The Martian meteorite made an impact 13,000 years ago, and then another impact in 1996 when it was touted as evidence of life on Mars. Now, NASA says the evidence of life on Mars is even stronger, with an alternative explanation being eliminated by further research.

“We feel vindicated. We’ve shown the alternate explanation is absolutely incorrect, leading us back to our original position that these structures are formed by bacteria on Mars,” Dr Mackay said.

Geek Love author (and boxing aficianado) Katherine Dunn gets in a fight with a mugger.

Tactical Nuclear Penguin (32% ABV)

Somethingawful tackles the Art of Traveller - no point paging back to the earlier pics if you ask me, but there's some gold from that page on.

More amazing footage of the Belgian guy. His brain is functioning so well that he's a touch-typist -- he doesn't even need to look at the keyboard to type!

And here is the second of my newly acquired obscure SciFi reference t-shirts (this one –I think– not as obscure as the first):



Whee!

Oh, and in case you didn't notice, Abbie the Cat went and told the story of the first Thanksgiving and what do you know, that ol' Restaurant Joe made his way into the story again. I think he's Abbie's favorite ancestor.

Thanksgiving went off smoothly. We hosted mom and the stepdad, and Dr. Pookie went all out in the making of pork loin, green beans, stuffing, and various horse doovers. The visit was short but sweet, and the food turned out great.
Later I may have smooshed my face too deeply into Winston the Hairy Zeppelin, because I had hours of sneezing and a crushing headache. Fortunately, it had dissipated by morning. Usually I'm not too badly affected, but -- if you'll allow me to get a bit catty -- he's a bit dandruffy at the moment.
Spent some time battling with Time Warner Cable over the internet service, of the usual okay-everyone-get-out-of-the-car variety. Surprisingly, the tech sounded competent and the process was not as long and infuriating as usual. Data speed is back to mostly awesome, though I still have not completely reconnected all of the elements of my Rube Goldberg contraption back to its full complexity. I have some trepidation about doing so, because if the problem returns, then it's the Apple wireless doodad after all. And I don't want the problem to be the wireless doodad. So if I don't check it, it can't possibly be the wireless doodad that's the problem. My logic is impeccable.

It’s been pointed out to me that I’ve been slacking off on giving progress reports.

Tiassa is being difficult.  Between conversations with Reesa and with Neil, I’ve been convinced to try something a bit challenging.  I think it’s going to be really cool if it works, but at the moment I’m beating my head against it about halfway through.  Judging by past experience, I imagine in a week or so things will fall into place and I’ll be moving forward.

Originally published at Words Words Words. Please leave any comments there.

My obscure SciFi reference t-shirts from England have arrived. W00t!

Here is the first:


Okay, maybe not that obscure.

The leader of the Raelian church in Iran seeks asylum in Turkey.

"The crime of apostasy - rejecting religious faith - carries the death penalty there, and supporters of Negar Azizmoradi say that is what will happen to her if the Turkish government sends her back to Iran."

all the cool kids are leaving my school...

The Gay Music Teacher got a head teacher job a couple of schools over, and will be moving.

The Gay PE Teacher will be focussing on her other business, building her house and having a baby, so won't be back.

The Funky Drama Teacher will be taking a year's LWOP to work in Canberra fulltime.

The Hippy Primary Teacher is taking LWOP to live in a shed on a block of land near the beach, and wash dishes to earn pocket money.

The English Teacher Who's House I Often Stay At will be going part time.

The Art Teacher Who's Nice, But Not Interesting Enough To Have An Adjective Of Any Kind is going part time.




My Good Head Teacher is sticking around, as are a bunch of people who either annoy me, or I have very little to do with.

It's not going to be the same.

I'm looking forward to my classes next year, and continuing working with my year group, but the camaraderie isn't going to be there in quite the same way.

I've started looking at Head Teacher positions. There have been a few I could apply for, but they're in parts of the state I'm not keen on heading to... at this stage. Give me a year, and (if I don't get the language scholarship - which I doubt I will - my principal mis-spelled "educational" in his letter of support *sigh*) I'll start applying.

ryan's tweets of the day:

• 11:53 I am thankful for having people over to my place today, where no one is forced to give a crappy speech about what they're thankful for. #

Besides going to a funeral on Monday, I think it's been a pretty good week.

We're currently in the Grand Prairie/Mansfield area of DFW and hanging with Mike's bro and family. Mike's mom came in town from Abbeville and she's getting to see her grandson for the first time, too. I have a few pictures, but it seems that Mike's family avoids the camera just as much as Mike does! The drive from Austin to Dallas was a killer! Don't think we'll take 35 if we do this again. Ugh.

Mike's mom brought pictures of him from when he was a baby. I'm going to scan them in and compare pictures of us with Sammy because everyone keep saying he looks like this person or that. I really think he looks a ton like me but had nothing to compare to. Now that I look at Mike's baby pics, I think he looks like a wonderful cross between both of us. :)

Sammy's been taking the change in routine pretty hard. I'm wondering if we'll ever get him to sleep at a decent hour again. :( We got pretty spoiled by his falling asleep at 10p thing. Ever since I went back to work he's not gone to bed at a decent hour AND he wakes up every 2 hours when the last time he did that was around 6 weeks old. :( Yes, at 10 weeks he was sleeping from 10p-7a pretty regularly. :(

So yeah, good times, but tough times.

Mike and I have read lots of books and cross-referenced things and are going to start working on getting him back on that schedule again. It's going to be hell for me and Sam but we think it'll be better for him and he'll be able to get proper rest. I worry that he's just strung out due to lack of sleep. This whole trip has been bad for him in a way. He wouldn't go to sleep for ANYTHING!

Anyway, I had him asleep after rocking him and laying him down and he was back up after just 45 minutes. He's nursing to sleep now and totally peaceful, but I can't pick him up and lay him down again. It's really frustrating when I know he can do it since he's done it before.

At the end of the day, I think he's reverse cycling. And it sucks. :(

So yeah. Turkey Day and Family = Good
No Sleep Sammy = Bad

I'll try to get some more pictures before we leave on Friday.

http://twitter.com/nibletsays/statuses/6086902359

nibletsays: "Snuggling is like gum. At first it's sweet, but after a while it gets a little bit boring."

Someday, I swear, I'll finish this piece I started long ago on the Roxy Theatre in New York City. Since putting the project aside for a bit I've made a lot of new friends, and wanted to make sure I shared the drafts I had so far with you. Hope you like it.

1. Sic Transit Gloria
2. Let There Be Light

The next part's to be The Boys and the Girls of the Roxy, but the last part would be the saddest, about its decline and stuff. Not so much fun to chronicle, but hey. Anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving, and I assure you the tradition 'round these parts is on its way soon.