tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9112682812638409042024-03-08T12:02:38.926-08:00A Guy and His Blog (about writing)Random thoughts. And some comments on writing.
New post each Monday.Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.comBlogger284125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-14029255950404665092023-06-12T05:21:00.001-07:002023-06-12T05:21:45.956-07:00<p><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Our Feeders Are Killing Us</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I recently
was in the bustling Charlotte Airport terminal with only an hour between
connecting flights. I was hungry but the lines at the fast-foot places were far
too long, so I ducked into a shop and grabbed a three-dollar bottle of water, a
small bag of baked chips, and a PB and J sandwich on wheat bread in a neat
wedge-shaped clear plastic container labeled “City Point Market ‘Fresh Food To
Go’”, believing I was making reasonably healthy choices. I ate half the chips
and half the sandwich before walking quickly to my departure gate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I got
home, I still had half the sandwich left. Naomi read the ingredients. She had
to use a magnifying glass because the type was that tiny. You’d expect a short
list, right? Peanut butter, jelly, and wheat bread. Wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She read out
45 mostly chemical ingredients to me, some of them difficult to pronounce and
including well-known unhealthy stuff like high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated
vegetable oil, and witchy potions to retard spoilage. <b>Forty-five ingredients</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She then compared
the numbers of my expensive grab-and-go concoction with a typical PB and J sandwich
we’d make at home using Nature’s Own Wheat Bread, Polaner All-Fruit Jelly with
no additives, and “Simply Peanuts” butter with no additives.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Here were the results:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>My Grab-and-Go Concoction<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Our Homemade
sandwich<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Calories<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>760 (almost half a day’s load of 2,000 c)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>380<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Total Fat<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>32 g (almost half a day’s load)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>17 g<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Saturated Fat<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>7 g<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2.5 g<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Total Sugars<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>31 g<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>14
g<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sodium<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>860 mg (a whopping third of a
day’s load)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>355 mg</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
concluded that the York Street Caterers Company of Englewood, New Jersey, must
have been trying to kill me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From my
years working as a volunteer pilot for the environmental Neuse River Foundation,
I’d learned that the American diet is knowingly polluted with harmful
chemistry. Hogs, for example, are fed antibiotics to prevent rampant disease in
the packed corporate barns, and the meat retains those antibiotics. Eat enough
pork and you’ll develop a resistance to antibiotics. Crops of all kinds are
drenched in harmful pesticides. Soft drinks are loaded with way too much sugar.
And we’ve long known that sodium levels in soups and meats and nearly
everything else are far too high. But I never thought an innocent looking PB
and J sandwich would be almost lethally laced with chemistry.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Check out the
YouTube documentary “Eating You Alive.” It’s frightening what the typical
American diet of fast food and processed food (in other words, the vast
majority of food in the typical neighborhood supermarket) is doing to us over
time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then read
any healthy eating book by Dr. Joel Fuhrman or his like.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t
have to let our feeders kill us. We only have to read their legally mandated
labels, even if we have to use a magnifying glass.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And change
our diet habits accordingly.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Phil<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">www.philbowie.com<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Check out my guaranteed non-poisonous
suspense series of novels available--each for less than the cost of a probably
poisonous fast-food lunch--in print or Kindle on Amazon. Easy buy links through
my website. People seem to like them.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-23472492075656548672023-04-24T11:17:00.000-07:002023-04-24T11:17:48.270-07:00<p> <b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Longevity Stats</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My maternal grandfather lived to 103 and my father lived to 98. Both were
healthy throughout their lives. I’m hoping I’ve inherited their durable genes,
even though I’ve not lived as common-sensibly as they did.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
oldest known human was Jeanne Louise Calmet, who made it to 122 with only nineteenth-
and early twentieth-century medical care available (1875-1997).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other
earth’s fauna live lives of widely varying longevity. That last lobster you
savored might have been 100, but that’s nothing compared with an Ocean quahog
clam, which could be over 500 years old before it’s served up on your plate. If
you prefer Mahi-mahi (Common dolphinfish), it cannot have lived more than 4
years when caught and grilled. Pink salmon live only 3 years, while a rougheye
rockfish can live 205 years.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
shortest-lived vertebrate on our planet is the Pygmy goby fish, at eight weeks.
Waaaay over at the other end of the longevity spectrum is the Immortal jellyfish,
which can reverse its life cycle back to a polyp over and over. The life of a single Hexactinellid sponge can date back an incredible 15,000 years, to a time when the
earliest people arrived in North America.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s
a selection of other creatures’ life spans:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>House mouse 4 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mountain cottontail rabbit 7.4 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Red squirrel 9.8 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Buff-bellied hummingbird 11 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Guinea pig 12 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Common quail and Giant armadillo 15 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Domestic cattle, American crow, and Giant manta ray 20 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Red fox and Cheetah 21 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tiger and Blue jay 26 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Domestic dog and King penguin 27 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Domestic cat 30 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Panda 37 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Gray heron 38 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Giraffe and Whooping crane 40
yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Great white shark 50 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Bottlenose dolphin 52 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Gorilla 60 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Chimpanzee 68 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>American alligator 77 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Asian elephant 80 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Killer whale 90 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Blue whale 110 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Eastern box turtle 138 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Aldabra tortoise 175 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Bowhead whale 211 yrs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Greenland shark 392 yrs</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All the creatures on the above list survive
with no medical help whatsoever. No procedures, therapies, dieting, yoga, psychological
counselling, gym memberships, supplements, or pills, yet the last five of them
far outlive any of us. But, on the other hand or paw or flipper, none of them consume
double bacon cheeseburgers or fries or </span>Twinkies<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> or loaded pizzas or alcohol or
nicotine or soft drinks. And they get plenty of daily exercise.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe
we’ve a few lessons to learn from them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Phil</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Source: <i>National Geographic<o:p></o:p></i></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">If you like these blog posts, please share.</span></b></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-3579382891213159902023-04-17T04:58:00.000-07:002023-04-17T04:58:44.781-07:00<p><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Storm
Visitor</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re not supposed to begin an account
with a worn-out weather cliché, but it <b><i>was</i> a dark and stormy night</b>
some years back as we fought our way south through rough seas well off notorious
ship-killing Cape Hatteras. The boat’s owner, Pete, had hired me and another licensed
captain, John, to help him move his immaculate 62-foot sailing yacht from Newport
to Florida for the winter. We had to travel offshore and take turns standing
watches because the 87-foot-tall mast wouldn’t make it under fixed bridges
along the protected Intracoastal Waterway. During this night, we heard the owner
of a catamaran that was taking on water radio a Mayday to the Coast Guard, but
we never learned that boat’s fate.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our own situation was deteriorating, and
we were all awake trying to sort it out. The bow hatch had sprung a leak, the storm
wind had ripped a seam loose on the cockpit overhead canvas dodger, and waves
had broken one of the two heavy steel davits suspending the dinghy crossways aft
of the stern. We rigged a stout line from a heavy electric sail winch to brace
the davit somewhat.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the gray pre-dawn light, a small brown songbird
fluttered aboard and settled on a cockpit cushion. The wind must have blown it
out to sea, and it had obviously exhausted itself trying to fly back to land. By
then, we were somewhat worn down ourselves. We fed it some bread and water and
soon it perked up enough to fly below and explore the yacht’s layout. Its
ordeal had evidently eclipsed any fear of us, and at one point it perched atop
John’s ball cap visor for a time, looking ahead through the windshield into the
mist.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>South of the Cape, as we drew closer to
Beaufort inlet, heading for the town docks where we could make repairs, the
wind abated, and sunlight was lancing through the scudding clouds.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our small brown visitor spotted the dunes
and darted away, leaving us with a nice uplifting memory.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Phil<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Check
out the latest suspense novel, <i>Dawn Light</i>, starring yacht delivery
captain Dent Stedman. It’s on Amazon in your choice of print or Kindle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-4069022646697287712023-04-03T06:28:00.001-07:002023-04-03T06:28:16.545-07:00<p><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">A
Cat’s Interactive Channel</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Naomi and I had never seen our 14-year-old
cat, McKenzie, pay the slightest attention to TV, until one recent day when we
were watching and listening to various songbirds on YouTube. He loped into the
room and not only became riveted by the screen, but also began interacting with
it. Even weirder, some of the featured birds seemed to be interacting with <i>him</i>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, it wasn’t that he never could comprehend
the TV all those years.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Evidently, he’d simply scorned our choices
of programming.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll let you know if he figures out how to
