The Assasination of Dr. George Tiller

Today, a 67 year old physician in Kansas was gunned down on his way to church.

"Wichita television station KAKE-TV reported that police were looking for a blue Ford Taurus with a K-State vanity plate, license number 225 BAB. Police described him as a white male in his 50s or 60s, 6 feet 1 inch tall, 220 pounds, wearing a white shirt and dark pants."

Using the license plate information, the Wichita police were able to get a picture of the suspect from the Kansas Department of Motor Vehicles.

An Ongoing Conversation

This started out as a comment on a previous post, but in my usual verbose manner, I exceeded the length limit for a comment.

That was a first!

So my response to one of my commentors has to become a post in its own right. Here it is:

*****

Hey Jo Joe - Thanks for stopping by.

You might notice some differences from what you're used to.

For instance, I'm not going to delete any of your posts.

The fact that you don't agree with me poses no threat to me. Your opinions aren't anything I feel compelled to protect my visitors from.

In the best American tradition, my visitors are free to come here and say whatever they want. I enjoy a lively discussion.

Now, point by point:

#1 You haven't been banned. Some of your ugly, offensive comments have been deleted.

The only reason I am not actually "banned" in the traditional definition of denying access is because blogger doesn't allow you a technological means of doing so.

But when you say "You are hereby permanently disinvited to this blog for two irrevocable reasons: 1) You are crass and slimy and 2) I don't want you here...ALL future correspondence from you will be deleted...period."

That's pretty much banning me for all practical purposes.

But again, you are free to come into my home and say whatever you like. And you always will be. You are not a threat to me. Why do you view me as such a threat to you?

#2 You don't have the facts, but that does not slow you or your friends down a bit...you just say what you want to say when you want to say it without regard for truth...ever.

What "facts" don't I have? Enlighten me. This is a typical Fox News tactic. Make a statement without any supporting evidence, but do so in a forceful, authoritative manner as if stating something that everyone knows is true, and then quickly "move on".

That don't make it so. What "facts" do I not have? Supply them. Educate us.

#3 I paid into the system before you were born, Social Security with my first job and Medicare since it's inception.

First of all, I'm 53 years old. If you have been paying social security taxes, which are payroll deduction taxes, since before I was born, that would make you about 70. Seriously, Jo Joe?

Second of all, you demonstrate once again that you clearly have no idea how Social Security and Medicare actually work.

You were never "paying into the system" like it was some sort of retirement account. Every dime you "paid in" was immediately paid back out to people who needed it at the time. You were participating in what you would consider to be a socialist system.

Your payments were not put in a reserve account for your future need.

You are now happily and greedily sucking from the socialist tit with no shame whatsoever.

I am paying for your your current need.

I am paying for that Social Security check you get every month.

I paid for that care you got at the first hospital.

I paid for your transportation to the fancy hospital.

I paid for the extra special care that you received there.

I paid real money out of my paycheck, from my job, to keep you alive.

And I'm OK with that. I'm glad you're still alive. I'd rather spend my money to save your life than to kill people in other countries that don't pose any threat to me.

You, on the other hand, seem to begrudge every single penny taken from you to benefit your fellow man. I don't understand how your stinginess reflects any of your Christian values.

#4 I have always done everything I can to be productive at times working 3 full time jobs.

OK. Good for you. A full time job is 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

So 3 full time jobs is 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. Only sleeping on weekends? You want to re-characterize your productivity?

#5 I did not choose the hospital I went to. It was a long way from home and (except for the fact that it saved my life...which you obviously don't care a whit about...thank you very much for your compassion), I would not have chosen it.

I know you didn't choose it. But you also didn't say "I'm not entitled to that level of care because I can't pay for it. I refuse."

As I said before, I'm, glad you had access to life saving care. I think every American should have access to the very best health care that American science can provide.

The difference is, I'm willing to pay for your health care, but you aren't willing to pay for your fellow American's health care.

Do you, as a recent recipient of my hard earned money, not see any level of hypocrisy in your position?

#6. Your offense was your abject insensitivity to another human being's plight. Maybe you'll have one some day and someone will be insensitive to it. Thought you guys were all about sensitivity and all...guess I was wrong about that one.

Again, can you not see the hypocrisy in your own comments? You expect me to be sensitive to your health care crises while you and the rest of the right wing conservatives are completely insensitive to the health care crises faced by under-insured Americans.

You expect something from me that you aren't willing to extend to me.

#7 IBIKR: "Every post, and he posts daily." That's a lie. But you wrote it so it must be true...right?

