Jaw Dropping Photos From Mars & THE Most Important PODcast You Might Ever Listen To

Self professed NASA geek that I am, since the advent of the computer I've watched and follow as many NASA missions as possible.
I was listening and watching when the Mars rovers 'Spirit' and 'Opportunity' left Earth and when they landed on Mars.
I was listening and watching when the Cassini/Huygens mission took off and arrived at Saturn and watched and listened with baited breath as the European Space Agency's 'Huygens' lander detached from the Cassini probe and made it's descent to the surface of Titan.

There's a ton more missions I was 'there' for.... A couple of missions my 'name' is onboard the craft as some missions allowed you to submit your name and it would ride with whatever mission it was to its destination and beyond. I had a certificate for one of them, but can't find it anymore..

When the Mars rovers 'Spirit' and 'Opportunity' landed on Mars I haunted that mission site for months, pouring over every photo made available, marveling at the Martian landscapes...

It has been a while since I caught up with those rovers, 'Spirit' sadly is dead in it's tracks having it's batteries drained because of all the Martian sand on it's solar panels... But one of the amazing thing about these rovers was that their mission times have been obliterated. Each rover was only supposed to 'work' for just a short while and ended up working, Spirit for 6 years and Opportunity had been going but since the last Mars wide dust storm, it's solar panels, which like past landers were 'mysteriously' cleaned off  by Martian 'dust devils' hasn't been so lucky this time.. and sadly as of yesterday has not been operational.

Curiosity was launched in 2011 and landed on Mars in 2012. It's been traveling around it's area on Mars pretty much proving that Mars HAD water and lots of it at one point. All of these rovers have been crucial at finding out what has happened in Mars' ancient past.

In December 2012, Curiosity's two-year mission was extended indefinitely. On August 5, 2017, NASA celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Curiosity rover landing and related exploratory accomplishments on the planet Mars. The rover is still operational, and as of January 29, 2019, Curiosity has been on Mars for 2304 sols (2367 total days) since landing on August 6, 2012.

The other night, I saw news that Curiosity had taken a 'selfie' and was now leaving it's current site at Vera Rubin ridge and was going to drive on to it's next target.

So after reading up on Curiosity's latest adventure, I decided to check out some of the images that NASA provides for the general public (and US tax payers) can see what these millions of dollars missions are up to...

The imagery from Curiosity has been OUTSTANDING... jaw dropping...  So, I am going to provide some links to photos that Curiosity has taken on Mars and the reason why I'm giving you links is because to truly appreciate the wonders of this ancient planet that once had vast amounts of water and MAYBE, maybe even life.

When these links load, if you mouse over or click on the photo, it'll zoom in and I hope, like myself, you will  be blown away by these Martian landscapes... I think there's NOTHING like it on Earth... Similar, sure, but this place is truly alien

This 360-degree mosaic from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover looks out over a portion of the Bagnold Dunes:
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia11241_reduced.jpg

This view from the Curiosity Mars rover's Mastcam shows a dark mound, called "Ireson Hill," which rises about 16 feet above redder layered outcrop material on lower Mount Sharp, Mars, near a location where Curiosity examined a linear sand dune in February 2017. [One of my favorites]
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia21718.jpg

The Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover captured this view of "Vera Rubin Ridge" about two weeks before the rover started ascending this steep ridge on lower Mount Sharp.
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia21851-fig1_1790mr009245_sitesphericalflt_wscale.jpg

To view more of these absolutely stunning photos from mars, go to the 'Curiosity' Image landing page:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/images/index.html
And click on any photo, which will take you to a page with the expanded photo BUT to see the image in stunning detail, below the notes on the image it says, 'View Image Feature', click on that link and it'll take you to a page with the photo with a write up beneath, if you click on THAT photo, it will expand to a zoomable view.
Enjoy!

Our Ancient Cataclysmic Filled Past!

And of course one of my other passions is our planets ancient history and what and who lived before the last ice age and during the time of the Younger Drias period (just after the last major ice age).
Two of the best people that you can listen to on this subject are Randall Carson, a geologist who has opened a HUGE can of worms by exploring MASSIVE ancient tidal wave flows that went from Canada and across the US... These are inland TIDAL WAVES... What causes these? Well, during the ice age, some glaciers would have upon them form lakes and over time these lakes wold grow and grow on and in these ice age glaciers, periodically these 'ice dams' would burst and send millions and millions of gallons of water cascading over the South US... It is also been hypothesized that large fragments of a meteor that they now KNOW smashed into the Greenland ice sheet, hit all over parts of the North American ice sheet and this caused massive melting that turned into ginormous inland tidal waves, the size of which is not even believable, unless you watch this podcast because they explain how this happened and what it did and what it left behind....
The crazy thing for me is, that as a child we traveled through these areas and I only can wish I knew then what I know now... Just amazing. So check out this Joe Rogan Podcast from 2017 with Graham Hancock (Author of Fingerprints of the Gods and Magicians of the Gods) and Randal Carlson... You WILL be blown away...
First some images:

This is called 'Dry Falls' in Washington State and was caused by MASSIVE ancient flows of water. It hard to imagine, but from the 'green pastures' to the ground in the forefront of the photo is a drop over 1000ft

Joe Rogan Podcast with Graham Hancock and Randall Carlson

Enjoy!

'The Book Of Man Ascension' & Some Personal Music News

I've been asked to do 'guest' vocals on two different band's forthcoming albums. I can't say who they are, well not that I 'can't'... but I won't.... We will leave it as a surprise.

To be honest. I think the Wasteland Zombies are done. I/we haven't announced it officially, but the band has not done anything since we played the 'Rock For Donnie' fundraiser.

I had thought, during the years hiatus we were on that it would be cool to do some 'guest' vocals, collaborations with other local artists. As everyone should know by now, my musical tastes are vast and varied and I'd be down to record with anyone... Except for Country, Reggae or Ska...

