“We are all just a car crash, a diagnosis, an unexpected phone call, a newfound love, or a broken heart away from becoming a completely different person. How beautifully fragile are we that so many things can take but a moment to alter who we are forever?”

Samuel Decker Thompson

This view from the International Space Station at an orbit of 274 miles shows a beautiful view of an aurora. While most auroras are often seen near the poles, they can appear at lower latitudes due to large coronal mass ejections from the sun. Other names for this phenomena are polar lights, northern lights, the aurora borealis, etc… These displays of light occur when charged particles from the sun strike atoms in the Earth’s atmosphere and temporarily move electrons to higher-energy orbits, further away from the nucleus. Then when the electrons moves back to a lower- energy orbit, they release a particle of light or photon. If you would like to learn more, please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/behold-an-aurora-over-the-southern-skies and https://www.nasa.gov/topics/shuttle_station/features/20110917-aurora.html and https://earthsky.org/earth/what-causes-the-aurora-borealis-or-northern-lights/

“Believe in your ability to become something great, but never allow yourself to believe that you already are.”

Samuel Decker Thompson

The above image from Hubble shows “globules” of interstellar gas free floating in space. You usually cannot see them but when new stars ignite, their intense ultraviolet radiation can ionize the cloud’s hydrogen and create a large, hot bubble of ionized gas. The name for these are “Free-floating Evaporating Gaseous Globules” or “frEGGs.” This image is also a picture of two giant stars. The one on the left is a giant O-type star and is very rare. They are known to be the hottest in the Universe. The one on the right is a massive supergiant B-type star. The frEGGs and stars seen in this picture are in a part of the Northern Coalsack Nebula. In popular media, the Coalsack Nebula is mentioned and used many times, Star Trek the original series, the movie Blue Lagoon, the animated series Futurama, the movie The Chronicles of Riddick and several books. If your interested to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/spotted-by-hubble-dark-star-hatching-freggs and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporating_gaseous_globule and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalsack_Nebula

“You haven’t truly learned the value of life until you’ve looked into the eyes of a loved one at the very moment they drifted away from it.”

Samuel Decker Thompson

This image was taken by the NASA’s Juno spacecraft. Juno was launched on August 5th, 2011 as part of the New Frontiers program. The New Frontiers program was developed to explore and understand more about our own solar system. The Juno’s mission is to measure Jupiter’s composition, gravitational and magnetic field, and polar magnetosphere, among other things. On it’s 36th low pass over Jupiter, it captured the view of the cloud bands and swirls in the planet’s mid-southern latitudes. The dark spot is a vortex that is roughly 250 miles in diameter or 400km. This image was actually created by a citizen scientist named Brian Swift using raw footage from the spacecraft. Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS. Image processing: Brian Swift © CC BY. If you would like to learn more, please check these links: Mocha Swirls in Jupiter’s Turbulent Atmosphere | NASA and Juno (spacecraft) – Wikipedia and https://www.nasa.gov/planetarymissions/newfrontiers.html

“The humans who have the most profound impact upon the lives of those around them are not the ones who buy the greatest gifts, they are not the ones with money and power, and they are not the ones with all the great connections. Instead, we must learn that those who will always make the biggest difference in a life are simply the ones who consistently take the time to show they care, even when it would be so much easier for them not to.”

Samuel Decker Thompson

This is an image of what is know as a remnant of a Type 1a supernova. The red colored ribbon like structures are strands of hot gas that were created by the death of a white dwarf star and subsequent explosion. It is officially known as DEM L249 and is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The LMC is a satellite dwarf galaxy of the Milky Way. The remnant is approximately 160,000 light years away in the constellation of Mensa. The image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA, ESA, and Y. Chou (Academia Sinica, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/hubble-captures-the-shredded-remains-of-a-cosmic-explosion and http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/hubble-type-ia-supernova-remnant-dem-l249-10253.html and https://www.space.com/hubble-telescope-white-dwarf-supernova-image

“If someone isn’t going to love you for who you are, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, then find someone who will. You can’t waste away your beautifully precious life trying so desperately to be good enough for someone else. You need a love who always makes you feel you are good enough just as you are.”

