Category Archives: Climate Change

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

Leave a comment

“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, Alien Life, Art, Book Review, Climate Change, Colfax Marathon, Colorado, Covid 19, Denver, Dogs, Environment, Exercise, Fort Collins, Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, Pandemics, PurpleAir, Quad Rock 50, Science, Science Fiction, Space, Trail Running, Wildfire

MUSINGS FOR MAY 2023

Leave a comment

“Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from it.” – Joshua Becker

This is an image from the Hubble Space Telescope of two galaxies interacting due to a super massive black hole at the heart of the pair. The galactic structure is called AM 1214-255. The swirling gas that is being pulled in to the black hole creates a much higher level of luminosity and is referred to as an AGN or active galactic nucleus. These areas create a huge amount of electromagnetic radiation as they pull in material. There are many different subclasses of AGNs based on the observable characteristics. The most powerful AGNs are called quasars and when you have an AGN with a jet of electromagnetic radiation beaming toward earth it is called a blazar. Image credit: NASA, ESA, A. Barth (University of California – Irvine), and J. Dalcanton (University of Washington); 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/2023/hubble-captures-extraordinarily-bright-interacting-galaxies and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_galactic_nucleus and https://www.britannica.com/science/active-galactic-nucleus

“It’s not always that we need to do more but rather that we need to focus on less.” Nathan W. Morris

This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of a lenticular galaxy called NGC 5283 and it too contains an AGN or active galactic nucleus. NGC 5283 is called a Seyfert galaxy because the amount of luminosity is just a little bit less than the typical AGN. Here due to the decrease in radiation you are able to observe the structure of said galaxy, whereas with the typical AGN the prodigious amount of radiation outshines the galaxy structure itself. NGC 5283 is located in the constellation Centaurus and is approximately 168 million light- years away. It was first discovered by the German astronomer Heinrich Louis d’Arrest in 1866. Image credit: NASA, ESA, A. Barth (University of California – Irvine), and M. Revalski (STScI); 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/2023/hubble-views-a-beautiful-luminous-galaxy and Hubble Space Telescope Observes NGC 5283 | Sci.News

“More is better” turns out to be a formula for dissatisfaction. If you live for having it all, what you have is never enough.” Joe Dominguez/Vicki Robin

This May is the 50th anniversary of the first US space station – Skylab, and it was operated by three different astronaut crews. The top picture is of the Saturn V launching with major components of the space station, which included an orbital workshop, a telescope mount, docking adapters and a airlock module.

On May 14th, 1973 a Saturn V rocket launches with the components of the first US space station – Skylab. Image credit: NASA
This is an image of Skylab by the fist crew to the station, June 22nd, 1973, just before they departed for earth. The crooked golden blanket was a parasol sunshade that was used by the crew to protect the lab from solar heating. The original sunshield was lost during the launch along with one of the main solar arrays. Image credit: NASA/MSFC

Over the course of it’s lifetime three different astronauts crews visited the space station (May 25th, 1973 to February 8th, 1974). They were able to carry out 270 scientific and technical investigations in the fields of physics, astronomy, and biological sciences. There were plans to boost the lab with the Space Shuttle to a higher orbit and give it five more years of service, but unfortunately the shuttle was not ready in time and Skylab came to an end in July 1979. The early re-entry of the almost 200,000lb lab created a lot of criticism of NASA and generated an international media event.

An interesting note is that Skylab was not the worlds first space station, that honor belongs to the Soviet Union. Salyut 1 was launched into low Earth Orbit by the Soviets Union on April 19th, 1971.

If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/50th-anniversary-of-the-skylab-1-launch and https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/gallery/msfc_iow_18.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salyut_1

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

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. It is estimated that one in 10 that had the variant Omicron will have some kind of long Covid symptoms.

So where are we with Covid? The honest truth is that no one really knows for the moment. The federal COVID 19 public health emergency declaration ended on May 11th, 2023. Does this mean that the virus is done and it is over with? Nope. It just means that most of the official data collection, reporting and surveillance has ended. Fortunately, there are going to be some metrics that will still be reported on but just not as frequently. The best place to see if it is increasing or decreasing in your area is the CDC wastewater surveillance system. Hospitalizations and deaths are not a good indication of what is going on in the country due to faulty and ambiguous reporting from each state. And of course, home testing does not give an accurate count of what is going on. It might at some point be a good indication if you can track where the demand for home testing kits is rising or dropping based on individual internet searches. But not yet.

So why should we still be interested in what Covid is doing? Isn’t it over? Nope. And to add a little weight to that “Nope”, the Chinese public health ministry issued a statement, at the end of May, that says they are going through a second wave of the virus, XBB variant, and the peak is forecasted to be in late June at 60 million new cases per week.

So how do you stay safe and make the best decisions for this busy holiday and summer travel season. First, find out what the virus is doing in a particular area. The best way to do this is the CDC waste water surveillance web site. See the link below. Second, if your over 65 or have an autoimmune disease, think about getting a prescription for the antiviral Paxlovid. It is now fully approved by the FDA and this should make it easier to get a prescription. If you are traveling overseas you might want to prefill a prescription or find out the availability before travel. Some countries have not been as fortunate as the United States for access to this antiviral meditation. Of course you have to check with your health care provider to make sure you can take this medication due to it’s potential interactions with other meditations. Third, choose actives that are outdoors as opposed to indoors if possible. And if it is indoors, look at the size of the room, the number of people and ventilation. A small overly crowded room with poor ventilation is going to be much more of a risk than a larger room that is lightly crowded and has good ventilation. Fourth, if your planned activity is something that puts you at high risk and you cannot avoid it, consider wearing an N95 or KN95 mask. Yes, they do work, ignore the social media hype. Last, but not least, if your not vaccinated, get vaccinated and boosted before travel. This one should be a no brainer but for some reason, it continues to be issue. We are so fortunate in this country to have access to mRNA vaccines. Not everyone in the world has had this access.

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 give 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

May was a somewhat good month for getting outdoors. If you got out early, the air quality was pretty good and the winds for the first part of the month kept the early season wildfire smoke away.

Of course this did not last last. By May 20th, there were more than 200 active wildfires across Canada. Over 90 of those were in Alberta alone. Around 3.2 million acres as of now and counting. Just in comparison, their yearly average is about 55,000 acres per year. I find it crazy that parts of Northern Alberta are already having wildfires. And this does not include a significant fire events going on in Central Mexico, fires in Spain, the Middle East, Nova Scotia, etc… And all of this can be attributed to climate change. Oh well.

Fire and smoke from a wildfire are shown in Hay River, Northwest Territories in a handout photo. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/James Cardinal Jr.)

So during the last 10 days of the month, things got a little more interesting here on the Front Range as a strong cold front ushered down significant amounts of smoke into the lower 48. Especially, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. By Friday afternoon (May 19th, 2023), Fort Collins was measuring one of it worst air pollution days in years due to the smoke. What this means in more scientific terms is that particulate matter that is 2.5 microns or less was very high. Some readings on Friday afternoon around the city were in the 200 range. Denver was said to have had the worst air quality than any other city in the world on that day.

Image of the Denver’s skyline from Friday, May 19th at approximately 6:30am. Image credit: CDPHE (Colorado department of public health & environment)

And we really did not get a break in the smoke until late Wednesday afternoon. The picture below is from our neighborhood lake on Tuesday 23rd, 2023 at about 7pm in the evening.

This picture was taken on Tuesday 23rd, 2023 at about 7pm in the evening. The AQI was still in the 100 range.

The picture below was taken on Thursday 25th, 2023 about the same time as the above picture and location. Here the smoke has totally cleared. The AQI was down to less than 30.

This picture was taken Thursday 25th, 2023 at about 7pm in the evening. What a difference two days make.

So you may ask, why am I so concerned about the wildfire smoke. Well, it has to do particulate matter less than 2.5 microns or better known as PM 2.5. I have written about this kind of particulate matter before but let me review a few facts. These tiny particles are so small that they can get deep down into our lungs where they can cause damage, but it does not stop there. They get into the blood stream and travel to pretty much every part of the body and they are highly inflammatory (think disease causing). They have been shown to cross the blood brain barrier and can even be found in the fetal circulation of the unborn. Long-term exposer to pm 2.5 is considered the largest environmental risk factor for human health, with an estimated 4.1 million attributable deaths worldwide.

This graphic gives you some idea of size of PM 2.5

With that said, I check air quality every time I go out to exercise. It is not just caused by wildfire smoke but by coal fired power plants, wind blow dust, industrial processes, automobiles, etc… And it can combine with other types of urban pollution to really make a toxic mix. If the levels are high in my area I stay inside, close the windows and turn on the air purification system in the house and use the treadmill, rower or spin bike. Why do I go to great lengths to avoid this pollutant? Because it is like cigarette smoking and the damage to your body is accumulative. Just like smoking. The pictures below are from the Denver Colfax 5K race that occurred Saturday 20th, 2023. There are approximately 6000 participants that have chosen to run in this very polluted air. None of them are doing themselves a favor. From a public health perspective this is not health. They would have been more health conscious if they had stayed home and smoked cigarettes. I love it that race directors will talk about what to do if you feel symptoms running in polluted air, but leave out the most important part, what happens years down the road when you develop adenocarcinoma of the lung or cancer in another part of the body due to the accumulative effect of PM 2.5. Or some kind of autoimmune disease. It’s not the short term exposure that is the issue, but what happens long term. In my opinion events that require exercise should be canceled or better yet, have a built in “make-up” day when air quality exceeds standards. Would this be inconvenient? Yes. Would it cost extra money? Yes. Would it be a headache for race directors and organizers? Again yes. Would it be much better for your long term health? Absolutely.

Of course there are races now that allow participants to do the race “virtually.” This is where you run the race at home or at some other time when the air quality is better and send in the results and get your finisher medal. This is left up to the race participant on whether they choose to do this or not.

This was the start of the Colfax 5k on Saturday morning the 20th. AQI was in the high to very high range. Over 150 in some parts of the city. Very unhealthy. When local veterinarians are telling the public to keep their pets indoors due to the air quality, humans should probably do likewise.
Very dirty air during the Colfax 5k with around 6000 participants.

Well enough about the wildfire smoke and PM 2.5 but if you’re interested here are a few links for great articles on the subject and why it is so potentially detrimental in the long term to exercise when the levels are high: https://www.howardluksmd.com/pm-2-5-levels-air-pollution-and-our-health/? and https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-11-decades-air-pollution-undermine-immune.html? and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33198760/ and https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/air-pollution/index.cfm

On a much more positive note, I was able to run the Quad Rock 25 on May 6th, 2023. I had signed up for the 50 back when registration had opened last December but due to a nagging knee injury, I did not push my luck in making things worse and ran the 25 instead. This was my 7th time to be in the race since 2013. I missed two races due to injury and one due to Covid. This has been and continues to be a great trail marathon and ultra put on by GNAR Runners. It is a loop course, through Horsetooth Mountain Park and Lory State Park. You get the 50 mile distance by doing the loop twice, once in reverse. It is a challenging and scenic course and well worth your consideration if you want a tough early season trail marathon or ultra in Colorado. The nice part is that it is very close to Fort Collins, about 20 minutes from downtown, and this provides great post race opportunities to kick back and enjoy the finer things in life. Next year’s race is already schedule for May 11th, 2024 and registration opens December 15th, 2023. Here is a link to the race and GNAR runners: https://gnarrunners.com/quad-rock-50/#register and https://gnarrunners.com/

The pictures below are from the race that was held on Saturday 6th, May 2023.