use the remote now.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please share this post with the cats in
your world.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6y-zLs4PPukK9O0OorUzDkb_mhAQKqF4aRzWRRXGbOx1Wu7DeiYWzfE0SxqQ06GKSHVEO_C39CaSy5WnyPj1us5D3LCZ5_pzcqUEISVDXknVz87KYQIFf82kEjGqtsOeEHx6UCOB_Q_e-N8x2m3gX2E29YqDocBe7HXjZ3yc18H4Gz4P062SGvlGvQ/s3145/20230116_083657.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3145" data-original-width="2268" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6y-zLs4PPukK9O0OorUzDkb_mhAQKqF4aRzWRRXGbOx1Wu7DeiYWzfE0SxqQ06GKSHVEO_C39CaSy5WnyPj1us5D3LCZ5_pzcqUEISVDXknVz87KYQIFf82kEjGqtsOeEHx6UCOB_Q_e-N8x2m3gX2E29YqDocBe7HXjZ3yc18H4Gz4P062SGvlGvQ/s320/20230116_083657.jpg" width="231" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">McKenzie
and a bold jay stare each other down.</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwvEl-RtIHudh9gcvgzf8_AZAVKmQSyjRo9maRb5CrsAg95aw_w3iFvB8oieVEMKSic-RcRcEjawgN0Krn4S7V5brV3WcJHnWXtmUzi3g_e6m2UUUBSVquHPV-MaAe8UYxtYOAor77L1TIllnHf0r2PnldGN5bgncdYNY-obCWvzraetNZzLAIp4YWdQ/s2893/20230116_084711.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2893" data-original-width="1709" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwvEl-RtIHudh9gcvgzf8_AZAVKmQSyjRo9maRb5CrsAg95aw_w3iFvB8oieVEMKSic-RcRcEjawgN0Krn4S7V5brV3WcJHnWXtmUzi3g_e6m2UUUBSVquHPV-MaAe8UYxtYOAor77L1TIllnHf0r2PnldGN5bgncdYNY-obCWvzraetNZzLAIp4YWdQ/s320/20230116_084711.jpg" width="189" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Check
out Phil’s half-dozen acclaimed suspense novels on Amazon in your choice of
print or Kindle. Money back if you don’t love them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-58925181569768284672023-03-13T06:01:00.000-07:002023-03-13T06:01:48.623-07:00<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Inventing
Words</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> The practice goes back, of course, to the
earliest global emergence of languages, when cavepersons presumably felt the need
to say things like, “pass me that <b>rock,</b>” or “let’s call this bright stuff
<b>fire,</b>” or “anybody seen my favorite <b>club</b>?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Shakespeare, apparently not satisfied with
the several thousand words available to him then, made up lots of new ones,
among them: dauntless, lackluster, lonely, swagger, bandit, dwindle, uncomfortable,
unreal, and unearthly. He used the un prefix liberally, tacking it onto over
300 words.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Slang has long forced dictionarians (a real
word) to officially add new ones: groovy, rad, shiner, bummer, switchblade,
jeepers, ducktail, dork, spaz, nerd. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> The tech world has recently gifted us
hundreds more new words: Google, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, meme, blog,
vlog, podcast, bingeable (as in a pop TV series), dumbphone (no frills).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> And how about all those anonymous souls
who labor in the depths of the pharmaceutical dungeons inventing slick words
for the thousands of drugs that overflow our medicine cabinets?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> There are a handful of words I would prefer
to see erased from our language or at least severely usage-restricted by law:
awesome, like, and committed top that list. And does <i>anyone</i> know what
the devil woke means?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Between 800 and 1,000 new words get added
to the Oxford Dictionary every year. In 2022, these included influencer,
ankle-biter, sharenting (parents sharing info about their children on social
media), and trequartista (in soccer, a position between midfielders and
strikers). In 2023, new words already include: nearlywed (nicer than shacked
up), hellscape (Congress?), cakeage (a charge for bringing your own cake to a
restaurant party), talmbout (conjunction of talking and about), selfcoup (or
autocoup; what Putin did to secure power for life), and petfluencer (a person
who gains social media followers by posting vids and photos of pets).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> We’ve advanced considerably from those
cavepersons squatting around a fire and trying to come up with something clever
to say. The Oxford Dictionary now gives us more than 170,000 English words with
which to spellbind readers of fiction and poetry, obfuscate political debating,
slant the news, confuse legal documents, sell a billion different items to hapless
consumers, and delight Scrabblers.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Phil</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">P.S.
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> My six novels and short story collection represent
about three quarters of a million words that I’ve tried my best over recent
years to select and string together in a laborious attempt to engage and move
readers. If you’d care to sample a hundred thousand or so for less than you’d
pay for a fast-food meal, they’ll all available in print or Kindle on Amazon.
You might even discover a few words I’ve made up myself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span> </p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-5483672848595782432023-03-06T04:10:00.000-08:002023-03-06T04:10:02.141-08:00<p><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Learning
English</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because I like the culture and the music
and the people, I’m slowly learning Spanish through a daily Duolingo lesson. Many
words are similar to those in English, which helps. Spanish does have a
perplexing penchant for genderizing everything, though. Why, for example, is
university feminine (<i>la universidad</i>) while skirt is masculine (<i>el
falda</i>)?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has caused me to wonder how a
foreigner must struggle to learn our oft-irrational and confuddling English.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many words, for example, are spelled the
same but can be pronounced differently with different meanings, like:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The nurse wound a bandage around the
wound.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> A farm produces produce.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No time like the present to present a
present.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A dove dove into a bush.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you object to the object?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An invalid’s insurance was invalid.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you want to lead, get the lead out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You need to wind in the sail in a high
wind.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The soldier decided to desert in the
desert.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tear in her dress made her shed a
tear.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bass angler plays a bass drum in a
band.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately for the poor frazzled English
student, there are many more examples of such craziness.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Consider that there is no egg in eggplant,
or pine in pineapple, or ham in hamburger. A guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor
a pig. English muffins weren’t invented in England, nor were French fries in
France. We ship by truck but send cargo by ship. Why do a fat chance and a slim
chance mean the same darned thing? An alarm goes off by going on. Our noses run
but our sneakered feet smell. When the stars come out in the dark, they’re
visible, but when a bulb goes out in a dark room, it’s invisible. Why shouldn’t
Buick rhyme with quick? Why is the plural of goose geese when the plural of
moose is not meese? Sweetmeats are candies but sweetbreads are <i>un</i>sweet
meat. Does a hammer ham?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Few words in English work so hard as the
modest little word <b>up</b>:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We wake up in the morning, wash up, heat
up coffee, get dressed up, lock up, go outside to find out if it’s clouding up
or clearing up, and show up at work. We speak up at a meeting, finish up some
project, look up several files, load up on carbs at lunch, write up a report, use
up the day, work up an appetite, go home to warm up leftovers, call up a friend
and maybe drink up a nightcap.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, you have to open up a drain if
it gets stopped up.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lots of businesses open up in the morning
and close up at night.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People stir up trouble, think up excuses,
line up for events, fix up the car, clean up the kitchen, straighten up the
living room, get mixed up, get held up, and even sometimes just flat give up.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Time for me to shut up.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Phil<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Check
out the latest suspense novel, <i>Dawn Light</i>, about a yacht delivery
captain, which is <b>up</b> on Amazon in print or Kindle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-64257351725451715452023-02-27T08:42:00.000-08:002023-02-27T08:42:25.811-08:00<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Cost of Climate
Change </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is climate change real?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If so, are human activities contributing?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well,
we know this much is true:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A <b>hundred thousand</b> daily
global flights stitch contrails across our fragile atmosphere now, burning so
much jet fuel it runs through pipelines to major airports. A <b>million flights</b>
every ten days. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Two million plus</b> coal-fired
power plants belch their waste gasses, double the number that existed in 2000.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>O<b>ne point two <i>billion</i></b> gasoline
and diesel vehicles add their exhausts to the noxious mix. Electric vehicles
are only making an insignificant dent, and even they depend on coal-fired
plants for recharging.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Fifty</b> <b>thousand</b> huge
ships ply the global seas daily with their copious diesel exhausts.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are <b>thirty-five hundred</b> oil
wells in the Gulf of Mexico alone, each constantly flaring off unrefined
natural gas. <b>Thousands</b> of other wells and refineries worldwide
add their pollutants.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Seven
point eight</b> <b>billion</b> people inhale oxygen and exhale CO2
constantly while ongoing slash-and-burn agriculture eats deeply into our
planet’s lungs.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not conjecture. These are not
conspiracy theories. Not political rhetoric. They are unarguable <b>facts</b>,
unprecedented to such an extent in all human history.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More
and more scientists agree that it’s madness to pretend all this is not
affecting our climate, not inexorably warming it. And there are blatant
evidences of creeping overall climate change for all of us to see. Cities like
Beijing and New Delhi and Los Angeles are choking on their own smog, creating a
litany of sad and expensive health problems. Seas are choking on plastics,
polluting as they slowly degrade. Summers everywhere are scorching. There are more
frequent and more severe storms. Raging wildfires proliferate. Areas of severe
drought are spreading. Crops are failing. Glaciers and icecaps are melting. Sea
levels are slowly rising.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look at any recent year. The thousands who’ve
lost their homes and businesses to vast wildfires in California and Australia
and elsewhere, or whose homes and businesses recent severe hurricanes and
typhoons have stripped away, as in ravaged Florida, will not be paying taxes
anytime soon, while governmental relief and mitigation of these events has been
costing the diminishing tax base ever more billions of dollars.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Logically, obviously, we have only two
choices:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can bear the cost of adequate climate
action now, up front and very soon, creating environmental jobs in the process
and improving overall human health and safety worldwide.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or we can pay heavily for our inaction
later.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Phil</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">www.philbowie.com</span></b></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-20487529397974383112023-02-20T05:01:00.000-08:002023-02-20T05:01:16.789-08:00<p><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Balloon Wars</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The UFOs
