ICYMI: Take a look at this timelapse of comet Neowise captured by the Nayoro Observatory in Japan pic.twitter.com/l99eRTiT1Z
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 18, 2020
First time I’ve gone beyond our yard in four months, but it was a no-contact excursion. The Spousal Unit, who’s the astronomy expert in this household (growing up in rural upper lower Michigan gave him a head start), decided the best reachable viewing spot for us would be the dirt lot at a waterfront state park some 40 minutes north. Sunday night’s run was not a success — fogbanks obscured the horizon. But tonight, even our aging eyes could pick out Comet Neowise… at least with the very basic binoculars, which took it from ‘slightly brighter pinprick in the smudge below the Dipper‘ to ‘yup, that’s a comet.‘
We’d have stayed to admire it for more than half an hour, except we’d forgotten to bring bug spray.
But (Murphy the Trickster God grant us a clear night) it should be a great spot to watch the Perseids next month, which is one of our summer traditions.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
haven’t read the post yet, but Lt General Russell Honore (ret’d) live-watching the Portland video of the Navy vet being attacked by Chad Wolf’s commandos on Brian Williams’ program: “What kind of bullshit is this?”
I’m usually irritated by our collective third-grade reaction when people say a swear on the TeeVee, but this came from the gut. I hope it goes viral.
NotMax
Been meaning to ask for a long time whence the use of Murphy derives?
Wikipedia is silent.
;)
Elizabelle
We had thunderstorms tonight. No heading down to the Lee Monument. Tomorrow night might be a wash too.
Would love to see that comet.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Good for General Honore. More people should speak out, forcefully.
Our media, learning:
Jake Tapper to the governor of Mississippi, on State of the Union, July 19:
HumboldtBlue
Doktor Zoom gives us a heartening roundup.
They’re our streets.
laura
If we get the 2am insomnia in the next couple of nights, spouse and I will pull a runner to the causeway in hopes of seeing the comet without ambient light interference. To date, our backyard and street attempts have failed because we cant get tree free views except for the busy sky what with the evening planets and the International Space Station whizzing by. Binoculars at the ready.
ixnay
Ooh, ooh, first clear night here in ages, and we went out and actually found the comet. And then there were fireflies in the back field. Date night!
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Poor, cancelled Tom Cotton. Unfairly accused of advocating to shoot protesters.
Look at that. Somehow he rallied back from all that Twitter abuse and is now on tv…. calling for protesters to be shot and he actually got an army of secret police to deploy!
As it turns out it wasn’t just an abstract, high-minded “debate”. It was in the works.
NotMax
Homestead smells real good.
Chocolate sour cream pudding cake just taken from the oven; cooling on the counter.
Kay
Chad the Lobbyist sure spends a lot of time on tv threatening citizens. Isn’t Homeland Security supposed to have some pandemic mission? Anyone working on that?
piratedan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: … think we can file that under, what part of peaceful, non-violent protesting does the Trump Administration not understand? Apparently they think that any opposition should be met with force and the more images we see of scenes like this we get two very visceral reactions, those that disapprove and while they may not be sympathetic to the cause and motivation of the protests, sure as hell don’t think that’s an appropriate response.
and those that get a hard on for it and pile onto the “he had it coming!”, “they’re disrespecting OUR authority!” and ‘fuck your feelings!” crowd.
For those old school types that actually believed in the system and in honoring their oaths, having this displayed to them is pretty compelling and worldview shattering.
Aleta
Went out and saw it tonight too. Was so torn up by the news today I was flattened and not up for anything. But gave it a try outside the house, looking up across the street w/binoculars. After awhile (had started to give up) I saw what could be the body, and a bit at the end of what could be the tail, quite faint. Five min later looked again — it was darker, much clearer, long bright tail. Five min later it was better. Surprised it was that large; I hadn’t expected that at all. Surprised how the visibility and brightness changed so quickly. It was quickly moving closer to the horizon. Its beauty took me away from earth and that felt better than I thought possible tonight.
Jerzy Russian
I saw the comet from my back yard using small binoculars. I don’t feel like driving an hour east to the hills where it is a lot darker (and higher elevation).
Jerzy Russian
@laura: Depending on your location, you will have only a few hours after sunset to see the comet before it sets. The comet is to the northwest, and things in the western sky are setting…
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Elizabelle:
There will be pictures, possibly tomorrow morning.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@laura: It’ll have set by 2am.
laura
@Kay: Look at that. Somehow he rallied back from all that Twitter abuse and is now on tv…. calling for protesters to be shot and he actually got an army of secret police to deploy!
