like a slow child
that does not heed
i stand at summer's knees -
and from the primer of the wood
i spell that life and love are good -
i learn to read.

"The Wonder of Breasts with Riki Lindhome"

http://www.comediva.com/breasts

I want to do my part and adopt a pair of breasts. Do we get to choose whose breasts we're adopting?

Halloween Trick-or-Treat times

The official Halloween Trick-or-Treat times for Racine and surrounding communities are:

• Burlington, Sunday, 3-5 p.m.
• Caledonia, Sunday, 4-7 p.m.
• Dover, Monday, 6-8 p.m.
• Elmwood Park, Sunday, 4-7 p.m.
• Kenosha, Sunday, 3-6 p.m.
• Lyons, Saturday, 3-5 p.m.
• Mount Pleasant, Sunday, 4-7 p.m.
• North Bay, Sunday, 4-7 p.m.
• Norway, Sunday, 5-7 p.m.
• Racine, Sunday, 4-7 p.m.
• Raymond, Sunday, 4-8 p.m.
• Rochester, Sunday, 3-6 p.m.
• Somers, Sunday, 3-6 p.m.
• Sturtevant, Monday, 5-7 p.m., bonfire at 7:30 p.m. at Fireman’s Park.
• Union Grove, Monday, 5:30-7 p.m.
• Waterford, Monday, 5-7:30 p.m.
• Wheatland, Sunday, 2-5 p.m.
• Wind Lake, Sunday, 5-7 p.m.
• Wind Point, Sunday, 4-7 p.m.
• Yorkville, Monday, 5:30-7 p.m.

Courtesy of the Racine Journal Times

CLICK HERE for JT Article

Cyndi Lauper - "Time After Time"

This one's been stuck in my head for the last few days.

Home

I didn't know I was grateful
            for such late-autumn
                        bent-up cornfields

yellow in the after-harvest
             sun before the
                        cold plow turns it all over

into never.
            I didn't know
                        I would enter this music

that translates the world
             back into dirt fields
                         that have always called to me

as if I were a thing
              come from the dirt,
                          like a tuber,

or like a needful boy. End
             Lonely days, I believe. End the exiled
                           and unraveling strangeness.

--Bruce Weigl

"Bruce Weigl (born January 27, 1949, Lorain, Ohio) is an American contemporary poet who teaches at Lorain County Community College. Weigl enlisted in the United States Army shortly after his 18th birthday and spent three years in the service. He served in the Vietnam War from December 1967 to December 1968 and received the Bronze Star . When he returned to the United States, Weigl obtained a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College,^[1] and a Master of Arts Degree in Writing/American and British Literature from the University of New Hampshire. From 1975-76, Weigl was an instructor at Lorain County Community College in Elyria, Ohio."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Weigl

The Fat Sun

Just getting caught up after my Florida trip. The last night I was there, I went out for sunset as I do many nights. Each night brings something a little different. Tuesday night's sunset showed off how Earth's atmosphere refracts sunlight and can distort its shape.

As sunlight passes through Earth's atmosphere, its path is bent thought a process called refraction. You have probably seen refraction before. It's the same process that causes a pencil to appear bent when it is partially submerged in a glass of water and the same process that your eyes (and glasses if needed) use to focus light. In the Sun's case, refraction causes the Sun to appear a little higher in the sky than it would if Earth had no atmosphere.

But the Sun is not a point source. Near sunset, light from the upper limb of the Sun passes through less atmosphere than light from the lower limb of the Sun. That means light from the lower limb of the Sun is shifted upward more than light from the top limb of the Sun. The upshot of this is that the Sun will appear to be squeezed vertically and appear much fatter the lower it gets in the sky.

This effect was pronounced on Tuesday. I took a bunch of my photos and put them into a short video. The pictures are not equally spaced in time (I tend to take pics more frequently as the Sun gets lower and a rapid burst near the end of sunset). You also may notice when I change camera settings due to the changing lighting conditions as the Sun sets. And you can look see some birds flying across some pics. Really watch the last frames and you can see the last tip of the setting Sun gets very stretched horizontally.

I started my burst too soon and the buffer in the camera filled up which killed any chance of a green flash pic. However, I didn't see a green flash visually so I am not too disappointed with that. I am happy any time I capture some good atmospheric optics at Sunset!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Four for Fridays

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Four for Fridays after a short week...I'll be heading off the the boondocks with my lady shorty for a little R&R. Here are some questions about Halloween...

1) What was your favorite Halloween costume?

2) What was the most scariest movie you have ever seen?

3) Are you handing out Halloween candy this year?

4) Describe a favorite Halloween memory.....

Enjoy your weekend!

Are You Starting to Get Nervous?

concealed-weapons permits starting Nov. 1

Open Blog - Friday & Weekend

Sorry, no slur intended, but I think that's supposed to be a Mexican jumping bean.

