moon phases

Started this before change to "New Blogger", as backup in case of trouble with digiphoto blog "In a Small Dark Room", or rants & links blog "Hello Cruel World" . Useful - at one stage Dark Room was there, but like the astrophysical Dark Matter, we could't see it ... better now, but kept Just In Case.

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There is nothing. There is no God and no universe, there is only empty space, and in it a lost and homeless and wandering and companionless and indestructible Thought. And I am that thought. And God, and the Universe, and Time, and Life, and Death, and Joy and Sorrow and Pain only a grotesque and brutal dream, evolved from the frantic imagination of that same Thought.
Mark Twain (letter to Joseph Twichell after his wife's death)
[me, on a bad day]

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WRITER'S LINKS
Absolute Write Paypal donation button:

Absolute Write is one of the leading sites for information on writing and publishing, especially the scam versions thereof. It has a broad, deep online community with an enormous message base going back years. Now it needs help. See the details and discussion here
Preditors and Editors
Everything you wanted to know about literary agents
On the getting of agents
Writer Beware
Miss Snark
Writer's Net

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(and my Wish List)

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JESUS The Monster Truck  
JESUS The Monster Truck

JESUS the Monster Truck

2003 Tour "America Kicks Ass"

In Competition for the
International Semi-Regional State Divisional County Sectional City Wide Title

Come see the
CAR CRUSHING HIGH HOPPING
FREE-STYLING SOUL-SAVING
Action!!

Watch as JESUS crushes and destroys all of his enemies
then finshes them off with the STIGMATA BLASTER©*
All in the name of GOD!!!

* Stigmata Blood may irritate skin and cause minor rashing
_______________
Holy Mary Mother of GOD...it's Ladies Night!!!

The JESUS Racing Team Presents

The MOTHER of all Monster Trucks!!
Little Miss Mary
The Immaculate Concept Truck
________________
So, you do not like JESUS or MARY?
Then why don't you go to HELL!!!!

Introducing The HELL EXPRESS Ride Car. Catch up with Judas, Pontius Pilate, Adolf Hitler and Jeffrey Dahmer. Then get down on your knees and pray....
that Mom and Dad will let you have a second ride!!
__________________
Now on tour with Monster Truck Ministries!
Reverend Leroy's Drive-by Bikini Baptismal and Mobile Chapel
___________________
Kids bring your bibles and get them autographed!
Signatures 5$ each

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 2:39 am

 
Airplane Graveyard DMAFB aka The Boneyard  
Airplane Graveyard DMAFB: "B-52 Airplane Graveyard DMAFB
The Famed Airplane Graveyard / Bone Yard at Davis Monthan Airforce base in Tucson Arizona. Hundreds of B 52 Bombers await the smelter, as per the Salt 2 (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) treaty with Russia. These bombers were laid out and chopped into pieces with a giant crane controlled guillotine. They were left in this state so they could be photographed by Russian Spy satellites for proof of compliance with Salt 2. Shot in 1994 this photograph shows an important part of Cold War History. After a few months trucks hauled away the scrap metal to be recycled at the local smelter. These famous relics are most likely beer and soda cans now"

More Airplane Graveyard Pages
F-4 Phantom Cockpit - http://www.virtualtucsonmagazine.com/vtmsections/valleypages/f4grave.html
Airplane Graveyard II - http://www.virtualtucsonmagazine.com/vtmsections/valleypages/grave2.html
Graveyard Treasures For Sale - http://www.av8aviation.com/airtreasure.html
Aviation Related Links
Titan Missile Museum - http://www.virtualtucsonmagazine.com/vtmsections/valleypages/titan.html
Pima Air Museum - http://www.virtualtucsonmagazine.com/vtmsections/valleypages/pima.html
F-86 Crash Site Mt Lemmon - http://www.virtualtucsonmagazine.com/main/mountains/f86_airplane_crash.html
Airplane Graveyard Gallery - http://www.virtualtucsonmagazine.com/main/arts/vtmgallery/gravegallery1.html

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 2:13 am

 
 
More Airplane Graveyard Pages
F-4 Phantom Cockpit - http://www.virtualtucsonmagazine.com/vtmsections/valleypages/f4grave.html
Airplane Graveyard II - http://www.virtualtucsonmagazine.com/vtmsections/valleypages/grave2.html
Graveyard Treasures For Sale - http://www.av8aviation.com/airtreasure.html
Aviation Related Links
Titan Missile Museum - http://www.virtualtucsonmagazine.com/vtmsections/valleypages/titan.html
Pima Air Museum - http://www.virtualtucsonmagazine.com/vtmsections/valleypages/pima.html
F-86 Crash Site Mt Lemmon - http://www.virtualtucsonmagazine.com/main/mountains/f86_airplane_crash.html
Airplane Graveyard Gallery - http://www.virtualtucsonmagazine.com/main/arts/vtmgallery/gravegallery1.html

Whatever: Sympathy for the Publicist

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 2:18 am

 
 
Oh No! Pharyngula has snapped! He's holding a hostage!!

And strange images have been seen in on the USA rail system.

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 1:23 pm

 
Sounds of history (smh.com.au)  
"Sounds of history"
By Helen Bradley, May 28, 2005 (Icon)

Before TV there was the radio. In the evenings, after dinner, everyone would pull up an easy chair around a radio in the living room and listen to the news of the day or the antics of the characters in their favourite radio serials.

Thanks to the internet and installed audio players on your computer, you can take a trip back in time to revisit some of the sounds that made history.

Historic broadcasts
To take a trip down memory lane, whether you remember these clips because you heard them in their original context or if you're just wondering what all the fuss was about, visit the History Channel's audio archives ( www.historychannel.com/speeches/archive1.html ).

