For the next couple of weeks, I am re-releasing some old comics from a few years ago at the rate of one-a-day until July 1st.

1. Kansas. In 2008, I went to Kansas to visit my husband’s family.
2. The Sunflower State. I didn’t know what to expect. It was everything I had expected and more– including a tornado! Stay tuned.
3. What’s in Kansas? Kansas was a complete unknown to me.
4. Tornado Alley. I knew Kansas was famous for tornados, I just didn’t really expect to be in one.
5. Cawker City: Home to the World’s Largest Ball of Sisal Twine. The day started out, um, normally…
6. Rain Tornado. A rain tornado is one you can’t see, because of rain and darkness, until it hits you.
7. Tornado Shelter. The more doors you can put between yourself and the tornado, the better.
8. Tornado in Manhattan Kansas. It destroyed the True Value Hardware store. The K-State campus nuclear reactor wasn’t damaged.
9. Tornado in Chapman, Kansas. Everything you know can change in a matter of minutes.
10. Kansas Flip-flops. I found people from Kansas to be generous, practical and unpretentious.
11. Prairie Cathedrals. Parts of Kansas are so featureless that one often uses non-geographic landmarks for navigation.
12. Toilet Alley. Everyday life can sometimes seem rather dull.
13. Deja Vu. Everyday life can sometimes seem rather dull, without surprises.

They say the universe is endless. They say the universe is expanding. These are the same people that tell you “If you want to know how something works, follow the money.” I’m certain some genius has designed a spreadsheet to explain how this is possible.

Expressed in the usual variables of general relativity, it may appear that our usual space and time are disappearing. However, viewed with the proper variables, our usual space dimensions actually remain infinite and time runs continuously. The transition from big crunch to big bang is due, instead, to the collapse, bounce and re-expansion of one of the extra dimensions.
Quotation from Paul J. Steinhardt, The Endless Universe: Introduction to the Cyclic Universe

School is going well. Casual observation, however, suggests the universe is neither endless nor expanding. The universe is a box and I am trapped inside. In Excel, the spreadsheet software from Microsoft, this is called absolute cell referencing. It is the reason why Encore Seraphine updates have become as rare as refracted rings around a summer moon.

The end of the world is getting nearer and nearer, hurling towards us at over 25,000 miles an hour. The current assumption is there is a 10% chance per century of a dangerous, life destroying space object striking the earth.

Apophis is small by asteroid standards, perhaps 300 meters across, but it could hit with about 60,000 times the force of the Hiroshima bomb– enough to destroy an area the size of France.
Quotation from The Atlantic, The Sky is Falling by Gregg Easterbrook

If Apophis is a RETROGRADE rotator on the small, less-massive end of what is possible, the measurement uncertainty region will get pushed back such that the center of the distribution encounters the Earth’s orbit. This would result in an impact probability much higher than computed with the Standard Dynamical Model.
Quotation from U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Near Earth Object Program, Predicting Apophis’ Earth Encounters in 2029 and 2036.

Moon landing tapes got erased, NASA admits (Reuters)
Apollo 11: One Small Step (NASA)

The risk of collisional cascading is called Kessler’s Syndrome. When U.S. and Russian satellites collided in space this week, more than 600 bits of debris joined 18,000 other objects orbiting our planet. These artifacts, including rockets, satellites, bolts, screws, pieces of titanium and paint flecks, travel faster a bullet. They pose a danger to other space vehicles, including the International Space Station. Kessler’s Syndrome describes a situation where each collision causes more debris which causes more collisions, until it is unsafe for anything to orbit the earth.

Houston, We Have a Trash Problem (Wired Magazine)
Lottie Williams of Tulsa, Oklahoma reported that she was struck on the shoulder by space debris (Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies)

Space isn’t remote at all. It’s only an hour’s drive away if your car could go straight upwards.
Quotation from Sir Fred Hoyle

I wonder if astronauts can wish upon a star? Maybe they have special rules about wishing like “You can’t make a wish on Uranus because that belongs to the Russians” or “No wishing for a parallel universe.” In space, you have to be careful what you wish for. If you get that pony you’ve been wanting, where are you going to put it? And everytime it pees, do you have to drink it? Um, no thank you. I’ll have a diet coke please.

Lab animals on the [International Space Station] breath and urinate, too, and we plan to reclaim their waste products along with the crew’s.
Quotation from Layne Carter, Marshall Space Flight Center

Water on the Space Station (science.nasa.gov) Rationing and recycling will be an essential part of life on the International Space Station.

When Paris has to pee, Paris has to pee!
Quotation from Paris Hilton

The only rule is don’t be boring and dress cute wherever you go. Life is too short to blend in.
Another quotation from Paris Hilton