Category Archives: Psychology

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MUSINGS FOR NOVEMBER 2022

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“To see what we have never seen, to be what we have never been. To shed the chrysalis and fly, depart the earth, kiss the sky, to be reborn, be someone new: is this a dream or is it true. Can our future be cleanly shorn from a life to which we’re born? Is each of us trapped at birth by destiny? Pity those who believe the latter. Without freedom, nothing matters.” Dean Koontz

This is a photo of the astronaut Nicole Mann sitting inside of a T-38 jet trainer. The picture is from November 15, 2018. Mann is a member of the Wailaki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes in California. In October of this year, she became the first indigenous woman from NASA to fly into space to the ISS as commander of Nasa Space X Crew – 5 mission. This will be the fifth crew rotation with Space X. They will spend several months aboard the space station doing research on a variety of scientific subjects. Image credit: NASA. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/nicole-a-mann/biography and https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-spacex-crew-5-launches-to-international-space-station and https://www.legendsofamerica.com/wailaki-tribe/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_Valley_Indian_Tribes_of_the_Round_Valley_Reservation

“We can embrace love; it’s not too late. Why do we sleep, instead with hate? Belief requires no suspension to see that Hell is our invention. We make Hell real; we stoke its fires. And in its flames our hope expires. Heaven, too, is merely our creation. We can grant ourselves our own salvation. All that’s required is imagination.” Dean Koontz

This is an image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. It is of the galaxy pair know as Arp-Madore 608-333. They are located in the constellation of Columba. The galaxy on the left is called ESO 364-35 and the one on the right is known as ESO 364-36. These two are an interacting pair meaning that the gravity from each is disrupting and distorting both of them. NASA/ESA is trying to build up a catalogue of interesting targets with unused Hubble time. The idea is to be able to go back in the future and use ground based telescopes , the new James Webb Telescope as well as Hubble for further study. Telescope time is very limited due to the number of request and “observations” that use almost ever second of time. But there is always a tiny bit left over as the Hubble turns to point at new objects. These snap shots as they are called, fill in the gaps. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Dark Energy Survey/Department of Energy/Fermilab/Dark Energy Camera (DECam)/Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory/NOIRLab/AURA. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-snaps-a-pair-of-interacting-galaxies and ESA – A snapshot of interacting galaxies and https://www.sci.news/astronomy/hubble-two-spiral-galaxies-11249.html

“The sky is deep, the sky is dark, the light of stars is so damn stark. When I Iook up, I fill with fear. If all we have is what lies here, this lonely world, this troubled place, then cold dead stars and empty space. Well, I see no reason to persevere, no reason to laugh or shed a tear, no reason to sleep or even to wake, no promises to keep, and none to make. And so at night I still raise my eyes to study the clear but mysterious skies, that arch above us, as cold as stone. Are you there, God? Are we alone?” Dean Koontz

This is an image from the Hubble Space telescope and it is of an area of ionized gas that is created when gas from a young star collides with nearby dust and gas. These objects are know as Herbig-Haro objects and are commonly found in star forming regions of space. These two are known as HH1 and HH2 respectively and are about 1,250 light years from earth in the constellation of Orion. These were first seen by the American Astronomer Sherburne Wesley Burnham. They are named after the first astronomers to study them, George Herbig and Guillermo Haro. Because of the movement and evolving nature of new/young stars with the associated gas/dust their appearance can change on times scales as short as a few years. Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, B. Reipurth, B. Nisini. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-views-a-turbulent-stellar-nursery and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbig%E2%80%93Haro_object and https://www.sci.news/astronomy/hubble-herbig-haro-objects-hh1-hh2-11297.html

“Prayers were a projection of human wants onto an inhuman universe. They were more futile that whistling into a hurricane: they were begging the hurricane to take pity on you because you thought you were special. They were a plea for immunity from prosecution under the laws of nature.” From the book “Wheelers” by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen

This is an image of the supernova remnant called Cassiopeia A or Cas A for short. It lies in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way galaxy and occurred about 300 years ago. The explosion would have become visible to earthlings around the mid 1600s. The above image is the aftermath of the explosion and is called a remnant. This is the ejected debris from the exploded star. Besides using data from the Chandra Observatory and the Hubble Telescope, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) was also used. This new telescope is actually three that are designed to measure the polarization of cosmic X-rays of black holes, neutron stars and pulsars. It launched on December 9th, 2021. Image credit: Chandra: NASA/CXC/SAO, IXPE: NASA/MSFC/J. Vink et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/ixpe-measures-exploded-star-remains and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IXPE and https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/multimedia/exploring-cassiopeiaA.html

“In fact, “atheism” is a term that should not even exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a “non-astrologer” or a “non-alchemist.” We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and their cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs.” From the book “Letter to a Christian Nation” by Sam Harris.

The above image is the famous “Pillars of Creation” and was first captured back in 1995 by the Hubble Space Telescope. The above and enhanced image is from the James Webb Space Telescope. The Pillars are located in the Eagle Nebula which lies in the Serpens constellation. About 6000 to 7000 light years from earth. The pillars are made up of hydrogen gas and dust that are being slowly eroded over time. The Webb data will help scientist better count new star formations and give a better understanding of the amount of gas and dust in the region. Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI). If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/webb-reveals-new-details-in-pillars-of-creation and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillars_of_Creation

Much of Science Fiction literature presents a view of the universe according to which there is something wrong that leads to hardship, suffering, and death. It hopes to provide an answer to this fundamental problem whereby human suffering may be understood, if not eliminated. This sense of wrongness permeates the genre (and arguably all literature), and even the most materialist of SF writers wish to provide readers with hope that the universe can be improved. SF hope to show us that both the world around us and we ourselves can be made better, and this hope presupposes a sort of fallenness which must be rectified. In most SF there is something, either in humankind itself or in alien beings who wish to help us, that can overcome the problems of sin and suffering. New ideas of evil bring with them new understandings of good, new opportunities to express the best of ourselves. These stories present us not only with new moral problems, but new ways to be moral; not only with sin, but with salvation. From the book “The Gospel According to Science Fiction” by Gabriel McKee

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!!

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid 19 so far and so have I!! Yea for us!! Unfortunately some have not been so lucky, either by choice (not getting the vaccine) or circumstances (Immunocompromised or older than 65). I am hoping that there is not a “newer” variant that puts all of us ( vaccinated and unvaccinated alike) at significant risk again.

By the start of October we were still seeing about 400 deaths per day?! Again I have ask myself what is that about?! Incredible and not in a good way. I guess we are a country of individuals that are not going to do what we have been encouraged to do with the best available science. Oh well what are you going to do about that? Nothing. Some are just going to win Darwin awards and take themselves out of gene pool. What is that old saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t force him or her to drink.” As I am writing this and looking at the numbers, the USA is less than 5000 deaths away from 1.1 million total so far. Now that sounds pretty awful and it is, but when you look at it in the context of population, we come in about 16th or 3000+ deaths per one million population. Oh well, I guess that is better than being in the top 10, but really, not too good when you think about our level of economic prosperity and health care system. China ranks itself down around 220th place but that is probably a misnomer due to their resistance in reporting. Israel – 84th, Denmark – 85th, and Canada is at 87th place. The number one place is Peru. Of course all of these numbers could be a little skewed due to reporting issues and this includes the United States. If you interested in the numbers yourself check out his link: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

The above picture still has not changed. California, Texas and Florida still lead the country in deaths. Of course this picture is again probably skewed. I am guessing that Florida is much higher since they quit reporting accurately on infections and deaths over a year ago. One of the great missed opportunities in this pandemic will have been our public health system. We have the tools to make it the best in the world but so far we have failed to do that.

By the middle of November the death count for the USA was over the 1.1 million mark. The good news is that the death rate had dropped on average to about 300 per day. Unfortunately new cases across the country seemed to be on the rise again. The greatest increases for the middle of the November were Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico. All of these states saw numbers go up by 30 percent in the last couple of weeks.

And if that was not bad enough, Flu and RSV (RSV mainly effects kids) was out of control, to the point that some hospitals were setting up tents in the hospital parking lots to take in the overflow. Oh well, what are you going to do? Get vaccinated! Lol. Of course this does not help with RSV.

If you are interested in more information from reliable sources please check out these links: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ and https://www.youtube.com/c/OsterholmUpdateCOVID19 and https://www.youtube.com/c/VincentRacaniello

The months of October and November were great for getting outdoors in the Fort Collins area. The air quality was much improved from the summer months due to cooler temps and favorable winds. As in August and September, I continued to take it easy with my left knee, meaning not a lot of running. But I was still able to get out with Marvin everyday for walking. Unfortunately Janet suffered an overuse injury to her foot and also had to take time off from walking at the end of October. So it was just Marvin and I for most of the last 30 days.

On the plus side, with the sun setting earlier as we moved further into fall and the change to daylight saving time, I was able to get in some great sunset pictures. Most of the photographs below are from our neighborhood lake or in one of the open spaces along the Poudre River.

The above two pics were taken on October 21st, 2022 at about 6:30pm. If you time it just right the views across the lake looking West can be spectacular.
This image was taken on October 26th, 2022 at about 6:30pm. Again, another beautiful fall sunset with Marvin.
This picture was taken three days later from the above picture on October 29th, 2022 at about 6:30 pm.
The above few images were taken on October 31st, 2022 at about 3pm in the afternoon. It is from one of the many open spaces along the Poudre River in Fort Collins. A lot of trees still had leaves in place. It was a very nice day for an easy run with Dogboy.
This picture was taken on November 12th, 2022 at about 6pm in the evening. Almost every afternoon the sunsets have been beautiful.
This picture was taken on November 18th, 2022 at about 5pm in the afternoon. Due to the shorter and shorter days, Marin and I have had to get out a little earlier each afternoon if we want to catch the sunsets. As you can see in this picture, snow is on the ground and the temps are much colder. The two peaks you see in the back ground are Mount Meeker (13,916 feet) and Longs Peak ( 14, 259 feet) – about 40 miles away as the crow flies.

So all and all, other than Janet’s foot injury and my continued knee woes, it was another great month on the Front Range of Colorado. We still have not had much moisture in the form of rain or snow. But the temps have cooled significantly and this has decreased the fire danger. I have to remind myself that the Marshall Fire in Boulder County did not occur until almost the end of December of last year. Crazy when I think about it. Hopefully the cool weather and more snow / rain will fall in the next 30 days. If you want to read about the Marshall Fire here is a wiki link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Fire

It was another great month for reading and I would like to share a few book recommendations. As I put forth on the last blog post, we are so fortunate to live in a time that allows so much access to information and books. To remain totally ignorant of a topic in today’s reality is a choice and not an excuse. As the late great Science Fiction author Harlan Ellison said: “You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.”

So with that said, the first book review is on a book called Decoding Your Dog:  The Ultimate Experts Explain Common Dog Behaviors and Reveal How to Prevent or Change Unwanted Ones by the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists.  If you want to get a basic understanding of canine behavior, both good and bad, then this is the book.  Each chapter is written by a different author(s) and covers just about every aspect of dog ownership.  There is “moderate depth” on most topics in my opinion.  But if there is anything deeper than this, the authors suggest you talk with your local Veterinarian.

I found this book a good review of most topics.  Everything from how to choose a new puppy, to house training, to basic training, to fixing common problem “dog” behaviors, etc.…  There is also a good section on kids and dogs.  I found this particularly interesting.  Especially the recommendation that young children should always, always be supervised around a dog no matter how “good” you think the dog is.  After many years of working in the ER and hearing all kind of dog bite stories, I can attest to this excellent recommendation.  As our Veterinarian once said:  “Any dog can and will bite in the right circumstances.”

I also liked the section on how all dogs need a job so to speak.   Those of us not involved with canines on a professional basis think that a job is only for working (police, military, protection, herding, etc…) dogs but that is not the case.  All dogs need some kind of job.  It helps to strengthen the bond between dog and owner, fights boredom, and gets rid of pent-up energy among other things.  The author of this chapter gives examples of common jobs, like doing agility and or obedience class with the dog, games with the dog like hide and seeks or find it games.  Long walks a few times per week was another suggestion.  And if you don’t have a lot of extra time to spend, you could even use mentally stimulating toys for the dog.   

 I got this book as an audio book but feel it would work better in traditional format.  There is a lot of information here and it would be nice to look back at certain chapters to review information.  Which is hard to do with an audio book.  I got this book at Amazon but you can probably find it at your local book store.  The Amazon link is here: https://www.amazon.com/Decoding-Your-Dog-audiobook/dp          

The next book I would like to give a recommendation on is called A Crack in Creation by Jennifer A. Doudna and Samuel H. Sternberg.  Let me start off by saying that Dr. Doudna is an American biochemist whose efforts made it possible for CRISPR gene editing to become a reality in the real world so to speak.  She did this work along with her graduate student at the time Samuel H. Sternberg, now a PhD in his own right.  In 2020, Jennifer received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of this method for genome editing.   If you are not familiar with what CRISPR is all about, you need to be.  This technology has given humans the ability, if we so choose, to radically change our destiny.  We now have the power, for better or worse, to change who and what we are at a fundamental level.  This includes all living things in the environment.

CRISPR was actually discovered about thirty years ago, but not many understood at the time how important it might become.  CRISPR stands for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats.”  In a nutshell, it allows for a much more accurate and cheaper way to edit genes.  At some point, there will not be any part of the human condition that has not been touched by this.  Jennifer and Samuel opened the world’s eyes in seeing how to edit genes in a new light.  This occurred back in 2012 and has since taken off, significantly.  The only limiting factor will be our imaginations. 

In the book, the authors go through the story of CRISPR and how it was developed into a more accurate and cheaper gene editing technique.  They do a great job in explaining it all, but if you are like me, you need some kind of visual representation to help with the understanding of how it works.  There are multiple short YouTube videos on this very subject.  My recommendation is to go and watch one so you have a much better understanding.  You can find a good one here: https://youtu.be/ANehpGhbuF4

Another part of the book that I found interesting was the Author’s warning on editing the human germ line.  That is where you forever change the DNA of a human that can then be passed on to future generations.  Scary but at the same time hopeful stuff.  It might mean the end of genetic diseases in family lines. Things like Sickle Cell Anemia, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, some cancers, genetic caused blindness, etc…

I listened to the book as an audio book, but I think it might work better in traditional format if you need to re-listen (like I did) or reread certain sections to better understand.  Of course you can find the book on Amazon or at your local book store.  Here is the Amazon link:  https://www.amazon.com/A-Crack-in-Creation-audiobook/dp

The next book I would like to give a recommendation to is called “The Body Keeps the Score:  Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma” by Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD.”  Let me start off in saying that all of us, and I mean all of us, have experienced some type of trauma in our lives.  It is a part of the human condition for better or worse.  You didn’t have to be a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan, or go to a third world county like Haiti, or work in a busy ER like I did to experience trauma.  Trauma occurs anywhere and everywhere and no one is immune to it.  Whether it is war violence like what is going on in Ukraine or at home domestic violence, it can be found any place you look.  It affects us all, not just the person that experienced the trauma but everyone around them. Most of us try to bury the horrendous experience(s) by pushing it (them) out of our minds.  Unfortunately it does not work that way.   It will still be there and can surface at any time if the right triggers are pushed.  Trauma can cause actual physiological changes in the body, especially the brain.  Because of this, traumatized individuals can keep repeating the same mistakes in life: drinking too much, over eating, drug abuse, cutting, sexual promiscuous, etc.…never learning from the experience.  It is not a sigh of moral failure, or the lack of willpower, or just bad character, or for you religious types – the devil.  These behaviors are caused directly or indirectly by changes in the brain brought about by the traumatic experience. 

The treatment of trauma has been Dr. Kolk’s life’s work.  In his own words:  “ I wrote this book to serve as both a guide and an invitation to dedicate ourselves to facing the reality of trauma, to explore how best to treat it, and to commit ourselves, as a society, to using every means we have to prevent it.”

