Monthly Archives: November 2018

Book Review, Exercise, Science, Skiing

MUSINGS FOR SATURDAY 24TH, NOVEMBER 2018

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Damn it has been a fantastic week!!  And that is the truth of the matter.  Hope everyone had a great Turkey Day.  I had to work but that was OK.  Someone has got to do it?  Right?  Oh well sometimes you are off and sometimes you have to work.  And this Turkey Day it was my turn to work.

I started reading a new book by Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Avis Lang called “Accessory to War.”  So far it seems like a pretty good book on the alliance between science and the military.  It is one of those things you don’t really think about to start, but when someone points it out, it is almost like an “aha moment.”  My first experience with this idea came in college years ago.  The book actually brings back memories of Art History when we studied about Leonardo Da Vinci.  Artists at the time needed people to employ them, a “patron” so to speak, and one of the ways to do that was to design and build “war machines”, “castle fortifications”, etc.… all for protection or conquest.  Leonardo was employed in 1487 for this very reason by the Duke of Milan.  At the time Italy was made up of a collection of City States that were constantly at war with each other and if you had the ability to design and build these types of implements, then you were very employable.  I am guessing that you could go back since time immortal and find evidence of alliances like this.  Again, I am not that far into the book but it seems pretty good for now.  I will let you know if I change my mind.  You can find the book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Accessory-War-Unspoken-Alliance-Astrophysics/dp/0393064441/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542701177&sr=8-1&keywords=accessory+to+war

The afternoons the last few days have been beautiful here on the Front Range of Colorado.  Very nice weather for running and some beautiful sunsets to boot.  The four pictures below were all taken on the same afternoon/evening but at different times.  Looking at them again I am amazed how the light changed over the course of about 30 to 45 minutes.

FIRST PICTURE – LOOKING WEST.

SECOND PICTURE – LOOKING WEST.

THIRD PICTURE – LOOKING WEST.

FOURTH PICTURE – MOON RISE – LOOKING EAST.

Well… You might be wondering why I posted the quotes from different scientists?  The reason is I really believe that if we as a nation want to make “America Great Again” – this is where the focus needs to be.  As problems of our planet and society become more and more convoluted.  We need better solutions for all of us living together.  I would say that this is so important in the next 20 years that we need to make all College Level Scientific degrees free for anybody who wants one.  And if you get into one area of study and want to change then you can do it without any repercussions.  I believe America will be behind most of the developed world within the next few years if we don’t make this switch.  My personnel opinion is that all education needs to be high caliber with minimal cost.  So that even someone in a single parent household can go to school.  All schools should be merit based, not dependent on how much money you have or can pay.  Truly, putting all politics aside, if you want to help this country continue to be a world leader then you need to offer free college for Science Majors (all science majors, master’s programs, PhD programs) – pull the money you need out of the military budget.  I mean it is going to benefit them in the long run anyway.   Or tax all churches and religious organizations, put the money into science education.  Prayers do not cure you of your antibiotic resistance staph infection, only the next generation of antibiotics will.  We need to continue to move away from the comforting “make believe” of religion and put more effort into hard science.  Our future, our children’s future, humanities future depends upon it.

Science is the key to our future.  Especially if you want to avoid the massive problems that occur when major calamities strike, natural and man-made.  We are in a very interconnected world that is becoming more connected every day.  Whether we like it or not, we are a “global community.”  Let me say that again, we are a global community.  And to manage something as big as an entire global community takes a whole new understanding and level of science. As a nation we can continue to be a part of this or we can allow the world to pass us on and be eventually “told” by the rest of the world what to do and how to do it.  I believe it is in our best interest to be part of the later…..

Well that is going to be about it for me this week.  Cross country skiing is getting really good at the moment, much better than last year.  I was at Snow Mountain Ranch in Grand Country earlier in the week and the snow was great.  This time last year I could have been mountain biking on the same trails.  It is snowing in the mountains this weekend, so the skiing next week should be fantastic!!    I hope to see you out there on the trails or at the ski slope.  Take care my friends and may you have a great weekend!!

