Mars, BITCH!!!

Never mind Russert, I've got some REAL news!!

An earthling has walked on another planet!!



So, okay, it's a four footed earthling, but everyone at Plush Life knows that kittehs are intrepid space explorers.



Totally awesome!!

Find out more about this brave explorer here: Steve the Cat Visits Mars

Hat tip to faithful reader Backyard Astronomer.

Cat Blogging goes upscale!!

Simply awesome. Via Kevin Drum.

Gideon Rachman has a nice post about cats and the dems through history who love them. He adds that:

Obviously, I am a cat lover. But I have thought hard before acknowledging this on my blog. When the FT first handed out some suggestions for blog-writers, one of them was - “Do not write about your cat.”

But why not? He is a magnificent beast - far more interesting than most of the people I write about. Here is a photo of him. (I also have four children, but I’m not going to bother you with photos of them).

And actually, there is a vestigial international-relations connection to my cat. He was adopted from a cat’s home in Brussels. We named him Louis, after the then Belgian foreign minister, Louis Michel - on the grounds that both the cat and the minister were hairy, over-weight, aggressive Belgians. Michel is now EU commissioner for overseas aid; and Louis has moved to London.

That's Louis, above.

And to the Financial Times, lighten up, Francis!!

RIP Timmeh

Tim Russert, Dead at 58

The entire NBC news organization seems to be in complete shock this afternoon. It seems that while he annoyed the crap out of us, they genuinely loved him.

So I offer my deep and sincere condolences to his family, his friends and his colleagues. 58 is too young.

Update, 10:15 PM EST: Okay, I take it all back. Look, I'm sorry the guy died and I realize that his colleagues are sad and all, but they're supposed to be in the fucking news business, and believe it or not, there was actual news today.

LIKE THE WHOLE STATE OF IOWA IS UNDERWATER. Sheesh. They're acting like the fucking pope died.

Supernova!!

File this under "awesome"

A sequence of ultraviolet images released in June 2008 shows a supernova from start to finish. Just before the explosion, the host galaxy (top left) appears relatively quiet. Then a bright ultraviolet flash called a shock breakout (top right) signals that the core of a red supergiant star has collapsed.

Moments later the flash is mostly gone, although remnants of the star continue to spread outward (bottom left). The debris expands quickly, heating up again and becoming brighter (bottom right). A few days later it wwould be ten times the size of the original star and would be visible to supernova hunters.

Images courtesy NASA/HST/COSMOS/GALEX

Via National Geographic News

Friday Kittehs

U still in dat thing? GET UP!!!

I'z up, I'z UP!!

Hey, iz dat a little birdie out dere?

Late night kitteh Palooza!!

Oh, hai. We B hanging.

Quoi??

Quoi???

Dere's a strange kitteh out dere!!!

U admire mah eyelashes plze kai thx bai

Quoi???

An oldie, but I just love this picture. Maddie is so silly.

"I haz a carrot"

Guest kittehs!!

From our good friend Caminante, meet Tucker and Madison. Notice the pose in the bottom picture. Definitely a maine coon thing.

Thursday happy kitteh

U noes that kittens R god's way of fucking with us?

Iz wednesdai time 4 kittehs

R thos noisy hippies gone nao?

I wuz skeered but nao I can go sleepies.

I wuzn't skeered... I am brave kitteh

I gotz many scritches.

More Res World tour

Harry Doghiney and his lovely wife gave a very nice pool party for the visiting hippies.

This is Angel. Sadly, I failed to get a picture of his sister Buffy.

Angel likes to run around the pool and bite at water drops. He does not care for swimming.
This is their lovely pool that Angel doesn't like to swim in.

Angel is tired from running and barking... but he is still teh HANDSOME!!!

A lovely rose, with an unidentified guest.

Birdie

Photographed in Sao Paulo, Brazil by AP photographer Andre Penner

Oh Noes!! Bats

I took the hippies to see the bats.

They squeaked a lot and flew away to nom on some bugs and stuff.

Bats: "NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM"

Update: I should add that the bats were squeaking, not the hippies.

UR tuesdai kittehs

I spies a birdie!!

I practisses gazing off inta teh future. (dreamz of being furst kitteh preznit evah!)

Res Ipsa Loquitor World Tour

So Res, Watertiger and other assorted hippies descended on Austin this weekend. We ate lots of delicious food and also visited a few Austin places.

The Texas Capitol.


The dome inside. The grandeur of the setting hasn't interfered with our local rethug's ability to behave like yokels and boobs.

Lovely

Iz very pretty, eh?

erene skyviews were enjoyed across planet Earth earlier this week with a young crescent Moon low in the western sky just after sunset. Recorded on June 4, this colorful example includes a quiet beach in the foreground with the city lights of Lisbon, Portugal, and the Sintra Mountains along the horizon. Posing between cloud banks, the Moon's slender, sunlit arc represents only about 1 percent of the full lunar disc. The rest of the Moon's nearside is faintly visible though, illuminated by Earthshine. A waxing crescent Moon should also create some lovely western skies at dusk this weekend. The bright star in the sky near tonight's (Saturday's) Moon will actually be the planet Mars. On Sunday the Moon will move closer to a pair of celestial beacons, bright star Regulus and Saturn.

Photo by Miguel Claro, courtesy of Astronomy Picture of the Day

Please click on the link- the photo is better viewed full size for detail.

EATAGE!!! Kitteh style!!

Good friend Phila sent me a link to this kitteh who is hell bent on WORLD DOMINATION!!!!

Most excellent.

Space returns, BITCH!!

This gorgeous photo of the far side of the rings of Saturn is courtesy of the Cassini spacecraft.

What do Saturn's rings look like from the other side? From Earth, we usually see Saturn's rings from the same side of the ring plane that the Sun illuminates them. Geometrically, in the above picture taken in April by the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn, the Sun is behind the camera but on the other side of the ring plane. This vantage point, specifically 17 degrees above the ring plane, gives a breathtaking views of the most splendid ring system in the Solar System. Strangely, the rings have similarities to a photographic negative of a front view. The ring brightness as recorded from different angles indicates ring thickness and particle density of ring particles. Elsewhere, ring shadows can be seen on the sunlit face of Saturn, shown sporting numerous cloud structures in nearly true color.

From Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Plushies, finally

Ripley wuz in her element with so many nice peeps to scritch her haid and fuss over her. What a ham.

Maddie was a little more cautious- she took until Saturday night before she let anyone lure her out. She's relieved to have peace and quiet again.

Photos are high res- click for all teh plushy details.