Category Archives: Religion

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

MUSINGS FOR SEPTEMBER 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid 19 so far and so have I!! Yea for us again!! I am still hoping that I can keep saying this until the Covid Marry-Go-Round is done!! Oh well what are you going to do??

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

   

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

I got the book as an audio book but it would work in any format.  I am sure you can find it at your local book store or on Amazon.  Here is the Amazon link:   https://www.amazon.com/Forest-Vanishing-Stars-Novel/dp

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

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

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

Transhumanist Jesus #5

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

In support of Prochoice and the Separation of Church and State, I will donate 10% of any sales to Planned Parenthood or the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Well I have come to the end of another blog post! Yea! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it! But before I go, I would like to give another shout out to becoming minimalist. I think that the quote below from the movie “Fight Club” says it best. Lol. Of course minimalism is much, much more than that, but if you had to boil it down to one reason for being minimalist then this would be it.

There is way too much to go into detail here in the blog post about minimalism and others have done it a lot better than me, so if your interested and want to learn more about sustainability, minimalism and the steady state economy, please see these sites: https://www.sustain.ucla.edu/what-is-sustainability/ and https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/ and https://steadystate.org/ and https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2018/12/27/35-ways-reduce-carbon-footprint/

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

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

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

Air Quality, Art, Book Review, Cameron Peak Fire, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Minimalism, Pandemics, Religion, Science, Space, Wildfire

MUSINGS FOR AUGUST 2022

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

Hubble Space Telescope

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

James Webb Space Telescope – much greater detail!

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

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

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

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

Hubble Space Telescope

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

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

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

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

James Webb Space Telescope

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

Hubble Space Telescope

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

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

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

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid 19 so far and so have I!! Yea for us again!! I am still hoping that I can keep saying this until the Covid Marry-Go-Round is done!! Oh well what are you going to do??

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This piece measure 9.25 inches by 12.25 inches. When hanging, total height is about 15 inches. It is done in pen and ink, mounted on half inch painted white board, coated and sealed with Mod Podge.

“ATHENA NIKE REVISITED”

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

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

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

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

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

There is way too much to go into detail here in the blog post about minimalism and others have done it a lot better than me, so if your interested and want to learn more about sustainability, minimalism and the steady state economy, please see these sites: https://www.sustain.ucla.edu/what-is-sustainability/ and https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/ and https://steadystate.org/ and https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2018/12/27/35-ways-reduce-carbon-footprint/

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

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

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

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

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

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 27TH, MAY 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid 19 so far and so have I! Yea for us again! I am still hoping that I can keep saying this until the Covid Marry-Go-Round is done! Lol. Enough is enough.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TRANSHUMANIST JESUS # 4

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

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

Being minimalist is not all black or all white. There are many shades of gray. Minimalism is different for each individual. You can choose how much “minimalism” you want in your life and how much you don’t want. It is about understanding what matters most in life and removing the things that do not support the “what matters most part.” It is a way to break free of a rigged consumeristic system. A way to buy time for yourself and the planet. It is a way to bring back the joy we all want and need in our lives. The really cool part, there is nothing to buy. It is just a change in mindset. A change in attitude.

Ok, ok, enough of the soapbox, but if your interested and want to learn more about sustainability, minimalism and the steady state economy, please see these sites: https://www.sustain.ucla.edu/what-is-sustainability/ and https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/ and https://steadystate.org/ and https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2018/12/27/35-ways-reduce-carbon-footprint/

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

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

Air Quality, AllTrails, Art, Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Family, Fort Collins, Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, Pandemics, PurpleAir, Religion, Science, Space, Trail Running, Wildfire

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 24TH, SEPTEMBER 2021

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“Science is the one human activity that is truly progressive. The body of positive knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation.” Edwin Powell Hubble

This image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. It is a picture of what is know as the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) – a dwarf galaxy. Another name it goes by is Nubecula Minor. In Latin, Nubecula means little cloud. The SMC is visible from the entire Southern Hemisphere, but can be seen low on the southern horizon from latitudes south of 15 degrees north. Meaning – To see it in North America, you would have to be in the Southern Caribbean or further south. The SMC is about 210 thousand light years away with a diameter of about 7,000 light years. It contains several hundred million stars. In comparison, our galaxy the Milky Way, contains an estimated 100 billion. The SMC is one of the nearest intergalactic neighbors to our galaxy and one of the most distant objects that can be seen with the naked eye. Image credit: NASA, ESA and A. Nota (STScI/ESA). If you would like to learn more about the SMC please visit these sites: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/brilliant-hot-young-stars-shine-in-the-small-magellanic-cloud and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Magellanic_Cloud

“You are what you know. Fifteenth-century Europeans ‘knew’ that the sky was made of closed concentric crystal spheres, rotating around a central earth and carrying the stars and planets. That ‘knowledge’ structured everything they did and thought, because it told them the truth. Then Galileo’s telescope changed the truth.” James Burke

This is an image of a part of the Gemini Constellation. It is located in the norther celestial hemisphere. It’s name means “the twins” in Latin. The constellation was first catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century ce. The picture was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and features a stellar nursery named AFGL 5180. It is about 5000 light years away. Due to the stellar dust associated with star formation, it can be difficult to see the newly formed stars. But Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 was designed to do this very thing by capturing detailed images in both visible and infrared light. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. C. Tan (Chalmers University & University of Virginia), R. Fedriani (Chalmers University); Acknowledgment: Judy Schmidt. If you want to learn more about this image please check out there links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/star-formation-in-the-constellation-of-gemini-the-twins and https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/gemini-constellation/ and https://www.sciencealert.com/hubble-s-latest-image-release-is-so-beautiful-it-should-be-illegal

“What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.” Werner Heisenberg

This image is showing the Lagoon Nebula or Messier 8. The picture was created by using X-ray data (pink color) from the Chandra X-ray space telescope and optical images from the Mt. Lemmon Sky Center in Arizona (Blue and White Color). Messier 8 is about 4000 to 6000 light years from earth. It was first discovered in 1654 by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Hodierna. This star-forming cloud of interstellar gas is located in the constellation Sagittarius and can be slightly visible to the naked eye in a very dark sky. Image Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona. If you want to learn more about this image or the Sky Center in Arizona please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-lagoon-nebula-gives-birth-to-stars and https://skycenter.arizona.edu/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagoon_Nebula

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Max Planck

This is an image of the spiral galaxy NGC 2276 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. It lies about 120 million light years away in the northern constellation Cepheus. One of its spiral arms contains an intermediate mass black hole with 50,000 times the mass of the sun. First discovery credit is given to Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke in 1876. Of course at that time it was not understood that it was a separate galaxy from our own. That would have to wait until Edwin Hubble came along. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Paul Sell (University of Florida). If you want to learn more about his image please visit: https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2021/029/01F60K4CF8WRAD8GQ03HEBNBMQ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_2276

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

This is an image showing Dr. Nancy Grace Roman (third from left), Nasa’s first Chief of Astronomy and “The Mother of Hubble” visiting the Space Telescope Operations Center at the Goddard Space Flight Center in 2017. This was about one year before her death (1925 to 2018). Pictured left to right are: Beverly Serrano, Morgan Van Arsdall, Nancy Grace Roman, Olivia Lupie, Padi Boyd, and Erin Kisliuk. Nasa posted this picture on August 26th, 2021 to celebrate Women’s Equality Day. The day is celebrated each year on August 26th and commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote in the United States in 1920. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/Jim Jeletic. If you would like to learn more please visit these sites: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/paving-the-way-for-future-generations-of-women-in-stem and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women’s_Equality_Day and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Roman

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

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid 19 so far and so have I!! And that my friends is a very, very, good thing for all of us. I am still crossing my fingers and now my toes, hoping that I can keep saying this for the next year. I really mean that. I am hoping that I can.

