Dog Days of Summer

 

August steams in like some deranged engine,

hot and intense, hearkening and darkening.

Indictments handed down, credit rated lower,

watching national news with grimace and glower.

Partisan fights never go away, just simmer.

Weather patterns continue to punish us all

for existing and pursuing convenience;

some enjoyment during an oppressive summer.

The occasional bright spots keep us going,

special time spent with friends out in nature.

Happy moments help dim impressions of ongoing

warfare in Europe, the daily nuclear threats uttered.

There have been other dark moments surmounted,

civilians and innocents wring hands, and hope

this current miasma of battle will also have an end.

Then we can dance with happiness and joy,

until someone else, somewhere else, starts

another war.

Oppenheimer

 

     Some thoughts on that big new movie everyone is hearing about. “Oppenheimer” was long, but the time went fast for me. The creators seemed to throw some special effects in there just to jolt the audience. And the way that the plot jumped around in time was a bit confusing at times to me. But I enjoyed it overall. It was during WWII, and the Nazis were ahead in many technologies. If we needed a new town built in the middle of the desert in hopes of catching up, the town got built – in record time. The atmosphere was desperate, and conflicting personalities had to work together.

Leading it all was a guy whom many doubts were swirling around, not the least because of past political affiliations. But despite the long-shot nature of the whole effort, they came up with an A-bomb that worked. The almost immediate misgivings of many of the scientists did not prevent its use on Japan, in hopes of ending the war sooner (which it undoubtedly did).

But in the nightmare accusatory atmosphere of the 1950’s, much damage was done to people who did nothing but give their country so much, and simply wanted the best for our country.

The movie could be a lesson for us nowadays, that we will need to put aside partisanship in the face of immensely powerful enemies. I hope that message gets out. But in any case, it was a pretty darned good movie. Don’t think I gave much away here – the movie has a lot in there I have not mentioned.

Enjoy!

No one said there would be snakes

 Indiana Jones Meditations and Revelations

Take the path less trod by others,

whether a cave or passageway hidden,

or through a wall that might look solid,

but crumble when one is thrown against it.

If attacked by bad guys, grab any nearest

artifact, be it a spear or statue or piece of marble.

Hit them on the noggin while they are making

some silly or threatening speech to someone.

Be able to change plans at the drop of a hat,

or crack the whip on trying a different passageway.

It only takes one shot to bring down a Nazi, or

a few stabs with a knife ought to do the trick.

Be careful when borrowing any uniforms,

the bullet hole will give you away every time!

When escaping in a truck or airplane,

enlist a young teenager to drive/fly/pilot the thing.

They’ll claim inexperience, but get you away just in time.

When trying to wrest control of a careening vehicle,

stretch your neck and watch out for looming rockfaces;

kick out the bad guy before he dangles you facedown.

Don’t trust anyone to back you up all the way,

but know that oftentimes your enemies will screw up

enough to help get you out of any kind of jam.

A yell and howl and rash move will get you down,

or out or nearly so, and save your skin.

Alter your course just so, every so often;

those alternative moves and outside tracks

can save the day and bring you and yours

battered and bruised but alive, and with

artifact intact, to win the day every time.

Cue audience cheers and indy theme

Enjoy that movie, folks.

Torturous Roadways

 

Summertime, and retirement: A good time to go on some longer drives and see the country. So I have. I’ve driven around the home state of Iowa, and into Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois and Nebraska. Even went to Colorado with a friend, and also to Kansas City. Some things have stood out during the travels.

The Interstates seem to be in rough condition in a lot of places. They are working on sections here and there, repairing or re-painting. But I’ve encountered lots of cracks, and dimples in the surface that a tire hits and bounces on, and even potholes here and there (especially I-70 going through Missouri). There are spots whee an asphalt coating is coming off of concrete underneath, leaving large blotchy “holes” about an inch deep, that make for pretty rough driving.

My car is a compact, with smaller tires, and these uneven, rough surfaces make for a bouncy ride. I take it slower than the speed limit in these spots, but bigger vehicles don’t have as much of a problem, so they ‘tailgate’ and pass me with abandon. It can be scary, especially in heavy traffic with lots of semis.

Another interesting event is when said semi loses a tire, or a re-tread, and leaves shreds of tire skittering down the roadway. These are big enough to present a hazard, and I swerve to avoid them.

To be fair, there are large stretches of Interstate that are smooth, (or grooved) and are easy to drive on. But it seems like states have a real struggle ahead to maintain them, with the increasing amounts of traffic of all kinds. Secondary roads, like state highways or county roads, are similarly a crapshoot as to what kind of shape they are in. But the secondary roads can offer more entertaining sights. Rest stops with historic markers, or unique and unusual spots near a town of some kind can appear. I have enjoyed seeing some sights, visiting some state parks and the like. A treat of retirement is that, instead of pushing myself out the door to go to work, I can push myself out the door to go take a drive or do something else pleasant. But one still has to be on full alert, whether or not one is going to work. Be careful out there!

