Category Archives: Minimalism

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MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 30TH, JULY 2021

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“Everyone forgets Icarus also flew.” Jack Gilbert

In December 2016 the United Nations General Assembly created a resolution declaring June 30th as International Asteroid Day. This was done to bring attention to the potential hazards of a large asteroid impact on earth. The day is an “observance” of the Tunguska impact over Siberia that occurred on June 30th, 1908. The above image is an artist’s illustration of our solar system’s asteroid belt. Of course it is not to scale but it gives you a good idea of how many asteroids are in our solar system. Vesta is the largest at 329 miles in diameter. Ceres is next at 292 miles in diameter. Some are as small as 33 feet in diameter. When I look at the above illustration I don’t think of the danger to mother earth but the opportunity and potential for asteroid mining. If we look critically at the limited amount of resources left on earth, asteroid mining starts to look as a viable option. Imagine the technological advances that would be needed to create a robust mining venture. This would be one way to significantly advance humankind’s expansion into space. Image credit: NASA/McREL. If your interested in more check out these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/picturing-our-solar-systems-asteroid-belt and https://www.un.org/en/observances/asteroid-day and https://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2016/finalwebsite/solutions/asteroids.html

“Creative Entitlement” simply means believing that you are allowed to be here, and that merely by being here, you are allowed to have a voice and a vision of your own. Elizabeth Gilbert

The Chandra X-Ray Observatory is a space telescope that was launched from the Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999. It was during the STS-93 mission. The telescope is sensitive to sources of x-rays that are 100 times fainter than any previous x-ray telescope. It has now been in service for over 20 years and is still working. The telescope is named after the late Nobel laureate /astrophysicist (American) Subrahmanyam Chandrasekhar. The above image was produced from dozens of observations of a 130 light year region of space in the center of the Milky Way. The above colors represent different levels of x-ray energy: red is low, green is medium and blue is high. Using this telescope astronomers have been able to identify thousands of point like sources due to neutron stars, black holes, white dwarfs, foreground stars, and background galaxies. Image credit: NASA/CXC/UCLA/MIT/M.Muno et al. If you want to learn more about the above image or the telescope please visit these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/chandra-turns-up-the-heat-in-the-milky-way-center and https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/background/facts/cxoquick.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandra_X-ray_Observatory

“To yell at your creativity, saying, “You must earn money for me!” Is sort of like yelling at a cat; it has no idea what you’re talking about, and all you’re doing is scaring it away, because you’re making really loud noises and your face looks weird when you do that.” Elizabeth Gilbert

This is an image of the star cluster NGC 330. It was discovered on August 1st, 1826 by James Dunlop. Of course in 1826 the image that Dunlop observed did not look anything like the above. The image above was created by using observations form Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3. The crisscross light patterns on the individual stars were created when starlight interacted with four thin vanes supporting Hubble’s secondary mirror. The star cluster is about 180,000 light years from earth inside the Small Magellanic Cloud – in the constellation Tucana (the Toucan). Because the Open cluster is south of the celestial equator, it is more easily visible from the southern hemisphere. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Kalirai, A. Milone. If you want to learn more about the above image please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/hubble-sees-a-cluster-of-red-white-and-blue and http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/hubble-open-cluster-ngc-330-09801.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_cluster

“We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars.” Oscar Wilde

The above image is an artist rendition of a newly discovered exoplanet that is 90 light years from earth. It was discovered using data from TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) by an international team of astronomers led by Dr. Jennifer Burt (an exoplanet researcher at NASA’s JPL) and Professor Diana Dragomir ( an exoplanet researcher at the University of New Mexico). It is about 3.5 times as big around as Earth and warm at 134 degrees Fahrenheit. It orbits a red dwarf star and is about 8 times closer to it’s star than earth is to the sun. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. If you would like to learn more about the above exoplanet please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/in-orbit-around-a-red-dwarf-star and http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/sub-neptune-exoplanet-toi-1231b-09749.html

“The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And lessen the suffering of others. You’d be surprised how far that gets you.” Neil deGrasse Tyson

This is an image of the final launch of the space shuttle program (STS-135) July 8th, 2011. The space shuttle Atlantis was carrying supplies and spare parts to the International Space Station. The crew comprised Christopher Ferguson – Commander, Douglas Hurley – Pilot, Sandra Magnus – Mission Specialist 1, and Rex Walheim – Mission Specialist 2. I sometimes wonder if this had not been the final launch, if President Bush had not started the process of canceling the shuttle program in 2004, if Congress would have continued to increase NASA’s budget each year, if NASA would have used a different business model other than “cost plus contracting” and if and if and if. I guess the only good thing to come of this “short sightedness” in my opinion, is that Space X and Boeing were given a customer (ferrying ISS crews) if they wanted to get into space flight industry. Of course the only company to actually fill this mission so far is Space X. I wonder what would have happened if NASA could have pursued both paths? Helping to nurture private commercial space flight and working on the Constellation program and the X-33. Where would we be today? Image credit: NASA. If you want to learn more please visit these links: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/images/this-week-in-nasa-history-final-launch-of-shuttle-program-july-8-2011.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-135 and https://www.planetary.org/articles/why-nasa-pays-spacex-and-boeing and https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/history/experimental_aircraft/X-33.html

“If people don’t like what you’re creating, just smile at them sweetly and tell them to “go make their own f&%king art.” Elizabeth Gilbert

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 my friends is a very, very good thing for all of us. And I am crossing my fingers that I can continue to say this each and every month for the next year.

When I started to write this blog on July 8th, the death count in the USA stood at 622 thousand. That is a difference of 9,000 deaths in the last 30 days. And while this number is still high, it is a significant drop in Covid mortality from the previous 30 days when the number was 20,000. We are making progress. The question will be can we continue this downward trend with the rise of the Delta variant. It now accounts for more than half of all new infections in the US and in some states such as Iowa, Kanas, Missouri, and Nebraska it makes up about 80% of new cases.

It looks like Pfizer is asking the FDA to authorize a booster shot to extend protection and they are supposedly working on updating their vaccine so it will address the Delta Variant. The booster shot is already being tested. So all they need now is FDA approval.

It as now been 28 weeks since I got the Pfizer Vaccine for Covid and… so far there have been no side effects for me!! Yea!! And that is a very good thing. Not that I expected any in the first place. But this being a new technology you never know. I got the vaccine with this knowledge after seeing what the disease could do to people. It is not pretty. And if you do survive it you may not be back to your “normal” baseline for a very, very long time – if ever.

In the USA we are now up to 56.5 % of the population that has gotten at least one shot and 48.9% that have gotten both doses. In the last 30 days we have added over 10 million vaccinated people. But while 10 million is a large number, our vaccination rates are dropping. If we have to go back into a lock down with all the economic and social repercussions it will be due to the unvaccinated.

If you want to check out the numbers yourself check out this link from NPR: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/01/28/960901166/how-is-the-covid-19-vaccination-campaign-going-in-your-state and https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-19-vaccine-doses.html?auth=link-dismiss-google1tap

Back in June our infection rate was falling and it appeared that it would continue in a downward direction. Unfortunately this has not been the case. The much more infectious Delta Variant has become the predominate strain in this country and correspondingly we have seen a significant reversal in infections. On July 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th we saw new infections of over 30,000 each day. Fridays high on July 16th was 40 thousand plus and we topped 67,000 plus by Friday 23rd. That was a jump of over 60 percent from the previous few weeks. The top three states for new infections were Florida, California, and Texas. The death count was still down but that would be expected as there is a few weeks delay between new infections and death. My guess is that the numbers are actually much higher than this due to the fact that some states are only reporting weekly now. This in my opinion is not done out of a concern for public health but an economic one. If your state is having a surge in cases and the public knows – it is bad for business. Two examples of this are Florida and Nebraska. A good article on this is from Medical Express. You can check out the link here: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-07-states-scale-virus-cases-surge.html

By July 20th, CDC director Rochelle Walensky was warning that the pandemic is now a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” Almost all of the people getting hospitalized and suffering the worst morbidity and mortality are those that did not get vaccinated.

At the end of the month, on Thursday, July 30th the US reported 92,000 new infections with Covid. Unreal. The total death count was 628 thousand or a difference of approximately 6000 deaths in 21 days but I am guessing that in the next 9 to 10 days we are going to add a few more thousand. The fourth wave of the infections is upon us….

Well enough about Covid. Time to move on to some pictures from the great outdoors for the month of June. I was hoping that the air quality and weather that we experienced in May would be the same for June, but I would have to say that it was a little complicated.

This picture was taken June 7th, 2021 at about 1:30pm in the afternoon. Here I am looking up through a stand of aspen and spruce. Janet and I were hiking in a section of the Rawah Wilderness that was not burned by the Cameron Peak fire last year. This was a view from the West Branch trail. We only went up about 3 miles before turning around due to multi deadfalls that had not been cleared from the trail. I am planning to do some running on this trail later in July and I am hoping that some of this has been cleaned up by then. But it might not happen this year due to all the fire damage being attended to on other trails in the same general area and the risk of afternoon storms causing flash flooding. Oh well it is what it is and I am just glad that it did not all burn.

The first part of June was pretty good. Cool temps, wind and more importantly moisture in the form of rain for the Front Range. This made for some excellent weather and air quality conditions at the start and toward the end of June.

This picture was also taken on June 7th, 2021 at about 2pm in the afternoon. I thought I should get one of Janet and Marvin together on the West Branch trail. It was good to get back in the Rawah’s. I had been using the south end of the Wilderness area all of last summer until the Cameron Peak fire started. The trail was pretty dry this day and I was wondering if this was going to be the norm for the summer? A good link to check out the Rawah Wilderness is at AllTrails: https://www.alltrails.com/parks/us/colorado/rawah-wilderness

Unfortunately the dry conditions returned to the mountains by the middle of the month and so did the fires. The air quality took a nose dive due to the added smoke. And the temperatures shot up into the 90s along the Front Range which led to an increase in Ozone levels. The smoke, the temperatures, the ozone all led to really bad outdoor air quality for most of Colorado’s front range during the middle part of June. Little did I know that these conditions were a forerunner of what was to take place in July. But I will save that debacle for the next blog post. Lol.

This picture was taken June 9th, 2021 at about 8:45pm in the evening. The temps were already starting to get warmer for the month and for Marvin it was best to let the sun set and the temperatures drop below 90 degrees before getting out. This picture is looking South West from an open space in Fort Collins called Prospect Ponds. In the background you can see some feathery clouds that give a nice look to the sunset but are actually from a forest fire in the mountains.

Just when I thought the month of June was going to be a total wash, the last week got a lot better. The high country got some much needed moisture and the temps cooled a bit on the Front Range and this led to a subsequent increase in air quality. So the last part of June was pretty good for being in the outdoors. Like I said, it was a little complicated. Lol.

This picture was taken June 10th, 2021 at about 3:30pm in the afternoon. Marvin and I got out for a trail run in the Colorado State Forest. Most of the wood smoke had moved south and further west as you can tell from the blue sky. This is a beautiful area that is located at Cameron Pass in the Never Summer Mountains. The peak is a rock formation called Nokhu Crags that is derived from the Native American Arapaho language meaning Eagles Nest. Marvin and I were trying to get up to an area called American Lakes but ran into deep snow and had to turn around. The road we are on is called Michigan Ditch Road. Here are a couple of links to check out more on this area: https://www.summitpost.org/nokhu-crags/151713 and https://publiclands.colostate.edu/digital_projects/dp/poudre-river/moving-storing/ditches-dams-diversions/michigan-ditch/
This picture was taken June 14th, 2021 at about 9pm in the evening. It is looking West at a beautiful sunset. It was another hot day and Marvin and I were running late in the evening due to lower temps and better air quality. The day had been in the 90s and the air quality index was close to 100, but later the temps had fallen into the lower 80s and the AQI was closer to 60. Also the ozone levels had come down a bit too. The beautiful yellow color of the sunset is actually due to particulates in the atmosphere. In this case, I believe most of the particulates were wood smoke from fires in Colorado and Arizona. The big fires out in Oregon, California, Washington and Idaho did not start until the first week of July. If you interested in seeing what your air quality is for “particulates”, check out the Purple Air Website: https://www2.purpleair.com/ It is free to use and it is in real time. If you live in area that does not have a monitor, think about buying one. Knowledge is power and being informed is the first step in claiming that power to protect your health.

Training for the Leadville 100 run is coming along better than I had expected. Or that is the way I feel about it right now. As it gets closer I get a little nervous and wonder if I am doing enough or too much. I swear I was much more fit just 5 years ago? I am not sure what that is about except maybe I am 59 now and 5 years older?! Lol. My mother used to say when she was in her 80s that “Old age is not for sissies.” And I am thinking that I am starting to understand what she meant by that. Oh well it is what it is and you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and be grateful for each day you wake up. Dang how morbid is that?! Lol.

