Magazine Posts

He is a legend,
in his own mind.
A real standout,
surely, one of kind.

He talks about him,
even on how or more.
Listen carefully,
just don't keep score.

What about virtue?
He claims it is his.
He's not an expert,
perhaps, he's a brain whiz.

It's all about business,
it's not about you.
Don't take it personal,
just ask, what? Who?

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What's that in front of the Sun? The closest object is an airplane, visible just below the Sun's center and caught purely by chance. Next out are numerous clouds in Earth's atmosphere, creating a series of darkened horizontal streaks. Farther out is Earth's Moon, seen as the large dark circular bite on the upper right. Just above the airplane and just below the Sun's surface are sunspots. The main sunspot group captured here, AR 2192, was in 2014 one of the largest ever recorded and had been crackling and bursting with flares since it came around the edge of the Sun a week before. This show of solar silhouettes was unfortunately short-lived. Within a few seconds the plane flew away. Within a few minutes the clouds drifted off. Within a few hours the partial solar eclipse of the Sun by the Moon was over. Fortunately, when it comes to the Sun, even unexpected alignments are surprisingly frequent. Perhaps one will be imaged this Saturday when a new partial solar eclipse will be visible from much of North and South America. APOD editor to speak: in Houghton, Michigan on Thursday, October 12 at 6 pm

Photo by Doyle and Shannon Slifer

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

This picture of Andromeda shows not only where stars are now, but where stars will be. The big, beautiful Andromeda Galaxy, M31, is a spiral galaxy a mere 2.5 million light-years away. Image data from space-based and ground-based observatories have been combined here to produce this intriguing composite view of Andromeda at wavelengths both inside and outside normally visible light. The visible light shows where M31's stars are now, highlighted in white and blue hues and imaged by the Hubble, Subaru, and Mayall telescopes. The infrared light shows where M31's future stars will soon form, highlighted in orange hues and imaged by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The infrared light tracks enormous lanes of dust, warmed by stars, sweeping along Andromeda's spiral arms. This dust is a tracer of the galaxy's vast interstellar gas, raw material for future star formation. Of course, the new stars will likely form over the next hundred million years or so. That's well before Andromeda merges with our Milky Way Galaxy in about 5 billion years.

"A group of three researchers earned the 2023 Nobel Prize in physics for work that has revolutionized how scientists study the electron – by illuminating molecules with attosecond-long flashes of light .... Atto is the scientific notation prefix that represents 10-18, which is a decimal point followed by 17 zeroes and a 1. So a flash of light lasting an attosecond, or 0.000000000000000001 of a second, is an extremely short pulse of light. In fact, there are approximately as many attoseconds in one second as there are seconds in the age of the universe". More at The Conversation ➜

I went to visit my wife yesterday afternoon.
She was not in the dining room, and most of
the residents had almost finished eating.

She wasn't enraptured to see me. No smile,
just a dull look in her eyes. I suspect she had
just woken and was still sleepy.

I was irritated as the custom had been to
wake those sleeping, around 3 or 4 so they
would be ready for dinner a little after 5.
It wasn't the case yesterday. This raised a
question about is this a normal treatment
or just an aberration?

I understand the demands placed upon the
Care Givers here. There are some residents,
are vocal, some very vocal, so they get attention.
My wife however, seldom speaks and doesn't
attract the attention that others may.

I like the staff who work with my wife but
this situation upsets me, if it is routine.
Looks like another meeting with management
is in order.

I am tiring,
when faced with those,
who attempt to play,
"head" games.

"Suck up's" are nearby,
buddying up with those
who had a position here.
Enough already. Pay no homage.

There are some "smooth talkers",
here, all men. Some naive women,
who don't recognize when
someone is "hitting on" them.

I suppose there are some
games they played before,
coming here.
I've heard most of them.

I am certain, this isn't the only
place where this occurs. Nevertheless,
I find it amusing, but also sad these
type of games being played at
this time of life.
How old am I?

They shoved me into the breech,
no questions asked, no approval given.
Why am I in the place,
one of hate, not being forgiven?

I don't believe,
I want to know,
but what happens,
when I have to go,

away from this place,
of sadness and woe.
Tell me please,
for I don't know.

Ahoy, the ship,
sailing in the night.
How do you run,
without a light?

Light may come,
in daylight, bright,
or with lanterns,
during the night.

Should you be,
where you are?
Does it matter,
if near or far?