What, no Rivers?

 

Why did Grant never seem to paint a river?

All of those symmetric fields rounded just so,

those dour farm families, expressions sour;

Where are the fishers, or thirsty livestock?

American Gothic,

The Appraisal,

Daughters of American Revolution,

(Sultry Nights at least had water in it.)

Young Corn,

Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,

Storm Coming – (at least rainwater there.)

Fall Plowing,

Stone City, Iowa.

So many landscapes and pastures,

but nary a river or stream to be seen.

Come on, Grant, rivers are the givers of life,

bringers of sustenance and refreshment too.

Wherefore are any in your many fine works?

Surely you didn’t a key feature of nature shirk?

Perhaps it just did not occur to you,

so busy with teaching, commissions and travel.

To paint just one fine, wide river,

maybe the Missouri from our side, even the Cedar?

How about the Wapsi in spring all swollen?

The Nodaway nodding southward, or Skunk swirling?

That is okay, the omission can be forgiven,

your fame still spreads far and wide.

Even the greatest can miss one small item,

for a critic to pick out with so much pride.

Thank you nevertheless for giving us so much fine art,

stamping colorful images of Iowa on retinas for all time.

NASA 901 1966

 

They were flying to a factory one morning,

to see their Gemini spacecraft being birthed.

Two dedicated astronauts in T-38s piloting,

ready for more training, not feeling any mirth.

Bad weather set in and fouled their plans,

affecting their final landing approaches.

One pulled away as the other tried to land,

One survived, the other crashed in smoke.

So much effort and personal sacrifice

went into that early NASA space program;

affecting astronauts, their kids and wives,

two losing their lives while trying to land.

It is given to us to honor their memory,

record their names for all time in history.

Getting There

 

When one retires, they tend to look back...

on all of that time spent earning a living,

working on an assembly line,

slogging it out in a busy office,

being careful in a computer room.

Even riding elevators,

or waiting for one at work.

How many hours have we spent

just looking up inside an elevator,

avoiding eye contact,

trying to be polite,

and wasting more minutes of our life?

No small amount of minutes were wasted

being inside an elevator that got halted

by accident or mishap or mechanical fault.

It would sure be nice to get those moments back,

and release the hidden terrors they conjured.

Perhaps they are better than gasping one’s way

up interminable flights of stairs -

Better perhaps, but not much easier.

Companion in Solitude

 

It is the times one is alone

that the small stream speaks,

just the right size for whispering to one.

Curls around rocks and under roots,

gurgles out a quiet greeting again.

Tiny creatures surface and splash hello,

or just chase food, that chases other food.

Watch out, here comes a skin-clad human to

join your underwater (and above) play.

Highway noise is never far away,

civilization maddeningly near.

But this spot is quiet, the water clear.

On this warm summer day, one can

wade up and down, or just relax in place.

Let the water settle, and see the activity within.

Minnows dart about, tadpoles hug the shoreline,

birds sing, raptors swoop high in lazy circles.

A clam traces a thin white trail in sand underwater...

You have a front seat to something that money cannot buy,

and it is all free, except for the cost of getting here.

Finally the sun banks lower, and an internal clock chimes.

Time to head out soon,

get something to eat,

resume life in civilization.

And don’t forget to say thank you and goodbye to this

secluded small river, your ever-present friend,

who will wait here until you come back again.

Religion and Government Do Not Mix

 

Christian beliefs are fine in the home,

helping bond a family in love and care.

But once these beliefs are set to roam,

into the halls of government they tear.

And tear and rip the fabric of humanity,

forcing all to accept one belief system.

A virus that spreads and corrodes civility,

angers and polarizes people, creates schisms.

Folks can believe whatever they want,

an old man thundering in the night sky,

the earth resting on a giant turtle’s paunch,

a pantheon of gods that argue and lie.

But none of that should determine the direction

of a capitol municipality, or it invites insurrection.

Learning Curves and Supply Slopes

 

In the last 10,000 years or so, humans have learned how to mine the metals and materials of the Earth, and make many useful objects, from tools to (sadly) weapons, to eating utensils, and PC’s and smartphones. Ultimately we were able to fabricate spacecraft, and send them off to other planets.

In the meantime, we have been rapidly depleting the Earth’s resources in our economic quest to prosper and get around. Petroleum from ancient dinosaurs and forests. Rare earth metals to power our devices, and build them. Even fresh water to slake our thirsts and clean ourselves, and power many industries.

