Tuesday, November 10, 2020

A treat for you, two treats really, to while away the hours during the pandemic or lockdown or wherever you happen to find yourself

...because what else do we have to do besides sit around feeling sorry for ourselves?

Treat Number 1

People my age grew up thinking that our solar system had nine planets, but we had our hats handed to us a few years back when Pluto was downgraded, by those who ought to know, from planet status to dwarf planet status. Now we learn that another Planet 9 may be out there and why astronomers think so. Hint: It involves two more dwarf planets that have been discovered beyond Pluto, and one of them is called Biden. I'm serious. Why don't we ever hear about this stuff on the nightly news? Read all about 2012 VP113 and 2015 TG387 and Astronomical Units (AU) in the following fascinating article:

Beyond Pluto: The Hunt For Our Solar System's New Ninth Planet

Treat Number 2

Speaking of Planet 9, and now that you have had your mind expanded, here's one you cannot miss. Authors Harry Medved and Michael Medved said in their 1980 book The Golden Turkey Awards that the worst film ever made was a 1959 gem called Plan 9 From Outer Space. (Plan 9 has absolutely nothing to do with Planet 9; I just wanted to see if you were paying attention.) If you go to this page in Wikipedia you will be able to read all about Plan 9 From Outer Space as well as watch the entire movie (1 hr, 19 min, 7 sec).

After you have availed yourself of both treats, not only will you have learned the difference between Planet 9 and Plan 9, you will also have used up at least 1 hr, 19 min, 7 sec of your life that you will never get back.

I do not say wasted.

13 comments:

  1. I watched Plan 9 from Outer space years ago since my husband loves campy movies. That one is so bad, it's good!
    Have you ever watched Mystery Science theater 3000? They make fun of bad movies.

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    1. since I don’t like it when people talk during a movie showing, I never really cared for Mystery Science Theater 3000.

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  2. Michael Medved has a brother! He's the only conservative talk show host that I respect, but since I never hear him anymore, I assume that Foxians preferred the lies, insults and logical fallacies of hosts like Ingram and Rush.

    Maybe the planet Biden was so named because it was concluded that nothing in the solar system was worthy of being called Trump, although I personally would favor renaming the sun "The Donald," as in, "The Donald certainly rose beautifully this morning. If not for The Donald, I just don't know how we would manage."

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    1. as Michelle often says, hahahahaha. Since your first paragraph hinges on the word “assume” and your second paragraph hinges on the word “maybe”, the only thing you said that is incontrovertibly true is that Michael Medved has ( or had) a brother.

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  3. There are so many new discoveries in space and that could be why we don't hear about them more often. The more we advance in our equipment and ability to research our solar system and beyond in our galaxy the more there will be found. My feeling is that we have just touched on a small amount of what is actually out there. Infinity?

    My husband Tom is a big fan of campy, sci-fi movies and Plan 9 From Outer Space is one of his favorites. He even has the DVD of it and some of those other campy 1950's movies.

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    1. I think the reason we don’t hear about new discoveries in space is that the news reserves its limited amount of time for more important things like Kanye West’s concerts and Joy Behar’s daily outbursts.

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  4. Well I'm glad that you told me all that. It saved me using 1hr 18m and 4 sec that I might otherwise have wasted, sorry, lost.

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    1. you do not have an adventurous spirit, your many trips to New Zealand notwithstanding.

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    2. You have assessed my character perfectly.

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  5. If we have a planet named Biden Trump's head will explode.

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  6. since we already do have a dwarf planet (not a planet) called VP113 in the catalogue, its discoverers Sheppard and Trujillo in 2012 nicknamed it (not named it) Biden after the then Vice President because of the VP in the catalogue designation, we should all keep our eyes and ears open regarding any changes in Donald Trump’s head.

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  7. I was going to muse on the possibility of a hostile new planet coloured orange and shrouded in poisonous gases called - yes you guessed it - Planet Trump. However, I decided not to pursue this line of thought in case it riled you.

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    Replies
    1. how thoughtful of you not to pursue it although you did anyway.

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<b>Always true to you, darlin’, in my fashion</b>

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