Month: October 2012

Platinum poem by Janet Kuypers

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Platinum

Janet Kuypers

from the “ Periodic Table of Poetry” series

A secretary for a trading company
at the Chicago Board of Trade
started dating a trader
(even though he was a trader,
he seemed like a nice guy) —
and after he asked her to marry him
and they were engaged,
she cheating on him
by having an affair with a coworker.
They broke off their engagement
until he forgave her
and offered her an engagement ring
with a huge solitary diamond
in a thick Platinum setting.
Looking like white gold,
Platinum was more expensive,
so she was pleased
she got him to spend
more money on her.

Well, they married,
but within a few years
they were divorced.

It’s a shame that marriage
couldn’t last as long
as that Platinum engagement ring,
made out of one of the strongest
metal elements in the Periodic Table.

I wonder what they did with that ring.
I hope they returned it,
so a stronger couple
could better accentuate
that stronger Platinum ring
and be a better match for all time.

Because I know the Platinum Metal Group
elements are really strong and durable,
because Platinum’s been used in everything
from razor edges to prevent corrosion
to spark plugs, so they can be hotter
and have a longer life.

So yeah, because of Platinum’s
resistance to heat,
it makes sense that Platinum is used
in catalytic converters in cars too —
temporarily pulling the nitrogen
and carbon atoms from
nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide
until they can re-bond
into water and less dangerous byproducts
for the environment.

Because Platinum can really stand the heat,
Platinum’s used for temperature detectors
and high-accuracy electronic thermometers,
and some parts that are launched into space
have been made out of Platinum
because they could not only
withstand the temperatures,
but also prevent corrosion,
so everything being blasted off into space
could stand everything
the Universe may throw at them.

So with Platinum being so resistant to corrosion,
it makes sense that Platinum parts
are in computers, and even in parts
for neurosurgery… I’ve even heard
(though I don’t know the details)
that Platinum may be used
in cancer medication too.
(Wow, that would be great to hear,
if Platinum could also possibly
help people with cancer…)

But when I mentioned Platinum
to someone recently,
the only thing they thought
it was for was
“wealth accumulation”.
And I thought, “For what?
Like buying gold bars?”
Because even though I see
“Cash for Gold” ads,
I haven’t seen people or places
making “Cash for Platinum” calls,
but wealth accumulation must be right,
it has a higher value than gold,
and as we’ve discovered,
it could also be strobng enough
for a wedding band
to truly withstand
the test of time.

Facebook Poem

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and and and
everybody is an artist and
everybody has a webpage
and and and
everybody is in a band and
everybody has a song and
everybody
everybody
likes some things
that are safe
and and and
it’s a sharing world where
everybody is
special
and and and
everybody shares and likes everyone
but listens to a few
and and and
maybe he didn’t read it but
he pressed that button
because he’s my friend
and I like him
and I like her
and and and
I like everybody
and and and
everything

teddy bear-01
teddy bear

david michael jackson

Osmium poem by Janet Kuypers

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Osmium

Janet Kuypers

from the “ Periodic Table of Poetry” series

Hearing the word “Osmium” recently
(and not knowing what the word means),
the only thing that popped into my head
was the Osmonds,
Then I had this crazy 1970s flashback
to watching the Donny and Marie Osmond show,
her singing “I’m a Little Bit Country”
and him singing “I’m a Little Bit Rock ‘n Roll”
(and listening to that ‘70s song now,
you’d swear that Donny Osmond
has no Motown in his soul)…
But when I was little, I even had
the Donny and Marie Barbie-styled
dolls and play set, which even had
a stage where they could sing —
they had microphones — and this
is the best part — the Donny and Marie
dolls had holes through their hands
(if only these holes leaked blood, so the
Donny and Marie stigmata was complete)
so microphones could lock into their hands.

I guess Donny and Marie dolls
had the stigmata so they could
have that strong bond
with the microphone,
like their strong Osmond
family bond.

Because I’m sure
a family bond
is harder than anything.

And no, I didn’t know what “Osmium” was,
but Osmium is a blue-gray
to blue-black transition metal,
and as far as elements go,
it’s actually the densest
hard transition metal
in the platinum family,
that actually remains lustrous,
even at higher temperatures.

And you know,
I’ve got a medical bracelet
I have to wear all the time…
If my medical bracelet
was made out of Osmium
it would probably last forever
and look really cool too…

But then again,
because it’s so dense and so hard,
it’s probably too brittle
to shape into a bracelet.
But I’m sure they use Osmium
in applications where durability
and hardness are needed,
like in the constant varying pressure
in fountain pen nibs,
or very repetitive and exacting
electrical contacts.

And the other thing that’s a bummer
about the densest element
in the Periodic Table
is that Osmium is actually
the least abundant element
in the earth’s crust…
So I guess it makes sense
that since it’s only obtained
during copper and nickel mining,
it would probably be used
for such small objects
like fountain pen nibs
and electrical circuitry
when these minute things
need to last.

And yeah, the thing is,
Osmium can also be used
for fingerprint detection,
and it can even stain fatty tissue
for optical and electron microscopy.
So it’s excellent-cool
that Osmium can also be used
on a microscopic level like that
to help us out so much too…

So, maybe if something
as dense and hard as Osmium
is actually quite rare here,
it’s a good thing
we’ve learned to utilize
such small amounts
of this dense element
for so many things
to help us out so much in life.

Google’s First Dog?

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dog pics
dog pics

This is Schmutt. He was the Google “dog pic” for a period that was certainly “Early Google”. Artvilla.com was formed in 1998 which was nearly the same year as Google. We were in Yahoo and I suddenly started to see these requests coming in from this new site called Google. People were asking for “dog pics” or “dog pic”. They were coming to Dog Pics

I visited this new place and found Schmutt sitting there as the first entry on the first page for “dog pic”. As Google grew, Schmutt stayed there for six years! In early Artvilla, Schmutt and one poem WERE our traffic. He held his position for so long that he had a fan club. He really did! You have to remember that Google Images was not there in those years.

Schmutt was named by my wife Janet. She was good at naming things and finding great nick names for family. In our early days I put up other Schmutt material. Like Schmutt takes a bath You can really see how small he was.
The early internet is very different than the one we have today. Schmutt’s picture would take twenty seconds to load, videos were out of the question, music took thirty minutes to “download”, streaming was non existent. Facebook was not a factor then. To post your dog’s picture took technical know how. It’s still true on the internet. In Facebook I think “in here” and “out there”. Out there requires technical savvy, in here does not.
In the modern internet, everyone can show their dog. That’s wonderful. In this day Schmutt would be sitting there with a lot of “likes”. Schmutt had a window for his limited fame. His day in the sun came and went.
He was killed by a crow in 2006. I lost Janet later that year. I don’t have a dog to show on Facebook so I’ve decide to show Schmutt..
Google doesn’t know about Schmutt. Only I know now. When I visit Google I think of Schmutt and the early days of the internet and how we were there. There aren’t too many of these old ineternet sites left now. This one is hanging on.
I’ve sent Schmutt along on his way with this post. I labeled the photos “dog pics”. Good luck little buddy. We’ll look for you in Google Images.
Maybe you’ll have another day in the sun, dear one.

dog pics
dog pics

david michael jackson