Weird Al

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Orionid meteor shower

It's that time of the year again. Can you see the stars at night?

Orionid Meteor Shower 2016: When, Where & How to See It

Some of the brightest and swiftest shooting stars will bedazzle the night sky this month during the Orionid meteor shower, which will peak Thursday and Friday and continue through early November.

NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke said the Orionid meteors are special because they are pieces of Comet 1P/Halley, commonly referred to as Halley's Comet. This famous comet swings by Earth once every 75 to 76 years, so most people will have a chance to see it only once in their lifetime. "But every year, you can see pieces of Halley's Comet during the Eta Aquarids [in May] and the Orionid meteor shower," Cooke said.

The Orionid meteor shower's intensity varies from year to year. This year, skywatchers can expect about 15 to 20 meteors per hour, but in some years, they have exceeded rates of 70 to 80 per hour, Cooke said. And while there may not be a lot of them in the sky this year, they're still worth checking out: Orionid meteors are known for being some of the fastest and brightest, sprinting across the sky at a relative speed of about 148,000 mph (238,000 km/h). "If you blink, you might miss them," Cooke said. 

When to see them

This year's Orionid meteors can already be seen; you have a chance to spot them any night from Oct. 2 to Nov. 7. But the best part of the show will happen between Oct. 20 and Oct. 21, during the meteor shower's peak. Early morning, before dawn, is the best time to look for the meteors, Cooke said.

Moonlight could make the meteors a bit difficult to spot. October's full "supermoon" will rise just a few days before the meteor shower's peak viewing times. Meteors will streak through the sky at a rate of up to 20 per hour this year, but skywatchers can expect to see closer to 15 meteors per hour with the moonlight obstructing the view.

"A good thing about the Orionids is that they tend to either have a double peak or a flat maximum, which means that you can see good Orionid rates for two to three nights," Cooke said. "So if you miss it one night, you can go out the next night and see them."

Where to look

Orionid meteors are visible from anywhere on Earth and can be seen anywhere across the sky. They appear to originate in the constellation Orion, close to the bright-red star Betelgeuse.

If you find the shape of Orion the Hunter, the meteor shower's radiant (or point of origin) will be near Orion's sword, slightly north of his left shoulder. But don't stare straight at this spot, Cooke said, "because meteors close to the radiant have short trails and are harder to see — so you want to look away from Orion."

What causes the Orionids?

The Orionid meteor shower happens every year during October and November, when Earth's orbit around the sun crosses paths with debris from Halley's Comet. As the icy comet makes its way around the sun, it leaves behind a little trail of comet crumbs.

These tiny comet fragments — some as small as a grain of sand — are called meteoroids. When they enter Earth's atmosphere, they become meteors. Friction from air resistance causes meteors to heat up, creating a bright, fiery trail commonly referred to as a shooting star. Most meteors disintegrate before making it to the ground. The few that do strike the Earth's surface are called meteorites. [How Often Do Meteorites Hit the Earth?]

How to get the best view

As is the case with most nighttime skywatching events, light pollution can hinder your view of the Orionid meteor shower. The best place to be is somewhere with a dark sky, away from major cities.

Cooke recommended lying flat on your back and looking straight up at the sky. This way, you'll be able to see more of the sky than you would if you were sitting or standing while facing just one direction.

Email Hanneke Weitering at hweitering@space.com or follow her@hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

EDITOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS

• Planets, Constellations and Orionid Meteors In Oct. 2016 Skywatching | Video
• Moon Phases and 3 Meteor Showers In Oct. 2016 - Where To Look | Skywatching Video
• How Meteor Showers Work (Infographic)
• Meteor Shower Quiz: How Well Do You Know 'Shooting Stars'?

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Rude to the Chumps

Occasionally I have to just bow down to the Rude Pundit.

Yeah, Sorry, But Fuck Donald Trump's Supporters (and the GOP)

by The Rude Pundit

One of the biggest goddamn insults in this entire campaign has actually been propagated by some on the left: that we should reach out to the supporters of Donald Trump - a racially homogenous group who are fairly diverse economically - and try to either convince them to vote Democratic or, at the very least, understand the forces that have made them so resentful. And while this bleeding heart liberal wants to make sure that the poor Trump supporters get all the welfare, job training, housing support, education, health care, and more that we can provide, I'm sure as shit not gonna worry about hurting the feelings of dumb, racist motherfuckers for one big-ass reason.

See, I've lived in many a red state. Three of the states where I've lived are still squarely in the Trump column. I know the assholes who are voting for him: stick-up-the-ass evangelicals, racist fucknuts, proudly stupid drunks, and craven schemers who think Trump is gonna make them rich by some kind of magic. You wanna spend your time trying to tell these freaks and fascists that the Democratic Party is looking out for them, well, have at it. Mostly, what you'll find out is how much they hate having a black man as president and the various ways you can go fuck yourself.

