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Category Archives: Astronomy
1994: Valeri Polyakov leaves for Mir
Despite the Russians being demonized for their dictator’s invasion of Ukraine, we should not poo poo on its people’s pretty awesome accomplishments in moving the whole human race forward in Science nor Space Travel. On this day Dr. Polyakov went … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, History, Science & Technology
Tagged Nineties, Space Exploration
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1963: The first cat in space!
Last week, I forgot to write about the first feline who went to space after a dog and I figure a couple chimps or monkeys. The kitty’s name was Félicette, one of many strays rounded up from Paris and drafted … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Biology, Cats, History, Physics, Science & Technology
Tagged Caturday, French, Sixties, Space Exploration
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Blue Moon tomorrow!
No, no, not the tasty beer that’s a decent surrogate when I cannot get Celis White. It’s the uncommon event of when we have two full moons in the same month. One day I’ll get off my butt to find … Continue reading
Carry on, another near miss and Michael Bay fodder
Can’t believe this hasn’t made the rounds via Social Media nor the headlines for news updates. As per the NPR story, the asteroid will pass tonight, missing the earth (and moon) by thousands of miles. I think NPR was on … Continue reading
The Earth’s core is doing just fine
You may have heard some news story(ies) going around about how the Earth’s core/center has stopped spinning or rotating. As always, the COM has it all wrong since they’re not very savvy on Science; we can thank the greedy hedge … Continue reading
Fall ’22 has arrived!
For Austin, it means we’ll only be somewhat, unbearably hot. Nah! I will never trade it in for Midwestern Winters and I say it’s practice for being accustomed to the world being that horrific +3-4° C higher than it used … Continue reading
RIP Dr. Frank Drake
Dr. Frank Drake passed away last Friday and he’s pretty famous to me and to many in Astronomy circles, namely for his equation that postulates the possibility of life on other planets in our galaxy. Translated into English or layman’s … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Science & Technology
Tagged Celebrity Obituary, Seventies, Sixties
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1972: First Leap Second added to UTC system
We must be getting better at this because I haven’t seen warnings at work about this happening in a some years. All our computers, phones, tablets, GPS systems and whatever need to know the exact time down to probably millionths of … Continue reading
My arguments about DST got partial traction!
Well…if you read the article from the most trusted publication these days, The Guardian, it seems the US Senate is oddly in agreement to making DST permanent, which I think it should be. As depressing as it is getting up and … Continue reading
How Daylight Savings Time feels for about two weeks
It’s baaaaaack! The idiocy of us setting our clocks forward to “save” something other than stress, sleep, time, etc. Once again it is my bi-annual diatribe on why this shit needs to end but I did do some poking around … Continue reading
This month’s Astronomy joke
Yes, I know. If a joke requires the recipient to think about it too long, then it’s either not funny or the audience is dumb. I side with the latter camp since everyone should know this regarding the famous constellation. … Continue reading
Earth reaches its 2022 perihelion!
Despite it being Winter in the Northern Hemisphere and colder than Hell lately, Earth passed through its closest point to the Sun. I always thought this coincided with the Winter Solstice back in December but that is when our planet’s … Continue reading
Italian #57: Licia Troisi
For starters, her name is pronounced LEE-cha TRO-easy, not, what I’m predicting from lazy American English, LEE-sia TROY-see. I’m also going to be upfront, I don’t know much about Mrs. Troisi other than I was thrilled to find a person … Continue reading
Made it to the Solstice 2021
Jennifer isn’t a fan of the Sun since she prefers to hit the sack around the same time old people prefer to. It’s mostly due to her job as a nurse; she wakes around 3:30 AM and shows up by … Continue reading
RIP Michael Collins
I’m glad that when the show For All Mankind covered the Apollo XI landing, they kept the names of the real astronauts, including the late Michael Collins who would then be in the alternate universe’s Apollo XV (sic) disaster…spoiler alert, he survived. Rather sucks. … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Science & Technology
Tagged Celebrity Obituary, Cold War, NASA, Sixties, The Moon
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