That's between you and IBIKR. I don't have a dog in that fight.

But I hope, Jo Joe, that you see how this concept of democracy and open discourse works.

You express your ideas. I express my ideas. And people reading the exchange between us will be able to make up their own minds as to what they believe to be true.

Nothing needs to be deleted. Nobody needs to be banned from anything.

It's just a conversation. It's nothing to be afraid of.

Weekend fun: Ten tv characters I'll miss

This month tv fans bade farewell to several of their favourite shows as the regular television season came to an end. Some long-running heavy hitters like ER have ended their run, while relative newbies like Pushing Daises have been cancelled.

I don't know about you but this year I feel that too many great shows have gotten the axe. I know it's all about the ratings but judging by the way fans have been fighting to keep their shows on the air people aren't happy. Just because 10 million viewers don't tune in to watch a show every week, does that make it a failure? Thank God they reconsidered cancelling Chuck....

Anyhoo, many of my fave tv characters have been written off, in more ways than one. Here's my list of the ones I'll especially miss.


Denny Crane and Alan Shore - Boston Legal. The quirky legal drama Boston Legal had a roster of fun characters, but it was the bromance between Alan and Denny, especially during their road trips, that provided some of the shows finer moments. I thought this show would have been good for another season, but alas, no.


Sarah Connor and Cameron Phillips - Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. It goes to show you never know what will or won't be a hit. Given the success of the Terminator movie franchise, you would have thought a tv version whould have been a sure thing with viewers. Not so, and The Sarah Connor Chronicles was cancelled.

Lena Headley's Sarah and Summer Glau's Cameron were the high points of the reasonably good show, and I'll miss their uneasy "mother-daughter" relationship.


Tasha Mack - The Game. I know Derwin and Melanie are the stars of the show, but I'll miss the sassy, tough-talking Tasha Mack (played by Wendy Raquel Robinson on far left) the most. Even though The Game has been cancelled by the CW network, talks are on to parlay the comedy into an hour long dramady, possibly on BET. I'll be watching.


Rochelle, Julius and Chris - Everybody Hates Chris. It's not often black families are portrayed on tv, and positive black familes, even less. Although Chris and his family were far from the Cosbys, you had to love his mother's don't-mess-with-me attitude and his father's cheapness. Oh yeah and Chris was pretty cool, too.


Vic Mackey - The Shield. After seven seasons on FX, the gritty cop drama The Shield has come to an end. Although Michael Chiklis' Vic Mackey was a corrupt, twisted soul, the character was such a work of art I can't help but give him props. Mackey has left the Barn.


Michael Scofield - Prison Break. SPOILER ALERT!!! Whether you called him Fish, Pretty, Papi or Michael, the resident engineering genius on the hit show Prison Break will be universally missed. Thousands of fans were on twitter and various blogs crying their eyes out because he died in the season finale, denying him his deserved happy ending. But never fear, Scofield and the rest of the gang will be back in a DVD movie coming out in July.

Until then, thanks for the memories, Scofield.

Hello again

Hey, peoples. I know you all must have been wodering if I dropped off the face of the earth, but no, I'm still on terra firma.

The last few weeks have been tough with work, family duties and some personal losses. Even my pet dog whom we've had for years up and died on me so, what can I tell you. but, by the grace of God I'm back and I hope to be blogging more regularly again.

A lot has happened since I last blogged. We've had to face H1N1 virus fears, enjoyed a visit by US Attorney-General Eric Holder Jr. and cringed as Rihanna's naked booty was splashed all over the internet. I'm not going to rehash any of that since I'm sure you're all up to speed via the many blogs and websites in my roll.

The recession is still ticking along, but it appears as if it's business as usual here in Bim; people are still feteing hard and shopping up a storm. Are we living in a fool's paradise? Time will tell....

Ungrateful Hypocrite

I mentioned on Twitter the other day that I had been BANNED by yet another self righteous, right-wing blogger who thinks that being banned from their pitiful little blog is some sort of hardship for me.

This was the guy. "Jo Joe Politico".



This was the post I was responding to.

"I came home Thursday from the world's ritziest hospital, following my heart attacks (two of them...one Monday and one at the hospital Thursday morning - three stents in several coronary arteries).

It had wall to wall polished wood cabinets, a built in desk, draperies/sheers/verticles on the windows, high def. TV, a great staff and beds worse than an old Army cot.

I was sent there because none of the local hospitals had a surgeon who could do the proceedure STAT."