Exclusive Video of the Last JTI Road Trip

I don't remember. Who was driving the bus?

Uploading Pictures

I am having a problem uploading pictures and this is what is coming up - This image could not be uploaded due to an internal error. I was just wondering if anyone else is having this problem or is it just my computer. Thanks

One for Toad.....

Ya gotta have a sence of humor....

NEUROLOGICAL SKILLS

This is REALLY a neat quiz and quite challenging - no joke

TEST YOUR NEUROLOGICAL SKILLS...

THIS IS REALLY COOL

CLICK HERE

Pendulums In Motion

This is really neat to watch.

Harvard built a device with a series of fifteen pendulums in a row, each one of them slightly longer than its neighbor.

The pendulums were set into motion and the result was captured on video.

The patterns that appear in this short video are fascinating to watch and to think about.

Prepare to be captivated by this simple device!

CLICK HERE

Pumpkin Carvings

I think pumpkin carvings are pieces of art. The creativity of some of these are just a marvel to me, especially when they go to an extreme. Although I done some in the past (like the one I did that said PACKERS across it), none of them quite match up to some of them found on the Internet...

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my gorgeous goblins! How are you? I want to say right off that this will be a short, hurried blog. No disrespect meant my dear, dear Irregulars and regulars – I simply took on a project that was bigger than I thought and I lost track of time. Now I am hurriedly trying to finish the day’s work, about three hours worth, in 45 minutes. Oh my. It’s been one of those days. It happens to the best of us. Insert your own cliché here.

The weather has certainly not been much to write about, although we have been getting some sun in the midday. Soak it up while you can, my dears. Soon old Sol will slide further south and take it easy for awhile. As you know, I make no predictions about the weather. I just want to say that I am in favor of anyone who is predicting a mild winter, because that’s what I want.

Our spectacular Green Bay Packers once again defeated their hapless foe. This time it was the Minnesota Vikings. Hail, hail, Packers! Still undefeated! Green Bay is on “bye” this week. Rest well, o mighty warriors. You deserve it.

As usual, there is not much I want to comment on in the news. I read about Racine’s new budget and its cuts, which always hit the poor the hardest. I pray for our city.

In keeping with the season, here is the “Haunted History of Halloween” from History.com:



Thank you for reading my blog this week, my sweets. It is so nice of you to stop by and visit. I love you. You are all so boo-tiful. Tee-hee.

Haunted? Find out: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

I hope that each and every one of you has a wonderful Halloween. Don’t eat too much candy. Watch out for ghosts and things that go bump in the night. Like my toe when I stub it on my way to the bathroom. Oh dear. Fuliginous!

Open Blog - Wednesday & Thursday

I'm not sure if that image is appropriate, but it has Hump Day, lizards (for lizardmom), and a GEICO reference. It has to be funny.

Turpentine vs. Holy Water

A little boy was sitting on the footpath with a bottle of Turpentine... He was shaking it up and watching all the bubbles.

A Priest came along and asked the little boy what he had. The little boy said, 'This is the most powerful liquid in the world; it's called Turpentine.'

The Priest said, 'No, the most powerful liquid in the world is Holy Water. If you rub it on a pregnant woman's belly, she'll pass a healthy baby.'

The little boy replied, 'If you rub turpentine on a cat's ass, he'll pass a Harley Davidson.

Happy Halloween!

Yes I know this is early. I will not be around for weekend to post this.

My boyfriend and I are going away for the weekend so I just figured I would get this post out now.

When I was young I remember my mom telling me the day before Halloween they would go on one side of the railroad tracks to see if they could get candy. Then on Halloween they would go on her side of the railroad tracks. This is down in Illinois. They did get the candy the day before Halloween. I didn't think they would get the candy.

I also remember taking my kids trick or treating the different costumes I would get them. There was a couple of them that I did put together for them. I really enjoyed taking my kids out trick or treating because I had just as much fun with the kids as they did.

The only thing I don't like about Halloween is how the older kids think it is funny scaring the little kids. Yes I can see how some of them like to do it but I remember how much it hurt my youngest daughter. My son did it to my youngest daughter and I spend some endless nights up with her.

I think carving the pumpkins with the kids is so much fun. My kids made some really neat ones. I also remember taking my son to a haunted house and he was so scared. I also like some of the music that they have out for Halloween and there are also some really good scary movies to watch.

Some people have Halloween parties that you can go to so that the adults can dress up too. But to me Halloween is for the kids and I don't dress up.

I am going to leave you with one of my favorite Halloween videos. I would like to hear what you like about Halloween!♥

Venus and Mercury: Close, But No Conunction!

Tonight after sunet, I kept shooting some photos. Venus is becoming an evening object again and Mercury is putting in an appearance as well. It took some shooting, but I got both of them together in one shot (click to enbiggen).

Venus is near the top of the photo and Mercury is almost directly beneath it (offset a touch to the right). Mercury is very dim so look close.

