There are five man-made probes that are destined to leave the solar system, never to return - the two Pioneers, the two Voyagers and New Horizons. In addition there are various rocket stages that will also, albeit more slowly, end up in inter-stellar space.

Voyager 1 is currently the most distant of these probes at approximately 25 billion kilometres from home. It has already breached the heliosphere but will still have to navigate the Oort cloud for thousands of years to come. It is operating at the very edge of its capacity, one that will inevitably end in decade or so.

Recently Nasa sent a command to Voyager 1 telling it to turn on one of its heaters. Something was lost in translation (it takes 23 hours for the signal to reach the craft) and Voyager appeared to cease radio contact. Strangely enough, it popped up again on a different radio frequency, having inexplicably turned on an old transmitter that was last used in 1981!

The investigation into the how and why continues. But these stories and the legends that these little probes will create for themselves will be enduring.

Image courtesy Discovery magazine.

Readers of this blog (surely none -ed.) will know that I am fond of the verse of Christina Rossetti. She writes both secular and devotional poems. Her connection to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood through her brother Dante Gabriel makes her even more interesting. Sometimes she would end up in their paintings!

The following short poem is one of her devotional pieces that I particularly admire. For me, it is gem of articulation and faith that bears reading over many times.

Lord, Thou art fulness, I am emptiness:

Yet hear my heart speak in its speechlessness

Extolling Thine unuttered loveliness.

I am often amused when folks from the Boomer generation (which of course includes me) post images of older technologies that they are certain would befuddle young people today.

Invariably, the cassette tape, the cathode-tube TV and the rotary-dial telephone are dragged out as the kind of objects that would inspire panic and perplexity in these unfortunate young men and women. They may, of course, be joking, but a moments observation and even 10 seconds on Youtube would resolve any difficulties encountered, if any existed in the first place.

The same kind of meme comes back the other way, perhaps as a kind of revenge by Gen. X and Z partisans. These often portray very old people completely misunderstanding what modern technologies can and can't do with hilarious or absurd consequences.

It's just another manifestation of the so-called battle of the generations, which is not really a battle, merely a matter of opinion, cultural change and the vicissitudes of memory. I confess that I have very little interest in social media, except for my rarely-used FB presence. I really have better things to do.

I have had a very disrupted schedule lately, with all the 'normal' things that I do thrown into doubt. I have not been regularly to either 2RPH or my choir rehearsals due to events that were simply beyond my control.

Today, at least, I can attend my choir's concert in Springwood, even though I have missed some key practice sessions. I always try to make this up with study at home. Fortunately we have a choir site at Harmony which allows songs to be downloaded and played and much else besides. I do think I am ready, but should my memory play tricks, I can always do my time-honoured practice of dropping out for a bar or two whilst miming. Simply put, you never acknowledge mistakes to an audience.

Here's the flyer for today's gig which should be a good session of singing from very different choirs. And all in a good cause too!

Despite being in the midst of a world of trouble over the past few weeks, there is much to be grateful for. Yes, 'when sorrows come they come not single spies, but in battalions' (Hamlet) but there is a way of surviving the dark valleys and emerging in the light at the end, if an end there is.

Not all people endure the battering. No one, I think, comes through unscathed,  or changed in some way, unless they are impervious to pain and suffering. If you are a stoic, I suppose you might anticipate the worst in order to pass through whatever wrath is to come. But ordinary folks can fall by the wayside, or become consumed with running from problems by whatever means.

Which brings me to gratitude. If you can find the good amongst the bad, the joy amongst the pain, then you are blessed indeed. I think it pays to stop, momentarily cease the relentless pacing of the mind, and look around for something that brings hope. It is usually something very simple.

 I am having a lovely time giving ChatGPT 'literary challenges.' I had read an article in the Smithsonian Magazine that described an experiment in which the subjects of the that experiment were asked a variety questions, including some which required them to distinguish the real work of famous authors and the AI generated fakes. Most could not.

So off I went to Chat GPT to give it a few tasks that might test it's mettle. First up was the poet Philip Larkin. I had Larkin's 'Home is so Sad' in front of me and asked the bot to create a poem in the style of Larkin entitled Home is so Sad. Epic fail. The slightly sardonic tone and sense of regret was there, but the style was way off the mark.

