Lost In Space

 On board the ISS, that's the International Space Station, astronauts have been experimenting growing edible plants. For food ... obviously. Anyway, an astronaut name of Francisco Rubio, was growing vegetables and Lt.Col. Rubio grew a tomato. Mr. Rubio is almost a full-bird colonel in the Army. According to the reporting on what is now an 'in-orbit' mystery, that aforementioned tomato went MIO. That's "missing in orbit." According to the "officials" involved with solving the mystery of the missing tomato, Lt.Col. Rubio "ate the damn tomato and his denials are suspect at best." You really can't blame the good Lt.Col., being in orbit onboard the ISS has got to be confining, a mite smelly, excessive amounts of 'down time', and at times dang boring. Lt.Col. Rubio spent a number of days over one year in orbit and a nice green salad with some ranch dressing must seem like a surreal fantasy. Can't be a getting no green salad with ranch dressing or whatever, while circling our Mother Earth about 250 miles overhead. The astronauts have been testing, read that as experimenting, growing plants that can be consumed in space. I can imagine that eating pre-packaged meal ready food day in and day out might get old pdq (that 'pdq' is acronym for pretty darn quick). Mmmm ... nothing says "mom's home cooking" like a space meal of mystery meat out of a tube. But and, Rubio's honesty is verified as actual and believable. Missing tomato lost in space is lost no more. Missing tomato is found onboard the ISS and the dang little rascal tomato had simply floated off to some mystery space on the ISS for the simple reason the tomato wanted to give its grower some grief. Lt.Col. Rubio has had to endure ribbing from his shipmates to the point of exhaustion. How might anyone have the temerity to doubt a Lt.Col. in service to the U.S. of A. and the Federation of Planets is almost absurd on the face of it. Francisco is a Lieutenant Colonel in Special Forces, a flight surgeon, a helicopter pilot as well as being an astronaut. Lt.Col. Rubio is owed a debt of gratitude from the American people for his service and bravery for a) not eating a tomato that he had grown himself and b) having the cajones to not take offense at being doubted over a missing in orbit tomato. Oh yes and that tomato was not quite in edible condition after being missing for eight months when finally found. So it seems fair to conclude that carbon-based lifeforms can shrivel and turn icky being 'LOST IN SPACE!' Now it's time for Sunday machine art.

boy and dog -

portrait gallery -

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david -

jaundiced -

the biden administration sidestepped congress by sending "tank ammunition" to israel without congressional authorization. that war criminal stunt happened on saturday. what'd ya know, president joe has committed "material support of terrorism" and in this instance biden has also committed support of israeli ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people, israeli genocide of Palestinian people, and of course the ever popular war crimes and crimes against Palestinian people. FUCK YOU JOE BIDEN! WHY YOU WANT TO BE PART AND PARCEL TO MURDER?!? 😐

Red Sprite

 I always thought 'Sprite' was clear. Clear as in no color whatsoever. Well and except for the carbonation bubbles. The carbonation bubbles are colorless by the by. The 'sprite' I reference here is the soda pop. Well ... an astronaut aboard the ISS (International Space Station) has managed to capture an image of a 'red sprite' hanging gracefully above our Planet Earth. Astronaut's name would be Andreas Morgensen and the astronaut guys and gals of course aboard the ISS, are taking photos of different this's and thats from high above the ground. Certainly a different perspective. Neither you nor I will mostly likely never get a chance to photo a 'red sprite' from Earth orbit. So what science is calling those 'red sprites' are scientifically known as "transient luminous events" and I did not know that. Here is a screen grab shot of the now internationally famous 'red sprite' -

Aboard the ISS you can get a bird's eye view of our Planet and all the misery being enjoyed by humans and all our Planet's flora and fauna. There is enough horrific shit happening at present, that crap can be seen from space. The astronauts are privileged to be able to see things that I can only imagine. You see I'm still waiting for those flying cars that we were promised a way back in the day. Waiting still ... is that some miserable bullshit or what. 