He deleted my comment so I can't quote from it verbatim.

My offense? I suggested to him that if we lived in the world of moral jeopardy he advocated; a world of unfettered, free market capitalism with no government regulation or interference, he might not have pulled through.

Because apparently, there are not enough people with his condition, in his area to make it profitable for a surgeon who could perform the procedure he needed to set up shop in a hospital close to him.

It's all about Supply and Demand, right?

You can't expect a surgeon to set up a money losing practice in a remote area just to save the occasional life! That's just stupid. Who would do that? That's crazy.

In modern right-wing economic terms, "Jo Joe Politico" should have been "allowed to fail". That would have driven people with his condition to move to areas where they could be adequately cared for based on pure market dynamics.

But instead, he was the oh-so-happy recipient of the medical equivalent of a Government Bail Out.

He wasn't entitled to it by market economics. But he got it anyway because he was, apparently, Too Big To Be Allowed To Fail. And because (in reality) saving lives is more important than economics.

Then he had the AUDACITY to brag about his luxurious "polished wood" accommodations and still find breath to complain about the comfort of his "worse than an old Army cot" bed.

When I suggested that his exuberance at still being alive might be at odds with his political and economic philosophy, well, he didn't fucking like that at all and he responded thusly:

"Xavier Onassis: What you have just proven is that your salutatory address was as hypocritical as they come. You came here for one reason and one reason only, and that was to spit venom at someone while he is down.

Sad to say, I am not down any longer.

I did not ask for any type of treatment at all, and am quite ready to die if need be. I have no fear or dread of death.

You are a crude, tasteless, mindless, cretan to use a situation like this to make some political statement.

[EDITOR: I suspect he meant 'cretin' i.e. an idiot, rather that Cretan, i.e. someone from the isle of Crete. But of course, that in no way reflects on the rigorous nature of his intellectual discipline. I'm just "nitpicking".]

You are hereby permanently disinvited to this blog [OH NOES!] for two irrevocable reasons: 1) You are crass and slimy and 2) I don't want you here.

That was pure guile and extreme hatred of the kind only EVER exhibited by the horrible, filthy leftists like you.

ALL future correspondence from you will be deleted...period.

TO THE REST OF YOU: Thank you for showing more humanity than XO has ever known. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

Feel very sorry for him, but do not expect to see him in my comment section any longer."

Lastly, let's take at whether my accuser "walks his walk". Is he a job-creating entrepreneur, fueling the economy with his financial genius? Or his he a drain on the economy?

"Lest you think I am one of the elite, consider whether you think earning $500.00 per month places me among the elite.

I also receive a small Social Security Income and Medicare benefits, into which I paid from every paycheck since 1965, plus a supplement policy which I pay out of my fairly rapidly dwindling savings."

In other words, "Jo Joe Politico" is sucking on the government tit while complaining that the tit exists. He is under the illusion that "Social Security" and "Medicare" are some sort of mythical "savings accounts" into which he paid over the years and can now justly withdraw upon need.

Huh uh, bubba. What you paid in was paid out in real time to folks who needed it at the time.

What you are drawing out now, is being paid in be me and people like me, who do not agree with your vision of America. We are supporting you with our taxes. The money that I earned through my hard work kept you alive when you were sick and unable to work. And I'm OK with that.

You, however, are not. There is a word for that.

Ungrateful hypocrite.

OK, that's 2 words. I'm just sayin'.

The Saga of the Rug

As those of you who follow me on Twitter know, I have been on a Holy Quest for a simple fucking area rug to go under my coffee table and in front of my couch (seen above).

I knew exactly what I wanted. A 4' x 6' rug with a border, in greens, browns and tans with some sort of leafy motif.

Yes, I know that I sound incredibly gay right now. Not that there's anything wrong with that, so fuck off.

The main purpose of getting a rug was less decorative than protective. Protective of this area right here.



Because I'm single, live alone, and can do whatever the fuck I want without being accountable to anyone (Ahahahahaha! Suck it married guys!), I am free to eat my meals on my leather couch (with built-in recliners) while enjoying splodey action shit with ZERO emotional content on my big screen, hi-def TV.

If it ain't got aliens, superheroes, spaceships, massive explosions, naked boobies or harpoon cannons in glorious Surround Sound, I'm probably not watching it.

Consequently, that little strip of carpet between the couch and the coffee table becomes a "high traffic" area.

All I really wanted was a cheap rug that would fit with my decor to serve as a crumb catcher so I wouldn't have to keep deep-shampooing my landlords carpet.

