JamesSavik

Hi Vance- I think your cat has been moon-lighting as a model. Here is your cat: Here is your cat modeling for Purina: You might want to talk to your cat about this. Even if they are paying him in cat toys, you don't want any tax surprises. JS

Something that you might have said Nick? Why I can't imagine.

Politicians are gross. Yuck. I just skimmed both lists and I feel like I need a shower. Maybe we need to fire the politicians and lawyers and elect doctors, engineers, scientists, farmers, etc. They aren't perfect but they bring knowledge to the table. Politicians only bring baggage.

It's always a good day to say hi to Redlight. Have a good one Jared- birthday or not!

Both parties have had their bad actors. Nothing is accomplished by slinging mud. I think that we should ignore party and vote for the person that best represents our values. I vote for candidates from both sides of the aisle based on a number of criteria. I don't like candidates that are too cozy with the religious right. I'll never vote for a candidate that grandstands on gay issues. On the other hand, a democrat whose rhetoric sounds like North Korean or an Iranian propaganda has absolutely no chance of getting my vote. We are all Americans. Mistakes have been made by our country. At this point let the zipperheads overseas talk smack about us. Let us pull together and put some some responsible leadership into office that is focused on fixing our unattended problems, and racheting down the conflicts we are ensnared in.

That depends. Constructive criticism is always welcome. You suck or personal attacks with no explanation are not welcome. At least tell me what why I suck. I've gotten some ugly hate mail because sometimes drugs are in a story or violence or something scary. Sometimes readers can't split the difference between an element of the plot and the authors endorsement. People are murdered right and left in Steven King or Tom Clancey's books. Is he advocating murder? I will say this- when I am talking to younger writers, if I don't have something nice to say, I don't say anything at all. It would be a crime against the art to discourage a young Hemmingway or Falkner and have them give up writing and become an accountant. JS

The title of your post made me think of that Green Day song & Video. Summer has come and past, the innocence can never last, Wake me up when September Ends...

NJ- I agree. One ignorant mutt with a gun can do a lot of damage. If it wasn't the gun, it would have been an axe, sword or baseball bat. I think we need to take a page out of the Mossad's handbook: focus on the mutts and know who they are. When they move, put a bag on them. The Mossad has a much better record using intelligence than any other similar organization. Israel is a country where EVERY adult is a reservist and owns at least one gun. Our police and FBI use a reactive model which means that they RESPOND to crime rather than preventing it. It never hurts to steal a good idea. JS

w00t! Did somebody say Halloween? Vampire Cat

Thanks for the update Bloke! It's really good to hear from you. 71 cousins!? My goodness- it would take all day to hug them all! All my best wishes to you and yours as you start Uni and married life. James

I think Brian should hook up with Chris Forn, one of my favorite B&P characters. I hate that Tony punk Chris is in like with. He's a butthead. Speaking of buttheads, WTF is up with Pete? He used to have character. Once he turned down the charming and handsome Jared even when it looked like he would never see Brian again. Now he's seein another guy off a short rebound and is schemeing with his new pals to "get his story strait" about why he left his old school. Pete needs an 18-wheeler to carry around his baggage. :wacko:

Hubble's main camera hobbles back to life October 2, 2006 David Shiga for NewScientist.com Source Link Hubble's most frequently used instrument, the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), is partially functioning again, after shutting down unexpectedly last week. Before it shut down on 23 September, the ACS was Hubble's most frequently used instrument. It uses three channels that are essentially three different cameras, and the problem began shortly after Hubble's managers attempted to switch power from the Solar Blind Channel (SBC) to the High Resolution Channel (HRC). Despite the command to switch, Hubble's computer detected that power was not getting to the HRC and automatically shut down all three channels (see Hubble's key camera shuts down again). Now, the camera's Wide Field Channel (WFC) has resumed observations, with the other two channels still offline. The WFC, the channel that had been used for most ACS observations, gets its power from an independent route that is not affected by the other two channels. Switch issue :doh: Hubble began taking observations with the WFC on Sunday. "The instrument seems to be performing nominally," says Preston Burch, Hubble's mission manager at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, US. Hubble engineers are now pretty sure that the problem with the other two channels is related to the mechanical relay that flips back and forth to send power to either the SBC or the HRC. "All indications are that the commands [to flip] were properly received by the spacecraft, but we're not seeing the voltage [expected]," Burch told New Scientist. There might be some dirt or debris that is preventing the switch from closing properly, he says. Another possibility is that the mechanism that moves the arms of the switch from one position to another is broken, he says. Short circuit Hubble's managers are thinking about trying to flip the switch back and forth, which could solve the problem by dislodging any dirt. However, there is some worry that if the switch itself is broken, moving it could cause a short circuit that would kill the ACS's power source. A short circuit is considered an unlikely event, but it would make all three channels unusable, Burch says. The Hubble team will meet on Wednesday to discuss what to do about the switch. "We're probably a couple days away from doing any on-orbit commanding of the hardware," Burch says. If the switch problem cannot be fixed, the High Resolution Camera may still be able to make observations, but with only half its original field of view.

Thanks for the laugh Dom. There are tons of Little Johnny jokes. He must really get around.

School shootings often happen in clusters which begs the question- just how much of this is driven by the publicity (media attention)? The A&E network often does hour long case studies and court trial results of these incidents. There appears to be several recurring themes in all of them: some degree of mental illness and bullying, harrassment and intimidation and ineffective or no action from administration.

You know that you are over-the-hill when you go to the fair for the food and not the rides.

I have contributed some old eighties slang to the urban dictionary. There is, of course, much more of it. This is all I've written up so far. [entries in red have not been accepted yet.] The Urban Dictionary is pretty raunchy but where was I going to find out what a filthy-Sanchez was? Wikipedia? Disgusting alert! Be warned- it gets ugly below. organ-spasm A mind-blowing, earth-shaking orgasm so intense that you never forget it. It must be something of a religious experience as most people shout, "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God!". Holy crap Jessie can give great head. That was an organ-spasm I'll never forget. synonyms: big-o wet rapture climax squirm cum try-sexual A young guy that is such a horn dog that he will try most anything sexual. My buddy Shawn is a try-sexual: he f**ked his that fag-hag girl Mandy and her pal Travis. Leg Hound 1. a male dog the humps your leg 2. a young man with a powerful sex drive that will f**k anybody, anything, anytime, anywhere. 1. What could be more awkward than meeting your girlfriends parents with their damned leg hound humping and nutting on your shin. 2. Jesus Shawn! I can understand f**king fag-hag Jamie but did you really have to f**k her buddy Travis too?

There is another force that I don't think has been factored in: magnetism. A stars magnetic field plays a huge role during its lifetime. I remember reading a theory about planetesimals forming along magnetic lines of force. We know quite a lot about the effects of gravity and magnetism but we've still got a lot to learn.

One of the problems with a MEGA-SITE is that there is so much material here. I want to read EVERYTHING by EVERYBODY but we've so much good stuff here that it would take you years to wade through it all. I read 60 chapters of Com's Diary of Bill Chase. Now there's 25 more of it. I love Dom's stuff but he's got a couple of stories that I have yet to read. Sorry Dom. One thing that you might think about. If horror is your genre, the fall anthology at the end of this month theme is Halloween/horror. That would be a great place to introduce yourself with a short work. Don't worry. You'll get read. If I'm not mistaken, there is a who thread in the authors forum that discusses how to get more readers.