The book was published in 2014, so some treatment modalities might be a little dated or not included, otherwise the book is as relevant today as it was eight years ago.   This book is for everyone, not just the medical professionals.  One of the things that I really liked about the book was the topic on the “over use and potential misuse” of psychiatric medications.  Very interesting.  Another section that was a favorite of mine was the use of Yoga and Meditation in the treatment of trauma.  I practice both of these on a daily basis, but not for trauma.  I had no idea that they could be used this way.  Again pretty interesting.    

I liked this book so well, I got the paperback version and I am in the process of reading it again while listening at the same time.  The book works in any format.  I am sure you can find the book at your local book store or on Amazon.  Here is the Amazon link:  https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp     

The next book I would like to give a recommendation to is a great “Brain Bubble Gum” book – one that you read just for the fun of it. A short escape from reality.  It is called Kingdom of Bones by James Rollins.  A pure Mystery/Thriller/Suspense type of book.  If you have read a Rollins book before then you know what I mean.  In this book, the Sigma Force is back and in the Congo working on trying to figure out a new viral outbreak that has plants and animals going berserk and becoming more aggressive.  But with humans that are infected – they become more docile and eventually go into a stupor/catatonic state.  Now throw into this mix, a rich bad guy with his own objectives. And you get a story that is hard to put down.

All the usual characters – Gray, Monk, Kowalski, Tucker and Kane are back in force and trying to save the world as usual.  One of things I really liked about the book was the last section where the author goes through and talks about what is real and what he totally made up to fit the story.  Pretty interesting and relevant to our current state of affairs with the pandemic.  

If you haven’t read a Rollins book before and are unfamiliar with the characters don’t worry.  The book can be read as a stand-alone.  If you are looking for a thriller with some history and science mixed in then this is the book for you.  I listened to it as an audio book but it would work in any format.  I am sure you can find it at your local book store or on Amazon.  Here is the Amazon link:  https://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Bones-Novel-Sigma-Novels/dp

The next book (another brain bubble gum) I would like to give a recommendation to is actually a book series.  The one I just finished is called Vengeance:  Confluence, Book 5 by Jennifer Foehner Wells.  This was the last book in a series of five books with two main protagonist character arcs that don’t overlap much at all with each other, but do with what is happening in the overall story.  The first two books and forth book, deal with the discovery that humans are not alone in the Universe (Dr. Jane Holloway is the main first protagonist) and the third and fifth book tell a story about a human (Darcy is the second main protagonist) that finds she is part of that much bigger cosmic picture.   And in the process, discovers that earth has been visited in the ancient past by aliens.   

When I listened to the third book of the series, not realizing that this was a separate protagonist character arc, I was a little confused to put it mildly.  But as the story went along I got my bearings.  These books are not really stand-alone books but need to be read in order.   This is a great space opera and well worth the read.  Here is a list of the books in order: Fluency book 1, Remanence book 2, Inheritance book 3, Valence book 4 and Vengeance book 5. 

I listened to them as audio books but they would work will with any format.  I am guessing that you could find them at your local book store or on Amazon.  Here is the Amazon link:  https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Vengeance-Confluence-Book-5/dp   

The last book I would like to give a semi-warm recommendation to is called Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.  This is more of a serious speculative fiction book. Not really a brain bubble gum book. I got this book after an NPR interview with the author.  You can listen to the interview here: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/17/978138547/kazuo-ishiguro-draws-on-his-songwriting-past-to-write-novels-about-the-future

The author won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature and has several other books to his name.   Klara and the Sun is his eighth or ninth novel.   

This is a dystopian science fiction novel with a little bit of mysticism thrown in, so it is not a true hard science fiction story.  The narration is told by an “AF” or Artificial Friend (Klara) who is the companion of a sickly child named Josie.  This is pretty interesting in itself and what makes the book.  Klara observes, records and analyses everything, but cannot see the bigger picture of what is happening to Josie.    

There are parts of the book that seem a little long winded but in the end are somewhat necessary in understanding the story.  This is not a fast paced action type of book.  There is none of the typical action infused drama in this story and maybe that is why it did not appeal to me as much.  It is more of “let’s take a year out of the lives of the characters that are living in a world in which something bad has happened” and make a story out of it.  We are never told what has happened or what the world might be like, except in tiny bits and pieces.  There is some interesting reflection and dialogue with the characters on what it is to be human.  But it does not give a satisfactory answer one way or another in my opinion.  I think that this book would appeal more to those of us that hold a belief in some kind of higher power.  For Klara it is the sun.    

I listened to this book as an audio book but it would work in any format.  You can get the book at your local book store or on Amazon.  Here is the Amazon link:  https://www.amazon.com/Klara-Sun-Novel/dp      

Last but not least I would like to show case a new piece of art work. I have been playing with acrylics more the last few months and I am finding that I really like it. Even better than pen and ink.

This one I call “It is all about the Heart.” It is 9×12 inches, acrylic paint on canvas paper, mounted to a hardboard frame and sealed with archival varnish.

This piece and other types of artwork are for sale and can be found on my Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/strugglingprotoplasm/edit?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

In support of Prochoice and the Separation of Church and State, I will donate 10% of any sales to Planned Parenthood or the Freedom From Religion Foundation, but only if you wish me too. If not I will be more than happy to keep the money! Lol.

Well I have come to th end of another blog post! Yea! I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. One final thing before I go, I want to give a shout out to minimalism. It is one way to possibly make that “sting we are all feeling with inflation” a little less painful. And in the process of becoming minimalist you might find new happiness. I know that I did.

If your interested for more information, please check out this link: https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

So take care my friends and if you have not gotten vaccinated or boosted, even if you have had Covid, then get it done. It would be stupid to say the least, if you were to lose your life or suffer significant disability with this virus when vaccines are readily available in this country. So until next time Adios!!

“It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.” Carl Sagan

“Questions you cannot answer are usually far better for you than answers you cannot question.” Yuval Noah Harari

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous…, leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Air Quality, Art, Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Meditation, Minimalism, Pandemics, Psychology, Science, Science Fiction, Space

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 25TH, MARCH 2022

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“You don’t need to travel the world or do big things to live an extraordinary life. Be present. Notice the beauty around you. Be curious. Try the things that interest you. Be brave. Start the things you’ve been putting off. Create something. Learn something. Teach something. And do it all for the love of it.”

Lori Deschene

Tiny Buddha
This image is of Arp 298. The Arp stands for Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. It is named after Halton Christian “Chip” Arp. He was an American astronomer and over time he compiled a catalog of unusual galaxies titled the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. It is an excellent reference of interacting and merging galaxies. Many objects in the atlas are referred to primarily by their Arp number. The above image is from the NASA/ESA Space Telescope. It is a picture of two galaxies NGC 7469 and IC 5283 (smaller one). The bigger galaxy is approximately 200 million light years away in the constellation of Pegasus. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Evans, R. Chandar. If you would like to learn more about the above galaxies please see these links: Hubble Peers at Peculiar Pair of Galaxies | NASA and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halton_Arp and Hubble Sees Stunning Pair of Interacting Galaxies: Arp 298 | Sci-News.com

“Examine and define your values. Really. What do you want for your life? How do you want to feel? What sort of life will allow you to feel at peace at the end of your lifetime? How would you live if you lived with no regrets? This is not a task-oriented “Bucket List.” This is a way to have the sort of life you want, to identify what grounds you and guides you.”

Angela Marchesani

Tiny Buddha
This is an image from the Hubble Space Telescope of two galaxies, NGC4496A and NGC 4496B. They look as if they are side by side and overlapping, but in reality they are millions of light years apart. The image is created by a chance alignment. NGC4496A is about 47 million light years from earth while 4496B is about 212 million light years away. Both lie in the constellation of Virgo. Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, T. Boeker, B. Holwerda, Dark Energy Survey, Department of Energy, Fermilab/Dark Energy Camera (DECam), Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory/NOIRLab/National Science Foundation/Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Sloan Digital Sky Survey; Acknowledgment: R. Colombari. If you would like to learn more about his image please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-observes-a-not-so-close-encounter and http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/hubble-galaxy-pair-ngc-4496-10584.html

“You’re not perfect, you don’t know everything, and you don’t have all the answers. But let me let you in on a little secret, no one expects you to, either. We all battle our self-doubt and fear. We all have our shortcomings… Even that one person that looks like they’ve got it all together is working through some stuff. They have some areas where they falter. In fact, they’d probably have a good laugh at you for thinking they’ve got everything figured out.”

McKayla Afolayan

Tiny Buddha
This is a Hubble Image of a dwarf starburst galaxy named Henize 2-10. It was named after the astronomer Karl Henize. This galaxy recently made headlines because it has a black hole that is making stars instead of eating them up. This is the opposite effect of what is seen in larger galaxies, when material falls toward the black hole. The dwarf galaxy lies 30 million light years away in the constellation Pyxis. Astrophysicist Amy Reines was the first to publish evidence for a black hole in this galaxy in 2011 and is the principal investigator on the new observations. Image credit: NASA, ESA, Zachary Schutte (XGI), Amy Reines (XGI); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI). If you would like to learn more about this galaxy and Amy please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/hubble-finds-a-black-hole-igniting-star-formation-in-a-dwarf-galaxy and Hen 2-10 – Wikipedia and https://www.amyreines.com/

“Sometimes, you just have to let go of your tight grip of how you think things should be or how quickly they should come together and simply let things run their own course. By releasing control and letting the currents carry you along, paradoxically, you gain more control… Of your attitude and your response to what’s happening to you at the moment.”

Keri Olson

Tiny Buddha
This is an image of the galaxy NGC 1097 and was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. It is considered a barred spiral galaxy because of a central bar shape running through the spiral. The bar is made up of stars. About half of all spiral galaxies have this feature. Our Milky Way is considered a barred spiral galaxy. You have to see them from different views, otherwise it will simply look like a circle and you won’t see the spirals. NGC 1097 is about 48 million light years from earth. And is located in the constellation Fornax. This constellation is located in the Southern hemisphere. The name means furnace and was coined by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1756. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Sand, K. Sheth. If you would like to learn more NGC 1097 and any of the above mentioned features please check out these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2002/hubble-sees-the-eye-of-a-colorful-galaxy and https://planetfacts.org/barred-spiral-galaxy/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fornax

“Let go of your attachment to the outcome. Once we set our intention, we have little control over the outcome. Often others are involved, and we can’t force them into helping us achieve our goals. Realize that no matter what happens, you will be okay. And know that adopting this mindset will free you up mentally so you’re able to focus on controlling what you can control… your own choices and actions.”

Ash Blankenship

Tiny Buddha

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!!

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid 19 so far and so have I!! Yea for us again!! I am still hoping that I can keep saying this for all of this year. I really, really mean that, especially if you read my blog post. Lol.

Looking at the numbers on March 6th, it appears that in the last 30 days (February 6th to March 6th) we have added another 58 thousand deaths for a total of 984,000. Wow. And not in a good way. The only good news, is that the numbers are lower by 12 thousand from the previous 30 days. Omicron has really reeked havoc on those that did not get vaccinated. Unfortunately there are plenty of individuals out there that have still not been vaccinated to keep the Covid fires burning for a long time. And this does not include the real possibility of other new variants. Some have argued in the media that the Omicron variant was a milder form of Covid but that is not true. This is were statistics can trip you up if your not careful. The reason it seemed milder over all is that it infected the vaccinated too. And there are millions that have been vaccinated, so on the surface it seems to be milder, but in reality it was only milder if you were vaccinated.

Oh well, the above image has stayed the same. It shows the top ten states with the most Covid deaths. California is still number one followed by Texas. Florida is probably much closer to the top than what they are reporting due to their continued lack of said reporting.

By the middle of the month several countries overseas were in an Omicron wave: Hong Kong, South Korea, Germany, Vietnam, the UK, France, Russia, etc… Of course the United States had more active cases than any other place in the world. The approximate total number of deaths in the United States stood at 997,000. Or an increase of 13 thousand in the 10 days. (From March 6) I am guessing that by the first week of April we will top the 1 million mark “officially” for Covid deaths. It just seems weird writing this. That number should make us all stop what we are doing and take a moment for reflection. But I think we have all become immune to it. Unless of course, you have had someone die in your circle of friends and family.

By the end of the month… and it really was not the end of the month, like I thought it was going to be. It was the 22nd of March?! The death toil from Covid in the United States was over 1 million deaths. Unreal. Let me say that again. We are over 1,000,000 deaths in this country alone. Wow! We officially went over the one million mark 3/22/22. Of course the official number will not be published until it is all verified. At the time of publishing this blog, the unofficial number had risen to about 1,003,000. We were still adding about 600 to 800 deaths per day and about 30,000 new cases each day.

Oh well, what are you going to do?? The question in my mind is when will the next variant of “significant” concern show up. When I started writing, there was the BA.2 variant of Omicron (there are actually 4 known Omicron variants) and the worry was that it was even more contagious than the first version of Omicron. By the tenth of the month there was a newer variant of Covid created by the combining of Delta and Omicron. It was nicknamed Deltacron and is known as a recombinant virus. It has been mainly seen in France, Denmark and the Netherlands but as far as I know it has not been of much concern in the United States. The only one that is now thought to be a potential issue in the United States is the BA.2 variant of Omicron. It is currently about 40% of all new cases in the US. That is up 35% from the first of the month.

If you interested in looking at the numbers for yourself, please see this link: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

If you interested in getting a good understanding of what is going on with Covid each week without having to watch the news, check out this link for the Osterholm Update on YouTube: https://youtu.be/FC1G09xkOFc

And if you don’t want to listen on YouTube you can check out Apple Pod cast. Dr. Michael Osterholm is an American epidemiologist, Regents Professor, and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Osterholm gives an update each week on where we are with the virus. Really good information directly from the source and not spun by the news media channels.

Well again… Enough about Covid! The month of February was another great month for getting out doors here on the Front Range of Colorado. While we continued to have cold and snowy weather, the air quality for the most part was fantastic compared to the same time last year. I think this was due to the frequent weather systems that had moved into the area over the month. Unfortunately, the mountains did not get as much snow as they had back in December due to this shift, but it kept the air much cleaner on the Front Range.

This picture was taken on February 1st, 2022 at about 5:30pm in the afternoon. It was the start of another round of cold and snow for the front range as can be seen in the picture below! Lol.
This picture was taken on February 2nd, 2022 at 2pm in the afternoon. The storm dumped about 8 to 12 inches of snow.
Happy Birthday Marvin! He turned three years old in February. The above picture was taken when he was about 3 months old. Lol. Sometime in May of 2019. Compare it to the picture below from this past February! He did get pretty big! Lol.
This picture was taken February 5th, 2022 at about 4:30pm in the afternoon.
This picture was taken on February 10th, 2022 at about 5:45pm in the afternoon. We did have some beautiful sunsets in February but due to the wind and frequent weather systems, the air was pretty clean. Not as many particulates. So we did not get as many with vivid colors as in previous months.
This picture was taken February 14th, 2022 at about 5:15pm in the afternoon. Most of our sunsets for February, that I got to witness, were of this type. Interesting contrast to the one above.
This picture was taken on February 20th, 2022 at about 5pm in the afternoon. Had to put one in of me and Marvin!
This picture was taken 24th, 2022 at about 5:45pm in the afternoon. Another beautiful one from our neighborhood. Compare the colors to the one below at about the same location and time.
Last picture! Lol. This one was taken on February 28th, 2022 at about 6pm. Same location and about the same time as the one above.

Well it was another good month for running, so I did get in a few audio books. Lol. During long runs, bike rides, cross country skiing, etc. this is one of my favorite things to do. Besides exercise leading to better health, I have found that listening to audiobooks can greatly improve your understanding of the world around you. I got into this habit when I was commuting the hour to work and back each day. At first it was with audio cassettes until Audible came out with their digital format and membership plan. And I would have to say, this one habit (listening to audiobooks) has totally changed my life.