Although my body is pretty much unfit for live performances, there's no real reason why I can't lend my voice to any project. So, in the last couple of weeks, I've heard back about two projects that were mentioned to me some time ago and honestly, I thought they'd all been recorded and moved on without me, so to hear that the parts are still open and near ready for me to do my thing is really, exciting.

My good friend Brian O has released a video which captures, in part, the essence of what his forthcoming book is all about.

'Book of Man Ascension:

Exhibit 7 - The Book of Man ASCENSION from Brian O on Vimeo.

And be sure to head to Brian's blog and pre-order your copy of 'The Book of Man' today!!
https://brianonley.wordpress.com/book-orders/


It's cold as FUCK again... Tomorrow's high is not a 'high'....Wednesday looks nice... So i'm hibernating...

I have noticed in the mornings, the sound of song birds...I'm not sure if they've been about and I just didn't notice it, but I took it as a sign that Spring is close..... Not close enough...

The Hazards of Being Ugly

For years now, every once in a while, I'll wake up with blood on my face and usually a scratch somewhere on my face as well.

I've always said that this happens because I'm so ugly that when I'm sleeping at night, I'm subconsciously aware of my ugly face, so I try to scratch it off in my sleep.

The other morning I woke. Was getting ready for the day and went into my bathroom to wash up...
As I looked in the mirror, I was kinda stunned to see blood from the bottom of my left eye, right down my cheek to my moustache... I'd never seen that much blood on my face... I wish I had taken a photo of it, but I was all sleepy headed and just kinda mechanically had washed the blood off my face before the thought of a photo made it to my brain.

Ahhh the hazards of being ugly!

 Make Up Effects by Mike Fields on me or is it make up?

The 'Book of Man'

So a buddy of mine has had his first book published and is now taking pre-orders!

Brian0 is a buddy that hangs out in the virtual chats that I usually spend Friday and Saturday nights in.
We talk about science, astronomy, history, aliens, conspiracies, UFO's, World news all kinds of stuff...

Brian's been working on the 'Book of Man' project for years, it's pretty interesting material. A bit of an alternative view on the creation of our civilizations. A lot of it can be 'seen' in a series of videos he's produced on Vimeo. But, if ya really wanna learn some wicked ideas on our creation, I HIGHLY recommend you check the book out!

I can't describe really well what the book is exactly about. So let's take a page from the 'Book of Man's' introduction:

"So it is that the Book of Man contains a unique linear set of individual enigmas that directly pertain to the vast pinnacles considered unknowns that have driven solar humankind, their need for understanding for that which is decidedly unknown to them, and yet that which they also empirically refute since such is not ideologically pertinent. As we have seen over the eons historically, that which is not commonly accepted therefore does not exist – whether or not it in fact does. Such is Earth science, knowledge, history, and sadly – perceptual truth. The obscuring of such things similar to these very topics would be a natural predilection of those either too indignant to comprehend of such possibilities, or those whose efforts are solely directed towards actively suppressing such things. After all, if something is too far beyond the reaches of one person or group’s intellect, belief system, or mandate, it must therefore be made redundant."

If the above peeks your interest, please go to this link and pre-order your copy today! First 100 orders are hand autographed by Brian... Who knows, he might be the next Carl Sagan or Graham Hancock!

https://brianonley.wordpress.com/2019/01/12/book-ordering

Order your copy of \The Book of Man' today!

Wish Order Unbagging Par Deux - The 'Tallica Hoodie & Icelandia!|

Videos speak louder than text.. Especially if the volumes turned up!

AND, last night we had a 'storm'.. Guessing again that other parts of the Province got it way worse than us, but our power went off and on here 3 times last night. Only for an hour or two each time.

Today the temperature shot up to +7C.... And I feel like a punching bag filled with shit, but I ventured out to pick up some stuff I couldn't carry yesterday.

Stay tuned more shit coming

If some of ya's are wondering.."Whoa, shit, how's Chris buying all this stuff?" Well I had a bit of a money situation change... For the better... I haven't bought any real new clothes in years.. So, it's a bit of a catch up and for once in a long long time. I'm less stressed about my financial situation.. So, I'm kinda celebrating.

Wish Order Unbagging

YES! My NB ID arrived AND one of my Wish.com orders came! So exciting!

I was hoping they'd screw up my photo ID and give me my driver's license... But no such luck

I was talking to Nancy when I got the package and told her I got a 'Tentacle sweatshirt' and she read it as I got a 'testicle sweatshirt', which would have been pretty funny to wear! If anyone knows of any sweatshirts with testicles all over them, lemme know!

Monkey Madness!! Gibbon Schools Young Tigers

Courtesy of a friend of mine from New Zealand, that's NEW Zealand... Not our Zealand.. There's nothing new about our Zealand... Oh, except Cletus mighta got a new ATV!

WTF Happened This Morning???

Each morning at about 4:45a.m. I get up to take my anti inflammatory and my muscle relaxant with the intention of those medications being in my system for when I get up for the day. I think that makes sense.
I've been doing this regime for years,  there's maybe been a few times that I've fallen back to sleep but planning for that too,I have a back-up alarm,  just in case.

I don't know what the fuck happened this morning, I remember waking up, crawling over to shut off my alarm clock (Always put your alarm out of arms reach, then you HAVE to somewhat get up to shut it off!) and then getting up, going to the kitchen and taking my medications.
Then usually I'll go out for a puff and then come back in and read or check out the World news for a bit.   
This morning, after all that, I sat on my bed, checking some news sites, I glanced at the time on my phone and it said, 4:04a.m. ..... 4:04a.m.???? wtf? I turned and looked at my alarm clock and it also said 4:04a.m. That weird bit of panic and confusion welled up in my gut as I wondered, 'Was there a time change? No of course not,  power outage? No that couldn't be it either as my clocks would be reset when they came back on.'
Why the heck did I wake up an hour early and shut off my alarms when they hadn't even gone off yet?
Was freakin weird man! Still kinda confused about it. Maybe an abduction by aliens!