This picture was taken June 15th, 2021 at about 10pm in the evening. Janet and I again had waited late to walk dog boy due to the heat and poor air quality for the day. But you do what you have to do. Marvin did not seem to care much.

Did I say earlier that the air quality got better toward the end of the month? Why yes I did and it really did get better. The mountains got a little rain and so did the Front Range, temperatures dropped a bit and life was good again so to speak.

This picture was taken June 25th, 2021 at 4pm in the afternoon. Marvin and I were doing some intown running along the Poudre River Bike trail. The temps were in the low 70s and look at those rain clouds. Nice!
This picture was taken June 29th, 2021 at about 3:30pm in the afternoon. Here I am at the top of Tower Road in Horsetooth Mountain Park looking North by Northwest. Look at that beautiful blue sky.
This picture was taken June 30th, 2021 at 2:45pm in the afternoon. This is looking North long Horsetooth Reservoir. Even though those clouds could mean danger due to lightning on an exposed ridge – they looked really good to me after the heat and poor air quality in the middle of the month. Another beautiful Colorado afternoon!

So the month ended on a good note! Yea! But what is the old saying that nothing last? Well that was the case and the first week of July did not disappoint! But I will save that tale for the next blog post.

A couple of book reviews and a piece of art work before wrapping things up. The first book I would like to talk about is a science fiction one called “Recursion” by Blake Crouch. You might be familiar with Mr. Crouch from another of his science fiction novels called “Dark Matter.” If you have read Dark Matter and liked it then you are going to be happy reading this one. I found the book entertaining due to the fact I did not have any idea what was going on “until further than usual” in the book. In my mind I was going thought all the possible scenarios of what the problem might be and then was surprised when I found out. There are several character arcs that are going on in the story at the same time, but with a twist. Some die out and never morph but others move wonderfully forward. It is a story about time and memory but not in a traditional sense. Mr. Blake creates a story, like in Dark Matter, out of what would be considered the frontiers of theoretical physics in my opinion. Bottom line – excellent read! I listed to the book as an audio book but I think it would work just as well in any format.

To learn more about the author please visit his web site: http://www.blakecrouch.com/

You can find this book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Recursion-Novel-Blake-Crouch/dp

The next book I would like to talk about is called “Big Magic written by Elizabeth Gilbert. Yes it is that author from “Eat Pray Love” and no I have not read that book. Yet. If you have read Julia Cameron’s book called “The Artist’s Way” and liked it then you are going to like this one. I loved this book by Elizabeth. I have been what I call a “struggling artist” since I was old enough to talk. My mother was a dominating woman and ran the household. She was the driving force in the family and if she said you were going to do or not do something then you did it or not. There were no exceptions. She had it in her mind that anything to do with “art” was a total waste of time. Or that is how I perceived her reaction anytime I wanted to do something creative that did not fit in with her idea of creativity. The only slight deviation she might allow was if you sang or played some kind of musical instrument. Both of which I hated.

So when I listened to this light hearted take on living the creative life (It is not a step by step guide) I was immediately drawn in. It felt like I was being given a drink of water after dying of thirst, stranded in the desert.

Some would say this is an excellent book for those who are looking for inspiration to live the “creative life.” But, I think it really goes much further because being creative is in our genes no matter who or what we do in life. If you go back far enough, some one in your family tree made things by hand – we all have the ability to be more creative.

I listened to this book as an audio book (I am on the forth listen) but I think it would work well in any format.

To learn more about the author please visit her website: https://www.elizabethgilbert.com/bio/

You can find this book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Big-Magic-Elizabeth-Gilbert-audiobook/dp

Well last but not least one piece of art work before I go.

I have always been interested in the science of the very, very small. What do things look like at the nano and quantum scale? Recently I was listening to a few lectures on particle physics and the different particles that make up electrons, protons, and neutrons: The Quarks, Leptons, Gluons, Photons, Bosons, and the Higgs particles to name a few. Then add in the quantum field theory or the “quantum glue” that holds it all together. I tried to capture what this might look like if you could see it on that level with the naked eye.

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

I call the piece below “Quantum Goulash.”

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

Well that is going to be about it for me on this blog post. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Before I close I would again like to give a shout out to minimalism. The world that we live in is a very big place and it can seem overwhelming at times. Especially when trying to think about making a positive difference in the world. But minimalism is something that we can all do to fight back against our over rampant consumeristic culture. When I first heard about the idea of minimalism I thought of a monk living in a monastery, bare walls, owning nothing, eating the same gruel each and everyday, etc… But in reality this is not the case, though I guess if you wanted to do this you could. Lol. Minimalism is different for each individual. You choose how much “minimalism” you want in your life and how much you don’t want. It is about understanding what matters most in life and removing the things that do not support the “what matters most part.” Of course this usually translates to getting rid of all unnecessary material goods as a first step. But Minimalism is so much more than just this. And a good place to start is here: https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

Becoming minimalist is just a change in mindset. Nothing to buy, nothing to purchase, just a change in how you look at your life and the world.

So take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, stay informed on current Covid 19 developments, especially on the Delta variant, and wear your mask (N95 – if you have one) when appropriate. And get vaccinated – no excuses. As the Nike slogan says – “Just do it!” Adios!!

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

Air Quality, Art, Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Environment, Exercise, Fort Collins, Fort Collins, Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, Minimalism, Pandemics, Politics, PurpleAir, Science, Science Fiction, Space, Wildfire

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 25TH, JUNE 2021

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“Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world. Science is the highest personification of the nation because that nation will remain the first which carries the furthest the works of thought and intelligence.” Louis Pasteur

This is an image of Arp 299 and was created by using X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (pink), higher-energy X-ray data from NuSTAR (purple), and optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope (white and faint brown). It is an image of two colliding galaxies approximately 134 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa major. The two systems have been locked in gravitational combat for millions of years blending and merging stars from each galaxy into a cosmic goulash. Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Crete/K. Anastasopoulou et al, NASA/NuSTAR/GSFC/A. Ptak et al; Optical: NASA/STScI. If you want to learn more about the above image check out these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/galactic-goulash and https://phys.org/news/2017-06-arp-galactic-goulash.html and https://youtu.be/YfF83mXMC7U

“We have to remember that what we observe is not nature in itself but nature exposed to our method of questioning.” Werner Heisenberg

This is an image of galaxy NGC 5037 in the constellation of Virgo. It is about 150 million light-years away from Earth. The image was created using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3. The first documentation of its existence was by William Herschel in 1785. A barred spiral galaxy is a spiral with a central bar-shaped structure. The central structure is composed of stars. It is thought that about half of all spiral galaxies have bars. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, where we live, is classified as a barred spiral galaxy. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Rosario; Acknowledgment: L. Shatz. To learn more about this image or the galaxy NGC 5037 please see these links: Hubble Captures a Captivating Spiral | NASA and https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/hubble-galaxy-ngc-5037/

“I am utterly convinced that science and peace will triumph over ignorance and war, that nations will eventually unite not to destroy but to edify, and that the future will belong to those who have done the most for the sake of suffering humanity.” Louis Pasteur

This image was created using a large mosaic of data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the MeerKAT radio telescope in south Africa. The orange, green, blue and purple colors are from Chandra Observatory and the radio data from MeerKAT are shown in lilac and gray. This image made news because it is thought to be showing X-ray and radio emissions intertwined. The idea is that they are held together by thin strips of magnetic fields. This concept has been put forth in a study by Q. Daniel Wang of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. “Such strips may have formed when magnetic fields aligned in different directions, collided, and became twisted around each other in a process called magnetic reconnection. This is similar to the phenomenon that drives energetic particles away from the Sun and is responsible for the space weather that sometimes affects Earth.” Image credit: Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/UMass/Q.D. Wang; Radio: NRF/SARAO/MeerKAT. To learn more about this image please visit there links: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/images/magnetized-threads-weave-spectacular-galactic-tapestry.html and https://phys.org/news/2021-05-magnetized-threads-spectacular-galactic-tapestry.html

“All one can really leave one’s children is what’s inside their heads. Education, in other words, and not earthly possessions, is the ultimate legacy, the only thing that cannot be taken away.” Dr. Wernher von Braun

This is an image of Uranus – the 7th planet from our sun. It is four times the diameter of Earth and rotates on its side and has two sets of rings. This side rotation makes it different from all other planets in our solar system. The above image is made from combining a Chandra X-ray image from 2002 (pink) superimposed on an optical image from the Keck-I Telescope made in 2004. The planet made news recently because astronomers have detected X-rays for the first time coming from Uranus, using NASA’s Chandra Observatory. Most of the X-rays are thought to becoming from the Sun due to scattering but there is a possibility the rings of Uranus could be creating the rays themselves. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXO/University College London/W. Dunn et al; Optical: W.M. Keck Observatory. If you want to learn more about this please visit these links: Detecting X-Rays From Uranus | NASA and https://phys.org/news/2021-03-x-rays-uranus.html

“Fortune favors the prepared mind.” Louis Pasteur

Apollo 16 was the tenth crewed mission of the Apollo space program. It was the 5th landing on the moon by astronauts. This mission started on April 16th, 1972 and ended on April 27th. The mission was crewed by Commander John Young, the Lunar module pilot was Charles Duke and Command module pilot was Ken Mattingly. In the above image, John Young salutes the flag while jumping on the moon. The Lunar landing Module Orion and the Lunar Roving Vehicle are in the background. Image Credit: NASA/Charlie Duke. To learn more about the above image and the Apollo 16 mission please visit these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/flag-day-2021-saluting-the-us-flag and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_16 and https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo16.html

“Our sun is one of a 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Our galaxy is one of billions of galaxies populating the universe. It would be the height of presumption to think that we are the only living thing in that enormous immensity.” Dr. Wernher von Braun

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 my friends is a very, very good thing for all of us. And I am crossing my fingers that I can continue to say this each and every month for the next year.

When I started to write this blog on June 8th, the death count in the USA stood at 613 thousand. That is a difference of 20 thousands deaths from May 6th. While this is a large number it is an improvement from the previous 30 days by 6000 individuals! The big question becomes can we keep this downward trend?

By the middle of the month the downward trend was continuing with 200 to 500 deaths per day and new cases averaging about 10,000 per week. Again, even though these are large number we were still in that downward trend.

By the end of the month the total added death count was about 5000 or 618,000 total and while this number is large it is a significant improvement from the previous 30 days by more than half. And our infection rate has continue to fall so that was good news. If you want to see the numbers yourself check out these links: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/ and https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

The only fly in the ointment was the Delta variant of the virus – first identified in India. By the end of June it was responsible for one in every five new infections in the United States. Part of this rapid rise is that it is much more transmissible than previous versions of the virus. The good news is that the two main vaccinations do seem to offer protection. But there are still a lot of unanswered questions about it, like how severe it might be compared to prevision versions. There is some evidence that you are twice as likely to be hospitalized with this version than the last. Due to the unevenness in vaccinations around the country and age groups we may see a rise with infections in the South and an increase in young people. I guess time will tell, but the best thing to do now is to get as many people fully vaccinated as possible.

It has now been 24 weeks since I got the Pfizer Vaccine for Covid and… so far there have been no side effects for me!! Yea!! While there has been a rise in heart inflammation reported in adolescents and young adults with the two main vaccines it does not appear that this is a long term condition and generally most individuals recover without further concern.

As of June 15th, in the US, there were 174 million individuals or 53% of the population that had gotten at least one shot of the two main vaccines. And there were about 145 million or 44% that have full vaccination!! This is a very good thing, not only in terms of health but also in terms of economic recovery.

If you want to look at the numbers yourself check out these links: https://usafacts.org/visualizations/covid-vaccine-tracker-states/ and https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/01/28/960901166/how-is-the-covid-19-vaccination-campaign-going-in-your-state and for a look at world vaccinations check out this link from CNN: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/health/global-covid-vaccinations/

Well enough about Covid. Time to move on to something different. May was another good month for running along the Front Range in Colorado. While there were some unsettled weather days and even a little snow along the Front Range, it was a good month for air quality and exercising outdoors.

This picture was taken May 11th, 2021 at 6:50am in the morning. Winter was not quit through with us. I believe on the Front Range this was the last snow fall for the season. Being at 5000 feet in elevation you just never know when the last snow might fall but it is usually somewhere around Mother’s day. Lol. I have gotten to where I do not plant out any new flowers or vegetables until the middle of May. The Quad Rock trail race was 3 days before this photo was taken! At that time the trails were dry and running was supreme. What a difference a few days can make!

I write a lot about the air quality here in Colorado because there are times it is really, really bad. It was not until 1963 that the “Clean Air Act” was passed in the United States and in 1970 congress gave the EPA the legal authority to regulate pollution from cars and other forms of transportation. This dramatically improved air quality a lot, but I have come to realize it does not go far enough.

