Two plus two equals five

What if you could invent your own math?

1+1=0; 2+2=5; and etc, and etc.

Who is to say your results do not matter as much?

What if some odd new math could determine

physical results, maybe bring about new forces to use.

1+1=0; 2+2=5; 3x3=19 and presto: Antigravity!

But there is still causal effect.

Thing A still causes Thing B;

Stones still fall down

when dropped, and water still splashes – downward.

We perceive what happens, but it does not change -

even if we really wish it to.

We can imagine it to change,

water to splash upward, stones to rise;

But others must also see what we see.

If we were a good enough hypnotist,

convince the world that black is white,

2+2=5, then it would indeed be so.

We could dine on our pink elephants and

coal dust souffle, and be completely satisfied.

But some alien from outer space would stop by,

and still see us eating crackers and soup,

think to each other:

‘Those odd humans, how can they live on such things?’

The physical world never changes,

but us wet computing units do – often.

We see a world, label it, interact with it...

Hopefully we do not destroy our

blue ark completely, be set adrift like

cold dead bones in an unforgiving universe.

Here’s two ya, fivers out there.

Have a great life.

Guard Inner Space Too

They are getting ready to launch two US astronauts from American soil again – the first time since 2011. After nearly a decade of relying on the Russians for a ride into space, the US will finally be able to send their own into orbit. Meanwhile, the country is gradually opening up, even as unemployment reaches new record levels. Locally, we make plans, do our shopping as best as we can, and play with our electronic devices. And work with them, and do pretty much everything remotely.

Since here we sit, right in the middle of a worldwide Pandemic.

Seems to me some experts are almost gleeful, since they have been sounding warnings for years. Ebola, Sars, the Zika virus all were supposed to be so bad – and they didn’t seem to materialize over here in the US. Not so the Coronavirus. That went from being a joke, oft-repeated meme on social networks, to a major crisis. Nursing homes and meatpacking plants were and are being decimated.

Hundreds are testing positive here in Iowa, and dozens are losing their lives every day to this. Even though the country is opening back up, there are still dozens of people dying every day. It is as if we didn’t want to acknowledge the reality, but instead turn back the clock to 2019. The virus does not care, it just keeps on doing what it does best – hitching a ride on humans, and then killing them. Wish that it was like Sars, or Zika – someone else s problem. Covid-19 is the whole world’s problem, and will be for the foreseeable future. May not be a case for glee, but perhaps a belated admittance that we let our guard down regarding microbial threats. With the Internet and our devices cocooning and soothing us all the time, who knew that some tiny damned virus would up-end our world so fast?

Now I hear that 100 separate teams around the world are working on a vaccine of one kind or another. No doubt they will find one that works, and can prevent infection, or rather serious illness. Sure hope so. Society in late May, of 2020 has become a grim, masked, fearful place. People are so ready for pandemic paranoia to end – so much so that many are flocking outside again, ignoring social distancing, gathering in bars and other places. They risk killing many more, as that virus just hitches a ride and keeps on spreading. We need patience and persistence more than anything else right now. We will beat it, we will find a solution. Just need to be patient and not throw caution to the winds.

I exist, therefore I can

A tiny thing, just 0.06 Earth’s mass.

Hot and eccentric,

like a fiery lover on a roll.

Water would boil off the surface

facing the sun, but deep-freeze on the backside.

Like a zit on the Sun it appears, then

transits the throbbing star, a tiny black orb.

Why is it still there?

The Sun cannot seem to pull it in, or

at least yank something else to impact it.

So there it orbits in high elliptical fashion.

People probably will not want to visit there,

unless perhaps some adventurous types go,

a thousand years from now,

on some jaunt or vacation lark.

Perhaps it exists just to say,

“look what is possible,

an insignificant little speck can survive,

in the face of an immense gravity well,

burning incredibly hot,

just a stone’s throw away.

If Mercury can put up with all that,

and stay the course,

keep on keeping on,

then just think what we can do

in our insignificant little lives?

Anything is possible,

says Mercury – just look at moi.