Speaking of 'aliens', I've stumbled across some hilarious videos debunking everything from 'Flat Earth' theory to 'Sly Demons'... Weirdos who think airplanes and helicopters are flying demons...

These videos are not for the easily offended.. So, if you're of a delicate nature.. PLEASE don't bother clicking on these... I don't make 'em, I just laugh at those who think the World is flat, that there's a 'hole' in the North and South poles that leads to some inner world of giants and faeries...

Ya'll can start with that one. The guy does a great series on 'Flat Earthers' called Flattards' Be sure to check 'em all out!

My stupid ID hasn't shown up yet, nor has any of my Wish.com orders.. Albeit, the Wish.com orders still have some weeks left on their forecast delivery date around the first week of February, I know I shouldn't go by Wish.coms 'tracking', but they all say, except one of my items, that they are in the country and left customs in British Columbia January 11th..... So that'd make one think they'd be here anytime... But who knows.

WARM! MILD temps tomorrow! W00t! I haven't left the house since like Friday!!!

My back hurts...

Storm Update:

We be in the freezin' rain portion of the show right now. I dunno, my Brother Scott on the Northside of the river, said that it was crazy, after the plow went by it was snow up to his waist... It ain't like that over here. I mean I was commenting to my neighbor Brad about how it wasn't as bad as they said it might be.
I haven't even taken any pix or vids... I mean, it was snowing now it's freezing rain lol... The wids are not THAT crazy that it's like white out conditions... It's definitely been a lot more intense than this.. I mean other storms...

My back is killin' me. I know that. Just been sitting here blastin' tunes, watching Elsa flip me off... Such a bitchy kitty.

If ya want, at around 7:31 PST, you can watch the Super Blood Wolf, Chicken Moon.... We can't see it here that's for certain and won't be seein no clear skies 'til who knows when.

How about some Happy Time Snowstorm Music, it's even a 'lyric video', so you all can sing along!

|Enjoy the weather, wherever you are...

Thar Be A Nor'Easter A Comin!

Check out this puppy!

Forecast of course has been changing all the time. Earlier it said something about a possibility of a minimum 20cm up to 60CM of snow...That's um.. 23inches! And a lot of rain, freezing rain.. They just keep on saying "very" windy.
Here's the latest from Environment Canada for the Fredericton area:

"Watches
3:46 PM AST Friday 18 January 2019
Winter storm watch in effect for:

Fredericton and Southern York County
An intense low pressure system will approach from the southwest Sunday night and will pass over or near the Bay of Fundy overnight Sunday and into early Monday. Snow will develop well ahead of the system and change through freezing rain and ice pellets to rain Sunday night across southern portions of the province, where there is also a threat for an extended period of freezing rain. Also, heavy rainfall is possible near the Fundy Coast Sunday night which could lead to localized flooding. Rainfall warnings for those areas may be required at a later time. Total snowfall amounts will range from 20 cm in the far south of the province to as much as 50 cm across northeastern regions. Additionally, strengthening easterly winds will give blowing snow Sunday afternoon and persisting through the night across central and northeastern areas."

So they've taken back the max snowfall amount and removed the rainfall totals completely. Sounds like more of a freezing rain event than anything. Also the "very high winds" has been changed to "strengthening" winds.

I went out today and got everything I was short on and would need... Except Pepsi... Ran out of carrying room.. So I MAY venture out into the OHHhhhh.. Lookit that, that's a nice surprise...

See tomorrow, Saturday the 18th is supposed to have a high of -23 with the winchill... -15 without... And Sunday was supposed to be ungodly cold until the storm hit as well, but now it's showing on Sunday a high of -4... So that's good. I can get out before things go sideways (allegedly) and get any last things I might need.
I'm prepared!

Thar's A Storm A Comin'!

SOUNDS, sounds like this could be a whopper! New from Environment Canada came this 'Special Weather Statement':
"3:51 PM AST Wednesday 16 January 2019
Special weather statement in effect for:

Fredericton and Southern York County
Winter Storm expected to bring major impacts to region Sunday and Sunday night.

A low pressure system will approach the region from the southwest on Sunday and track across the Maritimes as a large winter storm Sunday night. While it is difficult to give details this far in advance, all indications show a major snowfall event for areas north of the track of the low, a major rainfall event south of the track of the low, and significant amounts of snow, rain and potential for an extended freezing rain event near the track of the low. The precipitation will be accompanied by very strong east to northeast winds ahead of the low's track, shifting to very strong southerly winds south of its track.

Snowfall amounts north of the low's track of 30 cm or higher are possible. Rainfall amounts south of the track in excess of 50 mm are possible. At this time potential tracks of this system range from central New Brunswick to the Atlantic Coast of Nova Scotia. Because the track of the low will be critical in determining how much snow, rain or freezing rain any location will get, even a slight shift in its track will have major effects on the type and amount of precipitation received.

Details should become more clear over the next couple of days as the system gradually develops over the southern U.S."

Soooo looks like Friday and Saturday will be stock up with supplies day! 'Bout time we got a good wallop!
Freakin 'polar vortex' has us in it's icy grasp for the last few days.... Tonight's low is just about -30°C tonight!

Jeez, Temperatures Saturday and Sunday, with the windchills are like -20! That's the daytime HIGH! And Sunday too.. LOL SO. Looks like the plan will be on Friday, I'll have to ensure I've get everything I'll need to get through until like Tuesday or Wednesday! FUCK WINTER!!

