So, what all happened last week….

Last Monday was St. Patrick’s day. In Ireland, it is more of a religious holiday. In fact, up until 1970, all the pubs were closed on St. Patrick’s Day, and you went to church that day. It’s only in America that it’s celebrated with Green (actually St. Patrick’s color is blue), and excessive beer (which is ironic as St. Patrick’s Day is being celebrated during Lent this year, if you’re Catholic…). I’m not Catholic, nor  am I Irish. So I didn’t wear green, and I didn’t drink at all. I think it should be mentioned here that I no longer drink (alcohol is really pointless).

I’m watching Cosmos with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. He’s still no Carl Sagan, but he’s still making science interesting. The fact that he almost has a pornstache doesn’t hurt either… Carl Sagan introduced me to Johannes Kepler. Tyson has introduced me to Edmund Halley…

I renewed my phone contract a couple of months ago (I’ve already blogged about my new phone). And this week, my brother wanted to upgrade, too. So, he got his latest iPhone this week. And I had to be there, since it’s my account, and Sprint is rather strict about account holders…

And if you’re play Flight Simulator X, give yourself at least 15,000 feet before you barrel roll a jetliner. And while you’re at it, don’t hell dive the final appraoch…

Reconciling with pluto…

A few years back, I wrote about Pluto gaining midget status… Last week on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Neil deGrasse Tyson was on. Neil was part of the committee that relegated Pluto to midget status. Well, they finally buried the hatchet:

This may be just a late-night sketch, but there is a moral here. Always make peace with those around you. You don’t always have to agree with them 100 percent, but just get along. You can have a different opinion than your fellow man, and not have to come to blows….

Technorati Tags: Neil DeGrasse Tyson,Pluto

Finally, something good from the FOX Networks…

I remember growing up in a military family. While we were stationed in Germany in the early ‘80s, the only English speaking TV station was run by the US Army. Basically imagine getting NBC, ABC, CBS, and PBS all rolled up into one channel. What it meant to me basically was really kick-ass anime after school and Saturday mornings (I personally salute the head of programming just for that).

I remember this book called Cosmos on the living room coffee table, and I remember every Sunday morning, sneaking into my parents’ and playing the Atari 2600 (with their permission, of course), and then seeing this show featuring the planets Jupiter and Saturn and Stars and such. That was my first encounter with Carl Sagan. So every Sunday morning, I just had to see this show. I was hooked and I was only in the 4th grade.

My father’s military career progress, and we were eventually sent stateside, and on occasion every summer, KCTS would rerun Cosmos. And I would watch it religously. The time came for me to move out on my own, and I saw to it that that copy of Cosmos came with me. I even got a copy of Pale Blue Dot, Carl Sagan’s follow-up to Cosmos. When Carl Sagan died in 1996, I mourned.

Fast forward to yesterday. There’s a new version of (more of a sequel) Cosmos, host by Neil DeGrasse Tyson. I liked what I saw in that first episode, but Tyson has some shoes to fill. It is produced by Seth MacFarlene, so there’s hope of hearing Roger the Alien or Stewie Griffith describe the stars….

And yes, I only used Wikipedia links in this post. Sorry, I’m just lazy tonight…

Technorati Tags: Space,Cosmos,Carl Sagan,Neil DeGrasse Tyson,Roger the Alien

Almost Underway

The Seattle Sounders FC’s 40th season is almost about to get underway. I guess I know what I’m going to be doing for the next 90 minutes or so….

Yes, I know that they’ve only been in MLS for 5 years, but there was also this whole North American Soccer League….

Edit: as per the Standard Operating Procedures when facing Sporting KC, it went into the 4th minute of stoppage time before the game was decided. This why we dint give up, people....