I posted a new photo to Photos/Family/Events/NewKittens.

Ever had that sinking suspicion that someone is not being honest with you? Today I revisited the kitten page at the shelter's website, and all the kittens we took home that day are gone (page was updated on 11/28), but look who is still listed as available...   more »

I posted a new photo to Photos/Family/Events/NewKittens.

Since we called up the shelter on Wednesday and told them we were interested in Debbie, Dolly, and Dottie, I have had to repeatedly warn my daughter that we may not get these kittens after all, and so she should not latch on to these particular kittens just yet...   more »

Further evidence continues to mount that the anti-global-warming nuts are living in an alternate reality...   more »

From Japanese Probe Collects Asteroid Samples (AP via Yahoo News):

..."The initial movements and operations look very good," Yashiro said. "The process of sampling also seems to have gone very well...

...But JAXA won't know if Hayabusa actually collected surface samples until it returns to Earth. It is expected to touch down in the Australian Outback in June 2007...

...Hayabusa touched down shortly before 8 a.m. Japan time, firing a metal projectile into the surface and collecting the dust that was kicked up. The whole procedure was over in a matter of seconds...

During the three hours of radio silence during Hayabusa's touchdown attempt the other day, the craft did indeed land on the Itokawa asteroid according to JAXA officials. It did not however collect a sample as it was supposed to.  Another landing attempt is scheduled for Saturday.  Hayabusa's Earth-return window closes in early December, so I imagine the science team is feeling a little pressed for time at this point!

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Happy Turkey Day everybody!  I hope you all have a safe and pleasant holiday.  Thanks for reading my blog and leaving comments.  I think everything I had to say last year at this time still holds true today.

All the best, everyone!

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Whether or not we were going to adopt specifically the kittens we've got our eyes on at present, in preparation for adopting new cats, we felt we were going to need a few things...   more »

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars orbiter (the Mars Express) has been a great success.  Its mission is expected to wrap up on November 30 of this year.  On November 9, ESA launched a sister mission to Venus... the Venus Express!  The ship is expected to arrive at Venus in about 4 months where it will orbit the hot planet and study its soupy, hostile atmosphere.  Check out the Venus Express Mission Homepage for more information.

Another interesting upcoming ESA mission (due to launch in June of 2006) is COROT.  This satellite will orbit the Earth and will include equipment which should be able to definitively detect terrestrial planets (i.e. consisting largely of rock, as opposed to gas giants) around other stars.  Up until now the only planets we've been able to detect around other stars have been gas giants like Jupiter, the largest and most massive sorts of planets.

Folks, meet Debbie, Dolly, and Dottie...   more »

It's that time again!  Today's Name That Movie is a film which was absolutely terrible.  I loved it!  Good luck...   more »

I admit it, I'm a cat person, but in this matter I stand in good company. Colette once said "there are no ordinary cats" and "time spent with cats is never wasted". Leonardo Da Vinci once said that "the smallest feline is a masterpiece". I simply cannot live without a cat in my life...   more »

For my parent's 46'th wedding anniversary, which they recently celebrated, one of the gifts we gave them was the first season of Lost on DVD.  I called my mom this morning to wish her a happy birthday (she's 67 today) and she told me how much they are enjoying the Lost DVDs, although at first they had a bit of a problem following the story.  Apparently they didn't realize that the six discs in the Lost set each had 4 episodes, and instead they watched only the first episode on each disc!  "So we got to like the fourth disc and I said to Daddy 'I think we must be doing something wrong!'"

Ya think?

Happy Birthday Mom, all the best!

Recent images from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hayabusa probe to the asteroid Itokawa reveal a world that looks very much like a loosely held together pile of rubble. But this junkpile isn't giving up its secrets easily--the mission has been problematic so far...   more »