Category Archives: Minimalism

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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, Climate Change, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, High Camp Hut, Minimalism, Pandemics, Religion, Rico Colorado, Science, Science Fiction, Space

MUSINGS FOR SEPTEMBER 2022

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“We’ve arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.” Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

The above image is from the James Webb Space Telescope and is called the Cartwheel Galaxy because it looks like a wheel from a cart. It is located about 500 million light years away in the constellation known as Sculptor. It is thought that the shape was created by the collision of a smaller galaxy though what was a large disk galaxy. And this produced ripples, similar to the ripples that are created when a stone is dropped into a pond. The outer ring is an intense area of star formation. To give some scale to this, the outermost ring of the galaxy is 1.5 times the size of our Milky Way. Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220824.html and https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2018/hubble-s-cartwheel

“In the way that skepticism is sometimes applied to issues of public concern, there is a tendency to belittle, to condescend, to ignore the fact that, deluded or not, supporters of superstition and pseudoscience are human beings with real feelings, who, like the sceptics, are trying to figure out how the world works and what our role in it might be. Their motives are in many cases consonant with science. If their culture has not given them all the tools they need to pursue this great quest, let us temper our criticism with kindness. None of us comes fully equipped.” Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

This is a photo that was taken back in August 2022 with the James Webb telescope. It is of Jupiter. This is considered one of our best views of the iconic planet to date, showing differences in cloud layers and the Auroras at each pole. Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun and the largest in the solar system. It is a gas giant. This planet is the third brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus. Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; Processing: Ricardo Hueso (UPV/EHU) & Judy Schmidt. If you would like to learn more about his image please see these links: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220830.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter

“Science is an attempt, largely successful, to understand the world, to get a grip on things, to get hold of ourselves, to steer a safe course. Microbiology and meteorology now explain what only a few centuries ago was considered sufficient cause to burn women to death.” Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

This stunning image was recently captured by the James Webb Space telescope. The picture showcases a group of stars that are known as NGC 2070 or Caldwell 103. They are part of what is known as the Tarantula Nebula. In this Nebula is a huge cluster of some of the largest and hottest stars known to date. It was first observed by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in 1751 and 1753. Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220907.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantula_Nebula

“Think of how many religions attempt to validate themselves with prophecy. Think of how many people rely on these prophecies, however vague, however unfulfilled, to support or prop up their beliefs. Yet has there ever been a religion with the prophetic accuracy and reliability of science? … No other human institution comes close.” Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

This is one of my favorite images from the Hubble Space Telescope. It is called a Starburst Galaxy or Messier 94. It is 15 million light years from earth in the norther constellation Canes Venatici ( Hunting Dogs). It was first discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1781 and catalogued by Charles Messier two days later. The is a great example of a spiral galaxy. Even though 15 million miles is a very, very long way from earth, this galaxy is popular with astronomers because it is bright enough to be spotted with smaller telescopes. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220731.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_94

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 until the Covid Marry-Go-Round is done!! Oh well what are you going to do??

By the first week of August we were still adding about 60,000 to well over 100,000 cases per day and the total death toil was about 1,059,000. This was an increase in about 15,000 deaths from the first week of July. And the variant of concern was BA5. Unfortunately the numbers for new cases you have to take with a slight grain of salt due to the fact that home testing has no tracking. It is any bodies guess how high the actually numbers might be. The death count is probably much, much higher but again due to no national mandatory reporting laws, we really do not know.

The above picture has not changed. These are the top states as it stands with the highest morbidity and mortality. The only exception is North Carolina. My guess is if NC reported their counts correctly and honestly, then they would move into the picture and push Michigan out. Interesting to say the least.

By the end of the month (August 2022), we were still adding at least 60,000 cases per day and increasing the death toil by 300 to 500 cases per day. Covid is still considered the fourth leading cause of death, right behind heart disease, cancer and accidents. By the first week of September the total number of deaths for the USA was 1,730,000. Or again, another 15,000 deaths in the last 30 days for a total of 30,000 deaths in the last 60 days. We are done with the virus but unfortunately the virus is not done with us.

Now in better news, on September 1st, the CDC endorsed the use of an updated booster for the omicron subvariants. One was from Moderna and another was from Pfizer. My guess and it is only a guess, because there is no real data yet, this will become a yearly occurrence just like the flu shot. A good link to check this out is from the PBS news hour: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/updated-covid-19-booster-shots-are-now-available-heres-what-you-need-to-know

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 every other 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.

Another great YouTube channel to follow on Covid, and other infectious diseases like Monkey Pox and Polio, especially if you are someone that is medical, is this one: https://youtu.be/786kiTxg6Bk

It is a part of microbe.tv/twiv. Vincent Racaniello and Dr. Griffin do a great job in presenting the “information” each week. Vincent R. Racaniello is Higgins Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Daniel O. Griffin is an American infectious disease specialist. He is an instructor in Clinical Medicine and an associate research scientist in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University.

The months of July and August were again not as good as it was in the spring for being outdoors. There were air quality issues as in “Ozone action days each and everyday.” And heat, it was hot here on the front range of Colorado. It was so hot that I had to resort to walking Marvin twice per day – everyday. Once in the mornings and once in the evenings. The only time that this was different is when I got a change to get up into the high country. And even then, temps above 10,000 feet were higher than usual. Oh well what are you going to do?!

This month instead of showing pictures from in and around Fort Collins, I thought I would post some from a trip we took in August to the town of Rico, Colorado. Janet and I with Marvin made this trip to visit the middle daughter. She moved there with her significant other Dave this past year to become the managers along with the owner Cindy of the “High Camp Hut.” We got to see the place while we were visiting and I have to say it is pretty cool. The hut is located at about 11,000 feet in the San Juan National Forest. It is situated on about 300 acres of private land in the Forest. To call it a Hut is somewhat of a misnomer in my opinion. It is more of a large fully outfitted cabin in the woods. There is no cell service and no Wi-Fi, so you are definitely unplugged from the rest of the world. And if you are like most of us in modern society, being unplugged from our hyper-connected world every once and a while is a good thing. If your interested and want more information, please check out their website: https://www.highcamphut.com/

The pictures below are from the area around the Hut and the Hut itself.

Sheep Mountain 13,176 feet
San Miguel Peak 13,734 feet
Lizard Head Peak 12,996 feet
High Camp Hut

The next set of pictures are from a couple of local trails around the town of Rico. The town is not a big place, less than 200 residents at any give time. There is a gas station if you need gas, but the only hotel had closed when we were visiting and only a few choices for dinning with limited hours. When asking about this, I got the feeling that the “locals” kind of like it that way. Lol. Rico was a silver mining center in the late 1800s. A good website to learn more and see pictures of Rico is here: https://www.uncovercolorado.com/towns/rico/

This picture is just outside the town of Rico along the Dolores River.
Janet and Marin on a trail in Rico.

The next few pics below are from the Scotch Creek Toll Road and Pinkerton Trail. This trail/road was the only route into Rico in the 1800s until the railroad reached Rico in 1891. Incredible to think this was the only way into the valley if you had to move large items and by horse and oxen no less. So many things we take for granted in our modern lives.

The next few pics are from an area that is called Horse Gulch Creek Trail and is a launch point for paragliders when the weather is cooperative. Janet and I were amazed at the number of Aspen in the area. There were a lot and I am guessing that you could get a spectacular fall viewing if the conditions are right.

I believe this is Heartleaf Arnica or Mountain tobaccos. Arnica cordifolia. These flower were everywhere but especially on this trail.
Lots of Aspens all around Rico!
This trail climbed a bit from the highway parking lot and had great views of the valley from several locations. We found out later it was a launch point for paragliders. Pretty cool.

These next pictures were from the East Fork Trail to Twin Creek. This trail follows the Dolores River as it climbs into the mountains above town. If you were to follow it far enough it connects to a whole network of other trails in the same area. Pretty cool.

Looking towards Rico and Highway 145.
Looking down toward the Dolores river at the bottom of the hill. It is not that large at this point. We were not too far from it’s headwaters. The river is named, “El Rio de Nuestra Senora de Dolores” or The River of Our Lady of Sorrows. It was named by a Spanish trader in 1765. If you would like to learn more about the River please see this link: https://www.americanrivers.org/river/dolores-river/
Hawk’s Wing Mushroom
Our favorite “middle” daughter Jean-Marie and her dog Benson! Lol
Janet, Me and Marvin at the first of Twin Creeks. This was about three miles back.

It was a good trip to see Jean-Marie and Dave and to check out some of the local hiking areas. I did not do any running because of an overuse injury to my left knee. Runners are their own worst enemy but I will save that story for another time.

Even though the town of Rico is only about 30 miles from the big resort of Telluride there does not seem to be the same level of development and activity as you see in Frisco/Breckenridge area or the Vail/Edwards area. While there is an advantage in having certain amenities with increased development, there always comes a point of diminishing returns. The challenge is to create enough growth to have certain things but not too much that you permanently change the feeling and character of an area. In my opinion Rico could use a little extra growth but just a little. I was blown away when I first saw the town with it proximity to Telluride. You could say it is even a bit run down looking. My guess is that it has something to do with the locals and being a Home Rule Municipality. They recently voted down a local initiative to get a regular sewer system. The entire town is still on septic!

On an interesting note, a mining company in the area is selling what appears to be all or part of it’s holdings called Silver Springs at Rico. It totals 181 separate parcels of land (146 mining claims, 6 tracts and 29 platted lots) for a total of about 1146 acres. It has been on the market since April 2022 and list for 10 million. Which, when you think about it, is not much since you are less than 30 miles to Telluride. It will be interesting to see who buys this and what happens with the rest of the town when this occurs.

It was another great month for reading and I would like to share a few book recommendations.

A great Science Fiction book to take a look at this late summer and early fall is one by Blake Crouch called Upgrade:  A Novel.  If you are someone that has occasionally followed the science of gene editing and the CRISPR technique, I think you would really find this novel entraining.  But, even if you have not followed anything about gene editing, this is still a great read.  So, if you do not know what CRISPR is then let me give a very brief synopsis of what it has allowed scientist to do.   First what does it mean?  CRISPR is an acronym for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats.”  Do you need to know what that really means to enjoy the book?  No, not really.  Lol.  What it has allowed though, in a nutshell, is a more rapid, accurate and cheaper way of editing genes in DNA. It really increased the precision in manipulating genes in any living organism.  From viruses to humans and everything in between.    

The story takes place in the not too distant future, in which the main character’s mother has invented a gene editing technique that makes CRISPR look like child’s play.  And because of this, the whole world has been or has the potential to be transformed.  If you have read the book by Nancy Kress called Beggars and Choosers (published in 1994) then you will understand all the possibilities this opens up.  If not, no worries.

This book explores one of the many possible futures that gene editing makes possible.  I loved this SiFi book because it points out our potential blind spots. We are all worried about climate change, the war in Ukraine, the lingering pandemic, etc.… We all have our eyes on what we think is the approaching “disaster bus” as it bears down on our car (humanity), but in reality we do not see the speeding train (unregulated gene editing) that crashes into us as we cross the tracks!  Of course the story is only Science Fiction but it still gives me chills thinking about it.  Lol. 

Of course I listened to the book as an audio book but it would work well in any format. You should be able to find it at your local book store or Amazon. Here is the Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Upgrade-Novel-Blake-Crouch-ebook/dp

Another good Science Fiction book that I would like to recommend is called “Atropos” by John Japuntich.  This is a good science fiction yarn that has to do with current topics in science, like genetic engineering, information technology, longevity, the possibility of future space travel, etc.… There is also some good content on geopolitics and religion.  The author takes all of these topics and weaves them together to give the reader an interesting story with good food for thought.  It made me wonder, what would happen if there was a way to end all death due to natural causes but at the cost of zero birth rate?  How would humanity as a whole respond to this type of crisis?  And I think it would be seen as a crisis.  Especially with the zero drop in birth rate.  Interesting ideas.     

I believe this is the author first crack at a full length novel and I have to give him an A minus.  The story line was good and it kept me interested to the very end.  There was a little bit of jumping around in the different story arcs of the characters but once I got used it, the narrative flowed fairly smoothly.  I got this book as an audio book but I think it would work better in traditional format.  The narration did not work for me as well as it has with other stories of this type.  You should be able to find this book at your local book store or on Amazon.  Here is the Amazon link:  https://www.amazon.com/Atropos-John-Japuntich-ebook/dp 

The next book I would like to recommend is also a Science Fiction book.  This one is called “The Kaiju Preservation Society” by John Scalzi.  If you have read any of Scalzi’s previous books then you will understand the kind of entertaining and talented writer that he is.  This book is no exception.  It is a quick and fun read that is just pure brain bubble gum.  Lol.  I love the fact that he weaves the story line into current events with the Covid pandemic.  There is just enough “science” to be plausible and believable. 

If you have not googled the word Kaiju yet, let me tell you what it is.  It means “Strange Beast” and is a Japanese genre of films and television featuring giant monsters.  Think Godzilla but in an alternate dimension in which humans are absent.  In the book, the Kaiju are in trouble and humans help to keep them safe, but there is someone trying to make a profit off them.  And of course, this is where the trouble begins.  Don’t be turned off by the “Godzilla theme,” thinking it’s a little hokey.  I thought the same thing at first but due to author’s reputation I got it anyway and I am glad that I did.    

I listened to the book as an audio book but it will work in any format.  You can probably find it at your local book store or on Amazon.  Here is the Amazon link:    https://www.amazon.com/The-Kaiju-Preservation-Society/dp  

Also if you have never read any of Scalzi’s books, another one I highly recommend is “Old Man’s War.”

The last book I would like to review is called “The Forest of Vanishing Stars:  A Novel” by Kristin Harmel.  Let me start out by saying that this is not my usual type of fiction book, but I find it good to read outside of your traditional likes a few times per year.  This one was recommended by my sister and I am glad that she did.  It is a WW2 survival novel that takes place in a forest of Eastern Europe.  It has a somewhat similar story line to the 2008 movie called Defiance.

It took me a little time to get engrossed in the book, mainly due to some of the mysticism and religion that is part of the book, but by about half way in, I wanted to find out how it was going to end.  In a very brief nutshell, the main character (Yona) is put into an impossible situation of being a forest dweller and encountering an ill-prepared group of Jews fleeing the Nazi occupation. It does not take long for her to come to the realization that she is the last hope of these people being able to survive a harsh winter in the wild. Not to mention that she must keep them and herself hidden since they are still being hunted by the Nazis. 

   

It was a good story, but not one that really stands out in my mind initially. What made the “good to great review” was the author’s note at the end.  It was rather lengthy but this was a good thing.  The author goes into all the research that helped to inspire her with writing the story.  Very interesting and definitely was the icing on the cake so to speak.

I got the book 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/Forest-Vanishing-Stars-Novel/dp

Last but not least I would like to show case a new piece of art work. This is the fifth version of what I call Jesus of Borg or SiFi Jesus. Or what you could call “Transhumanist Jesus” depending on whether you believe Jesus was an alien or inspired and created by humanity’s need to find meaning in an uncaring Universe.

I decided to do these pieces initially over anger of the Texas GOP’s enactment of their draconian anti-abortion law. I had only planned to do a limited number, but now with the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe vs Wade, I will continue to make them.  I have three adult daughters and while they might not agree on whether it is right or wrong to get an abortion, they all agree that it is “their right” to choose. And I agree with them. So that is how the project started out, but it morphed into something a little different. Did you know that there are at least 10,000 different denominations of Christianity in the world? Of course, some say this number is much higher, but I figure 10,000 is a safe estimate. Knowing this I thought why not make up my own Jesus?! A lot of other people have. So, I did. And what I came up with was a tough but accepting LGBT SiFi Jesus. A Jesus that would assimilate all other Jesuses, even Republican Jesus, into a hive mind and create an accepting and loving collective for all people and all religions. AND the Jesus Brothers would support all women in their right to choose! In Star Trek, the Borg are considered the enemy but, in my version, I have turned it around and made “Jesus of Borg” the good guy, the savior from the Conservative Christian Taliban.

