It's Saturday Night

 

When I was anywhere from 18 years old to 35+/-, I remember how important Saturday night was to me both as a single adult as well as a married adult..  It was a time to get together with friends, eat, and consume alcohol...  I was not so much into dancing or going to clubs, so the scene we created was in someone's home.

As children came along, there were still get together where we ate and drank alcohol but they were perhaps not as rowdy as they were when we were without children.

Friday nights were reserved for all male or all female nights where the males would play poker or end up at a local bar where we would "eyeball" all the females but remain with our pals.

Sundays were always reserved FOR NOTHING SPECIAL...  just kicking back and pretty much spending the day doing nothing...  there may be a football game to watch if it was the season but most of the time, it was just a do-nothing day...  Although, as we got older there was talk of going to church and being seen by the right people...

Somewhere around the age of 35 or maybe 40, life began to change.  For me, I quit smoking, quit drinking about 98% of the time, began exercising on a regular basis, cut out eating red meat, focusing instead on fish, chicken, beans, vegetables, and fruits.  It was also a time when I actually attended church rather than just thinking about it..

When I was living with my parents K-12, it was a requirement that we attend church services every Sunday which included Sunday School.  After the church service, our parents would always take us for ice cream regardless of the outside temperature....  I never thought of it as some sort of bribe.

So, when I started attending church again, none of the sermons provided me with any new information as I had already heard them all...  in fact, many people in our Sunday School class were amazed that I knew all the stories in the Bible so well..

At 60, my life changed again with the discovery of cancer and experiencing a heart attack...  What little wine I may have drank at Christmas and other holidays was forbidden by the Oncologist...  and, my activity level suddenly reduced as I realized that there were many things that I could no longer do at least with the speed I was doing them before.

BUT, what's all this got to do with Saturday nights?

My Saturday nights changed as well.  Seldom did my wife and I get together with friends for dinner and a game of cards...  I don't know if we did not think about it or if we were too tired to think about it...  or too lazy to get cleaned up for company.

At 74, our Saturday nights are like sundays and pretty much every other day of the week as both pretty much do very little other than the general housekeeping and maintenance that has to be done.

There is no talk of getting together with any of our friends for dinner and conversation...  this inaction is further compounded by the fact that some of the spouses of our friends are deceased.

COVID hit our area a couple of years ago 2019/2020 and we have been reluctant to be out in public unless we absolutely have to.  While most of the masks mandates have been lifted, there are still places where wearing masks are required.

So...  here I am...  sitting in my living room on a Saturday without the slightest desire to do anything than what I am currently doing which is writing and posting on my blogs.

I don't think about getting together with friends...  I don't think about getting together with family - however, most of my family lives in other states.

We used to have cable and of all the 150+ channels there was really nothing we wanted to watch...  We stopped cable and just acquired a WIFI provider and subscribed to HULU, Netflix, and Amazon Prime and believe it or not, but there is really nothing on those stations that I want to watch either other than the NEWS.

SATURDAY NIGHT IS A BIG BUST FOR ME...

Weekend in the Valley

While our gasoline prices have dropped a little and are now hovering just above $4/gallon, they are still twice what they normally would have been.

I mow our backyard every Friday with the riding lawn mower and set the blade down to 2.5 which is rather low and may cut the grass too low in areas but it keeps everything growing at the same rate.  Some areas, the grass clippings are so plentiful that I  remow those areas at a setting of 3.0 or 3.5 for the sole purpose of spreading the cuttings around so that they cannot be easily seen.

Yesterday, my wife asked why I did not do that since it makes the yard look "nicer" and I replied to save gasoline...

Now, while this may not mean much to you, we try to maintain a NEAT appearance outside, even though many of our neighbors don't agree with us...  cutting the grass is just cutting the grass and how the lawn looks afterward is just part of that.

We treat our vehicles the same way so that after 7 years of ownership on these last two, 2015 Venza and Lexus, they look brand new inside.  We also follow the manufacturer's guide to servicing as well...  every 30,000 miles...  Typically, we drive about 7,000 miles a year so that works out to somewhere between every 4-5 years.

