Magazine Posts

I had great balance
when I was young,
but that has now
escaped my being
for simple tasks, you see
are hampered by neuropathy.
No feeling in legs
nor in my feet.
Wobbling about on
trembling legs
no matter what
or where I walk.
I'm best right now
to just sit and talk.

Excuse my ma'am,
I said to she,
but when she turned
she was a he.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

One of the last entries in Charles Messier's famous catalog, big, beautiful spiral galaxy M101 is definitely not one of the least. About 170,000 light-years across, this galaxy is enormous, almost twice the size of our own Milky Way Galaxy. M101 was also one of the original spiral nebulae observed with Lord Rosse's large 19th century telescope, the Leviathan of Parsonstown. In contrast, this multiwavelength view of the large island universe is a composite of images recorded by space-based telescopes in the 21st century. Color coded from X-rays to infrared wavelengths (high to low energies), the image data was taken from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (purple), the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (blue), Hubble Space Telescope(yellow), and the Spitzer Space Telescope(red). While the X-ray data trace the location of multimillion degree gas around M101's exploded stars and neutron star and black hole binary star systems, the lower energy data follow the stars and dust that define M101's grand spiral arms. Also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, M101 lies within the boundaries of the northern constellation Ursa Major, about 25 million light-years away.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Why are these galaxies spinning so fast? If you estimated each spiral's mass by how much light it emits, their fast rotations should break them apart. The leading hypothesis as to why these galaxies don't break apart is dark matter -- mass so dark we can't see it. But these galaxies are even out-spinning this break-up limit -- they are the fastest rotating disk galaxies known. It is therefore further hypothesized that their dark matter halos are so massive -- and their spins so fast -- that it is harder for them to form stars than regular spirals. If so, then these galaxies may be among the most massive spirals possible. Further study of surprising super-spirals like these will continue, likely including observations taken by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope scheduled for launch in 2021.

I grasp the pen
within my hand.
My wrists complain
with pain.
It now appears
that arthritis
is back again.

There will be no tomorrow
if you're not there.
There will be no tomorrow
or a love to share.
Be safe my love,
be safe and free,
for in the morrow
I'll wait for thee.

My mind is a flutter,
Clogged with lots of clutter.
I need a mental enema,
That is for sure.
Stupid words.
No rhyming in season
What is the reason,
That my heads hurts
In the morning,
But not at night.
My back is aching,
Until a hot shower.
I feel like a horse,
Rode hard and
Put away wet
And yet,
These are words
That I now get.
Why is that?
I ask the Lord.
Is it because
I'm mentally bored
Or that this writing
Will be so abhorred?

My mind is wandering
far and wide.
Running from something
I cannot hide.
Trying hard to forget
and the plight
that seems to visit
only at night.