The Mars Curiosity rover began it's journey to Mars this morning and I couldn't be happier...well, actually, I guess if it's propulsion system instead utilized a combination of light/solar sail and plasma rockets to cut it's 8 1/2 month journey to 8 1/2 weeks or less, I'd be absolutely ecstatic. Some day...some day.
Here's hoping that it lands safely and begins the next phase of Mars discovery - thus paving the way for man's next foothold in the solar system (of course, there's that little hurdle of protecting astronauts from extreme radiation - but - we'll get there).
Be sure to check in on the official Mars Curiosity Twitter feed (which I've also added to the bottom of my blog).
As an aside, it's my humble/un-researched opinion that if we made colonization of Mars the top goal of our country, we could easily cut unemployment in half in the near-term; and eliminate it, not just for our country but for all countries on Earth, in the long-term. Not to mention the technologies surely created for such a goal could also be used to clean up our own planet and make it a better place to live. But - *sarcasm alert* why attempt such a revolutionary evolution for our species when it's soooo much easier to spend our time destroying things, stabbing each other in the back for material possessions, and policing others' morality here on our tiny blue marble. *Here's where I kick the dirt and do my best grumpy old man "Bah-humbug!" spat*
Keep looking up.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
1994 UFO at Zimbabwe school...creepy!!!
Ok, I admit it, I find the subject of UFO's to be incredibly fascinating. Though I know 98% of the stories are obvious horsecrap, it's that remaining 2% that can be so riveting and compelling - that it keeps me coming back to endure the absurd majority.
Here's one that is definitely in the "2%" group...
In 1994, 62 kids at a school in Zimbabwe experienced one of the creepiest UFO/Alien encounters I've ever heard. There's no way that many kids, especially kids that young, could have conspired together to make the whole thing up. I wholeheartedly believe they experienced something that would make most adults pee their pants and/or question their sanity.
Check out this youtube video of some of the kids' interviews - soooooooooo creepy!
I'm amazed this hasn't been turned into a movie yet.
Here's one that is definitely in the "2%" group...
In 1994, 62 kids at a school in Zimbabwe experienced one of the creepiest UFO/Alien encounters I've ever heard. There's no way that many kids, especially kids that young, could have conspired together to make the whole thing up. I wholeheartedly believe they experienced something that would make most adults pee their pants and/or question their sanity.
Check out this youtube video of some of the kids' interviews - soooooooooo creepy!
I'm amazed this hasn't been turned into a movie yet.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Nice shootin' SEALS!
With a well placed shot to the head and chest, the words "Bad Mother Fucker" will be replaced on wallets all across America with "SEAL Team Six". A ballsy mission pulled off with spectacular gusto. OBL sleeps with the fishes.
Way to go fellas! I hope you all get a "Drink Free for Life" card good in every bar & pub across the nation.
I also hope this will speed the process of bringing our brave military men and women back home to their family and friends.
I know the death of one piece of hairy feces won't completely shut the door on ancient ignorance, but perhaps now we can truly begin to move forward and make the 21st Century that giant leap for mankind we envisioned it could be in the 20th: advanced space travel technology; colonization of Mars and moons; wide-scale renewable clean energies; cheap & efficient de-salinization of water for all; new farming techniques and philosophies so that all will have healthy food in abundance; but most of all - widespread acceptance and appreciation for each other and this gift of life we've all been given.
Oh, and hover cars! We were supposed to have hover cars by now, dammit!...but I digress.
We've spent way too much time and money taking out the trash - let's get back to creating/improving/inspiring.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
The Candy Bar Adventures available as an ebook!
Well, looks like it's time for a little shameless self-promotion - *shame-filled sigh*- so, here we go...