I just had both vehicles serviced at Toyota, the Venza was $500 and should have been $300 but I had my navigation updated after 7 years and the Lexus was a little more because it needed a water pump which was unusual since there was substantially less than 100,000.

Our plans are to keep these two vehicles for another 5 years and then maybe purchase one electric vehicle...  but, we are going to wait and see how that plays out...  especially as they work the bugs out of these EVs and have built enough charging stations to service properly.

While the rush to going green is moving faster than anticipated, it is nonetheless here and we simply must embrace its presence.  However, it becomes increasingly clear that EV ownership will not save us any money at all.

If fact, it could take about another decade before we EARN BACK all the money that we recently lost in the stock market...  and then, inflation will keep us down at the level we were at before the Biden Administration took office.

It may sound like a conspiracy but the keeps the average America from really getting financially ahead so that we never really challenge the wealthy people...

BUT...  this is just my opinion.

Our Electric Vehicle Future

In 2016, I purchased a 2015 Venza that had 7,000 miles and brand-new tires for about $12,000 less than what a 2016 Venza would have cost.  This car was almost brand new.

I finally replaced the original battery and put a new set of tires on the vehicle after almost 7 years of driving on the ones that came with the purchase.  I figure these tires will last a good five years since I only average about 7,000 miles a year now.

In 5 years, I will be 80 years old, my wife will be 75 and we will take our two cars (2015) and sell them for whatever we can get for them and invest in an all-electric vehicle...  At 80/75, I doubt that we will be driving all that much.  However, for comfort in driving and ease of access, that all-electric vehicle will have to be an SUV.

As I understand it, there are 3 levels of charging:

Level 1 that uses household current (a three-prong plug) and takes a good 24 hours to fully charge.

Level 2 can be installed in the home but typically this will be the commercial version that will be available to the public.  Depending upon the capacity of your battery, this could take an hour to fully charge an EV.

Level 3 is super fast and probably will not be available to the general public for a while.

One issue about EVs is the size of the battery.  The larger the battery the farther the EV can travel and that sorta makes sense...  but, the weather is an issue, the speed is an issue, and the load inside the car is an issue for all batteries.

Batteries are measured in KWH...  and right now vary in size from 60 KWH to 100 KWH and a 200 KWH is expected in the near future.  Some experts say don't charge 100% all the time, even though there is the mindset to do just that.  Batteries are expected to last a good 10 years before they need replacing.  

What is also curious is that over time (and the more the battery is charged) there is a loss of distance capability...  In other words, if your car has a range of 350 miles, then the more you drive it, the more your range will also drop so that in 5 years, your range may only be 325 or 300.

Depending on the KWH of your battery and if you are at a level 2 charging station, it may take you 60 minutes to fully recharge and the cost of that electricity could be $30-$50 which is not much different than a current tank of gasoline.  If you don't have that larger capacity, then your charging time is going to be well over an hour.

My concern is that there are not enough charging stations to take care of everyone's needs...  and, companies are not going to build charging stations until they know there are sufficient customers to use them.  

So, the EV driver is going to experience a little pain at first unless their driving distances are short and just around town...  long distance journies are going to be a challenge...  especially if you have to wait for a free charger and then your charge takes over an hour.

Additionally, do we currently have the electric power capacity to power all these vehicles?

Maybe we need to look into hydrogen vehicles...

Learning From An Animal

About two months ago, our Siamese cat who is very nervous and cautious and quick to move was outside and damaged one of his eyes that the vet said may or may not survive the trauma.  Unfortunately, it did not, so our Siamese moves around with one eye shut most of the time.

What I find amazing is that the loss of an eye does not prevent our Siamese cat from acting the way it did before the accident...  playing with a string, chasing the other cats around the house, and wanting attention.  In other words, the cat does not act like anything has happened at all to its physical appearance.