This drawing is done in pen and ink with a little acrylic paint thrown in. It is mounted to painted white board and coated with Mod Podge. It measures approximately 9.25 inches wide by 12.25 inches tall. When hanging the overall height is 17.25 inches. I have called these studies of Jesus by several different names, Jesus of Borg or SiFi Jesus or the current name of Transhumanist Jesus.

Transhumanist Jesus #5

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

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.

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! But before I go, I would like to give another shout out to becoming minimalist. I think that the quote below from the movie “Fight Club” says it best. Lol. Of course minimalism is much, much more than that, but if you had to boil it down to one reason for being minimalist then this would be it.

There is way too much to go into detail here in the blog post about minimalism and others have done it a lot better than me, so 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/ and https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2018/12/27/35-ways-reduce-carbon-footprint/

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

“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, Cameron Peak Fire, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Minimalism, Pandemics, Religion, Science, Space, Wildfire

MUSINGS FOR AUGUST 2022

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“Humans are pattern-seeking story-telling animals, and we are quite adept at telling stories about patterns, whether they exist or not.” Michael Shermer

Hubble Space Telescope

The above image is from the Hubble Space Telescope and the below image is from the James Webb Space Telescope. These are images of the open cluster named NGC 3324 in the constellation Carina, located northwest of the Carina Nebula. These pictures are of a small section or edge of a gaseous cavity within NGC 3324. The bottom picture is of the Carina Nebula and if you look to the top right you can see the open cluster NGC 3324 that is a small part of the Nebula. Pretty amazing when you think about the scale involved. The “small” pocket sized gaseous cavity in NGC 3324 is about 35 light years across. This does not sound like much, but when you realize one light year is 5.88 trillion miles, you can start to understand the distance involved.

James Webb Space Telescope – much greater detail!

The above image is of the Carina Nebula with NGC 3324 at the top right. Image credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI and Harel Boren. If you would like to learn more about any of the images please see these links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_3324#:~:text=NGC%203324%20is%20an%20open%20cluster%20in%20the,nebula%20IC%202599%2C%20also%20known%20as%20Gum%2031. And https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages

It is time to step out of our evolutionary heritage and our historical traditions and embrace science as the best tool ever devised for explaining how the world works.  It is time to work together to create a social and political world that embraces moral principles and yet allows for natural human diversity to flourish.  Religion cannot get us there, because it has no systematic methods of explanations of the natural world.  And no means of conflict resolution on moral issues when members of competing sects hold absolute beliefs that are mutually exclusive. Flawed as they may be, science and the secular enlightenment values expressed in Western Democracies are our best hope for survival. Michael Shermer

James Webb Space Telescope – again compare the detail in the above image to the one below!

The above image is from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope of a galaxy cluster called SMACS 0723. The bottom image of the same object, is from Hubble. This is a cluster of galaxies that are about 4 billion light years from earth. This was one of the first images from Webb. There are thousand of galaxies in this image. What I find even more amazing is if you were standing on the ground and holding your arm out, this image would only cover a patch of sky about the size of a grain of sand at the end of your arm. Image and information credits and links: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI and https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMACS_J0723.3%E2%80%937327

Hubble Space Telescope

“Finally, from what we now know about the cosmos, to think that all this was created for just one species among the tens of millions of species who live on one planet circling one of a couple of hundred billion stars that are located in one galaxy among hundreds of billions of galaxies, all of which are in one universe among perhaps an infinite number of universes all nestled within a grand cosmic multiverse, is provincially insular and anthropocentrically blinkered. Which is more likely? That the universe was designed just for us, or that we SEE the universe as having been designed just for us?” Michael Shermer

The above photo is of Jupiter and a hypothetical drawing of the exoplanet called WASP-96b discovered in 2014. It is about 1100 light years from earth and orbits its star about every 3.4 days. When the new James Webb Space Telescope looked at this exoplanet, it captured the signature of water and the evidence for clouds. Check out the atmosphere composition picture below created with the Webb data. And if you want to learn more about this exoplanet check out this cool NASA link: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/5152/wasp-96-b/

Image and information credits and links: Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI and https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WASP-96b

“Myths, whether in written or visual form, serve a vital role of asking unanswerable questions and providing unquestionable answers. Most of us, most of the time, have a low tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty. We want to reduce the cognitive dissonance of not knowing by filling the gaps with answers. Traditionally, religious myths have served that role, but today — the age of science — science fiction is our mythology.” Michael Shermer

James Webb Space Telescope

The above image is from the James Webb Space Telescope called Stephan’s Quintet. The below image is from Hubble taken with its Wide Field Camera 3. It is a visual of five galaxies. But this is a bit of an inaccurate description. Studies of the Hubble image below have shown that the galaxy in the upper left (NGC 7320) is actually 7 times closer to earth than the other galaxies. To get the above image with Webb it took over 1,000 separate image files, for a total of 150 million pixels.

Hubble Space Telescope

Image and information credits and links: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI and https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages and https://esahubble.org/images/heic0910i/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephan%27s_Quintet

“What is the probability that Yahweh is the one true god, and Amon Ra, Aphrodite, Apollo, Baal, Brahma, Ganesha, Isis, Mithra, Osiris, Shiva, Thor, Vishnu, Wotan, Zeus, and the other 986 gods are false gods? As skeptics like to say, everyone is an atheist about these gods; some of us just go one god further.” Michael Shermer

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 until the Covid Marry-Go-Round is done!! Oh well what are you going to do??

By the 6th of July we were still in the 100,000 plus cases per day range. The variant of concern was B5. Amazing how quickly it had changed from BA.2.12.1 to B5. By the middle of July BA5 made up a majority of Covid cases in the US. And my guess is that we are going to have another wave unfortunately, but smaller this time. It seems that most of the general public are over it. The pandemic I mean. Case in point. A friend of mine went to an outdoor wedding and they were the only one wearing a mask out of several hundred guests. Now granted it was outdoors but people were packed fairly close together. Close enough that if you were infected you could easily spread it to someone else. Then the reception was held inside with no one wearing a mask and eating and drinking and talking loud and singing, etc… Well you get the point. Sure enough a few days later some reported being infected. No telling how many more were but did not come forward to say that they were. Think of it this way, this is the most infectious disease humanity has experienced since measles.

So you may ask who is dying from Covid now? Well half of the 300 to 500 per day are the unvaccinated or un-boosted. The others are either immunocompromised or over the age of 75. Of course this does not include the people that will develop long Covid. We may be done with the pandemic but the virus is not done with us.

Again, the above picture has not changed officially. I am wondering how many states are just not reporting as they were. Especially the ones that are the closest to making the top 10. Like Arizona, Tennessee, North Carolina, etc… My guess is that they are finding some kind of loop hole that allows them to not report that a patient had Covid when they died. Pretty interesting in how this works out. It is all about economics. Who would want to visit a state that is reporting a high case count and death rate? Even if it was only 5 to 10 percent of people that would change their plans, that is a significant economic hit in our current system of free market capitalism. Again what is that old saying? “Nothing personal it’s just business.” I do believe that people should have the freedom to take their own risks. But how can you adequately access the risk if you don’t have the relevant data? The with holding of information that could significantly affect public health, that is a problem.

A question you might ask is “how do the experts or those that are in charge” know what Covid is doing across the nation. One answer is based on hospitalizations but another way of finding out what is going on is through waste water testing. This in my opinion has a lot of potential for figuring out what is going on in a community without all the associated difficulty of getting people to get tested. If you want to learn more, a great article on this from Tufts University can be accessed here: https://now.tufts.edu/2022/06/21/wastewater-surveillance-covid-19-its-complicated

By the middle of the month (July 2022), we were still adding over 100,000 cases officially each day, but that number is probably double that due to unreported home testing. The death count was around 300 to 500 per day and again this number is probably under reported. The total death count stood at 1,049,000 for a total of about 5000 deaths in the last 8 to 9 days. So that is better than last month.

By the end of the month (July 2022), we were still adding about 450 deaths per day and about 100,000+ new cases per day. And over the course of last 30 days, we had added another 12,000 deaths. While this is way down from what things had been back at the first of 2022, it still comes out to over 100,000 deaths per year. Making Covid the fourth to third leading cause of death in the USA, right behind heart disease, cancer and accidents.

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 every other 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.

Another great YouTube channel to follow on Covid, especially if you are someone that is medical is this one: https://youtu.be/786kiTxg6Bk

It is a part of microbe.tv/twiv. Vincent Racaniello and Dr. Griffin do a great job in presenting the “information” each week. Vincent R. Racaniello is Higgins Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Daniel O. Griffin is an American infectious disease specialist. He is an instructor in Clinical Medicine and an associate research scientist in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University.

The months of June and July were not as good for getting outdoors as was May. This was mainly due to much higher temperatures and lower air quality here on the Front Range of Colorado, it required a little more planning due to the heat. Especially for Marvin and myself. And pretty much every afternoon was an Ozone action day. This has gotten so bad along the front range of Colorado, the EPA has moved the ozone issue to “Severe.” Hopefully this will require the state to apply more stringent air quality measures across the region. It does no good to get out and exercise if you torque your lungs and body in the process due to air pollution.

In order to get out, before the heat and ozone becomes a problem, has been to get up early. I have been in the process of trying to reset my body clock after working for years as a night shift person. So for me to get up early and not sleeping until 12 noon is a big accomplishment. Lol. I am now down to getting up each day around 0730 and I would like to push this back even earlier. Oh well, a little bit at a time.

This picture was taken on June 10th, 2022 at about 7:30pm in the afternoon.

This picture was taken on June 19th, 2022 at about 10:30am. Here Marvin and I are hanging out in one of several small creeks that flow through the city of Fort Collins. This one is known as Spring Creek.

The next several pictures below were taken the mornings of June 23rd and July 1st, 2022. They are from the Blue Lake Trail head in the Roosevelt National Forest. It is about 70 miles West from where I live in Fort Collins. This is part of the Cameron Peak Burn area. The actual start of the fire was not too far from this trailhead. The fire started on August 13, 2020 or about 2 years ago. It burned 208,663 acres. This was my first time back since it burned. I was surprised at the amount of destruction, but at the same time amazed at what did not burn. The first part of the trail still had some tree cover and the last mile just before the lake did not appear to be burned much at all. The middle part was pretty much destroyed. Most of the trees in this area were dead before the fire started due to years of infestation of the Pine Bark Beetle. On this trip there were lots of wildflowers. The pictures below were just some of the examples and don’t really do it justice.

These flowers are know as Heartleaf Arnica and are native to Western North America. They are in the sunflower family. They were all along the trail in the burned areas and really stood out against the blackened landscape burn scars.
Watching Marvin made me wonder what he was thinking about as we traveled through the burned areas.
As Marvin and I got higher up toward the lake we saw more and more of this flower, which is known as Mountain Indian Paintbrush. They are native to North America with over 100 species and a variety of colors. The red or magenta paintbrush is the one I have seen the most in my travels around Colorado. Supposedly the flowers are edible and were consumed in small amounts by several Native American tribes as flavoring with other foods.
This flower is know as the Colorado Blue Columbine. It is the state flower of Colorado. In the past I have seen the flower in abundance along the trail, but this time I only saw one. It might have been due to the loss of tree cover (they like a little bit of shade) or I was just a little bit early for them to bloom. It was named by European Settlers in 1820 when Pike’s Peak was being explored.
This flower is know as the Aspen Fleabane and is a member of the daisy family. There are lots of common names for this flower, but one of my favorite is “Horseweed.” Lol. It is found throughout western North America. It is considered a good choice for soil stabilization and restoration due to its long taproot and rhizomes .
Here Marvin and I are about a mile from the lake. And as you can see the fire did not seem to touch this area at all.
Marvin loved the few remaining snow piles from last winter. During the first visit to the area on June 23rd, there were lots and lots of these remaining snow piles once you got above 10,000 feet. By the middle of July most of them were gone.
Blue Lake! Did not get a picture of them, but there were two bald eagles scouting the lake for fish just as we got there. Pretty cool!
This picture is looking North West toward Clark peak. As I walked along the trail I wondered how the forest would have faired if there were still the number of beavers that existed in Colorado before 1800. The creek that runs down from the lake combines with a second creek that roars through the valley, before joining up with the Poudre River, there are no beaver ponds. But I don’t think it was always that way. This area had been extensively trapped out and logged by the end of the 1800s. And this included most of the beaver population. When beavers are present, they slow the water, they spread it out and they store it. This in turn creates much more fire resistant wetlands. The next time you hike on a mountain trail in Colorado, imagine what it must have looked like before trapping and logging. In a sense, you might think you are in a natural environment, unchanged, but that is the furthest from the truth. It has all been significantly changed by prior human activity. If you interested here is a great article to read about the role beavers play in ecosystems: https://rockies.audubon.org/rivers/articles/beavers-offer-help-western-waters#2

It was another great month for reading and I would like to share a few book recommendations.

The first one I would like to talk about is called Chasing the Scream:  The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari.  This book was a recommendation from my youngest daughter.  I think it was a required reading for her in one of her college classes.  At first I was a little hesitant about getting the book.  After all I had been working in health care for the last 40 years and in the ER no less.  Didn’t I know just about everything to do with addicts and drug abuse??  Well let me tell you, I was wrong.  While reading the book, I realized I only understood a very small section of a much bigger story.  The war on drugs was and still is a dismal failure.  Ever wonder why?  The book will point you to the real narrative.  I always thought that the WOD had started with President Nixon in the early 70s but in reality it was another government official named Harry J Anslinger that got it started in the 1930s.  

This is not a hard and fast book about drug statistics, rather it is a collection of stories from interviews the author conducted with individuals deep in the drug scene, i.e. drug addicts, dealers, research scientists and politicians.  With these stories, Hari presents a compelling case for how the criminalization of drug use has created bigger problems than it has solved.  This is a thought provoking, eye opening, and tragic but hopeful book.  If you are someone like myself that has strong opinions on addiction, or someone involved in making public policy, law enforcement, health care, has kids, etc.… then this is a book you need to read.  I got this book as an audio book but it would work well in any format. 

Of course it can be found on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Scream-Johann-Hari-audiobook/dp

Another great book I would like to recommend for summer reading is called Mindful Eating:  A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food by Jan Chozen Bays MD.  This book is not about how to diet, it is about how to approach our eating habits in a much more “mindful way.”  And in the process, improve our relationship to food.  Will you lose weight?  Maybe, maybe not.  Will you feel better about your eating habits?  Well, if you follow the advice in the book, most definitely.  As an added possible benefit, you may learn something “new” about yourself that can be applied in everyday life and not just when you eat.  I first saw this book while I was reviewing another book called Still Running.  Both of the authors approach their respective topics in a Buddhist philosophical sort of way.  You could even say that for some, this could be a life changing book.    

What did I get out of the book?  There was a lot, but one of the things was the realization that I am a stress eater.  The more anxiety, the more I want to go and snack on Oreo’s or chips or whatever I can get my hands on.  It helped me to see the 9 different types of hunger ( yes there are 9) and how to deal with each one when they arise.  And more importantly, to understand when it is ok to indulge an impulse and when it might not be.   The author gives you exercises after each section that you can use to work on specific challenges you may have. 

Is this a down and dirty, give me the facts-fast type of book?  A big NO.  Do you need to be a Buddhist to understand the book? Another big NO.  Then what do you need?  Just an open mind and patience, combined with a willingness to learn something about yourself. 

I got this book in traditional format and I am glad that I did.  I found myself taking a lot of time reading each chapter and making sure I understood what the author was talking about before moving on.  I liked the book so well, I got the audio book version too.  I want to be able to listen and reread at the same time.  It is that good of book. 

Of course you can find the book on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Eating-audiobook/dp 

The next book I would like to give a recommendation to is called The Believing Brain:  From Ghost and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies, How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths by Michael Shermer.  I am always looking for books on Critical Thinking.  Especially over the last few years due to recent events.  There is so much misinformation out there and some of it from people that are considered educated and knowledgeable.  So, what better to read, than a book written by the executive director of The Skeptics Society and founding publisher of Skeptic magazine?  Lol.  I found it interesting that the publish date on the book is 2011, but the topics covered in the book are much more relevant today than it was back then.  In reality the topics never go out of date, we are human and because of that, critical thinking or the lack there of will always be an issue. Myself included! Lol.

