Magazine Posts

As we travel through
this short life,
we won't always be happy,
but will deal with strife.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

It was bright and green and stretched across the sky. This striking aurora display was captured in 2016 just outside of Östersund, Sweden. Six photographic fields were merged to create the featured panorama spanning almost 180 degrees. Particularly striking aspects of this aurora include its sweeping arc-like shape and its stark definition. Lake Storsjön is seen in the foreground, while several familiar constellations and the star Polaris are visible through the aurora, far in the background. Coincidently, the aurora appears to avoid the Moon visible on the lower left. The aurora appeared a day after a large hole opened in the Sun's corona, allowing particularly energetic particles to flow out into the Solar System. The green color of the aurora is caused by oxygen atoms recombining with ambient electrons high in the Earth's atmosphere. Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post 1995)

Photo by Göran Strand

The thoughts and memories,
which lay with in this aged mind,
have deteriorated to the point,
my mind, is a wasteland, too unkind,

when memories, once in your mind,
disappear for any reason,
it becomes a trying experience,
perhaps, the mind should have a season.

Unfortunately, that isn't the way it works.
A Spring for rediscovery new ideas and
recurring beauty would be great.
Unfortunately, my mind is a desert of sand.

The grieving process for Dementia
and Alzheimer Disease, can stretch
out for years, thus the title of many,
The Long Goodbye.

Now over 10 years of a slow decline,
of a once beautiful, intelligent, person,
who, as some say, "I was lucky to have
her as long as I did. 66+ years.
But it still hurts!

A wayward waltz,
a Two Step, A Tango.
My dance steps,
went through a mangle.

Trying to waltz,
with a Two Step plan,
I broke my foot,
trying to dance the Vesuvian.

Hobbling, with my injury,
can't get on the floor.
I'll see another way,
and learn to dance, once more.

"The Food and Drug Administration’s ability to approve the chemical filters in sunscreens that are sold in countries such as Japan, South Korea, and France is hamstrung by a 1938 U.S. law that requires sunscreens to be tested on animals and classified as drugs, rather than as cosmetics as they are in much of the world. So Americans are not likely to get those better sunscreens — which block the ultraviolet rays that can cause skin cancer and lead to wrinkles — in time for this summer, or even the next." More at KFF Health News ➜

"In the U.S., 350 slices are eaten every second, while 40% of Americans eat pizza at least once a week.
There’s a reason why pizza is so popular. Humans are drawn to foods that are fatty and sweet and rich and complex. Pizza has all of these components. Cheese is fatty, meat toppings tend to be rich, and the sauce is sweet". More at The Conversation ➜

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Can a gas cloud eat a galaxy? It's not even close. The "claw" of this odd looking "creature" in the featured photo is a gas cloud known as a cometary globule. This globule, however, has ruptured. Cometary globules are typically characterized by dusty heads and elongated tails. These features cause cometary globules to have visual similarities to comets, but in reality they are very much different. Globules are frequently the birthplaces of stars, and many show very young stars in their heads. The reason for the rupture in the head of this object is not yet known. The galaxy to the left of the globule is huge, very far in the distance, and only placed near CG4 by chance superposition.

Here I sit, in this morass,
of emotional baggage.
The twist and turns, in this
new life are overpowering me.

Forced into decisions, I don't want.
Playing with my head,
when what was real,
is now certainly dead.

I find myself withdrawing,
from a good life.
I still see family but find
the closeness, starting to wane.
He's the old guy, who is becoming
more work than I need.

I am still polite but do not,
have discussions with
people about changes to the way
I was. Color me pitiful and sad,
as I drag my blanket.

Decades ago, Kris Hansen showed 3M that its PFAS chemicals were in people’s bodies. Her bosses halted her work. As the EPA now forces the removal of the chemicals from drinking water, she wrestles with the secrets that 3M kept from her and the world. More at ProPublica ➜