Category Archives: Meditation

Air Quality, Art, Book Review, Cameron Peak Fire, Climate Change, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Environment, Exercise, Fort Collins, Meditation, Pandemics, Science, Space, Trail Running, Wildfire

MUSINGS FOR JUNE and JULY 2023

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“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi

This is an image from the Hubble Space Telescope and it is of the galaxy named JO206. This galaxy is more than 700 million light years from earth in the constellation Aquarius. To the right of the main “galaxy cluster” are tail like structures that are created as the main body moves through the intracluster medium. This is another example of what is known as ram-pressure stripping. Or as the galaxy moves though the medium, parts are pulled away creating the strands. These strands are long drawn out areas of star formation. These type of galaxies are called Jellyfish galaxies due to their shape. Hubble has looked at these type of galaxies to give astronomers a better understanding of star formation. Interestingly, HST observations have shown that there is no significant difference between star formation in the galaxy disc and star formation in the long strands, suggesting that the environment created by newly formed stars does not have as much influence in the strand formation itself. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2023/hubble-observes-a-cosmic-sea-creature and https://phys.org/news/2023-06-image-hubble-jellyfish-galaxy-jo206.html and https://scitechdaily.com/hubbles-final-gaze-unraveling-the-mysteries-of-jellyfish-galaxies/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_pressure

Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Gullieuszik and the GASP team

“It’s only after you’ve stepped outside your comfort zone that you begin to change, grow, and transform.” Roy T. Bennett

This is an image of another jellyfish galaxy. This one is name JW39 and is about 900 million light years from earth. It is located in the constellation Coma Berenices. The name means “Berenice’s Hair” and refers to the Egyptian Queen Berenice II who lived 269 to 221 BCE. The story is she donated a lock of her hair for the safe return of her husband Ptolemy III after he set forth to avenge the murder of his sister. A court astronomer told people the lock of hair had been transferred to heaven, where it formed a new constellation and hence the name Coma Berenices.

The long tendril like structures of star formation are again due to the movement of the galaxy through the intracluster medium. Adding to this, JW39 is also located in a galaxy cluster. Being in the cluster, it is subject to a much more hostile environment caused by the gravitational pull of its larger neighbors. This increased gravitational force can twist galaxies in to different shapes. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2023/hubble-captures-a-drifting-galaxy and https://www.britannica.com/biography/Berenice-II and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coma_Berenices and https://www.sci.news/astronomy/hubble-image-jellyfish-galaxy-jw39-11932.html

Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Gullieuszik and the GASP team

“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” Joseph Campbell

This is an image of the globular cluster NGC 6544 and was created by the Hubble Space Telescope. Globular clusters are balled shaped collections of stars all held together by gravity. They can contain 10s of thousands to millions of stars. Some of these clusters contain some of the oldest known stars in the galaxy. This one contains what is known as a pulsar. These are rotating neutron stars that emits beams of electromagnetic radiation out of their poles. These beams can only be observed on earth when a beam is pointing directly at earth, creating a “pulsed” observation. This combined with the rotation is what gives these neutron stars their name. NGC 6554 is present in the constellation of Sagittarius and is about 8 to 9 thousand light years from earth. The first time this cluster was observed was by William Herschel in 1784. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2023/hubble-glimpses-a-glistening-cluster and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globular_cluster and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_6544

Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Lewin, F. R. Ferraro

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

This is an image of what is known as the Smiling Cat Nebula and was made using data from the VLT Survey Telescope. This telescope is located at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. It is part of the ESO (European Southern Observatory) in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. VLT is just one of several telescopes on site. The telescope is mapping the southern sky in visible light and uses a 256 million pixel camera that is very good at taking wide field images.

The official name of the above nebula is Sh2-284. It is located about 15,000 light years from earth in the constellation Monoceros. The nebula is about 150 light years across or about 1400 trillion kilometers or 870 trillion miles. Images like the above have helped astronomers and astrophysicists better understand the life cycle of stars in our Milky Way galaxy. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2309/ and https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/telescopes/vst.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLT_Survey_Telescope and https://phys.org/news/2023-06-cat-sh2-nebula-captured-image.html

Image credit: European Southern Observatory

“People don’t believe what you tell them. They rarely believe what you show them. They often believe what their friends tell them. They always believe what they tell themselves.” Seth Godin

The above images were created by the James Webb Space telescope. The images are from the Orion Nebula. The largest one was made using Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). In the upper right, the telescope is focused on a smaller area using the Mid-Infrared camera. And it shows a young star system with a protoplanetary disc named d203-506. The bottom right image is a combination of both cameras of the same area but highly magnified. The distance from earth is about 1350 light years. The star is a red dwarf and is only about one tenth the mass of earth.

