The Explorers Club
No. CCXX - The Komodo dragon, a monster so terrible it is most aptly described as a "dragon."







Operation AXIOM: The Stars My Destination
Friday, 28 January, marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Challenger disaster, the death of seven American astronauts in the explosive destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger. A schoolteacher-cum-astronaut was aboard the Challenger for STS-15-L on 28 January 1986, the inaugural flight of the Teacher in Space Project, & so your humble narrator, alongside his fellow students at McGrath Elementary, was watching the launch & subsequent disaster live on television. For weeks afterward, not a day passed when the horrible explosion was not to be seen on the nightly news. As long as I live I will never forget the sight. This was a formative influence on my six-and-a-half-year-old self. Please spare a moment to remember those seven brave souls, who boldly challenged the heavens in the name of science & patriotism. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten: N.A.S.A.link (also honoring those who died in the Apollo 1 disaster of '67 & the Columbia disaster of '03) & B.B.C.link. Pray pardon me for not marking the day itself.



Ad astra per aspera.

The Victors: Project OSPREY
Michigan 87-73 Iowa
13-9, Big Ten 3-6

What a game! While the tenacious Hawkeyes are the worst team in the Big Ten, following the emotional win over the dastardly Spartans I feared the valiant Wolverines might be ripe for a letdown. In the early going, these fears seemed to be coming true as Iowa shot 100% from the field, but no team can long sustain such sharpshooting. Just like that the valiant Wolverines turned the tide & engaged the tenacious Hawkeyes in a seesaw struggle that saw Michigan take a three-point lead into halftime. In the second half, the valiant Wolverines put on their own display of improbably proficient shooting & built a lead of twenty-one points, too great an obstacle for the tenacious Hawkeyes to surmount. Iowa closed to gap to eight points, but with skill & determination Michigan grew the gulf back to fourteen points. And on the last play of the game Michigan's Darius Morris secured the rebound necessary to earn a triple-double: twelve points, eleven assists, & ten rebounds! Woot! What a game!

One of the television announcers described the Michigan State game as "pivotal." Let us hope that is indeed the case, & today's win a demonstration of such, as the next game is against the (№ 1) hated Buckeyes, one of only two remaining undefeated teams, followed by more manageable contests against the ferocious Nittany Lions, the scholarly Wildcats, & the wily Hoosiers. Is a .500 Big Ten record still feasible? I have to believe that it is. And why not? After all, in the last four days the valiant Wolverines have trebled their number of conference victories, & in fine style. Let's go Blue!

Thursday, 27 January
Michigan 61-57 Michigan State (№ 25)
12-9, Big Ten 2-6

I sat down to watch Thursday's game with every expectation of watching the valiant Wolverines fall before the merciless onslaught of the dastardly Spartans. True, this season's dastardly Spartans did not seem to be up to their usual par, but also remember that the valiant Wolverines had dropped six straight games, including a demoralizing trio of defeats at the mediocre hands of the wily Hoosiers, the scholarly Wildcats, & the (№ 16) luckless Golden Gophers. I expected debacle, but—I suppose to my credit—tuned in to the game to stand by the Maize & Blue, come what may; I was rewarded with a spectacle just this side of being beyond belief: The valiant Wolverines stood toe-to-toe with the dastardly Spartans! The valiant Wolverines lead at the half! The valiant Wolverines withstood the dastardly Spartans' furious last-minute assault! The valiant Wolverines won! The valiant Wolverines won!

Michigan is, first & last, a football school; both the basketball & hockey teams play in stadia named after football coaches-cum-athletic directors, the former in Crisler Arena (after "Fritz" Crisler) & the latter in Yost Ice Arena (formerly home to the basketball team as Yost Fieldhouse, after Fielding H. Yost). The pall will not be lifted from Ann Arbor until our glory has been reclaimed on the gridiron. But as our nigh illiterate "little brothers" in East Lansing painted their chests to remind us, before Thursday's game it had been over three years since Michigan had defeated Michigan State in either football or men's basketball; by beating them in their own Breslin Center, by putting an end to that awful counting of the days, & by silencing the debauched cretins of the "Izzone," the valiant Wolverines reminded us of the proper order of things, of the rectitude of the Maize & Blue's triumph of those in the Green & White. Win or lose, it's always great to be a Michigan Wolverine, but our fight song isn't titled "The Victors" for nothing.

Go Blue!

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer, "The Moon and Mars" from Schematics (T.L.A.M.)

Samstag, 29 Januar
The Aquabats!, "The Shark Fighter!" from Hi-Five Soup! (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: New album!

"I had a girl who was precious to me,
But a shark took her away, you see.
Now I fight sharks not for money
But for love, and that ain't funny, yo.
And here's why
I will avenge my lady with my life,
Or until I die in a fight
Against the underwater army of the night!
This rhyme tells the story of the…

Shark fighter! Toughest man in the sea!
Shark fighter! With his wavy blond hair flowing so freely!
His only goal is a shark casserole,
His only creed is to make sharks bleed,
He is not mean he's just getting even,
He will not die 'til all sharks cry!"