Magazine Posts

"Organized crime is mining sand from rivers and coasts to feed demand worldwide, ruining ecosystems and communities. Can it be stopped? ....... Every year the world uses up to 50 billion metric tons of sand, according to a United Nations Environment Program report. The only natural resource more widely consumed is water. "  More at Scientific American ➜

The increase number of challenges targeted 65% more books titles for Censorship over The Previous Year. More at The American Library Association ➜

Island County, WA

What are you thinking,
about your God above?
Don't be too sad, for you,
may be falling in Love.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

A bright comet will be visible during next month's total solar eclipse. This very unusual coincidence occurs because Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks's return to the inner Solar System places it by chance only 25 degrees away from the Sun during Earth's April 8 total solar eclipse. Currently the comet is just on the edge of visibility to the unaided eye, best visible with binoculars in the early evening sky toward the constellation of the Fish (Pisces). Comet Pons-Brooks, though, is putting on quite a show for deep camera images even now. The featured image is a composite of three very specific colors, showing the comet's ever-changing ion tail in light blue, its outer coma in green, and highlights some red-glowing gas around the coma in a spiral. The spiral is thought to be caused by gas being expelled by the slowly rotating nucleus of the giant iceberg comet. Although it is always difficult to predict the future brightness of comets, Comet Pons-Brook has been particularly prone to outbursts, making it even more difficult to predict how bright it will actually be as the Moon moves in front of the Sun on April 8. Total Eclipse Info: 2024 Total Solar Eclipse from NASA

Photo by Jan Erik Vallestad

Could have been.
Couldn't be.
We'll never know,
We'll never see.

Refugees, we are,
Refugees, we will be,
As we flee from,
This warped society,

Where lying is encouraged,
While truth matters not.
All the Golden Rule's, broken.
Everyone can be bought.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Is this galaxy jumping through a giant ring of stars? Probably not. Although the precise dynamics behind the featured image is yet unclear, what is clear is that the pictured galaxy, NGC 7714, has been stretched and distorted by a recent collision with a neighboring galaxy. This smaller neighbor, NGC 7715, situated off to the left of the frame, is thought to have charged right through NGC 7714. Observations indicate that the golden ring pictured is composed of millions of older Sun-like stars that are likely co-moving with the interior bluer stars. In contrast, the bright center of NGC 7714 appears to be undergoing a burst of new star formation. The featured image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. NGC 7714 is located about 130 million light years away toward the constellation of the Two Fish (Pisces). The interactions between these galaxies likely started about 150 million years ago and should continue for several hundred million years more, after which a single central galaxy may result.

I see visions of loneliness,
when I'm sitting under the tree,
in this beautiful courtyard,
here for all of thee.

Why don't you use it?
It's almost free.
Included in your rent,
with flowers, beautiful to see.

"Reconnecting children and nature may be the last cause in America that transcends political, religious, racial, and professional barriers; it brings people to the same table who usually do not want to be in the same room. Again and again, I have seen conservatives and liberals, physicians and educators, conservationists and developers, and many others work together for this cause. No one wants to be in the last generation where it’s considered normal for a child to lay under a tree in the woods" More at The MIT Press Reader ➜

Saint Patrick (c. 385 – c. 461), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick,  commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and, by extension, celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general.is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, More

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The southern winter Milky Way sprawls across this night skyscape. Looking due south, the webcam view was recorded near local midnight on March 11 in dry, dark skies over the central Chilean Atacama desert. Seen below the graceful arc of diffuse starlight are satellite galaxies of the mighty Milky Way, also known as the Large and Small Magellanic clouds. In the foreground is the site of the European Southern Observatory's 40-metre-class Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). Under construction at the 3000 metre summit of Cerro Armazones, the ELT is on track to become planet Earth's biggest Eye on the Sky.

"......once melting glaciers shut down the Gulf Stream, we would see extreme climate change within decades, study shows" More at The Conversation ➜