This was the start of the 50 mile race at 0530 in morning. It turned out to be a beautiful day this year. Nice and cool for the first part of the day with gradual warming into the afternoon. The starting temp was somewhere in the upper 30s to lower 40s for the start. And I believe the high for the day was somewhere in the low 70s.
This view is looking East across Horsetooth lake and toward Fort Collins. Besides the views, the volunteers, and the location of the race, the one thing that I love the most is the ability to start the 50 mile race but still get credit if you only do the 25. On a personal note, I have never completed the 50. Lol. I usually time out at the turn around point. Part of the reason is that it is a little early in the season for me. I seems to be in better running form by middle to late summer. (that is what I tell myself – Lol) This year, it was due to an injury which caused me to be really slow on the downhill sections.
This is looking West in Lory State Park at the iconic rock formation called Arthur’s Rock. It is named for one of the previous landowner’s that sold the land, Arthur Howard. If your interested, a short history of the area from Colorado State Parks can be found here: Colorado Parks & Wildlife – History (state.co.us)
This is one of my favorite views in the race from Horsetooth Mountain Park. Here I am looking South towards Denver.
The icon rock formation that gives Horsetooth Mountain Park and Horsetooth Lake their names.

Again, this has been and continues to be a great trail marathon and ultra put on by GNAR Runners. It would be worth your time to check it out for next year.

This picture was taken on Saturday 27th, May 2023 at about 11am in the morning. Here Janet and Marvin are enjoying a nice walk in the park.

The last few days of the month were pretty good as far as air quality goes. The smoke had shifted further east and the Front Range of Colorado was spared the added air pollution. Of course, like any spread out metropolitan area we generate enough on or own. Lol.

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

The first book I would like to review and recommend is called “The Possibility of Life” by Jaime Green.  The book is about the likelihood of alien life in other parts of the Milky Way Galaxy. 

Now, before I leap into the review, I would like to give a little background why this book appealed to me in the first place.   I became significantly more interested in books on the subject of life in other part of the galaxy after learning that every star you see in the night sky, almost without exception has at least one exoplanet.  And this idea was sealed for me after reading the book by the physicist and astronomer Adam Frank.  His book is called “Light of the Stars:  Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth.”  A quote from his book:  “From the exoplanet data, astronomers can now say with confidence that one out of every five stars hosts a world where life as we know it could form.  So, when you’re standing out there under the night sky, choose five random stars.  Chances are, one of them has a world in its Goldilocks zone where liquid water could be flowing across its surface and life might already exist.”   

Think about that for a moment.  Hard to get your head around.  And that is the very reason I feel that books by Jamie Green and Adam Frank are so important. 

Jamie Green is a Science writer, among other things and she approaches the philosophical questions about the possibility of alien life in a somewhat different perspective.  She uses Science Fiction.  Yes you heard that right, she uses the imagination from SiFi writers to weave an interesting narrative about how humanity will react when alien life is discovered.  In the process she intersperses real science in with the creative writing to tell an interesting story.  Now some might be turned off by this style because it is not all hard and fast science, but what was the quote by Einstein?  “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”  Meaning the most important thing to have is the ability to imagine and embrace novel possibilities with the search for alien life and what to do when we find it.  And for the time being, until we have hard scientific data on the subject, what a better way to prepare for the inevitable first contact, than by tapping in to the years and years of creative and imaginative writing on the subject from SiFi.

I got this book as an audio book but it would work in any format.  You can probably find it at your local book store or on Amazon.  Here is the amazon link:  https://a.co/d/8qU6DOX 

The next two books I would like to review and recommend are part of a series written by Daniel Suarez. They are Science Fiction but are in the realm of possibility.  I call these books “brain bubble gum books”, fun to read but not always a lot of real world substance. These books are a little different and have an important message for humanity.  It is the argument that getting off the planet and starting to make a permanent human presence in space is the only way for humans to survive the existential crisis of climate change. 

The first book is called Delta-V and the second book is called Critical Mass. 

It all starts off when an eccentric billionaire that sees where humanity is heading on an overcrowding and warming planet with dwindling resources is inevitably heading.  And he comes to the conclusion that the only way to save humans is to get off the planet.  Of course, even a billionaire does not have that kind of money.  So the big question is how do you pay for it all.  And this is where the story gets interesting.   What if a private company could create the first near asteroid mining operation?  How much would that be worth to the world economy?  What technologies would be developed to make this happen? Would there be people on earth that would try to stop it and why?   

The first book introduces us to the main characters and their struggle to make the team and eventually survive the harsh realities of space.  The second book picks up where the first book leaves off.  Now that you have shown commercial asteroid mining is possible, what is the next step?  How do you start the process of getting large numbers of humans into space?  Is control of such a potentially lucrative space operation better left in private hands, or existing world governments? Set all of this against a world that is starting to come apart and you have the makings of a very interesting story.         

All these questions are what makes this series of “brain bubble gum books” such a great read.  It is one of the rare opportunities of getting to read for the sheer enjoyment of the story but you might learn something in the process.  Good food for thought.  

I got both of these books as audio books but they would work in any format.  You can probably find them at your local book store or on Amazon.  Here are the Amazon links:   https://a.co/d/jl0LIGs and  https://a.co/d/ji2hpsX

The last book I would like to review and recommend is called “The Long View:  Why We Need to Transform How the World Sees Time” by Richard Fisher.  In a world where the old saying “time is money”, a book like this is more relevant and urgent than ever.  The author argues that this is one of the very reason that we need to slow down a bit and take a much longer view of things.

What would happen if we were all taught from a young age to look at things in the long view?  To really see the results of our immediate actions ten, twenty, thirty or more years down the road.  It is an interesting idea.  There are so many examples of this idea being explored throughout history, even in our current literature, musical art and life.

The first example that came to my mind, was the quote in the second or third movie of the Lord of the Rings.  When King Theoden says: “To whatever end.  Where is the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? They have passed like rain on the mountain, like wind in the meadow. The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow. How did it come to this?”

The second one is the music from the Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime. Part of the lyrics are: “And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack, And you may find yourself in another part of the world, And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile, And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife, And you may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”

A third one that is personnel for me, was when I worked in the ER.  And I would see people in their 60s and 70s or sometimes much younger, their bodies permanently wrecked by poor life style choices, on death doorstep and wonder; did they as teenagers and 20 year old’s, see their lives ending like this.  Ten, twenty, thirty years down the road, in a wretched state of affairs.

A lot of the book is all about how we operate half-awake most of the time, not seeing where our actions are taking us down the road.  Again a short view of time.   

This is a very thought provoking book and well worth the read.  It is about slowing down but more importantly it is about taking a longer view of all things in life.  Maybe if we looked at how our immediate actions would influence things much further down the road, than tomorrow or next week, we might create a much happier and friendlier world for us all.

Richard is senior Journalist with the BBC in London and now an author.  If you would like to learn a little more about him check out his webpage: https://richardfisher.carrd.co/

I got this book as an audiobook but it would work in any format.  You can probably find this book at your local bookstore or at Amazon.  Here is the Amazon link: https://a.co/d/44gAK9j

Last but not least, I would like to show case one new piece of artwork that I finished at the first of May. I call it “Painted Chicken Boy.” It is 9×12 inches, acrylic paint on canvas paper, mounted to a cradled wood panel and sealed with archival varnish.

“Painted Chicken Boy”

This piece and other types of my art work can be found at 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 money! Lol

Well I have come to the end of another blog post. Yea! And I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.

So take care my friends and if you have not gotten vaccinated or boosted, even if you have had Covid, then get it done. It would be 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, Climate Change, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Marshall Fire, Pandemics, Science, Skiing, Space, Wildfire

MUSINGS FOR DECEMBER 2022

1 Comment

“Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements – the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life – weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.” Lawrence M. Krauss

The above image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and is called a “Dense Core.” It is a collection of dust and gas particles. The one above is named CB 130-3 and is in the constellation Serpens, about 650 light years from earth. It is thought the mass of these objects can get large enough in one place to ignite hydrogen fusion and thus make a “new” star. This is why these space clouds are called stellar nurseries. They can be the birth places of many different stars. Image credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA & STSCL, C. Brit, T. Huard, A. Pagan. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-views-a-billowing-cosmic-cloud and https://www.space.com/hubble-space-telescope-dense-core-image

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

The above image is from the recent Artemis 1 mission back in November 2022. It was captured by the spacecraft optical navigation camera. This is one of the closest photos of the Moon since the Apollo mission. This mission did not have real humans aboard but mannequins inside for testing. The first planned human mission will be sometime in 2024. Image Credit: NASA. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/orion-s-moon-crater-close-up and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_program

“Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the ‘transcendent’ and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don’t be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you.” Christophe Hitchens

This above image is from the Hubble Space Telescope and it is of NGC 1858. The NGC stands for New General Catalogue and is an astronomical catalogue of deep-sky objects. The catalogue was created by John Louis Dreyer in 1888. The above image is consider an open cluster and an emission nebula. This patch of sky is found in the Dorado constellation which is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. An open cluster is a type of star cluster in which the stars were formed from the same molecular cloud and have about the same age. A nebula is a luminescent star forming region and an emission nebula is one that is formed of ionized gasses that emit light. NGC 1858 is a long ways from earth at about 160,000 light years and is estimated to be about 10 million years old. Image credit: NASA, ESA and G. Gilmore (University of Cambridge); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America). If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-spies-emission-nebula-star-cluster-duo and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emission_nebula and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_cluster

“I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I’ve been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn’t have. Somehow, it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I’m a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally, I am an atheist. I don’t have the evidence to prove that God doesn’t exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn’t that I don’t want to waste my time.” Isaac Asimov

This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of the barred spiral galaxy named NGC 6956. These type of galaxies have a bar shaped structure that is composed of stars at their center. It is thought that this shape is found in most spiral galaxies known so far. The Milky Way Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy. The above galaxy is of special interest to scientists because of the presence of Cepheid variable stars, or stars that brighten and dim at regular intervals. Using this data, they can measure distances of cosmic objects with some accuracy. It was the work of Henrietta Swan Leavitt in the early 1900s with Cepheid variable stars, that gave astronomers their first “standard candle” in which to measure distance of far away galaxies. Using earth based telescopes, scientists can measure out to 13 million light years, after that it becomes the work of space based telescopes to get out to 50 to 60 million light years. Image credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Jones (University of California – Santa Cruz); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America). If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-captures-majestic-barred-spiral and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barred_spiral_galaxy and https://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/cepheids.html and Henrietta Swan Leavitt – Wikipedia

