Musing from afar --

This is an experimental post drafted from my iGoogle Home Page.

It would be a way for me to post on a whim. Or a quick thought might lead to something else, if I used it only for drafting purposes.

The idea is to strike while the muse is on my shoulder, rather than wailing for the muse to come. Creativity is often far away at the time when it is convenient for for my logical, linear-thinking, overly rational part. This is the part that is obsessive, obligated and self-critical.

My muse is there for me only if allowed -- not demanded.

Links, Stranger Than Fiction

Presented in chronological order of publication:

"Stimulus? U.S. to buy Chinese condoms, ending Alabama jobs*," from McClatchy (3/23/09). Betmo says, "It has come to this. . . Well, we get everything else from there, why not?" This regards USAID's AIDS prevention programs around the world.

"Golfer looking for errant tee shot finds grenade#," from Yahoo! News (3/19/09).

"Hot fuzz: Chinese police hand out chillies to keep drivers alert#," from The Guardian (3/11/09). Jon says, "this is a new one on me." To quote from the article by Tania Branigan in Beijing:

Officers in country's south-west hit on novel road safety idea to stop motorists falling asleep at the wheel. Police in south-west China are turning up the heat on accidents along
some of the world's most dangerous roads by feeding drivers raw chilli.

Traffic officers in Chongqing are handing out the peppers at service stations to stop motorists falling asleep at the wheel.

"Mo*," from the odd neighbor (3/10/09). This is a wonderful story that Betmo titles, "Cats and Life." Well, worth the read!

"Zoo chimp 'planned' stone attacks#," from the BBC News. (3/9/09) This chimp can plan ahead. To quote: "A male chimpanzee provides compelling proof that animals may be able to plan for future events and moods."

"Pink Dolphin*," from UncommonSense (3/3/09) "Neat," says Betmo. Click link for vivid photo.

"What causes vivid dreams?#" from divine carolyn (March 2009).

"Texas may let hunters shoot pigs from choppers#," from Yahoo! News (2/19/09). Jon adds, "Maybe Palin can give us some pointers."

"Cache of Ice Age fossils found in Los Angeles#," from Yahoo! News (2/18/09). They're in tar pits.

"Dolphins Prepare Their Food!*" from Lisa Allender Writes (1/30/09) Betmo says, "Who Knew?"

"Scientists find new creatures of Australian deep#," from Yahoo! News (1/18/09)



Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are Betmo*, Dan'l+ and Jon#.

Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for my websites.

Technorati tags: oddities blogging news links animals

Cross posted to "Behind the Links."

Where I light and where I write

Today's post is about the blogosphere and about how we come to join certain groups of writers. But it is more about how it is that all of us manage to continue writing, and how often it is very hard to do so. Perhaps todays post came up because the Ides of March happened. The soothsayer says with foreboding, "Beware of the Ides of March" in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The day (March 15) is just one of a dozen Ides that occur every month of the year. But that was about the time I began to feel resistant to posting at my political website.

South by Southwest, etc. My fourth year blogiversary at S/SW will be on March 29, 2009. I have written 1270 posts there. And I have been feeling a bit of burnout lately. I also maintain two other sites. Making Good Mondays, a creative and nonpolitical webpage, was begun on 11/16/05. And Behind the Links, a political collaboration with three blog friends (Betmo, Dan'l and Jon), was started only recently on February 6 of this year. I have been cross-posting at several group blogs for quite a while. I have really enjoyed the different kinds of communities they represent. Probably the longest association began almost as soon as I went online:

TPM Cafe: I have been posting at TPM Cafe for several years, off and on. It is a part of Josh Marhall's big website, to which I returned after a couple of protracted absences. "They say this is how it is supposed to work" was a recent cross-post to TPM. It is one of a number of my recent posts that did not work as I would have liked. I realized that it was not one of my better efforts when I cross-posted it and it got no comments and recommended but once, unusual for this group. As a result, I took it down, something I almost never do.

