Tales of the Heliosphere

This bird sitting on a wire in my backyard appears to be examining our moon as it rises in the afternoon sky. Just another beautiful day in San Diego.

-tdr

Technorati: Birds, photography.

Labels: Animals, Birds, Nature, Photography

Those of us who practice criminal law know the irony of the phrase, "justice delayed is justice denied." Criminal cases often move at a snail's pace. I have personal experience of that in my own life. Over a year ago I saw a Minute Man (remember, that's pronounced "my-newt-man"), who was protesting at the Mexican Consulate near my office, hit a Mexican-American woman in the face with his fist. He made all of us who are unashamed to wave the American flag feel proud. (That's intended to be ironic if your irony-detection meter is broken.) The criminal trial date has not yet been set.

Thus, it comes as no surprise that Barry Bonds continues to hit homeruns in a Major League Baseball uniform. What does surprise is today's news that a steroid supplier has made a plea bargain and is cooperating with the government's investigation of steroids abuse in baseball. (Here.)

Bonds, with 741 homeruns, is only 15 shy of becoming the all-time homerun leader in Major League Baseball. When he does he will pass a man with all the class in the world, Henry Aaron. Baseball will be the poorer for it. America will be too because the greatest hitter in America's defining sport will be a person whom most people consider to be a cheater. So much for cheaters never prospering.

Where is Kennesaw Mountain Landis when we need him? (Here.) What's good enough for Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose is good enough for Barry Bonds.

-tdr

Technorati: Baseball, Steroids.

Labels: Baseball

Whether it's enough thought time will tell, but after some thought, I've decided to make this my main blog. So the blog is going to lose its 99 percent focus on space and go general. I expect to continue writing on space but there will be other topics in the mix.

-tdr

The new movie Year of the Dog is causing discomfort to some reviewers. (Here.) The movie is about a single woman and how she deals with the aftermath of her cherished dog's death. Not well, apparently. "The death of a cherished pet is not easy for anyone, but this woman goes ballistic, first taking in an unruly German shepherd (time for the 'Dog Whisperer' again), then adding another dozen or so pooches."

I predict the movie will bomb because its target audience will find the movie a too harsh look into the mirror. The movie's subject matter touches on a prevalent societal trend in America today. Namely, the turning of pets into children, especially by single women. There's even a neologism for the pet/child: "furkid." You can decide for yourself why one particular demographic leads this trend.

A revealing look can be seen in A Dog's Life: A Dogamentary. (Here.) Available from Netflix, this short film is painful to watch as the clueless filmmaker takes us along on her quest to find a man who will accept her and her dog. The most significant line flies right by her when a therapist asks, "When did you start thinking of your dog as a child?"

-tdr

Technorati: Pets, Movies.

Labels: Animals, Movies, Society

A great advantage to living in a house is having a backyard and being able to feed local birds. Today's avian visitor was a bird of a different feather. No feathers actually. The flight over my yard was unusual because the flight path to the airport is miles to the south. The jet was high enough that its passage was pretty quiet. So it was fun to watch the big jet fly by.

-tdr

Technorati: Airplanes

Labels: Airplanes, Photography

The Zero Gravity Corp. gets a bit of free publicity in Sunday's San Diego Union-Tribune. The paper devotes half a page in its travel section to a profile of the company and a virtual sales pitch for weightless flying. (Here.) There's even a fabulous photo of a happy, blonde beauty floating in zero gravity. (Here's the link one more time.)

How does Zero-G do it? Here's a hint. In an 18-paragraph story, company CEO Peter Diamandis is either mentioned or quoted in 8. Stephen Hawking is mentioned once. That's it. The rest reads like it comes right out of a company brochure. Diamandis is a PR dynamo. And that's a good thing. NASA could do with a bit of his wizardry.

Saffie: I'm sorry, mum, but I've never seen what it is that you actually do.
Eddie: PRrr.
Saffie: Yes, but...
Eddie: PR. I PR things. People. Places. Concepts...
Patsy: ...Lulu.
Eddie: Lulu... I make the fabulous... I make the crap into credible. I make the dull into...
Patsy: ...Delicious.

From Absolutely Fabulous. (Here.)

-tdr

Technorati: space, NASA.

Labels: Space Captains Of Industry