BLIPS IN THE COSMOS

DARWIN DAY IS AROUND THE CORNER

2012-01-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

Charles Darwin Day (Feb 13) is upon us again. I have a previous post regarding Charles Darwin, and I have little to add to that commentary today..

In this country some citizens, including a few congressmen, have religious belief in divine creation, or intelligent design as it is sometimes called, (their belief is fine with me), and they would like to see creationism taught as legitimate science in our public schools (this is not so fine with me.)

In contrast, I was recently in London and visited the British Museum of Natural History, which is essentially a monument to Darwin. It even has a full-sized statue of the man in a prominent position of the main hall. The quintessential homage a country can give to a citizen however is to place his/her image on their money so that it is seen by millions every day, and that is what England did with their 10 Pound Sterling banknote (and this is fine with me.)


Darwin, seen on the stair landing at the far back of the hall, oversees the collections of the British Museum of Natural History (click to enlarge.)

Charles Darwin

Lost in thought?

Darwin on the Ten Pound Note

Julian Barnes: Non-Linear Novelist

2012-01-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

Flaubert's Parrot was my fortuitous introduction to the novels of Julian Barnes. It's unconventional structure as narrative/fictional biography with multiple voices and non-linear chronology somehow held together to illuminate Flaubert's philosophy as it relates to the protagonist's inward struggles.

Oxford educated Julian Barnes was raised by academic parents (French Professors) and his brother, Jonathan, is a widely respected academic in ancient philosophies, so the introspective nature of Julian's prime characters follows in a natural, almost family sense.

Critics are generally effusive, and his novels have garnered big-time awards, but some might wince at the occasional vivid inclusion of some of the baser human language, thoughts, and acts which Barnes occasionally presents seamlessly, if bluntly, and more in some books than others. ("Filth" and "disgusting" have been used in some of the individual Amazon reviews of his books.) Women in his novels are mostly present as a foil for the male character, and while these women are complex and challenging, they are not often treated with great sympathy (but then neither is the central character).

Two of his more recent novels (Nothing to be Frightened of, and The Sense of an Ending) deal with a protagonist that is aging and unavoidably ponders the changing nature of life, and reflecting on how he (Julian himself?) came to be what he is. This might seem to be morbid, but comes across, at least to myself, as a process that we all tend to endure as our past life becomes longer than our future life. Julian and I are roughly the same age, so it is natural that I find some comradeship when he writes of being old, and how your thinking changes; "It strikes me that this may be one of the differences between youth and age: when we are young, we invent different futures for ourselves; when we are old, we invent different past for others."

Nothing to be Frightened of is not really about dying, nor is The Sense of an Ending about death, but I do think you need to be approaching or past Medicare age, as am I, to really appreciate either.

J & B - a 2011 Review

2011-12-12T16:53:00.000-07:00

John & Barbara

Christmas 2011

Hint - click on any picture to enlarge it

Rather Sporadic, like our life, but here is a note of the clan happenings lately. It would be easy if we could just say we worked, hung around the home, and read a few books, but fortunately we were able to get around a bit again this year.

In January Barbara left ahead of John for Palm springs, doing a “ricochet” road trip with Joanne, one of her girl friends. We departed the desert early this year for purpose; a March wedding! Karen and Brian were wed in a beautiful ceremony (and rocking reception) in Tucson in late March. It was a formal wedding, but with a notable lack of stress and abundance of fun. After the honeymoon, Karen, now a board-certified psychiatrist, is back in her practice and Brian has taken advantage of an opportunity to expand his law practice. They have all the paperwork in place for adoption and hope to be parents very soon.

June found us on the way to England, Norway, and Denmark with Dale and Ann Roberson to see the fjords and Some of Dale's family. We started in London, where Barbara And John had lunches with English friends, both old and recent. Barbara, as usual, uncovered things off the beaten path, this time a Victorian operating theater (pre-anesthesia and pre-antisepsis) for the Guys Hospital women's wards that had been closed off for construction, forgotten about, and then discovered as a veritable time capsule more than a hundred years later.

We then embarked for a cruise along Scotland , the Norwegian fjords, Bergen, and Oslo, winding up with a few days in Copenhagen. Barbara again searched the side streets, leading us to a Leper Hospital in Bergen from the 1700's and an old medical school and hospital in Copenhagen that contained a remarkable collection of the very earliest X-ray equipment.

On the shore day in Flam, the Floyds and Robersons rented a car and spent the day visiting with Dale's family and touring the family farm and homes and the wonderful, old church. To add a bit of excitement, we left the family at the last minute, drove like mad ( including a ferry connection and the longest automobile tunnel in the world), and made it back to the ship just as they were raising the gangplank. Participating in Dale's family connection was the highlight of the trip.

In July, John drove our motorhome as the support vehicle for Matt (John) and two of his friends on RAGBRAI as the boys (and 10 or 20 thousand others) did the annual bike ride across Iowa from the Missouri to the Mississippi. Fun (and air conditioning) for all. While Matt was conditioning for RAGBRAI, Rachael was in Portland training for half-marathons (challenged by her mom, who travels to Portland for the races.) M & R seem to be thriving in Portland (great city!)

Anne is back in School in Phoenix and will soon join her siblings as college graduates. She is on the Dean's List! RC continues to work in what in Phoenix is a very challenging real estate business. They drove to Estes Park in August, joining Matt, Rachael, Karen, and Brian so all could celebrate with us our 40^th wedding anniversary . . . the best present we could have.

We were in Estes Park for much of the Fall (with John commuting of course.) It remains a remarkable place. This year we had a mother bobcat park her 3 kittens in a tree next to our deck for the afternoon and evening; pictures ended up in the local paper. We had a visit from Barbara's cousin Steve and wife Janet and a couple of visits with John”s cousin John and wife Donnice who live in Fort Collins. It was a great opportunity to stay in touch with our many friends in Estes Park, many whom are neighbors on our street.

In early November, we combined taking the RV to California with a trip to Green Valley, AZ for

a weekend celebrating Tom and Elaine Ferguson's 50^th wedding anniversary – what a party! It was also a chance to see friends from our old gourmet club.

We did a slight twist on our annual visit to Chicago for the big radiology meeting the week after Thanksgiving by not using an hotel, but staying in a condo (owned by a friend of a friend) a block from Water Tower. Chicago has long been our favorite city for downtown living/visiting, though we must say that now we are getting to know Portland, OR, it too has a great downtown.

We will be heading back to Estes Park for Christmas and New Years, and be joined there by Matt/Rachael and Karen/Brian. Ann and RC might or might not be there because of medical issues with his family in Cedar Rapids.

Barbara keeps adding to the family history, with research here and there across the country. In addition to working in the Newberry library in Chicago, she “discovered” one of the best genealogy libraries in the country in Fort Wayne, IN, and combined a visit there with a trip to attend a memorial for Bill Wilson, her aunt's husband, in Princeton, IN. Barbara also continues to hone her jewelry making skills. This year she moved from student to teacher, leading two classes in chain maille at a local shop here in Cedar Rapids.

John still enjoys his practice, and has committed to working through 2012. Next summer he will decide about 2013. He relishes those days without the alarm clock going off, and could learn to live that way all the time.

We wish all of our friends and family the best for the coming year. We cherish each and all of you and we are thankful we have you in our lives.

(Winter Holidays in Estes Park
from our bedroom window. )

John & Barbara

***

Rationing Health Care: good or bad it's necessary

2011-12-03T23:18:00.001-07:00

Book Cover

"Pricing Life" by Peter Ubel

The USA is going to have to decide what to do about the rampant acceleration in the cost of health care on a national basis, and I am fearful that, lacking the knowledge and courage to do it correctly, the government will simply continue cutting payments across the board to doctors and hospitals, encourage the use of cheaper but less effective care, and continue to ignore the growing tens of millions of citizens without health care insurance.

PRICING LIFE is one of the few books to use the "R" word (rationing) even though we are already rationing care in this country; just doing it irrationally. My daughter, K put me onto this book almost a decade ago, and it is every bit as valid today as when it was published in 2001.

Ubel reviews the many ways rationing has been attempted (with noteworthy experiments in Oregon that were well conceived but still unsuccessful), including prioritizing with cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) and cost-benefit analysis (CBA) as means to determine the utility of different medical treatments in adding a quality year of life (QALY.) He comes to the conclusion that these efforts have failed because they don't reflect all community values and only address the average patient. He contends that only by primary physicians limiting use of and access to marginally beneficial care can substantial reductions in medical utilization and cost be achieved. He discusses the way physicians are already rationing care by the use of situational examples.

Ubel also talks about the "Moral Hazard" of insurance, even when individually purchased. This is a phenomena well known by waiters in high priced restaurants. When there is no splitting of the check, the overall bill will invariably be higher than if individual checks are given. When Bill is dining with 5 other friends at an expensive restaurant, he is more likely to order his third expensive scotch after dinner since he will be responsible only for $10 (1/6) of the actual $60 cost of his three drinks, while Mary may have the fancy desert she thinks is overpriced and would not otherwise order, but because she sees Bill having all that expensive Scotch she also wants to get her own "fair share."

This same process acts with insurance, especially when employer or government provided. If your doctor says there is a test that cost $500 to detect a rare disease that you have only a 1 in 10,000 chance of having, you will probably decline to have the test if you have to pay the $500 out of your own pocket. However, if covered by insurance and you only have to pay $10 to have the test, you are far more likely to ask you doctor to go ahead with the test. Thus the "moral hazard" of medical insurance works just like the expensive dinner with a single check.

I do think there is an important component missing in Ubel's book, and it is perhaps because his experience is as a government-employed VA doctor, and because the "business" of medicine has increased in dominance since the '90s when he wrote the book. I know of no hospital that does not operate on a profit basis; especially a "non-profit" hospital that is in competition with another non-profit in the same community.

As I have commented earlier, medical groups are also operating on the profit model. Urologists buy a complete radiation therapy installation, since there is much more to be made from the technical fee for a course of radiation therapy for prostate cancer than from a surgical fee for a prostatectomy. Orthopedic surgeons install MR scanners in their office and make more money from sending patients to the MR than they would ever make from consultations and examinations in their clinic. Ditto for Cardiologist, oncologists, etc. etc. The financial incentives for over-utilization are tremendous.

I see nothing in the behavior of our government members to suggest that they possess the moral fiber to tackle and solve the health care cost and availability problem anytime in the near future. Only when a crisis brings a consensus in the citizenry that we must accept some degree of rational rationing, and we make it clear to congress and the President that we are willing to accept a fair and rational national health care policy for all our citizens will there be any chance at all to alter the path we are currently on to a complete implosion of health care in the USA.

THE REVIVAL OF ANCIENT MATERIALISM

2011-11-19T18:45:00.001-07:00

Epicurism: The pursuit of sensory pleasure.

Epicureanism: The natural and moral philosophy of Epicurus.

The Nature of Things: The magnificent poem by Lucretius presenting the philosophy of Epicurus

It has been my intention over the past 10-15 years to become better informed in the Greek Philosophers. Naively, I started with the names with which I was most familiar; Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. It was difficult reading, and I tended to lay the books aside, because I just wasn't getting much satisfaction.

I had another chance to try some heavy, but in this case wonderfully rewarding, reading over the past two months after listening to an NPR talk show discussing a poem by Lucretius, The Nature of Things. It seemed this poem described things made of atoms flying around largely empty space and a world in which the pursuit of happiness occurred within a moral philosophy of humanistic concern.

- De Rerum Natura (The Nature of Things) by Titus Lucretius Carus - Translated by A. E. Stallings

- Epicureanism at the Origins of Modernity by Catherine Wilson

- The Swerve: How the World became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt

There are no primary documents left to us by Epicurus (Greek, 341-270 B.C.E). Most of the contemporary writing from his time is that of other philosophers,and most were critical of Epicureanism. Diogenes did summarize Epicureanism in his review of Greek philosophers. Epicureanism was incompatible with any of the cults of the Greek or Roman gods, and was later considered by the Christians to be heretical.

There is a singular record of his teaching written around 60-50 B.C.E. by an Epicurean student and Roman Citizen, Lucretius, in the form of a poem. Oh, but what a poem. More than 7,000 lines, no characters and no story, but perhaps the most beautiful presentation of thought ever recorded. (Try the poem's 4th book for maybe the most intense description of human physical love you will ever read.) Lucretius said by placing a rim of honey (his poetry) around the rim of the glass, one would be more likely to drink the contents which otherwise seemed strange or even unpalatable.

However, it is not the shear beauty of the poetry that overwhelms me, but the incredible insight into nature provided by the Epicurean philosophy. His prescient concept of a world made of atoms and empty space preceded "modern" science by almost two thousand years, and was the basis for the science of Newton, Galileo, and others. He suggested the basis for evolution long before Darwin and even discussed a "probability" of particle movement and location, hinting at the "new" science of quantum physics. There is an excellent summary (and drawing of Lucretius) in this New Yorker article.

In Epicurean morals, pain is an unqualified evil. Because death is the end for each sentient being, we should enjoy ourselves to the extent that our enjoyment of present pleasures does not diminish the quantity of pleasure we can enjoy in the future, to the extent that our present enjoyments do not destroy health, bring down the wrath or contempt of others upon us, or subject us to the torments of guilt and regret. Moral wisdom consists not in ascetic practice, but in prudence and foresight, for experience of mankind assures us that moderation and avoidance of dissipation tend to make for a less painful life.

Thomas Jefferson had 5 Latin editions of The Nature of Things, and one each in French, Italian, and English. He wrote to a friend "I too am an Epicurean." It is no surprise that the Declaration of Independence speaks of the right to "the pursuit of happiness." In a letter to William Short Jefferson writes:

"I take the liberty of observing that you are not a true disciple ofour master Epicurus, in indulging the indolence to which you say you areyielding. One of his canons, you know, was that "that indulgence whichprevents a greater pleasure, or produces a greater pain, is to be avoided."Your love of repose will lead, in its progress, to a suspension of healthyexercise, a relaxation of mind, an indifference to everything around you,and finally to a debility of body, and hebetude of mind, the farthest ofall things from the happiness which the well-regulated indulgences of Epicurusensure; fortitude, you know is one of his four cardinal virtues. That teachesus to meet and surmount difficulties; not to fly from them, like cowards;and to fly, too, in vain, for they will meet and arrest us at every turnof our road."

Some proposals within The Nature of Things:

* Invisible particles constitute everything in the world, and all things are made of indivisable "atomes" or "Seeds" and empty space.
* These atoms are limited in shape and size, but each shape and size is infinite in number.
* These particles are always in motion within an infinite void.
* The particles do not travel straight, but "swerve," collide, hook together, come apart.
* Aggregation of atoms produces visible objects, plants or animals.
* When these things die or undergo dissolution, these atoms are dispersed back into the world, available for construction of new things.
* Nature continuously experiments. Things better adapted increase in number while things less well adapted disappear.
* The universe has no creator or designer.
* The universe was not about nor created for humans.
* Humans are not unique nor fundamentally different from other animals.
* The soul is inherent to the physical body and dies with the body.
* There is no afterlife
* Death is nothing to us, neither pleasure nor pain nor longing nor fear.
* Organized religions are superstitious delusions.
* Religions are always cruel.
* There are no angles, demons, or ghosts.
* The highest goal of human life is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain.
* The greatest obstacle to pleasure is not pain, but delusion and anxiety.
* Awe and wonder come from understanding nature.

"The Swerve" is a shorter, more readable text, most concerned with how the poem survived the sac of Rome and and the Catholic inquisition, to be discovered just in time for the evolutionary ideas of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Wilson's lengthier text is more comprehensive, academic, and therefore a bit more of a challenge as a weekend read. A.E. Stallings' translation of "The Nature of Things" is touted as excellent and probably the best available english edition.

"Unlike social and financial status, which are unlimited,

Peace of mind can be wholly secured"

The Word "Lucrative" Should Have no Place in Healthcare

2011-10-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

First, you should precede this discussion by reading OVERDIAGNOSED by Welch, et al in which he discusses in depth the various test, diagnoses, and treatments which they feel do significantly more overall harm than good. As one of many, many examples, he discusses at length the use of the PSA test for prostate cancer, which is currently under intense public debate.

I have recently received an unsolicited email invitation to enlist a company which will allow me to directly refer patients for sleep apnea testing, and with no further effort on my part they will send the patient a home test kit and, if they test positive, suggest I then arrange for the company to send the patient a CPAP machine from Philips. This was sent specifically to me as a radiologists! They will bill Medicare of the insurers on my behalf and send the the checks. One of their user endorsements suggest “It’s elegant and lucrative.” They suggest that tens of millions have asymptomatic sleep apnea, so everyone is a candidate for testing. They are not targeting specialists who deal with sleep disturbances, but anyone and everyone who has contacts with patients - "The MD Home Sleep Program is ideal for physicians and dentists regardless of specialty. Primary care physicians,nurse practitioners, physician assistants, anesthesiologists,psychiatrists, and others have joined the program."

I have no doubt that many health care providers will take them up on this as a means to "enhance" their practice revenue. No question, sleep apnea is a real disease, with real consequences, and patients needing appropriate diagnosis and management is important. However, this proposal seems geared primarily for profit.

I have seen similar offers for simple audiometry machines (for which insurance can be billed for the same amount as if the test were done in a full audiology suite with a sound-insulated room and sophisticated electronics) with the pitch that "everyone" could have some hearing loss, and therefore you can justify testing every single patient that walks through your door.

And you wonder why healthcare cost are out of control?

The email I found in my inbox this morning:

Dear Doctor,

Radiologistsare becoming an integral part of identifying patients with obstructivesleep apnea. (a physician recruiting company) is pleased to offer doctors of ANY specialty a new and innovative way to provide convenient care to patients who may have sleep apnea whilecapturing additional revenue. Doctors are provided with everything theyneed--including education--to diagnose and treat sleep apnea. Here is a recent press release about the program.

Please take a few moments to review this website. You can directly sign up for the program by clicking here. There is no fee to join or participate and doctors are not required to buy equipment or invest money at any time.

What are physicians saying about the program? “Theadministrators are courteous and helpful and the program is easy touse. I'm not a sleep doctor, but I feel equipped to treat sleep apneanow. I was initially worried about billing and reimbursement, but thatworked out wonderfully too and I received my checks on time, as promised.” -MAM, Internal Medicine from New York

If you have questions or would like to discuss this opportunity further, please contact me.

Thank you,

(a physician recruiting company)

The Pitch:

Aviisha’s MD Home Sleep Program continues its rapid growth as physicians and dentists join to diagnose and treat obstructive sleep apnea.

Los Angeles, California (PRWEB) July 19, 2011

Sleep physicians and non-sleep physicians are gathering to diagnose and treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) via the MD Home Sleep Program (MDHSP). Spearheaded by its Medical Director, Dr. Abraham (Avi) Ishaaya, the program was designed for the convenience of both patient and physician.

MDHSP is the creation of theAviisha Medical Institute, LLC. Started in 2009, the program is part ofa full-scale effort to fight the national sleep apnea epidemic. MDHSPsimplifies the diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea while helpingpatients avoid expensive lab testing.

Physicians who join the program are given a variety of screening tools to identify patients at high risk for obstructive sleep apnea.“It’s estimated that one out of every five Americans has sleep apnea,”explained Dr. Avi. The disease leads to countless serious complicationsincluding stroke, hypertension,heart disease, diabetes, weight-gain, depression, anxiety, and evendeath. Dr. Avi continued, “The consensus in the medical community isthat patients who snore, have daytime sleepiness, or suffer from diabetes, hypertension or heart failure should be screened for OSA immediately.”

Cutting-Edge Home Sleep Testing and APAP

Using Aviisha’s revolutionary technology (patent pending) physicians can prescribe home sleep testswith the click of a button. Aviisha takes over by verifying insuranceand shipping the patient a home sleep test. All patients are testedusing the Philips Alice PDx portable diagnostic device, an unsurpassed,state-of-the-art device that meets the standards of Type II, III and IVdiagnostic tests with up to 21 channels. The test is simple toadminister and produces highly accurate results.

Aviisha scores the test and sendsthe physician a straightforward report with diagnostic and treatmentrecommendations. Physicians can prescribe Auto-CPAPtherapy (APAP) just as easily as they prescribe the home sleep test.The device, a Philips System One REMstar Auto-CPAP machine with A-Flexships directly to the patient. The device automatically adjusts its airpressure according to the patient’s individual needs, reducingunnecessary air pressure by up to 40%.

Aviisha also manages treatmentcompliance and generates periodic reports for physicians. “We’vedesigned the program in such a way that the physician’s mainresponsibility is identifying patients at risk for sleep apnea,” said Alazar Yinbal, Aviisha’s Chief Executive Officer. “We do the rest.”

New Website Empowering Physicians

Physician need not be sleepspecialists to participate in MDHSP. A battery of newly publishedwebinars, articles, tools, and resources empower physicians to evaluatepatients and prescribe diagnostic testsand treatment. “The program does a wonderful job of giving me theinformation and tools I need to feel informed and prepared to treat sleep disorders,” said Dr. A.M. Mirza, a physician specializing in Internal Medicine from New York. “It’s elegant and lucrative.”

The website features a brand new Sleep Apnea Educationsection containing free articles, videos, slideshows, diagnostic tools,and resources about sleep apnea. Monthly webinars hosted by Dr. Avihighlight different aspects of sleep apnea and are open to all medicalprofessionals. Dr. Avi explains, “We wanted to educate doctors aboutsleep apnea and ensure that they felt not only comfortable butconfident in their medical decisions.”

The hard work seems to be payingoff. MDHSP physicians have reached an impressive 85% conversion ratiofrom home sleep test to positive diagnosis. Not only that, its currenttreatment compliance rate is over 74%, almost twice the industry’saverage.

The MD Home Sleep Program is ideal for physicians and dentists regardless of specialty. Primary care physicians,nurse practitioners, physician assistants, anesthesiologists,psychiatrists, and others have joined the program. There is no fee tojoin or participate and physicians are not required to buy equipment orinvest money at any time. The program serves in-network,out-of-network, and Medicare patients.

The "Other" Color Tour

2011-10-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

When one thinks of the fall display of color that brings on the tour buses, photographers, and Sunday afternoon drivers, most people, as did I, immediately call up images of the New England hills in late September and October. That has changed for me.

This change happened yesterday, Oct 1, 2011. I have occasionally seen some great color in the Colorado Rockies, including here in RMNP, over in the ski areas along 70, and up in Steamboat, but have not spent enough time here in the early fall to experience the peak color very frequently. However this year, the colors are this weekend spectacular, and we are here!

Estes Park has been busy, as usual, with all the visitors for the elk rut and the various fall festivals here and in nearby foothill communities. Add all the TV newscast telling people to head to the mountains for the color, and our town has been PACKED this weekend. Making a run to the Safeway or to Kind Coffee for a cup is a challenge, taking 15-20 minutes each way (rather than the usual 5 min.) I am happy for the merchants (who generally feel it has been a good season already), but look forward to getting a little sanity back.

Yesterday, another couple on our street and Barbara and I drove down Hwy 7 where there was vista after vista - literally around every turn in this mountain road - of beautiful stands of aspen, mixed among the pines, with yellow, gold, and orange leaves quaking in the gentle wind. It was late in the day and depending on the direction of the road and where the vista was directed, the leaves would either be shining in the late day sun or glowing with the light shining through the leaves. It was partially cloudy, so the mixture of sun and shadow, the low angle of the sun, and the continually changing views of this brief, but perfect display will probably stay with me until most everything else has faded. We wound up the afternoon drive with a superb dinner in the restaurant a the Isle in Blackhawk.

I would still like to tour New England in a good year for color, but I don't feel too deprived anymore.

A Book about Words (THE BOOK THIEF - Markus Zusak (Australian) 2007))

2011-09-11T16:59:00.003-07:00

"The force which has ever and always set in motion great historical avalanches of religious and political movements is the magic power of the spoken word ." "It is only through the capacity for passionate feeling that chosen leaders can wield the power of the word which, like hammer blows, will open the door to the hearts of the people."

Mein Kampf
Adolf Hitler
(1889-1945)

I read the introductory portions of Mein Kampf several years ago mainly out of curiosity, but also in an effort to understand Hitler and his role in history. He was no dummy, and his climb to leadership involved no luck or happenstance.   Hitler understood, long before his rise to leader of the Third Reich, that words, in conjunction with passion, can change the course of history. Certainly no one can deny the power of his spoken words in affecting 20th century events.

Friends have asked me what the book is about. I suggest it's The diary of Ann Frank as narrated by Kurt Vonnegut. (OK, so I've already linked Kurt Vonnegut to Stephens Hawkins, but I seem to have Kurt on the brain lately.) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak , like Slaughterhouse 5, is an antiwar novel in that it strips all nationalistic glory and higher purpose from the battlefield; though that is not why I throw in the Vonnegut comparison. The similarity is in the use of an abstract narrator to tell the story of the protagonist and supporting characters, and to address the horrors of Nazi Germany through these characters (military characters in Vonnegut's case and civilian characters in Zusak's novel.) I will say that Zusak's novel is not nearly so off the wall as Vonnegut's writings, and and focuses on Nazi Germany rather than nationalistic wars in general. In the end, however, it was a pure pleasure to read.

Woven within this wonderfully written story of a young girl in WWII Germany is an exploration of the ability of words to cause great destruction in the world, as well as imbue peace and hope in individuals. The narrator of the entire book, Death, is at different points sanguine, sarcastic, sad, and funny. He takes "souls" and speaks of "God" but from a more or less agnostic position. He complains of how much work there is to be done during the war, and wishes he had a vacation, but alas, there is no one to replace him. His concluding words end the book: "I am haunted by humans."

A "discussion points" appendix was present in my book, but I was not impressed by the questions it suggested for discussion. From a book club position, I think an analysis of the literary style would be as germane as a discussion of the plot and narrative details. Zusak is a real wordsmith.

Is it a sad book? Clearly. Is it a happy book? Most certainly. Should you read it . . . definitely!

JLF

Should "religious" equal "tax-exempt"

2011-08-30T13:56:00.003-07:00

Average community church

The foundation of Scientology

Megachurch

L Ron Hubbard was quoted many times in newspapers, and through other reports to have said numerous times something to the effect "You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion," and from this marginal science fiction writer sprung the "Church" of Scientology. Now I don't have a lot say about what other people believe and to whom they give their money, but it really tics me off that Scientology (including their celebrity members) uses our tax code for patently non-religious (and a lot of rather occult) purposes, and they are not the only one.

My father (a minister himself) was strongly against the unlimited tax breaks for religious organizations, and talked with me about it several times. He expressed his opinion that there should be a modest ceiling tax exemption based on daily attendance or some similar verifiable accounting of active members. He thought, beyond that limited ceiling, churches should pay taxes on assets and on income that exceeds certain operating expenses. Book stores, media production companies, parking lots, gymnasiums, skate board parks, high-rise office buildings, and sea side villas and pent house apartments.....he could see no justification for the general population of taxpayers to be taxed more heavily to offset the funding (through tax relief) of any and every thing under the umbrella of "Religious" activity.

Clearly churches do many good works through assistance to the needy of the world. On the other hand, some churches spend virtually all their income to build lavish buildings, buy real more estate, purchase radio and TV time, lobby government, and provide a very nice income/benefits package to people who supposedly have renounced earthly rewards.

I like my father's idea to limit the tax-free income to a religious organization, perhaps based on membership (e.g. a few thousand dollars/member), or perhaps by meeting a threshold percent of income that is actually spent directly on aid to the poor or sick. I personally do not donate to a charity or non-profit that spends more than 10% of its budget on salaries, fund-raising, etc. I also give a fair amount for purposes I think are worthwhile and of benefit to needy people, but for which there is not a tax-exempt vehicle. As it is however, my own taxes are diverted to support some things that I independently would choose not to support, or would only support via a different vehicle.

You should tax the things you want less of, and not tax the things you want more of. However a blanket pass for anything managing to get called a "church" has led to abuse, and it is time to apply some rational limits. After all, charity is charity, and should come from one's own heart, not from an accountant's advice.

Was Kurt Vonnegut a Literary Stephen Hawkins?

2011-08-23T10:25:00.003-07:00

The "banning" by Republic High School in Missouri of Vonnegut's classic anti-war novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death (1969), prompted me to pull out my old, yellowed copy, saved since my original reading as an escape from the pressure of my final year in medical school, to see exactly what had prompted the action (After re-reading the book, it seems the removal from the school library was because some of the characters thoughts or actions could be considered "non-biblical" - in which case any novel about Hitler, etc could be considered non-biblical.) I am, however, confident that the banning, rather than saving the students from exposure to Vonnegut's book, assured most of the students at the school will now read the book over the ensuing weeks.

Forty years older now, my reaction is still mixed, though I see the anti-war sentiment more clearly, having by this time considerably lowered my expectations from our political "leaders."

What did strike me on my current reading were certain parts of the story of Billy Pilgram. "Billy Pilgram has come unstuck in time . . .is spastic in time." He tells the story of being captured by the alien Tralfamadorians (who see in four dimensions - adding time as a visual dimension) and learning that "when a person dies, he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present, and future have always existed, always will exist."

If you have read Hawkins' book The Grand Design and one of his Brief History of Time books, it is apparent that current quantum physics and relativity more or less supports this claim by Vonnegut's character of the past, present, and future concurrently existing.(In fact I find these discussions of time to be very, very strange, and it is suggested that before the big bang, time may not have existed.) Kurt was not a physicist and never claimed any knowledge of quantum physics, but intuition can sometimes get you a long way.

OTHER RECENTLY READ BOOKS:

The Ghost in the Wires - The biography of the "most wanted hacker in America." Kevin Mitnick now owns his own security consulting firm. This Link to his website currently has a video of his interview on the Colbert Report - very entertaining!

Matterhorn - a most disturbing novel of the Vietnam conflict. Having no firsthand experience, I will need to consult with my cousin John C as to the accuracy of this book

A Perfect Pair

2011-08-08T20:12:00.010-07:00

(I have been traveling a lot this summer, and the between travel time has been very busy. Hopefully I can spend a little more time uptading this blog going forward.)

Sometimes I read for information; sometimes I read for pleasure; and sometimes I am lucky to find a bit of each in the same book. Once in a very, very great while I find two such books that are informative, most pleasurable to read, and compliment each other. This year I found (by watching BookTV one Sunday morning and catching an article in the NYTimes another day) two books providing to me this unusual pleasure: "Doc" and "The Last Gunfight."

You can read a full summary of each book at Amazon or elsewhere on the internet, but here is my perspective on these two coincidentally related books.

What you know, or think you know, about John Henry Holliday, about Virgel, Warren, Morgan, James and Wyatt Earp, and about Bat, James, and Ed Masterson is likely misinformation. After the violent events in Tombstone, there were many sensationalized accounts of the various involved characters, often embellished by the principles themselves, and the myths have been perpetuated by Hollywood over the years. These books use original research from the surprisingly large volume of notes, newspaper articles, and official records scattered in various libraries and historical institutions across the country to reconstruct the personality, character, and actions of these players.

Although these books were written by very different authors over the same period of time, they chronologically dovetailed perfectly. Russell has a PhD in biological anthropology from the University of Michigan and has taught anatomy to dental students. Her book is a biography of the most interesting character of John Henry "Doc" Holliday, beginning with his birth, but ending with his time in Dodge City, Kansas. It notes his departure for Arizona, but goes no further. We know at this point (even if we have not read Guinn's book) that he will achieve fame in Tombstone (on a street, at the edge of a vacant lot, sort of close to the OK Corral.) It is inclusive of the Earp and Masterson brothers, as they are an integral part of his life in Dodge City, and also is quite inclusive of the women who for the most part were informal partners or common law wives of these men.

Guinn was a school teacher, then newspaper journalist, and finally published author (I believe his first major book concerned the outlaw couple Bonnie and Clyde.) Rather than a biography, "Gunfight" is a story of Tombstone, Arizona; its origin, rise, and fall (and then re-emergence as a tourist trap.) As it happens, these same characters (Holliday, the Earp brothers, and the Masterson brothers) also populate the history and legend of Tombstone, and it brings to a conclusion Doc's biography.. (Unlike Russell, Guinn doesn't have as much to say about the women.) His followup extends to the final days of Wyatt in Los Angeles, and Doc and Bat in Colorado, as well as the literary and film spinoffs that followed for the next century.

As far as I can discern, these writers worked completely independently, were coincidentally both published (by different houses) in May 2011, and by apparently blind happenstance one concluded almost exactly where the other began. They agree for the most part on the personality and character traits of Doc and the Earp brothers.

The books are written in different style. "Doc" captured my attention from the first page. "Gunfight" started slow (and dry), but quickly evolved into a "good read" of its own. I stayed up way too late several nights with these books. I cannot think of any of my friends who will not find these historical accounts of America's "last frontier" most enjoyable - and informative to boot.

Doc is buried in an historical cemetery on a hill above Glenwood Springs, Colorado, where I took this picture a couple of years ago. The cemetery is only accessible via a switchback trail from a small park on a street below the hill.

Books of Influence

2011-05-25T14:27:00.021-07:00

     My daughter Karen recently asked me to list my 5 "favorite" books. She explained further "I don't mean just the books you enjoyed reading the most, but those that had the most influence on your life. I think it may tell me something about who you are."
     I thought this would be a quick, easy task, but that was a serious underestimation; I have read many, many books, and as a person I am clearly still a "work in progress," so picking out the most personally influential books took a lot of thought.
     Here is the result of my considerations with commentary and with links (in blue) to the Amazon description should you want that information. It's actually 5 books plus 6 more . . . sorry about that Karen.
   There is little fiction here, but my view of the world has undoubtedly been influenced by novels such as Moby Dick, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Grapes of Wrath and Doctor Zhivago, all which I read in Junior High School. Also, I should note that this is a snapshot in time. If I had done this list a year ago or if I should do it again in a year, it would likely be somewhat different. JLF

The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran
Among the first philosophical writings I experienced, I was introduced to Gibran by Barbara when she suggested some of his writing be integrated into our wedding ceremony. The Prophet is Gibran's poetic distillation of his philosophy, economically worded and grouped as commentary on love, friendship, marriage, giving, etc. I still quote him:. For example, "Grieve not when you part from your friend, for that which you love in him most may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain." The Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu, which I read at about the same time, I found a little more distant for me, personally.

Humanist Anthology: From Confucius to Attenborough - Margaret Knight (Editor)
The Anthology has been around for years, first published in 1961, but unfortunately not discovered by myself until years later. Had I stumbled across it as a high school student in '61, my younger days would likely have been substantially changed. In essence, it is a series of ancient, recent and contemporary essays that as a collection illustrate the constancy of humanism over many centuries and document it as a well developed philosophy rather than a recent reaction to organized religion. Albert Einstein, Robert G. Ingersoll, Umberto Eco, Carl Sagan and Christopher Hitchens are simply the most recent in a very, very long line of humanist following in the footsteps of Confucius, Thucydides, Epictetus and Spinoza.

Practical Ethics - Peter Singer -
I always assumed that I was raised with "ethics," but this was my first organized review of "ethics" as a philosophy. Practical Ethics was, and still is, a compact introduction to the thinking by which one begins to understand the processes we might apply in making the decisions we face moment to moment through our lives. I read this 20+ years ago, but in the latest revision Singer has apparently updated and expanded his original treatise.

Why I am Not a Christian - Bertrand Russell -
As a philosopher, mathematician, educator, social critic and political activist, Russell authored over 70 books and thousands of essays and letters addressing a myriad of topics, but this very short essay is likely his most widely read work. I suspect that is because it speaks so effectively to those reared as Christians but questioning personally this faith. Why I am not a Christian is a brief essay initially published in self-defense as a response to wide, public criticism by churches, politicians, and media (mostly in the U.S.) of Russell's lack of professed Christian belief. (The link here is to the essay itself, not Amazon.com.)

The Denial of Death - Ernest Becker -
"The essence of normalcy is the refusal of reality." I read this psychology text about 7 or 8 years ago with a specific purpose to contemplate and consider my mortality, but I am sure I did not understand in depth the underlying psychological foundations for his work. Becker, an American Cultural Anthropologist, published Denial, won the Pulitzer prize for the book, and died of cancer all in the year 1974 at the age of 50. The thesis of his work was that individuals live in terror of their own mortality and thus seek to find ways to deny it. He ask how can we, as human animals, relish day to day life, explore the cosmos in theory and reality, plum the depths of human psychology, and yet at the same time live with our impending death? He then suggest that the most common reaction is the denial of this reality and argues that as this fear of death is denied and repressed, it then comes out in predictable patterns, particularly in the development of culture and the monuments we build--financial, literary, intellectual--to reassure ourselves of our immortality, or to gain, in Becker's words, "symbolic immortality." He is fairly kind to religion, seeming to me to suggest its prevalence is perhaps because of its success as a means of dealing with the conundrum. For those who have made the decision to tackle this "urgent" issue, Becker's book is an important read, and will likely become a "re-read" for many of us. An award-winning film that is an extension of this book has been produced: Flight from Death is available via netflix and iTunes.

- Additional books of significance -

Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl -
Search was composed in Frankl's mind (no access to writing materials) while a prisoner in the Nazi death camps, principally Auschwitz, and placed in print shortly after the war. The first half is his personal narrative of the camps, uniquely told from the perspective of the psychiatrist he had been, and the second half is his reflection on how one must find "meaning" in life, even in the face of incredible suffering, and how he uses meaning in his field of "Logotherapy."

The Grand Design and also A Brief history of Time - both by Stephen Hawking -
One should be able to appreciate the wonders of the cosmos, whether you believe it is the creation of God or actually did arise from nothing (by dividing into (simplistically) "matter" and "antimatter" which together have a sum mass/energy of nothing.) Hawkins atheism should not prevent anyone from enjoying this discussion of our fascinating universe in physics terms that most of us can grasp with a little effort. Design is a followup to Time should you want to read them consecutively, though Design stands perfectly well on its own. Along that same line Cosmos was the stunning 1980 TV series by Carl Sagan that introduced millions of people, including me, to the scientific cosmology of our universe. (His fiction book "Contact" reveals much of his thought on religion and philosophy.) Neil deGrasse Tyson has picked up the standard as the premier scientist-educator of our time, but it was Sagan who first made it respectable for a scientist to talk science to the common folk.

The Battle for God (Originally subtitled "The Role of Fundamentalism in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity?) - Karen Armstrong -
I have read many of her books, including her biographical The Spiral Staircase and Through the Narrow Gate. Perhaps more than any other book, Battle gave me an insight into religious fundamentalist, among which are some very dear personal friends. Be it Islam, Judaism, or Christianity, there is a dangerous tendency to lose the compassion that is at the core of any authentic religion, and to degenerate into "a theology of rage and hatred." But at the same time, secularists and people with more liberal notions of faith need to recognize the real fears that fundamentalists face, and deal with the problems that spawn those fears. "Fundamentalists are not going away. We need to understand them."

