What to make of the star’s spectrum? It’s laced with oddball elements like europium, gadolinium, terbium and holmium. Moreover, while iron and nickel appear in low abundances, the stellar atmosphere shows the presence of short-lived ultra-heavy elements like actinium, plutonium, americium and einsteinium.

The latter were identified in 2008. Called actinides, these are elements with atomic numbers from 89 to 103 on the periodic table. They force the question of how radioactive elements with half-lives on the order of centuries or even decades could be there.

Stars form heavier elements in their cores during their lifetimes as a result of thermonuclear fusion reactions in their interiors. Elements heavier than iron are formed by neutron absorption during supernova explosions, their presence in the earth’s crust and in solar spectra is evidence of supernovae events that occurred BEFORE the solar system formed; these explosions enrich the interstellar medium with heavier elements that cannot be manufactured in normal thermonuclear fusion. Stars forming from this material therefore contain species which cannot be formed within the star’s core. Many of these heavier elements are radio-active, with relatively short half-lives. Older stars should not have any of this material left in them. Their presence there suggests they have been added to the stars, and that they are continuously being replenished.

Whether this is evidence of some as-yet unknown conventional physical process, or a deliberate seeding by an extra-terrestrial culture trying to advertise its presence, is the million dollar question.

Smoked a doobie, put the Rory Gallagher double album on the Bose, and got into some Irish blues. The house sparkles! Life is good.

Have a happy Mayday, comrades.
Come-a come-a cow cow yippy yippy yay!

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTMzBKGsybb5yyWPkk5y9vS-FP1_L7CZvmxBgSjkB6q6EVscVVxmuwnPnSQ2NOfSQrdiRKmG5ZP_vXvTzMc3zqYUdyh2_w1ge4_649A3-j6&s=10

After weeks of whiplash 180s, Trump announced he plans to get out of Iran no matter what happens in the Strait of Hormuz or how much our allies in Europe, Asia, or the MidEast are suffering from bombardment or inability to ship or receive petroleum. Our oil blockade of Cuba obviously doesn’t apply to Putin’s tankers, Venezuela is still run by a Communist dictatorship and we are getting out of NATO because it hasn’t obediently jumped to help us in a war we started without even consulting them. And tonight, he plans to speak to the nation with “a very important message”.

In the background, our President seems to be feverishly maneuvering to gain access to state election records so he can determine every American’s political affiliation, and he is desperately trying to abolish birthright citizenship so he can decide who is and isn’t a REAL American, regardless of how long their ancestors have been here. Being a “brown-eyed handsome man” with foreign-born grandparents, I can see that carrying my passport with me every time I leave the house may soon not be enough to keep me from being deported.

The whole nation is suddenly one toke over the line, sweet Jesus. I’m checking out of the Zone, permanently, and I suggest we all do the same. It is no longer safe to speak out publicly without picking your words very carefully. To paraphrase Hemingway, fascism is like bankruptcy: at first it happens gradually, then it happens all at once. Adios muchachos.

I hope our astronauts come home safely, and I hope they still have a country when they get back.

I throw a DVD into the machine instead, Disc One of the “The Two Towers”. I watch it fitfully, dozing off and on until its over. Eventually I turn it off and put it away. College basketball is on the tube now. Like I said, childish fantasy seems preferable somehow.

The couple greets each other briefly, and then she invites him to come with her–for sex. Its not blatant or in bad taste, but if you look carefully at the body language and the gestures there is no doubt what is going on. She is ready, NOW. Our little house husband is about to get laid. He is clearly eager to follow up on her offer and he follows her out of the room, stage left–like an obedient little puppy.

To a certain extent this little domestic scene illustrates some profound social, and cultural changes now taking place in America, not to mention some profound changes in the economy and the family and traditional gender roles. But I bet a lot of people watching this see reflections of their own home and modern life. And I bet they resent it. Like the frequent portrayal of interracial couples in media, this little domestic drama points to changes many people just wish would go away.

This is what MAGA is really all about.

Is this just the first salvo of a multipronged marketing campaign, or is it some sinister ploy to harvest consumer data for the algorithms? Are they prepping us for online gambling? Is this the first manifestation of some massive commercial consumer monitoring scheme?

Or maybe…they are constructing (in a semi covert-fashion) the foundational infrastructure of what eventually will be a software utility designed to monitor and control the masses by infiltrating their communications devices.

Beware of Geeks bearing gifts.

I missed about half of his performance because I was making a sandwich in the kitchen, but I got a chance to hear it, at any rate.

Artistically, I didn’t care much for it. I’m not a fan of Rap music, it sounds just as bad to me in Spanish as it does in English.

Performance-wise, I had trouble picking up on the lyrics because of Senor Bunny’s Puerto Rican accent. I lived there for about a year, many years ago, but there’s a lot of new slang in the Hip-Hop Universe I’m not too hip to. My childhood Cuban Spanish is similar, but not exactly the same, and the vocal conventions of the Rap genre are not all that familiar to me. But what I did hear gave me a good idea of what he was talking about, and the spectacular stage show he brought with him reinforced his message quite effectively.

Political Impact: I think it was extremely effective. The show was about Puerto Rican culture and history, and the influence of the USA as an imperial/colonialist power.

Staging: The production values were superb, and with some obviously VERY meticulously rehearsed performers/props/dancers/musicians/camera and audio work, all on an elaborate set, the results supported the Rap, at least for the TV audience. It was worth watching for that alone. Its not clear what the folks in the bleachers saw, but I suppose they had the Jumbotron.

Cultural Notes: Anything that is sure to piss off MAGA can’t be all bad.

Oh, the game. A lot of people thought it was dull, but I love a good down-in-the-trenches defensive contest. I wasn’t rooting for either side, and by the last quarter the outcome was pretty much inevitable. Still, I enjoyed it.

War threatens all over the planet

The postwar world order is unraveling

The economy is out of control

The climate is starting to implode

Artificial Intelligence is on the verge of taking over

The Dow broke 50k today