Magazine Posts

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The cosmic brush of star formation composed this interstellar canvas of emission, dust, and dark nebulae. A 5 degree wide telescopic mosaic, it frames a region found north of bright star Aldebaran on the sky, at an inner wall of the local bubble along the Taurus molecular cloud. At lower left, emission cataloged as Sh2-239 shows signs of embedded young stellar objects. The region's Herbig-Haro objects, nebulosities associated with newly born stars, are marked by tell-tale reddish jets of shocked hydrogen gas. Above and right T Tauri, the prototype of the class of T Tauri variable stars, is next to a yellowish nebula historically known as Hind's Variable Nebula (NGC 1555). T Tauri stars are now generally recognized as young, less than a few million years old, sun-like stars still in the early stages of formation.

Photo by Yuexiao Shen

Moonlight beamed
off my brow.
I was still trying,
to determine how,

I had become,
entrapped here,
with few friends,
but family near.

I realized,
much too late,
my lovely wife,
my lifelong mate,

was no longer
close to see,
but one floor,
below me.

It's been a year,
the 28th of November.
No lying-in bed, no hugs,
all so hard to remember.

I will write of tomorrow
and the joy it will bring,
with friends and family,
we'll gather to sing.

A joyful time of life
a special time of year,
where we all gather,
singing songs, so dear.

Wind rustled,
through cattails,
near the pond,
rippling the water.

A peaceful sound,
with aroma unique.
Close your eyes,
enjoy a nap.
You will fall
into a deep sleep.

He was a
guitar picker,
loving to pick
when drinking liquor.

He became renowned
across the land,
becoming the lead,
in a Rock and Roll band.

She lay abandoned,
like a worn-out shoe.
Alone, was she
being homeless too.

Falling on tough times,
no help, she couldn't do
anything, no family,
who to turn to.

Trying to work.
What address? A few.
Could she use them?
Lord, what shall I do?

Slow cookers can make a delicious lasagna that's just as good as one cooked in the oven. Follow this recipe and make a delicious lasagna in your own slow cooker in about four to six hours. Enjoy your slow-cooked lasagna with some fresh herbs or a side salad. More at The Smart Slow Cooker ➜

"Garment workers in the US are paid far below minimum wage. New legislation, if implemented successfully, would change that. For decades, the “Buy American” movement rested on the belief that such labels guaranteed a certain standard of quality and care. There lingered an assumption that US-made garments were produced in a more ethical manner than their foreign competitors, particularly those imported from lower-cost countries. The reality, however, is a bit more complicated"  More at The Nation ➜

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Similar in size to large, bright spiral galaxies in our neighborhood, IC 342 is a mere 10 million light-years distant in the long-necked, northern constellation Camelopardalis. A sprawling island universe, IC 342 would otherwise be a prominent galaxy in our night sky, but it is hidden from clear view and only glimpsed through the veil of stars, gas and dust clouds along the plane of our own Milky Way galaxy. Even though IC 342's light is dimmed and reddened by intervening cosmic clouds, this sharp telescopic image traces the galaxy's own obscuring dust, young star clusters, and glowing star forming regions along spiral arms that wind far from the galaxy's core. IC 342 has undergone a recent burst of star formation activity and is close enough to have gravitationally influenced the evolution of the local group of galaxies and the Milky Way.

Photo by Steve Cannistra

What is a loss of life?
The loss of a single life
is insignificant, when compared
to thousands of lives lost during
wars, pestilence or starvation.

Is this the kind of world we
envisioned for our children
and ourselves? I think not,
yet here we are again still
engaging in these actions
due to water, oil, natural gas
or greed.
Indifference becomes intolerable.

When the Sun slips
into the Western Sea,
will my true love
return to me?

These are questions,
I wish to know,
the answer may
come too slow,

I will make
one more call,
to resolve the issue,
once and for all.