Another Personal Blog, Yo...

So early this morning, I texted Nancy to drive safely to work since a strong winter storm will be causing intense rain here in Southern California this weekend. An hour after I messaged her, Nancy texted back...wishing me a safe drive to work as well (despite the fact my work for today was canceled a few days earlier due to the predicted bad weather). And about a half hour after that, Nancy called me on my cellphone—wanting to share an update with me about this college course she wanted to drop because the teacher was an unprofessional douche. (We discussed this last week.) Well not only did Nancy drop the class today, but she told me that she was planning to report the teacher to the school (the college dean, to be exact) next week. I told Nancy to let me know what happens with this...hopefully she'll remember to do so.

Anyways, the gist of this entry is that Nancy once again took our friendship up a notch by striking a phone conversation with me for the very first time. Much as how me texting her last week ended up with us booking the same job together the following day (leading to some dude asking me if I was Nancy's husband), sending her a text this morning led to us finally talking on the phone since Nancy gave me her number last summer. Of course, today's call ended on an amusing note... Nancy told me that she arrived at work and (I think) bid me goodbye—despite the fact she never hung up her phone since I could hear her moving things around inside her car in the background. (I hung up first.) Don't know if Nancy actually said bye to me or to hang on, since she has a strong but beautiful accent when she talks (Nancy is Middle Eastern...don't know if I mentioned that before). Oh well. All I can say is, hopefully this won't be the first and only phone conversation that we have together. If our last two SMS (Short Message Service for the uninitiated) chats are any indication, something more awesome will take place the next time I text Nancy. Cross my fingers.


NASA / NOAA

Soooo Close to Pluto...

ABOVE: The green line marks the path traveled by the New Horizons spacecraft as of
9:00 AM, Pacific Standard Time, on February 27, 2014. It is 2.7 billion miles from Earth.
Click here to view the official webpage showing where New Horizons is in space.
(AU stands for Astronomical Units, in case you're wondering.)

New Horizons Reaches the Final 4 (AU) - Press Release

New Horizons sailed past another milepost today when the NASA spacecraft moved to within four astronomical units (AU) of Pluto – which is less than four times the distance between the Earth and the sun, or about 371 million miles (598 million kilometers).

"We're as close to the Pluto system now as Earth ever gets to Jupiter, a first for any spacecraft," says New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colo. "And hold on to your hat, it just gets more and more exciting from here."

Since launch on January 19, 2006, New Horizons has covered nearly 2.89 billion miles (4.62 billion kilometers). It makes a temporal connection with one NASA’s legendary deep-space explorers this summer when it crosses the orbit of Neptune on Aug. 25 — exactly 25 years after Voyager 2 made its historic flight past that giant planet. When New Horizons arrives at Pluto on July 14, 2015, it will have traveled farther than any spacecraft ever has to reconnoiter its prime target.

Source: New Horizons Website

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NASA

NEW HORIZONS Blog Entries Archive:

September 26, 2005
December 19, 2005
January 7, 2006
January 17, 2006
January 19, 2006
April 12, 2006
June 15, 2006
February 27, 2007
October 22, 2007
June 8, 2008
October 23, 2008
March 18, 2011
January 20, 2012
July 13, 2012
January 19, 2013
October 31, 2013
December 31, 2013
February 27, 2014

So How Many Of These Planets Are Controlled By The Galactic Empire?

NASA

NASA's Kepler Mission Announces a Planet Bonanza, 715 New Worlds (Press Release)

NASA's Kepler mission announced Wednesday the discovery of 715 new planets. These newly-verified worlds orbit 305 stars, revealing multiple-planet systems much like our own solar system.

Nearly 95 percent of these planets are smaller than Neptune, which is almost four times the size of Earth. This discovery marks a significant increase in the number of known small-sized planets more akin to Earth than previously identified exoplanets, which are planets outside our solar system.

"The Kepler team continues to amaze and excite us with their planet hunting results," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "That these new planets and solar systems look somewhat like our own, portends a great future when we have the James Webb Space Telescope in space to characterize the new worlds."

Since the discovery of the first planets outside our solar system roughly two decades ago, verification has been a laborious planet-by-planet process. Now, scientists have a statistical technique that can be applied to many planets at once when they are found in systems that harbor more than one planet around the same star.

To verify this bounty of planets, a research team co-led by Jack Lissauer, planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., analyzed stars with more than one potential planet, all of which were detected in the first two years of Kepler's observations -- May 2009 to March 2011.

