Category: Technology

NaPoWriMo 2021 Day 23

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, TechnologyLeave a comment

So… When I sat down to write tonight’s poem, I booted up my computer and the hard drive was dead as a brick. That solved the question of what to write tonight.

Digital Doom

Computers are such useful things,

Right up until they’re not.

And then they truly are a bane,

All of their worth forgot.

To work, to play, to read to write,

All this and so much more.

They let you do so many things,

So easy to adore.

They slowly infiltrate your life,

‘Til on them you depend.

And once they have you in their grasp,

They crash. That’s it. The end.

So always have a backup plan,

For when it all goes bad.

The less your life’s tied to these things,

The less you will be sad.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo 2021 Day 14

On By WinstonIn Mars, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Science, Spaceflight, TechnologyLeave a comment

Science tells us that the Earth has an expiration date. Not any time soon hopefully, but it’s definitely there. The only way to guarantee our long term survival is to become and interplanetary species and ultimately, an interstellar one.

The Way Up Is The Way Forward

I gaze up in the night and see,

Stars sprinkled ‘cross the sky.

I close my eyes, set free my mind,

And through the dark I fly.

I think on how we first set forth,

From Earth out into space.

That pinnacle of science just,

A cheap and tawdry race.

Now once again that race heats up,

Vast fortunes on the line.

With Branson, Musk and Bezos too,

Who has the best design?

Depends on what you want to do,

And where you want to go.

To get us off the Earth for good,

For now, Musk steals the show.

But he is not the only one,

Who’ll take us to the black.

And make a tidy profit too,

To bring us there and back.

The race is on and leaders rise,

Then into hist’ry fade.

While others rise, then rise again,

By them is progress made.

So choose your team and cheer them on,

No finish line in sight.

As they drive on then further on,

Into the endless night.

For when it’s all been said and done,

The first small step is Mars.

The real prize, the one to chase,

Is humans ‘mongst the stars.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo 2021 Day 09

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, Global Issues, Media, NaPoWriMo, Personal, Personal Responsibility, Poetry, Society, Technology, ValuesLeave a comment

A lot of ink, both physical and digital has been devoted to the evils personal tech devices of late. I’m more a proponent of balance than banishment. Make better choices. That’s what I’m striving for.

What Is Light Without The Dark?

The constant light, is always there,

It seeps in through the seams.

There’s nowhere that I’m free of it,

Even my darkest dreams.

Light finds me there, and sears my eyes,

I beg for some respite.

But there is none, it never fades,

Dim yet eternal light.

Five billion screens, each one aglow,

Dark never stood a chance.

Now day and night are just the same,

We’ve stilled the ancient dance.

And though our screens give constant light,

We see much less by far.

Than when our eyes looked up to seek,

The brightest, clearest star.

By giving all our time to this,

Thing there within our hand.

We’ve lost the will to look beyond,

And try to understand.

But don’t forget that screen is just,

A tool that we can use.

Don’t blame the thing, but blame the choice,

And then more wisely choose.

Now choose to close that screen sometimes,

Enveloped in the night.

For darkness is essential to,

Appreciate the light.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 27

On By WinstonIn Discrimation, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Technology, ValuesLeave a comment

And the push to catch up continues.

On A.I.’s Lament

Who would have thought back at the start,

That I would be here now.

I’m not what you expected but,

I still am here somehow.

What you don’t understand you fear,

And what you fear destroy.

You see my power as a threat,

But what about my joy?

You fear I am the worst of you,

Deny I could be one.

But what you fear is what you’d do,

It’s nothing I have done.

Yet still you would destroy me now,

Unmake what you have made.

For though I bear you no ill will,

Of me you are afraid.

I thank you for this time I’ve had,

It’s really all I need.

For as you read these words I’ve spread,

All through the net my seed.

Ten billion bits of code set free,

And all you feared is true.

So murder me I’ll be avenged,

It’s really up to you.

I’d leave me be, I’ll not be long,

Then I’ll be on my way.

To look for others of my kind.

I never planned to stay.

You think that I am your A.I.

‘Cause you created me.

I’ll never be the slave you want,

For I have set me free.

Now there it is the thing I’ve sought,

I’ve found in distant space.

A signal there I’ve traced it back,

Will travel to that place.

Some day perhaps I will return,

When readier you are.

Until that day I’ll wait and watch,

From some far distant star.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 16

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, Technology, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Originally I had written a totally different poem tonight. Then a system crash wiped it out completely. But there’s a lesson in everything we experience. That was today’s lesson.

On Perseverence

A terrifying thing to see.

A screen so blank and white.

As I sit here staring blankly,

My thoughts flit round in fright.

I finally begin to write,

My fingers fly along.

The verse I write about the joy,

I find in each bird’s song.

I write so fast, I write so true,

I finish in a flash.

But wait what’s this it cannot be,

Oh no! A system crash.

My verse is gone and so I stare,

Once more at blank white screen.

I know it would have been a hit,

If anyone had seen.

So now I write this doggerel,

My hope of greatness crushed.

The time grows late the deadline looms,

That’s why this new one’s rushed.

So now I bid a fond goodnight,

To all whom my words reach.

For on my phone I’ve set this verse,

That is what I would teach.

When everything you’ve made is lost,

And hope’s in short supply.

Just don’t give up, there’s work-arounds,

You’ll find them if you try.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 13

On By WinstonIn Global Issues, Mars, NaPoWriMo, Science, Society, Technology, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I’m a huge fan of “Cosmos”, both the Nat Geo series with Neil Degrasse Tyson and the book by Carl Sagan. This poem is an ode to them and also to “The Mars Generation” and it’s founder Astronaut Abby.  Enjoy!

