In society, tattoos represent a unique like, object, or idea of the bearer. I have stumbled upon a collection of science-themed tattoos that are quite cool. They span vast categories from paleontology to astronomy. The best part of the gallery is a description of what inspired and captivated the wearer chose that particular tattoo out of the infinite possibilities. It's a wonderful glimpse into people's minds.


   more Science Tattoos

Ok, seriously, animals are pretty freaking amazing.
I just stumbled upon this awesome deep see fish, called a barreleye, with a transparent head. Within this head, the eyes can rotate 90 degrees vertically, so that while floating horizontally in the deep, it is looking straight upward. This can be seen the photo below.


I don't know what exactly it is about this fish, but this is absolutely amazing. Just goes to show how vastly diverse God's creatures can be.
Check out a video of the fish, along with more info here .

Today is Ash Wednesday.
From Wikipedia,

Ash Wednesday gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of the faithful as a sign of repentance. The ashes used are gathered after the Palm Crosses from the previous year's Palm Sunday are burned. In the liturgical practice of some churches, the ashes are mixed with the Oil of the Catechumens (one of the sacred oils used to anoint those about to be baptized), though some churches use ordinary oil. This paste is used by the priest who presides at the service to make the sign of the cross, first upon his own forehead and then on each of those present who kneel before him at the altar rail. As he does so, he recites the words: "Remember (O man) that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

As a Catholic, it comes with certain, ehhhhh how do you say, 'encouragements' to "give something up" for a period of time. It's not mandatory by any means. It's kind of like a New Years resolution, but with the understanding that its only for 40 days, and not a year (whew!). So, what have i chosen to give up?
Alcohol.
Yes, yes, go ahead and read that line above one more time. Sarah and i have both taken a pledge to give up all alcohol for the entire Lenten season. That means liquor, beer, AND wine.
I know it will be tough. VERY tough, considering the current living circumstances. However, we are giving ourselves a strict one day reprieve on St. Patrick's day to go buck wild. Why? Because he's a saint, silly!

No, seriously. It's going to be pretty tough. There are some out there who think i perhaps indulge too often.....
Well, DAD, this ones for you. (Now get off my friggin' back!)


Wish me luck!

Wall Street just closed to the lowest level since March of 2003. If you have anything left in the stock market, i'd recommend selling. What could POSSIBLY cause a rebound in the stock market any time soon? A big fat NADA.

Also, today California finally passed it's budget. Only 106 days late. Not too bad. (sarcasm) What is bad is what's in it.
In a time of endless economic doubt, and the worst situation for the US since the Great Depression, our representatives have decided to increase taxes. The unemployment rate in this state is already in double digits, and rising. People are getting laid off left and right, banks are failing, housing is falling, and Sacramento wants to take even more money from Californians.
Awesome.
Here's what we're going to be paying more of:

+ 1 cent tax sales tax hike
+ increase in personal income taxes
+ higher vehicle licensing/renewal fees

Of course, they claim to have cut spending, too. Well I would FRIGGIN' HOPE SO, you bunch of degenerate apes! Try cutting it in half, and then we're talking.
Here's a graph of where the $$ comes from in California.



As mentioned previously, California already has the highest taxes in the Union. And now? We're simply off-the-charts.

It's getting to be that time. That time to seriously consider moving…

So here's a little story to help explain exactly what's going on with the government's stimulus bill, and how politics works on capitol hill.

The White House fence is in need of some repair. A government politician decides to go out and get three competitive quotes for the job. He finds three contractors willing to do the job, one from Minneapolis, one from Nashville, and a third from Chicago.

The man from Minneapolis gives a quote for $800. "That's three hundred for the parts, four hundred for the labor, and one hundred for me."

The contractor from Tennessee thinks he can do better. "I'll do it for $700. Three hundred for the parts, three hundred for the labor, and one hundred for me."

Finally, the guy from Chicago whispers into the representative's ear: "I'll do it for $2,700."

The representative is aghast. "$2,700! That's outrageous! The other two quotes were far lower than that! How can you justify such a high price?"

The contractor from Chicago smiles, and again whispers into the politician's ear. "It's one thousand for you, one thousand for me, and seven hundred for the guy from Tennessee!"

The city of El Segundo has been doing some sewer work of late. On my way to work today, i happen to pass just such a job. What it entails, is a white city van pulled over next to a manhole. They then proceed to fence off the manhole, for safety, of course. One guy stands on the street, while another works below. Now because it's a sewer, all sorts of noxious fumes get trapped down there. To alleviate this problem, they use a flexible yellow tube (about the diameter of a soccer ball) with a fan mechanism on the end. The fan blows fresh air from above into the sewer below. A good idea.
Now here's the kicker. The fan is electric, and needs an AC outlet. The city is nice enough to provide one on the side of the van for just this purpose. So far, so good. In order for this outlet to function, the van needs to be running. The outlet is located at about waist level, at the rear of the van, right above the exhaust pipe. And, of course, the power cord for the fan is... wait for it.... about 4 feet long.
So walking by the van today, there was probably about one foot from the active exhaust pipe to ventilation fan intake.
Tomorrows headline? "City worker dies from Carbon Monoxide poisoning."

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

                      - The late Dr. Adrian Rogers

Alexander is now 9 months old! Holy cow, that baby is an eating MACHINE! He has now ballooned to 3 baby-food-square meals a day, on top of breast feeding and getting bottles of formula. It's really a lot of food. And he lets us know about it too, with a large increase in POOP. Just the other day, i changed THREE poopy diapers before noon! I tried to tell him that was unacceptable, but he just won't listen.
He has developed a few nasty habits that we are hoping to temper as best we can.

1) He wakes up at 5am.
This one has simply got to go. It is ridiculous. We've tried putting him to bed later, and that didn't work. He's gets 'overtired.' If we put him to bed earlier, then he's got too much sleep, and wakes up earlier. So the best thing is to stuff him completely full with nice warm milk, sing him a lullaby, and hope for the best.

2) He is a rebel rousing mess maker.
In the morning, we'll introduce him to a living room that is clean and tidy. Within two hours, the place looks like a friggin' bonafide Kentucky Hurricane came rip-roaring through the room. Anything on any table/bookshelf that can be reached, is indiscriminately hurled to the floor. His toys are laid out like a minefield. Chairs are knocked over. Any tissues or magazines he gets his little paws on are ripped to shreds. He's simply too strong for his own good. I need to watch a few more episodes of Smallville to figure out how Superman's parents dealt with their little criminal...

3) He thinks he's a dog.
Poor, poor Bear. Always fighting for survival with this one. From all the way across the room, he spots the dog's food bowl. He kicks it up to overdrive and bolts straight for the dog food. Throwing his hands in the bowl, he begins placing each nugget of food into the water bowl, one at a time. Insanity. You leave the room to pee for 1 minute, and the dog's gonna starve. BAD DOG, Alexander.

Other than this, the kid's a pure saint. He spent his first Christmas in Minnesota over the holidays, and he hated the snow. Understandable. We went to the Zoo last week and he loved it. He hasn't been sick EVEN ONCE (since D-day ) and it's all because of the breast milk. Props to my awesome lady Sarah! He's got two bottom front teeth in now! He looks like an upside-down rabbit. He can stand holding on to anything, but can't walk yet. He's a crazy-fast learner, and I give him a solid 60 days until he's darting back and forth on only two legs! That's going to be an adventure.
Well, that's it for now.
Stay tuned for next time!

It doesn't matter WHO wins when you have this little lover on your team!