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Prisig -

Zen has to be on the list as having influenced me early on; I read it for the story, but the philosophy lingered on. I was living in England and spending most of my time working, traveling, and marveling over our second child (Karen herself) when I first read this book, which contains little about motorcycle repair and even less about Zen Buddhism, at the age of 30 in 1975. It is a road trip story used as the framework for philosophical musings. Some of my favorite quotes from this remarkable book:

"The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there."

"We’re in such a hurry most of the time we never get much chance to talk. The result is a kind of endless day-to-day shallowness, a monotony that leaves a person wondering years later where all the time went and sorry that it’s all gone. "

"The pencil is mightier than the pen."

"When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called a Religion."

"We have artists with no scientific knowledge and scientists with no
artistic knowledge and both with no spiritual sense of gravity at all,
and the result is not just bad, it is ghastly."

__

Shifting cost is NOT healthcare reform!

2011-04-29T10:04:00.011-07:00

I am getting tired of the shell game some prominent people are playing with their proposals for health care "reform" in this country. Almost every proposal is essentially an effort to shift the cost this way or that rather than actually reform health care in the U.S.

Take an analysis of the proposal by Rep. Ryan (http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/ryan-waste-2011-04.pdf). If you look at the graphs, he "saves" the government Billions of dollars only by shifting Trillions of dollars of unfunded future health care cost to future medicare beneficiaries.

You can argue the exact amounts, but in fact the plan bails out the US Government only by shifting the future increases in health care cost to the individual senior rather than doing anything to limit the growth in that cost. He assumes that somehow (supernaturally it seems) that giving people a voucher will allow them to purchase benefits similar to what they now enjoy in a competitive market, and that the cost of such a plan will not outpace inflation in future years. Of course, all you have to do is look at the history of health care cost to see that this is not going to happen without a fundamental change in how we buy and deliver health care in this country.

Seen from the inside, the third party payers, including CMS (Medicare,) have used several tricks to cut the cost of care. First, they simply pay less and less for a service, with little actual investigation of which services are relatively "overpriced" compared to others. Second, they limit services through vetting - often rationing through inconvenience. This has primarily occurred in high-end imaging where requiring pre-approval for an MRI for example can be such a demanding and time-consuming process that the physicians office simply gives up on appealing a denial of coverage after spending way too much time trying to get through the company that has been hired by the insurance company to vet the request (and of course the more request they decline, the more income they ultimately make either through incentive rewards or future contracts.) This was recently challenged in the courts where a company with an incentive contract was found to have denied an excessive number of cardiac imaging exams with no medical justification for the denials. Third, payers are beginning to limit services to the cheapest provider or to the least expensive product.

To respond to this hospitals and providers are doing several things. Increasing productivity, limiting overhead, and more creative ways are being used to maintain income levels (and this includes so-called "non-profit" hospitals.) We are reaching the point where only someone using a cheap, used or reconditioned low-end CT or MRI device can profit at medicare fee schedules, and there are many of these in the hands of private entrepreneurs who are more concerned with the bottom line than with producing the most informative exam. There are now hospitals that will only give the option of using prosthetic joints, etc that have been purchased from the lowest bidder.

Much of what can be done has, by this time already been done, and providers are now beginning to restrict, or completely opt out of government care. This is most critical in the Medicaid (as opposed to Medicare) programs run by the states. Even the University of Colorado last year began limiting the number of medicaid patients they would take because medicaid patients were filling all the available appointment slots. There was at that time reported to be no Urologist in the state that would take a Medicaid referral.

Medicaid problems are now beginning to get headlines as the benefits have to be cut even further still because of state budgets falling apart just as the number of patients needing Medicaid coverage increase. Poor, unemployed people are pretty much running out of options, and even working people are finding insurance coverage impossible to obtain at anything approaching affordable rates. The only "affordable" policies available to an individual are those with very large deductibles and high co-pays, and it is nearly impossible to buy an individual policy with maternity coverage at any price. To compound the problem, companies are finding it difficult if not impossible to offer medical insurance as a benefit because of increasing cost. As an employer I can tell you it takes commitment to continue to offer company insurance with consecutive yearly policy cost increases of 14-31%, even with greater deductible and co-pay requirements.

My final beef is with those who are of the opinion that "no one goes without health care in the country," suggesting that they can go to the emergency room anytime they want, and if they need hospitalization they get the best care available. All I can say is that they have blinders on or just don't have the opportunity to see the real (lack of) care such people receive, be they in a rural county or a large city.

OK, what would I do? I would define the goal, and that goes far beyond balancing the federal budget. The problem funding Medicare and Medicaid is really a universal problem for all our citizens. We should be hunting for a way to provide basic health care needs to every citizen, regardless of their economic status. This sounds a little socialistic, but we have agreed that everyone deserves police protection, fire protection, etc, and I would at this point in our country's development add basic health care. This doesn't necessarily mean a giant VA -type care system for the population. The problem with Ryan's plan is that he thinks individual families can in some way negotiate with the health insurance monoliths, and that's pure fantasy. This was tried with the Medicare Part D (drug plans) without doing anything to control drug cost. If Ryan really wanted to do something immediately that would decrease Medicare cost he would support legislation that would allow Medicare to directly negotiate for drug purchases(Medicare is not allowed by current law to do this, I assume due to drug company influences), and thus be able to bring government drug cost more in line with those of Canada, England, France, Germany, etc. where drug cost are 30-50% less.

Unfortunately, we have been trying to make the fee for service model work, and it has failed. We (the providers) are highly paid piece workers, and the more we "do" the more we earn. Every hospital CEO, every group practice manager, every manager of any patient care provider is tasked with maximizing the bottom line, and to do this you have to increase volume/procedures delivered.

In the absence of a single-payer model, there will have to be some form of capitation, where the amount you are paid is not rigidly linked to the number of procedures you do, thus eliminating the incentive to do more than is really needed, and making it important to keep people healthy to avoid future expensive illnesses. This would include of course dental care, which is needed for maintenance of health, but never accounted for in "comprehensive" care plans. Of course, the danger to we patients is that the company providing care over-restricts care in order to maximize short-term profits. The Kaiser system, and I will admit that it is a far from perfect system, has a large network of salaried physicians, and must be recognized as a workable model, attempting to balance too much care versus too little care while maximizing health, rather than procedures.. This is a threat to many physicians, as in Kaiser the physicians are employees, and the higher paid specialist earn ~3 times that of a Family Practitioner (as opposed to a 20-30 fold difference in many communities.)

The government may have to define what constitutes basic benefits, and assure that the current common practice of denying major medical coverage to anyone who is likely to need it will be no longer allowed.

I may not have all of the details, but I have not read anything that indicates that these issues have been addressed by Congressman Ryan.

DEADLY SPIN - book review

2011-03-09T15:51:00.029-07:00

DEADLY SPIN: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans by Wendell Potter.

There is a massive, daily growing number of people who are forced to "go naked" because they cannot afford medical insurance. If you are completely destitute, Medicaid and state help is available. However, if you are the working poor (i.e. a couple making more than $19,800 a year in AZ,) you are not eligible for any assistance. Even if you are earning the medium income of $43,000 (Half the people in AZ make less than $43K) you simply cannot afford even a high-deductible policy that covers OB/delivery care (basic policy cost of $7,000 dollars with a $10,000 deductible and 30% copay after that.) There are tens of millions of people in this category who work and make too much to get any aid, but can't even begin to afford these virtually worthless policies. It is increasingly difficult to find a job any more that has "good" health insurance as a benefit.

I am an insider. I have been a practicing physician since finishing medical school in 1970. I have been on the board of my group practice pondering how we can manage to continue providing health care insurance as a benefit to our employees at an affordable level. Still, I was amazed at my naivety regarding the medical insurance industry in this country.

I knew Cigna, Humana, and the Blues were not my friend, but had NO IDEA as to the extent of their greed and complete absence of ethics, nor of their skillful use of propaganda in achieving their ends that would make the old KGB look like a pack of amateurs.

I heard Wendell Potter testify before congress on CSPAN, watched a long interview with Bill Moyers, and finallly a shorter interview on BookNotes earlier this month. I just bought the book last week, and read it this past weekend.

Potter, a senior PR manager for Humana and subsequently CIGNA, who "got religion" and crossed over to become the ultimate critic of the same companies for which he managed "spin" for the sole purpose of enriching the pockets of the executives (and himself) through salaries, stock option bonuses, and golden parachutes. While reading, I was alternatively and/or simultaneously sad, angry, and depressed. I wish the entire populace would read it. It was $9.99 on my Kindle, but is available at most libraries. It is not that long and it is written efficiently and engagingly, so a fast reader can finish it easily on a rainy day at home.

After a brief history of the PR industry, the first 70% or so is specific to the medical insurance companies. The remainder makes comparisons of the health insurers with Phillip Morris and the other tobacco companies, the coal industry, the oil and petrochemical industries, and other large corporate organizations who spend millions to control congress and to make the general public think that they have honest, good intentions while behaving in the completely opposite manner.

If you don't have the time or inclination to read the book, at least take 35 minutes to listen to Potter speak with Bill Moyers: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/profile.html

DARWIN-WATSON-CRICK-WILKINS-FRANKLIN DAY

2011-02-05T19:59:00.002-07:00

Charles Darwin

James Watson and Frances Crick

Every year there are more and more people and events celebrating the birthday of Charles Darwin, I happen to do that myself most years. The University of Northern Iowa in fact has a week-long celebration, Darwin Week.

This year however, I would like to see the celebration of a broader significance in the history of biological science. E. O. Wilson was the first I know of to suggest there were two seminal events in history which opened the doors to our understanding of biology, and in fact, life itself:

Charles Darwin - with his publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859, showed us what happened; that the diversity of life is due to evolution.

Frances Crick and James Watson - with their publication of the double helix structure of DNA in 1952 showed us how it happened, with replication errors - mutations in DNA.

Comparison of these two astounding events provides an illustration not only of animals but also the evolution of scientific endeavor itself.

Darwin's finches

Darwin's observations and drawings of Finches in the Galapagos were probably a key to the development of the theory of evolution, as he observed that there were distinct populations that were "adapted" for specialized forms of feeding. Darwin had no laboratory and no graduate students doing his research projects and literature searches. He was seldom in contact with others involved in his line of thought, and primarily worked in isolation. His tools were limited to what his eyes could observe of his natural world. Perhaps most conspicuously, Darwin was in no rush to publicize this theory, probably to avoid the social stigma of publishing heresy, and thereby protecting to some extent his relationship with the pious Mrs Darwin. Only when word arrived that another biologist was on the verge of publishing a similar theory, did he relent and quickly publish his own writings.

By the time Watson and Crick came along, biological science had "evolved" and was inherently a process carried out by a larger community. Though Watson and Crick are largely credited with the "discovery" of DNA and the process by which cellular information is transmitted from one generation to another, it was a more complicated, if not absolutely messy, process.

Photograph 51

Rosalind Franklin was working in Sir John Randall's group at King's College in London when she took this X-Ray diffraction image of DNA in 1952, famously known as photograph 51. She shared it with a colleague, who in turn shared it another associate, Wilkins, who ultimately shared it with James Watson. Watson and Crick then used that information to construct their now famous model of the "double helix" structure of DNA. Watson, Crick, and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize (Franklin had by that time died, and so was ineligible for nomination for the prize.)

Rosalind Franklin

So, as Feb 12 approaches and you see some commentary regarding "Darwin Day," you might also remember those that grasped the "what" and showed us the "how" this marvelous diversity of life on earth came to be.
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The Rev John Lewis Floyd - A Green Minister?

2010-10-26T15:37:00.001-07:00

Rev. John Lewis Floyd

Gentle, intelligent, humble, and green. GREEN? Yes, now that I've had time to think about it, my father was as green as they come. But first, let me back up a bit and write a little more background material.

My dad came from the other side of the tracks. His father died when he was about 10 years old, and his step father, not a gentle man, was a share cropper in a part of Appalachia where that meant just enough acres to grow some corn and beans and run a few hogs and chickens; at least enough to feed a small family and trade or sell for a few essentials. You think of Lincoln reading by the fire light . . . so did my father. (It seems he may have had some part in a corn mash still operation in the Virginia woods according to an African American man that I met and who knew my father when they were boys, but that information is otherwise indirect and sketchy, and completely denied by him when I asked.)

Somehow he escaped this bastion of poverty and non-education through being valedictorian of his class of 16, and going on tuition and books scholarship to Duke University and subsequently Texas Christian University. At both institutions he earned room and board working dual jobs as a school janitor and being the equivalent of a bus boy in the dining halls. He also was tasked with polishing the silver when he lodged with one of his professors, and he never was impressed by the sterling at a table setting after that; only thinking that someone had to have done that polishing before the table could be set.

In the fall of 1966, I was given an insight into his life when I went to have my transcript sent from TCU to the U of Texas medical schools as part of the application process. At the registrar's office, they brought out my transcript and asked me to review it before sending it out. Wow! I had nothing but "A"s on every class! Not a single "B" or "C." A small problem however . . . though the name was correct, the date was for the late 1930's . . . it was of course my father's transcripts. Forever after it was very difficult to view myself as in any way intellectually superior to him.

As you could reason for yourself, his background in Appalachia and university socialization limited to talking to people as he cleared their plates or excused himself when taking out the trash or dusting imbued him with a general air of quiet humility which I think many interpreted as inferiority. He either refused to, or didn't know how to, present himself nor the church as something that made one better than or above others socially. Twice he was displaced from the pulpit of a church because of this. In each case, he refused to support the push by a small, but socially cognizant faction of the congregation for building of a new church building, first because the congregation couldn't afford it, and second because they had not outgrown the existing church structure. In each case, the new replacement minister led a building program, stayed for the construction of the church, and then moved on to a bigger church, leaving the local congregations with a large debt, which in one case ended in the dissolution of the congregation. From talks with him when I was young, I know he would have liked to experience leading a large church, but he never had that chance.

And on top of that, both he and my mother were totally, completely tone deaf . . . couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. Being a good singer seems to be part of the ministerial job these days.

He was intelligent, as I suggested. In addition to the transcript experience I noted above, I remember book after book arriving from the University lending library by mail every week (the library in Spur was lucky to have a 10 year old Britannica encyclopedia set and a paperback copy of the latest Gothic romance thriller.) In his prime, with his depth and breadth of knowledge, I think he could stand and argue on level ground with most any philosopher or theologian. I am certain most people never realized it though.

Oh yes, the green part. . .

As noted, he was a heavy user of the library for sharing rather than acquiring books, but his conservation went much, much further than that, most often driven out of necessity. Wood pencils in our house were generally not discarded until (a) they were less than an inch long AND (b) the eraser was completely used up. Whenever possible, things were not replaced, they were repaired. I remember replacing the heating element in a toaster. A butcher knife wood handle was wired together when it fell apart. When the 1953 Plymouth engine was worn out, my father did some reading, bought parts (rings, seals, etc) and tools (hand cranked valve/valve seat grinder, block and tackle, etc) from the Sears catalog, and in the detached garage with a dirt floor he removed, completely rebuilt and reinstalled the engine. It ran well for many years. When a bar of soap became too thin and small to hold, he put it in a box. When he had enough, he would press them together to make a new bar of soap, saving the purchase of one.

We always had a garden; occasionally a very large one with peach and apple trees. The left overs or unused peels, etc that I routinely put down the disposal or in the trash, my parents would dig into the fallow part of the garden for next year's plantings. Canning was a summer and fall ritual; Ball mason jars were a part of our life.

With his cast iron cobbler's last and wooden handled awl (both which I still have somewhere), he allowed both of us to walk on 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th replacement shoe soles until the uppers were completely tattered. I remember thinking of him when reading Shakespeare's Julius Cesar - "Truly sir, all that I live by is the awl. I am indeed, sir, a surgeon to old shoes: when they are in great danger, I recover them."

Perhaps the most outrageous example of getting the maximum use of anything was my father's conservation of dental floss. He would use the same length many times before pulling a new one. I know this sounds disgusting, but I have a parallel story in that vein. When the Viet Nam POW's came home in 1973, the Air Force members were initially, for their own sanity and protection, isolated in a single ward in Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center in San Antonio, where I was Chief Resident in Internal Medicine. There they received full physical exams and psychological counseling. All of these men had parasites, poor nutrition, and terrible dental condition with cavities and missing teeth . . . except for one officer. During his 7 years as a POW in Hanoi, though denied a toothbrush or other elements of dental care, he would remove a thread from his prison garb (or mattress when he had one) and use it to floss 2 or 3 times a day. Only when it wore to the point where it broke would he find another thread to use for another few weeks. This one officer returned with almost perfect teeth!

At times I berate myself for not keeping my father's tradition of self-reliance and conservation. I am trying to be better, but I have a long way to go.

JLF

The Coyote Special - What A Blast!

2010-10-25T17:08:00.012-07:00

The "Silver Solarium" rail car bringing up the rear

A couple of weeks ago we had a wonderful experience, recreating an historic rail trip from LA to Chicago and return to Denver. The trip was with a party of 9 people riding, sleeping, and dining in a restored Pullman rail car, seen at the end of the Amtrak train in the picture above.

The trip was a new book release promotion by our Estes Park next door neighbor Walt Borneman. It was a modern re-creation of a notable trip described in Walt's latest book, Rival Rails. If you click around his website, you can find links to this trip and some pictures on the "Rival Rails" tab.

Here are a few pictures, but they are all from my cell phone camera and of limited quality. Left-click on any picture to enlarge it.

We assemble in the new entrance to Union Station, Los Angeles

The LA Station is remarkably clean, open, and well-lighted

We arrive at our historic rail car, the Silver Solarium.

Walt doing a long distance interview with the BBC

Walt and me in the lounge room

B and Walt, waiting to be called to dinner as the countryside glides past.

Absolutely the best rack of lamb I've ever eaten!

The rail car's heritage in the sign at the rear of the car. Note the Golden Gate Bridge in the background of the sign.

Formal dress not required for breakfast!

Left to right: Bernd, our chef, Burt, historic rail car owner/manager, William, our Steward, Barbara

View from our hotel room at the Drake on our Chicago stopover . . . NICE!

On our free morning in Chicago, Barbara and I enjoyed a wounderful Sax player while we waited for the Art Institute to open.

Back on the train and headed for Denver, Walt chats with William as he pours wine.

Formal settings for all three meals each day. I could have gotten used to this very quickly.

Menus printed for each lunch and dinner

My picture is not very good, but this is a sterling bookmark with a period ATSF sterling steam locomotive and 4 cars that Barbara made and gave to Walt.

Again a poor picture. Barbara made a necklace and bracelet of turquoise from Kingman, AZ (one of our stops on the route) with a sterling rail car clasp for Marlene, Walt's wife.

An NPR story and very nice 7-minute interview with Walt:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130762740

The book:

Rival Rails on Amazon

JLF

THOUGHTS ON GLOBAL WARMING

2010-07-28T19:37:00.013-07:00

12" of rain overflows, then undermines, Lake Delhi dam, draining the 9 mile long recreational lake

We recently had still another record rainfall in Iowa with rather dramatic consequences such as the overflowing and destruction of the dam at Delhi, draining a 9 mile long lake. I have quipped to many people "what do you expect, it's global warming", and I'm not saying it in jest. Warmer air holds more moisture, so when it meets the cold air mass it has a lot more water to drop on whoever is below. I do think there is global warming, but why is it happening, and what do I think that means. This is an incredibly complex issue, with many interactions, and unintended consequences are not only possible but likely. Most of us are far from experts in this matter, but the consequences of ignoring it could be catastrophic for for mankind (or not.)

