To Explore Strange New Worlds

Scientists will now be able to seek out planets that are similar to Earth outside of our solar system thanks to the just launched Corot space telescope. They will be looking for "small rocky planets" that may have water on it under the right circumstances. Very cool. Read the complete story here.

I Can See the Light

I forgot to mention that at The Little One's birthday party, a friend of ours broke a major rule of gift giving. They gave her a puppy. At first I thought it was just a stuffed animal because it was sleeping but upon further examination I realized it was real. Ugh. I'm a firm believer that giving an animal away to someone as a gift without checking with them first is a big faux pas. This rule runs right up there at the top along with 'Never date a girl who's father calls her Princess.' Anyway, lucky for me that we had a birthday party to go to the next day and we regifted the puppy.

I am just about done shopping for Christmas. Every year I say I'm going to finish earlier but it never seems to work out that way. I think it's the same story for the thousands of other shoppers out in the stores today. I absolutely will not go to the stores this weekend, though. Much too much pressure and stress. Along with that goes this thought that I've been mulling around in my head. I can't decide what's worse; the commercialization of Christmas or organized religions' insistence that Christmas is too commercialized. I guess that could be discussed at another time, besides I've got to figure out if the Nativity Scene in the front yard is shorting out Santa and the reindeers on the roof. Oh, and I was just kidding about regifting the puppy. The thought did cross my mind but I quickly disregarded it.

Wow

It was an exciting weekend for the family. Friday night around 9 PM, The Little One fell down while playing with her sister. I went to her and picked her up and turned her towards me and that's when I saw all the blood running down her face. I quickly went to the other room and got some paper towels and about this time my wife sees all the blood. Her sister was with her so we all piled into the SUV and rushed to the hospital. About a minute after we started driving, The Little One stopped crying and was just talking away. She really likes to go for rides.

We got to the Emergency Room and she had the wound cleaned and x-rayed. The doctor didn't see anything major but had to put 3 stitches to close the cut on her forehead. When they gave her the anesthetic instead of a scream and crying, only a loud "ouch" came from The Little One. She gets to go back in a week to get the stitches taken out.

Also, the next day was her birthday party. You can see the bandage on her forehead in all the birthday pictures. Oh well, it will be something for her to laugh about when she's older. Man, splitting her head open and stitches before she's two years old. At least she was calmer than I was.

Thought For Today

Conspiracy or Fate?

We could argue the "decisions" or whether there were five or five hundred of them but it all boils down to one thing: a tragic loss. Read Christopher Dickey's commentary Five Fatal Decisions.

Whatever You Do, Don't Look Down

The glass walkway being built by the Hualapai Tribe at their Grand Canyon West destination is slated to be completed and opened to the public on March 28 2007. The Skywalk will extend 70 feet from the canyon wall and 4000 feet above the canyon floor. I don't usually have a problem with heights but walking out onto a glass walkway with a 4000 foot drop below might be a problem. I was going to have a link to the site but it seems to have suddenly gone down. Maybe I'll be able to do it later.

Look, It's Over There

There is something very wrong with this and I'm not being discriminatory towards the blind:

AUSTIN - A state lawmaker wants to make sure no Texan is left out when it comes to hunting, even if the hunter is legally blind. Rep. Edmund Kuempel, a Seguin Republican, has filed a bill for the 2007 legislative session that would allow legally blind hunters to use a laser sight, or lighted pointing instrument. The devices are forbidden for sighted hunters.

"This opens up the fun of hunting to additional people, and I think that's great," Kuempel said.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which regulates hunting in Texas, currently does not have a definition of what constitutes a legally blind hunter. Kuempel's bill would give the agency until Jan. 1, 2008, to come up with a definition so that the law could be enforced. The hunter would have to carry proof that he or she is legally blind.

Ha Ha

Take this short Quiz.

Arrrg

Spent over 1 hour and a half sitting in the pediatrician's waiting room this afternoon. After the wait, we were in and out in 10 minutes. Diagnosis: common cold. Rx: Prescription cough medicine. It's a wonder The Little One didn't catch anything else from being around all those other sick children. I guess the good thing is that in my opinion, all the children manifested the same symptoms. Cough, cough, sniffle, sneeze.

Testers and Testees

So the USCIS is testing new questions for a revised citizenship exam. Now I'm not complaining but I've looked at the proposed new questions and wonder how many Americans can answer these questions. I only ask that because we've all heard about those supposed questionnaires given to college bound seniors by teachers or news reporters containing basic questions on U.S. history and such and most can't answer any of them. See all the questions here.