Monthly Archives: March 2007

pic o’ the day: total eclipse of the sun, from the moon!

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Eclipse seen from moon

That’s the Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA and be sure to click on it to get to the original site; full-size, it’s amazing. Passed along by DefrostIndoors, of Bridlepath.

This is what a lunar eclipse looks like when viewed from the moon: it looks like a solar eclipse, which it is, proving once again that things are relative.

What interests me is the apparent miles-high towers visible in South America and Asia, on the rim of the world. Is this something we haven’t been told about yet? Hmmm, must be off to Cryptome and check out Unidentified Miles-High Buildings. Or would it be “Kilometers-High?”

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Brad Pitt by Robert Wilson

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A still of this video was used (much to the subject’s apparent dismay) as the cover of the December, 2006 Vanity Fair. I think the difference between this and a typical cover shoot is pretty clear, and it’s really very surprising that Pitt didn’t reserve some rights as a condition of posing, but he didn’t and his agent let him pose anyway so I suppose he’s got no legal right to complain. I would, however, say he’s got a moral right to complain: is this on the cover because it’s a great piece of art, or because it’s Brad Fucking Pitt, in soaking wet tighty whities, holding a gun? At least there’s one aspect of this work that’s unambiguous: the commercialization. And I, of course, am adding the Brad Pitt tag to it, not the Robert Wilson one.

Still. Cool. I just wish there were a way that YouTube could display it as it was meant to be: as a continuous loop.

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composite photo of the Lunar Eclipse

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Lunar Eclipse by Juvenal

I totally stole this from Juvenal, who will hopefully forgive me because I’ll pass along that his blog is full of pictures of Helen Mirren topless and next week’s winning lottery numbers.

For realz.

Also, oh joy: now I’ve got Bonnie Tyler stuck in my head.

Please Mr Prime Minister…

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Please Mr Prime Minister

That is a letter from a nine-year-old Canadian boy named Kevin, who is being held without bail and without charges in the T. Don Hutto Family Detention Center in central Texas.

The Globe and Mail has the report (via Fark):

…“My biggest wish is to go to Canada and be free, to go to my school, go for my books,” Kevin said, his father’s voice audible in the background.

“I want to be safe with me and my parents, and see my teachers and my friends again…”

Majid and Masomeh — they prefer their last name not be used — initially fled Iran for Canada in January, 1995, to seek political asylum. Majid did odd jobs, eventually becoming manager of an east Toronto pizza parlour, paying the rent for their one-bedroom apartment.

In 1997, their only son, Kevin, was born. “For the first time, I was happy,” Majid said from the Hutto detention facility.

“I had my family with me — it’s the only family I have — we didn’t have any problems and we lived happy in Toronto.”

That changed when their refugee claim was denied, after ten years in Canada; deported back to Iran, Majid was beaten, tortured and imprisoned (which you’d think would make convincing enough evidence that, in Iran, he’d be subject to beatings, torture and imprisonment, but that’s another matter entirely…moving on…). Escaping again through the help of people smugglers, the family was on their way back to Toronto bearing false Greek passports when a fellow passenger suffered a heart attack and the plane was forced to land in Puerto Rico.

Because Greek passport-bearers need a visa to enter the US, the family was shipped off to imprisonment in Texas. Even had the passports been legitimate, this would have been their fate, according to US officials, although really one has to wonder if they’ve detained many blond, blue-eyed people lacking the proper visas…

Next time you get on a plane, make sure to amuse yourself and your fellow passengers by giving out free ECG tests in the waiting area. Don’t take chances.

More of Kevin‘s letters are in this Globe and Mail slideshow.

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the dreaded Blue Screen of Cthulhu

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Whenever you see this, the unspeakable Blue Screen of Cthulhu, be sure to place an immediate call to Yog Sysop.

Blue Screen of Cthulhu!

Fortunately, there’s a way to protect your vulnerable computer from infection by rogue shoggoths, atavistic aquatic DNA manifestations, pesky lone wolf journalists, interfering Ivy League professors, and other catastrophic events which interfere with the normal day-to-day operations of your Cthulhu Cultists.

Yes, it’s Shub Niggurath Systemworks:

Shub Niggurath System Works

– AntiVirus to protect your system from infection once Cthulhu has his way with it.

– CrashGuard prevents the Blue Screen Of Cthulhu.

– Cleansweep clears away all those nasty, unwanted system shoggoths.

– Web Services helps with any problems you may have with Yog Sysop.

Comes in yellow sign colored packaging.

What are you waiting for? Get off your f’tagn ass,

and go buy. . .

Shub Niggurath Systemworks 2000

Your system, and your very soul, just mind[sic?] depend on it.

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