I. IS IT WARMING?

YES! At least in the short term.The earth warms, the earth cools, again and again. Sometimes, the reversals are sudden and dramatic. We are obviously on a warming trend. The first six months of this year have been the hottest on record, and the past 10 years were the hottest decade on record. The big question is if this is a natural trend, or if it is due to human action, followed closely by another question, how hot is it going to get? Is the earth going to get 1, 2, or 10 degrees warmer? (The latter number a true threat to our species) Or . . . Is this warming averting what would have otherwise been another ice age with its consequences? I really don't know, and I'm less than sure ANYONE knows.

II. ARE WE CAUSING THE WARMING?

MAYBE! There have been unintended consequences to the industrial revolution. Scientists it seems have extracted pretty good data from ice cores and other bits and pieces of our earth and determined the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere for the past several millennia. The levels were stable for 2 or 3 hundred thousand years, but recently (in geological terms) there was a rapid and steady rise that coincided with the industrial revolution, and now it is at a level ~40% higher than it was for those many thousands of years, and it is still climbing.

CO2 is the lifeblood of plants, which extract it and produce O2, among a lot of other things, so CO2 is not inherently bad. One of its properties however is that it is a "greenhouse" gas, and, other things equal, its increase in the atmosphere causes the Earth's temperature to rise. Methane, another gas that has risen since industrialization produces a similar effect. The rise in CO2, methane, and other greenhouse gasses is, as far as I am concerned, a fact. But is this causing global warming? Again . . .maybe.

Another offshoot of industrialization is wider availability of food and a dramatic growth in people. People use resources and indirectly produce more CO2.

What about other factors, like the variability in sunlight reaching the earth? From What I've read, this alone cannot account for change in temperature. More about sun energy in a moment though.

There are uncertainties when it comes to the interaction between greenhouse gases and other factors in what is clearly a complicated climate system. It is impossible to be sure exactly how quickly or how much the temperature will rise. This warmer atmosphere, as we know, will melt the glaciers and ice sheets, and sea levels will rise. This warm air also contains more energy can hold more water, and is likely related to the global occurrences of storms, ﬂoods, and other extreme weather events

III. WHAT SHOULD WE BE DOING?

Will we be able to adapt to rising temperatures through technology? Unlikely. Even small increases of 1-2 degrees could drastically alter local climates, permanently change weather patterns, and significantly alter food production. . . a politically dangerous situation. Larger increases of 6-10 degrees would end life as most of us know it. The risk we are playing with are indescribably high.

Are we certain that industralization and CO2 production is causing global warming and will continue to push the temperature higher and higher? No, we are far from certain. However, what is the risk we run by not making a major effort to reduce our CO2 output? The risks, even if low, are high: Pascal asks the question: What is the expected value of a very small chance of an inﬁnite loss? And, he answers, “Inﬁnite,” and this is the potential risk . . . starvation, loss of biodiversity, and the end of life as we have come to know it.

So, it seems to me that with such high risk, we should do every thing possible to change our output of CO2: eliminate coal plants unless we can find some way to extract and permanently remove from the atmosphere CO2 (as well as other pollutants,) most combustion engine cars, and other CO2 producing activities and replace that lost energy production with nuclear energy, supplemented with solar and wind generation.

Nuclear power is spreading in other parts of the world. There is the potential for new nuclear technology to replace virtually all our fossil fuel plants, and do it safely with very low level waste (http://blipsinthecosmos.blogspot.com/2010/03/ray-of-hope.html). The US Navy has been safely operating small nuclear power plants for many decades, and these are large enough to power individually a small or even medium sized town. Many "micro-nuclear power plants" are on the drawing boards, and all they need to be successfully installed around the country is a reasonable environmental/regulatory acceptance.

More energy hits the Earth from the Sun in one hour than the whole world uses all year. China is betting big on solar. It is already the largest solar array producer, and is developing new hi-tech silicon PV chips that make solar competitive with current electric rates. In Tucson, First Solar is one of the leading edge companies using Cadmium Telluride technology and is closing in on production cost of $1/Watt, the point at which it becomes competitive with coal. I see a point in the future where all homes are built using roofing shingles that double as PV cells.

Is this the time to be spending huge sums on developing and deploying non-fossil fuels? I think it's a no-brainer: reducing the chance of global climate disaster, becoming independent of fuel oil and the political instability associated with its production and distribution, cleaning the environment, creating new jobs, etc, etc.

On top of all this is the likelihood that we have reached a tipping point on the price of oil. Remember $5/gallon gas? It's coming back in spades because of the simple math of supply and demand. We have passed the peak of easy oil production by industry estimates, yet the population and development of the less developed world is accelerating rapidly, and the demand for energy with it. In coming years, we will not have to legislate fuel efficient cars; if it doesn't get 50 mpg or more, few will be able to afford to drive it. Oil, now at $80/barrel has already hit $147 in the past and could blow way past that in the next year or two, exacerbating the uneven distribution of world wealth and dealing a severe blow to the world economy. It's not a pretty picture.

So, why are we not doing anything? The skeptics are many, and they may be right that global warming will not accelerate out of control. For airing their views they have funding from the petrochemical and coal industries that is almost infinite. Also, many players in the arena have no goal other than short-term profits and will do or say anything to keep those profits intact. People naturally tend to be optimistic, and will follow those with a good news message over the prophets of doom, especially when they are faced with giving up something now that might prevent something in the distant future (though according to some research institutes that future may not be all that far off.)

This country must budget for and create tax incentives that result in massive investment in the development and deployment of nuclear plants and photovoltaics (and perhaps wind power.) The cost of converting to non fossil energy with all possible speed up front seems large, but is insignificant when placed against the infinite risk accompanying an atmospheric temperature rise of 6 degrees or more.

GILEAD and Memories of my Father

2010-07-18T19:00:00.002-07:00

I recently read Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, a book that quickly returned me to my own youth growing up as a preacher's kid in a rural community. Out of laziness and reluctance to plagiarize, I will first give a couple of quotes from the Wiki article on the book, in the following two paragraphs:

"The book is an account of the memories and legacy of John Ames as he remembers his experiences of his father and grandfather to share with his son. All three men share a vocational lifestyle and profession as Congregationalist ministers in Gilead, Iowa. Ames' father was a Christian pacifist, but his grandfather was a radical abolitionist who carried out guerrilla actions with John Brown before the American Civil War, served as a chaplain with the Union forces in that war, and incited his congregation to join up and serve."

"Although there is action in the story, its mainspring lies in Ames' theological struggles on a whole series of fronts: with his grandfather's engagement in the Civil War, with his own loneliness through much of his life, with his brother's clear and his father's apparent loss of belief, with his father's desertion of the town, with the hardships of people's lives, and above all with his feelings of hostility and jealousy towards Boughton, whom he knows at some level he has to forgive. Ames's struggles are illustrated by numerous quotations from the Bible, from theologians (especially Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion), and from philosophers, especially the athiest philosopher Feuerbach, whom Ames greatly respects."

This is a fairly well read book (#3,441 in Amazon Books), though this surprises me somewhat, since I am not sure I would have appreciated a book with so many religious quotations had I not myself been the son of a minister who was the son of a circuit-riding minister.

Growing up in a parsonage with a liberal, extremely well-read, intelligent, humble, thankful, trusting, minister father who constantly struggled financially, I immediately identified with John Ames in this novel. Even 50 years ago a minister who simply wanted to work with his congregation to understand the teaching of Jesus and try to live them without judgment of others had stiff competition from those who preached the gospel of social and material rewards in this life and the fundamentalistic rantings of Radio/TV evangelist (John Ames: "You can spend 40 years teaching people to be awake to the fact of mystery and then some fellow with no moe theological sense than a jackrabbit gets himself a radio ministry and all your work is forgotten.")

Ames, a pacifist, struggles just a bit with his 7 year old son playing with guns, tanks, and the other symbols of war, much as I am certain (from his comments) that my father did when watching me in the same activities (I was 11 in 1956.) My father also struggled with the economics of being minister of a relatively poor congregation during the mini-dust bowl days of 1950's West Texas. In 1956 my father also faced health issues; he had an emergency stomach resection that year in Lubbock for hemorrhaging ulcers. Blue Cross/Blue Shield refused to pay, citing "pre-existing condition" because he listed ulcers on his application for insurance over 10 years earlier. This emptied the savings account my parents had accumulated over the years (I personally have still not forgiven the Insurance companies for doing this to our family.)

Like John Ames, Rev John Floyd had a flow of books into our home. My father received books weekly it seemed from the lending library of Brite Divinity school or the main library at TCU; he only had to pay parcel post rates. Looking back he was much better read than I ever will be. These are not men who have accepted a set dogma and preach the same thing Sunday after Sunday, year after year. They opened themselves to new knowledge, new understandings, and new interpretations of scripture and daily strove to live as "good" men in terms of personal behavior, community example, parent, and spouse. In the book it is suggested that John Ames' father opened himself to the extent that he sided with John's brother Edward in a more Spinozistic philosophy and moved with Edward to the Gulf Coast, leaving Gilead behind forever. It seemed to me that there is a lot of symbolism in the decisions by various characters at various points to leave or stay in Gilead; I have my own interpretation and will leave you to arrive at your own.

Finally, an important bit of the book for which I had no correlative experience growing up; Lila. Lila came into Ames' life by appearing, from place unknown, sitting in his congregation one Sunday. Eventually Ames, who has been a lonely widower for years, marries Lila. Her prior life is apparently was hard and tragic, but Ames never ask her about her earlier life, and in fact does not dwell on it, accepting her for what she is, unconcerned with anything she may have been, leaving the reader curious about Lila, but respectful of Ames.

Beyond straight forward enjoyment of the narrative, reading Gilead raised many memories of my childhood as a preacher's kid, and that is good and satisfying.

Not for the Metrosexual

2010-05-23T12:01:00.006-07:00

I'm not your metrosexual male**, in fact far from it. I do have male friends that approach getting their hair cut from the same perspective as my female friends heading to their salon for a cut and perm. There are certainly some men-only and mixed shops to fulfill that need such as State Street Barbers in Chicago. Even in smaller towns you likely will find something with a lot of added show (try Tim's barber shop).

If on the other hand you are willing to go with something less than a "stylist" and take the opportunity to check the back corners of the inner city and suburbs you may still be able to find one of the dwindling number of traditional barbers, though it is getting a little harder as few young men or women are willing to pursue a career in a one-chair barber shop. I have managed to find a couple of favorites, depending on my location.

Pictured above is the Third One Barber Shop in Estes Park, my usual spot for a hair cut when I'm in the mountains. It is truly the classic, old time, small town barber shop where Field and Stream is neatly stacked next to the Playboys. My neck is snugly wrapped, hair efficiently cut, and then a vacuum brush run over my head before unwrapping my neck so that I don't have itchy hairs in my neck the rest of the day. The attitude is relaxed and the talk easy, and the tab is only $12 with tip.

** "The typical metrosexual is a young man with money to spend, living in or within easy reach of a metropolis – because that's where all the best shops, clubs, gyms and hairdressers are. He might be officially gay, straight or bisexual, but this is utterly immaterial because he has clearly taken himself as his own love object and pleasure as his sexual preference. Particular professions, such as modeling, waiting tables, media, pop music and, nowadays, sport, seem to attract them but, truth be told, like male vanity products and herpes, they're pretty much everywhere. For some time now, old-fashioned (re)productive, repressed, unmoisturized heterosexuality has been given the pink slip by consumer capitalism. The stoic, self-denying, modest straight male didn't shop enough (his role was to earn money for his wife to spend), and so he had to be replaced by a new kind of man, one less certain of his identity and much more interested in his image – that's to say, one who was much more interested in being looked at (because that's the only way you can be certain you actually exist). A man, in other words, who is an advertiser's walking wet dream."
- Salon Magazine

A 9,000 Page Roman-fleuve

2010-05-22T12:42:00.008-07:00

I was this past Christmas damned to spend endless weekends and late nights reading book after book about events of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars. My daughter-in-law gave me the first in this series of 20 historical novels, and after reading it I was, so-to-speak, unable to not proceed to purchase the other 19 1/2 books in the series and displace many other books awaiting my attention.

The roman-fleuve (French, literally "river-novel") refers to an extended sequence of novels of which the whole acts as a commentary for a society or an epoch, and which continually deals with a central character, community or a saga within a family. The river metaphor implies a steady, broad dynamic lending itself to a perspective. Each volume makes up a complete novel by itself, but the entire cycle exhibits unifying characteristics.

Such is Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Each of these books starts and finishes with two friends, English Naval Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician/naturalist/intelligence operative Stephen Maturin, who when not eating, drinking, or playing their violin and chello take part in historically accurate accounts of British Naval actions. The 20-novel series is a well-researched and highly detailed portrayal of early 19th century life, in particular life related to the Royal Navy, with authentic and evocative language and, I might add, occasional examples of early 19th century European medicine.

Throughout the series, the author-narrator employs the same idioms and vocabulary as the characters would have used during their times, and his characters probably would have conversed easily with those of Jane Austin. In addition to this period language, O'Brian tends to use naval jargon with no translation for the reader. This combination of the historical-voice narration and naval terms is daunting at first (at least to me); but it seems that this "total immersion" effect takes hold quickly. Sometimes, O'Brian explains (to we nautical and historical neophyte readers) these terms by having Mautrin tutored in these matters either by Jack Aubrey or some other seasoned seaman.

There is no "last book" that wraps everything up and ends the series. A partially-finished twenty-first novel in the series was published posthumously as a thin hardback with facing pages of handwriting and typescript. In "The Nutmeg of Consolation" (about book #13 or so) Maturin and Aubrey actually discuss the merits of a novel that does not have a real ending, a "final" chapter and conclusion, and I wonder if O'Brien was writing this with a foresight that the series would end only with his death. His final, partial novel ends in the middle of a story, but that is OK . . . I can imagine that Stephen and Aubry will go on and on, living forever their unique friendship and sailing the oceans for Britian, Ireland, Catalan Spain and for science.

Another "Connection"

2010-05-10T18:16:00.009-07:00

FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH, RATON, NEW MEXICO
(click on image to enlarge)

It's always good to connect to one's past in some manner, and often that is through a physical connection with one's family or family history. People live on in our memories, and when something stimulates that memory I often pause for a bit of . . . I'm not sure just how to term it. It's more than nostalgia, it's a time when my consciousness drifts to past times and people, and those people really do live on in my memory. Of course, for most of us, this only last for a couple of generations or so.

Many years ago, Barbara and I were on a road trip through France and saw a small sign "American Cemetery" pointing to the right. With a brief nod to each other, we turned onto a narrow road that led us to a WW I American cemetery.

The Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery is spread over 130 undulating acres in the northeast of France near the Belgian border. This is the largest single burial site of American WWI casualties in Europe, almost 15,000. Most were victims of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in which the American Expeditionary Forces lost 26,000 killed and almost 100,000 wounded. Barbara and I went to the visitor's center and were greeted by the manager of the cemetery who was a US civil service employee at this monument-cemetery near the French-Belgium border. He seemed overly interested in us, asking lots of questions both specific and general. As it turns out, there were very few visitors to this place, and he was eager to spend some time talking with Americans. It was off the main road so there were not many "accidental' or drive-by visitors, and, even in 1974-5, the second generation family of those who were buried there were largely elderly or dead themselves so visiting family members were by then few and far between. Do most of these soldiers really "live on in memory" or are they largely now forgotten as individuals?

Now, to the picture on this post. My father retired from his last church ministry and wanted to physically step out of the way for the church to integrate a new minister. To do this gracefully, he took up a locums position some distance away. . . in this case Raton, NM. He would drive to Raton, preach for two Sundays in a row, then return to Kermit, TX for a few days before returning to Raton. Last Winter, Barbara and I were on our way from Estes Park to Palm Springs, and stopped in Raton to fill up with gasoline. We decided to drive the town, and see if we could find the church where my dad preached, and indeed, as the picture shows, we were successful. I took the picture, but then toured around the church a bit, with a strong memory of my father wandering through my thoughts.

Now, I certainly remember my father well, and my kids also have some fairly decent memories as well. Any generation to follow that will have some stories to tell, but there will be no direct memory. Beyond that, a few anecdotes might survive, but there will be no one who truly remembers Rev. John Floyd. This is a little sad, but true. Genealogists (like Barbara) doing their research are a good thing to have in a family, and artifacts like books or papers with the words will help. Pictures certainly are more plentiful than in the past, but now we have so many digital pictures with no captions (can't use a pencil to write "John Floyd" on the back of a digital file, and most people have not annotated their pictures digitally. The digital file folder in most peoples computers is little better than the old shoe box full of prints. I have a couple of thousand slides and at least that many prints to digitize, organize, and distribute to family members. This is no small challenge, but I think important for the future generations (but even this is likely a bit of self-deception.)

Few of us will become well known to future generations or even future civilizations (think Julius Caesar, Aristotle, etc). What I expect will really live on from my journey here is the change, however small, that may result from how I have lived my life and how I have related to my my family, my friends, and every other human whom I have touched in some way during my life. I hope on the whole I will have caused more good than not.

My Opinion about the Healthcare Bill as recently passed

2010-04-01T15:54:00.010-07:00

What is my opinion about the Health Care Bill just passed by Congress? I have been asked this often in recent days by friends who are outside the system looking in. This is dangerous territory, and I risk stepping in quicksand (or at least a big pile of poop), but here I go:

The essence of the bill is a straightforward tradeoff: The government gives the insurance companies 30 million new customers - via subsidies to help them buy their policies, and in return these companies can no longer deny coverage for preexisting conditions or set lifetime caps on payouts. My problem is that I doubt we can afford this in conjunction with other government expenditures without endangering the U.S. currency.

Our current health care system is supposedly based on capitalism with it's inherent efficiencies and survival of the best product at the best price. But, this is not capitalism or a free market because there is no competition and very limited options for competing on quality and efficiency/economy of care.

The recently passed bill simply pours massive amounts into paying the insurance companies more for the same old insurance, while doing nothing to change the fundamental way care is delivered and paid for . . . and it will therefore drain unbelievable amounts of dollars from the budget. This was not health care reform, it was just a decision to fund a transfer of billions and billions to the insurance companies using the same old system. I do applaud the decision to prevent these companies from refusing to insure individuals at risk and for extending benefits for psychiatric and chronic care, but make no mistake, this is coming out of the taxpayers pockets, and the insurance companies will rake a huge share off the top. Redistribution of wealth is accepted in this country (e.g. our progressive income tax), but the authority responsible for that redistribution is expected to do so efficiently, resulting in the most overall good and without regards to special interest (insurance corporations.)

Dr Welby MD disappeared a long time ago. Individually most doctors are altruistic, but they live and work within the framework of either a group of practitioners or as an employee of a hospital or health care system. Every hospital I know, profit or non profit, and every medical group in the country have management with a job description to maximize the bottom line, and the insurance companies are happy to help them increase the revenues from health care since they are a cost-plus manager of health care - e.g. if they set their profit/return at 5% of gross, then the higher the gross revenues, then the more the 5% is worth. The changes in insurability are not major issues for them; the recent 30%+ increases (my own group had a 31% increase) in premiums this year will more than make up expenses added by the health care bill. Even so, I suspect individuals with insurability problems will still have to fight a paperwork maize and incur extra cost in order to get that coverage.

Yes, I believe everyone in this country deserves "medicare-like" health care (even though medicare is currently running in the red and changes will be enforced in the future by economic realities.) I really don't understand why people are opposed to giving the rest of our citizens what we have given our seniors. And . . . it is a disappointment that Congress did not do the most fiscally efficient thing by simply extending Medicare to those who cannot afford insurance, rather than enacting this massive transfer of wealth to an inefficent healthcare system, and giving the insurance companies a windfall along the way. Some may not be aware that it was Richard Nixon who also felt it the responsibility of the federal government to assure citizens of reasonable health care and proposed in 1971 a public/private system for universal health care, paid by the government through negotiations with competing private entities such as Kaiser, Mayo, Group Health, Cleveland Clinic etc as well as traditional health insurance companies. (Congress however became more concerned with impeachment than assuring health care for its citizens.)

What we perhaps needed was a complete remake of health care in our country, hopefully using the best elements of places like France, Germany, etc in order to bring quality, affordable, health care to everyone in this country. I don't think this bill will do that, but then the devil is in the details, and we will have to see how the law, as written, is applied (similar to the IRS code/ interpretation of the generalities in the tax law) before we know exactly what we have here, so I reserve my final opinion for a few years.

My fundamental principle as a secular humanist is the "golden rule" in its various expressions, and I take as my obligation the need to make life better for others. This health care bill is deeply, severely flawed, but it is a start.

A Ray of Hope

2010-03-23T15:46:00.003-07:00

I have long been a fan of nuclear energy as something that is in the long run affordable and can mitigate the possible effects of global warming related to CO2 production. Of course, there are many problems with nuclear technology as it stands.

There has been little change in the basic design of a nuclear power plant since the 1950's. You would think that there would have been some innovation in that time, and perhaps finally there has been. For the first time, I now have seen a technology that, while not the infamous "cold fusion," comes close to a magic bullet in solving mankind's energy needs. It uses nuclear fuel that is now considered waste, and a plant would generate electricity for 50-100 years without refueling.

In this this link, Bill Gates fairly well summarizes the concept of a "traveling wave reactor" (TRW) as a means of cheap, safe nuclear energy production for both developed and under developed societies. This technology, if successfully developed and deployed, would use un-enriched uranium for its power, would use as it's source of fuel all the used power plant fuel rods stored on site around the world (the current US stored fuel rods would supply about 200 years of TWR power for the country.)

I don't know if this will ever happen, but it's much more realistic than cold fusion ever was.

JLF

Darwin Day

2010-02-12T09:35:00.007-07:00

Today is the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin.

Darwin Day is a global celebration of science and reason held on or around Feb. 12, the birthday anniversary of evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin.

A couple of years ago, watching a late night PBS broadcast of The Charlie Rose Show interviewing James Watson and EO Wilson, both eminent and respected biologists, I heard Wilson make the comment that there have been two great, unmatched leaps in biology: first, Darwin's publication telling us WHAT happened, and later, the paper by Watson and Crick telling us HOW it happened.

Just as Carl Sagan opened my mind to the wonders of the cosmos, Thomas Lewis, scientist, poet and philosopher, in his essays, The lives of a cell:Notes of a Biology Watcher, (in the New England Journal of Medicine) , opened my mind to the awe-inspiring depths of biology. EO Wilson has involuntarily taken up the torch carried by Darwin and Lewis Thomas, and has become the inspiration for bio-scientist the world over.

Wilson is one of the great minds of our time; the Guardian has a nice summary of Wilson's life and contributions to knowledge. Not surprisingly, he has provoked some controversy. You can watch him talk and accept an honor as he gives a TED Talk. You can watch a much longer Wilson interview discussing the science of the mind as a guest on the UCSD "Guestbook" series in the Philosophy Department.

Seeing Differently

2010-01-31T15:28:00.001-07:00

"Life is like a rainbow. You need both the sun and the rain to make its colors appear."

- wolfdyke

Circular Rainbow

(color intensified with photoshop)

For the first time, I had a chance to see a circular rainbow from my airplane window on the way from Denver to Cedar Rapids today. We were above the cloud as we approached CR. The sun was on the opposite side of the airplane from my seat, projecting the rainbow on my side.

Rainbows can only be seen with the sun from behind you, and generally appear as a semicircle, with the lower portion hidden behind the horizon of the earth. If you were on a sufficiently high position, all rainbows would in fact appear circular. Complete circular rainbows can be seen under the right conditions, for example when viewing the mists from above a large waterfall early or late in the day. As above, circular rainbows can also be seen from an airplane when it flies over clouds.

Wiki discorse on Rainbows: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow

Durango - Bet on a Free Stay

2010-01-21T15:06:00.003-07:00

When traveling in an RV, you always have your home along, but not your lot/land, so a place to park for the night is always needed. We almost always have found RV resorts/parks and state/national parks available as needed with minimal advance planning. In a pinch one could, and many do, simply park in the local Wall Mart parking lot - Wall Mart officially sanctions the practice.

Something Barbara and I have found recently is the trend for the newer Casinos to incorporate RV parks with full hookups as part of the casino grounds. The new Indian casinos are usually close to a major population center (they need the customers.) They have pretty much always allowed dry camping, but somehow setting up in the middle of a casino parking lot was never our style. However, as you see our rig pictured above, when they have a nicely equipped RV park, it's free (if you don't gamble), and you have access to the restaurants and all of the amenities of the hotel as desired, then it can be the best option for the traveling RVer. This casino was just outside Durango.

In addition to being the starting point for a journey on the Durango-Silverton railway trip, there is a fairly nice train museum there. Here Bll ponders the assorted valves and switches required to manage this historic steam engine.

As Bill said, "what boy growing up in our generation did not want to make a journey from the caboose of a train?" I share his sentiment.

The origins of both the car and the word are surrounded as much by legend as by fact. One popular version dates the word back to a derivation of the Dutch word "kombuis," which referred to a ship's galley. Use of cabooses began in the 1830s, when railroads housed trainmen in shanties built onto boxcars or flatcars.

The caboose served several functions, one of which was as an office for the conductor. A printed "waybill" followed every freight car from its origin to destination. The conductor kept the paperwork in the caboose.

The caboose also carried a brakeman and a flagman. In the days before automatic air brakes the engineer signaled the caboose with his whistle when he wanted to slow down or stop. The brakeman then would climb out and make his way forward, twisting the brakewheels atop the cars with a stout club. Another brakeman riding the engine would work his way toward the rear. Once the train was stopped, the flagman would descend from the caboose and walk back to a safe distance with lanterns, flags and other warning devices to stop any approaching trains.

Once under way, the trainmen would sit up in the cupola and watch for smoke or other signs of trouble from overheated wheel journals (called hotboxes).

The addition of the cupola – the lookout post atop the car – is attributed to a conductor who discovered in 1863 that he could see his train much better if he sat atop boxes and peered through the hole in the roof of his boxcar.

This was the first chance either of us had ever had to inspect the interior of a caboose with its original cabinetry and fittings intact.

It was common for railroads to assign a caboose to a conductor for his exclusive use. Conductors took great pride in their cars, despite the caboose's many derogatory nicknames, including crummy, doghouse, bone-breaker, snake wagon and hearse.

The men decorated their car interiors with many homey touches, including curtains and family photos. Some of the most important additions were ingredients for cooking meals that became a part of American folklore. Augmented with such comforting features, the caboose served as a home away from the trainmen's home terminals.

Barbara at it again!

2010-01-17T11:08:00.002-07:00

Art vs Technique #2

(click to enlarge)

As I have discussed in the past (http://blipsinthecosmos.blogspot.com/2009/03/technique-vs-art.html), I know the technology of digital photography, but it is Barbara who has the eye. This is her view of the mountains between Ouray and Silverton. To provide some perspective, the trees are full sized, probably ~50 feet at least.

Look around . . . a surprise usually awaits

2010-01-17T10:58:00.002-07:00

Olathe, Colorado

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Left click on any picture to enlarge

Uncompahgre River RV Park was a quite nice place, well taken care of, with very pleasant host/owners. Campground is definitely for 55+ and most of the campers were there for the season. Coffee every morning at 9:30 and drinks at 4:00pm. Everyone was very friendly. Most of the "campers" are seasonal and return every year, a testament to the owners. A large community garden, started and maintained by the campers - across the road behind our rig in the picture above, serves not only the park, but also the senior center in town.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP was about an hour from Olathe. Smaller than the Grand Canyon, but it is equally spectacular in it's own way.

Dana looking back from a lookout point below the visitor's center.

No, that's not what we are doing!

Before we left Olathe for the short move to Ouray, we drove a short distance out of town to a dairy where twice weekly they divert some milk to make "artisan" cheese (http://www.rockingwcheese.com /). The cheese was indeed wonderful, but on the way to the dairy, we passed an orchard with "pick your own" peaches . . . and we did!

The surprise at the orchard was their small winery (Mountain View Winery - http://mountainviewwinery.com/). It was 9:30 in the morning, but we decided to try the wine anyway. Ash Mesa, a blend of chardonnay grapes and apples was a particularly good production (yes, really!)

We stopped at Olathe to see the Gunnison Canyon, but almost anywhere on our travels, when we take the time to look around, there are almost always some smaller, but still worthwhile experiences that await the curious searcher.

Colorado: Aspen-Leadville Loop

2010-01-17T09:45:00.001-07:00

A day-trip from Glenwood Springs through Aspen and Leadville, looping back via I-70

After a nice drive from Glenwood springs, we arrived in Aspen. Like so many of the well-known Colorado mountain villages, Aspen's original central area is a combination of original mining town architecture and affluent granola ambiance.

The first order of business was to exercise the animals and wander the downtown. There was a fair-sized street market of which we took advantage.

There is a free gondola service from the "old" town to the modern Mountain Village above Aspen from which the high slopes are available. From the gondola, you can look back and see how the original town sits in the upper reaches of a large canyon.

Back down and before heading out, we stopped for a quick lunch with a lot of sun.

Shortly out of Aspen, Hwy 82 is little more than a small country road with no shoulders and little clearance on the sides. Once out of the canyon and approaching the treeline, it opens up. We passed numerous mining relics like this stamping mill remains in what is left of the mining town of Independence. The Saturn Vue (our tow car for the motorhome) has been a workhorse for us; very sad the brand has been dropped.

Finally the road crested at Independence Pass and, after a break we enjoyed the drive through Balltown and Leadville (lunch and touring the historic local architecture) back to Glenwood Springs.

As the sun approached the horizon, we returned to Glenwood Springs just in time for a quick tour of Linwood Pioneer Cemetery, on Jasper Mountain, above the town. When visiting this historic cemetery you should have your walking shoes on as there are no vehicles allowed on the winding road to the cemetery.

Established in 1886, Linwood contains the graves of the pioneers of Glenwood Springs. Its most infamous resident is John Henry “Doc” Holliday. Harvey Logan, alias “Kid Curry” was also buried in Linwood after committing suicide following a train robbery in 1904 near Parachute. Logan had been, for a while, a member of Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid’s gang. Exploring this historic graveyard would optimally require a guide, or at least a guide book, and a fair amount of time, neither of which we had.

John "Doc" Holliday of course is famous for his role in the gunfight at the OK Corral. In some respects, John Henry Holliday's reputation was as illusory as the cure he sought. Stricken with tuberculosis at 21, the aspiring dentist came west in 1873 and roamed from Dallas to Dodge City to Tombstone, drinking and gambling hard at every stop (so much for health concerns). After shooting up a few barrooms and dispatching a rival card-shark, Doc Holliday gained renown as a prolific killer and brilliant marksman. In reality he committed perhaps four or five murders, and his wheezing and boozing made him an erratic shot. But this much was true: he was hot-tempered and reckless, a dangerous man. And a dying one. By 1887, when he moved into the Hotel Glenwood, his ravaged lungs were beyond saving. He expired within a few weeks.

Walk your dogs . . . We'll walk our yaks.

2010-01-16T10:26:00.006-07:00

You will not see things like this in the lobby of your hotel.

(Click Picture to enlarge)

Bill and Dana with local yak breeders/ranchers

One evening in Ouray (our two rigs in the background), a couple came down the road taking a Tibetan yak and her baby out for a stroll and stopped to talk and let us interact with the yaks. They had recently started a yak breeding operation on a ranch near us, and were getting their yaks used to being around strange things and (strange?) people. These were very gentle animals. Their natural habitat is the high elevations in Tibet, so they are a natural animal for the high, cold Colorado mountains. They are efficient protein producers if raised for meat, have high-quality meat, and have a fine wool with a mosaic surface on the fiber that is smooth and non-itchy. I think this is their operation - http://www.yakbreeder.com/index.html and blog - http://www.yakbreeder.com/blog/?page_id=2

History of the domestic yak (I knew all of you would really be interested!): The wild Yak (bos mutus) is found in the Himalayan Mountains of Tibet and surroundings at elevations of 14,000 feet. In fact the wild Yak (bos mutus) cannot live below 12,000 feet elevation for any length of time. But during these occasions, the wild Yak bulls interbreed with various cattle breeds surrounding their native Himalayan Mountain terrain. These cross calf heifers crossed back several times to the wild Yak. These multigenerational crosses became the domesticated Yak (bos grunniens). The Yak was originally domesticated in Tibet thousands of years ago and has supplied the indigenous people of these mountainous regions with most of their daily needs including meat, milk, butter, cheese, wool, fiber, leather, fuel, and packing/trekking/travel requirements. The versatile animal is an integral part of the lives of the Tibetan natives and substantially adds to the renowned health and longevity of these people.
If you still thirst for information - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yak

CHIMNEY ROCK ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE

2010-01-15T19:46:00.016-07:00

Another Stop on our RV trip in Colorado Last Fall

(Click on a picture to enlarge it)

In southwest CO east of Durango, near the junction of Hwys 160 and 150 is a rock formation generally known as "Chimney Rock." On 4,100 acres of San Juan National Forest land, which in turn is surrounded by the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, it is in southwestern Colorado near the junction of Hwys 160 & 151.

In order to better manage the architectural exploration of the remnants of early residents of this area, Chimney Rock was designated an Archaeological Area and National Historic Site in 1970.

The site was home to the ancestors of the modern Pueblo Indians ~1,000 years ago and is of great spiritual significance to these tribes. Their ancestors built over 200 homes and ceremonial buildings high above the valley floor, probably to be near the sacred twin rock pinnacles.

The Great House at Chimney Rock sits at the top of this thin, high mesa and is accessible only by a steep-walled narrow causeway of rock.

At the end of the first ridge, is a view of the formation from an unused Fire Tower built before satellite cameras and infra-red monitoring was possible.

As in my previous blog about connections, here is another one . . . this site is related to the community around Chaco Canyon, a New Mexico site that Karen, Matt, and I have previously explored.

This is a movie of the Great House, built on a wide spot at the top of the mesa, constructed directly upon bare sandstone bedrock, so the tons of rock and adobe had to be carried up to the site. The Great House dates from the 11th century and is linked architecturally to the Great Kiva, a Chacoan "community center" found below the mesa. (The background voice is the guide answering a question about the fire lookout tower.)

The population of Chimney Rock seems to have expanded during the time when the Ancestral Puebloans had moved to the high mesa top, following a decline in the resident farming community and probably is attributed to immigration of Chacoans.
It is believed that Chimney Rock became part of the larger Chacoan regional community during the time when Chaco Canyon became a ceremonial center to unify a dispersed population through pilgrimage festivals and ceremonial rituals. The festivals would have been related to the re-distribution of goods (corn, timber, pottery, meat, etc.) and the ceremonial rituals related to worship of the Sun and Moon. Chimney Rock itself could have been an occasional host to these festivals with its Chacoan Great House Pueblo serving as focus.

The Ancestral Puebloans moved away from the Chimney Rock villages and the valleys in the 1100's. No later buildings or artifacts have been found. Maybe the weather at this location became too cold and dry, enemies became too persistent, or resources and farming areas became depleted. For whatever reason or combination of reasons, the area was deserted by the prehistoric farming-based populations until the area's resettlement by colonists from Mexico in the 1700's.

A New Friend . . . that I will never see again

2009-12-30T14:50:00.004-07:00

The National Museum of Iraq holds some 170,000 cultural artifacts from Mesopotamian civilizations, including the Code of Hammurabi.

Short Story . . .

On Monday, Barbara and I flew back to Denver after a wonderful Christmas with our children in AZ. As we were getting on the train from Terminal B to the main concourse at Denver International, three airport policemen brought a middle-aged Chinese gentleman to the train door and asked if anyone was picking up baggage. When I raised my hand, they passed off the Chinese man to me and said "make sure he gets off at the baggage return stop."

It was quickly apparent that this gentleman spoke NO English and could not read any of the signs. My Chinese is a little rusty . . . OK . . . I speak no Chinese at all, so using gestures and miming we brought this nicely dressed, middle-aged gentleman all the way to the baggage carousels. Barbara went to get our bags, and I asked him for his boarding pass. He showed me his ticked for Flight 770, and we found the right carrosel and waited. About 15' later the bags started coming, but his did not show up. For the next 30' or so we worked with the United baggage personnel (who also spoke no Chinese) but they could not figure out where his bags were either. Finally, I indicated I wanted to see all of his papers. Oh No! He was not supposed to be getting his bags; he was supposed to be changing to a plane for Houston! The policemen had completely misunderstood the situation. Now we were on the wrong side of security, he needed to get back to his gate, and I had no boarding pass to go through security with him.

Among his papers was a phone number that I recognized as a Houston area code. I called that number, and sure enough the lady on the other end spoke English and Chinese, and was expecting him. Passing my cell phone back and forth for translation, I had her tell him what we would need to do, and she was going to be at the airport in Houston to meet him, as long as I could get him on the flight.

To shorten the story, I met a number of seriously nice TSA people that night. With their help and cooperation, my boarding pass from earlier in the day was re-stamped, and the man and I went through the security screening again (I always get patted down) with the agents being very courteous and helping me keep my Chinese partner in the right places, and made our way onto the train to terminal B and, with a stop at the men's room, finally to gate B-33 with about an hour to spare. We communicated until I was sure he knew to board that flight around 7pm, and I had another gentleman waiting for the flight agree to make sure he did get on the plane.

Before leaving, I gave him my card and cell phone number should he get stranded again. He entered a long number in my cell phone, hit "call" and then "hang up". He then pointed at himself, then at the phone number and said "Beijing!" I guess I now have a contact if I get lost there.

I waived goodbye and shook hands. He shook my hand for a long time, then pulled me in for a long hug. His eyes were a little moist. That moment was far more reward than I expected or needed. I was happy for him to be again on his way, and happy for me that I was some help in the process.

Some people have suggested that what elevates certain animals, notably humans, to a higher plane is an (evolved?) capacity for empathy, the ability to put one's self in others shoes so to speak. I think this is at least partially culturally derived as evidenced in many religions and philosophies including universal moral codes that have been passed through generations for centuries, the Code of Hammurabi (~1700 BCE) being one of the oldest moral/legal codes recorded.

Behavior based not on self-interest, but on needs of others can be observed occasionally in the animal world, and can be seen to be occasionally lacking in humans who have not yet learned the rewards of the golden rule.

9 Reasons to Love Chicago

2009-12-09T17:09:00.014-07:00

Chicago at night

For the 24th time in 25 years I attended the annual meeting of the Radiologic Society of North America , traditionally starting the Saturday after Thanksgiving in Chicago. In recent years, Barbara and I look forward to this as an annual vacation in this great city, with Barbara doing research at the Newberry Library and other interesting explorations of art museums and other establishments while I attend the meeting. The weather is often "iffy," but along with the Christmas decorations and lights there is a festive atmosphere to the city. After the meeting ends on Thursday, we stay over to play and explore in the city together.

