THE SOMBRERO GALAXY
The Sombrero Galaxy - 28 million light years from Earth - was voted best picture taken by the Hubble telescope. The dimensions of the galaxy, officially called M104, are as spectacular as its appearance. It has 800 billion suns and is 50,000 light years across.


A few things that happened on October 22
1633 - Ming dynasty fight with Dutch East India Company that Battle of southern Fujian sea, Ming dynasty won great victory.

1797 - One thousand meters (3,200 feet) above Paris, André-Jacques Garnerin makes the first recorded parachute jump.

1836 - Sam Houston is inaugurated as the first President of the Republic of Texas.

1844 - The Great Anticipation: Millerites, followers of William Miller, anticipated the end of the world in conjunction with the Second Advent of Christ. The following day became known as the Great Disappointment.

1883 - The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City opens with a performance of Gounod's Faust (opera)
.
1895 - In Paris an express train overruns a buffer stop and crosses more than 30 metres of concourse before plummeting through a window at Gare Montparnasse.

1907 - Panic of 1907: A run on Knickerbocker Trust Company stock sets events in motion that will lead to a depression.

1926 - J. Gordon Whitehead sucker punches magician Harry Houdini in the stomach in Montreal.

1934 - Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, the notorious bank robber, was shot and killed by Federal agents in East Liverpool, OH.

1956 - A concrete girder weighing 200 tons kills 48 in Karachi, Pakistan.

1957 - Vietnam War: First United States casualties in Vietnam.

1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis: US President John F. Kennedy, after internal counsel from Dwight D. Eisenhower, announces that American spy planes have discovered Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba, and that he has ordered a naval "quarantine" of the island nation.

1966 - The Supremes become the first all-female music group to attain a No. 1 selling album (The Supremes A' Go-Go).


click on the picture...Come See about Me!

2005 - Tropical Storm Alpha forms in the Atlantic Basin, making the 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record with 22 named storms.

2008 - High School Musical 3 will be released

Birthdays - October 22

1903 - Curly Howard (comedian: The Three Stooges: Three Little Pigskins, Pop Goes the Easel, Goofs and Saddles, Wee Wee Monsieur, Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise, Higher Than a Kite, The Yoke’s on Me, Stop! Look! and Laugh!; died Jan 18, 1952)

1920 - Timothy Leary (psychologist, professor: Harvard; 1960s icon: promoted the use of LSD in the search of political and spiritual freedom; died May 31, 1996)

1942 - Annette Funicello (actress: The Mickey Mouse Club, Beach Blanket Bingo, Back to the Beach, Beach Party, Bikini Beach; singer: Tall Paul, First Name Initial, O Dio Mio, Pineapple Princess)


1943 - Catherine Deneuve (Dorleac) (actress: Repulsion, Indochine, The April Fools, Umbrellas of Cherbourg)


1952 - Jeff Goldblum (actor: The Fly, The Big Chill, Independence Day, Death Wish, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Right Stuff, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Silverado, Hideaway, Jurassic Park, Tenspeed and Brown Shoe)



Maybe I shouldn't give you some of these, but here goes:

Investment tips for 2008
For all of you with any money left, be aware of the next expected mergers so that you can get in on the ground floor and make some BIG BUCKS!


Watch for these consolidations in 2008:

1.) Hale Business Systems, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Fuller Brush, and W.R. Grace Co. will merge and become: Hale, Mary, Fuller, Grace.
2.) Polygram Records, Warner Bros., and ZestaCrackers join forces and become: Poly, Warner Cracker.
3.) 3M will merge with Goodyear and become: MMMGood.
4. Zippo Manufacturing, Audi Motors, Dofasco, and Dakota Mining will merge and become: ZipAudiDoDa .
5. FedEx is expected to join its competitor, UPS, and become: FedUP.
6. Fairchild Electronics and Honeywell Computers will become: Fairwell, Honeychild.
7. Grey Poupon and Docker Pants are expected to become: Poupon Pants.
8. Knotts Berry Farm and the National Organization of Women will become: Knott NOW!
And finally ...
9. Victoria 's Secret and Smith/Wesson will merge under the new name:
Titty Titty Bang Bang

Little Rupert

We're All In This Together

Rupert's Story

And finally, A musical explanation of the
Economic Meltdown

Economic Meltdown Rap

Goodmorning, Greger.
Yes I'll have some coffee. Just up here.

I love little rupert! What a sweet picture and story.

Awesome galaxy photo.

Oh and that's the best 4 minute explanation of the meltdown I've every heard. Even I understood it.

Morning all!
Crisp chilly day here. Not quite peek week on the leaves yet but getting there.
Yesterday's walk at the botanical gardens yielded us a delightful experience of watching a gaggle of 6 or 8 deer who did not see us right away in playful romping for several minutes.
I had a camera but the process of raising my hand and turning it on would have alerted them so I just stood still instead. It was awesome.

This is my one long work day of the week today. Better go get started! Catch y'all later.

Olyve

Good morning, Greger and olyve,

I live where we see deer nearly every morning and night in our front yard. They are breathtaking and it never ceases to be a treat to see them. If we could just teach them to mow and stay out of the garden....

I'm heading back to the north of the state today once I get my stuff packed and in the car. I'll pull my CDs in advance so I have something to listen to as I drive through the center>>>right-wing part of the state. I won't be able to pick up public radio until after Ocala.

Have a great day....see ya soon!

EmmaG

Morning, all! Greger, if this is your introductory effort, then well done, I say! Well done anyway, but especially if it's your first.

