Images (starting with upper-left):  Infrared readings of light from the First Stars; the Bubble Nebula;  a solar flare on our new sun; sunlight on the floor in Edward Hopper's "Summer Interior," putting sunlight in perspective.

Astronomy Picture of the Day is one of my favorite websites. Every brings a new amazing photograph or image of the seemingly limitless marvels of our universe.

When I think of the mysteries of the heavens, of light and time and space, my mind invariably drifts to the embodiment of all mystery hear on Earth. 

(explanations of the photos and some great links on the flip-fl0p) 

Sweet fluffy lambs.

On a recent post celebrating Beethoven's birthday, I mentioned a lamb recipe for the bachelor who wants to impress a woman with his prowess in the kitchen. As we know, skill in the kitchen implies a heightened respect and knowledge of les Plaisirs d'Amour. D'accord.

One of our readers requested the recipe. I am including two recipes today. Neither are very demanding, but are delicious, nutritious, and shagalicious. Here is the first:

1. Determine if prospect eats meat and has sex on first date.
2. Get good lamb chops, about 1" thick.
3. Trim excess fat.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. Sprinkle dried tarragon generously on lambchops. Cover tarragon with coating of gourmet mustard - your choice, hot, sweet, whatever
6. Sprinkle italian seasoning on top of mustard.
7. Put lamb chops on roasting rack and into oven. Cook for 30 minutes. (Vary time according to thickness of chops)
8. Serve with brown rice and raisins. Spinach salad with avocado and tangerine slices and vinaigrette.

You will get lucky.

(Recipe #2 & story on the flip-fl0p) 

A tale from the wild-n-wooly days of the internets

I met Bonnie in the early days of usenet mail groups. She came to my defense as I was being viciously flamed by an asshole who was, he said, a published author, a lyricist for a rock band: a self-promoting digerati jerk of the highest caliber, involved with a lot of rapidly developing Internet issues, a self-proclaimed shaman, and always had a sig file that quoted J.P. Barlow, founder of the Electronic Freedom Foundation. Do I think it was the great Bloviator himself? Yes, but I can't prove it. As I said, the guy was too chickenshit to reveal his identity. More about Barlow some other day.

In her well-written defense of me, Bonnie mentioned that she wore size five underwear, was 28 years old, and was a single mom living in New Jersey and that the anonymous guy who was too chickenshit to reveal his name could pick on her, too.

I was impressed, in more ways than one. 

Born today, January 8, Elvis Presley and David Bowie

"... a long long time ago.

Who knows? Not me.

I never lost control.

You're face to face

With the man who sold the world ..." 

—The Man Who Sold The World, D. Bowie 

SUN POP BLUE MULTIPLE CHOICE QUIZ: Okay, kids, which of the following celebrities, all of whom were born on January 8th, was captured on video peeing on a 15 year-old girl's head? (on the flip-flop)