Mars seen as large as the Moon

I received an e-mail from a friend a few days ago. It said that Mars is now 55,750,000 km from Earth and that it will soon be seen as large as the Moon.
This info has been around for a couple of years now and it is completely wrong, if that were the case it would be in the news. It is simple mathematics to get it right. The moon is roughly 400,000 km away from us and is 1/6 the Earth, whereas Mars is (as said there but no longer true, as it has moved to a greater distance now) 55,75 million km away from us and is almost half the size of the Earth.

If you divide the size of each, Moon diameter = 1/6 12,000 km = 2,000 km and Mars diameter = 1/2 12,000 km = 6,000 km, by their distance to Earth you get: Moon = 2,000 / 400,000 = 0.005 , Mars = 6,000 / 55,750,000 = 0.0001076 (12,000 km is the Earth's diameter).

So for the Moon = 0.005
For Mars = 0.0001076

So, 0.005 / 0.0001076 = 46 > it means the Moon is seen from Earth 46 times BIGGER than Mars at those distances. For Mars to be seen as big as the Moon it would have to come 46 times closer to Earth = 55,750,000 / 46 = 1,211,956 km , and I cannot tell you the amazing earthquakes and tsunamis we would have, plus climate disruption, etc, etc.

Dakar Rally Raid 2009

Now tell me, what is all this fuss about the Dakar in South America? I can't imagine what these crazy loones are doing running around in their bikes, quads, cars and trucks along dirt roads and off road areas of the pampas, Patagonia, Atacama and who knows where. Does the race end in Timbucktoo? I would like that answered please. Anyone? OK, but this race is more like the cartoon with all those crazy drivers, with Pierre Novoyuna and his faithful dog Patan. Anyway, between you and me, wouldn't you love to take part in it? At least watch it from above? In a helicopter, I mean. Of course if you have enough to throw away, at $2000 the hour. But with a whole hour's ride you can see a lot, mind you. Now they are in the Atacama desert, so I've read this morning. Huge dunes, some as high as 300 feet ! Wow, how do you climb such a dune. Or maybe it looks like a dune and it's a mountain covered in sand ! I think that is the best answer. Howerver, the cars and bikes might be able to traverse them, but will the trucks? If you want to know the answer just go to www.youtube.com/racesulike this guy has posted all the Stages up to now. In my blog you can find some info too: offroadbeat.blogspot.com. Hope they all make it safely to Timbucktoo. Cheers from the Atacama desert. Me.

'Tis Christmas

In view of how things are going these days, you would say that this is another sort of dull Christmas. Not so, at least for me. Whenever you get a chance to reflect on human nature you tend to ignore some facts that could in a certain way curb or bias your understanding. This in time can also lead you into temptation and if you are not prepared beforehand you can as well fall prey of who knows how many crack pots. Well, the story goes that I was about to tell you about some curious happenings in my neighborhood, but then I thought, will these people be really interested in this sort of thing or should I try and relate what happened a day or two before when my niece Vicky got expelled from her former-classmates club for not wearing the club's gloves as she entered the club (a terrible offense according to the club's statute). But then I decided to go back to my original plan and sail off to Antarctica this summer. As you know we are in the Southern Hemisphere, but no, wait... I'm not in Australia or New Zealand, I'm much nearer Antarctica than they are, poor devils they are almost as double away from the frozen continent than we are and believe me they feel frustrated each time they have to sail or boat off to the Antarctic. By the way, Santa is no longer in the Arctic, no sir... he's changed headquarters to the South Pole. You see, the North Pole is melting... no news there, but ... on top he had to deal with a myriad of santa-hunters that were pestering him night and day.

So... if you are trying to get something clean of all this ... keep trying because I am as lost as you in this word maze. Merry Christmas to you all.