Saturday machine art -

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sonora -

celeste -

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our United States of America disgraced itself at a Friday session of the United Nations Security Council. America's ambassador blocked Article 99 from being implemented. Article 99 is a milquetoast diplomatic maneuver used by the U.N. SecGen to attempt to get the Security Council to actually do something, anything, to calm a festering world situation. this instance is the Israeli collective punishment and extermination of Palestinians. jee ... zuz key ... ryst ... 😐

Guyana vs Venezuela???

 So as Friday dawns over the land and all seems almost well ... well, things are not well and not well in the least. Israel is still perpetrating ethnic cleansing, genocide, and crimes against Palestinian humanity. The Secretary-General of the United Nation is issuing "Article 99" which is a rarely used 'diplomatic tool' that gives the Sec-Gen the power to raise the Israel/Palestinian issue to the "Security Council." Don't think anything is about to change regarding the war on Gaza and the West Bank. "Article 99" is simply banality wrapped tightly in diplomatic amorality and served up as pablum for a starving world media. While back in the Western Hemisphere and South America in particular, Venezuela has been eyeballing oil deposits held by the sovereign nation of Guyana and Guyana has "officially" asked good old United States of America for military help and of course President 'Limp' Joe has indicated that the U.S. is ready, willing, and able to pound Venezuela back to Venezuelan Stone Age should Venezuela make so much as a cold hard blink at the oilfields of Guyana. United States AirForce "assets" are already on the ground and in the skies of Guyana AND France is following "developments" closely. Gosh ... a war in America's very own backyard. How exciting is that? Probably not so very exciting for folks that I know personally living in Venezuela. Say Les? Everything okay? For now? Oh shit, now all this war crap-o-la is hitting close to home. I just hate it when that happens. When President Joe started his residency in America's White House, I had NO idea he was such a warmongering asshole. Talk about bitter disappointment ... How about we skip all this doomy war bullshit and move on over to the Friday installment of Friday machine art. 

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alluvial -

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I wanted to purchase Liz Cheney's book that was released a day or so ago and I figured I could get a copy on Amazon. I'm interested in knowing what the woman is thinking. She certainly does NOT like trump and that in and of itself carries a lot of weight as far as I'm concerned. anyway, over on Amazon, the book was sold out. ON THE FIRST DAY OF PUBLIC RELEASE! dang, I had no idea that people were interested in what Ms. Cheney might have to say ... who knew? well sure as hell not me. 😐

What A Day It Was ...

 A dang fine day out here in the Mojave. Pleasantly warm, clear skies, clear blue skies as blue as blue can be. A dang fine day for a stroll in the desert and our dog gets to be off leash and when you let the dog off leash, well, mad dog mad dog. Runs around in circles goes nuts for a tennis ball and there's much to be said for "a dog's life." Didn't find any petrified wood and that's perfectly okie-dokie with me. The wood is out there ... somewhere. So we ease towards a week's end and Xmas grows closer by the minute. The important aspect to Xmas getting closer would be the anticipation for 2024 an election year creeping slowly over a year's end horizon. Biden insists that if trump was running again, that's the entire reason old Joe is running ... again. I'm thinking that's more bullshit from Biden and dang if'n Biden hasn't become a bitter disappointment. That's just me mind you and I'm not so very important. Mr. Sulu of Star Trek fame is a tried and true believer in the Biden. As for  me, not so much. I know about Sulu as I've read many of his tweets or whatever his gibberish posted on line might be. Anyway, mostly none of that affects us way out here in the land of the Ancients and the Mojave Desert. Now for Thursday machine art. I wouldn't have it any other way.

