While at first there may not seem to be much connection between this week’s two verses — have you ever seen a corpse flower? Sure looks alien to me… and that sorta links to musings on Unidentified Flying Objects (which the government is now trying to rechristen as “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.” That leads me to believe the pending report from various U.S. intelligence agencies will focus more on “atmospheric conditions” and less on “little green men).
Here’s hoping you don’t think these efforts stink or have flown the coop :
Go to Smell (May 21, 2021)
I’ve been to many botanical gardens over the years and recall seeing a corpse flower once — but not in bloom, and without putrifaction in play:
It’s not often a crowd of people gathers at an abandoned gas station to gawk at and smell a nonnative flower. OK, that never happens.
But it did this week in Alameda (CA), when a local nursery owner dragged his very rare corpse flower to a place where the public could get a good view…
Its owner, Solomon Leyva, wanted to share it with the community. "It produces a tree-like looking plant with a really wide canopy," Leyva told KGO. "It produces it over and over every year until the bulb has sort of enough energy for it to bloom. This can take 10 years, this can take 15, this can take 20."
A titan arum — otherwise known as the "corpse flower" — has a distinctive look with a stalk that can grow up to 15 feet tall. What it’s most known for, though, is its funky smell, which can be smelled from up to half a mile away.
[Read more here: https://bit.ly/3vi9fPI]
Why do I have a sudden urge to stream “Little Shop of Horrors” this evening?
Special Saucer (May 22, 2021)
Full disclosure: I’m not a believer in UFOs. I *do* think there is other (other? like there’s any here?) intelligent life in the universe — but if they had the capacity to build spaceships for interplanetary travel then they’d also have the ability to let us know who they are and the purpose of their visit…
The very same intelligence community that told us Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction is now poised to rip the lid off decades of classified investigations into UFOs and share what they’ve learned:
The unclassified report, compiled by the director of national intelligence and the secretary of defense, aims to make public what the Pentagon knows about unidentified flying objects and data analyzed from such encounters.
While UFOs have been part of American mythology for decades, this report is different. Legitimate debates over UFO sightings have gained traction in recent years after several leaked photos and videos from the U.S. Navy appeared to show mysterious flying objects in American airspace.
Last year, the Pentagon declassified three such videos captured by Navy pilots, intensifying speculation over the incidents, which have been confirmed by pilots who have observed them and even presidents who have been briefed on them.
[Read more here: https://nbcnews.to/3feM1o1]
I speculated a few weeks ago about what the residents of Mars are thinking right now, as the U.S. (and now China) has landed craft on their planet. My final words (for the moment) on this subject: “Klaatu barada nikto.”
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As always, your likes and sharing of RFTN are greatly appreciated. And if anyone out there would like to take a crack at providing the audio version for an upcoming verse, rather than relying on my monotonous baritone — hit me up and we’ll talk mp4s.
Have a great week!
JB