Enjoy pretending to be Irish for one day you feckin wannabes.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Barnard 33 "Horsehead Nebula"
The Horsehead Nebula is one of the most famous and easily recognizable objects in the sky. It lies just under the left hand star of Orion's Belt. It cannot be seen with the naked eye, nor with binoculars, or even a small telescope. It requires at least a medium sized scope, special filters, and good viewing conditions. Thus it is usually considered a prize find by amatuers, and a benchmark also. Viewing it means your not a novice astronomer anymore.
The Horsehead is actually a thick cloud of dust in front of IC 434, a red emission nebula. Notice how few stars are visible in the horse. It lies about 1,500 light years away and was first discovered in 1888. The bright star to the left is not the star that is lighting up IC 434. That light is provided by Sigma Orionis, a multiple star system above this picture. The small yellowish nebula below the horse is V615 Orionis. The large blue nebula at lower left is NGC 2023, a reflection nebula.
This photo is actually sideways. It should be turned 90 deg. to the right.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Real men play . . . Badminton?!
You might think the manliest sport would be boxing, or cagefighting, or football, but I tell you that you are wrong. When REAL men are feeling their testosterone, they reach for the shuttlecock (Any sport that uses the C-word has got to be manly). The All England Championships recently took place, where hundreds tuned their TV's in and gave this the 50th highest viewership for that timeslot. This sport has it all.
Manly men . . .
. . . at their manliest . . .
. . . playing a real man's sport.
So much action they play "5" games at once -- Count 'em, 5!! How many other sports are manly enough to attempt that I ask you?
Sexy superstars playing to a packed arena
The thrill of victory
The agony of defeat
Power
Grace
Beauty
(Alright, they don't have an Anna Kournikova yet, but they're working on it.)
Intense media scrutiny
Adoring fans and groupies
A champion to worship
Ask yourself, "Are you Bad enough for Badminton?"
.
Manly men . . .
. . . at their manliest . . .
. . . playing a real man's sport.
So much action they play "5" games at once -- Count 'em, 5!! How many other sports are manly enough to attempt that I ask you?
Sexy superstars playing to a packed arena
The thrill of victory
The agony of defeat
Power
Grace
Beauty
(Alright, they don't have an Anna Kournikova yet, but they're working on it.)
Intense media scrutiny
Adoring fans and groupies
A champion to worship
Ask yourself, "Are you Bad enough for Badminton?"
.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Seppuku
Seppuku is the Samurai art of ritual suicide. It requires the individual to stab themselves in the left side of the abdomen, make a horizontal cut across their stomach to the right, then turn the knife inside the wound, and make a diagonal cut up and to the left. This wound often was not immediately fatal, and the man would then have to lean forward with his neck extended so that a friend could cut his head off. Below is an interesting account by the British Ambassador to Japan, Algernon Freeman-Mitford (Lord Redesdale).
In his book Tales of Old Japan, Mitford describes witnessing a hara-kiri:
"As a corollary to the above elaborate statement of the ceremonies proper to be observed at the harakiri, I may here describe an instance of such an execution which I was sent officially to witness. The condemned man was Taki Zenzaburo, an officer of the Prince of Bizen, who gave the order to fire upon the foreign settlement at Hyōgo in the month of February 1868,—an attack to which I have alluded in the preamble to the story of the Eta Maiden and the Hatamoto. Up to that time no foreigner had witnessed such an execution, which was rather looked upon as a traveller's fable. The ceremony, which was ordered by the Mikado himself, took place at 10:30 at night in the temple of Seifukuji, the headquarters of the Satsuma troops at Hiogo. A witness was sent from each of the foreign legations. We were seven foreigners in all. After another profound obeisance, Taki Zenzaburo, in a voice which betrayed just so much emotion and hesitation as might be expected from a man who is making a painful confession, but with no sign of either in his face or manner, spoke as follows:
“ I, and I alone, unwarrantably gave the order to fire on the foreigners at Kobe, and again as they tried to escape. For this crime I disembowel myself, and I beg you who are present to do me the honour of witnessing the act. ”
Bowing once more, the speaker allowed his upper garments to slip down to his girdle, and remained naked to the waist. Carefully, according to custom, he tucked his sleeves under his knees to prevent himself from falling backwards; for a noble Japanese gentleman should die falling forwards. Deliberately, with a steady hand, he took the dirk that lay before him; he looked at it wistfully, almost affectionately; for a moment he seemed to collect his thoughts for the last time, and then stabbing himself deeply below the waist on the left-hand side, he drew the dirk slowly across to the right side, and, turning it in the wound, gave a slight cut upwards. During this sickeningly painful operation he never moved a muscle of his face. When he drew out the dirk, he leaned forward and stretched out his neck; an expression of pain for the first time crossed his face, but he uttered no sound. At that moment the kaishaku, who, still crouching by his side, had been keenly watching his every movement, sprang to his feet, poised his sword for a second in the air; there was a flash, a heavy, ugly thud, a crashing fall; with one blow the head had been severed from the body. A dead silence followed, broken only by the hideous noise of the blood throbbing out of the inert heap before us, which but a moment before had been a brave and chivalrous man. It was horrible. The kaishaku made a low bow, wiped his sword with a piece of rice paper which he had ready for the purpose, and retired from the raised floor; and the stained dirk was solemnly borne away, a bloody proof of the execution. The two representatives of the Mikado then left their places, and, crossing over to where the foreign witnesses sat, called us to witness that the sentence of death upon Taki Zenzaburo had been faithfully carried out. The ceremony being at an end, we left the temple.
The ceremony, to which the place and the hour gave an additional solemnity, was characterized throughout by that extreme dignity and punctiliousness which are the distinctive marks of the proceedings of Japanese gentlemen of rank; and it is important to note this fact, because it carries with it the conviction that the dead man was indeed the officer who had committed the crime, and no substitute. While profoundly impressed by the terrible scene it was impossible at the same time not to be filled with admiration of the firm and manly bearing of the sufferer, and of the nerve with which the kaishaku performed his last duty to his master.
Another account tells of a man who, after performing the necessary cuts to his abdomen, "stabbed himself in the throat until the dirk protruded on the other side, with its sharp edge to the front; setting his teeth in one supreme effort, he drove the knife forward with both hands through his throat, and fell dead."
Seppuku was outlawed in 1873 but continued until the Japanese defeat in World War 2. To this day, incidents of someone committing Seppuku emerge.
In his book Tales of Old Japan, Mitford describes witnessing a hara-kiri:
"As a corollary to the above elaborate statement of the ceremonies proper to be observed at the harakiri, I may here describe an instance of such an execution which I was sent officially to witness. The condemned man was Taki Zenzaburo, an officer of the Prince of Bizen, who gave the order to fire upon the foreign settlement at Hyōgo in the month of February 1868,—an attack to which I have alluded in the preamble to the story of the Eta Maiden and the Hatamoto. Up to that time no foreigner had witnessed such an execution, which was rather looked upon as a traveller's fable. The ceremony, which was ordered by the Mikado himself, took place at 10:30 at night in the temple of Seifukuji, the headquarters of the Satsuma troops at Hiogo. A witness was sent from each of the foreign legations. We were seven foreigners in all. After another profound obeisance, Taki Zenzaburo, in a voice which betrayed just so much emotion and hesitation as might be expected from a man who is making a painful confession, but with no sign of either in his face or manner, spoke as follows:
“ I, and I alone, unwarrantably gave the order to fire on the foreigners at Kobe, and again as they tried to escape. For this crime I disembowel myself, and I beg you who are present to do me the honour of witnessing the act. ”
Bowing once more, the speaker allowed his upper garments to slip down to his girdle, and remained naked to the waist. Carefully, according to custom, he tucked his sleeves under his knees to prevent himself from falling backwards; for a noble Japanese gentleman should die falling forwards. Deliberately, with a steady hand, he took the dirk that lay before him; he looked at it wistfully, almost affectionately; for a moment he seemed to collect his thoughts for the last time, and then stabbing himself deeply below the waist on the left-hand side, he drew the dirk slowly across to the right side, and, turning it in the wound, gave a slight cut upwards. During this sickeningly painful operation he never moved a muscle of his face. When he drew out the dirk, he leaned forward and stretched out his neck; an expression of pain for the first time crossed his face, but he uttered no sound. At that moment the kaishaku, who, still crouching by his side, had been keenly watching his every movement, sprang to his feet, poised his sword for a second in the air; there was a flash, a heavy, ugly thud, a crashing fall; with one blow the head had been severed from the body. A dead silence followed, broken only by the hideous noise of the blood throbbing out of the inert heap before us, which but a moment before had been a brave and chivalrous man. It was horrible. The kaishaku made a low bow, wiped his sword with a piece of rice paper which he had ready for the purpose, and retired from the raised floor; and the stained dirk was solemnly borne away, a bloody proof of the execution. The two representatives of the Mikado then left their places, and, crossing over to where the foreign witnesses sat, called us to witness that the sentence of death upon Taki Zenzaburo had been faithfully carried out. The ceremony being at an end, we left the temple.