The research team used a technique called verification by multiplicity, which relies in part on the logic of probability. Kepler observes 150,000 stars, and has found a few thousand of those to have planet candidates. If the candidates were randomly distributed among Kepler's stars, only a handful would have more than one planet candidate. However, Kepler observed hundreds of stars that have multiple planet candidates. Through a careful study of this sample, these 715 new planets were verified.

This method can be likened to the behavior we know of lions and lionesses. In our imaginary savannah, the lions are the Kepler stars and the lionesses are the planet candidates. The lionesses would sometimes be observed grouped together whereas lions tend to roam on their own. If you see two lions it could be a lion and a lioness or it could be two lions. But if more than two large felines are gathered, then it is very likely to be a lion and his pride. Thus, through multiplicity the lioness can be reliably identified in much the same way multiple planet candidates can be found around the same star.

"Four years ago, Kepler began a string of announcements of first hundreds, then thousands, of planet candidates --but they were only candidate worlds," said Lissauer. "We've now developed a process to verify multiple planet candidates in bulk to deliver planets wholesale, and have used it to unveil a veritable bonanza of new worlds."

These multiple-planet systems are fertile grounds for studying individual planets and the configuration of planetary neighborhoods. This provides clues to planet formation. Four of these new planets are less than 2.5 times the size of Earth and orbit in their sun's habitable zone, defined as the range of distance from a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet may be suitable for life-giving liquid water.

One of these new habitable zone planets, called Kepler-296f, orbits a star half the size and 5 percent as bright as our sun. Kepler-296f is twice the size of Earth, but scientists do not know whether the planet is a gaseous world, with a thick hydrogen-helium envelope, or it is a water world surrounded by a deep ocean.

"From this study we learn planets in these multi-systems are small and their orbits are flat and circular -- resembling pancakes -- not your classical view of an atom," said Jason Rowe, research scientist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., and co-leader of the research. "The more we explore the more we find familiar traces of ourselves amongst the stars that remind us of home."

This latest discovery brings the confirmed count of planets outside our solar system to nearly 1,700. As we continue to reach toward the stars, each discovery brings us one step closer to a more accurate understanding of our place in the galaxy.

Launched in March 2009, Kepler is the first NASA mission to find potentially habitable Earth-size planets. Discoveries include more than 3,600 planet candidates, of which 961 have been verified as bona-fide worlds.

The findings papers will be published March 10 in The Astrophysical Journal and are available for download at:

http://www.nasa.gov/ames/kepler/digital-press-kit-kepler-planet-bonanza

Ames is responsible for the Kepler mission concept, ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., managed Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo., developed the Kepler flight system and supports mission operations with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore archives, hosts and distributes Kepler science data. Kepler is NASA's 10th Discovery Mission and was funded by the agency's Science Mission Directorate.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA

U2's "Invisible"...

For those of you who didn't see the brief promo for this music video during the Denver Broncos' ass whuppin' in Super Bowl XLVIII, just thought I'd post the video here. This is such an awesome song... Didn't mind dealing with iTunes' stupid password system to download "Invisible" after it officially became available online earlier this month.



By the way, I pointed out in my previous Blog entry that I was going to mention the first gig that Nancy and I worked on together for this year. Well— This music video is it! Under extremely tight security, U2 performed this song in front of 1,500 extras over a 3-day period from January 8-10...inside an aircraft hangar at Santa Monica Airport in Southern California. Every time Bono appeared on set to shoot a take, the crowd broke out in applause and cheers—rightfully so—since he was a total badass as he strutted onto the stage. When the cameras weren't rolling, the assistant directors were very strict in having us not turn on those flashlights that you see being waved towards the end of the music video...since there were only so many spare batteries to hand out for 1,000-plus background actors in attendance. But as you can see from the music video, everything turned out all right—though I'm wondering if I could've actually spotted myself had the footage not been in black and white!



In regards to Nancy, we both worked on the first two days of the video shoot. The most memorable moments between us took place on this gig...since everyone's cellphones had to be left behind in our cars at crew parking, which meant that background actors (surprise, surprise) actually had to socialize with each other to kill time! In my case with Nancy, it meant playing card games back in holding and um, flirting while we were on set. ("Your shoes are hurting your feet, Nancy? Here— Let me massage 'em for ya...") Oh, and the paycheck that I got in the mail for this video a few weeks later was not too shabby, either.

Best Question of the Week...