that have lately appeared over Alaska and Canada and been shot down by American
fighters have revived those tired old fringe speculations about possible
visitation by alien creatures—that whole Area 51-with-its-persistent-aura-of-nefarious-secrecy
nonsense.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s think
for a minute about the likelihood of such stuff happening.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From even a
relatively short distance away from our planet, let’s say another one of our
solar system’s inner group of planets, Mars, we appear as no more than an
insignificant faintly bluish speck, just as Mars is no more than a faintly
reddish speck from our point of view. From any cosmic perspective farther away,
let’s say from the <i>nearest </i>star outside our system, Proxima Centauri,
which is 4.3 light years distant (24 <i>thousand billion</i> miles). From
there, our entire solar system is but a tiny white spec among trillions of
other specs strewn across the Universe in every direction. This means that any
alien species would first have to single out our system from that almost
unimaginable multitude of specs as somehow extra special, then would have to
travel for 4.3 years at the speed of light, which moves at 186,000 miles <i>per
second, </i>to get here. But achieving lightspeed is virtually impossible. At some
much more likely fraction of lightspeed, the journey would take at least hundreds
of our years. This would constitute a stupendous technical achievement, making
such a journey intuitively unlikely. It would be further unlikely to think that
such a species would accomplish that journey only to then keep it a tantalizing
semi-secret from us. Why? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It <i>is </i>intuitively
likely that there is other life in the Universe in other systems, simply
because we see the exact same electromagnetic spectrum and the exact same list
of chemical elements everywhere we look, and we see a proliferation of other
solar systems and their attendant planets everywhere, as well, many in that
zone from their suns that allows liquid water.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only our
arrogance would make us think there is no other sentient life out there. Such
life is even logically prolific, given the possibility statistics.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But would
aliens, who would be clearly vastly superior to us in technology, travel some
vast distance here, then hang back, perhaps lurking behind Jupiter, and start
floating observation balloons in our skies?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You think
what you want.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think
not.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Phil<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">www.philbowie.com<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-21910438208422953092023-02-12T07:43:00.001-08:002023-02-12T07:43:41.134-08:00<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Remembering my first
car</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I bought my first car used for $100 in
1955. It was a 1948 two-tone (black on the bottom, white on the top) Chevy Business
Coup with no back seat, intended for use by traveling salespersons, for example.
It had a bench seat, a starter button on the floor, and a three-speed manual stick
shift. Power was an inline 83-hp six-cylinder engine. It could do 85 or 90
downhill if you had the temerity to push it that hard; I usually did not. Poor-man’s
AC consisted of simple swiveling triangular windows just ahead of the side
windows; they scooped in enough air to keep the interior quite comfortable. It
had roll-up windows and a staticky AM radio. No seat belts or other safety
features. No turn signals; we used hand signals back then, which worked fine
except in the rain. Braking was four-wheel drums and sometimes iffy if they got
hot in the hilly country of the western Massachusetts Berkshires. I did all the
maintenance on it myself. I loved it and wish I still had it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I worked part-time then by myself manning
a two-pump gas station in my home village of Williamsburg doing tune-ups, tire
repairs, oil changes, and grease jobs (most cars had many under body grease
fittings). I pumped the gas, checked the oil, and cleaned the windshield of
every customer’s vehicle. With a car parked over the grease pit for an oil
change, two or three tire repairs stacked up, and several vehicles awaiting
fuel, it could get busy, but I liked that job as much as any I’ve ever had
since.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chevy vehicles, of course, have endured
over the decades. Other makes of American vehicles that were available then but
did not endure and have faded into history included:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Chrysler</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Plymouth</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Hudson<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Pontiac<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Kaiser<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Fraser <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Studebaker<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Packard<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Tucker<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">DeSoto<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Willis<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">LaSalle<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Mercury<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Crossley<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Nash<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Oldsmobile<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Checkers (mostly taxicabs)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cars of that era often had manual
transmissions, whitewall tires that gave an extra touch of class but were hard
to keep clean, exterior visors over simple flat two-piece windshields, rear fender
skirts that were a pain to remove for checking pressure or tire changing
(especially in the winter), liberal use of chrome, and tough steel bodies you
could sit or stand on, but which nevertheless sadly turned to lace along the
fender bottoms and rocker panels after a few years of exposure to the heavily salted
winter roads of the northlands.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our rides have certainly improved over the
decades in both comfort and safety. Buyers often do not even bother to look
beneath the hoods before purchasing at prices that to me seem astronomical;
that was the <i>first</i> thing we did in days of yore, and most of us well knew
every facet of how cars worked.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember those simpler times fondly, but
not without regrets. If two of the kids in my small-town high school, Linda
Sanderson and Mack Heath, had had a padded dash, seat belts, and air bags in
their car while traveling a country road in the darkness, they would likely
have survived hitting a bridge abutment. Their memorial photos are in my 1956
graduation book. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think of them often.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>Phil</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">www.philbowie.com</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-85113843552418583392021-11-09T07:53:00.000-08:002021-11-09T07:53:54.036-08:00<p><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Some Thoughts on
Mandates</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A significant segment of American citizenry
has gone ballistic against state mask mandates and President Biden’s recent
federal vaccination mandate. </span>Protesters<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> say these measures compromise personal
freedom.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If that’s true, there are many rules that
could also be said to compromise freedom. Consider our highway laws alone, for
example. We’re not allowed to drive while under the influence of alcohol or
drugs. We can’t cruise the Interstates at 100 mph. We must comply with stop
signs and stop lights and lane markings. We must stop for school buses. Cars
must have air bags and seat belts, which we must wear.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">But it’s not the duly legislated laws that
are the problem, the </span>protesters<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> cry. It’s these cursed mandates.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mandates have long been a routine and accepted
part of our legal structure. A cursory search of the Congressional Budget Office
site reveals at least 75 intergovernmental laws and 135 private sector laws that
include various mandates we’ve been living under right along, affecting
everything from preserving veterans’ rights, to protecting children from abuse,
to the required reporting of environmental hazards by companies.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All 50 states have had school entry vaccine mandates
in place over the past five decades against once-vicious </span>contagious<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> diseases like diphtheria,
measles, mumps, hepatitis, whooping cough, and polio. It’s a sure bet that
nearly all the current </span>protesters<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> who are so vehemently opposed to the
rigorously tested and approved Covid vaccines and the current mandates have themselves been vaccinated
as children, which is one good reason they’ve survived disease-free into
adulthood to be able to protest.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As for mask mandates, a study by the
Goldenson Center for Actuarial Research (among others) found mask wearing and
social distancing can cut virus deaths by two thirds.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The current mandates, like many others over
the decades, have been imposed not to crush freedom, but simply to save American
lives, yours and mine and the lives of those we love.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three quarters of a million Americans have
died and millions more have become seriously ill, many needlessly because they
refused masking and vaccination.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our current enemy is not to be found among
the many different segments of our society. It cares nothing for politics or
gender or age or philosophical convictions.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a deadly virus that came out of the
shadows to sicken and kill as many of us as it can.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we pull together instead of letting it
fracture us, we can beat it. And if it takes mandates to help us achieve that
goal, then so be it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Phil</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">www.philbowie.com</span></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-12821704879751153372021-09-21T11:01:00.000-07:002021-09-21T11:01:39.681-07:00<p><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Fighting the Common Enemy</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our planet Earth is under relentless attack from an alien presence. It
cares nothing for national borders, or gender, or race, or ethnicity, or
station in life, or politics. It only wants to sicken and kill every human it
can invade. So far across the globe it has killed 5.6 million and severely
sickened 200 million more. It is a horrific way to die. Straining for every
breath for long hours and days. Finally choking to death with a respirator tube inserted
down your throat. Isolated behind plastic curtaining. Alone to face the abyss.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It has singled out our country with a special viciousness, so far
killing 673,000 of our relatives and friends and neighbors. In recent months it
has even begun attacking and killing our children. <i>Two thousand</i> more Americans
are dying every day.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our record of fighting this enemy has been one of the worst in the world,
with seven times more Americans killed per capita than in the UK, for example, and
ten times more per capita killed than in Germany.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We have the weapons to fight this monster and eventually kill it. We
know these weapons are effective. Wearing a mask in public, distancing, using
sanitation. And above all, accepting the free and widely available miracle
vaccines that can quickly build up tough antibodies within us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We’re being asked to mask up in public. We’re not being asked to wear
handcuffs or straight jackets or gas masks. Only simple paper masks that allow
easy breathing but prevent us and others from being invaded by the enemy.
(At times I’ve forgotten I have mine on. To me, it's no hardship at all,
especially considering the horrific alternative.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We’re being asked to accept one of the free widely available vaccines
developed and tested by some of the brightest health soldiers among us. State-mandated
vaccinations for children against killer diseases are nothing new, and for
decades they have been highly effective in battling once-ruthless enemies
like polio, flu, measles, chickenpox, hepatitis, smallpox, mumps, and pneumonia. Fortunately, we now have vaccines that can fight the
current enemy just as all the other vaccines over the years have fought similar
enemies and won.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Over 181 million of us have gratefully accepted vaccinations. And as an
obvious result, they are not the people being stricken by the enemy. Almost
exclusively, the remaining Americans who are getting sick and dying every day
are the unvaccinated.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Please, for your sake and for the sake of family, friends, and neighbors,
will you accept one of the proven and approved vaccines?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Let’s fight and ultimately kill this new vicious enemy of America
together. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Phil<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">(Please pass this message on.)</span></b></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-85764658007591246312021-07-19T14:39:00.001-07:002021-07-19T14:39:37.282-07:00<p><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Anti-vaxxers</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mother shared a hospital room with a woman
named Dot when they both gave birth, Dot to a daughter named Cynthia. They
vowed their kids would share birthdays together, alternating between our home
and theirs in our nearby Berkshire villages. Dot and her husband Howard, who had
a woodworking business as did my Dad, became close friends over the years. Cynthia
and I did, too.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dot and Howard had been childhood polio
victims, and the disease had left them severely disfigured and impaired. One side
of Dot’s face was paralyzed, though it never dimmed her crooked but genuine smile.
Howard was hunchbacked with a twisted torso and one leg shorter than the other,
though he never let his condition interfere with business or family life. He
walked with an awkward lurching motion, often with the help of a forearm crutch
(a walking cane with a forearm brace added).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Widespread fear of polio was quite real
throughout my early childhood. It was a terrible virus, paralyzing and killing seemingly
at random, and like the current virus there was no immediate effective defense against
it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until
Jonas Salk came up with a vaccine that could defeat it. There were no protests against
using his vaccine. No reluctance. On the contrary, people were deeply grateful for it. They welcomed
it and lionized Salk.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In recent years, routine mandated polio vaccination
of children had eradicated it from America and had reduced the disease worldwide
to relatively few cases. If the polio virus could be deprived of all hosts for a
period of time, it would at last go extinct planet-wide, so the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation along with other charities and agencies set out to achieve
just that, spending millions in a comprehensive effort. But anti-vaxxers and religious
objectors and African terrorist groups interfered, intimidating and even killing
vaccinators, so the valiant effort eventually sputtered and failed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leaving the polio monster alive and still lurking
in the shadows. It’s on the prowl in several countries including Afghanistan,
Nigeria, and Pakistan. In some areas, cases are stealthily on the rise.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One faction of the recent widespread lockdown
protest movement, vehemently objecting to the very measures meant to save them
from sickness and death, has been the anti-vaxxers, those who have chosen to deprive
themselves—and worse, their children—of vaccinations in general. They are apparently
willing to sacrifice hundreds or thousands of others to scourging diseases like
the current deadly virus.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wish they could have met Dot and Howard,
who would have given anything to have had access to the vaccine with the power to
spare them from the horrors of polio, but which came too late for them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> T</span>he world is facing a resurgence of
killer Covid. Cases of the Delta variant are rising in every one of our 50
states, almost 100 percent among those who have chosen not to be
vaccinated. President Biden said, “The only pandemic we have is among the
unvaccinated.” Yet anybody in America can get a vaccine free any time they
want, unlike in so many other, poorer countries on the planet where people would gladly accept the vaccines to stop the severe sickening and the dying.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we do not want to go back into
lockdowns and mandated masking, we must get vaccinated. If we want to eat out freely and take a cruise and travel and shop, we must get vaccinated. It’s as simple
as that.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a friend in management at Pfizer
and he is deeply dismayed that after all the research and work and rigorous
testing that produced one of the safest and most effective vaccines ever
developed, people by the millions are refusing it. They’ve seen hundreds of
their friends and family members and neighbors take the vaccines months ago with no ill
effects, yet still they refuse.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please. Please help spread the word to get
vaccinated. It can save so many lives and keep our economy healthy, too.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Phil<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.philbowie.com/">www.philbowie.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-47428509180873511782021-07-12T07:05:00.000-07:002021-07-12T07:05:06.942-07:00<p><b>Six-word short stories</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ernest Hemingway, famous for his Spartan style,
is credited with this semi-famous six-word story: For sale: baby shoes, never
worn. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a strong example of creative
compression, inviting reader participation to flesh out the story, which all
good fiction does.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here are a few six-word shorts I came up
with:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Life<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Too young. Too busy. Too old.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tragedy</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Bought a gun. Sonny found it. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">DMV Statistics<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">One more drink. Four more dead.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cell Addiction<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Drove and texted. Carved in stone.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 1.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Parting<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 1.0pt;">Married happily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Money woes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lawyers richer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 1.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Golden years<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 1.0pt;">Growing old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Looking back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shoulda dids.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-line-height-alt: 1.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Panic<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 1.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif;">:-</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif;">))<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>:-</b>)<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>:-</b>o<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>:-</b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">/ </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>:-</b>< <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>!!!</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 1.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Posture<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 1.0pt;">Sat up straight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On a thumbtack.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Native America</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Chargoggagoogmanchoggaggoggchaubunagungamaugg. White people came. Webster
Lake.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">(The original Indian name for the lake, which is in Massachusetts near
the Connecticut border is the longest place name in the United States.)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 1.0pt;">See if you can come up with a few shorts. It’s great practice for
condensing. Most first drafts of any writing, fiction or non, can be cut down considerably,
and always with beneficial effect.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 1.0pt;"><b>Phil<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 1.0pt;"><i><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.philbowie.com/"><span style="color: black;">www.philbowie.com</span></a></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 1.0pt;">Check out my North Carolina series suspense novels on Amazon. Also see the
latest stand-alone novel of Africa, <i>Killing Ground</i>. Easy buy links in
print or Kindle through my website.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-87707013546757800672021-06-28T06:44:00.000-07:002021-06-28T06:44:15.986-07:00<p><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Have you heard of Benford's Law?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Simply stated, this law says that if
you take any large group of multiple-digit numbers--U.S. city populations,
numbers of arrests per year in multiple cities, vote counts in numerous
American counties, the numbers of book buyers for the top 100 bestselling
authors, even the number of fractions of seconds each note is held in a long
piece of music--in short, any database of supposedly random numbers on any
subject, the numbers will begin with 1 for 30% of the time. Moreover, more of
the numbers will begin with 2 than 3, more will begin with 3 than 4, more will
begin with 4 than 5, and so on through 9, which will begin a number sequence
only 5% of the time. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">If you chart this with 1 through 9 on the X axis
(horizontal) and each number's frequency of occurrence on the Y axis
(vertical), you get a smooth downward-sloping curve called the Benford
Curve. Many, many statistical samplings of supposedly random
numbers databases have borne this out consistently, and statisticians take
the law into account in their work. This phenomenon has even been used to detect fraud if a given database does <b>not</b> follow the law.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nobody knows why this law is
true. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It just is.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Source: the "Connections" documentary series on
Netflix)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Phil</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Check out the popular suspense novel series set in the Great Smokies at www.philbowie.com</b></span></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-33122886796884673202021-05-24T07:07:00.000-07:002021-05-24T07:07:11.083-07:00<p><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Real Leadership</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Many people</span> still ask, “Why spend money on space when we have so many dire
problems here on Earth?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the least, the space effort has
resulted in thousands of beneficial fallout tech and science advances.
