The Moon and Mercury

The very young new moon and tiny Mercury were in conjunction at sundown this evening. Mercury is the bright "star" in the lower lefthand side of the image, above my neighbor's rooftop. The image was taken about half an hour after sunset. That's the time Mercury is best viewed until it gets too close to the Sun to be seen toward the end of the month.

Journey of the Sorcerer -- The Eagles

For some friends who have never heard the entirety of this song, which is a) My favorite Eagles tune, and b) The theme music to the various incarnations of that wholly remarkable book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

I'm voting for Obama

This isn't an endorsement, it's a statement of my intention and an explanation. Sen. Barack Obama gets my vote because he still has the respect of the world. Check this Reuters report out:

Rebels who have stepped up attacks on Nigeria's oil industry in the last month said on Sunday they were considering a ceasefire appeal by U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has launched five attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta since it resumed a campaign of violence in April, forcing Royal Dutch Shell to shut more than 164,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).

"The MEND command is seriously considering a temporary ceasefire appeal by Senator Barack Obama. Obama is someone we respect and hold in high esteem," the militant group said in an e-mailed statement.

George W. Bush couldn't pull this off. John McCain wouldn't want to. I'm not sure what Hillary Clinton would do, and I don't think she knows either.

INSANE!

There's I-am-Napoleon-Bonaparte crazy, and then there's just completely nuts. Here's a practical demonstration of the latter (OK, yeah, it does sort of look like fun, but in a completely out-of-your-mind way):

Who will tell the people?

No one needs to tell them. They already know. They just can't believe they've done this to themselves.

Here's a quote from Thomas L. Friedman, columnist for the New York Times, that strikes at the heart of how we've screwed ourselves and are allowing ourselves to be screwed:

A few weeks ago, my wife and I flew from New York’s Kennedy Airport to Singapore. In J.F.K.’s waiting lounge we could barely find a place to sit. Eighteen hours later, we landed at Singapore’s ultramodern airport, with free Internet portals and children’s play zones throughout. We felt, as we have before, like we had just flown from the Flintstones to the Jetsons. If all Americans could compare Berlin’s luxurious central train station today with the grimy, decrepit Penn Station in New York City, they would swear we were the ones who lost World War II.

From the Flintstones to the Jetsons. That about sums it all up right there, except Friedman is far easier on his readers than I would have been.

We don't need to tell the people, they already know, so here's the real question: What are we going to do about it? Anything? Or are we just going to slip into obscurity?

Oh what Phun!

What a totally cool, nifty toy! Get it here!

Marijuana smoking may prevent lung cancer

Pot smokers have one less thing to be paranoid about: lung cancer.

"We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use," he said. "What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect."

This from Donald Tashkin, a pulmonologist at UCLA who studied marijuana use for 30 years. An article about Tashkin's findings is available at the Washington Post's website.