The Reaction: Michael J.W. Stickings, who edits The Reaction, also posted over at TPM Cafe. That is where we "got acquainted." coincidentally, we each started our own blogs on the same day, March 29, 2005. We began exchanging e-mails in February of 2006, and I was invited to become a co-blogger in May of 2007, and an assistant editor in October of that year. Michael's first post was called, "Fiat Lux: The Reaction Begins." The site now has accumulated 6660 posts. My first post at Michael's blog was, "An idea whose time has come," written on June 7, 2007. " The Reaction in review" series I write for the blog began on September 12, 2008. As the years have passed I realized I do not get nearly as many comments there as I did early on. In fact comments are down for all of us from the level when we all first began. Michael's Sunday post, "My weekend," from which I quote, echoes some of what I was also feeling this weekend.

I apologize for my lack of posting this weekend [various things] . . . kept me from blogging, and, on top of all that, I've been battling an annoying cold for the past week or so.

And, somewhat tired of what I've been writing about lately, I think I just needed a couple of days off to relax and refresh.

I'll be back at it tomorrow, though -- and of course there will be much more from the co-bloggers, who continue to make this blog so much better than it ever could have been had I kept it a solo project.

So stay tuned for new posts. And enjoy the rest of your weekend.

The Siren's Chronicles -- In May of 2008, through my blog friend Betmo, I became a (Tuesday Featured) "Siren" at Sirens Chronicles, cross-posting there at least once a week. I got an e-mail this morning from Dusty, the editor, that the site has been hacked. All of our posts have disappeared from the site's remaining template. A few comments survive. Dear Dusty's poignant e-mail puts it this way:

I checked the site tonight, as I always do and found that someone has hacked the site.

All posts are gone...poof. It's like Sirens never existed. All that is up is the template.

I don't know what to do. . . I am very upset, I don't know if I can fix this.

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

It has been a tough period for my friends and I, far tougher for some than others. I have not felt my writing is up to par. My linking collaborators have been challenged. Betmo was on a self-imposed news blackout for some weeks around the holidays. Jon's e-mail was traumatically out for a few days recently. Michael needed the weekend off. Dusty, the Siren's, Chronicles were expunged. These experiences were wide ranging in level of difficulty. I am amazed at the convergence of our experiences and the inter-connectedness of web communities. So here we are, all in it together at various levels. I feel sure that this little vignette occurs all the time in one version or another in blogger communities all over the world.

Good news update: Dusty reports that she has been able to restore the site, except for the graphics. She wants us all to post to make sure we are back in business. Yippee!

Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

Technorati tags: blogosphere blogging news writing community psychology

My brand new blog is called "Behind the Links."

Space flight deals with unplanned stuff --

Critter litter - A bat attempted to stow away on the space shuttle, Discovery, according to Space.com. It was not expected to cause a debris problem; it was expected to fly away during the launch. To quote:

Discovery is poised to deliver new solar arrays and a new station crewmember to the International Space Station. Commander Lee Archambault will lead the seven-member STS-119 crew on the planned 13-day mission.
Discovery is also ferrying Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata to the space station, where he will replace NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus as a member of the outpost's three-person crew. Coincidentally, Wakata - Japan's first long-duration astronaut - was also part of the STS-72 crew aboard Endeavour when the last bat tried to hitch a ride into space.

Satellite debris was tracked near the space station yesterday, but it passed by without the necessity of moving the station out of harm's way. To quote:

The amount of space trash has increased in recent months after the Feb. 10 collision of a U.S. and a different Russian satellite, which spewed two debris clouds after the two spacecraft crashed into each other 490 miles (790 km) above Siberia. The new debris has increased the damage risk to NASA's space shuttle and station flights by about 6 percent, or 1-in-318, NASA officials have said.

"Space waste: Handling garbage when your dumpster is 100 million miles away," is an article sort of on the same subject. You might find this archived piece from Eurekalert (11/18/08) interesting.

Night into Day

Billows of smoke and the water near Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida capture the brilliant light of space shuttle Discovery's lift-off on the STS-119 mission.