How many days??? 44! 44 Days until Spring... I can do this... I know I can! Maybe I need to get some sand and a palm tree for my living room LOL..

Oh Speaking of hot sunny climes... Since like the Fall, NB Power, our Provincial power supplier was sending me these 'notices', they like compare your home to other homes in your area. Both those that are 'normal' homes and those that are optimized for Winter (They are doing all the 'right' things to keep their heating costs down)...
Usually I've been like below both.. I don't know how they can make these claims, for instance, my apartment is nothing like my neighbors place and still nothing like what the guys next door had... So how they can 'compare' when we all have such different domiciles... Anyhow.. THIS month, I was actually BETTER than both the optimized and the 'normal' homes haha and I didn't even do a fuckin thing... Hurray for me!

Buddle up fuckerz! It's gonna get frigid!

Un-Frikin-Believable!

After posting that last Blog. I began a search for my Birth Certificate, I was not in high hopes of finding it. I got paperwork everywhere for nearly everything... But as I pulled out a drawer, there they were! Both my long form certificate and the short form one!

So, I hummed and fumed for a couple minutes over trucking back downtown... It's fucking cold, it's fucking icy.... But fuckit! ha! 'But fuckit!,... I called a cab and went back downtown.

I was telling the cabbie on the way downtown about today's adventure and my surprise at the fact that SNB was void of people... I had NO hopes that would be the same when I got back there. NO way was it going to be empty. I had been there around Noon and MAYBE all the people were on lunch, like all the people who would show up to get whatever documents they needed or drivers tests.... I had lucked out... That was not going to happen again, but I prepared myself mentally for a long wait at SNB.

So I walked in from the doors off of Queen Street and as I walked it.... The place was EMPTY! It's a fucking Christmas miracle!

When I got the reception desk, I said to the lady, 'What the hell? There's no on.....' "SHHHHHHH" She says, laughing..." Yes, its been totally quiet today, so don't ruin it"... I zipped my mouth!

Got my photo done.. I have no idea how stupid I looked, but hey, that's what ID's are for, you get to show your friends how 'bad' or 'good' your ID pic is... Who knows how mine will turn out!

Got about a week wait for it in the mail. For some reason I think they did them right there now, but she said it would be about a week, they say two weeks, just to give a buffer.

So good! I'll have photo ID, next up, have to get my passport renewed. Not going anywhere until 2020, at least nothing planned.
I figured I HAD to get my NB ID done today. I have stuff coming from Wish.com and even though it's not supposed to show up until maybe the first week of February, ya never know with Wish. I did find my BC ID, it doesn't have of course this address on it, but it is photo ID. So hopefully IF something should show up and I miss the delivery at the door, I'll still be able to use some kind of ID and my utility bills to pick up the parcel..

Yay! Now I don't have to go anywhere... For maybe the week!

WAYYYY Too Good To be True

So, I don't have any photo ID. I had been using my passport, but, being the pessimist I am, it expired in December. 

In November or so I had gone to Service NB (the HQ where you can apply for all kinds of things, get your drivers lisence, pay fines, get NB ID's etc)

They'd given me this sheet of paper stating what documents one could use in order to secure a photo ID. It has a List 1: and a List 2:... Since my passport ran out, I had to refer to List 2: which stated that a couple utility bills or bank statements would do.

It's F'n cold out, but out of the days ahead, Wednesday is the only 'good' one. Today wasn't too bad, but it required dawning the space cold suit in order to survive the extreme temperatures outside.

I head downtown and head to Service NB. I even got cash out, because god knows, |I'd get in there and they'd be like, "Oh, sorry we don't do debit" -Which I'm sure they do, but ya never know....

Service NB is usually PACKED,. like a HUGE line, just to get to reception. I walk in and it's dead empty... And right then and there I knew that something would go wrong. There's NO way it was gonna be that easy... No lineups whatsoever for any of the cues....

I get to the counter and say, 'NB ID for me please' and he looks at my documents and asks if I've ever had one before. I tell him yes, I did, but I moved to BC in 1994 and had since lost that ID. So he look at my documentation and says, "Oh, well you don't have your birth certificate here"... And I say, 'Well the documentation you people provided says that I just need these two utility bills' and he replies, "That's only for an address change, for a new whole ID, you need a birth certificate too".... So that was it... Game over....

I wasn't gonna walk back home and then walk back there. So I'll go Wednesday and I'll bet you my left fucking testicle, the line up will be hours long and it'll be a whole day adventure...

Fuck I hate gov shit... It's never enough.

"Who Is That?"

So after a hard day of constructing the shelf unit and carting stuff around, I didn't feel like making supper and ordered a 'zza from Greco.
The place is right down the street, but at -22°C I ain't going NOWHERE!

The delivery guy is always the same dude. He's an older gentleman and he's gotta be at least 6'4 maybe 6'6... So I'm done paying and he says, "Who is that?" and points across my kitchen to the wall.

Now on this wall is a bunch of stuff, a white board with all my 'To Do' stuff and gig posters, a calendar, and this:

So, seeing as he asked, "Who is that?" I assumed that he meant the photo of Jessy And Peter Wyman, so I pointed at their photo and said, 'Who them?' and he, still pointing, says, "No, that"

So I'm gathering the 'Pushead' sculpture and lol I know this won't be an easy explanation, so I tell it like it is...

'That', I say, 'Is a sculpture by an artist named 'Pushead, he does a lot of artwork for bands like Metallica, Rush and others....'

The delivery guy just stares at it, turns his head and goes for the door... I burst out laughing and said,
'Hey, you asked'....

This is why I don't have a lot of guests over... I got a lot of weird shit!

How many of you have ever seen one of these?

That my friends is an Ithaqua (the Wind-Walker or the Wendigo) is a fictional character in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. The titular creature debuted in August Derleth's short story "Ithaqua", which was based on Algernon Blackwood's tale The Wendigo. It controls snow, ice and cold, and can walk through the sky as easily as it walks on earth.