Here you'll find four pages of links to audio clips of speeches and interviews including those of Neil Armstrong as he took his first steps on the Moon, King Edward VIII's abdication speech, Thomas Edison on the development of electricity and even the inimitable Mae West talking about men, women and diamonds and speaking her famous line: 'Come up and see me sometime. Anytime. The sooner the better.'

There are also excerpts from the rousing WWII speeches of Winston Churchill at the BBC's history site ( www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/ wwtwo/churchill_audio.shtml ).

Serial bytes
One of the radio serials that kids in the US listened to around the same time Churchill was making his speeches were the antics of Captain Midnight. At the Radio Days archives (www.otr.com/cm_archives.shtml) you'll find MP3 audio files of nearly 60 early episodes of the Captain Midnight radio show which ran from 1938 until it finally morphed into a TV series. Each episode kicks off with ads for the Captain Midnight New 1940 Flight Patrol that kids were encouraged to join.

There are excerpts from two popular Australian radio serials Blue Hills and Argonauts Brains Trust (in addition to the calling of the 1932 Melbourne Cup) at the ABC's site ( www.abc.net.au/archives/av/radsamp.htm ).

Classic voices
If the classics are more your interest, you can hear excerpts from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and From the Legend of Good Women read by professors in Middle English ( academics.vmi.edu/english/ audio/audio_index.html ). They emphasise the pronunciation of the texts and, if this is confusing, there are also transcripts of what is being read so you can follow along at the same time."

And other stuff:
USBGEEK.COM Goodies of all Gadgety types
Whatever: Sympathy for the Publicist (from John Scalzi's blog - publicist as Giant Weenie)

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 3:11 am

 
Shroud  
Buried my mother on Friday, 3rd June, 2005.


More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 11:15 pm

 
Dangerous Books, Trustworthy Aussies  
Again: Dangerous Books?

Barista, on January 03, 2004 -- paper/death/sound
Connects last year's story about ""a man ... rescued after being trapped for two days under a mountain of reading material in his [New York] apartment" with the "strange death of Charles Valentin Alkan"
Another biographical link: Charles-Valentin Alkan (November 30, 1813–March 29, 1888) was a French composer and one of the greatest virtuoso pianists of his day. His compositions for solo piano are among the most difficult ever written and are relatively rarely performed.
And a couple of more places where his music is discussed
All About Alkan
Copyright © by Fred Flaxman, 1997 (also another All About Alkan, with musical examples)
You say you've never heard of Charles Valentin Morhange? OK, I admit he was better known as Alkan. If that still draws a blank, shame on you. You may have made it through the S.A.T.s, college and grad school. But you would never pass the O.C.T.s -- the Obscure Composers Test.
Alkan had nothing to do with the proposed merger of Alaska and Kansas. Nor is Alkan the new name for the Aluminum Can Company, although it should be. No, Alkan was a French pianist and composer (1813-1888). He is known by musical scholars and CD maniacs alike for his highly original, kooky compositions, his sense of humor, and the way he died -- or didn't die -- depending on what you read.
Ten years after this recital was recorded, this is still some of the most hair-raising piano playing committed to disc and perhaps the best thing pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin (right) has done to date.. Alkan was one of the certified wackos of classical music. A contemporary of Franz Liszt who could supposedly outplay him any day of the week, he became a recluse in Paris after a short but highly successful concert career, keeping a virtual menagerie of exotic pets in his apartment until his sudden death.


And for all the non-usians out there who get slightly irritated by references to obscure US personalities, here's 100 Aussie names you can throw around to confuse USians. (I've heard of nearly all of the list, tho I don't know anything about quite a few): Readers' Digest Australian Trust Survey
Meanwhile usians & other non-Ozzies can make yourselves sound familiar with Oz affairs, if you so wish. Impress your friends! Break the ice at parties!!

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 2:52 am

 
We all used to say "only in America" ... Media Circus Schapelle: The Corby Case  
Making Light Open thread 40, starting May 02, 2005
We all used to say "only in America" ... There was a story linked to the particle (April 14, 2005) involving a camel suit which an airport baggage-handler took out of a travellers' bag and wore out on the tarmac. (Tho' this didn't wear it out. <g>) This is the best summary, but I think you have to register/subscribe to see the full story: Too much baggage May 14, 2005 by Neil McMahon.
It was about a young woman in a group travelling from Australia to Bali in whose unlocked bulky boogie board (sports) bag a large bag of marijuana was found. This can be a capital (firing squad) offence in Indonesia. She is claiming it was -- unknown to her -- put into her bag as part of an ongoing arrangement to smuggle goods between domestic airports, and that it had missed being taken out. There is at least one report of a man who phoned the consul in Bali having found a bag of grass in his luggage on arrival at his hotel and being advised to quickly dispose of it and not report it.

The whole thing has blown up into an incredible scene, rather along the lines of The Big Carnival (aka Ace in the Hole). Maybe it could be pitched as "OJ meets Elian on the Midnight Express"? It has ramified into some serious matters involving home affairs (like the extent of corruption in airport staff, with a cocaine smuggling ring just arrested and many passengers reporting they lost valuables from their cases in transit), international incidents (e.g., interfering in overseas criminal trials,
death threats to Indonesian diplomats in Australia, groups at the court picketing in favour of the death sentence), websites, petitions, many assorted polls, T-shirts, songs being written, etc, etc, while a rich, if possibly dodgy, businessman has taken up her cause.
The Indonesian and Australian judicial systems are fairly different so there's a lot of room for confusion, and also the rules about the kind of media coverage and the legality of commenting on sub judice cases seems closer to the US free-for-all than the more restrictive Australian rules. (It just goes on ... This is the latest Schapelle Corby update).

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 8:10 pm