Moreover, it is early efforts in what will surely be an attempt to
save our whole species by migrating over time to a new young planet when our
sun can no longer sustain us. What could be more important?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The really big waste of money, time, and resources is the massive military budget. Last year it was $686
billion (compared to the NASA budget of $22.6 billion). We're the only nation on the planet that maintains a global military presence of 800 bases in 70
countries. I’m sorry, but that’s ridiculous. How would we feel if Russia or
China had bases in Mexico and Cuba and Canada and patrolled our
coasts with their carriers? One carrier costs $13 billion, by the
way, and they want a dozen more. The waste is blatant and
pervasive. The vast complex has grown out of control and there's no end in sight. Year after year we just tolerate it. For what? There
is nothing that advances humankind in it. Nothing productive or uplifting.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I recently watched a
1964 YouTube CBS documentary tiled "D Day plus 20 years." In it, newscaster Walter Cronkite and Eisenhower talk about Ike's recollections of the Normandy invasion. It's a fascinating portrait. He knew an amazing wealth of detail and took
his tremendous responsibilities as the Allied Supreme Commander most seriously. The troops loved him and fought hard for him. We should be
forever thankful they did. It could be a very different world now had they not. They deserve our refreshed respect as we approach Memorial Day 2021.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the video,
Walt and Ike are alone, no big entourage, no limousines, no teleprompters, no
flags. Ike drives a simple open Jeep himself and Walt takes a turn at the
wheel, sometimes in the rain. Show me any president among the past half dozen
who would have done the same. (Although Joe Biden might; he’s done pretty well
by us thus far.) Ike is self-effacing but knowledgeable, giving
full credit to those who served under him, and the
steel in his spine is evident. His off-the-cuff message at the end
of the documentary, while they’re visiting one of the several large cemeteries
behind the invasion beaches, is deeply moving.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> He was a</span> great American leader </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">who
even back then warned us about the pervasive encroachment and increasingly high cost of the bloated
military-industrial complex.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Phil<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.philbowie.com/">www.philbowie.com</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
thriller novel series <i>Guns</i>, <i>Diamondback</i>, <i>Kllrs</i>, and <i>Deathsman</i>,
set in the Great Smokies and endorsed by top gun bestselling authors Lee Child,
Ridley Pearson, and Stephen Coonts can be yours in print or Kindle from Amazon.
(Easy buy link on my website.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-62632042475931767162021-05-17T04:54:00.001-07:002021-05-17T04:54:21.567-07:00<p><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Stunning Cosmic Fireworks</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everybody
loves fireworks, but what many don’t realize is the Universe is putting on its
own show nightly. It’s free and far surpasses Disney in splendor.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
show is performed by dozens of nebulae. For some of them it’s bittersweet because
they were created by dying stars along with whatever attendant planets they had.
We can spot a few of them with the naked eye as faint smudges, like the famous
one in Orion’s sword. With even a small backyard telescope they come alive in
swirling, streaming colors and myriad shapes. With more powerful scopes they’re
breathtaking. I was fortunate to view several through a large scope on an
astronomy trip to the dry Atacama Desert in Chile a few years back, sights I
will not forget. Hubble has shot spectacular images of many you can view online.
Enlarged prints make excellent abstract art to decorate a home or office. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
resemble creatures, like the stunning Butterfly Nebula, the Horsehead, the
Oyster, the Lion, the Owl, the Turtle, the Tarantula, the Robin’s Egg, the
Pelican, and the Cat’s Eye. Others evoke whimsy, like the Bow Tie, the Little
Gem, the Dumbbell, the Little Dumbbell, the Double Bubble, and the Blue
Snowball. Some have names drawn from legend or myth, like Cleopatra’s Eye, the
Medusa, the Crystal Ball, and the Ghost of Jupiter. There’s even one called the
North America Nebula that resembles our continent remarkably well.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One of my favorites is the beautiful Veil Nebula, appropriately in graceful
Cygnus, the Swan constellation. It’s the 50-light-years-long (that's 300 trillion miles long) remnant of a great supernova—the explosion of a giant star 20 times the
mass of our Sun. It looks as though it’s drifting on a soft evening breeze.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Th</span>ere’s a primeval hopeful aspect to a few of these grand displays
because they’re vast molecular clouds of dust and gas that are nurseries where
new stars and their planets are being born—whole new solar systems like ours,
some that may ultimately harbor life.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
nebulae are brilliant reminders that we, ourselves, are children of some long-ago
cataclysm that forged many of the molecules needed to build the dazzling blue planet
we call Home.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re
all made of star stuff from the perpetual fireworks display that illuminates
the cosmic night.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Phil<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.philbowie.com/">www.philbowie.com</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
thriller novel series <i>Guns</i>, <i>Diamondback</i>, <i>Kllrs</i>, and <i>Deathsman</i>,
set in the Great Smokies and endorsed by top gun bestselling authors Lee Child,
Ridley Pearson, and Stephen Coonts can be yours in print or Kindle from Amazon.
(Easy buy link on my website.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-79631940948056766852021-05-10T12:37:00.003-07:002021-05-10T12:37:54.166-07:00<p><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Remembering Mom</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May
ninth was the day we set aside to remember and honor the women who gave us the
greatest possible gift of life itself and guided us through all our formative
years. My Mom was Edith Chapin Caughey, one of eight children born and raised
in Waltham, Massachusetts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dad’s
first wife, Marion, died giving birth to their daughter, Nancy. Mom often cared
for Nancy while Dad worked. They became close, soon married, and I was born a
year later.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We moved west to Northampton, Mass., when
Dad took a job teaching in a trade school. We lived in a two-story house next
to a gas station. The first floor had been a fish market when Dad bought the building.