One of my favorite sections of the book is how humans became incredible pattern-recognition machines due to our evolutionary past.  While this helped to kept us safe from possible predators and enemies for hundreds of thousands of years, it can and has become a detriment in our modern society.  Another aspect that I found fascinating in the book was the idea of belief formation and why we stick to certain beliefs even when scientific fact does not support it.  Every wondered why someone that you considered really, really smart, intelligent, or successful has certain questionable views or beliefs?   Well one of the points the author argues is that the more intelligent you are, the better you are with coming up with supporting evidence for your belief.  To the point that you lose all objectivity.

The author also has a good section on logical argument fallacies.  Personally I think that this should be taught as a class starting in grade school and then repeated in junior high and high school and a requirement to graduate for college!  Lol.      

This is a great book if you want to learn why “we do what we do,” when it comes to beliefs, faith and superstitions in all aspects of society and life.  I got this book as an audio book but it might work better in traditional format so you can review certain sections to get a fuller understanding.   Much easier to do with a regular book than an audio book.  Of course it can be found on Amazon:   https://www.amazon.com/The-Believing-Brain-Michael-Shermer-audio/dp  

The next book I would like to review is called “Your Dog Is Your Mirror” by Kevin Behan.  Being the owner of numerous canines over the years I am always on the lookout for books about dogs and dog training.  Our current dog is the largest dog we have ever owned.  Marvin is a King Shepard, which is a cross between a Great Pyrenees, a German Shepard and Alaskan Malamute.  And due to his size, we are very cognizant of his power and the continued need for training and understanding of canine behavior.  So when I saw this book and read about the author, I became intrigued by the author’s philosophy on dog behavior.  The author’s ideas seem very similar to Cesar Millan’s philosophy.  The original book was published in 2011, but was a new release as an audio book in 2020.

Let me start by saying that this book is not about “how to train your dog” – it is NOT a dog training manual.  What it is about is how to understand your dog’s behavior and in the process you get a better understanding of yourself.  Pretty interesting to say the least.  One of the things the author points out in the book is that dogs don’t just experience emotion, they are emotion.  And how you are feeling affects how the dog is feeling and subsequently their behavior.  The idea to think about when your dog is misbehaving or not doing what you want them to do, ask yourself what are you feeling consciously or more importantly subconsciously.  The dog is extremely adept at reading the “energy” in the room.

The other part of the book the author goes to great length in explaining is an account of his life and how he came to his own unique philosophy on dog behavior.  His father was a famous dog trainer (John Behan) and founder of the Canine College.  A lot of the book is devoted to the differences in his father’s way of training and his own.  Kevin’s school is called “Natural Dog Training.”  Sadly Kevin passed away in 2020, but his ideas still live on at this website:  Natural Dog Training | The Official Website for the Theory and Practice of Kevin Behan’s Natural Dog Training | Dog Training, Dog Aggression Rehabilitation in Vermont, New York City, Connecticut and Massachusetts  Check it out if you’re interested. 

I was able to put into practice the idea of “checking” my emotions or what I was feeling before taking Marvin for his walks and I have noticed that if I am truly, totally calm and focused on the walk, before staring out, he is much calmer too.  We have always had some form of leash aggression while walking him, but now I have to say, it is much, much better. This book does NOT replace the need for formal dog training. What this book does, is give you the beginning of an understanding of what makes your dog tick. And in the process you might learn something about yourself.

I got the book as an audio book but I believe it would work in any format.  And you can find it at Amazon:   https://www.amazon.com/Your-Dog-Mirror-Emotional-Ourselves/dp

The last book I would like to review is called “How the World Really Works:  The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We’re Going” by Vaclav Smil.  This book was an Amazon recommendation based on my previous choices.  Lol.  The algorithms seem to know us better than we know ourselves.  Oh well, this is one of those book that is similar to something that Yuval Noah Harari would write.  It is pretty good, especially if you have not read either author.  The book came out in 2022, therefore the information is very relevant.  The author is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba and his field of study was Environmental Science and Public policy.  One of his areas of specialty has been in the use of energy by society.  In the book he makes a convincing argument that we would be foolish to rapidly transition to clean energies.  At first I was a little skeptical of this point of view but as he explained the total dependence of our current society on fossil fuels and how they are tightly intertwined, I started to see his point.  Do we need to get off of fossil fuels?  Absolutely yes, but in a controlled manner and not a knee-jerk reaction that could cripple economies and create significant food shortages.  A better response would be to “consume less”, less material products, less animal products, less water, less of everything a consumeristic society would want you to needlessly buy and have.  If anything, reading the book will help you to start to understand the daunting challenges ahead of us in terms of energy usage.  It is not just about electric cars. And why it is so important to get started now instead of later.    

The book is not all about energy use, there are sections devoted to food production, globalization, risk assessment, health, global warming, etc.… And as with any book that is written, due to the rapidly changing research picture in the world today, some topics can become somewhat outdated very quickly.  And the author does state this potential in his book. While I did agreed with 99% of the book, there were some sections on health that I did not.  But with that said, it is still a great book.  Should it be your only book on this type of topic?  No.  But it should be one of those at the top of your list, especially if you want to be better informed about society in general and how it works.

I got this book as an audio book but it would work great in any format.  You can find the book on Amazon:    https://www.amazon.com/How-World-Really-Works-Science/dp         

Last but not least I would like to show case a new piece of art work. I call this one “Athena Nike Revisited.” I got the idea of watching some of the amazing women in track compete in running events during the recent 2022 World Track and Field Championships held in Eugene, Oregon. 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 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 measure 9.25 inches by 12.25 inches. When hanging, total height is about 15 inches. It is done in pen and ink, mounted on half inch painted white board, coated and sealed with Mod Podge.

“ATHENA NIKE REVISITED”

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

In support of Prochoice and the Separation of Church and State, I will donate half of any sales to Planned Parenthood or the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

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!  But before I go, I would like to talk about one more thing. In the spirit of the last book reviewed, I would like to give a recommendation on becoming minimalist. Especially after an article that was recently published in The Guardian. It was about a new book by Bill McGuire called Hothouse Earth. I have not read it yet but plan too. Bill is a emeritus professor of geophysical and climate hazards at the University of London. He takes a pretty extreme view of where we are with Global Warming and that we are past the point of no return. His view is that it is going to get hot. Really hot. Like temps greater than 50C or 120F in the tropics. If you can imagine this happening, there will be mass migrations of entire populations away from the equatorial regions and desert areas and this is where trouble will begin. And he thinks it could create a climate cataclysm bad enough to threaten the very survival of human civilization. But it is not all bad news. In the article by The Guardian, he stress that if we can cut carbon emissions significantly and start to adapt to a much warmer climate now, we might avoid the worst case scenarios. But only if we start now, not later, but now.

So you might think, how do I do this as an individual. How do I get started. Well, one of the ways to do this is by becoming minimalist. And how do I become minimalist? It is easy. To get started, just buy less. And if you have to buy, think of this from the late Pete Seeger ( American folk singer and social activist): “Reduce, reuse, repair, rebuild, refurbish, refinish, resold, recycle, and think of buying used, before ever thinking of buying new. Pretty simple when you come down to it.

Of course, being minimalist, has much more to it than living with less material things, but that is actually the coolest thing about it. Minimalism can be a path to finding happiness and freedom from some of the stressors of our modern life. And in the process of following this path, you will be helping to save human civilization by decreasing your overall carbon footprint.

There is way too much to go into detail here in the blog post about minimalism and others have done it a lot better than me, so 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/ and https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2018/12/27/35-ways-reduce-carbon-footprint/

If your interested in the article from The Guardian check out this link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/soon-it-will-be-unrecognisable-total-climate-meltdown-cannot-be-stopped-says-expert/

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

“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, Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Minimalism, Pandemics, Religion, Science, Science Fiction, Space

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 27TH, MAY 2022

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“As far as we can tell from a purely scientific viewpoint, human life has absolutely no meaning. Humans are the outcome of blind evolutionary processes that operate without goal or purpose. Our actions are not part of some divine cosmic plan, and if planet earth were to blow up tomorrow morning, the universe would probably keep going about its business as usual. As far as we can tell at this point, human subjectivity would not be missed. Hence any meaning that people inscribe to their lives is just a delusion.” Yuval Noah Harari

This is an image from the Hubble Space Telescope called The Hickson Compact Group 40. This year NASA celebrated Hubble’s 32nd birthday by showcasing this image. The telescope was put into orbit around earth by the crew of the space shuttle Discover on April 25, 1990. The Hickson group is about 300 million light years away in the direction of the constellation of Hydra. It has the designation 40 because it is the 40th entry in the catalog of relative small galaxy groups compiled by Paul Hickson. In 1982 he published a list of 100 compact galaxy groups based on his examination of the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey plates. In the above image you see five galaxies in all: three spiral shaped galaxies, an elliptical galaxy, and a lenticular or lens shaped galaxy. Image credit: Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI; Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI). If you are interested in the above image please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/celebrating-hubbles-32nd-birthday-with-an-eclectic-galaxy-grouping and https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2022/012/01FYSACDTCSR43GVXBWTHDFHCT and https://skyandtelescope.org/sky-and-telescope-magazine/hickson-compact-groups/ and the YouTube video below!

“Large numbers of strangers can cooperate successfully by believing in common myths. Any large-scale human cooperation – whether a modern state, a medieval church, an ancient city or an archaic tribe – is rooted in common myths that exist only in people’s collective imagination.” Yuval Noah Harari

The above image is from the Hubble Space Telescope. It is showing a galaxy that is named GAMA 526784. It is what is know as an ultra-diffuse galaxy and appears in the above image as a fuzzy patch of light. It is about four billion light years away in the constellation Hydra. These types of galaxies have a few interesting quirks. One of which is the either / or property of having an abundance of dark matter or the almost complete lack of dark matter. Another feature of these types of galaxies is the increased number, as comparted to other galaxies, of “globular clusters.” Globular clusters are spherical collections of stars. They have a high concentration of their stars in the center of the structure, thought to be due to gravity. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. van der Burg; Acknowledgment: L. Shatz. If you are interested in the above image please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2002/hubble-views-a-galactic-oddity and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globular_cluster and https://www.universeguide.com/galaxy/gama526784

“Morality doesn’t mean ‘following divine commands’. It means ‘reducing suffering’. Hence in order to act morally, you don’t need to believe in any myth or story. You just need to develop a deep appreciation of suffering.” Yuval Noah Harari

This image was taken by the Hubble space telescope and it is a picture of the spiral galaxy M99, but is also known as NGC 4254. Depending on which catalog of galaxies you are looking at. The M or Messier catalog, which was begun by astronomer Charles Messier in the 18th Century is one that is popular with amateur astronomers due to the listing of objects that can be seen with small telescopes. The NGC or the New General Catalogue was compiled by John Louis Emil Dreyer in 1888. It list many more objects (in the 1000s) than the Messier Catalogue (about 110), some of which can only be seen with very large telescopes. The above galaxy is called a “grand design” spiral galaxy due to it’s well defined spiral arms. It is in the constellation Coma Berenices and is 42 million light-years from Earth. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Kasliwal, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team. If you would like to learn more about the above image please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubbles-double-take-on-a-spiral-galaxy and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_99 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_General_Catalogue and Explore – The Night Sky | Hubble’s Messier Catalog | NASA

“When the faithful are asked whether God really exists, they often begin by talking about the enigmatic mysteries of the universe and the limits of human understanding. ‘Science cannot explain the Big Bang,’ they exclaim, ‘so that must be God’s doing.’ Yet like a magician fooling an audience by imperceptibly replacing one card with another, the faithful quickly replace the cosmic mystery with the worldly lawgiver. After giving the name of ‘God’ to the unknown secrets of the cosmos, they then use this to somehow condemn bikinis and divorces. ‘We do not understand the Big Bang – therefore you must cover your hair in public and vote against gay marriage.’ Not only is there no logical connection between the two, but they are in fact contradictory. The deeper the mysteries of the universe, the less likely it is that whatever is responsible for them gives a damn about female dress codes or human sexual behavior.” Yuval Noah Harari

The above is another NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. It shows a section of the spiral galaxy NGC 247 and it is located about 11 million light-years away in the Sculptor Group. The Sculptor Group is a loose group of galaxies visible near the south galactic pole. Or for us Northern Hemisphere viewers it would be on our southern horizon around November depending on how far North you are. Sculptor was named by the French astronomer Nicolas Lacaille in the 1700s. The North Galactic Pole lies in the northern constellation Coma Berenices and as mentioned above the South Galactic Pole lies in the southern constellation Sculptor. The Sculptor Galaxy is one of the closest galaxies to earth. NGC 247 is also know as the Needle Eye Galaxy due to a dark hole containing very little stars in the galaxy. Below is a better close up view of this galaxy and you can see the dark hole at the bottom of the galaxy. Image credit for the above picture: NASA, ESA, and H. Feng (Tsinghua University); Image processing: G. Kober (NASA Goddard/Catholic University of America) and image credit for the below picture: Mark Hanson of Hanson Astronomy Photos: https://www.hansonastronomy.com/ngc-247-the-needles-eye-galaxy

If you would like to learn more about these images or the Sculptor Group or the galaxy NGC 247 then please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-images-a-dwarf-spiral-with-multiple-mysteries and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sculptor_Group and https://earthsky.org/constellations/constellation-sculptor-galaxy-south-galactic-pole/#:~:text=Also%20above%20Alpha%20Sculptoris%2C%20but%20below%20the%20Sculptor,0h%2051m%2026.00s%2C%20Dec%20%3D%20-27d%207m%2042.0s. and https://www.hansonastronomy.com/ngc-247-the-needles-eye-galaxy

“Fiction isn’t bad. It is vital. Without commonly accepted stories about things like money, states or corporations, no complex human society can function. We can’t play football unless everyone believes in the same made-up rules, and we can’t enjoy the benefits of markets and courts without similar make-believe stories. But stories are just tools. They shouldn’t become our goals or our yardsticks. When we forget that they are mere fiction, we lose touch with reality. Then we begin entire wars `to make a lot of money for the corporation’ or ‘to protect the national interest’. Corporations, money and nations exist only in our imagination. We invented them to serve us; why do we find ourselves sacrificing our life in their service.” Yuval Noah Harari

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 until the Covid Marry-Go-Round is done! Lol. Enough is enough.

By the 6th of May we were back to 70 thousand cases plus per day – the start of a new surge as some would see it. The number was probably much higher with some experts saying that it was closer to 140,000 per day. This discrepancy is due to home testing that is not reported and states that have stopped reporting in a timely manner. Oh well what are you going to do? The good news was that the official death rate and hospitalizations had continued to drop. In the last 30 days from April 6th, to May the 6th, we had added approximately 13,000 to 14,000 new deaths for a total of 1,024,500 . That is about half from what it was the previous 30 days when we added 26,000 new deaths. So that is a good direction to be going. Even though this number is high it seems like we are making progress. Of course with a rise in cases there is always the possibility for a subsequent rise in hospitalizations and eventually deaths. Time will tell and there should be a better picture with this by the end of the month.

Well the above picture for total deaths and total cases still has not changed. These have been the top 10 states for infections and deaths for a very long time. The only exception to the above is when you look at the number of total infections, then North Carolina jumps in to the picture, with infections higher than Michigan and New Jersey. When I see this kind discrepancy it leads me to believe that North Carolina is under reporting deaths just like Florida is doing. NC even has a bigger population than Michigan and New Jersey so they should have a similar death rate. But NC’s is around 14 to 15 thousand less than the other two states. What is the old saying? Something is a little fishy in North Carolina. Oh well, I guess it would look bad for business to be reporting accurate numbers.

By the middle of the month, we were continuing to increase the number of new cases. The official count was 90,000 plus cases per day or probably double to triple that number. The number of deaths per day was still holding steady at 200 to 300. The Covid variant BA.2.12.1 was fast becoming the cause of a majority of cases. This is a subvariant of the BA.2 virus and has been deemed much more transmissible than BA.2. There are new variants (BA.4 and BA.5) in South Africa that are of concern, unfortunately at this time there is not enough information to make any predictions on them as of yet.

