André Navarro

Why I Love Astronomy

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:18:00 -0300

Astronomy is one of my passions. I am deeply in love with space. It’s no wonder I’m writing a novel that is about space exploration and the mysteries of the universe.

So when I got back home tonight, I saw that an extremely bright object was standing out in the night sky, so I grabbed the telescope. I thought, by the strong luminosity, that it was Venus. I had been wanting to see Venus on the scope for a long time, never getting the proper chance. I fit the 25mm lens and looked through it.

It was definitely a planet. When I see stars through the scope, they never get bigger as I change lens, they just lose luminosity and become small dots, since they’re just too far away from lenses to make any difference. This planet got definitely bigger, and I could even see some stars behind it that weren’t visible to the naked eye.

I changed to the 12.5 mm lens and saw that those weren’t stars. They were too well-aligned around the planet to be stars.

Those were moons. But Venus doesn’t have any moons, just an asteroid that acts like one. And Mars has only two moons, Deimos and Phobos. This planet had FOUR perfectly visible moons, plus it was white-ish.

What white-ish planet has four visible moons?

Jupiter.

My inner astronomer immediately had multiple orgasms.

I changed to the 4mm lens. The moons were very visible now, and while Jupiter was still just a white dot, it was a BIG white dot — still too far for its luminosity to allow me to see its features, but goddamn it’s the biggest thing I’ve ever seen on my telescope except for the moon.

I tried taking a photograph. Failed horribly. The approximation was too close, I so much as brushed against the scope and the image shook like the camera in a Peter Berg film. In fact, Earth’s rotation kept making the bloody thing leave the viewfinder before I could set up the camera, and finding it again was a bitch. So I had to give up for now.

I didn’t know Jupiter could be seen this well with my telescope. I wonder how well I can see Venus or Mars, if I can see Jupiter. I don’t even know if it was Jupiter, to be sure — but four visible, large moons (out of its 63)? Has to be.

I fucking love astronomy.

Photo

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:33:13 -0300

"Saving Lives Just Part Of The Job"

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:21:41 -0300

Excellent article by Scott Ostler:

If you’re an ironworker on the Golden Gate Bridge and your home phone rings at 3 a.m., you know it’s trouble.

If you aren’t too late, if you climb out onto the cold steel and sweet-talk some poor lost soul off the beam or tower or manage to wrestle him or her to safety, it’s a good feeling. Many suicide attempts are impulsive; lives can be salvaged.

If you fail, if the person jumps into that bottomless fog, it ruins your day.

“There’s no describing how helpless you feel,” says Ken Hopper, a Golden Gate Bridge ironworker for 17 years.

These ironworkers are tough guys. Men of Steel, they’re called. Cowboys in the Sky. They fix and maintain the world’s most amazing Tinkertoy.

But what qualifies these blue-collar rivet-wrestlers to perform the delicate psychological task of suicide prevention? Just this: There’s nobody else.

“We’re the only ones dumb enough to do it,” Hopper says.

They’re the only ones with enough equipment, knowledge of the bridge and courage to go over the rail.

The suicide rescue duty is voluntary, but the bridge’s ironworkers all take their turns.

There’s almost no danger of falling, but it’s not a risk-free gig. One man pulled a knife on an ironworker. A loaded gun fell out of the pocket of another guy. An ironworker was bitten by a woman he pulled off the bridge.

But the iron cowboys answer the call, late at night or during their shift. At least two of them go out on every rescue. They give it their best shot, and the weird thing is that they wind up being pretty damn good at the psychological stuff.

Sometimes a police psychologist will be at the scene, coaching the ironworkers by radio. More often, the rescuers are on their own. I asked Hopper if the workers are given any suicide prevention training.

“Over the years, (suicide prevention experts) have come to give us seminars, ” he says. “They wind up asking us questions, because all they do is talk to these (suicidal people) on the phone. We deal with them face to face.”

Often a would-be jumper is locked into a private mental zone and the trick is to get his or her attention. Some tricks that have worked:

Hey, if you’re going to jump, at least give me your mom’s phone number so I can call her to tell her.

That’s a nice watch. If you’re going to jump, can I have it?

Sometimes the trick is simple compassion, the voice of a human who cares. Look, I’ve been through some real hard times myself. I know it’s possible to get help.

Hopper estimates he has talked or wrestled down about 30 people, and lost two.

Great percentage, but even so, it all caught up with him a few years ago. Hopper underwent a couple years of therapy, had his name removed from the rescue-call list.

“It wasn’t one incident,” he says, “it was a culmination. I tried to stuff ‘em all in this bag. The bag gets so big, it bursts.”

