Wednesday, January 22, 2014

‘Hello World’ I’m ready to chase comets now!

Good Day World!

Or, should I say "Hello, world" because that’s what the Rosetta spacecraft said when it woke up ready for it’s comet-chasing mission Monday.

When I heard the news, I flashed back to a movie that came out in 1968 (the year I graduated from high school): 2001 A Space Odyssey.

Here’s one of the chilling conversations that went on between a computer and a human in that “futuristic” science fiction thriller:

Dave Bowman: Hello, HAL. Do you read me, HAL?
Hal:
Affirmative, Dave. I read you.
Dave Bowman: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
HAL:
I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.
Dave Bowman:
What's the problem?
HAL:
I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Dave Bowman:
What are you talking about, HAL?
HAL:
This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
Dave Bowman:
I don't know what you're talking about, HAL.
HAL:
I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.
Dave Bowman: [feigning ignorance]
Where the hell did you get that idea, HAL?
HAL:
Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.
Dave Bowman:
Alright, HAL. I'll go in through the emergency airlock.
HAL:
Without your space helmet, Dave? You're going to find that rather difficult.
Dave Bowman:
HAL, I won't argue with you anymore! Open the doors!
HAL: Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye

And now, today’s article:

“Nervous anticipation gave way to jubilation on Monday when the European Space Agency's Rosetta comet-chaser spacecraft emerged from almost three years of induced, energy-saving sleep to report it was ready to carry out its history-making $1 billion mission.

Rosetta alerted scientists at the ESA mission control center in Darmstadt, Germany, that it was awake and ready to rev up and rendezvous with the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet in August.

The message sent from the spacecraft still 5.6 million miles from its comet destination reached Earth at 7:18 p.m. Central European Time (11:18 a.m. PST) and triggered a preprogrammed tweet of "Hello, world!" in several languages. (Read the rest of the story here.)

I hope the ground crew and the Rosetta computer are good friends and stay that way. You know how important that can be!

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Stoner State Super Bowl Slated – Light ‘em if ya got ‘em!

 Good Day World!

 The Super Bowl this year is going to smoke any prior bowls. You can pack that into your pipe and take it to the dispensary!

I’ve been watching for memes and articles on this prospect and found the clever piece below:

It’s the Super Bowl. Emphasis on the “bowl.” Pack another bowl broham! Hey dude, don’t bogart my stash man. Are you a narc?

With the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks clinching spots in Super Bowl 48, Budweiser’s 1990 notorious ad campaign, the “Bud Bowl,” has taken on a new meaning – the clash of the stoner cities.

As you likely know, earlier this month Colorado became the first state to legalize recreational marijuana; and Washington will be starting its adult-use program this spring. So what he learned about states with lax marijuana laws? They produce conference championship football teams.

Joking of course. This is just a coincidence. But the marijuana friendly Super Bowl is providing more than just fodder for hilarious jokes on Twitter and Facebook. Marketers, publicists, agents, reps from non-profit organizations are all getting involved in capitalizing on this political issue that surrounds the Super Bowl.

Media attention on the Super Bowl has focused on adult-use marijuana laws in Colorado and Washington, but the real story here is that players in those states have had the legal ability for years to access medical marijuana with their doctor’s recommendation, but their jobs deny them that opportunity.

The NFL’s anti-marijuana position as well as the significant changes in marijuana legislation in the last year are issues we all might want to explore in the next weeks of insane media hype and ludicrous social media saturation leading up to the Super Bowl.

After all, these are different storylines from what everyone else is doing. Hey man, can we move the Super Bowl kickoff time up to 4:20 dude?” via Before it’s News

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Monday, January 20, 2014

Anthill Art: Have you ever seen the lava-encased bodies of Pompeii?

  Good Day World!

 Let’s start the week with some art.

My buddy in Fortuna, California, Carl, sent me a link to a video showing how ant art is created. It’s an amazing process.

I’m reminded of the fate of the Roman citizens in Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius, a volcano near the Bay of Naples in Italy, erupted in the year 79 A.D. It buried the ancient Roman city of Pompeii under a thick carpet of volcanic ash.

In modern times, when archeologists uncovered the city they found people preserved in a thick crust of ash. They were forever frozen in their death agonies. Some still running.

The end result, that coating that brought instant death, was basically the same for humans as it is for the ants covered in a different coating – aluminum. Both human and ants preserved in shells for future generations to behold. Their last agonies recorded for posterity.

One was caused by mother natures fury – Mount Vesuvius erupted; the other by humans sacrificing another species for the sake of art. I have a hard time combining the two into the same category. They’re such different actions.

Art should celebrate life. Not take it for the sake of art. Perhaps I’m making too much of the process it takes to create ant art. The results are stunning original sculptures that capture the eye.

I’ve heard the term “suffering for art sake,” and artists who claim that only through agony and destruction of some kind, can great art be created – phoenix-like - from their imaginations.

I’ve never been that passionate about art, so I don’t understand that. Is it just me, or do the people look like they’re having a good time excavating the ant colony in the photo (left)?

I appreciate art, and how important it is to civilizations and mankind overall. Still, I can see a deep-rooted hypocrisy in a so-called civilized species murdering another species/life form for entertainment.