"Are you her husband?" Yep, this is the inquiry that was asked of me when I worked with Nancy again yesterday. Thursday marked the second gig we worked together this year (the first gig just might be mentioned in the next entry), and as usual, Nancy and I got along really well (even though the day hit some rough spots when she constantly had to walk away because she kept getting phone calls...or our conversation was interrupted by a meddling co-worker who went out of her way to sit with us). So well, in fact, that the reason why Nancy and I worked together last night in the first place was because she wanted us to.

On Wednesday, Nancy and I had a nice little text conversation that started off with me telling her about a job assignment that starts next week and continues through early March. The conversation then went on to me finding out that she was currently taking classes at a college in Orange County (California), and then shifted to her asking me if I was working the following day (yesterday). Nancy said that she already submitted for the gig that we ended up working yesterday, while I told her I had the day off since I wasn't scheduled for anything (I use a booking service for my job), and that I was available to work today—err, Friday. Nancy then texted back with "Oh OK, I thought maybe we can try to book the same thing lol." And with that, I promptly called the agency that booked Thursday's assignment to submit myself as well. About an hour later, I was officially in position to see Nancy's beautiful face at work the next day.

It was about half an hour after I checked in at work on Thursday that Nancy showed up to say hi to me. She had a different call time from mine (Nancy arrived at 9:00 AM, I arrived at 11:30 AM), but it was clearly obvious that Nancy waited for me to show up since she was the only person from the 9 AM group to head back to the holding area where I was at. (We knew each other's call time through a taped message that we had to listen to on Wednesday night for our work details.) Nancy and I hugged and then sat next to each other, as usual, and the day continued with us talking about such things as a 5K run that she was planning to attend in Orange County this weekend...and whether or not she should drop one of her classes because the teacher was a shady douche. As mentioned in the first paragraph, our encounter hit rough spots when she had to walk out of the room (during lunch) to take a phone call by a college classmate to discuss whether or not she should drop the aforementioned course, and some lady who Nancy knew quickly wore out her welcome (at least with me) when she lingered at our spot for far too long after saying hi. Apart from this, the day was about to conclude on a memorable note. Time to get to the good part...

As the day was about to come to an end, Nancy and the rest of her 9 AM group were among the first people to finish work early. Nancy muttered "s**t" to herself after the supervisor entered the room to announce that her group could go home...which you think would be weird since Nancy was usually eager to head back to her car as soon as our assignments were finished. But seeing as how it was Nancy who was responsible for us making arrangements to be co-workers for the day, it's safe to say that she didn't want to leave if I had to stay behind. Nancy took time in packing her things before we parted ways, which would lead to another co-worker who Nancy knew walking up to us to ask the question that is proudly stated at the opening of this Blog entry.

Nancy was about to bid farewell to me when some African American guy walked up to us to say hi. Right before awkwardly asking Nancy if they could take a photo together since they "might not see each other again" (to paraphrase that dude), which Nancy promptly said no to, the guy turned to me and asked if I was her husband. Nancy and I both started to laugh...but in a good way. For those of you who watch the hit CBS TV show The Big Bang Theory, this moment was akin to a Season 1 episode (titled "The Luminous Fish Effect") where Sheldon Cooper's mom, Mary, visits him at his apartment in Pasadena, California. In one living room scene, Leonard and Penny are sitting nearby when Mary—who was chatting with Howard and Raj (Sheldon was holed up in his bedroom)—turns to Leonard and Penny and mentions that they look like a cute couple. Leonard and Penny laugh as they turn to look at each other...trying in vain to maintain that they're just neighbors. (I myself commented to that guy that Nancy and I were just "background buddies.") Mary then turns to Howard and asks him if she struck a chord with Sheldon's roommate and their beautiful next-door neighbor, to which Howard quickly responds with "Oh yea." This is how the moment definitely played out when I was asked that question.

Despite the fact that Nancy didn't really like that guy—since he's obese, apparently had bad B.O. and was annoying—I had to give him props for asking me if I was Nancy's spouse. (FYI, Nancy is actually engaged to another man...but let's overlook that as this entry would then completely make me look like a friggin' homewrecker.) This was the first time that an outside observer actually pointed out to Nancy and me that we could be a couple...which explains why everyone else at work (except people we know such as this dude and that annoying lady mentioned earlier) tended to leave us alone when we're together. Clearly, Nancy wasn't repulsed by the idea of me being her spouse...since she's the one from the very beginning of our friendship who was a bit more flirtatious than I was and would say things that kind of implied that she was sizing me up to see if I was marriage material. Nancy also showed that she wasn't taken aback at that question by having me walk with her out of the holding area so we could be alone before she gave me an emphatic hug. (Nancy didn't want that other guy to make up for his inability to get a photo with her by trying to embrace her as well.) Nancy then walked to the parking lot as I went back to the holding area—in a pretty good mood since today's encounter concluded on such a high note.