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sheep -

luxury -

schmutz on a window -

duality -

decision -

the preceding is humbly dedicated to Howard Wolowitz ... wherever in space/time he may in fact be. 😏

Cue The Camel

 Yup it's humpday. Watch the Geico camel ad for a smile to start your day and then get on out there and do whatever it is a reader might do on any Wednesday. As for the wife, our dog, and moi, well, we're heading to the rockhounding wash and rock on! A way out here at the northeast entrance to the ever so blest Mojave Desert, the ambient air temperature is hovering at about 75 degrees Fahrenheit and Tuesday's sky was a dandy shade of azure blue. Beauty day ... eh? Today as yesterday, is according to the NWS, more of the same. NWS would be the National Weather Service. The brave weather kids that give us our weather data so's we can gear up and head for the great outside. I'm looking for petrified wood. It just so happens that the wash we frequent has petrified wood and some really fine specimens at that. I do love me some petrified wood. The better part of any trip outside would be the silence the desert offers in abundance. You get to hear the song birds and that's worth the trip in and of itself. Rocks and petrified wood are simply icing on a desert cake. So be well everyone and I'll be back on the morrow with more tales of the Mojave Desert. Or not. Should our Planet take a header from some rogue asteroid all bets are off. Dang bookies in Vegas won't pay off should some catastrophe like that happen. Bummer ... no doubt. Now for Wednesday machine art and TTFN.

desire -

aftermath -

bride of the monster -

jill -

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the asshole nation of israel is working on the total eradication of ALL Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank. I'm of the opinion that israel's 'campaign' is most likely a war crime and is certainly a Palestinian Holocaust. 😐

Look Up In the Sky It's ... A Zipper!

 That's right a zipper. Yesterday morning while ingesting my morning coffee, my wife says to me "there's a cloud up there that looks like a zipper." I figured 'what the hell' and got up to have a look see. Sure enough up there in the crisp Mojave Desert morning sky is a contrail that looks remarkably like a zipper. Now to be up close and perfectly straight forward, back in the day there were a lot of conspiracy theories surrounding odd appearing jet contrails. We get to see an inordinate number of jet contrails. Nellis Air Force Base is to our southwest by about 90 miles or so and of course there are numerous contrails from jets coming in and out of California. Mostly the contrails are run of the mill usual jet contrails BUT, every once in a while we get one or two obvious and not even close to being your usual contrail. Area 51 is not to far to the west of our Mojave Desert home and there's more dang strange sights coming out of Area 51 than most folk would get to see in a lifetime. Strange globe looking things and weird looking triangle things and some things that change shape as whatever these might be are streaking across the sky. To reassure my wife I merely reminded her that the government is probably raining some manner of "testing bacterial spray" on we the people of the Mojave and there's really not much we non-important people can do or say about any of it. When questioning the way helpful government kids about what the hell some damn weird shit might be, all you'll hear back is "we are not cleared to speak on that matter AND you're not important enough to ask about it." So it goes and life moves on. Now for Tuesday machine art and watch the sky kids ... there's weird shit going on. Again ...

imagine -

jinn -

city -

anomaly -

creepy clown -

anomalous -

I'm of the opinion that ALL clowns are creepy. for a powerpoint presentation of creepy clowns, take a gander at "puddles pity party." yes that is a real singing clown. you might not want to have the creepy fuck babysit your children. again, that is just my opinion. I do have an inordinate number of opinions. 😏

Won't Be Long Now ...

 The year of our discomfort, 2023, is just about worn out. There are 27 days left in 2023 and next up will be 2024 and 2024 will bring America a presidential election year. Jeepers, won't that be just yippee-skippy. Billions of dollars will be squandered trying to coax Americans into voting for the sleaziest bastards to have walked our Planet Earth just about ever. The line up for presidential running seems to be a listless offering of yesteryear with convicted treasonous dogs, scurrilous war criminals, lying sons-of-bitches, and at least two female candidates that are as vacuous as they are vapid. In an offhand remark about America's do nothing Congress, the House actually expelled George Santos and now Santos can get back to being his transvestite persona which seems to be what gives his life meaning. In the 'other' chamber of American government and that would be the Senate, Ted Cruz (Retarded - Texas) has introduced legislation which will make it illegal to use nicknames and names of "preference." I could not tell you how such legislation might help America stumble into a brave new future but I'm pretty sure that there are Constitutional guards in place to prohibit the introduction of such an insipid piece of lunacy. Old Teddy is one funny if not curiously queer manner of fascist duck. Lindsey Graham, another retarded fool senator from South Carolina, is chiming in and whole heartedly seconding Cruz' bullshit stunt. And so it goes. Xmas is inching closer and closer by the day so ... check your credit scores and get out there and shop till you drop from sheer lack of further credit limit. Ah Xmas in America, bankers and lending institutions simply love this time of year. Now for the Monday machine art segment of today's screed.

circadian -

stroll -

flat -

hand e -

mephisto -

operatic -

did you know that it snowed in Wyoming over the weekend? well it did. jumping snowshoes ... is that about a surprise or what ... 😐

In The Wee Hours Of A Morning

 Early Saturday I was up before the crack of dawn and I took a look outside to catch our world waking up and ... right before my very eyes besides Venus shinning bright, the Mojave Desert sky was glowing red. Not an overwhelming red but a soft red glow. Evidently that was due to the geomagnetic storm buffeting our Planet due to solar eruptions on our sun. We and by that I mean our Planet, is experiencing a solar tsunami of titanic proportion and red glows, northern lights, southern lights, strange lights over Boston and how in hell could anyone tell what a sky might look like over Boston. There's an inordinate amount of light pollution over Boston and that would be their fault. The Boston Brahmins that rule over Beantown. Did you know that an enormous amount of racism comes directly out of Boston? Well that's true. Did you know that Harvard University of the famed Harvard University branch of upper crust Americans, is responsible for a staggering amount of national racism that America suffers from at present? That's true as well. Golly, you'd think that the highly educated white upper crust would have evolved from gutter bullshit like racism. Sadly that is not the case. Not in this case anyway. So and moving on, it's time for the Sunday edition of machine art. I'll leave the racial epithets for the "highly educated" Harvard alums. Not necessarily the comics of yesteryear, nope, just the epithets.

ms. hari -

spa-lushka -

runner -

yesteryear -

left -

stay -

harping on Harvard and their being woefully overflowing with themselves, the University has a long and black history of discrimination against Palestinians and Harvard students that support Palestine and Palestinian issues. that just so figures. 😐

Leprechauns In Space

 Ireland or Eire, if you're looking for authenticity, has joined our Planet's space nations by launching a satellite into orbit on Friday December 1, 2023. Oh yes this is true. The satellite was launched from Vandenberg AirForce base on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Musk mobile. Seems an odd name for a rocket but what the hell, this is Elongated Musk that's behind SpaceX so I suppose the Musk can call his rockets any fucking thing he likes. I tossed the 'fucking' in there on account of Musk pitched a man-fit the other day at a press conference he was attending to explain why his X/Tweeter thingy is going broke. Off topic to be certain. The important part to all of this is Ireland's launching a satellite into orbit and good on the Irish. So, Ireland's satellite was created by engineering students as part of doctoral stuff necessary to obtain PhD's and that's some heady dang thesis work no doubt. Engineering students ... college thesis work has come a long way from back in the day when thesis work required hours of hand written crap-o-la that had to be rewritten again and then again and then maybe just maybe that aforementioned thesis gained acceptance by a graduation thesis committee who then filed that thesis away in secret college thesis vaults where all thesis' are kept till time immemorial. Once a thesis is accepted for accreditation its usefulness is no longer necessary. I always found that aspect of earning a degree to be abject bullshit. I did NOT get along with university arrogant pricks that figured that if you wanted a college degree, well, you had better do things their way or fuck off. I did the latter of the two. Obviously. Anyway, the Irish engineering kids named their satellite "Leprechaun-!." Not really, I'm poking sport at the Irish engineering students. Their satellite is named EIRsat-!. Don't take it all personal Irish engineering students, that's just me being a wiseass and I do that a lot. Hey ... everyone should have a hobby. Now for our Saturday installment of machine art. 

slumber -

tree d -

someone named criss -

camp -

pee in a pond -

irreverent -

sometimes I get a nice surprise seeing what manner of image the machine will spit out after some prompting. then again, sometimes the image goes straight into the dumper. 😏