“I don’t accept the currently fashionable assertion that any view is automatically as worthy of respect as any equal and opposite view. My view is that the moon is made of rock. If someone says to me ‘Well, you haven’t been there, have you? You haven’t seen it for yourself, so my view that it is made of Norwegian Beaver Cheese is equally valid’ – then I can’t even be bothered to argue. There is such a thing as the burden of proof, and in the case of god, as in the case of the composition of the moon, this has shifted radically. God used to be the best explanation we’d got, and we’ve now got vastly better ones. God is no longer an explanation of anything, but has instead become something that would itself need an insurmountable amount of explaining. So I don’t think that being convinced that there is no god is as irrational or arrogant a point of view as belief that there is. I don’t think the matter calls for even-handedness at all.” Douglas Adams

The above image is part of a close up portion of the open cluster NGC 6530. It was created by the Hubble Space Telescope. This open cluster is part of the Lagoon Nebula or M8. See the picture below for a zoomed out view of the Lagoon Nebula. This open cluster is located in the constellation Sagittarius and is about 4,350 light-years from earth. Scientist were using the Hubble’s advanced cameras to look for ionized protoplanetary discs called Proplyds. See the very bottom pictures for examples of this. So far, most of these discs have only been found in the Orion Nebula, making them extremely rare. Image Credit:  ESA/Hubble & NASA, O. De Marco; Acknowledgment: M.H. Özsaraç. If you would like to learn more please see these links: Hubble Views a Star-Studded Cosmic Cloud | NASA and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proplyd

The Lagoon Nebula. Image credit: VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile
Proplyds in the Orion Nebula. Image credit: By ESA/Hubble, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8778842

“We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here. We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?” Richard Dawkins

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

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid 19 so far and so have I!! Yea for both of us!! Unfortunately some have not been so lucky, either by choice (not getting the vaccine) or circumstances (immunocompromised or older than 65). The death count as of December 5th, 2022 is still about 300 per day and due to the Thanksgiving holiday – cases are on the rise again, along with FLU. The good news is that RSV is staring to trend down a bit. Reported cases for December 5th was about 57,000, so that would mean that you have double that number due to home testing and people not testing at all. So the current infection rate is back up to about 100,000 per day now. And I am guessing that it is 2nd or even the third time around for a lot of people.

At the end of the first week of December 2022, the omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 were dominate in the USA. Due to their ability to evade or side step treatment with monoclonal antibodies, these drug were pulled by the FDA. This is bad news for people with weakened immune systems and puts them at risk for developing severe disease. The drug that was pulled in December was bebtelovimab (monoclonal). Paxlovid (antiviral) is still working but a lot of people cannot take this drug if they have had organ transplants – it creates issues with the other drugs they are on. Oh well, a lot of us may be done with the virus but the virus is not done with all of us.

The above picture has still not changed. California, Texas and Florida still lead the country in deaths. And I will say this again, due to the lack of reporting by states such as Florida, this picture is a little inaccurate. One of the great missed opportunities in this pandemic will have been our public health system. We have the tools to make it the best in the world but so far we continue to fail to do that.

By the time of publishing, the death count per day for the USA was back up into the 400 range and the total deaths since the pandemic started was about 1,116, 000 total. That is about 23,000 thousand deaths in the last two months. Again hard to wrap my head around those numbers, especially when you consider the count is probably a lot higher. Covid is still considered the third leading cause of death as of this past November. Right behind Heart disease and Cancer.

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

One other late note is the conditions in China since they eased their lockdown restrictions this month. Due to their inability to get people vaccinated, and the short sighted view of continued lock downs up until this point, most experts warm of an impending disaster in China with Covid. Unfortunately, with the state run media, information on what is happening will be difficult at best to obtain. I am guessing that we are going to be looking at a very different China in about 6 months. My fear, besides supply disruption, will be that we get a new variant out of their population that will be the worst yet. Oh well, time will tell.

The months of November and December were great for getting out doors in Fort Collins. But with my continued knee problem, most of the getting out was walking, at least for me. Unfortunately for Janet, even with the foot issues on the mend, she came down sick with a virus at the first part of December that keep her sidelined for about 16 days. She tested multiply times for Covid with home test and came up negative each time. She did get tested for the flu and that was negative too. Looking back at her symptoms, it really seemed like it was Covid and it makes me wonder how accurate the home test were. There were reports of some home testing kit failures with the two current variants (BQ.1.1 and BQ.1) by the FDA. So far at the time of this writing I have stayed illness free for now. And hope to stay that way. Oh well.

This image was taken on November 21st, 2022 at about 3:45pm in the afternoon. It was in one of the city’s open space areas called Reservoir Ridge. This was the only trail hike / run I did with Marvin due to continued knee issues for the next 30 days.
This picture was taken on November 27, 2022 at about 4:45pm in the afternoon. This was from our neighborhood lake.
This picture was taken on November 28th, 2022 at about 5pm in the afternoon. This was one of only two days that Janet was able to get out with us, either due to foot issues or illness.
This picture was taken on November 30th, 2002 at about 7:30pm in the evening. We got enough snow at the end of November to do a little bit of cross country skiing at one of the local golf courses. I feel it would be a fantastic idea if the city took one of the golf courses off line so to speak and used manmade snow to create, for a few months, a local cross country ski area. I think this could be done in the months of January and February most years and would be a huge benefit to the locals.
This picture was taken on December 2nd, 2022 at about 4:45pm in the afternoon. This was the last walk Janet was able to do with us for the next 18 days due to illness.
This picture was taken on December 4th, 2022 at about 5pm in the afternoon. Again this was from the neighborhood lake.
This picture was taken on December 5th, 2022 at about 5:30pm in the afternoon. Some of the neighbors along the Spring Creek Bike trail light up a few trees during this time of year. Pretty cool in my opinion!

This picture was taken on December 7th, 2022 at about 4:45pm in the afternoon.
This picture was taken December 11th, 2022 at about 5pm in the afternoon.
This picture was taken on December 16th, 2022 at about 5:40pm in the afternoon.

Again it was another great 30 days for taking sunset pictures. Most of these images are from the local neighborhood lake, which gives a great vantage point for these types of pictures.

The next couple of pictures were from a trail hike / easy run that I did with Marvin on December 21, 2022. What a difference from last year. The temps this year (mid 30s) were more typical of a Colorado Front Range winter. Last year, at the same time, I was up in this same area running in shorts with no snow on the ground. Who knew that a little more than a week later – there would be the devastating Marshall Fire down by Boulder. If you do not know what the Marshall Fire was about then check out this link: https://www.marshallfiremap.com/

The images are from Horsetooth Mountain Park just West of Fort Collins.

Looking East toward the City of Fort Collins.
Horsetooth Rock – this is where the park gets it name.
Most of the shaded areas all had snow and ice on them.
Looking across Fort Collins out into Weld County. You can see a temperature inversion just east of Fort Collins. We have had favorable winds this year to keep the air quality great, so far. Weld county has over 20 thousand active oil and gas wells which contribute significantly to the pollution issues on the Front Range.
This is looking West toward Rocky Mountain National Park. The two big mountains are Mount Meeker and Longs Peak. They are about 35 miles away as the crow flies.

Of all the ironies, while I was at the top of the park, I saw a plume of smoke down towards Boulder and thought to myself they are doing a prescribed burn. But when I got home, I found out it was another forest fire and there had been the evacuation of about 360 homes. I believe they are calling it the Sunshine wildland fire. While we have had more seasonal like temperatures this year, we are still in a severe drought on the Front Range. Fortunately, at the time of publishing, winter had returned to the Front Range with snow and below zero temperatures, very reminiscent of last year at this time, but a week earlier. Luckily this has put an end to the fire danger for the time being. The crazy part, is that even in winter, due to climate change, you are not safe. Fire season on the Front Range is now year round.

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

The first book review is about Nike and the Oregon Project.  It is called “Win at All Costs:  Inside Nike Running and Its Culture of Deception” by Matt Hart.  Matt has written numerous magazine articles for the likes of Outside Magazine, National Geographic, The Atlantic, The New York Times, etc.… “Win at All Cost” is his first book and a pretty damn good one at that.  I am an amateur ultra runner, so I am drawn to books about running.  I first heard about the Nike doping scandal with Alberto Salazar from the HBO show called “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.”  If you’re interested, I believe the show was from last January 2021.  Here is an HBO clip from YouTube on the show: https://youtu.be/2G4-gUkhKYQ

So when I saw that Matt had written a book about it.  It was somewhat of a no-brainer to get a copy or in my case the audio book.  I love listening to audio books on long runs.

Most of the story that Matt tells is about the relationship between Alberto and Kara / Adam Goucher.  Both were coached by Salazar.  Kara was one of the first athletes to accuse Salazar of doping allegations.  Salazar’s coaching style comes across as what can only be described as idiosyncratic in my opinion.  His wanton willingness to use whatever was “in vogue” for performance enhancement (legal and illegal) at the time is pretty disheartening.  Kara’s part was trying to “make it” as a professional athlete while being coached by someone who was willing to bend the rules anyway possible and would threaten you with being “let go” if you did not participate.  There is some focus on the Nike organization itself, but not as much as you would think.  Of course, the Nike management had to know what Salazar was doing and by not calling him out on it, gave their unofficial blessing.  The other part of this book that was interesting was the physicians that were involved as well.  Obviously, the Hippocratic Oath really did not mean anything to them.           

If you follow the world of professional sports, like bicycling, you will remember the Lance Armstrong doping scandal from about 10 years ago.  What I did not remember, was how it all tied in to the Nike organization.  While there is not much on the Lance Armstrong angle. It was interesting none the less.

I got this book as an audio book but I think it would work better in traditional format.  Especially if you are not familiar with all the other players (athletes, Nike executives, physicians, etc.…) mentioned in the book.  If you want to know more about the author here is a link to his website: http://bymatthart.com/

Of interesting note, Salazar got a life time ban from the sport back in December 2021, but not from doping but for sexual assault of an athlete on two different occasions.  For more information on this check out this New York Times link: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/sports/alberto-salazar-sexual-assault.html

You can probably find this book at your local book store or on Amazon. Here is the Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Win-All-Costs-Running-Deception/dp

The next book I would like to recommend is another one about running called “Running to the Edge:  A Band of Misfits and the Guru Who Unlocked the Secrets of Speed by Matthew Futterman.  First off, let me say, this is NOT a how to run book but more of a historical account of the legendary running coach Bob Larson and the different runners that he coached over the years starting in the 60s and 70s.  The story starts with high school students and ends with his coaching of the long distance runner Meb Keflezighi.    

The tale Futterman weaves is a good one.  Besides telling the story of the difficulties, problems and victories of Bob and his band of runners over the years, the author, interweaves his own story of trials and tribulations with running.  At the same time he mixes in a little bit of science as he describes Bob’s quest to find the formula to create not only fast runners but runners with incredible endurance. 