Hubble Telescope's Main Camera Fails Associated Press 9/25/06 Source Link The main camera on the Hubble Space Telescope has shut down unexpectedly for the second time this year, the operators of the orbiting observatory announced Friday. The Space Telescope Science Institute, which coordinates use of the telescope, said the camera shut down Saturday. Program managers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt and at the institute were investigating the cause and what action to take. In the meantime, observations on the Hubble were being rescheduled to use other instruments, the Baltimore-based institute said. The orbiting Hubble telescope, launched in 1990 by the space shuttle, has revolutionized the study of astronomy with some of the most striking images ever seen in space. However, a servicing mission by the space shuttle is needed to install two new instruments as well as fresh batteries and gyroscopes to keep the telescope working until 2011 or 2012. NASA, which has not decided whether to send astronauts to repair the Hubble, is planning to replace it with a new, improved version, the James Webb Space Telescope. It's scheduled for launch in 2011. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Most of us don't have cars as old as the Hubble. Those of that do have "geriatric cars" know the challenges of keeping them running: it doesn't happen unless you put serious effort into maintaining them.

Argh Vance! I had my eyes on that one. They are all cute- the black one and calico look like they've got a lot of personality. The other two with the unusual coloring are going to be very pretty. JS

It looks like bottom left, bottom left is winning. ..and Adam is apparently nearsighted

Astronomers Gain Important Insight on How Massive Stars Form National Radio Astronomy Observatory Press Release September 27th, 2006 Source Link Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope have discovered key evidence that may help them figure out how very massive stars can form. "We think we know how stars like the Sun are formed, but there are major problems in determining how a star 10 times more massive than the Sun can accumulate that much mass. The new observations with the VLA have provided important clues to resolving that mystery," said Maria Teresa Beltran, of the University of Barcelona in Spain. Beltran and other astronomers from Italy and Hawaii studied a young, massive star called G24 A1 about 25,000 light-years from Earth. This object is about 20 times more massive than the Sun. The scientists reported their findings in the September 28 issue of the journal Nature. Stars form when giant interstellar clouds of gas and dust collapse gravitationally, compacting the material into what becomes the star. While astronomers believe they understand this process reasonably well for smaller stars, the theoretical framework ran into a hitch with larger stars. "When a star gets up to about eight times the mass of the Sun, it pours out enough light and other radiation to stop the further infall of material," Beltran explained. "We know there are many stars bigger than that, so the question is, how do they get that much mass?" One idea is that infalling matter forms a disk whirling around the star. With most of the radiation escaping without hitting the disk, material can continue to fall into the star from the disk. According to this model, some material will be flung outward along the rotation axis of the disk into powerful outflows. "If this model is correct, there should be material falling inward, rushing outward and rotating around the star all at the same time," Beltran said. "In fact, that's exactly what we saw in G24 A1. It's the first time all three types of motion have been seen in a single young massive star," she added. The scientists traced motions in gas around the young star by studying radio waves emitted by ammonia molecules at a frequency near 23 GHz. The Doppler shift in the frequency of the radio waves gave them the information on the motions of the gas. This technique allowed them to detect gas falling inward toward a large "doughnut," or torus, surrounding the disk presumed to be orbiting the young star. "Our detection of gas falling inward toward the star is an important milestone," Beltran said. The infall of the gas is consistent with the idea of material accreting onto the star in a non-spherical manner, such as in a disk. This supports that idea, which is one of several proposed ways for massive stars to accumulate their great bulk. Others include collisions of smaller stars. "Our findings suggest that the disk model is a plausible way to make stars up to 20 times the mass of the Sun. We'll continue to study G24 A1 and other objects to improve our understanding," Beltran said. Beltran worked with Riccardo Cesaroni and Leonardo Testi of the Astrophysical Observatory of Arcetri of INAF in Firenze, Italy, Claudio Codella and Luca Olmi of the Institute of Radioastronomy of INAF in Firenze, Italy, and Ray Furuya of the Japanese Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. Artist's Conception of Young Star Showing Motions Detected in G24 A1:(1) Infall toward torus, (2) Rotation and (3) outflow. Note: Giant stars (25+ solar masses) are something of an enigma. How they form vs how other stars form has been a riddle that scientists studying stellar evolution have been looking into for years.

That was Excellent Justyn!