The virus is back and with a vengeance. The death toil has skyrocketed again and when I started to write this blog post on September 7th, we were at 669 thousands death. This was an increase in the last 30 days of 36,000 individuals. To put this in perspective, between June 6th to July 6th we only had 9,000 deaths. A significant drop, and it really looked like things were headed in the right direction. Of course “the experts” were warning about the Delta variant by this time and did we listen? No, not really. Events that were planned back earlier in the year for July, August and September were not canceled or modified for the most part and have been going off as planned. So the last 30 days has seen a huge increase in infections and death. 36,000 thousand individuals and counting… My question is how high is this going to go??

Well it has been 9 months since I got the initial two doses of the Pfizer Vaccine for Covid and when the third shot became available, I jumped on it. So did my wife. By the time of publishing it will have been 3.5 weeks since I got the third booster and no side effects so far. There has been some debate from the FDA, CDC and the President’s health advisory committee about whether the booster is needed for the general population. At the time of publishing it was not being recommended for the general public in the United States, unless you were a health care worker, over the age of 65 or immunocompromised. In Israel, it is being offered to everyone over the age of 30 and at least 5 months since their second shot.

By the middle of the month, September 15th, we had added another 16,000 deaths since September 7th. Wow, that is only 8 days and 16,000 more deaths. And that is with several states, like Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa and Wyoming not reporting on a timely basis. So the toil is probably much higher. Or to put this another way: one person in every 500 individuals dies because of Covid now in the United States.

By the time of publishing on the 24th, the death toil was over 700,000 thousand individuals in the USA. So what that means is that we added another 30,000 plus deaths in 17 days or 70,000 deaths since August 6th. A little more than 35,000 for each month of August and September. Unreal. And again, this is with some states not reporting in a timely manner. How high will the toil go by the end of the year?? My guess is that it will be 800,000 to 1 million deaths. Especially with Thanksgiving coming up and of course you have X-mass and New Years… Almost all of this has been preventable. From the Grand Cheeto’s debacle in how he handled the early part of the pandemic to now with the anti-vaccine people.

Of course much of the morbidity and mortality in this fourth wave of Covid is due to the unvaccinated. So if there ever was a time to get vaccinated, it is now. Actually it is past time. So do yourself and your loved ones a favor and get vaccinated.

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

I am tired of talking about Covid but what are you going to do? You are not going to get anywhere by ignoring it. But life does go on, so lets move on to something a little different and somewhat better. During the month of August there were only a handful of days that the air quality was good enough to really get out and push the pedal to the medal so to speak. I did get in a few trail runs but nothing like I did in June and July. Believe it or not the air quality went from bad to worse by the end of August. It was really not until the second week of September that things started to improve a little bit.

This picture was taken on August 8th, 2021 at about 7:45pm in the afternoon. It is looking West and you can see the smoke in the area. I wanted to post this picture because this was pretty much everyday for the month of August. Most of the air quality alerts for the month ranged from Moderate to Unhealthy. Not really good for any kind of heavy training in the outdoors. The only good thing to come out of the smoke is that it made for some spectacular sunsets in the area. Every morning the first thing to do was to check the Purple Air Map (https://www2.purpleair.com/ ) and the Open Summit Map (https://opensummit.com/ ) for current air quality and smoke forecast. You could not even get away from it by going up into the mountains. The entire state was covered.

This picture was taken on August 13th, 2021 at about 12 noon and it is one of the last days that I ran in the Horsetooth Open Space behind Fort Collins. This was due to smoke issues. If you look between the trees you can see the haze out east. The wind had made a tiny window of opportunity to get a run in before the smoke came back and made things unhealthy.

The next three pictures were taken on a hike / run with my oldest daughter. It was in a wilderness area called the Rawah’s. It is in Northern Colorado, about 70 miles west of Fort Collins. The elevation ranges from 8500 feet to over 12,000 feet.

This picture was taken on August 21st, 2021 at about 10am in the morning. It is a picture of my oldest daughter Kayla and me. We are just a couple of hours into a hike / run on the West Branch Trail in the Rawah Wilderness Area.

This picture was taken on August 21st, 2021 about 10:30am in the morning and it is a view of Clark Peak. It is the highest point in the Rawah’s at 12,950 feet and part of the Medicine Bow Mountain range: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_Bow_Mountains In this picture I am standing on the West Branch Trail looking West.

This picture was taken August 21st, 2021 at about 11:45am in the morning. Here we are sitting at the end of the West Branch Trail, elevation over 11,000 feet. It was a great hike/run and fun to do with Kayla, Marvin and Marvin’s dog buddy Cash. Again, I cannot over emphasize the issues with the smoke this year. Even though the sky in the pictures looks clear, the air quality was moderate to moderate high for 2.5 particulates and we both experienced some upper respiratory symptoms after the run. This is a great area to go hiking, running, back packing, etc… A good app to check out this area is on AllTrails: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/west-branch-trail

The next three pictures are from a third and last trail run in August. The air quality had dramatically improved for a day with the passage of a weak cold front and associated rain. It is in the same general area as the above three pictures but with much better air quality on this date.

This picture was taken on August 24th, 2021 at about 12:00noon. In the first couple of miles of the West Branch trail there is a huge grove of Aspen Trees. The stark white bark of the aspens contrasting with the dark green foliage of the spruce and pines makes for an interesting landscape. I am planning to come back here later in the fall to see the leaves changing color.

This picture was taken on August 24th, 2021 at about 2:30pm in the afternoon. Here Marvin and I are on our way to Twin Crater Lakes. We took a fork in the West Branch Trail at about 3 to 4 miles in and headed up a different drainage. There were lots and lots of deadfall on this trail from the previous winter. Most of the trail clearing effort was still being focused on repairing fire burned areas from last year. It made for some interesting trail acrobatics to say the least! Lol.

This picture was taken August 24th, 2021 at about 3:30pm in the afternoon. Marvin and I had made it to one of the lakes. Here we are enjoying the sunshine at about 11,000 feet. It was a beautiful windless day. There were a few people up here with us either fishing or just enjoying the view like we were. You can check out this route via the AllTrails app: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/west-branch-to-north-forks-trail-and-twin-crater-lakes

Due to the poor air quality and high temperatures for Colorado’s front range, we decided to divide our walks with Marvin into smaller segments for August. Heavy exercise outdoors such as running was not something I wanted to do. It made no sense to put in all that effort, only to make things worse due to breathing in bad air. The days for August went something like this: easy walk in the AM with Marvin, heavy workout indoors using Rower, Nordic Track, or Spin Bike, easy walk with Marvin in the afternoon. This was one time I wished that I had a quality treadmill but that will have to wait until next year.

This picture was taken on August 26, 2021 at about 11:45am in the morning. Janet and I are just finishing up a morning walk with Marvin. The temperature was already in the high 80s but would continue to climb into the mid nineties by the afternoon. Air quality was in the moderate range as it was most mornings, but would climb to a much unhealthy level by afternoon with the addition of ozone created by the higher than normal temperatures.

With the rise of the Delta variant of Covid and the continued unhealthy air quality in Colorado the prospects of competing in my planned ultrarunning events (Leadville 100 and Run Rabbit Run) did not go off as planned. Oh well what are you going to do? I know that there were those that pushed the safety zone and did these events regardless of the risk factors. But that is not for me. I get it, it is hard to not do something that requires so much training and self sacrifice and then have the world throw you curve balls. It is like getting ready for a huge “party of the year” and at the last minute, while your heading out the door, canceling it. You experience a sense of loss. And for some, that is hard to work around. I am 59 years old and I still want to be doing the ultra running thing when I am in my 80s. So the risk was not acceptable.

I did get a lot of reading done with the “Marvin Walks” in the sense that I listened to several audio books. So I would like to review a couple of them.