Hopper is a bear of a guy with a bushy mustache and a sensitive side. When he noticed that waterfront joggers have a ritual of touching the fence at the dead-end of the sidewalk next to Fort Point, he had the bridge’s sign painter make a sign with two handprints on it, and another sign with two dog paws, because one woman had her dog touch the fence.

So losses haunt him. Once Ken and two other ironworkers were clinging to one arm of a man hanging over the rail. The man grabbed another piece of bridge with his other arm, wrenched free and swung off another beam and into the world’s most popular suicide pit.

Another time, Hopper arrived at a rescue just in time to see a man fling his 2-year-old daughter off the bridge, then jump off himself.

It eats at Hopper when a talked-down suicide is taken into custody and then quickly released with little or no psychiatric observation. Hopper talked an 18-year-old City College student off the bridge, and she was taken away by police.

The next morning, while a press conference was being held at City Hall to announce a new bridge suicide-prevention program, the teenager walked back onto the bridge and jumped.

On occasion, the family of a jumper will later seek out the ironworkers involved in the attempted rescue. What happened? What were my son’s last words?

“You try to help them get some peace of mind,” Hopper says.

But what about peace of mind for the ironworkers? They almost never get info on what happens to the people they rescue.

Hopper says that’s a sore spot. No follow-up, no closure. You help save a life, you become involved in that life, you know?

“Once in a great while,” Hopper says, “one of the guys will get a letter or note from someone they talked down. I’ve known that to happen only two or three times. When a guy gets a letter like that, it’s a treasure; it’s like gold.”

Mostly, the ironworkers don’t talk or philosophize or complain about this aspect of their job. They don’t talk feelings. They’re tough guys.

As soon as Hopper completed his therapy, as soon as he felt like he had a handle, he put his name back on the call list for rescues.

Photo

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:02:50 -0300

(via digitalyn) One of my favorite quotes by George Carlin.

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 19:36:00 -0300

(via digitalyn)

One of my favorite quotes by George Carlin.

From my workblog.

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:15:24 -0300

From my workblog.

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:56:06 -0300

From my workblog.

Shit

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:44:00 -0300

TAOISM: Shit happens.

CONFUCIANISM: Confucius say, “Shit happens”.

ZEN: (What is the sound of shit happening?)

JESUITISM: If shit happens and when nobody is watching, is it really shit?

ISLAM: Shit happens if it is the will of Allah.

COMMUNISM: Equal shit happens to all people.

CATHOLICISM: Shit happens because you are bad.

PSYCHOANALYSIS: Shit happens because of your toilet training.

SCIENTOLOGY: Shit happens if you’re on our shit list.

ZOROASTRIANISM: Bad shit happens, and good shit happens.

UNITARIANISM: Maybe shit happens. Let’s have coffee and donuts.

RIGHT-WING PROTESTANTISM: Let this shit happen to someone else.

JUDAISM: Why does shit always happen to US?

REFORM JUDAISM: Got any Kaopectate?

MYSTICISM: What weird shit!

AGNOSTICISM: What is this shit?

ATHEISM: I don’t believe this shit!

NIHILISM: Who needs this shit?

AZTEC: Cut out this shit!

QUAKER: Let’s not fight over this shit.

FORTEANISM: No shit??

12-STEP: I am powerless to cut the shit.

VOODOO: Hey, that shit looks just like you!

NEWAGE: Visualize shit not happening.

DEISM: Shit just happens.

EXISTENTIALISM: Shit doesn’t happen; shit is.

SECULAR HUMANISM: Shit evolves.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE: Shit is in your mind.

BUDDHISM: Shit happens, but pay no mind.

SHINTOISM: Shit is everywhere.

HINDUISM: This shit has happened before.

WICCA: Mix this shit together and make it happen!

HASIDISM: Shit never happens the same way twice.

THEOSOPHY: You don’t know half of the shit that happens.

DIANETICS: Your mother gave you shit before your were born.

SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST: No shit on Saturdays.

JEHOVAH’s WITNESSES: No shit happens until Armageddon.

MOONIES: Only happy shit really happens.

HOPI: Corn fertilizer happens.

BAHA’I: It’s all the same shit.

STOICISM: This shit is good for me.

OBJECTIVISM: Our shit is good for you.

EST: If my shit bothers you, that’s your fault.

REAGANISM: Don’t move; the shit will trickle down.

FASCISM: Shit makes the trains run on time.

CARGO CULT: A barge will come and take all the shit away.

EMACS: Hold down Control-Meta-Shit.

DISCORDIANISM: Some funny shit happened to me today.

RASTAFARIANISM: Let’s smoke this shit.

CHARISMATIC: This is not shit and it doesn’t smell bad.

