Betelgeuse Beetle Juice Beetlejuice

From www.space.com

"A massive red star in the constellation Orion has shrunk in the past 15 years and astronomers don't know why.

Called Betelgeuse, the star is considered a red super giant. Such massive stars are nearing the ends of their lives and can swell to 100 times their original size before exploding as supernovae, or possibly just collapsing to form black holes without violent explosions (as one study suggested).

In 1993, measurements put Betelgeuse's radius at about 5.5 astronomical units (AU, not Australia)), where one AU equals the average Earth-sun distance of 93 million miles, or about 150 million km. Since then it has shrunk in size by 15 percent. That means the star's radius has contracted by a distance equal to the orbit of Venus.

"To see this change is very striking," said Charles Townes, a UC Berkeley professor emeritus of physics. "We will be watching it carefully over the next few years to see if it will keep contracting or will go back up in size." (Townes won the 1964 Nobel Prize in physics for inventing the laser and the maser, a microwave laser.)

Though the star is shrinking, its visible brightness has not dimmed significantly over the past 15 years, the researchers say.

"But we do not know why the star is shrinking," said Edward Wishnow, a research physicist at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory. "Considering all that we know about galaxies and the distant universe, there are still lots of things we don't know about stars, including what happens as red giants near the ends of their lives."

WTF does this mean to you? Probably nothing, just as studying earthquakes means nothing to Gov. Jindal and money for hurricane tracking weather satellites means nothing to Gov. Palen.

Just two of the many simple minded people with their heads buried in their own little world. Oblivious to the greater world outside their view or vision. No need for empathy if they are not “One of us”.

Is this a trait that any presidential hopeful should have? They think so, as does the far right!

Now repeat after me:

“Betelgeuse

Beetle Juice

Beetlejuice”

They all sound the same but who would know without checking?

BTW, if Betelgeuse does collapse and sends a gamma ray burst towards the earth. All life, down to the microbes living in the mud of the Yellow River, will become extinct. This means you numb nuts!

“Thank you babe!”

Steve

Sanford Roasted His Wiener on the Appalacian Trail

Argentina is only this far away from the Appalachian Trail on the map and my wiener is that long too, really!

President Mark Sanford? I think not!

Time to lighten up a bit. Time for us crazy old people to remember back in the day. Before we had a clue what any of the following would mean?

Have you accidentally entered your PIN on the microwave?

Have you ever played solitaire with real cards?

Remember having only one phone number? How many phone numbers does your family have now?

Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.

Do you pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries?

Every commercial on television has a web site. Remember when web sites only had spiders?

Remember when a curser was a person that used swear words?

Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't even have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it? Did you remember to turn off the iron? Do you even know what an iron is?

Do you get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee?

You know what a USB is and you know how to use it.

Do you miss Kodachrome? Have you ever used a camera that uses film?

WTF were the good old days?

Steve

Remember the Kent State massacre?

Four students were killed and Nine were wounded when Ohio National guardsmen, fearing for their lives from unarmed students, fired 67 shots in 13 seconds. Most of the students hit were in the Prentise Hall parking lot 300 to 400 feet away and were not protesters.

Ten days later, the Jackson State massacre took two lives and left twelve wounded when, thinking there were snipers in the dorms, 75 Jackson Police units and the Mississippi state police opened fire on the crowd.

On both occasions, American students were killed and wounded for protesting the U.S. invasion of Cambodia by the Hawks. Some even claim that Kent was the start of the Right Wing Coalition Party.

In college, I had many friends who were from Iran to study in the U.S.. They wanted the cruel and corrupt CIA installed government of the Shah to be replaced by the Ayatollah. They got their wish.

This past week, metaphorically, these Iranians friends started shooting their children for protesting an election that had a greater turn out than there are citizens in Iran.

Right winged governments all over the world have the same mentality. If you are not with us, you are against us. These governments will kill their own citizens to protect their beliefs and power.

When will these leaders learn that eventually, either the people will win or the nation will collapse as history validates.

It has been 40 years since the Kent State massacre, give the Iranians time to work this out for them selves without the U.S. trying to meddle.

WTF! It is only a matter of time and deaths.

Steve