WAR POETRY


Humvee jounces along dusty desert roads,
Coating soldiers with granular fury;
Radio static punctuates dry shimmering air,
Humming emanates from an Ipod.

What will disturb the scene this time?
Nondescript roadside bulk lighting up the day?
Mortar rounds thudding the ground all around?
Perhaps a rocket or two exploding nearby?
Or simply small arms automatic weapons fire,
Peppering their vehicle and their bodies.

Hapless survivors call in air strikes,
More Afghan civilians get killed.
The macabre, gruesome show just goes on.

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Memorial Day Wishes


I remember him as a precocious 13-year old,
Building rabbit traps outdoors,
Planning a trip to Outer Space,
Perfecting the art of computer hacks,
Dominating on the soccer team.

How soon he became a soldier,
Living in Alaska, duty time spent
Shivering in the arctic cold.
Another leap forward, now
He is in Afghanistan,
Doing only God knows what.

Memories of youthful grin and cheerful demeanor,
And a wish I don't see him come home in a bag.


'nuff said.

A Hundred Days


One hundred days is roughly three and a third months,
Time enough for diet and exercise, losing around 20 LBS.

Time to start and finish a small novel, or screenplay.
Time to write 100 poems. Or more, if so inclined.

Time to travel across the continental US on horseback.
Time to sail to Europe and back, on a sailboat.

Time to reach the Moon and back, several times over.
Time to make it halfway to Mars, at closest approach.

Time for an ambitious new president to set in motion
Many changes and programs, trying to nudge History
Enough to save the United States of America from ruin.


(prompted by a poetry contest on 100 days).

Neurocannular implants


Someone should try and experiment with direct, brain-to-computer interfaces. I understand the Japanese are doing some work in this area. But today I was thinking about the possibility of inserting thin probes into different regions of an animal (or human) brain, and simply listening, seeing if there is any kind of attempt at synchronization, or just what kind of things are percieved by the human, and the computer involved. Experiments could be done with perception of signals of various sorts, including numbers and calculations. This could lead to some amazing advances in medicine. Paraplegics could more easily control their wheelchairs and so forth.

Perhpas volunteers could be found, and every precaution taken to keep the tests safe and comfortable. The resulting knowledge could bring about a lot of benefits. Just musing here.

DON’T ARREST ME FOR THIS

Some people fondle children;
That is gross, to say the least.
Some people make kids fondle them…
That is downright pathetic.

Some people take kids clothing off,
Photographing them in the nude.
That is terrible.
Some people force the kids to have sex,
That is despicable.

Yet some teenagers experiment with each other,
Discovering their new-found sexuality.
And that, in my opinion, is okay.
Things as they should be,
Part of growing up.
End the hysteria.
Just one opinion.

Sameness

Gloomy overcast sky moves in,
Dimming down the color of nature;
grass, weeds, tree bark, vines,
Blend into sameness on a cool grey day.

Trudging on sand, the same color as dirt,
Avoiding stumps and trunks camoflauged
By gloom, my feet and ankles still find some
They eyes had missed spotting, too late.

Time spent communing with nature,
Finally abandoned for comforts of home,
While it was good to get fresh air, perhaps
It is best to await warmer weather.
A bold move to seek out natures nurture,
Dulled by weather, may be better later on.


It was a good day for a walk, after a big Easter meal.

Data storage media concerns.

Concern has been voiced lately about the fact that media of all kinds degrades after ten or twenty years, and thus the information is lost. This is a matter of some concern. However, it should be noted that the Internet itself is a data storage medium. One that changes over the years as new methods of storage are attached, and old ones drop off.
For instance, when the Internet first gained its legs, there were only mainframes, using cards, tape drives and large, fixed-head and removable disk drives. As the Internet grew, smaller computers, servers and terminals were attached and connected. The connections themselves have gone from copper T-1 lines and such to multimode fibers carrying OC-192 and larger capacities.

Thus, the Internet has become a thing that improves, enhances itself over time. It seems to be in the economic interests of most everyone connected to "keep it alive and growing".
One essential component of any large network, or network of networks, is some kind of cache capability. If only to store tables of IP numbers, or DNS names on routers. And, as long as some interested parties continue posting articles to ask.com or Wikipedia or any one of a multitude of blogs, there will exist a sea of information, electronically stored on whatever future storage devices exist. As long as the Internet exists, an ocean of information will be there to accompany it!

So, we may lose bits and pieces here and there, but we should be able to hold onto most valuable recorded knowledge, even as we keep expanding it. As long as we keep the Internet alive.