Time for me to walk on down the road… 

  

 

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Playoff Sunday: My Picks & Why 50% of NFL Players use Pot

Good Day World!

It’s NFL Playoff Sunday!

Tom Brady Peyton Manning, Colin Kaepernick, and Russell Wilson. Four men whose names are going to be cursed or blessed, depending upon if they can steer their respective teams to victory today.

Guts and gridiron. Less talked about, is the pain from a hard season of injuries. How do players today deal with the pain? You may be surprised that sources say half of the players in the NFL use pot for pain management.

Here’s an extensive look at marijuana use in the NFL, by Andrea Kremer of HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel . They ask senior V.P. of labor law and policy Adolpho Birch whether a player who believes marijuana helps him with pain management and recovery should smoke it?

What do you think?

After more years than I would care to admit of being an armchair quarterback, I have come to the conclusion that the 49er’s will be playing the Broncos in the Super Bowl! Take it to the bank!

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Mourning in Motor City: Murder Rate Among Highest in the Nation

 Good Day World!

The last time I was in Michigan was in the early 1970s with my father. We went up to Marlette to visit his brother and family.

I remember laughing at the tiger teeth that came onto the television screen whenever a Detroit Tiger would get a home-run during the 1972 season when Billy Martin was the manager.

Upstate Michigan was pretty laid back. In Detroit, Motown Records was setting records with great performances by Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, and Jackie Wilson.

Motown was an American record company founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. in 1959 in Detroit, Michigan. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit. Motown played an important role in the racial integration of popular music by achieving a crossover success.

But Detroit, like the rest of the great State of Michigan, is in the dumps now. It’s become the Murder Capital again, and the population heavily reflects people who can’t afford to leave the chaos. Those with money slipped out slowly over the last decade leaving a shell behind them.Detroit became the first American city to declare bankruptcy.

It’s sad to see. Here’s a recent article about the increase in crime:

“A dwindling population -- 706,585 people in 2011, according to the U.S. Census estimate -- and the rise in homicides combined to make Detroit’s murder rate among the highest in the nation, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Police Chief Chester Logan announced at a press conference.”

 Read the rest here 

Related:

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Friday, January 17, 2014

Beef Armageddon! Higher prices and less stock in stores soon

Good Day World!

I’m thinking about giving up meat.

Beef for sure.

At least when it comes to anything more than hamburgers. Steaks are just getting too expensive.

See the link below for more on that.

I remember when I use to shake my head at the price of Lobster (I finally quit eating it).

There’s a lot of good reasons to quit eating beef right now. Health scares around red meat and beef products like "pink slime' - which celebrity chef Jamie Oliver compared to dog food – are a good start. Then there’s the whole butchering process. If you’ve ever witnessed it you understand why some people become vegetarians.

Cattle supply is at an all-time low in the U.S. after nearly three years of drought, which led to more farmers killing off their herds earlier than planned. U.S. beef output will hit a 20-year low of 24.205 billion pounds this year, according to Department of Agriculture forecasts.

Meanwhile, prices are going sky high. I’m on the verge of stopping my chicken consumption too. The latest news about Foster Farms and cockroaches has grossed me out. I’m just waiting for some bad news about pork.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Related stories:

Beef prices at new high

Lean times at the grill

Pork and beef get rebranded

Thursday, January 16, 2014

New Study: Find out why birds fly in a V formation

 Good Day World!

I’ve often wondered how birds manage to fly in such a perfect wedge.

Was one bird (alpha bird?) leading the way at the head of each flying V? Did they practice a lot to achieve such precision? Or was it some strange built-in flying in formation gene?

In case you wondered how our feathered friends are able to fly in such precise military-looking formations I found this intriguing article: 

“The next time you see birds flying in a V, consider this: A new study says they choreograph the flapping of their wings with exquisite precision to help them on their way.

That's what scientists concluded after tracking a group of large black birds, each equipped with a tiny GPS device to record its position and every wing flap. One expert in animal flight said just gathering that data was a remarkable accomplishment.

The scientists reported their results online Wednesday in the journal Nature. It's the first experimental evidence that birds can adjust their flapping to take advantage of the wake, Florian Muijres and Michael Dickinson of the University of Washington wrote in an accompanying commentary.” (Read more here)

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Explore the World’s Largest Cannabis Strain Resource

20090513_9999_15 Good Day World!

 Every now and then, I promote a website that I think is well-designed and of general interest.

Today’s selection is LEAFLY.

They claim to be the world’s largest Cannabis strain resource. You can search based on type, effects, ratings and more. Over 500 strains available.

  I particularly like the feature where you can explore medicinal uses and effects of Cannabis. Find out what strains are best for anxiety/PTSD, or for chronic pain.

You will also get directions to the nearest dispensary (if you live in states that allow medical marijuana) to where you live. Map and directions.

Just sign up and start shopping now! Let me know what you think.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Trump's Lowest Grift Ever Saved for Holy Week

This is a story about how the devil's puppet, aka Donald Trump, mocked Christianity by selling a book combining the Bible, the Constitu...