By the end of the month, we had added another 6500 deaths due to Covid ( one million and thirty one thousand total or 1,031,000) and on paper this is a very good thing. We are going in the right direction. The only fly in the ointment so to speak are states that have stopped reporting. As I have looked at the numbers each day there are very large discrepancies between states with similar population. With one states not reporting any deaths and another consistently reporting multiple deaths each day. So I am not really comfortable with the accuracies of these numbers. My guess is that the death count is much, much higher than what is reported.

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.

Enough about Covid! Damn I am going to be so glad when this is over with. It has gone on way too long but not too unexpected. It is a coronavirus after all and will never totally go away.

On a somewhat more positive note, the month of May was another great one for air quality. This was due to the continued windy weather that we seemed to have had just about every other day. Unfortunately we are still in drought like conditions. Therefore, while it was really great for AQ it was not so great for fire weather. Fortunately we have not had any fires of significant size. There have been a few popping up here and there around the state but nothing like what is going on in New Mexico.

With the continued rehab of the knee injury, I did not get in a lot of running for the month, but I did get in a lot of walking and some biking.

This picture was taken on April 6th, 2022 about 530pm in the afternoon. Still a little cold out this time of year but getting warmer.
This picture was taken the next day on April 7th, 2022 at about 7pm. It was a beautiful evening. The two peaks in the background are Mt. Meeker and Long Peak. They are about 40 miles away as the crow flies so to speak. There were only a few sunset pictures for the month of April due to the air quality. It was great. Not much in the way of particulates in the air, so the sunset were not as colorful.
This picture was taken on April 10th, 2022 at about 5pm in the afternoon. Here I am looking Northwest along the Poudre River. I really like this spot for picture taking. Again it was another beautiful afternoon. Great air quality and cool temps!
This picture was taken on April 13th, 2022 at about 6pm in the evening. It was a great walk with Marvin and Janet. Marvin always looks pretty serious but he is pushover when it comes to the cat. Lol.
This picture was taken on April 18th, 2022 at about 4pm in the afternoon. Due to my knee injury I did a lot more biking the month of April. In hind sight, this is what I should have been doing all long, but oh well you live and learn. This is looking South West on the Spring Creek Bike trail in Fort Collins. It makes a loop at its end but offers connections to other dirt paths/trails in the area. Very nice to have.
This picture was taken on April 23rd, 2022 at about 5pm in the afternoon. It is looking North along another path called the Powerline Trail. I love this trail because it is so close to where I live and you can stay on dirt for about 90% of the trail. I use it so much that I call it the Powerline Treadmill. Lol.
The above two pictures were taken on April 27th, 2022 at about 4pm in the afternoon. These are Crabapple Trees that line a part of the Powerline Trail. They make these tiny apples that are very tart to the taste. I see people collecting these every year to make ciders. They tell me their home brews are delicious. I once read some history on “Jonny Appleseed” that said why he was so popular with the settlers was due to type of apple trees he planted – trees for making alcoholic cider! Lol. I read this story from a book by Michael Pollan called the Botany of Desire.
This last picture was taken on April 28th, 2022, at about 630pm in the afternoon. Not many sunset pics but this one was probably the best one for the month of April. Here I am looking West toward the sunset across one of the ponds at the East end of the Spring Creek Trail. We had several cloudy days but not much rain or snow at all for the month of April. Lots of wind that continued into May making the air quality fantastic for the Front Range of Colorado but unfortunately increasing the fire danger significantly.

While I did not have a lot of foothill or mountain scenes due to the knee injury, this was a good thing. I did not spend as much money. Lol. With the price of gas and diesel going up as high as it has, it has become very expensive to drive anywhere of significant distance. My guess is that fuel prices are not headed down anytime soon due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I have missed two races (one half marathon and one ultra) so far this year due to the knee injury and will miss another one at the start of June. (another ultra) This will leave me three more to get ready for. The closest one being the first week of July – the Silver Rush 50. Not really sure at this point if the knee will be up for it. But I will keep rehabbing it and hoping for the best as we roll forward into summer.

It was another great month for reading and I would like to give a couple of book recommendations.

The first one is called “The Run Walk Run Method” by Jeff Galloway.  If you are someone that wants to get back into running or someone that is coming off of an injury from running (like myself), or someone that just wants to get healthier, then this book is for you.  I got the book after suffering a knee injury back in March of this year and this is one of the first books I came across when doing a google search.   So after reading a little more on the author’s ideas, I thought this would be a good one to invest in and I am glad that I did.  There are some parts of the book that are very repetitive.  And a few sections where the author wants to sell you a Galloway Timer.  But if you can read past these parts and finish the book, you get the overall idea of the run walk run method.  And how it works.

One of the parts that I really liked the most in the book was the “psychology of walking” and how it is “very much” ok to just walk.  It really made me think about how I feel when “just walking”?  Did I feel like a failure deep down and if I did why was that?  Pretty interesting when I started to think about it.  I did not get the book as an audio book but as an e-book.  Lol.  Surprise.  Almost all of my other book reviews have been audio books.  But it was cheaper as an e-book so I opted for that.  And, most importantly, it does not come as an audio book. If you do decide that this book is for you, get a good timer.  I opted for a phone apt called Seconds Pro Interval Timer.  It was about 5 dollars but it works great and is very configurable.

Of course you can find this book at Amazon: https://amzn.to/39DX2ij

The next book I would like to give a recommendation to is called “The Happy Runner” by David Roche and Megan Roche MD.  As I have gotten older my running times have slowed ever so slightly and this is a little concerning to me.  My wife tells me I am just old.  Lol.  Of course, she is right, it is normal with getting older, but that still does not mean we cannot improve.  So, I am always on the look out for books that help with this aspect.  I came across this book just by accident and the title intrigued me a bit so I ordered it and I am happy that I did.  It is not your typical running book with all the science and pathophysiology of running.  Instead, it is all about how to “enjoy” the running process.  To not be event or time orientated.  It gets back to the old saying, “It’s the journey and not the destination.”  They go into great depth on the mental aspects of how to become a happy runner. 

I liked this book a lot.  But if you are new to running or if you want a better understanding of running science, then this is not the book for you.  This is a book that you read in addition to a book like “The Science of Running” by Steve Magness.  No this is a book more about happiness.  You could even say it is not just about running.  That running is just the background story and it is really about how to be happier.  And oh, by the way, you can do it while running.  I got this book in paper back form and I am glad that I did.  I have found myself going back and rereading a few chapters and sections over again.  It is not available as an audio book.

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

Another great book if you want to know more about the science behind running effectively is called just that, “The Science of Running:  How to Find Your Limit and Train to Maximize Your Performance” by Steve Magness. In the Amazon description the first sentence is, “If you’re looking for how to finish your first 5k, this book isn’t for you.”  I thought that was pretty funny, but in reality it could be you.  Especially if you are someone that wants to know more, a lot more, about that “Science,” even if it is only your first 5k.

The first part of the book is all the pathophysiology of what happens when you are running. And in my opinion it is the best part.  The second part is on turning all that pathophysiology into the proper type of training.  This is where “the not for you part, if you’re looking to do you’re first 5k” comes in.  Lol.  With all kidding aside, it is a great pathophysiology book on running but you probably need a different one in describing how to train for your first 5k.

Now one other warning, this book was published in 2014, so a little bit of it could be dated.  Science is always changing.  My suggestion is to start with this book but don’t let it be your only book on “running science.” I listened to the book as an audio book but I liked it so well I am re-reading it again in the paperback version.  The audio book makes it hard to flip back and forth between sections.  So traditional format is probably better for a deeper understanding.       

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

Another book I would like to give a recommend on is called “Regenesis” by George M. Church and Ed Regis. The book was first published in 2012.  George is a geneticist, molecular engineer and chemist.  Ed Regis is a science writer.  I first heard about George when he spoke on Synthetic Biology while watching a Ted Talk on YouTube and that piqued my curiosity.   

Before I go too much further, let me explain on some of the background of why I am interested in this book besides the Ted Talk.  First, I had become much more intrigued in the potential for genetic manipulation in all aspect of life since I first read Nancy Kress’s SiFi book Beggars and Choosers (2nd book of a trilogy).  This is a great science fiction book on the potentials of genetic manipulation.   That book was published in 1994.  Second, fast forward to the CRISPR gene editing techniques in the last 5 years and the mRNA technology that allowed our current two main vaccines against Covid.   These techniques are very significant because they allow for genetic material to be edited with extremely high precision and best of all it is much cheaper when compared to older practices.  So when Mr. Church talks about some of the potential applications of genetics and synthetic biology it is worth taking note.  Synthetic biology is the redesigning of organisms for other useful purposes by re-engineering them to have new abilities. 

Now for a little bit of the down side.  The book is a little hard to understand in some sections, especially for the general reader.  I found it tedious at times on some of the technical sections and wondered if it might have been better for the author to leave some of that out.  If you can get around this, then the book gives you a lot to ponder on where we are going with this technology.  The book was first published 10 years ago and a lot of what is talked about has not come to pass, but I see that as a good thing.  This technology is so revolutionary in scope, it needs to be well thought out and then some, before being used in the real world.  We don’t want the “unintended consequences” scenario to be humanities epitaph. Lol.  I listened to the book as an audio book but it would work well in any format.

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

The last book I would like to give a recommendation to is the final book in a series called The Expanse. This is book 9 and is called “Leviathan Falls: Expanse, Book 9” by James S.A. Corey.  This was a Science Fiction series that also has a TV adaption started by the SiFi Channel and then later picked up by Amazon.  It was called simply the Expanse.  If you have not read any of the books or seen the TV series, they are all well worth the read and watch in my opinion.  I first became interested in the series when I saw a few of the first episodes on SiFi and wondered if it was based on a book.  Lol.  I was not disappointed.  What I liked best about the series in the books was how earth and the geopolitics were depicted in the future.  Especially with the establishment of mars as a colony and eventually as its own separate self-governed planet independent from earth.  Another area that was good was the rise of the “Belters.”  Humans that were instrumental in the mining and colonization of the asteroid belt and how they were marginalized and abused by the Inners (people from Earth and Mars).  Now imagine, setting this against a back drop of “bigger things going on” that could change all of humanity’s future for the better or maybe for the worse.  And this is what gives you great story telling for the entire book series. 

The last book gives a good and satisfying conclusion in my opinion to the entire series.  The author’s name for these books is actually two people, Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham.  I got all the books as audiobooks.  This worked well for long runs and bike rides as well as doing chores around the house.  I think the story would work well in any format.

Of course this book can be found on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3KQn7ro

Last but not least I would like to show case a new piece of art work. This one is the fourth in a series that I call “Transhumanist Jesus.” It is done in pen and ink, mounted on painted white board and protected by Mod Podge. It has a protective final finish of acrylic spray sealant. It measures 7.25 inches wide by 10.25 inches tall and when hanging it is about 15 inches tall. I have called these studies in Jesus by several different names, Jesus of Borg or SiFi Jesus or the current name of Transhumanist Jesus.

I decided to do these pieces initially over anger of the Texas GOP’s enactment of their draconian anti-abortion law. I had only planned to do a limited number, but now with the possibility of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe vs Wade, I will continue to make them.  I have three adult daughters and while they might not agree on whether it is right or wrong to get an abortion, they all agree that it is “their right” to choose. And I agree with them. So that is how the project started out, but it morphed into something a little different. Did you know that there are at least 10,000 different denominations of Christianity in the world? Of course, some say this number is much higher, but I figure 10,000 is a safe estimate. Knowing this I thought why not make up my own Jesus?! A lot of other people have. So, I did. And what I came up with was a tough but accepting LGBT SiFi Jesus. A Jesus that would assimilate all other Jesuses, even Republican Jesus, into a hive mind and create an accepting and loving collective for all people and all religions. In Star Trek, the Borg are considered the enemy but, in my version, I have turned it around and made “Jesus of Borg” the good guy, the savior.

Now you might be wondering where “Transhumanist Jesus” comes into the picture. It started after I read a book called Transhumanism and Transcendence – Christian Hope in an Age of Technological Enhancement by Ronald Cole-Turner. In a nutshell so to speak, Christianity and depictions of Jesus will have to change to keep up with the “Biotech” or risk the fate of all previous mythologies that have become nothing more than footnotes in history. Since time immortal, we have been defined as a species, by our technology. As it advances so must our depictions of god.

TRANSHUMANIST JESUS # 4

This 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

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! Before I go I want to touch on something that might help with this crazy inflation we are having on just about everything! And of course, you might have guessed, I am going to say become minimalist. Lol. So why minimalism you might ask? Well on the surface it is about owning less stuff. Having fewer possessions which translates into buying less. Our society encourages overindulgence and overconsumption at every turn. Think about all the commercials you see in just a single day telling you to buy, buy, buy. Either directly or indirectly. And that is the problem. We buy and buy and buy always looking for the happiness the commercials have promised, but never finding it because it is not there. I am going to let you in on a little secret, happiness is not a destination but a path. Minimalism is one of many paths that can provide you with the happiness you seek. And at the same time help you with inflation because you are buying less. It is just that simple. You buy less. Of course this assumes that you have enough to cover all your basics – food, clothing and housing. But after that ask yourself what do you really need?

Being minimalist is not all black or all white. There are many shades of gray. Minimalism is different for each individual. You can 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 consumeristic system. A way to buy time for yourself and the planet. It is a way to bring back the joy we all want and need in our lives. The really cool part, there is nothing to buy. It is just a change in mindset. A change in attitude.

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/ and https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2018/12/27/35-ways-reduce-carbon-footprint/

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, 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

Art, Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Minimalism, Pandemics, Science, Space

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 25TH, FEBRUARY 2022

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“Our comforting conviction that the world makes sense rests on a secure foundation: Our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance.” Daniel Kahneman

This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of barred galaxy NGC 3318. It is a spiral galaxy and lies in the constellation Vela and is about 115 million light-years from earth. It was first discovered by the English astronomer John Herschel on March 2, 1835. Some feel that the outer edges of the galaxy almost resemble a ship’s sails swelling in a light wind. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, European Southern Observatory (ESO), R. J. Foley; Acknowledgment: R. Colombari If you would like to learn more about his galaxy please see these links: Hubble Sights a Sail of Stars | NASA and http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/hubble-vlt-barred-spiral-galaxy-ngc-3318-10464.html

“A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth. Authoritarian institutions and marketers have always known this fact.” Daniel Kahneman

This is an image of Venus, that was made by using information from NASA’s Magellan spacecraft and the Pioneer Venus Orbiter. The planet is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. But it surface is anything but that, with a temperature that is about 788 degree Fahrenheit or about 420 degree Celsius. Very hot indeed. NASA wants to study the planet much more in-depth because it is thought to have had an atmosphere very similar to earth billions of years ago. Even having an ocean on its surface. The current idea is that a runway greenhouse effect evaporated all the water, creating a cloud layer thick with carbon dioxide. This traps the heat from the sun which results in significant planet warming. By understanding this process better it is thought we can gain insights into how our own world is warming. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/studying-the-lost-habitable-world-of-venus and https://www.universetoday.com/22538/how-hot-is-venus/

“When people believe a conclusion is true, they are also very likely to believe arguments that appear to support it, even when these arguments are unsound.” Daniel Kahneman

The above image is from the Hubble Space Telescope and is showing an example of how galaxies interact with one another. The cool part about the above picture is it shows how this happens in a almost three dimensional way. This is especially rare for an image in deep space. The above galaxies, the large spiral one is NGC 169 and the smaller one is IC 1559, are named Arp 282. Arp stand for atlas of peculiar galaxies. These two are about 319 million light years away in the constellation of Andromeda. In this image you can actually see streams of matter from one galaxy being drawn into another. This is caused by tidal forces. The more massive galaxy pulling material from the less massive one. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA. If you would like to learn more please check out these links: http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/hubble-interacting-galaxy-pair-arp-282-10528.html and https://esahubble.org/images/potw2206a/

“It’s frightening to think that you might not know something, but more frightening to think that, by and large, the world is run by people who have faith that they know exactly what is going on.” Amos Tversky

This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of galaxy NGC 1705. It is in the Pictor constellation and is about 17 million light years from earth. It is considered a dwarf galaxy. Dwarf galaxies are made up of several million stars as opposed to our Milky Way which has around 200 billion. Or to see it another way, a dwarf galaxy has one star to every 2000 in the MW. Hubble has imaged this galaxy before using the Wide Field Camera 2 in 1999, but the above image was done with the Wide Field Camera 3 (It replaced Camera 2 in 2009). The image is composed of ultraviolet, near infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Chandar. If you would like to learn more about the above image please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-revisits-a-galactic-oddball and http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/hubble-ngc-1705-10504.html and https://askanearthspacescientist.asu.edu/dwarf-galaxies and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictor

If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says it is impossible, he is very probably wrong. Arthur C. Clarke

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!! I am still hoping that I can keep saying this for all of next year. I really, really mean that, especially if you read my blog post. Lol.

