A Bureaucracy of One

One Moment of Perfect Beauty - The Interloper's Shadow

I love a stormy sunset.

Space is big!

I got it covered, I tell ya!  I am all over and on top of it, and have it dialed in six ways from Sunday!  So that means that I have not had a tab with this page open for the last week, with the intention of posting it as soon as I ran across it.  Got that? There is no way that I would be too lazy to post something!

Good, now that we're clear on that let me introduce you to what we are talking about today: new pictures taken by the recently repaired Hubble Space Telesc-...

{sigh} This was supposed to be funnier.  See, in this space here, where this sad and depressed sentence is being read by you, dear reader (singular, since there is rarely more than one), was supposed to be a picture that said "Technical Difficulties - Please Stand By While the Author is Distracted by The Internet".  I even had the picture chosen that I would use!  Alas, I am utterly devoid of any talent when it comes to GIMP, and none of my pitiful handful of friends that do show a spark of talent for photo manipulation are online at the moment.  So, the joke fails, as does much in my horrible and misspent life.

But you know what is awesome?  What keeps me from crawling under my covers and kicking this mortal coil via self-inflicted dutch-oven?  AWESOME PICTURES OF THE COSMOS, THAT'S WHAT!  For reals, it is both humbling and life-affirming to be able to look deep into the mysteries of space and be utterly stunned by the sheer scale of the Universe.  Below are some of my favorite images from NASA, and here is where you can find the hi-resolution originals.  CHEERS!

   

Running Through My Head - Honky Tonk Heros

My iTNS and iPods really wanted my to listen to this song today. Once in the car; once at work; and once while making dinner.

So, now you get to listen to it, too!

Honky Tonk Heroes Waylon Jennings
Uploaded by rozenfelds. - See the latest featured music videos.

Moon Plays Atonal Acid Piano Jazz

Sometimes, the things scientists do are just so cool that they make me laugh out loud.  This web-based app from JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) uses the topological data collected by their Kayuga Lunar Orbiter to create music, much the same way a record player reads the ridges on a LP. 

found via MAKE: Online

One Moment of Perfect Beauty - The Arc of Heaven

STS-128 lifts off

Two Consenting Adults, One MRI

Glory be to the Age of Information and Enlightenment that we live in, for it gives us MRI porn.  

And while we laymen make light of the brilliant minds behind such an endeavor, we must remember that scientific progress is more often made by some saying "You know what would be cool...", than by other, more serious, means.

via io9.

YiEMB - Let Me Entertain Lu

For Lu is a harsh mistress.  To that end there are six (7! Siete! VII!) videos in today's playlist, each entertaining in it's own right.  Taken together though, and watched in the specially optimized viewing order they are presented in, they. Will.  Blown.  Your.  MIND!!!*

Leading off this charge of AWESOME is Britain's own Robbie Williams singing "Let Me Entertain You", followed by a cute video of a dog in a swing.  I mean, that dog is really cute, and it looks so happy in the swing!  Then things take a turn for the SERIOUS in next video - a machinima for the Breaking Benjamin song "So Cold" made using the Half-Life 2 engine.  Fret not, however, as the pendulum swings back to the RIDICULOUS after a quick interlude with Goofy in "How to Dance"!  That RAUCOUS number is the perfect intro in "Titanic in 5 Seconds", which is itself THEMATICALLY linked to our final video, the finale of "Bathing Beauty" starring the INDOMITABLE Esther Williams!

*If you are a low-functioning Idiot, otherwise you should just be mildly amused

3.0

Well, it only took three years of half-assing this thing, but I've finally hit an average of three page views a day.

That's right!  I now AVERAGE a total of 3 page views per DAY!  Watch out Boing Boing, I'm coming for you!

YiEMB - Simon's Cat

Every cat owner knows these are true, and that no artistic license was used to exaggerate events for comedic effect.

Channeling My Inner Emo

Grey Clouds gather holding forth
The false promise of rain
My heavy eyelids
Pregnant with ennui lift
Upward as I shift 
My bored gaze to the sky

For 16 years I have struggled
Through the challenges of the damned
For the burdens of Tantalus and Sisyphus
Are mine to bear

None save the dark lords of Byzantium
Know the depth of my pain
None save the abandoned by-blows of Cruelty
Share my plight

For I...I...am EMOCORE!