Data Suggests a Reoccurring Meteor Shower Strikes Mercury[/caption].
Welcome back My Dear Shoevians to The Other Shoe. This week was a rather light week for writing, as I was experiencing increased pain and more limited mobility. I always strive to publish between four and seven articles, each and every week. This week (including this article) I published the minimum of four articles. Honestly I was surprised at this fact when it came time, today, to prepare this weekly review. I know that I missed the publication of ‘The Mars Report’ on Monday, and I think that put me behind the eight ball for the rest of the week.
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Looking back, which it what I do on Saturdays, I now can see where I pushed much too hard on one article (early in the week) and that left me in pain for days afterward. ‘The Death of American Exceptionalism’ was the article that put me in so much pain, and put me behind schedule. When you look at the numbers, it is easy to see why. Written in Word that article stretched through twenty-four pages and weighed in at over 5,500 words! I didn’t realize that, until just now when I ran the word count in Word. J
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I really should have known better than to tackle a editorial piece of that length so shortly after returning to writing and publishing. Oh well, a lesson learned the hard way is a lesson not soon forgot. Right? Honestly, to help put that into perspective? My average article weighs in at about 1,700 to 2,000 words. This week’s ‘New from Around the World’ weighed in at 1,700 words and just eight pages in length. Ok, My Dear Shoevians, I will not do that again and put all my eggs into one basket. I assure you that you can look forward to an all new edition of ‘The Mars Report’, ‘Lost in Space’, News from Around the World’, Sunday Funnies’ and ‘A Week in Review’ in this upcoming week.
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Now, without further adieu… I give you ‘A Week in Review’ for the week of April 26th, 2015!
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Statue of Liberty[/caption]- The Death of ‘American Exceptionalism’ : “Welcome back My Dear Shoevians to The Other Shoe. It is with a heavy heart, and with much trepidation, I write this article and bring it to you, My Dear Shoevians. The title, alone, took me weeks to… discover. While I wanted to draw in readers, I felt a responsibility to convey the seriousness of the problem, without scaring readers away. I am a proud American, proud Texan, and proud journalist. I cannot tell you just how many times, in any given day, these three convictions clash. It is more times, in a given day, than I find comfort.” Writing this article was far more difficult than I imagined during research. Yes, as I mentioned above, it was more painful than I could have ever imagined, but that is not the only pain I experienced. It pained me personally… as an American to challenge a “life-Long’ perception of the nation and people I love. Growing up in Texas (the ‘Buckle of the Bible Belt’) from the late 50’s through the 70’s I was raised with the perception that America excelled at everything! Researching this article… that illusion was dashed to the ground. It is not that America was ‘never’ exceptional, it is that over the past fifteen years a shift in our priorities, and a corresponding shift in wealth and opportunities into the hands of the few (in many cases the very few = 0.2%). This unprecedented shift of; wealth, opportunities, education, and even food has precipitated a downward spiral. America’s youth have fallen from (as recently as the 90’s) from the top 10th percentile to 25th to 36th in the world. Our Middle Class have been squeezed out of existence by a meager 0.2% increase in income over the past decade. Fewer and fewer of our high school graduates can go to college, because fewer and fewer parents can afford the expense and/or debt load.
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Color Image of Mercury with Image of Messenger Overlaid[/caption]- Lost in Space – The Messenger Mission : “Welcome back My Dear Shoevians to The Other Shoe. Today I am excited to bring you a Special Edition of ‘Lost in Space’. The ‘Messenger’ mission! NASA’s Messenger ((MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) mission was launched August 3rd, 2004. The Messenger spacecraft traveled 4.9 billion miles, including; 16 trips around the sun, two around Venus, and one fly-by of Earth, settled into orbit around Mercury in 2011.” I must admit that until I started my research, for this article, I was mostly unfamiliar with NASA’s Messenger mission and spacecraft. That is no longer the truth, in a big way! Launched August 3rd, 2004 (I was distracted by the loss of my best job ever and growing neurological problems and deficits)Messenger traveled 8 billion miles to arrive at Mercury and send back to mankind the most incredible images ever seen by human eyes. In this article I have done my best to give you My Dear Shoevians a good overview of its mission at Mercury. However, I was forced to leave out all the; images, encounters and scientific discoveries Messenger made during its eleven year journey of discovery. I hope that one day soon I will be able to devote another edition of “Lost in Space’ to the Messenger mission and share even more of its accomplishments. Until that time, drop by and give this article a good read and enjoy the incredible images from Messenger of Mercury!
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Wide Area Image of Katmandu After the Earthquake[/caption]- News from Around the World – May 1st, 2015 : “Welcome back My Dear Shoevians to The Other Shoe. IT is Friday, May 1st, 2015 and this is the very first edition of ‘News From Around the World’ in a very long time. I always enjoyed writing and publishing this article series. It took my mind off of the political works I was engaged, and the acrimonious tone of ‘Conservative’ rhetoric. As well, it helped me keep in touch with the happenings outside the borders of our great nation. Sometimes, it is difficult for us Americans to admit, or to realize, that we are but one nation among many. But one voice in the symphony of human thought and action that is the human experience.” This edition of ‘News from Around the World’ was a big departure, for me. Usually I tackle three to five different stories from three to five different parts of the world. However, when I started my research for this week’s edition… one story kept jumping in my path. NEPAL! The horrific earthquake that struck the Katmandu Valley of Nepal captured my attention, and my heart. The immense suffering, the terrible loss and the overwhelming scenes of devastation were unlike any I have seen in my lifetime. I was so deeply moved I had no choice but to focus the entire edition on this subject, and the cumulative attentions of all of you, My Dear Shoevians. I tried my hardest to not appear to capitalize on their suffering, but to merely relay the extent of the devastation and the depth of their loss and grief. At the end of the article I provide links to several aid organizations for you, My Dear Shoevians, to use if you are of the mind.
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With that, My Dear Shoevians, I bring this week’s edition of ‘A Week in Review’ to a close. It is early Saturday morning, and I hope to get some much needed rest, before I start on tomorrow’s edition of ‘Sunday Funnies’. I hope to see you al right here, tomorrow, for Gryphon’s premier right here in the pages of tomorrow’s ‘Sunday Funnies’. Until lthen…
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Thank you!
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Adieu!
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Author/Editor Danny Hanning in Rolling Hills Estates February 2015[/caption]© 2010 – 2015 Hanning Web Wurx and The Other Shoe
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