Fantasy, History, Media, Music, Nature, Science, space, Uncategorized

Surfing Pluto

22 Comments

It’s amazing what happens sometimes when you’re surfing the internet. I started with my daily dose of Sci Show Space, which led me to Gustav Holst’s Suite of Planets.  I realized that Holst wrote The Planets before Pluto was discovered, so he can’t be blamed that after 1930, he was missing a planet (of course now he’s OK again if you want align yourself with the Astronomer’s Union).  Over the years composers have “added” to Holst’s work with various songs about Pluto.

There are serious attempts like Pluto, the Renewer by Colin Matthews):

and very silly (yet funny) pieces, like For the Planet Pluto by the Music Tapes:

And I particularly like this one, Plutonian Nights by Sun Ra:

Then my lunch break was up and I had to get back to work!

Any unsung heroes in your life?

22 thoughts on “Surfing Pluto”

  1. Nice, VS! I think husband is my unsung hero. He worked late up at the rez last night, and when he got to his tribal housing (one quarter of a double wide trailer), the lock was frozen and no amount of WD 40 or heat from a lighter would let him in. The wind chill was about -30. He had to spend the night at the casino across the road. All his stuff was locked in the trailer. He will have to find the tribal maintenence guy today. That guy is another unsung hero, now that I think about it.

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  3. A young man passed away yesterday. He’d gotten very very sick last fall and had been hosting an ongoing slew of medical issues ever since. Heart and lung transplants and complications both related and unrelated.
    His parents and all the doctors and nurses and technicians who worked so so hard to help him are all heros.

    A college student had a sister (named ‘Monet’. Isn’t that terriffic?!) who was born with her own set of medical issues and physical handicaps. But she loved to laugh and came to see plays and concerts.
    She got pneumonia mid December and died from complications just before Christmas. The parents and family of kids with those extra special needs are all heros too.
    We’ve got it easy with our daughter.
    This is nothing compared to the challenges some people have.

    And my friend Paul. and my sister Joanne. There are people being hero’s in ways we don’t even realize…

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  5. As can be seen from the above entries, our views may differ on a what constitutes an unsung hero.

    As I see it, there are lots of unsung heroes, but by their very nature, most of them don’t get much recognition. I’d include volunteers of every stripe who help where they see a need. This would include baboons who helped me with gardening after my fall, and Steve with his tree branch and getting his house ready for sale. It includes my friend, Helen, who delivers Meals on Wheels once a week, and generally is quick to do whatever she can to visit people who are sick or going through a hard time. I know our own Linda does volunteer work as well; thanks Linda. Husband volunteers as a photographer for Special Olympics, and serves on the board of East Side Elders, a non-profit organization that assists older people who live on the East Side so that can stay in their homes longer. Many, many of our non-profit organizations couldn’t do their important work if it weren’t for volunteers. Most of the instructors who teach the evening ESL classes throughout the country are volunteers; it’s truly humbling to realize the amount of hours they put in, year after year.

    Look around you, chances are that a lot of your friends and neighbors are unsung heroes; I know a lot of mine are.

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  6. Well, not unexpected, but I guess that sometime in between when Husband left his place yesterday morning and came
    back last night, the locks on his place were changed by Tribal maintenance and no one let anyone know! Now he has the new keys but his pipes are frozen. He may spend one extra night there tonight in a housing unit attached to his work place. I think he had to waste a lot of time getting this all figured out.

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      1. Well, on the rez the right hand doesn’t always know what the left hand is doing. The trailers are under the control of the kidney dialysis unit. They don’t always communicate with behavioral health.

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  7. The question was asked of me when I seen her in high school in psychology class and I shook my head and said on the song heroes are people that you don’t know anything about and they are the Mahatma Gandhi’s that are not Gandhi
    The pope before he got the pope was a guy who was there to help people maybe he was famous in his own little circle but the reason he got famous is because he was selfless

    sometimes you have to make noise too good and I think Obama is a wonderful example of that

    did you guys know that Captain kangaroo was a war hero

    mr. Rogers I had an idea to help children by speaking to them in a different way and that made him a noted hero

    i’m not a fan of police officers and kind of feel like I do about people who run for president of anyone who would take that stance has got to be a little off but some of those guys to risk life and limb for society

    those soldiers do you hear about the picture of the belt on hand grenade are the extreme version but think about all the people that do whatever they can do when called upon

    Then there are the elementary school teachers to stay in a job with low pay and high stress and

    that’s the because if they leave the children have no one

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      1. i’m glad your son is there to tip the scales bit i’ll bet he’s not a macho arrogant authority starved marine like the ones i see as the majority

        Just like im glad Obama was there to run for president

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  8. I have friends and relatives who are dealing with any number of health issues (either they and/or their spouse), where I wonder how they do it, esp. if they’re the primary caregiver. (I think of Clyde.) One friend deals with extreme chemical sensitivity (remember Mike on Northern Exposure?), and she is greatly improved from when it was the worst, but still has reactions from, say, being in a big box store, or contact with someone wearing a lot of scent, or walking past a house where the smell of dryer sheets is vented to the outdoors! “Odor pollution” is as real as light and sound pollution…

    And I’ve said before here that single moms and single dads have my undying admiration.

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  9. Well. Unsung heroes – since my diagnosis, I’ve been surprised at the unsung heroes that have come alongside me to help and encourage. Some do a little, some do a lot, but every word, every dish for the freezer, every visit, every email, every phone call, every text is appreciated. It sounds sappy to admit this, but sometimes it makes me cry because I’m so touched by what people do or say.

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    1. That doesn’t sound sappy to me at all, ljb; more like you’re genuinely moved, grateful, and perhaps surprised. I think it’s a lot harder to be on the receiving end of other people’s generosity than to be on the giving end, partly because you’re not in control, and that’s uncomfortable for a lot of people. Asking for and accepting help is not an easy thing to do.

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    2. Glad you are getting support ljb
      You deserve it
      The observations you are making about life here these days are more in appreciation of the little things that matter,
      I think I am looking at appreciation of the simple things because of that. It’s been great watching you find your connection. What made life grand before photography I’m not sure I know but your brain soul connection has been a wonder to behold. Inspirational and uplifting

      What the hell thats got to do with hero’s I’m not sure but maybe you are my unsung hero for making the important things that get missed, jump back into view.
      Thanks

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  10. Anyone who is helping the homeless get through this cold snap is a hero. I’m a wimp about cold. I just retreat into my house and hope the boiler keeps working.

    Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a hero, but not exactly unsung these days. Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Stephen Breyer have lower profiles, but RBG would be pretty powerless without them.

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    1. We have in Winona not a full fledged homeless shelter, but a “warming center” with 10 beds – and lately it has for the first time been at capacity. Some of my heroes are the volunteers who have come forward to staff it for partial overnight shifts – 9:00 – till 2 a.m., and 2 a.m. – 7 a.m.

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    3. It had never occurred to me that the people who are living on the street are there for mental health reasons I always just assumed it was your financial situation

      Often times when there is a mental health situation it results in a financial situation also but I understand that a number of people who stay out in the cold and the streets in this weather do so because they can’t see him before I don’t have any walls around them and they need to be free and outdoors

      The ones who are freezing and wish they had financial means and appreciative of being offered a shelter

      the ones that have a mental health condition that make them reject the offer no matter what because it would feel claustrophobic are the ones that offer a different challange

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