The Victors & Banzai Beard Bonanza II: Bonsai's Revenge
I am, in this year's slogan, "All in for Michigan," and I am sorely tempted to do this, but I just can't: Mustaches for Michigan. Since first I learned of this fantastic fan effort late last week (Thanks, MGoBlog!), I've shaved twice. There are for this two reason: {a} the second Banzai Beard Bonanza begins at Thanksgiving, and will be followed by the Massive Mustache Mistake. I've been waiting five years for this reoccurrence of the B.B.B. and, much as I'm excited for it, I'll be bewhiskered soon enough and until then would like to spend as much time as possible clean-shaven (with the exception of my imperial). {b} Fun and fanatically loyal to the Maize and Blue as Mustaches for Michigan is, I do not approve of the campaign's derisive attitude towards the mustache. The mustache isn't kitsch, it's Kitchener!





The mustache isn't the exclusive province of pornographic "actors," sad sack teenagers, and dastardly cartoon villains. Gandhi sported a mustache, for gods' sake! The mustache is Tom Selleck. The mustache is Rudyard Kipling. The mustache is Howard Hughes. The mustache is mother-lovin' Robin Olds! The mustache is Groucho Marx (at least the fictionalized public persona of Groucho Marx). The mustache is Freddy Mercury. The mustache is, in fiction, as fearsome as Fu Manchu and—as "moustaches," plural—as righteous as Hercule Poirot.

The mustache is Sir Edward Elgar.




Fearful as I am of looking more like my father, I'm terribly curious how I'll look during the Massive Mustache Mistake. Throughout the B.B.B. and M.M.M. I'll keep photographic records with the X-700, and also with a digital camera, and I shall periodically post the latter's images here at The Secret Base. You can't claim you weren't warned.

The Stars My Destination
The future is inflatable: aeroshelllink. If there is one organization on Earth that knows how to harness the power of balloons, 'tis N.A.S.A., with the really neat bit being that their uses for balloons are not of this Earth: the soft landings of the Sojourner, Spirit, & Opportunity rovers on Mars; and now the I.V.R.E. If nothing else, I'll wager this hyperlink features the best use of the word aeroshell you'll encounter all day.

Housekeeping: this post should have been categorized as "Science!" not "The Stars My Destination" since it doesn't directly involve manned spaceflight, but I am most excited by the idea of inflatable heat shields on manned spacecraft like the forthcoming Orion, or the proposed manned variant of the E.S.A.'s robotic A.T.V. cargo capsule. Plus, I am the only person who even remotely cares about the distinction between "Science!" and "The Stars My Destination;" so, the decision falls squarely and solely within my bailiwick.

Science!
Attack! of the Planet Smashers (not the Canadian ska band): N.A.S.A.link and B.B.C.link. Wow! My only issue with both articles is the treatment of the Theia hypothesis, a.k.a. the giant impact hypothesis, as scientific fact; I find the evidence for a cataclysmic Earth-Theia collision quite compelling, but that is leagues away from "the Big Whack" being the definitive account of the Moon's formation. But that's neither here nor there. An impact between two baby planets? Around a star one hundred light-years distant? Only a few millennia ago? Holy smokes!

Elsewhere in exoplanetary high jinks, attack! of the W.A.S.P.(-17b): retrogradelink. There are multiple moons in the Solar system in retrograde orbits around their planets, and the Venerean rotation is retrograde, but a whole planet in retrograde orbit of its star? Astonishing! The more we learn about the Milky Way, the more we realize there is no such thing as a standard solar system.

Let's complete the hat trick with the latest addition to my bookmarks: PlanetQuest: Exoplanet Exploration. I just installed the widget on my Dashboard, and I cannot stop grinning and giggling. "What a time to be alive!"

Science!

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Less Than Jake, "Conviction Notice" from GNV FLA (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: "Money can't buy happiness, but it sure can pay the rent!"

The trained economist knows, of course, that money can buy happiness (utility). Not all the utility you'll ever want, but some level of utility, and certainly more than you could buy without any money. And that is L.T.J.'s point, expressed in other words.