To reiterate, this is not a book about “how to run”, “how to train” or a book about Bob Larson’s training methods.  This is a book telling a story about Bob Larson and some of the runners he coached.   

I got the book as an audio book but it might work better in traditional format if you are not familiar with some of the athletes mentioned and races talked about.  I had to go back and replay sections, to then be able to look stuff up.  In a traditional format this would not be as much of an issue.  You can probably find this book at your local book store or on Amazon.  Here is the Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Running-to-Edge-Matthew-Futterman-audiobook/dp

The last book I would like to talk about is a book on how to be an artist.  No really, it is a book about how to be an artist.  Sounds easy, right?  Not really.  There are so many things that can get in the way of achieving a high level of creativity and craft in any artistic path.  Whether it is writing, drawing, painting, cooking, sculpture, etc.… there is always something that can side track your path.  The least of which is yourself. 

The book is called “How to Be an Artist by Jerry Saltz.  Jerry is an American art critic and received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2018.  Before getting serious about the art world, he was a “regular guy”, a long distance truck driver until the age of 41.  You can’t get any more main stream America than that.  So he gets what it like to be in the struggle. 

There are a lot of other great and not so great books on how to be an artist.  What I like about Jerry’s book is that he basically tells you how to get past or at least make friends with “yourself.”  That inner personality we all have called self-doubt.  And along the way, as a bonus, you get multiple pearls of wisdom of what it means to be in the art world and to be an artist. 

Jerry gives you all of this in concise and easy to understand steps.  About 63 to be exact.  This is what makes the book.  They are short and to the point.  Not a lot of fluff and stuffing, but more down to earth.  A pragmatic look at what “you got to do” to be someone who creates art, no matter what it may be.

I got this book as an audio book but it would 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/How-to-Be-an-Artist-Jerry-Saltz-audiobook/dp   

Last but not least I would like to show case a new piece of art work. This is the second in a series called “Athena Nike Revisited.” I got the idea from watching some of the amazing women in track and field compete in running events during the recent 2022 World Track and Field Championships held in Eugene, Oregon back in July. So I thought I would do a drawing of what I feel incorporates the very spirit and determination of these female figures. To be the very best they can be. I believe these powerful and determined young women should be allowed to choose they own destinies and that includes all choices that have anything to do with their healthcare and/or bodies. And that those choices should not be dictated by anyone else but them. Watching them run with such spirit and sheer resolve gives me hope for the future. I cannot imagine any of them bending to becoming someone’s handmaid.

This piece measures 9 by 12 inches. It is done in acrylic paint on canvas paper, mounted to a hardboard frame and sealed with archival varnish.

Athena Nike Revisited # 2

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.

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, Gun Control, Marshall Fire, Pandemics, Rico Colorado, Science, Space

MUSINGS FOR OCTOBER 2022

Leave a comment

“You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.” Harlan Ellison

The above image is known as the famous Stephan’s Quintet. It is considered the first compact galaxy group ever discovered and gets it’s name from Edouard Stephan (French astronomer). He discovered it in 1877 at the Marseille Observatory. The galaxy on the left (NGC 7320) appears to be a part of the group but is actually closer to earth at 40 million light years. The other galaxies are about 300 million light years away. The image is a composite of Webb telescope data (Infrared data) and Chandra (X-Ray data) and some data from the retired Spitzer telescope (again Infrared data). The blue color is data from Chandra and indicates a shock wave of millions of degrees as one galaxy passes through another. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasawebbtelescope/52404135772/in/photostream/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephan%27s_Quintet

Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO;IR (Spitzer): NASA/JPL-Caltech;IR (Webb): NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI

“The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity.” Harlan Ellison

The above image is of the Cartwheel Galaxy or ESO 350-40 or PGC 2248 and is consider a lenticular ring galaxy. It is about 500 million light-years away in the constellation Sculptor. The interesting shape is thought to be the result of a collision with a smaller galaxy sometime in the past – estimated 200 to 300 million years ago. The above image is a composite of the Webb telescope (Infrared data) and Chandra (X-ray data). If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasawebbtelescope/52404135532/in/photostream/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartwheel_Galaxy#X-ray_sources

Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI

“Gods can do anything. They fear nothing: they are gods. There is one rule, one Seal of Solomon that can confound a god, and to which all gods pay service, to the letter: when belief in a god dies, the god dies.” Harlan Ellison

This is an image of a cluster of galaxies know as SMACS 0723. This patch of sky (Constellation of Volans – Southern Hemisphere) has been imaged many time by the Hubble telescope and was one of the first spots to be looked at when the Webb telescope came online. What your looking at is around 4 billion light years from earth. The image is a composite of Webb (Infrared data) and Chandra (X-ray data). The blue haze at the center is superheated gas that has an estimated mass of about 100 trillion times that of the sun. Pretty hard to wrap my head around that one. If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasawebbtelescope/52405131881/in/photostream/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMACS_J0723.3%E2%80%937327

Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Durham Univ./G. Mahler; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI

“I know that pain is the most important thing in the universe. Greater than survival, greater than love, greater even than the beauty it brings about. For without pain, there can be no pleasure. Without sadness, there can be no happiness. Without misery there can be no beauty. And without these, life is endless, hopeless, doomed and damned.
Adult. You have become adult.” Harlan Ellison

The above image is of the galaxy pair VV 191. It is an example of superimposed galaxies – where one seems to be in front of another one. So far there is about 2000 known examples of this type of galaxy pair. What is cool about this image (it is composite of the Webb telescope and the Hubble) is that the galaxy on the left shows a previously unknown lensed galaxy. You can just see it at the 11 o’clock position on the left galaxy. It is the red looking smudge. The gravitational lensing occurs when the gravity of a massive object distorts the fabric of space time and bends/magnifies the light from a more distant object located behind it. This lensed galaxy went undetected in the Hubble telescope data and it was not until the Webb scope came into play that we were able to image it for the first time. If you would like to learn more please see this link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasawebbtelescope/52406400196/in/photostream/

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, R. Windhorst (Arizona State University), W. Keel (University of Alabama), S. Wyithe (University of Melbourne, Australia), and the JWST PEARLS Team

“Like a wind crying endlessly through the universe, Time carries away the names and the deeds of conquerors and commoners alike. And all that we were, all that remains, is in the memories of those who cared we came this way for a brief moment.” Harlan Ellison

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 again!! Unfortunately some have not been so lucky. I am still hoping to be able to continue to say this for the rest of the year!

By the middle of September we were still seeing about 400 to 500 deaths per day and this continued into October. Unfortunately. The majority of these cases were over 65 adults, the immunocompromised and the unvaccinated. The first two you can do nothing about but the last one is just being stupid if you have not gotten vaccinated. There is plenty of data out there now that shows the vaccines work and they are safe. No excuses.

Data on how many new infections are occurring each month is really anyone’s guess at the moment. The “at home testing” does not allow anyway to gauge what is going on at the moment. The only ability we have now is the testing of waste water samples and then extrapolating from the amount of virus found to what community levels are. Of course that is assuming that the “political party” of a said state will actually do it. My guess is that we are still around 100,000 new cases per day. Who knows?! The death count has stayed pretty much the same so I am basing this guess on the fact that the positivity rate is also about the same.

The above picture has not changed. But again, I think North Carolina should be in the picture, which would push New Jersey out.

By the middle of October the total deaths in the US was about 1,090,000 or an increase of about 15 thousand deaths in the last 30 days.

On an interesting note, Germany had a spike in confirmed cases the first couple of weeks in October and tightened restrictions hoping to curb the spread of the virus. What usually happens in Europe, means that in a few weeks it will be here in the US. Unfortunately, with the large flu outbreak going on in Australia, which usually means a severe season for the US, things might get pretty interesting. We may be looking at a real “Twindemic” for this late fall and winter. Oh well, what are you going to do? Get vaccinated! Lol.

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 September and the first part of October were better for getting outdoors than the previous two months. We were still having high pollution afternoons along the front range of Colorado but they were decreasing in number as daytime temps cooled. And the wind patterns were favorable in keeping the smoke from the forest fires out west from tracking down into Colorado. Things were pretty good as compared to July and August.

After all the hiking we did, when we were in Rico, Colorado back in August (See last Blog post), I decided to take a week or two off from any serious outdoor exercise and give my left knee a rest so to speak. But I still got out every afternoon / evening and walked Marvin. I even made it up into the high country to see a little bit of the Aspen color change.

The pictures below were from one of my favorite trail running and hiking areas in the Rawah Wilderness Area – the West Branch Trail. The Aspens were just starting to change on September 20th.

The trees lower down were already in the process of changing, but higher up there was not much of a color change.
Temps at 9500 feet were still a little warm as Marvin is currently demonstrating.
This stand of Aspens at about 9500 feet had no color change yet.
Old loggers cabin from before the area was designated a Wilderness. I always find these kinds of artifacts / structures fascinating. When you look out at the trees in a Colorado forest today, very little of it is old growth. Almost all of it has been logged at one time or another.
Looking West towards Cameron Peak at 12,127 feet.
This is the view from the parking lot. One of my favorite spots.
Great beaver pond on the Laramie River close to the parking lot. This is what a lot of smaller streams and rivers in Colorado looked like prior to the 1700s. Before the beavers were trapped out. Again it is a reminder of what we see in Colorado’s mountain landscape is not natural but a human induced unnatural condition. Pretty interesting.

This last two pictures are of Janet and Marvin from our local neighborhood pond. The sunsets from this vantage point can be beautiful.

This picture was taken on October 8th at about 7pm in the evening.
This picture was taken October 10th, 2022 at about 6:30pm in the evening.

So all and all it was a great month here on the Front Range of Colorado. I am wondering what the rest of the fall will bring. We have not had much in the way of rain or snow in the last 30 days and the average temps are about 4 to 8 degree above normal. This has made for some great weather but at the same time it is a little worrisome. I don’t think anyone wants to see a repeat of the Marshall Fire situation that occurred last year at the end of December 2021. A lot of the Front Range Foothills and Plains are vulnerable to this type of situation. If you don’t remember what the fire was about check out this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Fire

It was another great month for reading and I would like to share a few new book recommendations. We are so fortunate to have the access to all the information that is out there. If you can at least read or listen to an audio book there is no reason that you could not set a goal of one book per month. In my opinion, this would be one the best habits you could ever have. Read, read, read and read some more! Lol.

The first book I would like to recommend is called Existential Physics by Sabine Hossenfelder. Let me start off by saying this book is about some of our biggest questions currently in physics and that Sabine is the perfect scientist to help you start to think about these conundrums.  Especially for those of us that are not scientist.  She has the rare talent of being able to explain some very complicated topics in layman’s terms.  But before I get too far let me say that Dr. Hossenfelder has the credential to do this, for she is a theoretical physicist at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, where she explores the intricacies of quantum gravity.  I first learned about her on YouTube.  She has a channel called “Science without the gobbledygook.”  If you interested check out this link: https://www.youtube.com/c/SabineHossenfelder/videos

In the book, she covers things such as “Does the Past Still Exist”, “Are You Just a Bag of Atoms”, and “Has Physics Ruled out Free Will”, among other topics.  She does this in a way that is in line with current known/tested real world models.   I found the book a refreshing look at what we know in physics and more importantly what is just conjecture or opinion.  As an example, take “Multiverse Theory.”  Now there is nothing wrong with pondering the possibilities of having multiple universes, but until it can be tested and proved or disproved it is basically just opinion.  Sabine does an excellent job at pointing these conjectures out.  It is a good look at what we know and what we don’t know. 

