The impending autumnal equinox — a.k.a. the first day of fall, even though it doesn’t make any sense to call it that — will happen at 12:03 AM EDT Saturday morning, which, according to Wikipedia, is the closest to midnight Eastern time of any equinox or solstice between 2012 and 2014. How’s that for a statistically insignificant twist on a meteorologically insignificant milestone? :)

It does make it a little silly, though, to talk about Sunday as the “first full day of autumn,” which local weathermen inevitably will (because it gives them another “first” to talk about), considering Saturday is just three minutes shy of being a “full” day of autumn as well. But then, the whole thing is silly.

Last night, I dreamed that I was in Florida with a large tour group (possibly a school trip?), and as part of our tour, we were all going to blast off into space for a while. I’m not sure whether we were going to use the Space Shuttle or some other vehicle, but regardless, in the dream there was nothing particularly unusual or extraordinary about what was happening — it was perfectly logical and reasonable that we’d all (there were like 60 of us) get to spend some time in space as part of our trip. In fact, there was a long line of other people waiting their turn as well.

I was very excited about the impending voyage, and I remember stuffing my pockets with extra batteries and memory cards, just to be sure that my camera wouldn’t die during the trip. Apparently, even in my dreams, I’m a camera-nerd. :) Alas, I woke up before we actually got to the launch pad, let alone blasted off from it, so I didn’t get to what would have presumably been the really cool part of the dream — actually going into space! But I remember talking beforehand to some of my fellow would-be space travellers about what to look for, and mentioning that we should be sure to get a load of Hurricane Helene out in the Atlantic, because it’s freakin’ huge, and since we were lifting off from Florida, I figured we’d get to see it on our way up.

In point of fact, orbital vehicles like the Shuttle and the ISS don’t get the sort wide, ocean-encompassing view that I was envisioning; here are some examples of what they see. But hey, c’mon, it was a dream, people!

Amid all the bluster about Hugo Chavez calling President Bush “the devil,” the real headline from this week’s U.N. festivities, says Andrew Sullivan, is what Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said:

Ahmadinejad is calling upon God to bring about the coming of the Twelfth Imam (”the perfect human being promised to all by you”), who heralds the Apocalypse. He is also saying that he will “strive for his return.” It is the most terrifying statement any president of any nation has made to the U.N. We have a dictator on the brink of nukes, striving to accelerate the Apocalypse. Think of the Iranian regime as a nation-as-suicide-bomber. And anything serious we can do to prevent it may only make matters worse. No wonder Ahmadinejad smiles. Paradise beckons.

There is little reason for optimism when it comes to the impending conflict with Iran.

P.S. On the other hand, Glenn Reynolds and Daniel Drezner are “underwhelmed” by Ahmadinejad. Glenn sees him “as the latest manifestation of a long chain of anti-American losers: Nasser, Qaddafi, Noriega, Ortega, etc.” Drezner says, “Ahmadinejad too will pass.” Maybe… and maybe Glenn’s right that “some people” are “inflat[ing] him into more than he is.” But did Nasser, Qaddafi, Noriega or Ortega ever get nukes? Would they have “passed” so easily if they had? Moreover, did they ever subscribe to an apocalyptic religious cult? I think Chavez fits into the “long chain of anti-American losers,” but as for Ahmadinejad — I worry quite a bit more about him.

ESPN’s scrolling scoreboard just mentioned that the Notre Dame-Michigan State game will be seen on ABC in most of the country, and on ESPN2 in those parts of the country where the USC-Arizona game is on ABC. That gave me a moment of hope: would the Trojans-Wildcats game be shown on ESPN2 in those parts of the country where ND-MSU is on ABC? If so, Saturday night would be a real channel-flipping fest for me and Becky. But noooo… we get Boston College vs. N.C. State on ESPN2 instead. LAME.

This will be only the second time in the last 21 USC games that I’ve been unable to watch the Trojans play. (Last year’s Wazzu game wasn’t on TV in South Bend. Nor was last year’s Oregon game–which was one year ago this weekend–but I happened to be in Arizona that weekend, so I got to watch it. If only I were in Arizona this weekend.) Harumph.

Fans of HBO’s Deadwood will appreciate this extremely NSFW, parental-discretion-strongly-advised comic strip, which is both very, very funny and very, very wrong. (Hat tip: Mister Snitch.)