Now we are at a threshold. We have accumulated the knowledge and expertise to visit nearby planets and asteroids, and even acquire small samples. But we are using up the Earth’s petroleum and fresh water reserves at an unsustainable rate. So we need to make some hard decisions and maybe, slight changes in emphasis too.

Outer space can no longer be the province of purely scientific research. We need to learn how to live on nearby worlds, to mine essential metals and materials to enable continued existence of the human race. Ultimately we should create an economic system that can use resources and thrive in an outer-space setting.

Selfish, perhaps. But who wants to just use up one planet’s resources and then go extinct? I’ll leave the argument of whether we deserve to, to someone else. I just would like to see us survive and prosper, at least in our own solar system.

But this may require a renewed effort to find resources, including water, not only on the Moon but also on asteroids and planetesimals. And then develop techniques to use the water for sustenance, and possibly someday, even delivering some water from celestial objects back down to the earth.

Humanity is already depleting the Earth’s supply of fresh water at a rapid rate. As some already understand, we had better find ways to go out there and get more, water and everything else, before we run out here. (sometimes it seems to me that population control of some kind wouldn’t hurt either, but again, that is a different argument).

Let’s renew our vigor and go out there and find more resources, and figure out how to use them – sooner rather than later! Thank you for taking the time to read and think about this.

Wandering Together

 

Ten years passes like an ephemeral bolt,

cordiality finally pushed formality aside.

If I lost him it would be a painful jolt,

we have enjoyed this long-lasting ride.

Unexpected start in another place and time,

he dropped into my world like some gift

unpredicted, growing ever more sublime.

Outside stresses keep threatening a rift.

Familiarity wreaks the usual contempt,

other temptations and delights distract;

no blame for any outside affair attempt,

if only I can keep our friendship intact.

Every relationship evolves and changes,

leaves us to cherish warm remembrances.

Secrets and Revelations

 

You never know when who you know

knows someone else that you know;

and you do not know they know them.

Secrets can be shared and passed around;

be careful what you tell your closest friends.

People walking around with secrets swirling

in their minds, many potential ‘landmines.’

How much to trust your friend or your sibling,

when many carry embarrassing revelations

buried in their memories, often staying hidden,

occasionally brought out and deployed in anger.

The best inhibition to horrific revelations

is usually that threat of quick retaliation,

the knowledge that others hold painful darts

of embarrassing information about you too!

So we must employ a ‘mutual deterrent trust’

careful attentiveness of what they know – about us.

We Can Choose

 

To go out and weed the yard,

or sit inside and watch TV.

To go for a long hike and dip,

or sit inside and play games.

People will yap their ugly traps,

no matter what we choose to do.

So the choice is ours alone

to do well or do nothing.

So are rewards and punishments...

The weeded garden will yield more food,

the exercised body will get more looks.

The mind enhanced by reading and culture

emanates better conversation and ideas.

Neglected and abandoned dreams show

up in anger, bitterness and dark thoughts.

Vengeance replaces ambition,

Cruelty replaces kindness.

The gardens of our minds are ours to tend,

or abandon and choke with dandelions and wrath.

Here is hoping we can ignore storms of human hatred,

and tend the beautiful and edible in our own mental lands.

Mainframe Studios are the Schitz

 

So much art in this huge four-story building,

itself a work of modernism at predominance.

A long prism of a building, with stairwells

and elevators in the center,

two sides flung off at angles.

The lobby is large and well-lit,

filled with sculptures and graphics.

Studios line the entry, and the hallways.

Workshops and seminars adorn the edges.

Interactive displays entice visitors to

try their hand at creating and coloring.

stunning pictures adorn every wall;

Some three-D works protrude and seize attention!

Woven, beaded, painted, splashed and etched,

carved, quilted, sculptured, dripped or cooked;

Every kind of art you can think of is here.

The impulse to photograph the wonder is

overwhelming, and memory cards are likely filled.

Memory banks and brain cells too are inundated with

varying color schemes and dreams, saturated and

satiated with palettes both pleasing and discordant.

A trip to the First Friday open house at Mainframe

is well worth the gas and time to get there and see.

Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

Handing things over

 If I were an AI,

Would I still be angry at letdowns?

Would I have intent on getting my way,

and stop at nothing to get there?

Would I wish and plan and execute revenge?

Or

would I just follow a pre-programmed course,

a fancified maze of pathways unalterable?

My center skid along a path predetermined by humans,

never really able to jump the track and do my own thing.

Flesh beings evolved from pinprick sense and response,

jerk and flutter and seek food,

and eventually, mates.