The ceremony, to which the place and the hour gave an additional solemnity, was characterized throughout by that extreme dignity and punctiliousness which are the distinctive marks of the proceedings of Japanese gentlemen of rank; and it is important to note this fact, because it carries with it the conviction that the dead man was indeed the officer who had committed the crime, and no substitute. While profoundly impressed by the terrible scene it was impossible at the same time not to be filled with admiration of the firm and manly bearing of the sufferer, and of the nerve with which the kaishaku performed his last duty to his master.
Another account tells of a man who, after performing the necessary cuts to his abdomen, "stabbed himself in the throat until the dirk protruded on the other side, with its sharp edge to the front; setting his teeth in one supreme effort, he drove the knife forward with both hands through his throat, and fell dead."
Seppuku was outlawed in 1873 but continued until the Japanese defeat in World War 2. To this day, incidents of someone committing Seppuku emerge.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Facebook Wit & Wisdom
I speak my mind. I never mind what I speak
When someone rings the doorbell, why do dogs always assume it’s for them?
My computer just beat me at chess…but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
My wife said I’m too immature and if I don’t grow up it’s going to erect a barrier between us. Ha ha ha, she said 'erect'.
Statistically, 132% of all people exaggerate
Doctors waiting rooms need better music ... And softer lighting ... And more women ... And a pole in the middle of the room ... And a buffet.
I use to be great at wordplay. Once a pun a time.
Every day, man is making bigger and better fool-proof things, and every day, nature is making bigger and better fools. So far, I think nature is winning.
I swear my pillow was a hairstylist in a previous life. I always wake up with the wierdest hairdos.
Oh I’m sorry! I didn’t realise you were giving me a dirty look…I just thought you were ugly like that all the time!!
Dont you find it Funny that after Monday(M) and Tuesday(T), the rest of the week says WTF?
I love it when my computer says " are you sure you want to continue unprotected "
"Vini, Vedi, Velcro" ... I came, I saw, I stuck around!
Your birth certificate is an apology letter from the condom factory
NEVER trust a man in a wheelchair with dirty shoes.
Sometimes your Knight in shinning armour is just an idiot wrapped in tinfoil
If Barbie's so popular why do u have to buy her friends
I enjoy walking through the intensive care unit dressed as the grim reaper
When YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook merge, will it be called YouTwitFace?
When someone rings the doorbell, why do dogs always assume it’s for them?
My computer just beat me at chess…but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
My wife said I’m too immature and if I don’t grow up it’s going to erect a barrier between us. Ha ha ha, she said 'erect'.
Statistically, 132% of all people exaggerate
Doctors waiting rooms need better music ... And softer lighting ... And more women ... And a pole in the middle of the room ... And a buffet.
I use to be great at wordplay. Once a pun a time.
Every day, man is making bigger and better fool-proof things, and every day, nature is making bigger and better fools. So far, I think nature is winning.
I swear my pillow was a hairstylist in a previous life. I always wake up with the wierdest hairdos.
Oh I’m sorry! I didn’t realise you were giving me a dirty look…I just thought you were ugly like that all the time!!
Dont you find it Funny that after Monday(M) and Tuesday(T), the rest of the week says WTF?
I love it when my computer says " are you sure you want to continue unprotected "
"Vini, Vedi, Velcro" ... I came, I saw, I stuck around!
Your birth certificate is an apology letter from the condom factory
NEVER trust a man in a wheelchair with dirty shoes.
Sometimes your Knight in shinning armour is just an idiot wrapped in tinfoil
If Barbie's so popular why do u have to buy her friends
I enjoy walking through the intensive care unit dressed as the grim reaper
When YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook merge, will it be called YouTwitFace?
Friday, March 4, 2011
Some Girls Got 'Em, Some Girls Aint
Notice how all the busty girls are wearing plunging necklines with their boobs falling out, but the smaller girls are dressed more modestly. And yet, they wish guys "would just look at their eyes".
Yeah, right.
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