The first audio book I would like to give a recommendation on is called Ravenous:  Otto Warburg, The Nazis, and the search for the Cancer-Diet Connection by Sam Apple.  This book was recommended to me by a friend and I was not disappointed.  But at the same time it was not what I expected.  If you are looking for a book that is “all” about the Cancer/Diet connection then this is not really that book.  It does talk about the connection in round about ways but it is not a “hard and fast give you the facts” type of book.  It is much more the history book, especially on Otto Warburg, the Nazis, Hitler and other scientists caught up in the craziness of Germany during the time of Hitler.  But it is still a fascinating read.  The Author did a pretty good job in my opinion of weaving two types of books (History and Science) together to create a compelling and interesting read.  I loved the history parts of the book.  Especially the parts on the idiosyncrasies of Hitler and Germany at the time.  And the science parts of the book: the metabolic aspects of cancer, carbohydrates, refined sugar, and diabetes, were very thought provoking.  Of course I listened to the book as an audio book but it would work in any format.  It is a great read and good food for thought.

Of course this book can be found on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3t6k0FV

The next book I would like to give a recommendation on is called “The Lost Art of Running” by Shane Benzie with Tim Major. I came across this book when I was looking on YouTube for videos on correct running form. If you are runner, you will at some point get injured. It is just inevitable and that is what happened to me. Once you get up to a certain mileage or age in years, the pounding starts to add up and injuries can happen. One way to help prevent them in the first place, besides adequate rest, is correct running form. The problem with looking on YouTube or the Internet is that the “correct” way to run can be a very subjective and confusing issue.

The author of this book seems to have really done his research by looking at some of the best runners in the world and analyzing their running form. Especially the Kenyan runners. That is what most of the first two thirds of the book is about. For some people this might be a turn off. Especially if you are just looking for the down and dirty and you see it as just a filler, so to speak. But I would argue against that. By giving you, the reader, a taste of his research and the struggle to find the best running form, Shane makes a strong case for his ideas about proper running technique. And it is in the last couple of chapters where all of his research comes together and makes the book well worth the read. This book would work well in any format but might be better in a traditional format because of all the information presented in the last chapters. If found myself listening to the last couple of chapters several times. Of course you can find it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/36evlv5

Last but not least, I would like to showcase a few new pieces of art work before I go. The first one is the third “Sun Face” in a series I started in October 2021. It is constructed of 3/4 inch plywood and painted with high quality latex paint. Then sealed with a clear latex primer. The sculpture measures about 28 inches by 28 inches by 3 inches deep. Its weight is about 25lbs. They are designed for exterior placement, but if you are putting it outside, I would suggest a protected location. The latex paint, while durable, will gradually fade over time if placed in a location with strong sunlight. And like all paint, it is susceptible to the whims of harsh weather. This one is called “Squished Lego Sun Face 3.”

Squished Lego Sun Face 3

The second one was inspired by a book on Transhumanism that I gave a recommendation to in the last blog post. The book is called Transhumanism and Transcendence – Christian Hope in an Age of Technological Enhancement by Ronald Cole-Turner (editor). It is a collection of different writings from many different authors over the years. It is a look at how Christianity will deal with the advances in science that could lead to a whole different type of human. When you see drawings with the idea of Transhumanism it is usually a picture of some kind of robot that appears half human and half robot. My idea is that this revolution in human development will be invisible for the most part. And that is what my drawing is about. It is the microscopic nano machines and power cells that enhance human longevity, health, power and intelligence. Who wouldn’t want to live longer and healthier, no cancer, no heart disease, no metabolic disease, be smarter with an IQ of 300, and have the strength and stamina of 10 humans. Imagine all these tiny, tiny machines, all scattered through out the body, making all of this possible. Not just humans 3.0 but humans 5.0. I call this one “Transhumanist Musings 5.0”

The drawing is done in pen and ink and is protected with a traditional picture frame and glass. It measures approximately 12 inches wide by 15 inches tall.

Transhumanist Musings 5.0

These pieces and other types of art work are for sale and can be found on my Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/strugglingprotoplasm/edit?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Well instead of talking about the idea minimalism directly in this last section. I thought I would try to give you a little bit of an understanding of why I practice meditation everyday and how this relates to minimalism indirectly. Meditation is something that I do everyday. Even if it is only for a couple of minutes. It is a habit that I have worked hard to cultivate and it is now to the point that if I don’t do it everyday I feel like there is something wrong with me. Lol. ( Ya I know what you are thinking and my wife agrees with you)

I got into the practice about 15 years ago when I was having some real issues with anxiety. But my first exposure to it was when I was about 8 or 9 years old and was taking a “karate” class at the YMCA. It was a form of karate called Shorin-ryu, which I believe came out of Okinawa. The instructor was a believer of the benefits of a short meditation before practice and one after practice. I can remember to this day about the talk he gave us about how it would “settle the mind” for the task at hand (practice). And how the meditation at the end, got your mind ready to re-enter everyday life outside the Dojo or practice floor. Unfortunately the classes only lasted for about 6 months. But, I think this first exposure to meditation was the catalyst for my later reintroduction to the practice later in life.

The first reason I started back was to reduce anxiety. And it has, but not in the way that you would think. Meditation does not remove your problems and challenges, but it helps you to invite those problems and challenges in so to speak. So that you can really get to know them. By knowing more fully what really makes you anxious can help to take a lot of the fear and dread out it and in turn this can reduce your anxiety. The idea is to make anxiety your friend. I am using anxiety as my example but you could use any kind of “challenge.”

The second reason I have continued to practice meditation is that I wanted to find a way to be more engaged in life. I mean really engaged in whatever I am doing at the time that I am doing it. After all, meditation must function in our everyday lives, for if it’s not working there, it is not really working at all. Most people have the idea you are only practicing Zen when you are sitting, counting breaths and holding still. But the reality is much deeper than that. You start with the stillness to increase your perceptions of life around you, but then you have to be able to combine the stillness with movement. That movement is the way you live your life day to day in everything that you do. The end point is the realization that the stillness and the movement are one and the same. Think of it as two different sides of the same coin. And if you are wondering, I am not there yet. But I am trying.

This does connect with “minimalism” indirectly in that it helps you to be more “mindful” in your buying practices. And the idea is that you might think a little more carefully before your next purchase of that “must have” widget, contraption, clothing, shoes, whatever it may be item. That only gets used one time and takes up space in the garage, closet, kitchen drawer, etc… And if your wondering, I am guilty of this too. Lol.

Ok enough of the lecture, but if you are interested in getting started, check out this link from Amazon on a great book in how to do meditation: https://amzn.to/37I2srr

Well I have come to the end of another blog post! Yea! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it! If your interested and want to learn more about sustainability, minimalism and the steady state economy, please see these sites: https://www.sustain.ucla.edu/what-is-sustainability/ and https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/ and https://steadystate.org/

So take care my friends and if you have not gotten vaccinated, then get it done. We all want this “Groundhog Day – Covid – Marry- Go – Round” to end. Until next time Adios!!

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous…, leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Air Quality, Art, Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Economics, Exercise, Fort Collins, Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, Life and Meaning, Minimalism, Pandemics, Psychology, Science, Space, Trail Running

MUSING FOR FRIDAY 31ST, DECEMBER 2021

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea, and music in its roar:
I love not Man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.”

Lord Byron

The above image is a picture of what is called the Flame Nebula or NGC 2024. A nebula is a distinct body of interstellar gas and dust. At one point before telescopes became much bigger and refined, the term was used to describe any diffused astronomical object, including galaxies beyond the Milky Way. A good example of this is the Andromeda galaxy. It was known as the Andromeda Nebula until the early 20th century when Edwin Hubble discovered that the Andromeda “nebula” was outside of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Up until this point, nebulae were thought to all be in the Milky Way. And that the MW was the only galaxy in the Universe. Hubble discovered that Andromeda was millions of light years from the MW and a galaxy in its own right containing billions of stars. In a sense, Hubble discovered the Universe for humanity. Image credit:  NASA, ESA, and N. Da Rio (University of Virginia); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) If you would like to learn more about the Flame Nebula, and Edwin Hubble please check out these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/hubble-spots-swirls-of-dust-in-the-flame-nebula and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flame_Nebula and https://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA_history/Edwin_Hubble_The_man_who_discovered_the_Cosmos

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”

William Blake

This is an image from the Hubble Space telescope. It is what is known as a planetary nebula. The name is a misnomer because they are unrelated to planets. It is thought the usage of the term originated in the 1700s with William Herschel and others. They described these types of nebulae as resembling planets due to their shapes. In reality, they are known as emission nebulae consisting of expanding ionized shells of gas that are ejected from older red giant stars as they become white dwarf’s. A white dwarf is the exposed, naked core of a former red giant star. The above is a picture is NGC 6891 and is located in the constellation Delphinus, the Dolphin. Image credit: NASA, ESA, A. Hajian (University of Waterloo), H. Bond (Pennsylvania State University), and B. Balick (University of Washington); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) To learn more about NGC 6891 and planetary nebula, please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/hubble-s-view-of-planetary-nebula-reveals-complex-structure and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_nebula

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”

Lewis Carroll

This is an image of four different Nebula. The Eagle Nebula, the Omega Nebula, Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula. In the 1950s, astronomers were able to use the distances of some of the stars in these nebulae to infer the existence of the Sagittarius Arm of our Milky Way Galaxy. At the time, scientist were trying to figure out what kind of galaxy the Milky Way was – i.e. was it a spiral galaxy like Andromeda or something different. This was and still is to some degree a big deal because we are embedded in the Milky Way, so it is hard to know our position and the shape of the galaxy. Plus the fact that the Milky Way is really big, anywhere from 100,000 to 120,000 light years across, 1000 light years thick and containing 400 billion stars. As big as it is, it is only considered a middle weight when compared to other galaxies. New studies have shown that the above Nebulae are part of a substructure in the arm that is angled differently from the rest of the arm. These substructures have been called spurs or feathers and can be found on the arms of other spiral galaxies. Our solar system (including earth) is located about 25,000 light-years from the galactic center and 25,000 light years away from the rim. So if you use the analogy of a vinyl record, we are about half way between the center and the edge of the Milky Way and the MW itself is a barred spiral galaxy with two spiral arms. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. If you want to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/eagle-omega-nebula-trifid-and-lagoon-four-famous-nebulae and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carina%E2%80%93Sagittarius_Arm and https://phys.org/news/2016-07-earth-milky.html

“Time changes everything except something within us which is always surprised by change.”

Thomas Hardy

The above picture is from Hubble. It shows a barred spiral galaxy called NGC 3568. It lies 57 million light years away in the constellation of Centaurus. It’s first recorded discovery was on April 21st, 1835 by the English astronomer John Herschel. It is more recently famous for a supernova discovery in 2014 by amateur astronomers from the Backyard Observatory Supernova Search in New Zealand. While most astronomical discoveries are the work of professionals, the Backyard Observatory Supernova Search or BOSS is an amateur collaboration of 6 friends from Australia and New Zealand. They are a dedicated amateur astronomy group that have been searching for new supernovae sightings since 2008. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Sun. If you would like learn more please visit these web sites: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/hubble-views-a-galaxy-with-an-explosive-past and http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/hubble-image-ngc-3568-10358.html and https://www.bosssupernova.com/

“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!”

Rudyard Kipling

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!!

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid 19 so far and so have I!! And that my friends is a very, very, good thing. I am still hoping that I can keep saying this for all of next year. I really mean that, especially if you have not gotten your vaccine yet.

Looking at the numbers on December 6th it appears that we have added another 36,000 deaths in the last 30 days for a total of 811, 000 individuals just in this country alone. And as big as that number is, it is actually down for the second month in a row. So yes it is terrible, but for the moment, we are heading in the right direction. Over 80 percent of those deaths have been the unvaccinated. What a needless and tragic loss of life. So senseless.

I thought for sure that Texas would surge ahead of California but it is still neck and neck, with Cali pulling ahead by a few hundred more deaths over the last month than Texas. The above picture has not changed. It represents the top 10 states with the most deaths. California is at 1st spot with 75,000 and Michigan is at the 10th spot with 26,000 thousand. Florida is not reporting as much and I wonder if they are actually much higher than 61,000 they say? This has been a pandemic of misinformation besides one caused by a virus. The economic powers that be are in the process of trying to stay afloat and recoup losses sustained since 2020, so it behooves them to make things sound better than they are to bring in those consumer dollars. Of course the virus does not care what you say or do and will go right on causing mayhem, death and disability.

The big news is the new variant called “Omicron.” So far at the middle of the month the mortality and morbidity did not appear as severe as Delta, but the transmissibility was significantly higher. At the middle of the month, the number of new cases per day was in the 150 thousand plus range but by December 22nd and 23rd the forecasted increase with Omicron started to skyrocket as it became the dominate strain in the country. On December 22nd the new positive cases were 236 thousand and on the 23rd it had jumped to 267 thousand. On Friday the 24th, there were 200,000 new case reported but from only 20 states due to the holiday. My guess, the number was closer to 400,000 new infections for Friday. At the end of the day Wednesday, December 30th, the new infections for the day were 572 thousand! Wow!

By the end of the month, we had added another 36,000 deaths for a total of about 847,000 fatalities in the United States. Another 36,000 lives lost in less than 30 days. Most of these were an unnecessary, tragic loss of life due to the unvaccinated. Thousands of individuals that thought it “won’t happen to me” or that it was a big lie. Oh well, what is the saying “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.” I am thinking that the number of deaths for next month are going to be dramatically higher due to the Omicron variant, especially for the unvaccinated. Hopefully that will not be the case, but I guess time will tell. If you interested in the numbers please see this link: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/.

If you interested in getting a good understanding of what is going on with Covid each week without having to watch the news, check out this link for the Osterholm Update on YouTube: https://youtu.be/FC1G09xkOFc and if you don’t want to listen on YouTube you can check out Apple Pod cast. Dr. Michael Osterholm is an American epidemiologist, Regents Professor, and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Osterholm gives an update each week on where we are with the virus.

Well again, enough about Covid!! Let’s move on to something much better to talk about!! And that was the month of November for being outdoors. The weather was simply beautiful here in Colorado with an exceptionally mild month.

The above picture was taken on November 3rd, 2021 at about 2pm in the afternoon. This is looking South East from Horsetooth Mountain Park. It is one of my favorite views in the park. Here I was looking out over the Front Range of Colorado, down towards Denver. The air quality was great and the temps were in the 60 to 70 range. A little too warm for November but nice never the less.

The above picture was also taken on November 3rd, 2021 at about 5pm in the afternoon. After finishing up a little trail running, Marvin and I did a short walk with Janet. We got in the habit of walking two times per day back in the summer when it was abnormally hot for Colorado and there were significant air quality issues from the fires out in California. Even though conditions have gotten a lot better, we decided to continue the practice into the fall. This way I get to go for a run with dog boy and a walk with Janet later in the afternoon after she gets home from work.

The above picture was taken November 5th, 2021 at about 12noon. Here Marvin and I were doing a little in town trail running at the back of Spring Canyon Park, in the Pineridge Open Space. Another beautiful fall day.

The above picture was taken on November 13th, 2021 at about 1pm in the afternoon. Here we are just walking in our Neighborhood. Our youngest daughter was house sitting and decided to walk the owners dog with us – Haley Jo. Marvin always seems happy to have another dog walking with him.

The above picture was taken November 17th, 2021 at about 1pm. Another beautiful trail run in Horsetooth Mountain Park. Here I am looking East across Horsetooth Reservoir and across Fort Collins. I did not have Marvin with me this day. It was way too warm for him and there is very little water access up on the mountain, so he got to stay home with his dog buddy Cash.

The above picture was taken on November 18th, 2021 at about 2pm in the afternoon. It is from the Hewlett Gulch Trail that is just west of Fort Collins off of Highway 14. It is part of the Canyon Lakes Ranger District in the Roosevelt National Forest. I really like this one for the dog due to the water access along most of the trail. Especially with the abnormally higher temperatures that were the norm this year. If your interested in more information about this trail check out this link: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/arp/recreation/recarea/?recid=36779&actid=50

The above picture was taken on November 20th, 2021 at about 3pm in the afternoon. Janet and I were out for our usual daily walk and exploring a downed cottonwood tree when Marvin jumped up on it unexpectedly. Which was a surprise to both of us. With his heavier bone structure, he is not a dog know for his jumping abilities. Lol.

