It's happened, again. A guy had travertine installed in his house. He noticed this fossil and was asking for an ID/confirmation. Several dentists and forensic anthropologists showed to let him know it is a human mandible. Turn out the travertine is from Turkey, and it's an important fossil... early human. Researchers have reached out to him.

So...Indian Burial Ground; Variations on a Theme?

It'd be just my luck that my home improvement project would turn into a dig.  Sorry sir, but you can't use your kitchen...FOR SCIENCE!

The museum is currently closed for remodeling. Sign said it opens later this month. I think I saw that the crowd was about 50k. Leaving was simple with no wait... even driving out of the parking lot(we were in Main Gate lot) was no wait.

Oh...well that's 20%...no wonder it was easy.  I know 50k is a lot of people, but spread leaving to all surrounding neighborhoods and it's a breeze.

Yeah, it was a great time. Met some cool people, too. I was expecting a nightmare, leaving, but it was a breeze... even leaving the track was easy. I guess they have perfected traffic control since they have so much practice every May. Made it home in four hours. The last time it took 12 or 13.

 

edit to add: We set-up on the lawn behind the in-field museum. Most of the activities happened down on the start/finish line, but those down there had sit on the tarmac(or in the grandstand), and the crowd was pretty large. On the lawn there was maybe a thousand people, no one was packed in, plenty of room to move about, and the bathrooms were close(and porta-potties even closer). The little gift shop/store, surprisingly, had drinks and snacks at normal price, whereas the vendors down front were charging about 250% above($2.00/bottle water vs $5.00/bottle). I brought a small scope, three pair of binocs, and filters for all of it, plus various other optical accessories and mounts- no mounts in the grandstands, so that made the lawn choice easy, and of course, chairs.

 

Hopefully, I can make it another 21 years for the one 2045. I kind of doubt it, and even if I do, it will be in August in the South. I'll be a very old man, then... maybe by then someone will invent personal air conditioners.

Glad you had a good time.  Having been to the race several times, they have NOT mastered traffic control.  It's my single biggest disincentive against going yearly.  Otherwise, the track is cool, so is the museum if you had a chance to go in.

Cousin It, hope you had a good trip to Indy.  Weather was very good, and we had a great seat in the backyard.

Edited to add, the Rapture has once again passed me by. 

Ouch...sorry It's Cousin.

We had tickets to go tonight...bought 'em months ago just because I've always wanted to go to the tourney and it's usually in town.  Then Purdue was a number 1 seed playing in Indy, so should be fun. 

Of course, my son has been sick all week and barfed this morn, so plans are off.  I was able to immediately resell them through TicketTyrant at a bit of a markup (I didn't even set the price...they had "waiting offers"), but then they want your SSN for tax reporting.  Figures.  Guess I'll go to the sweet 16 next year at considerably greater cost!

Prepare to have your socks knocked off. Saw a pretty good analogy describing a similar situation... 95%totality verses 100%totality is analogous to going to Disney World, parking in the lot, and then leaving without going in. Sure, you saw it, but you didn't experience it.

 

It throws your mind for a loop. We are used to it taking 30-45 minutes  every evening for it to go from sundown to dark. During the eclipse, it happens in 3-4 minutes! You can literally see it getting darker. Even though you know what's going on, it still fucks with the mind, and everything has a weird silvery glow. And, the temperature change in those last few moments... it's pretty weird. During totality, be sure to look around a bit too- it's crazy seeing twilight on all horizons. Seeing the Sun's corona is a bonus on top of everything else. And, the "diamond ring".

 

If you have a pair of binoculars, be sure to use them during totality to get a good look at the corona- you will also likely see some large orange/red solar flares jutting off the Sun's surface contrasted against the silvery corona. Binocs will really highlight this difference. If you don't have any, it will be worth it to grab a cheap pair from Amazon or Walmart- you won't regret it!(I have 4 pair, but justified buying a new pair of 12x56 ED roof prisms for the occasion- I've wanted them for a while but couldn't justify spending the money since I have pair of 10x50 Leupolds and 7x50 Fujinons- both porro prisms).

 

If you do use binoculars, be sure to set the focus before the eclipse so you don't waste time trying to figure it out during totality. Probably best to focus them on a star the night before- stars are point sources of light, so you can get perfect focus using them. If you forget, focus on a distant object that morning.

