“Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements – the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life – weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.” Lawrence M. Krauss
The above image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and is called a “Dense Core.” It is a collection of dust and gas particles. The one above is named CB 130-3 and is in the constellation Serpens, about 650 light years from earth. It is thought the mass of these objects can get large enough in one place to ignite hydrogen fusion and thus make a “new” star. This is why these space clouds are called stellar nurseries. They can be the birth places of many different stars. Image credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA & STSCL, C. Brit, T. Huard, A. Pagan. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-views-a-billowing-cosmic-cloud and https://www.space.com/hubble-space-telescope-dense-core-image
“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
The above image is from the recent Artemis 1 mission back in November 2022. It was captured by the spacecraft optical navigation camera. This is one of the closest photos of the Moon since the Apollo mission. This mission did not have real humans aboard but mannequins inside for testing. The first planned human mission will be sometime in 2024. Image Credit: NASA. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/orion-s-moon-crater-close-up and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_program
“Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the ‘transcendent’ and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don’t be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you.”Christophe Hitchens
This above image is from the Hubble Space Telescope and it is of NGC 1858. The NGC stands for New General Catalogue and is an astronomical catalogue of deep-sky objects. The catalogue was created by John Louis Dreyer in 1888. The above image is consider an open cluster and an emission nebula. This patch of sky is found in the Dorado constellation which is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. An open cluster is a type of star cluster in which the stars were formed from the same molecular cloud and have about the same age. A nebula is a luminescent star forming region and an emission nebula is one that is formed of ionized gasses that emit light. NGC 1858 is a long ways from earth at about 160,000 light years and is estimated to be about 10 million years old. Image credit: NASA, ESA and G. Gilmore (University of Cambridge); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America). If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-spies-emission-nebula-star-cluster-duo and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emission_nebula and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_cluster
“I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I’ve been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn’t have. Somehow, it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I’m a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally, I am an atheist. I don’t have the evidence to prove that God doesn’t exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn’t that I don’t want to waste my time.” Isaac Asimov
This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of the barred spiral galaxy named NGC 6956. These type of galaxies have a bar shaped structure that is composed of stars at their center. It is thought that this shape is found in most spiral galaxies known so far. The Milky Way Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy. The above galaxy is of special interest to scientists because of the presence of Cepheid variable stars, or stars that brighten and dim at regular intervals. Using this data, they can measure distances of cosmic objects with some accuracy. It was the work of Henrietta Swan Leavitt in the early 1900s with Cepheid variable stars, that gave astronomers their first “standard candle” in which to measure distance of far away galaxies. Using earth based telescopes, scientists can measure out to 13 million light years, after that it becomes the work of space based telescopes to get out to 50 to 60 million light years. Image credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Jones (University of California – Santa Cruz); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America). If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-captures-majestic-barred-spiral and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barred_spiral_galaxy and https://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/cepheids.html and Henrietta Swan Leavitt – Wikipedia
“I don’t accept the currently fashionable assertion that any view is automatically as worthy of respect as any equal and opposite view. My view is that the moon is made of rock. If someone says to me ‘Well, you haven’t been there, have you? You haven’t seen it for yourself, so my view that it is made of Norwegian Beaver Cheese is equally valid’ – then I can’t even be bothered to argue. There is such a thing as the burden of proof, and in the case of god, as in the case of the composition of the moon, this has shifted radically. God used to be the best explanation we’d got, and we’ve now got vastly better ones. God is no longer an explanation of anything, but has instead become something that would itself need an insurmountable amount of explaining. So I don’t think that being convinced that there is no god is as irrational or arrogant a point of view as belief that there is. I don’t think the matter calls for even-handedness at all.” Douglas Adams
The above image is part of a close up portion of the open cluster NGC 6530. It was created by the Hubble Space Telescope. This open cluster is part of the Lagoon Nebula or M8. See the picture below for a zoomed out view of the Lagoon Nebula. This open cluster is located in the constellation Sagittarius and is about 4,350 light-years from earth. Scientist were using the Hubble’s advanced cameras to look for ionized protoplanetary discs called Proplyds. See the very bottom pictures for examples of this. So far, most of these discs have only been found in the Orion Nebula, making them extremely rare. Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, O. De Marco; Acknowledgment: M.H. Özsaraç. If you would like to learn more please see these links: Hubble Views a Star-Studded Cosmic Cloud | NASA and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proplyd
The Lagoon Nebula. Image credit: VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile
Proplyds in the Orion Nebula. Image credit: By ESA/Hubble, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8778842
“We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here. We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?” Richard Dawkins
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 both of us!! Unfortunately some have not been so lucky, either by choice (not getting the vaccine) or circumstances (immunocompromised or older than 65). The death count as of December 5th, 2022 is still about 300 per day and due to the Thanksgiving holiday – cases are on the rise again, along with FLU. The good news is that RSV is staring to trend down a bit. Reported cases for December 5th was about 57,000, so that would mean that you have double that number due to home testing and people not testing at all. So the current infection rate is back up to about 100,000 per day now. And I am guessing that it is 2nd or even the third time around for a lot of people.