What I want to know is, how much did Nancy think about that question while she was driving home? Was she still moved by it? Or did she forget about that question the minute she entered her car and left? If not—did Nancy think about it this morning? As mentioned earlier in this entry, it was she who took the initiative to have us see each other in person (in fact, Wednesday's phone conversation was the first time Nancy and I used text messages to arrange to hang out together...even though it was hanging out at work and not on a date). So it's definitely not hard to believe that whatever compels Nancy to want to be around me was reinforced by an outsider's comment that we could one day be an item. And when the day comes that I have the financial resources to afford it, Nancy will have a nice diamond-studded engagement ring on her finger that I gave to her. One can only dream, right?

Quotes of the Day...

“I loved her but she didn't love me back. I tried my best but in the end she treated me like the rest. Now I'm here all alone wondering where I went wrong. Just dreaming what could have been if she was still around.”

-― Mahmoud El Hallab


“I always remember those little moments I had with you. They might not have meant anything to you but to me, memories like those are meant to forever last in my heart.”

-― Mahmoud El Hallab


“When you lose someone that means a lot to you, you lose a part of you.”

-― Mahmoud El Hallab


“I still remember the days you were here with me. We were so happy I didn't think it would ever end but now you're gone and you left me here all by myself. You moved on and forgot about me but I'm still here holding on to our memories, hoping someday you'll come back. I know eventually I'll have to move on and forget about you like you forgot about me but I just can't move on because I'm still in love with you.”

-― Mahmoud El Hallab


“I honestly can't take this anymore. I just can't stand it seeing you with him any longer. I tried to be strong, I tried to let you go but I guess I'm just fooling myself because baby I'm still in love with you.”

-― Mahmoud El Hallab


“In the end, every single moment with you was worth it.”

-― Mahmoud El Hallab

Robotech...

Just thought I'd post these cool images that I stumbled upon online of the VF-1 Valkyrie (a.k.a. Veritech) fighter...the F-14 Tomcat-type aircraft that can transform into a giant robot in the classic Japanese anime series Robotech. Supposedly, a live-action Robotech film is in development at Warner Bros.—though I'm hoping it'll stay truer to the classic 1980s cartoon than say, Michael Bay's take on Transformers (not that I'm complaining about Transformers...looking forward to Age of Extinction this June). Either the F-14 reference will remain intact for the Veritech fighters on the big screen, or they'll be updated to look like the F-35 Lightning II or the F-22 Raptor. I'm cool with either.

The Wilshire Grand Center...

With New York City's 1 World Trade Center (1 WTC) set to open to the public by the end of this year, another skyscraper whose construction to look forward to will only be located about 30 miles from where I live here in SoCal. Known as the Wilshire Grand Center, this tower will be 1,100-feet (340 meters) tall...much higher than the U.S. Bank Tower [which has a height of 1,018 feet (310 meters)], currently the tallest building in Los Angeles as well as west of the Mississippi River [the 1 WTC, by comparison, is the highest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere at 1,776-feet (541 meters) tall]. The Wilshire Grand Center just enjoyed the Guinness World Record-setting concrete pour of its foundation this weekend (it took 20 hours for 2,100 truckloads of cement to stream into the foundation, which required 21,200 cubic yards of concrete to fill the tower's base).


Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times

The Wilshire Grand Center will open in 2017...with this 73-story structure serving as a luxury hotel, retail center and office complex for Angelenos to visit and work at. That's cool.


Rios Clementi Hale Studios

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!

Here's an image to make your evening more pleasant and memorable... (I stumbled upon this on Facebook.)

The Road Traveled...

Just thought I'd post this cool photo taken by the Curiosity rover's navigation camera as she drove over a couple of Martian dunes known as the Dingo Gap last week. This image was shot on February 6, with the six-wheeled robot having driven a total of 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) across Gale Crater since arriving there in 2012. Curiosity continues to make her way towards her main science destination, Mount Sharp...which she should hopefully reach by the end of this year.


NASA / JPL - Caltech