This picture was taken May 13th, 2021 at 7:30pm in the evening. It is looking West along one of my favorite in town sections of the Poudre River. Here you can see that the river is filling in with spring runoff. The City and County had filled most of the reservoirs by this time and the river was allowed to run free. Most of the water is spoken for, but the consumers are “downstream users”, so the the river is running full through the city. As I write this, I am wondering where the next “water” source will come from for Colorado? We are a headwater state (meaning all of our rivers begin in the Rocky Mountains and flow out of the state) and most of Colorado is very dry – think high plains desert. The eastern half of the state makes up 40% of this type of topography. And on the West side it is not much better. Precipitation averages 8 to 14 inches per year. As growth continues, at some point, there will not be any more “water” to obtain. The questions become: When do you say enough is enough? Do you damn every river in the state just so you can have growth and when every river is damned, then what? Hard questions for the State, City and County governments here in Colorado. If you want to learn more about Colorado’s climate please visit this link: https://climate.colostate.edu/climate_long.html

To understand this, it is important to see one of the reasons the Clean Air Act came into being. After World War 2 with the returning soldiers several things occurred. Economic growth skyrocketed and there was a soon to be baby boom. With the impending increase in population the suburbs become the “hip” place to live. The only problem was that the mass transit infrastructure did not exist like it did in the cities. This forced an increase in the reliance on private motor vehicles with a corresponding significant increase in air pollution. Hence the need for the Clean Air Act. Of course this was not the only reason for the CAA but it was a substantial one.

This picture was taken May 16th, 2021 at 6:15pm in the evening. Here Janet and Marvin are on the banks of the Poudre River and it is still flowing full. This picture reminds me of how “big” Marvin actually is! Lol. His breed is called a King Shephard. For Marvin, it is a mixture of German Shephard, Alaska Malamute and Great Pyrenees. He’s got a little more Pyrenees due to the fact that his father was full Pyrenees. Hence the floppy ears. I find it interesting that he did not get the thicker Pyrenees coat.

The part of the CAA that regulates vehicle pollution is considered a success story by many measures. Lead has been eliminated and sulfur levels are 90% lower than they were prior to regulation. If you compare cars from the 1960s to now, you are looking at a decrease of about 98% in tailpipe pollutants. So why is air quality terrible at times here on the Front Range of Colorado? I will try to explain.

This picture was taken May 20th, 2021 at 12:15pm in the afternoon. It is looking out East towards Weld County. It was a great day for running in Horsetooth Mountain Park. There was just enough wind from the West to increase the air quality around Fort Collins. If you look very closely at this photo you can just see the thin layer of brown. That my friends is the infamous “brown cloud.” And it is created when temperature inversions trap the cooler air near the ground, preventing pollutants from rising into the atmosphere. The topography slopes downward as you move away from the foothills, so the colder air had moved out toward Weld County, taking the bulk of the pollution with it. Of course, Weld County has over 33 thousand oil and gas wells, which does not help with the brown cloud. The interesting part is the entire state only has about 53 thousand wells. Therefore, 62% of the wells are in Weld County alone. I wonder how many people realize this?

When you are looking at pollution here along the Front Range, I am not talking about Greenhouse gas pollution per se. But more about the sources of hazardous chemicals that help to create ozone and wildland fire sources that contribute to particulates. Colorado unfortunately has become one of the worst violators of the federal air quality health standards due to VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and nitrogen oxides. Colorado emits around 200,000 tons of these each year. There are several sources but one of the biggest is oil and gas development and processing, something around 45%. The next greatest portion comes from people driving vehicles that burn fossil fuels. But you would think with tailpipe emission getting better, the air quality should improve? At least from the automotive end? Right? Well unfortunately this has not been the case. Colorado has seen another population boom in the last 20 years and it has double the number of citizens. We are now in the range of about 6 million as of 2020. This and the increase in oil and gas development has erased many of the air quality improvements seen since the 1980s.

This picture was taken May 20th, 2021 at about 12:45pm in the afternoon. The same day as the above picture but looking West and not East. Here you see Mount Meeker and Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park. This is the view, looking West, from the top of Tower’s Road in Horsetooth Mountain Park. Some of the darker areas in the lower half of the image are from last years historic fires. I love this view from the top!

Another significant cause of Front Range Air Pollution in recent years is the overall increase in Forest Fires. This increase has resulted in a significant up swing in particulates. The stuff that you see from a fire or driving down a dusty road, are called PM-10. These include smoke, soot, dust and dirt. These particles irritate the eyes, nose and throat. This stuff can be annoying but usually it does not have a long term health consequence. But and there is always a but, the smaller particles, called PM 2.5 or particles smaller than 2.5 microns can and do cause problems. They are composed of everything from sulfates, nitrates and heavy metals to combustion byproducts including hydrocarbons. These fine particles are often bound to toxins in the air. Because of their small size they can easily get into your lungs and then into the blood stream. Once in the blood stream they can travel to any part of the body. They have even been found in the unborn fetuses of pregnant mothers. These particles have been causally linked to increased risk of heart attacks, stroke, pneumonia, exacerbation of COPD, Asthma, Lung Cancer, preterm birth, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease and other forms of cancer. They stay in the air for a long time and can travel long distances with the wind. This is why you can still be exposed when a forest fire is hundreds and hundreds of miles away.

This picture was taken May 28th, 2021 at 1:30pm in the afternoon. It is looking south from the top sections of Tower Road and is an image of the iconic Horsetooth Rock. You can just make out a few individuals standing on top of the rock. It was another beautiful day for running along the Front Range.

Now you might ask why is this such a problem for Colorado? Doesn’t all these same issues affect other parts of the country as well? The answer, yes they do, but… Let me explain. Due to the Front Range’s topography, we get a consistent “temperature inversion type of condition” in which the cooler air is trapped closer to the ground with very little wind movement for long periods of time. This really allows for the combination of VOCs/nitrogen oxides with resultant ozone and particulates from forest fires to accumulate in one place with resultant terrible air quality. It gets so bad at times that I wish for it to be a super windy day just to clean the old, dirty stagnant air out.

This picture was taken June 6th, 2021 at about 8:30pm in the evening. The days in June were getting progressively hotter and we found ourselves walking later with the dog so that he would not get overheated.

I have written about this issue before but thought it was good idea to revisit it. Fort Collins just moved up in rank this month, on the list of cities with the worst air pollution. By Ozone, Fort Collins is number 17 in the nation out of 226 metropolitan areas and 50th for short term particulates out of 216 metropolitan areas. While not exactly at the top, close enough in my opinion and not something that should be allowed to go any higher. To see some of the numbers check out this link at the American Lung Association: https://www.lung.org/research/sota/city-rankings/most-polluted-cities

“Environmental pollution is not only humanity’s treason to humanity but also a treason to all other living creatures on earth!” Mehmet Murat ildan

Will it be an easy problem to solve? No way. But some things we can do. Get rid of your gas mower – move to electric. And encourage the landscaping companies to do the same. When you start thinking about buying that new car, think hybrid or full electric. When the next election cycle starts, ask the candidates how they are going to fix this. Will they be plugging the regulatory holes to target major polluters inside and outside Colorado? Will they be encouraging the trucking companies to go electric? Will they be pushing for the upgrades needed in the electric grid? Information is powerful and I encourage you to visit the websites of Purple Air and Air Quality Colorado if you live here. Check them every time before you plan an outdoor activity and if they are not optimal send a screen shot to your elected representative. Ask what they are doing about it.

You can find those links here: https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mAQI/a10/cC0#11/40.5524/-105.0534 and https://www.colorado.gov/airquality/air_quality.aspx

A couple of book reviews and a piece of art work before wrapping things up. The first book I would like to talk about is “The Physics of Climate Change” by Lawrence M. Krauss. The first thing before reading this book you need to understand is that Krauss is a world renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist. In the book he admits that this is not his area of expertise, but after looking at all the data and the arguments about climate change, he felt it was important to write a book that would help to explain the “science” in a way that makes sense to the rest of us. Now with that said, if you are someone that needs all the equations and math in minutiae for the science of CC to make sense, then you will be disappointed. This is not that book.

I found the book an enlightening look at the complexity of the research that has gone into the science. And it helped me to understand how the lay person and even other scientist could get confused when looking at all the data. A truly daunting task for climate researchers. The take away: Is global warming real – absolutely and are humans responsible for a large contribution to this phenomena – most assuredly. I believe this book would work well in any format. I got it as an audio book and found it thoroughly enjoyable while out for long runs.

Lawrence Maxwell Krauss is an American / Canadian theoretical physicist and cosmologist who previously taught at Arizona State University, Yale and Case Western Reserve University. To learn more about him please visit this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Krauss

You can find the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/The-Physics-of-Climate-Change/dp

The next book I would like to talk about is called “Neuromancer” by William Gibson. It is a book that is consider a Science Fiction staple and that you cannot truly call yourself a SiFi fan unless you have read it. So I felt the need to read it at 59 years old. Lol. This book deals with AI, computer programs, cyber space, and transhuman technology among other things. The crazy part is the book was written in 1984 – about 37 years ago! And the concepts put worth are more relevant today than there were back then. It is consider one of the best known examples of Cyberpunk and after reading it, I believe it still holds true.

Now in all honesty I did have a little trouble following the plot at times and had to go back and re-listen to several sections. And I am not sure if that was accidental or if Gibson had intended this to be the case. Neuromancer was his first novel, so I will cut him a little slack in this regard. I used Wikipedia as a guide to help me keep on track with the characters and the plot – this helped immensely. I listened to the book as an audio book while on long runs but it would work in any format.

Willian Ford Gibson is an American / Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. If you want to learn more about his author check out this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gibson

You can find this book on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Neuromancer-William-Gibson-audiobook/dp

Well last but no least a piece of art work before I go. This one is a piece of sculpture that is a sunface. It is constructed of scrap wood that is nailed, screwed and glued together – painted with acrylic and latex paint. After any summer project I hate to see anything go to waste and the year this face was made I had plenty of plywood and 2×4 pieces left over for a sunface. My inspiration was from the cartoon Sponge Bob Square Pants. In one of the episodes I watched with the kids, Squidward is seen relaxing and trying to get a tan before he is harassed by the usual characters.

This is a good size sunface: 42 inches by 42 inches and 10 inches deep. The sculpture is all wood and is about 14 to 15 pounds. This sculpture is meant to be indoors only.

I call this sculpture “SQUIDWARD SUNFACE”

The inspiration behind the sculpture. Lol

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

Well that is going to be about it for me on this blog post. My intent was that it would be informative, especially for those that live here in Colorado. We reside in a great place for being outdoors and I hope that it stays that way. Unfortunately “hope” like thoughts and prayers will only go so far without action. There are some big environmental challenges we need to fix in order to keep the air quality from getting any worse.

So what can we do? One of things, without a lot of effort initially is to become “Minimalist.” Our consumeristic culture is unsustainable at it’s current levels and you could even say that the air quality issues we are encountering around the country are the indirect result of this consumption mindset. I will repeat what my biology professor told me years ago about the destructions of our environment: “Growth for growth’s sake is the definition of cancer.” It does not matter if it is in the human body or the destruction of natural resources or a form of unfettered economic growth for profit and profit alone. It all leads to the same conclusion if it is not checked – death of the system.

Becoming minimalist is just a change in mindset. Nothing to by, nothing to purchase, just a change in how you look at your life and the world. If this appeals to you and even if it doesn’t at the moment but you are curious, a good place to start is here: https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

So take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, stay informed of current Covid 19 developments – especially of the Delta variant, and wear you mask (N95 now) when appropriate. And when a vaccine becomes available, please get it. No excuses – just do it. Adios!!

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

Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Minimalism, Pandemics, Quad Rock 50, Science, Space, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 30TH, APRIL 2021

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“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.” Pema Chodron

This is an image of a blast wave heating dust as it moves through interstellar space. The blast wave was caused by a supernova in the direction of the constellation Cassiopeia. The light from this supernova first reached earth around 1667. The image above was taken by the NASA space telescope named WISE or Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. Some of the coloring in the image is false but represents different wavelengths of infrared light. Infrared light is invisible to the human eye and hence the coloring. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA. If you want to learn more about this image please visit this link: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/vision-of-a-stellar-ending If you want to learn more about WISE please visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide-field_Infrared_Survey_Explorer

“We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.” Pema Chodron

This is an image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and it is part of the Veil Nebula. It is a section of a supernova remnant and is present in the constellation Cygnus (The Swan). The source of the supernova was a star 20 times more massive than the Sun which exploded 10 to 20 thousand years ago. There are some estimates that the light from the explosion would have been brighter than Venus in the sky and would be visible in the daytime. The Veil Nebula lies about 2,100 light years from Earth. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Z. Levay. If you want to learn more about this image please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/hubble-revisits-the-veil-nebula and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil_Nebula

“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man’s-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again. ” Pema Chodron

This is an image taken by the NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It is of sand dunes inside a 3 mile wide (5-kilometer) crater on Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona. If you want to learn more about this image or the Orbiter, please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/frosty-sand-dunes-of-mars and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Reconnaissance_Orbiter

“The difference between theism and nontheism is not whether one does or does not believe in God. . . Theism is a deep-seated conviction that there’s some hand to hold: if we just do the right things, someone will appreciate us and take care of us. . . Nontheism is relaxing with the ambiguity and uncertainty of the present moment without reaching for anything to protect ourselves.” Pema Chodron

This is an illustration of the metal-rich asteroid Psyche. It is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and is about 120 miles or 200 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by the Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis in 1852. It is thought that it is mostly composed of metals that could eventually be mined and brought back to earth or used to create future structures in space. NASA’s “Psyche” spacecraft is set to launch next year curtesy of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket. The orbiter is set to arrive at the asteroid in 2026. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU. If you want to learn more about Psyche please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/exploring-the-metal-rich-asteroid-psyche and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Psyche and https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/new-nasa-mission-to-help-us-learn-how-to-mine-asteroids

“We think that if we just meditated enough or jogged enough or ate perfect food, everything would be perfect. But from the point of view of someone who is awake, that’s death. Seeking security or perfection, rejoicing in feeling confirmed and whole, self contained and comfortable, is some kind of death. It doesn’t have any fresh air. There’s no room for something to come in and interrupt all that. We are killing the moment by controlling our experience.” Pema Chodron

This image was taken on march 5th, 2021 and is NASA’s astronaut Kate Rubins. Here she is working on installing modification kits for a new and more powerful solar array. Kate is a microbiologist by training and has done research on viral diseases affecting Central and West Africa. In July 2009 she was selected as one of 14 members of NASA’s Astronaut Group 20. She is the 60th woman to fly in space. Kate just came home from the ISS on April 17th, 2021 after spending 6 months in space. She traveled more than 78 million miles on the ISS and circled the globe nearly 3,000 times. Image credit: NASA. To learn more about Kate please visit these sites: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/kate-rubins-works-to-upgrade-the-space-station and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Rubins

“There is a common misunderstanding among all the human beings who have ever been born on earth that the best way to live is to try to avoid pain and just try to get comfortable. You see this even in insects and animals and birds. All of us are the same. A much more interesting, kind and joyful approach to life is to begin to develop our curiosity, not caring whether the object of our curiosity is bitter or sweet. To lead a life that goes beyond pettiness and prejudice and always wanting to make sure that everything turns out on our own terms, to lead a more passionate, full, and delightful life than that, we must realize that we can endure a lot of pain and pleasure for the sake of finding out who we are and what this world is, how we tick and how our world ticks, how the whole thing just is. If we are committed to comfort at any cost, as soon as we come up against the least edge of pain, we’re going to run; we’ll never know what’s beyond that particular barrier or wall or fearful thing.” Pema Chodron

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 my friends is an excellent thing for both of us. And I am crossing my fingers that I can continue to say this in the coming months.

When I started to write this blog on April 2nd, the death count stood at approximately 567,000. That is up 7,000 deaths since March 26th, this is when I published the last blog. Only 7 days between the two dates?? Wow!! And again, not in a good way.

At the start of April the number of new positive cases had started to rise with New York, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Texas all in the top 10 and nationally this increase continued for the entire month. Even with vaccination. The daily positivity rate was about 60 to 80 thousand new cases each day.

By the middle of the month the death count was about 581,000. An increase of 14,000. While this is a lot, the good news is that the number of deaths per week had plateaued. By the end of the month it had actually dropped to around 5,000 deaths per week. A decrease of 2,000 deaths per week. While that is still way too many deaths, at least we are heading in the right direction. The interesting part from a scientific point of view will be to see if the death rate increases again in the next 30 days after the current rise in positive cases during the month of April. The month of May could turn out to be a very different story.

By the time of publication the total death count for the nation was about 590,000 – an increase of about 23,000 deaths for the month of April. While this number is much, much better than what was occurring in January of this year (2000 to 4,000 extra deaths per day). That is still to large a number. 23,000 extra deaths due to Covid. Way too many.

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 has been approximately 16 weeks since I got the second shot of the Pfizer Vaccine for Covid and… so far there have been no side effects for me. But the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, like the AstraZeneca vaccine, has had some reported serious bleeding / clotting issues and will need to be investigated further to work out who should get this vaccine and who should not. So far I believe that out of 6.8 million doses given of the J&J vaccine only 15 cases have been reported. So it is a very rare side effect. If you interested in Johnson& Johnsons statement on this, check out the link: https://www.jnj.com/johnson-johnson-statement-on-covid-19-vaccine-updated

By April 2nd the United States had approximately 58 million people with full vaccination. At the end of the month that number was around 90 million plus and climbing. A very good thing. To see the numbers yourself check out this link from NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/map-covid-19-vaccination-tracker-across-u-s-n1252085

Interesting to note and a very good reason to keep wearing a mask and social distancing while in public was the number of “breakthrough” cases after full vaccination. Several states, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and New Orleans, started to report these cases by the first of March and that trend continued to grow in other states through the rest of the month and into April. But this was not unexpected. Take for example the Pfizer vaccine, which per the manufacture is 95% effect, this means that theoretically if 100 people get vaccinated, there may be five who do not have the same level of response to provide protection. Clinical trials of all vaccines in use included breakthrough cases. What does all this mean? Even though the numbers are small, the bottom line is you still need to take precautions. Thinking about this information would I still get the vaccine? Absolutely! It has been shown that most of the people that were part of the “breakthrough” groups have had a much milder form of the disease. Some did not even know that they were sick. A good general rule of thumb after being vaccinated is to remember that most transmissions occur “breathing the concentrated air of others.” With this knowledge, one of the things to avoid would still be indoor restaurants without good ventilation and physical distancing. Eating outside would be OK, but not inside. We are not there yet. Movie theaters are another example of a place to avoid. Bottom line, if you are going to be sitting or standing in one place for longer than 15 minutes, breathing the air of others, either avoid it or everyone needs a mask on. The only exception, following CDC guidelines, would be if you and the other people around you all have been fully vaccinated.

A great link to check out on Covid is at the CDC: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home

Well that is probably enough about Covid. I am really getting tired of talking and writing about it but I feel it is worth while to help put some facts out with no political intentions or spin. I am not an expert in infectious disease, but I do have an extensive medical background in Emergency Medicine. All the information that I put out is from reliable and trusted sources – most of it verbatim or close to as possible from the source.

Now on to something better, while February was a challenging month for running and exercising in the great outdoors here on the Front Range of Colorado, March was a whole lot better. The temperatures warmed up, the wind picked up and the bad air quality moved out! Yea!

This picture was taken on March 2nd, 2021 about 3:30pm in the afternoon. It was a warm spring like day which made for a very nice walk with Marvin and Janet. The water in the background is the Poudre River. I know, your probably thinking that is not a river, that is a puddle of water. Lol. But let me assure you it is the river. There is spring run off occurring in the mountains west of town but the water is being diverted to storage for the coming summer. By May there should be a significant increase in volume through town. The front range of Colorado is called a “High Plains Desert” and gets very little moisture over the entire year. In Fort Collins we get about 13 to 14 inches of moisture each year and this includes snow melt! So any water than can be stored during spring run off, will be. Otherwise… It would not be a good scenario. Especially with the explosive growth along the Front Range in the last 20 years.

This picture was taken March 7th, 2021 about 7:45pm in the evening. Here I was finishing up a trail run and thought the city lights made a beautiful back drop to the night sky. I am lucky to live in Fort Collins. The city and county governments of the past were very proactive in securing land in and around the city and county when it became available. I don’t think that most citizen’s at the time really thought much about it or how important it would become in making Fort Collins an incredible place to live.

This image was taken on March 9th, 2021 at about 3pm in the afternoon. While it looks cloudy and cold it was still in the 50s and another wonderful day for running. Here I am looking South from an Open Space in Fort Collins called River Bend Ponds. It makes a nice turn around point in an 8 mile loop from my house in Fort Collins and can be accessed by bike path, only having to cross one major street that has a pedestrian stop light. I really cannot complain at all. The one thing the Pandemic has taught me is that all cities need this kind of access with open space. I am wondering how many infections and deaths during this pandemic would have been prevented if city design was more geared to open space instead of the usual profit motivated pursuits??

Of course March would not be complete without one hiccup in the weather. Some people think that Colorado gets it biggest snow storms during the winter months but that is not the case. While there have been some big storms in the fall and winter, the trend over the long term, is that most of our moisture and snow comes during the spring months of March and April. Of course that is changing a bit due to global warming. We will still get most of our “moisture” in March and April but it might not all be in the form of snow due to the increase in temperature.

This year March did not vary from it’s usual path of spring storms. On March the 13th into the 14th we got a huge snow storm that dumped anywhere from 12 inches to over 3 feet of snow in and around Fort Collins. The closer you got to the foothills, the higher the totals were for snow.

This picture was taken March 14th, 2021 at about 8:45 in the morning. It is looking out our front door. The big pile of snow came from the roof.

This picture was also taken March 14th, 2021 at about 8:45 am and it is a view of our backyard. I think it really gives you a good feeling for how much snow fell over night. It was a heavy wet snow that broke a lot of tree limbs in the city. Because the snow storm occurred in the middle of March the trees had not “leafed” out yet otherwise there would have been much more tree damage.

This picture was also taken on March 14th, 2021 about 5:30pm in the afternoon. This was the top of our picnic table in the back yard. The snow depth was about 16 inches. Earlier in the morning the snow depth was closer to 18 inches. By the afternoon there had been a lot of “settling” in the snow pack.

While we needed the moisture, the snow storm put a damper on trail running in the foothills for the rest of the month. That is unless you want to run in snowshoes or posthole quit a bit. It did melt down pretty quickly but it created some very muddy conditions and in order to prevent trail damage a lot of popular routes were closed until they dried out. Luckily the City of Fort Collins has a great bike path system and once the paths had been plowed you could get in a good run or ride without too much difficulty. Again I really cannot complain about living here too much. The access is what makes all the difference.

Post storm weather brought multi days of cooler temperatures and the occasional rain / snow shower but we had some wind and the “high pollution days” of February did not reoccur. The other benefit were some spectacular sunsets.

This picture was taken March 15th, 2021 at about 7pm in the evening. It is looking West from the Poudre River Trail.

This picture was taken March 18th, 2021 at about 7pm in the evening. It is looking West by North West along the Poudre River. In this picture you can actually see more water in the river from the melting snow in the city.

This picture was taken March 27th, 2021 at about 7:30pm in the evening. It is looking North West from the Poudre River Trail. Besides showing a beautiful sunset it gives you a glimpse of a portion of the FOCO White Water Park. There is not much water in it at this point but I am guessing by May or the middle of May, with most of the water storage accomplished, the river will again be allowed to run free and the park will be a playground for lots of kayakers, tubers, etc…

This picture was taken April 4th, 2021 at about 7pm in the evening. Here I am looking across a portion of the Poudre River next to an old irrigation bride. The sunset lighting and the bridge structure made for some interesting effects.

So in summary, the last part of March was a little bitter sweet in that the snow storm made running in the foothills nearly impossible, but it provided a much need shot of moisture and gave us some beautiful sunsets.

This picture was taken March 22nd, 2021 at about 5:30pm in the afternoon. I really liked this shot of Janet and Marvin. Because we are around him all the time you forget how big he is until he is next to one of us. Lol. Here we are on the bank of the Poudre River, looking up toward the bike path.

Training for the up coming “ultra running season” here in Colorado is progressing along nicely. The first race I am attempting is one that I have done before but not the 50 mile version. It is called the Quad Rock and it is right here behind Fort Collins on trails that I have run before. It is an early race for me and I usually end up doing the 25 mile option but this year I would like to see if I can get in the 50. This will be the first race for me since the start of the pandemic. I feel much more comfortable now that I have been fully vaccinated. While there is still a risk of contagion, I feel it has been greatly diminished due to vaccination. The biggest concern I have now is will the trails be clear of significant snow by race day. The race is scheduled May 8th (three weeks out) and as I am writing this it has still been snowing off and on here on the Front Range. Oh well, welcome to spring time in Colorado!! Lol.

The race is put on by GNAR Runners and in the past they have done an excellent job of race management. They host several different events during the season. If you interested check out their website here: https://gnarrunners.com/

A couple of book reviews and some art work before wrapping things up. The first book I would like to talk about is called “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone” by Lori Gottlieb. I have to be truthful in that I would not have picked this book to listen to or read on my own. It was Amazon that suggested it for me and as I read through the reviews and what the book was about I became more intrigued. And I have to say I am really glad that I did. On Amazon this book has almost 12,000 reviews and more than 75% of them are 5 stars or better. Lori is a therapist and a writer in real life. She starts the book at a point when her own life looks like it is going to implode. And finds herself in the predicament of needing her own “therapist”. She invites us into her world as a practitioner and as a patient using humor and real life drama to examine the truths and untruths in her life and the lives of her patients. I have to admit that I have never been to a therapist but there was a time that I probably really needed to do just that thing. My saving grace was journaling and so far that has kept me off of the therapist couch. In listening to Lori’s book I found bits and pieces of the stories she tells resonating with my own life. It has caused me to go back and reexamine some of the issues I have previously written about and to see if there might be deeper meanings. This is an excellent book and a joy to read. I listened to it as an audio book but I believe it would work in any format.