We usually skipped lunch and/or breakfast, and enjoyed a nice dinner in the evenings. There were two restaurants we already knew well, but we had 7 new discoveries. I just thought I would list our findings with short comments, for what it's worth.

Bistrot Zinc is an oxymoron; a moderately priced French Restaurant. Very, very good however: http://www.bistrotzinc.com/

Le Colonial is a Viet Vietnamese French (Colonial French) restaurant. My partner Paul pointed this out as one of his favorites. The dishes have a bit of kick, but excellent quality and preparation, and the service was top notch: http://www.lecolonialchicago.com/

At The Tavern on Rush we arrived early and were seated next to the 2nd story glass wall overlooking the small park where Rush merges with State. We both had the small fillet, and it was just about as good of a steak as we have ever eaten, anywhere: http://www.tavernonrush.com/

A repeat, Shaw's Crab House, produced the best king crab legs Barbara has had since Alaska: http://www.shawscrabhouse.com/

The unique experience of the trip was North Pond, a restaurant crafted from an old warming house at the edge of a pond in the Lincoln Park area, just east of the zoo. You have to walk down a path from where the cab will have to drop you off. http://www.northpondrestaurant.com/

Pane Caldo is a small Italian cafe on the two-block walk from the Newberry Library to Michigan Ave; about 2 blocks from Water Tower. We had the set three course lunch menu for $19; quite good. We will go back for dinner at some point. http://www.pane-caldo.com/

James Burk's Primehouse is in the James Hotel, and is known for it's dry aged beef. We had a very special dinner here with Barbara's cousin Steve and his wife Janet, who like me attends the RSNA as a triple boarded Internist/Nuke/Radiologist:. http://www.jameshotels.com/Chicago-Hotel.aspx?name=The-James-Chicago&page=Primehouse-Bull-Story

The other repeat was our perennial fishouse favorite, Hugo's Frog Bar and Fish House. Contrary to one's first impression, it is not named for the amphibian whose legs are served there. "Frog" was the nickname Hugo Ralli called his Grandfather, General Bruce Hay of Her Majesty's Imperial Forces: http://www.hugosfrogbar.com/

Eggstasy, a new discovery for breakfast or brunch, is in the Oakbrook area if you are on your way into or out of downtown Chicago and you are very, very hungry. It's just off the I-88 turnpike: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=284486

CREEDE, COLORADO PART II

2009-11-26T19:47:00.010-07:00

The Bachelor Loop

(Left click on any picture to enlarge it)

Above the town of Creede is a road, "The Bachelor Loop," following the old mining road along which there are many old mine remains, and starting at the canyon at the north end of town, seen as a notch in the rocks above.

I think the loop is about 18 miles long, unless you take some of the side roads requiring 4-wheel drive and high clearance.

As you enter the canyon you immediately come across substantial mine constructions.

Some of these are perched precariously on the steep sides, but have remained in place for the better part of a century.

These constructions, as the track to the tipple seen here, required lots and lots of wood . . .

. . . and big timbers. I am amazed to see in historic photos that there were some trees still standing in this area .

The mine shafts were built strong and deep, and some have been active until a few years ago. For a history of Creede from the Denver Post click here, and for a history of mining in the San Juans try HERE .

Midway through the trip we stopped for a spot of lunch.

The town of Bachelor, for which the loop is named, in the hills above Creede, had an exciting start, but a very brief life.

Not much left of Bachelor today, and not much left for this post. See you at another SW Colorado highlight on the next one.

CREEDE, COLORADO - PART I

2009-11-22T20:15:00.009-07:00

Creede - Meadows, Mountains and Mines

In late August to early September we explored western and southern Colorado as an RV caravan with our good friends Bill and Dana. We travelled every few days, beginning in Glenwood Springs, working south to Durango, and back east across the state to Colorado Springs. The previous post about the headwaters of the Rio Grande was from this trip. Instead of posting a chronological series of "we were there, then here, then there" comments, I will extract some of the highlights of the trip, not necessarily in chronological order, and try to spare you from boredom by way of leaving a lot of our wanderings at the proverbial cutting room floor.

I first was introduced to Creede, CO by Joan and Mike Hansen, who had posted pictures of their visit (also in a motorhome) a year or two ago. Creede sits in the Weminuche Wilderness area at the entrance to a steep canyon and the junction of the East Willow and West Willow Creeks. On the north edge of town is the canyon with hundreds of mining ruins and artifacts, and to the south of town are the meadows along the Rio Grande.

As usual, left-click on a picture to enlarge it

The picture above is a view looking southwest from above Creede, which is the compact collection of buildings and streets in the mid-foreground. Beyond Creede is the Rio Grande and adjacent valley meadows. In 1890 Nicholas Creede discovered a high-grade silver vein on Willow Creek, a tributary of the Rio Grande, and founded the Holy Moses Mine, starting a series of boom and bust to the area. It is off all the major highways, but the attraction of the wilderness and beauty keeps people in and coming to the area.

Dana, Barbara and Bill standing about 30' from where we had setup our RVs. It was a very nice RV resort, but was closing for the winter about 2 weeks after our departure.

Same thing, with me in the picture for a change. In the background you can see the steep V-shaped canyon with Creede at its entrance. Many mines were established in or close to this canyon, and Creede was the center of support for the mines and miners.

Creede is NOT a big town, having a population of only 737 at last count. It is certainly not a town in decline though, with some reasonable stores that for the most part avoid the T-Shirt tackiness. People really live here, and the tourism tends to be younger people heading for the wilderness outdoor experience, and older ones interested in the local history, fishing and hiking, and the less extreme outdoor activities. The Bachelor Historic Loop (next blog post), an interesting drive through the local mining ruins and high mountain meadows starts at the entrance to the canyon at the north end of main street.

One of the more surprising findings in Creede is the Creede Repertory Theatre, a professional theatre company resident in Creede from May through September yearly. We made one performance there and thought it overall an excellent performance. The quality is consistent and good enough to draw enough people (from a considerable distance) to sustain it for the past 44 years. In fact, it has been so successful that construction is underway for an new, additional performing facility in town.

There is a B&B in the north end of town with this small garden adjacent to the cabin. The holes in the rock behind the garden are left from drilling contest periodically held among the miners during the Creede's heydays.

One of the most unexpected structures in Creede is a guest house built in the style of a Norwegian Stave Church. There is a very interesting story of how it came to be, but it's too long to tell here, so you will have to read the link.

Like other mining towns, Creede had it's share of notorious characters. The list included gambler Bob Ford, the killer of Jesse James. Ford himself was shot in the back by a disgruntled patron of his gambling hall, Ed O'Kelley. O'Kelley was tried and convicted for slaying Ford and put in jail, but shortly thereafter was pardoned, as many in Creede felt O'Kelley had done the town a service.

After Ford's death, Soapy Smith ran an extortion racket out of the Orleans Club. Smith had a cut of every gin joint, bawdy house and gambling casino in Creede. After the Silver Panic of 1893 slowed the economy of Creede to a crawl, Smith moved to the Klondike. His competitors in Skagway objected to him establishing the same type of business he ran in Creede. Smith was shot to death in 1898. (Barbara and I had visited his grave when we visited her brother in Skagway several years ago. This is another one of those "connections" I was talking about in the previous post.)

Today Creede survives as a tourist center, but it's remote location probably guarantees that it will never go the way of Telluride. If you're on a tour of Southwest Colorado, take some time to visit. Barbara and I will certainly be returning. It's off the beaten path, but well worth it.

For a history of Creede from the Denver Post click here,

My next post will be about the Bachelor Historic Loop in the mountain above Creede.

___

Connections

2009-11-21T17:53:00.009-07:00

Eve Shpritser’s highly dimensional, geometric “Connections.”

I am fascinated when my readings in completely different sources that are seemingly unrelated touch closely on the same subject. For some reason I feel good when I see such "connections" in the world. The following is an example of what I am talking about.

There seems to be an endless variety of Christian religions in the world. One that came to my attention recently was the "Dunker" religion. The Dunkers, so called because they practiced "full" baptism by three full immersions, originated in Germany and for a while flourished in American. I was first put on to this by a few paragraphs in Benjamin Franklin's autobiography which I have been reading of late. I realized that this connected to another story I had read in a Mark Twain biography.

Benjamin Franklin spoke well of one of his Dunker acquaintances and his humility regarding the certainty (or actually of lack of it) in their doctrine:

"These embarrassments that the Quakers suffer'd from having establish'd and published it as one of their principles that no kind of war was lawful, and which, being once published, they could not afterwards, however they might change their minds, easily get rid of, reminds me of what I think a more prudent conduct in another sect among us, that of the Dunkers.
I was acquainted with one of its founders, Michael Welfare, soon after it appear'd. He complain'd to me that they were grievously calumniated by the zealots of other persuasions, and charg'd with abominable principles and practices, to which they were utter strangers. I told him this had always been the case with new sects, and that, to put a stop to such abuse, I imagin'd it might be well to publish the articles of their belief, and the rules of their discipline. He said that it had been propos'd among them, but not agreed to, for this reason:
"When we were first drawn together as a society," says he, "it had pleased God to enlighten our minds so far as to see that some doctrines, which we once esteemed truths, were errors; and that others, which we had esteemed errors, were real truths. From time to time He has been pleased to afford us farther light, and our principles have been improving, and our errors diminishing. Now we are not sure that we are arrived at the end of this progression, and at the perfection of spiritual or theological knowledge; and we fear that, if we should once print our confession of faith, we should feel ourselves as if bound and confin'd by it, and perhaps be unwilling to receive farther improvement, and our successors still more so, as conceiving what we their elders and founders had done, to be something sacred, never to be departed from."
This modesty in a sect is perhaps a singular instance in the history of mankind, every other sect supposing itself in possession of all truth, and that those who differ are so far in the wrong; like a man traveling in foggy weather, those at some distance before him on the road he sees wrapped up in the fog, as well as those behind him, and also the people in the fields on each side, but near him all appears clear, tho' in truth he is as much in the fog as any of them. "

The Dunkers were pacifist and also anti-slavery. They advocated for slave owners to free their slaves. In later years, John T. Lewis, a "free negro" and a Dunker, appears in the biography of Samuel Clemens.

In this event, Lewis was startled to see a carriage pulled by a runaway horse, erratically careening about the road with three very frightened women aboard. He pulled his wagon to the side of the road, just in time to leap from it onto the bridle of the spooked horse. He managed to successfully bring the horse and carriage to a complete stop, at which point he became acquainted with the occupants: Mrs. Charles Langdon, her daughter Julia, and a nurse. General Charles Langdon, the grateful husband, and Mrs. Langdon were the parents of Olivia L. Langdon who married Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) in 1870.

Lewis was thanked with large dollar gifts from General Landgon, and a personalized set of books from Samuel Clemens. He subsequently became the Langdon's personal coachman and thus frequently saw the Clemens.

"He (Lewis) and Clemens became very good friends. Later, when Clemens was writing his famous novel Huckleberry Finn, it was the warm and friendly personality of John T. Lewis which served to inspire the personality of Jim, the runaway slave and friend of Huck. “I have not known an honester man nor a more respect-worthy one” - Samuel Langhorne Clemens. "

There you go; Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain - connected across a century by the respect of a Dunker acquaintance. I love it!

The Rio Bravo del Norte

2009-11-02T20:10:00.021-07:00

(Click on picture to enlarge)

A RIVER IS LIKE A LIFE; IT HAS A BEGINNING AND AN END

My life, as it happens, began at the end. That is, at the end of the river - the Rio Grande. Any further south in Texas and I would be a Mexican (in Mexico this river is known as the Rio Bravo del Norte.) Later in my life, I was living several hundred miles upstream in El Paso. Finally, last September during a RV trip to Colorado I found the chance to visit the streams and lakes that form the headwaters of the Rio Grande . . . its beginning. I am getting older now, and more frequently wallowing in a bit of comfortable reflection on my years past and possible years future; it was one of those moments.

At these times I tend to go mellow. Sometimes I turn on music; The Parson's Project "Time" is my all time favorite music for melancholic (not to be confused with depressive) reflection. It is a good background for contemplating the Buddhist teachings on the impermanence of life. The Buddha used the river to teach that life is series of impermanent moments - i.e. moment by moment death and rebirth - and made the analogy of wading through a river; you can do it only once, because if you try to wade back across it's not the same river - the water you originally waded through has flowed on and now you are wading through new water. (By the way, I'm not Buddhist - I once thought I might be - I admire many of the teachings - but I'm really not.)

I could continue to enjoy this comfortable soliloquy and progress to considerations of the cosmos and what we really are ( think Dust in the wind by Kansas.) You may not want to go there though, so I will end the blog, pour a short single malt, and turn on Joni Mitchell's Woodstock rendition of "We are Stardust," the original "Hair" soundtrack, or perhaps Leonard Cohen's "Bird on the Wire" and thoroughly enjoy the depths of my melancholy.

Grist for the Mill

2009-07-03T08:56:00.016-07:00

- Per Usual, left-click on any picture for a larger version -

Links are shown in blue

In June we found a weekend that Matt and Rachael, as well as we two, were free, so we hopped on a United Flight from Denver. We took the light rail from the airport to downtown and walked 3 blocks to our hotel. In September, should one desire, you will be able to take the new light rail extension right to the hotel (Marriott Courtyard Downtown) which sits between downtown and the Pearl. Above we stand in the West Hills with "Big Pink" (Link) in the center of downtown Portland.
Sitting high in the West Hills is the Pittock Mansion, built by one of Portland's early entrepreneurs, Henry Pittock. Henry was born in England and came to the US as a child. He arrived in Portland penniless and began work for the Oregonian Newspaper. He later met his wife, Gerogiania, who had crossed the plains from Keokuk, Iowa. Henry aggressively entered the business world and rapidly became wealthy. They lived in relatively modest dwellings until, late in life, they built this spectacular home on 56 hilltop acres in the West Hills of Portland.
The main stairs

View of Portland from the Master Bedroom Porch. The grounds are part lawn, part rose garden, and part arboretum.

Earlier we had driven over the bridges to Washington State:

In the hills About 30' North of Portland is the Cedar Creek Grist Mill. Built in 1876 to serve primarily for flour making, it was subsequently a hydroturbine-powered machine shop supporting the logging industry and local farming. It has been restored and is maintained by a voluntary organization.

The building was initially constructed primarily to turn this two piece French grinding stone, quarried at La Ferte-sous-Jouarre near the town of Chalons in the Marne Valley in Northern France.

This brief video contains the sounds and shows some of the machinery of the mill in action. The power is produced by a James Leffel water turbine. This company has been making turbines since 1862. The speed/horsepower is varied by opening/closing the vanes of the turbine.

The turbine turns on a bearing made of Lignum Vitae wood (more than you ever wanted to know about this wood here.)

The original covered bridge at the mill site has been rebuilt.

The flume was originally only about 80' long, using a log dam to build the water pressure. The dam was taken out sometime back, and now the salmon run upstream yearly. A new flume was built as part of the restoration, beginning about 650 feet upstream from the mill. This allows a 17.5 foot head of water to stand above the turbine, which at peak power flows 600 cubic ft/min.

Inveterate historical travel is in the genes.

(By the way, The proverb “all is grist for the mill” means “everything can be made useful, or be a source of profit.” A miller ground whatever grain was brought to him, and charged a portion of the final product for the service. Therefore, all grain arriving at the mill represented income, regardless of its quality. The first recorded usage of the phrase was in the sixteenth century, but the term is probably much older.)

There are some minor variations, such as "all's grist that comes to my/his/her mill", meaning that the person in question can make something positive out of anything that comes along.

Stanley Still Steaming

2009-06-17T14:16:00.009-07:00

- Left-click to enlarge a picture -

- Links are in blue -

One of the local landmarks here in Estes Park is the old Stanley Hotel, a sprawling white wooden structure that originally hosted well-off travelers to the Rocky Mountains and now is a choice place for weddings.

In 1903, F. O. Stanley came to Estes Park for his health. He suffered from tuberculosis and came West at his doctor's suggestion. The doctor arranged for the couple to stay in a cabin in Estes Park for the summer, and immediately they fell in love with the area and quickly Stanley's health began to dramatically improve. Impressed by the beauty of our valley and grateful for the improvement in his health, he decided to invest his money and his future here. In 1909, he opened the elegant Stanley Hotel, a classic hostelry exemplifying the golden age of touring.

Lacking familiarity with Estes Park however, you would more likely associate the name Stanley with the steam powered automobile built by the Stanley brothers, the "Stanley Steamer," (or perhaps the locally owned carpet cleaning business.)

In addition to 2 and 4 passenger cars, the Stanley brothers designed and built the Stanley Mountain Wagon to bring their well-heeled guest from the train depot in Loveland up the Big Thompson canyon to Estes Park. The tremendous torque generated by the steam engines made the 3,000 ft climb over winding roads with 12 passengers possible.

Though the steamer gave way to the internal combustion engine in the 20's, there are many that have been restored and still travel the roadways. There is an international Steam Car Club (Link.)

As part of the centennial celebration of the hotel (link), a number of Stanley Steamers made their way to Estes for a Rally this year, and we ran into a number of them around town this week. I grabbed a few photos with my cell phone camera. (I had to clean some of these up with photoshop; the cell phone lens was dirty, and the original pictures were quite hazy with no contrast.)

This man and his son are from near Des Moines. He commented that their club is not about owning a Steamer, but about driving one.

It seems that when driving a steam powered automobile, it is really a two-person job

The power is from kerosene, but the car is really a water hog, and needs frequent refilling.

Occasional repairs are needed . . . some mechanical talent is advised before heading out of town. You don't just jump in the car and start the engine and take off of course. It takes several minutes to pump up the pressure for the kerosene feeder, fire up the boiler, and wait for enough pressure to start the journey.

I have seen people deeply involved in hobbies that held no interest for me. This looked like a lot of fun however, and is one of those activities that the whole family can participate in. Should you not have $100-300K to buy a restored steamer, you could devote years of your life to restoring one as did the bloke on this wonderful little English video (link.)

IT'S MOTHERS DAY

2009-05-27T09:21:00.006-07:00

Vincent Van Gogh - Irises

Ona Floyd - Irises

(Left click to enlarge)

These irises are currently blooming next to our home in Cedar Rapids. They are part of the original family (the bulbs have been divided several times now) that Barbara transplanted from my mother's home in Waurika, OK many years ago. I am sure that they will become a part of our children's gardens, and perhaps beyond.

At any rate, I cannot see these in bloom without thinking of my mother, and that certainly qualifies those times as "Mothers Day", even if it does not say so on the calendar..

Grant Wood Country

2009-05-17T15:27:00.016-07:00

At O'Dark-Thirty this morning, I took Barbara to the airport for her flight to join her girl friends from Colorado and California in Las Vegas for a birthday party (at least that's the story!)

Having my wake-up coffee while looking over the paper, I saw that this afternoon there would be an "Art and Culture Tour" along the Grant Wood Highway Scenic Trail, with artisans showing their ware at their studios, galleries, etc. Sounded like a nice Sunday drive as the skys were clear and it wasn't going to be hot and muggy, so I took off in the car for Stone City, the western start of the Grant Wood Scenic Byway.

American Gothic not only made Grant Wood internationally famous (after the Mona Lisa, it's the most reproduced and parodied painting in the world,) but it also allowed Wood to bring wide recognition to Eastern Iowa. His art goes far beyond this painting, but he is forever linked with it. Here is an excellent Grant Wood website: Going Back to Iowa.

