Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Song and Dance Bird

mockingbirdThis handsome fellow perched on the power pole behind our house this morning. He then took up the song and dance routine that is so familiar to us in spring and summer months.

The same bird is seen in both panels of this composite image. Click for a closer look.

The Mockingbird entry in WikiPedia explains a bit more:

Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the Mimidae family. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds, often loudly and in rapid succession. Mockingbirds also have a reputation of being fierce defenders of their nests.

14 May 2008 by Critters Home & Garden Photography

Flight of the Phoenix – Part III

In Part II, I posted a neat little video that shows the final landing sequence and initial deployment of panels and sensors. I’m hoping that I will be able to watch the control center during final approach and landing. I expect it will be on the NASA Channel – I’m going to check into that for sure.

Image and excerpt below courtesy of NASA.

PhoenixMay 13, 2008: NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander is preparing to end its long journey and begin a three-month mission to taste and sniff fistfuls of Martian soil and buried ice. The lander is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet on Sunday, May 25th.

Phoenix will enter the top of the Martian atmosphere at almost 13,000 mph. In seven minutes, the spacecraft must complete a challenging sequence of events to slow to about 5 mph before its three legs reach the ground. Confirmation of the landing could come as early as 7:53 p.m. EDT.

Right: An artist’s concept of NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander a moment before its 2008 touchdown on the arctic plains of Mars. Pulsed rocket engines control the spacecraft’s speed during the final seconds of descent.

“This is not a trip to grandma’s house. Putting a spacecraft safely on Mars is hard and risky,” said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Internationally, fewer than half of all attempts to land on Mars have succeeded.”

Rocks large enough to spoil the landing or prevent opening of the solar panels present the greatest known risk. However, images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, detailed enough to show individual rocks smaller than the lander, have helped lessen that risk.

“We have blanketed nearly the entire landing area with HiRISE images,” said Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, chairman of the Phoenix landing-site working group. “This is one of the least rocky areas on all of Mars and we are confident that rocks will not detrimentally impact the ability of Phoenix to land safely.”

13 May 2008 by Aerospace Rocket Science

Triple Crown

When I went out on the patio this morning, I spotted a newly-opened Asian lily – then, I noticed two new bright red epiphyllum flowers – and then, I spotted three new Easter lily cactus flowers. I couldn’t decide which to photograph first. They are all so beautiful.

triple crown

In spite of the gloomy overcast over the California coast for the last few days, the garden and patio continue to cheer up the back yard with color and beauty.

Click the image for a closer view.

12 May 2008 by Home & Garden Photography

Personal Protection Rounds

A couple of weeks ago, I read an article written by a former policeman who is now a medical examiner doing autopsies in Atlanta. The article, Terminal Ballistics as Viewed in a Morgue, discussed the stopping power of various types of ammunition. Bottom line: the bigger, the better and hollow points do a serious number on the body.

We each now keep a magazine filled with these bigger and better Hornady .45ACP +P 230 grain hollow-points near the Glock 30 and the Para Warthog.

hornady-45-acp.jpg

Photo credit: Damsel.

11 May 2008 by Firearms

Saturday in the Back Yard

Today was shopping in the morning and barbecue in the afternoon. While in the back yard during some idle moments between tending to the grill, I took a picture of the little .38 special +P. When I reviewed the picture, I found that i could see the hollow-point in the cylinder down the short barrel. That makes for an interesting picture.

i-see-you.jpg

10 May 2008 by Firearms Photography

Greenbat Paint Job Award

April 2008 was the coldest April in 11 years. April also ranked the 29th coldest since record keeping began 114 years ago.

According to the National Climatic Data Center, the U.S. average temperature for the month was only 51 degrees, which is 1 degree below the average from 1901-2000.

Now that the coldest April over the last 11 years is in the record books, it’s probably safe to say that this fellow’s message might be a bit of overkill.

greenbatmobile.jpgNow would be a good time for this dude to check out these posts on the topic of Global Warming.

  • Earth’s Oceans – A Mesozoic Hot Tub — Scientific Evidence that Atlantic Ocean temperatures may have once reached 107° (42°C) – about 25°F (14°C) higher than ocean temperatures today and warmer than a hot tub.
  • Ultimate Global Warming – SPF 2 Million Won’t Be Enough — The Sun is a star – a main sequence star whose business is to fuse hydrogen atoms into helium atoms. Fusion is a steady but somewhat unstable and potentially violent thermonuclear process.
  • The “O” Zone — Think of the ozone layer as Earth’s sunglasses, protecting life on the surface from the harmful glare of the sun’s strongest ultraviolet rays, which can cause skin cancer and other maladies.
  • Correlating Sunspots to Global Climate — This is a study in two observations made over the last 400 years: observed annual sunspot numbers and derived global temperatures.
  • The Indefensible Hockey Stick — The “hockey stick” (since the shape of the graph resembles one) graph emerged in 1995 and purports to depict average global temperatures over the last 1000 years or so. The basis of this paradigm, however, can be shown to be flawed.
  • Cosmic Rays, Solar Flux and Global Warming — When you consider the context of this galactic radiation effect, the impact of CO2 emissions caused by humanity literally fade away into climatic insignificance.

Remember, we’re not against cleaning up the environment and we’re certainly not against lower fuel prices or curing asthma. We’re not sure why SUVs would exclusively attack children with asthma, but for this modern sandwich-sign wearing doomsayer maybe it’s a foregone conclusion and he is beyond reason.

Just saying . . .

09 May 2008 by Global Warming Greenbats

‘Safe Neighborhoods’ Act Under Attack

justiceThe claim is that it will attract ‘ultra-conservatives’ to the polls.

Question: Shouldn’t everybody be allowed to vote regardless of their position on the political spectrum? As usual, Democrats don’t think so.

Another question: Won’t having Barack Obama on the ballot attract ultra-liberals, socialists and communists to the polls? That can’t be stopped either.

The votes will cancel each other. However the rest of us ‘normal’ voters will likely support this measure. And that’s what the Democrats fear.

Democrats oppose the initiative that is likely to appear on the November, 2008 California ballot. The proposed initiative has been submitted to the office of the secretary of state with the necessary number of signatures.

Opponents of the “Safe Neighborhoods” act are attempting to spin the issue as targeting Latinos and African Americans, while completely ignoring the intent of the bill, which is to punish criminals. Moreover, they fear that this initiative will attract ‘ultra-conservatives’ to the polls, thereby crippling Democrats on the November ballot. One opponent said “This is about saying ‘boo’ to the people of California.”

It’s violent criminals that say ‘boo’ to the people.

Supporters of the measure say that it is as much about education and prevention as it is about punitive actions. The measure would punish ex-cons carrying loaded or concealed guns in public with new, 10-year terms. It would expand the “10-20-life” law to accomplices as well as actual shooters in crimes where guns are brandished, fired or injure people when shot.

Note that many law enforcement agencies statewide and all 58 county sheriffs support the initiative.

Read the story in the Sacramento Bee.

08 May 2008 by Law and Order Whacko Politics

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