 

 

Book Review, Colorado, Exercise, Politics, Skiing

MUSINGS FOR WEDNESDAY 14TH, NOVEMBER 2018

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“You can choose courage or you can choose comfort, but you cannot have both.” – Brene Brown
“Don’t try to win over the haters.  You’re not a jackass whisper.”          – Brene Brown

 

Life is good and I cannot complain too much.  Wow what a start to ski season!! Some of the best early snow conditions for the Central and Northern Mountains of Colorado. I have already been up 5 times this year.  A few times to Loveland and a few times to A-basin.  Very nice indeed.  Now, only if the conditions can continue.  That is a big if and it remains to be seen how much moisture will fall in the next 60 days or so.  But for now, I am going to enjoy what is there and not worry too much about the future.

LOVELAND SKI AREA LOOKING WEST ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON NOVEMBER 7TH, 2018

FROM THE LAKE DILLON BIKE TRAIL LOOKING WEST ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON NOVEMBER 7TH, 2018

A-BASIN SKI AREA THURSDAY 8TH, NOVEMBER 2018

I spend a lot of my ski time in Summit County.  This is a great place in Colorado.  I like to think of it as an outdoor mecca but with all the conveniences of a modern city.  The major towns which are all somewhat close together are Dillon, Silverthorne, Frisco and Breckenridge.  The county is home to 4 major downhill ski resorts, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Keystone and A-Basin, not to mention a few cross-country areas.  Add in a little backcountry access and you truly have an outdoor playground.  If you like the outdoors it is a fun place to be anytime of the year.

Finished up another book this past week called “Democracy in Chains:  The deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America” by Nancy MacLean.  I found it an interesting book.  The book is about James McGill Buchanan, Charles Koch and the Libertarian Right.  Buchanan was a Nobel Prize Winner in economics.   He won the prize for what is known today as “Public Choice Theory” – the ideas on how people make or don’t make decisions in the political realm.  MacLean’s book does not really go into this too much.  She was more concerned with the idea that Buchanan saw a conflict between economic freedom and political liberty.  She paints a picture of Buchanan being secretly racist and wanting to suppressing economic freedoms and democracy for the poor to benefit the rich.  Charles Koch, a billionaire – 8th richest person in the world as of June 2018, comes into the picture when he discovers Buchanan’s work.  Koch is painted in the book as what I would call an advocate of the “Super Libertarian Right.”  The old story that less government, less corporate welfare, less government spending on social programs, health care, etc.… is the best way to improve things (but mainly for the rich).  MacLean feels that Koch saw his ideas overlapping with Buchanan’s work quite a bit and because of that, Koch and the “Libertarian Right” have been able to push their ideas forward in government based on that work.  As an example, she points out:  recently passed laws designed to cause problems with unions, the increase in privatization of schools (school vouchers), the defunding of universal health care, and threatening social security to just name a few.

The part of the book for me that I found most worrisome and disturbing is that the wealthy “Libertarian Right” does not seem to care who gets hurt in the process.  Can’t get health care for your Cancer, well too bad, better luck in the next life, need an education, well if you can’t pay for it then you don’t get it (even at the grade school level).   All this does not benefit the majority of people in the country.  Just the wealthy.  I have a few friends that persistently believe in the erroneous “Deep State” conspiracy theory ideas.  What they really need to do is read this book by MacLean.  Here is a true conspiracy that will only benefit the rich and not the majority of people in the country.  You can find the book on Amazon at:https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stealth/dp/B072J2MTWT/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542005455&sr=8-1&keywords=democracy+in+chains . I got the book as an Audio Book but I think it might have been better to do the kindle edition or paperback so that you can go back and easily reread sections.

Did my first Rando race of the season yesterday (Tuesday), at A-basin.  It is part of a five-part series called Rise and Shine.  It is an uphill challenge.  Yes, you ski uphill with skins and take them off at the top and race down.  Then repeat.  This race was timed for an hour to see how many runs you could get in.  I improved some and was able to get in 3.  Last year I was only able to do about 2 in that first hour.  A chilly start for this race – the temperature in the parking lot when I arrived was 4 degrees F.  But lucky in that there was no wind.

