Alex Miller, Author at Alex's Asteroid Astrology - Page 2 of 107

November 10th, 2024 at 09:06am by Alex Miller

Asteroid Sleuth: The Case of the Cross-Country Cat

After the recent political developments in the US, couldn’t we all use a nice, feel-good story? Such is the tale of Rayne Beau (pronounced “rainbow”), a savvy tabby who, against all odds, was reunited with his family in Salinas, California two months after becoming lost in Yellowstone National Park, some 1100 miles away. Rayne Beau made the vast majority of the return trip, almost 900 miles, under his own steam, though no one knows how, being found and then trapped in Roseville, California, about 200 miles from home.

November 7th, 2024 at 10:38am by Alex Miller

US Election 2024 Postmortem

And postmortem is a good word for it, with many Americans and others across the globe feeling like they’ve died and gone to hell. For whatever reason, on November 5^th, more than half the US voting electorate chose to once again turn over the keys of the White House to Donald Trump, a convicted felon awaiting sentencing on 34 criminal counts, with three more criminal cases pending, an individual adjudicated guilty of fraud, liable for sexual abuse and defamation, a serial sexual predator who has declared bankruptcy multiple times, who spews hate, racism, invective and misogyny with every breath. And this time, Trump achieved a feat he hadn’t before – he won, not just by the antiquated machinery of the Electoral College, but with an outright majority of votes, having lost that measure by three million votes in 2016 and seven million votes in 2020. Shame on us.

November 1st, 2024 at 08:58am by Alex Miller

Election 2024: Down to the Wire, and It’s All Trash-Talking Garbage

Do you smell what I smell? That whiff of decay? That odor of rot? Is that America? Or just Puerto Rico? Or maybe, just maybe, it’s not a garbage smell at all – maybe it’s the cloyingly sweet smell of Democratic victory.

Donald Trump is making his closing argument to his countrymen in the final days of the campaign, promoting why he should be president again, and the best he can come up with is a plea for better waste management? That’s the level we’ve sunk to, with the former squatter at the White House defining the nation he wants to lead as “a garbage can for the rest of the world” at his rally in Austin, Texas on October 25^th. Two days later, at a rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden that evoked memories of a Nazi rally held there in 1939, Trump’s opening act, a “comedian” named Tony Hinchcliffe, joked about a “floating island of garbage,” called “Puerto Rico,” in a performance that was vetted by the campaign beforehand, and hasn’t been disavowed by Trump since.

October 28th, 2024 at 09:43am by Alex Miller

Halloween Horror: The Candy Man Murder Turns Fifty

It was half a century ago, on 31 October 1974, that eight-year-old Timothy O’Bryan died in agony after eating a Halloween treat laced with cyanide. The family and friends had been trick-or-treating in Pasadena, Texas, when they came across a house which did not respond to their knocks. Thinking no one was home, the group proceeded down the street, but Timothy’s father Ronald hung back awhile. In a couple minutes he rejoined the group, offering five 21” Pixy Stix to his son, daughter, and three other children, claiming that his repeated knocking had finally elicited an answer, and these were the treats he was given.

October 25th, 2024 at 09:59am by Alex Miller

House Diary: Halloween Returns

“All Hallowtide is now begun, and welcomed in with bells;

and ringing, too, at set of sun, with all our shrieks and yells!

As house to house we begging went, to get ourselves a sweet;

we also pranked, sans ill intent, ran riot in the streets.

With ghost and banshee, witch and cat, we’re happy to cavort;

give thanks to those who fill sacks fat, else “Trick!” is our retort.

On this one night of all the year, the children have the rule;

to banish all that they most fear, like homework, chores and school.

But come the dawn it all returns unto the normal scenes;

then joy and mirth are once more spurned, until next Hallowe’en!”

Due to my 2023 hiatus on Halloween, which came just weeks after knee replacement surgery, it’s been two years since I’ve done things up right here on the property. Halloween is my favorite holiday, ever since I was a kid, and it was a wrench to give it up last year. But that’s behind us, and it’s a brave new day, scary brave!

October 22nd, 2024 at 09:35am by Alex Miller

On the Campaign Trail

AAA’s crack team of political reporters (me) has been digitally traveling coast to coast to check out conditions on the ground (and in the sky) as the 2024 US presidential election draws nearer. There have been quite a few twists and turns, and several moments that highlight the state of the race. This article will attempt to fill the gaps in our knowledge with an asteroid-eye view of where things stand, as the Above reflects the Below.