Russia may send spacecraft to knock away asteroid

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer – Wed Dec 30, 9:34 pm ET

"MOSCOW – Russia's space agency chief said Wednesday a spacecraft may be dispatched to knock a large asteroid off course and reduce the chances of earth impact, even though U.S. scientists say such a scenario is unlikely.

Anatoly Perminov told Golos Rossii radio the space agency would hold a meeting soon to assess a mission to Apophis. He said his agency might eventually invite NASA, the European Space Agency, the Chinese space agency and others to join the project.

When the 270-meter (885-foot) asteroid was first discovered in 2004, astronomers estimated its chances of smashing into Earth in its first flyby, in 2029, at 1-in-37."

source

Recent Loss of a Friend

Oct. 13, 1932—Oct. 1, 2009

"Monsignor John C. Weimer, a priest, scholar and campus minister whose learned sermons in a basement chapel drew an audience of Catholic judges, politicians and other professionals, died Thursday in Sisters Hospital after battling cancer. He was 76.

Father Weimer spent 35 years in campus ministry and was known for his ability to challenge and inspire parishioners—among them former Rep. John LaFalce, U. S. District Court Judge John Curtin and former Mayor Anthony Masiello— with his liberal-leaning homilies inside Buffalo State College’s Newman Center."

source

Despite the Defeat

Next Holiday

"Clark: Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fucking Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse."

"Ellen: Clark, I think it'd be best if everyone went home... before things get worse.
Clark: WORSE? How could things get any worse? Take a look around here, Ellen. We're at the threshold of hell. "

Christmas Vacation (1989) -- currently playing on AMC for 20^th Anniversary
_______________

Just like our holidays.

We will not forget!

"On this, the eleventh annual Day of Remembrance, we are part of a global movement to honor those who have died. We mourn our fallen sisters and brothers who have become the victims of hatred and prejudice and we commit ourselves to doing what it takes to prevent others from joining their ranks. We pause to acknowledge the loss we all suffer because these people are no longer sharing their gifts, their laughter, their struggles, their work and their lives with our world. We decry the many forms of discrimination-racism, sexism, economic injustice, ageism, and so many more-that compound the transphobia and homophobia we face and make some among us even more vulnerable to violence.

We must continue to state loudly and clearly that transgender people will never willingly be relegated to the status of victim. Transgender people and our families, friends and allies are standing up effectively, working for public policies that emphasize both the need to prevent these horrific crimes as well as holding accountable those who commit them. We are speaking out daily, educating law enforcement, co-workers, family members, policy makers and our neighbors about the realities of our lives and helping transform their prejudice into understanding. We are advocating boldly for anti-discrimination laws that will allow transgender people to get and keep jobs, improving the quality of our lives and keeping us safe."


source
more info

I am ready to go

NASA finds water on the moon
by Jean-Louis Santini

"WASHINGTON (AFP) – A "significant amount" of frozen water has been found on the moon, the US space agency said Friday heralding a giant leap forward in space exploration and boosting hopes of a permanent lunar base.

Preliminary data from a dramatic experiment on the moon "indicates the mission successfully uncovered water in a permanently shadowed lunar crater," NASA said in a statement.

"The discovery opens a new chapter in our understanding of the moon," it added, as ecstatic scientists celebrated the landmark discovery.

"Yes indeed we found water and we did not find only a little bit but a significant amount," said Anthony Colaprete, project scientist and principal investigator for the 79-million-dollar LCROSS mission.

The data was found after NASA sent two spacecraft crashing into the lunar surface last month in a dramatic experiment to probe Earth's nearest neighbor for water.

One rocket slammed into the Cabeus crater, near the lunar southern pole, at around 5,600 miles (9,000 kilometers) per hour.

Moon holds key to solar system's secrets."

source

What is it hold up?

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press Writer – Tue Nov 10, 8:28 pm ET

"ALBANY, N.Y. – After weeks of uncertainty and pleas for action by Gov. David Paterson, New York's Senate failed to vote on a bill legalizing same-sex marriage during a special session Tuesday.

Advocates and opponents say the Senate lacked the 32 votes needed to approve the measure, which Paterson strongly supports and the Assembly already passed."

Blah
Blah
Blah

source

Vote No

What is happening in Maine is a tragedy -- that there has to be a vote at all.

What happened to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
What happen to freedom and justice for all?

Maine, like California before them, only proves you have to live within the privileged class. One has to be heterosexual and fall somewhere within the Judeo-Christian system to be counted as a citizen.

I do not for one moment agree.

