Do the Shuffle

 Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

THAT'S NO PLANET: This morning's "Image of the Day" from NASA was waiting for me when I fired up the computer 'round 6 a.m.

I recognized the rings of Saturn right away, but one of the objects hanging in space just beyond the rings certainly caught my eye.

Tell me the big one - better known as Saturn's moon Mimas, doesn't look like the Death Star!

Apparently I'm not the first one who has noticed this fact, because when I hopped to the "Death Star" Wiki article to find a photo for comparison, there was a photo of Mimas, with the caption "The large crater in the center (Herschel) gives it a resemblance to the Death Star."

Now, I can't help but wonder if George Lucas was inspired by Mimas.

In the photo, the smaller moon is Pandora (50 miles, or 81 kilometers across) , while Mimas is a relatively whopping 246 miles, or 396 kilometers across.

The image above was taken with Cassini's narrow-angle camera on May 14, 2013. They must have had a heckuva telephoto lens, because NASA reports it was taken at a distance of approximately 690,000 miles (1.1 million kilometers) from Mimas.

MEANWHILE, SOMEWHERE IN OREGON:  Christian reports that the campers are experiencing lovely weather and are having a good time.  Glad to hear it.  I continue to plug away on a writing project and herd a pair of Havanese, who are not enjoying having three-fourths of their pack gone.

TASTY:   I haven't mentioned our "Science of Gastronomy" course for awhile.  We're in week 4 (of 6) and this week we're studying how fruits and vegetables can enhance the quality in cooking; we're learning about the properties of meat (such as appreciating how the function of muscle fiber affects the components inside meat); Professor King is teaching us how to exploit the various chemical, physical and biological properties of vegetables/fruits, and apply specific methods to remove the unfavorable qualities and enhance the appealing features of vegetables or fruits in a dish.  Good stuff!

This class hasn't been anywhere near as demanding from a workload standpoint as our previous Coursera courses (astrobiology, physics and Einsteinian physics), but it has been a pleasure.  We're understanding our foods in different ways, and it's causing the kids to have a better appreciation for a wide variety of edibles.

Hopefully the kids and Christian are keeping on task down yonder, as was the plan.  Time will tell. ...

EVERY DAY I'M SHUFFLING: This evening, the planets aligned and the big ol' boys and I were able to get together for dinner.  Rick suggested The Highliner, which was a good call. It was Taco Tuesday and super delicious fish tacos were only $2.50 apiece.  We each got two - a cheap and delicious dinner, mmm, so good.

While we ate, we watched the Mariners get creamed by the Red Sox, which was not so good.  The boys also played shuffleboard, which was fun to watch.

I only had to remind them once, sternly, that they weren't 7 and 9 anymore and to quit bickering. :)