He remodeled it into a rental apartment, and we lived upstairs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mom
took a job as a reporter for the <i>Daily Hampshire Gazette</i>. Over the years,
she interviewed <i>Frankenstein</i> actor Boris Karloff and First Lady Eleanor
Roosevelt, wrote news articles of all kinds, and reviewed plays at a nearby
mountainside theater. Dad began a woodworking shop in 1945 in half of a rented
two-car garage, designing and making prototype store displays for products like
Ace Combs and Wearever fountain pens. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1949, when I was ten, Dad and my maternal
grandfather, John, built a home for us in the village of Williamsburg, Mass.,
and we moved that fall. Mom retired from her reporter job and began freelancing
for <i>New England Homestead </i>magazine and other publications.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mom,
Dad, and sister Nancy all taught Sunday school in the village church. I
remember Mom preparing lessons using an easel and a felt board, cutting out
biblical scenes from different colors of felt. In her lessons, she’d change the
story scenes by laying up onto the tilted board different cutouts of landscapes
and palm trees and silhouette people. She often baked for the church suppers
that were some of the finest I’ve ever had.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mom
kindled my early interest in books by reading to me <i>Heidi, Brer Rabbit, </i>and
other engrossing tales, as she did for other village children in our small
stone library. Later, with her encouragement, I devoured the Zane Gray books
and the works of Mark Twain. Early on, she urged me to write the best I could
for English classes, and she always gently corrected my grammar in conversations
at the dinner table.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She always stood by her family until her death much too early at 59. She’s
an ineradicable part of who I am, and I’ve been proud to follow her excellent
example as a lifelong freelancer myself, which has given me many rewarding
experiences and enriched my life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks,
Mom.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Phil<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">www.philbowie.com</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
thriller novel series <i>Guns</i>, <i>Diamondback</i>, <i>Kllrs</i>, and <i>Deathsman</i>,
set in the misty folds of the Great Smokies and endorsed by top gun bestselling
authors Lee Child, Ridley Pearson, and Stephen Coonts, can be yours in print or
Kindle from Amazon (Easy buy link on my website.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thanks
to all those who’ve reviewed the series favorably on Amazon and kindly sent notes
a<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">e-mails.
You’re much appreciated<o:p></o:p></span></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-74921577129665571212021-05-03T06:31:00.001-07:002021-05-03T06:31:04.924-07:00<p><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Our Nearly Anonymous Neighbors</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
share the North American Continent with two large neighbors bordering us, yet
most Americans know little or nothing about either nation because they’re
hardly ever in our news. Mexico is of course notorious for the dominance of
their drug cartels and the resultant political corruption. But I suspect the
majority of its citizens are just like the average American, good people who
never make the news and are only trying to live a responsible and rewarding life.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve been to both nations on brief vacation visits and was sent to
Canada once to do a job. Outside the major cities like Toronto and Montreal,
the atmosphere is frontier-like, and I found the people warm and friendly.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
visited Cozumel and Costa Maya on a cruise, but those are tourist-heavy places
I’m sure don’t represent the average Mexican experience. I love the food and
their music, and I’m slowly learning Spanish through the fun online site Duolingo.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both
nations have popular exhibits at Disneyland’s excellent Epcot World Showcase,
and I’ve visited them with much interest several times.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> C</span>anada probably intrigues me most of the two because it’s closer to New
England where I grew up. I can tell you the Canadian side of Niagara Falls is a
lot cleaner and more attractive than our side. Dad drove our family to New
Brunswick on one vacation and the seacoast was spectacular, as is the coast of
Nova Scotia. I’m told the Canadian Rockies are majestically beautiful.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
facts about our large cool neighbor to the north:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We share the world’s longest international border at 5,525 miles, and it’s
undefended by either military.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Despite having only 11 percent of our population—fewer people than live
in Tokyo’s metropolitan area—Canada is bigger than us, second only to
Russia, and has the longest coastline on the planet at 151,000 miles. It has
more lakes than all the other nations on Earth combined. They have the third
largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Canadians are the world’s most educated;
nearly half of their adults hold college degrees. They were the third nation in
space after Russia and America.</span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Trans-Canada Highway is 4,860 miles long,
running through all 10 provinces from St.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Johns,
Newfoundland, on the East Coast to Vancouver Island on the West Coast. I’ve<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">always
wanted to do it on a motorcycle. Vast areas of the northern regions have no
roads at all<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">and
depend on bush planes for supplies. Some extreme northern regions can have snow
year<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">round.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The northern reaches are frigid. Drivers in
Churchill leave their vehicles unlocked to offer<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">escape
to anyone confronting a polar bear. In Newfoundland, people sometimes play
hockey on<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">frozen
ocean bays.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Canada has been our staunch ally in major
conflicts. After Pearl Harbor, they declared war on<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Japan
before we did.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Overall, Canadians seem to hold America and
its people in high regard. Maybe it’s time we</span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> returned that admiration and
affection.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Phil<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.philbowie.%2Ccom/">www.philbowie.,com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The suspense novel series <i>Guns</i>, <i>Diamondback</i>, <i>Kllrs</i>, and <i>Deathsman</i>,
set in the misty folds of the Great Smokies and endorsed by top gun bestselling
authors Lee Child, Ridley Pearson, and Stephen Coonts, can be had in print or
Kindle from Amazon (Easy buy link on my website.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thanks
to all those who’ve reviewed the series favorably on Amazon and kindly sent notes
and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">e-mails.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-63080456464375913452021-04-26T06:38:00.001-07:002021-04-26T06:38:18.724-07:00<p> <b>Exponential
innovation</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 50%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Think of the many innovations that we’ve
seen in just the last few decades that have become commonplace or nearly so and
been quickly taken for granted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Phones
that contain all the wisdom and information once confined to vast libraries, that
can talk to us, that can take crisp photos, and that can communicate globally—true
pocket computers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Large inexpensive TVs
with access to hundreds of channels and resolution that rivals a picture
window.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three-D printers that can make
everything from rare antique car parts to human body parts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cars that know how to keep to a traffic lane
and maintain a safe interval to a vehicle ahead and let us see for backing up and
make independent emergency stops and parallel park all by themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New drugs that effectively fight previously incurable
ailments. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 50%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pace
of invention has been growing exponentially, so what can we expect in the near decades
to come?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scientists and professionals in
many fields are predicting robots that will soon perform daily chores tirelessly,
smart kitchens that will make cooking easier and even keep track of our nutrition
and calorie intake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Automatic beds that
will adjust positions for optimum comfort and sleep. Smart homes that will
automatically adjust room lighting and temperatures to suit our moods and physical
needs; homes that will be more secure and have many more integrated features to
optimize our comfort. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Microneedle patches
that will inject needed drug doses painlessly. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A shirt that can administer CPR, and prosthetics
that will help the severely disabled walk. Devices that will let the blind see
and the deaf hear. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Efficient and
non-polluting vehicles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Electric bicycles
for cities, quieter aircraft, better and faster ground public transport.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 50%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many previously
undreamed-of innovations are only just now emerging from our brightest minds.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 50%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As writers,
let’s hope people will still want stories that entertain, inspire, intrigue, enlighten,
and entertain them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They always have and
I’m betting they always will.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 50%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black;">Phil<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;">www.philbowie.com</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> The
thriller series novels <i>Guns</i>, <i>Diamondback</i>, <i>Kllrs</i>, and <i>Deathsman</i>,
set in the misty folds of the Great Smokies and endorsed by top gun bestselling
authors Lee Child, Ridley Pearson, and Stephen Coonts, are available In print or
Kindle from Amazon (Easy buy link on my website.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> Thanks to all those who’ve reviewed the
series favorably and to readers who've kindly sent notes and e-mails. You’re much
appreciated.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-61329803488978438432021-04-19T05:35:00.001-07:002021-04-19T05:35:38.835-07:00<p><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">What could AI become in future generations?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We lost one of our great scientific and philosophical
minds not long ago. Before he left us, Stephen Hawking gave us a warning about
the encroachment of artificial intelligence (AI), which has already almost imperceptibly
worked its way into our society and taken control of several aspects of our lives.
Robots build our cars and even perform delicate precision surgeries. GPS can
guide us to any destination (I call the one in my car Daisy). Giant server
facilities store all our information down to our finances and what brands of underwear
we prefer and what we eat and what we watch on TV.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our cars can keep us safely in our lanes and
hold a preset interval to the next vehicle ahead and even parallel park themselves,
and driverless cars are appearing on our roads. Our computers converse with us and
store and manage all our knowledge; a library at NC State University can
robotically store and retrieve thousands of requested old-fashioned printed books.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are computers that can fly and land
giant airplanes and conduct experiments and perform exhaustive flawless calculations
and create perfect simulations and control complex space missions and beat us at
chess and even grow smarter by themselves over time with what is being called
deep learning, which mimics the human learning process. We’ve become addicted to
our smart phones and laptops and tablets and PCs and we’re heavily dependent on
the Internet.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In China, Xiaoice (pronounced Shau-ice) is a
national celebrity. She’s a guest on talk shows, sings popular songs beautifully,
and acts as a personal advisor and confidant to millions. She’s taken part in
billions of conversations as people who consider her a personal friend
seriously seek her advice, confess their deepest secrets to her, and value her
counsel.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Xiaoice, however, is not human. She’s a software
program created by Microsoft. She can flirt, make jokes, even identify photos.