The first two books in my "The Candy Bar Adventures" series are available in ebook format for the Amazon Kindle; Barnes&Noble Nook; iBooks app/store for iPad (and other Apple products); and you can even go to Lulu.com (the self-publishing site I use) and get them for various other devices. With the exception of Amazon, the ebooks are in the epub file format. Now, here's the exciting part - each book is available for just $2.99! Yes, you just read that right - $2.99! That's less than $3!!! (no, really, it is - I did the math and everything).
How 'bout some helpful links to facilitate that purchase, hmmmm? No pressure or anything...(for the love of God, just buy a couple copies!!! *uncontrollable sobbing begins...followed by holding of breath*)
The Candy Bar Adventures books at Amazon.com
The Candy Bar Adventures books at Barnes&Noble
The Candy Bar Adventures books at Lulu.com
The Candy Bar Adventures books at iBookstore...well, ok, I don't have a link for this one - you gotta have an Apple device that can download and run the iBooks app...I think you can download the app through iTunes too.
Anyway, still working on the third book in The Candy Bar Adventures series (3 years and counting now - I'm a little embarrassed) but it'll be completed eventually.
Enjoy!
The first two books in my "The Candy Bar Adventures" series are available in ebook format for the Amazon Kindle; Barnes&Noble Nook; iBooks app/store for iPad (and other Apple products); and you can even go to Lulu.com (the self-publishing site I use) and get them for various other devices. With the exception of Amazon, the ebooks are in the epub file format. Now, here's the exciting part - each book is available for just $2.99! Yes, you just read that right - $2.99! That's less than $3!!! (no, really, it is - I did the math and everything).
How 'bout some helpful links to facilitate that purchase, hmmmm? No pressure or anything...(for the love of God, just buy a couple copies!!! *uncontrollable sobbing begins...followed by holding of breath*)
The Candy Bar Adventures books at Amazon.com
The Candy Bar Adventures books at Barnes&Noble
The Candy Bar Adventures books at Lulu.com
The Candy Bar Adventures books at iBookstore...well, ok, I don't have a link for this one - you gotta have an Apple device that can download and run the iBooks app...I think you can download the app through iTunes too.
Anyway, still working on the third book in The Candy Bar Adventures series (3 years and counting now - I'm a little embarrassed) but it'll be completed eventually.
Enjoy!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Atlantis Rising - Cool mag; how about a TV show?
Doing a little catch-up reading on my latest issues of Atlantis Rising magazine and I got to thinking - man, this would make for a cool, little, weekly TV series. For those unfamiliar with this magazine, the tag line on its covers' read: "Ancient Mysteries - Unexplained Anomalies - Future Science"...basically a lot of supernatural/new age/alternative explanations type stuff that you have to take with a big grain of salt - but damn if the stories aren't entertaining as hell.
It's a really well-assembled magazine for the most part (I get a little annoyed that a majority of the articles start on such-and-such page, and then you have to skip ahead 20+ pages for the rest of the article so that entire pages inbetween can be devoted to some wacky new age product...but, hey, they gotta pay their bills somehow so, I understand) with a lot of cool graphics to go along with the great stories, and though a little heavy on the ads, even the majority of those are pretty entertaining to peruse.
What makes this magazine so cool is that some of the stories are actually 99 - 100% factual - it's just that it's odd type stuff that may not be known to most people - for example, in Issue 81, they had a neat story on "The John Dee - 007 Connection" in which it was explained that Ian Fleming used a 16th Century alchemist/magician by the name of John Dee as a major inspiration for his James Bond character, as well as various other aspects in his 007 series of stories. As a fan of the James Bond series, I thought this was pretty interesting info.
Then there are the many stories dealing with archaeological/historical themes that aren't exactly in line with the traditional scholarly thinking - thus any rational person would need to take the info. in with a healthy dose of skepticism - BUT - there always seems to be just enough there to make you ask "what if?". As far as I'm concerned, "what if?" is the one question that adds a real spice to life, so I love these type of stories. I mean, it's a couple of Europeans from the middle of the last millennium who are credited with proving that the Earth is round and revolves around the Sun when, in reality, scrolls from the famed Ancient Library of Alexandria showed that it was already proven in ancient Egyptian times - a full 1700 - 1800 years earlier!