I've always tried and liked to collect stuff other people don't have. Not to be 'cool', just because I like the strange, bizarre and shocking.
I dunno who you can blame for that... Though I've blamed Dad and Mom for the 'knick-knack' collecting, as both had loads of stuff all over the house, all kinds of curiosities and just stuff that kinda said who they were...
And as the legendary Dave Brockie once sang:

Too Much Stuff

A Big Change!

So, for Christmas, Scott and Andrea got me the Astronomy course at UNB this Spring AND a new bookshelf, which I really needed! I had run out of space for books a while ago and I got of course all my 'knick-knacks'.
So just after noon, Scott popped by and dropped off the bookshelf. I was an easy assembly (Larry, YOU don't say a word!!- Lisa, not your 'Larry')
And here's a photo of just after I had erected it (Hehehe hehehe uhhh huh huh huh I said 'erect')....

So what I had hoped for is that my vinyl would fit on the shelf and it did! I had really no place to put my vinyl, downstairs is too humid or cold and up here, well Elsa managed to get at them, because of how I had to store them and let's just say that she used her claws on the top corners of the album jackets.. This is nothing new for Elsa, she's been plotting, scheming and pulling off missions to destroy my collectibles and valuables for years.
NOT anymore!

The end result! All my music, well almost all, I do have a CD stand in the other corner of the room. but MOST of my music is all in one spot now. |Easily accessible to my stereo and turntable.
And still has room for more! At some point I may have to shuffle some stuff around, but this present totally did what I needed! So thanks again to Scott and Andrea for this present...
I got room for either my vinyl collection to expand (some 45 records) or my book collection.

Gord and Crystal got me the 'drone' that's caused a lot of laughter on the internet. In the Friday chat I usually attend last night, the guy who hosts it was laughing his ass off and he'd already watched it when I had uploaded it last week lol... So he posted it for all the group to see and laugh at... I'm gonna get some fishing line and take it outside.. I wanna see  how high that fucker will go and I want to take pix of it in the night sky, then submit it to the UFO nerds lol.. They'll shit kittens over that!
Gord and Crystal also got me this decanter, "I don't drink ... wine"....C'mon people! Dracula quote there!
But I put other liquid in it....

Kinda hard to see in the photo, but it's a zombie head you fill with your fav bevy. It's got a cork top to it. Super cool!
So, lol now almost a good couple weeks past Christmas I've finally settled back in and got my shit together... Actually gave two Christmas presents last night lol.. It's done!

So we're in the midst of a lovely 'Polar Vortex'... Super sub zero temps for days to come... Fuckin hate this shit... lol What? 49 days until Spring???
Goddamn it....

Have a great weekend folks!

OH! Super special Birthday shoutout to my Sister Lisa! Happy Birthday Lisa! Hope you had a special day and that Larry (Larry, not you in California 'Larry') is treating you like a queen today! If not he should be!! Tell him he better or your baby Brother's gonna kick his butt!!

Elsa Is NOT Impressed

Elsa is not impressed I'm wearing my cowboy hat..... WHAT????? Chris has a cowboy hat??? Why in the name of Satan's buttocks would he have a cowboy hat???

Ok, but you asked for it... You should know by now that any questions asked of me, usually have a story behind them...

In 1995? Maybe 1996... Toby, our boss at Lindala Make Up Effects in Vancouver, while on our hiatus from X-Files and Millennium took on a pilot for a kid's TV program in Edmonton, Alberta. It was called 'Why? TV' not to be confused with the Y/tv channel of the day.. This had a time traveling alien (which we designed, created and did the puppet work for), who had a huemahn passenger on his spaceship and they went all over the place 'answering questions'... 'Why this? Why that?'

For ya'll that don't know, Alberta is 'Wild Rose Country', oil, rodeo and redneck Province of Canuckia.

So Mike, Toby, Myself and our Newfie compatriot Roy Macgreggor all jetted to Edmonton, where we were received like royalty.
The studio we shot at was the former home of the legendary Canadian comedy show 'SCTV' where Eugene Levy, John Candy, Martin Short and Catherine O'hara made their careers in comedy blossom and mature before being whisked off to the US for bigger more lucrative jobs... But to film in the same studio they had, to walk those halls with all their photo's, larger than life, was really moving....

We got along great with most of the staff... MOST... But there were a few guys there that took exception to my long hair and made hushed comments and giggles about it...(which wasn't even half as long as it is now)... So after a few days of this bullshit from these immature redneck yolkals... We had gone to the World famous West Edmonton Mall, and there, I saw a leather shop, that made saddles, trenchcoats, leather jackets and... authentic, Alberta cowboy hats... So, I bought one! It's actually beaver pelt, not horse or cow leather... I wore it around the studio and the chitter chatter ceased....
I've rarely worn it... I was saying in our Saturday group chat the other night that there's just some thing's that short people like me can't pull off and those are, trenchcoats, cowboy boots and cowboy hats... You just end up looking like some sawed off runt lol...

So yeah! I gotta cowboy hat....

Wanna make somethin' of it? Bub!

And JESUS Christ Monkeyballs!!! ANOTHER John Garcia find!!! FUCK me! 2017, he released 'The Coyote Who Spoke In Tongues'... I saw it on my download list and it was a lot slower than the new album and the 2014 release... I saw the track list and noted it had a bunch of KYUSS songs on it, so A: I thought they might be live... Cool.. I guess or B: It was redone versions of these classic songs.