Looking at the numbers on February 6th, it appears, unfortunately, that in the last 30 days (January 6th to February 6th), we have added another 70,000 deaths – for a total of 926, 000. What this means is that in the last 30 days compared to the previous 30 days we have jumped 26 thousand. I would say how tragic this is but I think I am becoming a little immune to the numbers. And to top it off, the number is probably much higher since some of the southern states and those with conservative legislatures are not reporting as accurately as they should so to speak.

Omicron has reeked havoc on those that have not gotten vaccinated and the next variant will probably do the same. Again, this is a senseless tragic loss of life.

Well, the above image still has not changed much in the last 30 days. Still the same top 10 states with Covid deaths. California is still leading the way over Texas by a few hundred deaths. And it has been this way for months. The real mystery is how many people in Florida have actually died of Covid since they stopped reporting accurate numbers over a year ago. I am guessing that by the time all of this is said and done it will be amazing, in a bad way, to see how high the death toll actually was.

Oh well what are you going to do?! The lifting of mask mandates? Is that really a good idea? The CDC has been emphasizing the need for continued masking, but individuals and states have been clamoring for the easing of those restrictions. I am guessing that by the time this blog post is published the CDC will have caved in to those demands. Unfortunately there is still plenty of firewood to burn in this pandemic. Meaning there are plenty of individuals that did not get vaccinated or get their booster and those that are immunocompromised. It is therefore not a good idea to lift the mask mandates as of yet. But due to political pressure and that is what it is, not good science, they will be lifted and I am guessing there will be another surge of infection by the middle to the end of March. All depending on when the mandates were lifted.

The Covid death toil continued to climb for the entire month of February. (2000 to 3000 per day on average) The Omicron variant did prove to be less severe for those that were fully vaccinated, but it still took a significant number of unvaccinated individuals over the last 30 days.

By the middle of the month, the death toil in the United States was about 950,000 and counting. So in less than ten days we had added another 24,000 mothers, father, grandfather, grandmothers, sons, daughters, nephews, uncles, aunts, and nieces… And that was just here in this country. Also in February, on a very disheartening note, the pediatric death toil for kids that were not vaccinated or too young to be vaccinated was about 2 to 3 per day in the USA.

By the time of publishing, February 25th, the total deaths were over 970 thousand. That is an increase in 44 thousand deaths in 19 days. And we were still adding about 2000 deaths per day. The only positive was the number of new infections continued the downward trend.

The question in my mind as the Omicron variant fades is, what is next? Will we have a period of calm and then another significant variant? Most of the experts seem to think this might be the case?! One scenario is that we have another less deadly variant that out competes Omicron and creates more of a seasonal type of virus. Which would be a much better outcome. There are scenarios out there that are a lot more bleak than this one. But I guess time will tell. Either way, I have a feeling that the virus is not done with us yet.

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.

Ok that is really enough about Covid! I so want it to be over but… Time to move on to something much better to talk about and that was the month of January on the Front Range of Colorado!

The month of January was nothing like the month of December. And that was a great thing! Yea! Winter finally came back to Colorado’s front range. It was cold. Temps down below zero on some nights and there seemed to be more cloud cover. The thing about this January compared to the one last year, we did not seem to get as many temperature inversions, so the air quality was great for exercising in the outdoors. While going through all the pictures for January, I realized there were some great sunset pics. So I think I will call the month of January 2022, the sunset month.

The above picture was taken on January 1st, 2022 at about 3:30pm in the afternoon. The temperature was about 8 degrees and the crazy part was two days before the temps were close to 60 and I was trail running in shorts?! In this picture, I am looking south along the Powerline trail in Fort Collins.
The above picture was taken January 2nd, 2022 at about 4:30pm in the afternoon. Again another cold day with temps down in the single digits. This view is looking across one of the ponds along the Poudre trail in Fort Collins.
The above image was taken on January 3rd, 2022 at about 5pm in the afternoon. It is looking west, across our neighborhood lake. The temps had actually warmed up a bit to the teens by the third of January. The two mountains you see in the background are Mt. Meeker and Longs Peak. There are about 40 miles distant as the crow flies.
The above picture was taken on January 6th, 2022 at about 5pm in the afternoon. It is looking West again across our neighborhood lake. I get some of the best sunset shots from this vantage point in the neighborhood. If conditions are right and you time it just at the right moment, then they can truly be spectacular. It was another cold one with temps in the low teens and single digits.
The above image of Marvin was taken on January 10th, 2022 at about 4pm in the afternoon. I am looking North in the Pineridge Open Space behind Fort Collins. Marvin and I were doing a little bit of trail running in the open space. The temps had gradually warmed up into the 30s and some of the snow had melted since the 1st. This made for a very enjoyable trail run. Marvin was keeping a close eye on other dogs in the area.
The above picture was taken on January 14th, 2022 at about 5pm in the afternoon. Another beautiful sunset pic. This is from a spot in our neighborhood.
The above image was taken on January 17, 2022 at about 5pm in the afternoon. I felt lucky to have so many great afternoons of clean air and cold temps. The two big mountains in the background are again Mount Meeker and Longs Peak. It seems unreal that they are 40 miles away in a straight line.
The above picture was taken on January 22nd, 2022 at about 5pm. This is looking West across the Poudre River in one of Fort Collins open spaces. Towards the end of the month the temps were a little more consistently in the 20 to 30 degree range. The warm-up made for some nice running with Marvin.
The above picture was taken on January 28th, 2022 at about 5:30pm in the afternoon. Here I am looking West from a point on the Poudre trail. It truly was the month of sunsets. I actually had “sunset pictures” from almost every other day. Lol. Crazy. I had no idea until looking through them all how many times the lighting conditions were just right.
This last picture was taken on January 31st, 2022 at about 4:30pm in the afternoon. Marvin and I were doing a little muddy trail running in the Pineridge open space behind Fort Collins. The temps had warmed up into the lower 40s which was great but it made for some very muddy conditions. Oh well, Marvin did not really seem to mind much. Lol.

The part of January that I am having trouble getting my head wrapped around is the comparison of December to January. It was so warm compared to January. And then of course you have the devastating wildland Marshall fire that burned parts of the towns of Superior and Louisville on December 30th. Just unreal when you think the really cold air dropped into Colorado just a day later with single digits and snow, and if the fire had happened a day later it would have not been an issue. What is the old saying! “Timing is everything.”

Well I did get in some running, even with all the ice and snow for January, and therefore I have some book reviews.

So, if you’re looking for a way to improve your life in 2022, I have two books to recommend.  The first one is Atomic Habits:  An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, written by James Clear.  I first reviewed this book back last September but I felt it needed to be reviewed again.   It is that good.  I have to admit I was a little hesitant to get this book when I first heard about.  All I could think was ok great, “another book” on how to create good habits and break bad ones.  It has been done many times before so who needs it?  But there was a little voice in the back of my mind telling me I needed this book and I am very glad that I listened.  Now before you object and say “Yaaa I have read similar books so what” let me say the difference in this book is how it is presented. 

Some people have been introduced to the Japanese idea of Kaizen (continuous improvement with small changes) and I think over the years it has taken on a lot of other ideas besides this, especially in the business world.  In Atomic Habits, the author presents the most important part, the essence, in my opinion of Kaizen. The idea of small changes (the habits) over time that eventually lead to success.   And he does this in a framework that is very understandable, personable and most importantly actionable.  I do not think the author ever uses the word “Kaizen” but this is what the book so beautifully reminds me of.   This is a great book.  I first listened to it as an audio book and I did eventually buy the paperback version.   Of course you can find the book on Amazon:   https://amzn.to/3BaN95e  

The second book that I would like to recommend in this same vein as Atomic Habits, is called Mastery:  The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment by George Leonard.  This is another one of those books that I liked so much that I have the traditional paperback version and the audio book.  This book was written way before Atomic Habits came out but it draws a similar conclusions to the path of self-improvement.  The principles are definitely Kaizen (continuous very small improvements leading to successful outcomes) but pulled from a Zen philosophical point of view.  George does not mention Kaizen in the book but you will get the drift. 

The best example in the book is his descriptions of learning and mastering moves in the Japanese martial art of Aikido. (Back when it was truly taught as an art form and not a profit making machine)  Especially the parts about hitting plateaus when you feel like you are not making any progress.  Very enlightening.  The other part of the book I liked touches on the anti-mastery mindsets and how to avoid them.  When all said and done a great pair of books to have in your library to be read and reread time after time.   Of course you can find the book on Amazon:   https://amzn.to/3BcGvLO

Another book I would like to recommend is one about Transhumanism written from a Christian point of view called Transhumanism and Transcendence:  Christian Hope in the an Age of Technological Enhancement by the author Ronald Cole-Turner.  He teaches theology and ethics at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.  He has written a few other books on genetics and human cloning, but they date from the 1990s.  This one is from 2011.    

I have become more interested in the idea of Transhumanism over the last 10 years.  Especially with the advancements in A.I., Biotech and Genetics.  One of the biggest advancements in this field is the CRISPR gene editing techniques.  It has made gene editing, in all organisms, much easier, accurate and cheaper than ever before.  To put this in perspective, some of the older geneticist have made comments such as “What I can do now in my garage with CRISPR, I would have needed a million dollar, state of the art research lab when I started out.”  Pretty crazy when you think about it. 

The above book does not really talk about any of that.  Lol.  The book looks at Transhumanism as inevitable outcome of this research and how it will effect and be treated by Christianity. While we are all worried about what is happening in Ukraine, the next Covid variant or any of the other big world events,  the research and development of Transhumanism is going on quietly behind the scenes.  If you have reached the age of 60, then you have probably already experienced some of this already.  Think artificial lenses for cataracts, joint prosthesis’s, synthetic by-pass grafts for your heart and aorta, and /or just about anything that you have had done to keep you living. Or in some cases, to make you better than you were before.  Even hearing aids, diabetic gadgets, leg and arm prosthetics, breast implants, could all be considered transhumanist.  What has changed now is that the current advances in technology will usher in a new age of all of this and more.  Imagination may become the only limit. So how do we deal with it from a religious point of view?  That is what this book is about.  The author has his own views but also includes writings from others currently and in the past.  A very interesting read to say the least.  Of course, I listened to the book as an audio book but it would work well in any format.  You can find it on Amazon at:   https://amzn.to/3H6JDdo 

Last but not least, I would like to showcase a new piece of art work before I go. It is pen and ink with a little water color thrown. This one is protected in a recycled traditional frame and glass. It is the third drawing of Jesus of Nazareth in a series of four, except I have given the drawing (like the others in the series) a little bit of a twist. I call them Jesus of Borg or SiFi Jesus or Transhumanist Jesus.

I decided to do these pieces over anger of the Texas GOPs enactment of the draconian anti-abortion law.  I have three adult daughters and while they might not agree on whether it is right or wrong to get an abortion, they all agree that it is “their right” to choose. And I agree with them. So that is how the project started out but it morphed into something a little different. Did you know that there are at least 10,000 different denominations of Christianity in the world. Of course some say this number is much higher but I figure 10,000 is a safe estimate. Knowing this I thought why not make up my own Jesus?! A lot of other people have. So I did. And what I came up with was a tough, but accepting LGBT SiFi Jesus. A Jesus that would assimilate all other Jesuses, even Republican Jesus, into a hive mind and create an accepting and loving collective for all people and all religions. In Star Trek, the Borg are considered the enemy but in my version I have turned it around and made “Jesus of Borg” the good guy, the savior.

Now you might be wondering where “Transhumanist Jesus” comes in to the picture. If you have read this far into the blog then you will see the connection in the above book review. Jesus and Christianity will have to change to keep up with the “Biotech” or risk the fate of all previous mythologies that have become nothing more than footnotes in history.

TRANSHUMANIST JESUS

The frame measures 13.5 inches by 16.5 inches with the picture being 6.5 inches by 9.5 inches.
JESUS OF BORG
JESUS OF BORG 2 or SiFi JESUS

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 I have come to the end of another blog post and I have usually included in this section something detailing why it might be a good idea to become minimalist. It is good for you and great for the planet. But I think on this blog, I am going to give you a break and just say 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, Exercise, Fort Collins, Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, Marshall Fire, Minimalism, Pandemics, Space, Trail Running, Wildfire

MUSING FOR FRIDAY 28TH, JANUARY 2022

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“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” Aldous Huxley

The above image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope over a ten day period in 1995. It is called the Hubble Deep Field (HDF). The telescope looked at a very narrow speck of sky, or about 1/30 of the diameter of the full moon, and reveled a baffling number of other galaxy shapes and colors that had never been seen before. Some of these may have formed in the very early universe after the Big Bang. Three years after this observation, a region in the southern hemisphere was imaged in the same way. The similarities between the two regions strengthened the belief that the universe is uniform over a large scale. There are over 3000 objects in the above image. Bluer objects contain young stars and are relatively close, while redder objects contain older stellar populations and are farther away. Image credit: NASA/JPL/STScI Hubble Deep Field Team. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia12110-hubble-deep-field-image-unveils-myriad-galaxies-back-to-the-beginning-of-time and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Deep_Field

“You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you mad.” Aldous Huxley

The above image is a picture from the Hubble Space Telescope. It is of two galaxies, the big one is NGC 105 and is about 215 million light years away in the constellation Pisces. While it looks like NGC is crashing into a smaller galaxy, this is not the case. The smaller one is much, much further away and is relatively unknown to astronomers. This is a common occurrence in astronomy. One of the best examples are the stars that form the constellations in our night sky. Ancient humans were creative in connecting dots with the stars to establish patterns that looked like animals, gods, goddesses, and heroes. But in reality, these stars are at vastly different distances from Earth, and only appear to form patterns due to a chance alignment to other stars. Two other objects that are present in this photo are pulsating stars called Cepheid variables and supernova explosions. They are both important to astronomers trying to measure the vast distances in space. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Jones, A. Riess et al.
Acknowledgement: R. Colombari. If you would like to learn more about the above image please see this link: https://esahubble.org/images/potw2201a/

“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly – they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.” Aldous Huxley

The above image is of the galaxy NGC 976 and is from the Hubble Space Telescope. This spiral galaxy lies around 150 million light-years from the Milky Way in the constellation Aries. The space based Hubble telescope was launched in 1990 from the Space Shuttle Discovery. It has made over 1.5 million observations and it allowed the publication of thousands of peer-reviewed scientific papers on its discoveries. Just incredible when you stop and think about it. I am hoping that the James Webb Space telescope will turn out to be as significant as Hubble has been. The acronym NGC in the galaxy name stands for New General Catalogue. It is an astronomical catalogue of deep sky objects compiled by John Louis Emil Dreyer in 1888. There are a total of 7,840 objects in the catalogue now. They are galaxies, star clusters, emission nebulae and absorption nebulae. Credit for image: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Jones, A. Riess et al. If you would like to learn more about his image, Hubble and the New General Catalogue, please see these links: https://esahubble.org/images/potw2202a/ and https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/about and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_General_Catalogue

“There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.” Aldous Huxley

This galaxy image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and is named Messier 94. It is an example of what is known as a spiral galaxy with a starburst ring. These types of galaxies are undergoing a high rate of star formation as compared to other types of galaxies. As an example, our own Milky Way is about 30 times slower than the typical starburst galaxy in star formation. Interestingly the star formation in one of these is so large that it consumes a huge amount of the interstellar gas and thus is consider just a “phase” in the galaxies evolution. The above bright ring, seen encircling the rest of the galaxy is called a “starburst ring.” It is the region of intense star formation. The galaxy is about 16 million light years away in the constellation of the Hunting Dogs or Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1781 and catalogued by Charles Messier two days later. Image credit: ESA/NASA. If you would like to learn more about the above image or starburst galaxies please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/a-hubble-view-of-starburst-galaxy-messier-94 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_94 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starburst_galaxy

“You build the best possible story from the information available to you and if it is a good story you believe it. Paradoxically it is easier to construct a coherent story when you know little, when there are fewer pieces to fit into the puzzle. Our comforting conviction that the world makes sense, rest on a secure foundation – our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance.” Daniel Kahneman

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 all of us!! I am still hoping that I can keep saying this for all of next year. I really, really mean that, especially if you are someone who has not gotten your vaccine. Go get it. There is no shame in waiting as long as you did. Just do it like the Nike ad says.

