Alien Jesus Collective

UC Berkeley researchers say red giant star Betelgeuse mysteriously shrinking

The red supergiant star Betelgeuse, the bright reddish star in the constellation Orion, has steadily shrunk over the past 15 years, according to University of California, Berkeley, researchers.

Long-term monitoring by UC Berkeley’s Infrared Spatial Interferometer (ISI) on the top of Mt. Wilson in Southern California shows that Betelgeuse (bet’ el juz), which is so big that in our solar system it would reach to the orbit of Jupiter, has shrunk in diameter by more than 15 percent since 1993.

Nobody’s 100% sure if this is a normal size variation, or the beginning of the end for Betelgeuse. Red supergiants are older stars, living out their retirement and telling comets to “stay the hell off my orbit!” Shrinkage could just be the next step on the way to the supernova grave. So raise a glass of Metamucil to Betelgeuse, in case this is the beginning of the end.

Rolling Stone columnist Matt Taibbi has a new blog chock full of gems.

From The peasant mentality lives on in America:

It pains me to say this as an American, but we are the only people on earth dumb enough to use a nationwide campaign of “teabag parties” as a form of mass protest, in the middle of a real economic crisis.

What’s next? The Great Dirty Sanchez-In of 2010? A Million Man Felch?

From the wonderfully titled article Teabagging Michelle Malkin:

When you read Ann Coulter, you know you’re reading someone who would fuck a hippopotamus if she thought it would boost her Q rating. That’s a rare quality and it commands one’s attention.

And scary bible stories:

what does it mean when my own parents tell me, with a straight face, a story about God asking Abraham to sacrifice his only son? You’re a little kid, listening at bedtime in your pee-jays to the story, expecting that Abraham is going to tell God to go fuck himself because he loves his children so much, and be rewarded for doing so. Instead it’s exactly the opposite, the father in the story is rewarded for being willing to carve his innocent son up with a knife, the moral of the story somehow being not that God is an insane murderous psychopath, but that God is just and wise and should be obeyed. When the story is over, Dad tucks you in to bed and says he’ll see you in the morning. Now that’s realism for you.

Quite a few long pieces up there, mostly focused on US economic woes and bailouts. Good place to spend an hour.

So if you’re lucky enough to be employed and still able to pay your cable bill, and blessed enough to have IFC On Demand, you should look for a documentary premiering April 16: New World Order. The film features Alex Jones along with an assortment of 9/11 truthers, Bilderberg buffs, and NWO theorists. Love him or hate him, you have to admit Alex Jones has presence. If you’ve seen A Scanner Darkly, you’ll remember Alex as the guy with the bullhorn warning the world one passerby at a time. Definitely worth tuning in whenever the urge strikes. I”m hoping the film will confirm Ann Coulter is a Ron Paul loving Lizard Man, but I’d watch it even if it didn’t.

Paraguay never fails to satisfy when it comes to odd news, but this time there’s no Bush involved. From the BBC: Paraguay leader admits love-child. No biggie, right? But it gets better:

Paraguay’s President Fernando Lugo has admitted he is the father of a child who was conceived when he was still a Roman Catholic bishop.

So what’s more shocking, the fact that the president of Paraguay is an ex-bishop? Or that he fathered a child while he was a bishop? Or that there are no underage boys involved?

Director Kevin Smith Remembers George Carlin | Newsweek Entertainment | Newsweek.com

Some people you don’t ever want to go away. A tearful farewell, George.

Alien Peeping Tom? – The Denver Post

ok, the guy finally made with his grainy alien video. Not exactly pants wetting footage but he does have an interesting story. I don’t know if it’s real but it’s certainly entertaining for a few minutes.

William Henry-Hadron Collider, Mayan Prophecy-The Biggest of Bangs?

William Henry is a master at putting the pieces of our puzzling existence together.

In this article he snaps together Elijah, Mayan 2012 calendar, and the collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.

Stargate, God Particle, black holes, there’s a whole lot the real smart monkeys are playing with. It’s of comfort to have William’s wise and warm (humorous too!) voice along on this hella big bang of a ride.

William writes: “I visited CERN looking to read the signs and the symbols of the scientists who are poised to either turn earth into a light echo as it slips into a black hole in a silent scream or to open a stargate to a new universe.

At first glance, one could be on the campus of an university in America.

Then there’s the statue of Shiva stamping out ignorance.”

William and Shiva, the Lord of the Dance, or Lord of the Ring, at CERN

Gore Vidal: Literary feuds, his ‘vicious’ mother and rumours of a secret love child – Features, Books – The Independent

Our beloved Gore.