So of course The Wasteland Zombies was known to end all of our shows with KYUSS' 'Green Machine'... This album 'The Coyote Who Spoke In Tongues' has finished downloading... I'm listening to the tracks.. The first being an acoustic rendition of a song on his 2014 release and then this acoustic track starts.. It says it's 'Green Machine', but it don't sound like 'Green Machine' That song is heavy as FUCK, but this is acoustic and it IS 'Green Machine' and it fucking rules!! I sent Chris Galbraith an angry FB Messenger note demanding to know why he'd never told me about this album (I know in truth he'd probably had no more of an idea of it's existence than I did, but if I was gonna lay the blame, I might as well put it on another 'Chris')...

So glad I got these albums...lol Now i'm gonna have to get them on vinyl Damn it!
Check this shit out!

Snow, Earthquake and Album of 2019

Man, Yesterday, was supposed to be the 'snowstorm' day. Weather for today as far as I saw even to this morning was that the snow would stop "early this morning" and it was gonna be -4 with windchill down to -9... So, I dressed accordingly, which is like gearing up for a space walk.... It was snowing as I headed out and it has not stopped, the winds have picked up... It's almost as if yesterday's forecast happened today.... We got some disgustingly cold days coming this weekend. Highs of -11, so if there's winds you can bet it'll be down to -20 something... 50 days until Spring... It is getting lighter out, which is very nice to see, but we still have, well the rest of this month and February into late March until we might see some 'nicer' temperatures.... No trips South this year....

Woke up this morning to a message from Nancy about an earthquake that struck this morning just around the Saint John area. Crystal felt it, but my Brother Gordy didn't....

One of the things that thoroughly pisses me off about the internet is that people will read something outrageous and then not vet the story and take it as gospel.

A woman in the comments section of the CBC news website had this to say about "Earthquakes" in Atlantic Canada: "Fracking must be a cause as Atlantic Canada is not along a major plate boundary," LMAO I near spit out my drink... I posted that, that was the most ill-informed uneducated post I've seen in a decade or more... LOL...

She got that info from somewhere... and these are the kinds of things that are totally fucking up the World.. The whole flat earth "theory"... Which is absolute 100% bullshit... "We didn't land on the Moon".... "No satellites have ever left the planet, nor has any huemahn" and on and on... It disgusts me that people are so fucking lazy, when they read some absolutely asinine comment like these, they believe it and won't vet the story.... THAT's 'Fake News' And I believe it's very wrong to put this information out there.

So, the earthquake was a 3.7 quake at a dept of 10kim. Very shallow, so this is probably why some dishes rattled and rattled some nerves.. But according to our Natural Resources website, Atlantic Canada is not in a very unstable geologic area. At the MOST a quake might be a magnitude 5, which even at a shallow depth, MIGHT cause a bit of damage, but there's nothing crazy about the East coast here... This is what Natural Resources has to say about our region:

:"The continual shifting of large segments of the earth's crust, called tectonic plates, causes more than 97% of the world's earthquakes. Eastern Canada is located in a stable continental region within the North American Plate and, as a consequence, has a relatively low rate of earthquake activity. Nevertheless, large and damaging earthquakes have occurred here in the past and will inevitably occur in the future.

Rate of Activity
Each year, approximately 450 earthquakes occur in eastern Canada. Of this number, perhaps four will exceed magnitude 4, thirty will exceed magnitude 3, and about twenty-five events will be reported felt. A decade will, on average, include three events greater than magnitude 5. A magnitude 3 event is sufficiently strong to be felt in the immediate area, and a magnitude 5 event is generally the threshold of damage. The seismograph network of Earthquakes Canada can detect all events exceeding magnitude 3 in eastern Canada and all events magnitude 2.5 or greater in densely populated areas.":

So sleep well, we won't be slipping into the ocean any time soon.. Although... hehehehe (evil laugh)... On the Canary islands, there's a huge mountain/volcano and IF, part of that mountain slid away (which it is said is going to happen, someday), the tsunami generated from that slide would inundate our coastline... That's about the only thing... Or perhaps if something in Greenland or Iceland happened, but, Atlantic Canada is pretty boring for natural disasters....

I don't know what album could possibly come out in 2019 that is gonna beat John Garcia's album. I found a copy online and grabbed it (WHAT?? I fucking paid for the album and then some! I got the bundle, so I've at least paid for a fucking digital copy!)
And I've been listening to now only this new release but also John's self titled release from 2014.
I think I'd been so immersed in local Metal that I was just out of the loop a bit concerning other Metal... But it's not like John Garcia has been on my radar. After KYUSS broke up, you never heard much of anything about the guys in the band. Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri had gone and made Queens of the Stone Age,Brant Bjork, the drummer was doing some stuff but I didn't hear anything about John Garcia until the dud the KYUSS' reunions (minus Homme) in 2010 as 'Kyuss lives'... John's first solo album is fucking epic as well!
Check out this track from the self titled album released in 2014

Favorite track off of 'John Garcia & The Band Of Gold' has to be:

Stay warm peeps... and if you're warm and in the Sun.... Fuck you!

'Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica'

Woke up to a new single off of Behemoth's 'I Love Your At Your Darkest' album and as usual it does not disappoint.. Perpetually taking stabs at the catholick church, this video's visuals do not wane the ferocity  that Nergal lashes out at all things in christianity.

I'm still always floored by the budgets these videos get, of course I don't know how much those budgets are, but given the continuing rise of Behemoth's popularity and record sales of 'ILYAD' and 'The Satanist', money might not be such a worry to the boys from Poland these days or maybe Grupa 13 (the company that's been doing Behemoth's videos) gives them really awesome deals.

Behemoth's bassist 'Orion' commented on the song and video, ""BEHEMOTH legions! As this 'I Loved You At Your Darkest' adventure continues onwards, we want to share a new video with you!

"Since we began the writing process, 'Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica' was a stand-out contender to be featured as a single and music video. As the song evolved during rehearsal and recording, it gained this lively, furious vibe... which you hear now — thus it includes live performance elements which we've not done in quite some time."