The above image was taken on November 25th, 2021 at about 3pm in the afternoon. Marvin and I were doing a run along the Poudre River Bike trail. It was another warm day for November, so I stopped to let him get a drink out of the river.

This last picture was taken on November 30th, 2021 at about 3pm in the afternoon. Here I was looking Southwest across Horsetooth reservoir from the Fort Collins side. The sun seemed to be at a perfect angle with the clouds for what I think turned out to be a great photo. It was more of a typical fall day in Colorado, with temps in the mid 40s, so Marvin and I got in a long trail run along the lake.

While the month was unseasonably warm and dry for us in November it did make for some great days of running, walking, biking and just being outdoors. We did miss the early season snow a little bit but not too much. Lol

Like October, I did get a few more books and “lecture courses” finished up during the month. The first one I would like to talk about is a lecture course from the Great Courses website called “Years that Changed History: 1215” taught by Professor Dorsey Armstrong, PhD. She is an Associate Professor of English and medieval Literature at Purdue University. I watched this lecture series in video format but it would work as well in audio only. (It is a lot cheaper in the audio only version).

I got this course out of curiosity when I was reading about the importance of the Magna Carta and how it is consider the basis for the creation of the US Constitution. In the process of looking up more information on it, I came across this course. To my surprise, there were many different events that happen in and around the year 1215, not just the signing of the Magna Carta by King John. This year and the years around it, turned out to have pivotal turning points in world history.

Without giving too much away, the course covers the signing of the Magna Carta, the meeting of the Church’s Forth Lateran Council, the crusades, and the rise of Genghis Khan, to just name a few. Not only do you get a look into what was going on in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, but Dr. Armstrong also gives a look at what was also happening in the rest of the world (Japan, Africa, and Mesoamerica) at the same time. I had no “idea” is to put it mildly. This is one of those lecture series that I will listen to a second time. The course is divided up into 24-thirty minute lectures for a total of about 12.5 hours of listening. Another bonus is that Dr. Armstrong has a good sense of humor when presenting the material and makes what could be a dry subject very entertaining. You can find the audio version on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3qk82WC and if you prefer the video version, you can find it here at the Great Courses: https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/years-that-changed-history-1215

If you want to learn more about Professor Armstrong please see this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorsey_Armstrong

The next book I would like to give a recommendation on is called “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari. Let me start off saying that this is a great book. It is one of those that I will listen to a second time or reference back to. It is that good. The book was published in 2015 and is just as relevant today as it was when it was first published. The book is what the title says it is. It is a brief history of humankind from about 100,000 years ago to the present. In the process of presenting the story, Dr. Harari integrates history and science in a way that makes you ponder the currently accepted narratives found in society today. It is one of those books that give a fascinating look at how humanity became what it is – the dominate species on the planet. This should be required reading in all colleges. Heck, it should be required reading for High School Seniors before they graduate.

This book was very easy to listen to. Dr. Harari’s prose was smooth and concise. It made for a very enjoyable experience. I listened to the book as an audio book, but it would probably work even better in traditional format so that you can reference previous material much easier. There is a lot of information presented and I found myself re-listening to sections to help with digestion.

If you would like to learn more about this amazing author, Yuval Noah Harari, please check out this link: Yuval Noah Harari – Wikipedia

Of course you can find this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/32tfaHR

The next book I would like to talk about is called: “80/20 Running, by Matt Fitzgerald.” Since I run a lot, I am always looking for books on running and especially audio books that I can listen to while running.

This is a great book to get you started in the principles (the whys and how’s) of doing most of your runs at lower intensity and only 20 percent at the at higher intensity levels. I have been seriously running now for about 9 years and I had been exposed to this idea before from Joe Friel’s book “Fast after 50.” (another great book). What I liked best about the 80/20 book is that it explained, in easy to understand detail, the importance of slowing down a bit in training to help improve overall performance. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but it does work. Now don’t get me wrong, you still have to do a fair amount of the much harder intensity part, but not all the time. When you are training with out a coach to watch your progress, there is a tendency to get in a rut with moderate effort being the main workout all the time. And this just wears you down. Or you put in too much high intensity training and get injured. Either way this is counter productive.

I listened to this book as an audio book but it would probably work better in traditional format, especially if you are new to running or a seasoned runner but want to take it up a notch or two.

Of course you can find this on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3moFvOu

I also recommend Joe Friel’s book “Fast after 50” – especially if you are over 50 like me! Lol. You can find it on Amazon too: https://amzn.to/3Hfu03S

Last but not least, I would like to showcase a new piece of art work before I go. I started a “Sun Face” series in October and this is the first one of the series that I have finished. It is constructed of 3/4 inch plywood and painted with high quality latex paint. Then sealed with a clear latex primer. The sculpture measures about 28 inches by 28 inches by 3 inches deep. Its weight is about 25 lbs. This one is rated for interior or exterior placement, but if you are putting it outside, I would suggest a protected location. The latex paint, while durable, will gradually fade over time if placed in a location with strong sunlight. And like all paint, it is susceptible to the whims of harsh weather. I call this one “Squished Lego Sun Face.”

SQUISHED LEGO SUN FACE

These piece and other types of art work are for sale and can be found on my Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/strugglingprotoplasm/edit?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Wow! I have come to the end of another blog post! Yea! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Before I go, I would like to touch again on the idea of becoming minimalist. This past month I was reminded of the importance of this idea when I came across an art installation post on FB that I had forgotten about called “Can’t Help Myself.” The piece was done by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu. It was first seen at the Guggenheim Museum in 2016.

You can see it at work in this YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/ZS4Bpr2BgnE If you want to learn more about the artists check out their inks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Yuan_&_Peng_Yu and http://www.artnet.com/artists/sun-yuan-and-peng-yu/

It is of a large robotic arm that is constantly trying to save it’s hydraulic fluid that is colored red like blood. The arm makes other movements that give it anthropomorphic (human like) characteristics. The robot is in a losing battle trying to contain the very fluid that allows it to move and hence live. It is designed to lose a little more each day than it can recollect and so eventually it will cease movement and die (it bleeds out). I believe the robot finally came to rest in 2019. There are several interpretations of what the artists meant with the work, but the one that resonated with me the most is that it is a metaphor on modern life. On how we kill ourselves and others in the pursuit of money and profit in an effort to just keep living. And that the system is set up by others to keep us enslaved to the system so that the majority of profit goes to the wealthiest of the wealthy.

Here we are working and working, spending the best years of our lives, playing the game that the richest people in the world have designed. Trapped and slowly drowning with a growing list of responsibilities, debt, and expectations – combined with decreasing pay in relation to inflation and free time for exploration. And where does it all end? In death… It all ends in death. So you might find that interpretation depressing and I do too, but relevant and fitting.

So how do we combat such an overwhelming and fixed system? Well, if you have read my previous blog posts, you know what I am going to say, become “Minimalist.” It is really the only way on a personal and individual scale to combat a rigged consumeristic system. It is something that we can all do to fight back against the current order. When I first heard about the idea of minimalism I thought of a monk living in a monastery, bare walls, owning nothing, eating the same gruel each and everyday, etc.… But in reality this is not the case, though I guess if you wanted to do this you could. Lol.

Minimalism is different for each individual. You choose how much “minimalism” you want in your life and how much you don’t want. It is about understanding what matters most in life and removing the things that do not support the “what matters most part.” It is a way to break free of a rigged system. A way to start on the path of bringing back the happiness and joy we all want and need in our lives.

Ok, ok enough of the soapbox, but if your interested and want to learn more about sustainability, minimalism and the steady state economy, please see these sites: https://www.sustain.ucla.edu/what-is-sustainability/ and https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/ and https://steadystate.org/

So take care my friends and if you have not gotten vaccinated, then get it done. We all want this “Groundhog Day – Covid – Marry – Go – Round” to end. Until next time Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous…, leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Air Quality, Cameron Peak Fire, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, East Troublesome Fire, Exercise, Fort Collins, Life and Meaning, Pandemics, Psychology, PurpleAir, Space, Wildfire

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 30th, OCTOBER 2020

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“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.”
― Seth Godin

This is an image that was taken by the Hubble Space telescope and is known as a star-forming nursery called “Free floating Evaporating Gaseous Globules.” It is created when a massive new star starts to shine while still within the cool molecular gas cloud. It’s energetic radiation can ionize the cloud’s hydrogen and create a large, hot bubble of ionized gas. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & Nasa, R. Sahai. To learn more about this image visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2020/hubble-snaps-a-special-stellar-nursery/

“Art is what we call… the thing an artist does. It’s not the medium or the oil or the price or whether it hangs on a wall or you eat it. What matters, what makes it art, is that the person who made it overcame the resistance, ignored the voice of doubt and made something worth making. Something risky. Something human. Art is not in the … eye of the beholder. It’s in the soul of the artist.”
― Seth Godin

This is an image from the International Space Station that was taken back in July 2020. The Nasa space walkers giving a “thumbs up” are Bob Behnken and Chris Cassidy. They were the astronauts on the first manned mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft to fly to the ISS. Image credit: NASA. To learn more about this image visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/thumbs-up-from-out-of-this-world

“An artist is someone who uses bravery, insight, creativity, and boldness to challenge the status quo. And an artist takes it personally.”
― Seth Godin

This is a picture of Buzz Aldrin carrying two components of the Early Apollo Scientific Experiment Package on the surface of the moon. This was the Apollo 11 mission, 1969. These components were part of a plan to install a small array of mirrors on the moon so that scientists back on earth could use lasers to get a more accurate measurement of the moons shape and the effects of earth’s gravitational pull. Image credit: NASA. To learn more about his image visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/retroreflectors-from-apollo-to-mars

“The secret to being wrong isn’t to avoid being wrong! The secret is being willing to be wrong. The secret is realizing that wrong isn’t fatal.”
― Seth Godin

This is another picture taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. It is of the globular cluster NGC 1805. This is an image of 1000s of stars located near the edge of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy. A satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way. Image Credit: ESA (European Space Agency) To learn more about this image visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2020/hubble-stows-a-pocketful-of-stars

“It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”
― Carl Sagan

This narrow-angle color image of the Earth, dubbed ‘Pale Blue Dot’, is a part of the first ever ‘portrait’ of the solar system taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft, February 14th, 1990. The spacecraft acquired a total of 60 frames for a mosaic of the solar system from a distance of more than 4 billion miles from Earth and about 32 degrees above the ecliptic. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. To learn more about this image visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/multimedia/pia00452.html

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

If you are reading this then you have survived Covid -19 so far!! And so have I!! That is a very, very, very good thing for both of us. Therefore life continues to be good and I cannot complain too much at the moment. Looking at the numbers during the first week of October, the USA was still adding 30 to over 40 thousand new cases each day. Total deaths were 215,000 with Texas, Florida, and California leading the way. Texas had moved into second place, right above New Jersey, for the highest number of deaths – so far. Just around 16,500. Texas was also right behind California for the most number of cases too. But by the middle of October the numbers had changed and Texas is now leading the nation in total number of cases.

National new case count for October 16th was 71,000 cases in a single day. And this was just the start, by the end of the month we were putting in 60 to over 80 thousand new cases each day. My guess is, this is the start of the third wave. Or maybe, we really have not gone down to zero so is it the third peak? Either way…WOW but not in a good way.

The numbers as of October 29th, 2020, we were over 9 million known cases of Covid, with 234,000 deaths. Unreal! In less than 30 days we have added almost 20,000 new deaths again?! This has been the tally for several months in a row now… Crazy. I am wondering where we will be on December 31st? Oh well, we are in the “churn” now…

If you want to see the numbers yourself check out this link: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

When I started writing this post the Cameron Peak Fire was at 125,000 acres. Unfortunately it has continued to burn off and on during the month. We did get a little rain and snow in the mountains around the middle of October which helped. But it was not enough. The winds picked up again and the fire exploded on it Southern Border. Burning to within 5 to 10 miles of Loveland and Fort Collins. In an abundance of caution, and rightly so, the powers that be closed all of the National Forests from the Wyoming border to basically Denver.

This is a picture of a large air tanker dropping fire retardant behind the buildings at the Colorado State University Mountain Campus on October 10th, 2020. By this date the Cameron Peak Fire was just shy of 135,000 acres. Photo credit: NM Engine 964 Crew

The fire is now the largest in state history at 208,000 acres. Even though where I live in Fort Collins was not burning, the air quality has been terrible at times due to the smoke. I cannot tell you how much I have appreciated the use of the real time air quality map provided by Purple Air. If you have not gone to this web site you need to, especially if you play a lot in the outdoors. I do not have my own sensor to monitor air quality yet, but I do plan to buy one later this year. Check out their web site: https://www2.purpleair.com/

This is a picture of the East Troublesome Fire from Oct 16th, 2020. At this point it was only about 11,000 to 12, 000 acres. Image Credit: Unknown

As if the Cameron Peak Fire was not enough, the East Troublesome Fire, which started on October 14th, blew up so to speak on October 22nd and has now burned 192,000 acres West of Rocky Mountain National park. Unfortunately this includes homes that were part of the town of Grand Lake. Both of these fires are the largest in Colorado state history. How crazy is that??

This is a picture of the East Troublesome Fire on Oct 21st, 2020. It is looking North from Cottonwood Pass. At this point the fire was about 20,000 acres. By the end of the next day, things had drastically changed and the fire had jumped to 125,000 acres. Unreal. Image Credit: Andrew Lussie

Oh well what are you going to do? At this point I am not sure what the plan will be for me this winter as far as outdoor activity. I want to take the dog and do some back country skiing but Cameron Pass was my place to go. At least for now it has not burned on the West side of the pass and there are ski trails there too. So as soon as the road reopens later this year that may be my best option without having to drive the I25 / I70 corridor. Or maybe it will be time to head North again, into Wyoming. Of course this is after the Mullen Fire dies back with the arrival of snow. Time will tell. I am hoping that once the smoke clears, the trail running closer to Fort Collins will be doable again by the end of October.

Cameron Peak Fire. This picture was taken on Wednesday, October 14th, 2020 from Boyd Lake between Fort Collins and Loveland. The huge smoke column was created that morning by very high winds in the mountains. I believe the photographer was looking West by North West. Image credit: Unknown

At least we got a great shot of snow and rain over the weekend of the 24th and 25th of October. This did not put the fires out but it did put a significant damper on them. Even if it is only temporary. Mother nature is going to have her way. And with our continued short sighed “nonbelief” in “global warming,” my guess is this is just the tip of the iceberg of what awaits us in the future. I find it incredibly ironic that we have an immense “fusion reactor” in our solar system called the “sun” and we do not make the most of it. Oh but the hubris of humankind.

Cameron Peak Fire. This picture was taken 3 miles east of the Glen Haven Fire Department Friday 16th, October 2020. Image Credit: Unknown

I know that after the fires are put out and the damage assessed there will be a lot of finger pointing and discussion around why this occurred in the first place. In my humble opinion and others, there were a few things that helped to make this fire season a very destructive one. The first thing I think you have to understand is that Colorado had a unpresented infestation of Pine Bark Beetles that started in the mid 1990s. That was caused by 25 years of gradual warming and drought in the mountains. Each year being a little above average in temperature with a gradual decrease in overall moisture. This significantly stressed the trees causing them to become very vulnerable to the beetles. It left millions and millions of dead trees before it ran its course. Fast forward to this year, you have unusually dry conditions along with gusty winds and the dead trees. Voila -there you have it. A recipe for disaster… A good link to read more about this: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/21fd50c4ef904bb0a6ad7d1c514417c5?item=1 It is a very good article helping to explain why Colorado “burned.”

On a positive note, this is a picture from the Roaring Creek trail area, in the Poudre Canyon. It is showing new growth since burning in the Cameron Peak fire about one and a half months ago. Incredible to think the fire has been burning now for almost three months. Image Credit : Evan Burks

The thing to remember is that this is not just a Colorado problem but a North American problem due to a warming and dryer environment in the Western US. The second part of the fire issue for Colorado and other parts of the country is that you have a lot more people moving into areas that did not have permanent human habitation until recently. Think last 30 years. And some of these areas burn ever so often as part of the natural ecology of the forest. Even without the global warming and drought.

