This yellow Icelandic Poppy is nicely silhouetted by the little blue flowers in the ground cover underneath. Very pretty.
Why do these colors go so nicely together? Looking at a color scheme design tool we use, it shows that indigo-blue and and pale yellow are truly complimentary, as can be seen in the color wheel diagram below.
Because of rainclouds in our area, we missed this spectacular light show last evening. However, SpaceWeather.Com, published a couple of nice images of the light show.
From Spaceflight Now:
Six tiny satellites sped into space Friday evening aboard an ultra-fast rocket booster, beginning a five-year mission to examine Earth’s atmosphere and the underlying hints of climate change by employing a novel technique.
The $100 million COSMIC mission that partners the U.S. and Taiwan roared away from the wet and foggy Space Launch Complex 8 on the southern end of Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 6:40 p.m. PDT (9:40 p.m. EDT; 0140 GMT).
The Orbital Sciences Minotaur rocket was gone in a flash, almost instantly disappearing from view of launch pad cameras. The liftoff was delayed an hour-and-a-half after an initial countdown attempt was aborted because of a problem with the system monitoring rocket data.
June 10, 2000 – Damsel and I attended the Graduation of our nephew from the University of California at Santa Cruz that day. We drove to the campus, went to the outdoor ceremonies area, and were seated, not knowing what we were about to experience.
First, the faculty head made some remarks about the proceedings. In spite of the fact that most of the attendees were English-speaking, the professor made his remarks in Spanish. I could catch every few words, but largely failed to comprehend what was being said. I thought it rude and unnecessary to speak in a language not understood by everyone. Speak English or get the hell out!
Next, the students presented a recording of their keynote speaker, Mumia Abu Jamal, a confessed cop killer.
From WikiPedia:
On the morning of December 9, 1981, Officer Daniel Faulkner was shot and killed. This occurred during a routine traffic stop of a vehicle driven by William Cook, Abu-Jamal’s younger brother.
Right: Cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.
The basic facts of the case as testified to by several eyewitnesses are as follows: during the traffic stop, Cook assaulted Faulkner, who in turn attempted to subdue Cook. At this point, Abu-Jamal emerged from a nearby taxi and shot Faulkner in the back. Faulkner was able to return fire, seriously wounding Abu-Jamal. Abu-Jamal then advanced on Faulkner, and fired four additional shots at close range, killing the policeman. Abu-Jamal was unable to flee due to his own gunshot wound, and was taken into custody by other police officers, who had been summoned by Faulkner at the time of the traffic stop. Abu-Jamal was taken directly from the scene of the shooting to a hospital, and treated for his injury. While he was receiving this treatment Abu-Jamal acknowledged that he shot Daniel Faulkner, with apparent satisfaction.
And as for the nephew; the ultra-left wing indoctrination provided by UCSC makes it difficult or impossible to discuss contemporary issues with him. His mind is made up, don’t confuse him with facts. This is the typical attitude of most UCSC students. And probably that of the students that threatened violence as they demonstrated against the Military recruiters on campus the other day. UCSC, and many, if not all schools in the University of California system are still crazy after all these years.
Update: Degenerate students and sympathisers (and faculty?) from UCSC have committed the ultimate outrage – personal attacks on a reporter bringing the truth out. This is more justification to remove funding from this radical hotbed of treasonous miscreants.
From Michelle Malkin:
You know who you all are.
And if you think I’m going to stop blogging/writing/making a living because you’ve plastered my family’s private home address, phone numbers, and photos and maps of my neighborhood all over the Internet to further your manufactured outrage and pathetic coddling of a bunch of lying, anti-troops punks at UC Santa Cruz…
…you better think again.
In addition to Meathead‘s initiative, both Democratic gubernatorial candidates, Steve Westly and Phil Angelides, want to raise taxes one way or another on the state’s “highest income earners”. This amounts to more “Robin Hood” politics that is destined to run small business out of the state.