That Tom Cotton is a dangerous man, and he’s on the tv manufacturing consent at someone’s beck and call. It sure isn’t in defense of the Constitution of the oath he swore.
laura
@Jerzy Russian:
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Copy on the viewing window – and thanks!
Jerzy Russian
@?BillinGlendaleCA: If she is far enough north, the comet won’t set. Of course, if she is that far north, it gets dark for only an hour or two this time of the year.
MisterForkbeard
@Kay: …isn’t “proactively arresting people” arresting them before they’ve done anything?
That’s literally an admission that they don’t have a case here. That their victims literally haven’t done anything worthy of arrest.
EDIT: Didn’t these fuckers watch Minority Report? :)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Aleta: You have to wait about a hour and a half after sunset* for it to really come into view.
*Astronomical twilight.
Aleta
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yeah it was a bit before 10, so dark enough. I think there was some water vapor or miniscule haze or something, at first, that cleared.
Kay
@MisterForkbeard:
They took someone into custody because he was somewhere around another one who was or was not doing anything. Unclear on that, because as I said they picked up the other one.
Chad’s a lobbyist. You can’t expect him to know this stuff.
He’s appointed himself National Secret Police Chief now. Will anyone stop this lobbyist before he invades another city? Does anyone even have that kind of power?
Another Scott
@NotMax: I’ve always taken it to be a reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy%27s_law
Cheers,
Scott.
Kay
@MisterForkbeard:
“I don’t need invitations…”
My, my. That happened fast. They gave him that cool army costume and it went right to his head.
Major Major Major Major
Apparently it’s been visible with binoculars from Central Park the last two nights, but I don’t own any nor am I good at this sort of thing. At any rate there will be other comets. I enjoyed the one some years back that got too warm and sort of exploded a little, it was quite big.
Jinchi
I’ve been out to see the comet the last several nights. It’s been pretty low in the sky just after sunset and unfortunately for me in the direction of several nearby cities, so it takes some effort to see it. Find the big dipper, then about two fists down. (I’m pretty sure it sets a few hours after sunset so don’t wait to late to search for it). Once I knew where to look I managed to get a small telescope on it for a better view. I imagine it’s pretty nice if you can find dark skies. Turn around 180 degrees and you’ll find Jupiter high and bright in the sky and Saturn close beside it.
Jay
NotMax
@Another Scott
And then there’s the chowder.
:)
Omnes Omnibus
@MisterForkbeard: In The Flesh.
Alison Rose
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Just watched the video and I was literally applauding him. (My cat was confused.) You can clearly hear the utter disgust and repulsion from him, and he’s 100% correct.
Jay
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
An urbane Manhattanite without a pair of opera glasses in the home?
I’m shocked, shocked.
;)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: Kids these days.
Major Major Major Major
@MisterForkbeard: My reading of the clip is that he is defending sending people out to detain people they’ve seen commit crimes. He even says something like “it’s BS that somebody commits a crime, they go across the street and we can’t touch them.”
So, that’s what he means by proactive, he is saying it as a defense of his actions. Now, it doesn’t happen to describe what they’re doing…
…but as an official defense, I think the context makes clear he means “walking across the street after we see them do it” proactive and not “pre-crime” proactive.
idk why this is bugging me! What they’re doing is very bad.
Brachiator
@Kay:
Trump set this dog loose.
It will be tricky putting him back on his leash.
Jay
Anne Laurie
He’s the fella behind Murphy’s Law, of course!
“Gods come and go, but Murphy’s Law abides.”
I vaguely remember a theory it was a neopagan corruption of Mercury, but mostly it just seems *perfect* as a sobriquet, to me…
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Kay:
So much for federalism and big government being evil.
Where are the self-proclaimed Second Amendment freedom fighters to stop these jackbooted thugs? That’s rhetorical, so don’t answer
Somebody should ask Wolf where his Oath Breakers were when the Proud Boys were beating counterprotesters up in Portland the past couple of years
Aleta
Chad W seems not super bright, and minimally capable to have this power to begin with. Even less mature under pressure. And not an honest or experienced thinker. What a fcking shame he’s hung on to a job he shouldn’t be near.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
Pre-clicking, wondered what zombieism had to do with it.
;)
Anne Laurie
Wow, thanks, those are the only two lights I could see from our light-polluted yard — I thought they were Venus and Jupiter!
mrmoshpotato
1. When can we waterboard Hannity for charity? (His promise, remember?)
2. Can everyone beaten by the Dumpstapo be allowed to wail on douchecanoe Chad first thing January 21st?
ETA – cool comet too.