I got the book as an audio book but it might work better in traditional format.  There is a lot of information here to unpack and I found myself listening to sections and chapters more than once.  I am guessing you can find the book at your local book store or on Amazon.  Here is the link for Amazon:   https://www.amazon.com/Existential-Physics-Scientists-Biggest-Questions/dp/

Another great book to read this fall, especially if you are over the age of 50 like I am, is called “Breaking the Age Code:  How your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long and Well You Live,” by Becca Levy.  I found this book very interesting.  Especially now that I am over 60 years old.  Lol.  I am not so sure I would have appreciated it as much if I had read it back when I was thirty.  The author is a Professor of Epidemiology in Social and Behavioral Science at Yale University.  Her research is in social gerontology and the psychology of aging.  The book starts off by showing how our attitudes affect how we age as individuals.  And that by incorporating positive age beliefs we can reverse the process a bit.  Pretty interesting stuff.  Before getting the book I had developed a habit of teasing my wife about our ages (we are both over 60) and how “new” aches/pains are just the process of getting older.  Of course this was all done with a tongue-cheek kind of humor.  Lol.  But now, I am much more careful about this type of kidding.  What is the old saying: “Your body believes every word you say.”  (I think that this is the actual title to a book by the author Barbara Hoberman Levine.) 

While the part about internalized negative age beliefs vs positive age beliefs was interesting, it was not the best part for me.  What really opened my eyes was the sections on how society reinforces these beliefs.  And how a type of discrimination called ageism is much more prevalent than we think.  Everything from job discrimination to how you are treated in the health care system.  One of the best examples was the author describing a school play in which the kids were dressed up as “old people” and acting out stereotypical funny old age behavior.  She goes on to describe how everyone was laughing at the skit.  Of course, before reading the book and turning 60, I probably would have too.  This example caused me to stop and pause and ask myself is this OK?  Or is it part of a much bigger and deeply ingrained behavior.  Pretty interesting.

This is a great book to read even if you’re not over 50 right now.  Besides if you play your cards right, you might get lucky and become an old person someday too.  I listened to this book as an audiobook but it would work well in any format.  The book can probably be found at your local book store or on Amazon.  Here is the link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Age-Code-Beliefs-Determine/dp/   

The next book I would like to recommend goes along with the previous book but by a different author.  It looks at aging in a different light.  This book is called “The Science and Technology of Growing Young:  An Insider’s Guide to the Breakthroughs That will Dramatically Extend Our Lifespan…and What You Can Do Right Now by Sergey Young.  The author is the founder of the Longevity Vision Fund.  This fund is a 100 million dollar investment fund dedicated to making longevity affordable and accessible to all.  The idea is to accelerate research by investing in companies that are creating technologies, products and services that keep you healthy and extend lifespans. 

In the last few years I have been interested in research along these lines, so when I saw this book and read the author’s bio, I thought it might be a good one to read.   And it was.  The book goes into detail about all the research being done in this area of medicine.  Things like regenerative therapeutics, genetic engineering, health data tracking, and theories of why we age, etc.…  There is also a good portion of information scattered thought out the book on the sociology and psychology of longevity.  I especially liked the section on “precision medicine” and how it is slowly changing how we treat people in the medical landscape.  Traditionally, in medicine, it has been the old idea of one size fits all approach.  And this works to some degree for most patients, but is not quit perfect and for a lot of patients, it does not work at all.  Now que the development of AI and Health informatics and you have the ability to potentially tailor medical treatment for each individual based on that individual’s unique health profile.  Pretty cool. 

As a bonus, the final chapter is about how to live longer today.  The author describes the attitudes, habits and choices you need for today to hopefully take advantage of the current longevity research as it comes to fruition in the next decade.  It would be a real bummer to miss a longevity break through that might only be a few years away. 

I listened to the book as an audio book but it would work well in any format.  You can probably find the book at your local book store or on Amazon.  Here is the Amazon link:  https://www.amazon.com/Science-Technology-Growing-Young-Breakthroughs/dp/

The next book I would like to review is one on Global Warming that was published this year.  It is called “Hothouse Earth:  An Inhabitant’s Guide” by Bill McGuire.  The author is a volcanologist and Professor Emeritus of Geophysical and Climate Hazards at the University of London.  Let me start out by saying that this is not one of those feel good at the end climate books.  You know the ones which say we can prevent global warming, blah, blah, blah… and there is still time to turn it around.  No, this is a blunt look at what we are facing now and in the coming decades.  Dr. McGuire argues in the book that we are way past the point of no return in the ongoing climate crisis.  That our only hope for now is to try to mitigate the worst effects.  He starts the book out by giving us a good perspective on what our climate was and how it changed multiple times in the past.  Then he brings us up to date on where we are at now. It’s not good. 

Besides the usual “warming climate” effects like increased temperature, drought, forest fires, sea level rise, etc.…  The author had a section on how the melting of the polar caps and glaciers could spell an increase in large scale events like earthquakes and volcanic activity.  This is one that I had not read about before.  It did not occur to me that the weighing and un-weighing of the earth’s crust due to changes in rainfall and drought, could create potential slips along a boundary of two major tectonic plates and create an earthquake.  Wow, I had no idea. 

The other one was the melting of glaciers on large volcanic peaks or land surfaces could result in enough of a decrease in stress load on the earth’s crust, that you see an increase in volcanic events.  The idea is that there is less weight holding subsurface magma down so it is easier for it to come to the surface.  I did a little google searching on this topic and saw were this has already been found to have happened in the past in Iceland.  NASA has an article (published 2019) about these effects and can be found here:   https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2926/can-climate-affect-earthquakes-or-are-the-connections-shaky/

All in all this was a good book for a wakeup call.  No, we can’t prevent what is going to happen but maybe we can head the worst of it off.  I listened to the book as an audio book but it would work well in any format.  I think you should be able to find this book at your local book store or on Amazon.  The Amazon link is here: https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Hothouse-Earth-Hot-Science/dp/

The last book I want to give a recommendation to is called “The End of the World Is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization” by Peter Zeihan.  This book was suggested to me by a friend that had seen my earlier review of a similar book called Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order by Ray Dalio.  Both books cover the coming change in globalization but from different angles.  Both are good, Ray looks at the picture in a large historical context (the last 500 years) and Peter looks at it in the context of the last 100 years, specifically from the end of World War 2 until now.  And Peter’s book goes into a lot more detail of where we are currently and how we got here.   Peter is a geopolitical analyst and author on four other books on geopolitics.   

Until I read this book, I really did not give much thought as to how our current day “International / World Society” formed over the years.  Specifically the international trade game of where and who makes the products and food we all enjoy globally.  We take so many things for granted, that our parents, grandparents or great grandparents never had access to.  For better or worse, free market capitalism and globalization has given billions of people in the world ( including us) the opportunity to have a standard of living that would only be a pipe dream to our ancestors. 

In the book, Peter argues what will happen when this type of globalization, that we have known for at least the last 20 years, ends and what it will mean for countries, not just the United States, around the world. Questions like:  What if countries had to grow all their own food, create their own energy sources, produce all their own goods, fight their own battles, etc.…? We all depend on globe spanning supply chains, as the pandemic readily pointed out, but what if that ended?  How would the world cope?  This is a large part of what the book talks about.  Along with this aspect, the author touches on another topic that I had not given too much thought to – populations and birth rate.  For an economy to grow in a free market capitalistic system, people have to “buy” stuff.  But if your population significantly declines as populations age and die, who is going to pick up that slack.  Very interesting ideas. 

The previous presidency was based on the idea of ending globalization. But could it be, if America changed all of it trade policies and became a full isolationist country, would it be enough to throw the whole thing into a tailspin world wide? Well this is what Peter argues. That the only reason we have globalization like we do now is because of American involvement after WW2. And after listening to what this would mean to the rest of the world if it ended, I can see why people got so “bent out of shape” when this policy was being pursued by the previous White House administration.

This is a great book – “A WAKE UP CALL” in a way. After listening to it, I for one do not want globalization to end. Would America survive? Yes, but it would be a downgrade in our standard of living and absolutely disastrous for other parts of the world. I got it as an audiobook but it would work in any format.  I am guessing you can find it at your local book store or on Amazon.  Here is the Amazon link:   https://www.amazon.com/End-World-Just-Beginning-Globalization/dp/          

Last but not least I would like to show case a new piece of art work.

Third painted Wolf Face. I call this one Canis 3. I have always had a fascination with wolves. They have always seemed larger than life to me. The wolf has been a common theme in mythology since time immortal. Especially in the cultures of Eurasia and North America. I got the initial idea for doing a series of large wolf faces several years ago while reading the Game of Thrones books by George R.R. Martin. After watching the HBO adaption, I knew I had to do this. Instead of trying to do a realistic version, I thought it might be more interesting to create paintings that evoke more of the potential mythology of the wolf.

These are large acrylic paintings that are done on OSB or Oriented strand board. The boards or sheets were given to me by my neighbor when he was remodeling his basement several years ago. He was in the process of throwing them away but thought I might want them. In keeping with North American wolf symbolism, I cut the sheets into circles to symbolize creation, death and rebirth.

The diameter is about 46 inches across, and the weight is about 50 lbs.

Canis 3

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.

Well I have come the end of another blog post! Yea! I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. It takes a lot more time than I ever realized. Lol.

