Flying Sugar!: [link]

Al Bean is my number two guy, partially because he was played by Dave Foley in From the Earth to the Moon, but mostly because I actually met him and he was really nice.

"Terrible way to introduce Al Bean to space travel!"

(Al Bean is my favorite. I would name a kid Alan, I love him so much. Pete Conrad too.)

Someone remind me why my attention was caught by the Eldard and Perrineau vehicle "Demons." Was it because of someone else in the cast? The premise? The creative staff? I'm totally blanking on it.

Heard it was bad, sadly. Harold's a nice guy.

Buzz Aldrin is still my favorite astronaut ever, because he decked a flat-earther. Al Bean is my number two guy, partially because he was played by Dave Foley in From the Earth to the Moon, but mostly because I actually met him and he was really nice.

Funnily enough, I saw an interview with Dave Foley where he was talking about meeting all the astronauts, and he reported that if there's one thing they agree on, it's how much they Hate Buzz Aldrin. For example, everyone apparently knows that the senior officer gets to leave first-- in this case, gets to walk on the moon first. But Buzz was super-annoying about wanting to disembark from the moon lander first because he knew that he would get all the glory. Obviously he still wasn't permitted to do so. Total gloryhound, it was reported.

Obvs this is multiple levels of hearsay, just thought it was interesting.

I unfortunately learned about this site because a Georgia legislator from North Georgia (that's Deliverance country) has proposed a bill [link] to ban evolution because it's really a Jewish plot.

Curses, they're on to us!

Wha...? A Jewish plot? I thought is was a Pagan plot.

Oh, I'm going to give Everwind Smartycrow such a thump for lying to me!

A Jewish plot? I thought is was a Pagan plot.

I'm just glad it isn't an atheist plot.

Then again, I guess we're too busy converting to Atheist Islam so we can become terrorists.

I feel totally lame and un-Mardi Gras-ish for the second year in a row -- pregnant and breastfeeding women are among the folks exempt from any dietary restrictions during Lent. No fasting, no abstaining: from a gustatory standpoint, the next 40 days are business as usual.

I could have pancakes for dinner tonight, I guess, but I just had them for breakfast yesterday and as far as my church is concerned I can have them anytime I want until Matilda is weaned no matter what the calendar says, which just sucks the whole special! rare! treat! element right out of them.

However, I do have extra stuff I'm gonna do through Lent (and maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to keep going after).

Happy birthday, Jon! Wishing you a smooth and easy shoot (unless you're getting paid by the hour, in which case I wish you lots and lots of retakes) and a splendid year!

All this talk about Lent and nobody goes for the functionalist explanation?

Basically, the fasting for Lent ties into the fact that by late winter all the fresh meat and fresh vegetables have been consumed, and you're left with preserved meats and salted fish and beans and whatnot.

Mardi Gras (and its variants) is the way you use up all the fresh supplies before they go bad. Then you get your 40 days of fasting before the winter wheat comes in and the lambing season is over and the weather's good enough to fish again.

Sure, there are religious reasons for all of this too, but there's a functional/economic basis for Lenten fasting as well.

In other news, I'm deathly ill and my throat hurts and I am losing money taking today off because I haven't accrued any sick leave yet. Wah!

Happy Birthday, Jon!

So, did we know that Apophis is going to try and wipe us out in 2036?

I had heard about that one before, but more in the context of a close miss that as a potential threat. The asteroid defense I have heard of the most is sending a probe near it to influence the asteroids path via gravity over a long peroid of time rather a big weapon.

A Jewish plot? I thought is was a Pagan plot.

Please. As if there were any pagan groups organized enough to run a decent conspiracy.

(Or maybe...that's just what you want us to think...!)