The Rock

The Rock

(from Pale Rider)

I know about where it is 
this big rock with a candy vein of gold in it 
scintillating under the stars

*

I want to find this Idaho Sword of Shannara 
and lay me down under the silver fruit 
Press the gold of my ear to the vibration 
to sense if I can detect the echo of 
when Lurch -or was it Jaws? 
Split this baby in half 
with an old 1863 hickory stick sledgehammer

*

Yepperdoodle 
I’ll bend up over the hill tonite 
a-foot 
too itchy and scratchy for a truck in that rough spot 
to see if I can’t see how these hills have changed

*

Yeah that’s it 
I’ll pack up the DVD player 
better bring a spare battery juice-pack 
Cause it’s cold in those Idaho hills 
I’ll freeze frame on the DVD 
sections of Mountains in that backdrop 
and compare it to our current status

*
I think of the nameless preacher in the movie 
and for some reason the Beatles real nowhere man 
jangles my juices like Satchel Paige on opening day

*

On spectacular evenings like these 
Sometimes it feels like we’ll still be standing strong 
long after these hills have fast eroded away

Lower speed limit was safer

After nearly being side-swiped by a cement truck barreling unbalanced down Highway 75 in a recent rainstorm, I thought about how the speed limit for this widened stretch is being raised and considered this teetering ‘near-miss’ a bad omen.

Equally unsettling were the reactions of two motorists who decided to speed up and buzz by the hydroplaning truck as it overcorrected, and then almost toppled over on them as they passed in the slick right lane. I suspect that these law-bending speeders are part of the majority who were ignoring the limits anyway; which is a major reason why the Idaho Transportation Department decided give up on its prudent attempt to keep the speed lower and us safer.

The area near the hospital is well known as an active wildlife corridor, and raising the limit there goes against the grain of an insightful WRHS applied physics class study on the effects of vehicle collisions with wildlife at 45 mph versus 55 mph.

http://archives.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2007149182...

Moreover, motorists turning left into traffic now need to cross over an additional lane before merging.

Sadly, it's easy to predict that bad vehicle crashes will likely increase when the highway soon turns icy and numerous motorists continue to show a lack of respect toward the speed limit. And since Idaho is a state without annual vehicle safety inspections for tires brakes and steering systems some of the same people who pay little heed to basic traffic rules on treacherous roads probably will be piloting vehicles that are not even roadworthy for new season. 

Transporting this symbolic hydrant to the Animal Shelter new office reminded me of my Falls Church Water days: One cold winter night while on call, someone had driven their sedan around a corner too fast, slipped on the ice and knocked over a hydrant so it was spurting water into the sky just like in the movies. Luckily, I arrived quick enough to locate the shut-off valve before it froze over; but after I turned it off, the strange thing was, was that nobody was around.

The vehicle was wedged over the hydrant, and inspecting the scene closer, it appeared as though they had tried to drive away, but could not get it unhooked from the spouting hydrant. I wondered if they had been met by an ambulance, but then a police officer came by and said that that was not the case. We saw quite a few beer cans crushed in the back seat, and later I learned that the owner of the car called the police a few hours later to report his car stolen. The police invited him down to fill out a report in person; but apparently he never showed - probably in fear of being criminally charged with filling out a false police report.

Never did learn how the owner finally got his damaged car back, or if he ever did.

A Far Out Plutonian Ode

It’s practically beyond belief to see the initial photographs of Pluto we’ve received through the 12-watt transmitter of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft from 3 billion miles away. Stunning high resolutions of icy mountains as tall as Hyndman and a toy box full of planetary mysteries for sunny mission astronomers to gleefully analyze in coming years – and this success merely 112 years after the Wright Brothers.

Meanwhile, here on solid Earth, most people have forgotten the protests over the 24 pounds of Idaho made plutonium that’s powering this extraordinary mission. According to the January 16, 2006 N.Y. Times: “NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy put the probability of an early-launch accident that would cause plutonium to be released at 1 in 350 chances.”

The Times also reported in 2006 that NASA estimated the cost of decontamination, should there be a serious accident with plutonium released during the launch, at anywhere from $241 million to $1.3 billion per square mile, depending on the size of the area.

 This is not a farfetched scenario. Of the 28 U.S. space missions that used plutonium preceding 2006, three had accidents, the worst in 1964 in which a plutonium-powered satellite broke up and spread toxic radioactivity wide over our planet.

Interestingly, soon after the European Space Agency begin using solar energy to power spacecraft past Jupiter, NASA retracted its earlier claims that plutonium would be needed for spacecraft to be operational beyond Mars and admitted that solar will work in deep space. Naturally, this affects the future of the highly profitable market of INL plutonium production.

Recently, I read an interesting Reddit article that speculated about the increasing speeds we will likely achieve in future space travel. The author suggested that within a few generations, we may develop probes capable of reaching the Outer Oort Cloud within a few days. Not only that, but we could even possess the capability of capturing an earlier probe and then retrieving it for education purposes to a contemporary space museum.

If humanity achieves this great ability in another 112 years, I would beseech future generations that they do not return the New Horizons spacecraft full of deadly plutonium to a museum back on delicate Earth, but rather create a safe outpost museum on faraway Pluto. This would also make a perfectly fitting final resting place for some of Clyde Tombaugh's ashes, which are aboard that very spacecraft, as he was the original 

discoverer of Pluto. 

