Hi everybody.  (Hi Dr. Nick!)  Work just got a whole lot nicer.  Last week I picked up a little clock/radio for my desk because I wanted to listen to the Yankees' afternoon games.  As an added bonus, it has an input for an MP3 player and I've been listening to my iPod all day at work.  Very cool addition to the sound of lawyers reading.  I just have to be a little careful what I play because I don't want to get any funny looks if someone sees me singing along to 'Shake Your Rump' or something.  So, I'm about 2 hours away from being through with this week.  Its been really hectic because the other librarian has been at a conference since Wednesday.  Its totally cool though because I am demonstrating 'responsibility' by making sure everybody is happy while she is away.  Responsibility.  A big word with a big meaning.  Nice. 

During a total solar eclipse, the Sun's extensive outer atmosphere or corona is an awesome and inspirational sight. The subtle shades and shimmering features of the corona that engage the eye span a brightness range of over 10,000 to 1, making them notoriously difficult to capture in a single picture. But this composite of 33 digital images ranging in exposure time from 1/8000 to 1/5 second comes very close to revealing the crown of the Sun in all its glory. The telescopic views were recorded from Side, Turkey during the March 29 solar eclipse, a geocentric celestial event that was widely seen under nearly ideal conditions. The composite also captures a pinkish prominence extending just beyond the upper edge of the eclipsed sun.

Seriously, I rule.  Not in a fascist dictator kind of way either (although I'm keeping that open as an option).  I've been looking around at cars lately and not really finding anything that particularly piqued my interest.  So, last night we headed down to Liberty Honda to scope out the used Hondas.  After scouring the parking lot for quite a while and finding only 'nice cars' that I don't really feel like paying for, we found it.  The oldest and ugliest car on the lot.  Well, it is an '00 Civic, so its not that old.  Its not even ugly.  Its just not one of the newer, shiny used cars.  So, I found a sales person and we took it for a test drive.  Ehhh, whatever.  I mean, its a goddam civic.  I didn't expect to be blown away.  The price he quoted me was a bit more than I wanted to spend so I told him so.  He asked what I was looking to spend and I undercut his quote by $2000.  Upon returning to the dealership he checked out my offer with his boss and he knocked $1500 off the original offer.  I said 'cool'.  Put down a deposit and left. 

Today I check Kelley Blue Book on the value of the car with the same mileage and options.  The Blue Book value is five dollars less than what I'm getting it for.  I totally rule. 

Pretty much this, but in 'Pimp Black'. 

Sometimes both heaven and Earth erupt. In Iceland in 1991, the volcano Hekla erupted at the same time that auroras were visible overhead. Hekla, one of the most famous volcanoes in the world, has erupted at least 20 times over the past millennium, sometimes causing great destruction. The last eruption occurred only six years ago but caused only minor damage. The green auroral band occurred fortuitously about 100 kilometers above the erupting lava. Is Earth the Solar System's only planet with both auroras and volcanos?

Because Joe so deftly stole my shtick this morning, I suppose I'm going to have to fight fire with fire (which doesn't really work unless you are extinguishing burning oil derricks with explosives)

What the hell is wrong with the government?  Turns out some Homeland Security creep was soliciting sex online from a 14 year old girl.  That dirty rat bastard is like 70!  I'm disgusted with that and I hope he gets disembowled in prison by a gang of Nazi zombies like the ones in Indiana Jones. 

Kung fu rules.

When orbiting Saturn, be sure to watch for breathtaking superpositions of moons, rings, and shadows. One such picturesque vista was visible recently to the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn. In late February, Cassini captured Rhea, the second largest moon of Saturn, while looking up from slightly beneath Saturn's expansive ring plane. Signature dark gaps are visible in the nearly edge-on rings. A shadow of Saturn's F ring cuts across the cratered ice-moon. Cassini is scheduled to continue sending back images from the orbit of Saturn until at least 2008.

It didn't even rain in Oakland last night!  (If you haven't read my previous blogs, this opening statement probably makes no sense at all, which is exactly how I like it.  The uniformed reader is my target audience.)  No rain!  Oh Chac, your treachery and cunning are no match for me!  Let's play a game.  The first person to correctly answer this question wins a blog post of their choosing. 

Q: Who went to bed at ten o'clock last night blissfully unaware that starting lineups were simultaneously being read on the West coast?

There will be no extra credit, but I may curve the scores.  So that's what happens when you check the weather online.  THAT'S what happens.  I missed an awesome game too.  A-Rod grandslam and all.  Kit and caboodle.  A pox upon you, weather.com! 

In other news, it is exactly Tuesday.  And now for something completely different.

Chairman:  You see, I don't believe that libraries should be drab places where people sit in silence, and that's been the main reason for our policy of employing wild animals as librarians.

Vicar:  And also, they're much more permissive.  Pumas keep Hank Janson on open shelves...

