http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy I am an astronomer, writer, and skeptic. I likes reality the way it is, and I aims to keep it that way. My real name is Phil Plait, and I run the Bad Astronomy blog. Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:14:52 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en ... is eternal vigilance. Yes, that's Canis Minor. Click to embiggen, and feel free to share it with others. Now I'm off to do what I do every July 4: read the Declaration of Independence. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/07/04/the-price-of-freedom/ Happy Fourth to my fellow countryhumans. Go out and be your own fireworks today. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/07/04/fire-works/ The other day while at the gym, the TV was showing CNN. I couldn't see the screen clearly, but the segment was about unusual clouds in New York... and how some people saw Michael Jackson's face in them. At the time I thought the segment was serious, but in fact ... http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/07/03/jackolonimbus/ I can rant and rail against homeopathy, how it's useless, how it's nothing more than water, how there is no real methodology or mechanics behind it, how it's been shown over and over not to have any efficacy over the placebo effect... ... but sometimes simple mockery is the best way ... http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/07/03/homeopathetic/ According to Discovery News, NASA has a "Plan B" program in case something happens with the Constellation program. It's an alternative way to get back to the Moon, and they made a video for it. There are some obvious advantages with taking Shuttle parts and using them in a new ... http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/07/03/nasas-plan-b/ What must aliens think of us when they pick up our TV signals? Abstruse Goose decided to figure it out: I wonder what Lrrr from Omicron Persei 8 would say? Tip o' the brain slug to David Woods. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/07/03/what-must-et-think-of-us/ A lot of books are coming out right now to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11. One of the best, called Voices from the Moon, is by my friends Andy Chaikin and Victoria Kohl. Andy is familiar to Apollonuts: he wrote A Man on the Moon, considered by many ... http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/07/02/voices-from-the-moon/