December 30, 2020

James Cook was the first European explorer to discover Antarctica in 1774.  He immediately dismissed the land mass because the waters and ice that surrounded it, believing no one would take the time to properly discover the continent.  He wrote in his diary that even if someone did, “The world will derive no benefit from it.”  That did not dissuade the most adventurous sailors from trying to prove Cook wrong.  On Jan. 27, 1820, Fabian von Bellingshausen became the first person to spot land south of the Antarctic Circle.  Later, John Davis was the first to set foot on Antarctica, stepping onto the continent in 1821.

In 1959, 12 countries signed the Antarctic Treaty, which dedicated the whole continent to peaceful collaboration for scientific investigation.  In 1961, the treaty went into effect, and all territorial claims any country had made before that time were suspended.  In 1991, the Treaty expanded to agree not to explore for oil or other minerals for at least 50 years, or until 2048, at which point it can be revisited.  In total, there are 52 countries that have signed the treaty.  This treaty is also meant to establish Antarctica as a zone free of military operations and nuclear development.  The land It is only open for peace and international cooperation, and the treaty ensures no countries dispute who owns Antarctica.  Because of this treaty, Antarctica has never been part of a war or a site of war.

With its focus on science, research, and world peace, I was saddened to learn that the world is encroaching on the continent despite protections.  As the pandemic wracked the rest of the world, Antarctica remained the last continent without a single case recorded.  That ended on December 18, 2020.  The Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs announced, “The Chilean Antarctic Program has decided to monitor the health status of those at its stations and preform PCR tests for covid-19.”  According to the New York Times, the virus was found in 26 members of the Chilean military and 10 maintenance workers.  They have since been evacuated from the base and placed in isolation.

Thoughts:  Despite robust efforts to keep the virus out of Antarctica, the world has failed.  One of the fears for researchers is the proximity and isolation forced during the southern Hemispheres winter (our summer) when travel is impossible.  While the stations have been closed to outsiders, travel on cruise ships has restarted and is available in January 2021, boasting reduced rates (averages $2,700 per person USD).  This includes flights from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia on Cape Horn and promises “all the amenities of cruising.”  Now if I could only get to Buenos Aires.  Or perhaps I will wait a little longer.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

December 29, 2020

After the CDC asked Americans to stay at home and avoid travel over the holidays we responded in typical fashion.  As of the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, nearly 7 million travelers had gone through TSA checkpoints the previous seven days. That is up 22% from the previous week.  This compares to nearly 17 million people over the comparable seven-day period in 2019.  More than 1.19 million people flew on December 23 and 1.28 million on Sunday.  Sunday, December 27, set a record for the most people screened at TSA checkpoints since mid-March, when concerns about the spread of the coronavirus prompted stay-at-home orders and effectively stopped travel.  While flying in the sanitized air systems of a plane are seen are relatively safe, getting through the airport and allowing infected (asymptomatic) people on the plane are still problematic.

With health and government officials stressing staying home as the best way to protect yourself and others from getting sick, AAA anticipates at least a 10% drop in Thanksgiving travel, or 48 million driving.  This is the largest one-year decrease since the Great Recession in 2008.  This is also a drop from 55 million in 2019.   While driving allows you and your family to essentially quarantine in your car, you still interact with family and friends when you reach your destination.  Driving means you will only infect those you love.

During Christmas we find another surge in travel.  While AAA expects at least 34 million fewer travelers compared to last year’s holiday season, as many as 84.5 million Americans may still travel from Dec. 23 through Jan. 3, a decline in travel of at least 29%.  Travel by vehicle is faced with another challenge, car accidents.  The week between Christmas and New Years account for approximately 300 deaths annually, with 340 predicted for 2020.  This seems to be a dangerous time to travel even without the added risk of the pandemic.   Taken together, 90 million holiday travelers will head to destinations from Thanksgiving to New Years, despite the CDC’s recommendation to stay home.

Thoughts:  When I opened my paper this morning the front-page news reported what to expect for travel in 2021.  This touted the optimism of the travel industry for the coming year.  One reason given by John Thompson at the insurance company Chubb, was the, “deeply human desire to connect, to socialize and collaborate, to maintain and strengthen family bonds – those underlying attributes have not gone anywhere.”  Apparently, neither have our desire to only think of ourselves and ignore the health of those we “need” to see.  Even with the vaccine, we are preparing for the triple threat of the holiday surges.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

December 28, 2020

My subscription to Acho on YouTube gleaned me another insight as he addressed the topic of failure.  Apparently, a twitter troll had sent a screen shot of all the failures he experienced during his brief NFL career (as if he did not already know, right?).  Rather than debating his career, Acho instead looked at the list and realized these were his “favorite” failures.  Without his NFL career he would not have the opportunities he has been given.  Without his injuries and failure in the NFL he would not have moved on to accomplish what he has done over the last five years.  Failure shaped him, but it did not define him.  That is why these failures were considered his favorite.