The Chinese love her.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other
software programs can best humans with their expertise. Alexa knows far more than
any human and instantly comes up with the correct answer to almost any legitimate
question you could possibly ask her. Google translator is precise and lightning
fast. LipNet can read lips faster and with more accuracy than a person can. (Hmmm.
Could a protagonist in a story use this program to spy on a villain? With a
zoom lens, she could take a video from distant concealment and then have the
software read it to learn the villain’s evil intentions, perhaps.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lots of
fodder for sci-fi writers.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hawking’s warning may become all too real when
computers soon reach the stage where they begin to teach themselves more and
more knowledge at exponential rates. It’s an ever-steepening upward curve. The
more they know the more quickly they’ll be able to learn anew, without fatigue
or the need for sleep, with inhuman logic and precision, with unlimited instant
storage and retrieval, without self-distorting emotions, ultimately with levels of intelligence
far in excess of ours. Elon Musk has also suggested we move into this AI realm
with caution.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Will AI devices begin making autonomous decisions about all things, including
the human presence in what they might well consider <i>their</i> world?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Phil<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">www.philbowie.com</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">For
some exiting reading, try the thriller novel series <i>Guns</i>, <i>Diamondback</i>,
<i>Kllrs</i>, and <i>Deathsman</i>, set in the misty folds of the Great Smokies
and endorsed by top gun bestselling authors Lee Child, Ridley Pearson, and
Stephen Coonts. Available in print or Kindle from Amazon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-69168874022588542922021-04-12T05:30:00.002-07:002021-04-12T05:30:54.264-07:00<p><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Forgotten Space Missions</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since
its establishment in 1958, NASA has sponsored over 200 space programs, some
involving dozens of individual launches, like the Space Shuttle series of 135 missions
that built the ISS and put the famous Hubble and other space telescopes in
orbit to reveal new wonders of the Universe in stunning detail. A series of huge
Saturn V rockets thundered aloft from Florida to place two men on the moon half
a century ago and took ten more daring adventurers there in following missions.
Satellite launch missions have given us critical weather and geography data and
communications and GPS technology we’ve all come to rely on heavily in everyday
life. Robotic explorations of all our star’s planets have yielded astonishing
details about how our solar system formed and has evolved.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">But
there have been so many hundreds of missions that most have faded from the
public consciousness despite their considerable revelations and contributions.
Programs like the X-Planes, Pioneer, Mariner, Galileo, and Cassini-Huygens have
passed into history as each has added priceless knowledge to our collective
mind bank, each building more experience and breeding new ideas and providing
valuable fallout science that has </span>benefited<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> humanity in myriad practical ways
right here on Earth. Two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977, after performing
flawless tours of the outer planets and sending back revealing images, have
streaked out of the solar system into interstellar space, but are still sending
back faint data streams as they speed toward alien stars.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many missions, especially in recent years,
have focused on Mars with a view to one day sending astronauts there. Perseverance
and its tiny drone have been in the news lately with yet more astonishing data
on the red planet.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> There’s a related forgotten mission
that celebrated its 20th anniversary last week. Odyssey launched on April 7,
2001, and after a seven-month journey, it began orbiting Mars and sending back
a wealth of data. It's still operational. It has created the most accurate map
of the entire planet to date, photographing and measuring every feature and
charting in detail all the existing surface water ice and ice deposits that lie
not far beneath the surface. This will be critical to personed missions,
because they'll need that water to survive and it means much less will have to
be carried with them. It can produce breathing oxygen and be converted to
rocket fuel and to rover propulsion fuel. It can nourish indoor gardens and
serve as a solvent for all kinds of chemistry.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We’ve never stopped learning about the vast Universe we live in, and a
portion of that knowledge will soon help send astronauts on the greatest
adventure of all time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The exploration of another world.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Phil</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">www.philbowie.com</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The thriller novel series <i>Guns</i>, <i>Diamondback</i>,
<i>Kllrs</i>, and <i>Deathsman</i>, set in the misty folds of the Great Smokies
and endorsed by top gun bestselling authors Lee Child, Ridley Pearson, and Stephen
Coonts, is available in print or Kindle from Amazon (Easy buy link on my website.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks
to all those who’ve reviewed the series favorably on Amazon and kindly sent notes
and e-mails. You’re much appreciated</span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-24050107980833317852021-04-05T06:08:00.000-07:002021-04-05T06:08:10.141-07:00<p> <b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Can we voyage to an alien star?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
early colonists who voyaged here in fragile craft powered only by the wind
could not have known what a mighty, complex, and advanced nation would grow
from their daring adventures. Just over a century ago, the Wright Brothers,
taking turns, powered themselves into the air in a precarious machine they crafted
of wood and cloth and wires. They, too, could not possibly have imagined what
their early ingenuity would become, with thousands of huge jet airliners
routinely winging all around the planet and men walking on the moon and astronauts
inhabiting a large orbiting space station where they carry out exotic science experiments.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such
pioneers have explored every realm of our Earth and our solar system. The next quest—the next far
horizon—is outer space and the beckoning stars. The nearest one beyond our sun
is Proxima Centauri at just over four light years away. Because light travels
at 186,000 miles per second, each light year spans six trillion miles, so
Proxima Centauri and its orbiting planetary system float 25 trillion miles from
us. That’s 25 thousand billion miles—a nearly inconceivable distance.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
there are some space pioneers, like Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, who
believe we can send a robotic probe on a voyage to Proxima Centauri and get
back photos and science data from it just 20 years after launch. To do that it
will have to accelerate to 20 percent of lightspeed (130 million mph). To achieve
that, the craft must be very small to limit its mass and, like those early
pioneers, it will rely on sail power, with systems power from an onboard atomic
battery charged by radioactive decay. The sail will be pushed not by atmospheric
currents, of course, but by laser light, a concept proven by a 2010 Japanese space
mission named IKAROS that used photons from the sun to push a sail to 890 mph.
Laser light will work even better than sunlight. Russian billionaire Yuri
Milner has generously funded research to develop and refine the necessary
technology, much of which is already within reach (consider the amazing high-quality
photos we get from our tiny smartphone lenses).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
project is called Starshot, and it’s well under way.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like
the early pioneers and the clever Wright Brothers, we probably cannot begin to
imagine what wonders Starshot will reveal to us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or
where in the Universe it will lead us over future generations.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Phil<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.philbowie.com/">www.philbowie.com</a></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Try the thriller novel series <i>Guns</i>,
<i>Diamondback</i>, <i>Kllrs</i>, and <i>Deathsman</i>, set in the misty folds
of the Great Smokies and endorsed by top gun bestselling authors Lee Child,
Ridley Pearson, and Stephen Coonts. In print or Kindle from Amazon, with an easy
buy link on my website. Thanks to all those who’ve reviewed the series
favorably on Amazon and kindly sent notes and e-mails. You’re much appreciated.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-56081252749720824122021-03-29T05:38:00.003-07:002021-03-29T05:38:52.160-07:00<p><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">What Happened Before the Big Bang?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A few centuries past, people thought the Universe was static. Then we
invented better and better telescopes and finally eccentric astronomer Edwin
Hubble found that star cities called galaxies exist, that everything out there
is moving, and that galaxies are dispersing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So cosmic theory went from static to expansive with the logical probability
that expansion ought to eventually slow down under gravitational attraction and
then contract all the way back to a singularity that might again expand into a
new Universe.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But then we discovered that the Universal rate of expansion is not
slowing at all but is instead accelerating under some strange unknown repulsive force
we're calling dark energy, posing the prospect that the Universe we know
and love is doomed to eventually cool, with star and planet formation slowing
and eventually ceasing, and the whole grand show dying.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We know our lives can't last forever and neither can our solar system
because our private star only has a finite fuel supply and is already
in middle age, having burned for 4.5 billion of our years. But to
think the whole Universe also has a finite life with only utter darkness
before and after is supremely depressing. It has been some 13.5 billion years
since the Big Bang and maybe the Universe is middle aged or more, too.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There has been a theory floating around that ours is just one of
multiple parallel universes, but this is intuitively improbable and unsupported
by any evidence whatever, lacking even credible theoretical support from
various disciplines such as astronomy, mathematics, and physics.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Leaving us with a profound question. We think we know the sad fate of our
Universe, but what happened <i>before</i> the big bang birthed it?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some highly respected scientists believe they have a good idea.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sir Roger Penrose is a genius Oxford physicist, mathematician, and philosopher.