Equal rights for every citizen.
Marriage for every citizen.

What happened to the USA?

The Philosophy of Ambiguity

Is there another word for synonym?

If a turtle does not have a shell, is it homeless or naked?

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

How is it possible to have a civil war?

If you ate both pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry?

Repetition

"Insanity:

Doing things over and over again

and expecting different results"

- Albert Einstein

Now Action

For the Future

"This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the American President, Barack Obama.

The Norwegian-based Nobel committee said he had made extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation.

The committee chairman, Thorbjoern Jagland, said they had attached special importance to Mr Obama's vision of a world without nuclear weapons."

source

Young-hae Chang Heavy Industries presents

Monday, October 5 (Gender Week Event), 3-5 PM, 112 CFA

YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES

source

An hour long presentation,

a question and answer session following;

the best I ever saw.

They will be here Monday!!!

My presentation in DMS 225, Digital Literature Survey,

aka E-Poetry Survey, about:

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries

장영혜중공업

View

Changing Seasons

The Canadian Geese are starting to migrate.

A flock just flew over the house, honking as they flew.

The leaves are changing colours and falling.

A blanket of a dying summer covers the ground.

When the Dark-eye Juncos arrive I know winter is coming.

A Voice Silenced

Mary Allin Travers (November 9, 1936 – September 16, 2009)

BLOWIN' IN THE WIND
Bob Dylan- Special Rider Music - SESAC
How many roads must a man walk down
Before they call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
How many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years must a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
How many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
How many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
How many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
How many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

photo source

Mark Osborne - "More" (1998)

Camera-less Animation

16mm clear leader with Sharpie Marker
24 frames = 1 second
Each frame is between the sprocket holes,
soundtrack on non-sprocket holes side

2009 September 16

Arrival

My long lost animation textbook and Gogol Bordello CD finally was delivered today. The excitement is overwhelming -- new music for new animations.

This week has been camera-less animation, i.e. animation directly on 16mm film then run through a projector.

Next week, cut outs.

"Nobody puts Baby in the corner."

Flowers decorate Patrick Swayze's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, Monday, Sept. 14, 2009. Swayze, the hunky actor who danced his way into moviegoers' hearts with 'Dirty Dancing' and then broke them with 'Ghost,' died Monday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57.

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Healthcare

I admit, I have not kept up with the healthcare politics. All I know is I will take at least one class during the semester so I can have even crappy insurance, otherwise I will be uninsured again. It is too expensive to not have health care at all.

What I am worried about is my parents losing their healthcare because of the greedy unmentioned company currently providing such "care" if the government makes insurance a mandate for all citizens. Said company will drop the current policies if the government provides basic care, then they will be the ones to suffer while said company reaps even more profits.

Without regulations effective immediately on healthcare reforms, we will see the same thing that happened with credit card "reform" -- credit companies dropped people and credit limits without warning and raised interest rates to obnoxious percents in the months leading to the reforms activation dates.

Sick, all of it.

Nom, Nom, Nom

Ohio man breaks Pac-Man world record

Nearly thirty years after chomping its way into pop culture, Pac-Man still has players aiming for perfection.

And that's exactly what 40 year-old gamer David Race of Beavercreek, Ohio managed to accomplish.

According to the officials at video game record-keeping institution Twin Galaxies, Race achieved a perfect score on Namco's venerable coin-op classic in 3 hours, 41 minutes, and 22 seconds, edging out the old record by a mere 42 seconds to make him the fastest Pac-Man completionist of all time.

To nail a perfect Pac-Man score, a player must "eat every dot, bonus prize and blue ghost across all 256 levels." At that point, a glitch in the original game code results in an unplayable stage, effectively ending the experience with a score of 3,333,360.

With his latest effort, Race has become only the sixth player to ever see that number. The first? None other than King of Kong antagonist Billy Mitchell, who managed the feat back in 1999.

source

Happy Birthday

A special boy turns 10 today.

I wish I could see his face.

Maybe one day he will stumble upon this,

and see that I still care;

I never stopped.

Be a good boy Boo.

Eight

Eight years ago I moved back home,

Eight years the Towers fell,

Eight years going on 50.

On The Edge

Chipper having breakfast

2009 September 07

"The Dreamer"

Had a great family moment tonight.

We had dinner as usual,

I chose the film,

The Astronaut Farmer (2006),

this was not a normal "dinner & movie",

it was,

"Charles Farmer: You see, when I was a kid, they used to tell me that I could be anything I wanted to be. No matter what. And maybe I am insane, I don't know, but I still believe that. "

UB Bulls

Sitting watching college football with Ma.
Buffalo winning so far, 23-14.