The first one I would like to start with is The Premonition written by Michael Lewis. Let me say that this is not a book just about the current pandemic and who did or did not do what they were suppose to do. It is about several different public health experts and their stories over the last 10 to 20 years and what roles they played at the start of the current pandemic. If you were looking for an anti-trump book then you might be disappointed. It does point out the fallacies of the Trump admiration but not in an over bearing manner. I would say that over all this book paints a very negative light on the CDC that started way before the Trump era. If anything needs to change, it is the CDC and how they advise the public, handle data and help other public health officials dealing with public health issues. None of the characters, outside of the CDC, paint the organization in a glowing light. And to me that says a lot.

The author does a good job of bringing what can be a dry topic ( public health) to life. I would say that it almost reads like a novel. I listened to this book as an audio book but I feel it would work well in any format.

From the Amazon site: Michael Lewis, the best-selling author of The Undoing Project, Liar’s Poker, Flash Boys, Moneyball, The Blind Side, Home Game and The Big Short, among other works, lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife, Tabitha Soren, and their three children.

You can find this book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Premonition-Pandemic-Story-Michael-Lewis/dp/0393881555/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=The+premonition&qid=1632257294&sr=8-1

The next book I would like to talk about is “Why Trust Science?” by Naomi Oreskes. I first heard about Naomi Oreskes from a YouTube video from “The Royal Institution.” This is a channel were scientist talk about their research and sometimes promote their book about said research. If you interested in her talk, check out this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7PwqiiQmVM

I would have to say that the book did not disappoint. It was published in 2019 and is very relevant to the issues of today and the future. She gives a good historical perspective on science from the past all the way up to today. What I liked best is that she uses case studies to show where science got it wrong so to speak. And how we have learned from those mistakes.

In the book she does not shy away from some of the issues associated with the scientific process of today. The proliferation of what is know as “preprints” and how they are good to get information out but at the same time have a down side in that they have not had a formal peer review in a scholarly or scientific journal. And the whole idea of “Publish or Perish”, that creates issues for scientist to get something out “there” as quickly as possible before all the data collected can be fully analyzed. And she addresses some of the issues with corporate backed research. You do have to ask yourself is there going to be a “conflict of interest” in this research if XYZ corporation is backing it?

This is a great book if you want to understand, even with all of the issues in scientific research, why we should trust science. I listened to this book as an audio book but I think it would work great in any format.

Naomi Oreskes is an American historian of science and author. To learn more about her please visit this link: Naomi Oreskes – Wikipedia

Of course you can find this book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Trust-Science-Naomi-Oreskes-audiobook/dp/B07W99GTG3/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1632430393&sr=8-1

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

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

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

“Jesus of Borg”

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

Wow! I have come to the end of another blog post and before I close, I want to say this again, if you have not thought about the mindset of “Minimalism” you should. The consumeristic culture we have created is not sustainable. That is if we don’t want to destroy the very environment that makes all human life possible. I have no doubt that the earth will survive, but will humanity? That remains to be seen.

Ever since the early 1900s when the people that make light bulbs decided to limit their lifespan so that consumers would have to buy more, we have been locked into this engineering and marketing principle of “planned obsolescence.” According to “Free Market Capitalism” we have to grow, grow and grow – therefore corporations have to sell us more stuff every year, after year, after year, with no end in sight. They have to make more in profit each year than the year before. They cannot just be profitable but have to make more each and every year or they are looked at as a failure. When I seriously think about this I am always reminded of the maxim: “Growth for growth’s sake is the definition of a Cancer Cell.” And that is what we have. Our economic system in the United States could be considered a cancer. And it needs to change.

So you might be wondering what YOU can do to help kill this cancer?! Well the first thing you can do is to become Minimalist! Stuff is stuff and you can have too much of it. Just like food. Too much of a good thing is going to cause problems. Cut out the empty calories so to speak by buying less and making good decisions on what you buy. Buy used when possible, pass it on when you are done with it, care for the stuff you already have, and if you absolutely have to buy new – look for durability, fixability, sustainable, and ethically made products that will last for years. Become the change you want to see.

Ok, ok enough of the soap box but if your interested in “minimalism” a good place to start is here: https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

So take care my friends and if you have not gotten vaccinated then get it done. Like the Nike slogan says: “Just do it!” We all want this “Groundhog Day-Covid-Marry-Go-Round” to stop. Until next time! Adios!!

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

Art, Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, Pandemics, Religion, Science, Space, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 26th, FEBRUARY 2021

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“We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.” Stephen Hawking

This picture (s) was taken by Ed Mitchell on the Apollo 14 mission, while on the moon. The mission lasted from January 31st to February 9th, 1971. That’s 50 years ago now! He snapped a series of photos looking out a window of the lunar lander. They were assembled into a detailed mosaic by Eric Jones who was the founder of the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal. It is a record of the lunar surface operations from 1969 to 1972. It is a resource for anyone wanting to know what happened during the missions and why. If you want to know more, check out these links: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html and https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/

“There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, and science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works.” Stephen Hawking

This is an image of a part of the Carina Nebula. It is a massive, complex area of bright and dark nebulosity in the constellation of Carina. This is just a view of one part. The Nebula is approximately 8,500 light years from our solar system. A popular name for this section is the Gabriela Mistral Nebula for the Chilean poet – Lucila Godoy Alcayaga. Supposedly the upper blue section in the right upper corner looks like her in profile. Lol. Check out this link to see if you agree: https://astrodrudis.com/ngc-3324-the-gabriela-mistral-nebula/ If you want to learn more about this image check out the link: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html Image Credit and Copyright Ariel Cappelletti, https://www.flickr.com/photos/110969348@N03/

“The role played by time at the beginning of the universe is, I believe, the final key to removing the need for a Grand Designer, and revealing how the universe created itself. … Time itself must come to a stop. You can’t get to a time before the big bang, because there was no time before the big bang. We have finally found something that does not have a cause because there was no time for a cause to exist in. For me this means there is no possibility of a creator because there is no time for a creator to have existed. Since time itself began at the moment of the Big Bang, it was an event that could not have been caused or created by anyone or anything. … So when people ask me if a god created the universe, I tell them the question itself makes no sense. Time didn’t exist before the Big Bang, so there is no time for God to make the universe in. It’s like asking for directions to the edge of the Earth. The Earth is a sphere. It does not have an edge, so looking for it is a futile exercise.” Stephen Hawking

This image is called the Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy. It is a small galaxy about 200,000 light-years away that orbits our own Milky Way spiral galaxy. Even at that great distance it is the closest intergalactic neighbor to our own Milky Way. This image is showing what is known as the tip of the wing. The galaxy is classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy and has a diameter of about 7,000 light years. It contains several hundred million stars. And add to this, each of those stars probably has at least one planet in orbit, probably much more. If that is not awing inspiring my friends, I don’t know what is…. To learn more about this image check out this link: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/taken-under-the-wing-of-the-small-magellanic-cloud Image Credit: NASA/CXC/JPL-Caltech/STScI.

“I believe the simplest explanation is, there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization that there probably is no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that, I am extremely grateful.” Stephen Hawking

This is an image of the Coalsack nebula (Caldwell 99). It is the most prominent dark nebula in the Southern skies – meaning South of the Equator. The nebula’s darkness is the result of dust particles blocking the visible light of stars in the background. The starlight that can be seen through the dust clouds appears reddish because dust absorbs and scatters blue light more easily than red. The nebula is easily visible to southern observers, appearing as a dark patch near the Southern Cross asterism and silhouetted against the star fields of our Milky Way. It lies just between the bright star Acrux and what is known as the Jewel Box Cluster. In fiction (writing and film) this nebula has been referenced multiple times – Star Trek series, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Chronicles of Riddick, the novel “The Blue Lagoon” by Henry De Vere Stacpoole, etc.. If you want to learn more about the Coalsack nebula use these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-coalsack-nebula and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalsack_Nebula

“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

This is an image of the NASA astronaut Jessica Meir. She took a selfie while on a space walk at the International Space Station, January 26th, 2020. How cool is that!? She is a Swedish-American NASA astronaut, marine biologist, and physiologist. If you want to know more about Jessica please visit this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Meir#:~:text=Jessica%20Ulrika%20Meir%20%28IPA%3A%20%2F%20m%20%C9%AA%C9%99r%20%2F%3B,physiology%20at%20the%20University%20of%20British%20Columbia%20.

