January 26, 2004

•                                  Notes From the

  
  

  Garden Journal

  
  

   

  
  

  “Two things I have not seemed to grow tired of this past week:

  
  

  More Mars Photos and Howard the Dean’s ever-famous ‘ARRRGGGHHHHHEE!’ utterance.” – Blogbat

  
  

   

  
  

  THIS WEEK IN THE GARDEN JOURNAL

  
  

  Blogbat’s happenings

  
  

  Opportunity Comes but Twice

  
  

  What’s New on the Homeland Security Front

  
  

  
  

  Margaret Sanger Alert!

  
  

   

  
  

  Also: New Photo of Saddam at his old hideout

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  Horsing Around

  
  

  Blogbat had a busy but enjoyable weekend, spending it among the horses of a friend’s Tennessee Walker stable where Blogbat charmed these fuzzy creatures with his mad horse-whispering skills…bet you want to know what I whispered to this one, eh? It really wasn’t any secret: Bush will win in November. As you can see, he was much relieved as well as delighted to receive that good news, after having encountered some erroneous information from a small barn-radio that was tuned to NPR. All things considered however, he seemed a rather blithe and well-adjusted equine.

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  Got Crabs?

  
  

  A curious evening in search of seafood. We first attempted to stake out Copeland’s in Brentwood Saturday, but this proved beyond tolerable by virtue of

  
  

  an hour and a half wait. So we hit the “next-best thing” across the street: Joe’s Crab Shack (another fine restaurant in plentiful supply in the Lone Star State). As with many Crab Shacks, this one provided an enjoyable – and entertaining dinner (sort of like medieval Knights sans les chevaux)  with abundant quantities, fast, well-prepared and tasty munchies complimented by a short wait of about 15 minutes (18:30 on a Saturday night, no less!). And we can’t leave out a waitress by the name of Amber from Ohio who did a perfect job serving our food and keeping our drinks full. She was a cutie, too. Be sure to ask for her if you would like to have a great waitress serve you for the evening.

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  Opportunity Knocks on Heaven’s Door!

  
  

  Who knew what spectacular images we’d receive from both rovers. Once again, Blogbat finds himself spending hours at the NASA site where there are details of both the Opportunity and Spirit missions, as well as information about the Red Planet and a free MUST-HAVE download which gives you all kinds of terrific live and historic data from Planet War.

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  Photos from Opportunity (which landed in a shallow crater in the area of Meridiani Planum about 6,000 miles to the east of Spirit) were already coming in as of its successful landing Saturday. Dubbed as “a 300-million mile interplanetary hole in one”, by NASA scientist Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, it underscores the fact that no one in NASA could have even imagined that both missions would be such a success. In fact, the two were set about in tandem to the Martian world because of the very risks inherent in such a long-shot mission- risks which made it very unlikely even one of the ships would successfully navigate the long journey.

  
  

   

  
  

  Now that they are there, researchers hope to uncover answers to the centuries-old mysteries of this strange, alien planet. Among continuing quests to find water, both historic and present, the mission team seeks to further understand Martian soil and atmospheric compositions for the sake of plotting future sustained human missions to mars. Water, viable soil and fuel sources are all vital links to the puzzle for a resource-managed mission. Additionally, scientists revealed this past week a bold mission in 2006 to begin experimenting with artificial gravity in space. The satellite will spin around 38 times a minute to produce an environment similar to that of mars. On board will be mice, which scientists will watch closely in order to determine the effects of prolonged limited gravity on mammalian creatures. However, because of their small size, it will most likely still be necessary to gather data from humans in a similar such mission in order to fully understand its effects on larger mammals. NASA of course is spinning (no pun intended) this mission as one to simulate Martian gravity, but one cannot escape the gravity of the technology which they will be developing as a by-product if this, that no doubt will aid in sustaining astronauts in simulated earth-gravity environments during longer missions. And this could propel sustained human colonies on the moon and mars to reality at terminal velocity. With this technology, it would be conceivable to place an orbiter around the planet in which a 1-G simulator is present. The next trick would be to develop a lander which could easily land and redeploy back to the orbiter and to the surface again.  The technologies developed for this would turn the page in human aeronautical development right here on earth. Numerous propulsion techniques remain under investigation and more are being sought. Perhaps one may even be fueled by potent sources found on the moon, which we already know exist there in large supply. There is every reason to believe we are preparing to step off into the 21^st century equivalent of what we experienced with exponential explosion in technology in computers and information in the latter half of the 20^th century. Blogbat would anticipate that once more here as well that Moore’s law will reign supreme.    

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  What on earth else? 

  
  

  So our weekend is already at a close. So unfortunate. We did get some warm sun, though. This pic was shot today from the convertible while driving in relatively balmy weather which hit the mid 60s°F (20s°c). The same weather is expected tomorrow, as well. Blogbat plans lunch in the park J.

  
  

   

  
  

  This weekend was quite a news-filled one, from the Houston-area chemical plant security guard who was shot by a firearm-bearing middle easterner who said he was taking pictures of the facility to the above-mentioned landings of Opportunity, which occurred right on time.

  
  

   

  
  

  Margaret Sanger Alert! Then there was the British Geneticist who declared it was perfectly ethical to terminate the lives of children after they are born. The article begins with a paragraph which draws more to mind images of euthanasizing rabid cats at the veterinary office. The article begins, “A GOVERNMENT adviser on genetics has sparked fury by suggesting it might be acceptable to destroy children with ‘defects’ soon after they are born.”  

  
  

   

  
  

  Once again, Howard the Dean chimes in this weekend with another thoughtful utterance, when he insisted that the Iraqi standard of living is now far worse than it was before the war. Apparently the ever-thoughtful Dean believes that Democrats have been running things over there during this time.  

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  And speaking of the Iraqi standard of living, Saddam it  seems turned up once during his long hideout. This photo, allegedly taken inside resident Connie

  
  

  Whitaker’s 

  
  

  home at a trailer park somewhere in Alabama, was reportedly part of a set (many of which lost when a can of beer was knocked over spilling its contents onto the roll of film containing them). Shortly after the photo here was taken, several tornados struck forcing Saddam to hide in the underground storm shelter, where later authorities discovered him, according to Bagdad Bob.

  
  

   

  
  

  This photo was taken by his cousin’s sister’s daughter’s aunt’s neighbor’s father’s brother’s son’s daughter- Saddam’s current wife Rosanne Barr.

  
  

   

  
  

  Saddam is reported to have many children, as well as a good number of blue healer dogs which lived underneath the moble home residence before those twisters came through…developing…

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  - Blogbat

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  Notes from the Garden Journal

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