- As usual, left-click on any picture to enlarge it -

- Light Text is a link; left-click to follow -

It was spring, and the farmers in the hills of Eastern Iowa were preparing and planting their fields.

This is fairly rural country, spotted with innumerable family farms with their barns and silos, and scattered bits of history such as the Antioch Church, above, with the first headstone dated 1860.

Not far from the Antioch Church is the one room Antioch School. This is where Grant Wood attended first through fourth grade.

Stone City, a village of 200 residents on a good day, is named for the stone quarry, from which the stone for many buildings, large and small, has come. Several local buildings remain such as the church above and the tavern below. During the summers of 1932 and 1933, Grant Wood created the Stone City Colony and Art School. The Colony was headquartered in the large, limestone mansion of the Green Estate, overlooking Stone City. There was a lot of art produced by the attendees of this colony. Many of the artists became well known, at least in “art circles.”

The quarry is still quite active, and continues to supply "Indiana" limestone for commercial buildings as well as residential construction (This is a particularly nice example, inside and out.)

The old Stone City Tavern, on the Wapsipinicon river, is a weekend destination for Bikers stopping for a beer, families out for lunch, and senior citizens on a Sunday Drive. All three groups were there today.

In the later stages of the floods of '93, Barbara, her dad, and I had a bite and a beer on the lower deck, with the water pretty close to our feet.

Close to Stone City is the home of Sharon Burrows and her "A Glass Act" stained glass studio. This was the first (and only) studio I visited on the tour. Her stained glass is beautifully exhibited throughout her home.

Historic, large, and built with Stone City stone the Anamosa State Penitentiary is still an active prison in Iowa. Here is an interesting little website with the history of the ASP. There is a museum in the old cheese factory that is open for visiting 3 days a week.

Inside these stone walls, is a large open gallery of steel cells three tiers high. It is not as bucolic on the inside as it is on the outside.

The administration building, as the rest of the prison, was built with prisoner labor using the local stone.

Not far from town is the Anamosa State Penitentiary Cemetery; on a hill next to a quiet byway .

The headstones in the foreground are recent, and of marble. The older ones are concrete, but are holding up fairly well.

It is hard to contemplate the people who lived and died in the prison (one here at age 77 and the other at only 25), with no one to claim their remains for burial. Very sad thoughts.

Perhaps the most personally disturbing finding in this prison cemetery, particularly with the recent burial of Barbara's dad in Arlington, was this official US Military marker for a prisoner who was a veteran of WW II, but now is buried here on this somewhat forlorn hillside.

Another final resting place, a bit less depressing, is the municipal cemetery just West of Anamosa, with this Civil War Memorial near its entrance.

It is here that Grant Wood was burried after a full and exceptional life.

This closed the circle for my Sunday afternoon drive.
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The Navy Honors Its Own

2009-05-06T08:15:00.030-07:00

CHARLES CONRAD BECKNER

1920-2009

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Much detail in several ceremony pictures is only appreciated when magnified:

Left-Click on any picture to enlarge it

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To have the Navy Hymn playing as you read this post, open this link -

(Click here to listen): - and then minimize the new window to resume viewing this page while the music continues.

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ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERYBarbara's father had made it know that he wished to be buried at Arlington. Arlington National Cemetery remains the Nation’s most revered burial site, the final resting place for over 220,000 Americans - its grounds consecrated by the sacrifice and dedication of its sons and daughters. A walk through the grounds tells the Nation's history through the stories of those buried there. We who visit Arlington honor those who have served their country in war and in peace and who now rest forever in their final post. In the not too distant future it will be full, closed for further burials, and become a national shrine.

As one of Brokaw's "Greatest Generation," Charles Beckner went beyond the Citizen Soldier of WW II and became the quintessential career military officer. He was a corpsman (medic) in the Philippines before Pearl Harbor. Shifting between PBYs, PT boats and ground units as contingencies required, he escaped twice from Japanese-held territory, made his way to Australia, was later wounded on Okinawa. Following treatment and convalescence on Guam, he returned to island-hopping with the marines and ultimately participated in the repatriotization of China after the Japanese surrender. He continued advancing in the Navy through Korea and Viet Nam, and was the most senior Warrant Officer in service at his retirement. During this career he was awarded numerous citations/awards, including two Silver Stars.

In recognition of this career, the Navy provided Full Honors at his interment in Arlington National Cemetery. Barbara asked me to be the photographer and document the event with some selected photographs.

A light rain throughout the morning provided a proper bit of drama.

As the Chaplain noted, rain always was "a good day for a sailor," a comment Barbara had also heard more than once from her dad.

In addition to the 6 sailors of the casket team, the Navy fielded an 21 member honor platoon, a color guard, a band, riders, chaplain, OIC, NCOIC, bugler, rifle squad, some other NCOs, and a single sailor to stand watch over the casket following the ceremony until actual placement into the ground.

With the band playing The Navy Hymn, the casket was prepared for march by the 6 sailors of the casket team.

With the band in the lead and the Honor Platoon marching behind, the caisson riders and casket team set to follow to the burial site.

Charles's children and other family members and friends followed the caisson through Arlington.

At the burial site with the band playing, the flag-draped casket is transferred to the grave site.

During the ceremony, the flag was suspended over the casket.

The chaplain provided a suitable homage to Charles and his Navy service.

The rifle team gave the 21-gun salute. This was followed by "Taps" played by a bugler out of sight on the other side of a gentle rise.

The flag was folded in the traditional manner with the band playing the
The Navy Hymn.
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Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
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Barbara accepted the flag and the traditional words of gratitude and condolences from the chaplain. After additional condolences from the "Arlington Lady" the military participants marched off and we all made our way back.

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For the day before and day of the burial, a wreath was placed at the Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Ave in Washington D.C.
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For America's sea services, the United States Navy Memorial is the fulfillment of a centuries-old dream. In the early days of America's national independence, architect Pierre L'Enfant envisioned a memorial in the Nation’s Capital to "to celebrate the first rise of the Navy and consecrate its progress and achievements." However, it was not built and dedicated until 1987.
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Charles himself (who was not into donating money to just any cause) became a "Plank Holder" as an original contributor to the building of this memorial. Although new in construction, it is rich in its heritage and tradition. The water features of the memorial are regenerated yearly with salt water from each of the seven seas. In addition to the water features, a granite map of the seas, and bronze reliefs of historical naval events, there is the statue of a lone sailor on the dock with his sea bag.

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Perhaps the most enduring element of the memorial, and the one to which most visitors are drawn, this Lone Sailor depicts a seasoned, seagoing veteran, at most 25 years of age, who willing serves his country, but still looks toward returning home to family and friends. It seems to resonate with anyone who has had naval experience. It contains metal from ships including the USS Constitution, USS Constellation, USS Hartford, USS Maine, USS Ranger, USS Biloxi, USS Seawolf, and the US Navy National Defence Service Medal.

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There were once 16 million veterans of WW II, but now only about 2 million of this "Greatest Generation" still are among us. They are leaving us at a rate of more than 1,000 every day, and many of those who remain are limited in their ability to travel and tell their stories. The PT boat organization Peter Tare Inc. held its last reunion in 2007 with only 16 members after meeting yearly since 1947. Veterans more than a year ago held what was likely was the final reunion of the Army's 554th anti-aircraft battalion. That unit landed on the Normandy beaches on D-Day in June 1944, and fought its way to Germany.
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We need to stop now and then and recall that these elderly men and women were once strong young soldiers, sailors, and aviators who preserved the integrity of a free society. We should make sure that their grandchildren and great grandchildren know what they did and why they did it, and how they came home and, asking no favors, built or rebuilt their lives.

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If inspired, you can also listen to the US Navy Hymn (also know as the Royal Navy Hymn by our friends across the Atlantic) sung by the choir at Ely Cathedral, with some pictures of stained glass windows with Naval images.

Click Here.
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One More Mission

2009-03-25T12:25:00.006-07:00

(LEFT-CLICK TO ENLARGE ANY PICTURE)
(Clickable links are in light text)

MISSION SAN ANTONIO DE PALA

Barbara and I have made it a habit to visit every old mission we pass by on our travels through the southwest. When we lived in San Antonio, we had a good base for visiting all of the Spanish Texas missions, and later living in California, we made at least brief visits to the west coast missions. Now, with the girls in Arizona and the time Charles was in New Mexico, we have probably seen the great majority of the surviving missions. Still, we come across one now and then that we haven't seen before.

These encounters are often accidental rather than the results of purposeful trip planning. We had driven from Palm Springs over to the coast to get some certified documents from the San Diego County Clerk, and were having lunch listening to the waves and watching for whales. We were not at our intended restaurant destination (see "stochastic travel" below). We were originally headed for the Chart House Restaurant, but found it closed for lunch that day. A nearby restaurant, (The Beach House in Cardiff), looked interesting so we gave it a try. As it turned out, it was excellent food, and we had nothing between us and the water except sand, some pelicans and a few surfers.

As we finished our lunch, Barbara was talking about our route back to Palm Springs. She had earlier noted on the map a mission south of Temecula that neither of us remembered visiting, so . . . . off we go. The Mission San Antonio De Pala used to be way off the beaten path, but now is almost in the shadow of the new, huge De Pala indian casino.

We were at De Pala during a wedding - sorry for the fuzzy picture-. The simple chapel is much less majestic and ornate than many of the missions we have seen, but it was perfect for this small wedding. I liked the garden, as I have always, and still, wanted to have a home with four walls around a courtyard with all the rooms opening onto the central patio. Of course, this only works well in a warm climate with limited rain, but I can still dream.

I am not Catholic (understatement), but I do appreciate the historical story of these structures, and the significant role they played in North America. Willa Cather wrote a moving book around the subject - Death comes to the Archbishop. Wandering through the buildings and gardens, I try to recall more of her devout, dedicated and uplifting Father LaTour and Father Vaillant and ignore the corrupt priests they encountered and, more or less, overcame.

Travel Note: Several years ago at a radiology meeting in Barolo, Italy, Barbara and I ran into Bill and Barbara, physicians/friends from my last residency. We did a single day of wandering through the Piedmont, without much direction and no specific destination, but just a general idea of how to get back when we ran out of time. Bill in turn had a friend who referred to this unstructured exploration of unfamiliar territory as "Stochastic" travel (if it's been too long since your last chemistry course, click here for a definition of stochastic). I highly recommend it; odds are you will find something interesting.

(For information and more pictures if the De Pala Mission click this link )
JLF

Technique vs Art

2009-03-02T10:09:00.007-07:00

(left click on any picture to enlarge)

I am a reasonably good photographer. By that I mean that I know how to use focal length and f-stop to control depth of field, understand that if you increase the size of the CCD chip from ¼ inch to ½ inch that you quadruple the sensitivity of the camera for low-light and fast-action scenes, and that you can change the gamma-curve of an image with PhotoShop to bring out shadow detail without losing highlights. I can make a reasonable photographic log of our trips.

Barbara has not had the opportunity to learn and practice these technical aspects of photography, yet she is a much, much better photographer than me. She understands people and how to use them in a photograph, and she understands light, color and pattern. It drives me nuts, but it’s true, and I prove my point right here.

Yesterday, Barbara and I went to the Concours d'Elegance in Palm Springs. Not yet the equal of the Pebble Beach Concours, but still a major classic show, they spread these classic and collectible automobiles (worth from a few tens of thousands all the way to $20M) over four fairways of the golf course.

My picture above is pretty typical of what I “saw” at the event. Barbara’s pictures below are what she “saw” at the same event.

It's getting harder to be a carnivore

2009-02-13T14:10:00.005-07:00

New Caledonian crow
(Left-Click to enlarge)

We, as human beings, stand above the rest of the animal kindgom in that we recognize what Ernest Becker calls our "symbolic" self. Still, I think we are animals, and as such should have some empathy with our cousins with whom we share this planet.

Don't get me wrong, I have not given up meat, though I certainly eat much less than I used to. I am finding it increasingly difficult to do so without my conscience twinging a bit. Peter Singer in his "Practical Ethics" (perhaps the best introduction to the field of "ethics") does not state (as some claim) that it is necessarily unethical to eat meat, but he does feel that it is not ethical to abuse animals in the process of raising and slaughtering them. This pretty much eliminates all factory-type animal raising/processing, which is 99+% of what is available in the grocery stores.
If you want to know more about your food, try reading Mark Bittman's Food Matters and/or Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma.

I think we are only recently beginning to learn how complex some animal thoughts can be. I have read that planning ahead is unique to humans. I was always suspicious of this concept. It seemed to me that a dog hiding food (e.g. burying a bone) for later retrieval was as easily explained as planning for the future as by some type of instinctual behavior.

At the recent American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Edward Wasserman from the U of Iowa spoke at a symposium on "Animal Smarts." There is now sophisticated scientific evidence that is quite convincing for animals having the ability for complex planning for the future.

General animal intelligence seems also to be markedly underestimated. New Caledonian crows have been shown to not just use tools, but to make their own by twisting and bending pieces of wire to fish food from places they couldn't reach otherwise. (See above picture.) They will then store and hide excess food for retrieval the next day.

Few of us would abuse our domesticated dog or cat. Why not extend that courtesy to all animals, including those raised for our food?

Dark, then Light

2009-02-11T08:45:00.005-07:00

( Left-Click on Picture to Enlarge )

After three days of clouds and intermittent rain, we have emerged into the light of the southwestern desert in winter. During the time it was raining on the desert floor, it was snowing on Mt San Jacento, so when we awoke this morning with the sun, the snow line made a wonderful contrast with the color of Palm Springs.

The picture above, taken yesterday morning, is overlooking one of the water features on the course here at Outdoor Resorts Palm Springs, a gated condominium RV resort with 1225 lots/owners, and all the politics that entails.

As most of you know by now, Barbara's dad fell and broke his hip in Albuquerque 5 days ago. She is there with him; it it still uncertain if he will make it or not. We talk several times daily . . . cell phones are a great invention. I still have 10 or 11 days before I have to return to work, so have been doing some continuing medical education online and reading (a collection of H.D. Thoreau's letters, re-reading Becker's Denial of Death, and late at night enjoying In a Dry Season, a British police detective story by a new (to me) writer Peter Robinson).

Berries; my favorite desert

2009-02-07T14:54:00.013-07:00

One thing I like about shopping at Sam's or Costco for groceries is that they have all those lovely berries; blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries, and they are so much more inexpensive than they are at the grocery stores! Very occasionally, I find them in the countryside. Last year on my way back from doing radiology in Guttenberg, Iowa, I passed a sign at an Amish farm for raspberries. I wound up taking home 2 quarts for $3; bugs and all.

I usually use berries generously on my cereal in the mornings, but like them also as a desert. It is hard to beat a big bowl of lightly sugared berries with some vanilla ice cream.

Occasionally I try to contribute something to a dinner; just Barbara and I or a dinner with friends. I try to be impressive, some times with not good results. I can fall back on a simple berry cobbler that supposedly can be put together in less than 5 minutes, though somehow I manage to make an entire afternoon project of it.

Unlike my efforts for pie (make dough, roll out, start over, give up on rolling and make do with a few relatively flat pieces, assemble pieces Picasso-like on the berries, swear at bit and make mental note to buy pie dough from grocery store next time, bake, let cool, slice), the cobbler is made with 'drop' biscuits which are roughly formed by dropping from a spoon onto the awaiting berries. No rolling pins, no flour all over the kitchen and me. This is particularly advantageous when you are in a motorhome.

You can probably use any combination of berries that you want. I like blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries.

If ambitious, you could make an egg wash by lightly beating an egg and brushing it over the biscuits prior to baking. This should give them a shiny brown texture, ready for a picture.

Here is the list, with modification after my first batch which I thought was a bit short on berry and a tad long on dough:

Berry Cobbler

6 servings

Berries:

6 cups berries (any combination of raspberries, blackberries, sliced strawberries, blueberries, boysenberries, etc.)

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon flour

optional: a splash of kirsch or lemon juice

Cobbler dough:

1 1/4cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, chilled

1 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a 10- to 12-inch glass pie plate (or 2 quart baking dish), mix together the berries, sugar, flour and the kirsch or lemon juice, if using.

3. Bake the berries in the oven for 30 minutes, stirring once during baking (At this point you can taste the cooked berries for sweetness before adding the biscuits and you can mix in a bit more sugar if the berries need it.)

4. After 30 minutes, remove the berries from the oven and make the biscuits.

5. In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt and sugar. Cut the butter into the mixture either with a food processor, a mixer or by hand (If you are a klutz like me, using the large holes of a cheese grater is a short-cut that works).

6. Stir in the buttermilk just until the dry mixture is thoroughly moistened. With a big soup spoon, drop six large mounds of the dough over the fruit in various places. Brush with egg wash, if desired.

7. Bake for 20 minutes.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Reaction:

Accept acknowledgement of your extraordinary effort for the dinner (you after all are just a man - or even a husband, of whom not much beyond opening the wine is expected ). Had you been a woman of course, it would not have been considered all that extraordinary, and the praises less effusive even though you probably prepared the appetizers, salad, entree, side dishes, and coffee and have already started the clean-up.

TECHNOLOGY IS GREAT WHEN IT WORKS

2009-01-21T20:40:00.003-07:00

It was always great to get a new toy on Christmas morning or for my birthday. Of course, depending on the present, the newness often wore off after a day or two, and the thrill was gone. There were of course those exceptional presents (i.e. a bicycle) that continued to bring pleasure, or at least provide usefulness, long after my birthday. I find the same thing with technology, such as the Blackberry cellphone I acquired last year, and now can hardly do without.

Along that same line, I recently became aware that the Windows Vista operating system comes prepackaged with a speech recognition module. For those of you who are not aware of it, I was the primary initiator of the use of voice recognition in our radiology practice, in which we annually dictate several hundred thousand radiology reports yearly using voice recognition, with the radiologist dictating and immediately signing the reports for electronic distribution within minutes of when the examination was accomplished.

Anyone with a minimum amount of technical expertise and a maximum amount of patience can ultimately a use voice recognition to speed and enhance the process of placing spoken thoughts into a print document. At the beginning, this is very inefficient, but once it becomes second nature, then it removes the barrier of the pen or keyboard, and thoughts can flow freely onto the page, virtually without conscious effort.

Of course there are several downsides to this. First, you tend to prattle on when there's really nothing worth actually saying. Second, when you get really good at it, you begin to assume that it is perfect and you don't proofread your documents, and send them wherever they are going even though they are actually not nearly so perfect as you thought.

Having used consumer voice recognition products as well as (very expensive) professional voice recognition products, the recognition system embedded in Windows Vista (and available for download for XP and other versions) is just about as good as anything I've ever used. You will need to spend $60.00 or more for a good microphone with active noise cancellation, but that's about it. The tutorial built into the package was quite good, but there will still be a lot of frustration before the novice feels comfortable with the technology and the result. You'll soon find it easier to say Hashimoto's thyroiditis rather than type it. I will say it again, Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Good luck to you; I'm off to write the great American novel!

GLOBAL WARMING MUST BE A REGIONAL THING

2009-01-21T20:18:00.009-07:00

Our condo is at the end of the cul de sac on the right

There is no question that the earth is in a period of global warming. The cause of global warming is less certain; certainly manmade additions to the atmosphere play a contributing role, but it is simply a question of how great or how little the role is.

The polar ice cap is melting and the polar bears are losing their habitat, and the Colorado winter is no longer cold enough to kill the pine beetle and their larvae, so now we're losing the lodgepole pine across the mountain west.