Bear Attack

It happened at midnight, a strange noise came from the kitchen. I got up as fast as I could and ran barefoot with a hammer in my right hand. I could see the light was on. But who was there at 2 am? I live alone with my wife and children, she was not there that night because the company she works for had a convention in another city. The kids were at their grandmother's (my mother) in still another city on vacation. I had had two bad nights with nightmares and all and now this! As I approached the kitchen I suddenly saw a shadow... wow... it was a bear, those big brown ones. But how the heck had it got into the house. It was winter, no bears roam around my cabin in winter. Strange. He had not smelled me yet, but I could not count on that for long. I decided to grasp the door’s knob and lock it before the beast could react... but I slipped. Oh No! The bear was busy eating something out of the cellar and he growled as he turned around to face me. He was only a few feet from me. I was helpless there lying awkwardly on the floor and the hammer had slipped out of my hand as well. Good Lord. I was in trouble. If I did not react quickly I would be part of this bear's dinner. Luckily as the monster approached me ever so slowly he too slipped. It seems he had emptied a jar full of syrup and had spilled most of it on the floor. This gave me the chance to get up and run. I reached the living room and grabbed my Winchester, which I only use to shoot into the air to frighten the wolves and bears when I walk in the wild. I hate killing animals for fun, they have the right to live in the wilderness, we are the intruders there. But this was now a different case. Such an unexpected visitor. My wife would've had a fit, luckily I was on my own, or was I lucky in the end? Anyway, I ran outside, into the bitter cold snowy night, still barefoot I circled the house nearing the kitchen. I could see the smashed window where the bear had come in. Now he was no where to be seen. “He must've gone further into the house,” I thought. But a sudden heavy breathing behind my back gave me goose bumps and scared me to death. I turned around and shot one round. But there was nothing there. “How... “ I was puzzled. I could not make out what had happened. I ran again into the house and there it was, tearing at the furniture, destroying everything in its way. I loaded the riffle once again and made two shots not aiming at my visitor but at the ceiling. The beast instantly ran and crashed into one of the living room windows to get lost in the dark night. But still the breathing behind my back continued. I could almost feel the breath on my neck and the growling was terrifying. Good Heavens. What to do and how to get rid of this horrendous situation. Was it a ghost? Maybe. But I decided to check. Slowly I started turning around and to my surprise the kitchen light was out now. I had not turned it off. Someone else was there. But who? Someone who had led the bear into my house. My mind rushed through its memory files at the speed of light. Which enemies had I these days? I could only think of my mother-in-law, she hates me a lot. Why? I can’t tell for certain, but I guess it is because we live too near her and my wife seldom visits her. On top, trying to be nice to her, I am the only one who visits her quite often with the kids during the week after school, while my wife is still at the office. I am the opposite of all males these days, I stay at home working on my computer while my wife commutes to work everyday. Too much for me, I decided to live a more tranquil life, which my wife can’t stand, she needs the adrenaline of a sales person, nudging and nagging at her clients all day long almost 24/7 – she makes many calls on the weekends. So my old fashioned mother-in-law thinks I am to blame for her daughter not visiting her. Now the light went on again. I slowly approached the kitchen expecting another bear or so. But to my surprise there she was… my mother-in-law, of course. She was cleaning the mess that the bear had left. She looked and smiled at me as I entered the kitchen. The expression on my face and the looks of me must’ve made her smile, but now she was laughing, laughing her head off. She looked like a mad person laughing and laughing non-stop. I could not make out what was happening. It all seemed like a mad house, if you asked me. Suddenly she took out a Magnum 45 behind her back and pointed it right at me saying goodbye. “I’ll see yer in hell you bastard,” and shot three rounds at me none of which impacted on my body, instead the awful woman fell to the floor in a pool of blood with three shots in her head. My wife was standing in the door to the dining room with a smoking gun in her hands. My mother-in-law’s gun had not shot one single bullet, maybe it was rusted and did not work. That is in the end what the police told me later. My wife was taken in custody and I was left alone again repairing the broken windows. The bitter cold was now waging at my body, so I ducked myself into bed and woke up, Rio de Janeiro was looking beautiful this morning.

 

Happy Ever After

Hi, today is a perfect day... the sun is shinning ... there are no sunspots on the sun, according to NASA... so we are having a wonderful weather (cosmic weather, in fact). Here in my country the weather is too good, it should be rainning more often... yes you guessed ... we are having a terrible drought, but this is not the Sahara, no sir, this is the famous pampas with grain up to our necks, cows everywhere, sheep, pork, licking at our boots, sleeping in our bedrooms ! Wow... that was a few years ago... now... Well, lets talk of something else, shall we?

CFK and her consort of bullish advisors (not for being savvy guys but for being bullies !) have come to the conclusion that this country is entitled to save the world ! Yes sir ! We people of the southern hemisphere (note: I will never disclose which country I am living in, but you are clever enough to guess, I guess !) are so brilliant that the next century will have its north in the south ! And all thanks to CFK and her penguin husband. Yeah... they are both Patagonian and then some... but to save the world from there... better said from here to there, there is a greater distance than to the next sale at Macy's (let me know if I'm wrong).

Anyway, the world shall be saved by a bunch of gladiators storming into Wall Street and cashing on the bull in front of the building. These guys have been preparing themselves like Navy Seals only better... because, you know what? They are the ones the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, the Mossad, Interpol and all the security agencies combined have been looking for since who knows when... and mind you they are the best in town... yeah... because they know nothing about the countryside, they are city dwellers, city junkies, who can crack into anything, be that a PC, a Mac or a Big Mac (especially the last one). And these people are being hired by Mr Penguin (not the Batman one, or maybe I'm wrong,... never mind...). He is offering not just a salary or a payment for their services but a big stake of the cake (one of the 500 that Lady Diana Spencer did not even give a bite when she visited the Patagonian Welsh about 10 years ago. But that's another story).

In the mean time President Bush is laughing his head off after all those fulls in Congress voted his financial bailout. You know... we won't be better off with that... so start crying because when the storm rages in full you won't have timeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee......................

"NORA: Practice Makes Purr-fect"

See also Nora: The Sequel - Better than the original! 

Very funny video