Another Venus

“In 1979, the multi-platinum album Discovery
(or Disco? Very! as fans refer to it), was released.”

ELO, at Wikipedia

Though the low-thrust plasma drive had long since been closed down, Discovery was still coasting with her slender arrowlike body pointed away from Earth, and all her high-powered optical gear was oriented toward the outer planets, where her destiny lay.

There was one telescope, however, that was permanently aimed at Earth. It was mounted like a gunsight on the rim of the ship’s long-range antenna, and checked that the great parabolic bowl was rigidly locked upon its distant target. While Earth remained centered in the crosswires, the vital communication link was intact, and messages could come and go along the invisible beam that lengthened more than two million miles with every day that passed.

At least once in every watch Bowman would look homeward through the antenna-alignment telescope. As Earth was now far back toward the sun, its darkened hemisphere faced Discovery, and on the central display screen the planet appeared as a dazzling silver crescent, like another Venus.

“2001: A Space Odyssey”
Arthur C. Clarke

Sailing away
On the crest of a wave
It’s like magic

“Livin Thing,” ELO

Guitars have frets. There are no frets on a cello.
On guitar, it’s easier to find the right note.
On cello, skilled fingers can shape a perfect sound.

In a perfect world I suppose everybody
would play the cello and the Gulf of Mexico
would be turquoise, with green microscopic sea life
modifying the natural deep ocean blue.

There’s a world where people type music notation
into computer programs and drag around sounds
using a mouse or a track pad or a stylus.
Music never played by a guitar or cello
plays through speakers where people shop or buy their gas.

Venus is a planet between the Earth and Sun.
Disco was music drunk businessmen and women
listened to before passing out. Or having sex.
The Gulf of Mexico will reflect light from stars.

Bright Venus in the east — and another Venus
in the water where boats move around like spaceships —
vibrates to music of the spheres. And other sounds.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .



Back in June, the business press reported
BP was leasing a deep sea drilling rig
called the “West Sirius” for almost
half a million dollars per day.

Seadrill rig to help BP in Gulf of Mexico


People following the on-going catastrophe
in the Gulf of Mexico note that the “West Sirius”
is still on station, still doing something,
at a cost of almost half a million dollars per day.

A New Drilling Rig at Macondo Site?



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Careful Thoughts And Getting Lost



The Flat Night



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The Impossible Kisses Statement On Lady Gaga

This Scary, Pumpkin Time Of Year, Part Two