 ~ Monty Python

Some views of last week's total eclipse of the Sun were better than others. One spectacular view occurred over Adrasan (near Antalya), Turkey and was captured there by industrious astrophotographer Stefan Seip. The above digital mosaic caught the Moon in several stages as it moved between the Earth and the Sun. During the center frame, a total solar eclipse was visible, the Moon completely blocked the Sun, the area became dark, and the magnificent corona of the Sun became visible. The foreground frame from the same location was taken during sunlight. The next total eclipse of the Sun will occur in August 2008 and be visible from parts of North America, Europe, and Asia.

A cosmic dust cloud sprawls across a rich field of stars in this gorgeous wide field telescopic vista looking toward Corona Australis, the Southern Crown. Probably less than 500 light-years away and effectively blocking light from more distant, background stars in the Milky Way, the densest part of the dust cloud is about 8 light-years long. At its tip (lower left) is a series of lovely blue nebulae cataloged as NGC 6726, 6727, 6729, and IC 4812. Their characteristic blue color is produced as light from hot stars is reflected by the cosmic dust. The tiny but intriguing yellowish arc visible near the blue nebulae marks young variable star R Coronae Australis. Magnificent globular star cluster NGC 6723 is seen here below and left of the nebulae. While NGC 6723 appears to be just outside Corona Australis in the constellation Sagittarius, it actually lies nearly 30,000 light-years away, far beyond the Corona Australis dust cloud.

So I was formally asked to play for the company softball team.  Under different circumstances I would politely decline because frankly I'm no good, but I have been convinced to play anyways.  Apparently the pitcher is the gay, black secretary dude and the assistant captain is the secretary (lady) around the corner and she told me she is 'afraid of the ball'.  I think I will fit right in. 

Check out my new action figure!  (Don Mattingly is not a doll)

Neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night can keep the space-based SOlar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) from watching the Sun. In fact, from its vantage point 1.5 million kilometers sunward of planet Earth, SOHO's cameras can always monitor the Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona. But only during a total solar eclipse can earth-based observers see the lovely coronal streamers and structures - when the Moon briefly blocks the overwhelmingly bright solar surface. In this composite view, SOHO's uninterrupted view of the solar corona above the solar photosphere (center) and corona far beyond the Sun's disk, are shown in orange hues. The middle, donut-shaped region is the corona as recorded by the Williams College Eclipse Expedition to Kastelorizo Island, Greece during the March 29th total solar eclipse. Merging ground and space-based views allows astronomers to trace features in the corona that reach from just above the Sun's surface into the solar wind.

The track of totality for the first solar eclipse of 2006 began early yesterday on the east coast of Brazil and ended half a world away at sunset in western Mongolia. In between, the shadow of the Moon crossed the Atlantic Ocean, northern Africa, and central Asia, and so came for a moment to the small Greek island of Kastelorizo in the eastern Aegean. Astronomer Anthony Ayiomamitis reports that the islanders and many eclipse-watching visitors were indeed treated to an inspiring display of the beautiful solar corona as totality lasted about three minutes. As the total phase of the eclipse ended, he was able to capture this striking "diamond ring" image. In it, the first rays of sunlight shining through edge-on lunar valleys create the fleeting appearance of glistening diamonds set in a bright ring around the Moon's silhouette.

Does that title need punctuation?  I don't think it is a full sentence and therefore is beyond the realm of proper grammar.  Ah, screw it, I'll punctuate anyway.  So here's the bad news.  As pretty much everyone in this part of the Virgo supercluster knows, the Yankees first game this year is in Oakland at 10 pm next Monday night.  Knowing that it was going to be on so late, I took the following Tuesday off weeks ago.  So, today I decided to check weather.com to see what the forecast looks like and its supposed to frickin' rain!  I know what you're thinking, 'There must be some mistake, Ryan."  So I double checked and then triple checked.  Rain. 

What causes gaps between aurora curtains? These unusual gaps can make Research using data from four Cluster spacecraft orbiting the Earth has likely found the secret: auroral gaps, sometimes knows as black auroras, are actually anti-auroras. In normal auroras, electrons and/or predominantly negatively charged particles fall toward Earth along surfaces of constant magnetic field. They ionize the Earth's atmosphere on impact, causing the bright glows. In auroral gaps, however, negatively charged particles may be sucked out from the Earth's ionosphere along adjoining magnetic field lines. These dark anti-auroras can climb to over 20,000 kilometers and last for several minutes. Pictured above, a series of well-defined auroral gaps is seen dividing green aurora curtains high above Harstad, Norway, earlier this month.

Hey, this is my 6th goddam stupid blog post today.  I know that everyone is sick of me by now, but I need some help with something.  I want to win this pseudo-contest because I want to get a drawing of myself with Mariska Hargitay solving a bloody crime.  So, would anybody be able to help me out with this?  I need to know what this font is...or where it is from.  I totally recognize it but I'm drawing a blank.  I think its from a band or a tv show or something....anything!  I really want that drawing of myself so any help would be infinitely appreciated!!!!!!  Thanks!