Digging deeper (3/30/2016)

Boy, I only had one post in March.  Guess I had nothing to say.  Well, not really, but life is getting away from me (taxes and other writings).  Maybe I had nothing inspirational to say or nothing I have wanted to share; at least until today, when during lunch time I started looking through the on-line version of Wired and ran into the "Instagram Rabbit Hole" section of the magazine.  That was fun.  What Wired does is, one of their photographers takes one of their favorite photographers on Instagram and looks who they follow or who follows them and they go down five levels and see where they end up.  I tried it with people who follow me on Instagram and it was fun.

It is kind of as the 7 degrees of separation, the theory that everyone on this earth is no more that 7 persons away from each other.  Fore example my wife and I have actually spent a very pleasant evening talking with the father of the king of the Netherlands (or Holland as some call it) when we lived in Yemen of all places.  Now that all the sudden brings you close to many world leaders.  I wonder how many degrees I am away from Kim Jong-un; although that would not be really be not something I to be very proud of.  But then, I have been close to other weirdos as well (see my posts on Idi Amin).

It is just very fascinating to me these kinds of rabbit holes.  When I did it to my Instagram contacts I ran into locked pages, or pages that you had to ask permission to the owners from to connect to.  Makes you wonder what they have to hide, or if they are just private.

Going to one of my favorite photographers following me: Derya or @Daltuny on Instagram from Turkey, this is one of the latest photographs by her:

Photo taken by Derya and published on Instagram

Going "5 generations" in random down the rabbit hole (avoiding locked pages and just selfies) I got here to the page of Kenny Byron or @kidd_ok on Instagram.  Kenny seems to be a snow boarder and this was a recent photograph I loved:

Photograph by Kenny Byron published on Instagram

Fun to games like this.  Next time I would end up somewhere completely different, but I am so happy I ended up here Kenny Byron takes some awesome pictures, but so did the intermediaries between Derya and him, it was a feast for the eyes.  You should try it, whether you do it in Instagram, Google+ or maybe even in Facebook.  Who knows where you end up and what you learn about the world around you and your fellow humans.

So sorry guys, no photographs or deep thoughts by me, just some observations on the inter-connectedness  of us all, something I did discuss in this post before as well.  I am still amazed how small our world is becoming and how much we depend on each other.

Que sera sera, what ever will be will be, really? (3/8/2016)

Of late I've been interacting with people or hearing about people who seem to be so fatalistic, and just take life laying down.  I went out to the field with an absolutely great guy, who in is mid forties and already has developed type two diabetes.  He warned me about it, since he had to take an insulin shot at the lunch table, to make sure I did not have to deal with someone in a sugar coma later on during our work in the field.

Not that it grossed me out or so watching someone shoot up, it just upset me to see someone so young and nice to be so matter of fact about it.  He was like: "My grandmother has it, my mother has it, so I knew it was just a matter of time before I developed it."  He went on telling me how skinny his grandmother was (he is not that skinny; he is actually a big bear).  But, he told me it was to be expected since it was familial.  He continued to tell me that the insulin shots actually caused him to gain some weight, which if you believe the books would make a person even more insulin dependent.  More than half of the people in my wife's office have the same affliction of being either pre-diabetic or having full-flung type 2, and yes there are a few who also blame their genes or as I sometimes say, "their uncle Bob."  But then, I seem to blame anything on Bob!

So I come home with this story nagging my brain, and my wife comes home from the field after talking with a guy who is convinced that he will be dead in a year.  All his relatives died by the age of 60 except his father who died at ripe old age of 63, so at the age of 59 he figured his years were limited.  In other words, who cares, he might as well throw in the towel, give up and let his life and health go to hell, since he is going to die after all: a self fulfilling prophecy?  He basically summoned my wife to get his business in order before he died.

Waiting for a food cart in Richmond this afternoon, few people know what their health future will be, or maybe few know what it actually is or they are cavalier about it.  I know that when I travel I don't often eat the most healthy, but at least I try to get some exercise in to offset my diet.

I have just been so bothered by people taking things lying down and taking things spoon fed.  When I teach my students I try to help them think, understand and appreciate what lies beneath it all.  I want to instill a wonder lust; a curiosity.  I know it is often appreciated.  Sadly, all that I see lately is people just blindly following demagogues (politicians); they seem to follow the same paths where the rest of the herd is going without asking questions; or even personally concerning themselves, they let their relatives (uncle Bob) and parents rules their health, life and longevity.

What lies beneath it all.  A dear friend and fellow teacher uses this picture in one of his presentations and it is emblematic of it all.  We need to look beneath it all Look at the root instead of being spoon fed.  The hammer sharks here also symbolize my I need to work (hammer) on myself physically and mentally.

Darn it, if I believe this, I should be having treatment for prostrate cancer by now, because that is what my father had at my age.  I was tested and I'm doing fine.  I also made sure I did not suffer from any brain aneurysms as my mother had and I suspect her mother had.  I will "Go my own way" damn it, just like that popular Fleetwood Mac song.  I know I need to clean up my life, but then again, I am not as bad as some others that I know.  It is such a damn cliche, but such a good one: "getting old is not for sissies," I am stiff, I hurt, but I'm going to fight getting old all the damn way!  That is why I sail, why I bike, why I hike, why I blog, practice yoga, try to meditate, live in the moment, and why I still threaten my wife that I will retire when I am 70.  It is just that I want to live my life my own way, with my wife and my friends, without people telling me how to live it or what to expect based on some preconceived idea or model.

Knowing how essential exercise and moving is I made sure that during my tripto Front Royal Virginia today I stopped over at a point where the Appalachian Train crossed the highway and I went for a walk.  My fitbit reported I walked for an hour and a half for 5640 steps, average heartbeat was 106 with top rate at 159.  I climbed over 500 feet at times.  Great exercise!

On immigration (2/22/2016)

It is election season.  Great, the demagogues are out, throwing all kinds of words at each other, you name it.  Don’t worry; I am not going to try to convince you to vote for one or the other.  I just find it fascinating, sometimes to the frustration of my wife.  But then I am one of those immigrants that are being bantered around, albeit a legal one and a Caucasian one (below I’ll write more about an interesting thing that always happened to me as a foreigner in southern New Mexico). Where I come from, the primary system and big money politics is alien on it own, so yes this is fascinating.

The symbol of our great country, the bald eagle.  I took this photo in Yorktown on 2/21/2016 during our morning walk with the dogs.  A man came to talk to us basically indicating how proud he was seeing it and how he wished he could watch it hunt and catch its prey.  The only thing I could think was "bald eagles are somewhat cowardly and go for the infirm individuals and dead animals (carrion), if you want to see a real hunter, watch an osprey." But I did not dare to tell him that, because they are real stately, beautiful birds, well worth their magnificent status, and I did not want to burst his bubble.

When I became U.S. citizen on September 9, 1994 I did it for a number of reasons:

• My wife and daughter were U.S. citizens;
• My wife and I had been married 17 years and our daughter was almost 6, we did not think we would be moving back to Europe anytime soon;
• I had lived here permanently for more than 8 years and had my green card since 1980 (14 years);
• My Masters and Ph.D. degree were both from U.S. institutions and I interviewed once for a job in Holland in 1990 and I noticed that I did not have command of the Dutch scientific jargon in my field and the persons interviewing me let me know that;
• In a past international job, a few frustrated Dutchmen had tried to do everything in their power to show me that their European education was better than my U.S. education (you traitor);
• Therefore, I had come to the conclusion that I was going to remain in the U.S. for the rest of my career;
• In 1993, I was rejected for the ideal job at the last minute, when at the time of contract signing, I was asked the question: “are you a U.S. citizen”; this was for the job as manager of natural resources division at the Nevada Test Site; and lastly
• I decided, if I want to stay in the U.S., I should be able to vote and be a responsible citizen.

Truthfully, I have not missed an election since I turned a U.S. citizen, although there have been elections where I have voted with my nose pinched very close!  I strongly feel that I am not allowed to complain if I don't vote!

So what happened to me in New Mexico?  I got my Ph.D. at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces.  I stayed on after my Ph.D. to do a post-doctoral study, and that is where this story is from.  Las Cruces is in southern New Mexico, very close to the border with Mexico.  There is no wall there between the U.S. and Mexico, and I am not even sure if there was a fence at places when we lived there.  If there was a fence, there were probably holes in it.  There were roadblocks at various locations on the highway where border patrol agents stopped your car and searched your vehicle for illegal aliens.

At the time, I was doing research in the mountains above Alamogordo, New Mexico and had to drive through the White Sands Missile Range to get there.  I traveled that road at least twice a week for an entire summer, usually in a state van or truck with two Mexican-American technicians.  These guys were American citizens, one born and raised in Las Cruces, the other near Albuquerque.  There is such a border patrol roadblock on that part of the highway, and yes we got stopped every time.  Guess what?  Without failure, my two technicians were asked every time for identification and proof that they were legal residents of the U.S., and I, who was the only (legal) alien or immigrant in the car was never questioned or asked for identification.  Thank goodness my two companions took it very lightly and it became a standing joke, but it always amazed and somewhat upset me.  It undeniably was a form of racial profiling.

While these guys put on a big smile and took it all in stride, I wonder.  I can imagine that privately they felt hurt, humiliated.  I can understand why someone (some ethnic groups) would vote for certain political candidates or not, based on some of the rhetoric being spouted about certain races, certain under current or things not being said.  As an immigrant or alien, I am fascinated with U.S. politics and probably hypersensitive to some of these things as well.  I will keep watching and listening and making my own opinion about it all.  But one thing is for sure, I will vote!

Water (2/12/2016)

Walking in the woods this morning after a very cold morning I was reminded of one of the things I really try to push in my classes: 

“The importance of (clean) water!”

I tell my students that life is not possible without water and that one of the reasons is that water has these special properties.  One of these properties is that is expands when is gets colder than approximately 40 degrees Fahrenheit.  Below that temperature water becomes more buoyant (lighter) because of the expansion and rises to the top of the water column.  When temperatures drop below freezing water freezes on top and creates this insulated layer which allows fish and aquatic life to survive in lakes, ponds, rivers and oceans (and it allows my crazy Dutch country men and women to win gold medals in speed skating).  If water would freeze from the bottom up these water bodies would be lifeless because every thing wold freeze to death.  This is also one reason why NASA is so fascinated by the (water) moons of Jupiter and Saturn, because they are expected to have liquid water deep down.  There may be life up there!

After an night of frost you can see the small cracks that formed and refroze as a result of the expanding ice, creating this magnificent mosaic.

The photograph above gives a great example of it all.  There is liquid water under the ice.  Obviously after the water froze it got even colder and the expanding ice has all kinds of small cracks in it from expanding and now looks like a mosaic.  Really cool!  Although it may be quite disturbing that instead of enjoying nature, I am constantly analyzing things in nature, just like that cartoon that I saw on Facebook of how a scientist spends his vacation on a tropical island.

Click <here> to see the site where I found the cartoon and to see many more science cartoons!

Anyway, I do teach almost daily about the importance of water, about the importance of clean water and about keeping it clean through erosion and sediment control and stormwater management.

Expanding ice in wet soil causes what we call frost heaving.  These soil particles become very loose and can become erodible and end up in our stormwater.

What can you contribute to keeping our water clean?

1. Pick up your animal’s waste, especially when they do it on the road or in or near a place where it will readily enter the stormwater
2. Don't over-fertilize or apply too much pesticide to your yard
3. When you apply fertilizer or pesticide stay a few yards away from streets or your property boundary
4. When you wash your car do it on the lawn not on a paved surface, like your driveway or the road in front of your home.  Better, do it at a car wash.
5. Don’t poor waste oil or any other wastes down the storm drain
6. Minimize the bare soil in our yards and mulch

We all can contribute to clean water, and it is so important!  If we run out of water, our earth will turn into something like Mars, lifeless; without clean water who knows, but it will not be pretty.  As I teach my students:

"Filthy water cannot be washed!"

The big ephemeral pond behind our home has the same mosaic like features.  The water in these ponds is so nice and clean.

Roots (2/8/2016)

When I took the photo below of the root my wife told me that it would make a great entry in my next nature blog/journal.  Her comment did not leave the back of my mind for a long time now; it has been more than a week since I took this picture.  It is like planting a seed in one’s mind and watching it germinate and take root (pardon the pun).

This picture was taken in Newport News Park showing an old road cut and how the tree is rooted into the soil (photo take 1/31/2016).

I was at a loss what to write about, except for showing this picture, but then while listening to a program on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD on Satellite Radio it all the sudden struck me: what we are now is all rooted on past experiences and we feed on it, whether we like it or not.  Buddha tells us:

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment,” 

but it is so damn hard to follow.  If you are like me, it is so difficult to live in the moment sometimes, my mind is all over the place.  (So sorry guys no nature blog while talking about roots)

Listening to that program on PTSD, reminds me of a dear friend who served in Iraq and suffers from PTSD.  I witnessed one of his flashbacks and it was terrible to see a strong grown man have these.  Another acquaintance of mine who served in Afghanistan told me he has them too.  Their current lives are rooted in those past experiences, it has changed them and it’s difficult to escape at times.  My father had them his entire life, after spending time in Hitler's camps.  Interestingly, the doctors were discussing that there are indications that they can now detect PTSD in the tone of voice of PTSD sufferers and maybe even in the content of their saliva. 

Listening to the program, I was immediately taken back to my first experiences in Uganda in 1978, and I was wondering if I am (or my wife and I are) psychologically shaped the way I am (we are) by the events I (we) went through back then, just like the doctors were discussing on the radio.  I know my wife and I had PTSD after we were liberated in May 1979; the strange sound of a toilet flushing sent my wife under the table the first time she heard it, thinking we were being bombed or being shot at.

But even now, just listening to the discussion on the radio gave me flashbacks to that time 37 and 38 years ago.  Suffice it to say, I should have been killed but I escaped getting killed probably four times.  I also still feel guilty for not preventing a young boy from getting killed by an angry mob two days after we arrived in the country.  It’s all too gruesome to describe, but if you like me to, let me know and I can blog about it, one day.

It all came rushing back to me, again.  I wonder if the tone of my voice and my saliva are different from what it would have been if I had not experienced it, or my elevated blood pressure is caused by it or my migraines are partially the result of it.  So yes, I am rooted in the past, and I know I should not dwell on it just as Buddha says, but concentrate on the present and maybe prepare for the future.

Downtown Richmond, the roots of this old tree have expanded so much that they are growing over the curb and the sidewalk.  It makes you wonder what they can find there.  I am always amazed by the tenacity of some of these trees.  Looks like someone is trying to feed the tree some Red Bull, I hate people who liter (photo taken 2/9/2016).