Merry Christmas!

from Arthur and the Amboy Zimmermans

Pink Sky In Morning?

I didn't touch-up this picture.

Five Things About Me

1. When I play an engaging video game, I almost never blink. Tears streaming down my cheeks sometimes alerts me to the problem.
2. The muddled nature of my brain is something that I thought would go away when I reached adulthood. I wish that were true.
3. I can think of a lot of flaws about me, but we won't go into that. My friends seem to like me anyway. (Thanks guys!)
4. I call almost everyone "guys", even gals. (Sorry gals!)
5. Five has long been my favorite number. Ever since my fifth birthday celebration in Raggedy Ann preschool. I once called roulette for a friend, by suggesting the number 5, then changing to 25 (5x5) before he bet. He won $35 on the number 25. True story. I also won several times with a toy roulette wheel by betting on 5. I never wrongly bet on 5; kind of creepy. Those are about the only two experiences in my life with roulette.
   

One More Off The Risk-List

In case any of you are anxious about an earth-collision with asteroids, you will be relieved to here that one more has been found to be not a risk:
http://space.about.com/cs/asteroids/a/asteroidimpact.htm

Update
It appears that we dodged a bullet this time with asteroid 2002 NT7. NASA's Near Earth Object Program released this statement:

"With the processing of a few more observations of asteroid 2002 NT7 through July 28, we can now rule out any Earth impact possibilities for February 1, 2019. While we cannot yet completely rule out an impact possibility on February 1, 2060, it seems very likely that this possibility will be soon ruled out as well as additional positional observations are processed.

..."An object of this size would be expected to hit the Earth every few million years,”...

Jamey's R2 Birthday Cake

by Julie Lynch 

Christmas Shopping Nearly Done

Whew, I got up at 4 this morning and by 7:30 had nearly completed my Christmas shopping for the year. United Parcel Santa should have everything here on time for the big day. The kids will hopefully really like what we're getting them. Robots were on the top of their lists this year, and I think I found just the ones to thrill them.
Robots, in general, provide me with a fair degree of excitement. I think that within the next 20 years or so we should see some amazing things in robotics. Of course, within 100 years nanobots will have turned everything into a smooth grey slurry, which isn't as exciting. But in the meantime we should have lots of fun.
I've also managed to pique Jamey's interest in hydraulic exoskeletons for humans, which I read about several months ago. Perhaps in the near future we'll be able to buy these types of devices to assist in heavy labor. The dexterity of a human with the power of a forklift!
Yes, Heidi, I have nearly finished shopping for you too. And I bought stocking-stuffers. No, I won't tell you what I bought you; it's a surprise. :)