I had given up blogging for a while for a variety of reasons too numerous to matter at this point. But as I near retirement I am contemplating being more active in the fields of interest that drive my insatiable curiosity on a variety of subjects and activites. As an avid follower of space exploration, astronomy, science, art, a new era in Gator Football, aging, music and e.t.c. I find my insatiable thirst to just simply "know" is still the same as the last time I posted in May of 2020. Blogging takes a certain discipline I have not been able to cultivate. One of the reasons I paused as long as I have is I have OCD (Obsession Compulsion Disorder). IOW, I am a perfectionist and it takes me quite a while to actually get through a post to the point I'm ready to submit it. But alas, here I go again trying to share my interests with the like minded that are unfortuneate enough to stumble upon this humble attempt to sound meaningful in my exploration of eclectic interests that I find fascinating. So drop a comment if you can add to any of my observations to give clarity to what I see.
As an aficionado of psychedelic and acid rock in its formative
years in the mid to late sixties my favorite female vocalist by far and hands down
is the iconic Grace Slick of The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson
Starship, and finally a solo artist.She
would eventually transition to be an author and painter.Endowed with classic beauty and a melodic and
yet powerful voice she is rightly called the Queen of Acid Rock.The first time I heard “White Rabbit” she was
like one of the sirens from the Odyssey that pulled me right into the counter-culture
music of rebellion set to music.I have
had a crush on her for almost as long as I can remember.For me, she was catapulted to my attention by the horror of the Rolling Stones
film “Gimmie Shelter” when it was the first time I had seen her and Jefferson Airplane perform. The group dealing with
the festival dynamic of violence that emerged during their set that eventually led to a member of the Hell’s Angels stabbing a man brandishing a pistol during the Stones' set is still burned into my mind.
Though I can’t quote her verbatim, because I simply
couldn’t find it, she once said something in an interview that really turned my
head and was revealing and showed just how aware she was of her world and her
place in it.To paraphrase it went something
like this: "We were taking drugs and
thinking it would lead us to a higher plane of consciousness and awareness that
would lead to more creativity when all it did was make us dumb and lazy." Though I think that was a given to most of us
that was the sheen that provided the shimmering glamor of the rock world that
came out of England and gestated in San Francisco to what would eventually be
the music that would define a generation.Come October, the month when the redoubtable Ms. Slick was born, I will
honor her with a slide show in my sidebar.Until then here is one of my favorite photos of her at Woodstock on an early
Sunday morning August 17th, 1969.Enjoy.
Scherman, Rowland. Jefferson Airplane performing at Woodstock: Grace Slick on stage, with audience in background, August 17, 1969. Rowland Scherman Collection (PH 084). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries
With natal dust clouds in silhouette against glowing atomic
gas, this colorful and chaotic vista lies within one of the largest star
forming regions in the Milky Way galaxy, the Great Carina Nebula. The
telescopic close-up frames a field of view about 80 light-years across, a
little south and east of Eta Carinae, the nebula's most energetic and enigmatic
star. Captured under suburban skies improved during national restrictions, a
composite of narrowband image data was used to create the final image. In it, characteristic
emission from the nebula's ionized sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms is mapped
to red, green, and blue hues, a color palette also popular in Hubble Space
Telescope images. The celestial landscape of bright ridges of emission bordered
by cool, obscuring dust lies about 7,500 light-years away toward the southern
constellation Carina. Enjoy.
As an old hippie that found himself in his formative years in the
late 1960s I, like most of my generations, latched on to the music of the
period to help define who I was. Though at
the time I wasn’t cognizant enough to be aware of the minute distinctions of
the music of the period, I just knew I liked what I heard coming out of my
transistor radio. I was enamored with groups
like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors and etc. As to whether or not they were a “San Francisco”
based band ala one of Bill Graham's Fillmore West related venues band or from
the British music invasion was of little consequence. I gobbled it up as fast as my meager
discretionary funds that I was in possession of as an early teen allowed me to. But for some reason I missed this group and
this song, “Fresh Air” by the Quicksilver Messenger Service from their album
Just for Love, 1970.
I am vaguely aware of seeing their albums in the usual retail
music venues of the period but I never was aware of anything they did that
passed by my ear. But this week I stumbled
upon this song when I was looking for something else that introduced me to this
incredibly talented and profoundly progressive band. What’s
so striking to me is how fresh this song sounds today like it was recorded last
week. And the vocals by Dino Martini are
incredibly melodic and haunting as is the guitar work by the late John Cipolina.
How I missed hearing this song is amazing to me. I’m sure it had the requisite
air play but for some reason I never connected with it. Now I can’t hear it enough as I’ve really
been playing it lot this past week since I ran across it. If you are like me or are someone of a
different generation doing a little music exploration here is this golden
nugget of the past remastered. Enjoy.
Donald J. Trump's recent obsession and promotion of hydroxychloroquine reminds me of an anecdote regarding character, medicine in general, and one's relationship with personal responsibility for healthcare that demonstrates the fact that it depends on one's point of view when it comes to others and their relationship with medication and medicine.
Anecdote: An old lady, on her way to a summer resort, kept pestering the conductor to tell her when they would reach Ellenville. Finally, harried by her constant questioning, he pleaded with her to bother him no more, that he would tell her as soon as they reached the town. Becoming busy with all his duties, the train reached and passed Ellenville with the conductor forgetting all about the old lady. Suddenly recollecting her anxiety about the place, he backed up the train and as it pulled into the little station, he hurried out and told the women, "Here you are now- in Ellenville. I'll help you with your luggage."
"Oh, thank you," replied the dear old lady. "Never mind. I'm not getting off here. My daughter just told me that when I got to Ellenville, it would be just about time to take another of my pills."
On
July 21st 2011 at 9:57 UTC STS-135, the last NASA manned space mission landed,
effectively ending for the foreseeable future the United States' domestic space
program. The shuttle Atlantis landed with its final four-member crew
officially ending the Space Shuttle program. It has been nearly a decade since
NASA astronauts used a domestic American space program to send its astronauts
to the International Space Station and solely relying on the good offices of
Roscosmos, the Russian space program, to ferry them back and forth. This
use of the Russian space program as a taxi cab for our astronaut crews to man
and return ISS crews averaged around $60-$80 million dollars and flight.The big news for NASA and its supporters and
followers is today, Tuesday, May 20th the astronaut crew for NASA’s
Crew Dragon Demo-2 or its official designation SpX-DM2, is scheduled to arrive
at Cape Canaveral to begin its preflight activities forit’s planned Wednesday, May 27th
launch date from pad 34A.
The
SpX-DM2 crew will be the first two manned astronaut crew since NASA shuttle
mission STS-4 launched on June 27th, 1982.The two astronauts will be Spacecraft
Commander Douglas G. Hurley and Joint Operations Commander Robert L.
Behnken.This will be the third spaceflight
for both.In a twist of irony Commander
Hurley was a member of the crew for STS-135 the last space shuttle mission
referenced above that ended America’s domestic human spaceflight program. Now Commander Hurley will find himself in the inaugural
NASA mission to kick off a new era of the United States domestic human
spaceflight program officially ending its sole reliance on Rocosmos transportation
to low earth orbit and the ISS.
This
author/blogger as a longtime space enthusiast and follower is pretty excited at
the prospects of this new era.
Aspirational plans to kick off planned missions beyond the currently restricted
LEO (low earth orbit) expeditions will be welcome and refreshing. This is supposed represent our first
tentative steps leading to future expeditions to the moon, mars, and beyond. I am
excited to use this blog to follow the arc of this new era for all that are
interested. Stay tuned.
On January 19, 2006, 19:00 UTC New Horizons was launched from Cape Canaveral on its way to make a flyby of the known center piece of the Kuiper Belt, Pluto. Within a short 8 months of its launch on a mission that would take nine years the International Astronomical Union had redefined Pluto to a 'dwarf planet' taking away its lofty status int he Solar System as one of the nine known planet I had memorized from childhood. By the time New Horizons had arrived to flyby the last planet to be visited in our Solar System there was no planet to observe. It was now one of many common objects drifting around our star in a a centuries long dance through the heavens that had been stripped of its mysterious wonder of being the last planet to be visited. and regulated to the status of a 'dwarf planet.'
But for many of us the wonder, mystery, and awe remains and I waited with baited breath as New Horizons arrived at its scheduled rendezvous for its closes approach on July 14th, 2015 at 11:50 UTC. I had followed its progress for nine years, fretted through its famed software glitch on Independence day 2015, was awed by its brief visit to Jupiter's lesser charges: Ganymede, Europe, Callisto, and Io, and finally to its first flirtatious glance of Pluto itself and its largest moon Charon.
I will be posting much more about Pluto and what New Horizons uncovered for those of us still enraptured by its mystery but for now I wanted to post my two favorite images to date of the celestial body that in my mind is still our ninth planet. The first is the most know and beautiful shot of its approach. But the later is a shot taken after its flyby going away with a look at its "backside." As I've said there will be much more posed on this mysterious celestial marvel, despite the IAU's attempt to diminish its status in our Solar System.
Pluto on approach by New Horizons
New Horizons' view as it recedes in the distance after it's closest approach
Were still 152 days out from opening day kickoff against the University of Massachusetts Minutemen at The Swamp but that doesn't mean the discussion can't start for the possiblities the new football season has in store for the Jim McElwain led Gators. I was optimistic last year for Coach Mac's inaugural season and I wasn't disappointed.
The 2015-2016 season still reflected the damage done by the floundering last year of Will Muschamp that left the team in disarray with no identity and without a prospect of a starting QB to take the reigns and lead the offense. But Coach Mac took the team and did something Muschamp was never able to do: to make the whole of the team greater than the sum of its parts and have the team perform beyond expectations.
Now that Treon Harris has been tentatively moved to a TE/WR position [though he's still listed on the roster as a QB] the starting QB position is reported to be a wide-open contest between Purdue graduate transfer Austin Appleby and Oregon State transfer red shirt sophomore Luke Del Rio, son the former head Coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. For me expectations are high for the new set of QB's due to Coach Mac's reputation for QB development and the putting together high powered offenses. I'm really excited and looking forward to what Coach Mac has cooked up for the new season beginning on Saturday, September 3rd. Here's Coach Mac talking about what his expectations are for the Gator offense in the lead up to the Orange & blue Game on Friday night [April 8th] at 7:00PM on the SEC Network:
Sounds like he's pretty clear with what he wants out of his offense for this preview of the team dynamic with a new set of QB's. The schedule looks favorable to help the team develop the quarterbacks for the offensive scheme Coach Mac wants and to prepare it to perform up to expectations that he and the fans expect.
One day a botanist found a beautiful plant by the wayside. He sat down to analyze it. He pulled it apart and examined each segment under a microscope.
When he had finished he could tell the color of the flower, its classification, and the number of stamens and pistils and petals and bracts, but the life and the beauty and the alluring fragrance were gone.