Acho is not unique in overcoming failure to find your life’s niche.  What I have come to realize is that life is not about having a job, it is about having a purpose.  A job is something you do to make money to survive.  It is often not what you enjoy and is hopefully short term.  Every life coach and job guru I have read reminds us we need to decide what we are passionate about, and then work to create our place in that field.  This can become a career, a place where we are comfortable and enjoy working.  We need to keep looking until we find what makes us whole.  Our life’s work may change as many times as do the situations in our life.  If we follow our passion, if we follow our bliss, the end will give us a purpose.

Acho went on to describe his tenure in the NFL, including multiple injuries and getting cut five times by the same team.  Finally, he realized he had enough and decided to move on.  That meant moving into TV and it was there he found his real calling.  Being a TV sports commentator gave Acho the platform to create “how you know me, as ‘An Uncomfortable Conversation with a Black Man.”  Without his failure, he would have never gone on to find the success he now has.  Acho closed challenging his hearers, “What has been your favorite failure?”

Thoughts:  When I lost a job (failure?), I got a card from my son, Alex.  The front cover was a picture of a closed door.  Inside the card there was a picture of an opened window.  The caption read, “When life closes a door, God always opens a window.”  Alex had also written words of encouragement as I continued my search for another job.  I admit, my immediate reaction was, “Yeah, the window opened, and I fell through it to the ground.”  There are many who feel the same way now as I did then.  Being in a food line or waiting for the unemployment check is not fulfilling, regardless of what some may say.  Wanting to work is not the same as finding a job.  We need to find ways to provide everyone a purpose.  Do the work.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

December 26, 2020

I came across two articles in the newspaper last week that illustrate the disparity that exists in college athletics.  The first concerned a bill introduced by Senators Cory Booker and Richard Blumenthal that is being called the “College Athletes Bill of Rights.”  One of the key points in the bill guaranteed retention of scholarships until the athlete graduated.   While graduation rates vary between schools and sport, the NCAA asserted in 2018 nearly 90% of student athletes graduated.  What it did not say was that many of these students took five or six years to accomplish this rate, and those last years were done without scholarships.  Neither does it mention the disparity between white and black athletes, with whites graduating at a rate 16.3% higher than blacks.  That includes those who lose their scholarship due to sports injury and are then cut off from school health insurance with a pre-existing condition.

The other article looked at coaches who are losing their jobs during our covid-19 shortened season.  Schools in the FBS (Football Bowl Series) conferences are already on the hook for $75 million in contract buyouts for eight coaches and their accompanying assistants.  The SEC seems to bear the brunt of this buyout, with $21 million for firing Gus Malzahn at Auburn and $15 million for Will Muschamp at South Carolina.  Malzahn amassed a paltry 68-34 record, and only went 6-4 this season with an invitation to the Citrus Bowl.  This comes as Auburn announced revenues were down $62 million dollars.  Apparently even $62 million could not override the “poor” season for the Tigers.

While the newspaper illustrated the disparity between Coaches and student athletes, the response to the revenue shortfall has been swift by colleges across the country.  The NCAA canceled the Basketball tournament in March, along with all winter and spring sports.  Football limped through delays and postponements toward 28 bowl games, 16 fewer than last year.  The Bowls and tournaments produce a lot a revenue for leagues and individual schools.  Schools have decided to compensate for these losses by cutting programs and dropping scholarships in their non-revenue producing sports.   For many of these programs it is a savings of $1-$2 million.  Ironically, Title IX is preserving many of the women’s programs.  The 120-person football scholarships require several women’s programs to provide equality.  Maybe if you just retained your football coach there may be more money available.