If your interested in who Lori Gottlieb is check out these links on Wikipedia and Lori’s website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lori_Gottlieb and https://lorigottlieb.com/

You can find the book on amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Maybe-You-Should-Talk-Someone/dp

The next book I would like to review is a fictional geopolitical drama that is called 2034 – A Novel of the Next World War, written by Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis. I first heard about the book when the authors were interviewed by Mary Louise from NPR. You can listen yourself at this link: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/18/978832042/years-of-military-service-helped-inform-2034-a-novel-of-the-next-world-war

The authors, who both have military backgrounds, have written an entraining story of speculative fiction of what could happen when those that are in charge make miscalculations–thinking that they know how another country’s government will respond to a threat or a potential act of war.

Years ago, a friend of mine, who’s father worked in developing the first atomic bomb, told me that his dad thought the world was entering another dangerous period of “nuclear armament” in that the people that have actually seen the destruction caused by an atomic blast first hand were all dying off of old age. His fear was that unless you have actually seen the destruction caused by a nuke, in real life, you don’t really “know” the severity of one and therefore you might be more likely to order it’s use. The last above ground nuclear test was about 60 years ago and most of those “old military and science guys” have died off.

Another major part of the book is based on “who” has the best cyber tech and if your not evenly matched, your at a significant disadvantage. To the point that you might as well take you planes and ships and go home so to speak. The authors argue that the next war will be won or lost based on who has the best offensive cyber tech and the best defensive cyber security.

In summary, I liked this book, but if your someone that wants more of the “Tom Clancy” type of ending or a book full of the “techno thriller details”, you are going to be disappointed. In the above interview with NPR, the authors state they want this book to be a cautionary tale, a wake up call to America and anybody else in the world that reads it. And in that regard I believe they have succeeded. This book would work in any format. I listened to it as an audio book. As a bonus, at the end of the audio book, there is a question and answer section with Admiral Stavridis and his reasons for cowriting the book.

You can find the book at Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/2034-Novel-Next-World-War/dp

The last one I would like to give a recommendation to is called Exercised and is written by Daniel E. Lieberman. Like the above book I first learned about this one from an NPR interview with the author and Terry Gross. You can find the link here: Scientist Author Busts Myths About Exercise, Sitting And Sleep : Shots – Health News : NPR

I found this book thoroughly entertaining, especially since I am an ultra runner. I probably fall into the category of being addicted to exercise. Lol. All kidding aside this is a great book to help you ponder the questions of our “current culture” of exercise and physical fitness. Some of the questions Daniel looks at are as follows:

  • If we are born to walk and run, why do most of us take it easy whenever possible?
  • Does running ruin your knees?
  • Should we do weights, cardio, or high-intensity training?
  • Is sitting really the new smoking?
  • Can you lose weight by walking?
  • And how do we make sense of the conflicting, anxiety-inducing information about rest, physical activity, and exercise with which we are bombarded?

Note: the above questions are right out of the Amazon description, but there are many more he takes a look at that are not listed.

Daniel Lieberman is a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and is well qualified to answer these questions and to give more food for thought on the subject matter. I listened to the book as an audio book but it would work well in any format.

You can find the book at Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Exercised-Something-Evolved-Healthy-Rewarding/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 two are 9 1/4 inches by 12 1/4 inches. When hanging they are about 16 1/2 inches tall.

I have always liked the Simpsons and when I saw the episode called Goo Gai Pan, where Homer poses as a Buddha to gain entry into an orphanage in China, I knew that I had to incorporate it into art. Lol. I am an atheist but if I had to pick a religion it would be Buddhism. I do practice meditation everyday because I have found it helps me to deal with the conflicts of everyday life and work.

Meditating Homer with Skittles

I would like to believe that if “Homer” was doing any kind of meditation he would not be concentrating on his breath but on candy like Skittles. Lol

In my practice with meditation, I have found that I can create a space that allows me some breathing room before facing the stresses in the world and work. I started this piece not really knowing how it was going to turn out. I just started drawing after a stressful shift at the day job. Initially I was not even going to include “Meditating Homer” since I just finished the above one but as the drawing evolved I knew I had too. Lol. The yellow jackets if you have not guessed represent all the craziness out in the world. Here Homer has created a bubble before he has to deal with it. I used the same colors both inside and outside the bubble to show that all of life, all of its issues, all the troubles, all the conflicts and all the joys are connected.

Homer’s Meditation Bubble

If you interested in the clip where Homer plays the part of the Buddha then check out his link on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S03IteC82Vo The episode in question is from Season 16 and is episode 12.

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

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. It is something that we can all do on an individual level, based on our own comfort zones, to help make this world a better place to live. Our consumeristic culture is unsustainable at it’s current level. You could even say that the death and destruction caused by the current pandemic is just a foreshadow of things to come because of our rampant “consumerism” in the world view of things. What is the old saying “Growth for growth’s sake is the definition of Cancer.” If your not happy with the current social and economic order then this is a way to protest.

Becoming minimalist is just a change in mindset. Nothing to buy, nothing to purchase, just a change in how you look at your life and the world. If this appeals to you and even if it doesn’t at the moment but you are curious, a good place to start is here: 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 becomes available, please consider getting it. Adios!!

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

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

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 29th, JANUARY 2021

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“Most people don’t care if you’re telling them the truth or if you’re telling them a lie, as long as they’re entertained by it.” Tom Waits

This is a composite image of the Orion Nebula. It was made using data from both the Hubble and Spitzer Space telescopes. It is showing swirls of hydrogen and sulfur gases around a collection of infant stars. The Nebula is located in our Milky Way Galaxy. Just south of Orion’s Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and can be visible to the naked eye in the night sky. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech STScI. To learn more about this image please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/chaos-at-the-heart-of-the-orion-nebula

“I used to look at my dog and think “If you were a little smarter you could tell me what you were thinking,” and he’d look at me like he was saying “If you were a little smarter, I wouldn’t have to.” Fred Jungelaus

This is an image of the nebula NGC 3603. It is a massive young star cluster located in the Milky Way Galaxy. The distance from our solar system is about 20,000 light years. What you are seeing are thousands and thousands of young stars with different masses but similar ages in the cluster. This image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The Nebula was discovered by Sir John Herschel in 1834. Image Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration. To learn more about this image please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_929.html and https://esahubble.org/news/heic0715/

“There’s never been a true war that wasn’t fought between two sets of people who were certain they were in the right. The really dangerous people believe they are doing whatever they are doing solely and only because it is without question the right thing to do. And that is what makes them dangerous.” Neil Gaiman

This is an image of a globular star cluster called Messier 107. These points of light are ancient stars that have radiated light for billions of years. Messier is one of more than 150 globular star clusters found around the disc of the Milky Way galaxy. They are some of the oldest objects in the our galaxy. The cluster can be found in the constellation of Ophiuchus (The Serpent Bearer) and is located about 20,000 light years from our solar system. French astronomer Pierre Mechain first noted the object in 1782, and British astronomer Willian Herschel independently confirmed it a year later. The above image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Image Credit: ESA/NASA. To learn more about Messier 107 please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/starry-starry-night

“The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.” Neil deGrasse Tyson

This is the famous image taken by the astronaut Bill Anders, on the Apollo 8 mission. The Apollo 8 was the fist crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first to orbit the moon. The other two astronauts were James Lovell and Frank Borman. The picture shows the Earth peeking out from beyond the lunar surface. The crew on this mission were the first in human history to witness and photograph an Earthrise. The mission lasted 6 days from December 21st to December 27th, 1968. Image credit: NASA. To learn more about this image and Apollo 8 please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/apollo-8-earthrise and https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo8.html

“The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And lessen the suffering of others. You’d be surprised how far that gets you.” Neil deGrasse Tyson

This is the galaxy know as NGC 1792 and is called a Stellar Forge. It is 36.4 million light-years away from us. The image was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. It is located in the constellation of Columba (The Dove) and is considered both a spiral galaxy and a starburst galaxy. Spiral galaxies are named by their spiral structures that extend from the center into the galactic disc. Starburst galaxies are galaxies that are undergoing an exceptionally high rate of star formation. NGC 1792 exhibits both of these properties. Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Lee. To learn more about his image and about the NGC galaxy please visit: http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/hubble-star-forming-spiral-galaxy-ngc-1792-09123.html#:~:text=NGC%201792%20is%20located%2036.4%20million%20light-years%20away,Scottish%20astronomer%20James%20Dunlop%20on%20October%204%2C%201826.

“Recognize that the very molecules that make up your body, the atoms that construct the molecules, are traceable to the crucibles that were once the centers of high mass stars that exploded their chemically rich guts into the galaxy, enriching pristine gas clouds with the chemistry of life. So that we are all connected to each other biologically, to the earth chemically and to the rest of the universe atomically. That’s kinda cool! That makes me smile and I actually feel quite large at the end of that. It’s not that we are better than the universe, we are part of the universe. We are in the universe and the universe is in us.” Neil deGrasse Tyson

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 January 4th, the death count was approximately 362,000 for the good old USA. Of course New York with its “head start” from back in March and April was still leading at 38,500 deaths, followed by Texas (28,750 deaths), then California (26,990 deaths) and Florida at 22,090 deaths. By the end of the month, California and Texas were making inroads on the spot held by New York and unless something changes I am sure they will take the lead sometime in February.

The single day death counts hit a new record high for the United States on January 7th, 8th, 13th,14th, and 26th with over 4000 people each day?! Think about that for a moment, over 4000 extra deaths each of those days. Unreal.

Just before publication on Thursday, January 28th, the number of deaths were getting close to that 450,000 mark. I had to stop and think about that number. In less than a month (24 days) we had lost around 88,000 individuals. And the experts are telling us this might not be the worst yet. If you compare it to baseball, the thought is we are still in the third inning of a 9-inning game. Not a pleasant thought. I believe this is due to new strains that are popping up that are much more infective than the current one.

If your interested in looking at the numbers yourself, check out these links: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/ and https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

The vaccines continues to roll out and not a moment too soon. We are now a full year into the Pandemic. And I believe the longer it drags on people are going to become even more reckless than what they have been. This is part of what is known as Pandemic Fatigue and it can effect anybody and everybody. My fear is that individuals will get tired of the continued lock downs and take unnecessary risks with the virus by not wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing. Not only will this put said individual at risk but it also risks the lives of others. Now that the vaccines are here it becomes even more important to maintain vigilance. Especially with the different strains of Covid that have surfaced. There is even talk of a strain in the U.K. that may have a higher fatality rate besides being more infective.

The vaccines are the light at the end of the tunnel and in order to create a “herd immunity” we need 60% of the population to have immunity either by vaccines or by actually having the disease (not a recommended choice). The estimates right now put the US population at 20% having immunity, but that leaves about 250 million without protection. So it would be premature to let our guard down now.

I got the “second shot” of the Pfizer vaccine on Thursday, January 7th and let me tell you they were not kidding about the “side effects.” Arm soreness – check, body fatigue – check, muscle aches and bone pain – check, headache and fever – check. The symptoms did not show up for 12 hours but they did show up. Lol. And the stronger side effects stayed around for another 12 hours. After that, it was mainly occasional bouts of fatigue through out the next couple of days. I really did not start to feel back to normal so to speak until Sunday afternoon. About three days later. So, when you are schedule to get the second shot, make sure you have at least one to two full days off.

I was complaining about the above “immunization side effects” to a nonmedical friend and they asked if I would get the vaccine again. My response was “In a heart beat.” One of the interesting things, from a medical standpoint, is that if you get Covid, survive and then recover, you may not be done with it. You may become what is known as a “Covid Long-hauler.” (estimated 2 million individuals at last count) More and more physician offices, clinics, Urgent cares, and ERs, are starting to see these people with lingering side effects from the virus they had months and months ago. And there is some thought that it may take more than a year to fully recover. I have had Covid patients that thought things were good after the initial infection, but then complained of “side effects” that continued to show up months later. Things like coughing, debilitating fatigue, body aches, joint pain, shortness of breath, difficulty sleeping, headaches, brain fog, etc… Take it from me, you don’t want this virus.

A couple of good articles to read up on this are from the Mayo Clinic and an interview with Dr. Aluko Hope, co-director of the Covid-19 Recover Clinic at Montefiore health Systems in new York. You can check them out at these links: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-long-term-effects/art-20490351 and https://www.npr.org/2020/10/18/922756239/what-we-know-about-covid-19-long-haulers

Well, enough about Covid. I will try to not bring it up again. On a different note, the month of December was again like November, much better for exercising outdoors. While the temperatures did drop as they usually do this time of year, the air quality remained much better than what it was in late August, September and most of October. This was mainly due to the fact that the fires for 2020 were out in Colorado and we had favorable Front Range winds that kept most of the “brown cloud” out east.

This picture of Marvin was taken December 1st, 2020 at about 3:45pm in one of my favorite “close to home” open spaces in Fort Collins called Riverbend Ponds. This is a great area for running and walking, or just watching wildlife. When the “ponds” are not frozen over there is fishing too.

It was a good month for walking and running. While we did get a little bit of snow, there were no major storms. This fact, and the tireless efforts by the City of Fort Collins, the paved bike trails dried out quickly. My biggest fear running at night is finding that hidden patch of black ice and doing damage to the lower body. While I do prefer to run on dirt trails, I stuck close to home for December. Especially after seeing the volume of Covid patients increase after the Thanksgiving break. We have gotten to the point here in Colorado that everyone you meet has to be assumed to have Covid until proven otherwise. Dang did I just mention Covid again, sorry about that.

Both of the above images were taken on December 11th, 2020 at about 6pm. It was at night and the low hanging clouds created a very “eerie” lighting quality. Several people have committed that they loved the black and white photos. But the crazy thing is, these are color with very minimal processing. Pretty amazing lighting.

I am planning to get back on the “dirt paths” aka mountain trails, by the third week of January. By this time it will be 5 weeks since I got the first vaccine and my risk of getting C#####d will be greatly reduced. I am also looking forward to a little cross country skiing with Marvin. See I did not say it, I just put in the C and d. Lol

This picture was taken on December 15th, 2020 at about 5:30pm in the afternoon. This is of course, a picture of Saturn and Jupiter as they get closer together for the “great conjunction” that occurred on December 21st, 2020. What made this pretty cool was that the last time this occurred (at night) was about 800 years ago. Pretty cool indeed. If you are interested in more information on this, check out this link from NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/the-great-conjunction-of-jupiter-and-saturn

Besides having some unique lighting at night, the month of December also had many days with excellent lighting for “sunrise and sunset” photography. There were multiple mornings and evenings with beautiful colors. Since I am more of a night person, I tend to capture more of the sunsets than sunrises.

This picture was taken on December 20th, 2020 at about 4:50pm. This was looking West to Southwest from the Poudre River Trail in Fort Collins.

This image was taken on December 26th, 2020 at about 6:50 in the Morning. It is one of my favorite sunrise pictures for the month of December. It is taken looking east across Windsor Lake in Windsor, Colorado. I was driving home from working a night shift and just happened to catch it at the right time. The lighting effect with all the reds only lasted for a few moments and then was gone.

This picture was taken December 31st, 2020 at about 4:43pm in the afternoon. It was the last sunset for 2020 and it did not disappoint.

This image was taken January 2nd, 2021 at about 4pm in the afternoon. Another beautiful cold afternoon for a walk with Janet and Marvin.

For the month I got in about 220 plus miles of walking and running. Or about 50 miles per week. This is much more than I usually do at this time of year. I am hoping it is building a base for the coming season. I am looking forward to doing a few Ultras in 2021. (pandemic permitting) Right now I have my eyes set on the Quad Rock 50 in May, the Silver Rush 50 in July and then (if I get off the waiting list) the Run Rabbit Run 100 in September. The only one, of the above three that I have completed in its entirety is the Silver Rush 50. I have done the Quad Rock 25 multiple times but never the 50. I attempted the RRR 100 a few years ago but DNF at the 50 mile mark and I attempted the Leadville 100 but again DNF at the 50 mile mark. I have completed the RRR 50, three times now. When I think about it, I have hit the 50 mile mark over 6 or 7 times. Either as a planned run or a DNF. Oh well, I sometimes wonder if I should just focus on the 50 milers? Maybe I could eventually become the really “old guy” that does nothing but 50s?! Hmmm maybe. But I would like to do a 100 miler at least once and then settle for the 50s. Lol.

A couple book reviews and a few pieces of artwork before wrapping things up. Four books that I finished in the last month I would like to give recommendations on.

The first one I would like to talk about is called Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live written by Nicholas A. Christakis MD PhD. If you want to learn the history of the coronavirus pandemic and how it started in China, swept the world, especially the United States, to the present, this is a good book to start with. Dr. Christakis not only gives you the history of the current pandemic but he covers a few of the pandemics of the past and how they have affected society. Let me just say, even though we think of ourselves as very modern, some of us have behaved very similar to the people of the past who faced their own pandemics. As much as things change, human nature stays the same? Lol. Oh well, another good reason for reading the book is for the factual material that is presented in it. All the disinformation and misinformation circulating out on the web does not help the “average joe or joey” understand what is real and just made up. The book gives a full picture of the pandemic and what it means from a source that is qualified to talk about it. Now be warned there is a little bit of politics in the book, but only a little. And in my opinion Dr. Christakis puts the blame right where it needs to be.

The book was published just before the two current vaccines were released on EUAs (Emergency Use Authorizations). So he does talk a little bit about vaccines but not as much because they had not been released yet. Also if you were expecting a book to give you a “crystal ball” look at the future then you will be disappointed. He says as much in so many words though out the book. This virus has already “changed” the world. HOW we deal with that change will dictate our future. I listened to the book as an audio book but in hind sight it might have worked better in traditional format. There are parts that I would have liked to reread a few times and referenced but an audio book does not allow this easily. Either way this is a great book.

Nicholas A. Christakis directs the Human Nature Lab at Yale University, where he is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science, in the Departments of Sociology, Medicine, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Statistics and Data Science, and Biomedical Engineering.

This book can be found at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Apollos-Arrow-Profound-Enduring-Coronavirus/dp

The next book I would like to talk about is called Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, written by James Clear. At first I was a little hesitant to get this book. I have read several books on how to create good habits and break bad ones, so I was thinking that this would be more of the same. Well let me tell you I was wrong and this is a book that is well worth reading. Probably several times. Before you object like I did initially, let me say there is some of the same material that authors time immortal have written about, but the difference is how it is presented. If I had to boil this down, he presents a frame work that incorporate the Japanese idea of “Kaizen” in a very readable and personnel way. Small tiny steps over time that eventually lead to success. I don’t think that he ever uses the work “Kaizen” but this is what the book so beautifully reminds me of. On a personally note I had already incorporated some of these ideas in my life. The book gave me affirmation and encouragement in my own path. I listened to the book as an audio book but I think again this would work much better in traditional format. It is one of those that I will probably listen to again, and or buy the print version so I can listen and read at the same time. It’s that good.

James Clear is an author and speaker focused on habits, decision-making, and continuous improvement. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Entrepreneur, Time, and on CBS This Morning. His website can be checked out at this link: https://jamesclear.com/

The book can be found on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-James-Clear-audiobook/dp

The next book I would like to talk about is one for the Science Fiction fans. It is the first book in what I did not realize was a 16 book series?! Wow!! The book is called Starshine: Aurora Rising and is written by G.S. Jennsen. I downloaded the book as a, you guessed it, as an audio book when I was between series. I have read so many authors of SiFi who are male, that it is always a little refreshing to read something by a female author. There is all the usual Space Science Fiction stuff like aliens, sentient AI’s, the military, space battles, etc… but there is a lot more to it than that. Without giving it away, let me say the author does a great job of weaving it altogether with a little romance thrown in at the same time. Some hard core SiFi fans might be thrown off by this but when you come right down to it. What is life about?? It is a question we should remind ourselves of frequently.

The timeline for the book takes place in 2322 or about 300 years from now. So you have to take that into account. Will women hold a much larger role in society, will they take the rolls that have traditionally been held by men, in technology, in the military, in politics, even as a crime boss? In my opinion, of course they will. The book worked well for me as an audio book but I think it would work in traditional format too. Especially (I am guessing) as more characters are added in future books. Might be a little easier to keep track of who is who and what they are important for.

G. S. Jennsen lives in Colorado with her husband and two dogs. She has become an internationally bestselling author since her first novel, Starshine, was published in 2014.

You can find the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Starshine-G-S-Jennsen-audiobook/dp

The next book I would like to talk about is an old one written by the late great Robert A. Heinlein called REVOLT IN 2100. This is an old SiFi book that I read in tradition format. The first copyright in the front cover is posted as 1939 by Street & Smith Publications. You need to keep that date in mind when you read the book. After seeing what has happen to the good old USA in the last four years politically with the rise of Evangelicals in government you quickly realize Heinlein was a true visionary. I got lucky to find the book in a small “outdoor mini library” in a neighborhood close to me. I had read some of Heinlein books in the past, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”, “Stranger in a Strange Land,” “Starship Troopers”, etc… So when I saw this one, I thought it might be an interesting read. Grabbed it. And Wow! Who would have thought that religious zealots could take over our country. And if you had read this book five years ago you would think, surely this would never happen in America… Now fast forward to 2020… I won’t give anymore of it away. Great read with a cautionary tale. I am also going to try it as an audio book. I have looked at some of the reviews on Amazon and several reviewers really liked the audio version. You can find all versions on Amazon but be warned some are very expensive due to Heinlein’s fame and how old the book is. Next time you see a Mini Library, check it out or a local used book store might have a copy.

Robert A. Heinlein was an American SiFi author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the “dean of science fiction writers”, he was among the first to emphasize scientific accuracy in his fiction. Want to know more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein

You can find the book at Amazon: Amazon.com: Revolt in 2100 (Audible Audio Edition): Robert A. Heinlein, Eric Michael Summerer, Audible Studios: Audible Audiobooks

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 1/4 inches by 10 1/4 inches. When hanging they are about 15 inches tall.

A STUDY IN THE SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM

I call this one a study in the “Space – Time Continuum.” Do we, by our moment to moment actions, create ripples in space-time that alter current and future realities in the 3rd dimension? Or, are all things predetermined? What do you believe? This one is 7 and 1/4 inches by 10 and 1/4 inches. When hanging it is about 15 inches tall.

A STUDY IN THE SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM 2

I call this one a study in the “Space – Time Continuum 2.” Do we, by our moment to moment actions, create ripples in space-time that alter current and future realities in the 3rd dimension. Or, are all things predetermined? What do you believe? This one is 7 and 1/4 inches by 10 and 1/4 inches. When hanging it is about 15 inches tall.

YELLOW JACKETS ON MY MIND!

I call this one “Yellow Jackets on My Mind!” This past summer (unbeknown to us) we had a Yellow Jacket Queen decide to build an underground nest right next to our front porch and front door. Unfortunately she kept it a secret for about a month into the season. So by the time we discovered it there were thousand of workers or what seemed like thousands of workers all ready to defend any and all threats. Lol. It took all summer and a lot of trial and error to get rid of them without resorting to harsh chemicals. This one is 7 and 1/4 inches by 10 and 1/4 inches. When hanging it is about 15 inches tall.

CANIS LUPUS ICTUS CORDIS 2

This one I call “Canis Lupus Ictus Cordis 2.” Or Heartbeat of the Wolf 2. This one is 7 and 1/4 inches by 10 and 1/4 inches. When hanging it is about 15 inches tall.