Angelides pushing taxes to aid schools
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides said Tuesday he would pursue ballot initiatives to close tax loopholes and increase taxes on the state’s highest income earners as governor if he cannot persuade the Legislature to approve those changes.
Right: Angelides
In a meeting with The Bee’s Capitol Bureau, Angelides cast education funding as a “moral issue.” He accused Democratic rival and state Controller Steve Westly, as well as Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, of lacking fiscal plans to pay for schools and the state’s budget deficit.
[more]
I have an idea – get rid of the incompetent teachers and give the rest of them a well-deserved pay cut! Better yet – start up a voucher program so kids can benefit from competition in education.
First, read Sgt Hook’s No Tears in Heaven
The four Soldiers sat around an olive drab painted footlocker playing cards. Actually, the group was comprised of three Soldiers and one Marine, all wearing desert camouflage uniforms, their blouses removed exposing brown t-shirts, not because they were hot, rather it was just more comfortable to have them off.
[more]
Then watch this moving video he put together. Very well done and touching. Thank you Sgt. Hook.
The following is from the Goodyear Website:
For 80 years, Goodyear blimps have adorned the skies as very visible corporate symbols of the tire and rubber company that began operations in 1898.
Today, these graceful giants travel more than 100,000 miles across the United States per year as Goodyear’s “Aerial Ambassadors.”
The blimp tradition began in 1925 when Goodyear built its first helium-filled public relations airship, the Pilgrim. The tire company painted its name on the side and began barnstorming the United States. Humble beginnings to an illustrious history.
Over the years, Goodyear built more than 300 airships, more than any other company in the world. Akron, Ohio, the company’s world headquarters, was the center of blimp manufacturing for several decades.
During World War II many of the Goodyear-built airships provided the U.S. Navy with a unique aerial surveillance capability. Often used as convoy escorts, the blimps were able to look down on the ocean surface and spot a rising submarine and radio its position to the convoy’s surface ships. . . in essence acting as an early warning system. Modern surveillance technology eventually eclipsed the advantages of the airship fleet, and in 1962 the Navy discontinued the program.
Today, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company no longer mass-produces airships. In the United States it operates three well-recognized blimps: the Spirit of Goodyear, based in Akron, Ohio; the Spirit of America, based in Carson, California; and the Stars & Stripes, in Pompano Beach, Florida.
Now is your chance to name the newest Blimp to be stationed in Florida. Go to Goodyear – Name The Blimp Contest and sign up.
If you’re up early on April 17 through 19th and skies where you live are clear, don’t miss this opportunity to see “George,” the sixth naked-eye planet!
From NASA:
NASA – Venus Meets a Planet Named George
April 11, 2006: Ancient people didn’t have TV or electric lights. So, when the sun went down every night, they got their entertainment by watching the sky. And it was entertaining. Without city lights to interfere, the Milky Way was spectacular. Meteors flitted across the sky. Zodiacal lights chased the sunset.
Right: Voyager 2 took this picture of Uranus in 1986.
Of special interest were the five naked-eye planets, the ones you could see without a telescope. (The ancients didn’t have telescopes, either.) Countless hours were spent watching Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, whose movements were thought to control the affairs of men.
Would you believe, in spite of all that watching, they missed one? There is a sixth planet you can see without a telescope, a planet named George.“George” is not as bright as the others, but it is there, glowing like an aqua-blue star of 6th magnitude. It measures four times wider than Earth, has more than 30 moons and a dozen or so thin rings. George goes around the sun every 84 years, always spinning on its side as if something knocked it over.
George is better known as Uranus.
[ . . . ]
On April 17th, 18th and 19th, Venus and Uranus are going to have a close encounter in the dawn sky. Simply look east before sunrise. As a guidepost, Venus can’t be beat. It is so bright, people often think it’s a landing airplane. Simply scan Venus with a pair of binoculars (or a small telescope) and you’ll see Uranus right beside it. If the sky is very dark, you may be able to lift your eyes from the optics and see Uranus directly.