No shout out to Minimalism for now. I will save that one for next time. But if you are disappointed and are interested, here are a few links to get you started on sustainability, minimalism and the steady state economy: 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, 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

2 Comments

“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, Climate Change, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, Pandemics, Science, Space

MUSINGS FOR JULY 2022

Leave a comment

“We study history not to know the future but to widen our horizons, to understand that our present situation is neither natural nor inevitable, and that we consequently have many more possibilities before us than we imagine.” Yuval Noah Harari

These are images from the Hubble Space Telescope of two different galaxies. The dominate one is a large spiral galaxy named NGC 3227 and the second one is called NGC 3226. The two galaxies are gravitationally linked with each other. Together they have the destination of Arp 94. They are 50 to 60 million light years away in the constellation Leo. Pretty cool. Image credit: NASA, ESA, and H. Ford (Johns Hopkins University); Image Processing: G. Kober (NASA Goddard/Catholic University of America)

If you would like to learn more about these images please see this link: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-captures-a-galactic-dance

“It takes a lot of courage to fight biases and oppressive regimes, but it takes even greater courage to admit ignorance and venture into the unknown. Secular education teaches us that if we don’t know something, we shouldn’t be afraid of acknowledging our ignorance and looking for new evidence. Even if we think we know something, we shouldn’t be afraid of doubting our opinions and checking ourselves again. Many people are afraid of the unknown, and want clear-cut answers for every question. Fear of the unknown can paralyze us more than any tyrant. People throughout history worried that unless we put all our faith in some set of absolute answers, human society will crumble. In fact, modern history has demonstrated that a society of courageous people willing to admit ignorance and raise difficult questions is usually not just more prosperous but also more peaceful than societies in which everyone must unquestioningly accept a single answer. People afraid of losing their truth tend to be more violent than people who are used to looking at the world from several different viewpoints. Questions you cannot answer are usually far better for you than answers you cannot question.” Yuval Noah Harari

This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of the Spiral galaxy NGC 3631. It is called a Grand Design Spiral due to it prominent and well-defined arms. It is around 50 million light-years from earth looking in the direction of Ursa Major. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Filippenko (University of California – Berkeley), and D. Sand (University of Arizona); Image Processing: G. Kober (NASA Goddard/Catholic University of America)

If you would like to learn more about his image please see this link: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-looks-at-a-face-on-grand-spiral

“Each and every one of us has been born into a given historical reality, ruled by particular norms and values, and managed by a unique economic and political system. We take this reality for granted, thinking it is natural, inevitable and immutable. We forget that our world was created by an accidental chain of events, and that history shaped not only our technology, politics and society, but also our thoughts, fears and dreams. The cold hand of the past emerges from the grave of our ancestors, grips us by the neck and directs our gaze towards a single future. We have felt that grip from the moment we were born, so we assume that it is a natural and inescapable part of who we are. Therefore we seldom try to shake ourselves free, and envision alternative futures.” Yuval Noah Harari

This is an image from the Hubble Space Telescope of what is know as a globular cluster. This one is known as Liller 1. It was discovered by the American astronomer William Liller in 1977. These clusters are spherical collections of stars bound by gravity. They are found almost in all galaxies. Liller 1 is about 30 thousand light years from earth going towards the center of the Milky Way. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Ferraro

If you would like to learn more about his image please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-gazes-at-a-dazzling-star-cluster and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globular_cluster and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liller_1

“There are no gods, no nations, no money and no human rights, except in our collective imagination.” Yuval Noah Harari

This is also a Hubble Space Telescope image of a globular cluster and it is called Ruprecht 106. It is named after Jaroslav Ruprecht who I believe was a Czech astronomer. This cluster is approximately 69 thousand light years from earth in the constellation of Centaurus. Most clusters contain stars of different ages, but Ruprecht is in a type of cluster where there is no formation of second or third generation stars. There are only a small number of clusters in this category. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Dotter

If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-investigates-an-enigmatic-star-cluster and https://www.republicworld.com/science/space/hubble-spies-star-studded-globular-star-cluster-located-69100-light-years-from-earth-articleshow.html

“People fear that being trapped inside a box, they will miss out on all the wonders of the world. As long as Neo is stuck inside the matrix, and Truman is stuck inside the TV studio, they will never visit Fiji, or Paris, or Machu Picchu. But in truth, everything you will ever experience in life is within your own body and your own mind. Breaking out of the matrix or travelling to Fiji won’t make any difference. It’s not that somewhere in your mind there is an iron chest with a big red warning sign ‘Open only in Fiji!’ and when you finally travel to the South Pacific you get to open the chest, and out come all kinds of special emotions and feelings that you can have only in Fiji. And if you never visit Fiji in your life, then you missed these special feelings for ever. No. Whatever you can feel in Fiji, you can feel anywhere in the world; even inside the matrix.” 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!! Enough is truly enough!!

By the 6th of June we were still in the 100,000 new cases per day range. The variant of concern was BA.2.12.1 and it was responsible for 62% of Covid cases the first week of June in the US. It has a delta mutation that appears to allow it to escape pre-existing immunity from vaccination and prior infection. The people that caught the omicron wave are not immune. The kicker is that there are two new variants that are starting to gain traction in the US: BA.4 and BA.5. They also have the same delta mutation.

Well again the picture has not changed for the number of deaths. These are still the top 10 states for mortality from Covid. What I really find interesting is that North Carolina is not in the top 10. It is listed as the 7th highest state in the country for Covid cases but drops to 13th when you look at deaths. Oh well the CDC has no power when it comes to getting states to give accurate numbers. I am guessing when this is all said and done and the true numbers are known, we will get a much grimmer picture of what the true mortality and morbidity was for Covid.

By the middle of the month (June 2022), we were still adding 100,000 cases each day officially, but some in the public health sector think this number is probably double due to unreported home testing. The death count was still about 300 people per day unfortunately. The total death count stood at 1,038,000 for a total of 4000 deaths in the last 9 days, but my guess is that number is under reported again. The good news is that even with the under reporting the mortality count does seem to be headed in the right direction. Of course we were at this same place last year before the Delta and Omicron Variant did their unfortunate things.

By the end of the month (June 2022), the total death count was about 1,043,000 or a total of about 10,000 deaths for the month of June. Or another way to see it, about 100,000 people per year die due to Covid, at the current rate. Granted that is not the numbers we were seeing last January and February but still staggering when you think about it. BA4 and BA5 are now the dominate stains in the US and we are still adding about 100,000 new cases per day. Oh well. As much as we want it to be over, it is not over.

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 month of May was another good one for getting outdoors. Cool weather and great air quality.

The above picture was taken on May 5th, 2022 at about 5pm in the afternoon. It was another beautiful cool day on the Front Range of Colorado.

The above picture was taken on May 9th, 2022 at about 6pm in the evening. Here I am looking West along the Poudre River as it flows through Fort Collins.

The above picture was taken on May 14th, 2022 at about 7pm in the evening from one of the many parks in Fort Collins. The Dandelion seed pods were popping up in many locations around the city. While walking Marvin, I came across the sun shining just at the right angle to backlight the seed pods and I thought it would make a great picture. Sometimes it is just luck to be in the right place at the right time. Lol.

The above picture and the below picture were taken on May 16th, 2022 at about 11am. This is a picture of Janet and the three daughters and Janet and I with Marvin in the bottom one. We all did a short hike together in Horsetooth Mountain Park. This was the first time we had all been together as a family in a long time.

The above picture was taken May 20th, 2022 at about 10am in the morning. While temps were gradually starting to get warmer for the month, we did get a few days where it was good to have a fire in the woodstove. These cool spells used to be more common when we first moved to Colorado in 1987, but over the years the lower temp extremes have just disappeared. After moving to Fort Collins, it was unusual to buy a new car or home WITH an air conditioner. We were told that you just did not need it like you would in the Southern States. Over time that has changed. Last year I had the air conditioner on almost everyday from the month of May through November. This was the first time we have felt we needed to do this in over thirty years of living here. Unreal.

This picture was taken on May 22nd, 2022 at about 12noon. Here Marvin and Janet are standing next to an enormous Cottonwood tree in one of the many open spaces in Fort Collins.

The above picture was taken on May 23rd, 2022 at about 6pm in the evening. Another cool day in Fort Collins. Here Marvin and I were checking out the water levels on the Poudre River. The river really does go down to a trickle in the winter months, only to swell to many times it usual size during spring run off from the mountains. Normally at this time, there would be much more water in it, but due to the change in climate, the cities in the area pull as much water from it as they are legally allowed, in order to fill all the reservoirs. Colorado is considered a “head-water” state. Meaning that we are the source of several major rivers / streams and the water we get in the mountains is pretty much all the water we get. Water is considered liquid gold in Colorado.

The above and last picture was taken on June 1st, 2022 at about 4pm in the afternoon. This is a picture of our old cat Leeloo or Lenny as the kids called her. Yes, she is named after one on the main characters from the movie the Fifth Element. One of my all time favorite Science Fiction films. I take so many pics of Marvin, I thought I would include one of her. She loves the warm weather and prefers to spend as much time outside as possible when it is hot. In the winter, it is not uncommon for her to get under the woodstove late at night to heat herself up so to speak. Lol

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

The first one I would like to talk about is called “Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail” by Ray Dalio. Let me start by saying I had first heard of Ray at the start of the pandemic when he was speaking at a TED talk. In his talk he was offering advice on what might happen if the government did not bail out hospitals and other businesses. How the pandemic with its shut downs would create havoc on the entire economy and how we might best recover from it. All of it sounded very interesting. So I decided to get one of his books on economic history to see if I could gain a little better insight into what might be instore for the United States and the rest of the world. And I am glad that I did. The book looks at the big picture of what has happened over time, from ancient Rome to the present without getting lost in the details. This is a “big picture” type book and does not touch on all the topics that might be covered in a book say on just Great Britain when it was the global power in the early 1800s. Ray’s book looks at the bigger picture.

There is a great section towards the end of the book on China and its ongoing relationship with the USA and what that might mean for the future. He also talks about how it is difficult to predict how things might turn out when looking at the past due to unforeseen events. Like Pandemics, wars and technological advances. Of course a great example of this is the current war in Ukraine. Because the book was published in 2021, the war had not started yet. And Ray makes no mention of it. But in the book he mention several times how “big events” both natural and man-made can change national trajectories. And that is exactly what is happening globally with the war in Ukraine.

I got the book as an audio book but I think it would work a lot better in traditional format due to the number of charts and graphs the book has in it. It is a little difficult to see all of that with an audio book. Lol.

Of course you can find this book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Changing-World-Order-Nations-Succeed/dp

The next book I would like to give a recommendation to is called Ageless:  The New Science of Getting Older without Getting Old by Andrew Steele.  I first hear about this book in a talk by the Author on the YouTube channel called “The Royal Institution.”  The link for it is here: https://youtu.be/fX9P1xuIJGg.  It is a pretty good talk and it got me interested in his book.  The author did not start out as a biologist but as a physicist.  And he felt that ageing was the most important scientific challenge of our time.  So he switched to computational biology.  In the book he covers some of the long standing beliefs on aging and disease.  And how we all seem to think that Alzheimer’s, heart disease, cancer, etc.… are the big causes of death and suffering in the human population.  But he tells us, in reality we have all gotten it wrong.  It is “Aging” in and of itself and not those diseases that are the problem.  When I was younger and starting my medical career 40 years ago, I remember hearing people say he or she died of natural causes and even then, I thought what does that actually mean.  It didn’t really make sense to me. I thought, shouldn’t we treat the underlying process of aging?  If treating the process would end a majority of the other diseases, why are we not doing it?  

The book made me really question why are we spending so much money on Alzheimer’s, on Heart disease and Cancer?  Granted we have had some success in those areas but if we shifted the lion’s share of available research dollars to slowing or even reversing the underlying cause – “aging” ;  We could hit all the preverbal “disease birds” with one stone.  Otherwise we are just playing Whack-A-Mole with the process and wasting billions of research dollars.  This is an excellent book on the topic and the author does a great job of illustrating where we are at now and where the research might take us.  There is no reason to not believe that a greatly extended and healthy lifespan could be in our future. 