He and several equally bright colleagues from various disciplines have
developed a promising theory they call Conformable Cyclic Cosmology or CCC,
which suggests there has been and will continue to be a <i>succession</i>
of Universes, one after the other, each growing from a singularity and eventually dissipating.
They call the whole process from birth to death an eon. Their theory says
it's possible there has been eon after eon in the past before ours and there
will be still more eons in never ending succession after ours is gone.
There is both mathematical and geometric support for this theory, and there may
even be hard evidence for it in physics. Part of the theory says that effects
lingering from the previous eon to ours should be detectable.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In 2002, a physics experiment called LIGO was set up in Hanford,
Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana. to detect gravitational waves for
fundamental studies. That has been a success. They found those waves with much
deserved exuberant celebration. The experiment, however, also picked up signals
thought to be mere noise, and this data was summarily discarded as unhelpful.
But Sir Penrose suggested they take a closer look at the noise. The Universe
has been thoroughly mapped by various means over the years and is known to have
a filamentary structure of stars connecting clusters of galaxies. Our
own Milky Way galaxy lives within a cluster called the Local Group. Here
and there within this Universal structure there are odd patches empty of stars
but filled with a mysterious magnetism. Sir Penrose suggests those areas may be
leftover ingredients from the previous eon cycle.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And that in turn suggests the good news that life itself may well
regenerate and endure.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Phil <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">www.philbowie.com</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Check out the North Carolina suspense series GUNS, DIAMONDBACK, KLLRS, and DEATHSMAN on Amazon in print or Kindle. Find easy buy links on my website. And thanks to all those who have kindly sent me e-mails and posted reviews. You're the reason I do it.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-48887851469908329692021-03-21T11:58:00.000-07:002021-03-21T11:58:18.050-07:00<p><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Where Does the ISS Get its Water?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Transporting
enough water to the International Space Station for the astronauts to drink, rehydrate
their food, keep them clean, and help them carry out science experiments would
cost billions of dollars if it all had to be rocketed up to them. So, NASA has
devised ingenious ways to recycle 90 percent of the supply they have. Their </span>perspiration<span style="font-size: 12pt;">, urine, and even their moist exhalations are captured, treated.
and stored as fresh water for reuse over and over. (The rest is sent to them in resupply ships.)</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sounds
kind of gross, doesn’t it?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But our Spaceship Earth also only has pretty much the same finite supply of water she was born with
billions of years ago. She must also carry out endless recycling of that supply.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Water
hardly ever gets destroyed. It only changes form, of course, from liquid to
vapor or solids like snow and hail and ice, which, except for permanent ancient
ice at the poles, melts with seasonal change. The liquid evaporates into clouds, leaving behind any contaminants it had carried, and the clouds then
kindly return it as a clean liquid once again.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re
all drinking water molecules that have had a complicated and often even a sordid past,
from washing cars to hosing out gutters to putting out fires to nourishing billions of plants and animals and other humans. It’s nature’s best solvent and
balm, with nearly uncountable thousands upon thousands of critical uses.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From
space, our planet looks like a beautiful water world with vast oceans far
bigger than the verdant land masses, but most of that water is salty and thus
undrinkable. Only three percent of the supply is fresh, and only just over one
percent is drinkable without further treatment. mostly because we constantly pollute
our rivers and lakes and atmosphere so badly.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
astronauts on the ISS respect their supply of water as the precious resource it is. They
know they can’t live without it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
think maybe more of us here on Spaceship Earth need to adopt that same attitude.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Phil</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><a href="http://www.philbowie.com/" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">www.philbowie.com</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Try
the thriller novel series <i>Guns</i>, <i>Diamondback</i>, <i>Kllrs</i>, and <i>Deathsman</i>,
set in the misty folds of the Great Smokies and endorsed by top gun bestselling
authors Lee Child, Ridley Pearson, and Stephen Coonts. The yarns are available in print or Kindle from
Amazon, with an easy buy link on my website. Thanks to all those who’ve
reviewed the series favorably on Amazon and kindly sent me notes and </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">emails.
You’re much appreciated.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-911268281263840904.post-81146766092911294952021-03-15T05:40:00.000-07:002021-03-15T05:40:46.117-07:00<p> <b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">It’s About Time (again)</span></b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
Like the periodic debate over whether to abolish the electoral college, which pops up
every four years just before a presidential election but is forgotten just
after the election, a debate over whether to simply keep daylight savings<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>pops up every year before the time change but
is forgotten just after the change until the next cycle. This year some states
are saying the heck with all that and are electing to keep daylight savings year
round.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This brings up a question, though. What
time is it ever, really?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
Turns out that depends on many things.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
Military people count time quite sensibly, as minutes and seconds within 24 of
our hours. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For them, 2:20 in the
afternoon is simply 1420. The rest of us are often unsure whether someone
means before or after noon when they suggest a time to rendezvous for
romance. And time is always different for all the zones around the globe,
of course. It must be confusing for those poor folks near a time zone
border who live on one side and work on the other. They could get to work
at a time before they left home, for example. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
We divide our year arbitrarily into 12 months, but what is a year? For
us, it’s one trip around our star, or about 365 days, and a day, of course, is
one earth rotation. But on Mars a year is 687 of our days, and a single
day on Venus is 243 of our days, but a day on Jupiter is only 10 of our
hours. A year on Uranus lasts over 84 of our years, on Pluto it’s 165 of
our years. Nobody on Earth can live so much as a single Pluto year even
if they drink veggie smoothies and don’t watch politicians debate or Congress
attempt to legislate something.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
It takes our star about two minutes to rise and clear the horizon; in other
words it appears to move its own diameter in 2.13 of our minutes. But on
Mars sunrise takes 1.44 of our minutes, on Mercury it’s 16.13 of our hours,
while for a maximum type-A Neptunian, it’s but 2.85 Earth-seconds. Yet of
course the sun is not really moving at all in relation to any of us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
All this was hard enough to sort out, but then along came that electric-haired
Einstein who, one of our centuries ago, told us in his relativity theory—long
since now a proven fact—that time is not a constant and is really quite unreliable
because it moves slower under increasing gravity or under increasing
speed. Near the speed of light (186,000 miles in a single one of our
Earth-seconds) time nearly brakes to a relative stop. This means that
time moves a little slower for somebody standing at our equator, zipping along
at 1,100 miles per hour as the earth rotates, than for somebody standing on the
north pole, who is only turning around in place as the earth rotates (you’d
think they’d get dizzy), but astronauts on the ISS are in an even slower relative
time frame because they’re doing 17,150 mph to keep from falling onto Disney
World or New Jersey. But wait just an Earth-minute, they’re in zero
gravity so they also experience a faster time factor. Luckily, all their
time variations don’t work out to zero or they’d never get anything done.
They’re already wasting enough of whatever their time frame is playing with
their weightless food and beverages.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
On some huge dervishing distant planet, a hundred of our years unfold while
only a single minute elapses for us. Wow. Imagine how THOSE poor
creatures would feel waiting in line at the DMV. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
And consider the geniuses who figured out how to make the GPS system
work. The satellites are speeding so their time slows down by our
Earth-based reckoning. They’re in elliptical orbits so their distances
from earth and their speeds are constantly varying too, so . . . Anyway,
those clever GPS math wizards had to accommodate half a dozen different
time-shifting gremlins just so you can find your way to the World’s Biggest
Gator Attraction somewhere in Florida before you run out of ethanoled gas.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
The next, ah, time somebody asks you the time, it’s okay if you tell them you
honestly don’t know and nobody else in the whole Universe does either.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Phil</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you're looking for an interesting way to pass some leisure time, check out the North Carolina suspense novel series <i>Guns</i>, <i>Diamondback</i>,
<i>Kllrs</i>, and <i>Deathsman</i> in print or Kindle on Amazon for some
distracting pandemic reading. And thanks to all those out there who have sent
complimentary and encouraging e-mails about the series. You’re much
appreciated. www.philbowie.com<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></p><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><p></p>Phil Bowiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12347643415763528914noreply@blogger.com0