Samuel Decker Thompson

This Hubble nebula image is an example of what is know as a “super-bubble.” In the upper central region there is a dark, starry gap. The hole is 250 light-years wide and it is not fully understood why it is there in the first place. But some believe that the hole was created by stellar winds expelled by massive stars in the bubble’s interior or by the titanic explosion of stars in the nebula. The nebula is named N44 and is filled with glowing hydrogen gas, dust, massive stars and many populations of stars of different ages. The nebula is located about 160 to 170 thousand light years away. It is located in LMC (Large Magellanic Cloud) and is about 1000 light years across. Image credit: NASA, ESA, V. Ksoll and D. Gouliermis (Universität Heidelberg), et al.; Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America). If you interested in more information please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/mysterious-superbubble-hollows-out-nebula-in-new-hubble-image and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N44_(emission_nebula)

“If the brutal callousness of this world still hasn’t broken you at least a little bit, then you might be part of the problem.”

Samuel Decker Thompson

Interested in who Samuel Decker Thompson is? Check out this link: https://www.facebook.com/ADudeWritingPoetry/?pnref=story and https://samueldeckerthompson.tumblr.com/

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!! And that my friends is a very, very, good thing for all of us. I am still hoping that I can keep saying this for the rest of the year and the next. I really, really mean that, especially if you have not gotten your vaccine yet.

Looking at the numbers on November 6th it appears that we have added another 48,000 deaths (775,000 total) in the last 30 days?! While this is down 10,000 from the previous 30 days – I still find the numbers hard to fathom, it is just unreal. Imagine prior to the pandemic if we would have had an event that killed this same number of people in 30 days?! What would have been the media’s reaction? What would have been the government’s reaction? Oh well, the economic forces that drive the world seem not to care and life goes on or doesn’t for some.

Texas appears to be headed to the number one spot for deaths in the country due to Covid. They are only a few 100 deaths away from topping California. Florida is in third place, followed by New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio and Michigan for the top ten. Of course my question to all of this will be how high will it go?

Some want to say the pandemic is waning but I think that this is a little premature. Yes the numbers are dropping in the United States but we are not the entire world. There are millions, upon millions who have no access to vaccines even though they want them. This will give fuel to the Covid fire for a while and the subsequent threat of new variants.

On a much better note, it has now been about 11 months since I got the initial two doses of the Pfizer Vaccine for Covid and 3 months since I got the booster shot and there does not seem to be any side effects. Yea!

And the Pfizer vaccine has now been approved for kids 5 to 11 years old. This will give potential protection to 28 million children in the United States alone and allows providers to begin the process as soon as possible!

Another bit of good news is the potential approval of two new oral antivirals for Covid that appear to be highly effective in preventing severe disease. This first one is from Merck and Co, the second one is from Pfizer.

By the middle of the month we had climbed to 788 thousand deaths, that added another 13,000 give or take a few for the mid-month total. Texas was still neck and neck with California. And Florida had topped the 60,000 mark for deaths. My home states of Colorado had started to drop after significant increases in Covid cases over the last few months. But at the middle of the month we were down to less than 100 ICU beds available in the entire states and FEMA / DOD assistance was requested by the Governor to help with hospital staffing!

On a better note the the FDA approved the 3rd shot of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine for all adults over the age of 18! Yea!

By the time of publishing on Friday 26th, 2021 we were right at the 800,000 mark for deaths due to Covid. With most of the recent deaths due to the unvaccinated. And this my friends is a needless waste. Most of all of these were preventable. Oh well – what is the old saying? “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him or her drink.” Covid will burn through the unvaccinated, so expect more of this carnage. And that is just the way it is going to be.

Well again, enough about Covid! Time to move on and talk about something that is a lot better. And that was the month of October for being outdoors. It was beautiful and the air quality was fantastic. Can I say that again… Yes I can! The air quality was fantastic here on the Front Range of Colorado! Yea!

The above picture was taken on October 3rd, 2021 at about 8pm in the evening. A lot of our walks with Marvin are divided up into two parts. This started as a way to beat the heat and maximized air quality but it has worked out in some unexpected ways too. Marvin seems to do much better with two shorter walks than one long one and it allows Janet and I to get in at least one walk together each day.

The above picture was taken October 5th at about 3pm in the afternoon. I was riding my bike on this day. Colorado can be a bikers dream at times. Especially in the fall when you get cool, crisp windless days. Perfect bicycling weather. This picture is looking North West on the Poudre River. You can just see the leaves starting to turn.

The above picture was taken on October 8th, 2021 at about 12:20 in the afternoon. Here I am looking West by Southwest toward the Nokhu Crags and Cameron Pass. There was already a little bit of snow on them. In this picture Marvin and I were just below Montgomery Pass. Getting a little more hiking at elevation before the snow settles in.