WARM UP BEFORE THE RACE.

A CHILLY START THIS AM – 4 DEGREES F IN THE PARKING LOT!! 

At the basin it is a very low key event and really you are mainly racing against yourself.  Especially at my age.   I think that it went pretty well.  I am happy that I am just able to do it at my young age of 56.

Well I am thinking that is probably about all for me this week.  I hope every one has a great rest of the week and weekend.  Take care and hope to see you out on the trails or the ski slope!!

 

Book Review, Exercise, Life and Meaning, Skiing, Space, Truth and Perception

MUSINGS FOR MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH, 2018

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“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.

Our posturing’s, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.”  – Carl Sagan

 

Damn what can I say…  It has been a really good week!!  Ski season has started and life is good!!  Got a chance to go up to Loveland Ski area on Thursday, November 1st and the snow was great.  I am hoping this winter will deliver a ton of snow.  The last couple of years have been on the wimpier side or I have just gotten used to a more abundant snowfall when my kids were little.  Not really sure.  I have not had a chance to really look at the records myself, but I do know that the “water guys” that keep track of this said that the last couple of years were not good for moisture in the mountains.  So maybe we are due?  That would be fantastic.  I used to get upset if we did not get our usual 50 inches of snow here in Fort Collins, but after living here for 30 plus years I am OK with it not snowing!  I guess I have gotten old!?  What is that about?  Where does the time go?  Lol.  Anyways – all kidding aside, if it would just dump in the mountains so to speak, then most of the state’s water woes would take care of themselves.

I have been watching a course called “The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know” and I have to say it is pretty amazing.  I did not know that the first serious science proposals of what might be out there in the rest of the Universe started in the 1940s.  I was thinking that it was much more recent.  But it truly started in the 1940s – at that time the technology of astrometry became good enough to detect planets.  Astrometry is the measurement of the position of a star on the sky, and if the star has planets, its position will wobble back and forth.  Because the technology was crude in today terms, there was conflicting evidence reported back then, so it did not get a lot of attention.  Fast forward to the late 1980s and early nineties, add in a few more techniques for detection and things start to get really serious.  In 1995 and on, the discover of exoplanets began to grow exponentially, and scientist from around the world were able to corroborate each other’s results.  This made a huge difference with the acceptance and birth of “Exoplanetary Science.”  What was once Science Fiction has now become accepted scientific fact.  It is well worth the money for the course.  It is about 12 hours of lecture divided up into 24 mini-lectures.  You can find it at the Great Courses:  https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/the-search-for-exoplanets-what-astronomers-know.html and you can find used editions on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Search-Exoplanets-What-Astronomers-Know/dp/1629972037/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1541360656&sr=8-4&keywords=the+search+for+exoplanets+what+astronomers+know, you can do this course as a audio book or as DVD or Online streaming.

I wanted to post the above quote by Carl Sagan.  I think it really hit home with me after finishing the course.  We truly are just a speck of dust in a sunbeam.  And my guess, is that as we look for more exoplanets, we will find that we are not that special or unique.  Very, very sobering indeed.

An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet that orbits a star other than the Sun. Over 2000 exoplanets have been discovered since 1988. Specifically, 2098 planets in 1342 planetary systems including 509 multiple planetary systems as of 24 March 2016.

Well that is about it for me on this post.  I think that the Ultra season for me this year has come to an end.  Even though I did not successfully finish the Run Rabbit Run 100.  I still feel pretty good, after all it was 50 miles when I timed out and as someone much wiser than I am at times said, 50 miles is still 50 miles.  So, time to get ski season on and enjoy the snow while it is there.  I do plan on racing some shorter runs for the remainder of the year and the start of next year, mainly to work on speed.  I will let you know how it goes!

A late evening Fall afternoon in Fort Collins.

Take care my friends and maybe I will see you out there on the trails or at the ski slope!!