Aleta
@Aleta: They’re really pissed that the NYT got its hands on the DHS memo to ChadW . What he’s saying about the training is pretty much what RW Re d st at e wrote when it attacked the NYT about their report. Last night one of the three reporters on the article, Mike Bake (NYT), was punched and knocked to the ground for no reason by a fed officer. It looked out of the blue to me, as though targeted.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Started watching 70s Columbo. Into season 3 and I have to say it’s always satisfying to see Columbo nail the murderer at the end. The murderer always tends to underestimate Columbo as well
One thing I don’t understand is why the perp, when cornered by Columbo, doesn’t try to escape or kill him. He doesn’t carry a gun on him. People aren’t often rational and you’d think facing a murder rap would cause somebody to try something desperate
Omnes Omnibus
This is my surprised face.
NotMax
@Anne Laurie
Diff’rent strokes.
Have always interpreted Murphy’s Law as running on autopilot, versus the trickster’s implication of direct intervention by a mythological deity.
No biggie either way. To-may-to, nightshade.
;)
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax: I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT IT WAS OBVIOUS, SIR!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Anne Laurie: Venus is the morning star this time of year.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The perp always thinks they’re smarter than Columbo. They’re always wrong.
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Lucifer is the morning star.
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
They were mesmerized by the glass eye.
;)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: You are mistaken, sir.
Jinchi
Hadn’t realized til yesterday that we’re talking about this Chad Wolf. This guy advocated a policy of kidnapping children, so I think we can interpret “proactive arrest” in the broadest way possible.
SectionH
Well, my “kids” – son, dil, granddaughter – saw NEOWISE a few days ago by walking around to the other side of their block at sunset for the west-facing view. They used my granddaughter’s birthday present from me – some serious binoculars – were all very happy. My son was a bit WTF for his 9 yro daughter? but LE and her Mom got it.
Brag, I got separate “Wow we did this” texts from my DiL And my “kid”. He asked if we wanted to go view on their block. I said, maybe. Thought we might catch a glimpse with my grandmother’s Opera Glasses from our NW facing balcony. Oh well. I may take them up in the next couple of days on the comet viewing, because the Marine Layer here (~200 ft above sea level, central San Diego) is earlier and thicker than usual night after night.
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Isaiah 14:12. I have won and I shall drink from your skull as I dance victoriously on your carcass.*
*Not intended as a factual statement. I’m not really a dancer.
NotMax
@SectionH
So old can remember being in San Diego when the Marine layers were most evident on the sidewalks of the seedy blocks near to the docks then.
:)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: It says “son of the morning”. KJV
ETA: Right now Venus in really bright.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: Marine layer == fog and low clouds.
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yes, it does. And yet.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
“Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.”
– 1 Timothy 5:23
:)
SectionH
@NotMax: yeah, well, if you say so. I’m so old I remember when Pete Wilson would’nt buy MIramar for $1 or something close enough.
NotMax
@BillinGlendale
Do you really think I didn’t know that already? Was using layer to a modicum of humorous effect in an altogether different sense.
Time was there was an area of the city with more dowdy gin mills, streetwalkers and tattoo parlors than one could shake the proverbial stick at.
Aleta
@NotMax: good one
mrmoshpotato
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Is it a crime per episode like Scooby Doo?
Has the murderer ever called him “you meddling Columbo?”
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
He was stuck plodding along on the force, while his wife went on to command USS Voyager.
;)
mrmoshpotato
@Omnes Omnibus: How can I be getting zis vork done wit all de shouting? Control de shouting!
SectionH
@NotMax: Yeah, we know that, it’s now called Gaslamp. Or it’s a nearby something rather less interesting. My neighborhood gets a lot of suburban traffic for restaurants, but it still has Thrift Shops, and was disreputable until it wasn’t. But there are still ppl sleeping on the sidewalks here, too, ok? They’re not doing it for fun. They’re here because ppl who live here don’t usually stomp them, rather try to get them into shelters or help otherwise.
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
(Haven’t checked the statistics lately but believe it still is so.)
Trivia: Scooby-Doo holds the record for most feature-length movies made featuring the same character. Somewhere in the high forties at last count, if memory serves.
Poe Larity
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): It was the 70’s in LA. All the perps were on Quaaludes and there were uniforms at the gates of their estates. Bail was never going to be problem.
Now Johnny Cash might have gotten him, but he was only into killin those womyn harshing his mellow.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: That’s talking about these new fangled translations.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax:
Well…
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Scooby Doo on Zombie Island is quite good, zany and has a rocking soundtrack.
NotMax
@SectionH
Stayed at the U.S. Grant at a time when it was on the skids and lived to tell the tale.
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
From its beginning I’ve suspected Fred has a goiter and that’s why he donned the ascot.
SectionH
@NotMax: Better you than me. It’s fancy now of course.
Yutsano
@NotMax:IIf it helps, I guffawed.
mrmoshpotato
Hahahahahahahaha
Mary G
I wish Mnem was around for this:
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Also at the very top of his show, Williams called out the media and reporters who “normalised” Trump by approvingly citing his new “tone.” Moar of this, please.
Amir Khalid
@SiubhanDuinne:
For some reason, seeing an American spell it this way makes me happy.
SiubhanDuinne
@Amir Khalid:
My keyboard defaults to British (Canadian) spelling (by my deliberate choice).
mrmoshpotato
OT – What asshole told Midnight Oil to get back to sleep while their beds were ablaze?
mrmoshpotato
@SiubhanDuinne: “Siri! Set my keyboard to Moose!”
Miss Bianca
@Anne Laurie: The other night – night of the new moon – we had a wonderful star-gazing session – inside of ten minutes, I saw the comet (couldn’t stop saying, “Wow, amazing!”), checked on Jupiter and its moons, saw Saturn, and then a shooting star to top it all off.
There are times when I wonder what the hell I’m doing out here in Redneckistan. Then I have a night like that one and I remember what I love about this place.
J R in WV
@NotMax:
Your Wiki shearch is for the Trickster, which is an ancient figure in many religions pantheons. Murphy is not the same as the Trickster, who is most commonly in American folklore the Coyote, from First Nation lore.
In Norse eschatology Loki is the trickster god.
In Greek religious mythology most all the gods are nearly all psychopathic, many in severe manifestations. I would not care to live in a universe with god-like creatures with Greek tendencies, totally crazed. But life is randomly horrible all around us, and perhaps the Greek gods’ mentality is based upon the actual random horror of real life.
Look at our current situation – if we didn’t know about virial infections, did not have medical science, we would be in a random horror universe right now. Actually, we are in a random horror universe even with medical science. A gamma ray beam could sweep over us any time, invisible death ray from heaven.
Murphy’s law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and there is an addendum that says “at the worst possible moment!” There are a hundred variations in computer work, which are easy to look up.
J R in WV
I think Chad Wolf needs to be indicted on multiple counts of kidnapping, assault with intent, terrorism statutes, conspiring to commit such attacks, and then immediately taken into custody from his hotel room at 3 am, for a long ride in the back of a dirty wagon. The rest of his gang of criminal cowards should be swept up that same night with overwhelming force by actual trained LEOs, which these wanna be gangsters surely are not.
Chad is not a lawyer, has not a moment of LEO training, and has no idea whether his orders are legal or not, and does not care. Nor do his small squad of horror-monger gangsters. Watching them approach and then attack a motionless military veteran with more training in his little finger than any of these despicable cowardly criminals have all together was appalling and horrible.
They deserve no respect whatsoever, and should spend many years in prison for that one attack alone. They all together are a criminal conspiracy in violation of their oath, the constitution and the laws of any state, and they are all responsible for each and every crime committed by any one of them according to the way conspiracy laws work. Chad has the biggest load of felonies, because he was giving the orders and set up the whole conspiracy.
J R in WV
@Kay:
Sounds like Cotton wants to join the conspiracy to kill innocent protestors making use of the First Amendment — is he a lawyer? Does he understand how the conspiracy law works in felony criminal cases?
Maybe rioters killing innocent people deserve to be shot at, but for graffiti? I think not. No state in this nation has a death penalty on the books for simple property crimes with no injuries to my knowledge.
J R in WV
@NotMax:
At every Navy base I was ever at there was a very seedy business area about the gate with cheap-but-expensive bars and clubs and shops selling expensive crap someone thinks sailors and Marines need. Tattoo parlors, which were NOT common back then in the 1970s!!!
Early in my hitch there were even sleazy locker clubs where you could keep some civilian clothes, which you weren’t even allowed to have on base. Then they relaxed a little bit, and put those clubs out of business by allowing us to have and wear civvies on base or shipboard. Some lifers thought it was the end of military discipline!
ETA: and now I have closed another thread down with my “wisdom”!