Consider the bot's opening verse,

'Home is so sad,
It sways like a tree in the wind,
The rooms, once warm, now sag
Under the weight of what’s been.'

Its not bad as verse goes, but Larkin would never have written this. Not even when he was in primary school.

But other challenges have been far more successful and might well fool the unsuspecting. I asked ChatGPT to write scenes in the style of Shakespeare, Pinter and Beckett. Also a monologue in the style of Woody Allen. All were competently executed.

There are many potential downsides to this capacity, especially concerning plagiarism. But there are also wonderful opportunities to generate new bot-driven literature which could be a lot of fun. Back when I was teaching English and Drama, this could have been a very creative blessing for students, so long as they also did original student-driven work themselves. I mean the AI variety as a supplement and stimulus principally.

Of course, AI might yet destroy us all. But for now I have more tasks for ChatGPT. I hope that it gets to write better poetry though.

Storm clouds can arise for anyone and anywhere and, if we are wise, they catch our attention in deeper ways. These are metaphorical storms, of course, the ones that loom suddenly and sweep us into difficult and sometimes debilitating situations.

There is no one on the planet, no matter what their wealth or status, good looks, rude health and otherwise fortunate circumstances who will not experience the storms that bring suffering and pain to their door. It is almost always unwelcome and invariably wished away. 

You can face them square on, or give them side-wards glances, or try to turn your back, but the storm must be gone through, no matter what. Drugs, alcohol, tranquillizers and hedonistic living merely stay the moment when matters must be dealt with in some manner.

Because I have faith, I can yield my circumstances to God. I can only know the tiny portion of what is, like a pin hole in a sheet of cardboard held up to the eye. I do not know the end from the beginning, or how seemingly chaotic events can work towards a better end. That is a matter of trust for me.

Storms are still painful, but there is solace in knowing that I am not the captain of this ship.

There is much to marvel at in the Australian story but there are times when I am sorely disappointed. Just recently I have been immersed in the hospital system on behalf of my wife and my son and found it to be first class, compassionate, professional and skilful.

But today was cause for one of those great disappointments, made greater and more impactful by the fact that it effects my family directly. We had applied a Tourist Visa for Ann's son Aran to visit us for three weeks early next year. The application was meticulously completed and all the required documentation (and much more besides) supplied. I leave nothing to chance and we had a very solid case for its approval.

Today the application was denied. The reason. Aran has no job to go back to. Never mind his healthy bank balance or the fact that we had provided details of how we would put him up and show him around. Apparently not having a job makes him a flight risk in Australia. Yet if he did have his old job back, the most leave he could take each year was 5 days. So he could not have come even if he had a job. So job or not, you can't come!

I can't tell you how upset I am at this ridiculous bureaucratic nonsense, worthy of a Kafka short story. There is no appeal, no refund, no proper explanation. Just the stroke of an unthinking pen. It is very unjust but what can you do about it?

 There are multiple narratives emerging about why Trump won yesterday, all of which may have some truth. The post-covid economy of high inflation, the focus on too progressive policies in the White House, a loss of focus by the Democrats on the working class and so forth. The result is pretty close to what many canny observers of the polls were saying, that Trump would win comfortably. So I wasn't at all surprised, even if I was very disappointed.

Its hard to say how badly things will pan out in the next four years given how chaotic Trump's first term was. There is something cultish about his support - he is - after all, a celebrity and plays the political with much underestimated skill. Will 16 million illegals be deported? It's doubtful. Might tariffs go to 100% What do you think? Will he exact revenge? Probably. Will Putin get the Ukraine with a red ribbon attached? Hmm.

Let's wait and see.

With the US Presidential election upon us now, there is much trepidation in that country and around the world. Aside from the usual suspects - Russia, North Korea, Hungary etc - the leaders of most nations do not want a Trump victory. In addition to his odious behaviour on the stump, the sheer chaos of another such administration strikes genuine fear in sensible and thoughtful people around the globe.

But there you are, the contest is statistically deadlocked with a better than average chance that Trump will win a second term. The polls themselves are difficult to discern - a point up here and a point down there for either candidate - with much hand-wringing about 'shy' Trump voters (are they counted in the polls?) and tiny last minute swings in key districts.

I confess that after weeks and weeks of election watching and listening to the pundits, I have no idea who is likely to win, though I have a suspicion who will win. I hope that I am wrong.