Magazine Posts

Where do we want to live in the years ahead? Older adults are asking this question anew in light of the ongoing toll of the coronavirus pandemic — disrupted lives, social isolation, mounting deaths. Many are changing their minds............ Continue reading

Pork chops, brined overnight in a salt sugar solution, seared and served with parsley lemon garlic gremolata . Click the image below to read Elise Bauer's recipe  at Simply Recipes

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The general trend of monthly sunspot data now confirms that the minimum of the approximately 11 year cycle of solar activity occurred in December 2019, marking the start of Solar Cycle 25. That quiet Sun, at minimum activity, appears on the right of this split hemispherical view. In contrast, the left side shows the active Sun at the recognized maximum of Solar Cycle 24, captured in April 2014. The extreme ultraviolet images from the orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory highlight coronal loops and active regions in the light of highly ionized iron atoms. Driving the space weather around our fair planet, Solar Cycle 24 was a relatively calm one and predictions are that cycle 25 will be calm too. The cycle 25 activity maximum is expected in July 2025. Solar Cycle 1, the first solar cycle determined from early records of sunspot data, is considered to begin with a minimum in February 1755.

I am now lost
and won't be found
for my sanity is losing ground.
Discussions I have at night
are meaningless, yet in spite
of all the love there is to give
I feel lost and will not receive
the heart felt feelings, I see
from you to this tired me.

The well is empty like my head.
There are no words, but instead
Just a desire to go back to bed.
My sleep is long but I toss and turn
For trying to sleep I must earn.
I know if I do not get some rest
The sleep I'll get may be a test
Of my will, or well it will depend
Upon what you say, my old friend.

#saratogapassage #wherearethemountains #hardtobreathe #needsomerain #another2020disaster #smokeonthewater

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Why does asteroid Bennu eject gravel into space? No one is sure. The discovery, occurring during several episodes by NASA's visiting OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, was unexpected. Leading ejection hypotheses include impacts by Sun-orbiting meteoroids, sudden thermal fractures of internal structures, and the sudden release of a water vapor jet. The featured two-image composite shows an ejection event that occurred in early 2019, with sun-reflecting ejecta seen on the right. Data and simulations show that large gravel typically falls right back to the rotating 500-meter asteroid, while smaller rocks skip around the surface, and the smallest rocks completely escape the low gravity of the Earth approaching, diamond-shaped asteroid. Jets and surface ejection events were thought to be predominantly the domain of comets, responsible for their tails, comas, and later meteor showers on Earth. Robotic OSIRIS-REx arrived at 101955 Bennu in late 2018, and is planned to touchdown to collect a surface sample in October 2020. If all goes well, this sample will then be returned to Earth for a detailed analysis during 2023. Bennu was chosen as the destination for OSIRIS-REx in part because its surface shows potential to reveal organic compounds from the early days of our Solar System, compounds that could have been the building blocks for life on Earth. Experts Debate: How will humanity first discover extraterrestrial life?

The carpet must be bumpy now,
when we count up all the dead.
As all the bad news of Co-vid19,
is being covered up and instead
of having a National Plan for this
decision, you keep the data in your head.
What kind of a man are you now?
Who is afraid to fight, the fight
of fairness and who uses
dirty deeds by lying about what is right.
You are evil, it's plain to see,
when you lied to all the Citizens
about what the Democrats mean to thee.
A spiteful man, is what you are,
but I don't want to write, you see,
for the lies you tell will live long
when you die in infamy.

I miss you, Miss Ellie.
I really do.
I'm happy now, for
I can still talk to you.
There are no words
For me to say,
As you don't understand,
much on this day.
Social discussion with you
I do love and not to discuss
current events to avoid
All the political lies.
Be well my darling
As well as you can be,
For my love is here with
You, for the World to see.

The best one could say is that it is another demonstration of carelessness. Read the Politico article

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Could there be life floating in the atmosphere of Venus? Although Earth's planetary neighbor has a surface considered too extreme for any known lifeform, Venus' upper atmosphere may be sufficiently mild for tiny airborne microbes. This usually disfavored prospect took an unexpected upturn yesterday with the announcement of the discovery of Venusian phosphine. The chemical phosphine (PH3) is a considered a biomarker because it seems so hard to create from routine chemical processes thought to occur on or around a rocky world such as Venus -- but it is known to be created by microbial life on Earth. The featured image of Venus and its thick clouds was taken in two bands of ultraviolet light by the Venus-orbing Akatsuki, a Japanese robotic satellite that has been orbiting the cloud-shrouded world since 2015. The phosphine finding, if confirmed, may set off renewed interest in searching for other indications of life floating high in the atmosphere of our Solar System's second planet out from the Sun. Experts Debate: How will humanity first discover extraterrestrial life?