Magazine Posts

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Open star cluster NGC 7380 is still embedded in its natal cloud of interstellar gas and dust popularly known as the Wizard Nebula. Seen on the left, with foreground and background stars along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy it lies some 8,000 light-years distant, toward the constellation Cepheus. In apparent size on the sky, a full moon would cover the 4 million year young cluster and associated nebula, normally much too faint to be seen by eye. Made with telescope and camera firmly planted on Earth, the image reveals multi light-year sized shapes and structures of cosmic gas and dust within the Wizard though, in a color palette made popular in Hubble Space Telescope images. Recorded with narrowband filters, the visible wavelength light from the nebula's hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur atoms is transformed into green, blue, and red colors in the final digital composite.

Photo by Andrew Klinger

A saffron-infused paella loaded with mussels, clams, and shrimp. Cook it on the grill in your biggest skillet for best flavor (no special pan required). Click the image below to see Sally Vargas' recipe at Simply Recipes

"I look around
and the objects I see,
no longer look
familiar to me."

There is no mercy,
with this terrible disease.
It can not be,
for if there were justice,
the diseased would be me.

A Dime, a Nickle
or fifteen cents.
When I write
do you think I'm dense?
I have a brain
and then somehow
I wait and know
you will disavow,
the reason for
this pursuit in life,
for I miss you,
my beautiful wife.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, is the closest large spiral galaxy to our Milky Way. Some 2.5 million light-years distant it shines in Earth's night sky as a small, faint, elongated cloud just visible to the unaided eye. Invisible to the eye though, its enormous halo of hot ionized gas is represented in purplish hues for this digital illustration of our neighboring galaxy above rocky terrain. Mapped by Hubble Space Telescope observations of the absorption of ultraviolet light against distant quasars, the extent and make-up of Andromeda's gaseous halo has been recently determined by the AMIGA project. A reservoir of material for future star formation, Andromeda's halo of diffuse plasma was measured to extend around 1.3 million light-years or more from the galaxy. That's about half way to the Milky Way, likely putting it in contact with the diffuse gaseous halo of our own galaxy.

If we don't vote,
the republicans out,
there will be no democracy,
to talk about.
So please ask your friends
and neighbors too,
in this election,
please vote, Blue.

Leave us now,
you liar, you,
for we don't like
you, as others do.
The hate; it pours
from out your mouth
as your re-election
is heading South,
at least I hope
and I pray,
you won't be in office
on inauguration day.

A floor,
a door,
four walls,
will do.
A place
to meet
with you,
says who?
I miss
your smile
and say,
stay here,
all day.

I write the words that come to me.
They cost nothing; for you they're free.
My desire, to bring your interest a voice,
For if I do I will soon rejoice.
Rejoice with you my reader friends
And wait for me to make amends.

My Mother would often say, did she,
"You will be the death of me."
I challenged as a boy when doing chores
I loved my Mother, as you should love yours.