Freedom is Slavery

It's like a Black Fly in your Chardonnay. But where I'm from, a dead Black Fly in your wine is one less bug that will bite you, so, yay!

Ironic, yeah?

Bush Originals

I'm sure you've seen the kinda creepy paintings of W in the bath and shower by now, painted by W himself. Well, look again!

I'm impressed, honestly, for the effort. And I don't think they're that bad - they're not masterpieces, but I'd hang 'em on my wall if my kid painted them - well, not these, actually. Kinda creepy. Like W has to wash off all the blood on his hands, but it never washes out! But in a far happier theme:

Behold, Bush originals, ready for the gallery - and if I owned an art gallery I'd totally exhibit them, unironically. Let the protestors bring the irony (and $$$).

The artist himself with some new pieces - look at the cute puppies! And W looks so happy. Good for him! Art is its own reward.

I'll give W some more credit - he's mostly kept out of the limelight. He could have had a disastrous role if he had played into the Tea Party anger. But no, relatively classy as hell. So, despite all the horrors and terrors of his two terms, despite his loathsome supporters (an unironic bumper sticker above), I say to you W: Enjoy your painting!

Begin the Begin

This was the picture in my first ever post on this olde blog, so many (4.5) years ago. I post it again because it fits the theme, it's awesome, and as a symbol of the new year.

Opportunity spotted this almost pure iron/nickel meteorite near its landing spot, and so dubbed "Heat Shield Rock" by NASA wags. Lame. But the meteorite itself is incredible - consider that iron meteorites are far, far rarer than stony meteorites, for the simple reason that an iron meteorite only comes from one place: The core of a differentiated planet. This planet of course was destroyed, a small piece of its core sits on the surface of Mars, right beside Opportunity. The odds!

Longtime fellow redshirts might recall that I have a bit of a love affair with Iron - the chemical substance. Fe 26, yo. It is only created in one place - a star. Either in the core of a huge star and as that happens, the star soon explodes, spreading the Iron hither and yon. In that explosion even more Iron is created. And every bit of Iron you know of - including the Iron in your blood (think about that, man) - came from an exploding star. This Iron now scattered to the four corners coalesced with clouds of hydrogen and helium and other gases, which if lucky began spinning fast enough to create a new star, with new planets - all of which will have Iron cores. Iron lies at the root of all creation, and destruction.

For it's true! Stars happily chug along creating all the elements up to Iron, glowing and casting their life giving light across space, and onto many, many exoplanets and exomoons, but then as soon as a star produces Iron in its core, it's doomed. So Iron is the end of the fusion line, and literally poison to stars. And yet, on the other side of the scale, all the higher number Elements - like gold, silver, plutonium, uranium, etc - all decay, over time, to Iron, and in so doing cease being radioactive. In fact, a definition of "radioactive": anything higher than Iron on the Periodic Table. This decay will take trillions of years, but eventually there will be a time when all higher elements have decayed to Iron, and lo, that will truly be the Iron Age.

Iron is literally - and figuratively - the balance point of creation, of our very reality. Everything we know of is made up from Elements (which in turn are made up of combinations of electrons, neutrons, and protons, which in turn are made up of combinations of quarks, which in turn, current theory posits but has not proven, are made up of combinations of preons, and I'm sure there's some other turn to be discovered in the future), and Iron sits in supreme harmony among them, destroyer and creator, ultimately, of all.

Yay, Iron!

Also, kudos to you Opportunity - you rule. But let's also pour one out for Spirit:

NASA lied to the rovers, of course, the cold hearted bastids.

Bonus Spirit pic, snapped 3/8/04:

Earth, as seen from Mars by Spirit. I'm on "Team Spirit" in case you couldn't tell. Opportunity's awesome and all, but too obsessed with being cool and down with the "in crowd". Spirit would talk to goths, for example. Also understands mortality, as any good redshirt should.

And so with that, I begin again. As we all do, every day. But some days more so than others.

Baked for you

It's a vanilla creme filling, so you know.

For the Internet connoisseur. And the apple pie lover.

Have it your way, Satanist. Ha!

Built on Blood

The Colosseum, a Roman masterpiece. Used for Gladiatorial combat - men killing other men, most times one on one, sometimes with dozens of men fighting. Heck, the Romans flooded the Colosseum and used miniature war ships to have naval battle for the crowds. And it was all about the crowds - bread and circuses. The sport of men killing men was enjoyed for hundreds of years. How many died for this sport? How many more cheered? The Colosseum had an occupancy rate of 50,000. There were gladiatorial arenas all over the Republic/Empire, in every nook and corner. It was the NFL of the Roman era. Consider this when reading of the Spartacus rebellion - he was a gladiatorial superstar, leading a rebellion against the ruling order. Also remember that 40% of the population was enslaved. Slavery sucks, and though true slavery has been banned worldwide (above board), are we not all wage slaves? Forced to work in a system that enforces compliance?

Also too, tooth art rules. And as for bonus rulage, here's the Ludus from Spartacus, training ground of Gladiators:

When I win the MegaPowerBucksBall I shall build a proper Roman villa, with walled yet open garden areas within the space. Roman villas rule.

"Spartacus" employs the "Upstairs/downstairs" trope to the max. Downstairs, as you can see - beside the sheer cliff - is the slaves quarters, and it's grim and brutal. Above is the Dominus' level, and it's open and airy and beautiful, filled with pools, pillars, and marble halls lined with busts. Upstairs for the Master, downstairs for the slave. Is it not still so, in aggregate?