I Must Join The Zombie Squad

This week I discovered a movie that I immediately fell in love with for many reasons. It is called Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead and in it the above organization defeats the below organization 65 years after the latter officially disbanded. This was possible due to a supernatural curse, of course. Anywho, go find it on Netflix and enjoy its cleverness and visual appeal. Watch trailer HERE. Also, be prepared to have your cultural sensitivities be offended. Note: this is a sequel to Dead Snow which I have yet to see but now must see. Also, the Zombie Squad does actually exist and predates these movies which use its name and logo with their blessing.

Spock's Pure Energy (R.I.P.)

I share this in memory of the late, great, Leonard Nimoy, who died yesterday and whose culturally iconic character Spock's voice is featured in a quirky chorus to this track by the 80's band Information Society.

Golden Golden Gate

"Rawlio" posted this on Instagram this evening showing a unique sunset at the end of today over the Bay Area.

Sith Lord Bonds With Stormtroopers

I first encountered this a couple of nights ago and fell in love with it immediately. If one is not familiar with the Star Wars movie franchise the humor of this will be lost on them.

The Overturning of Ice

Despite the fact this happened in 2008 I only became aware of this incident tonight.... amazing and a bit ominous when everything else that is going on is taken into account.

Something Happened

Big things are happening... something big happened today... maybe two... an important step was taken... maybe two... the course of events is dramatically changing the landscape of my life... either or both are good... time will tell... afterwards I also stumbled and fell... but by the grace of God go I.

Post-Apocalypse Engineering Flowchart

Lakes and Oceans Comparison

Primer On Space Weather

All The Space Ships Ever

I spotted this on Twitter tonight and could not resist sharing it... all the space ships from the canon of all the major science fiction franchises. Image courtesy of DeviantArt (all rights reserved).

American Disasterscape Maptoon

I have no idea who the creator of this is but I found it on Twitter at The NIB (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Poly Alien Spore Flower

I have no idea what type of flower this is that I noticed this afternoon for the first time near the Kennedy Library on the Cal Poly campus. I have never seen this species before. It comes in at least two varieties as evidenced here with an image of one flower from each plant which were growing near each other near the intersection of North Perimeter Road and University Drive.

I'm open to any counsel from my readers as to what this flower is called.
Both photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Oh That's Much Better...

From the pages of the Lexington Dispatch.... a village idiot in Kentucky comes out of the closet.
Image courtesy of the Washington Post (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Pillow Lava On Mountaintop

My hiking buddy Mike and I made it up to the top of Rinconada Trial on the spine of Santa Lucia Mountains this morning. Near the top of one small mountain are various outcroppings of exposed pillow lava deposits which formed on the Mid-Miocene ocean-bed off of the coast of what would later become California.
Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Church Lady Wins On Sunday

Dana Carvey's "Church Lady" wins the vote as best SNL character over the course of its' 40 years. Above are the seedings.

Picture of the Day - Valentine's Sunset

This was the sunset scene from Santa Margarita Ranch tonight at the wedding I worked.
Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Graphic of the Day - Valentine's Day Edition

Stan The Man Is Dead

This morning legendary KTLA-TV reporter Stan Chambers (above right) died of old age surrounded by his family: he was 91. Chambers started his reporting run through television and Southern California mayhem history with live coverage of the rescue of little Kathy Fiscus in 1949. From there on he reported on just about every major Southern California manifestation of mayhem which occurred up through the mid-2000's. I remember him most vividly for his reportage of myriad quakes and fires throughout the 1990's and into the 2000's. I missed him after his retirement and will continue to miss him following his passage into eternity. The image courtesy of KTLA-TV via Eric Spillman (all rights reserved) and shows Spillman and Chambers in the KTLA newsroom reporting live on the Northridge Earthquake the evening following.

Filament In The Firmament

A dark, snaking line across the lower half of the sun in this Feb. 10, 2015 image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows a filament of solar material hovering above the sun's surface. SDO shows colder material as dark and hotter material as light, so the line is, in fact, an enormous swatch of colder material hovering in the sun's atmosphere, the corona. Stretched out, that line – or solar filament as scientists call it – would be more than 533,000 miles long. That is longer than 67 Earths lined up in a row. Filaments can float sedately for days before disappearing. Sometimes they also erupt out into space, releasing solar material in a shower that either rains back down or escapes out into space, becoming a moving cloud known as a coronal mass ejection, or CME. SDO captured images of the filament in numerous wavelengths, each of which helps highlight material of different temperatures on the sun. By looking at such features in different wavelengths and temperatures, scientists learn more about what causes these structures, as well as what catalyzes their occasional eruptions. Image and caption courtesy of NASA (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Juvenile Delinquent Possum

Tonight this was the scene on my backyard fence tonight as this teenaged possum attempted to finish off the fast-food sandwiches in my backyard that my mom left for my dog today while I was at school. Needless to say, Tequila was rather vociferous in her opposition to this presence on her backyard fence.
Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

This Should Not Be In February

This was the scene last night as the 7,000-acre Round Fire raged in on the east side of California's Sierra Nevada in Inyo and Mono Counties. It occurred along the US395 corridor in the general vicinity of Mammoth Lakes, CA. Given the ongoing drought plus this area being in the rain shadow of the mountains combined with high winds due to the approach of the storm which arrived last night this fire rapidly spread across a dry landscape with interface issues and destroyed 40 homes and outbuildings.
Photo by Janet McDonald (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Parkhill Country

Today my buddy Mike and I and our dogs took another hike out at east Santa Margarita Lake off of River Road. And again like a week ago we ventured off of the familiar, beaten path and saw the eastern part of Santa Margarita Lake Park from a different perspective. I shot this image from a  hilltop perspective looking east toward just south of Black Mountain. Note the tectonically uplifted Miocene riverbottom deposits covered in chaparral so typical of the Parkhill Country in and around Santa Margarita Lake. Also note the clouds gathering as the big El Niño-esque "pineapple express" approached our region today. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Cavedigger

Death Of a Turboprop Airliner

Earlier this evening (PST) and sometime during the day tomorrow local time in Taipei, Taiwan, TransAsia Airways Flight 235 appears to have stalled out crashed shortly after take-off in Taipei. This is a breaking story so the statistics are not yet established aside from the fact there is a mix of living and dead passengers. Below is a most remarkable sequence of dash-cam videos of the crash from three different distances from it on the same expressway. This surreal sight harks back to this previous post HERE.

Her Hunt Is Over!

Stevie Beard found her prey who goes by the name of Brady Hogevoll. For more about the betrothed and this image check HERE. Photo by Joshua Rainey Photography (all rights reserved).

World Population Cartogram

I encountered this on Twitter this morning and found it rather fascinating. It was created by TeaDranks via Reddit. It shows the nations of the world relative to each other in population, NOT geographical area. For more about this read HERE.

My Top 10 Favorite 2015 Super Bowl Ads

Here is my top ten list of favorite Super Bowl advertisements for Super Bowl XLIX (49) which was played today. This year's installment is shown in relative descending order of prominence.Visit my selections for Super Bowl XLVII HERE and Super Bowl XLVIII HERE.
Note: to read more about these and other advertisements from this year's game go HERE.


Mophie "All-powerless"


Turbotax "Boston Tea-Party"


Kia Sorrento "The Perfect Getaway"


Skittles "Settle It"


Doritos "Middle Seat"


Fiat "Blue Pill"


Snickers "The Brady Bunch"


Avocados From Mexico "First Draft Ever"


Carnival Cruises "Come Back To The Sea"


Dodge "Wisdom"