Man, I woke up today with the weirdest song in my head.  How does that even happen?  Its not even a song that I've heard on the radio or something either.  I'm reasonably sure its a song from a cartoon actually (Aqua Teen Hunger Force).  Its been in my head all morning so naturally I had to look it up as soon as I got to work.  Turns out its called "Fett's Vette" by MC Chris and although it is making me smile profusely, it is not the kind of song I want others to hear me mumbling quietly at my desk. 

My backpack's got jets
I'm boba the fett
I bounty hunt for jaba hut
To finance my vette
I chill in deep space
A mask is over my face
I deliver the prize but I still narrow my eyes
Cuz my time I don't like to waste.
Get down

So, this website I go to frequently made a joke webpage and people got all pissed off because they totally fell for it and e-mailed it to their friends and stuff.  It's ridiculously preposterous and anyone who believed this insane story is unimaginably gullible.  I laughed my ass off when I found out that people were pissed after falling for it. 

http://www.oddtodd.com/BBC%20NEWS%20%20Science-Nature%20%20Furry%20'lobster'%20found%20in%20Pacific.htm

By the way, the lobster in the picture is real and actually a recently discovered Genus/species or something.  Its just the article that is totally fabricated.

South is toward the top in this colorful close-up view of the Great Carina Nebula (NGC 3372), famous star-forming region of the southern sky. Covering an area surrounding the dusty Keyhole Nebula (NGC 3324) near picture center, the image spans about 40 light-years within the larger Carina Nebula at an estimated distance of 7,500 light-years, Like the more northerly Orion Nebula, the bright Carina Nebula is easily visible to the naked-eye. But the dramatic colors in this telescopic picture are mapped colors, based on three exposures through narrow filters each intended to record the light emitted by specific atoms in the gaseous nebula. Sulfur is shown in blue, hydrogen in green and oxygen in red hues. The Carina Nebula is home to young, extremely massive stars, including the still enigmatic variable Eta Carinae, a star with well over 100 times the mass of the Sun. Highlighted by diffraction spikes, Eta is just above and right (east) of the Keyhole.

You can make it. Winter is rapidly advancing on the southern hemisphere on Mars, and the lack of sunlight could be dangerous unless you find a good place to hibernate. There it is ahead: McCool Hill. As the robotic Spirit rover rolling across Mars, you are told that this will be a good place to spend the Martian winter. On the north slope of McCool Hill, you can tilt your solar panels toward the Sun enough to generate the power you need to keep running through the winter. Between you and McCool Hill is an usual reddish outcropping of rocks. Also visible above, unusual layered rocks lie to your right, while other scattered rocks appear either smooth or sponge-like. Fortunately, there is still some time to explore, and the landscape before you may hold more clues to the history of ancient Mars.

(This picture is enormous on the website I copied it from.  Freakishly huge and in outstanding detail.  Unfortunately I think you may need a password to access it.  Sorry!)

Hey, its that time of the year again!  The Ides of March are upon us and that can only mean one thing!  Its March 15th!  Are there any Roman emporers reading this?  No?  Good.  Well then, happy Ides of March to everyone!  Keep your eyes peeled for this man.

This guys blog has had me in stitches for the better part of the day.  Apparently this guy is a partner at some big fancy law firm in California.  Although he writes the most dickish things imaginable, I really like the way this guy thinks.     The post he wrote yesterday was pretty darn cool. 

http://www.anonymouslawyer.blogspot.com/

Can a gas cloud eat a galaxy? It's not even close. The odd looking "creature" in the center of the above photo is a gas cloud known as a cometary globule. This globule, however, has ruptured. Cometary globules are typically characterized by dusty heads and elongated tails. These features cause cometary globules to have visual similarities to comets, but in reality they are very much different. Globules are frequently the birthplaces of stars, and many show very young stars in their heads. The reason for the rupture in the head of this object is not completely known. The galaxy to the left of center is huge, very far in the distance, and only placed near CG4 by chance superposition.

Why is this plasma so hot? Physicists aren't sure. What is known for sure is that the Z Machine running at Sandia National Laboratories created a plasma that was unexpectedly hot. The plasma reached a temperature in excess of two billion Kelvin, making it arguably the hottest human made thing ever in the history of the Earth and, for a brief time, hotter than the interiors of stars. The Z Machine experiment, pictured above, purposely creates high temperatures by focusing 20 million amps of electricity into a small region further confined by a magnetic field. Vertical wires give the Z Machine its name. During the unexpected powerful contained explosion, the Z machine released about 80 times the world's entire electrical power usage for a brief fraction of a second. Experiments with the Z Machine are helping to explain the physics of Solar flares, design more efficient nuclear fusion plants, test materials under extreme heat, and gather data for the computer modeling of nuclear explosions.