I went to Walmart, Kmart, the former Kmarts that were now Sears stores. I went to Hobby Lobby, Pottery Barn and Cargo Largo. I went to Home Depot and Lowes. I went to JC Penneys. World Market came the closest to what I was looking for, but it was too Asian.

It was finally the wisdom of @hoochimama that saved the day by reminding me that Target has rugs.

Hallelujah! Rug found, quest fulfilled, obsession banished!



Let me throw out a pre-emptive FUCK YOU to some of my more Neanderthal visitors. I'm confident enough in my masculinity to include some floral elements into my mostly manly decor. Your homophobic opinions mean nothing to me.



It fulfills it's functional purpose by protecting the high traffic area.



And it fits in perfectly with my overall theme.



Less than $60.00 for the rug. I'm guessing somewhere in the neighborhood of $7,000.00 in gas looking for it.

Fuck my life and thank you @hoochimama.

That is all.

Cowtown Ballroom...Sweet Jesus!

Just over a year ago I posted about Joe Heyen and Anthony Ladesich's in-the-works documentary about the old Cowtown Ballroom.

Well, the wait is over and their film is playing at The Tivoli in Westport. It's a really good movie and a great look back at a unique time that changed the world.

I'm pretty sure that someone in the movie said "A lot of the sixties happened in the 70's". That is so true.

Think about it. The Counter Culture that gets the Right Wing's panties in such a twist began with the Summer of Love in 1967.

This was the same year that saw the formation of Vietnam Veterans Against The War.

It wasn't rock & roll, it wasn't Elvis, it wasn't The Beatles. It was the fucking hippies. and the Vietnam vets who came back home and called bullshit on the war.

March of 1968, Bobby Kennedy is assassinated.

April of 1968, Martin Luther King is assassinated.

August of 1969, Woodstock.

All of that energy bled over into the early '70s. The last helicopter out of Saigon. Watergate.

What does all of this have to do with a documentary about a Midwest rock venue that was only in existence for a few years?

Everything!

Because Joe and Anthony didn't just produce a film about an ancient concert hall.

They captured what it was like to be a hippie in Kansas City. The head shops, Volker Park on Sunday afternoons, Larry Miller on KUDL FM, Underground Radio, The Westport Trucker (the progenitor of The Pitch), R. Crumb comics, Brewer & Shipley, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (with Steve Martin as the warm up act), the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Danny Cox.



And yes, the Cowtown Ballroom. Because it was the nexus of all that energy for just over 3 years.

The Flying Burrito Brothers
It's a Beautiful Day
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
Leo Kottke
Steve Miller
Frank Zappa
Savoy Brown
Poco
Alice Cooper
Freddie King
Foghat
Linda Ronstadt
Rory Gallagher
Ravi Shankar
Arlo Guthrie
Seals & Croft
B.B. King
Van Morrison

And that's just a sample.

I saw my first concert there. Captain Beefheart was the headliner. Kansas was the warm up. I was 18 years old.

Go see the movie. Buy the DVD.

It was the best 3 years of the 20th Century.

My Daughter's First Rock Fest?

My daughter, young Galadriel Tanqueray Onassis, is 15.

She really, REALLY wants to go to something called Vans Warped Tour '09.

She earned the $40 for her ticket via babysitting. Several of her friends are going with her.

But she is having a hissy fit over the fact that her mother and I are insisting that there must be a chaperon who is over 21 to act as the Responsible Adult.

She says she's 15 and we need to "cut the cord".

I say she's ONLY 15 and has never been to an all day rock fest in August with thousands of teens with bad judgement.

I don't want someone just dropping a bunch of 15-16 year old girls off in Bonner Springs, in early August, subject to heat stroke and all of the temptations that I know go on at those events without some adult supervision.

I also don't want some 16 year old who just got their license a month ago being the sole means of "safe" transportation to and from Independence to Bonner Springs.

My position so far is that I will go online and buy the ticket, I will take her $40, but I will reserve final judgement on whether or not she can go until it gets closer to the concert date and I know who she is going with, who is driving, and whether or not she has found a responsible adult to act as an escort.

What do you all think? Am I being too permissive by even considering allowing her to go? Or too over-protective by insisting on an adult chaperon?

One World

Was listening to pundits complaining about how folks in other states might have to bail out California.

Have heard others complain about higher courts bouncing our laws up against those of other nations.

Let me make this perfectly clear.