I listened to this book as an audio book, but it would work well in any format.  And of course you can find it on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Ageless-Science-Getting-Older-Without-ebook/dp           

The next book I would like to give a recommendation to is called Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom.  I first heard about Nick from multiple different books on the development and potential pitfalls of Artificial Intelligence.  So much so, I thought that I should check out his book.  And I am glad that I did.  It is a little bit older as to having been published in 2014 but after listening to it, I think the relevance for the book is still there.  Especially when you look at it from a philosophical point of view, of which Nick’s book is about.  It is not a book about the technical details of how to build the best neural network or computer chip for AI, no it is about what it means when algorithms are so advanced that it is very difficult for humans to keep up.  The fact that you don’t even have to have a sentient AI for this to occur.   It is a discussion of all of those challenges that will inevitability crop up when you put a significant part of the human population out of work due to AI and automation.  No matter how, when and where the technology develops this will still be an issue. 

If you have been following some of the more recent news beside the political shenanigans, you get the idea that we are already fast approaching this pivot point in human history.  Think self-driving trucks and cars.  Yes they are still in the development stage but there will be a time coming up when that R&D is done and you don’t need a human driver.  More recently in the news was the google engineer that thinks Google’s AI program, which he has been working with, is now sentient.  I think the program is called LaMDA.  Even if it is not sentient, it has gotten good enough to fool an engineer that is working with it?!  It is a chatbot.  Imagine a very intelligent chatbot that can answer all customer questions, HR employee questions, book appointments, schedule maintenance, tell you when you are doing something wrong or right, become a virtual girlfriend or boyfriend, be your doctor, etc.…. Lol.  Of course, all of this is out there now, but think of it as being 10,000 or 100,000 times better that current versions.  It does not take long to realize that this will not only be fantastic (my personal opinion) but also create some truly scary scenarios if not handled correctly.      

I listened to this book as an audio book. I think it would work in any version but the ideas are dense and if you are like me, you will need time to truly think about them before moving on.  Of course the book can be found on Amazon:   https://www.amazon.com/Superintelligence-Nick-Bostrom-audiobook/dp

The last book I would like to review and give a recommendation on is called Still Running:  The Art of Meditation in Motion, by Vanessa Zuisei Goddard.  Let me start off saying that this is a great book for all runners both experienced and first timers.  But with that said, I think it will be the experienced runners that are going to get the most out of the book.  Especially someone that has put in the miles so to speak and can relate to what the author references and talks about.  It is a book about “more” than just running.  A lot of the principles discussed in the book can also be applied to life in general.  I have to be honest; this was my second reading and review of the book.  The first read through was when it first came out in 2020, and it had spiked my curiosity due to its Buddhist philosophy and the fact that I was reading several other books on Buddhism at the time.  Unfortunately, I was very busy with work and I read it pretty fast and superficially.  Fast forward to this year, knee injury, time to read more, and I thought I would go back though it, but much, much slower.  I am so glad that I did.  What is the old saying “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear?”  Lol.  And that is exactly what happened.  It was as if I was reading and understanding it for the first time. 

The author does a great job of tying together two seemingly unrelated practices, running and Buddhism, and by doing this she gives the reader a deeper insight into both.  It does not matter if you’re not a Buddhist, she approaches the topic in a secular way and is not trying to convert you.  We can all use a little meditation in our lives and she shows you how to turn your long hours of running into an enjoyable moving experience.

This is one of those books that I will read again and again.  It is that good.  I got it in traditional format.  Unfortunately, it does not come as an audiobook.  Of course, it can be found on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Still-Running-Art-Meditation-Motion/dp                 

Well no new artwork for the moment but I would like to showcase the “Jesus Brothers.” 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 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.

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!  Due to the craziness in the world this past month, I am forgoing my usual rant to you about become minimalist.

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. 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, Climate Change, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Environment, Exercise, Fort Collins, Injury, Pandemics, Science, Space

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 29TH, APRIL 2022

1 Comment

“According to Buddhism, the root of suffering is neither the feeling of pain nor of sadness nor even of meaninglessness. Rather, the real root of suffering is this never-ending and pointless pursuit of ephemeral feelings, which causes us to be in a constant state of tension, restlessness and dissatisfaction. Due to this pursuit, the mind is never satisfied. Even when experiencing pleasure, it is not content, because it fears this feeling might soon disappear, and craves that this feeling should stay and intensify. People are liberated from suffering not when they experience this or that fleeting pleasure, but rather when they understand the impermanent nature of all their feelings, and stop craving them. This is the aim of Buddhist meditation practices. In meditation, you are supposed to closely observe your mind and body, witness the ceaseless arising and passing of all your feelings, and realize how pointless it is to pursue them. When the pursuit stops, the mind becomes very relaxed, clear and satisfied. All kinds of feelings go on arising and passing – joy, anger, boredom, lust – but once you stop craving particular feelings, you can just accept them for what they are. You live in the present moment instead of fantasizing about what might have been. The resulting serenity is so profound that those who spend their lives in the frenzied pursuit of pleasant feelings can hardly imagine it. It is like a man standing for decades on the seashore, embracing certain ‘good’ waves and trying to prevent them from disintegrating, while simultaneously pushing back ‘bad’ waves to prevent them from getting near him. Day in, day out, the man stands on the beach, driving himself crazy with this fruitless exercise. Eventually, he sits down on the sand and just allows the waves to come and go as they please. How peaceful!” Yuval Noah Harari

The above two images are from Nasa Hubble Space Telescope and they made headlines at the end of March for a star that is 12.9 billion years away from earth. Meaning that it has taken light 12.9 billion years to reach us. We are seeing light that came from the universe when it was only about 7 percent of it current age. Hubble was able to capture this image due to gravitational lensing. This was caused by a chance alignment with a huge galaxy cluster located between the star and the telescope. The galaxy cluster is so massive that it warps the fabric of space time, creating a type of magnifying glass. The scientists that discovered the star named it Earendel or morning star. There is hope that when the James Webb telescope is fully calibrated, it can confirm Earendel and measure for temperature and brightness. If you would like to learn more check out this link: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/record-broken-hubble-spots-farthest-star-ever-seen and the YouTube video below!

“The greatest scientific discovery was the discovery of ignorance. Once humans realized how little they knew about the world, they suddenly had a very good reason to seek new knowledge, which opened up the scientific road to progress.” Yuval Noah Harari

This is an image take by the Hubble Space Telescope and it is of the galaxy NGC 5921 and it is about 80 million light years from earth. Or another way to think about it, is that it has taken the light of this galaxy 80 million years to reach us. How extraordinary that is when you think about it. Of course this is not considering the first image in this blog post. That one took light about 13 billion years to reach us. I think numbers like these can lose their meaning if you don’t have frames of reference. A way that I get my mind around it is by thinking of seconds: One millions seconds equals about 11 days, but 1 billion seconds equals almost 32 years. Big difference. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Walsh; Acknowledgment: R. Colombari. If you would like to learn more about the above image or see a calculator for seconds to years and vise versa, please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goodard/2002/hubble-spies-a-serpentine-spiral and https://www.calculateme.com/time/seconds/to-years/1000000

“The capitalist and consumerist ethics are two sides of the same coin, a merger of two commandments. The supreme commandment of the rich is ‘Invest!’ The supreme commandment of the rest of us is ‘Buy!’ The capitalist–consumerist ethic is revolutionary in another respect. Most previous ethical systems presented people with a pretty tough deal. They were promised paradise, but only if they cultivated compassion and tolerance, overcame craving and anger, and restrained their selfish interests. This was too tough for most. The history of ethics is a sad tale of wonderful ideals that nobody can live up to. Most Christians did not imitate Christ, most Buddhists failed to follow Buddha, and most Confucians would have caused Confucius a temper tantrum. In contrast, most people today successfully live up to the capitalist–consumerist ideal. The new ethic promises paradise on condition that the rich remain greedy and spend their time making more money and that the masses give free reign to their cravings and passions and buy more and more. This is the first religion in history whose followers actually do what they are asked to do. How though do we know that we’ll really get paradise in return? We’ve seen it on television.” Yuval Noah Harari

This is an image from the Hubble Space Telescope of the spiral galaxy NGC 7172 and it is approximately 110 million light years from earth. It was first cataloged by the English astronomer John Herschel on September 23rd, 1834. It is located in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus, which means “the southern fish.” The constellation is in the southern celestial hemisphere. The galaxy made news when astronomers inspected the electromagnetic spectrum and discovered it had a supermassive blackhole at it’s center powering its galactic nucleus. This type of nucleus is characterized by a intensely bright compact core as in the above image and is known as a Seyfert galaxy. These are named after Carl Seyfert, who was an American astronomer that did significant research in this area of astronomy. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. J. Rosario, A. Barth; Acknowledgment: L. Shatz. If you would like to learn more about this galaxy, constellation and Carl Seyfert, please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-views-a-galaxy-with-an-active-black-hole and http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/hubble-active-spiral-galaxy-ngc-7172-10654.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piscis_Austrinus and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Keenan_Seyfert

“It takes a lot of courage to fight biases and oppressive regimes, but it takes even greater courage to admit ignorance and venture into the unknown. Secular education teaches us that if we don’t know something, we shouldn’t be afraid of acknowledging our ignorance and looking for new evidence. Even if we think we know something, we shouldn’t be afraid of doubting our opinions and checking ourselves again. Many people are afraid of the unknown, and want clear-cut answers for every question. Fear of the unknown can paralyze us more than any tyrant. People throughout history worried that unless we put all our faith in some set of absolute answers, human society will crumble. In fact, modern history has demonstrated that a society of courageous people willing to admit ignorance and raise difficult questions is usually not just more prosperous but also more peaceful than societies in which everyone must unquestioningly accept a single answer. People afraid of losing their truth tend to be more violent than people who are used to looking at the world from several different viewpoints. Questions you cannot answer are usually far better for you than answers you cannot question.” Yuval Noah Harari

This is an image of the galaxy NGC 4571. Can you guess what kind of galaxy this is? If you said spiral, then you are right. The image was made with the Hubble Space Telescope using it’s Wide Field Camera 3. The galaxy is about 60 million light years from earth and is located in the constellation Virgo. Which is the second largest constellation in the zodiac. The above galaxy is located in what is know as an asterism. A group of stars having a popular name but smaller in size than a constellation. An example of this is the Big Dipper which comprises seven of the brightest stars in the constellation Ursa Major. Another one would be the Southern Cross. The asterism for this galaxy is called Coma Berenices. It is an ancient asterism dating back to the time of the early Greeks and Egyptians. It is named after an Egyptian queen Berenice II Euergetis. The name translates as Bernice’s Hair. Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team. If you would like to learn more about the above constellation, and Queen Berenice please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-spies-a-stunning-spiral and http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/hubble-ngc-4571-10634.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterism_(astronomy) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berenice_II_of_Egypt

“How can we distinguish what is biologically determined from what people merely try to justify through biological myths? A good rule of thumb is ‘Biology enables, Culture forbids.’ Biology is willing to tolerate a very wide spectrum of possibilities. It’s culture that obliges people to realize some possibilities while forbidding others. Biology enables women to have children – some cultures oblige women to realize this possibility. Biology enables men to enjoy sex with one another – some cultures forbid them to realize this possibility. Culture tends to argue that it forbids only that which is unnatural. But from a biological perspective, nothing is unnatural. Whatever is possible is by definition also natural. A truly unnatural behavior, one that goes against the laws of nature, simply cannot exist.” 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. Man it has been long enough!

