Magazine Posts

Where is the one, who started it all?
When did he decide to never call,
a shovel a spade or to rake with tines,
and move the leaves, which entwine,
among the flexible teeth of the tool.
Why do we rake leaves, when wet?
Are we just an old fool?

Beach Bums of Camano Island

The few words, I knew,
the less I would say,
except the words Hello
and have a good day.
I played by myself,
there were no other boys,
so I became the Master
of all of my toys.
I know what you're thinking,
for it most certainly would be,
I was a small child;
a child, age three

She was quite soft,
she sat next to me.
I put my arm around her,
moving as close as could be.
I remember the softness,
as I became more aware.
She was covered with fur,
there was no hair,
for my new love to be
was my first Teddy Bear.

Where have you been?
Where did you go?
Life has moved on
to a new show.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Is that a fossil?  Looking through recent images of Mars taken by the new Perseverance rover may seem a bit like treasure hunting, with the possibility of fame coming to the first person to correctly identify a petrified bone, a rock imprinted by an ancient plant, or any clear indication that life once existed on Mars.  Unfortunately, even though it is possible that something as spectacular as a skeleton could be identified, most exobiologists think it much more likely that biochemical remnants of ancient single-celled microbes could be found with Perseverance's chemical analyzers.  A key reason is that multicellular organisms may take a greater amount of oxygen to evolve than has ever been present on Mars. That said, nobody's sure, so please feel free to digitally magnify any Perseverance image that interests you -- including the featured 360-degree zoomable image of the rocks and ridges surrounding Perseverance's landing location in Jezero Crater. And even though NASA-affiliated scientists are themselves studying Perseverance's images, if you see anything really unusual, please post it to popular social media. If your sighting turns out to be particularly intriguing, scientifically, it is likely that NASA will hear about it.

The snow fell,
covering the ground,
muffling the noise,
quiet the sound.
A light wind,
down from the hills,
removing the snow
from my Daffodils.
Less than a month,
for a new Spring
and for some Sun,
flowers to bring.

I no longer know you;
I cannot recall your name.
We were a couple;
some thoughts remain.
Then it was over.
I was to blame.
Rest well, my sweet one.
Please, now rest well,
as my journey has started,
on the long road to Hell.

For want of life
I care not
as I am the one
who has brought
forth the life
of which I know.
Ask me not
for I will go,
to the end of
life and end of show.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What created the unusual red tail in Comet NEOWISE? Sodium. A spectacular sight back in the summer of 2020, Comet NEOWISE, at times, displayed something more than just a surprisingly striated white dust tail and a pleasingly patchy blue ion tail. Some color sensitive images showed an unusual red tail, and analysis showed much of this third tail's color was emitted by sodium. Gas rich in sodium atoms might have been liberated from Comet NEOWISE's warming nucleus in early July by bright sunlight, electrically charged by ultraviolet sunlight, and then pushed out by the solar wind. The featured image was captured in mid-July from Brittany, France and shows the real colors. Sodium comet tails have been seen before but are rare -- this one disappeared by late July. Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) has since faded, lost all of its bright tails, and now approaches the orbit of Jupiter as it heads back to the outer Solar System, to return only in about 7,000 years. Astrophysicists: Browse 2,400+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library

Photo by Nicolas Lefaudeux