Cute!

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Here’s six galaxies in one frame, from the Hubble.

Then I remember how extraordinary it is to even be able to see these images.
Was Jefferson sad, upon learning of the Rockies, that he’d never see them? Sure, but that’s what the mind’s for.
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But you should listen
Slash has a new signature guitar out and the guy who manages the best damn music store in the UK has a rather unique amp to play it through.
A pet peeve of mine: as a reader, it brings me to a screeching halt when a male character in a novel refers to a female –especially one he’s attracted to — as “the (lastname) woman” or “the (lastname) girl.”
Who on earth talks like that? It’d be “Ms. Baldwin,” or more likely, “Margie.”
Evidently New York publishing-house editors do. Hey guys, we can keep track of characters by first name nowadays.
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Memo to self: Col. Douglas Mortimer (as portrayed by Lee Van Cleef): family connection to Dr. James Mortimer, who brought Sherlock Holmes the Hound of the Baskervilles case? There’s a nice tale there for someone to dig up….
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Via SamizdataUK
You think minimum height laws make children taller?
Response to the question “Do minimum wage laws make the poor wealthier?”
Remember when Obama wanted to send troops to help these folks?
Islamist Wave Is Driving Out Syria’s Revolutionaries
A different kind of revolutionary fighter flooded parts of the north where Assad’s forces were already defeated. They have set up random checkpoints and demanded strict adherence to Islamic religious law, targeting not just Westerners, but Syrians, too.
Many of them are Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaeda — people al-Abdo doesn’t recognize from other regions, even other countries. They have threatened journalists and challenged the loose band of more secular fighters known as the Free Syrian Army. Abductions of Syrian activists, once rare, happen at a rate of two or three a day.
For al-Abdo, daily life started to feel impossible. He said he could barely sleep and when he ventured out, it was never far. And so, unhappily, reluctantly, al-Abdo left Idlib a few weeks ago, retreating to the safety of southern Turkey. “By the time I left, I wasn’t moving more than 200 meters from my house,” he said.
The left seems to be just noticing their arrival.
And some folks still think making Israel negotiate away the Golan Heights is a good idea.
Updated: The Obama administration does the wrong thing. Again.
U.S. may be open to Islamists joining Syrian rebel coalition
The Obama administration is willing to consider supporting an expanded Syrian rebel coalition that would include Islamist groups, provided the groups are not allied with al-Qaeda and agree to support upcoming peace talks in Geneva, a senior U.S. official said Thursday.
In addition, the official said, the Americans would like the Islamic Front groups to return U.S. vehicles, communications gear and other non-lethal equipment they seized last weekend from warehouses at the Syria-Turkey border.
How much would you like to put down that those vehicles had their keys in the ignition and the “rebels” were tipped off to that fact?
It seems as though the folks in the White House ask themselves “Is this a good idea?” and always come up with the wrong answer.
That lead brick I mentioned a while back
Obama to cut medical benefits for active, retired military, not union workers
In an effort to cut defense spending, the Obama Administration plans to cut health benefits for active duty and retired military personnel and their families while not touching the benefits enjoyed by unionized civilian defense workers.
It is theorized that his administration wants to shuffle the active duty and retired into the Obamacare rolls.
Proving, once again, that “Obamacare” is an oxymoron.