As for the artistic paper artwork, books, that sort of thing, we will either have to seal it away, or risk eventual degredation. Just an opinion, albeit optimistic. Thanks for reading.

The new rebellion of youth.


The young of today, including some now in middle school, will have a new mantra to chant, a new call to action, a new rallying cry. While the youth of the last fifty years have indulged themselves in chemical adventures and intoxications, the youth of today and the near-future will have an even stronger pull.

Like the young in a previous century, they will want to escape the common drudgery of the usual. They will want to go where adventure and excitement await, as well as a possible chance to stake their own claim. They will want to go into space.

The sheer vastness of resources in our Solar system alone is staggering. Thousands of multi-ton asteroids and comets. Entire moons orbiting Saturn, Neptune, Uranus. Objects lying beyond the orbit of Pluto, some as yet undiscovered. All awaiting an individual or group bold, daring enough to claim them. More and more nations are lining up to join the ranks of astronaut-launchers. Technology is continuing its slow but inexorable progress. It will not be long before we have routine, cheap access to low Earth Orbit and beyond. And then the young will be itching to go, to get away from the common, peas-and-mashed-potatoes existence of Earth, and move out there to the greater beyond.

And, since there will always be cost constraints to space development – the luddites are persistent and vocal – robotics will play a very important role in all of this. Autonomous activity by robotic-type vehicles has already been validated by the Mars rovers, and the distant science probes like Cassini and New Horizons. A few more improvements, and we can have task groups of robots constructing living habitats on a number of moons and asteroids. The young will insist, indeed, demand it. It is time to move on and move outward.

And then the real boom will begin. An economic expansion that will make every other one up until now pale into insignificance. The only question is, will we (in the US) join the party, or will we be left behind? So far, we have kept in the Space game. Here is hoping that we stay in it in a major way. Or risk having our youth going overseas to hitch a ride to the stars. In much the same way that space tourists must hitch a ride on a Soyuz to go to the ISS. Something to think about, anyways.

1040 online

Dreaded time to do my taxes again,
Keep putting it off, it looms ever larger
Now the day of reckoning can begin,
Finishing early seems ever smarter.
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Online website promises ease,
I log on and delve into the morass;
Itemized deductions, if you please,
Give me bigger refunds at last.
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Once I plant myself and attack the task,
Large, looming beast cut down to size;
Finish federal and state 1040s at last,
View figures displayed: My refund surprise!
Every year we are faced with this chore,
What a pleasant treat to get back more.
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Sonnet on that dreaded time of year (or not, if you get a nice refund!)

The 70's no more


The other day at work I was pondering and ruminating on what the 1970's were like. Having seen an article somewhere about the differences between then and now added to my thoughts. Life as a common civilian, working person. We did not have CD's. I had a secondhand black and white TV in my apartment. No cable, although cable was available at the time. No personal computer. Those were for hobbyists who could write their own programs, sometimes in assembler language using toggle switches. TRS-80's had not progressed much. I had a gas-guzzler, boxy old dodge. Power, sure. Efficient, no way. No CD player, no cassette player. AM radio only. Since I did not know any different, it was not an issue for me.

But with all of the advances we have made since then, perhaps it is time to pause our ceaseless drumbeat of gloom-and-doom panic and layoffs and cutbacks. What is wrong with us? We are the most pampered civilization on Earth in many ways. We multitask out of necessity, since we are trying to use and enjoy our multitudinous entertainment outlets, trying to get it all in. Our cell phones, PDA's I pods and Ithis and I-thats. We have so much available to us on the Internet it is staggering, especially compared to what we had before. There was no Google. We had to go find a book to look things up, or ask someone, or travel to the library. The way we used to live was almost like another epoch. Everything was an order of magnitude slower. Compared to 1979, we are really in the fast lane, on another level.

Information, entertainment and communications are at our fingertips in a way that might have been forecast, but still not entirely imagined back then. Life seemed slower back then because it was. I did not have to go through an hour of emails every day at home to keep up. I didn't have to finish up DVDs so they could be returned to friends or my online movie service. I didn't have to fumble with CD's in the car, because all I had was AM radio, and lucky to have that.

So here we are, in this speeded-up infoverse, enjoying entertainment options galore. Trouble is, many of us work in these industries, and many of us are leveraged up to the hilt. There are flaws in the information economic model, where we all work in information industries. Too much is being produced overseas. Not sure of the answer here, except that we need to bring more production back here, and workers must do their part, too, by working.