Don't you DARE think for a moment I've abandoned John Garcia's LP already! It was the first thing I did when i got up today.. Power on the amp, drop the needle on the record.
You can check out the entire album yourself here:

This "storm" was a total bummer.. Even the "heavy snowfall warning" was rescinded! A little freezing rain going on now, and that's supposed to change back to rain, then more snow later... The most important thing is.. It's reasonably mild, which is totally 'ok' by me!

John's Arrived!!

W00t!

Ha! Courier dude probably wasn't interested in seeing me in just a towel, but hey, I didn't expect John to arrive until like Thursday!

The John Garcia & The Band Of Gold album is here! Think back a few weeks ago, just about a week before Christmas I had written about the lead singer from KYUSS, one of my most influential bands next to Iron Maiden and Faith No More.

I'm not sure if John writes all the music as well as singing, but the material is just kick ass! John's voice is like honey poured right into my ears and the riffs and hooks abound like Josh Homme, Scott Reeder (But Nick Oliveri was first) and Brant Bjork were all right there in the studio with Garcia.

Credits say that all music is by John Garcia, so there's my answer.. The man is a genius. You think back to the KYUSS albums and the absolute wonder of those songs... That these guys ended up breaking up just as they peaked, what they could've done if they had stayed together... I wonder...

Anyhow! Do yourself a favor... BUY this album! It won't disappoint! If you like the 'Stoner Rock' or the 'Desert Rock' or the Rock Rock, this album is for you!
I mean, not THIS album, like the one I own... Go get your own! Because mine's not coming off the turntable for a long long time!

I ordered the T-Shirt bundle!

The album cover graphic is on the back of the shirt

A 'storm' is coming.. Maybe, maybe up to 25cm of snow! I've been jonesing for chocolate cake, so after I meet with someone here at 1:30, I'm off to go get me sum!! I ain't had no chocolate cake since like the week before Xmas and the M&M's and Sour Patch Kids are just a whole other addiction altogether!!

So tomorrow, while the city digs itself out, I will be pigging myself out!

Myum!

Can't believe they have such tiny photo's of their best product!

Enjoy the snow and enjoy your day! Only 52 days left until Spring!

The Drone....

Words cannot describe;;;;:

The cats ok....

'Big Blue' On The Move & Buddy The Chipmunk

I've written before about the 'sea serpent' head in my living room.. It was an X-Files prop from the Season 3 episode called 'Quagmire' - Which is a totally suiting name for that episode... What's the definition of 'Quagmire'?

Definitions from the internet say this about the word;
quag·mire
/ˈkwaɡˌmī(ə)r/Submit
noun
a soft boggy area of land that gives way underfoot.
"torrential rain turned the building site into a quagmire"
synonyms: swamp, morass, bog, marsh, muskeg, mire, slough; archaicquag
"the field became a quagmire"
an awkward, complex, or hazardous situation.

'Big Green' aka 'Big Blue' from the X-Files Episode 'Quagmire'

Both suit that episode well. It was a fucking nightmare... I had nightmares two nights in a row after that shoot. On location for like 14/15hrs in the pouring rain... Directors, producers yelling in Mike and I's face... All over a prop gone horribly wrong... But not Mike and I's fault.. We were just there to be yelled at....
So when Toby was moving FX shops, he was tossing shitloads of old props and moulds ... I saw old 'Big Blue' as it's named in the episode heading for the bin and I snatched her.. him, .. it... And took it home where it's always been in my living rooms since... But I need to make room for a new book case unit that Scott and Andrea got me for Christmas, so 'Big Blue'... Who is actually green... Has been relegated to the basement.
Scott and Andrea also got me... An Astronomy course at UNB! Starting this Spring! We all know my love for all things in space and this course will give me a better understanding of operating my telescope and the 'heavens' above! Very excited for that!

Last night I had a dream, it was still Winter, but |I was out back in my yard and saw this darting brown flash and I thought, 'Is that Buddy? He shouldn't be out now, it's still Winter' But in the dream there wasn't as much snow as there and there was Buddy, he ran right up to me and sat in my hand... I didn't have any food for him, but he was just happy to see me... Hope the little fucker is doin alright.. 53 days left until Spring.... So, sometime after that I guess I'll find out how Buddy made out... If he's not dead.... If he is, well I'm sure another family of chipmunks will be around and they will take his place. But of course I am hoping he's alive and well...

Back home after house sitting Scott and Andrea's since Boxing day... I had spent Xmas with Gord, Crystal et all in SJ and on Boxing day had come back up to Fredericton, dumped my gear off here, packed what I needed for Scott and Andrea's and was off to their place.
Had a great stay there, Aura, their pup did alright with me, by the end we were besties, but at first of course she's a lil stand-offish of me. She's a rescue and must have been so tormented to end up this way, but, she has come a long way with everyone. She just needs to know that there are good people in her World. She's a great pup.

So, what's next? Got a couple meetings this week. I think Scott and Andrea will be dropping off the book case... Oh FUCK, that reminds me... So I get in here around 10ish last night... Elsa of course is happy to see me. As I'm unpacking she's zipping around the apartment and then... Not while I was away for near two weeks, but as I'm trying to sort myself and my stuff out... She knocks over ALL my CDs and vinyl..... Like WHAT THE FUCK cat!??? I know she didn't mean it, but still, why then ? lol...

New Years Resolutions!
- I resolve to have NO resolutions!

I'm pretty happy! All is well in my World for now.... Except.. the fucking Methotrexate, which I stopped for the holiday season... So, prepare for vomit!.. Or I should at least... We'll see, maybe my stomach will bear the shit better this time... I'm actually kinda hoping the methotrexate 'works' as I REALLY do not want to go on the 'biological' treatments... I know all these chemicals can 'help' me.. But at what cost?? If I'm barfing all the time, if I'm having to live in a bubble so that I don't get an infection (which can kill me, according to all the paperwork for ANY of these inflammatory medications)....
Anyhow, I'm hoping for a great 2019 and I hope that it all goes well for you my faithful friends and readers!

