Beloved Leader...

Via Jim M.:

Kim Jung Un had NO military experience whatsoever before Daddy made him a four-star general.  This snot-nosed twerp had never accomplished anything in his life that would even come close to military leadership.   He hadn't even so much as led a Cub Scout troop, coached a sports team, or commanded a military platoon.   So he is made the "Beloved Leader" of North Korea.  Terrific!

Oh shoot!   I'm sorry.   I just remembered that we did the same thing.  We took an arrogant community organizer, who had never worn a uniform, and made him Commander-in-Chief.  A guy who had never had a real job, worked on a budget, or led anything more than an ACORN demonstration, and we made him President of the United States – TWICE!

I'm sorry I brought this up.   Never mind.

Best White House Petition Evah!

Sign it here!  As I write this, it's three quarters of the way there.  The entire petition:

Eliminate armed guards for the President, Vice-President, and their families, and establish Gun Free Zones around them
Gun Free Zones are supposed to protect our children, and some politicians wish to strip us of our right to keep and bear arms. Those same politicians and their families are currently under the protection of armed Secret Service agents. If Gun Free Zones are sufficient protection for our children, then Gun Free Zones should be good enough for politicians.

Geezer a capella...

Legislative Frenzy...

Now there's a phrase finely crafted to strike fear into my heart.  The Democratic party has complete control of both the legislative and executive branches of state government (Governor Moonbeam is of course a Democrat, and both the Senate and the Assembly have Democratic super-majorities that render the few Republicans there completely toothless).  Even worse, California's politicians include a more than generous selection of loons and creeps – think Nancy Pelosi, minus the IQ, charm, restraint, and physical attractiveness.

Now they're talking about even stricter gun controls than we already have here.  One of the least objectionable proposals is to require a license (at $50 a year!) to buy ammunition.  It goes downhill from there.

I weep for my state (and I'm leaving).  I weep for my country.  Then I think about revolution...

NGC 602...

A “small” star cluster, just 200 light-years across.  Taken by the Hubble, via APOD, of course.  Full resolution photo here.

Almost Freefall – Woo Hoo!!

I would love to try this!  But I don't want to go to Haiti to do it...

Dog and Puppy, Teacher and Pupil...

This video went viral last week amongst the world's dog lovers.  If you love dogs but have spent the past week on Mars and haven't seen this, then prepare yourself for a treat:

The Misty Mountains, a capella

Two of my favorite things, that I never thought of together before.  First, The Misty Mountains is a song from the new Hobbit movie (which I have not seen, and won't until it comes out on Blue-Ray).  Second, it's being sung a capella (voices only, no instruments) – by a very modern a capella artist who is cleverly using modern technology for this ancient art form.  Peter Hollens is the artist's name, and he's got quite a few songs available on YouTube and iTunes.  He uses modern audio editing, mixing, and recording systems to have himself singing all the a capella parts (normally a capella music is sung by groups of people singing different parts, often in different registers).  At the same time, he's using modern video recording and editing systems to create a music video, visually showing how he's singing multiple parts (or solos).

I find the result quite engaging, and the music is beautiful.  If you enjoy a capella music, you'll want to hear this (and perhaps explore some of his other songs).

Cold Weather in Jamul...

Okay, now all of you who think that a Californian's ideas about what constitutes “cold weather” is funny, just go ahead and start laughing.  Done yet?  Just remember, when you're freezing your sorry butt off, we're warm and sunny...

Friday night was our coldest of the season so far.  It was below freezing for 9 hours, and got down to 27°F (-3°C).  That provoked all sorts of phenomena that we seldom see here.  For example, ice formations in our hummingbird feeders – and very annoyed-looking hummingbirds who kept poking their beaks through the feeder's holes, but got no satisfaction in return.  A group of them hollered at me when I brought my camera out to capture this (for us) unusual sight.

Then I wandered over to our icy patio (practically breaking my neck in the process, slipping on the ice-covered sidewalk).  There I spotted our ash bucket, full of water, and solidly frozen over.  I couldn't break the ice with my hand, but with the heel of my boot I managed to break a bit out.  The ice was about a half inch (one cm) thick – something I've never seen here before. 

I think Al Gore must be in town, celebrating the sale of his loser network to Al Jazeera.  If you ever wanted evidence that there is no fairness in the world, you needn't look any further than Al Gore...