Yes, once again, it’s the dreaded Daylight Savings Time, which begins at 2:00 AM on Sunday. In honor of Del and my Dear Husband, both of whom hate DST, here’s an article from the Wall Street Journal highlighting a study that shows DST wastes energy.
Love it or hate it, don’t forget to set your clocks forward one hour tonight.
We love you!!!
Whether it’s a holy day or just a nice vacation, have a safe and happy one. I wish a special and peaceful day for all of you and your families!
…to all of you, but particularly to Paul and Nancy, who are singing in Manger Square today.
And Happy Birthday to my mom, who is 77! Many more, please.
While I’ve been goofing off instead of blogging, I’ve been following the writers’ strike. It seems that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers forgot to buy up all the extensions that go with its domain name. Someone (a creative writer perhaps?) snapped up the .com and put up a really funny spoof site. Check it out.
We are heartbroken to report that despite our best efforts, including sending them a muffin basket, making them a mix CD, and standing outside their window with a boombox blasting Peter Gabriel songs, our talks with the WGA have broken down. Quite frankly, we’re puzzled as to why this happened. We talked about it all the way home – after we walked into their hotel room, slapped our list of demands on the table and abruptly left the negotiating session – and none of us could figure out what went wrong.
While we’re not going to point fingers or assign blame, we do feel justified in saying that they are entirely at fault. The AMPTP has successfully concluded 306 major agreeements with unions since its founding in 1982, and there has never been an incident like this. Except for that writers’ strike in 1985. And the directors’ strike in 1987. And that other writers’ strike in 1988. Aside from three isolated incidents, however, this strike is completely without precedent…(continue reading here)
Be sure to read the Strike FAQs. Priceless! And the Just For Fun! button? It’s probably NSFW.
Via the comments at Whedonesque, which has lots of strike coverage from the fans’ point of view.
17-10. That is all.
Comet Holmes has gone in a few days from an obscure solar system traveler, detectable only with powerful telescopes, to astronomical phenomenon, visible to unaided eyes throughout the night, starting after dusk in the northeastern sky.
The comet, which travels in seven-year orbits between Jupiter and Mars, has blossomed like a chrysanthemum for reasons astronomers still don’t know.
The comet has been a wallflower since 1892, the last time it brightened like this and was discovered by Englishman Edwin Holmes.
The comet is typically a 17th-magnitude object. In astronomy values, the larger the number, the fainter the object. It is now listed as a second-magnitude object, easily visible without telescopes, even in areas with heavy light pollution.
“That’s a millionfold increase in brightness,” said University of Alabama astronomy Professor Bill Keel. “The fact that it’s done it before and other comets haven’t speaks against the most obvious explanation, which is, `Look, it’s cruising near the asteroid belt and hit something.’ But that doesn’t explain why it did it once before in a different part of its orbit.”
I do love a mystery. Scientists expect the comet to dim gradually and fade from view till the next time it inexplicably brightens, perhaps in another 115 years. Maybe by then we’ll have a prototype of the Enterprise to go take a look at it.
Anyway, I’m glad that seeing this comet doesn’t cause people to turn to dust.
From Blues reader Terry:
The 2007 Carole Samuelson Lecture in Public Health Practice will be delivered by Steven Berlin Johnson, a brilliant cross-disciplinary thinker who applies broad-ranging research and creative thinking to interesting social problems and comes up with intriguing and important insights into how we live and learn, work and play.
Both social critic and technologist, he’s written several popular books on the intersection of science, technology and personal experience, three of them national bestsellers. His writings have influenced everything from the way political campaigns use the Internet, to cutting-edge ideas in urban planning, to the battle against 21st-century terrorism.
Johnson’s most recent book, published in October 2006, is The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic-and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World. This is a gripping account of the 1854 cholera epidemic in London and its real-life hero lessons for us about some of the issues that define the modern world today.
Mr. Johnson was cofounder and editor-in-chief of FEED, the revolutionary web magazine blending technology, science and culture with a truly innovative interface. He is a contributing editor to Wired magazine and writes the monthly “Emerging Technology” column for Discover magazine. Steven is a Distinguished Writer In Residence at the New York University Department of Journalism.
The lecture will be Wednesday, October 17th at noon in the Alumni Auditorium of the Hill University Center on the UAB Campus. For additional information about the lecture, click here.
Join the fun here.
Uploaded on August 9, 2006 by sherryberryboberry
“Bunnies aren’t just cute like everybody supposes,
They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses.
And what’s with all the carrots?
What do they need such good eyesight for anyway?”
Here’s a little bonus for your viewing and listening pleasure.
The document that our Dear Leader referred to as “just a goddamned piece of paper” was adopted 220 years ago today. It has endured through a civil war and two world wars, and if we’re vigilant it will even survive George W. Bush and his minions.