There is only one path to the survival of humans on his planet. At some point, we have to have a One World Government that can enforce laws and policies that benefit everyone, everywhere, while controlling and allocating worldwide resources equally for the benefit of all.

As long as we have a "Fuck you, I got mine, sucks to be you" culture, we will always have people who hate us and want to kill us! Duh!

And I've got news for you. If we continue down the path we are on, we will be the folks at he bottom of the ladder hating on India and China.

No one truly owns, anything. Ownership is a financial fabrication that doesn't actually exist in the real world.

This planet is a vast natural resource that can support every inhabitant at sustainable, expandable levels for many years to come. But only if we work as one people who value everyone else as much as we value ourselves.

Once we start exploiting off-planet energy and natural resources (solar power and asteroids), our survival as a species is limitless.

But only if we give up the idea that "these are our borders, these are our laws, be like us or go fuck yourselves".

We are all humans. We all live on one planet. We have to find a way that we can all have access to food, shelter, clean water, health care, security, freedom, opportunity, justice and equality.

I am seriously incapable of understanding how anyone cannot understand the truth in this.

But I want to know your thoughts. Tell me why I'm wrong.

This Can't Be Good

First of all, Kenny Ortega is remaking "Footloose".



Personally, I never saw any reason to make the original. Musicals suck ass.

Here is what happens in musicals. People are walking around, interacting, conversing, just like in real life. Telling a story. Then, all of a sudden, music swells from nowhere, people start singing, everyone knows all the words and the harmonies, everybody is performing complex, choreographed dance moves like they have been rehearsing together for months (because they fucking have), ever body poses with jazz hands in some big finish, and then they go back to acting all normal like that bullshit never happened!

I fucking hate musicals.

Mind you, I can suspend my disbelief to allow for faster than light travel, sexy green-skinned aliens, giant gorillas, zombies, and super heroes.

But people breaking into song and dance for no reason? I call shenanigans.

But wait. It gets worse.

The person they have chosen to play the Kevin Bacon role in the remake of Footloose is a guy (that I've never heard of) named Chace Crawford.

Here is the problem. Ever heard of a little thing called "The Oracle of Bacon"? It is an ancient Internets site based on the theory of Six Degrees of Separation.



You put in the name of any actor and it will calculate how many degrees of separation there are between that actor and Kevin Bacon.

Go to the Oracle and type in Chace Crawford. There are only two degrees of separation between him and Kevin Bacon RIGHT NOW! What will happen when Chace Crawford plays Kevin Bacon in a movie they have both been in?

I'll tell you what will fucking happen! There will be ZERO degrees of separation between Chace Crawford and Kevin Bacon, the two celebrity's internet data will merge, forming a cybernetic singularity. That's right. A Black Hole that will suck up all the data on he internet. No more Google. No more YouTube. And in case you haven't figured it out yet, NO MORE INTERNET PORN!

Not even that crappy, violent, Russian pornography will be able to escape the infinite cyber-suckage that will result if we allow this abomination to move forward.

Forget worrying about the particle accelerator at CERN creating a mini black hole that will swallow he entire Earth! This is WAY more dangerous! Did you not here the part about NO MORE PORN?!

Email your Congressman! Rick Roll Kenny Ortega! March in the streets! Get Clay Chastain out there to gather fucking signatures! Do not let this happen!

I'm counting on you to keep my free internet porn coming! Don't let me down.

New Local Literary Blogger

Sriprae P. McDonald

"Born in Bangkok , Thailand to a Thai mother and American father, Sriprae has lived most of her life in the United States . A graduate of UMKC with a degree in English/Creative Writing, “Cedric” is her debut novel. She currently resides in Texas."

Her blog: The Realm of Imagination.

Her Profile: Sriprae.

Her Publishing Company: Aubuchon Publishing.

Her online novel: "Cedric"

A sample of her poetry.

Prisms

Wings

Shackled

Support local writers and give her a read.

The Three R's - Respect, Repair and Re-engagement.

When Dubya, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Addison & Gonzalez and the rest of the Republican Retards were in charge, I posted a lot of angry rants. Because I knew they were destroying everything this country purported to stand for.

And I was right.

They took us from being what they themselves describe as "a shining city upon a hill" to being Minas Morgul.

But when their shit blew up in their face and a majority of the American people elected Barack Obama President and swept Democrats into control of Congress, I breathed a huge sigh of relief and my anger was dissipated.

I am now much calmer and more relaxed. The President is doing everything I expected him to do at the rapid pace that I hoped.

