Tri-State Hoops Preview

Michigan State returns everybody, including Kalin Lucas. Purdue returns everybody, including E'Twaun Moore. The Hoosiers loaded up. Ohio State, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois are all ranked. Louisville's returning backcourt has been to multiple Elite Eights. Calipari has brought the swagger back to Kentucky. As far as mid-majors, Butler is primed for a big season. Dayton, Xavier and Notre Dame are also hoping to be dancing. Note to Syracuse, Duke, Kansas or any other teams outside 150 miles that are Final Four-bound: there's still a good chance of hotel vacancy.

LXiX

69 has always been a special number for me. Not only is the § symbol a slight deviance from 69, it's also the shape of our (spiral) galaxy. It represents duelness, liquidated Karma, and the zodiac sign for Cancer. Some say its a symbol of Yin&Yang. Billy Madison lolz when Miss Veronica Vaughn asks the class to "turn to page 69", but I wont get into that. Apostle St. Peter, whom I was named after and was also the first Pope, died in 69 AD. Then there's The Summer of '69. Room temperature? 69°. When I was in 6th grade, REM's song "Star-69" was on the radio. There are 6.9 billion people on Earth. I was born at Community North off Interstate 69. I attended Skiles Test Elementary which is located precisely 1 block north of Indianapolis' address grid: 69 Block North, 69 Block East. Odd, right?

Using Google Maps, I put markers on all major landmarks of my life and then noticed a strong northeastern pattern. I mapped a straight line (called "Life Path") from Bloomington to the exact middle of this conglomerate of landmarks and discovered that I'm going to hell. Well, at least Purgatory, which is (wait for it...) 69 miles from Bloomington!

** Points of interest directly under this imaginary line: Indiana University, Victory Field, State Capitol building, Benjamin Harrison's Home, MLK Memorial Park, Indiana State Fairgrounds, Castleton Mall, Allisonville Rd, River Glen CC, Connor Prairie and Noblesville's Retail District (Hare Chevrolet & Kahlo Jeep) at SR-37/32/38. 

Tanker Explosion at I-69 Exit 0

ESO Discovers New Planets

The European Southern Observatory has announced the discovery of hundreds of exoplanets in our galaxy. The Geneva Convention created the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher, or HARPS, a mega-telescope located in Chile. The radial velocity method detects small 'wiggles' by stars, which give clues to existence of exoplanets' gravity. Dozens of these planets are known to exist in multiplanet systems and are over 5x larger than our Earth.

2012 - The End of Times?

At 11:11am on December 21, 2012 our planet will be another 13 Bak'tuns older (or 69k moons*), which you may have heard is the END of the WORLD. Actually it's just the end of the Mayan calender; the last 'birthday' was 3114 BC. Click those links to discover how exact Mayans were with star alignment and physical cycles...

But the most significant fact is that for the first time in 26,000 years (a Great Year) our Sun will pass through the galactic equator of the Milky Way, meaning a great source of energy could be disrupted.

Perhaps a solar flare will simply wipe out all our satellites? Maybe earthquakes, volcanic eruption, giant meteors and tidal flooding? (notice the black Prez... lame duck?)

If you think that's scary, try this on for size: a reverse in magnetic poles - that hasn't happened in 740,000 years (and we're overdue by 240,000 years) Your compass will point South instead of North? Check.

 Cataclysmicly devastating events? Check. Laws of physics will vanish? Well, we won't know until then (our magnets will get weaker gradually), but I'm hoping we pass through a Black Hole and we finally get new neighbors, because Mars is so annoying!

*Fun Fact: a moon cycle is a Tun-Uc, a 28-day cycle that breaks the moon into 4 phases that we call a "week". Booyah!