Of course there are others reasons, but I think these two are the big ones. Neither one has an easy solution. My guess is if you are going to continue to live in these areas, especially now that CO2 levels have skyrocketed, you might as well expect it and plan for it.

If you want to learn more about the Cameron Peak fire and the East Troublesome Fire check out this web site: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/

Well on to other things. Enough of Covid and Forest fires. Time for something better. Besides writing a blog, I have been writing a personal journal consistently now for almost 9 years. November 1st, 2020 will be that anniversary and what an inner journey it has been. By consistently I mean “every day” without fail. Some days it is only half of a page, on other days it is more than three pages. I used to think that I would run out of stuff to write about, but that has not been the case. If anything the list of topics has become more diverse. I found, I had to get “through” some of the superficial stuff, before I could get to the deeper substance. My journal is one that will never be read except by me so all the topics are fair game. Nothing is held sacred. Nothing is held back. It is a writing that is an exploration of the “self.” Good things as well as all the bad. Especially all the bad, everything the lizard brain has to say, but does not want to say it. And some days it scares me.

This picture was taken Sunday 13th, September 2020, at 8pm. A lot of exercise for Janet and I in September was walking in the neighborhood during the late afternoon and evening. This night the air quality was good enough to not have to wear a mask. Our usual plan was to not wear an N-95 mask as long as the AQI (Air Quality Index) was below 100.

In keeping the journal, I have learned more about myself than I knew was possible. Some topics were incredibly difficult to write about. Even though I knew no one would read it. Other times it was just the surface stuff for the coming day at hand. Things that I wanted to remind myself of needing to get done but were not all that pressing. One of the surprising realizations that became apparent over the years were “subjects” that I thought I had covered ad nauseam, would suddenly pop back up without warning showing even deeper layers of meaning. Like fractal geometry the patterns just continued to repeat. Out of all of this, there were a few truths that I have learned. And I would like to share a few with you.

This picture was taken Monday 14th, September 2020, at 7pm. Marvin with a stick on the Poudre River. Here I am looking West by North West. The AQI was down in the 50 range, so no mask was required. You can see the haze from the fire in background. There were a lot of days in the month of September that looked just like this and worse.

Number one: Anger. We have all experienced it in the present, but some of us have a lot of it “stored” from our past. Matter of fact if you are someone that gets angry very easily, then I would hazard a guess to say that you probably have some repressed anger. That was my experience and until I faced issues from the past, it drove my life at times. It was miserable for me and those around me. It is a wonder that more of us do not have criminal records because of an anger issue. Lol. When I started to journal I would not have thought that anger would keep coming up like it did. Over and over again and again. It got so bad at times I would have to stop writing, take a break, and come back to it. Or I would finish a section of writing and reread it and think “where the hell did that come from?” Lol. It can even be a little scary, but no worries, that is why the “journal no one reads but you” is such a great tool. It allows the exploration of deep seated anger without the fear that people will just not understand your feelings. And your right, they would not understand because it is personnel to you. Henceforth the “journal that no one reads” but you. I found that my anger had become like supple leather gloves or a cloak, so smooth, so soft that I did not know I had them on. It was the journaling that helped me to peal layer, after layer, after layer off. Sometimes it was very painful, like pealing off an old scab, but so freeing once it was gone. The journaling can provide a safe but extremely powerful catharsis when dealing with repressed emotions like anger.

This picture was taken September 23rd, 2020 at about 7:30pm. Marvin had just gotten back from a long walk and the cat was in the mood to play. I find it amazing that he is so gentle with the cat and the cat does not appear to be afraid in the least.

Number two: “You have all that you need.” When you get right down to it most of us have all that we need. Let me say that again. We have all that we need. Especially in a first world country like the USA. I have found that I have to remind myself of this everyday. Especially with all the adds from TV, the internet, magazines, newspaper, catalogs, etc… We live in a very consumeristic society. There is always someone out there that is trying to get you to buy “more” stuff. The adds are selling “dissatisfaction” and “desire” at the same time. If you have never been to a large active landfill it is worth a trip to see the mounds and mounds of “stuff” that was once some ones desire and now their dissatisfaction. I could make this one truth the topic of several blog post, but I will leave it for now with one quote and a link to the Minimalist web site: https://www.theminimalists.com/

“Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.” – Will Rogers

This picture was taken September 26th, 2020 at about 1am. It was a beautiful early morning with the moon dropping over the western horizon. This is Lake Sherwood in my neighborhood.

Number Three: “The things that we fear the most are the things that we most need to do.” Be honest with yourself, how many times have you not tried something because you fear it, for whatever reason. The fear of failure, the fear of not being able to handle it, the fear of loss, the fear of losing control, the fear of rejection, the fear of death, etc… All the “what ifs” that your mind can come up with. While journaling I was able to explore my fears and why I had them. It is not a quick fix, but over time I found, just like with anger, there were layers. The writing let me explore and peal off those layers one at a time.

“Do the thing you fear the most and the death of fear is certain.” – Mark Twain

During this process of writing I came to the realization that the essential cause of our suffering, anxiety and fear is ignorance of the nature of reality, and our need for craving and clinging to illusion.

The reality is we are all going to die at some point. The illusion is that it will never happen to me. Death is an inevitable outcome. It will not matter what clothing you wear. Who your parents were. What car you drive. What schools you attended. How much money you made. What mythology you worshiped. We are going to lose every thing that we have ever loved, hated, owned or desired. Nothing is here to stay, not even the earth beneath your feet. And once you understand this realization fully, at your core, the illusion is shattered and your perception changes.

This picture was taken September 27th, 2020 at about 8pm. It was starting to get a little colder…

I would like to think that I have conquered all my fears but that would be telling myself and you dear reader a lie. After all, we are all here, on this earth, at this time, because our ancestors going back a few million years were very good at survival. And they were very good at survival because of their lizard brain. I work with my lizard brain on this subject every single day. Lol.

This realization on death and fear felt as if a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Or that is how it was with me and writing helped me to come to this realization. Let me be clear, danger is very, very real. But the fear is a choice, consciously or unconsciously. It is all in our minds based on our thoughts and feelings about events that may or may not ever happen. The lizard brain trying to keep you safe anyway it can.

“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.” – Charles Bukowski

All right, that is about it for me on this Blog Post. I have more “truths” that have come out of the journaling but I will save them for another day. On the next blog I will try to have a few more book reviews and such.

One last thing before I go about fear. I am not talking about true phobias, but ordinary fears. If you have a true phobia, journaling can help but it is not a substitute for professional guidance.

So take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, wear your mask when in crowds or indoors and practice physical distancing. AND VOTE like your life depends on it. Because it probably does… Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous…, leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Cameron Peak Fire, Colorado, Dogs, Exercise, Fear, Psychology, Science, Space, Trail Running, Truth and Perception, Wildfire

MUSING FOR FRIDAY 28TH, AUGUST 2020

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“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” Frank Herbert, Dune

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features the spectacular galaxy NGC 2442. This galaxy was host to a supernova explosion, known as SN2015F, that was created by a white dwarf star. The white dwarf was part of a binary star system and pulled mass from its companion, eventually becoming too greedy and taking on more than it could handle. This unbalanced the star and triggered a runaway nuclear fusion that eventually led to an intensely violent supernova explosion.  SN2015F was spotted in March 2015 in the galaxy named NGC 2442, nicknamed the Meat hook Galaxy owing to its extremely asymmetrical and irregular shape. The supernova shone brightly for quite some time and was easily visible from Earth through even a small telescope until later that summer. Text credit: ESA (European Space Agency). Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, S. Smartt et al. If you want to learn more and see a full resolution from ESA Hubble site visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2020/hubble-hooks-a-supernova-host-galaxy

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” Plato

It does not seem to matter if your earth side or in orbit, there is always housekeeping chores… Lol. This is a picture from August 14th, 2020 of Astronaut Chris Cassidy collecting the trash on the ISS (Internal Space Station). Image credit: NASA. If you want to see a bigger version of this picture visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/astronaut-chris-cassidy-does-housekeeping-in-space

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” Marie Curie

How cool is that!? A high resolution camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured this avalanche falling down a 1640 foot tall (500 meters) cliff on May 29th, 2019. This image was taken at Mar’s north pole area. Image Credit: NASA/JPL – Caltech/University of Arizona. If you want to see a bigger version of this picture visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/capturing-an-avalanche-on-mars

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” Joseph Campbell

The barred spiral galaxy known as NGC 4907 shows its best side from 270 million light-years away to anyone who can see it from the northern hemisphere. This is a new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the galaxy, displaying its beautiful spiral arms, wound loosely around its central bright bar of stars. Shining brightly below the galaxy is a star that is actually within our own Milky Way galaxy. This star appears much brighter than the many millions of stars in NGC 4907 as it is 100,000 times closer, residing only 2500 light-years away. NGC 4907 is also part of the Coma Cluster, a group of over 1000 galaxies, some of which can be seen around NGC 4907  in this image. This massive cluster of galaxies lies within the constellation of Coma Berenices, which is named for the locks of Queen Berenice II of Egypt: the only constellation named after a historical person. Text credit: ESA (European Space Agency). Image credit: ESA / Hubble & NASA, M. Gregg. If you want to see a bigger version of this picture visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2020/hubble-sees-near-and-far

“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.” Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays

This is a picture of NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover. It has been on the red planet for 8 years now. Since landing, the rover has traveled more than 14 miles (23 kilometres), drilling 26 rock samples and scooping six soil samples. The mission was to study whether Mars had the water, chemical building blocks, and energy sources that may have supported microbial life billions of years ago. It will soon be joined by another rover – Perseverance. It was launched on July 30th, 2020. The rover’s selfie was taken June 15th, 2018 Earth time. Image Credit : NASA/JPL – Caltech. To see a bigger version of this picture visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/curiosity-celebrates-8-years-on-the-red-planet

“Once we overcome our fear of being tiny, we find ourselves on the threshold of a vast and awesome Universe that utterly dwarfs – in time, in space, and in potential – the tidy anthropocentric proscenium of our ancestors.” Carl Sagan

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid -19. And so have I!! That is a very good thing for both of us!! Therefore life is good and I cannot complain too much at the moment. Looking at the numbers during the first week of August, the good old USA was adding 40 to almost 50 thousand new cases each day. With Texas, Florida, and California leading the way . Texas was just under 8 thousand deaths as was Florida. Total US deaths were just breaking 160,000.

By the time of publishing, the numbers for total deaths – was just under 185,000. Texas was right at 12,500 deaths and Florida was at 11,000. Unreal when you think about it. Let me pause and say this again, 25,000 added deaths in the last month and 55,000 in the last two months?! To put in comparison, in the Vietnam War, US casualties were estimated at 47,434. Wow! I guess we are over achievers. Are we winning yet??

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I decided to include an assortment of pictures from my trail running this summer with Marvin on the Blue Lake Trail in the Rawah Wilderness. What is the old saying, “You Really Don’t Know What You Have Until It’s Gone.” This applies to anything in your life. For me, in the month of August, it is the destruction of this beautiful area due to wildfire. The Cameron Peak fire ignited on August 13th, 2020. As I write this, August 28th, the fire is at approximately 23,000 acres in size and has zero containment as of yet. It is hard to think that a lot of the landscape I photographed and ran through with Marvin this summer, is now gone or potentially will be. Forever changed. I know that at some point it will come back but it will be 100 years at best. Long after I am gone. It really does feel unbelievable.

This picture was taken June 29th, 2020 looking West at Clark Peak. Here I am standing on Blue Lake Pass.
This picture was taken July 14th, 2020 on the Blue Lake trail. Here Marvin is enjoying a little sun and space in a meadow.
This picture was taken July 21st, 2020 on the Blue Lake trail. I am looking up at Blue Lake Pass. If you look closely you can see a whole pocket of blue Columbines. The Colorado State Flower.
This picture was also taken on July 21st, 2020. Here I am standing on Blue Lake Pass at 11,000 feet. I am looking North West into the Rawah Wilderness.
This picture was taken July 29th, 2020 just before you get to Blue Lake. Still an abundance of wild flowers.
This picture was taken on August 4th, 2020. It is a picture of Marvin standing on the shore of Blue Lake.
This picture was taken August 10th, 2020 looking South toward the Blue Lake trail head. It is 5.5 miles back down the trail. This was the last trail run in the area before the start of the wildfire. How was I to know that this would be my last run here for the foreseeable future?!
This picture was taken August 21st, 2020 looking West. The area the smoke and flames are coming from is the same area where I took the above photos this summer. Image credit: Wellington Crew.

MARVIN’S GATE

Have you ever had an experience in which something you know or think you know becomes fully crystal clear, an Aha Moment? Or to put it another way, a deeper understanding of an existing condition or mental thought? Well if you have then you will know what I mean, but if you haven’t let me explain. Over the years I have read and listened to my fair share of self-help books. And I felt that I had a pretty good handle on what they were trying to get across. Especially on the ones that dealt with fear. My first book to read on this was one by the late Susan Jeffers, “Feel the Fear and DO IT ANYWAY. I had read her book or listened to it several times and felt that I had gotten a lot out of it. But knowing something and “full realization” are two different things. And sometimes the “full realization” pops into place when you least expect it.

Earlier this month, I was in the process of putting up firewood for the coming winter. This usually entails getting a couple of cords of wood dumped in the driveway and then me filling up wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow and rolling it to the backyard to be stacked. A somewhat long and boring process in my opinion.

Marvin the dog, I am sure thinks the same thing. Due to his size and exuberance, he is not allowed off lead in the front yard, so he waits patiently by the “gate” that separates front from back. He is not an aggressive dog, but he can get very excited when other dogs and people walk by. So I load a wheelbarrow, move the gate, come through, put the gate back, roll said wheelbarrow into the backyard, Marvin follows, I throw a dog toy or ball, wrestle with him for a few moments, etc.. and then stack wood. Repeat process, over and over, again and again.

Now the interesting part that became an “Aha Moment” for me occurred when my wife Janet was watching the process as she unloaded groceries from the car and was amazed that Marvin just stood there by this unsecured and flimsy gate, just waiting…. “He is such a big dog and that gate is so small, why doesn’t he just knock it down or jump over it or run through it, she asked?” I stopped and looked, really looked. Here was this massive dog, stymied by a small gate. Her statement and Marvin’s appearance at the gate stopped me in my tracks.

Of course we both knew the superficial answer, he is afraid, but a dawning deeper realization started to jell in my mind. Let me explain. Marvin had a traumatic experience at 6 months of age when a gate of this same size and design fell on him while he was sleeping. The gate in question is a typical child gate, very light weight, made of wood and somewhat flimsy. But it scared him and he has had a fear of these child gates ever since. At the time of the incident he was a small dog in comparison to the gate, now fast forward and this is not the case anymore. He is a large, powerful LSG (Livestock Guardian) dog, but still hindered by a tiny gate. With this understanding, the light bulb in my mind popped on! Lol.

The Aha Moment is not the fact that he is afraid, it is the fact that Marvin’s fear IS ALL IN HIS HEAD. The fear is not real, except in his mind. The only place that it can exist is in his thoughts. The gate is not dangerous to him. It’s danger is a product of his imagination, causing him to fear the gate falling on him again. Whether Marvin has the cognitive ability to understand this or not is irrelevant. He is telling himself a story, just like humans do when we are afraid of something. Marvin may not have a choice to change his story of the gate but humans with our higher brain functioning have this ability. As hard as this may be, as ugly and messy as it may get, we can do it. Whether something is dangerous or not is a real concern, but fear is a choice and we can change our story.

Reflecting on this over the last couple of weeks, I have had to ask myself what are my Marvin gates? What have I not allowed myself to do because of misconceived fear? Can I change my story and continue to change my story as needed? All good questions and for me a life long endeavor. Good food for thought.