Long Lost Brothers

HAha! Had first seen this ad while I was shutting down the TV the other night... Volume was down low, so all I really saw was just the action lol... When the shark "Shoots out" his "Long lost brother's I near spit my pop out on the carpet haha

best advert I've seen in a while.

Well, here we are in 2019! Where's the flying cars? Teleport stations? Space hotels (Rob Bigelo had said in like 2006 he'd have one up there for 2010!)

I want my future and I want it now!! Damnit!

I got IT!

Muahahaha! I got it! I had called Chapters and they weren't too sure if I had what I was looking for.. Which is kinda dumb because all they had to do was punch it in the computer... They could order me a deluxe version coming out... But, I was downtown today and happened past 'Strange Adventures' a long lived comic emporium in Fredericton. Created by a good friend of mine and my Brother Gordy back in the late 1980's.
Haven't seen Cal in years, but he moved to Halifax where there's a sister store.

Anyhow, they had just wanted I wanted, the Marvel 'Infinite Gauntlet' graphic novel and it isn't like the movie, the comic series was much, much more elaborate, with more 'heroes' involved than the movie series has... But obviously you have to scale it down.

Crazy news today. A local eatery and pub, The King St. Ale House closed today. *snap* Like that "effective immediately" is what I was told the notice said. Crazy. Doug, the owner is (again) a good friend my older Brother Scott and Andrea. I mean, not close enough that Scott and Andrea knew anything about this happening... AND, another long time restaurant and drinking hole, McGuinness landing also is closed or closing.
I was talking to Mike at Tony's Music Box today and he was saying.. And I forgot that stores name, it's like a erm lol well off people's store, suits, high end cloth/fashion, Russel Simmons? Maybe...
Anyhow, Mike was saying that a big issue is the recent increase in percentage that business owners have to pay to 'Worksafe New Brunswick, the provincial workers comp entity... And that it's higher in New Brunswick THAN anywhere else in Canada (I believe he said), something like 400 Million a year?
Anyhow, whatever the price, the cost is high for downtown and on top of all that, places like Amazon et all, Walmart etc, have been killing town's and cities for more than a decade now (Obviously less the internet 'giants).
AND on top of that, rent downtown for business, small and large is ridiculous. The owner of a business who moved out of town last Summer was telling me that, not too long ago, when the downtowns were kinda having a rebirth and interest by citizens in shopping local, that at first the business were freakin coining it. Raking in cash... Well, the landlords/owners of the buildings they rent figured this out and.. Jacked the rents... but, never helped out when economy's began to teeter....

I did 90% of my Christmas shopping in our downtown.. And I ain't asking for a medal or a cookie, but it's convenient, it's not as ridiculous as the malls or 'outlet stores'... and I want to help. I love Fredericton's downtown, it's beautiful any time of year... Just too bad it seems we're being forced not to use it.

[EDIT]
And GODdamn it! The 2019 Quadrantids meteor shower peaks tonight AND of course it's overcast!

I did get to see some of the last meteor shower, finally, almost every celestial event in 2018 had overcast skies... But with any luck tomorrow night will be clear and I'll see the down ramping of the showers

Welcome to 2019!

Happy New Year folks!

Hope you all had a fantastic New Year.

2018 albeit a year without any personal incidents, it was an emotional one and the pain is always still with me.
But my pain is irrelevant. Many of us lost friends this year and family. This city was rocked by the worst shooting it had ever seen and through myself and my Brother's, I was connected to each of the victim's in some way.
I can't imagine what their lives are like. Especially with the scumbag who did it is in jail, warm, being fed.
The trial is yet to come... These families are forever changed and so are all the rest of their lives.

We'll hope that 2019 has no more and for that matter any forthcoming year will have no more incidents like that.

My heart still goes out to all the friends and families.

I did nothing last night, just watched movies, talked to friends and stayed up to see if the New Horizon spacecraft made it to it's next goal, Ultima Thule. WHICH it did... It, by NASA standards was a pretty lame moment. No pictures were coming in, no real data about the object, all it was going to be at 1:30AM or so was a "signal acquisition", meaning that the craft had orientated itself properly to send signal back to Earth and that it was received.

As New Horizon, whose primary mission had been to study Pluto and it's moons, sped by Ultima Thule, a space rock in the Kuiper belt, it took over 900 photos.
The REAL crazy thing is, Ultima Thule, this rock left over from the origins of our Solar System, they don't really know what it looks like. In the grand scheme of things, unlike MASSIVE planets this rock is only miles across and long, so being able to see it, where it's at in our Solar System so far from our Sun, it's very dark and it's not like New Horions brought along it's Jeep fog lamps (Although, had they known they would have been extending the mission and to be able to get this rare opportunity to whiz by a Kuiper Belt Object or KBOs for short, they might have better equipped New Horizons to really take a look at this ancient celestial object.

Data is coming down, but it will take some 20 months before we get the full 'picture' of Ultima Thule.

On Sunday, December 30th, Nancy Brown and I had organized a get together of our friends. We understand a lot of you couldn't make it, all good. We just wanted to get together, not a Christmassy thing, just friends, catching up, sharing laughs, hanging out.

Photo courtesy of Nancy Brown

I hope, 2019 will be a great year for everyone. I don't want to bring anyone down with the state of things around the World. But even though the World may, may be falling down around the globe, we can try to make our own little world a better place.
Be kind to each other, be thoughtful of each other, help one another. Don't drown yourself out with all this politically correct nonsense and just be yourself and if that's not good for people, well they can go find someone else to complain about and let them know so.

Just try to have a great year, live, love and laugh.