Last night there was a reverberating boom over the Old Pueblo and a large meteor shower that lit up the night sky.

The meteor shower took place around 7:11 p.m.

NASA is referring to it as the 900-pound gorilla of meteor showers.

Everyone started freaking out on Twitter:

#tucson I saw the meteor and heard an explosion about 90 seconds later. It was very bright over OV
— Ali Boelts (@AliBoelts) December 11, 2013

Just saw the crazy #meteor in #tucson. Lit up the sky like a camera flash. Heard a faint blast about 4 minutes later. Not sure it's related.
— Jason Canfield (@reeljc) December 11, 2013

A meteor sighting over the AZ skies tonite! A beginning of the Geminid Meteor shower event from dec 13 -18, 2013! pic.twitter.com/lYZcNwev55
— waynesworld photos (@waynedaniels) December 11, 2013

Hey Tucson, did a meteor crash? Asteroid? Aliens?
— ami (@_ami_d) December 11, 2013

The movie Charlie Countryman has been getting a little more attention because of some recent tweets by actress Evan Rachel Wood, who has been chiding the Motion Picture Association of America, the mysterious organization that determines how movies are rated. In order to go from an NC-17 rating to an R-rating, film director Frederik Bond took out a scene in which Wood receives oral sex from co-star Shia LaBeouf.

Wood says the obvious:

After seeing the new cut of #CharlieCountryman I would like 2 share my disappointment with the MPAA, who thought it was necessary to...
— Evan Rachel Wood (@evanrachelwood) November 27, 2013

...censor a womans sexuality once again. The scene where the two main characters make "love" was altered because someone felt that seeing...
— Evan Rachel Wood (@evanrachelwood) November 27, 2013

...a man give a woman oral sex made people "uncomfortable" but the scenes in which people are murdered by having their heads blown off...
— Evan Rachel Wood (@evanrachelwood) November 27, 2013

Between reading a local blog and the local daily this morning, I'm kinda wondering what all the celebrating is all about. According to both, the law firm DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy is no longer representing the Tucson Unified School District. The law firm has received a share of criticism from deseg and Mexican-American studies supporters in how different aspects of the MAS administration court case was handled, as well as helping TUSD take an adversarial approach to the deseg process—which in the end hasn't been good for the district, for its kids and has cost the district a load of cash (the Star reported this morning more than $800,000).

But to declare that DeConcini is completely out is not just moronic, but may be wrong. According to a legal notice filed with the Ninth District Judge David C. Bury by DeConcini McDonald Yetwin and Lacy, two DeConcini attorneys remain part of the desegregation case. The new firm now representing TUSD and its attorneys were added today: "J. William Brammer, Jr., Michael J. Rusing, Oscar S. Lizardi and Patricia L. Victory of Rusing Lopez & Lizardi, P.L.L.C. associates as counsel of record for Defendant Tucson Unified School District in this matter along with Lisa Anne Smith and Sesaly O. Stamps of DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy, P.C., and Nancy H. Woll of Tucson Unified School District Legal Department."

Here's a copy of the notice filed today in federal court:

TUSD_filing_re_attorney_association.pdf

Plus it's not like Brammer hasn't eaten at the DeConcini buffet before. According to a Yahoo Business Wire story filed on Feb. 6, 2013, Brammer, was appointed an Arizona Court of Appeals judge 15 years ago before leaving to joing Rusing Lopez and Lizardi. Before that ... yep, he worked for DeConcini McDonald Yetwin and Lacy and he worked on the TUSD desegregation case in those golden years. OK, well maybe the post-golden years.

Instead of throwing around vitriol for the masses, why look a little more closely and recognize it's just keeping it in the family and legal musical chairs, and what this means for the district, the deseg case and students in the district ... time will tell.

At 5:43 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 9, UA Professor of Planetary Science Dante Lauretta unveiled the countdown clock for the OSIRIS-Rex mission.

At that point, exactly 999 days remained until the launch window opened for the UA’s latest foray into the final frontier: A robotic space probe designed to swing up next to an asteroid, take photos and gather data, and then swoop in close enough to grab a sample from the space rock that will be launched back to Earth in a capsule.

“This is a constant reminder now to everybody in this building and everybody on the team: Every day when you come into work, you’ll see that the clock is ticking, time is going by and the launch window is inescapable,” said Lauretta, who serving as principal investigator on the OSIRIS-REx mission. “The asteroid is not going to wait for us. We have to get off the surface of the Earth starting in September of 2016.”

While that may seem like a long way off, there’s much work that needs to be done in order to get OSIRIS-REx off the ground. Before the launch, the team will have to build and test a collection of cameras and other instruments that will work in concert with each other to ensure that the $800 million mission is a success. (Wikipedia has a good rundown of the various instruments.)

The first step happens between now and April of next year as the team puts the components through what’s called a “shake and bake” test.

“We’re going to shake it harder than the rocket is going to shake it,” Lauretta said. “We’re gonna bake it hotter than the sun is going to bake it. We’re going to put it through all the different environments that it is going to experience in deep space and make sure it can still operate.”

Agustin Kitchen is reopening after renovations, with Bad-Ass Iron Chef Ryan Clark at the helm in the new open kitchen. It will be fun to see the rock star chef at work on a new menu and in a fresh environment, considering he has accomplished just about every possible culinary feat in town.

So, I guess there is a thing going on right now, TIPS FOR JESUS. Extravagant tips are being left on restaurant tabs around the map, marked with a stamp that reads @tipsforjesus or simply signed "Tips For Jesus". I knew the god good old ol bearded one was a man of the peoples, I just had no idea he was ever a waiter.

Vero Amore, known for its Neapolitan Pizza and comfy, homemade, Italian dishes, has officially opened its doors in its new, larger, Plaza Palamino on 2920 N. Swan Road #114.

There will be a protest against rising tuition costs and the falling quality of education in Arizona in front of the University of Arizona Administration Building tomorrow at noon.

The Atlantic reported that the state of Arizona has cut higher education funding by 50% and increased tuition costs by 78.4% from 2008 to 2013.

In Arizona, where the cuts were the deepest, funding has been hacked in half. Nationwide, legislatures have sliced off 28 percent on average. Only two states — Wyoming and oil-rich North Dakota — have increased it, by the think tank's calculations.*

• Graphic from reddit.

In last-minute super-surprising news, Aziz Ansari is coming to Casino Del Sol's Event Center on December 27. Yes, this December 27. In an era where it seems like most big shows are announced six months or more ahead of time, you've got a little more than two weeks (well, depending on when you read this) to get your act together if you want to see one of America's most prominent comics (and R. Kelly apologist) live in Tucson.

Tickets range from $45 to $85 and are on sale now.

Here's a clip from his most recent special, Buried Alive: