(This image might be one observed in the heavens above San Francisco, California. It is what is called a “contrail,” or the vapor cloud produced by operating jet engines in the rarified atmosphere high above. It was news this exciting week! Image YouTube screen capture).

Morning, Fellow Travelers! We appear to have survived another extraordinary celestial event in good order, which is a relief. Now, we can get back to our business, the one more efficiently conducted on the other side of The Big River to the east of our parking lot.

We were all traveling together this week, immersed in scientific observations on the flat screen in the HQ complex of Socotra House. The Experts helped keep us calm in the face of a mild dimming of the solar rays. It was much shorter than a similar phenomenon that occurs every day with some reliable predictability. The Experts assure us things are perfectly fine in this occasional occurrence, and we must immediately change our social ways here on Earth to influence the behavior of a large glowing object some 73-million miles away.

This is a historic moment but nothing new. Before we adopted things like “numeric analysis” to account for some of the activities around us, it was simpler to attribute such moments of visual drama to the wrath of vengeful Deities. Those times have not quite passed. There were a few somewhat half-hearted attributions to divine intervention, or to the more modern equivalent of self-inflicted climate change. There were calls for mercy (and funding) until the merciful arrival of cocktail hour on Monday when the volume increased.

The range of opinion from the various Experts was remarkable. The data stream was accompanied by the announcement- or leak- of a new project to save civilization quite in keeping with the topic of solar diminution. It was startling, since this one used to be a conspiracy theory but is now validated Science. The Experts have determined that adding chemicals to jet fuel would enable their contrails to block the solar rays and preserve civilization by destroying what used to occur below them. Or what might occur. We are a little unclear on this angle of our joint trip, but hopeful the Experts know what they are doing, like the recent pandemic.

We are fairly sure there was no referendum about the project for those who (currently) live under the contrails. But the Experts assure us we should fund the project even if we were not asked about it.

That naturally was part of the dramatic events involving the brief moment of darkness this week. It was not as dramatic as the longer lasting darkness which occurs each day, but it was a little unusual and our leadership hastened to assuage our concerns.

We took a poll by the parking lot to determine the most influential information about the Science of the matter. We will not attribute the gratifying remarks to the Member of Congress who saw fit to utter them publicly. That could be interpreted as a personal castigation against an otherwise long-serving public servant of impeccable credentials.

In brief, those credentials are impressive. On the record are degrees from Yale, the renowned Ivy League bastion of knowledge, and from the University of Virginia’s rigorous Law School. In Texas, there was election to serve as a Judge and as a community civic servant before election to the House of Representatives, the cash register of the American government.

Service in Congress was likewise connected to the well-being of NASA projects underway in the District. In the 110th Congress, that included a position of influence on the House Science Committee and as Ranking Member on the Subcommittee overseeing national space policy and NASA operations. NASA’s budget for Fiscal 2024 was nearly $26 Billion dollars, so you can imagine there is a lot of expertise to be distributed.

To the Member helping to lead us, this week was an irreplaceable moment for public commentary. In remarks in the District, the explanation helped clarify the landscape in which we travel together. “The moon is a planet largely made of gases,” was a ley point, which could affect our future residence there. Also referenced for authenticity was a tribute to the landing of Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the surface of Mars.

As you can see, we are in good hands going forward. We do not yet understand if NASA has a role in the contrail cloud-seeding project, but we are assured that the Experts are confident that blocking the rays of the sun can only have positive effects on Baghdad by the Bay. What could possibly go wrong with Experts like this guiding us on our mutual journey?

Copyright 2024 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com