As workers and business owners and managers, all of us. Panic is not the way to go. Obviously our economy is retrenching because of the real estate debacle. But it seems to me we should take heart. We have come a long way here in the USA. Our wind energy production is soaring. We are producing ethanol. Other energy alternatives are coming online. We are not beholden to the Middle East for all of our oil, we buy a lot from Canada. Things are changing, and they are improving. The stimulus bill will help, especially as it funds things like high-speed rail lines, upgrading government buildings for energy efficiency, and more funding for solar power projects. Our mommas and daddies did not raise fools here. We are getting a clue.

We can trudge through some sludge, and then get going and get rolling. We are Americans, we have been through adversity before. We'll get through this, and be even stronger for it all. My feeling anyway, FWIW.
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Public Pique


The news reports on rising public pique,
Resentment and anger over excessive salaries;
An impoverished public determined to seek
Answers to the continuing income disparities.

Laid-off workers are sick and tired of excuses,
While pampered executives party and play;
Time to demand an explanation for the abuses,
Accountability and punishment without delay.

The politicians and bosses will not get the message,
Until enough of us join our voices together;
They need to stop taking, start repairing wreckage
Of this economy, under assault seemingly forever.


Until top management lowers their reality screens,
Sees the cumulative effect of decades of excess,
We will never be able to restore our economic sheen,
Enable all the built-in inequities to be addressed.

President Obama made a good beginning,
Applying limits to executive compensation;
The poor and laid-off deserve to start winning
Justice and equality via official dispensation.

For too long now, the elite have lived apart,
Moving in circles unaffected by the economy
They have savaged. Maybe we can all start
To bring about more responsibility, even equality!


(Prompted by an article in the Des Moines Register).

Links to my two books of poetry and short stories:

Falling Leaves, Rising Heat:



From my Backyard to the Edge of the Galaxy:





Thank you for taking a look at these!

Clerihews

Clerihew - four-line humorous verses, named after the 19th century poet who invented the form. Below are some whimsical lines - enjoy.

Ex-pres George W. Bush,
Helicopter left with a whoosh,
Many people said, "Good riddance!"
Left our economy with a pittance.

Barak Obama just elected,
Planning for statues to be erected,
Sure hope this one, humble man
Can come up with a good plan.
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Frisky cat paces floor yowling,
Bored with her small space for prowling;
So I open the kitchen door,
Push her outside, my ears ache no more.
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India love story sweeps the big screen,
Pretty soon everyone has seen
Two young, starry-eyed lovers,
Everywhere but under the covers!
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Cold temps permeate my house and my body,
Over coats, space heaters and perhaps a hot toddy,
Something has to succeed in keeping me warm,
So I can keep putting out verse in good form.
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Thank you for reading these clerihew today,
Hopefully they brought good cheer to your day.
For sure we will all hear tomorrow,
Of the trillions our treasury will borrow!
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Peace and out.

US Airways flight 1549

155 people were fortunate the other day,
Escaping disaster, and landing on a river;
Bird strikes nearly put them all in graves.
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Flight 1549 was only minutes underway,
Outdoor temps enough to make them shiver;
155 people were fortunate the other day.
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A sudden disaster caused unforseen delay,
Pilot Sullenberger reacted without a quiver;
Bird strikes nearly put them all in graves.
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Splashdown in the Hudson, a daring display,
A safe landing "Sully" did ultimately deliver;
155 people were fortunate the other day.
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Collecting themselves, passengers began to pray,
One hard bump, then they were in the river;
Bird strikes nearly put them all in graves.
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Missed a bridge narrowly as the plane fell away,
In more ways than one, water is a life giver;
155 people were fortunate the other day,
Bird strikes nearly put them all in graves.
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A villanelle on the plane crash and miraculous landing.

Income Redistribution
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The Buffets and Gates and Soros' too,
All feeding massive cash to countries overseas;
Billionaires taking US consumers loot,
Redistributing it to a world not appeased.
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This has gone on for decades unrestrained,
Moving wealth created here to poor peoples;
Funding development of lands untamed,
Dictators and warlords looting their people.
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Time to stop the fleecing of Americans here,
End the practice of moving money overseas;
To me it has become increasingly clear,
Grinding poverty is US consumers' new disease.
Give our money back to us, who gave it to you,
Give us our country, our future, hope itself too.
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(Sonnet on the new reality in America).

