Mike,

I just got a new monitor, and with the increased acreage staring me in the face, I was moved to replace my desktop with a spectacular photo I took last November of the Beartooth Boys in the Indian Peaks Wilderness.

–rakkity

Devendra Banhart

Hi Mike,

You early risers can catch a  nice venus-jupiter conjunction. Tomorrow before sunrise will, strictly speaking, be about 2 days post-conjunction, but it still should be a pretty sight.  If you can’t get down low enough in the sky, you might catch the slim crescent moon drifting by orange Antares. Look to the east before sunrise tomorrow.

We’ve got a clear eastern horizon here in Boulder, so I’m hoping to wake up tomorrow morning about 6 am to see this.

–rakkity

Michael,

On hearing that he is an 8th cousin of Dick Cheney, Barack Obama said, tongue in cheek, “Every family has a black sheep.”

Lynne Cheney tells about the relationship.

The details of the ancestry were written up in the Bowie Blade News:

An interesting side note–the place where Obama’s and Cheney’s common ancestor, Mareen Duvall, lived was the Marietta Mansion near Bowie, MD. Our daughter Katie worked there for many years as a docent, but I don’t think anyone at the Mansion, including her, knew about this curious relationship until now.

Obama himself knew that some of his white ancestors owned slaves, but not the exact “tortured, tangled” history.

–rakkity

Michael,

On hearing that he is an 8th cousin of Dick Cheney, Barack Obama said, tongue in cheek, “Every family has a black sheep.”

Lynne Cheney tells about the relationship.

The details of the ancestry were written up in the Bowie Blade News:

An interesting side note–the place where Obama’s and Cheney’s common ancestor, Mareen Duvall, lived was the Marietta Mansion near Bowie, MD. Our daughter Katie worked there for many years as a docent, but I don’t think anyone at the Mansion, including her, knew about this curious relationship until now.

Obama himself knew that some of his white ancestors owned slaves, but not the exact “tortured, tangled” history.

–rakkity

Michael,

I tried this and identified 14 out 16 earth spots viewed from space.  Try it, it’s fun!
–rakkity