Aurora!!

A solar wind hit the earth on March 31st, sparking high altitude geomagnetic storms for three days, resulting in fantastic auroras in the great white north. Take off!!!

Photo by Ginger Cooley, photographed over Wasilla, Alaska.

Photographed over Indian, Alaska by Daryl Pederson.

Wednesday Maddie

She's been kind of out of control the past couple of days. I'm definitely going to have to get her a friend.

Little Scamp

I could hardly get her to hold still so I could take her picture tonight.

Daily Maddie

Maddie thinks I work too much these days. I agree with her.

Yes, this is a repeat. Busy week for this centaur.

Also, I'm having trouble getting into haloscan comments. If anyone with some technical expertise wants to email me, I'd be most appreciative. (My problem is on all blogs using haloscan comments and I'm on a Mac, using Safari).

More Maddie

She has kind of a big snout.

Hallooooooo!!! PLAY WITH ME!!!!

Poor little thing, I was busy working over the weekend so she didn't get nearly enough playtime with me. Last night she kept coming up to me at my desk and dropping toys at my feet. Then she'd wander off, sadly, to bat at her toys by herself. When I finally quit work for the night around 12:30 am, and settled in with her for a serious game of fetch, she went berserk with joy, bounding about purring her furry little brains out.

It ain't easy out there for a kitten.

Uhhh, dude.

AP/Esteban Felix

See what happens when you're too busy putting clothes on your dog to dress yourself?

Fluffy kitten

You're going to have to trust me when I tell you that's actually a kitten.

Notice the fluffy tummy. And how huge she is. Oy. She's turning into a cat at lightning speed.

Simmer Down Now!!

Your Sunday kitten fix is now available.

Huzzah for Rorschach!!

Our very own Rorschach of NoCapital is now a Ph.D.. Now he'll have to quit fucking around and get a real job.

Well done, you!!

And your daily kitten fix

Horrors!! I went to Target today and they have discontinued Maddie's favorite feather on a stick. I'm not sure what we'll do when she has plucked her current supply bare.

In happier news, for those of you who want one for your kitties, Target now carries the Cheese-Chase particle accelerator in the stores (previously only available online). You may not know it, but I'm certain that your cat enjoys doing physics experiments too.

Other, grownup kitties

This is Reece-ey, Plush-life reader smash's kitty. She and her human live in Massachusetts.

And of course this is Henriette, who is french canadian (oooh la la!) and lives in the Montreal suburbs with the lovely and talented Plum P.

Let the war commence!!

You're declaring blogjihad on me????

HA!! First I shall YAK on you!!

Then I shall CUTE you to death!!

Take that! I declare BLOG JIHAD on Ntodd!!

Update: Diplomatic negotiations have resulted in a truce. Everyone stand down.

Extra Maddie

Hallooooooooooo!!!!

Catch the Fever!!

If you have not caught nudibranch fever yet, then I don't know what the hell is wrong with you.

While you're at the erudite and learned Phila's place, check out his Friday Hope Blogging, a weekly compendium of everything that is still right with the world.

Memorial Maxx Blogging

Such a plushy, plushy boy! And a really good physicist as well.

ABU Go Home

Abu speaks today about his role in the firings of the US Attorneys.This is probably not going to help him:

''There obviously remains some confusion about my involvement in this,'' Gonzales said Friday. ''At the end of the day, I know what I did. And I know that the motivations for the decisions I made were not based on improper reasons.''

Umm, okay. I guess that translates to, "You gotta trust me when I tell ya I didn't do anything bad." Well, no, we don't. And the only confusion here is yours- you're apparently confused as to just how gullible the rest of us are.

This isn't going to help him either.

''I signed off on the recommendations and signed off on the implementation plan, and that's the extent of my involvement,'' he told reporters after a holding a round-table discussion in the U.S. attorney's office here with state and federal law enforcement officials about a Justice Department initiative to thwart online predators.

So basically he just turns little asswipe Karl, Jr. wannabes like Kyle Sampson loose to make decisions and he then signs whatever is put in front of him.

That leaves just a few options, either (a) Abu is an incompetent hack who hasn't got the faintest fucking idea what is going on in the Justice Department or (b) he's a fucking liar who doesn't want to get nailed as the Bush-Rove lackey that he is. No, wait, it must be (c) all of the above.

Dear Abu, I think you belong in prison, but I'd be happy if you'd just go the fuck away.

