Good evening, Kibitzers!
On Sunday, I was scrolling through the New Day Cafe comments, considerably later in the day than those conversations initially took place. I happened across someone who I know is a very smart woman nonetheless falling for the old New-Jersey-is-nothing-but-the-Turnpike wheeze. It’s easy enough to do, because that shit is everywhere and it’s the punchline in a million movies and TV shows and what have you. If you haven’t been here, how would you know any different?
Since I was not then in the mood to stand up and go do something more useful, I replied to that comment with a clutch of pictures from my Flickr pages, hoping to illustrate the point that very little of New Jersey is very much like the Turnpike. It was late enough that, really, no one was going to see it, and the former guy’s “administration” established that my mother doesn’t have the power to strike anyone with lightning (more’s the pity), so I was in no danger if I failed to defend her beloved state. I just felt like it.
Having done that, it seemed a shame to waste all that picture-considering where no one would see it. At the same time, it seemed a shame to waste any possibly more brilliant KTK ideas on a night where everyone’s all excited (or however we’re feeling now) about the revelations earlier today from a) the January 6 Committee and b) the Webb Telescope.
So here are some pictures of places in New Jersey that are nicer than the New Jersey Turnpike. (NJ Turnpike shown at left for comparison; click on photo for greater detail. Much of the southern Turnpike is actually pretty unobjectionable, if dull; the section shown, in Linden, with chemical plants and the like, is what people are thinking of when they say “New Jersey Turnpike”.)
Most of the photos below have appeared here before at one time or another. Any that don’t name a location are near my house. I hope you like them, at least more than the turnpike!
Waaaaay off the turnpike: On Monday, we got to see galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, as seen by the JWST’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). NASA’s account, with image, is here — click on their image for higher res. Also, UC Santa Cruz offers this zoomable version. By now, we’ll have seen more. [Update: Gallery of all images / Full 50-minute NASA presentation] 🌃
Scientific American was obviously standing by with the bulk of this video that reviews the mission’s aims and potential, waiting to plug in that first picture. [11:01]
Okay, now I have to post this Carl Sagan classic. h/t Dok Zoom on Wonkette. [3:26]