Yesterday I subscribed to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a media organization, publishing a free-access website and a bimonthly magazine. Topics include nuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologies, including developments in biotechnology. They still believe that “because humans created them, we can control them.”  It will be nice if they also concern themselves with “unwise decisions”, or “If I had to do it over again.”

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UNEDUCATED – Several posts ago I was surprised at my lack of knowledge of world religions.  Today I am surprised that I never knew most if not all bull dogs have to be born caesarian due to their large heads.  I asked, and my daughter knew it.  Where have I been all my life!  At least I can read cursive handwriting.

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NOT ALL DARK AND DREARY – I guess I qualify as a dark alarmist blogger.  I’m working on that. For example, after reading Lois Eisden’s post on early memories, I do remember sitting at the head of the table at the farm with scads of unfamiliar children wishing me a happy two-year old birthday.  I think I remember the occasion because of how embarrassed I was.  Not a good feeling.  Recently I came across a photo which must have been the occasion.  (I’m the youngest one to the right on the front row.)  I recognize less than half the faces–the others I just wonder where they came from.  Thankfully I don’t remember the spanking I got at age one in Martinsville, Va. for wandering from my front yard into traffic.  I’ve been told I was so angry I went into the other room, slammed the door and held my breath until I fainted.  Not having luck with posting photos today, so just imagine it.

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P.S. When feeling down, just say “Be-Bop-a-LuLu…”  (?)

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THANKS FOR STOPPING BY –  It’s my fault for not being chummier.  My next post will be about that.

QUOTE OF THE DAY –  Lewis Thomas on Death:  “….there is still that permanent vanishing of consciousness to be accounted for. Are we to be stuck forever with this problem?  Where on earth does it go?  Is it simply stopped dead in its tracks, lost in humus, wasted?  Considering the tendency of nature to find uses for complex and  intricate mechanisms, this seems to me unnatural.  I prefer to think of it as somehow separated off at the filaments of its attachment, and then drawn like an easy breath back into the membrane of its origin,  a fresh memory for a biospherical nervous system, but I have no data on the matter.”   –Thomas, The Lives of a Cell–Notes of a Biology Watcher

I hope this is a single-sided photo of the satellites currently filling the skies above us.  When I first Googled satellites I kept getting weather pictures from satellites.  Then, in my current purview some dots were red, and all were moving, although you can’t see that from my picture. You can go there yourself, however:  (Sorry, I couldn’t find it again, but I did find one of low-orbit satellites moving PLUS DEBRIS: https://platform.leolabs.space/visualization   Google is HEAVY with boodles of posts on the topic  For this one, be aware that Leolabs owns it but it can be shared for educational purposes.

The second image with the low orbiting satellites and debris shows 20,087 satellites.  I read earlier that dark night was disappearing, and I guess this is why.  I hate being so old-fashioned about my opinions, but darn, things are changing so fast, and without a tiller at the helm.

While woolgathering I came across a https://platform.leolabs.space/visualizations/leo video smidge of a Timelapse of a glacier’s shrinkage from 1984-2022, on Google.

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DARK HUMOR –  The very idea that the United States’ Conservative Party would/should champion our former president.  Unbelievable, as is so much these days as we chug-a-lug toward 2050.

WHEN I first read  that phrase I froze.  Were they herding cats to extinction?  Ya gotta remember that in my youth I have been known to shepherd a dog through the woods with me when the dog catcher was in the neighborhood (that’s Charlotte, North Carolina about 1946), so I immediately flashed on hunters in search of extinguishing cats.  WRONG, at least in my current neck of the woods, at least last week.

An article in the free Athens News spotlights the efforts of a local group of “Cat Herders” who endeavor to capture cats, have them neutered by a vet, and then release them, ultimately lessening the current cat  overpopulation. [A drop in a bucket is better than no drop]

A week later there’s an opinion in the same paper saying that cats should not be released back to the cruel possibilities awaiting them in freedom there (here).  [At times like these I get to feeling snarky, like asking how many cats she is boarding.]

Meaning:  To attempt to control the uncontrollable.

SOURCE OF SAYINGS:  Wikipedia and other sites suggest the “cat herding” saying may be from the  opening scene of Monty Python‘s Life of Brian (1979). Shepherds are discussing sheep and the topic strays to cats: Can you imagine herds of cats waiting to be sheared? Meow! Meow! Woo hoo hoo.

Sorry, I can’t get happy about our rich folks running away to the moon.  Have they graduated to this reward or are they running away from an unsolvable mess? Details of the heralded event is in an Opinion Piece in the New York Times by Rebecca Boyle. Hint: Whoever talked about following the money?

Photo Credit:  Yossi Zeliger/Reuters

It matters not who or where or when…

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QUOTE:  “Human beings aren’t well adapted to reacting to long-term changes,” Gluski said. “Our brains are basically the same as a Paleolithic hunter. It’s like, ‘Throw spear, run from tiger.’ We’re not good at thinking, ‘Three years from now my cave might collapse.’”      –NYTimes Climate Forward by David Gelles 1/18/24

Crawling through Macy’s in search

of my sweetness; alas,

wrong store.  Has it eluded

me now, forever?

At my wake will they fear

I’ll stir with retribution?

Gently. gentle, croon.

Step aside, let love through.

Let love where?  What love?

Love of the lost?  That makes me mad.

You see the problem.

There’s an old song, “Looking for love

in all the wrong places”:

Earth, 2024?