 

We've decided to make Indy our primary destination(it's close, and serviced by interstates). Rob wanted to go to the Children's Museum, and while they do have a lot of programs that day, they don't have a lot of outside viewing options. The Speedway is partnering with Purdue and NASA for the event, so that is the destination. It's enormous, has a series of technical lectures for those more advance, and talks/programs for those with less experience/kids. And, it's cheap as hell($20/ticket; kids get in free) and one of three official NASA  broadcasting sites.

 

Hopefully, the weather will be fine, so the plan is Indy, but we're ready to drive west to Illinois or north to Cleveland if the morning's weather report require a change.

 

It should be a blast. We sat in traffic for 13 hours after the last eclipse, and it was worth every minute of it, but that was western Kentucky with little infrastructure. Indy shouldn't be nearly as bad.

I've paid a bit of attention to the potential events and Speedway is definitely the way to go. 
 

lol TAP you dick

The eclipse is 59 days away. Trying to decide between Carbondale Il, Vincennes In, IU at Bloomington, Franklin In, or Cleveland. This time, instead of fighting, what will be, another MASSIVE clusterfuck of a traffic jam, I'm going to get a hotel for the weekend/Monday and wait it out.

 

Carbondale has a NASA sponsored event, as does the John Glenn NASA Research Center in Cleveland, so it will likely be one of those.

 

Anyone planning anything? If not, you should- it is one hell of a spectacle that you will remember for the rest of your life... it's a mindfuck to your senses seeing everything go from broad daylight to darkness in a few minutes, and then seeing twilight 360 around you. Also, seeing the solar atmosphere is pretty fucking cool, too.

 

I tried making reservations about a year ago, and none of the hotels would do it, now they're charging $600/night... assholes!

I teach in Indy, which is a prime spot, and live a bit north of there.  i'm not in the perfect position for the full 4-5 minute eclipse, but I'll get a full eclipse for about 2 mins at my house.  So I canceled classes and ordered glasses from Amazon. 

Saw probably a 90% eclipse a few years ago, from campus.  Looking forward to the full experience.

Saw Extreme w/ Living Colour last night.  Highly recommended if it comes your way.  Extreme's instruments were top notch, Nuno can still play the hell outta that guitar.  And they SOUND like Extreme...probably because Gary never did too many vocal acrobatics.  Living Colour were also good.  Great bass lines, just fun music given their funk/hip hop roots into rock.  And the singer still has pipes.  Oh, and the show was in a smaller venue, so it's easy to get up close and take it all in.

Man I'd love to see Ministry. 

Pretty sure they're opening the Rob Zombie/Alice Cooper tour.  And Alice is always worth seeing.  Still cuts his own damn head off, every night.

Where's the Moms for Liberty sextape?  If I can watch Senate staffers bugger, surely I can watch religious tyrants scissor for Christ.

I gotta get to Hawaii one day. I've never seen it. 

We're planning to go a summer 2025.

Rob's doing Hawaii again for the holidays, this time she's in Maui. Let's see if she will send an image???

 

I guess I'm an old fucker. I moved into a retirement community. At first, I didn't like the ideal, but after checking it out, I kind of liked it. They have a lot of amenities that I don't use, but I'm the young guy, there(have to be 62 to live there), so I seem to garner a lot of attention.

 

Now, I'm going to impress a bunch of them by playing some Brenda Lee using a blue tooth speaker. Seriously.

 

Oh, it has a "check in" button that you have to press between 4:00am and 4:00 pm or they come to your door(I guess they don't want us stinking up the place after we die). Also, has the "help me I've fallen" cords to pull in the rooms.

 

Nice location, though.

Get em, silver fox!

Also, my "aunt" is in an assisted living place.  She had a friend who was a bit round the bend who would use my aunt to try to help her escape.  For the sake of having fun, I suggest you liberate them if they ask.

I guess tonight is the night. I went to the liquor store and the parking lot was full. Well, fuck that! I'm not walking half a block, so I decided to head to the grocery store around the corner to pick up my favorite libation. Get there and the line was out the door. Well, shit! Figured I would join the line since it seemed to be moving fairly fast.