GO BULLS!!!

Screened

Oak Leaves

2009 September 04

Haunted

Back Window: Summit Street Mansion

2009 September 03

Think

“The grand thing about the human mind is that it can turn its own tables and see meaninglessness as ultimate meaning”

John Cage

Hopper

Grasshopper-san

2009 August 31

Mantis

Praying Mantis (Mantis religiosa) in Threat Posture

2009 August 31

Tomorrow

One of Two First Days

2009 August 30

Cambria House Picnic

Justin and Jake

2009 August 29

Curled

Wildflowers

2009 August 28

Across the Road

Wildflower

2009 August 27

Her

Luna
2009 August 26

Breakfast Guests

Flock of Song Sparrows

2009 August 25

Where did Mama go?

Mourning Dove, juvenile (Zenaida macroura)

2009 August 24

Love My Web Host More

FatCow Web Hosting “Goes Green” by Committing to 100% Wind Energy

BURLINGTON, Mass. – FatCow, a leading provider of Web hosting, domain registration and related marketing services, announced today that its offices and data centers are now 100 percent powered by wind energy. “We’re offsetting all of our electricity use by purchasing wind-generated Renewable Energy Certificates,” explains Paul Bukhovko, FatCow’s Marketing Manager, “providing our customers with an environmentally preferable Web hosting solution.” The Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are being supplied by wind energy marketer and developer Community Energy Inc. (CEI).

On behalf of all of its offices and data centers, FatCow is buying 4,412,000 kilowatt hours (kWhs) per year of wind-generated RECs. This volume is comparable to the entire output of one 1.5 megawatt (MW) wind turbine over the course of one year. When compared to the average generation mix in the national electric grid, the estimated environmental benefit from this purchase is equal to offsetting approximately 2,260 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, the impact of which is equivalent to planting about 2,390 acres of trees each year or not driving 6.1 million miles.

“Electricity generation is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, and Community Energy applauds FatCow for taking action on climate change,” says Brent Alderfer, Executive VP of Community Energy. “Their commitment to 100 percent wind-generated RECs makes a difference for cleaner air, a stronger economy and new clean energy sources in the U.S.”

By reducing its carbon footprint, FatCow is responding to feedback from its staff, as well as letting customers host green sites of their own. “Quite frankly,” Bukhovko says, “our employees and our customers were the driving factors behind our decision to go green. Our staff members encourage responsible environmental behavior inside the office and practice it outside the office. And, we know that many of our customers feel just as strongly. We wanted to give them an opportunity to reduce their own carbon footprint by hosting their sites on servers 100 percent powered by wind energy.”

About FatCow
FatCow provides shared Web hosting solutions for individuals and small- to medium-sized businesses looking for an affordable, reliable Web hosting option. FatCow pioneered the "one plan, one price" philosophy when it began offering its signature all-in-one Web site hosting solution, The FatCow, back in 1998. For more information about FatCow’s commitment to the environment, visit www.fatcow.com/green.

source

Corn Buffet

Chipping Sparrows eat breakfast

2009 August 22

Sleep Love Eyes

Rocky stares from across the room

2009 August 21

Let the Test speak

(AFP/File/Olivier Morin)

S.Africa rallies around Semenya as gender storm grows
by Justine Gerardy
Thu Aug 20, 10:12 am ET

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – South Africa declared new 800-metre world champion Caster Semenya a "golden girl" Thursday, as the nation rallied around her family to fend off doubts that she is a woman.
Front pages in every major newspaper pictured a triumphant Semenya who powered to a 1min 55.45sec win -- the world's best this year -- shortly after the athletics governing body announced her gender was to be verified.
...

"She called me after (the heats) and told me that they think she's a man. What can I do when they call her a man, when she's really not a man? It is God who made her look that way."
Among several angry reactions from leftist groups and heated online and radio debate, the Young Communist League called the gender probe chauvinistic, saying it fed into stereotypes of how woman should look and smacked of racism.
"We see this as an insult to Semenya in particular and African women (even in the Diaspora) in general," it said.
The South African Football Players Union questioned why the IAAF had singled out Semenya.
...

"Then she has to explain that she can't help the fact that her voice is so gruff and that she really is a girl. The remarkable thing is that Caster remains completely calm and never loses her dignity when she is questioned about her gender," Seme told Beeld.
Semenya had been "crudely humiliated" a few times and the closest Seme said he had seen her to anger was earlier this year when some people wanted her barred from using the ladies restroom.
"Then Caster said: 'Do you want me to pull down my pants that you can see?' Those same people came to her later and said they were extremely sorry."