The above picture was taken October 12th, 2021 at about 11:45am. This is in our own neighborhood. The combination of warm temperatures and lower wind speeds really created some beautiful leaf viewing in Fort Collins.

The above picture was taken on October 13th, 2021 at about 2:30pm in the afternoon. This is one of my favorite views from Horse Tooth Mountain Park. It is looking South towards Denver. Just another beautiful day on the Front Range.

The above picture was taken on October 15th, 2021, at about 6pm in the afternoon. The vibrancy of leaf color was incredible this year. We did not have much in the way of significant storms for October, so the leaves stayed on the trees longer.

The above two pictures were taken October 18th, 2021 at about 11am in the morning, in the open space areas behind Fort Collins. The top picture is of Janet and me and the bottom one is of my two oldest daughters, Kayla and Jean-Marie. Of course the dog pictured in the top one is Marvin and the dog pictured in the lower one is Kayla’s dog named Cash.

The above picture was taken on October 25th, 2021 at about 11:30am in the morning. It is looking West across a small pound at one of the dams that holds in Horsetooth Reservoir. I think that I could have made this whole section about leaf color this year. Pretty amazing.

The last picture was taken on October 29th, 2021, at about 6:30pm. It is of Janet and Marvin on our evening walk. Here we are in one of the many parks located in Fort Collins. We are lucky in that we don’t have to drive any where to get to most of these because they can be accessed by biking / walking trails. I truly consider myself fortunate in that we live in a city that has taken significant steps to insure this access over the years. The city I grew up in did not have anything like this kind of bicycle / pedestrian infrastructure. I have to ask myself what if all cities had a program like Fort Collins? How would that affect our health care system? I am guessing that giving people the access to get out and exercise would lower our health care cost significantly. We get so busy in our lives with all the day to day chores so to speak, that getting out to exercise, gets placed on the back burner. So eliminating a big obstacle to outdoor exercise (difficult access) might get more people out and walking. And this would most undoubtedly lead to an improvement in their overall health. Could something, dare I say, so simple, be world changing?! Maybe.

During the month of October I finished up several books that I feel are worth a review and a recommendation. The first one I would like to talk about is “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World” by Katharine Hayhoe. Let me start by saying that this is not your typical climate book in that it does not really go into great detail about the science of climate change. And believe it or not I think that is a good thing. The author Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist and professor of political science at Texas Tech University. She is also an Evangelical Christian. Let me say that again, she is an Evangelical Christian that is telling the world that climate change is real… So that piece right there is enough that you should want to read it. Katharine’s message in the book is “How to talk to people about Climate Change.” She gives numerous examples in her own life in which she had to find ways to connect with Conservatives on climate issues. By telling her own story she presents a frame work in which the rest of us can connect with others not only on the validity of climate science but other sensitive topics as well. I listened to this book as an audio book but it would work well in any format. Of course you can find it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3FzTk3T

If you would like to learn more about Katharine please see this link: http://www.katharinehayhoe.com/

The next one I would like to talk about is called “Work: A Deep History, from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots” by James Suzman. I got this book after quitting health care this past summer. I had reached a point that I was not able to provide the quality care I did in the past due hospital constraints on staffing related to the pandemic. The transition from being in health care for 40 years to quitting raised some interesting questions.

A few for me, before I purchased the book, were how did we get to our current “work” system. Not just in health care but in all of life. Have you ever wondered who made up the rules? How have they changed over time? Why are we so willing to sacrifice our lives for a little bit of extra money? Why do we need work to feel fulfilled? Etc… So when I looked up the author, Dr. James Suzman (he is an anthropologist) I thought this guy might give me the answers or at the very least steer me in the right direction. Let me say I was not disappointed. You not only get a broad history of work over the ages, but also how it has been changed by technological development over time. I found the parts about the hunter/gather tribes very interesting. Especially the idea about how they were able to meet their needs with very little effort in some circumstances, leaving the rest of the day to leisure time. (Working a lot less than we do in modern society) I listened to this book as an audio book, but I found myself going back and re-listening to sections. So it might work better in traditional format. Either way it is a great book. Of course you can find it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3cGWNkx

If you interested about the author please check out this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Suzman and https://amzn.to/3nCshyx

The next one is an old one but a good one and if you have not read it… This is one, you need to add to your reading list. It is called “Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.” One of my college degrees is in Wildlife Biology with a minor in Environmental Science, and I am ashamed to say that I had never read this pivotal book on the state of the environment in the 1950s and 60s. It was originally published in 1962, the year I was born. So 59 years later I felt it was about time.