Looking at the numbers on January 6th, it appears, unfortunately, that in the last 30 days (December 6th to January 6th), we have added another 44,000 deaths – for a total of 855 thousand individuals. Up 8,000 individuals from the previous 30 days. In October and November we had started a downward trend but I am guessing the holidays and the advent of the Omicron variant has led to this increase. And of course the deaths are predominantly the unvaccinated. To say this is a senseless and tragic loss of life is an understatement.

The above image has not changed. It shows the top ten states with the most cases and deaths. California still leads the country with Texas trailing by a small margin. Florida is the mystery state. They seem to be reporting their new cases but have not reported more than a few hundred new deaths in the last 90 days. Every other state that has as many new cases as Florida with similar populations, has a significantly higher death count. So what is it with Florida? I am guessing it is due to the economic interests in the state. You want to make things seem rosier than what they actually are so that people will come and spend money. What is the old saying: “It’s nothing personal, it is just business.” The pandemic has defiantly been one of misinformation and incorrect reporting. I am guessing, but I bet the death count in Florida is a lot higher than what is being reported. So you don’t lie about it, you just leave the relevant information out.

By the first week of January new cases really started to sky rocket due to this variant. I don’t think people really wanted to hear this news and continued on as if nothing had changed. But by the middle of the month, we were adding over 800 thousand new case each day and the death count was back into the 2000 per day range. On January 15 total deaths for the US stood at 873 thousand. Or 18,000 new deaths in 9 days (from January 6th). More than 60 thousand deaths from December 6th! Unreal.

The news media has been playing down the Omicron variant as less severe, but that is not the case for the unvaccinated, those over 65, and the immunocompromised. Of course this includes kids that have not been vaccinated or are too young to get vaccinated. Unfortunately, Omicron is just as significant for these populations.

Nation wide we passed the peak of infection for Omicron at the first of January, but the increase in deaths and hospital utilization will not occur until the end of the month.

By the time of publishing, January 28th, the daily death count was well over the 3000 mark, and this includes states that are slow in reporting or fudging their numbers like Florida. So I am guessing that we are much, much higher. We were at 900 thousand total reported deaths at the time of publication. Or 45 thousand deaths in just 22 days. The only good news was that the number of daily new infections was heading in a downward trend. Hopefully we can keep this daily infection numbers headed in that direction.

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.

Ok that was enough about Covid! Time to move on to something much better to talk about! For the most part… Lol. I swear, it is one tragedy after another this year. Oh well, now to get on with it.

The month of December, like November, was another beautiful one for being outdoors here on the Front Range of Colorado. And again it was a very, very mild month. We really did not get any “winter like” weather until the last day of December. And that was not until later in the day.

This picture was taken on December 2nd, 2021 at about 2pm in the afternoon. Here Marvin and I were running in an open space behind Fort Collins called Pineridge Natural Area. This picture of Marvin says it all. I think that the temps that day were in the 60 to 70 degree range. Way too warm for the month of December!
This picture was taken on December 9th, 2021 at about 2pm in the afternoon. Here we were just finish up a walk in the neighborhood. Again, I think that the temps for this day were in the 50 degree range. Marvin with his “serious face” was watching another dog across the street.
This picture was taken on December 13th, 2021 at about 2pm in the afternoon. The temps were down in the 50 to 60 degree range with some clouds so I could run Marvin a little longer without having to worry that he would overheat. Here we are looking North from the Maxwell Natural Area. The lake in the background is Horsetooth Resivor.
This picture was taken on December 16th, 2021 at about 2pm in the afternoon. You are probably wondering where the snow came from since I already said it was a very mild month. Lol. Marvin and I had to go up into the mountains to find it. Here we are in the Roosevelt National Forest close to Cameron Pass, just off highway 14. I think the elevation at this location was about 10,000 feet. Even though there appears to be a lot of snow it really should be a little deeper for December. Never the less, it was a fun day on Snowshoes. And the snow did get better in January.
This picture was taken on December 19, 2021 at about 5:30pm in the evening. It is looking West across a pond in our neighborhood. Besides the beautiful colors reflected off the clouds, you can see Mount Meeker and Longs Peak in the background. They are in Rocky Mountain National Park. The air quality on the Front Range was great for December. There was enough wind to keep the atmosphere clean, so you could see the peaks in the distance. When you look at the above picture, the mountains you are seeing are about 40 miles distant in a straight line. Pretty cool.
This picture was taken on December 25th, 2021 at about 8pm. Happy Holidays from our Fort Collins family to yours!!
This picture was taken on December 27th, 2021 at about 3:30pm in the afternoon. Here Marvin and I were looking West from the top of Horsetooth Mountain Natural Area. While it looks cold, the temps were actually close to 50 degrees. And still no significant snow. Where we were standing is about 7500 feet and you can just see a tiny amount.
Wow! Finally! Lol. This picture was taken December 31st, 2021 at about 4pm in the afternoon. The first significant snowfall for the winter of 2021/22. The very last day of 2021. Crazy. Here Marvin and I were doing some walking in one of the parks.

Now for something that was not so great…

Thinking and writing about the past month of December 2021, I have come to realize that this is the longest dry spell for snow/rain, Janet and I have experienced here in Colorado, so far. We moved here in July of 1987, so almost 35 years ago. It does make me wonder what the future holds in store for citizens along the Front Range in a warming climate. I could have devoted a whole blog post to talking about the devastating fires that occurred in Boulder County on December 30th, 2021. Now called the Marshall Fire. When you think “fire danger” in Colorado, you think mountains and forest fires but this one did not happen in the mountains. It was out on the plains. I did not mention it in the above pictures, but that day I was actually running with Marvin in Horsetooth Mountain Park just west of Fort Collins. The temps were again in the 50 to 60 degree range. There was a high wind warning in effect for all of the Northern Front Range and this included where we were at. The crazy part is that we did not experience any significant wind, maybe 10 to 20 mph at best. While the areas that burned, were hit with 70 to 100 mph wind. I did not even realize there was a significant weather/fire event taking place just 40 miles away, until I heard it on the radio. Crazy. Where Marvin and I were, it was beautiful. Unusually warm, but it made for a beautiful day. Check out the picture below of Horsetooth Mountain Park looking Northeast across Fort Collins and compare it to the bottom two images from Boulder County – same day. Unreal.

This picture was taken on December 30th, 2021 at about 3pm in the afternoon. The day before it snowed. It is looking northeast from Horsetooth Mountain Park. Light winds. Nothing like the gale force winds just 40 miles to the south that fueled the Marshall Fire, destroying more than 990 structures/homes and parts of the towns of Superior, Louisville and unincorporated Boulder County. Just unreal.
This is an image from MAXAR Aerospace. The top panel shows a pre-fire image. The bottom panel is an afternoon image of the same area.
Early evening photo on December 30th, 2021 – provided by Boulder County showing the Marshall Fire. This is only about 40 miles from where I live.

If you did not know about the Marshall Fire on December 30th, 2021 in Boulder County check out this Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021%E2%80%932022_Boulder_County_fires#:~:text=On%20December%2030%2C%202021%2C%20shortly%20before%2010%3A30%20a.m.,permitting%20the%20Federal%20Emergency%20Management%20Agency%20to%20intervene.

There are a lot of reason why the Marshall Fire occurred, but a big contributing factor was how dry and warm it has been in Colorado for several years now. A good article to read on how a “warming climate” created the perfect conditions for the Marshall Fire is this one from the Climate Adaptation Center (CAC): https://www.theclimateadaptationcenter.org/2022/01/10/another-climate-catastrophy-the-boulder-colorado-fire/

It is written by Bob Bunting, who is the Chairman and CEO of the center. The CAC is an independent, non-profit organization headquartered in Sarasota, Florida. Their mantra is that if all carbon emissions stopped tomorrow, the increase in warming will not stop for another 100+ years. So how can we adapt to mitigate the disruptions that are occurring now and in the future. How can we help individuals, business and states adopt practices that will help to protect life and property. Check out this link to learn more about the CAC: https://www.theclimateadaptationcenter.org/about-us/

December was another good month for running and therefore good for reading. Ok – it is listening to audio books. Lol. So, I have a few books I would like to recommend.

The first one is called Real Zen for Real Life, by Bret W. Davis. He is a professor of philosophy and the T.J. Higgins, SJ, chair in philosophy at Loyola University. This is a great lecture series if you are interested in getting a deeper understanding of Zen. The lecture series is from the great courses, but it is much cheaper to get it on Amazon as audio only. The course is divided up into 24 lectures, each covering a different aspect of Zen and what it means to the Western audience. There is a lot of information to unpack so to speak from the lectures and this will be one of those courses I will go back and listen a second time or even a third time. One of the things that I found very helpful in my practice of Zen covered in the lecture series was the idea of “when sitting, ask yourself what are you leaving behind – not what you are getting out of the sitting.” We all have this tendency, myself included, to think we have to be getting something out of whatever we are doing. But in Zen it is the other way around – “What are we leaving behind, letting go of.” Not ignoring it, but inviting the feeling, the emotion, the whatever it is… IN. But after that, you leave it behind, let it go. This course is for both the beginner and the experienced practitioner of Zen. The great Courses Plus ( Now called Wondrium) has a good description of what each lecture covers and can be found here: https://www.wondrium.com/real-zen-for-real-life

Of course you can find the lecture series on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3GQKCPA

The next book I would like to talk about is another one by Yuval Noah Harari and is called 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. In the last Blog post I reviewed his book called Sapiens. Sapiens is an excellent book and should be required reading for all high school and college students before graduation. His second book is called Homo Deus. This one is his third book in the series. Of course, I listened to the book as an audio book but I am thinking it would work much, much better in traditional format. There is so much provocative information presented that I found myself going back and forth between chapters and listening again and again. While the first two books should be required reading for high school and college students, this one should be required reading for everyone that is in political office or some kind of advisory role. One of my favorite section of the book was his look at world religions. How they all feel they are the one true religion and all others are fictitious at worst or misguided at best. All I could think about is the line from George Carlin, “Someone is going to be disappointed.” Lol. The other part is how the combination of A.I. and Biotech is going to change the world in ways we will have a great deal of trouble wrapping our heads around. The book also looks at history, politics, religion, philosophy and so much more through the lens of how we invent stories to explain our reality, but then betray those very stories when we need to. Lol. A great book and again I think it would work better in traditional format so you can go back and forth between chapters.

Of course you can find it on Amazon at this link: https://amzn.to/3qPovUp

Last but not least, I would like to showcase a new piece of art work before I go. This is the second “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 2.”

This 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

Well I have come to the end of another blog post! Yea! I hope you enjoyed reading it. Of course before I go, I would like to give my usual spiel about Minimalism. A couple of weeks ago the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published an article about the record number and record cost of all the weather disasters in 2021. The article is pretty interesting and gives a good picture of how much a warming climate is costing us in lives and dollars. This should be a wake up call to us all. The part that I find fascinating is that we are in the “chaos” of the a changing climate right now. Not 20 years from now. It is actually happening right now.

The original article that contained the above graphic can be found here: https://www.noaa.gov/news/us-saw-its-4th-warmest-year-on-record-fueled-by-record-warm-december?fbclid=IwAR3uRq9xLaNPUMxyuoGKmZImJaeDIga7vB2mrkzL-NIKp9D7prKMCYIsmcE

So with that said, what can we do as individuals about it? How can we start to decrease our carbon footprint? One answer is minimalism. Become more minimalist. Buy less, buy long term, reuse or recycle before buying new. If you in the market for a new car in the next year or two – buy a hybrid or full electric. Cut your meat intake and go plant based. You will reduce your carbon footprint and be healthier in the process. Ride you bike to work or school if possible. Like to travel all the time? Ask yourself why? If you thinking about your next vacation as soon as your back from your current one, maybe it is past time to design a life you don’t need to escape from…

Being minimalist is not all black or all white way of life. There are shades of gray. 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 consumeristic system. A way to buy time for the planet and bring back the 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 are 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, Art, Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Economics, Exercise, Fort Collins, Minimalism, Pandemics, Science, Science Fiction, Space

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 26TH, NOVEMBER 2021

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“We are all just a car crash, a diagnosis, an unexpected phone call, a newfound love, or a broken heart away from becoming a completely different person. How beautifully fragile are we that so many things can take but a moment to alter who we are forever?”

Samuel Decker Thompson

This view from the International Space Station at an orbit of 274 miles shows a beautiful view of an aurora. While most auroras are often seen near the poles, they can appear at lower latitudes due to large coronal mass ejections from the sun. Other names for this phenomena are polar lights, northern lights, the aurora borealis, etc… These displays of light occur when charged particles from the sun strike atoms in the Earth’s atmosphere and temporarily move electrons to higher-energy orbits, further away from the nucleus. Then when the electrons moves back to a lower- energy orbit, they release a particle of light or photon. If you would like to learn more, please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/behold-an-aurora-over-the-southern-skies and https://www.nasa.gov/topics/shuttle_station/features/20110917-aurora.html and https://earthsky.org/earth/what-causes-the-aurora-borealis-or-northern-lights/

“Believe in your ability to become something great, but never allow yourself to believe that you already are.”

Samuel Decker Thompson

The above image from Hubble shows “globules” of interstellar gas free floating in space. You usually cannot see them but when new stars ignite, their intense ultraviolet radiation can ionize the cloud’s hydrogen and create a large, hot bubble of ionized gas. The name for these are “Free-floating Evaporating Gaseous Globules” or “frEGGs.” This image is also a picture of two giant stars. The one on the left is a giant O-type star and is very rare. They are known to be the hottest in the Universe. The one on the right is a massive supergiant B-type star. The frEGGs and stars seen in this picture are in a part of the Northern Coalsack Nebula. In popular media, the Coalsack Nebula is mentioned and used many times, Star Trek the original series, the movie Blue Lagoon, the animated series Futurama, the movie The Chronicles of Riddick and several books. If your interested to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/spotted-by-hubble-dark-star-hatching-freggs and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporating_gaseous_globule and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalsack_Nebula

“You haven’t truly learned the value of life until you’ve looked into the eyes of a loved one at the very moment they drifted away from it.”

Samuel Decker Thompson

This image was taken by the NASA’s Juno spacecraft. Juno was launched on August 5th, 2011 as part of the New Frontiers program. The New Frontiers program was developed to explore and understand more about our own solar system. The Juno’s mission is to measure Jupiter’s composition, gravitational and magnetic field, and polar magnetosphere, among other things. On it’s 36th low pass over Jupiter, it captured the view of the cloud bands and swirls in the planet’s mid-southern latitudes. The dark spot is a vortex that is roughly 250 miles in diameter or 400km. This image was actually created by a citizen scientist named Brian Swift using raw footage from the spacecraft. Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS. Image processing: Brian Swift © CC BY. If you would like to learn more, please check these links: Mocha Swirls in Jupiter’s Turbulent Atmosphere | NASA and Juno (spacecraft) – Wikipedia and https://www.nasa.gov/planetarymissions/newfrontiers.html

“The humans who have the most profound impact upon the lives of those around them are not the ones who buy the greatest gifts, they are not the ones with money and power, and they are not the ones with all the great connections. Instead, we must learn that those who will always make the biggest difference in a life are simply the ones who consistently take the time to show they care, even when it would be so much easier for them not to.”