Comet Maxx with Three Galaxies!!

Photo: Miloslav Druckmuller

I miss my Maxx.

Explanation: Diffuse starlight and dark nebulae along the southern Milky Way arc over the horizon and sprawl diagonally through this gorgeous nightscape. The breath-taking mosaic spans a wide 100 degrees, with the rugged terrain of the Patagonia, Argentina region in the foreground. Along with the insider's view of our own galaxy, the image features our outside perspective on two irregular satellite galaxies - the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Recorded on January 28, the scene also captures the broad tail and bright coma of Comet Maxx, The Great Comet of 2007.

Hat tip to the lovely Plum P.

Friday Kitten Blogging

Would you like to play fetch? I brought you a toy to throw.

A kitty for Watertiger

The "toyger."

Hee.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!

Okay, you have to click on the photo and check out the eyelashes. Is that not the funniest face evah?

Update: Oh dear, I forgot something, "Haaaalloooooooooooooooo!!"

Michael Jackson

Who knew that Michael Jackson was a horror film aficianado?

AHHHHHMMMMOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!!!!!

Michael Jackson May Erect 50 Ft. Jackobot in Vegas Desert.

Okay, another one

A cute one.

Daily Maddie

Sampson makes Maddie want to yak.

Artificial Distinction

Oh, for fuck's sake. Via TPM Muckracker, baby Rove-in-training Kyle Sampson is gonna opine on what "political" really means:.

Eight federal prosecutors were fired last year because they did not sufficiently support President Bush's priorities, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' former chief of staff says in remarks prepared for delivery Thursday to Congress.

"The distinction between 'political' and 'performance-related' reasons for removing a United States attorney is, in my view, largely artificial," said Kyle Sampson.

Well, in my opinion, the distinction between bushies and large, festering assholes is largely artificial.

Throw the bums out, and destroy the RNC before it destroys America. It's the only way to be sure.

Update: This is HIGH-LARIOUS. From the WAPO, in an editorial by Michael Waldman and Justin Levitt:

But the notion of widespread voter fraud, as these prosecutors found out, is itself a fraud. Firing a prosecutor for failing to find wide voter fraud is like firing a park ranger for failing to find Sasquatch.

Ouch.

(Michael Waldman is executive director and Justin Levitt is an attorney at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law)

Roly poly

A roly poly picture of Maddie from her first day home with me. Just because I likes it.

She's grown just a little, eh?

stretching

I want to go home and hang out with my kitten. Feh.

WW I kitten

From the World War I Document Archive: GWPDA. It's kind of sad, kittens should never have to go to war.

Update: edited for spelling errors. Sigh.

Wednesday kittenicity

I wish 4lgs would stay home and play with me.

Even more kitten

A sheep that is 15% HUMAN????? WHA?????????

Pretty picture of the Day

AFP/Roslan Rahman

I'm not sure what this is- something about a laser light show with music or something.

It's very pretty though.

More kitten

Halloooooooooooo!!!

R.I.P. Teddy

So sad, Scout Prime's kitty Teddy has passed away. RIP, sweet girl.

Why can't they live forever?

Your daily kitten

She's upside down. Always being a roly-poly.

And a little girly-girl. ("Why are you putting stuff on me again?")

Oh dear, Pony Blow

I really don't like the guy much, but I wouldn't wish this on anyone. Tests Show Snow's Cancer Has Returned Not to be negative, but when cancer spreads to your liver, you have a real fight on your hands.

Here's to hoping that he makes a full recovery.

Latest night kitten

Halloooooooooooo!!!

Naughty Maddie

She's getting a little frisky these days. We just almost had a kitten induced laptop keyboard malfunction.

Luckily, all is well.

Afternoon Maddie

It's a gloomy, rainy afternoon here. Maddie should be napping since there won't be any birdies to watch in the courtyard.

Knut Madness!!

What a little ham.

Happy Birthday GWPDA!!

A very happy birthday to our favorite historian, Auntie GWPDA. Maddie sends you her best purrrrrs and a slightly bedraggled feather on a stick.

Monday Morning Maddie

Playing makes me thirsty.

She loves her feather on a stick.

R.I.P. Petey

Watertiger's Mom's pup Petey has gone on to that great meadow in the sky.

Rest in peace sweetie. You were well loved and will be missed.

Sunday Madeleine

First I play.

Then I nap. Life is good.