Katrina, Katrina

According to the headlines I read this week, it is the tenth anniversary of the devastating hurricane named Katrina.  I am catching bits and pieces of the dialogue on TV news evoking memories of the hellacious destruction rent by that storm.  I remember the death and devastation reported from the Crescent.  For God’s sake, the New Orleans Saints had to play their home games in Houston!  Or was it San Antonio?  I forget.  But as much as Texans love football, they were praying for rain. I think the memory that stayed with me most though, was that of the climate pundits who warned that this was just a harbinger of things to come.

Another scandal, I recall, was the loss of life at nursing homes for the elderly.  Apparently the surging waters made it impossible to evacuate those most vulnerable of citizens.  No, wait a minute.  I think the staff members of those affected facilities were mostly indicted for not taking appropriate care and action to safeguard their charges.  What was that word:  Abandonment?

Katrina was marking the beginning of the end.  Sea levels would rise and within a few years our coastal cities would be underwater.  Killer storms would attack with a ferocity and frequency never before seen in history or as recorded in the geologic record.  A watery doom was knocking at our door. I’m waiting.  I’ve got my life jacket in the garage. (I take this stuff seriously, even though I live at an elevation of 1,700 ft.)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was vilified for its lack of foresight and failure to prepare the levy system for what seems, ten years later, an anomalous event.  But not to worry, the government has spent uncounted billions on preparing the Mississippi for the next storm of Katrina like proportions.  It may be a decade, or century, or millennium before we find out just how well the improvements perform.  Our emergency services motto has become, “For the Worst Case Scenario!”  (‘cause the Feds will borrow money to pay for it).

Well, as with most predictions related to the threat of global warming (I guess the scientists have agreed to stop using that language and have shifted instead to “extreme climate change”) I’m still waiting.  Hell, I’m still waiting for the next ice age they predicted on Earth Day 1970!  As I recall we had an outdoor assembly for the purpose of inculcating us into the green fold.  And what I remember of that day’s weather was the fear-driven chill I felt as the sweat rolled off my forehead into my eyes.

I spend much of my TV time allotment watching educational programming.  My favorite subject is astronomy (cosmology, astrophysics, etc.).  And most recently, there have been many shows devoted to the future viability of Earth as a life friendly biosphere.  And it’s not.  Between the constant increase in energy output from the Sun, which is the single most critical element affecting our terrestrial weather, and the weakening of our magnetosphere, which keeps the solar wind from glowing away our atmosphere (the air we breathe, no matter what the temperature is), we’re pretty much screwed survival wise.  So, yeah; I’m running my air conditioner at full speed this evening, carbon footprint be damned!

If you are wondering, “Dale, where is your usual humorous bent?  Where is the funny we’re so used to?”  Sorry, the subject matter just doesn’t support it this week.

Poop!

Yeah, you read it right.  Poop!  No, not Pooh; that’s a fictional character that has trouble dressing himself (if you don’t understand that allusion, e-mail me and I’ll explain it).

I engaged a young acquaintance of mine in conversation regarding her recent vacation.  As the sojourn was of a wilderness bent, I asked her, in hopes of generating some shock humor, if she had carried out her poop.

For the non-rustics out there, primitive camping (among other things) translates to no restroom facilities.  In my backpacking days, to answer the call to nature one dropped their backpack, grabbed their roll of toilet paper and hiked off of the trail.  Hidden behind some sort of vegetation for modesty’s sake, a hole was dug, pants were lowered, the squat position was assumed and there you go (literally).  The hiker buried the evidence as best they could and returned to the trail to continue the day’s trek.

Sometime after my retirement from backpacking, the rules were changed.  The official authority now requires that stool be packed out.  It seems that the increased interest in outdoor communion pushed the ecosystem beyond its capacity to integrate the human contribution into the soil in an efficient manner.  Testing of meadows and such demonstrated that human digestive bacteria was polluting the ground water and grazing leas.  Apparently, it is not to the deer population’s benefit to ingest feces tainted grass.

I will not share the answer that my question generated.  But I was surprised, taken aback really, that this question caused absolutely no anxiety; no nervous titter, no embarrassed blush.  In fact, we proceeded to have quite an in depth discussion of human evacuation practices and experience.  You just have to love the Millenials!

It seems that the heirs apparent to human culture skipped over the lessons on polite discourse and in so doing are rather uninhibited regarding most topics.  I am starting to understand the tattoos and body piercings.  I don’t particularly care for them, but I think I’m getting it.  Somewhere along the way, as we progressed form Boomers to X-gens to Y-gens to Millenials, the veneer of shame was stripped away and inhibitions disappeared.  The hippies of my youth (all burned out dope smokers now) were rank amateurs by comparison.

Let me make my point completely clear.  I am not criticizing the generation poised to rule the world in the coming twenty years.  Quite to the contrary, I applaud their sense of freedom.  Perhaps, with some of the walls of propriety breached, they will find the harmonies necessary for peaceful coexistence that have eluded us.  Or, maybe we won’t.

At any rate, I’m not going to live that much longer so if it turns out they chose the wrong path, I won’t be too much inconvenienced.  In the meantime, Millenials, I salute you: Just as long as you don’t poop on my grave.