I recently had back surgery that has caused me not to be able to move or walk like I used to and it may be 6-18 months before I get back to normal...  

What do I do?

I sit around pissing and moaning because my life is different and is no longer like it used to be and I worry that I will never get back to normal.

My Siamese cat would not act like that...

How long did it take me to realize that and can I maintain that level of understanding?

It has been six weeks since the operation...

But,

• I mow the lawn as best as I can.
• I drive the car as best as I can.
• I take out the garbage as best as I can.
• I stand at the stove and cook as best as I can.

Now, I find out that I may have bursitis in my left hip which often happens after this kind of back surgery...

I will manage with bursitis and I will not complain...  and if I cannot do something then I cannot do something...  If I cannot walk for a day or two...  then I don't walk...  I will do what I can do as best as I can do it and not bitch about the results or the limitations...

I am just as good as my Siamese cat when it comes to this stuff.

Wild Cat

 

MIT: Building with Biology

Ritu Raman leads the Raman Lab, where she creates adaptive biological materials for applications in medicine and machines.

It seems that Ritu Raman was born with an aptitude for engineering. You may say it is in her blood since her mother is a chemical engineer, her father is a mechanical engineer, and her grandfather is a civil engineer. Throughout her childhood, she repeatedly witnessed firsthand the beneficial impact that engineering careers could have on communities. 

In fact, watching her parents build communication towers to connect the rural villages of Kenya to the global infrastructure is one of her earliest memories. She still vividly remembers the excitement she felt watching the emergence of a physical manifestation of innovation that would have a long-lasting positive impact on the community.

Raman is “a mechanical engineer through and through,” as she puts it. She earned her BS, MS, and PhD in mechanical engineering. Her postdoctoral work at MIT was supported by a L’Oréal USA for Women in Science Fellowship and a Ford Foundation Fellowship from the National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine.

Today, Ritu Raman leads the Raman Lab and is an assistant professor in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. However, she is not constrained by traditional ideas of what mechanical engineers should be building or the materials typically associated with the field.

 “As a mechanical engineer, I’ve pushed back against the idea that people in my field only build cars and rockets from metals, polymers, and ceramics. I’m interested in building with biology, with living cells,” she says.  READ MORE...

Through the Woods

 

Gates Foundation: Zero Benefits from Alcohol

People under the age of 40 start risking their health if they consume any more than two teaspoons of wine or two and a half tablespoons of beer per day, a new study suggests.

The analysis—part of the wider Global Burden of Disease study—was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and published in The Lancet medical journal on Thursday.

It found that for young adults between the ages of 15 and 39, there were zero health benefits—only risks—associated with drinking alcohol.

Globally, almost 60% of people who consumed unsafe amounts of alcohol in 2020 fell into this age bracket, according to the findings.


Researchers said that for people aged between 15 and 39, the recommended amount of alcohol that could be consumed before risking their health was “a little more than one-tenth of a standard drink.”

They defined a standard drink as 3.4 fluid ounces of red wine or 12 fluid ounces of beer.

By this definition, the study’s findings suggested that alcohol stops being “safe” to consume for under-40s after around two teaspoons of red wine or two and a half tablespoons of beer.

The Global Burden of Disease study is massive in scope. It has been ongoing since 1990 and uses data from 204 countries and territories, and is described in the Lancet as "the most comprehensive effort to date to understand the changing health challenges around the world."

But the young-adult side of this isn't the whole story.

'Benefits' of drinking alcohol

While the study warned that drinking only led to health risks for younger generations, the GBD research team found that for people over the age of 40 with no underlying health problems, consuming a small amount of alcohol each day could provide some health benefits.  READ MORE...

Shopping Cart

 

What to Buy at Disney World

I worked in merchandising at Disney World, and I have an annual pass.  Casey Clark

I never buy water bottles because I always bring my own.
If you're on vacation and want to spend $3.50 on a bottle of water, be my guest. But I never buy water at the parks.

It's a waste of money, especially because you're allowed to bring your own bottles in.