And if you’ve read his book Plutonian Ode in which leading Beat Poet Alan Ginsberg protested broadly about this most deadly element under the sun, I think you’ll agree that he probably would have smiled at this pie-in-the-sky idea.

https://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article41562174.html

Ode to a Plutonian Ode

It’s practically beyond belief to see the initial stunning photographs of Pluto we’ve received through the 12-watt transmitter of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, 3 billion miles away. High resolutions of icy mountains as tall as Hyndman and a toy box full of planetary mysteries for mission astronomers to gleefully analyze in coming years – and this success merely 112 years after the Wright Brothers.

*

Meanwhile, here on solid Earth, most people have forgotten the protests over the 24 pounds of Idaho made plutonium that’s powering this extraordinary mission. According to the January 16, 2006 N.Y Times: “NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy put the probability of an early-launch accident that would cause plutonium to be released at 1 in 350 chances.”

*

The Times also reported in 2006 that NASA estimated the cost of decontamination, should there be a serious accident with plutonium released during the launch, at anywhere from $241 million to $1.3 billion per square mile, depending on the size of the area.

*

 This is not a farfetched scenario. Of 28 U.S. space missions that used plutonium preceding 2006, three have had accidents, the worst in 1964 in which a plutonium-powered satellite broke up and spread toxic radioactivity wide over our planet.

Interestingly, soon after the European Space Agency begin using solar energy to power spacecraft past Jupiter, NASA retracted its earlier claims that plutonium would be needed for spacecraft to be operational beyond Mars and admitted that solar will work in deep space. This of course, affects the future of the highly profitable market of INL plutonium production.

*

Recently, I read an interesting Reddit article that speculated about the increasing speeds we will probably achieve in future space travel. The author suggested that within a few generations, we may very well develop probes capable of reaching the Outer Oort Cloud within a few days. Not only that, but we could even possess the capability of capturing an earlier probe and then retrieving it for education purposes to a contemporary space museum.

*

If humanity achieves this ability in another 112 years, I would suggest to future generations that they do not return the New Horizons spacecraft full of deadly plutonium back to a museum on fragile Earth, but rather create a safe outpost museum on faraway Pluto.

*

And if you’ve read his book Plutonian Ode in which leading Beat Poet Alan Ginsberg spoke broadly about this most deadly element under the sun, I think you’ll agree he probably would have smiled at the idea. 

Home I leave to embark on a journey for ten days, where I meet a friend on his island. 

We paddle our canoe to an uninhabited island, where we bow-hunt, shooting a sea lion.

After another ten days we return home.

Impressed by Creative crossword clue

  I often enjoy solving clues in the Times-News laid out by prolific puzzler Jacqueline E. Mathews. Sometimes I’m nearing completion, and then with a little help from my friends we crack the whole thing. Last summer on a work break, Noah and I discovered a unique mind-bender; the clue for 54 across was: “Adam didn’t have one, if you think about it.” We needed five letters across, but checking the down clues, we had unraveled only one; which indicated the middle letter should be “V.”

We returned to work, placing the puzzle aside and though we picked it up later, couldn't for the life of us figure out what Adam was missing. A good wife? Some ribs? Snake repellent?  In the evening after mulling the clues more, the answer came in a flash. Adam didn't have a NAVEL – if you think about it! I called Noah and he was equally tickled with Adam’s belly button. Then, with the gift of Google we researched paintings of Adam from antiquity and realized that dozens of ancient painters had not considered it either, because smack dab next to Adams rib was residual evidence of his umbilical cord leading to a larger Great Mystery. 

Impressed by creative crossword clue

  I often enjoy solving clues in the Times-News laid out by prolific puzzler Jacqueline Mathews. Sometimes I’m near completion, and then with a little help from my friends we crack the whole thing. Last summer on a break from work, Noah and I discovered a unique mind-bender; the clue for 54 across was: “Adam didn’t have one, if you think about it.” We needed five letters across, but checking the down clues, we had only unraveled one; which indicated the middle letter for our answer would be “V.”

We returned to work, placing the puzzle aside and though we kept picking it up later, couldn’t figure out what Adam was missing. A good wife? Some ribs? Snake repellant?  In the evening after mulling over the clues more, Eureka! I answered it. Adam didn’t have a navel – if you think about it! I called Noah and he was equally tickled about Adam’s belly button. Then, with the gift of Google we researched paintings of Adam from over the ages and realized that dozens of Renaissance painters had not considered it either, because smack dab next to Adams rib was residual evidence of his umbilical cord leading to a larger Great Mystery. 

With all the importance being placed on under-inflated footballs, I wondered 
about a few simple questions: 
 
1. Did NFL officials measure the temperature and barometric pressure in the room 
where the balls were originally tested before the game? 
2. How does that compare to the field conditions where the game was played and 
how much did those weather conditions change during the course of the game? 
3. After the game was finished, how long was it before NFL officials checked the 
air pressure again? And did they check the balls in the same room, or in another 
room with different climate conditions? 
4. How often does the NFL check footballs after games and how often does the air 
pressure drop in footballs according to their meticulous records? And do they 
account for changes in barometric pressure between the times when the balls are 
tested?