He is working as hard and as fast as he can to completely reverse everything Bush, Jr. put in place and he is going onto the world stage and saying LOUDLY that the past 8 years were an aberration for which we are deeply sorry.

The Bush Years do NOT represent the ideals and aspirations of America.

I have been so happy, that I haven't felt compelled to get involved in political matters at any level.

Local politics? I could give a shit.

There are tons of local blogs who take themselves WAAY too seriously and who seem to be engaged in some political circle-jerk, where the goal is to see who can attract the most anonymous trolls.

Fuck. That.

I'm content to let the amateur, power-player wannabes feed their egos in their tiny, local, fishbowl. It amuses me to watch them try to convince everyone that they are "kind of a big deal" and that anyone should care what they think.

National politics? It's over. We won.

Republicans, conservatives, evangelicals and right-wingers are completely powerless. They are a bunch of limp dicks. And they will be for at least 4 years, probably for 8 years, and quite likely forever.

The more they fume, and spew, and foam at the mouth in righteous indignation, the happier I am.

Because it reinforces the fact that the country is reversing the damaging policies of the past and forging a new direction of Respect, Repair and Re-engagement.

America is back!

Nazi Nipples

This is a very disturbing image.

WWII era Nazi, John Demjanjuk, charged with 29,000 counts of accessory to murder as a guard at the Sobibor death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, in a wife-beater shirt with a nipple popped out.

Only one person can be responsible for this photograph.

A More Thoughtful Star Trek Review

My friend Poodles has her review posted on her blog.

I left a lengthy comment on her post which I realized was turning into a post in it's own right, so I'm copying it here.

What really coalesced my thoughts after seeing Star Trek was a particular comment she made in her review.

“I LOVED how they made it into something fresh, new and malleable.”

I think "malleable" is exactly right. The premise of the movie, the choices they made, the fresh new cast, the hand off, all serve to give them freedom.

They can choose to pay homage to the past whenever they want, wherever it fits, and wherever it will make the hardcore Trek Fans cheer.

But they aren't weighed down by 45 years of TV, movie and paper canon.

That's what killed the "old Trek". Like the Soviet Union, it collapsed under the weight of its own bureaucracy.

Writers, actors, directors, set designers, make up artists, costume designers...everyone was constrained by decades of consensual reality that dictated how things had to be. It stifled the imagination. Anything new damn well better be consistent with All That Had Gone Before or there would be hell to pay.

Not anymore. It's a new Star Trek universe and the future is wide open. For the first time in 45 years, movie makers truly are free to "go where no one has gone before".

It's all very exciting.

Oh, one last thing.

Uhura?



Yeah, I'd tap that.

This is just a test. Testing an application that purportes to allow me to make blog posts from my cell phone. Curious as to what that looks like.

A Tale of Two Shuttles

Two space shuttles sitting on the pad at the same time is a rare sight. But the reason behind this picture is the stuff of summer blockbusters.

Sometime tomorrow afternoon, the shuttle Atlantis will lift off on the last mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. This is a mission that was actually taken off the flight schedule after Columbia tragedy because it was deemed too risky.

Every shuttle mission since Columbia has been to the International Space Station. The shuttle always rotates in front of a view port before docking and high resolution pictures are taken of the heat shield tiles and leading edges to inspect for damage.

If the shuttle were damaged and unable to survive reentry, the shuttle crew could just camp out in the ISS, for months if necessary, until a ship could be launched to bring them back.

The HST orbits the Earth about 100 miles higher than the International Space Station. The space shuttles do not have enough fuel on board for the change in orbit that would be necessary to get to the ISS from the HST. If the shuttle sustained damage during lift off and were unable to come home, they would be stranded in space. Consumables such as food and breathable air would be gone in a matter of days. A couple of weeks at most.

That's where the second shuttle, Endeavour comes in. Should the worst happen, Endeavour would be launched in a matter of days to rendezvous with Atlantis. The last time the United States has had two manned space craft flying in close formation was during the Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 missions in 1965.


But during those missions, all they did was rendezvous, maneuver around each other, take some pictures, and go their separate ways.

This is very, very different.

As I understand it, the plan would be for Endeavour to come close enough to Atlantis that Endeavor could reach out with its robotic arm and latch onto Atlantis. At this point they would be facing each other cargo bay to cargo bay.



A tether would be strung between the two shuttles. Over the course of 2-3 days, using extra spacesuits carried up by Endeavour, the Atlantis astronauts would pull themselves, hand over hand, 350 miles up, over to Endeavour.

