Meanwhile, 890,700,000 miles (1,433,000,000 km) away...

Tethys and Saturn.

via wired.com

The humble barcode turns 60.

http://pinterest.com/pin/313140980310305521/

A National Security Expert Says What We All Know To Fox News's Face (video)

So Pulitzer-Prize-winning national security expert Tom Ricks, who is widely respected across both sides of the aisle, went on Fox News. Then they asked him some questions they probably shouldn't have. At 1:00, he asks a really tough question in response. And suddenly his interview that was supposed to last seven minutes only lasted two. Because he told the truth and stuff.

video upworthy.com

Set your refrigerator to "Chill."

via links.laughingsquid.com

Lessons unlearned, part 3,456,765:

All GOP House committees for next year will be chaired by middle-aged white guys.

http://t.co/BEBsDUaW

This makes me so happy! And so angry! And so joyful! And so sad! And...

A color-coded map of the world’s most and least emotional countries

via washingtonpost.com

Life abounds in Antarctic lake sealed under ice : Nature News & Comment

It's not Lake Vostok, but it's still impressive:

"It is permanently covered by a massive cap of ice up to 27 metres thick, is six times saltier than normal sea water, and at −13 °C is one of the coldest aquatic environments on Earth — yet Lake Vida in Antarctica teems with life."

story: nature.com

(PS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Vostok )

The Moon’s Youngest Crater: Fresh (just a few years old) lunar impact crater revealed in new photo by NASA probe

Click through for larger photo, story:

via slate.com

Looking for the perfect holiday gift?

A $1000 Wenger 16999 Swiss Army Knife, on Amazon, isn't it.

But click through to read the comments, which are hilarious.

via amazon.com

Warning: Time-suck ahead....

theuselessweb.com

Teach the controversy!

Um, what controversy?

via treehugger.com

13,950 Peer-Reviewed Scientific Articles on Earth's Climate

http://www.treehugger.com/climate-change/pie-chart-13950-peer-reviewed-scient...

A tech answer site that is 100% accurate, every time. It's infallible!

http://www.ismycomputeron.com/

Exploring Boston: Fens 2012 11 23

Late afternoon walk today; lots of water birds --- ducks, geese, and this fellow:

Larger pix (only these two):
http://photobucket.com/fens20121123

See the full gallery on Posterous

Exploring Boston: Fens 2012 11 23

Late afternoon walk today; lots of water birds --- ducks, geese, and this fellow:

Honey, would you mind wearing this hockey mask?

Canadian Retailers Say NHL Lockout Leads to Increased Sex Toy Sales

“We’d be gearing up for [NHL hockey] now, but there’s nothing, so I guess we need to find some better ways to spend our time,” Vinay Morker, owner of Hush Lingerie and More in Edmonton, told the Toronto Sun. Morker says his sales of sex toys, sex games, sexual guides and lingerie have gone up 15 per cent since October.

story: huffingtonpost.com

The correct answer: Any minute, now.

via thisisnthappiness.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

Biden Pardons Single Yam In Vice Presidential Thanksgiving Ritual | The Onion

http://www.theonion.com/articles/biden-pardons-single-yam-in-vice-presidential-than,6998/

From the Department of Irony: With final counts coming in, Romney likely ends up with 47% of votes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/poetic-justice-romney-likely-to-finish-at-47-percent/2012/11/20/8a84ad4e-3351-11e2-9cfa-e41bac906cc9_blog.html?tid=pm_pop

...The Romney victory was always based on the hope that a whiter-than-2008 electorate would ensure that Obama’s victory was a demographic fluke. Yet Obama’s constituencies — many of whom make up Romney’s fabled 47 percent — turned out to add up to the majority, confirming that these ongoing changes are real and inexorable, a sign of what America is really becoming. If Romney’s described electorate — the job creators and the makers of America who were supposed to be enraged at all the moochers and the takers — ends up totalling 47 percent, we will have come full circle...

... Romney ran a campaign of unprecedented dishonesty and lack of transparency, virtually all of it was geared towards misleading people about the true nature of his — and his party’s — actual beliefs and governing agenda. This was the case on multiple fronts, from Romney’s dissembling about the size of the tax cut he’d give to the rich, to his evasions about the overhaul he and Paul Ryan planned for the safety net, to the obscuring of the massive upward redistribution of wealth represented by the Ryan agenda — the GOP’s central governing blueprint for nation’s fiscal and economic future...

...At risk of piling on, a 47 percent finish would represent a perfect conclusion to the Romney political saga.

Also:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/20/1163485/-Mitt-Romney-47-percent-watch

http://www.newser.com/story/157993/irony-alert-romney-may-end-up-with-47-of-votes.html

(And, a final coda: President Barack Obama already has a higher popular vote margin than George W. Bush had in 2004.)

Aha! Now it makes sense.

Organic molecules found on Mars?

Then:
It was just a year ago I was in Florida, as a guest of NASA, watching the launch of the Mars Science Lab, and the rover, Curiosity.

http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd54/flanga_bucket/Mars%20Science%20Lab%20...

http://fredlanga.blogspot.com/2011/11/mars-science-lab-launch-pix-msl.html

http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd54/flanga_bucket/Mars%20Science%20Lab%20...

http://fredlanga.blogspot.com/2011/11/great-day-at-tweetup-msl-nasatweetup.html

Now:

Mars Mystery: Has Curiosity Rover Made Big Discovery?
http://www.space.com/18565-mars-rover-curiosity-discovery-mystery.html

NASA rover may have made a discovery 'for the history books'
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9233889/NASA_rover_may_have_made_a_dis...