Molt

Cicada Shell

2009 August 19

Bounty

Tomatoes

2009 August 18

Feeding Time

Rabbit, Rabbit, Skunk

2009 August 17

Lounging

Even Squirrels take it easy on hot days.

2009 August 16

Drying

Cicada (Tibicen Canicularis)

2009 August 15

Excuse me

Eastern Grey Squirrel

2009 August 14

My Fuzzy Obsession

Chipper

2009 August 13

A Birthday Request

Today is my 32^nd birthday.

All I want for my birthday is for you

to do something special

to help someone else.

It does not have to be another human being,

and the act does not have to be huge,

just make sure you help.

Thank you!

Stack

Pallets

2009 August 04

Before Storm & No Power

House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)

2009 August 09

Wrapped

Hay Bales

2009 August 08

Exhibit at Niagara County Fair

Ferruginous Hawk (Buteo regalis)
2009 August 07

Could Not Save

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - Papilio glaucus (male)

2009 August 06

Building Holes

Upper Gate

2009 August 04

Life in an Old Building

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

2009 August 04

Wading Through Grass

Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)

2009 August 03

Ch. 4

"Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim,

trapped in the amber of this moment.

There is no why."

Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

"Do Re Mi"

Rabbit of the Moon

moon is not yet full

a wonderful orange glow

obstructed by clouds

Does Not Compute

Sometimes computers drive me further to the edge of insanity. My desktop froze and I have to shut it. Then I got a blue screen with only a cursor. Finally found how to start in Safe Mode and found it was my mirror agent mucking up the system. I shut it and restarted, then everything is okay now.

With this all over I had to calm myself and wait for my blood pressure to resume to normal.

Baby Friend

Red-bellied Woodpecker (Juvenile)
2009 July 28

Tiny Hopper

Baby Rabbit
2009 July 28

Language

Sprouts

Growing in the bird feeder after much rain

2009 July 26

A Long Night Yet

I have spent hours, since 09:00 EST, writing haiku for Blogathon 2009. I already have written most for these over night hours as I have things that I want to say. I know I will be looking forward to a nap after this is all said and done -- I did not sleep well last night.

Of course this year was not without incident. We have been having severe weather all day, even a tornado not too far away. Then the power went out for a few minutes and my heart sank. Thankfully it was only a few minutes.

Tomorrow, The Big Day

Tomorrow is Blogathon 2009

visit my event blog @:

For Geden Choeling Nunnery

"Stay Up Late,

Make a Difference"

Plastic Monsters

New Friends

2009 July 23

Wednesday's Fortune

"It could be better,

But its good enough."

Learn Chinese - To dry hair

吹风 (chuī fēng)

Lucky Numbers:

37, 12, 28, 49, 39, 32

"What's Up, Doc?"

I think it is sad so many people are giving the President so much grief over the Healthcare Reforms and how the USA is going to pay for it.

I have an idea: cut out all the frivolous earmarks and spending and pool it together. Not only would this country be out of a Recession, but together WE can pay for healthcare.

Moon Day

"That's one small step for man,

one giant leap for mankind"

Discarded Oak

Complementary

2009 July 18

Yucca Stem

Procession

2009 July 18

Washed

Wildflowers

2009 June 12

Slap in the face

It is really sad when someone devotes their life to a company, makes them millions when you the grunt barely scrapes by, not to mention putting up with all their melodrama, and also is told to step down from a higher position.

Posing on the Edge

American Robin

(Turdus migratorius)

2009 July 13

As only some of us can understand

"No art is possible without a dance with death,

he wrote"

-- Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five (1969)

The "He" is referring to Louis-Ferdinand Céline in

Erika Ostrovsky's Céline and his Vision (1967).

Childish Games

I cannot understand how Albany politicians thought they could get away with giving exorbitant raises to a few people "in charge" when we the citizens of NY are paying for everything. This after the circus playground of who is in charge -- not working and still getting paid.

If the common business person tried something along these lines all hell would break out -- arrests, lawsuits, et al. I say fire them and hire someone else, all while changing the "rules" so this does not happen again. Okay, so I am dreaming, but at least I still have that.

Rocky

Waking up from another nap

2009 July 12

Pause

Running at supersonic speed, then a break

2009 July 11

Yucca Leaves

Hairs

2009 July 10