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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The strangest moon in the Solar System is bright yellow. The featured picture, an attempt to show how Io would appear in the "true colors" perceptible to the average human eye, was taken in 1999 July by the Galileo spacecraft that orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003. Io's colors derive from sulfur and molten silicate rock. The unusual surface of Io is kept very young by its system of active volcanoes. The intense tidal gravity of Jupiter stretches Io and damps wobbles caused by Jupiter's other Galilean moons. The resulting friction greatly heats Io's interior, causing molten rock to explode through the surface. Io's volcanoes are so active that they are effectively turning the whole moon inside out. Some of Io's volcanic lava is so hot it glows in the dark. Artemis 1 Coverage: Orion return and splashdown

"Forever chemicals or PFAS, can increase health risks for certain cancers and other diseases when present in drinking water in minuscule concentrations measured in parts per trillion. ....... Testing has found more than a dozen Washington public water systems with detections above levels defined by the state to be suitable for long-term consumption — and widespread testing is just ramping up" Read more

I went out, alone,
all by myself.
The first time in years,
being my jolly old self.

Off to the VFW
for music and drink,
on best behavior,
that's what I think.

Music was playing
and I listened more,
as many couples
were on the dance floor.

I didn't dance,
didn't want to,
unless it was with my
beloved, that's you.

All you young lover,
across the broad sea,
return to your birthplace
for she is awaiting thee.

A quote from a recent purchase of a journal.
"Paper will
always
listen to
you."

From Rumi to Blake to Nick Cave, by way of trees, hummingbirds, grief, and music. In this sixteenth year of The Marginalian, which draws primarily on the timeless wonders and wisdoms of the past, here are sixteen books of the immediate present that left on me a mark on par with those immortals — Read more

If I told you,
I'm leaving tomorrow
and shan't return,
because of the sorrow.

Would it be upsetting,
if I asked to borrow,
more words of sadness,
until the next morrow?

The love you have given,
is being taken away.
Life appears to be over,
while I hope and pray.

Please let me be.
Don't tell me it's good,
for of all the words,
I want not to be misunderstood.

Talk about tomorrow
Which may never come.
Recalling memories
Before they succumb.

The Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony takes place in Oslo City Hall on December 10 – the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.  The 2022 Peace Prize was awarded to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties. See all 2022 Nobel Prizes

Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, and industrialist most famously known for the invention of dynamite. He died in 1896. In his will, he bequeathed all of his "remaining realizable assets" to be used to establish five prizes which became known as "Nobel Prizes." Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901.The Nobel Prizes, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." 

Nobel Prizes are awarded in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace (Nobel characterized the Peace Prize as "to the person who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses"). In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden's central bank) funded the establishment of the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, to also be administered by the Nobel Foundation. Nobel Prizes are widely regarded as the most prestigious awards available in their respective fields.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Get out your red/blue glasses and check out this stereo view of another world. Fifty years ago the scene was recorded by Apollo 17 mission commander Eugene Cernan on December 11, 1972, one orbit before descending to land on the Moon. The stereo anaglyph was assembled from two photographs (AS17-147-22465, AS17-147-22466) captured from his vantage point on board the Lunar Module Challenger as he and Dr. Harrison Schmitt flew over Apollo 17's landing site in the Taurus-Littrow Valley. The broad, sunlit face of the mountain dubbed South Massif rises near the center of the frame, above the dark floor of Taurus-Littrow to its left. Piloted by Ron Evans, the Command Module America is visible in orbit in the foreground against the South Massif's peak. Beyond the mountains, toward the lunar limb, lies the Moon's Mare Serenitatis.

"I’ve been teaching English for 12 years, and I’m astounded by what ChatGPT can produce.......  Barring outright plagiarism, students have always arrived at that moment when they’re on their own with a blank page, staring down a blinking cursor, the essay waiting to be written...... Now that might be about to change" Read more

I will write prose
of verse, sonnets and thing
of love's sweet emotions,
which makes my heart sing.

Sing of the love for
my mother and friend.
Sing of a love,
which will never end.

After my time is past,
here no longer, gone,
my words will still
be, the lyrics of a song.