Defending National Champion Florida Gators SEC Regular Season Champions 2026

All that's left now is the waiting for the SEC tournament to start with my Gators the #1 seed.  At the moment they are projected to be the fourth #1 seed in the NCAA MBK Tournament. This is the first time since the 2013 - 2014 season the Gators finished atop the regular season standngs. 

There is a feeling that the new Gator football coach, Jon Sumrall, has the same vibe as Coach Todd Golden of the 2025 defending national champion men's basketball team as spring practice has gotten underway.  To date the University of Florida is the only NCAA school to win the national championships of football and basketball in the same academic year, 2007 - 2008 as the painting above shows.  I'm looking forward to the possibility of that happening again with these two dynamic coaches prowling the sidelines looking for glory.  G A T O R S, baby. 

Counter Culture Icon Country Joe McDonald dies at 84

The artist known for his famous anti-war song "I feel like I'm fixin' to die rag" at Woodstock in August of 1969 succumed to Parkinson's disease on Saturday, March 7th at 84.  McDonald's appearance, along with his band The Fish was catapulted into national stardom with an anthem that struck the nerve of a generation protesting the Vietnam war.  

I was 13 when I first heard the song at the movie theatre.  Woodstock was an "R" rated film and at the time you needed to be accompanied by an adult to gain entrance to any cinema showing a film with that restricted age limit. It was my first time seeing a movie with the rating that all my friends at school could only talk about as something being off limits to us. I was fortunate to have a neighbor over hear that I wanted to see it and she offered to take me.  Though she was my mother's age she told me she was interested in "experiencing it" and offered to take me along if she could get the okay from my mom. I remembered she was midly amused our neighbor, who had a bit of a bohemian streak, would actually have me along.  Of course I was mesmerized from the opening scene of a cinamatic look at Max Yasgur's farm with Crosby, Still, and Nash's "Long Time Gone" playing to the very end as Jimi Hendrix playing over a view of the now scattered remnents of a crowd that had swollen to over 350,000 for three days of the arts and music festival as it was billed. 

I never indulged in more than his one song that drove his fame as it was outside the range of my taste at the time.  I was more of a Hendrix/Who/Ten Years After fan that was featured in the film within a range of diffferent styles and tastes.  It is the passing of icons such as McDonald that invades the conscious reality of my mortality now that I am past the age of 50.  Now each time when I hear the strains of "....be the first one on your block to be sent home in a box" I would think I'm now closer the the end than I am from the beginning. Though his career would cover a range of styles and genres over the next 50 years it was that one song that defined him.  From what I read he never tired of singing it when an event based on some social or theme centered resistence called for it. He had five children and is survived by his wife. 

Back In The Saddle

 

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.  

A State of Grace

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 17^th, 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

APOD: The Great Carina Nebula

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. 

Finally Getting That Hit Of "Fresh Air" From Quicksilver Messenger Service

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.

Ancecdote: Medicine & Expectations of Character

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." 

#1726

NASA Ready To Move On With First Domestic Human Space Flight After Nearly A Decade

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 20^th 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 for  it’s planned Wednesday, May 27^th 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 27^th, 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.

SpX-DM2 Flight Simulation

The Probe That Went Up A Planet And Came Down A Celestial Dwarf

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

A New Season Of Expectations And Quarterbacks

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.