Thoughts:  I walked on second semester in college and was given one of the available scholarships.  I did not think about it then, but it was no doubt available because they had dropped someone else from the scholarship roles.  While the league did not allow Spring Ball, I did take “Phys Ed” classes (through the football program) from 1-5 pm Monday through Friday.  Every team meeting the coach stressed the same thing, if you can get out of Junior College with a “C” average, you will not flunk out during your two years of eligibility at a four-year college (i.e., 1 ½ years).  The disparity between the scholarship and “job” provided by the school and the expectation to WIN clearly illustrated where the priorities were. Do the work.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

December 25, 2020

While I still enjoy the festivities around Christmas, I think what makes it special is seeing it through the eyes of a child.  My favorite memories of Christmas revolve around either my childhood or the times spent with my own son as a child.  We always had a real tree growing up and saved our ornaments and tinsel from year to year.  I recall several years that was what I gave my parents, either an ornament or a small nativity to go under the tree.  Tinsel was the big thing for my mom.  When we got old enough, we were “allowed” to help put the tinsel on the tree.  This was a laborious single strand at a time task.  After Christmas it came off the same way and was placed back in its box, ready to be used the next year.

When I had my own family, Alex and I would spend several nights preparing the tree.  We always had a real tree and would only adorn it with ornaments we made ourselves.  These involved hours of DIY projects that filled the weeks before Christmas.  One of my favorites (but tedious) was stringing popcorn and cranberries onto long ropes to be draped across the tree.  I eventually learned to tie knots in the thread so when the line inevitably broke, we did not lose the whole strand.  We also hung oranges with cloves stuck in them to produce a nice citrus/clove smell that filled the house. I remember several years we made construction paper chains of alternating red and green links.  Once Alex was in school, we had the addition of the “art” projects that hung proudly among the rest.  It was never about what the tree looked like.  It was about spending time together.

When Alex no longer lived with me, I quit decorating a tree.  I still liked the natural trees better than artificial.  The joy of decorating a tree became more like a waste of time and money without the camaraderie created by decorating together.  As I got older, I again began to decorate the inside of my house for the Christmas parties I would host.  This initially included a tree, but later I came up with an alternative, a Christmas tree cactus.  This began as a barrel cactus wrapped in a small string of lights.  I also found tiny Christmas balls to hang from the spines.  My Christmas cactus was another of the casualties with my move to Kansas.  Sadly, it did not survive the first winter. 

Thoughts:  My childhood memories are one of the things that allow me to relate so well to the tree decorating scene in, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”  As George wallows in sorrow, little Pete puts tinsel on his head.  My mom would have been aghast as he put clumps of strands on his dad’s head rather than placing them one at a time.  I hope you have good memories of Christmas’ past and are finding new ways to celebrate socially distanced this year.  Melissa and I are exploring ways to spend time with family through media even while staying apart.  I wish you all a Merry Christmas!  Change is coming and it starts with you.

December 24, 2020

I was notified on our community calendar that Santa and Mrs. Claus were scheduled to make a preview trip through our subdivision to make sure they had the route down for tonight.  Obviously, the sleigh only works on Christmas Eve, so they were forced to find alternative transportation.  In this case it was a cobalt blue roadster.  While it was not being pulled by the eight tiny reindeer (or even Rudolph), it seemed the 300 horses were doing just fine.  Since this is 2020, the ride was properly socially distanced.

Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas.  It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around 280 CE in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey.  Nicholas was greatly admired for his piety and kindness.  It is said he gave away all his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick.  One of the best-known St. Nicholas stories is the time he saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery or prostitution by their father by providing them with a dowry so that they could be married.  Over the years, Nicholas’s popularity spread, and he became known as the protector of children and sailors.  His feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6^th.  This was traditionally considered a lucky day to make large purchases or to get married.

Skipping forward 1800 years brought me to a question I have grappled with since my youth.   How does Santa make it around the world in just one night?  I immediately went to the source for such an important question.  “Although no one may ever know for sure just how Santa operates, we at HowStuffWorks have what we think are the most logical explanations for how the big guy accomplishes all that he does: science and technology.”  They went on to conclude Santa has mastered the power of Antimatter.  That means Santa has built a Stardust Antimatter Propulsion Engine.  This device would allow Santa to deliver toys around the world in one night and be back to the North Pole in time for a Christmas Day feast.  As impossible as this may sound, remember, it is always night somewhere, so Santa has a lot more time than just eight hours.

Thoughts:  The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is a military organization run by both the United States and Canada.  Its job is to monitor all possible aerial attacks coming into North America.  NORAD is also the agency that tracks Santa arriving in North America on Christmas Eve.  This began in 1955 when Sears department store mistakenly listed Santa’s phone number as the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) operations hotline.  The tradition was passed to NORAD when it formed in 1958.      You can still call, and they even provide a mobile app.  Do the work.  Follow the science?  Change is coming and it starts with you.