Before leaving the Atlantis, the commander would configure the flight deck so that it could be controlled from the ground.

After the Atlantis astronauts were safely aboard the Endeavour, ground controllers would put the Atlantis on a de-orbit burn that would destroy the Atlantis over the ocean.

I hope it doesn't come to that. But if it does, it will be high drama that will capture the world's attention, with a guarantee of a big budget movie to follow.

Star Trek Rebooted

Today I had the pleasure of seeing the new Star Trek on an IMAX screen with Average Jane and her hubby, Logtar, Betizuka, Michelle & Eric, and of course A Librarian, or as I like to think of her, The Librarian.

Here is my in depth review.

It was fucking awesome. Absolutely perfect. I can't think of a single thing that J.J. Abrams could have done better.

Review over.

Oh sure, there were certain plot elements that a little critical thinking could shoot huge, gaping holes through. But after you have suspended your disbelief regarding warp drives, time travel and "red matter", plot inconsistencies seem rather trivial.

I was particularly pleased to see the influence of Caroline Porco who served as Science Advisor to the movie.


Her touch was most evident in the scene when the Enterprise emerges from the clouds of Titan and you see Saturn and it's rings in the background. That is no visual effects directors artistic version of what they think Saturn might look like. That was a high resolution Cassini image, in natural light, with no enhancements. If you were in the Saturn system, that is what Saturn would look like to your eyes. But in high resolution on a fucking IMAX screen!


But the important thing is, Star Trek is back. It's new, it's fresh and it's fun. The old crew of Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Bones, Sulu, Uhuru and Chekov, but with a new young cast that won't keep the franchise alive, but bring it back from the dead.


The audience actually applauded as the ending credits rolled. It is that kind of movie.

We'll know the reboot has run it's course when we see Chris Pine doing nostalgic reboot of T.J. Hooker.

Model Rocketry On Steroids

"SnapShot™
Snap fantastic aerial photos from 500 feet (152 m) high when you launch the Estes SnapShot! This RTF (Ready to Fly) rocket and camera comes from the factory fully assembled and ready to launch. The Kodak 110 color print photos are taken during the ejection stage of the flight, meaning you'll literally get sky-high photos of the park, your house or other great locations! After it safely lands using a 12 inch (30 cm) pre-assembled parachute, you can get your film developed. Be prepared to be amazed at the aerial view of your launch site!"

It probably won't surprise anyone to learn that a geeky space nerd like me built and flew model rockets when I was a kid.

For those of you unfamiliar with the hobby, here is a very brief (by my verbose standards) primer.


You have a cardboard tube with a plastic nosecone and plastic fins. The nosecone and the cardboard tube are connected by a rubber band (shock cord). Attached to the base of the nosecone is a parachute.

As shown in the diagram above, there is some fireproof "recovery wadding" that sits atop the rocket engine in the cardboard tube.

The rocket engine is solid propellant and they come in various sizes and thrusts. They are cylindrical cartridges with funnel-shaped bottoms. Much like some of my ex-girlfriends. But that's another story.


The rocket is launched via a metal igniter that looks like "bobby pin" inserted into the base of the rocket motor and attached by two wires to a battery powered launch controller.


When the controller is armed and the ignition switch is flipped, a current runs down the cord to the igniter, which lights the motor.


The motor burns from the bottom up until the rocket reaches its maximum height. The last thing the rocket motor does before burning out completely, is to set off that small explosive charge at the top.

This propels the recovery wadding towards the nosecone, ejecting it from the cardboard tube, trailing the attached parachute.

Since the nosecone is attached to the rocket body by a rubber band, the entire assembley floats back to the ground to be recovered, reassembled, and launched another day.

It generally goes something like this.

Dylan's model rocket


But check out this guy.

He built a 1/10th scale, 1/10th thrust model of the most powerful rocket in the world, the Saturn V.




Here is the actual launch.



Amazing! I love the way it lands upright, on it's tail fins! Absolutely incredible!

Here is a video of the real thing. Apollo 11 lifting off to send the very first humans to ever set foot on the moon.



The white chunks you see falling are pieces of ice. The Saturn V was fueled by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. The only way to get gases like oxygen and hydrogen to become liquid is to get them really, really cold. Whatever containeryou have them in (the rocket) will tend to form ice on the outside from moisture condensation.

Amazing stuff.

Then the first stage burns out and the second stage ignites in a HUGE display!



This, people, is the "Rocket Science" you have heard so much about.