Looking at the numbers on April 6th, it appears that in the last 30 days (March 6th to April 6th) we have added another 26 thousand deaths for a total of 1,010, 537. Yes you read that right! We went over the 1 million death mark back at the end of March! The only good news about this is we are down one half the deaths from the previous 30 days.

The above image has not changed from the last month. All of the same states for the number of deaths is still the same. Of course, Florida is not reporting. I always assumed that the CDC could go to a state to assess the public health hazards and make recommendations or to see if counting statistics are being accurately reported in the name of public health. But this is not the case. Because the CDC did not exist at the time the Constitution was written, the CDC has no jurisdiction over state rights. Meaning that they have no power to ensure things are being counted accurately in the name of protecting the public health. They have to be invited in. Does make you wonder if we need some kind of Constitutional Amendment that can be used when the next pandemic occurs to help ensure public health. In my opinion the CDC needs more control and legal enforcement in matters of public health.

By the middle of the month we had added another 5000 deaths in this country alone. Again it is hard to get your head wrapped around these numbers. And due to the variant BA2 the cases had climbed again to about 40 thousand per day. But due to home testing and non-reporting this is probably an underestimate of how many new cases are occurring per day. At least hospitalizations have not climbed much. This is not due to the variant being less severe but due to the number of individuals that are vaccinated, have gotten booster shots or had prior Covid. It is much more transmissible than previous variants. Right up there with Chicken Pox. Some states like New York have reinstated mask mandates due to rising numbers.

Around the middle of the month a Federal Judge ruled in Florida (of course) on a case that said the CDC over stepped it bounds when issuing a mask mandates. Her name is Kathryn Kimball Mizelle. I am wondering if she realizes how much death and disability she will have caused over the coming months. Shortly after this ruling the airlines and other transit systems dropped their mask mandates. Oh well – “Stupid is as stupid does.”

By the end of the month or the day of publishing we were up to about 55 thousand cases per day officially. Of course this number was much higher due to unreported testing with the home kits and some states that have just stopped reporting in a timely manner. The total death count was approximately 1,020,500. Or about 10 thousand extra deaths in the last 23 days. So while that is a big number, at least it is going in the right direction of down. I hoping that I can keep saying this for the next month. Time will tell.

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.

Again enough about Covid! Lol. I will be so glad when this is over. The month of March was a good one for getting outdoors. I did not do a lot of running because of a knee injury but I did get in a lot of walking. Pretty much everyday with the dog and Janet. Due to the weather patterns and lots of wind, the air quality was pretty good. I would even have to say since the start of this year the air quality has been unusually good. And that my friends has been a blessing and a curse. The wind has been the reason for the cleaner air but when you add in the current drought conditions here on the front range, it has created some very significant fire danger. So far, we have been pretty lucky. There have been a few small fires, that were quickly controlled, but nothing like what has been going on in New Mexico and Arizona. It seems like this is way too early in the year for these types of conditions and I am a little nervous about what the summer will bring.

This picture was taken March 2nd, 2022 at about 5:30pm in the afternoon. It was a great afternoon for a walk with Janet and Marvin.
This picture was also taken on March 2nd, 2022 at about 6pm in the evening. We did have some nice sunsets in March but not as many as we usually do because of the cleaner air. It is one of those things that if you have beautiful sunsets it usually means the sun is reflecting off the particulates in the air. Fewer particulates fewer colors.
This picture was taken March 3rd, 2022 about 4pm in the afternoon. Here Marvin and I are looking North East from Horsetooth Mountain Park. It was a very nice day for a run with temps in the low 50s.
This picture was taken March 6th, 2022 at about 6pm. We did get some cold weather in the month of March with snow. Unfortunately it was not enough to make up for the drought. This picture is looking West across the neighborhood pond.
This picture was taken on March 8th, 2022 at about 530pm in the afternoon. Marin is staring at 4 to 5 deer hidden in the tall grass and trees. It was a much warmer day from a few days before with temps in the lower 40s.
This picture was taken March 15th, 2022 at about 715pm. What a beautiful evening. The week before we had been down in the single digits and teens for temperatures and in this picture the temps were up around 60 degrees. Typical for Colorado this time of year.
This picture was also taken on March 15th, 2022 at about 7pm.
This picture was taken on March 22nd, 2022 at about 7pm in the evening. Another beautiful Colorado sunset.
This picture was taken on March 26th, 2022 at about 530pm in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day for a bike ride. This is looking South East along a section of the Poudre Bike path.
This picture was taken on March 28th, 2022 at about 7pm in the afternoon. Our youngest daughter was along for the walk and took the picture. Another beautiful day in Colorado.

I did not have a lot of pictures of mountain scenes due to my knee injury. In order to help heal the knee, I had to really decrease the amount of running that I was doing and just keep the walking. Of course the knee injury did not just happen but was the result of me overdoing it. Lol. If you are a runner then you will know what I mean. As runners we all have this mindset that if a little is good then more is better and I am guilty. What is the old saying “We are our own worst enemy.” Oh well, live and learn. Then relearn, then promise yourself you won’t do that again. Then forget you said that and do it again… Lol.

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

First, if you interested in a great A.I. book written by a world renowned researcher in said field go no further until you check out the book called Human Compatible:  Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control by Stuart Russell.  What I found most interesting in this book was the author’s view of what we might expect from A.I. in the near future and what most likely is still just a fantasy, even in the long term.  Of course with this said the author does bring up the old joke about “What an old professor says is not possible, has probably already happened or will happen very soon, but what a young professor says is just around the corner, is usually years off.”  All kidding aside it is an interesting book looking at this topic.  From the possible development of human level general A.I. (Strong A.I.) to the personal data assistant (Weak A.I.). 

He also devotes a significant part of the book to how we might be able to develop A.I. in such way that we won’t end up with the Terminator and Skynet issues depicted in Hollywood Movies.  You might be thinking that is a ways off, but in reality we might get there quicker than you imagined even without the development of a strong A.I.  Think of a really smart but not sentient data assistant.  I would love to have something like this to help with my day to day life.  It would be wonderful until one human decides to use it against another human.  Or a group of humans?  Or… you can see where this might lead.  So how do we prevent a simple concept as the personnel data assistant from being used in a malicious way?  Good question with so many possibilities for things to go wrong so to speak.  This is a great book to read if you want to get a broader understanding of where we are with A.I. and it’s possible future development.  Of course, I listened to this book as an audio book but it would work well in any format.  You can find it on Amazon at:  https://amzn.to/3Mqx6Vj

The next book I would like to recommend is one by a former MIT president Susan Hockfield and is called “The Age of Living Machines: How the Convergence of Biology and Engineering Will Build the Next Technology Revolution.”  If you are someone that has not been following some of the technological changes occurring in genetics and what is termed bio-engineering / synthetic biology, then this short book would be a good one to read.  She gives examples of using “biology” to potentially solve real world problems that would usually be approached as a classical physics challenge in the past. 

One of my favorite examples from the book was the research in using a virus to make a battery at the nano scale level.  That is using a genetically modified “biological virus” to assemble inorganic molecules into predesigned structures to make the battery.  Another one was the research in creating engineered viral or bacterial colonies to filter water and air for humans similar to what you would find in aquariums. Now be warned there is some plugging for MIT and she does mention a few times she was a former MIT president but if you can get past that advertising, it is an interesting and thought provoking book to say the least.  I got it as an audio book but it would work well in any format.  You can find the book on Amazon:    https://amzn.to/3K6m71H  

The next book that I would like to STRONGLY recommend is “Basic Economics, Fifth Edition:  A Common Sense Guide to the Economy” by Thomas Sowell.  Mr. Sowell is an American economist, historian, social theorist, and senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.  If you were like me, you might have gotten a basic economic course in college (a long time ago) but that would be about it or if you were someone who did not go to college then you probably have never taken one. Maybe in High School? I don’t really know.  Either way this is a book that is for all of us.  The only people I would leave out would be those that are actual economist. What I loved about this book is the author uses real world examples of past events to help explain each chapter topic.  And with all the things going on in the world today with the pandemic, like supply chain issues, higher gas prices, inflation in general, housing, etc.…  This is a very relevant book.   

What I learned in each chapter helped me to see past some of the current political BS that is spun by both political parties when it comes to how the economy is doing or not doing.  Lol.  Now be warned this is a big book and I got it as an audio book.  There was 24 hours of listening time.  I think it would work well in any format but I am one of those readers that does better with “dry” material as an audio book.  I would listen to a single chapter while doing house chores or on a long walk with the dog.  And this worked very well for me.  I actually found myself listening to some chapters more than once.  This is an excellent book on how the economy functions.  Of course you can find it on Amazon:  https://amzn.to/3KdHjTs    

Last but not least I would like to show case a piece of art work. I call this one Cosmic Sisters. I got the idea after reading about the LIGO detector for gravitational waves. GWs had been theorized to exist but up until LIGO it was just a theoretical idea. One of the research questions that led to the building of the detector was if you have binary pulsars (2 neutron stars orbiting each other) they should create gravitational waves. And low and behold that is what they found. This confirmation of gravitational waves has opened up new areas of research in Astrophysics. Which I think is pretty cool. The sisters represent a Binary Pulsar.

This piece measures 14 inches wide by 17 inches tall. It is done in pen and ink and sealed with mod podge. The drawing is done on thick paper and mounted to painted (black) white board.

COSMIC SISTERS

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 the report by the International Renewable Energy Agency that came out at the end of March. In a nutshell the report says that if we want to avoid catastrophic warming, let me say that again, catastrophic warming in the coming years we much take “radical action” to prevent it. Wow! Radical action. Meaning that we need to drop our world wide carbon emissions by 45% in the next 8 years. Think about that for a moment. By 2030, we need to be 45% lower in our carbon emissions. Unreal when you think about it.

So how do we do this?? We don’t want things to look like the above picture. Will switching to Electric Vehicles save the planet? The simple answer is NO. It is not enough. It is going to take a lot more. And this will mean lifestyle changes. How we work, how we play, how we eat, how we produce power, even how many pets we have. All of these things have to come into play.

If a lot of this sounds like too much to deal with, there is another way of pulling all of the different factors together. And that is becoming minimalist. It will lower the carbon foot print. And it is something we can all do on an individual level. It is a way to fight back against our over rampant consumeristic culture that is leading to an unlivable planet. 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.” Of course this usually translates to getting rid of all unnecessary material goods as a first step. But it does not have to be. Minimalism is so much more than just this.  And again, let me stress, each individual decides how much “minimalism” they want in there life. Becoming minimalist is just a change in mindset. Nothing to buy, nothing to purchase, just a change in how you look at your life and the world.

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