NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Are meteors streaming out from a point in the sky? Yes, in a way. When the Earth crosses a stream of Sun-orbiting meteors, these meteors appear to come from the direction of the stream -- with the directional point called the radiant.  An example occurs every mid-December for the Geminids meteor shower, as apparent in the featured image.  Recorded near the shower's peak in 2013, the featured skyscape captures Gemini's shooting stars in a four-hour composite from the dark skies of the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. In the foreground the 2.5-meter du Pont Telescope is visible as well as the 1-meter SWOPE telescope. The skies beyond the meteors are highlighted by Jupiter, seen as the bright spot near the image center, the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy, seen vertically on the image left, and the pinkish Orion Nebula on the far left. Dust swept up from the orbit of active asteroid 3200 Phaethon, Gemini's meteors enter the atmosphere traveling at about 22 kilometers per second. The 2019 Geminid meteor shower peaks again this coming weekend.

Photo by Yuri BeletskyCarnegieLas Campanas ObservatoryTWAN

Back in time, to the days of yore,
I'd get home after 6 P.M.
Up to the bedroom, to change.
Out of my work clothes and
into my running gear,
shorts, Self wicking top
and sox, depending upon the weather.
A windbreaker, I would don
and find me a baseball cap.
Put on my shoes, out the
then out to the course.
I had 3 courses of 5 miles, 7 and 10 miles
to choose from. I changed courses based
upon my training plan and to keep from
getting bored. This allowed me to stay
focused.
Working hard the first 20 minutes which
was uphill until I reached that pace
when my body, miraculously, as my breathing
got efficient. A pace that was easy,
not hard and I knew or felt like I
could run at that pace forever.
It's a strange euphoria that occurs
in the body. Did it happen all the time?
No, it didn't, but when it did it was
such a good feeling.
There were always some hills on each
course. Hills were always a challenge,
your steps tend to get choppy and shorter.
The key is to just keep going. No stopping
to walk. Shortly after crossing the top
you regained your breath and fell back
into that wonderful elated feeling.
If you gradually increase your miles,
not over 10 per cent a week, your
conditioning improves. You will be
more fit at the end of 4 weeks.
As my running continued, my friend
and I would put in one long run,
usually on a Sunday. We both
got to the point of doing 45 to
50 miles a week.
You can also do this with a walking
routine.
Hope you enjoyed this brief respite
from the usual stuff I post.
Here's to good healthy future.

MFish

The curly haired waif,
Wandered the street,
Looking for anything,
Or something to eat.
No food past her mouth
For at least three days.
Her stamina now, was
in a very tired phase.
Get you warm food
Some water right here
And you'll feel better,
Now that I'm near.
For I will love you
For many a day
While you are mindful and pray.
Pray to the Lord, Our Father above
For he will bring you, everlasting love.

http://larry-waldon.pixels.com

Oscar Wilde - (October 16, 1854 - November 30, 1900) Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet.
(Picture by W. and D. Downey - From Wikimedia Commons)

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

In time stars trace lines through the night sky on a rotating planet. Taken over two hours or more, these digitally added consecutive exposures were made with a camera and wide angle lens fixed to a tripod near Orel farm, Primorsky Krai, Russia, planet Earth. The stars trail in concentric arcs around the planet's south celestial pole below the scene's horizon, and north celestial pole off the frame at the upper right. Combined, the many short exposures also bring out the pretty star colours. Bluish trails are from stars hotter than Earth's Sun, while yellowish trails are from cooler stars. A long time ago this tree blossomed, but now reveals the passage of time in the wrinkled and weathered lines of its remains.

Photo by Anton Komlev

The years roll by, this aged life of mine
with past emotions, in my soul entwine.

The tide, ever changing,
the smell of the Sea.
The view so remarkable,
it's calling to me,
to return to the place,
that is heaven to see.
The warmth of the water
is so comfortably,
that I must return
to the Islands, so free.

There go I, if it hadn't been for you.
For you helped me show what I could do.
The shy, retiring, bashful, young boy,
is now an adult with a lot of joy.
A joy that lives with me, I know not how.
Much thanks to you. I say that now.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

This cosmic vista stretches almost 20 degrees from top to bottom, across the dusty constellation Taurus. It begins at the Pleiades and ends at the Hyades, two star clusters recognized since antiquity in Earth's night sky. At top, the compact Pleiades star cluster is about 400 light-years away. The lovely grouping of young cluster stars shine through dusty clouds that scatter blue starlight. At bottom, the V-shaped Hyades cluster looks more spread out in comparison and lies much closer, 150 light-years away. The Hyades cluster stars seem anchored by bright Aldebaran, a red giant star with a yellowish appearance. But Aldebaran actually lies only 65 light-years distant and just by chance along the line of sight to the Hyades cluster. Faint and darkly obscuring dust clouds found near the edge of the Taurus Molecular Cloud are also evident throughout the celestial scene. The wide field of view includes the dark nebula Barnard 22 at left with youthful star T Tauri and Hind's variable nebula just above Aldebaran in the frame.