Well that is going to be about it for me on this Blog post. Again, I hope you have given more thought to minimalism and how it could make a positive change in your life and in the world. If you want to learn more please visit the web site: https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

I promise to have a few more book reviews on the next post. So take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, wear your mask when in crowds and physical distancing. Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous.., leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Economics, Exercise, Fort Collins, Pandemics, Psychology, Religion, Science, Science Fiction, Sociology, Space, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 29TH, MAY 2020

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“Once you realize that the road is the goal and that you are always on the road, not to reach a goal, but to enjoy its beauty and its wisdom, life ceases to be a task and becomes natural and simple, in itself an ecstasy.” Nisargadatta Maharaj

On April 25th, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was deployed from the space shuttle Discovery. This year it turned 30 years old. It is named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble and remains in operation. At some point it will be replaced by the James Webb Space Telescope which is scheduled to be launched next year in March 2021. Image Credit: NASA
Check out this montage of images taken from Hubble over the years: https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/videos/1273-Video

“All you want is to be happy. All your desires, whatever they may be, are longing for happiness. Basically, you wish yourself well…desire by itself is not wrong. It is life itself, the urge to grow in knowledge and experience. It is the choices you make that are wrong. To imagine that some little thing – food, sex, power, fame – will make you happy is to deceive oneself. Only something as vast and deep as your real self can make you truly and lastingly happy.” Nisargadatta Maharaj

This photo of earth from space was taken by the Apollo 17 crew on December 7th, 1972. I am using it here to call attention to Earth Day that is now 50 years old. The first one was celebrated April 22nd, 1970. With so much of the world focused on Covid issues, I felt it was appropriate to remind us all of the incredible beauty of our home world and the need to always be vigilant in taking care of it. Image Credit: NASA

“Life always gives us exactly the teacher we need at every moment. This includes every mosquito, every misfortune, every red light, every traffic jam, every obnoxious supervisor, every illness, every loss, every moment of joy or depression, every addiction, every piece of garbage, every breath. Every moment is the Guru.” Joan Tollifson

This picture taken by Hubble is call the Eagle Nebula’s Pillars of Creation. Here the pillars are seen in infrared light, which helps to see through obscuring dust and gas. The pillars are pretty cool, but to me it is the incredible amount of stars seen in the rest of the image. Imagine, this is just one part of space and the sheer number of other stars is mind blowing. Just unreal…. Image Credit: NASA
To see the original better-known image of the pillars of creation in visible light, check out this link: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1501a/

“The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought. That’s what we’re going to discover again and again and again. Nothing is what we thought. I can say that with great confidence. Emptiness is not what we thought. Neither is mindfulness or fear. Compassion—not what we thought. Love. Buddha nature. Courage. These are code words for things we don’t know in our minds, but any of us could experience them. These are words that point to what life really is when we let things fall apart and let ourselves be nailed to the present moment.” Pema Chodron

A team of transatlantic scientist reanalyzing data from NASA’s Kepler Space telescope discovered an earth-sized exoplanet that is in the habitable zone of it’s solar system. Named Kepler – 1649c. It is orbiting an M-Type red dwarf star named Kepler – 1649. The above image is an artist’s illustration so it might look a lot different than pictured. The important part is that it could support liquid water. How cool is that?! Of course it is a bit of a distance away – about 300 light-years. So for now, until we get the warp engines up and running, we will have to use our imagination.

“In Science it often happens that scientists say, “You know that’s a really good argument; my position is mistaken,” and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.” Carl Sagan

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid 19!! Yea!! And so have I!! That is a very good thing indeed. Life is changing and this kind of forced, rapid change is hard. You can see it, feel it and hear it, especially on social media. There are those that it is not going to make much difference but for a majority of us there will be changes. I don’t think the virus is going to go away anytime soon. It is creating a new normal and we are living through that creation right now. Where are things going to end up? That is the billion dollar question. Will we get back to the old way of doing things or will it be a version of the past with a few modifications? And how long will all this last? Another 6 months, a year or until a vaccine becomes available? I don’t really know but I think I am going to hedge my bets on the vaccine scenario. Herd immunity will not occur without significant loss of life, unless you have a vaccine. And that my friends is a hard pill to swallow.

This picture was taken April 3rd, about 7:30pm in the evening. I was looking West just as the sun was going down in our neighborhood.

For me, the lock down has not made too many changes… yet. Being somewhat an introvert has helped a lot. Lol. My wife and I were not big concert participants and we did not frequently eat out much except for special events. Most of our recent vacations have been “stay-at-home” types except for visiting the mountains in the RV. While most of my purchases have been online even before the outbreak, my wife’s were not. So that has been modified, especially with the grocery store. As far as work, there have been changes, but the key point is that we are both still working. I am lucky that my job has been spared budget cuts so far. Therefore the only thing that has significantly changed beside social distancing and wearing a mask outside of work, is the way I enjoy the outdoors in Colorado.

This picture was taken April 5th, 2020 at about 6:40pm. We have been doing a lot of neighborhood walking. We are lucky to live in an area that does not have a lot of neighborhood traffic. So walking in the streets is somewhat safe and easy to do. It was a nice spring day in Colorado with temps in the 60s.

By this time last year, I would have already run a couple of races, but they have all been canceled or rescheduled until later in the year. Also by this time, I would have been out in the foothills and the lower mountains for trail running with Marvin, but due to the shear volume of people out and about now, that had to change. I did not want to be a part of the problem. Even the bike trails in the middle of the day are like grand central station, compared to what it was back in April and May 2019. So you adapt and make changes. I have used the indoor bike trainer a lot the past few months. More than I have in the previous two years. If I go for an actual ride, then it has been late at night, with the fewest people on the bike trail as possible. Besides the obvious downside of this, there was an unexpected upside as well. I have walked a lot in the neighborhood the last couple of months, especially with Janet and my youngest daughter Cathryn. They are not runners, especially not trail runners, and the forced isolation has given me a chance to spend more time with them. We walk the neighborhood streets which allows plenty of social distancing.

This picture was taken April 16th, 2020 at about 5pm. What a difference a week or so makes here in Colorado. Wow!! Marvin was enjoying it a lot.

I think that 2020 is “over” for trail race events, fun runs, marathons, etc… I cannot imagine there would be anyway to arrange aid stations so that people would not cross contaminate each other. Even with people being very conscious of social distancing, it would be very hard to do. It is hard enough to get individuals to wear a mask at the grocery store. What would it take to get them to put one on during a steep trail climb with multiple bunched up runners. All it takes is one individual to start the process of infecting others. I have to ask myself, do I want to be exposed to that possibility. And since I work in what is considered a high risk environment, would I want to potentially expose others if I was infected? That is an unfortunate aspect of this virus. You can be shedding viral particles before you get sick. Some reports are up to three days before you get sick. In comparison, we got lucky with Ebola. For one, you did not become an infection risk until you were sick. Actually sick with a fever or other symptoms. So if you got it you were easy to screen. The other part is that the mortality was high, 60 to 90% high. While this is bad if you get the disease, you usually were not out and about, running around infecting others, so it became self limiting. Not so with Covid. You can be running your merry way around, not feeling or showing any symptoms, but still infecting others. A “perfect storm” of a virus…

This picture was also taken on April 16th, 2020 at about 7:30pm. It is looking West along the Poudre River.

And thinking about this brings me back to change. What is the old saying, “Change, the only constant in life is change.” I know, we have all heard this expression in one form or another. And if you are like me, you are tired of hearing it. But hear it we must, because an event like this is going to be made more difficult if we are not willing to change the way we do things. I would have to say that all the “old rules” are being challenged. It will force all of us across the spectrum of modern life, to look at things in a different way. Especially if you want to keep things running. One of the first ones I think about is schools. Closing of schools exposed the lack of access many homes have to the internet. How can kids learn remotely if they can’t get access to their teachers and learning material online? And what if you need a laptop or a desk top computer? Of course, just having internet access is a luxury for some families. Maybe the internet should be made available to all, free of charge, country wide? Schools may open in the fall and they may not. It might be next year? How can you keep things running if you can’t send kids back to school – safely??

This picture was taken April 23rd, 2020 at about 7:30pm. What a difference in just 7 days from the above pictures. All the snow is gone. A week ago the snow in this spot was about 12 inches deep.

The school situation is part of a much broader picture of what happens when groups of people are not allowed to meet in person, whether it be for business or pleasure. All the things that we take for granted are now being challenged by a massive scaling back of productivity in all sectors of life. And this is not a bad thing in the short term. More and more people are being asked to work from home. With some companies thinking about making the four day work week a permanent part of life. How cool would that be to have a three day weekend – every weekend? Of course it is definitely not good for a majority of people that are still out of work like those in the restaurant industry. I have no doubt that it will come back, but the question will be in what capacity. How do you keep people safe? Especially with a virus that can spread from an individual that has no symptoms? If you greatly decrease the number of people that can eat at any give time, will the profit margins be high enough for you to stay in business? I don’t have the answers to these questions and I really don’t think that any one does. Colorado is opening back up as I write this, including restaurants and it will be interesting to see what the case count will be by the middle of June.

This picture was taken April 27th, 2020 at about 4:30pm in the afternoon. It is a close up shot of the inside of a Tulip flower.

One thing that has really caught my attention in May, especially on social media is all the fake news out there. I mean there is usually a lot of it anyways but the Pandemic has really stepped on the accelerator. Especially the reopen America type stories. Even thought all of these stories are fake, I think that it strikes a cord with people that have been out of work for a while. And it makes it easier for them to not question the source of the message and they retweet it or share it on FB. It is not too unexpected to see how hunger and fear help to drive these pseudo stories.

Another one that I find fascinating is the conspiracy theory people. I think the individuals that create this content do it for money and some kind of morbid creative enjoyment. My opinion is that they don’t really care who it hurts. The people that buy into it are probably scared. They want answers and meaning for this terrible event that has interrupted their lives and killed family and friends. Unfortunately there is no “deep meaning” other than just what it is. A respiratory virus, ten times deadlier than the flu, that crossed over, likely from bats to humans, in which we have no immunity to. Given our ability to travel the globe, it has infected millions around the world and will continue to do so. Until an effective vaccine is developed, all the precautions we are doing now will become our new normal.

A few book reviews before I go. There are several that I have finished over the last few months and I would like to give a recommendation on them.

The first one I would like to talk about is one that might upset a few people depending on your religious or non-religious views but I feel is worth reading. Maybe more than once, no matter if you are an atheist or religious. “Religion” so to speak has been around for a very long time and over this period it has learned a lot about what makes humanity tic. This information has taken thousands of years of unofficial research and observation to obtain. And it has been incorporated into all religious texts to some degree. If you ask an atheist about whether religion should even exist, most likely the answer will be no. But in the authors opinion and mine that would be a huge waste of hard earned information about what makes us human. The book is about how we can make the world a better place by using this information. The author explains how the “tools of religion” can build a better sense of community, better relationships, better appreciation of art and other cultures, better techniques for learning, etc… This is not about trying to convert anyone to a particular religion. But a look at what it means to not have the “god figure” involved at all. This book works great in traditional format and as an audio book. You can find it at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Religion-for-Atheists

The next one I want to talk about also has a religious theme but not how you would expect. The author looks at how religion has been incorporated by different Science Fiction writers over the last 50 years or so. He uses examples from literature as expected but also from television and films. The part that I really liked is how some stories have religious overtones that when I read or viewed them initially, I did not really comprehend it. But after reading the book, it makes much more sense now. I have always felt that our future has already been written in a SiFi book or more likely several books, just by accident. And that our reality is defined by the tools that we have at the moment. As your tools change so does your reality. Reading the book, one of the conclusions I came to was that this also applies to religion. From the book: “A church that dwells in the past is certain to lose touch with the world in which its believers live, and if religion is to meet the spiritual needs of coming generations, it must be willing to face the future with an open mind.” How powerful a statement. This book is only available as Paperback and Kindle. I wish that it was on audio book because it would be worth a second listen on a long car trip. You can find it at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-according-Science-Fiction-Twilight

The last one I would like to recommend is another science fiction selection that has 6 books so far. It is called the Red Rising Series. Written by Pierce Brown. It borrows from the Roman past to tell a dystopian future. If you liked the “Hunger Games” you will probably like this series as well. It is the classic story about the “haves” and the “have nots.” A human conflict that is as old as humanity is itself. This series is available in all formats. I thoroughly enjoyed it as an audio book. You can find it on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Rising-Pierce-Brown

Well that is about it for me on this Blog post. As the Pandemic continues to drag on, I want to ask you this question again. What do you want “your new normal” to be. This is a great opportunity to create something different. Remember the old guard may not like what you have in mind and will try to divert your attention by selling and telling you things that help you to feel normal. And if that is what you need at this moment, then by all means take it. But if you want something different…resistance is not futile. If you are wondering and want to take a deeper plunge into something different than the current economic system, there is a YouTube channel called Democracy at Work and is hosted by Richard D Wolff – a Harvard Educated Professor of Economics. Check out some of the videos and I will let you be the judge. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK-6FjMu9OI8i0Fo6bkW0VA

Take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, wear your mask when in crowds and social distancing. Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous.., leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Fort Collins, genetics, Life and Meaning, Longivity, Pandemics, Psychology, Sociology, Space

MUSING FOR FRIDAY 24TH, APRIL 2020

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“In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exist.” – Eric Hoffer

The Witch’s Broom – Located in the Veil Nebula, is part of the remnants of a star 20 times the size of our sun that went supernova, exploding roughly 8,000 years ago. The long, slender filaments of the Witch’s Broom are part of an expanding blast wave from the supernova – shocking, heating, and transforming interstellar gasses as it goes. The bright spot at the nebula’s upper edge is the giant star 52 Cygni in the constellation Cygnus.

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” Alan W. Watts

NASA’s Curiosity rover captured its highest-resolution panorama yet of the Martian surface between Nov. 24th and Dec. 1st, 2019. This version with the rover contains nearly 650 million pixels and is composed of more than 1000 images. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates the Mastcam. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the Mars Science Laboratory mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington and built the Curiosity rover.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” Barack Obama

This 2010 image is from the Herschel Space Observatory and shows dust clouds associated with the Rosette Nebula. It is a stellar nursery that is somewhere around 5,000 light years from Earth. The Observatory collected infrared light radiated out by the dust. The bright spots are cocoons containing embryonic stars. They will eventually grow up to 10 times the mass of our sun.

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Wayne Dyer

Apollo 17 (December 1972) was the last crewed lunar landing. It hosted the first scientist-astronaut to land on the Moon, Harrison Schmitt, a geologist. The lunar module was distinguished by extended hardware capability, larger scientific payload capacity and the use of the battery-powered Lunar Rover. The rover vehicle traversed a total of 30.5 kilometers. The crew “stay time” on the moon was 75 hours and approximately 243 pounds of material was brought back to earth.

“Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved?” Carl Sagan

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

Well if you are reading this… then you have survived Covid – 19 so far and I have too!! That is a very good thing. This virus has turned out, as most of the experts predicted, to be much worse than the flu. It was interesting to me that even after the first week of April or so, when the death toll continued to climb each day, there were some individuals that thought it was still being over blown. I mean I get it. It is hard to believe that something like this could occur in our modern day and age. Especially if you have no science and or medical training. And of course after hearing the “Orange DT” expound over and over, again and again, upon the idea that all the media is “fake news” for the last four years – I am guessing this affected some individuals in that they did not know what to believe. I have to ask myself how much needless suffering and death was inflicted upon the public due to this conman’s irresponsible rhetoric? Oh well, its all water under the bridge, not much we can do about it. The issue now is all about mitigation and recovery at some point. And I am wondering if “opening back up” at the end of April is the best move? Maybe putting it off another month might be better? Time will tell. And the question to ask is what will be our new normal?

This picture was taken March 3rd, 2020 at about 4 pm. Here I am looking South from the top sections of Horsetooth Mountain Park, due West of Fort Collins. It was a beautiful spring afternoon in Colorado. My elevation at this point was just over 7,000 feet.