At the end of the first week of December 2022, the omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 were dominate in the USA. Due to their ability to evade or side step treatment with monoclonal antibodies, these drug were pulled by the FDA. This is bad news for people with weakened immune systems and puts them at risk for developing severe disease. The drug that was pulled in December was bebtelovimab (monoclonal). Paxlovid (antiviral) is still working but a lot of people cannot take this drug if they have had organ transplants – it creates issues with the other drugs they are on. Oh well, a lot of us may be done with the virus but the virus is not done with all of us.
The above picture has still not changed. California, Texas and Florida still lead the country in deaths. And I will say this again, due to the lack of reporting by states such as Florida, this picture is a little inaccurate. 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 continue to fail to do that.
By the time of publishing, the death count per day for the USA was back up into the 400 range and the total deaths since the pandemic started was about 1,116, 000 total. That is about 23,000 thousand deaths in the last two months. Again hard to wrap my head around those numbers, especially when you consider the count is probably a lot higher. Covid is still considered the third leading cause of death as of this past November. Right behind Heart disease and Cancer.
One other late note is the conditions in China since they eased their lockdown restrictions this month. Due to their inability to get people vaccinated, and the short sighted view of continued lock downs up until this point, most experts warm of an impending disaster in China with Covid. Unfortunately, with the state run media, information on what is happening will be difficult at best to obtain. I am guessing that we are going to be looking at a very different China in about 6 months. My fear, besides supply disruption, will be that we get a new variant out of their population that will be the worst yet. Oh well, time will tell.
The months of November and December were great for getting out doors in Fort Collins. But with my continued knee problem, most of the getting out was walking, at least for me. Unfortunately for Janet, even with the foot issues on the mend, she came down sick with a virus at the first part of December that keep her sidelined for about 16 days. She tested multiply times for Covid with home test and came up negative each time. She did get tested for the flu and that was negative too. Looking back at her symptoms, it really seemed like it was Covid and it makes me wonder how accurate the home test were. There were reports of some home testing kit failures with the two current variants (BQ.1.1 and BQ.1) by the FDA. So far at the time of this writing I have stayed illness free for now. And hope to stay that way. Oh well.
This image was taken on November 21st, 2022 at about 3:45pm in the afternoon. It was in one of the city’s open space areas called Reservoir Ridge. This was the only trail hike / run I did with Marvin due to continued knee issuesfor the next 30 days.
This picture was taken on November 27, 2022 at about 4:45pm in the afternoon. This was from our neighborhood lake.
This picture was taken on November 28th, 2022 at about 5pm in the afternoon. This was one of only two days that Janet was able to get out with us, either due to foot issues or illness.
This picture was taken on November 30th, 2002 at about 7:30pm in the evening. We got enough snow at the end of November to do a little bit of cross country skiing at one of the local golf courses. I feel it would be a fantastic idea if the city took one of the golf courses off line so to speak and used manmade snow to create, for a few months, a local cross country ski area. I think this could be done in the months of January and February most years and would be a huge benefit to the locals.
This picture was taken on December 2nd, 2022 at about 4:45pm in the afternoon. This was the last walk Janet was able to do with us for the next 18 days due to illness.
This picture was taken on December 4th, 2022 at about 5pm in the afternoon. Again this was from the neighborhood lake.
This picture was taken on December 5th, 2022 at about 5:30pm in the afternoon. Some of the neighbors along the Spring Creek Bike trail light up a few trees during this time of year. Pretty cool in my opinion!
This picture was taken on December 7th, 2022 at about 4:45pm in the afternoon.
This picture was taken December 11th, 2022 at about 5pm in the afternoon.
This picture was taken on December 16th, 2022 at about 5:40pm in the afternoon.
Again it was another great 30 days for taking sunset pictures. Most of these images are from the local neighborhood lake, which gives a great vantage point for these types of pictures.
The next couple of pictures were from a trail hike / easy run that I did with Marvin on December 21, 2022. What a difference from last year. The temps this year (mid 30s) were more typical of a Colorado Front Range winter. Last year, at the same time, I was up in this same area running in shorts with no snow on the ground. Who knew that a little more than a week later – there would be the devastating Marshall Fire down by Boulder. If you do not know what the Marshall Fire was about then check out this link: https://www.marshallfiremap.com/
The images are from Horsetooth Mountain Park just West of Fort Collins.
Looking East toward the City of Fort Collins.
Horsetooth Rock – this is where the park gets it name.
Most of the shaded areas all had snow and ice on them.