Photo by Amir H. Abolfath

Into the sunset, he did flee,
as if there was something chasing he.
Where to go? Where could he hide?
For he needed shelter, for this ride.
Nervous was he, this lonely man,
running away without a plan.
What must I do to start over,
for I am now very much sober.
I'm just a poor man, all alone,
out on the street, not even a phone.
There was a time when I'd share,
a place with Rats, under the stair.
I did not choose to be this way,
but hard times came on that day.
I'd get a job, using my finesse
but the employer needs an address.
Housing is not something I can pursue,
so a PO Box will have to do.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 6744 is nearly 175,000 light-years across, larger than our own Milky Way. It lies some 30 million light-years distant in the southern constellation Pavo and appears as only a faint, extended object in small telescopes. We see the disk of the nearby island universe tilted towards our line of sight in this remarkably detailed galaxy portrait, a telescopic view that spans an area about the angular size of a full moon. In it, the giant galaxy's elongated yellowish core is dominated by the light from old, cool stars. Beyond the core, grand spiral arms are filled with young blue star clusters and speckled with pinkish star forming regions. An extended arm sweeps past a smaller satellite galaxy (NGC 6744A) at the lower right. NGC 6744's galactic companion is reminiscent of the Milky Way's satellite galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Photo by Zhuokai Liu

Always interesting when entering
the house and forgetting
to turn off the alarm.
As the alarm was squawking at me,
I was yelling at the alarm.
Probably something like who
the heck are your parents, et al.
The alarm stopped it's siren noise,
after I entered the pass code,
and received a call from a lovely
person at the Alarm Company, that
wanted to know if we were OK.
After I explained my memory lapse,
she asked for my password, which I supplied.
A very polite, Customer Service Representative
who was patient and understanding of
this old, forgetful person.

The wand like scepter
in his hand
was made for him
and by his command.
A simple thrust,
a break of wrist
and your thoughts,
tremble and twist.
Who are you?
was often said.
His response was,
"I am Death,
you are dead."

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

It may appear, at first, like the Galaxy is producing the lightning, but really it's the Earth. The featured nighttime landscape was taken from a southern tip of the Italian Island of Sardinia in early June. The foreground rocks and shrubs are near the famous Capo Spartivento Lighthouse, and the camera is pointed south toward Algeria in Africa. In the distance, across the Mediterranean Sea, a thunderstorm is threatening, with several electric lightning strokes caught together during this 25-second wide-angle exposure. Much farther in the distance, strewn about the sky, are hundreds of stars in the neighborhood of our Sun in the Milky Way Galaxy. Farthest away, and slanting down from the upper left, are billions of stars that together compose the central band of our Milky Way. Free Lecture: APOD editor to speak in NYC on January 3

Photo by Ivan Pedretti

I remember the first time
I was at your door.
My heart beat was racing,
As I wanted more.
More love from the one
That fate had given me.
One to spend my whole life
Is what would be.

At 1:30 AM on November 20th, I stood in a puddle, not quite sure if I’d peed myself or my water broke. The nurse on Overlake Hospital’s Labor & Delivery line had me lean forward a cough. The puddle grew bigger. It was go-time.

Keep reading ->

The time spent in this place
has not been divine,
but has been one of love
that our spirits entwine.
A place of love and hate
with friends, yours and mine
are but a lost memory now
best viewed with a glass of wine.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Is this what will become of our Sun? Quite possibly. The first hint of our Sun's future was discovered inadvertently in 1764. At that time, Charles Messier was compiling a list of diffuse objects not to be confused with comets. The 27th object on Messier's list, now known as M27 or the Dumbbell Nebula, is a planetary nebula, the type of nebula our Sun will produce when nuclear fusion stops in its core. M27 is one of the brightest planetary nebulae on the sky, and can be seen toward the constellation of the Fox (Vulpecula) with binoculars. It takes light about 1000 years to reach us from M27, featured here in colors emitted by hydrogen and oxygen. Understanding the physics and significance of M27 was well beyond 18th century science. Even today, many things remain mysterious about bipolar planetary nebula like M27, including the physical mechanism that expels a low-mass star's gaseous outer-envelope, leaving an X-ray hot white dwarf. APOD across world languages: Arabic, Catalan, Chinese (Beijing), Chinese (Taiwan), Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Farsi, French, French, German, Hebrew, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Montenegrin, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish and Ukrainian

Photo by Steve Mazlin

A fair wind blows in
from the sea.
The smell of life's death,
comes wafting to me.
What is the connection,
when there is an urge,
to return to the water,
to hear the waves surge?
An urge with much eland
to come back to the place
where life began.