May 28, 2018

The stars, the stars, and the Planet Mars.

http://earthsky.org/tonight

Two months from now – on July 27, 2018 – it’ll be Mars’ opposition, its first opposition in two years and its best one since 2003. Jupiter is brighter than Mars now, but just wait! From about July 7 to September 7, 2018, Mars will supersede Jupiter in brightness … and it’ll shine with a red color!

In fact, in late July, Mars will shine better than 30 times brighter than stars like Spica and Antares, two of the brightest stars in our sky.

I officially don't believe in Heavenly Portents. But I was just walking my dog and the sky was brilliant, a huge moon and Jupiter next to it, Spica and Antares gleaming like the massive alien orbs they are --

So I looked it up.

Mars. Red in the sky. Thirty times brighter than Spica.

Coming July 7th.

For some reason the superstitious peasant/primate in me says this sounds just about right, and on so many levels.

Oh, but posh.

Mere lights in the sky. Baubles, the playthings of gods and the mysteries of man.

(Mars grant us the luck to set things right and right soon)

Ahem.

May 12, 2018

Get Back To The Love Train, Man.

Beautiful. Those days are not gone; they're in my soul.

May 11, 2018

I'd love to see the DU Hate Mail Bag right about now.

Been a long time.

I bet it's wickedly sick and stupid.

May 9, 2018

"Y'know, ya'll talk about Russian oligarchs running the USA like it's a bad thing."

-- Conservative Thing To Say #543, coming soon to a conversation near you.

Lately I am reminded that conservatives rarely survive without wiser portions of the population restricting them from their own impulses. In these days, conservatism has become defined as whatever angers liberals; remove the liberals from the equation, allow the conservatives to fully experiment with their fuzzy libertarian/death cult ideas, and they're all dead in a generation. Our sense of community and patriotism has denied them Darwin's calculus.

We are required by circumstances and habit to save ourselves and these dysfunctional selfish/useless primates from their own urge for self-immolation. It's expensive. Without the constant drain conservatives place on society through general cheating and constant attempts to drive off the cliff, the better part of our society would probably already be lunching on the moon.

There are no good answers for us other than vigilance, honor, and education. But sometimes I wish I hadn't been born into these Dark Ages. What a waste of time this crap is. What a load of malarkey we have to wade through to get to the future.

Meanwhile -- conservatives Cheat, Steal, Lie About It, and eventually insist It's a Good Thing. Expect this.

"I like vodka. Don't you like vodka? What kind of unpatriotic Russia-hater are you? Vlad's a strong leader, he'll know how to make America great again." This from the man wrapped in a flag wearing a flag hat with a flag fanny pack and flag shoes and a flag belt waving a flag.

Man they're a heavy load. Heavy and they're not very brother-like. Just a little shove at the next corner --

But no. Must carry their dead weight into the future with us.

May 4, 2018

Ohio.

May 4, 2018

Yes We Can.

April 26, 2018

My band is charting on Reverb Nation; I request a little DU help to reach #1.

We're charting at #3 locally, #9 regionally, #218 nationally, and # 327 globally on the ReverNation Indie charts.

Please, give us a quick listen or watch one of the videos. Never been nearly this high up before. Very exciting.

The Murder Merchants on ReverbNation

Grateful for any help.

April 14, 2018

GOING TO THE MARCH FOR SCIENCE FEELS GOOD.

Roaming the streets of Sacto with a huge crowd of like-minded people is always a blast.

Would not miss this for the world.

And away we go!

April 5, 2018

'It will be a miracle if something terrible doesn't happen.'

From Digby:

The United States being unpredictable, bullying the world and keeping other countries off balance and unsure of whether we're going to blow up the planet may have precipitated world leaders treading carefully trying to figure out what's real and what isn't. But it won't last. A rogue superpower running roughshod will be undermined and eventually challenged. It's unsustainable.

Also, the president isn't -- shall we say -- cognizant of what he's doing. In fact, he's a fucking moron. That doesn't mean that he can't accidentally succeed in some respects. But let's just say the odds are against him vaunted "instincts" being beneficial for all of us in the long run. His instincts are narrow and feral, informed only by watching TV and inborn prejudice. It will be a miracle if something terrible doesn't happen.

March 29, 2018

Rumor: Are Mega-Billionaires Skinner and EarlG Manipulating DU Users With Russian Propaganda?

Ah, no. Nope. Not.

A few Russian or Koch-sponsored Democratic Underground users may be occasionally trying to do just that, but this community is pretty goddamned generally immune to bullshit. Usually you get to the Absolute Truth somewhere halfway down the thread, and if it's coming from babylonsister, kpete, H2OMan, hatrack, JudiLynn or any of the other dozens to hundreds of Seriously Cool DUers you can probably take the OP to the bank.

And that is why I live here, and happily pay for the privilege of my star.

I don't really think Skinner or EarlG or Elad are billionaires. But I do think they'd make good billionaires. The very best of billionaires.