Let me say that I had to listen to the book in short sections – it was that disturbing to me. Carson eloquently tells the story of the wide spread use of insecticides / herbicides and their devastating consequences on other living organism in the environment, including humans. Each time I listened to a section of the book I came away with the question “How the hell did we not all die due to this rampant and blatant over use of these chemicals.” This is truly the book that sounded the alarm and woke up Americans to what was happening right in their own backyards. Now, some might think that the book is not relevant today but I would have to disagree. Case in point – Back in 2018 there was talk in the Trump administration to bring back DDT, one of the worst pesticides, in Carson’s book. Even though it had been banned for decades for the adverse effects on wildlife, including humans, the “ideocracy” was so prevalent in that administration there was a “thought” to let it come back.

I listened to the book as an audio book but it would work well in any format. And of course you can find it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2ZdU27k

If you want to learn more about Rachel Carson please see this link: Rachel Carson, The Life and Legacy

The last one I would like to recommend is a piece of Science Fiction by Arthur C. Clarke called “Childhood’s End.” This book was written in the 1950s. Even so the story is as relevant today as it was back then. There was even a miniseries on the SiFi channel back in 2015 (I have not watched it). To say the book is thought provoking is a little bit of an understatement – And this is the main reason I am giving it a recommendation. But, let me say right off, I found it a little cynical and bleak. I feel that some of this darkness in the story line has to come from the Cold War era. After all, we are all a product of the times we live in and Clarke was not immune. Due to this, some are going to like the book a lot and some are not, because of the pessimism in the story. To be honest, I liked the book but it was not one of my Wow favorites. When it comes down to the wire so to speak, the story is more of analytical look at humanity and what the future could be. I listened to the book as an audio book but it would work well in any format. Of course you can find it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/32xrw1V

If you would like to learn more about Arthur C. Clarke please see this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke

Well, again last but not least, I would like to showcase a couple of pieces of art work before I go. They are pen and ink with a little water color thrown in – drawings of Jesus of Nazareth, except I have given them a little more of my own personal interpretation. I call them Jesus of Borg or LGBT SiFi Jesus. 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 decided to do these pieces over anger of the Texas GOPs enactment of the draconian 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 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 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.

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

“Jesus or Borg”

The next one is done in pen and ink with a little water color thrown in but instead of being protected in traditional frame and glass it is mounted to painted white board and coated with Mod Podge. It measures approximately 11 inches wide by 14 inches tall. When hanging it is about 22 inches tall.

“Jesus or Borg #2”

These pieces 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!! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Before I go, I would like to talk some about the COP26 climate summit. It ended about a week or so ago and now, we all wait and see if the world’s countries implement the commitments they have made. Hopefully it will happen.

One of the things that I have been looking forward to is the increase in the use of electric cars. Personally, we already own a Toyota Prius Prime that is a gas hybrid and it is fantastic for driving around town. If you start off fully charged you rarely run out of battery juice. Over the last few years this has greatly decreased our gas use and that is a very good thing. Especially with prices as high as they are right now. I am putting off buying any new vehicles for now unless they are fully electric or a gas / diesel hybrid. There is just something about not having to be dependent on filling up at the pump each week that is very satisfying.

So if everyone switched to EVs will that save the planet?! Simple answer is NO. The COP26 climate summit might be one of the last chances to head off a warming environment but electric vehicles (EVs), as much as I like them, will not get us there. EVs are still cars and trying to sell the public that once they switch to an EV, then all will be good – is a disservice in the least and an out right lie at the worst. In past blog posts I have talked about being minimalist and if we want to save the human world then I am going to make that same case again. Believe it or not becoming more minimalist is right in accord with decreasing our carbon footprints.

Some that were at the conference feel that the politicians did not really hit the nail on the head so to speak. EVs are still cars and as cars they will create the same issues that have led to an unstainable lifestyle in our cities and urban areas. They make it possible to put greater and greater distances between the places we live, work, shop and play. Developing land into parking lots, shopping malls, low-density housing, new roads, etc… uses incredible amounts of limited resources. It is not an efficient use of water, sewerage, electricity and public transportation. And selling EVs as a way to keep the status quo is not the answer.

So what is the answer(s)? The answer or answers are to bring all the different land uses closer together to make it possible to live, work, shop and play in your own neighborhood so to speak. It is about biking and walking access. It is about a more robust public transportation system. It is about creating a lifestyle in which the emphasis is not on “more stuff” but on improvement of self. It is about becoming minimalist. Life on a warming planet will have to change if we want to survive. Why not make it something for the better.

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/

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