Love Child of a zebra and a donkey born

Continuing on the strange animal news, but this time more perplexing than sick...

Barbados is hailing the arrival of Alex the Zonkey. Alex was born on the Highland Ranch in the Carribean island nation of Barbados. He is the foal of a female zebra named Allison (pictured above with Alex) and a male donkey. The father is still unknown. Maybe he doesn't want to admit to the other donkeys that he mated with that striped freak from across the ranch ;-)

The other zebra on the ranch, George, was out of the picture at the time of conception, due to a long illness. Now that George is better, the love triange between George, Allison, and Allison's mystery donkey lover will heat up. Stay tuned.

Disturbing News of the Day

Okay this is just sick. On the local news here in Tucson this morning, there was a report of a 27-year old man who was arrested on charges of animal cruelty and public indecenecy. He is accused of raping a 6-month old Rottwieller/German Shepard mix, that later died from distemper and pnemonia. If convicted, he could get 3 years in prison.

I know there are some who would think being put in jail for a crime against a dog for three years to be excessive, but as this article points out, what if this guy "graduates" from molesting a puppy to molesting a child? Now, I'm not saying he deserves to go to jail just because he MIGHT hurt a child but if he gets convicted, I hope that he can get what ever help he needs so that the next time, it isn't a child.

Still, a very sick case....

Matt Drudge: Air America Radio and the Bush 'gunshots' skit

Matt Drudge has on his site a report about a skit on Air America Radio's Randi Rhodes Show. Apparently the skit was an a jab at the president's social security plan that included gunshots"

The announcer: "A spoiled child is telling us our Social Security isn't safe anymore, so he is going to fix it for us. Well, here's your answer, you ungrateful whelp: [audio sound of 4 gunshots being fired.] Just try it, you little bastard. [audio of gun being cocked]."

Air America Radio and Randi Rhodes have apologized, calling it "a lame attempt at humor". I can accept that, but still, have we sunk so low today that we would resort to threats, however it is presented, even in humor, to present our opinions in this manner. Sad. Very sad.

Just one more hour....

I recently purchased Knights of the Old Republic II for my XBox. This is an RPG that is based in the Star Wars universe several millenia before the events of the movies. I am usually not into games that are based on a movie franchise. I mean, I've watched the movie, why do I need to waste several hours trying to beat a game that is likely 10 times worse than the movie. So I avoided this game, despite the high praise it has received from various game review website. Well, on Saturday, I finally broke down and purchased the game used. Turns out it is a very good game. I am practially spending every waking moment since Saturday, when I am not working, in class, or doing homework that is, playing this game. I know...sad. But, I seem to be nearing the end of the game, so there is hope for me yet this week.

First Light

This is the first post of my new blog, Ionian Journal. As opposed to my other blog, Titan Today, which is basically a news and discussion site for outer planetary satellites, this blog is more of a sounding board for my own views, either on the overall news of the day or on events in my own life. So for the most part, this blog will probably not get nearly as many visitors as Titan Today. And I'm okay with that. However, there were times when I wanted to post something off-topic on the other blog but didn't want to for risk of alienating my current readers. So I have created this blog. If you don't want to hear another blogger talking about the latest events, don't come here. If you could care less about my life, don't come here. If you want to just read about Titan or Enceladus, visit my Titan Today site.

If you are still interested, I thank you for sticking around. I want to say this right off the bat. My politics tends to be on the...right side of the spectrum. I'm not very religious, so I don't spout off my religious views, though as readers of my Titan Today blog may remember, I did post one off-topic post on the death of Pope John Paul II so you know my religious affiliations. Regardless, I will most likely not veer to much into religion.

I am a Republican. Not many of us in the planetary science business, but we do exist. I do support President Bush though not blindedly so, as some of his critics would have people believe. I think he is a fairly intelligent man, not a genius, but certainly not the idiot that again, some of his critics would have you believe. Yes, he can be a bit...colloquial at times. I see this as a strength, an ability to speak to the everyday Joe and Jane, though some do see this as a weakness and consider it a sign of his supposed lack of intelligence.

In terms of my life, from my other blog, you know I work for the Cassini ISS team, processing images of Saturn's moon Titan. I am also a college student at the University of Arizona, majoring in Geosciences and minoring in History. I am in my third year, so I guess you could say I am in the home stretch. My life is general quiet, punctuated by periods of high stress centered around Titan flybys and tests/papers.