New avatar time. This one I picked up courtesy of Phil Plait, the astronomer best known for the blog Bad Astronomy. It is the Earth taken from 630,000 km by the EU's Rosetta space probe. The spacecraft's main mission, for which it just woke up, is to drop a lander on to a comet; the first ever attempt to land on one. IOW, this spectacular view of Earth could just be the beginning of one spectacular space exploration mission.

Mendalla

I don't think that this has been posted or discussed here yet (I remember posting in a thread about it but I think it was on another board). This is the song that astronaut Chris Hadfield co-wrote with Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies. It is the first song recorded on Earth and in orbit and, beside members of BNL, features youth choir the Wexford Gleeks. In short - I love it. Bouncy, lively, and a beautiful reflection on the view of Earth from up there.

 By next Saturday the trout fishing season will have ended.  Often I will meet a couple of friends to go fly fishing on the last weekend of the season.  It has become a bit of a tradition.  We expect  that the fishing will be difficult or even grim.  Cold gray skies.  Big fronts moving in.  Few insects hatching and few fish rising.  We go anyway.  We justify it by saying that the big ones are feeding heavily as they get ready

40 years ago, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon.

I'm committing a few sins here - pride, vanity and, according to my partner, sloth by spending time on such frivolous tasks as poetry and video making - but...

this is what I imagine when I dare to grasp the face of God

From a File called "Whe eL'lin eMour":

How do we expect to understand our fears if we have poor recognition of the word? Then some void has tried to put limits on awareness by confining the story contrary to the actual contents of the limited collection.

Is the Song of the Sole O'man vast like free Grit bourn on the wind to give ID sense of respect for the unseen? The physical bean would sooner say good-bye to comprehension. Be careful of what you wish ... the metaphysical might digest you like a worm in the fruit of creation.

Most of us feel pressed – surviving holidays, keeping up with jobs, managing ever-expanding family obligations, and trying to find time for friends and community. It’s little wonder we’re asking: how can we create space in our lives for what we want?

It’s a question I wrestled with this fall as I recovered from surgery. The prognosis was good, but when I was off work longer than expected, I discovered I like having time to read, write, and walk– so I started considering how to create space for those in my life.

Excuse the sic sense of humour!

If only there were enought words to define the shadow of a smile in deep space ...

Nirvanna ... Nerve Na ... Salt of the Earth, traveller in a sea of water: