mars bar

well, isn't this exciting...



Mars: The Red Planet is about to be spectacular!

This month, the Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history; the next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars, and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be, next to the moon, the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9, and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide at a modest 75-power magnification. Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye, and will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August, it will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

By the end of August, when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m.: that's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.

oh con ed...

got this forward at work today. (what's with my forwards lately?!) send it to ever last person you know in the new york area...! (don't mind the grammar.) i had a ball in '04, like previously mentioned, walked home with the igloodweller (who is with igloodweller, so to speak), and had 24 hours of pure bliss and quiet... aaahhh that was a good day...

Remember the Blackout of 2004?

Barring the inconvenience of not being able to get home or walking for miles, wasn’t it a great time? It was a day no one will forget! I remember walking through Times Square and for the only time ever it was dark! Every person in Manhattan had to stop working and just kick back. Random coworkers who normally don’t even talk to each other were offering couches to sleep on, getting drunk together, and just lending a helping hand. For the first time all of wall street all the business execs couldn’t check their stock or email and had no choice but to relax. Everyone had to pass time. And what better way to pass time than drink some beer with some random coworkers or friends in the area.

ConEd is now asking all buildings in New York City to conserve energy by closing unnecessary lights and lower air conditions and any excessive energy consumption that isn’t necessary. It is obvious that if this request isn’t met we will be hit with another blackout that may be as large and may affect us the same way it did in 2004. That means we can get Friday off! So plug in everything you can at work and if we all combine our forces we will have an extra three day weekend! From the morning of Thursday August 2nd use as much energy as possible and let’s take out ConEd. Just make sure you don’t do any grocery shopping today.

and i thought crabs were the problem...

ok, not THOSE crabs... the water kind... recall posts last summer about how one little bastard got me pretty good and i have the scar on my ankle to show it. this summer, the war seems to be me and the jellyfish. those little bastards! in the space of, oh, saturday, i got hit by it/them no fewer than seven times. and while six of the seven weren't SO bad, the one on my left shin smarted for about four or five hours. it's ok, they'll get theirs, they do every august when the wash up on shore and i mock their semi-lifeless bodies. if i can, i kick them back to the ocean, live and let live, right? no. this time it's personal.

big daddy here got a ton o' sun this weekend, despite wearing spf 1000, and i have to say i think i look pretty nifty. nothing says summer like the beach hangover of a suntan. saturday was filled with boating, beer from about 11a until 3a the following day, and a ton of people. the party that night was right nice, but it was totally with the cool kids from high school... i was waiting for the cheerleader and the football jock to hook up, but it didn't happen. there was, however, the mafia couple and the token 1. haus frau, 2. sci fi geek (but not e.i.c.'s), 3. stoner, 4. the other stoner, 5. u.e.s. deb (sans froufrou yip yip little white fluffy dog, which i know was a doggie day care back on the u.e.s.), 6. her whipped unich (sp?) of a bf, and 7. the ambiguously gay homophobe. she was fun, was most concerned with not getting the 'gay' double espresso vodka for the party, because she didn't want the drinks to be 'gay.' sweetie, the only thing gayer at the party than me was, well, did you plan you shirt, belt, and flip flops to match like i?

riiight.

all in all, excellent weekend, sans the jf. who knows what this weekend will bring, perhaps a repeat, who knows. one thing is for certain, with my afternoon runs and weekends in the sun, big daddy here is well on his way to browndom. i love the summer...

and i thought the crabs were the problem...

ok, not THOSE crabs... the water kind... recall posts last summer about how one little bastard got me pretty good and i have the scar on my ankle to show it. this summer, the war seems to be me and the jellyfish. those little bastards! in the space of, oh, saturday, i got hit by it/them no fewer than seven times. and while six of the seven weren't SO bad, the one on my left shin smarted for about four or five hours. it's ok, they'll get theirs, they do every august when the wash up on shore and i mock their semi-lifeless bodies. if i can, i kick them back to the ocean, live and let live, right? no. this time it's personal.

big daddy here got a ton o' sun this weekend, despite wearing spf 1000, and i have to say i think i look pretty nifty. nothing says summer like the beach hangover of a suntan. saturday was filled with boating, beer from about 11a until 3a the following day, and a ton of people. the party that night was right nice, but it was totally with the cool kids from high school... i was waiting for the cheerleader and the football jock to hook up, but it didn't happen. there was, however, the mafia couple and the token 1. haus frau, 2. sci fi geek (but not e.i.c.'s), 3. stoner, 4. the other stoner, 5. u.e.s. deb (sans froufrou yip yip little white fluffy dog, which i know was a doggie day care back on the u.e.s.), 6. her whipped unich (sp?) of a bf, and 7. the ambiguously gay homophobe. she was fun, was most concerned with not getting the 'gay' double espresso vodka for the party, because she didn't want the drinks to be 'gay.' sweetie, the only thing gayer at the party than me was, well, did you plan you shirt, belt, and flip flops to match like i?

riiight.

all in all, excellent weekend, sans the jf. who knows what this weekend will bring, perhaps a repeat, who knows. one thing is for certain, with my afternoon runs and weekends in the sun, big daddy here is well on his way to browndom. i love the summer...