Groundhog Day 2012: Behind Phil's Immortal Allure
National Geographic - February 2, 2012
Now in its 126th year, the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney,
Pennsylvania, is still going strong and even attracting a growing overseas crowd.
Everybody talks about ... no one does a thing about it ... and now everyone has commented on the strangeness of the weather this winter in the northeast. It started with a blizzard in October, so we brace for the worst. To date, this is the mildest winter I can remember. It was so warm on Wednesday, people were out and about without jackets in the afternoon. Today is a quiet tranquil day in the city with more to come. Life gets stranger in the grid. So many unexplained things. Holograms can be very tricky and seems to be testing us at every turn.
Did you grow up with Soul Train? Don Cornelius' life and spirit definitely were part of my younger years, having danced on TV and just feeling a connection to the music and the stars that emerged from the scene, including Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin ... the list is long. Soul is music. Music is soul not matter what culture you were born into.
As news spread that "Soul Train" legend Don Cornelius died Wednesday morning of a gunshot wound at the age of 75, fans and friends took to Twitter to express their grief in a stream of condolences that continued Thursday. The "Soul Train" host would sign off the show with the words "Wishing you love, peace and soul" and many, including musician Rob Thomas and actor/rapper Ice Cube, honored Cornelius' memory by tweeting his trademark phrase.
It's about football, commercials, feeling connected, and in general having fun. Whether you're watching the game at home alone, with friends, in the stadium, or saying you're not part of it - the energy is out there and you will feel it. As Internet folks follow the news, you'll be part of something special on Sunday. I'm still going with the Giants. I've already seen some of the commercials and they are outstanding once again. Just have fun with it.
How about a space cloud?
We're Living in a Space Cloud Discovery - February 1, 2012
Our solar system is traveling slowly through an intergalactic cloud of gases that streamed in from from our galactic neighborhood. The new results also raise questions about where the solar system came from. Analysis of the interstellar gases collected by IBEX shows a shortage of oxygen, relative to the amount of neon. The local cloud is actually somewhat different in composition than the sun and the Milky Way as a whole.
Mysterious Blue Balls Fall from Sky in England Live Science - February 1, 2012
One clue as to the blue balls' identity can be found in the precise location they were found: only in the Hornsbys' garden. None were found on the roof, in other yards, or on nearby roads. Obviously if the strange stuff had fallen from the sky they would have been found on roofs and over a wider area.
Mysterious Blue Balls Fall in England Discovery - February 1, 2012
A man in Dorset, England, recently found about two dozen mysterious clear blue gel balls in his back yard, setting off an international mystery. Steve Hornsby claimed that the globules, each about an inch in diameter, fell into his garden during a brief rain shower last week. Though Hornsby didn't actually see the balls drop during the shower, he believes they were not in his garden before the storm (since his wife didn't mention seeing them). He found the odorless globules to be very slippery and difficult to pick up, requiring a spoon to collect them. Speculation about the strange substance has run rampant; Hornsby thought they might be created by air pollution that had somehow solidified. Some speculated they were fish eggs that had somehow been picked up and dropped during the storm by a passing flock of birds. Others thought they might be related to UFOs or extraterrestrials; at least one person wondered if angels might poop clear blue gel pellets. So whatever they are, they're not organic and therefore not eggs.