Looking across Fort Collins out into Weld County. You can see a temperature inversion just east of Fort Collins. We have had favorable winds this year to keep the air quality great, so far. Weld county has over 20 thousand active oil and gas wells which contribute significantly to the pollution issues on the Front Range.
This is looking West toward Rocky Mountain National Park. The two big mountains are Mount Meeker and Longs Peak. They are about 35 miles away as the crow flies.
Of all the ironies, while I was at the top of the park, I saw a plume of smoke down towards Boulder and thought to myself they are doing a prescribed burn. But when I got home, I found out it was another forest fire and there had been the evacuation of about 360 homes. I believe they are calling it the Sunshine wildland fire. While we have had more seasonal like temperatures this year, we are still in a severe drought on the Front Range. Fortunately, at the time of publishing, winter had returned to the Front Range with snow and below zero temperatures, very reminiscent of last year at this time, but a week earlier. Luckily this has put an end to the fire danger for the time being. The crazy part, is that even in winter, due to climate change, you are not safe. Fire season on the Front Range is now year round.
It was another great month for reading and I would like to share a few book recommendations.
The first book review is about Nike and the Oregon Project. It is called “Win at All Costs: Inside Nike Running and Its Culture of Deception” by Matt Hart. Matt has written numerous magazine articles for the likes of Outside Magazine, National Geographic, The Atlantic, The New York Times, etc.… “Win at All Cost” is his first book and a pretty damn good one at that. I am an amateur ultra runner, so I am drawn to books about running. I first heard about the Nike doping scandal with Alberto Salazar from the HBO show called “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.” If you’re interested, I believe the show was from last January 2021. Here is an HBO clip from YouTube on the show: https://youtu.be/2G4-gUkhKYQ
So when I saw that Matt had written a book about it. It was somewhat of a no-brainer to get a copy or in my case the audio book. I love listening to audio books on long runs.
Most of the story that Matt tells is about the relationship between Alberto and Kara / Adam Goucher. Both were coached by Salazar. Kara was one of the first athletes to accuse Salazar of doping allegations. Salazar’s coaching style comes across as what can only be described as idiosyncratic in my opinion. His wanton willingness to use whatever was “in vogue” for performance enhancement (legal and illegal) at the time is pretty disheartening. Kara’s part was trying to “make it” as a professional athlete while being coached by someone who was willing to bend the rules anyway possible and would threaten you with being “let go” if you did not participate. There is some focus on the Nike organization itself, but not as much as you would think. Of course, the Nike management had to know what Salazar was doing and by not calling him out on it, gave their unofficial blessing. The other part of this book that was interesting was the physicians that were involved as well. Obviously, the Hippocratic Oath really did not mean anything to them.
If you follow the world of professional sports, like bicycling, you will remember the Lance Armstrong doping scandal from about 10 years ago. What I did not remember, was how it all tied in to the Nike organization. While there is not much on the Lance Armstrong angle. It was interesting none the less.
I got this book as an audio book but I think it would work better in traditional format. Especially if you are not familiar with all the other players (athletes, Nike executives, physicians, etc.…) mentioned in the book. If you want to know more about the author here is a link to his website: http://bymatthart.com/
Of interesting note, Salazar got a life time ban from the sport back in December 2021, but not from doping but for sexual assault of an athlete on two different occasions. For more information on this check out this New York Times link: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/sports/alberto-salazar-sexual-assault.html
The next book I would like to recommend is another one about running called “Running to the Edge: A Band of Misfits and the Guru Who Unlocked the Secrets of Speed by Matthew Futterman. First off, let me say, this is NOT a how to run book but more of a historical account of the legendary running coach Bob Larson and the different runners that he coached over the years starting in the 60s and 70s. The story starts with high school students and ends with his coaching of the long distance runner Meb Keflezighi.
The tale Futterman weaves is a good one. Besides telling the story of the difficulties, problems and victories of Bob and his band of runners over the years, the author, interweaves his own story of trials and tribulations with running. At the same time he mixes in a little bit of science as he describes Bob’s quest to find the formula to create not only fast runners but runners with incredible endurance.
To reiterate, this is not a book about “how to run”, “how to train” or a book about Bob Larson’s training methods. This is a book telling a story about Bob Larson and some of the runners he coached.
I got the book as an audio book but it might work better in traditional format if you are not familiar with some of the athletes mentioned and races talked about. I had to go back and replay sections, to then be able to look stuff up. In a traditional format this would not be as much of an issue. You can probably find this book at your local book store or on Amazon. Here is the Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Running-to-Edge-Matthew-Futterman-audiobook/dp
The last book I would like to talk about is a book on how to be an artist. No really, it is a book about how to be an artist. Sounds easy, right? Not really. There are so many things that can get in the way of achieving a high level of creativity and craft in any artistic path. Whether it is writing, drawing, painting, cooking, sculpture, etc.… there is always something that can side track your path. The least of which is yourself.
