New Zealand moves closer to Australia after earthquake | Travel News | News.com.au

New Zealand moves closer to Australia after earthquake Travel News News.com.au:
THERE won't be any cheaper air fares but southern New Zealand is now closer to Australia after last week's huge earthquake.

The quake was so powerful it pushed the South Island 30cm closer to Australia.

The island's east coast moved only 1cm westwards, the Herald Sun reports.

'New Zealand just got a little bit bigger,' earthquake scientist Ken Gledhill said.

He said the quake did it 'in a few seconds rather than waiting hundreds of years'.

I'm sorry, but this is just cool. And awesome. The fact that an earthquake could have the power to stretch an island continent by one whole foot! Not only did it move New Zealand closer to Australia, but stretched it by 29 centemeters. Absolutely amazing the power of nature.

http://tinyurl.com/m4xl64

This link is for the USGS information on this particular earthquake.

Astronauts deal with flooded toilet in orbit- myMotherLode.com

Astronauts deal with flooded toilet in orbit- myMotherLode.com: "The bathroom lines at the already crowded space shuttle and space station complex got a lot longer Sunday because of a flooded toilet.
One of two commodes aboard the international space station broke down, right in the middle of complicated robotic work being conducted by the two crews. The pump separator apparently flooded.
Mission Control advised the astronauts to hang an'out of service' sign on the toilet until it could be fixed. In the meantime, the six space station residents had to get in line to use their one good toilet. And Endeavour's seven astronauts were restricted to the shuttle bathroom."

This can't be good. I hate it when the toilet overflows in the house. I can't imagine what it would be like in a weightless environment (where things can "flow" in any direction) where the air is recirculated! One has to be brave to be an astronaut!

Walter Cronkite

Of all of the recent spate of celebrity deaths, and there seems to have been quite a few lately, I think the loss of Walter Cronkite actually hits me the hardest. To understand why, you would have to know I'm a news junkie. I have to know what is going on in the world. And I can attribute this to growing up in a "CBS" household. Every night it was Ray Wilson on the local news, followed by Walter Cronkite on the national news. I barely remember watching Apollo 11 on TV, but part of that memory is Walter Cronkite. Watching replays of the Apollo 11 coverage where he is speechless and amazed, I remember why I got interested in space in the first place. Growing up I was the geek who would take presidential voting polls on the elementary school playground (and I too am amazed that I never got my butt kicked), because of watching Walter Cronkite cover the party conventions back when they actually meant something. His last broadcast was an event that we would not miss. I even enjoyed his Saturday morning show, You Are There.

Basically, Walter Cronkite was a big part of my childhood, as I am sure he was for others of my generation. His voice, his demeanor and his honest delivery of the day's events forged the way for the anchormen and women who followed. While there are and will be great news people, there will never be another Walter Cronkite.

Tuxedo Night at the Ballpark!

You've got to love minor league baseball. Not only can you have a uniform like this, even if only for a night, but you can play for a team called the "Iron Pigs"! Bless the man (you know it was a 'guy') that invented the tuxedo shirt! To go to the article:

http://tinyurl.com/lh63hp

Here's a list of my favorite minor league team names:

Geekiest (tie): Albuquerque Isotopes (Dodgers AAA team), Las Vegas 51's (complete with the alien logo-Blue Jays AAA team)

Best Food Name: Montgomery Biscuits (Rays AA Team)

Best WTF Name (tie): Tulsa Drillers (Rockies AA Team), Wilmington Blue Rocks (Royals High A Team)

Best Animal Name designed to make us look as wimpy as possible: Brevard County Manatees (Brewers High A Team)

Best Name That Should Be On a Kid's Soccer Team: Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox High A Team)

Best team logo: Of course, it would be the Lake Elsinore Storm. You just can't beat those eyes staring back at you from the hat.

What the hell are people thinking, again

The sheer stupidity of some members of humanity still doesn't cease to amaze me. Take tonight for example. I am out running (I know, some of you are now adding me into that stupidity label) when I pass a house where the owner is mowing his lawn with a gas powered push mower, with his 4 year old kid sitting on top. I'll stop here so you can absorb that. Go ahead, re-read it. He had his kid sitting on top of the machine with the rapidly spinning blade capable of amputation or death! We need a license to drive a car, own a gun, fly a plane or even ride a bike (remember having to go to the fire station to get a bike license? No? Boy I am getting old, aren't I?) but we don't need squat, other than active glands, to have kids! It's harder to get a dog from the pound than it is to have children, so is it any wonder we are growing into such a stupid race? Persons (singular) are smart. People (as a whole) are dumb!

Speaking of dumb:

Texting Teen Unaware As She Falls into Sewer
Texting Teen Unaware As She Falls into Sewer ... the hard way when she fell into an uncovered sewer manhole while trying to send a message. Now, the family of Alexa Longueira, 15, intends to sue.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31853449/

Now who do they intend to sue? The city for putting that big hole in the middle of the sidewalk? The cellphone company for making the screen on the phone too small? The public school system for not properly teaching their daughter to walk and chew gum at the same time? Maybe they should stop wasting public time on this frivolous stuff, and teach their daughter to keep her eyes open!

Of course, that's just my humble opinion.

Endeavour launch postponed again

Endeavour launch postponed again
Of course, the question would be: Did anyone (other than a Space or Space Shuttle geek like myself) even realize that the Space Shuttle was launching? It's become so commonplace that most people don't notice at all. Maybe that will change with the upcoming mission to the moon, if we can ever get that started. The NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/main/index.html) is a good start, but let's see where it goes when the budget cutters and nay-sayers get hold of it.

Former Padres Pick Matt Bush Pleads Guilty - San Diego News Story - KGTV San Diego

Former Padres Pick Matt Bush Pleads Guilty - San Diego News Story - KGTV San Diego: "Former San Diego Padres draft pick Matt Bush pleaded guilty Friday to assaulting students at a lacrosse practice at Granite Hills High and also admitted reckless driving and vandalism charges in another incident."

And in other Padre news, it's a proud day for the team. Their one time first round pick (sure, we didn't really need Stephen Drew, did we?) pleaded guilty to being a loser who wasted a talent that most of us would give our eye teeth (and many other things as well) to have. Most of us grow up dreaming of the day we can pitch the last out, hit the walk off home run, make the game saving play, you get the idea. That's why it ticks me off to see a guy like this who was so close to having the dream, yet too stupid to realize it and do what it takes to make it. Waste of talent.

As a side note, I'm using IE8 in Vista on my new notebook computer, and I've found this cool little add-on that allows me to automatically add things to my blog. I get the feeling that this means I am going to be adding more to "Snapshots" than to "POV" for the moment. As a matter of fact, I am thinking of moving POV to one of the photo specific blog sites, so I can get better views. This blog is going to stay here in it's relative anonymity, however.

Padres on wrong end of history | padres.com: News

Padres on wrong end of history padres.com: News: "Jonathan Sanchez, bounced from the starting rotation because of inconsistency and command issues, returned with a vengeance on Friday, tossing a no-hitter as the Giants defeated the Padres, 8-0, at AT&T Park.
It marks the first time the Padres have been no-hit since Sept. 3, 2001, when St. Louis pitcher Bud Smith accomplished the feat."

Note that it says the first time since 2001. Some teams haven't been "no hit" in decades, but for us it's amazing that it has happened only twice this millennium. And we are still one of only a couple of teams to have neither the cycle or a no-hitter! Makes us look good, doesn't it? Damn it's tough being a Padre fan sometimes!