Galaxy Net

It's a cold, dry night 
Out on the edge of town, 
Where not a breath from the wind 
Can be found, which usually whispers 
Tidings of the world's creatures 
From the high desert off to the east. 
Up in space, satellites are talking, 
Planets are plowing through the bulb, 
Radio waves are trailblazing through troposphere, 

Sending out the unbearable 
Jargon of us yammering creatures, 
So dignified in our cause that we assume 
Understanding in every word we say. 
The sky is a certain shade of dark blue 
That only comes as often as the moon 
Permits a halo 'round its alabaster drum. 
I look up at the stars to trace 
Each constellation, remembering 
The mythologies that gave them life, 
When suddenly a green plume of light 
Comes from out of Andromeda's flailing arm, 
Flashes through the atmosphere to crash 
Into the organic antennas of the forest. 
Could it be, that strange calculated signal, 
The message of some distant traveler, who, 
Intercepting the myriad broadcasts from our planet, 
Transmitted a message across the busy galaxy, 
Asking us kindly to be quiet? 

Lens Panorama

Snap!  The flash traps in time 
What elements dreams may bequeath, 
Etching onto the artist's landscape 
A visual seed, captured by ions of dust. 
Here at the mountaintop, 
The cool ledge of the canyon, 
The rhythmic shore of the lake, 
The warm cabin of the family reunion, 
The camera traces all segments of life 
Together, like some medieval tapestry 
Illustrating the story of a body 

In transit. 
 
Snap!  It aims for wonders aloft; 
Streaks of chemtrails, orbits of stardust, 
Embers of ash, mothers in sash, 
Pristine cascades trickling off the moss, 
Frolicking maidens in vales of goldenrod 
Watched over by flaming amber sunsets, 
Children offering flowers they found 
To the convex optician in the lens. 
 
Snap!  The shutter closes, 
Dissects the angles, captures the poses. 
The story of light filters through the aperture 
Cementing waves onto screens of permanence, 
Documenting all it knows through a sliver of glass, 
As if some neon eye had penetrated 
The refracted dimensions of time. 
Through the lens the eye sees beyond 
To that which is and that which is to come, 
Seeking troves of beauty that creation discarded, 
Desperately trying to make them its own. 

Fake News Was Derived from the Fake Meme

The fake news epidemic was an offshoot of the already existent fake meme.  Thousands of memes on websites like Pinterest show famous figures using quotes they never made.  Albert Einstein and Abraham Lincoln are two in particular who are so widely misquoted that I find myself having to verify every single quote I see them making in a meme.  I have also seen photos of things in outer space that aren't even possible, like an "ice sculpture" nebula. Even the stars look fake. 

Thousands of people like and share this stuff, not realizing the people who made them were using satire or trolling.  While the fake memes have been a problem for years, only recently has fake news reared its ugly head, where people actually write fake articles and call it satire.  The danger with this is obvious; if someone has taken the time to write a whole article that isn't true, it becomes harder to doubt its merit.  And if enough people read it, fantasy is sure to become fact. 

The first thing I do when reading an article is look at the URL.  If it's an unfamiliar website I look into the quality of the source first.  Trusted sources like newspapers are generally acceptable, though there are several that I will reject because of their political bias.  If the headline looks like it was written to cause unrest, I also tend to ignore it (though I hadn't done that in the past), because people are easier to influence when they are angry.  Bloggers also tend to be biased, and I freely admit my own view is biased at times, but when reporting on important issues like these I try to keep an objective view. 

So don't be a victim of fake news.  Trust your gut if something looks wrong.  Don't be lazy and share a story without verifying it, much less reading it.  Know your facts first, because in the modern age we've all become distributors of news.  We must be responsible as quasi-editors of that impish quarter of society that uses the Internet to spread these gremlins of false information.  This goes for the liberal left as well as the conservative right.  Abraham Lincoln would agree.