Magazine Posts

"Loneliness can be a shameful hunger, a shell, a dangerous landscape of shadowy figures. But it is also a gift" Read more

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

In one of the brightest parts of Milky Way lies a nebula where some of the oddest things occur. NGC 3372, known as the Great Nebula in Carina, is home to massive stars and changing nebulas. The Keyhole Nebula (NGC 3324), the bright structure just below the image center, houses several of these massive stars. The entire Carina Nebula, captured here, spans over 300 light years and lies about 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Carina. Eta Carinae, the most energetic star in the nebula, was one of the brightest stars in the sky in the 1830s, but then faded dramatically. While Eta Carinae itself maybe on the verge of a supernova explosion, X-ray images indicate that much of the Great Nebula in Carina has been a veritable supernova factory.

Photo by Ignacio Javier Diaz Bobillo

I have been spending considerable time
with my wife, as she transitions and adjusts
to living in a Memory Care Facility.
During this time I will join her for her
evening meal and sit with her and other
residents of the facility. The range of
those in the facility will vary over most
every situation.
One lady, lovely tells of her time as a
dance instructor and is always doing
crossword puzzles, constantly. I talk to
her and she always ask for my name and
month of birth. She is lovely and easy to
talk with. Others may have unique activities
such as an obsession to pick up every crumb
or article on the floor or on the furniture.
She also likes to dance and will often be
dancing instead of eating. She dances with grace
and seems to know all the lyrics for all the old
songs. She is pleasant and always acknowledges
my presence by stating my name.
Yes, there are some others, who want to hold a
toy doll or a stuffed animal. They are quiet,
unassuming and will talk to you. All have issues,
of varying degrees but most are very sociable.
They are not scary or someone you would believe
to have any memory issues other than they are
there as a resident.
There are a few who are vocal with their issues, to
the point of distraction but they are few in numbers.
I can say I have made friends with most of them although
I realize many won't remember. My wife is adapting.
She calls me "My Husband." She does not know my name
but she tells me she loves me many times. I do not
like seeing her losing all of our memories but do cherish
the words, I Love You heard every day.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Just now, before you hit the button, two future universes are possible. After pressing the button, though, you will live in only one. A real-web version of the famous Schrödinger's cat experiment clicking the red button in the featured astronaut image should transform that image into a picture of the same astronaut holding one of two cats -- one living, or one dead. The timing of your click, combined with the wiring of your brain and the millisecond timing of your device, will all conspire together to create a result dominated, potentially, by the randomness of quantum mechanics. Some believe that your personally-initiated quantum decision will split the universe in two, and that both the live-cat and dead-cat universes exist in separate parts of a larger multiverse. Others believe that the result of your click will collapse the two possible universes into one -- in a way that could not have been predicted beforehand. Yet others believe that the universe is classically deterministic, so that by pressing the button you did not really split the universe, but just carried out an action predestined since time began. We at APOD believe that however silly you may feel clicking the red button, and regardless of the outcome, you should have a thought-provoking day. Or two.

When I was a younger man,
I would see older people,
who walked in short,
choppy steps.
I was in Starbucks today
and walked across the street
to the local Bank.
Yep. You guessed it, short,
choppy steps. Feet further
apart as my balance sucks.
A few days ago, I tripped,
going up the front steps,
when my slipper had a
blowout and I did a nice
pirouette, with a twist
and landed on my left hip.
Fortunately, the only large
rock was there, to break
my fall. I had a big bruise,
but no broken bones. Just
a fear someone saw me
and a big embarrassment.
No harm, no foul as we
would say on the playground.

When the walls of life
begin to crumble,
when your memories
have turned to dust,
where will you be tomorrow?
Who is it you can trust?

I've written of words
and how they're used
in taking you places,
near and far.
How surprised I am,
for while in a bar,
I talked to a person,
about his new car.
I asked about the
Model and Make.
He said to me,
"Why do you ask questions,
about something so vague?
I can't afford a new car.
What I said was a mistake."

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

A gorgeous spiral galaxy, Messier 104 is famous for its nearly edge-on profile featuring a broad ring of obscuring dust lanes. Seen in silhouette against an extensive central bulge of stars, the swath of cosmic dust lends a broad brimmed hat-like appearance to the galaxy suggesting a more popular moniker, the Sombrero Galaxy. This sharp view of the well-known galaxy was made from over 10 hours of Hubble Space Telescope image data, processed to bring out faint details often lost in the overwhelming glare of M104's bright central bulge. Also known as NGC 4594, the Sombrero galaxy can be seen across the spectrum, and is host to a central supermassive black hole. About 50,000 light-years across and 28 million light-years away, M104 is one of the largest galaxies at the southern edge of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster. Still, the spiky foreground stars in this field of view lie well within our own Milky Way.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

No sudden, sharp boundary marks the passage of day into night in this gorgeous view of ocean and clouds over our fair planet Earth. Instead, the shadow line or terminator is diffuse and shows the gradual transition to darkness we experience as twilight. With the Sun illuminating the scene from the right, the cloud tops reflect gently reddened sunlight filtered through the dusty troposphere, the lowest layer of the planet's nurturing atmosphere. A clear high altitude layer, visible along the dayside's upper edge, scatters blue sunlight and fades into the blackness of space. This picture was taken in June of 2001 from the International Space Station orbiting at an altitude of 211 nautical miles. Of course from home, you can check out the Earth Now. Celebrate: Today is Earth Day

Sweden has virtually eliminated the need for landfills. Swedes recycle half their garbage, but it’s what they do with the rest that sets them apart. Rather than dump their trash into giant holes in the ground, they convert it to energy, keeping their lights bright and their homes warm with the stuff most countries throw away."  Read more

Image: Malmo Sweden by David Mark

"While there is still time to solve the climate crisis, time to choose BOTH a prosperous and sustainable future, and time to restore nature and build a healthy planet for our children and their children, time is short."

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated  on April 22 since 1970, to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org