The book is called “How to Be an Artist by Jerry Saltz. Jerry is an American art critic and received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2018. Before getting serious about the art world, he was a “regular guy”, a long distance truck driver until the age of 41. You can’t get any more main stream America than that. So he gets what it like to be in the struggle.
There are a lot of other great and not so great books on how to be an artist. What I like about Jerry’s book is that he basically tells you how to get past or at least make friends with “yourself.” That inner personality we all have called self-doubt. And along the way, as a bonus, you get multiple pearls of wisdom of what it means to be in the art world and to be an artist.
Jerry gives you all of this in concise and easy to understand steps. About 63 to be exact. This is what makes the book. They are short and to the point. Not a lot of fluff and stuffing, but more down to earth. A pragmatic look at what “you got to do” to be someone who creates art, no matter what it may be.
Last but not least I would like to show case a new piece of art work. This is the second in a series called “Athena Nike Revisited.” I got the idea from watching some of the amazing women in track and field compete in running events during the recent 2022 World Track and Field Championships held in Eugene, Oregon back in July. So I thought I would do a drawing of what I feel incorporates the very spirit and determination of these female figures. To be the very best they can be. I believe these powerful and determined young women should be allowed to choose they own destinies and that includes all choices that have anything to do with their healthcare and/or bodies. And that those choices should not be dictated by anyone else but them. Watching them run with such spirit and sheer resolve gives me hope for the future. I cannot imagine any of them bending to becoming someone’s handmaid.
This piece measures 9 by 12 inches. It is done in acrylic paint on canvas paper, mounted to a hardboard frame and sealed with archival varnish.
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.
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
“When complexity makes knowledge difficult to attain, we are organisms that substitutes knowledge with beliefs.”
“The uneven rate of change between biology and complexity causes a gap to occur.”
“We become susceptible to manipulation and ideology and follow false prophets.”
“Public policy becomes shaped by irrational beliefs, rather than knowledge of fact.”
Rebecca Costa
This picture was taken on Monday 28th of January 2019, the open space in question is between Fort Collins and Loveland. It is called Coyote Ridge Open Space. A very nice trail with few visitors for a Monday. On the weekend it can get pretty busy due to the fact that it is a connector trail for longer distances. The afternoon in question was beautiful with temps right at 30 degrees and a slight breeze.
Well it has been another two weeks and I am going to say here that life is pretty good at the moment. Got some skiing in and that is a very good thing. I think it had been over a month since I last went. Not sure what that was about but it happens. The trail running the last couple of weeks has been fantastic here in Fort Collins. It has been cold but not like Midwest Cold. Wow! We have not seen temperatures like that in a very long time. There is some thought that this is related to Global Warming. I know that it does not seem that way but when you start looking at the science, some of the dots start to connect. I guess in the end, time will tell as the research continues. One of the things to remember is that weather and climate are two different things even though they are related.
Another picture from Monday the 28th of January 2019. The sun was out and just starting to set. It was in full force on this rock ridge. It really brought out the colors in the rock. Totally different from the picture above. Same area but a different open space called Rim Rock Ridge. Both are right next to each other.
I am reading a new book that is called the Watchman’s Rattle by Rebecca Costa. I became interested in her when I watched a TED talk by her. It has to do with Societal Collapse. It actually came out in 2012 and I believe that this is her first book. A more recent book by Rebecca is called On the Verge. I did not get this one because it is not on Audio book and I am way behind on regular reading. But I plan to in the future. In her first book, she comes up with some interesting ideas about what happens to a society when technology out paces the ability of the residents to keep up. I think the book is much more relevant now than it was back in 2012. In particular this last election with the Evangelical Christians, Flat Earthers, Anti-Vaccination people, Anti – global Warming individuals, the lets “Bring dirty coal” back people, and the list could go on and on. She makes the case that as complexity makes knowledge more difficult to attain, or as my wife likes to say “Overwhelming”, we as humans start to substitute knowledge with beliefs. And she makes the argument that this is what has happened to ancient societies that collapsed like the Mayans, the Romans, etc…
Costa is a Sociology-biologist. She based a lot of her research on Dr. Richard Dawkins 1976 book “The Selfish Gene.” In her book she uses the term Super-memes which are any widely accepted information, thoughts, feelings or behaviors. And she feels that they have the capacity to compete with each other just like genes do in Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Another words they compete in a sense to become accepted in our minds and our society whether they are true or not. There is an actually study of memes, called Memetics. Check it out on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics
I had no idea. Costa calls them “super-memes” when they get to a point that they block us from the very solutions we seek to all the complexity we see in the world. Another name that she uses for this blocking is “Gridlock.” It occurs or you can know that it is occurring when there is opposition across the board to any meaningful solution to a major problem. Thinking about this, the first thing that comes to my mind is “Gun Control.” It is a complex issue and you see a lot of “irrational opposition” to any attempt at fixing the system. It is as if people are more comfortable rejecting remedies rather than advocating solutions.