December 23, 2020

I was driving north toward the river earlier this week and encountered a bank of fog stretching across the road.  As I continued the fog lifted and the road was clear.  Then after crossing the river the fog returned, again lifting as I moved further from the water.  What I realized was the fog was being caused by temperature differences between the land, air, and water.  Fog develops when warm air collides with cold air and water particles are formed.  This is the same thing that causes clouds in the sky.  My fog came on either side of the river, but the temperatures were not right to allow fog on the river itself.

The Wasatch Mountains have some of the finest powder skiing in the world and there were four resorts within 45 minutes of my house.  The first year I learned to ski my Brother-in-Law came to Utah and I took him (or did he take me?) on four straight days of skiing.  He only skied black (expert) runs and not being willing to be left behind I followed.  On our last day it was so windy they closed the lift after we got to the top.  He took off and then vanished into the fog that was twenty feet below us.  I hesitated because I did not know what was beneath me.  I finally realized whatever was there, I did not have a choice.  This was the only way down.  I pointed my skis down the hill and took off into the fog.  The 15-degree slope at the top of the fog lasted about 100 yards and then sloped into a nice gradual bowl.

For the last six months we have been using a sanitizing fogger to clean our building over the weekend.  We were running low on the cans of foggers and tried for several weeks to find another supply.  We finally did and the foggers arrived a week later.  A problem was discovered when we opened the new box when the old one ran out.  These were not foggers; they were aerosol cans of disinfectant.  I only found out about the mix-up days later.  While the aerosols are not as convenient as the foggers, they contain the same ingredients and do the same job.  I was only cautious because it was different.

Thoughts:  And now, the rest of the story (ala Paul Harvey).  The fog lessened so I could at least see when I made it to the bowl.  What I saw was a dense line of trees immediately in front of me.  I was going too fast when I hit the tree line and cut too close to a large tree and got sucked into the powder drift at its base.  The drift powder blew up around me just as lighting flashed across the sky, followed by dead calm.  It was one of the most amazing sights I have ever witnessed as the light reflected through the fog.  If I had not faced my fear and ventured into the unknown, I would not have witnessed this amazing sight.  We need to do the same as we approach 2021.  The new year will not make everything magically go away, but we do not have to live in fear.  If we practice the CDC guidelines, we can still create amazing experiences.  Do the work.  Follow the science. Change is coming and it starts with you.

December 22, 2020

Yesterday I was able to witness an 800-year event in the night sky.  This was the arrival of the Christmas Star, or the proximity of Jupiter and Saturn.  While this is not actually a star, the two planets are close enough together to appear as a double-planet or as shown in my picture, a single bright light.  The term “Christmas Star” is applied because during 2020 this event happens in conjunction with the Winter Solstice and Christmas.  “Alignments between these two planets are rather rare, occurring once every 20 years or so, but this conjunction is exceptionally rare because of how close the planets will appear to one another,” says Patrick Hartigan, a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University.  “You’d have to go all the way back to just before dawn on March 4, 1226, to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in the night sky.”  Chock up another anomaly to 2020.

One of the areas I dreamed of making my expertise in graduate school was Archeoastronomy.  I searched through the libraries (there was no online way back when) and read every book and paper on the subject I could find.  Archeoastronomy is the study of how people in the past understood the phenomena in the sky, and how they used these phenomena in their cultures.  The study uses strategies from archaeology, anthropology, astronomy, statistics and probability, and history.  This worked well with my eclectic understanding of how to interpret the past (present and future?).  While people have dabbled in this field for hundreds of years, it only became recognized during the 1970’s, and still struggles to be recognized as legitimate.  Maybe that was another reason I liked it.

The winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere occurs usually on December 21st or 22nd and is traditionally observed at sundown on the 21^st. While the winter solstice itself lasts only a moment, the term generally refers to the day on which it occurs. Traditionally, the winter solstice is seen as the middle of winter, but today many calendars see it as the beginning of winter.  Since prehistory, the winter solstice has been a significant time of year and has been marked by festivals and rituals.  It marked the symbolic death and rebirth of the Sun.  The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days.  This was an important observance for people who relied on the sun to provide warmth and crops.  The solstice celebration is behind why we now celebrate Christmas at the end of December.

