Worldwide Stew

The Gossamer Cloak

I beg you tp keep reading for just a minute.

This coming week NASA plans to send three projects into space. One of them is the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory. This mission wants to better understand our outer atmosphere. This knowledge will help us understand changes that occur in the area just before we get to “outer space.” Scientists call this the geocorona. Scientists love big words. And, Of course, they need a very specific definition they all know and understand. But, the rest of us need some help to understand these things. I wanted to know more about the geocorona. Sometimes, for the sake of scientific accuracey, Wikipedia obscures definitions. So, I wanted to know more. In that spirit, I’m sharing the lovely image that Claude.AI used to describe the Geocorona(Italics are mine):

Listening to your own Deep Space

You, too, have Deep Space. You should be listening to it

Reader Note: If you prefer, you can listen to this on the Worldwide Stew podcast page. This episode is available on Apple podcasts. After reading this page or listening to the podcast episode, check out what you learned with a short quiz here.

Many years ago, Einstein predicted we should be able to hear gravitational waves: big events that happened in outer space. But, how could you possibly hear something like that? Some of you probably keep a stethoscope handy, right? You use it hear the pulsations in your body, like a heartbeat. Maybe, Einstein and later astrophysicists thought, we could do something like creating a stethoscope so big we could capture sounds from many light years away? What would it look like?

Your ego is essential

Don’t be afraid of your ego

The ego is something we can’t see. But, even though we can’t see it, we can observe it in our own lives every day. Our fears, awareness of self, concerns about what the future holds, and what other people are getting are all evidence of our egos at work. We are defensive, afraid to apologize, and afraid to speak up because of our egos. That doesn’t mean the ego is bad. It’s not. It’s kind of like the Universe’s Dark Energy and Dark Matter. The ego is there. It can’t not be there if you’re a human. We see it’s footprints throughout human lives. All too often, though, we see something defensive in the ego. Again, it’s simply human.

Be kind to yourself first

The first person to whom you should be kind is yourself.

You might think I’m talking about narcissism. I’m not. A narcissist is an extremely self-centered person who has an exaggerated sense of self-importance. By definition, they don’t find it hard to be unkind to themselves.

It’s hard for me to write about this because I often feel unkind to myself. I’m learning, though, that a lack of self-compassion is harmful to everyone who surrounds the self-judgemental person. It messes with how we live with each other.

Never waste an elevator trip

There’s a reason they ask entrepreneurs, what is your elevator speech?

It’s because a lot can happen in an elevator. Two or more people meet. There are limmited distractions. You have an opportunity to share messages. You might make a transaction.

Anyway, that’s the logic of it.

Like most things, there’s more than logic in promoting the elevator speech.

You’re making a mad dash to decent coffee. Your hair may or may not be combed. If you’re twelve, you may be going to your parent’s room in your swim suit.