This picture was taken on Thursday, January 31st. I just loved the shape of this huge cottonwood tree. The weather was warm enough for me to ride my bike on Thursday, above 50 degrees for me. This picture was take on the Boyd Lake Trail.
Another example of this blocking, I think, is in Health Care. Again, before the attempted and partial repeal of what has become known as “Obama Care,” I heard from individuals on both sides of the fence. Some that hated it, because their premiums went up and others that loved it because they could now actually get insurance on their preexisting conditions. But with the current congress and president, it has become gridlocked. It will be interesting to see after the next elections if anything is concretely done or just a kind of band-aid fix. Again nothing really going anywhere. One size that fits some but not others, back to a mish-mash of plans that really don’t address the issues or cover people adequately.
This picture was taken on Thursday, February 7th. It was at the Loveland Ski Area which sits right at the Eisenhower Tunnel off of Interstate 70. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Much warmer (25 degrees) than when I left Fort Collins (12 degrees) that morning. There was a little bit of wind but that did not really show up in force until later in the afternoon. Most of the terrain for the ski area sits at around 11,000 feet.
I could go on about her book but I think I will leave it for now. I do recommend it. Remember it was written in 2012 and some predictions in the book she got right and a few she got wrong; somethings did get fixed and some are still broken. I think if I had read the book back in 2012, I would not have appreciated it as much as I do now. Interesting to say the least.
On a similar note, I had a interesting, short FB exchange with a family relative on whether something she was posting on FB was true or not. When another friend of hers called her out on it and showed her where a fact checking service said it was false. She went off about how the “fact checking service” was wrong. And that the “fact checking service” was infiltrated by “liberals” and that was why she could not trust them. I was kind of dumbfounded for a moment. This is an educated woman that used to teach school to kids. I could see it…., if it had come from one of my uneducated or partially educated “hillbilly like” relatives. But no this was from an educated one. Oh well what can you say to that… Obviously I won’t be spending the holidays with her…. Lololololol.
This picture was taken taken Wednesday 30th, January 2019. It was at the trail head to Reservoir Ridge Natural Area in Fort Collins. I had just finished a trail run and the sunset was just stunning to say the least. This is my favorite picture of the last two weeks.
Before I finish here, I would like to pass on a quote by the author Neil Gaiman. I came across it several years ago and I wrote it down just because it seemed a little strange to me at the time. This was a few years before the 2016 election. I did not really understand it then, but I think I do now. So it is important to share it with you, especially if you decide to read Costa’s book or you are like me trying to make sense of the “craziness” that has griped our country.
“Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and adventures are shadow truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes and forgotten.” Neil Gaiman
Well that its for this couple of weeks. Take care, be safe out there fellow trail runners. Always be looking for that “Special Cat.”
I hope that it has been a good week for everyone!! The thing I would like to talk about in this blog is one that I really think will be a game changer in current and ongoing human evolution. It starts with the news out of China a few weeks ago. A researcher there has genetically modified two human babies prior to fertilization to prevent both from becoming HIV positive because one parent has HIV. This sounds like a rather simple issue but it is huge…. Sounds great on the surface, but what does it really mean? The researcher modified the germ-line, another words, before conception, at the sperm and egg level. And the way that I understand it, these two babies will carry this modification for the rest of their lives and will be able to pass it along to their offspring, who will pass it along to their offspring, who will…. So, the picture becomes a true, possible permanent change in the human genome. These two kids will look like us, but have never existed in the history of humans. Let me say this again, their genomes, have never existed in the history of humans, until now. That in and of itself is pretty amazing but it gets better.
Could an x-men scenario become a reality!!
CRISPR (clustered regularly inter spaced short palindromic repeats)– the gene editing technique that allowed the “precision” to do this can be applied to all kinds of conditions and diseases caused by your genetics. Now imagine you are planning a family and you want a child to be stronger, have denser bones, or to run faster, for example. Well…. The genes to edit for this are all known. See the You Tube video link for an explanation: https://youtu.be/uaNHUTIbqdo
If you have the money and political clout, who is going to stop you? Who is going to stop you from permanently altering the human genome for your own child’s benefit or your countries benefit? And when your child grows up and has kids, what will these passed along alterations, potentially change in the next child, etc.…. If you are wondering like I was about this, take a look at some Science Fiction on the subject. You might have seen a few of these already but here is a short list of some of my favorites. Remember that every technological change that has occurred in our world was once just Science Fiction.
Great movie about the manipulation of genetics and how it creates the haves and the have nots. Well worth the rental! Fantastic TV series on genetics and the potentials for good or bad with Cloning. A five-season series that is well worth the rental!A book series (three books) created by Nancy Kress about what can happen for good or bad, when you mess with the human Genome. One of my favorites.