 

I thought that maybe they were checking IDs at the door(this store is on campus and the liquor dept. has its own separate entrance). After making it inside, people were still queing up, so I finally ask if anyone knew why we were waiting in a line. Turns out they were having a lottery for an upcoming release of Pappy van Winkle. If you don't know, Pappy is a highly sought after bourbon that's near impossible to find, so the best way of obtaining a bottle is to put your name in a lottery for any up coming releases.

 

Sometimes, I hate how popular bourbon has become... I use to be able to pick a bottle of 15 year old Pappy for $16, now it's a hundred if you can get it, or pay 4 or 5 times that from what is essentially a scalper.

 

When informed the line was for the Pappy lottery, I responded "fuck that, I don't care for wheaters, anyway". Grabbed a bottle of Four Roses that was on display(it was one of those Christmas deals they always have this time of year with something thrown in the box like a tumbler or something- this one had a silicon mold for making rose-shaped ice cubes), and got the hell out of there.

 

I think some of them were actually offended that someone wouldn't like Pappy, but I like a robust high-rye whiskey. Preferably made in Anderson Co., hence, the Four Roses. My intent was to grab a bottle 101º. Maybe, the next time.

Pappy gouging is stupid high. 

I probably have three Four Roses glasses that came in a box set...all with tapered sides, one is slightly smaller than the others for no clear reason.  But yeah.  High rye is the way to go.

The just released The General. It's still a pretty lousy song IMO. Not much to it. It's on youtube also. 

 

I'd take a live set. Or really a Blue Ray would be better. 

General is growing on me.  It does have interesting melodies.

GnR are consistent at fucking things up. Why didn't they just release this single as planned along with the B sides? Then somebody else just does it for them. haha. wtf. Weird. Any what about just new music? Not Chinese leftovers that are slightly reworked? 

 

Whatever. Monsters is pretty dope and not much different from the rough version leak. The final of The General still sucks though, but I can accept it as B side/experimental thingy. 

Wouldn't we all settle pretty hard for a badass live set?  Maybe three discs, showcase different eras? 

This is me almost every day now. Can't even remember what I was going to do though. But I'm sure I was going to do something. 

Just standing in front of some random drawer or cabinet wondering "why the fuck am I here?"...happens all the time.  But if I stare into the void long enough, I often remember. 

It wasn't this way before kids.

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving.  I'm deep into grading season.  It's like Nam.  Just when you think Charlie's dead, another one pops outta the bush with 25 more papers.  And you can't wait until that sweet December evacuation.

I didn't do it, again. I start doing something else, forget about it, and the next thing you know, it's midnight already. One of these days, though, I'm going to do it.

You sound exactly like someone who's trying to quit, but you're doing the opposite.  And it's a trip.

Monster is a fun track. I especially like the part around 2:30. Reminds me a little of White Zombie to be honest. Then Axl kicks in. 

 

I don't know how anybody could like The General, blah. It sounds like too early of a demo to assess fairly though. I just see it as that. It's nowhere near a finished song. 

 

It doesn't seem like a coincidence that these were leaked right after The General was not released the other day. haha. This whole thing is very 2004-2006 to me. Kinda love it. 

We should all go to HTGTH and post download links everywhere.  Total hit n run. 

Monsters

 

Sounds like a demo. Sounds pretty cool. Edit: Ewww ahhh on headphones. 

 

General

 

Sounds like a rougher demo. It has some cool parts, but also  kinda sucks. 

Definitely liked Monster more than General on first listen.  General intro keyboard part is just blech to me.  Imagine if they took the brief use of synth in the Paradise City intro and said "that's great...now let's GET RID OF THE GUITARS!"
 

I put my hand around your hip.....When I flip, you flip we flip. 

*begins slow clap*

people are conservative until they lose their position in social hierarchy. It’s okay as long as the “right”people are kept from improving their lives


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I was lecturing on conservatism Monday and kept thinking, "holy shit this is outdated".  We don't currently have a conservative party.

Adler's singer sounds just like young Axl. I would go see this band. 

 

I read this as "Steven Tyler" and spent the whole intro wondering why Joe Perry looked weird.

Fuck I'm old. 

Ha wtf

I got tix for the US/Canada Gold Cup match last week.  Had a blast