A Brief Departure From The Typical Posts Here…

Sonnet for President Trump

Shall I compare thee to a Shakespeare play? Thou art less clever and less literate, But how else should poor poets have their say? Alas, our leader lacks a donkey’s wit! Sometime too fierce the fire of ego burns, And when a man is made to look a fool, He rages ’gainst the mockery he earns, As little boys will cry when teas’d at school. But thy eternal tantrums shall not wane, Nor shalt thou e’er unclench thy tiny fists, Nor listen when the people dare to say, “’Tis you, dear sir, who made a scene of this.”         So long as men can breathe and speech is free,         The Bard shall speak and show thy shame to thee.

(4 July 2017, in honor and defense of freedom of artistic expression)

Never forsaken

“You were never forsaken in this magnitude.” Mikael Aldo

Four open clusters (M103, Owl Cluster, and two Caldwells) Visit http://spaceviewsandbeyond.blogspot.com/2017/11/four-open-clusters-m103-owl-cluster-and.html for more space pics

A book crystallized in the ocean

I plucked the stars for my girlfriend tonight

Galactic Rose [1589x1178] - For more images of the cosmos Click Here

Nicole and Chloë love the new apartment look. #FluffyCat (at Aspire)

The total solar eclipse which crossed from Alaska to Texas spurred many to make the trip West in 1878. Dr. Henry Draper, a medical doctor and former chair of physiology at New York University, assembled a group who watched the eclipse from the railroad outpost of Rawlins, Wyoming Territory and made some observations.

This is why you should always speak your mind

I made the top comment on the Star Wars Facebook, criticizing the Benioff and Weiss hire.

I present: comments from three hundred upset men (and women!) and why none of them have shaken my belief in how bad a hire this is.

I knew my remark would be unpopular and met with nasty comments, misguided statements about Game of Thrones and the film industry, insinuations that there aren’t any good women or nonwhite directions, couple of lewd comments about my sex life. There is truth to the adage: Facebook is a cesspool.

What I didn’t know is that I would get enough attention to make the top comment.

At the time of writing, sixty hours after initial posting, it’s running a little less than 80% laugh reactions—so, people thinking I’m a moron—and it’s running about 1,100 reactions and 324 replies.

Unfortunately for my would-be adversaries, I don’t debate on Facebook and it is a favorite pastime to read the vitriol and mediocre hash slung in my direction as if it’ll have any effect on my self-esteem. Fortunately, you don’t have to do the same. I present: the major response patterns and why they don’t hold any water.