There are many,many more examples in popular culture (movies, TV, books, magazines) of stories about the good and bad of genetic modification. My point in writing to you dear reader about this is that sometimes the things that truly change the world are what seem on the surface small. They make little waves and are soon pushed aside in the noise of everyday life. I believe the events that happened in China about 9 months ago, present today as twin new born girls, are one of those things. Life on this planet as we know it has changed, it might not be readily apparent yet, but it has. I used to think that the next big evolution inhumanity would be a machine interface of some kind, but now I am not so sure. It might still be part of the picture but “genetics” will play an immense role. And of course, this could be looked at as good or bad. It will really depend on other forces that have the potential to drive it. As a recent example, there is a push by the Religious Right to end research on fetal stem cells. Some of this research has to do with curing HIV. If you limit this area of research, then a real-life example is what I just talked about. Since the Chinese Genetics researcher has shown that he can prevent the transmission of HIV, how many others will take this approach, because fetal Stem Cells are out of reach? What will be the consequences?? Are we ready for the changes coming to our world??
Could a “Super Solider” be part of our future. A new/old idea – rebirth of the “Warrior Cast.”
Back Country Skiing at Cameron Pass!!
Well I have to say that the last couple of weeks have been good!! The skiing has been great and I really cannot complain. I guess if I did though, the only fly in the ointment is that I have to work a little bit and take a class or two?! What is that about?? Oh well, I do have to work at the day job in order to pay the bills and keep doing what I want and love to do. And let me say it again the skiing has been great!! I love Colorado, where else can you get in skiing at two or three different resorts and disciplines in the same day?! Really there are not too many places on earth that would allow that kind of access just due to the logistic of time and travel. And if that was not enough, to come home, back to Fort Collins, and the next day do a fantastic bike ride or trail run?! So cool. Now of course it does not always happen that way due to weather or having to work but these past few weeks it has been…. Just fantastic!!
A question that I get a lot, is why don’t I play golf? And the answer I give is “I don’t have time.” Between all the other outdoor activities that I like to do, the problem becomes one of just not having enough time. I feel this is a good problem to have. One of the best decisions I ever made was to leave Texas and move to Colorado. There are a lot of good people down there in Texas, but just not the opportunity. Especially for the outdoors. Teddy Roosevelt became president a little too late to help with land preservation in the state of Texas.
A-Basin early in the AM on Tuesday, November 27th, getting ready for a Randonee Race!! 11F degrees in the parking lot!!
Loveland ski area at the Eisenhower Tunnel looking North, same day as the above picture, but in the afternoon. You can just make out I70 at the bottom!!Riding on the Spring Creek trail in Fort Collins Wednesday afternoon, November 28th. Love riding this bike!! Trek Cross Country 29er with lockable shocks so that you can ride bike trail or dirt!!Contemplating a long bike or trail run, beautiful afternoon weather, Saturday 8th,December 2018. I went with the run!Snowshoe trip at Montgomery Pass, Monday December 10th, lots and lots of snow!!
Well that is going to be about it for me this week. Need to get back out there and do some more skiing. Hope your weekend is a great one. Remember your commits and questions are always welcome. Take care my friends and see you “Out There!!”
Damn it has been a fantastic week!! And that is the truth of the matter. Hope everyone had a great Turkey Day. I had to work but that was OK. Someone has got to do it? Right? Oh well sometimes you are off and sometimes you have to work. And this Turkey Day it was my turn to work.
I started reading a new book by Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Avis Lang called “Accessory to War.” So far it seems like a pretty good book on the alliance between science and the military. It is one of those things you don’t really think about to start, but when someone points it out, it is almost like an “aha moment.” My first experience with this idea came in college years ago. The book actually brings back memories of Art History when we studied about Leonardo Da Vinci. Artists at the time needed people to employ them, a “patron” so to speak, and one of the ways to do that was to design and build “war machines”, “castle fortifications”, etc.… all for protection or conquest. Leonardo was employed in 1487 for this very reason by the Duke of Milan. At the time Italy was made up of a collection of City States that were constantly at war with each other and if you had the ability to design and build these types of implements, then you were very employable. I am guessing that you could go back since time immortal and find evidence of alliances like this. Again, I am not that far into the book but it seems pretty good for now. I will let you know if I change my mind. You can find the book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Accessory-War-Unspoken-Alliance-Astrophysics/dp/0393064441/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542701177&sr=8-1&keywords=accessory+to+war
The afternoons the last few days have been beautiful here on the Front Range of Colorado. Very nice weather for running and some beautiful sunsets to boot. The four pictures below were all taken on the same afternoon/evening but at different times. Looking at them again I am amazed how the light changed over the course of about 30 to 45 minutes.
FIRST PICTURE – LOOKING WEST.
SECOND PICTURE – LOOKING WEST.
THIRD PICTURE – LOOKING WEST.