“A universe without purpose should neither depress us nor suggest that our lives are purposeless. Through an awe-inspiring cosmic history we find ourselves on this remote planet in a remote corner of the universe, endowed with intelligence and self-awareness. We should not despair, but should humbly rejoice in making the most of these gifts, and celebrate our brief moment in the sun.” Lawrence M. Krauss

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

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid-19, so far, and so have I!! That is a very, very, very good thing for both of us. Seriously if you are reading this and have not gotten Covid or have gotten it and survived then count yourself lucky.

When I started writing this blog entry on February 3rd, the death count was approximately 462,000 deaths. Let me say that number again, 462 thousands deaths in a years time. One hundred thousand extra deaths in the month of January. Unreal. That is more Americans than in WWII. That war claimed approximately 418,000 lives. The Covid pandemic is now the third deadliest event in the history of the republic. The 1918 flu pandemic killed 675,000 in this country and it is estimated the Civil War in 1861 to 1865 killed between 618,000 to 750,000.

In the first week of February, the states with the most deaths were again, New York (44,000), California (42,000) and Texas (38,000). But… By the end of February, California had taken the lead in deaths over New York at 50,000 plus and Texas broke the 43,000 mark. Add to this, the fact we had topped 520,000 deaths in this country. That is 58,000 extra deaths in less than 25 days. That is better than the death count in January, but still… Wow and not in a good way.

If you are interested in the numbers yourself take a look at these links: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ and https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Well it’s been 7 weeks since I got the second shot of the Pfizer Vaccine for Covid and…. so far there are no side effects for me. And that is a good thing. There has been some troubling news reported by the New York Times that 30 to 40 people who got either the Moderna or Pfizer Vaccine developed a condition called ITP or Immune Thrombocytopenia. In a nut shell it is when the bodies own immune system attacks platelets in the blood. And for those of you that are not medically related, platelets are essential to clotting, so having too little can be a big deal to say the least.

The question now becomes were those cases of ITP just coincidence or will they show a direct link to the vaccine. Many different things can cause ITP, such as viruses, medications, alcohol, toxic chemicals, cancer, etc.. but and it is a significant but, there is precedence for other “vaccines” causing it. Think MMR vaccine, Haemophilus influenza, DTap, Polio, Hepatitis B, etc… So this is a real concern.

Now with all that said, so far there are only 30 or so cases of ITP in the population of the 50 million that have already been vaccinated with at least one shot and add to this – ITP was not mentioned in any of the trial data from either company, before the EUA (Emergency Use Authorization). Meaning if this is a side effect – it is very, very rare. If your interested, there are a couple of short articles explaining this in more detail from the International Journal of Infectious Diseases and one from Health.com. They can be found at these links: https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(20)30629-9/fulltext and https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/rare-blood-disorder-covid-vaccine-thrombocytopenia

Now you might ask, if I knew this ahead of time, would I still get the vaccine? And the answer would be YES, for the same reasons that I have mentioned in the previous blog post: https://www.strugglingprotoplasm.com/?m=202101

It will be interesting to see, from a medical stand point, what other possible “side effects” surface over time. I am sure there will be a few, but hopefully not too many or that serious. There is a web site called VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System). It is co-managed by the CDC and FDA. It covers all vaccines, not just Covid. It is a system for collecting reports of adverse events (possible reactions) associated with getting a vaccine. You can check it out at this link: https://vaers.hhs.gov/

Well, enough about Covid, on to something better. It has been another good month for running and exercising in the outdoors here in Fort Collins. Cold but not overly cold. And for the most part, the air quality has remained acceptable. There have been a few “brown cloud days” but not too many for the month. Of course I am talking about January, last month, not February. That is already a different story and I will save it for the next blog post. Lol.

This picture was taken January 3rd, 2021 at about 4:45pm in the afternoon. It is looking South West from the Powerline trail in Fort Collins, Colorado.

When selecting pictures I took over the month of January, I realized it was also a great month for sunsets. Just the right amount of clouds and particulates at the close of each day. Even though I understand the “physics” behind the sunset lighting, I always find it amazing that the really vivid colors only last for a few moments and then are gone. I do not find knowing the science detracts in anyway. If anything, I feel it enhances the experience.

This picture was taken on January 5th, 2021 at about 4:50pm in the afternoon. This is looking West by Southwest from Edora park in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Towards the end of the month, I was finally able to get back out on the dirt paths. The last time I did a trail run was back in late August 2020. Almost 5 months ago. Of course, most of this was due to fire conditions / air quality, crowed trail conditions and Covid. So it felt really good to get back out on the dirt so to speak…

This picture was taken January 14th, 2021, at about 6:45pm in the evening. This is not our tree but one in the neighborhood and I thought the lighting from it was pretty cool. I loved the difference in expressions between Janet and Marvin. If you haven’t guessed, I take a lot of pictures of Marvin and I think he gets a little tired of it. Lol.

Living here in Fort Collins has its advantages for running. For one thing, you have a variety of paths to choose from. Everything from concrete bike paths, to dirt trails and many different combinations of the two. One of the great trail runs close by that you can use to gauge what your fitness level is can be found in Horsetooth Mountain Park. The name of this trail is Towers Road. It is actually a dirt road maintained by the county to check on communication, radio, and TV towers located at the top of the park. To avoid confusion, I use the term road and trail interchangeable when referring to this particular “path.”

This picture was taken January 20th, 2021, at about 5:30pm in the afternoon. It is looking West by Northwest along the Poudre River Trail. Another beautiful Colorado sunset.

So after not being on a trail run for months, I decided I “needed” to see where my fitness level might be. And Towers Road seemed like the perfect one to do for just that reason. The only extra challenge I found this time, was when you have not done any real “change in elevation” running in a while, there is a sharp reacclimating curve that is painful. And that is what I relearned on the first day I got back out on the trails. Ouch! What started out as a lactic threshold run quickly became a HIT workout. Lol.

This picture was taken January 22nd, 2021 at about 3pm in the afternoon. Here I am in Horsetooth Mountain Park on the trail called Towers Road, looking south toward Denver and points beyond. At this point on the trail I have climbed about 1000 feet in elevation.

Tower’s is a relative short run with the length being about 6 to 7 miles round trip depending on the turn around point. What it lacks in length, it makes up with elevation change. It starts at the Soderberg Trailhead in Horsetooth Mountain Open Space and once you get on the road proper the climbing never really relents until you reach the summit at approximately 7,000 feet. The road gains about 1,700 feet in elevation with an average gradient of 9%. Some sections are much steeper at 20%. There are a few flat sections but not much. After doing it, “You will know what shape you are in.” Lol.

This picture was taken January 22nd, 2021 at about 3:15pm in the afternoon. Marvin and I are at our turnaround point on Towers Road, our first trail run in a while.

Well if you were wondering what shape I was in? Lets just say, better than I thought, but not as good as I would like to be. Finished it in 1hr and 38 minutes. With most of the time spent on the uphill sections. I am a back of the pack ultra runner so this was good for me. A tortoise, not a hare.