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

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

Air Quality, Art, Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Minimalism, Pandemics, Space, Wildfire

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! MUSINGS FOR SATURDAY 26th, DECEMBER 2020

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“We hunger to understand, so we invent myths about how we imagine the world is constructed – and they’re, of course, based upon what we know, which is ourselves and other animals. So we make up stories about how the world was hatched from a cosmic egg or created after the mating of cosmic deities or by some fiat of a powerful being.” Carl Sagan

This image was done by the Hubble Space Telescope and it is of the galaxy UGC 12588. Some call it the Cosmic Cinnamon Bun. It does not feature a bar of stars across it center and no prominent classic spiral arm pattern (it does have a very faint one though). It is in the constellation of Andromeda in the Northern hemisphere. Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Tully; Acknowledgment: Gagandeep Anand. If you would like learn more about this image please visit: Hubble Captures Cosmic Cinnamon Bun | NASA and Cosmic Cinnamon Bun | ESA/Hubble (spacetelescope.org)

“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 image is known as a Herbig-Haro 24 object. It is located in the Orion B molecular cloud complex. A stellar nursery. HH objects are bright patches of “haze” or nebulosity associated with newborn stars. The double light saber look is created when narrow jets of partially ionized gas, created by a star, is ejected and collides with nearby clouds of gas and dust. Or another way to say it, as the star forms in the gas cloud some of the surrounding material collapses under gravity to form a rotating, flattened disk around the star. Superheated material spills away from the star and is shot outward in opposite directions along the star’s rotational axis. This image was constructed using data from the Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)/Hubble-Europe (ESA) Collaboration, D. Padgett (GSFC), T. Megeath (University of Toledo), and B. Reipurth (University of Hawaii). To learn more about his picture please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/awakening-newborn-stars and https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap151218.html

“The dangers of not thinking clearly are much greater now than ever before. It’s not that there’s something new in our way of thinking – it’s that credulous and confused thinking can be much more lethal in ways it was never before.” Carl Sagan

This image is an artist’s concept of a tidal disruption event that happens when a star passes way to close to a supermassive black hole. Attracted by strong gravity, matter from the star falls towards the central black hole and a small fraction of it gets accelerated close to the speed of light. These jets are believed to be the sources of the fastest traveling particles in the Universe or better known as cosmic rays. Image credit: Sophia Dagnello, NRAO/AUI/NSF. If you want to learn more about this image and relativistic jets please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/its-black-hole-friday and https://www.nustar.caltech.edu/page/relativistic_jets

“We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good.” Carl Sagan

In this image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, you see an example of gravitational lensing. The image is distorted by the effect. When space is warped by massive objects, the light is bent as it travels. This effect was first predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity. One of the cool things about the effect of lensing distortion is magnification. It allow us to see objects that are too far away to be seen even with the best current day telescopes. The above galaxy is LRG-3-817, also known as SDSS J090122.37+181432.3. It is located 10.8 billion light-years away from earth. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, S. Allam et al. If you would like to learn more about this image please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2020/hubble-spies-galaxy-through-cosmic-lens and http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/extremely-distant-star-forming-galaxy-09028.html

“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.” Carl Sagan

This is a remastered version of the famous “Pale Blue Dot” image of earth taken from 4 billion miles away. Over thirty years ago this image was take by the Voyager space craft. “Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us.” Carl Sagan’s words are as relevant now as there were 30 years ago. Image credit: Nasa/JPL-Caltech. If you want to learn more about this image please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/pale-blue-dot-revisited

“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. 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, 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.

All I can say about the Covid numbers is WOW… And in a very bad way. The numbers have really gone up in the last 30 days since Thanksgiving. Of course this was expected and predicted. By the end of the fist week of December we were over 280,000 deaths already. On December 23rd we set a record for the most number of deaths in a single day since the pandemic began – 3400. As I am writing this I am wondering where we will be by the end of the month?! If you want to check the numbers yourself click on this link: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

Of course California, Texas and Florida were leading the way with the most cases and the most deaths. The only exception is New York. Their death count is now at 36,000. Most of their deaths came in the first six months of the pandemic. Unreal.

By the 24th of December, the number of deaths nationwide was over 338,000. That my friends is over 60,000 new deaths in less than 30 days?! Again, WOW and not in a good way. And this is not even the end of the month?! Oh well – we are all in the “churn” now.

On a much better note – a few of the vaccines that are in clinical trials are getting or have gotten Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). Some may be asking what is an EUA and what does that mean? In an emergency, like a pandemic, the FDA can make a judgement that a drug is worth releasing without all the usual data that establishes it’s effectiveness and safety. Especially if there is evidence that strongly suggest that patients have significantly benefited in early trials. Also they take into account the risk vs payoff. The first time the FDA issued one was in 2005 for an Anthrax vaccine, but only for military personnel. The first one for civilian personnel was in 2009 during the H1N1 flu outbreak. I believe it was for the use of Tamiflu with infants. The FDA has also issued EUAs for Ebola, enterovirus, H7N9 influenza and MERS (Middle east respiratory syndrome). Of course EUAs do come with risk or unwanted side effects. And that is why most vaccines are studied long term because some of these issues are not seen until a year(s) down the road. As an example, Pandemrix which was given an EUA for the H1N1 flu was eventually linked to an increase in the incidence of narcolepsy – a disorder characterized by sudden uncontrollable sleep spells. It was eventually found that there was an increase risk to persons who carried a genetic variation predisposing them to the disorder. Despite the link, public health officials maintained that the benefits of H1N1 vaccination outweighed the risks of possible side effects. And based on the death and economic toil that Covid has already taken on the world, I have no doubt that an EUA will be issued for a number of vaccines designed to prevent or at least moderate infections. The question becomes what unforeseen side effects will we find? Unfortunately only time will tell.

Did I get it? Yes I did. First dose done of the Pfizer vaccine for Covid!

Because of where I work (my day job) and the fact that I am going to be 59 next year. I did get the vaccine for Covid. I got the one that is made by Pfizer. The fist shot was not too bad, just a little arm soreness and mild malaise. I will let you know how the next dose goes in January’s Blog post.

If you want to learn more about EUAs please visit the John Hopkins website at: https://www.jhsph.edu/covid-19/articles/what-is-emergency-use-authorization.html and https://theconversation.com/what-are-emergency-use-authorizations-and-do-they-guarantee-that-a-vaccine-or-drug-is-safe-151178

The month of November was much better for exercising in the outdoors. And the main reason for this was “air quality.” For the month, the weather pattern changed just enough to bring snow and cold to the state which really put a damper on the wildfires here in Colorado. This was a fantastic shift from what we experienced back in September and the first part of October. ( High winds and very warm temperatures) The other thing that occurred was a switch in wind patters. In Colorado as the air cools and the wind speed drops, there can be a significant build up of “brown cloud” due to temperature inversions on the Front Range. These inversions trap all the dirty air close to the ground and you can get significant levels of pollution. The name “brown cloud” comes from the color of the air when seen from a distance. If you have ever driven down from the mountains on I70 in the winter you will have seen the “brown cloud” hanging above Denver and most of the Front Range. Since the end of October, we have had enough wind to mix up the air in the lower atmosphere and push most of the smog out east. This has made for some very clean air days.

This picture was taken November 9th, 2020 at about 4pm. Nice to see the snow and cold. Here Marvin is watching a large group of geese out on the water.

The other thing that made the month special was the number of beautiful sunrises and sunsets. The week of November 15th through the 21st had some really fantastic ones. Take a look at the pictures below.

This picture was taken November 17th, 2020 at about 6:30am. I believe this is looking East across Windsor Lake. I was on my way home from work in the early AM and was lucky enough to catch the sun’s first morning light. This effect only lasted about 5 minutes and then it was gone.

This picture was taken November 19th, 2020 at about 5pm. The picture was taken from the lake in our neighborhood. It is looking West. There were several days in which this same lighting effect took place every late afternoon. Pretty amazing.

This picture was taken November 20st, 2020 at about 5pm. The light from the sunset and the back drop of the dark spruce trees made for a dramatic lighting scene. Again it only lasted for a few minutes and then was gone. I have found that the best camera to use is the one that you always have with you. (My iPhone) I think that is actually a quote somewhere but I am not sure who said it first. Lol.

I did a lot of walking and running for the month but stayed close to home. This was mainly due to issues with the pandemic. The foothills behind Fort Collins were fairly crowded. Especially on the weekends. Luckily I live close to bike trails that allow access to some of the intown city open spaces. This has really made things a lot easier to get out and get exercise. I am still hoping to get back up in the mountains but this may not occur until next year due to continuing pandemic concerns and ongoing forest fire mitigation issues. Even though the fires are out, lots of trails will have to be inspected and rebuilt before they can be reopened. And this will take time.

This picture was taken November 21st, 2020 at about 3pm. What a difference a month makes. No mask needed on this day. Beautiful blue sky and great air quality.

A couple of book reviews and a few pieces of artwork before wrapping things up. There are several books I have finished in the last couple of months and I would like to give a few recommendations on them.

The first one I want to talk about is called “Lifespan” and is written by David A. Sinclair, PhD. I first reviewed the book back in April of this year. But I want to put it out there again as I think it is a really good read. The book was enjoyable enough that this was my second read and in traditional format while listening to the audio book. Or to put it another way, I listened and read at the same time.

I have worked in health care for almost 40 years now and have seen all the usual diseases associated with getting old e.g.: heart disease, cancer, dementia, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, arthritis, neuro-degenerative, glaucoma, etc.… and how we approach each disease in a singular fashion. With each disease having it own specialist. David puts forth that all of these diseases with some exceptions can be linked to aging. And if we treat the cause of aging, then we also will be treating the diseases that are related to getting old at the same time. This would be a fantastic way to improve people’s lives and significantly decrease health care cost. For that reason alone, in my opinion, we need to be pouring money into reversing or at least slowing down the aging process.

His theory on why we age is also something that was a surprise to me. But once it was explained, made perfect sense. Like an Ah Ha moment. The book does require a small amount of prior knowledge of cell biology, genetics and physics to truly be appreciated. But it is really just a small amount and no math! Lol. If your willing to look up a unfamiliar term or concept, the book is well worth the read. It is not just about living longer but also about living healthier. The book is better if you read it in traditional format. Well worth the time spent in my opinion.

You can find the book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lifespan-audiobook/dp

The next one I want to talk about is “Light Of The Stars” by Adam Frank. Frank is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester. Let me start off by saying this is a great book. And if you were going to read only five or fewer books this year or the next, this would be one to put in the “must have” list. It is that good. I had never heard of Mr. Frank or that is what I thought, until I realized he is the co-founder of the 13.7 blog on NPR. Oh well, I just did not put it together. Lol. What caught my eye about him and led me to the book was a quote of his:

“In other words, pretty much every star you see in the night sky hosts at least one planet. The next time you find yourself outside at night, take a moment to stop and consider the implications of this result as you gaze at all those pinpricks of light. Everyone of them hosts at least one world, and most stars will have more than one planet. Solar systems are the rule and not the exception. They’re everywhere.” Adam Frank

If you have followed the discover of exoplanets over the last ten years then you will understand how humbling and wonderous this quote actually is. Take a minute and read it again. Better yet, read it and then go outside and look at the stars. Humbling to say the least.

The book is based on one fact. That we are one of ten billion trillion planets in the Universe and what that means for us as a species and the earth. He tells a very thought provoking story of how the science of discovering exoplanets has changed how humanity should look at itself now and in the future.

You can find the book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Light-Stars-Alien-Worlds-Earth/dp

The next book I want to talk about is “Girl Decoded” by Rana el Kaliouby and Carol Colman. Rana is an Egyptian-American computer scientist and entrepreneur in the field of expression recognition research and technology development. Or another way to put it, getting computers to understand human emotions by facial recognition. The book was not what I expected at first. It is about her research (the reason I bought it) but it is so much more than that. It is a memoir about her life growing up in the Middle East as a Muslim woman. She writes about the difficult balancing act of trying to create emotional intelligence for technology while also dealing with issues she faced in her personal life and the strict Muslim culture. Especially in a field that is still dominated by men. It was an interesting look into what it means to be female and be Muslim and live in the Middle East. Both the good and the bad. This book is good in either format of audio or traditional. If you are just getting the book for information on AI and emotional intelligence then you may be disappointed, but if you want a fuller picture by having the life story of one of the top scientist in the world, that is doing this research, then this is the book. In ln my opinion it is well worth the read.

You can find the book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Decoded-Scientists-Intelligence-Technology/dp

The next book I would like to talk about is called The Atheist’s Guide to Reality by Alex Rosenberg. Some may find this book a little difficult to read and accept if you are a firm believer in god. The ironic part is the book is really not about atheism. Mr. Rosenberg is the R. Taylor Cole Professor of Philosophy at Duke University. I first came across him in a documentary on Curiosity Stream called “Why Are We Here.” And this led me to his book. Let me say that I did not find the book difficult to read or in my case listen to. I actually listened to it twice. Lol. Again, it is not really about atheism per se. It is more of a look at the nature of reality and how science is the only means of answering the big questions. A way of looking at the world in a rational way without the influence of god. It is the cold, hard truth based on science and objective philosophy. Some of the book could have gone a little deeper in topics but over all it covered most of the concepts that center around “what is reality.” It is a refreshing look at the nature of reality without all the sentimentally of religious dogma. This book would work well in either format of audio or traditional.

You can find the book on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Atheists-Guide-Reality-Enjoying-Illusions/dp

The next book I would like to talk about is called Axiom’s End written by Lindsay Ellis. Most people might know her as an American Film critic and You Tuber. The book she wrote is a Science Fiction book (my favorite genre) and this one does not disappoint. It is set in the early to mid 2000s when George W. was president. It is an alternative history type book and is thoroughly enjoyable to read. I actually listened to it as an audio book. The main protagonist is female and has an interesting perspective and reaction to alien contact. One of my favorite parts of the book is the idea that “beings” from another world might not really care too much about what happens to humanity. We are a very egocentric species and the notion that aliens from another planet might actually exist would not be in most people’s lexicon if it were not for film and books. Not to mention if we did encounter an alien race, they might be so different that we would have trouble communicating with them even after years of trying. The genre might be narrow in focus but the book is broad in scope due to the themes it explores about our potential place in the Universe. I will not go into much more detail about the book other than to say it is a great read and if you have never read SiFi this is a great one to start with.