FOURTH PICTURE – MOON RISE – LOOKING EAST.
Well… You might be wondering why I posted the quotes from different scientists? The reason is I really believe that if we as a nation want to make “America Great Again” – this is where the focus needs to be. As problems of our planet and society become more and more convoluted. We need better solutions for all of us living together. I would say that this is so important in the next 20 years that we need to make all College Level Scientific degrees free for anybody who wants one. And if you get into one area of study and want to change then you can do it without any repercussions. I believe America will be behind most of the developed world within the next few years if we don’t make this switch. My personnel opinion is that all education needs to be high caliber with minimal cost. So that even someone in a single parent household can go to school. All schools should be merit based, not dependent on how much money you have or can pay. Truly, putting all politics aside, if you want to help this country continue to be a world leader then you need to offer free college for Science Majors (all science majors, master’s programs, PhD programs) – pull the money you need out of the military budget. I mean it is going to benefit them in the long run anyway. Or tax all churches and religious organizations, put the money into science education. Prayers do not cure you of your antibiotic resistance staph infection, only the next generation of antibiotics will. We need to continue to move away from the comforting “make believe” of religion and put more effort into hard science. Our future, our children’s future, humanities future depends upon it.
Science is the key to our future. Especially if you want to avoid the massive problems that occur when major calamities strike, natural and man-made. We are in a very interconnected world that is becoming more connected every day. Whether we like it or not, we are a “global community.” Let me say that again, we are a global community. And to manage something as big as an entire global community takes a whole new understanding and level of science. As a nation we can continue to be a part of this or we can allow the world to pass us on and be eventually “told” by the rest of the world what to do and how to do it. I believe it is in our best interest to be part of the later…..
Well that is going to be about it for me this week. Cross country skiing is getting really good at the moment, much better than last year. I was at Snow Mountain Ranch in Grand Country earlier in the week and the snow was great. This time last year I could have been mountain biking on the same trails. It is snowing in the mountains this weekend, so the skiing next week should be fantastic!! I hope to see you out there on the trails or at the ski slope. Take care my friends and may you have a great weekend!!
“You can choose courage or you can choose comfort, but you cannot have both.” – Brene Brown
“Don’t try to win over the haters. You’re not a jackass whisper.” – Brene Brown
Life is good and I cannot complain too much. Wow what a start to ski season!! Some of the best early snow conditions for the Central and Northern Mountains of Colorado. I have already been up 5 times this year. A few times to Loveland and a few times to A-basin. Very nice indeed. Now, only if the conditions can continue. That is a big if and it remains to be seen how much moisture will fall in the next 60 days or so. But for now, I am going to enjoy what is there and not worry too much about the future.
LOVELAND SKI AREA LOOKING WEST ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON NOVEMBER 7TH, 2018
FROM THE LAKE DILLON BIKE TRAIL LOOKING WEST ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON NOVEMBER 7TH, 2018
A-BASIN SKI AREA THURSDAY 8TH, NOVEMBER 2018
I spend a lot of my ski time in Summit County. This is a great place in Colorado. I like to think of it as an outdoor mecca but with all the conveniences of a modern city. The major towns which are all somewhat close together are Dillon, Silverthorne, Frisco and Breckenridge. The county is home to 4 major downhill ski resorts, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Keystone and A-Basin, not to mention a few cross-country areas. Add in a little backcountry access and you truly have an outdoor playground. If you like the outdoors it is a fun place to be anytime of the year.
Finished up another book this past week called “Democracy in Chains: The deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America” by Nancy MacLean. I found it an interesting book. The book is about James McGill Buchanan, Charles Koch and the Libertarian Right. Buchanan was a Nobel Prize Winner in economics. He won the prize for what is known today as “Public Choice Theory” – the ideas on how people make or don’t make decisions in the political realm. MacLean’s book does not really go into this too much. She was more concerned with the idea that Buchanan saw a conflict between economic freedom and political liberty. She paints a picture of Buchanan being secretly racist and wanting to suppressing economic freedoms and democracy for the poor to benefit the rich. Charles Koch, a billionaire – 8th richest person in the world as of June 2018, comes into the picture when he discovers Buchanan’s work. Koch is painted in the book as what I would call an advocate of the “Super Libertarian Right.” The old story that less government, less corporate welfare, less government spending on social programs, health care, etc.… is the best way to improve things (but mainly for the rich). MacLean feels that Koch saw his ideas overlapping with Buchanan’s work quite a bit and because of that, Koch and the “Libertarian Right” have been able to push their ideas forward in government based on that work. As an example, she points out: recently passed laws designed to cause problems with unions, the increase in privatization of schools (school vouchers), the defunding of universal health care, and threatening social security to just name a few.