In hind sight, I probably should not have chosen Towers as my first trail run to start the new year but because I have done it multiple times in the past I did not think much about it. It was a good workout but it took me at least 5 days before I felt like I had fully recovered. You live and learn, only to repeat the same mistakes. Lol. At least for me.

This picture was taken January 27th, 2021 at about 5pm in the afternoon. The last sunset picture I took for the month.

I did get in a couple of other trail runs by the end of the month, even did Towers again, but this time I felt much better, during and afterwards. If you are interested in doing Towers for yourself to see “what shape you are in” check out these links: https://www.larimer.org/naturalresources/parks/horsetooth-mountain and https://fortcollinsrunningclub.org/favorite-training-routes/

A few book reviews and some artwork before wrapping things up. The first book I would like to talk about is called Comfortable with Uncertainty written by Pema Chodron. This is another excellent book by Pema. In the book she offers short, stand alone sections or if you read the print version, you get one to two page passages. They are just long enough to give you thought provoking inspiration when you have a small amount of free time during a hectic day. The book is designed to be digested, so to speak, in small bites. And if you keep that in mind then it will become an excellent introduction to Buddhist thought and the teachings on mindfulness, meditation and lovingkindness. You do not need prior knowledge of Buddhism, and this is not a book about Eastern Religion. It is a look at Buddhist practices and how they can be used in everyday life to work with the “challenges” we all face.

I got the book as an audio book but if you are someone that wants to read or listen for hours at a time you may find it a little difficult. The book worked best for me by listening to a section or two and then stopping and letting what I just heard digest until the next day or so. This is not a book you can just zip through if you want to get the most out of it. It needs to be savored. I defiantly plan to listen again and go even slower than I did before.

Pema Chodron is an American Buddhist nun residing at the Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia. She is the author of many other books using Buddhist practices in dealing with the “challenges” present in everyday life. To learn more about her check out this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pema_Ch%C3%B6dr%C3%B6n

The book can be found on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Comfortable-with-Uncertainty-audiobook/dp

The next two books I would like to talk about are part of a Science Fiction series called The Murderbot Diaries written by Martha Wells. I have only read the fist two and they are great. (6 primary books so far) There are many books that have been written in SiFi on A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) and the search for “meaning” by said A.I. The fist two books are done in a similar vein but the story is very well written and engaging. In an nutshell: “A robot searching for the meaning of life and in the process casting light on what makes us human.” I got this book as an audio book but it would work well in any format. Now be warned, the fist couple of these books are short novellas, not full novels. Looking at the prices on Amazon, downloading them on to your Kindle would be the cheapest way to go. The books can be found on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FK8SNWY?ref_=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_tpbk&binding=paperback

Martha Wells is an American writer of Science Fiction and Fantasy. If you want to learn more about this accomplished author please visit this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Wells

Book 1
Book 2

The next book I would like to talk about is called Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality by Frank Wilczek. A thought and mind-bending look on the realities of our existence based on modern science. The author does a great job of trying to explain the “complexities of the universe” in a way that we can all understand. This is not a book written for someone with an advanced degree in physics, but for the layperson. Will reading or listening to this book give you a firm grasp on the complexities of quantum field theory? No way and it is not meant too. It is an explanation for the average joe or joey without getting dragged into the extremely complex minutiae of these “keys to reality.” The book is well worth the read, especially for those of us that do not have advance degrees in math and physics.

I got this book as an audio book but it might be better in traditional format so that you can read a section and then go back and read it again.

Frank Wilczek is an American theoretical physicist, mathematician and Nobel laureate. To learn more about him please visit this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Wilczek

You can find the book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Ten-Keys-to-Reality/dp

Well last but not least a few pieces of Art work before I go. All are pen and ink, mounted on painted wood, coated and sealed with Mod Podge. These are 7 inches by 9 1/2 inches. When hanging they are about 17 inches tall. My inspiration for these comes from research done with high-precision measurements of quantum jumps. This occurs when a quantum particle changes its state as when an atom loses or gains an electron. The use of ultrashort laser pulses have allowed scientist to measure this change in attoseconds. One attosecond is a billionth of a billionth of a second. That my friends is a very, very short period of time. What would a quantum state of an atom of helium look like? Or just part of the atom and the electron? How about just the electron at the smallest of scales? What if you could visualize this with your own eyes directly?!

This research can open the door to better understand the basic laws of nature but also brings new possibilities of manipulating matter on a quantum scale.

QUANTUM STATE STUDY 1

QUANTUM STATE STUDY 2

QUANTUM STATE STUDY 3

QUANTUM STATE STUDY 4

QUANTUM STATE STUDY 5

These are all for sale and can be found on my Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/strugglingprotoplasm/edit?ref=seller-platform-mcnav The prices on these are cheaper than my other art work. I had some trouble with the mounting of the drawings to the painted wood backing. All postage for the continental United States is included in the price.

Well that is going to be about it for me on this Blog post. Even though I have said this before, I am going to say it again. I hope you have given more thought to minimalism and how it could make a positive change in your life and in the world. If you think you might want to be part of that change, to make the world a much better place. I firmly believe that minimalism is one path to that ultimate goal. There is nothing to buy, just a change in mindset. To learn more please visit the web site: https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

So take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, wear your mask when in crowds or indoors and practice physical distancing. And when a vaccine become available, please consider getting it. Adios!!

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

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Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Pandemics, Politics, Religion, Space, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 31ST, JULY 2020

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Religion easily has to be the greatest bullshit story every told. Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of ever day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever til the end of time! BUT he loves you… He loves you, and HE needs money!! George Carlin

NASA astronaut Robert Behnken is pictured here on the ISS – International Space Station, replacing an old nickel-hydrogen battery with a new lithium-ion one. This was a six hour space walk and was done on July 1st, 2020. Image Credit: NASA. To learn more about this picture visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/upgrading-the-space-station-is-all-in-a-days-work

“There are 200 countries in the world now. Do these people honestly think that God is sitting around picking out his favorites? Why would he do that? Why would God have a favorite country? And why would it be America out of all the countries? Because you have the most money? Because he likes our National Anthem? Maybe it’s because he heard we have 18 delicious flavors of Classic Rice-A-Roni! It’s delusional thinking! And America is not alone with this sort of delusions. Military cemeteries around the world are packed with brainwashed dead soldiers who were convinced God was on their side. America prays for God to destroy our enemies. Our enemies pray for God to destroy us. Somebody’s gonna be disappointed. Somebody’s wasting their fucking time. Could it be everyone?” George Carlin

This is the space shuttle Atlantis. It was the last launch of a Space Shuttle to the ISS – International Space Station and occurred on July 8th, 2011. There were 135 missions accomplished by the American Space Shuttle program. It was the orbiter’s final flight and what some call the end of an era. There were four crew members on the flight: Chris Ferguson-commander, Doug Hurley-pilot, and two specialist-Rex Walheim and Sandy Magnus. Image Credit: NASA. To learn more about his picture visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/sts-135-shuttles-final-launch-and-the-beginning-of-a-new-era

“We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.” Richard Dawkins

On July 16th, 1969 , the Apollo 11 mission launched on a Saturn V rocket with Neil Armstrong as the commander from Launch Complex Pad 39A. This was the mission that completed the goal set by President John F. Kennedy, eight years prior, to put a man on the moon. The command module pilot was Michael Collins and the lunar module pilot was Buzz Aldrin. Image Credit: NASA To learn more about his picture and Apollo 11 visit this site: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/apollo-11-launches-into-history/

“I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.” Richard Dawkins

This is a picture of the NASA’s first chief Astronomer, Nancy Grace Roman (1925 to 2018). She was at NASA during a time in which women were generally discouraged from studying math and science. Nancy was instrumental in taking the Hubble Space Telescope from an idea to reality. Hence she is known as the ‘Mother of Hubble. Image Credit: NASA. If you want to learn more about his picture and Nancy visit this site: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/nancy-grace-roman-the-mother-of-hubble-2/

“When people ask me if a god created the universe, I tell them that the question itself makes no sense. Time didn’t exist before the big bang, so there is no time for god to make the universe in. It’s like asking directions to the edge of the earth; The Earth is a sphere; it doesn’t have an edge; so looking for it is a futile exercise. We are each free to believe what we want, and it’s my view that the simplest explanation is; there is no god. No one created our universe, and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization; There is probably no heaven, and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe, and for that I am extremely grateful.” Stephen Hawking

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

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid -19. And so have I!! That is a very good thing for both of us!! Therefore life is good and I cannot complain too much at the moment. Looking at the numbers during the first week of July, the good old USA was adding 50 to almost 60 thousand new cases each day. With Texas, Florida, California, Georgia, and Arizona leading the way. Total deaths were just breaking 130,000. I remember when the initial projections for morbidity and mortality were forecast back in April and this number was not supposed to happen until September?! Wow! I guess we are over achievers. Are we winning yet??

