Month: August 2026

Duncan and Macbeth 2.0

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RDP Monday: MAGNITUDE

In our little corner of the Universe, Jupiter is the King of Planets.

As far as planets go, it is impressive. Jupiter is not solid as we know-  so think of it as an ocean will killer waves- and I do mean killer.  Jupiter will crush you like a bug the further down you travel to it’s center. Plus the radiation it gives off would kill you dead and it’s not exactly easy on electronics either.

But it’s Jupiter’s size that  is mind boggling. Over 1,000 Earths could fit into it.

But there is another planet out there that is bigger then Jupiter, and probably deadlier then Jupiter and it’s just a baby, it’s still forming.

Meet AB Aurigae b

illustration of AB Aurigae b, a giant gas planet discovered with the help of the Subaru Telescope and Hubble Space TelescopeImage: NASA/ESA/Joseph Olmsted

AB Aurigae b is still only a baby as far as planets go. It’s a giant gas planet that scientists have discovered in the early stages of its formation. And it’s already breaking records in astronomy. Astronomers say the planet is nine times the mass of Jupiter — and that it is challenging our understanding of how planets form.

When I started to hear about these exoplanets and planets that were bigger then Jupiter, my thoughts jumped to Macbeth.

Kings as we know, don’t like to be challenged and some of those challengers are crazy.

Nightmare  crazy.

Welcome To My Circus

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Di, at Pensitivity101, is once again our host for Share Your World. Here are her questions for this week.

” Afternoon Here On Earth “
Mario Airò, Quel pomeriggio qui sulla terra, 1988


1.  What was your favourite TV show as a kid?

My favorite TV show when I was a kid was Star Trek. I wanted to fly spaceships, I wanted to marry Captain Kirk. I wanted to be fearless and I wanted to be an explorer too.

I didn’t do most of those things, but I write about them so that’s a win I suppose.

2.  Do you have a favourite ‘tipple’? (alcoholic drink, or something when you are out for a meal etc)

I LOVE Strawberry Magaritas. I will dine where they are served. I’m only drink them when I eat out which is about three times a year and that’s the only time I drink alcohol so  one those sweet thick drinks goes a long way for me.

One day I may be able to finish one, lol. I’m a lightweight, what can I say?

3.  Is there a movie you can watch again and again and still enjoy?

I can rewatch loads of movies and enjoy each one, but the one I love the most for no one reason is Five Million Years to Earth. I think I love it because it blends Ghosts and Martians and devils looking creatures into one glorious movie.

4.  Did you have a favourite toy as a child? Or perhaps one you wanted and never got?

My favorite toy was a musical Snoopy that I got in  the late 60’s for Christmas. I loved that toy to death and one year ( I was a teenager by then ) he disappeared from my collection. My brother fessed up and said his girlfriend liked it so he gave it to her.

Yeah. He did that. He and his girlfriend ‘went steady ‘  for a few months and then they broke up. I never did get my Snoopy back and I never have forgiven my brother for giving him away.

A Moonlit Earth as Seen From Artemis II

Screenshot

The Long Shadow

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Summerween Writing Challenge: SHADOW

Witch holding a skull-topped staff outside a forest cabin

The Fairy Tale that cast a  long shadow on my imagination was Hansel and Gretal and that shadow was created in part by my Grandpa Bert who told me a version he probably crafted to a point on his own.

In the story my Grandpa told me, Hansel and Gretal get left in the forest because there is a famine. Their parents don’t have the heart to watch them starve to death so they take them out to the forest and leave them there to die.

I remember the parts Grandpa me about them killing the witch, I remember they  escape her house after killing her ( she was blind, how hard could that have really been? )  in the end find their way home- instead of  a Swan carrying them across the river to their home in the forest my Grandpa stuck with a spooky Ferryman dressed in black.

I remember they gave him something they had stolen from the Witch’s body after she had burned up in the oven, but I don’t remember what that was.

In his version  my Grandpa said when   Hansel and Gretal  finally get home, they discover their Mother is dead but their Father is still alive- and he does not look like he’s been going without food, my Grandpa would say ominously.

I assumed at the end of the story the Father probably killed and cooked his wife and that Hansel and Gretal were going to meet the same fate in their Father’s house as they would have in the Witch’s house.

Hansel and Gretal and their Father were  killers in my mind and I was far more afraid of them then the Witch.

Two children beside a decorated gingerbread house, holding a skull and bones

AI artwork by WP

This is a short film  by Robert Eggers- who is my FAVORITE Writer/Director of all time- I thought I’d toss this in  because he takes Hansel and Gretal back to their very dark origins.

Hansel and Gretel (2007) by Robert Eggers