There certainly though seem to be some regional variation in the weather patterns. I have just experienced the coldest days of my entire life, and in fact the coldest days for anyone living in this locale for more than 100 years. In the middle of a series of night time temperatures well below zero was a record setting night of 31° below zero last Thursday. (absolute temperature, not wind chill! ) We also experienced a bit of snow, as you can see from the picture above. The snowfall was not a record, but it added to the overall sensation of cold.

There is nothing evil or sinister about the winter, and without the cold temperatures and moisture, the flora and fauna of the warm six months of the year could not exist. And I guess there's always the philosophical point that the experience of pain is necessary in order to appreciate pleasure. Thus this spring we will be absolutely bursting with joy in Iowa.

What I'm reading these days

2009-01-11T19:33:00.019-07:00

In the last couple of weeks, I've had enough time to read three good books. Here are brief reviews that might, or might not, tweak your interest:

BLINDSPOT
Everyone needs a little escape fiction now and then, but this novel has a several unusual aspects. This short novel is a first effort by two historians, Jane Kamensky of Brandeis University and Jill Lepore of Harvard. I would describe it as a murder mystery set in pre-revolutionary Boston, using a portrait painting Scott, an artistically talented "fallen" woman, an educated slave, and various members of Boston society in 1764 to weave a tale of boddice-ripping romance (tinged with a touch of homo-erotocism), slavery and emancipation, women's liberation, and of course, justice. It is written in period language/grammer, and uses a first-person narration by the Scott artist, with simultaneous first-person narration by his apprentice "boy" (as letters to a friend in New York.) The historical picture of period Boston is, I am told, quite accurate, and if only for that alone it was interesting enough for spare-time or travel reading.

DON'T SLEEP, THERE ARE SNAKES
Back to nonfiction, how about a book about lingustics? Seriously, why care about a language spoken only by 4-500 Brazilian Indians, isolated along a short stretch of the Maici River, a tributary of the Amazon in central Brazil. As writer Daniel Everett points out, only by being able to talk to them in their native, uncorrupted, tongue will we learn of their culture and life-beliefs, and how these are similar or (in the case of the Pirahãs (pee'-da-hans) different from other cultures.

Dan Everett started life as a missionary-trained linguist, and was sent to the Pirahãs to learn their language so that he might produce a New Testament in their language and thus bring them to Christ and salvation. He spent the better part of 30 years with this small group, with furloughs to Sao Paulo and elsewhere and breaks to get his PhD in Linguistics and later as a scholar in residence in Noam Chomsky's program at M.I.T. (Chomsky, among other things is considered the father of modern linguistics). Even so, it seems that Everett uses this knowledge of the Pirahãs language to disagree with Chomsky's theory of universal grammar as an inbuilt feature of the brain.

His wife and three young children went with him to live in a primitive, isolated environment, and over the years became the only outsiders accepted to some extent, because no one else had successfully managed to learn the Pirahãs language and speak with them conversationally.

The Pirahãs are unique in that they have no religious beliefs or "origin" stories (No other known culture has lacked these). They just accept things as they are, including illness, injury and death. They are always content and happy with thing as they are/happen. Introduced by Everett to the Pirahãs, social psychologists from MIT thought they were possibly the "happiest" culture in existence.

The first part of the story is a narrative of his life among the Pirahãs, and for me, the more interesting. The second part of the book which explains in more depth the linguistic science, is a bit more pedantic, and frankly I just skimmed this section.

For 200 years, missionaries have failed to convert a single Pirahãs. In the end, the Missionary himself was converted. Unfortunately, when he ultimately "came out" as a non-theist, it brought a considerable reaction, and ultimately a divorce from his wife who had been at his side most of the years in the Amazon.

MISQUOTING JESUS
Here I don't want to get into a debate over the inerrancy of the bible. I include it because (a) it was one of the last three books I read, and (b) it dovetails nicely with "SNAKES" in that it is about language - in this case printed language.

Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At UNC he has served as both the Director of Graduate Studies and the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies.

In this work, directed at the lay public, Ehrman used his many years as an academic textual analyst, concentrating on the bible, to describe how textual analysis can be applied to ancient manuscripts, particularly biblical texts, to determine among the various versions which are most likely correct.

Here is an excellent review by Anthony Campbell. I could say more, but not better, so click to Campbell's review and decide on your own.

OUT OF THE FLAMES

Yes, I know I said "three" books, and I already talked about this one in the past, but it's simply one of the best books I've ever read. By Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone, it's about many things, including religious history, rare book collecting, and the early history of publishing after Gutenberg. I recommend this wonderfully readable book to friends at every opportunity.

When We Are Part of Nature

2008-12-31T12:09:00.000-07:00

It has been a good year for feeling the wonders of nature. From our perch in the Cedar Rapids condo, we are often eye-to-eye with waterfowl, hawks, and occasional eagles. We had three fox kittens raised in our backyard last summer (link to that post), and of course herds of deer regularly cross the grounds of our condo.

Estes park gives us another dimension. We rarely see bighorn sheep, but this week we saw 3 herds in two days, more or less up close. The picture above was from about 20', the closest I have ever been to one of these in the wild. (If your browser has had enough time to download the full fidelity image, a click on the picture will enlarge it.) As one friend said "when my wife looks at me like that, I know I'm in trouble!).

Boxing day evening, I took Barbara to the Fawn Brook Inn (link), one of our all-time favorite restaurants. That night on the way back to Estes the roads were a Little icy, so we were going quite slow. What was clearly a large gray wolf, at least twice the size of a large coyote, crossed slowly right in front of us. They have been trying to re-establish the wolf population in small areas of Montana and Wyoming, but sightings in Colorado are extremely rare (map). Sorry, we didn't get any pictures of our own. Here is one I copied; ours looked just like this one:

I believe we are part of nature, and Barbara and I relish these opportunities to experience the awe that these encounters trigger within us.

Winter Migration Underway

2008-12-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

The Motorhome and New Tow Car

In Catalina State Park, AZ

Here we are in AZ again, on our way to Palm Springs, where Barbara will enjoy the sunshine and from where I will commute.\

As last year we moved in stages, but this year we are doing it a little differently by getting out of Iowa before the snow and ice hit. In return for giving up a third+ of my income, now I get quite a bit of time off, so we left Cedar Rapids on Nov 17, just before the temp hit single digits and the snow came. Our first destination was again Catalina State Park in north Tucson (the same place we were trapped by the river last year: )

While Barbara visited with Anne/RC in Phoenix and Karen/Brian in Tucson, I flew back to work for a couple of weeks, and then returned to move the RV to our site in Outdoor Resorts Palm Springs. Last week we drove back through Phoenix where I caught a plane back to Iowa to work again, while Barbara continued on to Albuquerque.

Today Barbara, along with Anne/RC, Karen/Brian, and John Matthew/Rachael who had all flown to Albuquerque, celebrated Barbara's father's birthday with him. I hated to miss it, but then I'm underwriting the whole thing, so I did need to be here working.

We are doing our part to support Detroit. Last summer we gave up our 1996 Buick and 1998 Ford for 2008 Buick and Saturn SUVs. In view of GM's troubles, I feel good about buying American. Barbara's Buick Enclave is perhaps the best car we've ever owned, and the Saturn Vue (Pictured above) has worked out well. Both are quiet, smooth, loaded with features, and, so far, reliable with a "quality" feel. I think GM and Ford have the vehicles, and I hope they can restructure their overhead to allow them to be competitive once more.

Great for a rainy weekend

2008-10-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

I love BookTV, the weekend programming on C-Span 2.

Where else, in one weekend, can you hear lengthy talks, usually with Q&A sessions, with many well-known and diverse writers. Only this past weekend I heard Jessie Ventura, Ralph Reed, Stephen Pinker, Alice Schroder, David Horwitz, Lee&Roger Peterson (Peterson Field Guide to Birds), Christopher Buckley, T. Boone Pickens, Allan Greenspan and others give talks or long interviews and take unscreened questions.

It's usually informative, though sometimes I strongly disagree with the speaker. I find particularly interesting the unscripted comments made informally in the Q&A sessions. About half the talks/interviews I would enjoy, given the time to watch; the others I skip.

Many of the sessions are available as podcast, and can be downloaded for listening while walking or on longer drives. I prefer to watch the speakers however, and occasionally they have visual media with the formal talks.

Sometimes I have already read the books, sometimes I am motivated to buy and read them, and sometimes I'm convinced I don't need/want to read their book.

Granted, not every weekend has such a notable lineup, but often there is. If you have never sampled this programing, running continuously for 48 hours starting at 0800 most Saturday mornings, you may be pleasantly surprised if you give it a try.

Yum!

2008-10-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

La ZIZ

For those of you living locally, I have a restaurant recommendation for you.

(click Picture to enlarge)

Barbara and I were for some reason thinking this was a Greek restaurant and decided to give it a try last Saturday. We found a couple of things to our surprise.

First, it is Lebanese, not Greek.

Second, we have eaten this food before, just at another location and a long time ago. It is owned/run by a Lebanese couple who used to have a restaurant down on 16th Street SW, at the back corner of a large furniture store. We ate there a few times, and then were very disappointed one day to arrive and find them permanently closed. . . that was many years ago. She has now reopened at this new site and has developed a good lunch crowd with no advertising whatever. They are open in the evenings as well; closed on Sunday.

I strongly recommend the falafel plate. The sandwiches are ~$4, and the plates are ~$7-9.

This unpretentious strip mall Lebanese restaurant is out on Center Point Road, just north of Boysen Road, and next to Roasters Coffee shop for those of you who have been by there. The menu is short but all the food is cooked to order. They have no web site I can provide, and I doubt they ever will. Give it a try.

ART (&) HISTORY

2008-10-13T14:50:00.000-07:00

The Plan: For the second time in 3 weeks, Barbara and I looked a few days ahead and saw what is not all that common; a weekend with both of us uncommitted and with good weather. Yes, there was a pile of paperwork to be done. Yes, there was yard work needing to be finished before the snow falls. Yes, the laundry pile was overflowing. No, we were not about to be responsible and stay at home to do all those things; gas was $2.55 and falling and there were lots of cheap hotel rooms waiting in Des Moines. We took the old Lincoln Highway (Hwy 30) which we consider more picturesque than I-80. The harvest was underway and the greens and golds of the rolling hills were beautiful to watch go by on the 2-hour drive.

We had two main objectives in Des Moines; the Art Museum and Salisbury House.

Saturday afternoon: The Des Moines Art Center is a small collection in a uninspiring original building, with a new wing that makes up in design for its modest size. I will be honest. I have trouble with a 2' square canvas with white paint holding a place of honor (as an example of minimalism) in a civic collection of art. Not to mislead you, I did enjoy the time there, and there were a few notable works (if it is an Edward Hopper or a Georgia O'Keeffe it has to be notable I presume?) I wouldn't go to Des Moines just to visit it however.

Saturday evening: We tried a new restaurant, Sage, on University just west of 65th. You can check out the menu at the Sage web site. Barbara had a wonderful spinach-cashew-strawberry salad. My Cesar salid was pretty standard. For an entree, I had Duck breast and duck confit on risotto with a duck reduction sauce, and a pumpkin cake with soft goat cheese topping desert. Barbara had a good pasta dish, though it was a little spicy. They have a large selection of wines by the glass, and about 50 different 1/2 bottles on the extensive wine list. I was pleased with a glass of Four Vines Zin; Barbara said the water was excellent.

Sunday: The Salisbury House , unlike the Art Center, is worth a trip and an afternoon if you are in Iowa. Salisbury House is considered one of the "American Castles." Built by Carl Weeks, a pharmacist who made millions before the depression selling a cosmetic mix of powder and cold cream, it is more or less a copy of a 16-17th century English manor house near Salisbury Cathedral in England, built with a more or less unlimited budget and with 20th century conveniences, it does a credible job of transporting one back in time (we visited many of these old manors when we lived in England in the 70's.) It was in the hands of the teacher's institute for a number of years, but is now owned by a preservation organization that is doing a fine job of restoration. Some random pictures of Salisbury house follow:

Apples, Art and the Holy Ghost

2008-10-05T14:44:00.000-07:00

About 15 years ago, Barbara and I did a day trip to the Apple Festival in Gays Mills, Wisconson. We had memories of the small-town fair with sampling tables of apples of all varities, applewood BBQ stands and locally made pies. The weather forecast was OK and I had the weekend off for a change, so off we went.

(left click on pictures to enlarge)

The Apples were largely ready for harvest. . .

The country side was beautiful with the crops approaching harvest . . .

Unfortunately, thousands of others had the same idea, and the small local stands and small warehouses had been replaced by much larger operations taking advantage of the tourist moving from orchard to orchard. Even in Gays Mills, the quaint, local fair had been replace by a . . . well . . . simply something a bit on the "tacky" side. We didn't even stop in the town. As I said, there was a high overcast, but this made the drive and views very plesant.

We did visit one more interesting place on this outing; the Holy Ghost park with the Dickeyville Grotto:

This is really the grounds of the Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Dickeyville, Wisconson. Here I stand at the entrance to the church grounds, which include the church, the cemetery, the grotto, and a lot more.

The Dickeyville Grotto is a series of grottos and shrines, and currently has 40-60,000 vivistors yearly. The Dickeyville Grotto was built by Father Mathius Wernerus, the pastor of Dickeyville's Holy Ghost Parish, from 1920 to 1930, and was renovated between 1995 and 1997. This preist had a LOT of time on his hands, and it seemed to Barbara and I that he was a better than average artist. Nearly all of the site's concrete structures are covered in shells, stones, tiles, wood, glass, gems and geodes from the area donated by parishioners. He inlaid them into the concrete in a fascinating moasiac, creating animals, trees, slippers, flowers. It sounds like a lot of kitsch, but it comes off as real art when viewed closely and individually (see the pictures below).
While most of the site's components are religious in nature, the Patriotism Shrine includes depictions of the liberty bell, Columbus, Washington, and Lincoln.

At least part of the purpose of this shrine was to demonstrate the patriotism of Catholics; Protestant Americans of the time believed that Catholics' allegiance to the Pope conflicted with their allegiance to the United States. Dickeyville's grotto itself inspired many other grottos throughout Wisconsin.

The grotto itself stands adjacent to the church.

This 6ft piece of petrified wood is incorporated into a green tree.

These fish swim through a crystaline and aquamarine river.

For someone else's take on the Dickeyville Grotto: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2242

There are several more midwest grottos including these:

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2083

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/latest

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/16989

Here is a general information link about the concept of grottos and some links to midwest grottos: http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~niless/awsthome.htm

A little political reading for the season

2008-09-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

The Supreme Court Justices

If you, as do I, believe the administration produced by this upcoming election could be most notable not for its economic policy, tax changes and foreign relations, but for its effect on the composition of the Supreme Court, then like me you might have been refreshing yourself on that institution.

Many years ago, I think it was in the late 70's, the public was given an inside look at the Supreme Court in Bob Woodward's The Brethren, a sort of "tell all" book he managed to put together from interviews with justices disgruntled with Chief Justice Burger.

A bit more diverse commentary is the recent The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin. It is well written, and provides a great deal of historical background on the modern Supreme Court.

However, for pure enjoyment, you need to read Christopher Buckley's Supreme Courtship, a wonderfully funny, but politically astute tongue in cheek satire on the vetting and the appointment process for the Supreme Court. It is fairly short for a novel, so it makes a good companion for an airline trip or a slow day/weekend. While pure satire, it is rooted in the political insight for which C. Buckley is known. He was recently interviewed on Book TV (Link to streaming replay of the interview here.)

(Link to the publisher)

Great City! Great Kids!

2008-09-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

Early this month, Barbara and I had the chance to visit John and Rachael in Portland for the first time in a year. Interestingly, we were able to purchase 2 round trip tickets from Denver and 3 nights in the Portland Marriott for less than a single round trip ticket from Cedar Rapids.

Portland is a great town. It has a wonderful light rail/trolley/streetcar/bus network that is easy to use and free in the downtown area. We departed the airport and walked no more than 150' from the baggage carrousel's to step on the light rail that took us to the Pioneer Square stop which was a block and a half from our hotel.

We had WONDERFUL weather for our stay. We took a short walk along the river to stretch our legs after flying tourist/sardine class. Most of the major bridges are historic (and old), but apparently in reasonably good shape.

Seven days a week, there is a farmer's market somewhere in the metropolitan area, and most of these are not far from the light rail system. There are a series of blocks with grass, fountains, and walks, but no buildings in the downtown area. These are known as North Park Blocks and South Park Blocks. The big Saturday Farmer's market is on one of these; and it is really large. There was excellent and affordable produce, honey, meat, cheese, bread, wine, pizza, etc. Below are Barbara and John discussing things, while Rachael buys some food for a later meal.

There is a lot of historic preservation in Portland (as the house at the corner of this market), a process in which John wants to become more involved.

Within a block of this market is the Oregon Historical Society, where Rachael works in Public Relations/Publicity (mainly fund-raising as I understand it). She treated us to an excellent tour of the exhibits. It's quite impressive if you get a chance to visit.

In front of the museum, and scattered around town are interesting four-headed fountains; "Benson Bubblers." Simon Benson (link) was a turn-of-the-century lumber baron, philanthropist and teetotaller. To provide fresh drinking water downtown - and discourage his workers from drinking alcohol in the middle of the day - Benson commissioned 20 elegant freshwater drinking fountains, now known as the Benson Bubblers. Beer consumption in the city reportedly decreased 25 percent after the fountains were installed, and the water fountains still bubble on Portland's downtown streets. (But there are still more breweries per capita in Portland than any other city in the country.)

That night we had dinner at the Park Kitchen restaurant (link). We did a bit of experimenting and sharing . . . it was a good choice. Everything was excellent, and we lingered at our table which was barely inside, giving us a little protection while still enjoying the outdoors.
On Sunday, after pulling in to the downtown Firestone dealer to get a tire leak fixed, we headed out to explore the northern part of the "Fruit Loop" (link), an area near the junction of the Hood and Columbia Rivers that is a patchwork of Orchards, Vineyards/wineries, and berry farms. The weather continued to hold. Along the treeline in the background you can just see one of the snow-covered mountains peeking above the ridge, maybe Mt St Hellens?

Pears and Apples were perfect! Fruit/berry stands dotted the area, sometimes within a hundred yards of each other.
We stopped at a "flower farm". Here Rachael, scissors in hand, selects cuttings at 15 cents/stem (regardless of the number of flowers). Beauty surrounded by beauty!

The flowers subsequently graced the table Rachael had set for dinner in their condo. Rachael and John have a really, really nice condo, close to everything in downtown Portland and The Pearl (link). Built in 1909, it is open, and has lots of windows for light.

For dinner, Rachael prepared a "fungi con risotto" (like me, she likes LOTS of mushrooms in her risotto). John/Matt did some greens, and Barbara and I contributed the wine. Great dinner.

In addition being where John and Rachael live, Portland is a great city just to visit. It has a mixture of old and new architecture, excellent museums, gardens, restaurants, brewpubs, and (sometimes) great weather.
Thanks for visiting. Enlarge pictures with a left click. Comments can be left by clicking below.

Thar's Bars in them thar Woods!

2008-09-02T13:51:00.000-07:00

We have lots of black bears in the Rocky Mountain National Park, and one is occasionally spotted in town here in Estes Park. For the last two weekends in a row however, a black bear has ambled past our house. The pictures below were taken by our neighbor to the west, Walt Borneman (author of the recently published book on President Polk) from his deck, looking towards our back yard. (left click on picture to enlarge)

We also are having other guest visit the neighborhood for dinner:

Barbara in the past year has also seen a mountain lion, a bob cat, and numerous other species in our neighborhood. When you come for a visit, be careful if wandering around outside at night!