing

Downside Of Losing Weight

2009-07-12T13:41:00.004-06:00

I have lost almost ten pounds since I started seriously trying to lose weight about six weeks ago. I started at about 212-215, and am now at 202-205. I'm looking forward to breaking through 200 soon. I haven't been below 200 in almost 15 years. I'm not on any particular diet or anything, just trying to eat a bit less and a bit healthier, and be a bit more active. Most importantly is that I

Where Are They Now?

2009-06-27T22:52:00.003-06:00

In the past week, we have seen three very different celebrities shuffle off this mortal coil. Two of them were not unexpected: Ed McMahon was elderly and in poor health, while Farrah Fawcett had been fighting cancer for quite a while. The sudden and more tragic death was that of Michael Jackson, who despite his weird behaviors and accusations of child abuse, was loved by millions the world over

Post from my iPhone

2009-06-24T20:48:00.001-06:00

Yep, I have signed up for iPhone service. It's pretty neat, but typing this post is slightly annoying with this little graphical keyboard.

How I'm Learning to Stop Worrying And Love Aerospace

2009-06-17T09:20:00.002-06:00

As my regular visitors know, I have expressed major disappointment with the way my career has been heading, and regret that I chose this line of work. Why couldn't I have been interested in learning something more lucrative, I've said. Why couldn't I have gone to business school or be an entrepreneur or anything other than a cubicle dwelling Dilbert?Well, thanks to Facebook, I have found some

Pointless Project or The Future?

2009-06-15T21:39:00.003-06:00

Our friend Bill left a link to this article from John Derbyshire at National Review: End of an ExtravaganzaYes, there is definitely a parallel between manned spaceflight and the expeditions of Zheng He. Just think, the Chinese could have been the ones to colonize and settle all over the old world instead of the Europeans. There are some who say that the Chinese even made it to the west coast of

Possibly a Good Idea

2009-06-12T16:52:00.000-06:00

US cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive - TelegraphThis is very interesting. From time to time, I wonder what might be done along these lines, and usually come to the conclusion that decaying parts of cities would be difficult to deal with because someone owns the land and lives on it. You can't force them off just because their property is crappy and you want to tear it all down

Eccentric Links

2009-06-08T08:55:00.003-06:00

OK, last night I dug up my old list of "eccentric" links and added them to my webpage here. Many of them were listed on "Eccentric Anomaly" before I deleted it recently, and after thinking about it for a while, I decided to resurrect the list here. As you may know, "eccentric anomaly" as a heading (or former blog title) plays off the theme of using the names of orbital elements that I started

Embitterment and Entitlement

2009-06-03T15:58:00.005-06:00

Dr. Sowell has an excellent article about the Sotomayor nomination to the Supreme Court at National Review: Equal Rights or Special Rights? While reading it, I was struck by the following:What does it say about her qualifications to be on the Supreme Court when her supporters’ biggest talking points are that she had to struggle to rise in the world?Bonnie and Clyde had to struggle. Al Capone had