LifeItself

Oh, brave Odysseus, son of Laertes! You were so beloved by the bright-eyed Athena and - after slaying the Suitors and resettling with your faithful wife, Penelope, - you were granted by Zeus a long peaceful life in your beloved Ithaca.  Home at last! Homer told us your dazzling story that might have taken place around 1200 B.C. Now fast forward 2500 years, and this how Dante Alighieri described meeting your Spirit burning in the Eighth Circle of Hell: Then of the antique flame the greater horn,   Murmuring, began to wave itself about   Even as a flame doth which the wind fatigues. Thereafterward, the summit to and fro   Moving as if it were the tongue that spake,   It ( Odysseus' Spirit, TWP ) uttered forth a voice,   and said: "When I From Circe had departed, who concealed me   More than a year there near unto Gaeta,   Or ever yet Aeneas named it so, Nor fondness for my son, nor reverence   For my old father, nor the due

I am guilty of not writing for almost five months, and I feel bad.  Teaching, being a department chair, a fundraiser in chief, getting major research contracts started, trying to write those papers, appear in public, etc., while remodeling my home and trying to spend some time with my family and friends did this to me. And then I had to remind myself that I must think positively, so that I would not scare my readers and listeners more than necessary.  There has been enough bad news and failures around us, people are stunned and scared, and the last thing they need is more scaremongering.  Let's leave it to Newt. On the opposite extreme, I was really unnerved by the sunshine forecasts of ever-increasing hydrocarbon production and prosperity in the U.S.  - with no extra effort. These forecasts are based on self-serving delusions, denial and ignorance, and are incredibly dangerous to the well-being of our great country.  So how do I become a reassuring guide, who at the same tim