What is significant about this star and it’s disc? Well, for the first time, scientist have discovered the signature of methyl cation (CH3+) in a protoplanetary disc surrounding a young star. This methyl molecule does not react readily with hydrogen but does with a host of other more complex carbon based molecules. And this has potentially huge implications for extraterrestrial life, since carbon forms the bases for all known life on earth. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://esawebb.org/news/weic2315/?lang and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methyl_group and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenesis

Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), the PDRs4All ERS Team

A philosopher once asked, “Are we human because we gaze at stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?” Pointless, really… “Do the stars gaze back?” Now, that’s a question.” Neil Gaiman

Image credit: EHT Collaboration (Event Horizon Telescope)

This is the first image of a black hole and was created using a network of eight radio telescopes across the world. Collective they were given the name: The Event Horizon Telescope. It was taken in 2019. The scientist chose the black hole in the galaxy named Messier 87 or M87 for short. The galaxy is one of the most massive in the local neighborhood so to speak. In comparison, it is 51 percent larger than our galaxy, the Milky Way. The galaxy is located in the constellation Virgo.

The telescopes that were used were not physically connected but were able to synchronize their data streams with atomic clocks, which precisely timed their observations. The data was fed into supercomputers known as correlators, one at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and one at the MIT Haystack Observatory, and between the two the data was combined and eventually turned into an image.

The black hole in M87 was chosen for the fist image due to its incredible mass. It is approximately 6.5 billion times the mass of our own sun. Let me say that again, it is 6.5 billion times the mass of our own sun. The image below was taken years ago by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and with the added insets it gives you some idea of the location of the super massive black hole.

If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1907a/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_87 and https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/the-giant-galaxy-around-the-giant-black-hole

This wide-field image of the galaxy M87 was taken by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. The top inset shows a close-up of two shockwaves, created by a jet emanating from the galaxy’s supermassive black hole. The Event Horizon Telescope recently took a close-up image of the silhouette of that black hole, show in the bottom inset.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” 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 and so have I!! Yea for both of us again!! Hopefully you are not one of the 16 million Americans with some form of long Covid.

Well where are we with Covid? Who knows!? Lol. No, really it is a bit difficult to tell what is going on for now. Looking at the waste water sites around the country, the first week or two of the month (June) saw some increase. Places like Dallas Texas, parts of Arkansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, New York, etc… There were no increasing concentrations of virus out West for the most part. Or another way to look at it, by June 5th there were 22% of waste water sites reporting significant increases but mainly on the eastern side of the country. Hospital admissions were down as were deaths. All a good thing.

By the end of June, deaths had gone up a bit and there was some speculation that by the end of the year we would still see about 80,000 plus deaths caused by Covid in 2023. That number is not as big as the previous years but still – that is 80,000 extra deaths in this country alone. And most of them will have been preventable. People not vaccinated, or boosted, the immunocompromised taking unnecessary risks, providers not understanding the need for antivirals and how to give them, people thinking the pandemic is over, etc…. Oh well, what are you going to do?

Also at the end of June there was a new Covid variant that the CDC started to track a little more closely. It is EU.1.1 and is an XBB sublineage related to the XBB.1.5. Interesting enough, the intermountain west (specifically Utah) was the leading state with cases from this subvariant. At the first of July , XBB.1.5 was still the leading variant nationwide with about 27 percent of cases across the country. The new one, EU.1.1 was first discovered in the Netherlands and Germany and now makes up about 2% of cases in the US, mainly in the intermountain west. Of course, it is still too early to know if this variant will cause any additional problems. If your interested what the CDC is tracking for variants here is the link: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions

By the end of the July in the US, it was estimated that there were still about 80 people dying each day from the virus or another way to look at it: less than one percent of overall daily deaths. Most of these deaths were from people that were both older and more likely to be unvaccinated. While not zero, this is good news. And most of the progress is thought to be from three factors. One, is that about three quarters of the US adult population have received at least one vaccine shot. Two, about the same number of Americans have been infected, giving them natural immunity. And three, the antivirals like Paxlovid, have become widely available this past year. With all of this said, is the pandemic truly over? It really depends on who you ask and if you are speaking locally or globally. The bottom like is that Covid could come roaring back because not all countries are able to prevent, test and treat equally. We are a very mobile society of humans at this time and it gives us the inadvertent ability to spread a new variant with ease. Think of it as a smoldering fire that could be fanned up at anytime. I guess time will tell in the coming months whether it is truly over or not.