Anyway, I would like to see the folks who run this magazine make a pitch to the folks at the History channel, or SyFy channel, or even the Discovery channel, to see if they would be interested in creating a weekly, hour-long show featuring stories from the magazine. Like I said, it all comes back to asking that great, entertaining, question - "what if?".
It's a really well-assembled magazine for the most part (I get a little annoyed that a majority of the articles start on such-and-such page, and then you have to skip ahead 20+ pages for the rest of the article so that entire pages inbetween can be devoted to some wacky new age product...but, hey, they gotta pay their bills somehow so, I understand) with a lot of cool graphics to go along with the great stories, and though a little heavy on the ads, even the majority of those are pretty entertaining to peruse.
What makes this magazine so cool is that some of the stories are actually 99 - 100% factual - it's just that it's odd type stuff that may not be known to most people - for example, in Issue 81, they had a neat story on "The John Dee - 007 Connection" in which it was explained that Ian Fleming used a 16th Century alchemist/magician by the name of John Dee as a major inspiration for his James Bond character, as well as various other aspects in his 007 series of stories. As a fan of the James Bond series, I thought this was pretty interesting info.
Then there are the many stories dealing with archaeological/historical themes that aren't exactly in line with the traditional scholarly thinking - thus any rational person would need to take the info. in with a healthy dose of skepticism - BUT - there always seems to be just enough there to make you ask "what if?". As far as I'm concerned, "what if?" is the one question that adds a real spice to life, so I love these type of stories. I mean, it's a couple of Europeans from the middle of the last millennium who are credited with proving that the Earth is round and revolves around the Sun when, in reality, scrolls from the famed Ancient Library of Alexandria showed that it was already proven in ancient Egyptian times - a full 1700 - 1800 years earlier!
Anyway, I would like to see the folks who run this magazine make a pitch to the folks at the History channel, or SyFy channel, or even the Discovery channel, to see if they would be interested in creating a weekly, hour-long show featuring stories from the magazine. Like I said, it all comes back to asking that great, entertaining, question - "what if?".
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Better. Stronger. Faster.
Hell yeah!
The Six Million Dollar Man finally comes to DVD in the U.S. of A on November 4th!
nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh...nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh (yeah, that was the classic bionic sound effect in word form)
Now, if I could just find which box I stored my old Steve Austin doll - er - action figure(!) in.
The Six Million Dollar Man finally comes to DVD in the U.S. of A on November 4th!
nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh...nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh (yeah, that was the classic bionic sound effect in word form)
Now, if I could just find which box I stored my old Steve Austin doll - er - action figure(!) in.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Boardwalk Empire...another potential HBO gem
I don't think I have ever been this excited about a TV show that I have yet to see - HBO's Boardwalk Empire.
It has so many great things going for it: "Sopranos" alums behind-the-scenes; Scorsese directing first episode; the weird coolness of Steve Buscemi; the things that made the 1920's era so cool - dixieland jazz; gangsters; tommy guns; hot chicks in 20's garb; architecture, cars, devices, advertising, etc., all had that hand-crafted artistic quality to it that you just don't see anymore. For me, this is going to be "must-see" TV. I hope I'm not let down...I don't think I will be. September 19th can't get here fast enough.
It has so many great things going for it: "Sopranos" alums behind-the-scenes; Scorsese directing first episode; the weird coolness of Steve Buscemi; the things that made the 1920's era so cool - dixieland jazz; gangsters; tommy guns; hot chicks in 20's garb; architecture, cars, devices, advertising, etc., all had that hand-crafted artistic quality to it that you just don't see anymore. For me, this is going to be "must-see" TV. I hope I'm not let down...I don't think I will be. September 19th can't get here fast enough.
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