Its official.  I'm horribly addicted to 'Law and Order: SVU'.  I love it and it loves me in that 'Special Victim' kind of way.  Its too bad that it comes on so late because I always feel guilty staying up until 11 on a school night.  But I don't care because addiction has helped me to realize that nothing is more important than SVU.  Last nights episode didn't really meet the bar in terms of 'fuckedupness' but I didn't even care because no matter how mediocre the show is, it can always fall back on one thing:  Mariska Hargitay

So I made the trek to Border's to get some new books. I always feel weird in there because the books are abysmally organized. I'm totally lost without call numbers. I guess they try to go alphabetic by the author's last name but somebody has got to do a little shelf-reading or something because a lot of books are out of order. My head would probably explode if I ever worked there. Another thing that bothers me about that place is the people. Well, there's two reasons the people bother me really. First off, that place is always busy. I think that building a Border's with sufficient parking in a physical impossibility because if people thought there was actually one in existence, they would come from all parts of the globe and eventually fill the lot up. Secondly, the people themselves are all sorts of weird. Some of them are people I would label 'book-holder' if I was cataloguing them. You can tell these people by the way they sit in the chairs, holding a book in the universally acknowledged 'reading position' (open) yet they are looking at you instead. Sometimes they will even point their faces towards the words on the page but their eyes inevitably point towards you. I know that I'm fascinating but maybe you should investigate another source of invaluable information. Then there are the bohemians. These are probably why the 'book-holders' lack the concentration skills necessary for reading. I wonder if these people exist outside of Border's, because I don't cross paths with them anywhere else. So, anyways, I got 2 cool books. One of them is called "Origins" and its about the origins of the Universe. We're about 3 minutes past the big-bang so far...matter has just separated from anti-matter. I'll let you know how that turns out. The other book is called "March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam" and it details 4 major blunders in history. It focuses on the Trojan War, the breakup of the Holy See provoked by the Renaissance Popes, the loss of the American colonies by Britain's George III, and the United States' persistent folly in Vietnam. So, that's that. Origins kicks ass so far and from the looks of a quick skim, I think it will be super interesting.

So, did everyone stay home last night and watch the Oscars?  I was only interested in what the stars were wearing.  Did you see Rand McNally's belt?  That guy seriously needs to learn how to dress himself.  Celebrities are cool because everyone thinks so.  That's pretty much their whole shtick.  Nothing more really.  I think the same thing happens in high school...the cool kids are only cool because everyone thinks so.  Have you ever met a cool kid?  I have.  I didn't really see what he had going for him besides the fact that everyone thought he was cool.  Sometimes you will get a cool kid who is only cool because his older siblings were cool and he gets to ride their coattails.  Unfortunately, I didn't help my younger siblings up the social ladder at all, which is probably good I suppose. 

My mind is almost entirely consumed by the start of baseball season.  I think this year is going to be fan-fuckin'-tastic for the Yankees.  I know that Fleur just blogged about baseball, but I have nothing to do right now and I'm in a New York state of mind.  I just can't believe how good of a team/staff Steinbrenner and Cashman have put together for the '06 season.  Let me list the highlights

- The coaching staff is top notch.  Ron Guidry returns to pinstripes in the role of the pitching coach.  Don Mattingly, my all-time idol, continues his tenure as hitting coach.  Lee Mazzilli is back from Baltimore to be the bench coach.  Joe Kerrigan, a name you Boston fans probably recognize, is in the bullpen.  We got Larry frickin' Bowa as a third base coach and Tony Pena as a first base coach!  What the hell!?!  Talk about overqualified!  These two managed whole teams!  Now they're base coaches! 

- The middle infield is one of the best I've seen since...I have no clue.  Sax and Espinoza?  I only hope that Cano learned a lot from last season and doesn't make rookie mistakes anymore.  He's gotta keep his head in the game.

- Our bullpen is shaping up to look pretty good on paper.  Kyle Farnsworth should be an excellent addition as a set-up man for the greatest closer the world has ever seen.  I was really impressed with Mike Myers last season and we will have Aaron Small, Dotel and Sturtze in there as well.

- Alex Rodriguez.  Need I say more?  Coming off of an MVP season.  48 homeruns for a lefty in Yankee Stadium is almost unheard of.  A loaded canon in the infield. 

Man, I can't wait for opening day.  My life has been on hold for 4 months now.

C&P's from Newsday.  Check out the part about owning a pet!  WTF! 

CHICAGO -- Americans apparently know more about "The Simpsons" than they do about the First Amendment.

Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.) But more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon family, according to a survey.

The study by the new McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that 22 percent of Americans could name all five Simpson family members, compared with just one in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms.

Joe Madeira, director of exhibitions at the museum, said he was surprised by the results.

"Part of the survey really shows there are misconceptions, and part of our mission is to clear up these misconceptions," said Madeira, whose museum will be dedicated to helping visitors understand the First Amendment when it opens in April. "It means we have our job cut out for us."

The survey found more people could name the three "American Idol" judges than identify three First Amendment rights. They were also more likely to remember popular advertising slogans.

It also showed that people misidentified First Amendment rights. About one in five people thought the right to own a pet was protected, and 38 percent said they believed the right against self-incrimination contained in the Fifth Amendment was a First Amendment right, the survey found.

The telephone survey of 1,000 adults was conducted Jan. 20-22 by the research firm Synovate and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.