The old trick of the trade is to ask for a water cup at any quick-service location, but, frankly, I don't like the taste of that water. Instead, I purchase a few cases of water on my way from the airport and carry them around the parks in a backpack.

It saves me money and keeps me hydrated in the Florida heat.



You won't catch me spending nearly $40 on M&M's.
I'm usually one to justify spending an exorbitant amount of money on anything shaped like Mickey Mouse. But M&M's is where I draw the line.

I was walking through the Main Street Confectionery in Magic Kingdom one day and came across M&M's in a Minnie Mouse container for $39.99.

The price is outrageous, and they're destined to melt in the Florida heat before you can even eat them.

You're better off getting some candy at a gas station on your way home.  READ MORE...

Dog & Toy

 

Our Above Ground Pool

The circumference of my above-ground pool is such that I must complete 75 revolutions in order to walk a mile...  now obviously, there is a slight difference between walking on the inside perimeter of the pool or walking on the outside...  albeit inches...  so, 40 inside laps should compensate for that discrepancy.

Ordinarily, I would not care about any of this, but I have found that walking in the water is much better on my back than walking on the asphalt neighborhood streets.  Plus the pool floor is relatively level whereas the neighborhood streets incline and decline.

Walking on the neighborhood streets requires a walking stick whereas walking in the water requires no assistance at all.

Our pool water has been 84/85 degrees because of all the warm and humid weather but last night a storm blew through dumping an inch or more of water, bringing down the temperature of the water by 4 degrees.  Colder water affects me more than when I was younger, so it took me a while to lower myself into the pool, but once I was there, the water temp did not bother me at all.

As one moves around the pool, the movement of water moves in the same direction that one is walking...  so, if one wants to strengthen the leg muscles, then all one has to do is start walking in the other direction...  there is a slight burn in the legs as the muscles strain against the water.

One can also move one's arms back and forth through the water, to strengthen the shoulder muscles...  also good when one reverses direction as well.

Sometimes, I exaggerate my steps reaching my leg out as far as it can reach as I take each new step, hoping that the action allow muscles to stretch out in different directions...  I have no idea if this helps or not but I do it anyway.

My wife holds onto the sides of the pool and lets her body float out being her, then moves her feet up and down as if she is swimming to strengthen her thighs and shoulders.

Our above-ground pool is not just something that we use for recreation or to cool off but we use it quite extensively to exercise, especially as we both get older.

Installing an above-ground pool is a lot cheaper than putting in a conventional below-ground pool.  And, if you take care of the pool, it will last a long time.  Our pool is over 12 years old and we have never replaced the liner.  We have repaired the pump a couple of times.  We replace our pool cover every 2 years as a new cover is cheaper than buying all the chemicals one needs to balance it again if the cover leaks and dirt seeps inside.

You don't have to spend a lot of money to enjoy yourself...

What a Day for a Daydream...

 At least once a month, I get out a piece and paper and a pencil and recalculate our finances to make sure that they have not changed any since last month...  Of course, they have not changed, you idiot...  I tell myself, but I do it anyway just to make sure...

What I calculate is this...

if I were to die today and my wife lived another 30 years (or until she was 100 years of age) do we have enough money saved for all of her bills to be paid for that long?

Last month the answer was YES...  the month before that the answer was YES as well as the month before that; however, I perform those calculations every month just to ensure nothing has changed.

I take my responsibilities seriously and each day it seems that something goes on with my body that makes me wonder just how long will I continue to live.

Sometimes, it is my back and somedays it is my knees and every once in a while, it is my hips that want to aggravate me...  and, this is when I feel the most vulnerable...  but, the fact remains that I walk 1.5 miles a day and I sleep 8 hours each night and I eat as healthy as I can and my cholesterol is still under 100.

My mother lived to almost age 96 and I keep telling myself that despite my cancer, and my heart, I am going to live longer than she did...  but, I don't care if that is true or not because of the life I have lived so far has been the exact kind of life that I wanted to live...  there are no regrets and no desire for a DO OVER...  it is what it is...  and, I am glad that it was...

I would not have been very good at being wealthy or financially well off, because that would have made me cocky and egotistical...  and I would have bought stuff for people because I could.   It feels good to GIVE...

I would have spent all the money on travel more than likely and expensive cars...  but not on clothes...   I like jeans, t-shirts, sandals, and thin leather jackets...

If I had that kind of money, I would fly to Paris on the weekend just for a banquette and some French cheese to eat while I drink red wine.  How silly would that be?  Or, maybe to London for some fish and chips and a warm beer...  although, I really have not gotten used to warm beer.

NO...  it is best that I don't have much money or just enough as that is the lifestyle that works best for me...  I enjoy daydreaming of all sorts of possibilities that I know I will never live...  but, right now that is what pleases me...  and I do that with a diet Pepsi and cheese thins.

The Nature of Life

Existentialism is the belief that our lives have no inherent meaning or purpose, but rather it is the purpose we create for our lives that gives them a sense of meaning. This meaning is only present in our consciousness however, the universe, or god, doesn't care what you're doing.

Nihilistic means rejecting all religious and moral principles in the belief that life is meaningless.

Similar but different views of our lives here on earth from a purpose/meaning point of view...  the former believes that we give ourselves purpose and the latter believes that we have no purpose at all...

Don McLean, the 74-year-old singer best known for his 1971 hit "American Pie," says he is not impressed with the music of today.

The singer-songwriter believes times have certainly changed since his early days in the music industry, and he's claiming there is no longer music of substance when he turns on the radio.

"The music doesn't mean anything. The music reflects the spiritual nature of the society. We have a kind of a nihilistic society now," McLean told the host. "No one believes in anything, no one likes anything, no one has any respect for anything much. The music shows that."

When I was in college pursuing an English degree, I got heavily involved with Existentialism...  and, I still believe that the world does not care about anything but its own survival and continued existence.  If we are going to find purpose and meaning in life, we are not going to find it in the lyrics of the music like we did in the 60s and 70s but we are going to find it if we give ourselves purpose and meaning.

We can no longer identify with what we had or what we want or what we would like to have, we must look at TODAY and realize that our purpose and meaning is what we do TODAY...   how we treat ourselves, how we treat others, what we believe or don't believe...  all revolves around TODAY.

And, another aspect of this TODAY concept is that we cannot expect or demand that others make us happy... or provide us with joy...  that can only be done by ourselves and for ourselves.  We must learn, one way or another, that it is up to us and only us, to provide ourselves with what we need.

Life is individual...  we are born individually (even twins) and we die individually (no one dies for us) so we must live the same way.  We can share our lives but we cannot expect that the sharing will make us happy...  the purpose and meaning that we give to live and to ourselves is what makes us happy...

Sometimes, it is a difficult lesson to learn...

Fire & Smoke

 

Leonardo da Vinci's Anatomy Drawings

The veins and muscles of the arm drawn by Leonardo da Vinci. 

Photograph: Royal Collection Trust

Leonardo da Vinci’s notes on human anatomy remained largely forgotten until the mid-18th century when the Scottish anatomist William Hunter learned of them in the royal collection. A new exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland, called Anatomy: A Matter of Death and Life, brings some of these drawings together with a variety of objects and artwork from the Scottish Enlightenment to illuminate the frequently tense relationship between the furthering of anatomical knowledge, and the need of early anatomists to procure dead bodies.

Leonardo got around the problem by working with elite patrons and by assisting an academic professor of anatomy; later Dutch and Scottish anatomists often had to pull bodies from gibbets and graveyards. Modern medicine, the art of postponing death, is built on a foundation of this grave robbery, but had its origins in a more collaborative, consensual attitude typified by Leonardo.

It’s an approach that has now returned: the exhibition closes with a moving series of videos from Edinburgh’s current professor of anatomy, a medical student and a member of the public, each explaining the vital role of bequests by people who leave their body to medical science.