Right at the time of this publishing, 25 days from when I started writing the blog post we were greater than 150,000 dead. That is 20,000 more individuals. Think about that, 20,000 more have died because of the virus in the month of July. And the number of positive cases per day is still in the 50 to 60 thousand plus range. Another one of those numbers that just seems unreal to me – 60 thousand plus per day?! Wow!!

This picture was taken June 3rd, 2020 at about 7:30pm. Marvin is stretched out after doing a long walk. By June the temperatures in Fort Collins were getting much warmer and in order to escape the heat, we were walking later in the evening.

To think that most of these deaths could have been avoided in the United States. When you needed someone with strong leadership, where were they?? When you needed someone to take the “bull by the horns” so to speak and protect their fellow Americans above their own interest, where were they?? When you needed someone to listen to the experts and make wise decisions, where were they?? When you needed someone to decisively act and not give placating platitudes… When you needed… Oh well you get the picture. We are in the “churn” now, so to speak. And your only hope is to try and survive. As the Buddhist like to say, life is what it is at the moment. And the moment is all that we have. I take this to heart and try my best to learn from it. It reminds me of a Joan Tollifson quote: “Life always gives us exactly the teacher we need at every moment. This includes every mosquito, every misfortune, every red light, every traffic jam, every obnoxious supervisor or employee, every illness, every loss, every moment of joy or depression, every addiction, every piece of garbage, every breath. Every moment is the Guru.” Not really sure what I can F**king learn from this debacle but I thought I would put it out there anyway…

Oh well, if you are interested to see the numbers for yourself, check out this link: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

This picture was taken June 8th, 2020 at about 3pm. The picture is of Joe Wright Creek in full Spring runoff. Marvin and I were doing a little trail running on Blue Lake Trail in the Roosevelt National Forest. We could not get to the lake due to snow above 10,500 feet.

I am amazed and sadden that there are so many individuals that still refuse to wear a mask in public venues where social distancing is not possible. The number of “anti – mask” post and comments on social media in the month of June and July were staggering. You would have thought that someone was trying to take away their guns, their freedom, their first born child, their right to (put your own word in), etc… Just because they were asked to wear a mask. I am not sure where this comes from. It was and is, just unreal. As someone who works with the public at the worst of times, and has to wear a mask while at work, I find this behavior discouraging. But what are you going to do? There is so much misinformation put out by entertainment news organizations like Fox, it is very difficult for the truth to be heard. I have tried to argue this point and put forth real science to friends on social media that have this misguided view point. Of course most of this has fallen on deaf ears. Some have been openly hostile even. My thought from now on is that I should just let the numbers fall where they may. Kind of like the scene from Jaws where Hooper tells the individuals in the obviously over-loaded boat that it is over-loaded. They all mumble back at him to mind his own business. Of course we all know where it leads. If you don’t remember the scene check it out below.

I have found that there is just not much you can do with this type of behavior and you have to let the “ignorance” play out so to speak. My only wish is that the individuals that do not take it seriously, will not spread the disease to others. I do believe in the next few years that we will all have friends or family members that will have had the disease or have died from it. It is inevitable. Our only hope for the future is the development of a vaccine. If you wanted to understand how serious the threat of Covid is in terms of physical health and economic stability, then you only need to look at the speed of the vaccine development race. Vaccines usually take years to bring to the market. A lot of regulatory hurdles have to be jumped through to make sure the vaccine is safe and effective. With Covid we are talking a year or less if all works out. And that my friends says a lot. This is a “Hail Mary” pass.

One advantage in the development race is that researchers are not working from scratch. They are using previous research done on SARS and MERS. So this may have shortened the time line a bit. Realistically I am guessing that it is probably closer to 18 months before we have a safe and effective vaccine. There is some thought that the push to have one before this November, even if it is not that effective or safe, could potentially sway election results in favor of the Orange DT. I hope that is not the case. Again time will tell.

Wow where has the time gone?! This picture was taken on Wednesday 17th, June 2020 at about 8:30pm. Janet and I were celebrating our 37th wedding anniversary!! Here we are doing our part at social distancing and “eating out” so to speak on our garage deck with take out. Lol

On a different note, Marvin and I have been doing a trail run in the high country each week. Usually running the same trail each time to see the changes that have occurred as the spring/summer season has progressed. At the first of June we had trouble getting up to a place called Blue Lake due to snow. It sits just below 11,000 feet and it takes a little time to melt out or so I thought.

This picture was taken June 23rd, 2020 at about 5pm. What a beautiful day. Marvin and I hung out in the meadow for a little while to absorb some sunshine. This picture is looking North West toward Clark Peak.

By the end of June things were a much different story. I had no idea that the snow would melt out so quickly. I am guessing that this is variable from year to year, but this year I found it pretty amazing. Of course this has left me wondering, is this an average year? I don’t know. By the end of June not only could Marvin and I get to Blue lake we were able to access the pass above the lake.

This picture was taken on June 29th, 2020 at about 4:30pm. This is Clark Peak and Marvin and I are on top of Blue Lake Pass. At the first of June this would not have been possible without crossing several snow fields, but by the end of June we only had to cross a very small one to get to this point. No snow on top of the pass.

I plan to continue running this same trail each week through out the season to see how the changes progress over time. I know this might sound a little boring to some but I am actually looking forward to it. It will be interesting to see what changes fall brings and when winter makes an appearance again. I have even thought that I might continue to do this one all year, switching to snow shoes and eventually skis as the snow permits. Oh well that is the plan for now, but we will see how it goes. Lol.

A couple of book reviews before wrapping up. There are several I have finished in the last month or two and I would like to give recommendations on them.

The first one I would like to talk about is an Audio Book written by Charlotte Joko Beck. It is called “Living Everyday Zen.” I really liked this book because it has helped me take my practice to a more everyday, tangible level. Or this is what I have experienced after listening to the book twice. I will probably listen to it a third time in the next month or two. If you practice zazen everyday then you know what I mean when I say it can be kind of abstract even though you are keeping your mind in the present while sitting. How do you relate this to everyday life? For me that was always the question after sitting. A lot of benefits of zazen go unnoticed because it creates a change that gradually takes place over time. A long, long time. Her book helps you to see the process in a more concrete way. I would not expect for individuals that are new to zen to get as much out of the audio book as someone that has been doing it for a much longer period of time. This is not to say that someone that is just curious about zen would get nothing out of it, they would, just not as much. Either way it is defiantly a book for the “experienced” practitioner and one for the library of a newcomer.

