“All your base are belong to us!”

Driftglass has a post “All Your Internet Traditions” to mark the 40th anniversary of the internet (when you go over to read his post, click on the title if you are not aware of all internet traditions) which has led me all kinds of places, but finally to something I can’t believe I missed!

Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show!

There are several places you can watch episodes but Hulu makes it easy.  Here too is a link to episode one on Youtube.

Ooooh! Scary!

Star Wars Death Star Pumpkin!

Thanks, Casanova!

“La Muralla”

I don’t visit David Seaton’s News Links nearly often enough.

The left has been buried under the rubbish that neoconservatism has dumped on it for so long that many people, including (especially?) many people of the left have forgotten what the left is.

And you should definitely read this post.

“Old Time Music Nightmare”

Some hilarious animation by Cyriak and some delightful music by The Chicken Chokers to while away a bit of your day:

Thanks, Rumproast!

“America”

D.W. Griffith on location, 1923 October 31. (Library of Congress)

Boo!

Don’t put that in your mouth!

Randall Cleveland has posted the results of his Halloween candy taste test.

I could have told him he shouldn’t put those Atomic Warheads in his mouth.

Transit of Venus

John Phillip Sousa, c.1920 (Library of Congress)

John Philip Sousa composed a march for military band titled “Transit of Venus” in 1883 to celebrate a rare astronomical phenomena that occurred on December 6, 1882 — Venus Venus passing directly between the Sun and Earth. You can listen to it here.

Transits of Venus occur in a pattern that repeats every 243 years. Pairs of transits eight years apart are separated by long gaps of 121.5 years and 105.5 years. The first scientific observation of this rare event was in 1639, though it had been predicted by Johannes Kepler in 1627.

Transit of Venus photographed from Prime Focus by Kavan Ratnatunga, 2004 June 8th

The last transit of Venus was on June 8, 2004, the next will be on June 6, 2012. There will not be another for 105.5 years, in December 2117.

According to Dr. Terry Phillips:

The planet’s bone-dry surface is hot enough to melt lead. Venus’ atmosphere, 90 times heavier than Earth’s, is almost pure carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps solar heat. The thick blanketing clouds don’t help; they trap heat, too,

View of Venus taken by NASA's Pioneer Venus probe as it approached Venus in December 1978.

and they’re made of sulfuric acid. Robot-spaceships sent to Venus have landed, but they never last long. Russia’s Venera 13 lander operated for 127 minutes — the all-time record — before being overwhelmed by the acid, the heat, and the crushing pressure of Venus’ atmosphere.