On a more positive note it sounds like there are several different companies around the world, working on a vaccine for this virus. From the United States to Australia. I know that one company was given the green light to skip animal trials and go straight to human testing. That is pretty amazing because it has never been done before. Think about that, straight to human testing?! If you ever needed another reason to take this viral illness seriously, then this would be it. The company’s name is Moderna. Based out of Cambridge, Massachusetts. You should check out their web site. It looks like they have a list of vaccines they are working on using mRNA. Or messenger RNA. Every thing from infectious diseases, like Zika and Covid 19 to Cancer Vaccines. Also it looks like they have an area of research called Regenerative Therapeutics – meaning they are developing gene therapy to treat injured or diseased tissue. That is pretty cool. Here is the link: https://www.modernatx.com/

This picture was taken March 11th, 2020 at about 5:30 pm. It was another beautiful spring like day in Colorado.

If there is only one silver lining to come out of the pandemic, it will be the advancement of knowledge in working with genetics, viruses and vaccines. And this includes dealing with mass causality situations due to an infectious agent, on a scale that has not been seen since the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. Hopefully when the next one occurs we will have a much more robust capability and knowledge base to deal with it.

This picture was taken March 19th, 2020 at about 7 pm. It is from one of the parks in Fort Collins. Wow what a difference a week makes in the weather. From 50 to 60 degree days last week to cold and snow a week later. Oh well it is spring time in Colorado and there is an old joke that you can experience all four season in a single day living here. Lol

What does the future hold? What will be our new normal? Truthfully, I have no idea. But I am guessing that as we do try to unlock the economy, I feel that there will be a “blitzkrieg” in advertising. All of it, trying to help you feel “comfortable” again. And we all want to feel that way. I have been lucky so far. My “day job” so to speak, is medical and for now it has escaped budget cuts. I cannot imagine what it must feel like to be worried about paying rent and bills, not to mention just affording food. Our need for comfort and safety will be genuine. The advertising agencies and corporations know this. I am guessing that there have been countless teleconferenced meetings around the world on the best strategy on how to sell you the old normal. But do we want the old normal back, as it was? Like an economy that is based on debt and over-consumption to the point that it collapses when people start to buy only their essentials. How strong could it have actually been? Or a health care system that does not work for everyone or charges you so much money that you have to the sell the farm to pay the medical bills. Or a degraded social safety net that relies in part on the capricious generosity of others. I could go on and on with this. But I think you get the picture. Maybe a modified version might be better?

This picture was taken March 22nd, 2020 at about 7 pm. Only three days later and temps back in the 50s. Beautiful evening. Marvin was keeping a close eye on the geese. Lol

As I write and research this, I find a lot of other authors talking about “time.” How in the old system, we just did not have enough time to care. In the previous economy, no matter who we were as Americans, we all shared one thing in common, we were busy. Working, paying bills, taking kids to school, answering e-mail, phone calls, attending meetings, and the list goes on and on and on. So, how can you worry or much less logically think about an existential issue or problem when you barley have enough time for eating and sleeping, before you have to do it all over again the next day. Truly – you had no time. This really hit home with me. Not because I was feeling stressed about time, but because I wasn’t. I have been in health care for about 40 years and for the majority of it I have worked 12 hours shifts. Three per week, sometimes more but recently a lot less – my choice for the last few years. Now I only work two 12 hours shifts per week or less. Having time to read more, to exercise more, to eat better, to work on my mental health, etc… has been liberating to say the least. If I would have been more self-disciplined when I was a younger man, I would have gone to this part-time way of existence much sooner. Yes I had to make sacrifices in what I spend and buy. But that was more of a mental issue than a true physical one. My wife used to ask the kids when they were younger, “Is it a want or a need.” And she was right in more ways than one. Our needs are few but our wants are endless. The advertising agencies and big business know this.

This picture was taken March 23rd, 2020 at about 7:35pm. Looking West along the Poudre trail in Fort Collins. A lot of the open space areas that the trail transects were old farmsteads in the past. Looking at this tree, I wonder who in the past might have looked the same direction? What thoughts they might have had, their worries, their concerns, their loves, their likes and dislikes, etc… What would they think of the world today?

Big government, big business and advertising are all teaming up. They are going to want to make you feel comfortable again. They will be there to indoctrinate you into the old ways of doing things. To make you think that it was not as bad as what it was. Like a Jedi mind trick. You didn’t see those body bags in Italy and New York, you didn’t see the death count, you didn’t see the doctors and nurses on the front line describing hospitals as war zones, you didn’t see the food lines, you didn’t see that the air was much cleaner, you didn’t see those headlines and if you did they were all fake. You did not see or hear the leader of the free world reference the virus as a new hoax, or take too long to declare a national emergency. In order to be good children, you will be told over and over again and again through advertising to drink the proverbial Kool-aide. So I ask you, is this what you want? To go back? This crisis has given us a chance to see ourselves and our world from a very different view point. It has hit the pause button on the human-ant like madness that was taking place on the planet. To see it in a better light. To give you the “time” to wake up and take a much closer look at the issues and problems that we all face at some point in our lives. So ask yourself, what is it that you want to put back into in your life? How do you want to spend your time?

This picture was taken March 25th, 2020 at about 7:30 pm. I was looking West along the Poudre River and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Another beautiful Colorado sunset. They never get old.

A few book reviews before I go. There are several that I have finished over the last year and I would like to give a recommendation on them.

One of the fist ones I would like to talk about is an old one but just as relevant today as it was when published in 1996. The book is written by Carl Sagan and is called “The Demon-Haunted World.” This is one of those books that you need to savor. Take a chapter at at time, read it, think about it and maybe even reread the same chapter. Or better yet look up some of the ideas put forth. He talks in detail about many myths and pseudoscience concepts (ghosts, aliens, crop circles, spirits, etc..) that we have heard about over time and why people seem to have this incredible need to believe in them. And why education in science is an answer to dispelling them. This is my second time to read the book, but I felt like he had just written it yesterday due to current events in the world. If anything this book is prophetic. A lot of what Carl talks about in the book, to take as a warning for the future, has unfortunately come to pass. This should be one of the books that is mandatory reading for all High School Seniors before graduating. This book works great in traditional format and as an audio book. You can find it at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Demon-Haunted-World-Science-Candle-Dark

The next one I want to talk about is called Lifespan and is written by David A. Sinclair, PhD. I have worked in health care for almost 40 years now and have seen all the usual diseases associated with getting old, heart disease, cancer, dementia, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, arthritis, neuro-degenerative, etc… and how we approach each disease in a singular fashion. With each disease having it own specialist. David puts forth that all of these diseases with some exceptions can be linked to aging. And if we treat the cause of aging, then we also will be treating the diseases that are related to getting old at the same time. His theory on why we age is also something that was a surprise to me. But once it was explained, made perfect sense. Like an Ah Ha moment. The book does require a small amount of prior knowledge of cell biology, genetics and physics to truly be appreciated. But it is really just a small amount and no math! Lol. If your willing to look up a unfamiliar term or concept, the book is well worth the read. It is not just about living longer but also about living healthier. The book is better if you read it in traditional format. I bought it as an audio book the first time. But I am now going back through it in the paperback form. You can find the book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lifespan-Why-Age-Dont-Have

The next one I want to talk about is a Science Fiction Series that has been made into a TV series. It is called “The Expanse.” There are 8 main books in the series so far. They are by James S.A. Corey, which is a joint pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. Wow is the least that I can say about the books. The TV series is good but not at the level of the books. The setting is Earth, Mars, the moons of Jupiter, assorted asteroids, and eventually alien worlds. It takes place a couple of hundred years into the future. Humanity has moved out into the solar system and taken our same societal issues with us. Some good and some bad. A great Space Opera. Well worth the read while you are stuck at home. You can find the books here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Leviathan-Wakes

Well that is about it for me on this Blog post. Another somewhat long one but again due to the crisis in the world today there is a lot to think about and in turn write about. As the Pandemic drags on, ask yourself what do you want your “new normal” to be. We have a great opportunity to create something different. Just remember a lot of the old guard will not like what you have in mind and will try to divert your attention by selling you things that help you to feel normal. And if that is what you need then by all means take it. But if you want something different…resistance is not futile. So take care my friends and remember social distancing. Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous.., leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Fort Collins, Life and Meaning, Pandemics, Politics, Science, Sociology

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 27TH, MARCH 2020

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“We all too often have Socialism for the rich… and rugged Free Market Capitalism for the poor.” – Martin Luther King

“A disregard for human suffering in the pursuit of profit.”

Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness. Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World, 1996

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

Well if you are reading this blog post it means that you are still alive, for now. And it means that I am too!! Yea for both of us!! Amazing what a tiny pathogen can do to an entire world and it’s economy. I hope that none of you have lost any loved ones to this virus. “Jobs”, “businesses”, “material things”, can all be replaced, but those that we hold dear cannot. This pandemic has made me realize again how much we are all linked globally. In a bygone era this would not have been the case. But now due to air travel and supply chains we are all connected. How much better a world it would be if we cared for each other on a global scale. Time to get rid of the old models of Nationalism and Isolation. Time to accept Globalization as a real path to the future. I believe that our very survival depends on it.

This picture was taken February 1st, 2020 – looking West at about 5:30 pm. It is in my neighborhood. Unreal the colors that evening. I was at the right place at the right time. This is one of my favorite pictures so far this year.

Another thing this Pandemic has laid bare is the pitfalls of “Free Market Capitalism” or what might be better known as Neoliberalism. What I call our current economic system in the US. I could not believe or I guess I could due the craziness of the last four years with the Trump administration and their laissez faire attitude, that there might be a charge for a potentially life saving vaccine for Covid-19. Of course we have seen this with rising medication cost already. Especially where some medications that have been around for a very long time and were relatively cheap have now skyrocketed in price. Thank you “Free Market Capitalism” for making life hell for millions of Americans. Some might disagree that I use Free Market and Capitalism in the same quote. I don’t see anything wrong with Capitalism as Capitalism. But I do see a problem with a form of Capitalism called Free Market / Neoliberalism.

This picture was taken February 5th, 2020 – looking West at about 5:25pm. A beautiful and cold afternoon. Just after taking this picture the high school cross country ski team came whizzing by. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Neoliberalism has given unheard of powers to multinational corporations and banks. To the degree that they are for the most part unaccountable to the public. Some have seen that giving all this power and wealth to a small elite, is one of the greatest threats to democracy. And I have to agree. This type of economy does not work for the majority of Americans that are living from paycheck to paycheck and have no health insurance, no savings, no back up. I am talking about the low-wage and gig-economy workers, the poor, the elderly, the immigrants and the care workers. Especially when you have something that is a Pandemic. How can you stop the spread of something like this that threatens all of us, when people have no sick days, no health insurance to go to a doctor and not the emergency room. Not to mention that they have no income unless they are working. Two weeks to a month of self – quarantine might not sound like a lot to some of us. But if you have no money to buy food or pay rent… Well I think you could imagine the picture. Leaving stuff like this to our current system of “Free Market,” and the “Capricious Generosity” of others is not going to work. The idea of having a entry level minimum wage job that does not have paid sick days or health insurance is or should be over… forever.

This picture was taken February 18th, 2020 at about 6pm. It was taken looking West along the Poudre River. Colorado has had some beautiful sunsets this winter!!

So it will be interesting to see how our current economic system and government holds up under the pressure of Covid -19. So many policies that our elected officials have long told us were impossible and impractical are now, due to the crisis, eminently possible and practical all long. All the things like forced evictions, continued homelessness, skyrocketing interest on student loans, crushing medical debt, etc…, were issues that we were all told there was no money to fix or reform. I bet in the coming months all these issues due to the crisis will magically be fixed, at least temporarily. I find it ironic, that in a crisis, the rules don’t apply therefore it makes me wonder why they were rules in the first place. If there is any silver lining to this world debacle, it is that we now have an opportunity to change things so that millions and millions of people are not so vulnerable to begin with.

This picture was taken February 26th, 2020 at 6:45 pm. It is looking West at the Moon and Venus. Earlier in the year they were quit close to each other right after sunset.

Well in last month’s blog post I wrote something to the fact that technology had become the big driver of change in society and how something like disease had become less of an issue. OH HOW I WAS WRONG. And I want to admit that fact. But I have to give myself a little credit at the same time. If I had known that the Trump administration had cut the CDC’s epidemic prevention programs back by 80 percent in 2018, I would have written a much different blog post. Not only did they do that but they eliminated at the same time, a National Security Council directorate that was charged with preparing for when, not if the next Pandemic hit. Don’t believe me. Check out the two articles below. One from Futurism and one from the Washington Post. Both from 2018. Of course fast forward to the present and the excuse they give is that it was a “streamlining effect to make it all more efficient” or some such bullshit like that. No mater what you believe, I think that we can all agree that their handling of it has been a debacle to say the least. When South Korea was taking action on February 23rd, what the hell was the Trump administration doing? And when the WHO raised the treat level from high to very high on February 28th, a warning to every government on the planet, what was the Trump administration doing? It was not until March 13th that Trump and his administration declared a State of Emergency. Twenty days after South Korea. WTF is all I can say.

The crazy part is that none of this is rocket science. It was been written about, movies made, studies done, scenarios worked up, etc… for at least the last 50 years. Even the dumbness dumb person, in the administration should have had some clue that something was afloat by the middle of January… Oh well it is all water under the bridge for now and the best we can do is to hope that we survive.

Futurism: https://futurism.com/neoscope/officially-path-global-pandemic

Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/05/10/top-white-house-official-in-charge-of-pandemic-response-exits-abruptly/

Those two articles well help to put it into perspective. No one was driving the bus and we ran off the road into a pandemic so to speak.

This picture was taken February 29th, 2020 at 6pm. It is looking West along the Poudre River. Another beautiful Colorado sunset.

Change is coming folks. For better or worse. The question we need to ask is how do we want the changes to occur. Some that came to my mind are: Who will get the lion’s share of relief money? Will it go to more Corporate Socialism? How will the health care system change? Will there be a renewed push so that all have health insurance regardless of their ability to pay? What new / old ideas on social nets for the poor and elderly will be seriously looked at again. Will there be something called family care? Better family medical leave? What will happen to the pharmaceutical corporations? Will government take a more active role so that profitability is not the main driving factor? Will Science come back into vogue with the general public? We can only hope. There is a lot of potential for change after this crisis has passed and it is up to all of us in how we want that change to occur. There is a good article from POLITICO on this very topic. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/03/19/coronavirus-effect-economy-life-society-analysis-covid-135579

It looks at a lot of different possible “change scenarios” that might occur when this is over. Well worth the read.

This picture was also taken on February 29th, 2020. Post walk / run with Marvin. Here he is enjoying the comforts of his dog bed. Of course he enjoys the comforts of the futons too. Lol.

In this blog post I want to give a few book reviews. There are several that I have finished over the last couple of months and I would like to give a recommendation on them.

One of the first ones I would like to start with is called the “The Uninhabitable Earth” by David Wallace-Wells. Now I have to warn you this book is not for the faint of heart. It paints a much bleaker picture of what our future holds as the earth continues to warm. Think food shortages, refugee emergencies, famine, disease and economic collapse. Some have likened it to Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring.” David does not sugar coat anything in my opinion. It is a call to action in a changing world of climate change. I read it this past year and it was the emphasis for me to put solar cells on our house to help decrease CO2 admission. Some may find that the author is a little alarmist but that is the point of the book. It is a call to action.

You can find it at Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Uninhabitable-Earth-Life-After-Warming

The next one I would like to give a recommendation on is called “The Case For Mars”, by Robert Zubrin. It is a little bit of an older book but still makes a very strong case for getting to the Red Planet. The original publish date is 1996, but it has been updated and is as relevant today as it was back then. When you realize that we could have started the colonization of Mars two decades ago with the technology at the time, it makes you wonder why we have not done it already. Zubrin addresses not only how we get there but he also gives us the why. He does goes into some detail on specifics but not so deep that the average person can’t understand. For me this really hit home with the current Covid 19 crisis. We do need to have a second planet as a fall back. I got this book as an audio book but I think it would work in any format.

