That Is What You Might Call A Thunderstorm

Photo by Sean R. Heavey. Click for larger version.

Came across that picture over here. I am glad not to have been directly underneath that thing (not trying to fly through it, for that matter).

Ever Get The Feeling That The Assholes Are In Charge?

* Reads newspaper *

Hmm, so, let's see, what's up in the world these days? Well, everything seems to be going swimmingly in regards to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Why, the next attempt to contain the leak will probably only INCREASE the rate of flow from it by 20%!!!!!!!! Sucks to be you, things that live in, on, or by the Gulf! Fortunately, the head cheese of British Petroleum says that things aren't that bad at all, and we should all just settle down and not pay any attention to those horrible sciencey people, with their science and everything. Next up - hurricane season!

And... look over here! An attempt to lessen, in some minor and perhaps symbolic way, the suffering of the city of Gaza has been met with lethal force, thus providing the extremist wings of both sides of the Israel-Palestine debate with a prime chance to get up and scream at each other. At press time, Gaza itself remained more-or-less screwed.

On the local front, someone took it upon him/her/itself this past weekend to wander down to the zoo and wipe out the guinea pigs. "Why?" you ask? Nobody knows. However, I feel strongly that The Stealthy Dachshund's response has much merit to it.

Nothing for it, I guess, but to run a nice picture of a tulip, taken by me. Click to embiggen, as always!

An Appropriate Musical Interlude

...particularly, this weekend, the bit about "mon chemin".

We Need More Headlines...

...like this:

Just When You Thought It Was Safe… Giant Squid Terrorise Californian Coast!!!
Divers spooked by tales of assaults as swarms of aggressive jumbo flying squid invade the shallows off San DiegoAssociated Press in San Diego guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 July 2009 15.25 BST

Yes folks, "aggressive jumbo FLYING squid" (my emphasis) have apparently risen from the depths, and are tormenting anyone who ventures into the waters off San Diego. And that, of course, means that it's only a matter of time until this fellow shows up:

For you see, at the same time that tenticular doom was descending upon California, here in the Warrens, hundreds of miles from the sea, strange phenomena were at work. On Saturday night the sky turned a sort of nasty greenish-grey, thunder rolled, high winds threw things around and tore strong limbs from trees, and all the lights went out for awhile. Oh, and there was hail. Coincidence? I think not.

Anyway, as we await the arrival of the horrid denizens of R'Lyeh, here's a bit of a look at their advance guard:

Cavalcade of Randomness

Random observations...

• It is cold outside, and I'm working on a cold! Coincidence? I think not...
  
• Nefertiti is visibly larger than she was when we got her. She's also become a very silky cat, and is beginning to fill out a bit. She is delightful!
• James Mirtle estimates that the Oilers will need to go 12-9-1 to make the playoffs. This is extremely do-able, so I think they should go and do it!
• I played this for the first time last night, and enjoyed it entirely! I think we won in the end, or at least didn't lose.
• Erm... that's all I can think of right now Ok, so it was a short cavalcade.

Brrrr....

So, what does the worst April blizzard in these parts for many a year look like from space? Like this:


Click to see larger image.

Actually, I don't think you can see the border lines from space, but if you could, that would be awfully convenient!