A couple of days ago I showed a photo of some crimson tulips. Today, I took this photo of a tulip indoors in a vase. The morning sunlight was muted by passing clouds to give this beautiful pastel pink over white effect.

Today was a fun day at the shooting range — Damsel is getting really good at emptying the magazine in her 20 gauge Remington 870 in just a couple of seconds. She maintains good accuracy also.

These crimson beauties are opening up to today’s warm sunshine. I just love the color of these absolutely gorgeous tulips.

SOHO moves around the Sun in step with the Earth, by slowly orbiting around the First Lagrangian Point (L1), where the combined gravity of the Earth and Sun keep SOHO in an orbit locked to the Earth-Sun line. The L1 point is approximately 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth (about four times the distance of the Moon), in the direction of the Sun. From that vantage point, SOHO’s Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) has enjoyed an uninterrupted view of our daylight star for the last eleven-plus years. All previous solar observatories have orbited the Earth, from where their observations were periodically interrupted as our planet `eclipsed’ the Sun.

SOHO’s Pick of the Week featured this remarkable milestone:

Continue reading » SOHO Captures First Complete Solar Cycle

Milblogger Pam writing at the MilBlog Iraq War Today wrote an excellent article that accounts for, in great detail, a view of America’s problems. She tells the history of how our politically left politicians and activists have eroded the American Spirit and she tells it without rewriting history as the left would like to do. My Two Cents: The Gathering Storm is a must-read article.

A Double Induction to the Star Whores Hall of Shame

We haven’t posted an induction to the Star Whores Hall of Shame in a very long time, mainly, because the almost constant murmur of moonbat opinions and nonsense out of the Hollywood crowd and other celebretards would keep me cranking 24/7. Once in a while, however, someone will do something so outrageous that they exceed our usual high threshold of tolerance for their normal crap. In fact, our stupid-crap-o-meter went almost to the top of the scale.

Pursuant to that threshold having been crossed, we hereby induct the following two entities into the Hall:

1. The singing group Dixie Chicks for being the least talented group to get talent awards based on their liberal political viewpoint - welcome to the “Treacherous Troubadors” exhibit of the Hall.
2. The Grammy Awards for awarding best country performance to a non-country group just because they hate Republicans and country music fans - welcome to the “Sleazy Reasoning” wall in the Hall.

Visit the Hall of Shame.

This beautiful Vendela rose is dedicated to our fallen and wounded military worldwide. Without the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, we may not have anything to celebrate on Valentines Day. Show your support to those recovering from their injuries by supporting Wounded Warriors.

Also, check out the beautiful Cosmic Valentine Rose from Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Happy Valentine’s Day! And especially to our deployed troops and to their families at home who miss their sweeties! Have a candy heart!

Remember that you can help the United Service Organization to provide special services to our troops like Operation Phone Home and Operation Music Download. These and the many other services provide the means for the troops to have a nicer Valentine’s Day or a nicer any other day. Please show your support today.

Are we looking into the Obelisk from 2001 - A Space Odyssey? Not exactly — these stars are the reflection of our own star, the Sun, as seen looking into the waters of the Marina Del Rey, California main channel. The scintillating reflections show up like little twinkling stars through the camera’s lens.

Contemptible Ray Nagin, along with ex-Police chief of New Orleans Warren Riley, have been found in contempt of court in Louisiana for failing to provide disclosures to the discovery phase of legal action for illegal confiscation of firearms from legitimate gun owners after Hurricane Katrina. In a ruling by Judge Carl Barbier, the city attorney was ordered to compensate the National Rifle Association’s attorneys “for wasted time and money.”

What I want to know is why aren’t Nagin, Riley and their attorney paying fines for contempt? Why aren’t they being prosecuted for their illegal actions?

Continue reading » Why Isn’t Nagin in Jail?