bookofjoe

What Jesus looked like - as a 12-year-old boy

Above is what an Italian police forensic unit believes the youthful Jesus looked like.

It's based on the Shroud of Turin image.

Police took photographs of the Shroud of Turin, then used a computer to subtract about 20 years of aging.

Evolution distraction

I mean, who care's if there's a sticker (below) on textbooks saying evolution is a theory rather than a fact?

This is like arguing over whether Schrodinger's cat is dead or alive.

These are distractions from what matters - stuff like finding a good bedtime reading light.

Sheesh.

Ocha teapot

Made by Himiko Joseph of Lightbox.

In porcelain; $120.

The store is located in Manhattan at 222 E. 10th Street; 212-375-1076.

How to succeed in blogging

I was amused yesterday to read in the Wall Street Journal that "Howard Dean's presidential campaign hired two Internet political 'bloggers' as consultants so that they would say positive things about the former governor's campaign in their online journals."

The two blogs are DailyKos (the ninth most linked blog in the world, according to Technorati) and MyDD.

Both blogs were already pro-Dean, so I really don't understand why the Dean campaign wasted its money.

Of course, the blogosphere trashed the mainstream media for having a political agenda, for example bringing down the house of CBS on Dan Rather's head over the Bush National Guard documents.

I guess it's hard to trust anyone, online or off.

Except, of course... for yours truly.

Full disclosure: I never took one red cent from Howard Dean's campaign.

Or George Bush's.

Sure, they offered an awful lot of money for my support, but my only loyalty is to my readers, those faithful few who see me through times good and not-so-good.

joeheads rule - everyone else drools.

The sounds of Titan

In 1655 Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens discovered Titan (above), the largest moon of Saturn.

Yesterday, after 350 years, the Huygens space probe descended via parachute to the surface of Titan, the only moon in the solar system with an Earth-like atmosphere.

Though "Earth-like" perhaps isn't the best term for a place where the temperature is –290°F and the skies are methane-filled.

During its 2.5 hour-long descent, the probe's microphone recorded what it heard; you can listen here.

The instruments continued to operate for five hours after touchdown, indicating the spacecraft landed on a solid, frozen surface as opposed to the methane lakes theorized to be present.

Just above is an artist's rendering of what Huygens might look like as it rests on Titan's surface, Saturn looming over the horizon.

Oh, to be the first human to have this view; my guess is it will happen around 2100-2150.

And the man - or woman - will be Chinese.

Unless he, or she, is Indian.

One more thing: no complaints about the sound quality, OK?

I mean, it came from outer space.

More specifically, one billion miles away.

Kabbalah Water

It costs $8 a bottle, and it's "imbueded [sic] with Ancient Kabbalistics [sic] Meditations."

Find it "at any of The Kabbalah Centres."

Note that it comes from a bottling plant near Lake Ontario that sells it - unlabeled, and undoubtedly for less than $8 a bottle - to many other companies as well.

Which only goes to show that value can be added.

WWMD?*

*What would Madonna drink?

Game (face) time

Earlier this week, a member of the Philadelphia Eagles' secondary said that, in his opinion, today and tomorrow are the best weekend of the year in terms of pro football; he added that if he weren't playing, he'd be glued to the TV every single minute of each of the four games scheduled.

Hey, here's a riddle:

Q. Why is joe like a member of the Philadelphia Eagles secondary?

A. He'll be glued to the TV every single minute of each of the four games.

The all-or-nothing, winner-take-all nature of the playoffs at this stage; the fact that the winner competes next week for the conference championship and a berth in the Super Bowl, while the loser goes home and stews and steams about what went wrong for what must be an endless seven months until training camp begins, that's what I love most.

Besides, of course, the great teams and players strutting their stuff on a huge, pressure-packed stage.

It can't get any better than this.

So, nota bene: today's first game, the New York Jets at the heavily-favored Pittsburgh Steelers, starts at 4:30 p.m. Eastern on CBS.

Then at 8 on Fox, it's the St. Louis Rams' aerial circus against the sensational Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons.

Better bring a calculator for this one, 'cause the scoreboard's gonna be smoking.

Then my beauty rest, to prepare for:

Minnesota Vikings at Philadelphia Eagles at 1 p.m. on Fox, Sunday's first game; talk about bringing power to bear: oh, mamma; Culpepper, Moss, McNabb, and the madhouse that's Philadelphia.

And finally, easily the best game - on paper - of them all: Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts at the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots in Foxboro.

The world's best quarterback against the world's best defensive mind, Bill Belichick: that one starts at 4:30 p.m. on CBS.

Bonus: Phil Simms, whom I consider the finest football analyst in the world, is doing this game.

Oh, the excitement is palpable here in joeworld....

And don't get your knickers in a twist: posts will appear today and tomorrow as they do every day, with metronomic regularity, at the usual times.

FunFact: when the interval between heartbeats becomes precisely regular, a fatal arrhythmia follows.

The subtle chaotic variation in heart rate is what enables life.

Nung chair from Xeno

Designer Jared Hake discovered the technique of using stacked bamboo rings in Thailand, while playing with a bamboo coaster.

He created the Nung chair (above) by using this method on a larger scale.

He said the chair's designed for "aggressive lounging."

I like it.

Xeno Objects, a year-old Texas company, makes the chair, which sells for $999.

It's the first product in the company's "Klom" series.

[via Deborah K. Dietsch and the Washington Post]