Painted Lady

A fiery temptress she is,

swirling with passionate streaks.

Heat and pressure at the surface

eats human spacecraft for breakfast.

At least one managed a few photos,

of a barren and uncertain landscape.

So much study has been accomplished from afar;

Temperatures and pressures at higher altitudes

would support more life forms.

That will be the target of the next probes.

Will she allow this new violation of her privacy?

Similar in size to Earth,

she is yet so different that our home.

Her uniqueness is novel and alluring;

we humans are bound to keep trying

to pierce her veil of mystery,

endure her harshness to attain

some amazing reward –

payback for decades of wooing.

Sure hope she is worth all the struggle!

These neighbor worlds to Earth seem

more trouble than they are worth.

Perhaps the ultimate reward lies elsewhere,

in the asteroid belt or even the Kuiper belt.

Time (and much effort) will tell.

Venus, meanwhile, still sings her siren song.

Ceres and Vesta (virgin real estate)

Twin glimmers in a telescope,

they twinkle a mystery at us:

‘What are we? What are we made of?’

So people just have to take a look.

A few hundred million later,

the DAWN mission orbits and scans one,

then fires up an ion engine to

head over to the other, and orbit that -

for years.

Data and images sent back to Earth show

a round, crater filled ball, typical at first.

Then one shows off a white glare –

What is that? Water ice? Carbon Dioxide?

Many photos are taken, and suppositions made.

A salt deposit, it is theorized.

Impossible to be sure.

To some, it is more proof of

an alien presence –

see, that is their base!

As in most other instances,

the only way to know for sure

is to send people to have a look.

Like always, the refrain sounds:

“Maybe someday, maybe someday.”

Meanwhile many other worlds entice

with just enough details to lure us out.

At least the DAWN mission took Ceres

seriously, and rewarded us with information.

War God

God of War,

symbol of action,

passion, activity, allure.

Promising so much,

delivering a bitter chill.

Irradiated, carved, scoured,

desiccated, dried, exhumed,

exhausted.

Lures innocent Earth-dwellers

so far, for so long, and for what?

To disappoint with what it really is:

Barren, dry, destitute.

“Want to live here?

You will have to bring everything,

and live underground like rodents.

Is it worth it to you?

Honestly?”

“Just orbit and run some robots around

my skin.

Cheaper,

safer,

and just as informative.”

“Save the rest of those tax dollars

for where they are really needed.

To clean up your mess at home.”

“Tidy up your own backyard,

before you clutter up mine.”

Mars has spoken,

better obey that God of War,

lest it get angry or something.

Irritating Presence

How irritable old man Moon must be,

since all he wanted to do was cruise

around the Earth and mind his own.

Not anymore, no way.

Pinpricked and prodded by lots of probes,

scraped and sampled and irradiated too.

No peace any more since human gnats

began to gnaw at his innards and outtards.

Poor old Mr Moon will never be the same,

with colonies and outposts dotting his surface

like so much human acne.

Too bad he doesn’t have arms to deal with it all.

However there are a lot of micrometeors

that impact the surface. Hmmmm.

Maybe if “he” threw up a bunch of rocky debris…

Perhaps it is time for some volcanic action to erupt?

Watch out, humans – the old man may be about to get even!

Of Geese and Humans

Mother goose kept a wary eye on me,

as her goslings waddled around nearby.

I passed and snapped a photo,

she stretched her neck,

and flapped her lips,

on “yellow alert” to the intruder;

I headed on down the trail.

A human boy was fishing along the bank of the lake.

His father, too, eyed me a bit warily, pivoted some,

darted glances my way just in case.

Also on “yellow alert” as a stranger walked

past his progeny.

Just in case.

But he said some nonchalant, vaguely insulting

remark, like ‘it’s just some vagrant.

Nothing to worry about -

I’ll keep you safe.’

Mother Goose was probably honking much the same thing...

Of course I knew in my heart,

I was no threat to goose or human.

I got what I was after,

snapshots of some wildflowers,

taken along a tiny lake in eastern

Polk county on a luscious day in May.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVJdRKmMPE4