Page 6 Archives - Page 2 of 31 - Alex's Asteroid Astrology

June 3rd, 2024 at 08:44am by Alex Miller

Aster-Obit: Morgan Spurlock

Documentarian Morgan Spurlock passed on May 23, 2024, from complications related to cancer. The name may not ring a bell at first, but doubtless you’ll remember his 2004 documentary film “Supersize Me,” chronicling his month of subsisting on nothing but fast food from McDonald’s. Spurlock, judged by doctors and nutritionists to be in “above average” shape when he began his experiment on 1 February 2003, gained nearly 25 pounds in his thirty-day Ronald McDonald binge, along the way experiencing heart palpitations, sexual and liver dysfunction, lethargy, depression and headaches.

May 10th, 2024 at 02:20pm by Alex Miller

Garden Glimpses: Ephemeral Spring

True, Spring can seem fleeting. But chronicling that phenomenon is not the intent here. Rather, the title refers to a class of plants known as “Spring ephemerals,” meaning that, like Spring itself, they are here and gone. Ephemerals tend to emerge early, bloom quickly, and die back well before Summer’s heat holds sway. They are of the moment, and sometimes, if you blink, you miss them entirely.

May 10th, 2024 at 08:53am by Alex Miller

Mystik Dan Wins Kentucky Derby

The 150^th Run for the Roses occurred Saturday, May 4, 2024, at the Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, as the Kentucky Derby reached a milestone anniversary. Despite competing with five higher-ranked horses in a field of twenty, Mystik Dan came across the finish line barely a flared nostril ahead, in the first photo-finish at the Derby since 1996. The three-year old colt, ridden by jockey Brian Hernandez, paid off at 18-1, and I am heartily wishing I’d had the foresight to investigate this race before its running, and placed my bet!

April 23rd, 2024 at 09:01am by Alex Miller

Asteroid Sleuth: The Case of the Pompeii Paintings

On April 11, 2024 the BBC was treated to an exclusive look at a recent discovery in the ancient city of Pompeii, buried in volcanic ash by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, and spectacularly preserved. Stunning frescoes had been revealed on the walls and entranceway to a banquet hall known as the Black Room, painted that color to disguise the effects of soot from smoking lamps and candles.

April 19th, 2024 at 09:48am by Alex Miller

Garden Glimpses: Daffodil Daze

It’s been an odd spring (what else is new?), with temps ping-ponging up and down through March and April. But strangely, the weirdness seems to have worked well for my daffodils, with early, middle and late season varieties blooming more or less together. I don’t know when I’ve seen such diversity on display all at once, and it’s made for a lovely panoply of color and form across the garden.

April 15th, 2024 at 10:04am by Alex Miller

Aster-Obit: O.J. Simpson

On 10 April 2024, news came of the death of sports legend O.J. Simpson, once known as one of the greatest running backs in NFL history. The Buffalo Bills star, a celebrity on and off the field, was the first player to rush for more than 2000 yards in a single season, winning the NFL MVP award in 1973. Known as “the Juice” in reference to his OJ initials, after retirement in 1979, Simpson went on to a marginally successful acting career, appearing in “Roots,” “The Towering Inferno,” “The Cassandra Crossing” and three films in “The Naked Gun” series, as well as several dozen film and TV roles.

Of course these accomplishments, noteworthy as they are, were totally eclipsed by the real-life drama Simpson became embroiled in after he was arrested and tried for the brutal murder by stabbing of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman at her home in 1994. The case, which began with a ten-hour-long slow-motion pursuit by police viewed by 95 million people, as Simpson attempted to avoid arrest for the crime, brought out the ever-present racial divide in America, with many black people thinking he was being framed, and white people assuming he was guilty.