Apologies

Hey, peoples. Many, many many apologies for neglecting you the past weeks but the day job has been brutal. I'll be back soon, as soon as I get some breathing space.

Peace to all.

Disasters in Dating Part 5

For those of you who don't know, online dating sites are filled with bogus profiles.

"WHAAAAT??? Say it ain't so, XO!"

It's very fucking much so, Virginia, you gullible little slut.

The most benign form of bogus profile is the mildly dishonest profile. I'm not packing "a few extra pounds", I'm "average". I'm not "overweight", I'm packing "a few extra pounds". Smoker? "I'll tell you later". Want kids? "I'll tell you later".

These folks are mostly harmless.

Then you have the pocket pickers.

You create a profile on a singles sight for free which gives you a certain level of access and communication with other members. Then you start getting "emails" from other "members" at the higher level of membership and the only way you can respond to them is to upgrade to a paid membership.

BOOOOGUS! I call shenanigans!

I've been the recipient of such emails from women allegedly in their 20's or 30's, accompanied by incredibly hot pictures, containing the most generic compliments imaginable, and promising all manner of hedonistic enticement.

I'm not an idiot. This ain't my first rodeo. There are only two possibilities. Bogus profiles created by the website to entice me to up my membership, or hookers.

Umm, NO! Not responding to either one, but thanks for stopping by. GFY.

But today, I spotted a new variety. I'm gonna give it to you in reverse order. I received an email and was compelled to click through to the profile. Here is the profile.

*****

People often use words like vibrant, dynamic, and outgoing when describing me. I consider myself to be an intelligent, personable, attractive woman who enjoys meeting others--especially those possessing that same zest and passion for living that I have made a part of who I am everyday. I am well traveled and can enjoy a conversation with people from all walks of life and all interests. I value intelligence, wit and humor. I'm not much into sports, but would rather spend the afternoon walking around one of the lakes, seeing a movie, or taking in the arts. I am fortunate to have a large circle of friendly acquaintances and a close circle of family and trusted friends. I am not here looking for a soulmate or a spouse, but rather to meet new people, make some new friends, and possibly find a special someone to make new memories with, share new adventures and dream big dreams. I remain a hopeful romantic. Let's talk and explore the possibilities!

*****

Well that was a well written, articulate profile. No picture attached to it, but still, not bad.

Here is the email that this articulate and well spoken woman allegedly sent me that compelled me to learn more about her. Other than blanking he email address, it has not been edited or enhanced. This is exactly he way I received it.

"Xavier, Hello!

I to write to you yahoo,have casually encountered on your photo and it was pleasant to me,I read your history and I even have smiled,I wish to have with you acquaintance and I hope,that you here are with the same purpose-to find the friend. Write to me ##########@yahoo.com I attractive,but the lonely girl and I search for acquaintances. "

I'm guessing she has an uncle in Nigeria who is a government official who needs my assistance getting funds out of the country and only needs my account number to transfer the money.

I guess I'll find out Thursday over lunch. Wish me luck!

It's Really, Really Dead

Back in November I posted about the apparent demise of my cherished Dell XPS super computer.


At the time, I blamed a Microsoft Service Pack download and was milking their customer support for all it was worth. When was the last time you had a Microsoft technical resource from India spending hours on the phone with you trying to solve your problems?


I was absolutely giddy with geeky infatuation.

But as it turned out, Microsoft was not to blame. I was.

A CSI-like post mortem by the awesome logtar made an initial assessment that I had cooked my motherboard via suffocation. I had allowed so much dust to clog the ventilation that the computer overheated and fried the capacitors.

What I needed to bring my dead XPS back as Frankenputer was a new motherboard.

After much procrastination on my part facilitated by the charitable donation of a replacement computer by my friend Kanga, I finally ordered and received a new motherboard!

Arrangements were made for myself and logtar to converge on Kanga and MySpyderWeb's casa today to loft the kites, flip the switches, culminating in a frenzied "IT'S ALIVE" by yours truly.



But, alas, it was not to be.

Due to Dell douchebaggery, there was no way to connect the "On" switch from the XPS case to the non-Dell motherboard and actually turn the computer on.

So I now have a motherboard to return to Tiger Direct, some components to sell on E-Bay, some components to cannibalize for re-use, and some components to safely recycle.

I also have the memory of an awesome afternoon spent in the company of friends.

We capped things off by swapping comic books and enjoying a Watchmen related DVD containing "Under The Hood"



and "Tales of the Black Freighter"

It was a good Saturday.