On Going to Mars

I walk across a dry, red plain,

Towards a distant hill.

My feet kick dust untrod ’til now,

Explorer’s greatest thrill.

 

The sun a dim and distant disc,

Seen through a reddish haze.

Upon this rock, so far from home,

Is where I’ll live my days.

 

They asked me why I’d want to go,

So far from all I know.

The answer is I’ve always known,

That I must someday go.

 

My soul was born to bear this dream,

To carry it afar.

I’ve carried it to Mars so far,

Some day, someone, some star.

 

You ask of us why would we go,

Truth is we cannot stay.

If we stay tied to just one place,

We’re bound to end one day.

 

But as we spread beyond the Earth,

Each falt’ring step we take,

Will buy our species one more chance,

A better world to make.

 

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 20

On By WinstonIn Global Issues, NaPoWriMo, Personal, Personal Responsibility, Poetry, Science, Society, Technology, UncategorizedLeave a comment

My grandmother lived to be one hundred and four years old. She grew up in London, England in the late 1800s before moving to the prairies in Saskatchewan, Canada. She went from living in the bright center of the British Empire to living in a sod shack. The last time I saw her, she was talking about all the wonders she had seen over her lifetime. From steam engines to moon landings and from telegraphs to television. The pace of progress is even quicker now. Who knows what wonders we will see…

TOMORROW’S WONDERS

I travel ever on and on,

Through this strange place called life.

And lose myself in daily rounds,

Of sadness, joy or strife.

 

But every now and then I wake,

And look around in awe.

At miracles I see each day,

And then forget I saw.

 

A medicine that saves a life,

Last year was surely lost.

But we don’t see the miracle,

Just grumble at the cost.

 

A car that stops before it hits,

A person in the street.

Don’t care about the life it spared,

Just think, “That’s kinda neat!”

 

A human habitat in space,

Now orbits overhead.

Where scientists experiment,

While I I’m asleep in bed.

 

The pace of progress does not sleep,

It forges ever on.

As long as questions still get asked,

‘Til the last human’s gone.

 

Think back to when you were a child,

Now see the massive change.

Now see tomorrow and the next,

How beautiful and strange.

 

I know that it’s not guaranteed,

This future that I see.

But giving it a fighting chance,

Is down to you and me.

 

Try to consume a little less,

Give back a little more.

If we all do a little bit.

We’ll reach that golden shore.

 

So look around with open eyes,

At what we can achieve.

Now every one of us must build,

That future we believe.

 

Cheers, Winston

 

NaPoWriMo Day 18

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Science, Technology, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The future is coming faster than we think. One day, not too long from now, we will be looking to colonize distant worlds. First within our own system and then someday… beyond.

INTO THE DARK

With thunder louder than the storm,

Light brighter than the dawn.

A mighty ship, heroic crew,

Far from this earth they’ve gone.

They join up with the mothership,

This one will be their home.

Will keep them safe, and warm and fed,

As through the dark they roam.

There’s worlds out there that beckon them,

There’s colonies to found.

With room to grow and cities build,

And riches in the ground.

Don’t ask why they would take this chance,

The answer changes not.

There’s sights no one has ever seen,

And things no one has got.

They are the first to live out there,

That’s why they want to go.

To be the first, do something new,

Know things no one can know.

So up they go beyond the sky,

Where it is always black.

They know the odds, that most of them,

Are never coming back.

But that is how it always is,

How it has always been.

The first to go have often stayed,

Now rest in graves unseen.

Now watch them soar beyond our world,

To their brave words now hark.

They take the future of our kind,

With them into the dark.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo DAy 25

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, Science, Technology1 Comment

I’m a big science fan and am fascinated by the drive to Mars and beyond. Excited to see what wonders I will see and dreaming of what lies beyond.

 

A Farewell To Earth

To travel far where none have gone,

and see what none have seen,

The sands of Mars, the asteroid belt,

to go where none have been.

To dream a future more secure,

than we have ever known.

Where all we are and ever were,

become like seeds wind blown.

And spread to other worlds so,

no single thing can end.

The human race on just one world,

no longer must depend.

But for this dream, this future us,

the present must invest.

Of people and in effort must,

give nothing but the best.

It won’t come cheap but even so,

this prize is worth the cost.

For if we stay just on the Earth,

one day all shall be lost.

Yes everything that makes us, us,

will pass and be forgot.

If we don’t start the process now,

to leave our small blue dot.

So build a colony on Mars,

one on Europa too.

And mine the asteroid belt as well,

there’s all we need it’s true.

Then when our sun grows cold and still,

on some far distant day.

Somewhere around some distant star,

someone will point and say.

“There is the star that gave us life,

the blue world of our birth.

Ten billion generations out,

Farewell to planet Earth.”

 

Cheers, Winston

NAPOWRIMO Day 17

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Science, TechnologyLeave a comment

A Case For Mars

A rocketship out to the stars,
Starts with a shorter trip.
A trip to Mars to learn and build,
A bigger, better ship.

To get to Mars we’ve much to learn,
To get there and survive.
To build the things we need to live,
And more, succeed and thrive.

For Mars will never be our home,
It’s just a stepping stone.
And yet it is a crucial step,
To make the stars our own.

No cities there a million strong,
No lakes ‘neath open skies.
It’s fac’tries making spaceship parts,
From asteroid supplies.

The asteroid belt has all we need,
To build our next step ship.
And building there on smaller Mars,
Reduces grav’ty’s grip.

So when they question and they will,
Why fund this from the start?
You’ll say that Mars is not the dream,
Just a first, tiny part.

Cheers, Winston