Note: At the time of publishing this blog, there had been a significant increase in Covid cases and hospital admissions. While not as big of an infection wave as in the previous summers, it does warrant watching and maybe avoiding some of the crowded, poor ventilation activities we are so fond of, unless your willing to wear an N95 or KN95 mask. For now it is a wait and see type of situation.

Here are the links if you are interested in more information from the remaining reliable sources. I have included the CDC waste water reporting section. It gives the best estimate if Covid is increasing in your area, but remember it is a week or two behind what is actually going on: https://www.youtube.com/c/OsterholmUpdateCOVID19 and https://www.youtube.com/c/VincentRacaniello and https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/wastewater-surveillance/index.html

June and July were good months for getting outside, at least for June. This was due to what is known as an “Omega Block” or persistent High Pressure in the Norther plains. Because of this, we escaped most of the wildfire smoke for the month of June and July. Think of it like a big sign wave in the center of the country with the upper part over the Northern plains and troughs on either side, one on the West Coast and one on the upper East Coast. We got a lot of moisture in the form of rain at lower elevations and snow up at the highest elevations. (the snow was pretty much done by July) The low on the upper East Coast kept most of the smoke up there. But of course there is a downside, as there always is, the warmer temps increased the number of ozone action days in the afternoons. Especially in July. At least it was not ozone and particulates together like last year! That created true smog.

I believe that Denver set a record for the month with over 6 inches of rain. This would make it the wettest June since 1882. And the mountains continued to get snow at the highest of elevations. This time last year Marvin and I were already running some of the high pass areas in our neck of the woods so to speak. But this year was a totally different story with a significant amount of snow still up high at the end of June. Of course this is a good thing for the forest but inconvenient for trail running. Lol. Now with all that said, it was not as rosy for the whole state. The southwest corner of the state was still in a drought and had a couple of forest fires burning by the end of July. And the northern mountains, due to the previous years wildfires were constantly in some kind of flood watch or warning for the entire month of June and parts of July. Oh well, climate change creates some wonky weather patterns and conditions. At least we did not have the extremely hot and persistent temps that the south and southwestern states were experiencing.

The next three pictures below were sunset pictures in the month of June. The increase in wet weather led to some great sunset shots for the month. They are with Janet and Marvin.

This picture was taken June 1st, 2023 at about 6pm in the evening.
This picture was taken on June 7th, 2023 at about 6:30pm in the evening.
This picture was taken June 8th, 2023 at about 6:45pm in the evening.
This picture was taken on June 14th, 2023 about 11am in the morning. It was already staring to get hot out. Here Marvin and I are standing in Spring Creek that flows through Fort Collins. This became a daily ritual in July due to the early morning heat.
This picture was taken on June 30th, 2023 at about 10am in the morning. While not a sunset picture, it was one of those days in June in which the rain rolled in and stayed all afternoon. Felt like the Pacific North West. Lol.

Even with all the wet weather there were some dry days that made for great bike riding. The two pictures below were taken on the Poudre Trail. As long as you got out before 4pm, ozone was not much of a problem. And this would hold true for all of July. We were hit with multiple air quality alerts but the air quality was pretty good until the afternoon.

This picture and the one below were taken on June 5th, 2023 at about 2pm in the afternoon before the rain got going. These are on a bike trail through Fort Collins called the Poudre Trail. I always wonder if the city councils of the past (almost 50 years ago now) realized how big the trail system would get in the City? And how important it would become to the citizens and visitors of FC. Pretty cool and one of the reason I continue to chose to call FC home.

In the month of July, after most of the snow had melted and the weather started to stabilize, I was able to get in a few high elevation trail runs with Marvin. While the mountains had gotten a lot of snow during the winter and rain in June, things were starting to get a little dry by the end of July. Most of the bigger side streams were still running but the smaller ones had become little more than seeps in some places where they crossed the trail. Of course it did not help that temps had gotten much warmer. Several times trailhead parking lot temps at 8000 feet were close to 80 degrees or a bit warmer. Off the trail, in the forest the ground cover in places had that crunchie dry sound when you walked. Hopefully we will eventually get the monsoonal rains that are common this time year.

