7.11.2025 – already convinced

already convinced
of the conspiracy will
likely be unmoved

In the article, No, Chemtrails Are Not Real or Causing Floods, E.P.A. Says By Maxine Joselow in the New York Times, Ms. Joselow opens with:

No, chemtrails are not real, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday, in a notable instance of the Trump administration debunking a conspiracy theory that gained traction amid catastrophic flooding in Central Texas.

For decades, scientists have sought to shut down the chemtrails conspiracy theory, which asserts that the federal government is spraying harmful chemicals into the sky to control the weather, population or food supply. On Thursday, their efforts got a major boost from an unexpected source: two new E.P.A. websites that seek to “provide clear, science-based information” on chemtrail claims as well as on geoengineering, or efforts to intentionally alter Earth’s climate.

Most successful use of Chemtrails ever …

But she closes with:

Andrew Dessler, a professor of atmospheric science at Texas A&M University, said the E.P.A.’s new sites “appear to be a reasonable effort to give people the facts they need to recognize that chemtrails claims lack any scientific basis.” Still, he said, “those already convinced of the conspiracy will likely be unmoved. Instead, they’ll probably just conclude that the E.P.A. is in on the coverup.”

As the King says the Duke in the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:

“Hain’t we got all the fools in town on our side? And ain’t that a big enough majority in any town?”

Crowds on Hilton Head Island stare in awe at dangerous chemtrails

7.10.2025 – anticipate fear

anticipate fear
decide if allow yourself
to be consumed by it

Adapted from:

Fear and self-doubt are predictable,” I said, repeating the line I’ve said to thousands of people in every conceivable circumstance.

“Therefore, they are manageable.

You have to anticipate the fear.

Anticipate the self-doubt.

And then deliberately and intentionally decide if you’re going to allow yourself to be consumed by it”

From the book, Stay Sane in an Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive by Greg Harden (Blackstone Publishing, Inc., 2023).

Mr. Harden goes on to say:

Becoming the world’s greatest expert on yourself, identifying your own self-defeating attitudes and behaviors, controlling the controllables.

Commit, improve, maintain.

Maintain.

That is where I am today.

Maintain.

I am committed.

I work to improve.

Everyday the effort to maintain …

Well …

As a friend told me once, most likely, today is the best I will for the rest of my life.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I will anticipate that fear.

And I won’t let it consume me.

7.9.2025 – is an offensive

is an offensive
crime mathematically
and ethically

Hey, I am not writing about the current administration!

Boy Howdy, but yes, talking about something that may be a crime and I am talking about … sports.

Today’s haiku is adapted from the wonderful word rhythm in the sentence from the Sports Illustrated article, March Madness Is Likely to Expand Because of a Cash-and-Power Grab by Pat Forde where Mr. Forde writes:

This potential crime against sporting art is offensive mathematically, geometrically, intellectually and I daresay ethically.

When I was a kid and I first heard the song 76 Trombones in the musical Music Man, I imagined great phalanxes of marching trombone players followed by another block of 110 cornet players followed by rows and rows of the finest virtuosos.

I could see those powerful, majestic rows and rows of marchers in my head.

In the same way, I got that feeling of power marching forward as I read those majestic polysyllable words marching across the screen of my tablet.

Mathematically.

BAM

Geometrically.

BAM

Intellectually.

BAM

Ethically.

BAM

I am reminded of the scene in the movie Anatomy of a Murder where the Prosecutor yells, “Objection! His testimony is incompetent (bangs his hand on the table), hearsay (bangs his hand on the table), irrelevant (bangs his hand on the table), immaterial (bangs his hand on the table), inconclusive (bangs his hand on the table) …”

And Jimmy Stewart, the Defense Attorney, replies … “That’s too much for me. The witness is yours.”

What was funny is that they all fit into Mr. Forde’s argument.

Adding more teams to March Madness was wrong …

Mathematically – The number of teams did not work out so that every team played the same number of games.

Geometrically – 64 teams was the limit of the number of teams that could fit on a bracket THAT COULD BE PRINTED on a single piece of 11.5 by 8.5 paper (could there be a better reason).

Intellectually – It was an affront that the tournament needed fixing.

Ethically – the changes are suggested for all the wrong reasons of making money and displaying power rather than a move toward fairness on behalf of excluded teams.

Mr. Forde also writes that the planned expansion of the NCAA March Madness Tournament means that the powers-that-be in College Sports are standing in front of the Mona Lisa right now, ready to deface their masterpiece a little more.

Does that mean that a little bit of paint on the Mona Lisa would be acceptable?

7.8.2025 – live in the sunlight

live in the sunlight
glad – know the day – that one might
dream in the shadows

Adapted from: That One Might Live in the Sunlight Glad by William H.A. Moore as published in “The Crisis” 1910-1926

That one might live in the sunlight glad
And know the day;
That one might dream in the shadows
And love alway.
To love and to live and to know,
To feel the sea’s strength and sea’s flow,
That one might sleep while the heart is mad
And sorrow play!
that one might speak when the soul’s athirst
And hear the cry;
That one might feel when the heart has burst
And love the why.
O to speak and to feel and to know,
O to love the wind’s strength and wind’s blow,
That one might walk with the sorrows first,
Nor weep, nor sigh!
O to know and to love and to live,
O to speak and hear and to give,
Nor fear to die!

According to the short bio in The book of American Negro poetry (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1922) edited by James Weldon Johnson (who, according to a note on the dust jacket, Compiled this work because it was his belief that a group of people is not known) William W. H . Moore was born in New York City and received his education in the public schools and at the City College. He also did some special work at Columbia University. He has had a long career as a newspaper man, working on both white and colored publications. He now lives in Chicago. He is the author of Dusk Songs, a volume of poems.

This snippet is the basis of any and every mention or biography of Mr. Moore in the online world.

I also came across one discussion of Mr. Moore where the someone posted that they had searched for Dusk Songs every where they could think of with no success.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

7.7.2025 – grow older, care less

grow older, care less
about others’ opinions
that’s liberating

The article, The thing about ‘ageing gracefully’: whatever you call it, I’ll do it my way, by Ashton Applewhite (7/7/2205 in The Guardian) had the tease, “One thing I’ve noticed is that as they grow older, people tend to care less about others’ opinions. Sometimes that’s liberating.”

And I thought, does that go too far?

I don’t want get older and care less about other’s opinions in general.

About other’s opinions about me I gave up on a long time ago and it was VERY liberating!

Actually I have a strong sense of self justification which allows me to over come any one else’s opinion of myself.

But I hope I always CARE for other people’s opinions, especially when their opinion is wrong and needs gentle correcting.

You know what I mean.

I liked how Ms. Applewhite ended her article, writing:

I’m not defying the same way they are.

I’m not taking up pole dancing or skateboarding.

And I’ll never be among the gracefuls, no matter how hard I try.

Ageing is complicated, and we each have to find our own way through it.

My path lies in rejecting this culture’s ageist, sexist, ableist drumbeat: the mainstream narrative that the way to relate to ageing is to resist it.

I’ve discussed this with countless friends over the years, and asked quite a few what they thought it meant to age gracefully.

My favorite response came in conversation with organizer Julia Rhodes Davis.

“The more we turn and face the truth – that we are all ageing, that death is coming for us all – the more alive we become,” said Julia.

“That’s my definition of ‘ageing gracefully.’”

I’ll take it.

To me, it means growing older unapologetically, truthfully and in community.

I’ll call it ageing with grace.

ageing with grace