Samuel Decker Thompson

This is an image of what is know as a remnant of a Type 1a supernova. The red colored ribbon like structures are strands of hot gas that were created by the death of a white dwarf star and subsequent explosion. It is officially known as DEM L249 and is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The LMC is a satellite dwarf galaxy of the Milky Way. The remnant is approximately 160,000 light years away in the constellation of Mensa. The image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA, ESA, and Y. Chou (Academia Sinica, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics); 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/2021/hubble-captures-the-shredded-remains-of-a-cosmic-explosion and http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/hubble-type-ia-supernova-remnant-dem-l249-10253.html and https://www.space.com/hubble-telescope-white-dwarf-supernova-image

“If someone isn’t going to love you for who you are, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, then find someone who will. You can’t waste away your beautifully precious life trying so desperately to be good enough for someone else. You need a love who always makes you feel you are good enough just as you are.”

Samuel Decker Thompson

This Hubble nebula image is an example of what is know as a “super-bubble.” In the upper central region there is a dark, starry gap. The hole is 250 light-years wide and it is not fully understood why it is there in the first place. But some believe that the hole was created by stellar winds expelled by massive stars in the bubble’s interior or by the titanic explosion of stars in the nebula. The nebula is named N44 and is filled with glowing hydrogen gas, dust, massive stars and many populations of stars of different ages. The nebula is located about 160 to 170 thousand light years away. It is located in LMC (Large Magellanic Cloud) and is about 1000 light years across. Image credit: NASA, ESA, V. Ksoll and D. Gouliermis (Universität Heidelberg), et al.; Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America). If you interested in more information please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/mysterious-superbubble-hollows-out-nebula-in-new-hubble-image and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N44_(emission_nebula)

“If the brutal callousness of this world still hasn’t broken you at least a little bit, then you might be part of the problem.”

Samuel Decker Thompson

Interested in who Samuel Decker Thompson is? Check out this link: https://www.facebook.com/ADudeWritingPoetry/?pnref=story and https://samueldeckerthompson.tumblr.com/

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 for all of us. I am still hoping that I can keep saying this for the rest of the year and the next. I really, really mean that, especially if you have not gotten your vaccine yet.

Looking at the numbers on November 6th it appears that we have added another 48,000 deaths (775,000 total) in the last 30 days?! While this is down 10,000 from the previous 30 days – I still find the numbers hard to fathom, it is just unreal. Imagine prior to the pandemic if we would have had an event that killed this same number of people in 30 days?! What would have been the media’s reaction? What would have been the government’s reaction? Oh well, the economic forces that drive the world seem not to care and life goes on or doesn’t for some.

Texas appears to be headed to the number one spot for deaths in the country due to Covid. They are only a few 100 deaths away from topping California. Florida is in third place, followed by New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio and Michigan for the top ten. Of course my question to all of this will be how high will it go?

Some want to say the pandemic is waning but I think that this is a little premature. Yes the numbers are dropping in the United States but we are not the entire world. There are millions, upon millions who have no access to vaccines even though they want them. This will give fuel to the Covid fire for a while and the subsequent threat of new variants.

On a much better note, it has now been about 11 months since I got the initial two doses of the Pfizer Vaccine for Covid and 3 months since I got the booster shot and there does not seem to be any side effects. Yea!

And the Pfizer vaccine has now been approved for kids 5 to 11 years old. This will give potential protection to 28 million children in the United States alone and allows providers to begin the process as soon as possible!

Another bit of good news is the potential approval of two new oral antivirals for Covid that appear to be highly effective in preventing severe disease. This first one is from Merck and Co, the second one is from Pfizer.

By the middle of the month we had climbed to 788 thousand deaths, that added another 13,000 give or take a few for the mid-month total. Texas was still neck and neck with California. And Florida had topped the 60,000 mark for deaths. My home states of Colorado had started to drop after significant increases in Covid cases over the last few months. But at the middle of the month we were down to less than 100 ICU beds available in the entire states and FEMA / DOD assistance was requested by the Governor to help with hospital staffing!

On a better note the the FDA approved the 3rd shot of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine for all adults over the age of 18! Yea!

By the time of publishing on Friday 26th, 2021 we were right at the 800,000 mark for deaths due to Covid. With most of the recent deaths due to the unvaccinated. And this my friends is a needless waste. Most of all of these were preventable. Oh well – what is the old saying? “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him or her drink.” Covid will burn through the unvaccinated, so expect more of this carnage. And that is just the way it is going to be.

Well again, enough about Covid! Time to move on and talk about something that is a lot better. And that was the month of October for being outdoors. It was beautiful and the air quality was fantastic. Can I say that again… Yes I can! The air quality was fantastic here on the Front Range of Colorado! Yea!

The above picture was taken on October 3rd, 2021 at about 8pm in the evening. A lot of our walks with Marvin are divided up into two parts. This started as a way to beat the heat and maximized air quality but it has worked out in some unexpected ways too. Marvin seems to do much better with two shorter walks than one long one and it allows Janet and I to get in at least one walk together each day.

The above picture was taken October 5th at about 3pm in the afternoon. I was riding my bike on this day. Colorado can be a bikers dream at times. Especially in the fall when you get cool, crisp windless days. Perfect bicycling weather. This picture is looking North West on the Poudre River. You can just see the leaves starting to turn.

The above picture was taken on October 8th, 2021 at about 12:20 in the afternoon. Here I am looking West by Southwest toward the Nokhu Crags and Cameron Pass. There was already a little bit of snow on them. In this picture Marvin and I were just below Montgomery Pass. Getting a little more hiking at elevation before the snow settles in.

The above picture was taken October 12th, 2021 at about 11:45am. This is in our own neighborhood. The combination of warm temperatures and lower wind speeds really created some beautiful leaf viewing in Fort Collins.

The above picture was taken on October 13th, 2021 at about 2:30pm in the afternoon. This is one of my favorite views from Horse Tooth Mountain Park. It is looking South towards Denver. Just another beautiful day on the Front Range.

The above picture was taken on October 15th, 2021, at about 6pm in the afternoon. The vibrancy of leaf color was incredible this year. We did not have much in the way of significant storms for October, so the leaves stayed on the trees longer.

The above two pictures were taken October 18th, 2021 at about 11am in the morning, in the open space areas behind Fort Collins. The top picture is of Janet and me and the bottom one is of my two oldest daughters, Kayla and Jean-Marie. Of course the dog pictured in the top one is Marvin and the dog pictured in the lower one is Kayla’s dog named Cash.

The above picture was taken on October 25th, 2021 at about 11:30am in the morning. It is looking West across a small pound at one of the dams that holds in Horsetooth Reservoir. I think that I could have made this whole section about leaf color this year. Pretty amazing.

The last picture was taken on October 29th, 2021, at about 6:30pm. It is of Janet and Marvin on our evening walk. Here we are in one of the many parks located in Fort Collins. We are lucky in that we don’t have to drive any where to get to most of these because they can be accessed by biking / walking trails. I truly consider myself fortunate in that we live in a city that has taken significant steps to insure this access over the years. The city I grew up in did not have anything like this kind of bicycle / pedestrian infrastructure. I have to ask myself what if all cities had a program like Fort Collins? How would that affect our health care system? I am guessing that giving people the access to get out and exercise would lower our health care cost significantly. We get so busy in our lives with all the day to day chores so to speak, that getting out to exercise, gets placed on the back burner. So eliminating a big obstacle to outdoor exercise (difficult access) might get more people out and walking. And this would most undoubtedly lead to an improvement in their overall health. Could something, dare I say, so simple, be world changing?! Maybe.

During the month of October I finished up several books that I feel are worth a review and a recommendation. The first one I would like to talk about is “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World” by Katharine Hayhoe. Let me start by saying that this is not your typical climate book in that it does not really go into great detail about the science of climate change. And believe it or not I think that is a good thing. The author Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist and professor of political science at Texas Tech University. She is also an Evangelical Christian. Let me say that again, she is an Evangelical Christian that is telling the world that climate change is real… So that piece right there is enough that you should want to read it. Katharine’s message in the book is “How to talk to people about Climate Change.” She gives numerous examples in her own life in which she had to find ways to connect with Conservatives on climate issues. By telling her own story she presents a frame work in which the rest of us can connect with others not only on the validity of climate science but other sensitive topics as well. I listened to this book as an audio book but it would work well in any format. Of course you can find it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3FzTk3T

If you would like to learn more about Katharine please see this link: http://www.katharinehayhoe.com/

The next one I would like to talk about is called “Work: A Deep History, from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots” by James Suzman. I got this book after quitting health care this past summer. I had reached a point that I was not able to provide the quality care I did in the past due hospital constraints on staffing related to the pandemic. The transition from being in health care for 40 years to quitting raised some interesting questions.

A few for me, before I purchased the book, were how did we get to our current “work” system. Not just in health care but in all of life. Have you ever wondered who made up the rules? How have they changed over time? Why are we so willing to sacrifice our lives for a little bit of extra money? Why do we need work to feel fulfilled? Etc… So when I looked up the author, Dr. James Suzman (he is an anthropologist) I thought this guy might give me the answers or at the very least steer me in the right direction. Let me say I was not disappointed. You not only get a broad history of work over the ages, but also how it has been changed by technological development over time. I found the parts about the hunter/gather tribes very interesting. Especially the idea about how they were able to meet their needs with very little effort in some circumstances, leaving the rest of the day to leisure time. (Working a lot less than we do in modern society) I listened to this book as an audio book, but I found myself going back and re-listening to sections. So it might work better in traditional format. Either way it is a great book. Of course you can find it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3cGWNkx

If you interested about the author please check out this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Suzman and https://amzn.to/3nCshyx

The next one is an old one but a good one and if you have not read it… This is one, you need to add to your reading list. It is called “Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.” One of my college degrees is in Wildlife Biology with a minor in Environmental Science, and I am ashamed to say that I had never read this pivotal book on the state of the environment in the 1950s and 60s. It was originally published in 1962, the year I was born. So 59 years later I felt it was about time.

Let me say that I had to listen to the book in short sections – it was that disturbing to me. Carson eloquently tells the story of the wide spread use of insecticides / herbicides and their devastating consequences on other living organism in the environment, including humans. Each time I listened to a section of the book I came away with the question “How the hell did we not all die due to this rampant and blatant over use of these chemicals.” This is truly the book that sounded the alarm and woke up Americans to what was happening right in their own backyards. Now, some might think that the book is not relevant today but I would have to disagree. Case in point – Back in 2018 there was talk in the Trump administration to bring back DDT, one of the worst pesticides, in Carson’s book. Even though it had been banned for decades for the adverse effects on wildlife, including humans, the “ideocracy” was so prevalent in that administration there was a “thought” to let it come back.

I listened to the book as an audio book but it would work well in any format. And of course you can find it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2ZdU27k

If you want to learn more about Rachel Carson please see this link: Rachel Carson, The Life and Legacy

The last one I would like to recommend is a piece of Science Fiction by Arthur C. Clarke called “Childhood’s End.” This book was written in the 1950s. Even so the story is as relevant today as it was back then. There was even a miniseries on the SiFi channel back in 2015 (I have not watched it). To say the book is thought provoking is a little bit of an understatement – And this is the main reason I am giving it a recommendation. But, let me say right off, I found it a little cynical and bleak. I feel that some of this darkness in the story line has to come from the Cold War era. After all, we are all a product of the times we live in and Clarke was not immune. Due to this, some are going to like the book a lot and some are not, because of the pessimism in the story. To be honest, I liked the book but it was not one of my Wow favorites. When it comes down to the wire so to speak, the story is more of analytical look at humanity and what the future could be. I listened to the book as an audio book but it would work well in any format. Of course you can find it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/32xrw1V

If you would like to learn more about Arthur C. Clarke please see this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke

Well, again last but not least, I would like to showcase a couple of pieces of art work before I go. They are pen and ink with a little water color thrown in – drawings of Jesus of Nazareth, except I have given them a little more of my own personal interpretation. I call them Jesus of Borg or LGBT SiFi Jesus. Now if you are not a Star Trek fan you might not know who the Borg are in the series. But in a nutshell they are cybernetic organisms linked in a hive mind called “The Collective.” They are known to assimilate others into their collective whether they want it or not. If you are interested check out this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg

I decided to do these pieces over anger of the Texas GOPs enactment of the draconian anti-abortion law.  I have three adult daughters and while they might not agree on whether it is right or wrong to get an abortion, they all agree that it is “their right” to choose. And I agree with them. So that is how the project started out but it morphed into something a little different. Did you know that there are at least 10,000 different denominations of Christianity in the world. Of course some say this number is much higher but I figure 10,000 is a safe estimate. Knowing this I thought why not make up my own Jesus?! A lot of other people have. So I did! And what I came up with was a bad ass LGBT SiFi Jesus. A Jesus that would assimilate all other Jesuses, even Republican Jesus, into a hive mind and create an accepting and loving collective for all people and all religions. In Star Trek, the Borg are considered the enemy but in my version I have turned it around and made “Jesus of Borg” the good guy, the savior.

This drawing is done in pen an ink with a little water color thrown in and is protected with a traditional picture frame and glass. It measures approximately 12 inches wide by 15 inches tall.

“Jesus or Borg”

The next one is done in pen and ink with a little water color thrown in but instead of being protected in traditional frame and glass it is mounted to painted white board and coated with Mod Podge. It measures approximately 11 inches wide by 14 inches tall. When hanging it is about 22 inches tall.

“Jesus or Borg #2”

These pieces and others 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!! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Before I go, I would like to talk some about the COP26 climate summit. It ended about a week or so ago and now, we all wait and see if the world’s countries implement the commitments they have made. Hopefully it will happen.

One of the things that I have been looking forward to is the increase in the use of electric cars. Personally, we already own a Toyota Prius Prime that is a gas hybrid and it is fantastic for driving around town. If you start off fully charged you rarely run out of battery juice. Over the last few years this has greatly decreased our gas use and that is a very good thing. Especially with prices as high as they are right now. I am putting off buying any new vehicles for now unless they are fully electric or a gas / diesel hybrid. There is just something about not having to be dependent on filling up at the pump each week that is very satisfying.

So if everyone switched to EVs will that save the planet?! Simple answer is NO. The COP26 climate summit might be one of the last chances to head off a warming environment but electric vehicles (EVs), as much as I like them, will not get us there. EVs are still cars and trying to sell the public that once they switch to an EV, then all will be good – is a disservice in the least and an out right lie at the worst. In past blog posts I have talked about being minimalist and if we want to save the human world then I am going to make that same case again. Believe it or not becoming more minimalist is right in accord with decreasing our carbon footprints.

Some that were at the conference feel that the politicians did not really hit the nail on the head so to speak. EVs are still cars and as cars they will create the same issues that have led to an unstainable lifestyle in our cities and urban areas. They make it possible to put greater and greater distances between the places we live, work, shop and play. Developing land into parking lots, shopping malls, low-density housing, new roads, etc… uses incredible amounts of limited resources. It is not an efficient use of water, sewerage, electricity and public transportation. And selling EVs as a way to keep the status quo is not the answer.

So what is the answer(s)? The answer or answers are to bring all the different land uses closer together to make it possible to live, work, shop and play in your own neighborhood so to speak. It is about biking and walking access. It is about a more robust public transportation system. It is about creating a lifestyle in which the emphasis is not on “more stuff” but on improvement of self. It is about becoming minimalist. Life on a warming planet will have to change if we want to survive. Why not make it something for the better.