   

Perseid Meteor Shower 2015

As you read this Thursday (Aug. 13, 2015) you will be saddened to learn that last night, between 11:00 PM and 4:00 AM this morning was the optimal viewing time for this year’s iteration of the Perseid meteor shower.  And this is supposed to be a banner year as the event is occurring during a new moon (not visible).  I guess that will teach you to rely on me for all things scientific.  But don’t despair; you should be able to experience a relatively satisfying observation tonight during the same time window.

Comet Swift-Tuttle

“So what causes a meteor shower?” you ask.  Well, as we perceive it, it seems like dozens, or hundreds depending on conditions, of little lights are falling from the sky.  In reality, the Earth, in its normal orbital trip around the Sun, is barging through a debris field of very small remnants of material blown off of a comet as it made its way around on its own orbital path.  In the case of the Perseid shower, the debris is from the comet Swift-Tuttle.  Swift-Tuttle was discovered independently by Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle in 1862.  It was last close enough to Earth to be visible in 1992 (I saw it.  Did you?).  As the comet nears the Sun (one orbit takes 133 years) the solar wind heats the ice enough that some of it melts and is left as a trail in the orbital path.

Every year, in its normal orbit around the Sun, the Earth crosses the Swift-Tuttle’s debris trail and the collisions between the Earth’s atmosphere and the tiny little pieces of ice (and perhaps some minerals) light up as “shooting stars” as they burn up in our atmosphere.  It is really the Earth’s trespass into the comet’s debris field that causes the light show.  This happens independent of where the comet is in its orbit.

Although the peak viewing window was last night, you will still have an opportunity to witness a fairly good show, weather conditions allowing, Thursday night/Friday morning. While you can see the meteors in any quadrant of the sky, the direction from which most will emanate is north.  The shower is named “Perseid” as it is the Perseus constellation from which they seem to be radiating.  But remember, we are running into them.  You needn’t focus solely on the radiant (apparent source) as the distribution of occurrences will be somewhat random across the sky.  The only danger is if you get dizzy form looking up and fall down.

The highest concentration of meteors will once again be between midnight and 4:00 AM.  If you have trouble finding these “shooting stars”, feel free to not call me.  I am unplugging my phone when I go to bed.

PS  The weather did not cooperate overnight, thus I saw no shooting stars... alas.  Hope you have better luck tonight.

Vegetarian and other Isms

ism [iz-uh m] n.  a distinctive doctrine, theory, system, or practice: This is the age of isms.

Vegetarianism-a lifestyle choice which eschews the eating of animal flesh.  In the extreme, also excluding all commodities containing animal sourced materials.  From an economic standpoint, this relieves price pressures on meat food products correspondent to the reduced demand.  More affordable hamburgers (pork chops, carne asada, etc.) for the rest of us.  The most common motives for this practice are improved health and/or ethical belief that cows (cats, dogs, chickens, zooplankton, etc.) are people too.  Dale’s advice:  Never trust a fat vegetarian.

Socialism-a political/economic system which emphasizes state ownership of the means of production and justifies subordination of the individual to the community, but often through democratic means.  Proponents have often experienced repeated failure within a free-market, competitive environment. This system is most frequently characterized by the redistribution of income/wealth through political means (i.e., taxes).  Dale’s advice: Conduct as much commerce as possible using hard cash.

Communism-the political theory that the individual’s actions should benefit the community or the state rather than the individual.  The system is most frequently characterized by the redistribution of everything to the ruling elite (unanimously elected, so they tell us) by the use of force (i.e., tanks). It is unclear how the system justifies its efficacy without looking to the condition of the individual (which it hasn’t) who has so graciously surrendered all control for his life to the party.  Dale’s advice: Don’t wait until the last minute, buy your guns (and associated accoutrements) before it’s too late.

Darwinism-the biology theory that all living things have descended from earlier common ancestors through processes of evolution such as natural selection.  The strongest evidence offered is the milestone transition from ape to man when proto-humans transitioned from arboreal to terran existence by literally lowering themselves out of the family tree.  The strongest argument against natural selection and survival of the fittest is an examination of the fans attending a NASCAR event.  Dale’s advice:  Don’t let your chimpanzee drive the family car.

Magnetism-the theory that oppositely charged particles are attracted to each other while similarly charged particles are repelled by each other.  Long story short; this is an argument against marriage.  Think about it… then if you are still confused, e-mail me and I’ll explain it to you.

Barbarism-the belief that marauding hordes (e.g., Mongols) spread their seed among the conquered societies therefore affecting the genetic progression of human development increasing to some degree the homogeneousness of the geographical mix.  So named barbarism for Aunt Barbara who staunchly believes she is a descendent of Genghis Khan’s jovial half-brother, Bubulla Khan (not to be confused by the featured dancer at Rowdy’s Gentlemen’s Club, Boob ala Khan).

Criticism-you stink!

Skepticism-a human reasoning faculty that allows one the ability to test reported information from a questionable source against logic.  But I don’t think it works (e.g., state of the world!)