Another day, another affirmation. Yes, I am a hopeless romantic.

In the news today, you might have noticed the astronomical event known as Perseids. Don’t ask me how to pronounce it.  Ever since I was a wee lad I’ve always been fond of the stars.  My grandmother gave me my first telescope, and I loved finding an excuse to use the thing.  I remember staying up outside and watching an eclipse, looking at the moon, wondering what the planets would look like when they were aligned; Whenever asked why I loved astronomy so much as I was growing up,  I would simply reply “because it’s endless.”

No matter how much camera equipment I could ever have at my disposal, there’s simply nothing that could quite capture just how beautiful and humbling the view of the night sky is here in Iraq.  So tonight I decided I’d go outside and sit a spell, watching crumbs of a comet spout into flame as they enter the atmosphere.  The contrast is breathtaking. You have meteorites burning up less than a mile above you, highlighted by the creamy divide we know as the milky way, all enveloped by a sea of stars, each represented by a tiny waivering speck of light, all light-years away…

And then I go sit down in front of my computer and type this up.

Upon every star I wished, I wished for you.

Oh internets, how you entertain me so.
I found a post on reddit today (posted back in Nov 2008 mind you), apparently the folks over at reddit and fark were kind enough to send some physicist over at CERN an orange crowbar and a Half-Life instruction guide, thereby saving the earth from falling into a man made black hole./another dimension.

I just wanted to give my (somewhat belated) thanks to the people of the internet. Good things happen when we work together for a cause.  I’d even go so far as to say that this article raised my personal hopes for the human race.

Edit: Since we’re on the topic of CERN, please read this post over at reddit and read through the comments. Hilarious.