These next pictures are from trail runs with Marvin at the end of July. The first six pictures are from the Cameron Peak Fire area. It started on August 13th, 2020 and burned until December 2nd, 2020. It consumed about 208,663 acres. Running these trails almost three years later, it is interesting in how some areas have recovered quicker than others.

All three of the above picture are from a trail called the Big South trail in the upper Poudre Canyon. I was amazed at how much green had come back in just three years. These pictures are from July 13th, 2023. The area is the Comanche Peaks Wilderness.

The above three pictures are from a trail called Blue Lake Trail. And here the forest recovery appeared to be a little slower. There was more green than last year but no where near as much on the Big South Trail (BST). Also no Aspens as compared to the BST. All along the BST there were lots and lots of small Aspens. The Blue Lake Trail is higher in elevation and I am thinking this is one of the reasons it is taking longer to recover than similarly burned areas lower down. These pictures were taken on July 15th, 2023. The area is the Rawah Wilderness.

The next three pictures are from an area that did not burn. These are in the Rawah Wilderness too and the trail is called the Rawah Trail. It was nice to run in an area that had a bit more tree cover than the burned areas. Marvin and I have not explored this area much in past but I am planning to change that this summer and possibly fall.

The Rawah Trail is a long trail with a one-way length of 10 miles or 20 miles around trip. On this outing Marvin and I only did 6 out and 6 back for a total of 12 due to the warmer weather. When it gets this warm (80 degrees F) at elevation I have to make sure that there is plenty of water for him to drink and to cool him off. Hopefully the monsoonal rains will start and we can go a little further in our next visit to this area. These three pictures were taken July 23rd, 2023.

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

The first books I would like to review and recommend is actually two books in a series. The first book is called “Wanderers” and the second book is called “Wayward.” The books are by Chuck Wendig. They are fictional but they are believable fictional. If you liked Stephen King’s “The Stand.” Then you are going to like these. I lost a bit of sleep staying up and listening to these book as audiobooks. Lol. They were that good.

I first heard of the author when I got his book on writing.  He has a couple out there but the one I got is called “Damn Fine Story – Mastering the Tools of a Powerful Narrative.”  And it is good.  So when I was in the market for another brain bubble gum book and came across the above two, I thought why not.  I am glad that I did.   

The mystery starts right off in the first book.  With a growing group of individuals across the country starting to sleepwalk.  And this is not just any old experience of sleep walking.  They cannot talk, they cannot be woken up and bad things happen when you try to forcibly restrain them or poke them for blood, or swab them for pathogens.  What starts off as individuals by themselves walking across the town, the state and eventually the country, grows to multiple individuals, a whole flock so to speak of sleep walkers.  Family members that stay with the flock and walk with them become known as shepherds.  No one knows where they are going, no one seems to be able to tell what is wrong with them, and even the CDC is at a loss for what it might mean.  The book takes place in our current time frame with the benefits and evils of social media / news coverage. And the rumors of what is going on becoming rampant, with groups from all sides having opinions, accusations, even militia groups wanting to kill them.  Meanwhile the sleepwalkers go right on walking through it all.   

The second book picks up where the first book leaves off.  These books need to be read in order, for them to make sense.  I am only half way through the second book now but I wanted to include it partially in the review.  These are big books, lots of character development and Mr. Wendig is a master at creating a narrative that makes you care.  I have heard that there is some talk that these will become a TV series and I think that is a great idea. 

I listened to these as audio books, but they will work wonderfully in any format.  You can probably find them at your local book store or on Amazon.  Here is the amazon link: https://a.co/d/fAiRFUP and https://a.co/d/2sTY6E0                 

The next book I would like to review and recommend is called Born to Run 2:  The Ultimate Training Guide by Christopher McDougall.  If you have read “Born to Run” and liked it then you are going to like the second book even more.   If you have not read either book then let me suggest that you read both of them, they are that good.  The second book covers a lot of the same ground but goes into a lot more depth in that it gives you a training guide in how to become a better runner based on the principles of better form equals better runner.  I like the way Chris see running as a dance and to get a lot better at the “dance” you have to practice, practice and practice WITH the right technique.  Sure, we are all different, some of us are going to be slower or faster, lower or higher VO2 max, perfect body type or not, male or female, etc. But it all comes down to a basic technique no matter who you are.  Once you get this down, once you get the wobbles ironed out, and once you get the mantra firmly fixed in your mind:  Easy, Light, Smooth and, on fast days, Fast.  Then you are well on your way to achieving almost any running goal you choose. Personally I use the mantra version:  Easy, Light, Smooth and Relaxed.  And when I do that, I find that I go faster without thinking about it.    