Photo credit: NASA/Sandra Joseph, Kevin O'Connell
March 15, 2009

Urine recycling system to get a spare part -- The space shuttle Discovery will link up with the International Space station today. NASA's STS-119 is due to dock with the ISS at 5:13 PM EDT. The crew will land back on earth on March 28. Space.com has the full story of the mission plans. To quote the highlights:

Discovery's STS-119 mission will deliver the Starboard-6 truss (S6), a 45-foot-long, 31,000-pound girder that will complete the station's 11-piece main truss, which serves as the outpost's metallic backbone. The truss also carries the fourth set of U.S. solar wings to generate power for the orbiting lab.
. . . Discovery is also carrying up Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, a veteran spaceflyer who will serve as his nation's first long-duration astronaut. Wakata is due to relieve NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus as a station Expedition 18 flight engineer for a roughly three-month stay. Magnus will fly back home aboard Discovery.
. . . Pilot Tony Antonelli and mission specialists Joseph Acaba, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold, and John Phillips fill out Discovery's STS-119 crew. Arnold and Acaba, both teacher-astronauts, are set to be the first educators to perform spacewalks when they help install the new elements on the space station.
. . . The shuttle is also set to carry up a spare part for the station's urine recycling system, which filters astronaut urine back into drinking water. The system has been malfunctioning since it was installed last November.

Space flight will always have to deal with things that are unplanned. And STS-119 has been no exception. But NASA and its partners around the world have shown an amazing resilience and brilliance when it comes to work-arounds. It is really something to behold for an old "space junkie" like me.

My brand new blog is called "Behind the Links." My political blog is at "South by Southwest."

Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for my websites.

Technorati tags: news space program sts-119 NASA

Found in the files:

Since I have already confessed to being an incurable collector, you will understand when I publish this post. I found this when I was cleaning out my professional files, brought home when I retired. I assume someone gave it to me when I was managing a program for Retired Senior Volunteers. To quote:

THANK GOD I'M NOT SICK

Author Unknown

Thank God I'm not sick.

I have a wrinkled face and a sagging chin

and these brown spots all over my skin -

but thank God I'm not sick.

I can turn on the TV. . .

Push my recliner back . . .

and before the news is over

I've taken a nap.

Then when it's late and I'm ready for bed

I'm wide awake and wondering what was said.

I know where my brain is,

but that's not my mind,

and I question my memory from time to time.

I hunt for things, plus the keys to my car,

go in the next room and wonder what for

but thank God I'm not sick.

I can walk every morning, sleep all night,

drive my car, and dress up right,

make my bed, pay my bills, cook my food,

and clean up my spills.

I tire a little faster, rest a little slower. . .

but in spite of all this, I'm still a go-er,

and thank God I'm not sick.

I forget names, remember faces,

remember them and forget the places.

My hearing is dull, my hair is gray.

My eyes are dim, but what can I say?

I can write a letter, answer the phone.

Read my mail, and live alone.

It's a God-Given privilege to be alive,

So whatever the day brings, I'll survive.

And thank God I'm not sick.

I'm cooking less, my cooking's not good.

I chew a little longer when eating my food.

I make myself a list and check it twice. . .

write myself a note -- now take my advice. . .

when you look at the calendar to check a day,

make sure it's the right week to be OK.

Then laugh a lot and pray a little

and keep on plowing down the middle.

Than be thankful you're not sick.

My brand new blog is called "Behind the Links."

Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for my websites.

Technorati tags: [tagname]

Risking this --

Haiku:

Japanese verse in three lines. Mood poem - doesn't use metaphors or similes.

Classic form: Line 1 - 5 syllables. Line 2 - 7 syllables. Line 3 - 5 syllables.

I am experimenting here:

**********

Present, but gone now

You remembered and then not

So I must know night

**********

Raspberry canes bend

over to bear the sweet fruit.

Red lips pucker up.

**********

My brand new blog is called "Behind the Links."

Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for my websites.

Technorati tags: haiku poetry creative