These to planets are going to get much closer together and be about 2 degrees apart in early November and stay that close until about mid-November. Although they are very close together, they never have a true conjunction since they never have the same right ascension. It will still be a very scenic pairing that you can watch over the next couple of weeks. Mercury will get easier to see as it rises higher in the sky. Right now, it is definitely a test of your eyesight!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

How About a Yellow Flash?

I have posted a lot of pics of green flashes at Sunset (just enter green flash in the search box and you can find out all about them). However, not all flashes at sunset are green. I have photographed blue and purple flashes as well. Tonight, I added another color to the mix.

First, it was a nice omega sunset again. Here are a couple of shots.

The omega sunset occurs when an inferior mirage of the Sun appears to rise up from the horizon to meet the setting Sun. Hence, the resulting shape looks like the greek letter Ω.

Tonight the last little bit of the Sun set leaving behind the very tip of the inferior mirage and it was yellow. You can see this is not connected to the main image of the Sun. Sometimes these flashes are green, tonight I got a yellow flash.

Always watch, you never know what you are going to get!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

NORTHERN LIGHTS ALERT!

NOW! Go outside to a dark place, look north. If you have a camera that can do timed exposures, put it on a tripod, set it to at least 800ISO, try 15-30 second exposure with the widest angle you can manage at the lowest f/ratio (that's fastest for those in the biz) you can manage. Post pics when successful!

According to the weather underground, its clear in Racine.

Fish Mislabeling

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/10/23/on_the_menu_but_not_on_your_plate/

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/10/24/from_sea_to_sushi_bar_a_system_open_to_abuse/

48% of the fish that they tested were mislabeled, always to the disadvantage of the consumer. I never thought about this until I heard a snatch of a show on NPR today. A lot of people are making a lot of money by selling mislabeled fish.

Monday Grin.......

President Obama walks into the Bank of America and says to a cashier, "Good morning Ma'am, could you please cash this check for me"?

Cashier:
"It would be my pleasure sir. Could you please show me your ID"?

Obama:
"Truthfully, I did not bring my ID with me as I didn't think there was any need to. I am President Barrack Obama, the president of the United States .”

Cashier:
"Yes sir, I know who you are, but with all the Government regulations, monitoring of the banks because of imposters and forgers, etc., I must insist on seeing ID."

Obama:
"Just ask anyone here at the bank who I am and they will tell you. Everybody knows who I am."

Cashier:
"I am sorry, but these are government and bank rules and I must follow them."

Obama:
"I am urging you please to cash this check."

Cashier:
"Look, this is what we can do: One day Tiger Woods came into the bank without ID. To prove he was Tiger Woods he pulled out his putter and made a beautiful shot across the bank lobby into a cup. With that shot we knew him to be Tiger Woods and we cashed his check."

"Another time, Andre Agassi came in without ID. He pulled out his tennis racquet and served an ace shot directly into the center of our bank logo 90 feet away. With that spectacular shot we cashed his check. So, what can you do to prove that it is you?"

Obama stood there thinking, and thinking and finally replied: "Honestly, nothing comes to mind. I can't think of a single thing I can do."

Cashier:
"Will that be large or small bills, Mr. President?"

Open Blog - Monday & Tuesday

I hope your days are a breeze.

The Chu Crew Candy Collection

From the Journal Times:

http://www.garywchu.com/

This seems like a good idea.  I wonder if all of the candy gets to the troops or if Dr. Chu has a sweet tooth himself?  Just kidding... 

"Too Big To Fail (1999 Warning In Congress)"

From YouTube:

"Not a lot of things I care less about than politics, but I did find this clip rather interesting. It's Congressman Dingell warning that if congress repeals the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 (which they did), taxpayers would eventually need to bailout financial institutions because they would become to big to fail (which we did)."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiEDbZzO5-8

From Wikipedia:

"The repeal of provisions of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933 by the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act effectively removed the separation that previously existed between investment banking which issued securities and commercial banks which accepted deposits. The deregulation also removed conflict of interest prohibitions between investment bankers serving as officers of commercial banks. This repeal directly contributed to the severity of the Financial crisis of 2007–2011 by allowing Wall Street investment banking firms to gamble with their depositors' money that was held in commercial banks.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]}"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass%E2%80%93Steagall_Act

From OrbsCorbs:

That seems pretty prophetic to me.
 

Party on, lying John!

From the Journal Times:

http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/article_2b32ee82-fd1f-11e0-a3d2-001cc4c002e0.html

"Your word has to mean something." - from the lyingest liar Mayor of the lyingest city in the Midwest. 

The man who has done nothing but lie to us has the unmitigated gall to keep lying even as the shit reaches up to his eyebrows.  Once Dickert and Racine are completely buried in shit, Dickert will announce that shit was the goal of his Ten Year Lie.

This would be funny if it weren't so pathetically sad.