The part of the book for me that I found most worrisome and disturbing is that the wealthy “Libertarian Right” does not seem to care who gets hurt in the process. Can’t get health care for your Cancer, well too bad, better luck in the next life, need an education, well if you can’t pay for it then you don’t get it (even at the grade school level). All this does not benefit the majority of people in the country. Just the wealthy. I have a few friends that persistently believe in the erroneous “Deep State” conspiracy theory ideas. What they really need to do is read this book by MacLean. Here is a true conspiracy that will only benefit the rich and not the majority of people in the country. You can find the book on Amazon at:https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stealth/dp/B072J2MTWT/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542005455&sr=8-1&keywords=democracy+in+chains . I got the book as an Audio Book but I think it might have been better to do the kindle edition or paperback so that you can go back and easily reread sections.
Did my first Rando race of the season yesterday (Tuesday), at A-basin. It is part of a five-part series called Rise and Shine. It is an uphill challenge. Yes, you ski uphill with skins and take them off at the top and race down. Then repeat. This race was timed for an hour to see how many runs you could get in. I improved some and was able to get in 3. Last year I was only able to do about 2 in that first hour. A chilly start for this race – the temperature in the parking lot when I arrived was 4 degrees F. But lucky in that there was no wind.
WARM UP BEFORE THE RACE.
A CHILLY START THIS AM – 4 DEGREES F IN THE PARKING LOT!!
At the basin it is a very low key event and really you are mainly racing against yourself. Especially at my age. I think that it went pretty well. I am happy that I am just able to do it at my young age of 56.
Well I am thinking that is probably about all for me this week. I hope every one has a great rest of the week and weekend. Take care and hope to see you out on the trails or the ski slope!!
“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.
Our posturing’s, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.” – Carl Sagan
Damn what can I say… It has been a really good week!! Ski season has started and life is good!! Got a chance to go up to Loveland Ski area on Thursday, November 1st and the snow was great. I am hoping this winter will deliver a ton of snow. The last couple of years have been on the wimpier side or I have just gotten used to a more abundant snowfall when my kids were little. Not really sure. I have not had a chance to really look at the records myself, but I do know that the “water guys” that keep track of this said that the last couple of years were not good for moisture in the mountains. So maybe we are due? That would be fantastic. I used to get upset if we did not get our usual 50 inches of snow here in Fort Collins, but after living here for 30 plus years I am OK with it not snowing! I guess I have gotten old!? What is that about? Where does the time go? Lol. Anyways – all kidding aside, if it would just dump in the mountains so to speak, then most of the state’s water woes would take care of themselves.
I have been watching a course called “The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know” and I have to say it is pretty amazing. I did not know that the first serious science proposals of what might be out there in the rest of the Universe started in the 1940s. I was thinking that it was much more recent. But it truly started in the 1940s – at that time the technology of astrometry became good enough to detect planets. Astrometry is the measurement of the position of a star on the sky, and if the star has planets, its position will wobble back and forth. Because the technology was crude in today terms, there was conflicting evidence reported back then, so it did not get a lot of attention. Fast forward to the late 1980s and early nineties, add in a few more techniques for detection and things start to get really serious. In 1995 and on, the discover of exoplanets began to grow exponentially, and scientist from around the world were able to corroborate each other’s results. This made a huge difference with the acceptance and birth of “Exoplanetary Science.” What was once Science Fiction has now become accepted scientific fact. It is well worth the money for the course. It is about 12 hours of lecture divided up into 24 mini-lectures. You can find it at the Great Courses: https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/the-search-for-exoplanets-what-astronomers-know.html and you can find used editions on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Search-Exoplanets-What-Astronomers-Know/dp/1629972037/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1541360656&sr=8-4&keywords=the+search+for+exoplanets+what+astronomers+know, you can do this course as a audio book or as DVD or Online streaming.
I wanted to post the above quote by Carl Sagan. I think it really hit home with me after finishing the course. We truly are just a speck of dust in a sunbeam. And my guess, is that as we look for more exoplanets, we will find that we are not that special or unique. Very, very sobering indeed.
An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet that orbits a star other than the Sun. Over 2000 exoplanets have been discovered since 1988. Specifically, 2098 planets in 1342 planetary systems including 509 multiple planetary systems as of 24 March 2016.
Well that is about it for me on this post. I think that the Ultra season for me this year has come to an end. Even though I did not successfully finish the Run Rabbit Run 100. I still feel pretty good, after all it was 50 miles when I timed out and as someone much wiser than I am at times said, 50 miles is still 50 miles. So, time to get ski season on and enjoy the snow while it is there. I do plan on racing some shorter runs for the remainder of the year and the start of next year, mainly to work on speed. I will let you know how it goes!
A late evening Fall afternoon in Fort Collins.
Take care my friends and maybe I will see you out there on the trails or at the ski slope!!
Life is good, bad, beautiful and ugly – but it is all experience, so drink it up and guzzle it down my friend, for it is all that we are given!!
