2013: A Big Year For Bigfoot

2013: A Big Year For Bigfoot
By Lee Speigel | The Huffingtonpost
Posted: 12/27/2013 8:17 am EST

It’s known by many names: Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti, Abominable Snowman, to name a few. And it reportedly lives in extremely remote areas of North America and other countries. But just because a countless numbers of people say they’ve seen the great hairy beast doesn’t mean it’s real.

The Bigfoot controversy reared its head (or feet) many times in 2013. The debate surrounding alleged Bigfoot DNA continued from 2012; numerous videos and still images emerged of reported Bigfoots (or is that Bigfeet? We’ve never really figured that out.); a Texas press conference presented a group of Bigfoot researchers who claimed to show real, never-before-seen high quality videos of the legendary tall, hairy creature; there was also a series of “clear” photos showing two Bigfoot in Pennsylvania.

HuffPost even sent intrepid reporter Andy Campbell overnight into a remote area of New Jersey where he joined members of Animal Planet’s “Finding Bigfoot” TV series, hunting their quarry in The Garden State.

And as 2014 begins, Bigfoot gets off with a running start. On Jan. 10, “10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty” premieres on Spike TV. Over the course of eight weeks, nine teams of two people each will be unleashed into the Pacific Northwest to attempt to find irrefutable evidence of the existence of Bigfoot — as they all compete for a $10 million prize. Hosting the new series and keeping track of the Bigfoot trackers is former television Superman Dean Cain. The woods will never be the same again.

Here’s our look back at the year in Bigfoot…
To see the photos and stories of Bigfoot 2013 in review go to www.huffingtonpost.com

Bigfoot In A Bigfoot

Asteroid 2012 DA14… 2012… yup

Within the moon’s distance from the Earth, approximately 21,000 miles from us and closer than the orbits of geosynchronous sattellites, but it won’t hit us. But what if it hits one of those sattellites?

Hope everyone had a nice Valentine’s Day, just in case…

Asteroid 2012 DA14 to sweep close on February 15, 2013
EARTHSKY // BLOGS // SPACE Deborah Byrd FEB 12, 2013

It’ll pass within the moon’s distance from Earth – closer than the orbits of geosynchronous satellites. But it won’t strike us in 2013.

A near-Earth asteroid – called 2012 DA14 by astronomers – will pass very close to Earth on February 15, 2013. Astronomers estimate that, when it’s closest to us, it’ll be within the orbit of the moon (which averages about a quarter million miles away), and closer than some high-orbiting communications satellites. 2012 DA14 will be about 17,200 miles (27,680 kilometers) away. It will not strike Earth in 2013. Astronomers’ calculations of asteroid orbits can be trusted. After all, even decades ago, they knew enough about calculating orbits to send people to the moon and bring them safely back, and today we are able place our space vehicles in orbit around objects as small as asteroids.

The asteroid won’t be visible to the eye, but you can watch the February 15 asteroid flyby online, in real-time.

So, no, 2012 DA14 won’t strike us in 2013. There was a remote possibility it might strike us in 2020, but that possibility has been ruled out also.

What will happen when Asteroid 2012 DA14 passes closely in 2013?

What will happen when it passes us? The short answer is … nothing. On the day it passes, most of us won’t see it or be aware of its passage, in any way. The asteroid won’t alter the tides. It won’t cause volcanoes. It’ll just sweep closely past us – as millions of asteroids have done throughout Earth’s four-and-a-half-billion-year history – some in your own lifetime.

The asteroid will be within range for small telescopes and solidly mounted binoculars, used by experienced observers who have access to appropriate stars charts. Here’s what NASA says about its visibility:

On [February 15, 2013], the asteroid will travel rapidly from the southern evening sky into the northern morning sky with its closest Earth approach occurring about 19:26 UTC when it will achieve a magnitude of less than seven, which is somewhat fainter than naked eye visibility. About 4 minutes after its Earth close approach, there is a good chance it will pass into the Earth’s shadow for about 18 minutes or so before reappearing from the eclipse. When traveling rapidly into the northern morning sky, 2012 DA14 will quickly fade in brightness.

Full Story at earthsky.org

New Art in Zazzle Store For 2013

New Art in the Zazzle Store for 2013… I’ve been busy.

New Stuff

Lots of fun stuff available on the art of vikki zazzle store :) 

Twitter Art Exhibit: Los Angeles

Call for artists – #twitterartexhibit

WHAT: Twitter Art Exhibit: Los Angeles | Benefiting Art Division
WHEN: Saturday, January 12, 2013 | 7-10PM
Show runs January 12 – February 10, 2013
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Friday, January 4th, 2013
WHERE: Exhale Unlimited (E.U.) Gallery | 953 Chung King Road, Los Angeles, CA 90012
CURATED BY: Nat George, Virginia Arce
FOLLOW: Website: www.twitterartexhibit.org | Twitter: @twitrartexhibit | Facebook: /twitterartexhibit

Twitter Art Exhibit: Los Angeles is the third installment of an open international exhibition of handmade postcard art for charity, donated by hundreds of participating artists from around the globe.

While the first two exhibitions were held in Moss, Norway, the Los Angeles show marks a global launch for the concept by founder David Sandum, a Swedish-born artist who conceived the Twitter Art Exhibit as a vehicle for doing good through social media and online community-building. The idea is simple: artists from all over the world receive a call through Twitter social media to create original postcard-sized art, which they mail to a local curator who then exhibits and sells them to benefit a local charity. Artists must have a Twitter account and interact with exhibition organizers to help seed the event.

In its first year, Twitter Art Exhibit received postcards from over 260 artists in 24 countries, raising funds to buy 221 new children’s books for a struggling library in Moss, Norway. The second installment received entries by 360 artists in 32 countries, raising $4,000 USD for an abused women’s shelter, also in Moss.

With the Los Angeles show, Twitter Art Exhibit hopes to expand the concept to support small, local nonprofits around the globe while opening new markets and exhibition opportunities for participating artists. The L.A. event will be held at E.U. Gallery on Chung King Road in Chinatown’s Arts District, neighbor to Coagula Projects, The Company, and Charlie James Gallery.

The event will be highly publicized and well attended by art buyers and enthusiasts, members of the press, local artists and the community, as well as members and young students of Art Division.

Of course, social media plays a major role in the Twitter Art Exhibit. It’s our intention to tweet, share, seed and promote our artists to thank them for their participation, and to make this event a huge success.

For details on submissions, the Gallery Show and such, check out http://twitterartexhibit.org/callforartists and follow @DavidSandumArt and @twitrartexhibit on Twitter.