Thoughts:  One of my favorite stories from archeoastronomy concerns Chichen Itza in the Yucatán Peninsula.   One of the buildings was called El Caracol (‘snail’ in Spanish), because of the spiral staircase inside the tower.  This is also called the Mayan Observatory.  Several teams of astronomers and archeologists used computers to define the astronomical observations that were made possible by numerous alignments of openings in the building walls.  While I do not doubt the authenticity of many of these observations, the building was “restored” (read rebuilt) during the 1920’s.  This is another example of why as we try to prove our point, we need to understand the facts behind what we say.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

December 21, 2020

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One of the problems I have found with wearing a mask is getting it tangled in my earring.  I started wearing a pierced earring in the 1980’s.  I stopped wearing the earring when I got to Kansas.  I was walking down the hall with a friend and she gave me an odd look, then asking, “Do you have an earring?”  When I said I did, she suggested perhaps I “should not wear it here.”  When we got married, Melissa and I bought matching diamonds when we were on our honeymoon in Hawaii.  I would wear it for Melissa when we were on vacations but did not wear it other times.

I started wearing my earring in Utah and continued to wear it when I moved to California.  I was living in the Bay Area, which along with Seattle is known as a gourmet coffee center.  I was always skeptical of the coffee I was served in other areas as I had become a coffee snob.  I remember going to a local favorite Kansas restaurant of my family and asking what brand of coffee they were serving.  My aunt apologetically suggested to the waitress that “it was a California thing.”  The waitress looked at me and touching my earring said, “I bet this is a California thing as well.”  

I am sure any who wear pierced earrings (or even clip-ons) have had the same problems I have had.   The diamonds we purchased in Hawaii were inexpensive cosmetic ones.  When I retired Melissa bought me a real one to wear.  I wore it for over two years without problems.  That was before the masks.  I do not think I had gone two weeks before I took my earring off along with my mask.  I looked all over my work office but could never find a trace.  I never did find it. 

Thoughts:  After coming home from work last week I took off my mask and put it in the hamper as usual.  After lunch I went back to my office and rubbed my ear, finding the earring was gone.  I looked everywhere I had been but to no avail.  I even went so far as sweeping the floor to see if I could find it.  Again, no luck.  On Saturday Melissa was wondering what was wrong with her shoe, as it had felt uncomfortable for several days.  When she looked, she found my earring stuck in the crepe sole of the shoe.  She had been walking on it for three days.  It seems there are good reasons to be uncomfortable.  Being uncomfortable is what allowed Melissa to find my earring.  Being uncomfortable wearing a mask can help stop the spread of the virus.  Just be careful of your earrings.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

December 19, 2020

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President Elect Biden has continued to make historic selections for his cabinet positions.  Today it was reported that Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) was nominated to fill the position Secretary of the Interior, marking a turning point for the U.S. government’s relationship with the nation’s Indigenous peoples.  In selecting Haaland, a member of Pueblo of Laguna, Biden placed a descendant of the original people to populate North America atop a 171-year-old institution that has often had a troubled relationship with the nation’s 574 federally recognized tribes.  Three divisions of Interior have a tremendous impact on Indian Country, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration, which manages billions held in trust by the U.S. government.

I was able to see some of this “trouble” when I worked with the Native Tribes in Utah.   There are eight sovereign tribal governments in Utah:  Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, Navajo Nation, Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, San Juan Southern Paiute, Skull Valley Band of Goshute, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the Ute Indian Tribe.  One case that stuck out was with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.  When I was there during the 1980’s the Corps of Engineers had constructed 12 different reservoirs in the Wasatch Mountains to store and divert water to the Colorado River to be used in California.  The original agreement specified this diversion would be compensated for by building three dams to send water to the Ute Reservation.  Even as I worked on additional reservoirs to store California water, none had been built or even started for the Utes.

Haaland was born in Arizona to a Native American mother who served in the Navy and a Norwegian American father who was an active-duty Marine.  Haaland bounced between 13 public schools as the family changed military bases.  At 15, she worked at a bakery, and later attended law school with the help of student loans and food stamps, occasionally experiencing homelessness as a single mother.  Now after serving a single term in Congress, Haaland will oversee a department that manages roughly one-fifth of land in the U.S.  While New Mexico is one of the top oil-and gas-producing states, Haaland has pledged to transform the department from a champion of fossil fuel development.  Instead, the focus will be on promoting renewable energy and policies to mitigate climate change.

Thoughts:  During the 1970’s the Keep America Beautiful campaign featured Iron Eyes Cody, the actor who played an Indian shedding a tear at the sight of a littered American landscape.  This became one of television’s best-known and most-honored commercials.  Cody had roles in nearly 100 movies, including ”Sitting Bull,” ”Paleface” and ”A Man Called Horse,” as well as guest appearances on television programs like ”Bonanza,” ”Gunsmoke” and ”Rawhide.”  Hopefully Haaland will be able to shed a tear seeing an opposite landscape, free from garbage, smoke, and other pollutants.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.