Time to lose the resentment?
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So used to sulking angrily around,
Oppressed by that Republican presidency;
Frustrations, grudges and worries abound,
Because you-know-who had residency.
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Blaming was easy for eight whole years,
No matter what, it must be George's fault!
Opposition party kept stoking our fears,
Wall street SOB's kept filling their vaults.
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But now a new day is a'dawning,
Democratic administration has arrived.
Unlock our faces from perpetual frowning,
Optimism should be more than contrived.
Now it is our turn to shoulder the responsibilities,
Tackle problems with agility, avoid fanatic proclivities

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Solstice greetings

This December 21st, when the season is expressing its most foul temperment,
I hereby extend warm greetings to all!
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We are now on the downhill slope to June 21st. It will go by in a heartbeat.
Lifes concerns and neccessities will seize us, carry us along
On a fast river of haste, hurry, worry.
We should get there soon.
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Hopefully you are all in a warm, comfortable abode, sheltered
From winters bitter weather.
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Additionally, it is hoped you are well-fed, perhaps with a cup
Of some warm beverage to sip.
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Stay warm, be of good cheer, and hang in there.
Spring will be here soon.
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Happy Holidays to Everyone!

Chris Pirillo is having a gift contest. He is offering three different gift bundles to lucky winners who enter via a Twitter comment, a posting on his site, or on their own blog post. Being a Star Wars fan, I of course chose the Star Wars package as my preferred win. This being Christmas, I would give away most of the items, to my local Starbase17 club, to local charities (would keep the encyclopedia for my own inner child, who can be pretty vocal at times).

Here is the link: http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/12/15/receiving-the-gift-of-giving/

It is worth checking out, to see what this dynamo is up to if nothing else *grin*

Also, http://geeks.pirillo.com is a fascinating site as well.

Happy holidays everyone!

The other day, while out running errands, I came across the same thing twice:

People leaving their car motors running while going into the grocery store.

Gas is so cheap that many folks do not care if they waste some, by cavalierly leaving their engine running
while going into a store.

All of a sudden, it is okay to pollute the air, to waste energy that is transported thousands of miles from the Middle East, all in the name of convenience!

Times like this, I wish for some kind of 'waste police' that would slap a 100-dollar ticket on people like that, and donate the proceeds to energy research of some kind.

How soon we forget, how easy it is to slip back into a mindset of burn, baby, burn that gas.

Heaven help us all.

I dare you to watch this video.

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/12/03/prop-8-the-musical-s.html


Funny and informative stuff here - enjoy.

Peace Institute invitation

I recently got an invitation in the mail to join the Carter Institute for Peace, or somesuch. Of course it was a solicitation for a donation (you can do your part to advance the cause for peace). Now, I would love to advance the cause for peace - I believe in peace, goodwill, and all that. But peace donations take affluence. And this is not an affluent age we are living in right now, especially me.
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With an ongoing military presence in Iraq and Afganistan, not to mention military bases around the world, we are spending a lot of peace and goodwill already maintaining our open-ended commitments. Our new president-elect made a statement recently promising that we would continue to be the "greatest power on the planet." Considering the size of Russia and China, just how are we going to be able to afford to do this? Short of starving the people, I mean. It appears to me some strange shadow chacanery is going on here.
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85 billion goes to AIG, and what? Dissapears into a vaccuum? And then they give them more? Why does CITI require so many billions. Wells Fargo is healthy, but they vaccuumed up 25 billion or so. These companies do not manufacture anything except paper waste and fattened-up execs. We should be putting more of this money into consumer hands, the ones who need it.
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Peace is a great goal, worthy of strivings and efforts. But the average middle-class family today is being squeezed on both sides, laid off, charged more, and in general screwed over. Peace my foot. We will be lucky if there is not a huge increase in thefts and even violence in the near future.
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Every decade since the 1970's has seen more and more financial shell games, bailouts like the S&L crisis, and international intrigues. When will this end, and how ugly will the end be, I wonder. Peace assumes affluence and stability. Desparate, hungry people do desparate things. Well-fed, healthy, affluent folk are ones most inclined to hold civilized discussions. Perhaps rationality itself is the province of the priviledged, well-off people.
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The rest of us have not been served well by these leaders in business. They always seem to leave a worse mess for the next 'shift' to clean up. Sure, if only we could become energy independent. If only we could root out every last person who ever thought of terrorism. If only every nation on Earth were a functioning democracy. Would it help? Hard to say, but I doubt it. Human nature is too good at screwing things up. But peace is a nice thought anyways (I just can't afford it right now).
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Maybe the best one can hope for is a "piece of the action". Get your bailouts, your tax rebates while they are hot. Hang on folks, this could be a real bumpy ride.