6682 Wednesday, already?

Updated Newtcam to refresh only when there’s recent motion. Found a pretty decent freebie program that has a lot of silly effects and functions, and it’s easily disassembled and really modified / chewed up.


Last Cigarette:: when I was 13, 2 puffs. not my thing.
Last Alcoholic Drink:: about a month ago (Smirnoff’s Ice)
Last Car Ride:: Cab home from the ‘mat, Saturday
Last Kiss:: Newt’s forehead, just a moment ago
Last Good Cry:: Feb 25th, about 3am
Last Library Book checked out:: hmmm a while ago… a reference for ASP, I think. Or some clip art.
Last movie Seen in Theatres:: Shrek2 – Saturday
Last Book Read:: Men At Arms (Discworld #15)
Last Movie Rented:: I can’t remember. Years ago. The Last I downloaded was Kagemusha (Kurasawa)
Last Cuss Word Uttered:: dumbf–k.. it was muttered as well as uttered
Last Beverage Drank:: diet coke
Last Food Consumed:: Veggie Sub
Last Crush:: Ornj (Crush and *then some*) hee. Ornj Crush.
Last Phone Call:: Danny ~11pm last night
Last TV Show Watched:: Kim Possible, 11 last night, currently Bear in the Big Blue house
Last Time Showered:: 15 min ago
Last Shoes Worn:: Black sneakers, last night, 6:30ish
Last CD Played:: danigolden‘s “A winner is you!”
Last Item Bought:: Veggie Sub – last night, 6ish
Last Download:: Zwan live recordings at archive.org
Last Annoyance:: unplanned trip to drugstore to replenish paper goods
Last Disappointment:: Bro’s actions Monday – Andy
Last Soda Drank:: Diet Coke
Last Thing Written:: Diet coke(see above) last document, letter to Athenos (see below)
Last Key Used:: apartment door. or, the period “.”
Last Word Spoken:: Newtie-boy (from the quote “hey-hey want a snack, Newtie-boy?”)
Last Sleep:: This morning, about an hour ago
Last IM:: Whims, last night after leaving CoH
Last Sexual Fantasy:: Being together with my sweetie, romantic. that’s all I’ll share.
Last Weird Encounter:: How weird is weird? The lunch on Monday with the homeless guy was interesting, and unusual.
Last Ice Cream Eaten: Strawberry @ Ben & Jerry’s – a week or so ago
Last Time Amused:: Hummus letter and Danny-talk
Last Time Hugged:: VS, after saving her Act database.
Last Time Scolded:: Rhode Island, over something that she’s not even a part of (as usual)
Last Time Resentful:: Bro, Friday Night debacle
Last Chair Sat In:: Black computer chair at home.
Last Underwear Worn:: as opposed to my current ones? forest green-plaid
Last Bra Worn:: hm. Coconut hula thing, maybe 16 years ago.
Last Shirt Worn:: burgundy polo
Last Webpage Visited:: http://dictionary.reference.com
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Dan & I composed a long, goofy letter to Athenos Hummus, singing their praises. Maybe we’ll get some coupons out of it, or at least make someone in customer service laugh nervously.

Speaking of him…. Dan’s going to Georgia for his 5-day vacation in about 2 weeks. He and I have also penciled in the coming Memorial Day as some time to get together and hang out.


Gmail to POP3 converter check your Gmail account with your e-mail app of choice (thanks, waxy_org !) I wonder if I could do the same with yahoo? [update – sure can! – http://yahoopops.sourceforge.net/ ]


Venus clouds ‘might harbor life’

There could be life on the planet Venus, US scientists have concluded in a report in the journal Astrobiology.

The existence of life on the planet’s oven-hot surface is unimaginable.

But microbes could survive and reproduce, experts say, floating in the thick, cloudy atmosphere, protected by a sunscreen of sulfur compounds.

Scientists have even submitted a proposal for a Nasa space mission to sample the clouds and attempt to return any presumed Venusians to Earth.

“Venus is really a hellish place,” said Professor Andrew Ingersoll, of the California Institute of Technology.

“If you could get through the sulphuric acid clouds down to the surface of Venus you’d find it was hotter than an oven. You could melt lead at the surface of Venus and there’d be no water.”

But it was not always like that. Earth and Venus are in many ways sister planets.

“Current theories suggest that Venus and the Earth may have started out alike. There might have been a lot of water on Venus and there might have been a lot of carbon dioxide on Earth,” Professor Ingersoll explained.

But all that was to change. On Earth, life in the oceans took in carbon dioxide and turned it into limestone. On Venus, 30% closer to the Sun, any oceans boiled away and the water vapor added to the runaway greenhouse effect.

Venus became our planet’s ugly sister. Its make-over, which occurred billions of years ago, has left a surface where the pressure is crushing.

Arrested development

But, according to Louis Irwin of the University of Texas at El Paso, the changes on Venus may have been slow. “It may well have been Earth-like long enough for life to either emerge or be transported there,” he said.

Once established, life would have adapted to every environment, just as it did on Earth.

Two years ago, Austrian scientists discovered bacteria living and reproducing within clouds on Earth. The same could have been true on Venus. Then, as the surface became hot and dry, the clouds might have become life’s only refuge.

The Venusian clouds are high in the atmosphere, where the temperature and pressure are quite Earth-like. There is even water present, though it is in the form of concentrated sulphuric acid.

But we now know of organisms that thrive in very acidic environments on Earth.

“If you think about what life needs in a broad sense then the clouds of Venus might actually be a habitat where something could live,” explained David Grinspoon, of the South West Research Institute in Colorado.

Another problem could be UV radiation from the Sun. But Dirk Shulze-Makuch, also at El Paso, thinks Venusian bacteria could make use of a natural chemical sunscreen there.

“When we looked at the composition of the atmosphere, we thought that sulfur compounds are actually an ideal sun block for microbes.”

David Grinspoon speculates that the organisms might even have evolved ways of making use of the UV, muck like Earth plants use visible light for photosynthesis.

“One lifeform’s deadly radiation may be another lifeform’s lunch,” he adds.

But will we ever know if there is truth behind the speculation? Louis Irwin and his colleagues have a proposal in with the US space agency, Nasa.

“We would send a probe to Venus that would drop probably a collector tethered to a balloon-like floating spacecraft, it would collect samples of the cloud droplets and then blast off from the Venusian atmosphere for return eventually to Earth.”

And what are the chances of finding live Venusians? David Grinspoon is in no doubt: “If they’re there, I think we will find them eventually.”

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