There is a lot of added content with reflection in this book from the first book.  I really liked the section on food and the recipes.  Some of them sounded pretty good.  And of course there is a section on footwear and benefits of minimalist shoes.  But it is not overly preachy.  I have a pair of “Zero Shoes” that are for trail running.  If you’re not familiar with them, check it out: https://xeroshoes.com/  They are very minimalist.  I have not used them for trail running but they are my go to shoes for pretty much anything I do that has nothing to do with running.  Lol.  So, so comfortable.  Personally I prefer a little sturdier of a shoe for my trail running adventures.  But due to the book, I did go to a less cushioned and lighter version of Hoka’s (Tecton X 2).  And after a few months of adjusting I am happy that I did.

This is a book about making running fun again.  And that is what it should be.  The more fun you have the more you will want to do it and keep doing it.  Which will leads to better health and a happier you.  I got this book initially as an audio book with the PDF download.  I liked it so well I got the Kindle version to go along with the audiobook.  You can probably find the book at your local bookstore or you can go to Amazon.  Here is the Amazon link: https://a.co/d/6KV65Ic 

        

The next book I would like to review and recommend is called “The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence by Paul Davies.  First let me start off by saying this book was written around 2010 and I usually don’t get a book on science that is this old due to how fast the different fields of science are changing.  But in my opinion this one has become even more relevant in the last few years due to the jump in the number of discovered exoplanets orbiting other stars.  The book is about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and why we have not heard or discovered anyone “out there” in space as of yet.  It is becoming an interesting question in light of all the new exoplanet discoveries.  Now that it is apparent that almost every star you see in the night sky almost without exception has at least one exoplanet orbiting it, you have to ask yourself who else is out there and why have we not discovered or heard from them. 

The SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) program has been searching for 40 years now, though at times it has been intermittent, and they have found nothing.  This question and the many that follow from asking this question is what the author explores.  The big one for me in the book is something that humans do all the time.  We anthropomorphize things, whether it is our pets, or a computer, or the car.  We give human traits and intentions to non-human entities.  And why would this not be similar in SETI.  A question we have to ask ourselves is, can something be so “alien” so utterly different from us, that we don’t even recognize it as intelligent or even alive.   How would this change our search for ET?  How would something so “alien” try to communicate with us, if at all?            

Looking at the SETI program website: https://www.seti.org/csc It appears that they have incorporated some of the suggestions from ten years ago and expanded their scope of research.

I got this book as an audio book but it would work in any format.  You might be able to find it at your local book store but more likely on Amazon due to its 2010 publication date.  Here is the Amazon link: https://a.co/d/2uavdCg

No new sellable artwork this blog post, but I have been doing some sketch book practice and I have included some of them below. I find that these types of drawings can be very meditative and I have enjoyed doing them immensely. In fact I call them sketchbook meditation practice. They take about 10 to 15 hours each to complete.

This one was complete on June 21st, 2023.
This one was completed on July 8th, 2023.
This one was complete on July 12th, 2023.
This one was complete on July 20th, 2023.
This one was complete on July 26th, 2023.
This one was finish August 3rd, 2023.

If you interested in seeing more of my work that can be bought, check out my Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/strugglingprotoplasm/edit?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

In support of Prochoice and 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 end of another blog post. Yea! And I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as much as I did writing it.

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

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

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

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

Air Quality, Art, Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, genetics, Marshall Fire, Meditation, Minimalism, Pandemics, Psychology, Science, Space, Wildfire

MUSINGS FOR NOVEMBER 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 25TH, MARCH 2022

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

Lori Deschene

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

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

Angela Marchesani

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

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

McKayla Afolayan

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

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

Keri Olson

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

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

Ash Blankenship

Tiny Buddha

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Squished Lego Sun Face 3

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

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

Transhumanist Musings 5.0

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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