Sins of our Mothers

Fact: Birds raised in cigarette butt nests are 78% more likely to smoke as adult birds.

Home is where you make it

Fun fact to know and share: Birds that build nests using cigarette butts have much healthier chicks. The reason being lack of parasites, as no mite or tick dares cross the chemical monstrosity that is butt nest.

Does it hurt the birds? Studies so far say not at all, but the opposite - cigarettes help birds live healthier lives.

Tiny Worlds

Behold Saturn in her absolute magnificence. There are much larger pictures available on the Internet, fans, than here. Seek them out if you need a new desktop.

Look just outside Saturn's brightest inner rings at 9:15 o'clock  - there is a white dot. That white dot is Earth, and that dot contains our entire species, now, then, and seemingly forever.

We regress, while we know such wonders await us.


Blame Republicans.

A Storm on Saturn

In Saturn's North Pole sits a spinning red storm, whose outer edges form an octagon. As seen here by our friend, Cassini. A close up:

It looks like fire but it's not fire, because there's nothing to burn. Some combination of water and ammonia and other gases, each reflecting light differently, giving us color:

Amazing color. Cassini took this photo while stoned, for the record.

Cassini

That "star" you see in the middle right is actually Earth. Our world, from Cassini.

Cassini is currently cruising around Saturn, taking it all in.

Cassini is one of mankind's greatest achievements, on par with the pyramids etc. And I mean that both ironically and unironically.

In search of color in space

Not my shot - I wish. I've been looking for the Northern Lights for years, but never caught a glimpse. I'm pretty far North, but not far enough. I might have to travel to Iceland one day to remedy this - seeing colors dance across the sky is the kind of religious experience I want to try.


That's the ISS streaking overhead, with 6 people on board living and working in space. And here's what the Northern Lights look like from the ISS:

As you can see, the Northern Lights are a thin band of radiation at the edge of space. This is actual solar matter that has slammed into Earth's magnetosphere and spiraled down towards the Poles, producing the lights as the solar matter strikes the highest portions of the atmosphere.

Magic!

Just another Burj

You're yesterday's news, Burj al Arab.

Such is the fate of most Gulf buildings within a few short years. Spectacular has beens.

Now we're even

You might be surprised how common this attitude is among a certain percentage of Americans.

Or, you might not.

Mecca Vegas

Mecca in 1917. A world ago, as that world was directly connected to 2000 years and more of history. Whereas what's happened since is brand new.

Decadence. Luxurious wealth. Super technology. Welcome to Mecca 2013.

I'm sure the construction you see on the right has come far closer to completion since this picture was taken, if you can imagine it - another gaudy tower rising high in the sky.

There's malls in that big building, by the way. Shopping, at Mecca.

Tower Truths

I owe much to this tower, this Empire State Building. If not for it, I would not be in New Gondolin. So here's to you, the Original Tower (OT):

LADEE to space. To the moon, in fact.

Flying on Sunshine

A real pic, of a plane flying in front of a solar observation.

Behold the sun.

It's like Van Gogh made the basic unit of our existence - stars.

Solar fares

A real picture, of the transit of Venus across the sun, and a plane that got caught between the Moon and New York City.

Eyes everywhere

Soon enough every where will be under the all seeing eye and what happens then? When men in suits have video of everyone at all times?


We enter the new age soon enough, fellow humans.

There has been an error

An error of some sort was required to create everything you see. For, there was matter and antimatter, and theoretically these two should cancel each other out, and yet they do not. By like 0.000001% for reference. But that 0.000001% was enough to create our entire Universe. Every star, every galaxy, every black hole, the sum remainder of an unfinished math set.

Imperfection is the source of Creation.

This being true, should we judge those who make mistakes? Or systems that crash?

Like this digital billboard with a Windows error in the fog?

Blue Screens

Even the Enterprise had a memory dump now and then. Speaking of, RIP, Tasha Yar.

You left the cast too soon.

Shields at 33%

There's also small boulders in the exploding consoles.

Dance now, for tomorrow you die

Neelix knew what was what. You could shake off this mortal coil in just a few moments, so dance while you can. Laugh while you can. Appreciate classic 90's sci-fi, if you can.

In the event of brain worms

Phase yourself, bro. Better this death than becoming a mindless zombie at the mercy of malicious brain worms.

The Most Dangerous Animal

Super fat gun owning Americans are pretty dangerous - watch out, world!

Would you like to play a game?

Resistance is

Sexy! Like sexbots aren't inevitable. And so ethically gray!

Not logical

As Data's emotion chip continued to degrade, he took up risky behaviors in the desperate search for more intense emotions.

What is "real"?

Who's to say my love for this RealDoll is not equal to your love for another person? Hmm?