But I know a shit-ton of people down South and in the Midwest, working- and middle-class whites, most of whom never went to college, some not even graduating from high school, who think Donald Trump is a fucking hateful fraud, a showboating pissant, and a giant talking turd. When you try to "figure out" what drives Trump supporters and think that those of us who say, "Yeah, fuck them" are smug coast-clinging liberals, you are insulting the fuck out of the millions of people in Trump country who grew up in similar circumstances and decided that being racist, sexist, Islamophobic, anti-immigrant, and conspiracy-theory-loving jerk is wrong and work to make their area of the United States a little more tolerant and progressive.

The Trump voters not only reject that, but they are actively working to turn back the clock and harm large groups of Americans. And we're supposed to be sympathetic to yahoos who seriously think there is going to be a revolution? Just because they might be addicted to opioids and had a shitty time getting a job that paid as much as the one they lost because of the policies of George W. Bush and are sad that their "way of life" is fading? Get the fuck out of here. (And, again, see the first paragraph. They should get every help the government can provide them.)

A couple of days ago, the Republican Party's office in Orange County, North Carolina, was firebombed by an unknown assailant who was incredibly clear and articulate in the graffiti left on a nearby building. A GoFundMe page was started by a Democrat in Boston to help provide money to rebuild the office, and over $13,000 was raised in a day or so. I totally get it: let's show them how we're good people. Let's take the high road and condemn violence (even though we don't know yet who did this and why). And if you wanna spend your money on that, have at it.

But all I can think about is that it's the fuckin' North Carolina GOP, the HB2-lovin' motherfuckers. The gerrymandering, vote-blocking North Carolina GOP. Yeah, sorry, what happened sucks and it's great that no one was hurt, but if my money might help you support Trump or even Senator Richard Burr, I'd rather just give my cash to the homeless guy on my corner who keeps bugging me for change to buy cigarettes.

Why all this hate, huh? Why can't I just be a nice, empathetic liberal? Because we're no longer dealing with anything approaching a rational opponent. Today, John McCain said in an interview that Republicans in the Senate would block any Supreme Court nominee from a President Hillary Clinton. "I promise you that we will be united against any Supreme Court nominee that Hillary Clinton, if she were president, would put up," McCain really did say. 

So we're facing a party that is trying to prevent people from voting, with a nominee that is actively inciting people to possible violence in order to undermine the very democracy that got him this goddamn far, and has elected officials who have made it their jobs to simply undo the will of the majority of Americans. I ain't playing nice with shitheels and ratfuckers, and I won't abide pompous blowhards and the fools who follow them.

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Charles Blow

Rather strange last name, but I guess it's good that his first name isn't Richard. 

Charles Blow has been writing some great stuff lately, and with a field as rich as Donald Trump, it really shouldn't be too hard. For the professionals, that is.

Donald Trump, the Worst of America

by Charles Blow, New York Times

Donald Trump has virtually stopped trying to win this election by any conventional metric and is instead stacking logs of grievance on the funeral pyre with the great anticipation of setting it ablaze if current polls turn out to be predictive.

There is something calamitous in the air that surrounds the campaign, a hostile fatalism that bespeaks a man convinced that the end is near and aiming his anger at all within reach.

As his path to victory grows narrower, his desperation grows more pronounced.

Last week a steady stream of women stepped forward to accuse Trump of some form of sexual assault, abuse or inappropriate behavior. Trump’s response has been marked by a stunning lack of grace and dignity, let alone contrition or empathy, a response much like the man himself.

Instead, he is doubling down on sexism

On Thursday, Trump said of the People magazine reporter who accused him of forcibly kissing her: “Look at her. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I don’t think so.”

He said on Friday of the woman accusing him of groping her on an airplane: “Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you.”

He also said of Clinton, “When she walked in front of me, believe me, I wasn’t impressed.”

His response to these charges has been surprisingly — and perhaps, revealingly — callow. He has mocked, whined, chided, bemoaned and belittled. It’s as if the man is on a mission to demonstrate to voters the staggering magnitude of his social vulgarity and emotional ineptitude. He has dispensed with all semblances of wanting to appear presidential and embraced what seems to be most natural to him: acting like a pig

Furthermore, everything is rigged against him, from the media to the election itself. He’s threatening to sue The New York Times. He says he and Clinton should take a drug test before the next debate.

These are the ravings of a lunatic.

Trump is back to carelessly shooting off his mouth and recklessly shooting himself in the foot.

It is sad, really, but for him I have no sympathy. He has spent this entire election attacking anyone and everyone whom he felt it would be politically advantageous to attack. Trump, now that you’re under attack, you want to cry woe-is-me and have people commiserate. Slim chance, big guy.

The coarseness of your character has been put on full display, and now the electorate has come to cash the check you wrote.

Trump now looks like a madman from Mad Men, a throwback to when his particular privileges had more perks and were considered less repugnant. He looks pathetic.

He is a ball of contradictions that together form a bully, a man who has built a menacing wall around the hollow of his self. He is brash to mask his fragility.

But in a way, Trump was authentically made in America.

