Fifty Kilowatt Tree

One of my favorite groups, the Bobs, singing about the person who lives next door to you and engages in a little excessive holiday celebration.

Dead Fly Art

Now this is having waaaaay to much time on your hands!But they are cute.

Four for Fridays

Hello Everybody! I almost forgot today is Friday! Time flies! Today's questions are about Thanksgiving.

1) Did you have fun on Thanksgiving?

2) How was your meal?

3) Whom did you spend it with?

4) Are you or did you go shopping today?

Enjoy your weekend!

Turkey Hunting's Finest

These guys have way to much time on their hands........

Thanksgiving ISS and Shuttle Pass

We had a very nice ISS and shuttle pass tonight. I got some good shots (the ISS is always on the right and the shuttle on the left...click to embiggen).

In this shot, a car pulled up and its headlights illuminated the landscape for me.

Hey, what's that orange glow between the cactus? Looks like we got a fire up there. Quick, grab the zoom lens.

And finally, let's watch them disappear.

Note how the ISS streak fades and reddens as it approaches the mountains. The ISS is passing into Earth's shadow and the astronauts are experiencing sunset.

There are only a handful of Shuttle Flights left so there are limited opportunities to get these shots. The Shuttle is scheduled to land tomorrow, so no more chances this time.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Conflicting Liberal Days! What to Do?

Okay, now we liberals love our causes and we love to celebrate them. We rail against excessive consumerism and corporate domination of our lives and like to take any opportunity to strike blows against them. Sometimes, however, things don't work out very well.
Friday is one of our favorite days of the Year, Buy Nothing Day. While the mad shoppers are out trampling each other for a few bucks off a Bluray player, we sit smugly at home saving our cash and acting all superior.

But wait! We also love favoring local businesses over big impersonal corporate chain stores. We go to the local coffee shop and spurn Starbucks and Petes, the farmer's market and organic food coop instead of Krogers. So imagine my dismay when I found out that Friday is Buy Local Day in Tucson.

So I a going to do the only logical thing...visit my favorite local stores but buy nothing.

Turkey Drop

Does anybody remember this show?

Thank you winners!

Everyone is a winner in our Big Thank You Contest. The JT Irregulars would like to thank the following:

The Troops - God Bless you!
Tex Reynolds Toys for Tots
Hunger Task Force of Wisconsin - and everyone who helps feed the people who need it most.
all our friends and family
coworkers who are helpful and friendly
you guys
Milwaukee Mayor, Tom Barrett
Law Enforcement Officers
Firefighters and EMT's

May you all be blessed with the bounties of Thanksgiving. Good Food, Good Friends and Family, Good Health and Good Times.

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my lovely pumpkin pies! How are you? Are you prepared for snow on Thanksgiving? I’m not making that prediction, but the weather forecasters are. They’re wrong half of the time anyway, and still get paid well. If only Mother Nature wasn’t so cantankerous, the Zoltar Weather Service would be up and running. Knowing exactly what weather to prepare for would be like a license to print money. I wonder if there’s anything I could give her for Christmas that would soften her up?

I was so happy to see our Packers defeat the 49ers on Sunday, but so sad to see the injuries to Mr. Al Harris and Mr. Aaron Kampman. Both of them out for the season? What did we do to deserve that? I have spread a little sparkle dust in the direction of Green Bay’s defense (and a puff to the offense, too), but it may well take more than that to shore up our Packers. I’ve also spent most of my spare time sending bad vibrations to the Lions. Grrrr.

In light of tomorrow’s holiday, I cooked up a few pertinent videos for everyone’s enjoyment. First is “NYC Tavern Serves Up 100-proof Thanksgiving Bird:”



Next is a commercial that “only aired once, during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2001:”



Finally, from 1979, “Johnny Carson & Doc talk about Thanksgiving:”



I’m sorry to slough off on you this week, my dear Irregulars, with just videos and little else, but it is a holiday week and I need time to prepare for our big meal. I want to say that one of the things that I am most thankful for is the JT Irregulars. Thank you all for being who you are.

Don’t forget to forward your doodles and napkin scribblings to madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Estonia!

Through every step in life; freedom comes from within'

2012 and The Conspiracy Conspiracy

Something tells me that hale-bopp will like this.

Thoughts for Food

This weekend is the 2nd Annual Thoughts for Food Fall Harvest Benefit. I've been to many of the springtime benefits over the years and they are always a blast! So I may go this one and blog about it. I always have been a big supporter of the local music scene. I've seen many of these bands from time to time, including my fav, Mean Jake!. So come on down and join the party!

US National Anthem by the Academy Choirs

ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS..
AMERICA, LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!

Need a Chuckle, Watch this Video

Thank you of the week One Day Left!!!

Thanks to a great idea from KK, We are herby taking nominations for a Thank you of the Week, in honor of thanksgiving. I know I can get negative sometimes, but we all need to remember to say thanks for all the good we see. ( I know I dont do it enough). We already have nominations for The Troops and for Tex Reynolds Toys for Tots. I want to add the Hunger Task Force of Wisconsin.

