Anubis Archives - Page 2 of 24 - Alex's Asteroid Astrology

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 3rd, 2024 at 09:55am by Alex Miller

Death in Triplicate

The recent pairing of Jupiter, the planet ruling fame and celebrity, and asteroid Requiem 2254, named for the funeral mass for the dead, has yielded a fresh crop of autumnal celebrity deaths, much in the way Jupiter’s earlier conjunction with asteroid Lachesis 120, named for the mythic Greek Fate who determines the span of life, depopulated the planet of famous names in mid-summer. Among the recently departed: Dame Maggie Smith, celebrated British actress best known for her work in the Harry Potter movies and PBS’ “Downton Abbey;” Kris Kristofferson, American singer, songwriter and actor; and Pete Rose, American professional baseball player and gambling afficionado.

September 30th, 2024 at 10:29am by Alex Miller

Hurricane Helene

Atlantic storms with PNAs (Personal-Named Asteroids) equating to their designated names, which find these connected to the Sun when they make landfall, often prove to be among the worst, most powerful and destructive hurricanes on record, not to mention the most expensive. Such was the case with Hurricane Irma, which made landfall in Florida on 10 September 2017, with the Sun conjunct asteroid Irma (estimated cost $65 billion); and Hurricane Maria, which made landfall in Puerto Rico ten days later, with asteroid Maria exactly squared the Sun (estimated cost $115 billion). And such is the case now, with Hurricane Helene striking Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane, the largest ever to hit the region, on September 26^th, under a precise conjunction of the Sun with asteroid Helena (with an early estimate of the storm’s damage at $95-110 billion).

September 25th, 2024 at 08:52am by Alex Miller

Aster-Obit: James Earl Jones

Actor James Earl Jones passed away on 9 September 2024, at the age of 93. Jones was a member of the exclusive EGOT club, meaning he had won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award, but ironically, most people know him best from three roles where he never appears on camera: as the voice of Darth Vader in the original “Star Wars” trilogy; the voice of Mufasa in Disney’s animated feature “The Lion King;” and as the voiceover announcer who for decades declaimed the tagline, “This is CNN” at the cable news network’s commercial breaks. It was Jones’ basso profundo vocal range that set him apart from the competition, though his 6’2” height and substantial frame also gave the actor a stage presence and gravitas few could rival.

September 15th, 2024 at 10:38am by Alex Miller

Lauren Bacall Centennial

She was born Betty Joan Perske, but she was Lauren Bacall. The grace, sophistication and style that name came to embody fitted her like a glove, but Lauren Bacall was never comfortable with her Hollywood moniker, and remained “Betty” to friends and family to the end of her days, though Bogie called her “Babe.” Born 16 September 1924, Lauren Bacall would have celebrated her centenary this week if she hadn’t died a decade ago.

September 7th, 2024 at 10:09am by Alex Miller

The Georgia School Shooting

Ah, back to school! I remember it well – the bookbags and lunchpails that had to conform to what was currently “cool” to avoid merciless taunting; catching up with what friends did over the summer break; the new pens, pencils, notepads and markers; readjusting to subpar school cuisine; the new clothes that were another potential pitfall of derision; and of course, the mass shootings.

No, wait – that one’s new. Well, new-ish; it’s been a quarter century since Columbine inaugurated a whole new rite-of-passage for American schoolchildren, replacing dodgeball with dodgebullet, and each year since, it seems we just keep upping the ante.