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

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.

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

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

“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

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.

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.

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