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The chill surrounding the promise of Snow.
Summer is winding down. The trees are turning yellow and are starting to release their leaves. The mornings have a distinct crispness that that foreshadow the coming winter. It's a great time of year -- possibly my favourite time of year.
The smell of fallen leaves always brings back memories. Memories of raking leaves and jumping in the pile. Memories of fall hikes in the mountains. From my desk at work, I have an amazing view of the Rocky Mountains. For most of the summer they have been hidden by smoke from forest fires, but today they are out in all their glory. It's a crystal clear day, and the peaks are glistening with the brilliant white of freshly fallen snow.
Soon the snow will be able to extend its reach to the lower elevations, where it will remain for the next 5 months or so. Cold winter nights mean warm, hearty meals. Stews and soups that warm the inside help keep the cold at bay. Blankets that have been packed away for the summer will be brought out and piled on the bed to make a heavy cocoon.
Winter is about being cozy. Without cold it's impossible to appreciate being warm, and that's what I think about when I think about winter. Not the cold, but the warmth.
-- Snow
Happy End of the World
I think I may have figured out at last what is making the Human Race so unhappy, and it's not just to do with chasing after little green pieces of paper. It occurred to me recently, but I'm getting rather forgetful these days. Let me see if I can remember.
Prodigal K-pop composer enlists in South Korean Marine Corps
Prodigal K-pop composer enlists in South Korea’s Marine Corps
Move was kept quiet, with only Lee Chan-hyuk’s parents, agency and a few of his close friends in the know
K-pop duo band Akdong Musician’s composer and singer Lee Chan-hyuk, often regarded as a musical prodigy has enlisted in the country’s Marine Corps.
The star, 21, who plays with his younger sister Su-hyun, voluntarily entered a training centre in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. He kept his enlistment quiet from the public as his Christian pastor parents, a few close friends and staff from his agency YG Entertainment saw him enter the military world for two years.
Lee enlisted early compared to other K-pop celebrities, who usually postpone mandatory military service until their late 20s or 30s. He said he enlisted to train with others around his age “to build diverse experiences and improve my musical skills,” according to media reports.
CEO's Bonus Cut After Tirade Against Kathy Griffin
KB Home Cuts CEO's Bonus 25% After Rant Against Kathy Griffin
KB Home’s board will cut Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Mezger’s annual bonus by 25 percent as punishment for his profanity-laced tirade against comedian Kathy Griffin and warned he’ll be dismissed if he does anything like that again.
Mezger’s bonus for the fiscal year ending Nov. 30 will be reduced by $375,000, based on performance targets, because of “recent behavior in his personal dealings with a neighbor,” the board said in a regulatory filing Thursday, calling his conduct “unacceptable.”
KB Home cuts CEO’s bonus as punishment for his profanity-laced rant at neighbor Kathy Griffin
In audio released by the Huffington Post, Mezger called comedian Kathy Griffin a "f---ing c---," "a b----," an "a--hole" and a "f---ing bald dyke." Security cameras caught Mezger's tirade, the culmination of a series of disputes between the neighbors in a gated community in Los Angeles' upscale Bel Air neighborhood.
[...] Through a spokesman, Mezger suggested Wednesday that Griffin's history of unjustly nitpicking about noise was partly to blame for his apoplectic rant.
"Though Mr. Mezger does not believe there is any excuse for the language he used, the incident that led to his losing his temper was the result of the culmination of a series of unneighborly actions taken by Ms. Griffin and her boyfriend," said Mezger's spokesman.
Those "actions" consist of up to 10 noise complaints that Griffin and her boyfriend, Randy Bick, have made against Mezger, leading to multiple visits by police, the spokesman said. In one of those cases in which the police showed up, the spokesman said, Mezger's niece, who "has stage 4 cancer" was renewing her marital vows with her husband at the Mezger home.
New Horizons Could Get More Mission Extensions
Wakened from its latest hibernation, New Horizons may visit additional Kuiper Belt Objects
Fuel saved during the MU69 encounter could be used to send New Horizons to a third KBO, a move that would require yet another mission extension. In 2016, NASA approved an extended mission for the MU69 flyby through the year 2021.