The things people will do for free food! The line at Chipotle is out of control:

Is it worth it? Patrick says yes, but Becky and I decided otherwise, and went to Steak ‘n Shake instead. We’ll give Chipotle a try someday when it won’t take an hour or two to get our food… :)

More pictures of the line after the jump.

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“School is not a place where young people go to watch old people work.”–R.L., one of the teachers I work with.

Well, this is genuinely refreshing. A day after Hugo Chavez went to the U.N. and called President Bush “the devil,” Democratic leaders are having a Sister Souljah moment and attacking Chavez for his assault on our president.

Nancy Pelosi: “Hugo Chavez fancies himself a modern day Simon Bolivar but all he is an everyday thug. … Hugo Chavez abused the privilege that he had, speaking at the United Nations. He demeaned himself and he demeaned Venezuela.”

Charlie Rengel: “You do not come into my country, my congressional district, and you do not condemn my president. If there is any criticism of President Bush, it should be restricted to Americans, whether they voted for him or not. I just want to make it abundantly clear to Hugo Chavez or any other president, do not come to the United States and think because we have problems with our president that any foreigner can come to our country and not think that Americans do not feel offended when you offend our Chief of State.”

Alas, many Daily Kos diarists do not appear to be so clear-headed. For instance, representativepress and Peter Pan seem to think that Chavez’s recommendation of Noam Chomsky’s book is a good thing for Chomsky fans. Meanwhile, Jmsjoin says of the speech: “Chavez talks too much! I am afraid I agree with this though.”

Sadpanda opines: “[W]hile I think that Bush is an evil little man, I disagree with the assement that he is the Devil. … I respect the Devil too much for that. Lucifer was after all an angel that argued with God and fell. I rather respected him for that. It takes a lot of courage to disagree with God and say so to his face. Lucifer had courage and princpal. (sic) George Bush has neither.”

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For those of you in the South Bend area, you can drop by the new Chipotle today between 11am and 8pm and score a free burrito and a drink. In case you didn’t already know, the much-anticipated Chipotle is at the corner of Main and Douglas in Mishawaka next to Chick-fil-A.

The space shuttle Atlantis has landed at Kennedy Space Center after a 12-day construction mission to the international space station. Visit CNN for the latest.

Yet another USC-related story that like a half-dozen people have e-mailed me about: George Lucas has donated $175 million to USC — the largest single donation in the university’s history. President Steven Sample was reportedly seen taking a bath in a tub full of cash. (Okay, I might have made that part up.)

Conan O’Brien quipped: “To honor Star Wars fans, USC is going to change its mascot from the Trojans to the Guys Who Don’t Need Trojans.”

P.S. In April 2000, the Daily Trojan sent me to see Lucas speak on campus and write about it. Clearly, my brilliant article is what inspired him, six years later, to give this massive gift. :)

The Blue-Gray Sky takes an illuminating closer look at that cute little statistic about how Ty Willingham and Charlie Weis both started 11-4. Required reading for anyone who is tempted to quote said statistic in any conversation about the Irish.

Okay, I know it’s taken me forever to get these online… sorry… but here, finally, are the standings of our Irish Trojan USC & ND prediction contests!

USC prediction contest
Index of everyone’s picks
Standings after 1 game
Standings after 2 games

Notre Dame prediction contest
Index of everyone’s picks
Standings after 1 game
Standings after 2 games
Standings after 3 games

In the USC contest, 20 of the 22 contestants are perfect with 2-0 prediction records, having correctly picked the Trojans to win their first two games. Lex icon is winning by tiebreaker so far.

In the Notre Dame contest, only 4 of the 24 contestants are perfect with 3-0 prediction records, having correctly picked the Irish to beat Georgia Tech and Penn State, then lose to Michigan. Of those four, gahrie is winning the tiebreaker at this point. But he may not need that advantage. If Notre Dame wins its next eight games, then loses to USC, gahrie will be the only contestant to finish 12-0, and will win without the benefit of the tiebreaker. If the Irish win out, including a victory over the Trojans, there will be a three-way tie at 12-0 between Brian Kiolbasa, Steve C. and thebeef, with gahrie finishing 11-1. If the Irish lose any game other than USC, no one will finish with a perfect 12-0 prediction record in the ND contest.

Incidentally, if anyone feels inspired to double-check my data entry, by all means, please feel free to compare the original entries with the indexes of everyone’s picks in each contest. In particular, if you’re in the contest, I encourage you to double-check that I got your picks right. :)