Photographica Archives - Alex's Asteroid Astrology

May 20th, 2024 at 09:49am by Alex Miller

Asteroid Sleuth: The Case of the Flipped Flag

On 16 May 2024, the New York Times broke a story concerning US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, the gist of which gives another black eye to the fantasy that the SCOTUS, currently embattled by a string of ethics violations revelations, is actually a fair and impartial, nonpartisan body. Apparently, during the interim between the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection and Joe Biden’s January 20^th inauguration, Justice Alito flew the American flag at his home in Alexandria, Virginia, upside down.

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.

January 31st, 2023 at 09:11am by Alex Miller

Death in Memphis: The Tyre Nichols Story

On 7 January 2023, another traffic stop gone horribly wrong claimed the life of Tyre Nichols, when Memphis police pulled over the 29-year-old for “reckless driving.” After an initial confrontation involving pepper spray and a taser, Nichols broke free and fled on foot. When apprehended by five officers, he was beaten so badly that he died three days later. Body cam footage release by Memphis PD after the officers themselves had been arrested on January 26^th and charged with second degree murder, among other offenses, reveals a shocking level of brutality and escalation of a situation that had never placed any officer in danger.

February 8th, 2019 at 10:20am by Alex Miller

Virginia Vicissitudes: Northam & Fairfax (Oh, yeah, and Herring & Norment, too)

The first weekend of February 2019 wreaked havoc in the executive branch of the Commonwealth of Virginia. On Friday the 1^st, the Democratic Governor Ralph Northam’s moral authority to govern was blown to smithereens by the release of a Medical School yearbook photo purporting to depict him in blackface, standing next to a hooded KKK clansman figure. At first, Northam admitted his fault, later retracting this admission, but copping to a “lesser charge” of having worn blackface during the same time period, when impersonating Michael Jackson in a dance competition. He was only dissuaded from demonstrating his version of Jackson’s trademark “Moonwalk” at a press conference by his considerably more level-headed wife, who whispered to him that these were “inappropriate circumstances” for such a performance.

March 23rd, 2017 at 09:28pm by Alex Miller

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Tweets

Trump Inauguration crowd So what’s behind all the drama about the crowd size for Trump’s inauguration? With the newly-minted president claiming it to be the largest ever, estimating it at “a million, a million and a half” (which in itself is a pretty broad range for an estimate), but the Parks Service suggesting it was closer to 250,000, a tempest in a teapot exploded over the new administration’s first weekend.