#IStandWithAhmed

Freshman, from MacArthur High in Texas, built a clock.

Showed it to his teachers who, to that poor freshman's shock,

Called police, believing that he'd brought a bomb to school.

Ahmed was interrogated, all because some fool

Couldn't tell a nerdy kid apart from terrorists.

So, in NASA tee-shirt and with hand-cuffs on his wrists,

Five cops took Ahmed Mohamed off to Juvie Hall

Where, at last, they let the kid give mom and dad a call.

He's still facing charges but he's home...  Not in a cell.

'though the school's suspended him, perhaps it's just as well;

Doesn't sound as if they've got a lot to offer him...

Faculty has demonstrated that they're rather dim.

A Reprieve for Pluto?

Close up of Pluto and the NASA team.

New Horizons should arrive at Pluto and its moons

Tuesday, sending scientists at NASA into swoons.

They're beyond excited at the data they'll receive;

Spacecraft will take pictures clearer than you would believe.

Far ahead of Voyager in its technology,

New Horizons will let planetologists  now see

If Pluto and Charon share a common atmosphere...

Whether it's a double planet system we've got here.

With respect to Dr. Tyson, who says Pluto's not

Quite a planet, because it's too small (by quite a lot)

If we add the planet to its moon, the total mass

Might change Tyson's failing grade for Pluto to a "Pass."

NASA Says We're Screwed

Doesn't matter if you doubt that man caused climate change,

If you aren't concerned by now or don't believe it's strange

That the weather's out of whack - the seasons are delayed -

NASA says Antarctica is melting...  Be afraid.

In about a hundred years its glaciers will be gone

Meaning that the land the ice accumulated on,

Without all that weight, will rise and so, too, will the seas;

Causing devastation almost everyone agrees.

Process cannot be reversed, the NASA spokesman said.

Warmer water seeped between the glaciers and sea bed;

Now they're melting from the bottom as well as the top.

We are screwed.  There's nothing we can do to make it stop.

If we don't take action now - prepare as oceans rise -

Because we're too busy arguing that science lies

It won't matter anyway since it will be too late.

Mother Nature isn't proving open to debate.

NASA Fan Club (Neil deGrasse Tyson for President)

(Photo Credit:  Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times / August 6, 2012 )

Actors have their fan clubs, as do athletes and rock stars...

I've just gone and joined one for the folks who've conquered Mars.

Watched the room erupt in joy: high fiving, pumping fist.

Wish that I'd grown up to be a NASA scientist.

Human Curiosity propelled us in to space,

Once again advancing the entire human race.

(Only thing I ever liked about the younger Bush

Was his plan to give the drive for Mars an extra push.)

President Obama, forced to implement some cuts,

Plans to take from NASA's budget...  I believe that's nuts.

Think of all the jobs created racing to the moon,

And, although it makes me sound like some old, Star Trek loon;

Space is where our future lies - the fabled, last frontier.

Maybe with a fan club we could make it loud and clear

Trim the budget somewhere else.  Leave scientists alone.

Boldly go tell Congress; "Not until the pigs have flown."