Add yours. Name and reason please.

More Fun From Galaxy Zoo

The Galaxy Zoo people are at it again. Galaxy Zoo started a couple of years ago as a citizen science project to get people to help classify galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The first version asked pretty basic classification questions but produced a lot of interesting results. They then made Galaxy Zoo 2 which asked some more detailed questions about the galaxies you viewed.

Now we are doing mergers with Galaxy Zoo. This takes the level of interactivity up a notch. Basically, you are given a picture of a galaxy merger (two galaxies colliding). We want to know how they got that way and how they are likely to end up. You are then shown a series of galaxy merger simulations. You pick the ones that look closest to what you see.

But it doesn't end there. Once you pick the ones that look close, you can tweak the simulations by changing the mass of the galaxy, speeds they are moving, angles they collide at, number of stars, etc. and really try to produce something that looks like what you see.

Here is an example of a galaxy I tried. The simulation is the image on the left and the galaxy I am trying to match is on the right. You can see the controls you an click and drag to change your simulation. Once you get close, you can save your sim. This allows you to come back to it later if you want.

By building up a large database of simulations, they hope to better understand the processes involved in galaxy interactions and mergers. So give it a try, but here's a quick warning: The previous versions of Galaxy Zoo proved to be quite addictive!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

The True Definition of Full

I miss Swedish Cook! Oops, Swedish Chef!

What you having for Thanksgiving Dessert??? I'm making a cranberry swirl cheesecake and pecan pie (peeCAN). Had to learn the southern pronunciation of that word.

Anyway, while I was planning dinner, I thought back to all the times Swedish would post those wonderful recipes....what's on your menu. Here's mine:

Turkey (duh) stuffed with a fruited stuffing of cranberry, apricots, pecans, stuffing cubes, celery, onion and apples.

Frozen Cranberry Salad

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy (another duh)

Green Bean Casserole

Broccoli Casserole

Hot Rolls

Cranberry Sauce

and whatever else I think of.....

Have a blessed holiday and remember to give thanks for your blessings.

Amendment 28 to the Constitution

Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators or Representatives, and Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States.

"When the people fear their government there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty." ---Thomas Jefferson

Fight Organized Crime!
RE-ELECT NO ONE!!!!

What is in a pair?

msn Encarta dictionary explains it as this:

pair [ per ]

Definition

1. two similar things used together: two matching objects that are designed to be used together
a pair of socks

2. thing with two joined parts: a garment or article consisting of two matching or identical parts joined together
a pair of binoculars

3. two people together: two people who are doing something together, or who are considered together because there is some connection between them

Now let us look at the way the word ‘pair’ is used in the real world.

Thinking of a woman:

She wears a pair of earrings. One for each ear.

A pair of glasses...only one, she does not stack two on her head.

She wears a bra...one.

She also wears a pair of underwear...I do not know any woman who wears two at a time.

The same for a pair of shorts or jeans...

Moving down her body, she will wear a pair of sock and a pair of shoes, again two pieces each.

As part of her attire, she may wear a scarf (one) and a pair of gloves, again two.
Here is one to think about, the woman will wear a swimsuit whether it is a one piece or two piece, but it is not a pair of swim suits.

This all holds true for a man.

A pair of underwear but not a pair of jock straps!

A man or woman wears a wedding ring, not a pair of wedding rings. Well, then again, maybe they do in Utah.

So why does the term/word pair come into play with clothing? Is it because if you put on a pair of underwear, you have two butt cheeks to cover?

A woman has two boobies, why then is it not a pair of bras?

Then again, you can go buy some underwear and there is a pair of them, two in the package!

Looking back at #2 thing with two joined parts: a garment or article consisting of two matching or identical parts joined together. He or she owns a shirt or blouse which has two sleeves, but they are not called a pair of shirts or blouses!

Who started it and why, it does not make any sense to me. I am afraid of losing sleep pondering this question.

I am wondering if Madam Zoltar can shed some light on this dilemma I am having. I need some closure on this so I can sleep at night!

Or if any blogger out there in “blogger land” can help me out.

......SER

Thanks!

I know it's a little early, but it's Thanksgiving week, I just want to thank you all at the JTI for pulling me though some tough times.

Sweden's Got Talent, Too

OK, guys, that is what we're going to do at the next JTI shindig.

Another Tasteless Commercial? Or a Good Joke?

I just saw this commercial on television...since it was posted on Youtube five months ago, I feel behind the times.




When I googled it to find the video, I expected to see some protests. Sure enough, quickly found men complaining that they couldn't make the commercial about a clumsy woman. Funny, I thought the first protest would be about death or possibly the woman being a heartless gold digger. If guys like the three stooges, this one should be right up our alley.

Anyone remember the controversial commercial with the bungee jumpers and the Adidas Pump shoe? Or one that I enjoyed was the Suzy (Favor) Hamilton commercial with the homicidal chainsaw killer? Which are good humor and which make you want to boycott someone?