You can find the book on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Axioms-End-A-Novel/dp

The last book I would like to talk about is called “Still Running: The Art of Meditation in Motion” by Vanessa Zuisei Goddard. It is a look at running being more than just exercise. The idea that running can become a form of meditation. I found it an interesting look at how to become a little more mindful in our daily lives by using running as a Zen exercise. Being an Ultra runner in the 50 mile distance range I can tell you there were times after running past mile 35, I really had to be in the moment to finish the race. Vanessa does a good job of pointing out how to connect a “body practice” with a “mindfulness practice.” The interesting part is that you can apply this to any exercise. It does not have to be running because I know that all of you just “love” to run. Lol. I read this book in traditional format. I do not believe it is offered as an audio book. This is a book that needs to be read and reread over time. A good book for the runner’s library. You can find this book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Still-Running-Art-Meditation-Motion/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. Sizes vary. The wood is from an old deck project, the cut off ends of the deck joist.

ALEX THE FEARFUL A.I.

This one I call “Alex the Fearful A.I.” Alex became a little worried after he reviewed data predictions on humanity’s future. This one measures 7 inches by 11 inches. When hanging it is 7 inches by 21 inches.

QUANTUM WORLD

This one I call studies in the “Quantum World.” It reminds me of what could be possible if we could see things with our own eyes at the smallest of scale. Who knows for sure what this world would look like?! This one measures 7.25 inches by 11.25 inches. When hanging it is 7.25 inches by 21 inches.

CANIS LUPUS ICTUS CORDIS

This one I call “Canis Lupus Ictus Cordis.” Or Heartbeat of the Wolf. This one measures 9.25 inches by 11 inches. When hanging it is 9.25 inches by approximately 21 inches.

OH MELANIA YOU MUST BE AN A.I.

This one I call “Oh Melania You Must be an A.I.” or how do you put up with it all… Lol. This one measures 9 inches by 12.5 inches. When hanging it is 9 inches by approximately 20 inches.

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

Finally! Lol, 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. Adios!!

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

Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Minimalism, Pandemics, Science, Space, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 26TH, JUNE 2020

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“This is very important – to take leisure time. Pace is the essence. Without stopping entirely and doing nothing at all for great periods, you’re gonna lose everything…. just to do nothing at all, very, very, important. And how many do this in modern society? Very few. That’s why they’re all totally mad, frustrated, angry and hateful.” -Charles Bukowski

This is a picture of the globular cluster NGC 6441. A globular cluster is spherical collection of stars. It is about 13,000 light-years from the Milky Way’s galactic center. There are so many stars in this image, the ESA or European Space Agency has likened it to snowflakes. There are 150 known globular clusters just in the Milky Way. And to think that each of these stars may have planets, some like earth in what humans call the habitual zone. Mind boggling when you think about it. To learn more about this image go to: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2020/hubble-catches-cosmic-snowflakes Image credit: NASA/Hubble, G. Piotto

“For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can’t readily accept the God formula, the big answers don’t remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.” -Charles Bukowski

This cluster of stars is called Westerlund 2. It is located about 20,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Carina. This Hubble photo was done in near-infrared light, which allowed the camera to see through the dusty veil of the stellar nursery. This cluster of stars measures from 6 to 13 light years across. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of stars. To learn more about this image go to: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/hubble-sees-brilliant-tapestry-of-stars Image Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI) and the Westerlund 2 Science Team

How in the hell could a man enjoy being awakened at 6:30 a.m. by an alarm clock, leap out of bed, dress, force-feed, shit, piss, brush teeth and hair, and fight traffic to get to a place where essentially you made lots of money for somebody else and were asked to be grateful for the opportunity to do so? -Charles Bukowski

On Saturday, May 30th, 2020, a Space X Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft launched on NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the ISS (International Space Station). This was SpaceX’s first launch with astronauts to the ISS. How cool is that? It has marked in what some are calling a new era of spaceflight. The first private American rocket with American Astronauts. The last time an American rocket, not to mention a “private one”, did this was in 2011 at the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program.

“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.” -Charles Bukowski

This is the photograph of planet Earth taken on February 14th, 1990 by the Voyager 1 space probe from a distance of about 6 billion kilometres or 3.7 billion miles. In this photo the earth appears as a tiny dot against the vastness of space. Carl Sagan coined the term “Pale Blue Dot” in his reflections on the photograph’s significance.

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. -Carl Sagan

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

If you are reading this then you are continuing to survive Covid 19!! Yea!! And so have I!! That is a very good thing!! As I started writing this blog post in the first week of June, the United States was just under 2 million known cases and 110,000 deaths. By the time I was getting ready to publish this post we were at 2.5 million+ cases and 127,000 deaths. Wow! Each day as I checked the stats, the numbers continued to go up as expected, especially in the states of Texas and Florida. I think that Texas and Florida lifted most of their stay at home orders April 30th. On June 10th, Texas was at 80,000 cases with 1,900 deaths and Florida was at 67,000 cases and 2,800 deaths. By June 24th, two weeks later, Texas was at 137,000 cases / 2,300 deaths and Florida was 114,000 cases / 3,300 deaths. Of course there were other states that had a similar increase in cases and deaths, but I just picked Texas (my home state) and Florida to use as examples. During the fist week or two of June the United States was adding 15,000 to more than 40,000+ new cases each day by June 26th. Some of this can be attributed to the increase in testing but the rest were a result of easing lock down restrictions or not having them at all. A rise in hospitalizations are not a result of increased testing, but an increase in virus activity within the community affected.

This picture was taken May 2nd, 2020 at about 5:30 in the afternoon. It was Janet’s birthday and we were doing our usual dog walk with Marvin. Cathryn the youngest daughter was also along. We choose to walk the bike path that day due to the rain. It had kept most people indoors and there was a minimal number of individual on the path. It was very nice to not have to wear a mask and physical distancing was a lot easier. The double rainbow was icing on the cake so to speak.

Of course there were concerns over increased infection risk when the nationwide protests over the George Floyd killing broke out. From what I have read, I have come to believe that the risk was low if you were outdoors protesting, and practiced physical distancing. But this would not be the case for individuals that were in very large crowds all packed together or if you were arrested and placed in lockup with multiple other individuals for an extended period. It now seems that the highest risk of getting the virus is anything that requires you to “breath the air of others.” Which means any type of indoor physical gathering like concerts, rallies, weddings, parties, sporting events, meetings, movie theaters, restaurants, air travel, etc…. But if you can participate outdoors with physical distancing and a mask, the risk drops significantly from what I understand. It even seems that the risk of getting the virus from physical surfaces is lower than expected. So that is some clarity and good news in how the virus proliferates within a population. Janet and I have tried to do most things online since the end of February. We have found that the ordering of groceries still leaves something to be desired. Especially when it comes to ordering greens and fresh vegetables. What you think looks good is not the same sometimes in what your buyer thinks looks good. And don’t get Janet started on expiration dates. Lol. Oh well, I am just glad that we have the ability to order online.

This picture was taken May 5th at about 8pm in the evening. Our usual route has been neighborhood streets and very little use of the bike path just due to the volume of people on it. There is a lot less of a risk in getting the virus when outdoors, but due to the continued lock down restrictions, the path was a very crowded place at times in May. And not everyone was practicing physical distancing and wearing a mask.

Looking at global picture I believe the numbers are much higher than what is being reported, especially in third world countries that do not have access to adequate testing and/or reporting mechanisms in place. And some countries are just not reporting or minimally reporting, like Russia and Brazil. At the first of June, Brazil’s president, Mr Bolsonaro, decided that it was best to not report cumulative data, in an attempt to hide the rising numbers. He had been previously criticized for rejecting lock-down measures recommended by the WHO (world health organization) that would have helped to stop the spread of the disease. By the end of June, Brazil had the second highest case/death count in the world (1.2 million cases/55,000 + deaths), only the United States was higher. All I can say to this madness Mr Bolsonaro, a majority of those deaths as with Orange DT, are on your hands… If you interested in seeing the numbers yourself, check out this link: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

This picture was taken May 10th, 2020 at about 7pm. It was a cool spring day for Mother’s Day.

As the pandemic has smoldered on, it has become readily clear that the Orange DT is much more concerned about getting reelected than the health of the countries citizens. In February it was all about how it was going to disappear and that it was under control. By first of March the verbiage was all about downplaying the risk and that it would still just go away. By the middle of March the tone had changed due to rising numbers and multiple experts calling for the government to do more. Of course this oratory did not last long. Too much “I told you so.” In April when things had gotten pretty bad in parts of the country, the rhetoric was about how hospitals were inflating the need for equipment and masks. They weren’t, I was there working. Much of April saw the Orange DT blaming the debacle he helped to create on others. Everyone from China to the WHO to Nancy Pelosi. In May, the Orange DT was crying about how it was all unfair to him and the need to open the economy back up quickly. Of course the experts in Epidemiology were warning it might be too soon. It was. Now that we are in June, the talk from his pie hole is how the pandemic is ending – its not. We are back to blaming China again, and in an audacious act of stupidity and selfishness the Orange DT has created potential “Super Spreader” events in Tulsa, Arizona and soon to be Wisconsin. All in the hope of getting reelected. I think that individuals who attend these events should all get potential “Darwin Awards.” If you are not sure what they are check out this link: https://darwinawards.com/

This photo was taken May 17th, 2020 at about 8pm. Here I am looking Northwest from the Pine Ridge Open space on the West side of Fort Collins. It was the first trail run in a long time. This area has some wide trails that allow for easy physical distancing and by going in the evening there were minimal encounters with other individuals. I believe Marvin enjoyed the change of scenery. I know that I did! Lol

On a different note Janet and I have been trying to put more of the principles of being “minimalist” into play during the Covid debacle. We first got interested in the idea when we saw the documentary by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus called “Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things.” You can find the trailer and how to watch here: https://minimalismfilm.com/

We had always talked about “cleaning out the junk” we accumulated over the last few years but did not get too serious about it until now. The pandemic has given us some time to revisit this idea. Plus as I have gotten older, I realized I did not need most of the stuff that I have acquired in the past. It is just amazing how much you can amass over the years. It is still taking me a little time to get my head wrapped around it. The idea is not just about getting rid of the “old stuff,” but changing your patterns in how you consume. Just throwing out the old and then turning around and buying new is not going to fix the issue. Minimalism is much, much more than just getting rid of stuff. Some would call it a better philosophy for modern living. And in order to help myself get started I recently downloaded one of their publications: Minimalist Rulebook: 16 Rules for Living with Less. By Joshua Fields Millburn. You can find it here: https://www.theminimalists.com/rulebook/

This picture was taken May 19th, 2020, at about 3pm in the afternoon. It was my first trail run above 9,000 feet for the season. Here I am looking North, by North West at Clark Peak and the Rawah Wilderness. I am on Long Draw Reservoir road. It had been plowed a few times and melted out quickly this spring. It was a nice run because the road was only open to public foot traffic at the time. No trucks or cars to deal with. Very nice indeed.

One of the things I like in the publication is the 90/90 rule. In a nut shell this is what it is: “Have you used an item in the last 90 days? If you haven’t, will you use it in the next 90? If not, it’s okay to let it go.” Another one I like, but find it very hard to do, is the “one-in, ten-out rule.” If you buy one thing for the kitchen as an example then 10 other things have to leave the kitchen. The area that I am starting to use this rule is on books. I have been a hoarder of books for a long time. And unless my reading speed accelerates significantly, I will need two life times to read or reread them all. So this summer my plan is that any new or used books I purchase or acquire as a gift then 10 have to go out. Rule 6 in the publication is one of my favorites and I am so guilty of not doing it. I hold onto things “just in case.” It goes something like this: “You better pack it, you better keep it, you never know… “just in case.” I don’t know how many times I have said this very thing to myself or others. The reality is that you rarely need that “just in case” item. These are just a few examples from the book. Even if you are not sure about the minimalist idea it is still a good read and best of all it is free. And if you want to go even deeper check out “the Minimalists” web site: https://www.theminimalists.com/

This picture was taken May 26th, 2020 at about 6pm. It is looking West toward Cameron Pass. The trail that I was running was called Roaring Creek. It starts at about 8,000 feet and ends at 10,000. It was a weekday and I only saw one other individual on the entire trail. This was great for Marvin, he got to practice a lot of off lead running and training.

Well that is going to be about it for me on this Blog post. Sorry, no book reviews on this one but I promise to have a few on the next one. Keep thinking about how things are in the process of changing due to Covid. If you want something different than what was offered before the pandemic, minimalism is one way to start the process on a personnel level. Our current practices of buying and consuming are not sustainable for our planet. And until we become a true space-faring species this is a great alternative in purchasing humanity some time, so to speak. In my opinion what better a way to start a grass roots process of change by becoming minimalist. You will be happier and from an environmental perspective the earth will thank you for it.

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