First Planet On The Left

Did you see it? Were you worried about it? Did you duck or take shelter?

*What the hell is he talking about?*

What I'm talking about is the Armageddon-like headline I saw earlier this week: Mystery object to whizz by Earth Wednesday.

Yikes! Are you kidding me? The story described a 33 to 50 foot object that was going to come within 80,000 miles of Earth.

33 to 50 feet? 80,000 miles? Okay, not exactly Armageddon. We can stop humming Leaving On A Jet Plane anytime soon.

But the disturbing thing about this is scientists were unable to figure out what the heck this object was. Was it an asteroid? Piece of space junk? Iran's first nuclear missile?

I've got a pretty good idea. In a related story this week it was reported that NASA was having problems with the space station's water recycler. You know the thing that processes astronaut's urine into drinking water? It seems the urine was clogging up the recycler. Well, duh.

Intergalactic plumber needed?

And you know what? I think the NASA engineers got so frustrated they just pitched it. How else do you explain a headline about an object "whizzing" near Earth. Aw, c'mon. Didn't you see that one coming?

Mmmm...yummy!

My Back Pages - November

I know, I know, I know I should have reported in before now. But sometimes real life just gets in the way. I attempted 5 books in November. I say attempted because I slapped a big DNF (did not finish) on Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. I just can't seem to get into this guy. It's the second or third of his I've given up on, Not so the other four, starting with a biography of Stephen Stills called Change Partners. This followed by a hilarious biography of the guy responsible for National Lampoon called A Stupid and Futile Gesture - How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever. I ended the month reading yet another biography, this one of the man behind Rolling Stone magazine,. It was called Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine. A fascinating read. So last month I hit the magic number 50 I'd imagined for myself back in January. If I roll this month into my yearly total I'm at 54 books. And I still hav...

The Polka Dot Door

A long time ago, when I was 22, my first child was born. That kid grew up on a little Canadian kid's show called Polka Dot Door, produced by the TV Ontario network. And Dad, more often than not, sat through those shows with his little one. Nine or so years later when a brother, and a year after that when a sister came along number one son was moving on to Knight Rider and The Dukes of Hazzard. But there was a nice overlap where his siblings picked up where he had left off with Polka Dot Door. And Dad was right there to welcome them. So you're looking at a Polka Dot Door veteran. The show began in 1971 and ran to 1993. I didn't watch the full run but I did get in my fair share. The formula was pretty simple. A young male and female host, which seemed to change every week, sang songs, told stories, made crafts and generally did their best stimulate little brains. The show opened as follows... Imagination Day! Oh boy! ...

30 Days of Photos III #4 Sour

Check out Ziva's Inferno for the rest of today's photos.

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