America has a habit of romanticizing the playboy as much as the cowboy, but there is often something untoward about the playboy, unseemly, predatory and broken.

For years, Trump built a reputation on shuffling through women, treating his exploits with jocularity and having too much of America smiling in amusement at the bad boy antics.

But he’s not a kid; he’s a cad.

And he seems constitutionally incapable of processing the idea that wealth is not completely immunizing, that some rules are universally applicable, that common decency is required of more than just “common” folks. He seems genuinely offended that he should be held to the same standards of truth, decorum and even law as those less well off.

Trump is in fact the logical extension of toxic masculinity and ambient misogyny. He is the logical extension of rampant racism. He is the logical extension of wealth worship. He is the logical extension of pervasive anti-intellectualism.

Trump is the logical extension of the worst of America.

With him you get a man who believes himself superior in every way: through the gift of fortune and the happenstance of chromosomes. He believes the rules simply don’t apply. Not rules that govern the sovereignty of another’s body, not rules that dictate decorousness.

And the Republican Party was just the right place for him to park himself.

When you have a political party that takes as its mission to prevent government from working instead of to make government work, a party that conflates the ill effects of a changing economy with the changing complexion of the country and is still struck by fever over the election of President Obama, Trump is a natural, predictable endpoint.

Furthermore, Trump is what happens when you wear your Christian conservative values like a cardigan to conveniently slip off when the heat rises.

Trump is fundamentally altering American politics — coarsening them, corrupting them, cratering them. And America, particularly conservative America, has only itself to blame.

Republicans sowed intolerance and in its shadow, Trump sprang up like toxic fungi.

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adopt a pet

When we get down south to South Padre Island, we'll be getting a (at least one) dog. This one will be from a shelter, most likely from the Friends of Animal Rescue on the island.

Incredible Face on Pup Who Was Just Adopted Shows What it Means to Adopt Not Shop

If you’ve ever adopted a furry family member from a shelter, then you understand how easy it is to love your new animal companion like they’re your very own human child — and you know how quickly they fall in love with you. And if you’ve ever adopted a dog, chances are that you can recall the unbridled enthusiasm your new canine companion expressed at getting to leave the shelter and start their new life with a complete stranger.

That immediate sense of unconditional love and trust can’t be matched. This photo of Imgur user JackScagnetti1 and their new puppy on the ride home perfectly captures that feeling. Even though the photo of this handsome pup and his new guardian was snapped not long after the adoption took place, there’s no mistaking the expression of love in his eyes.

This lucky puppy will get to spend the rest of his life in his new forever home, and it’s allthanks to adoption. As much as we love cats and dogs in the United States, the sad fact is that every year, a staggering

As much as we love cats and dogs in the United States, the sad fact is that every year, a staggering 70 million stray cats and dogs live their life in the streets, some of them never knowing what it means to be cared for by a human who loves them. 2.7 million pets in shelters are euthanized due to overcrowding — a number that we can help reduce by always adopting new animal companions into our family rather than choosing to purchase from a breeder. Along with spaying and neutering our cats and dogs, we can help control the pet overpopulation and move towards a future where all cats and dogs find their guardian.

Just one look at this pup will show you why it is so important to adopt and not shop! As they say, saving one dog might not change the world, but surely for that one dog, the world will change forever.

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mega-storm!

Yikes! Hey, West Coast of the US. Watch the fuck out! There is a monster storm headed your way. Wow, a hurricane hitting the West Coast. And you thought all you had to deal with was earthquakes and fires.

Mega-storm packing 150 mph winds and 50-foot waves set to pummel West Coast

Packing 150 mph sustained winds, a storm some meteorologists are calling the “biggest storm in history” will hit coastal regions of the U.S. this Saturday, generating 45-foot waves, and dumping multiple feet of rainfall across an area including three states and two countries.

While the nation’s media — even in the areas set to be hit by the approaching storm — continue to focus on Hurricanes Matthew and Nicole, a more powerful storm is headed for the Pacific Northwest with hurricane force winds cutting a 100 mile swath through the coast of Oregon and Washington.

The National Weather Service issued an extraordinary storm alert yesterday, warning against a. “worst case scenario, historical windstorm…that would be long remembered,” the alert stated. At that time, forecasters pegged the odds of the “worst-case scenario” landfall at 1 in 3. They’ve since darkened the outlook, saying the odds of a catastrophic outcome are 50–50.

So where did this all come from? A geographic area that — through the oddities of weather nomenclature — doesn’t produce easily-marketed “named” storms a la Matthew and Nicole. But the net effects are the same.

The remnant of Typhoon Songa has refocused into an unprecedented weather system comparable only to Seattle’s 1962 Columbus Day Storm, which killed 46 people with 150 mph winds and coastal flooding.

The 1962 storm leveled thousands of buildings from California to Canada and killed nearly 50.

On Tuesday, the NWS pointed out that the population and building density of the area has tripled since 1962, raising questions about the risk area residents face as the storm approaches — and whether anyone knows the storm is coming.

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