Emma, you drive carefully, okay?

Olyve, I'm glad you had a good morning yesterday and - no asthma attack for Mr. O this time, I hope?

Thank you, Mellow, it's my first but I had plenty of time and Olyve helped with everything so it was really a collaborative effort.
Yes, Emma, drive carefully I-95 is crazy down there. My daughter went to PBAC then got her Masters from FAU so I have way too much experience on that highway.

I've heard that part of the State has nothing but vicious talk radio. Hey wait a minute. I might have heard that from you!

Good morning everyone! Not so chilly here today as the past two mornings were. And yet somehow we've escaped much of a frost, and my elephant ear caladiums are still hanging in there.



That's me in the background, hanging in there with 'em. I'm 6'2" BTW.

Nice job on the opener, Greger - You sure know what I like, starting out with a Hubble photo! I'm a little surprised the Sombrero was voted "best photo". It's a nice one, no doubt. But there were so many others that revealed mysteries of the universe that we had never conceived of, that were so much more colorful or intricate in previously unimaginable ways. I never tire of looking at my Hubble collection.

For example the series of photos of the monoceretis nebula, taken over a period of four and a half years. Who would have thought that the patterns of dispersion of stellar matter could leave such spectacular traces? The first photo was taken in May of 2002:



By Oct of 2004, it looked like this:



That's my fave!

Finally, in Sep of 2006 it looked like this:



Amazing!

Have a great day everyone! May The Force be with you!

Thanks both, for the Hubble pics... I think that telescope is one of the best things we've done as a nation- artistically, spiritually, and technologically. I hope they get it revived soon.

As a reply to your question stereoman, "Who would have thought that the patterns of dispersion of stellar matter could leave such spectacular traces?" I would venture to say those for whom fractal mathematics and this this morsel are daily sustenance. I was just beholding the inner beauty of a red cabbage yesterday thinking of galaxies, flowers, and protiens...

Off to create some friggin' cool digital animation in my After Effects class today... soon a link to share my fruity and nutty creations with all y'all... a threat and a promise

kisses,
F&N

COINCIDENCE? I think NOT!



FROM THE CHURCH OF INEFFABLE STUPIDITY:

a) Dress, Baby, Dress!
Politico confirms that the Republican National Committee spent $150,000 on clothing and "accessorizing" Sarah Palin, and doing her hair and makeup. Over two months.

Three times the average income of a family of four. (The Real Median is $43,000)

She charged the State to stay at home and eat.
She charged the State for her husband's trips, and for her kids' travel.
She and the first Dude managed to charge every Wasilly citizen $3500 for a mulit-million dollar rec center they did not want, at the same time that the contractors also built her 4500 sq. foot Wasilly mansion.
And McCain picked her to talk to the common people?
- - -

b) The New Jerk Post
The Post printed a false story that Michelle Obama splurged at the Waldorf, ordering lobster with room service.
Except, she didn't. In fact, she didn't even stay there.
Instead of claiming responsibility and apologizing, they blame their source.

That's so big of you folks. Bet you won't even report on the $150,000 shopping spree Sarah Palin received from the RNC.

- - -

c) Treasury cover-up.
Yeah, I wrote about this earlier. But we really need to tear the scab of secrecy off this garbage.

THE SAME COMPANIES hired to administrate the bailout program, were neck deep in the problem in the first place!

- - -

d) Senator Stevens Trial
Probably the only thing more infuriating than seeing this smug, corrupt, corpulent corrosive cancer on the Body Politic is recognizing just how stupidly and badly the federal prosecutors acted in their corruption trial. It seemed at times as thought the prosecutors wanted to get a mistrial so Stevens could go free.
Anyway, the jury gets the case today. Watch for a verdict soon.

- - -

e) Michele Obama's dresses - $90 average.
Sarah Palin's ? ? ?
- - -

f) Today's GOP - attack the voter.
No, it is NOT your imagination. The GOP has sent gaggles of lawyers to keep out the vote nationwide. They know that if people actually get to choose, most of them will lose their friend in DC, and not enough of them practice white collar crime defense to profit from what should happen to the current administration.

They have filed suits in Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and other states. This morning, they launched an attack on Cook County, Illinois voters, demanding that each and every new registration be reviewed or tossed. OK, Chicago (Cook county) is about 30% white, 30% hispanic, and 30% black, with the GOP polling a measly 10%.
Yes, we have a local ACORN office, and as required by law, they turn in every registration, flagging those they think are false. The GOP is claiming that ACORN is creating the mess, when in reality, they are doing their best to keep trouble from happening.

I wonder when, no, IF, the MSM will report on just how outrageous this attack on voters' rights is. How fascist. How illegal. Probably not. Well, then, we intertubers will have to get the word out.

- - -

g) Anti-Americans
Michele Bachman (R-nutcase-Minn) wants a congressional investigation of the liberals in congress, because they are anti-American.

Sarah Palin claims that she only visits those places that have "REAL AMERICANS" unlike the rest of the country, especially those libruls.

And John McCain?

Bless your aged, ancient heart, John.

Not even Disney bats a thousand.

I hope to assuage your consternation, pastor ag, at the Librul Media for their coverage of the GOP's atempts at voter suppression. There are thousands upon thousands of news articles today, including quite a few op-eds, all very critical of the McCain campaign for its tactics. I tell you, this in not anything like the two previous elections, whne the Librul Media was complicit with the RNC in sliming the Dem candidate. Here's some samples:
Indianapolis Star

Washington Post

Boston Globe

The Gainesville Sun






Excellent!