Out of the Pink Sky

Speaking of Marine Biology...

The Barreleye fish, seen above, was recently in the news as researchers recently learned that its eyes are not fixed in place, as previously thought, but can look forward as well as up.  See the green orbs INSIDE of the fish's head?  Those are its eyes!  The barreleye has a transparent head so its eyes, which are completely encased inside its head, can see through it.  The two openings above its mouth, which look like poorly formed eyes, are nares, the fish equivalent to nostrils.  Such a fascinating deep-sea creature!  How would you like to see this swimming at ya?  Learn more here.

Red Sprites, Blue Jets, and Elves - Oh My!

I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to certain scientific things.  For example, I'm fascinated by space, marine biology, and weather.  Today, I saw an article in Yahoo about a new theory about natural phenomena that may be behind cases of UFO sightings.  I didn't expect the explanation to be so interesting.  The article described natural phenomena discovered, fairly recently, in 1989.  Red sprites, blue jets, and elves are types of upper-atmosphere lightning that is unlike the lightning we see below the clouds.  These lightning bolts are associated with ground lightning but can appear, above the clouds, many miles away from their corresponding ground bolt thus looking like unexplained bright lights to people on the ground.  Generally, to see this activity, however, one must be above the clouds.  Thus, their existence was long ago known to pilots.  Because red sprites appear as columns, moving upward, they can appear like candles.  I was particularly impressed with this quote: "The candles in the sprites are up to 15 miles high, with the cluster of candles 45 miles wide — it looks like a huge birthday celebration!"  I'd love to see something like that!  There's more info at Wikipedia.

IndieSpotting

Above, you can see my Cherish Earrings featured on IndieSpotting, a lovely website dedicated to presenting items for sale by independent sellers.  To the left of my earrings, you can see the Daisy glass and plate by Aressa, who is a member of Etsy Team Columbus with me.

Just After the Storm

Last week, it stormed in central Ohio.  For a moment, the sun came out and made everything look sepia-toned.  You can see a little red in the sunset.

Eye Heart You

I know my husband loves me.  I know this because he understands me better than anyone else (closely followed by my mom and my friend, Firu).  He understands my sense of humor and the type of art, decor, and poetry that I would appreciate the most.  So, for this Valentine's Day, he quoted to me this, my new favorite poem:

Roses and red
Violets are red
Everything's red
Retinal haemmorhage

The above necklace is by ratsliveonnoevilstar and can be purchased in their Etsy shop.

When I saw the Future...the geeks were right

Over the past few months, it has become increasingly clear that some major changes are taking place in the world at large and, as a result, in my own microcosm.  The changes are a long time coming and are needed, and they are a result of a society that has gone wildly astray.  I have certainly played my part when it comes to irresponsible spending, but irresponsibility appears to be a word that is extremely fitting for modern times.  That things have gotten to this point, indicate a general public that has spent many years with their collective heads in the sand allowing CEOs, politicians, and other leaders to run roughshod over us, dismantling systems of checks and balances, without a strong, organized cry of protest.  Despite the results of turning a blind eye, a look at the news these past few days has me wondering how on earth I'm supposed to wade through the cesspool of stories of extraordinary greed, corruption, and cruelty, and what can I do?  It's incredibly difficult to stay informed without becoming the walking raw, exposed nerve that I seem to have become these days. 

In the past couple weeks, we've been pummeled with news of the crisis in the economy, unbelievable stories of extreme greed and white-collar theft featuring the faces of such people as Bernard Madoff and John Thain, outlandish corruption such owners of peanut companies who knowingly sell deadly products and new evidence that two PA judges received million in kickbacks for sending teenagers to jail, and wildfires in Australia-possibly the result of arson-that killed hundreds of people and countless animals.

I haven't been spared in my own sphere, like I had been before in difficult economic times.  As of last weekend, I am the only person in my immediate family who has not lost their job. My husband, sister, brother-in-law, and mother have all lost jobs in the past year.  My father was laid off twice in the past few years, the first time losing his “career” job at a company where he’d worked for 30 years.  I, on the other hand, have managed to hang on to a job that I hate – but at least I have one.

While I can understand the opinion of some that we “deserve” a depression, I don’t think that line of though understands the full ramifications of that possibility.  In the 1920s, people stood in soup lines and looked for support from local family.  Today, families are spread far apart, and soup lines are likely to be replaced by forced entry and being gunned down for a can of soup.

So, where do we go from here?

Through the Glass Bluely

So, Can I Just Borrow Your Yard?

I've certainly been pretty darn M.I.A. this week.  Actually, I took this week off from work and my time has been spent mostly between two activities - sleeping and cleaning this place up.  Spring cleaning has come early at my house.  I've been dragging around two garbage bags with me to each of the rooms.  One is for garbage and one is for saleable items.  Unfortunately, I don't have a yard where I Iive so, come spring or summer, I'm going to have to hope that one of my friends allows me to use their yard for a sale.  I've been watching lots of Clean House to keep me motivated.  I still have one major closet to go.  Above is a an example of a mound of bags filled with future yardsale items.