MASONIC: Shit happens, but we can’t discuss it during Lodge.

RED CROSS: Shit happens - send money.

(via this link)

Cervical Dilator (1800s)This instrument was used to dilate a...

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:35:00 -0300

Cervical Dilator (1800s)
This instrument was used to dilate a woman’s cervix during labor, with the amount of dilation measured on the scale by the handle. Such dilators fell out of favor because they often caused the cervix to tear.

Lovely, eh? Nineteen more vintage surgical tools here. Wait until you see the “Hemorrhoid Forceps”.

Photo

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:18:18 -0300

"I don’t even know how long she’s been gone. It’s like I’ve woken up in bed..."

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:14:04 -0300

“I don’t even know how long she’s been gone. It’s like I’ve woken up in bed and she’s not here… because she’s gone to the bathroom or something. But somehow, I know she’s never gonna come back to bed. If I could just… reach over and touch… her side of the bed, I would know that it was cold, but I can’t. I know I can’t have her back… but I don’t want to wake up in the morning, thinking she’s still here. I lie here not knowing… how long I’ve been alone. So how… how can I heal? How am I supposed to heal if I can’t… feel time?”

- Leonard Shelby (played by Guy Pearce) in “Memento”, written by Christopher Nolan based on Jonathan Nolan’s short story “Memento Mori”.

"I find you guilty, counselor! Guilty of betrayin’ your fellow man! Guilty of betrayin’..."

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:02:19 -0300

“I find you guilty, counselor! Guilty of betrayin’ your fellow man! Guilty of betrayin’ your country and abrogatin’ your oath! Guilty of judgin’ me and sellin’ me out! With the power vested in me by the kingdom of God, I sentence you to the Ninth Circle of Hell! Now you will learn about loss! Loss of freedom! Loss of humanity! Now you and I will truly be the same!”

- Max Cady (played by Robert De Niro) in “Cape Fear”, written by Wesley Strick based on the 1962 film written by James R. Webb and on John D. MacDonald’s novel “The Executioners”.

Photo

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:52:21 -0300

The oldest LOLcat of all time, from 1905. Remember that year...

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:57:07 -0300

The oldest LOLcat of all time, from 1905.

Remember that year — that’s when human evolution fell over and died.

(actually, I confess I have a huge soft spot for LOLcats.)

Hadn’t done one of these in a while. Time to start again.

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:45:38 -0300

Hadn’t done one of these in a while. Time to start again.

Photo

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:17:56 -0300

The Dark River To Antares.

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:09:32 -0300

The Dark River To Antares.

“The Old Boy”, track 16 from the Korean film...

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0300

“The Old Boy”, track 16 from the Korean film “Oldboy”, directed by Chan-Wook Park with music composed by Seung-hyun, Choi Yeong-wook and Ji-soo Lee (inspired by Vivaldi).

This soundtrack haunts me, because the original movie stayed in my head since the first time I saw it. It would be the best vengeance movie I’ve ever seen, if the director’s other two movies, “Sympathy For Lady Vengeance” and “Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance”, weren’t just as good.

Park’s Vengeance Trilogy can be watched in any order and is an absolute must-see for anyone with any interest in Cinema.

(I could’ve posted the fantastic one-take three minute fight sequence from “Oldboy”, which plays to this music, but the music alone is magnificent and deserves to be listened without any visual distraction)

Sex is for FAGS

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:52:31 -0300

Sex is for FAGS:

(hahahahahAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)

Things I Thought As People Visited My Apartment To See If They'll Buy It

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:40:00 -0300

Good morning! (you fucking sadists, ten in the fucking morning…)

This is the living room. Forgive our faces, we just woke up. (I think I am technically dead, in fact.)

This is my father. (Dad, why the fuck are you still in your pajamas?)

This is my bedroom, hence the mess. (Yes, lady, it is big. Good observation skills there.)

This is one of the bathrooms. (The flushing mechanism on this one sucks)

This is another bathroom. (The one that actually works)

This is a visitor’s bedroom. (Yes, it is pink. It was originally for my sister. And what if we LIKED pink? Cunts.)

This is the kitchen, with a maid’s bedroom and bathroom. (Jesus fuck, just take a look, stop walking like a tiger is going to jump at you from one of the doors.)

This is a small living room upstairs. (Where my father could have changed into proper clothes)

This is the terrace. (Please jump)

This is a completely new bathroom. (So small I’m always surprised I can take a shower there and come out with all my bones still in place)

This is my father’s bedroom. (It’s neater than he looks)

Goodbye! (TEN IN THE MOTHERFUCKING MORNING, YOU SADISTIC CUNTS)