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, Art, Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Economics, Exercise, Fort Collins, Minimalism, Pandemics, Science, Space, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 29TH, OCTOBER 2021

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“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.” Douglas Adams

The above image show two galaxies that are about 100 million light years from earth. The lower one is named NGC 5953 and the upper one is called NGC 5954. They are both spiral galaxies. The reason they look a little different is their orientation in relation to the earth. Together they are known as Arp 91. The image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. These two are located in the constellation Serpens in the northern hemisphere. They were first discovered on April 17th, 1784 by the German-born astronomer William Herschel. They are a great example of galactic interaction due to each others gravity. Astronomers believe that collisions between spiral galaxies are common and lead to the formation of elliptical galaxies. The time scale that this takes place is over hundreds of millions of years. Image credit:  ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton; Acknowledgment: J. Schmidt. If you want to learn more about these two please check out there links: Hubble Detects a Dangerous Dance | NASA and http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/arp-91-interacting-galaxies-10128.html and Serpens – Wikipedia

“A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely fool proof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.” Douglas Adams

This is an artist’s conception of what a “Rogue Planet” might look like. These planets are called by various names: an interstellar, a nomad, a free-floating, an unbound, an orphan, a wandering planet, a starless planet, or a sunless planet. They are interstellar objects of planetary mass and are floating in free space. Not attached to any planetary system or star. Many in the astronomy field believe that there may be more than we realize but up until recently our planet hunting techniques have not been able to detect them very well. Currently the best way is what is know as a MOA or Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics. This survey scanned the central bulge of our galaxy using the 5.9 foot or 1.8 meter telescope at Mount John University Observatory in New Zealand. The researches recorded 474 incidents of microlensing, ten of which were possible Jupiter size planets. From this observation it is thought that there are two Rogue Planets for every star in the Milky Way. NASA plans to gather more data about Rogue Planets with the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope in the mid-2020s. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. If you interested in more information please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/a-jupiter-like-rogue-planet-wanders-alone-in-space and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microlensing_Observations_in_Astrophysics and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_planet and https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/the-nancy-grace-roman-space-telescope

“A learning experience is one of those things that says, You know that thing you just did? Don’t do that.” Douglas Adams

This is an image of the planet Neptune and was taken by the Voyager 2 space craft in August of 1989. In this view you can see the storm in Neptune’s atmosphere called the “Great Dark Spot.” Astronomers discovered Neptune in September of 1846 by using mathematical calculations of it’s predicted position and a telescope. This is the 8th planet in our solar system and the fourth-largest by diameter. It is about 17 earth masses. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. If you would like to learn more please see this link: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/discovering-neptune and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptune

“The quality of any advice anybody has to offer has to be judged against the quality of life they actually lead.” Douglas Adams

This is an image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope of the galaxy called NGC 1052-DF2. It made big news in 2019 because researchers were able to ascertain that this galaxy contains almost no dark matter. It was first discovered in 2015 by the dragonfly telescope array. To refresh your memory dark matter is a hypothetical form of invisible matter or substance that typically dominates the makeup of galaxies. It is thought that 85% of the matter in the universe is dark matter. So to find a galaxy without any was a very big deal to say the least. Dark matter is called dark because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not absorb, reflect or emit electromagnetic radiation of any kind. Therefore it is very difficult to detect. ( It is thought to be there or not there by a variety of astrophysical observations, including gravitational effects that cannot be explained by accepted theories of gravity unless more matter is present than can be seen. ) Because researchers did not find it here in this galaxy it makes it more likely that it is real and not less. A second galaxy with very little dark matter was found in that same area and named DF4. This discovery created a new class of galaxies called ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs). They are as big as our Milky Way but have between 100 to 1000 times fewer stars, making them appear fluffy and translucent. Image credit: NASA, ESA, and P. van Dokkum (Yale University) If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/a-ghostly-galaxys-lack-of-dark-matter and https://www.keckobservatory.org/df2-df4/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly_Telephoto_Array

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.” Douglas Adams

This is an image of what is know as a supernova remnant. The image was created with the Hubble Space Telescope and is denoted N 63A. It is located in a part of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The LMC is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way and is located about 160,000 light years away. N 63A is the remains of a massive star that exploded and ejected it gaseous layers out into space. This picture is a color representation of data taken in 1997 and 2000 with Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. Color filters were used to show light emitted by oxygen (shown in blue), hydrogen (shown in green) and sulfur (shown in red). Image credit: NASA/ESA/HEIC and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). If you would like to learn more about the above image please visit these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/like-monsters-in-the-sky and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Magellanic_Cloud and https://esahubble.org/news/heic0507/

“Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.” Douglas Adams

Douglas Noel Adams was an author, screen writer, essayist, humorist, satirist and dramatist. He was the author of the famous book: “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” which sold more than 15 million copies around the world. To learn more about this talented individual who died way too soon please see this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams Photo credit by Michael Hughes from Berlin, Germany

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

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 for all of us. I am still hoping that I can keep saying this for the rest of the year and the next. I really mean that, especially if you are still on the fence about getting vaccinated.

What can I say, the virus is back and it is mainly a virus of the unvaccinated. I started this months blog post on October 6th and when I checked the numbers I was saddened to learn that we added 58,000 deaths in the last 30 days for a total of 727,000. (September 6th to October 6th)

The month before it was 36,000 and the month before that, about 20,000 and in June it was 9,000. Can you see the pattern? Each month starting towards the end of June we exponentially added more and more infections and deaths. A total of about 115,000 deaths between June 6th to October 6th. Unreal. Again my question will be: How high will it go?

It has now been about 10 months since I got the initial two doses of the Pfizer Vaccine for Covid and 2 months since I got the booster shot and there does not seem to be any side effects. It sounds like the booster shot is going to eventually be recommended to everyone 12 years and older here in the United States. I am not sure why the CDC and the FDA have been dragging there feet on this but other countries like Israel ( 12 and older) and the UK ( 50 and older) have already made this jump. In Israel you are not considered fully vaccinated until you have had the third shot. Interesting to say the least.

By the middle of the month, October 15th, we were at 744 thousand deaths or another 17 thousand deaths in just 9 days. Truly this just seems unreal when I think about it. Why is there not outrage, sorrow and significant concern on a daily basis in the political arena, the media, etc… It is fascinating to watch the local news talk about how the ICUs here in Colorado are filled to capacity. That there is a shortage of nurses. That doctors are tired and thinking about quitting. That the largest increase in Covid cases in Colorado besides unvaccinated adults are unvaccinated kids in the 7 to 11 range… But then in the next breath there is a lively and up beat news piece on the upcoming Bronco game and about how the stands are filled to capacity or the recent Colfax marathon and how many people were going to show up. And I think to myself that these are Covid Super Spreader events. How many people will go home from these events with Covid and eventually die or develop long Covid or spread it to others? Of course this is not just Denver but is happening across the country in just about every major city. It feels like the “economic powers that be” do not care if you live or die as long as it does not affect their bottom line.

Two days before publishing, October 27th, the death toil was at 762,000. Even though the numbers have been trending down, that is an increase 35,000 deaths from starting this blog, 21 days ago. And we were still adding 60,000 to 80,000 new cases each day. Mainly the “unvaccinated.” Oh well what are you going to do?????

On a better note, The Pfizer Covid Vaccine was approved for kids 5 to 11!! Yea!!

Well, the fourth wave of Covid has crashed upon the USA and is now on the wane with most of the morbidity and mortality due to the unvaccinated. Unfortunately there are still about 70 million in this country that have not gotten the shot… We are making progress but not fast enough. Thanksgiving is just around the corner, not to mention Halloween, and there is some thought there will be a fifth wave. But it will be a much more “localized” event(s), mainly affecting the states without mandates and / or low vaccination rates. If your interested check out this site by the KFF: https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/latest-data-on-covid-19-vaccinations-by-race-ethnicity/

Another good article on why the predictability (will there be a 5th wave) with Covid is difficult can be found on MedPage Today. You can check it out at this link: Delta on the Decline? Not So Fast | MedPage Today

Well enough about Covid! Time to move on to something else! The last two weeks of September and the first couple of weeks of October have been fantastic for running or getting out for any kind of exercise. Yea! The wildfires out in California had run their course, especially the big one around Lake Tahoe and this made a dramatic improvement in the quality of air here in Colorado. Of course this did not really work out for my ultrarunning plans, but it is OK. I am glad to have the clean air. It is of interest that in the middle of October, California was still having major fire issues. The Alisal Fire was at 13,000 acres and being fueled by strong winds. It was located in Santa Barbara County in the Los Padres National Forest. Luckily it was not causing air quality issues in Colorado because the winds were blowing it along the California Cost toward Los Angeles, San Diego and eventually out to sea. Of course by the end of the month the “Bomb Cyclone” had hit Cali and fires were not an issue anymore. Lol. Or at least for now.

The above picture was taken on September 9th, 2021 at about 7:30pm in the evening. It was still pretty warm during the month of September and we kept the habit of walking Marvin in the morning and again later in the evening. The county we live in had one of the warmest Septembers on record. Actually, I think that most of Colorado had a pretty warm September.

The above picture was taken on September 14th, 2021 at about 2:45pm in the afternoon. This was a picture looking toward what I believe is Cameron Peak at 12, 000 feet in the Rawah Wilderness. The air quality was excellent for the day and Marvin and I had a great time.

The above picture was taken on September 16th, 2021 at about 1:15pm in the afternoon. It was another beautiful day for air quality and Janet and I were up doing a trail / road called Michigan ditch. Here I am looking at Nokhu Crags at 12,484 feet. Just below these peaks are a couple of lakes called the American Lakes.

The above picture was taken on September 22nd, 2021 at about 4:30pm in the afternoon. Here I am looking North from the top of a hogback hill in the Pine Ridge Open Space in Fort Collins. Instead of running on this day I was out biking. By this time I had well over 2000 miles of running and walking for the year and felt that doing a little biking would be good for the body and mind.

The above picture was taken on September 30th, 2021 at about 2:30pm in the afternoon. It was finally a cool afternoon and Janet and I decided to walk Marvin a little further than usual and took him down to the river. This was along the Poudre Bike Trail in Fort Collins.

The above picture was taken on October 2nd, 2021 at about 11:45am. Marvin and I were taking advantage of the beautiful weather and clean air to get up above timberline on Montgomery Pass. This is looking West towards Cameron Pass and the Nokhu Crags. There was already a little bit of snow on the higher peaks!

The “Marvin walks” while not as exercise intensive as just running, have allowed quit a bit of “audio book” listening. Here are a couple I would like to review. They are great ones to add to your reading list.

The first one I would like to review and recommend is “A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century” by Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein. I came across this book while looking for Steven Pinker’s new book called Rationality. And I am really glad that I did. What an interesting perspective on our modern society and how it relates to our evolutionary past. The authors draw on years of teaching at the college level and combine it with their vast experience of being out in some of the Earth’s most unique environments. They take all of this experience and apply it to where we are in society at the moment and help the reader to understand some of the paradoxes we see with our contemporary world.

I liked this book so well that I listened to it twice. It was that good. I specially liked the sections on “hyper novelty” and the “sustainability crisis.” In my opinion this hits the nail right on the head so to speak. Enovation is moving at warp speed and trying to get our Paleolithic brains wrapped around this fact is what has led to a lot of the problems we see today. The “sustainability crisis” is one that is only going to get worse as time moves along. We have lived and moved to every part of the globe since time immortal. As the authors points out – growth is in our DNA. So the issue becomes where do we go from here? One of their solutions was developing a “stead state economy” and I really like this idea. But in my honest opinion it is only a stop gap measure. Now that we have completely “tamed” all corners of the earth the only real solution (the author’s do not suggest it) is to go up – into space. But that is a topic for another time.

I got this book as an audio book, but it would work well in any format. If I did it again I would have probably gotten it as a traditional book. I found myself listening to a section, stopping and thinking about it, and then going back and listening again. A very thought provoking book. Of course you can find the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hunter-Gatherers-Guide-21st-Century-Challenges/dp

Heather and Bret are both evolutionary biologists.

The next one I would like to review and recommend is “The Butterfly Effect: Insects and the Making of the Modern World” by Edward D. Melillo. I first heard about this fascinating book from an NPR interview with the author. Most of us realize that insects are essential for things like pollination and as a food source in some countries but most of us (myself included) had no idea that they have played a much more significant role in our lives.

The author does an excellent job in telling the historical story of silk worm cultivation and how important this development was in the ancient and modern world. Another one is the use of the lac insects to produce “lac” which is used to make shellac. Besides being used as a wood finish, lac is also used in polishes, inks, electrical insulation, cosmetics, lubricants, sealants and more. A third one that I did not know about was the use of cochineal scale insects to make the bright red pigment carmine. This has been made into dyes for clothing, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and food coloring to name a few uses. There are several other fascinating insect examples in the book.

The author not only gives you a good understanding of the why and how these insects are used – but he also includes a historical perspective of the influence these insects have had in human society and culture. Insect cultivation has been a significant player in the development of civilization prior to the introduction of synthetics.

I listened to this book as an audio book but I am thinking it might work better in tradition format so that you can easily reference material that you have previously read. Of course the book can be found on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Butterfly-Effect-Insects-Making-Modern/dp

The last one I would like to review and recommend is called “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir. If you liked “The Martian” and “Artemis” by Weir I think that you will like this one too. The main character in this book is a lot like the main character in the Martian and the story line reads very similar. Of course the book is Science Fiction but there is a lot of real science mixed in. Your inner nerd is going to like this book. Lol.

In a nut shell the main character Ryland wakes up without any idea of who he is or where he is or how he got into space in the first place. In the process of figuring all this out he finds that he is in a desperate race to save humanity.

I would have to say that there is a little more SiFi in this book than in the previous two. But I did not find that detracting from the story at all. In fact it really made me stop and wonder if some of the speculative fiction will eventual be something proved to be true in some form or fashion in the future. It is one of those books that makes you go – hmmm I never thought of it that way.

I listened to the book as an audio book but it would work great in any format and can be found on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Project-Hail-Mary/dp

Well last but not least I would like to showcase one piece of newly finished art work. This is done in pen and ink, mounted on painted white board and sealed with mod podge. It measures 7.25 inches wide and is 10.25 inches tall. When hanging it the overall length is about 15 inches.

I did this one as tribute to all the women I have worked with over the years in the health care profession. In the famous words of the founder of the Leadville 100: “You’re better than you think you are. You can do more than you think you can.” – Ken Chlouber.

You don’t have to be an ultrarunner to get this quote. We are all a lot stronger than we realize and meditation can help us to find that strength and resolve when things get tough.

Om Shakti

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

Well look at that! I have come to the end of another blog post and before I close, I want to say again…. if you have not thought about “Minimalism” you should. Our growth at all cost culture IS NOT SOMETHING our children and grand children are going to look back on in the future with fondness and admiration. Remember that scene at the end of the Planet of the Apes movie (1968) when the character Taylor (played by Charlton Heston) makes the quote: “You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!” In this scene Taylor is lamenting the fate of the human race when he delivers this quote. Of course in the movie the environmental catastrophe is caused by nuclear war but could have occurred for any number of other reasons.

How much destruction can our environment take? How much indiscriminate pillaging of the planet’s natural resources can occur before something breaks? The question is not whether the earth will survive but will humanity. That is the question. Will humanity survive?

The current economic model of growth for growth’s sake is not sustainable. If we want to keep the earth habitable for humanity we need a different way of doing things. One way to do this might be to create what is know as a “Steady-state Economy.” It is a way to balance intelligent growth with environmental integrity. Let me say that again – to balance growth with environmental integrity. What it is NOT is growth for growth’s sake policy. This could provide us with a temporary solution until technology catches up and gets us off planet and out in to the vast reaches of space.

Great sounding words but you may be asking how does one go about doing this? Well, one way we can do this on an individual level is to become Minimalist. Minimalism is essentially a steady state economy on a personal scale.

And a good way to start this process on a personal level is with a period of de-growth. Stuff is stuff and you can have too much of it. Just like food. Too much of a good thing is going to cause problems. Cut out the empty calories so to speak by buying less and making good decisions on what you buy. Buy used when possible, pass it on when you are done with it, care for the stuff you already have, and if you absolutely have to buy new – look for durability, fixability, sustainable, and ethically made products that will last for years. Become the change you want to see.

Ok, enough of the soap box but if you interested and want to learn more please visit these sites: 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