Some of this history is unavoidably grisly: the exhibition resurrects the story of Burke and Hare, two Irishmen of Edinburgh who obtained bodies for the anatomist Robert Knox through the simple expedient of murdering them.

Burke’s fate was to be anatomised: on my way to tutorials in Edinburgh’s medical school I used to pass his skeleton, and it was a surprise to see it across the road in the museum. Burke’s signed confession has been loaned from the New York Academy of Medicine, and some detective work has unearthed details of the lives of his victims.

There is Johan Zoffany’s painting of William Hunter lecturing, and from Amsterdam, Cornelis Troost’s three-metre The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Willem Röell – more ghoulish (and more accurate) than Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, painted almost 100 years earlier.

One particularly striking exhibit is an early 19th-century petition, signed by 248 medical students, asking for bodies to be made available to them through legal means.  READ MORE...

The Wave

 

Solar Storm Hitting Earth

It has been a busy time for solar activity. Back in March of 2022, Earth was hit by separate geomagnetic storms, according to government weather agencies in the U.S. and the U.K.

Though the geomagnetic storms likely didn't cause any harm, they brought into focus the potential harm that could come from more powerful storms in the future.

Then earlier this month, a G1-class geomagnetic storm hit the Earth, causing bright auroras over Canada. The only problem is that nobody saw this storm coming until it was quite late.

Five days ago, a giant sunspot and filaments on the solar surface had astronomers worried about possible Earth-directed solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that could lead to blackouts.

Finally, on Friday, it was reported that a massive solar flare had erupted from the Sun, which could see radio blackouts in many parts of the world.

A "direct hit" from a solar storm
Now, on Saturday, Dr. Tamitha Skov, known as the "Space Weather Woman," predicted a "direct hit" from a solar storm to take place on Tuesday. She took to social media to share the news along with a NASA prediction model video.

Skov is a research scientist at the federally funded Aerospace Corporation and an award-winning science educator on social media.

"Direct Hit!" she wrote on Twitter. "A snake-like filament launched as a big solar storm while in the Earth-strike zone."

"NASA predicts impact early July 19. Strong Aurora shows possible with this one, deep into mid-latitudes," she explained, adding that there could be disruption to GPS and amateur radio.  READ MORE...

Jumping into Water

 

The Ancient Druids

Most of what we know about the Iron Age druids comes from Roman sources, describing a learned class of priests, teachers and judges, who performed Druidic rites in forest clearings and offered human sacrifices to the gods.

The most detailed description dates from around 50 BC in the Commentarii de Bello Gallico, a first-hand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative by Julius Caesar. Most of the text is based on the hearsay of others and is regarded as anachronistic, drawing on earlier accounts by writers such as Posidonius.

Caesar’s depiction of the Druids is documented in book six, chapters 13, 14 and 16–18, where he discusses how the Druids are “engaged in all things sacred, conduct the public and the private sacrifices, and interpret all matters of religion.” They are the arbiters of disputes and are the judiciary over crimes.

Anyone who disobeyed their decree would be barred from sacrifice (considered the gravest of punishments) and shunned, with all persons forbidden to speak or engage with them in society, lest they themselves “receive some evil from their contact”.

According to Caesar, the Druids are ruled over by an elite figure who “possesses supreme authority among them”. Unless a worthy candidate can be found upon this person’s death, those with a “pre-eminent in dignity” can put their candidacy forward for election, although this sometimes resorted to armed violence between candidates to solidify their position.

They studied ancient verse, natural philosophy, astronomy, and the lore of the gods, some spending as much as 20 years in training. This was through oral tradition and verses, with writing considered unlawful to prevent their doctrines being divulged among the people.

In Chapter 16, Caesar comments: “The nation of all the Gauls is extremely devoted to superstitious rites; and on that account they who are troubled with unusually severe diseases, and they who are engaged in battles and dangers, either sacrifice men as victims, or vow that they will sacrifice them, and employ the Druids as the performers of those sacrifices”.  READ MORE...