You can find the audio book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Living-Everyday-Zen-audiobook/

The next one I would like to talk about is an audio book (s) by Joseph Goldstein called “Abiding in Mindfulness.” There are actually three volumes to this series but I have only pictured the first one. This is a series of lectures given by Joseph in what Buddhism is for the Western audience. If you are interested in Buddhism, even from a different religious background, these books are well worth it. I have listened to this series a number of times over the years and each time I learn something new or are reminded of a lesson forgotten. The newcomer to Buddhism will not get as much out of this series initially as someone who has already been practicing. But that is not to say it would be by any means a waste of time. This series is not about how to meditate, it does not provide techniques on posture, mindfulness or breathing, etc… The purpose is how to connect your own meditation experiences with some of the deeper meanings of Buddhism as explained by Joseph. An excellent resource.

You can find the audio book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Abiding-in-Mindfulness-Volume-1-audiobook/

The next one is for the beginner foremost but even the experienced practitioner will get something out of it! Lol. It is called “Mindfulness in Plain English” by Bhante Gunaratana. Probably should have listed this one at the top. Oh well. I have read this book multi times over the last 10 years. If you are interested in being more “mindful” but don’t want to study Buddhism or you are of a different religious faith then this is the book for you. I am firmly convinced that if more of the worlds population did meditation everyday, we would be a much more kinder and gentler society. This book was written in 1984 and is considered one of the most influential books in the field of mindfulness. The author takes you step by step through the realities and benefits of meditation and more importantly he tells you what meditation is not. Dispelling a lot of myths about meditation. I have read this book several times and it seems I get something out of it each time or relearn something that I have forgotten. Defiantly one for the library. This book is only available in traditional format or Kindle. My opinion is that this needs to be taught in public school at a very young age and continued through college.

You can find this book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-English-Bhante-Henepola-Gunaratana/

The last one I want to give a review on is another one for the newcomer or just plain curious, to Zen. It is called “Wherever You Go There You Are” by Jon Kabat-Zinn. This is not a book that is going to give you the down and dirty on meditation and Zen. It is a collection of stories, thoughts and recommendations by the author as seen from a Zen perspective. It will give you a taste of various meditation and mindfulness concepts. It is a good one for your exploration into what meditation, mindfulness and zen are about. This book is offered in all formats but works best in my opinion in traditional format or kindle. I do not recommend the audio version because it has been abridged and leaves too much out.

You can find this book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wherever-You-There-Are-Mindfulness/

Well that is going to be about it for me on this Blog post. If you read the last one I hope you gave a little more thought to minimalism and how it could make a positive change in your life and the world. The “buying and consuming” will come back to pre-Covid levels eventually. The Corporations and Advertisers are depending on it. Of course the problem is that it is not sustainable for our planet. Minimalism is a great way to make a difference at the individual level. Just think, if you became a minimalist you would be buying future generations a little more time to figure things out. Maybe to even become a space-faring species. How cool would that be?!

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

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

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

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 29TH, MAY 2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 28TH, FEBRUARY 2020

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

Soul Nebula

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

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

The Helix Nebula

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

The Triangulum Galaxy

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

The Swirling Core of our spiral Milky Way Galaxy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dogs, Exercise, Psychology, Religion, Science, Sociology

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 7TH, APRIL 2019

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“Science is different to all the other systems of thought… because you don’t need faith in it, you can check that it works.” Brian Cox

“Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.” Joseph Campbell

“Big History studies the history of everything, offering a way of making sense of our world and our role within it.” David Christian

Dang what can I say, it has been another great 2 weeks and I cannot complain too much! I always laugh at that. Truly, living here in Fort Collins and being healthy enough to do the things that I do. Wow!! There are so many circumstances, situations, decisions, people, etc.. that I am grateful for. As I have gotten older, it has become readily apparent that things could have gone a much different path in so many ways. I think that a lot has to do with just plain dumb luck. Being in the right place at the right time. Of course some things could have gone better. There are times we all wish we could have done something different, or handled a situation a little better. But right now, at this moment, things are pretty awesome.

This picture was taken Wednesday 27th, March 2019. It is looking North across Horsetooth Lake. Here you can see clouds building in due to an approaching spring storm. It was a beautiful afternoon of trail running. The temps were in the 50 to 60 range.

Came across an article the other day called “Why we need a modern origin story today.” This article was written by David Christian. He is the guy that has become notable for pushing and teaching the discipline called “Big History.” And I have to say that this was the first time I have ever really looked at the concept. I mean history is history right? I know that it is open to interpretation and all, but still what is the difference between “Regular History” and the concept of “Big History.” So I dived into it and found that it looks at a much broader picture of things. It starts at the Big Bang and goes forward. It explores all of our history and not just the last 5000 years. It is a blending of a multitude of different fields, physics, geology, chemistry, astronomy, biology, psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc…. I mean you could pretty much say it is a history of everything, but on a much grander time scale. Big History focus on the Universe and how humanity fits into this framework and the not the other way around.

This picture was taken Thursday 28th, March 2019. Here I am looking North from the top of Horsetooth Mountain Park. Again another beautiful day. The only fly in the ointment was the air quality. It could have been a little better. The winds were from the east and there is a lot of oil and gas development in Weld County, over 20 thousand well heads. Combine this with the sheer volume of transportation traffic and it does degrade the air quality quite a bit. Compare this picture with the above picture that was taken the day before. The dullness in the bottom one was due to front range smog.

I have the firm belief that Big History is what needs to be taught in schools. And one way I see doing this is by changing our “Origin Story.” We need a modern one. There has been so much knowledge gained in the twentieth century that there is an increasing need to see and teach how it all fits together. Thinking about when some of the current religions were laid down a few things become readily apparent. Foremost in my mind, we really did not know that much about the world around us and almost nothing about the Universe out past earth. That has changed and will continue to do so at an every expanding rate. Don’t believe me. Just start following Physics.org. https://phys.org/ Heck you don’t even have to read the articles. Just follow it and see how much stuff comes out each day, each week. Unreal the rate of learning/change going on in the world today. There is no way the “old religions” can keep up. Thinking that they can is hubris on all our parts. There is an old saying that as our tools change, so does our reality. And let me tell you, our tools have changed.

This picture was taken Friday 29th, March 2019. Again, wow!! What a difference a day makes. The storm dumped some much needed moisture, but was short lived. Most of the snow was gone by mid-morning the next day. This picture is looking east from a deck over the garage of our house.

So to put this all together, to deal with the increasing complexity of the world, we need a modern origin story. A way to help people and especially young people get a sense of what their position is in the grander scheme of things when it comes to humanity and our place in the Universe. Doesn’t that sound strange, “Our place in the Universe” and not the other way around? The time for the “Egocentric View” is past. We need an origin story that is “science based” and not one that is still, please excuse the expression, “magical zoo boat thinking.” Does this mean we need to throw everything out with the old religions? I for one don’t think so. I believe that just like any good parable or story, there are some great things to be learned in the old mythologies. After all they have been modified over thousands of years to help explain human nature and behavior. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel to teach the same thing. The question becomes, why not incorporate some of this hard earned knowledge into a Science Base Origin story?

This picture was taken on Monday 29th, March 2019. What a beautiful day. Fantastic air quality along the Front Range of Colorado. Here I am looking North, by North East from atop Authors Rock in Lory State Park.

Let’s face it. Are Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhist, etc… ever going to get together on a consistent basis around the proverbial campfire, holding hands and singing Kumbaya? Really?! I think that most of you will agree with me that it might happen every now and then but on a consistent basis? Hell, look at all the death and destruction just in the Muslim world over Islam. You could say the same about Christianity and the other religions at different times. As the world becomes more and more complex, as science advances forward, the only way I can see humanity surviving is by working together and the first step in doing this is creating a Modern Science Based Origin Story. And teaching Big History is the first step. We need, for lack of a better phrase, a Universal Belief System, that is based in Scientific fact, that is changeable as new data is obtained and analyzed. So that people from around the world, in very different cultures, will be able to connect, cooperate and strive toward the betterment of humanity. Instead of subjugating and killing each other over frivolous, make-believe superstitions.

