RenoVous

  "Just as the moon brings new phases, may this year bring you new hopes and dreams." It's not a new moon though, it's a waxing gibbous.  The first of 2026 will be January 18th. January 3rd will be the Super Wolf Moon, the first full moon of the year and the last in a series of supermoons. We'll be out camping under it.  ^_^ I wish you all the happiest New Year, and I thank you all for being here. See you next year!

  Revolver and SPIN Magazine agreed in naming The Deftones as Artist of the Year. Kerrang! gave Album of the Year to Turnstile. On the pop side of things, Sabrina Carpenter was a top artist. Bad Bunny was top streamed, and he'll be the Super Bowl Halftime Show. The biggest song of the year. It's been used all over TikTok and other internet reels, and it's been stuck in my head most of the year, but another song was popular as well, and it's a throwback.

 Pantone announced that "Cloud Dancer" has been named the color of 2026. And yet, bold colors are being projected in trends. Let's look back on some pieces that hit the runway. Christian Siriano Saint Laurent Dior Chanel Tom Ford Johanna Ortiz Schiaparelli

  The James Webb Telescope celebrated its 4th year in space yesterday. And it recently discovered something surprising - a Jupiter sized exoplanet with diamonds and soot in the atmosphere. The planet doesn't have the familiar helium-hydrogen combination, but is helium-carbon instead.  There are no common molecules of water, methane, or carbon dioxide. "It's very hard to imagine how you get this extremely carbon-enriched composition.  It seems to rule out every known formation mechanism," says lead author, Michael Zhang. Even more weird is the host star, which is a neutron sun.  No other pulsar is known to have a gas-giant planet, and few pulsars have planets at all. The planet is also closer to its star than Earth is to our Sun, whereas gas giants in our system are much farther out.  It is lemon-shaped because the gravitational forces of the pulsar are pulling so strongly. Molecular carbon doesn't appear in planets that are very close to their sun, due to extrem...

  The poem is actually titled, "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement Clark Moore. I hadn't read this for a long time, but my nephew has been asking for it lately.  I usually see him on Wednesdays and I read him a bedtime story before I leave.  I think he likes the rhythm of it, which I do too. Poetry Foundation Written and published anonymously in 1823, Moore took credit in 1837. It was put to music in 1942 by composer Ken Darby and recorded by Fred Waring. So I'm here today and gone tomorrow, back on Friday. Happy Christmas to all!!!!!

The planet's largest land migration, an estimated six million antelope, in South Sudan.  Photographer: Marcus Westberg. Beavers could be the secret to winning against wildfires.  Photographer: Ronan Donovan  Meerkat running in the Kalihari Desert.  Photographer: Thomas Peschak Polar bear rolling in the snow in the Arctic Circle.  Photographer: Roie Galitz The Japanese Giant Mantis devouring a lizard.  Photographer: Takuya Ishiguro A ray-finned fish uses a tube anemone larva, a stinging critter, for protection.  Photographer: Linda Ianniello

  Lily Collins Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu Ashley Park Or do you prefer the red? Emily Blunt Michelle Obama Natalia Dyer Nicola Coughlan Sydney Sweeney Victoria Beckham

 The 3I/ATLAS comet, as it made its closest approach to Earth last night/this morning. This shot was captured by the Gemini Multi-Object Spectograph in Hawaii. The comet's journey is expected to continue towards Jupiter, crossing the orbits of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune by 2028, and then heading out to interstellar space, never to be seen again. From 168 million miles away, scientists will be able to study material from beyond our solar system. They were able to detect an X-ray glow, revealing hidden gases and solar wind interactions.  Analyzing those gases can reveal the chemistry of other star systems, with which scientists can test models of planetary formation and investigate early galaxy evolution. The James Webb Telescope already detected abundant water vapor, as well as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.

The Bears do not play tonight, but they are leading their division in the NFC North. They are one of two original teams dating back to the NFL's inception in 1920. At that time they were known as the Decatur Staleys, becoming the Bears in 1922. In 1932, they were playing games at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. But on this day, the snow was waist-deep, so they moved the game indoors for the very first time.  The Chicago Stadium, which was the hockey rink, could only support a 60 yard field.  By mutual agreement, neither team attempted a field goal. This was also the first official Championship game in order to break a tie between the Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans.

On this day in 1892, the first issue was released, targeting "the sage as well as the debutante, men of affairs as well as the belle."  It has chronicled high society, fashion, and culture ever since. Arthur Baldwin Turnure was a part of the Gilded Age, born to wealthy parents and becoming a lawyer in 1876.  He knew the Vanderbilts and the Astors, the members of high society, whose activities were becoming subjects of great interest. The first cover featured a drawing of a debutante by A.B. Wenzel. Publisher Condé Nast bought the magazine in 1909, and started focusing more on women and fashion.  

It's one of those days at work, and not a lot of inspiration from "this day" sites, so I'm using a Burning Man designation and throwing out a classic.   I remember seeing this on stage here at the old MGM, then Bally's, when I was pretty young.

  Quinta Brunson Jenna Ortega Kirsten Dunst Tessa Thompson Trinity Jo-Li Bliss Toni Collette Ashley Park Lily Collins

  Boston University is a major hub for this rapidly growing field in biomedical engineering. Faculty there build molecular and photonic tools to study the brain; investigate the quantitative neurophysiology underlying brain and nervous system function; develop computational models that guide our understanding of brain function; work to understand and treat neurological disorders; and advance methods by which we can help repair the brain and restore neurological function. The Neurophotonics Center is driven by advances in optical methods, allowing for visualization of intracellular organelles and protein assemblies as well as noninvasive macroscopic investigation of cortical activity. Director David Boas, PhD, runs the Bio Optical and Acoustic Spectroscopy Lab. "Our technologies are used for measuring brain function and physiology on microscopic to macroscopic length scales and are applied in species ranging from mice to humans." The most prominent new technology is wearable f...

  Save Ferris!! They opened the show with a Kinks cover, but they have a couple seasonal songs of their own as well. But it wasn't all Christmas! Good times.

  While the laureates were already revealed in  October , the actual ceremony is held today, including the very first, in 1901. So today's bits of history include a few mentions of past winners of the Peace Prize, including The Red Cross (1917), Woodrow Wilson (1920), and American diplomat Ralph Bunche (1950). But I wanted to look at 1903, when Marie and Pierre Curie won the Physics Prize for their work with radium.  I recently saw a post that mentioned her journals, which will remain radioactive for another 1,500 years. Marie Sklodowska Curie was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1867, the daughter of a Physics teacher.  In 1891, she went to study in Paris.  She received a degree in physical sciences (1893) and mathematics (1894) before she met Pierre.  They were married in 1895. As a subject for her doctoral thesis, she began studying uranium.  She coined the term radioactivity, describing the phenomenon of radiation caused by atomic decay. Together, she and...