You can find it at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Case-Mars-Plan-Settle-Planet

The next one to give a recommendation to is actually two books in Science Fiction that are part of a series. They are both by Travis J.I. Corcoran. The first one is called “The Powers of Earth” and the second is called “Causes of Separation.” I loved both of them. The time is in the near future, about 40 or so years from now, and earth has become more politically corrupt and over populated. Because of this, there is a kind of quasi world government and military force that is made up of all the countries on earth. Think of it as a NATO on steroids. Now add some technology, and a few disgruntled individuals that don’t like the way things are run on earth. Which causes them to decide to move to the moon and in the process become very successful. Mean while the economy on earth is in a continued downward spiral called the long depression. The conflict arises when the US government decides they want to take some of the moon’s wealth. I like both of these books because it is dealing with issues that we currently see in the world today. Just not on that big of scale yet. The other part I love is how a single piece of technology can totally change everything. Have you ever wondered what would happen if the moon was accessible to all of us, without having to ride a “roman candle” into space. It opens up a whole world of possibilities. Both books work great as audio books or other formats.

You can find it at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Powers-Earth-Aristillus-Book
You can find it at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K37YHD9?pLink=31a14b22-48ed-4b&ref=adblp13nvvxx_0_0_im

The last one I want to give a recommendation to is called “Figuring” by Maria Popova. I like this book a lot because it gave me deeper insights into multiple historical figures of the past. Like Johannes Kepler, Rachel Carson, Maria Mitchell, Harriet Hosmer, Margaret Fuller and Emily Dickinson, to just name a few. In truth I had to look up several individuals to refresh my memory of them. She goes in-depth about their personnel lives and struggles. How it all affected who they loved or were allowed to love. And how it all influenced their work and careers. She covers almost four centuries in doing this. I listened to this book as an audio book but it would have been much better to read it in a traditional format due to the amount of information. I found myself stopping several times to re-listen to a section to get a better understanding. A very good book that I feel I will read a second time.

You can find it at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Figuring

Well that is about it for me on this Blog post. This one was a rather long one but due to the crisis in the world today, there seemed to be much more to write about. I hope that all of you are able to stay well. And if you get Covid – 19, may your illness be short and you recover completely. Remember social distancing and when change comes think about the outcomes. What might be a better fit for all of us and not just a select few. Take care my friends!! Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous.., leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Colorado, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Horsetooth Half Marathon, Politics, Psychology, Quad Rock 50, Religion, Run Rabbit Run, Science, Science Fiction, Sociology, Space

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 28TH, FEBRUARY 2020

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“Today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s science fact.” Issac Asimov

Soul Nebula

All of these images are courtesy of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. It was launched in 2003 and was recently shut down in January 2020 due to mechanical issues. A 16 year mission. Pretty cool if you ask me. For more information on these images visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/infrared/index.html

“The function of science fiction is not always to predict the future but sometimes to prevent it.” Frank Herbert

The Helix Nebula

“Anything you dream is fiction, and anything you accomplish is science, the whole history of mankind is nothing but science fiction.” Ray Bradbury

The Triangulum Galaxy

“Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes which it is useful to make, because little by little they lead to the truth.” Jules Verne

The Swirling Core of our spiral Milky Way Galaxy

“Blessed are those who read science fiction for they shall inherit the future.” Thomas M. Disch

Large Magellanic Cloud. This image shows a satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy.

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

I hope that everyone had a great February. I sure did. For most of the month Old Man Winter made a comeback on the Front Range and in the mountains. It does make it a little difficult to run outdoors but we live in a high plains desert, so all moisture is welcome.

In January, I again did not get into the Leadville 100 Run. But I will try again next year. Lol. Probably if I did some volunteer work for them it would up my chances in the lottery. I did sign up for a few other races in the process though. The Horsetooth half marathon here in Fort Collins. Always a great race and fun to do. The next one was the Quad Rock 25 / 50. Which is in Fort Collins too. I have done the 25 mile version of this multi times but I always sign up for the 50. Unfortunately I have never been able to complete it. Usually I time out at the 25 mile mark and last year was no different. Of course my goal this year is to complete the whole 50 miles. So we will see!! The third race I signed up for was the Run Rabbit Run 100. I will try it again. It is tough. I think the Leadville is an easier race but don’t tell Ken Chlouber! For those of you who don’t know him he was the founder of the Leadville 100 Run. I would probably never get in again if he knew. I will probably add a fourth race. The Silver Rush 50 in Leadville to have one more 50 miler in prior to the Run Rabbit Run.

This picture was taken January 2nd, 2020, around 4:30 pm, up by Cameron Pass. It was Marvin’s first ski trip into the back country and he learned very quickly that it was best to stay on trail and not to wonder off or he would sink up to his ears in snow! Lol.

In this blog post I want to continue with the theme of Space and to add Science / Science Fiction. Now you might be wondering why I am continuing on this path of “Space” and getting off the planet? I mean it seems like I might be pounding on the soap box too much? Right? Well recent events this past January and February have me thinking otherwise. The out break of the “new to humans” Corona virus in China is a very, very good reason for getting off the planet in a big way if we are serious about the survival of humanity. As the world population continues to grow you can expect more outbreaks like this, especially with the ease of international travel. There is always the chance that the next one will be even worse, higher fatality rate, easier transmission, etc… Humans need a second home. Not to abandon the first one but a second one in which we can establish a firm foothold, so when the next pandemic hits, we have insurance to prevent extinction.

This picture was taken January 7th, 2020 at about 6 pm. Here I was looking West and the bright star in the sky was Venus. Marvin and I had just come down from skiing. When we got to the car I happened to look across the parking lot. Wow is all I can say! The moon was behind us to the East and shining brightly. With the snow, it was providing a ton of back lighting. Just beautiful. Again this was just “luck” in being in the right place at the right time.

Another aspect of getting off the planet is part of what you see going on with politics right now. Specifically I am talking about the isolationist tendencies of our current government, among other things. There was a time in history in which our country welcomed immigrants. Truly welcomed them. We needed them to help “tame” the West so to speak. Western Civilization was expanding and people were desperately needed in this expansion. To build the railroads, to open up new towns, to mine resources, populate the vast open stretches of the Western United States. Now, what do you hear and see: Keep them out, go home, we don’t need you, we’re building a wall, etc… The truth, this will get worse. And not just here in the United States. We have tamed the West and the world. Humanity needs a new place to build and grow AND more importantly to explore! And the only viable alternative is up. What was the line that Captain Picard stated at the first of every “Next Generation” Star Trek episode? “Space the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. It’s continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations to boldly go where no one has gone before.”

This picture was taken January 16th, 2020, at about 4 pm, looking West across Horsetooth lake. Compare this picture to the one below. They are only about an hour apart on the same day! Crazy colors and lighting with Colorado sunsets.

Now to get to the other part of this blog post. I want to talk a little bit about Science / Science Fiction and in the process, religion. To start, I want you to know Science and Science Fiction are one of my favorite types of literature. So I am a little biased towards the genre. I see both as a “literature of ideas” that explores how scientific and technological innovations affect our psychology and more importantly the sociology of humans. When you look back at the history of the last 10,000 years you can see how warfare, religious movements, famine, natural disasters, disease, etc… caused significant change in human society. These events were the original drivers of transformation. That was until about the seventeenth century. A switched occurred at this time and it was all brought about by revolutions in science and technology. Think Galileo, Rene Descartes, John Locke, Blaise Pascal, Robert Hooke, Pierre deFermat, Thomas Hobbes, Edmond Halley, Sir Issac Newton, etc…. The scientist of the 17th century and later have greatly altered humanity’s knowledge base and with it, changed our understanding of our place in the natural world and the universe.

This picture was also taken January 16th, 2020, looking West about 5pm. It was on the same trail run with Marvin. But about an hour later!! What a difference in the light from the above picture.

This “Scientific and Technological” transformation has continue all the way up to present. But there is a difference. Now we are fast approaching a time in which changes in techno-science, that once took years, decades, and even centuries to develop are happening in months, even days sometimes. The question becomes, how will humanity continue to adapt to this rapidly changing environment? What framework do we have to help with this adaptation? Our mythologies, our religions, our current framework, without a corresponding transformation, will not adapt to this rapid pace of technological advancement. We need something different. A new philosophy that is based on the religions of old, except for one big change.

This pictures was taken January 17th, 2020 with Janet (my wife) beside Marvin. He is 11 months in this picture. I forget how big he is until Janet is beside him. Lol

And here is the idea. Imagine if you were to take all the religions of the world and condense them down by removing all the “godhead” mumbo jumbo of mythical beings and just set it aside. In my humble opinion it is a detriment to world harmony and is not needed. Imagine that. No more “my god is the only true god, my god is better than your god, my god told me to…, blah, blah, blah, blah….. You get the picture. So what are you left with? The lessons, the parables. All the things that humanity has painstakingly learned and relearned over 1000s and 1000s of years. Sounds good right? But we are not done yet. Now go through all that is left and only take the best. Anything that is derogatory to women, race, color, sexual orientation, etc… Throw it out. If there is something that promotes slavery, violence, hatred and/or divine right, then throw that out too. And keep doing this process with each religion until you have the core essence of the best parables and lessons on humanity, philosophy, morality and love, etc…

This picture was taken January 18th, 2020 at about 4:52pm. What a beautiful afternoon in Fort Collins. I believe that the temperatures were in the 40 to 50 degree range and a very light breeze was blowing to keep the smog away. Very nice indeed!

Now combine them and rewrite it. After that is done, go back through, read it, review it and rewrite it again. And again. Combining the best of each religion with each other by writing and editing and rewriting. Over and over again and again. Until you have a cohesive whole. A new manifesto. A new world philosophy without a godhead but based on the old religions. A philosophy that all of humanity could get behind because all parts of humanity had a “part” in its creation. Wouldn’t that be cool? No justification for the subjugation of women. No justification for war, violence, hatred of one race over another. No justification for slavery. No justification for “one sexuality” over another. And on and on it goes. That would be pretty cool and you might think that would be it. That would be enough? You have this great philosophy that everyone can get behind, what else do you need?

This picture was taken January 23rd, 2020 at about 4:13pm. This one is looking West across the Horsetooth lake but at the shoreline level. It was another beautiful day in Fort Collins with temps approaching 60 degrees.

Good question. What else do we need? We need a way that the new “philosophy” can be tweaked a little bit when needed. As our tools change so does our reality. And this is what is happening to the “Old mythologies” or religions. Reality changes but they don’t. So the idea is not to write it in stone but to make something that is a little more malleable. The rate of world change is heating up. What was once “SiFi” yesterday is tomorrow’s reality and it is only going to get faster. We still need the lessons from the old religions. After all for now, we are still “human” and destined to make mistakes. Hubris is part of the human condition. The atomic bomb was the first real scientific development that put all of humanity at risk for extinction. But it will not be the last. How will we manage these emerging technologies for the betterment of humankind? And what framework can we use to analyze them with in order to make intelligent choices? The old religions with the godhead figures are at best passe, at worst dangerously inadequate. It is time for something different.

This picture was taken February 1st, 2020 at about 5:33pm. Again this was one of those times that I was in the right place at the right time. Lol. This one is looking West across our neighborhood lake. It only lasted for a few minutes but unreal colors for the sunset.

Well that is going to be about it for this soapbox. I think that it was long enough! Lol. I am hoping that I have given you something to think about. All I can say is that it is more important than ever to do your own research on this subject. Again there is that technology thingy – changing your reality. You have sooooo much information at the tip of your fingers. All you have to do is access it. Unreal when you think about it. REMEMBER at one time it was just Science Fiction. Oh and one last thing before I finish, I want to include a YouTube video by Alain de Botton. He does a pretty good job on this subject. It is well worth the watch no matter what your beliefs are. https://youtu.be/2Oe6HUgrRlQ

I am excited to see what the next 10 years brings in scientific research and understanding of our place in the Cosmos. I feel that we are just on the verge of some truly amazing breakthroughs. Of course only time will tell. So take care my friends and I hope to see you out there!! Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous.., leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Book Review, Colorado, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Life and Meaning, Trail Running

MUSING FOR SUNDAY 16TH, JUNE 2019

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“We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all this to happen: Room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.” Pema Chodron

“…anyone who stands on the edge of the unknown, fully in the present without a reference point, experiences groundlessness. That’s when our understanding goes deeper, when we find the present moment is a pretty vulnerable place… completely unnerving and completely tender at the same time.” Pema Chodron

“To be fully alive, fully human and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no man’s land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again.” Pema Chodron

Happy Father’s Day to all you Dads out there!! Damn it has been a good couple of weeks. Great running in FoCo and the weather here on the Front Range has finally decided to stay warm for a bit . A plus to all this is I have had the luxury of staying part of this last week in Summit County. While some of the really high trails are not clear yet for hiking or running due to snow, the rest of the terrain around Breckenridge has been fantastic. I really, really should not complain!! Life is good!! Lol

Marvin’s first RV trip. This picture was taken the first night of our “camping out” and I am not sure if he is down with it yet?! This dog always seems to have a serious look on his face! Lol

In this blog I thought I would include a few quotes from Pema Chodron. They are from her book called “When Things Fall Apart.” I believe that these are timeless truths that echo a lot of what the Author Brene Brown talks about when she speaks of the power of vulnerability. I read the book from Pema a few years ago when it first came out, once as an audio book and once as an e-book. I felt that strongly about it. The thing that I have found interesting about the book is how the messages she lays out keep coming up over and over again and again. Or at least they do for me. Especially the first quote about how things come together and then fall apart. Nothing is truly “fixed” in life and for those of us that have a little trouble with change this can be very hard. It has helped me to see that there are no absolutes in life. That there are many, many shades of black and white. And that it is OK.

This picture was taken on Thursday 13th, June 2019. It is of Janet and Marvin on a section of the Colorado Trail that goes into Breckinridge. Beautiful evening of hiking with Marvin. Again what is it with the serious face?! Lol

Things come together and they fall apart and come together again and fall apart again. Whether it be families or vacations, jobs, buying a house or not buying a house, births, deaths, events, parties, the list could just go on and on and on. In my opinion that is just the way life works. One of the tricks to working with this fact, I think, is to just show up. Put the fear aside of what might or might not happen and just show up. Sometimes things will work out and sometimes they don’t but you will never know if you don’t show up. Just that simple. You have to show up. And I remind myself of this as I write. Part of the plan for being up in Summit county this weekend was to run the Leadville Trail Marathon. That was the plan. And I did NOT show up. Talked myself right out of it… Now I have to ask myself. What was that about?? Was it the weather forecast? It was suppose to rain and be cold all day. Was it the fear of not finishing? I had trained quit a bit this year and put in more running miles than I did by this time last year. Was it just fear in general? I always have a little underlying anxiety anytime I plan to run a race. This is nothing new.

This picture was taken at the Starbucks in Breckenridge on Saturday 15th, 2019. They usually do not allow dogs in the building but because Marvin was being so nice they made an exception for us. Lol. He seemed to enjoy it.

Or was it just a combination of all the above? I don’t know for sure but I have been in this situation before and I do know the solution no matter what the reason is. You just have to SHOW UP. Just that simple but OH so hard at times. All I needed to do was just show up and it would have all worked out.

It turned out the weather was fantastic, at least on the Breckinridge side. A few afternoon showers but very nice otherwise. Sure it is never easy running 26 miles at elevation but I had trained for it. You just have to see past the anxiety and fear and just show up. For whatever reason, this year I did not do that. And it is hard to admit this, but the “what ifs” got the better of me. Oh well you live and learn. On the plus side I did get to spend a fantastic day with Janet and Marvin. Things come together and they fall apart but not always as you might expect……

Hiking with Janet and “Serious” Marvin on Sunday 16th, June 2019. What a great day!!

Well that is going to be about it for me on this blog post. I hope everyone had a great two weeks and I hope to see you out there on the trails, whether it be biking, hiking, running, or just plain walking!! Adios amigos!!