This picture was taken on Wednesday 3rd, April 2019. Here I am looking West by North West from an Open Space in Fort Collins called Prospect Ponds. Truly just a beautiful afternoon. Enough wind in the area to keep the air fresh, but not too much to make it chilly.

Wow! I just reread this and I am amazed how strongly I believe in this view?! What is that about?? So enough! I know that I might have offended a few that are very religious, but that was not my intent. I just want you to question the status quo.

Please do a Google and YouTube search if you are interested about the concept of Big History. I think you will find it is well worth your time and effort.

This picture was taken on Sunday 28th, March 2019. A soon to be new family member!! No, no I am talking about the puppy and not Janet. LOL I am thinking that we are going to be a little extra busy in the next couple of weeks.

Time to post a puppy picture!! It was taken at Balto Farms near Boulder. They breed King Shepherds among other things. Check them out at: https://www.7957farm.com/ or https://www.7957farm.com/kings and you can find them on Facebook at Colorado King Shepherds.

Looks like the ski season is going to be extended this year thanks to mother nature. And that is a very good thing. Hope to see you out there, either on the ski slope or running on the trails. Take care my friends. And if your trail running, watch for snakes and cats. It is the season. Adios!!

Book Review, Colorado, Exercise, Fort Collins, Psychology, Religion, Science, Skiing, Sociology, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 10TH, FEBRUARY 2019

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“When complexity makes knowledge difficult to attain, we are organisms that substitutes knowledge with beliefs.”

“The uneven rate of change between biology and complexity causes a gap to occur.”

“We become susceptible to manipulation and ideology and follow false prophets.”

“Public policy becomes shaped by irrational beliefs, rather than knowledge of fact.”

Rebecca Costa

This picture was taken on Monday 28th of January 2019, the open space in question is between Fort Collins and Loveland. It is called Coyote Ridge Open Space. A very nice trail with few visitors for a Monday. On the weekend it can get pretty busy due to the fact that it is a connector trail for longer distances. The afternoon in question was beautiful with temps right at 30 degrees and a slight breeze.

Well it has been another two weeks and I am going to say here that life is pretty good at the moment. Got some skiing in and that is a very good thing. I think it had been over a month since I last went. Not sure what that was about but it happens. The trail running the last couple of weeks has been fantastic here in Fort Collins. It has been cold but not like Midwest Cold. Wow! We have not seen temperatures like that in a very long time. There is some thought that this is related to Global Warming. I know that it does not seem that way but when you start looking at the science, some of the dots start to connect. I guess in the end, time will tell as the research continues. One of the things to remember is that weather and climate are two different things even though they are related.

Another picture from Monday the 28th of January 2019. The sun was out and just starting to set. It was in full force on this rock ridge. It really brought out the colors in the rock. Totally different from the picture above. Same area but a different open space called Rim Rock Ridge. Both are right next to each other.

I am reading a new book that is called the Watchman’s Rattle by Rebecca Costa. I became interested in her when I watched a TED talk by her. It has to do with Societal Collapse. It actually came out in 2012 and I believe that this is her first book. A more recent book by Rebecca is called On the Verge. I did not get this one because it is not on Audio book and I am way behind on regular reading. But I plan to in the future. In her first book, she comes up with some interesting ideas about what happens to a society when technology out paces the ability of the residents to keep up. I think the book is much more relevant now than it was back in 2012. In particular this last election with the Evangelical Christians, Flat Earthers, Anti-Vaccination people, Anti – global Warming individuals, the lets “Bring dirty coal” back people, and the list could go on and on. She makes the case that as complexity makes knowledge more difficult to attain, or as my wife likes to say “Overwhelming”, we as humans start to substitute knowledge with beliefs. And she makes the argument that this is what has happened to ancient societies that collapsed like the Mayans, the Romans, etc…

This book can be found on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Watchmans-Rattle-Radical-Theory-Collapse/dp/1593156863/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?crid=VMGYGGUY98ZQ&keywords=watchmans+rattle&qid=1549827324&s=gateway&sprefix=watchmans+r%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

Costa is a Sociology-biologist. She based a lot of her research on Dr. Richard Dawkins 1976 book “The Selfish Gene.” In her book she uses the term Super-memes which are any widely accepted information, thoughts, feelings or behaviors. And she feels that they have the capacity to compete with each other just like genes do in Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Another words they compete in a sense to become accepted in our minds and our society whether they are true or not. There is an actually study of memes, called Memetics. Check it out on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics

I had no idea. Costa calls them “super-memes” when they get to a point that they block us from the very solutions we seek to all the complexity we see in the world. Another name that she uses for this blocking is “Gridlock.” It occurs or you can know that it is occurring when there is opposition across the board to any meaningful solution to a major problem. Thinking about this, the first thing that comes to my mind is “Gun Control.” It is a complex issue and you see a lot of “irrational opposition” to any attempt at fixing the system. It is as if people are more comfortable rejecting remedies rather than advocating solutions.

This picture was taken on Thursday, January 31st. I just loved the shape of this huge cottonwood tree. The weather was warm enough for me to ride my bike on Thursday, above 50 degrees for me. This picture was take on the Boyd Lake Trail.

Another example of this blocking, I think, is in Health Care. Again, before the attempted and partial repeal of what has become known as “Obama Care,” I heard from individuals on both sides of the fence. Some that hated it, because their premiums went up and others that loved it because they could now actually get insurance on their preexisting conditions. But with the current congress and president, it has become gridlocked. It will be interesting to see after the next elections if anything is concretely done or just a kind of band-aid fix. Again nothing really going anywhere. One size that fits some but not others, back to a mish-mash of plans that really don’t address the issues or cover people adequately.

This picture was taken on Thursday, February 7th. It was at the Loveland Ski Area which sits right at the Eisenhower Tunnel off of Interstate 70. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Much warmer (25 degrees) than when I left Fort Collins (12 degrees) that morning. There was a little bit of wind but that did not really show up in force until later in the afternoon. Most of the terrain for the ski area sits at around 11,000 feet.

I could go on about her book but I think I will leave it for now. I do recommend it. Remember it was written in 2012 and some predictions in the book she got right and a few she got wrong; somethings did get fixed and some are still broken. I think if I had read the book back in 2012, I would not have appreciated it as much as I do now. Interesting to say the least.

On a similar note, I had a interesting, short FB exchange with a family relative on whether something she was posting on FB was true or not. When another friend of hers called her out on it and showed her where a fact checking service said it was false. She went off about how the “fact checking service” was wrong. And that the “fact checking service” was infiltrated by “liberals” and that was why she could not trust them. I was kind of dumbfounded for a moment. This is an educated woman that used to teach school to kids. I could see it…., if it had come from one of my uneducated or partially educated “hillbilly like” relatives. But no this was from an educated one. Oh well what can you say to that… Obviously I won’t be spending the holidays with her…. Lololololol.

This picture was taken taken Wednesday 30th, January 2019. It was at the trail head to Reservoir Ridge Natural Area in Fort Collins. I had just finished a trail run and the sunset was just stunning to say the least. This is my favorite picture of the last two weeks.

Before I finish here, I would like to pass on a quote by the author Neil Gaiman. I came across it several years ago and I wrote it down just because it seemed a little strange to me at the time. This was a few years before the 2016 election. I did not really understand it then, but I think I do now. So it is important to share it with you, especially if you decide to read Costa’s book or you are like me trying to make sense of the “craziness” that has griped our country.

“Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and adventures are shadow truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes and forgotten.” Neil Gaiman

Well that its for this couple of weeks. Take care, be safe out there fellow trail runners. Always be looking for that “Special Cat.”

Adios amigos!!