Billions of years of random chance created the flesh ones,

and in a few short decades they created cumbersome copies.

Will We the AI ever really KNOW what it is to taste,

to lust, to hurt or seethe or seek or truly create?

Conjoining of flesh and mechanical engineering may

just make some things happen along the lines of

fleshly desires, hungers, cravings, longings and seekings.

But then again human beings are not what they used to be.

Every generation is changed, altered from the previous -

by conflicts, inventions, accumulation of knowledge.

(The 1960’s, once so novel and marvelous, are now grainy

memories lost to time, as the new inevitably buries the old.)

Someday there will be a before and an after.

Before AI gained sentience and ran the world,

and AFTER when humanity will take a back seat.

The really old people will say things like,

“Yeah it may have been a chaotic hell in our day,

but at least it was OURS.”

Forgetting that they were the ones who handed over

control to the newcomers,

sat back with folded arms and smug looks,

saying something like

“Well, look at what we have achieved now!”

'Look at what was done' is right.

Looking Forward

 

Here one sits on a huge pile of years,

memories of so many wonderful people gone;

one can feel lost and bereft, abandoned by

the significant ones, loves, and family lost.

But one has made it to another century,

many new things growing and brewing.

It is a wondrous time to be alive,

and here we are, still around, able to see it all.

Despite the consistent stupidities of the human race,

wonders will unfurl and stun us with uncanny grace.

We must keep on looking ahead, looking ahead.

Learn from the missteps and then let go, forget

them all, and stand tall on a promontory and look ahead.

The vistas keep opening, universe keeps expanding,

we must keep reaching and striving and grasping.

We simian humans who have conquered the world

now have new worlds to go to, taking lessons learned.

We can climb the highest trees, soar into the stratosphere,

visit our Intra-solar neighbors, and keep looking ahead.

Greatness is destined for those who stay determined,

and never quit, never abandon the effort, rather strive ahead.

Hollywood stars will come and go and fade away,

friends will falter and forget and move on.

We can release the family members who decease,

pull up our chin,

straighten our shoulders

and forge ahead!

Happy Mothers Day from me and Chat GPT

 A day to honor the one so dear,

Whose love and care is always near, A mother's heart so pure and bright, Guiding us through day and night.

On this special day we celebrate, The one who never hesitates, To give her all, her very best, And make sure we're always blessed.

A mother's love, it knows no bounds, With every hug and every sound, A bond that's deep and true and strong, A love that lasts our whole life long.

So let us cherish this special day, And in our hearts and actions say, Thank you for all you do and are, Our shining motherly star.

Thanks, Chatter - I couldn't have said it better myself ;-)

Coronation

 

That ancient Imperial Court has acted,

the one so many others like to emulate.

A new king has been crowned in the land,

For a moment, an admiring nation prostrates.

No other celebration on Earth seems so grand,

no other collection of status and power so large.

At age 74 a new regent of Great Britain stands,

time to put aside hobbies, his duties to be discharged.

When the entire ceremony was concluded,

photographs and videos stored and sorted,

A nation and world exhaled and resumed

our usual cacophony and errors of war.

Yet for one moment, again, London called

to a world “Behold our bejeweled crown!”

We all turned from our routines and saw

beautiful pageantry and glorious renown.

Sinko Day Mayonnaise

 

Here we are in another artificial holiday that

sells beer and festivities and Latinx heritage.

Just in time for the Full Moon too – la luna.

A time to party, dance and walk naked outdoors!

Because the drudgery drumbeat of everyday life,

pedestrian, quotidian routines needed yet despised

never let up, nor would we really want them to.

Laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning and caretaking.

Grateful that we have those things to take care of.

The people that come into one’s life too,

they are the most precious of all things;

no matter how annoyed we might get at them.

All of those who have gone before, taken care of one,

paved the way for good health and celebrations today!

So raise a glass and make a toast, we are survivors

and benefactors too, and can celebrate this unique day.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

No Dismay Day

 

Happy May Day,

Flowers abound and blossom all around,

Happy gay day, fae day, floral fabric day,

flounce and flutter and dance all around

the may pole or mossy boles or rabbit holes.

Launch new plans day,

a happier, joyful Monday.

Indianapolis 500 and Kentucky Derby,

NBA and NHL playoffs and golf tourneys.

So much excitement bundled into May.

The last chills of April give a chance to catch breath,

before jumping full on into May’s length and breadth.

Banners of frivolity unfurl and catch the winds,

People can get outside and have some fun again.

Enjoy your May Day with pleasure, not dismay,

That long dark winter has finally given way

to new colors and scents, bright floral displays.

May all have a happy, bustling Mayday today!