On Sept. 6, Stern told members of NASA’s Outer Planets Assessment Group that mission scientists are already searching for an additional KBO target.
“We have a fighting chance of having a second [Kuiper Belt Object] flyby,” Stern said.
Approval of another mission extension will also provide more opportunities for New Horizons to continue its distant observations of KBOs, dwarf planets, and centaurs. Stern said that he intends to request a second extension once the MU69 flyby is completed and the data collected from it returned to Earth.
Even that might not be the mission’s end. Stern foresees additional extensions beyond the one that would take it to a second KBO.
“There’s fuel and power on board the spacecraft to operate it for another 20 years,” Stern said. “That’s not going to be a concern even for a third or fourth extended mission.”
The probe will be put into another hibernation period on Dec. 22, 2017, during which it will remain until June 4, 2018, when it will be woken up in preparation for the MU69 encounter, which will officially begin in August 2018.
Size comparison to Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (exact size and appearance of 2014 MU69 are still unknown, but it is suspected to be a binary object or contact binary, like Comet 67P)
Jailed for writing to the BBC
The BBC has a story about a German schoolboy jailed for writing to the BBC.
Karl-Heinz Borchardt was 18 years old when he was arrested by the Stasi in East Germany for writing to the BBC. In communist East Germany, listening to a foreign broadcaster was a crime, and Borchardt had been listening to the BBC's Letters without Signatures on its German service.
Much to the ire of the East German regime, the BBC programme gave an extraordinary insight into the physical and emotional lives of a cross-section of GDR society for more than 25 years.
"It was like coming up for air," says Borchardt - a form of release for a young, curious mind locked in the suffocating atmosphere of the communist state.
The methods employed by the Stasi to track down "criminals" who wrote to the BBC were quite clever.
They took saliva samples from the licked envelopes to identify blood groups which they cross-checked with doctor's records. They traced fingerprints on the paper, sourced the ink and collated an extensive archive of handwriting samples.
They caught Borchardt by cross-referencing the handwriting on one of his letters with that on a piece of school homework that he'd handed in.
He spent eight months in prison before being sentenced to two years for "attempted subversive activities" in conjunction with an enemy broadcaster.
Chainsaw Nun
Carry On Brexit
The farce continues.
Chief champion of Brexit, Nigel Farage, very recently backed the German far-right AfD without a hint of irony. Suzanne Moore in the Guardian tells the bigger story.
Very recently tens of thousands of people in the UK marched to protest against Brexit.
Of course, if you're an EU citizen from one of the other 27 countries living and working in the UK, things are uncertain and uncomfortable.
“Everybody shrugs their shoulders and says ‘you’ll be all right, your husband’s British’. We’re fed up of hearing this. I don’t have a home to go back to. It’s not as if we’re teenagers going back to mum and dad, I’ve spent my whole adult life here. To tell us we have to be treated like criminals, have fingerprints, pass an English test, it’s insulting.
“This is an abuse of human rights and our family lives. Every day I am questioning do I want to remain in a country where the majority of British citizens are not speaking out for us?
“Why are they not on the street demonstrating? If this happened in France and there was such discrimination against British citizens, I would be out on the street.
Some of us have written letters, demonstrated, argued, donated to legal challenges etc. but there is more to be done. It's not over yet.
If Mrs May's government lasts into 2018 I'll be very surprised.
Ted Cruz 9/11 Porn Tweet (Updated)
9/11: Never Forget
Previously:
- Harvey could be Ted Cruz’s time to shine. So far he hasn’t
- Is Ted Cruz human? An investigation
- Ted Cruz is now likeable, The New York Times wants you to believe
And then...
- Republican senator Ted Cruz caught liking pornographic video on social media
- For One Hot Second, Ted Cruz’s Official Twitter Account Liked a Porn Video
- Ted Cruz Likes Adult Movie On Twitter With Woman Who ‘Vaguely Resembles’ His Wife, Heidi
- Ted Cruz "Likes" Porn Video On Twitter
- Ted Cruz Just ‘Liked’ A Hardcore Porn Video On Twitter
- Why is US Senator Ted Cruz trending for porn?
Update: Somebody fell on their sword:
Ted Cruz trivia:
Japan's Single Mothers + The First White President
